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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Monctons, by Susanna Moodie
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Monctons
+       A Novel: Volume 2 (of 2)
+
+Author: Susanna Moodie
+
+Release Date: February 9, 2012 [EBook #38798]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONCTONS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Robert Cicconetti and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by the
+Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions
+(www.canadiana.org))
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MONCTONS:
+
+A NOVEL.
+
+
+
+BY
+
+
+SUSANNA MOODIE.
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+"ROUGHING IT IN THE BUSH," "FLORA LINDSAY,"
+"MATRIMONIAL SPECULATIONS," &c.
+
+
+    What--dost thou think I'll bend to thee?
+      The free in soul are ever free:
+    Nor force, nor poverty can bind
+      The subtle will--the thinking mind.
+
+
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+VOL II.
+
+
+
+LONDON:
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+1856.
+
+
+LONDON:
+Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents is not contained in the book
+but has been created for the convenience of the reader of this etext.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+   I.
+  II. ALICE.
+ III. MY VISIT TO MONCTON PARK.
+  IV. A SAD EVENT.
+   V. A DISCOVERY.
+  VI. MY SECOND INTERVIEW WITH DINAH NORTH.
+ VII. AN EXPLANATION--DEPARTURE--DISAPPOINTMENT.
+VIII. ELM GROVE.
+  IX. MY NURSE, AND WHO SHE WAS.
+   X. MY LETTERS.
+  XI. A WELCOME AND AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
+ XII. DINAH'S CONFESSION.
+XIII. RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.
+ XIV. THE DOUBLE BRIDAL.
+
+
+
+
+THE MONCTONS.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+"The next day, my friend bade us adieu. Had he expressed the least
+wish to that effect, I would have accompanied him to the South--but he
+did not, and we parted, never to meet again. He died abroad, and
+Charlotte became the inheritor of his large fortune. Her grief for the
+loss of her brother affected her health and spirits to such an
+alarming degree, that instant change of air and scene was recommended
+by her physician, and she left London to spend some months with her
+aunt on the Continent. I would have gladly made one in their party,
+but this she forbade me to do in the most positive terms.
+
+"I fancied that her manner to me had grown cold and distant during the
+separation which had intervened between her brother's death and the
+severe illness that followed the announcement of that melancholy
+event. These fears were confirmed by a long and very prudential letter
+from her aunt, entreating me, as a mutual friend, not to follow them
+to Italy, as it might be attended by unpleasant results to Miss
+Laurie, who was still very young--too young, in her estimation, to
+acknowledge publicly an accepted lover; that as no actual engagement
+existed between us, she thought it most advisable for both parties
+only to regard each other in the light of friends, until the
+expiration of the time which would make Miss Laurie the mistress of
+her hand and fortune. It was impossible to mistake the purport of this
+letter, which I felt certain must have been sanctioned by her niece.
+Then, and not until then was I fully aware of all that I had lost by
+the death of my poor friend.
+
+"Charlotte had repented of her affection for the low-born Philip
+Mornington. She was a great heiress now, and a match for the first
+nobleman in the kingdom. I crushed the letter beneath my feet, and
+felt within my breast the extinction of hope.
+
+"I suspected that Robert Moncton and his son were at the bottom of
+this unexpected movement; nor was I mistaken. It was strange, that
+among the whole range of my acquaintance, I had never been introduced
+to this rascal and his son, or met him accidentally at any place of
+public resort. They effectually worked my ruin, but it was in the
+dark.
+
+"The loss of Charlotte made me reckless of the future. I plunged
+headlong into all sorts of dissipation: wine, women, the turf, the
+gaming-table, by turns intoxicated my brain, and engrossed my time and
+thoughts, until repeated losses to an alarming amount, made me
+restless and miserable, without in the least checking the growing
+evil. I had forfeited self-respect, and with it the moral courage to
+resist temptation.
+
+"I was goaded on in my career of guilt by a young man of fascinating
+person and manners, but of depraved habits and broken fortunes. From
+the first night that I was introduced to William Howard, he expressed
+for me the deepest respect and friendship, and haunted me subsequently
+like my shadow. He flattered my vanity by the most sedulous
+attentions, echoed my sentiments, hung upon my words, copied my style
+of dress, and imitated my manners.
+
+"These arts might have failed in producing the desired effect, had he
+not wound himself into my confidence, by appearing to sympathize in my
+mental sufferings. He talked of Charlotte, and endeavoured to soothe
+my irritated feelings, by expressing the most sanguine hopes of my
+ultimate success; and, to dissipate the melancholy that preyed upon my
+health and spirits, he led me by degrees to mix with the reckless and
+profligate, and to find pleasure in the society of individuals whom I
+could not respect, and from whose proximity a few months before I
+should have shrunk with disgust and aversion.
+
+"A young fellow just beyond his minority is easily led astray,
+particularly, when he has wealth at his command, and no settled
+employment or profession to engage his time and thoughts, and worse
+still, with no religious principles to guide him in his perilous
+voyage across the treacherous ocean of life.
+
+"Alas! Geoffrey; I chose for my pilot one who had not only ruined
+himself, but caused the shipwreck of others, superior in prudence and
+intelligence; to the man who now trusted to his advice and believed
+him a friend.
+
+"When I look back to that disastrous period of my life, my soul
+shrinks within itself, and I lament my madness with unceasing
+bitterness. All that I have since suffered, appears but a just
+retribution for those three years of vice and folly. Little did I then
+suspect, that my quondam friend was an infamous sharper, bribed by the
+still more infamous Robert Moncton to lure me to destruction.
+
+"In spite of her aunt's prohibition, I had continued to write to Miss
+Laurie; at first, frequently, seldom many days elapsing between letter
+and letter, but to my surprise and indignation, not one of my
+communications had been answered, although breathing the most ardent
+attachment, and dictated by a passion as sincere as ever animated a
+human breast. What could be the cause of this cruel neglect? I called
+repeatedly at Mrs. ----'s house in town, but was constantly told by
+the old housekeeper, who received me very coldly, that Miss Laurie and
+her aunt were still on the continent.
+
+"As long as this miserable state of uncertainty continued, I clung to
+hope, and maintained the character of a man of honour and a gentleman.
+But the insidious tempter was ever at hand, to exaggerate my distress,
+and to weaken my good resolutions. Howard laughed at my constancy to a
+false mistress, and by degrees, led me to consider myself as a very
+ill-used man, and Miss Laurie as a heartless coquette.
+
+"Two years had elapsed since the death of Cornelius; and I was just
+ready to accompany a party of gay young fellows to Newmarket, when I
+was told accidentally, that Miss Laurie, the great heiress, had
+arrived in town, and the young men were laughing and speculating upon
+the chance of winning her and her fortune.
+
+"'They say she's a beauty!' cried one.
+
+"'Beauty won't pay debts,' said another. 'I can't afford to marry for
+love.'
+
+"'A plain girl with her property is sure to be handsome. Beauty and
+gold are too much to fall to the share of one person. I dare say,
+she's only passable.'
+
+"'Sour grapes, Hunter,' said Howard. 'You know that you are such a
+---- ugly fellow, that no woman, with or without a fortune would take
+you for better or worse.'
+
+"'_Better_ is out of the question, Howard, and he can't be well
+worse,' said the first speaker. 'But I should like to know if Miss
+Laurie is really the beauty they say she is. Money is a thing to
+possess--to enjoy--to get rid of. But beauty is a divinity. I may
+covet the one--I adore the other.'
+
+"'You may do both then, at a humble distance, George. But here's
+Philip Mornington, can satisfy all your queries--he knows, and used to
+feel an interest in the young lady.'
+
+"To hear her name in such company, was to me profanation. I made some
+ungracious reply to what I considered an impertinent observation of
+Howard's, and feigning some improbable excuse for absenting myself
+from the party, I turned my horse's head and rode back to my lodgings,
+in spite of several large bets that I had pending upon a favorite
+horse.
+
+"Charlotte was in London, and I could not rest until I had learned my
+fate from her own lips. I hastened to her aunt's residence; and,
+contrary to my expectations, on sending up my card, I was instantly
+admitted to her presence.
+
+"She was alone in the drawing-room. The slight girl of seventeen was
+now a beautiful and graceful woman; intelligence beaming from her
+eyes, and the bloom of health upon her cheek. As I approached the
+table at which she was seated, she rose to meet me, and the colour
+receded so fast from her face that I feared she would faint, and
+instead of addressing me with her usual frankness, she turned away her
+head and burst into tears.
+
+"You may imagine my distress: I endeavoured to take her hand, but she
+drew proudly back.
+
+"'Is this Charlotte?'
+
+"'Rather let me ask--is this Philip Mornington, my brother's friend?'
+she spoke with a degree of severity which astonished me--'the man for
+whom I once entertained the deepest respect and affection.'
+
+"'Which implies that you do so no longer?'
+
+"'You have rightly guessed.'
+
+"'And may I ask Miss Laurie why she has seen fit to change the opinion
+she once entertained?'
+
+"'Mr. Mornington,' said she, firmly, repressing the emotion which
+convulsed her lips and glistened in her eyes, 'I have long wished to
+see you, to hear from your own lips an explanation of your
+extraordinary conduct, and though this meeting must be our last, I
+could not part with you for ever, until I had convinced you that the
+separation was effected by yourself.'
+
+"'It will be difficult to prove that,' said I, 'if you really
+sanctioned your aunt's letter, and were privy to its contents.'
+
+"'It was written at my request,' she replied, with provoking coldness.
+'Mr. Moncton's suspicions were aroused, and your following us to the
+continent would have confirmed them, and rendered us both miserable.
+But my motives for requesting a temporary separation, were fully
+discussed in my letter which accompanied the one written by my aunt.
+To this reasonable request you returned no answer, nor, in fact, to
+several subsequent letters which were written during our absence
+abroad.'
+
+"I trembled with agitation while she was speaking, and I fear that she
+misinterpreted my emotion.
+
+"'Good Heavens!' I exclaimed at last, 'how grossly have I deceived
+myself into the belief that you never wrote to me--that you cast me
+from you without one word of pity or remorse. I never got a line from
+you, Charlotte. Your aunt's cruel letter came only too soon, and was
+answered too promptly; and to the many I have written to you since,
+you did not deign a reply.'
+
+"'They never reached us, Mr. Mornington; and it is strange that these
+letters (which to me were, at least, matters of no small importance)
+should be the only ones among the numbers addressed to us by other
+friends, which miscarried.'
+
+"I was stung by the incredulous air with which she spoke: it was so
+unlike my own simple, frank-hearted Charlotte.
+
+"'Miss Laurie, you doubt my word?'
+
+"'A career of vice and folly, Mr. Mornington, has made me doubt your
+_character_. While I could place confidence in the _one_, I never
+suspected deceit in the other.'
+
+"'Your silence, Charlotte, drove me to desperation, and involved me in
+the dissipation to which you allude.'
+
+"'A man of integrity could not so easily be warped from the path of
+duty:' she said this proudly. 'I can no longer love one whom I have
+ceased to respect, whose conduct, for the last two years, has made me
+regret that we ever met.'
+
+"'You are too severe, Miss Laurie,' and I felt the blood rush to my
+face. 'You should take into account all I have suffered for your
+sake.'
+
+"'You found a strange method of alleviating those sufferings, Philip.'
+This was said sadly, but with extreme bitterness. 'Had you loved or
+cherished me in your memory, you never could have pursued a course of
+conduct so diametrically opposite to my wishes.'
+
+"This was a home-thrust. I felt like a guilty and condemned creature,
+debased in my own eyes, and humbled before the woman I adored.
+
+"I felt that it was useless to endeavour to defend myself against her
+just accusations; yet, I could not part with her, without one struggle
+more for forgiveness, and while I acknowledged and bitterly lamented
+my past errors, I pleaded for mercy with the most passionate
+eloquence. I promised to abjure all my idle companions and vicious
+habits, and devote the rest of my life entirely to her.
+
+"She listened to me with tearful earnestness, but remained firm to her
+purpose, that we were to part there for ever, and only remember each
+other as strangers.
+
+"Her obstinacy rendered me desperate. I forgot the provocation I had
+given her by my wicked and reckless course. I reproached her as the
+cause of all my crimes. Accused her of fickleness and cruelty, and
+called Heaven to witness, how little I merited her displeasure.
+
+"Her gentle feminine brow was overcast; her countenance was dark and
+stern.
+
+"'These are awful charges, Mr. Mornington. Permit me to ask you a few
+questions, in my turn, and answer them briefly and without evasion.'
+
+"I gazed in silent astonishment upon her kindling face.
+
+"'Are you in the habit of frequenting the gaming-table? Yes, or no.'
+
+"My eyes involuntarily shrunk from hers.
+
+"'The race-course?'
+
+"'I must confess to both these charges,' I stammered out. 'But'----
+
+"'For such conduct there can be no excuse. It is not amid such scenes
+that I would look for the man I love.'
+
+"'Cease, Charlotte, in mercy cease, if you do not mean to drive me
+mad. Some enemy has poisoned your mind against me. Left to yourself,
+you could not condemn me in this cold, pitiless manner.'
+
+"'Your own lips have condemned you, Philip.' She stopped, passed her
+hand across her brow, as if in sudden pain, and sighed deeply.
+
+"'When will these reproaches end, Charlotte? Of what else do you
+accuse me?'
+
+"'Is what I have said, false or true?' she cried, turning suddenly
+towards me, and grasping my arm. 'If false, clear yourself. If true,
+what more can I have to do with you?'
+
+"'Alas!' I cried, 'it is but too true!'
+
+"'And can you expect, Mr. Mornington, that any virtuous, well-educated
+woman could place her happiness in the keeping of one who has shown
+such little self-government; who chooses for his associates men of
+loose morals and bad character. Your constant companion and bosom
+friend is a notorious gambler, a man whose society is scouted by all
+honourable men. I pity you, Philip; weep for you; pray for you; and
+God only knows the agony which this hour has cost me; but we must meet
+as lovers and friends no more.'
+
+"She glided from the room, and I stood for some minutes stupidly
+staring after her, with the horrible consciousness of having exchanged
+a pearl of great price, for the base coin in which pleasure pays her
+deluded followers, and only felt the inestimable value of the treasure
+I had lost, when it was no longer in my power to recover it.
+
+"I returned to the company I had quitted. I betted and lost; plunged
+madly on; staked my whole property on a desperate chance, and returned
+from the races, forsaken by my gay companions, a heart-broken and
+ruined man!
+
+"It was night when I reached London. Not wishing to encounter any of
+my late associates, I entered a coffee-house seldom frequented by men
+of their class, and called for a bottle of wine.
+
+"The place was ill-lighted and solitary. I threw myself into a far
+corner of my box, and, for the first time (for I never was a drinker)
+tried to drown care in the intoxicating bowl.
+
+"The wine, instead of soothing, only increased the fever of my spirit,
+and I began to review with bitterness the insanity of my conduct for
+the last few months. With a brain on fire with the wine, I continued
+eagerly to swallow, and a heart as dull and cold as ice from recent
+mortification and disappointment, I sank with my head upon the table
+into a sort of waking trance, conscious of surrounding objects, but
+unable to rouse myself from the stupor which held every faculty in its
+leaden grasp.
+
+"Two men entered the box. I heard one say to the other, in a voice
+which seemed familiar.
+
+"'This place is occupied, we had better go to another.'
+
+"'The fellow's drunk,' returned his companion, and may be considered
+as _non compos_. He has lost all knowledge of himself, and therefore
+can take no notice of us.'
+
+"Feeling little interest in anything beyond my own misery, I gave no
+signs of life or motion, beyond pressing my burning brow more tightly
+against my folded hands, which rested on the table.
+
+"'So, Mornington's career is ended at last, and he is a ruined man,'
+said the elder of the twain.
+
+"'Yes, I have settled his business for you; and as my success has been
+great, I expect my reward should be proportionately so.'
+
+"'I am ready to fulfil my promise, but expect nothing more. You have
+been well paid by your dupe. He has realized the old proverb--Light
+come, light go. I thought he would have given you more trouble. Yours,
+Howard, has been an easy victory.'
+
+"'Hang the foolish fellow!' cried my quondam friend; 'I feel some
+qualms of conscience about him; he was so warm-hearted and
+generous--so unsuspicious, that I feel as if I had been guilty of a
+moral murder. And what, Mr. Moncton, must be your feelings: your
+hatred to the poor young man is almost gratuitous, when it appears
+that you are personally unknown to each other.'
+
+"'He is the son of my worst enemy, and I will pursue him to death.'
+
+"'He will spare you the trouble, if I read my man rightly. He will not
+submit to this sudden change of fortune with stoical indifference, but
+will finish a career of folly with an act of madness.'
+
+"'Commit suicide?'
+
+"'Ay, put a pistol to his head. He is an infidel, and will not be
+scared from his purpose by any fear of an hereafter.'
+
+"'Bring me that piece of news to-morrow, Howard, and it will be
+something to stake at hazard before night.'
+
+"He left the box; I rose to prevent him, but the opportunity of
+revenge was lost. The younger scoundrel remained behind to settle with
+the waiter; as he turned round I confronted and stared him full in the
+face. He pretended not to know I who was.
+
+"'Fellow, let me pass!'
+
+"'Never! until you have received the just reward of your treachery.
+You are a mean, contemptible wretch: the base hireling of a baser
+villain. I will prosecute you both for entering into a conspiracy
+against me.'
+
+"'You had better let it alone,' said he, in a hoarse whisper. 'You are
+a disappointed and desperate man. No sensible person will listen to
+complaints made by a drunken, broken-down spendthrift and gambler.'
+
+"'Liar!' I cried, losing all self-control, 'when did you ever see me
+drunk, or knew me guilty of one dishonourable act?'
+
+"'You were always too great a fool, Mornington, to take care of
+yourself, and you are not able, at this moment, to stand steady. Be
+that, however, as it may, I never retract my words; if you require
+satisfaction, you know where to find me.'
+
+"'I will neither meet nor treat you as a gentleman. You are beneath
+contempt.'
+
+"'The son of a drunken huntsman has a greater claim to gentility,'
+sneered the sharper, bursting into an insulting laugh. 'Your mother
+may, perhaps, have given you an indirect claim to a higher descent.'
+
+"This taunt stung me to madness, and sobered me in a moment. I flung
+myself headlong upon him. I was young and strong--the attack
+unexpected, he fell heavily to the ground. In my fury I spat upon him,
+and trampled him beneath my feet. Death, I felt was too honourable a
+punishment for such a contemptible villain. I would not have killed
+him though certain that no punishment would follow the act.
+
+"The people of the house interfered. I was taken into custody and kept
+in durance vile until the following morning; but as no one appeared to
+make any charge against me, I was released, with a severe reprimand
+from the police magistrate, and suffered to return home.
+
+"Home! I had now no home: about one hundred pounds was all that
+remained to me of my fine property when my debts, falsely termed debts
+of honour, were paid, my lodgings settled for, and my servant
+discharged.
+
+"My disgrace had not yet reached the home of my childhood. A state of
+mental suffering brought on a low fever. I was seized with an
+indescribable longing, an aching of the heart to end my days in my
+native village.
+
+"Pride in vain combated this feeling. It resisted all the arguments of
+reason and common sense. Nature triumphed--and a few days saw me once
+more under the shadow of the great oak which canopied our lowly
+dwelling."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ALICE.
+
+
+"As I approached the cottage door, my attention was arrested by a low,
+mournful voice, singing in sad and subdued tones, a ditty which seemed
+the spontaneous outpouring of a wounded spirit. The words were several
+times repeated, and I noted them down as I leant upon the trunk of the
+old tree. Out of sight, but within a few feet of the songstress, whose
+face was hidden from me by the thick foliage of the glorious old tree,
+in whose broad-spreading branches, I had played and frolicked when a
+boy.
+
+    "'THE SONG.
+
+    I once was happy, blithe and gay,
+      No maiden's heart was half so light;
+    I cannot sing, for well a-day!
+      My morn of bliss is quenched in night.
+
+    I cannot weep--my brain is dry,
+      Deep woe usurps the voice of mirth
+    The sunshine of youth's cloudless sky
+      Has faded from this goodly earth.
+
+    My soul is wrapped in midnight gloom,
+      And all that charmed my heart before,
+    Droops earthward to the silent tomb,
+      Where darkness dwells for evermore.'
+
+"The voice ceased. I stepped from my hiding-place. Alice rose from the
+bench beside the door; the work on which she was employed fell from
+her hand, and she stood before me wild and wan--the faded spectre of
+past happiness and beauty.
+
+"'Good heavens! Alice, Can this be you?'
+
+"'I may return the compliment,' she said, with a ghastly smile. 'Can
+this be Philip? Misery has not been partial, or your brow wears its
+mark in vain.'
+
+"'Unhappy sister of an unhappy brother!' I cried, folding her passive
+form to my heart, 'I need not ask why you are altered thus.'
+
+"The fire which had been burning in my brain for some weeks, yielded
+to softer emotions. My head sunk upon her shoulder, and I wept long
+and bitterly.
+
+"Alice regarded me with a curious and mournful glance, but shed no
+tears.
+
+"'Alice! That villain has deceived you?'
+
+"She shook her head.
+
+"'It is useless to deny facts so apparent. Do you love him still?'
+
+"She sighed deeply. 'Yes, Philip. But he has ceased to love me.'
+
+"'Deserted you?'
+
+"Her lip quivered. She was silent.
+
+"'The villain! his life shall answer for the wrong he has done you!'
+
+"The blood rushed to her pale, wasted cheeks, her eyes flashed upon me
+with unnatural brilliancy, and grasping my arm, she fiercely and
+vehemently replied--
+
+"'Utter that threat but once again, and we become enemies for life. If
+he has injured me and made me the wreck you see--it is not in the way
+you think. To destroy him would drive me to despair. It would force me
+to commit an act of desperation. I will suffer no one to interfere
+between me and the man I love. I am strong enough to take my own
+part--to avenge myself, if need be. I can bear my own grief in
+silence, and therefore beg that you will spare your sympathy for those
+who weep and pule over misfortune. I would rather be reproached than
+pitied for sorrows that I draw upon myself.'
+
+"She sat down trembling with excitement, and tried to resume her
+former occupation. Presently the needle dropped from her hand, and she
+looked wistfully up in my face:--
+
+"'Philip, what brought you here?'
+
+"'An unwelcome visitor, I fear.'
+
+"'Perhaps so. People always come at the worst times, and when they are
+least wanted.'
+
+"'Do you include your brother in that sweeping common-place term--has
+he become to you as one of the people? Ah, Alice.'
+
+"'We have been no more to each other for the last three years, Philip.
+Your absence and long silence made me forget that I had a brother. Few
+could suppose it, from the little interest you ever expressed for me.'
+
+"'I did not think of you, or love you the less.'
+
+"'Mere words. Love cannot brook long separation from the object
+beloved. It withers beneath neglect, and without personal intercourse
+droops and dies. While you were happy and prosperous you never came
+near us; and I repeat again--what brings you now?'
+
+"'I have been unfortunate, Alice; the dupe of villains who have robbed
+me of my property, while my own folly has deprived me of self-respect
+and peace of mind. Ill and heart-sick, I could not resist the strong
+desire to return to my native place to die.'
+
+"'There is no peace here, Philip,' said she, in a low soft voice. 'I
+too, would fain lie down on the lap of mother earth and forget my
+misery. But we are too young--too wretched to die. Death comes to the
+good and happy, and cuts down the strong man like the flower of the
+field; but flies the wretch who courts it, and grins in ghastly
+mockery on the couch of woe. Take my advice, Philip Mornington, lose
+no time in leaving this place. Here, danger besets you on every side.'
+
+"'Why, Alice, do you think I fear the puny arm of Theophilus
+Moncton--the base betrayer of innocence.'
+
+"'Why Theophilus. Spare your reproaches, Philip; we shall quarrel
+seriously if you mention that name with disrespect to me--I cannot,
+and will not bear it. It was not him I meant. You have offended our
+grandmother by your long absence, Dinah loves you not. It is her anger
+I would warn you to shun.'
+
+"'And do you think I am such a coward, as to tremble and fly from the
+malice of a peevish old granny?'
+
+"'You laugh at my warning, Philip. You may repent rashness when too
+late. The fang of the serpent is not deadened by age, and the rancour
+in the human heart seldom diminishes, with years. Dinah never loved
+you, and absence has not increased the strength of her affection.'
+
+"'I am not come to solicit charity, Alice. I have still enough to pay
+the old woman handsomely for board and lodging until my health
+returns, or death terminates my sufferings. If Dinah takes me--a fact
+I do not doubt--she loves money. Where is she now?'
+
+"'In the village, I expect her in every minute.'
+
+"'And Miss Moncton?' I said, hesitating, and lowering my voice. 'How
+is she?'
+
+"'I don't know,' returned Alice, carelessly, 'the Hall is no longer
+open to me.'
+
+"'That tells its own tale,' said I sorrowfully.
+
+"'The tale may be false, in spite of probability,' returned she
+fiercely. 'No one should dare openly condemn another without
+sufficient evidence.'
+
+"'They need not go far for that,' said I.
+
+"'That is your opinion.'
+
+"'On most conclusive evidence.'
+
+"'How charitable.'
+
+"'How true, Alice.'
+
+"'False as the world. As you, as every one is to the unfortunate,' she
+cried, with indignation in her eyes and scorn upon her lip, 'but here
+is Dinah--Dinah, whom you consider unfeeling and cruel. She knows me,
+and loves me better than you do. She does not join with a parcel of
+conventional hypocrites to condemn me.'
+
+"As she ceased speaking, Dinah entered with a basket on her arm. After
+the first surprise at my unexpected and unwelcome appearance was over,
+she accosted me with more amenity of look and manner than I ever
+before knew her to assume.
+
+"'How are you, Philip? you look ill. Suppose you have got into some
+trouble, or we should not be honoured by a visit?'
+
+"'You are right, in part, grandmother. I have been sick for some days,
+and have come home for change of air and good nursing.'
+
+"I put a handful of gold in her lap. 'You see I am willing and able to
+pay for the trouble I give. When this is gone, you can have more.'
+
+"'Money is always welcome--more welcome often than those that bring
+it. All things considered, however, I am glad to see you. When
+relatives are too long separated, they become strangers to each other.
+Alice and I had concluded that you only regarded us as such. The sight
+of you will renew the old tie of kindred, and make you one of us
+again. Quick, Alice, get your brother some supper; he must be hungry
+after his long journey.'
+
+"'I am in no need; Alice, do not trouble yourself; I feel too ill to
+eat; I will go to bed if you please. All I want at present is _rest_.'
+
+"Dinah, who was passing the gold from one hand to the other, and
+gazing upon it with infinite satisfaction, suddenly looked up and
+repeated the last word after me, with peculiar emphasis.
+
+"'_Rest!_ Who rests in this world? Even sleep is not rest; the body
+sleeps, but the soul toils on, on, on, for ever. There is no such
+thing as rest. If I thought so, I would put an end to my existence
+to-morrow--I would; and meet death as a liberator from the vexatious
+turmoils of life.'
+
+"There was something in these words which filled my mind with an
+indescribable horror--a perfect dread of endless duration. I had
+always looked upon the grave as a place of rest--a haven of peace from
+the cares of life. That old raven, with her dismal croaking, had
+banished the pleasing illusion, and made me nervously sensitive to the
+terrors of a living, conscious eternity. Whilst undressing to go to
+bed, I was seized with violent shivering fits, and before morning was
+delirious, and in a high fever.
+
+"I had never suffered from severe illness before; I had often been
+afflicted in mind, but not in body. I now had to endure the horrors of
+both combined. For the first fortnight I was too ill to think. I was
+in the condition of the unfortunate patriarch, who in the morning
+exclaimed, 'Would God it were night!' and when night came, reversed
+the feverish hope.
+
+"There were moments, however, during the burning hours of these
+sleepless nights, when the crimes of the past, and the uncertainty of
+the future, rushed before me in terrible distinctness; when I tried to
+pray and could not, and sought comfort from the Word of God, and found
+every line a condemnation. Oh, those dreadful days and nights, when I
+lay a hopeless, self-condemned expectant of misery, shuddering on the
+awful brink of eternity, shrieking to the Almighty Father for peace,
+and finding none; seeking for rest with strong cries and tears, and
+being repaid with ten-fold agony. May I never again suffer in flesh
+and spirit what I then endured!
+
+"The poor lost girl who watched my bed, beheld the fierce tossings of
+pain, the agonies of remorse, the icy apathy. She could neither direct
+nor assist my mind in its struggles to obtain one faint glimmer of
+light through the dense gloom caused by infidelity and sin.
+
+"Death--natural death--the mere extinction of animal life, I did not
+dread. Had the conflict ended with annihilation, I might have welcomed
+it with joy. But death unaccompanied by total extinction was horrible.
+To be deprived of moral life--to find the soul for ever separated from
+God, all its high and noble faculties destroyed, while all that was
+infamous and debasing remained to form a hell of memory, an eternity
+of despair, was a conviction so dreadful, so appalling to my mind,
+that my reason for a time bowed before it, and for some days I was
+conscious of nothing else.
+
+"This fiery trial yielded at last. I became more tractable, and could
+think more calmly upon the awful subject ever uppermost in my mind. I
+felt a strong desire to pray, to acknowledge my guilt to Almighty God,
+and sue for pardon, and restoration to peace and happiness. I could
+not express my repentance in words, I could only sigh and weep, but He
+who looks upon the naked human heart, knew that my contrition was
+sincere, and accepted the unformed petition.
+
+"As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so did my thirsty soul pant
+for the refreshing waters of life. In feeble tones I implored Alice to
+read to me from the New Testament. My eyes were so much affected by
+the fever, that I could scarcely distinguish the objects round me.
+
+"The request was distasteful, and she evaded it for many days--at
+last, replied testily.
+
+"'There is not such a book in the house--never was; and you know that
+quite well.'
+
+"'You can borrow one from the schoolmaster in the village.'
+
+"'I will do no such thing. A pretty story truly, to go the rounds of
+Moncton. That the Morningtons were such godless people they had no
+Bible in the house, and had to borrow one. They say that Dinah is a
+witch, and that would confirm it.'
+
+"'Send the boy that cuts sticks in the wood. Let him ask it as if for
+his mother. I know Mr. Ludd will lend it for a good purpose; and tell
+the boy I will give him half a sovereign for his pains.'
+
+"'Nonsense! Why that would buy the book.'
+
+"'Oh, do buy it, Alice, my good angel; for the love of God! send and
+buy it. You will find my purse in my coat-pocket. It will be the best
+money that was ever laid out by me.'
+
+"'You had better be still and go to sleep, Philip; you are too ill to
+bear the fatigue of reading yet.'
+
+"This was dreadfully tantalizing, but I was forced to submit. The next
+morning she brought me a cup of tea. I looked wistfully in her face.
+
+"'Dear Alice, you could give me something that would do me more good
+than this.'
+
+"'Some broth, perhaps; sick people always fancy everything that is not
+at hand.'
+
+"'That book.'
+
+"'Are you thinking about that still?'
+
+"'I long for the bread of life.'
+
+"'Do you want to turn Methodist?'
+
+"'I wish to become a Christian.'
+
+"'Are you not one already?'
+
+"'Oh, no, no, Alice! All my life long I have denied the word of God
+and the power of salvation; and now, I would give the whole world, if
+I possessed it, to obtain the true riches. Do, dear sister, grant my
+earnest request, and may the God of all mercy bring you to a knowledge
+of the truth.'
+
+"'I hate cant,' said Alice, discontentedly, 'but I will see what I can
+do for you.'
+
+"She took some money from my purse and left the room.
+
+"Hours passed away. I listened for her returning footsteps until I
+fell asleep. It was night when I again unclosed my eyes. Alice was
+sitting by the little table reading. Oh, blessed sight. The Bible lay
+open before her.
+
+"'I dreamt it,' I cried joyfully. 'I dreamt that you got it, and God
+has brought it to pass. Oh, dear Alice you have made me so happy.'
+
+"'What shall I read?
+
+"I was puzzled; so much had I become a stranger to the sacred volume,
+that though it had formed a portion of my school and college studies,
+the little interest then felt in its contents, had made me almost a
+stranger to them.
+
+"'Read the Gospel of St. John.'
+
+"'A chapter you mean.'
+
+"'As much as you can. Until you are tired.'
+
+"She began at the opening chapter of that sublime gospel, in which we
+have so much of the mind of Jesus, though less of his wondrous
+parables and miracles; but matter which is higher, more mysterious,
+spiritual and satisfying to the soul. Nor could I suffer her to lay
+aside the book until it was concluded.
+
+"How eagerly I drank in every word, and long after every eye was
+closed in sleep I continued in meditation and prayer. A thousand times
+I repeated to myself, 'And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
+shall set you free,' What a glorious emancipation from the chains of
+sin and death! Oh, how I longed for a knowledge of that truth, and the
+answer came:--'O Lord thy word is truth;' and the problem in my soul
+was satisfied, and with a solemn thanksgiving I devoted myself to the
+service of God. A calm and holy peace came down upon my soul, and that
+night I enjoyed the first refreshing sleep I had known for many weeks.
+
+"In the morning I was much better, but still too weak to leave my bed.
+
+"I spent most of the day in reading the Bible. Alice had relaxed much
+of her attention and I only saw her during the brief periods when she
+administered medicine, or brought me broth or gruel.
+
+"I felt hurt at her coldness; but it was something more than mere
+coldness. Her manner had become sullen and disagreeable. She answered
+me abruptly and in monosyllables, and appeared rather sorry than glad,
+that I was in a fair way of recovering.
+
+"I often heard her and Dinah hold confused whispering conversations,
+in the outer room into which mine opened, the cottage being entirely
+on the ground floor, and one evening I thought I recognized the deep
+tones of a man's voice. I tried to catch a part of their discourse,
+but the sounds were too low and guarded to make anything out. A short
+time after I heard the sound of horses' hoofs upon the gravel walk
+which led past the cottage into the park. I sat up in the bed which
+was opposite the window, which commanded a view of the road, and
+perceived, to my dismay, that the stranger was no other than Robert
+Moncton, who was riding towards the village.
+
+"A dread of something--I scarcely knew what--took possession of my
+mind, and remembering my weak, helpless state, and how completely I
+was in the power of Dinah North, I gave myself up to vague
+apprehensions of approaching evil.
+
+"Ashamed of my weakness, I took the sacred volume from under my
+pillow, and soon regained my self-possession. I felt that I was in the
+hands of God, and that all things regarding me would be ordered for
+the right. Oh, what a blessing is this trust in the care of an
+overruling Providence! how it relieves one from brooding over the
+torturing fears of what may accrue on the morrow, verifying the divine
+proverb: 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof!'
+
+"A thick, dark, rainy night had closed in, when my chamber door
+opened, and Alice glided in. She held in her hand a small tray, on
+which was a large tumbler of mulled wine and some dry toast. I had not
+tasted food since noon, and I felt both faint and hungry. A strange,
+ghastly expression flitted over my sister's face, which was unusually
+pale, as she sat down on the side of the bed.
+
+"'You have been a long time away,' said I, with the peevish
+fretfulness of an invalid. 'If you were ill and incapable of helping
+yourself, Alice, I would not neglect you, and leave you for hours in
+this way. I might have died during your absence.'
+
+"'No fear of that, Philip. You are growing cross, which is always a
+good sign. I would have come sooner, but had so many things to attend
+to, that it was impossible. Dinah is too old to work, and all the
+household work falls on me. But, how are you?'
+
+"'Better, but very hungry.'
+
+"'I don't doubt it. It is time you took something. I have got a
+little treat for you--some fine mulled sherry--it will do you good and
+strengthen you.'
+
+"'I don't care for it,' said I, with an air of disgust. 'I am very
+thirsty. Give me a cup of tea.'
+
+"'We got tea hours ago, when you were asleep, and there is not a drop
+of hot water in the kettle. The wine is more nourishing. The doctor
+recommended it. Do taste it, and see how good it is!'
+
+"'I tried to comply with her request. A shudder came over me as I put
+the tumbler to my lips. 'It's of no use,' I said, putting it back on
+to the tray. 'I cannot drink it.'
+
+"'If you love me, Philip, try. Drink a little, if you can, I made it
+on purpose to please you.'
+
+"She bent her large bright eyes on me with an anxious, dubious
+expression--a strange, wild look, such as I never saw her face wear
+before.
+
+"I looked at her in return, with a curious, searching gaze. I did not
+exactly suspect her of any evil intention towards me, but her manner
+was mysterious, and excited surprise.
+
+"She changed colour, and turned away.
+
+"A sudden thought darted through my brain. Robert Moncton had been
+there. He coveted my death, for what reason I could not fathom. I only
+knew the fact. What if that draught were poison!--and suspicion, once
+aroused, whispered it is poison.
+
+"I rose slowly in the bed, and grasped her firmly by the wrist.
+
+"'Alice! we will drink of that glass together. You look faint and
+pale. The contents will set you all right. Take half and I will drink
+the rest.'
+
+"'I never drink wine.'
+
+"'You dare not drink _that_ wine,' said I.
+
+"'If I liked it, what should hinder me?'
+
+"'You could not like it, Alice. It is _poison_!'
+
+"A faint cry burst from her lips.
+
+"'God of heaven! who told you that?'
+
+"'Flesh and blood did not reveal it to me. Alice, Alice, how could I
+imagine such a thing of you?'
+
+"'How, indeed!' murmured the wretched girl, weeping passionately.
+'_She_ persuaded me to bring it to you. _He_ mixed the wine.
+I--I had nothing else to do with it.'
+
+"'Yet to you, as a willing instrument of evil, they entrusted the most
+important part of their hellish mission.'
+
+"She flung herself on her knees beside the bed, and raising her
+clasped hands and streaming eyes to Heaven implored God to forgive her
+for the crime she had premeditated against my life, binding herself in
+an awful curse, not only to devise means to save my life, but to
+remove me from the cottage.
+
+"'As to you, Philip, I dare not ask you to forgive me: I only implore
+you not to curse me.'
+
+"'I should entertain a very poor opinion of myself, if I should refuse
+to do the one, or attempt such an act of wickedness as is involved in
+the other. But, Alice, do not think that I can excuse the commission
+of such a dreadful crime as murder--and upon whom? A brother who loved
+you tenderly--who, to his own knowledge, never injured you in word,
+thought or deed.'
+
+"'Philip, you are not my brother, or the deed had never been
+attempted.'
+
+"'Not your brother! Who am I then?'
+
+"'I cannot--dare not tell you. At least not now. Escape from this
+dreadful place, and some future time may reveal it.'
+
+"'You talk of escape as a thing practicable and easy. I am so weak I
+can scarcely stand, much less walk ten paces from the house. How can I
+get away unknown to Dinah?'
+
+"'Listen to me--I will tell you.' She rose from her knees, and gliding
+to the door which led to the outer room, she gently unclosed it, and
+leaning forward looked cautiously into the outer space. Satisfied that
+it was vacant, she returned stealthily to my bed-side.
+
+"'I must make Dinah believe that you have drank this wine. In less
+than two hours you will, in her estimation, be dead. Not a creature
+knows of your return. For our own sakes, we have kept your being here
+a profound secret. Robert Moncton, however, was duly informed by Dinah
+of your visit. He came this morning to the house, and they concocted
+this scheme between them. She is now absent looking for a convenient
+spot for a grave for your body when dead. She talked of the dark
+shrubbery. That spot is seldom visited by any one, because the
+neighbours fancy that it is haunted. You know how afraid we were of
+going near those dark, shadowy yews when we were children. Margaret
+used to call it the valley of the shadow of death.'
+
+"'And it was there,' said I, with a shudder, 'that you meant to bury
+me?'
+
+"'There--I have promised to drag your body to the spot in a sack, and
+help Dinah to make your grave. But hist! I thought I heard a step. We
+have no time to waste in idle words.'
+
+"'She cannot bury me, you know, without my consent, before I am dead,'
+said I, with a faint smile. 'Nor can I imagine how you will be able to
+deceive her. She will certainly discover the difference between an
+empty sack and a full one.'
+
+"'I have hit on a plan, which, if well managed, will lull her
+suspicions to sleep. You know the broken statue of Apollo, that lies
+at the entrance of the Lodge? It is about your size. It once belonged
+to the Hall gardens, and Sir Alexander gave it to me for a plaything
+years ago. I did not care for such a huge doll, and it has lain there
+ever since. I will convey this to your chamber, and dress it in your
+night-clothes. The sack will cover the mutilated limbs, and by the
+dim, uncertain light of the dark lantern, she will never discover the
+cheat.'
+
+"'But if she should insist on inspecting the body?'
+
+"'I will prevent it. In the meanwhile you must be prepared to leave
+the house when I come to fetch the body.'
+
+"I felt very sick, and buried my face in the pillows.
+
+"'I do not care to go; let me stay here and die.'
+
+"'You must live for my sake,' cried the unhappy girl, clasping my cold
+hand to her heart, and covering it with kisses. 'If you fail me now,
+we are both lost. Dinah would never forgive me for betraying her and
+Moncton. Do you doubt that what I have told you is true?'
+
+"'Not in the least, Alice; but I am so weak and ill--so forsaken and
+unhappy, that I no longer care for the life you offer.'
+
+"'It was the gift of God. You must not throw it away. He may have work
+on the earth which he requires you to do.'
+
+"These words saved me. I no longer hesitated to take the chance she
+offered me, though I entertained small hopes of its success. Yet if
+the hand of Providence was stretched out to rescue me from
+destruction, it was only right for me to yield to its guidance with
+obedient gratitude and praise.
+
+"Alice was about to leave the room: she once more returned to my side.
+
+"'Say that you forgive me, Philip.'
+
+"I folded her in my thin wasted arms, and imprinted a kiss on her
+rigid brow.
+
+"'From my very heart!'
+
+"'God bless you! Philip. I will love and cherish your memory to my
+dying hour.'
+
+"The house-door opened suddenly; she tore herself from my embrace.
+'Dinah is coming--lie quite still--moan often, as if in pain, and
+leave me to manage the rest.'
+
+"She left the chamber, and the door purposely ajar, that I might be
+guided in my conduct by what passed between them.
+
+"'Did he drink it?' whispered the dreadful woman.
+
+"'He did.'
+
+"'And how does it agree with his stomach?' she laughed--her low,
+horrid laugh.
+
+"'As might be expected--he feels _rather_ qualmish.'
+
+"'Ha, ha,!' cried the old fiend, rubbing her withered long hands
+together, 'you came Delilah over him. Our pretty Samson is caught at
+last. Let me see--how long will it be before the poison takes
+effect--about two hours--when did he take it?'
+
+"'About an hour ago. He is almost insensible. Don't you hear him
+groan. The struggle will soon be over.'
+
+"'And then my bonny bird will have no rival to wealth and power. What
+your mother, by her obstinate folly, lost, your wit and prudence, my
+beauty, will regain.'
+
+"This speech of Dinah's was to me perfectly inexplicable. I heard
+Alice sigh deeply, but she did not reply.
+
+"The old woman left the cottage but quickly returned.
+
+"'I want the spade.'
+
+"'You will find it in the out-house; the mattock is there, too; you
+will need it to break the hard ground.'
+
+"'No, no; my arm is strong yet--stronger than you think, for a woman
+of my years. The heavy rain has moistened the earth. The spade will do
+the job; we need not make a deep grave. No one will ever look for him
+there.'
+
+"'The place was always haunted, and it will be doubly so now.'
+
+"'Pshaw! who believes in ghosts. The dead are dead--lost--gone for
+ever; grass springs from them, and their juices go to fatten worms and
+nourish the weeds of the earth. Light me the lantern and I will defy
+all the ghosts and demons in the world; and hark you, Alice, the
+moment he is dead put the body in a sack, and call me to help to drag
+it to the grave. I shall have it ready in no time.'
+
+"'Monster!' I muttered to myself, 'the pit you are preparing for me,
+ere long, may open beneath your own feet.'
+
+"I heard the old woman close the front door after her, and presently
+Alice re-entered my chamber.
+
+"'Well, thank God she is gone on her unholy task. Now, Philip!
+now--lose no time--rise, dress yourself, and get off as fast as you
+can!'
+
+"I endeavoured to obey, but exhausted by long sickness I fell back
+fainting upon the bed.
+
+"'Stay,' said Alice, 'you are weak for the want of nourishment. I will
+get you food and drink.'
+
+"She brought me a glass of port wine, and some sandwiches. I drank the
+wine eagerly, but I could not touch the food. The wine gave me a
+fictitious strength. After making several efforts I was able to rise
+and dress, the excitement of the moment and the hope of escape acting
+as powerful stimulants. I secured all that remained of my small fund
+of money, tied up a change of linen in a pocket-handkerchief, kissed
+the pale girl who stood cold and tearless at my side, and committing
+myself to the care of God, stole out into the dark night.
+
+"I breathed again the fresh air, and my former vigour of mind
+returned. I felt like one just freed from prison, after having had
+sentence of death pronounced against him, I was once more free; I had
+miraculously escaped from death and danger, and silently and fervently
+I offered up a grateful prayer to the Heavenly Father, to whom I was
+indebted for such a signal act of mercy.
+
+"You will think it strange, Geoffrey--the whim of a madman--but I felt
+an insatiable curiosity to witness the interment of my supposed body,
+to see how Alice would carry out the last act of the tragic drama.
+
+"The wish was no sooner formed, than I prepared to carry it into
+execution.
+
+"The yew shrubbery lay at the north end of the cottage, and was
+divided from the road, by a clipped holly hedge. A large yew tree grew
+out of the centre of this hedge, which had been clipped to represent a
+watch tower. Open spaces having been left for loop-holes. Through
+these square green apertures, I had often, when a boy, made war upon
+the blackbirds and sparrows, unseen by my tiny game.
+
+"By creeping close to the hedge, and looking through one of these
+loop-holes, I could observe all that was passing within the shrubbery,
+without being observed by Dinah or Alice. Cautiously stealing along,
+for the night was intensely dark, and guiding my steps by the thick
+hedge, which resembled a massy green wall, I reached the angle where
+it turned off into the park. In this corner stood the green tower I
+was seeking, and climbing softly the gate which led into the spacious
+domain of the Monctons, I stepped upon a stone block used by the
+domestics for mounting horses, and thus raised several feet from the
+ground, I could distinctly observe, through the opening in the tree,
+all that was passing below.
+
+"A faint light directly beneath me, gleamed up in the dense drizzly
+darkness, and shone on the hideous features of that abhorred old
+woman, who was leaning over a shallow grave she had just scooped out
+of the wet dank soil. Her arms rested on the top of the spade, and she
+scowled down into the pit that yawned at her feet, with a smile of
+derision on her thin sarcastic lips.
+
+"'It's deep enough to hide him from the light of day. There's neither
+a shroud nor coffin to take up the room, and he is worn to a skeleton
+by his long sickness. Yes; there let him rest till the judgment-day!
+the worm for his mate and the cold clay for his pillow; I wish the
+same bed held all his accursed race. And his pale-faced, dainty
+mother--where is she? Does her spirit hover near, to welcome her
+darling to the land of dreams?'
+
+"A light step sounded on the narrow path which led from the shrubbery
+to the cottage, accompanied by a dull lumbering sound.
+
+"Dinah raised the lantern from the side of the grave, and held it up
+into the dark night.
+
+"'Alice?'
+
+"'Dinah!'
+
+"'Is he dead?'
+
+"'Yes. Here, lend a hand. The body is dreadfully heavy. I am almost
+killed with dragging it hither.'
+
+"'You did not bring it alone!'
+
+"'Who could I ask to help me? and I was so afraid of discovery, I
+dared not leave it to come for you.'
+
+"The old woman put down the light, and went to help her granddaughter.
+
+"'Let us roll the body into the grave, mother.'
+
+"'Not yet--I must look at him.'
+
+"'He makes a dreadful corpse.'
+
+"'Death is no flatterer, child. Hold up the light.'
+
+"'No, no!--You must not--you shall not triumph over him now. Let the
+dead rest, I dare not look upon that blue cold face, those staring
+eyes again.'
+
+"'Who wants you, foolish child? I wish to satisfy myself that my enemy
+is dead.'
+
+"A scuffle ensued, in which the light was extinguished, and the
+supposed body rolled heavily over into the grave.
+
+"'Oh, mother, mother! the light is out, and we're alone with the
+corpse in this dreadful darkness.'
+
+"'Nonsense! how timid you are! Go back to the house, and re-light the
+candle.'
+
+"'I dare not go alone.'
+
+"'Then let me go?'
+
+"'And leave me with him? Oh, not for worlds. Mother, mother! I hear
+him moving in the grave. He is going to rise and drag me down into it.
+Look--look! I see his eyes glaring in the dark hole. There,
+mother--there!'
+
+"'Curse you for a weak fool! You make even my flesh creep.'
+
+"'Cover it up--cover it up!' cried Alice, pushing with her hands and
+feet some of the loose earth into the grave. 'That ghastly face will
+rise and condemn us at the Last Day. It will haunt me as long as I
+live. Oh, 'tis terrible, terrible, to feel the stain of blood on your
+soul, and to know that all the waters of the great ocean could never
+wash it out.'
+
+"'I will go home with you, Alice, and return and close the grave
+myself,' said Dinah, in a determined tone. 'If you stay here much
+longer, you will make me as great a coward as yourself.'
+
+"I heard the sound of their retreating steps, and leaving my place of
+concealment, slowly pursued my way to the next village. Entering a
+small tavern, I asked for a supper and a bed. The innkeeper and his
+wife were both known to me, but I was so much altered by sickness that
+they did not recognize me. After taking a cup of tea, I retired to
+rest, and was so overcome by mental and bodily fatigue, that I slept
+soundly until noon the next day, when I breakfasted, and took a seat
+in the mail coach for London.
+
+"During my journey I calmly pondered over my situation, and formed a
+plan for the future, future, which I lost no time in putting into
+practice.
+
+"From what had fallen from the lips of Alice, I was convinced that
+some mystery was connected with my birth, and the only means which I
+could devise to fathom it, was to gain more insight into the character
+and private history of Robert Moncton.
+
+"At times the thought would present itself to my mind that this man
+might be my father. My mother was a strange creature--a woman whose
+moral principles could not have ranked very high. I scarcely knew,
+from my own experience, whether she possessed any--at all events I
+determined to get a place in his office, if possible, and wait
+patiently until something should turn up, which might satisfy my
+doubts, and expose the tissue of villainy which an untoward destiny
+had woven around me. While at college, I had gained an extensive
+knowledge in the jurisprudence of my country--in which I took great
+delight, and which I had intended to follow as a profession; when,
+unfortunately, the death of Mr. Mornington rendered me an independent
+man. At school I had learned to write all sorts of hands, and could
+engross with great beauty and accuracy.
+
+"As a man, I was personally unknown to Robert Moncton, whom I never
+beheld but once, and for a few minutes only, when a boy, and time and
+sickness had so altered me, that it was not very likely that he would
+recognize me again.
+
+"Two years previous to the time of which I am now speaking, I had
+saved the eldest son of Mr. Moncton's head clerk from drowning, at the
+risk of my own life. Mr. Bassett was overwhelming in his expressions
+of gratitude, and as to his poor little wife, she never mentioned the
+circumstance with dry eyes. The boy, who was about ten years of age,
+was a very noble, handsome little fellow, and I often walked to their
+humble lodgings to see him and his good parents, who always received
+me with the most lively demonstrations of joy.
+
+"To these good people I determined to apply for advice and assistance.
+Fortunately my application was made in a lucky moment. Mr. Bassett was
+about to leave your uncle's office, and he strongly recommended me to
+his old master, as a person well known to him; of excellent character,
+and who was every way competent to fill his place.
+
+"I was accepted. You know the rest."
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Our friendship, dear Geoffrey," said Harrison, concluding the
+narrative of his life, "rendered my situation far from irksome, while
+it enabled me to earn a respectable living. At present, I have learned
+little which can throw any additional light upon my sad history. Alice
+Mornington still lives, and is about to become a mother. Theophilus,
+the dastardly author of her wrongs, is playing the lover to the
+beautiful Catherine Lee, who is a ward of his father's.
+
+"From the conversation which passed between Dinah North and Mr.
+Moncton in your chamber, I suspect that my poor Alice is less guilty
+than she appears. Dinah has some deeper motive than merely obliging
+Robert Moncton, in wishing to make you illegitimate. I feel confident
+that this story has been recently got up, and is an infamous
+falsehood. If true, you would have heard of it before, and I advise
+you to leave no stone unturned to frustrate their wicked conspiracy."
+
+"But what can I do?" said I. "I have neither money nor friends; and my
+uncle will take precious good care that no one in this city shall give
+me employment."
+
+"Go to Sir Alexander. He expressed an interest in your situation. Tell
+him the story of your wrongs, and, depend upon it, he will not turn a
+deaf ear to your complaint. I know that he hates both father and son,
+and will befriend you to oppose and thwart them."
+
+My heart instantly caught at this proposal.
+
+"I will go!" I cried. "But I want the means."
+
+"I can supply you with the necessary funds," said George Harrison--for
+I must still call him by his old name. "And my offer is not wholly
+disinterested. Perhaps, Geoffrey, you may be the means of reconciling
+your friend to his old benefactor. But this must be done cautiously.
+Dinah North must not know that I am alive. Her ignorance of this fact
+places this wicked woman in our power, and may hereafter force her to
+reveal what we want to know."
+
+I promised implicit obedience to these injunctions, and thanked him
+warmly for his confidence and advice. His story had made a deep
+impression on my mind. I longed to serve him. Indeed, I had become
+very warmly attached to him; regarding him in the light of a beloved
+brother.
+
+In a fortnight, I was able to walk abroad, and was quite impatient to
+undertake my Yorkshire journey. Harrison was engaged as a writer in
+the office of a respectable solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and we
+promised to correspond regularly with each other during my absence. He
+generously divided with me the little money he possessed, and bidding
+God bless and prosper my journey, bade me farewell. I mounted the York
+stage, and for the first time in my life, bade adieu to London and its
+environs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MY VISIT TO MONCTON PARK.
+
+
+It was a fine, warm, balmy evening in May--green delicious May. With
+what delight I gazed abroad upon the face of Nature. Every scene was
+new to me, and awakened feelings of curiosity and pleasure.
+
+Just out of a sick-bed, and after having been confined for weeks in a
+dusky, badly-ventilated and meanly-furnished garret, my heart actually
+bounded with rapture, and, I drank in health and hope from the fresh
+breeze which swept the hair from my pale brow and hollow cheeks.
+
+Ah, glorious Nature! beautiful, purest of all that is pure and holy!
+Thou visible perfection of the invisible God. I was young then, and
+now am old, but never did I find a genuine love of thee, dwelling in
+the heart of a deceitful, wicked man. To love thee, we must adore the
+God who made thee; and however sin may defile what originally He
+pronounced good, when we return with child-like simplicity to thy
+breast, we find the happiness and peace which a loving parent can
+alone bestow.
+
+Nothing remarkable occurred during my journey. The coach in due time
+deposited me at the gates of the Lodge, in which my poor friend
+Harrison had first seen the light. An involuntary shudder ran through
+me, when I recognized old Dinah North, standing within the porch of
+the cottage.
+
+She instantly knew me, and drew back with a malignant scowl.
+
+Directing the coachman to leave my portmanteau at the village inn
+until called for, I turned up the broad avenue of oaks that led to the
+Hall.
+
+The evening was calm and lovely. The nightingale was pouring his first
+love-song to the silent dewy groves. The perfume of the primrose and
+violet made every swelling knoll redolent of sweets. I paused often,
+during my walk, to admire the beauty of a scene so new to me. Those
+noble hills and vales; that bright-sweeping river; those towering
+woods, just bursting into verdure, and that princely mansion, rising
+proudly into the blue air--all would be mine, could I but vindicate my
+mother's honour, and prove to the world that I was the offspring of
+lawful wedlock.
+
+I felt no doubt myself upon the subject. Truth may be obscured for a
+while, but cannot long remain hid. The innate consciousness of my
+mother's moral rectitude never for a moment left my mind--a proud
+conviction of her innocence, which, I was certain, time would make
+clear.
+
+Full of these reflections, I approached the Hall. It was an
+old-fashioned building, which had been created during the wars of York
+and Lancaster, now venerable with the elemental war of ages, and might
+in its day have stood the shock of battle and siege. It was a fine old
+place, and associated as it was with the history of the past sent a
+thrill of almost superstitious awe through my heart.
+
+For upwards of three hundred years it had been the birth-place of my
+family. Here they had lived and flourished as Lords of the soil; here,
+too, most of them had died, and been gathered into one common
+burial-place, in the vault of the picturesque gothic church, which
+stood embosomed in trees not far from the old feudal mansion.
+
+And I, the rightful heir of the demesne, with a soul as large,--with
+heart and hand equal to do and dare, all that they in their day and
+generation had accomplished--approached the old home, poor and
+friendless, with a stigma upon the good name, which legally I might
+never be able to efface.
+
+But, courage, Geoffrey Moncton! He who first added the appendage of
+Sir to that name, rode among the victors at the battle of Cressy, and
+the war-shout of one of his descendants rang out defiantly on the
+bloody field of Agincourt! Why need you despair? England wants
+soldiers yet, and if you fail in establishing your claims to that name
+and its proud memories, win one, as others have done before you, at
+the cannon's mouth.
+
+I sent up my card, which gained me instant admittance. I was shown
+into the library, which Harrison had so often described. A noble old
+room panelled to the ceiling, with carved oak now almost black with
+age. Here I found the Baronet engaged with his daughter in a game at
+chess. He rose to meet me with evident marks of pleasure, and
+introduced me to Miss Moncton, as a young cousin, in whom he felt much
+interested, and one with whom he hoped to see her better acquainted.
+
+With a soft blush, and a smile of inexpressible sweetness, the little
+fairy, for she was almost as diminutive in stature, bade me welcome.
+
+Her face, though very pleasing, was neither striking nor beautiful. It
+was, however, exquisitely feminine, and beaming with intelligence,
+dignity and truth. Her large, dark, soul-lighted eyes were singularly
+beautiful. Her complexion, too fair and pale for health; the rich
+ruby-coloured full lips and dazzling teeth, forming a painful contrast
+with the pure white cheeks, shaded by a dark cloud of raven tresses,
+which, parting on either side of her lofty brow, flowed in rich curls
+down her snowy neck, and over her marble shoulders to her waist.
+
+Her figure in miniature comprised all that was graceful and lovely in
+woman; and her frank, unsophisticated manners rendered her, in spite
+of a faulty mouth, very attractive.
+
+After exchanging a few sentences, Miss Moncton withdrew, and I lost no
+time in explaining to her father the cause of my visit; the manner in
+which I had been treated by my uncle, my recent illness, and the utter
+friendlessness of my position. "You told me, sir, to come to you at
+any crisis of difficulty, for advice and assistance. I have done so,
+and shall feel most grateful for your counsels in the present
+emergency. I am willing and able to work for my bread; I only want an
+opening to be made in order to get my own living."
+
+"Your profession, Geoffrey; why not stick to that?"
+
+"Most gladly would I do so, had not Robert Moncton put the finishing
+stroke to his tyranny, by tearing my indentures, and by this malicious
+act destroyed the labour of seven years."
+
+"The scoundrel! the mean, cowardly scoundrel!" cried Sir Alexander,
+striking the table with such violence with his clenched hand, that
+kings, queens, knights, bishops and commoners made a general movement
+to the other side of the chess-board. "Never mind, Geoffrey, my boy,
+give me your hand--I will be your friend. I will restore you to your
+rights, if it costs me the last shilling in my purse--ay, or the last
+drop in my veins. Let the future for a short time take care of itself.
+Make this your home; look upon me as your father, and we shall yet
+live to see this villain reap the reward of his evil deeds."
+
+"Generous, noble man!" I cried, while tears of joy and gratitude
+rolled down my cheeks: "how can I ever hope to repay you for such
+disinterested goodness?"
+
+"By never alluding to the subject, Geoffrey. Give me back the love
+your father once felt for me, and I shall be more than repaid.
+Besides, my lad, I am neither so good nor so disinterested as you give
+me credit for. I detest, despise that uncle of yours, and I know the
+best way to annoy him is to befriend you, and get you safe out of his
+villainous clutches. This is hardly doing as I would be done by, but I
+can't help it. No one blames another for taking a fly out of a
+spider's web, when the poor devil is shrieking for help, although he
+be the spider's lawful prey; but who does not applaud a man for
+rescuing his fellow man from the grasp of a scoundrel! By-the-by,
+Geoffrey," added he, "have you dined?"
+
+"At the last inn we stopped at on the road."
+
+"The Hart; a place not very famous for good cheer. Their beef is
+generally as hard as their deer's horns. Let me order up
+refreshments."
+
+"By no means. You forget, Sir Alexander, that of late I have not been
+much used to good living. The friend on whose charity I have been
+boarding is a poor fellow like myself."
+
+"Well, we must have our chat over a glass of old wine."
+
+He rang the bell. The wine was soon placed upon the table, and most
+excellent wine it proved. I was weak from my long confinement to a
+sick chamber, and tired with my long journey; I never enjoyed a glass
+of wine so much in my life.
+
+"What do you think of Moncton, Geoffrey?"
+
+"It is a glorious old place."
+
+"Wish it were yours--don't you? Confess the truth, now."
+
+"Some fifty years hence," said I, laughing.
+
+"You would then be too old to enjoy it, Geoffrey; but wait patiently
+God's good time, and it may be yours yet. There was a period in my
+life," and he sighed a long, deep, regretful sigh, "when I hoped that
+a son of mine would be master here, but as that cannot be, I am doomed
+to leave no male heir to my name and title, I know no one whom I would
+rather see in the old place than my cousin Edward's son."
+
+"Your attachment to my father must have been great, when, after so
+many years, you extend it to his son."
+
+"Yes, Geoffrey, I loved that wild, mad-cap father of yours better than
+I ever loved any man; but I suffered one rash action to separate
+hearts formed by nature to understand and appreciate each other. You
+are not acquainted with this portion of the family history. Pass the
+bottle this way, and I will enlighten your ignorance."
+
+"When your grandfather, in the plenitude of his worldly wisdom (for he
+had a deal of the fox in his character), left the guardianship of his
+sons to his aged father, it was out of no respect for the old
+gentleman, whom had cast him off rather unceremoniously, when his
+plebeian tastes led him to prefer being a rich citizen, rather than a
+poor gentleman; but he found, that though he amassed riches, he had
+lost caste, and he hoped by this act to restore his sons, for whom he
+had acquired wealth, to their proper position in society.
+
+"My grandfather, Sir Robert, grumbled a good deal at being troubled
+with the guardianship of the lads in his old age. But when he saw
+those youthful scions of his old house, he was so struck with their
+beauty and talents, that from that hour they held an equal place in
+his affections with myself, the only child of his eldest son, and heir
+to his estates.
+
+"I was an extravagant, reckless young fellow of eighteen, when my
+cousins first came to live at Moncton; and I hailed their advent with
+delight. Edward, I told you before, had been an old chum of mine at
+school; and when Robert was placed in a lawyer's office, he
+accompanied me to college to finish my education. He was intended to
+fill his father's place in the mercantile world, but he had little
+talent or inclination for such a life. All his tastes were decidedly
+aristocratic, and I fear that my expensive and dissipated habits
+operated unfavourably on his open, generous, social disposition.
+
+"With a thousand good qualities, and possessing excellent qualities,
+Edward Moncton was easily led astray by the bad example of others. He
+was a fine musician, had an admirable voice, a brilliant wit, and
+great fluency of speech, which can scarcely be called advantageous
+gifts, to those who don't know how to make a proper use of them. He
+was the life of the society in which we moved, courted and admired
+wherever he went, and a jolly time we had of it, I can tell you, in
+those classical abodes of learning, and frequently of sin.
+
+"Edward gave me his whole heart, and I loved him with the most entire
+affection. But, though I saw that my example acted most perniciously
+on his easy disposition, I wanted the moral courage to give up a
+course of gaiety, in order to save him from ruin.
+
+"Poor Edward!--I would give worlds to recall the past. But the bad
+seed was sown, and in time we reaped the bitter fruits.
+
+"With all my faults, I was never a gambler; women, wine, and
+extravagant living, were my chief derelictions from the paths of
+rectitude. But even while yielding to these temptations, I was neither
+an habitual drunkard nor a profligate, though I frequented haunts,
+where both characters were constantly found, and ranked many such men
+among my chosen friends and associates. My moral guilt, was perhaps as
+great as theirs; for it is vain for a man to boast of his not being
+intemperate, because nature has furnished him with nerves which enable
+him to drink, in defiance to reason, quantities which would deprive
+the larger portion of men of their senses.
+
+"Your father thought, boy like (for he was full three years my
+junior), to prove his title to manhood by following closely in my
+steps, and too soon felt the evil effects of such a leader. He wasted
+his health in debauchery, and wine maddened him. The gaming-table held
+out its allurements, he wanted fortitude to resist its temptation, and
+was the loser to a considerable amount. He kept this a secret from me.
+He was a minor, and he feared that it might reach my grandfather's
+ears, and that Sir Robert would stop the supplies, until his debts
+were paid. I heard of it through a mutual friend, and very
+consistently imagined the crime far greater than any that I had
+committed.
+
+"The night before we left college, I followed him to his favourite
+rendezvous, held in the rooms of a certain young nobleman, unknown to
+the authorities, where students who were known to belong to wealthy
+parents, met to play hazard and ecarte, and lose more money at a
+sitting, than could be replaced by the economy of years.
+
+"I was not one of Lord ----'s clique, and I sent my card to Edward by
+a friend, requesting to speak to him on a matter of importance. After
+some delay, he came out to me. He was not pleased at being disturbed,
+and was much flushed with wine.
+
+"'What do you want, Alick?' said he, in no very gentle tones.
+
+"'I want you to come and help me prepare for our journey to-morrow.'
+
+"'There will be plenty of time for that, by-and-by. I am engaged, and
+don't choose to be dictated to like a school-boy.'
+
+"'You are mad,' said I, taking hold of his arm, 'to go there at all.
+Those fellows will cheat you out of every penny you have.'
+
+"'That's my own look-out. I tell you once for all, Alick, I don't
+choose you to ride rough-shod over me, because you fancy yourself
+superior. I will do as I please. I have lost a deal of money to-night,
+and I mean to play on until I win it back.'
+
+"You will only lose more. You are not in a fit state to deal with
+sharpers. You are so tipsy now, you can hardly stand.'
+
+"As I said this, I put my arm around him to lead him away, when he,
+maddened I suppose by drink and his recent losses, burst from me, and
+turning sharp round, struck me a violent blow on the face. 'Let that
+satisfy you, whether I am drunk or sober,' he exclaimed, and with a
+bitter laugh, returned to the party he had quitted.
+
+"Geoffrey, I felt that blow in my heart. The disgrace was little in
+comparison to the consciousness that it came from his hand--the hand
+of the friend I loved. I could have returned the injury with ten-fold
+interest; but I did nothing of the sort. I stood looking after him
+with dim eyes and a swelling heart, repeating to myself--
+
+"'Is it possible that Edward struck me?'
+
+"That blow, however, achieved a great moral reformation. It led me to
+think--to examine my past life, and to renounce for ever those
+follies, which I now felt were debasing to both soul and body, and
+unworthy the pursuit of any rational creature.
+
+"The world expected me, as a gentleman, to ask satisfaction of Edward
+for the insult I had received.
+
+"I set the, world and its false laws at defiance.
+
+"I returned to my lodgings and wrote him a brief note, telling him
+that I forgave him, and gently remonstrating with him on the violence
+of his conduct.
+
+"Instead of answering, or apologizing for what he had done, he
+listened to the advice of a pack of senseless idiots, who denounced me
+as a coward, and lauded his rash act to the skies.
+
+"To seek a reconciliation, would be to lose his independence, they
+said, and prove to the world that he had been in the wrong. I, on my
+part, was too proud to solicit his friendship, and left London before
+the effort of mutual friends had effected a change in his feelings.
+
+"Perhaps, as the injurer, he never forgave me for being the originator
+of the quarrel: be that as it may, we never met again. My grandfather
+died shortly after. I formed an unfortunate attachment to a person far
+beneath me in rank, and but for the horror of entailing upon myself
+her worthless mother, would certainly have made her my wife. To avoid
+falling into this snare, I went abroad for several years, and
+ultimately married a virtuous and lovely woman, and became a happy
+husband and father, and I hope a better man."
+
+The Baronet ceased speaking for a few minutes, then said with a half
+smile.
+
+"Geoffrey, men are sad fools. After losing that angel, I came very
+near marrying my old flame, who was a widow at the time, and as
+handsome as ever. She died most opportunely, I am now convinced, for
+my comfort and respectability, and I gave up all idea of taking a
+second wife."
+
+This account tallied exactly with Harrison's story, which had given me
+a key to the Baronet's history. I inquired, rather anxiously, if he
+and my father remained unreconciled up to the period of his death.
+
+"'I wrote to him frequently, Geoffrey,' he replied, 'when time had
+healed the wound he inflicted on my heart, but he never condescended
+to reply to any of my communications. I have since thought that he
+_did_ write, and that his brother Robert, who was always jealous
+of our friendship, destroyed the letters. I assure you, that this
+unnatural estrangement formed one of the saddest events in my life;
+and for the love I still bear his memory, I will never desert his
+orphan son.'"
+
+I thanked the worthy Baronet again and again, for the generous
+treatment I had received from him, and we parted at a late hour,
+mutually pleased with each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A SAD EVENT.
+
+
+A few weeks' residence found me quite at home at the Hall. My
+new-found relatives treated me with the affectionate familiarity which
+exists between old and long-tried friends. I ceased to feel myself the
+despised _poor relation_; a creature rarely loved and always in the
+way, expected to be the recipient of all the kicks and cuffs of the
+family to whom his ill-fortune has made him an attache, and to return
+the base coin with smiles and flattering speeches.
+
+Of all lots in this hard world, the hardest to bear must be that of a
+domestic drudge; war, war to the knife is better than such humiliating
+servitude. I could neither fawn nor cringe, and the Baronet, who was a
+high-spirited man himself, loved me for my independence.
+
+The summer had just commenced. No hunting, no shooting to while away
+an idle hour. But Sir Alexander was as fond of old Izaak Walton's
+gentle craft, as that accomplished piscator, and we often rose at
+early dawn to stroll through the dewy pastures to the stream which
+crossed the park, which abounded with trout, and I soon became an
+excellent angler, hooking my fish in the most scientific manner.
+
+When the days were not propitious for our sport, I accompanied Sir
+Alexander in his rides, in visiting his model farms, examining the
+progress of his crops, the making of hay, the improved breeds of sheep
+and cattle, and all such healthy and rural employments, in which he
+took a patriarchal delight.
+
+Margaretta generally accompanied us on these expeditions. She was an
+excellent equestrian, and managed her high-bred roan with much skill
+and ease, never disturbing the pleasure of the ride by nervous or
+childish fears.
+
+"Madge is a capital rider!" would the old Baronet exclaim. "I taught
+her myself. There is no affectation--no show-off airs in her riding.
+She does that as she does everything else, in a quiet, natural way."
+
+The enjoyment of our country life was seldom disturbed by visitors.
+All the great folks were in London; the beauties of nature possessing
+far less attractions for them than the sophisticated gaieties of the
+season in town. If his youth had been dissipated, Sir Alexander
+courted retirement in age, and was perfectly devoted to the quiet
+happiness of a domestic life.
+
+Margaretta, who shared all his tastes, and whose presence appeared
+necessary to his existence, had spent one season in London, but cared
+so little for the pleasures of the metropolis, that she resisted the
+urgent entreaties of her female friends to accompany them to town a
+second time.
+
+"I hate London, Cousin Geoffrey. There is no room in its crowded
+scenes for nature and truth. Every one seems intent upon acting a lie,
+and living in defiance of their reason and better feelings. I never
+could feel at home there. I mistrusted myself and every one else, and
+never knew what true happiness was, until I returned to the unaffected
+simplicity of a country life."
+
+These sentiments were fully reciprocated by me, who had passed, within
+the smoky walls of the huge metropolis the most unhappy period of my
+life.
+
+Same hours, every day, were devoted by Sir Alexander to business,
+during which he was closely closeted with Mr. Hilton, his steward, and
+to disturb him at such times was regarded by him as an act of high
+treason.
+
+During these hours, Margaretta and I were left to amuse ourselves in
+the best manner we could. She was a fine pianist. I had inherited my
+father's passion for music, and was never tired of listening to her
+while she played. If the weather was unfavourable for a ride or stroll
+in the Park, I read aloud to her, while she painted groups of flowers
+from nature, for which she had an exquisite taste. The time fled away
+only too fast, and this mingling of amusement and mental occupation
+was very delightful to me, whose chief employment for years had been
+confined to musty parchments in a dull, dark office.
+
+Our twilight rambles through the glades of the beautiful park, at that
+witching hour when both eye and heart are keenly alive to sights and
+sounds of beauty, possessed for me the greatest charm.
+
+I loved--but only as a brother loves--the dear, enthusiastic girl, who
+leaned so confidingly on my arm, whose glorious eyes, lighted up from
+the very fountain of passion and feeling, were raised to mine as if to
+kindle in my breast the fire of genius which emanated from her own.
+
+Her vivid imagination, fostered in solitude, seized upon everything
+bright and beautiful in nature, and made it her own.
+
+    "The lips of song burst open
+    And the words of fire rushed out."
+
+At such moments it was impossible to regard Margaretta with
+indifference. I could have loved, nay, adored, had not my mind been
+preoccupied with a fairer image.
+
+Margaretta was too great a novice in affairs of the heart, to notice
+the guarded coolness of my homage. My society afforded her great
+pleasure, and she wanted the common-place tact of her sex to disguise
+it from me.
+
+Dear, lovely, confiding Margaretta, how beautiful does your simple
+truth and disinterested affection appear, as I look back through the
+long vista of years, and find in the world so few who resemble thee!
+
+Towards the close of a hot day in June we visited the fragrant fields
+of new-mown hay, and Margaretta tired herself by chasing a pair of
+small, coquettish blue butterflies, who hovered along the hedge, which
+bounded the dusty highway, like living gems, and not succeeding in
+capturing the shy things, she proposed leaving the road, and returning
+home through the Park.
+
+"With all my heart," said I. "We will rest under your favourite beech,
+while you, dear Madge, sing with your sweet voice, the
+
+    "Drowsy world to rest."
+
+We crossed a stile, and entered one of the broad, green arcades of the
+glorious old Park.
+
+For some time we reposed upon the velvet sward, beneath Margaretta's
+favourite tree. The slanting red beams of the setting sun scarcely
+forced their way through the thickly interlaced boughs of the forest.
+The sparkling wavelets of the river ran brawling at our feet, fighting
+their way among the sharp rocks that opposed a barrier to their
+downward course. We bathed our temples in the cool, clear waters.
+Margaretta forgot the dusty road, the independent blue butterflies,
+and her recent fatigue.
+
+"There is no music after all like the music of nature, Geoffrey," she
+said, untying her straw bonnet, and throwing it on the grass beside
+her, while she shook a shower of glossy black ringlets back from her
+small oval face.
+
+"Not that it is the instrument, but the soul that breathes through it,
+which makes the music. And Nature, pouring her soul into these waves,
+and stirring with her plaintive sighs these branches above us, awakens
+sounds which find an echo in the heart of all her children, who remain
+true to the teachings of the divine mother." Then turning suddenly to
+me, she said, "Geoffrey, do you sing?"
+
+"To please myself. I play upon the flute much better than I sing.
+During the last half year I remained with my uncle I took lessons of
+an excellent master, and having a good ear, and being passionately
+fond of music, I gained considerable proficiency. I had been an
+amateur performer for years."
+
+"And you never told me one word of this before."
+
+"I did not wish to display all my trifling stock of accomplishments at
+once," said I, with a smile. "Those who possess but little are wise to
+reserve a small portion of what they have. You shall test its value
+the next rainy day."
+
+"In the absence of the flute, Geoffrey, you must give me a song. A
+song that harmonizes with this witching hour and holiday time o' the
+year."
+
+"Then it must necessarily be a love song," said I; "youth and spring
+being the best adapted to inspire the joyousness of love."
+
+"Call not love joyous, Geoffrey; it is a sad and fearful thing to
+love. Love that is sincere is a hidden emotion of the heart; it
+shrinks from vain laughter, and is most eloquent when silent, or only
+revealed by tears."
+
+I started, and turned an anxious gaze upon her pale, spiritual face.
+
+What right had I to be jealous of her? I who was devoted to another.
+Yet jealous I was, and answered rather pettishly:
+
+"You talk feelingly, fair cousin, as if you had experienced the
+passion you describe. Have you tasted the bitter sadness of
+disappointed love?"
+
+"I did not say that." And she blushed deeply. "You chose to infer it."
+
+I did not reply. The image of Harrison rose in my mind. For the first
+time I saw a strong likeness between them. Such a likeness as is often
+found between persons who strongly assimilate--whose feelings, tastes,
+and pursuits are the same.
+
+Was it possible that she had loved him? I was anxious to find out if
+my suspicions were true; and without any prelude or apology commenced
+singing a little air that Harrison had taught me, both music and words
+being his own.
+
+    SONG.
+
+    I loved you long and tenderly,
+      I urged my suit with tears;
+    But coldly and disdainfully
+      You crushed the hope of years.
+    I gazed upon your glowing cheek,
+      I met your flashing eye;
+    The words I strove in vain to, speak
+      Were smothered in a sigh.
+
+    I swore to love you faithfully,
+      Till death should bid us part;
+    But proudly and reproachfully,
+      You spurned a loyal heart.
+    Despair is bold--you turned away,
+      And wished we ne'er had met,
+    Through many a long and weary day
+      That parting haunts me yet.
+
+    Nor think that chilling apathy,
+      Can passion's tide repress--
+    Ah, no! with fond idolatry,
+      I would not love thee less.
+    Your image meets me in the crowd,
+      Like some fair beam of light,
+    That bursting through its sombre cloud
+      Makes glad the brow of night.
+
+    Then turn my hard captivity,
+      Nor let me sue in vain,
+    Whilst with unshaken constancy,
+      I seek your feet again.
+    One smile of thine can cheer the heart,
+      That only beats to be
+    United, ne'er again to part--
+      My life! my soul!--from thee.
+
+I sang my best, and was accounted by all the young men of my
+acquaintance, to have a fine manly voice. But I was not rewarded by a
+single word or encouraging smile.
+
+Margaretta's head was bowed upon her hands, and tears were streaming
+fast through her slender fingers.
+
+"Margaret, dearest Margaret!" for in speaking to her, I always dropped
+the Italianized termination of her name. "Are you ill. Do speak to
+me."
+
+She still continued to weep.
+
+"I wish I had not sung that foolish song."
+
+"It was only sung too well, Geoffrey." And she slowly raised her head
+and put back the hair from her brow. "Ah, what sad, what painful
+recollections does that song call up. But with these, you have nothing
+to do. I will not ask you how you became acquainted with that air; but
+I request as a great favour, that you will never sing or play it to me
+again."
+
+She relapsed into silence, which I longed to break but did not know
+how. At length she rose from the bank on which we had been seated,
+resumed her bonnet, and expressed a wish to return to the Hall.
+
+"The night has closed in very fast," said she, "or is the gloom
+occasioned by the shadow of the trees?"
+
+"It is only a few minutes past seven," I replied, looking at my watch.
+"The hay-makers have not yet left their work." We had followed the
+course of the stream, on our homeward path, and now emerged into an
+open space in the Park. The sudden twilight which had descended upon
+us was caused by a heavy pile of thunder clouds which hung frowning
+over the woods, and threatened to overtake us before we could reach
+the Hall.
+
+"How still and deep the waters lie," said Margaretta. "There is not a
+breath of wind to ruffle them or stir the trees. The awful stillness
+which precedes a storm inspires me with more dread, than when it
+launches forth with all its terrific powers."
+
+"Hark! There's the first low peal of thunder, and the trees are all
+trembling and shivering in the electric blast which follows it. How
+sublimely beautiful, is this magnificent war of elements."
+
+"It is very true, dear cousin, but if you stand gazing at the clouds,
+we shall both get wet."
+
+"Geoffrey," said Margaretta, laughing, "there is nothing poetical
+about you."
+
+"I have been used to the commonest prose all my life, Madge. But here
+we are at the fishing-house: we had better stow ourselves away with
+your father's nets and tackles until this heavy shower is over."
+
+No sooner said than done. We crossed a rustic bridge which spanned the
+stream, and ascending a flight of stone steps, reached a small
+rough-cast building, open in front, with a bench running round three
+sides of it, and a rude oak table in the middle, which was covered
+with fishing-rods, nets, and other tackle belonging to the gentle
+craft.
+
+From this picturesque shed Sir Alexander, in wet weather, could follow
+his favourite sport, as the river ran directly below, and it was
+considered the best spot for angling, the water expanding here into a
+deep still pool, much frequented by the finny tribes.
+
+We were both soon seated in the ivy-covered porch, the honey-suckle
+hanging its perfumed tassels, dripping with the rain, above our heads,
+while the clematis and briar-rose gave out to the shower a double
+portion of delicate incense.
+
+The scene was in unison with Margaretta's poetical temperament. She
+enjoyed it with her whole heart; her beautiful eyes brimful of love
+and adoration.
+
+The landscape varied every moment. Now all was black and lowering;
+lightnings pierced with their arrowy tongues the heavy foliage of the
+frowning woods, and loud peals of thunder reverberated among the
+distant hills; and now a solitary sunbeam struggled through a rift in
+the heavy cloud, and lighted up the gloomy scene with a smile of
+celestial beauty.
+
+Margaretta suddenly grasped my arm; I followed the direction of her
+eye, and beheld a tall female figure, dressed in deep mourning, pacing
+too and fro on the bridge we had just crossed. Her long hair,
+unconfined by cap or bandage, streamed in wild confusion round her wan
+and wasted features, and regardless of the pelting of the pitiless
+storm, she continued to hurry backwards and forwards, throwing her
+hands into the air, and striking her breast like one possessed.
+
+"Who is she?" I whispered.
+
+"The wreck of all that once was beautiful," sighed Margaretta, "It is
+Alice Mornington, the daughter of one of my father's tenants."
+
+"Alice Mornington! Good Heavens! is that poor mad woman Alice
+Mornington?"
+
+Margaretta looked surprised.
+
+"Do you know this poor girl?"
+
+I felt that I had nearly betrayed myself, and stammered out, "Not
+personally; I know something of her private history, which I heard
+accidentally before I came here."
+
+"Geoffrey, no sister ever loved another more devotedly than I loved
+that poor girl--than I love her still. After she forsook the path of
+virtue, my father forbade me having the least intercourse with her. My
+heart bleeds to see her thus. I cannot stand calmly by and witness her
+misery. Stay here, while I go and speak to her."
+
+With noiseless tread she glided down the stone steps, and gained the
+bridge. The quick eye of the maniac (for such she appeared to be)
+however, had detected the movement, and with a loud shriek she flung
+herself into the water.
+
+To spring to the bank, to plunge into the stream, and as she rose to
+the surface, to bear the wretched girl to the shore, was but the work
+of a moment. Brief as the time was that had elapsed between the rash
+act and her rescue, she was already insensible, and with some
+difficulty I succeeded in carrying her up the steep steps to the
+fishing-house. It was some seconds before suspended animation
+returned, and when at length the large blue eyes unclosed, Alice awoke
+to consciousness on the bosom of the fond and weeping Margaretta.
+
+"Oh, Miss Moncton!" sobbed the poor girl, "why did you save me--why
+did you recall me to a life of misery--why did you not let me die,
+when the agony of death was already over?"
+
+"Dear Alice!" said Margaret, soothingly, "what tempted you to drown
+yourself?"
+
+"I was driven to desperation by the neglect and cruelty of those whom
+I love best on earth."
+
+"Do not reproach me, dear Alice," said Margaret, almost choking with
+emotion. "It is not in my nature to desert those I love. My heart has
+been with you in all your sorrows, but I dared not disobey my father."
+
+"Oh, Miss Moncton, it was not of you I spoke. I could not expect you
+to countenance one whom the whole neighbourhood joined to condemn. If
+others had only treated me half as well, I should not have been
+reduced to such straits."
+
+"Alice, you must not stay here in this sad state. You will get your
+death. Lean on my arm. I will take you home."
+
+"Home! I have no home. I dare not go home. _She_ is there! and she
+will taunt me with this, and drive me mad again."
+
+"Then come to the Hall, Alice; I will talk to you there, and no one
+shall hear us but your own Margaret."
+
+"God bless you! Miss Moncton, for all your kindness. It would, indeed,
+be a great relief to tell you all the grief which fills my heart. Yes,
+I will go with you to-night. The morrow may take care of the things
+which belong to it. Now, or never. There may be no to-morrow on earth
+for me."
+
+"Cheer up, poor heart! There may be happiness in store for you yet,"
+said Margaret.
+
+"For me?" and Alice looked up with an incredulous smile; so sad, so
+dreary, it was enough to make you weep, that wild glance passing over
+her wan features. "Oh, never again for me."
+
+She suffered herself to be led between us to the Hall; Margaret
+directing me by a path which led through the gardens to a private
+entrance at the back of the house. Alice was completely exhausted by
+her former violence. I had to put my arm round her slender waist, to
+support her up the marble stair-case. I left her with Margaret, at her
+chamber-door, and retired to my own apartment, to change my wet
+clothes.
+
+Miss Moncton did not come down to tea.
+
+Sir Alexander was in the fidgets about her. "Where's Madge? What the
+deuce is the matter with the girl? She went out with you, Geoffrey, as
+fresh as a lark. I will hold you responsible for her non-appearance."
+
+I thought it best to relate what had happened. He looked very grave.
+
+"A sad business! A very sad business! I wish Madge would keep her
+hands clear of that girl. I am sorry for her, too. But you know,
+Geoffrey, we cannot set the opinion of the world entirely at defiance.
+And what a man can do with impunity, a young lady must not."
+
+"Miss Moncton has acted with true Christian charity, sir. It is sad
+that such examples are so rare."
+
+"Don't think I blame Madge, Geoffrey. She is a dear, good girl, a
+little angel. But it is rather imprudent of her to bring the mistress
+of Theophilus home to the house. What will Mrs. Grundy say?"
+
+"Margaret has no Mrs. Grundies," said I, rather indignantly. "She will
+not admit such vulgar, common-place wretches into her society. To the
+pure in heart all things are pure."
+
+"Well done! young champion of dames. You will not suffer Margaretta to
+be blamed without taking her part, I see."
+
+"Particularly, sir, when I know and feel that she is in the right."
+
+"She and I must have a serious talk on this subject to-morrow,
+however. In the meantime, Geoffrey, bring here the chess-board, and
+let us get through a dull evening in the best way we can."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+
+The next morning I received from Margaretta, a circumstantial detail
+of what had passed between Alice and her on the previous evening.
+"After I undressed and got her to bed, she fell into a deep sleep,
+which lasted until midnight. I was reading by the table, not feeling
+at all inclined to rest. Hearing her moving, I went to her, and sat
+down on the bed, and asked how she felt herself.
+
+"'Better in mind, Miss Moncton, but far from well. My head aches
+badly, and I have a dull pain in my chest.'
+
+"'You have taken cold, Alice. I must send for the doctor.'
+
+"'Oh! no, no. He could do me no good; mine is a malady of the heart.
+If my mind were at ease, I should be quite well. I do not wish to get
+well. The sooner I die the better.'
+
+"'Alice, you must not talk so. It is very sinful.'
+
+"'You are right--I am a great sinner. I know it only too well. But I
+cannot repent. All is dark here,' and she laid her hand upon her head.
+'I cannot see my way through this thick darkness--this darkness which
+can be felt. You know, Miss Moncton, what the Bible says "The light
+of the wicked shall be put out in obscure darkness." My light of life
+has been extinguished, and the night of eternal darkness has closed
+over me.'
+
+"'We must pray to God, Alice, to enlighten this awful darkness.'
+
+"'Pray!--I cannot pray. I am too hard--too proud to pray. God has
+forsaken and left me to myself. If I could discern one ray of
+light--one faint glimmer only, I might cherish hope.'
+
+"There was something so truly melancholy, in this description of the
+state of her mind, Geoffrey, that I could not listen to her with dry
+eyes.
+
+"Alice, for her part, shed no tears, but regarded my emotions with a
+look of mingled pity and surprise, while the latent insanity, under
+which I am sure she is labouring, kindled a glow on her death-pale
+face. Rising slowly in the bed, she grasped my arm--
+
+"'Why do you weep?' said she. 'Do you dare to think me guilty of that
+nameless crime? Margaretta Moncton, you should know me better. Don't
+you remember the ballad we once learned to repeat, when we were girls
+together?--
+
+    "'Not mine to scowl a guilty eye,
+      Or bear the brand of shame;
+    Oh, God! to brook the taunting look
+      Of Fillan's wedded dame.
+
+"'But the lady bore the brand in spite of all her boasting. But I do
+not. I am a wife--_His_ lawful wedded wife, and my boy was no child of
+shame, and he dare not deny it. And yet,' she continued, falling back
+upon her pillow, and clutching the bed-clothes in her convulsive
+grasp, '_he_ spurned me from him--_me_, his wife--the mother of his
+child. Yes, Miss Moncton, spurned me from his presence, with hard
+words and bitter taunts. I could have borne the loss of his love, for
+I have long ceased to respect him. But this--this has maddened me.'
+
+"I was perfectly astonished at this unexpected disclosure. Seeing
+doubt expressed in my face, she grew angry and vehement.
+
+"'It is true. Why do you doubt my word? I scorn to utter a falsehood.
+When, Miss Moncton, did I ever during our long friendship deceive
+you?'
+
+"'Never, Alice. But your story seemed improvable. Like you, I am in
+the habit of speaking fearlessly my mind.'
+
+"She drew from her bosom a plain gold ring, suspended by a black
+ribbon round her neck.
+
+"'With this ring we were married in Moncton Church. Our banns were
+published there, in your father's hearing, but he took no heed of the
+parties named. I have the certificate of my marriage, and Mr. Selden,
+who married us under the promise of secresy, can prove the truth of
+what I say. The marriage was private, because Theophilus was afraid of
+incurring his father's anger.'
+
+"'And what has become of your child, Alice?'
+
+"'He is dead,' she said, mournfully. 'He caught cold, during a long
+journey to London, which I undertook unknown to my grandmother, in the
+hope of moving the hard heart of my cruel husband. It was of no
+earthly use. I lost my child, and the desolate heart of the forsaken,
+is now doubly desolate.'
+
+"The allusion to her baby seemed to soften the iron obstinacy of her
+grief, and she gave way to a passionate burst of tears. This, I have
+no doubt, tranquillized her mind. She grew calmer and more
+collected--consented to take some refreshments, and then unfolded to
+me at length, the tale of her wrongs.
+
+"Oh, Geoffrey! what a monster that Theophilus Moncton must be. I may
+be wrong to say so, but I almost wish that poor Alice were not his
+wife, and so will you, after you have heard all that I have to tell
+you. Theophilus, it appears, from her statements, took a fancy to
+Alice, when she was a mere child, and his passion strengthened for her
+at every visit he subsequently paid to the Hall. After using every
+inducement to overcome her integrity, rather than lose his victim, he
+proposed a private marriage. This gratified the ambition of the
+unfortunate girl, who knew, that in case of my father dying without
+male issue, her lover would be the heir of Moncton. She was only too
+glad to close with his offer, and they were married in the parish
+church by the Rev. Mr. Selden, all the parties necessary to the
+performance of the ceremony being sworn or bribed to secresy.
+
+"For a few months Theophilus lavished on his young bride great
+apparent affection, and at this period his visits to the Hall were
+very frequent.
+
+"Alice, who had always been treated like a sister by me, now grew pert
+and familiar. This alteration in her former respectful manner greatly
+displeased my father. 'These Morningtons,' he said, 'are unworthy of
+the kindness we have bestowed upon them, and like all low people, when
+raised above their station, they become insolent and familiar.'
+
+"Rumour had always ascribed young Moncton's visits to the Hall, to an
+attachment he had formed for me. The gossips of the village changed
+their tone, and his amour with Alice became the scandal of the day.
+
+"My father having ascertained that there was some truth in these
+infamous reports, sent me to spend my first winter in London, with
+Lady Gray, my mother's only sister, and told Dinah North that her
+granddaughter for the future would be considered as a stranger by his
+family. I wrote to Alice from London, telling her that I could not
+believe the evil things said of her; and begged her, as she valued my
+love and friendship, to lose no time in clearing up the aspersions
+cast upon her character.
+
+"To my earnest and affectionate appeal, she returned no answer, and
+all intercourse between us ceased. Three months after this, she became
+a mother, and my father forbade me to mention her name.
+
+"It appears, that from this period she saw little of her husband; that
+he, repenting bitterly of his sudden marriage, treated her with
+coldness and neglect.
+
+"Dinah North, who was privy to her marriage, took a journey to London,
+to try and force Mr. Moncton to acknowledge her granddaughter as his
+son's wife; in case of his refusal threatening to expose conduct of
+his which would not bear investigation. Dinah failed in her
+mission--and my dear father, pitying the condition of the forlorn
+girl, sought himself an interview with Mr. Moncton on her behalf, in
+which he begged your uncle to use his influence with Theophilus, to
+make her his wife. The young man had been sent abroad, and Mr. Moncton
+received my father's proposition with indignation and contempt, and
+threatened to disinherit Theophilus if he dared to take such a step
+without his knowledge and consent.
+
+"In the meanwhile, the unfortunate Alice, withering beneath the
+blighting influence of hope deferred, and unmerited neglect, lost her
+health, her beauty, and by her own account, at times her reason.
+Hearing that her husband had returned to England, she wrote to him a
+letter full of forgiveness, and breathing the most devoted affection;
+and told him of the birth of his son, whom she described, with all a
+mother's doting love.
+
+"To this letter she received, after a long and torturing delay, the
+following unfeeling answer. She gave me this precious document.
+
+"Read it, Geoffrey. It puts me into a fever of indignation; I cannot
+read it a second time."
+
+I took the letter from her hand.
+
+How well I knew that scrupulously neat and feminine specimen of
+caligraphy. It was an autograph worthy of Queen Elizabeth, so
+regularly was each letter formed, the lines running in exact
+parallels; no flutter of the heart causing the least deviation from
+the exact rule. It ran as follows:
+
+    "Why do you continue to trouble me with letters which are not
+    worth the postage? I hate to receive them, and from this time
+    forward will return them unopened.
+
+    "Your best policy is to remain quiet, or I will disown the
+    connection between us, and free myself from your importunity by
+    consigning you to a mad-house.
+
+    "T---- M----."
+
+"Unfeeling scoundrel!" I exclaimed; "surely this _affectionate_
+billet must have destroyed the last spark of affection in the breast
+of the unhappy girl."
+
+"Women are strange creatures, Geoffrey, and often cling with most
+pertinacity to those who care little for their regard, while they take
+a perverse pleasure in slighting those who really love them--so it is
+with Alice. The worse he treated her, the more vehemently she clung to
+him. To make a final appeal to his callous heart she undertook the
+journey to London alone, with her baby in her arms, and succeeded
+under a feigned name in getting admittance to her husband.
+
+"You know the result. He spurned the wife and child from his presence.
+The infant was taken sick on its homeward journey, and died shortly
+after she reached her grandmother's cottage; and she, poor creature,
+will soon follow it to the grave, for I am convinced that she is dying
+of a broken heart."
+
+Margaret was quite overcome with this sad relation. Wiping the tears
+from her eloquent black eyes, and looking me sadly in the face, she
+said, with great earnestness:
+
+"And now, Geoffrey, what can we do to serve her?"
+
+"Inform Sir Alexander of these particulars. Let him obtain from Alice
+the legal proofs of her marriage, and force this base Theophilus--this
+disgrace to the name of a man, and of Moncton, to acknowledge her
+publicly as his wife. In the meanwhile, I will write to her brother,
+and inform him of this important discovery."
+
+"Her brother!" and Margaretta turned as pale as death; "what do you
+know of Philip Mornington?"
+
+"He is my friend--my dearest, most valued friend."
+
+"Thank God he is alive!"
+
+"And likely to live," said I, leading her to a chair; for we had been
+standing during our long conversation in the deep recess of the
+library window. "Margaret, will you be offended if I ask you one
+question?"
+
+"Not in the least, cousin."
+
+"And will you answer me with your usual candour?"
+
+"Why should you doubt it, Geoffrey?" said she, trembling with
+agitation.
+
+"Do you love Philip Mornington?"
+
+"I do, Geoffrey--I have loved him from a child, but not in the way you
+mean--not such love as a girl feels for her lover. I could not think
+of him for one moment as my husband. No, it is a strange interest I
+feel in his destiny: I feel as if he were a part of me, as if I had a
+natural right to love him. He is so like my father, only milder and
+less impetuous, that I have thought it possible that he might be his
+natural son--and if so, my brother."
+
+What a relief was this declaration to my mind. I could not for a
+moment doubt its sincerity, and I rejoiced that the dear
+tender-hearted creature before me, was not likely to wreck her peace
+in loving one whom she could not wed. Yet, that she did love some one
+I felt certain; and though I dared not prosecute the inquiry, it was a
+problem that I was very anxious to solve.
+
+I left my fair cousin, to write a long letter to George Harrison, in
+which I duly informed him of all that had taken place since I left
+London.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+MY SECOND INTERVIEW WITH DINAH NORTH.
+
+
+An hour had scarcely elapsed, when I received a message from Miss
+Moncton, requesting my presence in the drawing-room, where I found her
+engaged in an earnest conversation with Alice, who looked more like a
+resuscitated corpse, than a living creature; so pale and death-like
+were her beautiful features.
+
+She held out her hand, as I approached the sofa on which she was
+reclining; and thanked me in low and earnest tones for saving her
+life. There was an expression of pride, almost aristocratical, on her
+finely cut lips, which seemed to contradict the gratitude she
+expressed.
+
+"I was not in my right mind, Mr. Geoffrey; no one is, I have read and
+been told, who makes an attempt upon his own life. I had suffered a
+great calamity, and wanted moral courage to bear it. I trust God will
+forgive me."
+
+I told her that I deeply sympathized with her unfortunate situation,
+and would gladly do anything in my power to serve her.
+
+"That is more than Theophilus would do for you. If there is a person
+whom he hates more than me, it is yourself. You can serve me very
+materially. Miss Moncton tells me that you know my brother Philip
+intimately."
+
+I nodded assent.
+
+"Write to him, and tell him from me, how sincerely I repent my past
+conduct to him--that I am not quite the guilty creature he took me
+for; though swayed by minds more daringly wicked to commit evil. Tell
+him not to avenge my wrongs on Theophilus. There is one in heaven who
+will be my Avenger--who never lets the thoroughly bad escape
+unpunished; and tell him," and she drew a deep sigh--"that Alice
+Moncton died blessing him."
+
+"Shall I go to London, and bring him down to see you?"
+
+"No, no!" she cried, in evident alarm, "he must not be seen in this
+neighbourhood."
+
+"That would be bringing the dead to life," said I, pointedly. She gave
+me a furtive look.
+
+"Yes, Alice, Philip told me that dreadful story. I do not wonder at
+your repugnance to his coming here; and were it not for your share in
+the business, I would commit that atrocious woman to take her trial at
+the next assizes."
+
+"Horrible!" muttered Alice, hiding her face in the sofa pillows. "I
+did not think that Philip would betray me, after all I did to save his
+life."
+
+"Your secret is safe with me. I would to God, that other family
+secrets known to you and Dinah were in my keeping."
+
+"I wish they were, Mr. Geoffrey, for I have too much upon my
+conscience, overburdened as it is with the crimes of others. But I
+cannot tell you many things important for you to know, for my lips are
+sealed with an oath too terrible to be broken."
+
+"Then I must go to Dinah," I said, angrily, "and wrest the truth from
+her."
+
+Alice burst into a wild laugh: "Rack and faggot would not do it, if
+she were determined to hold her tongue; nay, she would suffer that
+tongue to be torn out of her head, before she would confess a crime,
+unless indeed she were goaded on by revenge. Listen, Mr. Geoffrey, to
+the advice of a dying woman. Leave Dinah North to God and her own
+conscience. Before many months are over, her hatred to Robert Moncton
+and his son will tear the reluctant secret from her. Had my son
+lived," another heavy sigh, "it would have been different. Her
+ambition, like my love, has become dust and ashes."
+
+"Alice," said I, solemnly, "you have no right to withhold knowledge
+which involves the happiness of others; even for your oath's sake."
+
+"It may be so, but that oath involves an eternal penalty which I dare
+not bring upon my soul."
+
+"God can absolve all rash vows."
+
+"Ay, those who believe in Him, who love and trust Him. I believe,
+simply because I fear. But love and trust--alas, the comfort, the
+assurance which springs from faith, was never felt by me."
+
+"Dinah may die, and the secret may perish with her," cried I, growing
+desperate to obtain information on a subject of such vital importance
+to my friend--perhaps to me.
+
+"That is nothing to me," she replied, coldly.
+
+"Selfish, ungenerous woman!"
+
+She smiled scornfully. "The world, and your family especially, have
+given me great encouragement to be liberal."
+
+"Is Philip your brother?" cried I, vehemently, determined to storm the
+secret out of her.
+
+"What is that to you? Yet, perhaps, if the truth were told, you would
+be the first to wish it buried in oblivion."
+
+There was a lurking fire in her eye as she said this, which startled
+me.
+
+"Do you wish to prosecute the inquiry?" added she, with the bitter
+smile which made her face, though beautiful, very repulsive.
+
+A glance of contempt was my sole answer.
+
+"Well, once for all, I will tell you, Mr. Geoffrey, lawyer though you
+be, that your cross-questioning is useless. What I know about you and
+yours shall remain unknown, as far as I am concerned; and shall go
+down with me to the grave. The memory of my mother is too dear to me
+for any words of yours to drag from me the trust she reposed in me.
+You have had your answer. Go--I wish to be alone."
+
+In vain I argued, entreated, and even threatened. There was too much
+of the leaven of Old Dinah in her granddaughter's character for her to
+listen to reason.
+
+She became violent and obstinate, and put an end to this strange
+conference by rising, and abruptly leaving the room. I looked after
+her with feelings less tinctured with compassion than annoyance and
+contempt.
+
+"Forgive her! Geoffrey," said Margaretta, who had listened in silent
+astonishment to the conversation; "her reason is disordered; she does
+not know what she says."
+
+"The madness of wickedness," I said, sharply. "She is as wide awake as
+a fox. It may seem harsh to say so, but I feel little pity for her.
+She is artful and selfish in the extreme, and deserves her fate. Just
+review, for a moment, her past life."
+
+"It will not bear investigation, Geoffrey. Yet, with all these faults,
+I loved her so fondly--love her still, and will never desert her while
+a hope remains, that through my instrumentality her mind may be
+diverted to the contemplation of better things."
+
+"She is not worthy of the trouble you take about her," said I,
+shrugging my shoulders. "Have you informed your father of her marriage
+with Theophilus?"
+
+"Yes, and he was astonished. Theophilus was the last person in the
+world, he thought, who would commit himself in that way. Papa said,
+that he would write to Robert Moncton, and make a statement of the
+facts. I could almost pity him; this news will throw him into such a
+transport of rage."
+
+"When Robert Moncton feels the most, he says little. He acts with
+silent, deadly force. He seldom speaks. He will curse Theophilus in
+his heart, but speak fair of him to his enemies. I am anxious to know
+how all this will end."
+
+"My father wanted to see you in the library," said Margaretta. "Your
+conversation with Alice put it entirely out of my head."
+
+I found Sir Alexander seated at a table, surrounded with papers. If
+there was one thing my good old friend hated more than another, it was
+writing letters. "Wise men speak--fools write their thoughts," was a
+favourite saying of his. He flung the pen pettishly from him as I
+entered the room.
+
+"Zounds! Geoffrey. I cannot defile paper with writing to that
+scoundrel. I will see him myself. Who knows, but in the heat of his
+displeasure, he may say something that will afford a clue to unravel
+his treachery towards yourself. At all events, I am determined to make
+the experiment."
+
+"He will make no sign. Robert Moncton never betrays himself."
+
+"To think that his clever Theophilus could make such a low marriage;
+not but that the girl is far too good for him, and I think the
+degradation is entirely on her side."
+
+"The pair are worthy of each other," said I.
+
+"You are unjust to Alice, Geoffrey. The girl was a beauty, and so
+clever, till he spoilt her."
+
+"The tiger is a beautiful animal, and the fox is clever; but we hate
+the one, and despise the other."
+
+The Baronet gave me a curious look.
+
+"How came you to form this character of the girl?"
+
+"Partly from observation; partly from some previous knowledge,
+obtained from a reliable source, before I left London. But what of
+this journey," said I, anxious to turn the conversation. "Do you
+seriously contemplate again going up to town?"
+
+"It is already decided. I have ordered the carriage to be at the door
+by eight to-morrow morning. I do not ask you to accompany me,
+Geoffrey. I have business cut out for you during my absence. You must
+start to-morrow for Derbyshire, and visit the parish in which your
+grandfather resided for many years as curate, under the Rev. James
+Brownson; and where your mother was born. I will supply the necessary
+funds for the journey.
+
+"And the object of this visit?" cried I, eagerly.
+
+"To take lodgings in ----, or in the neighbourhood, and, under a
+feigned name, prosecute inquiries respecting your mother's marriage.
+There must still be many persons living to whom Ellen Rivers and her
+father were well-known, who might give you much valuable information
+respecting her elopement with your father, and what was said about it
+by the gossips at the time. If you find the belief general that they
+were married, ascertain the church in which the ceremony was said to
+have been performed--the name of the clergyman who officiated, and the
+witnesses who were present. All these particulars are of the greatest
+importance for us to know. Take the best riding-horse in the stable,
+and if your money fails you, draw upon me for more. You may adopt, for
+the time being, my mother's family name, and: call yourself Mr.
+Tremain, to which address, all letters from the Hall will be sent.
+Should Robert Moncton drop any hints, which can in any way further the
+object of your search, I will not fail to write you word. We will, if
+you please, start at the same hour to-morrow; each on our different
+mission; and may God grant us success, and a happy meeting. And, now,
+you may go and prepare for your adventure."
+
+I had long wished to prosecute this inquiry. Yet, now the moment had
+arrived, I felt loath to leave the Hall.
+
+The society and presence of Margaretta had become necessary to my
+happiness. Yet inconsistently enough, I fancied myself desperately in
+love with Catherine Lee: I never suspected that my passion for the one
+was ideal--the first love of a boy; while that for the latter, was
+real and tangible.
+
+How we suffer youth and imagination to deceive us in affairs of the
+heart! We love a name, and invest the person who bears it with a
+thousand perfections, which have no existence in reality. The object
+of our idolatry is not a child of nature, but a creation of fancy,
+fostered in solitude by ignorance and self-love. Marriages, which are
+the offspring of first-love, are proverbially unhappy from this very
+circumstance, which leads us to overrate, during the period of
+courtship, the virtues of the beloved in the most extravagant manner;
+and this species of adoration generally ends in disappointment--too
+often in disgust.
+
+Boys and girls in their teens, are beings without much reflection.
+Their knowledge of character, with regard to themselves and others, is
+too limited and imperfect to enable them to make a judicious choice.
+They love the first person who pleases the eye and charms the
+fancy--for love is a matter of necessity at that age. Time divests
+their idol of all its imaginary perfections, and they feel, too late,
+that they have made a wrong choice. Though love may laugh at the cold
+maxims of prudence and reason, yet it requires the full exercise of
+both qualities to secure for any length of time domestic happiness.
+
+I can reason calmly now, on this exciting subject. But I reasoned not
+calmly then. I was a creature of passion, and passionate impulses. The
+woman I loved had no fault in my eyes. To have supposed her liable to
+the common errors and follies of her sex would have been an act of
+treason against the deity I worshipped.
+
+I retired to my chamber, and finished my letter to Harrison.
+
+The day wore slowly away, as it always does when you expect any
+important event on the morrow.
+
+The evening was bright and beautiful as an evening in June could well
+be. Margaretta had only been visible at dinner, her time having been
+occupied between Alice and making preparations for her father's
+journey. At tea, she looked languid and paler than usual, and when we
+rose from the table I proposed a stroll in the Park. She consented
+with a smile of pleasure, and we were soon wandering side by side
+beneath our favourite trees.
+
+"You will feel very lonely during your father's absence, my little
+cousin?"
+
+"Then you must exert all your powers of pleasing, Geoffrey, to supply
+his place."
+
+"But I am going too: I leave Moncton at the same time, for an
+indefinite period."
+
+"Worse and worse," and she tried to smile. It would not do. The tears
+were in her beautiful eyes. That look of tender inquiry caused a
+strange swelling at my heart.
+
+"You will not forget me, Margaret?"
+
+"Do you think it such an easy matter, that you deem it necessary to
+make such a request."
+
+"I am but a poor relation, whom few persons would regard with other
+feelings than those of indifference. This I know is not the case with
+your excellent father and you. I shall ever regard both with gratitude
+and veneration--and I feel certain, that should we never meet again, I
+should always be remembered with affectionate kindness."
+
+"You know not how deservedly dear you are to us both. How much we love
+you, Geoffrey--and I would fain hope that these sentiments are
+reciprocal."
+
+Though this was said in perfect simplicity, the flushed cheek, and
+down-cast eye, revealed the state of the speaker's heart, I felt--I
+knew--she loved me. But, madman that I was, out of mere contradiction,
+I considered myself bound by a romantic attachment, which had never
+been declared by word or sign, to Catherine Lee.
+
+"You love me, dear Margaret," cried I, as I clasped her hand in mine,
+and kissed it with more warmth than the disclosure I was about to
+make, warranted.
+
+"God knows! how happy this blessed discovery would have made me, had
+not my affections been pre-engaged."
+
+A deep blush mantled over her face--she trembled violently as she
+gently drew her hand from mine--and answered with a modest dignity,
+which was the offspring of purity and truth.
+
+"I will not deny, Geoffrey, that I love you. What you have said gives
+me severe pain. We are not accountable for our affections: I am sorry
+that I suffered my foolish heart to betray me. Yet, I must love you
+still, cousin," she said, weeping. "Your very misfortunes endear you
+to me. Forget this momentary weakness, and only think of me as a
+loving friend and kinswoman."
+
+Mastering her feelings with a strong effort, she bade me good night,
+and slowly walked back to the Hall.
+
+I was overwhelmed with confusion and remorse. I had wantonly sported
+with the affections of one of the gentlest and noblest of human
+beings, which a single hint, dropped as if accidentally, of a previous
+passion might have prevented.
+
+Between Catherine and me, no words of love had been exchanged. She
+might be the love of another--might be a wife, for anything I knew to
+the contrary. I had neither seen nor heard anything regarding her for
+some months, I had sacrificed the peace and happiness of the generous,
+confiding Margaretta, to an idol, which might only exist in my own
+heated imagination.
+
+Bitterly I cursed my folly when repentance came too late.
+
+I was too much vexed and annoyed with myself to return to the Hall,
+and I rambled on until I found myself opposite to the fishing-house.
+The river lay before me gleaming in the setting sun. Everything around
+was calm, peaceful, and beautiful; but there was no rest, no peace in
+my heart.
+
+As I approached the rustic bridge from which the wretched Alice had
+attempted suicide, I perceived a human figure seated on a stone on the
+bank of the river, in a crouching, listless attitude. This excited my
+curiosity, and catching at anything that might divert my thoughts from
+the unpleasant train in which they had been running for the last hour,
+I struck off the path I had been pursuing, which led directly to the
+public road, and soon reached the object in question.
+
+Wrapped in an old grey mantle, with a red silk handkerchief tied over
+her head, her chin resting between her long bony hands, and her eyes
+shut, or bent intently on the ground, I recognized, with a shudder of
+aversion and disgust, the remarkable face of Dinah North.
+
+Her grizzled locks had partly escaped from their bandage, and fell in
+thin, straggling lines over her low, wrinkled forehead. The fire of
+her deep-seated dark eyes was hidden beneath their drooping lids, and
+she was muttering to herself some strange unintelligible gibberish.
+She did not notice me until I purposely placed myself between her and
+the river which rolled silently and swiftly at her feet.
+
+Without manifesting the least surprise at the unceremonious manner in
+which I had disturbed her reverie, she slowly raised her witch-like
+countenance, and for a few seconds surveyed me with a sullen stare. As
+if satisfied with my identity, she accosted me with the same sarcastic
+writhing of the upper lip, which on our first interview had given me
+the key to her character.
+
+"You, too, are a Moncton, and like the rest of that accursed race, are
+fair and false. Your dark eyes all fire--your heart as cold as ice.
+Proud as Lucifer--inexorable as the grave; woe to those who put any
+trust in a Moncton! they are certain of disappointment--sure to be
+betrayed. Pass by, young sir, I have no doubt that you are like the
+rest of your kin. I wish them no good, but evil, so you had better not
+cross my path."
+
+"Your hatred, Dinah, is more to be coveted than your friendship. To
+incur the first, augurs some good in the person thus honoured; to
+possess the last, would render us worthy of your curse."
+
+"Ha, ha!" returned the grim fiend, laughing ironically, "your
+knowledge of the world has given you a bitter spirit. I wish you joy
+of the acquisition. Time will increase its acrimony. But I like your
+bluntness of speech, and prophesy from it that you are born to
+overcome the malignity of your enemies."
+
+"And you," and I fixed my eyes steadily on her hideous countenance,
+"for what end were you born?"
+
+"To be the curse of others," she answered, with a grim smile, which
+displayed those glittering white teeth within her faded, fleshless
+lips, which looked like a row of pearls in a Death's head; and there
+flashed from her swart eye a red light which made the blood curdle in
+my veins, as she continued in the same taunting strain--
+
+"I have been of use, too, in my day and generation. I have won many
+souls, but not for heaven. I have served my master well, and shall
+doubtless receive my reward."
+
+"This is madness, Dinah North, but without excuse. It is the madness
+of guilt."
+
+"It is a quality I possess in common with my kind. The world is made
+up of madmen and fools. It is better to belong to the first than to
+the latter class--to rule, than to be ruled. Between those two parties
+the whole earth is divided. Knowledge is power, whether it be the
+knowledge of evil or of good. I heard that sentence when a girl; it
+never left my mind, and I have acted upon it through life."
+
+"It must have been upon the knowledge of evil--as your deeds can too
+well testify."
+
+"You have guessed right, young sir. By it, the devil lost heaven, but
+he gained hell. By it tyrants rule, and mean men become rich--virtue
+is overcome, and vice triumphs."
+
+"And what have you gained by it?"
+
+"Much: it has given me an influence in the world, which without it,
+never could have belonged to one of my degree. By it, I have swayed
+the destinies of those whom fortune had apparently placed beyond my
+reach. It has given me, Geoffrey Moncton, power over thee and thine,
+and at this very moment, the key of your future fortune is in my
+keeping."
+
+"And your life in mine, vain boaster! The hour is at hand which shall
+make even a hardened sinner like you acknowledge that there is a
+righteous God who judges in the earth. I ask you not for the secret
+which you possess, and which, after all, may be a falsehood, in unison
+with the deceit and treachery that has marked your whole life--a lie,
+invented to extort money, or to gratify the spite of your malignant
+heart. The power which punishes the guilty and watches over the
+innocent, will vindicate the good name of which a wretch like you
+would fain deprive me."
+
+"Don't be too sure of _celestial_ aid," said she, with a sneer,
+"but, 'make to yourself friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,' as
+the wisest policy. Flatter from your Uncle Robert the ill-gotten
+wealth that his dastardly son, Theophilus, shall never possess."
+
+"This advice comes well from the sordid woman who sold her innocent
+grandchild to this same Theophilus, in the hope that she might enjoy
+the rank and fortune which belonged to the good and noble, and by this
+unholy act sacrificed the peace--perhaps the eternal happiness of that
+most wretched creature."
+
+The countenance of the old woman grew dark--dark as night. She fixed
+upon me a wild, inquiring gaze.
+
+"You speak of Alice. In the name of God, tell me what has become of
+her!"
+
+"Upon one condition," said I, laying my hand upon her shoulder and
+whispering the words into her ear. "Tell me what has become of Philip
+Mornington."
+
+"Ha!" said the old woman, trying to shake off my grasp; "what do you
+know of him?"
+
+"Enough to hang you--something that the grave in the dark shrubbery
+can reveal."
+
+"Has she told you _that_? The fool! the idiot! in so doing she
+betrayed herself."
+
+"_She_ told me nothing. The eye that witnessed the deed confided
+to me that secret. The earth will not conceal the stain of blood. Did
+you never hear that fact before? Is not my secret as good as yours,
+Dinah North? Are you willing to make an exchange?"
+
+The old woman crouched herself together, and buried her face between
+her knees. Her hands opened and shut with a convulsive motion, as if
+they retained something in their grasp with which she was unwilling to
+part. At length, raising her head, she said in a decided manner:
+
+"The law has lost in you a _worthy_ member; but I accept the terms.
+Come to me to-morrow at nine o'clock."
+
+"To-night, or never!"
+
+"Don't try to force or bully me into compliance, young man. At my own
+time, and in my own way alone, will I gratify your curiosity."
+
+"Well, be it so--to-morrow. I will meet you at the Lodge at nine
+to-morrow."
+
+She rose from her seat; regarded me with the same withering glance and
+cutting smile, and gliding past me, vanished among the trees.
+
+Exulting in my success, I exclaimed--"Thank God I shall know all
+to-morrow!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+AN EXPLANATION--DEPARTURE--DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+I was so elated with the unexpected result of my meeting with Dinah
+North, that it was not until I missed the fairy figure of my sweet
+cousin at the supper-table, that my mind reverted to the conversation
+that had passed between us in the Park.
+
+"Where is Miss Moncton?" I asked of Sir Alexander, in a tone and
+manner which would have betrayed the agitation I felt, to a stranger.
+
+"She is not well, Geoffrey, has a bad headache, or is nervous, I
+forget which, and begged to be excused joining us to-night. These
+little female complaints are never dangerous, so don't look alarmed.
+My girl is no philosopher, and this double parting affects her
+spirits. She will be all right again when you come back."
+
+I sighed involuntarily. The provoking old man burst into a hearty
+laugh.
+
+"I am likely to have a dull companion to-night, Geoffrey. Hang it!
+boy, don't look so dismal. Do you think that you are the only man who
+ever was in love? I was a young man once. Ay, and a fine young man
+too, or the world and the ladies told great stories, but I never could
+enact the part of a sentimental lover. Fill your glass and drive away
+care. Success to your journey. Our journeys, I might have said--and a
+happy meeting with little Madge."
+
+I longed to tell Sir Alexander the truth, and repeat to him my
+conversation with his daughter. But I could not bear to mortify his
+pride, for I could not fail to perceive that he contemplated a union
+between us with pleasure, and was doing his best to encourage me to
+make a declaration of my attachment to Margaret.
+
+I was placed in a most unfortunate predicament, and in order to drown
+my own miserable feelings, I drank more wine than usual, and gaining
+an artificial flow of spirits, amused my generous patron with a number
+of facetious stories and anecdotes, until the night was far advanced,
+and we both retired to rest.
+
+My brain was too much heated with the wine I had drank to sleep, and
+after making several ineffectual efforts, I rose from my
+bed--relighted my candle, and dressing myself, sat down to my desk,
+and wrote a long letter to Margaretta, in which I informed her of my
+first meeting with Catherine Lee; the interest which her beauty had
+created in my heart--the romantic attachment I had formed for her, and
+which, hopeless as it was, I could not wholly overcome. I assured
+Margaretta, that I felt for herself, the greatest affection and
+esteem--that but for the remembrance of the first passion, the idea
+that she loved me would have made me the happiest of men. That if she
+would accept the heart I had to offer, divided as I felt it was with
+another, and my legitimacy could be established, my whole life should
+be devoted to her alone.
+
+I ended this long candid confession, by relating verbatim my interview
+with Dinah North, and begged, if possible, that I might exchange a few
+words with her before leaving the Hall.
+
+I felt greatly relieved by thus unburdening my mind. I had told the
+honest truth, without fear and without disguise; and I knew that she,
+who was the mirror of truth, would value my sincerity as it deserved.
+
+The sun was scarcely up when I dispatched my letter, and before the
+early breakfast, that had been ordered previous to our departure, was
+ready, I received the following answer--
+
+    "My dear Cousin Geoffrey,
+
+    "Your invaluable letter has greatly raised you in my esteem; I
+    cannot sufficiently admire the conscientious scruples which
+    dictated it--and though we cannot meet as lovers, after the candid
+    revelation you have confided to me, we may still remain, what all
+    near relatives ought to be, firm and faithful friends.
+
+    "To you I can attach no blame whatever, and I feel proud that my
+    affections, though fixed upon an object beyond their reach, were
+    bestowed upon one so every way worthy of them.
+
+    "Let us therefore forget our private sorrows, and drown unavailing
+    regrets in doing all we can to serve Philip and his sister.
+    Farewell--with sincere prayers for the successful issue of your
+    journey, believe me, now and ever, your faithful and loving
+    friend,
+
+    "Margaretta."
+
+"What a noble creature she is," said I, as I pressed the letter to my
+lips; "I am indeed unworthy of such a treasure."
+
+Yet I felt happy at that moment; happy that she knew all--that I had
+not deceived her, but had performed an act of painful duty, though by
+so doing I had perhaps destroyed the brilliancy of my future prospects
+in life.
+
+With mingled feelings of gratitude and pleasure I met my dear cousin
+at the breakfast-table. Her countenance, although paler than usual,
+wore a tranquil and even cheerful expression.
+
+"Why, Madge, my darling," cried the Baronet, kissing her pale cheek,
+"you are determined to see the last of us: is your early rising in
+honour of Geoffrey or me?"
+
+"Of both," she said, with her sweetest smile. "I never employ a proxy
+to bid farewell to my friends."
+
+Several efforts were made at conversation during the meal, which
+proved eminently unsuccessful. The hour of parting came. The Baronet
+was safely stowed away into his carriage; the noble horses plunged
+forward, and the glittering equipage was soon lost among the trees. I
+lingered a moment behind.
+
+"Dear Margaret, we part friends."
+
+"The best of friends."
+
+"God bless you! dearest and noblest of women," said I, faintly; for my
+lips quivered with emotion; I could scarcely articulate a word; "you
+have removed a load of anxiety from my heart. To have lost your
+friendship would have been a severer trial to me, than the loss of
+name or fortune."
+
+"I believe you, Geoffrey. But never allude again to this painful
+subject, if you value my health and peace. We understand each other.
+If God wills it so, we may both be happy, though the attainment of it
+may not exactly coincide with our present wishes. Adieu! dear cousin.
+You have my heart-felt prayers for your success."
+
+She raised her tearful eyes to mine. The next moment she was in my
+arms, pressed closely against my breast--a stifled sob--one kiss--one
+long lingering embrace--a heavy melancholy deep-drawn sigh, and she
+was gone.
+
+I mounted my horse and rode quickly forward; my thoughts so occupied
+with Margaretta and that sad parting, that I nearly forgot the
+promised interview with Dinah North, until my proximity to the lodge
+brought it vividly to my remembrance.
+
+Fastening my horse to the rustic railing which fronted the cottage, I
+crossed the pretty little flower-garden, and knocked rather
+impatiently at the door. My summons, though given in loud and
+authoritative tones, remained unanswered.
+
+Again and again I applied my hand to the rusty iron knocker; it awoke
+no response from the tenant of the house. "She must be dead or out,"
+said I, losing all patience; "I will stay here no longer," and lifting
+the latch, I very unceremoniously entered the cottage. All was silent
+within. The embers on the hearth were dead, and the culinary vessels
+were scattered over the floor. The white muslin curtains which shaded
+the rose-bound windows were undrawn. The door which led into the
+bedroom was open, the bed made and the room untenanted. It was evident
+that the old woman was not there. I called aloud:
+
+"Dinah, Dinah North! Is any one within?"
+
+No answer.
+
+I proceeded to explore the rest of the dwelling. In the front room or
+parlour, the contents of a small chest of drawers had been emptied out
+on the floor, and some few articles of little value were strewn about.
+It was an evident fact, that the bird had flown; and all my
+high-raised expectations resolved themselves into air.
+
+Whilst cursing the crafty old woman bitterly in my heart, my eye
+glanced upon a slip of paper lying upon a side table. I hastily
+snatched it up and read the following words traced in a bold hand:
+
+    "Geoffrey Moncton, when next we meet, your secret and mine will be
+    of equal value.
+
+    "Dinah North."
+
+I was bitterly disappointed, and crushing the paper in my hand, I
+flung it as far from me as I could.
+
+"Curse the old fiend! We shall yet meet. I will trace her to the
+utmost bounds of earth to bring her to justice."
+
+I left the house in a terrible ill-humour, and remounting my horse,
+pursued my journey, to Derbyshire.
+
+It was late on the evening of the second day, when I reached the
+little village over which my grandfather Rivers had exercised the
+pastoral office for nearly fifty years. The good man had been gathered
+to his fathers a few months before I was born. It was not without
+feeling a considerable degree of interest that I rode past the humble
+church, surrounded by its lofty screen of elms, and glanced at the
+greensward beneath whose daisy-sprinkled carpet, the
+
+    "Rude forefathers of the village slept."
+
+The rain had fallen softly but perseveringly the whole day, and I was
+wet, hungry and tired. I hailed therefore the neat little inn, with
+its gay sign-board, white-washed walls and green window-blinds, as the
+most welcome and picturesque object which had met my sight for the
+last three hours.
+
+"Stay all night, sir?" said the brisk lad, from whose helmet-like
+leathern cap the water trickled in the most obtrusively impertinent
+manner over his rosy, freckled face, as he ran forward to hold my
+horse. "Good accommodation for man and beast--capital beds, sir."
+
+"Yes, yes," I replied, somewhat impatiently, as I threw him the reins
+and entered the brick passage of the inn. "Where is the master of the
+house?"
+
+"No master, sir," returned the officious lad, following me. "The
+master be a missus, sir. Here she come."
+
+"What's your pleasure?" said a very pretty woman, about thirty years
+of age, advancing from an inner room. She was dressed in widow's
+weeds, which became her very fair face amazingly, and led by the hand
+a rosy, curly-headed urchin, whose claims to general admiration were
+by no means contemptible. The mother and her lovely boy would have
+made a charming picture; and I forgot, while contemplating the
+originals, that I was wet and hungry.
+
+With the quickness of her sex, Mrs. Archer perceived that she had made
+a favourable impression on her new guest. And putting back the
+luxuriant curls from the white brow of her boy, she remarked, with a
+sigh:
+
+"He's young to be an orphan--poor child!"
+
+"He is, indeed," I replied, kissing the little fellow, as I spoke;
+"and his mother far too young and pretty to remain long a widow."
+
+"La! sir; you don't say so," said Mrs. Archer, smiling and blushing
+most becomingly. "And you standing all this while in the drafty, cold
+passage in your wet clothes. You can have a private room and a fire,
+sir."
+
+"And a good supper, I hope," said I, laughing. "I have ridden fifty
+miles to-day, and I feel desperately hungry."
+
+"You shall have the best the house affords. Pray, walk this way."
+
+I followed my conductress into a neat little room. A fat country girl
+was on her knees before the grate striving to kindle the fire; but the
+wood was wet, and in spite of the girl's exertions, who was supplying
+with her mouth the want of a pair of bellows, the fire refused to
+burn.
+
+"It's of no manner of use: no it isn't," said the girl. "I may blow
+till I bust, an' it won't kindle."
+
+"Try again, Betty," said her mistress, encouragingly. "You were always
+a first-rate hand at raising the fire."
+
+"But the wood warn't wet," returned the fat girl, discontentedly. "I
+can't make it burn when it won't."
+
+And getting up from her fat knees she retreated, scowling alternately
+at me and the refractory fire.
+
+The room looked cold and comfortless. The heavy rain dashed drearily
+against the narrow window-panes; and I inquired if I could not dry my
+wet clothes and eat my supper by the kitchen-fire.
+
+"Oh! yes. If such a gentleman as you will condescend to enter my
+humble kitchen," was the reply.
+
+I did condescend--heaven only knows how gladly; and soon found myself
+comfortably seated before an excellent fire, in company with a stout,
+red-faced, jolly old farmer, and a thin, weazel-faced, undersized
+individual, dressed in a threadbare suit of pepper and salt, who kept
+his hat on, and wore it on one side with a knowing swagger, talked
+big, and gave himself a thousand consequential airs.
+
+This person I discovered to be the barber, and great politician of the
+village; who talked continually of King George and the royal family;
+of the king's ministers; the war in Rooshia, the burning of Moscow,
+and the destruction of that monster Bonyparty.
+
+The farmer, who was no scholar, and looked upon him of the strop and
+razor as a perfect oracle, was treating him to a pot of ale, for the
+sake of the news; the barber paying twopence a week for the sight of a
+second-hand newspaper.
+
+Mrs. Archer went softly up to the maker of perukes, and whispered
+something in his ear. He answered with a knowing nod, and without
+moving, stared me full in the face.
+
+"Not an inch will I budge, Mrs. Archer. One man's money is as good as
+another man's money. No offence to the gemman, 'A man's a man for a'
+that.' That's what I call real independence, neighbour Bullock."
+
+And his long, lean fingers descended upon the fat knee of the farmer
+with a whack that rang through the kitchen.
+
+"Deuce take you! Sheldrake. I wish you'd just show it in some other
+way," said the farmer, rubbing his knee. "Why, man, your fingers are
+as long and as lean as a crow's claws, and as hard as your own block,
+and sting like whip-cord. One would think that you had dabbled long
+enough in oil and pomatum, and such like messes, to make them as white
+as a lady's hand, and as soft as your own head."
+
+"They have been made tough by handling such hard numskulls as yours,
+neighbour Bullock. That chin of yours, with its three days' growth of
+bristles, would be a fortune to a bricklayer, whilst it spoils my best
+razors, and never puts a penny into the pocket of the poor operator."
+
+"_Operator!_" repeated the farmer, with a broad, quizzical grin, "is
+that your new-fangled name for a shaver? It's a pity you didn't put it
+on the board with the farrago of nonsense, by which you hope to
+attract the attention of all the fool bodies in the town."
+
+"Don't speak disrespectfully of my sign, sir," quoth the little
+barber, waxing wroth. "My sign is an excellent sign--the admiration of
+the whole village; and let me tell you that it is not in _spite_ and
+_envy_ to put it down, let spite and envy try as hard as they can. The
+genius which suggested that sign is not destined to go unrewarded."
+
+"Ha! ha! ha,!" roared the chewer of bacon.
+
+"Mrs. Archer," said the offended shaver, turning to the pretty widow
+with an air of wounded dignity truly comic, "did you ever before hear
+a Bullock laugh like a hog?"
+
+"Dang it! man, such conceit would make a cow caper a horn-pipe, or a
+Shelled Drake crow like a cock."
+
+"I beg you, _Mister_ Bullock, to take no liberties with my name,
+especially in the presence of the fair sex," bowing gracefully to Mrs.
+Archer, who was leaning upon the back of my chair, half suffocated
+with suppressed laughter.
+
+"What are you quarrelling about, Sheldrake?" said the good-natured
+widow. "Bullock, can't you let his sign alone? It is something new, I
+hear--something in praise of the ladies."
+
+"I was always devoted to the ladies," said the barber, "having
+expended the best years of my life in their service."
+
+"Well, well, if so be that you call that powetry over your door a
+compliment to the women-folk, I'll be shot!" said the farmer. "Now,
+sir," turning to me, "you are a stranger, and therefore unprejudiced;
+you shall be judge. Come, barber, repeat your verses, and hear what
+the gemman says of them."
+
+"With all my heart;" and flinging his shoulders back and stretching
+forth his right arm, the barber repeated, in a loud theatrical tone--
+
+    "I, William, Sheldrake, shave for a penny,
+    Ladies and gentlemen--there can't come too many--
+    With heads and beards--I meant to say
+    Those who've got none may keep away."
+
+A hearty burst of laughter from us all greatly disconcerted the
+barber, who looked as ruefully at us as a stuck pig.
+
+"You hairy monster!" quoth Mrs. Archer, "what do you mean by shaving
+the ladies? You deserve to be ducked to death in a tub of dirty suds.
+Beards, forsooth!" and she patted, with evident complacency, her
+round, white, dimpled chin; "who ever saw a woman with a beard? Did
+you take us all for Lapland witches? I wonder what our pretty young
+lady up at Elm Grove would say to your absurd verses."
+
+"That is no secret to me, Mrs. Archer. I do know what she thinks of
+it. Miss Lee is a young lady of taste, and knows how to appreciate
+fine poetry, which is more than some folks, not a hundred miles off,
+does. She rode past my shop yesterday on horseback, and I saw her
+point to my sign with her riding-whip, and heard her say to the London
+chap that is allers with her, 'Is not that _capital_?'
+
+"And he says, '_Capital!_ If that does not draw custom to the shop,
+nothing will.' So now, neighbour Bullock, you may just leave off
+sneering at my sign."
+
+"I did not think Miss Lee had been such a fool," said Bullock, "but
+there's no accounting for taste."
+
+"Who is the gentleman that is staying at the Elms just now?" asked
+Mrs. Archer. "Do you know his name?"
+
+"I've heard," said Suds, "but really I quite forget. It either begins
+with an M or an N."
+
+"That's a wide landmark to sail by, Sheldrake. You might as well have
+added a P or a Q."
+
+"Stop," said the barber, "I can give you a clue to it. Do you
+remember, Bullock, the name of the fine sporting gemman who ran off
+with Parson Rivers's daughter? I was a boy then, serving my time with
+Sam Strap."
+
+I started from the contemplation of the fine well-grilled beef-steak
+which Mrs. Archer was dishing for my especial benefit.
+
+"Well," said Sheldrake, "he is either a son or a nefy of his, and has
+the same name."
+
+"The deuce he is! That was Moncton, if I mistake not. Yes, yes,
+Moncton was the name. I well remember it, for it was the means of our
+losing our good old pastor."
+
+"How was that?" said I, trying to look indifferent.
+
+"Why, sir, do you see. Mr. Rivers had been many years in the parish.
+He married my father and mother, and baptized me, when a babby. He did
+more than that. He married me to my old woman, when I was a man--but
+that was the worse job he ever done. Well, sir, as I was telling you.
+He was a good man and a Christian; but he had one little weakness. We
+have all our faults, sir. He loved his pretty daughter too well: wise
+men will sometimes play the fool, and 'tis a bad thing to make too
+much of woman-kind. Like servants they grow saucy upon it. They always
+gets the advantage, any how; and our old parson did pet and spoil Miss
+Ellen to her heart's content. There was some excuse too for him, for
+he was an old man and a widower. He had lost his wife and a large
+family. Parsons always have large families. My wife do say, that 'tis
+because they have nothing else to do. But I'se very sure, that I
+should find preaching and sermon-work hard enough."
+
+"Lord! man, what a roundabout way you have of telling a story," cried
+Suds, who was impatient to hear his own voice again. "Get on a little
+quicker. Don't you see, the gemman's steak is a-getting cold--and he
+can't eat and listen to you at the same time, an art I learnt long
+ago."
+
+"Mind your own business, Sheldrake," said the farmer: "I never trouble
+my head with the nonsense which is always frothing out of your mouth."
+
+"Well, sir," turning again to me, "as I was saying; his wife and
+family had all died in the consumption, which made him so afraid of
+losing Miss Ellen, that he denied her nothing; and truly, she was as
+pretty a piece of God's workmanship as ever you saw--and very
+sweet-tempered and gentle, which beauties seldom are. I had the
+misfortune to marry a pretty woman, and I knows it to my cost. But I
+need not trouble you with my missus. It's bad enough to be troubled
+with her myself. So, sir, as I was telling you, there came a mighty
+fine gentleman down from London, to stay at the Elm Grove, with my old
+landlord Squire Lee, who's dead and gone. This Squire Lee was the son
+of old-Squire Lee."
+
+"I dare say, Bullock, the gemman does not care a farthing whose son he
+was," cried the impatient barber. "You are so fond of genealogies,
+that it's a pity you don't begin with the last squire, and end with,
+'which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam,' &c."
+
+These interruptions were very annoying, as I was on the tenter-hooks
+to get out of the mountain of flesh, the head and tail of the story he
+found such difficulty in bringing forth.
+
+"Pray go on with your story, friend," said I, very demurely, for fear
+of hurrying him into becoming more discursive, "I feel quite
+interested."
+
+"Well, sir, this young man came to stay at the Grove, during the
+shooting-season; and he sees Miss Ellen at church, and falls
+desperately in love with her. This was all very natural. I was a
+youngster myself once, and a smart active chap, although I be clumsy
+enough now, and I remember feeling rather queerish, whenever I cast a
+sheep's eye into the parson's pew."
+
+"But the young lady and her lover?" for I perceived that he was
+trotting off at full gallop in another direction, "how did they come
+on?"
+
+"Oh, ay! As young folk generally do in such cases. From exchanging
+looks, they came to exchanging letters and then words. Stolen meetings
+and presents of hearts cut out of turnips, with a skewer put through
+them, to show the desperation of the case. That was the way at least
+that I went a courting my Martha, and it took amazingly."
+
+"Hang you, and your Martha!" thought I, as I turned helplessly to the
+beef-steak, but I felt too much excited to do it the least justice.
+After deliberately knocking the ashes from his pipe, and taking a long
+draught of ale from the pewter-pot beside him, the old farmer went on
+of his own accord.
+
+"I s'pose the young man told Miss Ellen that he could not live without
+her. We all tell 'em so, but we never dies a bit the sooner, for all
+that; and the pretty Miss told him to speak to her father, and he did
+speak, and to his surprise, old parson did not like it at all, and did
+not give him a very civil answer; and turned the young chap out of the
+house. He said that he did not approve of sporting characters for
+sons-in-law, and Miss Ellen should never get his consent to marry him.
+But as I told you before, sir, the women-folk will have their own way,
+especially when there is a sweet-heart or a new bonnet in the case;
+and the young lady gave him her own consent, and they took French
+leave and went off without saying a word to nobody. Next morning old
+parson was running about the village, asking everybody if they had
+seen his child, the tears running over his thin face, and he raving
+like a man out of his head."
+
+"And were the young people ever married?" and in spite of myself I
+felt the colour flush my face to crimson.
+
+"I never heard to the contrary. But it was not right to vex the poor
+old man: he took it so to heart, that it quite broke his spirit, and
+he lived but a very few months after she left him. His death was a
+great loss to the neighbourhood. We never had a parson that could hold
+a candle to him since. He was a father to the poor, and it was a
+thousand pities to see the good old man pining and drooping from day
+to day, and fretting himself after the spoilt gal who forsook him in
+his old age."
+
+"You are too hard upon the young lady," said Suds: "it was but human
+nature after all, and small blame in her to prefer a young husband to
+an old snuffy superannuated parson."
+
+"Did she ever return to ----?"
+
+"She came to see her father in his dying illness, but too late to
+receive his forgiveness, for he died while her step was on the stairs.
+His last words--'Thank God, Ellen is come, I shall see her before I
+die.' But he did not, for he expired directly the words were out of
+his mouth. She and her husband followed the old man to his grave, and
+barring her grief, I never saw a handsomer couple."
+
+"Do you know," said I, hesitatingly, "the church in which they were
+married?"
+
+"I never heard, sir, not feeling curious to ask, as it did not concern
+me, but Mrs. Hepburn up at the Grove knows: she was Miss Lee then, and
+she and old parson's daughter went to school together, and were fast
+friends."
+
+"Thank you," I replied carelessly, drawing my chair from the table,
+"you have satisfied my curiosity."
+
+Though outwardly calm my heart was beating violently. Could it be true
+that I was in the immediate vicinity of Catherine and her aunt, and
+that the latter might be acquainted with the facts so important for me
+to procure?
+
+The hopes and fears which this conversation had produced had the
+effect of destroying my appetite. It was in vain that the pretty widow
+tempted me with a number of delicacies in the shape of sweet home-made
+bread, delicious fresh butter, and humming ale, the power of mental
+excitement overpowered the mere gratification of the senses.
+
+Before I retired for the night, I observed my loquacious companions
+doing ample justice to the savoury supper, from which I had risen with
+indifference.
+
+I sought the solitude of my chamber, undressed, and flung myself into
+bed. To sleep was out of the question. Catherine Lee, Margaretta
+Moncton and my dear mother floated in a continual whirl through my
+heated brain. My mind was a perfect chaos of confused images and
+thoughts; nor could I reflect calmly on one subject for two minutes
+together. My head ached, my heart beat tumultuously, and in order to
+allay this feverish mental irritation, I took a large dose of
+laudanum, which produced the desired effect of lulling me into
+profound forgetfulness.
+
+The day was far advanced when I shook off this heavy unwholesome
+slumber, but on endeavouring to rise, I felt so stupid and giddy, that
+I was fain to take a cup of coffee in bed. A table-spoonful of
+lime-juice administered by the white hand of Mrs. Archer, counteracted
+the unpleasant effects of the opiate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ELM GROVE.
+
+
+On calmly reviewing the conversation of the past night, I determined
+to walk over to Elm Grove, and confide my situation to Mrs. Hepburn,
+who, as a friend of my mother's, might feel more interested in me,
+than she had done in Mr. Robert Moncton's poor dependent clerk.
+
+I was so well pleased with this plan that I immediately put it into
+execution, and gave myself no time to alter my resolution, until I
+found myself waiting the appearance of the lady in an elegant
+drawing-room, which commanded the most beautiful prospect of hill and
+dale, in that most beautiful and romantic of English counties.
+
+Mrs. Hepburn was past the meridian of life. Her countenance was by no
+means handsome, but the expression was gentle and agreeable, and her
+whole appearance lady-like and prepossessing. She had mingled a great
+deal in the world, which had given her such a perfect control over her
+features, that little could be read of the inward emotions of the
+mind, from the calm and almost immovable placidity of her face.
+
+A slight look of surprise at the sight of a visitor so unexpected, and
+in all probability equally unwelcome, made me feel most keenly the
+awkwardness of the situation in which I was placed. The cold and
+courteous manner in which she asked to what cause she was indebted for
+the pleasure of a visit from Mr. Geoffrey Moncton, did not tend to
+diminish my confusion. I suffered my agitation so completely to master
+me, that for a few seconds I could find no words wherewith to frame
+the most common-place answer.
+
+Observing my distress, she begged me to take a seat, and placing
+herself on the opposite side of the table, she continued to regard me
+with the most provoking _nonchalance_.
+
+Making a desperate effort to break the oppressive silence, I contrived
+at last to stammer out, "I hope, madam, you will excuse the liberty I
+have taken by thus intruding myself upon your notice; but business of
+a very delicate and distressing nature induced me to apply to you, as
+the only person at all likely to befriend me in my present
+difficulty."
+
+Her look of surprise increased; nor do I wonder at it, considering the
+ambiguity of my speech. What must she have thought? Nothing very
+favourable to me, I am sure. I could have bitten my tongue off for my
+want of tact, but the blunder was out, and she answered with some
+asperity:--"That we were almost strangers to each other, and that she
+could not imagine in what way she could serve me, without my request
+was a pecuniary one, in which case she owed me a debt of gratitude
+which she would gladly repay; that she had heard with sorrow from Mr.
+Theophilus Moncton, the manner in which I had been expelled from his
+father's office; that she bitterly lamented she or her niece should
+have directly or indirectly been the cause of my disgrace. She had
+been told, however, that the cause of Mr. Moncton's displeasure
+originated in my own rash conduct, and she feared that no application
+from her in my behalf, would be likely to effect a reconciliation
+between me and my uncle."
+
+The colour burnt upon my cheek, and I answered with some warmth: "God
+forbid! that I should ever seek it at his hands! It is neither to
+solicit charity nor to complain to you, Mrs. Hepburn, of my past
+ill-treatment, that I sought an interview with you this morning.
+But--but"--and my voice faltered, and my eyes sought the ground, "I
+was told last night that you were the intimate friend of my mother."
+
+"And who, sir, was your mother?"
+
+"Her name was Ellen Rivers."
+
+"Good Heavens! you the son of Ellen Rivers!" and the calm face became
+intensely agitated. "You, Geoffrey Moncton, the child of my first and
+dearest friend! I was told you were the natural son of her husband."
+
+"But was he her husband?" and I almost gasped for breath.
+
+"Who dares to doubt it?"
+
+"This same honourable uncle of mine. He positively affirms that my
+mother was never lawfully the wife of Edward Moncton. He has branded
+the names of my parents with infamy, and destroyed every document
+which could prove my legitimacy. The only advantage which I derived
+from a niggardly destiny, my good name, has been wrenched from me by
+this cold-blooded villain!"
+
+I was too much excited to speak with moderation; I trembled with
+passion.
+
+"Be calm, Mr. Geoffrey," said Mrs. Hepburn, speaking in a natural and
+affectionate tone. "Let us go at length into the matter, and if I can
+in any way assist you, I will do so most cheerfully; although I must
+confess, that as matters stand between the families just now, it is
+rather an awkward piece of business. Your uncle, perhaps, never knew
+that I was acquainted with Miss Rivers, or felt any interest in her
+fate. These deep-seeing men often overreach themselves. But let me
+hear the tale you have to tell, and then I can better judge of its
+truth or falsehood."
+
+Encouraged by the change in Mrs. Hepburn's tone and bearing, I gave
+her a brief statement of the events of my life, up to the hour in
+which I came to an open rupture with my uncle; and he basely destroyed
+my articles, and I found myself cast upon the world without the means
+of subsistence.
+
+Mrs. Hepburn was greatly astonished at the narration, and often
+interrupted me to express her indignation.
+
+"And this is the man, who bears such a fair character to the world.
+The friend of the friendless, and the guardian of innocence! Geoffrey
+Moncton, you make me afraid of the world, of myself--of every one. But
+what are you doing for a living, and what brings you into Derbyshire?"
+
+"I am living at present in the family of Sir Alexander Moncton, who
+has behaved in the most generous manner to his _poor relation_."
+
+"You have in him a powerful protector."
+
+"Yes, and I may add, without boasting, a sincere friend. It is at his
+expense, and on his instigation that I am here, in order to find out
+some clue by which I may trace the marriage of my dear mother, and
+establish a legitimate claim to the title and estates of Moncton, at
+the worthy Baronet's demise, an event, which may God keep far
+distant," I added with fervour. "If I fail in this object, the
+property devolves to Robert Moncton and his son."
+
+"I see it, I see it all; but I fear, Mr. Geoffrey, that your uncle has
+laid his plans too deeply for us to frustrate. I feel no doubts, as to
+your mother's marriage, though I was not present when that event took
+place, but I can tell you the church in which the ceremony was
+performed. Your mother was just of age, and the consent of parents was
+unnecessary, as far as the legality of the marriage was concerned."
+
+"God bless you!" cried I, taking the hand she extended to me, and
+pressing it heartily between my own. "My mother's son blesses you, for
+the kind sympathy you have expressed in his welfare. You are my good
+angel, and have inspired me with a thousand new and pleasing hopes."
+
+"These will not, however, prove your legitimacy, my young friend,"
+said she, with a smile, "so restrain your ardour for a more fortunate
+time. I have a letter from your mother, written the morning after her
+marriage, describing her feelings during the ceremony and the remorse
+which marred her happiness, for having disobeyed and abandoned her
+aged father. She mentions her old nurse, and her father's gardener, as
+being the only witnesses present, and remarks on the sexton giving her
+away, as a bad omen, that she felt superstitious about it, and that
+her husband laughed at her fears.
+
+"The register of the marriage, you say, has been destroyed. The
+parties who witnessed it, are most likely gathered to their fathers.
+But the very circumstance of the register having been destroyed, and
+this letter of your mother's, will, I think, be greatly in your
+favour. At all events, the parish of ---- is only a pleasant ride
+among the Derby hills; and you can examine the registers for a
+trifling donation to the clerk; and ascertain from him, whether Mr.
+Roche, the clergyman who then resided in the parish, or his sexton,
+are still living. I will now introduce you to my niece, who always
+speaks of you with interest, and refuses to believe the many things
+advanced by your cousin to your disadvantage."
+
+"Just like Miss Lee," said I. "She is not one to listen to the
+slanders of an enemy, behind one's back. I heard in the village, that
+Mr. Theophilus was in this neighbourhood, and a suitor of Miss Lee's."
+
+"A mere village gossip. He is staying with Mr. Thurton, who lives in
+the pretty old-fashioned house, you passed on the hill on your way
+hither, and is a frequent visitor here. Mr. Moncton is anxious to
+promote an alliance between his son and my niece. In birth and fortune
+they are equals, and the match, in a worldly point of view,
+unexceptional."
+
+"And Theophilus?"
+
+"Is the most devoted of lovers."
+
+"Execrable villain! and his poor young wife dying at the Hall of a
+broken heart. Can such things be, and the vengeance of heaven sleep!"
+
+"You don't mean to insinuate that Mr. Theophilus Moncton is a married
+man."
+
+"I scorn insinuations, I speak of facts; which to his face, I dare him
+to deny."
+
+"My dear Kate!" cried Mrs. Hepburn sinking back in her chair. "I have
+combated for several weeks with what I considered an unreasonable
+prejudice on her part against this marriage. And this very morning I
+was congratulating myself on the possibility of getting her to receive
+Mr. Moncton's suit more favourably. Ah, Mr. Geoffrey! doubly her
+preserver, your timely visit has saved the dear girl from unutterable
+misery."
+
+I then informed Mrs. Hepburn of all the particulars of this
+unfortunate marriage. Of young Moncton's desertion and barbarous
+treatment of his wife--of her attempted suicide, and the providential
+manner in which she had been rescued by me from the grave.
+
+This painful interview, which had lasted several hours, was at length
+terminated by the entrance of Miss Lee and Theophilus, who had been
+absent riding with some friends.
+
+They entered from the garden, and Mrs. Hepburn and I were so deeply
+engaged in conversation that we did not notice their approach until
+Catherine called out in a tone of alarm:--"Mr. Geoffrey Moncton here,
+and my aunt in tears? What can have happened?"
+
+"Yes, Kate, you will be glad to see an old friend," said her aunt. "To
+you, Mr. Moncton," turning to Theophilus, "he is the bearer of sad
+tidings."
+
+"Anything happened to my father?" said Theophilus, looking towards me
+with an expression in his green eyes, of intense and hungry inquiry,
+which for a moment overcame his first glance of aversion and contempt.
+
+I read the meaning of that look, and answered scorn for scorn.
+
+"Of your father and _his_ affairs I know nothing. The tie of kindred
+is broken between us. I wish that I knew as little of you and yours."
+
+"What do you mean?" and his pale cheek flushed with crimson. "Is it to
+traduce my character, to insult me before ladies, that you dare to
+intrude yourself in my company? What brings you here? What message
+have you for me?"
+
+"With you," I said, coldly, "I have no business, nor did I ever wish
+to see you again. My steps were guided here by that Providence which
+watches over the innocent, and avenges the wrongs of the injured. It
+is not my nature to stab even an enemy in the dark. What I have to say
+to you will be said openly and to your face."
+
+"This is fine language," said he, bursting into a scornful laugh. "On
+what provincial theatre have you been studying, since you were
+expelled my father's office?"
+
+"I have not yet learned to act the part of the hypocrite and betrayer,
+in the great drama of life; or by lying and deceit to exalt myself
+upon the ruin of others."
+
+"Go on, go on," cried he, "I perceive your drift. You are a better
+actor than you imagine yourself. Such accusations as you can bring
+against me, will redound more to my credit than praise from such
+lips."
+
+"Theophilus Moncton," I replied, calmly, "I did not invade the
+sanctity of this roof in order to meet and quarrel with you. What I
+have to say to you I will communicate elsewhere."
+
+"Here, sir, if you please--here to my face. I am no coward, and that
+you know of old. I am certain that you cannot name anything to my
+disadvantage, but what I am able triumphantly to refute."
+
+"Well--be it so then. I find you here a suitor for this lady's hand.
+Four days ago your wife attempted suicide, and was rescued from a
+watery grave by my arm."
+
+"Liar! 'tis false! Do not listen, ladies, to this vile calumniator. He
+has a purpose of his own to serve, by traducing my character to my
+friends. Let him bring witnesses more worthy of credit than himself,
+before you condemn me."
+
+"I condemn no one, Mr. Theophilus," said Mrs. Hepburn, gravely. "Sir
+Alexander Moncton is a person of credit, and your wife is at present
+under his protection. What can you say to this?"
+
+She spoke in vain. Theophilus left the room without deigning to reply.
+We looked in silence at each other.
+
+Miss Lee was the first who spoke:--"He is convicted by his own
+conscience. I thought him cold and selfish, but never dreamed that he
+was a villain. And the poor young woman, his wife, what is her name?"
+
+"Alice Mornington."
+
+A faint cry burst from the lips of Catherine. I caught her in my arms
+before she fell, and placed her in a chair: she had fainted. Mrs.
+Hepburn rang the bell for one of her female attendants, and amid the
+bustle and confusion of removing Miss Lee to her own apartment, I took
+the opportunity of retiring from the scene.
+
+"What new mystery does this involve?" said I, half aloud, as I
+sauntered down the thick avenue which led from the house to the
+high-road. "Why did the mention of that name produce such an effect
+upon Catherine? She cannot be acquainted with the parties. Her
+agitation might be accidental. 'Tis strange--very strange"----
+
+"Stop!" cried a loud voice near me; and pale and haggard, his hands
+fiercely clenched, and his eyes starting from his head, Theophilus
+confronted me.
+
+"Geoffrey, this meeting must be our last."
+
+"With all my heart;" and folding my arms I looked him steadfastly in
+the face.
+
+Never shall I forget the expression of that countenance, transformed
+as it was with furious passion; livid, convulsed; every feature
+swollen and quivering with malice and despair. It was dreadful to
+contemplate--scarcely human.
+
+How often since has it haunted me in dreams.
+
+The desire of revenge had overcome his usual caution. In the mood he
+was then in, his puny figure would have been a match for a giant.
+
+"I seek no explanation of your conduct," said he: "we hate each
+other;" he gnashed his teeth as he spoke. "I have ruined you, and you
+have done your best to return the compliment. But you shall not
+triumph in my disgrace: if we fall it shall be together."
+
+He sprang upon me unawares. He wound his thin sinewy arms around me. I
+was taken by surprise, and before I could raise my arm to defend
+myself from his ferocious attack, I was thrown heavily to the ground.
+The last thing that I can distinctly recollect was his thin bony
+fingers grasping my throat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MY NURSE, AND WHO SHE WAS.
+
+
+The night was far advanced when I recovered my senses. The room I
+occupied was large and spacious; the bed on which I was lying such as
+wealth supplies to her most luxurious children. One watch-light with
+shaded rays, scarcely illuminated a small portion of the ample
+chamber, leaving the remote corners in intense shade. A female figure,
+in a long, loose, white wrapping-gown, was seated at the table
+reading. Her back was towards me, and my head was too heavy and my
+eyes too dim to recognize the person of the stranger.
+
+I strove to lift my head from the pillow; the effort wrung from my
+lips a moan of pain. This brought the lady instantly to my side. It
+was Mrs. Hepburn's face, but it faded from my sight like the faces
+that look upon us in dreams. Recollection and sight failed me--I
+remember nothing more.
+
+Many days passed unconsciously over me. Nearly three weeks elapsed
+before I was able to bear the light, or ask an explanation of the
+past.
+
+Mrs. Hepburn and Miss Lee were my constant attendants, and a
+middle-aged, respectable man in livery, who slept in my apartment, and
+rendered me the most kind and essential services. Dan Simpson was an
+old servant of the family; had been born on the estate, and lived for
+thirty years under that roof. He was a worthy, pious man, and during
+my long, tedious illness we contracted a mutual friendship which
+lasted to the close of his life. Had it not been for the care and
+attention of those excellent women and honest Dan, I might never have
+lived to be the chronicler of these adventures.
+
+As I recovered strength, Simpson informed me that the gamekeeper had
+witnessed from behind the hedge my encounter with Theophilus, and
+prevented further mischief by bursting suddenly upon my adversary, who
+had the dastardly meanness to give me several blows after I was
+insensible.
+
+Theophilus left his victim with savage reluctance. The gamekeeper
+thought at first that I was dead, and he told him that he had better
+be off, or he would inform against him, and have him convicted for
+murder. This hint was enough, and Theophilus lost no time in quitting
+the neighbourhood.
+
+I had fallen with the back of my head against the trunk of a large elm
+tree, which had caused concussion of the brain.
+
+"You must be quite still, sir, and talk as little as possible, or
+'twill be bad for you," said Simpson. "An' the ladies must come near
+you as seldom as they can. We may manage to keep you silent, sir, but
+I'll be dashed, if it be possible to keep women's tongues from
+wagging. They will talk--no matter the danger to themselves or others;
+an' 'tis 'most impossible for a man not to listen to them. They be so
+good and pretty. I'd advise you, Master Geoffrey, to shut your eyes,
+when our young lady comes in with the mistress to see you, an' then
+you'll no be tempted to open your ears."
+
+There was a good deal of wholesome truth in honest Dan's advice, but I
+lacked the resolution to adopt it. My eyes and ears were always wide
+open when my fair nurse and her aunt approached my bed-side.
+
+It was delightful to me, to listen to the soft tones of Kate Lee's
+musical voice, when her sweet fair face was bending over me, and she
+inquired in such an earnest and tender manner, "how I was, and how I
+had passed the night."
+
+"Always the better for seeing and hearing you, charming Kate," I would
+have answered had I dared.
+
+One afternoon, Kate was absent, and the dear old lady, her good aunt
+came to sit with me, and read to me while she was away. It was always
+good pious books she read, and I tried to feel interested; but they
+were dull, and never failed in putting me to sleep. Knowing the
+result, I always listened patiently, and in less than half an hour was
+certain to obtain my reward.
+
+I have no doubt, that the soporific quality of these sermons, by
+quieting my mind and producing wholesome repose, did more to advance
+my recovery, than all the lotions and medicines administered by the
+family physician, who was another worthy but exceedingly prosy
+individual.
+
+It so happened that this afternoon my kind old friend was inclined for
+a chat. She sat down near my bed, and after feeling my pulse, and
+telling me that I was going on nicely, she began to talk over my late
+misadventure.
+
+"It is a mercy that your life was spared, Geoffrey. Who could have
+imagined that your cousin, with his smooth courteous manners and
+silken voice was such a ruffian."
+
+"The snake is beautiful and graceful," said I, "yet the venom it
+conceals produces death. Theophilus has many qualities in common with
+the reptile. Smooth, insidious, and deadly; he always strikes to
+kill."
+
+"His encounter with you, Geoffrey, has removed every doubt from our
+minds, as to his real character and the truth of your statements. I
+cannot think, without a shudder, of the bare possibility of my amiable
+Kate becoming the wife of such a villain."
+
+"Could Miss Lee really entertain the least regard for such a man?"
+cried I, indignant at the bare supposition.
+
+"Hush! Geoffrey. You must not talk above a whisper. You know Dr. Lake
+has forbidden you to do that. Kate never loved Theophilus. She might,
+however, have yielded to my earnest importunities for her to become
+his wife. Mr. Moncton is her guardian, and some difficulties attend
+the settlement of her property, which this union would in all
+probability have removed. You know the manner in which some lawyers
+cut out work for themselves, Mr. Moncton. I have no doubt, it is the
+only real obstacle in the way."
+
+"More than probable," whispered I, for I wanted the old lady to go on
+talking about Kate; "but, dear Mrs. Hepburn, I have a perfect horror
+of these marriages without affection; they seldom turn out well. Poor
+as I am I would never sacrifice the happiness of a whole life by
+contracting such a marriage."
+
+"Young people always think so, but a few years produce a great change
+in their sentiments. I am always sorry when I hear of a young man or
+woman being desperately in love, for it generally ends in
+disappointment. A heavy trial of this kind--a most unfortunate
+engagement in early youth, has rendered poor Catherine indifferent to
+the voice of love."
+
+I felt humbled and mortified by this speech. I turned upon my pillow
+to conceal my face from my kind nurse. Good heavens! Could it be true,
+that I had only loved the phantom of a dream--had followed for so many
+weary months a creature of imagination--a woman who had no heart to
+bestow upon her humble worshipper?
+
+I had flattered myself that I was not indifferent to Miss Lee: had
+even dared to hope that she loved me. What visions of future happiness
+in store for me, had these presumptuous hopes foretold. What stately
+castles had I not erected upon this sandy foundation, which I was now
+doomed to see perish, as it were within my grasp?
+
+My bosom heaved, and my eyes became dim, but I proudly struggled with
+my feelings, and turning to Mrs. Hepburn, I inquired with apparent
+calmness, "If any letters had arrived for me?" She said she did not
+know, but would send to the post-office and inquire.
+
+I then, by mere chance, remembered the name Sir Alexander had bestowed
+upon me, and told Simpson, who had just then entered, to ask for
+letters for Mr. Tremain.
+
+I felt restless and unhappy, and feigned sleep, in order to be left
+alone; and when alone, if a few tears did come to my relief, to cool
+the fever in my heart and brain, the reader who has ever loved will
+excuse the weakness.
+
+I could not forgive my charming Kate, for having loved another, when I
+felt that she ought to have loved me. Had I not saved her life at the
+risk of my own? had I not been true to her at the sacrifice of my best
+interests, and slighted the pure devoted affection of Margaretta
+Moncton, for the love of one who loved me not--who never had loved me,
+though I had worshipped her image in the innermost shrine of my heart?
+Alas! for poor human nature: this severe trial was more than my
+philosophy could bear.
+
+From these painful and mortifying reflections, I was aroused by the
+light step of the beautiful delinquent, who, radiant in youth and
+loveliness, entered the room. I glanced at her from under my
+half-closed eyelids. I regarded her as a fallen angel. She had dared
+to love another, and half her beauty had vanished.
+
+She came to my bed-side, and in accents of the tenderest concern,
+inquired after my health.
+
+"What have you been doing, Geoffrey: not talking too much, I hope? You
+look ill and feverish. See, I have brought you a present--a nosegay of
+wild flowers, gathered in the woods. Are they not beautiful?"
+
+To look into her sweet face, and entertain other feelings than those
+of respect and admiration, was impossible. I took the flowers from the
+delicate white hand that proffered them, and tried to thank her. My
+lips quivered. I sighed involuntarily, and turned away.
+
+"You are out of spirits, Geoffrey, my dear friend," said she, sitting
+down by my bed-side, and placing her finger on the pulse of the
+emaciated hand which lay listlessly on the coverlid: "you must try and
+overcome these fits of depression, or you will never get well. I left
+you cheerful and hopeful. My dear aunt has been preaching one of her
+long sermons, I fear, and that has made you nervous and melancholy."
+
+Another deep sigh and a shake of the head--I could neither look at
+her, nor trust myself to speak.
+
+"Your long confinement in this dull room affects your mind, Geoffrey.
+It is hard to be debarred the glorious air of heaven during such
+lovely summer weather. But cheer up, brave heart, in a few days, the
+doctor says, that you may be removed into another room. From the
+windows you will then enjoy a delightful prospect, and watch the sun
+set every evening behind the purple hills."
+
+"You and your kind aunt are too good to me, Miss Lee. To one in my
+unfortunate circumstances, it would have been better for me had I
+died."
+
+"For shame! Geoffrey. Such sentiments are unworthy of you--are
+ungrateful to the merciful Father who saved you from destruction."
+
+"Why, what inducements have I to live?"
+
+"Many; if it be only to improve the talents which God has committed to
+your keeping. For this end your life has been spared, and the heavier
+will be your amount of guilt, if you neglect so great salvation. God
+has permitted you to assert your innocence--to triumph over your
+enemy; has saved you from the premeditated malice of that enemy; and
+do you feel no gratitude to Him for such signal mercies?"
+
+"Indeed I have not thought of my preservation in this way before, nor
+have I been so grateful as I ought to have been. I have suffered human
+passions and affections to stand between me and heaven."
+
+"We are all too prone to do that, Geoffrey. The mind, in its natural
+and unconverted state, cannot comprehend the tender mercies of the
+Creator. Human nature is so selfish, when left to its own guidance,
+that it needs the purifying influences of religion to lift the soul
+from grovelling in the dust. I am no bigot--no disputer about creeds
+and forms of worship, but I know that without God no one can be happy
+or contented in any station of life, under any circumstances."
+
+Seeing that I did not answer, she released the hand that she had
+retained within her own, and said very gently:
+
+"Forgive me, Geoffrey, if I have wounded your feelings."
+
+"Go on--go on. I could hear you talk for ever, dear Miss Lee."
+
+"You have grown very formal; Geoffrey--why Miss Lee? During your
+illness, I have been simple Kate."
+
+"But I am getting well now," and I tried to smile; my heart was too
+sore. "Oh, Catherine," I cried, "forgive my waywardness, for I am very
+unhappy."
+
+"You have been placed in very trying circumstances, but I feel an
+inward conviction that you will overcome them all."
+
+"My grief, has nothing to do with that," said I, looking at her very
+earnestly.
+
+I read in her countenance pity and surprise, but no tenderer emotion.
+
+"May I--dare I, dearest Catherine, unburden my heart to you?"
+
+"Speak freely and candidly, Geoffrey. If I cannot remove the cause of
+your distress, you maybe certain of my advice and sympathy."
+
+"Heaven bless you for that!" I murmured, kissing the hand which
+disengaged itself gently from my grasp, and with a colour somewhat
+heightened, Catherine bent towards me in a listening attitude.
+
+The ice once broken, I determined to tell her all; and in low and
+broken accents I proceeded to inform her of my boyish attachment, and
+the fond hopes I had dared to entertain, from the kind and flattering
+manner in which she had returned my attentions at Mr. Moncton's, and
+of the utter annihilation of these ardently cherished hopes, when
+informed by Mrs. Hepburn that afternoon, that her affections had been
+bestowed upon some more fortunate person.
+
+During my incoherent confession, Miss Lee was greatly agitated. Her
+face was turned from me, but from the listless attitude of her figure,
+and the motionless repose of the white hand which fell over the arm of
+the chair in which she was seated, I saw that she was weeping.
+
+Then came a long, painful pause. Catherine at length wiped away her
+tears, and broke the oppressive silence.
+
+"Geoffrey," said she, solemnly, "I have been to blame in this. At the
+time you saved my life (a service for which I can never feel
+sufficiently grateful, for I value life and all its mercies) I was
+young and happy, engaged to one, who in many respects, though older by
+some years, resembled yourself.
+
+"When I met you the second time at your uncle's, disappointment had
+flung a baleful shade over my first fond anticipations of life; but,
+young and sanguine, I still hoped for the best. By some strange
+coincidence, your voice and manner greatly resembled those of the man
+I loved, and whom I still fondly hoped to meet again. This
+circumstance attracted me towards you, and I felt great pleasure in
+conversing with you, as every look and tone reminded me of him. This,
+doubtless, gave rise to the attachment you have just revealed to me,
+and which I must unceasingly lament, as it is impossible for me to
+make you any adequate return."
+
+"And is my rival still dear to you, Miss Lee?"
+
+Her lips again quivered, and she turned weeping away.
+
+"I read my fate in your silence. You love him yet?"
+
+"And shall continue to love him whilst I have life, Geoffrey Moncton,"
+slowly and suffocatingly broke from the pale lips of the trembling
+girl.
+
+"And you would have been persuaded by your aunt to marry Theophilus
+Moncton."
+
+"Never! Who told you that?" and her eye flashed proudly, almost
+scornfully upon me.
+
+"Your good aunt."
+
+"She knows nothing about it. I ceased to oppose her wishes in words,
+because I found that it might produce a rupture between us. Women of
+my aunt's age have outlived their sympathies in affairs of the heart.
+What they once felt they have forgotten, or look upon as a weakness
+which ought not to be tolerated in their conversations with the young.
+But look at that fine, candid face, Geoffrey; that open benevolent
+brow, and tell me, if having once loved the original, it is such an
+easy matter to forget or to find a substitute in such a being as
+Theophilus Moncton."
+
+As she said this she took a portrait that was suspended by a gold
+chain from the inner folds which covered her beautiful bosom, and
+placed it in my hand.
+
+"Good heavens!" cried I, sinking back upon the pillow, "my friend,
+_George Harrison_!"
+
+"Who? I know no one of that name."
+
+"True--true. George Harrison--Philip Mornington--they are the same.
+And his adored and lost Charlotte Laurie, and my beautiful Catherine
+Lee are identified. I see through it now. He hid the truth from me,
+fearing that it might destroy our friendship. Honesty in this, as in
+all other cases, would have been the best policy."
+
+"Philip is still alive! Not hearing of him for so many months made me
+conclude that he was either dead or had left England in disgust."
+
+"He still lives, and loves you, Kate, with all the fervour of a first
+attachment."
+
+"I do not deserve it, Geoffrey. I dared to mistrust his honour, to
+base listen to calumnies propagated by Theophilus and his father,
+purposely, I now believe, to injure him in my estimation. But what
+young girl, ignorant of the world and the ways of designing men, could
+suspect such a grave, plausible man as Robert Moncton, who outwardly
+always manifested the most affectionate interest in my happiness? I
+much fear that my coldness had a very bad effect upon Philip's
+character, and was the means of leading him into excesses, which
+ultimately led to his ruin."
+
+I was perplexed, and knew not what answer to make, for she had hit
+upon the plain truth. To tell her so, was to plunge an amiable
+creature into the deepest affliction, and to withhold it was not doing
+justice to the friend, whom, above all men I valued.
+
+With the quick eye of love, and the tact of woman, Kate perceived my
+confusion, and guessed the cause; she broke into a fit of passionate
+weeping.
+
+"Dear Kate," I began, with difficulty raising myself on the pillow,
+"control this violent emotion, and I will tell you all I know of my
+friend."
+
+She looked eagerly up through her tears; but the task I had imposed
+upon myself was beyond my strength to fulfil. My nerves were so
+completely shattered by the agitating effects of the past scene, that
+I sank back exhausted and gasping on the pillow.
+
+"Not now, not now, Geoffrey, you are unequal to the task. This
+conversation has tried you too much." And raising my head upon her
+arm, she bathed my temples with eau de Cologne, and hastened to
+administer a restorative from the phial that stood on the table.
+
+"I shall be better now I know the worst," said I; and closing my eyes
+for a few moments, my head rested passively on her snow-white
+shoulder.
+
+A few hours back, and the touch of those fair hands would have
+thrilled my whole frame with delight; but now it awoke in me little or
+no emotion. The beautiful dream had vanished. My adored Catherine Lee
+was the betrothed of my friend; and I could gaze upon her pale
+agitated face with calmness--with brotherly, platonic love. I was only
+now anxious to effect a reconciliation between George and his Kate, I
+rejoiced that the means were in all probability in my power.
+
+The entrance of Mrs. Hepburn with letters, put an end to this painful
+scene; while their contents gave rise to other thoughts and feelings,
+hopes and fears.
+
+"I cannot read them yet," said I, after having examined the
+handwriting in which the letters were directed. "My eyes are dim. I am
+too weak. The rest of an hour will restore me. The sight of these
+letters makes me nervous, and agitates me too much. They are from Sir
+Alexander and his daughter, and may contain important tidings."
+
+"Let us go, dear aunt," whispered Kate, slipping her arm through Mrs.
+Hepburn's. "It will be better to leave Geoffrey for awhile alone."
+
+They left the room instantly. I was relieved by their absence. My
+heart was oppressed with painful thoughts. I wanted to be alone--to
+commune with my own spirit, and be still.
+
+A few minutes had scarcely elapsed, before I was sound asleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+MY LETTERS.
+
+
+Day was waning into night, when I again unclosed my eyes. A sober calm
+had succeeded the burning agitation of the previous hours. I was no
+longer a lover--or at least the lover of Catherine Lee. My thoughts
+had returned to Moncton Park, and in dreams the fairy figure of
+Margaret had flitted beside me, through its green arcades. My heart
+was free to love her who so loved me, and by the light of the lamp I
+eagerly opened up the letters, which I had grasped during my slumbers
+tightly in my hand.
+
+But before I could decipher a line, my worthy friend Dan came to the
+rescue. "I cannot permit that, Master Geoffrey," said he; "your eyes
+are too weak to read such fine penmanship."
+
+"My good fellow, only a few lines. You must allow me to do that."
+
+"Not a word. What is the use of all this nursing if you will have your
+own way? You will be dead at this rate in less than a week."
+
+"What a deal of trouble that would save you!" said I, looking at him
+reproachfully.
+
+"Who called it trouble? not I," said honest Dan. "The trouble is a
+pleasure, if you will only be tractable and obey those who mean you
+well. Now don't you see what comes of acting against reason and common
+sense. You would talk to the mistress the whole blessed afternoon.
+Several times I came to the door, and it was still talk, talk, talk;
+and when my young lady comes home and the old mistress was fairly
+tired, and walked out to give her tongue a rest, it was still the same
+with the young one--talk, talk, talk, and no end to the talk, till you
+well nigh fainted; and if it had not been for God's Providence that
+set you off fast asleep, you might have died of the talk fever."
+
+"But I am better now, Daniel: you see the talking did me no harm, but
+good."
+
+"Tout! tout! man, a bad excuse, you know, is better than none they
+say. But I think it's far worse, for 'tis generally an invented lie,
+just to cheat the Devil or one's own conscience; howsomever, I doubt
+much whether the Devil was ever cheated by such practices, but did not
+always win in the long run by that sort of _stale mate_."
+
+"Are you a chess player?" I asked in some surprise.
+
+"Ay, just in a small way. Old Jenkins the butler and I often have a
+tuzzle together in his pantry, which sometimes ends in a _stale
+mate_--he! he! he!--Jenkins, who is a dry stick, says that a stale
+mate is better than stale fish, or a glass of flat champagne--he! he!
+he!"
+
+"I perfectly agree with Jenkins. But don't you see, my good Daniel,
+that you blame me for talking with the ladies, and wanting to read a
+love-letter; while you are making me act quite as imprudently, by
+laughing and talking with you."
+
+"A love-letter did you say?" and he poked his long nose nearly into my
+face, and squinted down with a glance of intense curiosity at the open
+letter I still held in my hand. "Why that is rather a temptation to a
+young gentleman, I must own; cannot I read it for you, sir? I am as
+good a scholar as our clerk."
+
+"I don't at all doubt your capabilities, Simpson. But you see, this is
+a thing I really can only do for myself. The young lady would not like
+her letter to be made public."
+
+"Why, Lord, sir, you don't imagine that I would say a word about it. I
+have kept secrets before now; ay, and ladies' secrets too. I was the
+man who helped your father to carry off Miss Ellen. It was I held the
+horses at the corner of the lane, while he took her out of the
+chamber-window. I drove them to----church next morning, and waited at
+the doors till they were married; and your poor father gave me five
+golden guineas to drink the bride's health. Ah! she was a bride worth
+the winning. A prettier woman I never saw: she beat my young lady
+hollow, though some folks do think Miss Catherine a beauty."
+
+"You did not witness the ceremony?"
+
+"No, sir; but as I sat on the box of the carriage, I saw old Parson
+Roche go up to the aisle in his white gown, with a book in his hand,
+and if it were not to marry the young folks, what business had he
+there?"
+
+"What, indeed!" thought I. "This man's evidence may be of great value
+to me."
+
+I lay silent for some minutes thinking over these circumstances, and
+quite forgot my letter until reminded of it by Simpson.
+
+"Well, sir, I'm thinking that I will allow you to read that letter; if
+you will just put on my spectacles to protect your eyes from the
+light."
+
+"But I could not see with them, Simpson; spectacles, like wives,
+seldom suit anybody but the persons to whom they belong. Besides, you
+know, old eyes and young eyes never behold the same objects alike."
+
+"Maybe," said the old man. "But do just wait patiently until I can
+prop you up in the bed, and put the lamp near enough for you to see
+that small writing. Tzet, tzet--what a pity it is that young ladies,
+now-a-days, are ashamed of writing a good, legible hand. You will
+require a double pair of specs to read yon."
+
+The old man's curiosity was almost as great as his kindness; and I
+should have felt annoyed at his peeping and prying over my shoulder,
+had I not been certain that he could not decipher, without the aid of
+the said spectacles, a single word of the contents. I was getting
+tired of his loquacity, and was at last obliged to request him to go,
+which he did most reluctantly, begging me as he left the room to have
+mercy on my poor eyes.
+
+There was some need of the caution; for the fever had left me so weak
+that it was with great difficulty I succeeded in reading Margaretta's
+letter.
+
+    "Dear Cousin Geoffrey,
+
+    "We parted with an assurance of mutual friendship. I shall not
+    waste words in apologizing for writing to you. As a friend I may
+    continue to love and value you, convinced that the heart in which
+    I trust will never condemn me for the confidence I repose in it.
+
+    "I have suffered a severe affliction since you left us, in the
+    death of poor Alice, which took place a fortnight ago. She died in
+    a very unsatisfactory frame of mind, anxious to the last to behold
+    her unprincipled husband or Dinah North. The latter, however, has
+    disappeared, and no trace of her can be discovered.
+
+    "There was some secret, perhaps the same that you endeavoured so
+    fruitlessly to wrest from her, which lay heavily upon the poor
+    girl's conscience, and which she appeared eager to communicate
+    after the power of utterance had fled. The repeated mention of her
+    brother's name during the day which preceded her dissolution, led
+    me to the conclusion that whatever she had to divulge was
+    connected with him. But she is gone, and the secret has perished
+    with her, a circumstance which we may all have cause to regret.
+
+    "And this is the first time, Geoffrey, that I have looked upon
+    death--the death of one, whom from infancy I have loved as a
+    sister. The sight has filled me with awe and terror; the more so,
+    because I feel a strange presentiment that my own end is not far
+    distant.
+
+    "This, my dear cousin, you will say is the natural result of
+    watching the decay of one so young and beautiful as Alice
+    Mornington--one, who, a few brief months ago, was full of life,
+    and health, and hope; that her death has brought more forcibly
+    before me the prospect of my own mortality. Perhaps it is so. I do
+    not wish to die, Geoffrey; life, for me, has many charms. I love
+    my dear father tenderly. To his fond eyes I am the light of
+    life--the sole thing which remains to him of my mother. I would
+    live for his sake to cherish and comfort him in his old age. I
+    love the dear old homestead with all its domestic associations,
+    and I could not bid adieu to you, my dear cousin, without keen
+    regret.
+
+    "And then, the glorious face of nature--the fields, the flowers,
+    the glad, bright sunbeams, the rejoicing song of birds, the voice
+    of waters, the whispered melodies of wind-stirred leaves, the
+    green solitudes of the dim mysterious forest, I love--oh, how I
+    love them all!
+
+    "Yes, these are dear to my heart and memory; yet I wander
+    discontentedly amid my favourite haunts. My eyes are ever turned
+    to the earth. A spirit seems to whisper to me in low tones, 'Open
+    thy arms, mother, to receive thy child.'
+
+    "I struggle with these waking phantasies; my eyes are full of
+    tears. I feel the want of companionship. I long for some friendly
+    bosom to share my grief and wipe away my tears. The sunshine of my
+    heart has vanished. Ah, my dear friend, how earnestly I long for
+    your return! Do write, and let us know how you have sped. My
+    father came back to the Hall the day after the funeral of poor
+    Alice. He marvels like me at your long silence. He has important
+    news to communicate which I must not forestall.
+
+    "Write soon, and let us know that you are well and happy; a line
+    from you will cheer my drooping heart.
+
+    "Yours, in the sincerity of love,
+
+    "Margaretta Moncton.
+
+    "Moncton Park, July 22, 18--."
+
+I read this letter over several times, until the characters became
+misty, and I could no longer form them into words. A thousand times I
+pressed it to my lips, and vowed eternal fidelity to that dear writer.
+Yet what a mournful tale it told! The love but half-concealed, was
+apparent in every line. I felt bitterly, that I was the cause of her
+dejection; that hopeless affection for me was undermining her health.
+
+I would write to her instantly--would tell her all. Alas! my hand,
+unnerved by long illness, could no longer guide the pen--and how could
+I employ the hand of another? I cursed my unlucky accident, and the
+unworthy cause of it: and in order to divert my thoughts from this
+melancholy subject, I eagerly tore open Sir Alexander's letter.
+
+The paper fell from my grasp, I was not able to read.
+
+Mrs. Hepburn appeared like a good angel, followed by honest Dan,
+bearing candles, and the most refreshing of all viands to an
+invalid--a delicious cup of fragrant tea, the very smell of which was
+reviving; and whilst deliberately sipping the contents of my second
+cup, I requested Mrs. Hepburn, as a great favour, to read to me Sir
+Alexander's letter.
+
+"Perhaps it may contain family secrets?" said she, with an inquiring
+look, whilst her hand rested rather tenaciously upon the closely
+written sheets.
+
+"After the confidence which we have mutually reposed in each other, my
+dear madam, I can have no secret to conceal. You are acquainted with
+my private history, and I flatter myself, that neither you, nor your
+amiable niece, are indifferent to my future welfare."
+
+"You only do us justice, Geoffrey," said the kind woman,
+affectionately pressing my hand, after re-adjusting my pillows. "I
+love you for your mother's sake; I prize you for your own; and I hope
+you will allow me to consider you in the light of that son, of whom
+Heaven early deprived me."
+
+"You make a rich man of me at once," I cried, respectfully kissing her
+hand. "How can I be poor--while I possess so many excellent friends?
+Robert Moncton, with all his wealth, is a beggar, when compared to the
+hitherto despised Geoffrey."
+
+"Well, let us leave off complimenting each other," said Mrs. Hepburn,
+laughing; "and please to lie down like a good boy and compose
+yourself, and listen attentively to what your uncle has to say to you."
+
+    "My dear Geoff.
+
+    "What the deuce, man, has happened to you, that we have received
+    no tidings from you? Have you and old Dinah eloped together on the
+    back of a broomstick. The old hag's disappearance looks rather
+    suspicious. Madge does little else than pine and fret for your
+    return. I begin to feel quite jealous of you in that quarter.
+
+    "I have a long tale to tell you, and scarcely know where to begin.
+    Next to taking doctor's stuff, I detest letter-writing; and were
+    you not a great favourite, the pens, ink, and paper might go to
+    the bottom of the river, before I would employ them to communicate
+    a single thought.
+
+    "I had a very pleasant journey to London, which terminated in
+    a very unpleasant visit to your _worthy_ uncle. It was not
+    without great repugnance that I condescended to enter his house,
+    particularly when I reflected on the errand which took me there.
+    He received me with one of his blandest smiles, and inquired after
+    my health with such affectionate interest, that it would have led
+    a stranger to imagine he really wished me well, instead of
+    occupying a snug corner in the family vault.
+
+    "How I abhor this man's hypocrisy! Bad as he is, that is the very
+    worst feature in his character. I cut all his compliments short,
+    however, by informing him that the object of my visit was one of a
+    very unpleasant nature, which required his immediate attention.
+
+    "He looked very cold and spiteful. 'I anticipate your business,'
+    said he; 'Geoffrey Moncton, I am informed, has found an asylum
+    with you, and I suppose you are anxious to effect a reconciliation
+    between us. If such be the purport of your visit, Sir Alexander,
+    your journey must prove in vain. I never will forgive that
+    ungrateful young man, nor admit him again into my presence.'
+
+    "'You have injured him too deeply, Robert,' said I, calmly (for
+    you know, Geoff, that it is of little use flying into a passion
+    with your cold-blooded uncle: he is not generous enough to get
+    insulted and show fight like another man) 'Geoffrey does not wish
+    it,' I replied, 'and I should scorn to ask it in his name.'
+
+    "The man of law looked incredulous, but did not choose to venture
+    a reply.
+
+    "'It is not of Geoffrey Moncton, the independent warm-hearted
+    orphan, I wished to speak, who, thank God! has pluck enough to
+    take his own part, and speak for himself--it is of one, who is a
+    disgrace to his name and family. I mean your son, Theophilus.'
+
+    "'Really, Sir Alexander, you take a great deal of trouble about
+    matters which do not concern you,' (he said this with a sarcastic
+    sneer) 'my son is greatly indebted to you for such disinterested
+    kindness.'
+
+    "His cool impudence provoked me beyond endurance: I felt a wicked
+    pleasure in retaliation, which God forgive me! was far from a
+    Christian spirit. But I despised the rascal too much at that
+    moment to pity him.
+
+    "'My interference in this matter concerns me more nearly than you
+    imagine, Mr. Moncton,' said I. 'Your son's unfortunate wife
+    attempted suicide, but was prevented in the act of drowning
+    herself by the nephew you have traduced and treated so basely.'
+
+    "'Damn her! why did he not let her drown! thundered forth your
+    uncle.'
+
+    "'Because his heart was not hardened in villainy like your own.
+    Your daughter-in-law now lies dying at my house, and I wish to
+    transfer the responsibility from my hands into your own.'
+
+    "'It was your fault that they ever met,' cried he: 'your love of
+    low society which threw them together. Theophilus was not a man to
+    make such a fool of himself--such an infernal fool!'
+
+    "And then the torrent burst. The man became transformed into the
+    demon. He stamped and raved--and tore his hair, and cursed with
+    the most horrid and blasphemous oaths, the son who had followed so
+    closely in his own steps. Such a scene I never before
+    witnessed--such a spectacle of human depravity may it never be my
+    lot to behold again. In the midst of his incoherent ravings, he
+    actually threatened, as the consummation of his indignation
+    against his son, to make you his heir.
+
+    "Such is the contradiction inherent in our fallen nature, that he
+    would exalt the man he hates, to revenge himself upon the son who
+    has given the death-blow to the selfish pride which has marked his
+    crooked path through life.
+
+    "I left him in deep disgust. It made me think very humbly of
+    myself. Faith, Geoff, when I look back on my own early career, I
+    begin to think that we are a bad set; and without you and Madge
+    raise the moral tone of the family character there is small chance
+    of any of the other members finding their way to heaven.
+
+    "I spent a couple of quiet days with my old friend Onslow, and
+    then commenced my journey home. At a small village about thirty
+    miles from London, I was overtaken by such a violent storm of
+    thunder and rain, that I had to put up at the only inn in the
+    place for the night.
+
+    "In the passage I was accosted by an old man of pleasing
+    demeanour, and with somewhat of a foreign aspect, who inquired if
+    he had the honour of speaking to Sir Alexander Moncton? I said
+    yes, but that he had the advantage of me, as I believed him to be
+    a perfect stranger.
+
+    "He appeared embarrassed, and said, that he did not wonder at my
+    forgetting him, as it was only in a subordinate situation I had
+    ever seen him, and that was many years ago.
+
+    "I now looked hard at the man, and a conviction of often having
+    seen him before flashed into my mind. It was an image connected
+    with bygone years--years of folly and dissipation.
+
+    "'Surely you are not William Walters, who for such a long time was
+    the friend and confidant of Robert Moncton.'
+
+    "'The same, at your service.'
+
+    "'Mr. Walters,' said I, turning on my heel, 'I have no wish to
+    resume the acquaintance.'
+
+    "'You are right,' replied he, and was silent for a minute or so,
+    then resumed, in a grave and humble tone; 'Sir Alexander, I trust
+    we are both better men, or the experience and sorrows of years
+    have been given to us in vain. I can truly say, that I have deeply
+    repented of my former sinful life, and I trust that my repentance
+    has been accepted by that God before whom we must both soon
+    appear. Still, I cannot blame you, for wishing to have no further
+    intercourse with one whom you only knew as an unprincipled man.
+    But for the sake of a young man, who, if living, is a near
+    connection of yours, I beg you to listen patiently to what I have
+    to say.'
+
+    "'If your communication has reference to Geoffrey, the son of
+    Edward Moncton, and nephew to Robert, I am entirely at your
+    service.'
+
+    "'He is the man! I have left a comfortable home in the United
+    States, and returned to England with the sole object in view, of
+    settling a moral debt which has lain a long time painfully on my
+    conscience. I was just on my way to Moncton Park to speak to you
+    on this important subject.'
+
+    "My dear Geoff, you may imagine the feelings with which I heard
+    this announcement. Had I been alone I should have snapped my
+    fingers, whistled, shouted for joy--anything that would have
+    diminished with safety the suffocating feeling at my heart. I was
+    so glad--I never knew how dear you were to me until then. So I
+    invited the solemn, and rather puritanical-looking white-headed
+    man to partake of my dinner, and spend the evening in my
+    apartment, in order to get out of him all that I could concerning
+    you. The result was most satisfactory. There was no need of bribes
+    or nut-crackers; he was anxious to make a clean breast of it, for
+    which I gave him ample absolution.
+
+    "Here is his confession, as well as I can remember it:--
+
+    "'My acquaintance with Robert Moncton commenced at school. I was
+    the only son of a rich banker in the city of Norwich. My father
+    was generous to a fault, and allowed me more pocket-money than my
+    young companions could boast of receiving from their friends at
+    home. My father had risen, by a train of fortunate circumstances,
+    from a very humble station in life, and was ostentatiously proud
+    of his wealth. He was particularly anxious for me to pass for the
+    son of a very rich man at school, which he fancied would secure
+    for me powerful friends, and their interest in my journey through
+    life.
+
+    "'I was not at all averse to his plans, which I carried out to
+    their fullest extent, and went by the name of _Ready-Money
+    Jack_, among my school-mates, who I have no doubt whispered
+    behind my back, that--fools and their money are soon parted; for
+    you know, Sir Alexander, this is the way of the world. And there
+    is no place in which the world and its selfish maxims are more
+    fully exemplified than in a large boarding-school.
+
+    "'I had not been long at school when the two Monctons were
+    admitted to the same class with myself. Edward was a dashing,
+    eloquent, brave lad; more remarkable for a fine appearance and an
+    admirable temper, than for any particular talent. He was a very
+    popular boy, but somehow or other we did not take to each other.
+
+    "'The boyish vanity fostered by my father, made me wish to be
+    considered the first lad in the school; a notion which Edward took
+    good care to keep down; and fretted and galled by his assumption
+    of superiority, I turned to Robert, who was everything but
+    friendly to Edward, to support my cause and back me in my
+    quarrels.
+
+    "'Robert was a handsome, gentlemanly-looking lad, but quite the
+    reverse of Edward. He hated rough play, learned his lessons with
+    indefatigable industry, and took good care to keep himself out of
+    harm's way. He was the pattern boy of the school. The favourite of
+    all the teachers. He possessed a grave, specious manner--a cold
+    quiet reserve, which imposed upon the ignorant and unsuspecting;
+    and his love of money was a passion which drew all the blood from
+    his stern proud heart. He saw that I was frank and vain, and he
+    determined to profit by my weakness. I did not want for natural
+    capacity, but I was a sad idler.
+
+    "'Robert was shrewd and persevering, and I paid him handsomely for
+    doing my sums and writing my Latin exercises. We became firm
+    friends, and I loved him for years with more sincerity than he
+    deserved.
+
+    "'As I advanced towards manhood, my poor father met with great
+    losses; and on the failure of a large firm with which his own was
+    principally connected, he became a bankrupt.
+
+    "'Solely dependent upon my rich father, without any fixed aim or
+    object in life, I had just made a most imprudent marriage, when
+    his death, which happened almost immediately upon his reverse of
+    fortune, awoke me to the melancholy reality which stared me in the
+    face.
+
+    "'In my distress I wrote to Robert Moncton, who had just commenced
+    practice at his old office in Hatton Garden. He answered my appeal
+    to his charity promptly, and gave me a seat in his office as
+    engrossing clerk, with a very liberal salary which, I need not
+    assure you, was most thankfully accepted by a person in my reduced
+    circumstances. This place I filled entirely to his satisfaction
+    for fifteen years, until I was the father of twelve children.
+
+    "'My salary was large, but, alas! it was the wages of sin. All
+    Robert Moncton's dirty work was confided to my hands. I was his
+    creature--the companion of his worst hours--and he paid me
+    liberally for my devotion to his interests. But for all this,
+    there were moments in my worthless life when better feelings
+    prevailed; when I loathed the degrading trammels in which I was
+    bound; and often, on the bosom of a dear and affectionate wife, I
+    lamented bitterly my fallen state.
+
+    "'About this period Edward Moncton died, and Robert was appointed
+    guardian to his orphan child. Property there was none--barely
+    sufficient to pay the expenses of the funeral. Robert supplied
+    from his own purse L50, towards the support of the young widow,
+    until she could look about and obtain a situation as a day
+    governess or a teacher in a school, for which she was eminently
+    qualified.
+
+    "'I never shall forget the unnatural joy displayed by Robert on
+    this melancholy occasion: "Thank God! William," said he, clapping
+    me on the shoulder, after he had read the letter which poor Mrs.
+    Moncton wrote to inform him of her sudden bereavement, 'Edward is
+    dead. There is only one stumbling-block left in my path, and I
+    will soon kick that out of the way.'
+
+    "'Three months had scarcely elapsed before I went to ---- with
+    Robert Moncton, to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law. The
+    sight of the fine boy who acted as chief mourner in that mournful
+    ceremony cut me to the heart. I was a father myself--a fond
+    father--and I longed to adopt the poor, friendless child. But what
+    could a man do who has a dozen of his own?
+
+    "'As we were on our road to ----, Robert had confided to me his
+    plans for setting aside his nephew's claims to the estates and
+    title of Moncton, in case you should die without a male heir. The
+    secluded life which Mrs. Moncton had led since her marriage; her
+    want of relatives to interest themselves in her behalf, and the
+    dissipated habits of her husband, who had lost all his fine
+    property at the gaming-table, made the scheme not only feasible,
+    but presented few obstacles to its accomplishment.
+
+    "'Shocked at this piece of daring villainy, I dissembled my
+    indignation, and while I appeared to acquiesce in his views, I
+    secretly determined to befriend, if possible, the innocent child.
+
+    "'The night prior to the funeral, he called me into his private
+    office, and after chatting over a matter of little consequence, he
+    said to me in a careless manner:
+
+    "'"By the by, Walters, Basset told me the other day, that you had
+    taken a craze to go to America. This is your wife's doings, I
+    suppose. I don't suffer Mrs. Moncton to settle such matters for
+    me. But is it true?"
+
+    "'I said that it had been on my mind for a long time. The want of
+    funds alone preventing me from emigrating with my family.'
+
+    "'"If that is all, the want of money need not hinder you. But
+    mind, Walters, I am not generous, I expect something for my gold.
+    You have been faithful to me, and I am anxious to show you that I
+    am not insensible to your merit. We are old friends, Walter--we
+    understand each other; we are not troubled with nice scruples, and
+    dare to call things by their right names. But to the point.
+
+    "'"This boy of my brother's, as I was telling you, is a thorn in
+    my side, which you can remove."
+
+    "'"In what way?" said I, in a tone of alarm.
+
+    "'"Don't look blue," he replied, and he laughed. "I kill with the
+    tongue and the pen, and leave to fools the pistol and the knife.
+    You must go to the parish of ---- among the Derby hills, where
+    Edward was married, and where he resided, enacting love in a
+    cottage with his pretty, penniless bride, until after this boy,
+    Geoffrey, was born; and subtract, if possible, the leaves from the
+    church-register that contain these important entries. Do this with
+    your usual address, and I will meet all the expenses of your
+    intended emigration.'
+
+    "'The offer was tempting to a poor man, but I still hesitated,
+    conjuring up a thousand difficulties which either awoke his mirth
+    or scorn.
+
+    "'"The only difficulty that I can find in the business," said he,
+    "is your unwillingness to undertake it. The miserable old wretch
+    employed as clerk in the church is quite superannuated. A small
+    bribe will win him to your purpose, especially as Mr. Roche, the
+    incumbent, is just now at the sea-side, whither he is gone in the
+    delusive hope of curing old age. Possessed of these documents, I
+    will defy the boy to substantiate his claims, provided that he
+    lives to be a man; for I have carefully destroyed all the other
+    documents which could lead to prove the legality of his title. The
+    old gardener and his nurse must be persuaded to accompany you to
+    America. Old Roche is on his last legs--from him I shall soon have
+    nothing to fear. What do you say to my proposal--yes or no?"
+
+    "'"Yes," I stammered out, "I will undertake it, as it is to be the
+    last affair of the kind in which I mean to engage."
+
+    "'"You will forget it," said he, "before you have half crossed the
+    Atlantic, and can begin the world with a new character. I will
+    give you five hundred pounds to commence with."
+
+    "'This iniquitous bargain concluded, I went down after the funeral
+    to ----, on my mission. As my employer anticipated, a few
+    shillings to the old clerk placed the church-register at my
+    disposal, from which I carefully cut the leaves (which, in that
+    quiet, out-of-the way hamlet, were not likely to be missed) which
+    contained the entries. In a small hut among the hills I found the
+    old gardener and his widowed daughter, who had been nurse to
+    Geoffrey and his mother, whom I talked into a fever of enthusiasm
+    about America, and the happy life which people led there, which
+    ended in my engaging them, to accompany me. Good and valuable
+    servants they both proved. They are since dead.'
+
+    "'And what became of the entries? Did you destroy them?'
+
+    "'I tried to do it, Sir Alexander, but it seemed as if an angel
+    stayed my hand, and yielding to my impressions at the moment, I
+    placed them carefully among my private papers. Here they are;' and
+    taking from his breast-pocket an old-fashioned black leathern
+    wallet, he placed them in my hand.
+
+    "'Here, too,' said he, 'is an affidavit, made by Michael Alzure on
+    his dying bed, before competent witnesses, declaring that he was
+    present with his daughter Mary, when the ceremony took place.'
+
+    "'This is enough,' said I, joyfully, shaking the old sinner
+    heartily by the hand. 'The king shall have his own again. But how
+    did you hoodwink that sagacious hawk, Robert Moncton?'
+
+    "'He was from home when I returned to London, attending the
+    assizes at Bury. I found a letter from him containing a draft upon
+    his banker for five hundred pounds, and requesting me to deposit
+    the papers in the iron chest in the garret of which I had the key.
+    I wrote in reply, that I had done so, and he was perfectly
+    satisfied with my sincerity, which during fifteen years I had
+    never given him the least cause to doubt.
+
+    "The next week, I sailed for the United States with my family,
+    determined, from henceforth, to drop all connection with Robert
+    Moncton, and to endeavour to obtain an honest living.
+
+    "'I am now a rich and prosperous man--my children are married and
+    settled on good farms, in the same neighbourhood, and are in the
+    enjoyment of the common comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
+    Still, that little orphan boy haunted me: I could not be happy
+    while I knew that I had been the means of doing him a foul injury,
+    and I determined, as soon as I knew that the lad must be of age,
+    to make a voyage to England, and place in your hands the proofs I
+    held of his legitimacy.
+
+    "'Your powerful assistance, Sir Alexander, and these papers, will
+    I trust restore to him his lawful place in society, and I am here
+    to witness against Robert Moncton's villainy.'
+
+    "Well, Sir Geoffrey Moncton, that will be, what do you say to your
+    old uncle's budget? Is not this news worth the postage? Worth
+    throwing up one's cap and crying hurrah! and better still,
+    dropping drown upon your knees in the solitude of your own
+    chamber, and whispering in your clasped hands, 'Thank God! for all
+    his mercies to me, a sinner?' If you omit the prayer, I have not
+    omitted it for you; for most fervently I blessed the Almighty
+    father for this signal instance of his love.
+
+    "I returned to the Park, so elated with the result of my journey,
+    that I could scarcely sympathize in the grief of my poor girl, for
+    the death of her foster-sister, which took place during my
+    absence.
+
+    "Old Dinah is off. Perhaps gone somewhat before her time to her
+    appointed place.
+
+    "It is useless for you to remain longer in Derbyshire, as we
+    already possess all you want to know, and you must lose no time in
+    commencing a suit against your uncle for conspiracy in order to
+    defraud you out of your rights. Robert's character will never
+    stand the test of this infamous exposure.
+
+    "My sweet Madge looks ill and delicate, and, like the old father,
+    pines to see you again. You young scamp! you have taken a strange
+    hold on the heart of your attached kinsman and faithful friend,
+
+    "Alexander Moncton."
+
+I made my kind friend, Mrs. Hepburn, read over this important letter
+twice. It was the longest, I verily believe, that the worthy scribe
+ever penned in his life, and which nothing but his affection for me,
+could have induced him to write.
+
+"God bless him!" I cried fervently, "how I long to see him again, and
+thank him from my very heart for all he has done for me!"
+
+I was so elated, that I wanted to leave my bed instantly, and commence
+my journey to the Park. This was, however, but a momentary delusion: I
+was too weak, when I made the trial, to sit upright, or even to hold a
+pen, which was the most provoking of the two.
+
+Mrs. Hepburn, at my earnest solicitation, wrote to Sir Alexander a
+long and circumstantial account of all that had befallen me since I
+left Moncton. That night was full of restless tossings to and fro. I
+sought rest, but found it not; nay, I could not even think with
+calmness, and the result was, as might have been expected, a great
+increase of fever, and for several days I was not only worse, but in
+considerable danger.
+
+Nothing could be more tantalizing than this provoking relapse. A
+miserable presentiment of evil clouded my mind: my anxiety to write to
+Margaretta was painfully intense, and this was a species of
+communication which I could not very well convey through another.
+
+To this unfortunate delay, I have attributed much of the sorrows of
+after years. Our will is free to plan. Our opportunities of action are
+in the hands of God. What I most ardently desired to do I was
+prevented from doing by physical weakness. How, then, can any man
+affirm that his destiny is in his own hands, when circumstances form a
+chain around him, as strong as fate, and the mind battles in vain
+against a host of trifles, despicable enough when viewed singly, but
+when taken in combination, possessing gigantic strength?
+
+Another painful week wore slowly away, at the end of which I was able
+to sit up in a loose dressing-gown for several hours during the day.
+
+I lost not a moment in writing to Margaretta directly I was able to
+hold a pen. I informed her of all that had passed between me and
+Catherine, and laid open my heart to her, without the least reserve.
+Deeming myself unworthy of her love, I left all to her generosity. I
+dispatched my letter with a thousand uncomfortable misgivings as to
+what effect it might produce upon the sensitive mind of my little
+cousin.
+
+To write a long letter to George Harrison was the next duty I had to
+perform. But when I reflected on the delight which my communication
+could not fail to convey, this was not only an easy, but a delightful
+task. I had already arrived at the second closely written sheet, when
+a light tap at the door of the room announced the presence of Kate
+Lee.
+
+"What, busy writing still, Geoffrey? What will honest Dan say to this
+rebellious conduct on the part of his patient? You must lay aside pens
+and paper for this day. Your face is flushed and feverish. Don't shake
+your head; my word is despotic in this house--I must be obeyed."
+
+"Wait a few minutes, dear Miss Lee, and your will shall be absolute.
+It was because I am writing of you, that my letter has run to such an
+unconscionable length."
+
+"Of me, Geoffrey?"
+
+"Yes, of you, my charming friend."
+
+"Nay, you are joking, Mr. Moncton. You would never distress me, by
+writing of me to strangers?"
+
+"Strangers! oh no; but this is to one who is most dear to us both."
+
+Catherine turned very pale.
+
+"Geoffrey, I hope that you have not said anything that I could wish
+unsaid?"
+
+"Do not look like a scared dove, sweet Kate. Have a little patience,
+and you shall read the letter."
+
+"That is asking too much. I will trust to your honour--that innate
+sense of delicacy which I know you possess."
+
+"You shall read the letter--I insist upon it. If you do not like it, I
+will write another. But you must sit down by me and listen to what I
+have to tell you, of my poor friend's history."
+
+She turned her glistening eyes upon me, full of grateful thanks, and
+seated herself beside me on the couch. I then recounted to her the
+history which George had confided to me, though the narration was
+often interrupted by the sighs and tears of my attentive auditor.
+
+After the melancholy tale was told, a long silence ensued. Poor Kate
+was too busy with her own thoughts to speak. I put the letter I had
+been writing into her hands, and retired to my own chamber, which
+opened into the one in which we were sitting, whilst she perused it.
+It was a simple statement of the facts related above. I had left him
+to draw from them what inference he pleased. When I returned an hour
+afterward to the sitting-room, which had been fitted up as such
+entirely for my accommodation, the windows opening into a balcony
+which ran along the whole front of the house, I found Kate leaning
+upon the railing, with the open letter still in her hand.
+
+Her fine eyes were raised and full of tears, but she looked serene and
+happy, her beautiful face reminding me of an April sun just emerging
+from a soft fleecy cloud, which dimmed, only to increase by softening,
+the glory which it could not conceal.
+
+"Well, dear Kate, may I finish my letter to George--for I must call
+him so still?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Why not," said I, surprised, and half angry.
+
+"Because I mean to finish it myself. Will you give me permission?"
+
+"By all means: it will make him so happy."
+
+"And you are not jealous?" And as she said this, she bent upon me a
+curious and searching glance.
+
+"Not now: a few weeks ago I should have been. To tell you the truth,
+dear Kate, I am too egotistical a fellow to love one who does not love
+me. I truly rejoice in the anticipated happiness of my friend."
+
+Methought she looked a little disappointed, but recovering herself she
+added quickly--
+
+"This is as it should be, yet I must own that my woman's vanity is a
+little hurt at the coolness of your philosophy. We all love power,
+Geoffrey, and do not like to lose it. Yet I am sincerely glad that you
+have conquered an attachment which would have rendered us both
+miserable. No fear of a broken heart in your case."
+
+"Such things have been, and may be again, Kate, but I believe them to
+belong more to the poetry than the reality of life. Hearts are made of
+tough materials. They don't choose to break in the right place, and
+just when and where we want them."
+
+She laughed, and asked when I thought I should be able to commence my
+journey to Moncton Park!
+
+"In a few days I hope. I feel growing better every hour; my mind
+recovers elasticity with returning strength. But how I shall ever
+repay you, dear Miss Lee, and your excellent aunt, for your care and
+kindness puzzles me."
+
+"Geoffrey, your accident has been productive of great good to us all;
+so say no more about it. I, for one, consider myself in your debt. You
+have made two friends, whom cruel destiny had separated, most happy."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A WELCOME AND AN UNWELCOME VISITOR.
+
+
+Three days had scarcely elapsed, when I found myself mounted on my
+good steed, and gaily trotting along the road on my way to Moncton
+Park.
+
+Honest Dan Simpson insisted on being my companion for the first stage.
+"Just," said he, "to take care of me, and see how I got along." I
+could gladly have dispensed with his company, for I longed to be
+alone; but to hurt the good fellow's feelings, would have been the
+height of ingratitude.
+
+He had indignantly rejected the ample remuneration which Sir Alexander
+had remitted for his services.
+
+"I took care of you for love, sir. It was no trouble, but a pleasure.
+As to money--I don't want it, I have saved a good pile for old age,
+and have neither wife nor child to give it to when I die. Lord! sir, I
+was afraid that you would take it ill, or I was going to ask you if
+you wanted any. I should have been proud to accommodate you, until you
+had plenty of your own."
+
+I could have hugged the dear old man in my arms. Fortunately my being
+on horseback prevented such an excess. I turned to him to speak my
+thanks, but a choking in my throat prevented my uttering a word. He
+caught the glance of my moist eye, and dashed the dew, with his hard
+hand, from his own.
+
+"I know what you would say, Mr. Geoffrey. But you need not say it--it
+would only make me feel bad."
+
+"I shall never forget your kindness, Dan; but will always reckon you
+among my best friends."
+
+"That's enough, sir: I'm satisfied, overpaid," and the true-hearted
+fellow rode close up to me and held out his hand. I shook it warmly.
+He turned his horse quickly round, and the sharp ringing of his hoofs
+on the rocky road told me that he was gone.
+
+I rode slowly on; the day was oppressively warm, not a breath of air
+stirred the bushes by the road-side, or shook the dust from the tawny
+leaves which already had lost their tender green, and were embrowned
+beneath the hot gaze of the August noonday sun. Overcome by the heat,
+and languid from my long confinement to a sick room, I often checked
+my horse and sauntered slowly along, keeping the shady side of the
+road, and envying the cattle in the meadows standing mid leg in the
+shallow streams.
+
+"There will surely be a storm before night," said I, looking wistfully
+up to the cloudless sky, which very much resembled Job's description
+of a molten looking-glass. "I feel the breath of the tempest in this
+scorching air. A little rain would lay the dust, and render
+to-morrow's journey less fatiguing."
+
+My soliloquy was interrupted by the sharp click of a horse's hoofs
+behind me, and presently his rider passed me at full speed. A
+transient glance at the stranger's face made me suddenly recoil.
+
+It was Robert Moncton.
+
+He looked pale and haggard, and his countenance wore an unusual
+appearance of anxiety and care. He did not notice me, and checking my
+horse, I felt relieved when a turning in the road hid him from my
+sight.
+
+His presence appeared like a bad omen. A heavy gloom sunk upon my
+spirits, and I felt half inclined to halt at the small village I was
+approaching and rest until the heat of the day had subsided, and I
+could resume my journey in the cool of the evening.
+
+Ashamed of such weakness, I resolutely turned my face from every house
+of entertainment I passed, and had nearly cleared the long straggling
+line of picturesque white-washed cottages, which composed the larger
+portion of the village, when the figure of a gentleman pacing to and
+fro, in front of a decent-looking inn, arrested my attention. There
+was something in the air and manner of this person, which appeared
+familiar to me. He raised his head as I rode up to the door. The
+recognition was mutual.
+
+"Geoffrey Moncton!"
+
+"George Harrison! Who would have thought of meeting you in this out
+of the way place?"
+
+"There is an old saying, Geoffrey--talk of the Devil and he is sure to
+appear. I was thinking of you at the very moment, and raising my eyes
+saw you before me."
+
+"Ay, that is one of the mysteries of mind, which has still to be
+solved," said I, as I dismounted from my horse and followed George
+into the house. "I am so heartily glad to see you, old fellow," cried
+I, directly we were alone: "I have a thousand things to say to you,
+which could not be crowded into the short compass of a letter."
+
+"Hush! don't speak so loud," and he glanced suspiciously round. "These
+walls may have ears. I know, that they contain one, whom you would not
+much like to trust with your secrets."
+
+"How--is _he_ here?"
+
+"You know whom I mean?"
+
+"Robert Moncton? He passed me on the road."
+
+"Did he recognize you?"
+
+"I think not. His hat was slouched over his forehead; his eyes bent
+moodily on the ground. Besides, George, I am so greatly altered by my
+long illness; I am surprised that you knew me again."
+
+"Love and hatred, are great sharpeners of the memory. It is as hard to
+forget an enemy as a friend. But to tell you the truth, Geoffrey, I
+had to look at you twice before I knew who you were. But come
+up-stairs--I have a nice snug room, where we can chat in private
+whilst dinner is preparing."
+
+"I should like to know what brings Robert Moncton this road," said I,
+flinging my weary length upon a crazy old sofa, which occupied a place
+in the room more for ornament than use, and whose gay chintz cover,
+like charity, hid a multitude of defects. "No good I fear."
+
+"I cannot exactly tell. There is some new scheme in the wind. Harry
+Bell, who fills my old place in his office, informed me that a partial
+reconciliation had taken place between father and son. This was by
+letter, for no personal interview had brought them together.
+Theophilus was on his way to Moncton, and appointed the old rascal to
+meet him somewhere on the road. What the object of their meeting may
+be, time alone can discover. Perhaps, to discover Dinah North's place
+of concealment, or to ascertain if the old hag be dead. Her secresy on
+some points of their history is a matter of great moment."
+
+"They are a pair of precious scoundrels, and their confederation
+portends little good to me."
+
+"You need not care a rush for them now, Geoffrey, you are beyond the
+reach of their malice. Moncton is not aware of the return of Walters.
+This circumstance will be a death-blow to his ambitious hopes. How
+devoutly they must have wished you in Heaven during your illness."
+
+"At one time, I almost wished myself there."
+
+"You were not too ill to forget your friend, Geoffrey," and he rose
+and pressed my hand warmly between his own. "How can I thank you
+sufficiently for your disinterested kindness. By your generous
+sacrifice of self you have made me the happiest of men. I am now on my
+way to Elm Grove to meet one, whom I never hoped to meet in this world
+again."
+
+"Say nothing about it, George. The sacrifice may be less disinterested
+than you imagine: I no longer regret it, and am heartily glad that I
+have been instrumental to this joyful change in your prospects. But
+why, my good fellow, did you conceal from me the name of the beloved.
+Had you candidly told me who the lady was, I should not have wounded
+by my coldness a dear and faithful heart."
+
+"Your mind was so occupied by the image of Kate Lee that I dared not."
+
+"It would have saved me a deal of misery."
+
+"And destroyed our friendship."
+
+"You don't know me, George; honesty would have been the best policy,
+as it always is, in all cases. I could have given up Kate when I knew
+that she loved, and was beloved by my friend. Your want of candour and
+confidence may have been the means of destroying Margaretta Moncton."
+
+"Do not look so dreadfully severe, Geoffrey. I admit that truth is the
+best guide of all our actions. It was my love for you, however, which
+led me to disguise the name of Catherine Lee. You don't know what a
+jealous fellow you are, and at that time you were too much excited and
+too ill to hear the truth. What I did for the best has turned out, as
+it sometimes does, quite contrary to my wishes. You must forgive me,
+Geoffrey. It is the first time I ever deceived you, and it will be the
+last."
+
+He took my hand and looked earnestly into my face, with those mild,
+melancholy eyes. To be angry long with him was impossible. It was far
+more easy to be angry with myself; so, I told him that I forgave him
+from my very heart, and would no longer harbour against him an unkind
+thought.
+
+I was still far from well, low-spirited and out of humour with myself
+and the whole world. I felt depressed with the mysterious and
+unaccountable dejection of mind, which often precedes some
+unlooked-for calamity.
+
+In vain were all my efforts to rouse myself from this morbid lethargy.
+The dark cloud which weighed down my spirits would not be dispelled. I
+strove to be gay; the laugh died upon my lips or was choked by
+involuntary sighs. George, who was anxiously watching my countenance,
+rose and walked to the window; and, tired of my uneasy position on the
+hard, crazy, old sofa, and willing to turn the current of my thoughts
+from flowing in such a turbid bed, I followed his example.
+
+We stood for a while in silence, watching the groups which
+occasionally gathered beneath the archway of the little inn, to
+discuss the news of the village.
+
+"You are not well, Geoffrey. Your journey has fatigued you. Lie down
+and rest for a few hours."
+
+"Sleep is out of the question in my present feverish state. I will
+resume my journey."
+
+"What, in the face of the storm which is rapidly gathering! Do you see
+that heavy cloud in the north-west?"
+
+"I am not afraid of thunder."
+
+"It has a particular effect upon some people. It gives me an
+intolerable headache, hours before it is even apparent in the heavens.
+To this cause I attribute your sudden depression of spirits."
+
+I shook my head sceptically.
+
+"Then, do tell me, dear Geoffrey, what it is that disturbs you?"
+
+"My own thoughts. Do not laugh, George. These things to the sufferer
+are terrible realities. I am oppressed by melancholy anticipations of
+evil. A painful consciousness of approaching sorrow. I have
+experienced this often before, but never to such an extent as to-day.
+Let me have my own way. It is good for me to combat with the evil
+genius alone."
+
+"I think not. Duty compels us to combat with such feelings. The
+indulgence of them tends to shake our reliance on the mercy of God,
+and to render us unhappy and discontented."
+
+"This is one of the mysteries of mind which we cannot comprehend. The
+links which unite the visible with the invisible world. But whether
+they have their origin from above or beneath is, to me, very doubtful;
+unless such presentiments operate as a warning to shun impending
+danger.
+
+"I hear no admonitory voice within. All is dark, still and heavy, like
+the black calm that slumbers in the dense folds of yon thundercloud;
+as if the mind was suddenly deprived of all vital energy, and crouched
+beneath an overwhelming consciousness of horror."
+
+George gave me a sudden sidelong scrutinizing glance, as if he
+suspected my recent accident had impaired my reason.
+
+A vivid flash of lightning, followed by a sudden crash of thunder,
+made us start some paces back from the window, and a horseman dashed
+at full speed into the inn yard.
+
+Another blinding flash--another roar of thunder, which seemed to fill
+the whole earth and heavens, made me involuntarily close my eyes, when
+an exclamation from George--"Good heavens, what an escape!"--made me
+as quickly hurry to the window.
+
+The lightning had struck down the horse and rider whom we had before
+observed. The nobler animal alone was slain.
+
+The avenging bolt of heaven had passed over and left the head of the
+rider, Theophilus Moncton, unscathed!
+
+Livid with recent terror, and vexed with the loss of the fine animal
+at his feet, he cast a menacing glance at the lowering sky above, and
+bidding the ostler with an oath (which sounded like double blasphemy
+in our ears) to take care of the saddle and bridle, he entered the
+inn, shaking the mud and rain from his garments, and muttering
+indistinct curses on his ill-luck.
+
+"The blasphemous wretch!" cried I, drawing a long breath. "Bad as the
+father is, he is an angel when compared with the son."
+
+"Geoffrey, he is what the father has made him. I would give much to
+witness the meeting."
+
+"You would see a frightful picture of human guilt and depravity. Half
+his fortune would scarcely bribe me to witness such a revolting
+scene."
+
+The rain was now pouring in torrents, and one inky hue had overspread
+the whole heavens. Finding that we were likely to be detained some
+hours, George ordered dinner, and we determined to make ourselves as
+comfortable as circumstances would admit.
+
+All our efforts to provoke mirth, however, proved abortive. The
+silence of our meal was alone broken by the dull clattering of knives
+and forks, and the tinkling of the bell to summon the brisk waiter to
+bring wine and draw the cloth. But if we were silent, an active spirit
+was abroad in the house, and voices in loud and vehement altercation
+in the room adjoining, arrested our attention.
+
+The muttered curse, the restless, impatient walking to and fro,
+convinced us that the parties were no other than Robert Moncton and
+his son, and that their meeting was not likely to have a very amicable
+termination. At length, the voice of my uncle in a terrible state of
+excitement, burst forth with this awful sentence:
+
+"I discard you, sir! From this day you cease to be my son. Go, and
+take my curse along with you! Go to ----! and may we never meet in
+time or eternity again."
+
+With a bitter, sneering laugh the disinherited replied: "In heaven we
+shall never meet; on earth, perhaps, we may meet too soon. In the
+place to which you have so unceremoniously sent me, I can perceive
+some lingering remains of paternal affection--that where you are, I
+may be also."
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir. Dare you to bandy words with me?"
+
+"It would be wisdom in you, my most righteous progenitor, to bribe me
+to do so, when you know how much that tongue can reveal."
+
+Another sneering derisive laugh from the son, of fiendish exultation,
+and a deep, hollow groan from the father, and the unhallowed
+conference was over.
+
+Some one passed the door with rapid steps. I talked to the window as
+Theophilus emerged into the court-yard below. He raised his eyes to
+the window: I met their dull, leaden stare; he started and stopped; I
+turned contemptuously away.
+
+Presently after we heard him bargaining for a horse to carry him as
+far as York on his way to London.
+
+"I don't envy Robert Moncton's feelings," said George. "What can have
+been the cause of this violent quarrel?"
+
+"It may spring from several causes. His son's marriage alone would be
+sufficient to exasperate a man of his malignant disposition. But look,
+Harrison, the clouds are parting in the west. The moon rises early;
+and we shall have a lovely night after the rain for our journey to
+York."
+
+"Our--I was going by the coach which passes through the village in an
+hour to Elm Grove. But now I think of it, I will postpone my visit
+until the morrow, and accompany you a few miles on your way."
+
+"I should be delighted with your company, George, but----"
+
+"You would rather be alone, nursing these gloomy thoughts?"
+
+"Not exactly. But it will postpone your visit to Miss Lee."
+
+"Only a few hours; and as I wrote yesterday and never mentioned my
+visit, which was a sudden whim (one of your _odd_ presentiments,
+Geoffrey, which seemed to compel me almost against my will to come
+here) she cannot be disappointed. To tell you the truth, I did not
+like the look with which your cousin recognized you. When rogues are
+abroad it behoves honest men to keep close together. I am determined
+to see you safe to York."
+
+I was too much pleased with the proposal to raise any obstacles in the
+way. We fell into cheerful conversation, and whilst watching the
+clearing up of the weather, we saw Robert Moncton mount his horse and
+ride out of the inn-yard.
+
+"The sun is breaking through the clouds, George. It is time we were
+upon the road."
+
+"With all my heart," said he; and a few minutes after we were upon our
+journey.
+
+The freshness of the air after the heavy rains, the delicious perfume
+of the hedge-rows, and the loud clear notes of the blackbird
+resounding from the bosky dells in the lordly plantations skirting the
+road, succeeded in restoring my animal spirits.
+
+Nothing could exceed the tranquillity of the lovely evening. George
+often checked his horse and broke out into enthusiastic exclamations
+of delight whilst pointing out to me the leading features in the
+beautiful country through which we were travelling.
+
+"Where are your gloomy forebodings now, Geoffrey?" said he.
+
+"This glorious scene has well-nigh banished them," I replied. "Nature
+has always such an exhilarating effect upon my mind that I can hardly
+feel miserable while the sun shines."
+
+George turned towards me his kindling eyes and animated countenance.
+
+"Geoffrey, I have not felt so happy as I do this evening, since I was
+a little, gay, light-hearted boy. I could sing aloud in the joyousness
+of hope and pleasing anticipation. In this respect my feelings during
+the day have been quite the opposite of yours. I reproach myself for
+not being able to sympathize in your nervously depressed state of
+mind."
+
+"Your being sad, George, would not increase my cheerfulness. The quiet
+serenity of the hour has operated upon me like a healing balm. I can
+smile at my superstitious fears, now that the dark cloud is clearing
+from my mind."
+
+Thus we rode on, chatting with the familiarity of long-tried
+friendship, discussing our past trials, present feelings, and future
+prospects, until the moon rose brightly on our path; and we pushed our
+horses to a quicker pace, in order to reach the city before midnight.
+
+The road we were travelling had been cut through a steep hill. The
+banks on either side were very high, and crowned with plantations of
+pine and fir, which cast into deep shadow the space between. The hill
+was terminated by a large deep gravel pit, through the centre of which
+our path lay; and the opposite rise of the hill, which was destitute
+of trees, lay gleaming brightly in the moonshine.
+
+As we gained the wood-crowned height, we perceived a horseman slowly
+riding down the steep before us. His figure was so blended with the
+dark shadows of the descending road, that the clicking of his horse's
+hoofs, and the moving mass of deeper shade alone proclaimed his
+proximity.
+
+"This is a gloomy spot, George. I wish we were fairly out of it."
+
+"Afraid, Geoffrey--and two to one?"
+
+"No, not exactly afraid; but this spot would be lonely at noonday.
+Look--look! George, what makes that man so suddenly check his horse as
+he gains the centre of the pit and emerges into the moonlight?"
+
+"Silence!" cried George. "That was the report of a pistol. Follow me!"
+
+We spurred our horses to full speed and galloped down the hill.
+
+The robbers, if indeed any were near, had disappeared, and we found
+the man whom we had previously observed, rolling on the ground in
+great agony, and weltering in blood.
+
+Dismounting from our horses, we ran immediately to his assistance. He
+raised his head as we approached, and said in a low hollow voice, "I
+am shot--I know the rascal--he cannot escape. Raise my head, I feel
+choking--a little higher. The wound may not be mortal, I may live to
+be revenged upon him yet."
+
+The sound of that voice--the sight of those well-known features,
+rendered me powerless. I stood mute and motionless, staring upon the
+writhing and crushed wretch before me, unable to render him the least
+assistance.
+
+It was my uncle who lay bleeding there, slain by some unknown hand. A
+horrible thought flashed through my brain; a ghastly sickness came
+over me and I stifled the unnatural supposition.
+
+In the meanwhile Harrison had succeeded in raising Mr. Moncton into a
+sitting posture, and had partly ascertained the nature of his wound.
+Whilst thus employed, the moon shone full upon his face, and my uncle,
+uttering a cry of terror, fell prostrate on the ground, whilst the
+blood gushed in a dark stream from his wounded shoulder.
+
+"Geoffrey," exclaimed George, beckoning me to come to him, "don't
+stand shaking there like a person in an ague fit. Something must be
+done, and that immediately, or your uncle will die on the road. Mount
+the high bank, and see if you can discover any dwelling nigh at hand,
+to which he can be conveyed."
+
+His voice broke the horrid trance in which my senses were bound. I
+sprang up the steep side of the gravel pit, and saw before me a marshy
+meadow, and not far from the road, a light glimmered from a cabin
+window. It was a wretched-looking place, but the only habitation in
+sight, nearer than the village, whose church spire, about two miles
+distant, glimmered in the moonbeams. Turning our horses loose to graze
+in the meadow, we lifted a gate from the hinges, and placing the now
+insensible man upon this rough litter, which we covered with our
+travelling-cloaks, we succeeded with much difficulty, and after a
+considerable lapse of time, in reaching the miserable hovel.
+
+On the approach of footsteps, the persons within extinguished the
+light, and for some time we continued rapping at the door without
+receiving any answer.
+
+I soon lost all patience, and began to hallo and shout in the hope of
+provoking attention.
+
+Another long pause.
+
+"Open the door," cried I, "a man has been shot on the road: he will
+die without assistance."
+
+A window in the thatch slowly unclosed, and a hoarse female voice
+croaked forth in reply: "What concern is that of mine? Who are you who
+disturb honest folk at this hour of the night with your drunken
+clamours? My house is my castle. Begone, I tell you! I will not come
+down to let you in."
+
+"Dinah North," said Harrison, solemnly, "I have a message for you,
+which you dare not gainsay--I command you to unbar the door and
+receive us instantly."
+
+This speech was answered by a wild shrill cry, more resembling the
+howl of a tortured dog than any human sound. I felt the blood freeze
+in my veins. Harrison whispered in my ear: "She will obey my summons,
+which she believes not one of earth. Stay with your uncle, while I
+ride forward to the village to procure medical aid, and make a
+deposition before the magistrate of what has occurred. Don't let the
+fiend know that I am alive. It is of the utmost importance to us all,
+that she should still believe me dead."
+
+I tried to detain him, not much liking my present position; but he had
+vanished, and shortly after I heard the clatter of his horse's hoofs
+galloping at full speed towards the town.
+
+What a fearful termination of my gloomy presentiments, thought I, as I
+looked down at the livid face and prostrate form of Robert Moncton.
+
+"Where will this frightful scene end?" I exclaimed.
+
+The gleam of a light flashed across the broken casement; the next
+moment Dinah North stood before me.
+
+"Geoffrey Moncton, is this you?" There was another voice that spoke to
+me--a voice from the grave. "Where is your companion?"
+
+"I am alone with the dead," said I, pointing to the body. "Look
+there!"
+
+She held up the light and bent over that insensible bleeding mass, and
+looked long, and I thought triumphantly, at the ghastly face of the
+accomplice in all her crimes. Then turning her hollow eyes on me, she
+said calmly:
+
+"Did you murder him?"
+
+"No, thank God! I am guiltless of his blood; but he seems to know the
+hand that dealt the blow."
+
+"Ha, ha!" shrieked the hag, "my dream was true--my horrible dream.
+Even so, last night, I saw Robert Moncton weltering in his blood, and
+my poor Alice was wiping the death-damps from his brow; and I saw
+more--more, but it was a sight for the damned--a sight which cannot be
+repeated to mortal ears. Yes, Robert Moncton, it is all up with you;
+we have sinned together and must both drink of that fiery cup. I know
+the worst now."
+
+"Hush! he moves--he still lives. He may yet recover. Let us carry him
+into the house."
+
+"He has troubled the earth and your father's house long enough,
+Geoffrey Moncton," said the strange woman, in a softened, and I
+thought, melancholy tone. "It is time that both he and I received the
+reward of our misdeeds."
+
+She assisted me to carry the body into the house, and stripping off
+the clothes, we laid it upon a low flock bed, which occupied one
+corner of the miserable apartment, over which she threw a coarse
+woollen coverlid.
+
+She then examined the wound with a critical eye, and after washing it
+with brandy she said that the ball could be extracted, and she thought
+that the wound was not mortal and might be cured.
+
+Tearing his neckcloth into bandages, she succeeded in staunching the
+blood, and diluting some of the brandy with water, she washed the face
+of the wounded man, and forced a few spoonfuls down his throat.
+Drawing a long, deep sigh, Robert Moncton unclosed his eyes. For some
+minutes, they rested unconsciously upon us. Recollection slowly
+returned, and recoiling from the touch of that abhorrent woman he
+closed them again and groaned heavily.
+
+"We have met, Robert, in an evil hour. The friendship of the wicked
+brings no comfort in the hour of death or in the day of judgment."
+
+"Avaunt witch! The sight of your hideous face is worse than the pangs
+of death. Death," he repeated slowly--"I am not near death--I will not
+die--I cannot die."
+
+"You dare not!" said Dinah, in a low, malignant whisper. "Is this
+cowardly dastard, the proud, wealthy Robert Moncton, who thought to
+build up his house by murder and treachery? Methinks this is a noble
+apartment and a fitting couch for the body of Sir Robert Moncton to
+lie in state."
+
+"Mocking fiend! what pleasure can you find in my misery?"
+
+"Much, much--oh, how much! It is not fair that I should bear the
+tortures of the damned alone. Since the death of the only thing I ever
+loved I have had strange thoughts and terrible visions; restless,
+burning nights and fearful days. But I cannot repent or wish undone
+that which is done. I can neither weep nor pray; I can only
+curse--bitterly curse thee and thine! I rejoice to see this hour--to
+know that before I depart to your Master and mine, the vengeance of my
+soul will be satisfied."
+
+"Geoffrey, I implore you to drive that beldame from the room. The
+sight of her hideous face and her ominous croaking will drive me mad."
+
+"Uncle, do not exhaust your strength by answering her. She is not in
+her right senses. In a few minutes my friend will return with surgical
+aid, and we will get you removed to more comfortable lodgings in the
+village."
+
+"Do not deceive yourselves," returned Dinah: "from the bed on which he
+now lies, the robber and murderer will never rise again. As he has
+sown so must he reap. He deserves small kindness at your hands,
+Geoffrey Moncton. You should rather rejoice that the sting of the
+serpent is drawn, and that he can hurt you and yours no more."
+
+"Alas!" returned I, taking the hand of the wretched sufferer in mine,
+"how much rather would I see him turn from his evil deeds and live!"
+
+"God bless you! Geoffrey," sobbed forth my miserable uncle, bursting
+into tears: perhaps the first he ever shed in his life. "Deeply have I
+sinned against you, noble, generous boy. Can you forgive me for my
+past cruelty?"
+
+"I can--I do; and should it please God to restore you to health, I
+will prove the truth of what I say by deeds, not words."
+
+"Do not look so like your father, Geoffrey. His soul speaks to me
+through your eyes. Your kindness heaps coals of fire upon my head. It
+would give me less torture to hear you curse than pray for me."
+
+"Pray for yourself, uncle. I have never attended to these things as I
+ought to have done. I am punished now, when I have no word of comfort
+or instruction for you."
+
+"Pray!" and he drew a long sigh. "My mother died when Ned and I were
+boys. We soon forgot the prayers she taught us. My father's God was
+Mammon. He taught me early to worship at the same shrine. No,
+Geoffrey, no: it is too late to pray. I feel--I know that I am lost. I
+have no part or lot in the Saviour--no love for God, in whom I never
+believed until this fatal hour.
+
+"I have injured you, Geoffrey, and am willing to make all the
+reparation in my power by restoring to you those rights which I have
+laboured so hard to set aside."
+
+"Spare yourself, uncle, the painful relation. Let no thought on that
+score divert your mind from making its peace with God. Walters has
+returned, and the documents necessary to prove my legitimacy are in
+Sir Alexander's hands."
+
+"Walters returned!" shrieked my uncle. "Both heaven and hell conspire
+against me. What a tale can he unfold."
+
+"Ay, and what a sequel can I add to it," said Dinah, rising from her
+seat, and standing before him like one of the avenging furies. "Listen
+to me, Geoffrey Moncton, for it shall yet be told."
+
+"Spare me! cruel woman, in mercy spare me. Is not your malice
+sufficiently gratified to see me humbled to the dust?"
+
+"Ah! if your villainy had proved successful, and you were revelling in
+wealth and splendour, instead of grovelling there beneath the lash of
+an awakened conscience, where would be your repentance? What would
+_then_ become of Geoffrey Moncton's claims to legitimacy? I trow
+he would remain a bastard to the end of his days."
+
+"Geoffrey, for God's sake bid that woman hold her venomous tongue. I
+feel faint and sick with her upbraidings."
+
+"He is fainting," said I, turning to Dinah. "Allow him to die in
+peace."
+
+"You are a fool to feel the least trouble about him," said Dinah.
+"There, he is again insensible; our efforts to bring him to his senses
+will only make matters worse. Listen to me, Geoffrey Moncton, I have a
+burden on my conscience I would fain remove, and which it is necessary
+that you should know. Remember what I told you when we last met. That
+the next time we saw each other, my secret and yours would be of equal
+value."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+DINAH'S CONFESSION.
+
+
+"It is an ill wind, they say, Geoffrey Moncton, which blows no good to
+any one. Had the son of Sir Alexander Moncton lived, you would have
+retained your original insignificance. It is from my guilt that you
+derive a clear title to the lands and honours which by death he lost."
+
+I know not why, but as she said this, a cold chill crept through me. I
+almost wished that she would leave the terrible tale she had to tell
+untold. I felt that whatever its import might be, that it boded me no
+good. My situation was intensely exciting, and made me alive to the
+most superstitious impressions. It was altogether the most important
+epoch in my life.
+
+Seated at the foot of that miserable bed, the ghastly face of the
+wounded man, just revealed by the sickly light of a miserable candle,
+looked stark, rigid, and ghost-like, to all outward appearance,
+already dead. And that horrible hag, with her witch-like face, with
+its grim smile, standing between me and the clear beams of the moon,
+which bathed in a silvery light the floor of that squalid room, and
+threw fantastic arabesques over the time-stained walls, glanced upon
+me like some foul visitant from the infernal abyss.
+
+The hour was solemn midnight, when the dead are said to awake in their
+graves, and wander forth until the second crowing of the bird of dawn.
+I felt its mysterious influence steal over my senses, and rob me of my
+usual courage, and I leant forward, to shut out the ghastly scene, and
+covered my face with my hands.
+
+Every word which Dinah uttered fell upon my ear with terrible
+distinctness, as she continued her revelations of the past.
+
+"My daughter, Rachel, by some strange fatality had won the regard of
+her delicate rival, Lady Moncton, who seemed to feel a perverse
+pleasure in loading her with favours. Whether she knew of the
+attachment which had existed between her and Sir Alexander is a
+secret. Perhaps she did not, and was only struck with the beauty and
+elegance of the huntsman's wife, which was certainly very unusual in a
+person of her humble parentage. Be that as it may, she deemed her
+worthy of the highest trust which one woman, can repose in
+another--the charge of her infant son, and that son the heir of a vast
+estate.
+
+"Rachel was not insensible to the magnitude of the confidence reposed
+in her; and for the first six months of the infant's life, she
+performed her duty conscientiously, and bestowed upon her nurse-child
+the most devoted care.
+
+"Robert Moncton came to the Hall at this time to receive the rents of
+the estate for Sir Alexander--for he was his man of business. He saw
+the child, and perceived that it was a poor, fragile, puling thing;
+the thought entered his wicked heart, that if this weakly scion of the
+old family tree were removed, his son would be heir to the title and
+lands of Moncton.
+
+"I don't know what argument he made use of to win Rachel to his
+purpose. I was living with him at the time as his housekeeper; for the
+wife he had married was a poor, feeble-minded creature--the mere
+puppet of his imperious will, and a very indifferent manager. But she
+loved him, and at that period he was a very handsome man, and had the
+art of hiding his tyrannical temper, by assuming before strangers a
+pleasing, dignified manner, which imposed on every person who was not
+acquainted with the secrets of the domestic prison-house.
+
+"Rachel consented to make away with the child; but on the very night
+she had set apart for the perpetration of the deed, God smote her own
+lovely boy upon the breast, and the tears of the distracted mother
+awoke in her mind a consciousness of the terrible sin she had
+premeditated.
+
+"To hearts like Robert Moncton's and mine this circumstance would not
+have deterred us from our purpose; but Rachel was not like us,
+hardened in guilt or bad, and unknown to us both she reared the young
+heir of Moncton as her own.
+
+"It was strange that neither of us suspected the fact.
+
+"I might have known, from the natural antipathy I felt for the child,
+that he was not of my flesh and blood; but God hid it from me, till
+Rachel informed me on her death-bed of the deception she had
+practised.
+
+"It was an important secret, and I determined to make use of it to
+extort money from Robert Moncton, when the child should be old enough
+to attract his attention. I owed him a long grudge, and this gave me
+power to render him restless and miserable. Thus I suffered George
+Moncton to live, to obtain a two-fold object--the gratification of
+Avarice and Revenge.
+
+"In spite of neglect and harsh treatment, which were inseparable from
+the deep-rooted hatred I bore him on his parents' account, the hand of
+Heaven was extended over the injured child. He out-grew the feeble
+delicacy of his infancy, and when he had attained his fourth year, was
+a beautiful and intelligent boy.
+
+"His father, as if compelled by powerful natural instinct, lavished
+upon him the most abundant marks of favour. Lady Moncton's love was
+that of a doting mother, which increased up to the period of her
+death.
+
+"The death of Lady Moncton, and that of Roger Mornington, followed
+quickly upon each other, and all my old hopes revived, when Sir
+Alexander renewed his attentions to my daughter. But vain are the
+expectations of the wicked. Bitter experience has taught me (though it
+took me a long life to learn that lesson) that man cannot contend with
+God; and my beautiful Rachel died in her prime, just when my fondest
+expectations seemed on the point of realization.
+
+"Years fled on--years of burning disappointment and ungratified
+passion. The little girl Rachel left to my care was handsome, clever
+and affectionate, and I loved her with a fierce love, such as I never
+felt before for anything of earth--and she loved me--a creature from
+whose corrupted nature, all living things seemed to start with
+abhorrence. I watched narrowly the young heir of Moncton, who led that
+smiling rose-bud by the hand, and loved her too, but not as I could
+have wished him to love her.
+
+"Had I seen the least hope of his ever forming an attachment for his
+beautiful playmate, how different would have been my conduct towards
+him!
+
+"Alice, was early made acquainted with the secret of his birth, and
+was encouraged by me, to use every innocent blandishment towards him,
+and even to hint that he was not her brother, in order to awaken a
+tenderer passion in his breast.
+
+"His heart remained as cold as ice. His affections for Alice never
+exceeded the obligations of nature, due to her as his sister. They
+were not formed for each other and, again disappointed in my ambitious
+hopes, I vowed his destruction. At this time Sir Alexander sent him to
+school at York, and the man who lies grovelling on that bed, was made
+acquainted with his existence."
+
+A heavy groan from Robert Moncton interrupted for a few minutes the
+old woman's narrative. She rose from her seat, took the lamp from the
+table, and bending over the sorry couch, regarded the rigid marble
+features of my uncle, with the same keen scrutiny that she had looked
+upon me in the garret of the old house in Hatton Garden.
+
+"It was but a passing pang," said she, resuming her seat. "His ear is
+closed to all intelligible sounds."
+
+I thought otherwise, but after rocking herself to and fro on her seat
+for a short space, she again fixed upon me her dark, searching, fiery
+eyes, and resumed her tale:--
+
+"Robert Moncton bore the intelligence with more temper than I
+expected. Nor did he then propose any act of open violence towards the
+innocent object of our mutual hatred, but determined to destroy him in
+a more deliberate and less dangerous way. At that time I was not
+myself eager for his death, for my poor deluded, lost Alice, had not
+then formed the ill-fated attachment to Theophilus Moncton, which
+terminated in her broken heart and early grave--and which, in fact,
+has proved the destruction of all, and rendered the house of the
+destroyer as desolate as my own.
+
+"At first I could not believe that the attachment of my poor girl to
+Theophilus was sincere, but when I was at length convinced that both
+were in earnest, my long withered hopes revived. I saw her in idea,
+already mistress of the Hall, and often in private called her Lady
+Moncton.
+
+"I despised the surly wretch, whom unfortunately she only loved too
+well, and looked upon his union with my grandchild as a necessary
+evil, through which she could alone reach the summit of my ambitious
+wishes.
+
+"In the meanwhile, Alice played her cards so well that she and her
+lover were privately married--she binding herself by a solemn promise,
+not to divulge the secret, even to me, until a fitting opportunity.
+After a few months, her situation attracted my attention; and I
+accused her of having been betrayed by her fashionable paramour.
+
+"She denied the charge--was obstinate and violent, and much bitter
+language passed between us. Just at this period, young Mornington
+returned to us, a ruined man. He fell sick, and both Alice and myself
+hoped that his disease would terminate fatally. In this we were
+disappointed. He slowly and surely recovered in spite of our coldness
+and neglect.
+
+"Before he was able to leave his bed, Robert Moncton, who had
+discovered his victim's retreat, paid us a visit. Me, he cajoled, by
+promising to give his consent to his son's marriage with Alice, but
+only on condition of our uniting to rid him for ever of the man who
+stood between him and the long-coveted estates and title of Moncton.
+I, for my part, was easily entreated, for our interests were too
+closely united in his destruction, for me to raise any objections.
+
+"Alice, however, was a novice in crime, and she resisted his arguments
+with many tears, and it was not until he threatened to disinherit her
+husband, if he ever dared to speak to her again, that she reluctantly
+consented to administer the fatal draught which Robert prepared with
+his own hands."
+
+There was a long pause; I thought I heard the sound of horses' hoofs
+in the distance. Dinah heard it too, and hastened to conclude her
+narrative.
+
+"Yes, George Moncton died in the bloom of life, the victim of
+treachery from the very morning of his days. But the cry of the
+innocent blood has gone up to the throne of God, and terrible
+vengeance has pursued his murderers.
+
+"When I discovered that Alice was the lawful wife of Theophilus
+Moncton, and that the child she carried, if it proved a son, would be
+Sir Alexander's heir, I made a journey to London, to communicate the
+fact to Robert Moncton, and to force him to acknowledge her publicly
+as his daughter-in-law.
+
+"He would not believe me on my oath; and declared that it was only
+another method to extort money. I produced the proofs. He vowed that
+they were base forgeries, and tore the documents, trampling them under
+his feet; and it was only when I threatened to expose the murder of
+his cousin, that he condescended to listen to reason.
+
+"It was then for the first time I heard of your existence, and a new
+and unforeseen enemy seemed to start up and defy me to my teeth.
+
+"Robert Moncton laughed at my fears, and told me how ingeniously he
+had contrived to brand you with the stigma of illegitimacy. He could
+not however lull my fears to rest, until I was satisfied that Walters
+had really placed the stolen certificates in the iron chest in your
+garret--and late as it was, we went to assure ourselves of the fact."
+
+"Oh, how well I remember that dreadful visit," said I--"and the
+horrible dream which preceded it."
+
+"You were awake, then?"
+
+"Yes--awake with my eyes shut--and heard all that passed."
+
+"A true Moncton," and she shook her palsied head. "The devil is in you
+all. You know then, that our search was fruitless, and I returned to
+Moncton with the conviction, that we were destined to be defeated in
+our machinations.
+
+"Six months after these events, Alice gave birth to a son, and was
+greatly cheered by the news, which reached her through one of the
+servants at the Hall, that her husband had returned from Italy, and
+was in London."
+
+"The rest of her melancholy history is known to me," said I. "It was
+my arm that lifted her from the water when she attempted to destroy
+herself. Oh, miserable and guilty woman, what have you gained by all
+your deep-laid schemes of villainy? As to you, Dinah North, the gibbet
+awaits you--and your prospects beyond the grave are more terrible
+still."
+
+"Dinah North will never die beneath the gaze of an insolent mob," said
+the old woman with a sullen laugh. "A few months ago, Geoffrey
+Moncton, and I would have suffered the rack, before I would have
+confessed to you aught that might render you a service, but the
+kindness you showed to my unhappy grandchild, awoke in my breast a
+feeling towards you foreign to my nature. I have been a terrible enemy
+to your house. But you, at least, should regard me as a friend. Had
+George Moncton lived, what would become of your claims to rank and
+fortune?"
+
+"Dinah, he does live!" and the conviction that I was penniless, a poor
+dependent upon a noble house, instead of being the expectant heir,
+pressed at that moment painfully on my heart. "See," I continued, as
+the door opened, and George attended by several persons entered the
+house, "he is here to assert his lawful claims. The grave has given up
+its dead."
+
+The same wild shriek which burst so frightfully on my ears, when
+George first addressed the old woman, ran through the apartment.
+
+"Constables, do your duty," said George. "Instantly secure that
+woman."
+
+As he spoke, the light was suddenly extinguished, and we were left in
+darkness. Before the hurry and bustle of rekindling it was over, Dinah
+North had disappeared, and all search after her proved fruitless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE.
+
+
+Robert Moncton had lain in a stupor for the last hour. The surgeon
+whom George had brought with him from the village, after carefully
+examining the wound, to my surprise, declared that it was mortal, and
+that the sufferer could not be removed, as his life must terminate in
+a few hours. During the extraction of the bullet and the dressing of
+the wound, Robert Moncton recovered his senses and self-possession,
+and heard his doom with a glassy gaze of fixed despair. Then, with a
+deep sigh, he asked if a lawyer were present, as he wished to make his
+will, and set his affairs in order before he died.
+
+George had brought with him a professional gentleman, the clergyman,
+and one of the chief magistrates in the village. He now introduced to
+his notice the Rev. Mr. Chapman, and Mr. Blake the solicitor.
+
+"When I require your offices," he said, addressing the former
+gentleman, "I will send for you. Such comfort as you can give in the
+last hour, will not atone for the sins of a long life. This is one of
+the fallacies to which men cling when they can no longer help
+themselves. They will, however, find it a broken reed when called upon
+to pass through the dark valley.
+
+"With you, sir," shaking hands with Mr. Blake, "my business lies.
+Clear the room till this matter is settled: I wish us to be alone."
+
+The clergyman, finding that he would not be listened to, mounted his
+horse and rode away. George and I gladly availed ourselves of the
+opportunity of leaving for a while the gloomy chamber of death, and
+taking a turn in the fresh air. We wandered forth into the clear
+night; the blessed and benignant aspect of nature, forming, as it ever
+does, a solemn, holy contrast with the turbulent, restless spirit of
+man. Nature has her storms and awful convulsions, but the fruits are
+fertility, abundance, rest. The fruits of our malignant passions--sin,
+disease, mental and physical death.
+
+My blighted prospects, in spite of all my boasted disinterestedness,
+weighed heavily on my heart. I tried to rejoice in my friend's good
+fortune, but human nature with all its sins and weaknesses prevailed.
+I was not then a Christian, and could scarcely be expected to prefer
+the good of my neighbour to my own.
+
+Bowed down and humbled by the consciousness of all I had lost, I
+should had I been alone have shamed my manhood, and found relief in
+tears.
+
+"Dear Geoffrey, why so silent?" said George, wringing my hand with his
+usual warmth: "Have you no word for your friend? This night has been
+one of severe trial. God knows how deeply I sympathize in your
+feelings! But cheer up, my dear fellow; better and brighter moments
+are at hand."
+
+"No, no, not for me," returned I, almost choking. "I am one of the
+unlucky ones; no good can ever happen to me. My hopes are blighted for
+ever. It is only you, George Moncton, who, in this dark hour, have
+reason to rejoice."
+
+He stopped and grasped my arm. "What do you mean, Geoffrey, when you
+call me by that name?"
+
+"That it belongs to you."
+
+"To me! Has Dinah made any confession?"
+
+"She has. Have a little patience, George, till I can collect my
+scattered thoughts, and tell you all."
+
+I then communicated to him the conversation that had passed between
+Dinah and myself, though my voice often trembled with emotion, and I
+could scarcely repress my tears.
+
+He heard me silently to the end; then convulsively grasping my hands,
+was completely overcome by his feelings, and we wept together.
+
+"Ah, Geoffrey, my cousin, my more than brother and friend," he said at
+last, "how gladly would I confer upon you, if it would increase your
+comfort and happiness, the envied wealth which has been the fruitful
+cause of such revolting crimes!
+
+"Ah, mother!" continued he, looking up to the calm heavens, and
+raising his hands in a sort of ecstasy, "dear, sainted, angel mother,
+whom as a child I recognized and loved, it is only on your account
+that I rejoice--yes, with joy unspeakable, that I am indeed your
+son--that the boy you so loved and fondly cherished, was the child you
+sought in heaven, and wept on earth as lost. And that fine, generous,
+noble-hearted old man--how proud shall I feel to call him father, and
+recall all his acts of kindness to me when a nameless orphan boy. And
+Margaretta, my gentle sister, my best and earliest friend. Forgive me,
+dear Geoffrey, if thoughts like these render me happy in spite of
+myself. I only wish that you could participate in the fullness of my
+joy."
+
+"I will--I do!" I exclaimed, ashamed of my past regrets. "The evil
+spirit of envy, George, cast a dark shadow over the sunshine of my
+heart. This will soon yield to better feelings. You know me to be a
+faulty creature of old, and must pity and excuse my weakness."
+
+Unconsciously we had strolled to the top of a wild, heathery common,
+which overlooked the marshy meadows below, and was covered with dwarf
+oaks and elder-bushes.
+
+Though close upon day-break, the moon was still bright, and I thought
+I discerned something which resembled the sharp outline of a human
+figure, suspended from the lower branch of a gnarled and leafless
+tree, the long hair and garments fluttering loosely in the wind. With
+silent horror I pointed it out to my companion. We both ran forward
+and soon reached the spot. Here, between us and the full, broad light
+of the moon, hung the skeleton-like figure of Dinah North, her hideous
+countenance rendered doubly so by the nature of her death!
+
+Her long grey hair streamed back from her narrow contracted brow; her
+eyes wide open and staring, caught a gleam from the moon that
+heightened the malignant expression which had made them terrible to
+the beholder while in life.
+
+We neither spoke, but looked at each other with eyes full of horror.
+
+George sprang up the tree and cut down the body, which fell at my feet
+with a dull, heavy sound.
+
+"She has but anticipated her fate, Geoffrey. Surely the hand of God is
+here."
+
+"Miserable woman!" said I, as I turned with a shudder from the livid
+corpse--"is this the end of all your ambitious hopes? Your life a
+tissue of revolting crimes--your end despair!"
+
+We hurried back to the cottage to give the alarm, and found Robert
+Moncton awake and in his senses, though evidently sinking fast.
+"Dinah North dead!" he said, "and by her own voluntary act. This is
+retributive justice. She has been my evil genius on earth, and has
+gone before me to our appointed place. Geoffrey Moncton, I have a few
+words to say to you before I follow on her track.
+
+"I have injured you during my life. I have, however, done you justice
+now. I have made you my heir; the sole inheritor of the large fortune
+I have bartered my soul to realize."
+
+"But, uncle, you have a son."
+
+His face grew dark as night.
+
+"None that I acknowledge as such. And mark me, Geoffrey," and he
+compressed his lips firmly and grasped my hand tightly as he spoke: "I
+have left you this property on one condition, that you never bequeath
+or share one copper of it with that rascal Theophilus Moncton, for in
+such case it will benefit neither party, but will revert to your
+cousin, Margaretta Moncton. Do you hear?" and he shook me vehemently.
+
+"And what will become of Theophilus?"
+
+He laughed bitterly. "He will yet meet with his deserts," he
+exclaimed. "What I have done may seem harsh to you, Geoffrey, but it
+is strictly just. My reasons for so doing may puzzle the world and
+astonish professional men, but it is a secret which never will be
+known until I meet the human monster, who calls himself my son, at the
+eternal bar. And may the curse of the great Judge of all flesh, and my
+curse, cleave to him for ever!"
+
+I shrank back from him with feelings of disgust and horror, which I
+took no pains to conceal; but it was unnoticed by him. The hand
+relaxed its rigid grasp, the large icy eyes lost the glittering
+brilliancy which had marked them through life, the jaw fell, and the
+soul of Robert Moncton passed forth from those open portals to its
+drear and dread account.
+
+"He is dead," said the lawyer.
+
+I drew a long sigh.
+
+"How did he come to his death, young gentleman?"
+
+"He was shot from behind the hedge, as he rode through the pit at the
+end of the long plantation. He said, when we first found him, that he
+knew the person who shot him."
+
+"He admitted the same thing to me, but would not mention the name of
+the assassin. I have my own suspicions."
+
+I had mine, but I did not wish to hint at the probability of a fact
+that Robert Moncton had purposely, I have no doubt, left unrevealed.
+The cause of his death, and the hand which perpetrated the deed have
+never been discovered, but will remain open to conjecture as long as
+those live who feel the least interest in the subject. It was
+supposed, that important information could be obtained from his son,
+which might throw some light upon the mystery, but he had disappeared,
+and no trace of his whereabouts, could be discovered.
+
+We were detained for several days at the village whilst the coroner's
+inquest sat on the bodies, and we had made a statement before the
+proper authorities of all we knew about this mysterious affair.
+
+Before three days were at an end, the public journals were filled with
+accounts of the awful tragedy which had occurred at the village of
+----, in Yorkshire; and the great talents and moral worth of the
+murdered lawyer were spoken of in terms of the highest praise, which
+certainly astonished his relations, and would have astonished himself.
+The only stain on his character, it was stated, was the extraordinary
+manner in which he had disinherited his only son, in order to place a
+_poor relation_ who had been brought up in his house, in his
+shoes. It was evident to all, the part this domestic sneak must have
+acted in the dreadful tragedy to ensure the property to himself.
+
+Hints of a darker nature were thrown out, which deeply wounded my
+sensitive pride, and which drew a reply from Mr. Blake, who stated,
+that Mr. Moncton told him that the murderer was well known to him, but
+he never would reveal to any one who or what he was; that he left
+young Geoffrey Moncton and George at the inn, and they did not come up
+until after he was shot. That the assassin did not attempt to conceal
+himself, but exchanged words with him and met him face to face.
+
+I had just taken up my pen to add my testimony to that of the worthy
+Mr. Blake, when the door of the room suddenly opened, and Sir
+Alexander and his lovely daughter, banished all other objects from my
+brain.
+
+What an overflowing of eyes and hearts succeeded that unexpected
+meeting. How I envied George the hearty embrace with which the fine
+old man received his newly recovered son. The tearful joy which beamed
+in the dark eloquent eyes of his delighted sister as she flung herself
+with unrestrained freedom into the arms of that long-cherished friend,
+and now beloved brother.
+
+My welcome was not wanting either: Sir Alexander received me as
+another son, and my own, my lovely Madge as something dearer to her
+than even a brother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE DOUBLE BRIDAL.
+
+
+The first excitement of our meeting over, I was painfully struck with
+the great alteration that the absence of a few weeks had made in the
+face of Margaret.
+
+Her eyes, always beautiful, gleamed with an unnatural brilliancy; and
+her pure, pale complexion, at times was flushed with a hectic glow,
+which, contrasting with the dazzling white teeth and jet-black hair,
+gave a fearful beauty to her charming face.
+
+I took her hand in mine. It burned with fever.
+
+"Dear Margaret, are you ill?"
+
+She raised her eyes to mine, swimming in tears.
+
+"Not ill, Geoffrey; only a little weak."
+
+"No wonder, when you are in such a state of emaciation. You ought not
+to have let the death of Alice bring you so low as this."
+
+"Your absence and long silence, dear Geoffrey, have had more to do
+with my poor health than the death of my unfortunate friend."
+
+"How so, dearest?"
+
+"Torturing anxiety, sleepless nights, and days of weeping, would
+produce this change in stronger frames than mine: But that is all
+past. I am quite well and happy now, and Margaret will soon be herself
+again."
+
+This was accompanied by such a sad, moonlight smile, that it only
+served to increase my fears. I inquired earnestly if her father had
+consulted a medical man.
+
+"Oh, yes--a dozen, at least."
+
+"And what opinion did they give?"
+
+"They told the plain truth--said that my illness was produced by
+mental excitement--that change of air and scene would soon bring me
+round."
+
+I felt that I looked grave and sad. She put her arm round my shoulder,
+and whispered in my ear:
+
+"You are mine, Geoffrey, and I shall soon get well in the society of
+those I love; so banish that gloomy frown, and try to participate in
+the general joy. I have procured an excellent flute for you, as a
+little present. You shall play, and I will sing, and Kate Lee (of whom
+I am no longer jealous) and George shall dance, and papa shall smoke
+his cigar beneath our favourite old tree and enjoy the fun; and we
+shall all be so happy."
+
+Thus did my poor, fading, white rose strive to divert my thoughts into
+a brighter channel; and hope, ever attendant upon the young, cheated
+me into the belief that all would yet be well.
+
+Instead of returning to Moncton Park, George proposed our accompanying
+him to Elm Grove. Sir Alexander thought the change would be beneficial
+to Margaretta, and we joyfully accepted his proposal. I exchanged my
+horse with Sir Alexander, and took his place by the side of Madge in
+the open carriage. The good Baronet rode with his son, who had a
+thousand revelations of his past life to communicate to his delighted
+father.
+
+Madge and I were not without our histories and confessions; and long
+before we entered the avenue that led to Elm Grove, the dear girl had
+promised to become my wife, when returning health should remove the
+last barrier to our union.
+
+Our reception at Elm Grove was such as might have been expected from
+its amiable possessors.
+
+Accounts of Robert Moncton's and Dinah North's death had travelled
+there before us, and formed for the first few days the theme of
+general discussion. My kind friend, Mrs. Hepburn, warmly congratulated
+me on my accession of fortune, and Dan Simpson was almost beside
+himself with joy. Though I could no longer regard myself as Sir
+Alexander's successor, I found myself not a whit inferior in wealth
+and importance.
+
+Sir Alexander received my proposal for his daughter with unfeigned
+satisfaction. He wrung my hand with hearty good-will. "Two sons, my
+dear Geoffrey. God has given me two sons in return for depriving me of
+one of them for so many years. Faith, my dear boy, I hardly know which
+is dearest of you to the old man. Madge, however, has found out which
+of the twain she loves best. I shall resign the Hall to George and his
+pretty bride, and will come and live with my dear girl and my adopted
+son--hey Madge! will you give the old man an easy place by your
+fireside?"
+
+Margaret threw herself into his extended arms, parted the white wavy
+locks from his high forehead, and devoutly kissed it.
+
+Thus did we suffer hope to weave bright garlands for the future,
+without reflecting how soon the freshest flowers of life are withered
+and scattered in the dust.
+
+Cheered by the society and sympathy of her new friends, with a devoted
+lover ever at her side, Margaretta regained much of her former health
+and cheerfulness.
+
+Hand in hand we roamed among the Derby hills, and visited every
+romantic spot in the neighbourhood, not forgetting the old parsonage
+where my mother was born, the spot where my good old grandfather was
+buried, the little inn over which Mrs. Archer presided, who was
+infinitely delighted with seeing me again, and hearing me introduce
+her lovely boy to Margaretta's especial notice.
+
+Kate Lee did the honours of the house with the most bewitching grace,
+and she and Margaretta formed the most lively attachment to each
+other.
+
+"Is she not beautiful, Geoffrey?" said Margaretta, as we sat together
+on the lawn beneath the shade of a large ash; and she watched her
+friend as she bounded past us down the grassy slope, to join Sir
+Alexander and his son in their evening walk.
+
+"Yes, very beautiful, Madge."
+
+"Don't you envy George the possession of such a charming wife?"
+
+"I love George and admire his Kate, but I would not exchange my little
+fairy," and I pressed her fondly to my heart, "for his stately queen."
+
+"Ah, flatterer! how can I believe you, who would prefer the pale,
+drooping snow-drop to the perfumed, glowing rose?"
+
+"Let George keep his rose, the peerless among many sweets, but give me
+the pure solitary gem of early spring, which cheers with its modest
+grace the parting frowns of envious winter."
+
+I pressed her small white hand with fervour to my lips and heart. The
+meek head of the gentle girl sunk drooping on my bosom. The long black
+lashes that veiled her matchless eyes were heavy with bright tears.
+
+"Why do you weep, sweet Madge?"
+
+"I am too happy. These are tears of joy: they relieve the fulness of
+my heart. After suffering so much bitter grief it is a luxury to weep
+in the arms of the beloved."
+
+How often have I recalled those words when weeping in madness on her
+grave, and found no joy in grief--no peace in my distracted heart.
+
+The harvest had been gathered in, and the ripe autumnal fruits hung
+heavily on the loaded trees when we returned to Moncton Park. The
+first of October had been named for the celebration of our double
+nuptials, and all was bustle and activity at the Hall, in making the
+necessary preparations for the important event. Margaretta appeared to
+take as much interest in the matrimonial arrangements as her lively
+friend, Kate.
+
+Not a ribbon was selected or a dress purchased, but George and I were
+called to give our opinion of its beauty or becomingness; whilst the
+good old Baronet's whole time and attention were directed to the
+improvements and decorations which he had planned in the interior of
+the Hall. Thus all went merry as a marriage bell until the second week
+in September, which was ushered in by heavy gales and frequent
+showers.
+
+Often, when returning from our accustomed rides and walks, Margaret
+would draw her shawl tightly round her, and clinging closely to my
+arm, would complain that she was _cold_--_very cold_.
+
+One day in particular, when the deceitful beauty of the morning had
+induced us to extend our ride a few miles farther than usual, we all
+got drenched by a sudden shower of rain. The next morning my dear girl
+complained of a pain in her chest, sudden chills and weariness of mind
+and body. These symptoms were succeeded by a short, hacking cough, and
+sudden flushings of the face, which greatly alarmed us all. Medical
+advice was instantly called in, but Margaret's malady daily increased
+and her strength rapidly declined.
+
+I dared not whisper to myself the fears which oppressed my heart, and
+was almost afraid of asking Dr. Wilson the nature of her complaint.
+
+To my utter grief and despair he informed me that his patient was
+beyond human aid--that a few weeks, at the farthest, would terminate
+the existence of the gentlest and purest of human beings.
+
+"It would be cruel to deceive you, Mr. Moncton," said he, as he
+announced the startling truth--for the dreadful communication had
+quite unmanned me. "Let this comfort you in your affliction, that I
+have anticipated this for years; that our dear patient has carried
+about her the seeds of this fatal malady from infancy; that it is
+better that she should thus fall in the budding season of youth, than
+leave hereafter a family of children to bewail their irreparable loss.
+I sorrow for her father and you, Mr. Geoffrey, more than for her.
+Death has few terrors to a sincere Christian, and such from childhood
+Margaret Moncton has been. A friend to the friendless, a sister of
+mercy to the poor and destitute."
+
+Oh, reader! if you have ever known what it is to see your fondest
+hopes annihilated at the very moment of their apparent fulfilment, you
+can form some idea of my mental anguish whilst watching the decay of
+that delicate flower.
+
+Margaret was now fully aware of her danger, a most uncommon
+circumstance in the victims of that insidious disease, on whom Death
+advances so softly that he always comes suddenly at last. She prepared
+herself to meet the mighty conqueror with a cheerful submission to the
+will of God, which surprised us all.
+
+One thing she earnestly entreated, that the marriage of Catherine and
+George might not be postponed on account of her illness.
+
+"I not only wish to witness their happiness before I go hence, but to
+share in it," she said to us, a few days before the one which had been
+appointed for the ceremony, as we were all sitting round the sofa on
+which she was reclining.
+
+"And you, dearest Geoffrey, must give me a lawful claim to the tender
+care I receive from you. Though I can only be your wife in name, I
+shall die happy in hearing you address me by that coveted
+appellation."
+
+I could in reply only press her wasted form in my arms and bathe her
+hands and face with my tears. How earnestly had I wished to call her
+mine, though I lacked the courage to make the proposal so dear to my
+peace.
+
+Oh, what a melancholy day was that to us all. Margaret's sweet face
+alone wore a serene smile, as, supported by her father, she stood
+beside me at the altar.
+
+How beautiful she looked in her white bridal dress. What a mockery was
+the ceremony to my tortured heart, whilst fancy, busy with my grief,
+converted those flowing garments into a snowy shroud.
+
+One little week after that melancholy event I again bent before that
+altar, to partake of the last tokens of a Saviour's dying love; but I
+knelt alone. The grave had closed over my bright, my beautiful, my
+virgin bride, and my soul had vowed an eternal divorce from the
+vanities and lusts of earth.
+
+Years have fled on in their silent and undeviating course. I am now an
+old, grey-headed man.
+
+Sir Alexander Moncton has long been gathered to his fathers, and the
+old Hall is filled by a race of healthy, noble-looking young people,
+the children of Sir George Moncton and Catherine Lee. I, too, have a
+Geoffrey and a Margaret, the children of my adoption; for a large
+family Sir George willingly spared me these.
+
+For years I have resided at the Lodge, formerly the residence of Dinah
+North, which I have converted into a pretty dwelling, surrounded by
+shrubberies and flower-gardens. I love to linger near the scenes where
+the happiest and saddest moments of my life were passed.
+
+Behold me now, a cheerful and contented old man, surrounded by dear
+young faces, who lavish upon Uncle Geoffrey the redundant affections
+of warm and guileless hearts.
+
+My wealth is the means of making many happy, of obviating the sorrows
+of the sorrowful, and smoothing with necessary comforts the couch of
+pain. When I first lost my beloved Margaret, I mourned as one without
+hope; but it pleased God to hallow and bless my afflictions, and by
+their instrumentality gently to lead me to a knowledge of the
+truth--that simple and holy truth, which has set me free from the
+chains of sin and the fear of death.
+
+In what a different light I view all these trials now. How sincerely I
+can bless the munificent hand which wounds but to heal--punishes but
+to reform; who has poured upon the darkness of my soul the light of
+life, and exchanged the love of earth, which bound me grovelling in
+the dust, for the love of Christ; sorrow for the loss of one dear
+companion and friend, into compassion for the sorrows and sufferings
+of the whole human race.
+
+                 *       *       *       *       *
+
+A few words more, gentle reader, and we part for ever. These relate to
+the fate of Theophilus Moncton, and fully illustrate the awful
+text--"There is no peace," saith my God, "for the wicked;" and again,
+"The wicked have no hope in their death."
+
+From the hour that Robert Moncton fell by the hand of the unknown
+midnight assassin, Theophilus Moncton was never seen or heard of again
+for upwards of twenty years, until his name was forgotten, and I, like
+the rest of the world, believed that he was dead, or had become a
+voluntary exile in a foreign land.
+
+One day, while crossing the Strand, just below Somerset House, my
+charity was solicited by the dirty, ragged sweeper of the street.
+
+The voice, though long unheard, was only too familiar to my ear, and
+looking earnestly at the suppliant, with mingled sensation of pity and
+horror, I recognized my long-lost cousin Theophilus Moncton.
+
+He, too, recognized me, and dropping the tattered remains of his hat
+at my feet, muttered half aloud:
+
+"Do not betray me, Geoffrey; I am a lost and miserable man. My
+punishment is already greater than flesh and blood can well bear."
+
+"What assistance can I render you?" I asked, in a faltering voice, as
+I dropped my purse into his hat, for the sight of him recalled many
+painful recollections.
+
+"You have rendered me the best in your power;" and flinging away his
+broom, he disappeared down a dirty, narrow alley, leaving me in a
+state of doubt and anxiety concerning him.
+
+Wishing to convert this sinner from the error of his ways, and to
+elucidate if possible the mystery which involved his father's death, I
+repaired to the same place for several days in the hope of meeting
+with him again, but without success.
+
+A week elapsed, and I found another son of want supplying his place at
+the crossing of the street. Dropping a shilling into his extended
+hand, I asked him what had become of the poor fellow that used to
+sweep there.
+
+"Saving your honour's presence," returned the mendicant, in a broad
+Irish accent, "he was a big blackguard, and so he was, not over-honest
+neither, and always drunk. T'other day, some foolish body who had more
+money nor wit, took a fancy to his ugly, unwholesome phiz, and gave
+him a purseful of gould--or mayhap he stole it--an' he never quits the
+grip of the brandy-bottle till he dies. They carried the body to the
+poor-house and that's all I knows of the chap. 'Tis a lucky thing, yer
+honor, that the scamp has neither wife nor child."
+
+I thought so, too, as with a heavy sigh I took my way to the inn,
+murmuring to myself as I walked along:
+
+"And such is the end of the wicked."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+LONDON:
+
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