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diff --git a/41823-0.txt b/41823-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a72e7d9 --- /dev/null +++ b/41823-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9341 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41823 *** + + Transcriber's Note: The following Table of Contents was not + present in the original and has been added for the convenience + of readers. + + Remaining transcriber's notes are at the end of the text. + + WEALTH AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + A YOUNG GIRL'S IDEAL. + THISTLE-DOWN. + NOVELISTS ON NOVELS. + A QUEEN'S EPITAPH. + THE COST OF THINGS. + ASLEEP. + A COUPLE OF VAGABONDS. + A MEMORY. + THE NIGHT OF THE FRENCH BALL. + DOES THE HIGH TARIFF AFFECT OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM? + MARCH 4th, 1889. + EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT. + THE PASSING SHOW. + REVIEWS. + THE APPEAL. + A COVENANT WITH DEATH. + + + + + BELFORD'S MAGAZINE. + + VOL. II. MARCH, 1889. NO. 10. + + + + +_WEALTH AND ITS CONSEQUENCES._ + + +When the government established by our forefathers became a recognized +fact both at home and abroad, and for three-quarters of a century +thereafter, no one dreamed that the greatest danger which threatened +its existence was the wealth which might accumulate within its realm; +indeed, no one ever dreamed of the possibilities which lay in that +direction. + +It is only during the past twenty years that the accumulation of +wealth has entered into the problem. Down to the period of 1861, the +only disturbing element of any magnitude was slavery. It was the +slavery problem which weighed so heavily upon the "godlike" Webster. +It was an ever-present, ghastly, and hideous form, appealing to his +patriotic soul. It is certain that it cast a shadow of melancholy over +his whole life. But Mr. Webster did not live to witness the dreadful +loss of life and treasure, and the awful gloom, of its going out. + +There is a question now of far greater magnitude than that which was +settled by the sword, and that is the question of the enormous wealth, +and its increase in the hands of the few. No reference is now made to +the owners of the thousands or the hundreds of thousands--to the +industrious and prosperous people scattered all over the land; for +moderate wealth, universally diffused, is the prime safeguard of a +nation: but I refer to the millions, the tens of millions, and the +hundreds of millions owned and controlled by the few. + +The ignorant poor and the no less ignorant rich may ridicule or sneer +at the expression of fear that harm may come to the Republic on +account of great wealth; but ridicule never settled any question. +Ridicule is always the weapon of the ignorant and the vicious. None +but the ignorant will ridicule the subject, for the history of the +world reveals the destruction of nations on account of wealth--never +from poverty. + +What if a man does have millions--is it any of the people's business? +is the query of the ignorant. This is the question that is to be +solved. This is, in fact, the supreme question. If the government is a +government of the people and for the people, under the people's +Constitution the people have the right to protect themselves. If the +possession of millions by any person is a menace to the liberties of +the people and to the permanence of their government, the people have +the right to legislate upon the matter and to protect themselves. That +this Republic belongs to the people, no one can doubt. That it was +established, by their blood and treasure, as an asylum for the +oppressed of all nations and the perpetual abode of free men, every +page of American history attests. The protest of our forefathers to +British tyranny, the Declaration of Independence, the war which +followed, the steps taken for the adoption of a Constitution, the Bill +of Rights, and the Constitution all declare, in terms not to be +mistaken, the right of the people to protection against foes from +within and foes from without. How this menace will be met I have no +means of knowing; but that it must be met, or sooner or later the +Republic will be destroyed, no intelligent man can doubt. + +As matters now stand, bad as they are, it might perhaps be endurable; +but wealth accumulates, and the man with ten millions to-day may have +a hundred millions in ten years, and the man with a hundred millions +may have a thousand. There is not a king or an emperor on a throne +to-day that would be safe a single moment with a subject possessing a +thousand million dollars; and can it be expected that a Republic would +be safer? The wealth of the Rothschilds was for a long time the wonder +of the world. They held the purse-strings of nearly all Europe; kings, +emperors, and principalities were and are yet at their mercy. But the +wealth of the Rothschilds, the accumulations of generations, pales +into insignificance before the wealth of the Vanderbilts, the Goulds, +the Astors, the Lelands, the Carnegies, and the Spreckels, when the +period of acquisition is taken into account. History fails to record +any accumulation of wealth so rapid and so colossal as that which has +taken place in this country, and during a period of from five to +twenty-five years. + +The wealth of the Rothschilds has been the marvel of generations until +within the past decade; but their wealth ceases to dazzle and +bewilder even the youths of America in this generation. Their wealth, +however, has been the accumulation of a hundred and twenty-five years, +with all Europe for their field of operations. Their accumulations do +not represent the robbery of the masses. They never levied a tax upon +or demanded a toll upon the necessaries of life. Their operations were +mainly confined to the negotiation of loans, the placing of +investments for the wealthy men of Europe, and to the legitimate +sphere of banking. They had a bank in the capitals of France, Austria, +Italy, England, and Prussia; but neither of those nations ever gave +them the authority to issue money. The toiling millions of Europe are +taxed to maintain armies and support dynasties; but they were never +the subjects of a moneyed aristocracy, or victims to their cupidity, +in the sense that American toilers are. Emperors and kings did indeed +make their burdens heavy, and oft-times intolerable, but they taxed to +maintain their governments. They were the sole despots or robbers; and +there is this difference between the robbers of Europe and those of +America: that European despots maintained a government, while the +American despots rob the people, by the aid of the government, for +purely personal profit. True, the Rothschilds' power was great. They +could probably make or unmake kings; but their power was never used to +build up towns and cities in one section of country and tear them down +in another; to build up manufacturing establishments and great +commercial monopolies in one kingdom or state, and destroy them +elsewhere. They never attempted to control lines of transportation, +corner the price of meat, bread, coffee, sugar, light, fuel, and other +necessaries of life. No such operations were ever attempted by them, +and no king or emperor would have been safe a day upon his throne who +would have permitted such crimes as have been and are openly +perpetrated by the millionaires of our country in their operations +with beef, pork, coffee, oil, coal, sugar, wheat, and almost every +other necessary of life. Under an absolute, or even a limited +monarchy, these evils can be prevented or remedied; but as yet no +means have been discovered to remedy or prevent them under our form of +government. + +Events of great magnitude crowd fast upon each other in our rapidly +growing country. New questions of great importance and new phases of +old questions have arisen and assumed huge proportions in a brief +period, requiring the highest virtue, intelligence, and patriotism to +deal with; and, while yet there may appear no constitutional means for +protection against the illegitimate use of wealth under the operation +of trusts and syndicates, without infringing upon the constitutional +rights of citizens, it is absolutely certain that a way must be found +to do so, or this great Republic, which promised so much for humanity, +will cease to exist, and the hope of a "government of the people, for +the people, and by the people" will be crushed from out the hearts of +men. + + N. G. PARKER. + + + + +_A YOUNG GIRL'S IDEAL._ + + +There are people one meets with now and then who seem so perfectly +fitted to their age and condition that it is difficult and almost +painful to imagine them in any other--some old ladies, for instance, +so sweet-faced, cheery-hearted, and placid-minded that one rebels +against the reflection that they were ever crude, impulsive girls or +busy matrons; and some busy matrons there are whose supply of energy +and capacity seems so admirably to equal the demands made upon it +that, for them, girlhood and old age appear to be alike--states of +lacking opportunity; and, in the third place, there are crude, +impulsive girls who wear these attributes so blithely that one does +not want to think of them developed and matured. + +Of these was Kate Severn, aged eighteen--a tall, brown-skinned, +brown-eyed, brown-haired creature, so richly and freshly tinted that +these three shades blended, in a beautiful harmony, in a face of +rounded lines and gracious curves such as belong alone to the lovely +time of youth. She was an affectionate and dutiful daughter to her +widowed mother, whose only child she was, and yet almost everyone who +heard Kate Severn talked about at all heard her called cold, the basis +of this appellation being a disinclination to the society and +attentions of young gentlemen, which, in a girl of her age and +appearance, seemed a positive eccentricity. She had had this trait +from a child, when she would fly into sudden rages and fight and +scratch the little boys who called her their sweetheart; and it had +grown with her growth. Every summer, when she and her mother would +come back to the old country-place, near the dull little town of +Marston, where all the summers of her life had been spent, this +determination to avoid the society of young men was more resolutely +set forth by her looks and tones. It was not so aggressive as +formerly, for she had acquired a fine dignity with her advancing +girlhood, and was too proud not to avoid the danger of being called +ridiculous. Therefore, her resentment of all masculine approaches was +now quiet and severe, where it had once been angry and vehement; but +it was as positive as ever, as the youth of Marston had reason to +know. They said they didn't mind it, but they did immensely. A +favorite remark among them was that, if she could stand it, they +could--and stand it she did, magnificently. Who that saw her, driving +her smart trap and strong bay horse along the country roads of +Marston, with rein taut and whip alert, her erect and beautiful figure +strikingly contrasted with her little mother's bent and fragile one, +could suppose for one instant that it mattered an atom to her whether +those were men or wooden images that walked the streets of Marston or +drove about its suburbs, having their salutes to the tall cart +returned by a swift, cool bow from its driver, who disdained to rest +her handsome eyes upon them long enough to discern the half-indignant, +half-admiring gazes with which they looked after her. + +She was not, at heart, an unsocial creature, and in her childhood had +been rather a favorite with the girls who came in contact with her, +but she always was unlike them; and this dissimilarity now constituted +a distinct isolation for her, since the fact that she had herself no +beaux,--to use the term in vogue in Marston society,--and took no +interest in hearing of those of her girl friends, left the latter much +at a loss for topics, and forced upon Kate herself the conviction that +she had not the power of interesting them. Dr. Brett, the country +doctor who was her mother's physician and chief friend when she came +to her country home, used to try to adjust matters for Kate, and made +many praiseworthy efforts to promote a spirit of sociability between +her and the young people of Marston, each and every one of which was a +flat failure. At last he had given up in despair and let the matter +drop, for Kate, in this her eighteenth summer, was more difficult, as +well as taller, straighter, and handsomer, than ever. So reflected Dr. +Brett as he drove homeward from his first visit to the Severns, +feeling a good deal cheered by the recurrence into his humdrum life of +this attractive mother and daughter, who received him into their home +with a cordiality and friendliness enjoyed by a few people only. Mrs. +Severn was an invalid, and unequal to seeing much company; and Kate, +though the very opposite of an invalid, had contrived, as I have +shown, to cut herself off from society--in Marston, at least--rather +effectually. She liked Dr. Brett, and seemed always glad to see him--a +departure in his favor which he was not old enough to relish +altogether. Still, the gods had provided him a pleasant spot of +refreshment in the midst of a rather dull professional routine, and +he gladly made the most of it. Kate, who was extremely fastidious, +criticized him severely to her mother, and regretted very often that a +man who had some capabilities should neglect his appearance as he +did--allowing his face and hands to get so sunburned, his hair to grow +so long, and his clothes to look so shabby and old-fashioned. + +Perhaps the reason that she was so hard upon good Dr. Brett was +accounted for by the fact that this man-repudiating young lady carried +about in her mind a beautiful ideal of her own, of whose existence, +even in this immaterial form, no being in the world besides herself +had a suspicion. His appearance, in truth, was wholly and entirely +ideal, but he was founded on fact, and that fact was a certain +manuscript which five years ago she had fished up from an old box in +the garret. This garret had been for generations the receptacle for +all the old, disused belongings of the Severns; and it had been Kate's +delight, from childhood up, to explore its old chests and trunks, and +invent for herself vivid stories of the old-time ladies and gentlemen +to whom had belonged these queer old gowns and uniforms--these scant +petticoats and meagre waists, and these knee-breeches and lace-trimmed +coats. There were spinning-wheels and guitars to suggest poses for the +women, and cocked hats and swords for the men. As she grew older, +these childish games lost part of their charm for her, and these mere +suits and trappings of the creatures of her imagination gave her such +a sense of lack that she turned to some old papers in one of the +boxes, in the hope that she might get some light upon the spirits and +souls that had animated them. In her own fair young body there had +arisen certain insistent demands which there was nothing in the life +she led to supply. The tortures of the Inquisition would not have +drawn this confession from her; but so indeed it was, and I must have +sketched the personality of this young lady very clumsily indeed if it +has not appeared that, beneath this independent, self-sufficing +surface, there was a heart full of romance and sentiment, a feeling +all the stronger for being denied a vent. + +It was an era in Kate Severn's life--that rainy day in late +summertime, when she found in the garret the old roll of manuscript +from which was formulated the ideal that afterward so wholly took +possession of her. It was a budget of closely written sheets, on blue +paper turned white at the edges with age. The ink used must have been +of exceptionally good quality, for it was still dark and distinct. The +writing was clear, and done with a very fine pen--but there were +evidences of haste. This, however, was not to be wondered at, for the +subject was an exciting one, and Kate pictured to herself, with +enthusiasm, the exquisite young gentleman (whom she promptly invested +with the blue-velvet, lace-ruffled coat, and the handsome hat and +sword which were among the paraphernalia of the attic) bending his +ardent, impassioned gaze over the sheets on which were written such +beautiful, fervent, reverential love-words. It was not in the form of +a letter, though it was a direct appeal, or, rather, a sort of +aspiration, from the heart of a man for the love of a woman. There was +not a name in it from beginning to end, and there was a sort of +impersonal tone in it that made Kate believe that it was addressed to +an imagined woman instead of a known one. This thought occurred to her +even in that first breathless perusal, and all the subsequent ones +(which were countless, for she was subject to certain moods in which +this old manuscript was her only balm) confirmed it. In consequence of +this conviction, she did a most un-Kate-like thing. It required only a +slight effort of that powerful imagination of hers to put herself in +the place of this loved and importuned lady; and she actually went so +far as to compose and indite answer after answer to this fond +appeal--impassioned outpourings of a heart which was full and had to +be emptied. These she would lock away in her desk, along with the +precious blue manuscript--and read and amplify from time to time. + +She had never told anyone about the finding of this manuscript, though +she had questioned her mother frequently and closely about the various +contents of the attic boxes, only to hear repeated the statement that +they were all belongings of the Severns, and had been in the house +long before her occupancy. So this precious manuscript, it must +appear, was written by some by-gone relative of her father, who, it +pleased her to believe, had died with all these beautiful aspirations +unfulfilled. That was a thought that smiled upon far more than the +picture of her ideal hero comfortably settled as a commonplace husband +and father, with degenerate modern descendants. So Kate, who had no +lovers in reality, made the most of this impalpable essence of one. +And really he suited her much better. She could endow him with all the +attributes that she admired, and even alter these at will, as her +state of mind changed or her tastes developed, and a real lover could +never have kept pace with her so well. Then, too, she could imagine +him as beautiful and elegant as she desired--and she loved beauty and +elegance in a man so much that she had never seen one yet who came up +to her standard. She invested him with the most gorgeous changes of +apparel--the blue velvet coat in the old trunk being one of his +commonest costumes. It is true that it did not occur to her that, to +fit the wishes of the manuscript to the time of the knee-breeches and +lace ruffles, etc., suggested the propriety of his expressing himself +in old English, while that of the blue manuscript was quite modern; +but an anachronism or two of this sort was a trifling matter in so +broad a scheme as hers. One effect of the finding of the paper was to +make Miss Kate far more than ever scrupulous in her person, and gentle +and courteous in her ways, for, although she had no superstitious idea +that he really saw her out of the spirit-world, still it was her pride +and pleasure to be what she knew he would have her to be. So she +dressed herself in very charming gowns, with a slight expression of +old-timeness about them that was not unnatural, and wore her severe, +scant coifs and little folded kerchief with a prim grace that was a +matter of contemporaneous benefit. Her mother and Dr. Brett got the +most of it, for out-of-doors her dress was necessarily conventional, +and out-of-doors, also, she encountered so many antagonistic elements +that she was often made to feel that her bearing and state of mind +were not such as her loyal knight would have approved. That he was a +person of the gentlest heart, the kindest nature, the most loving +spirit, no one who read those heartfelt words of his could doubt. Very +often he would interrupt his rhapsodies to his lady-love to prostrate +himself before himself, at the thought of his unworthiness to ask the +love of so divine and perfect a being as her whom he addressed. How +great, then, was the necessity laid upon her who had appropriated +these addresses to be circumspect in thought and act! + +So Kate grew every day more sweet and winning, until Dr. Brett began +to wonder how he could ever have thought her hard and conceited--as he +confessed to himself, with abasement, that he had. She felt that her +knight and lover would have wished her to be kind to this poor, lonely +old doctor, who was so good to the sick and humble about him, and led +such a cheerless, companionless, bachelor existence; and she used to +make his cup of tea in the evenings when he would drop in to see her +mother at the close of a hard day's work, and minister to his comfort +in a manner that was certainly new to her. Before the finding of that +manuscript, it was little enough that she had cared about his comfort; +but now it seemed of real importance to her. The more his country-made +clothes, and sun-burned hands, and awkward, heavy shoes grated on her, +the more it came home to her how she would be pleasing some one who +wore velvet coats, with rich lace ruffles that bordered tapering white +hands, and with shapely feet encased in fine silk stockings and fine +diamond-buckled slippers--if he could see her! Hers was quite a happy +love affair, and she had no occasion to mourn her lover dead, as she +had not known him living--so, as yet, he had brought only pleasure +into her life. + +It was at the age of sixteen that Kate had found the blue manuscript, +and so her _affaire_ was a matter of two years' date when she returned +to Marston on the occasion of her eighteenth summer. The blue-coated +knight had held his own with inviolate security during those two +years, and Kate was as indifferent as ever to the approaches of the +youth and valor of Marston. So she and her mother settled quickly down +into the routine of the old dull life. The usual visitors called, but +they, too, were dull, and therefore undisturbing, and life flowed +monotonously on. It was only a little less quiet existence than the +one she led in winter in the city, for she never went to parties, and +not often to the theatre unless there happened to be some unusual +musical attraction; and her friends and relatives, of whom there were +quite a number, gave her up as an incorrigibly queer girl, whom no one +need try and do anything for. It is true she had her music and +painting lessons there, which were some variety and diversion, but she +practised both here in the country; and the life, on the whole, +pleased her better. Her eccentricity, as it was called, was commented +on by fewer people, and she had more time for those delicious reveries +over the old blue manuscript. She loved, on rainy days, when it was +not too warm up there, to steal off to the garret and look at the blue +coat, and the sword, and hat, etc., and feel herself a little nearer, +in that way, to her knight. It seemed a very lonely time indeed, when +she looked back to the years and days before the finding of the +manuscript. It had introduced an element into her life almost as +strong as reality. And yet there were times--and they came oftener, +now that womanhood was ripening--when a great emptiness and longing +got hold of her, and the blue manuscript, which had once been so +sufficient, would not satisfy her. She hugged it closer to her heart +than ever, though, and all it represented to her. She often told +herself it suited her a great deal better than marriage, which she had +always looked upon as a grinding and grovelling existence for a woman, +and expressed and felt a fine superiority to. It was quite too +commonplace and humdrum an affair for her, and she told herself, with +emphasis and distinctness, that she was quite content with an ideal +love. And yet, to mock her, came the thought of the pictured domestic +life which the blue manuscript had so tenderly described--with such +longings for the fireside, the home circle, the family love that she +held in scorn. She got the old blue paper and read it over, and those +words of winning tenderness brought the tears to her eyes. She found +herself half wishing, for his sake, while a numb pain seized her heart +for herself, that he had lived to realize these sweet dreams of home +and domestic love. If that was so, her ideal was gone, and how could +she do without it, seeing she had nothing else? The tears became too +thick, the pain in her throat was unsupportable, she felt the great +sobs rising, and, springing up, she rushed down the stairs, flew to +her room, bathed her face and adjusted her toilet, and then went down +to make tea for her mother and Dr. Brett, after which she played away +the spirit of sadness and unrest with all the gay and brilliant music +she knew. By bed-time she was her own calm self, and the next day she +regarded her strange mood with wonder, but she could not forget that +it had been, and she was horribly afraid of its recurrence. + +One morning she was driving herself alone in her pretty cart along a +shady road that ran outside the town, when she recognized Dr. Brett's +buggy and horse fastened to a tree near a small shady house. This was +nothing to surprise her, for he was always working away on poor and +helpless people who couldn't pay him, and she would have passed on +without giving the matter a second thought, but that, just as she got +to the dilapidated little gate, a woman rushed out of the house, with +a girl of about fourteen after her, both of them screaming and +throwing their hands about in a way that caused Kate's horse to take +fright and gave her all she could do to control him for the next few +minutes. He ran for a little way straight down the road, but she soon +got him in hand and turned back to inquire into the cause of the +trouble. The two females were still whooping and gesticulating in the +yard, and the scene had been furthermore enlivened by the addition of +three or four dirty and half-clothed children, who were also crying. +Just as Kate came up, Dr. Brett appeared in the doorway, with his coat +off and a very angry expression on his face. He caught hold of the +woman and gave her an energetic shake, telling her to hold her tongue +and control her children; and just at this point he looked up and +caught sight of Kate, gazing down upon the scene from the top of her +pretty cart, whose horse was now as quiet as a lamb. + +"What is the matter?" asked Kate, while the whole party suspended +their screams a moment to gaze at her. + +"I wish to goodness you could help me," said Dr. Brett, half +desperately. "I was about to perform a very simple operation on this +woman's child and had everything in readiness, supposing I could trust +her to assist me, when she began to bawl like an idiot, and +demoralized this child who was helping me, too, and simply upset the +whole thing. I came out to see if there was anyone in sight who could +give me some assistance; but of course--" + +"I'll help you," said Kate at once, beginning to get down from the +cart. "I suppose if these people could do it I could--at least I won't +lose my head." + +"Oh, if you only would help!" said Dr. Brett. "I can't stop to tie +your horse even. I must see about the child. Here, somebody come tie +this horse, and keep out of the way, every one of you! If I hear any +more howling out here, I'll box the ears of the whole party!" And with +these words he disappeared into the house. + +A small boy came up and took the horse's rein, and the woman promised +eagerly that they would take care of everything. She was still half +sobbing, and began to make excuses for herself, saying she couldn't a +stayed to see it done, not if she'd die for it. + +Kate did not stop to listen to her, but ran up the rickety steps, +drawing off her long gloves as she did so, and entered the wretched +little room. She had only time to take in its expression of squalor +and destitution, when she paused abruptly, affrighted, in spite of +herself, at the sight before her. On a table in the middle of the room +was stretched a little child, dressed in a clean white frock, and with +a fair little face, above which gleamed a mass of rich auburn curls. +She glanced at the pretty face in its statuesque repose, and then saw +that the little legs, bare from the knees, were horribly deformed, the +feet being curled inward in a frightfully distorted manner. + +"Is it dead?" said Kate, in a hushed whisper. + +"Dead? My dear young lady, you don't suppose I've asked you to assist +at a post-mortem," said the doctor cheerily, as he chose an instrument +out of his case. "It's bad enough as it is. I don't know what I'll say +of myself when this thing's over. But tell me! do you think you can +stand it? There'll be only a few drops of blood. But I can put it off, +if you say so. Tell the truth!" + +"I don't want you to put it off," said Kate. "I am perfectly ready to +help you. Tell me what to do." + +She smelt the strong fumes of chloroform now, and realized that the +child was under its influence and would feel no pain, and the +knowledge strengthened her. She watched the doctor as he bent over and +lifted one little hand, letting it drop back heavily, and then raised +up one eyelid, for a second, and examined the pupil. + +"All right," he said. "Now, are you frightened or nervous?" + +"Not in the least," she answered, calmly, feeling a wonderful strength +come into her as she met his steady, confident, reassuring gaze. It +was strange, but it was the first time she had noticed how fine his +eyes were. + +"That's right," he said; "I knew you were not a coward. Now you must +watch the child's face carefully, and at the first movement or sign of +returning consciousness you must douse some chloroform out of that +bottle inside that towel, and hold it cone-shaped, as it is, over the +baby's nose and mouth; I'll tell you how long. Don't be frightened; +there's not the least danger of giving too much, and the operation is +extremely simple and short." + +As he spoke the baby contracted its face a little and turned its head. + +"See--I'll show you," he said. And wetting the towel from the bottle +he put it over the baby's face and held it there a little while, +looking up at Kate, into whose face a sweet compassion had gathered, +softening and beautifying it wonderfully. She was not looking at him, +but down at the baby; and with a wonderful movement of tenderness she +laid her fair hand on the poor deformed feet and gave them a little +gentle pressure. She was utterly unconscious of herself or she +couldn't have done it. Theoretically, she hated children. + +The doctor now took his position at the foot of the table, and holding +one of the child's feet in his hand, felt with his thumb and +forefinger for a second and then made a slight incision. Kate saw one +big drop of blood come out and then turned her eyes to the face of the +child, as she had been instructed. The little creature was sleeping as +sweetly as if in a noonday nap, and looked so unconscious and placid +that it seemed all the more pitiful. She bent over and smoothed the +bright curls, and then kissed the soft cheek. + +"Poor little man!" she murmured, softly. She thought no one heard. +Suddenly, behind her, there was a little snap. + +"Hear that?" said the doctor, cheerfully. "_That's_ all right." + +She looked around and saw he was holding his thumb over the little cut +he had made, and looking across at her with an encouraging smile. + +"You're first-rate," he said, heartily. "I wish that screaming idiot +could see how a brave woman behaves." + +"Ah, but she is its mother!" said Kate, in a tender voice, "and it's +such a little dear. I don't wonder she loves it!" + +Was this really Kate Severn? He didn't have time to think whether it +was or not, for the blood had stopped, and he now took up the other +foot. At the same time the baby moved again and gave a little whimper. +Kate promptly doused the towel and put it over the child's face, who, +at its next breath, relapsed into unconsciousness. + +"First-rate!" said the doctor again. "That will do for this time," and +then proceeded with the other foot. Again Kate heard the little +snapping sound, as the tendon was cut, though her eyes were fixed upon +the placid face of the child. + +"Now look, if you want to see a pair of straight little feet," said +the doctor. And she turned around and saw, as he had said, instead of +that curled deformity, two natural childish feet. + +"Wonderful!" said the girl. "Oh, how thankful you must be that you are +capable of such a thing as this!" + +The doctor laughed his cheery, pleasant laugh. + +"Why next to nobody could do that," he said. But it was plain that her +commendation pleased him. + +He then rapidly explained to her how into the vessel of warm water +standing by she was to dip the little rolls of plaster spread between +long strips of gauze, and rolled up like bolts of ribbon, and squeeze +them out and hand them to him very promptly as he needed them. + +"Never mind watching the baby," he said. "If it cries you must clap +the towel over its face. You've got enough to do to watch me, and hand +me the plaster as I need it." + +Kate obeyed implicitly, and in a little while both feet had been +deftly and neatly bandaged, from the toes to the knees, with the +plaster bandages, and the little creature, appearing suddenly +unnaturally long from this transformation, was pronounced intact. + +"That's all," said the doctor. "As soon as I wash my hands I'll lay it +on the bed." + +"Let me," said Kate, hastily drying her own hands. And while he +pretended to be engrossed in his ablutions he watched her curiously, +as she lifted the baby tenderly and laid it on the bed. As she put it +down she bent over and kissed it, murmuring sweet words, as a mother +might have done. + +"You must have the legs very straight," he said, coming over and +standing at the bed's foot that he might the more accurately see them. +"In an hour the plaster will be perfectly hard, and then they can move +it anywhere. That's a good job, if we did do it ourselves," he said, +with a bright smile. + +"Oh, may I go and tell the mother?" said Kate, eagerly. "How happy +she'll be to see those straight little legs!" + +She went out and called the mother in. The woman's excitement had +changed into stolidness, and she showed far less feeling in the matter +than Kate had done. She looked at the child, without speaking, and +then said she guessed she'd better clean up all this muss, and +proceeded to set things to rights. Kate was indignant, and showed it +in the look she cast at Dr. Brett, who smiled indulgently in reply, +and said in a low tone, coming near her, "That manner is half +embarrassment. I'm sure she really cares." + +While he was wiping and putting up his instruments, Kate went back to +the bed, a little whimper having warned her that baby was coming to. + +"Don't let him move if you can help it," said the doctor, and she +dropped on her knees by the bed, and began to talk to the child in the +prettiest way, taking out her watch and showing it to him, holding it +to his ear that he might hear it tick, and occupying his attention so +successfully that he lay quite still, gazing up at her with great +earnest brown eyes, and giving a simultaneous little grin and grunt +now and then. Dr. Brett came up and stood behind her for a few moments +unnoticed, observing her with a strange scrutiny. "Who would have +expected a thing like this from this queer girl?" he said to himself. +Then, aloud, he informed Miss Severn that the baby might safely be +left to its mother now; and she got up at once, and, seeing he was +ready to go, followed him out of the house. + +He unfastened her horse and brought the cart to the gate, and, as she +mounted to her seat and took the reins, she looked down at him and +said impulsively: + +"I'm so glad you let me help you. Is this your life--going about all +the time doing good and curing evil? I never thought how beautiful it +was. If I can ever give you help again, let me do it; won't you?" + +"That you shall," he said, and seemed about to add more, but something +stopped the words in his throat, and she drove off, wondering what +they would have been. The mingled surprise and delight in his eyes +made her long to know them. As she turned a bend in the road, she +looked back and saw Dr. Brett standing in the door among the children, +with a hand on the head of one of the untidy little boys, looking down +at him kindly. His figure was certainly both handsome and impressive, +and his head and profile fine. She wondered she had never noticed this +before--but then she had never before been really interested in him. +She wondered suddenly how old he was. + +All the way home she was thinking about him, and how good, and +cheerful, and strong, and clever he was; how everyone loved him, and +what a power he had of making people feel better and brighter as soon +as he came into the room. She began to recall accounts she had heard, +with rather a listless interest, of difficult and successful surgical +operations he had performed, and inducements offered him to go to big +cities and make money, of which he had refused to avail himself simply +because he loved his own people and had his hands full of work where +he was. This was a fine and uncommon feeling, the girl reflected. Why +had she never appreciated Dr. Brett before? By the time she reached +home she had worked herself into quite a fever of appreciation, and +she had a glowing account of the operation to give to her mother, who +listened with great interest. + +"How old is he, mamma?" she said, as she concluded. + +"I really don't know. I never thought," said her mother. "He can't be +much over thirty." + +"Do ask him his age--I'd really like to know. It's wonderful for such +a young man to be so much as he is. I never thought of his being young +before--but thirty is young, of course." + +After that morning's experience Kate and Dr. Brett became fast +friends--on a very different footing from the old one. He told her +about his patients, and took her with him sometimes to see them, +tempering the wind to her with tender thoughtfulness, and refraining +her eyes from seeing some of the forms of want and wretchedness that +were common things to him; but in what she did see there was +opportunity for much loving ministration; and her visits to those poor +dwellings with him were in most cases followed by visits alone, when +she would carry little gifts for the children and delicacies for the +sick, along with the sweeter benefit of a sympathetic presence that +knew, by a singular tact, how to be helpful without obtrusiveness. + +In the midst of all these new interests it was not remarkable that the +Ideal fell into the background. Sometimes for days he would be +forgotten. He didn't harmonize with these practical pursuits; and, +even when old habit sometimes conjured up his image in Kate's mind, it +always made a sort of discord, and, what was worse, made her feel +foolish in a way that she hated. She hadn't been to the garret for a +long time. There was something that gave her a painful sense of +absurdity in the mere thought of the blue velvet coat, and the cocked +hat and sword. What could a man do with those things in this day and +generation? She thought of Dr. Brett's brown hands encumbered with +lace ruffles in the sort of work he had to do, and in her heart of +hearts she knew that she preferred the work to the ruffles. + +But the more the exterior belongings of her Ideal grated on her now, +the more she hugged to her heart his soul and spirit, as expressed in +the old blue manuscript. She read it more eagerly and more +persistently than ever, and, every time, its lovely words and loving +thoughts sank deeper in her heart, carrying a strange unrest there +that was yet sweeter than anything had ever been to her before. All +those longings for a beautiful and perfect love seemed now to come +from herself--from the sacredest depth of her soul--rather than to be +addressed to her. + +One afternoon (it was rainy, and she could not go to drive as usual, +and she no longer cared for her garret _séances_, which would once +have seemed so appropriate to a day like this) she was sitting at the +piano, playing to her mother, when Dr. Brett came in. He had not been +to see them for many days--a most unusual thing--and she had felt +neglected and hurt by it. Perhaps it was this feeling that made her +very quiet in her greeting of him, or perhaps it was the melancholy, +wilful strain of music into which she had wandered--plaintive minor +things that seemed made to touch the founts of tears. At all events +she did not feel like talking, and she drew away, after a few formal +words, and left him to talk to her mother. He explained at once, +however, that he had not come to stay, but to ask Mrs. Severn's +permission to go up into the garret and look for something in an old +box which she had permitted him to store there before he had built the +house he was now occupying. Mrs. Severn remembered the fact that he +had once sent a box there, and of course gave him the permission he +desired. + +"Kate will go with you," she said; "the garret is a favorite resort of +hers, and she can help you to find your box." + +So bidden, Kate was compelled to go; but she felt a strange reluctance +possessing her as she mounted the stairs ahead of Dr. Brett. When +they were in the great, wide-reaching, low-ceilinged room so familiar +to her, she thought of the paraphernalia of her Ideal, and felt more +foolish than she had ever felt yet. What an idiot Dr. Brett would +think her if he knew of the impalpable object on which she had +lavished so much feeling! She thought of the Ideal that had once been +so much to her, and then looked at Dr. Brett. How real he was! how +strong, capable, living! What a powerful, warm-impulsed actuality, +compared to that unresponsive void! She surprised the good doctor by +turning to him a face suffused by a vivid blush. He looked at her +intently for a second, as if he would give a great deal to find out +the meaning of that blush, but he recollected himself, and said +suddenly: + +"There is the old box. It had no lock on it, but that precaution was +not necessary, for no one would ever care to possess themselves of +that old plunder. It was mostly papers, and servants are not apt to +tamper with them." + +He walked over and opened the box, without looking at Kate, who had +turned pale as a ghost and was standing like one transfixed, with her +eyes riveted to him. He knelt down and began to turn over, one by one, +the parcels of papers, which were labelled on the outside and were +principally old deeds and account-books. When he had gone to the +bottom of the trunk, he said, without turning: + +"I cannot find what I want, and yet I know it was in this box. It was +a--a--certain paper of mine, that I put in here years ago. I should +know it in an instant, because it was written on some old blue paper, +bleached white at the edges with age, that I happened to have at hand, +and used for the purpose. I thought I should never want it again, but +now I am anxious to reclaim it. It's too bad," he went on, putting the +parcels back in the box; "every piece of this old trumpery seems to be +here but that." + +He got up and closed the lid, and, taking out his handkerchief, wiped +his hands, and then began to flick the dust from the knees of his +trousers. Kate still stood motionless, and, when at last he looked at +her, his countenance showed him so startled by her expression that she +was obliged to speak. + +"I know where it is," she said; "I've got it. I didn't know it was +yours. Oh, how could it be yours? I thought it was--" + +"You've got it?" he said; "and you've read it?" And now it was his +turn to blush. "Have you really read it?" + +"Oh, yes," she said. "I've read it--and over, and over, and over. How +could I know? I thought it belonged to us. I thought all these old +boxes were ours, and I thought of course that old faded paper was +written by some one years and years ago--some one long dead and +buried." + +"And so it was," he said--"at least, it was written some years ago +indeed, and by a rash fellow, full of the impulsiveness and fire of +youth, whom I thought dead and buried too, until these last few weeks +have brought him to life again. He's come back--for what, I don't +know; but I could get no rest until I tried to find that old, romantic +outpouring of my passionate, hungry thoughts, written one night in +red-hot haste and excitement, and addressed to a shadowy ideal of my +own fancying, and proved to myself how absolutely they were realized +at last--" he paused an instant, and then went on impulsively "--by +you, Kate!--by you, in all your loveliness and goodness. If you have +read those pages, you know how big my expectations were, how +tremendous my desires. Then, let me tell you that you realize them all +beyond my fondest dreams. I know you don't love me, Kate," he said, +coming near and taking both her hands. "I know a rough old fellow like +me could never win your love. I didn't mean to tell you about it. I +never would have, but for this. I know that you don't love me; but I +love you, all the same." + +Kate would not give him her eyes to read, but he felt her hands shake +in his, and he could see that her lips were trembling. What did it +mean? Perhaps, after all--He was on fire with a sudden hope. + +"Kate," he whispered, drawing her toward him by the two hands he still +held fast, "perhaps you do--it seems too wonderful--but perhaps you do +a little--just a little bit--enough to make me hope the rest might +come. Oh, if you do, my Kate, my beautiful, my darling, tell me!" + +She drew her hands away from him and buried her face. + +"Oh, I don't love you a little at all," she said, half-chokingly. "I +love you a great, great deal. I know the truth now." + +Then he took her in his arms and drew her tight against his heart. +When her lips were close to his ear, she spoke again: + +"I knew it the moment you said you had written that paper. I loved +whoever wrote that, already--but it wasn't that. I knew I loved _you_ +because it made me so unhappy, so wretched, for that minute when I +thought maybe you had written those words to some one else you +loved--and then you _couldn't_ love me." + +"Let me tell you," he whispered back: "'Some one else' never existed. +There never was anyone that could command the first emotion of love +from me until you came. But, like many a foolish creature, I have +loved an ideal, tenderly, faithfully, abidingly, and to her these +passionate words were written. Now do you think me irretrievably +silly? Can you ever respect me again?" + +For answer, she told him her own little story, and even got out the +cocked hat and sword and blue velvet coat, and showed them to him, in +a happy glee. He made an effort to take them from her and put them on; +but she prevented him, indignantly. + +"You shall not!" she exclaimed; "I should be ashamed of you! A fine +time you'd have wrapping plaster bandages, with those ridiculous lace +ruffles! Oh, I like you a thousand times better as you are." + +He caught her in his arms and kissed her--a fervent, passionate, happy +kiss. + +"Go and get the paper," he said, as he released her, "and let us read +it together, or, rather, let me read it to you--to whom it was written +in the beginning. My ideal is realized." + +"And so is mine," she said. "How silly we are!" + +"But aren't we happy?" he answered. And then they both laughed like +children. + +She broke away from him and ran noiselessly down stairs, and get the +dear blue paper and brought it to him, and then, seated beside him on +a rickety bench, with his arm around her waist, she listened while he +read. There were many interruptions; many loving looks and tender +pressures; many fervent, happy kisses. As he read the last words the +paper fell from his hands, and they looked at each other, with smiling +lips and brimming eyes. For one brief instant they rested so, and then +both pairs of arms reached out and they were locked in a close +embrace. No words were spoken--that silence was too sweet. + +And this was their betrothal. + + JULIA MAGRUDER. + + + + +_THISTLE-DOWN._ + + + All silver-shod within a weed's + Dark heart, a thousand tiny steeds + Were tethered in one stall. Each wee heart + Panted for flight, and longed to start + Upon the race-course just beyond their walls; + And, while they waited, down the silent stalls + The wind swept softly, and, with fingers light, + Bridled the thistle horses for their flight. + + ANNIE BRONSON KING. + + + + +_NOVELISTS ON NOVELS._ + + +It has sometimes been a matter of pious speculation with literary and +dramatic circles what Shakespeare's personal views on art and +literature would have been had the enterprise and liberality of "Great +Eliza's Golden Days" induced him to formulate them. A simple and +credulous few have been disposed to regret the absence of any +authentic enunciation beyond the curt maxims and, as it were, +fractions of canons scattered throughout his dramas. + +These ardent hero-worshippers dream fondly of the light the master +might have cast on many important points, which can now only be dimly +descried in twilight or guessed at by mere inference, and sigh at the +thought of what the world has lost. Others, rationally and soberly +agnostic, have been saved the heartache and intranquillity of their +brethren, by the very natural and not too profound reflection that it +is entirely problematic whether the actor-lessee of the Blackfriar's +playhouse could have expressed an opinion worth a pinch of salt on any +vital æsthetic question, even supposing him as eager to give as we to +receive. Assumption is dangerous; and the possession of the creative +faculty by no means implies the possession of the critical. + +True, for-- + + "No two virtues, whatever relation they claim, + Nor even two different shades of the same, + Though like as was ever twin brother to brother, + Possessing the one shall imply you've the other." + +Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, "the high priori road is +permissible to the adventurous traveller." With those happily +constituted persons who can imagine Shakespeare writing anything quite +worthless even in the abstruse and difficult domain of scientific +criticism--where so many high qualities are required which are not +held to be essential to the mere creative--I disclaim the remotest +desire to provoke a quarrel. Rather let me frankly congratulate them +on their force of imagination. But those of a simpler faith and a +scantier imaginative endowment will probably incline to the belief +that the brain which fashioned "Lear" and "Othello" could, under the +golden stimulus so potent to-day, have given us pertinent, perhaps +even canotic comments on--say, "Every Man in his Humor," or "A Mad +World my Masters," or "The White Devil." Would it be heretical to +suppose the author of "Macbeth" capable of dissecting an ancient play +in as keen and true a scientific spirit as that in which the _Saturday +Review_ dissects a modern novel? The encumbrance of a conscience +might, indeed, be a serious detriment, inasmuch as it would impair the +pungency of his remarks. His fantastic notions of the quality of mercy +might lead him to exaggerate merits, his lack of a sustaining sense of +self-omniscience to a fatal diffidence in pronouncing on defects; so +that his judgments would lack that fine Jeffreys-like flavor of +judicial rigor which makes _Saturday Review_ a synonym for sterling +Jedburgh justice wherever the beloved and venerable name is known. He +might prove a honey-bee without a sting; a grave defect at a time when +the sting is esteemed more than the honey-bag. Yet, it is not +improbable that, with a little judicious training and proper +enlightenment on the foolishness of sentiment, he would have made a +tolerable critic, for, as has been discriminatingly observed of +Sophocles, the man is not without indications of genius. At any rate, +in later and better appointed times, we have seen the German +Shakespeare, and others of the lawless tribe of creators, enter the +field of criticism and win approbation. It is true that Scott and +Byron, if not exactly categorically related to Mr. Thomas Rymer, were +still but indifferent critics; but we could readily tilt the scale by +throwing Pope, Wordsworth, and Shelley into the other, and yet have +Mr. Arnold, Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Lowell, and Mr. Lang in reserve. + +And, in truth, as there are obvious reasons why lawyers make the best +judges, _ci devant_ thieves the best detectives, reformed drunkards +the best temperance advocates, and the scared sinners (like John +Bunyan) the best preachers, so there are obvious reasons why an +artist's opinions of the productions of creative art, especially of +the productions of that branch of it wherein he labors himself, should +have peculiar value. His intimate acquaintance with the principles of +art should not be detrimental to his perspicacity as a critic. +Fielding's success with Parson Adams would not, I conceive, be any +hindrance to his success in a criticism of the character of Lieutenant +Lismahago, nor would the packed essences of "Esmond" prove Thackeray +incapable of passing a competent judgment on "David Copperfield." + +The fact is, practice has its advantages over theory. To the +intelligent, experience is something more than mere empiricism, and +some value must be conceded to personal experience. Theory is a wench +of great personal attractions, with the coquette's knack of making +the most of them; but she bears the same relation to her plainer, +plodding elder sister Practice that Mark Twain bore to the invaluable +Dan, when that doughty henchman was deputed to take exercise for the +languid humorist. Mark might have the liveliest idea of the rugged +grandeur of the Alps, but Dan knew the toils of the ascent and the +glories of the higher prospects; and though Mark was an invincible +theoretical mountain-climber, Dan would be apt to prove the more +trustworthy guide. + +It was with the view of securing the directions of practical guides +for the reader, in another field of exploration, that the present +paper was written. I may say at once that my object in seeking the +notes--so kindly and courteously placed at my disposition--was not to +gratify idle curiosity with any pungent mess of personal gossip. That +dignified office I gladly leave to the accomplished purveyors of the +Society papers. But I conceived that the curtest expression of the +genuine artist concerning the productions of his own art could not +fail to be valuable as well as interesting. The critics, like our +creditors, we have always with us, to remind us we are still far from +Zion, and the former are just as indispensable to us, in the present +state of the world, as the latter. Unfortunately, neither enjoy +immunity from the universal law of human imperfection. Creditors are +not always generous nor critics always just. One grave difficulty with +the latter is the insidiousness of personal predilection, which cannot +be wholly excluded from the catholic judgment. Different judges have +different tastes. One may have a preference for Burgandy and the other +for champagne, while a third may prefer old port to either. The moral +is obvious, and points to the prudence of occasionally bringing +producers and consumers face to face; having done which I will +withdraw for the present. + + + _From Mr. Robert Buchanan._ + + DEAR SIR: It is difficult to say off-hand what novel I consider + my prime favorite. So much depends upon the mood of the moment + and point of view. I should say, generally, that the "Vicar of + Wakefield" surpassed all English tales, if I did not remember + that Fielding had created Parson Adams; but again, I have got + more pleasure out of Dickens' masterpiece, "David Copperfield," + than all the others put together. Yes, I fix on "David + Copperfield"--from which, you will gather that I do not solicit + in fiction the kind of romance I have myself tried to weave. + + Again, in all the region of foreign fiction, I see no such + figure as Balzac, and no such pathetic creation as "Cousin + Pons." That to me is a divine story, far deeper and truer, of + course, than anything in Dickens, but alas! so sad. While I + tremble at Balzac's insight, I have the childish faith of + Dickens; he at least made the world brighter than he found it, + and after all, there are worse things than his gospel of + plum-pudding. When I am well and strong and full of life, I can + bear the great tragedians, like the Elizabethan group, like + Balzac; but when I am ill and wearied out with the world, I + turn again to our great humorist to gain happiness and help. + + ROBERT BUCHANAN. + + + _From Mr. Hall Caine._ + + MY DEAR SIR: I am not a great reader of novels. My favorite + reading is dramatic poetry and old ballads. Few novelists can + have read fewer novels. During the last five years I have + certainly not read a score of new ones. But I am constantly + reading _in_ the old ones. Portions of chapters that live + vividly in my memory, scenes, passages of dialogue, scraps of + description--these I read and re-read. I could give you a list + of fifty favorite passages, but I would find it hard to say + which is my favorite novel. The mood of the moment would have + much to do with any judgment made on that head. When I am out + of heart Scott suits me well, for his sky is always serene. + When I am in high spirits I enjoy Thackeray, for it is only + then that I find any humor in the odd and the ugly. Dickens + suits me in many moods; there was not a touch of uncharity in + that true soul. There are moments when the tenderness of + Richardson is not maudlin, and when his morality is more + wholesome than that of Goldsmith. Sometimes I find the humor of + Sterne the most delicious thing out of Cervantes, and sometimes + I am readier to cry than to laugh over "The Life and Deeds of + Don Quixote." So that if I were to tell you that in my judgment + this last book is on the whole the most moving piece of + imaginative writing known to me,--strongest in epic spirit, + fullest of inner meaning, the book that touches whatever is + deepest and highest in me,--I should merely be saying that it + is the last romance in which I have been reading with all the + faculties of mind and heart. + + I like, at all times and in all moods, the kind of fiction that + gets closest to human life, and I value it in proportion as I + think it is likely to do the world some good. Thus (to cite + examples without method) I care very little for a book like + "Vathek," and I loathe a book like "Madame Bovary," because the + one is false to the real and the other is false to the ideal. I + see little imagination and much inexperience in "Wuthering + Heights," and great scenic genius and profound ignorance of + human character in "Notre Dame." In Gogol's little story of the + overcoat, and in Turgeneff's little story of the dumb porter I + find tenderness, humor, and true humanity. I miss essential + atmosphere in Godwin's masterpiece, and the best kind of + artistic conviction almost throughout Charles Reade. It makes + some deduction from my pleasure in Hawthorne that his best + characters stand too obviously not for human beings only, but + also for abstract ideas. I like George Eliot best in the first + part of "Silas Marner," and least in the last part of "The + Mill on the Floss." Perhaps I set the highest value on my + friend Blackmore among English novelists now living. I find + Tolstoï a great novelist in the sense in which his + fellow-countryman, Verestchagin, is a great painter--a great + delineator of various life, not a great creator. Björnson, the + Norwegian novelist, in his "Arne" seems to me a more + imaginative artist than Doré in his "Vale of Tears." I do not + worship "Manon Lescaut," and I would rather read "Les + Miserables" than "Germinal." In short, to sum it up in a word, + I suppose I am an English idealist in the sense in which (if I + may say so without presumption) George Sand was a French + idealist. I think it is the best part of the business of art to + lighten the load of life. To do this by writing mere "light + literature," the companion of an idle hour, a panacea for + toothache, a possible soporific, would seem to me so poor an + aim that, if it were the only thing before me I think I would + even yet look about for another profession. Fiction may lighten + life by sterner means--by showing the baffled man the meanness + of much success, and the unsuccessful man the truer triumphs of + failure. To break down the superstitions that separate class + from class, to show that the rule of the world is right, and + that though evil chance plays a part in life, yet that life is + worth living--these are among the functions of the novelist. In + reaching such ends there are few or no materials that I would + deny to him. He should be as free as the Elizabethan dramatists + were, or even the writers of our early ballads. His work would + be various in kind, and not all suited to all readers; but he + would touch no filth for the distinction of being defiled. It + would not trouble him a brass farthing whether his subject led + him to a "good" or a "bad" ending, for he would have a better + ambition than to earn the poor wages of a literary jester, and + his endings would always be good in the best sense where his + direction was good. + + And so in some indirect way I have answered your question; and + I would like to add that I foresee that the dominion of the + novel must be extended. Fiction is now followed by appalling + numbers with amazing fecundity and marvellous skill, which, + though mainly imitative, is occasionally original; but its + channels are few and very narrow. Already the world seems to be + growing weary of feeble copies of feeble men and feeble + manners. It wants more grit, more aim, more thought, and more + imagination. But this is thin ice to tread, and I would not + disparage by a word or a wink the few novelists now living who + will assuredly rank with the best in literature. Dugald Stewart + said that human invention, like the barrel organ, was limited + to a specific number of tunes. The present hurdy-gurdy business + has been going on a longish time. We are threatened with the + Minerva press over again, and the class of readers who see no + difference between Walter Scott and John Galt. But, free of the + prudery of the tabernacle and the prurience of the boulevard, + surely the novel has a great future before it. Its + possibilities seem to me nearly illimitable. Though the best of + the novel is nowhere a match for the best of the drama, yet I + verily believe that if all English fiction, from Defoe + downwards, including names conspicuous and inconspicuous, + remembered and forgotten, were matched against all English + poetry of whatever kind, from Pope to our own day, it would be + found that the English novelist is far ahead of the English + poet in every great quality--imagination, pathos, humor, + largeness of conception, and general intellect. And I will not + hesitate to go further and say that, the art of the novel is + immeasurably greater than the art of the drama itself--more + natural as a vehicle and less limited in its uses, more various + in subject and less trammelled in its mechanism, capable of + everything that the drama (short of the stage) can do, and of + infinitely more resource. + + HALL CAINE. + + + _From Mr. Wilkie Collins._ + +After pleading illness and arrears of literary work and correspondence +in excuse of the brevity of his note, Mr. Collins says: + + Besides, the expression of my opinion in regard to writers of + fiction and their works will lose nothing by being briefly + stated. After more than thirty years' study of the art, I + consider Walter Scott to be the greatest of all novelists, and + "The Antiquary" is, as I think, the most perfect of all + novels. + + WILKIE COLLINS. + + + _From Mr. H. Rider Haggard._ + + DEAR SIR: I think that my favorite novel is Dickens's "Tale of + Two Cities." I will not trouble you with all my reasons for + this preference. I may say, however, and I do so with + humility, and merely as an individual expression of opinion, + that it seems to me that in this great book Dickens touched + his highest level. Of course, the greatness of the subject has + something to do with the effect produced upon the mind, but in + my view there is a dignity and an earnestness in the work + which lift it above the rest. Also I think it one of the most + enthralling stories in the language. + + H. RIDER HAGGARD. + + + _From Mr. Joseph Hatton._ + + DEAR SIR: You ask me to name my favorite novel, and if it + should happen to be a work by a foreign author to mention my + favorite English work of fiction also. I find it impossible to + answer you. When I was a boy "The Last of the Mohicans" was my + favorite novel; a young man and in love, "David Copperfield" + became my favorite. When I grew to be a man "The Scarlet + Letter" took the place of David and the North American Indian; + but ever since I can remember I have always been reading + "Monte Cristo" with unflagging delight. One's favorite book is + a question of mood. Now and then one might be inclined to + regard "Adam Bede" as the most companionable of fiction; there + are other times when "Pickwick" appeals most to one's fancy, + or when one is even in the humor for "L'Homme qui Rit." "Don + Quixote" fits all moods, and there are moments when a page or + two of "Clarissa" are to one's taste. But with Scott, + Dickens, Thackeray, Hugo, Dumas, George Eliot, Hawthorne, + Smollett, Balzac, Erckmann-Chatrian, Lytton, Lever, Ik Marvel, + George Sand, Charles Reade, Turgeneff, and a host of other + famous writers of fiction staring me in the face, don't ask me + to say which of their works is my favorite novel. + + JOSEPH HATTON. + + + _From "Vernon Lee."_ + + DEAR SIR: I hasten to acknowledge your letter. I do not think, + however, that I can answer in a satisfactory manner. I am very + little of a novel reader, and do not feel that my opinion on + the subject of novels is therefore of critical value. Of the + few novels I know (comparing my reading with that of the + average Englishman or woman) I naturally prefer some; but to + give you the titles of them--I think I should place first + Tolstoï's "War and Peace" and Stendhal's "Chartreuse de + Parme"--would not be giving your readers any valuable + information, as I could not find leisure to explain _why_ I + prefer them. + + "VERNON LEE." + + + _From Mr. George Moore._ + + SIR: Waiving the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of a + complete and satisfactory answer to your question, I will come + at once to the point. You ask me to name my favorite work of + fiction, giving reasons for the preference. The interest of + such a question will be found in the amount of naïve sincerity + with which it is answered. I will therefore strive to be as + naïvely sincere as possible. + + Works of romance I must pass over, not because there are none + that I appreciate and enjoy, but because I feel that my + opinion of them would not be considered as interesting as my + opinion of a work depicting life within the limits of + practical life. The names of many works answering to this + description occur to me, but in spirit and form they are too + closely and intimately allied to my own work to allow me to + select any one of them as my favorite novel. Looking away from + them my thought fixes itself at once on Miss Austen. It + therefore only remains for me to choose that one which appears + to me to be the most characteristic of that lady's novels. + Unhesitatingly I say "Emma." + + The first words of praise I have for this matchless book is + the oneness of the result desired and the result attained. + Nature in producing a rose does not seem to work more + perfectly and securely than Miss Austen did. This merit, and + this merit I do not think any one will question, eternalizes + the book. "L'Education Sentimentale," "The Mill on the Floss," + "Vanity Fair," "Bleak House," I admire as much as any one; but + I can tell how the work is done; I can trace every trick of + workmanship. But analyse "Emma" as I will, I cannot tell how + the perfect, the incomparable result is achieved. There is no + story, there are no characters, there is no philosophy, there + is nothing: and yet it is a _chef-d'oeuvre_. I have said there + are no characters; this demands a word of explanation. Miss + Austen attempts only--and thereby she holds her unique + position--the conventionalities of life. She presents to us + man in his drawing-room skin: of the serpent that gnaws his + vitals she cares nothing, and apparently knows nothing. The + drawing-room skin is her sole aim. She never wavers. The + slightest hesitation would be fatal; her system is built on a + needle's point. We know that no such mild, virtuous people as + her's ever existed or could exist; the picture is incomplete, + but there lies the charm. The veil is wonderfully woven, + figures move beneath it never fully revealed, and we derive + pleasure from contemplating it because we recognize that it is + the sham hypocritical veil that we see but feel not--the sham + hypocritical world that we see is presented to us in all its + gloss without a scratch on its admirable veneer. No writer + except Jane Austen ever had the courage to so limit himself or + herself. The strength and the weakness of art lies in its + incompleteness, and no art was ever at once so complete and + incomplete as Miss Austen's. + + Every great writer invents a pattern, and the Jane Austen + pattern is as perfect as it is inimitable. It stands alone. + The pattern is a very slight one, but so is that of the rarest + and most beautiful lace. And in all sincerity I say that I + would sooner sign myself the author of "Emma" than of any + novel in the English language--the novel I am now writing of + course excepted. + + GEORGE MOORE. + + + _From Mr. Justin McCarthy._ + + DEAR SIR: I have so many favorites--even in English-written + fiction alone: I am very fond of good novels. I couldn't + select _one_. Let me give you a few, only a few! The moment I + have sent off this letter I shall be sure to repent some + omissions. Fielding's "Joseph Andrews;" Scott's "Antiquary," + "Guy Mannering," "Heart of Midlothian," and "St. Ronan's + Well;" Dickens's "Pickwick," "Barnaby Rudge," and "Tale of Two + Cities;" Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," "Pendennis," and "Esmond;" + Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre;" George Eliot's "Mill on the + Floss;" Hawthorne's "Blithedale Romance;" and George + Meredith's "Beauchamp's Career." + + And I had nearly forgotten in my haste two great favorites of + mine--Miss Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," and Gerald + Griffin's "Collegians;" and, again, surely Hope's + "Anastasius." + + I had better stop. + + JUSTIN MCCARTHY. + + + _From Miss F. Mabel Robinson._ + + SIR: Your question is an extremely difficult one to answer. + One likes some novels for one kind of excellence, others for + another, and the favorite--the absolute favorite--is apt to + depend a little upon the good novel one has read most + recently, and a great deal more upon one's mood. + + I do not think that I could name any one novel, either English + or foreign, as my first favorite; there are at least four of + Turgeneff's, the bare memory of which moves me almost to + tears; but I could not choose between "Liza," "Virgin Girl," + "Fathers and Sons," and "Smoke;" and, of course, Tolstoï's + "War and Peace" is a masterpiece which every one will name as + a favorite (I give the titles in English, as I have read all + these in translations only, French or English), and indeed I + think I ought almost to name it as _the_ favorite among + foreign novels. + + To turn to English masterpieces, there are parts of Fielding's + "Amelia," which for tenderness, sweetness, and rendering of + character and of home life I think finer than anything more + modern; but other parts of the book are so unpleasant that I + cannot place it first. I think I must plead guilty to four + equal favorites: "Amelia," "Esmond," "The Mill on the Floss," + and "Villette;" but perhaps I might tell you to-morrow that I + place "Vanity Fair" above "Esmond," and prefer "Middlemarch" + to "The Mill on the Floss." Still I think to-day's choice is + best, so I will stick to it. + + It is impossible to know all one's reasons for preferring some + books to others--the style, the diction, the subtle way in + which the writer makes you feel many things he has left unsaid + elude description; and one's own frame of mind when the book + first became known may have a great deal to do with it. + Unconsciously association has much to do with one's + preferences. It is for the character of Amelia, and the charm + of her relations with her husband, that I like this novel. + Some of the scenes and dialogues between these two are to my + mind perfect, absolutely true and beautiful and satisfying. + "Esmond" is certainly very inferior to "Amelia" in point of + illusion; one always is conscious that one is _reading_, and + the characters are like people we have heard of, or who are at + least absent from us; but Harry Esmond is, to my mind, the + finest gentleman in English fiction, none the less noble for + his little self-conscious air. I have always wondered why he + is less popular than Col. Newcome. Except perhaps Warrington + he is Thackeray's noblest male character; and "Esmond" is, I + take it, the best constructed of Thackeray's novels, and + exquisitely written. It is only because there is no woman + worthy of the name of heroine that I cannot like this novel + best of all. For the reverse reason, that there is no hero, I + cannot place "The Mill on the Floss" quite first. Maggie is a + beautiful creation, and the picture of English country-life + inimitable; the Dodsen family in all its branches is truly + masterly. But for deep insight into the heart and soul and + mind of a woman where will you find Charlotte Brontë's equal? + Her descriptive power and her style are unsurpassable, and + Lucy Snowe can teach you more about the thoughts and griefs + and unaccountable nervous miseries and heart-aches of the + average young woman than any other heroine in fiction that I + know of. There is no episode that I am aware of, of such + heartfelt truth as that wretched summer holiday she passed + alone at Madame Beck's. And every character in the book is + excellent; and as for the manner of it, it seems wrung from + the very heart of the writer. + + F. MABEL ROBINSON. + + + _From Mr. W. Clark Russell._ + + DEAR SIR: I hardly know what to say in response to your + question as to my favorite work of fiction. I am afraid I must + go so far back as Defoe, of whose "Colonel Jack" and "Moll + Flanders" I never weary. Amongst modern writers I greatly + admire Blackmore, Hardy, and Besant. There is great genius and + originality, too, in Christie Murray. But with Thackeray, + Dickens, George Eliot, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mrs. Gaskell, and + the Brontë's on my shelves, the indication of any one work of + fiction as my favorite since the days of "Roxana," "Pamela," + "Joseph Andrews," and "Humphrey Clinker," would prove an + undertaking which I fear I have not the courage to adventure. + + W. CLARK RUSSELL. + + + _From Mr. J. Henry Shorthouse._ + + SIR: Your question seems to me to be a difficult, or I might + almost say, an impossible one to answer. I do not see how a + man of any carefulness of thought or decision can have one + favorite work of fiction. To answer your question as simply as + possible, I should say that of foreign books my favorites are + "Don Quixote" and the novels of Goethe and Jean Paul Richter. + + As regards English fiction, I should, I think, place George + Eliot's "Silas Marner" first, both as a work of art and as + fulfilling, to me, all the needs and requirements of a work of + fiction; but I could not say this unless I may be allowed to + bracket with this book Nathaniel Hawthorne's "House of the + Seven Gables," Mrs. Gaskell's "Cranford," Jane Austen's + "Persuasion," Mrs. Ritchie's "Story of Elizabeth," and William + Black's "Daughter of Heth"--all of which books seem to me to + stand in the very first rank, and not only to fulfil the + requirements of the human spirit, but to stand the much more + difficult test of being, each of them, perfect as a whole. + + J. HENRY SHORTHOUSE. + + + _From Mr. W. Westall._ + + DEAR SIR: You ask for the title of my favorite work of + fiction. I answer that I have no one favorite work of fiction. + Among the myriad novels which I have read there is none of + excellence so supreme that I prefer it before all others. On + the other hand, I have favorite novels--a dozen or so; I have + never reckoned them up. These I will enumerate as they occur + to me: "Don Quixote," "Tom Jones," "Ivanhoe," "The Heart of + Midlothian," "Jane Eyre," "David Copperfield," "Tale of Two + Cities," "Esmond," "Vanity Fair," "Adam Bede," "Lorna Doone," + "Crime and Punishment" (Dostoieffsky), "Monte Cristo," and + "Froment Jeune et Risler Ainé." + + I do not suggest that these novels are of equal literary + merit. I merely say that they are my favorites, that I have + read them all with equal pleasure more than once, and that, as + time goes on, I hope to read them again. + + W. WESTALL. + + J. A. STEWART. + + + + +_A QUEEN'S EPITAPH._ + +[IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.] + +"And her chief charm was bashfulness of face." + + + There lay the others: some whose names were writ + In dust--and, lo! the worm hath scattered it. + + There lay the others: some whose names were cut + Deep in the stone below which Death is shut. + + The plumèd courtier, with his wit and grace, + So flattered one that scarce she knew her face! + + And the sad after-poet (dreaming through + The shadow of the world, as poets do) + + Stops, like an angel that has lost his wings, + And leans against the tomb of one and sings + + The old, old song (we hear it with a smile) + From towers of Ilium and from vales of Nile. + + But she, the loveliest of them all, lies deep, + With just a rude rhyme over her fair sleep. + + (Why is the abbey dark about her prest? + Her grave should wear a daisy on its breast. + + Nor could an age of minster music be + Worth half a skylark's hymn for such as she.) + + With one rude rhyme, I said; but that can hold + The sweetest story that was ever told. + + For, though, if my Lord Christ account it meet + For us to wash, sometimes, a pilgrim's feet, + + Or slip from purple raiment and sit low + In sackcloth for a while, I do not know; + + Yet this I know: when sweet Queen Maud lay down, + With her bright head shorn of its charm of crown + + (A hollow charm at best, aye, and a brief-- + The rust can waste it, as the frost the leaf), + + She left a charm that shall outwear, indeed, + All years and tears--in this one rhyme I read. + + SARAH M. B. PIATT. + + + + +_THE COST OF THINGS._ + + +"Papa, why does bread cost so much money?" asks a child, of its +father. Perhaps if the father is indifferent, indolent, or ignorant, +he may dodge the question and reply, "Because flour is so scarce." But +if he is a thinking and observant man, willing to instruct an ignorant +child asking a very natural question, he will not content himself with +such a reply, for he must have observed that bread is sometimes high +when wheat and flour are very plentiful. + +By drawing on his experience he will not fail to recall the fact that, +in a season when any particular article is in much demand, the price +of that article will rise and will continue to rise until the demand +for the article induces a supply of it from outside sources. + +Let him recall Christmas and Thanksgiving times, when, for instance, +turkeys are in demand. If the supply is light, up goes the price of +turkeys; and, if the demand increases, the price will continue to rise +unless some means are found of supplying the demand. If turkeys flow +into the market of a city from the surrounding country, the rise in +price is first checked, and then, as the supply increases, the price +falls, and the demand being less than the supply, the price goes to +its lowest figure. This is in accordance with the recognized law of +supply and demand, the relation between the two always establishing +the price. + +If the demand is greater than the supply, the price will go up; if the +supply is greater than the demand, the price will go down. But this +state of things can exist only where the inflow of supply and the +outflow of demand are _free_ and _unrestricted_; for if, from any +cause, restriction is placed on the inflow, the outflow will be +restricted just in the same way. We may liken the operation of the law +to what happens when a bent tube with the ends up is filled with +water. If, now, more water is poured in at one end, that same amount +will flow out at the other. If the whole capacity of the tube at one +end is used to supply water, just that amount will run out at the +other; but if one-half the tube at the supply end is plugged up, then +only one-half the capacity of the tube will run out at the other. + +Reverting to the question of the supply of turkeys in a market, let +us suppose that a despot, ungoverned by anything but his own will, is +in charge of the city when the turkey market is held, and of the +surrounding country, and, wishing to have a plentiful supply of +turkeys, he issues his ukase that every turkey within ten miles of the +town shall, under severe penalties, be sent into market for sale. Is +it not plain that the price of turkeys will at once fall, since the +supply will at once become greater than the demand? But suppose this +despot has turkeys of his own to sell, and hence desires to make his +poor people pay the highest price for their turkeys, so that his +coffers may be filled with gold. Now, instead of requiring all turkeys +to come in under severe penalties, he does everything he can to keep +them out, and issues his ukase that none shall come in, under penalty +of death to the importer of turkeys. Is it not as plain as it was in +the other case, that the price of turkeys will go up, up, up, until +the vast majority of men cannot buy at all? + +Suppose that, instead of placing an absolute prohibition upon the +importation of turkeys, the despot, convinced that people must have +turkeys, and having already arranged to buy all he wants himself, +makes a law that every turkey coming into the market shall be taxed +one dollar for the privilege of bringing it to market. Now, turkeys +will come in if there is still a demand for them, but every one that +comes in must pay a tax of a dollar; and, if there are any turkeys +already in market, a dollar will be added to their price, as well as +to the price of those coming in. For no importer proposes to lose the +amount of the tax himself, and is bound to make the consumer pay that +much additional for his turkey; and a resident turkey-dealer, seeing +that imported turkeys are selling for a dollar above the market price, +will at once add that to the price of his turkeys, since it is +expecting too much of human nature to suppose any man is going to sell +his property for less than he can get for it. The result of the +despot's tax, therefore, is to raise the local price of turkeys by +just the amount of that tax; and, the higher the tax, the higher the +price of turkeys will be to the consumer. + +In this way the price of any article in a market is established by the +relation between the supply and the demand; and this law is +inexorable. If the supply is restricted by taxing imports, the price, +whilst higher, will still be fixed by the demand made for the article; +and this applies to all articles which are salable--flesh and blood, +muscle, labor, as well as to bread, meat, etc. In slavery times, when +a great demand existed in the cotton-States for slave labor, slaves +were imported from the more northern States, where labor was not so +valuable, to the more southern ones, where it was more so; and this +gave the border States the name of being the "slave-breeding States" +of the Union. The increased demand for slaves threatened at one time +to reopen the slave trade with Africa; and it is said that some +negroes were, in fact, brought into the country. Under these +circumstances, had the States (Mississippi, Louisiana, and others) +where a demand for slaves existed possessed the power to lay a tax on +slaves imported into them, the price of slaves in those States would +have been very considerably increased. + +The work of hands--labor--is a salable article, just as much as bread +or meat, and its price is determined in the same way; not only as +regards common labor, but also special kinds of labor. Reverting to +the question at the head of this paper,--the price of bread,--let us +suppose a community where all the elements of bread-making (flour, +yeast, potatoes, etc.) exist in abundance, but where there is but one +baker. If the demand for bread is so great that one baker will have to +run his bakery night and day to supply the demand, and he can fix his +own price, limited only by the number of his customers and their +ability to pay (the "demand"), although he can buy his flour and other +ingredients cheap, he must pay high wages to his assistants and work +hard himself. As the demand for bread increases, its prices will rise +until the attention of other bakers is attracted, other bakeries will +be established, the supply will more nearly equal the demand, and the +price of bread will fall, in accordance with the same law as governed +in the case of turkeys; whilst bakers' wages, from the very fact of +there being more bakers on the ground, will fall. If, notwithstanding +the establishment of more bakeries, the demand still remains greater +than the supply, the price of bread will still remain up, and an +attempt may be made to import bread from without. If the bakers have +influence enough with the law-making power, or with our supposed +despot, they will have an import tax placed upon bread to keep up +their prices, under the plea of "sustaining domestic industry;" but +the amount of this import tax will go into the pockets of the owners +of the bakeries, although the wages of their workmen will not be +increased, for their wages depend, as has been shown, not on the price +of bread, but upon the number of bread-making laborers available. If +such laborers increase in number, the wages of the bread-makers may +even go very low, though the price of bread (thanks to the import tax) +may remain very high. These points are dwelt upon at length for the +purpose of exposing the fallacy of a popular delusion--that.... + +It is a remarkable fact that, whilst many laboring-men are deluded +with the idea that taxing articles which they consume or aid in +producing tends to keep up their wages or to increase them, they +entirely ignore the real reason for low wages, which is nothing more +or less than the presence of plenty of labor. Once convinced of the +fact that the price of everything, labor included, depends on the +inexorable law of supply and demand, they will not be able to resist +the conclusion that _no importation tax can, by any possibility, +affect the price of labor, except an importation tax on labor itself_. + +This fact seems almost to demonstrate itself; and yet there is no +greater delusion in this country, where its falsity is demonstrated +every day to anyone observant of the settlement of our vast Western +territories. Let anyone go into a Western settlement and note the high +price of labor of all kinds, and that it is almost impossible to get a +man to do a day's work for love or money; and let him visit the same +place a few years later, when perhaps a railroad is running through +the place, which in the meantime has grown immensely in population. He +will now note the decrease in wages of all kinds. And, if he will go +to the same place still later, he will not fail to note a still +further decline; for, if the demand continues, labor will, by means of +the railroad, flow in to supply it, and the price of labor will +fall--for no other reason than that there is plenty of labor to supply +the demand. And this lesson is demonstrated over and over again +wherever a new settlement is observed. If there is only one bricklayer +in the place he can demand his own price, which cannot be affected by +the presence of fifty or a hundred carpenters or blacksmiths, nor by a +tax on bricks, mortar, or sand. + + X. + + + + +_ASLEEP._ + + + She is not dead, but sleepeth. As the fair, + Sweet queen, dear Summer, laid her sceptre down + And lifted from her tirèd brows her crown, + And now lies lapped in slumber otherwhere-- + As she will rise again, when smiling May, + Saying, "Thy day dawns," wakes her with a kiss, + And butterflies break from the chrysalis + And throng to welcome her upon her way, + And roses laugh out into bloom for glee + That Summer is awake again--so she + Who sleeps, snow-still and white, will waken when + The Day dawns--and will live for us again. + + CHARLES PRESCOTT SHERMON. + + + + +_A COUPLE OF VAGABONDS._ + + +Vagabonds, vagrants, tramps,--the class has never been entirely +confined to humanity,--those careless, happy-go-easy, dishonest, +unterrified beings to whom the world is an oyster, and often such a +one as is not worth the opening, sometimes possess an interest to the +observer, entirely disconnected with pity. They always lead +reprehensible lives, and usually die disgracefully. They are amusing +because of the exaggerated obliquity of their careers, and are, beasts +and men alike, droll with a drollery that is three-quarters original +sin. Among animals, at least, there are few cases of actual +misfortune, though sometimes there is that most pitiable and forlorn +creature, a dog that has lost his master, or that bit of cruelty and +crime which has its exemplification in an old horse that has been +turned out to die. Ordinarily the cases of animal depravity one +encounters are so by race and ineradicable family habit, and are +beyond the pale of charity and outside the legitimate field of +brotherly love. One does not care what becomes of them, and least of +all thinks of trying to reform them. But they usually take care of +themselves, after a fashion that excludes all thought of pity. Even +among the higher animals there are, as with humanity, occasional cases +of extraordinary depravity. I know at this moment of a beautiful +horse, with a white hind foot, and the blood of a long line of +aristocrats in his veins, who wears an iron muzzle and two +halter-chains, whose stall is the cell of a demon, who has made his +teeth meet in the flesh of two or three of his keepers, and who is yet +sufficiently sane to try to beat all his competitors on the track, and +to often succeed. I know a little gray family dog, terrier from the +end of his nose to the tip of his tail, kind to all whom he knows, who +is yet the veriest crank of his kind. He hates everything that wears +trousers, will not come when called with the kindest intentions, +attacks all other dogs, big and little, who intrude within his line of +vision, and confines his friendships exclusively to people who wear +skirts and bonnets. He wears his heavy coat all summer because he has +said to the family collectively that he will not be clipped; and, when +an attempt of that kind is made, shows his teeth, even to the little +girl who owns him. He reminds one of the incorrigible youth of an +otherwise God-fearing family, and has been let go in his ways because +he is too ugly and plucky to spend the time upon. I know a cat, now +not more than half-grown, with a handsome ash-colored coat and a +little white neck-tie, who is already as much a tiger as though born +in the wilds of Africa. His playful bites draw blood, and his +unsheathed claws are a terror, even when one is stroking his back. His +tail quivers and his eyes have a tigerish expression, even when he is +but catching a ball of yarn. He was after mice, and caught them, in +his early infancy, and he was crouching and skulking after things when +he should have been lapping milk. It is plainly foreseen that he will +never be a family cat, and will take to the alleys and back fences +before he is grown. He has in him, more than other cats have, the +vagabond and depraved instinct--not amenable to Christian influences. + +But the two persons of whom I shall doubtless seem to have as full +recollection here as their characters justify belong to the extensive +family of natural vagabonds, and first dawned upon me in the days when +there was a frontier. I was in those days perfectly hardened to a bed +on the ground, and was amused with the companionship of pack-mules. I +was dependent for mental stimulus upon the stories of the camp-fire, +and for recreation upon the wild realm in which the only changes that +could come were sunrise and evening, clouds, wind, storms. There was a +lonely vastness so wide that it became second nature to live in it and +almost to love it, and a silence so dense that it became +companionship. There was then no dream of anything that was to come. +The march of empire had not touched the uttermost boundary. We +wondered why we were there. And the blindest of all the people about +this wonderful empire were those who knew it best. I really expected +then to watch and chase Indians for the remainder of my natural life; +looked upon them and their congeners as permanent institutions; made +it a part of business to know them as well as possible; and wondered +all the while at the uselessness of the government policy in +occupying, even with a few soldiers, so hopeless a territory. Very +often there was nothing else to do. All the books had been committed +to memory previous to being absolutely worn out. It was a world where +newspapers never came. When the friendship of certain animals becomes +obtrusive,--when they take the place to you of those outsiders whom +you do not really wish to know, but who are there nevertheless,--you +are likely to come to understand them very well indeed, and to find in +after years that they seem to come under the head of persons rather +than creatures--the casual wild creatures of whom one ordinarily +catches a glimpse or two in the course of a lifetime. + +There was a bushy and exalted tail often seen moving leisurely along +above the taller grasses that lined the prairie trail. One might +encounter it at any hour, or might not see it for many days. I finally +came to look upon this plume with something more than the interest +attaching to a mere vagrant polecat, and even ceased to regard the end +that bore it as the one specially to be avoided, however common the +impression that it is so. In civilization and in the books nobody had +ever accused the parti-colored creature of other than a very odorous +reputation; and the tricks of his sly life--such as rearing an +interesting and deceptively pretty family under the farmer's +corn-crib, and refusing to be ejected thence; visiting, with fowl +intent, the hen-house; sucking eggs; catching young ducks; and forcing +the pedestrian to go far around him upon the occasion of a chance +meeting, were condoned as matters that could not be helped in the then +condition of human ingenuity and invention. With us, on the plains, he +had acquired another and more terrible reputation. Nobody knows how +information becomes disseminated in the wilderness, but it seemed to +be spread with a rapidity usually only known in a village of some +three hundred inhabitants, with a Dorcas Society; and we came to know, +from authentic instances, that his bite, and not his perfume, was +dangerous. In 1873, the _Medical Herald_, printed at the metropolis of +Leavenworth, stated that a young man sleeping in a plains camp was +bitten on the nose by one of the beasts. Awaking, he flung his +midnight visitor off, and it immediately bit his companion, upon whom +it unfortunately alighted. Both of these unfortunates died of +hydrophobia. + +The same year a citizen came to the U. S. Army surgeon at Fort Harker, +Kansas, having been bitten through the nose by a mephitis while +asleep. He had symptoms of hydrophobia, and shortly afterwards died of +that disease. The next case of which printed record was made was that +of a young man who, while sleeping on the ground, was bitten through +the thumb. The writer states that the "animal had to be killed before +the thumb could be extracted." This man also died of hydrophobia in +the town of Russell, in western Kansas. Other cases are recorded about +this time, with less detail. + +I mention these instances, substantiated in cold print in a medical +journal, merely to show that what we thought we knew was not a mere +frontier superstition. With a righteous hatred did we hate the whole +mephitis family. The little prairie rattlesnake often crept into the +blankets at night for the sake of warmth; and it is a noticeable fact +that he did not "rattle" and did not bite anybody while enjoying their +unintended hospitality, and that such things were not much thought of. +But the sneaking presence of a skunk, usually considered merely a +ridiculous and disagreeable creature, would always call out the force +for his extermination, promptly, and by some means. + +Yet mephitis has the air of seeming rather to like, than to seek to +avoid, mankind. It is one of his curious traits. You cannot certainly +tell whether he really does; but, if he does not, it is strange with +what frequency he is encountered, exhibiting on such occasions a +singular confidence, not in any case reciprocated. It is certain that +he has crossed a railroad bridge to visit the bustling metropolis of +the Missouri Valley, and been seen complacently ambling the streets +there at midnight. If, in crossing a "divide" or threading a reedy +creek-bottom, there is seen before you one of those imposing plumes +before referred to, standing erect above the long grass, without any +perceptible attachment, and moving slowly along, it will be prudent +not to permit any curiosity concerning the bearer of it to tempt you +to a nearer acquaintance. Indeed, should he discover you, in turn, it +will be rather out of the usual line of his conduct if he does not at +once come amiably ambling in your direction, intent upon making your +personal acquaintance, or, as is more likely, of finding out if there +is anything about you which he considers good to eat. There is +something both amusing and fearful in this desire to make +acquaintances regardless of all the forms of introduction and the +usages of society; and no other animal possesses the trait. No one, so +far as known, has ever waited to see what special line of conduct he +would pursue after he came. The chances are that he would stay as long +as he had leisure, and then go without offence; yet no one can +foretell his possible caprices. He might conclude to spend the +afternoon with one; and, as he is known to be a pivotal animal, +reversing himself, upon suspicion arising in his mind, with a celerity +perhaps not fully appreciated until afterwards, one might find it at +least irksome to remain so long idle and quite still. I knew a soldier +once who had such a visit while walking his guard-beat. He did not +dare to fire his gun in time, for fear of the serious accusation of +wishing to kill game while on duty. He could not scare away the cat, +and dared not leave his beat. He stood stock-still for an hour or two, +and then called the corporal of the guard in a subdued and whining +voice. When that non-commissioned autocrat at last appeared, he +considered twenty yards a convenient distance for communication, and +declined to come any nearer. Mephitis was at the moment engaged in +stroking his sides against the sentinel's trousers, while his host did +not dare to either move or speak in a voice the corporal could hear. +The latter went away and obtained permission from the officer of the +day to shoot something, and returned with four more armed men. The +visitor here saw an opportunity to make new acquaintances, and started +to meet the latest arrivals half way. They all ran, while the sentinel +took the opportunity to walk off in a direction not included in his +instructions. The animal was finally partially killed by a volley at +forty paces, leaving a pungent reminiscence that did not depart during +the remainder of the summer, and necessitated some new arrangements +for the lines of defence about the post. + +In more recent times an entire company of hunters, with a dog to every +man, have been driven from the field repeatedly by the persistency of +the innocent gaze, or the foolish confidence of the approach, of this +extraordinary bore; for one can't shoot him if he is looking--not +because one can't, but because, if one did, a souvenir would be left, +at least among the dogs, that would linger with them until the natural +time for the shedding of hair should come again, and deprive their +owners of the pleasure of their company for an indefinite period. And, +in addition, the people with whom one might wish to stop for the night +might make remarks accompanied by nasal contortions not usual in +ordinary conversation, and would be likely to suggest the barn, or +otherwheres out-of-doors, as being good and refreshing places to spend +the night in. Even the hunter's own family will prove inhospitable to +the verge of cruelty under such circumstances, and conduct unheard of +before will become perfectly proper on the part of one's best friends. +Such discomfitures have happened ere now to most sportsmen in Western +preserves, and for some reason a crowning misfortune of the kind is +apt to be considered a joke ever afterwards. + +But an uncontrollable desire for human intimacy is only one item of +the oddities of this little beast. As a vagabond of the wilderness he +was like other vagabonds there, and got on well enough without any +human association. Carnivorous entirely, he cannot be accused of +looking for the well-filled granary of later times; he invades no +cabbage-patch, and is entirely guiltless of succulent sweet potatoes +and milky roasting-ears. His presence in increased numbers among the +fields and farms of civilization is accounted for by the fact that he +has simply declined to move on. He will not retire to the wilds of +the pan-handle or the neutral strip, driven thither by the too copious +outpour of civilization. His conduct indicates the just conclusion +that he can endure all the vicissitudes of the school-house States if +they can, in turn, endure him. Doubly armed, this autocrat of the +prairies holds in unique dignity the quality of absolute fearlessness, +and, aside from any hydrophobic endowments, is now the chiefest terror +of the free and boundless West. + +A figure-head seems to be necessary in the conduct of all the larger +affairs of life. From this idea have come all the griffins, and the +sphinxes, and the St. Georges and Dragons, the hideous caryatids, +gnomes, gorgons, chimeras dire, the eyes of Chinese junks, and the +wooden cherubs that until later years looked over the waste of unknown +waters beneath the bows of every ship that sailed. On the seals of +one-half of all the Western States and territories mephitis might +figure as the chiefest animal of their natural fauna, and for him +might the buffalo and the bear be properly discarded. They are gone: +he remains and impresses himself upon the community unmistakably. But +mottoes and great seals and epitaphs are things not expected to be +governed in their making by anything like actual fact. + +It will be conceded that no other beast approaches this in the +particulars of his armament. So confident of his resources is he that +the idea that he can be worsted never enters his elongated cranium. +Though he never uses his phenomenal powers except upon what he +considers an emergency, these supposed emergencies arise quite too +frequently for the general comfort and piety of his neighborhood. It +is said that the little western church never thrives greatly in a +neighborhood that is for some reason peculiarly infested by him. Yet +it is a remarkable fact that when he visits the farmer's hen-roost, +which he often does, the owner, if he came from some timbered country, +nearly always lays the blame upon the much-maligned "coon;" meaning, +of course, that pad-footed and ring-tailed creature who is credited +with a slyness verging upon intellect, but who never visited a prairie +in his life. He does this because there is no penetrating and abiding +savor left behind--except in case of accident--in any of these +maraudings. It is a mere piece of cunning. He wishes to come again +some other time. The victims of his appetite, comprising everything +smaller than himself in that region, are never subjected to his caudal +essences, and a good reason for this would be that he wishes to eat +them himself. Those who know mephitis well, and also know this trait +of his character, are impressed anew by the mercifulness of some of +nature's instincts and freaks. + +And here arises the question of a certain occult power apparently +possessed by this creature alone. It seems to be established by +undisputed testimony that he is the most skilful packer of meats, with +the least trouble and expense, known in the annals of the art +preservative. His hollow logs have been repeatedly split in his +absence, and found full of dead fowls, killed in a neighboring +farm-yard, squeezed in closely side by side for future use, and all +untainted and fresh. How does he accomplish this? There are evidently +various things to learn from the field of natural history which might +be turned to the uses of man. To say nothing of the value of the +patent, this would be a very useful household recipe if known. The +inference is that there may be an occult quality in his strange and +characteristic endowment not heretofore suspected. + +Our western friend has an extensive family relationship. There are at +least six varieties of him in various latitudes. No one branch of the +family is believed to have any fellowship with any other branch, +probably for weighty and sufficient family reasons; though to the +ordinary human senses there is so little difference in the sachet that +one cannot see reason for being so particular among themselves. Two of +him are very common west of the Missouri--one as big as a poodle and +variously striped, and the other of a smaller and more concentrated +variety, more active also in his habits. It is the bigger of these two +who goes about waving his plume and seeking new acquaintances, as +though he contemplated going into the Bohemian oats business among the +farmers, and who courts admiration while he spreads consternation. It +is he who lies in ambush in the corn-shocks, in the early days of the +yellow autumn, apparently for the express purpose, through the media +of the farmer's boys and the district school, of informing the whole +neighborhood, and especially the little girls, that he is still about. +It is he who is borne oftenest, in spirit and essence, through the +open windows of the settler's house, causing the mistress thereof to +wish, and to often say that she wishes, that she had never come away +from Ohio, or wherever she used to reside, and where she declares +mephitis to have been a nuisance utterly unknown. It is he who lopes +innocently along the railroad track, declining to retire, meeting +death without a murmur, knowing, perhaps, that his dire revenge will +follow the fleeting train, whose wheels have murdered him, for many a +mile, even across the plains and into mountain passes, and perhaps +return with it and add a little something, a piquant mite, to the loud +odors of the Missouri River terminus. The passengers all know he has +been killed, and know it for the remainder of the journey, or else +they wonder at the pungency of the atmosphere apparently pervading a +stretch of country as big as all New England, and which they will talk +about as one of the western drawbacks after they have returned home. +It is he who rather rejoices than otherwise at the number and ferocity +of the farmer's dogs, and who is indirectly blessed if they have the +habit of going into the house and lying under the beds. Then indeed +may he fulfil his mission. When they at first, and through +inexperience, attack him, he routs them all without excitement or +anger on his part, causes an armed domestic investigation of them, and +their banishment without extradition, and through them impresses +himself upon the unappreciative western understanding. + +The little one, the other common variety, is perhaps more rarely seen, +but he is at least frequently suspected. Not much bigger than a +kitten, and almost or quite black, he lacks the look of innocence and +the appearance of docility so falsely worn by his relative. Once they +both hibernated: at least the books say so. Now, as one of the changes +wrought by the settlement of the country, this small one becomes a +frequent all-the-year tenant of the farmer's out-buildings. His +battery is quite as formidable as the other's is, and may, indeed, be +considered as an improvement in the way of rapidity and concentration, +like the Gatling gun. The barn is not always his residence; and +without inquiring if it is entirely convenient he frequently takes up +his domicile in or under the dwelling. A mephitis in the cellar is one +of the Kansas things. He does not, while there, produce any of the +mysterious noises that indicate ghosts. The house is known not to be +haunted, for everybody understands quite well who is there. But the +owner must not attempt ejectment. Peace and quiet he insists upon. You +must bar him out some time when he is absent on business, wait until +spring, or move to another house. It is the middle one of these +remedies that is usually adopted, if any. While he stays, there are no +joint occupants with him in the place he has pre-empted. He will catch +mice like a cat, and the joy of his life is the breaking of a rat's +back with one nip behind the head. He has a most formidable array of +teeth, and eschews vegetables entirely. He is the foe of all the +little animals who live in walls or basements, or in holes or under +stones. Even the weazel, that slim incarnation of predatory instinct, +declines to enter into competition with him, and goes when he comes, +or comes when the other goes. One of them is suspected, from this +fact, of eating the other, and mankind, with the only form of +disinterestedness of which we can justly boast, does not care which of +the two it is. + +The biggest one of the mephitis family lives in Texas, and that empire +is not disposed to boast itself withal on that account. He came there +from Mexico, possibly on account of his being preposterously +considered a table luxury in the latter country. But it is a land of +which such eccentricities may be expected. They eat the ground-lizard +there,--a variety of the celebrated "Gila monster,"--and some other +creatures to our pampered notions not less repulsive; though they seem +to avoid, by peculiar management, that quadrennial banquet of crow +which constitutes our great national dish. Mephitis is, however, +purely American wherever he comes from. Europe knows him not in +quadrupedal form. He is one of the things got by discovery, though he +may not take rank, perhaps, with the gigantic grass we call "corn," or +with tobacco, or even with ginseng or sassafras, or the host of +acquisitions which would distinguish us as a people even if we had him +not at all. And now that we have got him, we must apparently cherish +him; and with our usual thrift we have made many attempts to utilize +him. He often appears in polite society under the name of sable, or +some such thing, and no odor betrays him. Of the strange fluid, which +is one of the most wonderful natural defences ever bestowed upon an +animal, pharmacy has concocted a medicine, and the perfumers an odor +for the toilet. Yet it must be admitted that one of his chiefest uses, +so far, is to furnish the western editor with a synonym and +comparative, and a telling epithet in time of trouble. He often caps +the climax of a controversial sentence as long as one's arm, and if +you take the county paper you need not be long in discovering that +while we scientific may call him _mephitis_, he hath another name not +often heard by ears polite, or frequently mentioned in the society in +which the reader moves. + + +That other vagabond who may be considered as being vaguely referred to +at the head of this chapter has no possible kinship with him who has +been desultorily sketched. Yet the two stand together in my mind in a +kind of vague relationship of character. I was not surprised at my +first sight of a coyote, but he grew greatly upon me afterwards. It +was his voice. He is but a degenerate wolf,--the weakest of his +family save in the one respect referred to,--but he is an old and +persistent acquaintance of every frontiersman, ten times as numerous +and prominent in every recollection of that far time of loneliness and +silence as any other beast. + +If you visit Lincoln Park, at Chicago, you will find a special pen +devoted to the comfort and happiness of this little gray outcast of +the wilderness; and I may add that he does not appear there to any +advantage whatever. On the wide plains where there was nothing, +apparently, to eat, he was, for a coyote, usually in good condition. +His coat was tolerably smooth sometimes, and he was industrious and +alert. Here, where he is regularly fed at the public expense, he is so +shabby that one hesitates to be caught looking at him as one goes by. +There is that about an animal that expresses unhappiness as plainly as +it is expressed by men, and the Lincoln Park coyote is unquestionably +the most abject specimen of his entire disreputable family. + +The reader will understand that in all I may have to say about the +little reprobate I do not refer for any particulars to that +incarcerated and unhappy vagabond just mentioned. On the contrary, he +was the first sensation of my earliest border experiences. He came the +first night, and every night thereafter, for several years. I grew to +know him well, and have had many a brief and solitary interlude of +mingled amusement and vexation on his account, when there was nothing +else on earth to laugh at or be sorry about. I often have shot at him, +usually at very long range, but never to my knowledge killed, or even +scared him. It is well understood that he always knows whether or not +you have with you a gun, and will be distant or familiar accordingly. +But finally exasperated by a wariness so constant, I have sought +revenge by a form of murder that I do not now claim, upon reflection, +was entirely in self-defence or perfectly justifiable, and which to +this day remains a red stain upon an otherwise fair reputation. I +killed twenty odd of him in a single night with insidious strychnine +and a dead mule, and in the morning was astonished not so much at the +slaughter as at the fact that he had not suspected the somewhat worn +expedient, and avoided the banquet. + +The trouble with him is, that he does not avoid anything that may be +imagined to be good to eat. If there was ever an animal +preternaturally and continually hungry, it was the old-time coyote of +the plains of western Kansas and the mountains and plateaux of +southern New Mexico. Yet no one ever saw a starved coyote, or found a +dead one. The odor of the camp-fire frying-pan reached him a long way +off, and was irresistible. He crept nearer and nearer, as the evening +passed, and finally the camp was surrounded by a gray cordon who +crouched and licked their jaws, and kept still and waited. But when +the little fire was dead and the voices had ceased, and every man lay +wrapped in slumber and his blankets, the tuneful side of his nature +would get the better of him, and he began to faintly whine. He was +getting the key-note, and ascertaining the pitch. The first faint +yelp, imprudently uttered, affected his companions as yawning does +men, and now a still hungrier one gives utterance to a screech so +entirely coyotish that the example is irresistible. Then pandemonium +awakes. Each vagabond rises up, sits upon his tail, elevates his chin, +and gives utterance to a series of yelps that rise in crescendo, +regardless of time, or measure, or interval, or the lateness of the +hour. Then, when the camp was new, and the men were beginners in that +strange and lonely life that often kept its unexplained and +indescribable charm for them ever afterwards, there would be +responsive sleeplessness and profanity. The hardest ordeal was to +become finally accustomed to this nightly pandemonium, which no effort +could prevent, no vigilance avoid. The first effect was to be +slightly, though privately, frightened. The next was to intensify the +feeling of lonesomeness. One lay in torment, silent, sleepless, +wondering if it was a common thing, and if it were possible to yelp a +human creature to death in the course of time. Then one talked to his +companions, and perhaps expressed himself in a couple of languages. +The most futile of all toil would be an attempt to drive the singers +away. Silent only for a moment, they would all come back again and +make up for lost time. This is how the early wanderers in what is +destined to be the garden of the Union first made the acquaintance of +the most characteristic animal of the country, and this is why he +dwells in the memory of every man who ever slept beneath the sparkling +dome west of the Missouri the sweet sleep of toil and health--a sleep +that by-and-by was uninterrupted by all the night-sounds the +wilderness might invent except the stealthy footfall of some human +stranger. + +And when the gray vagabond had become an accustomed nuisance he began +to exercise his real calling; for all his other modes of obtaining a +livelihood are mere by-play to his actual business, which is stealing. +In this line he is something preternatural. He had in those days a +remarkable liking for harness, straps, raw-hide, saddles, boots. He +chewed the lariat from the pony's neck, and would steal a saddle and +gnaw it beyond use or recognition by the owner. He would walk backward +and draw anything that had a rancid smell a mile or so from where he +found it. He was accused of deliberately drawing the cork and spilling +the horse liniment, and of then lapping the fluid from the ground +regardless of consequences. He would chew a belt of cartridges for the +sake of the tallow with which they were coated, and spit them out +again in a dilapidated pile of sheet metal. Vagabond luck saved him +from having the top of his head blown off during this meal; and I have +known a Mexican youth to be killed in trying to straighten some of +them out again. Whips and thongs were dainties, chewed, swallowed, and +digested without danger or difficulty. The owner was under the +necessity of looking after his boots more carefully when they were off +than when they were on, and axle-grease was a precious commodity +stored for safe-keeping with the teamster's spare shirt, in some +arcanum of the equipage where the utmost diligence would not reveal +it. + +It was a most desolate country, whose silent leagues bore no +sustenance, and whose creatures, save him, were few. He was +everywhere, and the secret of his existence lay in his one +virtue--industry. He gathered a livelihood from the things despised of +all others, and he seasoned it with content and made it answer. Never +a beetle or a lizard crossed his path unchased. Plainsmen said that +when he encountered one of the little land-turtles or terrapins, then +common, he staid with it until it died and the shell came off. He +killed the virulent little prairie rattlesnake, also plentiful enough, +by seizing it in the middle and snapping its head off with a single +jerk, as one cracks a whip. But if he had been bitten he would always +have recovered. He chased jackass rabbits in pairs, and while one ran +straight after the rabbit the other would cut across the angle, and +thus the two would run down an animal that, when really on business, +is able to fling his heels derisively in the face of the best-bred +greyhound. And when they had caught him there was always a +controversy. No coyote ever divided honorably. That "honor among +thieves," so often mentioned, was not in his education. He sucked +eggs--all that he could find; and when anything died within ten miles +or so he knew it. He was contemporary with the bison, and was the +bison's assassin; for when age and decrepitude overtook the shaggy +bull, and three or four lame and grizzled companions went off +together, he and his companions literally nagged them to death one by +one. If the veteran lay down, they bit him. As long as he remained on +foot they followed and teased him. When he died, they fought over and +ate him, denying even a morsel to the buzzards and ravens. They +followed the Indian hunting-parties, thankful for the morsels that +fell to them, which were not many; for the noble red man was himself +no disdainer of viscera: he included the whole internal economy under +the possible head of tripe, and if in haste ate it raw; and all he +left of a dead buffalo was a hard-earned morsel even for a coyote, if +he had come far to get it. + +And when the white hunter came, then was the time of feasting for +_canis latrans_ in all his squalid days. He was the only creature +benefited by a ceaseless slaughter of about twenty years; a slaughter +which meant nothing but a passion for killing, and which, leaving +every carcass where it fell, in about that time exterminated the +biggest, most imposing, and most numerous of the wild beasts of +America. + +By-and-by the railroads began to stretch their lonesome lines across +the plains, and the settlers began to come. For a certain time the +coyote seemed to retire before them, and there seemed a prospect for +his final extermination. Not he. When the cattle-men and pioneers grew +too plentiful and meddlesome; when the new-comer began to lie in wait +at night for the protection of the pigs and chickens reared in hope +and toil; and when the unhesitating shot-gun was the companion of his +vigils, sir coyote began to come back east and reoccupy the region he +had left. But under changed conditions. He is an animal of mental +resource and acumen, and he changed his life. It is almost useless to +add that he became worse. Middle and eastern Kansas have him in +considerable numbers now, and it is noticeable that whereas he once +had the impudence to sit and bark at the intruder like a dog as he +passed by, he is now seldom seen or heard. Then he was merely a thief; +now he is a freebooter besides. He once burrowed in the hill-top, and +launched his family upon the world in a comparatively open and +respectable manner, equipped only with teeth, instinct, and +perseverance, confident of their future. He has now retired to the +woods that line the streams, and joined that disreputable brush +society which was never very respectable among either coyotes or men. +He is clannish. Generation after generation stick together in the same +retired locality, and sally forth at night among a population greatly +richer in eatables than any he was formerly accustomed to. He no +longer wanders to and fro through a vastness in which his personality +was in keeping, and his slanting eyes and three-cornered visage now +find furtive occupation beside fence-chinks and through cracks and +knot-holes. He knows a thousand devious ways which all in the end lead +to the barn-yard. It is a bleak time with him when he is forced to +resort to the catching of mice again; but when I see him loafing on +the sunny side of the stacks in a distant field I know what he is +there for, and wish him luck for old acquaintance' sake. + +Strangest of all, he has almost lost his voice, and the era of free +concerts is over. Down at the bottom of a ravine, perhaps immensely +tickled at some toothsome find, he sometimes so far forgets himself as +to give a yelp or two. This feeble demonstration usually attracts the +attention of others than those intended, and perhaps the farmer's boy, +the inevitable mongrel dog with cock ears and phenomenal activity, and +the frequent fowling-piece harass him greatly for the time being. But +it is not to be supposed that he has lost his ancient qualifications +for the performance of characteristic exploits. He merely suppresses +them for the present because it is his interest to do so. Versatile, +persistent, and patient, he almost deserves respect for his +uncomplaining acceptance of the conditions of a changed world, his +contempt for public opinion, and the common-sense which has led him to +decline to follow all his contemporaries into the limbo of +extermination. When I see him now, the leer in his eye and the grin on +his mouth almost seem those of recognition. As of old, he wags his way +along the top of the high divide, but now fenced and full of spotted +cattle, with the same pensive, quick-turning, alert head, the same +jog-trot, the same lolling red tongue, the same plume trailing along +behind, ever mindful of a coyote's affairs, ever thinking of his next +meal. Yet he is so much like his cousin, the dog, that know him never +so well you can hardly help whistling to him. And when you have passed +by, if you will look back you will see him sitting upon his tail and +looking after you with the same expression which in the olden time +made you know that he was wondering where you were going to camp, and +whether, when he had barked you into stupidity or death, there was +anything about you rancid, portable, dragable, tough, but perchance +coming within the wide range of a coyote's menu. + + JAMES W. STEELE. + + + + +_A MEMORY._ + + + On Narragansett's storm-beat sand + We walked with slow, reluctant feet; + I held enclasped her slender hand, + With loved possession, deep and sweet. + Out on the wave the wild foam swung, + The circling sea-gulls upward sprung; + While o'er the level sand the sea + Came rolling soft and dreamily. + + The sunset's glow was on her cheek, + Where love and heaven seemed to blend; + So full our hearts we could not speak, + As summer's glories found an end. + What tender lights sieved through the mist, + As waves and sunlight sparkling kissed, + While o'er the sea, to setting sun, + Swung thunder of the evening gun! + + Ah! gentle form, what gift was thine + To give the sky a deeper blue, + To make the barren sands divine, + And heaving sea a rosier hue? + 'Twas morn of life, and love's sweet glance + Gave dreary years their one romance, + When yielding form and tender eyes + Return to earth its paradise. + + On Narragansett's dreary sand, + Now bent and old, alone I stray, + Nor see the lights, nor waves, nor land, + But one lone grave so far away. + The storm-tossed foam and gulls distraught + Return like dreams, with haunted thought-- + "No more, no more, oh! never more!" + Moan the dark waves along the shore. + + PAUL DAVIS. + + + + +_THE NIGHT OF THE FRENCH BALL._ + + +A detective is well used to the unusual and to meeting as cold facts +what, when told, seems a tissue of the wildest improbabilities. During +my experience I had one case which for certain strange features I have +never had surpassed. It seemed to make itself into my hand as clear as +a first lesson in reading for a child, until almost the end, and then +came points which are hard enough to unravel. + +It occurred years ago, on the evening of the French Ball. I was free, +and attended it. It was the usual thing. The Academy of Music was +filled with gay women and young fellows about town. By twelve o'clock +the wanton hilarity was beginning to get well under way. The women +were leaning heavily on their partners' arms and indulging in loud +laughter, while the steps were more vigorous than decorous. The +high-kicking had begun. My attention had been particularly drawn to +one young woman. She was not very tall, but was beautifully made. She +was dressed like a Columbine. Her short, pointed skirt of yellow silk +and blue velvet came hardly to her knees, and the waist was quite +décolleté. On her blond hair was perched a conical cap with tiny +silver bells on it. Around her face was wound a piece of white lace to +serve as a mask. I noticed her because she was such an exquisitely +graceful dancer. Her small feet, cased in gold shoes with high heels, +twinkled as prettily as possible as they lightly touched the waxed +floor. The dancing was an intense pleasure to her evidently. She could +hardly keep her feet still during any pause in which she had not to +move. They would beat impatiently upon the floor, and she would toss +one in front of the other and sway her sinuous little figure, +impatiently waiting till her turn to dance came again. + +As I was standing near the door looking at her a party of several +young men came into the Academy. They stood and looked about and +passed remarks on the scene as if they had not yet become acquainted +with its features. They had been to a theatre, probably, and came to +the ball after it. The eyes and cheeks of two or three of them were +bright, as if they had been drinking. One young fellow seemed to be +the object of much attention from the others. He was a German, of +medium height, with blue eyes and exceedingly blond hair, while a rich +color mantled in his cheeks. The others would make some remark or +comment on the scene to him, and he would laugh or smile with the air +of a philosopher who had come to find a cynical enjoyment in the +insane folly of his kind. The others addressed him in German or +French, and called him "Graf." From his manner and appearance it did +not require much astuteness to conclude that he was a young German of +rank who was visiting the country. + +One of his companions turned to him with a broad smile and made some +remark, pointing out one of the dancers. I looked in the direction and +saw my pretty blond Columbine pirouetting gracefully around, with her +arms stretched out to her partner, a big fellow who was a little +fuddled with wine, and who had strayed out of the orbit of the girl in +a turn in the dance. She was not going to be balked of her share in +the measure, and tripped about by herself quite contentedly till he +should come back. It was an amusing touch to see the fairy-like +creature smiling good-naturedly, while the lumbering fellow who was +dancing with her, or who should have been dancing with her, was +gyrating beyond her reach. I glanced at the group of fellows to see if +it was she they were observing. + +A change had come over the German. His face was as white as death, and +his eyes were dilated and fixed. He had fallen a little back of the +others, as if he did not wish to be observed. This was interesting, +and I felt my professional instincts aroused. He answered their +remarks with a rather hard, forced smile. A moment after he made some +proposal or said something that seemed to be a surprise to them, and I +saw them shake hands with him. He left the hall in a hurried way. I +slipped after him. I wished to see what he did. He stood for a moment +in the foyer, and I saw his hands clinch fiercely. Then, in a +distraught sort of way, he walked around to one of the other entrances +to the dancing-floor and looked about among the dancers. He tried not +to get where he could be seen, and there was a fierce scowl on his +face. I lounged slowly in the neighborhood, and watched him. The +deathly paleness had not left his face. + +All at once he walked in upon the dancing-floor, with an attempt at +careless ease, and addressed a masker who wore the costume of a +Franciscan friar, a roomy brown suit, with a rope knotted at his waist +for a cincture, and a large hood to it which he had pulled up over his +head. He was standing near the entrance. He was masked, so he was +pretty thoroughly disguised. The monk was not dancing. + +The young German spoke to him, and then drew him out of the hall. In +the corridor he spoke more earnestly to him. The man seemed to be +declining some invitation or request. But after a few moments of +earnest speech from the German the two walked away, and, keeping them +in view, I saw the pair leave the Academy. + +I was at first tempted to follow them. But having no more definite +purpose than to see what would come of their movements, I concluded to +remain and witness the fun at the ball, which always grew fast and +furious at the small hours of the morning. + +So I resumed my old post and amused myself by watching the reckless +extravagance of the mob of revellers. The little Columbine, though she +had been taking her share of the champagne, for I had seen her in the +wine-room several times, was very firm on her feet. Her eyes twinkled +with a lazy sort of brightness. She had a better partner now, a little +young fellow dressed in black tights and a short velvet jacket. They +were coming down the middle of the room, his right arm around her +waist. Every few steps as they advanced, both facing forward, they +flung their legs in the air with a wild but graceful vigor. Then they +would whirl around to a sort of waltz-step, which the man in tights +would wind up by clasping the Columbine firmly around the waist and +gyrating so rapidly that her body was thrown out at right angles to +his own. + +They attracted a great deal of attention, because the grace of their +movements was very great, despite the wild abandon of it. I do not +know how I came to remark it, but while they were mid-way on their +course I saw the Franciscan monk come in at one of the entrances. He +leaned against a pillar, and I saw him watching the pair. + +They finished their bacchic course, and the youth in the black tights +escorted the panting, smiling girl to a seat, where he made a mock bow +of the deepest reverence and went off. I kept my eye still fixed on +the girl, who was smiling and fanning herself. Even then her little +feet beat the floor to the sound of the music. + +While she was sitting thus the monk came up and seated himself on a +chair by her side. He made some remarks to her. She coquettishly +answered them. Then to another she shook her head with playful +determination. The monk pressed the point, for he bent forward, though +I noticed that when she turned towards him he seemed to shrink back. + +Finally Columbine sprang to her feet, took his arm, and with a +half-regretful glance at the merry dancers left the room with him. + + * * * * * + +The next day the evening papers had a startling story. I have kept the +newspaper account. It was this: + + "A SEQUEL TO THE FRENCH BALL. + + "Those who were at the French Ball last night in the Academy + of Music may have remarked a young woman dressed as Columbine, + who excited a good deal of attention by her graceful dancing. + The giddy young thing will not dance at the next French Ball. + She was lying at the morgue this morning, stone dead, waiting + to be identified. It seems a cruel mockery, after her last + night's gayety, to behold her now, in her ball dress of black + and yellow velvet, lying till someone shall tell who she is. + Failing all identification, some doctor's scalpel will dissect + the corpse and study the muscles which worked so healthfully + in the dance. + + "The young girl was strangled to death last night in a + carriage. She left the ball with some one dressed like a + Franciscan monk, at two o'clock. The monk gave a card to the + driver, after printing on it 'No. -- 120th Street.' He also + gave the driver a twenty-dollar gold piece. All this without a + word. He was closely masked. The driver had only remarked that + his hand was very white and large, and that he wore a heavy + plain gold ring. + + "The two got in and he drove off. While he was driving along + the upper part of Madison Avenue he heard a sound which + attracted his attention. On looking round he saw that the door + of the carriage was open. He stopped, reached back with his + whip, and banged it to. He supposed the couple inside were + probably the worse for the wine they had taken at the ball, + and had either failed to shut the door, which had worked open, + or that the handle of the door had been fiddled with till it + opened, and they were too far gone to notice it. + + "At all events the twenty-dollar gold piece had made the + driver disposed to be obliging, and he had pushed it to for + them, and driven on. When he reached 120th Street, at the + designated number, he got off the box and opened the carriage + door. + + "A lamp-post in front of the house lit up the carriage. The + curtains of the carriage windows had been drawn. They were not + drawn when the couple got in. What he saw terrified him. + Columbine was lying, with her white wraps fallen about her, + between the seats, and a monk's frock and a girdle of rope, + together with a mask, were tossed on a seat. The monk had + disappeared! + + "The hackman shook the girl and tried to rouse her, but could + not. He pulled her forward, and then saw that her face was + frightfully red, and that the eyes were puffed out. On the + throat were the marks of fingers where a terrible grip had + been taken of her neck. + + "The story was clear enough. The monk, whoever he was, had + strangled the girl in the carriage, and had then thrown off + his disguise and let himself out at the door while the + carriage was still in motion. + + "This savage crime was evidently premeditated. The masker had + printed the address, had not spoken a word, and had paid the + fare before entering the carriage. So there was not the sound + of his voice, or his handwriting, to identify him, and his + form and face had been completely hidden. + + "The cabman drove at once to the nearest police-station and + told his story. The body was taken to the morgue. The + detectives are at work on the case, which promises to be a very + pretty one. _Known_: a man masked as a monk who was at the + French Ball, and who had a large white hand, on which he wears, + or wore, a plain gold ring. _Unknown_: the murderer. Who is the + detective that will run down the game?" + +"Here he is," I said to myself, as I finished reading the account. I +had more points than the paper gave. The scenes at the ball came back +to me very vividly now. The sudden deathly paleness of the German +stranger, and his departure with the Franciscan friar! There was a +connection here that was too evident to be passed over. + +I determined to find out who had murdered the pretty Columbine, who +had won me so by her graceful dancing and smiling good-humor. Early +the next morning I went to the morgue. There she lay, the dainty +figure stretched out so stiff and cold in the big gloomy room. What a +contrast to the scene in which I had seen her last! There was a damp +cloth over her face. When it was removed I saw a round, full face, the +features small and delicate. I gently pushed back the lids from her +eyes. They were a dark blue. Her blond hair was her own, and not a +wig. I pictured to myself the smoothly-rounded cheeks with the warm +color of life in them. I glanced regretfully at her feet, still in +their high-heeled golden shoes. They had tripped to their last dance, +the dance of Death, and were motionless forever. + +I found that a beautiful emerald which I noticed pinned in her corsage +on the night of the ball was gone. It had been rudely plucked away, +for the lace about the edge of her dress was torn and hanging. But a +large ring of rubies and diamonds had been left on her finger, and was +kept at the station-house. I had remarked the emerald because it had +an old-fashioned setting in gold, and impressed me as a family jewel. + +The people who lived at No. -- 120th Street were a most respectable +family, and a large one. They deprecated the publicity which the +number of their house in the story of the murdered girl had thrust +upon them. Inquiry into the character of this family satisfied me on +one point, that the monk had given that address simply because it was +a distant one, whether he had written it at random or had known the +people residing at the number. + +I went to all the transatlantic steamers which were in port and got +their passenger-lists of the voyage over. In one that had arrived +three days before I found a name which I will call in this story Count +Hermann Stolzberger of Vienna. He was the only German count who had +come over in any of them. + +I made a tour of the swell hotels in the city and examined their +registers. In one on Fifth Avenue I found the entry, "Hermann +Stolzberger and servant." He had arrived three days before. + +I engaged a room at the hotel. I wished to be in the neighborhood. I +had first inquired if Count Stolzberger had left town, and the clerk +had told me no. Where was he to go? The clerk had heard him say to a +friend that he expected to be in New York ten days or so. Was he in +now? No. He had gone out with friends and would not be back for +dinner. + +That evening I lounged around the office, sitting in the long corridor +into which the door from the street opened. I waited until twelve. No +Count! I prolonged my guard for an hour more, and he had not appeared. +I wished above all to get a look at Count Hermann Stolzberger. He +might, it was true, have gone in at the ladies' entrance, or he might +remain out all night. On the other hand, he possibly had delayed with +friends and would yet return. I waited. + +My patience was rewarded. At half-past one a cab rolled up to the +door, and a young man in a large overcoat, somewhat foreign in its +mode, sprang out and walked with a quick, nervous tread into the +corridor. He walked rapidly by, but my eye had taken him in from the +moment he opened the door. My memory of faces is excellent. I +recognized the blond fairness of the Count at once, though there was +not much color in his cheeks, and his face looked worn and thin. +Count Hermann Stolzberger was the young German who had entered the +French Ball and turned pale at the sight of the Columbine! + +I have said that this case almost seemed to unroll itself for me; but +there were two or three connections to be made to constitute proof, +and not leave me with a distinct suspicion only. + +I visited the morgue daily in hope of some clue, but none came. No one +identified the body, and after the allotted length of time it went to +the dissecting-table. There were hundreds of visitors to see it, and a +great deal of sympathy was expressed; but that was all. Nobody claimed +it or seemed to have known the poor girl. + +A costumer had claimed the Franciscan's robe. I fancy he did this more +through curiosity to find if it were the one he had let than on +account of the value of it, for it must have been very cheap. I got +the address of this man and called on him. I asked him if he +remembered the man who had hired it. He said he did. It was a +smooth-faced, dark-complexioned man of about forty. He remembered, +because he had made some joke with him about his being clean shaven +enough for a monk. + +The man had given no address, and he did not know who he was. This was +a slight hitch in the proceedings. I was convinced that the murderer +in the garb of the Franciscan friar was not the man who had engaged it +of the costumer, but the German. He was of much the same size and +build as the original monk, and so he had assumed the loose brown +habit without exciting my attention. But the fact of the German's +turning so pale and calling the monk out from the dance had made me +feel that he was the one who had strangled the gay Columbine in the +carriage that night. + +The Count seemed to grow visibly thinner. There was a drawn look to +his face, and during the time that the dead girl lay at the morgue he +seemed to be held by some terrible thought. I had shadowed him closely +to see if he ever went to see the remains, but he did not go near +them. His terrible secret was telling on him fearfully, however. The +color had become faint in his cheeks, and his eyes had a haggard look. +When he was with others he would affect a gayety that drove much of +this distressing expression from his face; but when he came home alone +it was very marked. + +Something had to be done if I was to secure the proof that would +convict the Count. It was the third day since I had come to the hotel +and busied myself in studying him. He had gone to the reading-room, +contrary to his usual habit, after finishing his breakfast. While he +was there two of his friends came in, and they began conversing +together. I slipped across the way and hastily wrote a message, sealed +it, and charged a messenger-boy to deliver it, saying that he was to +wait and see if any answer would be given. + +I hurried back to the reading-room of the hotel again. The Count and +his friends were still there. If they only remained till the messenger +arrived! I had seated myself in a corner behind some one, but with my +eyes commanding a full view of the three. The message did come before +they left. One of the hotel clerks brought it in. The Count tore open +the envelope and read the note. I could not but admire his +self-control. The nostrils expanded and hardened, and a stolid look +crept into his eyes for a moment; but that was all. What he read was +this: "You know and I know whose hands left those marks on the throat. +Why do you not wear your gold ring?" + +He remained in thought for a moment. Then he lightly excused himself +to his friends and went out, having asked something of the servant. He +had gone to see the messenger-boy. I did not fear the description he +would get being of much help to him. He was not gone very long. When +he returned he talked easily to his two friends, and after a little +while they went out together. + +When he came in that night a letter was waiting for him which had come +through the mail. "What good did it do to kill Columbine?" was all +there was in it. + +The next morning when he awoke he found a note under his door. Its +contents were these words: "Is it harder to be choked to death by ten +fingers or by a rope?" + +There was a far more guarded expression about his face after these +notes than before. He always wore a fixed, stolid calm now. He +evidently felt that some eye was on him, and he could not tell when or +where. + +The evening of the following day he received another message. It ran: +"Leave New York at once if you would save your neck." + +The Count was too sharp for me. He did not go. But he did not go out +so much in the daytime. He could not altogether cloak his feelings. +There was a disposition on his part to take quick, searching glances +about him. + +But the strain on him was telling. It cost him more effort to keep +from looking troubled. His face got thinner and paler. I was +"shadowing" him closely; but I had to be very careful, for he was +trying to discover who it was that was on his tracks. + +One morning he went out about the hour he generally left the hotel. It +was the fourth day after the note which advised him to leave New York. +He went directly to a railroad station and took the train for Chicago. +I was prepared for this emergency, and went on the same train. + +When it arrived in Chicago, he went to the Palmer House and registered +as Karl Schlechter. He had not been in his room half an hour when a +note was given him. It had been sent by a messenger-boy. "Karl +Schlechter is Count Herman Stolzberger, and the halter is as near him +in Chicago as in New York," ran the note. + +It seemed almost cruel to pursue him like a Nemesis; but I thought of +the gay Columbine whose young life had been mercilessly choked out of +her by his smooth white hands, and did not desist. + +He left Chicago that night after sending a telegram. Probably it was +to his man in New York. He went west as far as Kansas City. A note was +handed him in the same way as soon as he had got well settled at his +hotel: "The ghost of a strangled girl does not care for place." + +He remained here only a day, sending another telegram. When the train +had started which carried him away, he walked through the cars +deliberately looking at the passengers. + +At Denver the old story was repeated: "Eyes sharper than your own are +still on you. You cannot escape the hold of your murdered victim." + +The next step was to Salt Lake City. He went through the same tactics +on the cars, and his sharp eye took me in. + +A new note reached him at the Walker House. "It may not be long before +we meet again, and then my fingers will be at your throat." + +In the evening after dinner he was in the billiard-room of the hotel. +He saw me there and finally came and seated himself by my side. He +engaged me in conversation. He spoke English in a broken way which +there is no need to reproduce. + +"Was I from New York?" he began. + +"Yes." + +"Are you travelling for pleasure or business?" he asked next. + +"For pleasure," I answered. + +"A foreigner is a little surprised when he sees an American travelling +in his own country. It seems as if he must be familiar with it. Where +are you going from here?" + +"Oh, I am not settled. I drift where the humor takes me." + +I saw I had become the subject of his suspicions. But he did not yet +know me as the author of the notes. + +He did not remain long in Salt Lake City. I went from the place when +he did. He had noticed me once or twice and felt certain I was +following him. He went to San Francisco direct. When we arrived there, +he gave some order to a hackman, before stepping into the carriage. I +engaged another hackman. + +"Follow that carriage until the man gets out, but only keep close +enough to know where it goes." + +The hack in which the Count had got travelled around without any +definite termination apparently. He wished to know if anyone was +following him, and had told the hackman to see if another carriage was +after him. He soon found there was, and then he drove at once to the +hotel, and hurried into the office. + +I got there a few moments later. I went to the register. His name was +not there at all. I looked around the place and found him sitting not +far off. He had begun to watch me. I went down stairs and gave a note +to one of the boys to take out to the message office, and have it sent +to Count Stolzberger. I had prepared it beforehand, so I was only gone +a moment. He kept me well in view all he could. When he finally went +to register, he signed his right name, Count Stolzberger, and the +clerk gave him the message which had been brought in. + +He seemed puzzled. He had kept me in view ever since I arrived, and I +had had no time to write a note. So for a moment he did not know what +to think. The note had said: "The man who lent you the costume of the +friar has been found. There are not many more turns for you now. This +man will recognize you when he sees you. Other witnesses will prove +that you spoke to Columbine, drove off with her in the hack, and that +the poor girl was found dead after your disappearance. What lacks to +fit the rope to your neck?" + +He engaged his room, and soon after he had gone to it a boy came to me +and asked me to go to the Count's room for a few moments. + +Count Stolzberger was sitting in an easy-chair near a table, on which +there was writing-material. He rose, greeted me with dignity, and +motioned me to a chair, asking me to sit down. + +"You remember that we both came from Kansas City together, and that +part of the journey was made in a sleeping-car," he said, with slow +deliberation. + +"We may have done so," I answered. + +"In the night I went through the pockets of your coat and vest. The +result of that investigation, and especially as regards certain notes +made by you on a sheet of paper, has shown me that you are a +detective, and that you are engaged in working up the case of the girl +who was--who died after the French Ball in New York. I am right, am I +not?" he inquired, all in the same calm, measured way. + +"Yes," I replied. "I have been keeping you in sight, Count, until the +necessary proofs were obtained that would convict the murderer." + +"You fancy that I am the one who did the deed?" he asked, in the same +measured tones. + +"I know it," I answered quietly, but with an air of conviction. + +"Granting, for the moment, that you are right, what interest have you +in bringing home the crime to me? Who has engaged you to do this?" + +"The pretty girl who was strangled, and a professional desire to work +up the case." + +"The several notes I have received were from you, I suppose," he +continued, in his easy, careless tones. + +"Yes." + +"And you have the proof that I am the murderer?" he inquired, turning +his eyes unflinchingly on me. + +I smiled. "Count, I fear that everything is against you." + +"You would be sadly mortified to find that you were mistaken, I +presume." + +"I should be sadly surprised," I returned, again with a quiet smile. + +"What time did the hackman drive off with the monk and the girl?" he +asked me. + +"At ten minutes past two. The hackman noted the time to see what hour +he could hope to get back for another fare." + +"Well, let me tell you something that may modify your search in this +business. I had made arrangements to go with the girl. I did not wish +in any way to be connected with her departure. So just when we were +ready to go down to the carriage, I told her to wait for me at the +entrance for five minutes. She said she would, and went down. + +"I had put on the monk's garb over my evening dress. I threw it off +and left it in one of the dressing-rooms. I hurried back to the floor +and made it a point to show myself to several persons who knew me. I +feared that possibly some one had seen me talk to the monk, and would +connect the disappearance of Columbine afterward with a monk with +this. This was my reason for conspicuously showing myself after she +had gone out with me in the monk's dress. + +"I was not away more than six or seven minutes, when I went back to +the dressing-room to put on the habit again. It was gone! I searched +in the neighboring rooms, thinking some one might have moved it to +some other place. I could not find it. I then hastened down to the +entrance to go with the Columbine in my dress-suit, with a mask on, +for I had slipped that in my breast. + +"The girl was not there! I inquired of some of the bystanders, and +they told me that a monk had got into a carriage with her not five +minutes before. Who that monk was I am as ignorant as yourself. You +have followed a false trail. I did _not_ go with the girl, and can +prove an alibi for the next two hours after she drove off. Several of +my friends were with me from then till I went to my hotel, and my man +knows the hour when I came home with them. I was terribly shocked the +next day when I heard of her mur--her death." + +I felt considerably taken back and very foolish. The Count's accents +were those of truth, and afterwards his assertions were fully borne +out by witnesses. Who it was that murdered the unfortunate girl has +remained the closest mystery ever since. + +"Will you tell me your relation to the girl? Why did you turn pale +when you saw her? And why did you wish to go with her, as you admit +having wished to do?" + +"That," said the Count, with intense decision, "you will never know +from me." + +And I never did. There was a twofold mystery about what had seemed to +me as clear as the alphabet. Never could I learn what were Count +Stolzberger's relations with the girl, nor who had murdered her in the +carriage after the ball. + + PORTLAND WENTFORTH. + + + + +_DOES THE HIGH TARIFF AFFECT OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM?_ + + +We had, before the war, the system of apprenticeship as practised to a +great extent in Europe to-day. Its almost total extinction is laid at +the door of concentrated, and still concentrating, capital, aided by +improved machinery. + +Some may argue that our improved machinery has the tendency to +combine capital. This may be true in some measure; but, upon second +thought, it will become clear to an impartial thinker that the +protective tariff is the chief cause, as is evidenced by its baneful +results--the trusts. + +Under this new order, the shoemaker has no need of apprentices. The +Northern shoe-factory, which employs cheap foreign labor at +labor-saving machines, takes away his trade. He has, of course, a few +customers for hand-made shoes, but his principal occupation consists +in mending the poorly made shoes of the factory. He needs no +apprentices for that, but, in order to make a comfortable living for +his family and give his children the benefits of an education, he must +charge big prices; and I venture to predict that the time is not far +off when it will be cheaper to the consumer to buy a new pair of shoes +from the factory than to have the old ones half-soled and otherwise +repaired by the shoemaker of his town. This holds good in regard to +other trades, and the question arises: What condition are we drifting +into? + +The indications are that we shall have in the near future a +manufacturing class, a farming class, and a floating class. This +floating class deserves our serious consideration. It consists of a +large body of men and women, shiftlessly changing from the merchant +class to the professions, and from the professions to the merchant +class. + +Our educational system helps to increase the confusion. Starting out +with the intention of making the schools of the country the foundation +of a substantial education in the elementary branches, our educators +have allowed themselves to be carried away--through sheer enthusiasm, +no doubt--from that simple and substantial basis of operation; and we +have to-day, as the necessary result, the most complicated, absurd, +and absolutely useless educational system in the world. + +There is no branch of human knowledge that is not taught in the public +schools of the country; and the most remarkable fact about it is that +one solitary teacher is supposed to understand and to be able to teach +this endless variety of branches. + +For whose benefit is such an education intended? For the large +floating population of the country; for the boys and girls whose +parents have no positive intentions as to their children's future +career. + +In conversation with a public-school teacher I asked why he taught +geometry and trigonometry in the school. "Well," he said, "it is of +not much use, and takes valuable time from the rest of the scholars; +but some of the patrons wish to have their children study it, because +_they might have future use for it_." + +When a few others wish Latin, German, or French taught, the teacher +immediately undertakes it, while the great mass of the pupils are +actually starving for the most elementary knowledge of the +common-school branches. + +We have, in consequence, a class, composed principally of young men, +who have no education especially suited to any definite trade or +profession. This class is constantly growing, to the detriment of the +country. The trades are driven to the wall by combined capital, and +there is literally nothing to do for many of our young men except to +stand in a store as clerk or bookkeeper. Farmers' sons starting out in +life with a shallow education received from a shallow system look with +aversion upon the occupation of tiller of the soil, and, deluded by +the education received at the country school-house into the belief +that the world lays at their feet, go from one profession or trade to +another, never satisfied, never of any account, and never successful. + +If a freer trade has a tendency to break up trusts and combinations of +capital, it will, in consequence, distribute the industries of the +country more evenly among the people, and, by giving employment to our +young men at home, will give them a definite aim in life and do away +with the silly demand for a university education in a common public +school. + + EMIL LUDWIG SCHARF. + + + + +_MARCH 4th, 1889._ + + + Hail to the new! unto the winner hail! + Hail to the rising, not the setting sun! + So runs the world: success, however won, + Dulleth, the while, his glory who doth fail. + Yet, as thou puttest off thy proven mail, + Strong soul that didst no issue ever shun, + Or at entrenched greed's resentment quail! + Hark to the swelling undertone--"Well done!" + + Unto the canker which thy country's life + Yearly doth make flow more and more impure, + Thou wouldst, where needed most, have put the knife, + And from its root the pest begun to cure. + O brave chirurgeon! who shall end the strife + It matters not--thy fame remaineth sure. + + ALFRED HENRY PETERS. + + + + +_EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT._ + + +THE SALE OF THE PRESIDENCY. + +No better illustration of the power wielded by the press has been +given, since the London _Times_ took up the Crimean War and remodelled +the allied armies, than that of the New York _World_ in its assault on +the corruptions of the ballot that robbed the people of the United +States of their voted will at the late presidential election. + +This monstrous crime against self-government would have faded from +public memory, and lost its place in the annals of iniquity, but for +the energy and enterprise of this journal, that sent an army of +correspondents over the country and gathered the proofs of the open +market in which was sold and bought the Presidency. + +This fearful exposé of a burning shame was followed by messages from +governors, and bills by legislatures, looking, not to the punishment +of the wrong-doers, but to the enactment of preventive laws tending to +the protection of the people in the future. + +It is to be observed, however, that this potent power failed to bring +on any investigations, any indictments, or a single effort to punish +the guilty. This the _World_ demanded, but this the _World_ failed to +obtain. + +The reason for the impotent result in this one direction is easy to +comprehend when we get at the facts underlying the corruption. Neither +party was, or is, in a condition to demand an investigation, for the +leaders of each are alike guilty. It is generally believed that money +was corruptly used by both organizations, and that the Republicans, +having the larger sum, won in the end. This is true, but it is only +true in part. Honest investigation would bring out the startling fact, +that the vast sums collected from millionaires, and the very +significant amount assessed on office-holders, were for the one +purpose of returning Benjamin Harrison to the Presidency and again +putting the moneyed power of the country in the keeping of the +Republican party. + +This manner of operating by corrupt means has long been well known to +the more observant. Corruption has no conscience, no patriotism, and +no politics. All rascality rests on a purely business basis. When a +merchant seeks a partner, he does not bother himself about that +partner's religious belief or party predilections. When rogues wish to +form a trust or ring, they in like manner consider only the capacity +of their brother-rogues, and when politics is at all considered, it is +because of the safety from investigation found in having all sides +implicated. Thus, when the great Aqueduct steal of New York was +organized, the managers were made up of both Democrats and +Republicans. When, therefore, an investigation went far enough to +develop two prominent Republicans added to the responsible +commission, and one of those Republicans was called to the stand and +asked how he came to accept such a position, he responded naïvely that +he sought to secure some of the patronage of the public work for his +own party. + +Now, when we remember that President Cleveland, in the last hours of +his illustrious administration, made a deadly assault on a system that +oppressed the many for the benefit of a few, we get a clue to a +mystery that has puzzled the masses. Vast sums were openly subscribed, +and almost as openly used, in the purchase of votes to perpetuate the +corruption. And we had developed two startling facts that go to show +that our experiment of self-government is well-nigh a failure. + +The first of these is that we have so cheapened the suffrage that we +have an element in between the two parties large enough to decide a +presidential election of what we call "floaters"--that is, men who +stand upon the street-corners, and crop out in the rural regions, with +their votes in hand, for sale to the highest bidders. The market price +varies from five dollars to a hundred, as the demand may rule. + +The second fact teaches that the election through States facilitates +this infamous abuse. We find that while President Cleveland won in the +popular vote by nearly a hundred thousand majority, he lost the +presidency. Through the electoral system we have developed two pivotal +States, and the market thus narrowed makes the corruption possible. + +It is quite evident that we cannot narrow the suffrage, but it is +possible to widen the vote; and if the patriotic people of the United +States care to sustain the great republic, and give to their children +the precious possession of a constitutional government, based on an +equality of rights before the law, no time should be lost in wiping +out an electoral system that has not only failed of its purpose, but +is a source of peril to the government. + +It is said of a distinguished politician of Pennsylvania that when +called on to contribute money for the purpose of carrying a State +election, he, refusing, said, "What's the use of wasting money on the +people in an election when you can purchase the legislature with +one-fourth the money?" Now, immense as are the sums gotten through +monopoly and unjust taxation, they are not sufficient to purchase +votes throughout the entire country, to say nothing of the danger +attending such an attempt. + +We learn this from Col. Dudley's famous, or rather infamous, letter of +instruction to his subordinates. He wanted the floaters classed in +blocks of five. This, not because the floaters were so numerous as to +require such organized handling, but because it was a hazardous +venture, and agents willing to transact the business were scarce. That +they were found in deacons, class-leaders, bankers, and Sunday-school +teachers only shows the desperate condition to which the moneyed power +was reduced in its effort to secure again the control of our +government. + +Had the Democracy planted itself firmly upon honest ground and fought +this corruption because it was corrupt and not from a fever of +excitement to win at all hazards, it might have been defeated--probably +would have been. But in that defeat it would have held a position that +would now enable it to investigate, indict, and punish. As it is, we +have a great outcry and no efficient work. Col. Dudley goes acquit of +all save public condemnation, not because of any difficulty attending a +legal condemnation, but because his accusers cannot enter court with +clean hands. + +This is an ugly statement to make; but for the sake of the political +association with which we sympathize, and in whose cause, as developed +in the late election, we are deeply interested, we feel it our duty to +assert the truth in the plainest terms. The Democracy should remember +that in this corrupt game they must of necessity be the losers. The +corruption fund is and must be with their opponents. The gist of the +contention lies in the fact that the Democracy seek to arrest a +robbery that has already made their opponents rich, and the swag thus +obtained affords the means through which it may be held. To enter such +an arena is to enter it unarmed. + +Senator Plumb, when he made the assertion, subsequently published by +authority, that the only class really benefited by our system of +extortion miscalled protection should have "the fat fried out of it" +to carry on the election, unintentionally uttered a truth we cannot +ignore. This again was supplemented by Senator Ingalls's instruction +to his State delegation at Chicago to nominate for the Vice-Presidency +"some fellow like Phelps who can tap Wall Street." And the evidence +closes with Col. Dudley's direction to organize "the floaters in +blocks of five." + +These are noted and recognized leaders of the Republican party. +Senators Plumb and Ingalls are not only prominent as such, but are men +of brain and culture. Col. Dudley is known to the country as a +prominent worker in the cause of the moneyed power. Now, while we +might hesitate to take the word of any one of these gentlemen when +advocating any measure of importance to their party, we are bound to +accept all they assert against themselves, in accordance with +well-recognized principles of evidence. + +Their admissions are fatal to their party, as their practice, if +continued, will prove fatal to the Republic. We have some twenty-two +State legislatures laboring to so amend the machinery of elections as +to make this purchase of votes difficult, if not impossible. In this +good work the Democracy should be the zealous leaders, not only +because it is reform, but because it is the salvation of the party. + +If this corruption found in the mere purchase of votes ended with that +foul practice we might hope for something; but back of that, hid in +the darkness, lies the ugly, snaky form of treachery. The money +subscribed by millionaires is not always used in the camp of the party +in whose behalf it was contributed. So long as rogues are countenanced +in one direction they will be found in others. The startling fact that +we cannot have investigations for fear of uncovering our own people is +supplemented by another no less startling--that such investigation +would expose not only bribe-takers but traitors. We are not asserting +this without due consideration, and we give to print only what is +known by the more shrewd and observant in our own midst. + +The proof of this is not necessary. The knowledge that corruption did +exist carries with it assurance that it extended in such directions as +the wrong-doers found most efficient. When that sturdy old +corruptionist, Oakes Ames, was called upon to account for the stock of +the _Crédit Mobilier_ with which he had been intrusted, he replied +that he had placed it "where it would do the most good," and his keen, +incisive remark has passed into a popular proverb. The wretched, +degraded creature who sells his vote parts with an infinitesimal bit +of power, and he is a saint and a gentleman by the side of the man +who, trusted by his party, betrays that trust for a moneyed +consideration. However, this carries us beyond our subject. + +The truest and best reform that can be attained is the most radical, +and that is, as we have said, to elect the President by a direct vote +of the people, and do away with an electoral system that survived its +usefulness in the death of George Washington. The next best is to +secure the secrecy of the ballot. Anything short of this is vain. When +we have so arranged the machine that the bribe-taker cannot make open +delivery of the stolen goods, we have driven the bribe-giver to +accepting the word of a wretch whose oath would be worthless. + +In view of the peril in which we find ourselves, with the very +foundations taken from under the tottering political fabric known as +the Great Republic, the anxiety manifested by our law-makers lest some +citizen may be deprived of his vote in this effort to purify the polls +would be ludicrous were it not that the subject is of so serious a +nature. The very ground is sliding from under us, and these Solons are +concerned as to the shoes we may be deprived of in our effort at +escape. Indeed, if to perfect the reform it became necessary not only +to deprive a few citizens of the suffrage, but to hang Messrs. Plumb, +Ingalls, and Dudley, shocking as the sacrifice would be to us, we +should say, like a Roman father, let them hang. Indeed, undying fame +hereafter would proclaim that in their deaths they had done their +country some service. + + +VACANT PEWS AND WORRIED PULPITS. + +The homes, so called, of our larger cities are in a majority of cases +without comfort, and in nearly all instances without refinement. The +class upon which we once so prided ourselves, made up of families +possessed of a competence, and enabled through a reasonable income +from steady work to have about their homes some comfort and a few +luxuries, is rapidly disappearing. We have left us two classes only, +made up of the very rich and the poor. The merchant, the mechanic, and +even the common laborer, who once could boast of a humble home of his +own, and enough steady employment to make that home comfortable, is +rarely met with. We believe indeed that he exists only in the +imagination of Senator Edmunds. Well-authenticated statistics inform +us that we have a larger percentage of tenantry to our population than +any people on the face of the earth. This not only includes our great +commercial, mining, and manufacturing centres, but the rural regions +as well. We learn that, throughout the agricultural regions, while the +farms lessen in number, the farmers increase. + +We know what this means. We recognize at a glance that the growth of +our country in national wealth, which is claimed to be amazing, is not +a healthy growth. For that is not healthy which gives prosperity to a +few and poverty to the masses. + +This has been so long and so generally recognized that it has come to +be commonplace, and people weary of its reiteration. We indulge in +this weariness for the purpose of calling attention to a consequence +that is not so familiar. + +It is remarked by observant lookers-on from abroad that our laboring +classes are thoroughly ignorant of art, and take no pleasure in +contemplating works of art, as do the like classes in the towns of +Europe. The reason given for this is that we have no specimens in our +highways, and few in galleries. The latter are closed against the +laboring classes on the only day a laborer can have to visit them, and +that is Sunday. + +The wrong done our people by this can scarcely be overestimated. A +taste for art can generally be cultivated. It is quite impossible to +educate a people in science and literature, for this depends on +intellectual faculties that our heavenly Father, from a wise purpose +to us unknown, has been very sparing in distributing. But almost every +man is capable of being taught to admire, if not love, the beautiful +in art. What an element in the way of social improvement or progress +this cultivated taste is we all recognize, and what happens to a race +that neglects it we all know. + +Now, it is possible for a people to possess the highest appreciation +of, and admiration for, art and yet be semi-barbarous, for the +Christian element is necessary to bring about real civilization; but +it is quite impossible for a race to be without some cultivation in +the way of art and be civilized at all. + +It is not strange, to a thoughtful observer, to note that as a nation +we are on the down-grade. Such an observer from abroad cannot cross +Broadway, for example, without learning that life and limb are in +peril from a community that has more law and less order than any +people the world over. He is prepared to learn then that our galleries +of art--such as exist--are closed against the poor, and he is ready to +receive without wonder the further fact that our churches also are +closed against the poor. + +It is this last truth that is somewhat new in the way of being +recognized, although quite old as a matter of fact. + +At a convocation of Protestant ministers held at Chickering Hall last +November, on behalf of the Protestant community of New York, the +following was officially stated as to the religious condition of the +city: + +"The population of New York City has for years been steadily and +rapidly increasing, while at the same time the number of churches has +been relatively decreasing. In 1840 there was one Protestant church to +every 2,400 people; in 1880, one to 3,000; and in 1887, one to 4,000." + +Now, to this startling admission could have been added another, no +less deplorable, and that is that the attendance has decreased more +rapidly than the churches, and, in such as now remain open a seventh +part of the time, there is an exhibit of empty seats quite depressing +to the minister. If we consider the Protestant population only, not +one-tenth are church attendants--and not a tenth of these are true +believers. + +The reason for this deplorable condition was much discussed by the +good men making up the clerical convention, and the prevailing opinion +seemed to be, as gathered from the utterances, that this disheartening +result came from the active interference of the Catholic clergy--or +papists, as our friends termed them. + +There was much truth in this. These zealous "papists" are certainly +making great inroads upon our population; but, admitting that they +take large numbers from the Protestant churches, there yet remains a +vast population of non-going church people that the so-called papists +have not influenced, nor indeed as yet approached. What then is the +cause of this irreligious condition? + +We believe that we can help our clerical friends to a solution of this +religious mystery. It comes from a lack of consideration for the +masses they seek to instruct. There is a want of sympathy for the +poor, that not only shuts the galleries of art from the laboring +classes, but closes the Protestant churches also. + +These structures, while scarcely to be classed as works of art,--for +they are carefully divested of all that appeals to good taste,--are +yet luxurious affairs at which the rich and well-born, in purple and +fine linen, are expected to attend. They are more social than +religious affairs, and there is no place for the ragged, even if such +appeared from a public bath, duly cleansed of their offensive dirt. To +make this exclusiveness complete, the churches are filled with pews +that, like boxes at the opera, are the property of subscribers able to +pay for such luxuries. True, certain pews are reserved as free seats +for the poor; but the class sought thus to be accommodated are averse +to being put in their poverty on exhibition, as it were, even for the +luxury of hearing a solemn-toned clergyman whose theological +gymnastics are as much beyond the comprehension of the hearers as they +are beyond that of the reverend orator himself. + +To realize our condition in this respect, let our reader imagine, if +he can, our blessed Saviour and his apostles entering bodily, to-day, +one of these edifices built to His worship. Weary and travel-stained, +clad in the coarsest of garments, the procession would scarcely start +along the dim-lit aisle before that austere creation of Nature in one +of her most economical moods, the sexton, would hurry forward to repel +further invasion of that most respectable sanctuary of God. Our +Saviour would be informed that somewhere in the outlying spaces of +poverty-stricken regions there was a mission-house suitable for such +as He. + +We must not be understood as intimating, let alone asseverating, aught +against this form of Christianity. It is so much better than none that +we feel kindly toward it. The religious evolution that develops a +respectable sort of religious purity, that builds a marble pulpit and +velvet-cushioned pews, is all well enough if it quiets the conscience +and soothes with trust the death-bed of even a Dives. We regard a +Salvation Army, that makes a burlesque of religion as it goes shouting +with its toot-horns and stringed instruments, as to be tolerated, +because it is better than the Bob Ingersolls. We only seek to inform +the well-meaning teachers of the religion of to-day why it is they +preach to empty pews. + +Few of us are aware of what we are doing when we close our galleries +and churches, and open our saloons to the poor. This last, so far, has +proved impossible. But let our hot gospellers, whose creed is based on +"_Be-it-enacted_," visit any one of the poor abodes of the laborers +denied admission to innocent places of amusement on the only holiday +they have for such recreation. Such investigator will descend to a +subterranean excavation dug in the sewer-gas-filtered earth, where the +walls sweat disease and death. These are homes for humanity. Or he +will ascend rotten stairways to crowded rooms, heated to suffocation +by pestilent air poisoned by over-used breath from men, women, and +children, packed in regardless of health, comfort, and decency. These +are the so-called homes of thousands and thousands: and the wonder is, +not that they die, but that they live. We send millions of money with +missionaries to foreign shores: to our own flesh and blood we +send--the police. Loving care and patient help are bestowed on distant +pagans: poor-houses, prisons, and wrath are the fate awarded to our +brothers at home. + +A little way from these abodes of misery and crime the saloon is open, +with its gilded iniquity, warm, cheerful, and stimulated with liquid +insanity in bottles and beer-kegs. Do we wonder that the churches are +empty and the saloons crowded? + +The advent of our blessed Saviour was heralded by the anthem of the +heavenly hosts, that sang "Glory to God on high, and peace and +good-will to men on earth." The few sad years of our Redeemer's life +among men were passed with the poor, the sinful, and the sorrowing. We +have to-day much glory to God on high, and no good-will to men on +earth. + +Your churches decrease in numbers as the population swells, O +brethren, because of your lack of Christian sympathy! + + +THE TRUTH ABOUT SAMOA. + +It would be interesting to know at what precise period in Prince +Bismarck's masterful career he first conceived the scheme of colonial +empire which has grown to be an absorbing passion of his declining +years. Probably it was about the time when he began to proclaim, with +suspicious energy, that nothing was farther from his designs than to +rival the achievements of Great Britain in the field which that nation +had made almost exclusively its own. No modern statesman is better +versed in the arts of diverting public attention from the enterprises +he has resolved to prosecute with his utmost strength and skill. +Events which rapidly followed the exhausting war of 1870 were +calculated to admonish him that Germany's resources were insufficient +to maintain her in the position of supremacy to which he had led her. +The steady increase of emigration to America was one of the +discomposing consequences of his splendid triumph, and the hope of +retaining under German rule the tens of thousands of fighting men who +annually deserted the fatherland may have been a powerful incentive to +colonial development in various attractive parts of the world. +Whatever the original impelling motives were, there is now no doubt +that the plan of extending the German sway indefinitely by +establishing vast settlements in regions yet uncivilized, and making +them tributary to the glory and wealth of the empire he had created, +took possession of the Chancellor's mind, a dozen or more years ago, +with a tenacity which no discouragement or dissuasion has ever +weakened. It was about that date that the unusual activity of German +ships of war in the Oriental seas excited the watchfulness of European +governments and provoked inquiries which led to singular disclosures. +The methods of diplomatic investigation in the far East are in some +respects different from those which prevail nearer home--possibly +owing to a lack of facility in employing them where official scrutiny +is close and constant; and it might be injudicious to examine too +minutely the processes by which it became known that the guardian of +Germany's destinies was engaged in maturing a plot of territorial +aggrandizement the like of which has been devised by no other European +statesmen in recent days, and which has been paralleled only by the +vivid imagination of the first Napoleon. It was soon learned that of +the numerous islands which constitute what is known as Polynesia, not +one of value had escaped visitation by carefully selected explorers, +whose errand it was to report upon the feasibility of eventually +making the German flag supreme in the Southern Pacific, and delivering +over enormous tracts of land to the domination of the German race. + +A glance at a map of the world will show how immense the possibilities +of conquest in the East are to one who has fixed his resolve upon +unscrupulous annexation or absorption. The natives of these regions +are incapable of resistance, and nothing but the combined opposition +of European naval powers could ever stand in the way of the gigantic +enterprise. Such opposition Germany has--or believes she has--little +cause to fear. Some of the leading nations are bound to support her +interests by alliances which they dare not break. France can interpose +no obstacle that would be regarded with anxiety. Russia has no +immediate concern in the Asian archipelagos, and any claim put forward +by the United States would be rejected with derision. Great Britain +alone remains, and against her interference the German rulers are +confident that they have a sure safeguard in the traditional +apprehension of Russian encroachments in the north and west of Asia. +While England is straining her eyes to scan the slightest movement of +the Czar toward China and Korea, and speculating incessantly upon the +outcome of supposed intrigues which probably have no substantial +existence, Germany considers herself secure from molestation in other +quarters. It is quite as likely, however, that the rooted English +conviction of German incapacity to conduct colonial operations may +more reasonably account for the indifference to Bismarck's +proceedings. From some cause, not yet clearly divulged, the Germans +have certainly been permitted to pursue their audacious course with +singular freedom from remonstrance. It cannot be surmised that the +British authorities are ignorant of what is in progress. Even if they +were unprovided with direct sources of information, there is enough in +the avowed and unconcealed demonstrations of the past ten years to +awaken jealousy. Without anything approaching a sound commercial basis +for the undertaking, the far-seeing Chancellor has established a huge +national steamship line, exceeding in length of route the extremest +reach of the most important British maritime companies. From the +Baltic ports this line runs southward, one arm extending through the +Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and skirting the continent of Asia +until it comes to an end in Korean waters, while the other embraces +almost the entire coast of Africa, and, starting eastward, touches +Australia, penetrates the great Malay group, and finds a convenient +terminus in the Samoa Islands, concerning which so much futile +discussion has been wasted in the last few months. All along the +aforesaid African route the shores are dotted with German settlements, +often planted in direct defiance of England's claim to priority, and +maintained in spite of every form of protest. The British flag has +been affronted under circumstances far more flagrant than the world +suspects, yet the outrage has been passed over with careful avoidance +of public scandal. Unless it is believed by the English government +that Bismarck's mighty conception is destined to an ignominious +collapse,--like an ill-balanced arch whose span is too ponderous for +self-support,--it is difficult to conjecture the reasons for this +prolonged submission to an insolent and unprecedented dictation. + +But no apprehension of collapse disturbs the German statesman's +undaunted soul. In his cabinet lie the maps of the reconstructed +world, upon which the future dominions of his country equal in +magnitude, if they do not surpass, those of the most extensive +territorial powers. The course of operations with respect to each +accession is plainly marked out, and to the fulfilment of the +stupendous whole he and those who bear his name are unalterably +pledged. It may be generations, even in his ambitious view, before the +great result is attained, but no doubt of the final consummation is +allowed to take shape among those who know the bent of the iron +Chancellor's will. Meanwhile, effective measures are employed to try +the temper and test the enduring faculties of the native races to be +subdued. Cruelty and barbarity mark the German range of advancement, +wherever their footsteps are imprinted. In Africa and in most parts of +Asia their name is held in terror and abhorrence. They are uniformly +represented by men of Bismarck's own stamp, who shrink from nothing +that can accelerate the completion of their plans. The episode of +Samoa affords a fair example of their intentions and their methods of +execution. What is Samoa? Simply a strategic point of departure--a +station that must be owned and held as a rallying-spot, a depot, and +an arsenal. Having been once selected, it will never be surrendered, +except under a pressure greater than the civilized world is willing or +able, in Bismarck's belief, to concentrate upon such an object. The +notion that the Washington government can exert the minutest influence +is too groundless to be entertained by any person who has studied the +situation. It is true that most of the European powers courteously +abstain from offering opinions as to the result of American +intervention, but the Chinese, who are aware of no reasons for +reserve, openly laugh at it. The Japanese, more keenly alive to +ultimate consequences, do not laugh, but are grievously concerned at +the growing feebleness and irresolution of the only country that has +ever permitted considerations of humanity to enter into its foreign +policy. Russia--strangely or not, as the observer may choose to +decide--is the sole great power that appears to cherish expectations +of a future growth of American influence in the Eastern Hemisphere. +German agents, acting under well-defined and easily comprehended +instructions, omit no opportunity to belittle and degrade the +reputation of the United States in all the districts which are +included in the scope of Bismarck's magnificent projects. + +But the reputation of this Republic, for good or evil, is not the +question now under consideration. What we desire to point out is the +uselessness of attempting to controvert, by ordinary diplomatic means, +a scheme of wholesale aggrandizement to which the most resolute, +unshrinking, and pitiless mind of this age devotes all its energy and +all the instruments of material force now subject to its control. For +a considerable time a certain amount of reticence will be deemed +necessary, and the completest ignorance of the movement will be +professed, especially by those who have been most actively concerned +in the preparations. But the facts are known to so many who care +nothing for the realization of Bismarck's hopes that the secret cannot +long remain a close one. It is hardly to be supposed, however, that +the fullest possible revelation, much as it might irritate him, would +substantially modify his arrangements. It would perhaps retard them, +and doubtless cause him to noisily disavow the whole proceeding; but +the machinery would continue to move as surely and efficiently as ever +toward the required end. This being understood, and thoughtfully +considered as a firm and fixed purpose of the German rulers, to occupy +as much of the coming century as is necessary for its execution, a +sufficiently new light will be thrown upon the Samoan complication to +show that instead of being a petty incident of international debate, +it is in truth the opening scene of a great and portentous historical +drama. To imagine that the hand which has contrived this colossal +enterprise will falter at the first sound of adverse criticism is to +totally misapprehend the character of its owner and to blindly +disregard the lessons he has been teaching for a score of years. + + +THE INFANT MIND. + +Herbert Spencer holds that while the physical body is being developed, +after birth, until puberty, the real and only education is that which +comes from common experience through the senses. The mind, like the +limbs, is reaching eagerly out to take in the wonders of the new +existence, and the only parental care is that which protects the +infant being from the abuse found in over-exertion. Now the greatest +harm that can happen to the innocent creature is the attempt to hasten +information through mental stimulants. If left to itself, the mind, +like the body, will have a healthy growth. If, however, it is +interfered with through any forcing process, there will be an abnormal +growth of some faculties at the expense of others, and disease or +deformity will result. + +We note, with pleasure, how children race and play like kids or colts +the day through, and we fail to perceive that the mind keeps pace with +this active life. It is not only alive to its new existence, but +enjoys what it finds in its open-air life. To interfere with this +through the false system of training we are pleased to call education, +is injurious, and often fatal. + +All England--at least all the thinking part of the territory under +government of Her Gracious Majesty--is in a high state of alarm over +the stimulants administered through school examinations and the prizes +given in consequence. Authors, scientists, and statesmen have joined +in protesting against this abuse as a process that sickens the body +and weakens the mind. It is a practice that is filling the hospitals, +poor-houses, and asylums for the insane. We call this _cramming_. It +is a forced, hot-house system, productive of more evils than good. Man +is the only animal that loses his young to an extent that makes life +exceptional. A majority of infants die before reaching the age of five +years. If we consider the matter carefully, we find that while the +young of the brutes seldom have more than one enemy to contend with, +an infant has three--the mother who pets it, the father who neglects +it, and the pedagogue who makes an idiot of it. Death indorses them +all. How common it is to meet a slender, thin-limbed girl with sombre +cheeks and lustreless eyes wending her way to school fairly loaded +with books. She is being robbed of home, innocence, and health to +satisfy the Moloch of education. + +A most painful exhibit of--well, we will not say cruelty, +but--ignorance or indifference, our dramatic critic calls attention to +in the case of "Little Lord Fauntleroy." A child of tender years holds +an audience for nearly three hours night after night, nearly all the +time upon the stage, by the most extraordinary effort of memory and an +instinctive turn for acting. This is a torture that discounts a Roman +amphitheatre or the bull-fights of Spain. What is the Society for the +Prevention of Cruelty to Children about, that such an abuse should not +only continue, but spread?--for the success of the piece is such that +we shall have a hundred companies barn-storming over the land and +torturing the brains of as many unhappy children. It is on this +account that we rejoice with exceeding great joy over the death and +final burying of Uncle Tom. This impossible old negro lived on little +Eva, and that angelic child has at last been consigned to many asylums +for idiots. + +From this wanton cruelty it is a comfort to turn to the innocent and +natural budding of the infant mind, and several specimens have floated +in on us from various sources. Here is one from an indignant germ of a +citizen: + + "_Mr. Editor_ + + "DEER SIR--Last nite we had a hie old time at our house next + dore. Mr. ----, a alderman cam home and broke things and beet + his wife--the nabors called the police, and they come and + would not take him in the patrul waggon because he was a + alderman, is that rite + + "Yours to command + "ROBERT" + +When our little friend Robert grows to man's estate he will know +better the privileges and immunities granted the alderman. That +privilege found in his right to beat his wife is not so well +recognized and understood as his right to beat the public. When a +fellow pays from five to ten thousand dollars for the position of +city-father, it is expected that he will find a process through which +to reimburse the private coffers of the municipal corporation called +an alderman's pocket. There is nothing mean about the citizens of a +great commercial centre. All that is asked is that the father +aforesaid shall not be caught at it. As for the little luxury of +getting drunk and beating his wife, that comes under the head of +freedom to the private citizen and a constitutional opposition to +sumptuary laws. + +From this sunny side of aldermanic life we turn to some verse sent to +us by a loving grandpa from the pen of Miss Elsie Rae. Our first and +only regret at not being an illustrated magazine is that we cannot +reproduce the drawings that accompanied the poem: + + THE BROOK. + + As I sat by the brook yesterday, + I heard a voice by me say, + "What are you doing here, + My sweet little dear? + Look around and see your mother, + Also your sweet little brother: + I brought him here because the air is so soft; + + It is so hot up in the loft." + The child turned her head + And very softly said, + "Well, dear little brother, + I am glad you brought him, mother." + "Yes, dear, so am I; + But it is hard to carry him from so high." + + + + +_THE PASSING SHOW._ + + +The month has been made notable by a high moral monument in the +Actors' Club, headed by Augustin Daly. We said moral; we mean +theological, for that was the true aspect of the commotion. It seems +that some friend of Robert Ingersoll proposed the name of that noted +pagan for membership to the club that Edwin Booth has so handsomely +housed. This came to the ears of the pious Daly, and immediately his +theological soul animated his theatrical body to an indignant +opposition. Daly polled the pious body of actors. "What!" he said, +"shall we recognize and indorse this dreadful infidel, this +unbelieving son of Illinois--have him among us as an associate, to +distil his poison of unbelief in our midst? Perish the thought! Let us +rally round our altars and our fires [of the Actors' Club], and die, +if necessary, as martyrs." + +The grotesque part of this lies in the fact that while the pulpit +denounces the stage, the stage on the same ground assaults Bob +Ingersoll. It reminds one of a comic scene perpetrated in Sheridan's +"Rivals," where the master bangs the man, and the man, in turn, kicks +the many-buttoned page. + +Now, the Actors' Club is the same as any other social organization, +and has the comforts and pleasures found in the intercourse of its +members, its main purpose. In London and Washington, the only two +places on earth where clubs flourish in perfect health, another and +more important object is to get the good things of life at cost. These +are clubs of a social sort. There are others that have political +purposes for an end, but these combine such objects with the more +important features of the mere social organizations. To secure the +latter, wines, cigars, and viands at cost prices are what John Bull +aims at, and persists in carrying out to the letter. Without this your +club is a delusion and a snare. + +Now, if in the formation of these social centres it is necessary to +have a view to a man's respectability as well as his entertaining +qualities, the first requisite of an applicant is to be a gentleman. A +whole coat, a clean shirt, and gentlemanly views, if any, are +necessary. What the member's views may be on any abstract proposition +is of no import whatever. He may consider polygamy allowable; he may +even believe in that governmental extortion miscalled "protection," or +in mind-reading, and yet be acceptable as an associate. The most +fascinating club-man we ever knew was a little gone on _morus +multicaulus_. Another had a way of getting up the Nile, and it was +almost impossible for his friends to get him down again. When, in his +talk, he sailed up that classic river, his hearers, like the Arabs on +its banks, "stole silently away." + +We have never heard that our modern pagan was anything but +respectable, and we are told that socially--if he can be got away from +Moses--he is rather entertaining. If the rule applied to Robert the +heathen were the measure used by clubs generally, there would not be +one left with a quorum in the country. + +Nor will it do to apply to this noted person the rule recognized by +Mr. Booth's orphan asylum, that the heathen is not connected with the +stage. He has won fame and fortune from behind the footlights. We +never enjoyed a comedy so much as that given us by the heathen in his +lecture on "The Mistakes of Moses." We laughed an hour "by Shrewsbury +clock," not so much at what the heathen said, as at seeing a corpulent +gentleman in a dress suit prancing about the stage assailing Moses. +Now Moses has been dead some years. He has no lineal descendants that +we know of, unless Moses and Sons, dealers in antique raiment, can be +so considered; and of the two thousand people packed in that theatre +there probably were not six that had ever opened the Old Testament or +that cared a straw for the dead lawgiver. And yet the heathen seemed +animated by a personal feeling, as if Moses had, like Daly, on some +occasion blackballed him. + +He tore Moses all to pieces; he attacked his knowledge of astronomy; +he doubted his correct knowledge of ark-building. He said Moses was +defective as to ventilation. The fact is, that when this corpulent, +unbelieving son of man got through there was not much left of the +eminent Hebrew. But it was a stage performance all the same, and put +Robert at the head of low comedians. Hence he is qualified for an +association with brother-actors. + +No better instance of patient good-nature, backed by a woful lack of +culture, can be had than in the performances given at two New York +theatres by a couple of society women--we beg pardon: we should say +"ladies." Mrs. Potter kills Cleopatra in the first act of "Antony and +Cleopatra," by Shakespeare, Bacon, or somebody else; and Mrs. Langtry +does to Lady Macbeth what Don Cæsar de Bazan found so objectionable in +hanging. "Hanging," cried the immortal Bohemian of aristocratic +birth, "is horrible. It not only kills a man, it makes him +ridiculous." Mrs. Langtry's _Lady Macbeth_ should be relegated to +things which amuse. The audiences leave these burlesques with the +query put in the mouth of an English sailor at an exhibition of +pantomime and fireworks, who, being blown over the adjacent property, +got up and asked, "What'll the cussed fool do next?" + +These are the days when there is a dearth of real dramatic art; when a +tarnished reputation, superb costumes--or lack of costume--are +considered indispensable adjuncts to the star actress; when real +water, miniature conflagrations that choke the audience with smoke, or +startling electrical novelties, are relied upon as the chief +attractions of a new play; when the stage panders to the lowest +tastes; when the spectacular supplants art. The question no longer is, +"What is the play? What are the lessons it teaches, the ideal thoughts +it presents to us?"--but rather, "Who is the actress? What is the +latest scandal concerning her? How far does she outstrip her rivals in +exhibitions of nudity?" Hence we see such alterations of plan on the +part of theatrical managers as the withdrawal of that witty play, "The +Yeomen of the Guard," to make room at the Casino for the "leg-show" of +"Nadjy." + +Of course some of the blame for this state of things must rest on the +small and noisy portion of the public who manage to control access to +the ears of proprietors and playwrights, such as, in the instance +mentioned, the dudes and dudelets of the "Casino crowd," who had grown +weary of a play whose sparkling humor was above their comprehension. A +greater measure of blame rests upon the professional critics, who, +with a few very honorable exceptions, gauge praise or blame according +to the length of the paid advertisements in their respective journals, +or to the favors extended to them at the box-office. Not a score of +years ago an actor of very moderate attainments actually bought his +way into prominence by giving elaborate dinners to his critics, and +keeping open house, with free-lunch counter and bar attachments, for +the benefit of every reporter whom he could form acquaintance with. +Such methods in a short time placed him on a pedestal of notoriety, +and he no doubt hoped to stay there; but a new sensation came, and his +star declined. This is a fair statement of the condition of theatrical +art in America. We have lost the freshness of originality, and we have +not yet attained to the depth of culture and breadth of criticism of +the literary centres of England and the Continent. We are very much +inclined to pay homage to a name, no matter by what means such a name +has been acquired. + +Mrs. Langtry's performance of _Lady Macbeth_ is an instance of this +tendency to hero-worship. It is said in her favor that her +characterization of the part shows deep study and hard work. But these +are the very things that, were she possessed of real dramatic genius, +would never be allowed to show. The height of art is in imitating, +refining, and subliming nature. But if you allow all the secret wheels +and springs to appear, it becomes no art at all. Mrs. Langtry's +effort is a painstaking one, but the effort is too apparent. She +attains no high ideal. When she appeared as _Lady Macbeth_ at the +Fifth Avenue Theatre, after weeks of preparation and puffery, it was +expected that she would give us something new, but the result has been +only her usual mediocrity. + +The character is a combination of a great degree of unscrupulous +ambition and a share of wifely devotion. Lady Macbeth's crime is +partly due to a desire for her husband's advancement; but the chief +motive clearly is, that through his advancement she may attain power. +It is this determination to stop at nothing which may forward her +ambitious schemes that makes the character one of the most terrible of +Shakspere's creations. Charlotte Cushman probably came nearer to the +great poet's ideal than any actress before or since. Ellen Terry makes +the part ridiculous; Mrs. Langtry makes it commonplace. But there is +one scene for which she deserves great credit--the sleep-walk, where +she emerges from her room in a night-dress that looks like a shroud, +her hair entirely concealed by a nightcap that is bound around her +chin, her face pallid and expressionless. Then she begins her +soliloquy, no longer Mrs. Langtry, no longer _Lady Macbeth_, but a +remorseful somnambulist, her words all delivered in the same dull +monotone, without emphasis or expression, like the voice of a soulless +corpse. It makes one shiver to hear her. But that is the only +redeeming feature of her characterization. + +The support is by no means good, but the scenery and costumes are well +brought out and historically accurate. Mr. Charles Coghlan is a fair +reader of his lines, but falls far short of the ideal _Macbeth_. In +fact, by far the best acting is that of Mr. Joseph Wheelock as +_Macduff_. He plays the character with all the vim and enthusiasm that +it demands, and he deservedly receives the largest share of applause +from the audience. + +While Mrs. Langtry has been reaching out her long, voluptuous arms in +an utterly futile attempt to touch the hem of _Lady Macbeth's_ +garment, Mrs. Potter, arrayed like a queen of burlesque, and behaving +like a tipsy grisette at a mask-ball, has been insulting the +traditions of Egypt's queen. The performance of "Antony and Cleopatra" +at Palmer's Theatre was, indeed, little better than a farce. It would +be hard to say which was worse, Mrs. Potter's _Cleopatra_ or Mr. Kyrle +Bellew's _Antony_. As Brutus was the noblest, so it may be said that +Mr. Bellew's _Antony_ is the most insignificant, Roman of them all. It +would be a waste of time and space to attempt a serious criticism of +either of the two impersonations. In a mere spectacular sense the +production was pleasing to the eye; but, historically, the scenery and +accessories were absurdly inaccurate. To import the archaic +architecture of ancient Thebes in Upper Egypt into a city so purely +Greek in its buildings, population, language, and customs as +Alexandria was from its very foundation, is about as ignorant a +blunder as it is possible for a scenic artist to make. And what +business Hindoo nautch-girls had in the Alexandria of Cleopatra is a +conundrum which only a New York stage-manager can answer. We give it +up. Mrs. Potter, too, seems to be unaware that Cleopatra was Greek, +not Egyptian; otherwise she would hardly mispronounce the initial +consonantal sound of the name of her Greek attendant, _Charmian_, as +she invariably does mispronounce it. Possibly her attention is so +deeply absorbed by the fascinations of Worth's millinery that she has +no time to spare for such trivial matters as elocution and orthoepy. + +Outside of Mrs. Langtry's and Mrs. Potter's characterizations there +has been little of novelty. Nat Goodwin has dropped farce and +buffoonery, and essays a higher style of comedy, appearing as +_Gringoire_ in "A Royal Revenge," an adaptation of Theodore de +Banville's play. The character has recently been made familiar by +Coquelin. Mr. Goodwin becomes interesting as the starving poet, and +his personation gives promise of better things. The Grand Opera House +was filled with Nobles of the Mystic Shrine to welcome Mr. Goodwin's +reappearance. At the Fifth Avenue Theatre, in March, he will produce a +new three-act comedy called "A Gold Mine," by Brander Matthews and +George H. Jessop. The latter author, in collaboration with Horace +Townsend, has produced for W. J. Scanlan a new Irish play entitled +"Myles Aroon," brought out at the Fourteenth Street Theatre. Lady +Glover's head-gardener, _Myles Aroon_, is accused of stealing his +mistress' bracelet. He falls in love with her daughter, proves his +innocence, and exposes the thief, who happens to be his rival. This +threadbare plot is treated with Scanlan's inimitable Irish humor, and +the play receives the popular appreciation it deserves. Of a similar +character is the play "Running Wild," which was brought out at the +Star Theatre, and offers abundant opportunity to Mr. John Wild's +versatile comic talents. + +Farquhar's comedy, "The Inconstant," recently played at Daly's +Theatre, is an excellent revival of a good old English comedy. Ada +Rehan was at her best as _Oriana_. At Daly's one is always sure of +finding good plays, well acted. The company is a very even one, +consisting not of one or two stars and all the rest sticks, but of +fair actors well used to each other and to the plays they bring out. +"The Runaway Wife," produced at Niblo's, is a play that is not wanting +in dramatic merit, but it is somewhat spasmodic and jerky. Its +authors, McKee Rankin and Fred G. Maeder, have aimed at creating a +series of dramatic climaxes rather than a smoothly-running play. +Daniel Bandmann has made a success as the _Comte de Maurienne_ in +"Austerlitz," a revival of Tom Taylor's drama, "Dead or Alive." Marie +Wainwright presented us with a very girlish _Rosalind_ at the Star +Theatre, Mr. Louis James playing _Orlando_ very effectively. "Said +Pacha," a three-act comic opera, composed by Richard Stahl of San +Francisco, has met with success in the few cities where it has yet +been played. The music at times is suggestive of Strauss and +Offenbach. Herr August Junkermann, who has been delighting our German +fellow-citizens at the Amberg Theatre, proved himself a character +actor of quite a superior order, and has earned a reputation which +will insure him crowded houses whenever he appears in New York. + +The best all-round performance given at any theatre this season is +Pinero's comedy of "Sweet Lavender" at the Lyceum. The play is as +sweet and pure as a bunch of the fragrant old-fashioned flowers whose +name it bears. The dialogue sparkles with wit and repartee of the most +delightful sort, and the acting is as charming as the piece itself. +Miss Georgie Cayvan may have acted more important characters, but +never one in which she offered a more agreeable picture. There is a +ring of sweet womanliness through her performance, which, like the +delicate ferns and mosses that hide a violet, makes the fragrant +blossom more precious. Miss Louise Dillon is so sweet that she is a +little cloying. She clings about Mr. Henry Miller, who enacts her +lover, in a limp and boneless fashion that is somewhat irritating to +one who remembers that a spine and a few muscles go to make up the +human anatomy, as well as a heart. Mrs. Whiffen's performance is most +agreeable, being all the more admirable from the fact that in the +earlier scenes she is, by the exigencies of the piece, somewhat acid +and acrid. Now everybody knows that for Mrs. Whiffen to be either one +or the other of these things must be clever acting. Mrs. Walcot is far +less satisfactory; she does not dress to the level of her character, +and she is artificial, mincing, and sour. Lemoyne's work is simply +beyond praise. But little finer acting has ever been seen than his +portrayal of _Richard Phenyl_. Very good, too, is Mr. Kelcey's +performance of a breezy young American; and of almost equal merit is +the rendering of the manly young lover by Mr. Miller. A thoroughly +disappointing performance is that of Mr. Walcot. His get-up of a +prosperous, jovial English banker is admirable. But all cause for +admiration began and ended there; his acting never for one moment +reached his make-up. When the scene called for feeling, he had +none--he was merely feeble and flaccid; in short, Mr. and Mrs. Walcot +were the only blots upon an otherwise perfect performance. + +When the long and prosperous run of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" is +considered, the conclusion is inevitable that the theatre-going public +of this city will bear anything. The three scenes that go to make up +this fatiguing representation are utterly void of a single principle +of dramatic construction, and are entirely without dramatic incident, +if we except the appearance upon the scene of a very "scarlet woman." +And that is not exactly the sort of dramatic element which is expected +or desired. The feat of memory which the child Elsie Leslie performs +is remarkable. But it is a very painful exhibition, for it will +inevitably destroy the poor little creature, mentally and physically. +To point out all the manifold inconsistencies and absurdities of this +nondescript entertainment would take up too much space, and bestow +upon it much more advertising than it is worth. To instance a few of +them: An American, a middle-aged man, a prosperous grocer, himself +brings to the house of a customer a basket of groceries. He is +ushered into the sitting-room together with a bootblack, who also +calls at the same time; they are received as guests and friends, and +are entertained by the infant hero, aged seven years! Later, this same +grocer and the bootblack, both being in correspondence with the infant +hero, learn that he is threatened with the loss of his title, +whereupon they each offer him a partnership in their business. +Ultimately, these two go together to England, where they are received +as guests by the haughty Earl who is the grandfather of the infant +hero. And these things are offered to the public in a perfectly +serious manner without any attempt at or any idea of humor. The +mounting of the piece--to call it so, for want of a more fitting +title--is as tawdry and shallow as the piece itself. The library at +Dorincourt Castle is ornamented by cheap tin toys, fastened upon +plaques and hung on the walls. These things are supposed to be the +armor and trappings of the knights of old who were the ancestry of +this great house. This library, which opens out onto a sort of terrace +that overlooks a body of water of about the dimensions of Lake +Michigan, is lighted by numbers of cheap gas-jets--a manner of +illumination unknown in any English country-house, far less an old +feudal castle. A number of good actors and actresses are brought on +the stage from time to time, but they have nothing whatever to do, +consequently they do nothing. They whirl and maunder through three +hours of false sentiment and artificial virtue, ringing the changes on +the statement that they are "bland, passionate, and deeply religious." +They also paint in water-colors, and "of such is the kingdom of +heaven." Silly women sit whimpering at it, servile men sympathize with +them, newspapers earn their "ads" by their false and fulsome praise, +and the box-office flourishes. + +The season of opera at the Metropolitan Opera House has been one of +the most successful ever known. A concerted attack has been made on +German opera by those who prefer the ballet and the spectacular to the +pleasures of music. It was suggested that Italian opera be +substituted, and it was hinted that there was a company in Rome open +to an engagement. The Wagnerites grew furious, and protested. A +comparison of the box-office receipts in former seasons was +instituted, and the preponderance of popular favor was shown to be +always in favor of German opera, and especially of Wagner. That +settled it for a time, but a minor dispute arose. During the +production of Wagner's masterpieces, like "Rheingold" and "Die +Meistersinger," in the scenes which are supposed to take place at +night or in the dark, the stage-manager lowered the lights in the +house so that the glare should not mar the appropriateness of the +scene. This did not at all suit the young ladies who know nothing +about music, but simply come to talk about Mrs. Millionaire's ball or +to see each other's latest costumes. Their papas among the +stockholders were coaxed into ordering the lights to be turned on. +Again the Wagnerites protested, and after three nights the management +returned to the old way, much to the satisfaction of real lovers of +opera. + +The production of Halévy's opera "La Juive" for the first time this +season was coincident with the reappearance of Frau Lilli Lehmann, who +acted and sang the part of _Rachel_ with vigor and precision. Herr +Alvary, who consented to take the part of _Prince Leopold_, with Herr +Perotti as _Eleazar_, and the excellent support of the other singers, +made the production the best that has ever been given in New York, and +one long to be remembered. Frau Schroeder-Hanfstaengl has returned +after an absence of four years, making her reappearance in the modest +part of _Bertha_ in "Le Prophète." + +Manager Frohman promises us a number of new American plays for next +season, which, he says, will be as good as those now produced abroad. +Mr. Louis Aldrich, by the way, has been restrained from using the name +or the funds of the Actors' Order of Friendship in furtherance of his +ungenerous attempt to exclude foreign actors. A sad scene was that of +the sale of the late Lester Wallack's stage costumes. Scarcely a dozen +of the actor's old friends were present, and the various garments were +sold at ridiculously cheap prices, the greater part to dealers in old +clothes! _Sic transit gloria mundi._ + + + + +_REVIEWS._ + + +_The American Commonwealth_, by James Bryce (Macmillan & Co.).--The +thoughtful citizen of the United States who opens this book from any +other motive than mere curiosity will be apt to close it again greatly +disappointed. So far as information is concerned, one might as well +read a debate of the Senate. If it is from curiosity as to what an +Englishman of Professor Bryce's ability and culture may think and say +of us that the work is read, then the work will be found of interest. +It is so rare for one of Britain's citizens, cultured or uncultured, +to care for us, that the novelty alone commands attention. It was +surly old Sam Johnson who said to a feminine owner of a parrot, in +reply to her query as to whether the loquacious bird did not talk +well, "Madam, the wonder is, not that it talks well, but that it talks +at all." This great American nation is an object of utter indifference +to the people of Europe; and among the so-called upper classes we are +under contempt, when noticed, from the rising of the sun to the +setting thereof. + +Professor Bryce writes of us in a flattering way, but without +information. The maze of contradiction that besets him on all sides +seems not to have even embarrassed, let alone discouraged, him. Like a +locomotive threading its way along a network of rails into a depot, he +has his own track and runs smoothly along, as if there were but one, +and quite regardless of the many others crossing and recrossing at +every rod of progress. Fixing one eye on the central government at +Washington and the other on the State governments, he treats us as a +people from these two points, and would doubtless be amazed to learn +that these political structures not only do not make our government, +but are so widely separated from our associations and interests that +they might be annihilated to-day without people being aware of their +loss, save from the relief of taxation found in their destruction. + +One can comprehend the consternation of foreigners at this bold +assertion, when we recognize the fact that its avowal will bring forth +not only denial, but an expression of disgust from about sixty-five +millions of citizens born under and naturalized to this republic of +ours. Yet it is truth; and to comprehend it we must remember that a +constitution is an agreement or compact, entered into directly or +indirectly by the citizens governed, whereby all legislation, +executive control, and judicial decisions are to be under the control +of, and bound and limited by, certain rules of a general nature +clearly stated and set forth in said instrument. Now as the trouble +attending constitutional law, as that of every other sort, is not in +the law itself, but in its application, the constitution, to be at all +available, has to be as simple, general, and limited as possible. The +most perfect and practical is a mere declaration of principles that +leaves all legislation to the wants, habits, and intelligence of the +people. As statutory law is merely public opinion defined and +promulgated by a legislature, it follows that the mere declaration of +rights found in a charter is continually infringed upon by what may be +called the unwritten constitution that grows imperceptibly about us, +and is in the end the controlling constitution. Let us give a familiar +illustration. There is nothing, for example, in our Constitution that +prohibits the people from re-electing a President as often as the +people see right to indulge in that process. Yet when ex-President +Grant saw fit to demand a third term, he was treated as if he were +violating the sacred charter given us by the fathers. + +We believe in our Constitution--and go on violating its plainest +provisions with utter indifference. We resemble that Southern +gentleman who had the Lord's Prayer printed on the head-board of his +bed, and who every night and morning rapped on it with his cane to +call attention to the ceremony, and said solemnly, "O Lord, them's my +sentiments." + +We are a nation of phrase-eaters. As we have said before, all the +fruit of the tree of knowledge has been canned--duly labelled and +stowed away for winter use. There is no people on the face of the +earth so given to a reliance on an abiding faith in dogmas. Our safety +on earth and our salvation hereafter rest on a belief in dogmas. As a +man may be guilty of every crime known to the criminal code and yet +save his election through an avowal of belief in certain articles of +faith, so we may consider ourselves safe if we abide by certain +declarations of political principles. The theological and political +avowals of faith may be violated with impunity in practice, yet there +is a saving grace in words we fail to appreciate. + +The origin of this strange condition is not difficult to find. Our +continent was settled from Europe by two classes. One of these, the +Puritans, fled from England to escape religious persecution. This +persecution consisted in forbidding the theological rebels from +openly expressing in prayer, hymn, or pulpit certain dogmas. They +braved the perils of the seas and the privations of a howling +wilderness that they might open their pious mouths and expand their +pious lungs in a vociferous announcement of what they believed of +abstract theology. The other class was made up of pirates who sought +our continent, mainly south, in search of gold-mines and mythical +riches in the hands of barbarians. And so between the two we became a +race of phrase-eaters. As the theological dogma was considered good +for the soul, a like political dogma was, and is, enough for the body +politic. And how this is acted on we learn from the beginning. The +Puritans, whose peculiar civilization dominated our nation, fled from +persecution, not to establish toleration--for they went to hanging +Quakers and Dissenters as soon as they landed in New England. Under +this sort of government the lawless spirit of the pirates had full +sway, and to-day, if we have a national characteristic, it is that we +have more law and less order than any people on earth. + +This condition makes us capable of the most extraordinary +contradictions. We have, for example, a so-called republic at +Washington that is practically a despotism. It is not the despotism of +one man or of an oligarchy of men. It is a singularly contrived +despotism of office--a bureaucracy that is not only of an +irresponsible routine without brains, but enforced by fines, +penalties, and heavy taxation. It is so removed from popular control +that self-government terminates at the boundary-line of the District +of Columbia. The people living under the very shadow of the Capitol +are deprived of even the form of government; but practically they are +in no worse condition than the citizens of the States. The so-called +republic is a heavy, dull, cast-iron, unimpressive concern, slowly +moved by public opinion, but utterly insensible to popular political +control. We have a President elected every four years. After he is +inaugurated he cannot be disturbed for four years except by +office-seekers or assassination. We have a Senate representing States, +where Delaware or Rhode Island has as much power as New York or +Pennsylvania, and its members are returned every six years. The House +of Representatives is the one popular body, but its members, returned +every two years, are no match for the Senate and Executive, that hold +the political patronage which makes and unmakes members of the House. + +This, in brief, is our condition politically. There is another +significant feature that escapes both native and foreign attention. It +is the theory that underlies the foundation of all, and teaches that +the sovereignty from which there is no appeal rests in the people. +This is a very loose, uncertain, and really helpless affair. The old +adage tells us that what is every man's affair is no man's business. +We have so multiplied elections that they are almost continuous. This +forms party organization, to which the business is intrusted, and +again creates a class of professional politicians whose one business +in life is politics. It is human nature that they should seek to make +their vocation profitable. Here is where money enters; and we have +seen the government pass from a mere political structure to a +commercial machine dominated by money. The taxes for the support of +the government have become enormous, but they make but a trifle to the +indirect extortion, based on a pretence of encouraging home +industries, which selects such certain unprofitable investments, and +taxes the entire population for not only their support but their +enrichment. The amount thus collected for the benefit of the few is +enormous. It would support the standing armies of all Europe. + +One searches in vain through the Constitution to find in letter or +spirit any authority for such abuse. + +This absurd system of government might work in a small, compact +community where all the citizens were known to each other, their +offices few, and their interests identical. But with sixty-odd +millions scattered over a continent that reaches from the Atlantic to +the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, and with these millions +isolated from each other in agricultural pursuits, the system is +impossible of practical operation. + +This is the philosophy of American politics that Professor Bryce fails +to grasp. He devotes his first volume to a consideration of the +political structure as given us by its framers, as if such were in +power and daily practice. He cannot see that it has gone out of +existence as a constitutional government. We have in its stead a +government of corporations, with the political machine as an annex and +aid. + +To understand this we must remember that a government is that active +organization which directly affects the citizens' rights to life, +liberty, and the uses and benefits of their labor, called property by +some, and "the pursuit of happiness" by the Declaration of +Independence. How the corporations have come to usurp this power a few +statistical facts teach us. We have, for example, a hundred-and-sixty +thousand miles of operating railroads. These network the entire land, +and have the almost exclusive distribution of all our products. This +vast instrument, possessed of sovereignty through the franchise, +enters every man's business and pleasure. It is under the control and +virtual ownership of less than sixty families. + +We have the telegraph, which science gave us as the poor man's +post-office, consisting as it does of a pole, a wire, a battery, and a +boy, made a luxury for the rich in the monopoly that gives it to one +man. + +All that one eats, wears, and finds shelter under are, through this +same process of corporation monopoly, enhanced in cost for the benefit +of the few privileged men who grow rapidly into millionaires, while +the masses suffer. + +This is our government. + +Our readers must not charge us with exaggeration. We have statistics, +not to be disputed, as to the existence of the power, and we have high +authority for the charge regarding the despotic use of the power. +Speaking of the railroad corporations, Messrs. Conkling, Sherman, and +Windom said, years since, in their celebrated report to the Senate: +"They [the railroad companies] can tax our products at will in a way +Congress never dare attempt." Now the fiscal agency found in the power +to tax is the highest attribute of sovereignty. Because of the +usurpation in a British parliament accomplished in the attempt to tax +colonies of Americans without their consent we had the War of +Independence. Our fathers marched shoeless, tentless, and in rags +under muskets for seven years to vindicate a principle that we +surrender to the corporations. "They rise above all control, and are a +law unto themselves," said President Garfield. "They rob the producers +on one side and the stockholders on the other," cried the late +Jeremiah S. Black, "and sit on our highways of commerce as did the +robber barons on the rivers of Europe. They make members of the House, +purchase seats in the Senate, select for us candidates for the +Presidency, and own our courts." + +Another attribute of sovereignty, found in furnishing a currency for +the people, has been seized on by something over two thousand +corporations, called banks, and they can contract or expand to further +their own selfish greed or that of their favorites and dependents. For +thus favoring themselves they are paid a sum that would have supported +the national government previous to the late war. + +How this condition affects us every citizen can realize if he will +reflect. The writer of this lives in a quiet valley of Ohio. He never +would know that a political government exists except for the assessor +and collector. His police consists of a revolver, a shot-gun, and four +dogs. Wrong-doers may threaten his life, restrain his liberty, enter +his stables at night, or his house at any hour, and, so far as +government goes, he is his own police. + +So much for our political structure. How is it with the corporations? +They are with him at all hours. He cannot sell a grain of wheat nor an +ounce of meat without their consent and toll. The fuel he burns has +its toll, that is an extortion. The clothes he wears, the food he +eats, the oil he burns by night, the glass that gives him light by +day, the walls that shelter him, the shingles or slate upon the +roof--in a word, all that he has to purchase or use, pays an +uncalled-for tribute to extortion and monopoly. + +The political structure could be annihilated, and the citizen would +not know of its disappearance but for the absence of assessor and +collector, and for the fact learned from the press. + +This is the condition of the dweller in a rural district. The denizen +of a town is not much better off. If he comes in contact with the +political structure at any point, it is to his injury. He is taxed +enormously to drain, pave, and light the streets. The draining is a +source of peril to health, the pavements are infamous, while the light +only makes darkness visible. So far as the police is concerned, it is +a political body, organized and used to further the ends of +professional politicians. The citizen is in more peril from the +club-inclined police than he is from thieves and ruffians. + +A most startling illustration of the subserviency of the political +power to the moneyed combinations incorporated to ride, booted and +spurred, over popular rights, as Jefferson expressed it, was given by +the late tramway strikes at New York. When the conductors and drivers +threw up their employment because of the starvation wages and overwork +decreed by the combine, thereby putting a stop to all transportation, +instead of arresting the presidents and directors, and fetching them +into court to show cause why their charter should not be taken from +them for a failure to fulfil their duty to the public, the entire +police force was taken from duty to the public and put under control +of these corporations. The rebellious laborers were clubbed into +submission, while for a week New-Yorkers were forced either to walk or +to trust their necks to those artfully constructed death-traps called +the elevated roads. + +We are not siding in this one way or the other. It may be that the +laborers were all in the wrong and the corporations right, or the case +may have been the reverse. To decide this is precisely what we want in +a legal tribunal commanding the respect of the public. This is not to +be had. The policeman's club is in the pay and under the control of +the corporations, and it decides. + +All these comments will be decried as unpatriotic. Patriotism with us +is something akin to the love a mother has for a sick or crippled +child. We are like beggars on the highways of the world, exhibiting +our sores to excite, not pity, but--heaven save the mark!--admiration. +Of course we cannot be expected to cure cancers that we boast of. + +In the space allotted us for a review it is impossible to do justice +to Professor Bryce's entertaining ignorance. His book is an amusing +one, not only because the author is clever in his way of expressing +himself, but because we take a strange delight in hearing opinions +about ourselves and our institutions. In his first introductory +sentences the author says: "'What do you think of our institutions?' +is the question addressed to the European traveller in the United +States by every chance acquaintance." The citizen who puts this +question little notes that he is making confession of the melancholy +fact that our so-called "institutions" are open to doubt. It is not +complimentary to our national character that we hang with breathless +interest upon the opinion and judgment of any chance foreigner +regarding what we are wont to assert, among ourselves, is simply +perfect. + + +_Kady_, by Patience Stapleton (Belford, Clarke & Co.).--The fetid +realism of recent American fiction--the realism which, fortunately for +the honor of human nature, is wholly unreal--has become fatally +tiresome from persistent reiteration of one theme. Even the most +morbid readers must in time weary of an endless sequence of +immoralities, all of the same family, and all whitened with the scales +of the same moral leprosy. When the Saxon mind descends to sensualism +it becomes merely gross and brutish; for it lacks the airy +sprightliness of Latin licentiousness which turns evil to gayety and +compels a smile at the corners of the mouth, even while the forehead +corrugates into the frown of reprobation. American blood is +essentially moral, and when overheated becomes clogged and thickened, +producing the antic vagaries of delirium in the oppressed brain. An +American cannot be _just a little_ wicked, as a Frenchman can. He must +be sound-hearted and clean-thoughted, or he must throw off all +pretence to decency and descend into the sheer obscene. This is why +American erotic fiction is hysterically immoral and not delicately +suggestive, and why, instead of the filmy _double entendre_, which you +can innocently laugh at for its wit, or, with more hardihood, enjoy +for its tingling spice, we have the bald, unclothed picture, whose +fiery coloring and sharp outline leave no chance for doubt as to its +meaning. + +When this order of fiction was flung, naked and ogling, into the midst +of an astonished public, there was a gasp of surprise and a general +halt of indecision; while, like the monkey burned with hot molasses +candy, the common countenance was petrified into a curious mixture of +horror and delight. Like a hanging, a dissection, or the details of a +murder, it has presented a fascination for a large number of minds; +but if there were to be a man hanged every day in each of the city +squares, it would not be long before people passing by would say to +each other, "Pooh! only a hanging! revolting business anyway!" and +walk on without so much as a second glance. And so it is, or is +getting to be, with that class of fiction which has only the erotic +for its cause of being. When volume after volume, issuing from the +press, offers as a central point and motive a microscopic analysis of +the animal side of human nature, taking for text that all men are +libidinous and all women unchaste in various degrees, the ordinary +reader, seeking merely for amusement, at length finds himself +suffocated in the steam of moral turpitude, and craves for a breath of +purer, cleaner air. Such an atmosphere, cold, fresh, and bracing as +the winds which blow over the mountain region where its scene is +chiefly laid, surrounds this sweetest and most delightful of recent +novels, "Kady." + +"Kady" is the work of a mind at once refined and vigorous. The author +labors at the exposition of no trite moral. There is not a line of +preaching in the book, and yet it would be a hardened nature which +could rise from reading it, with his heart full of the simple nobility +of Abner Clark, and commit a mean action. To recognize the reality of +such a character as that of the old pioneer, simple, uneducated, and +rude, yet, in the inborn impulses of his nature, nobly delicate, +loftily honorable, good in the best and manliest sense--to recognize +that such men have lived and do live, is to put aside into the limbo +of the vacuous all philosophies of negation and sophistries of +pessimism. Abner Clark is unquestionably one of the few grand +creations of American fiction. He is religious, but his religion is +such that an infidel might respect it. It is the broad and simple +creed of love--love, with its concomitants of charity, forgiveness, +and wide sympathy. The simple prayer which he offers up over the grave +of the artist Harrison's mother is a masterpiece. "An' we who must +keep on in the round of toil and trouble need not wish her back, who +was so weary with work and pain. The hand that reared these mount'ins, +that laid the lake, that colors the sunset sky, is reached down to +human creeturs, to the weakest or the strongest, and takes them into +His keepin'. There's a dreary life here and a happy life hereafter; +... and there's a home for us all beyond these mount'ins tall." + +It is the religion of nature, the simple faith of the patriarchs of +old, the belief that finds its strongest support in a noble pantheism, +in the love of the Creator's handiwork, in a perception of the +Omnipotent in the marvellous grandeur of material beauty. And yet this +old man is neither superstitious nor weak. In order to save his young +son from moral ruin and the clutches of card-sharpers, he can drink +and gamble--aye, and play a game of poker like a bunco-steerer, and +beat roguery before its very eyes. This game of poker, by the way, is +one of the gems of the book. How the author, whose refinement of mind +and heart is visible in every line of the whole story, has been able +to study such scenes and such personages as this poker-party and these +border roughs to such wonderful purpose, it is hard to understand. The +whole incident stands out with the stern light and shadow of Salvator. +It is almost brutal in its realism, but is touchingly relieved by the +simple remorse of the misguided son and the rugged nobility of his +father. + +"I come here ternight ter save my boy an' teach him a lesson.... Now +git in the boat," said Abner, "and I, a father of sixty, will row his +son, a drunkard and a gambler, home." + +"Oh, father," sobbed the miserable boy, "I--I never can forgive +myself! I will never touch cards again!" At the shore his father laid +his hand on Seeley's shoulder. "Seeley, I love ye too well to be mad +with ye, but try to take the decent road, an' foller it straight." + +The old man's death in the pursuit of his duty, the single word, +"Forgive," to his weak and repentant son, the wild grief of his +daughter Kady, touch the very centre of true pathos. Kady herself, +poor, loving, wild little Kady, half savage and true woman, is a +beautiful character. Greatly tempted, misunderstood, slandered, and +neglected, she never, by one weak or wilful act, loses the entire +sympathy of the reader. As truthful in her character of border heroine +as M'liss, Kady is a much more touching and lovable creation, without +the occasional repulsive traits of Bret Harte's portraiture. As her +father is a true and noble gentleman, despite the accidents of birth +and environment, so is his daughter, under her uncouth garb and rude +speech, a true and noble woman. + +Clopper, with his serene optimism, Leddy, his wife, Miss Pinkham and +the cap-border, Levi Bean, Tilford Harrison the egotistical and +self-persecuting artist with his miserable family, the Dennisons, +Louisy and Emmeline, Madam Ferris, and Aunt Mary--a whole gallery of +masterly portraits, are all instinct with life, all painted from +evident sittings of originals. + +If there be any marked defect in the book it is in the excess of +dialect and the thinness of the background of more cultivated life. It +is much to say that this book, whose style is chiefly dialect, rarely +ceases to charm and never tires. The author, whose pen has so long run +in the uncouth speech of this border district, occasionally forgets +her own English and drops a rude construction of sentence, or a +primitive term into her own lucid phrases. But these slips are rare, +and it is almost hypercriticism to notice them. + +On all accounts "Kady" is one of the most remarkable books of the +time. Purely American, without one taint of animalism though dealing +with the most primitive humanity, true, sweet, and yet masculine in +its power, it is a work which will take its place in the literature of +the country as a model which cannot be too closely studied or too much +admired. + + +_'Twixt Love and Law_: A novel, by Annie Jenness Miller (Belford, +Clarke & Co.).--Literature which neither refreshes, amuses, nor +instructs has no proper place in the world of letters; and assuredly +that class of literature which enervates the mind and beckons beyond +the noon-mark of propriety has no rights which the critic or the +moralist is bound to respect. It is a marked characteristic of that +order of recent fiction which takes for text the more or less unlawful +relations of the sexes, that the style should be punctuated with +shrieks, and the movement be a series of hysterical writhings. A woman +with keen feelings does not, at every small anticlimax of her +existence, perform a hand-spring and somersault as a means of giving +vent to her emotions. Neither does she go about with a nose reddened +with weeping, exploding in vociferous adjectives as a means of +expressing her grief. "To be always and everywhere starved! starved! +starved!" wails Mrs. Miller's heroine, as a sort of footnote to a +proposal of marriage which she has just declined. "Oh, how cruel it +is!" Thereupon "she shivered in the clutch of her despair, and, +moaning, threw herself face downward upon the bosom of Mother Earth," +very much to the amaze of the rejected suitor, who promptly picks her +up and "holds her against his breast." She is intense, superlatively +intense. "Her white bosom tossed and rose and fell; the burnished +masses of her hair escaped and rioted on the midnight air. 'Spare me! +spare me! Alex! Alex! Alex!' Out of the unyielding density of the +night a voice of ecstasy breathed her name." A meeting takes place in +this "unyielding density" with "Alex," a married man. The heroine +being in love with him and he with her, it follows as a necessary +element in this class of fiction that the wife should be all that is +mean, evil, shrewish, and generally detestable. In such a state of +affairs a wife is a difficult problem, a nuisance, and yet very +useful; for if there were no wife to interpose her uncomfortable +personality between the lovers, there would be no reason for all these +meetings in the "unyielding density," no exclamatory passages, no +daring escapades along the very verge of the questionable, and, hence, +no novel--which, all things considered, might not be so great a +misfortune after all. In the course of this story, which includes much +outcry, many combats with tempestuous passion, some sacrifices, a +trial for attempted murder, and a divorce, the unpleasant marital +impediment is comfortably put out of the way, and the lovers are +safely married. + +"'Twixt Love and Law" is one of those books, "not wicked, but unwise," +which, whatever their ostensible moral may be, add to the perplexity +and difficulty of social adjustment. Admitting that our marriage and +divorce laws are unjust and ineffectual, still, to bring contempt, +open or implied, upon the marriage relation, can only impede, not +advance, a rational solution of the question. In nine cases out of ten +vanity and loose morals are the primary causes of marital +unfaithfulness in desire or act. In writing such a book as "'Twixt +Love and Law," clever and often brilliant as it is, the author has not +used her graceful pen and clear head to the best interests of her sex. + + + + +_THE APPEAL._ + + + Cold, bitter cold beneath the wild March moon, + The winter snow lies on my frozen breast; + And o'er my head the cypress branches croon + A sad and ceaseless dirge, and break my rest. + + I hear the bell chime in the dark church tower, + The rising wind, a passer's hasty tread; + But no voice wakes the silence, hour by hour, + Among the uncompanionable dead. + + Perchance they lie in deep, unconscious calm, + Regretting nothing in the world above; + Alas! for me it has not lost its charm-- + There is no peace where thou art not, my love! + + Oh! bid me come to thee, and I will rise + From my unquiet couch and steal to thine, + And touch thy cheek, and kiss thy sleeping eyes, + And clasp thee, as of old, till morning shine! + + And I will murmur in thy drowsy ears + Sweet utterances of love and olden song, + Till thou shalt half awake in blissful tears, + And cry "My love, why hast thou staid so long?" + + CHARLES LOTIN HILDRETH. + + + + +A COVENANT WITH DEATH.[1] + +_A NARRATIVE._ + +BY THE AUTHOR OF "AN UNLAID GHOST." + + + To E. P. T. + "So little payment for so great a debt." + + +CHAPTER I. + + "O Death in Life! the days that are no more." + +It would have been no surprise to his friends had Loyd Morton speedily +followed his young wife to the grave. Their brief union had been a +very communion of souls--one of those rare experiences in wedlock for +jealousy of which Destiny may almost be pardoned. Small wonder, +therefore, that his grief was of that speechless description which +"whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break." For a time it +was thought he could not survive his dumb despair; or, if he did, that +melancholia would claim him an easy victim. It is needless to affirm +that he escaped the wreck of both life and reason, since the existence +of this chronicle attests so much. + +The manner of his escape does not appear; though it was astutely +surmised, and perhaps with some show of probability, that, being an +expert and practitioner in disorders of the nervous system, he healed +himself, albeit physicians of experience may entertain contrary views +concerning the feasibility of the feat. At all events, he came forth +to face his world again, a sad, pallid being indued with indomitable +perseverance and fortitude; more than ever zealous in the discharge of +his engagements; as never before devoted to his profession. But a +sympathetic eye could not fail to detect the feverish abandonment of +self, the positively voracious hungering for constant activity, which +were in themselves a pathetic commentary upon the frame of mind in +which his bereavement had left him. + +He had become the wraith-like semblance of the original young Doctor +Morton, once so buoyant, so pampered by favoring Fate--in a word, so +worthy of righteous envy. Alas! what eternities to him were those +hours of lonely seclusion when there were no visits to pay and no +clients to awaken the sepulchral echoes of his house with summons at +the bell--dark hours of nothingness, blank eras of forlorn distress! + +Yet, let there be no suspicion that Loyd Morton's was an unmanly +grief; it was no more a lachrymose distemper than it was a stubborn +setting of his face against his lot. His sorrow was far too genuine to +be self-conscious, and, if he brooded in his despair, it was simply +because something had gone out of his life infinitely more precious +than life itself; something that he would have given his life to +recover, since absolute annihilation seemed to him preferable to this +existing condition of death in life. + +His love had been a first, all-absorbing passion; it had introduced +into his hitherto prosaic existence a light and genial warmth that had +set the soft glow of the rose upon its humblest attributes; it had +afforded him an object to live for, a goal worthy his ambition, and +had filled the void of indefinable longing with that sense of +completeness which is ever the result of a perfect alliance between +sympathy and sincerity of purpose. + +He had met his affinity during his student-days; had wooed, and won, +and married her in the first flush of that youthful affection. +Possibly the old-time shades of Stuttgart lent a quaint and +fascinating glamour to the courtship; but, if glamour there were, it +became the permanent atmosphere that hallowed their marital relations +when the work of life began at home, stripped of all romantic +association. Indeed, their honeymoon never waned to setting; it simply +suffered total eclipse. + +It was fortunate that, at the period of his overwhelming bereavement, +the young physician chanced to be in vogue. American nervous systems +are notoriously more subject to disorder than any on the face of the +earth; and he who ministers successfully to, or rather deciphers +cleverly, these occult riddles of the human anatomy of the West, is +not only an exceedingly busy, but an eminently fortunate, man. Day and +night he is at the beck and call of those whose unstrung nerves +require tuning; while, if his patience is forced to pay the penalty of +his devotion, the shade of Midas, by way of recompense, seems +indefatigable in its superintendence of the filling of his coffers. + +To repute and popularity had Loyd Morton attained in an exceptional +degree; and, for the reason that a host of wayward nervous systems +could not be induced to respect the season of his grief, he was fairly +dragged out of his seclusion, and made to identify himself with the +real or imaginary woes of his patients. And it was fortunate that it +was so, since on this account, only in the solitude of those chambers, +about which clung the memory of his lost one like a benison, had he +opportunity to listen to the lament of his anguished heart. And the +monotonous cry of that heart was ever, "Paula, Paula, Paula! My wife!" + +Surely there could have been no rest for her soul if that wail of +affliction penetrated the celestial sphere to the enjoyment of which +her blameless life entitled her. Far from contributing to her repose, +such grieving emphasis must have fettered her spirit to earth. + +"I feel," he told himself at the close of his first year of widowhood, +"as though I was environed by a sere wilderness, over whose trackless +wastes I must trudge until I meet the ashy horizon and find the end. +No ray of light, no star to twinkle hope; always these weeping clouds +of grizzled pallor! Only one comfort is vouchsafed me--fatigue. +Fortunately, fatigue means sleep, and sleep oblivion!" + +Lost in dreary revery, he sat by the window of his study one April +evening, with the melancholy spring-tide gloaming about him. A +nesting-bird twittered, and the scent of the sodden earth filtered in +at the half-open casement. + +Two years ago that day he had watched a German mother raise the bridal +wreath from her daughter's brow, the happy ceremonial over, and had +listened, as in a rapturous dream, to the words: "She is thine. Take +her; but, oh! my son, guard, guide, and cherish her, for the sake of +her fond mother, when the boundless sea shall roll between us!" + +One year agone to an hour, and in the dismal after-glow of a rainy +sunset, he had stood beside the open grave, his agonized heart-throbs +echoing the wet clods as they fell upon the casket that contained the +last fragment of his shattered hopes--his broken idol screened from +his yearning gaze by hideous glint of plate and polished wood. + +Nuptial and burial rites celebrated with the self-same ghastly flowers +within a twelve-month! A wreath for a bride, a chaplet for a corpse, +fragrant tokens for the quick and the dead--and so the chapter ended! + +The monotonous drip of the eaves, the fitful sough of the miasmatic +wind, the odor of the humid garden-plot, the blood-red hem of the +leaden clouds whose skirts trailed languidly along the western +horizon--all, all so vividly recalled that grievous hour of sepulture, +so painfully accentuated its anniversary, that, in very desolation of +soul, he exclaimed, + +"My God! how unutterably lonely and wretched I am! What would I not +give for one word, one glimpse, for the slightest assurance that we +are not doomed to eternal separation; that the closing of the eyes in +death does not signify instant annihilation!" + +The sudden clang of the office-bell interrupted his utterance and +almost deprived him of breath, so significant seemed the punctuation +to his thought. He rose hastily and, contrary to his custom, preceded +the servant through the hall. + +Upon throwing open the outer door, he found himself confronted by a +woman, closely veiled and clothed in black, her tall and slender +figure standing forth in strong relief against the lurid gloom of the +evening. + +For an instant silence prevailed, save for the retreating footsteps of +the servant as he returned to his quarters. + +"You are Doctor Loyd Morton," the woman began in a tone low yet +perfectly distinct, a tone of assertion rather than inquiry. "Can you +give me a few moments' consultation?" + +"These are my office-hours, madam," he replied, a feeling of mingled +curiosity and repulsion taking possession of him. + +"I know; but I am told that you are in great request. Shall we be +undisturbed?" + +"Quite so. Will you come in?" + +He stepped aside and she entered, raising her veil as she did so, +though the darkness of the hall prevented his determining what manner +of countenance she wore. The twilight that penetrated the office +through uncurtained windows, however, discovered a delicate, pale face +framed in tendrils of soft chestnut hair and alight with eyes of the +same indescribable tint. It was not a strictly beautiful face, +according to the canons of beauty, yet it was one of those faces one +glance at which invites another, until the spell of fascination claims +the beholder. + +Loyd Morton had had impressionable days, but for obvious reasons they +were at an end. Still, he was interested; and the better to study his +visitor he was about to strike a match for the purpose of lighting a +lamp, when the woman, with swift divination of his intent, exclaimed: + +"I prefer the twilight," adding; "I shall not detain you long." + +Morton hesitatingly replaced the unignited match, and glanced at his +visitor in a manner eloquent of his desire to learn the object of her +call. + +She noted the silent interrogation in her keen way, and, after a swift +survey of the shadowy apartment, continued: + +"I believe you assured me that we should be undisturbed." + +"I did, madam." + +"We are not alone, however." + +"I beg your pardon; we are quite alone." + +"No, no! there is a presence here beside our own--a presence so real, +so powerful, as to be almost tangible. Oh, I understand that look of +quick intelligence in your eyes and that wan smile lurking about your +lips. You think me deranged; but I can easily prove to you that I am +not." + +She had spoken with unexpected fervor, and now paused, pressing her +slender hand upon her eyes, as if to compose herself. + +"I did not think to encounter one of my so-called crises here," she +resumed presently; "but it is just as well, since by this means you +can better form some diagnosis of my case. Do--do I afford you any +hint? Perhaps, though, I do not interest you?" + +His unresponsive silence seemed to dispirit her, for her eager eyes +fell dejectedly. + +"On the contrary, you interest me very much," he answered gently. +"Will you be seated, and give me some information regarding your +symptoms?" + +She sank into the depths of a reclining-chair that faced the western +window, while Morton seated himself directly before her. + +The blood-red ribbon below the rainy clouds had faded and shrunk to a +filament of pale olive that gave forth a weird, crepuscular glimmer. +Objects as white as the pallid face among the cushions seemed to +absorb the sensitive light and to grow yet more spectral through its +aid. + +"First of all," remarked the young doctor, "kindly give me your name +and such information as you please concerning your manner of life." + +The voice that replied was low to drowsiness. + +"My name is Revaleon--Margaret Revaleon. I am an Englishwoman by +birth, and have been for three years the wife of a Canadian. Until my +child was born I enjoyed, if not robust, at least excellent, health. +For the past year I have lost ground; while these crises, as I call +them, have debilitated and depressed me. Thinking a change would +benefit me, I have come to visit friends in this neighborhood. In the +hope of relief from my peculiar ailment, which I believe to be purely +nervous, I have sought you out, attracted by your fame as an expert in +disorders of the nervous system. Ah, doctor," she added, struggling +against the lethargy that oppressed her, "do not tell me that I am +incurable, since I have so much to live for!" + +She seemed as ingenuous as a child; her unaffected manner being such +as speedily wins its way to confidence. The sense of mingled repulsion +and curiosity, which in the first moment she had exerted upon Morton, +vanished, giving place to a feeling of genuine interest, perhaps +concern. + +"I see no reason for pronouncing the doom you dread, Mrs. Revaleon," +he said; "not, at least, until you explain the 'peculiar ailment' you +allude to." + +Her eyes rested upon him with singular intentness--singular, because +they appeared to lack speculation; that is to say, they were dilated, +and luminous with a strange yellow light. At the same time it was +evident that their regard was introspective, if speculative at all. +Yet her reply followed with a full consciousness of the situation. + +"I am unable to explain my malady," she said. "It consists in little +more than what you see at this moment. If _you_ cannot account for my +present condition, it must continue a mystery to me." + +He leaned forward and took her hands in his. They were icy cold, +although they responded to his touch with an indescribable, nervous +vibration. + +"I have no trouble of the heart," she murmured, divining his +suspicion; "I suffer this lowering of vitality only when in my present +condition." + +He released her hands and sat back in his chair, regarding her +fixedly. + +After a brief pause, he remarked, + +"I must ask you to explain what you mean by your 'present condition.'" + +"I mean, Dr. Morton, that, since you assure me that there is no +presence in this room other than our own, I must possess some species +of clairvoyance which my present condition induces. I assure you that +there _is a third presence here_, that completely overshadows you! The +consciousness of this fact freezes my very marrow and chills my being +with the chill of death. It is by no means the first time that I have +experienced these baleful sensations, or I should not have come to you +for advice and counsel. Heaven knows I have no wish to be cognizant of +these occult matters; but I am completely powerless to struggle +against them. Ah, me!" she sighed wearily, "had I lived in the days of +witchcraft, I suppose I should have been burned at the stake, despite +my innocence." + +Her voice sank to a whisper, and with its cadence her eye-lids drooped +and closed; her breathing became stertorous, while her teeth ground +each other with an appalling suggestion of physical agony, of which +her body gave no evidence, being quiescent. + +Startled though he was, Morton's first suspicion was that he was being +made the victim of some clever imposture. This fancy, however, soon +gave place to a belief that he was witnessing some sort of refined +hysteria. Were the latter supposition the case, he felt himself equal +to the emergency. + +He leaned forward and placed his hands firmly upon the shoulders of +the inanimate woman. "Enough of this, Mrs. Revaleon!" he exclaimed in +a firm voice; "if I am to assist you, you must assist me! I command +you to open your eyes!" + +Not so much as a nerve vibrated in the corpse-like figure. + +Aroused to a determination to thoroughly investigate the phenomenon, +Morton quickly ignited a candle, and, holding it in one hand, he +passed it close to the woman's eyes, the heavy lids of which he +alternately raised with the fingers of his disengaged hand. + +The eyes returned a dull, sightless glare to the test. + +As a last resort to arouse consciousness or discover imposture, he +produced a delicate lancet, and, raising the lace about the woman's +wrist, he lightly scarified the cold, white flesh. Blood sluggishly +tinged the slight abrasion, but, to his amazement, the immobility of +his subject failed to relax one jot; yet the experiment was not +entirely without result, since at the same moment a voice, muffled and +far away in sound, broke the expectant silence: + +"Loyd! Loyd!" + +The twilight had deepened to actual gloom, which the flickering of the +weird candle-light but served to accentuate. It seemed impossible to +establish evidence to prove that it was the lips of Margaret Revaleon +that had framed the thrilling utterance; indeed, the eerie tone could +be likened to nothing human. + +Spellbound the young doctor stood, doubting the evidence of his +senses, yet listening--listening, until it came again, with positive +enunciation and import, + +"Loyd!" + +"In Heaven's name, who calls?" he exclaimed. + +"Paula, your wife." + + +CHAPTER II. + + "We see but dimly through the mists and vapors; + Amid these earthly damps, + What seem to us but sad, funereal tapers + May be heaven's distant lamps." + +Though Loyd Morton had proved himself to be an ideal lover, he was at +heart an eminently practical man. It is true he had not yet quite +outlived that heyday of impressions that occurs somewhere in the first +two score years of all lives. His eager mind grasped, with avidity, +the various tenets of his day, and strove to fathom them; if he failed +in any instance, he chose that happy mean between scepticism and +positive unbelief, and waited for more light. He felt that he had been +born into an epoch of rare progress, and that it behooved him to +reject nothing worthy of intelligent consideration. There can be no +doubt that the abundant sentiment in his nature lent itself to the +higher phases of intellectual inquiry; yet, in justice, he could not +be called a visionary person--at least, prior to this particular April +evening. It was but natural that, in the wide circle of his +professional and social acquaintanceship he should have fallen in with +more than one disciple of the advanced theory of modern spiritualism. +To converse with all such, he lent a courteous, even interested, ear. +He found himself not infrequently listening in amazement to certain +thrilling experiences related by the initiated, and, as a result, he +promised himself the satisfaction of investigating the matter for +himself some day; but into his busy existence that day had not as yet +found its way. Consequently, he had formed no opinion whatever as +regarded the so-called communion between the living and the dead. As +has been said, his interest in the question had been excited--more, +possibly, than comported with the distinction of his professional +position; but it is doubtful if he would have rejected the +investigation simply on this account. + +Here, however, was an instance fairly thrust upon him, which startled, +amazed, and mystified him. That the woman, Margaret Revaleon, was in a +state of complete coma, he had satisfied himself beyond peradventure. +Accomplished physicians are not apt to be deceived regarding the +results of infallible tests; and yet here was a subject, absolutely +unconscious, speaking not only intelligently, but with a degree of +appositeness that, considering the circumstances, was appalling. + +Thoroughly alive to the situation, not to say excited, yet +sufficiently master of himself to keep well within the pale of +scepticism, Morton resumed his seat, which he had quitted in some +agitation when informed that he was face to face with the invisibility +of his wife, and disposed himself to probe the mystery. + +Mrs. Revaleon had ceased to breathe stertorously; a complacent, almost +smiling expression had taken possession of her features, and she had +leaned forward in her chair, with outstretched hands, though her eyes +remained closed. + +"Give me your hands, Loyd," she said in the same murmurous tone, that +retained not a vestige of her normal voice, "will you not welcome me +back?" + +Morton relinquished his hands into the keeping of that cold clasp, in +silence. + +"O Loyd, my husband," the voice resumed, "can you not believe that it +is I, Paula, your wife?" + +"What would be the consequence of my saying that I cannot believe?" he +responded with constraint. + +"It would make it all the more difficult for me to convince you that I +am indeed with you." + +"Then I will _say_ that I believe." + +"I am clairvoyant. You cannot mislead a spirit capable of reading your +mind as though it were an open book. Ah, what can I do to conquer your +incredulity? What can I say to convince you that I am as truly with +you at _this_ moment as I was at any moment while in the flesh? It is +your sacred love for me that has attracted my spirit to this +fortuitous reunion. Oh, do not doubt me!--rather assist me, if ever +you loved me, Lolo!" + +He started then, and his dark eyes shone like twin stars. "How came +_you_ by that name?" he demanded unsteadily--"a name never uttered in +the presence of any living being, save myself?" + +"How came I by that endearing epithet!" the voice answered. "Did not +my absorbing fondness for you suggest it? Was it not the coinage of my +affectionate fancy? I beseech you, separate this medium, through whom +I speak, from my personality. Understand that this woman is +practically dead, while it is I, Paula Morton, who actuate her brain, +her voice, her very being." + +"My God!" exclaimed Morton, "this is beyond my comprehension!" + +"Let perfect faith control you while this brief communion lasts; then +take refuge in scepticism--if you can. You are so unhappy, so +wretched, without me, that I should think you would be glad to meet me +more than half way." + +"I cannot see you, if it is you." + +"Another question of faith! But it matters not; you will believe in +time. So you miss me?" + +"My life is a void without my wife," he replied. + +"What divine love! Loyd, you and I constitute an affinity. I know +_now_ how rare are earthly affinities; that is, unions of souls that +are destined to endure through all eternity. Every soul born into +existence is allotted an affinity, which sooner or later it will meet, +in accordance with divine ordinance. These unions of kindred souls, +attuned, as they are, to surpassing harmony, are rare upon earth, +though they may occur, as in our case; but, generally, years--even +ages--may transpire ere these ineffable coalitions are consummated. +_Our_ souls are affined; we have no need to search. We are simply +undergoing a temporary separation. You are coming to me; I am waiting +for you. I rejoice in the thought, and the knowledge gives me strength +to control this medium, who brings me into such intimate communion +with you." + +At this juncture in the extraordinary interview, a bell rang +violently, and a moment later a light rap sounded upon the door, a +preconcerted signal between the doctor and his servant, announcing the +fact that another visitor demanded admittance. + +It is not surprising that Morton was too deeply absorbed to notice the +threatening intrusion. + +"If--if I thought," he said, his hesitation marking the intensity of +his emotion, "if I suspected that I was being made the dupe of some +plausible imposture, the butt of some sort of nameless sorcery, I--" + +"Loyd, Loyd," wailed the voice, "you wrong me, wrong me grievously! +Your incredulity dooms me to such unhappiness as I have never known." + +"You imply that you have known some degree of unhappiness! You were +never unhappy upon earth; are you so now--wherever you may be?" + +"Oh, no! I am supremely happy." + +"Supremely happy," he echoed, jealously; "supremely happy, though +separated from me! and yet you term your love for me divine!" + +"It is divine, divine as all things heavenly are. For the perfecting +of such love as mine the evidence of the senses is not requisite; +indeed, it would prove antagonistic. Your earthly eyes are blind; but +from my vision have fallen away the scales, which fact renders my +spiritual sight clairvoyant. I can see you at all times, and can be +with you with the celerity of the birth of thought. Where then, in +what resides the separation for me?" + +"For _you_!" he cried, passionately; "ay, but for _me_! I am blind; +these mortal scales are upon my eyes, I am not clairvoyant. The wings +of thought refuse to raise me above this present slough of despond +into which I have fallen; they flutter with me back among the memories +of the dead past, but that is all! I am still living in the flesh, and +heaven knows that this bitter separation is a reality to me!" + +Thereupon ensued a momentary silence, which was ere long ruptured by +the low, gentle voice. + +"Loyd," it whispered, "you bind me to earth; your love fetters my +spirit!" + +"If your love were unchanged," he murmured, disconsolately, "there +would be no bondage in such magnetism!" + +"My love, having been spiritualized, is far more absorbing than ever +it was." + +"Then why should you complain that the attraction of my love binds you +to earth? If it is the spirit of my wife that addresses me at this +moment, as you pretend, if your love for me is greater and purer than +it was upon earth--which, as God is my judge, I can scarcely +credit--why should you not be happier in this sphere, where I am, than +in the realm of heaven?" + +"Simply because it is not heaven here." + +"But _I_ am here!" + +"For a time only, for a little space; and there is no reckoning of +time in eternity. Soon you will be with me--forever." + +"Paula! Would I were with you now!" + +"Hush! That wish is impious." + +"Ah, but think! I have the means at my command to send my soul into +eternity, within the twinkling of an eye!" + +"Into eternity, but not to me. Oh, my husband, there is no sin +accounted so heinous as the taking of a God-given life. You must live +on until your appointed hour, then come into the courts of heaven with +hands unstained, with soul unsullied." + +Raised to a pinnacle of exaltation which, in his normal condition, he +would have deemed unattainable to one of his stanch rationality, +Morton exclaimed: + +"I _cannot_ live without you! After what I have just heard, which +renders my dreary existence tenfold more dreary, I will not hold +myself responsible for what I may do. Oh, Paula, my wife, my wife! if +you would not have me commit a crime against myself which may separate +us for all eternity, come back to me!" + +"I will come back to you," responded the voice. + +"Oh, I do not mean enveloped in this ghostly invisibility!" he cried. + +"No, Loyd, I will return to you in the flesh." + +Supreme as had been the moment of his supplication, he had retained +sufficient reason not to expect a concession; consequently he felt +that he was taking leave of his wits as he gasped, + +"You will return to me--_in the flesh_!" + +"In the flesh. Before the dawn of another day you shall take a living +body in your arms and know that it is animated by my soul." + +His clasp tightened upon the hands he held. + +"Am I mad? Do I hear aright?" he faltered, his utterance thick with +wonder; "in God's name, _how_ will you effect such reincarnation?" + +There was a momentary pause; and then the voice replied with some note +of omen in its firmness: + +"Mark the test I am about to give to you! You will be called to attend +a dying woman--you _are_ called; already is the messenger here; a +woman's soul is trembling upon the threshold of eternity. If you are +alone with her when that soul takes wing, my spirit will instantly +take its place, and your skill will do the rest, accomplish the +resurrection of that body and secure our further communion. But there +may be consequences over which _I_ shall have no control; those +consequences _you_ will have to confront. Are you willing to accept +the chances?" + +"Willing! All I ask is the opportunity to meet them!" + +"Very well. You have conjured me back to earth. With you rests the +responsibility!" + +The voice expired in a sigh, and the hitherto quiescent figure of +Margaret Revaleon shuddered, while her hands trembled convulsively. +Thereupon followed the stertorous breathing again, and the painful +gnashing of the teeth. An instant later her great hazel eyes flashed +open, and rested with a sightless stare upon the flickering candle. + +"Oh, where am I?" she moaned languidly, her voice having retaken its +normal tone; then came a flash of intelligence like the nascent tremor +of dawn; at last full consciousness of her surroundings. + +"Oh, is it you, Doctor Morton?" she faltered, smiling faintly; "really +I had forgotten you. Where have I been? What do you think of my case? +Is it hopeless? By your grave look I infer it must be." + +At this moment the signal at the door was repeated more peremptorily. + +Morton gathered his energies with an effort. + +"Excuse me for a moment, Mrs. Revaleon," he stammered, with difficulty +commanding himself, "I will return to you presently." + +With a nervous step, quite at variance with his wonted calm demeanor, +he hastened into the ante-chamber, closing the door behind him. + +The gas burned brightly, and its flare dazzled his sight accustomed to +the twilight that reigned within the study; but he was well able to +recognize the young gentleman who hastened forward at his approach. + +"Oh, Loyd!" exclaimed the visitor, with an accent of mingled agony and +reproach, "what an eternity you have kept me waiting! In heaven's +name, come to us at once! Romaine is dying!" + +"Romaine--dying!" echoed Morton. + +"We fear so; God grant that we may be mistaken! But will you come at +once?" + +"At once of course, Hubert." + +"Then follow me; the carriage is waiting." + +The young man had reached the door even as he spoke. + +Morton paused in the midst of the brilliantly lighted room, every +vestige of color fled even from his lips. + +"Merciful Powers!" he murmured, "am I waking from some hallowed dream +or from some infernal nightmare? No, no! this is the test _she_ bid me +mark! It is no fantasy! it is reality!" + +Even in his haste he was mindful of his waiting client, and flung open +the door of his study. A sharp draught of air from the open casement +extinguished the candle that burned within, leaving in its stead the +lance of a pale young moon. + +Bathed in the aqueous light stood Margaret Revaleon, regarding him +with wistful eyes. + +"Well, doctor," she began, "you have returned to pass sentence upon +me?" + +"By no means, Mrs. Revaleon," he answered, hastily; "I have only to +say that your case is a singular one. While I have no reason to +believe that any real danger will ever result from the 'condition' of +which you complain, I am forced to admit that I know of no treatment +for you at this time. I beg you to excuse me now, as I am called to +attend a critical case. My servant will wait upon you." + +And with these hasty words, Morton took his departure. + + +CHAPTER III. + + "Now help, ye charming spells and periapts!" + +Sir Francis Bacon maintained that every man is a debtor to his +profession, and that in seeking to receive countenance and profit +therefrom, he should of duty endeavor, by way of amends, to be a help +and ornament thereunto. Undoubtedly every genuine professor realizes +this obligation; while if he be of a truly appreciative nature, he +will not lose sight of a concomitant duty towards those whose favor +has lent encouragement to the practice of his art or profession, +especially at the period of its incipience. + +Such a debt of gratitude did young Doctor Loyd Morton owe the +Effingham family. + +Sidney Effingham had been a magnate in his day; a man who had freely +given his distinguished influence towards the refinement of our, in +some respects, too rapid Republican growth, and he had gone down to the +tomb of his ancestors, leaving behind him worthy exemplars in the +persons of his widow, his son and daughter. There had been an elder +son, Malcolm by name, whose unwavering friendship for Morton in boyhood +and early manhood had opened an avenue to the penniless student and +orphan into the bosom of the Effingham family; but Malcolm Effingham +had died of the Roman fever in Italy, and it had been Morton's +melancholy duty, as the young gentleman's travelling-companion and +guest, to close his friend's eyes in death and return to America with +his body. + +The untimely demise of his elder son had proved a grievous stroke to +Sidney Effingham; yet he bore up bravely, in a measure transferring +his thwarted interest to Malcolm's friend and class-mate. Thus it came +about that Loyd Morton owed the perfecting of his education to Mr. +Effingham, who insisted that the young man should return to Europe at +his expense and complete his studies. Moreover, such was his almost +morbid affection for all that pertained to his dead son, Sidney +Effingham bequeathed a comfortable living to Morton, thus +acknowledging him, as it were, an adopted son. + +The death of this beneficent gentleman occurred during Morton's +courtship in Germany, precipitating his marriage and immediate return +to his native land. Though the widow welcomed young Mrs. Morton with +maternal fervor, to Morton she frankly expressed her regret that he +had placed himself beyond the possibility of assuming Malcolm's vacant +place in her household. + +"But my interest in you remains unabated," she assured the young +physician, "and it shall be my pleasure to do all that lies in my +power to insure you success in your chosen profession. Otherwise, +leaving my personal affection for you out of the account, I should +fail in my duty as the wife and mother of those who held your welfare +and success so closely at heart." + +And Serena Effingham had acted in accordance with her noble +convictions and promise. Thanks to her unflagging interest in his +behalf, Morton seemed to spring with winged feet into the coveted +haven of fashionable patronage. There is no gainsaying the fact that +he maintained his position by consummate ability, and equally there is +no disputing the fact that he was fortunate in the possession of such +eminently influential backing. + +As has been stated, such were his engagements that but few hours of +the day or night could he call his own, even during the period of his +bereavement. His success had been phenomenal, two brief years having +assured his standing among the leading physicians of his day. + +This great burden of obligation weighed upon the young doctor's mind, +as he sat beside Malcolm Effingham's brother while the carriage-wheels +dashed through the murky streets of the town and out over the sodden +road that led to Belvoir,--weighed upon his mind to the partial +obliteration of his recent weird experience with Margaret Revaleon. + +Romaine Effingham--dying! + +Oh, it seemed incredible! How was it possible to couple that brilliant +spirit with the grim austerity of Death? + +"And yet," he thought, with a sickening pang at his heart, "should she +die now, in her nineteenth year, she will have enjoyed as many days as +were vouchsafed my poor Paula." + +Paula! Merciful heaven, how came it about that he should feel at that +moment as though he were summoned to Paula's bedside and not +Romaine's? + +With a start that was half-guilty, half-superstitious, he laid his +hand upon the arm of the mutely eloquent figure at his side. + +"Hubert!" he exclaimed in the tone of one who would fain drown the +voice of conscience, "Hubert, my dear boy, why do you not speak? Are +you so anxious?" + +"Anxious!" replied young Effingham, "I am almost distracted. What will +become of us should anything happen to Romaine! O Loyd, what was I to +mother compared with father and Malcolm? what am I to her compared +with Romaine?" + +"You are unjust to yourself, Hubert, you----" + +"Hush, hush! Such words from you, who know us so well, sound like lame +condolence! I cannot bear it while there is a glimmer of hope. By and +by, should there be no help for it, I may be glad to listen to you; +but not now--oh, not now!" + +"Hubert," Morton remarked after a momentary pause, "you must be calm. +In the few minutes that remain to us I must learn from you something +concerning Romaine's condition." + +"God knows I am willing to help you all I can." + +"What has happened to her? How is she affected?" + +"We were sitting at dinner, Romaine being in her usual health and +spirits. Indeed, I do not remember when she has been so gay. I suppose +her high spirits were caused by the receipt of a letter to-day from +Colley, stating that he should sail from Havre by the following +steamer, and might outstrip his letter." + +At mention of that name, which was simply the nickname of Colston +Drummond, the affianced lover of Romaine Effingham, Loyd Morton +shuddered involuntarily. + +"Well, well," he urged, "what then?" + +"Well, in the midst of a burst of laughter--you know her laugh, so +like a peal of bells--Romaine suddenly turned ashy pale, and, with a +gasp, sank back in her chair. My God, I shall never forget my +sensation at that moment! She looked as father looked when he died." + +"What did you do?" + +"Do! We did everything that should be done in such an emergency. +Mother was as firm as a rock; but I saw the look of despair in her +eyes as she turned to me, saying, 'Go for Loyd, with all speed; go +yourself, and bring him back!'--I have secured you; I have done all +that I can. The rest remains with you." + +"With _me_!" gasped Morton. "Do you mean to say that you have not +called in some other physician at such a crisis?" + +"We have perfect confidence in you, Loyd." + +"Good heavens! This is too great a responsibility! I am not--not--" He +was going to add, "I am not equal to such an emergency. You must send +at once for some other doctor," when he paused abruptly, turning +ghastly pale as the words recurred to him, unbidden as the mournful +rustling of the leaves of memory, + +"A woman's soul is trembling upon the threshold of eternity. If you +are alone with her when that soul takes wing, my spirit will instantly +take its place, and your skill will do the rest. Accomplish the +resurrection of that body, and secure our further communion." + +Consultation with another physician might be the means of saving +Romaine Effingham's life! After all, what mattered it if he were +destined to resurrect her body, though henceforth it was to become the +domicile of a soul for the recovery of which he would have sacrificed +twenty thousand Romaines? + +Consequently he bit his lips in silence. And at that moment the +massive gateway of Belvoir gave back a sepulchral echo of the grinding +carriage-wheels, while lights glimmered wanly beyond the fog-trailed +lawn. + +An exceedingly charming girl was Romaine Effingham. She possessed that +unconscious grace which resides in the joy of youth and ease of heart. +She was beautiful, accomplished, brilliant, and when, upon the eve of +his departure for Europe, her engagement to Colston Drummond was +announced, the fashionable world joined its plaudits and +congratulations to its acknowledgments for the favor of having been +permitted to witness at least one genuine example of the eternal +fitness of things. + +Not to have known Romaine Effingham personally, may be accounted a +positive deprivation; while, to have been ignorant of the existence of +"Colley" Drummond, that estimable corypheus of patrician youth, was +equivalent to confessing one's self quite unknown; and that without a +shade of irony, since Colston Drummond was, in the best sense, a man +of that world which has reason to consider itself well-born. So much +having been admitted, one may feel inclined to sympathize with the +legion who loved Romaine and admired her lover. + +It was a grievous sight indeed, to see the fair young girl low lying +in her dainty chamber, with the pallid sign of death on lip and cheek. +Equally pitiful was it to mark the mute anguish of that noble mother, +whose life had been one era of devotion to her children. They had been +her very idols--her treasures beyond price. She had passed whole days +and nights in attendance upon them during their slight juvenile +ailments--days and nights which to fashionable women of her ilk are +precious epochs of social dissipation. To have gone into society +leaving one of her children ill at home, it mattered not how trifling +the indisposition, would have been as utter an impossibility to Serena +Effingham as for her to have regarded with an indifferent eye the +present deathlike syncope of her beautiful daughter. As she had been +faithful in the minutiæ of maternal duty, so was she proportionally +constant in greater exigencies. With eyes haggard with suspense, she +watched the wan face upon the pillow, while her heart-beats told her +how the laggard moments dragged themselves away--away from the happy +past, on towards the menacing future. + +A sepulchral silence had settled upon the house, portentous in its +profundity; consequently the slightest sound seemed almost painfully +magnified. Naturally, then, the roll of the carriage-wheels upon the +flagging before the principal entrance sounded an alarm to the anxious +watcher's heart. + +"They have come at last!" she breathed. "God grant that they come not +in vain!" + +With the prayer trembling upon her lips, she met Loyd Morton at the +head of the staircase. She noted the deadly pallor upon the young +doctor's face and the unusual dilation of his eyes; but she thought +they argued his keen anxiety, as, in a certain sense, they did. She +gave him her hand, with a firm clasp, and dimly noted that his were as +cold as ice. She drew him to her and kissed him, heedless of the fact +that he failed to return the salute. + +"You must save her, Loyd," she murmured. "Our hope is built upon your +skill. If ever you loved us, have pity upon us now!" + +He made no reply to the solemn injunction; perhaps words failed him at +that supreme moment, perhaps he felt silence to be the wiser course. +She relinquished her hold upon him, and he crossed the hall. At the +door of the dimly lighted chamber he paused and turned abruptly. The +rustle of her dress betrayed the fact that she was close in his wake. + +"Permit me to make an examination," he faltered, with evident +constraint; "I--I will then report." The strained circumstances seemed +to invest his words with a defiant ring--at least, her woman's +instinct suggested the fancy; but she respected his request and joined +her son, where he stood, at the head of the staircase, leaning upon +his arm for support. From where they stood, mother and son could see +Morton bending above the inanimate form, could watch him as he lowered +his head close to the pillow, holding it in that position for what +seemed a very eternity. + +Was he listening for some token of fluttering vitality? Was he +applying some remedy? + +Once Serena Effingham started, as a single word, possibly a name, +reached her listening ear from the dim chamber. _Was_ it a name she +heard? If so, _whose_ name? For an instant she was half inclined to +fancy that her tense anxiety had produced some passing delusion. Yet, +had she been put upon her oath, she would have been forced to confess +that the name which had reached her was that of one dead--the name of +_Paula_! + +The fancy appeared preposterous; she had no intention of betraying +such a piece of sensationalism to her son, while Hubert Effingham had +no opportunity of inquiring into the cause of her sudden emotion, +since at the moment Morton quitted the bedside and came quickly forth +to join them. + +"Her swoon is yielding," he said, in answer to the eloquent appeal of +their eyes. + +"Thank God!" + +"Yes, she had passed beyond the portals of death, but she has +returned." He spoke according to his present conviction, not as the +scientist he prided himself upon being. "She will shortly be +conscious," he added, cutting short their eager queries; "her mind +will be in an acutely sensitive condition, and, absolute quiet +throughout the house is indispensable. I will watch till midnight +when, if her condition is favorable, I will relinquish my place to +you." He glanced at Serena Effingham. "I would advise you to secure +what rest you can during the intervening hours." + +He turned to re-enter the chamber, when the lady laid a detaining hand +upon his arm. + +"Loyd," she whispered, "tell me one thing. What do you consider the +cause of this awful trance?" + +"Her heart," he answered. + +"Then she may die as her father died?" + +"It does not follow. She may never have a recurrence of the trouble. +What I fear is--" + +"What do you fear?" + +The sensitive lines of his face seemed to petrify as with a desperate +resolution he replied: + +"I fear her mind may be affected by this attack." + +"Her _mind_! Oh, Loyd, tell me anything but that!" + +"Would you prefer her death?" he demanded, almost harshly. + +"Oh, no, no, no!" + +"Then let us hope for the best; or at least make the best of the +inevitable. You may take comfort in the fact that I promise you +Romaine's life." + +He turned abruptly as he spoke, and entering the chamber, silently but +securely closed the door. + +Then it was that the mother's fortitude gave way, and turning to her +son, she flung herself upon his breast and burst into tears. + +"Oh, Hubert," she sobbed, "what dreadful spell is upon us? After all +these years--though I have known Loyd from his infancy, have loved him +almost as one of my own children, to-night he seems a stranger to me! +What does it mean? what does it all portend?" + +He strove to soothe her with loving words, and almost bearing her +precious weight in his arms, he led her away to her own apartments. + +And then, in expressive silence, the night wore on to its mid-watch. +The pale crescent of the moon dropped behind the hills, while here and +there a lonesome star peered forth in the rifts of the scudding wrack. + +At last, and just upon the stroke of midnight, the vigil was disturbed +by the sound of wheels, of footsteps, of voices, and by the muffled +unclosing and closing of doors. Loyd Morton started from his chair at +the bedside of the sleeping girl. He was pallid to the lips, and with +difficulty commanded the desperate condition of his nerves. Contrary +to his commands, the door of the chamber had been opened to admit the +stalwart figure of a man. The pair had not met in many a year, but in +the dim radiance of the shaded lamp, their recognition was +instantaneous. + +For an instant Morton quailed. The intruder who had braved his +authority, to which even the anxiety of a mother deferred, was Colston +Drummond! + +The confrontation bristled with omen. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + "I do not know what witchcraft's in him." + +Had he been put upon the rack Loyd Morton would still have been unable +to give any coherent account of his vigil at the bedside of Romaine +Effingham. Four hours had elapsed from the moment that he closed the +chamber-door until, upon the stroke of midnight, it opened to admit +Colston Drummond. Reflection failed to assist him to any satisfactory +explanation regarding the flight of the time. He was morally certain +that he had not lost an instant in slumber, the tension upon his mind +would be almost proof positive that he could not have lapsed into +unconsciousness; and yet the span seemed a complete void as he looked +back upon it. + +Romaine still lived; indeed her hold upon vitality had visibly +strengthened since Morton's advent, yet, so far as his cognizance of +the phenomenon went, Nature unassisted had taken the resurrection into +her own hands. Resurrection was Morton's estimate of the miracle, +since every token of immediate dissolution was present in the +appearance of his patient when first he bent over her. The eyes were +glazed, the flesh clammy, and the pulsations imperceptible. The +extremities were cold with that peculiar chill which is so eloquent to +the practised touch. Death's conquest was imminent, perhaps assured, +and he had done nothing to avert the dread consummation--nothing save +to murmur the name of one which embodied, for him, the quintessence of +existence here and hereafter. + +"Paula!" he had murmured, half tentatively, half mechanically. + +It must have been the result of sorcery if simply at the utterance of +that name Death furled his pale flag and left the field to his +erstwhile routed opponent. Yet such was the case, as the physician's +keen senses promptly detected. The young man experienced a thrill +second to none that as yet he had encountered in his professional +career, as upon his finger-tips came the delicate flutter of the +pulse, while to his eager sight followed a gentle upheaval of the +breast that sent a quivering sigh to his listening ear. + +It was a supreme moment to Loyd Morton. + +Naturally his first impulse was to apply some restorative and thus +assist resuscitation. There was brandy at hand, a small quantity of +which he inserted, drop by drop, between the parted lips. The effect +produced seemed magical; the respiration became steady, a delicate +glow crept into the wan cheeks, while a genial warmth attended by that +most encouraging of symptoms, a dew-like moisture, relaxed the cold +rigidity of the hands that returned the faintest possible pressure as +they rested in the young doctor's clasp. Every token of convalescence +by degrees made itself manifest and progressed until the soft gray +eyes unclosed, instinct with crescent intelligence. + +The watcher bent eagerly so that his countenance should fill the field +of her vision, so that her awakening consciousness should grasp his +personality to the exclusion of all other objects. Apparently the +unpremeditated act met with flattering success, in that Romaine +Effingham's first utterance framed his name. + +"Loyd!" + +It was simply an articulate breath, but it was a conscious utterance +capable of interpretation, and Morton was satisfied; nay, he was +enraptured. + +"Paula!" he exclaimed, in his exaltation, "Paula, you have come back +to me!" + +"I have--come back," was the tremulous reply. + +"And we shall never, never again be parted," he urged with passionate +intensity. + +The dilated eyes watched him as if spell-bound. + +"You understand that you are no longer Romaine, but Paula, my own +dear, true love," he continued, giving each word its due import; +"Romaine has gone to her rest, but you have returned to make my life +once more worth the living! Oh, my dear one, tell me that you realize +the situation, that you comprehend my words! Let me hear you say that +you are Paula, my wife." + +"Paula, your wife," came the obedient echo. + +Had he been in his normal condition of self-control, Morton's +exuberant satisfaction might have been tempered by a consciousness of +the fact that he was forcing his own volition upon a cataleptic +subject; the strained circumstances under which he labored, however, +spared him this somewhat matter-of-fact view of the case. Indeed, he +had closed all avenues of approach to unwelcome spectres of the +scientific order, for the time being at least. Moreover, he had +permitted himself to lose sight of an attribute which upon more than +one occasion had been imputed to him. It had been whispered among his +hyper-sensitive patients that the young physician possessed that most +mysterious, yet positive, of gifts, mesmeric power, animal +magnetism,--what you will. Be that as it may, Loyd Morton undoubtedly +exerted a strong attraction for those in whom he was personally +interested. Babblers had informed him of his endowment much, be it +said, to his annoyance; but the fact remained that he held his fellow +man in thrall, whether he would or not. + +Either of the above considerations would have tinctured his +overflowing cup with bitterness; but as he had already drained that +cup of joy, it remained for digestion to prove whether the adverse +mixture had crept in in some ingustable form. + +A few more words of passionate admonition he addressed to his patient +ere the eye-lids drooped and the breathing became measured as in that +profound slumber which succeeds exhaustion. + +And thereupon began that extraordinary vigil, during which Morton was +conscious of naught save the assured resurrection and possible--he +dared not think probable--reincarnation. + +She had placed her hand in his ere she fell asleep, and he sat close +beside her scarcely venturing to relinquish it into the keeping of its +fellow where it rested upon her breast. By the light of the shaded +lamp he studied the calm beauty of the girl's features, the restful +slumber lending a heightening touch to their exquisite outline. + +Always a being set above and apart from his anxious existence, he had +seen even less than formerly of Romaine since his marriage, and in +that time she had matured into the perfection of womanhood. He had +loved her, as he had loved the other members of her family, with a +love born of gratitude. There had been no sentiment in this love +beyond that of grateful appreciation; he had loved Romaine exactly in +the vein that he had loved her brothers; had he been called upon, he +would have laid down his life for any of them with undiscriminating +loyalty. Having been his intimate friend, Malcolm might have stood +first in a test of self-sacrifice, but there had never been the +slightest shade of difference in his sense of allegiance to either +Hubert or Romaine. In a word, he had never loved Romaine otherwise +than as a friend; within the niche before which his soul bowed down in +all-absorbing idolatry he had set up the image of the woman who had +been his wife, and as it was a case of soul-worship with him, the +niche remained occupied to the eternal exclusion of rival effigies. + +He recalled with a flutter of timid pride how officious friends, +ambitious of his welfare, had ventured to couple his name with that of +Romaine. + +"You were her brother's 'Fidus Achates,'" they urged; "you have +received not only marks of affection from every member of her family, +but positive encouragement in every form. Take Malcolm's vacant place +and be a son and brother and husband all in one." + +To this friendly folly he smiled in answer, saying, "You admit that I +assumed the rôle of Achates to perfection, do you?" + +"Certainly!" was the reply. + +"Then let me rest upon my laurels. I am wise in my own generation. I +know the limit of my histrionic ability and have no wish to attempt an +impersonation of Phaethon." + +Hence his friends inferred that he was disinclined to court Romaine +Effingham through modesty or diffidence, little dreaming that he +refused to enter the lists through lack of inclination. Even upon this +night as he sat at her bed-side, keeping vigil while she slept, +satisfied that she was convalescent, he was simply grateful that +heaven in its mercy had spared her to her mother and brother, and-- + +A cold perspiration akin to the dews of death, pearled upon his brow, +grown suddenly pallid, as a problem of dire import flitted like a +grewsome spectre into the field of his speculation. + +"If," suggested the phantom, with appalling reason, "she is spared to +her mother and brother, is she not spared as well to her affianced +lover? Will he not shortly claim her as his own? And if, as you have +been persuaded to believe, her soul is at rest while the soul of one +you have loved and lost is renascent, incarnate in her body, how will +you bear this second separation, this alienation in life, which +promises to be infinitely more trying than that of death?" + +He sat as one spell-bound, listening in horror to the silent voice. + +He relaxed his hold upon the girl's hand and it fell limply at her +side. His eyes grew haggard with the speechless agony of uncertainty, +while his pallid lips strove to utter the cry of his anguished soul, +"My God, why did I not foresee this emergency? Thou art my judge that +I would not cause her one instant's misery, would not cast my shadow +in the path of her perfect happiness for my life, and yet"--"And yet," +resumed the voice of the phantom--alas, with no intonation of +mockery--"and yet you must secure her body in order to claim communion +with the soul that now animates it. Look upon her, strive to realize +that this is Paula your wife and no longer the daughter of your +benefactors." + +"Oh, grant me some proof!" he moaned; "Paula! Paula, speak to me! In +heaven's name, give me the satisfaction of _knowing_ that you are with +me once again, or this uncertainty will drive me mad!" He had dropped +upon his knees at the bedside and had almost roughly resumed +possession of her hand, passionately pressing it to his lips. +"Paula," he cried, "assure me that you are here, grant me some token +that you recognize me, Loyd, your husband, and help me to shape my +course of action, for now is the appointed time; one precious moment +lost and we may be estranged, hopelessly parted. I am groping in +darkness like unto the shadow of death. If ever I needed thy guiding +hand, I need it now, in this supreme, this awful moment. Oh, hear me, +Paula! I conjure you, speak to me!" + +As if in answer to his desperate exhortation, she stirred in her +sleep, and he felt the soft flutter of her hand as it lay crushed +between his. + +"No, no!" he panted, "you _must_ speak, or I shall not be satisfied +that it is indeed _you_! Call me Loyd, husband--anything you will, so +that I recognize your presence?" + +He arose and bent low above her, almost crying aloud in exultation as +her lips parted to exhale his name, simply his name. + +"Loyd!" + +Then the profound slumber resumed its sway. + +He raised the quiescent figure in his arms and imprinted a passionate +kiss upon the low brow. + +"Did you not promise me," he whispered, "that before the dawn of +another day I should take a living body in my arms and know that it is +animated by your soul? Your prophecy has come true and I thank God for +it!" + +Very gently he lowered the delicate form among the pillows and with a +reverent touch placed the hand that he had caressed, within the clasp +of its fellow; then he turned and began to pace the shadowy chamber in +a state of uncontrollable excitement. + +"She warned me," he murmured, "that consequences would arise over +which she should have no control; warned me that _I_ should have to +confront them. I assured her that I was not only ready, but eager to +accept the chances. What was my conviction at that moment compared +with the overwhelming conviction that commands me _now_? Then she was +intangible, invisible even,--a spirit; now she is in the flesh and has +addressed me with lips of flesh! Be the consequences what they may, +this body which has served her soul with the means of reincarnation +shall belong to me, as wholly and entirely as her soul, which is mine +to all eternity!" + +"You do not love that body," whispered the spectral Mentor; "beautiful +as in itself it is, it possesses no attraction for you." + +"By degrees I shall learn to cherish it," was the undaunted reply; +"shortly I shall love it as being _her_ abode." + +Argument was out of the question in his existing condition of mental +exultation; not that he had quite lost his grip upon himself, since +some semblance of common-sense had borne ecstatic fancy company in her +flight to the lofty pinnacle upon which she now poised, as his next +more material thought gives evidence. He had reached the fire-place in +his nervous perambulation and had paused upon the hearth, mechanically +setting his gaze upon the smouldering embers. + +"I would to heaven," he muttered, "that Paula's spirit had returned to +me in any other guise than this! I shudder before the complication +that looms upon the near horizon, and yet in what am I to be blamed +for what of necessity must transpire in the immediate future? How can +I be expected, in the very nature of things, to be able to explain to +Drummond the reason that he should cease to cherish his love and +relinquish all to me? Would he not consider me hopelessly insane were +I to lay before him the reason for my determined action, expose a +scheme which even in my eyes seems unparalleled in the history of +man? No, no! I am convinced that so occult a compact must remain an +inviolable secret between the Infinite and me. I feel myself to be but +a mere factor in some great covenant, an instrument, a simple means +tending towards an end of which I am in ignorance." + +The smouldering embers fell together upon the hearth, emitting one +expiring lance of flame, illumining his pallid features grown tense +and rigid with resolution. + +"I may be forced to dissimulation, even to deceit," he concluded, +turning away from the dazzling gleam, "in order to effect my purpose. +Already, as it were unconsciously, have I prepared Mrs. Effingham for +possible catastrophes. I have told her that her daughter will recover, +but in the same breath I warned her that I feared for her mental +condition. Why I so warned her, heaven only knows. So far as I know at +present that utterance was a lie, a base, ignoble fabrication; but it +came unbidden to my lips, and who shall say that it came not at the +instigation of some mysterious power beyond and above me? Who shall +deny that, since I have ceased to be the man I was, some species of +clairvoyant skill has descended upon me as the natural concomitant of +the atmosphere of unreality that henceforth I shall breathe?" + +He turned quickly and crept to the bedside, a desperate expression +kindling in his haggard eyes as they rested upon the sleeping girl. + +"Whether the issue proves me to be clairvoyant or brands me with +falsehood, I must establish mental aberration in my patient, or lose +my prize," he muttered; "I have burned my bridges and there is no +retreating now!" + +Scarcely had the incoherent words escaped his lips ere a clock tolled +midnight and simultaneously the sound of wheels upon the terrace +disturbed the peaceful course of night. + +Thereupon followed the confusion of the muffled unclosing and closing +of doors, excited voices and hurrying footsteps. + +The sleeper stirred and moaned. Morton drew himself up into an +attitude of unconscious defence, vaguely preparing himself for menace +or attack, and in the next instant the door was thrust open to admit +Colston Drummond. + +No need to glance twice at the handsome face in order to guess the +ungovernable anxiety and disarray that possessed the young lover. + +"Is she alive?" he gasped, advancing into the middle of the chamber. + +For answer, Morton imperiously waved him back in silence. + +"No, no!" he cried, "give me some satisfaction! Tell me at least that +I have not arrived too late! In God's name, why do you not speak?" + +Barring his impetuous passage to the bedside, even laying detaining +hands upon Drummond's shoulders, Morton was about to reply, when a low +cry disturbed the ominous pause. + +Snatched from her profound slumber and unobserved, Romaine Effingham +had struggled up to a sitting posture and straightway fallen back with +the cry which had startled the silence. + +"Oh, why will you torture me?" she moaned piteously, flinging her arms +across her face as if in desperate effort to shut out the sight of +some uncanny apparition; "take him--take him away and let me--rest! In +mercy, let me rest!" + +"Romaine! Great heaven! what does this mean?" + +"Silence!" commanded Morton, releasing his hold and retreating a step, +while a gleam of triumph flickered for one brief moment in his sunken +eyes; "Mr. Drummond, if you have any respect for the life of Miss +Effingham, you will instantly leave this room!" + +"Her life?" echoed Drummond in suspense, "it appears to me rather as +if her _reason_ were in jeopardy!" + +"You are right," came the firm response, "her reason is gone--she is +_mad_!" + + +CHAPTER V. + + "She is abused, stolen from me, and corrupted by spells and + medicines bought of mountebanks." + +"A day in April never came so sweet to show how costly summer was at +hand," may be quoted as applicable to the rare dawn that succeeded +that night of mystic import at Belvoir. The whole world seemed +instinct with the smile of jocund spring. The dreary night had wept +itself away, leaving its tears to jewel each new-born blade of grass. +High up upon the spacious lawn crocuses fluttered their imperial +raiment while snowdrops nodded and shook their bells as the bland wind +swept by. The brook, swollen to a ruffled sea that inundated the +low-land meadows, swirled through the willow-copse plumed to its crest +with golden down in token of its glad revival. The trees stretched +forth their yearning arms green with enamel of new buds; and over all +the sun, rejoicing in release, shot his bright lances into nook and +dell where lurked the mists of yesterday. + +Yet, despite the allurements of the outer world, the inmates of +Belvoir House remained invisible, and the stately white columns were +left to mount guard over their sharply defined shadows along the sunny +piazza. + +Within the mansion much of the silence and gloom of the preceding +night prevailed. Breakfast had been prepared as usual, but the +appointed hour had passed unheeded, a significant fact in a household +of such rigid regulation. By and by, however, a rustle upon the +staircase announced the appearance of Mrs. Effingham. + +Meeting a servant upon the way, the lady inquired where she should +find Mr. Drummond; the man replied that he was closeted in the library +with his young master, Hubert. + +Thither she went directly, entering suddenly, and surprising the young +gentlemen in the depths of earnest conversation. + +"You have seen Romaine?" they inquired simultaneously. + +"Yes, I have just left her." + +"How is she?" + +"Apparently safe." + +Thereupon a strained silence ensued, during which Drummond led Mrs. +Effingham to a divan and seated himself beside her, while Hubert +watched the pair with an intentness that reflected the motive of his +interrupted conversation with his future brother-in-law. + +Colston Drummond was the first to break the silence. + +"How do you find Romaine?" he asked. + +The lines of anxious care deepened upon the lady's face as she +replied. + +"I have said that I consider her perfectly safe." + +"_Mentally_ as well as physically?" + +"How can I tell? As yet I have seen no signs of derangement in her." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Drummond, eagerly, "then you refuse to credit _his_ +announcement that she is mad!" + +"If you mean Loyd, I believe that he has spoken in accordance with his +convictions." + +"He _may_ be mistaken," was the terse reply. + +Serena Effingham glanced in a startled way from one to the other of +the young men, and it was Hubert who came to her relief. + +"Colley has been urging the necessity of calling in another +physician," he explained. "But I tell him, mother, that we have reason +to have implicit faith in Loyd's ability; besides, it would seem like +insult to send for any one now that she is out of danger." + +Drummond passed his hand over his curling hair with a gesture eloquent +of impatient doubt. + +"Of course, I will not interfere if you are satisfied," he said. "But +I beg you to answer me one question, for I feel that I shall never +sleep, nor rest in peace until it is answered." + +"What is it, my dear boy?" inquired Mrs. Effingham. + +"You will grant me that Romaine is my affianced wife?" he demanded. + +"No one disputes that point." + +"And she loves me with her whole heart and soul? No, you need not +answer that question! Here upon my heart lies her last letter, written +within the month. I want no better evidence that she is mine, as truly +as woman was ever man's." + +"Well? What more do you ask?" + +"What more?" he cried excitedly. "I ask why she screamed at sight of +me last night, crying piteously, 'Why will you torture me? Take him +away and let me rest!' Can you explain such words upon _her_ lips, and +at sight of _me_?" + +"She was not herself, Colston. Her attitude towards you is proof that +her mind is indeed deranged." + +He shook his head dejectedly. + +"You have just told me that as yet you have seen no signs of +derangement in her," he said. "Tell me, if you can, why she should +seem insane to me, yet sane to you?" + +At this juncture Serena Effingham turned to Drummond and flung her +arms about his neck. + +"My darling boy," she murmured, gently; "for you are that, and ever +will be to me. You are worn out with fatigue and excitement. The shock +of finding Romaine so ill, after your long and hopeful journey, has +completely unhinged you. But I sympathize with you. Remember, that my +love for her is akin to yours, and remember, too, that God is good; +and I believe that, if we pray unceasingly, He in His mercy will give +her back to us, sane and whole again." + +He stooped and kissed her up-turned forehead, as he replied, + +"God bless you, dear mother. I would that my faith were such as +yours!" + +Then, releasing himself from the lady's embrace, he rose, adding, + +"I am going to breakfast with my mother at Drummond Lodge. Meanwhile, +_watch Romaine_! I shall return later in the day and shall depend upon +an interview with her." + +"Which I may almost promise shall be granted you." + +The voice that uttered these unexpected words was low of pitch yet +startlingly sonorous; indeed, so unprepared were the trio for the +sudden intrusion, that they were quite thrown off their guard, and +turned about in some disarray. + +Doctor Loyd Morton proved to be the intruder. He stood upon the +threshold of the apartment, parting the drapery with one outstretched +hand, while the extreme pallor of his countenance, the firmness of his +glance, as well as his pronounced dignity of mien, failed not to +impress his beholders. + +Divining that the situation threatened to become strained, Mrs. +Effingham remarked quickly, + +"We have been waiting for you to breakfast with us, Loyd." Then +turning to Drummond, she added, "We shall look for you at dinner, +Colston. Always bear in mind that you are at home at Belvoir." + +Drummond bowed in silence, and with one glance at Morton, who had +advanced a step, still holding the drapery, he passed into the hall, +accompanied by Hubert. + +The moment the drapery fell into place again, Serena Effingham +advanced impulsively and kissed Morton with the maternal fervor which +had ever been her wont with him. + +"What a debt we owe you, Loyd, dear," she murmured beneath her breath, +while her eyes lingered upon the swaying folds that hid Drummond from +her view. + +"Address your thanks to God," he replied, steadily, holding her in his +arms. + +"You have saved her life!" + +"Say rather that He has spared her." + +"She would have died had you not come to us." + +The firmness of his glance never wavered for an instant as he +answered, + +"That is true; but we must bear in mind that I am but an instrument in +the hands of the Almighty." + +And his words were uttered with as sincere a conviction as had ever +possessed him. However deeply he may have been impressed by the +questionable part he was enacting, he was satisfied that Romaine +Effingham would have been laid beside her father and brother in the +tomb but for his influence, at the moment of the crisis. Through his +interposition, he told himself, her body had been saved; with the fate +that had befallen her soul he was not concerned. In a series of +gyrations, never-ending in their recurrence, the words seemed to dance +through his brain, "A body is theirs, a soul is mine; a soul is mine, +a body is theirs," and so on, and on, and on, with incessant swirl and +swing until, dazed and confused, he was forced to seek the palliative +of fresh air under pretence of making a hasty round of visits upon his +patients. + +Meanwhile, above stairs in her dainty chamber, Romaine had been +clothed in a robe of delicate texture, snowy as the billowy rifts of +swan's-down that strayed about the neck and down the front, and had +been placed in the azure depths of silken cushions upon a lounge that +stood where the flood of genial sunshine streamed in. Beside her a +huge cluster of mingled Freesia and golden jonquils spent their rich +fragrance upon the air, conjuring, as it were, a hint of the exuberant +spring-tide within the house. A very festival of warmth and light +seemed to hold the chamber beneath its inspiring spell, calling forth +ethereal tones in the blues of the rugs and hangings, and investing +the silver upon the toilet-table with a quite magical glitter. + +A little maid, meek-eyed as any dove, went here and there with +noiseless step, putting the finishing touches to the final arrangement +of the room. Now and again she would cast a dutiful glance towards the +couch whereon lay her fair young mistress, with eye-lids drooping +until the dark lashes rested upon her pale cheeks, her slender fingers +interlaced upon her breast. + +There were sparrows chirping somewhere about the casements, while from +the distance the hum of pastoral life came drowsily to the ear. + +The little maid fluttered her plumed brush about a Dresden cavalier, +ruthlessly smothering a kiss that he had been vainly endeavoring for +years to blow from the tips of his effeminate fingers to a mincing +shepherdess, beyond the clock upon the mantle. In due time she +relieved the love-lorn knight and fell upon his inamorata, favoring +her with the same unceremonious treatment. The clock chimed twelve to +the accompaniment of a brief waltz, presumably executed upon the lute +of the china goat-herd that surmounted the time-piece, and at the same +moment Romaine Effingham stirred. In an instant the faithful watcher +was beside the couch. + +"Miss Romaine!" she breathed, "it is I, Joan. Can I do anything for +Miss Romaine?" + +One of the slender hands was raised and rested lightly upon the little +maid's head. + +"Yes," was the low reply. "You may find him and send him to me." + +"Who, Miss Romaine? Mr. Hubert?" + +"No." + +"Mr. Drummond?" + +"No, no," emphatically, but not impatiently. + +"Ah! I know--Doctor Morton?" + +"Oh, yes!" with a sigh. "Loyd; go and find him." + +"Yes, Miss Romaine." + +But instead of Loyd Morton it was Serena Effingham who had hastened +promptly to her daughter's side. + +"Here I am, dear," she said, stooping to caress the fair low brow. "I +have been besieged by callers to inquire for you, but from this moment +I will deny myself to everyone until you are quite strong and well +again." + +"But I sent for Loyd," persisted the girl, in the same calm tone. + +"Loyd has gone to visit his patients, my darling; but you may depend +upon it he will not be gone long." + +"I hope not. O, how devoted he is! Why, it is to him that I owe my +life, for he has brought me back to life; and yet--and yet how strange +it seems that I cannot recollect where I have been in all this time!" + +"Dearest child, do not distress yourself," urged the mother anxiously; +"you will recall everything in time and all will be well." + +"Ah, but it is not distress to me! It was like a dream of heaven when +I heard his voice calling me to come out of the shadow into the +radiance that his dear face shed about me! Oh, there can be no death +where he is, and no sorrow while he is by!" + +She smiled as one smiles in sleep, and let her eye-lids droop until +the lashes cast their shadow. + +Each of the strange words deepened the pallor upon Serena Effingham's +face, a sign of anxious care, perhaps not wholly due to her +consciousness of the fact that her daughter was actually under the +spell of a gentle hallucination; as a matter of fact it pained her +that that hallucination had taken a course somewhat at variance with +Drummond's interests. + +As she had determined, from that moment she devoted herself to +Romaine. The greater part of the time the girl slept soundly; during +the intervals of wakefulness she seemed happy and at perfect peace +within herself. Occasionally she would break her complacent silence by +inquiries for Morton; otherwise she appeared inclined to enter into no +sort of converse. + +Such nourishment as was offered her she accepted with relish, +remarking once, with a fleeting smile, "I have seen enough of death +for one lifetime; and I want to live, since I have so much to live +for." + +Plainly her volition materially assisted her convalescence, which was +rapid--visible almost from hour to hour. And thus the uneventful +afternoon waned to early evening. The goat-herd rehearsed his brief +waltz over and over again, and the sun went westward, withdrawing his +rays from the silken hangings and the silver upon the toilet-table. + +Lacking in incident as the day had proved at Belvoir, to Loyd Morton +it had been an epoch of emotions such as he had never dreamed of +realizing. + +Upon leaving Belvoir, he had gone directly to his house in town, into +which he admitted himself with a latch-key. The object of his haste +was to place himself before a portrait of his wife which hung in a +room held sacred to her memory. Here, amid a thousand mementos of the +happy past, it was his custom to sit during his leisure hours, +brooding upon the wreck that had overtaken him. + +To-day, however, he entered the mortuary apartment with buoyant step, +wafting a smiling kiss up at the fair-haired Gretchen that gazed upon +him from her frame above the mantel-piece. He flung wide the windows +and blinds, even sweeping back the draperies, that the April sun might +beam in and rob the place of shadow. + +Then he placed himself before the portrait, and thus addressed it, +giving vent to his pent-up exaltation, + +"I no longer beseech you to speak to me with those beloved lips," he +cried, "nor to smile upon me with those eyes that heaven has tinted +with its own blue! And yet I must adore your image, which, after all, +is lost to me. But what care I, since your immortal soul actuates +other lips to breathe your love for me, and kindles other eyes with +that same deathless love when silence falls between us? O, Paula, my +idol! tell me why I should be so infinitely blessed, when other men +languish in their bereavement? Thou knowest _now_ that I am as other +men are--as full of frailty and sin as any; then, why am I favored +with the lot of angels? O my God, it cannot be that I have died and +_this_ is heaven!--this being with you and yet not seeing you, this +exquisite aggravation which is mingled agony and bliss! By some +strange decree, you are with me again, yet I cannot see, I cannot +touch, you. Am I perhaps in purgatory? Or, worse, what if I should +wake to find myself in a Fool's Paradise! Heaven forbid; for that +would drive me mad, and then my unbalanced spirit would wander +gibbering through all eternity, and know you not! Oh, no, no, no! It +is the magic of our great love that has united us in this communion, +which ameliorates the misery of our transient separation, and I thank +God for it! Another day, and mayhap I shall be with you indeed--in the +spirit, in heaven! But, oh, my love, my life, my all in all, my +divinity, never desert me! In mercy and in love remain with me until +the hour of my release; then lead me back with thee!" + +Thus more or less coherently he rambled on before the gazing portrait, +in wild salutation and petition, until the sudden opening of the door +hurled him from the heights of exaltation to earth. + +Upon the threshold stood his man, amazed and at the same time abashed. + +"You will excuse me, sir," he began brokenly; "but I had no idea you +were in the house. I heard voices up here, and I thought thieves had +got in, or--or that the place was haunted!" + +"I suppose I have the right to come and go and speak in my own house +as I choose?" retorted Morton testily, conscious of his inexplicable +demeanor, and impotently furious accordingly. "Close the blinds and +windows, and shut the room up. Have there been any calls?" + +"No end of them, sir--and letters." + +Glad to make his escape from a predicament that bordered too closely +upon the ridiculous to be comfortable, Morton hastily descended to his +office. In the ante-chamber, in which he had received Hubert Effingham +on the preceding evening, he found ample affirmation of his man's +statement that he had been sought during his absence. The slate was +covered with names and requests, while upon a table lay a salver +heaped with letters. These he mechanically examined until, at the very +bottom of the heap, he came upon a missive which promptly arrested his +attention. It was addressed in pencil and unsealed. A moment later and +he had possessed himself of the startling information contained +within. + +He rang the bell in haste and excitedly anticipated the advent of his +man by throwing open the door into the hall. + +"When was this note left?" he demanded. + +"Last evening, sir." + +"At what hour?" + +"Just before you left the house, sir, with Mr. Effingham." + +"_Before_ I left the house!" exclaimed Morton; "in heaven's name, why +did you not bring it to me? It is a case of life and death! It should +have been attended to without the loss of a moment. As I could not +attend to it myself, I should have sent Chalmers in my place." + +The poor man looked panic-stricken. + +"You will excuse me, sir," he faltered, "but I knocked twice on the +study-door while the messenger waited, but I got no response. I +thought you couldn't come, so sent the messenger away." + +"But why did you not give me the note before I went away with Mr. +Effingham?" + +"Well, the truth is, sir," stammered the man, "I had no idea you were +going to leave during office-hours, so I just slipped down to finish a +cup o' tea, and when I came up you were off and away." + +"Fool! Do you know that your negligence may have cost Miss Casson her +life?" + +"Casson!" gasped the man, turning pale to the lips and staggering +against the wall for support, "the Lord save us, sir; she's dead!" + +"_Dead!_" echoed Morton, in horror. + +"Dead, sir! They sent round word early this morning to say that she +died at midnight sharp." + +Morton staggered into his study, slamming the door in the man's face. +He threw himself into the deep reclining-chair which Margaret Revaleon +had occupied, and pressed his head between his hands in a desperate +endeavor to collect his wits. + +Hark! was it a repeating voice, or some mad phantasy, the coinage of +his excited brain, that reproduced those thrilling words: + +"You will be called to attend a dying woman,--you _are_ called, +already is the messenger here. A woman's soul is trembling upon the +threshold of eternity. If you are alone with her when that soul takes +wing, my spirit will instantly take its place--and your skill will do +the rest. Accomplish the resurrection of that body and secure our +further communion." + +_Two_ women were approaching the threshold of death and _two_ +messengers were waiting to summon him while those portentous words +were being uttered! To _which_ of the two should he have gone? _Which_ +one was intended, destined for the promised reincarnation? + + +CHAPTER VI. + + "A sense sublime + Of something far more deeply interfused, + Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, + And the round ocean, and the living air, + And the blue sky, and in the mind of men + A motion and a spirit, that impels + All thinking things, all objects of all thought, + And rolls through all things." + +Morton roused from his passing stupor to find himself in a highly +hysterical condition. He was inclined to laugh; in fact he did laugh +in a mirthless way, with sobbing accent that closely resembled the act +of weeping. He strove to assure himself that he had been the dupe of +his own over-taxed nerves; that his present condition was wholly due +to the excessive tension of his mental powers and want of sleep. He +even went so far as to smilingly pledge his presumptive happiness in a +copious dose of valerian. Thus armed with a species of Dutch courage, +he threw himself upon a lounge and sought composure. If his wife's +spirit, he reasoned, were omnipresent in all conditions and under all +circumstances that pertained to him, as had been represented, and if +that spirit were anxious to be reincarnate, as he had been given to +understand that it was, why in the name of all that was rational, +should it desert him, simply because he hastened to attend one dying +woman instead of another? What possible difference could it make which +corporeal attire it assumed? was it not reasonable to assume that a +spirit, presumably clairvoyant, would pursue its affinity as the +magnet seeks the pole, and appropriate any earthly guise, since the +power was granted it? Was not Romaine Effingham's body as well fitted +for its reinstatement in the flesh as another's? + +True, the late Miss Casson had possessed a certain fascination for +him, which had been commented upon before he went abroad to meet his +fate, and naturally enough his wife had divined the _ci-devant_ but +now defunct spell when she took her place in his circle, and, +woman-like, had rallied him upon it. + +"If I had come to you bare-footed," she often remarked jocosely, "I +should not be constantly haunted by the consciousness that the fair +Isabel is impatiently awaiting my shoes." + +To which quip he invariably replied with a laugh, "Such a suspicion +would never occur to you, my dear, if the shoes did not pinch." + +And upon this occasion he conjectured, with a drowsy smile, that +Isabel Casson's body would have failed to offer his wife's spirit the +inducements to reincarnation that Romaine's might, under the +circumstances, the beautiful Miss Effingham having been ever far +removed from any such lovers' banter. And so, thanks to the drug and +his own reasoning power, he lapsed involuntarily into sleep, the +result of excessive fatigue. When at last he awoke, he sprang to his +feet, startled at his own temerity. His hysteria had vanished, leaving +him depressed and apathetic. With a thrill he noticed that the sun, +obscured by the windy clouds of the early spring evening, had crept +round to the back of the house and was glimmering fitfully in at his +study windows. The day had waned, and heaven only knew how many +precious hours he had lost. + +He paused a moment, his blood halting in his veins as he strove to +surmise what might have transpired at Belvoir during his absence. +Fortunately for him, he had not overheard Drummond's half-implied +doubts of the morning, but in guilty consciousness of his attitude +towards Romaine's affianced lover, he instinctively felt the young +gentleman to be, in all righteousness, his deadly antagonist. + +Ten minutes later he had ordered his carriage and was being borne +swiftly over the road that led to Belvoir, the invigorating breath of +the April evening blowing in upon him and soothing his perturbation, +despite himself. Consequently, as he passed through the gateway of +Belvoir, that gave back that description of echo peculiar to +aristocratic portals and cemeteries, he drew a long breath, feeling +himself to be himself again. Even the apparition of a well-known, +stalwart figure crossing the lawn from the direction of Drummond +Lodge, failed to materially disturb his equilibrium, since he had +already alighted before the figure had reached the garden stair +leading up to the terrace. + +He let himself in at the unbarred door, as he had been wont to do in +the old time when he had been more an inmate of, than visitor at, the +house, and, finding no one to delay or question him in the shadowy +hall, he mounted the stairs, and laid his hand upon the door of his +patient's chamber. + +He entered noiselessly, even pausing and holding his breath in +amazement at the vision that met his gaze. + +Left alone for the moment, Romaine had arisen from her couch and had +gone to one of the windows that afforded an enchanting prospect of the +eastern hills, cloaked in the emerald film of bourgeoning spring, +vivified by the effulgence of the setting sun. She stood with the +silken drapery thrust back in her upraised hand, thus admitting the +evening glow that lent a touch etherial to her lovely face and flowing +attire. + +It seemed like the irony of Fate that Morton should have discovered +her thus, instead of Drummond; but, even with his normal faculty of +observation, Morton paused, spell-bound. He neither spoke, nor made +the slightest movement that might disturb her intent revery. He simply +put the passionate yearning of his heart into one brief and mute +appeal. + +"Oh, my darling, my Paula, my wife! Come to me of your own accord. +Come to me and let me feel the clasp of your dear arms about my neck!" + +Whether she experienced the strong mesmeric power of that dumb appeal, +or whether her woman's instinct only warned her of his silent +presence, is a question for the determination of graduates in the +science of psychology. Certain it is that she turned with a visible +thrill, and came to him, the loose drapery of her sleeves falling back +and exposing the exquisite symmetry of her outstretched arms. She laid +those arms about his neck, glancing up into his face with a smile, and +kissed him upon the lips. + +"How I have longed for you!" she murmured; "and what an eternity since +you left me!" + +"Paula--Paula, my own sweet love!" he ventured breathlessly. + +He stared hungrily into her upturned face, half-fearfully, +half-confidently noting the effect of his words; but the calm smile +remained unchanged, fixed upon her features as might have been the +smile of peaceful death, save that it wore the tint of life. He caught +her in his arms, passionately folding her to his breast, kissing her +hair, her brow, and lips. + +In the next moment his quick ear detected the sound of foot-falls upon +the neighboring staircase. + +"He is coming!" he whispered in involuntary alarm. "I promised him +that he should see you; but, oh, my love, remember that it is I, not +he, who claim you now--claim your every thought, your love wholly and +entirely!" + +"I shall not forget that which is a part of my own being," she +answered gently. "With you by my side, I should not fear to face Satan +himself!" + +He bore her in his arms to the lounge and tenderly placed her upon it. + +"I am your physician, as well as lover," he murmured; "and it is in my +power to prevent your being tortured by a lengthy interview." + +She smiled up at him reassuringly. + +"Have no fear for me," she said. "But--but do not leave me." + +And, upon the instant, Colston Drummond entered the chamber. + +Morton stood at the head of the couch, his body half-turned away, his +face studiously averted; yet, in spite of his attitude, he was +conscious that Romaine's lover had thrown himself upon his knees +beside her couch, and had possessed himself of one of her hands, which +he pressed passionately to his lips. + +"Romaine, Romaine," he faltered in evident suspense, "why do you turn +away your head? Why do you hide your face from me? Do you not know me? +It is I, Colston; I have come home to claim you for my wife, as we +agreed. Have you forgotten? In mercy, try to think, try to recall the +happy past! Oh, look at me, Romaine!" + +A brief silence succeeded the eager appeal, only to be broken by a +sharp gasp from Drummond. + +"Great God!" he exclaimed in an accent of horror, "can it be that she +does not know me? Dr. Morton, what does this mean?" + +He had regained his feet and stepped so close to Morton that his +breath fanned his cheek. Morton turned swiftly, and their glances met. +Some vague instinct seemed to warn each of them that in a way they +were rivals, and for an instant they appeared to be measuring each +other's strength, as for some mortal combat--Drummond suffused, as to +his handsome face, with suppressed excitement, Morton sternly calm and +pallid. + +"Pray do not forget, Mr. Drummond," the latter said steadily, "that +Miss Effingham is an invalid. As her physician, I insist upon her +being undisturbed." + +The words, far from recalling Drummond to his senses, seemed to +increase his agitation. + +"And do not forget, sir," he retorted, "that my attitude towards Miss +Effingham entitles me to some satisfaction, some explanation." + +Morton simply bowed his head, covertly watching the young gentleman as +he crossed the chamber. With his hand upon the door, Drummond paused +and turned, whether for the desperate comfort of one more glance, or +ultimate word of defiance is doubtful, since at that moment Romaine +half rose upon her couch and clasped one of Morton's hands in both her +own. The significant act so maddened its beholder that the last +vestige of his self-control vanished. Returning swiftly upon his +steps, he snatched a letter from his breast and held it quivering +before the eyes of the shrinking girl. + +"Romaine Effingham," he cried, "look at this letter! Look at it and +let the sight of it restore you to your wits, if you have lost them! +Do you recognize it? Do you remember how you wrote these lines to me +within a month, these lines instinct with your great love, with your +intense longing for me to return to you? I am willing to stake my +life that more impassioned words were never sent to absent lover. +There stands your signature! Do you deny it?" + +She covered her face with her hands and moaned. + +"You remember, then?" he added triumphantly. "Your mind is _not_ +deranged, but _bewitched_!" + +She only moaned, trembling like a broken twig vibrating in the wind. + +Then Morton spoke with the same stony calm of voice and feature: + +"You have had your say, sir," he said. "I have permitted you to speak +out of pity, but I am answerable to Mrs. Effingham for the welfare of +her daughter, which is being jeopardized by such a tirade as this +which you have seen fit to indulge in. I therefore request you--as her +physician, I request you to respect Miss Effingham's condition, and +leave the room." + +Drummond raised his head and dealt Loyd Morton a glance which smote +him to the heart. + +"I go," he answered. "I leave her in peace; but as God is judge of us +both, I fail to understand why you, who have enjoyed one all-absorbing +love, and ought to be faithful to it, can have the heart to force +yourself between my only love and me!" + +And, with these significant words, he left the chamber. + +Loyd Morton shivered as the door closed heavily upon his departing +form, and he crept to the window, raised the drapery, and stood +staring blindly out upon the darkening landscape. + +For the first time since the beginning of his weird experience, the +voice of conscience asserted itself, weakening his resolution to the +extent of making a partial coward of him. + +"God help me!" he mentally ejaculated; "would to heaven that I had +foreseen this disastrous complication before I entered into a covenant +with death! Far be it from me to interfere with the love and hope of +any man. But what can I do now, if, as I believe, it is Paula's soul +that has returned to comfort me in my loneliness? How can I give her +up to any other man to love and cherish? Were I to betray her thus, +outrage her confidence in me, and doom her to a spiritual hell on +earth, how could I face her when at last we meet in the life to come? +Heaven have mercy upon me and save me! rescue me from this awful doubt +that the soul I love is _not_ with me, is not incarnate here; that I +am the victim of some Satanic wile that grants me the power to exert +an infernal magnetism to the estrangement of fond and loyal hearts! O +my God, rather let me die here and now, before I have consummated +irreparable wrong!" + +The desperate thought ended in a sharp gasp that voiced the surprise +and almost superstitious awe which seized upon him as he felt a +slender arm coil itself softly about his neck with soothing contact of +cool flesh against his feverish cheek. + +The gloom had deepened to darkness within the chamber, but in the deep +embrasure of the window there lurked a faint after-glow of day, that +ultimate flickering of our northern twilight that seems fraught alike +with hinted promise and with lingering farewell. There is a witchery +about the "sober livery" of that brief hour that lends itself to the +imaginative soul and lays a magic spell upon the triteness of +existence. + +He knew that she had come to him, but for a moment he trembled in +uncertainty. + +"You are in doubt about me, Loyd?" she faltered, with a perspicacity +that was the more startling by reason of her hesitation. "You think it +best to relinquish all claim to me?" + +"What think you yourself?" he asked in an agony of suspense. + +"I am in doubt when you are." + +"But when I am firm?" + +"Then I feel that death itself cannot part us." + +He wound his arms about her, and in return felt her hold upon him +tighten with clinging trust; and thus for one supreme moment they +stood. + +"When you love, I love," she murmured; "when you waver, I waver. I am +the slave of a magnetism of which you are the master." + +"Hush, hush!" he gasped, assailed even with her arms about him, by the +grewsome conviction which but a minute before had impelled him to call +upon heaven to end his ill-starred career; "no, no! this is not +magnetism! Banish the thought, dear love, and henceforth believe that +it is by a special dispensation of Providence that we are once more +united, never again to part!" + +She nestled closer to him and laid her sweet head upon his breast in +eloquent reliance. + +"I believe, since you believe," she murmured. + +A moment later there sounded a cautious knocking upon the door. + +Morton loosened his embrace and crossed the chamber to answer the +summons. + +"Mr. Drummond begs Doctor Morton to join him immediately in the +library upon a matter of importance," announced the servant. + +Morton bowed his head in silence. + + +CHAPTER VII. + + "Love, lend me wings to make my purpose swift, + As thou hast lent me wit to plot this drift!" + +The portentous interview in the library was held within closed doors, +and at its conclusion the two gentlemen left the house by one of the +casement windows of the room that gave upon the terrace. Through the +gathered dusk they passed side by side, their blurred shadows tracking +them in the faint radiance of the young moon. Side by side they +crossed the lawn, bearing down towards the belt of woodland beyond +which lay Drummond Lodge--two apparitions, voiceless and black. At +last the blackness of the woods embraced them and they vanished. + +Not until the dense umbrage of the budding trees was reached was a +word exchanged between the ill-assorted pair. It was there, upon the +fragrant hem of the grove, that Morton paused, removed his hat and +mopped his brow, though the evening was damp and chill. + +"I see no occasion for me to go farther," he remarked, a note of +nervous irritation in his tone. + +"I did not intend to bring you so far," replied Drummond; "but I +wished to think of your proposition; to think before I gave an answer +to your--your unnatural demand." + +His companion listened to the words, his pallid face agleam in the wan +twilight. + +"Well," he muttered, "you have arrived at some conclusion?" + +"I admit that I am curious to know the limit of your powers," was the +reply, bitter with irony. + +"I boast no special powers. I will simply try to do that which I have +proposed." + +Drummond broke off a spray of dogwood blossom and tossed it away +unheeded. + +"You understand," he said sternly, "understand thoroughly, that I +insist upon complete satisfaction in the matter." + +"I understand." + +"That I must have the proof and testimony which I have named." + +"I understand." + +"You speak confidently." + +"I speak as I feel--as I have reason to speak." + +"As you _think_ you have reason to speak," echoed Drummond, an ominous +gloom shadowing his fierce eyes. "Well, sir, do your best--accomplish +what you can--then come to me at any hour of the night. You may suit +your own convenience. Between this hour and daybreak you will find a +light burning which will guide you straight to me. You will find me +alone and waiting--but, mark you! if you come to me with any trickery, +any fabrication, any counterfeit proof, I shall detect you in your +infamy, and shall be merciless; so beware! Likewise should you attempt +to evade me in the humiliation of failure, I warn you that I shall be +equally relentless." + +Morton replied in a tense tone which betrayed the struggle for +composure that he was undergoing. + +"I do not fear you," he said, "your approbation or displeasure is +alike a matter of indifference to me. In any case, though I admit but +_one_ to be possible, I shall come to you before daybreak." + +Drummond drew up his stalwart figure to its full height and folded his +arms. + +"Under the circumstances, then," he observed with a sneer, "I should +be unreasonable were I to encroach upon another instant of your +precious time." + +Perhaps his mockery was unheeded. Be that as it may, Morton had turned +abruptly while he was speaking, and had begun rapidly to retrace his +steps to the mansion beyond the lawn. + +Upon the fringe of the wood, Colston Drummond stood watching the +receding figure until, its lineaments mingling with the pervading +gloom, it was lost to sight. + +"Charlatan! fool!" he muttered. "I have given you the rope; go hang +yourself!" + +He turned upon his heel and pressed into the path that led across the +copse, through which twinkled the lights of Drummond Lodge. + +Suddenly he paused with clenched hands, and only the budding leaves +and fronds were auditors of the groan that came, wrung from his inmost +soul. + +"My God! _if_ she should fail me!" + +Meanwhile dinner had been announced at Belvoir. Plenty of candles had +been lighted to dispel the gloom. The butler stood at his post before +the side-board, but as yet the four chairs placed about the table +lacked occupants. The man glanced at the clock upon the mantel-piece +and heaved a decorous sigh, doubtless in memory of the well-ordered +days of his late master. At last, and just as the hands of the clock +marked the half-hour after seven, Hubert Effingham appeared and +requested the "faithful Adam" to serve the repast. + +"Doctor Morton will dine with us," he said, and turned to meet his +mother and Morton as they entered. + +Mother and son had indulged in no little surmise as to the sudden +disappearance of their two guests, and had delayed dinner until the +last moment on their account. Morton's return, unattended, did not +serve to elucidate matters, since he did not appear to be in a +communicative frame of mind. + +The pair had met him upon the terrace, where they had been strolling +to and fro in the pale moonlight, talking in lowered tones and +awaiting some development in the mystery. They had descried his dark +figure as he crossed the lawn, coming from the direction of "Drummond +Copse," as the belt of woodland separating the estates was familiarly +called, and, with no slight sense of curiosity, awaited his arrival at +the head of the steps. Their meeting might have seemed strained, but +for Hubert Effingham's remark, which relieved the situation. + +"If the dinner is spoiled, my dear Loyd," he said cheerily, "pray do +not blame the cook; when guests stray away at the dinner-hour, who is +responsible for the consequences? And, by the way, where is Colston? +Have we to wait until his constitutional is over?" + +"Mr. Drummond will not dine with us this evening," replied Morton, +with an indifference, the assumption of which was painfully apparent. +"And pardon me; I was in hopes that you would begin, and permit me to +catch up with you, as--as I have so frequently done." + +"The idea of obliging Loyd to apologize for his actions," interposed +Mrs. Effingham, laughing, "when his privileges here are the privileges +of his own house! Be off with you, you Hector, and tell Anton he may +serve dinner." + +Thereupon she linked her arm within that of the young doctor, and +glanced up into his face with an affection beyond question. + +"Why should I mention your privileges in my home, my dearest boy and +almost son?" she asked. "Do I need to remind you of my darling +Malcolm's love for you, or of the paternal fondness of that dear one +who so soon followed my boy to the grave?" + +She noted the nervous tremor of Morton's pallid lips, and hastened to +remove the painful impression she had produced. + +"Of course not!" she added; "more than ever, now, I account you a son. +You have saved Romaine, and it is the debt of a mother's gratitude +that I have to repay--if such requital be within human power. Oh, Loyd +dear, you are again alone in the world! Come to me and fill the vacant +place!" + +"Of son?" he demanded in a tone, the hoarseness of which concealed its +almost fierce eagerness. + +"Of nothing less than son, you know it." + +His dark eyes lighted with an inward fire that he was powerless to +mask. + +"God bless you!--mother," he answered, chokingly; "perhaps the hour is +not far distant when I may ask requital for the life I have given you +back, and put you to the test." + +They had entered the lighted hall and she glanced with a slightly +wondering start into his face, though the replied in the same fulness +of soul, + +"Bring me to the test." + +Their entrance into the dining-room and the presence of Hubert put an +end to the conversation, and dinner began, a single course of which +gave ample proof that the atmosphere had cleared. Romaine was out of +danger, indeed convalescent, and the awful suspense of the last +twenty-four hours was at an end. Mother and son presided in the very +best of spirits, and Morton must have been morose indeed had he been +able to withstand the contagion of their buoyant mood. Under the +influence of their constantly reiterated gratitude for the feat which +they ascribed to his skill, of the genial atmosphere, combined with +the excellent fare and wines, he warmed while some hint of hope and +peace crept back into his tortured heart. Only once did the clutch of +inexorable destiny seem laid upon him, causing his blood to halt in +its channels, as Hubert exuberantly exclaimed, + +"I see but one way, Loyd, and only one, in which you can be repaid for +saving Romaine!" + +"Relieve my mind by informing me, Hubert," remarked Mrs. Effingham +with a smile; "I confess that I have cudgelled my brains in vain." + +"By giving him what he has saved--by giving him Romaine!" + +"And how about Colston?" laughed the lady in high good humor. + +"I did not take him into the account," responded the young man; "at +all events he should not object, under the circumstances." + +"Which proves that you have never been in love, my boy." + +They glanced at Morton, and were slightly chilled at the sternness of +his face and the intensity with which he answered, + +"Were it her will, I would gladly be Romaine's servant in love as I +have been her servant in life and death." + +It was as if a frigid wind had crossed the genial atmosphere, chilling +their hearts as the mere passage of a current closes the sensitive +blossoms of the deep sea. But the constraint was transient; they were +used to Morton's moods, and ever were accustomed to make light of +them; and in the kindness of their hearts they readily imagined a +score of excuses for this particular one. The actual relief to the +situation, however, presented itself in the sudden and unexpected +apparition of Romaine herself upon the threshold of the dining-room. +She stood between the parted draperies, the soft folds of her robe +falling about her in the radiance of the candles. + +Romaine's welcome back to her accustomed place at table was full of +that exuberant congratulation natural to the situation. There was a +general uprising to receive and lead her to the vacant chair, which +had been set in place for Colston Drummond. Although Mrs. Effingham +and Hubert simultaneously saluted the girl's wan cheeks, Romaine had +eyes only for Morton as he bent before her to kiss the hand she +involuntarily outstretched to him. Those eyes, so dark and limpid, +seemed fairly to embrace the young doctor with their eloquent +scrutiny. A conscious flush suffused his face, while an eager, hungry +light flashed into his eyes, hitherto so dull and apathetic. + +Romaine sank into the vacant chair and glanced about her with a happy +sigh. + +"How good it seems to be well again!" she exclaimed. "I feel as though +I had been away from you all an age. Pray, how long is it since I sat +here?" + +"Just twenty-four hours, sister mine," replied Hubert. + +"One day, only one brief day," she remarked, as it were, +introspectively, "and yet in that short space of time I have lived +through an eternity--such an eternity!" + +Her voice fell almost to a whisper, and her eyes became fixed upon +space with an indescribably dreamy inspection in their depths. + +Although the dinner was practically at an end, Hubert seated himself +beside her, watching her with an affectionate interest not unmixed +with sadness. Mrs. Effingham and Morton, however, remained standing +side by side at the head of the table, and it was of the latter that +the lady inquired in a swift undertone, + +"Is it not a risk for her to have left her room so soon?" + +"I think not," replied Morton, without removing his eyes from Romaine, +upon whom they had rested intently since her appearance; "but I do not +approve of her remaining here. See for yourself! The associations of +the spot seem to be exerting some spell upon her already. Romaine," he +said suddenly, perhaps in answer to the mother's anxious glance, "if I +am to be your physician until you are out of all danger, you must obey +me. You were imprudent to leave your room without my permission." + +She raised her eyes quickly, smiling in happy submission, as she +inquired, + +"Must I go back again? Command! I am your dutiful patient." + +"We will go into the conservatory, if you wish," Morton answered. "It +is warmer there and less exposed to draughts; you shall inspect your +favorite flowers, and then, I think, we shall have you retire for the +night and rest." + +She rose with the ready acquiescence of a docile child, and going to +him, placed her arm within his. + +"Come!" she said. "Of all things, I would like to show you my plants; +I think you have not seen them for a long, long time." And with an +animated smile, that somehow seemed pathetic, she led Morton away +through the glass doors that opened from the dining-room into the +spacious conservatory lying fragrant and dim in the rays of the +crescent moon. + +Hubert had risen as Romaine left the room, and stood with his hand +resting upon the back of his chair, lost in troubled thought that +mirrored itself upon his expressive face; at last, with sudden +resolution, he conquered his painful indecision, and coming to Mrs. +Effingham's side, touched her arm. + +"Mother," he remarked, "Loyd is correct." + +"Loyd is always correct," replied the lady in a startled way, that +belied the confidence that her words implied. + +"Yes, but he is correct upon one point which you and I, in our great +love for Romaine, have been trying to evade during the whole of this +endless day." + +"What do you mean, Hubert?" + +"I mean that Romaine's mind _is_ affected." + +"Merciful heaven!" cried the mother, the ready tears glittering in her +anxious eyes, "how you utter my thoughts! My dear boy, what shall we +do if such be the case?" + +"I believe it to be but a temporary aberration, and Loyd thinks so, +too," replied the young man, soothingly. + +"But how can we tell? O Hubert, what suspense for us!" + +"Yes; but we must bear it bravely, mother, hoping and praying for the +best. All that we can do is to mind Loyd's commands, in regard to +Romaine, to the letter. It must be our duty to see that nothing +troubles or thwarts her." + +"Of course!" + +"Ah, that may mean more than you think." + +"How so?" + +"It may mean that we shall be forced to forbid Colston the house, or +at least the privilege of seeing Romaine until she recovers." + +"Colston!" exclaimed Mrs. Effingham, in pained amazement; "forbid +Colston Drummond to enter our house!" + +"Yes. An unfortunate scene has been enacted this afternoon in +Romaine's room between Colston and Loyd--of course in Romaine's +presence. Then, later, there has been something mysterious going on +between the two men, of what import I do not know." + +"What can it be?" + +"I say I do not know; but perhaps Loyd will confide in me. In the mean +time I have perfect confidence that he is conscientiously doing his +best for Romaine's welfare. You can see for yourself, that her +consideration even for us, her mother and brother, is second to her +sudden attachment for Loyd." + +The significance of the words failed not duly to impress Mrs. +Effingham. Her slight color faded, leaving her face ashy to the very +lips. + +"Can you mean," she said, with evident effort, "that some mysterious +mental distemper has interested her in Loyd to the prejudice of +Colston?" + +"That is my suspicion." + +"You think that her love has turned to Loyd?" + +"Can you doubt it?" + +"What would be the consequences of her return to reason?" + +"Mother dear," replied Hubert Effingham, manfully, "we had better not +torment ourselves with considerations for the future; we have our +hands full with the present." + +Meanwhile Romaine and Morton had wandered out of ear-shot of this +significant conversation, into the depths of the conservatory. They +had paused beneath a luxuriant _lapageria_, and the girl had raised +caressing hands, drawing downward a cluster of its frosty bells to her +lips. + +The startling likeness in tint between the wan face and the ghostly +blossoms, as they gleamed side by side in the moonlight, so painfully +suggested the sculptured pallor of death, that Morton caught her hands +in his and drew her quickly into his embrace, as he would snatch her +from the brink of the grave. She resigned herself to his clasp, almost +rough in its passion, without a tremor, while she glanced with a +wondering smile up into his face. + +"I associate those cold, scentless flowers with a certain funeral," he +said with a shudder that caused her to nestle involuntarily closer to +him; "I saw them near you once, and God knows I would never see them +so placed again!" + +"Yes, I have worn them in my hair," she said, "and they were thought +beautiful with my white lace gown." + +"They were laid upon your breast when I saw them last," he muttered, +"and they were cut from this very vine." + +"Indeed? I do not recollect." + +"No, and I would not have you recollect that time, since we are united +again." + +"United again!" she echoed dreamily. "O Loyd, teach me to understand +how we have ever been separated!" + +"Rather let me teach you how fondly I love you," he whispered; "let me +convince you that every heart-throb of ours distances the past--the +dead past and its shadows. Let your very soul be witness to my avowal +when I tell you that I love you! Paula, I love you!" + +"Paula!" + +She spoke the name after him in no surprise, with no intonation of +perplexity. It left her lips lingeringly, as though its sound was +pleasing to her ear. + +"Yes, Paula," he answered eagerly; "you are Paula, Paula to me, but +Romaine to the rest of the world." + +"How strange," she faltered with that dreamy smile, as if fascinated. + +"But you comprehend," he insisted--"you appreciate the distinction?" + +"Oh, yes." + +"Answer to every name in Christendom, if you will, save Paula; you are +Paula alone for _me_!" + +His impassioned emphasis seemed to charm her. Her rapt gaze enveloped +his head as she lay in his arms, and there was a smile of ineffable +serenity upon her lips. + +"How you love that name!" she murmured. + +"_You_ taught me to love it." + +"I must have, since you say so." + +"You are Paula." + +"Yes, I am Paula," she replied as one echoes a dictation; then, with a +half-regretful sigh, "What would I not give to be able to recall the +past!" + +"You will recall everything in due time," he said soothingly; "I will +help you." + +"After all," she said after a pause, "what is the past, compared with +the present? It seems like an earth-life which I have left behind; the +present is heaven." + +"Paula, my own true darling!" he parted in ecstasy, "you recognize me; +you love me!" + +"I love you, Loyd." + +He bent his head to kiss the calmly smiling lips, when she raised her +hand to stroke, with fond caress, his hair. + +A flash like miniature lightning dazed his sight as her hand passed +upward; it was simply the gleam of a diamond upon her finger; but +through its white sheen peered the face of Colston Drummond, distorted +with a grimace of mocking warning, and he reeled from his seventh +heaven to earth, felled by that tiny shaft. + +He loosened his hold upon her, and caught her hand, riveting his +burning eyes upon the gem, that returned the glare with flashes of +ruby fire. + +"You must not wear this ring!" he exclaimed; "I cannot bear to see it +upon your dear hand." + +Her startled glance left his face and rested upon the exquisite jewel. + +"You do not like the ring?" she inquired in a puzzled way. + +"It is not a question of my like or dislike," he replied with +increasing eagerness, almost with impatience. "_I_ did not place it +upon your finger; it does not belong to you, Paula." + +"Oh, then take it away!" she cried, hastily twisting off the circlet; +"I hate it now, although I thought it so beautiful." + +Perhaps it was the utter absence of regret in her tone that brought +that triumphant glitter to his eyes, as he accepted the ring and +slipped it upon the little finger of his left hand. + +"It shall return whence it came," he said unsteadily. "It shall +trouble you no more; but in its stead you shall wear this ring, these +pearls. Paula, do you not recognize them?" + +As he spoke, he produced a plain gold hoop, set with three perfect +pearls, and held it before her eyes. + +"Pearls!" she murmured sadly; "pearls are ill-fated; they mean tears." + +He cast his arm about her waist and drew her to him, still holding the +ring within range of her vision. + +"All portents, all auguries, all superstitions fail in our case!" he +cried exultantly. "We are exempt from all baleful influences now! +These pearls may _once_ have signified tears, but now there are no +more tears whence they came; they are petrified, and symbolize our +happy reunion. In this supreme moment of our love, try to +recollect--Paula, do you not recognize these pearls?" + +A spasm of actual pain crossed the beautiful face, the result of +intense mental exertion. + +"O Loyd, I cannot recollect!" she faltered piteously; "and yet--. Did +you not promise to help me to recall the past?" + +"Yes, my darling!" he exclaimed, his passion exceeding all bounds; +"and I will fulfil that promise when we have wearied of the blessed +present! A new promise I will make you here and now, and that is never +again to torture you with unavailing considerations; only tell me once +again that you love me with all your renewed strength, with all your +purified soul!" + +She raised her arms and wound them about his neck. + +"Loyd, I love you," she answered steadily; "I love you--love you as +the angels in heaven love!" + +"Of whom you are one!" + +He kissed her upon the lips--a long, rapturous kiss, thrilling with +the welcome of his yearning heart; with such rapture only could he +have kissed the one who had been his bride, returned to him from the +imminence of some awful danger or from the shadow of the grave. + +As such, and in all good faith, he kissed the woman lying in his arms, +in all reason believing her his loved and lost one sent back to him +from the vague realms of eternity. + +Suddenly he raised his head and looked into her face with something +akin to fright, actuated doubtless by the shadow of a last doubt upon +his certitude; as a fleeting remnant of cloud-rack after a night of +storm will sometimes fleck the serenity of a perfect dawn. + +Would there be a blush upon her cheek after that impassioned salute? +And, if there were, would not it portend an agitation born of maiden +modesty? His suspicious heart assured him that no such tell-tale hue +dyes the brow in holy wedlock. And he could have cried aloud in his +exceeding joy to find the sweet face as untinged as the ghostly +flower-bells that hung above it. + +He placed the ring of pearls upon her finger whence the flashing +diamond had been removed, and kissed it into place; and she, with fond +humility, received the kiss from the jewelled pledge, and returned it +to his lips. + +Then they passed, with their arms entwined about each other, through +the dimly lighted rooms and up the stairs to the chamber, where he +surrendered her into the care of her waiting-maid. + +"You will not leave the house to-night?" she murmured, as their hands +unclasped at the threshold. + +"Not to-night," he answered softly, "nor ever, till you go with me!" + +For the instant he forgot his obligation to Colston Drummond that +night; but, when her chamber-door had closed and the diamond upon his +hand flashed a defiant ray at the lamp upon the newel-post, he +bethought himself of his inevitable engagement. However, he did not +blench. + +"I am master of the ring!" he murmured in triumph. "One more effort, +and I go to Drummond Lodge within the hour, prepared to remove the +last impediment from my path!" + +At that moment he descried the figure of Mrs. Effingham crossing the +hall below in the direction of the library. With rapid steps he +descended the stairs and followed her. He was in search of her, since +from her hand must come the final weapon destined to silence his +rival. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + "No, no, although + The air of Paradise did fan the house, + And angels offic'd all: I will be gone-- + ... Come, night; end, day! + For with the dark, poor thief, I'll steal away." + +Whether or not he entertained decided views regarding the power of his +personal magnetism over Romaine, it is certain that Morton felt no +perturbation, no uncertainty of touch, in his management of her. Loth, +as we have seen him, to admitting that he possessed any so-called +mesmerism, he was convinced that he held the key to her volition, and +that he need have no further anxiety on that score. Come what might, +no matter what contingency might arise, he was persuaded that she +would second his wishes, would obey him in any event. Why should it +not be so if, as he strove to believe--nay, as he was obliged to +believe or perish--she were actuated by the spirit of his wife? +Doubtless he would have been stronger in his belief if that belief had +not resorted to the make-shift of interrogation. He was vaguely +conscious of the weakness, of the masked doubt, that a question +implies--especially when it is a question of faith; and yet his very +inability to answer such question satisfactorily lent him a species of +Dutch courage that materially assisted him to tread his dubious way. +As the belated way-farer whistles in the night or affrightedly calls +upon his common-sense to assign suspicious sounds to the harmlessness +of natural causes, so he groped his way, fondly believing the darkness +light, satisfied if an unanswered query dispelled a doubt. + +If, then, he experienced no uneasiness as regarded his management of +Romaine, he was forced to admit great apprehension as to the +successful control of Mrs. Effingham at the decisive moment. Granting +his power of magnetism over the daughter, he had reason seriously to +doubt the virtue of his occult gifts if applied to the mother. + +Something of this moral hesitancy must have mirrored itself upon his +countenance as he thrust aside the drapery that concealed the library +door and found himself in the presence of the lady. + +Serena Effingham had seated herself at the writing-table, arranged +paper, and taken pen in hand; but, as the sound of Morton's footsteps +reached her, she hastily dropped the pen and removed a tiny rose +colored shade from the candle, the better to scan the intruder's face. + +"I disturb you," he said shortly, in a tone that promptly secured her +curious attention. + +"No," she answered; "as you see, I am not engaged, I have not begun to +write. What is it, Loyd? You have something of importance to say to +me?" + +She half rose as she spoke, but he motioned her back to her seat. + +"Yes, something of importance to say," he replied; "a request to ask, +which you can grant nowhere so well as here, since you must write." + +"Write--what? To whom?" + +"To Mr. Drummond." + +"To Colston! He may be here during the evening; I do not doubt he will +be." + +"Colston Drummond will not call this evening." + +Hubert's insinuations, together with the mysterious behavior of the +two men earlier in the evening, recurred to her mind with unpleasant +vividness; yet she hesitated to divulge alike her son's and her own +involuntary espionage upon their guests. Consequently she had recourse +to temporization for present safety. + +"Colston would be remiss in his duty if he failed to inquire for +Romaine before he slept," she remarked nervously. "Whatever may be his +faults--and he has as few as any man I know--indifference is not one +of them; at least, indifference as regards those he loves." + +It was like her valiantly to defend the absent, and she spoke from her +heart. + +Morton watched her with his soul in his eyes, though he turned a shade +more pallid, while the lines about his lips grew more tense as each +word of hers broke the silence. + +"Why should you defend him?" he asked almost harshly. + +"Why?" she faltered, at a loss for words. + +"Such defence as yours implies some suspicion." + +"Why so?" + +"Because it was wholly unprovoked." + +"Loyd," the lady exclaimed, "you dislike Colston!" + +"Why should I?" + +"Do you not?" + +"No! He is almost a stranger to me; I am not called upon either to +like or dislike him. I do not belong to his sphere in life; he has +simply crossed mine as a thousand and one persons meet me +professionally and part, never to meet again." + +"But you are likely to meet him frequently in the future." + +"I think not. I confess that I am not so completely indifferent to his +welfare as to hope he might some day have need of my services, which +would be the only opportunity we could have of meeting." + +Mrs. Effingham bit her lip to conceal some rising emotion, and toyed +absently with the pen. + +"Let us dismiss him from our thoughts for the present," she said with +a sigh, "and attend to your request." + +"I would willingly comply," Morton remarked, "but unfortunately we +cannot dismiss Mr. Drummond, since he is intimately connected with my +request." + +She turned a swift, startled glance upon the speaker. + +"Yes," he continued, coming close to the table and leaning above it; +"I wish you to write to Mr. Drummond, forbidding him to come here--for +the present; at least, forbid him to intrude upon Romaine until she is +stronger and better able to bear his importunity." + +"Loyd! what can you mean?" + +"Exactly what I say. Either Mr. Drummond vacates the field to me, or I +vacate the field to Mr. Drummond and such other physician as you may +choose to call in. I cannot, and will not, suffer my efforts to be +balked by his interference. You have placed Romaine in my charge to +cure, and I will do my utmost to secure the desired end so long as I +am undisturbed; any physician demands so much. If you consider me +unreasonable, I beg you to say so frankly. No candid opinion, honestly +uttered, ever gave offence or caused a breach in friendship. At all +events, it shall not in my case." + +The heroism of his words was belied by his tone, the expression of his +face, his very attitude. + +If Colston Drummond's rights at Belvoir were maintained in spite of +Morton's semi-truthful plea, the day would be lost to him, and he knew +it. If Drummond held his ground, he must retreat. He felt the solid +earth beneath him changing to a shifting quick-sand, from which only a +miracle could save him. If Drummond were restored to Romaine, he must +leave her, and, in leaving her, leave that chimerical love to which he +had become enslaved, abandon his spirit-wife--and go mad, for aught he +knew to the contrary. + +The suspense of that supreme moment aged him appreciably, while the +reaction that succeeded well-nigh deprived him of self-control. + +He could have cried aloud in the exuberance of his joy, could have +flung himself upon the earth, or indulged in any other fantastic mode +of relief when at last Mrs. Effingham tremulously replied, + +"Come what may, you shall remain in command here. O Loyd, do not +desert us in this the eleventh hour of our anxiety! In heaven's name, +stand by us until your good work is accomplished! You have dragged +Romaine back from the threshold of death; sustain her until the +threatening portals are closed and she is safe!" + +She rose as she spoke, with outstretched arms, and he hastened to her +to receive her embrace. + +She clung to him hysterically for a moment, then sank into her chair +and with an effort caught up the pen in her trembling fingers. + +"Dictate--I will write," she faltered sobbingly. + +It was Morton's very good fortune that Mrs. Effingham never so much as +dreamed of suspecting his perfect disinterestedness in her daughter's +cause. In intrusting Romaine's life to his care, she placed in his +keeping that which she considered infinitely more precious than the +salvation of her own immortal soul, since she unhesitatingly +considered her welfare here and hereafter as second to that of her +children, such was the perfection of her maternal self-denial. From +long association with her, Morton was well aware of this fact; +consequently it was from prudential motives that he stepped behind her +chair to conceal the guilty triumph that distorted his countenance. +Had she seen his face at that moment, the depth of his deceit would +have been instantly apparent to her, and this he was wise enough to +know. Her woman's instinct would have warned her that he did not love +Romaine for herself, that he was actuated in his devotion by some +ulterior motive in which Romaine held no share. At least, he knew such +to be the case, knew that his success in the future depended upon his +keeping that knowledge an inviolate secret. He was well aware that the +treason against Colston Drummond was vividly depicted upon his face, +and that in perfect concealment of it resided his only hope of further +communion with the spirit of his wife, that reincarnation in which he +now as devoutly believed, as he believed in his own existence. + +Be it said in his favor that he was not wholly selfish in his conduct, +notwithstanding the insatiable yearning of his soul for the affinity +from which he had been separated, since he felt himself to be +responsible for having summoned that spirit back to earth, for having +conjured it from the realms of bliss through the spell of his great +love, even overcoming its reluctance to return by his importunity; +but, having succeeded in his invocation, having secured the +reincarnation, how could he abandon the imprisoned spirit? What right +had he to leave it to pine among strangers? + +What was the spirit of his wife to Drummond, or Drummond to the spirit +of his wife? They had never met upon earth, and now, wrapped in a veil +of invisibility, how could that spirit hope for the sympathy and love +upon which it had fed, and for the renewal of which it had returned to +earth? + +Could he in duty, in honor, in love, desert the habitation which that +blessed spirit had chosen, and leave it enslaved to a doom beside +which total annihilation would seem paradise? + +A thousand times, no! As the bonds of wedlock had made him responsible +for the welfare of his wife, even so had this covenant with death +rendered him accountable for the peace of her spirit. + +Such was his self-acquittal for the high-handed deceit which he was +practising upon his best of friends. + +A portion at least of this defence sped involuntarily through his mind +as he stood behind Mrs. Effingham's chair; and, thanks to it, he was +able to regain some measure of composure, so that, when she faintly +repeated the request that he should dictate the letter to Drummond, he +replied with a reasonable degree of command, + +"Write as your heart dictates." + +"My heart fails me," she answered piteously. "I can find no words in +which to forbid the man, who was to have been my son-in-law within the +month, to enter my house." + +It seemed to Morton then as if the threatening quick-sands were +creeping about his feet again. If he failed to secure this dismissal, +all would be lost. + +He might go to Drummond with the ring, feeling himself well armed, but +a vulnerable point would still be exposed as long as Drummond could +freely seek Mrs. Effingham and demand an explanation. Perfect success +to his scheme was in view, and he must secure it at all hazards! + +He stepped from his concealment and boldly faced the lady, a horn of +the bull in either hand. + +"Believe me, Mrs. Effingham," he said sternly, "this is no +child's-play; we have arrived at a decisive moment, which is not to be +gainsaid. Permit me to present the question from another point of +view. Suppose that I had failed in my management of Romaine's case; +that you saw her steadily growing worse under my treatment instead of +better; that you were satisfied that I was mistaken and surely +courting death for her; would you not dismiss me ere it was too late, +and summon one whose skill could save your child? Answer me that!" + +"O Loyd!" she cried, "how can you ask me? How can you find it in your +heart to torture me so?" + +"And how can you place impediments in the way of my saving Romaine? I +am simply amazed that you will run any risk where Romaine is +concerned. As I said before, I now repeat--either Mr. Drummond assumes +direction here, or I do; it is for you to choose between us." + +"I beseech you, do not be unreasonable, Loyd; you are the physician. +Have I not given you every proof of my confidence? Pursue your way +undisturbed." + +"That is out of the question," he answered steadily, "out of the +question, while Mr. Drummond is permitted to come here. His influence +upon Romaine in her present sensitive condition is disastrous. If he +comes here, he will insist upon seeing her; and, if she sees him, I +will not answer for the consequences. I grant you that the gentleman +is not to blame for the baleful influence he exerts--indeed, I +entirely exonerate him; but the fact remains that, for some mysterious +reason, Romaine is reduced almost to frenzy at the very sight of him. +Had you been in her chamber this afternoon when he forced an entrance +there and defied my authority, you would have been satisfied that your +daughter's life is a matter of a few hours' duration if she is left to +his mercy!" + +It was a bold stroke, and it struck home. + +Hubert's hint of the "unfortunate scene" that had been enacted in +Romaine's presence that afternoon recurred to Mrs. Effingham's mind +most opportunely for Morton. Without further parley, she drew a sheet +of paper to her, caught up the pen, and wrote in breathless haste the +following entreaty: + + "MY DEAR COLSTON: I beg you to appreciate the depth of my + solicitude for Romaine, when I tell you that I am more than + willing to assume all the blame for the pain I am forced to + inflict upon you. You already know something of the critical + condition of my darling child; and yet I venture to say that + it is far more critical than you suspect. Complete rest and + total freedom from every description of excitement are + indispensable to her recovery. I shall keep her strictly + removed from all social intrusion, even of the most intimate + kind; and I must beg you, for the present, not to attempt to + see her. Indeed, I will so far hazard the endurance of your + friendship and love for me as to beseech you not even to come + to the house until she is out of all danger. You may deem me a + fanatic in my maternal anxiety--perhaps I am; but nevertheless + I ask you to respect a mother's wishes and second a mother's + prayers. I take this, possibly unwarrantable, step entirely + upon my own responsibility, persuaded that your dear, noble + heart will sympathize with and understand me. Hubert shall + bring you daily tidings of our dear one; and, in the hope that + this moral quarantine may be of brief duration, believe me, + + "Ever your fondly attached friend, + SERENA EFFINGHAM." + +The manner in which she reached her signature suggested the broken +gait of an exhausted animal that has been lashed almost beyond +endurance, yet accomplishes the behest of its master with its ultimate +gasp. The pen fell from her nerveless hand, and she sank back in her +chair with a quivering sigh. + +"Read what I have written," she gasped. "It may be utterly +unintelligible." + +For answer, Morton folded the sheet and placed it in an envelope. + +"Address this, if you please," he said. + +She obeyed his request, limply forcing herself to make the effort; +and, as the pen once more fell from her fingers, she glanced up at him +with a haggard piteousness in her eyes. + +"Will you not read what I have written?" she asked again. + +"I see no reason why I should," he answered. "I have no wish to +intrude. You are simply doing your duty towards your daughter; such a +proceeding is not open to criticism." + +"I only hope and pray that Colston will regard my attitude in the same +magnanimous light," she sighed, taking a little heart at his words. + +"He will if he is truly a lover and a gentleman," was the daring +reply. + +Mrs. Effingham rose and, crossing the room, opened one of the +casements to admit a breath of the cool night air; and at that moment +a clock somewhere about the house chimed ten. + +"It is so late," she remarked sadly, "that there is little danger of +poor Colston's intruding upon us to-night. We may as well defer +sending the note until to-morrow." + +She was looking absently forth upon the engloomed landscape, to where, +beyond the crest of the low-lying hills, the blood-red segment of the +moon was sinking to rest; consequently she failed to note the inward +fire that flashed up in Morton's haggard eyes as he hastened to reply, + +"I will take a short walk before I sleep, as is my custom, and leave +the note at Drummond Lodge." + +She turned with an apprehensive start towards the writing-table, as if +to claim the note, perhaps with a view to its destruction; but it had +disappeared. + +Divining her intention, Morton touched his breast. "It is here," he +said, "you may trust me to deliver it safely. Romaine has requested me +to remain here over night," he added, going towards the door that +opened upon the hall, "and I must respect her wish. Doubtless I shall +find Hubert up when I return." + +He was about to leave the room, when the lady extended her arms and he +was obliged to return and receive her embrace. + +"Good-night," she murmured; "I shall look in at Romaine and then +retire; for I am completely worn out with the events of this day. +Good-night, Loyd. Ah, my dear boy! you little know what comfort it is +to have you to depend upon. I have trusted you with Romaine's precious +life, and you have not failed me; now I intrust to your keeping her +future welfare and happiness. Be faithful. God bless you. Good-night!" + +Words of strong significance they seemed to Morton, in his exalted +mood. Could it be that they implied a suspicion of apostasy on his +part? + +Like many another constitutionally upright man, laboring in strained +circumstances, he felt his "conscience hanging about the neck of his +heart;" and, like many another good man, overwhelmed by the force of +circumstances, he left himself no time to listen to that conscience. +He grasped his hat and hurried out into the night. As he passed one of +the uncurtained windows of the drawing-room, whence a belt of light +fell out upon the terrace from the shaded lamps within, he paused and +half involuntarily drew Mrs. Effingham's letter to Drummond from his +pocket. He had not sealed it, and, as he drew the folded sheet from +its envelope, he experienced a twinge of shame-faced regret that he +had not read it in the lady's presence, as she had besought him to do. +The desire--nay, the imperative necessity--had been with him at the +time to satisfy himself to what extent her words had coincided with +his requirements; but somehow he could not have brought himself to +read the missive with her confiding eyes resting upon him. + +Now, however, with an assurance born of the encompassing darkness, his +eyes flew over the lines, gathering a gleam of hungry satisfaction in +their depths as they read. + +"'Indeed, I will so far hazard the endurance of your friendship and +love for me as to beseech you not even to come to the house until she +is out of all danger,'" he read, almost audibly. "Good! good! Nothing +could be better! We are safe from his intrusion, at least for the +precious present! Ah," he concluded, with savage, mirthless humor, "I +am greatly mistaken in his high-mettle if she has not made him his +quietus with a bare bodkin!" + +He returned the letter to his pocket and hurried away to the steps +that led down to the lawn, casting one backward, furtive glance at the +lighted windows. + +Fair-haired Achilles, armed cap-a-pie, could not have led his troops +against Troy with more perfect faith in his invulnerability, in more +profound assurance of his powers to vanquish, than did Morton hasten +through the dew-drenched woodland that separated Belvoir from Drummond +Lodge. He gave no heed to the clinging briers, no thought to the roots +and stubble that vainly essayed to bar his passage. It is even +doubtful if he kept to the slightly defined path; there was a single +light aglow beyond the trees, towards which he bore with feverish +haste. He had lost all sense of physical discomfort or opposition; it +was as if, discarnate, his spirit winged impetuous flight towards the +goal of its desires. + +As he approached the dim mansion lying low amidst dense shrubbery, he +descried a small star set low and somewhat in advance of the signal +light, like some strange winged glow-worm poised in air. Soon his +eager eyes were able to detach from the environing gloom the outlines +of a tall man, standing with folded arms, a lighted cigar between his +lips. Some instinct peculiar to his excited condition informed Morton +that the solitary figure was that of Colston Drummond--long before +recognition was possible. + +"So he, too, has suffered an anxious moment!" he thought, an +overpowering throb of triumph almost suffocating him. + +A minute later the two men stood confronting each other. + +The moon had set, and in the darkness a brisk, chill wind was busy +among the tree-tops. Near by an owl hooted dismally, and receiving +answer from the distance, hooted again in eerie ululation. + +"Well?" queried Drummond, with difficulty disguising a thrill of +surprise. + +"I have kept my appointment," answered Morton, "earlier than I +thought; earlier, probably, than you expected me." + +"Well?" + +"I am the bearer of a message--a note from Mrs. Effingham." + +"Follow me." + +Drummond threw away his cigar and led the way across the sodden grass +to the open casement window, within which burned the light. It was a +charming room, decorated with trophies of the chase. From floor to +ceiling the walls were draped with fish-seines festooned upon antlers. +Groups of arms from every quarter of the globe, glistened upon the +various panels, while ancient and modern panoplies scintillated in +every nook and corner. Beside a table shrouded in dull gray velvet, +and littered with books, papers, and smoking-materials, Drummond +paused and turned to face the shadow that followed him. + +No word was exchanged, while in breathless silence he accepted and +read to its close the letter which Morton had brought. Without comment +he laid it upon the table, then bent his keen, stern glance upon the +messenger. + +"This letter is but a part of our compact," he said, each distinctly +uttered word cutting the silence like a knife. + +"I agreed to bring you this letter from Mrs. Effingham," Morton +answered, defiantly, "and your engagement-ring from"-- + +"Well? You have brought it?" + +"I have." + +Drummond recoiled a step, casting out his hand behind him and grasping +the table for support. + +"Great God!" burst from his tensely drawn lips; "I--I"-- + +"You recognize the ring?" + +Morton had slipped the circlet from his finger and held it before +Drummond's eyes, twinkling in the lamp-light. + +"This is some jugglery!" gasped the wretched man; "some infernal +witchcraft! I--I refuse to"-- + +"This is your ring!" + +A pause of awful import ensued, broken only by the weird hubbubboo of +the owls. + +"Mr. Drummond," Morton continued at length, his voice fairly startling +the silence, "I have fulfilled my part of the compact. I have brought +you undeniable proof that for the present, at all events, your +attentions to Miss Effingham are"-- + +"Silence!" gasped Drummond, between his ghastly lips. + +"Are distasteful to her," proceeded Morton, steadily, but with no note +of triumph in his tone. "Your part of the compact involves your +relinquishing all claim upon Belvoir, even as a visitor. I have +accomplished my part; as a gentleman you"-- + +"Silence!" thundered Drummond, his whole being vibrant with an +overmastering fury. "Out of my sight! or by the living God I will not +be responsible for what I may do! Never fear that I shall not abide by +my part of the compact! But as there is justice in heaven, I will +never rest until I have probed this damnable mystery to the heart! +Now, go! before the sight of you reduces me to a ravening beast! Go, +before I tear your heart out, and by drawing your blood, deprive you +of the power of sorcery! Out of my sight!" + +Morton's return to Belvoir was effected at the height of his speed. +His interview with Drummond had unmanned him; while the conscience +that hung about the neck of his heart seemed to be strangling his life +out in its deadly clutch. The owls, winging breast to breast, pursued +him, and even the very wind caught up their vague denunciation and +hurled it about his ears. Only the twinkling lights of Belvoir +recalled him from the verge of madness, from the black Gehenna of his +accusing soul. + + +CHAPTER IX. + + "Have I caught thee, my heavenly jewel? Why, now let me die, + for I have liv'd long enough: this is the period of my + ambition." + +Romaine Effingham's convalescence was as rapid as the advent of summer +that year. As the brief April days glided into May, she grew strong +and well again; sound physically, at all events. Her mental condition +remained a matter of conjecture to those who watched her with anxious +hearts. Apparently she was perfectly herself, save for her infatuation +for Morton which, after all, was scarcely a flattering view of the +case to take. Naturally there was no reason why she should not fall in +love with the young physician, setting Drummond's undeniable claims +aside; but that Drummond should be set aside, for no apparent cause, +in favor of Morton, argued a distemper which perhaps might most easily +be placed to the account of mental aberration. It was evident that +something must be seriously wrong with her that she should wholly and +completely ignore the existence of her affianced lover. She never +mentioned him, while if, in the common course of conversation his name +chanced to be uttered, which was not often the case for obvious +reasons, she maintained as unaffected an indifference as if the name +of some stranger, in whom by no chance could she be interested, had +been called in question. + +As a matter of course Mrs. Effingham indulged in a purely sentimental +view of the singular situation. If she were not betrayed into saying +so, in so many words, she was convinced that as Romaine's health +strengthened, her mind would resume its sovereignty, her former +predilections and affections would duly re-assert themselves, and as a +consequence, her dormant love for Drummond would awake and claim its +idol, which had simply suffered temporary eclipse, not obliteration. +The good lady felt persuaded that Romaine's love for her betrothed was +dormant, not defunct. + +On the other hand, man-like, Hubert Effingham was of opinion--and, +true son of his father, he had the courage of his opinions--that +either his sister's mind was hopelessly deranged, her unwarrantable +neglect of Drummond giving ample proof of the incipience of the +baleful distemper, or else she was making herself a glaring example of +that frailty which is imputed to woman. Standing between the horns of +a dilemma which he had evolved from his independent consideration of +the question, he was satisfied that he had rather accept the former +position, painful as it must be to him, than force himself to believe +Romaine guilty of an inconstancy as reprehensible as it was +unjustifiable. Setting aside his strong fraternal regard for Morton, +Hubert esteemed Drummond one of God's noblemen, as out of doubt he +was. Had Morton been the favored one primarily, Hubert would have been +content; but such was his sense of justice he could not passively +stand by and see Morton, deeply as he loved and respected him, usurp +the rights and place of one whom he had no reason to regard with a +lighter love and respect. + +Such being the case, he felt himself called upon to probe the mystery +and right the wrong, if wrong there were, while his mother remained in +optimistic apathy. He kept his counsel and patiently awaited his +opportunity. + +One perfect spring morning, perhaps a week removed from that dark and +perplexing day that had befallen Belvoir, Hubert met Romaine as she +emerged from the house accompanied by a splendid mastiff in leash, +evidently prepared for a tour of the gardens and the surrounding park. +Loyd Morton had gone into the city for the purpose of making further +arrangements with his friend Chalmers to attend to his practice +indefinitely. For reasons best known to himself, he considered his +presence indispensable at Belvoir, and no incentive had been offered +him to think otherwise. + +The present was the first occasion upon which brother and sister had +met, since Romaine's illness, free of the surveillance of Morton. It +was surely an opportunity not to be neglected. + +"You are going for a walk?" inquired Hubert, engagingly. + +"Yes, for our first walk, as in the good old times! Eh, Molossus?" +Romaine replied, with a gay smile that embodied much of the vernal +buoyancy of the morning, stooping as she spoke to stroke the tawny +velvet of the dog's head. + +"May I bear you company?" + +She hesitated an instant, with that fascinating archness which was +hers to employ with telling effect. + +"Well," she remarked, "I have no objection to your company if Molossus +has not; but you see we have so long been deprived of each other's +companionship that--well, we are just a trifle averse to intruders. +You see it seems an age since we were free and alone together." + +As if to second her words the great animal pressed closely into the +folds of her gown, looking up into her face the while with eloquent +affection. + +"The old traitor!" laughed Hubert; "what would he have done but for +my devotion while you were ill? For the time being he transferred all +his love to me." + +"Ah, but, my dear boy, I always told you that Molossus is simply +human; he feels like all of us, that first love is always the best; we +return to it as if by instinct." + +"Do we?" inquired Hubert sharply, scarcely able to conceal the +thoughts that were uppermost in his mind; "do _you_ find it to be +true?" + +"Why should I not?" she answered, with the most innocent of smiles; +then, bending to the dog, she added, "Come, Molossus, we will permit +this young unbeliever to trespass upon our privacy, just this once, if +only to convince him how enduring a first love is." + +So, side by side, the three companions passed down the steps and +strolled away through the broad garden-paths, whence the crocuses and +snow-drops had retired to give place to hyacinths and tulips, standing +in serried lines, like small armies gorgeous in fresh uniforms. There +was a general bourgeoning of rose-trees in the sun, while the perfume +of shy violets was borne far and wide upon the pregnant air. It was a +day of days, a halcyon day, instinct with proud summer's boast, when +birds have cause to sing. + +They walked along in congenial silence, the mastiff sniffing at the +trim box-edging of the path, or ever and anon making abortive lunges +at some new-fledged butterfly that, disturbed at their approach, +winged its devious flight sunward. + +Presently, after much cautious preparation, Hubert broke the charmed +silence by remarking, "I have been at Drummond Lodge several times +since you were ill, Romaine." + +"Yes?" she replied, half unconsciously, "you found them well there?" + +"Mrs. Drummond is as well as any hopeless invalid can be. Colley has +gone away." + +He set his eyes keenly upon her face as he spoke. Romaine was looking +straight before her calmly, fancy-free. + +"Gone away?" she echoed; "where?" + +"No one at the Lodge seems to know." + +"Not even his mother?" + +"No." + +She started forward suddenly, stooping to pick a tiny sprig of +forget-me-not that gemmed the border. + +"The very first of the season!" she exclaimed in childish delight; +"you dear little blossoms! how dared you venture here before there is +even a rose-bud to bear you company? Here, Hubert," she cried, "you +shall wear them!" + +She was about to attach the spray to the lapel of his coat, when she +surprised a look of keen disappointment, almost of chagrin upon his +face. + +"You do not like them!" she murmured, turning sad in a moment, as an +April day is obscured. + +He took her hands in his gently, but there was a note of firmness in +his voice, as he said, + +"It is not to the flowers that I object, but to the way in which you +slight their meaning." + +"What can you mean?" she asked in a puzzled, nearly pained way. + +"You are forgetful, Romaine." + +"Of what?" + +"Of your duty." + +She turned pale and started back so suddenly that the mastiff, +startled likewise, uttered a deep-mouthed growl. + +"Of what do you accuse me?" she cried piteously. "O Hubert, my +brother! what have I done?" + +"What are you leaving undone?" he persisted rashly. "Ask your heart, +and let it answer me--your best friend--answer me honestly." + +She made a movement as though she were groping in the darkness, which +young Effingham was too eager and excited to notice. + +"I--I do not understand," she faltered. + +"What month is this, Romaine? Is it not the month of May?" + +"I think it is." + +"Then what event, what happy event, was to have happened in this +month, _shall_ happen if God wills?" + +"My marriage," she sighed. + +"Yes, yes," he cried earnestly; "your marriage, dear--your marriage +with whom?" + +She twisted the blue-starred sprig between her white fingers until it +wilted. + +"You say you are my best friend, Hubert?" she murmured. + +"You should know it, dear." + +"Then I will confide in you. If--if my marriage is to take place this +month--" + +"Yes, yes, this month! Whom are you to marry?" + +"Loyd." + +The name escaped her blanched lips almost inaudibly; but his eager ear +caught it, and he recoiled from her with a gasp, as though she had +stung him. + +She wavered for an instant, then flung out her hands blindly, as if +grasping for support. + +"Oh, take me into the house!" she moaned; "I am ill again." + +He sprang to her side just in time to feel her delicate weight in his +arms; but she did not quite lose consciousness, possibly because, in +swift contrition, he whispered, + +"Of course you shall marry Loyd, darling, if you will." While under +his breath he added, "God forgive me, never again will I hazard her +precious life, come what may! But, in Heaven's name, what does it all +mean? I am satisfied that her mind is _not_ deranged!" + +Upon his return to Belvoir, Doctor Morton was surprised and alarmed to +find his patient restless from sudden fever. And thereupon he +registered a solemn oath never again to leave her, it mattered not how +fared his clientage. + +The excitement caused by Romaine's ill turn fortunately proved a false +alarm. There could be no gainsaying the magic of Morton's presence. +The moment she saw him, every trace of the mysterious agitation left +her, the feverish symptoms vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, +and, after a few gentle words of welcome, which induced his promise +that he would remain within call, she lapsed into profound, healthful +slumber, from which she awoke sufficiently refreshed to appear at +dinner in her usual gay spirits. + +Poor Hubert found himself more hopelessly mystified than ever +regarding his sister's incomprehensible condition. If he could have +had speech with Colston Drummond, even for the briefest space, there +can be no doubt that the discarded lover's view of the situation would +have gone a long way towards clearing Hubert's vision. Though much too +intelligent a man of the world to sympathize in the slightest degree +with the fanciful "isms" of his day, Drummond was constrained to +accredit Morton with some sort of magnetic influence which had served +to effect the subversion of Romaine's reason, so far as he personally +was concerned. His view of her case was correct, his diagnosis +accurate so far as it went. Upon the recovery of his manliness and +power of cool reasoning, he was inclined to scout the fancy that any +serious consequences would result from Romaine's infatuation. He +argued that such caprices must be transitory, and persuaded himself, +that, without his interference, affairs must right themselves, and +ultimately right themselves in his favor. + +However, he smarted under the lash of Mrs. Effingham's dismissal; her +action wounded him far more than did the compulsory return of his +betrothal-ring. He acutely judged that Romaine, being under the +supremacy of Morton, was not responsible for what she might do, +whereas it must be otherwise with her mother. He felt convinced that +were he to go to Mrs. Effingham and masterfully demand an explanation +of her attitude towards him, he could easily win her back to his side. +But she had dismissed him from her house--the fact burned and rankled +inwardly. He was touched in his most vulnerable point--his high-strung +pride; and consequently he found himself unable to confront the +passive days of exile within sight of Belvoir. It was a foolish, +ill-advised step, his going away just at this important juncture; and +he came to a realizing sense of his mistake ere he had placed a +hundred miles between himself and the object of his heart's desire. +Pride is short-lived; and, when pride dies, obstinacy ceases to seem a +virtue. The truth came home to Drummond ere he had gone far from home, +and with results which we shall presently see. + +Hubert Effingham never favored Morton with Romaine's confidences of +that unlucky moment in the garden. Much as he cared for Morton, he +would have bitten his tongue off before he would have betrayed his +sister--before he would have placed one pebble of impediment in the +path of Drummond's cause. But, though he steered a middle course with +studious fealty--though he struggled hard to be impartial in his +estimate of both men--insensibly his sympathy fluttered away to the +absent suitor. + +Meanwhile no barrier was raised against the intimate intercourse of +Romaine and her medical adviser. While she was with him, she was in +abundant health and spirits; when separated, she pined; consequently, +he was permitted to be her constant companion. Unmolested, they walked +and drove together in the lengthening days of crescent summer. Upon +such blissful occasions he invariably addressed her by the name of +Paula, and she readily, happily answered to the name. Though he +studied her with lynx-like intensity, he never discovered the +slightest tremor of surprise that he should not address her as others +did. So far he was satisfied, and in so far he fancied himself to be +justified in laying the flattering unction to his soul that he was +indeed in communion with the reincarnated spirit of his wife. The +point which baffled him, before the non-committal front of which he +shrank chilled and discouraged, was the total oblivion of all past +events which that spirit evinced. + +Yet he was not wholly discouraged, since he never permitted his cult +of the veiled idol to overshadow his system of persistent +investigation. For the hundredth time, he would endeavor to recall to +her mind some sweet episode of his by-gone courtship, or briefly happy +wedded life, and for the hundredth time she would reply, with that +gentle smile, + +"How I wish I could remember a time that must have been so joyous! Ah, +my dear Loyd, I fear this poor head of mine is like the Chaldean +idols--more clay than gold!" + +Certainly her defective recollection of the leading events in the life +of Romaine Effingham, previous to her acute illness, lent color to the +supposition that Paula Morton might be equally deficient in this +regard, in that both personalities were forced to act through the +same disabled brain; that is, granting the doubt as to which spirit +might be in residence at the time. + +Naturally, the reasoning was not logical--not conclusive to a man of +Morton's intelligence; and yet with it he was fain to be content. + +Of one thing he was satisfied; Paula, reincarnated, could not have +loved him more fondly than the beautiful being who had voluntarily +abandoned every tie to bind herself to him. Sometimes he wondered, +with the chill of death at his heart, how it was all to end; and she, +seeming to divine the desperate query, as often as it presented +itself, when he was with her, would exclaim, + +"What matters it whether I recall the past or not, so long as we are +happy in the present, so long as you have my love for the future and +for all eternity?" + +Paula might have said that in just such words; and the glamor of his +fool's paradise encompassed him again. Thus the inexplicable +situation, in the natural course of events, grew to a climax. + +One afternoon they had been riding for miles through the park-like +woodland of the neighborhood, their horses keeping leisurely pace +through aisles white with the bloom of dogwood. For a while Morton had +entertained his companion with reminiscences of that happy by-gone +time which was a reality to him, a pleasing effort of the imagination +to her. Her responsiveness was an encouragement to him; and he began +at the beginning, closing with the untimely end. + +There were tears--tears of genuine sympathy and sorrow--in her limpid +eyes as he ceased speaking. So graphic had been his description of +that last scene in the cemetery--that end-all to his hope and +joy--that she seemed to see the lonely figure beside the open grave, +to hear his sobs mingling with the sough of the rainy wind, and to +feel the unutterable desolation of that grievous hour. + +"Loyd," she said, after a brief pause, her tone suggestive of unshed +tears, "you must take me to her grave some day." + +"Whose grave?" he demanded sharply, her sympathy for the first time +striking a discordant note in his soul. + +"Her grave," she answered, wonderingly, "your wife's." + +He slid from his saddle, allowing his horse to turn to the lush grass, +and came to her side. He took her hand in both of his and looked up +into her face with an intensity that startled her. + +"That grave was _your_ grave, Paula," he said. "Can you not +understand?" + +"It is hard to realize," she faltered. + +"And you are _my wife_!" + +She turned pale so suddenly that he would have been alarmed, had not +the fugitive dye instantly returned deeper than before upon cheek and +brow. + +"Your wife!" + +"My wife in the sight of God! Oh, have no doubt of it; for your +indecision would drive me mad! Paula was my wife, and you are Paula!" + +"Yes, but Paula in another form." + +"Exactly! But still my wife!" + +"Not in the sight of man." + +"Then the sooner we are made one again, the better!" he went on +impetuously. "See, you wear your own betrothal-ring. Can you, will you +submit to the absurdity of a second marriage ceremony, for the sake of +the blind world's opinion?" + +"I can and will," she answered. + +"Then let there be no delay!" + +He reached up, and, bending low, she kissed him upon the lips; and she +did it so frankly, trustingly, that henceforth he banished every +doubt, every vestige of uncertainty to that vague realm whither much +of his outraged common-sense had fled. + +Late that night a wailing cry startled the quiet of the house--a cry +low, but sufficient in carrying-power to rouse Mrs. Effingham from the +depths of her first sleep. Hurrying, breathless with apprehension, +through the dressing-room which separated her chamber from Romaine's, +speechless was her amazement and alarm to find the girl standing +before her mirror, the candelabra ablaze on either side, robed from +head to foot in white, the splendid masses of her hair sweeping about +her shoulders. Upon her exquisite neck and arms scintillated rivulets +of diamonds, heir-looms of the Effingham family, which descended to +each daughter of the house upon her eighteenth birthday; while in her +hand, held at arm's length, glittered an object which had the sheen of +blent gold and jewels--a tiny object that fitted softly into the snowy +palm. Upon this object were her eyes riveted, with a sort of wild +dismay in their inspection. She seemed entranced, and for a minute the +watcher dared give no sign of her intrusion. + + +CHAPTER X. + + "Wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age, + And rob me of a happy mother's name?" + +The events which led up to the somewhat dramatic climax in Romaine's +chamber at midnight would scarcely seem to warrant so pronounced a +crisis. An agreeable evening had been passed in the music-room, Morton +and Hubert smoking, Mrs. Effingham busied with some bit of fancy-work, +while Romaine played the piano or sang, as her mood suggested. She was +an ardent musician, possessed of a fine mezzo-soprano voice, which had +been trained in the best schools. Her fancy was for the fantasticism +of the more modern composers; and upon this occasion, being in the +vein, she sang, with remarkable effect, the weird night-song of the +slave in Goldmark's "Queen of Sheba," the dreamy Berceuse from "Lakme" +and two or three of Meyer Helmund's idyllic creations. The vibrant +tenderness and surpassing melody of her voice filled her hearers with +wonder. Never had she sung with such depth of feeling; and they +marvelled at it, regarding the performance as a revelation. Naturally, +as the evening wore on, a reaction set in, a pallid exhaustion took +the place of the heightened color of cheek and lip, and finally +Romaine rose from the piano unnerved and hysterical. The party +promptly broke up, and Mrs. Effingham led the way to her daughter's +chamber. + +By eleven o'clock the good lady had left Romaine, apparently calm and +at peace with herself, in the hands of her maid, and had retired for +the night. + +The gown of India silk had been exchanged for a garment of soft white +wool, the peculiar flowing pattern of which suggested the graceful +robes of Watteau and Greuze, and in it the young mistress of Belvoir +reclined at ease upon her couch. So lost was she in revery, that she +took no heed of the maid, who, her preparations for the night +completed, glided to the back of the couch and stood waiting. The +Dresden clock's faint tick became audible, and presently the chime +rang out. The oppressive silence broken, the maid spoke: + +"Will Miss Romaine have her hair brushed now?" + +Romaine turned with a start, casting one exquisitely moulded arm up to +the back of the couch, so that she faced the speaker. + +"I must have been asleep or in a trance!" she exclaimed in a dazed +way. "No, no, Eunice; I will braid my hair to-night. Go to bed. It is +late. See, it is half-past eleven." + +"But, miss, I--" + +"Yes, I know you would work over me until you dropped from sheer +fatigue," the young lady went on, with a smile; "but I shall not +permit it--not to-night. I prefer to be left alone. Good-night." + +Reluctantly the maid vanished, closing the door behind her. + +The instant she disappeared, Romaine rose and stood in the faint glow +of the single candle, her white robe lying in ample folds about her. + +"At last I am alone!" She listened intently for some sound in the +silent house. "Alone--with my thoughts of _him_! How he loves me; +but," with a fluttering sigh, "how he loved that _other one_--that +Paula! Am I she? He says I am; and who should know as well as he? Oh, +it is all so strange, so mysterious, that--that I cannot tell. His +great love assures me that I must have lived before. When I am with +him, I am as sure as he; but, when he is not with me, I seem to doubt, +to be groping somewhere, as it were blindfold, among familiar scenes. +O Loyd, sustain me, be my guide, or I shall fall by the wayside, +fainting, helpless!" + +She crossed her chamber and stood before her mirror, gazing intently +at her reflection. Presently she withdrew the golden pin from her hair +and let its rich masses fall about her shoulders like a bronze-gold +veil. + +"His wife!" she murmured, smiling wanly at her image; "his wife +_again_ after some lapse of time! How long a time? Ah, does he detect +some change in me which he is too loyal to notice? With time, come +change and decay. How can I tell how changed I may be--in _his_ +sight?" She shuddered, and peered more keenly at the mirror. "If I +_am_ changed," she concluded, with a pretty assumption of desperate +resolution, "it is my duty to repair the ravages of time. I will be +dressed like any queen at her bridal. I will wear all my jewels, and +let their lustre conceal defects from even his generous eyes. He loves +me; but I must struggle to _hold_ that love. My jewels! Where are my +jewels? How shall I look in them?" + +With feverish haste she opened the compartments of the toilet-table +until her eager hands fell upon a casket of dull red leather, faded +and bruised. Within, however, the velvet cushions were as fresh and +white as though newly lined; there was no more hint that four +generations had gazed upon their sheeny lustre than there was hint of +age in the priceless gems that nestled, glittering like captured +stars, amid their depths. + +Romaine uttered a sigh of delight, and, with eager, trembling hands, +hung the chained brilliants upon her neck and arms. Then she lighted +the candelabra beside the mirror, and stood back, speechless before +her own surpassing beauty. + +"Would he could see me _now_!" she exclaimed naïvely, entranced, then +bent forward to insert still other jewels in her ears. + +At that moment an object set in gold and rimmed with diamonds caught +her eye. She had not noticed it before, but now it riveted the +inspection of her very soul. + +She snatched it from the case with a low, wailing cry, akin to the +smothered utterance of one laboring in nightmare, and held it at arm's +length, breathless, speechless. + +Simply a medallion set in gems, the medallion of a man's face--_the +face of Colston Drummond_! + +And it was at this moment, supreme enough to thrill poor Romaine's +reviving intellect, that Mrs. Effingham hastily entered the chamber. + +The lateness of the hour, coupled with her daughter's incongruous +toilet, startled the good lady into the passing fancy that some +unexpected crisis had arrived--that Romaine had indeed taken leave of +her senses. She uttered some stifled exclamation and stood +spell-bound. As quick as thought the girl dropped the miniature into +its case and turned to confront the intruder. + +"Mother!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with repressed emotion, +"thank heaven, you have come! Otherwise I should have been forced to +wake you, for I cannot sleep, I cannot wait another hour, another +minute. I _must_ speak now, this instant!" + +She came to her mother and laid her jewelled arms about her neck, her +very attitude eloquent of the yearning of her soul. + +It was with the utmost effort that Mrs. Effingham commanded herself +sufficiently to conceal the dire apprehension that assailed her. + +"And so you shall speak, my darling," she answered soothingly, as one +would humor a perverted fancy; "unburden your whole heart to me." + +"Mother, I was to have been married this month." + +"Yes, my dear child." + +"How many days are we from the date proposed?" + +The anxious pallor of the lady's face overspread her lips and she +hesitated. + +"What does it matter, dear?" she faltered. + +"What does it matter!" echoed Romaine steadily; "it matters much--to +me. Events have become confused in my mind since my illness; so you +must tell me how soon I was to have been married. You _must_ tell me, +for I wish to know." + +"The twentieth of May was the day appointed," was the reluctant reply. + +"And it is now?" + +"The fifth." + +"More than a fortnight to wait! And delays are dangerous. Mother, I +have seen my wedding-dress in the east room. Is everything prepared?" + +"Everything, Romaine." + +"Then why delay, and so court danger? Let my marriage take place at +once, the sooner the better." + +"Romaine!" + +"Loyd has spoken to-day; he would second my petition were he here." + +"Loyd!" + +She recoiled out of the girl's embrace as she spoke, and stood staring +at her in blank amazement. + +"Loyd!" she added faintly; "it is _Loyd_ you wish to marry?" + +"Whom else?" answered Romaine, smiling calmly; "you would not doubt +it, mother dear, if you knew _all_. Oh, I am not demented, as perhaps +you think. I am myself again, thanks to the magnetism of his great +love. Mother, if I thought that he were never to have the right in the +sight of God and man to call me wife, I should pray for death--ay, +court it as the sweetest boon. Thwart me in my love, and you kill me; +grant my prayer, and you not only give me life, but heaven upon +earth!" + +It cannot be said that Mrs. Effingham was wholly unprepared for the +turn affairs had taken. Setting aside Hubert's expressed suspicions, +her woman's instinct had vaguely warned her how this inexplicable +course of love had raised Morton upon its bosom, leaving Drummond high +and dry, stranded upon the stale and unprofitable shore of Neglect. +And yet, out of sheer loyalty to Drummond and his interests, she had +refused to listen to that mysterious voice, stiller and smaller than +the voice of conscience. She had waited to be convinced by some +ulterior medium which, after all, she knew could but accord with her +own unacknowledged convictions. + +From her son next day she received but cold comfort, though it was +gently offered, according to his wont. + +"I told you so," he remarked. "For Colley's sake, I have done what I +could, only to be met by dismal failure. I will never venture to risk +so much again. We must accept the inevitable, dear mother, and make +the best of a situation which, if inexplicable, is far from desperate. +I can only say, God grant that Romaine's determined action may not +prove to be some insane caprice!" + +"Amen to that!" came the faltering reply. + +The lady's first interview with Morton after the revelation was +managed in more diplomatic fashion. + +She met the young physician in the garden before breakfast on the +following morning. She kissed him in silence, and held his hands while +the unbidden tears welled within her haggard eyes. + +"Romaine has spoken!" he exclaimed, interpreting the mute eloquence of +her attitude. + +She bowed her head in assent. + +"And you--you have given your consent?" he asked tremulously. + +"Did you not warn me that it might be fatal to thwart Romaine in any +way?" + +"That is not answering my question," he said with sudden sternness; +"do you give your consent to our marriage?" + +"Romaine's peace of mind is paramount to all other considerations," +she answered; "her will is my law." + +"But you are reluctant to give her to me." + +"I know no reluctance where her wishes are concerned. I have closed my +eyes to every other consideration save her happiness, Loyd; and with +all my heart I give her to you--for her sake." + +And with, such modicum of consolation he was obliged to be content. + +Considering the eminent social position of the persons concerned, it +is small wonder that the report of Romaine's change of heart swept +society like a whirlwind. The indignation that was expressed on the +score of the young lady's so-called frailty was not occasioned by the +fact that the fashionable world loved Morton less, but that it loved +Drummond more. Had the latter gentleman stood by his guns, he would +have been the hero of the hour and received a greater meed of sympathy +than is usually vouchsafed the banished lover; but, as he had played +the renegade when he should have formally opposed his rival, society +shrugged its shoulders, and saw to it that Morton's prowess did not +want praise and esteem. Thus ever does the myopic world deceive +itself. + +It was decided that the ceremony should be accomplished upon the +twelfth day of the month, that it should be conducted with the +strictest privacy, and that no invitations should be issued. Of course +there would be "after-cards," and in due course there would be +receptions upon the return of the pair from a sojourn in Europe. Such +were the hasty arrangements, to which all concerned agreed. + +The change from doubt to certainty operated most favorably upon +Morton--the galling irritability of the past few weeks vanished; the +natural buoyancy of his early youth returned; he seemed to find a zest +in living, which was a surprise and delight to no one more than to +himself. + +Romaine, on the other hand, though to all appearance happy and +content, endured nameless torture when left to herself--her nights +were hideous epochs of harassing suspense and misgiving; the +unattended hours of her days were rendered unbearable by some +invisible incubus which, she was neither able to explain nor banish. +Ever and anon she would seem to herself to be upon the verge of some +explanation, some solution of the enigma with which she wasted herself +in unavailing battle; but no sooner did she find herself approaching +this most desirable consummation, than she fell into the toils of +Morton's irresistible influence, and was content to find herself the +victim of his soothing wiles. In a word, her meditations upon the +subject simply resolved themselves into this formula: When I am with +him, I love him beyond question; when I am _not_ with him, my love is +crossed by doubt. + +As if by instinct Morton divined the threatening condition of her +mind, and consequently left no stone unturned to hasten the +preparations for his marriage. Circumstances forced him, in great +measure, to relax his sedulous care and espionage. To all appearance +he found his patient as hale, mentally and physically, as she had ever +been; and, though he was by no means free of apprehension on her +account, he did not scruple to absent himself as often as he found it +necessary for him to make some adjustment of his affairs in view of an +indefinite sojourn abroad. Then, too, he experienced the liveliest +satisfaction in setting his somewhat neglected house in town in order, +and in beautifying its every detail for the reception of his bride. +The wilful, methodical nature of the man manifested itself in just +such _minutiæ_ as the hanging of a drapery here, or the placing of an +ornament there, that he might satisfy himself as to the exact +appearance of the place when she should come home to it--it mattered +not when. He trusted no one; he placed no confidence in judgment other +than his own. It was a labor of love; and, like a labor of love, it +had long since become a work of faith, as was meet--especially under +the circumstances. + +Several hours of each day Morton passed in the city, and perhaps +nothing afforded such ample proof of his confidence in the +establishment of affairs as the composure and assurance with which he +returned each time to Belvoir. The truth was, he had made assurance +double sure, and taken a bond of Fate--or so he was constrained to +regard his successful course. + +It was during one of these occasions of non-attendance, a day or two +after the rumor of the engagement had spread its facile wing, that an +imposing family-carriage, decorated as to its panels with the ensign +armorial of the Drummonds, turned in at the gates of Belvoir, and +entered upon the gradual ascent of the avenue with the cumbrous roll +of stately equipages in general, and of the Drummond equipage in +particular. Upon the hammer-cloth were seated an ancient coachman and +footman, most punctilious of mien and attire; while within the coach, +bolstered into an upright position among the cushions, sat a lady well +into the decline of life and health, a spare, stern creature, with the +face of an aged queen. It was a face from which the effulgence of +halcyon days had died out, but despite the rigidity of its lines it +was still a countenance replete with an inborn dignity. Letitia +Drummond had been a beauty in her day, and it was some consolation to +her in her decline, to find something of her famed advantages revived +in her only and beloved son. + +This son was her idol, in her eyes a very paragon; her worship of him +was the one vital interest of her invalid existence. Secluded from the +world by reason of her malady, she drew vitality from her communion +with him as the frail, unearthly orchid subsists upon the air which +its hale neighbors reject. + +It had been years since the widow Drummond had entered her carriage, +and she had by no means dared exposure to the dampness of this May +morning for a trifle. As the horses leisurely took their way along the +avenue the lady glanced forth upon the luxurious verdure of lawn and +budding trees, with a critical scrutiny not unmixed with malevolence. + +Presently the glimpse of a girlish figure gathering lilacs in a +by-path, riveted her attention. Quickly she touched a bell, and in the +next instant the coach had stopped and the footman was at the open +door. + +"I see Miss Effingham," she remarked; "give me my cane and help me +out. There! Now drive on a short distance, remain there ten minutes, +then return for me here. You understand." + +The command was given in a grudging tone, as if each word, each breath +of the balmy air cost her a pang. + +From her lilac-bower Romaine had watched the proceeding in wonder; but +as the carriage departed, leaving the withered figure, wrapped in its +finery of a by-gone date, standing alone in the sunshine, she came +forward, her hands filled with snowy blossoms. + +They met beside a rustic garden-seat, beneath hawthorns full of rosy +bloom and the carolling of birds. + +As Romaine paused, irresolute, the lady spoke: + +"You recognize me?" + +"You are Mrs. Drummond." + +"I _am_ Mrs. Drummond, Colston's mother." + +She had drawn her weapon, and seemed figuratively to be examining the +keenness of point and edge. + +Romaine shuddered. + +"Where is he?" demanded the lady. + +"Where is--who?" + +"Who!--who but my son? Whose absence in all this wide world should I +give an instant's thought to but my son's? For whom else should I dare +misery and perhaps death to inquire for but my son! Answer me! where +is he?" + +Poor Romaine had grown as pallid as the flowers that trembled and +dropped one by one from her nerveless hands. + +"Answer me!" repeated Mrs. Drummond; "I am his mother, and I will not +be satisfied with any white-lipped silence. What have you done with my +son? Where is he?" + +"I--I do not know." + +Most hearts would have been touched by the pitiful innocence of those +words and look. + +"You do not know. I will believe you so far; but why has he left his +home--and me?" + +"How can I tell?" faltered the girl. + +"I can imagine you experience some difficulty," was the harsh reply, +"but I mean to remove all obstacles from your path so that you _can_ +tell, and also give me a coherent account. He had entrusted his +happiness to your keeping; he had divided his love for me with you. +What account have you to give of your stewardship?" + +The helpless attitude of the girl coupled with her wild-eyed silence, +seemed to infuriate the lady. + +"No wonder you do not dare to raise your voice to answer me," she +cried shrilly; "faithless, false-hearted girl! You have wrecked his +life! And when the news of your ill-assorted marriage reaches him, it +will kill him, and I shall not survive his death! Jezebel!" she +hissed, griping Romaine's arm in her gloved claw, "do you comprehend +that two lives, two God-given lives will be upon your soul when you +have consummated this unholy deed? I would die for my son. I would +even be branded with crime for the sake of his peace and happiness! I +_love_ him! And what has your vaunted love amounted to? Answer me, or +I will smite that mutely-mocking mouth of yours! Have you not told him +a thousand times, have you not assured him by word, by deed, by action +that you loved him? Answer me!" + +"Yes," came the gasping reply. + +"Then why have you played him false?" + +"Oh, I do not know, I--I cannot tell!" + +She cast the delicate arm from her as though the contact were +contamination. + +"I hope to heaven you _are_ insane, as it is whispered," she gasped, +weak from excess of anger and feebleness; "madness would be your only +salvation in _my_ eyes. But I have my doubts, I have my doubts. I +shall raise heaven and earth to find my son, I shall go in search of +him myself if messengers fail, and when he is found I shall send him +to you, and I only pray that the sight of him may strike you dead at +his feet if he comes too late!" + +The grinding of the returning carriage-wheels upon the gravel of the +avenue interrupted her further utterance, and in silence she hobbled +back to the footman, who obsequiously replaced her upon her cushions. + +Left alone amidst the whispering leaves, the sunshine and the birds, +Romaine slowly struggled back to semi-consciousness. She pressed her +hands upon her throbbing temples, while dry sobs rent her from head to +foot. + +"O what have I done?" she sobbed, "and what am I doing?" + +Like one stricken with sudden blindness she felt her way from tree to +tree, leaning against their trunks every now and then for support. In +this pitiful way she reached the terrace-steps, stumbled and fell +prostrate in the garish light, like a stricken flower discarded by the +reapers. + + +CHAPTER XI. + + "The Devil tempts thee here + In likeness of a new untrimmed bride." + + "Such a mad marriage never was before." + +If Serena Effingham derived any comfort from the contemplation of +Romaine's precipitate union with Morton, that comfort resided in the +fact that having secured the constant attendance and companionship of +the young physician, the girl would enjoy immunity from the mysterious +crises that were likely to assail her whenever he was not at hand. +There was no gainsaying the point that Romaine was perfectly herself +while under Morton's influence. No one could deny the potency of the +spell he exerted; consequently Mrs. Effingham was forced to accept the +lesser of the evils, if so strong a term may be applied to her gentle +estimate of the situation. + +It was the good lady herself who discovered her daughter lying +insensible at the foot of the terrace steps; and as Romaine, upon the +recovery of her consciousness, guarded the secret of her stormy +interview with Mrs. Drummond even from her mother, who was in +ignorance of the unwonted visit, Mrs. Effingham remained in an agony +of suspense and anxiety until Morton returned from town. At sight of +him the girl flung herself into his arms and clung to him +hysterically, to the perplexity of all concerned. + +When questioned regarding the cause of her illness, she returned +answers of adroit incoherency, simply maintaining that her existence +was a burden to her when separated from Morton; that she was wholly +wretched and unable to command herself when left to herself. Naturally +such extraordinary assertions lent color to the suspicion that her +mind was affected; yet, when in the presence of her heart's desire, +she appeared perfectly sane and as soundly reasonable as ever she had +been. Her condition seemed a hopeless mystery to all save Morton who +was persuaded beyond peradventure, that he detected the almost jealous +reliance of his departed wife through the mask of her reincarnation. + +From that time forth he no longer absented himself from Belvoir, and +the expectant hours crowded themselves into days that all too rapidly +took their departure. + +The eve of Romaine's wedding-day proved to be one of those rare epochs +of spring that are instinct with the genial presage of summer, one of +those intense days which May has in her gift, when one involuntarily +seeks the shady side of city streets, or wanders into the shadows of +the woods to escape the garish splendor of the open fields. Such +weather is always premature and ominous of impending inclemency; but +it is none the less exquisite while it lasts. + +All day long the lovers had luxuriated in the balmy air, and the +setting sun surprised them bending their reluctant steps homeward +through Drummond copse. One by one the swift hours had registered +their happiness, their constantly reiterated oaths of fealty and their +expressions of confidence in the future. They had uttered nothing +worthy of being chronicled, for they had talked simply as lovers talk, +with an intent significant only to themselves. They had laid their +plans for the future as the poets fancy the short-sighted birds scheme +at their nest building. Morton had proposed that, the ceremony over, +they should drive to his town-house and there, amidst its renovated +glories, forget the world until such time as they cared to claim its +diversions again. There was method in the plan since he entertained +some vague fancy that his reclaimed wife would be more at her ease, +more at home among scenes which had witnessed the happiest hours of +her past. And Romaine's joyous acquiescence increased his fancy until +it became positive conviction. He even went so far as to surmise that +the soul of Paula would evince a keen delight and interest in the new +beauties of the old abode. + +So the sun had set and the full moon had reared her colossal lamp to +light them home. Suddenly, as they emerged from the copse and found +themselves upon the rustic path that ran between Belvoir and Drummond +Lodge, Romaine laid her hand upon her lover's arm with a sharp gasp. + +"I have left my book up yonder upon the rocks where we sat!" she +exclaimed; "oh, Loyd, how careless of me! and _you_ gave it me!" + +Morton laughed light-heartedly. + +"We will send one of the men for it in the morning," he said; "there +will be no pilfering lovers in that place to-night, I warrant you." + +"But it will be ruined by the dews," she insisted; "we may forget to +send for it to-morrow; besides, I do not wish to leave it there. I +will go back and get it." + +"You!" he cried, with a laugh; "if you _must_ have the worthless +thing, I will go for it." + +"We will go together, Loyd." + +"No," he objected, in the gently authoritative tone which had become +habitual with him, "you are completely tired out and the climb would +prove the one straw too many. But how can I leave you here?" + +"What is there to fear? We are within gun-shot of home." + +Morton hesitated an instant; then he said with some reluctance, + +"Would you mind walking on alone? I will make haste, take a short cut +through the copse and meet you upon the lawn." + +"Very well! I will walk slowly." + +For some reason, which it would be vain to attempt to account for, he +stooped and kissed her where she stood in a mellow ray of the risen +moon. + +"Why are you so particular about that little book?" he asked +tremulously. + +"I have already told you, dear," she answered. + +"Because _I_ gave it you?" + +"Yes; for that reason it is precious, invaluable in my eyes." + +"My darling! God bless you for those sweet words! To hear them from +your dear lips again I would go to the ends of the earth!" + +It was simply lovers' parley, but for some reason each felt its vague +significance which in some way seemed portentous. He kissed her again, +and left her alone in the woodland path. + +At one period of her life, that happy time when a trip to Drummond +Lodge had been numbered among the chief joys of her innocent life, +Romaine had been familiar with every wild flower that bloomed, with +every bird that sang in the copse; but since her mysterious illness +all that had passed and the place seemed strange to her. Small wonder +then that, in the exaltation of parting with Loyd Morton and in the +dubious moon-beams, she turned, not towards Belvoir, but in the +direction of Drummond Lodge. The night was one of ideal loveliness and +as she leisurely threaded her way between the shadows cast by the +great tree-boles, she softly sang to herself and smiled as her quick +ear caught the twitter of the nesting birds. Suddenly the sharp snap +of a twig punctuated the chant and its invisible chorus, causing the +girl to pause abruptly and peer before her into the semi-gloom. + +Could it be that love had lent her lover the fleetness of Fortunio's +lackey, so that he had accomplished his quest and returned to surprise +her ere she had reached the verge of the wood? Impossible! And yet the +figure of a man loomed before her in the narrow, moon-lit path! Her +heart fluttered, then sank like a dead thing in her bosom, while the +words of glad welcome expired upon her blanched lips. + +For she had recognized the man, and, by some swift divination of +association, knew that he had a right to be where he stood--within his +own domain. + +The effect of the unexpected encounter was scarcely less patent in the +case of Colston Drummond. He uttered some inaudible exclamation of +surprise, halted, then advanced a step, staring at the apparition in +awed silence. + +"Romaine!" he murmured at last, as if fearful of breaking the spell +and dissolving the vision by the mere sound of his voice; "Romaine, +can it be you--here--at this hour? In heaven's name, where are you +going?" + +"Home," she faltered, her very utterance paralyzed by amazement and +vague fear. + +"Home!" he echoed more distinctly, emboldened by the vital voice of +the phantom; "you are going in the wrong direction. You are but a few +steps from the Lodge. My poor girl, why are you here and alone?" + +He spoke with the infinite tenderness which was part and parcel of his +manly nature; and, though he came close to her side, even taking her +hand in his, she did not cringe. Somehow she felt soothed and calmed +by his presence, notwithstanding that she trembled as the environing +leaves trembled in the rising breeze, and did not speak for lack of +self-command. + +"Do not shiver so," he said gently; "it is neither cold here, nor have +you any cause for alarm--with me. You have only lost your way. Come, I +will see you safely home." + +Then she roused from her passing stupor. + +"Oh no, no, no!" she cried piteously; "I must go alone. I--he is +waiting for me. He must not see you--with me. Only show me the way." + +"He!" Drummond asked calmly; "you mean Doctor Morton?" + +She bowed in silence, while an unfathomable expression flitted across +his face, to be lost in a pitiful smile. + +"Well," he said, still holding the hand that she weakly strove to +wrest from him, "_he_ can wait for a few short minutes." + +"No, no, I must go at once," she wailed; "have mercy upon me; let go +my hand." + +"Think, Romaine!" he commanded softly; "he will have you for all life, +while these few paltry moments with you are all that remain to me. +Think of it, Romaine, and be generous." + +She looked into his face and read the anguished pleading of his eyes. + +"First of all," he continued, "tell me how you came here? May I +venture to hope that in the eleventh hour you were coming to speak a +word of comfort to my mother?" + +"No, I had lost my way." + +"You did not know that I returned to-day?" he inquired, hope +struggling against hope in his eager tone. + +"I had forgotten that you had been away." + +"You had forgotten!" he cried sadly. "O Romaine, how you have blotted +me from your very existence! I can conceive of your love for me having +changed; but why have you so utterly forgotten and neglected me?" + +She closed her eyes and replied in sobbing accent, "I--I cannot tell. +I seem to have been dreaming, to be dreaming still." + +"Would it _were_ all a dream! My darling--there--there, do not start, +it is the last time that I shall ever call you so--darling, I only +pray the good God that you are happy." + +She did not answer, and he went on as though he did not notice her +silence. + +"Only to-day, within the last two hours, have I learned that to-morrow +will be your wedding-day. Is--is it so?" + +"Yes." + +"Can you fancy what that means to me? Oh, heaven is my judge, I do +not mean to reproach you. It is too late for that. I did not even +think to see you again; it is some inexplicable fate which has brought +us together. Believe me, I am resigned to my lot; but, since we have +met, since God in His mercy has vouchsafed me this one ray of comfort, +permit me to beg you, to beseech you ever to regard me as your loyal +friend. O Romaine, my heart's dearest love, if ever the shadow of +sorrow or trouble arises, command me, even unto my last breath, and I +will do my utmost to dispel it. I wish you joy, from my soul, I wish +you joy; I have forgiven, and I shall try to forget. If you doubt me, +try me; test my fidelity to you even unto death. Now, Romaine, have +you no word for me? no little grain of comfort to leaven the +bitterness of this last farewell upon earth? Be merciful!" + +With the steadiness of summer rain the tears had been coursing over +the girl's pallid cheeks, and there were tears in her voice as she +cried, + +"O my God! let me sleep and continue to dream, for, should I awake, I +should go mad!" + +He took her in his arms and pressed her to his breast for one brief +moment, while his kisses mingled with the tears that rained upon her +shining hair. "I understand, I understand," he murmured brokenly, +gently putting her from him; "God help us both! Yonder is your way. +Hark! he is calling you! I need not go with you. Dry your tears and +greet him with a smile; perhaps it is better so, for I am not worthy +of you. Some day we shall know--Good-by, my darling. Go, go quickly! +He must never know that we have met. May God bless and keep you!" + +He continued to speak until she had vanished among the clustering +shadows, the weird call of the distant voice punctuating his broken +utterances. When at last she had really gone, and he found himself +actually alone, he fell upon his face in an agony of desolation, +stifling his sobs in the depths of the lush grasses. + +And it was a crest-fallen, pallid being who came forth from the +dimness of the woods to relieve Morton's anxiety. + +"In mercy's name, where have you been?" he exclaimed, hastening to her +as she emerged into the lambent ways of the moon, and eagerly clasping +her hand in his. + +"I lost my way," she faltered, with downcast eyes, vainly striving to +conceal the tears that glistened upon her lashes. + +"But you have been weeping!" + +"I became confused and frightened," she explained. She was about to +add, "it seemed so lonesome without you;" but the words remained +unuttered. + +As they walked side by side across the dewy lawn, Morton was not so +much impressed by the incoherency of the explanation of her present +condition as by the subtle change which had come over her within those +few minutes. What could have caused it, he was completely at a loss to +surmise; what it might portend, he could not conjecture; but that some +mysterious change had taken place in her, he was as certain as though +she had said in so many words, + +"You should have been far-sighted enough not to have left me alone for +an instant until I am irrevocably yours!" + +He suffered the torture of a lifetime in those few brief moments; and +the torment was all the more poignant that it was too vague to impart, +even if he had dared so to do. + +Long ere they reached the house, the silence became so oppressive that +in sheer despair he was forced to break it. + +"I found the book," he remarked with effort, displaying the dainty +volume. + +She did not offer to take it from him, as he expected, as he fondly +hoped; she simply replied, with eyes intent upon the ground, + +"I am sorry to have given you so much trouble." + +As if by instinct he felt as if virtue had gone out of him. How, when, +or why, he could not determine, but in that hour an occult warning +came home to him--a presage that his empire over Romaine Effingham was +no longer supreme. + +Had he known, had he even suspected, that Romaine would weep herself +to sleep that night with Colston Drummond's jewelled miniature upon +her bosom, he would have pulled himself together, banished the spell +that held him in thrall, and thus averted the catastrophe that the +pregnant moments hastened to consummate. + + +CHAPTER XII. + + "But shapes that come not at an earthly call + Will not depart when mortal voices bid." + +The augury of the preceding day's perfection proved correct--Romaine's +nuptial morn came up, veiled in murky clouds that promised a period of +dismal rain. The very face of nature, of late so bright and jocund, +suffered an obscuration that left it gray and drear. By sun-rise the +mists crept swiftly up the hill-sides, revealed the verdant landscape +for a moment, and then, as their custom is, descended in a persistent, +chilling downpour. + +Morton and Hubert were the only members of the household to meet at +the breakfast-table, which the butler had striven to render +resplendent, in honor of the occasion, by masses of ghastly Freesia +and Narcissi. + +The conversation of the two men during the repast was desultory in the +extreme. There were dark rings around Morton's eyes, which betrayed a +sleepless night; he was nervous and constrained in manner, while the +wan pallor of his face contrasted sharply with the unrelieved +blackness of his garments. It was with evident relief that the +brothers-elect left the table and separated by tacit consent. + +It had been agreed that the ceremony should be solemnized in the +conservatory at noon, after which the wedded pair should at once be +driven to Morton's house in the city. The preparations were of the +simplest description, if the mere removal of the rustic seats from the +conservatory could be considered such. + +To be sure, as the appointed hour drew nigh, various wines were placed +upon the sideboard in the dining-room, where a bridal-cake occupied +the centre of the table, upon which lay bride-roses and +lilies-of-the-valley in richly fragrant garlands. Servants in holiday +attire went hither and thither with muffled step; otherwise the house +maintained the most sepulchral silence. No sound of approaching +equipage disturbed the rainy day without; even the birds restrained +their plaintive twitter beneath the dripping leaves. It was as if some +invisible dead lay in state during that ominous lull which precedes +the arrival of the mourners. + +Left to himself, Morton paced to and fro in the library. He grew +calmer, but by degrees more pallid, as the hours wore to noon, until, +when the clergyman was ushered into his presence, his stern composure +impressed the man of God as most extraordinary. It was only when the +slowly chiming clocks proclaimed the appointed hour, that Morton +evinced the least animation. He sprang from his chair, while a hectic +glow flashed into his face, and motioned the clergyman to follow him. +Scarcely had they entered the conservatory when Romaine appeared, +leaning heavily upon her brother's arm, and similarly supported upon +the other side by her mother. A very bride of death she looked, her +splendid attire rather heightening than relieving her pallor. She wore +no jewels, as she had once proposed to do; and she had no need for +them, since, if ever loveliness needed not the foreign aid of +ornament, but was, when unadorned, adorned the most, Romaine Effingham +in her bridal hour proved an exemplar. + +They guided her faltering steps forward and gave her into Morton's +keeping. He received her with feverish eagerness, and she seemed to +thrill beneath his touch as he murmured some word into her ear that +summoned the phantom of an answering smile. + +Thereupon ensued an ominous pause, broken only by the servants as they +grouped themselves at a respectful distance, and by the pitiless +patter of the rain upon the glazed roof overhead. + +Then the solemn words were pronounced which made the twain +one--pronounced to the last Amen, without let or hindrance, and +Romaine Morton turned to her husband to receive his kiss. She seemed +strong and relieved in spirit as she accepted the tearful embraces of +her mother and brother, betraying the while her haste to escape from +the thraldom of her nuptial robes, and to be gone to meet the new life +upon the threshold of which she stood. + +During the progress of her change of costume she seized her +opportunity, when unheeded by her mother, to slip a note, addressed to +Colston Drummond, into her maid's hand, with the whispered petition +that it be delivered as soon as she had left the house. And the loyal +little confederate was already upon her way to Drummond Lodge as the +carriage containing the wedded pair dashed into the sodden country +road that led citywards. + +It is needless to state that that day had proved the heaviest of +Colston Drummond's existence. It is true that he had brought himself +to that pitch of resignation which closely resembles apathy, but he +suffered none the less the dull misery that inevitably succeeds acute +anguish. + +Though he was in ignorance of the hour which should make the idol of +his life another's, it was enough that his doom was destined to be +sealed at some period of the fatal span between sunrise and sunset. In +accordance with his wishes, he had been left in undisturbed solitude +during the morning hours, and, as he took no heed of the flight of +time, the servant who intruded to announce the messenger from Belvoir +found him stretched upon a divan in his sanctum, where he had received +Morton that night, long weeks before. + +Promptly recognizing the maid, he sprang to his feet, breathlessly +demanding the object of her visit. + +"I am the bearer of a note from my mistress, sir," the girl replied. + +"From Mrs. Effingham?" + +"From Mrs. Morton, sir." + +He wavered for an instant, but, quickly recovering himself, he +groaned, + +"Then the marriage has taken place?" + +"It has, sir." + +"Then what can she want of me?" he muttered inaudibly, as he accepted +the missive and broke the seal. + +He read Romaine's letter to the close with no outward sign of emotion, +beyond a trembling of the hands, which he was powerless to repress. +Suddenly, however, he raised his eyes, and there was the fire of an +invincible resolution in their depths as he demanded, + +"Mrs. Morton has left Belvoir?" + +"Yes, sir, more than an hour ago." + +"Have you an idea where she has gone?" + +"To Doctor Morton's house in the city." + +"Thank you--stay; you will be faithful to your mistress and--and to +me," he added gently, "and you will keep your errand a secret?" + +"You may trust me, sir." + +"I shall not forget you." + +Once more alone, he hastened to a window and dashed aside the +draperies, the better to secure the sickly light that filtered in. + +"She has set my soul on fire!" he panted. "O Romaine, Romaine, it had +been wiser to let me live out my allotted time and die in my enforced +resignation!" + +Then his eyes fled over the lines which Romaine had penned, and which +ran as follows: + +"My dream is dispelled. I have awakened to the reality. God help me! +Was it His will that I should have met you in the eleventh hour? To +what purpose? Why could I not have slept on, even unto the end? I have +been roused too late. In one hour I shall be a wife; and, with God's +help I will prove myself worthy the name. But--O my friend, why should +_I_ have fallen the prey of such an inscrutable fate? You have said +that some day we shall know. Your words will comfort me and give me +strength to bear my burden without repining. I shall try to sleep and +dream again, for such is my only refuge. God be with you." + +He crushed the sheet within his palms, while the panoplies about the +apartment rang with his exultant cry: + +"She loves me! Thank God, it is not too late for righteous +interference so long as she remains a wife in name only! There are +hours between this and night, and all I ask is minutes in which to +accomplish her salvation! Come what may, I will go to her!" + +Meanwhile, Morton and his bride had sped over the intervening distance +and found themselves safely housed against the storm in his renovated +mansion in the city. Blinds and draperies had been raised to admit +such light as there was; rare exotics spent their fragrance upon the +genial air; and a repast of exceeding daintiness had been spread for +their refreshment. Everything had been done which a refined +forethought could suggest--in a word, the cage had been exquisitely +gilded, and was in all respects worthy of the bird. + +Beneath the mystic spell of his presence, Romaine had recovered her +composure, and appeared to all intents and purposes her happiest self. +Like a pair of joyous children they wandered from room to room, +admiring the new splendors; and thus, in due course, they entered the +apartment where, enthroned above the mantel and garlanded with pale +blush roses, hung the portrait of Paula. Morton led his wife to a +point of vantage, and bid her look upward, riveting his eyes upon her +face the while with a hungry longing. + +Before the blonde loveliness of the Saxon girl, Romaine paled, while a +shudder rent her from head to foot. She sighed heavily, and turned to +Morton with a piteous gesture. + +"My dear Loyd," she murmured sadly, "never again call me Paula." + +He recoiled from her as though each innocent word had stung him to the +quick. + +"My God!" he cried, "if I thought--" when he checked himself before +her look of abject terror, came to her, and took her in his arms. "My +darling," he faltered, "if you only knew what agony the mere suspicion +of your doubt causes me, you would have pity upon me!" + +He spoke with such suppressed passion, with such wild anguish in his +haggard eyes, that her alarm faded to helpless amazement. + +"I have expressed no doubt," she murmured; "what can you mean?" + +"Oh, I do not know," he moaned. "Perhaps I am not quite myself; all +the happiness of this day has unnerved me. But--but you bid me never +to call you Paula again; what do you mean?" + +"Why, simply that I am so inferior to her in loveliness," she answered +with a flurried smile. + +"Did I ask, did I expect, you to look like her?" he demanded fiercely. +"Can you not understand that the flesh is dust, and to dust returns; +but the soul is immortal? Paula's body is dust, but her immortal soul +lives--lives, not in the realms of bliss to which it fled, released, +but--_where_ does it live to-day, at this very instant? I want to hear +_you_ tell me!" + +He caught her delicate shoulders between his strong white hands and +glared like some ravenous animal into her startled face. + +"Answer me!" he commanded. + +"O Loyd," she wailed, "how wildly you speak! How can I tell where her +soul may be, since I can see no reason why it should not be in +heaven!" + +"If it _is_ in heaven," he cried, thrusting her violently from him, +"then am I in hell!" + +With a stifled cry, poor Romaine staggered to a chair and sank upon +it, overcome by the conviction that she had allied herself to a +madman. + +And in the ominous pause that ensued, a light rap sounded upon the +closed door. + +With a muttered ejaculation Morton pulled himself together and went to +inquire into the untimely intrusion. Upon opening the door, he found +his man upon the threshold, stammering some words of apology, which +were summarily cut short. + +"What do you want?" Morton demanded sternly. + +"There is a lady in the office, sir." + +"Where are your wits, that you have forgotten your orders? I am not at +home to patients." + +"But she has called repeatedly, sir." + +"Send her to Doctor Chalmers, my colleague." + +"She declares that she will not leave without seeing you. Here is her +card." + +The sight of that graven name seemed for an instant to petrify the +beholder, and several seconds elapsed ere he was able to command +himself sufficiently to speak. + +Going to his shrinking wife, he raised her hand and pressed it to his +lips in a way that was infinitely pathetic. + +"I must leave you for a moment, to attend to an urgent case," he +whispered; "and while I am gone, I beseech you to pardon a love which +transcends all bounds. Some day you will understand all I have +suffered. Be lenient with me, for I am an object for pity!" + +In the dimness of his office, which had undergone no renovation and no +decoration, he found himself confronted by the tall and slender figure +of a woman whom he knew full well. The veil had been raised from +before the appealing beauty of the face which bore but slight traces +of alteration since last he looked upon Margaret Revaleon! + +His greeting was of so cordial a nature as to preclude all attempt on +the part of his visitor to apologize for her intrusion. + +"I am more than glad to see you, Mrs. Revaleon," he exclaimed, +excitedly; "your visit is most opportune. For the past week you have +been omnipresent in my thoughts. Who shall say that I am not +developing something of your own peculiar clairvoyance?" + +"I trust not," she said, regarding the speaker with apparent +uneasiness. + +But he continued, with precipitate heedlessness, + +"And how do you find yourself since last we met?" + +"My condition remains unchanged," replied the woman. "Indeed, I am +satisfied that I have developed into what is popularly known as a +spiritualistic medium. But I am wretched at the thought of being the +unwilling possessor of this so-called odyllic power; and I have come +to you again to beseech you to treat me for a malady which I am +convinced you can cure if you will." + +Yielding to his adroit guidance, Margaret Revaleon found herself once +more seated in the luxurious patient's chair, while the young doctor +seated himself before her with his back to the light. + +Thus advantageously placed, he replied with a smile, + +"Indeed, my dear madam, you overestimate my ability. I do not profess +electro-biology. In order to do so, I should be obliged to enter upon +an exhaustive course of reading of Reichenbach and his disciples. In +point of fact, I have no sympathy with the believers in mesmerism and +its concomitant fancies." + +"No?" she answered dreamily, that singular absence of inspection +dulling her tawny eyes. "Do you know, doctor, that I am impressed to +tell you that you are possessed of the mesmeric power to an +extraordinary degree?" + +He winced consciously, but rejoined soothingly, doing his utmost to +increase the stupor which was fast gaining command of his visitor, + +"It may be as you say; it is certainly a power second only to your +own. What else have you to impart? Anything that you might say, I +should regard as oracular." + +He thrilled from head to foot with a sense akin to sickening +faintness, as he saw her eye-lids slowly droop while she extended her +slim, white hands to him. + +"Give me your hands," she murmured; "oh, dear, dear, dear! Stand back; +do not crowd so! How many there are here!--Ah!" + +The final word was simply an exhalation. She slumbered profoundly, +breathing stertorously at first, but swiftly relapsing into perfect +calm. The trance had begun. The portals of eternity seemed to be +widening. The solemnity of the moment was supreme. + +Morton's features became rigid as he watched; his haggard eyes started +from their sockets and the drops of an icy sweat pearled upon his +brow. He had longed for this moment, and yet, now that it was his, he +would have given his immortal soul to have been able to play the +coward and escape the consequences. + +In fact he did withdraw his hands from the slight grasp, but in the +next moment he was held spell-bound, for Margaret Revaleon was +speaking in that weirdly vaticinal tone. + +"Poor Romaine! Where is she?" + +"Who speaks? Who are you?" gasped Morton, once more grasping the +outstretched hands. + +"Her father. _You_ should know me. I am Sidney--Sidney--" + +"Sidney Effingham!" + +"Yes, and I am called back to earth in spite of myself. There is +trouble here among those I dearly love, and I am pained, disturbed in +my happiness." + +"Your widow and son are well," murmured Morton, profoundly awed by the +impressive tone of the presence. + +"Yes, yes; but Romaine! my daughter, where is she? She is no longer +with her mother." + +"Of course she is not!" exclaimed Morton; "is she not with _you_ in +heaven?" + +The violence of the query appeared to disturb the medium; her eyelids +fluttered and her breathing became labored, as though the conditions +of the trance had been deranged. Presently, however, the transient +agitation subsided and a name escaped her lips. + +"Loyd!" + +"Who speaks?" whispered Morton, vaguely conscious of a change of +personality. + +"How can you ask? Can you not guess?" + +"No!" he cried wildly; "O God! I do not dare to guess, even to think! +In heaven's name, do not tell me who you may be! and--and yet I _must_ +know! I am resolved to dare death itself to be satisfied! Who is it +that speaks?" + +"Paula, your wife--and I am waiting!" + +The listening air seemed to cringe before the maddened shriek that +filled the house. + +Morton struggled to his feet and for a moment hovered above the +quiescent figure beneath him with hands outstretched and hooked like +the talons of a bird of prey; then with a groan he sank back into his +chair; his arms fell like plummets at his sides and his head dropped +forward upon his breast. + + +Meanwhile, in the luxurious chamber over which presided the radiant +portrait of the dead, garlanded in roses, the unhappy bride paced to +and fro, now wringing her delicate hands, and again dashing the +terrified tears from her eyes. Each moment but served to increase her +helpless alarm; she knew her husband's return to be immediate, at +least inevitable, and yet she could not support the thought of his +advent. In a word, the last shackle which bound her soul in mystic +spell had fallen away, and she was herself again. It had required +weeks to right the disordered brain and give it the strength requisite +to battle with the mesmeric power of its master; but at last, late as +it was, her mind had fully regained its normal functions. + +In the midst of her pitiful quandary Romaine was startled by an +impetuous step outside the closed door. She recoiled to the furthest +corner of the room, and stood bracing her fainting body against the +wall. + +Contrary to her expectation it was Colston Drummond who flung wide the +door and stood before her. + +The revulsion of feeling well-nigh overpowered her, yet in some way +she was able to demand, in answer to his passionate utterance of her +name, + +"Why are _you_ here?" + +"To protect you, Romaine." + +"You forget that I can claim a husband's protection," she retorted +valiantly. + +"It is from him that I seek to protect you," Drummond exclaimed; "you +should not have written to me as you did, should not have laid bare +your tortured heart and revealed the secret which I have had every +reason to suspect, which my great love for you divined long, long ago, +if you did not wish me to fly to your rescue!" + +She held up beseeching hands, as though she would ward off that which +she would welcome, and cried piteously, + +"Too late! It is too late!" + +Whatever he might have said remained unuttered, since at the moment +that frenzied cry reached their ears, freezing their blood with its +baleful import. + +"Merciful heaven!" gasped Romaine; "it is Loyd's voice! Something +dreadful has occurred! Oh, prove yourself my protector, and come with +me! Come, quick, quick!" + +In the excitement of the moment, the brooding twilight, and their +unfamiliarity with the house they lost much precious time. Indeed they +were only guided at last to the grim little office by the sudden +opening of a door through which the figure of a woman escaped and +passed them in swift flight. + +And then they entered in awed silence, to find the bridegroom sitting +in the gloaming of his nuptial-day with pendent arms and sunken head, +lost-- + + "In that blessed mood, + In which the burden of the mystery, + In which the heavy and the weary weight + Of all this unintelligible world, + Is lightened!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[Footnote 1: Copyrighted, 1889, BELFORD, CLARKE & CO.] + + +THE END. + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +"The Cost of Things" (bottom of P. 513): the original appears to be +missing content after "the fallacy of a popular delusion--that" (an +apparent printer's error). Unable to locate alternate publication of +this article in order to identify and replace missing text. An ellipsis +has been added to indicate the incomplete statement. + +Obvious typographical errors have been repaired. + +Hyphenation inconsistencies present in the original have been retained. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Belford's Magazine, Vol II, No. 10, +March 1889, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41823 *** |