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diff --git a/75276-0.txt b/75276-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af8c693 --- /dev/null +++ b/75276-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3802 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75276 *** + + + + + +A CROWN OF SHAME. + +VOL. III. + + + + + A CROWN OF SHAME. + + _A NOVEL._ + + BY + FLORENCE MARRYAT, + + AUTHOR OF + ‘LOVE’S CONFLICT,’ ‘MY SISTER THE ACTRESS,’ + ETC. ETC. + + _IN THREE VOLUMES._ + + VOL. III. + + LONDON: + F. V. WHITE & CO., + 31 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. + 1888. + + [_All rights reserved._] + + + + + EDINBURGH + COLSTON AND COMPANY + PRINTERS + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +_CONTENTS._ + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I. 1 + + CHAPTER II. 19 + + CHAPTER III. 57 + + CHAPTER IV. 94 + + CHAPTER V. 129 + + CHAPTER VI. 165 + + CHAPTER VII. 201 + + + + +A CROWN OF SHAME. + + + + +POPULAR NEW NOVELS. + + +_Now ready, in One Vol., the Seventh Edition of_ + + =ARMY SOCIETY; or, Life in a Garrison Town.= By JOHN STRANGE WINTER. + Author of ‘Bootles’ Baby.’ Cloth gilt, 6s.; also picture boards, 2s. + + +_Also now ready, in cloth gilt, 3s. 6d. each._ + + =GARRISON GOSSIP, Gathered in Blankhampton.= By JOHN STRANGE WINTER. + Also picture boards, 2s. + + =IN THE SHIRES.= By Sir RANDAL H. ROBERTS, Bart. + + =THE OUTSIDER.= By HAWLEY SMART. + + =THE GIRL IN THE BROWN HABIT.= By Mrs EDWARD KENNARD. + + =STRAIGHT AS A DIE.= By the same Author. + + =BY WOMAN’S WIT.= By Mrs ALEXANDER. Author of ‘The Wooing O’t.’ + + =KILLED IN THE OPEN.= By Mrs EDWARD KENNARD. + + =IN A GRASS COUNTRY.= By Mrs H. LOVETT-CAMERON. + + =A DEVOUT LOVER.= By the same Author. + + =TWILIGHT TALES.= By Mrs EDWARD KENNARD. _Illustrated._ + + =SHE CAME BETWEEN.= By Mrs ALEXANDER FRASER. + + =THE CRUSADE OF ‘THE EXCELSIOR.’= By BRET HARTE. + + =A REAL GOOD THING.= By Mrs EDWARD KENNARD. + + =CURB AND SNAFFLE.= By Sir RANDAL H. ROBERTS, Bart. + + =DREAM FACES.= By the Hon. Mrs FETHERSTONHAUGH. + + =A SIEGE BABY.= By JOHN STRANGE WINTER. + + =MONA’S CHOICE.= By Mrs ALEXANDER. Author of ‘The Wooing O’t.’ + + + F. V. WHITE & Co., 31 Southampton Street, Strand, + London, W.C. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +A CROWN OF SHAME. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +Rosa, the yellow girl, was sauntering up and down the avenue of tulip +trees which formed an approach of a quarter of a mile to the plantation +of Beauregard, in a very discontented and sullen humour. She was +holding Maraquita’s baby in her arms, and she was dressed in her very +best. Her cotton gown was of the deepest rose colour; on her feet +she wore white stockings and prunella shoes with sandals; her long +black curls--in which she prided herself there was no trace of negro +crispness--were surmounted by a handkerchief of bright orange silk, +which Miss Lizzie had given her as a reward for her kindness to her +little charge. But what was the good of it all? thought Rosa; what was +the use of wearing her gilt earrings and her string of coral beads, +when there was no one to see them--not even a coolie boy left on the +plantation? For this was a general holiday. Not a hand was to work, +either in the coffee or sugar fields, for it was Miss Maraquita’s +wedding-day, and all the coloured people were off to the Fort Church to +witness the ceremony. All, that is to say, except poor Rosa. But Miss +Lizzie had refused to give her leave. She had promised the yellow girl +that she would take charge of the baby in the afternoon, and let her +join the big dinner that was to be given to all the hands at sunset, +and the dance that would follow it, but she would not consent to let +her go to the church. Lizzie had her own reasons for the denial--Rosa +might have been sure that she would never have been unjust or unkind to +any one--but she did not choose to tell them to her servant. + +She thought it would scarcely be delicate to let Rosa, who had the care +of the poor outcast baby, and was like a second mother to it, form one +of the gaping crowd to see Maraquita married to the Governor. It was +something too terrible to Lizzie to think that her adopted sister could +do this thing, and she decided that herself and all who had any part +to bear in her sinful secret were much better out of the way. So she +had condemned Rosa to remain in the plantation with the infant, who +was growing quite a big child, and the yellow girl was proportionately +discontented. + +There was a certain young Creole called Juan who had been paying her +great attention lately, and whom she entertained serious thoughts of +marrying. The silk handkerchief, the earrings, and the coral beads had +all been donned for Juan’s benefit, and now he was off to the Fort +with some other girl maybe--with Chloe, or Celeste, or Marie--and she +had to walk up and down this stupid avenue with the baby in her arms. +Rosa could have shaken the baby for keeping her from the much-coveted +spectacle. + +As she was thinking over her disappointment, Judy--Mammy Lila’s +granddaughter--walked from behind a tall bush, and confronted her. + +‘Hillo, Rosa!’ she cried. ‘Is dat Missy Liz’s baby? My! how dat grown; +she’s pretty heavy now, I guess.’ + +Judy was an ugly, cunning-looking young negress, of perhaps +fifteen--tall and lanky and large-boned, with a propensity for lying +and thieving and everything that was wrong. + +‘_Heavy?_’ echoed Rosa; ‘you may say dat. She breaks my arm pretty well +carrying her all day long. But ain’t you going to the wedding, Judy? +It’s most time to be off. Don’t I wish I’se going too.’ + +‘Why ain’t you going, Rosa, gal? Uncle Mose say dat will be de finest +sight ebber seen in San Diego. And you got your Sunday gown on too! +Why you not go?’ + +‘’Cause Missy Liz say _no_; and I nebber go back to her if I disobey! +But you’se going, Judy, sure?’ + +‘No, Rosa! I’se got bad head dis morning,’ replied Judy, with a cunning +look, and her lean hand to her woolly hair, ‘and I’se can’t stand long +walk. I’se better stay here till de dinner-bell sound.’ + +‘Dere now!’ cried Rosa, with vexation. ‘Ain’t dat a muddle? Why, I’d +gib my best earrings to be able to go. I shall nebber forgive myself +dat I not see Miss Quita’s wedding.’ + +‘You can see de carriages coming down de drive; and Miss Quita in her +white dress--all lace,’ said Judy. + +‘Dat ain’t de ting! But what you low niggers know about grand folk’s +ways? I want to be one of de church company, and hear de wedding +ceremony,’ replied Rosa, mouthing the long word. + +‘So you can, den, Rosa. Jes’ gib de chile to me, and I’ll hold it till +you come back. Don’t take no time to marry, you know; jest a few words, +and it’s all over; and I won’t leave dis place while you’re gone.’ + +‘Is dat a fac’, Judy?’ exclaimed the yellow girl, with a brightening +face. ‘Will you hold the baby whiles I gone? Den I’ll keep my word, and +you shall hab de earrings, for you’re the berry pusson as I wanted to +meet--dat’s so;’ and placing the infant in Judy’s arms, she disengaged +the gilt trinkets from her ears, and laid them in her hand. ‘Judy, +you’se a real good gal, and you won’t stir from dis avenue till I come +back; and if you sees Miss Lizzie a-coming, you’ll bolt in bushes like +rattlesnake? Is dat so?’ + +‘Dat _is_ so, Rosa. I’ll keep her safe, nebber fear. I likes nussing de +babies, and my head ain’t good for nuffin else dis morning.’ + +‘I’ll hurry back quick as I can directly dat’s over!’ cried Rosa, as +she darted down the tulip tree avenue, in order to reach the Fort +before the carriages from Beauregard. + +As soon as she was out of sight, Judy gave one look around to make sure +she was unobserved, and then dived with the child into the thick bushes +that skirted the drive on either side. She had not gone far before she +was met by Henri de Courcelles. He was dressed much as usual, but he +was looking very pale and dissipated, and there was a dark look about +his eyes that seemed as though he had been drinking hard, or going +without his natural rest. As he encountered Judy, he accosted her +roughly. + +‘So you’ve got the child?’ + +‘Oh, yes, Massa Courcelles, and wid berry little trouble. Rosa jes’ +_mad_ to go to wedding. She jump wid joy when I tell her I’d hold de +baby, and gib me her best earrings into de bargain; but I promise I be +back here when she return from church, so massa won’t be long after +her, eh?’ + +‘You shall be back as soon as ever it is possible: I promise you so +much; but you must come with me to San Diego. You don’t suppose I’m +going to carry _that_?’ + +‘Massa please,’ replied the coolie, shrugging her shoulders; ‘all same +to me. I can tell Rosa anyting,--dat I’se too bad to walk, and took de +baby to my hut, eh?’ + +‘I’ve no doubt you are equal to inventing any number of lies to suit +your purpose; but now you must follow me.’ + +De Courcelles led the way as he spoke by many a devious path through +the thicket, until they reached the outer boundary of the plantation, +where he hustled Judy and the child into a close carriage which he had +in waiting, and ordered the driver to take them to the Fort. + +Meanwhile, Maraquita, dressed in her bridal robes of lace and orange +blossoms, and with a costly veil covering her to the ground, stepped +into the carriage which was to convey her to church. The vehicle had +been re-painted for the auspicious occasion, and re-lined with a +delicate silver grey brocade. The horses were caparisoned in silver +harness, with large cockades of white ribbon at their ears, and the +coloured coachman and footman in brand new liveries wore large +bouquets of white flowers in their button-holes. Four or five other +vehicles followed that in which sat the bride between her adoring +parents, and contained relations of the family, and intimate friends +who were staying in the house. It was a trying ordeal for Mr and +Mrs Courtney, who were about to part with the one blossom of their +marriage-tree; but though the father was nervous and agitated, and the +mother could not prevent the tears rising to her eyes, the brilliant +position their daughter had attained for herself was the greatest +consideration in their minds, and outbalanced any pain they may have +felt at the impending separation. Quita herself felt overwhelmed at the +knowledge of her good fortune. She had so dreaded lest something might +occur to mar her prospects, that she was almost hysterical at the idea +that they were about to be consummated. She turned from one parent +to the other in a glow of expectation and triumph, which flushed her +usually pale cheeks, and lent a fire to her eye, that made her truly +beautiful. As the carriage approached the Fort, in which the English +Church was situated, they found the road lined with eager faces, both +white and coloured, and a shout of welcome and congratulation went +up as soon as they appeared. Sir Russell Johnstone was in the church +porch waiting to receive his bride, and it would have been difficult +to find a more lovely creature than stepped from the carriage and +stood before him, trembling (as it appeared) with modesty and maiden +shame. The church was crowded, every pew was filled with friends and +acquaintances carrying nosegays, the aisles were lined with darkies +grinning from ear to ear, the pillars and rails were wreathed with +flowers and ferns. Never was there a prettier wedding, nor a more +auspicious one. As Maraquita was led to the altar by her father and +mother, the organist commenced to play, and the choir, who had been +practising for the last month, sang a marriage hymn. Quita felt, for +the time being, as if she were about to wed the man of her choice, and +had no regrets to spare for a mistaken past. The flowers, the melody, +the congratulatory looks by which she was surrounded, appealed to her +senses, until she was ready to believe that she was worthy of them. +Henri de Courcelles had no place whatever in her thoughts that morning. +Out of sight, was truly out of mind with her shallow soul, and she +remembered nothing but that she was about to become Lady Johnstone, +and all the unmarried girls in San Diego were envying her good luck. +She went through the service as calmly as possible. Mrs Courtney +sobbed like a school-girl, her husband blew his nose and changed his +feet every minute, and Sir Russell was visibly agitated. Only the +beautiful young bride made her responses in an unfaltering voice, +and held up her face as soon as the ceremony was over, to receive +her bridegroom’s kiss, as quietly as if she had been married for ten +years. It was over then, and there was nothing more to do but to sign +her name in the register, and go forth to take her place in a world +which seemed strewn with roses, and in which no inconvenient memories +should rise up to trouble her. The organ pealed forth the wedding +march. Sir Russell extended his arm for her acceptance, and Maraquita +realised that at last she really was his _wife_, and no one could +deprive her of the position he had bestowed upon her. She beamed with +smiles of satisfaction as she walked down the aisle on her husband’s +arm, returning the bows on either side, and treading on the roses, and +lilies, and myrtle strewn by the children in her path. Sir Russell’s +carriage, with its four horses and outriders, and its stately guard of +honour, was waiting to receive her, and take her back to her father’s +house for breakfast, and her heart swelled with pride as she caught +sight of it, beyond the crowd that clustered round the church door and +steps, and threatened to impede her way. But she had hardly placed her +foot on the red carpet that had been laid down for her accommodation, +when her eye fell on a group that riveted her to the spot, and almost +made her breath stop,--a group that seemed to rise up as it were from +the very earth itself, like a Nemesis, to rob her of her joy. Maraquita +stared at it as if she were turning to stone, while her face grew +deadly pale, and her limbs tottered under her. Her first impulse had +been to scream, but the strong instinct of self-preservation inherent +in every nature prevented her, and the effort to restrain herself +resulted in her falling suddenly from Sir Russell’s support, and +sinking to the ground in a dead faint. A dozen people were round her in +a moment. Some declared it must be the heat--others, the excitement +and fatigue--only one person amongst them all, and that was her mother, +Mrs Courtney, discovered the real cause of her daughter’s emotion. +_She_ had come upon the scene in time to see the dark handsome face of +Henri de Courcelles glaring like that of an avenging angel above the +crowd, whilst in his arms he held up high on view his infant. She had +cowered herself beneath the sight--no wonder it had affected her poor +Maraquita. In a commanding voice she had desired the church peons to +disperse the crowd, and when the bride was sufficiently recovered to +be taken to her carriage, no one was left to molest her. One anxious +despairing look passed between her mother and herself, but a hurried +whisper from Mrs Courtney somewhat reassured her, and by the time they +reached Beauregard, Maraquita was to all appearances herself again. But +only to the view of strangers, for long after she had left San Diego, +and the Government steamer was conveying Sir Russell and Lady Johnstone +to a sister island to spend their honeymoon, she sat with her large +dark eyes staring out into the star-bespangled night, in which she saw +nothing but the picture of a man’s face, full of hate and frenzy and +revenge,--of a man who held a little infant in his arms. And as she +thought of it, Lady Johnstone felt the tears roll down her face (as +they should not have rolled down the face of a newly-wedded woman), in +memory of a past which she hated and loved, and longed-for and dreaded, +all at the same time. + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +Hugh Norris had not been slow to avail himself of Lizzie’s permission +to visit her. He had knocked about a good deal in the world, and he had +seen all sorts and conditions of women, but he had never met any one +to interest him, and hold his sympathies, like the Doctor’s daughter. +It was not only that she was firm and sweet in temper, and strong in +mind, and clever and energetic--there was a more binding tie between +them than that. _They thought together_; and if men and women would +realise that kindred tastes and ideas form the only lasting bond +between friends, there would be fewer unhappy marriages than there are. +There is a great deal of talk heard on occasions about the happiness +of surrendering one’s opinions in deference to those of the person one +loves, but that notion is only believed in by the men who wish to be +master, and ride roughshod over their household gods. To surrender is +to give up one’s mental and moral liberty, and there may be duty in +bondage, but there can be no pleasure. Marriage should be the cementing +of a friendship between the sexes, and it is the only safe light by +which to regard it. There should be plenty of _giving_ in it, but no +_giving up_! And Captain Norris felt that if Lizzie Fellows could learn +to regard him as he did her, there would be very few jars in their +domestic _ménage_. He had been detained in San Diego much longer than +he had anticipated. Just as he got his cargo on board, and was ready +to start, a serious damage had been discovered in the _Trevelyan_, +and he had been compelled to send her into dock for repairs. Although +the delay meant a considerable loss of money to him, Captain Norris +did not regret it. He did not feel easy, in common with many of the +residents, with regard to the safety of the island; and to leave Lizzie +in possible danger, surrounded by a horde of mutinous coolies, and +without the possibility of obtaining news of her for months together, +would have been a sore trial to him. He would have taken her with +him gladly as his wife, or as an ordinary passenger, but he knew her +character too well to propose it. Had she been affianced to him, and +danger threatened her benefactor and his family, she would have died +with them, sooner than desert them in the time of uncertainty. And +uncertainty seemed to prevail in San Diego. Grave mutterings were heard +on every side of averted rebellions and suppressed mutinies, and the +planters knew that it needed but the necessary boldness on the part +of one set of hands to rise, to set the whole negro population aflame +with the lust for rapine and murder. Sir Russell Johnstone was not a +favourite amongst them, for he disliked the coloured people, and had +passed some very harsh sentences on the prisoners brought up to him +for judgment, and his name was seldom mentioned without an execration +attached to it. The hands on Beauregard had not shown discontent +beyond the ordinary grumblings and small impertinences common amongst +the coolies; but Hugh Norris knew the character of the people well, +and he distrusted them. He remembered how in former mutinies, both in +the East and West Indies, the actual fight for the supremacy had been +preceded for a long time by half-suppressed murmurs and complaints, +like the muttering of the elements before a tempest, and that, when the +storm broke, it came like a clap of thunder, suddenly and unexpectedly, +and overwhelmed its victims before they were hardly aware of the danger +they incurred. So he was glad than otherwise to be detained in San +Diego, though what he heard and saw there did not tend to reassure him. +He was present at Maraquita’s wedding, being a friend both of Sir +Russell Johnstone and the Courtneys; but he declined the invitation +to the breakfast, both because he disliked such festivities, and that +Lizzie Fellows, he knew, would not be there. But on the evening of the +same day he strolled into her bungalow, and seated himself without +ceremony like an old friend. + +‘So, Lizzie,’ he commenced, ‘you were not present at the grand wedding +this morning?’ + +‘No. I asked them to excuse me, Captain Norris. My dear father’s recent +death renders it very unfit that I should mix in any gaiety.’ + +‘But your adopted sister’s marriage, Lizzie! Surely that was an +occasion on which you might have relaxed your strict seclusion?’ + +He had marked the coolness which had separated Lizzie of late from +Mrs Courtney and her daughter, and he had his own suspicions on the +subject; but he had not presumed to put them into words. + +‘They didn’t think so. They were quite satisfied to let me follow my +own wishes,’ replied the girl quietly. + +‘And how is your nurse-child? Thriving?’ + +Lizzie’s eyes sparkled. + +‘Beautifully, thank you. She is growing such a dear little creature, +and knows me as well as possible.’ + +‘Have you had her baptised?’ + +‘How strange you should ask me that question,’ remarked Lizzie +thoughtfully, looking up from her work. ‘It is the very thing I was +about to consult you on! How often we seem to have the same ideas at +the same moment! I think you must be a wizard, and read my thoughts!’ + +‘It is because we are so much in sympathy with each other, Lizzie. But +what about the mysterious baby? Have you decided on the name you will +call her?’ + +‘No; I have never troubled my head about it. Any name will do.’ + +‘Oh, poor little lady! let us give her a pretty one whilst we are about +it. Why not call her after yourself?’ + +Lizzie shrank from the idea. + +‘Oh, no! She has nothing to do with me. Please suggest something else.’ + +‘Poor mite! she seems to have nothing to do with any one. She is a +little blot upon the universe. But she is God’s own child. Suppose we +call her after His mother.’ + +‘Mary! Yes, I like that idea. What is _your_ mother’s name, Captain +Norris?’ + +‘The same. I was thinking partly of her when I spoke.’ + +‘Then I shall like the name doubly for her sake. I am sure she must be +a good woman, to have borne such a son as you are.’ + +‘I am afraid that is not much recommendation for her, Lizzie,’ returned +Hugh Norris, laughing. ‘But she _is_ a good woman--the best woman I +have ever known--for all that. And how she would love _you_! How I wish +you knew her: you would get on so well together.’ + +‘How can you tell that?’ + +‘Because you have the same tastes. My mother is quite a doctor in her +way; and all the country people believe in her immensely. Only she is +a herbalist, and does not approve of strong drugs. Since my father +died, and her sons have gone out into the world, she has lived alone +in a cottage in the sweetest spot of Kent you have ever seen; and she +is beloved of the whole country-side. But I wish there was some one to +live with her, now she is getting old. She has never had a daughter, my +dear old mother! How she would love and cherish one!’ + +‘How many brothers have you?’ asked Lizzie, trying to run away from the +dangerous subject. + +‘Two, George and Frederick. George is in the Indian Army, and has been +out in Bengal for the last five years; and Fred is in business in +London. He goes down to see mother every now and then; but they are +only flying visits, and she must feel very lonely at times.’ + +‘Yes, very! How often do _you_ see her?’ + +‘Every few months, as a rule; but my time in England is necessarily +short. If I had a wife--’ said Captain Norris, and there stopped. + +‘Well,’ remarked Lizzie encouragingly, ‘what then?’ + +‘I was going to say that (with _her_ permission, of course) I shouldn’t +be entirely selfish: I should leave her behind me some voyages, that +she might keep my mother company. It wouldn’t be for long, perhaps, for +I hope to get work on shore some day--I shouldn’t like to spend all my +life roving about like this, without any settled home.’ + +‘But it must be glorious to sail about all over the world, and see so +many new countries!’ cried Lizzie, with kindling eyes. + +‘It is, whilst a man is young and independent, and has no ties to pull +at his heart-strings. _You_ would enjoy it, Lizzie, I am sure. Your +free and energetic spirit would be quite in accord with the unfettered +elements, and you would glory in seeing them circumvented (for mastered +they can never be) by the ingenuity or prevision of men.’ + +‘Yes, I should like it, I am sure. It is the sort of life that would +carry one out of oneself, and make one almost forget how much falsehood +and wickedness and ingratitude hold their place amongst men. To be out +on the open sea from morning to night, and to know for certain that +no one who has injured or disappointed you can follow you there, and +that you are alone with God and your own thoughts--it must be a kind of +little heaven in itself, if--if--’ + +‘If _what_, Lizzie?’ demanded Hugh Norris eagerly. + +‘If one went with the person one loved,’ she replied, with a slight +increase of colour. + +‘Let us talk of the baby--of little Mary,’ he said impatiently. ‘When +shall we have her christened?’ + +‘Any day, if you will be her godfather, and share the responsibility of +her with me.’ + +‘Willingly. As she is to bear my mother’s name, I consider it incumbent +on me to do so. But, Lizzie, have you taken my advice about this child? +Have you appealed to her parents to lift the burden they have laid upon +you, by at least a partial confession of their error?’ + +‘I have,’ she answered, in a low voice. + +‘And they refused?’ + +‘I only saw the mother, and she denied all knowledge of her child. +The--the--other parent I could not speak to.’ + +‘You know the names of both of them then.’ + +She bowed her head in silence. + +‘Lizzie, I think I have guessed your secret, or at least part of it. +The father of this infant is Henri de Courcelles.’ + +‘What should make you say that, Captain Norris?’ she exclaimed, in a +tone of alarm. + +‘The hesitation in your voice when you alluded to him; but I have had +my suspicions of it before now. And shall I tell you the name of the +mother who has left you to bear the burden of her shameful secret?’ + +‘No, no, Captain Norris,’ cried Lizzie, springing from her chair; ‘you +must not say it! I will not hear it! You are mistaken! It is not true! +Oh, my dear friend,’ she continued, laying her hand upon his arm, +‘think--_think_ what you are doing. The honour of a whole family is +involved in your discovery. Be silent. Keep the secret sacred, as I do, +for God’s sake.’ + +‘And what about the honour of the woman I love?’ he asked tenderly, as +he looked into her face; ‘am I not to think of that?’ + +‘If you love her,’ replied Lizzie, blushing, ‘you must know that her +honour is safe. But for the other--so young--so weak--’ + +‘So unprincipled--so false, you mean!’ said Hugh Norris indignantly. +‘Well, it will come home to her some day, see if it does not.’ + +‘But never through _my_ means,’ said Lizzie. + +‘No, not through you, my angel, but God will take care of His own. You +will not always live under this cloud. You would leave it behind you +to-morrow, if you would but consent to be my honoured wife.’ + +‘Not while it hangs over me,’ she whispered. + +‘And afterwards--’ + +‘Ah, Captain Norris, do not ask me! You are my best and truest friend, +and the man who would make me happier than any one else in the world. +I quite believe that. I say it after calm deliberation, and a careful +investigation of your character. But I am not in a position to marry +any one, and I never may be. Leave it to the future. If I am ever free, +and you are still of the same mind, I will answer the question you ask +me to-day.’ + +‘And I will live on that promise, Lizzie,’ replied Hugh Norris, ‘for +I feel the time of your release is not far off. If _you_ persist in +sacrificing yourself for the sake of your oath, your friends are not +bound to see you do it, without making an effort in your behalf. But I +have something to say to you before I go. Will you be very careful of +yourself, for my sake?’ + +‘In what way?’ she asked, with open eyes. ‘The fever is nearly passed; +and if it had not done so, I am fever-proof.’ + +‘There is a worse pestilence abroad than the fever, Lizzie,--a lust +for murder, and rapine, and insubordination. The negroes are ripe for +rebellion, and if there should be an insurrection, there may be fire +and bloodshed.’ + +‘Oh, they will never hurt me!’ replied Lizzie, with a confident smile. + +‘My dear, when the thirst for blood gets possession of a mob, +infuriated by a sense of wrong, they do not stay to distinguish friends +from foes. I feel uneasy that you should stay in this bungalow alone, +Lizzie, with no better protection than Rosa. It is not safe. Do you bar +your doors and windows at night?’ + +‘_Bar my doors and windows?_’ repeated Lizzie, with a smile. ‘Why, +Captain Norris, they stand open night and day; and I don’t believe +there is a fastening to any one of them. The coolies would indeed think +I had gone out of my mind, if they saw me bolting myself in from fear +of them.’ + +‘But I don’t like it,’ said Hugh Norris, with a sigh. ‘I have witnessed +several mutinies, Lizzie; and if there should be a grudge borne against +you by one person only, it may be sufficient to incense the entire mob. +Suppose they were to fire your bungalow, and destroy all your property?’ + +‘Captain Norris, do you _really_ think it is so likely to occur?’ +demanded Lizzie, struck by the portentous gravity of her friend. + +‘I do indeed, or I should not caution you.’ + +‘Then they may injure the White House, or do some harm to Mr and Mrs +Courtney!’ she exclaimed in alarm. ‘Should you not warn _them_? They +are of far more importance than myself.’ + +‘I won’t allow that; but Mr Courtney, at least, is aware of the danger. +The planters have held a meeting on the subject, with a view to +inquiring into the coolies’ fancied wrongs, but not, I understand, with +any satisfactory results. In fact, they can’t make out what it is they +do want, and I don’t think the darkies know themselves. Only the demons +of distrust and discontent are stalking abroad, and it behoves every +white man to be extra careful.’ + +‘Suppose they were to hurt Maraquita,’ suggested Lizzie, with a +shudder. ‘She is not a favourite amongst them, poor child, I know.’ + +‘And will be none the more for having married the Governor; for +the coloured population have taken a strong dislike to Sir Russell +Johnstone, as the discovered plots against Government House plainly +show. However, she will have every protection that the military forces +can give her, and you have _none_. It is of _you_ that I am thinking, +Lizzie. I wish I could persuade you to leave this bungalow, and go and +stay in the Fort till the danger is over.’ + +‘Oh, dear no! That is quite impossible. What, run away from my +patients, and leave them to die, for fear lest some of the men amongst +whom I have grown up might turn against me? Captain Norris, you +cannot think what you are asking me. Indeed, I have no fear--not the +slightest. These coolies love me--I know they do--and would die for me +sooner than harm a hair of my head.’ + +‘Perhaps so, Lizzie; though I have not much faith in any coloured +people. But you have the coolies of other plantations to guard against. +They do not confine their attacks to their employers’ property. If the +hands on Miners’ Gulch or Sans Souci, or any other estate, were to +rise, they might make a raid on Beauregard. Now, do you understand the +danger you may be in?’ + +‘Yes,’ replied Lizzie thoughtfully; ‘I had not considered that. I will +ask Mr Courtney if old Peter or William Hall may sleep at the bungalow +for the future, though I do not think they will be much protection. But +I am not afraid,--indeed I am not.’ + +‘You are the most courageous woman I have ever met,’ replied Captain +Norris. ‘I don’t believe you are afraid of anything.’ + +‘Except of injuring those who have been good to me,’ she said, somewhat +timidly. ‘Captain Norris, there is something on my mind that I feel +bound to mention to you. My name is not Fellows, and I don’t know what +my real name is.’ + +‘Are you not the Doctor’s daughter, then?’ he demanded, in surprise. + +‘Oh, yes, and though it may astonish you hereafter to remember I said +so, I would not give up the knowledge that I am his daughter for all +the world. Poor father! He was so unhappy, so unfortunate, so erring. +His soul was purified like that of an angel by the suffering he passed +through.’ + +‘Pardon me, Lizzie, but did I hear aright when you said your father was +_erring_?’ + +‘Yes, Captain Norris, erring beyond the generality of men. I should +not have mentioned it to you, except for the kind sentiments you have +expressed towards me this evening, and which make me feel that, before +they go further, you have a right to know all. The week before he died, +my father made a communication to me which I had never heard before, +and which he forbade me to repeat during his lifetime. His death has, +of course, released me from that duty, and I am sure that he would +have wished you, of all men, to be acquainted with the truth. But I +am afraid that it will shock you terribly, Captain Norris, to hear +that my poor father was a criminal in hiding from the law, and, except +for the goodness of Mr Courtney, he would have suffered the penalty of +transportation. This was the secret of the great friendship between +them, and why my father changed his name, to prevent his retreat from +being discovered.’ + +‘And yet Mr Courtney remained his friend to his life’s end. How good a +man your father must have been, Lizzie (but for this youthful error), +that his conduct had no power to separate him from the person who knew +and loved him best.’ + +‘Ah, that is how _I_ look at it!’ cried Lizzie, seizing his hand, and +bursting into tears; ‘but I hardly expected to hear so generous a +judgment from _your_ lips. If suffering, and repentance, and a desire +to make amendment, can atone for a man’s sin, I believe my poor father +fully expiated his. He was an exile from all his relations, and lived +under an assumed name, with no one but myself for a companion, and his +profession for occupation. I am not aware if I sprung from the gutter, +or came of a decent family. All I know is that I am called Elizabeth +Fellows, and that, although guiltless myself, I am not a fit wife for +any honest or honourable man.’ + +‘You shall not speak to me like that,’ exclaimed Hugh Norris +indignantly, ‘for it is not true! You are fit, in your own sweet self, +to mate with the best man that ever lived; and I consider you as far +above me as the stars are above the earth. But I think you should +ascertain your real name, and who your relations are. Your father is +gone, Lizzie. The discovery can never hurt him now, and there is no +saying how much benefit it may prove to you. Cannot Mr Courtney give +you the necessary information?’ + +‘I believe he can, but I have shrunk from asking him. This terrible +scandal about me--’ + +‘Don’t let that prevent you. Be your own brave self, and meet the +calumny as it deserves. Take my advice, Lizzie, and demand an +explanation from Mr Courtney as soon as possible. Life is uncertain, +you know, and he might die before you have ascertained the truth about +yourself. Then you might never hear it.’ + +‘He will be surprised to find me asking questions about which I have +shown no curiosity for so many years. He will wonder what can have put +it into my head.’ + +Hugh Norris drew nearer to her, and seized her hand. + +‘Say you are engaged to be married to me, and that you consider I have +a right to know everything concerning yourself.’ + +‘But that would not be true.’ + +‘Make it true, then. It lies with you to do so.’ + +‘No, Captain Norris,’ she replied gently, withdrawing her hand from +his. ‘I cannot--at least just yet. Give me a little time to recover +myself. Remember that but a few weeks back I considered myself +betrothed to Monsieur de Courcelles.’ + +‘And you love him still,’ he answered roughly, in his disappointment. + +‘No, no, I do _not_! I despise him for his falsehood and treachery, +and for his despicable conduct in trying to evade the consequences of +his own fault, at the expense of the character of the woman he once +professed to love. If there were not another man in all the world, I +would never place myself again under the yoke of Henri de Courcelles. +But to engage myself so soon to you--it would be hardly decent.’ + +‘Have your own way then,’ replied Hugh Norris, as he rose from his +seat, and took his cap in his hand. ‘I have asked you for the third +time, and failed. I shall begin to disbelieve in my good luck. It +evidently doesn’t lie in an uneven number.’ + +‘There are such slight intervals between your askings,’ said Lizzie, +laughing. But she ceased to laugh when she found herself alone. + +The honest, disinterested love of Hugh Norris was beginning to work +its way into her heart, and heal the wounds made by the other’s +defalcation. She would have liked to call him back and tell him that +she would follow the dictates of her feelings, and give him his answer +at once, without any regard to the dictum of the world; but womanly +pride prevented her doing so. She was terribly afraid, also, of being +deceived a second time. The scalded dog fears cold water, and though +her sense told her that Hugh Norris’s character and disposition were +utterly different from those of Henri de Courcelles, she dreaded +making another mistake, and finding out, when too late, that they were +unsuited to each other. His summary departure had the effect, however, +of causing her a sleepless night, and as soon as the sun was up the +following morning, she found her way to Mr Courtney’s office. + +‘Well, Lizzie,’ said the planter kindly, ‘and so you wouldn’t join our +festivities yesterday. It was a grand sight, though, and you would have +enjoyed it; and I missed you several times during the breakfast, I can +tell you.’ + +‘You have always been too kind to me, Mr Courtney; but you know +my reasons for not being with you. No one wishes Quita health and +happiness more than I do, and every sort of prosperity; but I was +better at home. Besides, I don’t think I could have come, under any +circumstances,’ continued Lizzie, smiling, ‘for do you know we had two +new arrivals on the plantation yesterday? Chloe, the mulatto, and Aunt +Jane, William Hall’s wife, both had daughters during the forenoon, and +both are determined to call them “Maraquita,” in honour of the wedding. +I did laugh so to see the two black woolly-headed little Maraquitas; +but the proud mothers saw nothing incongruous in the idea.’ + +‘Naturally,’ replied Mr Courtney, joining in the smile. ‘And what is +the plantation health report to-day?’ + +‘Very good! I have only two cases of fever left, and they are both +convalescent. The negro boy, Dickey, broke his arm whilst climbing +trees to see the fireworks last night--but it’s a simple fracture; +and I have a few children down with infantile cholera, but nothing +dangerous.’ + +‘That’s well. And can I do anything for you, Lizzie? Any orders wanted +for medicines, or other necessaries?’ + +‘No, sir; I have everything I require. But I came up this morning +chiefly to ask you a favour, Mr Courtney. I want you to tell me +everything you may know concerning my father and his family.’ + +The planter pushed his chair back, and regarded her with surprise. + +‘About your father’s family?’ he echoed. ‘But why should you imagine +that I know more than yourself?’ + +‘Oh, you need attempt no concealment with me, sir. I appreciate the +generosity of your motive, but my father himself has rendered it +unnecessary. A few days before he was taken from us, he related to me +the history of his life, and the reason why he lived a pensioner on +your goodness at Beauregard, instead of taking his place in the world +and society, like other men. Also that he passed under an assumed name, +from fear of the law; but he did not tell me what my real name is, and +I wish to know.’ + +‘But to what purpose, Lizzie? What good will it do?’ + +‘I have not even thought of that, sir; but if it brought evil in its +train, I should still ask for the information. For since my father +told me that Fellows is not my own name, I seem to have lost my +individuality, and to be some one else. When I hear it spoken, I don’t +feel as if I had the right to answer; and in fact, Mr Courtney, I beg +of you to satisfy my curiosity in this particular.’ + +‘Well, Lizzie, you are a woman, and if you have made up your mind on +this subject, you shall be gratified; but I would ask you to think +again first. I don’t believe the information will make you happier. +What is the use of belonging to a family who will not own you? Your +poor father’s relations all turned against him, and will do the same by +his daughter. It was that they might never have the power to insult +him again, that he took the name of Fellows.’ + +‘So he told me, sir; and also of the crime he committed against you, +and of the generosity with which you forgave it. I feel (and I told him +so) that after that, my life and all I hold dearest in the world should +be at your disposal; and I will sink my personality in the future, as I +have done in the past, if you wish me to do so.’ + +‘No, no! my dear girl, I don’t consider I have any right to dictate +to you on the subject; and since you desire to know your name, I will +tell it you. You are Elizabeth Ruthin, the granddaughter of General Sir +William and Lady Ruthin of Aberdare in Scotland. Your dear father’s +name was Herbert Ruthin. He was the second son, the eldest, I believe, +is in the army. He has already told you (you say) of the sad event +which brought us together. He was my dearest friend in youth, and to +the day of his death; but he was extravagant and thoughtless, and +hardly thought of the gravity of the act he was committing.’ + +‘That is _your_ kind way of putting it,’ said Lizzie. ‘My father did +not exonerate himself after that fashion, sir. He saw his fault in its +true light. But my mother’s name--what was that?’ + +‘Alice Stevens. She was the daughter of a clergyman, and a very sweet +woman, I believe; but she died so early, that I saw but little of her. +Have you any more questions to ask me, Lizzie?’ + +‘Only, have you any papers to prove what you tell me, Mr Courtney?’ + +‘What a practical young woman you are. Yes, I have. I loved your dear +father with almost a romantic attachment, and I have kept all the +letters that passed between us as young men, that is, when he was +practically living at home on Sir William Ruthin’s estate of Aberdare, +but going backward and forward to pursue his studies at Edinburgh. His +frequent mention of his home life, and every one connected with it, is +sufficient proof of his identity.’ + +‘And may I have those letters, sir?’ + +‘Certainly, if you wish it; and, now I come to think of it, they should +be in your possession, in case of anything happening unexpectedly to +me.’ + +Mr Courtney rose as he spoke, and unlocking an iron safe, placed a +packet of letters, endorsed ‘Correspondence with my friend H. Ruthin,’ +in her hand. + +‘And now, Lizzie, what will you do with them?’ he added. ‘Shall you +go post-haste to England by the next steamer, and lay claim to your +father’s property?’ + +‘Oh, sir, don’t laugh at me! Remember that a felon’s daughter has no +rights.’ + +‘Lizzie, you shall not use that term of your late father in my +presence!’ + +‘It is what he called himself, sir,--what, doubtless, his people call +him to this day, if ever they mention his name. Are my grandparents +living, Mr Courtney?’ + +‘I believe so, my dear, and a very nice couple they were, though I have +heard this trouble was an awful blow to their pride. Scotch pride too. +There’s nothing like it. But Lady Ruthin loved her son Herbert dearly +in the olden days. I wonder if she ever mourns for him now?’ + +‘Can time wear out a mother’s love?’ said Lizzie. ‘And my poor father +was so loveable and affectionate. I cannot believe sometimes that he +was capable of so base a sin as ingratitude.’ + +‘Don’t believe it, my dear! It is all over and past now. Think only +of him as one of God’s regenerated children. And if he erred in that +respect, his mantle has not fallen on his daughter, for you have repaid +any kindnesses we may have shown you, twofold.’ + +‘I have tried to do so,’ replied Lizzie, in a faltering voice, as, with +the packet of letters in her hand, she passed quickly from the office +on her way home. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +A few days later, Hugh Norris rushed unexpectedly into Lizzie’s +presence. + +‘I have come to wish you good-bye!’ he exclaimed, in a voice of +distress. ‘I have received orders this morning which compel me to sail +at once; and as the _Trevelyan’s_ repairs are complete, I have no +possible excuse for disobedience.’ + +Lizzie changed colour slightly as she heard the news, but she answered +quietly,-- + +‘And I am sure that, under any circumstances, you would make none. Have +you not often told me that a sailor’s first duty is towards his ship?’ + +‘Ah, yes; that is all very well in theory,’ he said, with a rueful +look, ‘but you cannot know what I feel at leaving you alone, Lizzie, at +this anxious time.’ + +‘I shall be safe enough, my dear friend, so have no fears for me. When +do you sail?’ + +‘With the tide this evening, and hardly know how I shall get through +all my work by that time. I didn’t expect to get off for another week.’ + +‘Then I mustn’t detain you, Captain Norris; though it was good of you +to think of me at the last.’ + +‘Of whom else should I think? I shall not be away long this time, +Lizzie. I only go to England and back. A couple of months may see me +here again. What can I do for you there?’ + +‘Nothing, thanks. I have no commissions for you.’ + +‘Have you spoken to Mr Courtney yet on the subject of your family?’ + +Lizzie started. + +‘Oh, yes; and that reminds me that I have some letters I want to show +you. Wait a moment Captain Norris, whilst I fetch them--’ + +‘Missy Liz! Missy Liz!’ piped a shrill little voice at the open door. + +‘What is it, Pete?’ she asked of a negro boy, whose dusky face was +anxiously peering in upon them. + +‘Oh, Missy Liz, please come quick to Mammy Chloe’s baby! That’s kinder +sick; taken drefful, with its eyes turned up so, and its body quite +stiff like a piece of wood!’ + +‘_Convulsions!_’ exclaimed Lizzie, as she threw the packet of letters +she had just taken from her desk across the table, and put her hat upon +her head. ‘Captain Norris, I _must_ go. Read those whilst I am gone.’ + +‘But I cannot stay till you come back, Lizzie. Each moment is precious +to me. Give me five minutes more.’ + +‘I dare not. This is a new-born infant, and a matter of life and death. +God bless you, and good-bye!’ + +He had only time to wring her hand, when she darted from the house. He +watched her figure running swiftly towards the negroes’ quarters, and +then returned to the shaded apartment, with a deep sigh. What interest +had he then in the packet of letters she had left him to peruse? +Lizzie was gone. He should not see her again, perhaps for months, +and the world seemed to be a blank without her. In the hope of her +speedy return, he sat down for a few minutes more, and mechanically +drew the letters towards him. But as his eye fell upon the written +words his countenance changed, and his expression became one of the +deepest interest. He hastily scanned through the letters, making sundry +notes as he did so, and then, with a long low whistle, he tied the +envelopes together again, and, laying them upon Lizzie’s desk, walked +to the window to watch for some token of her return. None came. The +Indian sun was blazing in all its splendour on the tropical leaves and +flowers, the pathway to the coolies’ huts was one long line of white +dust glittering like golden sand; but not a sound could be heard but +the far-off hum of the workers in the cotton fields, not a living +creature to be seen but Rosa in the shaded verandah, with Maraquita’s +child slumbering on her knees, and an aged negro, long past work, who +was warming his stiffened limbs in the sunshine. Hugh Norris watched +impatiently for a few minutes from the open door, and then, with a +rapid glance at his watch, and a deep sigh, he unwillingly prepared to +leave the bungalow. + +‘Be a good girl to your mistress, Rosa,’ he said, as he passed the +yellow girl; ‘take great care of her and the baby, and I’ll bring you a +beautiful string of beads when I come back from England.’ + +‘Tank you, sar,’ replied Rosa. ‘I’ll be berry good all time you away; +and I’d like a nice shawl too, sar.’ + +‘Well, you’re not bashful, Rosa,’ replied Hugh Norris, laughing; ‘but +you shall have the shawl too, if you’ll keep your promise. And if there +should be any trouble on the plantation--you know what I mean--take +Missy Lizzie up to the White House at once, and don’t mind what she +says about staying here.’ + +‘I understand, sar; but nebber you fear. De niggers on dis plantation +too good for dat. They lub Massa and Missus Courtney; and as for Missy +Liz, they die for her--dat’s jes’ so.’ + +Captain Norris gave a sigh of relief. + +‘I hope so, Rosa, and it makes me happier to hear you say it; but still +I am not easy. But take this and buy yourself a new gown; and remember, +when you wear it, that you have promised me to be faithful.’ + +He thrust a five-dollar note into her hand as he spoke, and with one +yearning look in the direction of the negro quarters, walked rapidly +away towards the town. Rosa rolled her eyes with delight at the feel of +the five-dollar note. + +‘_He_ gone ’coon too,’ she thought, with a sapient air; ‘dar’s another +what Missy Liz have done for. And she’s so quiet all de time. Dat’s +what beats me. ’Pears as if she didn’t care if they _was_ “gone” or +not. Wall, if dey all gib me five-dollar notes, I wish there was a +thousand of them.’ + +Meanwhile, Lizzie was kneeling down beside Mammy Chloe’s straw +mattress, putting the poor little black baby into hot baths, and +watching by it as tenderly as if it had been a princess of the blood +royal, until the attack of convulsions had ceased, and it was sleeping +peacefully on its mother’s breast again. + +‘Dar now, dat’s jes’ wonderful!’ exclaimed the crowd of dusky mortals, +who had anxiously watched her proceedings, ‘dat babby jes’ dyin’, +’pears as though death was in its face, and its body cold and stiff +a’ready, and Missy Liz comes ’long and touches it, and it’s as well as +ever in half an hour. Missy Liz, you _too_ clever! You like de Lord, +Who touches with little finger, and ebberybody well again. You jes’ +white angel, Missy Liz--no mistake about dat.’ + +‘My dear friends, you make too much of my poor services for you. You +could all do nearly as much for yourselves, if you would only let me +teach you. Mammy Chloe made her baby sick. She says she gave it some +sweet potato yesterday.’ + +‘Only tiny leetel bit, Missy Liz, out ob my own mouth!’ cried the +mother. + +‘However little it was, Chloe, it was too much for a baby of three days +old. How often must I tell you to give your little infants nothing +but the breast? Your baby is safe again now, but if you feed her with +potatoes, and rice, and bread, she will have another fit, and next time +I may be able to do nothing for her.’ + +Hereupon rose a chorus of dissentient voices. + +‘Oh, Missy Liz, how you saying dat? You can cure ebberyting, Missy Liz. +You mended Dicky’s arm, and cured old Jake’s rheumatiz, and bringed de +life back to Clairey, when she fell into de water, and was dead.’ + +‘No, no!’ disclaimed Lizzie, laughing, ‘she wasn’t _dead_, Betsy. I +can’t go as far as to bring the dead to life again.’ + +‘B’lieve you could, Missy Liz, if you tried, for you’se jes’ wonderful +all round; and de niggers nebber had a better friend--dat’s so.’ + +‘Ay, Massa Courcelles say dat last night, Auntie Bell. He say Massa +Courtney and de other planters dam bad trash, and better out ob de way; +but nobody must hurt Missy Liz, because she’s de niggers’ friend, and +lub ’em jes’ like herself.’ + +‘_Monsieur de Courcelles!_’ echoed Lizzie, thinking the negress had +made some mistake. ‘How could he have said that last night? He is not +in San Diego.’ + +‘Massa Courcelles not in San Diego?’ repeated the shrill voice of +Betsy. ‘Oh, Missy Liz, who tell you dat ar lie? Massa Courcelles nebber +leave de plantation yet. He’s living up at old Josh’s shanty, t’other +side of de avenue, and he comes along of evenings, and talks to us all +of our troubles.’ + +Lizzie’s brow flushed darkly. What could be the meaning of Henri de +Courcelles hiding himself on Beauregard? For what reason was he hanging +about the plantation, and mixing familiarly with the people whom he +professed to abhor? + +‘And what troubles have you that you can confide to a gentleman’s ears, +Betsy?’ she demanded reprovingly. ‘Monsieur de Courcelles was not so +kind to you whilst he was your overseer, that you should expect to +find a friend in him now. There is some deeper meaning, I am afraid, +in his pretended interest in you, than that of making your life more +comfortable.’ + +‘You may well say that, Miss Lizzie!’ cried Jerusha, who was standing +in the crowd, with her baby in her arms. ‘Dat man nebber sorry for +nobody but himself. What he care if our work is hard, or our backs ache +wid de sun, or our huts is dark, or de food common? Did he care when +_my_ back was bowed wid pain, and my head wid shame, and I couldn’t +hardly stand upon my legs? Didn’t he strike me and my poor leetle boy, +and say, “D--n you! Go hell! I make you work like a dog”?’ + +‘Hush, hush, Jerusha!’ exclaimed Lizzie, as she rose and placed her +hand kindly on the shoulder of the excited coolie. ‘I know you have had +your troubles, my poor girl. I know Monsieur de Courcelles has wronged +you terribly, but you must try to be patient, and forgive, as--as--we +all have to do sometimes.’ + +But Jerusha shook the compassionating touch off her. + +‘No, Missy Liz,’ she said loudly, ‘I _can’t_ forgive. If he had given +me one kind word, I’se have worked for him to my last day, and been +glad only to see him well and happy; but he’s bad all through, to de +very core. He wrong more dan me. Ah, I know plenty tings people not +thinking! and now he come and ’cite dese niggers to revenge demselves, +and send all de planters out of de island, and keep de fields for dere +own use. Dat his way of “paying out” somebody, Missy Liz. But _I_ know +him and his dark ways, and if dese people rise ’gainst de planters, +Massa Courcelles shall be de first to go, if I kill him with my own +hand.’ + +‘_Rise!_’ cried Lizzie indignantly. ‘Surely, after all the kindness +they have experienced from Mr and Mrs Courtney, there is no one on this +plantation so wicked as to dream of rising. What should they do it +for? What more can they desire than they already possess? There are +no hands on the island more looked after and cared for than those on +Beauregard.’ + +‘I dunno dat,’ chimed in a discontented voice. ‘San Souci niggers gets +a tot of rum ebery night, and a quarter of a pound more meat than _we_ +do.’ + +‘Who said that?’ exclaimed Lizzie quickly, turning round. ‘Ah, it was +_you_, Aunt Sally! That’s a nice grateful thing to say, when you were +down with fever three weeks this year, and received your wages all the +same, though you couldn’t do a stroke of work. That’s the best return +you can make, is it? And you know why the San Souci hands get extra +rations well enough,--because the plantation is so near the swamp, and +so unhealthy in consequence, that they are half their time down with +fever and ague. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, to set such a bad +example to the others.’ + +‘I only repeating what Massa Courcelles say,’ replied Aunt Sally +sulkily. + +‘Then Monsieur de Courcelles should be ashamed of himself. I have no +hesitation in saying it,’ continued Lizzie warmly. ‘I have been brought +up amongst you all since I was a little child, and I am a witness to +the kind and indulgent treatment you have received from your employers. +Mr Courtney has never spared money or trouble to make his hands +comfortable and happy, and if you have ever had any cause of complaint, +it has been against this very man who is inciting you now to feel +rebellious and ungrateful!’ + +‘De oberseer only act on de Massa’s orders,’ grumbled Aunt Sally again. + +‘It is not true!’ cried Lizzie indignantly. ‘Mr Courtney never ordered +Monsieur de Courcelles to do anything that was cruel or unjust. He left +a great deal of power in his hands, because he believed him to be a +good man, and worthy of his trust; but he found out his mistake, and +that is why he has been sent away.’ + +‘Missy Liz speaks God’s truth,’ exclaimed Jerusha, ‘and you niggers +know she do! What hasn’t dat man done to us? Didn’t he starve old Jakes +for three days ’cause he not clean horse proper? and didn’t he strike +Aunt Hannah ’cross de face with his whip, and make de ’sypelas come +out? Didn’t he take me up to his bungalow, and tell me I lib dere all +my life, and den kick me out like a dog ’cause I got a poor leetel +baby? Haven’t you niggers said, times out of mind, you’d like to kill +him for all he done, and that it was only ’cause Missy Liz like him +dat he wasn’t dead long ago? If you says “No” now, den you’se all +liars, and a lot of trash dat is afraid to stick to your own words.’ + +‘Jerusha is right,’ said Lizzie. ‘You were all afraid of Monsieur de +Courcelles, and spoke against him, whilst he was your overseer; but now +that he has no authority over you, you allow his specious tongue to +lead your minds astray. My dear friends, be warned in time. Monsieur de +Courcelles has no right to be on this plantation at all, and he only +comes here for a bad purpose. You mustn’t listen to him. I am sorry +to say it before you, but he is not a good man. I loved him once very +dearly,’ continued Lizzie, with a great effort, and her cheeks dyed +crimson, ‘and believed him to be all that was upright and honourable, +but I found out I was wrong, as you will find out you are wrong, when +it may be too late. Do you know that I have but to go to Mr Courtney, +and inform him of the mutinous ideas you are openly expressing, to have +you put into prison? And the new Governor is very strict, as you may +have heard, and makes an example of all rebels. He is determined to +crush the feeling of mutiny out of San Diego, whatever it may cost.’ + +‘Perhaps Gubnor get crushed hisself,’ suggested Betsy sullenly. + +‘Don’t talk nonsense!’ cried Lizzie sharply. ‘What could a handful of +coloured people do against the military forces? You would all be shot +down and killed, before you knew where you were.’ + +She spoke boldly and decisively, but her heart was sinking all the +while. If the negro population of the island rose _en masse_, the +slaughter might be terrible before peace could be restored amongst +them. She thought of her benefactors the Courtneys, of poor heedless +Maraquita and the kind-hearted Governor,--a little too of herself, and +shuddered. And Henri de Courcelles also. Would he not be overwhelmed +by the storm he was taking such pains to raise? At all risks, she said +to herself, she would see him, and warn him of the danger he ran in +turning against his late employers. + +‘Which of you has been listening to Monsieur de Courcelles’ +inflammatory talk?’ she asked presently, as she looked round upon the +women. + +‘All of us,’ answered Aunt Sally. ‘He come down to our huts of +evenings, and sit dere, and tell us how Massa Courtney treat him wuss +den nigger, and how we’se free coloured people, and should stan’ no +nonsense.’ + +‘He is worse than I thought him,’ said Lizzie. ‘He must stop it at +once, or I shall inform Mr Courtney, and have him turned off the +premises.’ + +‘_Kill him_, Missy Liz, _kill him_!’ hissed Jerusha, between her +clenched teeth; ‘dat is de only way to crush de rattlesnake.’ + +‘Don’t speak like that, Jerusha. It is wicked, and you do not mean it.’ + +But the Indian girl _did_ mean it all the same. + +‘Where did you say that Monsieur de Courcelles was staying, Betsy?’ +inquired Lizzie, a few moments after. + +‘At Uncle Josh’s shanty, t’other side of avenue. He mayn’t be dere now, +Missy Liz, but he sleeps dere ob nights.’ + +‘If de door would fasten, I’d set fire to dat rotten shanty, before +anoder moon,’ remarked Jerusha. + +‘Well, I must leave you now,’ said the Doctor’s daughter, with a deep +sigh; ‘but remember what I say. The next time I hear any talk like this +of to-day, I shall go straight to Mr Courtney, and ask him to dismiss +the whole lot of you. Then you will starve without any work to do, and +will be sorry you left your comfortable huts, and kind employers, at +the instigation of a villain.’ + +‘Massa Courtney starve too when he got no coolies to pick cotton and +rice for him,’ muttered some one in the crowd. + +Lizzie saw plainly that the disaffection had spread too effectually +to be quenched by her single arguments, and so she left them, and, +wrapped in thought, walked leisurely away from the coolie quarters. +Her first step, she felt, must be to see Henri de Courcelles, and with +that intention she directed her feet towards Uncle Josh’s shanty, +which stood somewhat apart from the rest. The sun was now high in the +heavens, and no European was abroad who could rest at home. Lizzie’s +broad-brimmed hat and white umbrella sheltered her sufficiently in the +shady plantation, but she would not have ventured out, except at the +call of duty, at so late an hour in the morning, and so she firmly +calculated on finding Monsieur de Courcelles within the hut. She was +not disappointed. Old Uncle Josh, who was an aged negro almost past +work, and only kept to do light jobs about the garden and stables, +came to the door with much caution to answer Lizzie’s knock for +admittance, and was about to declare that he knew nothing of Monsieur +de Courcelles, when a voice from within called out to him to admit +the lady, and not make a d--d fool of himself. So Lizzie passed in, +and found herself face to face with the man she had believed to be +hundreds of miles away. + +‘Monsieur,’ she commenced hurriedly, ‘I should not be here, except that +I have something of the utmost importance to say to you. You must send +this man away, so that he may not hear us.’ + +‘Go up to the plantation, Uncle Josh, or anywhere you like, and don’t +come back for an hour,’ said De Courcelles, in a voice of authority; +and the old negro nodded in acquiescence, and shambled off. + +‘Are you sure he is safe?’ demanded Lizzie, as the man disappeared. + +‘Safe as death! I have him under my thumb,’ was the confident reply. +‘And now, what can you have to say to me, Lizzie? After our last +parting, I hardly expected you would seek me out of your own accord.’ + +‘Neither should I have done so, except that the welfare of those I +love more than myself is at stake. Monsieur, why are you still on the +plantation of Beauregard?’ + +‘I think that is _my_ business sooner than yours.’ + +‘Indeed it is my business,--the business of every one who regards +the Courtneys as benefactors. Your presence here can be for no good +purpose. It spells ruin and devastation for them. By your false +arguments you are inciting these ignorant coloured people to rebel; you +are making them discontented--not to say bloodthirsty; and the upshot +of your evil counsel will be a mutiny, that will involve their own +downfall with those of their employers, and, perhaps, lead to murder +and rapine.’ + +‘And what do I care if it does? It will be no more than they deserve.’ + +‘Oh, Henri, you cannot think what you are saying! Surely you would +never be so wicked! What have the Courtneys done to make you so +revengeful? They were always the kindest of patrons to you, until this +unhappy business occurred with Maraquita. And even to the last they +were both just and generous. How can you find it in your heart to +injure them?’ + +‘They are Maraquita’s parents,’ he answered gloomily. + +‘And would you avenge her falsehood--her broken faith--upon them? +Monsieur, that is not like yourself! It is unworthy of any one calling +himself a man.’ + +‘What right had they to turn me off Beauregard, then? It was only done +to shield _her_, because they suspect the truth, and are afraid I might +prove a dangerous rival. _She_ marries the Governor of San Diego, +and is lapped in luxury and comfort, whilst _I_ (who am morally her +husband) am sent adrift, like a rudderless boat, to toss anywhere on +the sea of life. But I’ll be even with her yet, and her bald-headed old +ape of a partner too.’ + +‘Henri, you must not speak like that,’ said Lizzie firmly. ‘I feel +for your disappointment--indeed I do; it must be a bitterly hard +one; but to try and revenge yourself in this manner is a cowardly +and wicked thing. The feeling of disaffection is rife enough in the +island, without your adding to it. I beg--I pray of you to leave the +plantation, and not return. You have no right here, and if you remain, +I shall consider it my duty to inform Mr Courtney; and you know how +painful it would be for me to say anything to him against you. Henri, +for the sake of old times, do as I ask you.’ + +‘You are a good woman, Lizzie--I have always maintained that--and, if +you wish it, I will go. But, mind you, my departure will not stop the +rising mutiny, any more than my remaining here hatched it into life. +The native population is ripe for rebellion, and it is only now a +question of weeks--perhaps days--before they burst into open revolt. I +am glad I have seen you, to warn you against it. The coolies will not +harm you, I am sure--they love and reverence you too much--but they may +frighten you, and I should wish to prevent even that. But as for the +rest--well! I shall not be satisfied till I see the White House and +Government House in ashes, and their owners weltering in their blood!’ + +The expression of his face was so murderous as he spoke, that Lizzie +fairly screamed,-- + +‘Oh, Henri, Henri, surely you are _not_ in earnest! You would never +countenance nor encourage so horrible an idea! You would save those who +have been good to you--whom you once believed you loved--at the risk of +your own life! Tell me it is the truth, for I will never leave you till +you acknowledge it.’ + +Henri de Courcelles seized her two hands in a grip of iron, and drew +her towards him, until their faces nearly touched each other. + +‘Lizzie Fellows,’ he exclaimed roughly, to hide his emotion, ‘if I +could have gone on loving you, if that heartless jade had not come +between us with her mock innocence and her fatal beauty and blinded my +eyes to your superior virtues, I should have been a happier and better +man to-day. But now, I know it is too late. You have ceased to love me, +and I shall never again be able to lay any claim to your hand.’ + +‘But I have not ceased to care if you are a good man or a bad one, +Henri,’ she answered, through her tears; ‘and I entreat you now, by +your memory of the past, to do what I ask you, and leave Beauregard.’ + +‘I _will_, because you ask me; but, as I have already told you, it +will not make the difference you imagine. I could no more stay the +progress of this mutiny now, than I could single-handed quench the fire +of a burning city. It has gone too far for that. Besides, I have no +desire to do so. My heart thirsts for revenge, and I shall only quit +Beauregard to join another set of rebels, and perhaps a more dangerous +one.’ + +‘Henri, cannot I persuade you to give up that madness also?’ + +‘No, Lizzie, the time is past. Maraquita’s falsehood has made me +reckless, and I only live now to one end,--to see her punished as she +deserves.’ + +‘Leave her to Heaven, Henri. Do you think her infidelity will not be +its own punishment? How many nights will she lie awake, poor child, +wanting your love, wanting _mine_, which used, at one time, to make +all her happiness? How often will her heart yearn--for Quita _has_ a +heart, Henri, though it is choked up with vanity and love of self--for +the days she spent with us,--for the poor little innocent she has left +behind her? Ah, neither you nor I can measure the pain which remorse +will bring her!’ + +‘Don’t you believe it. You judge her by yourself, and your sex is the +only likeness between you. She is all bad, Lizzie, false from head to +foot, and the sooner the world is rid of her, the better.’ + +‘And are _you_ the one who should be her judge?’ replied Lizzie +mournfully; ‘can you bring clean hands into court, Henri, with which to +condemn her? No, I am not alluding to myself. It was not your fault, +perhaps, if you found upon a closer acquaintance that you could not +love me as you once imagined; but what of Jerusha--the poor little +coolie girl with whom you were carrying on a pretension of affection +at the same time that you were deceiving Maraquita? How can you find it +in your heart to contemplate revenge on her for an error of which you +were guilty yourself?’ + +‘You women don’t understand these things, Lizzie. No one but a little +fool like Jerusha would have believed for a moment that I was in +earnest, or that such an irregular business could possibly last more +than a few months.’ + +‘Yet Jerusha vows to have her revenge on you, as warmly as you do to +have yours on Maraquita.’ + +At this piece of intelligence, Henri de Courcelles changed colour. + +‘If that is the case, your advice has not come too soon. These coolies +are the very devil to stick to an idea if they once get it in their +head, and I shall wake up some night, perhaps, to find Miss Jerusha’s +fingers at my throat, if I don’t clear out. Curse the little jade! +She’s been more trouble to me than she’s worth.’ + +‘And may be the occasion of more yet,’ replied Lizzie, who saw the way, +by taking advantage of his fear, to make him hold to his purpose. ‘She +is dead set against you, Henri--I am witness to that--and constantly +speaking of her wrongs to the rest. She swears she will have your life +some way or other; and for that reason only, I think it would be much +wiser of you to leave the plantation. She is quite capable indeed of +betraying you to Mr Courtney; and such a proceeding might lead to your +arrest, on a suspicion of felonious purposes. Now, do you see the +danger you are in?’ + +‘Indeed I do, and I shall not sleep another night on Beauregard: you +may take my word for that. Indeed, when I come to think of it, I cannot +imagine how I can have been such a fool as to run the risk for so long. +There are plenty of places in San Diego where I can be safer, and bide +my time for my revenge.’ + +‘Do more, whilst you are about it, Henri. Leave San Diego altogether, +and your idea of revenge behind you. It will never make you any +happier, and it may cast a haunting regret over all your future. And +you are still young. There is perhaps a happy life looming for you in +the distance, if you will try and forget the failure of your youth.’ + +‘No, Lizzie; you speak to deaf ears. I will fulfil your wish, and leave +this place. Be satisfied with that, and when I am gone, forget all +about me. I was never worthy to kiss even the hem of your garment, and +my darkest shame will ever be that I permitted you to waste a single +thought upon me. Goodbye, my dear. Don’t stay here any longer, for your +presence, and the memories it brings with it, unman and make a coward +of me. By this time to-morrow I shall have left Beauregard for ever.’ + +‘Thank Heaven for that,’ replied Lizzie, as she obeyed his request, and +left the hut. + +Her mind was not wholly at ease concerning him, because she saw that he +was doggedly bent upon having his own way; but she had, at all events, +succeeded in scaring him off the property of her benefactors, and +trusted that when his evil influence was removed from them, the hands +of Beauregard would return to their former condition of obedience and +contentment. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Lizzie had guessed correctly when she said that Maraquita’s infidelity +would prove its own punishment. The honeymoon at Santa Lucia was not +a very satisfactory one, at least for the bride. So long as the day +endured, and Quita’s frivolous soul could be gorged on flattery, and +the servile congratulations paid her by her husband’s guests, she was +contented with her lot, and disposed to believe it would turn out all +she had prognosticated for herself. To feel she was the woman of most +importance in the island, and that she had horses and carriages, and +servants at her command, and that a military guard accompanied her +wherever she went, and everybody turned to gaze after her, and said to +one another, ‘There goes the Governor’s bride,’ was quite sufficient +to inflate her foolish little heart with pride, and make her forget, +for the time being, the penalty attached to it all. But one cannot pass +one’s entire life in public, and when the hours of domestic happiness +arrived, they were very trying. _Then_, if she had had a handsome +young husband suited to herself in age and disposition waiting on her +every look and smile while he whispered words of love in her ear, how +delighted would Maraquita have been to fly to the sacred recesses of +her own apartments, and shut the world and its hollow compliments +outside. But now such moments became torture. Sir Russell had been +sufficiently trying as a lover, but as a husband he became simply +unendurable. His middle-aged ecstasies over his new possession, his +fussy attentions, his twaddling conversation about things and people of +which she had never heard, soon bored his young wife to extinction. And +he was not slow to find out that he did not interest her. He noted the +vacant look, the wandering attention, the deep sighs that occasionally +interrupted their intercourse, and commenced to feel the first twinges +of jealousy, and to wonder if there had been any other admirer in the +background whom Lady Johnstone had not entirely forgotten. + +If he could only have read her thoughts as she sat by his side when +they were alone together, or lay for hours during the silent watches +of the night gazing open-eyed at the dark blue heaven with its myriad +clusters of stars, how unpleasantly satisfied he would have been. +It was at those times that the newly-made Lady Johnstone’s thoughts +returned to the past which she had so pertinaciously thrust from her, +and that she longed (with the contradiction of human nature) to be +able to take back again to her heart the fate which she had held in +her hand, without the moral courage to grasp it. It was then that the +glorious dark eyes of Henri de Courcelles seemed to gaze into her own +like twin stars, just as they used to look at those heavenly moments +when they sat together on the bench in the Oleander Thicket, and her +lover’s arms were folded closely round her, as though to shield her +from all harm. + +Henri de Courcelles had innumerable faults, but he had loved this girl +with all his heart, and, now that it was too late, Maraquita seemed +to realise it for the first time. There was another regret, too, that +intruded itself into her married life, a regret that seemed to grow +with the days, and assume such inconceivable proportions that she was +tempted to cry out that she could bear it no longer, but must at all +risks rush back to San Diego and see _her child_. Sometimes the unhappy +young mother would dream that the infant was dying, and wake up with +the tears upon her cheek; sometimes that it really belonged to Lizzie, +and she had lost the right to call it hers; and sometimes that she +held it to her heart, and was proud and fond of it like other mothers, +until she discovered it was a poisonous asp, stinging the bosom on +which it lay. Such thoughts and dreams were not good for the young +bride to indulge in, and she grew paler and thinner every day. Sir +Russell called in a doctor, who declared Lady Johnstone’s condition +to be due to weakness, consequent on her late attack of fever, and +advised her immediate return to San Diego, as possessing a higher and +more bracing air than Santa Lucia. Sir Russell sought his wife’s rooms, +all fuss and anxiety on account of her low spirits, and communicated +the medical man’s opinion to her. They had been married now for three +weeks, and the Governor had already come to the conclusion that a +domestic life was not all roses. He found his beautiful Maraquita +rather petulant at times, and disposed to have her own way. She was not +very affectionate either, and flouted his attempts at love-making in a +manner sufficient to cure the most ardent lover. He was disappointed +certainly; he had imagined women were more open to their husbands’ +advances; but, after all, he knew very little about the sex, and +was quite ready, as yet, to lay the failure at his own door. He was +not fit, he told himself, to be the companion of such an innocent, +guileless creature; she felt the difference between his society and +that she had left behind her. The position was new and strange to +her. She would be her own sweet self again when they returned to San +Diego and she was restored to her parents’ arms. The alacrity with +which Maraquita assented to his proposal to go home, confirmed his +sentiments upon the subject. It would have been somewhat of a shock to +him could he have read her thoughts on the occasion; but how few of +us could afford to read the mind of our dearest friend, without fear. +Maraquita’s face glowed, and her heart beat faster, as she pictured +herself settled at Government House. She would have a chance then of +seeing Lizzie again--perhaps of seeing Henri de Courcelles. Whilst +it lay in his power to deprive her of her promised dignity, she had +dreaded his presence, and hoped he was far away from San Diego; but +now that her position as Lady Johnstone was secure, and no one could +dethrone her, she began to crave for the excitement of seeing her lover +again. Weak and vacillating as she had been as Maraquita Courtney, +she was even worse as Lady Johnstone, for now her weakness threatened +to become a crime. Her depression of spirits and her feverish anxiety +were so patent, that the first time Mrs Courtney was alone with her +daughter, she taxed her with the change. + +‘Whatever is the matter with you, my dear child?’ she exclaimed; ‘you +don’t seem half so happy as I expected to see you. Here you are, the +Governor’s wife, and the lady of highest rank in San Diego, and yet +you seem quite melancholy. You don’t mean to tell me that you are +disappointed, or that your marriage has not proved all you expected it +to be?’ + +‘Oh, no, mamma! I suppose it’s all right! I’ve got the position and +the money, and no one can have been such a fool as to think I married +a bald-headed stupid old man like Sir Russell for anything else.’ + +Mrs Courtney lifted her hands and eyebrows in surprise. + +‘My dear! my dear! remember he’s the Governor!’ + +‘How can I forget it? Isn’t it dinned into my ears from sunrise to +sunset! Of course he’s the Governor! I am sure he need be, for he’s +very little else! But I’m afraid that fact is not sufficient for one’s +happiness.’ + +‘My darling, what more can you possibly want? A splendid house, and +number of servants, equipages, and horses, jewels, dresses, ornaments, +and the whole island at your feet! Why, I think you are the luckiest +girl I ever heard of.’ + +But her eloquence was interrupted by Maraquita flinging herself +headlong on a couch, and sobbing out,-- + +‘I’m not! I’m not! I’m as unhappy as I can be! I wish I had never +consented to give up my poor Henri! I dream of him every night!’ + +But at that confession, her mother’s attempt at consolation changed to +righteous scorn. + +‘Then you must be the wickedest girl alive, Maraquita! Dreaming of any +man but your husband, and not married a month yet! You ought to be +ashamed to mention such a thing, even to your mother! And that wretched +low-born overseer too--a half-caste Spaniard, with neither birth nor +money. I am utterly surprised at you!’ + +‘Mamma, you sha’n’t abuse him! He may be everything you say, but he’s +gloriously handsome; and he loved me, and I ought to have married him! +Why didn’t you manage it some way? You knew all about us, and you could +have persuaded papa to settle something on him, and let us live with +you at Beauregard, and then it would have been all right, and I should +have been much happier there with him and my poor little baby--’ + +‘Maraquita! are you _mad_?’ cried her mother, clapping her hand before +her daughter’s mouth; ‘or do you want every official in Government +House to hear your shameful secret? Good heavens, it is enough to make +me regret I ever interfered to save you from your own folly! If you +confess the truth now, you will make matters a thousand times worse +than if you had made the low marriage you seem to hanker after. It +would be a nice scandal for the island, to hear that the Governor +had repudiated you on account of your former light conduct! _Then_ +you would lose everything--reputation, position, and wealth, and gain +nothing in exchange.’ + +‘I could go to Henri,’ said Maraquita doggedly, for she possessed +one of those persistent natures that can work themselves up into a +belief, and she was working herself up to believe that she was still +passionately in love with De Courcelles, and ready to sacrifice +everything for him. + +‘That you certainly could not,’ returned Mrs Courtney, determined to +cut her folly in the bud, ‘for he is not in San Diego.’ + +‘Where is he then?’ exclaimed Quita, raising herself from the sofa +cushion. + +‘He has gone to America,’ replied her mother, ignoring her regard for +truth so long as she drove this nonsense out of Maraquita’s mind. + +‘_To America!_’ repeated the girl. ‘Oh, why did he go there? What is he +going to do?’ + +‘That is his business, not ours; but I believe his family live in the +States. However, he will never return to San Diego, and so you see how +little you will gain, and how much you may lose, by indulging in this +sentimental folly. Indeed, I cannot understand you, Quita! Your one +desire last month was to hear that this most objectionable young man +had left the island, and now you are moaning after him as if he had +been your dearest friend instead of your worst enemy.’ + +‘He loved me!’ sobbed Maraquita. + +‘I don’t think he _did_ love you,’ rejoined Mrs Courtney. ‘No man who +loved you would have treated you in so dishonourable a manner. However, +he has been ready enough to run away from you, and now the best thing +you can do is to forget all about him. Indeed, you must _compel_ +yourself to do so, my dear. You owe it not only to your husband, but +to your father and mother. And just think what a wicked thing you are +doing too--crying after another man when you are Sir Russell’s wife. +You horrify and grieve me beyond measure!’ + +Yes, Mrs Courtney was perfectly right! + +It was both weak and wicked of Lady Johnstone to let old memories +obtrude themselves upon her wedded life, but she had been far weaker +and wickeder when she gave them up against her inclination. An eligible +marriage is no cure for an ill-placed love, and the laws neither of +God nor man have any power to quench passion in the human heart. They +may help the victim to keep it under, but it is the one feeling that +refuses to be silent until it has died a natural death. Whilst poor +faulty Maraquita believed that Henri de Courcelles was lying in ambush +somewhere ready to appear before her at any moment, holding the pledge +of their love in his arms, as he did upon her wedding-day, she had had +a great fear mingled with her insane desire to see him again; but now +that her mother assured her he had left San Diego for ever, and she +should never be able to ask his forgiveness, her dread of him vanished, +to give place to a morbid regret. She wept so much and ate so little +during the first days of her installation at Government House, that +Mrs Courtney (who had been invited by Sir Russell to stay with her +daughter) became quite seriously alarmed for the consequences of her +grief, and tried all she could to rouse her by a description of the +splendid preparations which were being made for the ball to be given in +honour of their return. + +‘My dear girl, I never saw anything like it! Sir Russell is certainly +the most generous of men, and the whole island is talking of him. He +has given a _carte blanche_ order for all the white flowers procurable, +and the ballroom will be decorated with nothing else. It will look like +a huge bridal bouquet.’ + +‘Or a funeral shroud,’ suggested Quita, with a disagreeable laugh. + +‘My darling! what a strange thing to say. We won’t have it _too_ white, +if you have such unpleasant comparisons to make. I will suggest to +Sir Russell to have the wreaths tied with blue ribbons; or pink roses +interspersed with the white ones, would look very pretty.’ + +‘I’m sure I shouldn’t take the trouble, if I were you, mamma! Let him +have his own way. What does it signify what it looks like?’ + +‘I think it signifies a great deal,’ returned Mrs Courtney warmly; ‘and +when I come to consider the matter, white will not set off the dresses +as a little colour would do. For most of the ladies will be in white; +and you will wear your wedding-dress, of course, Maraquita.’ + +‘I suppose so, mamma.’ + +‘You will have to open the ball with Colonel Symonds, being the next +gentleman in rank to the Governor on the island, and Sir Russell must +lead out Mrs Symonds. It will be a magnificent sight, with all the +officers in full uniform, and the military bands in the orchestra. The +supper-tables are to be laid for three hundred, though I don’t know +where they are all to come from; but Sir Russell is _so_ generous. +It will be the proudest day of my life--next to your wedding-day, +Maraquita.’ + +‘I shall be very glad if you enjoy it, mamma.’ + +‘Come, come, my dear girl, I won’t have you speak of it in that +uninterested tone, as if you were an old woman of eighty, past all +thoughts of dancing and admiration. Why, there’s not a girl in the +island that dances better than you do, Quita; and think how every eye +will be fixed upon you, and how the women will envy your dress and your +beautiful jewels, and wish they had your luck. Why, there’s not a girl +in San Diego but would give her eyes to stand in your shoes.’ + +‘I daresay! but they pinch sometimes,’ said Quita, with a yawn. + +‘My darling, all wives’ shoes pinch sometimes,’ replied her mother. +‘Marriage is not a bed of roses, any more than any other condition. But +it is necessary to a woman’s well-doing, and you have drawn a splendid +prize in the matrimonial lottery. And now what time will your ladyship +please to drive this afternoon?’ + +Quita smiled. She liked to be called ‘your ladyship.’ If there was one +thing above another that reconciled her to the step she had taken, it +was to hear herself addressed by that much-coveted title. What children +most women are, after all, and how easily caught with glittering +baubles. Jewels and a title make up the sum total of domestic +happiness for the majority of the sex. Maraquita believed herself to be +wretched for the loss of Henri de Courcelles, but had she been put to +the test, she would not have given up her newly-acquired dignity, nor +one of her sets of ornaments, to bring him to her feet again. She would +sit for hours with her jewel cases in her lap, fingering the bracelets, +and rings, and necklaces that Sir Russell had given her, and holding +up the blood-red rubies, and the grass-green emeralds, and the deep +blue sapphires, and the pure white diamonds to the light, laughing to +see them catch the sun’s rays, and shoot out a thousand little stars +of fire to meet them. And as the day for the grand ball drew near, she +seemed to recover her cheerfulness. Mrs Courtney was delighted to see +the interest she suddenly evinced about her dress, and the ornaments +she was to wear with it, and the manner in which she should arrange +her hair; and when the evening arrived, she was as flushed with +excitement, and as eager for the festivities to be a success, as any +one could have wished to see her. It was a proud moment for Mr and Mrs +Courtney when they stood by the side of the dais which had been erected +for the convenience of the newly-married pair to receive their numerous +guests. Sir Russell, in his Governor’s uniform, looked imposing if +not handsome; and Maraquita, arrayed in her wedding garments, stood +by his side like a dainty fairy. All San Diego--that is, all the +respectable portion of it--passed before them in single file, to offer +their congratulations before the ball commenced, and there was but one +opinion of the appearance of the bride--that she was the handsomest +woman on the island. Mr and Mrs Courtney swelled with pride as they +overheard the various comments on her appearance, and felt rewarded at +last for all the trouble and anxiety their wayward daughter had given +them. The ballroom at Government House was a long apartment, with five +or six windows on either side, all open on account of the heat. The +spaces between these windows were hidden with trophies of flags, and +flowers, so that it looked like a vast bower of leaves and blossoms, +open at intervals to the outer air. Six large chandeliers pendant +from the ceiling, and laden with wax candles, made the ballroom a +blaze of light, and rendered it a conspicuous object from the outside. +That the poorer part of the population should not consider themselves +entirely shut out from the wedding festivities, Sir Russell had ordered +a handsome display of fireworks to be sent up from the Fort at ten +o’clock, and hundreds of coloured people were waiting around, in +anticipation of the display. The supper, which had taken many days to +prepare, was laid in another room on the same floor, on a series of +tables, which were glittering with knives, and forks, and glass, and +silver; and everything promised to go as merrily as the proverbial +marriage bell. As soon as they had received their guests, Sir Russell +and Lady Johnstone opened the ball with the two people of highest rank +present, and dancing became general. + +Maraquita, who was passionately fond of the exercise, did not miss +a single turn. Her card was naturally soon filled up, for every man +present tried to secure a waltz with the bride, and she flew all over +the room like a beautiful Bacchante, flushed and smiling, whilst her +parents looked on with admiring complacency, and one at least thanked +Heaven secretly that the threatened danger was at an end, and her +child had begun at last to properly appreciate the benefits of her +high position. The evening had waxed towards midnight, and though +the dancers gave no signs of fatigue, Sir Russell had just made his +way towards Mr and Mrs Courtney to consult them whether it would not +be wise to give the signal for supper, when a loud cry of alarm and +sounds of confusion were heard to proceed from the apartment where it +was laid. Sir Russell turned pale. He had heard something of the sort +before, and guessed its import; but he had no time to communicate his +fears to his friends, when a crowd of natives rushed into the room, +armed with pistols and knives, and every open window was simultaneously +blocked with dusky faces, ready to bar all egress, or to leap inside +at a moment’s notice. The band stopped playing at once--the dancers +screamed with alarm--all the men felt their hearts stop, and many of +the women fainted without warning. But Sir Russell was English bred, +and rose to the occasion at once. He looked almost majestic as he met +the oncoming horde of mutineers with an uplifted hand, as though he +challenged them to advance one step further, and demanded in a voice of +thunder what they required in his private apartments. + +‘_Your life!_’ shrieked one of the mob, ‘and de lives ob all dese d--d +white trash. And we’ll hab them too! On wid you, darkies! Cut ’em down +like de dogs what dey are.’ + +‘I’ll shoot the first man who tries to pass me!’ shouted Sir Russell, +as he drew a revolver from his pocket; and then turning to his +father-in-law, he exclaimed quickly,--‘Mrs Courtney--Maraquita, get +them away, for God’s sake!’ + +Maraquita had already flown to her parents for protection, and was +clinging to her mother in an agony of tears. + +‘Mamma! mamma! what will they do to us? Oh, we shall all be killed! Why +did I ever leave Beauregard!’ + +‘Hush! hush! my darling! it will be all right. There must be some +mistake,’ replied her mother, although she was shaking so violently +that she could hardly stand. + +But if it was a mistake, it was a very terrible one, for the next +moment the sound of several shots, and a piercing scream, proved that +the rebels had already commenced their murderous work. + +‘This way, Nita,’ said Mr Courtney hurriedly, pushing his wife and +daughter before him. ‘Keep close to the wall, and escape by the door +into the library. It is your best chance.’ + +But before they had gone many paces, elbowing their way frantically +through the crowd that pressed on them from every side, the dark faces +that had guarded the open windows perceived their means of exit, and +with a cry of fiendish delight, leapt into the room to prevent it. + +‘We are lost!’ cried Mrs Courtney. ‘Oh, Mr Courtney, in Heaven’s name, +what are we to do?’ + +‘Stand before Quita. Conceal her at all risks, and I will help you,’ +replied the father, as he ranged himself by the side of his trembling +wife, and in front of his daughter; and then he whispered, ‘Have no +fear, Nita; they can have no object in wounding _us_. Their malice is +against Sir Russell and our poor child. Spread your skirts over her, +for Heaven’s sake.’ + +Meanwhile the slaughter became general. The rebels rushed hither and +thither in search of Maraquita, wounding or killing every girl they +thought to be the bride, with, in most instances, the men who resented +the murder, until the ballroom reeked with blood, and the screams of +the unhappy victims were appalling. But the alarm had been given at +once, and in a few minutes the opposition shots of the military forces +were heard, and scores of the rebels bit the dust, whilst many more +were taken prisoners. Amongst the latter was a young and handsome +Spanish half-caste, whose dark eyes were on fire with the lust for +revenge, but who made no effort to free himself from his captors. + +‘The danger is past! Thank God that you are both safe!’ exclaimed Mr +Courtney, as he turned to embrace his wife and daughter. + +Sir Russell had been wounded in the wrist by a slash from one of his +own dinner knives; but the Fort physician had bound it up, and, now +that the first alarm was over, he was able to go in search of his bride. + +‘Maraquita, my dearest!’ he exclaimed fervently, as he saw the pale +little figure which Mr Courtney was supporting, ‘this is a terrible +affair, but, thank God, the brutes have not injured you, nor your +parents! You must come away from here at once, my love. Take her, Mr +Courtney, I beg of you, to her own apartments. This is no sight for +her.’ + +Quita closed her eyes, and shuddered as her glance fell on the +prostrate corpses, both black and white, that lay on the ballroom +floor, and heard the moans of those to whom the surgeon was already +attending; and she was quite willing to go away with her parents, and +try and forget the terrible business in sleep. + +‘Yes, yes,’ she murmured, clinging to her father; ‘take me away at +once, papa--I cannot bear it.’ + +But when she had advanced a few paces into the room, her eyes opened +again from sheer horror, and fell on a sight which paralysed her. +There, standing before her, though held back by the pinioning arms +of his captors, was Henri de Courcelles, whom she believed to be in +America, with such hatred and fury in his glance as she had never seen +before. + +‘_Henri!_’ she shrieked involuntarily, before she could prevent herself. + +‘So you have _escaped_!--curse you?’ he answered, glaring at her like +a fiend. ‘Then what am I doing here? I must be free, to live to avenge +myself on you.’ And without another word, and a sudden effort that +took the men who held him completely by surprise, Henri de Courcelles +wrenched himself away, and rushed to the open window, leapt into the +darkness and was gone. + +‘He must have killed himself!’ exclaimed one of the soldiers, looking +out upon the night. ‘There is a fall here of about twenty feet.’ + +‘Order the guard round to take him prisoner!’ shouted Sir Russell. ‘The +wall beneath the window is sixteen feet high. They will take him like +a rat in a trap. And if not, tell them to shoot him like a dog.’ + +‘No, no!’ cried Maraquita wildly. ‘They _must_ not--they _shall_ +not--he--he--’ + +But there she fainted, and fell in a heap at her husband’s feet. + +‘He is the ringleader of the whole mutiny,--the greatest rascal of them +all! What can she know of him?’ demanded Sir Russell, with a frown. + +‘Nothing; she never saw him before,’ replied Mrs Courtney boldly, +though she was shaking with fear lest Maraquita should betray herself. + +‘But she called him “Henri.” I heard her,’ said the Governor. + +‘He was a servant on Beauregard once, Sir Russell. I forgot that when +I said Maraquita had never seen him. But really this terrible business +has shaken me so that I don’t know what I’m saying. But my poor +darling must be carried to her room. She is not fit to walk. I hope +this shocking affair may not unsettle her reason.’ + +‘It seems as if it had done so already, when one hears her pleading for +the life of a murderer,’ said Sir Russell, as he assisted Mrs Courtney +to carry the unconscious girl to her own apartments. ‘And now, Mrs +Courtney, I will leave my wife in your charge. This is a very serious +matter, and may necessitate my sitting up all night. The rebellion is +quelled for the moment, but I must not rest until measures have been +taken to prevent its recurrence. My guests murdered before my very +eyes! It is incredible that such a thing should happen in Her Majesty’s +dominions. And we must crush the mutiny, if we string them all up to +the Fort gates. And this ringleader, this old servant (as you say) +of yours, shall be the first to suffer. I will give him lynch law as +soon as ever the dawn rises. I will teach him what the penalty is of +addressing the Governor’s wife as he has dared to do.’ + +And with this threat upon his lips, Sir Russell stalked gloomily away. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +As soon as the Governor had disappeared, Mrs Courtney tried hard to get +her husband out of the room; but he was obstinately bent on remaining +until his daughter had recovered her consciousness, and so, when +Maraquita opened her eyes, both her father and mother were bending over +her. + +‘Where am I?’ she exclaimed, as the world broke indistinctly upon her +again. + +‘In your own room, my darling. Lie down, Quita. Don’t attempt to rise. +You are quite safe. No one can hurt you here.’ + +‘_Safe!_’ repeated the girl, in a bewildered tone. ‘Ah, I remember +now! The ballroom--the blood--those dreadful cries! Oh, mamma, mamma,’ +she continued, clinging to her mother, ‘I shall never forget it! And +Julie Latreille too. I saw her murdered at my side. It is too, _too_ +horrible!’ + +‘No, no, my dearest. You are mistaken. Julie is not dead. She was +wounded, and they have taken her to the hospital. But don’t think of it +any more to-night. Let me undress you, that you may try and get some +sleep.’ + +‘_Not think of it!_’ said Maraquita, with staring bloodshot eyes, as +she sat up on the couch in her white lace dress, all crumpled and +spattered with blood, ‘not think of it. Why, I shall never cease +to think of it. And there was something else too. What was it? Ah, +_Henri_! and he cursed me!’ + +‘Mr Courtney, I must request you to leave us!’ exclaimed his wife +hurriedly. ‘You see the excitable condition she is in, and I can do +nothing with her whilst you are hanging over her like this. The less +people she has with her the better! You must positively go, and leave +her to Jessica and me.’ + +‘Well, my dear, if you think it necessary, of course I will go; but you +will lose no time, I hope, in getting the poor child into bed.’ + +‘Do you suppose I don’t know what is best for her, Mr Courtney? I am +only waiting till you are gone, to undress her.’ + +‘And you will send me word how she goes on--I shall not retire till I +hear she has recovered her composure, and is in a fair way to sleep.’ + +‘I will send Jessica to you in half an hour. By that time, I hope we +shall both have somewhat overcome this terrible shock. I shall stay +with her all night, and you had better go and tell Sir Russell so.’ + +And Mrs Courtney, who had been carrying on this colloquy just inside +the bedroom door, opened it, and gently pushing her husband into the +passage, reclosed and locked it, with a sigh of relief. + +‘Thank Heaven!’ she said to old Jessica, ‘we are safe! I trembled for +what she might say next.’ + +‘Allays dat cussed oberseer,’ observed the old negress, who stood by +Quita’s head. + +The girl herself was still sitting up on the couch when her mother +returned to her, staring into vacancy, and repeating the word +‘_Henri_’ in a low voice. + +‘Maraquita!’ said Mrs Courtney firmly, as she shook the girl to rouse +her to a sense of her position, ‘who are you talking to? There is no +one here! You are quite alone with Jessica and me. You are perfectly +safe. All the danger is over, and Government House is guarded by the +soldiery on every side. Come to bed now, like a good child, and try to +sleep.’ + +‘But _he_--where is _he_?’ asked Maraquita wildly. ‘Did they fire on +him? Is he hurt?’ + +‘Sir Russell, my darling? Well, nothing to signify! The brutes slashed +at him with their knives, and caught him on the wrist, but the doctor +says it will be all right again in a few days, and he will come and see +you by-and-by, dear.’ + +‘Not _him_! I don’t want _him_!’ returned Maraquita fretfully, ‘but +Henri--where is my Henri? He jumped out of the window, and Sir Russell +ordered them to kill him. Oh, tell me, in Heaven’s name, is he _dead_?’ + +Mrs Courtney did not know what to answer, but Jessica was ready with +the information. + +‘No, Missy Quita, he not dead. Governor’s Sambo tell me all de news +just now. De guard go after him, and take him prisoner, and shut him up +in Fort cell, where he can’t come out. And so my missy quite safe, and +can go to sleep comfortable.’ + +‘There, my darling, you hear what old Jessica says,’ interposed Mrs +Courtney soothingly. ‘They have got him in prison. It was like his +insolence to speak to you as he did; but you have given him so +much encouragement, that the creature is beside himself. But he has +overleapt the mark this time, and will never trouble you again.’ + +‘Will they--_kill_ him?’ said Quita, with a shiver. + +‘I hope so, I’m sure. It would be the best thing for all of us, and +drive this romantic nonsense out of your head, Maraquita. Why, what +is this, my dear? You are surely not weeping for the fate of this +_murderer_, who has instigated his fellows to kill half your friends, +and would have killed you, and your husband, and your parents, if he +had had the opportunity? I shall begin to think you have very little +love for your father or myself, if you can prefer _his_ life to ours.’ + +‘Oh, no, mamma, it isn’t that! I am very thankful to think you are all +safe. Only--only--Henri, who used to love me so--_to die_! Oh, it must +not be! It is _too_ shocking!’ + +‘If a man sets all the laws of his country at naught, he must pay the +penalty of his wrong-doing,’ said Mrs Courtney sententiously. + +‘Yes; but there is some excuse for him, mamma. Think of his grief for +my loss, his jealousy, his revenge. It was _I_ who drove him to it. I +should have been true to him at all hazards, and then this terrible +business would never have happened. Oh, mamma, he must not die, or his +spirit will haunt me all my days,’ said Quita, trembling, with closed +eyes. + +‘Maraquita, you are exaggerating the blame that is due to you in +this matter. In the first place, we don’t know that the mutiny was +organised on your account at all. The negroes are disaffected, I am +sorry to say, all over San Diego. And if it were, it is an outrage +which should call forth nothing but resentment on your part. You have +been foolishly weak in former times with regard to this man; but he +must have been insane if he ever believed you would marry him. You +followed your parents’ wishes in accepting Sir Russell Johnstone, and +have nothing to reproach yourself with in regard to it. Now, leave the +rest of the matter to him, and don’t worry your head about it. You may +depend upon it, the Governor will do what is just and right, and such a +dreadful affair will never be allowed to happen again.’ + +‘But Henri--what will they do to Henri?’ moaned Maraquita. + +‘Oh, this is unbearable! You are past all reason!’ cried Mrs Courtney +impatiently. ‘Here, Jessica, help me off with her ladyship’s things, +and let us put her into bed.’ + +She pulled off the various garments of cambric and lace, almost +roughly, in her indignation at her daughter’s weakness; and having seen +Maraquita laid in bed, she left her in her old nurse’s care, whilst she +went to ask the doctor for a sleeping draught. + +Jessica had been installed at Government House as she had desired, +and her wages had been raised to nearly double their former sum. Lady +Russell had felt uncomfortable at first to remember that there was some +one beside her who knew all about her maiden life, but in her present +extremity she turned to her old servant with a feeling of security +that she need hide nothing from her. As her mother left the room, she +moved on her pillow with a heavy sigh, and laid her little white hand +in Jessica’s dark palm. The negro nature, if vindictive and revengeful +under injustice, is also very affectionate and easily conciliated. This +caressing action on Maraquita’s part touched her old nurse’s heart. It +was some time since her little missy had shown any token of love for +her, and it won her over on the instant to her side. + +‘Jessica,’ sighed Quita, ‘I’m very unhappy.’ + +‘I know you is, poor missy,’ responded the negress. ‘You’se feelin’ +berry bad to-night. And, sakes! it’s no wonder. But it’ll be all right +bime-by, missy.’ + +‘I loved him, Jessica, very much,’ continued her young mistress. ‘You +knew all about us, and how I used to slip out when everybody was +asleep, and go to meet him in the Oleander thicket.’ + +‘Ah, yes, missy, Jessica knew. Many’s the night I’ve sot up, and +watched and waited for you to come back; but it was generally daylight +before you came. Ah! you used to love de oberseer in dose days, Missy +Quita, pretty strong.’ + +‘And I love him still, Nurse! I can’t help it!’ cried Quita feverishly, +as she sat up in bed, with her dark hair floating about her, and stared +at the negress with dilated eyes. ‘I have loved him all along; and if +they kill him, they will kill me too.’ + +‘No, no, missy; Governor not killing Massa Courcelles. Only keep him in +prison little while, and den let him go free. Lie down, missy, and go +sleep. All right bime-by.’ + +‘But I want to see him!’ exclaimed Quita excitedly. ‘I want to +hear everything they are going to do to him; and I want to ask his +forgiveness for having married Sir Russell. I _must_ see him, Jessica. +I shall go mad if I don’t.’ + +‘Den missy _shall_ see him,’ replied the servant soothingly. + +‘Will you manage it for me, Jessica?’ asked the girl eagerly; ‘and +without saying a word to mamma. Will you find out where Monsieur +de Courcelles has been taken, and if I can possibly get permission +to visit him, and if there will be a trial, and _when_? Find out +everything, Jessica, and let me know to-morrow morning, and you shall +have the pair of gold bangles papa gave me last birthday. Stay! you +shall have them now,’ continued Quita, as she sprang from her bed and +took the ornaments off her dressing-table. ‘Put them on your wrists, +Jessica, and remember you are to find out _everything_!’ + +‘Missy berry good to ole Jessica,’ said the negress, as she clasped the +glittering circlets on her dusky arms, and feasted her eyes on them; +‘and I’ll know de whole truth by to-morrow morning. Only missy must lie +down again now, and keep all dis berry dark, or de ole missus nebber +let me tell nuffin.’ + +The entrance of Mrs Courtney at this juncture with the opiate draught +put a stop to further confidence, and Maraquita, having obediently +swallowed it, soon lost sight of her troubles in sleep. Mrs Courtney +dismissed Jessica for the night, and lay down by her daughter’s side; +but it was long before she followed her example. She trembled not only +for the fright she had gone through, but for the influence she feared +it might have upon Maraquita’s future. + +‘Poor child!’ she thought, as she contemplated the lovely face, now +tranquil in slumber on the pillow beside her, ‘she is passing through +a terrible ordeal. I only trust it may not cause a rupture between +Sir Russell and herself. I am certain he suspects something. I did +not half like the look with which he received my explanation of the +matter. It was the most unfortunate thing in the world that that fellow +should have been planted right in Maraquita’s way as she left the room. +Two minutes sooner or later, and she would not have seen him. Now, I +hardly dare to think how it may end. If he is condemned to death, she +certainly must not hear of it: I must invent some reason to Sir Russell +for taking her away. Her emotional nature would break down altogether +under such a strain. What an awful thing it is that she should ever +have fallen into his clutches!’ And Mrs Courtney sighed over it until +she fell asleep. + +As soon as the morning broke, Maraquita having passed a good night, +and everything being tranquil at Government House, she accompanied +her husband to Beauregard for the day, for all the planters were +entertaining grave fears for the continued submission of their coolie +hands, and it was not thought advisable to leave the estates for long +at a time without a ruling eye. Her departure was the signal for a +long conference between Lady Russell and old Jessica. The negress had +ascertained that it was possible for the friends of the prisoners to +obtain access to them through a written order from the Governor, but +that the privilege would only be extended in the case of relations. + +‘That renders it impossible!’ exclaimed Quita despairingly, for she was +not a woman with the wit to overcome difficulties. + +‘How so, missy?’ demanded Jessica. ‘Why impossible? _I_ can get order +quick enough.’ + +‘_You_, Jessica? But Sir Russell knows you. Besides, he would never +believe you were related to Monsieur de Courcelles.’ + +‘Oh, missy, I not going work dat way at all. Course he not gib it to +_me_; but if missy gib me five-dollar note, dat half-caste woman Rosita +will go swaer she’s de oberseer’s aunt, or his moder, and want speak to +him with her daughter--dat’s _you_, missy. Den you put veil over your +face, and big cloak, and go with Rosita and see de oberseer.’ + +‘But Rosita may tell,’ said Maraquita, shrinking from the idea. + +Jessica shrugged her shoulders contemptuously. + +‘Rosita not tell--what good her telling? but if missy ’fraid, gib her +_ten_ dollars ’stead of five! den I swear she not tell.’ + +‘And what else did you hear, Jessica?’ + +‘Sambo say de Governor would hab hung all de mutineers dis morning, +same like dogs, only de Colonel ob de forces tell him dat berry bad +plan, and make big fight, and he better have proper martials. So dat am +fixed for to-morrow, and den dey will be hung at sunset fire--dat what +Sambo says.’ + +‘And--and--what more, Jessica?’ + +‘Dat’s pretty well all, missy, only de corpses hab been cleared away, +and will be buried dis evening. And Missy Latreille berry bad in +hospital, and both de Missy Burns dead, and dere fader hab sworn if +Governor don’t hang de rebels, _he_ will.’ + +‘Oh, it is terrible!’ sighed Maraquita. ‘I shall never have the courage +to visit the cells. I am so afraid of being found out.’ + +‘Den missy better not go.’ + +‘But, Jessica, he will die without my seeing him, and I shall never +forgive myself. I don’t know _what_ to do.’ + +She vacillated, like the weak creature she was, between two opinions, +until it was almost too late for Jessica to arrange the matter for +her; but finally, under the dread of her mother’s speedy return +from Beauregard, she made up her mind to visit De Courcelles, and +Jessica was despatched with a ten dollar note to make the necessary +preparations. + +When the afternoon sun was somewhat on the wane, and Sir Russell +Johnstone, having passed a sleepless night, and believing his wife to +be safe in her own apartments, had thrown himself down on a couch to +obtain some rest, Maraquita, effectually disguised with veil and cloak, +stole down the back staircase of Government House, in company with the +negress, and sought the abode of the half-caste woman Rosita, who had +been fully instructed in the part she had to play. Leaving Jessica +behind them, the two women immediately set out for the Fort, where they +were received by the officer commanding the prison guard. He threw one +glance on the Governor’s signature, and gave them immediate admittance. + +‘Friends to see the prisoner No. 14, by the Governor’s permission,’ +he shouted to the warder, who, unlocking a heavy iron-clamped door, +ushered the visitors into a stone passage, from which there seemed +to be no possibility of egress. Maraquita’s feeble courage was fast +failing her, and had it not been for the cool nerve and determination +of Rosita, she would have probably betrayed herself. But the half-caste +woman was quite equal to the emergency. + +‘Ah, sir, tell me!’ she exclaimed, as soon as they were alone with the +warder, ‘will they really kill my poor nephew? Is there no chance of a +reprieve?’ + +‘Don’t think so, ma’am,’ was the official’s answer; ‘but no one can +tell for certain till after the court-martial to-morrow. Your nephew, +you say?’ + +‘Yes! and this poor girl, my daughter, was to have been married to him +before long. It’s a terrible trial for her! I don’t know how she’ll +stand the interview.’ + +‘She’d better not see him. ’Twon’t do no good,’ said the warder +roughly; ‘though she’s had a lucky escape from such a rascal.’ + +‘But I’ve come on her account alone. She can’t rest till she’s seen her +cousin. Now, Clara, my dear, you’d better go in by yourself first, and +then when the time’s up, the warder will let you know.’ + +All this had been pre-arranged between them, but Rosita played her +part much better than Maraquita had the power to do. Her large eyes +glanced up almost appealingly when No. 14 was reached, and the gaoler’s +keys rattled in the door, and had not her companion pushed her into +the cell, she would have turned round and run away. But it was done, +and her retreat was cut off. She stood in the same room as Henri de +Courcelles. + +‘Friends for No. 14,’ sung out the warder, as he opened the door; ‘only +fifteen minutes allowed, so make the most of them.’ + +Henri de Courcelles looked up in amazement as the order sounded on his +ear. He knew of no friends to visit him in his trouble. He was sitting +in a small whitewashed room, which contained a pallet, a table, and a +couple of wooden chairs. His day’s rations were before him, but he had +not touched them. He was still in his usual attire, for it had not been +thought worth while to put him into prison clothes, and notwithstanding +an unshorn face and unkempt hair, he was looking as handsome--perhaps +handsomer, than ever, for disorder suited his gipsy style of beauty. As +he caught sight of Maraquita’s shrouded and veiled figure, he started a +little, but he never supposed for a moment it could be she, until she +lifted her veil, and gazed at him with scared and mournful eyes. + +‘Henri,’ she exclaimed, in a piteous voice, ‘I have come to see you!’ + +In her vanity, she had believed she had only to stand before him, and +look miserable, to bring him to her feet again. She had forgotten +the deadly insult she had put upon the man by marrying Sir Russell +Johnstone; the lies with which she had attempted to deceive him to the +very end; the treachery by which she and her mother had procured his +dismissal from Beauregard. She trusted, like many another of her sex, +too much to the power of her beauty to sway the minds of men. But mere +loveliness cannot supply the place of truth and fidelity, and she had +become nothing in the eyes of her former lover but a whited sepulchre, +and was the last person upon earth he desired to see. He sprang to his +feet as her voice fell on his ear, and looked at her with ineffable +scorn. + +‘_You_ have come to see _me_, and why?’ + +‘Oh, Henri, how can you ask? Do you think I am made of stone, that +I have entirely forgotten? When I saw you amongst those terrible +mutineers last night, it nearly killed me.’ + +‘It’s a pity it didn’t _quite_ kill you,’ he replied, ‘for women +such as you are not fit to live! Do you know _why_ I was there,--why +I headed their numbers, and incited them on to rebellion and +slaughter?--_in order that I might kill you_,--in order that you +should not live to deceive other men, and drive them to desperation, as +you have driven me.’ + +‘Oh, Henri, Henri,’ she exclaimed, panting with fear, ‘you are raving! +You would not injure _me_! Think, Henri, think of the hours I have lain +with my head on your breast and my lips to yours; think how you have +loved me,--of the tie between us, and I am sure that you would die +sooner than hurt a hair of my head.’ + +‘_Think of it!_’ he repeated, with a bitter laugh; ‘haven’t I thought +of it until it has turned my brain, and made me lust for your blood? To +think of all your professions of love, and how they have ended, is to +hate and despise you. _The tie between us!_ It had better die, and rot +where it lies, than grow up with one tithe of its mother’s falsehood. +No, Maraquita, the time for my belief in you is past. If you came here +to hear compliments, you have wasted your time, for I have nothing but +loathing and hatred to give you.’ + +‘Oh, Henri!’ she said, shivering, with her face hidden in her hands, +‘don’t speak to me like that! I will go away, and never attempt to +cross your path again, only promise me that neither you nor your +friends shall hurt me. It was not my fault, indeed it wasn’t. I married +at the command of my parents, and I have been so miserable since, +Henri. I have dreamt of you almost every night, and longed to see you +again. Oh, don’t look at me like that! Kiss me, and say you forgive me, +or I shall never know another happy moment.’ + +‘_Kiss you! Forgive you!_’ he repeated witheringly. ‘Never! Neither in +this life, nor the life to come. You escaped me last night, Maraquita, +but you shall not escape me for ever. I have sworn to have your life, +in return for all that was precious to me in mine, and I will have it +yet. I only bide my time.’ + +Then her fancied passion died out beneath his threats and blazing eyes, +and she turned and taunted him with his inability to carry out his +intentions. + +‘_You will have my life?_ What are you thinking of, to talk in so +absurd a manner? Do you forget where you are? Are you aware that you +will be brought up for trial to-morrow morning, and that if I give the +Governor one hint of this conversation, sunset will see your execution. +How will you be able to carry out your threats against me then?’ + +‘And so _this_ is the woman who will never know another happy moment +without my forgiveness!’ he returned sarcastically,--‘who can calmly +contemplate my possible execution as the means of her own deliverance, +and hint that she may expedite it! I thank you, madam, for showing me +your true nature so openly, else I might have been weak enough, in +these last moments, to believe you had really preserved some little +feeling for the man who should have been your husband. But I have a +word to say to you in return. I shall _not_ die to-morrow--I shall live +until I have the weapon in my hand wherewith to strike you down. And +then I shall not care how soon I go too. But in hell, Maraquita--even +in hell--I shall be beside you, to haunt you with the treachery which +sent us both there?’ + +‘Oh, have pity!--have pity on me!’ she cried, upon her knees. + +‘I have no pity,’ he answered, in a low voice; ‘and I shall have none. +You have left me only one feeling with regard to you,--determination +to carry out my revenge. When I think of it, I feel as if I had the +strength of ten thousand devils in me, and could tear these walls +asunder with my bare hands, and set myself free, only to be revenged on +you.’ + +‘Time’s up,’ called the warder from outside the door. + +‘Henri, will you not speak one word to me?--give me one look before I +go?’ wailed Maraquita. + +He advanced upon her with the eyes of a demoniac. + +‘Speak to you? Look at you?’ he exclaimed. ‘What have I to say to you +that I have not already said? Leave this cell, as you value a few more +days’ existence, or I shall tear you to pieces where you stand.’ + +And at the sight of his uplifted hands and glowering eyes, Maraquita +gave a low cry, and hastened through the open doorway. + +‘Not a very pleasant interview, I guess,’ observed the warder, as Quita +walked down the stone passage again, sobbing as if her heart would +break, and clinging to Rosita’s arm. ‘I told you you’d better not see +him. He’s more mad than sane, and I was half afraid he might do you +some harm.’ + +‘Is there,’ demanded Maraquita, as soon as she could command her voice +sufficiently to speak, ‘is there any chance of his being able to escape +from prison?’ + +The gaoler laughed. + +‘_Escape?_ Well, no. I wouldn’t set my heart on that, if I was you, +miss. ’Twould take a better man than he--though he’s a powerful fellow, +too--to break through these walls, when he’s once inside them. He’ll +never leave them again, unless it’s by the Governor’s orders--you may +take your oath of that.’ + +At Rosita’s house, Jessica received her weeping young mistress again, +and conducted her safely back to her own apartments; but it was long +before Maraquita could make up her mind whether she should speak to Sir +Russell on the subject of De Courcelles or not. Some suspicion might +attach to her doing so, though she trusted to her native cunning to +make a good story of it. But if she said nothing, and the court took +a lenient view of the part he had maintained in the mutiny, Henri de +Courcelles might be set at large again, and accomplish his wicked +designs upon her life. The love of living, so strong in every human +breast, finally outweighed all other considerations, and Maraquita, +after a night of painful deliberation, asked Jessica to summon Sir +Russell to her side. + +The Governor, unused to such amenities on the part of his bride, came +with alacrity, and full of tender solicitude for the apprehension and +terror she had passed through. + +‘You must try and dismiss it all from your mind now, my darling, for +the danger is really past. We try the mutineers to-day, and I have very +little doubt of the sentence which will be passed upon them.’ + +‘There is _one_--the man who spoke to me the other night,’ said +Maraquita, trembling; ‘what will they do to him?’ + +The Governor frowned. + +‘You mean the ringleader? I cannot tell; but if _I_ had to decide, I +should say that hanging was too good for him. Why do you ask, my dear? +Surely you are not interested in his fate.’ + +‘Oh, no, no! I am afraid of him,’ replied his wife. ‘He was papa’s +overseer once, and he--he--presumed to fall in love with me; and +because--because I married you instead, he has sworn to kill me; and he +_will_, Sir Russell, I am _sure_ he will, if they let him go free!’ + +‘He shall _not_ go free!’ exclaimed her husband indignantly. ‘Such +outrages from the half-caste population against European settlers are +not to be tolerated. I am glad you have told me this, Quita; it will go +greatly against him, if the court should be disposed to show him any +favour.’ + +‘Oh, _do_ send him away--get rid of him at all risks. He frightens me. +I shall die of fear,’ she whispered, clinging to Sir Russell’s arm. + +‘He shall never frighten you again, my darling. I will take care of +that,’ replied the Governor decidedly, as he pressed her to him. But +as he was embracing her, Jessica entered the bedroom, with an official +paper. + +‘Orderly from Fort bring for Governor,’ she ejaculated. + +Sir Russell glanced over its contents. + +‘Good heavens!’ he cried, ‘he has escaped us!’ + +‘Who--_who_?’ demanded Maraquita. + +‘The very man you were speaking of--Henri de Courcelles. He has broken, +by some miraculous means, out of his prison cell, and is missing. I +must order out the mounted police at once to follow him. Don’t be +afraid, Maraquita. It is impossible that he can escape the vigilance of +the law, in such a little place as San Diego.’ + +‘He will--he _will_!’ exclaimed the unhappy girl, as her husband rushed +out of the room. ‘He will live, as he said, to murder me.’ And with +that she fell back unconscious on her pillows. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +The account of the attempted massacre at Government House reached +Lizzie through Mr Courtney; but he did not tell her that Henri de +Courcelles had been arrested as one of the mutineers. He knew that she +had regarded his late overseer with affection, and he wanted to spare +her the pain of the suspense of learning his fate. It would be time +enough, he thought, for her to mourn when her friend had been tried and +condemned. But his kind consideration was wasted, for the news came to +her by means of the yellow girl, Rosa, who burst into her presence on +the day of De Courcelles’ escape from the Fort prison, brim full of the +intelligence. + +‘Oh, Missy Liz! dar’s grand news come from Government House. De Fort +prison doors is bust open, and dey’s all gone--ebbery one of dem +mutineers, and Massa Courcelles, he gone wid them.’ + +‘_Monsieur de Courcelles!_’ exclaimed Lizzie, hardly believing her +ears. ‘What are you talking of, Rosa?’ + +‘Jes’ God’s truth, Missy Liz. Massa Courcelles de ringleader ob all de +mutiny--dat’s what William Hall, dat hab jes’ come from de Fort, say; +and dey take him prisoner ob Tuesday night, and put him in cell, and +dis morning he was to be tried by ’martial; but he’s clean gone, and de +mounted police am scouring San Diego for him.’ + +‘De Courcelles amongst the rebels!’ repeated Lizzie. ‘_This_, then, is +what he meant by his revenge. Oh, that it had been in my power to save +him from falling so low!’ + +‘But dat ain’t all, Missy Liz; dere’s more to come. William Hall say de +police catch sight of Massa Courcelles ober de gully, close by Shanty +Hill, and he ’scape them again, and run straight for de Alligator +Swamp.’ + +‘He did not _enter_ it?’ cried Lizzie, turning pale. + +‘Oh, didn’t he, though? De police gallop after him, and he run same +like deer, and jump de fences, and go squash right in de swamp, where +de hosses couldn’t follow him, ’cause of de morass. And William say +when Massa Courcelles get on edge of swamp, he turn and wave his hand, +and hollo, and dive in bushes. And den de police see no more of him; +but dey is waiting dere now, horses and all, till he come out again. +But Massa Courcelles nebber come out again, Missy Liz. Dat what all de +niggers say; alligator and swamp take him pretty quick, and got him +now, maybe, de bad fellow!’ + +Lizzie did not answer her chattering handmaid, except by asking,-- + +‘What time is it, Rosa?’ + +‘Jes’ gone tree, Missy Liz.’ + +‘And when did this happen? I mean when did the police lose sight of +Monsieur de Courcelles in the Alligator Swamp?’ + +‘Eleben o’clock, missy.’ + +‘_Four hours_,’ said Lizzie to herself. ‘God help him! What can I do?’ + +She began turning over the contents of a medicine-chest as she thought +thus, and pouring the liquid from one bottle into the other, in an +apparently mechanical manner. + +‘Rosa!’ she said suddenly, turning to her open-eyed attendant, ‘I am +going out presently, and I may be detained longer than I anticipate. +Take great care of baby whilst I am away, and put her to sleep in your +own room to-night. Do you understand me?’ + +‘Yes, yes, Missy Liz.’ + +She watched her mistress array herself in her walking things, and take +down a broad sombrero hat, and a long cloak, which had belonged to +her father, from the cupboard where they hung, and place brandy and a +bottle of quinine, and strong smelling-salts and camphor in the basket +she hung upon her arm. These proceedings only excited Rosa’s curiosity; +but when Lizzie went on to load a revolver and place it in her belt, +and take a huge staff in her hand, the yellow girl could contain +herself no longer, but cried out,-- + +‘Oh, Missy Liz, Missy Liz! what you going to do with all dem things?’ + +‘Dare I trust you?’ said Lizzie, turning her grave, pale face towards +her. ‘Will you be faithful and keep my secret if I tell you what I am +going to do?’ + +‘Missy Liz, _I will_!’ replied Rosa solemnly. ‘I knows I’se berry bad +gal to you once. I said drefful things what I didn’t mean; but I’se +only ignorant yellow gal, Mis Liz, and I didn’t think how bad I was. +But Massa Norris, he make me promise when he go ’way that I’d be good +faithful servant to you, and take great care of you, and he’d bring me +lubly dress from England next time he come; and I would do it, Missy +Liz, without de dress, and only because I love you for all you done for +me.’ + +‘I believe you, and I will confide in you, for I must have a friend +to help me. Rosa, I am going to the Alligator Swamp to try and find +Monsieur de Courcelles.’ + +‘_De Alligator Swamp!_ Oh, Missy Liz! you nebber going there? You +can’t walk dere for de swamp, nor de thorn bushes; and de green slime +hab a smell what chokes you. Missy,’ continued Rosa earnestly, ‘even a +nigger can’t stay dere. You will lose your way d’reckly--dere’s no path +to guide you; and de alligators is awful. Dey kill you d’reckly dey see +you. Oh, Missy Liz, for God’s sake, don’t try to go!’ + +‘Listen to me, dear Rosa. _I must go!_ It is of no use to try and stop +me. Monsieur de Courcelles has been very wicked, no doubt--I don’t +defend his conduct--but _once_ I loved him Rosa, and a woman can never +quite forget the man she has loved.’ + +‘No, dat’s true, missy. Juan want me to marry him, but I keep thinking +too much ob that rascal sailor boy what was de fader of my poor leetel +Carlo--Dat’s truth,’ answered Rosa, shaking her black curls. + +‘Well then, perhaps you can understand a little what I feel now, Rosa. +Monsieur de Courcelles is in fearful danger. I know his spirit. He will +never come out of the swamp to be taken prisoner again. He will faint +from the fumes of the fearful miasma first, and sink for ever in the +morass, or he will cast himself before the first cayman in his path. I +may not find him, or I may be too late to give him any assistance, but +I must try. I have the proper medicines here to counteract the effect +of the swamp, for him and myself; and if I find him, I think with this +disguise I may get him safely out again without attracting the notice +of the police. I shall not go by Shanty Hill, Rosa. I shall make my way +round by the Miners’ Gulch. There is an entrance there at the back of +the Sans Souci plantation.’ + +‘And if you find him, Missy Liz--what den?’ inquired the yellow girl. + +‘Ah, Rosa! that is where I shall want your assistance and your +fidelity,’ replied her mistress. ‘If I find him, I must bring him +_here_, and hide him from the police until I can get him safely away +from the island.’ + +‘Dat berry dangerous work, Missy Liz.’ + +‘I know it, but how can I do otherwise? Could I let the man whom I once +believed would be my husband, perish in the Alligator Swamp, without an +attempt to rescue him; or deliver him up to die a murderer’s death upon +the gallows, as long as I can keep him from it? Oh, Rosa, Rosa!’ cried +Lizzie, weeping, ‘it is the same with all of us, white and black alike. +Love--although a love that is dead and over--sanctifies everything, and +claims a certain duty even for its ashes.’ + +The yellow girl did not understand her mistress’s words, but her tears +appealed to her heart, and she cried with her. + +‘Yes, Missy Liz, I understand. Dat’s jes’ same like me and de sailor +fellow. But you must take great care of yourself, Missy Liz. You +must be berry ’ticular where you step, and how you go, and keep a +sharp look-out for de alligators. Dey berry cowardly, Missy Liz. Dey +frightened of noise, and dey can’t run no ways; so if you don’t tread +right on dem, you’se all right.’ + +‘Yes, yes, Rosa! I know that, and I will take every possible caution,’ +replied Lizzie. And then she kissed the baby, and kissed Rosa, and +walked bravely off, as though she had been going on her daily rounds. + +The Alligator Swamp was situated in a deep gorge or valley between +two high hills, and was simply a stagnant bog, thickly clothed with +poisonous vegetation--indeed no healthy trees or bushes could have +existed in such an atmosphere. The fatal upas tree spread its thick +branches over the morass, sheltering deadly fungi of orange, and +red, and white. Thorny bushes were matted and interlaced about it, +so that had there been a solid foundation to the Alligator’s Swamp, +it would have been impossible to force one’s way through, or find a +path whereon to tread. The only resting-place for one’s feet consisted +of the logs and trunks of decayed trees, which had dropped, rolling +into the slime, and choked it up. But they were treacherous paths, as +may be well imagined, and it was difficult, in the semi-darkness, to +distinguish them from the caymen--the largest and fiercest breed of +alligators--from which the swamp derived its name. These creatures +lay on the top of the slimy deposit, just like rugged brown logs in +appearance, until a sound or a touch caused the apparently inert +mass to move, and a ferocious head, with two diamond bright eyes, +and an enormous mouth, with cruel fangs, rose up suddenly and snapt +its jaws over its unsuspecting prey. For there was no real daylight +in the Alligator Swamp. The branches of the trees were so thickly +interlaced overhead that the sun had no chance to penetrate them and +cleanse the Augean Stable with his health-giving rays; and so the +decaying vegetation and the slime had festered on together for years +past, and the caymen had bred and flourished there, until the boldest +negro of them all considered it certain death to breathe the air which +they inhaled. If the foolhardy creature who attempted to traverse the +swamp were not immersed in the stinking mud, or seized by the hungry +alligators, he was bound after a little while to sink down, giddy +and intoxicated from inhaling the various poisons around him, and so +fall a prey to either one or the other. Lizzie Fellows was perfectly +conscious of the terrible risk she ran,--more so, perhaps, than most +women would have been, for her father had fully explained the dangers +of the swamp to her, and warned her off its precincts. She knew that +the reason runaway negroes and escaped prisoners took refuge in the +Alligator Swamp was not because they sought safety in it, but because +they preferred death by its horrors to giving themselves up to the law. +They knew they went to their grave when they entered it, but they knew +also that the police would refuse to follow them there, and that they +would be left to die alone and unmolested. She had a long walk to +take before she reached it. She was anxious to meet no one who should +inquire her errand, or try to prevent it, and so she took a circuitous +route to Sans Souci, and crept round the back of the plantation until +she came to a clump of dense underwood, through which she knew a +path led to the fatal spot. She tied a handkerchief steeped in some +disinfectant across her mouth and nostrils as she entered it, and then, +with a short prayer to God for protection and success, went bravely +on. She carried a knife in her hand, with which she sliced the bark of +the trees as she walked along, for she was afraid of losing her way +altogether, and perhaps never finding the sunlight again; but for the +first few minutes the Alligator Swamp seemed to be a harmless place +enough. The grass beneath her feet was bright and green, from the +humidity of the atmosphere and the shade of the trees, but the first +indication of danger was given by her foot suddenly sinking in wet +soil up to her ankle. She drew it back quickly, and commenced to walk +more slowly, and tapping the ground before her with the stout stick +she held in her hand, before she ventured to tread on it. Her heart +beat fast at times as a rustle in the bushes betrayed the presence of +a rattlesnake--about the only living thing that shared the swamp with +the alligators--or a splash in the surrounding vegetation proved she +was approaching the haunts of the caymen. Still she went on, picking +her way over the morass, or skirting it by means of the rotten trunks +that lay across it, and swayed and rolled as she mounted them, as if +they would give way beneath her weight, and let her fall into the +slimy pool they floated on. Soon she began to feel the effects of +the mephitic vapours with which the place abounded, and had recourse +to her smelling-salts, to prevent her becoming giddy. All this time +Lizzie had kept up a continual note from a whistle she had hung about +her neck, and at intervals she had called upon Henri de Courcelles by +name. As she advanced to the centre of the swamp the daylight seemed +to be entirely excluded, and she lighted a lantern which was tied at +her girdle. With her staff in one hand and her revolver in the other +she now began to pick her way step by step, her heart sinking with +fear and disappointment as she went. For not a sound came in answer +to her whistle or her call. The profoundest silence reigned in the +Alligator Swamp. The stench of the decaying vegetation was more and +more apparent, and the only light by which she walked was the feeble +glimmer thrown in advance from the little lantern at her waist. It +was a situation to appal the bravest spirit. Once she stepped forward +almost confidently, and placed her foot on a broad bridge, formed, as +she believed, of the corrugated trunk of a fallen tree, but as she +touched it it sank beneath the slime, and rose again immediately with +two fierce twinkling eyes and an open jaw full of pointed teeth, to +confront her. + +Lizzie flew backward with a scream of terror, and, clinging with one +arm to the branch of a tree, discharged her revolver full in the +reptile’s face. The bullet was probably battered against its impervious +hide, but the shot had the desired effect of frightening the alligator +back into its home of slime. It had another, and more unforeseen +effect. It reached the senses of an almost unconscious man, who had +slidden into a sitting position beside some bushes, but a few yards +off, and roused him from his sleep of death. The sound of the shot +conveyed but one idea to his mind, however,--that his pursuers had +penetrated his asylum, and were close at hand to capture him; and with +the intention to defy them to the last, he staggered to his feet, and +set his back against a tree. The tall figure clothed in white became +apparent in the surrounding twilight, and when Lizzie raised her eyes +from the spot where the cayman had disappeared from view, it was to fix +them on the form of Henri de Courcelles. She uttered a cry of pleasure +at the discovery, which sounded to him like a note of victory. + +‘Stand off!’ he exclaimed loudly; ‘shoot me like a man if you will, but +don’t attempt to touch me with your accursed fingers, or I will dive +into the swamp and escape you.’ + +He was about to put his suicidal threat into execution, when Lizzie +stepped quickly across the yielding earth which separated them, and +stood by his side. + +‘Henri!’ she ejaculated, as she clutched at his clothes with her hand +and held him back. + +He turned and stared at her. + +‘_Lizzie!_’ was all he could say. + +‘Yes, it is I,’ she answered simply. + +At that his senses appeared to return to him. His astonishment at +seeing her was so great, that he pulled himself together, as a drunken +man will sometimes do, under special circumstances. + +‘Lizzie--_here!_’ he repeated. ‘But what made you come to such a place? +Do you know that you are courting certain death, and that every moment +may be your last? Go back at once! Don’t stay here another instant! You +were mad to think of such a thing.’ + +‘I _am_ going back, and at once,’ she answered quickly, ‘but you must +come with me.’ + +‘I cannot. The police are waiting for me outside, and I will die here +sooner than deliver myself into their hands.’ + +She disengaged the wallet of medicines which she had carried on her +back, and, pouring out a mixture of brandy and quinine, held it to his +lips. + +‘Drink this, Henri, and listen to me. I have come here expressly to +find you and save you, and you must trust yourself to me. The police +shall not take you. They are waiting by Shanty Hill, and I know a +secret outlet by Miners’ Gulch. But we must leave this pestiferous +atmosphere at once, or it may be fatal to both of us.’ + +He clung to her like a child to its mother. + +‘You can save me!’ he exclaimed. ‘Oh, my good angel! why did I ever +desert you?’ + +‘Hush! Don’t speak of that now. Think of nothing excepting the best +means to get out of this dreadful place. Drink some more brandy, and +inhale this ammonia. That is right. Pull yourself together, and follow +me closely. I will go first, and lead the way.’ + +She pulled him forward as she spoke, and mechanically he followed her. +Step by step they went, very slowly and cautiously at first, and +then faster, as the dusky twilight spread itself out, and the gleams +of sunshine penetrated at intervals the dense foliage, and turned +its neutral tints into living green. On they went, she in front with +her staff and revolver, and he, behind, only half comprehending what +had occurred to him, until they reached the thicket which abutted on +the Sans Souci plantation, where he sank down upon the grass, with +a low moan of exhaustion. Lizzie was busy with her wallet directly. +She had anticipated that as soon as the excitement was over he would +succumb to the strain he had passed through--for the Spanish Creoles +have not strong constitutions, and had provided the necessary remedies +against it. It was some little time before Henri de Courcelles fairly +understood what had happened to him, and then his gratitude knew no +bounds. + +‘Am I really safe, and with you?’ he murmured. ‘What have I done to +deserve such goodness at your hands?’ + +‘You are clear of that terrible swamp, Henri; but you are not by +any means safe yet; and if you would be, you must follow out my +instructions to the letter. See here! I have an old cloak and +_sombrero_ which belonged to my poor father. I left them under this +tree when I entered the swamp. We will wait here quietly until it is +a little darker, and then you must put them on, and come home to the +bungalow with me, and I will conceal you there until you can find some +means of leaving San Diego.’ + +‘But how will that be possible, Lizzie? The bills must be out by this +time, putting a price upon my head, and every nigger in the island +will be turned into an amateur detective, in the hope of being able to +claim the reward.’ + +‘Oh, don’t let us think of that now!’ replied Lizzie wearily. ‘The +chief thing at present is to restore your vitality. It is a blessing +you are still alive, Henri. Eat and drink what I have brought for you, +and thank God you can do it in safety. Nothing will harm you here.’ + +‘And you actually came in search of me, alone and unprotected?’ he +said, looking at her with the deepest admiration. ‘You braved the +dangers of this awful place,--ran the risk of a terrible death, and all +for me--_for me_, who have treated you so badly! Oh, Lizzie,’ continued +Henri de Courcelles, seizing her hand, ‘if the devotion of the life you +have rescued can atone to you, it will.’ + +But she drew her hand away hastily--almost with repugnance--from his +clasp. Was it not that of a would-be murderer? + +‘Henri,’ she replied quietly, though her voice shook, ‘you must never +speak to me again like that. I _have_ done what you say, and I thank +Heaven, who has crowned my efforts with success; but it was done for +the sake of the Past, not of the Present; and nothing in the Future, +except the knowledge that your life has been saved for better things, +can ever repay me. I have been shocked beyond measure at what I have +heard concerning you. You have steeped your hands, or would have done +so, in the blood of innocent victims, for the sake of carrying out an +unworthy revenge on the daughter of your benefactors. It was a crime +which would make any honest person shrink from you, which would make +most people consider that a death on the gallows, or in the Alligator +Swamp, was your just deserts. But I cannot _forget_, Henri. Ever since +I have known your relations with my adopted sister, I have ceased to +desire your affection; but I cannot forget that I once valued it, and +to think of your being sent out of the world without the opportunity to +repent, was very terrible to me. _That_ is why I have run this risk to +save you, and why I am thankful I have succeeded. But don’t speak of +love to me again, or you may make me sorry instead of glad.’ + +There was a calm, reasonable determination in her voice as she spoke, +that brought conviction home to Henri de Courcelles’ mind. He saw it +plainly now. He had not only lost her love,--he had forfeited her +respect and her esteem; and as the truth smote home to him, the +unwonted tears rose to his eyes. + +‘Why didn’t you leave me in the swamp?’ he murmured. ‘I had better +have remained there, to become the prey of the alligators, than live +under your contempt. Let me go back,’ he continued, starting to his +feet, ‘for your words have taken all my courage out of me, and I would +rather die a thousand deaths by my own hand than fall into those of my +enemies, and swing like a malefactor from the Fort gates.’ + +‘You shall do neither!’ exclaimed Lizzie, as she caught his arm, and +drew him down to her side again. ‘Come, Henri, be reasonable. Remember +I am your friend, and have thought out the whole plan of your escape. +Put on this cloak and _sombrero_. See how completely they disguise you, +and cover you from head to foot. The only thing we have to dread now +is lest some acquaintance should meet and question me; but that is very +unlikely, as this is the general dinner hour for all Europeans, and I +will take you home by an unfrequented path.’ + +‘But when I reach your bungalow, Lizzie, what will Rosa say?’ + +‘I have been obliged to take Rosa into my confidence, Henri, but she +will not betray you. As for the rest, leave it to me, and I believe +that, with Heaven’s aid, I can bring you out of this strait.’ + +‘You are too good to me,’ he said brokenly; ‘and I place myself +altogether in your hands. Lead on, Lizzie, as you think best, and I +will follow.’ + +‘No, Henri; we will walk side by side. It will be much better, in +case of an encounter with any one who knows us, that I should show a +perfect fearlessness in the matter. Take my staff in your hand, and +sling the wallet across your shoulder. Then we shall look as if we had +been searching the country for herbs for medicinal purposes; and I will +gather a bundle of leaves, in order to carry out the delusion. That is +right. Now come with me, and let us step out manfully together.’ + +They traversed the couple of miles that lay between them and +Beauregard, without encountering anything more formidable than a few +negroes sauntering along the road as they returned from work. But as +they approached the plantation, the danger of discovery became more +imminent, and Lizzie conducted her companion to her bungalow by a +circuitous route. + +It was reached at last, however, and as De Courcelles sank into one of +the familiar chairs in the sitting-room, he felt like a man who has +been delivered from the very jaws of death to be suddenly transported +into paradise. + +‘But you must not rest here, Henri,’ whispered Lizzie, as she quickly +closed all the jalousies. ‘Mr Courtney or one of the hands might enter +at any moment. There would be continual risk of discovery.’ + +‘Where, then?’ he demanded, in the same tone. + +‘In my dear father’s bedroom. It has never been opened since his death, +and you are not likely to be disturbed there. You know what these +silly, superstitious natives are. They would not enter a chamber where +a death has occurred, to save their lives. They would be fearful of +encountering my dear father’s wraith. You see now my object in dressing +you up in his cloak and hat. If any of our negroes had seen you, he +would probably have run shrieking to his hut, to spread the report that +the Doctor’s ghost was walking about Beauregard. You must remember to +keep up the idea, should any unforeseen risk occur. But here, for a +few days at least, I believe you will be safe,’ continued Lizzie, as +she unlocked the door of her late father’s apartment, ‘until I can +get you away from the island. You will have to be my prisoner,’ she +added playfully; ‘and I shall lock you in, and bring you your meals at +the stated times. But keep the jalousies bolted inside night and day, +and try to do with as little light as possible, to avoid attracting +attention. You will find all my dear father’s wardrobe in the cupboard +here. Use it as you think best, and try and be contented under the +restraint, and thankful (as I am) that Heaven has spared your life to +you.’ + +He turned round as he crossed the threshold, and sank on his knees +before her. + +‘You have forbidden me to speak of love,’ he ejaculated, ‘but I must +say something to express my gratitude. You have indeed heaped coals of +fire on my head! You have done what no other living creature, male or +female, would have done; you have risked your life and safety for me, +who have treated you worse than any one else. Let me say Heaven bless +you for it, Lizzie. I feel if there is a hell beyond the one we suffer +here, that mine will be to remember always the terrible mistake I made +in allowing a woman’s personal beauty to blind me to the virtues of +the friend whom I now feel I have loved and honoured above all the +world.’ + +He took her hand and kissed it as he spoke, and Lizzie was not ashamed +to let her tears fall freely on them both. + +‘I am glad now, Henri,’ she uttered falteringly, ‘and I shall be glad +in the days to come to think over the words you have just said, and to +remember that you knew me for your true friend. There are different +kinds of love from the one we once thought we felt for each other--and +perhaps better ones--and something of the sort I shall never cease to +feel for you. And if you think you owe me gratitude, Henri--if you +would repay me let it be by abandoning all ideas of revenge and murder +for the future. Don’t let me have the terrible self-reproach that I +have wasted my affection on one so utterly unworthy of it.’ + +‘I have taken a different oath, Lizzie, but I will rescind it, for your +sake, and here on my knees I swear to you that if I am spared to escape +the gallows, I will abandon all ideas of revenge in the future. After +all, Maraquita is but a false woman, not worthy of a man’s revenge. +There are dozens such: the world is peopled with them.’ + +‘She is the woman you loved, Henri,’ replied Lizzie gravely, ‘and +therefore she is the woman you should always be most lenient to. But +she has passed out of your world, and the kindest thing you can do +for her and yourself is to forget her. But you must not talk of such +exciting topics to-night. It may be some time before you shake off the +effects of the poisonous vapours you have inhaled. Go to rest now, and +sleep without fear. I will guarantee that no one shall disturb your +slumbers.’ + +De Courcelles took her advice, and flung himself, exhausted through +excitement and fatigue, upon the late Doctor’s bed, whilst she, with a +divine light, almost akin to maternal solicitude, upon her countenance, +took a seat in the outer room, and prepared to watch all night against +a possible surprise for the man she held prisoner. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +But from that moment Lizzie had not a moment’s peace. She dreaded +everything and everybody. Each casual visitor she believed to be a +spy, and the appearance of a friend made her think that the hour of +discovery had come. Rosa made her a thousand promises of fidelity, +but the yellow girl, though devoted to her mistress’s interests, was, +after all, very much like other women, and found it a hard task to hold +her tongue. The whole time she was employed in exercising the baby +in the plantation, was a season of torture to Lizzie, who pictured +her confiding the whole story to her most intimate friend, under a +promise of inviolable secrecy. Meanwhile Henri de Courcelles, though +confined to one room during the day time, and only venturing out after +dark by means of the window, and with a disguise on, was passing a +fairly pleasant time. The two women fed him royally, and waited on him +like servants, and he held several conferences with Lizzie as to the +possibility of his getting down to the Fort by night, and embarking as +a seaman on board one of the Spanish crafts that lay in the bay of San +Diego. They would have carried this plan, of which they had arranged +all the minutiæ together, into effect at once, had it not been deemed +advisable that De Courcelles should lie _perdu_ until it might be +supposed by the authorities that their prisoner had perished beyond all +doubt in the Alligator Swamp. As soon as the guard of mounted police +who watched for him outside the swamp was withdrawn, Lizzie and De +Courcelles decided that his first attempt at an escape from the island +should be made. He had been concealed in the bungalow for two days +when Mr Courtney walked in one morning and took a seat beside Lizzie. +The planter looked worn and anxious, and as he removed his hat, and +passed his handkerchief across his brow, he seemed to have grown older +of late, notwithstanding the brilliant marriage that his daughter had +made. The words with which he opened the conversation, had reference to +Maraquita. + +‘Sir Russell and Lady Johnstone have come to stay with us at the White +House, Lizzie.’ + +‘Indeed, sir,’ she replied. ‘I suppose Quita is nervous of staying at +Government House, after what happened there last week. And I don’t +wonder at it, poor girl! I should be glad to hear that the Governor had +decided to take her to England.’ + +‘So should we, my dear, and they will go before long--there is no +doubt of that--only, it would hardly do for the Governor to run away +whilst the island is in this state of ferment. But he judged rightly in +thinking that our dear Maraquita would feel safer and happier with her +parents, and in her old home. For she has received a terrible shock, +Lizzie, and it is telling on her visibly. She seems ten years older to +me.’ + +‘Poor Quita, she cannot fail to feel it,’ replied Lizzie, looking at +the matter in a totally different light from that in which Mr Courtney +regarded it. + +‘Yes, and I wish I could think that there was no further reason for her +fears. Lizzie, I have come here this morning for one purpose only,--to +persuade you to return with me to the White House.’ + +Lizzie started, and coloured. + +‘Oh, Mr Courtney, I cannot. I don’t know why you want me there, but +unless it is in my capacity as medical adviser, I must refuse. You +forget that Mrs Courtney ordered me never to show my face there again.’ + +‘I can allow no feminine quarrels to interfere with your safety, +Lizzie; and it is to secure _that_ that I beg of you to take up your +residence at my house until these mutinous ideas have been knocked out +of the coolies’ heads. I do not feel that you are safe,--that we are, +any of us, safe. I begin to distrust even my own hands, for whom I have +done all in my power.’ + +‘Mr Courtney, I appreciate your kindness, but there are too many +reasons why I cannot accept it.’ + +‘Name them, my dear.’ + +‘I have named one already, sir. Another is my infant charge. Do you +suppose I would desert her?’ + +‘Bring her with you. There is room in the White House for us all.’ + +‘No, Mr Courtney,’ she answered proudly, ‘it is _impossible_. I will +not take the child under the roof of the very woman who has falsely +accused me of being its mother.’ + +‘But I am sure, Lizzie, that neither my wife nor Maraquita really +believe that story.’ + +‘And I am sure of it too, sir; but that only places their cruelty to me +in a more heinous light. Forgive me for saying it, Mr Courtney, before +you, who have always been so good to me and my poor father, but I will +never again place myself voluntarily in the society of either Mrs +Courtney or Maraquita, until they have publicly acknowledged that they +have done me a foul wrong.’ + +‘They have been very hard on you,’ sighed the planter; ‘but their +conduct cannot blind me to my duty. I cannot consent to your remaining +here, Lizzie. The negroes may rise at any moment, and this bungalow is +in the very midst of their quarters. I have received secret information +concerning them, that has seriously alarmed me. The general +disaffection has spread much further than I dreamt of, and even the +hands on Beauregard are believed to be ripe for rebellion. Were they to +take it into their heads to rise, what would you do?’ + +Lizzie laughed at the idea. + +‘In that case, sir--did I believe it possible (which I can hardly do) +that your coolies could so utterly forget all they owe to you--I should +be much safer _here_ than in the White House. Why should they harbour +any resentment against _me_? They loved my dear father, and I believe +they love me for his sake, and _I_ have nothing to do with their +fancied causes for complaint. If they do rise, which God forbid, it +will be the White House against which they will make a raid.’ + +‘Ah, my dear child, long as you have lived amongst them, you do not +know the negro nature as I do. Once roused, he becomes a devil, and has +no power of distinguishing between friends and foes. This bungalow will +be the first piece of my property which they will have the opportunity +of destroying, and I feel sure they will not spare it, nor perhaps +even _you_. Lizzie, I beg, I implore of you to accept my offer of +protection, and transport yourself, and all you value, to the White +House.’ + +But Lizzie was firm. She quailed a little before the possible picture +Mr Courtney had conjured up,--before the remembrance too of certain +words of Captain Norris, in which he had expressed his own fears for +her safety; but they had no power to alter her determination. There +was her poor prisoner in the next room to them. Guilty as he had proved +himself to be, she had promised him her protection, and she would stand +by him to the last, even if they were doomed to perish together. So she +only shook her head, and smiled, and continued stitching at her work. + +‘Your obstinacy is incredible to me,’ said Mr Courtney, half angrily, +‘and you put me in a very unpleasant position. I promised your father +(as far as I could) to supply his place to you. I look on you as second +only to my own child, yet you refuse to accept from me a father’s +protection, or to yield me the obedience of a daughter.’ + +‘I am sorry to appear ungrateful to you, Mr Courtney, but I have my own +reasons for remaining in my own home, and your arguments have no power +to shake them. Pray don’t be under any further apprehension for me--I +have none for myself; and if your workers _are_ disposed to mutiny, it +is all the more reason that I should remain amongst them, and try to +bring them to a better frame of mind.’ + +‘Ah, I have heard of your attempts in that direction already, Lizzie, +and that the coolies call you the angel of Beauregard! You are a good +girl, my dear, and may God reward you for all you have done. I am only +sorry that unfortuitous circumstances should have laid this burden +of secrecy upon you. But cheer up; the day will come, perhaps, when +it will be removed as unexpectedly as it appeared. And no one shall +rejoice more when that day comes than I shall, Lizzie.’ + +She sighed, but she answered nothing. She knew that if the day he spoke +of ever dawned, it would be to bow her benefactor’s head with shame. + +‘And so all my entreaties are in vain?’ said Mr Courtney, as he rose to +go. + +‘Yes, sir; I shall remain here; and honestly, I do not believe you have +any cause for fear.’ + +Yet she pondered over what he had told her all that day, not from any +dread of her own safety, but endeavouring to think of some plan for +getting Henri de Courcelles away before there was any possibility of +his detection. For she felt that if the coolies on Beauregard _did_ +rise, and proceed to incendiarism or slaughter, Henri de Courcelles, +who had been their tyrannical master in the days gone by, and their +inciter to rebellion in the present, would be the first victim of +their lawless passions. Her mind was still running on the same subject +when the evening shadows closed, and Hugh Norris unexpectedly walked +into the room. + +Her first feeling at seeing him was one of such unmitigated pleasure, +that she could not help betraying it. + +‘Oh, Hugh--I mean, Captain Norris,’ she exclaimed, ‘are you really back +again? I am so glad--I didn’t think--I was afraid that--’ and here she +stopped, blushing for her incoherency. + +‘Are you _really_ glad?’ he said, taking her hand, and warmly pressing +it, whilst his open countenance revealed his emotion. ‘Have you felt my +absence, Lizzie? Have our two months of separation stretched themselves +out to their full term?’ + +‘Indeed they have,’ she answered ingenuously. ‘I have been counting +the days till you should return. For we have passed through a terrible +time since you left us. But perhaps you have already heard of it.’ + +‘Indeed I have heard of it, Lizzie,’ he said gravely, ‘and I thank God +that it was no worse. What should I have done had you been involved in +this horrible catastrophe? But I am here, and you are safe, and I will +not leave San Diego again until I take you with me. Was I not right in +my forebodings?’ + +‘Partially so; but you see that no one has harmed me yet. What a quick +passage you have made this time, Captain Norris.’ + +‘Very quick; but you may imagine that I wasted no more time in England +than I could help, Lizzie. I was not out of sight of San Diego before +I was longing to get back again, and, thanks to favourable winds, and +an obliging supercargo, I have made the double passage in as short a +time as is possible. But I found time to accomplish my heart’s desire, +all the same.’ + +‘What was that?’ she demanded curiously. + +‘Do you remember the packet of letters you threw me to read when we +last said good-bye, and you had to run off to attend to some woolly +infant or other?’ + +‘Yes, yes, I remember. It was Mammy Chloe’s baby,’ she answered, +laughing. + +‘The first letter I opened surprised me more than anything has ever +done in my life before. It was from your late father to Mr Courtney, +and he signed himself “Herbert Ruthin,” and wrote in familiar terms of +his father and mother, Sir William and Lady Ruthin, and of their place +in Scotland--Aberdare.’ + +‘Well, well! of course; it was his own home,’ interrupted Lizzie +impatiently. ‘Why should it have so greatly surprised you?’ + +‘Because, Lizzie, my mother (whose maiden name was Mary Herbert) is a +second or third cousin of Lady Ruthin, and when her ladyship came to +Maidstone, which is close to mother’s home, a few years ago, she called +on us, and took dinner at the cottage.’ + +‘Oh, Hugh, how very, _very_ strange!’ cried Lizzie, forgetting +etiquette in her breathless surprise. + +‘Yes, it is only another proof of how small the world is, and how we +are all but one large family. I remembered Lady Ruthin’s visit to my +mother distinctly, and also that I had heard she had had great trouble +about her second son Herbert, but I fancied he was dead. When I learnt +the truth from those letters, I determined to see Sir William and Lady +Ruthin on my return to England, and I did so.’ + +‘You _did_!’ echoed Lizzie; ‘and, oh! what did they say?’ + +‘I was only at Aberdare two hours, dearest,’ replied Captain Norris, +growing bolder as he gained his advantage, ‘but it was long enough to +serve my purpose. I told them everything, Lizzie,--what a good life +your dear father had lived here, expiating his youthful error by a +course of self-abnegation, and how like a martyr he had died, stricken +down by the exhaustion consequent on his labours for others. And I +soon found that if their pride and mortification have prevented their +speaking of their lost son for so many years past, it has not been +because the love of him has faded from their hearts. They concluded +he was dead long ago, but as I spoke of him, they were both melted +into tears, and reproached themselves bitterly for not having employed +stronger measures to ascertain his fate.’ + +‘My poor darling father!’ exclaimed Lizzie, weeping; ‘how I wish he +could have had the comfort of knowing that his parents felt for him.’ + +‘Doubtless he knows it now, dear. But my story is not done yet, +Lizzie. When I had told Sir William and Lady Ruthin all I knew about +your father, I spoke of _you_, and their excitement became painful to +witness. They are longing to see you, my dear, and make up to you for +all you have suffered on account of your poor father’s exile. I am the +bearer of a letter from them begging you at once to return to England +and place yourself under their protection. I shall see you in your +proper position at last, Lizzie, and reaping the reward you so richly +deserve. I cannot tell you how proud and happy I feel to have been made +the instrument of this change in your destinies.’ + +Lizzie looked up at him gratefully. + +‘It was so good of you to think of it,’ she murmured; ‘but I can hardly +believe it yet. My dear father’s parents! They will seem like part of +himself to me, and especially if they cherish his memory. And I shall +owe it all to you. What can I do for you in return, Hugh?’ + +‘Only one thing, dear. Let me take you back to England, and present +you to your grandparents as _my wife_.’ + +‘Did you--did you--say anything to them about it?’ she asked timidly. + +‘Well, I gave them a hint on the subject,’ he answered, laughing; ‘as +far, that is to say, as _I_ am concerned--I could not answer for _you_, +you know, because you have not yet answered for yourself.’ + +‘And how did they take it?’ + +‘They were good enough to say that they would make no objection +whatever to me as your husband, provided I gave up the sea and kept +you on dry land. And Sir William promised, moreover, in that case, to +help me to obtain suitable employment. And so you see, my dear, the +conclusion of the matter rests with you. What is your answer?’ + +She saw the deep blue honest eyes gazing fondly into her own, and had +just placed her hand in his preparatory to saying ‘Yes,’ when a loud +unmistakable cough sounded from the inner room. + +‘What is that?’ exclaimed Hugh Norris, starting to his feet, his senses +always acutely alive to possible danger. ‘There is some one in your +father’s bedroom. Stand aside, Lizzie, and let me see who it is.’ + +He seized his stick--his only weapon--as he spoke, and was about to try +the locked door. But she interposed herself between him and it. + +‘You cannot enter that room, Captain Norris. It is fastened.’ + +‘Then some one--a mutineer, perhaps--must have got in by the window. I +am certain my ears did not deceive me. The sound we heard proceeded +from that room, and I must satisfy myself on the subject.’ + +He was about to pass her, when she put out her hand to prevent him, and +he observed how very pale and strained her face (but a few moments ago +so smiling) had suddenly become. + +‘Captain Norris, I hold this room sacred to myself, and neither you, +nor any man, shall cross the threshold.’ + +He looked full at her then in his amazement, and the truth seemed to +flash suddenly upon him. + +‘You have been deceiving me!’ he exclaimed; ‘you have some one +concealed there whom you are ashamed to tell me of! Who is it?’ he +continued, in a low voice, which threatened danger,--‘that blackguard +De Courcelles, who would have slaughtered every European in the Fort, +if he had had his way, and whom I hear has been in hiding ever since?’ + +Lizzie was silent. Twice her mouth opened to utter a lie in the defence +of her former lover, and twice it died unuttered on her lips. Hugh +Norris knew her too well to misinterpret her want of courage. He threw +her one look of deep reproach, and, turning away, sat down by the +table, and buried his face in his hands. Lizzie could not withstand +the action. She crept after him, and laid her hand timidly upon his +shoulder. + +‘Hugh,’ she whispered, ‘Hugh--’ + +But he jerked the kindly touch away, almost roughly. + +‘Don’t come near me,’ he muttered, ‘Don’t speak to me. You are false, +and you have destroyed all my faith in womankind.’ + +‘No, no, Hugh! you shall not say that of me. Listen, and I will tell +you everything. I should have told it you in any case, for I sorely +need your counsel and advice, only we have had no time as yet to speak +of any one but ourselves. But you are good, and noble, and true, and +if you do not approve of my action, you will at least not betray it. +I will not deceive you, and I think, when you know all, you will +acknowledge you would have done the same. Henri de Courcelles is in +that room, a fugitive hiding from the law! No, don’t look at me like +that! I call Heaven to witness he is not there as my lover, but that I +would have extended the same succour to any fellow-creature who threw +himself upon my mercy. Hugh! I heard that he had escaped from the Fort +prison, and eluded the pursuit of the police by taking refuge in the +Alligator Swamp. Could I have left him there to perish by a miserable +death, without making one effort to save him?’ + +Captain Norris looked up at her in amazement. + +‘But what could _you_ do?’ he inquired. ‘Not a man in San Diego would +venture to penetrate the horrors of the swamp, unless he wished to die.’ + +‘Yet a _woman_ did,’ she whispered. + +‘Lizzie, you do not mean to tell me that you went yourself?--that you +risked the awful dangers of the miasma and the alligators, for the sake +of this man, and that you live to tell the tale?’ + +‘The danger was not so great for me as for another, Hugh, because I +knew the proper preventatives to carry with me. Anyway, I went, and +I was successful. I found this unhappy and misguided man nearly +unconscious from the effects of the poisonous air he was inhaling, and +I brought him safely out of it, and have hid him here for the last +two days, until I could devise some plan to get him away from San +Diego. Will you help me, Hugh? I know it is a great thing to ask at +your hands; and I have not another friend whom I would trust with the +secret; but I shall not rest till I know he is secure from suffering a +malefactor’s death upon the gallows.’ + +‘He deserves it, Lizzie, if any one ever did.’ + +‘I know it! but if we all received our deserts in this world, how badly +we should fare! Hugh, you will believe me when I tell you that such +love as I once entertained for Henri de Courcelles is all past, and for +ever. I see his character in its true light at last,--as vindictive +and revengeful and untrue! But that does not alter the case that once +I thought him good enough to be my husband, and mine is a heart that +cannot entirely forget!’ + +‘What do you want me to do for him, Lizzie?’ + +‘To get him down to the docks in disguise, and ship him on board one +of the vessels there that are bound for Spain or America. It would be +cruel to send him anywhere else. And if that should be impossible to do +all at once, couldn’t you let him stay on the _Trevelyan_ till you are +able to send him away?’ continued Lizzie wistfully. + +‘You ask me to do a very wrong and dangerous thing, my dear,--to +harbour a rebel against the British Government, and cheat the gallows +of its just due.’ + +‘No, Hugh--to succour a wretched fellow-creature, who was half driven +to madness by a woman’s treachery, before he dreamt of committing such +a crime. I cannot tell you all his story, but if you knew it, you would +pity him, as I do.’ + +‘Nothing of the sort. I despise the fool for having thrown away such +a heart as he had found in yours! Why, Lizzie! you are a heroine, and +the noblest woman I ever met! Well, and suppose I become a traitor to +my Queen and country at your command, and help this rascally lover of +yours to escape the ends of justice, what reward am I to expect for the +risk I shall run?’ + +‘What reward do you want?’ she answered, smiling at him through her +tears. ‘You shall name it, Hugh, for I see you are going to do this +great and generous thing for my sake, and hold out a helping hand to +your unfortunate rival.’ + +‘Promise to become my wife, Lizzie! Nothing short of that will quite +satisfy me of the purity of your benevolence for De Courcelles--because +I know your nobility of character too well to think you would ever +bestow your hand on one man whilst there was a remnant of love left in +your heart for another.’ + +‘You only do me justice there, Hugh; for if I am not _true_ I am +nothing. Yes, I will be your wife, whenever you choose to ask me, and +(God helping me) a good and faithful one.’ + +‘And a loving one into the bargain?’ he returned interrogatively. ‘I +will not accept your hand without your heart, Lizzie.’ + +‘Can any wife be good and faithful if she is not loving, Hugh? But do +not be afraid! _I love you._ Is that enough?’ + +‘Then come to my arms!’ he exclaimed, as he rose and held them out +to her. She was hesitating just a little, not entirely from coyness, +but because it is so sweet to dally with our happiness--when a low +murmuring sound, like the first menacing tones of thunder, or the +moaning of a sleuthhound when it finds the trail, which evidently +proceeded from the negroes’ quarters, made them start asunder, and +change colour. + +‘What was that?’ demanded Lizzie, under her breath, as Hugh Norris +threw his arm round her for protection. + +‘It is the groaning of a crowd,’ he answered. ‘It is the first note of +mutiny. Lizzie, there is something wrong! For God’s sake, let me take +you away from this.’ + +But she struggled to free herself. + +‘If they are rising, Hugh, let me go to them! No one understands them +as I do! Let me speak, and they will obey me! I can do with them as I +like.’ + +But before he had time to put into words his entreaty that she would +resign herself to his protection, a piercing shriek seemed to rend the +evening air, and the next minute Rosa, the yellow girl, rushed into the +room, with Maraquita’s infant in her arms. + +‘Oh, Missy Liz,’ she cried, ‘what have they done to my baby? Dis +crowd of niggers is all cryin’ out for dere rights, and down with de +planters, and I coming along, and dey pulled de poor baby from my arms, +and hit it on de head with a stone. Oh, Missy Liz, I couldn’t help it! +I screamed to dem to leave my poor baby alone! But dey call out ’tis +Missy Quita’s chile and Massa Courcelles’, and den dey strike it again. +And the baby’s berry sick, Missy Liz--berry sick, indeed,’ continued +Rosa, weeping, and rocking the bundle in her arms. + +‘Give it to me,’ said Lizzie calmly, though her face was deathly white, +but not so white as that of Maraquita’s infant, which lay calm and +peaceful in the sleep of death, with a discoloured bruise upon its +little forehead, where the cruel stone had struck it. + +‘She is _dead_!’ said Lizzie solemnly, as she placed the body on the +table. She did not shed a tear as she did so, but Hugh Norris, looking +up at her, marked the deep lines which suppressed emotion had drawn +upon her forehead, and thought he had never seen her look so stern +before. + +‘My poor little Mary,’ she said, in a low voice, as she gazed upon +the infant’s dead form. ‘This is the first-fruits of the Beauregard +rebellion, Hugh! They have risen at last, and they will not stop here! +What will become of them all at the White House?’ + +‘We must give the alarm at once,’ said Captain Norris. ‘They may not +be prepared for this outbreak. But Lizzie, I will not go and leave you +here! If you wish your friends to be put on their guard, you must come +with me.’ + +‘It is too late,’ she answered: ‘they are already upon us! We should +only walk into their midst. Listen to that--’ + +She held up her finger, and Captain Norris could distinctly hear the +yelling of a mob of coolies advancing on the plantation, and see the +flaming torches which they carried in their hands, whilst in another +moment two or three random shots proved that they were carrying +firearms, and prepared to use them.’ + +‘The devils!’ cried Norris. ‘Is it possible they can have the heart to +injure _you_, after all you have done for them?’ + +‘No, no, massa!’ exclaimed the yellow girl; ‘coolies never hurting +Missy Liz; they love her too much for dat. Only dey want revenge on +Massa Courtney and de Governor and Missy Quita. Missy Liz, dey will +fire de White House for sure, and kill de Governor! Hark! they hab +passed oder side of plantation. Dey go by Oleander Bungalow to de big +house, and nebber come near Missy Liz at all.’ + +‘They have come near enough, in killing my poor baby!’ exclaimed +Lizzie, weeping, as she kissed the dead child. ‘If they love _me_, why +couldn’t they have spared _her_?’ + +‘’Cause she belong to dat De Courcelles, and grow up bad like him and +Missy Quita. Dat what dem trashy niggers say,’ replied Rosa, joining +her sobs to those of her mistress. + +‘Is it possible this child belongs to Lady Johnstone?’ demanded Norris. + +‘Oh, hush, Hugh! don’t mention it, even _here_!’ said Lizzie. ‘I have +kept the secret for _her_ sake--not his!’ + +‘Oh, my brave girl, your love has indeed earned the martyr’s crown!’ he +answered, looking at her with the deepest admiration and respect. ‘But +hark, Lizzie! Surely the mob have turned this way.’ + +At that moment a kind of sudden rush through the darkness outside was +followed by the entrance of Mr and Mrs Courtney, with Maraquita and +Sir Russell Johnstone! The women were in their evening dresses--half +fainting with fear, and their protectors were almost as agitated as +themselves. + +‘Lizzie,’ cried Mr Courtney, ‘give us shelter, for God’s sake! Hide +us in your rooms, and this murderous crew will not dare to follow +us there. They are fond of you, Lizzie, and they will believe what +you say. Make them hear reason, in Heaven’s name! or we shall all be +slaughtered before your eyes!’ + +‘Quick! quick! in here!’ she exclaimed, as she thrust the whole party +into her own bedroom, and closed the door. ‘Go with them, Hugh,’ she +said, when they had concealed themselves, ‘and let me bring these +mutineers to reason.’ + +‘And leave you to fall a prey to their baffled wrath, or become a +billet for the first bullet that strays this way, Lizzie,’ he answered +tenderly. ‘No, my dear. You have said you love me; and if we have to +die, we will die together.’ + +Before she could answer him, a crew of dusky faces were surrounding +the bungalow, blocking up the verandah, pressing into the doors, and +filling up the framework of the windows. + +‘Whar’s de Gubnor and de planter? Is dem in hiding here?’ they shouted. +‘Gib dem up, Missy Liz, or we must enter de bungalow, and we doesn’t +want to do dat. Gib dem up, missy, and don’t you be skeered--no nigger +hurting one hair ob your head.’ + +‘I’m not afraid of you for myself, my friends,’ she exclaimed, +standing out boldly to the front, and facing the crowd of rebels, ‘for +you have always been good and kind to me; but if you love me, you will +go away to your own quarters, and leave my house alone!’ + +‘D’rectly we finds de Gubnor and de planter, Missy Liz. But we’se sworn +to ruin dem, and we must do it--dat’s so!’ + +‘And de Gubnor’s wife!’ shrieked a female voice, that might be heard +all over the bungalow. ‘Dat gal what pretends to be so good, and dat is +de moder of dat baby you keep, Missy Liz. She and Massa Courcelles know +all about dat chile; and I wish dey could swing together!’ + +‘Hush, Jerusha, hush! Go away, and keep your evil tongue to yourself!’ +cried Lizzie. + +‘Dat’s true, and you know it, Missy Liz. And de Governor shall know it, +too, and Massa Courtney, and all de world, dat she am no better than de +poor coolie gals what go all wrong.’ + +‘Jerusha, I _implore_ you, for God’s sake!’ commenced Lizzie again. + +But before she could finish her entreaty, Maraquita had pushed open +the bedroom door, and stood beside her, pale and trembling, but not +courageous, except with the courage born of despair. + +‘It _is_ true!’ she gasped, rather than said, ‘and I am ready to +confess it. No, Lizzie, don’t try to prevent my speaking. Everybody +may hear me now. I can suffer in secret no longer. Father, I am not +what you thought me! I am a sinful girl, and I have let the burden of +my shameful secret rest on Lizzie’s shoulders. These people only say +what is true. They hate me for what I have done, and want to revenge +themselves on us all, for my sake. Perhaps, now that I have confessed +my sin, they will pity and forgive me.’ + +She sunk exhausted with fear and shame on Lizzie’s shoulder as she +finished her recital. Sir Russell Johnstone and her parents were +standing by, horror-struck by what they had heard, and forgetful of +their own safety in the agony of witnessing her humiliation. But Lizzie +was the only person who addressed her. + +‘Hush, Quita, you have said enough; and surely all will think you have +suffered sufficiently, and need no further punishment.’ + +But the continual groaning and muttering of the crowd outside did not +seem as though their anger was appeased, and Quita shuddered as she +heard it. + +‘Give me my child!’ she exclaimed wildly. ‘Everything is slipping from +me. My father and mother stand by in silence, my husband will drive me +from his house. Give me something that I can call my own! Lizzie, I +want my child!’ + +‘_There_ is your child, Quita,’ replied her adopted sister sadly, as +she led her to the table. ‘God has already called it through their +hands to Himself. They would not leave you even that poor consolation, +my unhappy Quita.’ + +‘_Dead!_’ cried the unfortunate Lady Russell, as she gazed upon her +infant’s breathless form, ‘_dead!_ Oh, Henri, Henri, why was I ever +untrue to you, and to myself? My punishment is harder than I can bear.’ + +As she sunk upon her knees, and her pitiful cry of ‘Henri’ sounded on +the air, De Courcelles, unable to restrain his feelings longer, burst +open his prison door and rushed in upon them. + +‘Yes,’ he exclaimed triumphantly, as he glared round upon the parents +and husband of Maraquita, ‘she speaks the truth at last. I had sworn +to have her life, in exchange for that of which she has robbed me; but +she has avenged herself. Take me prisoner again, as soon as you like. I +shall die contented, to know what her future life must be.’ + +‘Dey nebber _take_ you!’ cried a shrill voice at the open casement, +which was immediately followed by a shot, which brought Henri de +Courcelles to the ground. + +‘_Jerusha!_’ he muttered between his teeth as he fell, with the dark +blood and froth bubbling from his lips. + +Lizzie was at his side in a moment tearing away his shirt, and striving +to stem the current of his life. But it was in vain. The overseer had +met his fate at last, and was rapidly bleeding to death. + +‘Henri,’ she cried, in a voice of distress, ‘I can do nothing for you! +You are going to God! May He bless and forgive you.’ + +‘As--you--have--done,’ he gasped out, as his lifeless head fell from +her arm. + +Sir Russell Johnstone had stood by, stern and miserable, watching the +pitiable sight, and listening to the confession which dashed all the +brightness from his married life, but Maraquita and her parents had +hidden themselves away, unable to bear such a strain upon their nervous +systems. Hugh Norris seeing that all was over, came forward to take +Lizzie in his arms; but she turned from him, and walked bravely into +the midst of the mutineers. Their flaring torches fell full on her +ashen face, and lighted up the large tears standing in her eyes; but +she stood before them without one sign of fear, and her voice was loud +and determined. + +‘Are you satisfied now?’ she demanded boldly, ‘or are not two lives +sufficient to gorge your lust for blood? Do you know what you have +done? You say you _love_ me, and would not harm a hair of my head, +yet you have killed the man you knew was dear to me! You have made me +risk my life in vain. Two days ago I walked into the Alligator Swamp +alone, to find Henri de Courcelles, and save him from the gallows, and +I brought him here, only to fall a victim to your barbarity. Was that +love for _me_? And the poor baby too--the little innocent child that I +was bringing up as my own, and that had never done you any harm, you +must needs take that from me too. Now, what more do you want? Is it my +own life? You may as well kill me as well as the rest. Perhaps I am not +more worthy to live, in your estimation, than they were.’ + +At this harangue, the ringleaders of the mutiny drew back abashed. They +had not calculated that in taking their revenge on Henri de Courcelles +they would injure their ‘Missy Liz.’ + +‘Missy Liz, no talking like dat,’ said an aged negro, speaking for +the rest. ‘Missy know we lub her, and call her de Good Angel ob +Beauregard.’ + +‘Then if you love me, coolies, prove it by what you do. Give up this +hateful mutiny against those who only desire your good, and let the +Governor, and Mr and Mrs Courtney, return to the White House in peace. +If you don’t, I warn you my life will be the sacrifice, for you shall +trample over my body before you enter the bungalow in search of them.’ + +She placed her two hands on the lintels of the doorposts as she spoke, +to bar their way, and the negroes saw she was in earnest. + +‘Go back to your quarters, my friends,’ she continued, in a softer +voice. ‘In my name, and the name of all whom I love, I beg of you to +return quietly to your homes, and relinquish your murderous design.’ + +‘For _your_ sake den, Missy Liz, for _your_ sake,’ replied the coolies, +as, startled, and somewhat ashamed of themselves, for they had no +real cause of complaint, and had only been incited on by the example +of others, the crowd broke up into groups, and commenced to walk back +slowly to their homes. And then Lizzie turned round, and threw herself +weeping into Hugh Norris’s arms. + + +THE END. + + +COLSTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: + + + Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. + + Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. + + Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75276 *** |