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} + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76066 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c001'><span class='sc'>Wedded by Fate</span><br> <span class='small'>OR</span><br> <span class='xlarge'>SISTER ANGELA</span></h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='xlarge'>MRS. GEORGIE SHELDON</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>AUTHOR OF</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>“HIS HEART’S QUEEN,” “MAX,” “THE FORSAKEN BRIDE,” ETC., ETC.</span></div> + <div class='c003'>NEW YORK</div> + <div><span class='large'>DODD, MEAD & COMPANY</span></div> + <div>PUBLISHERS</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Copyright</span>, 1890,</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>—BY—</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>STREET & SMITH.</span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Copyright</span>, 1892,</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>—BY—</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>DODD, MEAD & COMPANY</span></div> + <div class='c002'><span class='small'><em>All Rights Reserved.</em></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CONTENTS.</h2> +</div> + +<table class='table0'> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER I.</td></tr> + <tr> + <th class='c007'></th> + <th class='c008'>PAGE</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Mysterious Applicant,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER II.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Narrow Escape and a Wonderful Experiment,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER III.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop becomes Acquainted with Salome,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop Makes a Startling Proposal,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER V.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Romantic Wedding,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_37'>37</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Goes “Home,”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop Receives a Despatch,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_55'>55</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER VIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop is Summarily Arraigned,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_64'>64</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER IX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Madame Winthrop Refuses Salome as a Daughter,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER X.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop Receives an Imperative Summons Abroad,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_84'>84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_iv'>iv</span> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Startling Encounter,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_94'>94</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>An Explanation Demanded,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“Your Marriage was Illegal; You are No Wife!”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Receives her Sentence,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>An Appalling Tragedy,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XVI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop’s Battle with his Grief,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XVII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>The Rochesters are Introduced,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XVIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Accident Disarranges Dr. Winthrop’s Plans,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_162'>162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XIX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Mrs. and Miss Rochester Receive Startling News,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_171'>171</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Flight from War and Pestilence,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_178'>178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop Passes through Deep Waters,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_188'>188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>An Appalling Discovery,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_197'>197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Learns a Startling Fact,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_205'>205</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXIV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>A Backward Glance,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_215'>215</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome applies for a Situation,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXVI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Learns a Bit of Miss Leonard’s History,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_234'>234</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXVII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Has a Startling Experience,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXVIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Miss Leonard’s Illness,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXIX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Loses her Valued Friend,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Becomes the Victim of a Vile Scheme,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_269'>269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Witnesses a Heart-Rending Tableau,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_278'>278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome is Lured into a Trap,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_288'>288</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Makes an Attempt to Secure her Liberty,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_298'>298</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXIV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome is Missed,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_306'>306</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Harriet’s Search for Salome,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_313'>313</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXVI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Miss Rochester a Victor,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXVII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Dr. Winthrop has an Interview with Miss Rochester,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_329'>329</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>The Winthrops and Rochesters Leave for Rome,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_335'>335</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XXXIX.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Sister Angela again,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_341'>341</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XL.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Tells how Dr. Winthrop Found his Wife,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_347'>347</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“My Wife, Have You Ceased to Love Me?”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_354'>354</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Explanations,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_360'>360</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLIII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Relates Something of her Previous History,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_372'>372</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLIV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>Salome Continues her Story,</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_382'>382</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLV.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“It is All Right, my Darling!”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_391'>391</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLVI.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“Sadie Rochester is Already my Wife!”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_401'>401</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'> </td> + <td class='c008'> </td> + </tr> + <tr><td class='c006' colspan='2'>CHAPTER XLVII.</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class='c007'>“Salome, You Have Conquered Me,”</td> + <td class='c008'><a href='#Page_412'>412</a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<div><span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span></div> +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div>WEDDED BY FATE.</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER I.<br> <span class='c009'>A MYSTERIOUS APPLICANT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>One dismal day in November—a day when the sky +was dull and leaden, when the wind sighed and +moaned mournfully, and, a fine cold rain that was almost +sleet was falling, a young girl, clad in a long, dark ulster, +a brown felt hat upon her head, her face concealed by a +thick veil, entered the reception office of the City Hospital +in Boston, Massachusetts.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Going directly to the clerk, who sat within a little box-office, +she asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can I see the superintendent?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman eyed her curiously for a moment, then +curtly replied:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This isn’t visitors’ day, miss, and if you’ve come to +see any friend, calling upon the superintendent won’t do +you any good, for we never break our rules.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have no friends here; I have not come to visit any +one; I simply desire to see the superintendent upon a +matter of business,” the young girl quietly returned, but +with a certain dignity which appeared to impress the clerk, +for she at once rang the bell, and then bent again over +the book in which she had been writing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently a man appeared.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What’s wanted?” he briefly asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is the superintendent in his office?” the clerk inquired, +without lifting her eyes from her book.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell him there’s a lady here who wishes to see him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man retreated after darting an inquisitive glance +at the visitor, and was absent about five minutes, when he +reappeared, and by a sign indicated that the girl was to +follow him. Passing through a narrow hall, her guide at +length opened a door on his left, and told his companion +to enter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The superintendent’s in his office with one of the directors, +but he’ll be out presently,” he said, then vanished, +closing the door after him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl sat upon a chair near the window, turning her +veil back from her face, a heavy sigh escaping her as she +did so. The act disclosed a pale but strikingly beautiful +countenance. The features were perfect, clear-cut, and +with the imprint of the patrician plainly stamped upon +them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The brow was rather low, but full and beautifully shaped +and crowned by waving black hair, as fine and glossy as +silk. A pair of great jet-black eyes were shaded by long +curling lashes. The nose was small and straight, the +cheeks delicately rounded, the mouth a marvel of loveliness +and sweetness, while the prettily rounded chin had +a charming little dimple at its base.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her complexion was strangely fair for one who had such +dark hair and eyes, and this fairness was enhanced by +the vivid scarlet of her lips and the utter absence of color +in her cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was an expression of sadness in her eyes, and +every now and then a quiver of pain swept over her red +lips and found vent in a deep sigh, which plainly betrayed +that she had some secret anxiety or trouble on her +mind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was rather slightly formed and delicate in appearance, +yet there was strength and vigor in her movements, +despite the air of depression that pervaded her attitude.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently a door, opposite the one by which she had +entered, opened, and a tall, rather awkward man came +into the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He eyed his visitor with a keen glance, as he bowed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>courteously to her, and then stood waiting for her to +state her business.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose as he came forward, and, extending a slip of +printed paper toward him, remarked: “I have come to +you, sir, in reply to this advertisement for nurses.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man regarded her with surprise.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her every tone and word and gesture betrayed culture +and refinement—that she had been delicately and even +aristocratically reared, and although adverse circumstances +might have driven her to the necessity of working +for her own support, he wondered that she should have +chosen the laborious avocation of a common nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you had any experience in nursing?” he inquired, +as he took the slip from her and ran his eye over it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, sir, although I have never been regularly trained. +I had a—a friend”—her voice faltered slightly over the +word—“who was an invalid for several years, and so I +have had a great deal of experience in the sick-room.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum—how old are you?” asked the superintendent, +glancing sharply at the beautiful face of his companion, +and thinking that she seemed very young for one who +professed to know so much regarding the care of invalids.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A delicate flush arose for a moment to her cheek, as if +she felt the touch of irony in his question; but she replied +with the utmost self-possession:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Twenty-one last month. I would like very much, sir, +to become a trained nurse, and that is why I have applied +to you to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are slightly built—you do not look very strong, +and I do not need to tell you that it takes a robust constitution +to endure the hardships of nursing,” the man returned, +as he regarded her curiously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl straightened her lithe form with a movement +that was replete with energy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know that I do not have the appearance of being +very strong, but I am,” she said positively. “I have +had long and thorough training in physical culture—I +continue the practice of the various exercises daily, and +my muscles and sinews are strong and flexible as steel.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>As she concluded, she threw out her right arm with a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>movement which showed that there was great latent +strength in it for one apparently so delicately built.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are quite pale, too—you do not look very well,” +continued her companion, without appearing to heed her +statements.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am naturally pale—it is a complexion that I inherit; +but I am never ill,” she quietly responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The superintendent bent his head in thought a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew that there was, in some instances, more endurance +in persons of her physique than in those more robust, +and that they frequently made better nurses.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was greatly prepossessed by the quiet, self-contained +manner of the girl, and a certain reserve force which had +made itself apparent from the moment when she had first +spoken, and he felt inclined to give her a trial.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We are in great need of nurses at present,” he said at +length, “and I think I will take you on probation, as the +Methodists say—that is, if you can come and begin your +duties immediately.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can come at once—I can remain now if you like, +since I am entirely at liberty, and I can send for my +trunk by an express messenger,” she answered with an +undercurrent of eagerness that was somewhat at variance +with her previous calmness and self-possession.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well. I would like you to remain. Is your +home—are your friends in this city?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, sir,” was the brief reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again the man glanced sharply at her. A certain sadness +that seemed to pervade her, together with the quiet +dignity and self-possession of her bearing, somehow moved +him strangely, while it was evident from the brevity of +her last reply that she intended to guard her previous +history from all inquisitiveness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your name, if you please?” he asked, seating himself +at his desk, and opening a book that lay upon it, +although his eyes never left the applicant’s fair face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again a slight flush leaped to her cheek at this question, +and she hesitated an instant before replying; then she +said, quietly:</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>“Salome Howland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The superintendent wrote the name, together with her +age in his register, though a queer little smile played +over his lips the while; then, with his pen suspended over +the next line, he continued:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your birthplace, if you please, and present place of +residence?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was born upon the Atlantic Ocean. My present +place of residence is—Boston,” she answered, without +changing a muscle of her countenance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Clearly she intended to keep her identity in as much +obscurity as possible.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again that peculiar smile curved her companion’s lips, +and it was with no little eagerness and curiosity that he +put his next question, for he was becoming deeply interested +in this fair stranger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You, of course, have the necessary references?” he +observed, in a matter-of-fact tone. “All nurses who are +admitted here are required to be well recommended.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A flash of color leaped to her brow, and he could +see that her delicate under lip quivered painfully, while +there was a moment of ominous silence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she turned and confronted him squarely, and lifted +her beautiful face appealingly to him, meeting his glance +with her great black eyes frankly and unflinchingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is the one weak point in my application, sir,” she +said. “I have no reference—no recommendation to give +you. I am alone in the world, and friendless—obliged +to provide for my daily necessities. I came to you from +the death-bed of the only relative I had in the world.” +She caught her breath with a little sob at this, and the +man’s heart was touched, “and what I have told you +about my abilities as a nurse is strictly true. My personal +character, I assure you, is above criticism;” this +with a proud uplifting of her small head that carried conviction +with it, and proved to her companion that she +was no ordinary person, and would scorn to do anything +that would serve to lower her in the estimation of others, +or the esteem of herself; “But,” she added, “I have +only my own word to prove all this to you, and if such +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>proof is necessary, I can only give it to you by my daily +deportment, during my term of ‘probation.’”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a little out of order for him to receive a nurse +under such circumstances; but the more he saw of her +the more interested he became, and his curiosity to see +and know more was excited.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, too, there was a certain ward in the hospital +that was sorely in need of nurses. He saw that she was +intelligent, cool, and clear-headed, with more than ordinary +reserve force and self-possession, and feeling confident +that she was all she represented herself to be—though +he had some doubt that she had given her real name—he +determined to waive the strict letter of requirement, for +once, and engage her without inquiry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He completed the entry in his register, and then told +her that she might consider herself as engaged for a month +upon trial; after which she could be booked, if she gave +satisfaction, as a regular nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An expression of infinite relief swept over her face +at this information—a look which seemed to betray a +sense of rest and security, as if she suddenly felt that a +safeguard from dreaded danger had been thrown around +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her magnificent eyes lighted; more of energy and animation +than she had yet shown took possession of her, +while the smile with which she thanked the superintendent +revealed two rows of the whitest and most perfect teeth +that he had ever seen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope she isn’t a coquette,” he mused with some +anxiety, as he for the first time realized the full power of +her beauty; “for if she is, she’ll be turning the heads of +the male nurses and young doctors, and make no end of +mischief for us.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But it was too late to retract now, and after settling a +few more preliminaries and assigning her to the ward +wherein she was to serve, he rose and told her to follow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He led her from the office building, through the spacious +rounds of the hospital, to the main entrance, and thence +to a ward in a large wing. Then calling the head nurse +of that department, he introduced the novitiate and stated +<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>that she was prepared to enter upon her duties immediately.</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>Salome Howland’s month of probation passed rapidly, +and during that time she endeared herself to every one +with whom she came in contact. The head nurse of the +ward spoke in the highest praise of her. She had never +before had any novice, she said, so efficient—no one so +intelligent, or so thoroughly interested and enthusiastic +in her work; while the patients whom she attended grew +to love the very sound of her footstep. There was no +one so gentle, so patient, and sympathetic as Miss Howland, +they affirmed—no one who had so bright a smile, +such cheery comforting words for those who were suffering +and depressed; no one whose touch was so tender and +soothing, whose voice was so musically modulated, whose +steps were so light, whose service so willing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad that you like her, and that she proves so +efficient,” the superintendent remarked when, at the end +of the allotted month, he sought the head nurse to ascertain +if she was giving satisfaction. “I should have been +sorry to have sent her away, for she seemed anxious to +become a trained nurse, and somehow I feel deeply interested +in her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is a treasure! She throws her whole heart and +soul into her work; if it will only last,” the head nurse +added, with a sigh, as if she feared it would not.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you think she is quite well? she looks so pale, +while she is not nearly so robust as most of the nurses,” +the superintendent remarked, as his glance followed the +movements of the girl, who in her pretty white cap and +apron seemed even more dainty and delicate than when +he had first seen her, in her felt hat and ulster, in his office.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was moving lightly about the ward, with a free, +elastic but noiseless step, distributing the flowers that +were sent up every day from the conservatories for the +patients, and he did not fail to notice how every face +brightened at her approach, and how fondly the glance +of every one lingered upon her; and surely, he thought, +she was a goodly sight for any one to look upon.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>“She seems to be perfectly well and strong,” the nurse +responded. “I am surprised at times to see how strong +she is. She looks delicate, I admit; but her powers of +endurance are wonderful, and she can manage with as little +sleep as any one I ever saw. She is remarkably intelligent +and practical too, both regarding her own health +and the treatment of the patients. She obeys rigidly the +rules for physical culture, is regular as a clock about +taking her meals and her rest. Most of the nurses complain +that they do not get sleep and rest enough, and are +often dull and stupid upon being called to their duties. +But Miss Howland is always bright and fresh as a daisy. +She says it is because she never allows herself to talk or +worry upon retiring, but wills herself to sleep immediately. +I believe her only thought or aim is, how best to fit herself +for her work, and I predict that she will make an invaluable +nurse, if——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If what?” inquired the superintendent, with some +curiosity, as the woman abruptly ceased.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If some one doesn’t find her out, marry her, and take +her away from us,” responded the nurse, somewhat shortly, +adding, “She’s far too bright and pretty, let alone her +goodness, not to be appreciated and captured by somebody. +The young doctors all make eyes at her, but she +never sees them—or pretends she doesn’t.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Modest—eh!” laughed her companion, while he also +might almost have been accused of “making eyes” at the +pretty face that he was watching so intently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, almost to prudishness; but wait—the right one +will come along one of these days, then puff! away she’ll +go, like a bit of thistle-down upon the wings of the wind; +it’s the way with all such treasures!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The superintendent gave vent to a little laugh of +amusement at the woman’s quaint prophecy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad you like her so well,” he said, and then +went his way to other duties, while Salome Howland was, +for the time at least, forgotten.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER II.<br> <span class='c009'>A NARROW ESCAPE AND A WONDERFUL EXPERIMENT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>It was the third day of January. A fearful storm had +been raging for two days, and now the weather was +growing intensely cold.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was late in the evening when a young man arrived +at an hotel in Boston, and registered as Truman H. Winthrop, +M.D., New York city.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was apparently twenty-five years of age, a tall, +massively formed fellow, yet so finely proportioned that +he did not really seem so powerful as he was. A fine +brow surmounted by a wealth of curling brown hair +crowned a keen, clear-cut, and intelligent face. A pair of +deep blue eyes gleamed with a kindly light, yet seemed +to take in, with swift comprehensive glances, everything +going on around him; while about the sensitive mouth +there lingered an expression of sweetness, which betokened +a tender heart and warm sympathies, though the +somewhat heavy chin betrayed an undercurrent of great +strength and firmness of character.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can you give me a comfortable room,” he inquired of +the clerk, after he had entered his name upon the hotel +register.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We are very full to-night,” was the answer, “and the +best that I can do for you will be to give you a room on +the third floor over the hall.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum,” mused the young physician, with a somewhat +disappointed look on his fine face. “How is it heated?” +he asked, after a moment of thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“By a stove. It was originally used as a storeroom, +and steam was not carried into it when we refitted the +hotel,” replied the clerk.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, if that is the best that you can give me, I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>shall be obliged to put up with it for one night, as the +storm is too severe for me to go out to hunt up another,” +the stranger returned with an air of resignation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can do better to-morrow, perhaps, as some of our +guests may be leaving,” said the clerk.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All right, you may order a fire to be lighted at once, +so that my room will be warm by the time I am through +supper,” responded the young physician, and then he +turned to follow a servant to the dining-room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Half an hour later he retired to his room and to bed, +having first given orders to be called at eight o’clock the +next morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Make sure that I am awake,” he said to the call-boy, +as he went upstairs, “for I have an important engagement +at nine.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was well for him that he gave this order, or he +would never have opened his eyes in this world again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Promptly at eight the next morning the boy rapped +upon the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was no response.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again he knocked, and more vigorously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still no answer from within.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hallo there!” he cried, at the same time using his +knuckles with redoubled energy. “Wake up, can’t you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the occupant of the little room over the hall was +either a very heavy sleeper, or something was wrong with +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man put his ear to the keyhole, and could plainly +detect the sound of heavy breathing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Something is amiss; nobody could remain in any natural +sleep during such a racket as I’ve made,” muttered +the man, an anxious look coming into his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He hastened below, and reported to the clerk, and together +they hurried back to the physician’s room and tried +a second time to arouse him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was in vain, however; there was not the slightest +movement within, although they could plainly detect the +heavy breathing of the man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He’s in a fit of some kind, and we shall have to force +the lock or break the door,” said the clerk.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>Both men put their shoulders against it and used all +their strength for this purpose; but in vain, for the door +was stronger than they.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A step-ladder was then brought, and a boy with a +rope around his body was sent up to remove the transom, +then told to crawl through, when they would let him down +inside the room to unlock the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This was soon accomplished, and the moment the clerk +stepped inside the door he comprehended the situation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The room was full of coal gas.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man upon the bed was asphyxiated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Every window in the room was closed, and the damper +in the stove-pipe had, by either the force of a strong +draught or a sudden gust of wind, been shut, and thus +the fumes from the burning coal had been thrown into the +room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young doctor lay flat upon his back, breathing stertorously, +while his face was ghastly, his skin clammy, +and his pulse alarmingly feeble.</p> + +<p class='c011'>By this time quite an excitement prevailed on that floor +of the hotel, and a crowd of curious and awe-stricken +people had gathered about, the proprietor among them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A doctor—is there a doctor in the house?” cried some +one who had not been quite so fully paralyzed by the appalling +discovery as the others.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This aroused the proprietor to a sense of his duty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, there is none,” he said, “and none nearer than—street, +that I know of. But,” a bright idea suddenly +occurring to him, “the City Hospital is near by; it’ll take +no longer to get him there than to get a physician here, +and they have every facility there for every kind of treatment.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This plan seemed the most feasible of any, and accordingly +the young doctor was warmly wrapped in blankets, +a carriage hastily summoned, and both the proprietor and +his clerk accompanied him to the hospital.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Immediately on their arrival, the most energetic measures +were adopted for the man’s recovery, although the +attending physicians looked grave and doubtful as they +remarked the failing condition of their patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>They gave him hypodermic injections of ether and +brandy, besides administering other remedies. His +stomach was emptied of its contents, and then a tube, +connected with a great jar of oxygen, was inserted in his +mouth, so that he could breathe pure oxygen instead of +air.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But all these efforts proved unavailing, and the doctors +then held a hurried consultation as to whether it would +be wise and best to try, as a last resort, the transfusion of +blood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He cannot live as he is—it is his only chance, and it +is worth trying—if we can find any one who is willing to +give up blood enough to save him,” the head physician +remarked, as he regarded with a sorrowful glance the +splendid physique and intellectual face of the man before +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He wanted to save his life, and he would gladly have +given all that was necessary of his own blood, but he +knew that he alone could perform that delicate and difficult +operation successfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then they began a hunt for some strong, well person +among the nurses, who would sacrifice some of his life-current.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But it seemed likely to prove a fruitless search, as no +one appeared willing to submit to the experiment of having +his veins opened for the benefit of another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One man sullenly muttered that he “hadn’t any more +blood than he needed himself.” Others stared vacantly +at the doctor, then shook their heads, turned on their +heels and walked away, and it seemed as if the undertaking +must be relinquished and the patient left to die; he +seemed very near death now, for every time he drew in a +breath of oxygen his body shook like a leaf.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall we do? I cannot let him die,” the physician +cried in an agony of anxiety, for every moment was +precious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned away in disgust from the strong men who +had refused his appeal, walked to the door and looked out +into the long corridor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No one was in sight, but the next moment a light step +<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>in the distance warned him that some one was approaching, +and then one of the nurses from the women’s department +came tripping around the corner from another +hall.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, Dr. Hunt!” she exclaimed, as she caught sight +of him, “I was just seeking you—the head nurse in +ward twelve wants you to come there immediately—a +new and critical case has just arrived.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot go at present,” the physician answered. “I +am in the greatest extremity myself, just now, over a case +of life or death, and only for the want of a little pure +blood which no one will give.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome Howland, for she was the nurse, was all interest +at once, and, lifting her eager, earnest face to his, +asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it—tell me, please?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was a favorite with Dr. Hunt, and he explained +the case to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He’s a magnificent fellow, and it is the greatest pity in +the world to let him die, without giving him this chance,” +he said in conclusion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And isn’t there anybody who will make so simple a +sacrifice for him?” the girl inquired, a curl of scorn +wreathing her lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No. I can’t find a man among all the nurses who has +courage enough to let me open a vein. I’d give my own +blood gladly, only there is no one else who can conduct +the operation. Heavens! I am getting desperate enough +to gag and bind some one and forcibly take his blood,” +Dr. Hunt concluded, as he gnawed his under lip savagely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was a moment of silence; then the fair girl before +him said, quietly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Hunt, I will give this young man a chance for his +life—you shall take from my veins all the blood that you +need.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The physician started and regarded her with astonishment. +He had not thought of calling upon a woman for +his experiment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Child!” he cried, “do you mean it?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>“I certainly do, doctor.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But,” scanning her face critically, “you do not look +as if you had any blood to spare.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why—because I am pale?” she asked, then added: +“That is natural to me, as you ought to know by this time, +though, perhaps, the excitement of the moment has intensified +my paleness a trifle. But I am well and strong, +and I know my blood is pure. I have never been ill. I +have no taint of disease about me. I have perfect confidence +in you, Dr. Hunt, and I know that if I am well +cared for afterward my veins will soon be so replenished as +to make up for the blood that you take from me. Do not +hesitate—do not waste precious time, but save this man’s +life if you can,” she concluded, with an earnestness, yet +with a calmness which won both his gratitude and admiration.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He laid his fingers upon her pulse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It beat full and strong beneath them, with the flowing +of the pure vigorous current of her life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are a noble girl!” he cried, as he ushered her into +the room from which he had but just come. “There is +the man who needs your blood!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hunt immediately dispatched a runner to tell the +head nurse of the ward Salome served in that he required +her services for the present, and her place must be filled +by another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he hastened the preparations for his vital experiment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A second cot was moved close beside the one on which +the young physician lay, and a tall screen drawn around +them, while all other necessary appliances were hastily +arranged.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was then led forward to the patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl gazed upon him for a moment, taking in at a +glance his grand physique, his noble head and fine face, +and a faint flush stole into her cream-like cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, he must not die!” she cried in a low, intense +tone, as she lifted a pair of appealing eyes to the head +physician. “Save him—save him, and be quick, Dr. +Hunt, or it may be too late!”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>Then, without a thought of self, she lay down upon the +cot prepared for her, and allowed her sleeve to be cut +from her dress, and her arm to be tightly bandaged about +the fleshy portion, even assisting in these operations herself, +without a tremor of fear or dread.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The arm of Dr. Winthrop was prepared in the same +way; then a hypodermic injection of cocaine was administered +to Salome, to deaden the pain, and all was ready +for the final act.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a firm and skilful hand, Dr. Hunt made an opening +about two inches in length in Dr. Winthrop’s right +arm, on the outside, just at the bevel in the elbow. He +cut away until he freed the median cephalic vein from +the surrounding tissues, after which he treated Salome’s +left arm in the same manner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then taking a long rubber tube, with a bulb in the +centre and a sharp-pointed steel tube at each end, he connected +the life-currents of those two human beings lying +side by side.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Successive compressions pumped the blood of the brave +girl into the veins of the strong but helpless man, and +she never flinched or moved once during the operation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lay with her eyes fixed in an anxious, eager look +upon that ghastly face opposite her, as if her whole soul +was concentrated upon the one thought of giving him life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When some ten or twelve ounces of blood had been infused +into the patient, a change began to be perceptible +in him; his pulse grew stronger, and he partly regained +consciousness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The physician then withdrew the tubes, tied the veins, +and sewed up the wounds in the two arms; but before this +work was finished the heroic nurse had fainted from loss +of blood and excitement, while, it became evident that the +young doctor was steadily improving, and stimulants, +mixed with strong beef-tea, were frequently administered +to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With tears in his eyes, Dr. Hunt himself gathered +Salome in his arms, laid her upon a stretcher, and had +her carried to one of the best private rooms in the hospital, +where, after restoring her to consciousness, he gave +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>her temporarily into the hands of another physician and +a competent nurse, while he went back to his other +patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was evident that the experiment was destined to +prove a success, for he found the young man breathing +naturally and conscious, although he could not yet speak.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They continued to give him nourishment and stimulants +at frequent intervals throughout the day, and by +evening he was much improved, although still weak and +languid from the terrible ordeal through which he had +passed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was able to converse a little with Dr. Hunt, who +had worked so faithfully to save him, when he made his +last round for the night. He told him that he was a +physician from New York city, and had come to Boston +at the invitation of a brother physician, to visit the various +hospitals of the city, and they had planned to come +that very day to the institution where he was now a +patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He said that he feared his friend must be suffering +great anxiety upon his account, as he had agreed to meet +him at his office at nine o’clock that morning, and he +would not know where to look for him, as he had sent +him no word at what hotel he would stop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hunt, appreciating the situation, at once dispatched +a messenger to Dr. Cutler, who came early the next morning +to the sick man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But though Dr. Winthrop steadily improved, he was +not able to leave his bed for several days; his system had +been so poisoned by the noxious gas that it took time to +eradicate it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime, he inquired and learned all about the circumstances +attending his critical condition and his almost +marvellous restoration.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That noble girl!” he had exclaimed, upon being told +how willingly, even eagerly, Salome Howland had given +up her life-blood for him. “She will have my everlasting +gratitude. Who is she, and where can I find her when I +am able to get away from here?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is one of our nurses,” Dr. Hunt replied, “a young +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>woman of remarkable nerve and strength of character, +and eminently fitted for the life she has chosen.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>From this brief description, Dr. Winthrop gained the +impression that Salome might have been some strong-minded, +rather masculine woman, of perhaps twenty-five +or thirty years, with a heart and brain entirely devoted +to the study and practice of her profession.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He meant to see her as soon as he was able to leave +his room, express his hearty gratitude for the priceless +boon she had bestowed upon him, and assure her of his +readiness to befriend her or hers to the extent of his power, +if she should ever require the services of a friend.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How soon and how strangely such a requirement would +be forced on him, he did not dream, neither could he +have any suspicion how vitally these incidents were to +affect his whole future life.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER III.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP BECOMES ACQUAINTED WITH SALOME.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Meantime, how fared it with the heroic young nurse, +who had so trustfully surrendered herself into the +hands of Dr. Hunt, and sacrificed so much to save the life +of another?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Pale as a snow-flake, and weak as an infant from the +loss of blood, of which the physician, in his eagerness +to make sure of the life he was trying to save, had taken +a more generous supply than was perhaps wise—she lay +in a large sunny room, tenderly cared for by an efficient +nurse, and closely and anxiously watched by Dr. Hunt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not rally as rapidly as he had hoped and expected; +her blood did not make as fast as it ought to have +done, under the nourishing diet and judicious treatment +that she was receiving, and the good man was greatly +troubled as well as puzzled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It pained him deeply, and kept him wretchedly anxious +to see her lying there day after day so languid and weak; +so spiritless and nerveless—all her natural energy and +vigor apparently exhausted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What am I going to do with you, my girl, if you do not +hurry up and get back your strength?” Dr. Hunt asked +her one morning, with an assumed playfulness which he +was far from feeling, and experiencing something very +like a sense of guilt beneath the heavy glance of Salome’s +great eyes. “I can hardly forgive myself for having +robbed you of your strength.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray, do not regret your experiment, since it has +proved such a success,” the young girl began.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall not account it a success if it should result in +prolonged injury to you,” he interrupted gravely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, it will not,” she answered, trying to speak reassuringly; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>“I shall soon be better. I do not suffer; I am +only a little weak. But how is he—your patient—to-day?” +she added, drooping her heavily fringed lids, +while she nervously toyed with her handkerchief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He is doing excellently,” Dr. Hunt answered with +animation, for he had been jubilant over the success of his +experiment. “So well,” he added, “that he is going to +leave the hospital to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To-morrow!” breathed Salome, in a startled tone, a +faint flush leaping to her waxen cheek, while her heart +began to flutter strangely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; it is ten days since he began to rally, and he has +improved very rapidly; but I am afraid he has drawn +heavily upon your vitality, my child,” the physician concluded +with a sigh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled slightly; for she realized, if Dr. Hunt +did not, something of the secret of her present weakness; +for while she lay upon that other cot beside that noblelooking +man, her whole soul had been concentrated upon +the one thought of giving him life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Take the best, the very best that I can give—only +let him live!” had been her continuous prayer as she +watched every compression of the bulb which had served +to pump her life-current into his veins, until it had +seemed to her as if she had literally willed and infused +her strength and vigor into him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Never mind,” she said, with a quick upward glance, +in which he seemed to read a gleam of exultation, “it +will soon come again, and—I am very glad.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was so much of self-abnegation in what she said, +that Dr. Hunt felt a suspicious moisture filling his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are the noblest girl I ever knew,” he said, with +evident emotion. Then he added, with an effort at self-control: +“But Dr. Winthrop begs the favor of an interview +with you that he may personally express his gratitude for +the inestimable gift you have bestowed upon him. I was +commissioned to ask if you would receive him to-day—that +is, if you feel able. Or,” as he studied her downcast +face critically, “shall I tell him to wait until you are +stronger?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>He was at a loss how to explain her case; he could not +understand it; it baffled him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He reasoned that, strong and vigorous as her constitution +naturally was, she should have rallied at once; that +a couple of weeks, at the most, should have served to put +her where she was before. But nearly two weeks had +already elapsed, and she had scarcely strength to turn on +her pillow, while, strangest of all, she expressed no anxiety +or impatience to get well and go about her duties again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could he have read her heart, he would have been puzzled +no longer. Could he have known that from the +moment when he had led her to the young physician’s side, +when she had looked into his face, and realized at a +glance the kind of man he was—could he have known +that as he was pumping the blood from her veins into his, +all the finest and tenderest sensibilities of her nature were +being absorbed in him, that henceforth she would feel herself +a part of him, that life away from him would never +hold any charm for her—he might not have wondered at +her present condition; it would have explained everything +to him, and then, perhaps, he might have felt that he was +responsible for a broken heart as well as an impaired +constitution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Strange as this may seem in a girl of such mental +strength as Salome Howland, it was nevertheless true.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She realized that she was no longer her own, that she +had given herself with her life-blood to another, and that +other a stranger whom she had seen but once, whom perhaps +she might never see again, who—dreadful thought!—for +aught she knew might already be the husband of +another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt shamed, humiliated, terrified, when she awoke +to a consciousness of such sentiments as these. Shamed +and humiliated, because she had been so weak as to +give her love unsought, and found that she had no power +to rise above it; terrified because of the miserable blank +that seemed to lie before her, if this man were destined to +vanish as suddenly out of her life as he had come into it. +How could she live with the mainspring of life—love—thus +rudely wrenched out of her being forever?</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>This was why she had no incentive, no real desire to +recover—why the duties which hitherto had been the +chief object of her life had suddenly lost their charm and +interest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This, too, was why, when Dr. Hunt told her that Dr. +Winthrop desired an interview, she was oppressed by a +sudden sense of guilt, which caused her head to droop +and the conscious color to leap to her very brow in a hot +crimson tide.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her judgment told her that it would be better to deny +him the interview, for to see him again would only +serve to intensify the sudden and, as she believed, hopeless +passion that had taken possession of her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yet, in opposition to this, a feeling of ecstasy thrilled +her at the thought of being again in his presence—his +living, conscious presence; of meeting the glance of his +eyes—brown, black, or blue, she knew not which; or +hearing the tones of his voice and, perchance, feeling the +touch of his hand—that hand which, but for her, would +now have been cold and rigid in death.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Only for once,” she told herself. Just once she would +see him and listen to his voice, and then she would hide +the memory of it in the depths of her heart to live upon +during all the lonely future which must now lie before +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I will see him to-day,” she said to Dr. Hunt, +with a little quiver of her delicate lips; “only please ask +him not to speak of—gratitude.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course he will speak of gratitude, dear child,” returned +the physician. “Pray do not deny him that slight +return when you have given him the most precious boon +this side of heaven, and at such a sacrifice, too.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome flushed again, but of course she could not +argue the question further, and Dr. Hunt remarked, as +he turned to leave the room:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You may look for a call from my other patient between +two and three this afternoon.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>All day, after that, the nurse who cared for her wondered +if it was simply excitement that caused that delicate +sea-shell pink to linger in the cheeks of the fair invalid +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>and her eyes to gleam with a light such as she had never +seen in them before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At half-past two there came a tap on Salome’s door, +and the next moment Dr. Hunt, followed by Dr. Winthrop, +entered the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The physician led his companion directly to his patient, +saying in his frank, hearty fashion:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This, my young friend, is the noble girl who rendered +you such valuable service a while ago. Miss Howland, +allow me to introduce Dr. Winthrop to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A queer little smile wreathed Dr. Hunt’s lips as he performed +this ceremony, while his kind eyes rested admiringly +upon the fair invalid before him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Hitherto, he had seen Salome in her plain dark dress +only, with her nurse’s cap and apron, and he had thought +her very attractive in that simple garb; but now she +appeared strikingly beautiful, despite her pallor and loss +of flesh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In anticipation of the call, the young girl had sent her +nurse to her room, to bring a pretty crimson cashmere +wrapper, which had lain unused in her trunk ever since +her admission to the hospital.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was beautifully made and richly trimmed with quilted +satin of the same shade, and there were full ruchings at +the throat and wrists of finest Valenciennes lace. The +dress was extremely becoming to her complexion, with +her dark hair and eyes, and she certainly was a lovely +vision, with the delicate flush still on her cheeks and that +gleam of light in her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is certainly some mystery about this girl,” +said Dr. Hunt to himself. “She was never intended for +a nurse in a common hospital, in spite of her peculiar +adaptation to such work; there is some peculiar reason +for her being here, or I am greatly mistaken. I’d wager +a round sum that she belongs, or has belonged, to some +wealthy and aristocratic family.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What a perfectly lovely girl!” was Dr. Winthrop’s +mental observation, as he went forward and bent over +and clasped Salome’s white hand, a thrill of reverence +and gratitude stirring his heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>She raised her eyes to his as she greeted him, and looking +into those deep blue orbs, so kind, so frank, so genial, +she read there something of the man’s nobility of soul, +something of his grand and lofty character, and a feeling +of exultation took possession of her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My blood flows in his veins—my life mingles with +his! I have saved this man from death!” was the glad +thought that leaped to her brain, sending a deeper flush +to her cheeks, a brighter light into her expressive eyes. +Was there some peculiar magnetism in the mutual clasp +of their hands?</p> + +<p class='c011'>There might or might not have been—no one can tell; +but the fact remains that during that brief interval, in +that simple touch, in that one swift glance, soul met soul, +heart spoke to heart, and each was conscious that a vital +change had suddenly come over their lives; that the hitherto +quiet and undisturbed pool in the depths of their +nature had been agitated by some unseen spirit, and the +ripples widening into ever-increasing circles would influence +all their future.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Was it the magnetism—the spirit of love?</p> + +<p class='c011'>All this was concentrated into a moment of time; the +next Salome’s eyes drooped beneath the earnest, admiring +look of her companion, and the color mounted to her +temples.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young man noticed her embarrassment and gently +released her hand, which he found himself holding in a +closer clasp than was warrantable in a total stranger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Howland,” he said, in tones that trembled with +emotion, “I am deeply moved by this meeting and all the +thoughts it arouses, and I find myself tongue-tied before +you, when I should be eloquent from gratitude and admiration.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray, do not magnify a simple duty,” Salome began, +lifting an appealing glance to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A simple duty!” he repeated, interrupting her. “It +was a priceless gift that you bestowed upon me—I feel it +a debt that I can never repay.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not say that,” she returned, looking slightly troubled. +Then she added with a smile and a glance that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>made his heart leap, “a free gift can never become a debt, +so please do not be longer burdened, Dr. Winthrop.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Heaven bless you, Miss Howland,” the young man +said, leaning toward her, and speaking with evident +effort. “I see that you are sensitive upon the subject of +my obligation,” he added, “but just let me tell you that +henceforth my life will be doubly precious, since something +of the life of so noble a woman is mingled with it, and I +shall treasure the memory of your lofty deed as the most +sacred of all memories. Now tell me that you are really +better to-day, for if my strength has been restored at the +permanent sacrifice of yours I fear it will be a perpetual +burden upon my conscience.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am better,” Salome answered brightly. “Truly, +I feel stronger this afternoon. If,” with a shy smile and a +saucy little nod at the elder physician “if Dr. Hunt would +not make quite such a baby of me, I believe I should get +about my duties more quickly.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Baby, indeed!” retorted the good doctor, “when people +have only the pulse of a baby they must be treated +accordingly; eh, Winthrop?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He came forward as he spoke and laid his skilled fingers +upon her wrist.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But it was no baby’s pulse that he counted then!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her blood was rushing at a racehorse speed through +her veins, and the man regarded her with a curious glance, +while he marvelled at her almost bewildering beauty, +heightened as it was by the brilliant flush on her cheeks +and the light in her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I trust that Miss Howland will be patient and allow +herself to be properly cared for until she entirely recovers +her strength,” Dr. Winthrop gravely remarked, while his +glance lingered wistfully upon her face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We shall have her in a fever if we subject her to too +much excitement,” Dr. Hunt remarked, with his fingers +still upon her bounding pulse, “so, Winthrop, if you +please, we will not prolong our call to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young physician arose at once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope we have not already taxed your strength too +much by this interview, Miss Howland?” he said regretfully. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>“I shall be in Boston for two or three weeks +longer, and, if you will allow me—if I shall not intrude, +it would give me pleasure to call upon you again and see +for myself how you are. Believe me, I shall not know +a moment’s peace until you are entirely recovered.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very kind, Dr. Winthrop,” Salome responded, +with downcast eyes and a rapidly beating heart, “and I +shall be glad to see you if you care to come again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” he heartily returned; then, after a handclasp +in farewell, he followed Dr. Hunt from the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What an exquisitely beautiful girl!” he exclaimed, as +they passed down the long corridor together, “she is an +entirely different person from what I imagined from your +description of her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum! I didn’t know she was quite so pretty myself +until to-day,” said Dr. Hunt reflectively. “I’ve never +seen her in anything but the hospital uniform before—perhaps +that’s the reason.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is she obliged to make nursing her business?” inquired +the younger man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose so; at least, I imagine she is obliged to do +something for her own support, and perhaps, having a love +for this profession, she chose it in preference to anything +else.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop looked thoughtful, but did not speak +again until they reached Dr. Hunt’s office, when he took +leave of him, and departed to meet his friend, Dr. Cutler, +and begin his tour of investigation in the different institutions +of the city.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two days later he made another call upon Salome, and +thought her somewhat better.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He chatted nearly an hour, and was surprised to find +her as cultivated mentally as she was beautiful personally.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He took pains to draw her out, and Salome, delighted +to find her companion so genial and interesting, forgot +herself and was really charming.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is far too lovely to bury herself in a sick-room—nursing +is too hard, too thankless a task for one so gifted, +mentally and physically, as she,” the young man mused +as he left her.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>The next morning a basket of luscious fruit and a +great cluster of Maréchal Niel roses found their way to +Salome’s room, and in the midst of the latter, she discovered +a card bearing the name of “T. H. Winthrop, M. D.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She seemed greatly changed from the sad-eyed, grave-faced +girl who had applied for entrance to the hospital as +a nurse on that dismal November day. She was brighter +and more animated in her manner; there was always a +happy smile on her lips, a brilliant, almost joyous light +in her eyes, and yet she did not seem to gain strength. +The slightest exertion set her panting like a frightened +hare. If she attempted to walk from her bed to her +chair she would be exhausted, almost fainting from the +effort, and Dr. Hunt was greatly exercised over her peculiar +symptoms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If this experiment of mine should develop an affection +of the heart, I should find it hard to forgive myself for +having taken her blood,” he muttered one day on leaving +her, after imagining that he had detected signs of such a +disorder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop went almost every day to see her, and +always with some dainty offering of fruit or flowers, or +perchance some entertaining book or periodical—these +latter were often productive of an interesting discussion—and +when he was unable to pay his usual call, he sent +some reminder of himself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was very generous with these gifts, and shared +them with many a suffering patient, but she was never +without some bud or spray of these precious mementos +in her hands or on her breast, while every day she became +more and more conscious that she was growing to love the +giver even to the verge of idolatry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She would not, however, allow herself to analyze her +feelings, though she was now and then smitten with a +consciousness of approaching sorrow or danger. She +simply lived from day to day in the joyful expectation of +his coming, and the delight of his presence, without questioning +the wisdom of thus bestowing the wealth of her +love upon him, or what life would be to her when he +should return to his home and practice in New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>One day he told her that he was to spend the whole of +the coming week in that hospital, to witness two or three +critical operations and their subsequent treatment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s heart leaped with sudden joy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For a whole week she was to live beneath the same +roof with him, and see him every day, perhaps oftener.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The rich color surged up over her face, and her lips +quivered in a tender smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“After that,” added Dr. Winthrop with an unconscious +sigh, “I must go home to my duties.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A sudden blindness, a sense of dizziness, rushed over her +as she realized what his departure would mean to her. +For the first time she fully comprehended how blank, +how devoid of all that could make life desirable to her +the world would be when he should be gone. A deadly +paleness overspread her features, she gasped once or twice, +and then sank quietly back in her chair, where she lay +without life or motion, like some beautiful spirit from +another world.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IV.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP MAKES A STARTLING PROPOSAL.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Dr. Winthrop had not been looking at Salome +when he made the announcement of his contemplated +departure. He was gazing out of the window beside which +he sat, at some of the patients who were strolling in the +park—for the day was very mild, almost spring-like, and +those who were well enough had been allowed to go out +to take the air—and he had not a suspicion of the effect +which his words had produced.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After a moment or two, however, not receiving any reply, +and the silence becoming oppressive, he turned to +glance at Salome, and was dismayed to find her unconscious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He sprang to her side, gathered her in his arms, and +laid her upon the bed, and fortunately at that moment +Dr. Hunt entered the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter here?” he sharply demanded, a +look of concern on his honest face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, all unconscious that the announcement +of his approaching departure had caused the swoon, explained +that he had turned to the window to watch the +patients in the park, and when he looked back again he +found Miss Howland unconscious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am afraid there is something very serious the +trouble with Miss Howland,” he added, with a very grave +face. “I have been watching her very closely of late, and +I have begun to fear atrophy of the heart, superinduced +by the loss of blood.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are right. I have feared the same myself, yet I +was as sparing as I dared to be and make sure of your +life,” Dr. Hunt replied, with a regretful look into Salome’s +white face. “But,” he added, “unless this trouble, that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>has recently shown itself is arrested at once, I can only +predict the worse.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop looked deeply distressed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And I am accountable for it,” he said, in a pained +tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tut—tut! You are no more accountable for it than I +am—nor so much, perhaps,” responded the physician +somewhat sharply, for he keenly felt the responsibility of +having consented to accept Salome’s generous sacrifice in +that critical experiment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She would tell you,” he went on, “that no one but +herself should be blamed—we did what we thought was +best, time was precious, and a longer delay would have +been fatal to you; but, Heaven willing, I hope she may be +saved even yet. I only wish she had a happy home in this +city. She needs constant watching and diversion without +excitement, as well as the kind and loving attention +of friends.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She will have to give up her profession as a nurse—she +will not be strong enough for such a life,” Dr. Winthrop +remarked thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, at least, not for some time to come; and a great +pity it is, too, for a more faithful, conscientious little +nurse I never saw,” Dr. Hunt responded, as he administered +a second potion to revive the unconscious girl and +anxiously watched for its effect.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where are her friends?” Dr. Winthrop inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t know—I doubt if she has any; but, hush! she +is reviving,” was the swift, subdued reply, as Salome +slowly unclosed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Something of this, however, Salome had heard, indistinctly +or as if she had been in a dream; but the meaning +of it came to her gradually afterward, when she was +able to think over what had occurred, and it filled her +with dismay.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Atrophy of the heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was familiar enough with medical terms to understand +what Dr. Winthrop meant, and she knew, also, +that there would be no more nursing for her at present, +if indeed ever, if their fears should be verified.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>Must she surrender all her hopes—all her plans? Must +she go away from the seclusion of her present retreat—out +again into the world from which she had been hiding, +away from that haven of safety where she had felt so +content, so sure that no one could find her, and where she +had begun to feel that she was doing so much good?</p> + +<p class='c011'>What could she do? Whither could she turn without a +home, or friends to give her the care which she needed?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh! my future will be desolate indeed if I cannot work—if +I cannot have any object in life—more desolate than +ever, now that my path has crossed his. How can I +bear it?” she moaned, when the next day after her attack, +she was trying to think of a way out of the slough in +which she had suddenly found herself sinking. Weakened +by her illness, she had not the self-control which she usually +possessed, and sobs broke from her pale lips—tears +streamed over her wan cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the midst of this emotion her nurse opened the door +and announced:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Winthrop, miss.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Before she could wipe her tears or check her sobs, he +had entered and she could not conceal her grief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He came toward her, deep concern written upon his +face, while the nurse, glad to be relieved, slipped away +again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Howland!” he exclaimed, “are you in trouble? +Am I intruding? Shall I go away?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked up at him and tried to smile, as she hastily +brushed the bright drops from her cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, do not go,” she said; “perhaps I am nervous, +and need cheerful company to help me forget myself.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He brought a chair and sat beside her, a sudden determination +seizing him to know the cause of her tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He laid his usual offering upon her lap as he seated +himself—a dainty bouquet of lilies of the valley.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, how lovely!” she cried, and her face brightened +instantly; “they are so sweet!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, they signify ‘unconscious sweetness,’ and are +like some people whom I know,” said the young man +significantly. “And now, Miss Howland,” he continued +<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>in a tone of gentle authority, “tell me why I find you +so depressed—what is it that troubles you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome met his glance with grave, sad eyes, her brightness +all vanishing, and said frankly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was not wholly unconscious yesterday, Dr. Winthrop. +I heard what you and Dr. Hunt said, regarding my condition, +and I have studied <em>materia medica</em> enough to know +what atrophy of the heart means.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did you hear our conversation?” cried Dr. Winthrop +regretfully. “And yet,” he added, “I do not know but it +is better, on the whole, that you should be warned in season. +Give up your work and return to your friends to +be cared for. Where is your home, Miss Howland?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s white face flushed for an instant, and then +grew paler than before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I—have no home, Dr. Winthrop. I have no friends,” +she replied, after a moment of hesitation. “And,” she +continued, her now pallid lips quivering painfully, “if I +have atrophy of the heart, and can never work any more, +I—am—ready—to die. I hope I may die soon.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, no, you must not die—it is not so bad as that—you +shall not die!” the young physician cried, startled +out of his usual self-possession by her hopeless words, +while a spasm of pain contracted his brow. “You are too +young for such a fate—you must live. Salome!” with a +sudden thrill in his tone, that was like the influence of +old wine in her veins, “live for me! be my wife, and let +me cherish you and win you back to health—let me throw +around you the tenderness and care which you need at +this time. Ah!” as he marked the swift, rich color that +suffused her face, “do not let this excite you; I know +it must seem sudden—forced, perhaps; but the exigency +of the case demands prompt action. Will you, Salome? +will you give yourself to me, who owe you so much? +could you learn to love me well enough to be my wife?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He reached out, took both her hands in his, and looked +beseechingly down upon her face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For a moment she was too surprised and agitated to +speak or even to fully comprehend all that this astounding +proposal meant to her. It seemed like a beautiful +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>dream, an entrancing vision which must vanish if she +moved or answered him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then a quiver of deep, deep joy went thrilling along her +nerves like an electric current, the burning blush mounted +to her forehead and was lost in the waves of her hair, and +her lips trembled with the excess of unexpected happiness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lifted her eyes to his in one brief questioning glance +as if to assure herself that her ears had not deceived her. +It was full of trust, of love, of the deep joy that pervaded +her whole being, and Truman Winthrop read all that he +wished to know—read that she loved him with her whole +soul. But he dared not betray the wild joy that went +surging through him at the knowledge, for fear of exciting +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He simply raised those two white hands that lay so +unresistingly in his clasp, and pressed his lips first upon +one and then the other.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, you love me—you will be my wife?” he +breathed, and she longed to throw herself upon his breast +and surrender herself wholly to the delight of loving and +being loved.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then sudden terror seized her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If she was to be an invalid for long years, or if she was +doomed, and had not long to live, it would be wrong to +clog his life, to burden him at the very beginning of his +career, with a sick and dying wife. Loving him as she +did, she could not bear the thought of bringing such trouble +and sorrow upon him. Better to live out her little +life alone, even though her heart yearned so strongly for +his love and care, and might break in the sacrifice for his +sake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was watching her and waiting for her answer with +what calmness he could assume. He had tried to repress +his feelings, and hold himself in check as much as possible, +in making this proposal to her, for his knowledge of her +condition warned him that any excessive excitement might +bring on another fainting turn and do her great injury, +and so his full heart was nearly bursting with the wealth +of his repressed love; for he had learned to love her during +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>this short acquaintance, as he had never believed it +possible that he could love any woman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!” he entreated, as she was still silent, struggling +between love and duty; “answer me, please.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How can I? I ought not to burden you, all broken +in health as I am,” she murmured tremulously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you love me?” he questioned eagerly, and trying +to look into her downcast eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—oh, yes! but I must not clog your life.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>His face became suddenly glorified—if she could have +seen it, maybe she would not have judged him as she did +later—but ever thoughtful of her good he held himself +well in hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Clog my life,” he repeated, in a low, intense, yet calm +tone. “To whom do I owe the life that I have to-day? +To whom have you sacrificed the strength that you lack +to-day? Do not reason thus, Salome—you will be no burden, +no clog; you will get well with the right kind of care. +I shall take you away from here to a more genial atmosphere—wherever +you wish to go—wherever you can be +happiest—until you are well and strong; then you shall +help me in my work, for a doctor often needs aid and +counsel from his wife.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you really believe that I shall ever be well and +strong again?” Salome asked doubtfully, lifting her grave +eyes to his face, and searching it earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I certainly do, under the right conditions—if you can +be happy, care-free, and have proper treatment. Will +you marry me, Salome? I dare not excite you too much, +but I am very anxious for my answer.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And lifting a flushed and happy face to him, she whispered:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had put such a relentless curb upon himself for her +sake, that this sudden granting of his request was almost +more than he could calmly bear, and for a moment he +grew ghastly pale from the very intensity of his emotion—this, +too, she remembered later, and judged him for it—then +he bent quietly forward and touched his lips to her +forehead, thus sealing their betrothal.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>At that moment the footsteps of the returning nurse +sounded in the corridor, and quickly releasing the hands +of his betrothed, Dr. Winthrop arose and going to a table, +poured out a few quieting drops from a vial, and gave +them to Salome. He saw that, in spite of her great new +happiness, the interview had been a severe tax upon her +small amount of strength, for she was trembling visibly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A few moments later he took his leave, but promised +that he would look in upon her again before evening.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For more than an hour after his departure, Salome lay +back in her chair, weak and weary from her recent emotion +and excitement, but happier than she had ever expected +to be in this world.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very pale, but a smile of peace was on her +lips, and the light of a new joy shone in her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who would have thought that such a blessed lot was +in store for me when I came to this place of suffering, to +toil for others, on that dreary day when I was so lonely, +so friendless, and thought only of hiding myself from +every one who had ever known me?” she mused, as she +went over and over again in her mind every incident connected +with that recent interview.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could hardly realize, even now, that she was to be +the wife of that grand man; for grand she was sure he was +in every sense of the word, although she knew comparatively +nothing of him—nothing of his family nor what her +life was to be in connection with them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She only knew that she loved him and trusted him implicitly; +that life without him would not be worth an effort to +prolong; but with him she felt that she could battle for +it with all the power of her strong will. Already it almost +seemed as if new vigor had been infused in her veins, and +when the nurse brought up her dinner she felt really and +thoroughly hungry for the first time during her illness, and +she ate heartily, greatly to the delight of her attendant, +who had taken especial pains to prepare something tempting +and appetizing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>About the middle of the afternoon Dr. Hunt made his +appearance, and looked the astonishment he experienced +upon seeing her toying with some pretty fancy work.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>“Well, well, well!” he exclaimed, and a gleam of +amusement began to twinkle in his kind eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After counting her pulse, he playfully pulled one of her +ears and inquired, with a roguish smile:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is this you have been doing, my young lady?” +and he assumed a tone of mock displeasure. “Allowing +a strange doctor to come here and steal away one of my +best nurses! Give an account of yourself, Miss Howland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome blushed delightfully, and the sweetest little +laugh in the world rippled over her lips and was real music +in the doctor’s ears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t believe there will be any further shrinking of +that heart,” he continued with a chuckle. “I no longer +fear atrophy; on the contrary, I predict a fatal enlargement +of that organ.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Fatal?” repeated Salome, still blushing, but not quite +comprehending his meaning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, fatal,” he answered, without changing a muscle +of his countenance, “for Miss Howland will soon be no +more.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh,” breathed Salome, with renewed confusion, and +darting an appealing glance at him as she made a gesture +toward the nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, it is an open secret,” retorted the doctor, enjoying +her embarrassment, while the attendant smiled wisely. +“Your New York physician evidently intends to carry +matters with a high hand and not waste any precious time, +for he formally announced his engagement this morning; +so of course the news has spread like wildfire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Doubtless he thought that he had jested enough upon the +subject, for he changed the topic.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After a few questions he sent the attendant from the +room upon some errand; then he said abruptly and earnestly +to Salome:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My dear,” with a tender inflection, for he had become +very fond of the girl, “I just want to assure myself that +everything is all right, for somehow I have grown to feel +a deep interest in you, and I should be very sorry to have +any sorrow come to you in the future, because of a too +<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>hasty decision upon so important a matter. You are sure, +my child, that you will be happy in the life opening before +you? Tell me, Salome, frankly, as you would tell +your own father.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Hunt, you have been very kind to me ever since I +came here, and I will confide in you freely,” Salome answered, +with heightened color. “From the moment that +you began to infuse the life-current from my veins into +Dr. Winthrop’s I have felt as if I belonged to him and he +to me—as if our very souls had been united with the union +of our blood. Doubtless some people would affirm that +this was only a sentimental idea. It may be so; if it is I +cannot help it. To me it is a veritable fact, and I believe +if we had been separated—if Dr. Winthrop had gone away +and I had never seen him again—he would have carried +away so much of my life with him that I should never +have rallied; I should have died in spite of all your kind +care.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hunt believed it too, even while he marvelled at +the curious result which his experiment had produced; a +result of which he had not had the remotest presentiment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You love him, Salome?” he said, regarding her with +increasing tenderness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“With all my heart,” she murmured tremulously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then Heaven bless you! I believe you will be a very +happy woman in the future,” the good physician said +heartily, adding: “Dr. Winthrop is an unusually talented +man and a skilled physician. I believe he is a noble +man, too—upright and conscientious, and I value his +friendship highly. He belongs to a fine family, as perhaps +you already know—a very wealthy family, too, and +considering all things, I am only too glad to surrender +my favorite nurse to him, since I cannot keep her here. +And I also believe, Salome, that you will get well and +strong under the influence of this new happiness.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know I shall,” she responded confidently, for, with +the deep joy in her heart, the conviction had been growing +upon her all day.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER V.<br> <span class='c009'>A ROMANTIC WEDDING.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Salome grew very thoughtful after Dr. Hunt left her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had not given a thought to Truman Winthrop’s +position in life nor to the possibility of his having a family +who might not approve of his choice of a wife, and +she became quite troubled in spirit.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His family was a very wealthy one—Dr. Hunt had said—consequently +they were liable to be a very proud family. +Would they be willing to receive a poor young +nurse as the bride of the aristocratic and brilliant physician?</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had nothing to give him in return for the wealth +and position he would bestow on her, but her true love +and a very weak and insufficient hand; while he, situated +as he was, might have won almost any one, from the higher +walks of life, to be his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>More than this, there were certain circumstances connected +with her own life which she had forgotten to tell +him, during the excitement of his proposal—indeed, he +had given her no opportunity to do so, in his eagerness +to gain her consent—but which might make him hesitate +to marry her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must tell him,” she murmured with a troubled brow. +“I ought to have told him before he bound himself to me. +I must not allow him to sacrifice himself nor his future +interests. I must not run the risk of alienating him from +his family; I love him far too well to wish to mar his life +in any way.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But these thoughts and resolutions made her very nervous +and anxious, and when Dr. Winthrop came again +late in the afternoon, as he had promised, he found her excited +and feverish.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>“What is it—what troubles you, Salome?” he inquired +as he took her hot, dry hand and was startled by the almost +spasmodic twitching of her small fingers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have been thinking—I have something to tell you—I +ought to have told you before, all about myself and my +family——” she began tremulously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” he commanded, with gentle authority, “you +shall tell me nothing while you are in this state; you are +not even to think of anything that annoys you——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I care nothing about your genealogy or previous history +just now,” he said, stopping her short; then added, +“I am sure there can be nothing connected with either for +which you have cause to blush.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, indeed!” interposed Salome, with a proud uplifting +of her small head, a smile of conscious rectitude curling +her lips. “As a child I was very tenderly reared; I +had every advantage, I was happy, beloved, and while my +mother lived there was not a more harmonious family in +the world; but—later——” a shiver ran over her as certain +painful memories suddenly arose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” said Dr. Winthrop again, for she had begun +to tremble violently, and grow red and white by turns, +“this excites you, and you shall not talk any more about +it. I am satisfied with you as you are, Salome; you have +told me that you are alone in the world, and so your antecedents +cannot affect me in any way since you have assured +me that no taint rests upon them. Just see how unnerved +you are becoming, my child,” as in her weak state her +teeth actually began to chatter. “You are not to talk +any more on this subject now; some other time when you +are strong and well you shall tell me all the trials and +troubles of your past, which you think I ought to know. +I am sure, however, that there will be nothing that I could +condemn; the only thing I could not forgive would be a +wilful deception on your part regarding your affection for +me—you are sure that you love me, Salome?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>His tone was grave and earnest, and he regarded her +searchingly as he asked the question.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>She lifted her beautiful eyes to his, and he read in them +only truth and constancy, even before she answered:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, with my whole soul!” and her fingers closed almost +convulsively over the hand that was holding hers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you have never loved any one before?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no; never,” she said, with strange vehemence, +while another shiver, like a sudden chill, ran over her +frame.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is all I want to know of your past at present,” +he said. “And now, when will you be my wife, Salome? +You are ill, and though you might perhaps have the best +of care here, I do not feel that I can leave my betrothed in +a city hospital, when it is in my power to provide her +with every comfort. I must leave for New York by the +last of this week, and I want to take you with me; so there +will have to be a little knot tied right away.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So soon,” murmured Salome, but with a thrill of joy +over the knowledge that he was unwilling to be separated +from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—so soon,” he repeated, smiling, “as soon as to-morrow, +or the next day at the farthest.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But your family—they do not know—what will they +think? How will they receive me?” she stammered, her +face crimson, her heart fluttering.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My family can have comparatively little to do with +this most vital question of my life,” Dr. Winthrop gravely +replied. “They are all in Europe at present—my father +and mother, my brother and sister; but when they return, +they will assuredly accord my wife a proper reception.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>His tone was not reassuring; somehow it seemed to confirm +her fears that they were proud, haughty, and exclusive.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked up into his face, a troubled expression upon +hers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it?” he asked kindly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Hunt tells me that they are wealthy, aristocratic; +I am only a poor nurse—are you sure you will never +regret? are you sure——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall never regret choosing you for my wife, Salome,” +he answered quietly. “Of what else do you wish me to be +sure?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>“That—that you—love me!” she whispered, trembling.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, how he longed to catch her to his heart, smother +her with kisses, and caresses, and pour out all the passionate +love that was surging so fiercely within him; but +he dared not. Already she was laboring under far more +excitement than was good for her, and he was afraid to +augment it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But again he made a mistake, for the surest way to have +soothed and quieted her would have been to assure her of +his deep and absorbing affection. He did not realize, +in his anxiety to care for her health, that he was withholding +just the food which her hungry heart craved and +needed most. She longed for the spontaneous overflow +of a love akin to her own, and could not be quite satisfied +with the quiet, self-contained manner in which he had +wooed her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He passed his arm about her slight form and asked, with +something of reproach in the forced calmness of his tone:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can you doubt it, Salome, when I asked you to assume +the most sacred relations to me? Can you not trust +me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she answered, regarding him wistfully, and beginning +to feel very weary—too weary to longer argue the +point; but still not quite satisfied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It had occurred to her that perhaps gratitude for what +she had done for him, and pity for her in her illness, her +homeless and friendless condition, might perhaps have influenced +him somewhat in asking her to marry him; that, +perchance, he felt he owed it to her to take care of her +and try to restore her to health, in return for her sacrifice +in saving his life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But such an interpretation of his motives was like a +dagger in her heart, and she put it quickly away, telling +herself that he could not be so untrue to himself and her; +that his calm, quiet, dignified manner was natural to him, +and like deep waters whose powerful undercurrent could +not be detected upon the surface.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” he said, a tender smile illuminating his +face, which she did not see unfortunately, as her wistful +glance had drooped an instant before. “And may I tell +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>Dr. Hunt and the superintendent that you will become my +wife to-morrow?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>As well, perhaps better, to-morrow than later, she +thought in her weakness, only too glad to leave the decision +and all arrangements to him.</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>The next afternoon there was a quiet wedding in the reception-room +belonging to the matron of the hospital. It +was witnessed only by the nurse who had attended Salome, +the matron, the superintendent, and good Dr. Hunt, who +asked the privilege of giving the bride away.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a strange wedding, but an impressive one, for +there were certain elements of romance and mystery connected +with it which could not fail to make themselves +felt. The critical condition and delicacy of the bride, +together with her apparent friendlessness, made the occasion +extremely pathetic to all save Salome herself, who +was surprisingly calm. There was a light upon her face +and in her eyes which plainly revealed her great love for +the man to whose care and keeping she had so freely given +herself, and for whom she had yielded her precious life-blood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked very lovely in her pretty dress of gray silk—another +treasure which had been stored away in her +trunk, and which had caused the nurse, who acted as maid, +to open her eyes in surprise as she remarked its richness +of texture and trimming.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“One would never believe you to be a poor nurse with +such lovely clothes as you have, Miss Howland,” she had +remarked as her glance lingered upon other dainty articles +in the well-filled trunk from which it had been exhumed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome made no reply, but a curious little smile in +which there was a tinge of bitterness curved her beautiful +lips as she shook out the folds of her lustrous silk and +then gave it to her to be made ready for her bridal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her only ornament when she was dressed was an exquisite +bouquet of long-stemmed white roses tied with a heavy +white ribbon, which the thoughtful groom had provided +for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>When the clergyman called for the seal to their vows, +Dr. Winthrop produced a heavy band of gold and slipped +it upon Salome’s finger, solemnly repeating the words, +“With this ring I thee wed and with all my worldly goods +I thee endow.” But the shining circlet proved to be far +too large, and came near falling off again, a circumstance +which made the bride turn pale and shiver slightly, as +some imp of misery suddenly suggested it was perhaps +ominous, and that this great new happiness might even +now slip from her grasp as the ring seemed ready to slip +from her finger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was obliged to close her hand in order to hold it +in its place, and the constant care of it distracted her and +made her nervous.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The ceremony was followed by brief congratulations +from those present, after which they were served with cake +and wine, Dr. Hunt’s kind provision for the occasion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall forbid the cake, Mrs. Winthrop,” the good man +smilingly said, as he approached Salome with a little +salver on which, for form’s sake, he had placed a plate +containing a liberal supply of the forbidden luxury and +a glass of wine, “but the wine I prescribe for you; and +now,” lifting his own glass, “permit me to drink to your +health and future happiness, my dear madam.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome blushed at her new name, smiled brightly, and +then with exquisite grace touched the brim of her glass +to his and drank with him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her manner was perfect, and Dr. Winthrop, watching +her with a proud light in his eyes, marvelled at it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“One would think she had been reared amid all the +formal observances of etiquette,” he said to himself, and +experienced no little satisfaction over the fact.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he was careful not to allow her to become wearied, +and soon took her back to her room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He led her to her easy-chair and gently seated her; then +before he released her hand—her left hand—he glanced +at the ring which he had so recently placed there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is too large, dear,” he said with a smile. “I knew it +would be, and chose it so purposely, for I expect that +these frail fingers will soon fill out again. In that case, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>if the ring had fitted now, it would have had to be removed +to be enlarged, and that I could not think of allowing, +so I have a guard to keep it where it belongs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>As he spoke he quietly slipped another ring upon her +finger, and, glancing down, Salome was astonished to behold +a magnificent solitaire—a diamond of the purest +water, heavily and substantially set.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!” she cried, flushing, “a simple band would have +done just as well—this is very costly.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s eyes twinkled with amusement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, what of that? you had no betrothal ring; you +can regard this as such if you like,” he said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But—something not so expensive would have answered +just as well,” she replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, dear, it would not—allow me to be the judge,” +he quietly returned. “I consider diamonds none too +good for my wife, as I will prove still further to you.” +And he drew from his pocket a black morocco case, +and opening it he laid it on her lap, adding, “Mrs. Winthrop, +accept your husband’s wedding-gift.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was almost dazzled by the gleam of light that +shot up into her eyes, for before her there lay, upon a +crimson satin cushion, a beautiful pair of diamond earrings +and a lace pin in which there were five exquisite +stones to match the others.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why! why!” she cried, astonished, almost dismayed +by such lavishness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, do they not please you?” he questioned, secretly +amused by her perplexed expression.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They are beautiful, and you are very kind,” she said; +“but——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are afraid that I am extravagant—that I cannot +afford such expenditure—is that it?” he asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She nodded, smiling a little that he should have read +her thoughts so readily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not trouble your pretty head about anything so +intensely practical on your wedding-day, Mrs. Winthrop,” +he laughingly returned. “The stones are very fine ones, +I am willing to admit, but none too fine for you; besides, +I feel very rich just now.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>“Rich?” she repeated, not quite comprehending the look +that he bent upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I regard myself as the richest man in the United +States at this moment, in the possession of the dearest wife +that man ever won. Salome, you have not yet greeted +your husband,” and he knelt beside her, looking wistfully +into her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, how foolish now seemed her ominous fears of the +insecurity of her wedding-ring and her future happiness! +And she was conscience-smitten for having entertained +them for a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She flushed a quick scarlet at his words, and impulsively +laid her white hands upon his shoulders, lifted her fair face +to his, and kissed him softly on the lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You do love me,” she murmured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He started slightly and searched her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you doubted it?” he questioned, a shadow of +pain crossing his brow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I—I hoped you did not merely pity me because I was +ill and alone in the world,” she faltered. “I could not +have borne that out of simple gratitude you should have +wished to give me your protection.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Child! child! did you fear that?” he asked reproachfully. +“What can I say to relieve such doubts? You +must trust me more fully than that, Salome, or I fear you +will not be very happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He spoke gently, fondly, but even then he did not pour +out his great love into her yearning ears. It had become +so natural to him to be cautious and to repress all outward +demonstrations that he did not realize how much he was +depriving her of.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still he had revealed so much more than he had hitherto, +that she was very happy, and she was sorry that she had +betrayed her foolish fears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Forgive me,” she said, with starting tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He lifted her downcast face and returned the caress +she had just given him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is easy to pardon you,” he said, smiling—then +added: “Now, little woman, you must rest for an hour or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>two, then I am going to take you away from here to some +more fitting place, and to-morrow we will go home.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Home! How her heart thrilled at the word, and beneath +his caress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Home! She had not realized until that moment how +much of happiness was already hers, in possessing such +a husband and the right to share his home; and she +pictured in her own mind how delightful she would +make it for him, if she could but recover her strength; +how she would try, with all her will, to get strong, so +that she could minister to his comfort, and make herself +all that he could desire in a wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Would you prefer to go home by boat or rail?” he +asked, breaking in upon these thoughts.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, by rail, if it will be just as agreeable to you,” +she answered eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But are you strong enough to endure so long a ride? +You could sleep, you know, on board a steamer,” he returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am strong enough, and do not wish to sleep +the journey away. I love to travel, and even though it +is winter, and the scenery will be gray and sombre, I am +sure it will be very enjoyable—with <em>you</em>,” she said shyly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His face lighted; it thrilled him to see how she loved +to be in his presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then it shall be as you wish,” he said, something of +his gladness vibrating in his tones. “Now, dear, let me +see you comfortably resting, and then I must go to make +arrangements for our departure.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He gathered her slight form in his strong arms, before +she was aware of his intention, and, bearing her across the +room, laid her gently upon her bed; then once more touching +her forehead with his lips, he went away, and ten +minutes later Salome was quietly sleeping, but with a +smile of perfect content lighting her pale face.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VI.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME GOES “HOME.”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Salome was surprised, when she awoke, to find that she +had slept only half an hour, for she usually had a +nap of two hours during the afternoon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she felt refreshed and very happy, and it was such +a delightful sensation, after all the sorrow and loneliness +of the past, to feel that she belonged to some one who +was so tenderly thoughtful of her comfort and pleasure, +and to know that she need have no care or anxiety for +her future.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her diamonds were still clasped in her hands, and her +heart thrilled anew with deepest joy as she recalled her +husband’s fond words upon presenting them to her; how +he had sued for her first caress and the response to it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He loves me. I will believe that he loves me as +fondly as I love him,” she murmured; “and yet I wish +he were a little more free—a little less self-contained and +dignified or reserved. Perhaps,” she added with a faint +sigh, “it will wear away as we grow to know each other +better.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>By and by the nurse came to her for directions for the +packing of her trunk, and before this was completed +she caught the sound of her husband’s step in the corridor, +and the red blood mounted to her brow, her lips +quivered in a happy smile, and her eyes grew luminous +with joy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My husband!” she murmured, and turned her glad +face toward him as he came into the room, while she +noticed that he carried a large box in his hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you rested well, my Peace?” he asked, in a low +tone, as he reached her side.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her heart leaped at his tone. Surely it was fonder +than she had ever heard it before!</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>“Yes, thank you; but—why do you call me that?” +she asked, wondering at the form of his address.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome means peaceful, does it not?” he said, smiling, +“and you always give me a feeling of peace when +I come near you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She flushed again happily at his words, and put out her +hand to him with a confiding movement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He caught it and pressed it fondly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you ready to go with me?” he asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes; quite ready, if you wish me to go now.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have arranged to go to an hotel for to-night near +the station, where we shall take the train for New York +to-morrow at nine o’clock, so you will not be fatigued +with a long ride before starting. Now, nurse, please +bring Mrs. Winthrop’s wraps, for our carriage is at the +door.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was quickly clad in the long, dark ulster and +the same simple brown felt hat and thick veil which she +had worn when she first came to the hospital. She +wondered with a quiet smile, as she put them on, if ever +a bride was fitted out for her wedding journey with so +little fuss before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop watched every article as it was put on; +but when she was ready he quietly remarked, as he cut +the string to the box which he had brought with him:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not dare to allow you to go out this first time +since your illness, unless you are very warmly clad; so +let me wrap this about you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He drew forth a beautiful fur-lined cloak as he spoke, +and, throwing it around her, bent down to fasten the +clasp at the neck with his own hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The nurse looked on with astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He must be made of money,” she said to herself, as +she slyly felt the heavy satin.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s lips quivered at this fresh evidence of his +thoughtfulness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How good you are to me, Dr. Winthrop,” she murmured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He drew back and looked down into her face, his hands +still holding the clasp of the cloak.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>“I am Dr. Winthrop to my patients, Salome,” he said +gravely, but with a little twinkle in his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She understood him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall I call you?” she asked, flushing, her eyes +drooping from embarrassment, though her face dimpled +with suppressed amusement over the ridiculousness of the +situation, for, strange to say, she did not know the Christian +name of the man whom she had married!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hunt had introduced him, and always spoken of +him simply as Dr. Winthrop. The card accompanying +his first floral gift had had “T. H. Winthrop, M.D.,” inscribed +upon it; he had never told her what the initials +stood for, and she had shrunk from asking.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He looked amazed at her question, and then he laughed +outright.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is it possible, my Peace, that you do not know your +husband’s name?” he exclaimed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is not only possible, but a fact, sir,” Salome answered, +meeting his glance, and a sparkle of mischief dancing in +the dark eyes. “But our acquaintance has not been of +very long standing, you must remember.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It has surely been long enough for that, but for my +thoughtlessness,” he returned deprecatingly, and with +some annoyance. “I imagined that you knew—that Dr. +Hunt must have told you. My name is Truman, dear—do +not call me Dr. Winthrop again, Salome, please.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Truman! how rightly he had been named, she thought; +she had imagined it might, perhaps, be Thomas or Theodore. +He was true, noble, good—a true man in every +sense of the word, and the name fitted him exactly, and—blessed +fact! she was his wife!</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you ready now?” her husband continued, when +she had drawn on her gloves and he had fastened them +for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she answered, “when I have said good-by to +nurse.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have been very kind to me, and I thank you,” +she said, with tears in her eyes, while the woman, too, +seemed deeply moved, for she had grown to love her +charge.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>As Salome turned to leave the room, Dr. Winthrop +slipped an envelope into the hand of the nurse, then, +hastening to his wife’s side, supported her down the stairs +and to the entrance of the hospital.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Hunt and the superintendent were waiting there +to take leave of them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know that I am quite reconciled to having +New York doctors coming to Massachusetts and carrying +off our nurses in this summary fashion,” Dr. Hunt playfully +remarked, as he shook Salome warmly by the hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She smiled, but somewhat tremulously, for she had become +strongly attached to the good man, and was sorry +to say farewell to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If you will come to New York a month hence I promise +that you will hardly recognize your nurse,” the younger +physician smilingly remarked, with a tender glance at +the face beside him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He would not allow her to linger over the farewells, +but hurried her out to the carriage, and they were soon +driving rapidly down-town.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Arriving at the hotel, Salome was shown to a handsome +suite of rooms on the second floor, and, a little later, a +tempting dinner was served them in their private parlor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Afterward Dr. Winthrop kept his wife engaged in +pleasant conversation for an hour, and then told her that +she must go to her rest, so as to be fresh for her journey +on the morrow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am going to be very, very careful of you for a while, +Salome,” he said, as he led her toward one of the rooms +opening out of their parlor, “and a maid will come to +you presently to wait on you, for I know that you are +not yet able to wait on yourself; then you will try to go +to sleep at once, will you not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My room is just opposite,” he continued. “I shall +leave the door open, and if you should need or wish anything +during the night will you speak to me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall not need anything——” Salome began.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Promise that you will speak if you do,” he persisted, +with gentle authority; or, he added, with sudden +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>thought, “you have had a nurse for so long, would you +prefer to have the maid remain with you? I will have a +cot arranged for her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, I shall do very well by myself, and I will speak +if I need anything,” Salome promised, thinking how +thoughtful he was for her every need.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you; and now good-night, dear,” he returned, +as he kissed her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good-night, Doctor True,” she responded, flushing +slightly, as for the first time she addressed him thus.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you again, Salome, and by and by, perhaps, +you will forget the prefix,” he said, smiling, and with the +thrill in his tone that she was beginning to watch for.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A light tap came upon the door just then, and Dr. +Winthrop retreated to the parlor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A pretty maid assisted Salome to retire, and in less +than half an hour she was sleeping as peacefully and +restfully as a child.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not wake once during the night, but opened her +eyes in the morning just as the clock on the mantel began +to strike seven, when she suddenly became conscious that +the apartment was filled with fragrance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next moment she saw, lying upon the pillow beside +her, a great handful of roses.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, how perfectly lovely!” she cried in a voice of delight, +a flush of pleasure mounting to her brow, and she +knew that her husband must have stolen softly in with +his morning offering before she was awake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sat up and gathered them into her hands, eagerly +burying her face among the crimson beauties and inhaling +their fragrance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next moment there came a tap upon the door leading +into the parlor, and the girl who had attended her the +evening before came in to help her dress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was half-past seven when she entered their parlor, +where Dr. Winthrop sat reading the morning paper awaiting +her appearance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He sprang at once to meet her, his face lighting up.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He took both her hands, roses and all, and drew her to +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>“Surely you have slept well, dear,” he said, “for there +is a little color in your cheeks this morning.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The color deepened as she laughed lightly and laid +her roses against his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must know that I did,” she replied, “even better +than well, or I certainly should have awakened when +these were laid upon my pillow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop smiled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I took a long horse-car ride this morning a little way +out of town and walked back,” he said. “On my way I +was overtaken by a man driving in with cut flowers, and +that is how you happened to get your roses, Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They are lovely—thank you, Dr. True.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He smiled to see that she still clung to the medical +prefix, but believed she would drop it when her shyness +should wear off a little, and so said nothing about it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Our breakfast is waiting,” he said, “and we shall have +just about time enough to get comfortably ready for our +trip. Shall you be glad to get home, little wife?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Tears rushed to Salome’s eyes at the question.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot tell you what a charm there is in that word +for me,” she said tremulously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nor I, dear, now that I am not obliged to go back to +the place alone,” he returned, with a satisfied smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he helped her to the breast of a chicken and toasted +her a slice of bread over a tiny brazier, for he would not +allow her to have hot rolls just yet, while she poured +out the coffee.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He kept her attention by pleasant and genial conversation +throughout the meal, and she felt sorry when it was +over, while she became aware that she had eaten her first +really hearty breakfast since her illness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then they had to get ready for the train, where Salome +found that they were to have the state-room of the parlor-car. +Here she could lie down and rest if she became +weary, and was free to do exactly as she chose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was touched as she noticed this and other kind +provisions her thoughtful husband had made for her; for +on a little stand there was a dainty basket of choice fruit, +a bottle of wine, and several new books.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>She never forgot that ride of six hours—it was a sacred +memory to her during all her future life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her husband was all kindness and attention. He +talked with her for a while, then read to her until she became +weary, when he made her lie down and sat beside +her, and, to pass away the time, related many interesting +incidents connected with his profession.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The day was somewhat raw, and he would not allow +her to pass from their car to the dining-car, but ordered +their dinner brought to them, and they had a merry time +over the meal by themselves.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The long ride seemed very short, and she could hardly +believe Dr. Winthrop when he told her that in less than +fifteen minutes they would be in New York City.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When they alighted from the car, a man in dark-green +livery stepped up to the young physician, and saluted him +respectfully, but glanced curiously at Salome as he did so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, Dick, then you received my telegram, and are on +hand, like the faithful fellow you always are,” said Dr. +Winthrop pleasantly, as he returned the man’s greeting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, sir, thank ye, sir; and the carriage be waiting +for ye outside,” the man responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All right, Dick; you can take our luggage,” Dr. Winthrop +replied as he surrendered Salome’s travelling-bag +and his own portmanteau to him; then with an amused +smile, as he caught the man’s covert glances of curiosity +he added, “Dick, this lady is Mrs. Winthrop.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man’s eyes grew large with astonishment, but he +doffed his hat respectfully in return for Salome’s kind +smile and bow, and set her down at once as “a leddy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He led the way to the carriage—a handsome one drawn +by a pair of fine jet-black horses. Everything about the +equipage indicated that the owner was a man of abundant +means.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The footman opened the door and held it, while Dr. +Winthrop assisted Salome to enter and carefully folded +the soft robes about her to protect her from the air, for +the mercury had dropped several degrees since morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you comfortable, dear?” he asked in a somewhat +anxious tone as they started, for he dreaded her taking cold.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>“Very, thank you,” Salome answered, somewhat absently, +for she was half-dazed by all these evidences of +unlimited wealth into which she had so suddenly been +transplanted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are sure,” he persisted; “we have a long ride +before us, and I would not have you take cold for anything. +You have endured the journey much better than +I dared to think you would. You are stronger, Salome—you +feel really stronger, do you not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I am sure I have made great progress during these +last few days,” she replied smiling gratefully into his +earnest face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How could she help improving under the tender care +which he so constantly threw around her?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you will be very happy in your new home, I hope, +Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I surely ought to be. I am very happy now,” she +softly returned, with flushing cheeks and gleaming eyes, +“but—but I did not think that you were—that I was to +have all this,” and she glanced around the elegant carriage +in which they were rolling so smoothly up-town.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop laughed softly, and there was a little +touch of triumph in the sound.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you did not imagine that you were marrying a +rich man, when you gave your hand to me, Salome?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What did you think, my Peace?—you have never told +me; what kind of a position did you imagine you were to +occupy as my wife?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I did not think of position at all,” Salome answered +musingly. “I knew, of course, you were a physician, and +I knew that, some time, you would win a high place in +the world.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why?” he interposed. “What made you think so?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Because,” she said, lifting her beautiful eyes to his face +and letting them rest there proudly, “no one ever had so +grand a head, so intelligent a face, without the ability to +climb where he would.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, my wife,” the young man responded with +lips that were slightly tremulous, for her estimate of him +moved him deeply.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>“But,” she went on, “I did not give much thought to +your circumstances; I only know that my life could never +be complete apart from you—my heart, my very being, +had become bound up in you, yourself, to the exclusion +of every other thought, or wish, or hope.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The words were low, but so fraught with tenderness +and feeling that they swayed, almost intoxicated, the +strong man beside her like old wine.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Impulsively he gathered her to him, and held her close +against his breast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My wife—my Peace—my love,” he whispered, “how +glad I am, for your sake, that I am wealthy—that I can +shower upon you every earthly blessing. Oh, I hope +that you will be happy with me, Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She wondered, as she lay there against his heart, how +she could have doubted his love. She believed that she +never could doubt him again, for his clasp, his tone, his +look seemed to tell her that she was the very mainspring +of his life, and she could almost have wept from excess +of happiness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she thought it would never do to christen her homecoming +with tears; so, hiding her emotion beneath the +semblance of gentle mirth, she said gayly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must not spoil me to begin with, Dr. True—dear +True,” with a sly glance and blush as she thus changed the +prefix, “for you cannot tell what a tyrant I may become. +And you must not forget, either, that it was only a poor +nurse whom you have married. But when are you going +to let me tell you just who and what I am?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I’ll risk your being spoiled or becoming a tyrant, +sweetheart, and as to who you are, I know already,” he +answered, his face fairly luminous over her low-toned +“dear True.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked up with a strangely startled expression, he +thought, and all her color fled as she asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, Mrs. Dr. Truman Winthrop, of No. — Madison +Avenue, of course. And now,” as the carriage suddenly +stopped, “here we are at home.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VII.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP RECEIVES A DISPATCH.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The carriage had drawn up before an imposing house, +and Salome observed that other fine residences lined +both sides of the spacious street.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her husband assisted her to alight, led her up the steps +to the entrance, and rang the bell. The door was almost +immediately opened by a servant, who appeared greatly +pleased at the return of the master of the house.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop conducted Salome through the wide and +lofty hall to the elegant drawing-room on the right, +where he seated her in a luxurious chair and murmured +in her ear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Welcome home, my Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What an exquisite room!” she thought, as her eyes +roved appreciatively about the apartment, noting the +soft-hued carpet and beautiful draperies, the furniture +of carved ebony, the rare pictures, choice statuary, and +bric-a-brac of every description.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop rang another bell and gave orders for +dinner, telling the maid, when she had notified the cook, +to come upstairs to the south suite to attend Mrs. +Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he gave his arm again to Salome, and led her up +the grand stairway to a suite of rooms directly over the +drawing-room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These were furnished in pale pink and white. The +boudoir was fitted up with every convenience and elegance. +The furniture was most luxurious; there were costly pictures +upon the walls and beautiful vases and ornaments in +profusion upon the tables and mantel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Opening from this charming room was the bed-room, +where the low French bedstead was richly draped with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>antique lace over pale pink silk and a coverlet to match. +Hangings of the same hue and material shaded the windows, +and every appointment of the chamber betrayed +exquisite taste.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Beyond, there was a bath and dressing-room which +contained every luxury any one could desire, from the +porcelain bath down to the simplest toilet appendage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“These rooms,” said Dr. Winthrop, as he led Salome +through them, “are for your own private use, dear, and +while, as mistress here, you are of course to have the +freedom of the whole house, yet you can flee here and +shut yourself away whenever you are inclined, and no one +shall intrude upon you. Remember, Salome, we are +going to make it our first and chief business to get you +well and strong, and until that end is attained you are to +be perfectly free from care of every kind. I have a +competent housekeeper,” he continued, “who will look +after the household, subject, of course, to your orders and +wishes, without vexing you with any of the details. Now, +dear,” looking at his watch, “I want you to rest until +dinner time, which is seven o’clock; then if you feel able +to come down to dine with me it will give me pleasure; if +you do not you must feel free to stay quietly here; you +have had a long journey, and must be very weary,” he +concluded, regarding her with some anxiety, as he +stooped to touch her forehead with his lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Tears sprang to the young wife’s eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How good you are to me! how thoughtful!” she said, +reaching up her white hand, and laying it against his +cheek. “Oh, I hope I shall get well and strong soon. I +hope I can make you happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If you are happy, do not fear but I shall be also,” he +responded tenderly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How can I be otherwise in this lovely home?” Salome +said, as she glanced around the luxurious room, adding +earnestly, “and with you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He thanked her for those last words with a look that +brought a lovely color to her cheeks. Then he said, as +some one tapped upon the door:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Here comes Nellie to attend you; let her undress +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>you, so that you can rest more comfortably, and try to +sleep if you can.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He left her then, and she heard him cross the hall and +enter another room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She went obediently to bed, telling Nellie that she +might come to her again, and in a little while she had +fallen into a restful slumber.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt greatly refreshed when she awoke, and, her +trunk having arrived, she allowed Nellie to help her dress +in the pretty gray silk in which she had been married, +and then, with some delicate pink roses—which Dr. Winthrop +had sent up—fastened in her corsage, she went +down to her husband, looking brighter and lovelier than +he had yet seen her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found the dining-room in perfect keeping with the +rest of the house—finished in natural wood, the floor +inlaid in an intricate and lovely pattern—the furniture +beautifully carved, and upholstered in embossed leather.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In the centre of the room there stood a table covered +with a heavy white damask cloth and spread with a +glittering array of cut-glass and silver, while a butler +stood waiting to serve them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop led Salome to one end of the table and +then took his own place opposite.</p> + +<p class='c011'>More and more the young wife found herself wondering +how a man of Dr. Winthrop’s apparent wealth and position +could have been drawn toward a poor girl who had +been a common nurse in a hospital, and have been willing +to make her his wife without inquiring more particularly +regarding her history.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But there was a curious little smile hovering about her +lips, as she took her seat at the table and for the first +time assumed the duties of her new position, and Dr. +Winthrop soon found himself wondering at his wife’s +perfect self-possession in it—at the inimitable grace +which characterized every movement, as if all her life +she had been accustomed to the luxuries, the form and etiquette +by which she was now environed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When dinner was over he led her to another room, which +was fitted up as a library and music-room.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>Handsome book-cases filled with books lined the walls. +A fine piano stood in one corner, and the hangings +and furniture were of olive and old gold. There were +rare pictures here also, while in every nook and corner +there was some object of beauty and luxury.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop exerted himself to entertain his bride, +and neither had any idea of the lapse of time until the +clock struck ten, when the young physician glanced at +Salome in dismay half real, half assumed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A fine physician I am!” he exclaimed, “to keep an +invalid up until this hour. Dr. Hunt would surely read +me a severe lecture if he knew it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I am not in the least tired. I had such a nice +nap before dinner,” Salome returned, with shining eyes +and pink cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nevertheless I am going to send you directly to bed,” +her husband said, as he arose and led her to the door of +her boudoir, where he folded her close in his arms for a +moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope you will sleep well, dear,” he cried, “and that +I shall find these faint roses in your cheeks a little +brighter in the morning.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He opened the door for her to pass in, then shut it +softly after her, and went across the hall to his own apartment, +a tender smile on his lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome seemed better and stronger the next day, in +spite of the fatigue of her long journey, and every day +after that for a week she continued to improve, while life +seemed to her like a beautiful poem set to sweetest music. +She took no medicine, her husband prescribing only nourishing +diet and mild stimulants for her, but happiness +was the best tonic she could have had, and its effect was +almost magical.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Every fine day they went out driving together in their +close carriage. Dr. Winthrop would not consent to an +open vehicle at present, although Salome begged for it; +he feared she would take cold, and he was very watchful +and careful, for he knew that even a little relapse would +be a very serious injury to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Their evenings were passed either in pleasant conversation, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>or he read aloud to her from some entertaining book +or periodical; but they received no calls, and sometimes +Salome wondered if Dr. Winthrop’s friends even knew +that he was married.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a fact that scarcely any one outside their own +household did know it, although the young man had +cabled the news to his family in Europe on the day of +his marriage. Salome was so extremely delicate, that he +would not allow her to be subjected to the calls and +curiosity of his numerous acquaintances, until she should +be entirely recovered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One day, after dinner, Salome asked her husband if +she might have the piano opened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, yes, certainly. Do you play?” he asked, surprised. +It had not occurred to him that she could be +musical.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I used to,” she answered simply, “but it is a long +time since I have touched a piano,” and sitting down before +the beautiful instrument, she ran her supple fingers +along the key-board. Her husband instantly recognized a +cultivated touch, and began to look about for some music.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My sister is a fine musician,” he said, “and perhaps +you can find something among her collections which you +can play.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled as she glanced over the pile that he +brought her, for much of it was familiar to her, and she +played steadily to him for half an hour or more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then all at once she broke forth into a little song +which she sang from memory.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The sound of her voice seemed to make her forget +where she was, or that she had a listener—everything +but that she was happy, and free to let her glad tones +ring out as they would.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop was electrified, for her voice was exquisite—clear, +strong, and flexible.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, Salome, you never told me that you were musical!” +he exclaimed half reproachfully, when the song +was finished; “and you are really quite an artist.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You never asked me,” she demurely answered, “and +I’ve had very little opportunity to tell you anything.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>“Perhaps you have other astonishing accomplishments. +I shall begin to think you have married me under false +pretences,” he returned smilingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome started violently, and darted a half-frightened +look at him; but he did not see it, and went on playfully:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps you are even a connoisseur in art.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, indeed; I would not presume to say that; but I +have had some instruction in painting and drawing,” she +modestly answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, you have been finely educated—your advantages, +evidently, were of the very best,” Dr. Winthrop +remarked, regarding her admiringly, for every day developed +something new and interesting in her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she admitted thoughtfully, “and, True, it is +time I told you my history—it is time you should know +all about your wife’s antecedents. I am strong enough +now, surely, to speak of the past, even though there is +much that is painful connected with it, without becoming +unduly excited, and I want you to know all there is to +tell—I want to have no secrets from you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then there are secrets even in your life, Salome!” her +husband remarked, regarding her with a fond smile; but +he did not imagine that she could have anything very +vital to conceal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she said; “but I have no desire to keep them +from you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well, dear; you shall tell me everything, and I +must confess that you have at last effectually aroused my +curiosity,” the young man said, laughing; then he added: +“Come and sit in the easy-chair, and then I will give +you my undivided attention.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome rose and came forward, but at that moment +the bell rang, and a servant entered, saying there was an +urgent call for Dr. Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had to go away immediately, so, of course, that +put a stop to all confidence for that evening.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning, while they were at breakfast, he +received a cable message, notifying him that his mother +and sister would sail that day for America.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome fancied that there was a cloud on her husband’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>brow after reading this dispatch, but he made no comment, +and therefore she did not feel like questioning him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was very busy after that for several days, calls +coming in upon him thick and fast, and Salome saw +comparatively little of him, excepting in the evenings, +and then he seemed so weary and preoccupied that she +did not deem it best to broach the subject of their interrupted +conversation, but sought to entertain and amuse +him by music and reading.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell me about your mother and sister,” she pleaded +one evening, as the time of their return drew near.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had longed to know something definite about them, +but as he seemed somewhat reticent regarding them, she +had not, until now, questioned him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A peculiar expression flashed over Dr. Winthrop’s face +at his wife’s request.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My mother is a very handsome, dignified woman, a +little over fifty years of age, although no one would +imagine her to be over forty. She traces her lineage to +one of the old Colonial families, and is happy in being +one of the leaders in that charmed circle known as ‘New +York’s Four Hundred.’ My sister is, if possible, more +beautiful, more stately, and more proud than my mother.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome looked troubled at this brief but ominously +suggestive description, while she had never heard her +husband assume such a cynical tone before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do they know——” she began timidly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That I am married? Yes; I cabled to them immediately +after the ceremony, and wrote them briefly later,” +he replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you heard from them since?” breathed Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not in response to those communications.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will they be pleased—will they—love me?” the +young wife wistfully asked, drawing a little nearer to +him, as if seeking protection against some approaching +evil.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s brow clouded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had known from the first that his family would be +anything but pleased with his hasty and romantic marriage. +Indeed the fact that they had entirely ignored +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>both his cable message and letter proved this. He was +confident that his mother and sister were now hastening +home for no other purpose than to denounce him for his +rashness, if they should find that he had chosen a wife +outside the pale of their charmed circle, for many years +ago a far different choice had been made for him;—but +of this more later.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True, tell me—will they be pleased to find that you +have a wife?” Salome said again, as he did not answer +her at once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope so, my Peace,” he gently returned, but she was +far from feeling reassured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Something seemed to warn her that the coming of these +two women would cast a shadow, if not a fatal blight, +upon her happiness, and she dreaded their arrival inexpressibly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She said nothing, however—she would not let her husband +see that she feared to meet his friends; but her +dread was not lessened when the next morning he began +to question her regarding the condition of her wardrobe.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He smiled when she named over what she had.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Little woman, this will never do at all,” he said; “we +must go to-day and select something more suitable for +Mrs. Winthrop, of Madison avenue.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A morning’s vigorous shopping under the skilful eyes of +Dr. Winthrop wrought a wonderful addition to her wardrobe. +Dainty costumes, laces, gloves, and every luxury +of the toilet were selected as well as several pieces of +rare jewelry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is there anything else, dear, that you can think of?” +Dr. Winthrop questioned, as they were leaving Tiffany’s.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not ask me, Dr. True,” Salome answered, flushing, +“for I feel oppressed now with what you have expended +upon me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome,” said her husband gravely, “please never +speak to me of any feeling of obligation—more than that, +do not entertain any such feeling. When I put that ring +upon your finger did I not endow you with all that I +possess? What is mine is also thine, dear, and there is +enough to gratify every reasonable wish, and to spare. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>You will best please me, Salome, by providing yourself +with everything that a lady in your position needs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>When they reached home he drew her into the library, +where he gave her a cheque book.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When you need money, Salome, you need not ask me +for it—I think that must be exceedingly galling to a +woman; but just fill out one of these cheques and get what +you wish. I have signed a number of them, so all you +need to do will be to present them at the bank. But,” he +added, “as you cannot do that until you go out again, +let me give you something to begin upon; you must not +be without money,” and as he spoke he slipped into her +hand a crisp bill of no mean denomination.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall I say to you?” she gasped, her breath +fairly taken away by such munificence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nothing, dear; but”—lifting her arm and drawing it +about his neck—“if you can think of anything that I +would like you may give it to me,” and he bent his lips +to hers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She kissed him twice—softly, lingeringly, gratefully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you love me, Salome?” he asked, just to hear +what her answer would be.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You know that I do, with my whole soul, my husband,” +she breathed. “Oh, I am afraid that I am too +happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He laughed softly. Then he said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now, I have something else to tell you. There is a +pair of pretty bay ponies and a coupé out in the stable, +and they are for the use of Mrs. Winthrop exclusively. +You are to drive every fine day, Salome—you know I +cannot always go with you—and order them whenever +you wish. There! I shall have to go, for I hear that +arbitrary bell again. Put on one of your new gowns for +dinner, dear; I want to see if I have shown good taste +in my selections,” and with a last fond embrace he left +her.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VIII.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP IS SUMMARILY ARRAIGNED.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>That same evening, just as Dr. Winthrop and his wife +were ready to sit down to their dinner, they were +startled by a pealing, imperative ring of the hall bell.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A moment later the door was thrown open, there was +the sound of a little commotion, and Dr. Winthrop knew—even +before the servant appeared at the dining-room +door, and announced “Madame Winthrop, Miss Winthrop”—that +his mother and sister had arrived.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He immediately went out to greet them, followed by +Salome, who longed to give them a cordial and loving +welcome, although her heart had sunk heavily as they +were announced, for she was in doubt as to how they +would receive her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, mother!—Evelyn!” Dr. Winthrop exclaimed, +as he affectionately saluted them; “this is a great surprise; +we did not look for you until to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, Truman; eight days, I know, is the usual time +allotted to the trip; but we had very favorable winds, +and arrived several hours earlier than we expected,” +Salome heard some one reply, in smooth, even, perfectly +modulated tones, and then she caught sight of a stately, +magnificently formed woman, having a proud, placid, +high-bred face, crowned with a wealth of dark brown +hair, in which she could not detect a trace of silver.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She calmly received her son’s embrace, and returned it +without the slightest exhibition of glad emotion, though +her keen eyes searched his face with a critical glance +and lingered there somewhat fondly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Behind her was a tall, beautiful girl, fair as a lily, +with a delicate bloom on her cheeks, eyes of turquoise +blue, and features that seemed chiselled from marble, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>they were so perfect. Her hair was of a beautiful red-gold +tint, and was coiled in a graceful knot at the back +of her fine head.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome thought her lovely, and her heart went out to +her with affectionate longing, especially when she saw +her throw her arms about her brother’s neck and kiss +him heartily on the lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How glad I am to see you, dear boy!” she cried. “It +seems an age since we went away, doesn’t it? Are you +well—and aren’t you delighted to see us home again?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“One question at a time, Evelyn,” laughingly exclaimed +Dr. Winthrop. “But of course I shall say yes +to every one, while it behooves me to compliment you +upon your blooming appearance.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he glanced behind him as he spoke, looking for +Salome. They had avoided all mention of his wife—they +appeared to ignore the fact that he was married, and he +was secretly hurt and annoyed by the fact.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he was too proud to betray it, while he proved himself +entirely equal to the trying occasion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And now,” he continued, stepping back and reaching +out his hand to Salome, “allow me to present you to my +wife—to your daughter and sister. Mother, Evelyn, this +is Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Instantly two pairs of keen, critical eyes were glancing +over the young bride, taking in, in one comprehensive +sweep, every detail of her appearance—her toilet and +bearing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very beautiful as she stood there beneath the +brilliant light of the hall chandelier.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had, in compliance with her husband’s request, put +on one of her new costumes—a rich black lace made over +crimson silk—and fastened a cluster of white roses in her +corsage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her pure, cream-like complexion contrasted beautifully +with the black and crimson; her hair was very tastefully +arranged, while excitement had slightly flushed her cheeks +and sent an unusual brilliancy into her dark eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She came forward at her husband’s gesture, with a +graceful step and bearing.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>“You are very welcome,” she said sweetly, as she extended +her hand, first to Madame Winthrop, then to her +daughter. “I only regret that we did not know of your +arrival, so that the doctor could go to meet you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She yearned to embrace them—to claim them then and +there as “mother,” and “sister:” but, of course, she knew +that such advances must come from them—that it would +be out of place for her to take the initiative, and she was +bitterly disappointed and hurt when they simply clasped +her hand for an instant, in a dignified and formal, though +perfectly courteous manner, and then dropped it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop saw the light die out of her lovely eyes +at this cool reception, and his right hand suddenly +clenched with the feeling of hot displeasure and resentment +that swept over him. But by no other sign did +he betray that he understood their attitude toward his +wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He saw, however, that they were impressed by Salome’s +beauty—that they could find no fault with her manner +and bearing; but, all the same, he knew that they did +not intend to commit themselves to her in any way, until +they should become acquainted with her whole history.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Their greeting had been perfectly courteous—there +could be no fault found with it on the score of politeness. +It was strictly in accordance with all accepted forms of +etiquette and the dignity of a Winthrop; and if the girl +should prove to be worthy, in point of birth and position, +to be received as a daughter and sister of the house, it +would be easy enough, later, to open their arms more +cordially to her. But if, on the other hand, they found +that she was not all that was desirable in a mate for the +wealthy and aristocratic scion of the Winthrops, they +could still keep her at a distance without compromising +themselves in any way, or having anything to regret.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome also was quick to discern all this, but, though +she was deeply hurt, she was Truman Winthrop’s wife and +the mistress of his home, and it behooved her, for his +sake, to receive his friends in a proper manner, without +regard to her own feelings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With inimitable tact and grace she ignored their formal +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>greeting and, lifting a smiling face to them, said, with +charming hospitality:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear Madame and Miss Winthrop, you must be weary +from your voyage—let me call my maid to assist in +removing your wraps; then, as dinner is ready, will you +not waive all ceremony and come at once to the table +with us, and not wait to make your toilet?” and she +touched an electric button near her, while she spoke, to +summon Nellie.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop shot a look of grateful pride and love +at her, and she felt more than repaid for the effort that +she had made to overcome her wounded feelings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop, however, never allowed herself to +be outdone or taken unaware; and, as Nellie appeared +upon the scene, she calmly unfastened her wrap, remarking +with cool courtesy:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, Mrs. Winthrop, but we knew my son’s +dinner hour, and came prepared to dine with him,” and +as their wraps were given into the hands of the maid, +Salome saw that they were in full dinner dress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But her blood tingled to her finger-tips at those last +significant words, “to dine with him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her spirit rose, however, to meet even this unlooked-for +rebuff to her gracious hospitality, and with perfect +self-possession she responded:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! then as dinner is served, perhaps you will come +directly to the table. Dr. Winthrop, will you take your +mother in?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She turned and led the way, motioning to the butler to +place two more chairs, then she deliberately took her +own place at the head of the table—although she did not +doubt that Madame Winthrop had been accustomed to +sit there. But her husband had told her that she was +mistress of his home, and she did not intend to relinquish +her position to any one—she would at least show him +that she was fitted to reign there as such.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew that her guests were watching with critical +eyes every movement, and the fact only incited her to +do her best.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her manners were perfect, and her husband’s eye often +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>met hers with a gleam of pleasure and encouragement, +while he was secretly exulting over the beautiful picture +which she made, sitting so calmly, like a little queen +upon her throne. She chatted easily and brightly, +introducing congenial and timely subjects if the conversation +lagged in the least, and bore herself throughout +the meal with such charming dignity that the two women +began to believe that she must belong to some good +family, and to congratulate themselves that their idolized +son and brother had chosen wisely and creditably, in +spite of their fears, even if he had disappointed previous +expectations.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still they were far too wary to commit themselves—they +continued to be guardedly courteous, intrenching +themselves behind a polite reserve that might be safely +dispensed with or augmented, as the case might require.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After dinner all repaired to the library, where the +conversation was chiefly monopolized by madam and her +daughter, although Dr. Winthrop endeavored several times +to draw Salome into it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She always pleasantly responded to his efforts—said +all that politeness required of her and then gave way to +their guests again. Not once during the evening, however, +did either woman address her directly, and yet they +were so adroit in this avoidance that no disinterested +observer could have regarded it as an intentional slight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Dr. Winthrop and Salome both knew that it was +intentional—both felt that she would never be received +upon an equal footing until they could be satisfied as to +her birth and position.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It aroused all the young wife’s spirit, and she told herself:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad now that True does not know—that something +has happened every time I have tried to tell him +my history and”—with a sense of the ludicrousness of +the situation stealing over her—“there will be a scene, +by and by, when they take him to task and he is obliged +to say he does not know anything about me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome,” said Dr. Winthrop, breaking in on these reflections, +“do you feel able to give us a little music?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>“Certainly, if you wish, and it will be agreeable to—our +friends,” she responded obligingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Both ladies bowed with polite toleration; and Salome, +her eyes gleaming very brightly, went to the piano and +began to play.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were evidently astonished at her proficiency, for, +more than once, Dr. Winthrop detected them in the interchange +of significant glances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still they awarded her no thanks, spoke no word of +commendation when she ceased. Madame Winthrop +made some general remark about the beauty of Mendelssohn’s +“Songs without Words”—a selection from which +Salome had rendered most exquisitely—and then changed +the subject.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young wife began to feel as if her strength would +not hold out much longer—as if the long evening would +never end; but at ten o’clock madam signified her desire +to retire, and Salome rang for Nellie to attend her—she +had previously given orders that rooms should be prepared +for their guests.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of course, in the presence of a servant there could only +be a formal exchange of “good-nights,” and these being +soon over, Madame and Miss Winthrop went upstairs +together.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As the door closed after them Dr. Winthrop turned and +drew his young wife close to his heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, this has been a trying ordeal for you,” he said +tenderly, “but you have passed it nobly—I was very +proud of my wife to-night.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad if I have pleased you, True,” she murmured +wearily, and she was pale and drooping now, for all her +false strength had deserted her; “but oh! I did hope +that they would love me, for your sake,” and she hid her +face upon his shoulder with a little sob of grief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Patience, dear, have patience and all will come right +in the end,” he returned soothingly, as he stroked her +head with a tender hand. “You can readily see,” he +continued, “that my mother is a very proud woman, and +she is naturally somewhat piqued because her favorite +son should have presumed to take so important a step as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>to marry during her absence, and without even consulting +her upon the subject; so she cannot make up her mind to +forgive me all at once.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>How good he was to assume that his mother’s displeasure +was directed entirely against him; but it did not deceive +Salome, and she knew that she alone had come +under the ban of her disapprobation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She would not say anything to wound him, however, +and she resolved to do everything in her power to make +friends with their guests, for his sake; she would bear +everything, brave everything, rather than that he should +suffer through her. But a sigh of deep regret escaped +her, for she could not quite conceal the pain in her heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Poor little woman!” said her husband tenderly, “you +are tired out, and no wonder. So say good-night here, +and go to bed at once, for I have a letter to write before +I sleep.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He raised her face and kissed her fondly; then, opening +the door for her, watched her as she went slowly upstairs, +a proud gleam in his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My peerless little wife!” he murmured, as he went +to his desk, “you have conducted yourself like a veritable +queen to-night. If they can resist your sweetness and +beauty, more shame to them. They shall receive her as +she deserves,” he sternly added, “or I will repudiate +them; such senseless pride of position is beneath all true +men and women.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He sat down to his desk to write his letter, and was +just in the midst of it when there came a rap on the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He opened it, and found his mother standing outside, +with an expression on her face which plainly indicated +that she intended to sift matters matrimonial to the bottom, +before she slept that night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, Truman,” she said, “I thought I should find you +here. Can I have a little conversation with you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Certainly, mother. Come in, and sit down,” he said +gravely, as he rolled a chair forward for her, and then +seated himself opposite and waited for her to broach the +dreadful subject.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course you can surmise what I have come to talk +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>about,” she began—“your wife. Who is she? where did +you find her, and what is the meaning of this sudden marriage, +concerning which you have not thought it necessary +to consult or inform any member of your family, except +by a brief cable message and a letter almost as +brief?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mother, you have arraigned me as if I were a +culprit, and you my judge,” he returned, with some displeasure +in his tone. “But in reply to your first question, +‘Who is my wife?’—the simple fact that she is my wife +and a lady should be sufficient cause for you to receive +her with becoming cordiality.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You well know that fact alone is not sufficient to +satisfy any one in a position like ours,” retorted Madame +Winthrop, with considerable spirit. “What was her name? +Who are her family?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Her name was Salome Howland. Concerning her +family, she has none—she is an orphan,” replied Dr. +Winthrop, with dignity. He blamed himself now for not +having allowed Salome to tell him her history when she +was so anxious to do so, for then, perhaps, he could have +smoothed the way for her reception by his family, while +now the very fact that he would be obliged to confess +his ignorance of it would prejudice them against her still +more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam closed her lips tightly, and there was an ominous +glitter in her eyes at his reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Howland! Howland!” she repeated thoughtfully; “I +wonder if she could have belonged to the Howlands of +Albany—they are all right. Who was her family? Where +did they reside?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know,” Dr. Winthrop quietly answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You do not know!” his mother exclaimed, aghast. +“Where did you find her?” she inquired, while she sat +erect, her face pale with mingled mortification and wrath.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“In the City Hospital in Boston.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What! a poor charity-patient from a city hospital +your wife!” cried madam, almost breathless from the +shock of such an astonishing revelation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not at all, mother,” replied her son calmly. “She +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>was, instead, one of the most efficient nurses in the institution.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Worse and worse! Heavens! a nurse of the scum of +a city! And you dared to marry such a creature!” she +gasped, fairly livid with rage now. “We are disgraced +forever!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nonsense, mother,” Dr. Winthrop severely returned, +his own face white to the lips. Had she been any +other than his mother he would not have submitted to +the insult. “Such pride of family and position is unworthy +of any one. You very well know that the Rev. Dr. +Eckhart’s beautiful and accomplished daughter went into +one of our hospitals to study medicine and to be trained +as a nurse, that she might be more useful in the work +which she had chosen, and no one had anything to say of +her but the highest praise.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; but she was going to India as the wife of a +missionary; besides, Miss Eckhart’s position was unassailable—she +was a lady,” retorted madam.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And my wife is also a lady,” Dr. Winthrop said, +deeply displeased. “Have you not seen it? Did she +not conduct herself as such this evening?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She received us very courteously,” madam reluctantly +conceded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her companion flushed hotly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Could you find any fault with either her appearance, her +manner, or her language? Did you discover a single +point which you could criticise?” he demanded, determined +to make her acknowledge Salome’s virtues.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, perhaps not, but——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There can be no perhaps about the question,” he interposed. +“She is beautiful, cultivated, refined, a lady in +every sense of the word, and she has the deepest love and +devotion of my heart—which you well know is saying a +great deal, as I have never been accounted a susceptible +young man where ladies were concerned. But listen, +and you shall learn how I came to love her so, and if +even your proud heart is not softened and drawn toward +her, without regard to her previous history or position, +you are more callous than I shall like to believe.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>Before he could go on, the door behind him opened, +and Evelyn Winthrop entered the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Forgive me for intruding, True,” she said, “but I +heard voices, and I knew you must be telling mamma +the story of your romantic marriage. I am dying to know +all about it, too, so I stole down. I did not think you +would mind.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” Dr. Winthrop replied, his lip curling slightly, +“it may as well be told once for all, and the sooner it is +over, and your attitude toward my wife determined, the +better it will suit me. But,” with a stern, resolute look, +“let me tell you this—whatever stand you take with reference +to her, you will include me in it; if you receive her +cordially as a daughter and sister, well and good; if you +repudiate her—I shall repudiate you!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IX.<br> <span class='c009'>MADAME WINTHROP REFUSES TO RECEIVE SALOME AS A DAUGHTER.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“I am sure, Truman, you need not get so excited,” +Madame Winthrop remarked, in a more subdued +tone than she had hitherto used, and flushing vividly; “no +one wishes to repudiate your wife, as you express it, if +she is all that she should be.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is no if about it,” Dr. Winthrop interposed, +in an ominously quiet tone; “she is my wife, and that +entitles her to proper courtesy without regard to any conditions. +But I was about to relate how I became acquainted +with Salome, and why I married her. As you +know, I was intending to join you abroad last fall, when +we were all to go to Berlin to make the acquaintance of +the Rochesters. But owing to the epidemic which broke +out here, I was obliged to give up the trip for a time. +Then I received a letter from my classmate, Dr. Cutler, +reminding me of my promise to join him in Boston, to +investigate the manner of conducting the different hospitals, +and the treatment of certain cases in which we are +specially interested. As he was at liberty then, and might +not be again for some time, I felt obliged to go and to +postpone my trip abroad until later, as I wrote to you.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I arrived in Boston late one terribly stormy evening, +but upon going to a hotel found it full; there was only +one room to be had—a small one that had once been used +as a storeroom, and which could only be heated by a coal +stove. It was too stormy for me to go out again, and so +I decided to put up with such accommodations as I could +get. I ordered a fire to be made in the room, so that it +might be comfortably warm by the time I had eaten my +supper. Then, wearied out with my long, cold journey, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>I determined to go at once to bed. I found my room +small, but comfortable, and having carefully arranged +the damper in the pipe of the stove so that the gas would +escape up the chimney, and opened the door so that I +might have good ventilation, I retired. By some means, +however, the damper became closed during the night—you +can easily imagine with what result—the room gradually +filled with carbonic acid gas, and I became asphyxiated.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O True!” cried Evelyn Winthrop in a tone of horror, +while his mother’s face grew deadly white at this startling +statement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was found the next morning in an almost dying condition, +and the hotel being near the City Hospital I was, +fortunately, taken thither for treatment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There everything that could be thought of to resuscitate +me was tried; but I was too far gone for ordinary +remedies to have any effect, and as a last resort the head +physician suggested the transfusion of blood. But even +this seemed likely to fail, as no one could be found who +was willing to have his veins opened to supply the necessary +blood. Dr. Hunt grew nearly frantic and also indignant. +He said he would gladly have supplied it from +his own veins only there was no one else in the hospital +whom he could trust to perform the operation. But just +as he began to fear that he must give up the experiment +and let me die, one of the nurses from the women’s department +made her appearance. He told her his dilemma +and she instantly said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘I will serve you, Dr. Hunt; take as much blood from +my veins as you need.’ He hesitated at first, for she was +not quite as robust as he desired; but it was a question +of life or death for me; and when she saw me lying there +breathing my life away, she begged that he would not +delay. He did not. All necessary arrangements were +soon made, and that noble girl lay calmly down upon the +cot prepared for her; the surgeon opened a vein in one +of her arms, another in mine, and, with an instrument +made expressly for that purpose, transferred all that he +dared of her life-blood to my veins.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not wonder that you grow pale, mother,” Dr. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>Winthrop interposed, as Mrs. Winthrop gasped for breath +and seemed greatly excited, “for I was very near death’s +door; but the experiment proved a success. That brave +girl’s blood was pure and strong, and it sustained and +strengthened the little life there was in me; consciousness +returned, and with it the ability to take nourishment +and I was saved.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My son! my son! and I never knew it—you never let +us know!” exclaimed madam, with white lips, for, undemonstrative +as she was, she idolized this son, the firstborn +of her twin boys.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” he replied; “you were in Europe; it could have +done no good to tell you; and before you could possibly +have reached me I was out of danger. Of course, as soon +as I was able to realize anything, my first thought was +one of gratitude and a desire to express it to that heroic +girl who had sacrificed so much for me. But she was very +ill. She did not rally, nor did her blood replenish as +rapidly as Dr. Hunt had hoped and expected. The fact +was, he had robbed her of more of her life-current than +she could well spare. As soon as she was able to see +me, however, I went to her, and instead of finding some +common, middle-aged person, as I had expected, I found—Salome—that +delicate, refined, and beautiful girl, who +was no more fitted than you or Evelyn to be a nurse +for the class of people who are carried to such a hospital. +But the force of adverse circumstances had driven her to +the necessity of doing something for her own support, and +she had chosen nursing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The moment I saw her I was unaccountably drawn to +her, for I found her as cultivated in mind as she was +beautiful in person. The second time I visited her I +knew that I could never love any other woman; and so, +when I found that she was likely to be delicate for a long +time on account of the sacrifice she had made for me, I +resolved to win her for my wife, if I could.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How could you, Truman, when you were pledged to +another?” his mother reproachfully demanded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop flushed hotly at this charge, and his brow +clouded.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>“I was not really pledged to Miss Rochester,” he began.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You were!” excitedly interrupted the proud woman +opposite him. “You promised your Uncle Milton, when +he was on his death-bed, that you would marry the daughter +of his friend; it was with that understanding that he +willed you his magnificent fortune; and now you will +have to forfeit it all. Oh, it breaks my heart to think +of it!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And truly madam did appear to be greatly distressed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You forget, mother, that my promise to Uncle Milton +Hamilton was conditional,” Dr. Winthrop answered. +“I pledged myself to meet this young lady, Miss Rochester, +and if we proved to be congenial, if we could love +each other, then I would willingly marry her, and thus +comply with the terms of the ‘R—H.’ will.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, you have never met her; you do not know +whether you are congenial or not; and you have not only +lost Milton Hamilton’s magnificent fortune, but the one +you would also have won with Sadie Rochester. More +than this, the union would have been unexceptional in +every way. The Rochesters belong to one of the oldest +and finest families in the State; and I have heard that +Sadie Rochester is a very beautiful and accomplished +girl. I cannot be reconciled to it,” groaned Madame +Winthrop, in conclusion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother, be reasonable, and accept the inevitable. +Fate, or Providence, interfered with my proposed meeting +with Miss Rochester—sent me to Boston instead of +to Europe, and decreed that I should meet and love +Salome instead.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you need not have been so hasty about your marriage. +Who knows but you might have been better +pleased with Sadie Rochester if you had only waited,” +Madame Winthrop irritably retorted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop made an impatient movement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother,” he said, sternly, after a moment of thought, +“after I had seen Salome Howland three times I knew +that neither Sadie Rochester nor any other woman could +ever be my wife. My whole heart and soul were filled +with profoundest love for this girl who had saved my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>life. If she had refused to marry me I should never have +married any one. You charge me with having been hasty. +Well, perhaps others would judge me so also; but Salome +was ill—Dr. Hunt feared that she would be for a long +time—he was afraid of atrophy of the heart. She had no +friends, no home; he wanted to get her away from that +hospital, and she had nowhere to go and no one to care +for her. You know that I am not, have never been, an +impulsive man, therefore I was not guided simply by +impulse in this very critical decision of my life in determining +to make this lovely girl my wife. I loved her; I +wanted her. I believed that with proper care she should +get well; but I knew that she must be relieved from all +care, all anxiety regarding herself—that she must be +taken away from that place and from all exciting scenes, +where she would be happy and surrounded by tenderness +and love. Something—some look or gesture—which I +remarked one day when I was with her, made me believe +that she might learn to love me, if already she did not. +I told her that I wished to make her my wife, and asked +her if she would marry me. She demurred at first, and I +thought she feared I was only asking her from a feeling +of pity and of gratitude for what she had done for me. +But I knew that she loved me, from the look of sudden +joy that flashed over her pale face and into her eyes, and +I was determined that nothing should separate us after +that.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You were very rash and inconsiderate to take such a +step without investigating her antecedents,” Madame +Winthrop here interposed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She spoke of that very thing,” Dr. Winthrop replied. +“She wanted to tell me everything about herself, for she +said she had nothing to conceal from me, only she had +had trouble that had obliged her to depend upon her own +resources. But she was so frail—it excited her so to talk +about it, that I would not allow her to speak of it; and +mother, I know that she is a lady—that there is nothing +connected with her life that can cast even a shadow upon +either her future or mine,” the young physician confidently +concluded.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>“But she is getting well and strong now—there certainly +has been time since your marriage for her to tell +you all her previous history,” said Miss Winthrop eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, and she has attempted to do so two or three +times during the last week; but our conversation has +been interrupted each time. But,” lifting his head +proudly, a tender smile upon his lips, “even if she never +tells me anything I can trust her; she is one of the purest, +truest little women in the world. She has been well +educated—well-bred; she is an honor to me as a wife—to +you as a daughter and sister.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall never be content until I know her history, +and if you are so foolish, so indifferent, as not to care +anything about it, I shall take the first opportunity to +inquire into her genealogy,” Mrs. Winthrop resolutely +remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pardon me, mother,” her son began as resolutely, +“but I must insist that you do nothing of the kind. +Salome is sensitive—very delicately made—and you +would wound her exceedingly by seeking to pry into her +family affairs. When she has an opportunity to confide +in me I will acquaint you with all that is necessary for +you to know. But I cannot allow her to be questioned +or excited in any way, for she is far from strong even +now, and I shall have to be very careful of her for a long +time to come. She has improved wonderfully, however, +since I brought her home, and if she has nothing to cause +a relapse, I am sure that she will soon be entirely out of +danger. Mother, Evelyn”—turning an appealing glance +upon them—“why will you not receive my wife in a +motherly and sisterly way? Give her love and kindness, +and I know that she will prove all that you can desire in +a daughter and sister.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How have your friends here in New York received +the news of your astonishing marriage?” questioned Madame +Winthrop, without paying any heed to his appeal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I doubt if half a dozen people in the city know that I +am married,” replied the young doctor. “I have been so +busy since my return that I have met scarcely any one +whom we visit, and Salome has been so delicate that I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>have not thought best to send any cards. But you have +not yet told me whether you intend to be upon friendly +terms with my wife,” he concluded, persistently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman, I cannot be reconciled to this marriage. +Just think what she has cost, what it involves, and all the +peculiar circumstances attending it?” Madame Winthrop +sternly remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose if I had married Miss Rochester, under exactly +the same circumstances, you could have been easily +reconciled to the peculiarity of the situation,” Dr. Winthrop +observed, with quiet scorn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course; for you were pledged to her, and we know +all about her family; while—oh, True! it has been the +dream of my life to see those two estates—Brookside +and Englehurst—united,” sighed Madame Winthrop dolefully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is something more to be desired in life than the +union of two estates, valuable as they may be,” returned +the young man, gravely. “It was an arbitrary and +unnatural will that both Uncle Milton and Mr. Rochester +made; it is simply absurd for one generation to imagine +that it can control the affections of the one following, +and settle its domestic relations according to its own +notions. I know that Milton Hamilton was fond of +me; no doubt he fondly imagined that I should fall in +love with Sadie Rochester, and everything would move +smoothly along, as he and her father had planned. But +I believe if he could speak to-day he would say that he +would prefer me to have his fortune, even though I have +not married as he wished, than to have it go in another +direction. But that is all past; the die is cast; having +once seen and loved Salome, I could never love or marry +any other woman, were forty fortunes in the balance; so, +if you please, we will not discuss that point any further.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot believe that you are so infatuated with the +girl as you pretend to be,” his mother exclaimed excitedly. +“I believe that you were actuated more by motives of +pity and gratitude than love. Tell me—am I not right? +Can you honestly say that you were not governed by +those feelings?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>“No, I cannot say that,” he responded thoughtfully, +“for gratitude did actuate me in a measure—it was profound +gratitude for the noble sacrifice of her life-blood, +that led me to seek her in the first place, and I felt that +I owed her a debt which I could only repay by devoting +my life to her; but love was the strongest motive of all; +she had won my whole heart before I offered her my +hand.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop’s eyes snapped angrily at this assertion, +but she did not pursue that train any further.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, what are you going to do about the fortune +that you have forfeited—have you given any consideration +to that important subject?” she sharply demanded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I believe I have fully considered the matter, +and I am prepared to fulfil the conditions of the will, to +the letter,” Dr. Winthrop gravely returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What conditions?” demanded Evelyn. “I imagined +that the fortune, all except the estate at Englehurst, was +given to you for your name.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The will, Evelyn, was made when I was a mere boy; +if Uncle Milton had lived longer, I do not believe he +would have imposed any such conditions upon me,” her +brother returned. “These conditions were—if I obeyed +his wish, and married the daughter of his friend, I was +to have the whole of his fortune; if I refused to do this, +and married any one else, I was to surrender all right +and title to Englehurst, together with a hundred thousand +dollars, to found an institution for the blind, in +connection with Brookside, and a like amount, according +to the stipulations of Mr. Rochester’s will. The +only portion I was to receive unconditionally was this +house and its contents.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“One could almost believe that the two men were a +pair of lunatics,” said Evelyn, somewhat impatiently, +“and yet I imagine that, had I been in your place, I +should not have been long in deciding to take a couple +of splendid fortunes, and Sadie Rochester as a bride, in +preference to a common nurse, without a penny. Frankly, +True, I think you were a fool.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your frankness is, to say the least, rather lacking in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>courtesy,” her brother replied, with a curling lip. “But +I am prepared to surrender Englehurst, and the money +also, as soon as I can make arrangements to do so. I do +not begrudge it, for this home, together with the handsome +income which my practice will give me, will be +ample for all my own and my wife’s needs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And have you no regret for what you thus compel +Sadie Rochester to lose also?” questioned his mother +excitedly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall write to Mr. Rochester immediately—I ought +to have done so before this—telling him what I have +done, and no doubt he will make a new will, and provide +handsomely for his daughter. By the way,” Dr. Winthrop +added, “I have had no reply to the letter I wrote +to him early last fall, telling him that I intended to go +abroad, with the intention of meeting Miss Rochester. +Did you ever meet any of the family in your travels?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; we were waiting for you to join us before going +to Berlin, and now I feel as if I never wish to meet +them,” returned madam, with more passion in her tone +than she had yet exhibited.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose as she spoke, and then added:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is late, and time that we were all in bed. Come, +Evelyn.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Wait, mother, one moment,” said Dr. Winthrop, looking +white and stern. “Is it peace or war upon this question? +If you cannot be at peace with my wife, it will +have to be war with me,” he concluded, in a tone which, +she had long ago learned, meant a great deal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she was too angry and upset to be very reasonable.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Find out who your wife is, and then I will answer you,” +and with that curt reply she sailed majestically from the +room, followed by her daughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young physician was in no enviable frame of mind, +for he knew that, with such an ungracious disposition, +his mother and sister would have it in their power to +make it very uncomfortable for Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He sat with a thoughtful look on his face for a few +moments, then he lifted his fine head with a haughty air.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Let them do as they will,” he said sternly, “Salome +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>is my wife; that is a fact that cannot be contested, and +she will be received, wherever I am received, with becoming +courtesy, or my friends will get the cut direct +from me. Dear child, how nobly she conducted herself +to-night!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER X.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP RECEIVES AN IMPERATIVE SUMMONS ABROAD.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>When Salome awoke the next morning, she was conscious +of a feeling of great nervousness and depression. +Her head ached, her temples throbbed, and she +felt both languid and weak.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Under ordinary circumstances she would have remained +quietly in bed, sent word to her husband that she was ill, +and asked him to excuse her from breakfast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she knew how desirous he was that she should please +his mother and sister, and win their approval, and she +resolved to conquer her ill-feelings, and go down to +greet them with all the cordiality and hospitality that +the most exacting could expect.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She dressed herself, with great care, in a beautiful +morning robe of pale pink cashmere, and looked every +inch a lady as she went down, to brave again the critical +judgment of her proud mother-in-law and her equally +proud daughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop heard her light step upon the stairs, and +came from the library, where he had been waiting to +meet her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His eyes lighted with love and pride as he caught sight +of her; she was very lovely, and he wondered how any +one could feel aught but pleasure in her presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How beautiful you are this morning, my Peace! Did +you sleep well, and are you feeling quite well?” he +inquired, as he folded his arm about her, and looked +fondly into her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I slept very soundly,” Salome answered—too +soundly, she might have told him, and that was, doubtless, +one cause of her headache; for she had been wearied +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>out with the unusual exertion and excitement of the +previous evening.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she tried to smile brightly, for she did not wish +him to be troubled upon her account, and then, hearing +Madame Winthrop’s door open in the hall above, he +drew her quietly within the library, and nothing more +was said about her feelings for which she was thankful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame made her appearance a moment later, with +even more stateliness in her manner than there had been +the previous evening, her keen eyes taking in with one +sweeping glance the dainty loveliness of her son’s wife, +and noting that her beauty was no less striking by +daylight than it had been by gaslight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome went forward and greeted her with a cordial +“good-morning,” inquiring if she had rested well, and +found everything comfortable in her room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam responded courteously, as any well-bred lady +would have done to a stranger, in whose home she had +been entertained, for surely she was not going to be outdone +in politeness by one whom she affected to despise on +account of inferior birth and breeding.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn soon followed her mother, and her envy was +instantly aroused as she realized how exceedingly beautiful +Salome was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had always been accounted very handsome, but she +saw that she was far less attractive than her brother’s +wife, and a feeling of bitterness and ill-will sprang up in +her heart on account of it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She saluted Salome with decided coolness, and then, +ignoring her presence altogether, began talking with her +brother about some of their New York friends.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In spite of this undercurrent of dislike and disapprobation +on the part of their guests, breakfast passed off quite +smoothly, for Salome was determined that there should +be no pains spared upon her part to keep the peace and +make everything as pleasant as possible. She was the +mistress of Dr. Winthrop’s home and she would try to do +her duty faithfully, even though she was well aware that +her nerves could not long endure such a strain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The meal was finally ended, and they were all about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>to return to the library, when a servant entered and +handed Dr. Winthrop a telegram.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He read it, and a startled look instantly overspread his +features.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome observed it, and her own face grew pale with an +instinctive feeling of impending evil.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is a cable message, is it not, Truman?” inquired +his mother, who had also been regarding him keenly. +“Is there any ill news from your father or brother?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, father is very ill,” Dr. Winthrop replied, thinking +it best to conceal nothing. “The message is from +Norman and reads thus: ‘Father taken suddenly and +violently ill. Peritonitis. Come if possible.’”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s heart sank like lead in her bosom as she listened +to this peremptory summons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If he went would he take her with him, or would he +think it best for her to remain quietly at home? If so, +would his mother and sister have to be her guests during +his absence? How could she bear the separation from +him—how could she live under such unnatural constraint +with these two women for long weeks, and perhaps even +months?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Thoughts like these darted quickly through her brain +during the minute that elapsed before madam could gather +her wits, after the shock of hearing the message read.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She, too, had grown somewhat pale, but she did not +lose one iota of her self-possession over the serious news.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How very unfortunate, and we have but just arrived!” +she said at length. “I can never endure another voyage +so soon. Can you go to your father, Truman?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must, since I am sent for, although I doubt if I can +reach London in season to be of any service, for the +crisis will have been reached and passed before I could +land. However, if he should weather it safely, I may +be able to prevent a relapse and add to his comfort during +his convalescence. Let me see when I can go,” he added, +taking up the morning paper and turning to the steamship +advertisements. “Ah, this is favorable; the <em>Scythia</em> +sails to-day at one o’clock; so I can go at once—there +will be no delay.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>But his eyes wandered wistfully to Salome’s pale face +as he said this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will take me, True?” she pleaded, in a low, +eager tone, but instinctively knowing that he would not, +even as she spoke.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The intensely appealing look in her dark eyes smote +him keenly, for he dared not take her on such a journey +at that time of the year; besides, he hoped to be back in +less than a month if all went well.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn hoped that he would take Salome out of their +way, so that she and her mother could have full command +of his elegant home, and command of his handsome +equipages during his absence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But madam evidently had other views upon the subject, +and there was a cold glitter in her hard gray eyes as she +interposed:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“An invalid wife would be rather a hindrance upon +such an errand, I should imagine.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Nellie entered the room at that moment to make some +inquiry of her young mistress, and Salome excused herself, +ostensibly to give her personal attention to the matter, +but really to get out of sight and conceal the terrible +heart ache that almost unnerved her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother,” Dr. Winthrop said, as the door closed after +her. “I cannot take Salome with me; it would be risking +too much to allow her to cross the ocean during this +cold weather; while, too, I do not know what tidings +and duties may await me upon the other side. I do not +think it best for either you or Evelyn to go—you could +do no possible good even if you found father living. +Now I have a favor to ask of you—will you remain here +to keep Salome company during my absence, and will you +treat her like a daughter and sister? Of course, if you +cannot take her into your hearts, it will be best for me +to provide you with rooms at either the Windsor or the +Hoffman House, until you can have the home on Thirty-fourth +Street put in order.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It will be better for us to remain where we are,” Madame +Winthrop returned, with a sudden accession of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>dignity, “and you may be assured that I shall render all +due respect to my son’s wife.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This was a somewhat ambiguous assurance, but he had +to content himself with it, though a sigh of regret escaped +him as he left the room to seek his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was in neither her boudoir nor her chamber, and +he passed on to his room to pack his trunk for the journey +thinking he would see her later.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Five minutes had not passed when there came a timid +knock upon his door, and the next moment Salome glided +into the room, looking like some pale, sorrowing spirit.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True! True! you are going to take me. I can be +ready in an hour; you must not leave me—I cannot stay +here without you!” she panted tremulously, as she seized +his arm with both hands, and looked beseechingly into +his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He saw that she was greatly excited.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He put down the articles of clothing he was folding, +and drew her into his arms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, my dearest,” he said tenderly, “I wish from +the bottom of my heart that I could take you; but I cannot—hush! +little woman! this will never do,” as she +burst into a passion of tears and hid her streaming eyes +upon his breast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He held her there close, until her grief was somewhat +spent; then he gently seated her in a chair and knelt +upon the floor beside her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It grieves me more than I can tell you, Salome, to +have to leave you here,” he resumed; “as much on your +account as upon mine; but I know that you could never +endure the rough voyage and severe weather; and, besides, +I am afraid that my father will not live through this +attack—he has had one before—and I may have sad +duties before me on the other side. I shall go and +return as soon as possible—I hope not to be absent over a +month, if as long. Cannot you be content to do without +me for so short a time? Do not grieve, dear, for that +will make you ill, and I shall be very anxious. Try to +get strong and well while I am away; drive somewhere +every pleasant day, and breathe all the fresh air you can, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>so that I may find roses on these cheeks when I come +back.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had grown gradually more quiet and composed +while he was talking, and she began to realize that it +would be better for her to stay where she was; that she +would only add to his care and anxieties if she went with +him. A month would soon pass, and she could best +please him by striving to be happy and well; so she resolved +to put a brave front on the parting, which somehow +had almost the sadness of death in it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She resolutely wiped away her tears and tried to smile +as she lifted her face to his.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must think me very childish,” she began—she +could not suppress the sob that broke in upon the sentence; +“but—it is very hard to let you go.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And it is very hard for me to go, dear,” he answered, +with regretful tenderness. “Nothing but such an imperative +call would tempt me to leave you. But you +must not grieve—promise me that you will not grieve, or +I shall not know a moment of peace for fear of losing +you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will try to bear it as well as I can,” she returned, +little thinking how difficult it would be to keep her +promise; “but oh, how I shall wish the month away! +Now,” starting up, and determined to show him how +earnestly she wished to please him, “let me help you to +get ready—you have so little time, and I am quite an +expert at packing.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He kissed her more fondly than he had ever done before, +and thanked her with a smile; then, feeling that it +might keep her mind employed, he allowed her to assist +him in his preparations.</p> + +<p class='c011'>While they were thus engaged he said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have asked my mother and Evelyn to remain with +you during my absence, for I do not like to leave you +alone in the house with the servants, while their house is +not in order for their reception. But, Salome, I want +you to understand that this is your home; you are mistress +here, and they are simply to be your guests; only +in case you should be ill my mother will see that you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>have proper care, or if you need advice in any emergency +she has good judgment and will give you the benefit of it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome would have been much happier to have been +left alone with the servants, for she knew that, with Madame +Winthrop and Evelyn in the house, she would be +under continual restraint; but since it was her husband’s +wish that they should remain, she would not make any +objections to the plan.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will try to make everything comfortable and pleasant +for them,” she gravely replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, dear, and you are to have everything that +you need or wish for, during my absence; make free +with your cheque book—go out every day with the ponies; +they need exercise, and it will do you good; only be careful +not to take cold, and don’t worry about anything. Write +to me by every steamer, and you shall hear from me as +often. There, little wife, I believe I cannot think of +any more orders to give you,” he concluded, with a smile; +“if I do later, I will write them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will try to do all that you wish,” she said, but her +lip quivered over the words.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now I think I have everything I shall need,” he remarked +as he closed his trunk, “and as I have a little +business to do down-town before I sail, I must hurry +away. I am going to say my special good-by to you here, +while we are alone,” he added, as he took her again into +his arms, and laid her head upon his breast. “May +Heaven bless and keep you, my own wife, while we are +parted, and grant that we may soon be reunited.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s heart was almost breaking, and filled, too, +with an indefinable fear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True! True! how can I let you go?” she breathed, +almost breaking down again, and moved by the impulse +of the moment, she twined her arms about his neck, and +clung to him with a strength that surprised him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He kissed her again and again, and then put her gently +from him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not come down, dear, if you would rather not,” he +said, thinking she might find it difficult to preserve her +self-control.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>“Oh, yes, I must,” she said, with a pathetic little +smile, which told him that she longed to be near him +until the last moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They went downstairs together, and madam and Evelyn, +hearing them, came out into the hall to make their farewells.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He took an affectionate leave of them, remarking as he +did so, and with a purpose in it:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have told Salome that you are to be her guests +while I am away, and she has assured me that she will do +everything in her power to make your stay comfortable +and pleasant. I have given her full authority, and you +must fill the time as enjoyably as possible. Of course +you will be anxious about father, but I am going to +cable Norman before I start, to send you a bulletin every +day until my arrival, after which I will keep you posted. +Now I must go, Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sprang toward him—he folded her in a passionate +embrace, kissed her on the forehead and lips, and then +was gone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her face was wet with tears when she turned again to +Madame Winthrop and Evelyn; but she looked up with a +brave little smile, and asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will you kindly excuse me for half an hour? I +hope I shall be quite myself again by that time.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam bowed coldly, and Evelyn stared rudely at her, +while Salome, with an almost breaking heart, turned and +fled up to her own room, to battle alone with her heavy +grief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam and Miss Winthrop went slowly back to the +library.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mamma, this is a queer state of affairs,” the +young lady remarked, as she carefully closed the door, +so as to prevent any one hearing their conversation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is, truly,” said her mother thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You understand, mamma, we are to be that girl’s guests, +and she is to have unlimited authority,” continued Miss +Winthrop, with a sneer. “That means, I suppose, that +she is to manage everything her own way, and to spend +his money as lavishly as she chooses—and she will choose +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>if one can judge by the way she dresses. It means, too, +that, if we wish to entertain any of our friends we are to +go to her for permission; if we wish to drive, we will +be expected to say, ‘By your leave,’ before we can have +the carriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, Truman evidently wished us to understand that +she was to be mistress here,” madam thoughtfully returned, +“but,” with a proud uplifting of her head, and compressing +her lips tightly, “a mother has certain rights in the +home of her son, and I intend to assert them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am just dying to know who she is, and all about +her,” said Evelyn, with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And I mean to know, before Truman returns,” rejoined +madam resolutely, adding, “His enforced absence +will give us a fine opportunity to make all the inquiries +that we desire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you imagine that you will be any the wiser afterward?” +inquired Evelyn, with a malicious laugh. “If I +am not mistaken, the little lady has considerable spirit +and dignity of her own, and she will not be easily pumped +regarding her family history.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We shall see,” quietly responded her mother, but +with a look in her eye that spoke volumes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An hour later Salome reappeared, looking a little pale, +but bright and smiling, having resolutely conquered her +grief, or rather controlled all outward manifestations of +it, and determined to show her guests all due courtesy +and attention.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was hardly seated with some pretty fancy work in +her hands, when Nellie appeared, saying that the coachman +wanted to know if she would drive as usual.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you two ladies too weary to drive to-day?” +Salome asked, turning graciously to her companions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, no; we intended to go for a drive by and by,” +madam composedly responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you any choice as to time?” inquired the young +hostess.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; it would be well for us to go soon, while the +sun is bright and warm.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then, Nellie, you may tell Dick to bring the close +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>double carriage in about half an hour——” Salome began, +when she was interrupted by Madame Winthrop, who +said authoritatively:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, Nellie, tell him to bring around the barouche. +I never ride in a close carriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A tinge of pink shot into Salome’s cheeks at this +decided counter-order; but she said pleasantly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well. Then, Nellie, you can say to Dick that +he may put the doctor’s horses into the barouche and +send William to drive them, while he may drive me in +the coupé, as usual. True is unwilling that I should ride +in the open air while the weather is so cold,” she explained +to her companions, as the girl withdrew.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Neither lady made any reply; but madam’s lips were +tightly compressed, and a frown rested upon her brow; +for Salome’s orders were the ones that were to be obeyed +rather than hers, after all, and they had been issued with +a dignity that nettled her exceedingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But madam was determined that she would yet assert +herself, and the opportunity for a second attempt came +sooner than she expected.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XI.<br> <span class='c009'>A STARTLING ENCOUNTER.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Nellie had not been gone from the room with her +message to the coachman more than ten minutes +when the cook presented herself to ask whether she should +serve French peas or artichokes with the lamb for dinner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you fond of artichokes?” Salome asked, turning +to her husband’s mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; but we will have peas to-day,” Madame Winthrop +said, addressing the girl rather than answering +Salome’s question.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And will they be served with cream, marm?” the cook +asked of her young mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But before she could reply, the elder woman interposed:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course; they are richer and nicer, and should +never be served any other way.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still the girl hesitated and glanced inquiringly at +Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now, Salome could not eat cream that had been heated—although +she could take it cold—therefore she had never +ordered any of her vegetables to be prepared with it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She thought at first that she would say nothing, but let +the matter rest and go without her peas for once, although +she was exceedingly fond of them. But the same thing +was liable to occur again, and, after a moment’s thought, +she quietly said, but without the slightest appearance of +wishing to thwart her husband’s mother:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You may serve them both ways, if you please, Bridget, +for I cannot eat them with cream; and be sure to have +the crumbs nicely browned for the soup.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, marm,” said the woman respectfully, as she left +the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>But, once outside the door, she gave vent to a very suggestive +chuckle as she remarked in a low voice:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The young one’ll be enough for her, never fear,” and +then she went away to the regions below, a broad grin +on her Irish face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This is but an example, however, of what Salome had +to endure day after day. Her orders were countermanded, +her plans continually disarranged by some whim or freak +of Madame Winthrop’s or Evelyn’s, both becoming, as +time elapsed, more and more aggressive and disagreeable.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young wife tried to meet these trials pleasantly +and patiently, but there were times when they seemed +almost more than she could bear; for when she tried to +please them most, they seemed to be the least satisfied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One day they culminated in a radical assumption of +authority on the part of Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been bitterly envious of Salome from the first, +not only on account of her exceeding beauty, but because +of the lavish hand with which her brother showered favors +upon her. She especially envied her the possession of +her elegant coupé and handsome ponies, and upon this +particular morning she insisted that she was afraid to +ride after her brother’s more spirited and powerful horses, +and so ordered the ponies to be harnessed into the barouche +for her use.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s face grew blank as she listened to this cool +command, for she well knew that such an arrangement +would never do.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was saved the disagreeable duty of objecting, however, +by Dick, who said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The ponies ben’t strong enough for the barouche, +marm; they’d never drag it a mile over the pavements +without being winded.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You’ll do as I tell you,” the young lady retorted +imperiously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dick looked confused but doggedly determined, +scratched his head, and glanced inquiringly at Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She disliked to oppose Evelyn, and yet she knew that +her beautiful ponies would be ruined if they were made +<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>to draw that heavy vehicle, and Miss Winthrop was not +remarkably careful of horseflesh at any time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Right is right,” she said to herself, after thinking a +moment, and she made up her mind that the little bays +should not be overtaxed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I think Dick is right, Evelyn,” she said gently. “I +am afraid the ponies will be injured. Suppose you take +the coupé instead; you are quite welcome to it, and, if +you dislike riding in a close carriage, you can lower the +windows.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nonsense! the ponies are strong enough—it’s only +the man’s stubbornness,” retorted the girl irritably, +although she knew that she was wrong. She had not +thought of the barouche being too heavy for the horses +when she gave the order; her only aim had been to assert +herself and overreach Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, no, you are mistaken; Dick is never stubborn—he +is always very willing to oblige,” Salome answered +pleasantly, and bestowing a kind glance upon the man. +Then she added, with a decision that settled the contested +point at once, “Dick, if you please, you may put the +ponies in the coupé for Miss Winthrop.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, marm,” and with a respectful nod the man disappeared +to do her bidding, but muttering, as he got out +of hearing, something about the “toppin ways of high-toned +upstarts.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But when the coupé came to the door, in obedience to +Salome’s command, Miss Winthrop haughtily informed +her that she should not drive; so the young wife, rather +than have the man feel that he had had his trouble for +nothing, quietly donned her wraps and went herself, +although she felt far from equal to the effort after the +contest with her sister-in-law, and there was a look of +care on her fair face that Dr. Winthrop would not have +liked to see.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she felt better on her return, and her heart was +lightened somewhat by finding awaiting her a cable message, +telling of her husband’s safe arrival in Liverpool, +and stating that a letter was on its way to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The daily bulletins from Norman Winthrop, previous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>to this, had not been of an encouraging nature, for Mr. +Winthrop was reported as being very low.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Every steamer after that brought letters from her dear +one, and Salome’s spirits arose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will not be disheartened,” she said, after reading +one of those precious missives; “I will do my very best, +try to be patient, and these trials will all be over in a +little while.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>In spite of the care which had fallen so heavily upon +her since Dr. Winthrop’s departure, and the continual +irritation and anxiety to which she was subjected, she +was growing stronger with every day and gaining flesh, +and even a little color, which, previous to her illness, +had never been natural to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But with all her sweetness and self-denial—with all +her patience and ceaseless efforts to please—she found it +impossible to win the slightest affection from either +Madame Winthrop or her daughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Several times they had attempted to “pump her,” as +Evelyn termed it, regarding her family and her previous +life; but Salome, feeling that her first confidence should +be given to her husband, adroitly evaded their questions +and they learned nothing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This so angered them that they neglected no opportunity +to make her feel that they regarded her as an intruder +in the family. They never accompanied her anywhere +in public—they never invited her to ride, or to go +anywhere with them. If they had callers, she was never +asked to meet them, nor did they introduce her to any one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One day, not knowing that Evelyn had a friend calling +upon her, Salome chanced to go into the drawing-room +to get a book which she had left there; but on perceiving +there was a stranger there, she stopped on the threshold +and excused herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn simply stared at her with a frown, and she +retreated, feeling like an intruder in her own home.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She heard the visitor exclaim, as she passed out of +sight:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, Evelyn, who was that beautiful girl?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Winthrop made some low-voiced reply, which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>Salome did not catch, and the other voice responded, in +a tone of surprise:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What a pity! She is far too pretty to be a common +seamstress!” and Salome knew that her position was +repudiated—that people who called upon her husband’s +mother and sister were not allowed to know that Dr. Winthrop +had a wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What their object could be in thus trying to conceal +the fact, she could not understand, but she felt bitterly +hurt and humiliated, and her spirit rose in rebellion +against such treatment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is outrageous!” she said, with blazing eyes and +burning cheek, as she sped up to her own room, “and I +will not submit to being so ignored. I will do my best +to get so strong and well before True gets home, that +he will take me into society and introduce me to these +very people from whom they seem to be so anxious to +keep the truth.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she was naturally so sweet-tempered, that these feelings +were soon resolutely conquered, and she continued +to exert herself to be as kind and agreeable as possible +to her guests.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning she was bitterly disappointed not to +receive her usual letter, by the steamer that had just arrived. +She feared that Mr. Winthrop must be worse, and +her husband had not been able to find time to write as +usual.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall surely get one by the next steamer,” she said, +and then, to divert her mind from her disappointment, she +went for a drive and to do a little shopping.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She made her purchases, and, after wandering about to +look at the attractive display in the store, was slowly +making her way to the entrance, where her carriage +waited, when some one touched her on the arm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She turned to see who had accosted her thus, and instantly +her face blanched.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A tall, awkward, powerful-looking man was standing +beside her and gazing down upon her, a sinister smile of +triumph lighting his coarse but not altogether ill-favored +face.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>“Well, pretty one, you didn’t expect to met an old +friend in the midst of this busy city, did you?” he asked, +in loud resonant tones, which, it seemed to Salome’s +terrified ears, everybody about her must hear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was so taken aback by this unexpected encounter +that she could neither speak nor move for a moment, and +the man continued, as if he enjoyed the situation:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“’Pears to me you’re a good way from home, Miss +Salome, and you’ve been gone quite a while too. You +see I heard that you’d skipped, and I rather imagined that +you’d turn up some day in one of these big cities.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had begun to recover herself somewhat during +this speech, and answered, with cold dignity:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know that I am accountable to you for my +movements. Allow me to pass, if you please.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had placed himself directly in her path, and did +not offer to move at her request.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, well,” he said, the sinister smile still upon his +lips, “this is rather curt treatment for such an old friend +as I am; having known you for so many years I naturally +feel an interest in you, and you might be a little more +civil to me, my dear.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome did not deign a reply, but, watching her opportunity, +availed herself of a fortunate opening in the +crowd of comers and goers, glided swiftly out of the +store, and sped across the sidewalk to her carriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dick, who was devoted to his fair young mistress, saw +that something was the matter with her, for her face was +still pale, and had the door open for her by the time she +reached the coupé. She was securely shut within it before +the man who had accosted her could make his way +out of the store.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Home! home! as quickly as you can!” panted Salome, +as she sank back among the cushions, but not before she +had caught a glimpse of a leering face and a pair of +triumphant eyes that had been keen enough to spot her +before she could get out of sight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome would have been even more disturbed if she had +known that her meeting with this strange man had been +observed by Evelyn Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>But such was the case.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her attention had first been attracted by the resonant +tone in which he had addressed Salome, and turning, she +had been startled by the sight of the girl’s pallid face. +She drew a little back, so as not to be seen by her, and +watched and listened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She understood at once that this man was acquainted +with Salome’s past life; that this unexpected encounter +terrified her, for some reason; and she determined to avail +herself of this discovery, to learn, if possible, the history +of her brother’s wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was evidently some secret connected with her +past which she was very anxious to preserve; her home, +too, had been, she judged, in some distant portion of the +country, and the girl, for some reason, had fled from it, +and was terrified and dismayed to meet one whom she had +formerly known.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She followed the man as he followed Salome, and when +he turned back again, after having watched her carriage +out of sight, she quietly remarked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So you are acquainted with that person, sir. Will +you be kind enough to tell me her name?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, now,” he shrewdly returned, as he eyed his fair +questioner from head to foot, “perhaps she might have +some objections to my giving you the information you +desire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why?” Evelyn demanded, with more eagerness than +she was aware of.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum! well, for one reason, as you heard me tell her, +she’s a good ways from home, and—for certain other +reasons—perhaps she isn’t known down here in New +York by the same name she was in—well, when she was +at home with her folks.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn flushed; she had not supposed that the man +knew she had been watching them, but it was evident he +did.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I particularly wish to know who she is; perhaps +I could make it an object to you to tell me,” she returned, +as she glanced down at the costly and well-filled purse +in her hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>“Perhaps you could,” he answered placidly but indifferently, +following her glance, “maybe you could tell +me where the lady lives, she appears to be pretty well fixed, +judging from the carriage that she popped into so suddenly +and the pretty ring she had on.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No. I cannot tell you that,” Miss Winthrop returned, +without the flutter of an eyelid over the untruth; +for she had no idea of having this country boor coming +to her brother’s house to annoy her, “but—I have met her +a number of times, and there seems to be some mystery +about her that aroused my curiosity,” she continued, in a +confidential tone. “She calls herself Salome Howland; +is that her real name?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man laughed a silent, amused, internal laugh that +shook his broad shoulders visibly. Whether he was amused +over her curiosity, or over something connected with +Salome, she could not determine.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can answer for Salome, but Howland, I won’t be +quite so sure about,” he said, after a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then Howland is an assumed name?” said Miss Winthrop +eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Assumed? Hum! Well, it may belong to her for aught +I know; but——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It isn’t her real surname—that’s what you mean,” +supplemented Evelyn as he broke off tantalizingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, now, I don’t think it would be just square to +give an old friend away, do you?” he questioned evasively. +“If she calls herself Salome Howland let her go so—it +can’t harm anybody, I’m sure.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn saw that it would be useless to press that matter +any further, so she turned her artillery in another direction.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You said she was a good way from home; where did +she live?” she inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, it wasn’t Boston, and it wasn’t in San Francisco; +maybe it was somewhere between the two, and +maybe it wasn’t,” was the provoking reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Stay!” commanded Miss Winthrop haughtily. “I do +not wish to bandy words with you; I simply want to +know who the girl is—her true name and history. If you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>can and will give me the information I desire, I will pay +you well for it—you may make your own terms. If you +will not, upon any terms, there is no more to be said +about the matter.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum! make my own terms, may I? That’s pretty +liberal, and you seem to be quite anxious about the girl’s +history, it seems to me,” her companion returned, as he +searched her face keenly. “Now, I’d give considerable to +know where I could find her; suppose you give me her +address. I’ll tell you her history and we’ll call it +square.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The proud Miss Winthrop shivered at the thought of +having this coarse creature demanding entrance to her +brother’s residence, and compliance with his condition +was not to be thought of for a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That he was in some way connected with Salome’s past, +and most unpleasantly so, she could not doubt, after observing +her sudden pallor and terror upon meeting him +and her evident desire to escape from his presence, and +she was consumed with curiosity to learn the secret of it +all. She would cheerfully have paid a large sum to accomplish +her object; but to have her brother’s home invaded +by such a person, while she was an inmate there, +was more than her proud spirit could brook.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I told you that I could not give you her address,” she +coldly replied, “but,” a cunning thought coming to her, +“if you will oblige me I might try and ascertain it for +you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All right,” the man answered briskly, a shrewd +twinkle in his small eyes. “When you find out, just say +on a postal where I can meet you—my name is W. H. +Brown, and I’m stopping at the Howard—and we’ll exchange +confidences.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Winthrop flushed to her brows at this cool proposition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She, one of New York’s darling “four hundred,” asked +to make an engagement at the Howard with such a creature!</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could have smitten him in the face for daring to +propose such a thing, and if a look could have annihilated +<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>him, the angry glance which she shot at him would have +withered him at once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His <em>sang froid</em>, his presumption, his insolence, astounded +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still she was very curious regarding the mystery which +surrounded Salome, so she put a curb upon her rage and +said earnestly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell me one thing—there is some mystery—something +connected with the girl that is not quite open and above +board, isn’t there?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, miss, how strange that you should have imagined +that!” the man began, a broad grin on his face, an irritating +drawl in his tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She, perhaps, ran away from her home for some reason, +and has been living under the assumed name of Howland +since her flight,” Evelyn went on, without appearing to +heed him, and determined to have her say out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He laughed mockingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You’re pretty keen, miss, but guessing at a question +isn’t the safest way to settle it,” he retorted. “I always +like to oblige a lady, and particularly one so handsome +and clever as you appear to be; but I guess we’ll stick +to the first proposition. When I get the girl’s address, +I’ll shell out about the mystery, as you put it. Remember, +W. H. Brown, Howard House. I’m going to +be there for the next three weeks.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned abruptly on his heel as he ceased speaking +and walked away, leaving Evelyn Winthrop crimson with +mortification, anger, and baffled curiosity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Does the vulgar creature imagine that I would stoop +to make an appointment with him?” she muttered wrathfully, +but without remembering that she had already tried +to bribe him to give her the information she desired. +“However,” she added, with a malicious smile, “I have +learned enough to convince me that there is some disgraceful +mystery connected with Salome. I am going +directly home to acquaint mamma with what I have heard +and seen, and she will decide what will be best to do about +it. If that girl is some low impostor, as I fear, we must +manage some way to get rid of her.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XII.<br> <span class='c009'>AN EXPLANATION DEMANDED.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Miss Winthrop did not delay even long enough to +make her purchases, but turned about and went +home to report her news to her mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found madam in her own room, and learned that +Salome had returned about half an hour before, and gone +directly to her own boudoir.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mamma, I have learned something this morning +that will astonish you,” Evelyn remarked, as she threw +off her wraps and sank upon a chair, quivering to her +finger-tips with excitement over the precious morsel of +scandal she believed she had secured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah!” madam remarked placidly, but looking up interested, +nevertheless. “Is anybody married, or going +to be?—or maybe it is a bit of scandal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It may prove to be more than a bit, if we are not careful,” +Evelyn excitedly returned. “It’s about Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ha!” exclaimed her mother, now all on the alert, +“what about her?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is some deep mystery connected with the girl, +just as we have thought, and there is doubtless some +good reason why she has been so anxious to keep her history +from us all,” said Evelyn impressively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean?” demanded madam eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have learned this morning, by a lucky circumstance, +that she is a runaway from her home and family, and has +been sailing about under an assumed name—perhaps she +even married True under a false one.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What!” exclaimed Madame Winthrop sternly, and +growing pale; “how do you know? who has told you +this?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn then related her adventures of the morning, enlarging +<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>upon the circumstances to suit herself, vividly +portraying Salome’s agitated demeanor and her sudden +flight, and assuming as facts what she had guessed at from +her observation, and what she had inferred from the +strange man’s conversation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop listened to all this with a white, set +face, her heart growing harder than ever toward the girl +whom her son had married.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When her daughter concluded she said, in a low, icy +voice:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, Evelyn, this is a matter that must be cleared +up. I am going to know whom my son has married and +brought into a family upon whose name there has never +been even the shadow of a stain. I am going to make that +girl tell me her history this very hour.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She has a good deal of spirit, mamma, and perhaps +she will refuse to say anything about herself,” Evelyn suggested, +but secretly delighted at her mother’s determination.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She shall tell me—she shall no longer insult us with +her companionship and by enshrouding herself in such +mystery,” was the resolute retort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, but suppose she will not, what can you do? +This is her home; she is mistress here. True has made +her such, and we cannot compel her to go away. Likely +as not, she will tell us, if we object to associating with +her, that we can take ourselves out of her way,” Miss Winthrop +suggested.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She would not dare,” replied her mother sternly; +“and if I find your suspicions regarding her confirmed +we must manage to get rid of her by strategy if no other +means will avail. My son’s brilliant career shall not +be ruined at the outset by a scheming adventuress. I +never would have believed,” she continued, with a groan, +“that Truman would become so infatuated as to marry +any girl without investigating her family history.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But, mamma, True would never forgive you if you +should do anything to compromise his wife,” said Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She isn’t his wife if she has married him under false +pretences—under a false name,” retorted madam, almost +<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>savagely. “I don’t believe such a marriage would be +legal,” she added with a fierce gleam in her eyes. “I +am determined to make her believe so, if I can; then, +perhaps, she will run away from him, as she did from +her own home, and that will give him a chance to get a +divorce. The thought that he knows absolutely nothing +about her drives me nearly wild,” she despairingly concluded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, but you must remember they had only been +married about a fortnight when we returned, and her +health was such he would not allow her to get excited +over anything; you know he said he would not have her +annoyed, and forbade us to question her,” remarked the +younger lady.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He had no right to compromise us in any such rash +way, even if he had no pride on his own account. I am +only thankful that no one in our set appears to know anything +about the marriage as yet. Oh, if we could only +find some way to get rid of her!” and the dark look upon +the woman’s face augured ill for the fair young bride.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You can take my word for it, mamma, Salome is not +one to be easily managed. Where she imagines herself to +be in the right she will not be turned from her point,” +said Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How do you know? What makes you say that?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, by the way she has managed ever since we returned, +for one thing. She has ruled in everything where +any serious question has arisen, only, I admit, she has +done it in a very quiet, adroit manner. True told her +she was to be mistress here, and she has made us recognize +the fact from the very first. She has very cleverly managed +to ascertain our wishes and preferences, and has tried +to defer to them; she has often supplemented her commands +to please us, when we have objected to certain things +at times, but she never countermanded previous orders.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is true,” madam assented with firmly compressed +lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And about those ponies the other day,” Miss Winthrop +resumed; “I knew that they had been purchased +expressly for her, but I did not mean that she should think +<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>I did, and I had been aching to use them, only I wouldn’t +drive with her—you remember how obstinate she was, +mamma!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you made a mistake, Evelyn,” her mother +answered. “They would have been ruined if they had +dragged that heavy barouche around, and Truman would +have been very angry with you. You should have ordered +them put into his buggy if you were bound to use them +and would not go in the coupé.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I did not think of that; but the affair proves that +she will not give up her point—the tone she used to the +coachman settled the matter at once,” said Miss Winthrop, +flushing at the remembrance of her defeat.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I will find a way to manage her,” retorted her +mother sharply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meanwhile Salome in her own room was trying to compose +her quivering nerves and recover from the terrible +shock she had received.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been very much unstrung, and when she at last +reached the seclusion of her own room and knew that she +had escaped all immediate danger, she was still pallid +and panting from nervous excitement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My poor heart is not right even yet,” she murmured, +as she pressed her hand upon her throbbing side and +realized how it was fluttering, “and I must not allow +myself to become so excited. Oh! what an unfortunate +meeting! I never imagined that I could meet him, of all +persons, here in New York. I shall hardly dare go out +again while True is away, for fear of meeting him again, +and yet I promised that I would ride every day. I wish +I had insisted upon telling True everything before he +went away, but there was no time, he had to go in such +a hurry. Oh! if he were only back and we could be +alone together again!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She fell to sobbing nervously in her exceeding loneliness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was so hard to have to live as she was living—to +receive no sympathy nor love from her husband’s mother +and sister, and to have to pull all the time against an +opposing current.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>“Still,” she went on, after a moment, while she resolutely +wiped her tears, “I have nothing to really fear—that +wretch can only annoy me—even if he should discover +where I live. I need only keep out of his sight +until my dear one comes back, when I shall tell him +everything, and he will manage all that is disagreeable +for me. I will not grieve. I will not get ill. I will +just throw off this load that oppresses me and—trust.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She turned to her table, and taking up some work tried +to interest herself in it, and to forget the occurrences of +the morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been engaged thus only a few moments when +there came a knock upon her door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Thinking it must be Nellie, for no one else came to her +rooms, she said “Come in,” when Evelyn put her head +inside the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome regarded her with some surprise, though a +bright smile instantly chased the sadness from her face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, have you come to make me a visit?” she cried, +greatly pleased by what she considered a wonderful concession +on the part of her proud sister-in-law. “Come +in, do, and have this cozy chair; it will be very pleasant, +and I was feeling a little lonely.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked so pretty and appealing, her sweetness was +so charming, that for an instant the haughty girl’s heart +was touched, and she half regretted the errand that had +brought her there. But the next moment her proud spirit +rebelled against accepting the slightest hospitality, and +she coldly responded:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, I am not coming in; I merely came to tell you +that mamma would like to see you. She wished me to +ask you to step into her room for a few moments.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s face expressed surprise at such an unusual +request; but she obligingly laid down her work and rose +to follow. Evelyn was already half way down the hall, +but she waited at the door of her mother’s room until +Salome entered, when she closed it and locked it. She +had no intention of having this interview interrupted until +the battle should be fought out to the end.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome wondered at such a strange proceeding, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>her heart failed her somewhat as she caught the cold, +relentless look upon Madame Winthrop’s face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then a sudden fear almost paralyzed her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Had they received bad news from abroad?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Winthrop was improving when last they had heard +of him, though she had had no letter by the last two +steamers. Could any ill have befallen her husband? +Oh, if anything should happen to him, there could be +nothing left for her to live for!</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sit down, Salome,” said Madame Winthrop, in her +iciest tones; “I have something that I wish to say to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome obeyed and mechanically seated herself in the +chair that Evelyn pushed toward her, but with a strange +feeling of numbness creeping over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!” she gasped, “has anything happened? is there +anything the matter with—True?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam’s lips curled scornfully over the girl’s excitability. +She was never thrown out of her equilibrium by +any tidings, good or ill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, there is nothing the matter with Dr. Winthrop +that I am aware of,” she said coldly; then added, with +a furtive glance at her victim; “you had the last letter +from him, and you surely ought to be better posted +than I.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, but I have not heard from him by either of the +last two steamers, and you looked so grave, so strange, +I feared——” faltered Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I feel that I have reason to look grave; I have +felt so ever since my return,” said madam, with a severely +injured air; “and I have finally come to the conclusion +that I can no longer endure the suspense that I have +suffered. I have determined to have my doubts and fears +either confirmed or removed, and so have sent for you to +tell me what I wish to know.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not understand you,” Salome replied, beginning +to regain her composure, now that her fears regarding her +husband were allayed, and regarding the woman wonderingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose you are aware of the cause of my sudden +return from abroad?” observed madam.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>“No, I am not,” said the young wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What! did not your hus—did not my son inform you +why we came home in such hot haste?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; how could he when he was summoned away so +suddenly himself?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then, it was because of the unexpected news of +his marriage; it came in the form of a cable message to +us, and like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, for we had +not the remotest suspicion that he intended to be married +so soon.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So soon!” These two words somehow struck a sudden +chill to the young wife’s heart. They seemed to imply +that he entertained thoughts of marriage before meeting +her. But she put the thought away from her, and replied, +deprecatingly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It was very sudden to—to us, as well as to you, and +there was no time to send word to any one until it was over.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Doesn’t it strike you that it was a very strange marriage?” +demanded Madame Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, the circumstances attending it were very peculiar, +and I was very much surprised when True asked me +to be his wife,” Salome answered, flushing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It seems that it was not so much a surprise as to prevent +your ready acceptance of his quixotic proposal,” +sneered Evelyn vindictively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome flushed crimson again at this thrust, then she +grew white to her lips over the cowardly attack.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All at once she seemed to become strangely calm and +self-possessed, although she did not regain her color.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Allow me to ask,” she said, addressing Madame Winthrop, +and not deigning to notice Evelyn’s insulting remark, +“if Dr. Winthrop made you acquainted with all +the circumstances leading up to our union?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, he did,” curtly responded the woman, a frown +upon her brow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s face had cleared somewhat. If her husband +had told his mother and sister of the romantic story of +his wooing, they knew that he alone was responsible for +their marriage, and they had no right to thus call her to +account for having become his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>“Then,” she said quietly, “since you know all that +occurred in the City Hospital of Boston, you know just +why he asked me to become his wife, and why I consented +to do so, notwithstanding I had known him so +short a time, and I cannot feel that you have any right +to arraign me in such a manner during his absence for +having married him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam and Evelyn both opened their eyes in astonishment +at this dignified, yet spirited response to their +attack. It told them that they had a stronger and wiser +spirit to cope with than they had anticipated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was a moment of silence, then madam broke +forth with more heat than she had yet manifested:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I should have supposed that any girl possessing +proper self-respect would have hesitated to accept a proposal +that must have been prompted by a feeling of +gratitude. You saved my son’s life—there can be no +doubt about that—he was grateful; you were ill, you +had no home, no friends; your physician said you must +not remain under the depressing influences of a public +hospital, and so a sense of honor and of the great debt +he owed you prompted Dr. Winthrop to ask you to be +his wife, that he might try to save your life in return for +the one you had given back to him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s heart leaped with sudden pain at this cruel +speech.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As we know, she had been exceedingly sensitive upon +this very point, and she had only just begun to have +these fears allayed by his increasing tenderness, when +these two women came so rudely in upon them and he +was called away to his father.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What wonder that all her former doubts began to be +aroused by his mother’s cruel and unprincipled assertion?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did Dr. Winthrop tell you that he was actuated by +gratitude when he asked me to marry him?” she gravely +inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He did,” briefly responded Madame Winthrop, and +Salome felt herself growing dizzy, and there was a ringing +sound in her ears; but controlling herself by a mighty +effort, she demanded:</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>“Did he tell you that he was prompted solely by gratitude?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Let me tell you what he did say,” said madam, evading +a direct reply to this searching question. “I charged +him with having simply a feeling of pity for your forlorn +condition and of gratitude for what you had done; I +asked him just what you have asked me. ‘Can you +honestly say,’ I asked, ‘that gratitude did not prompt +you to make her your wife?’”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And his answer?” breathed Salome, with a wild look +in her eyes, a spot of fire on each cheek.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘No, I cannot,’ he replied, ‘for it was a feeling of +profound gratitude for the girl’s noble sacrifice of her +life-blood to save me’—those were his very words, were +they not, Evelyn?” madam interposed, pausing to look +at her daughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, mamma, you have repeated them exactly as I +remember them,” was the unfeeling reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome felt as if the blood was turning to ice in her +veins at this blighting statement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had begun to be so happy, so secure in her husband’s +love, before these people came into her home with +their cold looks and unfeeling hearts, and even since +his departure she had trusted him fully; but these terrible +words burned themselves into her brain and stabbed her +to the heart like a poisoned dagger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He also said,” Madame Winthrop went on ruthlessly, +“that the head physician told him he believed +that you were not going to get well—that you ought to +be removed to some pleasant home where you would be +tenderly cared for, where you would feel no anxiety about +yourself. My son believed that you had conceived a sudden +passion for him—he said some word, look, or gesture +that escaped you one day led him to believe that you +loved him; and so—can’t you see?—everything goes to +prove that he married you from pity and gratitude.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s head had gradually drooped during these +garbled and shameless statements, and now she covered her +burning face with her trembling hands to conceal the shame +and agony that were crushing her at this last terrible charge.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>Oh, it was dreadful! Could it be possible that she +had betrayed all her wild love for Dr. Winthrop before he +asked her to be his wife? Had she, in her weakness, +been so lost to all maidenly delicacy and modesty? She +tried to think—to remember when and how; but the bitter +humiliation of the moment confused her utterly, and she +could recall nothing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It did not seem possible that Dr. Winthrop could be +so devoid of respect and consideration as to speak of +these things to another, and yet, how otherwise would +his mother have known of them?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You can imagine something of our trouble and consternation +when we learned all this,” madam relentlessly +resumed, “when, too, we learned that he had married a +woman concerning whose history and family he knew +absolutely nothing, and about whom there seemed to be +some strange mystery. When I demanded why he had +not insisted upon having everything explained, his answer +was that you were easily excited, and he feared the +effect upon your health. But he promised that he would +inform me regarding your history as soon as he learned +it himself. He was, however, called so unexpectedly +abroad that the matter was not cleared up. I had intended +to be patient until his return—to trust that all +would come out right in the end, and leave the matter +with him to settle. But to-day I learned something +which made me resolve to sift the subject to the bottom, +and to demand an open confession from you. And now I +ask you, Salome, who you are, what your real name is—for +I have reason to doubt that Howland is such—why +you have so persistently kept your husband in the +dark regarding your past, and what the mystery is that +surrounds you.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XIII.<br> <span class='c009'>“YOUR MARRIAGE WAS ILLEGAL; YOU ARE NO WIFE!”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Salome had sat like a statue during this last tirade. +Her heart was like lead in her bosom; her feet and +hands like ice, her face, after that vivid flush of shame, +pale as marble, and all the while those blighting words, +which Madame Winthrop had represented as her son’s, +and which had been confirmed by Evelyn, rang in her +ears like a sentence of doom upon her future happiness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How could she believe them after those last fond expressions +to which he had given utterance before he had +parted with her in his room? when he had held her in his +arms and pronounced that tender little benediction over +her, “May Heaven bless and keep you, my own wife, +while we are parted, and grant that we may be soon +reunited.” When he had seemed so anxious that she +should take such good care of herself, and would “not +know a moment’s peace if he thought she was grieving.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And his letters since his departure had breathed so +much of anxiety and affection for her; in them he had +called her for the first time “his darling,” “his precious +wife,” and entreated her over and over again to take care +of herself for his sake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could she believe that all this was hypocrisy on his +part—that he would pretend to so much affection for her, +and tell his mother and sister something different?</p> + +<p class='c011'>No—she would never believe it of him. She would +trust her husband—she believed him to be honorable, +noble, truthful, and she would allow nothing to come +between them or disturb her faith in him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She resolved, too, that she would keep her own counsel +during his absence; but upon his return she would open +her whole heart to him and there should never be any +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>more secrets between them. But she would not be +driven into any confessions to these two women, who, +from the very first moment of their meeting, had constituted +themselves her enemies.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not, however, wish to come to any open rupture +with them if she could avoid it—they were her husband’s +mother and sister, he had wished them to remain in his +house as her guests, and she felt it to be her duty to show +them all due respect and consideration; but they must +be made to realize that she also had certain rights—that +she was not a weak reed to be bent and swayed according +to every freak or whim which seized them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All this she thought out during the brief interval of +silence that followed Madame Winthrop’s authoritative +demand, and she suddenly found herself growing calm and +self-possessed again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Allow me to inquire, Mrs. Winthrop, what you have +learned to-day that has so embittered you against me?” +she said, turning a mild glance upon the stern woman and +ignoring her question regarding the mystery of her life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have learned that you are not what you pretend to +be—that you are an impostor——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not what I pretend to be—an impostor?” repeated +Salome, with wide eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; you married my son under an assumed name. +Girl, what is your true name? I demand an honest +answer,” returned madam with overwhelming authority.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My name was just what I gave it—Salome Howland,” +the young wife quietly responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know better,” retorted the elder woman, flushing +angrily at the girl’s calm self-possession. “Your first +name may be Salome, but Howland was certainly not +your true surname.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome made no reply to this, and Evelyn and her +mother exchanged significant glances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Was it?—tell me!” commanded Madame Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can tell you nothing—at present,” Salome answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You shall tell me; I have borne this wretched suspense +as long as I can,” persisted her tormentor. “Do +you dare deny that there is a mystery connected with +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>your life? Do you dare affirm that you gave your true +surname when you married my son?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome thought a moment; then, lifting her small head +proudly, she met madam’s glance squarely and steadily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Winthrop,” she began, but most courteously, +even gently, “I do not wish to offend you. I do not wish +to say or do anything that would appear disrespectful +toward my husband’s mother; and I cannot tell you what +you wish to know just now, simply because I have not yet +confided my history to True, who has the first right to +my confidences. As he told you, he would not at first +allow me to talk about it, although I attempted to do so +several times, because he feared it would excite and make +me ill again. When I can have an opportunity to confide +in him, I can then have no possible objection to your +knowing all that he thinks best to tell you. I beg that +you will not press this subject any further; pray let it +rest. You are my guests, and I cannot bear that there +should be any unpleasantness while True is away——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then,” sternly interrupted Madame Winthrop, “I +am determined that I will have the truth. There is something +very mysterious about you, and when you went into +that hospital in Boston you went there to hide from some +person or persons, did you not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome flushed a vivid scarlet at this unexpected charge, +and then she as quickly lost all her color again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When True comes I will tell him all,” she said with +visible agitation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A look of triumph leaped into madam’s eyes, for she +was quick to notice both flush and emotion, and regarded +them as signs of guilt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“More than this,” she went on, emboldened by her apparent +success in worming this evidence of a secret from +her victim, “for some reason, best known to yourself, +you ran away from your home, and you are a long distance +from your friends.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Wholly unprepared for such an accusation, Salome threw +out one hand with a startled gesture and shrank back in +her chair, as if from a blow, while her beautiful face was +almost convulsed with pain.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>“You perceive,” the woman went on, “that I know what +I am talking about, and it is useless for you to attempt +to deceive me; and since you will not confess it I will +tell you that I also know that Howland was not your real +surname. You have compromised us all by meeting a +low man—a former lover, I suppose—a circumstance of +which I shall write to my son immediately. You have +married my son—a Winthrop—under false pretences; you +have brought irreparable disgrace in more ways than one +upon one of the first families of New York.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Madam,” interposed Salome, rising and standing before +the irate woman, with a proud dignity that impressed +her in spite of the fury to which she had wrought herself +up, “you wrong me; I have brought no disgrace upon +you or the name of Winthrop; I have done nothing which +can reflect upon your son or your family in any way.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have! for—do you understand?—under the +circumstances your marriage is illegal—you are no wife!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop did not know anything about the +law in this case; but she was so angry—she had worked +herself into such a rage over the obstinacy of the girl—that +she made this statement at random, determined, if possible, +to frighten Salome into confessing her whole story +to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A look of horror suddenly shot into the young wife’s +eyes and over her sensitive face, which blanched to the +hue of marble. She seemed almost to freeze where she +stood and to shrink before those two heartless women, a +terrible fear written on every quivering feature.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No! do not tell me that!” she whispered hoarsely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The law decrees that no contract is binding that is +obtained by fraud on the part of either party; it becomes +illegal, and thus, do you not see, by being married +under a name that was not your true one your marriage +was invalid?” said madam impressively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, but True believes it to have been legal; he intended +that it should be. He would never have wronged +me so, and I am sure he will make it all right when he +comes home,” Salome cried, appalled at the situation as +represented to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>“That remains to be seen,” returned the elder woman +severely. “My son is a man who abhors deception of any +kind; he would never overlook being drawn into such a +false position by fraud. More than this, he was pledged +to another when, from a feeling of pity and gratitude, he +asked you to be his wife.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop reached the end of her rope at this +point, for with one agonized gasp Salome fainted dead +away. The knowledge that her husband had broken his +pledge to another, perhaps thus ruining his own and the +life of some lovely girl, was too much for her already +overburdened heart, and a merciful unconsciousness locked +her senses in temporary oblivion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop and Evelyn were both somewhat +frightened by this result of their inhuman arraignment of +the young wife, and so they resolved to keep all knowledge +of it from the servants, if possible.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They laid her upon the lounge, loosened her clothing, +and applied restoratives.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I’m afraid we are getting ourselves into trouble, +mamma,” Evelyn remarked as she regarded Salome’s +death-like face with great anxiety. “True would never +forgive us if anything should happen to her through us.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She’s an obstinate little piece,” replied madam, with +a frown. “I didn’t think she’d hold out like this, nor +go off in any such way. But,” she continued relentlessly, +“I’m determined to discover the secret of her life +before Truman comes home. I’m almost sure there is +some disgraceful story connected with her past, and, if +there is, I shall wish that something might happen to +her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn regarded her mother with some surprise as she +said this. She had always known that she was an intensely +proud, somewhat cold-hearted woman, but she +was shocked by such utter heartlessness as this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome at length revived, and they helped her to her +own room and called Nellie to attend her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It can easily be imagined that she was in a wretched +state mentally, while the terrible excitement to which she +had been subjected made her really ill for the time.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>She saw nothing more of her husband’s mother and sister +that day, for she shut herself in her chamber and +charged Nellie not to admit any one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She tried to calm herself sufficiently to think over +what she had heard and to reason out her position. She +wondered how madam could have learned all that she +appeared to know about her. Could it be possible that +that man had followed her home and revealed to her +what he knew of her history? The thought for a moment +appalled her, then she discarded it, for if such had been +the case they must have learned her name and some other +things which madam had seemed so anxious to extort +from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then her thoughts reverted to what had been told her +about her marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could it be possible that there had really been any flaw +in it? that the simple fact of her withholding her surname +would invalidate it?</p> + +<p class='c011'>It did not seem at all reasonable; but she knew that +the law was very often peculiar and arbitrary, and it +might be as Mrs. Winthrop had said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If she was no wife—horrible thought—then she had no +right to be in the home of Dr. Winthrop, acting as mistress +at his table, driving his horses, spending his money.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, it cannot—it cannot be true!” she moaned, as she +hid her burning face in her hands. “What shall I do? +what is right—what is my duty? True, True, have you +ruined your life—have you ruined three lives from a mistaken +sense of obligation—of gratitude to me? I would +rather have died than that it should be so.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very wretched, both mentally and physically, +and Nellie grew alarmed at her condition and begged her +to send for some physician.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she refused to see any one—she knew that no advice, +no medicine, would do any good until she could +fight out her battle and determine upon some course to +pursue.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All night long she lay awake, trying to decide the important +question; and at last in the small hours of the +morning she resolved that she would write everything to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>her husband, for such he still seemed to her, in spite of +the doubt that had been cast upon their relations. She +would begin at the very beginning, and tell him all the +sad story of her life up to her meeting with him. She +would also tell him of her encounter with that bad man +yesterday, of her subsequent interview with his mother and +sister, and their judgment of her. She would tell him +that if she was no wife—if he had been pledged to some +one else whom he loved and wished to marry, before +meeting her, and feeling that he owed her such a return +for the service which she had rendered him—if he wished +to be free and to take advantage of the flaw in their marriage, +she would willingly submit—she would go away +and never see or trouble him again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a heroic resolve—a resolve worthy a martyr; but +having determined upon it, she arose and proceeded to +put it into execution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She wrote for more than an hour steadily, never faltering +over a single point—she laid her whole heart and +life bare before him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear, dear True,” she wrote in conclusion, “it makes +me utterly wretched to think that I may have ruined your +life—though unintentionally—I would rather that you +had left me in that cheerless hospital—left me there to +die; for I should have died, I know—I could not have +lived and suffered on alone after having poured my whole +soul through my blood into your veins. But even such +a result would have been far better than that I should have +brought life-long sorrow and regret to you and yours. +Oh! answer me at once, that I may not be in suspense. +If you pronounce sentence upon me, I will not murmur; +I will go quietly away, and you shall never know anything +more of me—you shall be free. But if—can such +joy be in store for me?—if you love me as I have hoped, if +you wish me to remain as your wife, I shall be happy, +content, and will cheerfully and joyfully await your return, +trusting you fully, and pay no attention to what +others may say. Pray—pray send me but one word, +‘stay,’ by cable, to relieve the torturing suspense of your</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Salome</span>.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>When this lengthy epistle was finished, she sent it +down by Nellie to the mail-box, so that the postman +might take it on his first round, and then, with her mind +greatly relieved, she threw herself again upon her bed, +and was soon sleeping the sleep of exhaustion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Evelyn Winthrop heard Nellie as she went down +with Salome’s letter, and at once suspected that she had +made a clean breast of everything to her husband, and +appealed to him to protect her from their further persecution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She will make a pretty mess for us if she has told him +all that has happened since he went away, and he will +never forgive us,” she muttered, with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose, early as it was, and hastily throwing on her +wrapper and thrusting her feet into a pair of felt slippers, +stole softly down to the vestibule to inspect the letter-box.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes, there was a bulky epistle addressed to her brother, +as she had expected, while at that instant she heard the +postman’s whistle, just across the street. Evelyn was intensely +curious to know what was inside that letter; if she +could but master its contents and send it on by the next +mail—provided there was nothing objectionable in it—no +one would be any the wiser and no harm would be done.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She hastily slipped the missive from the box, thrust it +into her bosom, and sped noiselessly back to her chamber, +a few moments before the postman called to deliver the +double mail, and, as was his custom, take what letters +were ready for the post-office.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn reached her room without encountering any +one, although she was mortally afraid of meeting Nellie, +and after locking her door sat down before her glowing +grate, where with a sharp penknife she carefully unsealed +the envelope inclosing Salome’s letter and drew forth +its closely written contents.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The morning was very dark, for a severe storm was +raging, and she found that she must have more light before +she could read it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose, and carelessly laid the open letter on the +mantel, and then went to draw back the heavy curtains +from her windows.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>The several sheets of paper, which had not been +thoroughly creased in the haste in which Salome had +folded them, began to creep apart, and having been carelessly +laid too near the edge of the mantel slipped off—would +probably only have fallen to the floor had not a +gust of wind at that moment increased the draft to the +chimney, when the ill-fated missive was sucked directly +in upon the bed of red-hot coals in the grate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Instantly it was in flames, and when Evelyn turned to +see what had caused the sudden ruddy glow in the room, +it was past all hope of recovery and the blackened flakes +of the consuming paper were being rapidly drawn up the +chimney.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A look of consternation swept over her face as she contemplated +the ruins before her, and then gave place to +one of excessive anger at being foiled in her design to +penetrate the mystery which seemed to surround her +brother’s wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What an idiot I was not to be more careful,” she muttered +passionately as she watched, with covetous eye, the +last of the fragments disappear up the black-throated +chimney. “What shall I do?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could of course do nothing but endure her wrath +and disappointment and make the best of a bad matter. +She would never humble herself enough to confess to Salome +or any one else what she had done, and so her only +alternative was to make sure of not being detected by +burning the envelope also, and then let matters adjust +themselves as they would.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was long in recovering from her wrath, and she +found it no easy matter to dissemble and go down to +breakfast with a serene brow and composed manner when +the bell rang for that meal.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XIV.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME RECEIVES HER SENTENCE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Madame Winthrop herself did not appear to +be in a very amiable frame of mind that morning, +and it was evident to Evelyn that her failure to bring +Salome into subjection to her demands the previous day +still irritated her excessively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where is your mistress?” she curtly demanded of +Nellie as she entered the dining-room upon some errand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is ill; she is not able to come down this morning,” +the girl replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t know, marm; but she did not sleep well last +night.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>So madam and her daughter breakfasted by themselves, +and then withdrew to madam’s room, when she revealed +a plot which she had spent most of the night in concocting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn listened aghast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew that her mother was very resolute, but had +never imagined that she would resort to such extremes in +order to accomplish an object.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you suppose you can make it work?” she asked +somewhat doubtfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know; but of one thing I am sure—I shall +never recognize that impostor as my son’s wife,” said +madam firmly. “Scarcely any one save the servants know +that Truman has brought a wife home; if we can only +manage to get rid of her before he returns, I believe we +could manage him about a divorce.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What need of a divorce if the marriage was illegal?” +queried Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not suppose it was really illegal, but I was so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>enraged with her that I did not care much what I told her. +If it would only rouse her pride, so that she would take +herself away where he could never find her, I should be +happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But True has taken no pains to conceal his marriage. +You know he drove about a great deal with her, and it is +a wonder that people have not found it out. Besides, he +has given her a check-book, and if she likes she can draw +any amount of his money,” said Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How do you know?” asked her mother, looking +startled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I saw it one day when she was out driving and I was +looking about her rooms. True has signed a number of +blank checks, and all she need do is to fill them out with +whatever amount she wishes to draw.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We must have that book, Evelyn. It will never do +to let her go to the bank and make free in any such way,” +madam resolutely responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That afternoon she sought the young wife in her own +room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found her pale and hollow-eyed, but felt no regret +for having caused her suffering.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome received her courteously, trying to remember +only that she was her husband’s mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have been thinking,” the scheming woman began, +as she seated herself where she could catch every varying +expression of the girl’s face, “that since matters seem to +be in such a complicated and uncertain state, it might be +as well for you to go away from here for a while—at least +until Dr. Winthrop returns.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Go away from here!” repeated Salome, astonished.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes: if people and the servants should discover the +situation there might ensue a very disagreeable scandal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not think I quite understand you,” Salome said +slowly, but her lips were livid.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, if it should become known that your marriage +was not legal, people would say very uncomfortable things +about you, as well as about my son. We are a very proud +family,” madam continued pompously, “and it would be +a great trial, as well as a great injury to Dr. Winthrop, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>to have any scandal connected with his name. Now, +Evelyn and I have talked the matter over, and we have +concluded that it will be best to take you with us to our +own house—shut up this house—and then you can remain +somewhat secluded until my son returns, when, if he sees +fit, he can have his marriage ratified, or—make any other +arrangement which may seem best for him and you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome felt as if she must shriek as she listened to this +inhuman, insulting speech.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was horrible to be made to feel that she was occupying +such a questionable position in the home of Dr. +Winthrop; while the proposition to leave it and accompany +Madame Winthrop to her home, there to hide herself—thus +virtually acknowledging that she believed herself +to be no wife—was not to be thought of for a single +instant.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bent her head in thought for several moments, trying +to decide what she should do; then she turned with +an air of resolution to her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Winthrop,” she said gravely, “Dr. Winthrop +brought me here as his wife—he installed me here as the +mistress of his home and treated me in every respect as +one upon whom he had bestowed such an honor. As his +wife and the mistress of his home, I shall remain here +until his return; unless I receive a message directly from +him telling me to change my residence. I feel compelled +to say,” Salome went on, with increasing firmness, +“that I consider that you have acted unkindly and officiously, +both toward me and—my husband, in the course +you have pursued since Dr. Winthrop went abroad, and +although he wished you to remain here as my guests until +his return, yet, if we cannot live more harmoniously than +we have hitherto lived, I think it would be for our mutual +comfort if you and Evelyn would return to your own +home.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop arose in high dudgeon at this plain +speaking, her face almost purple from wrath.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Am I to understand that you turn me, Dr. Winthrop’s +own mother, out of my son’s house?” she demanded, in +tones that shook with passion.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>“No, madam,” Salome quietly and politely responded, +“I have no desire to do anything so rude as that; but +I cannot continue to live as we have been living—my +strength will not admit of it. If I have to endure excitement +like that of the past twenty-four hours, I know it +will not be long before I shall be in as critical a state as +when I left Boston. I shall be only too happy to have +you and your daughter remain where you are if you will +desist from this persecution; otherwise, as I have no other +home, I shall be forced to ask you to return to Thirty-fourth +Street.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam stood in speechless astonishment for a moment, +for she had never dreamed of any such termination to +an interview which she had intended to make so humiliating. +Then, it not being exactly clear to her how to +meet this very resolute spirit exhibited by her son’s wife, +she stalked silently and majestically from the room, and +Salome, left to herself, burst into a passion of bitter tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very unhappy, for that day had brought no +letter as she had expected, although Evelyn received one +from her brother Norman. He stated that his father still +remained in a very critical condition, and Dr. Winthrop +would probably be detained longer than he had at first +expected.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This was sad news to Salome, and she tried to think +that her husband’s time was so fully occupied with his +father that he had not been able to write; but she hoped +the next steamer would bring her a letter, and she resolved +to be patient and try not to grieve.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two or three days went by, and matters seemed to have +settled themselves a little more pleasantly. Madam did +not once refer to disagreeable subjects, was even distantly +gracious, and Salome fondly hoped that all hostilities +were at an end.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she did not know the determined woman. She had +laid her plot to rid her son of the wife whom she suspected +and disliked, and she was not one to swerve from +her purpose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had already begun her work by suppressing every +letter that came for or went from Salome. She had also +<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>written a very crafty letter to Dr. Winthrop, in which she +mentioned that she had suddenly fainted one day when +making her a little visit in her room; that she still seemed +more delicate than usual, and she was quite anxious about +her. She had informed him, also, of the suspicious meeting +between his wife and the strange man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We feared at first,” she wrote regarding her ill health, +“that it might be caused by the old heart trouble, although +her symptoms did not indicate it; but since then +Evelyn and I have not felt quite well, and this fact, together +with a certain odor that seems to pervade the +house, has led me to fear there is a flaw in the plumbing, +which allows the escape of sewer-gas; you know we had an +experience of this kind in the old home some years ago. +I had a talk with Salome, and tried to persuade her to go +home with us, but she seems determined to remain here +until your return. She did not appear to receive my proposition +in a very friendly spirit, and very resolutely said +that nothing but an express message from you to that +effect would induce her to leave the house. Pray do not +think that I wish to interfere in your domestic arrangements, +my son, but really I feel that it would be safest for +the comfort and welfare of all parties if we could leave +the house at once, and close it until you can return and +attend personally to whatever may be wrong.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It of course took eight or nine days for this missive to +reach Dr. Winthrop, and during this time Salome heard +nothing from him, except indirectly through letters which +madam or Evelyn received from Norman, his brother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam did not mean that she should have one word +from him until she received her notice to leave his house, +which, she felt sure, would come in the form of a brief +cable message, since he surely would not risk her health +long enough to wait for a letter to reach her. This she +believed would so wound her proud, sensitive nature, and +work in with her own crafty innuendoes regarding the +illegality of her marriage, that she would do something +desperate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, almost a prisoner by the bedside of his +sick father, wondered why he did not hear from his wife, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>until he received his mother’s alarming epistle, and then +he believed that she must have been too ill to write to +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sewer-gas in the house! and they have been living +there eight days longer!” he exclaimed, looking very +anxious as he finished reading the startling communication. +“They must leave the place immediately.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he realized that Salome was not quite happy, aside +from the state of her health. There was something in the +tone of madam’s letter, in spite of all her care to disguise +her enmity toward his wife, that betrayed this. What she +had said about Salome not receiving her advice in a very +friendly spirit and refusing to act upon it, indicated it, +and he resolved that he would not insist upon her going +with them to their home; but out of that poisoned atmosphere, +in which he believed she was living, go she must +without an hour’s unnecessary delay.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And so, on the spur of the moment, he cabled the following +message to her:</p> + +<p class='c013'>“Close house immediately; go to the —— Hotel; remain +there until my return.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>The hotel he named was a quiet but well-conducted +house, and he had chosen to have her go there because it +would be more home-like than a larger and more pretentious +place; indeed, it was a kind of family hotel, and its +very exclusiveness and remoteness from busy haunts would +seem more like the home in Madison Avenue.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Having dispatched the message and relieved his mind +somewhat, he went back to his apartments and wrote his +reasons for it and his wishes more at length, charging her +to be very careful of her health and prescribing certain +remedies for her to take to counteract the effects of sewer-gas.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The letter was full of tenderness and of regret for her +illness; it spoke of his anxiety and disappointment on +account of not hearing from her, and begged her, if she +were not able to write herself, to have Nellie do so; she +was to have Nellie go with her to the hotel, though in his +haste he had forgotten to mention it in his cable message. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>If Salome had ever received this precious letter she +would have known that all was well—that she was still +the dearest object which earth held for her husband. +But it was destined to go the way of several others and +never into the hands of the young wife, to comfort her +almost breaking heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was feeling better the morning that the cable message +arrived, and, as a steamer was expected that day, +she looked forward to a letter with almost feverish eagerness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When the postman came on his afternoon round she +hastened out to the door to get the mail. But, as had +been usual of late, Evelyn was there before her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No letter per steamer to-day,” she said, affecting to +be greatly disappointed, as she slipped the letters through +her hands. “One for mamma, two for me, and—two for +True; bills, I suppose.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>These last she passed to Salome, and then hastily ran +upstairs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What can it mean?” murmured the young wife, as, +bitterly disappointed, she turned slowly back toward the +library.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just then the hall bell rang, and almost mechanically +she went to open the door herself, although she was never +in the habit of doing so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A messenger-boy stood there and handed her a telegram. +She signed for it, and then with trembling fingers +tore it open.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The words which met her startled gaze were fraught +with terrible significance to her:</p> + +<p class='c013'>“Close house immediately. Go to the —— Hotel. +Remain there until my return.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Truman H. Winthrop.</span>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>This, then, was the answer to her letter of confession, +the first and only words she had received from him since +she wrote it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had received it, and perhaps one from his mother +also, with her version of all that had passed. He recognized +the delicate, precarious—possibly he felt disgraceful +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>position in which they were all placed, and he had +concluded that it would not do for her to remain in +his house, nominally his wife, when she had no legal right +there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In her sensitive and overwrought state of mind it +seemed equivalent to an acknowledgment that their marriage +had only been a farce, and therefore his standing, +as well as her own, would be compromised if she remained +there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew where the —— Hotel was; she knew that it was +quiet and unpretentious, a place where she would not be +likely to be known or recognized by any of Dr. Winthrop’s +acquaintances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And now the very consideration which he had shown +for her feelings and comfort in this respect she turned in +judgment against him, strange as it may seem, and it +goes to show how easily people mistake the motives +of others. He had not asked her to go with his mother +and sister, who of course would return to their own home +if his house was to be closed; but she was to hide herself +in this quiet hotel, and there await his return to have her +fate decided.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The more she thought about it, the more morbid she +became, the more she distorted and misinterpreted the +meaning of the message, and her proud spirit rose in rebellion +at being so summarily and unjustly dealt with.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a heavy and aching heart she dragged herself upstairs, +shut herself in her chamber, and did not go down +again that day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning she made her appearance as usual at +the breakfast-table, but, to the surprise of madam and +Evelyn, she was clad in a travelling-costume. She was +very pale and wan; there were dark circles under her +eyes, but a very resolute expression about her sweet +mouth which betrayed that she had arrived at some very +grave decision.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I received a cable message from Dr. Winthrop yesterday,” +she quietly remarked as she passed it to madam, +“and he requests me to close the house and go to the —— +Hotel to await his return. I have made all my arrangements, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>and if it will not seriously inconvenience you, I +would like to dismiss the servants to-day and send the +keys to Dr. Winthrop’s lawyer before I go.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A flash of triumph shot into Madame Winthrop’s eyes +as she read that brief message, for her plot had worked +exactly as she had hoped and wished.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She saw that Salome believed she had received her sentence +in that message; that she was crushed and humiliated, +although she marvelled at her quiet dignity and her +wonderful self-control.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, we can easily manage to get away by noon, +as we have only our trunks to pack,” she responded, giving +Evelyn a significant look. “And I think,” she added, +“that Truman is very wise to propose this measure. You +can come with us, Salome, if you would prefer to do so instead +of going to a hotel,” she concluded, with an appearance +of hospitality, although she knew well enough that +her offer would be refused.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you; but my plans are all settled, and I shall +leave as soon as I can see that everything is in order,” +Salome answered, with dignified courtesy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam understood that she intended to see that her +husband’s commands and interests were faithfully attended +to—that the house would have to be closed under +her own supervision, and that they would be expected to +take their departure before she went; in fact, that she +would be mistress there until she surrendered the keys.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It did not take them long to do their packing, and their +trunks were sent directly to their own house in Thirty-fourth +Street. They, however, engaged Dr. Winthrop’s +servants to come to them, as they had none of their own. +All were glad to secure places so readily, and eagerly accepted +the proposition—all save Nellie, who begged Salome +to allow her to go with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall not need you, Nellie,” Salome answered, with +quivering lips, for the girl had been very kind to her, +and she had become deeply attached to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you will take me back when you go to housekeeping +again?” the girl pleaded. “I will stay with my +sister, and you can send for me when Dr. Winthrop comes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>back. I wouldn’t live with those—cats”—and she nodded +significantly toward madam’s room—“for double +wages.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I should be very glad to have you with me again, Nellie,” +Salome answered evasively; “and—if you are at +liberty when—when I need you again, I will send for +you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl thanked her and burst into tears as she took +her wages, and then went away to pack her trunk.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam and Evelyn hastened operations and left the +house about eleven o’clock, without even saying a word +of farewell to Salome. She was engaged in overseeing +the packing of the silver, and, oppressed by a sense of +guilt, they were glad to get away from her accusing +presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome neglected nothing; everything was put in perfect +order under her supervision. All the silver and everything +that would be likely to tempt rogues were sent to a +safety vault; the water and gas were turned off, and +nothing was allowed to be left in a way to come to any +harm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The servants were all paid and a generous gift added +to their wages, and then Salome was ready to leave her +beautiful home.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dick was still to have charge of the horses and exercise +them every day, and he was both touched and pleased +with this mark of her confidence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He asked if he should bring the ponies around to take +Salome where she wanted to go, but she told him no, she +had ordered a carriage, though her pale face flushed +a bright scarlet as she rejected his offer and thought that +she should never ride after the pretty creatures again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then with her own hands she locked the door, through +which she passed feeling that she was a discarded wife, +giving the key to Dick, to be delivered to Dr. Winthrop’s +lawyer, and stepped into the carriage, while the driver +placed her trunk, the one she had brought with her from +Boston, on the rack behind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next moment she was driven away, while Dick, +who stood on the steps looking after her, shook his head +<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>in perplexity as he brushed a tear from his cheek with +his sleeve and muttered:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Something’s wrong; that heart-broken look on her +white face ain’t fer nothing. I dunno what’s up, but +things have been getting mixed and muddled ever since +they came home. I only wish the doctor’d put in an appearance +this very minute.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XV.<br> <span class='c009'>AN APPALLING TRAGEDY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Late that same evening a stately woman walked into +the office of the —— Hotel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was enveloped in a long cloak and was closely +veiled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She inquired if Mrs. Truman Winthrop had taken rooms +there that day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” the clerk answered, “there is no one by that +name in the house.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman started slightly and glanced keenly at him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you quite sure?” she asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, madam; here is the hotel register; madam can +examine for herself,” and the young man placed the book +before her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She ran her eye quickly up and down the lines of the +open book.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The name of Winthrop was not there, neither could she +find that of Salome Howland, for which she also looked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She stood silent and perplexed for a moment; then she +asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has there no young woman of perhaps twenty-one or +twenty-two years of age, of medium height, dark but rather +pale complexion, with black hair and eyes, come here +unattended to-day to engage rooms?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, madam; no such person as you have described +has been here to-day,” was the positive rejoinder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop—for the veiled woman was she—thought +for a moment; then she said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I expected to find such a lady here. She may, however, +have changed her plans. If she does not arrive by +to-morrow, and any letters come addressed to Mrs. Truman +<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>Winthrop, or Mrs. Salome Winthrop, will you kindly +have them remailed to the care of Mrs. Alexander Winthrop, +No. — Thirty-fourth Street?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The polite clerk readily promised to do as she requested, +and madam, after courteously thanking him, took +her leave.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was a strange glitter of triumph in her eyes as +she swept out of the office and entered her carriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is as I hoped,” she muttered. “Everything works +well, and I think we may congratulate ourselves that we +have seen the last of her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Alas! she little thought how soon her triumph was to +be turned into remorse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She waited, with some anxiety and impatience, until +the arrival of the next steamer, and when, a day or two +after, she received two European letters addressed to +Salome, which had been remailed from the —— Hotel, +she knew that her plot had been successful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had, without doubt, done just as she desired: +she had, stung to desperation by Dr. Winthrop’s supposed +unjust judgment and sentence, fled from her home and +husband.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Such a step, she knew, would be the one of all others +most likely to anger and embitter her son, and she hoped, +by exerting the proper influence, to induce him to repudiate +the wife she so despised, and obtain a divorce from +her upon the ground of desertion. Then, she believed, +he would eventually turn to Sadie Rochester, and thus +secure the whole of the fortune which his uncle had willed +him upon certain conditions, and the Rochester wealth as +well.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She would spare no pains to bring this about, and if +she succeeded, she would feel well repaid for all her sinful +scheming against the innocent young wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt no compunctions about opening the letters she +had received, and read, without a quiver of remorse, all +the outpouring of her son’s fond affection for his wife. +He expressed great anxiety because he had not heard from +her during the last two weeks, and begged her to send +him word by cable if she were ill, and he would leave his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>father in the care of another physician and hasten back to +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My first duty is, of course, to my wife,” he wrote, +“and nothing shall keep me here if you need me. Why, +why have you not written? Why, if you are ill, has not +my mother or Evelyn written about you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam also received a letter begging her to write just +how Salome was. She felt that the proper moment had +now come to acquaint Dr. Winthrop with the fact of his +wife’s sudden disappearance; and she at once wrote a +garbled account of what had occurred.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She began by giving him another exaggerated description +of Salome’s meeting with the strange man, which, she +stated, Evelyn had witnessed by the merest chance, and +added that she had afterward interviewed him and tried +to ascertain the secret of his familiarity with Salome. +The man was insolent and evasive—tried to make conditions +upon the compliance with which he would make +some mysterious revelations about the girl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of course such terms were indignantly resented, and +then they tried to talk the matter over with Salome and +induce her to explain it. She utterly refused and seemed +greatly annoyed, even angry, to learn that her interview +with the stranger was known to them. After that she had +seemed sullen and unhappy, and was apparently only too +glad to avail herself of the opportunity to leave the house +on Madison Avenue when his message had come telling her +to go to the —— Hotel. Even then they had invited and +urged her to come to the Thirty-fourth Street residence +with them, but she had curtly refused and parted with +them in the coldest manner imaginable. Madam concluded +her fallacious account by saying that she had +since been to the —— Hotel to call upon Salome and see +if she was comfortably situated, when to her astonishment +she learned that she had not been there at all.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It’s the greatest mystery in the world,” she wrote, +“what can have become of the poor girl! She was far +from being well, although not really ill, having been confined +to her bed only one day since your departure, but, of +course, we are very much exercised as to what has become +<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>of her. Do you suppose—can it be possible that she has +gone with—that strange man whom she met—can he have +had anything to do with her mysterious disappearance?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This letter dispatched, madam felt that she had driven +an effectual wedge toward the separation of her son and +his despised wife, and she tried to school herself to patience +while waiting for the result.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A week passed, and one morning upon opening the +paper madam’s eyes fell upon the black head-lines announcing +a new and heart-sickening horror.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A disastrous fire had occurred the previous night in a +certain part of the city, and a great lodging-house for +working girls had been burned to the ground.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A dozen lives had been lost, the names of those whose +bodies had been found being given, while several were +missing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam ran her eye down the list, and she suddenly +grew pale with horror as she read, midway of the column, +the name “Miss S. Howland, age about twenty-one.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can it be Salome!” she breathed with livid lips. +She sat staring blankly at the name for several minutes, +cold chills creeping over her and tingling to her finger-tips +and almost paralyzing her from head to foot. A +feeling of guilt and remorse blanched her face and sent +a look of terror into her eyes, for—if Salome had perished +in that dreadful way she knew that she was, in a measure, +responsible for her fate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As soon as she could collect her thoughts and recover +from the numbness that seemed to stiffen every joint and +muscle of her body, she ordered her carriage and drove +at once to the place where the fire had occurred.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could not get very near, for a score or more of men +were still at work among the ruins and the police would +not allow the curious spectators to approach.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But madam, by persistent questioning, discovered who +had been the keepers of the lodging-house and where they +could be found.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Being energetic people, who depended entirely upon +the letting of rooms for their living, they were already +engaged in fitting up another establishment for their +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>homeless lodgers, not far from the one that had been destroyed, +and thither madam proceeded at once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man and his wife were not averse to talking over +the exciting event, and readily gave all the information +she desired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes, they knew the girl whom Madame Winthrop described. +She had come to them about a week before and +seemed worn out and almost ill. She had insisted upon +having a room by herself, and as they had but one empty—a +small room at the end of a hall up three flights—she +had paid a month’s rent in advance and at once taken +possession of it. The fire had broken out in the second +story and midway of the hall; the building, being old, +had burned very rapidly, and only the girls who lodged +in the upper story and at the end of the house where Miss +Howland had a room had failed to escape. The flames +had enveloped the stairway, filled the place with smoke, +and they must have been suffocated before the fire reached +them. Yes, they were sure that at least a dozen girls had +perished—four bodies had already been recovered, although +but two could be recognized. A crushed and mangled +body had been found lying by the remnants of Miss +Howland’s trunk, and so they were quite certain that one +of the victims was the girl whom madam was seeking.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop shivered with horror as she listened +to this dreadful recital, and then asked if the book in +which the names of the lodgers had been registered had +been saved.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes, everything had been saved from the lower story +and much of value from the second. Could she see the +book? Certainly; they were only too willing to oblige +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was brought, and the woman, with a face in which +there was not an atom of color and a heart quaking with +fear and dread, read the name of S. Howland, and at once +recognized Salome’s handwriting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She questioned the people very closely, made them describe +Salome over and over again and the articles of +clothing she had worn, and she was convinced that there +could be no mistake. She had not a doubt that Salome +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>had perished most miserably. Instead of going to the +hotel to which her husband had directed her, she had, in +the bitterness caused by her supposed repudiation, +sought to hide herself in this obscure lodging-house, and +under the name by which she had been known previous to +her marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What her ultimate purpose had been, how she had expected +to live and where, after she had gained a little +rest and strength, no one could tell, for the inmates of +the house had seen very little of her, as she had kept very +closely in her own room; but one thing was sure, if her +object had been to effectually cut herself off from her husband +and his family, she had succeeded but too well in +doing so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam felt faint and sick when she had learned all that +the lodging-house keepers could tell her, and she lay back +weak and trembling in her carriage all the way home. +Yet, in spite of her guilt and remorse over her sin, there +was in the depths of her worldly heart a sense of relief, +a feeling of triumph over the fact that her son was +free.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The mortifying <em>mésalliance</em> had been severed; there +would no longer be any fears of meeting the sneers or +smiles of ridicule of their aristocratic acquaintances on +account of it. Dr. Winthrop’s brilliant career would no +longer be clogged by a wife whose history was enveloped +in a mystery; he could now seek the coveted hand and +fortune of Miss Sadie Rochester if he chose, and madam +secretly vowed that it should be no fault of hers if he did +not in the near future so choose.</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>Ill-tidings fly fast, and Dr. Winthrop was not long in +learning by cable of the terrible calamity that had overtaken +his beautiful young wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Shocked, amazed, perplexed by the dreadful message +which Madame Winthrop felt compelled to wire him, +heart-broken and utterly unnerved by his loss, he left his +father, who had slowly begun to improve, with his brother +and a skilful physician and took the first steamer home.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Who can portray the agony of suspense which he endured +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>during those eight days of enforced idleness upon +the ocean?</p> + +<p class='c011'>They seemed an interminable age to him, and he was +fearfully worn out and haggard with grief and anxiety +when he finally presented himself before his mother and +sister in their home in Thirty-fourth Street.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop hardly knew him, he was so changed, +and her heart quaked with guilt and fear when he came +into her presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She saw at once that he had some suspicion of the +truth, for he questioned both her and Evelyn with a +sternness and relentlessness that actually frightened them +into admitting much that they would have been glad to +conceal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I believe that I have you two women to thank for the +life-long wretchedness that is to be my portion,” he said +with exceeding bitterness when he had learned all that he +could force from them. “Why could you not let my wife +alone? I believe you persecuted her until you drove her +to desperation.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My son, you use hard words; but I felt justified in +questioning Salome when I learned how she had compromised +herself by meeting that man,” Madame Winthrop +returned, striving to recover her accustomed dignity, but +looking both pale and miserable. “You do not suppose +that I was going to allow her to disgrace her husband or his +relatives by making such appointments if I could help it?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome would never have done anything to compromise +herself, to say nothing about any one else,” Dr. +Winthrop sternly returned. “She was a true lady in every +sense of the word and I had the utmost faith and confidence +in her. My darling! my darling! oh! to think +that I have lost you!” he burst forth in a voice of agony, +as he wiped the great drops of perspiration from his brow +and paced the floor like one wild.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam and Evelyn felt appalled before such grief as +this. In their determination to crush the gentle young +wife they had not counted the full cost to their son and +brother. So cold and hard of heart themselves, they +could not realize the strength and depth of affection +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>which he had for the girl whom he had married under +such peculiar circumstances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who was this man? What do you know about him?” +he demanded, when he could regain his self-control.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“W. H. Brown, he calls himself. He seemed to know +all about Salome’s past and was very anxious to learn +where she lived.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Does not that very anxiety prove to you that she was +innocent of any wrong?” Dr. Winthrop cried—“that she +refused to give him her address because she wanted to +have nothing to do with him?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, it proves nothing to me but that she feared to +have the man seen by us and her relations with him +known to us,” madam responded coldly; “and when she +found that we had learned of it, she flatly refused to +answer any of our questions.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course, mother; and you had no business to arraign +her,” Dr. Winthrop indignantly rejoined. “I was the +proper person for her to make such confessions to, and I +have not a doubt that she would have confided the whole +story to me upon my return.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn flushed guiltily at this, remembering the intercepted +letter which she believed had contained an explanation +of all that her brother could wish to learn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot understand why she should go to that wretched +lodging-house instead of to the —— Hotel,” Dr. Winthrop +said, in deep perplexity. “Did she know that you wrote +to me accusing her of these improprieties?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It would be natural that she should suppose I would,” +said madam evasively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I wonder she did not herself write and explain +everything.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Guilt never is desirous of explaining itself,” but his +mother changed color slightly over the memory of letters +which she herself had intercepted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is no question of guilt in the matter,” hotly +returned her son; “if there is it rests with you two. I +will believe no wrong of my darling. Ha!” with sudden +thought; “did she know that you wrote to me about the +escape of sewer-gas?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>“Sewer-gas!” exclaimed Evelyn, surprised, for madam +had not confided to her fully just how she meant to get rid +of her brother’s wife; the sewer-gas had been a cunning +after-thought with her and she had neglected to mention +it to Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop shot a lightning glance of warning +at her; but it was too late, for Dr. Winthrop was quick to +comprehend that some plot had been sprung upon his unsuspecting +wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did she even know there was sewer-gas in the house?” +he thundered with white lips—“have you dared to lie to +me about this matter?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman!” his mother tried to say, with all her accustomed +stateliness; but her voice faltered, her eyes drooped, +and a guilty flush arose to her brow, beneath the compelling +power of his searching glance, and his suspicions +were verified.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He arose and stood before her white to his lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can understand now why she would not go to the +hotel,” he said, in a voice that made both of his listeners +shiver; “the whole thing has been a plot to crush an innocent +girl and drive her from the protection of her husband; +though what possible good you expected to reap +from its success I cannot comprehend. I see it all—she +knew that you had written to me condemning her, and she +may have been too proud to attempt to vindicate herself +of the accusations of her husband’s mother; or—heavens! +can I believe you guilty of such wickedness?—perhaps +she did so, and you intercepted her letters; she did not +know you had written to me that her health was suffering +from the defective plumbing in the house, and when she +received my cable dispatch telling her to leave it at once +she must have thought that I believed the very worst—that +I condemned her and wished to have her no longer in my +home. How she must have suffered! my poor, proud, +sensitive darling! for she had pride as quick and strong +as even that of a Winthrop, and if she believed I thought +her no longer worthy to share my home, she doubtless resolved +that she would rid me and my persecuting family +of herself entirely. And now she is dead—my beautiful, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>pure-hearted, much-wronged wife, and I can never right +the terrible wrong. Great Heaven! I cannot—I will not +bear it! I wonder that I do not curse you both and tell +you that I will never look upon your faces again; I—surely +will never forgive either of you—you have murdered +my wife!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned abruptly from them as he ceased speaking, +and left the room, while the two cowering, frightened +women could only sit and look into each other’s faces in +speechless amazement and agony.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XVI.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP’S BATTLE WITH HIS GRIEF.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Evelyn was the first to recover herself. +“I never dreamed that True had such a temper,” +she remarked, in a tone of awe, but uttering a sigh of +relief that the trying interview was over.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He is a Winthrop, and as a race they have been +noted for their strong characters; though I must say I +have always been proud of the way that Truman has controlled +himself. I never knew him to give way like this +before,” said madam, as she wiped the perspiration from +her forehead.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During all her life she never remembered having been +so completely cowed by any human being.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yet she did not feel the least regret for what she had +done—she was only annoyed and angered because she had +been found out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, after leaving his mother and sister, went +to his own house on Madison Avenue.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He found the ever-faithful Dick in the stable, and at +once dispatched him for the key. Upon his return, before +going into the house, he questioned the man regarding +his wife’s appearance and state of health before she went +away.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She wur the swatest little woman, sir, that ever +breathed,” Dick replied, with a glowing face; “she +always had a kind word for everybody, and, sir, she were +all right for a week or so after yer honor went away, +then she began to droop like.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But was she really ill, Dick?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Begorra, sir, ye have me there! I bethink she +wouldn’t have been so down at the mouth if ye had been +here. I belave, upon me word, that it wasn’t her body +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>that was ailin’ at all—but sure, she wasn’t happy, like +she was before, sir, and it’s yerself that needn’t be told +that the mind has a great influence over the body.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man was very cautious in what he said; he did not +wish to throw suspicion upon his master’s mother or sister, +although he, as well as most of the servants, knew +that they had made life wretched for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop understood it also; what Dick had told +him was sufficient to confirm his suspicions; they had +crushed her with their coldness and arrogance, and they +had plotted to drive her from her home and husband.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was filled with remorse for having allowed them to +remain in his house to torment her with their overbearing +insolence; but he had hoped that her sweetness and +beauty would win their hearts.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With his own heart nearly bursting he went into the +house, and his first act was to make a thorough examination +of the plumbing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was in perfect condition—there was no sewer-gas, no +disagreeable odor in the house.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then with reverent steps he went up to her rooms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A groan of anguish burst from him as he opened the +door of her pretty boudoir.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Everything was in the nicest order, but the silence and +beauty that had reigned there seemed to mock his grief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How exquisitely beautiful everything was! But the +charm and spirit of the place had vanished.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He went into her chamber, but only to have his sense +of desolation intensified. All the dainty toilet articles, +which he had taken such pleasure in selecting for her, lay +in their places upon her dressing-case; she had not taken +a single thing with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He opened her closet in a mechanical way, and started +back as if some one had struck him when he saw all the +beautiful dresses which he had taken so much pride in +purchasing hanging before him and nicely protected from +dust by a sheet which had been fastened over them. Did +she imagine he would ever allow any one else to wear +them?</p> + +<p class='c011'>He went to her bureau and opened the drawers one by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>one, and he could readily see that whatever had been +purchased with his money had been left behind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!” he groaned, “how they must have wounded +and humiliated her to have made her discard everything +that I had given her!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He lifted the lid of a jewel casket, which he had also +purchased for her, expecting to find there the jewels +which he had so liked to see her wear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the velvet cushion was bare and his heart gave a +great bound. She had not, then, utterly repudiated everything, +and this thought comforted him a little.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then a great trembling seized him as he caught +sight of a letter pinned to the satin-lined cover of the box.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was addressed to him, and with quivering fingers he +detached it and tore the contents from the envelope.</p> + +<p class='c013'>“<span class='sc'>My Dear Husband</span>,” it began, but tears sprang to +his eyes, and so blurred was his sight that for a few moments +he could not go on with his reading. “Let me +call you so for this last time,” he read when he could see +again; “yes, for the last time, for I am going away from +you forever. I can see now that it was a great mistake, +your marrying me. I was afraid at the time that you were +influenced merely by gratitude. I am so sorry now that +I had not strength to say no when you urged me to be +your wife. If you had but told me truly that it was not +love, but pity for my desolate condition and a desire to +care for me when I was unable to take care of myself, it +would have been so much easier and better every way. +Then, too, you were pledged to another, and that made a +triple wrong. It breaks my heart to think of it and that +some other poor girl, who loved you as blindly, perhaps, +as I have done, has been grieving over your broken troth. +And now you have banished me from your home, as if +you believed me unworthy to remain there. What is my +offence, True? Did I not make my explanations clear +enough in the letter I wrote you a little more than a week +ago? Is it true that because I withheld my true surname—and, +True, I had almost forgotten I had any other save +that of Howland—is it true, as your mother says, that our +<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>marriage was illegal—that I am no wife? Is that why +you have sent me away? If you had only written to me +and explained, instead of sending me that dreadful cable +message. Instead of the word I begged for—stay—you +have told me to go. Perhaps you will write now, but since +you were in such a hurry to have me go; since you appear +to fear a scandal, and I know that you did not love me—though +you seemed to—I shall not wait for any cold, cruel +letter confirming my fate, but take myself utterly away +from you at once. I wrote you all the truth and only +truth, True. Did what I told you seem too dreadful, +too humiliating, to be overlooked and forgiven? Then +I could not help the meeting with that miserable man, +whom I detested and feared—indeed, I could not, although +your mother insists I have compromised you all by the +encounter. It was just as I told you in my letter, and you +must know that I could never associate with such a man. +I am sorry—so sorry to have brought discord into your +family; my own are all dead—father, mother, and sister—and +I should have been so glad if I could have stood in +the light of a daughter and sister to your friends. But I +have written all this before—how useless to repeat it! I +merely meant to tell you that I cannot go to that hotel +and register myself as your wife, when they tell me that +I am not, and when I am in doubt as to what my future +is to be—no, not doubt, for they say you will never forgive +the deception that made our marriage illegal. If you +are not really already free, the law will free you from a +runaway wife.” And here a little of her pride and spirit +blazed forth. “I should not come back here if you did +find me; I cannot forgive you that, while you were +pledged to another, you pretended to love me, and married +me to repay an imaginary debt. But—I love you—I love +you, and I would have been true and faithful to you all +my life. Forgive me for breaking down thus, but my +poor aching heart would make its last lament. How +I shall live without you I cannot tell; perhaps I shall not +live long; I think I shall be glad if I do not, and then +you will be free indeed. Try to think as kindly of me as +you can. I have not willingly deceived you; you know +<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>I wanted to tell you everything in the first place, but you +would not let me. You were very kind to me the little +time we spent together, and when I began to believe that +you were growing to love me, as I love you, I was +happier than I can express. I shall leave everything, +save what I have brought with me. The diamonds and +other jewelry I have arranged to send to the safe deposit +vault, with the silver; also the check-book you gave me, +and which I have not made use of at all. The money +that you gave me at the same time—or what there is left +after paying the servants—I will keep, for I may not be +able to go to work just yet to earn for myself. I have +tried to arrange everything as I thought you would like; +I hope you will find all in good order when you return. +Good-by, True—O True!”</p> + +<p class='c013'>The letter was not signed, and those last words were +hardly legible, as if her fingers had almost refused to +trace them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop had groaned aloud again and again during +the perusal of this hopeless, pathetic epistle, and when +he came to the end—to that passionate outburst, “O +True!”—he bowed his face upon his hands and sobbed +aloud.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, why did I leave her here?” he sobbed. “I ought +to have known how it would be. They persecuted and +crushed her with their suspicions and accusations and family +pride! My poor, lost darling! it was too, too cruel!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was dark before he could regain anything approaching +composure, and then he went to seek the people who +had kept the ill-fated lodging-house where Salome had +gone to hide. He wished to make inquiries regarding +the terrible tragedy that had robbed him of his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he gained no new points.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Howland had come there in a hack, they told +him. They did not know where she came from, nor how +long she intended to remain there. She was not well—not +able to work, and kept secluded in her own room, but +as she paid her rent in advance they did not concern +themselves about that.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>Dr. Winthrop made them describe her minutely and +questioned them very closely, and he was convinced there +was no mistake—it was Salome of whom they were talking +beyond the shadow of a doubt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you sure that she did not escape—that she was—was——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He could not complete the sentence except by a shiver +of horror.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Burned?” supplemented the less sensitive landlord. +“Yes, sir, it was simply impossible for her to escape—in +fact, all the girls who were on that side of the stairway +were doomed. But I don’t think they suffered so very +much, sir,” he added, as he saw how white the young +doctor’s lips were. “They must have been suffocated before +the worst came.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And—and their—bodies?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>No one would have recognized Dr. Winthrop’s voice +as he made this inquiry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, sir, you see they weren’t all recovered—it was +a terrible fire, and when the walls fell in they must have +been crushed and slowly consumed among the red-hot +ruins. Only five or six were found, and those were buried in +Greenwood by subscriptions raised by some kind ladies.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop would hear no more—he staggered to his +feet and groped his way like a blind man into the street, +wondering if he should go mad—wondering if he should +ever again be able to sleep, with the memory of that horror +haunting him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He returned to his house, but not to rest. He paced +from room to room of his lonely dwelling all night long +and fought his grief as only such strong, deep natures +can fight, and when morning broke it was hard to recognize +in that bowed form, that haggard and furrowed face, +the handsome, stately, and energetic Dr. Truman Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He sent Dick out to procure food which he forced himself +to eat, simply because he knew that he must have nourishment, +and then, still unnerved and broken, shuddering +with horror and quivering with grief, he again wandered +all day about the desolate and cheerless abode.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>When night came he was utterly exhausted, and throwing +himself all dressed upon his bed, he slept simply because +he was worn out, and tired nature must have rest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next day was Saturday, and at an early hour of the +morning he again presented himself before his mother +and sister.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His face was cold and stern, and he met their anxious, +inquiring looks with hard, almost a vacant stare.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have come to tell you that I sail again for Europe +this noon,” he said in a hollow voice. “I simply notify +you of my plans that you need not suffer useless anxiety +or make needless inquiries.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman——” began his mother, in an humble, tremulous +tone, for mental suffering had told somewhat upon +her during the last few days.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Please spare me any objections or comments,” he interrupted +in a voice that had not a particle of feeling in +it. “I shall remain in London with my father until he is +able to come home; then I shall send him with Norman. +When I shall return I do not know.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But your house—your horses and carriages,” said +Evelyn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My lawyer will attend to everything,” was the brief +reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, my son, do not go from us in such a mood as +this,” pleaded his mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned upon her with a fierceness that she had never +seen in him before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have broken my heart and you call it a mood,” +he said hoarsely. “But for you two my wife would have +been living and happy to-day, and I should not have to +go desolate to my grave. I will never forgive you—never!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned quickly, as if the sight of them was unendurable, +and without another word or even a backward +look walked from the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A moment later they heard the outer door close after +him, and knew not whether they would ever see him again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop buried her face in her handkerchief, +a groan of misery bursting from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>Truman—her firstborn—had been her idol all his life, +and such a separation as this was a terrible blow to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Too late she realized that she had plotted and sinned +for naught; too late she saw that her ambition and pride +had wrought the ruin of several lives.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn burst into a passion of tears and berated her +brother as “a hard-hearted brute.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were very lonely and miserable for a time after +that, but callers soon began to crowd in upon them, invitations +to dine and to various places of amusement followed, +and Evelyn, to drown the voice of conscience, +plunged at once into all the gayeties of the season.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam of course had to accompany her as chaperon, +though at first she did so with fear and trembling, for she +was in constant dread of meeting inquiries regarding her +son’s romantic marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But, strangely enough, no one appeared to know anything +about it, and the only questions she had to answer +were those relating to her husband’s recent illness and +expected return.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She breathed easier when she found that Salome’s existence +seemed a secret, and even, as time went on, began +to congratulate herself that things were as they were—“Truman +would soon get over his grief, and then—Sadie +Rochester again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The winter passed; spring came; but May began to +send forth her buds and blossoms before Mr. Winthrop +was thought well enough to endure the voyage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop returned with his father, but could +give no definite information as to his brother’s plans. +He was going to travel, he told them, but where he did +not know, and he had sent no message to either his +mother or his sister; neither had he written them one +word since his abrupt departure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Winthrops all went to Cape May for the summer, +where Evelyn and her mother tried to stifle conscience +by going into society as much as possible and by entertaining +when the health of Mr. Winthrop would +permit.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was still very delicate, and spent much of his time, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>attended by a servant, upon the beach, or with his books +upon the broad veranda of their cottage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No word came across the ocean to them from the wanderer, +and only once during these long months did they +hear, even indirectly, from him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then they learned that a friend of one of their new acquaintances +had met him at Interlaken, where they planned +to make the ascent of the Jungfrau together, after which +they were going to Germany in company.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was meagre news, but they were glad to get even +this crumb to feed their hungry hearts.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XVII.<br> <span class='c009'>THE ROCHESTERS ARE INTRODUCED.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>It was a fine day in October.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In a beautiful room in one of the apartment-houses in +the Rue de Rivoli, in Paris, a handsome woman might +have been seen sitting before a cheerful fire in the polished +grate; for although the sun was shining brightly +outside and the day was perfect, the air within the rooms, +shut in, as they were, behind solid walls, was keen and +chill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The occupant of this room was, perhaps, forty-five years +of age, though she looked younger. She had a small, +finely shaped head, large, liquid brown eyes, and chestnut +hair, in which it would have taken a keen eye to discover +a thread of silver, rather delicately moulded features, +and a clear, softly tinted complexion. She was tall +and rather slight, although not angularly so, and there +were in every movement an energy and an animation +which, in a woman of her age, were extremely fascinating.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was simply, though elegantly, clad in a heavy, +lustreless black silk, that fitted her fine figure like a +glove, while the soft white crape ruchings at her throat +and wrist betrayed that she was in mourning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Low slippers incased the well-shaped feet that rested +upon a hassock. In her white hands, upon one of which +there gleamed a massive wedding-ring and a costly diamond, +she held some bright-colored fancy work, and, in +the light of the glowing fire, surrounded by the rich hangings +and elaborate furnishings of the room, she made a +very attractive picture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently the door behind her opened, and a girl of +about twenty-two or twenty-three years swept into the +apartment in a bright, breezy way that was like the rustling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>of the gayly tinted autumn leaves upon the trees outside.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma, such news as I have to tell you—you cannot +guess, I am sure!” she cried as she threw herself into +a low rocker opposite the elder woman and began to remove +her beautifully fitting gloves.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She, too, was tall and slight, elegant in figure, perfect +in her bearing; but, unlike her companion, she was very +fair, with light hair, deep blue eyes, and a faultless complexion; +and though her features were cast in a less delicate +mould than her mother’s, she was an exquisitely +beautiful girl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She, too, was clad in black, but it was very becoming +to her perfect complexion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“News, Sadie?” returned the elder lady as her eyes +rested with a look of pride and pleasure on the graceful +figure opposite her. “I hope it is home news, then, for I +am really hungry for something American.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is decidedly American,” cried the young lady, with +a clear, exultant laugh, “for I have met a gentleman +from New York this morning.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who?” demanded her mother eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Guess.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I never could; don’t torture me with suspense, +Sadie.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then, a no less important personage than Dr. +Truman Winthrop, the man whom Milton Hamilton decreed +should be the husband of Albert Rochester’s daughter,” +the girl answered, her blue eyes gleaming with a light +that made them seem almost black, a peculiar smile +wreathing her red lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie, you do not mean it!” exclaimed Mrs. Rochester, +for the woman was no other than the widow of the +late Albert Rochester, who had covenanted with his +friend, Milton Hamilton, to unite, by the marriage of +his only daughter with the namesake and heir of the latter, +the magnificent estates of Brookside and Englehurst into +one inheritance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I do,” responded the girl, with increasing animation. +“I was in the Luxembourg with Mrs. Savage and Nell, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>when who should come along but Nell’s particular friend, +Mr. Tillinghast—you have heard her speak of him—and +with him another man, whom he introduced as Dr. Winthrop. +You should have seen his start and look of surprise +when he was presented to me,” and the young lady +completed her sentence with an amused ripple of laughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is a little strange that we should always have +thought of him by the name of Hamilton until last autumn, +when he wrote to your father that he was coming +abroad to meet us, and signed himself Truman Winthrop,” +said Mrs. Rochester musingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I do not know, mamma; we have not known +much about the Winthrops. Papa never met them. The +most we have known was that one of the sons had been +named for Mr. Hamilton, who had adopted and made +him his heir; so it was natural, I suppose, that we should +think of him as a Hamilton. It is possible that he resumed +his family name again after his uncle’s death,” +Miss Rochester argued thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I consider it a piece of unexampled good luck, +your meeting him to-day,” the elder lady remarked, +with animation. “I did not dream that he was on this side +of the Atlantic and we should have been on our way to +New York a week later. Do you suppose he has written +to us again at Berlin that he was coming abroad, and, +failing to get a reply, has been wandering about in search +of us?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sure I have no idea,” mused the young lady. +“I have always thought it very strange that we never +heard anything after receiving that letter of appointment +last year. It has struck me that he was very shy of us—that +he dreaded to meet a woman whom some one else +had picked out for him; and no one could blame him if +he did. Still, he might at least have explained his delay +in coming abroad.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Describe him to me, Sadie. Is he nice-looking?” +asked Mrs. Rochester with eager interest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma, he is grand—a perfect king in appearance! +I believe he is the handsomest man I have ever seen,” the +young lady returned with a glowing face. “Only,” she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>added, “he seemed strangely sad, as if he had recently +met with some great trouble, and there was a wide band +upon his hat. There must have been some recent death +in his family.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps that is the secret of his long delay in coming +abroad,” said Mrs. Rochester. “However,” she added, +a peculiar gleam in her dark eyes as they met her daughter’s, +“it is rather fortunate for us, for we can manage +things our own way now. You think you will like him?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘Like?’ It is a strange word to use in connection +with him,” said Miss Rochester, with a flush.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then there will be nothing disagreeable to you in +fulfilling the conditions of the will, provided the gentleman +is also agreeable?” questioned Mrs. Rochester, bestowing +a searching glance upon her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, indeed!” she answered decidedly. “If I am any +judge, Dr. Winthrop is a man who would not meet his +equal among a thousand. Any woman might feel proud +to win him for her husband, even without the very tempting +plum that his uncle has left him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, well! I should say this was a case of love at +first sight,” said Mrs. Rochester, laughing; “and it is +evident that you will do your utmost to make yourself +agreeable.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, if he gives me the opportunity; but I am not +going to throw myself at him, much as I desire to become +mistress of that double fortune,” responded the girl +haughtily, but with an anxious frown upon her brow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, he might go the world over and never find as +handsome a wife as you would make him, Sadie,” returned +her mother, bestowing a proud glance upon her daughter. +“For my sake, as well as your own, you must try to win +him, for you know the will says that I can have full control +of the income of fifty thousand only upon the consummation +of the marriage. What an abominable will it +is!” she added indignantly; “and what a couple of fools +those two men were! Do you believe Dr. Winthrop will +call upon us?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot tell,” responded Miss Rochester thoughtfully; +“he looked too sad to-day to care to make new acquaintances. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>I should really like to know what his trouble is. +He did not seem disposed to talk with any of us; but +after the introductions were over he passed on and appeared +to be absorbed in the pictures, although once or +twice, as I was talking with Mr. Tillinghast, I caught +him regarding me with a curious glance.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He was probably taking the measure of the wife +whom his uncle had selected for him,” Mrs. Rochester +observed; adding, “I wonder if he knows that Mr. Rochester +is dead?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t know; but he was evidently surprised to learn +that we were in Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, we were in Berlin when he wrote that he would +join us, and doubtless he imagined that we were still there. +I should suppose he would call; I do not see how he can +do otherwise—it would really seem rude in him to avoid +us, even though he should not wish to fulfil the conditions +of the will,” Mrs. Rochester gravely observed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes, Dr. Winthrop was in Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had met a friend at Interlaken, and together they +had made a tour of the Alps and of Germany, and now +were intending to spend a little time in Paris, after which +they were to go on to Italy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had been greatly astonished when he was so unexpectedly +introduced to Miss Sadie Rochester in the +Luxembourg.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The meeting had also been a great shock to him, for it +brought vividly to his memory all the past and opened +afresh the wounds caused by his recent loss.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had not given any special thought to the Rochesters +since his marriage. He had expected, as we already +know, to go abroad to meet them the previous fall, but +his duties in New York had prevented. Then as soon as +the epidemic in that city had subsided, he had gone to +keep a long-deferred appointment with his friend Dr. Cutler, +of Boston, after which he intended to join his family +abroad and meet the lady whom his uncle and his mother +were so anxious he should marry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime Mr. Rochester, who had long been in poor +health, had died suddenly, and Mrs. Rochester—who, by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>the way, was a second wife—never having liked Berlin, but +having always been eager for the gayeties of the French +capital, made arrangements as soon as possible to come to +Paris, where she and her daughter had remained ever +since.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Being in mourning, they could not go into society very +much, but they managed to have a pleasant time visiting +various points of interest and mingling in a quiet way +with a few Americans whom they found in Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, after having sent his father home with +his brother, had begun a sort of aimless wandering, and +had been so absorbed in his grief that he had not given a +thought to the Rochesters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew that he had broken the conditions of his +uncle’s will by marrying Salome; and even had he realized +that he could still marry Miss Rochester, or given it any +thought whatever, he probably would have imagined that +she would not now entertain any desire for the union, +knowing that he had already chosen some one in preference +to her and given the affection of his heart to another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had been struck with Miss Rochester’s exceeding +beauty that morning when he was introduced to her, while +the quick flush which had mantled her cheek on being +presented to him told him that she at once associated him +with the strange contract which Mr. Rochester and his +uncle had made in connection with them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had been a little surprised, too, by her graciousness +of manner, by the smile of pleasure and glance of admiration +with which she had greeted him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had always pictured her as meeting him with coldness, +if not with hauteur. Almost any refined and sensitive +woman, he thought, would resent being so summarily +disposed of to a man whom she had never seen, and of +whose character she was in total ignorance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She certainly would be indignant, he told himself, +when, after failing to keep his appointment a year ago, or +to notify either herself or her father that he had violated +the conditions of his uncle’s will, she should learn of his +marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>“I ought to have written to Mr. Rochester and explained +the affair to him,” he mused, after returning to his hotel +that day; “but so many things crowded themselves upon +me that I did not think anything about the matter. I +must acquaint him now, and formally renounce all claim +to Miss Rochester’s hand, so that he can change the provisions +of his will in her favor if he wishes; for of course, +with my crushed heart and broken life, I cannot marry +any woman. What an unpleasant position for her! for her +flush to-day told me that she imagined my errand abroad +was to seek her. She is truly a beautiful girl. I wonder +who she is in mourning for?—her mother, perhaps. I +will write at once, state plainly just how I am situated, +and then take myself away from Paris with all possible +dispatch.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He put his resolution into effect at once. He wrote a +full account of the past year; told what had prevented +his keeping his appointment for the previous year, of his +visit to Boston, and the events which led to his marriage, +and the sad incidents that had since so embittered his +life. He stated that he had fully intended to meet Miss +Rochester, and, if they had been mutually pleased with +each other, comply with his uncle’s wishes by asking +her to be his wife; but now, under the circumstances, +he felt obliged to waive all claims to her hand, since it +would be but a mockery and an insult to any woman to +offer her his hand when his heart was so filled with the +image of another, his life and his hopes so blighted by +the loss of his wife, even if he himself did not recoil from +such a union.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a frank and manly letter, written with all the +delicacy and feeling that would naturally be expected +from one so innately true and noble, and having sealed +and addressed it, he dispatched it by a special messenger +to the hotel where he had overheard Miss Rochester say +she was stopping.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had arranged with his friend, Mr. Tillinghast, for +a drive in the suburbs the next day, and as he did not like +to disappoint him, he decided to keep this engagement +and leave the following morning for Italy.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>He was still very sad; life seemed to have no special +attraction for him—he had no ambition but to kill time +and keep himself from thinking of the past.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had lost his interest in his profession, and cared +nothing for the hospitals, as one would naturally expect. +He rather shunned them, for even the sight of one brought +back to his mind so much that was associated with +Salome that he could not bear to enter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning, between eight and nine o’clock, a +letter addressed to “Albert Rochester, Esq.,” was handed +to Mrs. Rochester—it had arrived too late the evening +before to be given to her, and she seldom arose before +eight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What can be the meaning of this?” she exclaimed, as +she read the superscription, and grew slightly pale at the +now unaccustomed sight of her husband’s name upon a +letter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” inquired Miss Rochester, looking +up from the morning paper.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A letter addressed to your father.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Open it and read it—then you will know the meaning +of it,” was the practical suggestion of the younger +lady.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is no postmark upon it, either,” continued Mrs. +Rochester, as she broke the seal. “Why, how strange! +it is from some one who does not know that Mr. Rochester +is not living,” she added, with a puzzled air, as she began +to read, and then she turned at once to the signature to +ascertain who had written the letter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie, it is from Dr. Winthrop!” she exclaimed, a +moment later.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, mamma!” and the girl flushed a vivid scarlet, +for something seemed to tell her at once that the contents +of the epistle related in some way to herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Read it aloud—of course it must be something about +that contract,” she murmured, beginning to tremble with +excitement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester obeyed, and both women immediately +became absorbed in the romantic story which the young +physician had written, to account for his long silence and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>his apparent neglect of them, together with the explanation +of his sudden departure from Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What a wonderful—almost improbable story!” Mrs. +Rochester cried, when she had finished reading the letter; +“and,” she added, with white lips and a frowning brow, “I +suppose this settles your fate as well as mine regarding +that fifty thousand.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—oh, mamma!” and Sadie Rochester suddenly +slipped from her chair and lay white and senseless upon +the floor at her mother’s feet.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XVIII.<br> <span class='c009'>ACCIDENT DISARRANGES DR. WINTHROP’S PLANS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>While Mrs. Rochester and her daughter were absorbed +in the contents of Dr. Winthrop’s letter, the +young physician and his friend, Mr. Tillinghast, were +rolling rapidly through the streets of Paris, intending to +have a long day in the suburbs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a fine, bracing day near the last of October; the +country was in its glory, the roads as smooth as a floor, +and Dr. Winthrop, feeling finally released from the Rochester-Hamilton +contract and proportionately relieved, +seemed more like himself than he had since his great trouble.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The two gentlemen enjoyed their excursion exceedingly; +they visited several points of interest, drove over +many miles of beautiful country, and finally returned to +the city just as the sun was setting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As they were passing through one of the crowded +thoroughfares to their hotel, they came upon a carriage +that had just been overturned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A number of people were gathered about it, and they +could see some one assisting a woman from the <em>débris</em>.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Tillinghast put his head out of the window and +told the driver to ascertain what the trouble was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The coachman made the inquiry and replied that two +American ladies had been driving; their carriage had +been struck by a heavy team and been overturned. One +lady had been injured and was now lying unconscious, and +the other one was badly frightened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The sympathies of both men were at once enlisted. +They sprang to the ground and made their way through the +crowd to see if they could be of any assistance to their +<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>unfortunate countrywomen, and the next moment Dr. +Winthrop found himself face to face with Miss Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For an instant a feeling of annoyance and dismay came +over him; then his native chivalry, as well as his professional +instinct, was aroused, the more so as he caught +sight of a middle-aged woman of fine appearance lying +unconscious upon some cushions, the sleeve and front of +her dress saturated with blood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Rochester! can I be of any assistance?” he inquired, +in a grave, courteous tone, for he would not force +his services upon her even in an emergency like this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl shot a quick, startled look at him, for she had +not seen him until he spoke her name; then a faint smile +broke over her pale face, and she cried eagerly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O Dr. Winthrop! if you will be so kind as to see +how seriously mamma is injured I shall be very grateful.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was on his knees before the unconscious woman, +making an examination before she had ceased speaking. +He found that Mrs. Rochester’s left arm had been broken, +and was also badly cut by the glass from a shattered +window, while he feared there might be some internal +injury, the nature of which he could not determine without +a more thorough examination.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tillinghast,” he said to his friend, “lend a hand +here; we will put her in our carriage—that is, if Miss +Rochester approves,” he added, glancing at the anxious +girl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Certainly. Please do just what you think is best, +and believe me I am very thankful to have you come so +opportunely to our aid,” she returned earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop tied a ligature about the bleeding arm, +and then Mrs. Rochester was borne to the carriage, the +daughter following, while, having given the driver the +street and number, the young physician sprang upon the +box beside him, telling him to drive with all possible +speed to their destination.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They had not far to go, and fifteen minutes later the +injured woman was lying upon her own bed, and Dr. +Winthrop was making a careful examination of the case.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He found nothing more serious than the broken bone +<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>and the cut, which was an ugly one, although there was +also quite a severe bruise upon her shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The broken bone was soon skilfully set, a few stitches +taken in the gaping wound, and then the woman was +restored to consciousness and made as comfortable as +circumstances would permit, after which Dr. Winthrop +turned to Miss Rochester and gave certain directions +about the treatment to be pursued during the night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These matters settled, he quietly inquired:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you know of any skilful surgeon whom you would +like to have for Mrs. Rochester?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester looked up at him surprised.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sure no one could do better than you. Why +should I not leave her in your care?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you for the confidence you manifest,” he replied, +“but I leave Paris to-morrow morning, and would +like to place Mrs. Rochester in good hands before I go.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She understood; she knew that he was hurrying away +from Paris because he felt that it would be awkward to +meet her, and she flushed at the thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But beautiful Sadie Rochester was an accomplished +woman of the world, young as she was. It was her delight +to conquer the hearts of men—the more difficult the +conquest the greater her pleasure in the victory—and +now she felt an uncontrollable desire to bring this man +also to her feet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been very much prepossessed with Dr. Winthrop +when she was first presented to him by her friend; +she had rarely met any one who made so strong an impression +upon her, and as she had stood before him looking +into his fathomless eyes and reading his grand face, +she had congratulated herself that he, with his great fortune, +was the man who was destined to be her husband.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had therefore been terribly disappointed when, +that very morning, she had learned the story of his marriage, +of his disinclination to fulfil the conditions of his +uncle’s will, and of his intention of leaving Paris without +even the courtesy of paying her a call.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now accident had thrown him again in her way. Men +did not grieve always over the loss of their wives; they +<span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>were often consoled by taking another; and why should +she not set her wits at work to win him from his sorrow, +and thus secure for herself the position and fortune she +so much coveted?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Such thoughts as these had been busy in her brain ever +since he had come so opportunely to her aid, and now she +suddenly resolved to make the most of her opportunity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O Dr. Winthrop, must you go to-morrow? Is it absolutely +necessary?” she cried appealingly, while she +glanced anxiously toward the room where her mother lay.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was not absolutely necessary; his time was his own, +and he had intended to stay longer in Paris before his +meeting with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He flushed slightly with the consciousness of this, and +evaded a direct reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I had arranged to leave for Italy in the morning,” he +said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am very sorry,” Miss Rochester returned, with a +slight tremor in her voice; “because, although you are a +stranger to us, the fact that you are one of our countrymen +makes me have more confidence in you than I could have +in a native surgeon, however skilful he might be.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very beautiful. She had exchanged her street +dress, which had been torn and soiled in the overturning +of the carriage, for a white cashmere tea-gown, that was +simply trimmed with black watered ribbons, and was very +becoming to her, while the appealing expression in her +glance and that pathetic little quiver in her tone touched +the young physician to the heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is not as if we had papa to depend upon now,” she +added, with a sigh, and then suddenly stopped.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop started, and glanced sharply over her +black and white dress, a sudden light breaking upon +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you mean——” he began, interpreting her emotions +rightly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, that papa died in Berlin last fall; of course you +did not hear of it,” she said, remembering the letter received +that morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” and instantly his mind also reverted to the epistle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>that he had written to Mr. Rochester. “I am surprised; +I had heard nothing of it. It was very sudden, was it +not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, and it left mamma and me quite dependent upon +ourselves. So it seemed almost like a special providence +to me when you appeared this evening to help us in our +trouble. Perhaps, however,” she added, with another +sigh, as if she was trying to be resigned to what she could +not help, “you may know of some surgeon whom you +could recommend to us—some one whom you know to be +reliable. Mamma is quite delicate, and I should not like +to trust her with one who was not both skilful and conscientious.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>How tenderly she spoke of Mrs. Rochester, and Dr. +Winthrop, knowing that the lady was Mr. Rochester’s +second wife, and consequently Sadie’s step-mother, was +impressed by this apparent goodness of heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Why should he not remain and do what he could for +these two lonely women? He might at least postpone +his departure for a few days, or until he could be sure +that Mrs. Rochester had suffered no internal injury; then +after her arm began to knit she would not need very +close attention, and he could be spared.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will stay,” he said gently, “at least until Mrs. +Rochester recovers somewhat from the shock of her accident.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester lifted her expressive eyes with a thrilling, +grateful glance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very good,” she responded simply. Then +after a moment, as if she had suddenly resolved upon the +performance of some difficult duty, she continued, speaking +rapidly, though she flushed a vivid crimson. “And, Dr. +Winthrop, if you will forgive me for speaking very freely, +though I know it will set us both more at ease, I would +like to tell you that mamma read the letter you sent to +papa this morning, and, as we have no secrets from each +other, I also know its contents. Nay, I beg you will not +allow the fact to make you uncomfortable,” she interposed, +as he flushed and winced, “it is far better that we should +clearly understand each other. It was a foolish and arbitrary +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>thing for two men to make such a contract as papa +and your uncle made years ago; as if a couple of young people +who had never seen each other could assume such sacred +relations to gratify a mere whim. Let me thank you for +being so frank in your letter, and—and may I not number +you among my friends? unless,” she concluded, with a +silvery little laugh, that rang like music through the room, +“you regard me as an object to be dreaded and shunned.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop saw that she understood why he had +planned to leave Paris so suddenly, and he thought her +charming in her frankness and in so courageously attacking +the subject of the contract. Probably she had dreaded +the union as much as he, and had gladly welcomed the +release which he had been so tardy in tendering her; perhaps +she even loved some one else, and would now be +free to follow the inclination of her heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This view of the matter hurt and irritated him a little, +and yet he admired her for being so outspoken, and for +trying to put him at his ease, when she could not fail to +understand the embarrassment of his position.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very good, Miss Rochester, to meet me so +openly upon this subject, and you do me honor in requesting +my friendship, which I assure you is most heartily +accorded. I am free to confess that when I met you +yesterday, I almost felt myself a cumberer of the ground, +as if I was a blot upon the otherwise fair sky of your life,” +the young physician concluded, with a deprecatory smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again his companion laughed sweetly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There was no need of such self-condemnation as that, +I assure you,” she said, “for you were not to blame—neither +of us is to blame because our natures recoil from +obedience to the arbitrary wishes of our friends. But,” +with a roguish glance, “if you feel uncomfortable about +remaining to treat mamma, on my account, I promise +you you shall not once set eyes upon me—you shall not +have cause to know that I am in Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew that she did not mean it, yet it told him how +cleverly she had read his feelings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray, Miss Rochester, do not imagine that I am so +unreasonable as that. I will gladly remain to look after +<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>Mrs. Rochester, but you must not allow my presence to +banish you from attendance upon her for a single moment. +You have treated me with too much candor to-day for me +to entertain any other than the most friendly sentiments,” +Dr. Winthrop earnestly replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you for the assurance,” Miss Rochester +answered, with a charming smile. Then she added gently, +and with visible feeling: “Mamma and I were both deeply +touched by the sad story in your letter, and I want to tell +you how sorry I am for your great bereavement; you perceive +I am assuming the prerogative of a friend in expressing +my sympathy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her voice faltered, and there were tears in her eyes as +she held out her hand to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He clasped it, and seemed greatly affected by the feeling +which she manifested.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He could not speak, but he looked the appreciation of +her sympathy which he could not express.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With great tact she changed the subject, and kept him +talking for some time upon topics of mutual interest, +and when he finally took his departure he found, to his +surprise, that he had spent more than half an hour in her +society, and enjoyed every moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning he felt a strange impatience to learn +how his patient passed the night, and wondered if his +former interest in his profession was not returning to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He found Mrs. Rochester much more comfortable than +he expected. She was bright and smiling, and he saw at +once that she was a woman possessing more than ordinary +character, with great energy and natural ability.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She greeted him with charming cordiality and thanked +him heartily for having promised to remain in Paris on +her account for a few days longer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Though,” she remarked, with a resolute nod of her +head, “I am not going to be ill; I believe I should have +got up this morning, before this, only I feared a reprimand +from you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It would be better, he told her, to lie quietly in bed, +for two or three days at least, until she should fully recover +from the nervous shock to her system.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>“But I am in no pain. I am only a trifle weak and a +little lame in this shoulder from the hard knocks I received, +and I warn you, Dr. Winthrop, that I cannot consent +to lie inactive here for any length of time. Poor +Sadie is worse off, I believe, than I am this morning,” +she concluded, with a sigh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is Miss Rochester ill?” Dr. Winthrop questioned, +with a look of concern.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had missed her when he first entered, but kept hoping +that she would make her appearance before he left.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot say that she is really ill; but she, too, is quite +lame from a wrench which she received in yesterday’s +accident,” Mrs. Rochester replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sorry; can I do anything for her?” Dr. Winthrop +eagerly asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, I do not imagine that she needs any +special treatment. She thought that complete rest would +do as much for her as anything,” the invalid returned, a +little gleam of amusement in her dark eyes, as she observed +the grave interest that the young physician manifested +in her daughter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had confidently expected to meet Miss Rochester, +and had looked forward to the frank, pleasant greeting +which he felt sure he should receive from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Mrs. Rochester had no intention of allowing him +to go away moping, and adroitly started a conversation +that kept him chatting for some time by her bedside. +She was a fluent and intelligent talker and a woman who +always made the most of her opportunities, especially +when she had any particular object in view.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She referred, in a casual and delicate way, to what she +termed the foolish whim of his uncle and her husband; +seemed to assume that it was perfectly natural that two +young people should revolt against any such unnatural +arrangement, and did not once hint at any personal regret +for the pecuniary loss which the non-conformance to the +contract would entail upon herself or her daughter. She +touched upon his peculiar sorrow in a feeling way, mentioned +some of the particulars regarding her husband’s +death, and then passed, easily and gracefully, to more +<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>cheerful topics. She was altogether so genial and entertaining +that she seemed less a stranger than an old friend +when the young doctor finally rose to go.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester laughingly remarked, as he shook hands +with her, that if he did not think she needed professional +attendance every day he must intersperse such visits with +social calls, for she found it very refreshing to meet one +so recently from America, notwithstanding they were +comparative strangers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He did not see Miss Rochester the next time he came, +nor even the next, and he grew quite impatient and half-suspicious +of the “wrench” which confined her to her own +room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But when he made his fourth visit he found her sitting +in their pretty parlor, and Mrs. Rochester with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Both ladies looked a trifle pale, but exceedingly interesting +in their simple but elegant morning robes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Both greeted him cordially, and after he had given his +attention for a few moments to his patient he made some +inquiry of the younger lady regarding her own mishap.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It was not much,” she carelessly replied, a slight tinge +of color suffusing her face; “just a little strain, perhaps, +caused by the overturning of the carriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she began to talk of something else, and an hour +passed in delightful conversation, before Dr. Winthrop +realized that he was making an exceedingly unprofessional +call.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The few days during which Dr. Winthrop had consented +to remain in Paris lengthened into a fortnight before it +occurred to him that he was no longer really needed by +his patient—that any one else, with even ordinary skill, +could now attend to the injured arm as well as he.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he excused his disinclination to leave by telling +himself that perhaps it would be as well for him to remain +until it was time to remove the splints and bandages, and +besides, he really did not like to go on without Tillinghast, +who was such a pleasant travelling companion, but +who seemed to be especially devoted to Miss Savage +and strangely indifferent to the attractions of Italy.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XIX.<br> <span class='c009'>MRS. AND MISS ROCHESTER RECEIVE STARTLING NEWS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Mrs. Rochester continued to improve daily. +She had been in perfect health at the time of her +accident, and so suffered no inconvenience from it other +than that caused by the temporary uselessness of her arm. +But this she could very cheerfully submit to, since she +believed it was serving to lure the handsome and wealthy +Dr. Winthrop into the matrimonial net from which he +had so nearly escaped.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He came every day to visit her, whether her wound +needed dressing or not, and always remained for a social +chat afterward.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sometimes Miss Rochester was present, but often she +was absent, or she would occasionally come in before he +left for a few moments. She always greeted him with +perfect frankness and without the slightest embarrassment +or self-consciousness. It almost seemed as if she had +forgotten that marriage between them had ever been +thought of, and only remembered that he was her friend.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All this was very pleasant to the unsuspecting physician, +who did not dream that it tended toward a dangerous +pitfall laid for his unwary feet; that Mrs. Rochester was +only adroitly alluring him with her charming conversation +and manifestations of friendliness; that her daughter +was simply piquing his interest by purposely absenting +herself from his presence, and only occasionally permitting +him to bask in the sunlight of her smiles and fascinating +society.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is not strange that Dr. Winthrop eagerly availed +himself of anything that would serve to distract his mind +from his own mental suffering, and really it would have +been hard to find two women more calculated to make a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>man forget his trouble, for their tact and resources were +boundless.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Upon two or three occasions he had invited Miss +Rochester to join him with his friend and Miss Savage on +excursions to different points of interest, but she invariably +declined with thanks, telling him with her sweetest +smile that she could not feel comfortable to leave +mamma; perhaps when she was better and able to go out +again she would be glad to avail herself of his kind offer +to act as their escort, if—he was still in Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He thought it was very lovely in her to be so devoted +to her mother—a step-mother at that—and did not once +suspect that she was only cunningly angling for the fish +which she was determined to land, if possible, high and +dry upon the shores of matrimony.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime Madame Winthrop and Evelyn—the latter +being intimate with Miss Nellie Savage and in regular +correspondence with her—had learned that Dr. Winthrop +had met the Rochesters in Paris, and how the meeting had +been brought about.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Everything is coming out all right, mamma,” Evelyn +had triumphantly remarked, after imparting the information +to her mother. “Miss Savage writes that Sadie +Rochester is a very fascinating girl, as well as a thorough +society woman, and that True is a constant visitor at +their hotel.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is the best news that I have heard for months,” +madam responded, her face lighting with pleasure; “and +now, Evelyn, I think the wisest thing we can do will be +to go directly to Paris, make the acquaintance of the +Rochesters, and do all that we can to bring about that +marriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I believe that would be a good move, mamma; but +would papa consent to the plan?” Miss Winthrop inquired, +in some doubt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; he said only yesterday that he wished he were +back again on the other side of the Atlantic. I imagine, +as his health is not fully restored, that he does not feel +quite safe to be so far away from Truman, in whose +medical skill he has absolute faith.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>“Then let us go at once, by all means. I have been +dying to get away from New York ever since that dreadful +fire; the place seems haunted to me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The plan met the ready approval of both Mr. Winthrop +and his son Norman; it was, therefore, immediately +acted upon, and a few weeks later the whole family were +pleasantly settled in spacious apartments overlooking the +Place de la Concorde.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop was greatly surprised and not very well +pleased by their sudden and unlooked-for appearance; +but, at his father’s earnest request, he consented to give +up his lodgings and come to them, so that he might be +at hand if any one were taken ill. Mr. Winthrop had +been very nervous about himself ever since his last attack.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester and Madame Winthrop at once became +very friendly, and freely opened their hearts to each +other; they agreed that a union between the Hamilton +heir and Rochester heiress was the one thing, of all +others, to be most desired, and pledged themselves to +spare no pains to bring about the desired alliance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who was this girl whom your son married under such +romantic circumstances, and who died such a dreadful +death?” Mrs. Rochester inquired one day during a long +and confidential conversation with her new friend.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She was a Miss Howland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Howland! Howland!” repeated Mrs. Rochester meditatively, +as if the name had a familiar sound, and yet +she could not quite identify it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—Salome Howland,” said Madame Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester was sitting by a window, and happened +to be looking down upon the street at that moment, so +that her companion could not see the deadly pallor that +suddenly settled over her face, nor the look of horror that +leaped into her eyes at the sound of that name.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome Howland!” she managed to articulate, after +a moment, during which she had fought against a deadly +faintness that threatened to overcome her; “Salome! +that is not a common name. What kind of a person was +she? I have a—a great desire to know what she was +like.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>“Well, I am bound to confess that she was a very attractive-looking +girl—very. She had very dark hair and +eyes, a peculiarly fair, cream-like skin, delicate, beautiful +features, and a very graceful form. She was, perhaps, +five feet and a half in height, and in her manner and +bearing she was peculiarly self-possessed and pleasing. +She had beautiful teeth and small, shapely hands and +feet, was well educated, and even accomplished, especially +in music.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Heavens!” murmured Mrs. Rochester, under her breath, +and a shiver, as if from a sudden chill, ran over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She rose from her chair and straightened herself, as if +to throw off a certain numbness that seemed creeping +over her, and moved toward the fire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is cold to-day,” she remarked, as she bent over the +glowing coals, hoping that the ruddy flame within the +grate would impart a tinge of color to her face and warm +her chilled blood.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, we are having an unusually severe winter for +Paris,” Madame Winthrop responded, but without appearing +to notice that there was anything peculiar in either +the manner or appearance of her guest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And your son, Dr. Winthrop, really loved this girl, +you think?” Mrs. Rochester resumed, as she sank into a +low rocker by the grate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” replied her companion, with a frown, “it was +a clear case of infatuation, though it mortifies me to confess +it in connection with my son. I would not have believed +that Truman could have so lost his head over any +woman, much less over one surrounding whom there was +so much mystery. And he does not seem to get over it, +either. It is true that when he is in company he throws +off his gloom for a time, but here at home he is sad and +depressed—entirely unlike himself,” and she sighed +heavily as she concluded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She realized that she was paying dearly for her treatment +of her son’s wife and for her sinful scheming, for +it was only too evident that Dr. Winthrop could not forget +it; he had said he would never forgive her, and it was +doubtful if he ever did.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>“But she is dead—you are sure she is dead?” eagerly +inquired Mrs. Rochester, with a peculiar gleam in her +eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes; there cannot be the slightest doubt upon +that point, for we made the most searching and careful +inquiries.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester soon after took her leave, but as she +went out to her carriage she walked as one in a dream, +and her coachman was obliged to ask her twice where she +wanted to go before she heard him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Home,” she briefly said, and all the way she sat rigid +as a statue, seeing nothing, hearing nothing of what was +going on about her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found Sadie in the drawing-room arranging a profusion +of flowers in some vases.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Aren’t they lovely, mamma?” she cried with unusual +animation as the door opened and her mother entered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; where did you get them?” she asked, but in an +indifferent tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mr. Winthrop sent them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mr. Winthrop?” Mrs. Rochester repeated sharply, bestowing +a searching glance upon the young lady.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—Mr. Norman Winthrop,” and a swift wave of +color flitted across the girl’s fair face; for since the arrival +of the Winthrop family in Paris, Dr. Winthrop’s +twin brother had paid very marked attention to Sadie +Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“S—adie!” said her mother in a tone of grave reproof +as she noticed the flush. “I hope there will be no nonsense +in that direction.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young girl laughed lightly but with averted face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You intend to marry Dr. Winthrop, don’t you?” pursued +the elder woman, looking anxious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, if I can only induce him to ask me,” Miss +Rochester answered coldly, but looking a trifle pale.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then let his brother alone,” said her mother sternly—“you +have no business to coquet with him; you’ve broken +hearts enough without making mischief in that family.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pshaw, mamma!” retorted the young lady impatiently, +but her under lip trembled slightly as she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>spoke. “Norman Winthorp is capable of taking care of +his own heart.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Capable or otherwise, you had better take my advice +and let him alone,” was the quick retort. “Why can’t +you behave yourself, if you have made up your mind to +marry his brother? Dr. Winthrop is a man who will +never be trifled with, if, indeed, he can be won at all. +And, S—adie——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why do you keep halting and stumbling over my +name in that fashion, mamma?” Miss Rochester demanded, +with an irritable tap of her pretty foot—“it is, +to say the least, very—unpleasant.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I know, but somehow, I am so upset, I couldn’t +help it. You will not wonder that I halt and stumble, +when I tell you—oh! whom do you suppose Dr. Winthrop’s +wife was?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What a question! How could I possibly know?” returned +Miss Rochester, with an indifferent shrug of her +shapely shoulders, as she stood back a step or two to +admire the arrangement of her flowers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome Howland!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What!” screamed the astonished young woman, as +she turned and faced her mother, doubt and terror depicted +upon her face, which was now as white as the dainty +cashmere robe in which she was clad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is true,” said her mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good gracious, mamma! it can’t be possible! I cannot +believe it! And—and you know we thought she was +dead long ago.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester had now forgotten both her flowers and +their giver—everything but the amazing news which her +mother had brought her, and, sinking weakly upon a chair, +she continued to stare blankly at her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So she is—now,” Mrs. Rochester returned, with a satisfied +inflection upon the adverb. “I do not wonder that you +are astonished,” she resumed. “I thought I should lose +my senses when Madame Winthrop told me of it. That +girl who died in London must have been some one else +of the same name.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, I hope there is no mistake this time,” whispered +<span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>Miss Rochester hoarsely, “for she was the only one who +knew, and if she should turn up now it would be dreadful.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not think there can be any mistake,” returned +her mother, and then she proceeded to relate all that +Madame Winthrop had told her, and concluded by remarking, +“I never had such a shock as when I realized that +Dr. Winthrop had married your cousin; it seemed simply +impossible, and yet when she described her, I knew it +must be true. She must have gone directly to America +after disappearing so strangely. And then to think of +her going into a hospital as a common nurse! Still she +was always very skilful in your father’s sick-room. I +hope the Winthrops will never learn the truth—it would +ruin all your hopes of ever winning the doctor, if he +should ever suspect.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nonsense, mamma!” returned Miss Rochester, who +was beginning to recover her self-possession and her spirits; +“how could they ever suspect the truth, when there +is no one now to hint at it? Everything is coming out +beautifully, at least I have strong hopes of it. At any +rate you and I have had a grand good time this last year +by ourselves. Salome was always such a bore and a +marplot, in spite of her generosity. However, we shall +have it all our own way now, and if I can only manage +to win Truman Winthrop I shall have reached the summit +of my ambition.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What an avaricious creature you are, Sadie! But I +am afraid Dr. Winthrop will never love you as well as he +loved her. Madam says he idolized her,” said Mrs. +Rochester regretfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not expect that he will; I do not want him to. +I imagine it would be rather tiresome to be so idolized,” +the young lady coldly returned; and yet, as she went +back to her flowers, her eyes softened and a delicate flush +rose to her cheek.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A knock upon the door presently sounded, and a servant +announced Mr. Norman Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The two women rose to welcome him, one with a smile +and blush of pleasure, the other with a sigh and with a +look of anxiety upon her pale face.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XX.<br> <span class='c009'>A FLIGHT FROM WAR AND PESTILENCE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Mr. Norman Winthrop was so like his brother, +the physician, that, to a casual observer, he would +have appeared to be the same man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had the same symmetrical, stalwart form and noble +carriage; the same fine, clear-cut intelligent face, and +smile, and hair and eyes. But he lacked something that +Dr. Winthrop possessed. Perhaps it was the grave, yet +gentle dignity which always characterized the latter; or +it may have been the frank, honest, straightforward look +with which he met the glance of every one, which Norman +had never possessed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They frequently had occasion to laugh over the fact of +their striking resemblance and the ludicrous mistakes +which sometimes occurred. For instance, Dr. Winthrop +and his brother were once invited to a reception which +the young physician was unable to attend. When Mr. +Norman Winthrop presented himself before his hostess, +she inquired for his brother and he explained that an important +engagement had detained him. But chancing +just then to glance toward the other end of the room, he +exclaimed:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, no! there he is now!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And excusing himself to the lady, he went to meet his +brother and walked straight up to a full-length mirror +that had been let into one side of the room, to find that +he had mistaken his own reflection for the young doctor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Miss Sadie Rochester had never yet been guilty of +mistaking one for the other, let her meet them where she +would.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had thought, the first time she saw Dr. Winthrop, +that she had met her fate, for she had been attracted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>toward him as no other man had ever attracted her. She +recognized in him a nature more lofty, a character more +true than other men of her acquaintance possessed, and +she believed that if she could win him for her husband +and thus secure also the two great fortunes, she would +have nothing left to wish for.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But when Norman Winthrop suddenly made his appearance +upon the scene she realized at once her mistake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The moment he greeted her—the moment his hand +clasped hers and his eyes looked into hers she recognized +a magnetic influence which his brother lacked, and from +that hour he began to weave a strange spell about her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could not say that she liked Dr. Winthrop less, and +had she never seen his twin she would have believed that +she loved him; but there was a subtle power in every look, +tone, and movement of Norman, which set all her pulses +thrilling, as if they had been wrought upon by some +weird and fascinating music.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Was it the element of wickedness inherent in both their +natures which recognized in each other a kindred spirit?</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young man, on his part, seemed fascinated from +the hour of their introduction, and, despite the fact that +he knew Miss Rochester had for years been the destined +bride of his brother, he devoted himself to her, attending +her upon every possible occasion, calling upon her frequently, +and constantly sending her fruit, flowers, or +some other reminder of himself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester saw danger ahead from all this attention, +and the evident pleasure with which Sadie received +it. She was very much troubled, heartily wishing that +Norman Winthrop had never made his appearance in +Paris; but she seemed powerless to change anything, or +to prevent the development of the acquaintance, and was +therefore obliged to let matters take their own course.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a very gay winter, in spite of the fact that death +had so recently visited both families.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester wilfully insisted that there was no +sense in shutting one’s self away from all life and enjoyment, +simply because they happened to be in mourning, +while Madame Winthrop and Evelyn declared that Dr. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>Winthrop owed it to them to act as their escort, since +Mr. Winthrop was unable to endure excitement of any +kind and they always managed—when Norman did not +interfere—so that he and Miss Rochester would be thrown +together.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Thus the season passed, and both Evelyn and Miss +Rochester became so absorbed in their pleasure-seeking +that they utterly refused to heed the warning of their +friends to leave Paris, for the signs of the times betokened +serious political complications.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They laughed to scorn the idea that Americans could +be in any danger, and kept putting off their departure +until it was too late, and the insurrection of that ever-memorable +year burst upon them, with all its horrors. +Every avenue of escape from the city was suddenly cut +off, and there appeared no possibility of their being able +to leave for a place of safety. Those were experiences +which tried the souls of both men and women, and it is +doubtful if the Winthrop or Rochester ladies were ever +so subdued as when they discovered that they were shut +into that turbulent city with unknown dangers on every +hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One morning Dr. Winthrop called at Mrs. Rochester’s +rooms, and his pale face and hurried manner, plainly +betrayed that he was laboring under great anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester was alone in the drawing-room when +he entered, for her mother, not feeling well that morning, +had not yet made her appearance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” Miss Rochester questioned, as +she gave her hand to the young physician; then, with a +sudden sense of impending evil as she searched his troubled +face, she laid her other hand upon his arm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have come to see if you and Mrs. Rochester can be +ready to leave Paris at a moment’s notice,” he replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why; are we in any danger?” she cried in alarm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Every one in the city is in danger,” he answered. +“There is no knowing what may happen during the next +twenty-four hours. I am going to try to arrange for a +place of safety for you, with my mother and sister, if you +will be guided by me and consent to go with them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>“Of course I will be guided by you. How good you +are to think of us!” Miss Rochester returned, clinging +to him and looking up into his face with an air of trust, +which she meant should tell him a great deal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In spite of the strange power which his brother had +acquired over her, she was determined to marry Dr. +Winthrop if she could win him; the great possessions +which the union would secure to her were of more consequence +than all the sentiment in the world.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course I should think of you, when you and Mrs. +Rochester, have no protector,” the young man replied. +“I am only sorry now that I did not insist upon your +all leaving Paris when I first proposed it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where can we go?” she asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know yet,” he said thoughtfully; “I am on +my way now to see what arrangements I can make with +the American Consul for your safety.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“For our safety!” she repeated. “Surely you are coming +with us,” and Miss Rochester’s white fingers closed +almost convulsively over his arm, while her anxious eyes +searched his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I shall not leave you until you are all comfortable +somewhere, but——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will not then return?” she cried in a startled +tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” he reluctantly admitted, “I did not mean to +tell any one of my intention, but since you have suspected +it, I may as well own that I am coming back to offer my +services as surgeon and physician in the hospitals.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, pray do not! think of the danger!” Miss Rochester +pleaded in tones of distress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have no fear,” he said gravely, while he added to +himself that it could not matter much to him what danger +or fate awaited him, for life had few charms for him +without Salome to share it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, perhaps not for yourself,” his companion returned, +in tremulous tones, “but for the sake of others you should +guard your life. If—if anything should happen to you! +Oh, Dr. Winthrop, I could not bear it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had spoken very rapidly, and almost passionately—apparently +<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>driven on by feelings which she could not control, +while the look in her eyes revealed to him just what +she had long been trying to make him understand, that +he had become all in all to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then all at once, she appeared to become conscious of +how much she was betraying. A look of consternation +and dismay swept over her face—the rich blood rushed +in a crimson tide over cheek, neck, and brow, and the +next moment, as if overcome with shame for such an +unguarded confession, she dropped her head in graceful +humility upon the hand which still clasped his arm, and +murmured brokenly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Forgive me—forgive me!—I forgot—I did not +mean——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>At that instant a door, close by which the young couple +were standing in such a suggestive attitude, opened, and +Mrs. Rochester appeared upon the scene.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her face lighted with glad surprise, as, at a glance, +she seemed to take in the situation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was too late to beat a retreat, for Dr. Winthrop had +already seen her, so she thought she might as well take +time by the forelock and give the young man to understand +that she believed him a happy accepted lover.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope you will pardon me,” she said, with a frank, +delighted smile, “I would not have intruded had I suspected +the nature of this interview; but you will at least +allow me to express my pleasure, and offer congratulations.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, mamma!” burst from Miss Rochester, and then, +as if overcome with confusion, she darted through the +open door, telling herself with a feeling of triumph, that +Dr. Winthrop, having been caught in such a compromising +position, could not do otherwise than yield gracefully +to his fate and ratify the engagement which both +families so much desired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, whose mind was intent only upon getting +safely out of Paris, did not realize that then was the proper +time to disclaim the honor which was being thrust upon +him. He pitied the fair girl, who had so thoughtlessly +betrayed her love for him, and felt that it would perhaps +<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>be best to leave her to make her own explanations to her +mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So he only bowed gravely in reply to Mrs. Rochester’s +greeting, though a deep flush swept across his brow; +then, ignoring her remark entirely, he said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I came this morning to ask Miss Rochester if you and +she could be ready to leave Paris at short notice. The +city is in such a turbulent state that we all feel it would +be best to get away as soon as possible.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Is it so bad as that?—are we in danger personally?” +she asked, growing pale with anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will not deceive you—yes. The people are so excited +and unreasonable that there is no knowing what +they may do.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then let us go at once—I can be ready in less than +an hour,” said Mrs. Rochester, all her native energy and +courage rising to meet this emergency.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We will if we can—if every avenue is not closed +against us,” he replied. “Get your trunks packed and +be ready when I come, or send for you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We will,” was the decided answer, “and,” with a significant +smile, “Sadie is, of course, perfectly willing to +be guided by you, now.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He made no reply to this, but took his leave at once, +although not in a very comfortable frame of mind, for it +was very evident that Mrs. Rochester regarded him as a +prospective son-in-law and was very much delighted in +the belief.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Surely Miss Rochester will not allow her mother to +imagine that I have made her an offer of marriage; she +will of course explain our unfortunate position,” he +mused, as he went out. “It was very disagreeable, and +I am surprised at her for losing her self-possession so +completely. I did not imagine that the girl really cared +for me in any such way, she has always been so frank and +friendly. I did not dream that she would fall in love +with me; I half suspected that she was getting fond of +Norman.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, since she has fallen in love with you, why +shouldn’t you marry her? You are free, and you are not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>likely to meet another woman so loving and accomplished +as Sadie Rochester; and then you could settle at once and +forever the vexing question of the Hamilton-Rochester +contract,” was the question which arose in his mind in +answer to his previous musings. He thoroughly believed +in Sadie Rochester, never once suspecting that she had +been playing a part during all these months. Though he +recognized her beauty and many accomplishments, and +knew that she would shine in any position, he had an instinctive +shrinking from an alliance with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But these thoughts could not long remain uppermost in +his mind. His chief anxiety now was to get his family +to a place of safety, and in this undertaking he was peculiarly +fortunate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Tillinghast met him soon after he left Mrs. Rochester, +and told him that he knew of a couple of families +who were going outside the city limits that very +evening. They had secured passes through some one in +high authority, and were to occupy a portion of a large +villa that was almost a palace, on the banks of the Seine, +about ten miles out. He believed that Dr. Winthrop +might succeed in getting his family and the Rochesters +passed out with them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was an opportunity to be instantly seized upon. He +sought the parties at once. They were very kind and +sympathetic, and consented to take the frightened Americans +in charge. Everything was arranged with comparative +ease, and the next day they were all safely housed +in the spacious villa, and delighted to be out of danger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When Dr. Winthrop had seen them comfortably settled, +he informed his mother that he was going to return +to Paris to resume his practice in the hospital or wherever +he should be most needed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam rebelled violently against this plan.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have no right to do it—no right to thus rashly +risk your life, especially now,” she vehemently asserted +with significant emphasis on the last word.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is my life?” he demanded bitterly, with a +slight quiver of his lips; “and what especial value can it +have at this time?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>“Can you ask,” his mother inquired, astonished, “when +at last you have come to your senses?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean?” he questioned, astonished, in +his turn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, that you are finally going to do the proper thing, +and marry Sadie Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Who said I was going to marry Miss Rochester? +Did she tell you so?” Dr. Winthrop gravely inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; of course not. Such an announcement should +come from you. But Mrs. Rochester has told me what +happened in her drawing-room the other morning. She +said that you might not be quite ready to formally announce +it, for she could get nothing definite from Sadie; +but she was confident that you were engaged.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Rochester is surely very good to arrange everything +so comfortably for me,” Dr. Winthrop replied with +a curling lip, while in his heart there arose a feeling of +contempt for Miss Rochester, because she had neglected +to set matters straight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No matter what her own feelings might be, she at least +should have exonerated him from the suspicion of having +proposed to her and been accepted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned abruptly and left his mother, without attempting +to explain further, and returned directly to Paris. +Certainly no one could have thought him very lover-like +to depart without taking leave of his supposed <em>fiancée</em>.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam spent the remainder of the day in tears; for +the estrangement of her son was a great trial to her, since +it proved that he had not forgiven her for the part she +had taken against Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Several days passed, and then the terrible crisis came—a +crisis the memory of which makes many a Frenchman +shudder to-day—and then, before the horrors of the +insurrection had fairly begun to subside, there went abroad +the paralyzing rumor that cholera had broken out in the +doomed city.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Who shall describe the weeks that followed? The terrors +of riot and of war were as nothing compared with the +onward march of that silent and stealthy foe, that mowed +down thousands with its invisible but deadly weapons.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>Dr. Winthrop was in Paris through it all, and had +thrown himself heart and soul into caring for the perishing +ones around him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had advised his father and brother to take the family +and go to England or Scotland, or to some other +healthful resort, where there would be little or no danger +of the dread disease.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But his mother obstinately refused to go, while he +remained, and of course the other members of the family +would not leave her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Every one else had fled from the villa upon the first +rumor of cholera, and Mrs. Rochester would have been +glad to follow, but her daughter was as obstinate as Madame +Winthrop herself. She had so set her heart upon +winning Truman Winthrop, so determined to secure the +prize for which she had schemed and humiliated herself, +that she resolved to boldly face death rather than run the +risk of losing him. Besides, Norman Winthrop was +obliged to remain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So the Winthrops and the Rochesters had the magnificent +villa to themselves, and a charming place it was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was finely and healthfully situated, and Dr. Winthrop +said that if they were bound to remain in France +they could not be in a better place. Still he would have +much preferred that they should go to Scotland, and it +was a continual cause for anxiety to know that they were +in danger from the pestilence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Tillinghast, too, had refused to leave his friend, +but he was also one of those heroes who never think of +self, and he had insisted upon going into the hospital to +act under the direction of Dr. Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But in his enthusiasm he overtaxed himself, and one +day he was stricken with the dread disease.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop felt as if the “tug of war” had set in, in +good earnest. He could not devote himself exclusively +to his friend, for the entire care of some of the wards of +the hospital devolved upon him during certain hours of +each day, while nurses were very scarce, and he found it +impossible to secure the constant services of any one in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>the private room which he had, by paying an exorbitant +price, managed to secure for Tillinghast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must have a nurse and a competent one,” he exclaimed, +almost in despair, after searching for more than +an hour one day, and an hour in the race with death was +very precious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had just come into one of the wards where he belonged, +and was about to begin his rounds, when his eye +fell upon a couple of nuns, who were in the habit of coming +every day to assist and relieve some of the nurses. +They belonged to the order of Gray Nuns, and were clad +in the loose and homely garb worn by that sisterhood. +But little could be seen of their faces, for they wore the +close, gray bonnet, with a wide frill of black tissue +plaited about the edge of a little black silk cap worn +underneath, and white bandages about their foreheads +and chins. The only way that they could be distinguished +from each other—for they were of the same +height—was by a pair of double blue glasses which one +of them wore.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But they were very helpful, very sweet and gentle in +their ways, particularly the sister in blue glasses, who +was known as Sister Angela, or “The Angel in Gray,” as +the poor soldiers and patients soon learned to call her.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXI.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP PASSES THROUGH DEEP WATERS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“Perhaps they will know of some one whom I can get +to nurse Tillinghast,” Dr. Winthrop muttered, +as he watched these two Sisters of Mercy flitting from +couch to couch, intent only upon relieving the suffering +around them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had never yet spoken with them, for on his approach +they would always modestly withdraw, and stand with +bowed heads and crossed hands until he had made his +explanation, given his orders to the head nurse, and passed +on.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now, however, he walked directly toward one of them, +who was bathing the hot face and hands of a poor fellow +who had lost a leg during the insurrection.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her back was toward him and he did not know which +one she was until he stepped beside her and she turned +her face to him; then he caught sight of the blue glasses +and he saw it was Sister Angela.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can I speak with you a moment, Sister?” he inquired +in a low tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She stepped back, crossed her hands upon her bosom, +bowed her head and waited to hear what he had to say.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My friend has been suddenly stricken down,” he began, +“I must have a competent nurse at once, or he will +die. Do you know of such a one?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, monsieur,” she replied, “every nurse in Paris is +engaged—see!”—with a sweeping gesture of the hand, +though she did not raise her head or her glance—“you +have not sufficient help even here, and hundreds are dying +outside for the want of proper care.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then, what shall I do?” cried Dr. Winthrop, and +there was a note of agony in his tone. His friend had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>not spared himself for others, and he could not bear that +he should die from lack of care.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has monsieur no friends who could come to him?” +inquired the nun.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; none who would be of any service at such a +time,” and he shivered as he thought of bringing any +member of his family into that pest-house. Norman was +the only one who occurred to him, and he was needed too +much elsewhere to be thought of for a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur is very ill?” said the nun inquiringly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very; I fear the worst,” he replied, with a heavy +sigh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sister Angela seemed to be thinking deeply for a moment; +then telling him briefly to wait, she went down the +ward and talked earnestly with the other nun for a few +minutes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently she returned and said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know something of sickness and if <em>monsieur le docteur</em> +will trust me, I will do the best I can.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will you? Can you leave your other duties?” he +eagerly cried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My duties are those that lie nearest at hand and are +the most urgent,” she quietly answered, but the low, sweet +tones were like music to him, for there was hope in them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” the physician gratefully returned, “you +have taken a great load from my heart. When can you +come?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“<em>Monsieur le docteur</em> may take me to his friend at once—the +need is great; I delay not for anything.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very good,” her companion returned in a tone +that trembled, for he was deeply moved. Then turning +abruptly, he simply bade her “Come.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She followed him to a room at the further end of the +ward, where he opened a door and then stood aside to +allow her to pass in.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The apartment was very comfortable, cool, and well +ventilated, and the windows had been darkened, for the +glare of the sun was hot and painful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sister Angela passed noiselessly in, glancing toward +the patient as she did so. She quietly removed her close +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>gray bonnet, but Dr. Winthrop, though he tried to do so, +could not get even a glimpse of her face, for the plaiting +of black silk tissue which was fastened to her cap, still +fell close about it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She went directly to the bedside and looked more +closely at the patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He is very low, monsieur,” she said to Dr. Winthrop, +who was gazing sadly at his friend, while he felt his +pulse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He is, indeed,” he whispered with emotion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has he hot water at his feet and warm flannel about +his body?” was the next query. “Ah!” without waiting +for a reply, and deftly slipping her hand under the bedclothes +to the patient’s feet, “the bottle is cold, it must +be renewed.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She drew it forth, glided swiftly yet noiselessly from the +room, but was back again before he could have thought +it possible, and replaced the replenished bottle at the +sick man’s feet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She then heated a blanket, which she spread over his +body and limbs, after which she turned her attention to +his nourishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, this is very badly made,” she murmured, as she +stirred the arrow-root gruel that stood cold upon the +table, and found it full of lumps.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She set about preparing some fresh, and not long after +was deftly feeding the almost dying man with a smooth, +well-cooked porridge, to which she had added a little +brandy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop was greatly relieved as he noticed how +efficient she was, and though he did not have much hope +that his friend would live, he felt that at least he would +henceforth have everything needful done for him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All day long he was in and out of the room to watch +his condition, and give him what personal attention he +could. The nurse, though she seldom spoke or even +looked at him, obeyed every direction implicitly and intelligently, +and toward evening he could detect a slight—a +very slight improvement in Tillinghast’s condition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sister Angela did not spare herself; she renewed the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>hot bottles at his feet the moment they began to cool; +she kept the heated blanket constantly about his body +and administered either nourishment or stimulants every +few minutes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During the night she was just as faithful; not once did +she close her eyes to sleep or relax her vigilant care of +her charge, and by morning he was more comfortable, if +not actually better. But he was so weak, his pulse was +so feeble, that Dr. Winthrop did not dare to hope much +from the trifling improvement in his condition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mr. Tillinghast, however, appeared to have a little more +consciousness of the efforts to save him, and eagerly +swallowed his nourishment and stimulants, instead of +lying, as hitherto, almost indifferent.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will be worn out—you must have rest,” Dr. +Winthrop said to Sister Angela, as the second day of her +attendance drew near its close and she was still as unremitting +in her attentions as ever.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nay; I shall not leave <em>monsieur le docteur’s</em> friend +until he is out of danger, or past all help,” she returned +quietly but resolutely, and no amount of persuasion could +change her decision.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young man did get better, he continued to rally +slowly but steadily, and in a few days Dr. Winthrop was +confident that if nothing new developed he would soon +recover.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As soon as Sister Angela was assured of this she consented +to take her needed rest, and left him at regular +intervals for this purpose; but she always returned +promptly to her post afterward, and was still the same +watchful, careful nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One morning, while she was giving her patient his first +really solid breakfast, as he called it, Dr. Winthrop +hastily entered the room, his face pale and stern, his brow +wrinkled with care and an open note in his hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sister Angela,” he said turning appealingly to her, +“would you be willing to go out of the city to care for the +sick? I am in a sad strait.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it, dear old fellow?” Tillinghast asked sympathetically, +and regarding his friend anxiously.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>“My father and Evelyn are both down with the cholera; +my mother fears she soon may be, as she is far from +well,” was the disheartening answer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will go, Sister Angela?” her patient said, turning +eagerly to her. “I shall do well enough now with +what attention I can get from other nurses; I will be very +careful—nothing shall tempt me to be imprudent or impatient. +Ah, you must go, for poor Winthrop is hard +pressed.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course I do not expect that you will go alone,” Dr. +Winthrop continued; “I will find other nurses to help +you if they can be had, if you will but superintend the +care of my friends. I can trust you fully and shall feel +that nothing will be neglected under your supervision.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The gentle nun did not reply immediately. She +seemed to be gravely considering the matter; but Mr. +Tillinghast, who alone could see anything of her face, was +sure that he saw a vivid crimson shoot up and lose itself +under her ugly bandages as if the proposition was a very +distasteful one to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, monsieur, I will go,” she at last replied in her +usual quiet tones; then she turned back to the bedside and +went on feeding her charge though he thought her hand +trembled slightly on its way from the plate to the mouth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I believe I should have died but for you, Sister Angela,” +the young man said, when he had finished his +breakfast. “I am very grateful. I shall bless you always. +Is there not something I can do for you to prove it?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nothing, monsieur; my wants are very few and I need +no proof,” she answered, but her voice was not quite +steady he thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sorry,” he said gratefully, “for I should be glad +to make some thankoffering. My friend tells me that you +are called the ‘Angel in Gray,’ here in the hospital; you +have surely proved yourself such to me; may you live +long to bless others with your gentle ministrations.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again a flush swept over what was visible of her face, and +her lips parted with a sigh that was something like a sob.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The poor creature has known some heavy sorrow,” the +young man thought; “perhaps that was what drove her to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>be a nun. I wonder how old she is; nobody can tell with +all that cotton-cloth wound about her head and face. She +may be forty for all I can tell, but she seems a refined +lady. Her voice is sweet and low and cultured; her movements +are graceful yet dignified, and her hands are small +and beautifully formed.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He continued to watch her curiously while she busied +herself about some last cares for his comfort, and then +she came to take leave of him, as Dr. Winthrop was anxious +to start at once for the villa.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good-by,” the invalid said, with emotion; “I hope +I shall see you some time again, Sister Angela, but if I +do not I shall always hold you in grateful remembrance.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bowed her head in acknowledgment of his gratitude, +murmured a benediction over him, and then passed +quietly out of the room with Dr. Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young physician felt greatly relieved because she +had acceded to his request and tried to express his thanks, +but she cut him short in the midst of them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thanks are unnecessary, monsieur; it is my work, my +duty,” she said. “I go to one, then to another, wherever +I am most needed.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I think you are hardly strong enough for such +work; it is too hard, too wearing for your slight frame.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I am well. I shall work while heaven gives me +strength, then—God’s will be done,” was the low-voiced, +tremulous reply, and its pathos sent a quick stab of pain +through the young physician’s heart. There was a certain +hopelessness in it that moved him deeply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He found another woman to go out to the villa with +them, he feared she would be hardly suited to the sick-room; +still it was the best he could do; and he had to be +content.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He tried to engage Sister Angela in conversation on +their way thither, but she would not talk. She listened +to whatever he had to say with bowed head and clasped +hands, and when actually obliged to answer him, she did +so in the briefest manner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Arriving at the villa, Dr. Winthrop found his father +alarmingly ill. Evelyn was considerably frightened, but +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>in no immediate danger. Madame Winthrop was far from +well, but did not as yet show any symptoms of the terrible +scourge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop was doing the best that he could +for them all, with the assistance of the servants; but he +was greatly relieved by the appearance of his brother and +his assistants.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester and her daughter had shut themselves +in their own rooms as soon as Mr. Winthrop was attacked, +and kept aloof as much as possible from every one. They +would have been glad now to flee from France at once, if +they had not feared they would be overtaken by the plague +before they could reach a place of safety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sister Angela at once took up her position at the bedside +of Mr. Winthrop; but, though she was faithful in the +minutest particular and Dr. Winthrop spared no effort to +save his father, he died on the next morning after their +arrival, and in accordance with the prevailing law, was +immediately buried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This affliction of course made Evelyn worse. Madame +Winthrop was at once prostrated, while, before the day +was over, Dr. Winthrop was summoned to attend Miss +Rochester, who was violently attacked with cramps.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We must have more help,” he said, with pale lips, a +little later to Sister Angela. “Where shall I turn for +another nurse?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The faithful nun, after thinking a moment, drew forth +a note-book, wrote a few lines, then, tearing a couple of +leaves from it, was about to pass them to the physician, +when she suddenly seemed to change her mind and, crumpling +them in her hand, hastily thrust them into her capacious +pocket.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Could you find No. 15 Rue de ——?” she asked, mentioning +a street in an humble quarter of Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I can find any place if there is hope of getting a +nurse in this terrible emergency,” he desperately returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then go—inquire for Harriet Winter; tell her Sister +Angela has need of her and she will come. Hasten, +monsieur, for time is precious.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop needed no second bidding; he did not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>even pause to wonder that the French nun had sent him +for a woman with a very American name.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With despair at his heart he flew back to Paris, sparing +neither himself nor his horses. He found the street and +the woman, Harriet Winter, a black-eyed red-cheeked, +pleasant-mannered person, who did not hesitate to obey +his summons; and before night she was installed in Miss +Rochester’s room, and Dr. Winthrop felt that he was +fortunate indeed in having secured another nurse second +only to Sister Angela herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet Winter not only proved very efficient in the +sick-room but seemed to fit in everywhere. She assumed +the management of the entire household, and the family +began to experience a sense of home-like comfort such as +they had not known during their residence abroad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During the two weeks that followed, there were anxious +days and nights.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop went very low into the “valley of +the shadow of death,” while Evelyn slowly rallied. +Then when her mother began to recover, she had a relapse, +and at one time her brother thought she was gone +beyond recall.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the faithful nurse would not give her up; she stood +over her, even after Dr. Winthrop had said there was no +pulse and that all further effort would not avail, and persisted +in dropping nourishment mixed with stimulants between +her pallid lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It can do no harm, monsieur,” she murmured, when +he had begged her to desist.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, nor any good,” he responded moodily; but his +voice broke as it suddenly occurred to him that his sister +must die without a knowledge of his forgiveness for the +great wrong she had done him, and, staggering weakly +to a chair, he sank into it, with a groan bowing his face +upon his hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The overworked man was worn out mentally as well as +physically.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A deep quivering sigh broke from the lips of Sister +Angela, but aside from a yearning, wistful glance, she +paid no heed to him, but continued her ministrations.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>One—two hours passed, and still the weary man sat +there half asleep, wholly exhausted, while drop by drop +the patient nun pressed the stimulating gruel between the +girl’s hueless lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At length she thought that her breathing, which had +hardly been perceptible for a long time, had become a +trifle stronger. All at once the invalid appeared to swallow +naturally. A faint sigh broke upon Sister Angela’s +ears, the girl moved her head slightly on her pillow, and +then sunk into a natural slumber.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A wan little smile flitted over the nurse’s lips, as she +noiselessly placed her cup and spoon on the table beside +her and glanced at that other sleeping figure across the +room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She would not arouse him from the blessed rest, for +she knew her good news could wait; but when at last she +saw he was awake she glided softly to his side, and said +in a scarcely audible tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur, take courage, I think your sister will live.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop started to his feet, a dazed look on his +worn face; then he moved quickly to Evelyn’s side, and +at the first glance his practiced eye told him that there +had been a decided change for the better.</p> + +<p class='c011'>From that time until morning dawned, he never left +her side, and when the sun arose, he felt almost as if his +sister had been given back to him from the dead.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But their trials were by no means over, for during that +day one of the servants died, and Miss Rochester appeared +to be sinking. But what need to dwell upon those +wretched experiences? upon the almost superhuman effort +of Dr. Winthrop to save the precious lives in his charge; +of the faithfulness of those tireless nurses, who neglected +nothing, and yet exercised the utmost care over their own +health for the sake of their patients.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Those were experiences that could never be forgotten, +but they could not endure forever, and when those who +had been so near the borders of the other world began to +recover, and Dr. Winthrop pronounced them out of danger, +Sister Angela and Harriet Winter were relieved by +two other women, and sent away for needful rest.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXII.<br> <span class='c009'>AN APPALLING DISCOVERY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Meantime, Mr. Tillinghast had been steadily gaining, +and when all fear of any further danger from +the scourge was past, Dr. Winthrop arranged that he +should come out to the villa to spend a week or two, to +gain a little more strength, after which he contemplated +sending him to some healthful resort with the other invalids +who were now rapidly convalescing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were all sitting together one evening, talking of +the terrible epidemic, whose force was gradually becoming +exhausted, and of the wonderful escape which they, as a +family, had had, when Madame Winthrop feelingly remarked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose very few have had the care which we have +received; that old maid, Harriet, was a treasure of a +nurse while Sister Angela was a perfect wonder. She +seemed to know by instinct just the right thing to do. +I do not believe she made a single mistake while she was +here.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The ‘Angel in Gray,’” murmured Mr. Tillinghast, a +look of reverence sweeping over his still thin face, and +then he told them how she had been beloved in the hospital, +and why she had been called so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were all enthusiastic in their praises—all save +Dr. Winthrop, who had been lying wearily back in his +chair, evidently too inert and indifferent to join in any +conversation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He could not seem to recover his normal strength and +vigor, after the strain of those terrible weeks, and his +friends were very anxious about him; yet not more so +than usual upon this particular evening, and no one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>thought it strange when, after a while, he arose and quietly +passed out of the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His friend, Tillinghast, however, thinking he might +have gone out for a smoke, followed him after a few moments, +and found him in the dining-room mixing something +in a tumbler.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thirsty, True?” he began, then suddenly catching +sight of his ghastly face, he exclaimed, “Good heavens, +Winthrop! what ails you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am afraid my turn has come at last,” Dr. Winthrop +replied, as he swallowed the potion of brandy at one +gulp. “I have felt some pain all the afternoon and have +been treating myself; but, in spite of all, I believe the +disease has a grip on me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Cholera?” gasped his friend, a look of terror on his +face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, and no light attack, either.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A spasm of agony convulsed his features as he spoke, +and he sank weakly upon the nearest chair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall I do for you, True?” his companion asked. +“We must not delay—man! man! tell me—what shall +I do?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This last appeal was made in great alarm, as Dr. Winthrop +seemed on the verge of losing consciousness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Send some one for Sister Angela at once, then get me +to bed as soon as possible, with hot bottles and blankets,” +the young physician feebly directed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The whole household was aroused immediately, and +everybody was greatly frightened, for Dr. Winthrop seemed +to be their mainstay and bulwark of defense.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he continued to grow rapidly and alarmingly worse, +and by the time Sister Angela arrived with a skilful +physician, whom she had called upon her own responsibility, +he was almost in a state of insensibility.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was fortunate for the gentle nun that she had had +ample time to rest and recruit her strength before having +to meet this fresh ordeal, for Dr. Winthrop was a very +sick man, and Mr. Tillinghast regretted that he had not +tried to secure the services of a strong man as nurse, +instead of this apparently frail woman.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>He proposed, the morning after her arrival, going for +one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” she returned, with quiet resolution: “I can do +better for him than any man, if you will help me when +he needs to be moved or lifted.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The poor man now had to reap the results of the terrible +strain through which he had so recently passed, for he +went alarmingly near the borders of the other world. He +was delirious most of the time, and talked almost incessantly +of Sister Angela and some one else, whom he +called his “darling;” though his mutterings were so indistinct +and incoherent that they could not make much +sense of what he said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To whom does he refer?” Sister Angela asked of his +mother one day, when he called more than usual for his +“darling.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop flushed at the question, for she well +knew to whom he referred, and her conscience had been +busy with its upbraidings as she listened to her son’s +ravings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But of course she was not going to tell family secrets +to a stranger, and so evaded a direct reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“He is betrothed to Miss Rochester,” she said, briefly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The cup from which Sister Angela had been feeding +her patient slipped from her fingers just then, but fortunately +it dropped upon a hassock and made no noise.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Sadie Rochester, the young lady whom the +other nurse took care of when you were here before,” she +explained.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Sadie Rochester!” repeated the nun.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; did not the nurse tell you her name?” asked +madam.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; I have scarcely seen her since; she was called +away elsewhere,” murmured Sister Angela.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you ill, sister?” madam inquired a moment later, +as she noticed that she pressed her hand to her side as if +in sudden pain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; it was only a sudden pain; it will soon pass,” +she explained.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must be careful; you must not neglect yourself,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>returned madam, kindly; “for I do not know what we +should do without you. Oh, save my son! he is my idol! +It would kill me to lose him. Save him, and I shall +bless you all the days of my life!” and the woman, still +somewhat weak from her own recent illness, wept and +broke down utterly as she looked upon the unconscious +sufferer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The nun did not reply for a moment, then lifting her +clasped hands, which were locked in a viselike grip, to +her bosom, she said, brokenly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“God rules! I know not if he can live; but, if human +care can avail, he—shall not die!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam thought her very sympathetic, and then after +asking if she needed anything for her comfort, went away +to her own room for the night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The door had scarcely closed behind her when Sister Angela +sank upon her knees beside the bed and buried her +face in her hands, while convulsive, yet low sobs shook +her slight form from head to foot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was so absorbed in the emotion that had overcome +her that she was oblivious of all else, until, all at once, she +felt a touch upon her head, and a feeble voice murmured: +“My darling! my darling!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A quiver ran over her frame; she lifted her face and +gazed upon her patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he did not appear to be conscious of her presence; +his eyes were partially unclosed and he seemed to be looking +off into vacancy, as if he saw some one beyond her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His hand had slipped from her head, as she raised it, +and now lay upon the bed before her. As if seized with +some sudden impulse, which she could not control, she +leaned forward and pressed her lips passionately upon +it, a pitiful sob bursting from them as she did so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a strange—a very strange thing for a Sister of +Mercy to do; but there was no eye to see the act, and +even her charge himself did not notice it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She soon recovered herself, however, and arose from +her kneeling position, murmuring:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“God is merciful, He will not let him die.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A little later, while she was feeding him, she heard the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>door behind her softly open again, and turning she saw a +white robed figure standing in the aperture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She stood as if paralyzed a moment; then a low, +startled exclamation broke from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” said the intruder, holding up a warning hand. +“I do not wonder you are startled, for I suppose I look +like a ghost, but I could not sleep without knowing just +how he is to-night.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The nurse turned back to the bedside, as Miss Rochester +advanced into the room, noiselessly closing the door +after her, and then came and stood beside the man, whose +wife she coveted to be, but who lay very near death at +that moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you think of him?” she asked, trying in +vain to get a view of the nun’s averted face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No better—no worse,” she briefly replied, in a muffled +tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank Heaven he is no worse!” the girl said, with a +sigh. “Do you think he can possibly rally?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I—hope so; he has a strong constitution.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will do your best, I know,” Miss Rochester said, +earnestly; “you have done your best through all our +trouble here. I have heard of your wonderful faithfulness +and powers of endurance, and I have longed to see you. I +suppose it is not just proper for me to come here to-night—mamma +would scold if she knew it; but I had to come +to see for myself just how he is. How dreadful he looks!—how +pinched and ghastly his face!—how thin and +white his hands! I—I suppose you know that I—expect +to be his—wife—if he lives,” she concluded, with a conscious +glance toward the nun, as if she thought this apology +for her presence was necessary.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sister Angela made no reply; but Miss Rochester +thought she saw her shiver, and a flush dyed her cheek.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose it sounds strangely to you to hear me +speak of marriage with one who seems so near death,” +she said; “but I thought you ought to know why I came, +and it is natural that I should be anxious.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then regarding her companion more closely, she asked, +curiously:</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>“What is the matter with your eyes, sister? Why do +you wear those queer double spectacles?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush! Mademoiselle must not remain longer—it +will disturb monsieur, if we talk,” the nurse returned, +without looking at her, and ignoring her question; “besides, +mademoiselle will take cold, and be in danger of +another attack herself.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And walking quietly to the door, she opened it, and +waited for the girl to pass out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester dared not disobey this unmistakable +dismissal, and after bestowing one more look upon the +unconscious sufferer, she went softly out, whispering, with +an appealing glance:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Save him, I beseech you, Sister, and I shall be eternally +grateful; you little know how much depends upon +his life.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My darling—my darling,” murmured the invalid, stirring +uneasily upon his pillow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Hastily closing the door upon the unceremonious intruder, +Sister Angela flew back to her post by the bed, but +with face and lips white as the spotless bandage about her +brow, and shivering as with the ague.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next day there was a slight improvement in Dr. +Winthrop’s condition, then the symptoms were discouraging; +after that the crisis came, was passed, and then there +was a perceptible gain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A week later he was improving rapidly—another passed +and he was able to sit up; then seeing how worn and thin +his mother and Evelyn were again looking, from the +anxiety which they had suffered upon his account, he insisted +that they should go to some watering-place to recuperate +for a few weeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester, who alone, with the exception of Norman +Winthrop, had escaped the terrible scourge, said she +would remain and direct the household until they were +able to return.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She tried to persuade her daughter to accompany them, +but Miss Rochester, feeling that the period of convalescence +might prove to be an impressionable one with Dr. +Winthrop, refused to go, and fondly hoped that the next +<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>two or three weeks would decide her destiny beyond all +question.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop still retained Sister Angela, although +she had several times spoken of returning to Paris, since +he had become so much better. He was opposed to her +leaving him, however—he had pleaded for “just a week +longer,” saying that she was so helpful, her presence so +soothing—not to mention the preparation of certain dainties +with which she was continually tempting his appetite—that +he could not give her up just yet; and so she remained.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The week soon slipped by, the last day came, and Sister +Angela seemed strangely agitated and depressed. +Dr. Winthrop thought he had never seen her so nervous +or so absent-minded, and blamed himself for requiring +the service of this extra week, when she was so nearly +worn out from constant attendance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She went down as usual to prepare something especially +nice for his dinner—the last meal she would take up to +him—and, having finished her work and arranged everything +temptingly upon a tray, she slowly mounted the +stairs on her way to his room with it in her hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had reached the top stair when a sudden dizziness +seized her, an icy chill ran over her frame, and she had +barely time to set her tray upon the floor when she fell +prone beside it in a dead faint.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The sound of her fall drew Mrs. Rochester and her +daughter from their room—for she had fallen just opposite +their door—to see what had happened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s room was some distance from the spot, +and part way down another passage, so that the confusion +attending Sister Angela’s mishap—fortunately or unfortunately—did +not reach his ears and he knew nothing of +it until afterward.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mercy! it is that nun!” exclaimed Miss Rochester, +who was first to reach the unconscious girl, while she +gazed with startled and curious eyes upon her prostrate +form.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is worn out,” said Mrs. Rochester, as she dropped +upon her knees and began to loosen the bandages about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>Sister Angela’s face, and tore her close black cap from +her head, thus revealing a wealth of beautiful black hair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, she looks like——” she began, then suddenly +checking herself, she quickly removed the double blue +glasses which had always so effectually concealed her +eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A cry of astonishment and dismay burst from her lips, +which had lost every atom of color.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“S—adie!” she gasped, lifting a pair of wild eyes to +her daughter’s face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“For goodness’ sake, mamma, what is the matter?” +inquired the girl, who had not yet had a full view of the +features thus exposed to view.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Look!” whispered the mother, hoarsely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bent down to look into that still, white face; then +she lifted her glance, and those two women gazed into +each other’s eyes with speechless amazement and unmistakable +terror.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma! it is—it is——” began Miss Rochester, looking +as if she herself was on the verge of fainting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“<span class='sc'>Salome!</span>” whispered the elder woman, with a gasp +of terror.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIII.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME LEARNS A STARTLING FACT.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Yes, lying there upon the floor, all unconscious of her +condition or surroundings, or of the fact that her +identity was discovered, lay the wife of Truman Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was indeed Salome, fair and beautiful as when Dr. +Winthrop had held her in his arms on the morning of his +sudden departure for Europe, though she was somewhat +worn and thin from long watching and anxiety; for these +last few weeks, during which the man whom she so fondly +loved had lain so low, had been a severe strain upon both +heart and strength.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester and her daughter hung trembling over +her, astonishment, consternation, and even terror depicted +upon their blanched faces, and both seemingly +too unnerved by their appalling discovery to know what +to do in such an emergency.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She was not burned to death after all,” Miss Rochester +at length whispered, tremulously, as she bent closer +for a better view of the girl; “and how on earth did she +happen to be in Paris at this time, or to get into this +family?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is easily enough explained,” returned Mrs. Rochester, +beginning to recover herself, while her face grew +hard and stern. “She must have escaped from that building +without being seen, and has probably been hiding +ever since for some reason—perhaps because she was +piqued and believed that her marriage was illegal, as they +told her. But she has doubtless kept herself posted regarding +the movements of the Winthrops, and so followed +them here, to be near him. Then, of course, since she +is such a natural-born nurse, it was easy enough for her +to get into almost any hospital, where, disguised in this +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>outlandish manner, her own mother would never have +recognized her; and, having nursed Tillinghast through +his illness with such success, it is not at all wonderful +that Dr. Winthrop should have wanted her to come here. +But”—with a sudden compression of her lips—“what are +we going to do about the matter, now that we have made +the discovery?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, to begin with, let us get her out of this hall—take +her at once to my room,” said Miss Rochester, a +cruel light leaping into her beautiful eyes; “and you +understand, mamma,” she added, “we must keep her out +of sight—no one must see her or know what we know, +and just as soon as possible she must be got out of the +house. What do you suppose is to become of us—of my +future interests—if Truman Winthrop discovers that his +wife is living?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is to become of your future interests whether +he learns it or not, since the fact remains that she does +live?” bitterly demanded her mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, I don’t know; I must have time to think. +Mamma, she must not be allowed to spoil everything +now. But come—help me, and, let us get her out of +sight at once.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She seized Salome by the shoulders, and Mrs. Rochester +lifting her by the feet, they bore her into their private +parlor and laid her upon the lounge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then Mrs. Rochester said that Dr. Winthrop must have +his dinner or he would suspect that something was wrong. +So she took the daintily arranged tray, which fortunately +had not been disturbed, and carried it herself to his room, +remarking that as Sister Angela appeared not very well, +she had prevailed upon her to lie down, and allow her to +take her place, and serve his dinner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop did not manifest any suspicion that all +was not as represented, and thought it very kind of Mrs. +Rochester to be so considerate of the nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she made her escape back to her own rooms as +soon as possible, but found that Salome had not yet revived. +Miss Rochester had made no effort to restore +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>“Your future interests,” she resumed, as if that thought +had been in her mind ever since her daughter suggested +it. “Surely you do not expect to marry Dr. Winthrop +after making this discovery.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester shrugged her shoulders, and made a +significant grimace.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Bigamy,” was all the reply that she vouchsafed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester frowned at the disagreeable word.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is probable that no one, save you and me, know of +her existence, or rather her identity,” she remarked, after +a thoughtful pause.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, what of that?” demanded her companion; “she +can reveal herself whenever she chooses.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is the very thing I am afraid of; but there are +places where people can have no communication with the +outside world, and Paris is very prolific in such institutions,” +said Miss Rochester, in a tone to make one’s flesh +creep.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie! you wouldn’t dare,” whispered her mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I would dare anything rather than lose all at this late +day,” was the passionate retort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you couldn’t marry him even then—you know +that would be absolutely impossible, even though she could +be so securely shut away that she could never make her +existence known,” returned Mrs. Rochester, decidedly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Listen, mamma,” said the girl, imperiously, “I have +set my heart on this marriage and the union of these two +fortunes, and you know when I really make up my mind to +anything I usually carry my point. Do you think that, +after enjoying all the luxuries which this money buys for +us, I am weakly going to surrender them? Can you live +without your silks, satins, laces, jewels, horses, carriages; +your servants, and the hundred other things you enjoy so +much, and go back to the poverty you struggled with before +you married a rich man? No, you cannot,” she went +on, as her companion shivered over the picture, “but you +know that we are to have only the interest of that paltry +fifty thousand to use jointly if that contract is not fulfilled.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>“But—but—think of Dr. Winthrop becoming a bigamist!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not intend that Dr. Winthrop shall become a bigamist,” +calmly responded the young lady.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How can you prevent it if you persist in going +through the form of marriage—provided, of course, you +can win him—since Salome is already his wife; unless—” +and the woman’s face grew deadly pale; “you are meditating +a worse crime——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” and Miss Rochester’s eyes blazed dangerously, +“what could have put such a horrible idea into +your mind? But what I mean to do is this: I mean to +put her,” with a glance at the still form, “where she can +do no harm by tattling, at least for the present. Then I +shall write to a New York lawyer that I am engaged to +Dr. Winthrop; but since his first wife’s body was never +recovered from the ruins of that building, I am in constant +fear lest she should be living, and sometimes appear +to cause me trouble. Of course, I shall represent to him +that I realize it is only a morbidly nervous fear, still, to +satisfy me, I want him to procure regular divorce papers, +as if she were living and had simply disappeared—all +to be done without publicity of course, as lawyers nowadays +know how to do such things. This will, no doubt, +cost a great deal of money and require some ingenuity to +manage, but they understand how to meet such difficulties, +and we need not mind a few thousands if we can but +secure the bulk of those fortunes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I must admit, Sadie, you would do credit to +the arch-plotter himself!” her mother exclaimed; “as inventive +as I am, I should never have thought of such a +device; but”—meditatively—“I believe it can be done. +Still there will be great risks to be run, even if you succeed +in securing the doctor, while, if he should ever mistrust +anything afterward, I should not envy you your +future happiness. Suppose he should some time learn +that you had applied for this divorce?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then I could admit to him, as to the lawyer, +that I simply did it to satisfy my own conscience, and to +prevent any possibility of illegality in our marriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>“Then, too,” persisted Mrs. Rochester, still doubtful +of the feasibility of the plot, “suppose Salome should +manage to escape some time; she might—she would be +very likely to make trouble for you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Let her! once I am Mrs. Truman Winthrop, I will +snap my fingers at whatever trouble she might try to +make. I shall be so secure in my position that I shall +not fear her at all,” returned Miss Rochester, confidently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really, Sadie, you have greatly relieved my mind +upon one point,” her mother thoughtfully observed. “I +have been very much afraid all along that you were going +to throw Dr. Winthrop over entirely, out of admiration, if +not of some stronger sentiment, for his brother.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester flushed a vivid scarlet at this unexpected +turn to the conversation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well,” she frankly admitted, after a moment of silence, +“I must admit that I wish Norman Winthrop had +been Milton Hamilton’s favorite nephew and heir; he is +far more congenial in some respects than his very dignified +and extremely conscientious brother; but since he +hasn’t a sufficient fortune to tempt me, and I am bound to +have money, I must put up with the other——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” her mother interrupted at this point; “she is +coming to herself,” and she pointed to the figure upon +the lounge, which just then began to stir feebly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Suspended animation was gradually reasserting itself +in Salome; a long-drawn sigh heaved her breast, and +then she slowly opened her eyes and looked around her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester and her daughter were seated together, +not far from the head of the lounge, and thus the reviving +girl could not see them as she began to come to herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They made no sound nor movement, but sat watching to +see what she would do or say when she should entirely +recover consciousness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where am I? what has happened?” Salome murmured, +as her wandering eyes rested upon objects which she had +never seen before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had never been in those rooms, and had only now +and then met their occupants as she passed to and fro +through the halls on her duties, or when they came for a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>moment to Dr. Winthrop’s door to inquire how he was. +She had never exchanged a word with either of them, except +on that night when Miss Rochester had stolen in upon +her when her patient was so ill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>An expression of surprise stole into her eyes, and she +put her hand in a confused way to her head, when she +was startled to find that her cap and bandages had all been +removed; her glasses, too, were gone. A feeling of fear +and dismay seized her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, why!” she cried, in a tone of distress; then she +struggled to a sitting posture, and looked about her with +a frightened stare.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Instantly she encountered the sullen glances of the two +women who were watching her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah!—Mrs. Rochester!” she gasped.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, that is my name, Miss Howland—or perhaps you +would prefer to be addressed by your latest alias, ‘Sister +Angela,’” that lady sarcastically remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really, Salome, you have not shown your usual good +taste by masquerading in that ugly gray costume,” said +Miss Rochester, with a sneer. “I confess,” she added, “it +has been an excellent disguise, since neither mamma nor +I have been able to penetrate it, until you were so unfortunate +as to faint just outside our door a few minutes +ago.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, you will not betray me——” Salome began, appealingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Betray you!—to whom?” sternly demanded Mrs. +Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To my—to Dr. Winthrop,” murmured the distressed +girl, as she tried to replace her disguise with her trembling +hands, and looked around for her glasses.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To your husband—I suppose you were about to remark,” +cried Miss Rochester, with a sneering laugh. “In +my presence I hope you will not thus speak of the man +to whom I am betrothed. Your husband! Pshaw! Have +you not been told that your marriage with him was but a +farce?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome shivered. Every word that the cruel girl had +uttered had pierced her sensitive heart like a dagger.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>“Don’t—don’t!” she breathed, and her teeth began to +chatter with the nervous chill that was creeping over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ever since Madame Winthrop had told her that she was +no wife she had been crushed and humiliated by the +thought that she had been living in a false position. She +could have borne it quietly and patiently if Dr. Winthrop +had shown a desire to shield her; if he had but +written to her that, to all intents and purposes, she was +his wife—that he felt morally bound to her, even though +there might have been some technical flaw in their union; +if he had but told her to remain where she was and he +would make everything right when he returned. But instead +of doing this—instead of proving the true, noble +man she had believed him, he had shown himself to be +weak; he had allowed himself to be influenced by his +proud mother’s view of the situation, and had sent her +out of his home, as if she had been some shameful character, +whose presence there would bring opprobrium upon +him, and this had crushed her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Time had only served to increase her suffering and sensitiveness +upon this point, and she had tried—when the +opportunity offered—to drop quietly out of the world.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was too innocent and unsuspecting—too ignorant +of all legal questions to imagine for a moment that she +had been deceived—to reason that the simple fact of Dr. +Winthrop having taken vows in the presence of witnesses, +or having installed her in his home as his wife in the +presence of his servants, would establish her position according +to the laws of New York, even though there might +have been some informality about their union which +might have seriously affected it in other States. Neither +had it occurred to her to take advice upon the subject and +try to obtain redress. She had simply believed what she +had been told, and then, imagining that her husband was +ashamed and regretted the alliance, she had resolved to +take herself forever out of his way.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not wonder you are ashamed,” continued Miss +Rochester, as she remarked Salome’s emotion; “and yet, +in spite of all, you have come here and forced yourself +upon him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>“I did not—oh, I did not!” Salome murmured, a +burning blush suffusing her face; “but he was in such +trouble, I could not resist the desire to come. His friend +was dying, and he could get no one to nurse him. I +knew I could give him good care, even if I could not save +him, and so, when he appealed to me, I yielded. Then +he asked me to come here. Oh, it was hard—no one will +ever know how hard—but he needed me, and I would have +given my life for him——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very likely,” interrupted Miss Rochester, with a sarcastic +sneer; “but that costly sacrifice has not been required +of you. And now, since your identity has been +revealed, it is but natural that I should object to your +remaining longer in the capacity of nurse to the man +whom I expect to marry.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s face grew deadly white again at this poisoned +shaft; but she drew herself up with dignity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your objection would have no weight with me. I +should remain if I considered it my duty to do so,” she +said coldly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps it has been your intention to reveal yourself +to Doctor Winthrop and try to ingratiate yourself with +him again,” was the rude retort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, no!” Salome cried, trembling with fear at the +thought, and trying to adjust her disguise more securely, +while she searched again for her glasses. “He must +never know that I have been here!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, then you have some sense of shame! I am glad +to know that you do not wish to thrust yourself upon him +again, after having once been discarded from his +home——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Stop! oh, stop!” Salome interrupted, as she tottered +to her feet in her agony, putting out her hand appealingly +at this taunt. “I have never wanted to thrust myself +upon him; but I was wild when they came and told +me that he had at last fallen a prey to the disease from +which he had saved so many; he himself sent for me, and +I had to come. I have saved him—a second time I have +saved his life—my work is done, and I will go. I had +told him I was going to-day,” she concluded; but her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>lips were livid with agony at the thought of again leaving +the man whom she still loved with all the strength +of her soul.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where will you go?” demanded Mrs. Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Back to my work in the hospitals and among the poor, +when I am a little rested,” the wretched girl replied, but +with such a sense of utter desolation as she had never +before experienced.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you really a nun? Have you taken convent vows +upon you?” suddenly inquired Miss Rochester, as it occurred +to her that if she had regularly devoted herself to +the life, that fact might of itself make her marriage with +Dr. Winthrop null and void.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she was destined to be disappointed, for Salome +briefly answered:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then why have you assumed their dress—why do you +masquerade in their robes?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To protect myself—it gives me security and liberty +in going about my work, for no one dares molest or ill-treat +a nun.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How do you happen to be in Paris at this time?” Miss +Rochester demanded, regarding her with suspicion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Excuse me; but I am not accountable to you for my +movements,” Salome responded coldly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester gave a mocking laugh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is very easy to interpret them, nevertheless,” she +sneered. “A certain physician was known to be in Paris, +and you could not keep away from him. Yours is an exceedingly +romantic story, Salome—even you do not dream +how romantic. I am willing to wager a handsome sum +against those ugly glasses of yours, that you don’t know +just who Dr. Winthrop is after all,” and she regarded the +girl with a malicious look.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean?” Salome asked, with undisguised +astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have never had a suspicion, I suppose,” her tormentor +went on, “that the handsome doctor may have had +as romantic a history as your own? Did no one ever tell +you that he was betrothed to another at the time you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>lured him into that hasty and unfortunate marriage in +Boston?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s white lips quivered painfully!—how cruel +they were to taunt her thus with all her misery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—madam told me,” she faltered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did she tell you to whom he was betrothed! No, of +course she did not, or you would not look so innocent and +curious,” Miss Rochester went on relentlessly. “It is +the strangest story in the world—the most wonderful +complication I ever heard of—and you were always a +marplot Salome——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell me—tell me,” interposed Salome, with quivering +eagerness, “and do not keep me in this torturing suspense. +What do you mean? what is there strange or mysterious +about him?—to whom was he betrothed?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To my husband’s daughter—to Sadie Rochester,” +cried Mrs. Rochester, turning a vindictive look upon the +unhappy and trembling girl, “and the man whom you +have fondly supposed to be your husband and lost, is no +other than Truman Hamilton, the adopted son and heir +of Milton Hamilton, who decreed that he should marry +the daughter of his friend or—forfeit his inheritance!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had risen to her feet as if electrified at the +woman’s first words, and she had seemed to freeze where +she stood, as she went on—a look first of incredulity, then +horror, then despair overspreading her colorless face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, as the full force of all that she had learned burst +upon her, a low cry of anguish broke from her, she +swayed dizzily for a moment where she stood, and then +sank back upon the couch, from which she had just risen, +and fainted away again.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIV.<br> <span class='c009'>A BACKWARD GLANCE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>It will be necessary now to go back a little, in order to +learn how Salome happened to be in Paris during +the raging of the plague, which slew its hundreds and +thousands, and yet so mercifully passed her by. We saw +her last just driving away in a carriage from the home +from which she believed herself to have been driven by the +man she loved. She took nothing with her save the one +trunk containing the simple wardrobe which she had +brought from Boston, and she ordered the driver to take +her directly to the Grand Central Depot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This, however, was only done to conceal her movements, +for she had no intention of leaving New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After paying and dismissing her carriage, she purchased +a newspaper at a stand; then, going into the ladies’ room +she sat down and began to peruse the various columns of +advertisements. She soon found what she wanted—an +advertisement of a respectable lodging-house for working +girls. She had resolved to hide herself in the city for a +while, until she could rest and recruit a little from the +weakness which her recent unhappiness and excitement +had occasioned her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She engaged a second carriage, had her trunk transferred +from the baggage-room, and was then driven to the +street and number where the lodging-house was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Here she registered her name as S. Howland, engaged +the only single room to be had, and paid a full month’s +rent in advance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was at one end of a long hall, small, but clean and +comfortably furnished. There was only one window in +it, and this overlooked a narrow passage between the +lodging-house and another empty building, which seemed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>so near that she believed she could reach out and touch it +if she tried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not mind its location, or that it was a gloomy +and unpleasant place in which to live; she scarcely gave +a thought to her surroundings, so sore was her heart, so +weary her body and mind. All that she cared for was to +be by herself, to rest until she could gain strength to look +her fate calmly in the face and plan what to do.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She went directly to bed, and, utterly exhausted with +grief and weariness, fell at once into a profound slumber.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For several days she could do little but sleep and rest, +for tired nature would assert its claims, and the sense of +security which she experienced in her little room was +conducive to this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She paid one of the chambermaids to bring her, from +a neighboring restaurant, such simple food as she knew +she required and must eat, and did not go out at all herself, +nor interest herself in her neighbors or anything going +on about her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was broken-hearted. She could not be reconciled +to the terrible blight that had fallen upon her life—she +could not be reconciled to the fact that her husband had +refused to accept her explanations, in the letter of confession +which she had written him, and should have so curtly +commanded her to leave his home.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Had she not been so crushed and confused by Madame +Winthrop’s and Evelyn’s accusations and arguments—had +she not been so morbidly sensitive, she would have reasoned +better; she would have known that a man of Dr. +Winthrop’s stamp would have explained himself more +fully in a letter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had, indeed, at first, thought she would wait for one, +then she told herself that she never could bear to read it +when it came; for she believed he would never have told +her to go away from the beautiful home to which he had +brought her if he meant to ratify the union between them. +She felt that it would dethrone her reason to be told that, +since there was no legal bond, he thought it best for them +to part, and then perhaps offer to settle a sum of money +upon her to atone for the disappointment and wrong. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>She had read of such a case only a little while before, +and, in her excited state, imagined that her fate would +be but a repetition of that sad story. And so she had +told herself that she could not stay to be so humiliated—she +would not remain in a family where she was not +wanted—it would be better to sever all ties, and go at +once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will stay here and rest until I get stronger, and then +I will go back to my former work, as nurse in one of the +hospitals,” she mused while thinking over her future. +“If I cannot be happy myself—and everything seems opposed +to it, I can at least try to do some good in the world +by ministering to others. It seems as if fate has ordained +that I shall be a nurse in spite of everything.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She thought, at first, of returning to Boston, and of +applying again at the hospital there. But she shrank +from having the superintendent, good Dr. Hunt, and the +nurses with whom she had been associated, know of her +blighted hopes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had money, for she had spent little of the sum +which Dr. Winthrop had given her, and so she told herself +that she might rest as long as she wished, before taking +up her work again—might take plenty of time to +school herself to meet and bear the struggle before her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then came that terrible experience by fire—an ordeal +which she would never forget.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had retired very early that night, for she had been +suffering all day from a nervous headache; but she did +not go to sleep readily—indeed, she seemed to grow more +nervous and strangely restless, after extinguishing her +light.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bore it as long as she could, then arose and took +an anodyne. Fifteen minutes later, she was sleeping +soundly—far too soundly for her own good, for she heard +nothing of what was going on around her, when the alarm +of fire was given.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had a strange dream, however. She thought that she +was back again in her beautiful home; that she was sleeping +in her own pretty curtained bed, when she was suddenly +awakened and found Madame Winthrop and Evelyn +<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>standing over her, the latter holding her hands, while +the former bound and gagged her. She struggled and +fought against them, but all to no purpose, for they were +much stronger than she, and then all at once a sense of +suffocation came over her, and she really awoke, to find +her room full of smoke and herself gasping for breath.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sprang out of bed and deluged her face with water. +This revived her, and seizing her blanket-wrapper from +the chair where she had thrown it on retiring, she slipped +it on, thrust her feet into a pair of felt slippers, and flew +to open her door, only to be met and forced back by a +torrent of smoke that was red with flame. To her horror, +she saw that the greater portion of the floor between her +room and the stairway had been burned away, and the +fire was leaping fiercely toward her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She wondered if everybody else had escaped, and +blamed herself for having taken so heavy a sleeping potion. +She listened, and thought she could catch the +sound of low moans and cries above the crackling of the +flames; but she could not tell which room they came +from, and she knew that she could do nothing to help +any one else, even if she could save herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Back she went into her room, shutting out the hot +flame and smoke, and sped to the window, hoping to find +aid there. She could hear cries and shouts around the +other side of the building, but there was no one in the +narrow passage beneath her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She screamed for help; but the wall of brick before her +only gave back mocking echoes in reply, and just then +an intense heat about her feet made her look back into +the room, and she saw that little puffs of smoke were +beginning to curl up from the carpet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Must I perish here alone? Must I die such a horrible +death?” she cried, with a sinking heart, as she turned +again to the window, gasping for breath.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just then a window in the opposite wall caught her +eye, and she saw it was almost on a level with her own, +although diagonally across.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If there was anything with which I could make a bridge, +I could escape even now by that window,” she thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>Oh, joy! She suddenly remembered that a man had +been papering the hall only the day before, but had not +been able to finish it, and so had left his cutting-board +leaning against the wall. If it were not already in flames +she might make use of that, for surely it would be ample +in length.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She folded a wet towel about her mouth and nose, and +sprang forth into the hall, to see if the board was still +there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes; she could distinguish one end of it, and it had +not yet taken fire, for it lay close against the wall.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She groped her way to it, seized it, and, though it was +hot and burned her fingers, dragged it through her room +to the open window. Then using all her strength she +shoved it out toward that other window.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Would it reach across?</p> + +<p class='c011'>The distance seemed greater than she at first thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yes, it would span the space, but the other window was +closed!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, how hot and stifling her room was getting! she +was panting, and a feeling of faintness began to come +over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She drew back the board a little, then, with an energy +born of despair, she sent the end of it crashing through +the glass, which, fortunately, was a broad pane, and then—she +had her bridge!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Would she dare traverse it, walking in mid-air at such +a fearful height?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her brain grew dizzy with the thought.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But there was no time for delay, or a weak yielding +to fear, for to remain many minutes longer where she was +would be certain death. It would be hazardous to try to +cross, for a single misstep would send her to no less certain +destruction; but there was no alternative.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, I wish I could know if there is any one else in +such a strait!” she cried, as she thought she could still +detect muffled moans; but she knew it would be worse +than useless for her to gain an entrance into any other of +the rooms, through those waves of rolling fire in the hall, +and so she tried to quell the sickening horror that was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>creeping over her, and give her mind entirely to her own +condition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She darted to the bed and snatched her purse from +beneath her pillow; then back again to the window, +where she leaped upon a chair, and then stepped upon the +board.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Once, twice, thrice, she made an effort to move on, but +terror held her paralyzed. She could not move her feet, +each seemed to weigh a ton, and she could not lift them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She grew dizzy, faint, sick, at the thought of crossing +even that little space at such a fearful height.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But sure death was behind her, for, as she looked back +into her room, she could see flames instead of smoke leaping +up through the floor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must! I must!” she moaned; then, with one look +above, and one cry for help, she took a step forward, another +and yet another, when, as she found that she must +let go her hold upon her window, she threw her other +hand wildly toward the one opposite, and—kind Heaven! +what a thrill of joy ran through her, arousing all her +courage, energy, and hope!—her fingers suddenly came in +contact with a wire!</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was the lower wire of a line of telegraph that ran +directly through the passage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had noticed it often, but had not thought of it +until that moment as a means of help to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She clutched it eagerly, and steadying herself by it +went on, gaining courage with every step, for the wire +was not very taut and yielded to support her on her way.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Half a dozen steps brought her close to the other building, +and then the question arose—how was she to enter +it?</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had succeeded in breaking the window sufficiently +to insert her board, but the aperture was far too small +for her body to pass through, even if there had been no +danger from the broken glass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For a moment despair again seized her; then, still retaining +her hold upon the wire, she threw out one foot +with all the force she dared to use in her precarious position, +and detached as much of the glass as possible.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>This done, she reached out her left hand and firmly +grasped the sash, at the same time releasing her hold +upon the wire, which sprang away from her like a thing of +life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Trembling in every limb, now that she was so nearly +out of danger, she cautiously crept inside the window +and let herself down.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was very dark and she could see nothing, but her foot +touched the floor, and she knew that she was saved!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Overcome with weakness, now that all danger was +passed, she sank upon the floor, where she lay helpless and +motionless for several minutes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But all at once a bright light flashed over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She started up and looked out across the narrow space +which she had so recently traversed, and saw fierce flames +leaping all about the room she had just left and out +through the window, as if in a frenzy over her escape; +and, with a thrill of horror, she realized that the floor +had fallen in!</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This building will soon be in flames,” she thought; +and, staggering to her feet, she resolved to make her way +as quickly as possible to a place of safety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The light from the other house shone all about her and +she found that she was in a large empty room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Making her way to the door she opened it and found +herself in a narrow hall, and could faintly distinguish a +stairway at its farther end.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Groping her way to this, she descended the stairs to +another hall, and following this she went down a second +flight and realized that she was on the street floor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found the door leading out, but it was of course +locked and no key by which she could unfasten it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must go down to the basement and get out through +one of the windows,” she said; and turning back, she felt +her way to the stairs and so down into the regions below.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just as she reached the lower landing a terrible crash, +mingled with startling shouts and cries, fell upon her +ears, and for a moment her heart almost ceased its beating.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The walls of the house have fallen!” Salome murmured, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>wringing her hands and wondering if any one had +perished in the terrible flames which she had so narrowly +escaped.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The stream of sparks and fire which arose high in the +air, as the walls fell in, enabled her to see that she was +in quite a good-sized kitchen. She sprang to one of the +windows, unfastened it, and crept out, to find herself in +the back yard, with sparks and cinders falling all about +her, and with a great empty space on the right of her +where her recent home had been.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sped across the yard, out through an open gate in +a narrow court, and thence to a street running parallel +with the one where the lodging-houses had been.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was very cold, a fine sleet was falling, and the street +was wet and muddy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome, as we know, was but lightly clothed for such +weather, and she soon began to suffer from the storm and +a keen wind that was blowing, and wondered what she +should do for shelter and a bed in which to spend the +remainder of the night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The street seemed entirely deserted, and she was forlorn +and sick at heart. It had occurred to her that perhaps +it would have been better if she had perished in the +fire; for it would have ended her sorrows. Chancing to +glance up at the house she was passing, she saw a woman +standing in the doorway, looking anxiously out toward +the direction of the fire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter?” she asked, as she caught sight +of the girl’s pale face; “there is a large fire somewhere +near, isn’t there?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; and I have just escaped from the burning building. +Oh! madam, will you let me in to get warm?” +pleaded Salome, with chattering teeth and shaking voice.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could Truman Winthrop have had even a dream of +what his delicate wife was suffering that night, he would +scarcely have slept as well as he did.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The expression of anxiety on the woman’s face was instantly +superseded by one of heartfelt pity and sympathy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Poor child! poor child! you don’t say so!” she +cried. “Of course you may come in and welcome. I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>have hot water, too, and you shall have something warm +to drink, to keep you from taking cold. Come.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She reached out to grasp Salome’s hand, as she staggered +up the steps, and kindly supported her inside her +hospitable doors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you; how good—you are,” murmured the overtaxed +girl; then the reaction came, and she sank helpless +and unconscious in the woman’s arms.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXV.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME APPLIES FOR A SITUATION.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>When Salome awoke to consciousness, she found herself +lying upon a clean bed in a small, neatly furnished +room, while a cheerful fire burned in an open, +portable grate, and gave an air of home-like comfort to +the apartment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had on a plain, but spotlessly white night-robe; +the sheets and pillow cases upon the bed were like snow, +and, though she was conscious of feeling weak, and everything +about her was strange, yet she experienced a sense +of content and restfulness such as she had not known +since she had parted from her husband so many weeks +ago.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was several moments before she could collect her +thoughts sufficiently to realize what had happened or how +she came to be there; but as she turned upon her pillow +to look about her she saw the kind face of the woman +who had opened the door to her so hospitably, and remembered +all.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it, miss?” she asked, coming to her side, “do +you want anything?—do you feel better? You have had +such a long sleep; it seemed as if you never would wake +up; you must have been thoroughly worn out.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sure I was; but I feel very much rested. How +long have I slept?” Salome asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hours and hours, miss. It was about two o’clock +in the morning when I brought you in, and now it is eight +o’clock in the evening,” was the smiling reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose the fire is out,” she said, while a shiver +ran over her as she remembered her narrow escape.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, miss, long ago; but it has been a costly fire, for +there were several lives lost. I’ve been reading about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>it in the evening paper, and it has made my heart ache,” +returned the woman sadly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will you read the account to me?” Salome asked, +with a quivering lip.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, miss, willingly, after you’ve had something to +eat; you must be nearly famished by this time. I’ll just +bring you a nice bit of toast and a cup of tea; then while +you are eating I will read to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” Salome responded, and tears sprang to +her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was so pleasant to have some one really interested +in her once more, and to feel such kindly care thrown +about her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman went quietly out of the room, but returned +in about twenty minutes, bringing not only some delicious +cream toast and a cup of steaming tea, but a delicately +poached egg and some daintily chipped beef.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How good you are to me!” Salome said gratefully, +as she sat up in bed and began to eat hungrily of the +tempting meal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And why shouldn’t I be good to you?” returned her +companion, with a pleasant smile. “I couldn’t see any +young girl in trouble and not try to help her. I’ve got +two little girls myself—bless their dear hearts—and +maybe, if they ever lose their mother, they’ll need a helping +hand sometime. Besides”—and a tender glow passed +over the homely honest face—“I belong to the dear Lord +who said, inasmuch as we give a cup of cold water to +one of His children we are serving Him.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome lifted her dewy eyes to her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have given me far more than the cup of cold +water,” she said, with emotion; “you have taken the +stranger in, have clothed and fed and ministered unto +me; you have been the good Samaritan in every sense +of the word; I never realized before just how much that +Bible story means,” and two glittering drops rolled over +her cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear heart, you make too much out of a little,” replied +her companion kindly. “There, eat your supper +or it will become cold, and I’ll read about the fire to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>It was not a long account, and she had finished it before +Salome was half through eating.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she read the names of those who had perished, +and the young girl’s hand was suddenly arrested in the +act of raising her cup to her lips, as she heard her own +spoken.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!” she cried out, setting her cup down, and feeling +faint and dizzy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How wonderful had been her escape, of which, as yet, +no one knew!</p> + +<p class='c011'>It seemed as if nothing short of a miracle had enabled +her to save herself. Had it not been for the board which +the paper-hanger had left in the hall, and the strength and +courage which had been given her to make use of it, she +would now be lying beneath those fallen walls, a heap +of charred bones.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How had she ever dared to cross that narrow bridge to +that other house? Oh! that dizzy height! Should she +ever forget the terrible sensations she experienced as she +stood there, in mid-air, between that brittle board and +frail wire?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t wonder it unnerves you, miss, to hear about +it,” the woman said, as she laid down the paper. “I suppose +you knew those poor girls well.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“N-o—only one of them,” Salome answered faintly, +“I had not been a lodger in the house long.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps they will think you are dead, too, if you +don’t put in an appearance pretty soon,” said her companion, +without a suspicion that she had already read her +name among the list of the supposed dead. “What is +your name?—if I may ask?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had been thinking rapidly during the last few +minutes. If she was believed to have perished, why not +let it go so?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Doubtless Madame Winthrop and Evelyn had already +seen this account, and knew that she had been an inmate +of that ill-fated house. They would, in all probability, +go to inquire regarding the truth of the matter, and would +recognize the description that would be given of her. +She wished to cut herself off from the family entirely—she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>never could resume her relations with them; and +what better opportunity could she have than this?</p> + +<p class='c011'>But what name should she henceforth assume?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Not that of Howland—not the one she had previously +discarded, for she was more anxious than ever to guard +her identity, and yet she could not bear to take one that +did not belong to her, for Salome was very conscientious +and would not allow herself to speak falsely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It would not matter much what this woman knew her +by—why should she not use the one that Dr. Winthrop +had bestowed upon her for a little while?—and before she +could give the matter a second thought the name had escaped +her lips:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Winthrop.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That’s a good name, miss; I used to know several +Winthrops; but that was long ago, when I lived in Boston,” +said her companion. “I believe there are some +swell people here in New York by that name, too; but +I suppose you’re no relation to them, or you wouldn’t +have been staying in that lodging-house.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am an orphan,” Salome replied sadly, but wondering +what the woman would say if she knew the truth about +the relationship between those “swell people” and herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Poor child!” was the sympathetic response. “Then +you have to look out for yourself. What do you do for +a living?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am a nurse,” the young girl said.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A nurse!” exclaimed the other, astonished. “You +look more fit to be a patient than a nurse.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have not been very well, and I have been resting +for a while; but I must try and find some employment,” +Salome answered. Then, to change the subject, she asked, +“And now, won’t you please tell me what I may call you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My name’s Wood.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then, Mrs. Wood, please tell me if I am not +crowding you by being here? Do you not need this +room for your own use?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, indeed, Miss Winthrop. Don’t you trouble yourself +about that. You’re most welcome to it as long as you +need it. John and I have the one next to it, and the children +<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>sleep in the trundle-bed; and I guess I could afford +to crowd a little, even if I had to, rather than let a poor +homeless girl go into the streets,” and Mrs. Wood regarded +the occupant of the bed with a very tender glance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” said Salome. “Then I will trespass +upon your kindness for a day or two longer, and if you +will help me to-morrow about getting something to wear, +I shall be very grateful. Of course everything I had was +burned.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I’m sure I’ll do the best I can for you,” Mrs. Wood +responded; then added, “Now, if you feel able to sit up +in this big chair for a little while, I’ll shake up your bed +and make it fresh. It will do you good, and you will be +more likely to sleep to-night.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome followed her suggestion, and sat chatting for +an hour or more with her kind-hearted hostess. She felt +greatly refreshed by her long sleep and the appetizing +meal of which she had just partaken, and was surprised +to find herself so well, and that she had taken no cold +from her exposure on the previous night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She retired again about ten, and slept soundly until +morning, when Mrs. Wood served her a nicely broiled +steak, hot biscuits, and coffee.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then the woman told her that if she would look after +her children she would go out to do whatever shopping +she required.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome made out a list of what she needed, and gave +her the necessary money; then she set herself to amuse +the two little girls until her return.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That afternoon she dressed herself in her modest suit +of gray trimmed with black, which Mrs. Wood had purchased +for her, and, simple as it was, she looked the lady +which she always appeared, but “precious little like a +common nurse,” as her hostess remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>While looking over the evening paper, she came upon +the following advertisement:</p> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>WANTED—A PERSON TO ACT AS COMPANION and Nurse +to a maiden lady who is something of an invalid. One who can +read and speak French as well as English, preferred. Apply between +the hours of ten and one, at No.—West Thirty-ninth Street.</p> + +<p class='c013'><span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>“I wonder if I could not fill that position,” Salome +said to herself. “I believe I will apply for it—it could +not be as hard as nursing in a hospital, and I am afraid +I am not yet quite strong enough for that; I certainly +should not be as conspicuous in a private family.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning she told Mrs. Wood what she had +decided upon, and then offered to remunerate her for the +two days and nights she had been with her. But the +generous-hearted woman would not take her money, telling +her she was more than welcome to the little that she +had done for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have shown me great kindness, and I can never +repay you for that, so you ought to let me give you something +for my board and lodging,” Salome returned, with +starting tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, no, dear child, I couldn’t take your money, but +if you feel that I’ve done you a good turn just pass it +along when you have a chance, and that will make it all +right,” was the reply of this simple-hearted Samaritan.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was not quite satisfied, however, to let the matter +rest thus, and before she left she inclosed a generous +amount in an envelope, wrote upon it, “For Elsie and +Jennie,” and fastened it to the pincushion in the room +she had occupied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then bidding her new friends an affectionate good-by +she went away, although Mrs. Wood charged her to come +back again if she did not get the place she desired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome went directly to the address given in the advertisement; +but as she reached the elegant residence and +mounted the massive granite steps, she met several other +persons coming out. Instinctively she knew that they +had come upon the same errand that had brought her +there, while she felt assured that they had not been successful, +for they all passed out with downcast faces and +averted eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was half tempted to turn back. But she never +liked to give up anything that she had once undertaken, +and resolved that she would go in and apply for the situation, +whether she accepted it or not.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She rang the bell, and the door was opened by a pleasant-looking +<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>woman of perhaps thirty years, who smilingly +returned Salome’s polite good-morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have called to make some inquiries regarding this +advertisement,” Salome courteously remarked, as she +presented the slip which she had cut from the paper.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl glanced half-pityingly into the fair applicant’s +face, then said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Come in then, miss, and wait in the hall while I go +to see if Miss Leonard will receive you. There has been +a constant stream of people here all the morning, but +no one has suited, and the mistress is nervous and worried.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled assent, but she had very little hope that +she would be successful as she went in and sat down in +one of the great chairs of the hall, while the girl went +upstairs to her mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She soon returned, and said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You can go up, miss, but you won’t find my lady very +gracious. Never you mind, though,” she added in a +lower tone, and with a friendly glance; “you just hold +your own, and she’ll like you all the better for it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was somewhat surprised by this advice, but she +made no reply as she followed the servant up the lofty +flight of stairs, and paused at the door of a large front +room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome entered, and found herself in the presence of +a woman of about fifty years—a woman having sharp +features, and sharper eyes which seemed to look her +through and take her measure in an instant. Her face +was sallow and wrinkled, and somewhat sullen in expression; +her hair was a mixture of gray and black, and her +eyes were intensely dark and sharp.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And still they come!” she snapped, as Salome went +forward and saluted her respectfully. “I suppose you +expect to jump right into the situation, don’t you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot say that I came with that expectation, +madam,” Salome answered pleasantly, and meeting her +keen glance with one of charming frankness; “but I did +come with the hope that we should be pleased with each +other.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘Pleased with each other!’ Well, now, that sounds +<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>finely, doesn’t it?” retorted her companion, with a short +laugh that was followed by a peculiar chuckle. “So if I +do not suit you, you did not intend to honor me with +your service, eh?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well,” Salome calmly replied, and not in the least +disconcerted by this way of stating the matter, although +she was secretly amused, “if you should judge that I +would not be congenial to you, and I should feel that I +could not be happy in serving you, it would, of course, +be best for us not to enter into any agreement; do you +not think so?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hum—what’s your name?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome Howland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had decided that it would be best to go back to the +old name, after all, for if she was to remain in New York +she feared the name of Winthrop would attract attention +and inquiry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Howland—Howland! Where have I heard that name +before?” mused Miss Leonard, bending a searching look +upon her. Then as Salome made no reply, she added +curtly, “You don’t look strong enough to be a nurse.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know that I am rather slightly built,” Salome answered, +thinking it best not to say anything about her +recent illness, “but I have been trained as a nurse, and I +believe I shall be able to render any service you may require, +since you do not appear to be very ill.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, you’re a trained nurse, then; where were you +trained?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“In the City Hospital of Boston.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you recommendations?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, madam, but I can easily obtain them if you desire; +or you can do so if you think best, by writing to +Dr. Hunt, who is the head physician in the institution.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m not ill very often, at the same time I want +my companion to be able to take care of me if I should +happen to be. When did you leave Boston?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Less than three months ago,” Salome answered, with +lips that were not quite steady, as she remembered all +that occurred within that time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you been in New York all that time?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>“Yes, madam.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What have you been doing?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nothing but—trying to rest and recruit. I had overtaxed +myself a little in Boston.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, how Salome wished she would stop questioning +her about the past!</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you relatives in this city?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, madam; neither a home nor relatives.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The shrewd eyes watching her noticed the pathetic little +quiver about the sweet lips, and softened a trifle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now about your education,” Miss Leonard continued, +abruptly changing the subject. “Can you read well?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of that you can judge for yourself, if you will allow +me to read you something,” Salome smilingly returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, here is an article on electro-plating; let me see +what you can make of it,” and the woman pushed a magazine +across the table toward her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome seated herself opposite her critic, and began to +read in clear, sweet tones, articulating distinctly, and +rendering the article, which would have interested no +one but an electrician, with perfect intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That will do,” said Miss Leonard, interrupting her. +“Now here is a Paris paper—give me some French news; +that is, if you know the language.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can read French,” Salome said quietly, as she took +the paper; and instantly she fell to reading like a veritable +Frenchwoman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Seems to me it was rather a mistake to conceal such +talent in a common hospital,” laconically observed Miss +Leonard. “Can you write a good hand? Here, take this +pen and copy the address of this letter.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome did as she was bidden, and the woman appeared +to be satisfied with the plain and beautiful chirography +which she handed back to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can you sew?” she now asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will sewing be one of the requirements of the position?” +Salome inquired, beginning to feel as if the +situation might be more onerous than would be desirable.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That doesn’t matter—I simply asked if you could +sew,” was the curt rejoinder.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>“Yes, madam, I can.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then, Miss Howland—do—do you think I would suit +you?” the dame questioned sarcastically, but with a comical +assumption of meekness, and a humorous twinkle in +her shrewd eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The question was so ludicrous, and the woman’s look +and manner so mirth-provoking, that Salome’s face dimpled +all over with merry smiles.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She saw that she did not want a servant to wait upon +her so much as a companion to amuse her and make the +time pass agreeably, and she fancied that the excessive +brusqueness of manner had been partially assumed to +test her; so she acted accordingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Suppose I give you a trial and see?” she retorted, with +a roguish gleam in her eyes, a little amused ripple of +laughter, that was irresistible, bursting from her lips.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVI.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME LEARNS A BIT OF MISS LEONARD’S HISTORY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“And what are the wages to be, if you please, marm?” +Miss Leonard continued in the same strain, but with +a chuckle of appreciation that was not lost upon Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome colored slightly, then with grave courtesy she +said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really, madam, I had not thought much about the +question of remuneration. Let me tell you frankly that +I am alone in the world, and I care more for the protection +of a home and something to occupy my time and +thoughts than for money. I shall be satisfied, I hope, +with whatever you may honestly consider my services +worth after you have given me a trial.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really! Are you some princess in disguise that you +are so indifferent?” sneered her companion, while she +eyed her sharply, as if she distrusted her motives in making +this unusual reply; for heretofore she had found +applicants greedy enough in the matter of wages.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, madam,” Salome quietly responded, though her +eyes blazed a trifle at the rudeness of the question. “I +am only a poor girl without home or friends.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Humph! It seems to me it’s a queer arrangement,” +was the short retort; then, after a moment’s thought, +she added: “But I’m going to take you at your word. +You shall come to me, and we’ll say nothing about pay +until you’ve been here a month.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well; I accept that proposition,” said Salome +pleasantly, and with no anxiety about what she should +receive, for she still had money in her purse—more than +enough for a month’s needs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt attracted toward this woman, in spite of her +eccentricities, and she believed that, with the exercise +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>of a little tact, she would have no difficulty in living +amicably with her, and might, perhaps, even help to +smooth off some of her rough corners.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All right; but I shall want you immediately,” said +Miss Leonard imperiously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am at liberty, and can come to you whenever you +wish,” Salome answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This afternoon, then, at four o’clock,” was the brief +command of her new employer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She rang a bell as she spoke, and the servant who had +ushered Salome in immediately made her appearance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Harriet, show Miss Howland out; then come back +and get my writing-desk for me,” said her mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She waved her hand authoritatively, and Salome felt +herself dismissed without further ceremony.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bowed politely, as she turned to leave the room, +but though her salute was not returned, she caught sight +of the quizzical smile that wreathed the strange woman’s +lips as she went out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, did you suit her?” asked the girl, as they +were on their way downstairs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome laughed out softly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am afraid that would be a hard question to answer,” +she said. “However, I am coming to stay with her on +trial for a month.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If she keeps you, and you can stand it, for a month, +you’ll stay longer,” returned Harriet. Then she added +kindly: “Let me give you a bit of advice, young woman. +You see, I like your looks, and I think it might be pleasant +to have you in the house. Just make up your mind +that Miss Leonard is the crankiest old woman you ever +saw, and lay in an abundant stock of patience for your +month of trial—and it will be trial, you may depend. If +you can endure her whims for that length of time, she’ll +gradually come around all right, you’ll learn how to +manage her, and you’ll have no great trouble afterward.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you; I will remember what you tell me,” Salome +said gratefully. “Now, please, tell me what I shall +call you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Harriet’s my name—Harriet Winter.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>“And mine is Salome Howland. I hope we shall be +good friends, Harriet,” the young girl said, smiling, and +holding out her hand to her fellow-servant, and from that +moment Miss Leonard’s maid was her sworn ally.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had her dinner, after which she made some +needful purchases, which she put into a small trunk, and +ordered the whole sent by express to Miss Leonard’s residence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, having a couple of hours at her disposal, she +slipped into a gallery to look at some new pictures which +had been advertised as on exhibition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were in an upper room; finding a comfortable +seat, she sat down to examine them at her leisure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been there alone for, perhaps, half an hour, +when two ladies entered and sat down behind her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They conversed for a few moments; then one of them +suddenly exclaimed:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Rogers, do look at that portrait in the corner—whom +does it resemble? Do you see a likeness to any +one whom you know?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I should say it looks as much like Miss Polly +Leonard as any one,” was the reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Exactly. There is the same parchment-colored face; +the same shrewd, malicious eyes and grim mouth; while +the prim, starched figure is almost identical. By the +way, isn’t she the queerest specimen of humanity that you +have ever met?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is peculiar, Mrs. Allison; but, poor woman! I +can hardly wonder at it, for she has had trouble enough +during her life to make her so,” was the pitiful reply of +Mrs. Rogers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was very strange, Salome thought, that the very woman +with whom she was going to live should be thus +discussed in her presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At first she thought she would go away, for she was +sensitive about listening to a conversation like this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she reasoned that the ladies must have seen her, +and must know that she could hear all that was said, +and if they did not think it worth their while to be +cautious in their remarks it was no affair of hers, while +<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>she might possibly learn something about her patron +that would aid in her future service, if she remained; so +she sat still and waited with increasing interest for further +developments.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I suppose she has,” the lady who had been called +Mrs. Allison replied; “at least, I have heard that she was +disappointed in love when she was young, and it completely +changed her disposition. Do you know her history?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, and a very sad one it is, too,” Mrs. Rogers returned. +“She was engaged to a fine young fellow and +they were about to be married. She was living in +Washington at that time; the day was set for the wedding, +and she had everything ready, even to her veil and +gloves. Her lover was an Eastern man—a native of +Massachusetts—but he was in Washington for several +weeks preceding the date set for their marriage. They +had a bitter quarrel over something one evening at some +private theatricals, and the match was broken off. Of +course it broke the girl’s heart, and it came out later that +some people, who had a petty spite against her, for some +unknown reason, had influenced her betrothed against her, +misrepresenting her character and disposition with the sole +purpose of breaking off the marriage. It changed Miss +Leonard from a bright, lovely, and fascinating girl into a +wretched, revengeful woman—a despiser of all men—a +hater of her own sex. Soon after she lost her father and +mother, then a little later her only sister, and that left her +without a relative in the world, though with a large fortune +at her disposal, and she might have made a brilliant +marriage. But her troubles, instead of chastening her, +only served to increase the bitterness; she seemed to imagine +every one her enemy, and so made herself everybody’s +enemy. She left Washington soon after the death of her +sister, and came to New York, where she secluded herself +from all society. She bought and furnished that beautiful +house on Thirty-ninth Street, where she has lived alone with +her servants ever since. I have heard that she leads them a +terrible life, and can keep no one with her very long, but +her maid, Harriet, who seems to know just how to manage +<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>her, and has been with her for ten years. She is so +exceedingly antagonistic she has very few friends, and +yet I have heard that there is kindness in her heart, if +any one can but once get down to it. I have heard that +she is very generous, and has secretly done a great deal +of good among the poor.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How much do you imagine she is worth?” Mrs. +Allison inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have no idea—a great deal, I have been told; while, +living as she does, she cannot of course spend her income, +so it must be accumulating.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What will become of it when she gets through with it?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is another subject which excites considerable +comment,” replied Mrs. Rogers. “She is so peculiar, +she will probably make some exceedingly eccentric disposal +of it; perhaps she will found an institution for the +advancement of some strange whim.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, she is truly a pitiable object, for of course, +with her peculiarities, there are not many, if any, who +love her, and life, without love, is not worth living,” +sighed Mrs. Allison. Then she added, “You called her +Miss Polly Leonard, is that really her name?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; she is Miss Pauline Leonard, but I suspect that she +has been so queer that the Pauline has degenerated into +Polly through the spite of her enemies. But,” looking at +her watch, “I have an appointment with my dressmaker, +and I must go at once.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The two ladies rose and passed out, but Salome still sat +there and wiped away the tears which had been quietly +flowing down her cheeks during the above recital. Her +heart was full of sympathy and tenderness for the poor +woman whose life had been warped and blighted by the +spite of evil-disposed persons.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad that I have heard her history,” she murmured, +“for I know it will help me to have patience +with her, and pity for her moods. I am going to try to +make her life a little brighter, poor, poor woman! Who +can tell what possibilities were destroyed when those +revengeful people sought to ruin her happiness—she +might have been a loving wife, a noble mother, and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>world a great deal better for her influence. Those women +will have a great deal to answer for by and by; but I +believe my coming here this afternoon was providential.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Precisely at four o’clock, Salome rang the bell at the +door of her new home, and was soon admitted by the +good-natured Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You’re on time, Miss Howland, and that will please +Miss Leonard—though you’ll never know it from her,” +she remarked. “I am to show you to your room—your +trunk is already there—and then you’re to have dinner +with the mistress.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome followed Harriet up two flights of stairs to a +pleasant room directly over the one where she had met +Miss Leonard in the morning. It was comfortably furnished, +and had a home-like air that was very restful and +satisfying to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She removed her wraps, rearranged her hair, then tied +a pretty white apron about her waist, and was ready to +go down to the second story, where she found Harriet just +going to her mistress, and at a signal from her followed +her into the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard did not pay the slightest heed to her, +until she had given her orders to Harriet, and dismissed +her; then, in an extremely matter-of-fact manner, as if +the girl had already been there a month, she remarked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The leaves of this new magazine are waiting to be +cut, Miss Howland, and by the time you have finished, +dinner will be served. Afterward I shall want you to +make out a list for some shopping that must be done to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome sat down in a low rocker near Miss Leonard, and +began to cut the leaves of the book with an exquisite +paper-cutter of solid silver, and thus entered upon her +duties as companion to the most peculiar character she +had ever met.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When dinner was announced, she followed to the dining-room, +and took the seat opposite her. Harriet was +present to wait. Everything about the table was rich +and elegant, and arranged in the most perfect manner, +while the numerous courses plainly indicated that Miss +<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>Leonard was not indifferent to luxuries, even if she did +live the life of a recluse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The meal was somewhat tedious, for Miss Leonard did +not seem inclined to be social, and Salome did not feel +at liberty to introduce any topic for conversation; but +it was over at last, and they went to the library, where +Salome was required to make out the list for shopping.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she was sent for the magazine, which she had +made ready before dinner, and for nearly two hours she +read aloud, beginning with the first article, and reading +everything in course. Evidently Miss Leonard intended +to get her money’s worth out of her periodicals, for she +would allow nothing to be skipped, and she was a tireless +listener, taking in everything, as the quick glancing +of her intelligent eyes and the varying expression of her +face plainly betrayed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you play backgammon?” she abruptly asked, as +Salome finished a long article on ancient architecture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she answered, she knew both the Russian and +the common games.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then wheel that little table over here, and we’ll play +for a while before we go to bed,” Miss Leonard commanded, +and for another hour not much was heard but +the rattle of dice and the moving of men.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At half-past nine, Miss Leonard pushed back her chair +and asked Salome to ring the bell for Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now you can go to bed if you want to,” she said, “but +we have breakfast promptly at eight o’clock.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome experienced a feeling of relief, on learning that +her duties would not begin until that time, and told herself +that, by rising early, she would have at least two +hours for work or study, as she chose.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She bade Miss Leonard a pleasant good-night, remarking +that she hoped she would rest well.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Humph! what is it to you whether I rest well or not?” +bluntly demanded her patron, while she searched her face +with her keen black eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome looked up surprised.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why,” she answered sweetly, “in my own home I was +taught to take leave of my parents when I retired, and to +say something pleasant and courteous before leaving +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>them; and truly, Miss Leonard, I do hope that you may +have a comfortable night. Is there anything that I can +do for you before I go?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, child, no. Good-night,” Miss Leonard returned, +in a mollified tone, while a slight flush for a moment +intensified the sallowness of her face; then, as Harriet +came, Salome went away to her own room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you think of her, Harriet?” Miss Leonard +demanded of her maid, when, a few moments later, she +was herself preparing to retire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She seems like a nice kind of person, pleasant-spoken +and good-natured,” the girl responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Humph! she isn’t what she seems, by a good deal,” +curtly observed her mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Marm?” and Harriet looked surprised.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She never was brought up to work for her living; she +was reared a lady,” explained Miss Leonard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So I thought, marm,” quietly observed the maid, but +with an enlightened smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, you did, did you? Pray what caused you to +arrive at such an astute conclusion?” sarcastically demanded +her mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, marm, as you know, I’ve served gentlefolks +ever since I was a girl, and I can tell a lady after I’ve +seen her eat one meal, let alone her other manners.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes’m,” asserted Harriet, in nowise daunted by her +mistress’ mocking tone; “they’ll always show at table +whether they’ve been served and taught genteel manners, +and Miss Howland never once made a mistake at dinner.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Don’t you suppose I know it as well as you?” snapped +the elder woman. “There, turn out the gas and then go; +but you may tell cook to make coffee in the morning—it +isn’t likely the girl is fond of that weak cocoa that I have +to drink.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet quietly obeyed her orders, and then softly +withdrew from the room, smiling wisely to herself at +this evidence of Miss Leonard’s appreciation of her new +companion, for never before had she been known to give +an order independent of her own interests.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVII.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME HAS A STARTLING EXPERIENCE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Salome was not destined to have an easy time in her +new position.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If Miss Leonard recognized the fact that she had been +reared a lady, she did not betray it in her treatment of +her, and before the first week of her month had expired, +the tired girl began to wonder if she could have patience +to pursue the same routine, always under the same disagreeable +circumstances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt that she never could have submitted to the +whims and caprices, to the despotism and variable disposition +of this strange woman, if she had not overheard +that conversation between Mrs. Rogers and Mrs. Allison +in the art-room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That had begotten a tender pity and sympathy in her +own sore and sorrowful heart for the lonely and unloved +creature, and she longed to do her good, to be of some +comfort to her. Only Miss Leonard intrenched herself +behind such an antagonistic and forbidding manner, that +it did not seem possible to reach her better nature, if indeed +she had any.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, if I could only win her confidence—win her to +have a little more faith in humanity generally—to realize +that life is not simply a battle-ground, where every man’s +hand is against her, I should be well repaid for almost +any effort or amount of endurance,” she sighed one evening, +after an unusually hard and trying day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But it was apparently such a hopeless task—Miss Leonard +was so antagonistic, so arbitrary and inconsiderate, +she was afraid that she could not stay with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But something occurred which made a radical change +<span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>in the relations of this human porcupine and her gentle +companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One morning Miss Leonard sent Salome down to the +drawing-room to get a book of engravings that was kept +there. Salome had never been in the room before, and +her eyes gleamed with delight as they fell upon a fine +piano, which stood in one corner, while her fingers tingled +to test its tones.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found the book she had been sent for, and returned +to Miss Leonard’s boudoir, feeling that she could not be +utterly wretched even in such an uncongenial atmosphere, +if she could but obtain permission to make use of the +instrument below.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What’s the matter?” Miss Leonard demanded, regarding +her suspiciously, as she caught sight of her bright +face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Matter?” Salome questioned, not realizing that she +had betrayed emotion of any kind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, you look wonderfully elated over something. +What happened while you were downstairs?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nothing,” Salome answered; “only I was pleased to +find that you have a fine piano in the house.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Humph! Can you play the piano?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; I am really fond of music.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really! You’re quite a talented young woman—for +a nurse,” was the mocking retort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Nothing more was said upon the subject at that time, +but, after dinner, Miss Leonard told Harriet to light the +chandelier in the drawing-room and open the piano; then +rising from the table she led the way thither.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There,” she remarked to her companion, as she +pointed toward the “concert grand;” “now we’ll see what +you can do.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome colored at her tone, yet she was amused, for +it was evident that Miss Leonard did not expect great +things of her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have no music with me, but perhaps I can remember +a few simple pieces,” she remarked, as she seated herself +upon the stool and struck a few chords.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she suddenly forgot all about herself and her surroundings. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>Her memory served her well; music came to +her as she played, and she literally lost herself in the +exquisite melodies which she awoke in that room of +gloomy magnificence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At length, however, it occurred to her that her selections +might not be pleasing to her listener, and turning +about, her hands dropped from the key-board, as she +asked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you getting tired of it, Miss Leonard?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>A long-drawn sigh fell upon her ear, and she saw that +she looked pale and very sad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no; but can you not sing something?” she +asked, in a more kindly tone than Salome had ever heard +her use.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, yes, if you prefer vocal music,” she answered +obligingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sang a couple of simple ballads, and then, all at +once, broke forth into that air from the opera of “The +Bohemian Girl:”</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When other lips and other hearts</div> + <div class='line in2'>Their tale of love shall tell,</div> + <div class='line'>In language whose excess imparts</div> + <div class='line in2'>The power they feel so well,</div> + <div class='line'>There may, perhaps, in such a scene</div> + <div class='line in2'>Some recollection be</div> + <div class='line'>Of days that have as happy been,</div> + <div class='line in2'>And you’ll remember me.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“When coldness or deceit shall slight</div> + <div class='line in2'>The beauty now they prize,</div> + <div class='line'>And deem it but a faded light</div> + <div class='line in2'>That beams within your eyes;</div> + <div class='line'>When hollow hearts shall wear a mask</div> + <div class='line in2'>’Twill break your own to see,</div> + <div class='line'>In such a moment I but ask</div> + <div class='line in2'>That you’ll remember me.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had reached this last line, when a hollow groan +burst upon her ear, and a shaking voice, shrill with +agony, cried out:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Stop! stop! for mercy’s sake, stop!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome sprang from the stool, and turned affrighted +toward her companion, to find her sitting with her face +<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>buried in her hands and her form shaking with a nervous +tremor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O Miss Leonard! what have I done?” she cried. +“Have I wounded you by singing a song that has aroused +painful memories? Forgive me—pray forgive me! I +would not have done it for the world, if I had known.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She comprehended the situation at once.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew that that song must be linked in some way +with the great sorrow that had fallen upon her in her +early life; that it had recalled and aroused all her agony +over those blighted hopes, of which she had heard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Children like you do not know what trouble is,” Miss +Leonard said sharply, for she was suffering keenly, and +she forgot how young she had been when her great sorrow +had fallen upon her. “Ah,” she went on bitterly, “when +you have made an idol of some one and found that +idol worthless clay; when you have built the hopes of +a life-time upon the truth and constancy of one human +being, and had them ruthlessly betrayed and blighted at +the very moment they were upon the point of being +realized; when death has left you friendless; when spite +and malice have turned your nature to gall—then you +may talk of being unhappy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have—O Miss Leonard, I have known something +of such bitter experiences, and if my sorrow is so much +fresher and more recent than yours do you not think +I feel it as keenly?” sobbed Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; for mine has been eating and corroding my heart +for more than thirty years, until it has consumed all +the kindness and love in my nature, and made me the +virago that I am. There! you can imagine that it has +cost me something to own that to you; for I am a proud +woman, and I never talk of my troubles, much less of my +sins. Of course you couldn’t know what that song +meant to me. Ah!” with a bitter groan—“shall I ever +forget the last time I heard it sung? But,” rising and +trying to steady her shaking tones, “we will not talk any +more about it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, as if moved by some uncontrollable impulse, +she bent forward and kissed Salome upon the cheek.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span>“There, child,” she said, flushing; “I’m making a +perfect fool of myself, I suppose, and I’ve never kissed +anybody since my sister died. But”—drawing herself up +and speaking with something of her usual arbitrariness +“we will never speak of this again. Good-night, child.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She turned abruptly and left the room, but Salome +could see that she was terribly shaken, for she could not +walk steadily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She soon followed her and stole softly up to her room, +where she retired to rest, though she brooded long over +the unhappiness of the woman whose trouble had been so +much like her own.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why is life so sad?” she asked herself. “Why are +so many lives blighted and ruined? Why, if humanity +was born to develop into a pure and sinless spirit, are +there so many baneful influences to warp the soul and +destroy all the sweetness and nobility of the nature?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But these were mysteries which could only be solved +in the light of the future, when all secrets should be +revealed; and Salome, who was learning to carry all her +troubles to the good Father, sent up a little prayer for +faith, and strength, and courage, and then fell into a +profound and dreamless sleep.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was awakened very early in the morning, long before +daylight, by a hand upon her shoulder, and found +Harriet standing by her bedside, with a lighted candle, +her face pale and anxious.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Howland, will you get up, please?” she said. +“Miss Leonard has been taken very ill; she says you +have been trained as a nurse, and perhaps you will know +what to do for her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, indeed, Harriet. Go directly back to her, and I +will come as soon as I can dress,” Salome answered, as +she sprang out of bed and began to put on her clothes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two minutes later she was in Miss Leonard’s room, and +found her in a very nervous state, tossing to and fro, +complaining of a dreadful pain in her head, while her +face was strangely flushed, and the veins about her temples +and neck were much swollen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome saw at once that the woman had not slept at +<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>all, that she had doubtless suffered, and was still suffering +from the excitement of the previous evening, and she +feared apoplexy, unless she could be immediately relieved.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Harriet, you must get a hot foot-bath ready directly,” +she said, as she raised Miss Leonard to a half-recumbent +position, and placed three or four pillows beneath her +head and shoulders. She loosened her night-robe at the +neck, and applied cloths dipped in cold water to her head.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet was soon ready with the foot-bath, and it was +not long before the two women began to perceive a +change for the better in their patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her eyes began to grow more natural in expression, +the crimson flush gradually faded from her face, her nervousness +abated, and her pulse became more regular.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When day dawned, Salome knew that all immediate +danger was past, but there were other symptoms which she +considered critical, and she told Harriet that she thought +her physician ought to be summoned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, don’t you dare send for a doctor. I won’t have +any men about me,” snapped Miss Leonard, who had +overheard the conference.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But, Miss Leonard,” Salome said, going to her bedside, +and speaking persuasively, “I know that you need +advice—you need instant and radical treatment.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can’t help it—I won’t have any doctor about my +premises,” she stubbornly reiterated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, if you object to the sex, there are women who +are regular physicians; let me send for one of them,” +Salome urged.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I won’t,” was the resolute answer. “I’m not going +to be experimented on. I don’t believe in doctors +any way, and the less of their stuff one takes the better. +You claim that you are a trained nurse—you must know +something about sickness; treat me yourself.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br> <span class='c009'>MISS LEONARD’S ILLNESS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Salome saw that she was becoming greatly excited, +and concluded not to argue the point any further +just then.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sure,” she said, after thinking a moment, “I +will do the best I can for you, Miss Leonard; but you +surely need medicine.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, perhaps I do, and I’ll take anything you think +I ought to have; but I won’t have a doctor—so that is +settled.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was deeply troubled. She did not dare to +assume the responsibility of administering remedies without +the advice of an intelligent physician, and yet it would +not do to persist in calling one, for the woman would +certainly work herself into a dangerous state if antagonized.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She went into Miss Leonard’s dressing-room and +beckoned Harriet to come to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl followed, after a few moments, under pretence +of renewing the wet cloth upon her mistress’s head.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall we do, Harriet?” Salome questioned anxiously. +“Miss Leonard is certainly very ill, and she +must have medical attendance.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I don’t know, miss; she’s had her say, and an +eight-ox team wouldn’t move her now,” said the maid, +in a positive tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How would it do, I wonder, if I should go to some +skilful physician, tell him exactly how the matter +stands, and describe her symptoms. I could do that every +day, and twice a day, if necessary, and perhaps he could +then treat her through me,” Salome said musingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>“Don’t you think you could do as well by yourself?” +inquired the girl. “She’d be hopping mad if she should +ever find it out.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not dare to trust my own judgment, unaided; +and, Harriet, I am afraid she is going to be very ill.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, dear, I hope not!” sighed Harriet. “Perhaps +she will be better if we wait a day or two.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not dare to wait, Harriet; I am very much +troubled by her symptoms,” Salome returned gravely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I guess you’d better work your plan—though +how the bill will be paid is more than I can tell. No +doctor would ever see the color of her money, if we +should go contrary to her will,” said the maid gloomily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I would rather work until I could earn the +money myself than run any risk or assume the responsibility,” +Salome returned with decision. “Do you know +of a skilful doctor who lives near here?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, there are the Doctors Minot—the old and the +young man—just around the corner; they’re accounted +first-class, but they charge awful!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot help that. I shall put the case in their +hands, tell them just how we are situated, and trust the +result with Providence,” and Salome’s brow cleared somewhat +as she arrived at the conclusion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good luck go with you, Miss Howland; I’m sure you +have a kind heart to be so interested for such a cross old +woman.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet would have resented it if any one else had +called her mistress that; but just now she was very much +troubled by her perverseness in refusing to see a doctor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Don’t speak so, Harriet,” returned her companion +gently. “She is one of the good Father’s children, the +same as you or I, and perhaps she would have been very +different if she had had a happier life. Now,” she added, +“I am going to get my breakfast, after that to Dr. Minot’s. +If Miss Leonard asks for me, tell her I have gone to the +drug store for remedies—for I shall go there before I +return.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She ran up to her room and prepared for the street, +then went to break her fast—for she was faint and hungry, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>from her three hours of labor and anxiety in the sick-room—and +after she had eaten went directly out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She found the physician’s office readily enough, and +was kindly received by young Dr. Minot, who, by the +way, was not so very young, being upward of forty, but +was so styled because his father was still practising.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome stated her case plainly, and the physician +seemed to appreciate the situation. He knew something +of Miss Leonard, he said, and was not at all surprised +at her refusal to see a doctor. He saw at once that +Salome was intelligent, and had made the most of her +training in the hospital, and he thought there would be +no difficulty in treating the case through her if she +reported regularly and faithfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He said, frankly, that he regarded Miss Leonard’s +symptoms alarming, and thought that it would be best +for her to report twice a day for the present; then he +prescribed certain remedies, to be given during the next +twelve hours, after which he politely accompanied her to +the door, and bade her a courteous good-morning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She procured what she needed from the nearest pharmacy, +and then hastened home, greatly relieved to have +her burden shared by a skilful physician. But although +she eagerly availed herself of his advice, and faithfully +followed it, there were weary days and weeks before her, +for Miss Leonard had a long and tedious illness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At first she seemed to be doing better than had been +anticipated, and both doctor and nurse were congratulating +themselves that she would soon be out of danger, +when, one morning, the wilful woman insisted upon getting +up, took cold, and then for three weeks lay very +near death’s door, and unconscious most of the time of all +that was going on around her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, upon her own responsibility, Salome admitted +Dr. Minot to his patient, and he came twice every day, +until she began to come to herself, when he treated her +through Salome, as before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then there were four weeks more of slow and tedious +convalescence, during which the invalid tried the souls +of her attendants to their utmost endurance.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>Salome, however, was very pitiful and tender, for during +her delirium she had betrayed much which she had +never meant any human being to know, and the girl had +shed many tears over the sorrows and trials that had +made her the crabbed and peculiar creature that she was. +She resolved that nothing should make her get out of +patience with her—that she would bear with her weakness +and her crochets, and she even really began to feel an +affection, such as a mother often experiences toward a +feeble and fractious child.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She never allowed her to see a cloud upon her brow; she +always greeted her with a smile, responded to her complaints +with cheerful, hopeful words, and was ever gentle +and considerate, even when she was almost worn out +with her ceaseless watching and anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She often wondered that her own strength did not give +out; but she was perfectly well, although very weary, +and was conscious that she was steadily outgrowing the +troubles that had threatened her before leaving Boston. +She knew that the tide of health had turned strongly in +her favor during those few weeks when she had been +so happy in her husband’s home and love, and the good +work was still going on.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One morning Miss Leonard seemed to be more than +usually unmanageable, and was so rude and cross with +Salome that she was obliged to make some excuse to +leave the room, in order to conceal the tears she could +no longer restrain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then Harriet, who had grown to love her very dearly +during these weeks of mutual watching and anxiety, +turned upon her mistress and gave vent to her indignation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re thinking of, marm, +to treat that angel so,” she cried hotly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Angel?” sneered the angry woman; “there are no +angels in the world. I’ve lived in it for more than fifty +years, and I never met one yet.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, you’ve got one in this very house,” retorted +Harriet: “though I suppose you wouldn’t acknowledge +it if the Virgin Mary herself should come down to serve +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>you. But I’ll tell you one thing, if I lose my place for +it, you’d have been under the sod long before this, if it +hadn’t been for Miss Howland.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pooh! Mind your own business, Harriet; I haven’t +been as sick as all that,” scornfully returned Miss Leonard, +who had never realized her danger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you have, marm,” solemnly replied the girl; +“seven days and seven nights we hung over you, and +thought every one would be your last. The doctor said +you couldn’t li——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Doctor?” screamed Miss Leonard wrathfully. “What +doctor?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Poor Harriet looked crest-fallen enough at this unlucky +slip of the tongue; but the secret was out now, +and she thought she might as well make a clean breast of +everything, so she confessed the whole story to her +mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard’s brow was black with anger as she +listened; she had been hoodwinked and outwitted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>While she had been lying unconscious and helpless in +their care these two women had admitted, in direct opposition +to her commands, a despised physician, and given +her into his care to be experimented upon. True, the experiment +had proved successful, but that she did not +take into consideration at that moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You shall pay for this, Harriet, when I get able to give +you your just deserts,” she said fiercely, when the story +was told.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I can’t help it, marm,” the woman returned, with an +independent toss of her head, and feeling relieved now +that the secret was out; “your life was worth too much to +be sacrificed to a mere whim. Perhaps you would rather +we had let you die; come, now—would you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you disobeyed my strict orders,” began her mistress +evasively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, marm, and it was lucky for you we did,” Harriet +said, gaining confidence in her defence; “but leaving +yourself out of the question, can’t you have a little feeling +for that poor young thing? What if she had taken +the responsibility of treating you, as you ordered her, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>you had died? ’Twouldn’t be very comfortable for her +to think of all her life.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Humph! Who’s to pay the bills, I’d like to know,” +snapped Miss Leonard, steering clear of all answers, as +before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Miss Howland spoke of that, and said she would work +to pay them herself, rather than run the risk of letting you +die. I tell you, marm, there ain’t many people like her +in the world. Can’t you see for yourself, how much flesh +that patient girl has worn off for you? Look at her hollow +cheeks, her sunken eyes, and thin hands; she hadn’t +much to lose when she came here, goodness knows, but +she has less now, and I don’t know as she had any special +reason to work herself to death for you, either.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard shot a startled look at her maid at this. +She had been so full of her own aches and pains, that she +had given no thought to anyone else; but now it occurred +to her that Salome did look sadly worn—her face was +hollow and thin.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A shiver of self-repulsion ran over her, and a flush, +hot and burning, mounted to her brow. She knew there +had been many days that had been an utter blank to her—when, +probably, she had been near death, as Harriet +had said. What if she had died!</p> + +<p class='c011'>These thoughts led to others, and much of her past life +flitted before her, quickening her conscience and arousing +remorse, and in her weakened state she fell to weeping +nervously. Salome returned at this point and found +her in an almost hysterical condition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>This of course would not do, and without even inquiring +the cause of her tears, she set about diverting her +mind into a more pleasant channel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But from that day both Salome and Harriet began to +observe a change in her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was very slight at first and marked only by little +things—the sudden breaking off in the middle of a harsh +sentence, supplementing her orders now and then with +the courteous words “if you please,” insisting that both +the nurse and maid should alternate in having a little +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>rest every afternoon, instead of demanding increasing +attendance all day long.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Toward the latter, too, she was less crabbed and arbitrary, +and the woman began to notice and comment upon +it to Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope she won’t get too good,” she dryly remarked +one day, when her mistress had been more kind than +usual. “I ain’t used to it, you know; I rather think, +on the whole, it gives a spice to life, and keeps my spirits +up, to have a little tiff with her now and then.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had a hearty laugh over this characteristic remark, +but thought she enjoyed Miss Leonard far more +without the “tiffs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She surprised them both one day by sending a message +to Dr. Minot, requesting him to call.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had never exchanged a word with Salome regarding +his attendance upon her, although the young nurse had +expected, after Harriet’s revelation, to be called to +account for it; but she felt she had done right, and so +had no anxiety over the matter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Minot came, as desired, and Miss Leonard received +him graciously, which, considering her hatred of the +sex, greatly surprised her attendants.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had a long conference with him, during which the +physician expressed his unbounded admiration for the +manner in which Salome had attended her during her +protracted illness. He told her frankly that she must +have died, but for the excellent nursing she had received, +although he did not undervalue his own services.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard did not express herself regarding Salome’s +merits, but she curtly informed her visitor that she +“never had any faith in doctors, though she supposed +there were times when they were useful,” and concluded +by asking the amount of his bill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Minot, with a shrewd twinkle in his eyes, named a +very moderate sum.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard, without relaxing a muscle of her grim +face, immediately filled out a check for double the +amount and passed it to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Minot looked at it and knit his brows. He had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>expected that she would object to even the small sum +he had named.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I think you have made a mistake, madam,” he remarked; +“the amount I stated was exactly half of what +you have written here.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Excuse me, sir, if I have burdened you,” the woman +replied, with exaggerated politeness, “but charity should +be extended to those who need it. If I have overpaid +you, pray use the surplus for such objects.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Minot pocketed the check without further comment, +but he shook hands cordially with his patient as +he took his leave, and went out with a peculiar smile on +his honest face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She’s like a chestnut in some respects, I imagine,” he +muttered; “you’ll generally find a good kernel if you can +get inside the burr, but it takes either frost or hard knocks +to accomplish that.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The following morning Miss Leonard asked Salome +if she would be willing to accompany her upon an extended +trip.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome expressed a cheerful willingness to do so. +Indeed she had begun to fear that she had made a mistake +in remaining in New York, for she was liable to +meet Dr. Winthrop when he should return, and she felt +that she should never have strength for such an encounter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where do you propose to go?” she asked of Miss +Leonard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, that doctor of yours”—this with a little significant +emphasis—“thought I’d better try a sea-voyage if I +had the courage for it, and I’ve about made up my mind +that I will take a run over to England and France if you +and Harriet will go with me. It’s many years since I +visited Europe.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet, who was really attached to her mistress, in +spite of her peculiarities, was ready to go anywhere she +desired, and the date of their departure was fixed for the +first of June.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During the few weeks previous to their start Miss +Leonard continued to improve physically and spiritually. +It really seemed as if her illness had changed her nature, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>for she was kinder and more considerate toward every +one, while she exhibited a constantly increasing fondness +for Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They rode together every morning when the weather +was fine; during the evening they entertained themselves +with reading, music, and backgammon, and every day +grew more fond of each other.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One night, after they had spent an unusually pleasant +evening, Salome approached Miss Leonard as she was +about to retire, and said, while a soft flush arose to her +cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear Miss Leonard, while you were ill I never went +away to rest without kissing you good-night, for some +times I was afraid I should not find you when I came +back. May I keep up the custom now that you are +well?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She held up her lips as she ceased speaking, and they +were so tremulously sweet and tempting that the woman +involuntarily stooped and gave her the caress she craved.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Heaven bless you, child!” she said heartily. “I +begin to believe there is a soft spot in my heart after all, +and you have been the first one to find it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And Salome was sure there was a suspicious moisture +in her eyes as she turned away from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She never left her after that without bidding her the +same affectionate good-night. The lonely girl craved +love; it was natural to her to give expression to the tenderness +of her own heart; and so, little by little, she +twined herself about the affections of this strange woman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two days before Miss Leonard was to sail she sent for +her lawyer, and was closeted with him during the whole +forenoon; and when Harriet was summoned after his +departure, she found her mistress pale and grave, but +with a softer light in her keen eyes than she had ever +seen in them before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Harriet,” she said abruptly, “I’ve made my will +to-day, and, if anything happens to me while we are +away, the document will be found in the hands of Mr. +Travis. If you live longer than I do, you’ll find, my good +girl, that I haven’t forgotten you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>“Thank you, marm,” was all that the astonished Harriet +could say. She had never dreamed of such a thing as +being remembered in her mistress’s will, or that she would +ever show any especial appreciation of her services. She +gave her fair wages, and they were always promptly paid—more +than this she had never expected.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXIX.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME LOSES HER VALUED FRIEND.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>June first found Miss Leonard with her companion and +maid upon the briny deep, looking forward with +evident pleasure to an extended trip abroad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Fortunately not one of the trio was ill, and the voyage +was one of unalloyed enjoyment, for they all loved the +sea.</p> + +<p class='c011'>To Salome’s great delight Miss Leonard did not make +any of her idiosyncrasies disagreeably prominent during +the voyage; indeed, she appeared to try to subdue her +natural antagonism, and to adapt herself to others, so +that she was regarded by the passengers only as a somewhat +quaint and original person, whom they rather +enjoyed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was of course a general favorite; so gentle and +loving a disposition could not fail to win all hearts, +while she was kind and helpful, wherever she could be so, +to those who suffered from sea-sickness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They landed at Liverpool and proceeded directly to +London, where they remained for a couple of weeks, +after which they went to Scotland, to a quiet, home-like +hotel near Lake Katrine, where they spent two delightful +months enjoying the beauties surrounding them, and +making many excursions to points of interest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard was a good traveller; she was well read +in history, and desirous of visiting every place of note, +while she had a faculty of fixing dates and places in her +mind that was truly surprising as well as convenient. +Salome was very hopeful, too, for she had secured much +reading matter relating to the routes they travelled, +and entertained her companions, during their evenings, +by reading up in advance, and thus they were always well +<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>posted regarding the history of the different places they +visited.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In September they went to Germany, following the +Rhine slowly down to Lake Constance, where they spent +the last week in October; thence through the Austrian +Tyrol, and on to Italy, arriving in Rome about the first +of January.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Everything went well with them—there had been nothing +of any moment to mar their pleasure, and Miss Leonard +complimented Salome very highly for the tact which she +exercised in travelling.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I should imagine that you had been used to it all your +life,” she remarked one day, when Salome had smoothed +over some difficulty regarding their baggage, which they +encountered in crossing the Austrian frontier. “You are +a very comfortable traveller, and I should surely think +you had been abroad before, Salome;” she had taken to +calling her by her Christian name of late.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled at the compliment, but made no reply +to the supposition that she had previously been in Europe, +though she flushed slightly, and Miss Leonard’s suspicions +were strengthened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she could speak French and German with much +fluency, and seemed to know all about the different kinds +of money they were obliged to handle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But it was not until they reached Rome that Miss +Leonard’s suspicions were confirmed. Here Salome’s enthusiasm +overflowed, and she discoursed about the Forum, +the Coliseum, the Palace of the Cæsars and the Catacombs +in a way which plainly betrayed that she had visited them +before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When were you in Rome before, Salome?” Miss +Leonard dryly asked one evening, breaking in upon an +eloquent description of certain points in St. Peter’s and +the Vatican.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I did not say that I had ever been here before,” +Salome stammered, flushing hotly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True, but you talk like an old sight-seer.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You forget that we read a great deal about these +places last evening,” the young girl answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>“No, I do not; but if my memory serves me right, +there was nothing in these books about the comparative +merits of the Pompeian baths and those of Caracalla, +and you have given me several points upon the subject. +Salome, you have been abroad before?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” the young girl confessed, tears starting to her +eyes over memories thus aroused.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not so very long ago—less than two years.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must have been tenderly reared—your parents +must have been wealthy?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you have lost all your friends—all your money?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All—everything!” she returned sadly, but just how +much those two words comprehended, she alone knew.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And a lover too, if I am not mistaken,” Miss Leonard +mused, her glance resting tenderly upon the pained, downcast +face of her gentle companion. “Poor child! and +yet trouble has not hardened or embittered her as it did +me. Well, the Bible says ‘a little child shall lead +them,’ and I believe she is leading me into a state I never +should have reached if some pitiful fate had not sent her +to me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She asked no more questions to pain her, however, but +from that day there was an added gentleness in her manner +toward her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So while Dr. Winthrop and his family, with the Rochesters, +were wintering in Paris, Salome was spending a very +pleasant season in Rome with Miss Leonard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Late in the spring, however, they again turned their +faces northward, reaching Paris about the middle of May, +and all of our <em>dramatis personæ</em> were together within the +walls of that doomed city.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard and her party were within a stone’s throw +of the Place de la Concorde, and did not once dream of +the terrible experiences through which they were soon to +pass.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Being by themselves, and absorbed in their sightseeing, +they did not realize, neither did they have any one +to warn them of the danger they were in. They knew +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>that the city was in a state of unusual excitement, but +did not suppose they could suffer from it, and the insurrection +burst like a thunderbolt upon them. Every +avenue of escape was closed, and they were prisoners +in the turbulent place before they were aware of the fact.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were filled with anxiety and dismay upon discovering +their situation; but Miss Leonard, who had been +brought up a Catholic, was suddenly inspired with a bright +and sagacious plan. She visited one of the convents of +the city, explained to the mother-superior her unprotected +condition, and begged to be admitted, with her maid and +companion, as boarders within its protecting walls.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her request was readily granted, and the timid trio +immediately became inmates of the gray nunnery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were there when the cholera broke out, and Miss +Leonard was the very first one in the building to fall a +victim to the dreaded disease.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She insisted from the first that she could not get well, +although she was not violently attacked, and her attendants +did not consider her dangerously ill.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During her illness she related her whole history to +Salome. We cannot rehearse it here, as it has no direct +bearing upon our story, but the young girl did not wonder, +as she listened, that the woman’s nature had become embittered +and warped by her troubles.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That night, child, when you sang that air from the +opera of the ‘Bohemian Girl,’ I thought I should go insane +with the memories it aroused,” she explained among +other things. “The last time I had heard it my betrothed +had sung it to me under peculiarly trying circumstances. +A party of young people in Washington had prepared +that opera to be rendered at a private musicale. I had +the part of Arline, and my betrothed, who was a fine +singer and who had come on to Washington for our marriage, +which was to occur a week later, had the part of +Rupert. The night arrived; the opera was in progress, +when, while we two were waiting our turn to go on the +stage, we had a bitter quarrel. No matter what it was +about; it had been all planned and instigated by others, +with the express purpose of breaking off our marriage, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>although I did not know this until afterward. A little +forbearance, a word or two of explanation on my part +would have set everything right; but I was too proud to +make it, and the last time I ever spoke to my lover was +just as we went on the stage, when he was to sing the +song you sang to me. ‘I will never forgive you—never!’ +I cried, as the call was given; and then I sprang toward +the wing where I was to enter. When he came on he was +pale but calm, and he sang to me as I had never heard him +sing before. The pathos and entreaty which he threw +into those thrilling words I have never forgotten; they +have haunted me through all these long years:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“‘When hollow hearts shall wear a mask</div> + <div class='line in2'>’Twill break your own to see.</div> + <div class='line'>In such a moment I but ask</div> + <div class='line in2'>That you’ll remember me.’”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“O Horace! I have remembered,” the woman sobbed, +breaking down utterly for a moment. “I believe I should +have yielded and set everything right when he finished,” +she resumed, “if I had not chanced to see our enemies exchanging +significant sneers as they, too, realized how he +had thrown his whole soul into his song. That hardened +me again; I turned my back coldly on him the moment +the opera was over, and went home alone in my carriage, +and thus my life was ruined. My lover left the city the +next day, after having sent me a letter breaking our engagement, +saying that under the circumstances it would +be but mockery to fulfil our vows, and I never saw him +again. He died six months later, and then I learned of +the wicked plot that had been contrived to separate us. +It changed me from a loving, trusting girl into a proud +and bitter woman. I hated everybody, and those most +who seemed happiest. This mood grew upon me as I +grew older, until I believed that nothing could ever soften +or change my nature. But, Salome, I am sure the good +God sent you to me upon an errand of redeeming love, +for you have influenced me as no one ever influenced me +before. I tried to resist even you; I said I would hate +you as I had hated all others, although you moved me +<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>strangely the moment you came into my presence on that +day when you applied for the situation of companion. +Then your sweetness and gentleness, your sympathy for +me—your faithfulness, when I lay so long ill, finally +aroused what little affection there remained in me, and I +grew to love you as if you had been my own daughter. +I, with my indomitable pride and wilfulness, have been +my own worst enemy, Salome; but of late I have really +tried to be a better woman—have tried to believe, with +you, that there is a kind Father above who does not willingly +afflict his children. I have even begun to hope that +there may have been a germ of good left in my nature, +which you have quickened, and to trust that it will be +allowed to develop more fully in the future life. I see +all too late, and regret my wasted opportunities here in +this world. I have not quite missed all sweetness, for I +have at least learned to love you, Salome, and I have +enjoyed these months of travel with you more than I can +express.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She paused a moment, then went on:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Before we left home, my child, I made my will, and +excepting a few legacies to my servants, some of whom +have stood by me in spite of my crabbed ways, and a gift +to the blind asylum of New York, I have made you my +sole heir——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But, dear Miss Leonard——” Salome began, aghast, +astonished beyond measure by this unexpected intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not pain me, Salome by refusing to accept my bequest,” +interposed the dying woman appealingly, “for +it is too late to make any change, even if I knew of any +one else to whom to leave my money. The will is in the +hands of Mr. Travis, of New York, who has long conducted +my business affairs. I have no relatives—there is +no one in all the world whom I love save you, and I want +you to have whatever I leave. And, Salome, I hope you +will remember me kindly—forget, if you can, my disagreeable +traits, and if you have found anything pleasant +about me, treasure it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Indeed I have, dear friend, found much that has been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>pleasant in our relations,” the young girl returned with +streaming eyes. “I began to love you that night when I +so wounded you with my song, for I knew how sad your +life had been, and my heart went out in sympathy toward +you. Then, we always learn to love those for whom we +care, you know; while you were ill the bond was strengthened, +and now, since we have travelled together, and +found that we had so many tastes that were alike, so many +sympathies in common, I feel as if I almost belong to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Leonard’s face lighted with pleasure, and drawing +the fair girl down to her, she kissed her fondly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then of course all that I have should be yours,” she +said. “At all events I have so decreed—I so wish. You +have done me good—I die a better woman for your influence. +Kiss me again, Salome, and tell me once more +that you love me a little.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not a little,” Salome sobbed, laying her cheek to the +wan one on the pillow, “but a great deal. Oh, I wish +that you could have been spared to me longer, for I am +so alone in the world.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Bless you, dear child! but you know that I am dying +now, though you would not believe it at first—another +sunrise will find me beyond that line of mystery which +we call death; but I am not afraid—you have taught me +to hope for a better life hereafter. Now repeat that +psalm you love so well, then I will go to sleep.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did go quietly to sleep, but it was a slumber from +which she never awoke, and in less than six hours she +had passed the “line of mystery.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a sad bereavement to Salome; but she had no +time in which to indulge her grief. She had to attend to +all the details pertaining to the burial of her friend, and +the simple funeral rites were scarcely over when Harriet +was attacked with the plague, and she was obliged to +devote all her energies to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman was very sick, but she had a strong constitution, +and, with the good care she received, she was +soon on the road toward recovery, while from that time +she was ready to lay down her life for the beautiful girl +to whom she owed so much.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>As soon as she was able to leave her room, she begged +Salome to go home to New York; but it was not possible +for them to leave the country until the scourge had spent +itself, for fear they might carry contagion with them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“More than this, Harriet,” she continued, a holy purpose +shining in her lovely eyes, “I do not want to go at +present—I want to stay and help to take care of those who +suffer——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And sacrifice your own precious life,” interposed the +woman, with an anxious look. “No—no, Miss Salome, +don’t do that—don’t do it; it would break my heart if you +should die too, and that’s why I’m so anxious to get +away.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not believe I shall have the cholera, Harriet,” +Salome returned with grave assurance, “somehow I feel +that I shall not, and I shall certainly use every precaution +against it. But the people here are wild with fear, and +nurses are very scarce. I know that I am a good nurse, +it comes naturally to me to care for the sick, and I know +that it is my duty to throw myself into this work; some +feeling over which I have no control impels me to do so. +If you want to go home, I will ask the sisters to use their +influence to get you passed through the lines, and you +shall go the first opportunity that offers.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And leave you here?” cried the woman, aghast. “No—no +indeed, Miss Salome! I shall never leave you; it +was more on your account that I wanted to go. I’ve had +the plague, so I’m not afraid of that, now, and maybe I +can lend a hand myself in the care of others. At all +events, if you stay, I shall stay to look after you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Later, Salome went to the lady-superior, and informed +her that she had resolved to go into one of the hospitals +as a nurse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am alone, save for the companionship of Harriet, +and unprotected in a strange city,” she told her, “and, +if I may be allowed to do so, I should like to adopt the +dress of your sisterhood and go out under the auspices of +your convent. This would shield me from all insult and +danger, while if I should be attacked by illness I should +feel that I had a place of refuge to fly to.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>The mother-superior not only gave her consent to her +appeal, but her benediction and blessing upon her holy +purpose, and told her that she should go out under the +name of “Sister Angela.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Harriet objected to being left alone in the convent.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The mother is kind and the sisters are good,” she +said, “but I shall die if I have to be shut up behind these +gloomy walls; besides, Miss Salome, they don’t live as +you ought to live. I wish we could have three or four +rooms somewhere that I could make comfortable for you; +then when you get tired out with your work you could +come home to me and I could look after you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome thought favorably of this and hired a tiny house +just under the shadow of the convent, which made a cozy +home for Harriet and herself. Every day, after her duties +were over, she would go there to rest and to be refreshed +and cared for by the faithful woman, whose chief aim in +life now seemed to be to devote herself to her, although +she told her that she “never could believe she was Miss +Salome until she took off those ugly bandages and sombre +dress and put on her pretty white wrapper.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome had now ample means at her command, for +Miss Leonard had taken a generous letter of credit when +she went abroad, and before her death she had made this +over to her companion. More than that, she had written +to her lawyer that she had not long to live and directed +him to honor any call which Salome might make upon +him for needful funds.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It would be impossible to estimate the amount of good +which she accomplished in that plague-smitten city. She +was in perfect health; her voyage and subsequent travel, +with its pleasant, varying scenes, its comfort and freedom +from anxiety, had been of great benefit to her, and she +had grown strong and active, and was thus well fortified +for the work into which she threw herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Every day she went to some hospital and devoted many +hours to the care of the sick and the relief of the overworked +nurses. She visited many homes, where disease +was cutting down the brightest and best, while she never +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>refused to relieve poverty and suffering wherever she +found them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And so Dr. Winthrop, while he was also devoting himself +to similar work, was brought in contact with her in +one of the hospitals where he was stationed. He did not +recognize her—no one would have, meeting her by chance +and disguised as she was—but the first time she saw him +in the ward where she happened to be serving, she was so +overcome by the shock of the meeting that she nearly +fainted, for until that moment she had not a suspicion +that he was in Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next day she appeared in the same ward again, +but more completely disguised by a pair of double blue +spectacles, which so thoroughly concealed her eyes and +changed her appearance that those who knew her hardly +recognized her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>And here she came constantly after that.</p> + +<p class='c011'>In spite of the great wrong which she believed she had +suffered through Dr. Winthrop, there was yet a strange +fascination in being near him. She loved him still, and +after learning that he was practising in that hospital she +gave up her work in other places, and attached herself +permanently to that institution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The observing physician had often noticed and admired +the manner in which the gentle nun had ministered to the +suffering patients in his ward, and so when his friend, +Tillinghast, had been stricken down, he had appealed to +her for help in the sore emergency. Later, when his own +family fell victims to the dread foe, his confidence in her +skill and judgment was so strong he had begged her, as +we know, to go to them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Even though he did not dream who she was, though +she rarely spoke to him, he felt strangely drawn toward +her, as did others also; there was something peculiarly +soothing in her quiet presence, and he often found himself +watching the motions of her beautiful hands as they +so deftly ministered to the comfort of his patients—“blessed +hands,” he called them, and truly they were +blessed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Often, after he began to recover from his own illness, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>he had been seized with a longing to clasp them, and +press his grateful lips to them—to tell her that they had +saved his life, which, though not especially precious to +himself personally, was valuable to others; but her supposed +station, her sacred garb, restrained him—she was +holy in his eyes, and no act or impulse of his should profane +her calling.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXX<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME BECOMES THE VICTIM OF A VILE SCHEME.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>We have now filled the gap between the time of Salome’s +disappearance from her husband’s home, +and the day when Mrs. Rochester and her daughter discovered +her identity, upon removing her disguise when +she fainted in the hall outside their door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After her second swoon in their room, she revived only +to be seized with a fierce fever, and it became evident +that she must now pay the penalty of her recent overwork—that +weary nature demanded rest and would have it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. and Miss Rochester were dismayed when they +found that the girl was going to be sick on their hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall we do with her?” the latter asked of her +mother, when they found that she was too ill to be +moved, and had become so delirious that it would be +impossible to conceal her identity if any one were admitted +to their rooms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is only one thing that can be done at present,” +Mrs. Rochester remarked, after a few moments of thought: +“you must take her place, and wait upon Dr. Winthrop, +while I look after her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can’t we send her to some hospital?” questioned Miss +Rochester, with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shouldn’t dare to have her moved while she is so +ill, she might die——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If she would be so accommodating it would smooth +things wonderfully for us,” interposed the younger woman +heartlessly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester flushed. Some such thought had been +in her own mind, but she had shrunk from giving expression +to it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She may die with the best of care,” she said, “but +I’m not quite callous enough, yet, to wish to hasten such +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>a result, and so we shall have to manage as best we can +until she is able to be moved.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am willing enough to take her place in attending +Dr. Winthrop,” returned Miss Rochester, “but I am +afraid that he will insist upon prescribing for her if he +learns that she is ill.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We must not let him know that she is in the house,” +her mother returned; “we will tell him that she was taken +suddenly ill, and had to be removed to the convent to be +cared for.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But can we keep her presence here a secret?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, easily enough, if we are cautious. Your chamber, +fortunately, leads from mine, and there is no other +way of reaching it, except by passing through these two +rooms. We can keep her there, you can sleep with me, +and no one will be the wiser for her presence. I only +hope she will not be ill long, and just as soon as she is +able to be moved, we will post her off to some place +where she will give us no further trouble. I think it is +fortunate that she has fallen into our hands in this way,” +she added thoughtfully; “she might have had this attack +in the doctor’s rooms, and thus betrayed herself to +him—you know what the result would have been in that +case. I am thankful, too, that madam and Evelyn are +away, and know nothing of the affair.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>So Salome was put to bed in Miss Rochester’s room, +which was the end one of a suite of three, and remote +from the living rooms of the villa, and also from the +young physician’s apartments, and Mrs. Rochester devoted +herself to the care of her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester reported to Dr. Winthrop that Sister +Angela, fearing she was going to be seriously ill, had +insisted upon returning at once to the convent, where she +would have every needful care and attention.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young man was very much disturbed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She has worn herself out taking care of me. I +should have let her go last week when she suggested +it,” he said regretfully. Then he added reproachfully, +“Why did you not call me when she fainted?—I might +have given her something to help her immediately.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>“Oh, mamma would not listen to such a proposition—she +said you were not strong enough yet to be troubled; +besides, she thought she could do everything that was +necessary,” answered this glib romancer without the +slightest change of color.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Poor Sister Angela!” sighed Dr. Winthrop. “There +was something very sweet about her, in spite of her ugly +dress. I never saw a gentler or more efficient nurse—we +all owe her more than we can ever repay, I shall miss +her sadly.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I hope you will allow me to take her place as far as I +can,” Miss Rochester sweetly remarked, and bestowing an +appealing glance upon the interesting invalid.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” the young man replied. “I suppose I +am really able to be without a nurse, although I am not +very strong yet, and Norman will be back as soon as he +has seen my mother and Evelyn comfortably settled—he +ought to be here, I think, by this time to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He seemed very anxious, and questioned the girl closely +regarding Sister Angela’s attack. But though she made +as light of it as possible, and exerted herself to amuse +and interest him, he was grave and depressed during the +remainder of the day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He did not feel comfortable, either, to have Miss +Rochester wait upon him—it seemed too much like assuming +that she had a special interest and right in him, +and he could not help recalling that unlucky episode in +Paris, which had been witnessed by Mrs. Rochester, and +so misconstrued. He felt that she had placed and was +continuing to place him by these attentions, in a false +position.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was therefore thankful enough when his brother +made his appearance the next day and relieved her of her +self-imposed task.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester herself appeared to be in better spirits +after Norman’s return, for in spite of the fact that she was +fully determined to marry his brother, she was secretly +very deeply in love with him, and knew that his affection +for her was even stronger.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With Mrs. Rochester confined to the sick-room of Salome, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span>and Dr. Winthrop not yet able to be about the house, +there was ample opportunity for these two to indulge +their preference for the society of each other. Norman +Winthrop really and truly loved the girl, and had determined +to win her in spite of the contract that was so +much talked about; but while Miss Rochester was steadfastly +set upon securing the Rochester-Hamilton fortunes, +she nevertheless craved excitement and amusement, and +enjoyed coquetting with one who paid her such delightful +compliments and who appeared so genuinely devoted to +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Much of her time, after his return, was spent in roaming +about the grounds of the chateau with him, greatly +to her mother’s annoyance, but much to Dr. Winthrop’s +relief and comfort, although he did not know how she +was employing her time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was very ill for a week, but not delirious +after the first day or two. She refused to have a physician, +telling Mrs. Rochester that, if she would follow her +directions, she could treat her well enough without one, +since she had no local disease, and nature only required +rest and some simple remedies to restore her to her normal +condition.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester was only too glad to dispense with a +doctor, for she knew that his regular visits would excite +comment among the servants, since Dr. Winthrop did not +now need assistance, and she was determined to keep the +girl’s presence in the house a secret if she could possibly +do so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After the first week her fever subsided and she began +to mend, and by the end of three weeks she said that she +thought she was able to return to Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What are you going to do when you get well?” Mrs. +Rochester asked, while they were talking the matter over.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I intend to go back to my work in the hospitals, for +the present,” Salome answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester did not like the idea of this, for if Dr. +Winthrop should also resume his practice there was great +danger that the two might be reunited, in spite of the +fact that Salome did not seem to wish her identity discovered. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>If she could only get her to leave the country +there would be no need of trying to carry out her dangerous +scheme of shutting her up in some institution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are not strong enough for nursing, Salome. +Why don’t you go home to America?” she asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you ask me that? Where should I find a home in +America?” inquired Salome bitterly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You can go back to the old place and remain there, +if you wish, until we return.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not wish to go back to the old place,” said Salome +coldly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But it is not proper for you to remain in Paris alone; +you are liable to get into trouble, going about by yourself,” +returned Mrs. Rochester, somewhat impatiently +at being thus opposed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am not alone—I am at present under the protection +of the gray sisters.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you intend to ally yourself with them permanently?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; only as long as I can be especially useful in +this emergency.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps you are seeking for a reconciliation with Dr. +Winthrop—possibly you think you may yet win him to +acknowledge you as his wife, or rather lure him to ratify +that ceremony which occurred in Boston. Is that what +you are here for?” demanded Mrs. Rochester, searching +the young face opposite her with an eagle glance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome flushed a vivid scarlet, and a look of anguish +almost convulsed her features for a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she said proudly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, I could never wish any man to acknowledge me +as his wife, who had once thrust me from his home—I +did not even know that Dr. Winthrop was in Paris until +I met him in the hospital.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester’s face lighted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am glad to know you are so sensible,” she said. +“Of course, you could not expect him to acknowledge +you after he had committed himself to another. Who is +the Harriet Winter who came here to nurse us through +your recommendation?” she continued, with some curiosity, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>for she had recognized the woman as an American, +and wondered how she happened to be associated with +Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is a woman who came to Europe on the same +steamer with me,” the young girl evasively answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How is it you happen to be so friendly?—she seems +a very common sort of person.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is at least a true-hearted person,” Salome returned, +with some warmth. “She was maid to a lady who recently +died of cholera, and whom I nursed. She also was +very ill, and I took care of her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome did not consider it needful to give further +particulars regarding her relations with Miss Leonard or +Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you get paid for your services in the hospital?” +queried Mrs. Rochester, wondering how she lived if she +did not.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then what supports you—how can you live?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have sufficient for my needs,” Salome quietly responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are fortunate, truly,” sneered her companion, +“though to be sure you must have been well paid for your +services for this family, and—I will add something to that +when you go away.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You offer to give money to me!” Salome cried, with +blazing eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman colored vividly, while her glance wavered +before the almost fierce indignation of her companion, and +Salome went on vehemently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I beg you will not add insult to injury. You have +wronged me enough already; and now if you will provide +me with a carriage I will leave for Paris immediately. I +do not wish to remain here another hour.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well, you shall return to Paris, but not to-day; +you shall go to-morrow. But you need not be so resentful, +Salome; it is your own fault that you and I are not +better friends. If you had only done as I wished——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome lifted her hand with an imperative gesture, but +her face was very pale.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>“Never refer to that subject again,” she said; “the +past is past, and it is useless to talk about it; and as for +the lack of friendship between you and me, Heaven and +your own conscience know whether it is your fault or +mine. There are some other things, too, for which you +may be called to account by and by.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean? You are not going to——” +began Mrs. Rochester, in undisguised alarm.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not know what I may be tempted to do if you +goad me much further,” the almost desperate girl returned +bitterly; “therefore I wish to get away from you +as soon as possible.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well, you shall go to-morrow; I promise you +that you shall go to-morrow,” Mrs. Rochester replied, +but with a peculiar smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She left the room almost immediately, sought an interview +with her daughter, whom she informed with much +excitement of the conversation just narrated, after which +she herself hastened with all possible dispatch to Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two hours later she might have been seen sitting in the +gloomy reception-room of a celebrated “nervine” establishment +of that city, engaged in confidential conversation +with a middle-aged, rather prepossessing, but very stern +and resolute-looking man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You say that the young lady, your daughter, is about +twenty-three years of age?” he inquired, making a note +upon some tablets which he held in his hand. “And her +name is——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! Salome Rochester, like your own, madam?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” but madam flushed vividly as she thus replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She has been ill, you say,” the gentleman continued, +“her nerves are in a peculiar state—in fact, her mind is +affected with strange ideas, which make it unsafe for her +to be left to herself, and you desire to leave her in my +care until you return from your travels, or—she is better?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes. The girl is possessed with the idea that she +must go into the hospitals of the city as a nurse; she +has assumed the dress of a gray nun, and declares this +work is her mission—a most absurd fancy, I am sure +<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>you will agree when you see her in her present weakened +state,” Mrs. Rochester volubly explained. “I am travelling +with friends; we go to Rome very soon for the +winter, and my plan is to leave her with you until—we +return. I wish her to have the best of care, and all the +privileges that are possible without infringing upon the +rules of your establishment; but you are on no account +to allow her to go away from here. I shall hold you +responsible for her safety until I come to claim her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We are willing to be so held, madam, for—the usual +considerations,” the man returned, with the politest of +bows; “that is a part of our business. When will madam +bring the young lady?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To-morrow, but I do not know just how to arrange +for her coming,” Mrs. Rochester said with a slight show +of nervousness. “I certainly cannot accompany her, as +she imagines that I have become her enemy,” and the +lady wiped away an imaginary tear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, it often occurs that people in her unfortunate condition, +acquire sudden aversion to their best friends,” +the learned doctor sympathetically remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And—and you may even find some difficulty about persuading +her to enter this institution; she is very wilful at +times, and cunning as well,” said his companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I understand, madam, she is unconscious of her malady, +and does not like to be governed; we will arrange everything +to your satisfaction. We will send our own carriage +for mademoiselle; there is an entrance to the institution +that is like a private house; the driver will be ordered +to stop just opposite and discover that a portion of the +harness has suddenly given out, and must be repaired before +the young lady can go on; she will be cordially invited +to step inside during the delay, and—all the rest +will be easily arranged. Does the little stratagem please +madam?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perfectly,” responded Mrs. Rochester, with a sigh of +relief, as she arose to leave. “At what hour shall I expect +the carriage?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not until the cool of the evening. It is not well for +an invalid to travel during the heat of the day, and it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>will be better that it should be dusk when mademoiselle +arrives, lest her suspicions be aroused and we have +trouble.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Very well; I leave it all with you,” Mrs. Rochester +said, as she poured a handful of glittering gold coins into +the doctor’s soft palm. Then she went away, well pleased +with the success of her errand and congratulating herself +that Salome was well disposed of, at least for the present; +what future disposition should be made of her, she +would have to decide later.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXI.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME WITNESSES A HEART-RENDING TABLEAU.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>After Mrs. Rochester’s departure for Paris, which, +however, was known only to her daughter, Salome, +who had been sitting up for the second time, although +she had not yet been dressed, thought she would try to put +on her clothing, and thus get a little accustomed to exertion, +preparatory to going away the next day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was still very weak, and the effort made her weary +and almost faint, so that she was obliged to lie down +again upon her bed, where she instantly dropped asleep.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She slept for more than an hour, and felt greatly refreshed +when she awoke.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I wonder if I could walk about a little,” she said to +herself. “I must get accustomed to the use of my feet. +I wish Harriet were here to lend me her strong arm; +I wonder why she has not been out to inquire for me! I +hope she has not been ill again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She reached out for a bowl of beef-tea which stood +upon the table, and drank a generous portion of it to +brace herself for the effort she was contemplating; then +rising, she began to move about the room, and was surprised +to find herself stronger than she had supposed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The door was open between the room she occupied and +the one beyond, so she prolonged her walk into this, +going very slowly, and taking hold of various objects to +steady her steps.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She traversed the whole length of both rooms thus; +then her strength gave out, and she sank panting into a +low rocker to rest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The door leading into Mrs. Rochester’s parlor was +directly behind her, and partly open.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>Salome had believed it to be empty until she was seated, +when, to her consternation, she heard a strangely familiar +voice, intense with passion, exclaim:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie, you do not answer me; tell me that you do +love me in spite of this unnatural contract, which would +have consigned you to a man whether you could love +him or not? why couldn’t they have left people free to +choose for themselves? Tell me, Sadie, I must have the +truth.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, then, if you will have the confession. I have +loved you from the first hour of our meeting,” was the +reply which came to Salome’s ears in Miss Rochester’s +tones, while she experienced a feeling as of suffocation, +and seemed turning to stone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, powerless to move or fly from the terrible ordeal, +she heard that other voice cry out triumphantly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My darling! my heart’s idol! I knew it; you could +not hide it from me, even though you have tried to be so +proper and demure at times. My love, my love, we were +made for each other, and I would not exchange the +bliss of this moment for a hundred Rochester-Hamilton +fortunes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But——” began Miss Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We will have no ‘buts,’ my heart’s queen,” interrupted +her companion, “I will not permit a worldly word or +thought to mar this hallowed hour; you are mine, heart +and soul, as I am yours——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome could endure no more. The sound of that +voice, uttering such passionate declarations of love, +smote her with agony that was worse than death, and, +nerved by despair, she sprang softly to her feet, turned +one wild, anguished look toward the room behind her, +and saw a picture that nearly drove her mad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Standing with their backs toward the door were two +figures, one—as she supposed—the man whom she had +once fondly believed to be her husband, the other the +girl who, for years, had been her worst enemy, locked in +a lovers’ embrace.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Covering her eyes as if the sight had suddenly smitten +her blind, the suffering young wife noiselessly groped +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>her way back to her own room, where she threw herself +prone upon her face on her bed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had thought that the bitterness of death was passed +when she believed herself thrust out of her husband’s +home; when she believed he had become wearied of her—weaned +from her by the sneers and jibes of his proud mother +and sister; but that seemed as nothing now, compared to +the scene she had just witnessed, and which seemed to +have been branded upon her brain with a red-hot iron.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of course we know, although she could not, that Miss +Rochester’s companion was not Dr. Winthrop. We +know it must have been none other than Norman Winthrop, +who had thus passionately declared himself to the +reckless coquette, who had won his heart and lost her +own while indulging in her favorite pastime of flirting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young man had plainly shown his growing infatuation +for her ever since his arrival in Paris, and had secretly +avowed that he would win her, in spite of the Rochester-Hamilton +contract and her evident determination to fulfil +its conditions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The day when matters were thus brought to a crisis +was a very warm one in September, and Miss Rochester, +her mother having gone to Paris, sat alone in their pretty +parlor, reading a new novel.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop, while passing through the hall, +glanced in at the half-open door, saw the girl, and she +looked so lovely and enticing in her dainty white costume, +as she sat by a shaded window, that he stopped upon the +threshold and begged permission to enter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma is away,” Miss Rochester said demurely, but +looking up with alluring roguishness from the book in +her hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is not mamma whom I wish to see,” the young man +answered, with an admiring look, as he boldly stepped +within the room and approached her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not chide him as he sat down beside her, for +she was lonely, and felt glad of anything that would pass +away a dull hour, and they sat there chatting in low +tones upon various topics for half an hour or more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then, all at once, there fell over them a significant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>silence, which was finally abruptly interrupted by Mr. +Winthrop, who recklessly broke down all barriers, and +declared:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie, I love you; you know it—must long have +known it. Now tell me that you return my affection, and +I shall be the happiest man upon the continent.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This outburst had occurred just before Salome reached +the rocker in Mrs. Rochester’s chamber, and then she had +caught his next words:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie, you do not answer me,” etc.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome believed that the man who was speaking was +he whom she loved—whose wife she had once believed +herself to be. The voice was the same, the form, face, +and bearing were those of Dr. Winthrop, as she just +caught a glimpse of him when she shot that one despairing +look inside the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had heard Dr. Winthrop speak of his brother, but +she had never been told that he was a twin, nor that the +resemblance between the two was so strong that their +most intimate friends had difficulty in distinguishing +between them. And, strange as it may seem, she had +never encountered Norman Winthrop during all her nursing +in the villa. The rooms occupied by the various invalids +were in different portions of the extensive building, and +the nurses in charge were confined exclusively to their +separate patients.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During her previous sojourn there, after Mr. Winthrop’s +death, Salome had devoted herself to Evelyn, who was +the most dangerously ill of those who recovered. Norman +Winthrop had nursed the butler, under his brother’s +direction and with his help, while the other nurses had +attended Madame Winthrop and the Rochesters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome scarcely left Evelyn’s room until she was out +of danger. Her meals were served in a small ante-chamber +adjoining, and she also slept there during her hours +for rest, Mrs. Rochester relieving her during such times.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Since Dr. Winthrop’s illness, his brother had not seemed +quite himself, and the physician had forbidden him to go +near the sick man, saying he was liable to contract the +disease and must use every precaution against it; so Mr. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>Tillinghast had relieved Salome when she needed rest, +and had been very helpful and considerate at other times. +Thus she had never seen Norman Winthrop near enough +to realize his wonderful resemblance to his brother, and it +is not strange that she was deceived regarding the identity +of Miss Rochester’s ardent lover.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a pity that she had not remained in Mrs. Rochester’s +room a few moments longer and heard the conclusion +of the interview; she would at least have suffered less by +learning the truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush!” Miss Rochester said, just after Salome had +fled from the scene; “you must not talk to me like this—I +must not listen, and you know why.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop’s arms dropped from the supple form, +which he had clasped to him in a passionate embrace +when the girl had owned her love for him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You do not mean that, Sadie, after what you have +confessed to me,” he said sternly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I do. I ought never to have betrayed myself, +but you wrung it from me,” she returned, with flushed +cheeks and downcast eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Am I to understand that you still consider yourself +bound by that wretched contract—that you intend to +marry my brother, when you have told me that you love +me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I must.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You know; I must forfeit Brookside and a hundred +thousand dollars if I do not, and there will be nothing +left for mamma and me but the income of that paltry +fifty thousand dollars.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop groaned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What an unnatural thing for a father to do!” he +cried angrily. “The man must have had a heart of +stone. But what is money, Sadie, compared with the +happiness of a life-time? I shall have something from +my father’s estate, though of course it will be but a trifle +compared with the united estates of Brookside and Englehurst. +But I love you, Sadie; I will work for you; I +will make a fortune for you, if you will give me the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>incentive. O my darling, do not let your ambition ruin +both our lives!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester looked grave and thoughtful for a few +moments after this earnest appeal. She was almost +tempted to yield and become a good woman—a loved and +loving wife, for she knew that she loved Norman Winthrop +as she could never love another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But pride, ambition, and fear of her mother conquered +the promptings of her better nature.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must not tempt me,” she whispered hoarsely. “I +shall hold by the contract—unless your brother refuses +to abide by it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I shall go to him and tell him how we stand,” +cried her companion excitedly. “True would never hold +a woman bound—not even for millions—who had given +her heart to another.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You shall not—if you lisp a word of what has passed +between us I shall hate you, for—I have sworn that I +will be mistress of Brookside and Englehurst,” the girl +passionately returned, though she was white to her lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sadie Rochester, you are a heartless flirt! You have +won my heart and now you cast it from you as a worthless +thing. I know I am not a paragon, like my brother—I +have been the black sheep in the family ever since I was +a boy; but you might have made a good man of me—you +have made a devil instead.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned abruptly from her and left the rooms, while +the proud girl sank back in her chair and wept as she +seldom wept.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Poor Salome, meanwhile, was no less wretched. Until +that hour she believed she had schooled her heart to give +up her idol—that she had relinquished all hope of ever +being anything to him again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But now she knew that she had not. She realized now +that, during all her intercourse with him—while she was +nursing his friend in the hospital; as she saw his devotion +to others and learned to know more fully his goodness of +heart, his nobility of soul; while he lay so sick himself—so +helpless and dependent—she had been growing to +love him more fondly, more idolatrously than before.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>How she hung over him when he lay so deathly ill! +How she had watched every symptom—every breath, +even! How she had despaired when she had thought he +must go down into the dark valley—how once, when she +believed that another dawn would find him cold in death, +she had almost been tempted to tear away those unsightly +bandages from her face—cast aside those hideous glasses, +reveal her identity, and beg for one last word of love +from his lips!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then how she had exulted when she saw the sluggish +tide of life turn in his favor, and knew that he would +live, if she did not relax her vigilance!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, she had not spared herself, she had again won him +back from the grave, and he seemed, more than ever, a +part of her very self.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lay there now upon her bed, more wretched than +she had ever been, thinking of all this; remembering +with a thrill, how, when he had slept, she had watched his +dear face by the hour, stealthily kissing his hair, his +hand, even the pillow on which he lay, but believing +that, when he should get well, she could go away and +leave him, never hoping, never expecting, any return.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she knew that, through all, there had been a faint +hope in her heart that something would occur to reunite +them, and he would love her again as he had seemed to do +during those few happy days in New York, just before his +departure for Europe. Even after Madame Winthrop +had told her that he was betrothed to Miss Rochester, +she had half believed that he meant her when he called +for his “darling.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now all these fond hopes were at an end, for she believed +she had heard with her own ears his passionate declaration +of love for another—had seen him clasp another to +his heart, even as he had clasped her on that last morning +in New York, and that other Sarah Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What irony of fate, indeed, as the girl herself had once +mockingly remarked. How could she endure it?</p> + +<p class='c011'>For hours she lay there and fought with her rebellious +heart, and against the doom which seemed to lie before +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>How could she bear to give him up to one whom she +knew to be false to the very core of her being?</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was still noble and true, in spite of the fact that he +had been influenced to do her a great wrong, and she +knew that his whole future would be ruined if he +should marry such a scheming, ambitious, unprincipled +woman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could prevent it, she knew, by the utterance of a +single sentence; for Truman Winthrop would never knowingly +wed a woman so depraved as Sarah Rochester to +gain a thousand fortunes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Should she tell him? should she try to save him from +such a fate, even though she might never hope to regain +his love for herself? Should she take vengeance upon +those two women for the injuries of the past by thus blasting +all their hopes for the future?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ah, no; desperate as she was, heart-broken, weary of +life, she would never be actuated by a feeling of revenge; +she would prefer to suffer on in silence, as she had +suffered for so long, rather than lower herself in her +own esteem, or violate her conscience and the commands +of the Master, whom she tried to serve, by thus claiming +“an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth.” Besides, if +Truman Winthrop loved the girl as madly as he appeared +to love her, why should she undeceive him as to her +character? He would perhaps hate her for it, and she +would gain nothing by it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When the sun had set and the day was drawing to a +close, her battle was fought, her victory won, and she lay +quiet and peaceful, but weak and so weary from the strife +that she would gladly have laid down the burden of life +then and there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But even this mood, this desire to be at rest, passed +after a time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have one true and honest friend,” she thought. +“Harriet, at least, is faithful to me; I will go back to +her, and when I get strong again, we will take up our work +together once more. I can at least do some good with +this money that Miss Leonard has given me, if I cannot +be happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>She fell asleep soon after, and did not awake until some +one touched her upon the shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her eyes flashed open with a startled look, and she +found Miss Rochester standing over her, a cruel smile +wreathing her lips, and she sat up shivering as she recalled +where she had last seen her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, Miss Howland, alias Sister Angela, alias—well, +no matter who else—were you edified by the tableau +that you witnessed a while ago from the other room?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl had caught sight of Salome as she was fleeing +from the scene, and her quick mind had grasped the situation +at once, and she had resolved to use the circumstance +to further her own schemes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome flushed hotly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I did not know there was any one in the room,” she +faltered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, after what you have seen, you surely can have +no desire to claim Dr. Winthrop as your husband—even if +he were willing to——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no!” interposed Salome, a note of agony in her +tones; “if the marriage was illegal, as you have all told +me, I have now no wish to have it ratified; even if it had +been legal I should wish to have it annulled—I would +wish to hold no man bound who was ashamed to own me +as his wife—who loved and desired to marry another.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you really mean that, Salome?” Miss Rochester +demanded, in a tone of repressed eagerness. “If so, you +can prove it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, I mean it. How can I prove it more fully?” +she asked, with white lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“By writing a letter that I will dictate. Will +you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To—to him?” the young wife stammered, a terrible +sinking at her heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not for the world? Are you a fool?” cried her companion, +with a start and frown. Then she continued, +“you know that I am going to marry him——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And commit a fearful wrong,” interposed Salome +sternly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is that to you, since you do not want him yourself? +<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>I shall have to answer for my own sins,” was the +rude retort.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I could prevent it. Oh, perhaps it is my duty to +prevent it,” cried Salome, in distress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will not dare!” cried Miss Rochester fiercely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I should dare, if I believed it right,” Salome said +firmly, “but under the circumstances I cannot—matters +must adjust themselves as they will.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you will write the letter I desire?” she eagerly +questioned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must know just what you want before I promise.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, since I am to marry Dr. Winthrop,” Miss +Rochester began, “I cannot help feeling a little squeamish +about the ceremony which you two went through. Of +course Dr. Winthrop believes that he is doubly free, for +he thinks you are dead, and you do not wish to undeceive +him?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” but the white lips quivered painfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then if he should marry me, and by any possibility +it should be discovered, by and by, that the ceremony +between you would hold, don’t you see what an unpleasant +predicament he would be in—what scandal and trouble +would ensue if your existence should be discovered?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, why will you torture me thus?” moaned Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Winthrop could be arrested for bigamy,” her +tormentor went on relentlessly. “I don’t say would be, +mind you—I am only suggesting a possibility, which for +my own peace of mind I want to guard against. Since +you do not wish him to know that you are alive, or +assert any claim upon him, you might at least be willing +to signify as much.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How can I—what good would it do?” Salome asked, +not clearly comprehending the plot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Wait; I will dash off the letter as I want it,” said her +companion.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXII.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME IS LURED INTO A TRAP.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Miss Rochester seated herself at a table, and +drawing forth writing materials, wrote rapidly for +a few moments. Then she handed the communication to +Salome to read. It ran thus:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-l c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<em>To Conrad Converse, Esq.</em></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“<span class='sc'>Dear Sir</span>:—I went through the marriage ceremony in +Boston, Mass., with a man known as Truman Winthrop, +M.D., of New York city. My name was given as Salome +Howland, although the latter is not my true surname. I +have been told that the marriage was illegal on that +account; I was repudiated and deserted because of it. +Later, I was reported dead, and Dr. Winthrop, who still +believes that I am not living, is about to marry again. +I do not wish him to be undeceived, and I appeal to you +to procure—if his marriage with me were legal—a decree +of divorce, without any publicity whatever. Spare no expense, +and let it be done at once.”</p> + +<p class='c013'>“You are to sign that, and then I will attend to all the +rest,” Miss Rochester remarked, when she saw that Salome +had finished reading the missive.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome did not make any reply, but sat with pale face +and bowed head, trying to think what she would do.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If his marriage with me were legal!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Those words kept running through her mind, and she +wondered now that she had never thought of going to +some lawyer to ascertain the truth. There surely must +be some doubt in Miss Rochester’s mind about it not +being so, or she would not be so eager to secure her sanction +to a divorce. She shivered over the word. No +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>divorce would ever make her free; she had bound herself, +heart and soul, to this man, and she should feel herself +morally bound to him as long as she lived, even if she +were not according to the strict letter of the law.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But, she reasoned, he no longer loved her; he had +thrust her out of his home, and now, believing that she +was dead, he wanted to marry another. Ought she to +stand in his way?</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How would he feel if he knew that I am not dead?” +she asked herself; and then grew faint and sick as the +thought came to her that he would doubtless wish her so +if he should learn the truth—that he would feel that she +was the destroyer of his peace and happiness, if she should +appear before him. How could she think otherwise when +she had heard such passionate words of love from his lips, +and seen him holding her enemy clasped so fondly to his +heart?</p> + +<p class='c011'>No, she had no wish to undeceive him, she would never +interfere with his happiness, and he should be free, if any +act of hers could make him so. Her life was ruined, why +should she hesitate about giving him the right to do as +he wished? She would sign the letter, and thus end forever +all doubt, all trouble.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She put out her hand for the pen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl, watching her so intently, dipped it freshly in +the ink, and laid it between her fingers.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She wrote her name in a bold, clear hand, at the end +of the letter, then passed it to Miss Rochester without a +word.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She seized it, a gleam of triumph flashing from her +eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There, Salome, for once you have done a sensible +thing,” she said, and she folded the paper, and thrust it +into her bosom. “It has really made me quite uneasy to +think of marrying Dr. Winthrop, since I discovered that +you were not dead; but this will make everything all +right. Mr. Converse is a very expert lawyer, who makes +a specialty of obtaining divorces without publicity, and +there will be no fear that this will not be granted, provided +he gets enough for his services, and since I have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>already written to him something regarding the matter +he will doubtless expedite the matter. Ah, here comes +mamma.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl arose as she caught the sound of her mother’s +footsteps in the adjoining room, and went to meet her +with an exultant look on her face, and wholly unconscious +that Salome, tried beyond endurance, had fainted, and +lay like one dead upon the bed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next morning, Mrs. Rochester saw that Salome +was served a tempting and nourishing breakfast, for she +was determined that she should have all the strength +necessary to enable her to leave the villa that day. Her +dinner, also, was carefully prepared and appetizing, and +after she had partaken of it she made her lie down to +rest, and charged her to sleep if she could.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must be as fresh as possible, for it is quite a +drive into Paris,” she observed. “The carriage will come +for you late this afternoon—I ordered one from the city, +as I thought it would attract less notice than to take Dr. +Winthrop’s from the stable.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome submitted to whatever arrangements she chose +to make without a word of objection; all she cared for +was to get away, and go back to the true-hearted honest +Harriet, who, she knew, would care for her most tenderly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester managed everything very adroitly. +She had authorized her daughter to be on the lookout +for the carriage far down the avenue, and order it to be +driven to a rarely used side-entrance of the chateau.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she conducted Salome to it by a private staircase, +and she was off without any one, save those two women, +knowing that a carriage had come and gone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The poor heart-broken girl heaved a sigh of relief +when the vehicle passed out of the villa grounds upon the +highway, and, throwing herself back among the cushions, +she gave way to a passionate burst of weeping.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was so exhausted by her weeping and the excitement +of leaving the villa, that she soon dropped into +a doze, and did not awake until the carriage stopped so +suddenly as to almost throw her off her seat.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was quite dark and she could only distinguish objects +<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>indistinctly, but she saw that she was in a broad, +quiet street, where there seemed to be fine residences +within inclosures that were ornamented with trees and +shrubs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The driver just then made his appearance at the window, +a look of well-assumed distress on his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pardon, mademoiselle,” he said, “but one of the +traces has parted—it will detain us a little.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, can it be mended easily?” Salome questioned +nervously, for it was so dark that she was very anxious to +reach home and Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps—we will see,” and the man disappeared.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently she heard him muttering angrily to himself, +as if he had discovered more mischief than he had at +first seen, and then a gentleman came slowly out from the +inclosure near by, and made some inquiries in a kindly +tone, though Salome could not catch his words.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The driver explained his trouble with much volubility +and irritation, and with many profuse regrets on account +of the “annoyance to mademoiselle, the sister.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently the gentleman made his appearance at the +carriage window, and lifting his hat, respectfully addressed +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pardon, sister,” he began; “the coachman says he +must take one of the horses and go on to his stable to get +a new trace; it seems not the right thing for a lady to +sit alone in the street at this hour of the evening. My +residence is just here, and at your service; my wife will +be charmed to entertain you while you wait. Will the +sister do me the favor to accept my hospitality, while the +driver attends to the broken harness?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thanks, monsieur,” returned Salome thoughtfully. +Then she asked, “is it far to the Rue de——?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mon Dieu!” responded the gentleman, in a tone of +surprise, “the sister will have to ride more than a mile +yet.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome sighed regretfully. She knew that her strength +would not allow her to walk such a distance, and she must, +perforce, wait until the return of the man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not like the idea of sitting there alone in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>street; neither did she like to trust herself with an entire +stranger, even though she believed that her nun’s costume +would protect her against wrong or insult.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Yet the invitation was tempting; the stranger had +spoken of his wife—he seemed a gentleman, and had +addressed her most courteously, while she judged from +his tone and appearance that he must be a middle-aged +man.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She glanced toward the house he had indicated. The +lights were glimmering cheerfully through the trees, and +she could plainly discern the figure of a woman sitting +upon the broad porch. It was warm and close and lonely +in the carriage, and it looked very inviting within the +inclosure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has the sister travelled far?” inquired the gentleman, +who was becoming a trifle impatient over her evident +hesitation and reluctance to accept his offer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Six or seven miles,” Salome replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! doubtless upon some errand of mercy, and surely +you must be weary. Pray, good sister, come in and be +refreshed.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The invitation was heartily, yet courteously, given, +while he at the same time turned the handle and opened +the door for her to alight. Salome’s scruples were overcome, +and she acceded to his request.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He helped her to the ground, and then she followed +him inside the adjacent grounds, without a suspicion of +the trap into which she had so readily fallen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Reaching the house, the gentleman explained briefly the +accident to the lady sitting upon the porch whom he +introduced as his wife—Madame Arnot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam greeted the sister with charming frankness and +cordiality, regretted the accident which had caused such +delay and annoyance, and, bringing forward a comfortable +chair, invited her to be seated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She then began chatting in an easy manner, while now +and then monsieur would join in the conversation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Thus an hour passed, and Salome began to grow anxious +and impatient to resume her journey.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last she suggested that it was getting late, whereupon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>monsieur sprang to his feet, remarking he would go +to the gate and ascertain if her coachman had returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He soon came back, saying the carriage was still there, +but there were no signs of the driver.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome looked troubled, but madam said never mind, +all would soon be well; then she laughingly quoted the +proverb, “Be careful to entertain strangers, for thereby +some have entertained angels unawares,” at the same +time ringing a little silver bell.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A servant appeared almost immediately, bearing a tray +upon which there was arranged a dainty meal. She +deposited it upon the table, which she wheeled forward +into the centre of the porch, and set chairs for three +around it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam then rose and politely invited Salome to join +herself and her husband, and at once began to serve them +in an easy and graceful manner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young girl was hungry, and really enjoyed the +delicious meal, although she was conscious of a feeling +of uneasiness and anxiety to get away to her own quiet +little home and Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Another hour passed thus, for monsieur and madam were +both good eaters as well as good talkers, and they had +not finished their meal when there came a loud ring at +the gate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Monsieur went to answer it and soon returned saying +the coachman had come back, but without having succeeded +in getting his harness mended; neither had he +been able to replace the broken trace with a whole one, +for there was a grand wedding, and every horse, carriage, +and harness belonging to his employer was in use. +Mademoiselle would have to wait where she was until +morning, and then he would come for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome started to her feet in dismay at this intelligence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, no, I cannot!” she cried; “I must get home. +Why did he not go elsewhere and send me another carriage?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Surely he might have done so,” monsieur returned; +“but the stupid fellow evidently did not think of such +<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>a thing, and at once rode away after explaining the +situation.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What shall I do?” Salome exclaimed, in a troubled +tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray—pray do not be so disturbed; Sister Angela is +most welcome to a lodging here, if she will so honor us,” +said madam cordially.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And it is late,” interposed monsieur, glancing at his +watch—“after ten. I beg the sister will make herself +at home, and accept our hospitality as freely as it is +offered.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome looked from one to the other. Both faces were +frank and smiling, and yet, in spite of their apparent +kindness, she shrank with a feeling of distrust from remaining +with them over night. But what could she do?</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was helpless. Her coachman had gone, and she +could not go out by herself at that hour of the evening to +seek another carriage. If monsieur had but offered to send +for one, or to have her taken home in his own; but he did +not, and she was too timid to ask the favor of him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So, after considering their proposition for a moment, +she thanked them for their hospitality, said she would +remain, and requested that she might be allowed to retire +immediately.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam arose with alacrity, and said that she would +herself attend her to her chamber.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She led her within the house, and up a long stairway +to the second story, where the corridor seemed to be cut +off from some other portion of the house by portières.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Here she opened a door and ushered her into a small +room that was simply but very neatly furnished.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She provided Salome with a night-dress, remarking +that she would find towels and toilet articles in a drawer +of the dressing-case; then, bidding her a kind and cheerful +good-night, she left the room, quietly closing the +door after her and noiselessly turning the well-oiled lock +until the bolt shot into its socket.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was very weary as well as homesick, and, +quickly undressing, crept into bed and was soon sleeping +soundly.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>When she awoke in the morning, the sun was shining +brightly into her room, and she felt her spirits rise under +the influence of its genial rays. In a little while she would +be safe with Harriet, and then her troubles would be +over.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose and dressed, realizing that she was much +stronger—that her long, restful sleep had greatly refreshed +her. Then she went to her window and pulled +aside the pretty draperies which hung over it, when to +her astonishment she found herself before an iron-grated +casement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, how strange!” she exclaimed, and looking out +she saw that the building she was in inclosed three sides +of a square, which was beautifully laid out with beds of +flowers and variegated foliage. A fountain was in the +centre, while numerous rustic seats were scattered about +the grass-plots and finely gravelled walks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But as her eye traversed the circuit of the spacious +building, she noticed that almost every window was +grated like her own.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What could it mean? Surely it was not a prison that +she was in! and yet it had the appearance of one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was startled and depressed by the discovery; still +she told herself that whatever the nature of the place +might be, it could not affect her, since she was simply +the guest of Monsieur and Madame Arnot for the night.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She resolved, however, that she would leave at as early +an hour as possible, she would not wait for her coachman +but order another carriage; and with this in view, she +put on her bonnet and wrap and made herself ready for +her departure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But to her consternation, when she attempted to open +her door she found that it was locked on the outside, and +her heart sank within her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She dropped, pale and trembling, into a chair, a vague +suspicion of the truth beginning to dawn upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Presently she heard steps outside her door, the key was +softly turned, and the next moment a maid entered, bearing +a tray upon which was a nice breakfast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She put it upon the table, and then rolled it toward +<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>Salome, who thought the girl regarded her curiously, +although she greeted her with a pleasant “good-morning.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not care for any breakfast,” Salome remarked. +“I will go down and consult with Monsieur Arnot about +sending for a carriage immediately.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mademoiselle will surely eat something first,” the +girl said in a coaxing tone, such as she might have used +towards fractious child.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, thank you; I will go directly to Monsieur Arnot,” +and Salome arose, as she spoke, to leave the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But her attendant dexterously slipped before her and +turned the key in the lock.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mademoiselle cannot go down just now,” she said +firmly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why not?” Salome demanded with kindling eyes, +and resenting the restraint thus imposed upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Because she is the patient of Dr. Arnot, and he will +himself visit mademoiselle when he makes his usual round +of the wards. Come, now, here is a nice bit of broiled +steak, some fine hot rolls, delicious coffee, and luscious +berries with cream,” the girl concluded soothingly, while +she arranged the viands temptingly before her charge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Salome again sank weakly upon her chair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Those words, “the patient of Dr. Arnot—he will visit +mademoiselle when he makes his usual round of the +wards,” had opened her eyes to the terrible truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew now where she was, understood the meaning +of those grated windows and her locked door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was an inmate of a private insane asylum, and like +a flash it had come to her that she had been cunningly +decoyed into the abominable place.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She remembered now the peculiar look that had swept +over Mrs. Rochester’s face when she had insisted upon +returning to Paris, and the equally peculiar inflection of +her tones when she had replied, “You shall go to-morrow—I +promise you, you shall go to-morrow.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she recalled the fact that she had suddenly disappeared +and been absent all the afternoon, and she knew +that she must have come to Paris and arranged this plot +to shut her up, where she would have no power to interfere +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>with any of her plans or to reveal to any one, if she +was so disposed, what she knew regarding her past life.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She saw that Mrs. Rochester feared that she would reveal +her identity to Dr. Winthrop, and thus frustrate all +her designs and her daughter’s prospects.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh,” she murmured, with a thrill of horror, as she +dropped her face upon her hands, “have I not already +suffered enough at their hands without being buried alive +like this?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl who had brought in her breakfast took advantage +of this moment of weakness and stole softly from +the room again, locking the door after her.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME MAKES ATTEMPTS TO SECURE HER LIBERTY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>It seemed to Salome as she sat there alone in her room, +after her attendant had left her, as if this fresh +trouble was more than she could bear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was a prisoner in a great insane asylum in the +heart of Paris, and no one in all the world, save Mrs. +Rochester, knew where she was. She was lost! She +might almost as well have been dead and buried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She blamed herself now for having consented to enter +the house at Monsieur Arnot’s invitation. It would have +been far better to have sat in the street all night than to +have walked into such a trap.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But of course it had all been planned. The driver, +doubtless, was in the employ of Arnot, and the broken +trace had been only a ruse. She grew very much excited +as she thought this all out, and a feeling of bitter anger +and resentment took possession of her usually gentle heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She arose and paced her room back and forth, while +she planned what she would do to make Mrs. Rochester +and her unprincipled daughter feel the weight of her +righteous indignation, if she could but get out of that +horrible place.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will not bear it,” she cried, “they shall be made to +suffer for such wickedness. I will go to True and tell +him everything, even at the risk of being spurned by him. +Their treachery shall all be revealed, and then if he persists +in marrying her he will do it with his eyes open. +Oh, if I could but get word to Harriet, to let her know +where I am, she would get me out, or she could tell the +mother at the convent, and she would have me released.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She grew calmer after a while, for she was hopeful, +and believed that she would find some means of communication +<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>with Harriet, and, feeling really hungry, she +finally sat down and ate heartily of the breakfast that had +been brought to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had scarcely finished when the sound of the key +turning in the lock warned her that she was about to have +another visitor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sincerely hoped that it would prove to be Monsieur +Arnot, and she was not disappointed, for as the door +swung back she saw his genial and benignant face beaming +upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, Sister Angela, good-morning. How do you find +yourself after your long drive last evening? Pretty comfortable, +I hope, although I was afraid you were hardly +strong enough for such a ride,” he glibly remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am well, thank you, monsieur,” Salome answered +with grave dignity; “but I wish to know why I am detained +here against my will?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, Sister Angela, do not ask me disagreeable questions,” +the man pleasantly responded; “but pray accept +circumstances as you find them, and make yourself as +comfortable as possible.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I shall question you,” Salome resolutely returned. +“I wish you to explain why I am made a prisoner here, +and by whose authority.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then, you are a patient in this institution, because +you are somewhat out of health and need judicious +treatment, and by the authority of madam, your mother,” +Dr. Arnot replied, seeing that he might as well explain +the situation first as last.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is my malady supposed to be?” Salome demanded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was greeted by the national shrug and a significant +lifting of the eyebrows.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mademoiselle has recently been ill,” he asserted inquiringly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; but I am well now, only I am not quite +strong.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! exactly; and madam, your mother, has the desire +that you shall gain your strength.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“By madam I suppose you refer to Mrs. Rochester, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>woman who came here yesterday to consult with you +about me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“<em>Oui</em>, mademoiselle.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled. She had at least confirmed her suspicions +regarding Mrs. Rochester’s visit to Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then, the woman is not my mother—I have +none; both my parents are dead; she is not even a relative—my +mother was a cousin of her husband,” Salome +stated with a directness that carried conviction with it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again that characteristic shrug. It made but very +little difference to Dr. Arnot whether Mrs. Rochester was +the girl’s mother or not, provided she promptly paid him +the large amounts agreed upon.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How long am I to be kept a prisoner here?” Salome +next inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘A prisoner!’ Mademoiselle makes use of hard +words,” the man returned with a dissenting gesture. +“She is simply my patient—my guest, to be kindly and +faithfully cared for until madam returns from the South.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“By the South you doubtless mean Italy?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“<em>Oui</em>, mademoiselle.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was in despair, for she knew that the Rochesters +and Winthrops were going to Rome for the winter as soon +as madam and Evelyn should return from the baths where +they had gone to recuperate, before her illness, and thus +she would be obliged to remain for months an inmate of a +mad-house.</p> + +<p class='c011'>What would Harriet think had become of her? She +would be nearly crazy over her unaccountable disappearance. +What would the mother and sisters at the convent +think?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Perhaps—and she was appalled by the thought—Mrs. +Rochester intended to keep her there indefinitely—forever! +She had reason enough to be afraid of her, and so +had perhaps taken this way of ridding herself permanently +of so dangerous a foe.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The thought made her desperate, and she arose and +resolutely confronted her companion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur Arnot,” she said with stern dignity, “I +assure you, that woman is not my mother—she is no kin +<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>to me; she is only my bitter enemy, while she has wronged +me as few women would dare to wrong another. She fears +me, for I hold a secret regarding her, that if exposed, would +be her ruin, and so she has plotted this additional wrong +against me, to secure herself. I know, and you know, +that I have no disease, either of the body or brain; I am +as sane as you are, and you are committing a heartless +crime by detaining me here. I command you to set me +at liberty.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man regarded her with something of wonder as +she ceased speaking.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her tone and manner convinced him that she was +speaking the truth, and he was, for the moment, uneasy +lest he should get himself into trouble by lending himself +to the plot of a scheming woman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew that the penalty was very severe for such an +offence; but Dr. Arnot was exceedingly avaricious. Madame +Rochester had already paid him a handsome sum +in advance—besides, he already anticipated the monthly +payments which she had promised to send him regularly, +and he had not the strength to resist this important addition +to his income.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So he only smiled soothingly upon poor Salome and +her authoritative demand to be released, and, adopting a +conciliatory tone, remarked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, poor child! poor child! pray do not get excited—all +will be well by and by. Do not wrong madam, who +will doubtless come herself to release mademoiselle upon +her return.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She will not,” Salome retorted in deep distress, the +conviction growing stronger upon her. “I tell you she +fears me, and I believe she intends to keep me here indefinitely.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She made a grave mistake, however, in asserting this, +for Dr. Arnot’s eyes began to gleam greedily; if she was to +be a permanent patient, so much the better for his pockets.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am my own mistress,” Salome continued. “I am +twenty-three years of age, and no one has any right to +exercise control over me or deprive me of my liberty. +Will you let me go, Dr. Arnot?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>“No, mademoiselle—I have given my word to madam—I +must keep it. You may claim that you are of age, +which doubtless is true, but—people who are—ah!—invalids +are not always competent to care for themselves,” +he pointedly concluded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur Arnot,” Salome broke forth, a sudden +thought striking her, “I am rich—I have a large fortune +at my command. Do you know that if I should manage, +by any stratagem, to escape from your insane asylum—that +I could prosecute you—that you would have to suffer +to the extent of the law for detaining me here? And I +would do it—I would not spare you, I assure you. There +are plenty of people in Paris who could prove that I am +perfectly sane—there are even persons here who knew +me before I came abroad from America, and I would +spend thousands of francs to bring you to justice.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The doctor looked somewhat disturbed for a moment +after this spirited threat, but his brow soon cleared, and +he smiled placidly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Madam alone is responsible,” he said. “I have her +signature to the certificate resigning mademoiselle to my +charge, and she would have to prosecute her own mother.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Must I tell you again that she is not my mother?” +cried Salome, flushing hotly. Then she added more +calmly:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You say you have Mrs. Rochester’s signature to the +certificate consigning me here, but has the document also +the signature of some responsible physician, testifying to +my insanity?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot moved restlessly in his chair at this pertinent +question; evidently it was not an agreeable one.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mademoiselle is very curious,” he evasively remarked +with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome began to realize that no entreaty or threat would +avail, and then it occurred to her that possibly bribery +might succeed where all other arguments would fail.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mrs. Rochester has agreed to pay you well, I presume, +for detaining me here?” she remarked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Patients are not usually treated free of charge in a +retreat like this,” he returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>“Would you mind telling me the amount you are to +receive?” Salome asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot sneered audibly at this question.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So that mademoiselle may have another point against +me in law?” he retorted with a sarcastic laugh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, monsieur, I was not thinking of that,” she quietly +replied; “but I imagined that I might perhaps outbid +my enemy. I have told you that I am rich. See +here! I have a letter of credit for five thousand dollars—twenty-five +thousand francs of your money,” and she +drew forth the envelope containing it. “I will give you +four thousand of it, or twenty thousand francs, if you +will unbar your doors and let me go free this hour.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot glanced hungrily at the envelope, while he +appeared surprised at her statement; for, in spite of her +previous assertion that she was rich, he had not believed +that she could personally control any amount worth mentioning. +He was strongly tempted, however, by the sum +which she now offered him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But there were a good many things to be thought of in +connection with it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Rochester might pay him a visit before leaving +for Italy, and demand to see his patient. If he could +not produce her, she could easily make trouble for him; +she would demand the money she had already paid him; +she might complain of him to the authorities, and thus +cause an investigation of the way he conducted his institution, +which would ruin his reputation, and even so +large a sum as twenty thousand francs would not compensate +him for that.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still, if he could have accepted Salome’s offer without +any danger to himself, it is safe to say that he would +have done so on the spot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was thoughtful for several moments afterward, +while she watched him with breathless eagerness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Twenty thousand francs is a large sum, mademoiselle,” +he at length remarked, a greedy light in his eyes; “but +even if I should accept your offer, how can I be assured +that it really belongs to you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s lips curled scornfully; she saw that the man +<span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>was such a knave himself he had no faith in any one +else.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You shall yourself accompany me to the bank while I +draw the money, and where I have already been several +times to provide myself with funds. The cashier and +clerks there know me and will identify me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This sounded reasonable, and the man was half tempted +again to yield, for he wanted the money badly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Perhaps after Madame Rochester had left Paris he +might venture to accept her offer; but at present it would +not do to run the risk of discovery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am bound to madam,” he finally said in a musing +tone. “I am afraid—at least I must have time to think; +I will consider the matter, and let mademoiselle know +my decision later.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>With that he bowed politely to her and walked out of +the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was greatly disappointed and distressed, and, being +still weak and easily unnerved, she burst into bitter +weeping.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew of course that inquiry would soon be made +for her, and she wondered what kind of a story Mrs. +Rochester would make up to account for her disappearance +from the chateau.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, if she could only get word to some one outside!</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Salome was not of a despondent temperament naturally, +and after the first paroxysm of despair had passed +she began to consider her situation more calmly and +hopefully, and tried to devise some plan by which to outwit +her captors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her first resolve was to disarm Dr. Arnot, if possible, +of any suspicion of her intention—make him think that +she had concluded to submit to a fate she could not +change, and thus secure more freedom in the hospital.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew there were wards in every such institution, +where the harmless patients were allowed to mingle with +each other, and she meant to obtain permission to go +among them. She also knew that visitors were frequently +admitted to these wards, and she hoped she would either +find some one among them who would befriend her, or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>who would at least secretly take a letter to post outside +for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Having decided upon this course, she immediately +wrote a note, telling Harriet something of what had occurred +during the last three weeks; that she had been +entrapped and was now confined in an insane asylum, of +which a physician, calling himself Dr. Arnot, had charge.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She charged her to take instant measures for her release—to +go to the mother-superior of the convent, tell her the +circumstance, when she felt sure she would manage some +way to have her set at liberty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She always carried postage stamps about with her, so +she could easily prepare this epistle for the mail.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had written on some leaves which she had torn +from a note-book, but she had no envelopes. She managed +to fashion something that answered from more leaves +of her book, then addressed the missive, and concealed it +about her person, so as to have it in readiness in case she +should find any one willing to take it out for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Feeling that there was now no longer any necessity for +her to go about disguised, she threw aside her awkward +bandages, cap, and glasses, and was once more her natural +self, save for the loose and unbecoming nun’s dress, +which of course she was still obliged to wear, as she had +no other.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME IS MISSED.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>A few days passed. Salome was kindly treated in +every respect save that of being kept a close prisoner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was served by a pretty and good-natured maid; +she had every luxury of the season provided to tempt her +appetite, and was provided with a variety of entertaining +reading, also with materials for fancy work to occupy her +time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she became terribly tired of her solitary confinement, +and irritated at being so hedged about that she +could find no way to send out her letter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had tried to sound the fidelity of the girl who waited +upon her, but found that she was entirely devoted to the +interests of her employer, and that it would be worse than +useless to attempt to bribe her to assist to escape; so +she wisely refrained from exciting suspicions that she +was contemplating any such measure, and even feigned a +content and cheerfulness in her presence which she was +far from feeling.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot paid her a visit every day, but she always +received him with a cool dignity which rather awed and +held him at arm’s length, in spite of his habitual composure +and assurance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One morning, however, she told him firmly that she +could not remain shut up in that one room any longer—that +she must have more liberty or her health would +suffer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I am afraid of you, mademoiselle,” he returned, +while he regarded her searchingly and with a peculiar +smile. “There is no reason why you should not have +more freedom if you will only be reasonable and promise +<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>me that you will not make trouble for me by trying to +escape.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome smiled scornfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur Arnot must have a strange distrust of his +own power if he imagines that a weak girl can escape +through solid brick walls, or between iron bars, or elude +the vigilance of his many attendants,” she sarcastically +returned. “I do not say,” she continued, “that I should +not avail myself of the opportunity of walking out of this +institution if the way were opened for me; but since your +precautions are sufficient to restrain your hundreds of +other patients, they surely ought to be sufficient for me +also. I must at least have the liberty of the ward with +your harmless patients, if nothing more.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you no fear of them, mademoiselle?” the physician +asked with evident curiosity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; why should I fear them more than they fear each +other?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But they are mad, and do not know the difference.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And I am sane, consequently I do know the difference. +Thank you, Dr. Arnot, for the admission, unintentional +though it may have been,” said Salome dryly, while the +man flushed, and thought her very quick-witted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well,” he returned, after considering a moment, “you +shall have the liberty of the ward, if you so desire,” and +walking to the door, he opened it, and held it for her to +pass out.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was not slow to avail herself of this privilege, +and walked immediately and fearlessly into the long and +lofty room, or hall, into which twenty or more smaller +rooms opened, and where there were assembled as many +women of various ages and appearances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The portières, which she had noticed on the night of +her arrival, and which had been so cleverly arranged to +cut off the end of the hall, had been swept aside, and she +could now look down the whole length of the vast room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was lighted by immense grated windows at either +end, and also by a rotunda in the centre, and was clean, +airy, and cheerful.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome passed slowly down the ward, her keen glance +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>taking in every detail of persons and things about her, +while she was no less curiously scrutinized by the other +occupants of the place, who were quick to recognize the +fact that there was a stranger in their midst.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She spoke a kind word here and there, for her sympathies +were readily enlisted, gave a smile to others, and it +was evident, from the friendly glances which were bestowed +upon her by all, that she would soon become a +favorite with those harmless but pitiable creatures.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot watched her, a troubled look on his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I don’t like this business—I wish I hadn’t put my +finger in it,” he muttered; “the girl is no more crazy +than I am, and I was a fool to lend myself to madam’s +scheme, though I did need the money sadly. I believe—as +soon as I am sure that she has left the country—I’ll +make terms with the girl on condition that she will promise +not to denounce me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Alas! delays are dangerous, says the old proverb, and +Dr. Arnot’s doom was sealed when he decided in favor of +procrastination.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A fortnight slipped by, and Salome continued to mingle +every day with the poor wrecks about her, and though +her heart was often sad with hope deferred, she became +deeply interested in her strange companions. For some +of them she grew to feel a great tenderness, while to +them she seemed like a beautiful saint.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If a patient were ill or fractious, the attendant had only +to send for Salome, when a few quiet words, a clasp of +the hand, a softly breathed hymn, would subdue the unruly +spirit, restore harmony, or lull the restless sufferer +to sleep.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But during all this time the anxious girl had found no +opportunity to send her letter to Harriet. It still lay in +the depths of the capacious pocket of her nun’s dress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was scarcely a day that there was not some visitor +in the ward; sometimes there were two or three; but +no one had yet appeared in whom she felt that she could +have confidence. Besides, they were always accompanied +by Dr. Arnot, one of the other physicians, or by some +attendant, and Salome felt that she was always closely +<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>watched at such times, consequently she had not dared to +address any one. There were times when she was sad +and depressed because of hope deferred, but if anything +could have consoled her it would have been the fact that +she was doing good, while it was not entirely uninteresting +to study the different phases of insanity around her.</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime Harriet Winter had become very anxious +about her young mistress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had received a letter which Salome had inclosed +to her in one which she had written to the mother-superior, +and in which she had told her when she might look for +her return to Paris. So she had given herself no uneasiness +until the time had passed and she did not make her +appearance or send her any word regarding plans for the +future.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she began to be troubled, and one morning took +a sudden resolve that she would go out to the chateau +and ascertain the cause of Salome’s detention.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The Rochesters and Winthrops—the latter having returned +a few days after Salome’s departure, in good +health and spirits—were very busy preparing for their +departure to Italy, and Harriet found considerable confusion +prevailing at the villa.</p> + +<p class='c011'>As it happened, Mrs. Rochester was passing through +the great hall just as the servant was admitting her, and +instantly realized that she was on the brink of a danger +which she had not foreseen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It will be remembered that when Mrs. Rochester had +questioned Salome regarding her relations with the woman, +the young girl had evaded her, and she had no +suspicions that they had any interests in common. She +simply imagined that the woman was grateful for the +care which had been bestowed upon her during her illness, +and so when Salome had called upon her for help +in her extremity, at the chateau, she had cheerfully responded, +to prove her gratitude. She did not dream that +they lived together, or that the woman felt any special +responsibility regarding Salome’s safety or well-being, +and, since she had not known of the letter received +<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>through the mother-superior, she did not suppose her to +know anything of the movements or intentions of Salome; +she was, therefore, considerably disturbed when she +heard her inquiring in somewhat excited tones for Sister +Angela.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She immediately went forward, sent the servant away, +and quietly drew Harriet into a small reception-room +and shut the door against intruders, while she congratulated +herself that she had happened to appear upon the +scene just at that opportune moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My good woman, what do you wish?—what can I do +for you?” she inquired, assuming a tone of kindly interest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I’ve come to see Miss Sa—Sister Angela,” Harriet +returned, having almost betrayed her knowledge of Salome’s +identity, in her excitement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why,” exclaimed Mrs. Rochester, affecting great surprise, +“did you expect to find Sister Angela here now?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Of course I did, marm! Where else should I look +for her?” Harriet returned, growing more distressed at +the confirmation of the statement made by a servant that +the nun was not there. “She came here to nurse,” she +went on, “but wrote me about three weeks ago that she +should come home in about a fortnight. It’s three +weeks now; so I came to see for myself what kept her. +I keep house for her, marm, in a little house just under +the convent walls,” she concluded, in explanation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But,” responded Mrs. Rochester, still with an appearance +of surprise, “Sister Angela’s duties here ceased +some four weeks ago. Did she not return to Paris at that +time?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What!” cried Harriet in a frightened tone, and +growing pale; “it’s true, then, what the servant told me—she +isn’t here?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; she left Dr. Winthrop some four weeks ago,” +Mrs. Rochester answered. “She was taken ill here very +suddenly one day—she fainted, and seemed quite worn +out; but, as soon as she was able, she insisted upon returning +to Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good gracious, marm! you can’t mean it!” exclaimed +the woman wildly; “and she never came home at all!”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>“Is it possible?” said Mrs. Rochester with sympathetic +earnestness. “Perhaps, then, she went to the convent.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, marm; she has her own house, and she would +have come directly to me,” said Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then she isn’t a nun at all,” remarked her companion +in a peculiar tone; “for nuns do not keep house by +themselves.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, that doesn’t matter now,” Harriet returned +evasively, but looking rather crest-fallen at having betrayed +so much. “It does matter, though, where she is +now. I must find her right away. When did she go +away from here?” she demanded rising, for she was wild +to begin her search for the missing girl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Let me see,” mused Mrs. Rochester; “I believe it +was just four weeks ago yesterday, that——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Four weeks!” interrupted Harriet scornfully. “Why, +I had a letter from her three weeks ago, and she said she’d +be at home in about a fortnight, as I told you before.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester remembered and had been somewhat +upset by the intelligence; still she was bound to stick to +her text if possible.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you sure the letter was written only three weeks +ago?” she inquired, simply to gain time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sure, marm; I ain’t likely to make many mistakes +about Miss—about Sister Angela,” Harriet replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But it certainly was four weeks ago yesterday that +she had the attack I spoke of; Dr. Winthrop would himself +tell you so, and that she wished to return at once to +Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, I’m beat!” Harriet exclaimed in a tremulous +voice; “for that letter was certainly written three weeks +ago, and it was postmarked from this town.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps,” Mrs. Rochester suggested, a bright idea +occurring to her, “she was taken worse after leaving here, +and was obliged to stop over at the inn or somewhere in +the village; then, when she was a little better, she may +have written you, but, not wishing to alarm you, told +you that she would be home in a couple of weeks; then +she may have been taken worse again, and—and perhaps +is ill somewhere now.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>“No—no, marm, that isn’t like her at all; if she had +been sick, she’d have sent for me to come and take care +of her,” Harriet returned, tears streaming over her cheeks. +“I tell you, marm, it’ll be a sad day for me if anything +has happened to her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her heart was full of anxiety and fear, and she imagined +a hundred ills that might have befallen her dear +young lady; but she did not once suspect treachery on +the part of any one at the chateau, for she could conceive +of no motive that would prompt any one to injure her. +Salome had never confided anything of her history, and +she did not suppose she had ever met either the Rochesters +or the Winthrops before she went to nurse them at the +villa.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The wily Mrs. Rochester, after suggesting that perhaps +Sister Angela had probably succumbed to a sudden and +fatal attack of illness, was extremely anxious to get rid +of her excitable visitor. She feared that Dr. Winthrop +might learn that the devoted and self-sacrificing nun who +had nursed him back to life was unaccountably missing. +If so, he would certainly spare no efforts to get tidings +of her, and, if possible, restore her to the lamenting +Harriet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When Harriet Winter left the chateau, it was with the +determination to use every means in her power to find +her beloved friend.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXV.<br> <span class='c009'>HARRIET’S SEARCH FOR SALOME.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Harriet went slowly down the avenue, after leaving +the villa, looking the picture of dejection and +misery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On and on she plodded toward the village, taking no +note of distance or her surroundings, until, all at once, +a frisky dog, that she had kindly fed with dainty bits +from the sick-rooms while she was nursing in the chateau, +bounded out of a thicket and rushed forward, fawning +upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was startled, for everything about her had been so +silent, so apparently deserted, and, in trying to avoid the +antics of the joyful creature, her foot caught in her skirts, +she stumbled, and fell upon the ground.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was not hurt, only frightened and trembling, and +just then she heard a low exclamation of surprise, and +the next moment a figure sprang toward her and helped +her to her feet.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was Dr. Winthrop, who had been concealed from her +view in a rustic arbor beyond the thicket, where he had +been reading.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Madame Winter!” he cried astonished, as he saw who +she was. “Are you hurt? I had no idea what Don was +up to or I would not have allowed him to rush at you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, I’m only startled and a bit upset,” Harriet replied, +as she tried to recover her equanimity. “But, oh, +Dr. Winthrop, I’m in great trouble.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Trouble!” he repeated kindly. “Come, then, and +sit down while you tell me about it,” and he led her to +the arbor where he had been sitting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now unburden yourself, my good woman,” he went +on, with increasing sympathy, as he noted her quivering +<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>lips and tearful eyes, “and let me see if I cannot find +some way to help you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is about Sister Angela, sir——” Harriet began.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sister Angela!” interrupted Dr. Winthrop, anxiety +and interest depicted on his thin face. “What about her? +I know that she was taken suddenly ill, and went away +from here about a month ago. I trust she did not—die!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No one can tell—no one knows; no one has seen her +since she left here,” Harriet cried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No one has seen her since she left here four weeks +ago!” Dr. Winthrop exclaimed in great astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Have you been to the convent to inquire for her?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; you see, sir, I can’t talk with the sisters. Sister +Angela had to tell me in English what they said, and so +since she’s been away I’ve stayed mostly by myself, but +the mother, as they call her, sent me a letter from her +about three weeks ago.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Three weeks ago! Where was it written from?” Dr. +Winthrop asked eagerly. “I thought you said nothing +was known of her movements since she left here!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So I did, sir. The letter did not tell me much, only +that she hoped to come to Paris in about two weeks. It +was written from here—at least it was mailed from the +village.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is very strange!—written three weeks ago, and +mailed from the village, and she left the chateau four +weeks ago,” mused Dr. Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He seemed to be absorbed in thought for a few minutes; +then he said gravely:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is very mysterious! You are sure the sisters at the +convent know nothing about her?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, sir; they would have told me if they had heard +anything—there is another sister there who speaks a little +English.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I fear that something serious has happened to +her,” Dr. Winthrop continued. “I am afraid that she +was attacked with cholera after she left here—that, in +her thoughtful care for others, she did not wish to carry +the disease back to the convent, and so resolved to keep +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>it to herself and remain at the village. She could not have +been very ill at first, and so, to quiet suspicion, wrote to +you and the mother-superior in her usual cheerful strain. +Then—I am afraid, Madame Winter, that—that she must +have had a relapse, and——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Died!” cried Harriet with a shudder. “Oh! that +was just the way Mrs. Rochester thought it out, and perhaps +it’s true,” and bowing her head upon her hand the +woman rocked her body to and fro in an agony of grief +pitiful to behold.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not despair,” Dr. Winthrop said, trying to comfort +her a little; “we will not give up all hope while +there is any doubt as to her fate. We must not spend +our time in idle grief—we will bestir ourselves, and do +all that we can to solve the mystery. If I were only +stronger I would start out at once upon the search. But +do you go, my good woman, to the village yonder, and +ascertain if any one answering Sister Angela’s description +has been ill there. If you can learn nothing there, +return to the convent, tell them what you have been told +here to-day, and ask the sisters’ help in looking up the +case.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is now three o’clock,” he continued, glancing at his +watch. “A train leaves here for Paris at six, and that +will give you ample time to find out if Sister Angela has +been ill at the village; then you can return to the city in +season to interview the mother-superior and the sisters at +the convent. Now hasten, and be sure to let me know +by the morning post what success you have. I would go +with you, but this exciting news has so unnerved me I +have not the strength; but if I do not get a favorable +report from you to-morrow, I will come at once to Paris, +in spite of everything, and see what I can do.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet rose as he concluded, and bidding him a brief +good-day hastened away, somewhat relieved and comforted, +to have her burden so heartily shared by another.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Of course, she heard nothing at the village, although +she was most persistent and diligent in her inquiries.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No one had seen a gray sister there, no one had been +ill at the inn since the plague began to subside; surely +<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>no one had died there, or it would have been known +throughout the place, and the curé notified.</p> + +<p class='c011'>So, with a little comfort instilled into her heart by +these positive assurances, Harriet went back to Paris, +and to the convent of the gray nuns, to consult with the +mother-superior.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her anxiety and perplexity were in no wise relieved +upon reaching the convent, for neither the mother nor +sisters could give her the slightest information, or suggest +any solution to the mystery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Poor Harriet passed a sad and harrowing night. She +could not close her eyes, neither could she rest. She composed +herself sufficiently, however, to write to Dr. Winthrop, +and went out to post the letter as soon as the day +dawned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the young physician had been scarcely less anxious +than Salome’s faithful attendant. So all night long he, +too, had been wakeful, restless, and anxious over Sister +Angela’s strange disappearance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When morning broke he had worked himself into such +a state of excitement that he could endure it no longer, +though he concealed it so well that no one suspected the +trouble upon his mind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At the breakfast-table Dr. Winthrop announced his +intention of taking a drive, as the day was fine, and he +thought the air and exercise would do him good.</p> + +<p class='c011'>No one opposed him in this, and as soon as the meal +was over he ordered his carriage, and, without inviting +any one to accompany him, drove away.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had determined to go to Paris, to try and ascertain +for himself what had become of Sister Angela.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet was greatly surprised when, in answer to a ring +of the bell, she went to the door and found him standing +there.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew that he could not have received her letter, +and for a moment a thrill of joy shot through her heart. +But his first words blasted the little hope she had felt.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did you find her?” he demanded almost curtly, and +without waiting for any exchange of formalities.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No,” replied the woman, with a sad shake of her +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>head; “and I’m almost sure that something dreadful has +happened to her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not be discouraged,” he said more cheerfully than +he felt; “we must find her, or at least gain some tidings +of her, if we go systematically to work.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And he did go systematically to work at once. He +sent his carriage back to the chateau with a message to +his mother, telling her that he should remain in Paris for +the present, as important business there demanded his +attention. Then he sought the prefect of police, and +related Salome’s story to him, telling him to spare no +expense in searching for her, and keep him notified of +any information which might be gained from day to day.</p> + +<p class='c011'>More than this, he employed a couple of private detectives, +hoping to gain some clew in this way.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop was greatly astonished when her +son’s carriage returned to the chateau, and his man +brought her the message which he had sent.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why! we leave for Rome the day after to-morrow! +What can he mean?” she exclaimed in dismay.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman knew nothing of his brother’s plans or the +business which detained him in Paris, and, with her curiosity +excited to the highest pitch, and piqued besides +because it was evident that he had no intention of accompanying +the party to Rome, she immediately followed +him to Paris where she had a somewhat exciting interview.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot understand you, Truman,” she told him in +her most dignified manner, “running away in this incomprehensible +manner, just as we are leaving for Rome. +What will Sadie think of you?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really, mother,” Dr. Winthrop gravely replied, “I +was not aware that I had been guilty of anything so very +rude, and as for what Miss Rochester may think that +cannot affect me in any way.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How can you say that, my son? You should have +more regard for her feelings. Mrs. Rochester is very +much hurt, for she thinks you are not using Sadie fairly +at all.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why so?” the young man demanded, surprised.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>“She thinks, under the circumstances, that you are +exceedingly indifferent to her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Under what circumstances?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why, when a man is pledged to marry a woman it is +expected that he will show her some attention.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It cannot be possible that you or Mrs. Rochester believe +I am pledged to Sadie Rochester!” said Dr. Winthrop, +looking exceedingly annoyed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Any one would believe that we had a right to think +so, after a certain interview which occurred here in Paris, +and your subsequent attentions to the young lady. Really, +Truman, you had no right to compromise Sadie if you +had no intention of marrying her,” Madame Winthrop +concluded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have never had any intention of compromising Miss +Rochester,” Dr. Winthrop thoughtfully responded; and +yet, out of the loyalty and delicacy of his noble soul, he +could not bring himself to explain even to his mother how +the girl had forgotten and betrayed herself, thus compromising +him, rather than he her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman, you ought to marry her. I have set my +heart upon your marrying her. Will you?” and the woman +turned a pleading face up to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother!” he cried out sharply, “do not talk to me of +marriage. I do not wish to marry any one. I have no +heart to bestow upon any woman. It died—it was burned +to ashes with my Salome,” and a shiver of agony ran over +him, leaving him deathly white, as he thought of his +beloved whom he believed had met a tragic fate in New +York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But surely you will marry some time, Truman—you +will not live single all your life—promise me that you +will not. I could not bear the thought of you, with all +your talents, isolating yourself, and leaving no one to +perpetuate your name. Oh, why cannot you be sensible +and marry Sadie?—you have led her to believe that you +care for her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam was very much in earnest, and she plainly betrayed +it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop frowned and compressed his white lips +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>to keep himself from giving expression to a bitter retort. +He could not forget, if his mother did, that but for her +he might even now have been happy in the love and possession +of a beautiful wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why will you harp upon that subject?” he said in a +low, restrained tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Because I do not want you to waste your life; because +I want you to have what rightly belongs to you—the +Hamilton fortune,” she responded passionately; then she +added vehemently: “Promise me one thing, before I go, +and I will try to be satisfied—promise me, if you ever +marry again, that Sadie Rochester shall be your +wife.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He smiled bitterly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mother,” he said at last, to end the matter, “if +it will ease your mind, I will promise you that much—if +I ever do take to myself a wife, Sadie Rochester shall +occupy that position—that is, if she should desire it. +But I beg—nay, I insist, that you never broach the subject +to me again. I prefer to act independently in all +such matters.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop’s face lighted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She felt that he had fairly committed himself at last, +and she believed it would be comparatively easy for Sadie +to win him now.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You will come with us to Rome?” she said +eagerly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; I cannot. I have work to do here in Paris +yet.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What work? Surely you do not intend to resume +your work in the hospitals—there can be no need of that +now,” madam remarked with a clouded brow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am going to make a study of certain diseases, for a +while, preparatory to my return to the United States.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And will you not come to Rome at all while we are +there?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps, by and by; I cannot tell,” was the evasive +reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam had to content herself with that, for she saw +that it would not do to press the matter further, and she +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>returned to the chateau, where she reported the concession +which her son had made, to Mrs. Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How long does his majesty expect I am going to wait +for him to make up his royal mind whether he will condescend +to take me or not?” Miss Rochester scornfully +remarked with a toss of her handsome head, when this +was repeated to her.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXVI.<br> <span class='c009'>MISS ROCHESTER A VICTOR.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Dr. Winthrop was greatly disturbed by his mother’s +visit and the charge which she had brought against +him in connection with Sadie Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The girl must know that she alone was to blame for +the unlucky <em>contrétemps</em> which occurred that morning,” he +said impatiently, as he paced his room back and forth. +“Why couldn’t she have explained the matter to her +mother, and thus exonerated me from all blame? Perhaps +she is ashamed to confess that she so betrayed herself. +Such a confession, I admit, would be awkward for +her; yet, in justice to me, she should have made it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last he sat down before his writing-desk, muttering +resolutely:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will at least give her the privilege of rejecting me, +and that will settle the matter for all time. I am bored +to death with this continual harping upon the subject of +my marriage with the girl.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He wrote rapidly for a few moments, after which he +signed his name with a reckless dash, and then proceeded +to read over what he had written. The letter ran thus:</p> + +<p class='c013'>“<span class='sc'>Miss Rochester</span>:—I am considerably troubled over +an interview that I have just had with my mother, and +during which she stated that you feel yourself somewhat +compromised by what occurred between us on the day of +your leaving Paris. I sincerely regret if anything which +I may have said or done should have surprised you into +the betrayal of feelings which you would have preferred +to conceal. I imagined that it would be a very easy +matter for you to explain the situation to Mrs. Rochester; +but if, under the circumstances, you feel delicate about +<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>so doing, and she is still laboring under a misapprehension +of the real nature of the interview, I will make you +the only reparation in my power by the offer of my hand. +I will tell you frankly that I have no heart to give any +woman—that the image of my dead wife still fills it to +the exclusion of all other affection, and I feel that it is +but a mockery to ask any one to marry me. Still if, by +so doing, I can set you right in the eyes of others, I am +at your service; the proposal will at least give you the +opportunity of rejecting one who has, perhaps, placed you +in a false position, although unintentionally.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Very truly yours,</div> + <div class='line in4'>“<span class='sc'>Truman H. Winthrop</span>.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>“There! I believe this will end that matter for all +time,” the young man said as he slipped the missive into +its envelope and addressed it. “She can tell them all +that I have proposed to her and she has rejected me, then +they will surely let us both alone about this hateful +marriage.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He never once imagined that the girl was as eager for +it as her mother and Madame Winthrop—that she was +only waiting for the slightest concession on his part to +trap him into an engagement, and thus secure the prize +for which she had so long angled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Therefore it was with no little amazement and consternation +that he received, late the next afternoon, the +following reply to his proposal:</p> + +<p class='c013'>“<span class='sc'>Dear Dr. Winthrop</span>:—You can perhaps imagine +what the feelings of a sensitive woman may have been +upon receiving such a note as you wrote to me yesterday. +It was not a pleasant thing to learn that your mother had +told you that I felt compromised by the event which +occurred, whatever my feelings may have been. But +since she has told you and since you have dealt so candidly +with me, I will be no less frank with you.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That I did betray feelings which almost any woman +would have regretted revealing I cannot deny, and, +strange though it may seem to you, my mother is the last +<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>person in the world who would regard such a betrayal +with any leniency. Hence my hesitation to explain matters +to her. Having once procrastinated, I have not +since had the courage to broach the subject, so she has +naturally inferred what Madame Winthrop intimated to +you.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very good to wish to set me right, though +you say that you have no heart to give me—that you feel +it is but mockery for you to make me the proposal you +have. I do not so regard it, and I deeply sympathize +with you in your great loss—in your blighted hopes, and +honor you for your faithfulness to one who was so dear. +But, Dr. Winthrop, a man in your position needs a pleasant +home and a devoted wife, and I believe both those +results would be obtained if I should accept your proposal; +and more than that, a wrong would be righted—the +Rochester-Hamilton fortunes, which should never +have been willed otherwise upon such arbitrary conditions, +would be secured to the proper heirs. Do not deem +me unmaidenly, I pray, if I confess that my feelings +toward you are of such a nature that I am not only willing, +but glad, to devote my life to you—that I am even sanguine +enough to hope that I shall yet make the future +hold something of content, if not of positive happiness +for you. Believing this, and knowing also that my own +hopes have no higher aim than to make myself useful in +contributing to your future comfort and interest, even +though I may never win your love, I gratefully accept +the offer of your hand, and pledge myself to be a faithful +and helpful wife to you.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“Yours now and ever,</div> + <div class='line in8'>“<span class='sc'>Sarah Rochester</span>.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>A groan of misery burst from Dr. Winthrop’s white lips +as he finished reading this cunningly constructed epistle.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has the girl no sense of shame—no discernment?” +he cried fiercely. “Could she not understand that my +letter was but a mere form—a simple pretext to give her +a chance to set herself right with my mother and her own? +Could she not see that I shrank from all thought of marriage, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>with any woman, with a feeling of absolute loathing? +Great Heaven! She has pledged herself to me—she +has made the affair a formal engagement, and I am +bound to her in spite of myself!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, if he could have foreseen what the result of his +letter would have been, his hand would have withered +before writing it!</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still he believed that she really loved him; she had +betrayed it involuntarily—as he imagined—that morning +when he had gone to tell her of the danger of remaining +in Paris; she had confessed it again in her letter to-day. +Her life, then, would be ruined if she did not marry him. +She would lose her fortune through no fault of her own, +and her mother would also forfeit the independent control +of the income of fifty thousand dollars.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He realized that Miss Rochester was beautiful; that +she would shine in society, and be an ornament in any +man’s home, and having been allowed to see only the +best side of her nature, he did not once imagine her to be +the hypocrite that she was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Why, then, since his own life was so hopelessly ruined, +should he not gracefully submit to the inevitable, and +sacrifice himself to the wishes and good of others?</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had hardly arrived at this almost despairing conclusion, +after several hours of rebellion against his doom, +when his brother suddenly dashed into his presence, without +even the formality of knocking for admittance, his +brow gloomy, his face white from passion and pain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop regarded him with surprise and anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it, Norman?” he inquired. “Is there anything +the matter at the chateau?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, everybody is well, if that is what you mean,” +was the curt reply, as the young man recklessly threw +himself into a chair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But, Norman, it does not seem to be well with you—what +has occurred to disturb you thus?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have simply come to have an understanding with +you before we leave for Italy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“An understanding?” repeated Dr. Winthrop. “Pray +what is there that needs explanation between you and me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>“This—is it true that you are going to marry Sadie +Rochester?” demanded Norman Winthrop, starting to his +feet and facing his brother, while a dull red wave of passion +flushed his brow. “Is it true that you are formally +betrothed to her? My mother has told me so, and I have +also heard it from another source.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop searched his brother’s face; he noticed +his sullen, desperate air; the reckless tone in his voice, +the look of pain on his face, which was now pale even to +ghastliness, and he instantly surmised the meaning of it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His brother loved the girl who had but just pledged +herself to marry him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have heard it from another source—from whom?” +he inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“From that heartless flirt herself—Sadie Rochester,” +was the fierce reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Has Miss Rochester told you that she is betrothed to +me?” Dr. Winthrop gravely asked, thinking that the girl +had been in rather unseemly haste to announce the engagement, +since he had but just learned her decision himself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, she says she is pledged to marry you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pledged to marry me! Does she appear at all averse +to the bond?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no!” responded Norman passionately; “and that +is what cuts me so, for you are so indifferent; you do not +act at all like a man who has been so fortunate as to win +a beautiful woman like Sadie Rochester, and I want to +know whether you are voluntarily betrothed to her, or +whether you simply feel bound to comply with the conditions +of that contract.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young physician was deeply distressed by this new +development, for he saw that his brother was desperately +in love, and it seemed hard indeed if another life must +be ruined by his own enforced engagement.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sorry, Norman, that this matter is a source of +unhappiness to you,” he said earnestly, “but I suppose it +is settled that I am to marry Miss Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop began excitedly pacing the floor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Heavens! you drive me mad!” he cried passionately. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>“You suppose it is settled that you are to marry her! Do +you love the girl?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And he stopped short in his walk, and glared fiercely +at his companion with flaming eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray do not get so excited, Norman,” Dr. Winthrop +wearily returned. “Sit down and let us talk this matter +over calmly. You ask me if I love Sadie Rochester. +You must know that after the experiences which I have +been through during the last two years, it would not be +easy for me to love any woman with the absorbing passion +of a first attachment. I have not even pretended to +any such affection; but Miss Rochester is not disagreeable +to me; she evidently desires the union, while you +well know that my mother’s heart is set upon it. Therefore, +since much depends upon the fulfilment of this +contract, I feel that it is perhaps my duty to yield to +the wishes of others, and—well,” with a long-drawn +sigh, as if further explanation would not better matters, +“that is about all there is concerning it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And, I suppose you were going to remark, since your +life has been ruined by the loss of the woman you loved, +it cannot matter much if you sacrifice yourself to gain +these fortunes, without regard to the feelings of any one +else,” sneered Norman Winthrop, with exceeding bitterness. +“Yes,” he went on, with increasing excitement, +“you have read me aright; this matter is a source of unhappiness—of +despair to me. I love Sadie Rochester as +you never thought of loving any one; she has become the +one woman in the world to me, and if I must lose her I +do not care how quickly I go to the devil. Be quiet!” +he continued savagely, as Dr. Winthrop attempted to +speak; “I must let it all out—I’ll not give up all my +hopes without a struggle. I know that I have always +been the black sheep of the family, that I’ve been wild +and fast, and have cared but little for anything save my +own pleasure; but I love this girl so well that she could +do anything she chose with me; she could mould me to +her will like a lump of wax—I would be a man for her +sake, working hard for fortune, honor, and a name, if I +could but win her for my wife; but without her I am +<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>lost, and the hardest of all is that I believe I could win +her if it were not for this cursed money.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop flushed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was not pleasant to be told that a woman was going +to marry him simply for the fortune she would thus secure, +even if he did not love her as well as he should. Still +he believed that his brother was blinded by his own feelings. +He was quite sure that Miss Rochester loved him—for +she had told him so—had she not tried to impress the +fact upon him in many ways?—and he honestly believed +that he should wreck her happiness if he did not make +her his wife. At all events, he had offered himself to +her, and been accepted, and there was no honorable way +of retreating from the position.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, Norman,” he said sadly, for he was grieved to +see how reckless his brother had become under the influence +of this passion, “I cannot tell you how shocked I +am by what you have told me regarding your feelings +toward Miss Rochester. If I thought that she loved you +in return, and would be happier as your wife, I would +willingly release her from her pledge to me; for, believe +me, the money is, comparatively, of little consequence to +me. Indeed I would most cheerfully transfer my right +to it to you, if that would answer the same purpose, and +the requirements of the will, and make you both happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Would you?” eagerly demanded the young man, +brightening visibly. “Then prove it—renounce it and +Sadie at the same time, and I swear that I will leave all +my past life behind me and become a good man. I am +simply desperate, True—I am pleading for life, home, +happiness; you have no idea how much is involved, for I +idolize this girl; she will either be my salvation or prove +my ruin. True, will you give me my bride and save my +soul?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop arose and grasped his brother’s hand. +He was deeply moved by this appeal, and for a moment +he could not speak, while a thrill of joy agitated every +fibre of his being at the prospect of his own escape from +this hated marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” he said at length, “at least I will give you a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>chance, if you think there is one for you. Miss Rochester +knows that I do not love her as a man ought to love his +wife; and I am willing to tell her that I would prefer to +forfeit the fortune rather than marry her if she entertains +anything of affection for you. I will submit the matter +for her decision, but you must make up your mind to +abide by it, for I cannot honorably retreat from the engagement +if she sees fit to hold me to it. Believe me, +Norman, I would gladly give you both fortune and bride +if I could, but since I cannot, your fate must hinge upon +Miss Rochester’s fiat.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I am lost,” cried Norman Winthrop, reeling +where he stood, “for if you submit the question to her, +she will choose to be your wife and not mine. Break the +engagement yourself, and, with no hope before her of +winning these fortunes, she will be driven to me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot do that, Norman. I see no honorable way +in which I can withdraw from my engagement to her, and +I am surprised at you. I cannot understand how you +would be willing to marry a woman who was driven to +you, as you express it, by being thrust from another,” Dr. +Winthrop concluded with some scorn, even though he +deeply sympathized with his brother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You do not know what it is to love as I love,” he +cried hoarsely—“and you will not break with her?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must not.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then it doesn’t matter how quick I go to——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The last word was almost inarticulate, as he turned +and rushed from the room, slamming the door violently +behind him.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXVII.<br> <span class='c009'>DR. WINTHROP HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS ROCHESTER.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>The next morning Dr. Winthrop was an early visitor +at the chateau. He was resolved to put his own +and his brother’s fate to the test. Upon reaching the +villa, he sent a servant directly to Miss Rochester, asking +if she would oblige him with a private interview.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She soon came, looking more beautiful than he had +ever seen her, in a spotless dress of exquisitely embroidered +white lawn, with a few brilliant autumn leaves fastened +to her corsage, while her cheeks glowed with +repressed excitement, and her eyes shone like stars.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was almost afraid we should not see you again,” +she remarked, as she came forward and greeted him cordially, +“for your mother said you had important business +which would detain you in Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I did not intend to return when I went away,” he replied, +and she could see that he spoke with an effort, +“but after what occurred yesterday, I felt that I owed it +to you to come.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am very glad,” she returned, blushing delightedly +and bestowing a shy glance upon him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I felt that I owed it to you to explain even more fully +than I have already done, by letter, the state of my feelings +regarding the past, and the prospects of the future,” +he resumed gravely, while his companion paled somewhat, +and wondered if he was going to “back out” after all.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You know the story of my marriage,” he continued; +“but I fear that you do not count the cost of linking your +bright young life to one who has only a dead heart to offer +you. You have done me the honor to tell me that you +will be my wife, in spite of all this; but I have thought +it best to talk with you face to face, that you may be sure +<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>you are making no mistake. My brother came to me last +evening in a perfect frenzy of despair over the knowledge +of your acceptance of my proposal. He loves you with +the one passion of his life; he came to me pleading that +I would release you from your pledge to me; he said he +was pleading for life, home, happiness, that his love +would either be his salvation or his ruin, and I believed +him—it would have been impossible not to believe him. +I told him, Miss Rochester, that I would submit the +matter to you—that I would tell you that the Rochester-Hamilton +fortune was nothing to me compared with his +happiness and yours; that I would far rather forfeit my +share of it than marry you if you loved him and would +give him your hand. It seems to me as if we are all +involved in the most unfortunate complication of circumstances +which only perfect frankness and truthfulness can +set right. I pray that you will be true to the dictates of +your own heart. If you have any affection for my brother—and +I gleaned from what he told me that he believes +you have—if you could be happy with him, I assure you +that I will do all in my power to make your future as +bright as possible, as far as worldly prospects are concerned, +and though we may lose the fortunes that were +so strangely bequeathed, we shall at least have been true +to ourselves, and you will win the best and brightest +crown of a woman’s life—the love of a devoted husband. +I have spoken at length, and very plainly, and now I +await your verdict. What will you say to me?” he questioned, +as he turned his earnest face, his eager eyes upon +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sat perfectly motionless for a few moments after +he concluded, but he could see that her face, though +averted, was crimson, while she trembled visibly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then all at once she lifted her face haughtily and met +his glance with a defiant look.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, what shall I say to you?” she cried, in quivering +tones. “I wonder that I do not tell you to go and never +let me look at your face again; that I do not tell you that +I care nothing for that wretched contract—that I hate it, +scorn it and you; that I would almost rather die than +<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>marry a man who can so coldly tell me that his heart is +dead and he has no love to bestow upon me with his hand—who, +more than that, can plead so eloquently the cause +of another and deprecate his own success. But, oh, Truman +Winthrop, I will not—I will not! I shall be your +wife in spite of it all! You do not know what I sacrifice +in telling you this,” she went on vehemently, and throwing +out her hand toward him with a passionate gesture; +“how my pride suffers, how my love suffers, how I am +violating all the strongest feelings of my nature; but I +cannot help it. I have given myself to you and I will +not retract; but—I will make you love me yet—you shall +yet own to me that your heart is not dead, and that Sadie +Rochester is the one love of your life.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She burst into a passion of tears at this point, and, as +if able to bear no more, abruptly arose and fled from the +room, leaving Dr. Winthrop in no enviable frame of mind.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her passionate denunciation had made him feel as if +he had done her a double wrong in stating his own feelings +so plainly and in pleading his brother’s cause. But +he could not have done otherwise under the circumstances. +Truman Winthrop was true to his heart’s core, and he +could not allow her to marry him without trying to make +her realize the risk she ran of ruining her own life by so +doing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still he felt uncomfortable over having wounded her so +deeply; her words, “you do not know what my pride +suffers—you do not know what my love suffers,” smote +him keenly, and he firmly believed that she could have +no affection whatever for his brother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>How could he know that what she sacrificed in keeping +her pledge to him was the one love of her life—Norman +Winthrop? How could he know that her pride suffered +in that, having vowed to be his wife, she could not repudiate +him and tell him that she scorned and despised +him—that she would never marry him but for the wealth +and position which she would win as his wife?</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had wrought herself into a veritable tempest of +passion, and her last threat that she would win his love +had been an idle one; for she cared little for his affection, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span>in comparison with the fortunes for which she was +scheming.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the die was cast—he had gained nothing by his +visit or by pleading for Norman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was very sad, for he felt that he was standing in +the way of his brother’s interest and happiness and even +his moral welfare.</p> + +<p class='c011'>On the other hand, if Sadie Rochester loved him, as +he was now firmly convinced, it was hard for her to know +that her affection could never be returned; but he felt +that he could do nothing more; he could only leave it to +a higher power to work out and regulate.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Since Dr. Winthrop could at present do nothing more +than he had already done to discover Sister Angela, and +as his friends were to leave for Italy in a few days, he +thought it best to remain at the chateau and assist them +in their arrangements for their departure. So, a little +while after Miss Rochester’s flight from his presence, he +sought his mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She greeted him with undisguised delight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“At last, my dear boy,” she exclaimed as she kissed +him—“at last I have gained the one wish of my heart! +And now I believe that your future will be all that I +could desire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s lips curled in a bitter smile.</p> + +<p class='c011'>If his future, with his sad and blighted heart and broken +hopes, was all that she could desire for him, how shallow +was her nature—how little of real mother love she must +have for him!</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>When Miss Rochester fled in such a passion from Dr. +Winthrop’s presence, she did not slacken her pace until +she reached her mother’s parlor, where she sank upon a +chair, and gave way to a paroxysm of mingled grief, +anger, and mortification, which, however, was not unmixed +with something of almost hysterical exultation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the matter with you?” her mother demanded, +as she regarded her, in bewildered surprise, for it was a +rare occurrence for her proud-spirited, self-reliant daughter +to break down like this.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>The only reply to this question was a burst of nervous +and immoderate laughter, and this sudden change from +tears to mirth really alarmed Mrs. Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Gracious, Sadie! I honestly believe you have hysterics. +I never saw you in such a state before. Here, +take my vinaigrette, and try to calm yourself.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester obediently inhaled several breaths of +the aromatic preparation her mother extended to her, and +gradually regained composure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mamma,” she at length remarked, “I’ve just +had a hand-to-hand battle with my future husband.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sarah!” exclaimed the elder woman, aghast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, but I have come off victor in the encounter,” said +Miss Rochester, with a smile of triumph. “I’ve simply +given him a taste of my claws, and I do not imagine he +will care to have the experience repeated very often. Do +not fear, mamma,” she continued, as she saw the look of +anxiety on her mother’s brow; “it is a settled thing that +I am to be Mrs. Truman Winthrop. I knew that I should +win.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not be too sure; for you would never dare to take +any decided step until you receive those papers from New +York,” was the troubled reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Miss Rochester laughed out mockingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. True does not appear to be in any great hurry to +have his chains irrevocably riveted,” she said with some +bitterness, “but as far as that divorce is considered there +will be no trouble about that, for you know the letter I +received from Converse the day before yesterday, spoke +very encouragingly—he the same as promised that I +should have the papers within three months; that letter +which I made Salome sign did the business. How provoking +it was that she turned up as she did, to make all +this trouble,” she concluded with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, but tell me about your interview with Dr. Winthrop,” +said Mrs. Rochester curiously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young lady complied, and gave her a faithful +account of all that had passed between herself and her +reluctant suitor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Flattering, wasn’t it?” she said sarcastically, in conclusion, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>“to be told that my promised husband loved +another woman to distraction, while he tried to beg off +by pleading the cause of somebody else. If I had not +vowed that I would be mistress of Brookside and Englehurst +at any cost, I believe I would have given him a +curt dismissal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Don’t do anything rash,” pleaded Mrs. Rochester +earnestly, “you will be lucky to get him under any circumstances, +if you can be sure of the divorce; it would +be dreadful to run any risk of—bigamy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nonsense, mamma. Converse knows what he is +about. I have given him a true statement of affairs, and +as he assures me that it will be all right, it surely will +be. And, mamma, we must never let Salome out of that +place, for if she and Dr. Winthrop should ever meet, +even after I have bagged my game, she could make no +end of trouble for me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I intend that she shall never do any harm,” Mrs. +Rochester significantly returned. Then she asked, “Will +Dr. Winthrop go with us to Italy?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—I hope not,” the girl retorted, a flush suddenly +suffusing her face; for although she meant to marry him +in spite of everything, she hoped to be able to still carry +on a secret flirtation with his brother—her stolen love-dream +was too sweet to be relinquished just yet.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXVIII.<br> <span class='c009'>THE WINTHROPS AND ROCHESTERS LEAVE FOR ROME.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Late that evening Miss Rochester was passing through +a dimly lighted corridor, when she was suddenly +confronted by a tall figure, who seized her hand in a viselike +grip.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was Norman Winthrop, and his face was so distorted +with pain and passion that the girl started back affrighted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Norman!” she gasped, and struggled to release her +hand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He gave vent to a bitter laugh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Don’t be afraid—I shall not harm you, though if I +look as I feel I must appear devilish,” he said. “It is a +hard word, Sadie,” he added, as she winced, “but no +other will express the state of mind I am in at present. +So it is settled beyond recall that you are to marry my +brother?” he concluded inquiringly, while he searched +her face despairingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she briefly answered, trying to speak coldly, +even haughtily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you are totally indifferent to the wreck that you +have made of me!” the young man vehemently cried, +“for I tell you, Sadie Rochester, if I lose you, I am a +wreck—a ruined man.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her lip quivered, in spite of the effort which she made +to retain her self-possession; but she replied in the same +tone as before:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not consider that I am responsible——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are responsible,” he retorted hotly, “for you have +made me love you; you have led me on, little by little, +until my very life and sanity depend upon your smiles +and your love. You have even confessed that you love +me, and by that very confession you belong to me, rather +<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>than to my brother. You shall not marry him,” he concluded +fiercely. “I swear, Sadie, that you shall never +be his wife.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Really, Mr. Winthrop, are you not arrogating to +yourself an authority which you have no right to exercise?” +the girl sarcastically demanded. “I believe that +a woman of my age has the right to choose for herself in +a matter of this kind.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You have no right to choose Truman Winthrop for +your husband when your heart belongs to me,” he returned +through his tightly locked teeth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew herself that she had not—that she had no +right to become another man’s wife, loving him with all +the passion of her nature as she did. She grew very pale +as she thought of the long, unloved future before her, and +for a moment she could not answer him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the die was cast; her ambition was stronger than +her love. She longed for wealth and position, and she +could not turn her back upon the brilliant prospects before +her and marry simply for sentiment. Norman Winthrop +was comparatively a poor man, and all her life poverty +had been the one thing that she dreaded most, and so, +right or wrong, she was determined to marry Truman +Winthrop.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you forget how much depends upon this marriage?” +she asked in a low tone; “do you forget that I +not only deprive myself of great wealth, but your brother +also of his rightful inheritance? Besides, I have pledged +myself.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How very considerate!” sneered the wretched man. +“Do you imagine that True is so anxious to possess this +fortune that he would insist upon marrying a loveless +bride, especially when the ruin of his only brother hangs +in the balance? O Sadie,” he went on, changing his +tone to one of tender pleading, “for mercy’s sake—for +love’s sake, do not violate your own conscience and every +principle of right. Break this unnatural engagement and +give yourself to me. I will work for you; if money and +position are what you want, you shall have them. I will +win them for you; my whole life shall be devoted to your +<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>happiness. Oh, my love—my love, I cannot give you +up! Do not persist in ruining both your life and +mine!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl felt that she could not bear much more; her +lover’s suffering and despair unnerved her, and she was +trembling so that she could scarcely stand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she could not relinquish the hopes and aspirations +of long years, especially after all the desperate measures +which she had adopted to attain them, not even for the +love which she craved with all the strength of her nature; +not even to save this man, who was the dearest object +which the world held for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It cannot be; it is useless to discuss the matter further,” +she responded, and turned abruptly away to leave +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he seized her hand again and threw himself before +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are utterly without heart or feeling, but you shall +never be my brother’s wife!” he cried in a tone that smote +her with a sudden fear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he flung her hand violently from him, and turning, +rushed quickly from her sight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Two days later the Winthrops and Rochesters started +for Italy.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop continued to resist his mother’s pleadings +that he would accompany them. She had fondly +hoped that since he had yielded his will and agreed to +marry Sadie, he might consent to act as their escort in +company with his brother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She and Mrs. Rochester had had visions of a brilliant +wedding in Rome, where they were to spend the winter +together with many other Americans whom they knew, +for they imagined that it would give considerable <em>éclat</em> to +the event if they could have the union solemnized there; +more than that, they were anxious to have the marriage +consummated as soon as possible lest something should +occur to prevent it altogether.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not believe in long engagements, Truman,” +madam said to him on the morning of their departure; +“promise me that you will not delay your marriage, that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>you will take your wife home with you when you return +to America.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s face grew stern. It annoyed him exceedingly +to have the subject continually harped upon, +and yet he well knew they would never let him alone until +he yielded to their importunities.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Well, if he must marry Sadie Rochester, it did not +much matter when, he told himself, and so, with a feeling +of desperation at his heart, and to quiet madam, he said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, mother, I will think of it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam’s face grew radiant.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now you are sensible,” she said; “when will you join +us?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot tell yet—you will be travelling for a month +yet, and I shall not be able to leave Paris at present, +perhaps not under a couple of months,” he returned, putting +off the evil day as long as possible.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, then I shall look for you in Rome two months +from now, shall I?” she asked, determined to make him +commit himself to something.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ye-s—perhaps. I will, however, write you before +that, of my plans.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And, Truman, why won’t you be married in Rome? +it would be such a fitting place.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother,” he interrupted, with more impatience +than she had known him to betray for years, “why will +you not leave me alone? you drive me desperate. Oh, +do what you please—settle everything as you choose, only +don’t keep constantly harping upon the subject,” and +with this he abruptly left her presence, but his white +pained face haunted her long afterward.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He accompanied the party to Paris, where he made +every provision for their comfort on their journey, and +then bade them farewell; but there was not one whit more +of warmth in his adieus to his <em>fiancée</em> than to any other +member of the party; indeed, there was far more of love +and sympathy in the silent handclasp which he gave his +brother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was greatly relieved when they were gone and he +was free to go back to his study and his practice, into +<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>which he threw himself with all the earnestness he could +arouse, to drown his misery and keep him from thinking +of the dreaded fate awaiting him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop and Mrs. Rochester, on the other +hand, were highly elated as they went southward.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam had communicated the good news of her son’s +concession to her friend and they proceeded to hold him +to his promise by at once laying their plans for a brilliant +wedding in Rome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester was troubled at times with fears that +the divorce papers might not arrive in season; but as the +weeks passed and they did not—though the lawyer wrote +that he should soon have them—she tried to comfort herself +by reasoning that it would not matter much if they +did not, since no one could ever suspect that Salome was +living, while she was so securely shut away in that mad-house +in Paris.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Before she had married Mr. Rochester she had been a +poor woman toiling for her daily bread as a clerk in the +post-office department in Washington. She was handsome, +and attractive and Mr. Rochester had fallen in love with +her, asked her to become his wife, and promised to settle +fifty thousand dollars upon her. He did not do this, however, +but kept putting it off, on one pretext or another, +until his death, when, to her excessive rage, she found that +he had only added a codicil to his will, leaving the money +to her conditionally.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been the mistress of Mr. Rochester’s elegant +home, and had command of a liberal income for more +than ten years, and the thought that she might some day +be deprived of the luxuries which she had so long enjoyed, +filled her with consternation. Not being over-scrupulous +as to ways and means, she determined to stop at nothing +to carry out the conditions of the will, and secure to herself +an independent fortune.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now, everything seemed to indicate that all her hopes +would be realized, and she lent herself to all Madame +Winthrop’s plans with the greatest heartiness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They agreed that nothing should be said about the +engagement in Rome, until Dr. Winthrop should arrive, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>and then they would hasten the wedding with all possible +dispatch.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime, Miss Rochester’s trousseau should be ordered +from Worth’s, and everything arranged to make the affair +as brilliant as the wealth and position of the parties +seemed to demand.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Strange to relate, however, now that the matter was +settled, Miss Rochester herself suddenly became very +averse to any reference to it. She grew moody and +depressed, was exceedingly impatient and irritable, and +often, Mrs. Rochester, coming upon her unawares, would +find her in tears for which she would give no explanation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Norman Winthrop was also very unlike himself. Heretofore, +he had always been a delightful escort in travelling, +always attending faithfully to the comfort of his party, +and keeping them happy and jolly with his never-failing +spirits. But now he was a mere automaton, without one +particle of that cheerfulness and good-fellowship which +had hitherto characterized him. He rarely spoke unless +he was addressed, except to attend to necessary business, +and although his mother tried her best to ascertain the +cause of this change in him, he baffled all her efforts, and +kept his own secret.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When in the presence of others he was always courteous +to Miss Rochester, and showed her all the attention that +etiquette demanded, but if by any chance they were left +alone, he never addressed her, nor took the slightest notice +of her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They journeyed very leisurely, taking in all points of +interest along their route, and finally reaching Rome, +about the middle of November, took a suite of apartments +in the Via Nazionale, where they settled themselves +comfortably, and even luxuriously, for the winter.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XXXIX.<br> <span class='c009'>SISTER ANGELA AGAIN.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>During all this time Dr. Winthrop was very busy. +He was making a special study of diseases of the +eye, ear, and brain, besides attending to some regular +duties in one of the hospitals.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He courted labor, study, excitement—anything, in fact +that would help him to drown his own troubles, and keep +him from thinking of the past.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Meantime, Salome was trying to bear with what +patience and fortitude she could, her cruel incarceration +and the sad sights which daily came under her observation, +while she strove to do what she was able to mitigate +the wretched condition of many of her companions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>One wet, dreary afternoon, when thick clouds obscured +the sky and a cold rain beat sharply against the windows +of the ward, which was unusually dark and gloomy, +Salome gathered the restless inmates of the room beneath +the rotunda, and tried to cheer and enliven them by relating +an interesting story.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her heart had been unusually heavy all day, she was +very sad from hope long deferred, and she felt that she +must do something to effectually distract her thoughts +from herself and her hard lot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It proved to be an effectual, though temporary remedy +for she soon became so absorbed in her employment, and +in watching its effect upon various members of her daft +audience, that she did not hear the door as it opened +near one end of the long ward to admit a couple of visitors.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Monsieur Arnot was with them, and they appeared to +be distinguished people—people toward whom he exhibited +considerable deference.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>They came slowly down the room together, and all +three were earnestly discussing some interesting questions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s back was toward them, and she was not aware +of their presence, and kept on with her story, although +some of her listeners rose and moved down the room +toward the strangers. This often happened, however, +for she could not always hold the interest of every one, +and so she paid no heed to them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They gathered around the visitors, regarding them curiously, +and Dr. Arnot called the attention of his guests +to one or two peculiar cases, and then some slight movement—or +was it a familiar tone that was wafted toward +her?—made Salome turn and look behind her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That one glance was like a galvanic battery to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sprang from her chair, with a low cry of mingled +joy and terror; then she suddenly buried her face in her +hands, as if to hide it from observation; for, as we know, +since she had been in the asylum, she had discarded all +her head-gear, also her unsightly spectacles, which had +so completely disguised her, believing that in that place +she was in no danger of having her identity discovered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>For one moment she stood like a statue thus, then she +turned her back again upon the strangers, and glided with +drooping head and a hopeless air into the remotest corner +of the vast room where she remained motionless, scarcely +appearing to breathe, and, as if looking from the window.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The attendant, who was in the habit of watching Salome +closely, had observed her strange deportment, so +different from her usual nervous, eager interest when +there were strangers present, and wondered at it. Hitherto, +she had been one of the first to come forward and +watch with a keen eye and intense interest every movement +of visitors. Now, all at once, she appeared terrified +and anxious to shun observation, while her colorless, +averted face and despairing attitude, plainly indicated +that something had occurred to alarm her, which might +develop her peculiar phase of insanity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was standing near Dr. Arnot and his guests as he +observed this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How very strange!” he remarked in an earnest tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>One of the gentlemen turned to him as he said this; +then his glance followed his and caught sight of that +motionless figure by the window.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To what do you refer?” he asked with some curiosity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“To that girl yonder; it’s a peculiar case, very,” the +attendant replied. “She belongs to a fine family, is +lovely, cultivated, and remarkably amiable, but strangely +enough, she imagines herself to be a nun—one of the gray +nuns——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“One of the gray nuns!” exclaimed his companion, his +glance again seeking the slender, drooping figure—he had +not noticed her dress when he looked before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oui, monsieur. It is a great trial to her friends, for +she insisted upon adopting their dress, and was continually +doing the strangest things in that character; but she is +perfectly harmless, very gentle, very lovable, and beautiful +as an angel. Would monsieur like to come nearer to +get a better view of her?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The stranger nodded, and the two men moved down the +room together, and ere long the sound of their footsteps +fell distinctly upon Salome’s ear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She began to tremble violently now. There was no +way of escape for her. If she turned to flee, she must +confront them; but what could she do? a few steps more +and they would be beside her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A shiver ran over her slight frame, then once more she +dropped her face upon her hands, effectually concealing +it from view, and stood thus, awaiting what would come +next.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They saw how excited she had become and they +stopped, feeling that it would be unwise to go nearer to +increase her agitation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But something about the drooping figure seemed suddenly +to impress the stranger—some thought, some memory, +made him turn eagerly to the attendant.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What does she call herself—what name has she been +known by in this character?” he questioned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The quick, sharp, almost authoritative tone surprised +the attendant, and caused him to observe his companion +more closely.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>He was very pale, there was a startled look in his eye, +his lips were compressed, his manner excited.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sister Angela, monsieur——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sister Angela!” repeated the man in an eager, joyous +tone, and he took a quick step forward, as if he would +have sprung to the girl’s side.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he evidently checked himself, as if it had occurred +to him that he must do nothing to alarm or agitate +the girl.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Stay!” he said. “I must speak with Dr. Arnot at +once,” and turning, he retraced his steps, with a swift +resolute tread, to the superintendent’s side.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome, almost overcome with many conflicting emotions, +had heard his question, also the attendant’s reply, +and then Dr. Winthrop’s eager, joyous repetition of +her name; for the stranger was he.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It told her that he knew of her mysterious disappearance, +that he had been anxious about her, and was now +delighted to have found her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His glad tones made her heart beat tumultuously, and +so increased her trembling that it seemed as if she must +sink to the floor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Should she turn and claim her freedom?</p> + +<p class='c011'>It seemed her only chance, and yet she hesitated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ah! if she had but had her usual head-gear, her friendly +cap, with its broad black frill, to conceal her face; if she +had even had her colored spectacles to hide her eyes, she +would not have lost a moment. As Sister Angela she +would have thrown herself upon his protection, told how +she had been entrapped, and beg him to save her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But as Salome Howland, she could not turn and face the +man from whom she had fled, believing him disloyal to +her, and that he had thrust her from his home—the man +whom she believed she had so recently seen clasping her +bitterest enemy to his heart, and in whose ear she had +heard him murmuring words of fondest love.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ah! she could not regain her liberty, even though this +might be her only opportunity to escape from that horrible +place, at the cost of having her identity discovered. She +could not bear to see the look of astonishment, of horror, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>and blighted hope, which she thought must sweep over +his face, when he should learn that she was alive, and +that, if his marriage with her had been legal, Sarah +Rochester could never be his wife, at least, until the +former tie was annulled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>These thoughts flashed through her brain in that one +brief moment, succeeding the announcement of her supposed +name, and the agony that she suffered may be +imagined.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She did not hear him say that he must speak with Dr. +Arnot, for he had turned as he spoke, and she only became +conscious that he had gone and left her to her fate, +as she heard his retreating footsteps, and her heart seemed +suddenly rent in twain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had been told that she was Sister Angela; he knew +that she was the nurse to whom he owed so much, and +even though he believed her to be insane, he might, at +least, have come to her side, taken her hand, and spoken +a word of kindness and friendly sympathy; common gratitude +and humanity should have prompted as much as that +after all that she had done and risked for him and his.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She half turned and darted a furtive glance behind her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop was talking rapidly and earnestly with +Monsieur Arnot—appeared to be asking some favor of him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he paused, and Salome saw Dr. Arnot shake his +head decidedly as he replied, while with a nervousness +that was wholly foreign to him, he seemed all at once to +be anxious to hurry his visitors from the ward.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, it is my only chance—my only hope!” Salome +said to herself, as she saw them all turn and move toward +the door; “but I cannot—I cannot meet him; it would +kill me to have him recognize me and then turn coldly +from me—hating me because I still live to mar his hopes +for the future.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ah, the agony of that moment! Her brain seemed +on fire; her heart beat so heavily in her bosom that a +sense of suffocation made her gasp and pant for breath; +all the strength seemed to forsake her limbs, and a cold +perspiration gathered on her brow.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Now the visitors have reached the door. Dr. Arnot +<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>opens it and stands back to allow them to pass through, +his face pale and anxious. One has crossed the threshold—the +other is on the point of doing so; another moment, +and he will be gone, and Salome believes that then she +shall really go mad—that reason will surely forsake its +throne.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a low cry of despair she falls upon her knees and +stretches out her hands toward the man whom she loves +with a deathless love, the agony of a breaking heart +stamped on her colorless face, and gleaming from her +wild eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At that instant, the figure in the doorway—which she +sees but dimly now, for the blur that has come over her +sight—turns for one last look down the long ward, a gleam +of tenderest pity in his eyes for the gentle sister toward +whom his heart goes out in profoundest gratitude, but who, +he has been assured, is now hopelessly insane, and too +easily excited to be allowed to hold any communication +with any one whom she has previously known.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That look seems to paralyze him. He catches sight +of that kneeling form, with its despairing face, its outstretched +hands, that seem imploring him not to go, but +to save her from a fate worse than death; and for one +brief moment he is spell-bound—rooted to the spot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The next, a hoarse, wild cry echoes through that great +room, startling all its inmates, sending a thrill of wonder +through the watchful attendant’s heart—a shock of fear +and dismay through Dr. Arnot’s; then there is a quick, +agile bound back into the room—a rush of swift footsteps, +and like the sound of distant heavenly music, mingling +with the roar of a cataract, Salome catches the startled +words:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Great Heaven! Salome! my wife!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she is faintly conscious of being lifted and laid +upon the broad breast of the man she so fondly loves; +of being convulsively clasped to a wildly beating heart; +of seeing a face full of love and tenderness bending over +her, while agonized tones beseech her to look at him—to +speak to him; then the vision goes suddenly out in a +deadly calm and great darkness.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XL.<br> <span class='c009'>TELLS HOW DR. WINTHROP FOUND HIS WIFE.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Yes, Truman Winthrop had found his wife at last! +But the discovery came to him with such a shock +that it nearly unhinged his own reason for the moment, +and it almost seemed to him as if the whole world had +suddenly gone mad.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But how did it happen that he came a visitor to Dr. +Arnot’s establishment?</p> + +<p class='c011'>It has been stated that he was making a special study +of diseases of the eye, ear, and brain, and in pursuit +of points relating to the latter subject, he had arranged +with a friend and fellow-student to visit several retreats +for the insane in Paris, for the purpose of observing the +different methods of treatment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They had already been over three other institutions in +the city, and Dr. Arnot’s establishment was to be the last.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That gentleman had received them most graciously. +It caused him no little pride that learned men came to +him and his asylum for information regarding the treatment +of diseases of the brain, and he always made them +very welcome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They did him great honor,” he would affirm, with +many bows and smiles, but with an inward feeling that +it was quite the reverse.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Upon this occasion, he remarked that he would show +them about in person; but he little imagined what the +hour would reveal.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Neither had Dr. Winthrop the slightest suspicion that +there was any one in the institution that he had ever seen +before. He was intent only upon learning something +new—upon studying different phases of insanity and their +treatment.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>He had therefore been greatly shocked when his attention +was attracted to that figure in the nun’s dress, and +the attendant had told him that Sister Angela had become +an inmate of that great tomb for the dead in life; +to learn that the faithful nurse to whom he owed so much, +had lost her mind, with no hope of its ever being restored.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He could not understand it either, since the mother-superior +and the sisters at the convent appeared to be +ignorant of her condition or whereabouts. Still, it was +possible, he thought, that they did know, but were unwilling +to have her condition known; it might even be +that they had sent her there to be secretly cared for.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His first impulse, as we know, had been to rush to her +side—to greet her kindly, and say something pleasant +to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then it suddenly occurred to him how unwise such a +proceeding would be and though it required great effort +to control his feelings, he turned back to seek Dr. Arnot’s +advice and counsel, telling him that he knew the girl, +and asking his permission to speak with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But the physician, who was greatly startled by the information, +decidedly refused to allow him to hold any +conversation with her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He volubly expressed both surprise and sympathy, upon +being told how faithfully and bravely she had worked +during the prevalence of the plague which had lately +passed over Paris—how she had even saved Dr. Winthrop’s +own life; still he insisted that it would be very unwise +to arouse memories of the past, and finally said that he +could not permit him to address her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mademoiselle was exceedingly violent when she was +brought here, monsieur,” he remarked with deep anxiety, +lest something should occur to deprive him of his profitable +patient. “The sight of a familiar face might cause +all her former madness to return. She is quiet and docile +just now, and much as I may desire to oblige monsieur, +my judgment warns me to refuse his request. Messieurs,” +with a polite bow, which included both gentlemen, +“shall we now pass on to another ward?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop, though saddened and disappointed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>by this adverse decision, could only acquiesce in its +apparent wisdom, and so turned to follow his friend from +the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But as he was about to cross the threshold, he could +not refrain from bestowing one regretful backward glance +upon the unfortunate who had spent so much of her time +and strength for the good of others.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He turned just in the doorway, and then a great +shock, which seemed almost like a convulsion, passed +over him as he caught sight of that kneeling figure, as +he saw and recognized the beautiful, despairing face +that was turned toward him, and beheld those hands +outstretched so appealingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Was he dreaming? was he the victim of some wonderful +optical illusion? or had that violent shock been the +rending of his soul from his body, sending him in an instant +into the eternal world to be met thus by this vision +of his lost wife?</p> + +<p class='c011'>No, no! it was no dream, no illusion! It was the real +face of his idolized wife—the one face in all the world +that he had ever loved with all the passion of his nature, +and, though he could not understand it—though it seemed +absurdly impossible, he yet instinctively knew that those +delicate features, those wondrous eyes, those sweet, +quivering lips, and that wealth of beautiful hair belonged +to Salome alone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a mighty effort he broke the spell that held him +paralyzed, and unheeding Dr. Arnot’s polite, though +somewhat impatient, efforts to hurry him away, he leaped +suddenly back into the room, and in an instant that loved +form lay upon his breast, and he knew, beyond a doubt, +that his wife was not dead, but living, and all his own +once more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A bitter curse burst from Dr. Arnot’s lips as he witnessed +this astonishing scene, and realized that a formidable +investigation was a probable result.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a brow as black as night he hastened down the +ward after his flying visitor, and overtook him just as she +lost consciousness in his arms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Monsieur,” he tried to say calmly, “the girl has only +<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>fainted, and, although your sympathy and agility have +saved her fall and does you great credit, she will be better +left with the attendant. Pray lay her upon the couch +yonder, where she will receive every necessary attention.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had not heard the young physician’s passionate exclamation +as he caught his wife in his arms, and was +therefore still ignorant of the true meaning of the scene.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Lay her upon a couch in this room and leave her +with an attendant!” Dr. Winthrop cried, as he turned +almost fiercely upon Dr. Arnot. “Never, sir! for she is +my wife! My God! that I should find her here!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your wife, monsieur!” and the man recoiled as if he +had been struck a blow. “Mon Dieu, monsieur must +have been stricken with insanity himself!” and he anxiously +searched the young husband’s face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was as pale as Salome herself—his lips twitched +from intense emotion, and the veins stood out like whipcords +upon his forehead, while he hugged that unconscious +form to his heart like some miser who had suddenly recovered +his long-lost treasure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, my wife!” he replied. “Oh, my love! my +love! what brought you into this den?” Then he added +sternly, as he turned to Monsieur Arnot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is no more insane than you are; show me at once to +some private room where I can give her the care she needs.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot stood regarding him suspiciously and trying to +decide what course to pursue in this unexpected emergency.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop saw that he doubted him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I swear that this woman is my wife,” he said, “and if +you do not wish to bring serious trouble upon yourself, +you will do as I request, instantly.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>His fellow-student now came to his side and laid his +hand upon his shoulder.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is the meaning of this, Winthrop?” he gravely +inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Just what I have said. I have found my wife, whom +for almost two years, I have believed to be dead. How +she ever happened to be in Paris, and in this place is +more than I can understand. There is some terrible +mystery about it; but if you doubt my word, look here!”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>He supported Salome with one arm while he thrust his +other hand within his bosom and drew forth a small case +which he passed to his friend.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Look at the face painted there, then at the one upon +my breast, and doubt my word if you can,” he said, with +quivering lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The man opened the case and at once recognized Salome’s +lovely face, which Dr. Winthrop had had copied +upon ivory from a photograph after he had believed her +to be dead, and had carried about with him ever since.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It had needed but a glance at the still, white features +resting upon Dr. Winthrop’s bosom to assure him that +he spoke the truth, and then he quietly passed the picture +to Dr. Arnot.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot grew very pale as he, too, saw the perfect +likeness to his patient; then he turned and without a word +led the way to the room which Salome had occupied ever +since she had been an inmate of the institution.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop laid his precious burden upon the bed, +and began at once to restore her to consciousness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The fainting turn proved an obstinate one, but it finally +yielded to his judicious treatment. Salome began to show +signs of returning life, and then the young husband banished +every one from the room, feeling that he could bear +no eye to witness their reunion when she could fully come +to herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Never was music sweeter to mortal ears than when she +heaved a long sigh, that was yet more of a sob than a +sigh, and in a voice full of agony, cried out:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True, True! oh, my husband, save me!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>That had been the prayer of her heart when she saw him +leaving the ward and believed that she was looking her +last upon him forever, and dooming herself to perpetual +imprisonment in that horrible place; now she involuntarily +gave utterance to it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop gathered her two cold white hands in his +and hugged them to his breast, as he bent fondly over her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My love, you are safe for all time—nothing shall ever +separate us—nothing shall ever harm you again while I +live.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>Salome lifted her eyes wonderingly to his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Instinctively she trusted him, and yet she could not +understand it—the situation, his fond looks, and loving +words.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She believed that the last time she had seen him, he was +holding Sarah Rochester in his arms, and pouring words +of passionate love into her ears. She believed that he +was betrothed to her—that he hoped and expected to +marry her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But surely unmistakable love for her now beamed in +his eyes; his voice was full of tremulous tenderness, and +her confidence in him was for the moment restored.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A faint smile broke over her face, two crystal drops +gathered in her eyes and rolled slowly over her cheeks.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her husband wiped them away with his own handkerchief, +and stooping, kissed her softly on the lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then he lifted her head upon his arm with all the gentleness +of a woman, and made her drink from a glass +something he had prepared for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am so tired,” she said, nestling more closely to his +breast, like a weary child that has at last found a place +of refuge and safety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The act almost unmanned him, for it told him how +thoroughly she had become exhausted by the mental +strain of the last few weeks; how all the burden of care +and anxiety had suddenly dropped from her, now that she +found herself safe with him, and she simply wanted to rest +in his protection.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know it, my darling,” he murmured fondly, “I +know that you must be worn out with sorrow and fear; +but it is all over now. Will you try to sleep a little while +I go to make arrangements with Dr. Arnot for your removal?” +and he laid her gently back upon the bed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She caught his hand, a look of fear leaping to her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not leave me,” she whispered nervously.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, I will not, if you object,” he returned reassuringly, +“but, dear, I want to take you away from this place +immediately and I thought that if I could arrange for it +while you had a little nap, it would facilitate matters. +I will not go away from your door—I will step outside +<span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>and send an attendant to ask Dr. Arnot to come to me. +Are you willing—will you trust me and try to sleep?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she said, instantly releasing his hand while +she turned her head upon her pillow and closed her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop went softly out of the room, but did not +move from the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He beckoned to an attendant, and sent him with a +message to Dr. Arnot requesting his presence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>That gentleman did not keep him waiting long, but he +looked pale and anxious, and remarked as he approached +the young physician, that his friend was waiting below +for him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot go yet,” Dr. Winthrop replied, and taking a +card from his case, he wrote a few lines upon it, and then +asked that it be sent down to the gentleman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot complied with his request, after which Dr. +Winthrop drew him to a seat just outside Salome’s door, +and requested him to explain how his wife had come to +be an inmate of his establishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The wily physician’s brain had been busy ever since +the discovery of Salome, and he had a cunningly constructed +tale all ready for the young man’s ear.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He represented that a lady, calling herself Madame +Rochester, had come to him a few weeks before in great +distress because one of her daughters had exhibited +marked symptoms of insanity. She was on the eve of +departing for Rome, where she was to spend the winter—she +could not take a crazy girl with her, and she wished +to leave her in his care until her return.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her story was so straight and credible—it was so evident +from her description of the girl’s condition that she +could not be in her right mind, that he had not a suspicion +but that everything was as she represented, and so he +had consented to receive mademoiselle into his institution, +and do what he could for her recovery, during the absence +of her friends. She had already improved greatly, he +remarked, in conclusion, for when she was brought there, +she had been very violent, while of late she had seemed +quite docile and more rational, and he had great hopes +of her entire recovery.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLI.<br> <span class='c009'>“MY WIFE, HAVE YOU CEASED TO LOVE ME?”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Dr. Winthrop’s lip curled as he listened to Dr. +Arnot’s artful story, for he knew well enough that +he had colored it to suit himself, and throw all the blame +elsewhere.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She was no more insane than you were,” he said +sternly, “and you know it—you must have been conscious +of the fact the moment you met her, or else you are a +fraud, and have no business to pose as a specialist in diseases +of the brain. ‘Violent,’ was she when she first +came here? Of course, what person with a particle of +spirit, would not have been violent upon discovering how +she had been trapped into an institution of this kind? +No doubt she was very indignant, and demanded to be +immediately released, perhaps threatening you with the +law, as she had a right to do. There has been some vile +plot against her, and since Mrs. Rochester has been associated +with it she shall be answerable to me for it; and +you, Dr. Arnot, shall not escape an investigation for having +lent yourself to it.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Assuredly, I regret,” the physician began with paling +lips at this threat. “I trust monsieur will be merciful, +and not injure an unsullied reputation by any insinuations +of foul play——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I shall demand an investigation,” Dr. Winthrop relentlessly +returned. “Such outrages must not be allowed +to go unpunished. If Mrs. Rochester is alone to blame, +then she alone will suffer—censure must fall where it is +deserved.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot cringed and fawned and pleaded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>His establishment would suffer—his reputation would +<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>be ruined, himself and his family would be beggared, he +whined.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your establishment ought to suffer; your reputation +ought to be ruined if you lend yourself to such dastardly +plots as the one I have discovered to-day,” Dr. Winthrop +retorted with increasing displeasure, for he could not +forgive the wickedness that had consigned his darling to +a mad-house, even though he could not yet comprehend +why it had been done.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then Dr. Arnot began to bluster and to threaten. He +was not at all sure, he affirmed, that mademoiselle was +Dr. Winthrop’s wife—such a statement may have been a +plot on his part to secure her freedom, and he would not +allow her to leave the institution without the sanction of +madam, her mother; he would call in the officers of the +law to protect his interests and sustain his authority; +monsieur should be arrested, and much more after the +same style, and poured out only as a voluble Frenchman +can pour out his wrath.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop listened calmly until he became exhausted—from +want of breath rather than words—then he +replied, with cool self-possession:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It will be very easy for me to prove that your late +patient, or rather prisoner, is my wife, as I happen to +have in my possession an important document which cannot +be contested. I refer to the certificate of our marriage +which I slipped into a pocket of my note-book the day it +was given to me, and there it has remained ever since.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He drew forth his note-book as he spoke, found the +certificate, and passed it to his companion, who saw at +once that it was a legal and properly attested document. +He read the name Salome Howland as being the lady +who had been united to Dr. Winthrop, and he could not +doubt because he had seen the same one written upon the +letter of credit which Salome had shown to him, more +than once, in her efforts to purchase her liberty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was hard to admit himself beaten, however, and he +snarled out:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I am not sure that they are one and the same individual. +I do not believe monsieur.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>“That I can easily prove also, for there are several +people on this continent who know the lady well,” quietly +returned her companion, “and it will be well for you if +you will allow me to take her peaceably from this place. +I assure you, sir, you will make serious trouble for yourself +if you attempt to detain her. It will be wiser, Dr. +Arnot,” he concluded meaningly, “for you to assist +rather than oppose me in this. And as for Mrs. Winthrop +being Mrs. Rochester’s daughter, there is no truth +in the statement; that was simply told to trick you into +the belief that the lady possessed lawful authority over +her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Arnot could not fail to perceive that the young +physician had the best of the argument, and he wisely resolved +to make no further objection to the departure of +his recent patient.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What reason can you assign for madam’s plot against +the lady?” he inquired, with some curiosity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The only reason that I can think of,” Dr. Winthrop +thoughtfully returned, “is this—Mrs. Rochester has a +daughter who is a little older than Mrs. Winthrop, and +whom for several years both her family and my own have +been desirous that I should marry. My wife was supposed +to have met a tragic death nearly two years ago; but as +we have just discovered, such was not the case. She +came to us as Sister Angela, to nurse us through the +cholera—as I have already told you. Mrs. Rochester +must by some means——Ah! I see!” he said to himself +with a start, as he suddenly remembered how she had +fainted in the upper hall. “Mrs. Rochester must have +discovered her identity, and so shut her up in this mad-house, +to get rid of her, in order that my marriage with +her daughter need not be interrupted—though how she +could bear to contemplate such a double crime is more +than I can understand.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>There were some other things which he could not +understand—such as how Mrs. Rochester had been able +to identify Salome as his wife, and how she had been able +to keep all her nefarious doings from other people; but +these mysteries he hoped would be explained later.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>“<em>Mon Dieu!</em> but women are wicked creatures!” hypocritically +exclaimed the distinguished brain doctor.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A sarcastic smile curled Dr. Winthrop’s lips at the +observation, but he made no reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He requested Dr. Arnot to send a messenger for a carriage, +and then went back to his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he found Salome strangely silent and shy. She +had not slept at all, for the moment Dr. Winthrop left +her, a hundred conflicting memories began to torture her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>First, she remembered Madame Winthrop’s statement +that she was no legal wife. Then it occurred to her that +even if she had been at that time, she might be so no longer +for had she not signed with her own hands the letter which +would empower the lawyer to procure her divorce from +Truman Winthrop? Perhaps the necessary papers had +already been sent to Miss Rochester, and she had thus, +by her own voluntary act, made herself no wife. Then +had she not seen and heard enough with her own eyes and +ears, to ruin her happiness forever? How could she believe +that Truman Winthrop still loved her, was still +loyal to her, when he had so earnestly avowed that he +loved another woman, and asked her to marry him?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Such thoughts as these nearly drove her wild, and +banished sleep from her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At first when she awoke to consciousness, and saw that +loved face bending so fondly over her, it had seemed as if +all her troubles were over. Dr. Winthrop had appeared +so overjoyed to find her—had spoken such tender words +of love, that for the time she had forgotten all else and +believed that his heart was all her own once more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But now—oh! what did it mean? It was all a dreadful +puzzle, and all her peace, and trust, and happiness slipped +out of her grasp again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did you get any rest, my darling?” Dr. Winthrop inquired, +as he approached the bed and found her awake. +“Why, Salome! I do not believe you have slept at all,” +he exclaimed, as he noticed her glittering, restless eyes, +her crimson cheeks, and the tense look of pain about her +mouth. “What makes you so nervous, dear? I told you +I would not leave your door, and I did not. You have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>a high fever, too, and your pulse is bounding like a racehorse.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She sat up in bed as he took her hand in his, and when +he would have clasped her again in his arms, she avoided +him by a dexterous movement, and slipped into a chair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He looked wounded, but he would not be repulsed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My darling!” he cried, as he bent down and folded +her to him; “how can I ever express my gratitude for +this great boon? How can I ever thank the good God +for giving you back to me? Are you not glad, Salome, +and did you know, that all this time, I have believed you +dead?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She knew it but too well, and she shivered over the +bitter memories which these questions revived, while +she gently put his arms away from her, thinking that perhaps +she was no wife—she had no right to these fond embraces.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it, my Peace?” he questioned anxiously. +“Am I too demonstrative in my excessive gladness? Are +you still weak from your recent illness, and does it oppress +you? You are very thin, love.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And he lifted one of her burning hands to his lips, +glancing at it sadly, as he did so.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can we not go away from here?” she pleaded tremulously. +“Oh, I want to get away from this horrible +place.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He saw that she was quivering in every nerve, and he +began to realize that it was his first duty to get her away +from all depressing influences and unpleasant associations; +so curbing his longing to hear some word of love from her +lips, he gently replied:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Certainly, dear; I do not wonder at your eagerness to +leave this vile place. We will go at once. I have already +sent for a carriage. Are your wraps here in this room? +Ah!”—as she went to the closet and brought forth her +ugly nun’s bonnet and cloak—“we must get a more becoming +garb than this for you. I cannot have my wife +going about as a gray nun.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again she shivered as he pronounced the word wife, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>and her hands trembled so that she could scarcely tie her +bonnet-strings.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Nay, my darling, I shall positively forbid that,” Dr. +Winthrop playfully continued, as she was about to resume +the double spectacles which she had worn so long. “I +can never have those dear eyes hidden from me again. +Ah, to think I never knew you, when for weeks you were +so near me! Oh, my love, how much I owe you. A second +time you saved my life. Yet why the need of such +a disguise? Why have you hidden from me so persistently +when I have longed for you with such bitter longing? +Why——But I must wait; there are many things that +need to be explained, and we have no time now.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was deeply hurt that she made no attempt to answer +even one of his questions—that she had not once met his +glance, but kept her face averted, and even avoided his +touch when he would have assisted her in her preparations +to go.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still he attributed it to her weakness, her nervousness, +her anxiety to get out of the place where she must have +suffered so much; and when she had fastened her gloves +he drew her hand within his arm and led her from the +room, thinking that when she was rested and refreshed +she would be his own Salome once more.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLII.<br> <span class='c009'>EXPLANATIONS.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Dr. Winthrop and Salome found their carriage +waiting at the main entrance, but Dr. Arnot was not +visible; he had not the courage to take leave of her, whom +he had so wronged, and she was glad that she was not compelled +to bid him farewell. There was a feeling of infinite +relief and thankfulness in the heart of both husband and +wife, when they turned a corner and the asylum was hidden +from their sight.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where do you want to go, Salome; where shall I take +you?” Dr. Winthrop asked after a few moments, not knowing +just what was best to do.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Home—to Harriet,” she answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was disappointed and wounded, for while he could +understand that she would be anxious to relieve Harriet’s +anxiety upon her account, and he even wished to do so +himself, there was something in the way she uttered the +woman’s name that told him she expected to find comfort +and support in her presence—a sense of rest and security +which she could not realize in his.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was leaning back in the carriage with closed eyes +and an unmistakable look of pain on her face—she seemed +little like a happy woman who had been almost miraculously +restored to a fond husband, after nearly two years +of separation, he thought, with some bitterness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The drive was not a long one, and they soon stopped +before the modest little house where Salome had made +her home since the death of Miss Leonard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet happened to be sitting by a window when they +drove up; it needed but a single glance to tell her who +was with Dr. Winthrop, and she sprang to the door to +meet them, before the young physician could lift his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>precious charge from the carriage, and the next moment +the two women were sobbing in each other’s arms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop paid and dismissed his cabman, after +which he followed his wife into the house, but it was some +time before he could reason either of his companions +into anything like composure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet was the first to recover herself, for Salome +seemed utterly unnerved. Then she noticed immediately +how wretched her young mistress appeared. She had +been quick to observe and understand, too, that the relations +between the young people were of a far tenderer +nature than would naturally be expected to exist between +a physician and a nun, no matter how much gratitude the +former might imagine he owed for faithful nursing.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She began to realize at once that she was <em>de trop</em>, and +remarking that it was dinner time, and they must both be +hungry, she slipped from the room and Dr. Winthrop was +left alone again with his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He was not sorry. He saw that something was very +wrong with Salome—there were many things to be explained +and talked over, and he was determined that every +barrier should at once be broken down, and perfect confidence +in each other restored.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He loved her with his whole soul, and he believed +that she had once loved him as well; but he knew that +she had been deeply wounded and injured, while his +mother and sister had been her guests in New York, and +that they were, to some extent, responsible for the misunderstanding +that had driven her from his home. Just +the truth of it he had never been able to learn; but now +he meant to have the whole story—to go to the bottom +of all secrets, even at the sacrifice of a little strength on +her part, if need be, for he believed she would be the +better for it in the end.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A strange silence and constraint seemed to fall over Salome +after Harriet left the room. She shrank into a corner +of the sofa, without removing any of her things, and +sat there with clasped hands and averted face before her +husband.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, dear, are you not going to remove your +<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>bonnet and wrap?” Dr. Winthrop asked, in a kindly +tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She started violently, and nervously tried to untie the +strings of her bonnet; but she only pulled them into a +harder knot, which she found it impossible to loosen.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her husband went to her side and gently disentangled +them for her, removing the ugly head covering and casting +it upon the floor. Then he unfastened her wrap, and +threw it behind her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Still she had not once lifted her eyes to his face; she +was trembling nervously too, and her cheeks were crimson, +her bosom heaving with suppressed emotion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The darkly fringed lids quivered over the beautiful +eyes, but she did not look up or reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!” her husband repeated more tenderly, more +gravely too, than before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was something in his tone half authoritative, half +appealing, which she could not resist, and she lifted her +glance to his.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My wife, have you ceased to love me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>There was a moment of silence after Dr. Winthrop put +that grave earnest question to his wife.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then all Salome’s forced composure forsook her, and +throwing out her hands in a wild passionate gesture, she +cried:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no—no!” and burst into a perfect tempest of +tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Had she ceased to love him?</p> + +<p class='c011'>How could he have such a thought when she had braved +and sacrificed so much for his sake?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop gathered those trembling hands tenderly +into his, his face lighting with joy, and then he drew her +close to his breast once more.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But he said nothing more just then—he thought it better +to allow her to weep all she would and relieve her +overburdened heart before questioning her any further.</p> + +<p class='c011'>All the pent-up grief of the past seemed bound to expend +itself, and unmindful of everything, she wept and +sobbed until the fountain of her tears was dry and she lay +<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>exhausted in her husband’s arms, with deep, quivering +sighs breaking at intervals from her lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Nearly half an hour elapsed, and no word had been +spoken; the tender, noble-hearted man was content to +sit there, holding the beloved form in his embrace, and +patiently bide his time.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last, however, he thought to renew the subject so +near his heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now, Salome, my wife,” he began in a quiet, kindly +tone, “begin at the beginning, and tell me all about yourself; +the sooner you and I get out of this unnatural state +of constraint, and understand each other, the better it +will be for us both.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Those two words, “my wife,” suddenly brought her to +herself, renewing all her doubts and fears, and she shrank +away from him again with a gesture of despair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!—I am not your wife,” she moaned, covering her +burning face with her hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Ah! that began to throw a little light upon her strange +behavior, and Dr. Winthrop’s mind reverted to what his +mother had said about the illegality of their marriage, +because Salome’s true surname had been withheld, and +was not written upon their certificate. He had wrung +enough from madam and Evelyn, on his return to New +York, after Salome’s supposed death, to make him suspect +something of the cruel things they had said to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He did not attempt to take her in his arms again, for +her gestures had told him that she felt she had no right +to his embraces.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why do you say that, Salome?” he gravely questioned, +“what makes you think you are not my wife?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They told me so,” she answered wildly. “They +said our marriage was illegal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My mother and sister, I suppose you mean,” he +quietly returned. “I know that they argued something +of the kind—perhaps they even really believed it; but +you should never have trusted to a simple assertion like +that. You should have written to ask me the truth; or if +you could not trust me, you should have gone to some +trustworthy lawyer in New York and obtained a decision.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>“I did not think of that,” she murmured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A look of keen pain swept over Dr. Winthrop’s face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O Salome! how could you believe that I would be +guilty of doing you such wrong as to disown you, even +though there had been a flaw in our marriage?” he cried +sharply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lifted her eyes and searched his face wonderingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I never should have believed it, if—if you had not +sent me away from your home,” she said, with quivering +lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I sent you away from my home—your home!” he repeated +in astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes; you sent me that cruel dispatch, telling me to +shut up the house on Madison Avenue, and go to the —— +Hotel, and remain there until your return.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“‘Cruel dispatch!’ Why, my darling, I was wild lest +you should be poisoned by sewer-gas, and I simply sent +you the message to save time. I wrote explaining all by +the next steamer.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sewer-gas!” Salome repeated, astonished now in +turn.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, my mother wrote to me saying that your health +was failing—that sewer-gas had been discovered in the +house—that she had begged you to go home with them, +and you refused; she said that nothing but a command +from me would make you go away. So immediately on +receiving this letter, I cabled you to go to the —— Hotel. +I mentioned that house, because, knowing you were not +strong, I thought you would be more at home than in a +large hotel, while I also felt that it might be more agreeable +than for you to go to Thirty-fourth Street with my +mother and sister. I realized that they were not quite +congenial,” Dr. Winthrop explained.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There was no sewer-gas in the house on Madison +Avenue,” said Salome, looking blank.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know it. I examined it thoroughly upon my return,” +he briefly replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And,” she went on, “I thought the cable message +was sent in reply to my letter of confession. Madam, +your mother, had accused me of many things; she insisted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>that I should tell her my whole history; I could not do +that, for I had not confided it to you and I felt that you +had the first right to my confidence. She told me that +my marriage was illegal, because I had withheld my +true surname, that I had compromised you and the family, +so I resolved to tell you everything, and wrote to you my +whole history, begging you to send me but one word, +‘stay’ by cable, to relieve my suspense as to how you +would receive my confession. But your message told me +to go, and believing that you were ashamed of one who +was a fugitive from home and friends—that you had +simply married me from a feeling of gratitude, duty, and +pity, and now regretted the union, as they said, I resolved +that I would not burden you longer. I——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, you break my heart!” Dr. Winthrop interposed, +his pale lips quivering in spite of his manhood. +“How could you imagine for one moment that, having +deliberately won you to be my wife, I would ever send +you away from me or take advantage of a legal flaw? If +there had been any such thing in connection with our +marriage, it would have been my first care to have righted +the wrong or mistake. Even if I had married you from +a sense of duty, gratitude or pity—which is absolutely +false—I hope there is honor enough in me to have enabled +me to stand faithfully by the contract and not take such +cowardly advantage of a friendless woman.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh!” gasped unhappy Salome, who began to realize +how rashly and foolishly she had acted—how, perhaps, +after all, she had been her own worst enemy, “I ought +to have thought of that; but I did not, there were so +many things which seemed to confirm what they told me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You spoke of a letter of confession,” her husband resumed. +“I never received such a letter; it must have +miscarried, or else——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He broke off hastily, but the suspicion which flashed +into his mind was very near the truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome lifted a surprised look to his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You never received it?” she cried; “and you do not +know the truth about me even now?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; I know no more to-day, than I did the morning I +<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>bade you farewell in New York, nearly two years ago,” +he answered. “I have blamed myself many times,” +he went on regretfully, “because I did not allow you to +tell me your history, as you attempted on several occasions; +but really, I did not imagine there was anything +very important to be told.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you have never learned—you have never been +told my true name?” she gasped.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; I only know you as Salome Howland Winthrop, +and still my beloved wife,” Dr. Winthrop returned with +a fond little smile, which however had much of sadness +in it. “You are my wife, dear,” he added, as he saw the +hot flush that mounted to her brow; “it makes no difference +that you did not give your true surname. I married +you in good faith and before witnesses; I took you to +my home and made you mistress there—that of itself +would give you a legal claim upon me, and nothing +could break the contract but a divorce obtained upon the +ground of unfaithfulness, upon my part or yours.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>At the word divorce Salome threw out her hands with +a low cry of horror and pain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh! she surely deserved the very worst that she could +suffer as a punishment for her lack of faith in this noble +man, whom she loved with her whole soul. What would +he think of her when he learned what she had done—when +she should tell him that she had applied for a legal +separation from him? No doubt he would be so wounded +and offended that he would repudiate her and tell her that +he would abide by the decision of the court.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Does the thought of a divorce so pain you?” he said +tenderly. “It is an ugly thought, an ugly word, but it +never need trouble us; for, love, our hearts are too firmly +knit together to ever desire a separation, are they not?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, how shall I tell you?—how shall I tell you?” +she wailed, breaking down utterly again, and wringing +her hands in anguish.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How shall you tell me what?” he questioned wonderingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a great effort she calmed herself, for she knew +that she must tell him the truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>“What will you think of me when I tell you that I have +petitioned for a divorce?” she moaned with lips that +were absolutely colorless.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!” and he recoiled from her in sudden horror, +shocked and wounded to his very heart’s core. “How +could you? On what grounds?” he sternly demanded +after struggling a moment for speech.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She shivered as with an ague chill at his tone, and +bowed her head humbly before him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“On the plea of desertion and repudiation,” she said. +“I—I believed all that they told me—that you did not +love me—that you would be glad to be free. It is only +lately that I did it, and for myself I would not have +wished it; but they told me that you were to marry Sarah +Rochester; they—she and her mother—discovered my +identity, and, though they also asserted that our marriage +was illegal, they said there might be a possibility that I +would have some claim upon you, and they wanted me—or +Sarah did—to make assurance doubly sure by applying +for a separation—it could be secretly done, and no one +save the lawyer and ourselves need ever know anything +about it, while, since she was going to marry you, it +would be a great burden off her mind. I was dead to +you; there was no hope that I could ever be anything to +you again, and so—O True, I was desperate, I believed +you loved her, I wanted you to be happy, even if I was +not, and I did not wish to stand in the way of your interests +or desires—so, I signed the letter she wrote——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The letter that she, Miss Rochester, wrote?” he demanded +in a terrible voice, and beginning to realize all +the treachery and wickedness that had been employed to +separate them, without regard to his feelings or the ruin +of his wife’s life and happiness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, do not make me tell any more!” Salome cried, as +she suddenly recalled that scene in Mrs. Rochester’s +parlor. “It is better, perhaps, that you should not +know——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I shall make you tell more—all—everything. I +will know!” he said in a determined tone. “Was it Miss +Rochester who made you sign that letter?”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>She bowed a mute assent.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did—did my mother have anything to do with the +matter?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—oh, no.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank Heaven! I should have been humiliated indeed +to know that she could have been guilty of such a +crime,” the young physician ejaculated, as he wiped the +perspiration from a face, white to the lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She thought he was suffering on account of Miss +Rochester’s treachery.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, forgive me—forgive me and do not question me +any more,” she pleaded. “I have done this thing, and I +must bear your scorn and anger as best I can. I have +loved you through all—too well, perhaps—I shall love +you till I die. I have been rash, foolish; I have allowed +my pride, my desperation, to drive me to extremes, when +I should have trusted and consulted you. I have found +it out, all too late. It is my punishment, and I have no +one but myself to blame.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush, Salome,” her husband said gently, almost unnerved +himself at the sight of her wretchedness and +hopelessness, “since you love me, as you say you do, it is +all I ask; the past shall go for nothing. I can even +overlook the application for a divorce, since I know it +was forced from you—that you were tricked into it. You +live—you were not a victim of that fearful fire—I have +found you, and nothing shall ever separate us again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh! but if the divorce has been granted—if she should +already have received the decree!” Salome cried breathlessly, +but looking up with a gleam of hope on her white +face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Even then it would be a very easy matter for me to +make you my wife again. My darling, tell me, if news +should come to-day that the separation had been granted, +do you still love me well enough to give yourself to me a +second time?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could she believe her ears? Could he even wish such +a thing after all her distrust?</p> + +<p class='c011'>The face bending so eagerly toward her was full of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>love and tenderness and earnest appeal, she could no +longer doubt him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She threw herself upon his breast, tears raining from +her eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O True, it is not a question of my love for you,” +she breathed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then of whose, dear? Certainly not of mine,” he +responded as he tenderly smoothed the dishevelled tresses, +“for the world has been a wretched blank to me without +you, during these last two years—while knowing that +you live, the future would be no less miserable, if I had +to spend it apart from you. I shall never give you up, +Salome. Tell me that you believe me—that there is no +longer any question in your heart of my love for you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She could not fail to see that he spoke only truth, and +yet how could she reconcile that scene in Mrs. Rochester’s +parlor at the chateau, with his present protestations?</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lifted her eyes and searched his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“There is some doubt yet, love. Tell me what it is. +There must be perfect confidence between us. Let us +effectually demolish every barrier once for all,” he said +with deep tenderness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you do not love——” she began, then stopped, +for it seemed so disloyal to doubt him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Whom?” he questioned gravely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Sarah Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Assuredly not.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But—but——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell me all, Salome,” he commanded, seeing there +was something still troubling her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I heard you tell her so over and over again. I +saw her clasped in your arms—lying upon your breast, +your lips raining kisses upon hers; and O True! True! +that was what broke my heart! I could never have signed +that letter but for that,” Salome panted, and her tale was +all told at last.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But Dr. Winthrop regarded her in bewildered astonishment, +and was almost tempted to believe that a form of +madness had seized her, for her words were utterly incomprehensible, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>and yet her earnestness convinced him +that she believed what she had stated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What can you mean? When did you imagine that +you saw and heard all this?” he inquired.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When I was ill at the chateau.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When you were ill at the chateau! I do not understand +you,” he said more deeply puzzled, for everything +seemed to be growing more complicated, though a sudden +shock went through him as she spoke of having been ill +at the villa.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes—or I had been ill and was getting better and +had told Mrs. Rochester one day that I must return to +Paris. She replied that she would arrange for me to go +the next day. I had only sat up once or twice, but I told +myself that if I intended to go away the next day I must +begin to exercise and gain a little more strength. I was +in Sarah’s room, and when I thought no one was about I +got up and tried to walk. I steadied myself by the furniture +and went into Mrs. Rochester’s room—you know +how they were situated—when my strength gave out and +I had to sit down. Presently I heard voices in the parlor—your +voice and hers; you were telling her of your love; +you had never addressed me with a tithe of the passion +and earnestness that you used with her. You told her +that you had loved her from the moment of your first +meeting, and you begged her to assure you of her love +for you, in spite of that unnatural contract which would +have consigned her to a man whether she could love him +or not——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You need not tell me any more, Salome,” Dr. Winthrop +interposed, laying his fingers softly upon her quivering +lips to stop the miserable recital. “I understand +it all now. But would it be too much to ask you to believe—could +you credit me if I should tell you that I +never uttered the words that you have repeated—that I +never held Miss Rochester in my arms or touched her lips +with mine?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome drew in a deep breath of astonishment, and +lifted a wondering glance to his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>Nothing but grave and earnest truth was written there, +and she began to question within herself whether that +scene, which had been so indelibly stamped upon her +heart, could have been a vision—a mere chimera of the +brain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, if I had not seen you!” she cried, a puzzled look +in her eyes, an eager longing in her tones.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLIII.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME RELATES SOMETHING OF HER PREVIOUS HISTORY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Dr. Winthrop was not hurt by his wife’s apparent +doubt. He simply folded her closer in his arms +and smiled fondly down upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can it be possible that, during all the time you were +at the chateau, you never saw my brother?” he remarked +after a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No; I never saw him except once or twice in the distance, +and then I had but a glimpse, and at dusk, when I +was taking the air for a few moments. I supposed it was +your brother, for he was with Madame Winthrop and your +sister,” Salome replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I remember now that he did not come often to my +rooms during my illness,” said Dr. Winthrop reflectively.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Doubtless,” he thought to himself, “he was improving +the time to make love to Miss Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You recollect that Mr. Tillinghast would not leave +you when you were extremely ill except for needed rest, +and we did not think it best to have too many around +you; and then, when you began to improve, you are aware +that your brother went away with your mother and sister,” +Salome responded, but not comprehending just why Dr. +Winthrop had spoken of this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He looked into her eyes and smiled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It was but natural that you should have been deceived. +You think you saw me in Miss Rochester’s parlor that +day, but you did not; for, during all the time that we +were at the chateau, I never once entered those rooms +except to prescribe for Miss Rochester when she was ill. +The man you saw with her must have been my brother, +Norman—my twin brother—who resembles me, whose +<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>voice and face and figure are so like mine that our most +intimate friends can scarcely tell us apart.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, if I had but known!” exclaimed Salome with a +look of astonishment, but with a sigh of infinite relief, +while her white fingers closed over her husband’s hand in +a clinging grasp.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But, my darling, it seems strange that you should +have forgotten how ill I had been—that it would have +been impossible for me to have held Miss Rochester in +my arms, or to have supported her upon my breast at that +time!” said Dr. Winthrop smiling again.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I never thought of that,” Salome answered, wondering +how she could have been so thoughtless and stupid. +“If it had been you, you would have looked thin and +white; but I was so wild with grief that it did not once +occur to me to question your identity,” and the sweet +face looking up into his began to clear, while she rested +more contentedly in his embrace.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was beginning to realize that no rival could ever +usurp her place in her husband’s heart—that his love for +her was as strong and deathless as hers for him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“More than that, love,” he said. “Norman came to +me only a short time ago, and confessed his love for Miss +Rochester. I will tell you frankly that I expected to be +obliged to marry her, although it almost seemed to me +that it would be a crime to do so, when my heart was so +filled with your image.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And then he explained to Salome how he had been +drawn into making a proposal to the scheming girl and +been accepted, and she listened with a strange look on +her face, although she made no comment on the tale.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But you have spoken of your illness at the chateau—how +long were you ill there?” Dr. Winthrop inquired, +when his story was told.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Three weeks.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It does not seem possible!” he cried astonished. +“How could they manage to keep your presence in the +house concealed so long? They told me that you had a +fainting turn, and, fearing you were going to be ill, you +had insisted upon going back to Paris. I supposed you +<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>were with the sisters and being most tenderly cared for, +never suspecting the contrary until Harriet came to the +chateau to inquire for you, and told me that no one knew +anything about you; but—tell me just how it all happened, +and how you were lured into that wretched place +where I found you to-day.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome began with the day when she fainted in the +hall before Mrs. Rochester’s door, and told him everything +that had occurred up to the time when she had discovered +his presence in the ward, where she was a prisoner +in Dr. Arnot’s asylum for lunatics.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop listened with a stern, white face, as all +the treachery of those two women was revealed to him, +and realized how they had plotted not only to ruin her +life, but to make a dupe of him also.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“About this petition for a divorce—when was it sent, +Salome?” he gravely asked, when she had concluded this +portion of her story.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She gave him the exact date.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And to whom?—what was the lawyer’s name?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She told him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! he was abroad last year—I know him. Miss +Rochester must have met him then. Why, Salome, he is +one of the most unprincipled scamps in his profession!—he +will do anything for money, and is most successful in +this particular branch of his business. He makes a +specialty of procuring divorces secretly, and is very +cunning in bringing about just what his clients desire. +But,” he added, “we will see if we cannot put a stop to +these proceedings at once.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, can you—can you?” Salome eagerly cried.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am going to try,” he answered gravely. “I shall +send a cable message commanding—if the decree has not +already been granted—that all further attempts to obtain +a separation be dropped—that such is the wish of both +you and myself.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, do, do! I wish, oh, I wish you would go this +moment to send it,” Salome cried, clinging to him nervously, +and raising an appealing look to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It will do just as well an hour hence, love,” he returned +<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>soothingly, “and there is much about you that I +still wish to learn. How did it happen that I found you +in the hospital in this disguise? how did you happen to +be in Paris at all? how did you escape from that terrible +fire? Oh, my darling, go back to the hour of our separation +and tell me everything—spare no one, for I must +know the whole truth, no matter whom it involves.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome leaned back in his arms, and, laying her head +upon his shoulder, where she could look up and watch +every varying expression of his dear face, began her story, +and told him, as he requested, all that had occurred since +their parting in New York. She tried to be as lenient as +possible in speaking of his mother and sister, but she was +truthful, and he could not fail to understand how much +they had been to blame for the suffering which they had +both been called upon to endure.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What a tale!” he exclaimed, when she concluded; +“it is full of romance—full of suffering, too. What danger, +love, you have been in; what a narrow escape you +had from that burning building. But nothing shall ever +separate us again—not a thousand treacherous women; +not a hundred marriage contracts made by arbitrary +match-makers.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s lovely face brightened at his words like a +flower after a refreshing shower.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you do not regret the fortune which your uncle +left you upon such strange conditions?” she said inquiringly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Regret it, love! A world in the balance with you +would be as nothing,” he cried, and caught her to him +with a passion, which told her how heartfelt were his words.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was very sweet, very comforting to her to be so +loved after all the loneliness and barrenness of her life, +during the long months of their separation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But presently she raised her head and searched his face +earnestly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What is it, dear? why are you so grave, as if you were +regretting the fortune that I have lost?” he asked smilingly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was wondering how I could best tell you something +<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>else,” she remarked, with something of hesitation in her +manner.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean? is it that old secret of the past?” +he asked, growing grave, “the history of your life which +has been the cause of so much suspicion, persecution, +and wrong? Of course I shall be glad to have you give +me your confidence, dear; but whatever you may have to +tell me can never make the slightest difference in my +love for you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She smiled.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I know it,” she said, “and had I only known a little +more of your own history, all this trouble and sorrow +need never have come upon us. A word would have set +everything right.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“If you had known a little more of my history? I do +not understand you, Salome,” Dr. Winthrop remarked, +looking perplexed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why did you not tell me about this Rochester-Hamilton +contract?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Because I hated the very thought of it; and after I +had broken the conditions, and forfeited my fortune by +marrying the woman I loved, there was nothing to be +said. Besides, what possible difference could it have +made in our relations?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It would have made this difference, True,” Salome +said, as she regarded him with tender earnestness, “that +we should have escaped all that has made us so wretched, +for I—your wife—am the Sadie Rochester whom you +were destined by that arbitrary will to marry; you have +already fulfilled the contract, which you so hated to contemplate, +and the united estates of Brookside and Englehurst +might have been our home long ago, if you had but +confided to me the fact that you were Milton Hamilton’s +heir and namesake.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop sat regarding his wife in speechless astonishment +during this explanation.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Good heavens!” he exclaimed, as she concluded, “I +am half tempted to believe that your brain has been +turned after all. You surely cannot know what you are +saying!”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>“Oh, yes, I do. What I have told you is a fact,” she +quietly returned. “My true name—the poor name that +has occasioned so much suspicion and trouble—is Salome +Howland Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And you are the Miss Rochester—the daughter of my +uncle’s friend—whom these two wills destined me to +marry?” the young physician cried, his face still blank +with amazement and incredulity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then who is this other girl who has been masquerading +under your name, and trying to trick me into a marriage +with her?” he demanded in perplexity.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Her real name is Sarah Rockwell. My father married +Mrs. Rockwell, who was the widow of a cousin of my +mother, when her daughter was a girl of twelve, and I +was ten years of age. That would make her a distant +cousin, in fact we called ourselves cousins, until she +came to live in the same house with me.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Her mother stipulated, when she became my father’s +wife, that her daughter should be regularly adopted so +that she could bear the same name, and thus she became +Sarah Rochester. How she came to be called Sadie you +will understand as I go on. When I was a little child I +had a nurse who was very fond of me and she would not +call me Salome. She said the name was too old-fashioned—too +old-maidish. She tried to nickname me by +calling me ‘Lomie;’ but this my mother objected to, and +the nurse laughingly said there was nothing else but Sally. +‘Yes, we can call her Sadie,’ said my mother, and Sadie I +was from that time on. After my father’s second marriage +it was a little troublesome to have two children in the +family with names so nearly alike, and my step-mother +wanted to use my whole name, Salome; but my father +had become accustomed to the other, and would not +countenance the change. As I said before, she was twelve +and I ten when she came to live with us, and she shared +equally with me in every advantage, for Mrs. Rochester +was particular to demand as much for her child, in every +respect, as my father gave to his. But from the very first +she was strangely jealous of me, and though she dared +<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>not be otherwise than civil to me in my father’s presence, +it was soon patent to me that she was secretly my bitter +enemy. My father was an invalid for many years, but +though he was often irritable and had many whims and +fancies, as invalids often have—even though he was +strangely cold and indifferent to me—I loved him very +dearly, and was never so happy as when I was in his room +waiting upon him and ministering to his many wants. +He had his own private attendant, but he often used to +tell me that I was the better nurse of the two, and I know +that I did become quite proficient in the care of him. +We came abroad shortly after his marriage with Mrs. +Rockwell, and travelled about from place to place, according +to his pleasure or fancy; but nothing was ever said to +me about his plans for my future, until a few months before +he died. Then one day he told me that he had +pledged me to the son and heir of his dearest friend and +college chum, Milton Hamilton; who, although he resided +in New York most of the time, owned the estate adjoining +Brookside—a fine place belonging to my father, but which +he had left after my mother’s death and had only visited +at intervals since. I supposed from what my father told +me, that the name of the man whom he wanted me to +marry was also Hamilton; he did not tell me that he was +simply the adopted son of his friend. He said that he +was expecting him to join us abroad that fall, and he +wished me to be prepared to give him a gracious reception. +Of course I secretly rebelled at this arbitrary disposition +of my hand; but at the time he told me about it, he was +not as well as usual, and I said nothing in reply, fearing +to excite him if I opposed the arrangement in any way. +It came out afterward that he had told his wife more than +he told me regarding these plans, but even she was appalled +upon learning the truth regarding the disposal of +his property. My father died very suddenly one day, +while we were all out shopping, and we came home to +find the servants wild with excitement, and the house in +the greatest confusion. Mrs. Rochester is, however, a +woman of rare executive ability, as you have doubtless +learned, and she managed everything during this unlooked-for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>emergency very wisely, and with the utmost +propriety.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Every mark of respect was paid to the dead, and even +the most critical could have found no fault with her deportment +and arrangements at this time. But when the +will was produced and read she was simply furious. It +was then, too, that I learned the whole truth regarding +his plans for my future. The will stated that I was to +marry Mr. Hamilton’s heir, or forfeit the Rochester +homestead and a hundred thousand dollars besides; fifty +thousand dollars alone being held in reserve for me in +case I refused to comply with my father’s wishes. A +will to the same tenor and effect was made after his marriage +with Mrs. Rockwell, which stated that the income +of the previously mentioned fifty thousand dollars +should go to her if I married Mr. Hamilton’s heir; if I +did not, she was simply to share a certain amount of the +income until I married to please myself, when she would +receive ten thousand outright. The income of the fifty +thousand dollars was to revert to me at her death. I will +not attempt to describe her anger over this state of affairs. +She claimed that my father had promised her fifty thousand +dollars, and that he had shamefully wronged her by making +such a will. She appeared to imagine that I was +responsible for it, and she treated me accordingly. Of +course she immediately became very anxious that I should +fulfil the Rochester-Hamilton contract; you were expected +to arrive at any time, and she insisted that the +marriage must be solemnized immediately upon your +arrival, or as soon after as it could be arranged.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I was shocked at what seemed to me such indecent +haste, especially when there had been a death so recently +in the family, and I rebelled; besides, the idea of promising +to marry a man whom I had never seen, and who, for aught +I knew, might not be attracted to me, was horrible. She +demanded a promise of obedience; I was high-spirited +and refused to give it, and even threatened to leave her +and return to America to escape you. Thereupon she +locked me in my room, telling me that I should remain +there a prisoner until I relented and came to her terms. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>This only made matters worse, arousing a feeling of antagonism +and obstinacy within me; and one day, when Mrs. +Rochester and Sarah were out driving, I bribed the maid, +who was left to guard me, to let me run away. She sympathized +with me, and agreed to the proposal. She even +packed my trunk, and had it secretly taken out to a carriage +which she ordered. I went directly to Calais, then +to Dover, and from there to London. I remained there +for a few weeks, trying to find some congenial employment, +when, one day, I met a man who had once been a +servant in our family.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This meeting frightened me so I went to Liverpool, +boarded a steamer, and sailed directly to Boston, where +I arrived one dreary day in November. I had very little +money left when I reached that city and felt like a +stranger in a strange land, although America was my +native country. I had never had to depend upon myself +for a livelihood, but I knew that I must now do something. +A happy inspiration led me to the City Hospital, for I believed +that my experience in the sick-room of my father +had fitted me for a nurse. The superintendent appeared +to be pleased with me, even agreeing to give me a trial +without the required recommendations and—the rest you +know already, True.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My darling, what a sad experience you have had!” said +Dr. Winthrop sadly. “It is no wonder that you rebelled +against that wretched contract; but you need not have +feared me. I was no less averse to it, for I felt that two +men had no right to thus control the destinies of others. +Still I had promised that I would meet you, and only the +breaking out of an epidemic in New York prevented my +arriving in Berlin before your father’s death. I wrote, +explaining the delay, but it seems that my letter was never +received. I intended, if we were pleased with each other, +to ask you to be my wife, but I should never have urged +the union—I could never have made any woman my wife +against her will, even though a dozen fortunes were to be +won by such a measure.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And I imagined that you were eager for the marriage,” +replied Salome. “I thought you were coming to us to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>make it merely a matter of business, and I should be sacrificed +at any cost. If I could have but known how well +I should love you, how happy we might have been!” she +concluded with a sigh.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, if I had but listened to you when you first wished +to tell me your story, my darling, it would have saved us +much of the sorrow that we have since known,” her husband +remarked regretfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps and yet——” Salome began thoughtfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yet what, my Peace?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I believe we should not have been so content in each +other’s love; we might have had a feeling—a suspicion +that each was thinking more of the union of the fortunes +than the union of hearts, if we had met as was planned +in the first place. I believe that I love you better for all +the trial and sorrow.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLIV.<br> <span class='c009'>SALOME CONTINUES HER STORY.</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>“All this has been a test, at any rate,” Salome continued, +after a few moments of thoughtful silence. +“We are both sure that no unworthy motive has influenced +us. We know that we preferred each other to wealth. I +fled from my home rather than be driven into a marriage +with one whom I was not sure I could love, while you insisted +upon marrying me without regard to the fortune +which you believed you were forfeiting.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, it has been a test, as you say. Still I cannot be +reconciled to our long separation. Oh, my darling, I +have been very desolate without you! Just think of all +the precious time that we have lost!” Dr. Winthrop said, +with a quiver of pain in his tones.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It has not been wholly lost, dear,” Salome returned, +lifting her tender face upon which there glowed a holy +light, “for I believe we have both tried to do some good +in the world; out of our own sorrow, we have tried to be +helpful to others. True we have suffered,” and she shivered +slightly; “but I am sure we shall both appreciate the +joy of the future far more on account of it. I know,” and +her voice grew gravely sweet, “that I have helped to +smooth and cheer the last of life for one, who, for many +years, had led a very bitter and sorrowful existence; +besides, I trust that I have won no mean victory over +my own heart during my experiences here in Paris.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop bent and touched her brow almost reverently +with his lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dear heart, I understand you,” he said with emotion. +“You have rewarded evil with good by saving the lives +of those who have injured you; you have been an angel, +my Salome!”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>“No, True, I did not mean that,” she replied, smiling +faintly and flushing. “I am far from being angelic, I +assure you. But I confess there was much of bitterness +in my heart; I am afraid that I was almost revengeful. +Even when you asked me to go to the chateau, I had quite +a struggle with myself before I could conquer; but now +while I feel that I may have been instrumental in doing +some good, I know that I have reaped a hundredfold in +the conquest over self.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop could not speak for a few moments. He +folded her in a close embrace, and marvelled at the beautiful +spirit that could be so gentle and forgiving toward +those whose only object had been to crush her. For himself, +he felt that he never could forgive his mother and +sister for their treacherous scheming, their heartlessness +and ill-will. He could see that they had been determined +to separate them from the first, and he wondered how they +would feel when they should learn the truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Did madam—your mother write you about my meeting +a strange man one day?” Salome questioned, breaking in +upon these reflections.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam’s threat had suddenly recurred to her, and she +wished to learn just how much her husband had been told.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, dear, but I wrote her in reply that I trusted my +wife implicitly. Evelyn, she said, had been an eye-witness +of the meeting, and they were both evidently very curious. +But I felt sure that there had been nothing wrong in it—that +if anything had occurred which I ought to know, you +would yourself explain it to me upon my return,” Dr. +Winthrop replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, dear True, for your confidence in me,” +Salome said, as she lifted her lips and touched his in a +grateful caress—one which her husband doubly appreciated, +since it was the first one she had voluntarily given +him. “There was nothing suspicious or wrong in the +meeting, on my part, although it may have seemed so to +her,” she continued. “The man was the same one whom +I met in London; as I told you, he had been a servant in +our family—he went abroad with us to wait upon my father, +attend to our baggage, and make himself generally useful. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>He had always pretended to be very fond of me, +and though this may have been all very well when I was +a child, it became very annoying as I grew older. When +I was about nineteen, he one day boldly made love to me. +I went to my father and told him at once of the insult, +and he discharged the man on the spot. He was very +angry, and vowed that he would be avenged upon us. +He did not leave the country, but continued to follow +us about from place to place. Although this was not +pleasant, we did not fear him, or imagine that he would +dare do us any injury. He must have known about my +father’s death, and of my subsequent flight—he even traced +me to London, though what possible good he could have +expected to gain by so doing I cannot understand. I do +not think he could have known of my sailing for America, +for I never saw him again until we met in New York that +day. I was greatly annoyed and frightened, for it seemed +to me then that he was bent upon doing me some injury, +and I cannot tell you how I longed for you, True, to protect +me from him and his further insults. His name was +William Brown, and he was a very smart, capable man in +certain ways, but I sincerely hope I shall never see him +again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s lip curled with scorn as he thought how +his sister had played the spy upon his pure-minded, innocent +wife. How utterly contemptible it seemed to +him, and how simple the circumstances of the meeting, +although, as his mother had represented it, there had +seemed to be something perplexing and suspicious connected +with it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I blame myself very much, Salome, for leaving you +behind when I was called abroad to my father,” he said +regretfully. “If I had only listened to your pleadings +and taken you with me, I could have saved you all these +wretched experiences. But I feared the voyage for you +in the dead of winter, for you were far from strong. +I knew if you took cold and were ill again it would +go hard with you; so, though it nearly unmanned me +to refuse you and leave you, I believed it was the only +right thing for me to do.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>“I know you acted as you thought best, True, and I +never thought of blaming you,” Salome answered. “The +only thing that I rebelled against and questioned, was +your apparently harsh judgment of me in sending me from +your home, as if you regretted having ever brought me +there; but now, knowing that you never received my +letter, and understanding why you sent me away, I can +see that I misjudged you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is not strange at all,” Dr. Winthrop said, feeling +that she had been very lenient in her estimate of his +apparent injustice. Then he added, with some curiosity:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How do you account, Salome, for the fact that Miss +Rochester has been masquerading under your name and +position.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is very easily explained,” the young wife answered. +“They were excessively alarmed after I ran +away from them, for of course they realized that upon me +depended the hope of their ultimately coming into the +possession of the income of the fifty thousand dollars +mentioned in my father’s will. All this, you understand, +I learned from them during my illness at the chateau. +They believed me to be dead—they had seen a notice in +a London paper, shortly after my disappearance, of the +death of a girl bearing my name and answering to my +description, a friendless girl, who had met with an accident, +and been carried to the Home for the Friendless—and +Mrs. Rochester conceived the plan of representing +Sarah as the Rochester heiress, marrying her to the +Hamilton heir, and thus securing, a fine position and great +wealth for her daughter, besides the handsome income +referred to in my father’s will for herself. Sarah was +very readily changed to Sadie, and to inquisitive people, +who had known that there were two Miss Rochesters, it +was easy to say that she had lost her own daughter, and +her only companion was now her husband’s child. We +had been abroad for years, consequently had grown out +of the remembrance of our old acquaintances, and no one +would be the wiser for the deception. It was a very +cunning plot and very cleverly developed, as you know, +while if they had failed in making you their victim, they +<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>would still have had the fifty thousand dollars, provided +I never made my appearance to claim it. The first intimation +they had that I was not the girl who had died in +London, was upon being told whom you had married by +Madame Winthrop, but they thought they were safe again +upon hearing that I had lost my life in that fire, and they +believed that if they could secure you they would never +have anything to fear hereafter. You can perhaps imagine +their astonishment and dismay when, upon removing +my cap and spectacles, after I had fainted before their +door, in the chateau, they discovered who I was. Of +course they recognized me instantly, and when they found +I was too ill to be removed, they planned to conceal me +in Sarah’s room until I should be well enough to be secretly +sent away. Even then, I did not know that you +were the heir of my father’s friend. Your mother and +sister had represented to me that you had been pledged +to some one else at the time of our marriage, but they +did not tell me to whom, and I had no idea that you were +in any way concerned until Sarah Rochester herself told +me, on the day that she discovered my identity. It +seemed as if the knowledge must kill me—as if everything +in my life had gone at cross purposes. I was already +the wife of the man whom my father had willed I +should marry—the man whom I had fled from because I +feared he would be odious to me, but whom fate had decreed +that I should love with my whole soul. It seemed +to me then as if I had recklessly thrown my life and my +happiness away, for if I had remained quietly with Mrs. +Rochester, you would ultimately have come to us, we +should have been mutually attracted, and there would +have been nothing to interfere with our future happiness. +Of course, when they told me this, I understood all their +plot at once. I knew why Sarah’s name had been changed +to Sadie—why they were travelling with you, and the +end they hoped to attain. I could understand, too, what +a marplot they must regard me—that they must fear that +I would betray their secret and spoil all their plans. It +would be a terrible thing for Mrs. Rochester, after having +carried her deception so far to be obliged to confess that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>she had been palming off her own daughter as the child of +her husband, just to get his money and secure her a brilliant +position in life. When they discovered, however, that +I had no intention of revealing my identity to you, they +recovered themselves somewhat, but I did not dream +that they were plotting to shut me up in that dreadful +place.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They are a couple of hardened criminals, and they +shall be made to suffer for their wrong-doing; I will not +spare them,” Dr. Winthrop said sternly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah! but they have been foiled in it—that will be a +terrible punishment to them; and—and we are happy, +True; I cannot wish anybody any ill,” Salome responded, +as she laid her soft cheek against her husband’s with a +trustful, contented air, that touched him deeply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is true; but such people deserve to be dealt +with to the extent of the law. When I think how they have +tried to divorce us, and almost tricked me into this hated +marriage, I feel as if nothing could be too bad for them,” +he replied with a frown.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not mind anything now, that I know you love +me,” Salome said, with gleaming eyes. “The cruellest +pang I suffered was when I believed you loved her—Sarah. +O True, I was desperate enough then to do +anything; you must know I was, or I never could have +signed that letter to the New York lawyer.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The more I think of it, the more amazed I grow at +the daring of those scheming women. I am almost +tempted to believe that Sarah Rochester would have married +me, even if she had failed to secure the decree, to +gain her point,” Dr. Winthrop said, with a shrug of repulsion. +“I begin to believe that people will do anything +to attain wealth; truly, ‘the love of money is the +root of all evil.’ But their consigning you to Dr. Arnot’s +mad-house was the worst of all, and I swear that Mrs. +Rochester shall be made to answer for that horrible crime. +Oh, my darling, what if I had never gone there!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome shuddered and clung to him. She could hardly +persuade herself, even now, that the blessed present was +not, after all, a mere dream or vision, and that she should +<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>not awake by and by, to find herself back in that wretched +place, and surrounded by the hapless beings who had +been her companions for so long.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not let us talk of it any more, True; I do not +want to think of anything now, but that I am safe, and +belong wholly to you once more,” she sighed, a thrill of +deep joy running through all her tones.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s heart bounded within him at her words, +for they had told him how entirely she belonged to +him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My wife! my wife!” he murmured fondly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome lifted her arms, and twined them about his +neck, drawing his face down to hers until their lips met.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was the first time she had ever given such free expression +to her affection for him, and it told him that her +last doubt of his love—her last fear that he had married +her from a sense of gratitude or duty had vanished forever, +and that henceforth only the most perfect trust +would exist between them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just at that moment there came a tap upon the door.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet was very discreet, and had taken this way to +warn the supposed lovers of her approach.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome released herself from her husband’s embrace +and bade her come in; but the lovely flush upon her +cheeks, the light of the perfect happiness that beamed +from her eyes told their own story even before she said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Harriet, my good friend, it is but right that I should +confide in you now. Dr. Winthrop is my husband. We +were married nearly two years ago.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman looked amazed for a moment, then recovering +herself, responded, with a wise smile:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I knew he was something to you, Miss Salome, the +moment I saw you together; but I’m bound to confess +I’d no idea that you got along quite so far. I’m sure I +wish you both a great deal of joy. But—dinner’s ready,” +she concluded practically, “and you’d both better come +and have something to eat.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop laughed heartily at this sudden descent +from sentiment to the realities of life; but drawing Salome’s +arm through his, they followed the woman to another +<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>room, where they found a tempting repast awaiting +them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Harriet refused to join them at the table, resolutely +insisting that she should feel more at home if she served +them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After the meal was over Dr. Winthrop led Salome +again into the cozy parlor, and then said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Now, love, I am going at once to send my cable message, +and I shall not return again until I receive a reply. +It may take a good many hours, but I shall make as +quick and as thorough a business as possible of it, you +may be very sure. But meantime,” he added, looking a +trifle envious, “shall you feel quite safe to be left here +over night?—shall you not feel lonely?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, no; Harriet and I have been here many a night +by ourselves, and besides there is a passage by which we +can gain an entrance to the convent—we have only to +pull a bell, and some one will come to us at once,” Salome +replied confidently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then I shall feel easy about you,” her husband said, +his face clearing. “But,” he added with a smile, as he +touched her coarse, gray serge dress, “when I come back +to join you to-morrow I shall want to find my wife in +some more fitting garb than this.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have no longer any need of a disguise, and I shall +be very glad to don some more becoming apparel,” Salome +said, smiling, as she lifted her lips for his parting +caress.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Even then she let him go with reluctance. She followed +him to the door, and let him out with her own hands, +while she told him with a shy smile and blush, that the +time would seem long until he returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then she went back to Harriet, who could no longer +restrain the delight which the beautiful, happy face afforded +her, and who caught her in her strong arms and +gave her a vigorous hug.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Bless your dear heart, Miss Salome!” she cried; “it +does my old soul good to see that light on your face, and +to know that you are happier than any queen on her +throne. Now I am just dying to know the whole story. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>Sit down, and tell me all about it, while I eat my +dinner.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome obeyed, and sitting opposite the faithful creature, +gave her a brief history of all that we already know.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I knew those women were a couple of dev—fallen +angels,” Harriet dryly remarked, when Salome told her +how Mrs. Rochester had plotted to get her into the asylum. +“It didn’t take me long to find that out when I went to +nurse them through the cholera, for all they were so sweet +when Dr. Winthrop was around. And to think that you +were his wife and he never suspected it all the time you +were taking care of him! No wonder you grew white +and thin, with all the care, and with all you’ve suffered +since. Bless my heart! but I don’t envy his mother and +sister when they find out who was so good to them, +when they were near dying with the plague. I hope +they’ll never get over the shame of it—never!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And I hope, Harriet, that it will prove to be the one +thing that will break down their pride and make them +love me,” Salome responded, with grave sweetness.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLV.<br> <span class='c009'>“IT IS ALL RIGHT, MY DARLING!”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>After leaving Salome, Dr. Winthrop hastened at once +to a telegraph office, where he wrote the following +cable message:</p> + +<div class='lg-container-l c002'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>To Conrad Converse</span>,</div> + <div class='line in8'>“Chambers Street, New York:</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>“You are hereby notified to quash at once all proceedings +for divorce of Truman H. Winthrop and Salome +Winthrop. Answer immediately, stating exactly how +matters stand.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Truman H. Winthrop</span>,</div> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Salome H. Winthrop</span>.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>Having dispatched this, the young physician went at +once to his hotel, where, after writing some letters, he +retired, to try to shorten by sleep the long hours which +must intervene before he could go again to Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>To say that he was anxious regarding the answer he +would receive to his message, but faintly expresses the +torturing suspense which he experienced.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was impossible for him to sleep. He tossed on his +bed for hours, then arose and resolutely applied himself +to hard study until the day dawned. Then he refreshed +himself with a cold bath, after which he took a long walk. +Upon his return he dallied as long as possible with his +breakfast, read his newspaper, smoked a cigar, while it +seemed as if the time had never passed so slowly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He wished now that he had not told Salome he would +not go to her until he heard from the lawyer, for he might +at least have spent a few hours of the morning with her. +He was half tempted to go, as it was, but the message +<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>might come while he was away, and he was becoming +almost feverishly impatient to receive it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It is useless to attempt to describe that long, long day. +Truman Winthrop’s powers of endurance were tested +to their utmost, for no word came to him until six o’clock +that evening. He signed for the dispatch with a hand +that trembled so that no one would ever have recognized +his signature.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a face as white as his handkerchief and a heavily +beating heart he tore open the message and read these +words:</p> + +<p class='c013'>“No decree granted; unforeseen delay caused by endless +red tape. All proceedings stopped as commanded. Utmost +secrecy has been observed.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>“<span class='sc'>Conrad Converse.</span>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c013'>A long, long sigh of relief burst from the young man, +after reading this and for a few moments he was almost +unmanned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She is still mine, thank God!” he murmured, after +perusing the message a second time; “I could hardly have +borne to have learned that the tie had been annulled, +even though she would have given herself unreservedly +to me again. Now all will be well—oh, my love, I believe +there is a blessed future in store for us.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He put the precious message carefully away to show +Salome, then, hastening from the house, he called the first +cab he saw and was driven directly to No. 15 Rue de ——.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was after seven when he arrived at Salome’s door and +almost dark, but a light was burning in the little parlor, +and he knew that someone within was anxiously awaiting +his coming.</p> + +<p class='c011'>With a full heart and bounding pulses, he sprang from +the carriage and ran lightly up the steps, to find the door +almost instantly opened. A white robed figure sprang +into his arms and was clasped to his breast.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tell me, True—tell me!” Salome breathed as she +twined her arms about his neck and laid her cheek to his.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her own anxiety, and the suspense she had endured +had been no less intense than his.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>“It is all right, darling,” he tenderly replied, “the +man has accomplished nothing—we are still one, and +nothing can come between us now. Come and let me +show you the answer to my message.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>He led her into the parlor, where he put the precious +message into her trembling hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was quivering in every nerve, but she read the +blessed assurance that she was still Truman Winthrop’s +wife—that the sacred bond which had united them had +not been annulled and a great joy and unutterable thankfulness +flooded her heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She raised her illumined face to her husband, and he +opened his arms to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Again she sprang into them, a sob of thankfulness +bursting from her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“All mine! all mine!” he murmured fondly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am so glad, so happy!” she whispered, with her +tremulous lips laid against his cheek.</p> + +<hr class='c012'> + +<p class='c011'>Three weeks later, in an elegant apartment of one of +the finest hotels of Paris, a gentleman and lady might +have been seen sitting opposite each other at a daintily +spread breakfast-table. On the hotel register in the +office below, any one might have read the entry: +“Truman H. Winthrop, M. D., New York City, U. S. A.; +Mrs. Truman H. Winthrop and maid.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>After their reunion, Dr. Winthrop would not allow Salome +to remain longer in the little house under the shadow +of the convent walls, so it was given up, and taking +Harriet with them, as Salome’s maid, they went for a +time to one of the hotels of the city.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, my Peace, we have been here three weeks, and +very happy weeks they have been, too; but is it not about +time that we began to plan a little for the future?” Dr. +Winthrop remarked, as he pushed his chair back from the +table, while his eyes rested with a look of fond admiration +upon the lovely figure opposite him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome was exquisitely attired in the palest of pale +pink morning robes, richly trimmed with white lace, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>the dress was extremely becoming to her clear, cream-like +complexion, dark hair and eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had changed much during these three weeks. Her +face was radiant with happiness, her eyes bright with +hope, her manner animated, and even gay. She was wholly +unlike the grave, demure little body, who had been +known as Sister Angela, and no one would have dreamed +that she could have been the same person.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young wife flushed under her husband’s glance. She +knew that she was beautiful, and she had begun to take +pleasure in the fact, because of his evident delight in it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not want to plan for anything,” she smilingly +returned. “I am too happy in just being with you, to +take much thought for the future.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is very pleasant to hear you say that, my darling,” +Dr. Winthrop replied, as he came behind her and laid his +hand fondly upon her glossy head, “nevertheless, there +are some matters which must be attended to without delay. +My mother and sister must be notified of what has +occurred; Miss Rochester must learn that her schemes +have failed, and then we must go home to attend to securing +what rightly belongs to us; that unprincipled girl +shall no longer masquerade in the character and under the +name that rightly belongs to you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But it seems dreadful to have such disagreeable matters +to attend to when we are so happy, does it not?” Salome +said with a sigh, as she put up one white hand to +draw his face down upon a level with hers where she could +look into his eyes.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I believe, Salome, you are ready to forgive everybody +the wrong they have done you,” Dr. Winthrop returned, +as he searched her thoughtful face. “But I am afraid I +am not quite as merciful as you are. I am free to confess +to a certain amount of satisfaction—of exultation, +even, over the downfall of the plots that have been laid +against us; while too, I am strangely curious to see how +those wicked people, who have done so much to make us +both miserable, will bear their punishment.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Punishment!” repeated Salome, looking slightly +troubled.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>“Yes, dear; they all deserve a severe lesson, and I +mean they shall have it,” the young man replied, with +some sternness. “Do not look so disturbed, love,” he +added as he saw the cloud upon her brow. “I am not a +vindictive or hard-hearted man, but I am determined +that justice shall be done. I think you may safely trust +me to manage it in a proper manner.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I will leave it all with you,” Salome said confidingly, +and feeling very sure that he would do nothing wrong, +although she shrank with keen sensitiveness, from anything +which would seem like revenge for her wrongs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then what do you say to a trip to Rome next week?” +her husband asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Must I meet them?” she cried, shrinking closer to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not if you recoil from it,” he responded, “but I promised +my mother that I would join her at the end of two +months. Six weeks have already passed, and I think it +will be wise not to keep her longer in ignorance of what +has occurred. I could go alone, only I cannot make up +my mind to be separated from you——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no, True, where you go, I must go,” Salome +cried, clinging to him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I thought that would be your decision, dear. You +shall not meet any of them if you so desire it; still you +can easily understand that all these recent developments +must be explained, and business matters settled sooner or +later. When I have anything disagreeable to do, I like +to attack it boldly and get it off my mind,” Dr. Winthrop +concluded, smiling.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is the better way, of course,” Salome gravely +answered. “I suppose I must meet them all again, some +time and I may as well school myself to the ordeal first as +last. As for Mrs. Rochester and her daughter, I believe +I should be glad never to see them again, although I wish +them no ill; but, True, for your sake, I would like to win +the hearts of your mother and sister.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Can you forgive them for all they made you suffer in +New York, Salome?” her husband wonderingly asked as +he searched her earnest face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young wife flushed. It was not an easy matter to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>crush all sense of injury out of her heart, but strengthened +by the great love which she bore her husband, she believed +she could in time do even this.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, for your sake, True,” she said softly.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He touched her forehead reverently.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are more noble than I, dear, for I cannot say as +much as that,” he gravely returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There were a few more days of perfect peace and content +in Paris, and then Dr. Winthrop and his wife set out +for Rome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They did not linger on their way, but arrived in Rome +near the close of a pleasant afternoon during the latter +part of December.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They drove directly to the Hotel Quirinal in the Via +Nazionale, where they found pleasant rooms and excellent +service.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After they had had their dinner, Dr. Winthrop repaired +to the smoking-room to enjoy his cigar, hoping that he +might find some one whom he knew.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had not been seated ten minutes when he was +slapped upon the shoulder, and looking up, he saw his +friend Tillinghast beside him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a joyful meeting.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I never dreamed of seeing you here to-night, old fellow!” +the young man exclaimed. “When did you arrive?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Not quite two hours ago,” Dr. Winthrop replied.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you have not seen your family. I called there +a few nights ago and found them all well excepting your +brother; he looks like a ghost, though he says he is all +right,” Mr. Tillinghast remarked, wondering why his +friend was stopping at a hotel instead of going to his +family. “I suppose you will be going around there soon,” +he said, in conclusion.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, not to-night,” briefly returned the young physician.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh! then you intend to remain here over night?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, and possibly for some time.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I tell you what, Winthrop,” his friend cried, all aglow +with hospitality, and seeing that there was some mysterious +reason why he did not join his family. “We—my +<span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>father and the rest of us—have taken a villa not far from +here—there are acres of room in it, and you must come +home with me; my people are just dying to show you +how grateful they are for saving me from that terrible +plague. I will not take no for an answer—you shall +not stop a single night in a beastly hotel,” he continued +resolutely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Beastly,” repeated Dr. Winthrop, smiling at his +friend’s extravagant expression. “We have secured good +rooms, the service is above that of the average foreign +hotel, and we are very comfortable.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Well, but all hotels are beastly compared with a well-ordered +American home. But,” regarding his companion +searchingly, “you used the plural; who are we?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My wife and I.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your wife! Good gracious, man! it is an open secret +among the American population here that you are going +to marry Miss Rochester, and that the wedding is set for +no distant date,” exclaimed Tillinghast, in undisguised +astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is a mistake,” Dr. Winthrop calmly replied, as +he coolly dislodged the ashes from his cigar. “I am not +going to marry Miss Rochester—possibly my brother may +be the happy bridegroom if everything goes well. As for +myself, I am already married, as I told you, and my wife +is with me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I cannot comprehend you, Winthrop,” his companion +returned, and looking perplexed. “When were you married?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“A little less than two years ago.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But I thought you lost your wife—that she perished +in some fire.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“So I believed until recently; but she was saved and I +came upon her in an almost miraculous way in Paris, less +than two months since. Sister Angela, to whom you and +I both owe so much, was my wife!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Winthrop! you take away my breath. I cannot believe +it!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is a long story, but if you can spare me a few minutes +I will give you a brief outline of it,” Dr. Winthrop +<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>responded, and then proceeded to tell how he had found +Salome and something of her previous history.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After all was told he insisted that his friend should go +up to their parlor and be introduced, and the young man +could scarcely credit his senses when he was ushered into +the presence of the beautiful woman and Dr. Winthrop +smilingly remarked:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Tillinghast, allow me to present you to my wife; but +I hardly think you will need any introduction.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome greeted him with charming cordiality, and +laughingly exclaimed:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You hardly recognize Sister Angela, do you, Mr. Tillinghast?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It does not seem possible that you can be one and the +same,” he replied, as he bowed low over her hand; “but, +Mrs. Winthrop, if it is true—and I cannot doubt it—I owe +you a great deal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You surely do, Fred; you and many others would have +died but for the faithful nursing which you had,” said Dr. +Winthrop gravely.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Pray do not give me more credit than I deserve, True,” +his wife interposed, flushing slightly, “for I am sure that +the treatment which his conscientious and intelligent +physician bestowed upon him was no less efficacious. +But,” she added, to change the subject, as she turned +again to her guest, “I think Dr. Winthrop is very fortunate +in finding you here. I, too, am very happy to meet +you again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could it be possible that this lovely girl, with her perfect +composure, her high-bred manner, her graceful figure, +and beautiful face, was the quiet, demure, and self-contained +nun who, in her unbecoming dress, had done so +much for him in Paris? It was hard for him to believe it.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you,” he replied; “but I assure you, I regard +myself as the favored one, and I have been trying to persuade +the doctor to come home with me. Won’t you second +me, Mrs. Winthrop, please? It will give us all great +pleasure to entertain you.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You are very good, Fred, and we appreciate your hospitality,” +<span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>Dr. Winthrop interposed; “but I think we will +remain where we are for the present.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Then you will at least honor my mother’s reception +to-night,” the young man eagerly urged. “She is to entertain +the American Consul, and all America will be +there—at least all that is resident in Rome at present—and +I am sure she would be greatly disappointed—knowing +you were here—if you were not present.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop turned to Salome.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Are you too weary from your journey to go, dear?” +he asked.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am not weary at all; we have come so short a distance +to-day,” she answered. “But——” and she glanced +inquiringly at him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew of what she was thinking—that she would +probably meet his mother, sister, and the Rochesters at +this reception—and he smiled reassuringly; then turned +again to his friend, remarking:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Thank you, Fred; we shall be happy to accept your +invitation. At what hour does Mrs. Tillinghast receive?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“At nine, and later. I am delighted, old fellow. And +now I will go to take the good news to my mother,” the +young man said, rising to leave.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True,” said Salome, as soon as the door closed after +him, “I am afraid they will be terribly surprised—it will +be a great shock to them.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I want them to be taken by surprise,” he replied +sternly; “that is to be a part of their punishment. Do +you not think that I was surprised, shocked, when I +looked back down that ward and saw my wife upon her +knees appealing to me? And, Salome,” he continued more +quietly, “I want you to look your best to-night—wear that +exquisite costume of white lace, which we selected at +Worth’s, and I wish you had your diamonds here! Oh, +my love, how very proud you were to leave all my gifts +behind!” he concluded reproachfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True, my husband, believing as I did, I could not +take anything that your money had purchased for me—every +gift, every obligation was a burden on my heart. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>Besides,” she added smiling, “everything would have +been burned. It is fortunate I did leave your gifts behind, +for now I can have them again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Ah, I did not think of that,” he said thoughtfully. +“Still I wish you had the diamonds.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have diamonds,” Salome quietly returned; “some +very fine ones, too; they are a part of the legacy left me +by Miss Leonard, and,” with a roguish little twinkle +gleaming from her eyes, “I think I shall be able to make +myself quite presentable for Mrs. Tillinghast’s reception.”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLVI.<br> <span class='c009'>“SADIE ROCHESTER IS ALREADY MY WIFE!”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Two hours later Salome emerged from her chamber and +the careful hands of her maid, and presented herself +before her husband.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will I do, True?” she quietly inquired, but with a +conscious smile wreathing her red lips. It was not one +of vanity, either, but of pure pleasure in her beauty for +her husband’s sake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop threw down the paper he had been reading +and turned eagerly at the sound of her voice.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A low exclamation of delight escaped him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Will you do?” he repeated. “Why, Salome, you are +absolutely perfect, from the crown of your dainty head +to the sole of that tiny pearl-embroidered slipper!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And truly she was.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Over a rich, lustrous white satin skirt there had been +artistically draped an overdress of lace of an exquisite +pattern, its folds being caught in various places by masses +of gleaming satin ribbons and delicate sprays of frosted +silver, representing bleached ferns. The foundation of +the corsage was low, but the filmy lace came up high in +the neck, except where it sloped away at the front in a +V revealing her beautiful neck, which was like ivory.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There were no sleeves, save a fall of lace about a finger +in width over the round shoulders, while her long gloves +came a little above her elbows, revealing a portion of her +perfect arm, around which just below the fall of lace, +there was clasped a circlet of frosted gold set with +diamonds.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her hair was arranged as she was in the habit of wearing +it, but with great care, and fastened here and there +with small crescents of diamonds. Around her neck there +<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>was a chain of curiously wrought gold, and suspended +from this was a Greek cross set with diamonds as large as +peas, while in each ear there gleamed a superb solitaire.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Her eyes were brilliant, her cheeks delicately tinted, +her scarlet lips just parted in a smile of anticipation, +and she was a creature to make any man’s heart throb +with delight, as she stood beneath the brilliantly lighted +chandelier waiting to receive her husband’s verdict.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I never dreamed how beautiful you were, Salome, +until this moment,” he breathed, as he bent forward and +softly kissed her forehead.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She threw her arms about his neck and laid her head +upon his breast. His words of praise were very sweet to +her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My darling, you will crush your dress,” Dr. Winthrop +exclaimed, in fond protest.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I do not care, now that you have seen me. I would +not have had a fold disarranged before,” she said in +reply.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had dressed more for him than for the crowd of brilliant +people who were to throng Mrs. Tillinghast’s parlors, +and he smiled as he realized how indifferent she was +to all other praise. It was evidently her belief that</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line in32'>“She’s adorned</div> + <div class='line'>Amply that in her husband’s eye looks lovely—</div> + <div class='line'>The truest mirror that an honest wife</div> + <div class='line'>Can see her beauty in.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c011'>They were a little late, and the villa was thronged with +guests when they arrived.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome could not help feeling a pleasurable excitement +in anticipation of mingling once more in society; still she +dreaded the meeting with the Winthrops and Rochesters.</p> + +<p class='c011'>After she had removed her wrap she stepped across the +hall to a small reception-room, and sat down to wait until +her husband should come to take her below. But Mr. +Tillinghast had met his friend and found so much to say, +that the minutes flew by unheeded, and though Salome did +not mind the waiting, she wondered what could keep him.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Suddenly she caught the sound of footsteps, and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>rush of silken garments. The next instant a cry of dismay +rang through the room, and, turning with a start, +Salome saw Sarah Rochester standing before her, blank +astonishment and terror written on her face, while her +mother stood in the doorway just behind her, looking +over her shoulder, and as pale as the white cashmere wrap +that enveloped her form.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They had just arrived, and had mistaken the direction +of the usher at the foot of the stairs, turning to the left +instead of the right in their search for the dressing-rooms.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!” burst from the conscience-smitten girl, in +a hoarse, unnatural tone, while Mrs. Rochester staggered +inside the room and hastily closed the door, her bump of +cautiousness asserting itself even in this emergency.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome wondered to find herself perfectly calm and +self-possessed.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” she said quietly, rising and confronting them, +thus fully revealing the elegance and beauty of her costume; +“you did not expect to meet me here this evening.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Heavens, mamma, it is Salome!” cried Miss Rochester, +who had not really known whether it was her hated rival +or some one who resembled her in a startling degree.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Where did you come from?” gasped Mrs. Rochester, +and unable to stand longer upon her trembling feet, she +sank into the nearest chair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“From the Hotel Quirinal, a few blocks above here,” +Salome calmly responded.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester made an impatient gesture.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But how—how——” she began with terrified impatience.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“How did I manage to escape from Dr. Arnot’s mad-house?—is +that what you want to know, Mrs. Rochester?” +Salome demanded, meeting the woman’s glance with a +stern, direct look. “I can only answer that a merciful +Providence delivered me from the horrible fate to which +you had doomed me.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I had doomed you!” repeated Mrs. Rochester, in a +shaking voice, great fear contending for the mastery +within her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, madam; it is useless for you to pretend ignorance, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>or to deny your agency in the matter, for Dr. Arnot +confessed it,” Salome asserted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Dr. Arnot confessed it,” the frightened woman whispered +with pale lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma, how could it have happened?” Sarah Rochester +wildly exclaimed. “How could she have escaped? +Who has helped her? And see her! She is dressed +like an empress, or rather, like the bride of a prince! +That dress is fit for a duchess; those diamonds are almost +priceless! What does it mean? Where did you get +them?” and she turned savagely upon Salome as she put +this last question.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“The diamonds were the gift of a friend, who is dead; +the dress was purchased at Worth’s in Paris,” the young +wife placidly returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is very definite,” sneered Miss Rochester, who +was beginning to recover herself somewhat. “You are +evidently in a mysterious mood to-night. But I would +like a straightforward answer to one question: Who +brought you here to Rome?—for surely you did not follow +us hither alone.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome began to feel a trifle uncomfortable; for she +knew that it would be a terrible shock to them when they +should learn that Dr. Winthrop had rescued her from the +prison to which they had doomed her, and brought her to +Rome. Badly as they had treated her, wicked and hardened +as they were, she could not help pitying them for +the despair which she knew must overwhelm them when +they should learn the truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Girl, why don’t you answer?” angrily demanded Mrs. +Rochester, as she hesitated to reply; “who brought you to +Rome?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Her husband, madam,” said a stern, yet familiar +voice behind them, and both women, turning at the sound, +saw Dr. Winthrop just entering the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They could not have been whiter or more motionless if +they had been statues hewn from marble, as they for a +moment gazed with horror upon him, and realized at last +the blasting truth.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop went forward to his wife’s side and drew +<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>her hand within his arm, with an air which betrayed how +fondly devoted he was to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I need not tell you,” he continued in the same tone, +“that everything has been discovered—all your treachery—all +your plotting and crime. I found my wife while +visiting Dr. Arnot’s lunatic asylum in the pursuit of information +regarding diseases of the brain. Madam, do +you know the penalty for such a crime as yours?” the +young physician demanded, in a voice which seemed to +freeze the blood in her veins.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Oh, why had she never thought of such a contingency +as this? She might have known that Dr. Winthrop would +be going about to visit the various hospitals—why had +she not authorized Dr. Arnot to keep Salome confined in +a room by herself, and allow no one to see her?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Such thoughts flitted through her brain and drove her +nearly to despair; but she was not one to be easily cowed, +and she soon rallied her scattered wits, and resolved to +put a bold front on the matter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But Salome is my daughter. I have committed no +crime. As her guardian, I had a perfect right to put her +where I chose,” she spiritedly retorted.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you imagine that such an argument would be entertained +for one moment by a jury, madam? You know +very well that it would not, if I proclaimed Salome as my +wife, and revealed why you had been guilty of such a +crime.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Mrs. Rochester sank back again, appalled by the +mention of a jury, but his words had angered her daughter +beyond endurance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She realized that she had lost everything in the game +that she had been playing, while Salome had won. The +knowledge of her rival’s triumph and of her own defeat +made her both desperate and reckless.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Your wife!” she sneered. “Perhaps you may yet find +yourself mistaken in that assertion; you may yet regret +that you ever brought the girl here to-night to introduce +her as Mrs. Winthrop when Rome shall ring with a bit +of scandal which shall make your ears tingle.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I understand you, Miss Rochester,” Dr. Winthrop +<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>quietly returned; “but your contemptible spite will never +be gratified to that extent; you will never receive the decree +of divorce which you attempted to secure, for all +proceedings were stopped before any harm was done. +A few words of explanation in a cable message were +sufficient to achieve that.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl turned with a gesture of despair to her mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We are beaten, mamma—miserably beaten!” she +cried with white lips, and sinking into a chair she buried +her face in her hands.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop led his wife quietly from the room, and +closed the door upon the two wretched women.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am sorry for them,” Salome said, with a sigh as +they went slowly downstairs.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They do not deserve a particle of your sympathy,” her +husband said, with rigidly compressed lips.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He had been obliged to put a severe curb upon himself +during the recent interview, lest in his hot indignation +he should forget that he was dealing with women.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“But wrong-doing brings far more misery than wrong-bearing,” +the gentle girl returned.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“And why should it not, dear?” Dr. Winthrop asked. +“It is a double sin, for it wrongs one’s self and others +also. Now, my darling, let me see no clouds on your face +to-night, for I want my friends to believe that my wife +is happy.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am, True; only——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Only you have such a tender heart, you wish to bear +the burdens of others as well as your own,” he interposed, +smiling. “Now, dear,” he added, “I do not mean to be +too hard upon those two sinful women, but surely they do +need to be brought to a sense of their guilt. When they +manifest a proper spirit, then we will do as One of old +taught us—tell them to ‘go and sin no more.’”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“O True! will you?” Salome said eagerly. “Then +you do not mean to bring them before a jury—you will +not pursue them—you will not openly disgrace them?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No, love, if they show themselves disposed to do what +is right.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome’s brow cleared at this assurance, and she exerted +<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>herself to appear her brightest for her husband’s +sake.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He led her directly to their hostess, and after introducing +her to the members of the family, he left her with +Mr. Tillinghast, while he went to seek his mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He did not care to have her shocked in the presence of +witnesses, but he wanted her to learn that night that he +had found his wife; he wanted her to realize also, how +she had been plotting against the very woman whom she +had been so anxious he should marry.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He knew that she was there, for Mr. Tillinghast had +told him that she was among the first to arrive, and he +found her at last, conversing with a distinguished-looking +elderly gentleman.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop started, and her face lighted with +sudden joy as she caught sight of him—her favorite son.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My dear boy!” she exclaimed, as she clasped his +hand; “when did you arrive?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This afternoon, and Tillinghast claimed me at once, +telling me that I should meet you here,” Dr. Winthrop +explained for the benefit of her companion, who, he +thought, might wonder why he had not sought his mother +first.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She introduced him then to the gentleman, who was a +well-known and successful artist, and who, after conversing +for a few moments, politely excused himself, and left +the mother and son together.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam noticed at once that there was a great change +in him—his manner was more animated, his face brighter +and happier; there was in his tones a glad ring which she +had not heard for years, while instead of those sternly +compressed lines about his mouth, which had troubled +her so long, his lips were constantly wreathed with genial +smiles.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Why have you come upon us so suddenly, True?—why +did you not write and let us know when to expect you?” +she asked, after the artist had left them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have been very much engaged,” he replied evasively, +but with a glow upon his face that made her +marvel.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>“Now that you are here, you will remain through the +winter with us, will you not?” she asked wistfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Perhaps—that will depend upon circumstances, however,” +he answered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What circumstances?” she queried archly. “Does +that mean if your wife is willing to remain in Rome?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes,” he gravely returned, but knowing well enough +that she would interpret his reply far differently from +what he meant. Then he added:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Take my arm, mother, and let us get out of the crowd. +I want to talk with you alone.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She obeyed him, flushing with triumph as they passed +from the room.</p> + +<p class='c011'>At last her fondest hopes were to be realized—at last +the Rochester-Hamilton fortunes would be united, and +life henceforth would be <em>couleur de rose</em> for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Alas! she had no idea of the humiliation which the consummation +of these anticipations would bring upon her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do you really mean it, True?” she asked, in a glad +low tone, as they reached the conservatory leading from +the rear of the grand hall, “that you are ready to marry +Sadie Rochester at last?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“When I leave Rome my wife will accompany me,” he +remarked, while he tried to think of the best way to break +the truth to her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That will be delightful! Does Sadie know—is it all +settled between you?” and the woman’s joyous face was +a study.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, Sadie Rochester is already my wife,” he announced +with startling abruptness.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman! What—what can you mean?” madam exclaimed, +amazed, as she anxiously searched his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Just what I have said, mother.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“You must be crazy then, True, unless you have been +married since eight o’clock, for I left Sadie dressing for +this reception when I came from home, and apparently the +thought of your presence in the city had not entered her +mind. I wish you would not joke upon the subject,” +madam concluded, in a displeased tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I am not joking; I have simply made a truthful statement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span>that Miss Rochester is already my wife. She is here +in this house; I have but just introduced her to Mrs. +Tillinghast,” Dr. Winthrop affirmed, with a positiveness +which alarmed his mother.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My son, there is some mystery about this, and I beg +that you will explain yourself. When were you married?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Two years ago next month.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What do you mean?” cried madam, in despair, and +beginning to fear that the hard study of the last two +months had turned his brain.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mother, listen!” the young man commanded. “Sadie +Rochester and Sarah Rochester are two different persons. +Sadie Rochester ran away from her step-mother because +she ill-treated her. She fled to Boston, where she applied +for a situation as nurse in the City Hospital. Then a +little later she gave up some—too much—of her life-blood +to save the life of your son, who afterward fell in love +with her and married her. Mother, Salome Howland +Rochester was the true Sadie Rochester, and the girl who +has tried to palm herself off upon me as such is a contemptible +impostor.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop had begun to comprehend the truth +soon after her son had commenced to explain, and her +face grew deathly white, her eyes almost wild with fear +and mortification, as he proceeded to announce his +startling facts.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I—I cannot believe it,” she gasped, when he paused +as above; “and besides—Salome is dead.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome is not dead; she saved herself from that fire,” +Dr. Winthrop replied. “But learning afterward, that she +was supposed to have been one of the victims, she let it +be so understood, since she wished to be dead to her +enemies and the husband, who, she had been led to believe, +had disowned her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madam’s proud head began to droop here, but her son +went on:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“She became companion to a lady named Leonard; +she won her heart by her goodness and loveliness. They +came abroad after a time, were in Paris at the time the +cholera broke out; Miss Leonard was attacked with it +<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>and died in the convent of the gray nuns, after having +bequeathed her handsome fortune to Salome. My darling +then adopted the dress of the gray nuns and resumed +her old vocation of nursing. She was the means of +doing an inestimable amount of good; she saved many +lives. Mother, she was known as Sister Angela!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“True! O True!” and the tone was full of agony and +humiliation. “It cannot—cannot be!”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is every word true,” Dr. Winthrop went on relentlessly. +“Salome, my wife, is one of the loveliest women +on earth, and you and Evelyn have much to answer for, +for your treatment of her. It is no fault of yours that +she was not driven to her death—that both our lives were +not irretrievably ruined. What if you had succeeded in +making me marry that woman’s daughter—that impostor! +Think of the disgrace, the misery which must +have ensued! I should have lost, not only those fortunes, +which you have been so determined to win at all costs, +but my wife, my self-respect, and everything worth living +for; you would have made a bigamist of me, and burdened +me with a woman who is utterly without feeling or +principle—who is false to the very core of her nature. +Oh, my mother, why could you not have conquered +your unworthy pride and ambition, and allowed the sweetness +and nobility of that lovely girl to win you? All the +wretchedness of these two long years need never have +come to us. Think how beautifully Salome received and +entertained you when you returned so suddenly from +abroad; her conduct was simply perfect, both as a hostess +and as a daughter, and she would have loved you tenderly +if you had but opened your heart to her. Instead, you +offered her scorn and slights. She bore all with the utmost +sweetness, never showing the slightest retaliation, +but denied herself in every possible way to conciliate you +and Evelyn. What a contrast to these two women, to +whom you have cringed and fawned, hoping to gratify +your insatiable ambition. Think of what they are +guilty! They have discovered Sister Angela’s identity.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What!” exclaimed Madame Winthrop, startled for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>the moment out of her shame and humiliation, “do they +know?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, they found her out while you and Evelyn were +away from the chateau. She was suddenly taken ill, and +in trying to restore her they learned her secret. They +hid her in their own rooms, waiting upon her themselves +until she was able to be moved, and then, with the cunning +of devils, trapped her into a mad-house in Paris, where +they hoped to bury her alive, and thus enable them to +carry out their purpose of marrying Mrs. Rochester’s +daughter to me. Do you realize what the success of such +a plot would have involved? Do you realize the crimes +that you have been aiding and abetting?—theft upon a +wholesale scale, abduction and bigamy?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop threw out her hand with a gesture +of horror at these ugly names.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“This is plain language, I know, mother,” Dr. Winthrop +went on, “but you deserve to have the unvarnished +truth set before you, and I want you to understand that +if you had succeeded in accomplishing your purpose, the +very end for which you have schemed would have been +frustrated; the truth must surely have been revealed +eventually, and then, ah! the shame and misery of it all!”</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER XLVII.<br> <span class='c009'>“SALOME, YOU HAVE CONQUERED ME!”</span></h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c010'>Madame Winthrop shuddered as she turned her +pale, drawn face upon her son.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Truman, it seems as if I could bear no more; but I +suppose you will complete my wretchedness by utterly +repudiating me—you will never forgive me?” she said, +in a despairing tone.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is not my forgiveness alone that you should seek. +If my wife can forgive you, it would hardly become your +son to withhold his pardon from his mother,” he gravely +returned, a tender light breaking over his face as he +thought of the gentle spirit which Salome exhibited under +her bitter persecutions.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The woman flushed hotly at his words.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could she, with her indomitable pride, her haughty +spirit, ever sue to that girl for pardon?</p> + +<p class='c011'>It seemed a humiliation to which she could never subject +herself.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she could not be the mother of such a son as +Truman Winthrop without possessing some of the elements +of nobility with which he had been endowed, although +her nature had become warped and perverted by +long-continued prosperity, selfishness, and the adulation +of the world.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She had been shocked and horrified by the revelations +of her son, which showed her how nearly she had come +to wrecking all their lives, their fortunes, and good +name. It had aroused her conscience, too, and, though +she shrank with the greatest repugnance from obeying +its dictates, she realized that she could never regain her +self-respect, nor the affection of her boy, until she made +<span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>proper acknowledgment, and what restitution she could, +for the wrong of which she had been guilty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“What can we do?” she faltered, trying to stifle for +the moment the voice within her. “Everybody believes +that you are soon to marry Miss Rochester.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s lips curled; for it seemed to him as if +her first and only thought was for appearance.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“That is a matter which I believe can be easily arranged,” +he replied, with some coldness. “Norman and +Sarah Rochester love each other. If they will agree, let +their engagement be formally announced; let them even +be immediately married, if he can be content to make a +woman like her his wife, and the other belief will pass for +a mistake, a society blunder. I do not wish to sacrifice +my brother, however, to escape any scandal myself,” he +added, flushing. “I can bear to have the truth known +rather than that his life should be ruined by an unhappy +marriage. Still, if the girl really loves him, such an arrangement +may result in making a better woman of her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop’s heart sank. She could never bear +to have the truth retailed from one end of Rome to the +other.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I must go home,” she cried, rising. “I cannot remain +here. Will you see Mrs. Tillinghast and make my +excuses? Tell her that I have become suddenly indisposed, +which is true enough, for no mortal can know the +bewildered state of mind I am in.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Yes, mother, I will make your adieus. But—is there +no other message that you would like me to deliver?” +Dr. Winthrop inquired, searching her face wistfully.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She understood him; he wanted to take an olive-branch +of peace from her to his wife. But her proud heart could +not yield in a moment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—not to-night—I cannot think; I am bewildered—dazed—I +must go home. When shall I see you again?” +she continued, with nervous incoherence.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We are at the Quirinal,” the young physician answered +coldly. “Any message for us can be left there +at the office, or we can be found there during the next +few weeks.”</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>Madam almost groaned aloud at this significant response. +She saw that he—her favorite son—would never +be at peace with her until she was willing to be reconciled +to his wife; that henceforth they would be as +strangers unless she humbled herself to the girl whom +she had so deeply injured.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Could she yield?</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just at that moment the sound of voices reached them, +and glancing up, they saw Fred Tillinghast, with Salome +upon his arm, entering the conservatory.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The light from the chandelier fell strongly upon the +fair wife as she crossed the threshold, and truly she was +a vision of loveliness to attract the coldest, the most obdurate +heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She looked brighter and happier than madam had ever +seen her, and far more beautiful. Her form had developed +more perfectly, her cheeks had filled out round and +full, her eyes flashed with the fire of health, her every +look and gesture betrayed the hope and happiness that +filled her heart, while her elegant costume served to enhance +her beauty, and was suggestive of the exquisite +taste of its wearer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Dr. Winthrop’s face was a study as he caught sight of +her, and it told his mother that all his pride, his hopes, +his happiness, were centred in her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“My wife—my darling! Is she not lovely?” he +breathed. “Surely, mother, you cannot steel your heart +against her! Let me take you to her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“No—no; not now—I must go home—I want to get +away by myself,” she faltered, and turning quickly, she +walked tremblingly toward the opposite entrance to the +conservatory, while Dr. Winthrop, with a sigh of regret +over her obstinate pride, made his way to Salome’s side.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Just as Madame Winthrop reached the door she encountered +Evelyn who had been searching for her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was very pale and excessively agitated.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Mamma!” she cried breathlessly; “the strangest +thing in the world has happened! Salome is here in this +house! I have seen her—she is with Fred Tillinghast. +She was not killed in that fire after all, and she is the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>loveliest woman here, not to mention that she has on her +person a fortune in diamonds and rich lace.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush, Evelyn, and come with me,” Madame Winthrop +said, in a hollow tone, as she took her arm and +leaned heavily on it, and the girl knew at once that something +dreadful had happened.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They left the house at once, and returned directly to +their own apartments, whither they found that the Rochesters +had already preceded them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Then there ensued a scene between those four women +which beggars description. Scorn, contempt and condemnation +on the part of Madame Winthrop; anger, defiance, +and the bitterness of defeat, on the part of Mrs. +Rochester.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sarah Rochester was the most crushed and humiliated +of them all, and her shame and despair were like the +mighty rush of pent-up waters that had burst all barriers +and swept everything before them.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She denounced them all, herself no less than the others, +but she fiercely accused her mother of having ruined her +life, her character, her soul, by the false and heartless +way in which she had reared and educated her; by making +wealth and selfish pleasure the main object of existence, +and hesitating at no means, right or wrong, to attain +her ends. For a time she was like one bereft of +reason, and poured forth a torrent of fiery, passionate +words that made her listeners shiver and cower before +her. Then, exhausted with her passion, she sank in a +heap upon the floor, weeping and sobbing in the utter +abandonment of grief and shame.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Into the midst of this scene Norman Winthrop suddenly +came, pale and stern, but with a resolute purpose written +upon his face.</p> + +<p class='c011'>He went directly to the side of the conscience-smitten +girl and lifted her up.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have heard all,” he said, with white lips. “I know +the whole shameful story—all the wrong, all the sin and +wretched scheming, and the scandal which must follow +its revelation. You are all a set of proud, ambitious, +and false-hearted women; you two,” turning fiercely upon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_416'>416</span>Madame Winthrop and Mrs. Rochester, “are a fine pair +of mothers! It is no wonder that you make heartless +coquettes of your daughters, and ruin the lives of your +sons. You have overreached yourselves, however, at +last, and must reap the reward of your devilish schemes, +unless——Sarah, there is no other way out of it; you +know that I love you; will you marry me?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The sound of her real name from his lips somewhat +calmed the passion-wrought girl, and she lifted her white, +despairing face to his, with a look of incredulous astonishment.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, I am not fit to be the wife of any man,” she said, +with a bitter sob, yet her fingers closed almost convulsively +over his sustaining hand, and the act sent a throb +of joy to the heart of the young man, for it assured him +that she really loved him in spite of all.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We will not inquire too closely into the fitness of +character upon either side,” he returned, with some bitterness. +“I only ask—will you give yourself to me—will +you be my wife?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>And with a burst of genuine sorrow, and a dawning repentance, +the girl dropped her head upon his breast, +murmuring:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Oh, forgive me, forgive me, and I will try to be a +better woman.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“We will both try for better things,” he returned; then +he added, with a sigh of relief, “and our first duty will +be to save my brother the shame and annoyance of a +wretched scandal; we owe him that much at least.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>The others stole away and left them alone, Madame +Winthrop reflecting with some comfort, in spite of her +own smarting conscience, that matters would now be +comfortably adjusted, and they would all escape being +made disagreeably conspicuous in society.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Evelyn’s haughty spirit had never received so severe a +shock before, but she was still the same selfish girl, and +she wondered with some trepidation if True would deprive +her of the handsome sum with which he had hitherto supplemented +her regular income.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“They are all a set of sickly, sentimental fools!” was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>Mrs. Rochester’s angry verdict as she shut herself into +her own room, no less wretched, but more defiant than +the others. “I always hated that girl, and now I hate +her a hundredfold. I never dreamed that she could +triumph over me thus—I thought she was so safely caged +in that mad-house—that treacherous doctor and I will have +a serious reckoning yet—I wonder how she got out? +She has outwitted me, but I shall at least have the income +of the fifty thousand, and I can manage to make myself +comfortable on that.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>But alas! she reasoned foolishly, like the rich man in +the parable, and morning found her a helpless paralytic! +The shock and excitement of her defeat had been too +much for her system, and her days were numbered.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She lived a week, but could neither speak nor move +during that time, and it was agony to those who watched +beside her, to see her follow them with remorseful appealing +eyes, which betrayed something of the mental +suffering she experienced. Madame Winthrop believed +that the look would follow her to her grave.</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was a relief to them all when at last she ceased to +breathe, and the white lids drooped and shut out forever +that expression of remorse and despair.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Throughout this time of trial and sorrow, Salome had +proved herself to be truly a friend in need. She put aside +her personal feeling, took her place at the bedside of the +sufferer, and assumed the burden of care which no one +else seemed equal to, and was as tender and thoughtful for +her comfort as the fondest daughter could have been.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She planned everything when the end came, saw that +all due respect was paid to her father’s widow, and, after +she had been laid away in a quiet spot outside the city, +kindly asked Sarah if she could be of any assistance to +her in her arrangements for the future.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The girl’s proud spirit seemed to be utterly subdued by +her recent trials, while the new resolves and hopes which +had begun to take root in her heart were already showing +signs of bearing good fruit in the future.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She broke down entirely at Salome’s considerate offer.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I deserve nothing from you, Sadie,” she sobbed; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>“nothing but your hatred and contempt, for I have never +been anything but your enemy. I only wonder how you +could be so kind to mamma and so helpful to me at this +dreadful time. You know, I suppose,” she went on, +flushing, “that I am going to marry Norman Winthrop; I +love him and—he loves me, even though he knows all. +But I will never annoy you with my presence; we will +go to live in some place where you and I need never meet. +I am sorry and ashamed for—everything. I know that +expresses very little, but, truly, to me it means a great +deal.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>This confession occurred just after their return from +the burial of Mrs. Rochester, and Salome was too weary +and exhausted to say much to the remorseful girl; besides, +it had come upon her so unexpectedly that she +scarcely knew how to answer her.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Let us not talk any more of this now,” she said, “for +you are worn out with grief and watching; but, Sarah, +you know that I am not vindictive. Now, let me +help you to bed, and when you are rested, I will come to +see you again.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Sarah Rochester knew that she was forgiven for all the +wrong of the past by those few kind words, and for the +first time in her life she wondered how she could have +cherished a feeling of enmity toward one who was so +thoroughly good and noble.</p> + +<p class='c011'>During this season of trouble, Salome had, of course, +been obliged to come in contact with Madame Winthrop +and Evelyn, but she met them with quiet courtesy, and +during all their intercourse, was as respectful as if she +had entertained only the highest esteem for them. They +were her husband’s mother and sister, and for his sake she +was careful to show them all due regard.</p> + +<p class='c011'>They were astonished at her. They knew, of course, +that as Sister Angela she had accomplished almost miracles +for them when she was at the chateau; but it had +not seemed so wonderful then. They had looked up to +her, relied upon her, and trusted in her, for such results +had seemed only in accordance with her character as a +nurse and sister of mercy. But now, as she moved so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span>gently and deftly about the sick-room in all her delicate +beauty, doing just the right thing at the right moment, +and never sparing herself for one who had wronged and +ill-used her for long years, they marvelled not only at +her efficiency but at her loveliness of character and at her +dignity of bearing under such trying circumstances.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“I have lived in the world for fifty-five years,” Madame +Winthrop said to herself one day, as she watched Salome, +while, with exceeding gentleness, she bathed the hot face +and hands of the sufferer and tried in other ways to make +her more comfortable, “and I have never been the +womanly woman that she is to-day in her youth.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>It was not a pleasant reflection, but it helped on the +good work—the better impulses and purposes that were +beginning to take root in her heart.</p> + +<p class='c011'>A week after Mrs. Rochester’s burial, Norman Winthrop +sought Sarah and begged for an immediate marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It is the only thing for us to do,” he urged. “You +are alone in the world, and need me to take care of you, +while I need you to give me an object in life; come, +Sarah, let us begin together a new life, and see if we two +cannot manage to shed some lustre upon the name of +Winthrop before we die.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She yielded to his pleadings, and a few days later +there was a quiet wedding in their pretty drawing-room, +where, in the presence of only the family and the Tillinghasts, +they plighted their vows with more of conscious responsibility +and solemnity than either had ever experienced +before.</p> + +<p class='c011'>When the Americans then in Rome read the announcement +of the marriage in the next morning’s papers, it was +very generally remarked that “it was strange everybody +had made such a mistake as to suppose that Dr. Winthrop +was to marry Miss Rochester,” and nothing more was said +about the matter.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The young couple had planned to leave immediately for +New York, where Norman intended to begin the practice +of law, and just before their departure Salome drew the +bride quietly one side, as if for the purpose of a private +leave-taking.</p> + +<p class='c011'><span class='pageno' id='Page_420'>420</span>The new Mrs. Winthrop was visibly agitated, and looking +wistfully in her companion’s face, said:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome, you have been very good to me, and, believe +me, it is hard for me to say good-by. Once more let me +tell you that I am sorry——”</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Hush; this is your wedding-day,” Salome said, smiling, +and interrupting her speech. “I believe you are going +to be very happy in your new life—I hope so, at any +rate, and let this be the seal of my pardon.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>She slipped a small package into her hands as she +spoke, adding, hurriedly, as she turned away:</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Do not open it until you get home.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Three weeks later, Sarah Winthrop broke the seal of +that package, as she sat with her husband in their room in +the Hoffman House, New York, and found within it a +deed of gift to herself of fifty thousand dollars—the interest +only of which was to have fallen to her mother +upon the consummation of the Rochester-Hamilton marriage.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She threw herself into her husband’s arms weeping +passionately.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Norman! Norman!” she cried, “that girl is an angel, +and my whole life shall be spent in trying to be like +her.”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Three months passed, and then Dr. Winthrop and his +party arrived in New York.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop had not been well, and they had +been obliged to delay their return on her account, while +her son was not a little anxious regarding the state she +was in.</p> + +<p class='c011'>There had been a terrible struggle going on in the +proud woman’s heart ever since the evening of Mrs. Tillinghast’s +reception in Rome, and it was slowly but surely +undermining her health.</p> + +<p class='c011'>She was continually conscious of the great wrong that +she had done her son’s wife; she knew that she ought to +acknowledge it, and yet her almost indomitable will +would not yield to what her conscience told her was a +solemn duty.</p> + +<p class='c011'>Salome knew how she was suffering, both mentally and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_421'>421</span>physically, and she sincerely pitied her, and longed to be +at peace with her; yet she did not really know how to +help her, or how she would receive any attempt at a +reconciliation on her part.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The vessel on which they returned steamed into the +harbor of New York just as the sun was setting, one +lovely afternoon. Madame was reclining in her steamer-chair, +where she had sat most of the day, somewhat remote +from every one else, as she supposed, for of late she +had seemed to shun all society, and they had humored her +whim.</p> + +<p class='c011'>But she had not heard or noticed the slight, graceful +figure that had stolen upon her and now stood just behind +her chair, regarding her with an expression of sorrowful +yearning.</p> + +<p class='c011'>The unhappy woman uttered a deep sigh as her heavy +eyes swept the gorgeous sky and then rested upon the +spires and chimneys of the great city which they were approaching.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Home—home at last! I wonder if I shall ever be +happy again?” she muttered gloomily.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“It will be pleasant to be at home again, will it not?” +said a low, musical voice in her ear. “And—mother—will +you not let me, from this time forth, be a daughter +to you in every sense of the word?”</p> + +<p class='c011'>Madame Winthrop started, and looked up into the +tender, beautiful face bending over her, an expression of +wonder in her eyes, which gradually filled with tears.</p> + +<p class='c011'>“Salome!” she said tremulously; “surely you were +rightly named, for your nature is—peace! The Word of +God is true; it says, ‘a little child shall lead them.’ +You have led me where I would not voluntarily go, but I +believe, I hope, the way will end in ‘green pastures, and +beside still waters.’ My daughter, you have conquered +me.”</p> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c004'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c002'> + <li>Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76066 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-04-18 23:43:49 GMT --> +</html> + |