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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77568-0.txt b/77568-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51cf810 --- /dev/null +++ b/77568-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1754 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77568 *** + +Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed. + + + +[Illustration: ROSA WAS PEERING INTO THE BASKET.] + + + + THE + + STRAIGHT ROAD + + IS + + SHORTEST AND SUREST. + + + BY + + A. L. O. E. + + + [Illustration] + + + LONDON: + FREDERICK WARNE AND CO. + BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN. + 1867. + + + + CONTENTS. + + —————— + +CHAP. + + I. A MISHAP IN THE WOODS + + II. THE OAK ROOM + + III. FIRE + + IV. EARTH + + V. PUT TO THE QUESTION + + VI. FACING IT OUT + + VII. WATER + + VIII. A CHASE + + IX. CONJECTURES + + X. DECISION + + + + THE STRAIGHT ROAD + + IS + + SHORTEST AND SUREST. + + ——————————— + +CHAPTER I. + +A MISHAP IN THE WOODS. + +IT was a glowing, sultry day in the glorious month of June. In the +drawing-room of Cortley Hall every window was thrown wide open to +admit the breeze, which scarcely stirred the muslin curtains, or +moved one leaf of the delicate maiden-hair fern which drooped from a +fancy basket. In the deep recess of one of these windows sat a merry +black-eyed girl, with a quantity of white satin ribbon heaped loosely +upon her knee, and her workbox placed upon a little table beside her. +A graceful young maiden stood near, and pensively and tenderly, as if +each blossom were linked in her mind with thoughts of a home she was +soon to quit, was arranging a quantity of flowers—roses, fuchsias, and +geraniums—to fill a porcelain vase. Mina, was less inclined to laugh +and chat than was Rosa, her gay young cousin, whose tongue rattled +merrily on, while her nimble fingers transformed the ribbon into piles +of rosettes and favours. + +In the corner of the room a gentleman, not much beyond middle age, +but whose broad bald forehead and "sable-silvered" hair made him seem +older than he really was, was seated writing at a desk. This was Mr. +Marsden, the master of Cortley Hall, and the father of Mina, the young +bride-elect. He was engaged in writing orders on a munificent scale +for donations to the sick and poor, on the occasion of the approaching +wedding. In every cottage, for miles around, the plentiful feast would +be spread; for Mr. Marsden was a benefactor to all who came within +reach of his large-hearted charity, and many had had reason to bless +the day when he had entered into possession of Cortley Hall. + +"What on earth can have become of Wilfred!" exclaimed Rosa May, looking +impatiently towards the door. "How am I to finish off these favours, +with not a sprig of orange-blossom to put in the middle! He does not +usually play the snail, that young brother of yours!" + +"Nay, you must remember," said Mina, "that the town is full three miles +distant, and the weather exceedingly hot; I was vexed when I heard that +you had sent him upon such an errand!" + +"Oh! All the servants are busy, you know, in making grand preparations +for Thursday; and I thought," added Rosa with a laugh, "that it was +an act of public utility to get a boy out of the way for a couple of +hours, and tame down his wild spirits a little by teaching him to make +himself useful. You have spoilt Wilfred sadly, I fear!" + +"How can you say so!" cried the smiling Mina. + +"How dare you say so!" exclaimed a merry voice from without, and—not +through the door, but the window—in sprang a fine-looking boy +of fourteen, with heated face, and moistened hair, and a bright +good-humoured smile in his clear blue eyes, from which seemed to look +forth a spirit free and open as the day. + +"Why, Wilfred, you truant knight; what can have delayed you so long?" +exclaimed Rosa May, with her finger raised in an affected attitude of +reproof. "We thought that you would have been back an hour ago, laden +with orange-blossom from the town, ready to cut, clip, run messages, +do the dutiful in every possible way to both bridesmaid and bride! But +is anything the matter?" she added. "Your clothes seem torn; your face +scratched." + +"You have not met with any accident, dear Will?" exclaimed the fair +young bride; and at the question, asked in her gentle tone of concern, +Mr. Marsden turned round from his desk, and glanced at the handsome +lad, who was his only son and heir. + +"Oh! I don't care a straw for a few rents in my clothes, or scratches +on my face!" exclaimed Wilfred Marsden. "But this is what provokes me: +look here, I've crushed your dainty box of orange-blossoms as flat as +a pancake!" And with an air of vexation, the boy rather threw down +than placed upon the table a light millinery box, which appeared in +deplorable plight. + +"Oh! dear; how could you manage to do this!" cried his cousin the +bridesmaid, opening and surveying with a rueful air the crushed +blossoms within. + +"Never mind, Wilfred dear," said Mina, approaching with a kindly smile; +"it was very good in you to go yourself to Manton for the flowers, buy +them, and bring them—" + +"And smash them on the way!" added Wilfred. + +"Oh! I don't believe that they are spoilt," said the bride, taking up a +sprig in her delicate fingers. "A little twist here, a little pulling +out there, and see—now is not that perfectly lovely?" And she held up +the renovated flower. + +"If it is not, I know who is!" cried the boy, looking with fond +admiration upon his only sister, and thinking what a happy fellow +Edward Lyle was going to be. "I hope that there's not much harm done, +after all. I thought that the poor flowers were demolished when my foot +came smash on the lid of the box!" + +"How did it happen, awkward boy?" asked the bridesmaid. + +"The story is soon told," said Wilfred, sitting down, and fanning his +heated face with his straw hat. "You know that the day is grilling hot, +and I thought that I should be fairly baked if I took the straight path +across the fields, where there is not a yard of shade." + +"So you went round by the wood?" said Mina. + +"A fine roundabout way!" cried her cousin. + +"I fancied that I could make a cut through the thicket, so struck out +from the path and tried to get across through the bushes. But it seemed +as if Puck and all the fairies had conspired to catch me prisoner! Now +my jacket was caught in a bramble; then a bough nearly knocked off my +hat; when I got free from the thorns on the right hand, I was caught by +a long straggling briar on the left! Then suddenly I felt a sharp sting +on my neck, just underneath my collar—" Wilfred clapped his hand on +the place—"I dropped the box like a hot potato, and what betwixt wasp +and briars and brambles, hardly knew what I was about, till I felt my +unlucky foot crunching through the pasteboard of the box!" + +"Ah! Well, things might have been worse!" said Mina, with smiling +philosophy. "Your kind intention was all the same. Your long walk has +enabled me—" + +"To show that you have the sweetest temper as well as the fairest face +in the world!" interrupted Wilfred. + +"And it has taught you, I hope," said Rosa, "that the straight road is +the shortest and surest." + +"Ay, I wished often enough in the wood that I had taken my way through +the fields, however hot it might have been," said Wilfred. + +"That proverb, my boy," observed Mr. Marsden, who had locked his desk +and joined the group, "holds good in more important matters than your +adventure of to-day. There's many a sharp, clever fellow, with more wit +in his brain than truth in his heart, who has found in the end that +through life the straightest road is the shortest and surest." + +"You mean the path of honour, papa." + +"I mean the path of duty." + +"Duty and honour, surely they are the same," cried Wilfred. "They are +but two names for one thing." + +"Scarcely so," said the father. "I shall call honour a high sense of +what we owe to 'ourselves;' duty, a high sense of what we owe to 'our +God!'" + +"But if they be not the same thing, they lead to the same actions, +surely. They both make a man shrink from anything false, dishonest, or +mean." + +Mr. Marsden looked down with something of paternal pride upon the +fine, intelligent countenance of his only son, so expressive of the +contempt which the mere thought of dishonourable conduct inspired. +He, however, shook his head gravely as he made answer, "Honour, as we +usually understand the word, is but man's standard of what is becoming +in a man, and must be fallible like its author. Honour has fired the +ambitious leader, who sacrifices thousands of his fellow-creatures to +win for himself the name of a hero; honour has loaded the duellist's +pistol, and made brave men slaves to the dread of reproach. We could +as safely direct our steps by the fitful blaze of a meteor, as take +earthly honour alone for the guide of our words and actions." + +"Was it not honour that made Edward Lyle give up that good living which +he could have had by merely letting it be thought that he was a few +weeks older than he was?" + +At the mention of the name of her betrothed, Mina timidly raised her +blue eyes and fixed them on her father, and the tint on her soft cheek +deepened as she listened for his reply. + +"I think," said Mr. Marsden, "that in that occurrence Edward was guided +by that which is always his pole-star—the fear and love of his God." + +Wilfred glanced at his sister, and caught her look of intense pleasure +at the praise of her betrothed from the lips of her father. + +"Well, Edward was soon rewarded," said the boy. "It was a lucky thing +that the living here fell vacant—so unexpectedly, too—not a twelvemonth +after, and that it should be in your gift! A snug little nest for our +ladye-bird, and just within reach of us all. What a different affair it +would have been," continued the boy, "if Cortley Hall had been left to +cousin Benson instead of to you!" + +"I should have been working on still at my desk in Barnes' Court," +observed Mr. Marsden, with his quiet smile. + +"And I'd have been brought up as a clerk; and Mimi, poor darling Mina! +She'd have looked like some pale withered flower, one of those crushed +orange-blossoms in the smoky air of the city. Ugh! Our old great-uncle +did one good thing in his life, if he never did another, when he left +the Hall, and estate, and the gift of the living to such a man as my +father." + +"Cousin Benson does not think so, I guess," laughed Rosa, who had just +finished her pile of white satin cockades. + +"Cousin Benson is no more fit to be a lauded proprietor than I am to be +king of the Cannibal Islands!" exclaimed Wilfred. "A mean, sneaking, +stingy fellow; one who would skin a flint; one—" + +"Oh! Wilfred!" expostulated Mina. + +"No ill words of the absent, my boy," said Mr. Marsden. + +"We'd better talk of some one else, then," cried Wilfred, "for I can +never think of Tom Benson with patience." + +"I had a note from Sophia to-day," said Mina. + +"Sophia! Oh, how is it she is not here? I thought that she was to +arrive to-day. I know that you ordered the Oak room to be made ready." + +"She comes this morning," replied his sister, "but she does not wish +the Oak room." + +"How do you know that?" asked Wilfred. + +"She writes so in her note. Here it is." + +"You don't mean to say," cried Wilfred, with a look of amused +curiosity, "that Sophia is afraid to sleep in that room, because she +fancies that it is haunted?" + +"Not exactly 'haunted,'" began Mina Marsden, as she handed the letter +to her brother; "but she writes about disagreeable associations." + +"Oh! I see; here it is." And Wilfred read aloud snatches from the +letter of one of his sister's expected bridesmaids: "'Don't laugh at me +as absurd—' That's more than I can promise, fair lady!—'but the idea +of occupying a room in which your poor old great-uncle was actually +burnt to death would so affect my nerves.'—Oh! Hang nerves!" exclaimed +Wilfred, tossing back the note to his sister. "That was a wise old dame +who was glad that she was born before nerves were invented." + +"But you wont mind exchanging rooms, dear Wilfred?" + +"Mind! I should think not!" cried the boy. "I shall have much the best +of the exchange. Oak panels instead of twopenny paper, carved ceiling +instead of white plaster, stained glass instead of square panes, one of +which, by-the-bye, I cracked right across yesterday with my elbow! I +wish that everybody would fancy that grand, gloomy room to be haunted, +that I might keep it, ghost and all, to myself! But what a joke I'll +have against Sophia! I think I'll bring in something about it when I +propose the health of the four lovely bridesmaids on Thursday." + +"Nay," cried Rosa, "if you take to quizzing any of the bridesmaids, I +think that, after to-day's exploit in the woods, they may fairly turn +the tables upon you, and let the bridesman come in for his share of the +banter. You have proved yourself not a much better messenger than the +valiant squire in the song." And in a high, clear voice Rosa trilled +forth a merry lay. + + THE SQUIRE. + + A squire set out one moonlit night, + And prayed to the moon to give good light, + For he had many miles to travel that night, + All through the forest glen, O! + + He bore a lock of his master's hair, + A tender gift to his ladye fair; + At peril of his life he the pledge must bear, + All through the forest glen, O! + + Quoth he, "I fear there are robbers near, + Or goblins stalk the thicket drear, + Or merry witches hold their revels here, + All in the forest glen, O!" + + An oak o'er the path its long arms spread— + Sudden it strikes him—he starts with dread: + Terrified and wild, at speed he sped + All through the forest glen, O! + He never looked behind him, or turned his head + All through the forest glen, O! + + Panting and pale, at length he came + To the sheltered hall of the noble dame; + "I've brought a pledge from a knight of fame, + All through the forest glen, O!" + And he hunted—he searched—he sought for the same, + Lost in the forest glen, O! + + Where was the pledge of the lover's vow? + Waving in the breeze on the oak's long bough; + And for aught that I know, it may wave there now, + All in the forest glen, O! + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE OAK ROOM. + +VERY merrily passed that Tuesday evening at Cortley Hall. Neighbours +"dropped in" to tea, Sophia arrived from London, her luggage swelled +to an unreasonable size by divers boxes and parcels labelled "glass," +and "with care," with which she had been entrusted for the bride. There +were so many presents, of which the unpacking gave no small amusement +to Wilfred, that he declared that his wedding-gift to Mina ought to +have been a manifold writer instead of a "lady's companion," that she +might not have had half her time taken up in penning letters of thanks. +Tom Benson, the churl, was the only one, as Wilfred affirmed, who had +not done his duty, nor given so much as a flower to the bride. + +There were songs and mirth, laughing and banter, interspersed with +the pleasant preparations for a village wedding, in the feasting +and gladness of which all the poor around were to share. The young +clergyman and his betrothed were deeply, tranquilly happy, the +bridesmaids full of frolic and fun, and Wilfred, the merriest, noisiest +"best man" that ever wore a white favour. There was to him nothing but +pleasure in the prospect of the marriage. There would be no separation +from the sister whom he fondly loved, for the Vicarage was so near to +the Hall that Wilfred considered that he should only possess two happy +homes instead of one. + +It was late before the cheerful circle dispersed, for time seemed too +rich in enjoyment for much to be wasted in sleep. With a light step +and lighter heart, whistling the merry song of "The Squire," Wilfred +retired to the old Oak chamber; but there was something in the solemn +aspect of the room which, as soon as he entered, stopped his music +if it did not damp his spirits. The gleam of his solitary candle so +dimly lighted the dark carved panels, the massive furniture, the +heavily-draperied bed, that it seemed but to make darkness visible. One +of the pillars of that bed, blackened and charred, bore token yet of +the awful fate which had befallen the last owner of Cortley Hall. + +Wilfred examined it with thrilling interest, and felt less disposed +than he had done by day to laugh at the feelings of Sophia. His mind +would perpetually recur to the miserable old man who had retired to +rest in that very room, as little expecting to rise no more as the boy +who now occupied his place. There had he lain, just there, the candle +by the bedside, the bottle on the table, the novel in his hand. There +had he fallen asleep—and oh! What an awful waking! + +Wilfred found such thoughts depressing after the gay excitement of +the evening. He hurried over his toilet, extinguished his candle, and +stretched himself on the bed; he wished to sleep, but sleep would not +come at his bidding. He tried to turn his mind to Mina and her fair +prospects, but his thoughts again and again returned to the poor old +man who had perished by fire in that place, unwarned and unprepared! + +"I think that this room has never lost the suffocating heat of that +fire!" exclaimed Wilfred at last, with feverish restlessness. "I feel +hardly able to breathe! How stupid I was not to throw the window wide +open, to let in a little fresh air!" + +The boy pulled back his curtain, and rose, feeling his way towards the +window by the wall. As he groped thus along, passing his hand over each +panel, to his surprise Wilfred felt one of them slightly move under +his pressure. He felt angry with himself for the little start which he +gave; and his curiosity being aroused, the boy drew the panel backwards +with stronger force, and thus assured himself that he had made no +mistake in imagining that he was able to move it. + +"I may have made some grand discovery," said Wilfred, half aloud. "I +may have found some secret hiding-place for treasure! There's no saying +what a store of old family plate or family jewels may lie behind that +sliding panel. If only the room were not so dark. The moon is up, I +fancy, and the window looks to the east; but there's as much stone as +glass in it, and the glass itself is stained, so that the casement +seems expressly contrived to let in as little light as may be. I must +light my candle again, if only I knew where to find the matchbox." + +Wilfred groped, and felt, and fumbled, knocked over the candlestick +in his search for the box, and started at the sudden noise in the +stillness of that dark apartment. It was several minutes before he was +able to get a light, which seemed to burn dimly and heavily in the hot, +close air of the room. Wilfred instantly returned with the candle to +the spot where he had moved back the panel. The place was marked by +what looked like a broad black line on the wall; the boy soon widened +the opening, and put his hand into the recess. Wilfred could feel but +one thing within it, and that was a long parchment roll. Burning with +intense curiosity to know its contents, he drew out the roll, and, +after placing his candle upon a table, seated himself on a heavy carved +armchair beside it, to examine his prize at his leisure. + +"Some great document, awfully long, and all written in black letter, +with a big red seal at the bottom! I dare say that I shall understand +as little of it as if it were all in Hebrew. Oh! Here's a date. I guess +that it will show the deed to be centuries old. No, 'eighteen hundred +and thirty-eight,' that's only ten years before I was born. Here are +signatures at the bottom. What a frightfully crabbed hand! 'Josiah +Marsden,' that's the name of my great-uncle, who was burned to death in +this room. I dare say that this is only some document relating to the +Cortley estate." + +Wilfred rolling up the parchment from the bottom, so as to examine with +greater ease what was written at the top. "Last will and testament of +Josiah Marsden." Wilfred felt a little nervousness, for which he could +hardly have accounted, as he slowly made out the first line. With a +little difficulty, as he was unaccustomed to read black letter, and the +tedious forms and repetitions of a law-deed made it difficult to be +understood, Wilfred went on with his perusal. + +A description of all the demesnes of the Cortley estate, which, +comprising the minutest particulars, stretched through some hundred +most tedious lines, closed with one which, like a sudden apparition, +blanched the cheek of the boy, made his hand tremble, and his heart +beat fast. "To my nephew Thomas Benson and his heirs." + +Wilfred could not, would not at first believe the evidence of his +senses. He rubbed his eyes as if they must be in fault, shook himself +with the idea of awaking from what he almost hoped might be but a +dream, looked again at the yellow parchment with its thick black +letters, in which the hated name appeared so painfully distinct. +Wilfred read and re-read the will, with a desperate hope of finding out +that he had mistaken its meaning. Each perusal made the fact but more +clear that his father was not mentioned in the will, though by birth +next of kin; that the old man had bequeathed Cortley Hall, with all +the surrounding estate, fields, cottages, and timber, and the gift of +presentation to the adjoining living, to his nephew, Thomas Benson, and +his heirs! + +In a paroxysm of passionate rage, Wilfred dashed the parchment on the +floor, and throwing himself back in his chair, groaned aloud in his +anguish of soul. + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FIRE. + +"WHAT am I to do—what on earth am I to do!" exclaimed Wilfred. "Oh! +That I had never seen this detestable deed!" And he spurned the +parchment with his foot. "What ought I to do? Carry that will to my +father in the morning? That would certainly be the course of duty, the +course of honour; and he—my noble, upright parent—he would at once make +known to the world the existence of a will which robs him of all, which +reduces him almost to beggary, which compels him to begin the world +again, and toil for his daily bread. I can't do it—I wont do it!" cried +Wilfred, springing from his chair, and beginning to pace up and down +the gloomy apartment. + +"The living, too, would be lost; all the happiness of my darling Mina +would be crushed at a blow. I never could deal that blow. It is not," +said Wilfred, pausing in his rapid walk, and trying to bring argument +after argument to drown the voice of his conscience; "it is not as if +this Benson deserved anything at our hands; it is not as if he were +one to make a good use of fortune. The building of the school would +be stopped at once; the poor widows, whom my noble father supports, +would have no refuge but the workhouse. It would be cruel, wicked, to +sacrifice at once so many interests for the sake of one mean wretch who +cares for no one on earth but himself." + +Ah, Wilfred, self-deceiver! It is not for him, not for any mortal, that +the sacrifice is required; it is sacrifice to duty, simple obedience to +the command of God, "provide things honest in the sight of all men!" +Our enemy is ever ready to persuade us that what is expedient must be +right; that we may turn a little—but a little—from the straight, narrow +path, and yet walk on with our faces towards heaven. Again and again +the voice sounds in our hearts,— + + "To do a great right, do a little wrong;" + +but it is the voice of the tempter. + +Wilfred Marsden in his happy, peaceful home, had been guarded from +many evils, and was growing up, as he believed, in the practice of +many virtues. Generous, affectionate, truthful, kind, in reference to +outward obedience to the commandments, Wilfred might almost have said +like the ruler, "All these things have I kept from my youth up." From +conscious purity of conduct, and rectitude of purpose, had sprung a +reliance upon his own strength, his own honour, his power of resisting +temptation, which had its secret root in pride. And now, like that of +the ruler, Wilfred Marsden's obedience was brought to the test. He was +called upon to resign all that he possessed, to take up his cross and +follow his Lord! Resolution snapped, pride gave way, honour could not +stand in the trial! Like the young ruler, with a sad heart and bleeding +conscience, Wilfred was turning away from the duty which seemed too +hard to be performed. He reasoned and argued with himself, until he +became half persuaded that to ruin his family, and stop works of +charity, could not be required of him by God. + +"I'll burn this parchment, I'll forget that it ever existed!" cried +Wilfred, with hasty resolution, snatching the will from the floor. +He held it to the flame of the candle, and a dark smoke-mark, like +a stain, showed the action of fire upon the roll. But Wilfred soon +perceived that it would take a considerable time to burn a large +parchment thus; and his impatient spirit could not endure the +protracted torture of thus slowly and deliberately committing a crime. + +"I will burn it in the grate," muttered Wilfred. But it was +summer-time, the grate was empty, and he hastily looked around for +something that might serve as fuel. Wilfred's desk had been left +downstairs—in vain, he searched his pockets for letters—the only book +that was to be seen in the Oak room was his own Bible! Wilfred put his +handkerchief into the grate, with a few scraps of paper which, with +difficulty, he collected, laid the parchment on the little heap, and +lighted it by the candle. He then stood with his back to the fire, for +he could not bear to watch it while it was doing its unholy work of +destruction. The grate had for months been unused; the wind blew down +the chimney, a volume of smoke came curling and spreading into the +room, making the dimness yet deeper, and the heat of the place more +oppressive. With a sense of suffocation Wilfred turned round to see +the flames—quickly kindled, and quickly spent—expiring round the great +roll, which lay, blackened indeed, but unconsumed! The smell of burning +gave to the miserable Wilfred a feeling of sudden horror! + +"Here, in this very room, where 'he' perished by fire, do I attempt to +burn his last will and testament! Can I find no other place, no other +way, when I wrong both the living and the dead?" Wilfred caught up the +roll from the grate. "O God, have mercy upon me!" he faltered. "Who +could have believed that I would ever have been guilty of wickedness +like this! These blackened smoke-marks are as witnesses against me. If +fire itself loses its power to destroy, I will take this as a token +that to conceal the truth is a crime against Heaven. I will not delay; +I will at once carry the will to my father. Better suffer anything than +this terrible feeling of remorse." + +Wilfred moved some steps towards the door, and paused. "What am I about +to do? Am I not putting a match to a train that, in exploding, will +shatter everything that I hold dear? Mina, my own precious sister, how +shall I bear to look on her grief, to hear—no, I shall never 'hear' +reproaches; but in her heart may she not say, 'Wilfred might have +spared me this misery! It was hard that such a trial should come to +me through my only brother!' Mina shall never say, never think this!" +Wilfred turned away from the door: "I dare not burn, but I will bury +this scroll. Shall I replace it in that recess from which would—would +that I had never moved it? No, some one else would be certain to +discover it, as I have done to-night. I will bury it deep, deep in the +earth, where no one can find it!" + +Again Wilfred turned towards the door. "All the house is shut up; my +step would be heard on the echoing stair; the bolts and chains could +not be withdrawn without noise; the household would be roused; I should +be questioned, and that would drive me distracted! I must at least wait +till the morning. What! Wait with that horrible blackened parchment +like a death-warrant before my eyes! I cannot endure to wait; I cannot +support through a long dreary night this terrible indecision. I can +open the window, drop down on the sod, and then bury the will in the +garden." + +Wilfred hastened to the casement, and, with fingers which trembled +with nervous excitement, drew back the bolt and threw open the window. +How refreshing was the breath of the soft night air upon his fevered +brow! Wilfred hastily dressed himself, thrust the roll into his bosom, +clambered out on the sill, and then, regardless of personal danger, +first hung for a moment by his hands, and then half dropped, half +clambered down, assisting his descent by a trained rose-tree, with +whose broken twigs and crushed petals he strewed the sod beneath. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EARTH. + +CALM and beautiful was the aspect of nature in the stillness of that +summer night. The silence was scarcely broken by the softly-warbled +song of the nightingale, which poured its lay from neighbouring grove. +The rising moon shone in the deep blue sky, tinging with silvery +brilliance the fleecy clouds amidst which she moved, and throwing a +whiteness over the dewy sward, which had almost the effect of frost, +save where the dark shadows of the trees lay sleeping upon the grass. +The breeze ever and anon lightly stirred the branches, sounding like a +low, soft sigh. + +Wilfred gazed up at the Hall, with its numerous mullioned windows +gleaming in the silver moonlight, and its gable ends, with their +orb-crowned pinnacles, cutting the clear deep blue. All was so serene, +so calm, that a softening influence fell on the soul of Wilfred. +Nature seemed to lie in such holy beauty under the eye of God, that +the unhappy boy felt as if his presence were the only thing to mar the +peaceful repose of the scene. On what errand was he abroad, when every +inmate of the Hall, save himself, was buried in quiet slumber? Was it +not on an errand of evil as that which draws the robber forth under +the cover of darkness? Was it not to defraud a cousin of his right, to +defeat the ends of justice, to silence the voice of truth? Was it not +to commit an act which he dared not confess even to his nearest and +dearest friend? + +Again the resolution of Wilfred wavered: better to return and dare the +worst. Did not every tremulous orb in that sky tell, as with an angel's +voice, how fleeting and insignificant are all the concerns of this +brief life compared with those eternal interests which shall survive +the stars! But Wilfred caught sight, between the trees, of the tower of +the ancient church. It was there where Mina would so soon be united to +the husband of her choice; it was there where Edward would faithfully +preach the gospel to the poor. The guilt of concealment would not be +theirs. Wilfred might load his own conscience with a weight of sin, +but theirs would be clear from reproach. Well knows the tempter how +to use the ties of earthly affection as well as the links of pride, +when he would draw a soul to evil. Wilfred tried to stifle, and almost +succeeded in stifling conviction, by keeping the thought before his +mind that he was acting no selfish part—that he was sacrificing his +peace for the sake of others. He turned from the simple view of the +question—that he had a plain duty to perform, and must ask for strength +to perform it. He did not dare to pray; he feared to think upon God; +he would fain, like the first sinners, have hidden himself from that +Presence which rebukes the bare deformity of guilt. + +Wilfred, even at the midnight hour, was afraid of being watched from +the Hall. Those glimmering windows were so many eyes, and he must avoid +their ken. Wilfred turned to the left; his footsteps sounded too loud +on the gravel path; he trod noiselessly on the green verge. Scarcely +noticing the emerald spark, where the glow-worm, on his mossy bed, had +kindled his fairy lamp, Wilfred made his way to a secluded part of the +garden. The gloomy foliage of a cypress there completely screened him +from view, even if some watcher in the Hall should be gazing forth on +the stars. Wilfred took the roll from his breast, and was about to +commence his work of burying, when a sudden sound made him start. It +was but the rustle caused by a frightened bird that flew forth from the +tree at his unexpected approach; but it made his pulse throb fast with +terror. + +Wilfred looked around and upwards ere he began to dig: he saw nothing +but the wheeling bat, darting between him and the moon, in search of +her nightly prey. No human being was near; no sound of human voice +was borne on the whispering breeze. Wilfred knelt down and began to +displace the sod. Unfurnished as he was with any kind of appropriate +tool, he found the unaccustomed labour far harder than he had expected. +The season was hot, the ground was dry; the boy proceeded but slowly +with the work of scooping out the earth. Anxious and impatient as he +felt to complete his painful task, and bury the parchment in the sod +so deeply that none should find it, the minutes seemed lengthened +to hours. With hands torn, bruised, and blistered, Wilfred at last +finished digging a narrow trench, just long enough and wide enough to +hold the hated roll. He pressed it in, hastily covered it over with +mould, then rose and stamped it down, sprinkling the surface with light +earth to hide the marks of his feet. + +It was done—the deed was done, and Wilfred's first sensation was that +of relief. He had now leisure to remember that he was weary and needed +rest, as from the church tower solemnly pealed forth the stroke of one. +Should he return to the house? Wilfred was about to do so, when he +recollected the impossibility of getting in without rousing the inmates +by ringing the great door-bell. The house had long since been carefully +shut up, bolted and barred for the night. Wilfred could not climb up to +the casement from which he had so lately descended at no small personal +risk. + +"I must wait till the servants open the doors in the morning," was +Wilfred's reflection, "and creep up unnoticed to my room. Where in the +meantime shall I spend the rest of this miserable night? In the arbour +at the end of the shrubbery: there at least I shall find a bench on +which to stretch my weary limbs." + +To the arbour Wilfred proceeded; the air was beginning to feel chilly, +and he was glad of the slight protection which the place afforded. +Lying down on the wooden bench, it was not long before the exhausted +boy fell into a feverish sleep—a sleep haunted by terrible dreams. +Whatever form his slumbering fancies might take, they had ever some +reference to the parchment: now it was torn into a thousand fragments, +and reunited as if by magic; then in the vestry-room of the church, +Mina, a smiling bride, came to sign, according to custom, her maiden +name for the last time. With horror Wilfred beheld in his dream that, +instead of the page of the parish register, her hand rested upon the +deed; it was not her signature that met his gaze, but the crabbed +"Josiah Marsden." + +Then the scene changed to the forest. Wilfred seemed again, amidst +briars and thorns, with stinging hosts of hornets around him, +struggling in vain to make his way through with the fatal roll in his +hand! His feet were-entangled, he could not press on, though sounds of +pursuit were behind him. In the agonized struggle to break from his +bonds, the unhappy dreamer awoke. + + + +CHAPTER V. + +PUT TO THE QUESTION. + +WILFRED MARSDEN awoke with his frame chilled and stiffened, and a +weight like lead at his heart. Before full consciousness returned, +he had a sense that something dreadful had happened, or was going to +happen. It was no longer night. The bright summer morning had dawned; +the air was full of the music of birds and the perfume of flowers; +already the bee was abroad, humming merrily on the wing. The sky was +gorgeous with crimson clouds, and the dew sparkled in the level rays of +the rising sun, as if the sward had been spangled with diamonds! + +But the beauty of Nature, its fair sights and sweet sounds, had now +no charm for Wilfred. He rose, stretched himself, heaved a deep-drawn +sigh, and then slowly sauntered towards the Hall. Still every blind +was drawn down, and all was silence within. Wilfred knew that the +house would not be opened for two or three hours, and there was +something intolerably irksome to the boy in having to wait so long, +with no company but that of his own remorseful thoughts. He stood +for some minutes gazing at the closed door, with its knocker which +he dared not raise, its bell which he dared not ring; and a fearful +idea crossed Wilfred's mind, that as he was shut out from his father's +home, so might he be one day shut out from heaven! Would not a single +unforsaken, unforgiven sin bar the door of mercy for ever? Wilfred +could hardly endure his own reflections: he paced up and down, up and +down, restless as a caged wild beast, during the weary interval that +elapsed before the church clock struck seven. Then, indeed, there were +sounds of movement in the house. + +Young Marsden, with a feeling of relief, heard the rattle of the chain, +and the grating of the bolt of the large outer door. He resolved to +wait for a few minutes outside until Martha the servant, as was her +wont, should have passed on to open the dining-room shutters, as he did +not wish to be seen as he entered the Hall. Meantime, Rosa May, who +had risen very early, had been attracted to the gate by the appearance +at it of a little girl carrying a basket full of lovely field flowers. +It was the young daughter of the farm-bailiff, who, having been sent +by her mother with cream and fresh butter to the Hall from the home +farm, had added to her charge a bouquet of fragrant blossoms as her own +offering to the bride. + +Rosa was peering into the basket when Wilfred (who was concealed behind +the laurels) perceived her and again hesitated. He thought she would +never leave off talking to the village child, but at length she turned +to enter the house, and was going up the steps when she caught sight of +him. + +"Why, I thought that I was first in the field!" cried the lively girl. +"How did you manage to get out before me? Did you pass like a fairy +through the key-hole?" + +Wilfred could stand no questioning then; brushing past the young lady +with uncourteous haste, he hurried into the house, then up the broad +staircase three steps at a time, and buried himself in his room. + +But change of place brought no relief to the unhappy Wilfred; wherever +he went, he bore with him the burden of his terrible secret. + +Time passed; Wilfred heard at last the familiar sound of the bell for +prayers. Almost for the first time in his life he did not obey the +summons. How could he kneel down and pray for forgiveness of sin, when +resolved to go on in his sinning? How venture to ask for grace, when he +did not wish to obtain it? Wilfred knew that such prayers would be but +a mockery; and yet how could one brought up in the fear of God endure +to live without prayer? + +After awhile, another bell sounded; guests had come to breakfast, +and Wilfred knew that the family were assembling at the social meal. +Wilfred was aware that his absence would be noticed, and yet could +hardly summon up courage sufficient to face the circle below. Would not +everyone read in his face the secret which burdened his soul? + +While yet undecided, Wilfred heard a soft tap, then a gentle voice at +his door. + +"Dear Willy," said Mina Marsden, "are you not coming to breakfast? Mr. +Allfrey and sisters have dropped in early to settle arrangements for +to-morrow. I miss you so much at the table. Will you not come down +soon, and help me to entertain all our guests?" + +"I am coming," said Wilfred, laconically; and, as soon as he had +heard Mina's light step tripping downstairs, he followed her to the +breakfast-room, which she had quitted in order to call him. + +A burst of merry laughter was the first sound which fell on Wilfred's +ear as he entered, and the words uttered in Rosa's liveliest tone, "I'm +certain that he had seen a ghost!" + +"Here he is himself!" cried Mr. Allfrey, jovial young squire, whose +sisters were to act as bridesmaids. + +"Why, we thought that you were never going to make your appearance, +Master Wilfred, and I can certify that you were up early enough!" +exclaimed Rosa, as the boy exchanged morning greetings with his father +and his guests. + +Wilfred would fain have taken his place by Mr. Marsden or Mina, but +Rosa had reserved a seat for him by herself, and he could not avoid +taking possession of it, as no other chair was vacant. + +"Now, we're all dying of curiosity, Sophia especially, to know what you +saw in the old oak room!" continued the lively young lady, fixing her +keen black eyes upon Wilfred. + +Mina saw uneasiness in the countenance of her brother, and proposed +deferring questioning until he should have taken his breakfast. + +"Breakfast! Who could talk or think of such a common every-day thing +when a real ghost is on the 'tapis?' Wilfred has seen something—I'm +certain that he has! Nothing but an apparition of the most strange +and striking description could account for his singular conduct this +morning." + +"What do you mean?" asked Wilfred, with a stern resolution to face out +the difficulty as best he might. + +"Don't you call it very singular conduct in a young gentleman to make +his exit from the house by an upper window instead of a door?" cried +Rosa, with the keen enjoyment which a sharp lawyer might feel in +bringing forward incontrovertible evidence. + +"Who said that I did?" asked Wilfred. + +"It was a riddle to me," cried Rosa, "how you had managed to leave the +house without unfastening the bolts, until I looked at the trained +rose-trees which had the ill-luck to be planted under your window—which +window was, by the way, wide open! It was clear enough that that +rose-tree, ill-fitted as it might be for the purpose, had been used +last night as a ladder. Some of the branches were torn from their +fastenings, several twigs were snapped, and the poor roses looked as if +some great bear had chosen the plant as a pole for climbing." + +There was profound silence round the table as Rosa paused, and every +eye was turned upon Wilfred in curiosity and interest. The boy stared +sternly at his plate, but could not utter a word. + +"Besides," added Rosa, triumphantly, "there was a good deep print of a +pair of slippers impressed on the sod just beneath the window. I've a +notion that Master Wilfred Marsden knows who wore those slippers." + +Wilfred longed to rush out of the room, but struggled hard to hide all +outward sign of emotion. + +"Now we may imagine," continued the young lady, "that the occupant +of the oak room had merely taken a harmless fancy for a ramble by +moonlight, a hunt after bats and owls, or a quiet study of the stars. +But if so, why, when he met a fair lady in the morning, did he start as +if he took her for a goblin—which she certainly by no means resembles? +Why was his face, as white as a sheet, his eyes hollow and wild in +expression, and his hands all covered with earth? Why did he not answer +a civil question, but rush madly into the house?" + +"Really, Wilfred," said Sophia, a young lady with languid eyelids, long +light hair, and a manner rather affected, "we shall expect from you a +thrilling account of your adventures in a haunted chamber." + +"What did you see?" asked John Allfrey. + +"Or hear?" added his sister Amelia. + +"Was there not a ghost, just say—was there not a ghost?" cried Rosa, +leaning eagerly forward, and laying her hand upon Wilfred's arm. + +The boy's patience was utterly exhausted. Shaking off his cousin's hand +with a rudeness which he had never before shown to a lady, he rose from +table with the muttered remark, "None but idiots talk about ghosts." + +Mr. Marsden looked grave, Mina distressed, an angry flush came to the +cheek of Rosa; in a moment the merriment of the party was changed to +painful restraint. No one knew what to say next, till Edward Lyle +mentioned archery, in order to effect a diversion, and the guests rose +at once, and broke up the circle round the table. + +All soon quitted the room, except the Marsdens, who lingered behind. +Mina perceived that her father was displeased with her brother, and, +dreading a painful scene, she entreated her parent with her pleading +eyes to spare the wounded spirit of his son. Wilfred was evidently then +in no state to bear a rebuke. + +"I leave him to you," said Mr. Marsden, in answer to her silent appeal, +and he also quitted the apartment. He was surprised as well as annoyed +at the temper shown by his boy. + +Mina noiselessly performed the little duties which belong to the lady +of a house; replaced the sugar-basin, locked the tea-caddy, and set +aside the broken loaf for the poor. She was giving time to Wilfred, who +stood at the window, to recover his temper and self-command. Then she +softly addressed her young brother— + +"You have taken no breakfast, dear Wilfred?" + +"I want none," was the sullen reply. + +"I think—I fear that you cannot be well." + +"Why should you think so?" asked her brother. + +"Because—you were not like yourself just now." Mina laid her soft hand +on the arm of the boy. "Perhaps you did not mean it, dear Wilfred, but +your words gave pain to poor Rosa." + +"She brought it on herself," muttered Wilfred. "I never knew so +provoking a tongue." + +"She has high spirits and a playful manner, but she never means to give +serious offence," said Mina; "and at a time like this," added the young +bride, "I should wish her—you—all to be so happy." + +Wilfred glanced hastily at his sister, and saw moisture gleaming on her +soft lashes. + +"Are you not happy?" he exclaimed. + +"How can I be so," answered Mina, "when I see that my darling brother +has some trouble which he has not confided to me?" + +The heart of Wilfred was softened. "You must not care about me, +nor think about me," he said; "I am not to be always crushing your +blossoms. I have a headache." He pressed his hot brow—the plea was not +altogether a false one, though the pain in the poor boy's heart was +much worse than that to his head. + +"Would the air do you good?" suggested Mina, looking anxiously into his +face. + +"I can't join that noisy party at the shooting." + +"But a quiet walk in the garden with me?" + +"If you wish it—anything," answered Wilfred; and he added, with a +little sigh, "I shall not have you with me to-morrow!" + +And so forth into the garden sauntered the brother and sister; Mina +indulging a hope that in their quiet converse together Wilfred might +unburden his heart of the mysterious weight which she felt assured was +pressing upon it. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FACING IT OUT. + +MINA and Wilfred Marsden walked for some minutes together in silence; +she hoping that her brother would commence conversation, he not knowing +what to say. Wilfred had always been accustomed to show perfect candour +towards his sister. Though a few years younger than herself, he had +been her constant playmate and companion, sharing with her his hopes +and fears, and making her in all things his confidante and adviser. +This was the first time that the boy had possessed a secret which he +withheld from Mina, and if his silence was painful to her, it was yet +more burdensome to himself. + +The maiden made one or two unsuccessful attempts to commence +conversation. Her observations called forth no reply from her brother, +and she was beginning to feel the restraint of his manner almost +intolerable, when, on turning a corner of the shrubbery, Wilfred gave a +start so sudden and violent that it was sympathetically communicated to +the sister whose arm was linked in his own. + +"What is it?" exclaimed Mina, in alarm. + +"He's digging near the cypress!" cried Wilfred. + +The tone, not the sense of the exclamation, made the wondering girl +look in the same direction as did her brother, and she saw certainly +no cause either for surprise or apprehension in the familiar figure of +Joe, the gardener, bending over his spade. Wilfred, however, could not +conceal his nervous excitement, as he hastened up to the man. + +"Why are you digging to-day," cried he, "when you ought to be stripping +the beds of flowers to deck the church and the Hall?" + +"Miss Rosa said as how the ladies would gather the flowers themselves," +replied Joe, passing his brown hand across his rough chin. + +"You should make a triumphal arch, then," said Wilfred. + +"Well, Master Wilfred, ye see, that's what all the school-children—" + +"Who cares for the school-children?" exclaimed young Marsden, almost +stamping with irritation. "Such things are not to be left to them! This +is no time to be turning up the earth, like a mole! Leave your spade, +and go help in the preparations—no common work shall be done to-day." + +Joe set his spade against the tree and slowly went away, wondering—if +his unimpressionable nature was capable of wonder—at the strangely +changed manner of the boy, who had usually a merry word and a kind +smile for the faithful old servant. + +On turning round, Wilfred met his sister's distressed and anxious gaze; +a terrible idea had just flashed across her mind, that her brother's +brain might be affected. + +"Why do you look at me so?" he said, sharply. + +"I cannot help feeling uneasy, dear Wilfred; I cannot—" + +"Oh, here's Edward Lyle coming to see what has become of his bride; I +leave you to his care," cried Wilfred, "he's a better companion than +I." And turning abruptly towards the Hall, the boy left his sister in +tears. + +"I can't leave it there—no, no!" muttered Wilfred to himself as he +strode along. "I can't have a thrill of terror through my soul whenever +I see a man digging in the garden. What shall I do with that fatal +parchment? If fire can't burn it, if earth will not hide it, how shall +I cover my secret so closely as to lose this intolerable dread of its +being discovered at last? I will dig up the will as soon as darkness +sets in; I will carry it to the swift, deep stream which flows at the +bottom of the field, tie a heavy stone to it, and let the waters bury +it for ever. Yes, yes, I was insane not to think of this before. Would +that the night were come! I shall have no rest until I have drowned +the roll! I will not wait till the house is shut up; I will make my +escape after dinner; for twenty minutes I shall not be missed, and +twenty minutes will suffice for the deed. In the meantime, I must lull +suspicion by putting on my old cheerful manner. I must let no one +consider me strange; I must reassure the mind of sweet Mina; I must act +a lie!" Wilfred ground his teeth at the thought. "I must lay aside my +natural frankness and candour to wear the mask of deceit! And this is +the life-long task which I have imposed on myself. Oh, what a miserable +thing it is to wander from the straight path of duty!" + +As Wilfred entered the Hall, he met his father accompanied by the very +last man whom young Marsden would have wished at that moment to see—his +injured cousin, Tom Benson! + +Mr. Benson was a thin, sickly-looking man, with a stoop. A long +struggle with difficulties and cares, which weak health and feeble +spirits had rendered more hard, had left the stamp on his features of +almost peevish melancholy. There were lines on his face and furrows +on his brow which, however, on the present auspicious occasion, were +rather less marked than usual; and though his smile was of a sickly +character, there was still an attempt to smile. Mr. Benson bore a +reputation for narrowness of mind and penuriousness of nature, which +had rendered him an object of contempt to Wilfred, who had prided +himself on generosity and delicate sense of honour. + +But what a change the last twelve hours had wrought in the feelings of +the youth! But the day before, it would have been impossible to have +persuaded Wilfred Marsden that he could ever be abashed and humbled by +the presence of his cousin, that he could ever be ashamed to look that +man in the face, or feel a pang of remorse at shaking him by the hand! + +"Our cousin has walked over all the way from Thornley to see our dear +bride," said Mr. Marsden, "and has kindly brought her strawberries +which have been gathered from his own garden." + +"Poor things, poor things!" said Mr. Benson apologetically. "I am +my own gardener, as you know. And how have you been?" he continued, +addressing himself to Wilfred. "It does not seem to me that you are +looking as well as usual." + +"I do not think that Wilfred is very well," said Mr. Marsden, struck, +as the visitor had been, by the haggard looks of his boy. + +"Too much bustle for him, too much excitement; he feels parting with +his sister," observed Benson. "You must let him, when all is over, come +to me for a change. I've not much to offer, to be sure, but the air is +counted fine at Thornley." + +"Your cousin is very kind," said Mr. Marsden to Wilfred, whose silence +he mistook for rudeness. + +"Too kind," faltered the boy; and his words had a depth of meaning +which his hearers little understood. + +"Shall we join the party on the lawn?" said Mr. Marsden. "I heard +something said about archery." + +The three proceeded to the place where the guests were assembled in +front of the target, amusing themselves by shooting. + +Wilfred at once commenced following out his resolution of lulling any +suspicions which his strange demeanour might have excited, by assuming +gaiety of manner. He almost over-acted his part. Amidst his cheerful +companions, none was so uproariously merry as he. He jested with the +bridesmaids, whistled, sang, readily joined in amusements, and though +he did not shoot with a steady hand, when his arrows went wide of the +mark, none laughed so loudly as Wilfred. He was making a desperate +effort not only to deceive those around him, but to drown in wild +excitement the misery which he felt. He would give himself no time for +thought; he would intoxicate himself with amusement! Wretched resource +of the worldly, who seek to fly from themselves, and gild the fetters +which they cannot throw off, in hopes of forgetting their weight. + +There were but two of those around him whose society Wilfred +instinctively shunned. + +He could not bear to be near the relative whom he was defrauding of his +rights, and he avoided all converse with Rosa with a kind of intuitive +dread. Wilfred knew that he had offended the young lady; he believed +that he had drawn upon himself both her suspicion and dislike; he +felt that she was watching him, and, though at present forbearing to +question, was intent upon discovering his secret. + +With these two exceptions, Wilfred chatted freely with all the guests +of his father. He even, in conversation with Sophia, purposely entered +on the subject of the oak room, and forced himself to assure her, with +a smiling face, that he had not seen the shadow of a ghost. He had, +however, he said, found the chamber oppressively hot, and had taken the +simplest means of getting fresh air without disturbing the house. + +So passed the day before the wedding until the dinner-hour arrived. +The afternoon had been rainy, and archery had been exchanged for +in-door amusements. Wilfred had been the life and soul of the party at +the bagatelle-table and the round game, and had shown indefatigable +energy in decorating the Hall. Yet Mina's heart was not at rest; she +suspected that her brother's mirth was assumed, and that his jests +and laughter were no true tokens of a light and buoyant heart. Even +with her betrothed at her side, the young maiden's spirit was troubled +on account of her brother. It pained Mina to notice at dinner that, +though Wilfred's usual beverage was water, he filled and refilled his +glass of wine, and pledged the bride and bridesmaids with loud and +boisterous mirth. Mina gave the signal to leave the table earlier than +she otherwise would have done, and the gentlemen immediately followed +the ladies. + +Wilfred watched for an opportunity of stealing away from the party. +The arrival and unpacking of the grand cake from London, which had +come so late that fears had been entertained lest the splendour of the +wedding-breakfast should be marred by its non-appearance, gave the +opportunity required. While the party gathered around the box, whose +contents were of so interesting a nature, Wilfred glided silently away, +unnoticed, as he thought, by all; he knew not that a pair of sharp +black eyes were watching every movement; keen as hound on a scent was +curiosity in the bosom of Rosa May. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WATER. + +THE night was very different from what the preceding one had been. The +day, which had begun in sunny smiles, had changed to rain at noon, and +now it had closed in storm. Wilfred little heeded the wild wind, the +pelting rain, or the muttering thunder; he was well content that heavy +clouds should deepen the shades of twilight. In the present state of +his mind, storm was far more congenial than sunshine. To his wild mirth +had succeeded deep gloom—as the bright flame of kindled paper soon dies +out, leaving but blackened ashes behind. + +Wilfred in a few minutes was again kneeling under the cypress. He had +provided himself with a large knife, and with very little difficulty +dug up the old man's will from the moist earthy bed in which it had +lain. Clogged with mould, soiled and stained was the roll, as Wilfred +drew it forth; then, rising with a heavy sigh, the boy made his way to +the garden-door. It was locked, as he might have expected it to be at +so late an hour. + +In Wilfred's present mood, such a difficulty as this caused irritation, +but little delay. He climbed over the wall, he knew not how, bruised +his hands, but was not at the time even aware that he had done so. The +wide field lay before him, he could not miss his way. Wilfred strode +through the long wet grass, which grew almost as high as his knees, +drenched and dripping from the rain from-above, and the heavy damp +from below. Once he fancied that he heard a sound as if some one were +following behind. Wilfred stopped and listened, but nothing, was to be +heard but the patter of the rain and the howl of the wind. + +"I am growing as nervous as a girl," he muttered; "I who was once proud +of my courage! How true is that line of Shakspeare—''Tis conscience +that makes cowards of us all!'" + +Wilfred reached the hedge which bounded the lower end of the field. +There was a gate some hundred paces to the left, but the impatient boy +would not go so far out of his way. He mounted the embankment, pushed +aside straggling branches and briars, and forced his path through the +hedge. + +The dark swift river was now before Wilfred; he could dimly trace the +course of the waters flowing between their sedgy banks, bending the +rushes, and eddying around the drooping tresses of a willow. Wilfred +searched for a large heavy pebble; in the feeble light it was no easy +task to find one that would suit his purpose. The thought actually +crossed his mind of making a weight of his watch! A large smooth pebble +was, however, at last discovered; with nervous fingers the unhappy +Wilfred fastened some twine around it, and then tied it on to the roll. +But when young Marsden was about to fling both into the dark water, +again the secret force of conscience arrested his uplifted arm. + +"What am I about to do? That stream may hide the parchment from the eye +of man, but can even its deep current hide it from the eye of God? That +eye is upon me now. I have known no peace since I resolved to do that +which must draw God's wrath upon me. I shall never know peace—in life +or in death—while I wilfully break His law. Happily, I have not yet +gone too far to return. I have yet power to carry this fatal deed to my +father; to do what conscience bids me do, and leave the rest to God." + +But the tempter whispered again of crushed hopes and blighted joys, +pictured a revered parent wrestling in life's decline with poverty +and distress, a sister broken-hearted, friendships dissolved, schemes +overthrown—nay, he even brought to Wilfred's mind many a treasured +possession, which, though comparatively of no great value, the boy felt +it hard to part with. His horse, his dog, his gun, all must be given +up. He must leave the home that he loved for some smoky lodging in +London, the occupations in which he delighted for hard dry study, in +order to earn the means of subsistence. Wilfred did not pause long, the +temptation was too strong upon him; with a sudden desperate impulse, he +flung the parchment into the stream. + +The violence with which it was thrown dislodged the large smooth stone +from its insecure fastening, splash it fell into the water several +feet from the roll. With a feeling of superstitious horror, Wilfred +discerned a dim white object floating upon the river. After all his +care to weight it, the fatal scroll would not sink! + +"I believe that if I flung that will into the burning crater of +Vesuvius, it would float down on some lava-stream to the very feet of +Benson," exclaimed Wilfred, in desperation. "But I must get it out of +the water, nor let it bear my secret to others." + +He leant forward—he could almost touch the end of the parchment with +his hand; he went to the very edge of the slimy, slippery bank; the +object was just beyond his reach, in another minute the current would +carry it to a part of the stream from which it would be impossible for +him by any exertion to regain it! Wilfred grew dizzy with anxious fear. +He made one more desperate attempt to seize the roll, caught (clutched) +it, held it fast, but over-balanced himself in the effort, and fell +headlong into the river! + +That was an awful moment! Wilfred excelled in most manly exercises, +but he was unable to swim. The night was dark, the water deep; he +sank struggling to the bottom. There was a gasping, a gurgling, a +rushing sound in his ears, and then came that strange power given to +the drowning, to recall in a moment the events of the past, the last +effort of expiring nature. The gloomy oak room rose before the mind's +eye of Wilfred as the waters rolled over his head, the will, with its +black letter writing, and seal as red as blood. He had a horrible +consciousness that he had sinned; that the hand of Death was upon him; +that he was arrested by Heaven's stern minister, even in the act of +committing a crime. The agony of that knowledge was more terrible than +the anguish of the death-struggle. Then fell a dullness, a darkness +over the wretched boy, and Wilfred lay amongst the weeds beneath the +rushing stream, with the parchment still in his grasp. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A CHASE. + +WE will now return to the wedding guests at the Hall. + +"Mr. Allfrey! Mr. Allfrey!" whispered the voice of Rosa May. + +And the tall young squire, who had been standing surveying the most +magnificent pile of white sugar, silver leaves, and orange-blossom that +had ever appeared in that part of the Country, turned slowly round to +meet the eager, animated gaze of the bridesmaid. + +"Now's your time! He has just left the house. After him, and see where +he goes." + +"What! Stolen away—and on a night like this?" The rain was pattering +against the windows. + +"Hist!" whispered Rosa May. "You do not mind weather, I suppose?" + +"No more than a duck," said the squire. "I've been out in many a pretty +pelting. But how can I know that the young fellow has not quietly gone +to his room?" + +"He left this house a moment ago, I tell you, and turned to the left, +as if he were going to the garden. Be quick, or the track will be lost! +Just steal out without attracting any notice; leave the cake to those +who care for such things." + +So, in obedience to a lady's command, John Allfrey stalked out into the +rain, turned to the left as directed, and proceeded for about twenty +paces. He then stopped, as he could see nothing of Wilfred, and felt +himself to be in rather a foolish position, standing there all alone +to get drenched with the rain on a stormy night. Soon, however, the +squire's ear caught the noise made by Wilfred in clambering over the +wall. + +"There he goes! Hark! Follow," cried the jovial sportsman. "The fox is +taking to the fields." And Allfrey proceeded to the nearest point at +which he himself could climb the wall. The tall young man, however, +took longer in doing this than the active boy had done, and, before he +had jumped down on the opposite side, Allfrey had again lost the track +of Wilfred. + +"There's a gate on t'other side of the field, he'll be making for +that," said John to himself; he knew every yard of the country round. +The young squire's height gave him a great advantage in striding +through the long grass. Before he had reached the gate, however, he +heard the crashing of boughs to the right, where Wilfred was breaking +through the hedge. + +"The boy must want to get to the river. I will go on to the gate, +spring over it, and be round in two minutes by the bank; then he will +not hear my approach." + +On to the gate, and over the gate, went John Allfrey, while Wilfred +was anxiously groping about for something with which to weight his +parchment. With slow stealthy steps the hunter crept round towards him, +unable in the dim light to distinguish what the boy could possibly be +doing. Allfrey saw then—or rather heard—that something was thrown into +the stream, which, in a minute afterwards, Wilfred seemed to be eagerly +trying to recover. + +"If he lean over so, he'll be in, as sure as a gun!" muttered the +watcher, and, even as the words were on his lips, Wilfred fell +splashing into the stream. + +Well was it for the unhappy young Marsden that a strong man and +bold swimmer was near. Not that John Allfrey was an impetuous +philanthropist, eager to rush forward to the rescue on seeing a +fellow-creature in danger. He took off his hat and drew off his coat +and boots preparatory to the plunge before he made it. Allfrey expected +to see Wilfred rise to the surface of the river, but he expected in +vain, so sprang into the water, and dived at the spot where he had seen +young Marsden disappear. But the boy had been carried a short way down +by the current, the swimmer could not find him at once; several minutes +elapsed before the gasping Allfrey reappeared, dragging with him by the +hair the senseless body of the boy. + +"This has been a strange, and might have been a fatal adventure," +muttered the squire, as he laid the youth on the bank, with his face +to the ground, so that the water might flow freely from his nostrils +and mouth. "I must get him back at once to the house, there a hot drink +and warm bed will set all to rights, I hope, before morning. What is +it that he holds in his hand? A long roll—a parchment deed!" The young +man disengaged the will from the grasp of the cold livid fingers. "It +must have been this which he was so anxiously fishing out of the water. +Mysteries never will end! Well, whatever it be, it must not be lost, +since he almost threw away his life to get it." + +Allfrey was now hastily drawing on his own coat, and he secured the +long roll, wet as it was, under his outer garment; then, raising poor +Wilfred in his arms, the strong man carried him as if he had been a +young child, not over the field, but round by the road and the front +drive of Cortley Hall—a way longer, indeed, but far easier, as no wall +would have to be climbed. + +While with long, rapid strides John Allfrey went on his road, he turned +over in his mind what he should say in regard to the night's adventure. +"I've a notion—" thus flowed the current of his thoughts—"that the +whole secret, whatever it may be, lies in that wet roll of sheep-skin +as the kernel lies in a nut. Shall I give it to Rosa May? I don't +see," pursued honest John, "what right she has to possess it, nor what +mischief might be done by her seeing it. There's a world of trouble +often comes from meddling with bits of old parchment! Shall I look into +the roll, and judge for myself? It does not seem to me that to do so +would be the act of a gentleman. It is not mine—I have no right to read +it. I'll keep the whole matter quiet. If this poor fellow recovers, as +I hope that he will, he shall have his roll back unopened; if not, I +shall make it over to his father." + +And having thus settled the question in his mind, and at the same time +reached the door of the Hall, Allfrey shouted out with stentorian voice +to bring the household to his assistance. + +The scene that followed may readily be imagined. Great were the alarm +and surprise in the Hall when the tidings spread that John Allfrey had +just entered, dripping with water, and bearing in his arms the only +son and heir of the master of the house, senseless—perhaps lifeless. +There was running to and fro, loud ringing of bells, voices calling for +flannels, brandy, hot water. Anxiety, curiosity, or wonder, were marked +upon every face. A horse was saddled at once, and Edward Lyle rode off +at full speed for a doctor. + +Wilfred Marsden was borne to his room in the arms of his father, +undressed, swathed in hot flannels, his cold limbs chafed with anxious +care. No means of restoring circulation were left untried by Mr. +Marsden and his weeping daughter. + +The guests below, who could not share the labours of the sick-room, +eagerly gathered around John Allfrey, and the young man was overwhelmed +by a perfect torrent of questions. How had he tracked Wilfred Marsden? +What had taken the boy to the river? How could he possibly have +fallen in? Allfrey replied to some of the questions, others he left +unanswered. He wanted to get to a fire, and change his wet clothes, and +not be kept, as he said, like a poor wretch in a witness-box, after a +sudden cold bath in the river. + +It was some time before Allfrey was suffered to make his retreat to Mr. +Marsden's room, in which a fire had been lighted, and where, while he +changed his clothes for some of his host's, he took the opportunity of +drying—not reading—the parchment. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +CONJECTURES. + +"I'M sure that it is a perfect mystery to me what could have induced +him to leave all the party here, to wander about in the rain and end by +throwing himself into the river!" exclaimed Sophia Adair. + +"Every act of the boy during the whole of the day has been +incomprehensible," cried Rosa. "His wild looks in the morning when I +met him, his late appearance at breakfast, his temper, his rudeness, he +who was always courtesy itself to the ladies." + +"He seemed in high spirits during the whole afternoon." + +"Strange, uncertain, unnatural spirits. Did you notice the feverish +flush on his check?" + +"Has the doctor seen him?" asked John Allfrey, who joined the speakers +at that moment. + +"Yes, the doctor has been here for some time, but I have not yet heard +his opinion. Such a bad business, is it not?" cried Sophia. "And just +the night before the wedding! I suppose that the marriage will be put +off!" + +"Oh! I should not think so," said John; "a boy is not usually the worse +for wetting." + +"But he has been so long in coming to himself, and then—" Sophia +lowered her voice and touched her forehead as she added, "it looks as +if something were wrong with his head." + +"I suspect that poor Mina thinks so," observed Rosa, "for she looks the +picture of misery." + +"And she was so happy," sighed Sophia. + +"But I want to know everything that you saw, from beginning to end," +cried Rosa, addressing John Allfrey. "You said that you first heard him +getting over the garden-wall; what could have taken him to the garden?" + +John only shrugged his shoulders in reply. + +"And then down the field, through the hedge, and so straight on to the +river. Do you think that the wretched boy really meant to throw himself +in?" + +"I don't think so," replied young Allfrey. + +"Why, then, should he go to the river at all? There's no way of +crossing it there." + +John was quite aware of that fact. + +"He could not fish in the dark; the idea of bathing is absurd. Could he +wish to get anything out of the water?" + +"You had better ask himself, when he is able to answer," said Allfrey, +who grew more and more determined to let her know nothing of the roll. + +"There goes the doctor," cried Rosa. "Oh! I wish that I had seen him +before he went." + +"Mina will tell us the news," said Sophia, as, pale with anxious +watching, the bride-elect entered the room. + +"He has come to himself, thank God!" said Mina. "The doctor is going to +send him fever-draughts at once, for his pulse runs high. Dr. Penn says +that we have nothing to fear; but I can't help being anxious—oh! so +anxious! He is so dear a brother to me!" + +"Has he said anything since he has revived?" asked the curious Rosa. +"Does he seem conscious of all that has happened?" + +"I scarcely know whether he is. He looks wildly around him, as if he +were in search of something; he cries 'Where is it?—Where is it?' Like +one who has lost what he prized very much. The doctor says that Wilfred +should be kept very quiet, but our poor boy is so anxious to rise." + +"He'll never get round while his mind is in this excited state," +observed Rosa. + +"I cannot stay away from him longer, though papa never leaves his +bedside," said Mina, quitting the room as she spoke. + +John Allfrey followed her into the hall, closing the door behind him. + +"Miss Marsden—one word," said he. + +Mina paused with her foot on the stair. + +"When I drew your poor brother out of the water, he had a roll clenched +so tight in his hand that I could hardly get it away." The young +man drew forth the parchment. "If he is so restlessly looking for +something, it seems likely that it may be this. I need scarcely add," +said Allfrey, as he placed the roll in the maiden's hand, "that not a +single word has been read." + +"Oh! Mr. Allfrey," exclaimed Mina, with deep emotion, "you have done +us a service to-night which we can never, never repay. You must have +thought me the most ungrateful of beings, in my anxiety for my brother, +never yet to have expressed my gratitude to his preserver." + +John felt embarrassed at being thanked for what he thought so simple +a matter as pulling a drowning boy out of the river; he muttered +something about seeing whether the carriage had not come for his +sisters, while Mina, with a throbbing heart, glided up to her brother's +apartments. + +As she entered the room with the roll in her hand, her father came +forward to meet her, his finger raised to his lips. + +"He sleeps," said Mr. Marsden, to his daughter; "I have sent Martha out +of the room, for I wish to keep away all noise—anything that may cause +excitement." He resumed the seat which he had quitted; Mina knelt at +his side. + +"Father," she softly whispered, "you should know everything; you will +judge what is right. Mr. Allfrey has just given me this parchment, he +took it out of poor Wilfred's grasp when he had drawn him out of the +water. It may be something of importance, it may be the cause of the +restless uneasiness which alarms us so much to-night." + +The father took the roll with the keenest interest. + +"Thankful, most thankful should I be," he said, "to discover any +sufficient cause for the conduct of my poor boy." + +"Will you examine the parchment, papa?" + +Mr. Marsden remained for several moments buried in thought before he +replied, "Perhaps it would be better not to do so; perhaps it may +quiet Wilfred's mind to be assured that no one is in possession of his +secret, if a secret there be." + +"Then what would you have us do?" + +"Place the roll within his reach, my child; if it be that for which he +so anxiously inquires, the sight of it cannot but soothe him. And now +that you are here to watch, I will go down and dismiss our guests. I +fervently trust that the worst is over, and I fain would have the house +quiet." + +Noiselessly Mr. Marsden left the sick-room; noiselessly Mina +approached the bed, and, as she laid the will upon it, tenderly gazed +on the sleeping boy. What sad traces had the sufferings of the last +twenty-four hours left on that pale young face! Even in sleep it wore +an expression of distress, which went to the heart of Mina. She knelt +down beside the bed, and clasping her hands together, long, and fondly, +and fervently prayed to a merciful God for her brother. Mina approached +the Throne of Grace with the same trustful, childlike confidence with +which she had come to her earthly father. The maiden's heart felt +soothed and calmed by the act of devotion; as she rose, more full of +hope that this strange, mysterious cloud of sorrow on her bright sky +would pass away, she looked at her brother and saw that his eyes were +wide open, and lovingly fixed on herself. + +"You were praying for me," he murmured, and a deep sigh followed the +words. + +"And God has answered my prayer already," she replied, thankful to see +him so collected. + +At that moment Wilfred's glance fell on the roll beside him. With +almost a cry of surprise, he grasped it in feverish haste. + +"How came this here?" he exclaimed. + +"I put it there," answered Mina. + +"You—you! Have you read it?" gasped Wilfred, half raising himself in +his bed. + +"No, no one has read it," said Mina. + +An expression of unutterable relief came over the features of Wilfred; +he hid the parchment under his pillow, and then, in a calmer voice, +asked his sister where she had found the roll. + +"John Allfrey found it—but he did not look into it," added Mina, +quickly, for she saw that her first sentence had re-awakened her +brother's fears. + +"You are sure of that?" + +"Quite sure," she replied. + +"But how came Allfrey to be near me?" + +The question was asked in a tone so rational that Mina's hope rose yet +higher. + +"I can hardly tell you," she answered; "I think that our merciful God +must have sent him to the river to preserve so precious a life." + +"It was strange, indeed!" murmured Wilfred. + +"But you must think of nothing now, dearest, to perplex, excite, or +distress you. You must just remain quiet and still, and let us nurse +and take care of you. Ah! Here comes papa with the fever-draught. He +will be so thankful to find you better." + +Mina poured out the cooling drink, and gave it to her brother; he drank +it, and felt refreshed. + +"Is it late?" he abruptly asked. "Have the Allfreys left the house?" + +"They have just gone," replied Mr. Marsden, "and Sophia and Rosa have +retired to their rooms." + +"And so must our bride," said Wilfred; "I cannot endure to see her +looking so pale and wan, and with those red marks under her eyes. What +a torment I have been to you all! Mina must rest and get strength for +to-morrow—for her wedding-day," he added. + +"Not my wedding-day, if you are ill. I could not leave you thus," said +Mina. + +"What! Delay your happiness for me! That would indeed be more than I +could bear. I shall be all right to-morrow," said Wilfred, raising +himself in the bed. "I am only tired and chilled. I shall be at the +wedding, or, if not, John Allfrey can take my place. It would put me +into a fever if any change were made on my account." + +Mr. Marsden saw that Wilfred was thoroughly in earnest; and his own +mind being greatly relieved, he readily promised that if his son were +no worse in the morning, no change should be made in the wedding +arrangements. He bade Mina go to rest, gave her his paternal blessing, +but proposed himself to pass the remainder of the night in the chamber +of his boy. Against this latter part of the arrangement, Wilfred +expostulated in vain. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +DECISION. + +"AND so everything is to go on as was settled yesterday?" said Sophia +to Rosa, when the two fair bridesmaids met on the following morning. + +"Yes; favours, flowers, feasting, and fun, all after the most approved +fashion," replied Rosa. "I have just sent off a note, by Mina's desire, +to ask the Miss Allfreys to be here by ten, that we of the white tulle +and rosebuds may set off to the church together. Of course you have +heard that their brother is to act the part of best man?" + +"Has the doctor been here to-day?" + +"Oh! He was here before seven," said Rosa, "and he found that the fever +was almost gone! He won't let the patient get up, however, and talks +of excitement and that sort of thing; but it is clear that not much is +the matter." And Rosa gave a little scornful toss of the head. "I am +only vexed about poor Mina. There is she on her wedding morning talking +of chicken broth and barley-water, and listening as earnestly to old +Dr. Penn as if he were her bridegroom. I don't believe that if her +four bridesmaids went to church in black poke bonnets instead of white +veils, Mina would even notice the difference, her head is so full of +this Wilfred." + +"And his father sat up all night?" + +"I've no patience with the boy," cried Rosa, whose curiosity had been +kept so long on the rack, that the effect was seen in her temper. + +"I think," said Sophia, gravely, "that this has all been the result +of an attack on the nerves, brought on by sleeping in that horrible +chamber." + +Rosa gave a little laugh at the mention of nerves, remembering what +Wilfred himself had said to her on the subject. "No," she replied, "it +is that the boy did yesterday what he did on a smaller scale on the +preceding day. He has gone wildly blundering on, in some self-chosen +path of his own, till he has not only wounded himself with the thorns, +but has almost succeeded in crushing poor Mina's bridal blossoms." + +Rosa had little idea how very near her guess was to the truth. + +Merrily rang the church bells; the sound of the school-children's happy +voices, as they assembled on the lawn to see the bride going to church, +and to strew her path with flowers, rose on the summer air. + +Wilfred lay alone in his chamber, listening and thinking. The sunshine +came through the coloured panes of the mullioned window, throwing +gorgeous many-tinted stains on the oak-panelled wall. In the stillness +of that room, how severe a conflict was going on in the mind of that +boy! Words of his sister rang in his ears, "the mercy of God," as shown +towards himself in the strange events of the night. Was it not through +that mercy that he now lay on his pillow, a living, breathing form? Why +was it, that instead of the merry chime, there was not the slow toll of +the bell for the dead; that robes of mourning were not to be prepared +for his sister instead of white bridal attire; that his own body was +not laid out—a cold lifeless corpse—drawn after long search from those +waters on whose chilly depths Wilfred shuddered to think? Was it not +through the mercy of God—that God whose commands he had broken? Had +he not been snatched—it seemed to Wilfred almost by miracle—from a +fate so well deserved? And, had his body perished in that dark river, +where would his soul now have been? Most awful of all thoughts to young +Marsden! He would have been cut off in his sin, summoned to his last +account, without space given for repentance, without time vouchsafed +for prayer. Lines haunted the boy, he knew not where he had read them, +but they seemed to image forth to him his own experience— + + "Methought by a slender cord I hung + O'er the black abyss of eternal death; + Wildly I struggled and wildly clung, + Sobs of agony choked my breath; + Sin drew me down, with a mountain's weight, + Each frenzied effort more hopeless making. + Was judgment passed? was return too late? + The last hope failing—'the cord was breaking.' + I woke with a cry + Of agony— + My God! how fearful was that waking!" + +"Yes, Mina, all that I have suffered, all that I have made you suffer, +has been through my turning aside from the duty which I had not +courage to face. Never, never can I forget the lesson branded into my +heart, that no sacrifice for God can be so painful as the effects of +disobedience, and that, however thorny it be—in the end, THE STRAIGHT +ROAD IS SHORTEST AND SUREST." + + + + THE END. + + + + LONDON: + SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET + COVENT GARDEN. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77568 *** diff --git a/77568-h/77568-h.htm b/77568-h/77568-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86dbbd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/77568-h/77568-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1952 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + The Straight Road is Shortest and Surest, by A. L. O. E. │ Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/image001.jpg" type="image/cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size:12.0pt; + font-family:"Verdana"; +} + +p {text-indent: 2em;} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +.w100 { + width: auto + } + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +p.t1 {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 125%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t2 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 150%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: center + } + +p.t3b { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 100%; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center + } + +p.t4 { + text-indent: 0%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: center + } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +p.poem { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + padding: 20px 0; + text-align: left; + width: 555px; + } + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77568 ***</div> + +<p>Transcriber's note: Unusual and inconsistent spelling is as printed.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image001" style="max-width: 33.8125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image001.jpg" alt="image001"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image002" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image002.jpg" alt="image002"> +</figure> +<p class="t4"> +<b>ROSA WAS PEERING INTO THE BASKET.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h1>THE<br> +<br> +STRAIGHT ROAD<br> +<br> +IS<br> +<br> +SHORTEST AND SUREST.</h1> + +<p><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +BY<br> +</p> + +<p class="t1"> +A. L. O. E.<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<figure class="figcenter" id="image003" style="max-width: 25.3125em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/image003.jpg" alt="image003"> +</figure> + +<p><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +LONDON:<br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.<br> +</p> + +<p class="t4"> +BEDFORD STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +1867.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3b"> +CONTENTS.<br> +<br> +——————<br> +</p> + +<p>CHAP.</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_1">I. A MISHAP IN THE WOODS</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_2">II. THE OAK ROOM</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_3">III. FIRE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_4">IV. EARTH</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_5">V. PUT TO THE QUESTION</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_6">VI. FACING IT OUT</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_7">VII. WATER</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_8">VIII. A CHASE</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_9">IX. CONJECTURES</a></p> + +<p><a href="#Chapter_10">X. DECISION</a></p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>THE STRAIGHT ROAD</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>IS</b><br> +</p> + +<p class="t2"> +<b>SHORTEST AND SUREST.</b><br> +<br> +———————————<br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>A MISHAP IN THE WOODS.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>IT was a glowing, sultry day in the glorious month of June. In the +drawing-room of Cortley Hall every window was thrown wide open to +admit the breeze, which scarcely stirred the muslin curtains, or +moved one leaf of the delicate maiden-hair fern which drooped from a +fancy basket. In the deep recess of one of these windows sat a merry +black-eyed girl, with a quantity of white satin ribbon heaped loosely +upon her knee, and her workbox placed upon a little table beside her. +A graceful young maiden stood near, and pensively and tenderly, as if +each blossom were linked in her mind with thoughts of a home she was +soon to quit, was arranging a quantity of flowers—roses, fuchsias, and +geraniums—to fill a porcelain vase. Mina, was less inclined to laugh +and chat than was Rosa, her gay young cousin, whose tongue rattled +merrily on, while her nimble fingers transformed the ribbon into piles +of rosettes and favours.</p> + +<p>In the corner of the room a gentleman, not much beyond middle age, +but whose broad bald forehead and "sable-silvered" hair made him seem +older than he really was, was seated writing at a desk. This was Mr. +Marsden, the master of Cortley Hall, and the father of Mina, the young +bride-elect. He was engaged in writing orders on a munificent scale +for donations to the sick and poor, on the occasion of the approaching +wedding. In every cottage, for miles around, the plentiful feast would +be spread; for Mr. Marsden was a benefactor to all who came within +reach of his large-hearted charity, and many had had reason to bless +the day when he had entered into possession of Cortley Hall.</p> + +<p>"What on earth can have become of Wilfred!" exclaimed Rosa May, looking +impatiently towards the door. "How am I to finish off these favours, +with not a sprig of orange-blossom to put in the middle! He does not +usually play the snail, that young brother of yours!"</p> + +<p>"Nay, you must remember," said Mina, "that the town is full three miles +distant, and the weather exceedingly hot; I was vexed when I heard that +you had sent him upon such an errand!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! All the servants are busy, you know, in making grand preparations +for Thursday; and I thought," added Rosa with a laugh, "that it was +an act of public utility to get a boy out of the way for a couple of +hours, and tame down his wild spirits a little by teaching him to make +himself useful. You have spoilt Wilfred sadly, I fear!"</p> + +<p>"How can you say so!" cried the smiling Mina.</p> + +<p>"How dare you say so!" exclaimed a merry voice from without, and—not +through the door, but the window—in sprang a fine-looking boy +of fourteen, with heated face, and moistened hair, and a bright +good-humoured smile in his clear blue eyes, from which seemed to look +forth a spirit free and open as the day.</p> + +<p>"Why, Wilfred, you truant knight; what can have delayed you so long?" +exclaimed Rosa May, with her finger raised in an affected attitude of +reproof. "We thought that you would have been back an hour ago, laden +with orange-blossom from the town, ready to cut, clip, run messages, +do the dutiful in every possible way to both bridesmaid and bride! But +is anything the matter?" she added. "Your clothes seem torn; your face +scratched."</p> + +<p>"You have not met with any accident, dear Will?" exclaimed the fair +young bride; and at the question, asked in her gentle tone of concern, +Mr. Marsden turned round from his desk, and glanced at the handsome +lad, who was his only son and heir.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't care a straw for a few rents in my clothes, or scratches +on my face!" exclaimed Wilfred Marsden. "But this is what provokes me: +look here, I've crushed your dainty box of orange-blossoms as flat as +a pancake!" And with an air of vexation, the boy rather threw down +than placed upon the table a light millinery box, which appeared in +deplorable plight.</p> + +<p>"Oh! dear; how could you manage to do this!" cried his cousin the +bridesmaid, opening and surveying with a rueful air the crushed +blossoms within.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, Wilfred dear," said Mina, approaching with a kindly smile; +"it was very good in you to go yourself to Manton for the flowers, buy +them, and bring them—"</p> + +<p>"And smash them on the way!" added Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"Oh! I don't believe that they are spoilt," said the bride, taking up a +sprig in her delicate fingers. "A little twist here, a little pulling +out there, and see—now is not that perfectly lovely?" And she held up +the renovated flower.</p> + +<p>"If it is not, I know who is!" cried the boy, looking with fond +admiration upon his only sister, and thinking what a happy fellow +Edward Lyle was going to be. "I hope that there's not much harm done, +after all. I thought that the poor flowers were demolished when my foot +came smash on the lid of the box!"</p> + +<p>"How did it happen, awkward boy?" asked the bridesmaid.</p> + +<p>"The story is soon told," said Wilfred, sitting down, and fanning his +heated face with his straw hat. "You know that the day is grilling hot, +and I thought that I should be fairly baked if I took the straight path +across the fields, where there is not a yard of shade."</p> + +<p>"So you went round by the wood?" said Mina.</p> + +<p>"A fine roundabout way!" cried her cousin.</p> + +<p>"I fancied that I could make a cut through the thicket, so struck out +from the path and tried to get across through the bushes. But it seemed +as if Puck and all the fairies had conspired to catch me prisoner! Now +my jacket was caught in a bramble; then a bough nearly knocked off my +hat; when I got free from the thorns on the right hand, I was caught by +a long straggling briar on the left! Then suddenly I felt a sharp sting +on my neck, just underneath my collar—" Wilfred clapped his hand on +the place—"I dropped the box like a hot potato, and what betwixt wasp +and briars and brambles, hardly knew what I was about, till I felt my +unlucky foot crunching through the pasteboard of the box!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Well, things might have been worse!" said Mina, with smiling +philosophy. "Your kind intention was all the same. Your long walk has +enabled me—"</p> + +<p>"To show that you have the sweetest temper as well as the fairest face +in the world!" interrupted Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"And it has taught you, I hope," said Rosa, "that the straight road is +the shortest and surest."</p> + +<p>"Ay, I wished often enough in the wood that I had taken my way through +the fields, however hot it might have been," said Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"That proverb, my boy," observed Mr. Marsden, who had locked his desk +and joined the group, "holds good in more important matters than your +adventure of to-day. There's many a sharp, clever fellow, with more wit +in his brain than truth in his heart, who has found in the end that +through life the straightest road is the shortest and surest."</p> + +<p>"You mean the path of honour, papa."</p> + +<p>"I mean the path of duty."</p> + +<p>"Duty and honour, surely they are the same," cried Wilfred. "They are +but two names for one thing."</p> + +<p>"Scarcely so," said the father. "I shall call honour a high sense of +what we owe to 'ourselves;' duty, a high sense of what we owe to 'our +God!'"</p> + +<p>"But if they be not the same thing, they lead to the same actions, +surely. They both make a man shrink from anything false, dishonest, or +mean."</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsden looked down with something of paternal pride upon the +fine, intelligent countenance of his only son, so expressive of the +contempt which the mere thought of dishonourable conduct inspired. +He, however, shook his head gravely as he made answer, "Honour, as we +usually understand the word, is but man's standard of what is becoming +in a man, and must be fallible like its author. Honour has fired the +ambitious leader, who sacrifices thousands of his fellow-creatures to +win for himself the name of a hero; honour has loaded the duellist's +pistol, and made brave men slaves to the dread of reproach. We could +as safely direct our steps by the fitful blaze of a meteor, as take +earthly honour alone for the guide of our words and actions."</p> + +<p>"Was it not honour that made Edward Lyle give up that good living which +he could have had by merely letting it be thought that he was a few +weeks older than he was?"</p> + +<p>At the mention of the name of her betrothed, Mina timidly raised her +blue eyes and fixed them on her father, and the tint on her soft cheek +deepened as she listened for his reply.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Mr. Marsden, "that in that occurrence Edward was guided +by that which is always his pole-star—the fear and love of his God."</p> + +<p>Wilfred glanced at his sister, and caught her look of intense pleasure +at the praise of her betrothed from the lips of her father.</p> + +<p>"Well, Edward was soon rewarded," said the boy. "It was a lucky thing +that the living here fell vacant—so unexpectedly, too—not a twelvemonth +after, and that it should be in your gift! A snug little nest for our +ladye-bird, and just within reach of us all. What a different affair it +would have been," continued the boy, "if Cortley Hall had been left to +cousin Benson instead of to you!"</p> + +<p>"I should have been working on still at my desk in Barnes' Court," +observed Mr. Marsden, with his quiet smile.</p> + +<p>"And I'd have been brought up as a clerk; and Mimi, poor darling Mina! +She'd have looked like some pale withered flower, one of those crushed +orange-blossoms in the smoky air of the city. Ugh! Our old great-uncle +did one good thing in his life, if he never did another, when he left +the Hall, and estate, and the gift of the living to such a man as my +father."</p> + +<p>"Cousin Benson does not think so, I guess," laughed Rosa, who had just +finished her pile of white satin cockades.</p> + +<p>"Cousin Benson is no more fit to be a lauded proprietor than I am to be +king of the Cannibal Islands!" exclaimed Wilfred. "A mean, sneaking, +stingy fellow; one who would skin a flint; one—"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Wilfred!" expostulated Mina.</p> + +<p>"No ill words of the absent, my boy," said Mr. Marsden.</p> + +<p>"We'd better talk of some one else, then," cried Wilfred, "for I can +never think of Tom Benson with patience."</p> + +<p>"I had a note from Sophia to-day," said Mina.</p> + +<p>"Sophia! Oh, how is it she is not here? I thought that she was to +arrive to-day. I know that you ordered the Oak room to be made ready."</p> + +<p>"She comes this morning," replied his sister, "but she does not wish +the Oak room."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?" asked Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"She writes so in her note. Here it is."</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say," cried Wilfred, with a look of amused +curiosity, "that Sophia is afraid to sleep in that room, because she +fancies that it is haunted?"</p> + +<p>"Not exactly 'haunted,'" began Mina Marsden, as she handed the letter +to her brother; "but she writes about disagreeable associations."</p> + +<p>"Oh! I see; here it is." And Wilfred read aloud snatches from the +letter of one of his sister's expected bridesmaids: "'Don't laugh at me +as absurd—' That's more than I can promise, fair lady!—'but the idea +of occupying a room in which your poor old great-uncle was actually +burnt to death would so affect my nerves.'—Oh! Hang nerves!" exclaimed +Wilfred, tossing back the note to his sister. "That was a wise old dame +who was glad that she was born before nerves were invented."</p> + +<p>"But you wont mind exchanging rooms, dear Wilfred?"</p> + +<p>"Mind! I should think not!" cried the boy. "I shall have much the best +of the exchange. Oak panels instead of twopenny paper, carved ceiling +instead of white plaster, stained glass instead of square panes, one of +which, by-the-bye, I cracked right across yesterday with my elbow! I +wish that everybody would fancy that grand, gloomy room to be haunted, +that I might keep it, ghost and all, to myself! But what a joke I'll +have against Sophia! I think I'll bring in something about it when I +propose the health of the four lovely bridesmaids on Thursday."</p> + +<p>"Nay," cried Rosa, "if you take to quizzing any of the bridesmaids, I +think that, after to-day's exploit in the woods, they may fairly turn +the tables upon you, and let the bridesman come in for his share of the +banter. You have proved yourself not a much better messenger than the +valiant squire in the song." And in a high, clear voice Rosa trilled +forth a merry lay.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;">THE SQUIRE.</span><br> + <br> +A squire set out one moonlit night,<br> +And prayed to the moon to give good light,<br> +For he had many miles to travel that night,<br> + All through the forest glen, O!<br> + <br> +He bore a lock of his master's hair,<br> +A tender gift to his ladye fair;<br> +At peril of his life he the pledge must bear,<br> + All through the forest glen, O!<br> + <br> +Quoth he, "I fear there are robbers near,<br> +Or goblins stalk the thicket drear,<br> +Or merry witches hold their revels here,<br> + All in the forest glen, O!"<br> + <br> +An oak o'er the path its long arms spread—<br> +Sudden it strikes him—he starts with dread:<br> +Terrified and wild, at speed he sped<br> + All through the forest glen, O!<br> +He never looked behind him, or turned his head<br> + All through the forest glen, O!<br> + <br> +Panting and pale, at length he came<br> +To the sheltered hall of the noble dame;<br> +"I've brought a pledge from a knight of fame,<br> + All through the forest glen, O!"<br> +And he hunted—he searched—he sought for the same,<br> + Lost in the forest glen, O!<br> + <br> +Where was the pledge of the lover's vow?<br> +Waving in the breeze on the oak's long bough;<br> +And for aught that I know, it may wave there now,<br> + All in the forest glen, O!<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>THE OAK ROOM.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>VERY merrily passed that Tuesday evening at Cortley Hall. Neighbours +"dropped in" to tea, Sophia arrived from London, her luggage swelled +to an unreasonable size by divers boxes and parcels labelled "glass," +and "with care," with which she had been entrusted for the bride. There +were so many presents, of which the unpacking gave no small amusement +to Wilfred, that he declared that his wedding-gift to Mina ought to +have been a manifold writer instead of a "lady's companion," that she +might not have had half her time taken up in penning letters of thanks. +Tom Benson, the churl, was the only one, as Wilfred affirmed, who had +not done his duty, nor given so much as a flower to the bride.</p> + +<p>There were songs and mirth, laughing and banter, interspersed with +the pleasant preparations for a village wedding, in the feasting +and gladness of which all the poor around were to share. The young +clergyman and his betrothed were deeply, tranquilly happy, the +bridesmaids full of frolic and fun, and Wilfred, the merriest, noisiest +"best man" that ever wore a white favour. There was to him nothing but +pleasure in the prospect of the marriage. There would be no separation +from the sister whom he fondly loved, for the Vicarage was so near to +the Hall that Wilfred considered that he should only possess two happy +homes instead of one.</p> + +<p>It was late before the cheerful circle dispersed, for time seemed too +rich in enjoyment for much to be wasted in sleep. With a light step +and lighter heart, whistling the merry song of "The Squire," Wilfred +retired to the old Oak chamber; but there was something in the solemn +aspect of the room which, as soon as he entered, stopped his music +if it did not damp his spirits. The gleam of his solitary candle so +dimly lighted the dark carved panels, the massive furniture, the +heavily-draperied bed, that it seemed but to make darkness visible. One +of the pillars of that bed, blackened and charred, bore token yet of +the awful fate which had befallen the last owner of Cortley Hall.</p> + +<p>Wilfred examined it with thrilling interest, and felt less disposed +than he had done by day to laugh at the feelings of Sophia. His mind +would perpetually recur to the miserable old man who had retired to +rest in that very room, as little expecting to rise no more as the boy +who now occupied his place. There had he lain, just there, the candle +by the bedside, the bottle on the table, the novel in his hand. There +had he fallen asleep—and oh! What an awful waking!</p> + +<p>Wilfred found such thoughts depressing after the gay excitement of +the evening. He hurried over his toilet, extinguished his candle, and +stretched himself on the bed; he wished to sleep, but sleep would not +come at his bidding. He tried to turn his mind to Mina and her fair +prospects, but his thoughts again and again returned to the poor old +man who had perished by fire in that place, unwarned and unprepared!</p> + +<p>"I think that this room has never lost the suffocating heat of that +fire!" exclaimed Wilfred at last, with feverish restlessness. "I feel +hardly able to breathe! How stupid I was not to throw the window wide +open, to let in a little fresh air!"</p> + +<p>The boy pulled back his curtain, and rose, feeling his way towards the +window by the wall. As he groped thus along, passing his hand over each +panel, to his surprise Wilfred felt one of them slightly move under +his pressure. He felt angry with himself for the little start which he +gave; and his curiosity being aroused, the boy drew the panel backwards +with stronger force, and thus assured himself that he had made no +mistake in imagining that he was able to move it.</p> + +<p>"I may have made some grand discovery," said Wilfred, half aloud. "I +may have found some secret hiding-place for treasure! There's no saying +what a store of old family plate or family jewels may lie behind that +sliding panel. If only the room were not so dark. The moon is up, I +fancy, and the window looks to the east; but there's as much stone as +glass in it, and the glass itself is stained, so that the casement +seems expressly contrived to let in as little light as may be. I must +light my candle again, if only I knew where to find the matchbox."</p> + +<p>Wilfred groped, and felt, and fumbled, knocked over the candlestick +in his search for the box, and started at the sudden noise in the +stillness of that dark apartment. It was several minutes before he was +able to get a light, which seemed to burn dimly and heavily in the hot, +close air of the room. Wilfred instantly returned with the candle to +the spot where he had moved back the panel. The place was marked by +what looked like a broad black line on the wall; the boy soon widened +the opening, and put his hand into the recess. Wilfred could feel but +one thing within it, and that was a long parchment roll. Burning with +intense curiosity to know its contents, he drew out the roll, and, +after placing his candle upon a table, seated himself on a heavy carved +armchair beside it, to examine his prize at his leisure.</p> + +<p>"Some great document, awfully long, and all written in black letter, +with a big red seal at the bottom! I dare say that I shall understand +as little of it as if it were all in Hebrew. Oh! Here's a date. I guess +that it will show the deed to be centuries old. No, 'eighteen hundred +and thirty-eight,' that's only ten years before I was born. Here are +signatures at the bottom. What a frightfully crabbed hand! 'Josiah +Marsden,' that's the name of my great-uncle, who was burned to death in +this room. I dare say that this is only some document relating to the +Cortley estate."</p> + +<p>Wilfred rolling up the parchment from the bottom, so as to examine with +greater ease what was written at the top. "Last will and testament of +Josiah Marsden." Wilfred felt a little nervousness, for which he could +hardly have accounted, as he slowly made out the first line. With a +little difficulty, as he was unaccustomed to read black letter, and the +tedious forms and repetitions of a law-deed made it difficult to be +understood, Wilfred went on with his perusal.</p> + +<p>A description of all the demesnes of the Cortley estate, which, +comprising the minutest particulars, stretched through some hundred +most tedious lines, closed with one which, like a sudden apparition, +blanched the cheek of the boy, made his hand tremble, and his heart +beat fast. "To my nephew Thomas Benson and his heirs."</p> + +<p>Wilfred could not, would not at first believe the evidence of his +senses. He rubbed his eyes as if they must be in fault, shook himself +with the idea of awaking from what he almost hoped might be but a +dream, looked again at the yellow parchment with its thick black +letters, in which the hated name appeared so painfully distinct. +Wilfred read and re-read the will, with a desperate hope of finding out +that he had mistaken its meaning. Each perusal made the fact but more +clear that his father was not mentioned in the will, though by birth +next of kin; that the old man had bequeathed Cortley Hall, with all +the surrounding estate, fields, cottages, and timber, and the gift of +presentation to the adjoining living, to his nephew, Thomas Benson, and +his heirs!</p> + +<p>In a paroxysm of passionate rage, Wilfred dashed the parchment on the +floor, and throwing himself back in his chair, groaned aloud in his +anguish of soul.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>FIRE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"WHAT am I to do—what on earth am I to do!" exclaimed Wilfred. "Oh! +That I had never seen this detestable deed!" And he spurned the +parchment with his foot. "What ought I to do? Carry that will to my +father in the morning? That would certainly be the course of duty, the +course of honour; and he—my noble, upright parent—he would at once make +known to the world the existence of a will which robs him of all, which +reduces him almost to beggary, which compels him to begin the world +again, and toil for his daily bread. I can't do it—I wont do it!" cried +Wilfred, springing from his chair, and beginning to pace up and down +the gloomy apartment.</p> + +<p>"The living, too, would be lost; all the happiness of my darling Mina +would be crushed at a blow. I never could deal that blow. It is not," +said Wilfred, pausing in his rapid walk, and trying to bring argument +after argument to drown the voice of his conscience; "it is not as if +this Benson deserved anything at our hands; it is not as if he were +one to make a good use of fortune. The building of the school would +be stopped at once; the poor widows, whom my noble father supports, +would have no refuge but the workhouse. It would be cruel, wicked, to +sacrifice at once so many interests for the sake of one mean wretch who +cares for no one on earth but himself."</p> + +<p>Ah, Wilfred, self-deceiver! It is not for him, not for any mortal, that +the sacrifice is required; it is sacrifice to duty, simple obedience to +the command of God, "provide things honest in the sight of all men!" +Our enemy is ever ready to persuade us that what is expedient must be +right; that we may turn a little—but a little—from the straight, narrow +path, and yet walk on with our faces towards heaven. Again and again +the voice sounds in our hearts,—</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<br> + "To do a great right, do a little wrong;"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>but it is the voice of the tempter.</p> + +<p>Wilfred Marsden in his happy, peaceful home, had been guarded from +many evils, and was growing up, as he believed, in the practice of +many virtues. Generous, affectionate, truthful, kind, in reference to +outward obedience to the commandments, Wilfred might almost have said +like the ruler, "All these things have I kept from my youth up." From +conscious purity of conduct, and rectitude of purpose, had sprung a +reliance upon his own strength, his own honour, his power of resisting +temptation, which had its secret root in pride. And now, like that of +the ruler, Wilfred Marsden's obedience was brought to the test. He was +called upon to resign all that he possessed, to take up his cross and +follow his Lord! Resolution snapped, pride gave way, honour could not +stand in the trial! Like the young ruler, with a sad heart and bleeding +conscience, Wilfred was turning away from the duty which seemed too +hard to be performed. He reasoned and argued with himself, until he +became half persuaded that to ruin his family, and stop works of +charity, could not be required of him by God.</p> + +<p>"I'll burn this parchment, I'll forget that it ever existed!" cried +Wilfred, with hasty resolution, snatching the will from the floor. +He held it to the flame of the candle, and a dark smoke-mark, like +a stain, showed the action of fire upon the roll. But Wilfred soon +perceived that it would take a considerable time to burn a large +parchment thus; and his impatient spirit could not endure the +protracted torture of thus slowly and deliberately committing a crime.</p> + +<p>"I will burn it in the grate," muttered Wilfred. But it was +summer-time, the grate was empty, and he hastily looked around for +something that might serve as fuel. Wilfred's desk had been left +downstairs—in vain, he searched his pockets for letters—the only book +that was to be seen in the Oak room was his own Bible! Wilfred put his +handkerchief into the grate, with a few scraps of paper which, with +difficulty, he collected, laid the parchment on the little heap, and +lighted it by the candle. He then stood with his back to the fire, for +he could not bear to watch it while it was doing its unholy work of +destruction. The grate had for months been unused; the wind blew down +the chimney, a volume of smoke came curling and spreading into the +room, making the dimness yet deeper, and the heat of the place more +oppressive. With a sense of suffocation Wilfred turned round to see +the flames—quickly kindled, and quickly spent—expiring round the great +roll, which lay, blackened indeed, but unconsumed! The smell of burning +gave to the miserable Wilfred a feeling of sudden horror!</p> + +<p>"Here, in this very room, where 'he' perished by fire, do I attempt to +burn his last will and testament! Can I find no other place, no other +way, when I wrong both the living and the dead?" Wilfred caught up the +roll from the grate. "O God, have mercy upon me!" he faltered. "Who +could have believed that I would ever have been guilty of wickedness +like this! These blackened smoke-marks are as witnesses against me. If +fire itself loses its power to destroy, I will take this as a token +that to conceal the truth is a crime against Heaven. I will not delay; +I will at once carry the will to my father. Better suffer anything than +this terrible feeling of remorse."</p> + +<p>Wilfred moved some steps towards the door, and paused. "What am I about +to do? Am I not putting a match to a train that, in exploding, will +shatter everything that I hold dear? Mina, my own precious sister, how +shall I bear to look on her grief, to hear—no, I shall never 'hear' +reproaches; but in her heart may she not say, 'Wilfred might have +spared me this misery! It was hard that such a trial should come to +me through my only brother!' Mina shall never say, never think this!" +Wilfred turned away from the door: "I dare not burn, but I will bury +this scroll. Shall I replace it in that recess from which would—would +that I had never moved it? No, some one else would be certain to +discover it, as I have done to-night. I will bury it deep, deep in the +earth, where no one can find it!"</p> + +<p>Again Wilfred turned towards the door. "All the house is shut up; my +step would be heard on the echoing stair; the bolts and chains could +not be withdrawn without noise; the household would be roused; I should +be questioned, and that would drive me distracted! I must at least wait +till the morning. What! Wait with that horrible blackened parchment +like a death-warrant before my eyes! I cannot endure to wait; I cannot +support through a long dreary night this terrible indecision. I can +open the window, drop down on the sod, and then bury the will in the +garden."</p> + +<p>Wilfred hastened to the casement, and, with fingers which trembled +with nervous excitement, drew back the bolt and threw open the window. +How refreshing was the breath of the soft night air upon his fevered +brow! Wilfred hastily dressed himself, thrust the roll into his bosom, +clambered out on the sill, and then, regardless of personal danger, +first hung for a moment by his hands, and then half dropped, half +clambered down, assisting his descent by a trained rose-tree, with +whose broken twigs and crushed petals he strewed the sod beneath.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>EARTH.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>CALM and beautiful was the aspect of nature in the stillness of that +summer night. The silence was scarcely broken by the softly-warbled +song of the nightingale, which poured its lay from neighbouring grove. +The rising moon shone in the deep blue sky, tinging with silvery +brilliance the fleecy clouds amidst which she moved, and throwing a +whiteness over the dewy sward, which had almost the effect of frost, +save where the dark shadows of the trees lay sleeping upon the grass. +The breeze ever and anon lightly stirred the branches, sounding like a +low, soft sigh.</p> + +<p>Wilfred gazed up at the Hall, with its numerous mullioned windows +gleaming in the silver moonlight, and its gable ends, with their +orb-crowned pinnacles, cutting the clear deep blue. All was so serene, +so calm, that a softening influence fell on the soul of Wilfred. +Nature seemed to lie in such holy beauty under the eye of God, that +the unhappy boy felt as if his presence were the only thing to mar the +peaceful repose of the scene. On what errand was he abroad, when every +inmate of the Hall, save himself, was buried in quiet slumber? Was it +not on an errand of evil as that which draws the robber forth under +the cover of darkness? Was it not to defraud a cousin of his right, to +defeat the ends of justice, to silence the voice of truth? Was it not +to commit an act which he dared not confess even to his nearest and +dearest friend?</p> + +<p>Again the resolution of Wilfred wavered: better to return and dare the +worst. Did not every tremulous orb in that sky tell, as with an angel's +voice, how fleeting and insignificant are all the concerns of this +brief life compared with those eternal interests which shall survive +the stars! But Wilfred caught sight, between the trees, of the tower of +the ancient church. It was there where Mina would so soon be united to +the husband of her choice; it was there where Edward would faithfully +preach the gospel to the poor. The guilt of concealment would not be +theirs. Wilfred might load his own conscience with a weight of sin, +but theirs would be clear from reproach. Well knows the tempter how +to use the ties of earthly affection as well as the links of pride, +when he would draw a soul to evil. Wilfred tried to stifle, and almost +succeeded in stifling conviction, by keeping the thought before his +mind that he was acting no selfish part—that he was sacrificing his +peace for the sake of others. He turned from the simple view of the +question—that he had a plain duty to perform, and must ask for strength +to perform it. He did not dare to pray; he feared to think upon God; +he would fain, like the first sinners, have hidden himself from that +Presence which rebukes the bare deformity of guilt.</p> + +<p>Wilfred, even at the midnight hour, was afraid of being watched from +the Hall. Those glimmering windows were so many eyes, and he must avoid +their ken. Wilfred turned to the left; his footsteps sounded too loud +on the gravel path; he trod noiselessly on the green verge. Scarcely +noticing the emerald spark, where the glow-worm, on his mossy bed, had +kindled his fairy lamp, Wilfred made his way to a secluded part of the +garden. The gloomy foliage of a cypress there completely screened him +from view, even if some watcher in the Hall should be gazing forth on +the stars. Wilfred took the roll from his breast, and was about to +commence his work of burying, when a sudden sound made him start. It +was but the rustle caused by a frightened bird that flew forth from the +tree at his unexpected approach; but it made his pulse throb fast with +terror.</p> + +<p>Wilfred looked around and upwards ere he began to dig: he saw nothing +but the wheeling bat, darting between him and the moon, in search of +her nightly prey. No human being was near; no sound of human voice +was borne on the whispering breeze. Wilfred knelt down and began to +displace the sod. Unfurnished as he was with any kind of appropriate +tool, he found the unaccustomed labour far harder than he had expected. +The season was hot, the ground was dry; the boy proceeded but slowly +with the work of scooping out the earth. Anxious and impatient as he +felt to complete his painful task, and bury the parchment in the sod +so deeply that none should find it, the minutes seemed lengthened +to hours. With hands torn, bruised, and blistered, Wilfred at last +finished digging a narrow trench, just long enough and wide enough to +hold the hated roll. He pressed it in, hastily covered it over with +mould, then rose and stamped it down, sprinkling the surface with light +earth to hide the marks of his feet.</p> + +<p>It was done—the deed was done, and Wilfred's first sensation was that +of relief. He had now leisure to remember that he was weary and needed +rest, as from the church tower solemnly pealed forth the stroke of one. +Should he return to the house? Wilfred was about to do so, when he +recollected the impossibility of getting in without rousing the inmates +by ringing the great door-bell. The house had long since been carefully +shut up, bolted and barred for the night. Wilfred could not climb up to +the casement from which he had so lately descended at no small personal +risk.</p> + +<p>"I must wait till the servants open the doors in the morning," was +Wilfred's reflection, "and creep up unnoticed to my room. Where in the +meantime shall I spend the rest of this miserable night? In the arbour +at the end of the shrubbery: there at least I shall find a bench on +which to stretch my weary limbs."</p> + +<p>To the arbour Wilfred proceeded; the air was beginning to feel chilly, +and he was glad of the slight protection which the place afforded. +Lying down on the wooden bench, it was not long before the exhausted +boy fell into a feverish sleep—a sleep haunted by terrible dreams. +Whatever form his slumbering fancies might take, they had ever some +reference to the parchment: now it was torn into a thousand fragments, +and reunited as if by magic; then in the vestry-room of the church, +Mina, a smiling bride, came to sign, according to custom, her maiden +name for the last time. With horror Wilfred beheld in his dream that, +instead of the page of the parish register, her hand rested upon the +deed; it was not her signature that met his gaze, but the crabbed +"Josiah Marsden."</p> + +<p>Then the scene changed to the forest. Wilfred seemed again, amidst +briars and thorns, with stinging hosts of hornets around him, +struggling in vain to make his way through with the fatal roll in his +hand! His feet were-entangled, he could not press on, though sounds of +pursuit were behind him. In the agonized struggle to break from his +bonds, the unhappy dreamer awoke.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>PUT TO THE QUESTION.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WILFRED MARSDEN awoke with his frame chilled and stiffened, and a +weight like lead at his heart. Before full consciousness returned, +he had a sense that something dreadful had happened, or was going to +happen. It was no longer night. The bright summer morning had dawned; +the air was full of the music of birds and the perfume of flowers; +already the bee was abroad, humming merrily on the wing. The sky was +gorgeous with crimson clouds, and the dew sparkled in the level rays of +the rising sun, as if the sward had been spangled with diamonds!</p> + +<p>But the beauty of Nature, its fair sights and sweet sounds, had now +no charm for Wilfred. He rose, stretched himself, heaved a deep-drawn +sigh, and then slowly sauntered towards the Hall. Still every blind +was drawn down, and all was silence within. Wilfred knew that the +house would not be opened for two or three hours, and there was +something intolerably irksome to the boy in having to wait so long, +with no company but that of his own remorseful thoughts. He stood +for some minutes gazing at the closed door, with its knocker which +he dared not raise, its bell which he dared not ring; and a fearful +idea crossed Wilfred's mind, that as he was shut out from his father's +home, so might he be one day shut out from heaven! Would not a single +unforsaken, unforgiven sin bar the door of mercy for ever? Wilfred +could hardly endure his own reflections: he paced up and down, up and +down, restless as a caged wild beast, during the weary interval that +elapsed before the church clock struck seven. Then, indeed, there were +sounds of movement in the house.</p> + +<p>Young Marsden, with a feeling of relief, heard the rattle of the chain, +and the grating of the bolt of the large outer door. He resolved to +wait for a few minutes outside until Martha the servant, as was her +wont, should have passed on to open the dining-room shutters, as he did +not wish to be seen as he entered the Hall. Meantime, Rosa May, who +had risen very early, had been attracted to the gate by the appearance +at it of a little girl carrying a basket full of lovely field flowers. +It was the young daughter of the farm-bailiff, who, having been sent +by her mother with cream and fresh butter to the Hall from the home +farm, had added to her charge a bouquet of fragrant blossoms as her own +offering to the bride.</p> + +<p>Rosa was peering into the basket when Wilfred (who was concealed behind +the laurels) perceived her and again hesitated. He thought she would +never leave off talking to the village child, but at length she turned +to enter the house, and was going up the steps when she caught sight of +him.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought that I was first in the field!" cried the lively girl. +"How did you manage to get out before me? Did you pass like a fairy +through the key-hole?"</p> + +<p>Wilfred could stand no questioning then; brushing past the young lady +with uncourteous haste, he hurried into the house, then up the broad +staircase three steps at a time, and buried himself in his room.</p> + +<p>But change of place brought no relief to the unhappy Wilfred; wherever +he went, he bore with him the burden of his terrible secret.</p> + +<p>Time passed; Wilfred heard at last the familiar sound of the bell for +prayers. Almost for the first time in his life he did not obey the +summons. How could he kneel down and pray for forgiveness of sin, when +resolved to go on in his sinning? How venture to ask for grace, when he +did not wish to obtain it? Wilfred knew that such prayers would be but +a mockery; and yet how could one brought up in the fear of God endure +to live without prayer?</p> + +<p>After awhile, another bell sounded; guests had come to breakfast, +and Wilfred knew that the family were assembling at the social meal. +Wilfred was aware that his absence would be noticed, and yet could +hardly summon up courage sufficient to face the circle below. Would not +everyone read in his face the secret which burdened his soul?</p> + +<p>While yet undecided, Wilfred heard a soft tap, then a gentle voice at +his door.</p> + +<p>"Dear Willy," said Mina Marsden, "are you not coming to breakfast? Mr. +Allfrey and sisters have dropped in early to settle arrangements for +to-morrow. I miss you so much at the table. Will you not come down +soon, and help me to entertain all our guests?"</p> + +<p>"I am coming," said Wilfred, laconically; and, as soon as he had +heard Mina's light step tripping downstairs, he followed her to the +breakfast-room, which she had quitted in order to call him.</p> + +<p>A burst of merry laughter was the first sound which fell on Wilfred's +ear as he entered, and the words uttered in Rosa's liveliest tone, "I'm +certain that he had seen a ghost!"</p> + +<p>"Here he is himself!" cried Mr. Allfrey, jovial young squire, whose +sisters were to act as bridesmaids.</p> + +<p>"Why, we thought that you were never going to make your appearance, +Master Wilfred, and I can certify that you were up early enough!" +exclaimed Rosa, as the boy exchanged morning greetings with his father +and his guests.</p> + +<p>Wilfred would fain have taken his place by Mr. Marsden or Mina, but +Rosa had reserved a seat for him by herself, and he could not avoid +taking possession of it, as no other chair was vacant.</p> + +<p>"Now, we're all dying of curiosity, Sophia especially, to know what you +saw in the old oak room!" continued the lively young lady, fixing her +keen black eyes upon Wilfred.</p> + +<p>Mina saw uneasiness in the countenance of her brother, and proposed +deferring questioning until he should have taken his breakfast.</p> + +<p>"Breakfast! Who could talk or think of such a common every-day thing +when a real ghost is on the 'tapis?' Wilfred has seen something—I'm +certain that he has! Nothing but an apparition of the most strange +and striking description could account for his singular conduct this +morning."</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Wilfred, with a stern resolution to face out +the difficulty as best he might.</p> + +<p>"Don't you call it very singular conduct in a young gentleman to make +his exit from the house by an upper window instead of a door?" cried +Rosa, with the keen enjoyment which a sharp lawyer might feel in +bringing forward incontrovertible evidence.</p> + +<p>"Who said that I did?" asked Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"It was a riddle to me," cried Rosa, "how you had managed to leave the +house without unfastening the bolts, until I looked at the trained +rose-trees which had the ill-luck to be planted under your window—which +window was, by the way, wide open! It was clear enough that that +rose-tree, ill-fitted as it might be for the purpose, had been used +last night as a ladder. Some of the branches were torn from their +fastenings, several twigs were snapped, and the poor roses looked as if +some great bear had chosen the plant as a pole for climbing."</p> + +<p>There was profound silence round the table as Rosa paused, and every +eye was turned upon Wilfred in curiosity and interest. The boy stared +sternly at his plate, but could not utter a word.</p> + +<p>"Besides," added Rosa, triumphantly, "there was a good deep print of a +pair of slippers impressed on the sod just beneath the window. I've a +notion that Master Wilfred Marsden knows who wore those slippers."</p> + +<p>Wilfred longed to rush out of the room, but struggled hard to hide all +outward sign of emotion.</p> + +<p>"Now we may imagine," continued the young lady, "that the occupant +of the oak room had merely taken a harmless fancy for a ramble by +moonlight, a hunt after bats and owls, or a quiet study of the stars. +But if so, why, when he met a fair lady in the morning, did he start as +if he took her for a goblin—which she certainly by no means resembles? +Why was his face, as white as a sheet, his eyes hollow and wild in +expression, and his hands all covered with earth? Why did he not answer +a civil question, but rush madly into the house?"</p> + +<p>"Really, Wilfred," said Sophia, a young lady with languid eyelids, long +light hair, and a manner rather affected, "we shall expect from you a +thrilling account of your adventures in a haunted chamber."</p> + +<p>"What did you see?" asked John Allfrey.</p> + +<p>"Or hear?" added his sister Amelia.</p> + +<p>"Was there not a ghost, just say—was there not a ghost?" cried Rosa, +leaning eagerly forward, and laying her hand upon Wilfred's arm.</p> + +<p>The boy's patience was utterly exhausted. Shaking off his cousin's hand +with a rudeness which he had never before shown to a lady, he rose from +table with the muttered remark, "None but idiots talk about ghosts."</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsden looked grave, Mina distressed, an angry flush came to the +cheek of Rosa; in a moment the merriment of the party was changed to +painful restraint. No one knew what to say next, till Edward Lyle +mentioned archery, in order to effect a diversion, and the guests rose +at once, and broke up the circle round the table.</p> + +<p>All soon quitted the room, except the Marsdens, who lingered behind. +Mina perceived that her father was displeased with her brother, and, +dreading a painful scene, she entreated her parent with her pleading +eyes to spare the wounded spirit of his son. Wilfred was evidently then +in no state to bear a rebuke.</p> + +<p>"I leave him to you," said Mr. Marsden, in answer to her silent appeal, +and he also quitted the apartment. He was surprised as well as annoyed +at the temper shown by his boy.</p> + +<p>Mina noiselessly performed the little duties which belong to the lady +of a house; replaced the sugar-basin, locked the tea-caddy, and set +aside the broken loaf for the poor. She was giving time to Wilfred, who +stood at the window, to recover his temper and self-command. Then she +softly addressed her young brother—</p> + +<p>"You have taken no breakfast, dear Wilfred?"</p> + +<p>"I want none," was the sullen reply.</p> + +<p>"I think—I fear that you cannot be well."</p> + +<p>"Why should you think so?" asked her brother.</p> + +<p>"Because—you were not like yourself just now." Mina laid her soft hand +on the arm of the boy. "Perhaps you did not mean it, dear Wilfred, but +your words gave pain to poor Rosa."</p> + +<p>"She brought it on herself," muttered Wilfred. "I never knew so +provoking a tongue."</p> + +<p>"She has high spirits and a playful manner, but she never means to give +serious offence," said Mina; "and at a time like this," added the young +bride, "I should wish her—you—all to be so happy."</p> + +<p>Wilfred glanced hastily at his sister, and saw moisture gleaming on her +soft lashes.</p> + +<p>"Are you not happy?" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"How can I be so," answered Mina, "when I see that my darling brother +has some trouble which he has not confided to me?"</p> + +<p>The heart of Wilfred was softened. "You must not care about me, +nor think about me," he said; "I am not to be always crushing your +blossoms. I have a headache." He pressed his hot brow—the plea was not +altogether a false one, though the pain in the poor boy's heart was +much worse than that to his head.</p> + +<p>"Would the air do you good?" suggested Mina, looking anxiously into his +face.</p> + +<p>"I can't join that noisy party at the shooting."</p> + +<p>"But a quiet walk in the garden with me?"</p> + +<p>"If you wish it—anything," answered Wilfred; and he added, with a +little sigh, "I shall not have you with me to-morrow!"</p> + +<p>And so forth into the garden sauntered the brother and sister; Mina +indulging a hope that in their quiet converse together Wilfred might +unburden his heart of the mysterious weight which she felt assured was +pressing upon it.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>FACING IT OUT.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>MINA and Wilfred Marsden walked for some minutes together in silence; +she hoping that her brother would commence conversation, he not knowing +what to say. Wilfred had always been accustomed to show perfect candour +towards his sister. Though a few years younger than herself, he had +been her constant playmate and companion, sharing with her his hopes +and fears, and making her in all things his confidante and adviser. +This was the first time that the boy had possessed a secret which he +withheld from Mina, and if his silence was painful to her, it was yet +more burdensome to himself.</p> + +<p>The maiden made one or two unsuccessful attempts to commence +conversation. Her observations called forth no reply from her brother, +and she was beginning to feel the restraint of his manner almost +intolerable, when, on turning a corner of the shrubbery, Wilfred gave a +start so sudden and violent that it was sympathetically communicated to +the sister whose arm was linked in his own.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" exclaimed Mina, in alarm.</p> + +<p>"He's digging near the cypress!" cried Wilfred.</p> + +<p>The tone, not the sense of the exclamation, made the wondering girl +look in the same direction as did her brother, and she saw certainly +no cause either for surprise or apprehension in the familiar figure of +Joe, the gardener, bending over his spade. Wilfred, however, could not +conceal his nervous excitement, as he hastened up to the man.</p> + +<p>"Why are you digging to-day," cried he, "when you ought to be stripping +the beds of flowers to deck the church and the Hall?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Rosa said as how the ladies would gather the flowers themselves," +replied Joe, passing his brown hand across his rough chin.</p> + +<p>"You should make a triumphal arch, then," said Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Wilfred, ye see, that's what all the school-children—"</p> + +<p>"Who cares for the school-children?" exclaimed young Marsden, almost +stamping with irritation. "Such things are not to be left to them! This +is no time to be turning up the earth, like a mole! Leave your spade, +and go help in the preparations—no common work shall be done to-day."</p> + +<p>Joe set his spade against the tree and slowly went away, wondering—if +his unimpressionable nature was capable of wonder—at the strangely +changed manner of the boy, who had usually a merry word and a kind +smile for the faithful old servant.</p> + +<p>On turning round, Wilfred met his sister's distressed and anxious gaze; +a terrible idea had just flashed across her mind, that her brother's +brain might be affected.</p> + +<p>"Why do you look at me so?" he said, sharply.</p> + +<p>"I cannot help feeling uneasy, dear Wilfred; I cannot—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, here's Edward Lyle coming to see what has become of his bride; I +leave you to his care," cried Wilfred, "he's a better companion than +I." And turning abruptly towards the Hall, the boy left his sister in +tears.</p> + +<p>"I can't leave it there—no, no!" muttered Wilfred to himself as he +strode along. "I can't have a thrill of terror through my soul whenever +I see a man digging in the garden. What shall I do with that fatal +parchment? If fire can't burn it, if earth will not hide it, how shall +I cover my secret so closely as to lose this intolerable dread of its +being discovered at last? I will dig up the will as soon as darkness +sets in; I will carry it to the swift, deep stream which flows at the +bottom of the field, tie a heavy stone to it, and let the waters bury +it for ever. Yes, yes, I was insane not to think of this before. Would +that the night were come! I shall have no rest until I have drowned +the roll! I will not wait till the house is shut up; I will make my +escape after dinner; for twenty minutes I shall not be missed, and +twenty minutes will suffice for the deed. In the meantime, I must lull +suspicion by putting on my old cheerful manner. I must let no one +consider me strange; I must reassure the mind of sweet Mina; I must act +a lie!" Wilfred ground his teeth at the thought. "I must lay aside my +natural frankness and candour to wear the mask of deceit! And this is +the life-long task which I have imposed on myself. Oh, what a miserable +thing it is to wander from the straight path of duty!"</p> + +<p>As Wilfred entered the Hall, he met his father accompanied by the very +last man whom young Marsden would have wished at that moment to see—his +injured cousin, Tom Benson!</p> + +<p>Mr. Benson was a thin, sickly-looking man, with a stoop. A long +struggle with difficulties and cares, which weak health and feeble +spirits had rendered more hard, had left the stamp on his features of +almost peevish melancholy. There were lines on his face and furrows +on his brow which, however, on the present auspicious occasion, were +rather less marked than usual; and though his smile was of a sickly +character, there was still an attempt to smile. Mr. Benson bore a +reputation for narrowness of mind and penuriousness of nature, which +had rendered him an object of contempt to Wilfred, who had prided +himself on generosity and delicate sense of honour.</p> + +<p>But what a change the last twelve hours had wrought in the feelings of +the youth! But the day before, it would have been impossible to have +persuaded Wilfred Marsden that he could ever be abashed and humbled by +the presence of his cousin, that he could ever be ashamed to look that +man in the face, or feel a pang of remorse at shaking him by the hand!</p> + +<p>"Our cousin has walked over all the way from Thornley to see our dear +bride," said Mr. Marsden, "and has kindly brought her strawberries +which have been gathered from his own garden."</p> + +<p>"Poor things, poor things!" said Mr. Benson apologetically. "I am +my own gardener, as you know. And how have you been?" he continued, +addressing himself to Wilfred. "It does not seem to me that you are +looking as well as usual."</p> + +<p>"I do not think that Wilfred is very well," said Mr. Marsden, struck, +as the visitor had been, by the haggard looks of his boy.</p> + +<p>"Too much bustle for him, too much excitement; he feels parting with +his sister," observed Benson. "You must let him, when all is over, come +to me for a change. I've not much to offer, to be sure, but the air is +counted fine at Thornley."</p> + +<p>"Your cousin is very kind," said Mr. Marsden to Wilfred, whose silence +he mistook for rudeness.</p> + +<p>"Too kind," faltered the boy; and his words had a depth of meaning +which his hearers little understood.</p> + +<p>"Shall we join the party on the lawn?" said Mr. Marsden. "I heard +something said about archery."</p> + +<p>The three proceeded to the place where the guests were assembled in +front of the target, amusing themselves by shooting.</p> + +<p>Wilfred at once commenced following out his resolution of lulling any +suspicions which his strange demeanour might have excited, by assuming +gaiety of manner. He almost over-acted his part. Amidst his cheerful +companions, none was so uproariously merry as he. He jested with the +bridesmaids, whistled, sang, readily joined in amusements, and though +he did not shoot with a steady hand, when his arrows went wide of the +mark, none laughed so loudly as Wilfred. He was making a desperate +effort not only to deceive those around him, but to drown in wild +excitement the misery which he felt. He would give himself no time for +thought; he would intoxicate himself with amusement! Wretched resource +of the worldly, who seek to fly from themselves, and gild the fetters +which they cannot throw off, in hopes of forgetting their weight.</p> + +<p>There were but two of those around him whose society Wilfred +instinctively shunned.</p> + +<p>He could not bear to be near the relative whom he was defrauding of his +rights, and he avoided all converse with Rosa with a kind of intuitive +dread. Wilfred knew that he had offended the young lady; he believed +that he had drawn upon himself both her suspicion and dislike; he +felt that she was watching him, and, though at present forbearing to +question, was intent upon discovering his secret.</p> + +<p>With these two exceptions, Wilfred chatted freely with all the guests +of his father. He even, in conversation with Sophia, purposely entered +on the subject of the oak room, and forced himself to assure her, with +a smiling face, that he had not seen the shadow of a ghost. He had, +however, he said, found the chamber oppressively hot, and had taken the +simplest means of getting fresh air without disturbing the house.</p> + +<p>So passed the day before the wedding until the dinner-hour arrived. +The afternoon had been rainy, and archery had been exchanged for +in-door amusements. Wilfred had been the life and soul of the party at +the bagatelle-table and the round game, and had shown indefatigable +energy in decorating the Hall. Yet Mina's heart was not at rest; she +suspected that her brother's mirth was assumed, and that his jests +and laughter were no true tokens of a light and buoyant heart. Even +with her betrothed at her side, the young maiden's spirit was troubled +on account of her brother. It pained Mina to notice at dinner that, +though Wilfred's usual beverage was water, he filled and refilled his +glass of wine, and pledged the bride and bridesmaids with loud and +boisterous mirth. Mina gave the signal to leave the table earlier than +she otherwise would have done, and the gentlemen immediately followed +the ladies.</p> + +<p>Wilfred watched for an opportunity of stealing away from the party. +The arrival and unpacking of the grand cake from London, which had +come so late that fears had been entertained lest the splendour of the +wedding-breakfast should be marred by its non-appearance, gave the +opportunity required. While the party gathered around the box, whose +contents were of so interesting a nature, Wilfred glided silently away, +unnoticed, as he thought, by all; he knew not that a pair of sharp +black eyes were watching every movement; keen as hound on a scent was +curiosity in the bosom of Rosa May.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>WATER.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>THE night was very different from what the preceding one had been. The +day, which had begun in sunny smiles, had changed to rain at noon, and +now it had closed in storm. Wilfred little heeded the wild wind, the +pelting rain, or the muttering thunder; he was well content that heavy +clouds should deepen the shades of twilight. In the present state of +his mind, storm was far more congenial than sunshine. To his wild mirth +had succeeded deep gloom—as the bright flame of kindled paper soon dies +out, leaving but blackened ashes behind.</p> + +<p>Wilfred in a few minutes was again kneeling under the cypress. He had +provided himself with a large knife, and with very little difficulty +dug up the old man's will from the moist earthy bed in which it had +lain. Clogged with mould, soiled and stained was the roll, as Wilfred +drew it forth; then, rising with a heavy sigh, the boy made his way to +the garden-door. It was locked, as he might have expected it to be at +so late an hour.</p> + +<p>In Wilfred's present mood, such a difficulty as this caused irritation, +but little delay. He climbed over the wall, he knew not how, bruised +his hands, but was not at the time even aware that he had done so. The +wide field lay before him, he could not miss his way. Wilfred strode +through the long wet grass, which grew almost as high as his knees, +drenched and dripping from the rain from-above, and the heavy damp +from below. Once he fancied that he heard a sound as if some one were +following behind. Wilfred stopped and listened, but nothing, was to be +heard but the patter of the rain and the howl of the wind.</p> + +<p>"I am growing as nervous as a girl," he muttered; "I who was once proud +of my courage! How true is that line of Shakspeare—''Tis conscience +that makes cowards of us all!'"</p> + +<p>Wilfred reached the hedge which bounded the lower end of the field. +There was a gate some hundred paces to the left, but the impatient boy +would not go so far out of his way. He mounted the embankment, pushed +aside straggling branches and briars, and forced his path through the +hedge.</p> + +<p>The dark swift river was now before Wilfred; he could dimly trace the +course of the waters flowing between their sedgy banks, bending the +rushes, and eddying around the drooping tresses of a willow. Wilfred +searched for a large heavy pebble; in the feeble light it was no easy +task to find one that would suit his purpose. The thought actually +crossed his mind of making a weight of his watch! A large smooth pebble +was, however, at last discovered; with nervous fingers the unhappy +Wilfred fastened some twine around it, and then tied it on to the roll. +But when young Marsden was about to fling both into the dark water, +again the secret force of conscience arrested his uplifted arm.</p> + +<p>"What am I about to do? That stream may hide the parchment from the eye +of man, but can even its deep current hide it from the eye of God? That +eye is upon me now. I have known no peace since I resolved to do that +which must draw God's wrath upon me. I shall never know peace—in life +or in death—while I wilfully break His law. Happily, I have not yet +gone too far to return. I have yet power to carry this fatal deed to my +father; to do what conscience bids me do, and leave the rest to God."</p> + +<p>But the tempter whispered again of crushed hopes and blighted joys, +pictured a revered parent wrestling in life's decline with poverty +and distress, a sister broken-hearted, friendships dissolved, schemes +overthrown—nay, he even brought to Wilfred's mind many a treasured +possession, which, though comparatively of no great value, the boy felt +it hard to part with. His horse, his dog, his gun, all must be given +up. He must leave the home that he loved for some smoky lodging in +London, the occupations in which he delighted for hard dry study, in +order to earn the means of subsistence. Wilfred did not pause long, the +temptation was too strong upon him; with a sudden desperate impulse, he +flung the parchment into the stream.</p> + +<p>The violence with which it was thrown dislodged the large smooth stone +from its insecure fastening, splash it fell into the water several +feet from the roll. With a feeling of superstitious horror, Wilfred +discerned a dim white object floating upon the river. After all his +care to weight it, the fatal scroll would not sink!</p> + +<p>"I believe that if I flung that will into the burning crater of +Vesuvius, it would float down on some lava-stream to the very feet of +Benson," exclaimed Wilfred, in desperation. "But I must get it out of +the water, nor let it bear my secret to others."</p> + +<p>He leant forward—he could almost touch the end of the parchment with +his hand; he went to the very edge of the slimy, slippery bank; the +object was just beyond his reach, in another minute the current would +carry it to a part of the stream from which it would be impossible for +him by any exertion to regain it! Wilfred grew dizzy with anxious fear. +He made one more desperate attempt to seize the roll, caught (clutched) +it, held it fast, but over-balanced himself in the effort, and fell +headlong into the river!</p> + +<p>That was an awful moment! Wilfred excelled in most manly exercises, +but he was unable to swim. The night was dark, the water deep; he +sank struggling to the bottom. There was a gasping, a gurgling, a +rushing sound in his ears, and then came that strange power given to +the drowning, to recall in a moment the events of the past, the last +effort of expiring nature. The gloomy oak room rose before the mind's +eye of Wilfred as the waters rolled over his head, the will, with its +black letter writing, and seal as red as blood. He had a horrible +consciousness that he had sinned; that the hand of Death was upon him; +that he was arrested by Heaven's stern minister, even in the act of +committing a crime. The agony of that knowledge was more terrible than +the anguish of the death-struggle. Then fell a dullness, a darkness +over the wretched boy, and Wilfred lay amongst the weeds beneath the +rushing stream, with the parchment still in his grasp.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>A CHASE.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>WE will now return to the wedding guests at the Hall.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Allfrey! Mr. Allfrey!" whispered the voice of Rosa May.</p> + +<p>And the tall young squire, who had been standing surveying the most +magnificent pile of white sugar, silver leaves, and orange-blossom that +had ever appeared in that part of the Country, turned slowly round to +meet the eager, animated gaze of the bridesmaid.</p> + +<p>"Now's your time! He has just left the house. After him, and see where +he goes."</p> + +<p>"What! Stolen away—and on a night like this?" The rain was pattering +against the windows.</p> + +<p>"Hist!" whispered Rosa May. "You do not mind weather, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"No more than a duck," said the squire. "I've been out in many a pretty +pelting. But how can I know that the young fellow has not quietly gone +to his room?"</p> + +<p>"He left this house a moment ago, I tell you, and turned to the left, +as if he were going to the garden. Be quick, or the track will be lost! +Just steal out without attracting any notice; leave the cake to those +who care for such things."</p> + +<p>So, in obedience to a lady's command, John Allfrey stalked out into the +rain, turned to the left as directed, and proceeded for about twenty +paces. He then stopped, as he could see nothing of Wilfred, and felt +himself to be in rather a foolish position, standing there all alone +to get drenched with the rain on a stormy night. Soon, however, the +squire's ear caught the noise made by Wilfred in clambering over the +wall.</p> + +<p>"There he goes! Hark! Follow," cried the jovial sportsman. "The fox is +taking to the fields." And Allfrey proceeded to the nearest point at +which he himself could climb the wall. The tall young man, however, +took longer in doing this than the active boy had done, and, before he +had jumped down on the opposite side, Allfrey had again lost the track +of Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"There's a gate on t'other side of the field, he'll be making for +that," said John to himself; he knew every yard of the country round. +The young squire's height gave him a great advantage in striding +through the long grass. Before he had reached the gate, however, he +heard the crashing of boughs to the right, where Wilfred was breaking +through the hedge.</p> + +<p>"The boy must want to get to the river. I will go on to the gate, +spring over it, and be round in two minutes by the bank; then he will +not hear my approach."</p> + +<p>On to the gate, and over the gate, went John Allfrey, while Wilfred +was anxiously groping about for something with which to weight his +parchment. With slow stealthy steps the hunter crept round towards him, +unable in the dim light to distinguish what the boy could possibly be +doing. Allfrey saw then—or rather heard—that something was thrown into +the stream, which, in a minute afterwards, Wilfred seemed to be eagerly +trying to recover.</p> + +<p>"If he lean over so, he'll be in, as sure as a gun!" muttered the +watcher, and, even as the words were on his lips, Wilfred fell +splashing into the stream.</p> + +<p>Well was it for the unhappy young Marsden that a strong man and +bold swimmer was near. Not that John Allfrey was an impetuous +philanthropist, eager to rush forward to the rescue on seeing a +fellow-creature in danger. He took off his hat and drew off his coat +and boots preparatory to the plunge before he made it. Allfrey expected +to see Wilfred rise to the surface of the river, but he expected in +vain, so sprang into the water, and dived at the spot where he had seen +young Marsden disappear. But the boy had been carried a short way down +by the current, the swimmer could not find him at once; several minutes +elapsed before the gasping Allfrey reappeared, dragging with him by the +hair the senseless body of the boy.</p> + +<p>"This has been a strange, and might have been a fatal adventure," +muttered the squire, as he laid the youth on the bank, with his face +to the ground, so that the water might flow freely from his nostrils +and mouth. "I must get him back at once to the house, there a hot drink +and warm bed will set all to rights, I hope, before morning. What is +it that he holds in his hand? A long roll—a parchment deed!" The young +man disengaged the will from the grasp of the cold livid fingers. "It +must have been this which he was so anxiously fishing out of the water. +Mysteries never will end! Well, whatever it be, it must not be lost, +since he almost threw away his life to get it."</p> + +<p>Allfrey was now hastily drawing on his own coat, and he secured the +long roll, wet as it was, under his outer garment; then, raising poor +Wilfred in his arms, the strong man carried him as if he had been a +young child, not over the field, but round by the road and the front +drive of Cortley Hall—a way longer, indeed, but far easier, as no wall +would have to be climbed.</p> + +<p>While with long, rapid strides John Allfrey went on his road, he turned +over in his mind what he should say in regard to the night's adventure. +"I've a notion—" thus flowed the current of his thoughts—"that the +whole secret, whatever it may be, lies in that wet roll of sheep-skin +as the kernel lies in a nut. Shall I give it to Rosa May? I don't +see," pursued honest John, "what right she has to possess it, nor what +mischief might be done by her seeing it. There's a world of trouble +often comes from meddling with bits of old parchment! Shall I look into +the roll, and judge for myself? It does not seem to me that to do so +would be the act of a gentleman. It is not mine—I have no right to read +it. I'll keep the whole matter quiet. If this poor fellow recovers, as +I hope that he will, he shall have his roll back unopened; if not, I +shall make it over to his father."</p> + +<p>And having thus settled the question in his mind, and at the same time +reached the door of the Hall, Allfrey shouted out with stentorian voice +to bring the household to his assistance.</p> + +<p>The scene that followed may readily be imagined. Great were the alarm +and surprise in the Hall when the tidings spread that John Allfrey had +just entered, dripping with water, and bearing in his arms the only +son and heir of the master of the house, senseless—perhaps lifeless. +There was running to and fro, loud ringing of bells, voices calling for +flannels, brandy, hot water. Anxiety, curiosity, or wonder, were marked +upon every face. A horse was saddled at once, and Edward Lyle rode off +at full speed for a doctor.</p> + +<p>Wilfred Marsden was borne to his room in the arms of his father, +undressed, swathed in hot flannels, his cold limbs chafed with anxious +care. No means of restoring circulation were left untried by Mr. +Marsden and his weeping daughter.</p> + +<p>The guests below, who could not share the labours of the sick-room, +eagerly gathered around John Allfrey, and the young man was overwhelmed +by a perfect torrent of questions. How had he tracked Wilfred Marsden? +What had taken the boy to the river? How could he possibly have +fallen in? Allfrey replied to some of the questions, others he left +unanswered. He wanted to get to a fire, and change his wet clothes, and +not be kept, as he said, like a poor wretch in a witness-box, after a +sudden cold bath in the river.</p> + +<p>It was some time before Allfrey was suffered to make his retreat to Mr. +Marsden's room, in which a fire had been lighted, and where, while he +changed his clothes for some of his host's, he took the opportunity of +drying—not reading—the parchment.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>CONJECTURES.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"I'M sure that it is a perfect mystery to me what could have induced +him to leave all the party here, to wander about in the rain and end by +throwing himself into the river!" exclaimed Sophia Adair.</p> + +<p>"Every act of the boy during the whole of the day has been +incomprehensible," cried Rosa. "His wild looks in the morning when I +met him, his late appearance at breakfast, his temper, his rudeness, he +who was always courtesy itself to the ladies."</p> + +<p>"He seemed in high spirits during the whole afternoon."</p> + +<p>"Strange, uncertain, unnatural spirits. Did you notice the feverish +flush on his check?"</p> + +<p>"Has the doctor seen him?" asked John Allfrey, who joined the speakers +at that moment.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the doctor has been here for some time, but I have not yet heard +his opinion. Such a bad business, is it not?" cried Sophia. "And just +the night before the wedding! I suppose that the marriage will be put +off!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I should not think so," said John; "a boy is not usually the worse +for wetting."</p> + +<p>"But he has been so long in coming to himself, and then—" Sophia +lowered her voice and touched her forehead as she added, "it looks as +if something were wrong with his head."</p> + +<p>"I suspect that poor Mina thinks so," observed Rosa, "for she looks the +picture of misery."</p> + +<p>"And she was so happy," sighed Sophia.</p> + +<p>"But I want to know everything that you saw, from beginning to end," +cried Rosa, addressing John Allfrey. "You said that you first heard him +getting over the garden-wall; what could have taken him to the garden?"</p> + +<p>John only shrugged his shoulders in reply.</p> + +<p>"And then down the field, through the hedge, and so straight on to the +river. Do you think that the wretched boy really meant to throw himself +in?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so," replied young Allfrey.</p> + +<p>"Why, then, should he go to the river at all? There's no way of +crossing it there."</p> + +<p>John was quite aware of that fact.</p> + +<p>"He could not fish in the dark; the idea of bathing is absurd. Could he +wish to get anything out of the water?"</p> + +<p>"You had better ask himself, when he is able to answer," said Allfrey, +who grew more and more determined to let her know nothing of the roll.</p> + +<p>"There goes the doctor," cried Rosa. "Oh! I wish that I had seen him +before he went."</p> + +<p>"Mina will tell us the news," said Sophia, as, pale with anxious +watching, the bride-elect entered the room.</p> + +<p>"He has come to himself, thank God!" said Mina. "The doctor is going to +send him fever-draughts at once, for his pulse runs high. Dr. Penn says +that we have nothing to fear; but I can't help being anxious—oh! so +anxious! He is so dear a brother to me!"</p> + +<p>"Has he said anything since he has revived?" asked the curious Rosa. +"Does he seem conscious of all that has happened?"</p> + +<p>"I scarcely know whether he is. He looks wildly around him, as if he +were in search of something; he cries 'Where is it?—Where is it?' Like +one who has lost what he prized very much. The doctor says that Wilfred +should be kept very quiet, but our poor boy is so anxious to rise."</p> + +<p>"He'll never get round while his mind is in this excited state," +observed Rosa.</p> + +<p>"I cannot stay away from him longer, though papa never leaves his +bedside," said Mina, quitting the room as she spoke.</p> + +<p>John Allfrey followed her into the hall, closing the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"Miss Marsden—one word," said he.</p> + +<p>Mina paused with her foot on the stair.</p> + +<p>"When I drew your poor brother out of the water, he had a roll clenched +so tight in his hand that I could hardly get it away." The young +man drew forth the parchment. "If he is so restlessly looking for +something, it seems likely that it may be this. I need scarcely add," +said Allfrey, as he placed the roll in the maiden's hand, "that not a +single word has been read."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. Allfrey," exclaimed Mina, with deep emotion, "you have done +us a service to-night which we can never, never repay. You must have +thought me the most ungrateful of beings, in my anxiety for my brother, +never yet to have expressed my gratitude to his preserver."</p> + +<p>John felt embarrassed at being thanked for what he thought so simple +a matter as pulling a drowning boy out of the river; he muttered +something about seeing whether the carriage had not come for his +sisters, while Mina, with a throbbing heart, glided up to her brother's +apartments.</p> + +<p>As she entered the room with the roll in her hand, her father came +forward to meet her, his finger raised to his lips.</p> + +<p>"He sleeps," said Mr. Marsden, to his daughter; "I have sent Martha out +of the room, for I wish to keep away all noise—anything that may cause +excitement." He resumed the seat which he had quitted; Mina knelt at +his side.</p> + +<p>"Father," she softly whispered, "you should know everything; you will +judge what is right. Mr. Allfrey has just given me this parchment, he +took it out of poor Wilfred's grasp when he had drawn him out of the +water. It may be something of importance, it may be the cause of the +restless uneasiness which alarms us so much to-night."</p> + +<p>The father took the roll with the keenest interest.</p> + +<p>"Thankful, most thankful should I be," he said, "to discover any +sufficient cause for the conduct of my poor boy."</p> + +<p>"Will you examine the parchment, papa?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsden remained for several moments buried in thought before he +replied, "Perhaps it would be better not to do so; perhaps it may +quiet Wilfred's mind to be assured that no one is in possession of his +secret, if a secret there be."</p> + +<p>"Then what would you have us do?"</p> + +<p>"Place the roll within his reach, my child; if it be that for which he +so anxiously inquires, the sight of it cannot but soothe him. And now +that you are here to watch, I will go down and dismiss our guests. I +fervently trust that the worst is over, and I fain would have the house +quiet."</p> + +<p>Noiselessly Mr. Marsden left the sick-room; noiselessly Mina +approached the bed, and, as she laid the will upon it, tenderly gazed +on the sleeping boy. What sad traces had the sufferings of the last +twenty-four hours left on that pale young face! Even in sleep it wore +an expression of distress, which went to the heart of Mina. She knelt +down beside the bed, and clasping her hands together, long, and fondly, +and fervently prayed to a merciful God for her brother. Mina approached +the Throne of Grace with the same trustful, childlike confidence with +which she had come to her earthly father. The maiden's heart felt +soothed and calmed by the act of devotion; as she rose, more full of +hope that this strange, mysterious cloud of sorrow on her bright sky +would pass away, she looked at her brother and saw that his eyes were +wide open, and lovingly fixed on herself.</p> + +<p>"You were praying for me," he murmured, and a deep sigh followed the +words.</p> + +<p>"And God has answered my prayer already," she replied, thankful to see +him so collected.</p> + +<p>At that moment Wilfred's glance fell on the roll beside him. With +almost a cry of surprise, he grasped it in feverish haste.</p> + +<p>"How came this here?" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"I put it there," answered Mina.</p> + +<p>"You—you! Have you read it?" gasped Wilfred, half raising himself in +his bed.</p> + +<p>"No, no one has read it," said Mina.</p> + +<p>An expression of unutterable relief came over the features of Wilfred; +he hid the parchment under his pillow, and then, in a calmer voice, +asked his sister where she had found the roll.</p> + +<p>"John Allfrey found it—but he did not look into it," added Mina, +quickly, for she saw that her first sentence had re-awakened her +brother's fears.</p> + +<p>"You are sure of that?"</p> + +<p>"Quite sure," she replied.</p> + +<p>"But how came Allfrey to be near me?"</p> + +<p>The question was asked in a tone so rational that Mina's hope rose yet +higher.</p> + +<p>"I can hardly tell you," she answered; "I think that our merciful God +must have sent him to the river to preserve so precious a life."</p> + +<p>"It was strange, indeed!" murmured Wilfred.</p> + +<p>"But you must think of nothing now, dearest, to perplex, excite, or +distress you. You must just remain quiet and still, and let us nurse +and take care of you. Ah! Here comes papa with the fever-draught. He +will be so thankful to find you better."</p> + +<p>Mina poured out the cooling drink, and gave it to her brother; he drank +it, and felt refreshed.</p> + +<p>"Is it late?" he abruptly asked. "Have the Allfreys left the house?"</p> + +<p>"They have just gone," replied Mr. Marsden, "and Sophia and Rosa have +retired to their rooms."</p> + +<p>"And so must our bride," said Wilfred; "I cannot endure to see her +looking so pale and wan, and with those red marks under her eyes. What +a torment I have been to you all! Mina must rest and get strength for +to-morrow—for her wedding-day," he added.</p> + +<p>"Not my wedding-day, if you are ill. I could not leave you thus," said +Mina.</p> + +<p>"What! Delay your happiness for me! That would indeed be more than I +could bear. I shall be all right to-morrow," said Wilfred, raising +himself in the bed. "I am only tired and chilled. I shall be at the +wedding, or, if not, John Allfrey can take my place. It would put me +into a fever if any change were made on my account."</p> + +<p>Mr. Marsden saw that Wilfred was thoroughly in earnest; and his own +mind being greatly relieved, he readily promised that if his son were +no worse in the morning, no change should be made in the wedding +arrangements. He bade Mina go to rest, gave her his paternal blessing, +but proposed himself to pass the remainder of the night in the chamber +of his boy. Against this latter part of the arrangement, Wilfred +expostulated in vain.</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<h3><a id="Chapter_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h3> + +<p class="t3"> +<b>DECISION.</b><br> +</p> + +<p><br></p> + +<p>"AND so everything is to go on as was settled yesterday?" said Sophia +to Rosa, when the two fair bridesmaids met on the following morning.</p> + +<p>"Yes; favours, flowers, feasting, and fun, all after the most approved +fashion," replied Rosa. "I have just sent off a note, by Mina's desire, +to ask the Miss Allfreys to be here by ten, that we of the white tulle +and rosebuds may set off to the church together. Of course you have +heard that their brother is to act the part of best man?"</p> + +<p>"Has the doctor been here to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! He was here before seven," said Rosa, "and he found that the fever +was almost gone! He won't let the patient get up, however, and talks +of excitement and that sort of thing; but it is clear that not much is +the matter." And Rosa gave a little scornful toss of the head. "I am +only vexed about poor Mina. There is she on her wedding morning talking +of chicken broth and barley-water, and listening as earnestly to old +Dr. Penn as if he were her bridegroom. I don't believe that if her +four bridesmaids went to church in black poke bonnets instead of white +veils, Mina would even notice the difference, her head is so full of +this Wilfred."</p> + +<p>"And his father sat up all night?"</p> + +<p>"I've no patience with the boy," cried Rosa, whose curiosity had been +kept so long on the rack, that the effect was seen in her temper.</p> + +<p>"I think," said Sophia, gravely, "that this has all been the result +of an attack on the nerves, brought on by sleeping in that horrible +chamber."</p> + +<p>Rosa gave a little laugh at the mention of nerves, remembering what +Wilfred himself had said to her on the subject. "No," she replied, "it +is that the boy did yesterday what he did on a smaller scale on the +preceding day. He has gone wildly blundering on, in some self-chosen +path of his own, till he has not only wounded himself with the thorns, +but has almost succeeded in crushing poor Mina's bridal blossoms."</p> + +<p>Rosa had little idea how very near her guess was to the truth.</p> + +<p>Merrily rang the church bells; the sound of the school-children's happy +voices, as they assembled on the lawn to see the bride going to church, +and to strew her path with flowers, rose on the summer air.</p> + +<p>Wilfred lay alone in his chamber, listening and thinking. The sunshine +came through the coloured panes of the mullioned window, throwing +gorgeous many-tinted stains on the oak-panelled wall. In the stillness +of that room, how severe a conflict was going on in the mind of that +boy! Words of his sister rang in his ears, "the mercy of God," as shown +towards himself in the strange events of the night. Was it not through +that mercy that he now lay on his pillow, a living, breathing form? Why +was it, that instead of the merry chime, there was not the slow toll of +the bell for the dead; that robes of mourning were not to be prepared +for his sister instead of white bridal attire; that his own body was +not laid out—a cold lifeless corpse—drawn after long search from those +waters on whose chilly depths Wilfred shuddered to think? Was it not +through the mercy of God—that God whose commands he had broken? Had +he not been snatched—it seemed to Wilfred almost by miracle—from a +fate so well deserved? And, had his body perished in that dark river, +where would his soul now have been? Most awful of all thoughts to young +Marsden! He would have been cut off in his sin, summoned to his last +account, without space given for repentance, without time vouchsafed +for prayer. Lines haunted the boy, he knew not where he had read them, +but they seemed to image forth to him his own experience—</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<br> +"Methought by a slender cord I hung<br> + O'er the black abyss of eternal death;<br> + Wildly I struggled and wildly clung,<br> + Sobs of agony choked my breath;<br> + Sin drew me down, with a mountain's weight,<br> + Each frenzied effort more hopeless making.<br> + Was judgment passed? was return too late?<br> + The last hope failing—'the cord was breaking.'<br> + I woke with a cry<br> + Of agony—<br> + My God! how fearful was that waking!"<br> +<br> +</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mina, all that I have suffered, all that I have made you suffer, +has been through my turning aside from the duty which I had not +courage to face. Never, never can I forget the lesson branded into my +heart, that no sacrifice for God can be so painful as the effects of +disobedience, and that, however thorny it be—in the end, THE STRAIGHT +ROAD IS SHORTEST AND SUREST."</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t3"> +THE END.<br> +</p> + +<p><br><br><br></p> + +<p class="t4"> +LONDON:<br> +SAVILL AND EDWARDS, PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET<br> +COVENT GARDEN.<br> +</p> + + + + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77568 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77568-h/images/image001.jpg b/77568-h/images/image001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1872ad7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77568-h/images/image001.jpg diff --git a/77568-h/images/image002.jpg b/77568-h/images/image002.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7db41e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77568-h/images/image002.jpg diff --git a/77568-h/images/image003.jpg b/77568-h/images/image003.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d56881 --- /dev/null +++ b/77568-h/images/image003.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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