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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/8188-h.zip b/8188-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0069889 --- /dev/null +++ b/8188-h.zip diff --git a/8188-h/8188-h.htm b/8188-h/8188-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3587d34 --- /dev/null +++ b/8188-h/8188-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3725 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> +<TITLE>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mysterious Key And What It Opened, by Louisa May Alcott</TITLE> +<META HTTP-EQUIV="content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> +</style> + +</HEAD> +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Key And What It Opened, by +Louisa May Alcott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mysterious Key And What It Opened + +Author: Louisa May Alcott + +Posting Date: May 25, 2011 [EBook #8188] +Release Date: May, 2005 +[This file was first posted on June 29, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS KEY *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1> +The Mysterious Key and What it Opened +</h1> + +<center> +<b> +By L. M. Alcott +</b> +</center> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter I +</h2> + +<h3> +THE PROPHECY +</h3> + +<p> +<br> + <i>Trevlyn lands and Trevlyn gold,<br> + Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold,<br> + Undisturbed, till, spite of rust,<br> + Truth is found in Trevlyn dust</i>. +</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What +is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid +a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, +appeared the lines she laughed at. +</p> + +<p> +Richard Trevlyn looked up with a smile and threw by the book, as if +annoyed at being discovered reading it. Drawing his wife's hand through +his own, he led her back to her couch, folded the soft shawls about her, +and, sitting in a low chair beside her, said in a cheerful tone, though +his eyes betrayed some hidden care, "My love, that book is a history of +our family for centuries, and that old prophecy has never yet been +fulfilled, except the 'heir and heiress' line. I am the last Trevlyn, +and as the time draws near when my child shall be born, I naturally +think of his future, and hope he will enjoy his heritage in peace." +</p> + +<p> +"God grant it!" softly echoed Lady Trevlyn, adding, with a look askance +at the old book, "I read that history once, and fancied it must be a +romance, such dreadful things are recorded in it. Is it all true, +Richard?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, dear. I wish it was not. Ours has been a wild, unhappy race till +the last generation or two. The stormy nature came in with old Sir +Ralph, the fierce Norman knight, who killed his only son in a fit of +wrath, by a blow with his steel gauntlet, because the boy's strong will +would not yield to his." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I remember, and his daughter Clotilde held the castle during a +siege, and married her cousin, Count Hugo. 'Tis a warlike race, and I +like it in spite of the mad deeds." +</p> + +<p> +"Married her cousin! That has been the bane of our family in times past. +Being too proud to mate elsewhere, we have kept to ourselves till idiots +and lunatics began to appear. My father was the first who broke the law +among us, and I followed his example: choosing the freshest, sturdiest +flower I could find to transplant into our exhausted soil." +</p> + +<p> +"I hope it will do you honor by blossoming bravely. I never forget that +you took me from a very humble home, and have made me the happiest wife +in England." +</p> + +<p> +"And I never forget that you, a girl of eighteen, consented to leave +your hills and come to cheer the long-deserted house of an old man like +me," returned her husband fondly. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, don't call yourself old, Richard; you are only forty-five, the +boldest, handsomest man in Warwickshire. But lately you look worried; +what is it? Tell me, and let me advise or comfort you." +</p> + +<p> +"It is nothing, Alice, except my natural anxiety for you—Well, +Kingston, what do you want?" +</p> + +<p> +Trevlyn's tender tones grew sharp as he addressed the entering servant, +and the smile on his lips vanished, leaving them dry and white as he +glanced at the card he handed him. An instant he stood staring at it, +then asked, "Is the man here?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the library, sir." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll come." +</p> + +<p> +Flinging the card into the fire, he watched it turn to ashes before he +spoke, with averted eyes: "Only some annoying business, love; I shall +soon be with you again. Lie and rest till I come." +</p> + +<p> +With a hasty caress he left her, but as he passed a mirror, his wife saw +an expression of intense excitement in his face. She said nothing, and +lay motionless for several minutes evidently struggling with some strong +impulse. +</p> + +<p> +"He is ill and anxious, but hides it from me; I have a right to know, +and he'll forgive me when I prove that it does no harm." +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke to herself she rose, glided noiselessly through the hall, +entered a small closet built in the thickness of the wall, and, bending +to the keyhole of a narrow door, listened with a half-smile on her lips +at the trespass she was committing. A murmur of voices met her ear. Her +husband spoke oftenest, and suddenly some word of his dashed the smile +from her face as if with a blow. She started, shrank, and shivered, +bending lower with set teeth, white cheeks, and panic-stricken heart. +Paler and paler grew her lips, wilder and wilder her eyes, fainter and +fainter her breath, till, with a long sigh, a vain effort to save +herself, she sank prone upon the threshold of the door, as if struck +down by death. +</p> + +<p> +"Mercy on us, my lady, are you ill?" cried Hester, the maid, as her +mistress glided into the room looking like a ghost, half an hour later. +</p> + +<p> +"I am faint and cold. Help me to my bed, but do not disturb Sir +Richard." +</p> + +<p> +A shiver crept over her as she spoke, and, casting a wild, woeful look +about her, she laid her head upon the pillow like one who never cared to +lift it up again. Hester, a sharp-eyed, middle-aged woman, watched the +pale creature for a moment, then left the room muttering, "Something is +wrong, and Sir Richard must know it. That black-bearded man came for no +good, I'll warrant." +</p> + +<p> +At the door of the library she paused. No sound of voices came from +within; a stifled groan was all she heard; and without waiting to knock +she went in, fearing she knew not what. Sir Richard sat at his writing +table pen in hand, but his face was hidden on his arm, and his whole +attitude betrayed the presence of some overwhelming despair. +</p> + +<p> +"Please, sir, my lady is ill. Shall I send for anyone?" +</p> + +<p> +No answer. Hester repeated her words, but Sir Richard never stirred. +Much alarmed, the woman raised his head, saw that he was unconscious, +and rang for help. But Richard Trevlyn was past help, though he lingered +for some hours. He spoke but once, murmuring faintly, "Will Alice come +to say good-bye?" +</p> + +<p> +"Bring her if she can come," said the physician. +</p> + +<p> +Hester went, found her mistress lying as she left her, like a figure +carved in stone. When she gave the message, Lady Trevlyn answered +sternly, "Tell him I will not come," and turned her face to the wall, +with an expression which daunted the woman too much for another word. +</p> + +<p> +Hester whispered the hard answer to the physician, fearing to utter it +aloud, but Sir Richard heard it, and died with a despairing prayer for +pardon on his lips. +</p> + +<p> +When day dawned Sir Richard lay in his shroud and his little daughter in +her cradle, the one unwept, the other unwelcomed by the wife and mother, +who, twelve hours before, had called herself the happiest woman in +England. They thought her dying, and at her own command gave her the +sealed letter bearing her address which her husband left behind him. She +read it, laid it in her bosom, and, waking from the trance which seemed +to have so strongly chilled and changed her, besought those about her +with passionate earnestness to save her life. +</p> + +<p> +For two days she hovered on the brink of the grave, and nothing but the +indomitable will to live saved her, the doctors said. On the third day +she rallied wonderfully, and some purpose seemed to gift her with +unnatural strength. Evening came, and the house was very still, for all +the sad bustle of preparation for Sir Richard's funeral was over, and he +lay for the last night under his own roof. Hester sat in the darkened +chamber of her mistress, and no sound broke the hush but the low lullaby +the nurse was singing to the fatherless baby in the adjoining room. Lady +Trevlyn seemed to sleep, but suddenly put back the curtain, saying +abruptly, "Where does he lie?" +</p> + +<p> +"In the state chamber, my lady," replied Hester, anxiously watching the +feverish glitter of her mistress's eye, the flush on her cheek, and the +unnatural calmness of her manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Help me to go there; I must see him." +</p> + +<p> +"It would be your death, my lady. I beseech you, don't think of it," +began the woman; but Lady Trevlyn seemed not to hear her, and something +in the stern pallor of her face awed the woman into submission. +</p> + +<p> +Wrapping the slight form of her mistress in a warm cloak, Hester +half-led, half-carried her to the state room, and left her on the +threshold. +</p> + +<p> +"I must go in alone; fear nothing, but wait for me here," she said, and +closed the door behind her. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes had not elapsed when she reappeared with no sign of grief +on her rigid face. +</p> + +<p> +"Take me to my bed and bring my jewel box," she said, with a shuddering +sigh, as the faithful servant received her with an exclamation of +thankfulness. +</p> + +<p> +When her orders had been obeyed, she drew from her bosom the portrait of +Sir Richard which she always wore, and, removing the ivory oval from the +gold case, she locked the former in a tiny drawer of the casket, +replaced the empty locket in her breast, and bade Hester give the jewels +to Watson, her lawyer, who would see them put in a safe place till the +child was grown. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear heart, my lady, you'll wear them yet, for you're too young to +grieve all your days, even for so good a man as my blessed master. Take +comfort, and cheer up, for the dear child's sake if no more." +</p> + +<p> +"I shall never wear them again" was all the answer as Lady Trevlyn drew +the curtains, as if to shut out hope. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Richard was buried and, the nine days' gossip over, the mystery of +his death died for want of food, for the only person who could have +explained it was in a state which forbade all allusion to that tragic +day. +</p> + +<p> +For a year Lady Trevlyn's reason was in danger. A long fever left her so +weak in mind and body that there was little hope of recovery, and her +days were passed in a state of apathy sad to witness. She seemed to have +forgotten everything, even the shock which had so sorely stricken her. +The sight of her child failed to rouse her, and month after month +slipped by, leaving no trace of their passage on her mind, and but +slightly renovating her feeble body. +</p> + +<p> +Who the stranger was, what his aim in coming, or why he never +reappeared, no one discovered. The contents of the letter left by Sir +Richard were unknown, for the paper had been destroyed by Lady Trevlyn +and no clue could be got from her. Sir Richard had died of heart +disease, the physicians said, though he might have lived years had no +sudden shock assailed him. There were few relatives to make +investigations, and friends soon forgot the sad young widow; so the +years rolled on, and Lillian the heiress grew from infancy to childhood +in the shadow of this mystery. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter II +</h2> + +<h3> +PAUL +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +"Come, child, the dew is falling, and it is time we went in." +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, Mamma is not rested yet, so I may run down to the spring if I +like." And Lillian, as willful as winsome, vanished among the tall ferns +where deer couched and rabbits hid. +</p> + +<p> +Hester leisurely followed, looking as unchanged as if a day instead of +twelve years had passed since her arms received the little mistress, who +now ruled her like a tyrant. She had taken but a few steps when the +child came flying back, exclaiming in an excited tone, "Oh, come quick! +There's a man there, a dead man. I saw him and I'm frightened!" +</p> + +<p> +"Nonsense, child, it's one of the keepers asleep, or some stroller who +has no business here. Take my hand and we'll see who it is." +</p> + +<p> +Somewhat reassured, Lillian led her nurse to one of the old oaks beside +the path, and pointed to a figure lying half hidden in the fern. A +slender, swarthy boy of sixteen, with curly black hair, dark brows, and +thick lashes, a singularly stern mouth, and a general expression of +strength and pride, which added character to his boyish face and +dignified his poverty. His dress betrayed that, being dusty and +threadbare, his shoes much worn, and his possessions contained in the +little bundle on which he pillowed his head. He was sleeping like one +quite spent with weariness, and never stirred, though Hester bent away +the ferns and examined him closely. +</p> + +<p> +"He's not dead, my deary; he's asleep, poor lad, worn out with his day's +tramp, I dare say." "I'm glad he's alive, and I wish he'd wake up. He's +a pretty boy, isn't he? See what nice hands he's got, and his hair is +more curly than mine. Make him open his eyes, Hester," commanded the +little lady, whose fear had given place to interest. +</p> + +<p> +"Hush, he's stirring. I wonder how he got in, and what he wants," +whispered Hester. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll ask him," and before her nurse could arrest her, Lillian drew a +tall fern softly over the sleeper's face, laughing aloud as she did so. +</p> + +<p> +The boy woke at the sound, and without stirring lay looking up at the +lovely little face bent over him, as if still in a dream. +</p> + +<p> +"<i>Bella cara</i>," he said, in a musical voice. Then, as the child drew +back abashed at the glance of his large, bright eyes, he seemed to wake +entirely and, springing to his feet, looked at Hester with a quick, +searching glance. Something in his face and air caused the woman to +soften her tone a little, as she said gravely, "Did you wish to see any +one at the Hall?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Is Lady Trevlyn here?" was the boy's answer, as he stood cap in +hand, with the smile fading already from his face. +</p> + +<p> +"She is, but unless your business is very urgent you had better see +Parks, the keeper; we don't trouble my lady with trifles." +</p> + +<p> +"I've a note for her from Colonel Daventry; and as it is <i>not</i> a trifle, +I'll deliver it myself, if you please." +</p> + +<p> +Hester hesitated an instant, but Lillian cried out, "Mamma is close by, +come and see her," and led the way, beckoning as she ran. +</p> + +<p> +The lad followed with a composed air, and Hester brought up the rear, +taking notes as she went with a woman's keen eye. +</p> + +<p> +Lady Trevlyn, a beautiful, pale woman, delicate in health and melancholy +in spirit, sat on a rustic seat with a book in her hand; not reading, +but musing with an absent mind. As the child approached, she held out +her hand to welcome her, but neither smiled nor spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"Mamma, here is a—a person to see you," cried Lillian, rather at a loss +how to designate the stranger, whose height and gravity now awed her. +</p> + +<p> +"A note from Colonel Daventry, my lady," and with a bow the boy +delivered the missive. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely glancing at him, she opened it and read: +</p> + +<p> +<i>My Dear Friend</i>, +</p> + +<p> +<i>The bearer of this, Paul Jex, has been with me some months and has +served me well. I brought him from Paris, but he is English born, and, +though friendless, prefers to remain here, even after we leave, as we do +in a week. When I last saw you you mentioned wanting a lad to help in +the garden; Paul is accustomed to that employment, though my wife used +him as a sort of page in the house. Hoping you may be able to give him +shelter, I venture to send him. He is honest, capable, and trustworthy +in all respects. Pray try him, and oblige</i>, +</p> + +<p> +<i>Yours sincerely</i>, +</p> + +<p> +<i>J. R. Daventry</i> +</p> + +<p> +"The place is still vacant, and I shall be very glad to give it to you, +if you incline to take it," said Lady Trevlyn, lifting her eyes from the +note and scanning the boy's face. +</p> + +<p> +"I do, madam," he answered respectfully. +</p> + +<p> +"The colonel says you are English," added the lady, in a tone of +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +The boy smiled, showing a faultless set of teeth, as he replied, "I am, +my lady, though just now I may not look it, being much tanned and very +dusty. My father was an Englishman, but I've lived abroad a good deal +since he died, and got foreign ways, perhaps." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke without any accent, and looked full in her face with a pair +of honest blue eyes under the dark lashes, Lady Trevlyn's momentary +doubt vanished. +</p> + +<p> +"Your age, Paul?" +</p> + +<p> +"Sixteen, my lady." +</p> + +<p> +"You understand gardening?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my lady." +</p> + +<p> +"And what else?" +</p> + +<p> +"I can break horses, serve at table, do errands, read aloud, ride after +a young lady as groom, illuminate on parchment, train flowers, and make +myself useful in any way." +</p> + +<p> +The tone, half modest, half eager, in which the boy spoke, as well as +the odd list of his accomplishments, brought a smile to Lady Trevlyn's +lips, and the general air of the lad prepossessed her. +</p> + +<p> +"I want Lillian to ride soon, and Roger is rather old for an escort to +such a little horsewoman. Don't you think we might try Paul?" she said, +turning to Hester. +</p> + +<p> +The woman gravely eyed the lad from head to foot, and shook her head, +but an imploring little gesture and a glance of the handsome eyes +softened her heart in spite of herself. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, my lady, if he does well about the place, and Parks thinks he's +steady enough, we might try it by-and-by." +</p> + +<p> +Lillian clapped her hands and, drawing nearer, exclaimed confidingly, as +she looked up at her new groom, "I know he'll do, Mamma. I like him very +much, and I hope you'll let him train my pony for me. Will you, Paul?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke very low and hastily, the boy looked away from the eager +little face before him, and a sudden flush of color crossed his dark +cheek. +</p> + +<p> +Hester saw it and said within herself, "That boy has good blood in his +veins. He's no clodhopper's son, I can tell by his hands and feet, his +air and walk. Poor lad, it's hard for him, I'll warrant, but he's not +too proud for honest work, and I like that." +</p> + +<p> +"You may stay, Paul, and we will try you for a month. Hester, take him +to Parks and see that he is made comfortable. Tomorrow we will see what +he can do. Come, darling, I am rested now." +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, Lady Trevlyn dismissed the boy with a gracious gesture and +led her little daughter away. Paul stood watching her, as if forgetful +of his companion, till she said, rather tartly, "Young man, you'd better +have thanked my lady while she was here than stare after her now it's +too late. If you want to see Parks, you'd best come, for I'm going." +</p> + +<p> +"Is that the family tomb yonder, where you found me asleep?" was the +unexpected reply to her speech, as the boy quietly followed her, not at +all daunted by her manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and that reminds me to ask how you got in, and why you were +napping there, instead of doing your errand properly?" +</p> + +<p> +"I leaped the fence and stopped to rest before presenting myself, Miss +Hester" was the cool answer, accompanied by a short laugh as he +confessed his trespass. +</p> + +<p> +"You look as if you'd had a long walk; where are you from?" +</p> + +<p> +"London." +</p> + +<p> +"Bless the boy! It's fifty miles away." +</p> + +<p> +"So my shoes show; but it's a pleasant trip in summer time." +</p> + +<p> +"But why did you walk, child! Had you no money?" +</p> + +<p> +"Plenty, but not for wasting on coaches, when my own stout legs could +carry me. I took a two days' holiday and saved my money for better +things." +</p> + +<p> +"I like that," said Hester, with an approving nod. "You'll get on, my +lad, if that's your way, and I'll lend a hand, for laziness is my +abomination, and one sees plenty nowadays." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you. That's friendly, and I'll prove that I am grateful. Please +tell me, is my lady ill?" +</p> + +<p> +"Always delicate since Sir Richard died." +</p> + +<p> +"How long ago was that?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ten years or more." +</p> + +<p> +"Are there no young gentlemen in the family?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, Miss Lillian is an only child, and a sweet one, bless her!" +</p> + +<p> +"A proud little lady, I should say." +</p> + +<p> +"And well she may be, for there's no better blood in England than the +Trevlyns, and she's heiress to a noble fortune." +</p> + +<p> +"Is that the Trevlyn coat of arms?" asked the boy abruptly, pointing to +a stone falcon with the motto ME AND MINE carved over the gate through +which they were passing. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes. Why do you ask?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mere curiosity; I know something of heraldry and often paint these +things for my own pleasure. One learns odd amusements abroad," he added, +seeing an expression of surprise on the woman's face. +</p> + +<p> +"You'll have little time for such matters here. Come in and report +yourself to the keeper, and if you'll take my advice ask no questions of +him, for you'll get no answers." +</p> + +<p> +"I seldom ask questions of men, as they are not fond of gossip." And the +boy nodded with a smile of mischievous significance as he entered the +keeper's lodge. +</p> + +<p> +A sharp lad and a saucy, if he likes. I'll keep my eye on him, for my +lady takes no more thought of such things than a child, and Lillian +cares for nothing but her own will. He has a taking way with him, +though, and knows how to flatter. It's well he does, poor lad, for +life's a hard matter to a friendless soul like him. +</p> + +<p> +As she thought these thoughts Hester went on to the house, leaving Paul +to win the good graces of the keeper, which he speedily did by assuming +an utterly different manner from that he had worn with the woman. +</p> + +<p> +That night, when the boy was alone in his own room, he wrote a long +letter in Italian describing the events of the day, enclosed a sketch of +the falcon and motto, directed it to "Father Cosmo Carmela, Genoa," and +lay down to sleep, muttering, with a grim look and a heavy sigh, "So far +so well; I'll not let my heart be softened by pity, or my purpose change +till my promise is kept. Pretty child, I wish I had never seen her!" +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter III +</h2> + +<h3> +SECRET SERVICE +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +In a week Paul was a favorite with the household; even prudent Hester +felt the charm of his presence, and owned that Lillian was happier for a +young companion in her walks. Hitherto the child had led a solitary +life, with no playmates of her own age, such being the will of my lady; +therefore she welcomed Paul as a new and delightful amusement, +considering him her private property and soon transferring his duties +from the garden to the house. Satisfied of his merits, my lady yielded +to Lillian's demands, and Paul was installed as page to the young lady. +Always respectful and obedient, he never forgot his place, yet seemed +unconsciously to influence all who approached him, and win the goodwill +of everyone. +</p> + +<p> +My lady showed unusual interest in the lad, and Lillian openly displayed +her admiration for his accomplishments and her affection for her devoted +young servitor. Hester was much flattered by the confidence he reposed +in her, for to her alone did he tell his story, and of her alone asked +advice and comfort in his various small straits. It was as she +suspected: Paul was a gentleman's son, but misfortune had robbed him of +home, friends, and parents, and thrown him upon the world to shift for +himself. This sad story touched the woman's heart, and the boy's manly +spirit won respect. She had lost a son years ago, and her empty heart +yearned over the motherless lad. Ashamed to confess the tender feeling, +she wore her usual severe manner to him in public, but in private +softened wonderfully and enjoyed the boy's regard heartily. +</p> + +<p> +"Paul, come in. I want to speak with you a moment," said my lady, from +the long window of the library to the boy who was training vines +outside. +</p> + +<p> +Dropping his tools and pulling off his hat, Paul obeyed, looking a +little anxious, for the month of trial expired that day. Lady Trevlyn +saw and answered the look with a gracious smile. +</p> + +<p> +"Have no fears. You are to stay if you will, for Lillian is happy and I +am satisfied with you." +</p> + +<p> +"Thank you, my lady." And an odd glance of mingled pride and pain shone +in the boy's downcast eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"That is settled, then. Now let me say what I called you in for. You +spoke of being able to illuminate on parchment. Can you restore this old +book for me?" +</p> + +<p> +She put into his hand the ancient volume Sir Richard had been reading +the day he died. It had lain neglected in a damp nook for years till my +lady discovered it, and, sad as were the associations connected with it, +she desired to preserve it for the sake of the weird prophecy if nothing +else. Paul examined it, and as he turned it to and fro in his hands it +opened at the page oftenest read by its late master. His eye kindled as +he looked, and with a quick gesture he turned as if toward the light, in +truth to hide the flash of triumph that passed across his face. +Carefully controlling his voice, he answered in a moment, as he looked +up, quite composed, "Yes, my lady, I can retouch the faded colors on +these margins and darken the pale ink of the Old English text. I like +the work, and will gladly do it if you like." +</p> + +<p> +"Do it, then, but be very careful of the book while in your hands. +Provide what is needful, and name your own price for the work," said his +mistress. +</p> + +<p> +"Nay, my lady, I am already paid—" +</p> + +<p> +"How so?" she asked, surprised. +</p> + +<p> +Paul had spoken hastily, and for an instant looked embarrassed, but +answered with a sudden flush on his dark cheeks, "You have been kind to +me, and I am glad to show my, gratitude in any way, my lady." +</p> + +<p> +"Let that pass, my boy. Do this little service for me and we will see +about the recompense afterward." And with a smile Lady Trevlyn left him +to begin his work. +</p> + +<p> +The moment the door closed behind her a total change passed over Paul. +He shook his clenched hand after her with a gesture of menace, then +tossed up the old book and caught it with an exclamation of delight, as +he reopened it at the worn page and reread the inexplicable verse. +</p> + +<p> +"Another proof, another proof! The work goes bravely on, Father Cosmo; +and boy as I am, I'll keep my word in spite of everything," he muttered. +</p> + +<p> +"What is that you'll keep, lad?" said a voice behind him. +</p> + +<p> +"I'll keep my word to my lady, and do my best to restore this book, Mrs. +Hester," he answered, quickly recovering himself. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, that's the last book poor Master read. I hid it away, but my lady +found it in spite of me," said Hester, with a doleful sigh. +</p> + +<p> +"Did he die suddenly, then?" asked the boy. +</p> + +<p> +"Dear heart, yes; I found him dying in this room with the ink scarce dry +on the letter he left for my lady. A mysterious business and a sad one." +</p> + +<p> +"Tell me about it. I like sad stories, and I already feel as if I +belonged to the family, a loyal retainer as in the old times. While you +dust the books and I rub the mold off this old cover, tell me the tale, +please, Mrs. Hester." +</p> + +<p> +She shook her head, but yielded to the persuasive look and tone of the +boy, telling the story more fully than she intended, for she loved +talking and had come to regard Paul as her own, almost. +</p> + +<p> +"And the letter? What was in it?" asked the boy, as she paused at the +catastrophe. +</p> + +<p> +"No one ever knew but my lady." +</p> + +<p> +"She destroyed it, then?" +</p> + +<p> +"I thought so, till a long time afterward, one of the lawyers came +pestering me with questions, and made me ask her. She was ill at the +time, but answered with a look I shall never forget, 'No, it's not +burnt, but no one shall ever see it.' I dared ask no more, but I fancy +she has it safe somewhere and if it's ever needed she'll bring it out. +It was only some private matters, I fancy." +</p> + +<p> +"And the stranger?" +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, he vanished as oddly as he came, and has never been found. A +strange story, lad. Keep silent, and let it rest." +</p> + +<p> +"No fear of my tattling," and the boy smiled curiously to himself as he +bent over the book, polishing the brassbound cover. +</p> + +<p> +"What are you doing with that pretty white wax?" asked Lillian the next +day, as she came upon Paul in a quiet corner of the garden and found him +absorbed in some mysterious occupation. +</p> + +<p> +With a quick gesture he destroyed his work, and, banishing a momentary +expression of annoyance, he answered in his accustomed tone as he began +to work anew, "I am molding a little deer for you, Miss Lillian. See, +here is a rabbit already done, and I'll soon have a stag also." +</p> + +<p> +"It's very pretty! How many nice things you can do, and how kind you are +to think of my liking something new. Was this wax what you went to get +this morning when you rode away so early?" asked the child. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Miss Lillian. I was ordered to exercise your pony and I made him +useful as well. Would you like to try this? It's very easy." +</p> + +<p> +Lillian was charmed, and for several days wax modeling was her favorite +play. Then she tired of it, and Paul invented a new amusement, smiling +his inexplicable smile as he threw away the broken toys of wax. +</p> + +<p> +"You are getting pale and thin, keeping such late hours, Paul. Go to +bed, boy, go to bed, and get your sleep early," said Hester a week +afterward, with a motherly air, as Paul passed her one morning. +</p> + +<p> +"And how do you know I don't go to bed?" he asked, wheeling about. +</p> + +<p> +"My lady has been restless lately, and I sit up with her till she +sleeps. As I go to my room, I see your lamp burning, and last night I +got as far as your door, meaning to speak to you, but didn't, thinking +you'd take it amiss. But really you are the worse for late hours, +child." +</p> + +<p> +"I shall soon finish restoring the book, and then I'll sleep. I hope I +don't disturb you. I have to grind my colors, and often make more noise +than I mean to." +</p> + +<p> +Paul fixed his eyes sharply on the woman as he spoke, but she seemed +unconscious of it, and turned to go on, saying indifferently, "Oh, +that's the odd sound, is it? No, it doesn't trouble me, so grind away, +and make an end of it as soon as may be." +</p> + +<p> +An anxious fold in the boy's forehead smoothed itself away as he left +her, saying to himself with a sigh of relief, "A narrow escape; it's +well I keep the door locked." +</p> + +<p> +The boy's light burned no more after that, and Hester was content till a +new worry came to trouble her. On her way to her room late one night, +she saw a tall shadow flit down one of the side corridors that branched +from the main one. For a moment she was startled, but, being a woman of +courage, she followed noiselessly, till the shadow seemed to vanish in +the gloom of the great hall. +</p> + +<p> +"If the house ever owned a ghost I'd say that's it, but it never did, so +I suspect some deviltry. I'll step to Paul. He's not asleep, I dare say. +He's a brave and a sensible lad, and with him I'll quietly search the +house." +</p> + +<p> +Away she went, more nervous than she would own, and tapped at the boy's +door. No one answered, and, seeing that it was ajar, Hester whisked in +so hurriedly that her candle went out. With an impatient exclamation at +her carelessness she glided to the bed, drew the curtain, and put forth +her hand to touch the sleeper. The bed was empty. A disagreeable thrill +shot through her, as she assured herself of the fact by groping along +the narrow bed. Standing in the shadow of the curtain, she stared about +the dusky room, in which objects were visible by the light of a new +moon. +</p> + +<p> +"Lord bless me, what is the boy about! I do believe it was him I saw in +the—" She got no further in her mental exclamation for the sound of +light approaching footsteps neared her. Slipping around the bed she +waited in the shadow, and a moment after Paul appeared, looking pale and +ghostly, with dark, disheveled hair, wide-open eyes, and a cloak thrown +over his shoulders. Without a pause he flung it off, laid himself in +bed, and seemed to sleep at once. +</p> + +<p> +"Paul! Paul!" whispered Hester, shaking him, after a pause of +astonishment at the whole proceeding. +</p> + +<p> +"Hey, what is it?" And he sat up, looking drowsily about him. +</p> + +<p> +"Come, come, no tricks, boy. What are you doing, trailing about the +house at this hour and in such trim?" +</p> + +<p> +"Why, Hester, is it you?" he exclaimed with a laugh, as he shook off her +grip and looked up at her in surprise. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, and well it is me. If it had been any of those silly girls, the +house would have been roused by this time. What mischief is afoot that +you leave your bed and play ghost in this wild fashion?" +</p> + +<p> +"Leave my bed! Why, my good soul, I haven't stirred, but have been +dreaming with all my might these two hours. What do you mean, Hester?" +</p> + +<p> +She told him as she relit her lamp, and stood eyeing him sharply the +while. When she finished he was silent a minute, then said, looking half +vexed and half ashamed, "I see how it is, and I'm glad you alone have +found me out. I walk in my sleep sometimes, Hester, that's the truth. I +thought I'd got over it, but it's come back, you see, and I'm sorry for +it. Don't be troubled. I never do any mischief or come to any harm. I +just take a quiet promenade and march back to bed again. Did I frighten +you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Just a trifle, but it's nothing. Poor lad, you'll have to have a +bedfellow or be locked up; it's dangerous to go roaming about in this +way," said Hester anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +"It won't last long, for I'll get more tired and then I shall sleep +sounder. Don't tell anyone, please, else they'll laugh at me, and that's +not pleasant. I don't mind your knowing for you seem almost like a +mother, and I thank you for it with all my heart." +</p> + +<p> +He held out his hand with the look that was irresistible to Hester. +Remembering only that he was a motherless boy, she stroked the curly +hair off his forehead, and kissed him, with the thought of her own son +warm at her heart. +</p> + +<p> +"Good night, dear. I'll say nothing, but give you something that will +ensure quiet sleep hereafter." +</p> + +<p> +With that she left him, but would have been annoyed could she have seen +the convulsion of boyish merriment which took possession of him when +alone, for he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter IV +</h2> + +<h3> +VANISHED +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +"He's a handsome lad, and one any woman might be proud to call her son," +said Hester to Bedford, the stately butler, as they lingered at the hall +door one autumn morning to watch their young lady's departure on her +daily ride. +</p> + +<p> +"You are right, Mrs. Hester, he's a fine lad, and yet he seems above his +place, though he does look the very picture of a lady's groom," replied +Bedford approvingly. +</p> + +<p> +So he did, as he stood holding the white pony of his little mistress, +for the boy gave an air to whatever he wore and looked like a gentleman +even in his livery. The dark-blue coat with silver buttons, the silver +band about his hat, his white-topped boots and bright spurs, spotless +gloves, and tightly drawn belt were all in perfect order, all becoming, +and his handsome, dark face caused many a susceptible maid to blush and +simper as they passed him. "Gentleman Paul," as the servants called him, +was rather lofty and reserved among his mates, but they liked him +nonetheless, for Hester had dropped hints of his story and quite a +little romance had sprung up about him. He stood leaning against the +docile creature, sunk in thought, and quite unconscious of the watchers +and whisperers close by. But as Lillian appeared he woke up, attended to +his duties like a well-trained groom, and lingered over his task as if +he liked it. Down the avenue he rode behind her, but as they turned into +a shady lane Lillian beckoned, saying, in the imperious tone habitual to +her, "Ride near me. I wish to talk." +</p> + +<p> +Paul obeyed, and amused her with the chat she liked till they reached a +hazel copse; here he drew rein, and, leaping down, gathered a handful of +ripe nuts for her. +</p> + +<p> +"How nice. Let us rest a minute here, and while I eat a few, please pull +some of those flowers for Mamma. She likes a wild nosegay better than +any I can bring her from the garden." +</p> + +<p> +Lillian ate her nuts till Paul came to her with a hatful of late flowers +and, standing by her, held the impromptu basket while she made up a +bouquet to suit her taste. +</p> + +<p> +"You shall have a posy, too; I like you to wear one in your buttonhole +as the ladies' grooms do in the Park," said the child, settling a +scarlet poppy in the blue coat. +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, Miss Lillian, I'll wear your colors with all my heart, +especially today, for it is my birthday." And Paul looked up at the +blooming little face with unusual softness in his keen blue eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Is it? Why, then, you're seventeen; almost a man, aren't you?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, thank heaven," muttered the boy, half to himself. +</p> + +<p> +"I wish I was as old. I shan't be in my teens till autumn. I must give +you something, Paul, because I like you very much, and you are always +doing kind things for me. What shall it be?" And the child held out her +hand with a cordial look and gesture that touched the boy. +</p> + +<p> +With one of the foreign fashions which sometimes appeared when he forgot +himself, he kissed the small hand, saying impulsively, "My dear little +mistress, I want nothing but your goodwill—and your forgiveness," he +added, under his breath. +</p> + +<p> +"You have that already, Paul, and I shall find something to add to it. +But what is that?" And she laid hold of a little locket which had +slipped into sight as Paul bent forward in his salute. +</p> + +<p> +He thrust it back, coloring so deeply that the child observed it, and +exclaimed, with a mischievous laugh, "It is your sweetheart, Paul. I +heard Bessy, my maid, tell Hester she was sure you had one because you +took no notice of them. Let me see it. Is she pretty?" +</p> + +<p> +"Very pretty," answered the boy, without showing the picture. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you like her very much?" questioned Lillian, getting interested in +the little romance. +</p> + +<p> +"Very much," and Paul's black eyelashes fell. +</p> + +<p> +"Would you die for her, as they say in the old songs?" asked the girl, +melodramatically. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Miss Lillian, or live for her, which is harder." +</p> + +<p> +"Dear me, how very nice it must be to have anyone care for one so much," +said the child innocently. "I wonder if anybody ever will for me?" +</p> + +<p> +<br> + "<i>Love comes to all soon or late,<br> + And maketh gay or sad;<br> + For every bird will find its mate,<br> + And every lass a lad</i>,"<br> +</p> + +<p> +sang Paul, quoting one of Hester's songs, and looking relieved that +Lillian's thoughts had strayed from him. But he was mistaken. +</p> + +<p> +"Shall you marry this sweetheart of yours someday?" asked Lillian, +turning to him with a curious yet wistful look. +</p> + +<p> +"Perhaps." +</p> + +<p> +"You look as if there was no 'perhaps' about it," said the child, quick +to read the kindling of the eye and the change in the voice that +accompanied the boy's reply. +</p> + +<p> +"She is very young and I must wait, and while I wait many things may +happen to part us." +</p> + +<p> +"Is she a lady?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, a wellborn, lovely little lady, and I'll marry her if I live." +Paul spoke with a look of decision, and a proud lift of the head that +contrasted curiously with the badge of servitude he wore. +</p> + +<p> +Lillian felt this, and asked, with a sudden shyness coming over her, +"But you are a gentleman, and so no one will mind even if you are not +rich." +</p> + +<p> +"How do you know what I am?" he asked quickly. +</p> + +<p> +"I heard Hester tell the housekeeper that you were not what you seemed, +and one day she hoped you'd get your right place again. I asked Mamma +about it, and she said she would not let me be with you so much if you +were not a fit companion for me. I was not to speak of it, but she means +to be your friend and help you by-and-by." +</p> + +<p> +"Does she?" +</p> + +<p> +And the boy laughed an odd, short laugh that jarred on Lillian's ear and +made her say reprovingly, "You are proud, I know, but you'll let us help +you because we like to do it, and I have no brother to share my money +with." +</p> + +<p> +"Would you like one, or a sister?" asked Paul, looking straight into her +face with his piercing eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, indeed! I long for someone to be with me and love me, as Mamma +can't." +</p> + +<p> +"Would you be willing to share everything with another person—perhaps +have to give them a great many things you like and now have all to +yourself?" +</p> + +<p> +"I think I should. I'm selfish, I know, because everyone pets and spoils +me, but if I loved a person dearly I'd give up anything to them. Indeed +I would, Paul, pray believe me." +</p> + +<p> +She spoke earnestly, and leaned on his shoulder as if to enforce her +words. The boy's arm stole around the little figure in the saddle, and a +beautiful bright smile broke over his face as he answered warmly, "I do +believe it, dear, and it makes me happy to hear you say so. Don't be +afraid, I'm your equal, but I'll not forget that you are my little +mistress till I can change from groom to gentleman." +</p> + +<p> +He added the last sentence as he withdrew his arm, for Lillian had +shrunk a little and blushed with surprise, not anger, at this first +breach of respect on the part of her companion. Both were silent for a +moment, Paul looking down and Lillian busy with her nosegay. She spoke +first, assuming an air of satisfaction as she surveyed her work. +</p> + +<p> +"That will please Mamma, I'm sure, and make her quite forget my naughty +prank of yesterday. Do you know I offended her dreadfully by peeping +into the gold case she wears on her neck? She was asleep and I was +sitting by her. In her sleep she pulled it out and said something about +a letter and Papa. I wanted to see Papa's face, for I never did, because +the big picture of him is gone from the gallery where the others are, so +I peeped into the case when she let it drop and was so disappointed to +find nothing but a key." +</p> + +<p> +"A key! What sort of a key?" cried Paul in an eager tone. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, a little silver one like the key of my piano, or the black cabinet. +She woke and was very angry to find me meddling." +</p> + +<p> +"What did it belong to?" asked Paul. +</p> + +<p> +"Her treasure box, she said, but I don't know where or what that is, and +I dare not ask any more, for she forbade my speaking to her about it. +Poor Mamma! I'm always troubling her in some way or other." +</p> + +<p> +With a penitent sigh, Lillian tied up her flowers and handed them to +Paul to carry. As she did so, the change in his face struck her. +</p> + +<p> +"How grim and old you look," she exclaimed. "Have I said anything that +troubles you?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, Miss Lillian. I'm only thinking." +</p> + +<p> +"Then I wish you wouldn't think, for you get a great wrinkle in your +forehead, your eyes grow almost black, and your mouth looks fierce. You +are a very odd person, Paul; one minute as gay as any boy, and the next +as grave and stern as a man with a deal of work to do." +</p> + +<p> +"I <i>have</i> got a deal of work to do, so no wonder I look old and grim." +</p> + +<p> +"What work, Paul?" +</p> + +<p> +"To make my fortune and win my lady." +</p> + +<p> +When Paul spoke in that tone and wore that look, Lillian felt as if they +had changed places, and he was the master and she the servant. She +wondered over this in her childish mind, but proud and willful as she +was, she liked it, and obeyed him with unusual meekness when he +suggested that it was time to return. As he rode silently beside her, +she stole covert glances at him from under her wide hat brim, and +studied his unconscious face as she had never done before. His lips +moved now and then but uttered no audible sound, his black brows were +knit, and once his hand went to his breast as if he thought of the +little sweetheart whose picture lay there. +</p> + +<p> +He's got a trouble. I wish he'd tell me and let me help him if I can. +I'll make him show me that miniature someday, for I'm interested in that +girl, thought Lillian with a pensive sigh. +</p> + +<p> +As he held his hand for her little foot in dismounting her at the hall +door, Paul seemed to have shaken off his grave mood, for he looked up +and smiled at her with his blithest expression. But Lillian appeared to +be the thoughtful one now and with an air of dignity, very pretty and +becoming, thanked her young squire in a stately manner and swept into +the house, looking tall and womanly in her flowing skirts. +</p> + +<p> +Paul laughed as he glanced after her and, flinging himself onto his +horse, rode away to the stables at a reckless pace, as if to work off +some emotion for which he could find no other vent. +</p> + +<p> +"Here's a letter for you, lad, all the way from some place in Italy. Who +do you know there?" said Bedford, as the boy came back. +</p> + +<p> +With a hasty "Thank you," Paul caught the letter and darted away to his +own room, there to tear it open and, after reading a single line, to +drop into a chair as if he had received a sudden blow. Growing paler and +paler he read on, and when the letter fell from his hands he exclaimed, +in a tone of despair, "How could he die at such a time!" +</p> + +<p> +For an hour the boy sat thinking intently, with locked door, curtained +window, and several papers strewn before him. Letters, memoranda, plans, +drawings, and bits of parchment, all of which he took from a small +locked portfolio always worn about him. Over these he pored with a face +in which hope, despondency, resolve, and regret alternated rapidly. +Taking the locket out he examined a ring which lay in one side, and the +childish face which smiled on him from the other. His eyes filled as he +locked and put it by, saying tenderly, "Dear little heart! I'll not +forget or desert her whatever happens. Time must help me, and to time I +must leave my work. One more attempt and then I'm off." +</p> + +<hr> + +<p> +"I'll go to bed now, Hester; but while you get my things ready I'll take +a turn in the corridor. The air will refresh me." +</p> + +<p> +As she spoke, Lady Trevlyn drew her wrapper about her and paced softly +down the long hall lighted only by fitful gleams of moonlight and the +ruddy glow of the fire. At the far end was the state chamber, never used +now, and never visited except by Hester, who occasionally went in to +dust and air it, and my lady, who always passed the anniversary of Sir +Richard's death alone there. The gallery was very dark, and she seldom +went farther than the last window in her restless walks, but as she now +approached she was startled to see a streak of yellow light under the +door. She kept the key herself and neither she nor Hester had been there +that day. A cold shiver passed over her for, as she looked, the shadow +of a foot darkened the light for a moment and vanished as if someone had +noiselessly passed. Obeying a sudden impulse, my lady sprang forward and +tried to open the door. It was locked, but as her hand turned the silver +knob a sound as if a drawer softly closed met her ear. She stooped to +the keyhole but it was dark, a key evidently being in the lock. She drew +back and flew to her room, snatched the key from her dressing table, +and, bidding Hester follow, returned to the hall. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it, my lady?" cried the woman, alarmed at the agitation of her +mistress. +</p> + +<p> +"A light, a sound, a shadow in the state chamber. Come quick!" cried +Lady Trevlyn, adding, as she pointed to the door, "There, there, the +light shines underneath. Do you see it?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, my lady, it's dark," returned Hester. +</p> + +<p> +It was, but never pausing my lady thrust in the key, and to her surprise +it turned, the door flew open, and the dim, still room was before them. +Hester boldly entered, and while her mistress slowly followed, she +searched the room, looking behind the tall screen by the hearth, up the +wide chimney, in the great wardrobe, and under the ebony cabinet, where +all the relics of Sir Richard were kept. Nothing appeared, not even a +mouse, and Hester turned to my lady with an air of relief. But her +mistress pointed to the bed shrouded in dark velvet hangings, and +whispered breathlessly, "You forgot to look there." +</p> + +<p> +Hester had not forgotten, but in spite of her courage and good sense she +shrank a little from looking at the spot where she had last seen her +master's dead face. She believed the light and sound to be phantoms of +my lady's distempered fancy, and searched merely to satisfy her. The +mystery of Sir Richard's death still haunted the minds of all who +remembered it, and even Hester felt a superstitious dread of that room. +With a nervous laugh she looked under the bed and, drawing back the +heavy curtains, said soothingly, "You see, my lady, there's nothing +there." +</p> + +<p> +But the words died on her lips, for, as the pale glimmer of the candle +pierced the gloom of that funeral couch, both saw a face upon the +pillow: a pale face framed in dark hair and beard, with closed eyes and +the stony look the dead wear. A loud, long shriek that roused the house +broke from Lady Trevlyn as she fell senseless at the bedside, and +dropping both curtain and candle Hester caught up her mistress and fled +from the haunted room, locking the door behind her. +</p> + +<p> +In a moment a dozen servants were about them, and into their astonished +ears Hester poured her story while vainly trying to restore her lady. +Great was the dismay and intense the unwillingness of anyone to obey +when Hester ordered the men to search the room again, for she was the +first to regain her self-possession. +</p> + +<p> +"Where's Paul? He's the heart of a man, boy though he is," she said +angrily as the men hung back. +</p> + +<p> +"He's not here. Lord! Maybe it was him a-playing tricks, though it ain't +like him," cried Bessy, Lillian's little maid. +</p> + +<p> +"No, it can't be him, for I locked him in myself. He walks in his sleep +sometimes, and I was afraid he'd startle my lady. Let him sleep; this +would only excite him and set him to marching again. Follow me, Bedford +and James, I'm not afraid of ghosts or rogues." +</p> + +<p> +With a face that belied her words Hester led the way to the awful room, +and flinging back the curtain resolutely looked in. The bed was empty, +but on the pillow was plainly visible the mark of a head and a single +scarlet stain, as of blood. At that sight Hester turned pale and caught +the butler's arm, whispering with a shudder, "Do you remember the night +we put him in his coffin, the drop of blood that fell from his white +lips? Sir Richard has been here." +</p> + +<p> +"Good Lord, ma'am, don't say that! We can never rest in our beds if such +things are to happen," gasped Bedford, backing to the door. +</p> + +<p> +"It's no use to look, we've found all we shall find so go your ways and +tell no one of this," said the woman in a gloomy tone, and, having +assured herself that the windows were fast, Hester locked the room and +ordered everyone but Bedford and the housekeeper to bed. "Do you sit +outside my lady's door till morning," she said to the butler, "and you, +Mrs. Price, help me to tend my poor lady, for if I'm not mistaken this +night's work will bring on the old trouble." +</p> + +<p> +Morning came, and with it a new alarm; for, though his door was fast +locked and no foothold for even a sparrow outside the window, Paul's +room was empty, and the boy nowhere to be found. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter V +</h2> + +<h3> +A HERO +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +Four years had passed, and Lillian was fast blooming into a lovely +woman: proud and willful as ever, but very charming, and already a belle +in the little world where she still reigned a queen. Owing to her +mother's ill health, she was allowed more freedom than is usually +permitted to an English girl of her age; and, during the season, often +went into company with a friend of Lady Trevlyn's who was chaperoning +two young daughters of her own. To the world Lillian seemed a gay, +free-hearted girl; and no one, not even her mother, knew how well she +remembered and how much she missed the lost Paul. No tidings of him had +ever come, and no trace of him was found after his flight. Nothing was +missed, he went without his wages, and no reason could be divined for +his departure except the foreign letter. Bedford remembered it, but +forgot what postmark it bore, for he had only been able to decipher +"Italy." My lady made many inquiries and often spoke of him; but when +month after month passed and no news came, she gave him up, and on +Lillian's account feigned to forget him. Contrary to Hester's fear, she +did not seem the worse for the nocturnal fright, but evidently connected +the strange visitor with Paul, or, after a day or two of nervous +exhaustion, returned to her usual state of health. Hester had her own +misgivings, but, being forbidden to allude to the subject, she held her +peace, after emphatically declaring that Paul would yet appear to set +her mind at rest. +</p> + +<p> +"Lillian, Lillian, I've such news for you! Come and hear a charming +little romance, and prepare to see the hero of it!" cried Maud +Churchill, rushing into her friend's pretty boudoir one day in the +height of the season. +</p> + +<p> +Lillian lay on a couch, rather languid after a ball, and listlessly +begged Maud to tell her story, for she was dying to be amused. +</p> + +<p> +"Well my, dear, just listen and you'll be as enthusiastic as I am," +cried Maud. And throwing her bonnet on one chair, her parasol on +another, and her gloves anywhere, she settled herself on the couch and +began: "You remember reading in the papers, some time ago, that fine +account of the young man who took part in the Italian revolution and did +that heroic thing with the bombshell?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, what of him?" asked Lillian, sitting up. +</p> + +<p> +"He is my hero, and we are to see him tonight." +</p> + +<p> +"Go on, go on! Tell all, and tell it quickly," she cried. +</p> + +<p> +"You know the officers were sitting somewhere, holding a council, while +the city (I forget the name) was being bombarded, and how a shell came +into the midst of them, how they sat paralyzed, expecting it to burst, +and how this young man caught it up and ran out with it, risking his own +life to save theirs?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes, I remember!" And Lillian's listless face kindled at the +recollection. +</p> + +<p> +"Well, an Englishman who was there was so charmed by the act that, +finding the young man was poor and an orphan, he adopted him. Mr. Talbot +was old, and lonely, and rich, and when he died, a year after, he left +his name and fortune to this Paolo." +</p> + +<p> +"I'm glad, I'm glad!" cried Lillian, clapping her hands with a joyful +face. "How romantic and charming it is!" +</p> + +<p> +"Isn't it? But, my dear creature, the most romantic part is to come. +Young Talbot served in the war, and then came to England to take +possession of his property. It's somewhere down in Kent, a fine place +and good income, all his; and he deserves it. Mamma heard a deal about +him from Mrs. Langdon, who knew old Talbot and has seen the young man. +Of course all the girls are wild to behold him, for he is very handsome +and accomplished, and a gentleman by birth. But the dreadful part is +that he is already betrothed to a lovely Greek girl, who came over at +the same time, and is living in London with a companion; quite +elegantly, Mrs. Langdon says, for she called and was charmed. +This girl has been seen by some of our gentlemen friends, and they +already rave about the 'fair Helene,' for that's her name." +</p> + +<p> +Here Maud was forced to stop for breath, and Lillian had a chance to +question her. +</p> + +<p> +"How old is she?" +</p> + +<p> +"About eighteen or nineteen, they say." +</p> + +<p> +"Very pretty?" +</p> + +<p> +"Ravishing, regularly Greek and divine, Fred Raleigh says." +</p> + +<p> +"When is she to be married?" +</p> + +<p> +"Don't know; when Talbot gets settled, I fancy." +</p> + +<p> +"And he? Is he as charming as she?" +</p> + +<p> +"Quite, I'm told. He's just of age, and is, in appearance as in +everything else, a hero of romance." +</p> + +<p> +"How came your mother to secure him for tonight?" +</p> + +<p> +"Mrs. Langdon is dying to make a lion of him, and begged to bring him. +He is very indifferent on such things and seems intent on his own +affairs. Is grave and old for his years, and doesn't seem to care much +for pleasure and admiration, as most men would after a youth like his, +for he has had a hard time, I believe. For a wonder, he consented to +come when Mrs. Langdon asked him, and I flew off at once to tell you and +secure you for tonight." +</p> + +<p> +"A thousand thanks. I meant to rest, for Mamma frets about my being so +gay; but she won't object to a quiet evening with you. What shall we +wear?" And here the conversation branched off on the all-absorbing topic +of dress. +</p> + +<p> +When Lillian joined her friend that evening, the hero had already +arrived, and, stepping into a recess, she waited to catch a glimpse of +him. Maud was called away, and she was alone when the crowd about the +inner room thinned and permitted young Talbot to be seen. Well for +Lillian that no one observed her at that moment, for she grew pale and +sank into a chair, exclaiming below her breath, "It is Paul—<i>my</i> Paul!" +</p> + +<p> +She recognized him instantly, in spite of increased height, a dark +moustache, and martial bearing. It was Paul, older, graver, handsomer, +but still "her Paul," as she called him, with a flush of pride and +delight as she watched him, and felt that of all there she knew him best +and loved him most. For the childish affection still existed, and this +discovery added a tinge of romance that made it doubly dangerous as well +as doubly pleasant. +</p> + +<p> +Will he know me? she thought, glancing at a mirror which reflected a +slender figure with bright hair, white arms, and brilliant eyes; a +graceful little head, proudly carried, and a sweet mouth, just then very +charming, as it smiled till pearly teeth shone between the ruddy lips. +</p> + +<p> +I'm glad I'm not ugly, and I hope he'll like me, she thought, as she +smoothed the golden ripples on her forehead, settled her sash, and shook +out the folds of her airy dress in a flutter of girlish excitement. +"I'll pretend not to know him, when we meet, and see what he will do," +she said, with a wicked sense of power; for being forewarned she was +forearmed, and, fearing no betrayal of surprise on her own part, was +eager to enjoy any of which he might be guilty. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving her nook, she joined a group of young friends and held herself +prepared for the meeting. Presently she saw Maud and Mrs. Langdon +approaching, evidently intent on presenting the hero to the heiress. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Talbot, Miss Trevlyn," said the lady. And looking up with a +well-assumed air of indifference, Lillian returned the gentleman's bow +with her eyes fixed full upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +Not a feature of that face changed, and so severely unconscious of any +recognition was it that the girl was bewildered. For a moment she +fancied she had been mistaken in his identity, and a pang of +disappointment troubled her; but as he moved a chair for Maud, she saw +on the one ungloved hand a little scar which she remembered well, for he +received it in saving her from a dangerous fall. At the sight all the +happy past rose before her, and if her telltale eyes had not been +averted they would have betrayed her. A sudden flush of maidenly shame +dyed her cheek as she remembered that last ride, and the childish +confidences then interchanged. This Helen was the little sweetheart +whose picture he wore, and now, in spite of all obstacles, he had won +both fortune and ladylove. The sound of his voice recalled her thoughts, +and glancing up she met the deep eyes fixed on her with the same steady +look they used to wear. He had addressed her, but what he said she knew +not, beyond a vague idea that it was some slight allusion to the music +going on in the next room. With a smile which would serve for an answer +to almost any remark, she hastily plunged into conversation with a +composure that did her credit in the eyes of her friends, who stood in +awe of the young hero, for all were but just out. +</p> + +<p> +"Mr. Talbot hardly needs an introduction here, for his name is +well-known among us, though this is perhaps his first visit to England?" +she said, flattering herself that this artful speech would entrap him +into the reply she wanted. +</p> + +<p> +With a slight frown, as if the allusion to his adventure rather annoyed +him, and a smile that puzzled all but Lillian, he answered very simply, +"It is not my first visit to this hospitable island. I was here a few +years ago, for a short time, and left with regret." +</p> + +<p> +"Then you have old friends here?" And Lillian watched him as she spoke. +</p> + +<p> +"I had. They had doubtless forgotten me now," he said, with a sudden +shadow marring the tranquillity of his face. +</p> + +<p> +"Why doubt them? If they were true friends, they will not forget." +</p> + +<p> +The words were uttered impulsively, almost warmly, but Talbot made no +response, except a polite inclination and an abrupt change in the +conversation. +</p> + +<p> +"That remains to be proved. Do you sing, Miss Trevlyn?" +</p> + +<p> +"A little." And Lillian's tone was both cold and proud. +</p> + +<p> +"A great deal, and very charmingly," added Maud, who took pride in her +friend's gifts both of voice and beauty. "Come, dear, there are so few +of us you will sing, I know. Mamma desired me to ask you when Edith had +done." +</p> + +<p> +To her surprise Lillian complied, and allowed Talbot to lead her to the +instrument. Still hoping to win some sign of recognition from him, the +girl chose an air he taught her and sang it with a spirit and skill that +surprised the listeners who possessed no key to her mood. At the last +verse her voice suddenly faltered, but Talbot took up the song and +carried her safely through it with his well-tuned voice. +</p> + +<p> +"You know the air then?" she said in a low tone, as a hum of +commendation followed the music. +</p> + +<p> +"All Italians sing it, though few do it like yourself," he answered +quietly, restoring the fan he had held while standing beside her. +</p> + +<p> +Provoking boy! why won't he know me? thought Lillian. And her tone was +almost petulant as she refused to sing again. +</p> + +<p> +Talbot offered his arm and led her to a seat, behind which stood a +little statuette of a child holding a fawn by a daisy chain. +</p> + +<p> +"Pretty, isn't it?" she said, as he paused to look at it instead of +taking the chair before her. "I used to enjoy modeling tiny deer and +hinds in wax, as well as making daisy chains. Is sculpture among the +many accomplishments which rumor tells us you possess?" +</p> + +<p> +"No. Those who, like me, have their own fortunes to mold find time for +little else," he answered gravely, still examining the marble group. +</p> + +<p> +Lillian broke her fan with an angry flirt, for she was tired of her +trial, and wished she had openly greeted him at the beginning; feeling +now how pleasant it would have been to sit chatting of old times, while +her friends dared hardly address him at all. She was on the point of +calling him by his former name, when the remembrance of what he had been +arrested the words on her lips. He was proud; would he not dread to have +it known that, in his days of adversity, he had been a servant? For if +she betrayed her knowledge of his past, she would be forced to tell +where and how that knowledge was gained. No, better wait till they met +alone, she thought; he would thank her for her delicacy, and she could +easily explain her motive. He evidently wished to seem a stranger, for +once she caught a gleam of the old, mirthful mischief in his eye, as she +glanced up unexpectedly. He did remember her, she was sure, yet was +trying her, perhaps, as she tried him. Well, she would stand the test +and enjoy the joke by-and-by. With this fancy in her head she assumed a +gracious air and chatted away in her most charming style, feeling both +gay and excited, so anxious was she to please, and so glad to recover +her early friend. A naughty whim seized her as her eye fell on a +portfolio of classical engravings which someone had left in disorder on +a table near her. Tossing them over she asked his opinion of several, +and then handed him one in which Helen of Troy was represented as giving +her hand to the irresistible Paris. +</p> + +<p> +"Do you think her worth so much bloodshed, and deserving so much +praise?" she asked, vainly trying to conceal the significant smile that +would break loose on her lips and sparkle in her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Talbot laughed the short, boyish laugh so familiar to her ears, as he +glanced from the picture to the arch questioner, and answered in a tone +that made her heart beat with a nameless pain and pleasure, so full of +suppressed ardor was it: +</p> + +<p> +"Yes! 'All for love or the world well lost' is a saying I heartily agree +to. La belle Helene is my favorite heroine, and I regard Paris as the +most enviable of men." +</p> + +<p> +"I should like to see her." +</p> + +<p> +The wish broke from Lillian involuntarily, and she was too much confused +to turn it off by any general expression of interest in the classical +lady. +</p> + +<p> +"You may sometime," answered Talbot, with an air of amusement; adding, +as if to relieve her, "I have a poetical belief that all the lovely +women of history or romance will meet, and know, and love each other in +some charming hereafter." +</p> + +<p> +"But I'm no heroine and no beauty, so I shall never enter your poetical +paradise," said Lillian, with a pretty affectation of regret. +</p> + +<p> +"Some women are beauties without knowing it, and the heroines of +romances never given to the world. I think you and Helen will yet meet, +Miss Trevlyn." +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, Mrs. Langdon beckoned, and he left her pondering over his +last words, and conscious of a secret satisfaction in his implied +promise that she should see his betrothed. +</p> + +<p> +"How do you like him?" whispered Maud, slipping into the empty chair. +</p> + +<p> +"Very well," was the composed reply; for Lillian enjoyed her little +mystery too much to spoil it yet. +</p> + +<p> +"What did you say to him? I longed to hear, for you seemed to enjoy +yourselves very much, but I didn't like to be a marplot." +</p> + +<p> +Lillian repeated a part of the conversation, and Maud professed to be +consumed with jealousy at the impression her friend had evidently made. +</p> + +<p> +"It is folly to try to win the hero, for he is already won, you know," +answered Lillian, shutting the cover on the pictured Helen with a sudden +motion as if glad to extinguish her. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh dear, no; Mrs. Langdon just told Mamma that she was mistaken about +their being engaged; for she asked him and he shook his head, saying +Helen was his ward." +</p> + +<p> +"But that is absurd, for he's only a boy himself. It's very odd, isn't +it? Never mind, I shall soon know all about it." +</p> + +<p> +"How?" cried Maud, amazed at Lillian's assured manner. +</p> + +<p> +"Wait a day or two and, I'll tell you a romance in return for yours. +Your mother beckons to me, so I know Hester has come. Good night. I've +had a charming time." +</p> + +<p> +And with this tantalizing adieu, Lillian slipped away. Hester was +waiting in the carriage, but as Lillian appeared, Talbot put aside the +footman and handed her in, saying very low, in the well-remembered tone: +</p> + +<p> +"Good night, my little mistress." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter VI +</h2> + +<h3> +FAIR HELEN +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +To no one but her mother and Hester did Lillian confide the discovery +she had made. None of the former servants but old Bedford remained with +them, and till Paul chose to renew the old friendship it was best to +remain silent. Great was the surprise and delight of our lady and Hester +at the good fortune of their protege, and many the conjectures as to how +he would explain his hasty flight. +</p> + +<p> +"You will go and see him, won't you, Mamma, or at least inquire about +him?" said Lillian, eager to assure the wanderer of a welcome, for those +few words of his had satisfied her entirely. +</p> + +<p> +"No, dear, it is for him to seek us, and till he does, I shall make no +sign. He knows where we are, and if he chooses he can renew the +acquaintance so strangely broken off. Be patient, and above all things +remember, Lillian, that you are no longer a child," replied my lady, +rather disturbed by her daughter's enthusiastic praises of Paul. +</p> + +<p> +"I wish I was, for then I might act as I feel, and not be afraid of +shocking the proprieties." And Lillian went to bed to dream of her hero. +</p> + +<p> +For three days she stayed at home, expecting Paul, but he did not come, +and she went out for her usual ride in the Park, hoping to meet him. An +elderly groom now rode behind her, and she surveyed him with extreme +disgust, as she remembered the handsome lad who had once filled that +place. Nowhere did Paul appear, but in the Ladies' Mile she passed an +elegant brougham in which sat a very lovely girl and a mild old lady. +</p> + +<p> +"That is Talbot's fiancee," said Maud Churchill, who had joined her. +"Isn't she beautiful?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not at all—yes, very," was Lillian's somewhat peculiar reply, for +jealousy and truth had a conflict just then. "He's so perfectly absorbed +and devoted that I am sure that story is true, so adieu to our hopes," +laughed Maud. +</p> + +<p> +"Did you have any? Good-bye, I must go." And Lillian rode home at a pace +which caused the stout groom great distress. +</p> + +<p> +"Mamma, I've seen Paul's betrothed!" she cried, running into her +mother's boudoir. +</p> + +<p> +"And I have seen Paul himself," replied my lady, with a warning look, +for there he stood, with half-extended hand, as if waiting to be +acknowledged. +</p> + +<p> +Lillian forgot her embarrassment in her pleasure, and made him an +elaborate curtsy, saying, with a half-merry, half-reproachful glance, +"Mr. Talbot is welcome in whatever guise he appears." +</p> + +<p> +"I choose to appear as Paul, then, and offer you a seat, Miss Lillian," +he said, assuming as much of his boyish manner as he could. +</p> + +<p> +Lillian took it and tried to feel at ease, but the difference between +the lad she remembered and the man she now saw was too great to be +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +"Now tell us your adventures, and why you vanished away so mysteriously +four years ago," she said, with a touch of the childish imperiousness in +her voice, though her frank eyes fell before his. +</p> + +<p> +"I was about to do so when you appeared with news concerning my cousin," +he began. +</p> + +<p> +"Your cousin!" exclaimed Lillian. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Helen's mother and my own were sisters. Both married Englishmen, +both died young, leaving us to care for each other. We were like a +brother and sister, and always together till I left her to serve Colonel +Daventry. The death of the old priest to whom I entrusted her recalled +me to Genoa, for I was then her only guardian. I meant to have taken +leave of you, my lady, properly, but the consequences of that foolish +trick of mine frightened me away in the most unmannerly fashion." +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, it was you, then, in the state chamber; I always thought so," and +Lady Trevlyn drew a long breath of relief. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, I heard it whispered among the servants that the room was haunted, +and I felt a wish to prove the truth of the story and my own courage. +Hester locked me in, for fear of my sleepwalking; but I lowered myself +by a rope and then climbed in at the closet window of the state chamber. +When you came, my lady, I thought it was Hester, and slipped into the +bed, meaning to give her a fright in return for her turning the key on +me. But when your cry showed me what I had done, I was filled with +remorse, and escaped as quickly and quietly as possible. I should have +asked pardon before; I do now, most humbly, my lady, for it was +sacrilege to play pranks <i>there</i>." +</p> + +<p> +During the first part of his story Paul's manner had been frank and +composed, but in telling the latter part, his demeanor underwent a +curious change. He fixed his eyes on the ground and spoke as if +repeating a lesson, while his color varied, and a half-proud, +half-submissive expression replaced the former candid one. Lillian +observed this, and it disturbed her, but my lady took it for shame at +his boyish freak and received his confession kindly, granting a free +pardon and expressing sincere pleasure at his amended fortunes. As he +listened, Lillian saw him clench his hand hard and knit his brows, +assuming the grim look she had often seen, as if trying to steel himself +against some importunate emotion or rebellious thought. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, half my work is done, and I have a home, thanks to my generous +benefactor, and I hope to enjoy it well and wisely," he said in a grave +tone, as if the fortune had not yet brought him his heart's desire. +</p> + +<p> +"And when is the other half of the work to be accomplished, Paul? That +depends on your cousin, perhaps." And Lady Trevlyn regarded him with a +gleam of womanly curiosity in her melancholy eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"It does, but not in the way you fancy, my lady. Whatever Helen may be, +she is not my fiancee yet, Miss Lillian." And the shadow lifted as he +laughed, looking at the young lady, who was decidedly abashed, in spite +of a sense of relief caused by his words. +</p> + +<p> +"I merely accepted the world's report," she said, affecting a nonchalant +air. +</p> + +<p> +"The world is a liar, as you will find in time" was his abrupt reply. +</p> + +<p> +"I hope to see this beautiful cousin, Paul. Will she receive us as old +friends of yours?" +</p> + +<p> +"Thanks, not yet, my lady. She is still too much a stranger here to +enjoy new faces, even kind ones. I have promised perfect rest and +freedom for a time, but you shall be the first whom she receives." +</p> + +<p> +Again Lillian detected the secret disquiet which possessed him, and her +curiosity was roused. It piqued her that this Helen felt no desire to +meet her and chose to seclude herself, as if regardless of the interest +and admiration she excited. "I <i>will</i> see her in spite of her refusal, +for I only caught a glimpse in the Park. Something is wrong, and I'll +discover it, for it evidently worries Paul, and perhaps I can help him." +</p> + +<p> +As this purpose sprang up in the warm but willful heart of the girl, she +regained her spirits and was her most charming self while the young man +stayed. They talked of many things in a pleasant, confidential manner, +though when Lillian recalled that hour, she was surprised to find how +little Paul had really told them of his past life or future plans. It +was agreed among them to say nothing of their former relations, except +to old Bedford, who was discretion itself, but to appear to the world as +new-made friends—thus avoiding unpleasant and unnecessary explanations +which would only excite gossip. My lady asked him to dine, but he had +business out of town and declined, taking his leave with a lingering +look, which made Lillian steal away to study her face in the mirror and +wonder if she looked her best, for in Paul's eyes she had read +undisguised admiration. +</p> + +<p> +Lady Trevlyn went to her room to rest, leaving the girl free to ride, +drive, or amuse herself as she liked. As if fearing her courage would +fail if she delayed, Lillian ordered the carriage, and, bidding Hester +mount guard over her, she drove away to St. John's Wood. +</p> + +<p> +"Now, Hester, don't lecture or be prim when I tell you that we are going +on a frolic," she began, after getting the old woman into an amiable +mood by every winning wile she could devise. "I think you'll like it, +and if it's found out I'll take the blame. There is some mystery about +Paul's cousin, and I'm going to find it out." +</p> + +<p> +"Bless you, child, how?" +</p> + +<p> +"She lives alone here, is seldom seen, and won't go anywhere or receive +anyone. That's not natural in a pretty girl. Paul won't talk about her, +and, though he's fond of her, he always looks grave and grim when I ask +questions. That's provoking, and I won't hear it. Maud is engaged to +Raleigh, you know; well, he confided to her that he and a friend had +found out where Helen was, had gone to the next villa, which is empty, +and under pretense of looking at it got a peep at the girl in her +garden. I'm going to do the same." +</p> + +<p> +"And what am <i>I</i> to do?" asked Hester, secretly relishing the prank, +for she was dying with curiosity to behold Paul's cousin. +</p> + +<p> +"You are to do the talking with the old woman, and give me a chance to +look. Now say you will, and I'll behave myself like an angel in return." +</p> + +<p> +Hester yielded, after a few discreet scruples, and when they reached +Laburnum Lodge played her part so well that Lillian soon managed to +stray away into one of the upper rooms which overlooked the neighboring +garden. Helen was there, and with eager eyes the girl scrutinized her. +She was very beautiful, in the classical style; as fair and finely +molded as a statue, with magnificent dark hair and eyes, and possessed +of that perfect grace which is as effective as beauty. She was alone, +and when first seen was bending over a flower which she caressed and +seemed to examine with great interest as she stood a long time +motionless before it. Then she began to pace slowly around and around +the little grass plot, her hands hanging loosely clasped before her, and +her eyes fixed on vacancy as if absorbed in thought. But as the first +effect of her beauty passed away, Lillian found something peculiar about +her. It was not the somewhat foreign dress and ornaments she wore; it +was in her face, her movements, and the tone of her voice, for as she +walked she sang a low, monotonous song, as if unconsciously. Lillian +watched her keenly, marking the aimless motions of the little hands, the +apathy of the lovely face, and the mirthless accent of the voice; but +most of all the vacant fixture of the great dark eyes. Around and around +she went, with an elastic step and a mechanical regularity wearisome to +witness. +</p> + +<p> +What is the matter with her? thought Lillian anxiously, as this painful +impression increased with every scrutiny of the unconscious girl. So +abashed was she that Hester's call was unheard, and Hester was unseen as +she came and stood beside her. Both looked a moment, and as they looked +an old lady came from the house and led Helen in, still murmuring her +monotonous song and moving her hands as if to catch and hold the +sunshine. +</p> + +<p> +"Poor dear, poor dear. No wonder Paul turns sad and won't talk of her, +and that she don't see anyone," sighed Hester pitifully. +</p> + +<p> +"What is it? I see, but don't understand," whispered Lillian. +</p> + +<p> +"She's an innocent, deary, an idiot, though that's a hard word for a +pretty creature like her." +</p> + +<p> +"How terrible! Come away, Hester, and never breathe to anyone what we +have seen." And with a shudder and sense of pain and pity lying heavy at +her heart, she hurried away, feeling doubly guilty in the discovery of +this affliction. The thought of it haunted her continually; the memory +of the lonely girl gave her no peace; and a consciousness of deceit +burdened her unspeakably, especially in Paul's presence. This lasted for +a week, then Lillian resolved to confess, hoping that when he found she +knew the truth he would let her share his cross and help to lighten it. +Waiting her opportunity, she seized a moment when her mother was absent, +and with her usual frankness spoke out impetuously. +</p> + +<p> +"Paul, I've done wrong, and I can have no peace till I am pardoned. I +have seen Helen." +</p> + +<p> +"Where, when, and how?" he asked, looking disturbed and yet relieved. +</p> + +<p> +She told him rapidly, and as she ended she looked up at him with her +sweet face, so full of pity, shame, and grief it would have been +impossible to deny her anything. +</p> + +<p> +"Can you forgive me for discovering this affliction?" +</p> + +<p> +"I think I could forgive you a far greater fault, Lillian," he answered, +in a tone that said many things. +</p> + +<p> +"But deceit is so mean, so dishonorable and contemptible, how can you so +easily pardon it in me?" she asked, quite overcome by this forgiveness, +granted without any reproach. +</p> + +<p> +"Then you would find it hard to pardon such a thing in another?" he +said, with the expression that always puzzled her. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, it would be hard; but in those I loved, I could forgive much for +love's sake." +</p> + +<p> +With a sudden gesture he took her hand saying, impulsively, "How little +changed you are! Do you remember that last ride of ours nearly five +years ago?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Paul," she answered, with averted eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"And what we talked of?" +</p> + +<p> +"A part of that childish gossip I remember well." +</p> + +<p> +"Which part?" +</p> + +<p> +"The pretty little romance you told me." And Lillian looked up now, +longing to ask if Helen's childhood had been blighted like her youth. +</p> + +<p> +Paul dropped her hand as if he, read her thoughts, and his own hand went +involuntarily toward his breast, betraying that the locket still hung +there. +</p> + +<p> +"What did I say?" he asked, smiling at her sudden shyness. +</p> + +<p> +"You vowed you'd win and wed your fair little lady-love if you lived." +</p> + +<p> +"And so I will," he cried, with sudden fire in his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +"What, marry her?" +</p> + +<p> +"Aye, that I will." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh Paul, will you tie yourself for life to a—" The word died on her +lips, but a gesture of repugnance finished the speech. +</p> + +<p> +"A what?" he demanded, excitedly. +</p> + +<p> +"An innocent, one bereft of reason," stammered Lillian, entirely +forgetting herself in her interest for him. +</p> + +<p> +"Of whom do you speak?" asked Paul, looking utterly bewildered, +</p> + +<p> +"Of poor Helen." +</p> + +<p> +"Good heavens, who told you that base lie?" And his voice deepened with +indignant pain. +</p> + +<p> +"I saw her, you did not deny her affliction; Hester said so, and I +believed it. Have I wronged her, Paul?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, cruelly. She is blind, but no idiot, thank God." +</p> + +<p> +There was such earnestness in his voice, such reproach in his words, and +such ardor in his eye, that Lillian's pride gave way, and with a broken +entreaty for pardon, she covered up her face, weeping the bitterest +tears she ever shed. For in that moment, and the sharp pang it brought +her, she felt how much she loved Paul and how hard it was to lose him. +The childish affection had blossomed into a woman's passion, and in a +few short weeks had passed through many phases of jealousy, hope, +despair, and self-delusion. The joy she felt on seeing him again, the +pride she took in him, the disgust Helen caused her, the relief she had +not dared to own even to herself, when she fancied fate had put an +insurmountable barrier between Paul and his cousin, the despair at +finding it only a fancy, and the anguish of hearing him declare his +unshaken purpose to marry his first love—all these conflicting emotions +had led to this hard moment, and now self-control deserted her in her +need. In spite of her efforts the passionate tears would have their way, +though Paul soothed her with assurances of entire forgiveness, promises +of Helen's friendship, and every gentle device he could imagine. She +commanded herself at last by a strong effort, murmuring eagerly as she +shrank from the hand that put back her fallen hair, and the face so full +of tender sympathy bending over her: +</p> + +<p> +"I am so grieved and ashamed at what I have said and done. I shall never +dare to see Helen. Forgive me, and forget this folly. I'm sad and +heavyhearted just now; it's the anniversary of Papa's death, and Mamma +always suffers so much at such times that I get nervous." +</p> + +<p> +"It is your birthday also. I remembered it, and ventured to bring a +little token in return for the one you gave me long ago. This is a +talisman, and tomorrow I will tell you the legend concerning it. Wear it +for my sake, and God bless you, dear." +</p> + +<p> +The last words were whispered hurriedly; Lillian saw the glitter of an +antique ring, felt the touch of bearded lips on her hand, and Paul was +gone. +</p> + +<p> +But as he left the house he set his teeth, exclaiming low to himself, +"Yes, tomorrow there shall be an end of this! We must risk everything +and abide the consequences now. I'll have no more torment for any of +us." +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter VII +</h2> + +<h3> +THE SECRET KEY +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +"Is Lady Trevlyn at home, Bedford?" asked Paul, as he presented himself +at an early hour next day, wearing the keen, stern expression which made +him look ten years older than he was. +</p> + +<p> +"No, sir, my lady and Miss Lillian went down to the Hall last night." +</p> + +<p> +"No ill news, I hope?" And the young man's eye kindled as if he felt a +crisis at hand. +</p> + +<p> +"Not that I heard, sir. Miss Lillian took one of her sudden whims and +would have gone alone, if my lady hadn't given in much against her will, +this being a time when she is better away from the place." +</p> + +<p> +"Did they leave no message for me?" +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, sir. Will you step in and read the note at your ease. We are in +sad confusion, but this room is in order." +</p> + +<p> +Leading the way to Lillian's boudoir, the man presented the note and +retired. A few hasty lines from my lady, regretting the necessity of +this abrupt departure, yet giving no reason for it, hoping they might +meet next season, but making no allusion to seeing him at the Hall, +desiring Lillian's thanks and regards, but closing with no hint of +Helen, except compliments. Paul smiled as he threw it into the fire, +saying to himself, "Poor lady, she thinks she has escaped the danger by +flying, and Lillian tries to hide her trouble from me. Tender little +heart! I'll comfort it without delay." +</p> + +<p> +He sat looking about the dainty room still full of tokens of her +presence. The piano stood open with a song he liked upon the rack; a bit +of embroidery, whose progress he had often watched, lay in her basket +with the little thimble near it; there was a strew of papers on the +writing table, torn notes, scraps of drawing, and ball cards; a +pearl-colored glove lay on the floor; and in the grate the faded flowers +he had brought two days before. As his eye roved to and fro, he seemed +to enjoy some happy dream, broken too soon by the sound of servants +shutting up the house. He arose but lingered near the table, as if +longing to search for some forgotten hint of himself. +</p> + +<p> +"No, there has been enough lock picking and stealthy work; I'll do no +more for her sake. This theft will harm no one and tell no tales." And +snatching up the glove, Paul departed. +</p> + +<p> +"Helen, the time has come. Are you ready?" he asked, entering her room +an hour later. +</p> + +<p> +"I am ready." And rising, she stretched her hand to him with a proud +expression, contrasting painfully with her helpless gesture. +</p> + +<p> +"They have gone to the Hall, and we must follow. It is useless to wait +longer; we gain nothing by it, and the claim must stand on such proof as +we have, or fall for want of that one link. I am tired of disguise. I +want to be myself and enjoy what I have won, unless I lose it all." +</p> + +<p> +"Paul, whatever happens, remember we cling together and share good or +evil fortune as we always have done. I am a burden, but I cannot live +without you, for you are my world. Do not desert me." +</p> + +<p> +She groped her way to him and clung to his strong arm as if it was her +only stay. Paul drew her close, saying wistfully, as he caressed the +beautiful sightless face leaning on his shoulder, "<i>Mia cara</i>, would it +break your heart, if at the last hour I gave up all and let the word +remain unspoken? My courage fails me, and in spite of the hard past I +would gladly leave them in peace." +</p> + +<p> +"No, no, you shall not give it up!" cried Helen almost fiercely, while +the slumbering fire of her southern nature flashed into her face. "You +have waited so long, worked so hard, suffered so much, you must not lose +your reward. You promised, and you must keep the promise." +</p> + +<p> +"But it is so beautiful, so noble to forgive, and return a blessing for +a curse. Let us bury the old feud, and right the old wrong in a new way. +Those two are so blameless, it is cruel to visit the sins of the dead on +their innocent heads. My lady has suffered enough already, and Lillian +is so young, so happy, so unfit to meet a storm like this. Oh, Helen, +mercy is more divine than justice." +</p> + +<p> +Something moved Paul deeply, and Helen seemed about to yield, when the +name of Lillian wrought a subtle change in her. The color died out of +her face, her black eyes burned with a gloomy fire, and her voice was +relentless as she answered, while her frail hands held him fast, "I will +not let you give it up. We are as innocent as they; we have suffered +more; and we deserve our rights, for we have no sin to expiate. Go on, +Paul, and forget the sentimental folly that unmans you." +</p> + +<p> +Something in her words seemed to sting or wound him. His face darkened, +and he put her away, saying briefly, "Let it be so then. In an hour we +must go." +</p> + +<p> +On the evening of the same day, Lady Trevlyn and her daughter sat +together in the octagon room at the Hall. Twilight was falling and +candles were not yet brought, but a cheery fire blazed in the wide +chimney, filling the apartment with a ruddy glow, turning Lillian's +bright hair to gold and lending a tinge of color to my lady's pallid +cheeks. The girl sat on a low lounging chair before the fire, her head +on her hand, her eyes on the red embers, her thoughts—where? My lady +lay on her couch, a little in the shadow, regarding her daughter with an +anxious air, for over the young face a somber change had passed which +filled her with disquiet. +</p> + +<p> +"You are out of spirits, love," she said at last, breaking the long +silence, as Lillian gave an unconscious sigh and leaned wearily into the +depths of her chair. +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, Mamma, a little." +</p> + +<p> +"What is it? Are you ill?" +</p> + +<p> +"No, Mamma; I think London gaiety is rather too much for me. I'm too +young for it, as you often say, and I've found it out." +</p> + +<p> +"Then it is only weariness that makes you so pale and grave, and so bent +on coming back here?" +</p> + +<p> +Lillian was the soul of truth, and with a moment's hesitation answered +slowly, "Not that alone, Mamma. I'm worried about other things. Don't +ask me what, please." +</p> + +<p> +"But I must ask. Tell me, child, what things? Have you seen any one? Had +letters, or been annoyed in any way about—anything?" +</p> + +<p> +My lady spoke with sudden energy and rose on her arm, eyeing the girl +with unmistakable suspicion and excitement. +</p> + +<p> +"No, Mamma, it's only a foolish trouble of my own," answered Lillian, +with a glance of surprise and a shamefaced look as the words reluctantly +left her lips. +</p> + +<p> +"Ah, a love trouble, nothing more? Thank God for that!" And my lady sank +back as if a load was off her mind. "Tell me all, my darling; there is +no confidante like a mother." +</p> + +<p> +"You are very kind, and perhaps you can cure my folly if I tell it, and +yet I am ashamed," murmured the girl. Then yielding to an irresistible +impulse to ask help and sympathy, she added, in an almost inaudible +tone, "I came away to escape from Paul." +</p> + +<p> +"Because he loves you, Lillian?" asked my lady, with a frown and a half +smile. +</p> + +<p> +"Because he does <i>not</i> love me, Mamma." And the poor girl hid her +burning cheeks in her hands, as if overwhelmed with maidenly shame at +the implied confession of her own affection. +</p> + +<p> +"My child, how is this? I cannot but be glad that he does <i>not</i> love +you; yet it fills me with grief to see that this pains you. He is not a +mate for you, Lillian. Remember this, and forget the transient regard +that has sprung up from that early intimacy of yours." +</p> + +<p> +"He is wellborn, and now my equal in fortune, and oh, so much my +superior in all gifts of mind and heart," sighed the girl, still with +hidden face, for tears were dropping through her slender fingers. +</p> + +<p> +"It may be, but there is a mystery about him; and I have a vague dislike +to him in spite of all that has passed. But, darling, are you sure he +does not care for you? I fancied I read a different story in his face, +and when you begged to leave town so suddenly, I believed that you had +seen this also, and kindly wished to spare him any pain." +</p> + +<p> +"It was to spare myself. Oh, Mamma, he loves Helen, and will marry her +although she is blind. He told me this, with a look I could not doubt, +and so I came away to hide my sorrow," sobbed poor Lillian in despair. +</p> + +<p> +Lady Trevlyn went to her and, laying the bright head on her motherly +bosom, said soothingly as she caressed it, "My little girl, it is too +soon for you to know these troubles, and I am punished for yielding to +your entreaties for a peep at the gay world. It is now too late to spare +you this; you have had your wish and must pay its price, dear. But, +Lillian, call pride to aid you, and conquer this fruitless love. It +cannot be very deep as yet, for you have known Paul, the man, too short +a time to be hopelessly enamored. Remember, there are others, better, +braver, more worthy of you; that life is long, and full of pleasure yet +untried." +</p> + +<p> +"Have no fears for me, Mamma. I'll not disgrace you or myself by any +sentimental folly. I do love Paul, but I can conquer it, and I will. +Give me a little time, and you shall see me quite myself again." +</p> + +<p> +Lillian lifted her head with an air of proud resolve that satisfied her +mother, and with a grateful kiss stole away to ease her full heart +alone. As she disappeared Lady Trevlyn drew a long breath and, clasping +her hands with a gesture of thanksgiving, murmured to herself in an +accent of relief, "Only a love sorrow! I feared it was some new terror +like the old one. Seventeen years of silence, seventeen years of secret +dread and remorse for me," she said, pacing the room with tightly locked +hands and eyes full of unspeakable anguish. "Oh, Richard, Richard! I +forgave you long ago, and surely I have expiated my innocent offense by +these years of suffering! For her sake I did it, and for her sake I +still keep dumb. God knows I ask nothing for myself but rest and +oblivion by your side." +</p> + +<p> +Half an hour later, Paul stood at the hall door. It was ajar, for the +family had returned unexpectedly, as was evident from the open doors and +empty halls. Entering unseen, he ascended to the room my lady usually +occupied. The fire burned low, Lillian's chair was empty, and my lady +lay asleep, as if lulled by the sighing winds without and the deep +silence that reigned within. Paul stood regarding her with a great pity +softening his face as he marked the sunken eyes, pallid cheeks, locks +too early gray, and restless lips muttering in dreams. +</p> + +<p> +"I wish I could spare her this," he sighed, stooping to wake her with a +word. But he did not speak, for, suddenly clutching the chain about her +neck, she seemed to struggle with some invisible foe and beat it off, +muttering audibly as she clenched her thin hands on the golden case. +Paul leaned and listened as if the first word had turned him to stone, +till the paroxysm had passed, and with a heavy sigh my lady sank into a +calmer sleep. Then, with a quick glance over his shoulder, Paul +skillfully opened the locket, drew out the silver key, replaced it with +one from the piano close by, and stole from the house noiselessly as he +had entered it. +</p> + +<p> +That night, in the darkest hour before the dawn, a figure went gliding +through the shadowy Park to its most solitary corner. Here stood the +tomb of the Trevlyns, and here the figure paused. A dull spark of light +woke in its hand, there was a clank of bars, the creak of rusty hinges, +then light and figure both seemed swallowed up. +</p> + +<p> +Standing in the tomb where the air was close and heavy, the pale glimmer +of the lantern showed piles of moldering coffins in the niches, and +everywhere lay tokens of decay and death. The man drew his hat lower +over his eyes, pulled the muffler closer about his mouth, and surveyed +the spot with an undaunted aspect, though the beating of his heart was +heard in the deep silence. Nearest the door stood a long casket covered +with black velvet and richly decorated with silver ornaments, tarnished +now. The Trevlyns had been a stalwart race, and the last sleeper brought +there had evidently been of goodly stature, for the modern coffin was as +ponderous as the great oaken beds where lay the bones of generations. +Lifting the lantern, the intruder brushed the dust from the +shield-shaped plate, read the name RICHARD TREVLYN and a date, and, as +if satisfied, placed a key in the lock, half-raised the lid, and, +averting his head that he might not see the ruin seventeen long years +had made, he laid his hand on the dead breast and from the folded shroud +drew a mildewed paper. One glance sufficed, the casket was relocked, the +door rebarred, the light extinguished, and the man vanished like a ghost +in the darkness of the wild October night. +</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2> +Chapter VIII +</h2> + +<h3> +WHICH? +</h3> + +<p> </p> + +<p> +"A Gentleman, my lady." +</p> + +<p> +Taking a card from the silver salver on which the servant offered it, +Lady Trevlyn read, "Paul Talbot," and below the name these penciled +words, "I beseech you to see me." Lillian stood beside her and saw the +line. Their eyes met, and in the girl's face was such a sudden glow of +hope, and love, and longing, that the mother could not doubt or +disappoint her wish. +</p> + +<p> +"I will see him," she said. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Mamma, how kind you are!" cried the girl with a passionate embrace, +adding breathlessly, "He did not ask for me. I cannot see him yet. I'll +hide in the alcove, and can appear or run away as I like when we know +why he comes." +</p> + +<p> +They were in the library, for, knowing Lillian's fondness for the room +which held no dark memories for her, my lady conquered her dislike and +often sat there. As she spoke, the girl glided into the deep recess of a +bay window and drew the heavy curtains just as Paul's step sounded at +the door. +</p> + +<p> +Hiding her agitation with a woman's skill, my lady rose with +outstretched hand to welcome him. He bowed but did not take the hand, +saying, in a voice of grave respect in which was audible an undertone of +strong emotion, "Pardon me, Lady Trevlyn. Hear what I have to say; and +then if you offer me your hand, I shall gratefully receive it." +</p> + +<p> +She glanced at him, and saw that he was very pale, that his eye +glittered with suppressed excitement, and his whole manner was that of a +man who had nerved himself up to the performance of a difficult but +intensely interesting task. Fancying these signs of agitation only +natural in a young lover coming to woo, my lady smiled, reseated +herself, and calmly answered, "I will listen patiently. Speak freely, +Paul, and remember I am an old friend." +</p> + +<p> +"I wish I could forget it. Then my task would be easier," he murmured in +a voice of mingled regret and resolution, as he leaned on a tall chair +opposite and wiped his damp forehead, with a look of such deep +compassion that her heart sank with a nameless fear. +</p> + +<p> +"I must tell you a long story, and ask your forgiveness for the offenses +I committed against you when a boy. A mistaken sense of duty guided me, +and I obeyed it blindly. Now I see my error and regret it," he said +earnestly. +</p> + +<p> +"Go on," replied my lady, while the vague dread grew stronger, and she +braced her nerves as for some approaching shock. She forgot Lillian, +forgot everything but the strange aspect of the man before her, and the +words to which she listened like a statue. Still standing pale and +steady, Paul spoke rapidly, while his eyes were full of mingled +sternness, pity, and remorse. +</p> + +<p> +"Twenty years ago, an English gentleman met a friend in a little Italian +town, where he had married a beautiful wife. The wife had a sister as +lovely as herself, and the young man, during that brief stay, loved and +married her—in a very private manner, lest his father should disinherit +him. A few months passed, and the Englishman was called home to take +possession of his title and estates, the father being dead. He went +alone, promising to send for the wife when all was ready. He told no one +of his marriage, meaning to surprise his English friends by producing +the lovely woman unexpectedly. He had been in England but a short time +when he received a letter from the old priest of the Italian town, +saying the cholera had swept through it, carrying off half its +inhabitants, his wife and friend among others. This blow prostrated the +young man, and when he recovered he hid his grief, shut himself up in +his country house, and tried to forget. Accident threw in his way +another lovely woman, and he married again. Before the first year was +out, the friend whom he supposed was dead appeared, and told him that +his wife still lived, and had borne him a child. In the terror and +confusion of the plague, the priest had mistaken one sister for the +other, as the elder did die." +</p> + +<p> +"Yes, yes, I know; go on!" gasped my lady, with white lips, and eyes +that never left the narrator's face. +</p> + +<p> +"This friend had met with misfortune after flying from the doomed +village with the surviving sister. They had waited long for letters, had +written, and, when no answer came, had been delayed by illness and +poverty from reaching England. At this time the child was born, and the +friend, urged by the wife and his own interest, came here, learned that +Sir Richard was married, and hurried to him in much distress. We can +imagine the grief and horror of the unhappy man. In that interview the +friend promised to leave all to Sir Richard, to preserve the secret till +some means of relief could be found; and with this promise he returned, +to guard and comfort the forsaken wife. Sir Richard wrote the truth to +Lady Trevlyn, meaning to kill himself, as the only way of escape from +the terrible situation between two women, both so beloved, both so +innocently wronged. The pistol lay ready, but death came without its +aid, and Sir Richard was spared the sin of suicide." +</p> + +<p> +Paul paused for breath, but Lady Trevlyn motioned him to go on, still +sitting rigid and white as the marble image near her. +</p> + +<p> +"The friend only lived to reach home and tell the story. It killed the +wife, and she died, imploring the old priest to see her child righted +and its father's name secured to it. He promised; but he was poor, the +child was a frail baby, and he waited. Years passed, and when the child +was old enough to ask for its parents and demand its due, the proofs of +the marriage were lost, and nothing remained but a ring, a bit of +writing, and the name. The priest was very old, had neither friends, +money, nor proofs to help him; but I was strong and hopeful, and though +a mere boy I resolved to do the work. I made my way to England, to +Trevlyn Hall, and by various stratagems (among which, I am ashamed to +say, were false keys and feigned sleepwalking) I collected many proofs, +but nothing which would satisfy a court, for no one but you knew where +Sir Richard's confession was. I searched every nook and corner of the +Hall, but in vain, and began to despair, when news of the death of +Father Cosmo recalled me to Italy; for Helen was left to my care then. +The old man had faithfully recorded the facts and left witnesses to +prove the truth of his story; but for four years I never used it, never +made any effort to secure the title or estates." +</p> + +<p> +"Why not?" breathed my lady in a faint whisper, as hope suddenly +revived. +</p> + +<p> +"Because I was grateful," and for the first time Paul's voice faltered. +"I was a stranger, and you took me in. I never could forget that, nor +tie many kindnesses bestowed upon the friendless boy. This afflicted me, +even while I was acting a false part, and when I was away my heart +failed me. But Helen gave me no peace; for my sake, she urged me to keep +the vow made to that poor mother, and threatened to tell the story +herself. Talbot's benefaction left me no excuse for delaying longer, and +I came to finish the hardest task I can ever undertake. I feared that a +long dispute would follow any appeal to law, and meant to appeal first +to you, but fate befriended me, and the last proof was found." +</p> + +<p> +"Found! Where?" cried Lady Trevlyn, springing up aghast. +</p> + +<p> +"In Sir Richard's coffin, where you hid it, not daring to destroy, yet +fearing to keep it." +</p> + +<p> +"Who has betrayed me?" And her eye glanced wildly about the room, as if +she feared to see some spectral accuser. +</p> + +<p> +"Your own lips, my lady. Last night I came to speak of this. You lay +asleep, and in some troubled dream spoke of the paper, safe in its +writer's keeping, and your strange treasure here, the key of which you +guarded day and night. I divined the truth. Remembering Hester's +stories, I took the key from your helpless hand, found the paper on Sir +Richard's dead breast, and now demand that you confess your part in this +tragedy." +</p> + +<p> +"I do, I do! I confess, I yield, I relinquish everything, and ask pity +only for my child." +</p> + +<p> +Lady Trevlyn fell upon her knees before him, with a submissive gesture, +but imploring eyes, for, amid the wreck of womanly pride and worldly +fortune, the mother's heart still clung to its idol. +</p> + +<p> +"Who should pity her, if not I? God knows I would have spared her this +blow if I could; but Helen would not keep silent, and I was driven to +finish what I had begun. Tell Lillian this, and do not let her hate me." +</p> + +<p> +As Paul spoke, tenderly, eagerly, the curtain parted, and Lillian +appeared, trembling with the excitement of that interview, but conscious +of only one emotion as she threw herself into his arms, crying in a tone +of passionate delight, "Brother! Brother! Now I may love you!" +</p> + +<p> +Paul held her close, and for a moment forgot everything but the joy of +that moment. Lillian spoke first, looking up through tears of +tenderness, her little hand laid caressingly against his cheek, as she +whispered with sudden bloom in her own, "Now I know why I loved you so +well, and now I can see you marry Helen without breaking my heart. Oh, +Paul, you are still mine, and I care for nothing else." +</p> + +<p> +"But, Lillian, I am not your brother." +</p> + +<p> +"Then, in heaven's name, who are you?" she cried, tearing herself from +his arms. +</p> + +<p> +"Your lover, dear!" +</p> + +<p> +"Who, then, is the heir?" demanded Lady Trevlyn, springing up, as +Lillian turned to seek shelter with her mother. +</p> + +<p> +"I am." +</p> + +<p> +Helen spoke, and Helen stood on the threshold of the door, with a hard, +haughty look upon her beautiful face. +</p> + +<p> +"You told your story badly, Paul," she said, in a bitter tone. "You +forgot me, forgot my affliction, my loneliness, my wrongs, and the +natural desire of a child to clear her mother's honor and claim her +father's name. I am Sir Richard's eldest daughter. I can prove my birth, +and I demand my right with his own words to sustain me." +</p> + +<p> +She paused, but no one spoke; and with a slight tremor in her proud +voice, she added, "Paul has done the work; he shall have the reward. I +only want my father's name. Title and fortune are nothing to one like +me. I coveted and claimed them that I might give them to you, Paul, my +one friend, always, so tender and so true." +</p> + +<p> +"I'll have none of it," he answered, almost fiercely. "I have kept my +promise, and am free. You chose to claim your own, although I offered +all I had to buy your silence. It is yours by right—take it, and enjoy +it if you can. I'll have no reward for work like this." +</p> + +<p> +He turned from her with a look that would have stricken her to the heart +could she have seen it. She felt it, and it seemed to augment some +secret anguish, for she pressed her hands against her bosom with an +expression of deep suffering, exclaiming passionately, "Yes, I <i>will</i> +keep it, since I am to lose all else. I am tired of pity. Power is +sweet, and I will use it. Go, Paul, and be happy if you can, with a +nameless wife, and the world's compassion or contempt to sting your +pride." +</p> + +<p> +"Oh, Lillian, where shall we go? This is no longer our home, but who +will receive us now?" cried Lady Trevlyn, in a tone of despair, for her +spirit was utterly broken by the thought of the shame and sorrow in +store for this beloved and innocent child. +</p> + +<p> +"I will." And Paul's face shone with a love and loyalty they could not +doubt. "My lady, you gave me a home when I was homeless; now let me pay +my debt. Lillian, I have loved you from the time when, a romantic boy, I +wore your little picture in my breast, and vowed to win you if I lived. +I dared not speak before, but now, when other hearts may be shut against +you, mine stands wide open to welcome you. Come, both. Let me protect +and cherish you, and so atone for the sorrow I have brought you." +</p> + +<p> +It was impossible to resist the sincere urgency of his voice, the tender +reverence of his manner, as he took the two forlorn yet innocent +creatures into the shelter of his strength and love. They clung to him +instinctively, feeling that there still remained to them one staunch +friend whom adversity could not estrange. +</p> + +<p> +An eloquent silence fell upon the room, broken only by sobs, grateful +whispers, and the voiceless vows that lovers plight with eyes, and +hands, and tender lips. Helen was forgotten, till Lillian, whose elastic +spirit threw off sorrow as a flower sheds the rain, looked up to thank +Paul, with smiles as well as tears, and saw the lonely figure in the +shadow. Her attitude was full of pathetic significance; she still stood +on the threshold, for no one had welcomed her, and in the strange room +she knew not where to go; her hands were clasped before her face, as if +those sightless eyes had seen the joy she could not share, and at her +feet lay the time-stained paper that gave her a barren title, but no +love. Had Lillian known how sharp a conflict between passion and pride, +jealousy and generosity, was going on in that young heart, she could not +have spoken in a tone of truer pity or sincerer goodwill than that in +which she softly said, "Poor girl! We must not forget her, for, with all +her wealth, she is poor compared to us. We both had one father, and +should love each other in spite of this misfortune. Helen, may I call +you sister?" +</p> + +<p> +"Not yet. Wait till I deserve it." +</p> + +<p> +As if that sweet voice had kindled an answering spark of nobleness in +her own heart, Helen's face changed beautifully, as she tore the paper +to shreds, saying in a glad, impetuous tone, while the white flakes +fluttered from her hands, "I, too, can be generous. I, too, can forgive. +I bury the sad past. See! I yield my claim, I destroy my proofs, I +promise eternal silence, and keep 'Paul's cousin' for my only title. +Yes, you are happy, for you love one another!" she cried, with a sudden +passion of tears. "Oh, forgive me, pity me, and take me in, for I am all +alone and in the dark!" +</p> + +<p> +There could be but one reply to an appeal like that, and they gave it, +as they welcomed her with words that sealed a household league of mutual +secrecy and sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +They <i>were</i> happy, for the world never knew the hidden tie that bound +them so faithfully together, never learned how well the old prophecy had +been fulfilled, or guessed what a tragedy of life and death the silver +key unlocked. +</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Key And What It Opened, by +Louisa May Alcott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS KEY *** + +***** This file should be named 8188-h.htm or 8188-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/8/8188/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mysterious Key And What It Opened + +Author: Louisa May Alcott + +Posting Date: May 25, 2011 [EBook #8188] +Release Date: May, 2005 +[This file was first posted on June 29, 2003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS KEY *** + + + + +Produced by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +The Mysterious Key and What it Opened + +By L. M. Alcott + + + + + + +Chapter I + +THE PROPHECY + + _Trevlyn lands and Trevlyn gold, + Heir nor heiress e'er shall hold, + Undisturbed, till, spite of rust, + Truth is found in Trevlyn dust._ + + +"This is the third time I've found you poring over that old rhyme. What +is the charm, Richard? Not its poetry I fancy." And the young wife laid +a slender hand on the yellow, time-worn page where, in Old English text, +appeared the lines she laughed at. + +Richard Trevlyn looked up with a smile and threw by the book, as if +annoyed at being discovered reading it. Drawing his wife's hand through +his own, he led her back to her couch, folded the soft shawls about her, +and, sitting in a low chair beside her, said in a cheerful tone, though +his eyes betrayed some hidden care, "My love, that book is a history of +our family for centuries, and that old prophecy has never yet been +fulfilled, except the 'heir and heiress' line. I am the last Trevlyn, +and as the time draws near when my child shall be born, I naturally +think of his future, and hope he will enjoy his heritage in peace." + +"God grant it!" softly echoed Lady Trevlyn, adding, with a look askance +at the old book, "I read that history once, and fancied it must be a +romance, such dreadful things are recorded in it. Is it all true, +Richard?" + +"Yes, dear. I wish it was not. Ours has been a wild, unhappy race till +the last generation or two. The stormy nature came in with old Sir +Ralph, the fierce Norman knight, who killed his only son in a fit of +wrath, by a blow with his steel gauntlet, because the boy's strong will +would not yield to his." + +"Yes, I remember, and his daughter Clotilde held the castle during a +siege, and married her cousin, Count Hugo. 'Tis a warlike race, and I +like it in spite of the mad deeds." + +"Married her cousin! That has been the bane of our family in times past. +Being too proud to mate elsewhere, we have kept to ourselves till idiots +and lunatics began to appear. My father was the first who broke the law +among us, and I followed his example: choosing the freshest, sturdiest +flower I could find to transplant into our exhausted soil." + +"I hope it will do you honor by blossoming bravely. I never forget that +you took me from a very humble home, and have made me the happiest wife +in England." + +"And I never forget that you, a girl of eighteen, consented to leave +your hills and come to cheer the long-deserted house of an old man like +me," returned her husband fondly. + +"Nay, don't call yourself old, Richard; you are only forty-five, the +boldest, handsomest man in Warwickshire. But lately you look worried; +what is it? Tell me, and let me advise or comfort you." + +"It is nothing, Alice, except my natural anxiety for you--Well, +Kingston, what do you want?" + +Trevlyn's tender tones grew sharp as he addressed the entering servant, +and the smile on his lips vanished, leaving them dry and white as he +glanced at the card he handed him. An instant he stood staring at it, +then asked, "Is the man here?" + +"In the library, sir." + +"I'll come." + +Flinging the card into the fire, he watched it turn to ashes before he +spoke, with averted eyes: "Only some annoying business, love; I shall +soon be with you again. Lie and rest till I come." + +With a hasty caress he left her, but as he passed a mirror, his wife saw +an expression of intense excitement in his face. She said nothing, and +lay motionless for several minutes evidently struggling with some strong +impulse. + +"He is ill and anxious, but hides it from me; I have a right to know, +and he'll forgive me when I prove that it does no harm." + +As she spoke to herself she rose, glided noiselessly through the hall, +entered a small closet built in the thickness of the wall, and, bending +to the keyhole of a narrow door, listened with a half-smile on her lips +at the trespass she was committing. A murmur of voices met her ear. Her +husband spoke oftenest, and suddenly some word of his dashed the smile +from her face as if with a blow. She started, shrank, and shivered, +bending lower with set teeth, white cheeks, and panic-stricken heart. +Paler and paler grew her lips, wilder and wilder her eyes, fainter and +fainter her breath, till, with a long sigh, a vain effort to save +herself, she sank prone upon the threshold of the door, as if struck +down by death. + +"Mercy on us, my lady, are you ill?" cried Hester, the maid, as her +mistress glided into the room looking like a ghost, half an hour later. + +"I am faint and cold. Help me to my bed, but do not disturb Sir +Richard." + +A shiver crept over her as she spoke, and, casting a wild, woeful look +about her, she laid her head upon the pillow like one who never cared to +lift it up again. Hester, a sharp-eyed, middle-aged woman, watched the +pale creature for a moment, then left the room muttering, "Something is +wrong, and Sir Richard must know it. That black-bearded man came for no +good, I'll warrant." + +At the door of the library she paused. No sound of voices came from +within; a stifled groan was all she heard; and without waiting to knock +she went in, fearing she knew not what. Sir Richard sat at his writing +table pen in hand, but his face was hidden on his arm, and his whole +attitude betrayed the presence of some overwhelming despair. + +"Please, sir, my lady is ill. Shall I send for anyone?" + +No answer. Hester repeated her words, but Sir Richard never stirred. +Much alarmed, the woman raised his head, saw that he was unconscious, +and rang for help. But Richard Trevlyn was past help, though he lingered +for some hours. He spoke but once, murmuring faintly, "Will Alice come +to say good-bye?" + +"Bring her if she can come," said the physician. + +Hester went, found her mistress lying as she left her, like a figure +carved in stone. When she gave the message, Lady Trevlyn answered +sternly, "Tell him I will not come," and turned her face to the wall, +with an expression which daunted the woman too much for another word. + +Hester whispered the hard answer to the physician, fearing to utter it +aloud, but Sir Richard heard it, and died with a despairing prayer for +pardon on his lips. + +When day dawned Sir Richard lay in his shroud and his little daughter in +her cradle, the one unwept, the other unwelcomed by the wife and mother, +who, twelve hours before, had called herself the happiest woman in +England. They thought her dying, and at her own command gave her the +sealed letter bearing her address which her husband left behind him. She +read it, laid it in her bosom, and, waking from the trance which seemed +to have so strongly chilled and changed her, besought those about her +with passionate earnestness to save her life. + +For two days she hovered on the brink of the grave, and nothing but the +indomitable will to live saved her, the doctors said. On the third day +she rallied wonderfully, and some purpose seemed to gift her with +unnatural strength. Evening came, and the house was very still, for all +the sad bustle of preparation for Sir Richard's funeral was over, and he +lay for the last night under his own roof. Hester sat in the darkened +chamber of her mistress, and no sound broke the hush but the low lullaby +the nurse was singing to the fatherless baby in the adjoining room. Lady +Trevlyn seemed to sleep, but suddenly put back the curtain, saying +abruptly, "Where does he lie?" + +"In the state chamber, my lady," replied Hester, anxiously watching the +feverish glitter of her mistress's eye, the flush on her cheek, and the +unnatural calmness of her manner. + +"Help me to go there; I must see him." + +"It would be your death, my lady. I beseech you, don't think of it," +began the woman; but Lady Trevlyn seemed not to hear her, and something +in the stern pallor of her face awed the woman into submission. + +Wrapping the slight form of her mistress in a warm cloak, Hester +half-led, half-carried her to the state room, and left her on the +threshold. + +"I must go in alone; fear nothing, but wait for me here," she said, and +closed the door behind her. + +Five minutes had not elapsed when she reappeared with no sign of grief +on her rigid face. + +"Take me to my bed and bring my jewel box," she said, with a shuddering +sigh, as the faithful servant received her with an exclamation of +thankfulness. + +When her orders had been obeyed, she drew from her bosom the portrait of +Sir Richard which she always wore, and, removing the ivory oval from the +gold case, she locked the former in a tiny drawer of the casket, +replaced the empty locket in her breast, and bade Hester give the jewels +to Watson, her lawyer, who would see them put in a safe place till the +child was grown. + +"Dear heart, my lady, you'll wear them yet, for you're too young to +grieve all your days, even for so good a man as my blessed master. Take +comfort, and cheer up, for the dear child's sake if no more." + +"I shall never wear them again" was all the answer as Lady Trevlyn drew +the curtains, as if to shut out hope. + +Sir Richard was buried and, the nine days' gossip over, the mystery of +his death died for want of food, for the only person who could have +explained it was in a state which forbade all allusion to that tragic +day. + +For a year Lady Trevlyn's reason was in danger. A long fever left her so +weak in mind and body that there was little hope of recovery, and her +days were passed in a state of apathy sad to witness. She seemed to have +forgotten everything, even the shock which had so sorely stricken her. +The sight of her child failed to rouse her, and month after month +slipped by, leaving no trace of their passage on her mind, and but +slightly renovating her feeble body. + +Who the stranger was, what his aim in coming, or why he never +reappeared, no one discovered. The contents of the letter left by Sir +Richard were unknown, for the paper had been destroyed by Lady Trevlyn +and no clue could be got from her. Sir Richard had died of heart +disease, the physicians said, though he might have lived years had no +sudden shock assailed him. There were few relatives to make +investigations, and friends soon forgot the sad young widow; so the +years rolled on, and Lillian the heiress grew from infancy to childhood +in the shadow of this mystery. + + + + +Chapter II + +PAUL + + +"Come, child, the dew is falling, and it is time we went in." + +"No, no, Mamma is not rested yet, so I may run down to the spring if I +like." And Lillian, as willful as winsome, vanished among the tall ferns +where deer couched and rabbits hid. + +Hester leisurely followed, looking as unchanged as if a day instead of +twelve years had passed since her arms received the little mistress, who +now ruled her like a tyrant. She had taken but a few steps when the +child came flying back, exclaiming in an excited tone, "Oh, come quick! +There's a man there, a dead man. I saw him and I'm frightened!" + +"Nonsense, child, it's one of the keepers asleep, or some stroller who +has no business here. Take my hand and we'll see who it is." + +Somewhat reassured, Lillian led her nurse to one of the old oaks beside +the path, and pointed to a figure lying half hidden in the fern. A +slender, swarthy boy of sixteen, with curly black hair, dark brows, and +thick lashes, a singularly stern mouth, and a general expression of +strength and pride, which added character to his boyish face and +dignified his poverty. His dress betrayed that, being dusty and +threadbare, his shoes much worn, and his possessions contained in the +little bundle on which he pillowed his head. He was sleeping like one +quite spent with weariness, and never stirred, though Hester bent away +the ferns and examined him closely. + +"He's not dead, my deary; he's asleep, poor lad, worn out with his day's +tramp, I dare say." "I'm glad he's alive, and I wish he'd wake up. He's +a pretty boy, isn't he? See what nice hands he's got, and his hair is +more curly than mine. Make him open his eyes, Hester," commanded the +little lady, whose fear had given place to interest. + +"Hush, he's stirring. I wonder how he got in, and what he wants," +whispered Hester. + +"I'll ask him," and before her nurse could arrest her, Lillian drew a +tall fern softly over the sleeper's face, laughing aloud as she did so. + +The boy woke at the sound, and without stirring lay looking up at the +lovely little face bent over him, as if still in a dream. + +"_Bella cara_," he said, in a musical voice. Then, as the child drew +back abashed at the glance of his large, bright eyes, he seemed to wake +entirely and, springing to his feet, looked at Hester with a quick, +searching glance. Something in his face and air caused the woman to +soften her tone a little, as she said gravely, "Did you wish to see any +one at the Hall?" + +"Yes. Is Lady Trevlyn here?" was the boy's answer, as he stood cap in +hand, with the smile fading already from his face. + +"She is, but unless your business is very urgent you had better see +Parks, the keeper; we don't trouble my lady with trifles." + +"I've a note for her from Colonel Daventry; and as it is _not_ a trifle, +I'll deliver it myself, if you please." + +Hester hesitated an instant, but Lillian cried out, "Mamma is close by, +come and see her," and led the way, beckoning as she ran. + +The lad followed with a composed air, and Hester brought up the rear, +taking notes as she went with a woman's keen eye. + +Lady Trevlyn, a beautiful, pale woman, delicate in health and melancholy +in spirit, sat on a rustic seat with a book in her hand; not reading, +but musing with an absent mind. As the child approached, she held out +her hand to welcome her, but neither smiled nor spoke. + +"Mamma, here is a--a person to see you," cried Lillian, rather at a loss +how to designate the stranger, whose height and gravity now awed her. + +"A note from Colonel Daventry, my lady," and with a bow the boy +delivered the missive. + +Scarcely glancing at him, she opened it and read: + +_My Dear Friend_, + +_The bearer of this, Paul Jex, has been with me some months and has +served me well. I brought him from Paris, but he is English born, and, +though friendless, prefers to remain here, even after we leave, as we do +in a week. When I last saw you you mentioned wanting a lad to help in +the garden; Paul is accustomed to that employment, though my wife used +him as a sort of page in the house. Hoping you may be able to give him +shelter, I venture to send him. He is honest, capable, and trustworthy +in all respects. Pray try him, and oblige_, + +_Yours sincerely_, + +_J. R. Daventry_ + +"The place is still vacant, and I shall be very glad to give it to you, +if you incline to take it," said Lady Trevlyn, lifting her eyes from the +note and scanning the boy's face. + +"I do, madam," he answered respectfully. + +"The colonel says you are English," added the lady, in a tone of +surprise. + +The boy smiled, showing a faultless set of teeth, as he replied, "I am, +my lady, though just now I may not look it, being much tanned and very +dusty. My father was an Englishman, but I've lived abroad a good deal +since he died, and got foreign ways, perhaps." + +As he spoke without any accent, and looked full in her face with a pair +of honest blue eyes under the dark lashes, Lady Trevlyn's momentary +doubt vanished. + +"Your age, Paul?" + +"Sixteen, my lady." + +"You understand gardening?" + +"Yes, my lady." + +"And what else?" + +"I can break horses, serve at table, do errands, read aloud, ride after +a young lady as groom, illuminate on parchment, train flowers, and make +myself useful in any way." + +The tone, half modest, half eager, in which the boy spoke, as well as +the odd list of his accomplishments, brought a smile to Lady Trevlyn's +lips, and the general air of the lad prepossessed her. + +"I want Lillian to ride soon, and Roger is rather old for an escort to +such a little horsewoman. Don't you think we might try Paul?" she said, +turning to Hester. + +The woman gravely eyed the lad from head to foot, and shook her head, +but an imploring little gesture and a glance of the handsome eyes +softened her heart in spite of herself. + +"Yes, my lady, if he does well about the place, and Parks thinks he's +steady enough, we might try it by-and-by." + +Lillian clapped her hands and, drawing nearer, exclaimed confidingly, as +she looked up at her new groom, "I know he'll do, Mamma. I like him very +much, and I hope you'll let him train my pony for me. Will you, Paul?" + +"Yes." + +As he spoke very low and hastily, the boy looked away from the eager +little face before him, and a sudden flush of color crossed his dark +cheek. + +Hester saw it and said within herself, "That boy has good blood in his +veins. He's no clodhopper's son, I can tell by his hands and feet, his +air and walk. Poor lad, it's hard for him, I'll warrant, but he's not +too proud for honest work, and I like that." + +"You may stay, Paul, and we will try you for a month. Hester, take him +to Parks and see that he is made comfortable. Tomorrow we will see what +he can do. Come, darling, I am rested now." + +As she spoke, Lady Trevlyn dismissed the boy with a gracious gesture and +led her little daughter away. Paul stood watching her, as if forgetful +of his companion, till she said, rather tartly, "Young man, you'd better +have thanked my lady while she was here than stare after her now it's +too late. If you want to see Parks, you'd best come, for I'm going." + +"Is that the family tomb yonder, where you found me asleep?" was the +unexpected reply to her speech, as the boy quietly followed her, not at +all daunted by her manner. + +"Yes, and that reminds me to ask how you got in, and why you were +napping there, instead of doing your errand properly?" + +"I leaped the fence and stopped to rest before presenting myself, Miss +Hester" was the cool answer, accompanied by a short laugh as he +confessed his trespass. + +"You look as if you'd had a long walk; where are you from?" + +"London." + +"Bless the boy! It's fifty miles away." + +"So my shoes show; but it's a pleasant trip in summer time." + +"But why did you walk, child! Had you no money?" + +"Plenty, but not for wasting on coaches, when my own stout legs could +carry me. I took a two days' holiday and saved my money for better +things." + +"I like that," said Hester, with an approving nod. "You'll get on, my +lad, if that's your way, and I'll lend a hand, for laziness is my +abomination, and one sees plenty nowadays." + +"Thank you. That's friendly, and I'll prove that I am grateful. Please +tell me, is my lady ill?" + +"Always delicate since Sir Richard died." + +"How long ago was that?" + +"Ten years or more." + +"Are there no young gentlemen in the family?" + +"No, Miss Lillian is an only child, and a sweet one, bless her!" + +"A proud little lady, I should say." + +"And well she may be, for there's no better blood in England than the +Trevlyns, and she's heiress to a noble fortune." + +"Is that the Trevlyn coat of arms?" asked the boy abruptly, pointing to +a stone falcon with the motto ME AND MINE carved over the gate through +which they were passing. + +"Yes. Why do you ask?" + +"Mere curiosity; I know something of heraldry and often paint these +things for my own pleasure. One learns odd amusements abroad," he added, +seeing an expression of surprise on the woman's face. + +"You'll have little time for such matters here. Come in and report +yourself to the keeper, and if you'll take my advice ask no questions of +him, for you'll get no answers." + +"I seldom ask questions of men, as they are not fond of gossip." And the +boy nodded with a smile of mischievous significance as he entered the +keeper's lodge. + +A sharp lad and a saucy, if he likes. I'll keep my eye on him, for my +lady takes no more thought of such things than a child, and Lillian +cares for nothing but her own will. He has a taking way with him, +though, and knows how to flatter. It's well he does, poor lad, for +life's a hard matter to a friendless soul like him. + +As she thought these thoughts Hester went on to the house, leaving Paul +to win the good graces of the keeper, which he speedily did by assuming +an utterly different manner from that he had worn with the woman. + +That night, when the boy was alone in his own room, he wrote a long +letter in Italian describing the events of the day, enclosed a sketch of +the falcon and motto, directed it to "Father Cosmo Carmela, Genoa," and +lay down to sleep, muttering, with a grim look and a heavy sigh, "So far +so well; I'll not let my heart be softened by pity, or my purpose change +till my promise is kept. Pretty child, I wish I had never seen her!" + + + + +Chapter III + +SECRET SERVICE + + +In a week Paul was a favorite with the household; even prudent Hester +felt the charm of his presence, and owned that Lillian was happier for a +young companion in her walks. Hitherto the child had led a solitary +life, with no playmates of her own age, such being the will of my lady; +therefore she welcomed Paul as a new and delightful amusement, +considering him her private property and soon transferring his duties +from the garden to the house. Satisfied of his merits, my lady yielded +to Lillian's demands, and Paul was installed as page to the young lady. +Always respectful and obedient, he never forgot his place, yet seemed +unconsciously to influence all who approached him, and win the goodwill +of everyone. + +My lady showed unusual interest in the lad, and Lillian openly displayed +her admiration for his accomplishments and her affection for her devoted +young servitor. Hester was much flattered by the confidence he reposed +in her, for to her alone did he tell his story, and of her alone asked +advice and comfort in his various small straits. It was as she +suspected: Paul was a gentleman's son, but misfortune had robbed him of +home, friends, and parents, and thrown him upon the world to shift for +himself. This sad story touched the woman's heart, and the boy's manly +spirit won respect. She had lost a son years ago, and her empty heart +yearned over the motherless lad. Ashamed to confess the tender feeling, +she wore her usual severe manner to him in public, but in private +softened wonderfully and enjoyed the boy's regard heartily. + +"Paul, come in. I want to speak with you a moment," said my lady, from +the long window of the library to the boy who was training vines +outside. + +Dropping his tools and pulling off his hat, Paul obeyed, looking a +little anxious, for the month of trial expired that day. Lady Trevlyn +saw and answered the look with a gracious smile. + +"Have no fears. You are to stay if you will, for Lillian is happy and I +am satisfied with you." + +"Thank you, my lady." And an odd glance of mingled pride and pain shone +in the boy's downcast eyes. + +"That is settled, then. Now let me say what I called you in for. You +spoke of being able to illuminate on parchment. Can you restore this old +book for me?" + +She put into his hand the ancient volume Sir Richard had been reading +the day he died. It had lain neglected in a damp nook for years till my +lady discovered it, and, sad as were the associations connected with it, +she desired to preserve it for the sake of the weird prophecy if nothing +else. Paul examined it, and as he turned it to and fro in his hands it +opened at the page oftenest read by its late master. His eye kindled as +he looked, and with a quick gesture he turned as if toward the light, in +truth to hide the flash of triumph that passed across his face. +Carefully controlling his voice, he answered in a moment, as he looked +up, quite composed, "Yes, my lady, I can retouch the faded colors on +these margins and darken the pale ink of the Old English text. I like +the work, and will gladly do it if you like." + +"Do it, then, but be very careful of the book while in your hands. +Provide what is needful, and name your own price for the work," said his +mistress. + +"Nay, my lady, I am already paid--" + +"How so?" she asked, surprised. + +Paul had spoken hastily, and for an instant looked embarrassed, but +answered with a sudden flush on his dark cheeks, "You have been kind to +me, and I am glad to show my, gratitude in any way, my lady." + +"Let that pass, my boy. Do this little service for me and we will see +about the recompense afterward." And with a smile Lady Trevlyn left him +to begin his work. + +The moment the door closed behind her a total change passed over Paul. +He shook his clenched hand after her with a gesture of menace, then +tossed up the old book and caught it with an exclamation of delight, as +he reopened it at the worn page and reread the inexplicable verse. + +"Another proof, another proof! The work goes bravely on, Father Cosmo; +and boy as I am, I'll keep my word in spite of everything," he muttered. + +"What is that you'll keep, lad?" said a voice behind him. + +"I'll keep my word to my lady, and do my best to restore this book, Mrs. +Hester," he answered, quickly recovering himself. + +"Ah, that's the last book poor Master read. I hid it away, but my lady +found it in spite of me," said Hester, with a doleful sigh. + +"Did he die suddenly, then?" asked the boy. + +"Dear heart, yes; I found him dying in this room with the ink scarce dry +on the letter he left for my lady. A mysterious business and a sad one." + +"Tell me about it. I like sad stories, and I already feel as if I +belonged to the family, a loyal retainer as in the old times. While you +dust the books and I rub the mold off this old cover, tell me the tale, +please, Mrs. Hester." + +She shook her head, but yielded to the persuasive look and tone of the +boy, telling the story more fully than she intended, for she loved +talking and had come to regard Paul as her own, almost. + +"And the letter? What was in it?" asked the boy, as she paused at the +catastrophe. + +"No one ever knew but my lady." + +"She destroyed it, then?" + +"I thought so, till a long time afterward, one of the lawyers came +pestering me with questions, and made me ask her. She was ill at the +time, but answered with a look I shall never forget, 'No, it's not +burnt, but no one shall ever see it.' I dared ask no more, but I fancy +she has it safe somewhere and if it's ever needed she'll bring it out. +It was only some private matters, I fancy." + +"And the stranger?" + +"Oh, he vanished as oddly as he came, and has never been found. A +strange story, lad. Keep silent, and let it rest." + +"No fear of my tattling," and the boy smiled curiously to himself as he +bent over the book, polishing the brassbound cover. + +"What are you doing with that pretty white wax?" asked Lillian the next +day, as she came upon Paul in a quiet corner of the garden and found him +absorbed in some mysterious occupation. + +With a quick gesture he destroyed his work, and, banishing a momentary +expression of annoyance, he answered in his accustomed tone as he began +to work anew, "I am molding a little deer for you, Miss Lillian. See, +here is a rabbit already done, and I'll soon have a stag also." + +"It's very pretty! How many nice things you can do, and how kind you are +to think of my liking something new. Was this wax what you went to get +this morning when you rode away so early?" asked the child. + +"Yes, Miss Lillian. I was ordered to exercise your pony and I made him +useful as well. Would you like to try this? It's very easy." + +Lillian was charmed, and for several days wax modeling was her favorite +play. Then she tired of it, and Paul invented a new amusement, smiling +his inexplicable smile as he threw away the broken toys of wax. + +"You are getting pale and thin, keeping such late hours, Paul. Go to +bed, boy, go to bed, and get your sleep early," said Hester a week +afterward, with a motherly air, as Paul passed her one morning. + +"And how do you know I don't go to bed?" he asked, wheeling about. + +"My lady has been restless lately, and I sit up with her till she +sleeps. As I go to my room, I see your lamp burning, and last night I +got as far as your door, meaning to speak to you, but didn't, thinking +you'd take it amiss. But really you are the worse for late hours, +child." + +"I shall soon finish restoring the book, and then I'll sleep. I hope I +don't disturb you. I have to grind my colors, and often make more noise +than I mean to." + +Paul fixed his eyes sharply on the woman as he spoke, but she seemed +unconscious of it, and turned to go on, saying indifferently, "Oh, +that's the odd sound, is it? No, it doesn't trouble me, so grind away, +and make an end of it as soon as may be." + +An anxious fold in the boy's forehead smoothed itself away as he left +her, saying to himself with a sigh of relief, "A narrow escape; it's +well I keep the door locked." + +The boy's light burned no more after that, and Hester was content till a +new worry came to trouble her. On her way to her room late one night, +she saw a tall shadow flit down one of the side corridors that branched +from the main one. For a moment she was startled, but, being a woman of +courage, she followed noiselessly, till the shadow seemed to vanish in +the gloom of the great hall. + +"If the house ever owned a ghost I'd say that's it, but it never did, so +I suspect some deviltry. I'll step to Paul. He's not asleep, I dare say. +He's a brave and a sensible lad, and with him I'll quietly search the +house." + +Away she went, more nervous than she would own, and tapped at the boy's +door. No one answered, and, seeing that it was ajar, Hester whisked in +so hurriedly that her candle went out. With an impatient exclamation at +her carelessness she glided to the bed, drew the curtain, and put forth +her hand to touch the sleeper. The bed was empty. A disagreeable thrill +shot through her, as she assured herself of the fact by groping along +the narrow bed. Standing in the shadow of the curtain, she stared about +the dusky room, in which objects were visible by the light of a new +moon. + +"Lord bless me, what is the boy about! I do believe it was him I saw in +the--" She got no further in her mental exclamation for the sound of +light approaching footsteps neared her. Slipping around the bed she +waited in the shadow, and a moment after Paul appeared, looking pale and +ghostly, with dark, disheveled hair, wide-open eyes, and a cloak thrown +over his shoulders. Without a pause he flung it off, laid himself in +bed, and seemed to sleep at once. + +"Paul! Paul!" whispered Hester, shaking him, after a pause of +astonishment at the whole proceeding. + +"Hey, what is it?" And he sat up, looking drowsily about him. + +"Come, come, no tricks, boy. What are you doing, trailing about the +house at this hour and in such trim?" + +"Why, Hester, is it you?" he exclaimed with a laugh, as he shook off her +grip and looked up at her in surprise. + +"Yes, and well it is me. If it had been any of those silly girls, the +house would have been roused by this time. What mischief is afoot that +you leave your bed and play ghost in this wild fashion?" + +"Leave my bed! Why, my good soul, I haven't stirred, but have been +dreaming with all my might these two hours. What do you mean, Hester?" + +She told him as she relit her lamp, and stood eyeing him sharply the +while. When she finished he was silent a minute, then said, looking half +vexed and half ashamed, "I see how it is, and I'm glad you alone have +found me out. I walk in my sleep sometimes, Hester, that's the truth. I +thought I'd got over it, but it's come back, you see, and I'm sorry for +it. Don't be troubled. I never do any mischief or come to any harm. I +just take a quiet promenade and march back to bed again. Did I frighten +you?" + +"Just a trifle, but it's nothing. Poor lad, you'll have to have a +bedfellow or be locked up; it's dangerous to go roaming about in this +way," said Hester anxiously. + +"It won't last long, for I'll get more tired and then I shall sleep +sounder. Don't tell anyone, please, else they'll laugh at me, and that's +not pleasant. I don't mind your knowing for you seem almost like a +mother, and I thank you for it with all my heart." + +He held out his hand with the look that was irresistible to Hester. +Remembering only that he was a motherless boy, she stroked the curly +hair off his forehead, and kissed him, with the thought of her own son +warm at her heart. + +"Good night, dear. I'll say nothing, but give you something that will +ensure quiet sleep hereafter." + +With that she left him, but would have been annoyed could she have seen +the convulsion of boyish merriment which took possession of him when +alone, for he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. + + + + +Chapter IV + +VANISHED + + +He's a handsome lad, and one any woman might be proud to call her son," +said Hester to Bedford, the stately butler, as they lingered at the hall +door one autumn morning to watch their young lady's departure on her +daily ride. + +"You are right, Mrs. Hester, he's a fine lad, and yet he seems above his +place, though he does look the very picture of a lady's groom," replied +Bedford approvingly. + +So he did, as he stood holding the white pony of his little mistress, +for the boy gave an air to whatever he wore and looked like a gentleman +even in his livery. The dark-blue coat with silver buttons, the silver +band about his hat, his white-topped boots and bright spurs, spotless +gloves, and tightly drawn belt were all in perfect order, all becoming, +and his handsome, dark face caused many a susceptible maid to blush and +simper as they passed him. "Gentleman Paul," as the servants called him, +was rather lofty and reserved among his mates, but they liked him +nonetheless, for Hester had dropped hints of his story and quite a +little romance had sprung up about him. He stood leaning against the +docile creature, sunk in thought, and quite unconscious of the watchers +and whisperers close by. But as Lillian appeared he woke up, attended to +his duties like a well-trained groom, and lingered over his task as if +he liked it. Down the avenue he rode behind her, but as they turned into +a shady lane Lillian beckoned, saying, in the imperious tone habitual to +her, "Ride near me. I wish to talk." + +Paul obeyed, and amused her with the chat she liked till they reached a +hazel copse; here he drew rein, and, leaping down, gathered a handful of +ripe nuts for her. + +"How nice. Let us rest a minute here, and while I eat a few, please pull +some of those flowers for Mamma. She likes a wild nosegay better than +any I can bring her from the garden." + +Lillian ate her nuts till Paul came to her with a hatful of late flowers +and, standing by her, held the impromptu basket while she made up a +bouquet to suit her taste. + +"You shall have a posy, too; I like you to wear one in your buttonhole +as the ladies' grooms do in the Park," said the child, settling a +scarlet poppy in the blue coat. + +"Thanks, Miss Lillian, I'll wear your colors with all my heart, +especially today, for it is my birthday." And Paul looked up at the +blooming little face with unusual softness in his keen blue eyes. + +"Is it? Why, then, you're seventeen; almost a man, aren't you?" + +"Yes, thank heaven," muttered the boy, half to himself. + +"I wish I was as old. I shan't be in my teens till autumn. I must give +you something, Paul, because I like you very much, and you are always +doing kind things for me. What shall it be?" And the child held out her +hand with a cordial look and gesture that touched the boy. + +With one of the foreign fashions which sometimes appeared when he forgot +himself, he kissed the small hand, saying impulsively, "My dear little +mistress, I want nothing but your goodwill--and your forgiveness," he +added, under his breath. + +"You have that already, Paul, and I shall find something to add to it. +But what is that?" And she laid hold of a little locket which had +slipped into sight as Paul bent forward in his salute. + +He thrust it back, coloring so deeply that the child observed it, and +exclaimed, with a mischievous laugh, "It is your sweetheart, Paul. I +heard Bessy, my maid, tell Hester she was sure you had one because you +took no notice of them. Let me see it. Is she pretty?" + +"Very pretty," answered the boy, without showing the picture. + +"Do you like her very much?" questioned Lillian, getting interested in +the little romance. + +"Very much," and Paul's black eyelashes fell. + +"Would you die for her, as they say in the old songs?" asked the girl, +melodramatically. + +"Yes, Miss Lillian, or live for her, which is harder." + +"Dear me, how very nice it must be to have anyone care for one so much," +said the child innocently. "I wonder if anybody ever will for me?" + + "_Love comes to all soon or late, + And maketh gay or sad; + For every bird will find its mate, + And every lass a lad,_" + +sang Paul, quoting one of Hester's songs, and looking relieved that +Lillian's thoughts had strayed from him. But he was mistaken. + +"Shall you marry this sweetheart of yours someday?" asked Lillian, +turning to him with a curious yet wistful look. + +"Perhaps." + +"You look as if there was no 'perhaps' about it," said the child, quick +to read the kindling of the eye and the change in the voice that +accompanied the boy's reply. + +"She is very young and I must wait, and while I wait many things may +happen to part us." + +"Is she a lady?" + +"Yes, a wellborn, lovely little lady, and I'll marry her if I live." +Paul spoke with a look of decision, and a proud lift of the head that +contrasted curiously with the badge of servitude he wore. + +Lillian felt this, and asked, with a sudden shyness coming over her, +"But you are a gentleman, and so no one will mind even if you are not +rich." + +"How do you know what I am?" he asked quickly. + +"I heard Hester tell the housekeeper that you were not what you seemed, +and one day she hoped you'd get your right place again. I asked Mamma +about it, and she said she would not let me be with you so much if you +were not a fit companion for me. I was not to speak of it, but she means +to be your friend and help you by-and-by." + +"Does she?" + +And the boy laughed an odd, short laugh that jarred on Lillian's ear and +made her say reprovingly, "You are proud, I know, but you'll let us help +you because we like to do it, and I have no brother to share my money +with." + +"Would you like one, or a sister?" asked Paul, looking straight into her +face with his piercing eyes. + +"Yes, indeed! I long for someone to be with me and love me, as Mamma +can't." + +"Would you be willing to share everything with another person--perhaps +have to give them a great many things you like and now have all to +yourself?" + +"I think I should. I'm selfish, I know, because everyone pets and spoils +me, but if I loved a person dearly I'd give up anything to them. Indeed +I would, Paul, pray believe me." + +She spoke earnestly, and leaned on his shoulder as if to enforce her +words. The boy's arm stole around the little figure in the saddle, and a +beautiful bright smile broke over his face as he answered warmly, "I do +believe it, dear, and it makes me happy to hear you say so. Don't be +afraid, I'm your equal, but I'll not forget that you are my little +mistress till I can change from groom to gentleman." + +He added the last sentence as he withdrew his arm, for Lillian had +shrunk a little and blushed with surprise, not anger, at this first +breach of respect on the part of her companion. Both were silent for a +moment, Paul looking down and Lillian busy with her nosegay. She spoke +first, assuming an air of satisfaction as she surveyed her work. + +"That will please Mamma, I'm sure, and make her quite forget my naughty +prank of yesterday. Do you know I offended her dreadfully by peeping +into the gold case she wears on her neck? She was asleep and I was +sitting by her. In her sleep she pulled it out and said something about +a letter and Papa. I wanted to see Papa's face, for I never did, because +the big picture of him is gone from the gallery where the others are, so +I peeped into the case when she let it drop and was so disappointed to +find nothing but a key." + +"A key! What sort of a key?" cried Paul in an eager tone. + +"Oh, a little silver one like the key of my piano, or the black cabinet. +She woke and was very angry to find me meddling." + +"What did it belong to?" asked Paul. + +"Her treasure box, she said, but I don't know where or what that is, and +I dare not ask any more, for she forbade my speaking to her about it. +Poor Mamma! I'm always troubling her in some way or other." + +With a penitent sigh, Lillian tied up her flowers and handed them to +Paul to carry. As she did so, the change in his face struck her. + +"How grim and old you look," she exclaimed. "Have I said anything that +troubles you?" + +"No, Miss Lillian. I'm only thinking." + +"Then I wish you wouldn't think, for you get a great wrinkle in your +forehead, your eyes grow almost black, and your mouth looks fierce. You +are a very odd person, Paul; one minute as gay as any boy, and the next +as grave and stern as a man with a deal of work to do." + +"I _have_ got a deal of work to do, so no wonder I look old and grim." + +"What work, Paul?" + +"To make my fortune and win my lady." + +When Paul spoke in that tone and wore that look, Lillian felt as if they +had changed places, and he was the master and she the servant. She +wondered over this in her childish mind, but proud and willful as she +was, she liked it, and obeyed him with unusual meekness when he +suggested that it was time to return. As he rode silently beside her, +she stole covert glances at him from under her wide hat brim, and +studied his unconscious face as she had never done before. His lips +moved now and then but uttered no audible sound, his black brows were +knit, and once his hand went to his breast as if he thought of the +little sweetheart whose picture lay there. + +He's got a trouble. I wish he'd tell me and let me help him if I can. +I'll make him show me that miniature someday, for I'm interested in that +girl, thought Lillian with a pensive sigh. + +As he held his hand for her little foot in dismounting her at the hall +door, Paul seemed to have shaken off his grave mood, for he looked up +and smiled at her with his blithest expression. But Lillian appeared to +be the thoughtful one now and with an air of dignity, very pretty and +becoming, thanked her young squire in a stately manner and swept into +the house, looking tall and womanly in her flowing skirts. + +Paul laughed as he glanced after her and, flinging himself onto his +horse, rode away to the stables at a reckless pace, as if to work off +some emotion for which he could find no other vent. + +"Here's a letter for you, lad, all the way from some place in Italy. Who +do you know there?" said Bedford, as the boy came back. + +With a hasty "Thank you," Paul caught the letter and darted away to his +own room, there to tear it open and, after reading a single line, to +drop into a chair as if he had received a sudden blow. Growing paler and +paler he read on, and when the letter fell from his hands he exclaimed, +in a tone of despair, "How could he die at such a time!" + +For an hour the boy sat thinking intently, with locked door, curtained +window, and several papers strewn before him. Letters, memoranda, plans, +drawings, and bits of parchment, all of which he took from a small +locked portfolio always worn about him. Over these he pored with a face +in which hope, despondency, resolve, and regret alternated rapidly. +Taking the locket out he examined a ring which lay in one side, and the +childish face which smiled on him from the other. His eyes filled as he +locked and put it by, saying tenderly, "Dear little heart! I'll not +forget or desert her whatever happens. Time must help me, and to time I +must leave my work. One more attempt and then I'm off." + + * * * * * + +"I'll go to bed now, Hester; but while you get my things ready I'll take +a turn in the corridor. The air will refresh me." + +As she spoke, Lady Trevlyn drew her wrapper about her and paced softly +down the long hall lighted only by fitful gleams of moonlight and the +ruddy glow of the fire. At the far end was the state chamber, never used +now, and never visited except by Hester, who occasionally went in to +dust and air it, and my lady, who always passed the anniversary of Sir +Richard's death alone there. The gallery was very dark, and she seldom +went farther than the last window in her restless walks, but as she now +approached she was startled to see a streak of yellow light under the +door. She kept the key herself and neither she nor Hester had been there +that day. A cold shiver passed over her for, as she looked, the shadow +of a foot darkened the light for a moment and vanished as if someone had +noiselessly passed. Obeying a sudden impulse, my lady sprang forward and +tried to open the door. It was locked, but as her hand turned the silver +knob a sound as if a drawer softly closed met her ear. She stooped to +the keyhole but it was dark, a key evidently being in the lock. She drew +back and flew to her room, snatched the key from her dressing table, +and, bidding Hester follow, returned to the hall. + +"What is it, my lady?" cried the woman, alarmed at the agitation of her +mistress. + +"A light, a sound, a shadow in the state chamber. Come quick!" cried +Lady Trevlyn, adding, as she pointed to the door, "There, there, the +light shines underneath. Do you see it?" + +"No, my lady, it's dark," returned Hester. + +It was, but never pausing my lady thrust in the key, and to her surprise +it turned, the door flew open, and the dim, still room was before them. +Hester boldly entered, and while her mistress slowly followed, she +searched the room, looking behind the tall screen by the hearth, up the +wide chimney, in the great wardrobe, and under the ebony cabinet, where +all the relics of Sir Richard were kept. Nothing appeared, not even a +mouse, and Hester turned to my lady with an air of relief. But her +mistress pointed to the bed shrouded in dark velvet hangings, and +whispered breathlessly, "You forgot to look there." + +Hester had not forgotten, but in spite of her courage and good sense she +shrank a little from looking at the spot where she had last seen her +master's dead face. She believed the light and sound to be phantoms of +my lady's distempered fancy, and searched merely to satisfy her. The +mystery of Sir Richard's death still haunted the minds of all who +remembered it, and even Hester felt a superstitious dread of that room. +With a nervous laugh she looked under the bed and, drawing back the +heavy curtains, said soothingly, "You see, my lady, there's nothing +there." + +But the words died on her lips, for, as the pale glimmer of the candle +pierced the gloom of that funeral couch, both saw a face upon the +pillow: a pale face framed in dark hair and beard, with closed eyes and +the stony look the dead wear. A loud, long shriek that roused the house +broke from Lady Trevlyn as she fell senseless at the bedside, and +dropping both curtain and candle Hester caught up her mistress and fled +from the haunted room, locking the door behind her. + +In a moment a dozen servants were about them, and into their astonished +ears Hester poured her story while vainly trying to restore her lady. +Great was the dismay and intense the unwillingness of anyone to obey +when Hester ordered the men to search the room again, for she was the +first to regain her self-possession. + +"Where's Paul? He's the heart of a man, boy though he is," she said +angrily as the men hung back. + +"He's not here. Lord! Maybe it was him a-playing tricks, though it ain't +like him," cried Bessy, Lillian's little maid. + +"No, it can't be him, for I locked him in myself. He walks in his sleep +sometimes, and I was afraid he'd startle my lady. Let him sleep; this +would only excite him and set him to marching again. Follow me, Bedford +and James, I'm not afraid of ghosts or rogues." + +With a face that belied her words Hester led the way to the awful room, +and flinging back the curtain resolutely looked in. The bed was empty, +but on the pillow was plainly visible the mark of a head and a single +scarlet stain, as of blood. At that sight Hester turned pale and caught +the butler's arm, whispering with a shudder, "Do you remember the night +we put him in his coffin, the drop of blood that fell from his white +lips? Sir Richard has been here." + +"Good Lord, ma'am, don't say that! We can never rest in our beds if such +things are to happen," gasped Bedford, backing to the door. + +"It's no use to look, we've found all we shall find so go your ways and +tell no one of this," said the woman in a gloomy tone, and, having +assured herself that the windows were fast, Hester locked the room and +ordered everyone but Bedford and the housekeeper to bed. "Do you sit +outside my lady's door till morning," she said to the butler, "and you, +Mrs. Price, help me to tend my poor lady, for if I'm not mistaken this +night's work will bring on the old trouble." + +Morning came, and with it a new alarm; for, though his door was fast +locked and no foothold for even a sparrow outside the window, Paul's +room was empty, and the boy nowhere to be found. + + + + +Chapter V + +A HERO + + +Four years had passed, and Lillian was fast blooming into a lovely +woman: proud and willful as ever, but very charming, and already a belle +in the little world where she still reigned a queen. Owing to her +mother's ill health, she was allowed more freedom than is usually +permitted to an English girl of her age; and, during the season, often +went into company with a friend of Lady Trevlyn's who was chaperoning +two young daughters of her own. To the world Lillian seemed a gay, +free-hearted girl; and no one, not even her mother, knew how well she +remembered and how much she missed the lost Paul. No tidings of him had +ever come, and no trace of him was found after his flight. Nothing was +missed, he went without his wages, and no reason could be divined for +his departure except the foreign letter. Bedford remembered it, but +forgot what postmark it bore, for he had only been able to decipher +"Italy." My lady made many inquiries and often spoke of him; but when +month after month passed and no news came, she gave him up, and on +Lillian's account feigned to forget him. Contrary to Hester's fear, she +did not seem the worse for the nocturnal fright, but evidently connected +the strange visitor with Paul, or, after a day or two of nervous +exhaustion, returned to her usual state of health. Hester had her own +misgivings, but, being forbidden to allude to the subject, she held her +peace, after emphatically declaring that Paul would yet appear to set +her mind at rest. + +"Lillian, Lillian, I've such news for you! Come and hear a charming +little romance, and prepare to see the hero of it!" cried Maud +Churchill, rushing into her friend's pretty boudoir one day in the +height of the season. + +Lillian lay on a couch, rather languid after a ball, and listlessly +begged Maud to tell her story, for she was dying to be amused. + +"Well my, dear, just listen and you'll be as enthusiastic as I am," +cried Maud. And throwing her bonnet on one chair, her parasol on +another, and her gloves anywhere, she settled herself on the couch and +began: "You remember reading in the papers, some time ago, that fine +account of the young man who took part in the Italian revolution and did +that heroic thing with the bombshell?" + +"Yes, what of him?" asked Lillian, sitting up. + +"He is my hero, and we are to see him tonight." + +"Go on, go on! Tell all, and tell it quickly," she cried. + +"You know the officers were sitting somewhere, holding a council, while +the city (I forget the name) was being bombarded, and how a shell came +into the midst of them, how they sat paralyzed, expecting it to burst, +and how this young man caught it up and ran out with it, risking his own +life to save theirs?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember!" And Lillian's listless face kindled at the +recollection. + +"Well, an Englishman who was there was so charmed by the act that, +finding the young man was poor and an orphan, he adopted him. Mr. Talbot +was old, and lonely, and rich, and when he died, a year after, he left +his name and fortune to this Paolo." + +"I'm glad, I'm glad!" cried Lillian, clapping her hands with a joyful +face. "How romantic and charming it is!" + +"Isn't it? But, my dear creature, the most romantic part is to come. +Young Talbot served in the war, and then came to England to take +possession of his property. It's somewhere down in Kent, a fine place +and good income, all his; and he deserves it. Mamma heard a deal about +him from Mrs. Langdon, who knew old Talbot and has seen the young man. +Of course all the girls are wild to behold him, for he is very handsome +and accomplished, and a gentleman by birth. But the dreadful part is +that he is already betrothed to a lovely Greek girl, who came over at +the same time, and is living in London with a companion; quite +elegantly, Mrs. Langdon says, for she called and was charmed. +This girl has been seen by some of our gentlemen friends, and they +already rave about the 'fair Helene,' for that's her name." + +Here Maud was forced to stop for breath, and Lillian had a chance to +question her. + +"How old is she?" + +"About eighteen or nineteen, they say." + +"Very pretty?" + +"Ravishing, regularly Greek and divine, Fred Raleigh says." + +"When is she to be married?" + +"Don't know; when Talbot gets settled, I fancy." + +"And he? Is he as charming as she?" + +"Quite, I'm told. He's just of age, and is, in appearance as in +everything else, a hero of romance." + +"How came your mother to secure him for tonight?" + +"Mrs. Langdon is dying to make a lion of him, and begged to bring him. +He is very indifferent on such things and seems intent on his own +affairs. Is grave and old for his years, and doesn't seem to care much +for pleasure and admiration, as most men would after a youth like his, +for he has had a hard time, I believe. For a wonder, he consented to +come when Mrs. Langdon asked him, and I flew off at once to tell you and +secure you for tonight." + +"A thousand thanks. I meant to rest, for Mamma frets about my being so +gay; but she won't object to a quiet evening with you. What shall we +wear?" And here the conversation branched off on the all-absorbing topic +of dress. + +When Lillian joined her friend that evening, the hero had already +arrived, and, stepping into a recess, she waited to catch a glimpse of +him. Maud was called away, and she was alone when the crowd about the +inner room thinned and permitted young Talbot to be seen. Well for +Lillian that no one observed her at that moment, for she grew pale and +sank into a chair, exclaiming below her breath, "It is Paul--_my_ Paul!" + +She recognized him instantly, in spite of increased height, a dark +moustache, and martial bearing. It was Paul, older, graver, handsomer, +but still "her Paul," as she called him, with a flush of pride and +delight as she watched him, and felt that of all there she knew him best +and loved him most. For the childish affection still existed, and this +discovery added a tinge of romance that made it doubly dangerous as well +as doubly pleasant. + +Will he know me? she thought, glancing at a mirror which reflected a +slender figure with bright hair, white arms, and brilliant eyes; a +graceful little head, proudly carried, and a sweet mouth, just then very +charming, as it smiled till pearly teeth shone between the ruddy lips. + +I'm glad I'm not ugly, and I hope he'll like me, she thought, as she +smoothed the golden ripples on her forehead, settled her sash, and shook +out the folds of her airy dress in a flutter of girlish excitement. +"I'll pretend not to know him, when we meet, and see what he will do," +she said, with a wicked sense of power; for being forewarned she was +forearmed, and, fearing no betrayal of surprise on her own part, was +eager to enjoy any of which he might be guilty. + +Leaving her nook, she joined a group of young friends and held herself +prepared for the meeting. Presently she saw Maud and Mrs. Langdon +approaching, evidently intent on presenting the hero to the heiress. + +"Mr. Talbot, Miss Trevlyn," said the lady. And looking up with a +well-assumed air of indifference, Lillian returned the gentleman's bow +with her eyes fixed full upon his face. + +Not a feature of that face changed, and so severely unconscious of any +recognition was it that the girl was bewildered. For a moment she +fancied she had been mistaken in his identity, and a pang of +disappointment troubled her; but as he moved a chair for Maud, she saw +on the one ungloved hand a little scar which she remembered well, for he +received it in saving her from a dangerous fall. At the sight all the +happy past rose before her, and if her telltale eyes had not been +averted they would have betrayed her. A sudden flush of maidenly shame +dyed her cheek as she remembered that last ride, and the childish +confidences then interchanged. This Helen was the little sweetheart +whose picture he wore, and now, in spite of all obstacles, he had won +both fortune and ladylove. The sound of his voice recalled her thoughts, +and glancing up she met the deep eyes fixed on her with the same steady +look they used to wear. He had addressed her, but what he said she knew +not, beyond a vague idea that it was some slight allusion to the music +going on in the next room. With a smile which would serve for an answer +to almost any remark, she hastily plunged into conversation with a +composure that did her credit in the eyes of her friends, who stood in +awe of the young hero, for all were but just out. + +"Mr. Talbot hardly needs an introduction here, for his name is +well-known among us, though this is perhaps his first visit to England?" +she said, flattering herself that this artful speech would entrap him +into the reply she wanted. + +With a slight frown, as if the allusion to his adventure rather annoyed +him, and a smile that puzzled all but Lillian, he answered very simply, +"It is not my first visit to this hospitable island. I was here a few +years ago, for a short time, and left with regret." + +"Then you have old friends here?" And Lillian watched him as she spoke. + +"I had. They had doubtless forgotten me now," he said, with a sudden +shadow marring the tranquillity of his face. + +"Why doubt them? If they were true friends, they will not forget." + +The words were uttered impulsively, almost warmly, but Talbot made no +response, except a polite inclination and an abrupt change in the +conversation. + +"That remains to be proved. Do you sing, Miss Trevlyn?" + +"A little." And Lillian's tone was both cold and proud. + +"A great deal, and very charmingly," added Maud, who took pride in her +friend's gifts both of voice and beauty. "Come, dear, there are so few +of us you will sing, I know. Mamma desired me to ask you when Edith had +done." + +To her surprise Lillian complied, and allowed Talbot to lead her to the +instrument. Still hoping to win some sign of recognition from him, the +girl chose an air he taught her and sang it with a spirit and skill that +surprised the listeners who possessed no key to her mood. At the last +verse her voice suddenly faltered, but Talbot took up the song and +carried her safely through it with his well-tuned voice. + +"You know the air then?" she said in a low tone, as a hum of +commendation followed the music. + +"All Italians sing it, though few do it like yourself," he answered +quietly, restoring the fan he had held while standing beside her. + +Provoking boy! why won't he know me? thought Lillian. And her tone was +almost petulant as she refused to sing again. + +Talbot offered his arm and led her to a seat, behind which stood a +little statuette of a child holding a fawn by a daisy chain. + +"Pretty, isn't it?" she said, as he paused to look at it instead of +taking the chair before her. "I used to enjoy modeling tiny deer and +hinds in wax, as well as making daisy chains. Is sculpture among the +many accomplishments which rumor tells us you possess?" + +"No. Those who, like me, have their own fortunes to mold find time for +little else," he answered gravely, still examining the marble group. + +Lillian broke her fan with an angry flirt, for she was tired of her +trial, and wished she had openly greeted him at the beginning; feeling +now how pleasant it would have been to sit chatting of old times, while +her friends dared hardly address him at all. She was on the point of +calling him by his former name, when the remembrance of what he had been +arrested the words on her lips. He was proud; would he not dread to have +it known that, in his days of adversity, he had been a servant? For if +she betrayed her knowledge of his past, she would be forced to tell +where and how that knowledge was gained. No, better wait till they met +alone, she thought; he would thank her for her delicacy, and she could +easily explain her motive. He evidently wished to seem a stranger, for +once she caught a gleam of the old, mirthful mischief in his eye, as she +glanced up unexpectedly. He did remember her, she was sure, yet was +trying her, perhaps, as she tried him. Well, she would stand the test +and enjoy the joke by-and-by. With this fancy in her head she assumed a +gracious air and chatted away in her most charming style, feeling both +gay and excited, so anxious was she to please, and so glad to recover +her early friend. A naughty whim seized her as her eye fell on a +portfolio of classical engravings which someone had left in disorder on +a table near her. Tossing them over she asked his opinion of several, +and then handed him one in which Helen of Troy was represented as giving +her hand to the irresistible Paris. + +"Do you think her worth so much bloodshed, and deserving so much +praise?" she asked, vainly trying to conceal the significant smile that +would break loose on her lips and sparkle in her eyes. + +Talbot laughed the short, boyish laugh so familiar to her ears, as he +glanced from the picture to the arch questioner, and answered in a tone +that made her heart beat with a nameless pain and pleasure, so full of +suppressed ardor was it: + +"Yes! 'All for love or the world well lost' is a saying I heartily agree +to. La belle Helene is my favorite heroine, and I regard Paris as the +most enviable of men." + +"I should like to see her." + +The wish broke from Lillian involuntarily, and she was too much confused +to turn it off by any general expression of interest in the classical +lady. + +"You may sometime," answered Talbot, with an air of amusement; adding, +as if to relieve her, "I have a poetical belief that all the lovely +women of history or romance will meet, and know, and love each other in +some charming hereafter." + +"But I'm no heroine and no beauty, so I shall never enter your poetical +paradise," said Lillian, with a pretty affectation of regret. + +"Some women are beauties without knowing it, and the heroines of +romances never given to the world. I think you and Helen will yet meet, +Miss Trevlyn." + +As he spoke, Mrs. Langdon beckoned, and he left her pondering over his +last words, and conscious of a secret satisfaction in his implied +promise that she should see his betrothed. + +"How do you like him?" whispered Maud, slipping into the empty chair. + +"Very well," was the composed reply; for Lillian enjoyed her little +mystery too much to spoil it yet. + +"What did you say to him? I longed to hear, for you seemed to enjoy +yourselves very much, but I didn't like to be a marplot." + +Lillian repeated a part of the conversation, and Maud professed to be +consumed with jealousy at the impression her friend had evidently made. + +"It is folly to try to win the hero, for he is already won, you know," +answered Lillian, shutting the cover on the pictured Helen with a sudden +motion as if glad to extinguish her. + +"Oh dear, no; Mrs. Langdon just told Mamma that she was mistaken about +their being engaged; for she asked him and he shook his head, saying +Helen was his ward." + +"But that is absurd, for he's only a boy himself. It's very odd, isn't +it? Never mind, I shall soon know all about it." + +"How?" cried Maud, amazed at Lillian's assured manner. + +"Wait a day or two and, I'll tell you a romance in return for yours. +Your mother beckons to me, so I know Hester has come. Good night. I've +had a charming time." + +And with this tantalizing adieu, Lillian slipped away. Hester was +waiting in the carriage, but as Lillian appeared, Talbot put aside the +footman and handed her in, saying very low, in the well-remembered tone: + +"Good night, my little mistress." + + + + +Chapter VI + +FAIR HELEN + + +To no one but her mother and Hester did Lillian confide the discovery +she had made. None of the former servants but old Bedford remained with +them, and till Paul chose to renew the old friendship it was best to +remain silent. Great was the surprise and delight of our lady and Hester +at the good fortune of their protege, and many the conjectures as to how +he would explain his hasty flight. + +"You will go and see him, won't you, Mamma, or at least inquire about +him?" said Lillian, eager to assure the wanderer of a welcome, for those +few words of his had satisfied her entirely. + +"No, dear, it is for him to seek us, and till he does, I shall make no +sign. He knows where we are, and if he chooses he can renew the +acquaintance so strangely broken off. Be patient, and above all things +remember, Lillian, that you are no longer a child," replied my lady, +rather disturbed by her daughter's enthusiastic praises of Paul. + +"I wish I was, for then I might act as I feel, and not be afraid of +shocking the proprieties." And Lillian went to bed to dream of her hero. + +For three days she stayed at home, expecting Paul, but he did not come, +and she went out for her usual ride in the Park, hoping to meet him. An +elderly groom now rode behind her, and she surveyed him with extreme +disgust, as she remembered the handsome lad who had once filled that +place. Nowhere did Paul appear, but in the Ladies' Mile she passed an +elegant brougham in which sat a very lovely girl and a mild old lady. + +"That is Talbot's fiancee," said Maud Churchill, who had joined her. +"Isn't she beautiful?" + +"Not at all--yes, very," was Lillian's somewhat peculiar reply, for +jealousy and truth had a conflict just then. "He's so perfectly absorbed +and devoted that I am sure that story is true, so adieu to our hopes," +laughed Maud. + +"Did you have any? Good-bye, I must go." And Lillian rode home at a pace +which caused the stout groom great distress. + +"Mamma, I've seen Paul's betrothed!" she cried, running into her +mother's boudoir. + +"And I have seen Paul himself," replied my lady, with a warning look, +for there he stood, with half-extended hand, as if waiting to be +acknowledged. + +Lillian forgot her embarrassment in her pleasure, and made him an +elaborate curtsy, saying, with a half-merry, half-reproachful glance, +"Mr. Talbot is welcome in whatever guise he appears." + +"I choose to appear as Paul, then, and offer you a seat, Miss Lillian," +he said, assuming as much of his boyish manner as he could. + +Lillian took it and tried to feel at ease, but the difference between +the lad she remembered and the man she now saw was too great to be +forgotten. + +"Now tell us your adventures, and why you vanished away so mysteriously +four years ago," she said, with a touch of the childish imperiousness in +her voice, though her frank eyes fell before his. + +"I was about to do so when you appeared with news concerning my cousin," +he began. + +"Your cousin!" exclaimed Lillian. + +"Yes, Helen's mother and my own were sisters. Both married Englishmen, +both died young, leaving us to care for each other. We were like a +brother and sister, and always together till I left her to serve Colonel +Daventry. The death of the old priest to whom I entrusted her recalled +me to Genoa, for I was then her only guardian. I meant to have taken +leave of you, my lady, properly, but the consequences of that foolish +trick of mine frightened me away in the most unmannerly fashion." + +"Ah, it was you, then, in the state chamber; I always thought so," and +Lady Trevlyn drew a long breath of relief. + +"Yes, I heard it whispered among the servants that the room was haunted, +and I felt a wish to prove the truth of the story and my own courage. +Hester locked me in, for fear of my sleepwalking; but I lowered myself +by a rope and then climbed in at the closet window of the state chamber. +When you came, my lady, I thought it was Hester, and slipped into the +bed, meaning to give her a fright in return for her turning the key on +me. But when your cry showed me what I had done, I was filled with +remorse, and escaped as quickly and quietly as possible. I should have +asked pardon before; I do now, most humbly, my lady, for it was +sacrilege to play pranks _there_." + +During the first part of his story Paul's manner had been frank and +composed, but in telling the latter part, his demeanor underwent a +curious change. He fixed his eyes on the ground and spoke as if +repeating a lesson, while his color varied, and a half-proud, +half-submissive expression replaced the former candid one. Lillian +observed this, and it disturbed her, but my lady took it for shame at +his boyish freak and received his confession kindly, granting a free +pardon and expressing sincere pleasure at his amended fortunes. As he +listened, Lillian saw him clench his hand hard and knit his brows, +assuming the grim look she had often seen, as if trying to steel himself +against some importunate emotion or rebellious thought. + +"Yes, half my work is done, and I have a home, thanks to my generous +benefactor, and I hope to enjoy it well and wisely," he said in a grave +tone, as if the fortune had not yet brought him his heart's desire. + +"And when is the other half of the work to be accomplished, Paul? That +depends on your cousin, perhaps." And Lady Trevlyn regarded him with a +gleam of womanly curiosity in her melancholy eyes. + +"It does, but not in the way you fancy, my lady. Whatever Helen may be, +she is not my fiancee yet, Miss Lillian." And the shadow lifted as he +laughed, looking at the young lady, who was decidedly abashed, in spite +of a sense of relief caused by his words. + +"I merely accepted the world's report," she said, affecting a nonchalant +air. + +"The world is a liar, as you will find in time" was his abrupt reply. + +"I hope to see this beautiful cousin, Paul. Will she receive us as old +friends of yours?" + +"Thanks, not yet, my lady. She is still too much a stranger here to +enjoy new faces, even kind ones. I have promised perfect rest and +freedom for a time, but you shall be the first whom she receives." + +Again Lillian detected the secret disquiet which possessed him, and her +curiosity was roused. It piqued her that this Helen felt no desire to +meet her and chose to seclude herself, as if regardless of the interest +and admiration she excited. "I _will_ see her in spite of her refusal, +for I only caught a glimpse in the Park. Something is wrong, and I'll +discover it, for it evidently worries Paul, and perhaps I can help him." + +As this purpose sprang up in the warm but willful heart of the girl, she +regained her spirits and was her most charming self while the young man +stayed. They talked of many things in a pleasant, confidential manner, +though when Lillian recalled that hour, she was surprised to find how +little Paul had really told them of his past life or future plans. It +was agreed among them to say nothing of their former relations, except +to old Bedford, who was discretion itself, but to appear to the world as +new-made friends--thus avoiding unpleasant and unnecessary explanations +which would only excite gossip. My lady asked him to dine, but he had +business out of town and declined, taking his leave with a lingering +look, which made Lillian steal away to study her face in the mirror and +wonder if she looked her best, for in Paul's eyes she had read +undisguised admiration. + +Lady Trevlyn went to her room to rest, leaving the girl free to ride, +drive, or amuse herself as she liked. As if fearing her courage would +fail if she delayed, Lillian ordered the carriage, and, bidding Hester +mount guard over her, she drove away to St. John's Wood. + +"Now, Hester, don't lecture or be prim when I tell you that we are going +on a frolic," she began, after getting the old woman into an amiable +mood by every winning wile she could devise. "I think you'll like it, +and if it's found out I'll take the blame. There is some mystery about +Paul's cousin, and I'm going to find it out." + +"Bless you, child, how?" + +"She lives alone here, is seldom seen, and won't go anywhere or receive +anyone. That's not natural in a pretty girl. Paul won't talk about her, +and, though he's fond of her, he always looks grave and grim when I ask +questions. That's provoking, and I won't hear it. Maud is engaged to +Raleigh, you know; well, he confided to her that he and a friend had +found out where Helen was, had gone to the next villa, which is empty, +and under pretense of looking at it got a peep at the girl in her +garden. I'm going to do the same." + +"And what am _I_ to do?" asked Hester, secretly relishing the prank, +for she was dying with curiosity to behold Paul's cousin. + +"You are to do the talking with the old woman, and give me a chance to +look. Now say you will, and I'll behave myself like an angel in return." + +Hester yielded, after a few discreet scruples, and when they reached +Laburnum Lodge played her part so well that Lillian soon managed to +stray away into one of the upper rooms which overlooked the neighboring +garden. Helen was there, and with eager eyes the girl scrutinized her. +She was very beautiful, in the classical style; as fair and finely +molded as a statue, with magnificent dark hair and eyes, and possessed +of that perfect grace which is as effective as beauty. She was alone, +and when first seen was bending over a flower which she caressed and +seemed to examine with great interest as she stood a long time +motionless before it. Then she began to pace slowly around and around +the little grass plot, her hands hanging loosely clasped before her, and +her eyes fixed on vacancy as if absorbed in thought. But as the first +effect of her beauty passed away, Lillian found something peculiar about +her. It was not the somewhat foreign dress and ornaments she wore; it +was in her face, her movements, and the tone of her voice, for as she +walked she sang a low, monotonous song, as if unconsciously. Lillian +watched her keenly, marking the aimless motions of the little hands, the +apathy of the lovely face, and the mirthless accent of the voice; but +most of all the vacant fixture of the great dark eyes. Around and around +she went, with an elastic step and a mechanical regularity wearisome to +witness. + +What is the matter with her? thought Lillian anxiously, as this painful +impression increased with every scrutiny of the unconscious girl. So +abashed was she that Hester's call was unheard, and Hester was unseen as +she came and stood beside her. Both looked a moment, and as they looked +an old lady came from the house and led Helen in, still murmuring her +monotonous song and moving her hands as if to catch and hold the +sunshine. + +"Poor dear, poor dear. No wonder Paul turns sad and won't talk of her, +and that she don't see anyone," sighed Hester pitifully. + +"What is it? I see, but don't understand," whispered Lillian. + +"She's an innocent, deary, an idiot, though that's a hard word for a +pretty creature like her." + +"How terrible! Come away, Hester, and never breathe to anyone what we +have seen." And with a shudder and sense of pain and pity lying heavy at +her heart, she hurried away, feeling doubly guilty in the discovery of +this affliction. The thought of it haunted her continually; the memory +of the lonely girl gave her no peace; and a consciousness of deceit +burdened her unspeakably, especially in Paul's presence. This lasted for +a week, then Lillian resolved to confess, hoping that when he found she +knew the truth he would let her share his cross and help to lighten it. +Waiting her opportunity, she seized a moment when her mother was absent, +and with her usual frankness spoke out impetuously. + +"Paul, I've done wrong, and I can have no peace till I am pardoned. I +have seen Helen." + +"Where, when, and how?" he asked, looking disturbed and yet relieved. + +She told him rapidly, and as she ended she looked up at him with her +sweet face, so full of pity, shame, and grief it would have been +impossible to deny her anything. + +"Can you forgive me for discovering this affliction?" + +"I think I could forgive you a far greater fault, Lillian," he answered, +in a tone that said many things. + +"But deceit is so mean, so dishonorable and contemptible, how can you so +easily pardon it in me?" she asked, quite overcome by this forgiveness, +granted without any reproach. + +"Then you would find it hard to pardon such a thing in another?" he +said, with the expression that always puzzled her. + +"Yes, it would be hard; but in those I loved, I could forgive much for +love's sake." + +With a sudden gesture he took her hand saying, impulsively, "How little +changed you are! Do you remember that last ride of ours nearly five +years ago?" + +"Yes, Paul," she answered, with averted eyes. + +"And what we talked of?" + +"A part of that childish gossip I remember well." + +"Which part?" + +"The pretty little romance you told me." And Lillian looked up now, +longing to ask if Helen's childhood had been blighted like her youth. + +Paul dropped her hand as if he, read her thoughts, and his own hand went +involuntarily toward his breast, betraying that the locket still hung +there. + +"What did I say?" he asked, smiling at her sudden shyness. + +"You vowed you'd win and wed your fair little lady-love if you lived." + +"And so I will," he cried, with sudden fire in his eyes. + +"What, marry her?" + +"Aye, that I will." + +"Oh Paul, will you tie yourself for life to a--" The word died on her +lips, but a gesture of repugnance finished the speech. + +"A what?" he demanded, excitedly. + +"An innocent, one bereft of reason," stammered Lillian, entirely +forgetting herself in her interest for him. + +"Of whom do you speak?" asked Paul, looking utterly bewildered, + +"Of poor Helen." + +"Good heavens, who told you that base lie?" And his voice deepened with +indignant pain. + +"I saw her, you did not deny her affliction; Hester said so, and I +believed it. Have I wronged her, Paul?" + +"Yes, cruelly. She is blind, but no idiot, thank God." + +There was such earnestness in his voice, such reproach in his words, and +such ardor in his eye, that Lillian's pride gave way, and with a broken +entreaty for pardon, she covered up her face, weeping the bitterest +tears she ever shed. For in that moment, and the sharp pang it brought +her, she felt how much she loved Paul and how hard it was to lose him. +The childish affection had blossomed into a woman's passion, and in a +few short weeks had passed through many phases of jealousy, hope, +despair, and self-delusion. The joy she felt on seeing him again, the +pride she took in him, the disgust Helen caused her, the relief she had +not dared to own even to herself, when she fancied fate had put an +insurmountable barrier between Paul and his cousin, the despair at +finding it only a fancy, and the anguish of hearing him declare his +unshaken purpose to marry his first love--all these conflicting emotions +had led to this hard moment, and now self-control deserted her in her +need. In spite of her efforts the passionate tears would have their way, +though Paul soothed her with assurances of entire forgiveness, promises +of Helen's friendship, and every gentle device he could imagine. She +commanded herself at last by a strong effort, murmuring eagerly as she +shrank from the hand that put back her fallen hair, and the face so full +of tender sympathy bending over her: + +"I am so grieved and ashamed at what I have said and done. I shall never +dare to see Helen. Forgive me, and forget this folly. I'm sad and +heavyhearted just now; it's the anniversary of Papa's death, and Mamma +always suffers so much at such times that I get nervous." + +"It is your birthday also. I remembered it, and ventured to bring a +little token in return for the one you gave me long ago. This is a +talisman, and tomorrow I will tell you the legend concerning it. Wear it +for my sake, and God bless you, dear." + +The last words were whispered hurriedly; Lillian saw the glitter of an +antique ring, felt the touch of bearded lips on her hand, and Paul was +gone. + +But as he left the house he set his teeth, exclaiming low to himself, +"Yes, tomorrow there shall be an end of this! We must risk everything +and abide the consequences now. I'll have no more torment for any of +us." + + + + +Chapter VII + +THE SECRET KEY + + +"Is Lady Trevlyn at home, Bedford?" asked Paul, as he presented himself +at an early hour next day, wearing the keen, stern expression which made +him look ten years older than he was. + +"No, sir, my lady and Miss Lillian went down to the Hall last night." + +"No ill news, I hope?" And the young man's eye kindled as if he felt a +crisis at hand. + +"Not that I heard, sir. Miss Lillian took one of her sudden whims and +would have gone alone, if my lady hadn't given in much against her will, +this being a time when she is better away from the place." + +"Did they leave no message for me?" + +"Yes, sir. Will you step in and read the note at your ease. We are in +sad confusion, but this room is in order." + +Leading the way to Lillian's boudoir, the man presented the note and +retired. A few hasty lines from my lady, regretting the necessity of +this abrupt departure, yet giving no reason for it, hoping they might +meet next season, but making no allusion to seeing him at the Hall, +desiring Lillian's thanks and regards, but closing with no hint of +Helen, except compliments. Paul smiled as he threw it into the fire, +saying to himself, "Poor lady, she thinks she has escaped the danger by +flying, and Lillian tries to hide her trouble from me. Tender little +heart! I'll comfort it without delay." + +He sat looking about the dainty room still full of tokens of her +presence. The piano stood open with a song he liked upon the rack; a bit +of embroidery, whose progress he had often watched, lay in her basket +with the little thimble near it; there was a strew of papers on the +writing table, torn notes, scraps of drawing, and ball cards; a +pearl-colored glove lay on the floor; and in the grate the faded flowers +he had brought two days before. As his eye roved to and fro, he seemed +to enjoy some happy dream, broken too soon by the sound of servants +shutting up the house. He arose but lingered near the table, as if +longing to search for some forgotten hint of himself. + +"No, there has been enough lock picking and stealthy work; I'll do no +more for her sake. This theft will harm no one and tell no tales." And +snatching up the glove, Paul departed. + +"Helen, the time has come. Are you ready?" he asked, entering her room +an hour later. + +"I am ready." And rising, she stretched her hand to him with a proud +expression, contrasting painfully with her helpless gesture. + +"They have gone to the Hall, and we must follow. It is useless to wait +longer; we gain nothing by it, and the claim must stand on such proof as +we have, or fall for want of that one link. I am tired of disguise. I +want to be myself and enjoy what I have won, unless I lose it all." + +"Paul, whatever happens, remember we cling together and share good or +evil fortune as we always have done. I am a burden, but I cannot live +without you, for you are my world. Do not desert me." + +She groped her way to him and clung to his strong arm as if it was her +only stay. Paul drew her close, saying wistfully, as he caressed the +beautiful sightless face leaning on his shoulder, "_Mia cara_, would it +break your heart, if at the last hour I gave up all and let the word +remain unspoken? My courage fails me, and in spite of the hard past I +would gladly leave them in peace." + +"No, no, you shall not give it up!" cried Helen almost fiercely, while +the slumbering fire of her southern nature flashed into her face. "You +have waited so long, worked so hard, suffered so much, you must not lose +your reward. You promised, and you must keep the promise." + +"But it is so beautiful, so noble to forgive, and return a blessing for +a curse. Let us bury the old feud, and right the old wrong in a new way. +Those two are so blameless, it is cruel to visit the sins of the dead on +their innocent heads. My lady has suffered enough already, and Lillian +is so young, so happy, so unfit to meet a storm like this. Oh, Helen, +mercy is more divine than justice." + +Something moved Paul deeply, and Helen seemed about to yield, when the +name of Lillian wrought a subtle change in her. The color died out of +her face, her black eyes burned with a gloomy fire, and her voice was +relentless as she answered, while her frail hands held him fast, "I will +not let you give it up. We are as innocent as they; we have suffered +more; and we deserve our rights, for we have no sin to expiate. Go on, +Paul, and forget the sentimental folly that unmans you." + +Something in her words seemed to sting or wound him. His face darkened, +and he put her away, saying briefly, "Let it be so then. In an hour we +must go." + +On the evening of the same day, Lady Trevlyn and her daughter sat +together in the octagon room at the Hall. Twilight was falling and +candles were not yet brought, but a cheery fire blazed in the wide +chimney, filling the apartment with a ruddy glow, turning Lillian's +bright hair to gold and lending a tinge of color to my lady's pallid +cheeks. The girl sat on a low lounging chair before the fire, her head +on her hand, her eyes on the red embers, her thoughts--where? My lady +lay on her couch, a little in the shadow, regarding her daughter with an +anxious air, for over the young face a somber change had passed which +filled her with disquiet. + +"You are out of spirits, love," she said at last, breaking the long +silence, as Lillian gave an unconscious sigh and leaned wearily into the +depths of her chair. + +"Yes, Mamma, a little." + +"What is it? Are you ill?" + +"No, Mamma; I think London gaiety is rather too much for me. I'm too +young for it, as you often say, and I've found it out." + +"Then it is only weariness that makes you so pale and grave, and so bent +on coming back here?" + +Lillian was the soul of truth, and with a moment's hesitation answered +slowly, "Not that alone, Mamma. I'm worried about other things. Don't +ask me what, please." + +"But I must ask. Tell me, child, what things? Have you seen any one? Had +letters, or been annoyed in any way about--anything?" + +My lady spoke with sudden energy and rose on her arm, eyeing the girl +with unmistakable suspicion and excitement. + +"No, Mamma, it's only a foolish trouble of my own," answered Lillian, +with a glance of surprise and a shamefaced look as the words reluctantly +left her lips. + +"Ah, a love trouble, nothing more? Thank God for that!" And my lady sank +back as if a load was off her mind. "Tell me all, my darling; there is +no confidante like a mother." + +"You are very kind, and perhaps you can cure my folly if I tell it, and +yet I am ashamed," murmured the girl. Then yielding to an irresistible +impulse to ask help and sympathy, she added, in an almost inaudible +tone, "I came away to escape from Paul." + +"Because he loves you, Lillian?" asked my lady, with a frown and a half +smile. + +"Because he does _not_ love me, Mamma." And the poor girl hid her +burning cheeks in her hands, as if overwhelmed with maidenly shame at +the implied confession of her own affection. + +"My child, how is this? I cannot but be glad that he does _not_ love +you; yet it fills me with grief to see that this pains you. He is not a +mate for you, Lillian. Remember this, and forget the transient regard +that has sprung up from that early intimacy of yours." + +"He is wellborn, and now my equal in fortune, and oh, so much my +superior in all gifts of mind and heart," sighed the girl, still with +hidden face, for tears were dropping through her slender fingers. + +"It may be, but there is a mystery about him; and I have a vague dislike +to him in spite of all that has passed. But, darling, are you sure he +does not care for you? I fancied I read a different story in his face, +and when you begged to leave town so suddenly, I believed that you had +seen this also, and kindly wished to spare him any pain." + +"It was to spare myself. Oh, Mamma, he loves Helen, and will marry her +although she is blind. He told me this, with a look I could not doubt, +and so I came away to hide my sorrow," sobbed poor Lillian in despair. + +Lady Trevlyn went to her and, laying the bright head on her motherly +bosom, said soothingly as she caressed it, "My little girl, it is too +soon for you to know these troubles, and I am punished for yielding to +your entreaties for a peep at the gay world. It is now too late to spare +you this; you have had your wish and must pay its price, dear. But, +Lillian, call pride to aid you, and conquer this fruitless love. It +cannot be very deep as yet, for you have known Paul, the man, too short +a time to be hopelessly enamored. Remember, there are others, better, +braver, more worthy of you; that life is long, and full of pleasure yet +untried." + +"Have no fears for me, Mamma. I'll not disgrace you or myself by any +sentimental folly. I do love Paul, but I can conquer it, and I will. +Give me a little time, and you shall see me quite myself again." + +Lillian lifted her head with an air of proud resolve that satisfied her +mother, and with a grateful kiss stole away to ease her full heart +alone. As she disappeared Lady Trevlyn drew a long breath and, clasping +her hands with a gesture of thanksgiving, murmured to herself in an +accent of relief, "Only a love sorrow! I feared it was some new terror +like the old one. Seventeen years of silence, seventeen years of secret +dread and remorse for me," she said, pacing the room with tightly locked +hands and eyes full of unspeakable anguish. "Oh, Richard, Richard! I +forgave you long ago, and surely I have expiated my innocent offense by +these years of suffering! For her sake I did it, and for her sake I +still keep dumb. God knows I ask nothing for myself but rest and +oblivion by your side." + +Half an hour later, Paul stood at the hall door. It was ajar, for the +family had returned unexpectedly, as was evident from the open doors and +empty halls. Entering unseen, he ascended to the room my lady usually +occupied. The fire burned low, Lillian's chair was empty, and my lady +lay asleep, as if lulled by the sighing winds without and the deep +silence that reigned within. Paul stood regarding her with a great pity +softening his face as he marked the sunken eyes, pallid cheeks, locks +too early gray, and restless lips muttering in dreams. + +"I wish I could spare her this," he sighed, stooping to wake her with a +word. But he did not speak, for, suddenly clutching the chain about her +neck, she seemed to struggle with some invisible foe and beat it off, +muttering audibly as she clenched her thin hands on the golden case. +Paul leaned and listened as if the first word had turned him to stone, +till the paroxysm had passed, and with a heavy sigh my lady sank into a +calmer sleep. Then, with a quick glance over his shoulder, Paul +skillfully opened the locket, drew out the silver key, replaced it with +one from the piano close by, and stole from the house noiselessly as he +had entered it. + +That night, in the darkest hour before the dawn, a figure went gliding +through the shadowy Park to its most solitary corner. Here stood the +tomb of the Trevlyns, and here the figure paused. A dull spark of light +woke in its hand, there was a clank of bars, the creak of rusty hinges, +then light and figure both seemed swallowed up. + +Standing in the tomb where the air was close and heavy, the pale glimmer +of the lantern showed piles of moldering coffins in the niches, and +everywhere lay tokens of decay and death. The man drew his hat lower +over his eyes, pulled the muffler closer about his mouth, and surveyed +the spot with an undaunted aspect, though the beating of his heart was +heard in the deep silence. Nearest the door stood a long casket covered +with black velvet and richly decorated with silver ornaments, tarnished +now. The Trevlyns had been a stalwart race, and the last sleeper brought +there had evidently been of goodly stature, for the modern coffin was as +ponderous as the great oaken beds where lay the bones of generations. +Lifting the lantern, the intruder brushed the dust from the +shield-shaped plate, read the name RICHARD TREVLYN and a date, and, as +if satisfied, placed a key in the lock, half-raised the lid, and, +averting his head that he might not see the ruin seventeen long years +had made, he laid his hand on the dead breast and from the folded shroud +drew a mildewed paper. One glance sufficed, the casket was relocked, the +door rebarred, the light extinguished, and the man vanished like a ghost +in the darkness of the wild October night. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +WHICH? + + +"A Gentleman, my lady." + +Taking a card from the silver salver on which the servant offered it, +Lady Trevlyn read, "Paul Talbot," and below the name these penciled +words, "I beseech you to see me." Lillian stood beside her and saw the +line. Their eyes met, and in the girl's face was such a sudden glow of +hope, and love, and longing, that the mother could not doubt or +disappoint her wish. + +"I will see him," she said. + +"Oh, Mamma, how kind you are!" cried the girl with a passionate embrace, +adding breathlessly, "He did not ask for me. I cannot see him yet. I'll +hide in the alcove, and can appear or run away as I like when we know +why he comes." + +They were in the library, for, knowing Lillian's fondness for the room +which held no dark memories for her, my lady conquered her dislike and +often sat there. As she spoke, the girl glided into the deep recess of a +bay window and drew the heavy curtains just as Paul's step sounded at +the door. + +Hiding her agitation with a woman's skill, my lady rose with +outstretched hand to welcome him. He bowed but did not take the hand, +saying, in a voice of grave respect in which was audible an undertone of +strong emotion, "Pardon me, Lady Trevlyn. Hear what I have to say; and +then if you offer me your hand, I shall gratefully receive it." + +She glanced at him, and saw that he was very pale, that his eye +glittered with suppressed excitement, and his whole manner was that of a +man who had nerved himself up to the performance of a difficult but +intensely interesting task. Fancying these signs of agitation only +natural in a young lover coming to woo, my lady smiled, reseated +herself, and calmly answered, "I will listen patiently. Speak freely, +Paul, and remember I am an old friend." + +"I wish I could forget it. Then my task would be easier," he murmured in +a voice of mingled regret and resolution, as he leaned on a tall chair +opposite and wiped his damp forehead, with a look of such deep +compassion that her heart sank with a nameless fear. + +"I must tell you a long story, and ask your forgiveness for the offenses +I committed against you when a boy. A mistaken sense of duty guided me, +and I obeyed it blindly. Now I see my error and regret it," he said +earnestly. + +"Go on," replied my lady, while the vague dread grew stronger, and she +braced her nerves as for some approaching shock. She forgot Lillian, +forgot everything but the strange aspect of the man before her, and the +words to which she listened like a statue. Still standing pale and +steady, Paul spoke rapidly, while his eyes were full of mingled +sternness, pity, and remorse. + +"Twenty years ago, an English gentleman met a friend in a little Italian +town, where he had married a beautiful wife. The wife had a sister as +lovely as herself, and the young man, during that brief stay, loved and +married her--in a very private manner, lest his father should disinherit +him. A few months passed, and the Englishman was called home to take +possession of his title and estates, the father being dead. He went +alone, promising to send for the wife when all was ready. He told no one +of his marriage, meaning to surprise his English friends by producing +the lovely woman unexpectedly. He had been in England but a short time +when he received a letter from the old priest of the Italian town, +saying the cholera had swept through it, carrying off half its +inhabitants, his wife and friend among others. This blow prostrated the +young man, and when he recovered he hid his grief, shut himself up in +his country house, and tried to forget. Accident threw in his way +another lovely woman, and he married again. Before the first year was +out, the friend whom he supposed was dead appeared, and told him that +his wife still lived, and had borne him a child. In the terror and +confusion of the plague, the priest had mistaken one sister for the +other, as the elder did die." + +"Yes, yes, I know; go on!" gasped my lady, with white lips, and eyes +that never left the narrator's face. + +"This friend had met with misfortune after flying from the doomed +village with the surviving sister. They had waited long for letters, had +written, and, when no answer came, had been delayed by illness and +poverty from reaching England. At this time the child was born, and the +friend, urged by the wife and his own interest, came here, learned that +Sir Richard was married, and hurried to him in much distress. We can +imagine the grief and horror of the unhappy man. In that interview the +friend promised to leave all to Sir Richard, to preserve the secret till +some means of relief could be found; and with this promise he returned, +to guard and comfort the forsaken wife. Sir Richard wrote the truth to +Lady Trevlyn, meaning to kill himself, as the only way of escape from +the terrible situation between two women, both so beloved, both so +innocently wronged. The pistol lay ready, but death came without its +aid, and Sir Richard was spared the sin of suicide." + +Paul paused for breath, but Lady Trevlyn motioned him to go on, still +sitting rigid and white as the marble image near her. + +"The friend only lived to reach home and tell the story. It killed the +wife, and she died, imploring the old priest to see her child righted +and its father's name secured to it. He promised; but he was poor, the +child was a frail baby, and he waited. Years passed, and when the child +was old enough to ask for its parents and demand its due, the proofs of +the marriage were lost, and nothing remained but a ring, a bit of +writing, and the name. The priest was very old, had neither friends, +money, nor proofs to help him; but I was strong and hopeful, and though +a mere boy I resolved to do the work. I made my way to England, to +Trevlyn Hall, and by various stratagems (among which, I am ashamed to +say, were false keys and feigned sleepwalking) I collected many proofs, +but nothing which would satisfy a court, for no one but you knew where +Sir Richard's confession was. I searched every nook and corner of the +Hall, but in vain, and began to despair, when news of the death of +Father Cosmo recalled me to Italy; for Helen was left to my care then. +The old man had faithfully recorded the facts and left witnesses to +prove the truth of his story; but for four years I never used it, never +made any effort to secure the title or estates." + +"Why not?" breathed my lady in a faint whisper, as hope suddenly +revived. + +"Because I was grateful," and for the first time Paul's voice faltered. +"I was a stranger, and you took me in. I never could forget that, nor +tie many kindnesses bestowed upon the friendless boy. This afflicted me, +even while I was acting a false part, and when I was away my heart +failed me. But Helen gave me no peace; for my sake, she urged me to keep +the vow made to that poor mother, and threatened to tell the story +herself. Talbot's benefaction left me no excuse for delaying longer, and +I came to finish the hardest task I can ever undertake. I feared that a +long dispute would follow any appeal to law, and meant to appeal first +to you, but fate befriended me, and the last proof was found." + +"Found! Where?" cried Lady Trevlyn, springing up aghast. + +"In Sir Richard's coffin, where you hid it, not daring to destroy, yet +fearing to keep it." + +"Who has betrayed me?" And her eye glanced wildly about the room, as if +she feared to see some spectral accuser. + +"Your own lips, my lady. Last night I came to speak of this. You lay +asleep, and in some troubled dream spoke of the paper, safe in its +writer's keeping, and your strange treasure here, the key of which you +guarded day and night. I divined the truth. Remembering Hester's +stories, I took the key from your helpless hand, found the paper on Sir +Richard's dead breast, and now demand that you confess your part in this +tragedy." + +"I do, I do! I confess, I yield, I relinquish everything, and ask pity +only for my child." + +Lady Trevlyn fell upon her knees before him, with a submissive gesture, +but imploring eyes, for, amid the wreck of womanly pride and worldly +fortune, the mother's heart still clung to its idol. + +"Who should pity her, if not I? God knows I would have spared her this +blow if I could; but Helen would not keep silent, and I was driven to +finish what I had begun. Tell Lillian this, and do not let her hate me." + +As Paul spoke, tenderly, eagerly, the curtain parted, and Lillian +appeared, trembling with the excitement of that interview, but conscious +of only one emotion as she threw herself into his arms, crying in a tone +of passionate delight, "Brother! Brother! Now I may love you!" + +Paul held her close, and for a moment forgot everything but the joy of +that moment. Lillian spoke first, looking up through tears of +tenderness, her little hand laid caressingly against his cheek, as she +whispered with sudden bloom in her own, "Now I know why I loved you so +well, and now I can see you marry Helen without breaking my heart. Oh, +Paul, you are still mine, and I care for nothing else." + +"But, Lillian, I am not your brother." + +"Then, in heaven's name, who are you?" she cried, tearing herself from +his arms. + +"Your lover, dear!" + +"Who, then, is the heir?" demanded Lady Trevlyn, springing up, as +Lillian turned to seek shelter with her mother. + +"I am." + +Helen spoke, and Helen stood on the threshold of the door, with a hard, +haughty look upon her beautiful face. + +"You told your story badly, Paul," she said, in a bitter tone. "You +forgot me, forgot my affliction, my loneliness, my wrongs, and the +natural desire of a child to clear her mother's honor and claim her +father's name. I am Sir Richard's eldest daughter. I can prove my birth, +and I demand my right with his own words to sustain me." + +She paused, but no one spoke; and with a slight tremor in her proud +voice, she added, "Paul has done the work; he shall have the reward. I +only want my father's name. Title and fortune are nothing to one like +me. I coveted and claimed them that I might give them to you, Paul, my +one friend, always, so tender and so true." + +"I'll have none of it," he answered, almost fiercely. "I have kept my +promise, and am free. You chose to claim your own, although I offered +all I had to buy your silence. It is yours by right--take it, and enjoy +it if you can. I'll have no reward for work like this." + +He turned from her with a look that would have stricken her to the heart +could she have seen it. She felt it, and it seemed to augment some +secret anguish, for she pressed her hands against her bosom with an +expression of deep suffering, exclaiming passionately, "Yes, I _will_ +keep it, since I am to lose all else. I am tired of pity. Power is +sweet, and I will use it. Go, Paul, and be happy if you can, with a +nameless wife, and the world's compassion or contempt to sting your +pride." + +"Oh, Lillian, where shall we go? This is no longer our home, but who +will receive us now?" cried Lady Trevlyn, in a tone of despair, for her +spirit was utterly broken by the thought of the shame and sorrow in +store for this beloved and innocent child. + +"I will." And Paul's face shone with a love and loyalty they could not +doubt. "My lady, you gave me a home when I was homeless; now let me pay +my debt. Lillian, I have loved you from the time when, a romantic boy, I +wore your little picture in my breast, and vowed to win you if I lived. +I dared not speak before, but now, when other hearts may be shut against +you, mine stands wide open to welcome you. Come, both. Let me protect +and cherish you, and so atone for the sorrow I have brought you." + +It was impossible to resist the sincere urgency of his voice, the tender +reverence of his manner, as he took the two forlorn yet innocent +creatures into the shelter of his strength and love. They clung to him +instinctively, feeling that there still remained to them one staunch +friend whom adversity could not estrange. + +An eloquent silence fell upon the room, broken only by sobs, grateful +whispers, and the voiceless vows that lovers plight with eyes, and +hands, and tender lips. Helen was forgotten, till Lillian, whose elastic +spirit threw off sorrow as a flower sheds the rain, looked up to thank +Paul, with smiles as well as tears, and saw the lonely figure in the +shadow. Her attitude was full of pathetic significance; she still stood +on the threshold, for no one had welcomed her, and in the strange room +she knew not where to go; her hands were clasped before her face, as if +those sightless eyes had seen the joy she could not share, and at her +feet lay the time-stained paper that gave her a barren title, but no +love. Had Lillian known how sharp a conflict between passion and pride, +jealousy and generosity, was going on in that young heart, she could not +have spoken in a tone of truer pity or sincerer goodwill than that in +which she softly said, "Poor girl! We must not forget her, for, with all +her wealth, she is poor compared to us. We both had one father, and +should love each other in spite of this misfortune. Helen, may I call +you sister?" + +"Not yet. Wait till I deserve it." + +As if that sweet voice had kindled an answering spark of nobleness in +her own heart, Helen's face changed beautifully, as she tore the paper +to shreds, saying in a glad, impetuous tone, while the white flakes +fluttered from her hands, "I, too, can be generous. I, too, can forgive. +I bury the sad past. See! I yield my claim, I destroy my proofs, I +promise eternal silence, and keep 'Paul's cousin' for my only title. +Yes, you are happy, for you love one another!" she cried, with a sudden +passion of tears. "Oh, forgive me, pity me, and take me in, for I am all +alone and in the dark!" + +There could be but one reply to an appeal like that, and they gave it, +as they welcomed her with words that sealed a household league of mutual +secrecy and sacrifice. + +They _were_ happy, for the world never knew the hidden tie that bound +them so faithfully together, never learned how well the old prophecy had +been fulfilled, or guessed what a tragedy of life and death the silver +key unlocked. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mysterious Key And What It Opened, by +Louisa May Alcott + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTERIOUS KEY *** + +***** This file should be named 8188.txt or 8188.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/1/8/8188/ + +Produced by David Garcia, Beginners Projects, Lee Ann Rael, +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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