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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Old Stone House and Other Stories, by
+Anna Katharine Green
+
+
+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 Old Stone House and Other Stories
+
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 13, 2007  [eBook #21824]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER
+STORIES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES
+
+by
+
+ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+Short Story Index Reprint Series
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Books for Libraries Press
+Freeport, New York
+First Published 1891
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+   THE OLD STONE HOUSE
+
+   A MEMORABLE NIGHT
+
+   THE BLACK CROSS
+
+   A MYSTERIOUS CASE
+
+   SHALL HE WED HER?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OLD STONE HOUSE.
+
+
+I was riding along one autumn day through a certain wooded portion of
+New York State, when I came suddenly upon an old stone house in which
+the marks of age were in such startling contrast to its unfinished
+condition that I involuntarily stopped my horse and took a long survey
+of the lonesome structure. Embowered in a forest which had so grown in
+thickness and height since the erection of this building that the
+boughs of some of the tallest trees almost met across its decayed
+roof, it presented even at first view an appearance of picturesque
+solitude almost approaching to desolation. But when my eye had time to
+note that the moss was clinging to eaves from under which the
+scaffolding had never been taken, and that of the ten large windows in
+the blackened front of the house only two had ever been furnished
+with frames, the awe of some tragic mystery began to creep over me,
+and I sat and wondered at the sight till my increasing interest
+compelled me to alight and take a nearer view of the place.
+
+The great front door which had been finished so many years ago, but
+which had never been hung, leaned against the side of the house, of
+which it had almost become a part, so long had they clung together
+amid the drippings of innumerable rains. Close beside it yawned the
+entrance, a large black gap through which nearly a century of storms
+had rushed with their winds and wet till the lintels were green with
+moisture and slippery with rot. Standing on this untrod threshold, I
+instinctively glanced up at the scaffolding above me, and started as I
+noticed that it had partially fallen away, as if time were weakening
+its supports and making the precipitation of the whole a threatening
+possibility. Alarmed lest it might fall while I stood there, I did not
+linger long beneath it, but, with a shudder which I afterwards
+remembered, stepped into the house and proceeded to inspect its
+rotting, naked, and unfinished walls. I found them all in the one
+condition. A fine house had once been planned and nearly completed,
+but it had been abandoned before the hearths had been tiled, or the
+wainscoting nailed to its place. The staircase which ran up through
+the centre of the house was without banisters but otherwise finished
+and in a state of fair preservation. Seeing this and not being able to
+resist the temptation which it offered me of inspecting the rest of
+the house, I ascended to the second story.
+
+Here the doors were hung and the fireplaces bricked, and as I wandered
+from room to room I wondered more than ever what had caused the
+desertion of so promising a dwelling. If, as appeared, the first owner
+had died suddenly, why could not an heir have been found, and what
+could be the story of a place so abandoned and left to destruction
+that its walls gave no token of ever having offered shelter to a human
+being? As I could not answer this question I allowed my imagination
+full play, and was just forming some weird explanation of the facts
+before me when I felt my arm suddenly seized from behind, and paused
+aghast. Was I then not alone in the deserted building? Was there some
+solitary being who laid claim to its desolation and betrayed jealousy
+at any intrusion within its mysterious precincts? Or was the dismal
+place haunted by some uneasy spirit, who with long, uncanny fingers
+stood ready to clutch the man who presumed to bring living hopes and
+fears into a spot dedicated entirely to memories? I had scarcely the
+courage to ask, but when I turned and saw what it was that had alarmed
+me, I did not know whether to laugh at my fears or feel increased awe
+of my surroundings. For it was the twigs of a tree which had seized
+me, and for a long limb such as this to have grown into a place
+intended for the abode of man, necessitated a lapse of time and a
+depth of solitude oppressive to think of.
+
+Anxious to be rid of suggestions wellnigh bordering upon the
+superstitious, I took one peep from the front windows, and then
+descended to the first floor. The sight of my horse quietly dozing in
+the summer sunlight had reassured me, and by the time I had recrossed
+the dismal threshold, and regained the cheerful highway, I was
+conscious of no emotions deeper than the intense interest of a curious
+mind to solve the mystery and understand the secret of this remarkable
+house.
+
+Rousing my horse from his comfortable nap, I rode on through the
+forest; but scarcely had I gone a dozen rods before the road took a
+turn, the trees suddenly parted, and I found myself face to face with
+wide rolling meadows and a busy village. So, then, this ancient and
+deserted house was not in the heart of the woods, as I had imagined,
+but in the outskirts of a town, and face to face with life and
+activity. This discovery was a shock to my romance, but as it gave my
+curiosity an immediate hope of satisfaction, I soon became reconciled
+to the situation, and taking the road which led to the village, drew
+up before the inn and went in, ostensibly for refreshment. This being
+speedily provided, I sat down in the cosy dining-room, and as soon as
+opportunity offered, asked the attentive landlady why the old house in
+the woods had remained so long deserted.
+
+She gave me an odd look, and then glanced aside at an old man who sat
+doubled up in the opposite corner. "It is a long story," said she,
+"and I am busy now; but later, if you wish to hear it, I will tell you
+all we know on the subject. After father is gone out," she whispered.
+"It always excites him to hear any talk about that old place."
+
+I saw that it did. I had no sooner mentioned the house than his white
+head lifted itself with something like spirit, and his form, which had
+seemed a moment before so bent and aged, straightened with an interest
+that made him look almost hale again.
+
+"I will tell you," he broke in; "I am not busy. I was ninety last
+birthday, and I forget sometimes my grandchildren's names, but I never
+forget what took place in that old house one night fifty years
+ago--never, never."
+
+"I know, I know," hastily interposed his daughter, "you remember
+beautifully; but this gentleman wishes to eat his dinner now, and must
+not have his appetite interfered with. You will wait, will you not,
+sir, till I have a little more leisure?"
+
+What could I answer but Yes, and what could the poor old man do but
+shrink back into his corner, disappointed and abashed. Yet I was not
+satisfied, nor was he, as I could see by the appealing glances he gave
+me now and then from under the fallen masses of his long white hair.
+But the landlady was complaisant and moved about the table and in and
+out of the room with a bustling air that left us but little
+opportunity for conversation. At length she was absent somewhat longer
+than usual, whereupon the old man, suddenly lifting his head, cried
+out:
+
+"_She_ cannot tell the story. She has no feeling for it; she wasn't
+_there_."
+
+"And you were," I ventured.
+
+"Yes, yes, I was there, always there; and I see it all now," he
+murmured. "Fifty years ago, and I see it all as if it were happening
+at this moment before my eyes. But she will not let me talk about it,"
+he complained, as the sound of her footsteps was heard again on the
+kitchen boards. "Though it makes me young again, she always stops me
+just as if I were a child. But she cannot help my showing you--"
+
+Here her steps became audible in the hall, and his words died away on
+his lips. By the time she had entered, he was seated with his head
+half turned aside, and his form bent over as if he were in spirit a
+thousand miles from the spot.
+
+Amused at his cunning, and interested in spite of myself at the
+childish eagerness he displayed to tell his tale, I waited with a
+secret impatience almost as great as his own perhaps, for her to leave
+the room again, and thus give him the opportunity of finishing his
+sentence. At last there came an imperative call for her presence
+without, and she hurried away. She was no sooner gone than the old man
+exclaimed:
+
+"I have it all written down. I wrote it years and years ago, at the
+very time it happened. She cannot keep me from showing you that; no,
+no, she cannot keep me from showing you that." And rising to his feet
+with a difficulty that for the first time revealed to me the full
+extent of his infirmity, he hobbled slowly across the floor to the
+open door, through which he passed with many cunning winks and nods.
+
+"It grows quite exciting," thought I, and half feared his daughter
+would not allow him to return. But either she was too much engrossed
+to heed him, or had been too much deceived by his seeming indifference
+when she last entered the room, to suspect the errand which had taken
+him out of it. For sooner than I had expected, and quite some few
+minutes before she came back herself, he shuffled in again, carrying
+under his coat a roll of yellow paper, which he thrust into my hand
+with a gratified leer, saying:
+
+"There it is. I was a gay young lad in those days, and could go and
+come with the best. Read it, sir, read it; and if Maria says anything
+against it, tell her it was written long before she was born and when
+I was as pert as she is now, and a good deal more observing."
+
+Chuckling with satisfaction, he turned away, and had barely
+disappeared in the hall when she came in and saw me with the roll in
+my hand.
+
+"Well! I declare!" she exclaimed; "and has he been bringing you that?
+What ever shall I do with him and his everlasting manuscript? You will
+pardon him, sir; he is ninety and upwards, and thinks everybody is as
+interested in the story of that old house as he is himself."
+
+"And I, for one, am," was my hasty reply. "If the writing is at all
+legible, I am anxious to read it. You won't object, will you?"
+
+"Oh, no," was her good-humored rejoinder. "I won't object; I only hate
+to have father's mind roused on this subject, because he is sure to be
+sick after it. But now that you have the story, read it; whether you
+will think as he did, on a certain point, is another question. I
+don't; but then father always said I would never believe ill of
+anybody."
+
+Her smile certainly bore out her words, it was so good-tempered and
+confiding; and pleased with her manner in spite of myself, I accepted
+her invitation to make use of her own little parlor, and sat down in
+the glow of a brilliant autumn afternoon to read this old-time
+history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will Juliet be at home to-day? She must know that I am coming. When I
+met her this morning, tripping back from the farm, I gave her a look
+which, if she cares anything about me, must have told her that I would
+be among the lads who would be sure to pay her their respects at early
+candle-light. For I cannot resist her saucy pout and dancing dimples
+any longer. Though I am barely twenty, I am a man, and one who is
+quite forehanded and able to take unto himself a wife. Ralph
+Urphistone has both wife and babe, and he was only twenty-one last
+August. Why, then, should I not go courting, when the prettiest maid
+that has graced the town for many a year holds out the guerdon of her
+smiles to all who will vie for them?
+
+To be sure, the fact that she has more than one wooer already may be
+considered detrimental to my success. But love is fed by rivalry, and
+if Colonel Schuyler does not pay her his addresses, I think my chances
+may be considered as good as any one's. For am I not the tallest and
+most straightly built man in town, and have I not a little cottage all
+my own, with the neatest of gardens behind it, and an apple-tree in
+front whose blossoms hang ready to shower themselves like rain upon
+the head of her who will enter there as a bride? It is not yet dark,
+but I will forestall the sunset by a half hour and begin my visit now.
+If I am first at her gate, Lemuel Phillips may look less arrogant
+when he comes to ask her company to the next singing school.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was not first at her gate; two others were there before me. Ah, she
+is prettier than ever I supposed, and chirper than the sparrow which
+builds every year a nest in my old apple-tree. When she saw me come up
+the walk, her cheeks turned pink, but I do not know if it was from
+pleasure or annoyance, for she gave nothing but vexing replies to
+every compliment I paid her. But then Lemuel Phillips fared no better;
+and she was so bitter-sweet to Orrin Day that he left in a huff and
+vowed he would never step across her threshold again. I thought she
+was a trifle more serious after he had gone, but when a woman's eyes
+are as bright as hers, and the frowns and smiles with which she
+disports herself chase each other so rapidly over a face both
+mischievous and charming, a man's judgment goes astray, and he
+scarcely knows reality from seeming. But true or false, she is pretty
+as a harebell and bright as glinting sunshine; and I mean to marry
+her, if only Colonel Schuyler will hold himself aloof.
+
+Colonel Schuyler may hold himself aloof, but he is a man like the rest
+of us for all that. Yesterday as I was sauntering in the churchyard
+waiting for the appearance of a certain white-robed figure crowned by
+the demurest of little hats, I caught a glimpse of his face as he
+leaned on one of the tombstones near Patience Goodyear's grave, and I
+saw that he was waiting also for the same white figure and the same
+demure hat. This gave me a shock; for though I had never really dared
+to hope he would remain unmoved by a loveliness so rare in our
+village, and indeed, as I take it, in any village, I did not think he
+would show so much impatience, or await her appearance with such
+burning and uncontrollable ardor.
+
+Indeed I was so affected by his look that I forgot to watch any longer
+for her coming, but kept my gaze fixed on his countenance, till I saw
+by the change which rapidly took place in it that she had stepped out
+of the great church door and was now standing before us, making the
+sunshine more brilliant by her smiles, and the spring the sweeter for
+her presence.
+
+Then I came to myself and rushed forward with the rest of the lads.
+Did he follow behind us? I do not think so, for the rosy lips which
+had smiled upon us with so airy a welcome soon showed a discontented
+curve not to be belied by the merry words that issued from them, and
+when we would have escorted her across the fields to her father's
+house, she made a mocking curtsy, and wandered away with the ugliest
+old crone who mouths and mumbles in the meeting-house. Did she do this
+to mock us or him? If to mock him he had best take care, for beauty
+scorned is apt to grow dangerous. But perhaps it was to mock us? Well,
+well, there would be nothing new in that; she is ever mocking us.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They say the Colonel passes her gate a dozen times a day, but never
+goes in and never looks up. Is he indifferent then? I cannot think so.
+Perhaps he fears her caprices and disapproves of her coquetry. If that
+is so, she shall be my wife before he wakens to the knowledge that her
+coquetry hides a passionate and loving heart.
+
+Colonel Schuyler is a dark man. He has eyes which pierce you, and a
+smile which, if it could be understood, might perhaps be less
+fascinating than it is. If she has noticed his watching her, the
+little heart that flutters in her breast must have beaten faster by
+many a throb. For he is the one great man within twenty miles, and so
+handsome and above us all that I do not know of a woman but Juliet
+whose voice does not sink a tone lower whenever she speaks of him. But
+he is a proud man, and seems to take no notice of any one. Indeed he
+scarcely appears to live in our world. Will he come down from his high
+estate at the beck of this village beauty? Many say not, but I say
+yes; with those eyes of his he cannot help it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet is more capricious than ever. Lemuel Phillips for one is tired
+of it, and imitating Orrin Day, bade her a good-even to-night which I
+am sure he does not intend to follow with a blithe good-morrow.
+
+I might do the same if her pleading eyes would let me. But she seems
+to cling to me even when she is most provokingly saucy; and though I
+cannot see any love in her manner, there is something in it very
+different from hate; and this it is which holds me. Can a woman be too
+pretty for her own happiness, and are many lovers a weariness to the
+heart?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet is positively unhappy. To-day when she laughed the gayest it
+was to hide her tears, and no one, not even a thoroughly spoiled
+beauty, could be as wayward as she if there were not some bitter arrow
+rankling in her heart. She was riding down the street on a pillion
+behind her father, and Colonel Schuyler, who had been leaning on the
+gate in front of his house, turned his back upon her and went inside
+when he saw her coming. Was this what made her so white and reckless
+when she came up to where I was standing with Orrin Day, and was it
+her chagrin at the great man's apparent indifference which gave that
+sharp edge to the good-morning with which she rode haughtily away? If
+it was I can forgive you, my lady-bird, for there is reason for your
+folly if I am any judge of my fellow-men. Colonel Schuyler is not
+indifferent but circumspect, and circumspection in a lover is an
+insult to his lady's charms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She knows now what I knew a week ago. Colonel Schuyler is in love with
+her and will marry her if she does not play the coquette with him. He
+has been to her house and her father already holds his head higher as
+he paces up and down the street. I am left in the lurch, and if I had
+not foreseen this end to my hopes, might have been a very miserable
+man to-night. For I was near obtaining the object of my heart, as I
+know from her own lips, though the words were not intended for my
+ears. You see I was the one who surprised him talking with her in the
+garden. I had been walking around the place on the outer side of the
+wall as I often did from pure love for her, and not knowing she was on
+the other side was very much startled when I heard her voice speaking
+my name; so much startled that I stood still in my astonishment and
+thus heard her say:
+
+"Philo Adams has a little cottage all his own and I can be mistress of
+it any day,--or so he tells me. I had rather go into that little
+cottage where every board I trod on would be my own, than live in the
+grandest room you could give me in a house of which I would not be the
+mistress."
+
+"But if I make a home for you," he pleaded, "grand as my father's, but
+built entirely for you--"
+
+"Ah!" was her soft reply, "that might make me listen to you, for I
+should then think you loved me."
+
+The wall was between us, but I could see her face as she said this as
+plainly as if I had been the fortunate man at her side. And I could
+see his face too, though it was only in fancy I had ever beheld it
+soften as I knew it must be softening now. Silence such as followed
+her words is eloquent, and I feared my own passions too much to linger
+till it should be again broken by vows I had not the courage to hear.
+So I crept away conscious of but one thing, which was that my dream
+was ended, and that my brave apple-tree would never shower its bridal
+blossoms upon the head I love, for whatever threshold she crosses as
+mistress it will not now be that of the little cottage every board of
+which might have been her own.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If I had doubted the result of the Colonel's offer to Juliet, the news
+which came to me this morning would have convinced me that all was
+well with them and that their marriage was simply a matter of time.
+Ground has been broken in the pleasant opening on the verge of the
+forest, and carts and men hired to bring stone for the fine new
+dwelling Colonel Schuyler proposes to rear for himself. The whole town
+is agog, but I keep the secret I surprised, and only Juliet knows that
+I am no longer deceived as to her feelings, for I did not go to see
+her to-night for the first time since I made up mind that I would have
+her for my wife. I am glad I restrained myself, for Orrin Day, who had
+kept his word valiantly up to this very day, came riding by my house
+furiously a half hour ago, and seeing me, called out:
+
+"Why didn't you tell me she had a new adorer? I went there to-night
+and Colonel Schuyler sat at her side as you and I never sat yet,
+and--and--" he stammered frantically, "_I did not kill him._"
+
+"You--Come back!" I shouted, for he was flying by like the wind. But
+he did not heed me nor stop, but vanished in the thick darkness, while
+the lessening sound of his horse's hoofs rang dismally back from the
+growing distance.
+
+So this man has loved her passionately too, and the house which is
+destined to rise in the woods will throw a shadow over more than one
+hearthstone in this quiet village. I declare I am sorry that Orrin has
+taken it so much to heart, for he has a proud and determined spirit,
+and will not forget his wrongs as soon as it would be wise for him to
+do. Poor, poor Juliet, are you making enemies against your bridal day?
+If so, it behooves me at least to remain your friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I saw Orrin again to-day, and he looks like one haunted. He was riding
+as usual, and his cloak flew out behind him as he sped down the street
+and away into the woods. I wonder if she too saw him, from behind her
+lattice. I thought I detected the curtain move as he thundered by her
+gate, but I am so filled with thoughts of her just now that I cannot
+always trust my judgment. I am, however, sure of one thing, and that
+is that if Colonel Schuyler and Orrin meet, there will be trouble.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never thought Orrin handsome till to-day. He is fair, and I like
+dark men; and he is small, and I admire men of stature. But when I
+came upon him this morning, talking and laughing among a group of lads
+like ourselves, I could not but see that his blue eye shone with a
+fire that made it as brilliant as any dark one could be, and that in
+his manner, verging as it did upon the reckless, there was a spirit
+and force which made him look both dangerous and fascinating. He was
+haranguing them on a question of the day, but when he saw me he
+stepped out of the crowd, and, beckoning me to follow him, led the way
+to a retired spot, where, the instant we were free from watching eyes,
+he turned and said: "You liked her too, Philo Adams. I should have
+been willing if you--" Here he choked and paused. I had never seen a
+face so full of fiery emotions. "No, no, no," he went on, after a
+moment of silent struggle; "I could not have borne it to see any man
+take away what was so precious to me. I--I--I did not know I cared for
+her so much," he now explained, observing my look of surprise. "She
+teased me and put me off, and coquetted with you and Lemuel and
+whoever else happened to be at her side till I grew beside myself and
+left her, as I thought, forever. But there are women you can leave and
+women you cannot, and when I found she teased and fretted me more at a
+distance than when she was under my very eye, I went back only to
+find--Philo, do you think he will marry her?"
+
+I choked down my own emotions and solemnly answered: "Yes, he is
+building her a home. You must have seen the stones that are being
+piled up yonder on the verge of the forest."
+
+He turned, glared at me, made a peculiar sound with his lips, and then
+stood silent, opening and closing his hands in a way that made my
+blood run chill in spite of myself.
+
+"A house!" he murmured, at last; "I wish I had the building of that
+house!"
+
+The tone, the look he gave, alarmed me still further.
+
+"You would build it well!" I cried. It was his trade, the building of
+houses.
+
+"I would build it slowly," was his ominous answer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet certainly likes me, and trusts me, I think, more than any other
+of the young men who used to go a-courting her. I have seen it for
+some time in the looks she has now and then given me across the
+meeting-house during the long sermon on Sunday mornings, but to-day I
+am sure of it. For she has spoken to me, and asked me--But let me
+tell you how it was: We were all standing under Ralph Urphistone's big
+tree, looking at his little one toddling over the grass after a ball
+one of the lads had thrown after her, when I felt the slightest touch
+on my arm, and, glancing round, saw Juliet.
+
+She was standing beside her father, and if ever she looked pretty it
+was just then, for the day was warm and she had taken off her great
+hat so that the curls flew freely around her face that was dimpled and
+flushed with some feeling which did not allow her to lift her eyes.
+Had she touched me? I thought so, and yet I did not dare to take it
+for granted, for Colonel Schuyler was standing on the edge of the
+crowd, frowning in some displeasure at the bare head of his provoking
+little betrothed, and when Colonel Schuyler frowns there is no man of
+us but Orrin who would dare approach the object of his preference,
+much less address her, except in the coldest courtesy.
+
+But I was sure she had something to say to me, so I lingered under the
+tree till the crowd had all dispersed and Colonel Schuyler, drawn away
+by her father, had left us for a moment face to face. Then I saw I was
+right.
+
+"Philo," she murmured, and oh, how her face changed! "you are my
+friend, I know you are my friend, because you alone out of them all
+have never given me sharp words; will you, will you do something for
+me which will make me less miserable, something which may prevent
+wrong and trouble, and keep Orrin--"
+
+Orrin? did she call him Orrin?
+
+"Oh," she cried, "you have no sympathy. You--"
+
+"Hush!" I entreated. "You have not treated me well, but I am always
+your friend. What do you want me to do?"
+
+She trembled, glanced around her in the pleasant sunshine, and then up
+into my face.
+
+"I want you," she murmured, "to keep Orrin and Colonel Schuyler apart.
+You are Orrin's friend; stay with him, keep by him, do not let him run
+alone upon his enemy, for--for there is danger in their
+meeting--and--and--"
+
+She could not say more, for just then her father and the Colonel came
+back, and she had barely time to call up her dimples and toss her head
+in merry banter before they were at her side.
+
+As for myself, I stood dazed and confused, feeling that my six feet
+made me too conspicuous, and longing in a vague and futile way to let
+her know without words that I would do what she asked.
+
+And I think I did accomplish it, though I said nothing to her and but
+little to her companions. For when we parted I took the street which
+leads directly to Orrin's house; and when Colonel Schuyler queried in
+his soft and gentlemanlike way why I left them so soon, I managed to
+reply:
+
+"My road lies here"; and so left them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have not told Orrin what she said, but I am rarely away from his
+vicinity now, during those hours when he is free to come and go about
+the village. I think he wonders at my persistent friendship,
+sometimes, but he says nothing, and is not even disagreeable to--_me_.
+So I share his pleasures, if they are pleasures, expecting every day
+to see him run across the Colonel in the tavern or on the green; but
+he never does, perhaps because the Colonel is always with her now, and
+we are not nor are ever likely to be again.
+
+Do I understand her, or do I understand Orrin, or do I even understand
+myself? No, but I understand my duty, and that is enough, though it is
+sometimes hard to do it, and I would rather be where I could forget,
+instead of being where I am forced continually to remember.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Am I always with Orrin when he is not at work or asleep? I begin to
+doubt it. There are times when there is such a change in him that I
+feel sure he has been near her, or at least seen her, but where or
+how, I do not know and cannot even suspect. He never speaks of her,
+not now, but he watches the house slowly rising in the forest, as if
+he would lay a spell upon it. Not that he visits it by daylight, or
+mingles with the men who are busy laying stone upon stone; no, no, he
+goes to it at night, goes when the moon and stars alone shed light
+upon its growing proportions; and standing before it, seems to count
+each stone which has been added through the day, as if he were
+reckoning up the months yet remaining to him of life and happiness.
+
+I never speak to him during these expeditions. I go with him because
+he does not forbid me to do so, but we never exchange a word till we
+have left the forest behind us and stand again within the village
+streets. If I did speak I might learn something of what is going on in
+his bitter and burning heart, but I never have the courage to do so,
+perhaps because I had rather not know what he plans or purposes.
+
+She is not as daintily rounded as she was once. Her cheek is thinner,
+and there is a tremulous move to her lip I never saw in it in the old
+coquettish days. Is she not happy in her betrothal, or are her fears
+of Orrin greater than her confidence in me? It must be the latter, for
+Colonel Schuyler is a lover in a thousand, and scarcely a day passes
+without some new evidence of his passionate devotion. She ought to be
+happy, if she is not, and I am sure there is not another woman in town
+but would feel herself the most favored of her sex if she had the half
+of Juliet's prospects before her. But Juliet was ever wayward; and
+simply because she ought to increase in beauty and joy, she pales and
+pines and gets delicate, and makes the hearts of her lovers grow mad
+with fear and longing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where have I been? What have I seen, and what do the events of this
+night portend? As Orrin and myself were returning from our usual visit
+to the house in the woods--it is well up now, and its huge empty
+square looms weirdly enough in the moonlighted forest,--we came out
+upon the churchyard in front of the meeting-house, and Orrin said:
+
+"You may come with me or not, I do not care; but I am going in amongst
+these graves. I feel like holding companionship with dead people
+to-night."
+
+"Then so do I," said I, for I was not deceived by his words. It was
+not to hold companionship with the dead, but with the living, that he
+chose to linger there. The churchyard is in a direct line with her
+house, and, sitting on the meeting-house steps one can get a very good
+view of the windows of her room.
+
+"Very well," he sighed, and disdained to say more.
+
+As for myself, I felt too keenly the weirdness of the whole situation
+to do more than lean my back against a tree and wait till his fancy
+wearied of the moonlight and silence. The stones about us, glooming
+darkly through the night, were not the most cheerful of companions,
+and when you add to this the soughing of the willows and the
+flickering shadows which rose and fell over the face of the
+meeting-house as the branches moved in the wind, you can understand
+why I rather regretted the hitherto gloomy enough hour we were
+accustomed to spend in the forest.
+
+But Orrin seemed to regret nothing. He had seated himself where I knew
+he would, on the steps of the meeting-house, and was gazing, with chin
+sunk in his two hands, down the street where Juliet dwelt. I do not
+think he expected anything to happen; I think he was only reckless and
+sick with a longing he had not the power to repress, and I watched him
+as long as I could for my own inner sickness and longing, and when I
+could watch no longer I turned to the gnomish gravestones that were no
+more motionless or silent than he.
+
+Suddenly I felt myself shiver and start, and, turning, beheld him
+standing erect, a black shadow against the moonlighted wall behind
+him. He was still gazing down the street but no longer in apathetic
+despair, but with quivering emotion visible in every line of his
+trembling form. Reaching his side, I looked where he looked, and saw
+Juliet--it must have been Juliet to arouse him so,--standing with some
+companion at the gate in the wall that opens upon the street. The
+next moment she and the person with her stepped into the street, and,
+almost before we realized it, they began to move towards us, as if
+drawn by some power in Orrin or myself, straight, straight to this
+abode of death and cold moonbeams.
+
+It was not late, but the streets were otherwise deserted, and we four
+seemed to be alone in the whole world. Breathing with Orrin and almost
+clasping his hand in my oneness with him, I watched and watched the
+gliding approach of the two lovers, and knew not whether to be
+startled or satisfied when I saw them cross to the churchyard and
+enter where we had entered ourselves so short a time before. For us
+all to meet, and meet here, seemed suddenly strangely natural, and I
+hardly knew what Orrin meant when he grasped me forcibly by the arm
+and drew me aside into the darkest of the dark shadows which lay in
+the churchyard's farthest corner.
+
+Not till I perceived Juliet and the Colonel halt in the moonlight did
+I realize that we were nothing to them, and that it was not our
+influence but some purpose or passion of their own which had led them
+to this gruesome spot.
+
+The place where they had chosen to pause was at the grave of old
+Patience Goodyear, and from the corner where we stood we could see
+their faces plainly as they turned and looked at each other with the
+moonbeams pouring over them. Was it fancy that made her look like a
+wraith, and he like some handsome demon given to haunting churchyards?
+Or was it only the sternness of his air, and the shrinking timidity of
+hers, which made him look so dark and she so pallid.
+
+Orrin, who stood so close to me that I could hear his heart beat as
+loudly as my own, had evidently asked himself the same question, for
+his hand closed spasmodically on mine, as the Colonel opened his lips,
+and neither of us dared so much as to breathe lest we should lose what
+the lovers had to say.
+
+But the Colonel spoke clearly, if low, and neither of us could fail to
+hear him as he said:
+
+"I have brought you here, Juliet mine, because I want to hear you
+swear amongst the graves that you will be no man's wife but mine."
+
+"But have I not already promised?" she protested, with a gentle uplift
+of her head inexpressibly touching in one who had once queened it over
+hearts so merrily.
+
+"Yes, you have promised, but I am not satisfied. I want you to swear.
+I want to feel that you are as much mine as if we had stood at the
+altar together. Otherwise how can I go away? How can I leave you,
+knowing there are three men at least in this town who would marry you
+at a day's notice, if you gave them full leave. I love you, and I
+would marry you to-night, but you want a home of your own. Swear that
+you will be my wife when that home is ready, and I will go away happy.
+Otherwise I shall have to stay with you, Juliet, for you are more to
+me than renown, or advancement, or anything else in all God's world."
+
+"I do not like the graves; I do not want to stay here, it is so late,
+so dark," she moaned.
+
+"Then swear! Lay your hand on Mother Patience's tombstone, and say, 'I
+will be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house is finished which
+you are building in the woods'; and I will carry you back in my arms
+as I carry you always in my heart."
+
+But though Orrin clinched my arm in apprehension of her answer, and we
+stood like two listening statues, no words issued from her lips, and
+the silence grew appalling.
+
+"Swear!" seemed to come from the tombs; but whether it was my emotion
+that made it seem so, or whether it was Orrin who threw his voice
+there, I did not know then and I do not know now. But that the word
+did not come from the Colonel was evident from the startled look he
+cast about him and from the thrill which all at once passed over her
+form from her shrouded head to her hidden feet.
+
+"Do the heavens bid me?" she murmured, and laid her hand without
+hesitation on the stone before her, saying, "I swear by the dead that
+surround us to be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house you are
+building for me in the woods is completed." And so pleased was he at
+the readiness with which she spoke that he seemed to forget what had
+caused it, and caught her in his arms as if she had been a child, and
+so bore her away from before our eyes, while the man at my side
+fought and struggled with himself to keep down the wrath and jealousy
+which such a sight as this might well provoke in one even less
+passionate and intemperate than himself.
+
+When the one shadow which they now made had dissolved again into two,
+and only Orrin and myself were left in that ghostly churchyard, I
+declared with a courage I had never before shown:
+
+"So that is settled, Orrin. She will marry the Colonel, and you and I
+are wasting time in these gloomy walks."
+
+To which, to my astonishment, he made this simple reply, "Yes, we are
+wasting time"; and straightway turned and left the churchyard with a
+quick step that seemed to tell of some new and fixed resolve.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has been gone a week, and to-night I summoned up
+courage to call on Juliet's father. I had no longer any right to call
+upon _her_; but who shall say I may not call on him if he chooses to
+welcome me and lose his time on my account. The reason for my going
+is not far to seek. Orrin has been there, and Orrin cannot be trusted
+in her presence alone. Though he seems to have accepted his fate, he
+is restless, and keeps his eye on the ground in a brooding way I do
+not comprehend and do not altogether like. Why should he think so
+much, and why should he go to her house when he knows the sight of her
+is inflaming to his heart and death to his self-control?
+
+Juliet's father is a simple, proud old man who makes no attempt to
+hide his satisfaction at his daughter's brilliant prospects. He talked
+mainly of _the house_, and if he honored Orrin with half as much of
+his confidence on that subject as he did me, then Orrin must know many
+particulars about its structure of which the public are generally
+ignorant. Juliet was not to be seen--that is, during the first part of
+the evening, but towards its close she came into the room and showed
+me that same confiding courtesy which I have noticed in her ever since
+I ceased to be an aspirant for her hand. She was not so pale as on
+that weird night when I saw her in the churchyard, and I thought her
+step had a light spring in it which spoke of hope. She wore a gown
+which was coquettishly simple, and the fresh flower clinging to her
+bosom breathed a fragrance that might have intoxicated a man less
+determined to be her friend. Her father saw us meet without any
+evident anxiety; and if he was as complacent to Orrin when he was
+here, then Orrin had a chance to touch her hand.
+
+But was he as complacent to Orrin? That I could not find out. I am
+only sure that I will be made welcome there again _if_ I confine my
+visits to the father and do not seek anything more from Juliet than
+that simple touch of her hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin has not repeated his visit, but I have repeated mine. Why?
+Because I am uneasy. Colonel Schuyler's house does not progress, and
+whether there is any connection between this fact and that of Orrin's
+sudden interest in the sawmills and quarries about here, I cannot
+tell, but doubts of his loyalty will rise through all my friendship
+for him, and I cannot keep away from Juliet any longer.
+
+Does Juliet care for Colonel Schuyler? I have sometimes thought no,
+and I have oftener thought yes. At all events she trembles when she
+speaks of him, and shows emotion of no slight order when a letter of
+his is suddenly put in her hand. I wish I could read her pretty,
+changeful face more readily. It would be a comfort for me to know that
+she saw her own way clearly, and was not disturbed by Orrin's comings
+and goings. For Orrin is not a safe man, I fear, and a faith once
+pledged to Colonel Schuyler should be kept.
+
+I do not think Juliet understands just how great a man Colonel
+Schuyler promises to be. When her father told me to-night that his
+daughter's betrothed had been charged with some very important
+business for the Government, her pretty lip pouted like a child's. Yet
+she flushed, and for a minute looked pleased when I said, "That is a
+road which leads to Washington. We shall hear of you yet as being
+presented at the White House."
+
+I think her father anticipates the same. For he told me a few minutes
+later that he had sent for tutors to teach his daughter music and the
+languages. And I noticed that at this she pouted again, and indeed
+bore herself in a way which promised less for her future learning than
+for that influence which breathes from gleaming eyes and witching
+smiles. Ah, I fear she is a frivolous fairy, but how pretty she is,
+and how dangerously captivating to a man who has once allowed himself
+to study her changes of feeling and countenance. When I came away I
+felt that I had gained nothing, and lost--what? Some of the
+complacency of spirit which I had acquired after much struggle and
+stern determination.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has not yet returned, and now Orrin has gone away.
+Indeed, no one knows where to find him nowadays, for he is here and
+there on his great white horse, riding off one day and coming back the
+next, ever busy, and, strange to say, always cheerful. He is making
+money, I hear, buying up timber and then selling it to builders, but
+he does not sell to one builder, whose house seems to suffer in
+consequence. Where is the Colonel, and why does he not come home and
+look after his own?
+
+I have learned her secret at last, and in a strange enough way. I was
+waiting for her father in his own little room, and as he did not come
+as soon as I anticipated, I let my secret despondency have its way for
+a moment, and sat leaning forward, with my head buried in my hands. My
+face was to the fire and my back to the door, and for some reason I
+did not hear it open, and was only aware of the presence of another
+person in the room by the sound of a little gasp behind me, which was
+choked back as soon as it was uttered. Feeling that this could come
+from no one but Juliet, I for some reason hard to fathom sat still,
+and the next moment became conscious of a touch soft as a rose-leaf
+settle on my hair, and springing up, caught the hand which had given
+it, and holding it firmly in mine, gave her one look which made her
+chin fall slowly on her breast and her eyes seek the ground in the
+wildest distress and confusion.
+
+"Juliet--" I began.
+
+But she broke in with a passion too impetuous to be restrained:
+
+"Do not--do not think I knew or realized what I was doing. It was
+because your head looked so much like his as you sat leaning forward
+in the firelight that I--I allowed myself one little touch just for
+the heart's ease it must bring. I--I am so lonesome, Philo,
+and--and--"
+
+I dropped her hand. I understood the whole secret now. My hair is
+blonde like Orrin's, and her feelings stood confessed, never more to
+be mistaken by me.
+
+"You love Orrin!" I gasped; "you who are pledged to Colonel Schuyler!"
+
+"I love Orrin," she whispered, "and I am pledged to Colonel Schuyler.
+But you will never betray me," she said.
+
+"I betray you?" I cried, and if some of the bitterness of my own
+disappointed hopes crept into my tones, she did not seem to note it,
+for she came quite close to my side and looked up into my face in a
+way that almost made me forget her perfidy and her folly. "Juliet," I
+went on, for I felt never more strongly than at this moment that I
+should act a brother's part towards her, "I could never find it in my
+heart to betray you, but are you sure that you are doing wisely to
+betray the Colonel for a man no better than Orrin. I--I know you do
+not want to hear me say this, for if you care for him you must think
+him good and noble, but Juliet, I know him and I know the Colonel, and
+he is no more to be compared with the man you are betrothed to
+than--"
+
+"Hush!" she cried, almost commandingly, and the airy, dainty, dimpled
+creature whom I knew seemed to grow in stature and become a woman, in
+her indignation; "you do not know Orrin and you do not know the
+Colonel. You shall not draw comparisons between them. I will have you
+think of Orrin only, as I do, day and night, ever and always."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, aghast, "if you love him so and despise the
+Colonel, why do you not break your troth with the latter?"
+
+"Because," she murmured, with white cheeks and a wandering gaze, "I
+have sworn to marry the Colonel, and I dare not break my oath. Sworn
+to be his wife when the house he is building is complete; and the oath
+was on the graves of the dead; _on the graves of the dead!_" she
+repeated.
+
+"But," I said, without any intimation of having heard that oath, "you
+are breaking that oath in private with every thought you give to
+Orrin. Either complete your perjury by disowning the Colonel
+altogether, or else give up Orrin. You cannot cling to both without
+dishonor; does not your father tell you so?"
+
+"My father--oh, he does not know; no one knows but you. My father
+likes the Colonel; I would never think of telling him."
+
+"Juliet," I declared solemnly, "you are on dangerous ground. Think
+what you are doing before it is too late. The Colonel is not a man to
+be trifled with."
+
+"I know it," she murmured, "I know it," and would not say another word
+or let me.
+
+And so the burden of this new apprehension is laid upon me; for
+happiness cannot come out of this complication.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where is Orrin, and what is he doing that he stays so much from home?
+If it were not for the intent and preoccupied look which he wears when
+I do see him, I should think that he was absenting himself for the
+purpose of wearing out his unhappy passion. But the short glimpses I
+have had of him as he has ridden busily through the town have left me
+with no such hope, and I wait with feverish impatience for some fierce
+action on his part, or what would be better, the Colonel's return. And
+the Colonel must come back soon, for nothing goes well in a long
+absence, and his house is almost at a standstill.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has come and, I hear, is storming angrily over the
+mishaps that have delayed the progress of his new dwelling. He says he
+will not go away again till it is completed, and has been riding all
+the morning in every direction, engaging new men to aid the dilatory
+workmen already employed. Does Orrin know this? I will go down to his
+house and see.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now I know _Orrin's_ secret. He was not at home, of course, and
+being determined to get at the truth of his mysterious absences, I
+mounted a horse of my own and rode off to find him.
+
+Why I took this upon myself, or whether I had the right to do it, I
+have not stopped to ask. I went in the direction he had last gone, and
+after I had ridden through two villages I heard of him as having
+passed still farther east some two hours before.
+
+Not in the least deterred, I hurried on, and having threaded a thicket
+and forded a stream, I came upon a beautiful open country wholly new
+to me, where, on the verge of a pleasant glade and in full view of a
+most picturesque line of hills, I saw shining the fresh boards of a
+new cottage. Instantly the thought struck me, "It is Orrin's, and he
+is building it for Juliet," and filled with a confusion of emotions, I
+spurred on my horse, and soon drew up before it.
+
+Orrin was standing, pale and defiant, in the doorway, and as I met his
+eye, I noticed, with a sick feeling of contempt, that he swung the
+whip he was holding smartly against his leg in what looked like a very
+threatening manner.
+
+"Good-evening, Orrin," I cried. "You have a very pleasant site
+here--preferable to the Colonel's, I should say."
+
+"What has the Colonel to do with me?" was his fierce reply, and he
+turned as if about to go into the house.
+
+"Only this," I calmly answered; "I think he will get his house done
+first."
+
+He wheeled and faced me, and his eye which had looked simply sullen
+shot a fierce and dangerous gleam.
+
+"What makes you think that?" he cried.
+
+"He has come back, and to-day engaged twenty extra men to push on the
+work."
+
+"Indeed!" and there was contempt in his tone. "Well, I wish him joy
+and a sound roof!"
+
+And this time he did go into the house.
+
+As he had not asked me to follow, I of course had no alternative but
+to ride on. As I did so, I took another look at the house and saw with
+a strange pang at the heart that the plastering was on the walls and
+the windows ready for glazing. "I was wrong," said I to myself; "it is
+Orrin's house which will be finished first."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And what if it is? Will she turn her back upon the Colonel's lofty
+structure and take refuge in this cottage remote from the world? I
+cannot believe it, knowing how she loves show and the smiles and
+gallantries of men. And yet--and yet, she is so capricious and Orrin
+so determined that I do not know what to think or what to fear, and I
+ride back with a heavy heart, wishing she had never come up from the
+farm to worry and inflame the souls of honest men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now the Colonel's work goes on apace, and the whole town is filled
+with the noise and bustle of lumbering carts and eager workmen. The
+roof which Orrin so bitterly wished might be a sound one has been
+shingled; and under the Colonel's eye and the Colonel's constant
+encouragement, part after part of the new building is being fitted to
+its place with a precision and despatch that to many minds promise the
+near dawning of Juliet's wedding-day. But I know that afar in the east
+another home is nearer completion than this, and whether she knows it
+too or does not know it (which is just as probable), her wilful,
+sportive, and butterfly nature seems to be preparing itself for a
+struggle which may rend if not destroy its airy and delicate wings.
+
+I have prepared myself too, and being still and always her friend, I
+stand ready to mediate or assist, as opportunity offers or
+circumstances demand. She realizes this, and leans on me in her secret
+hours of fear, or why does her face brighten when she sees me, and her
+little hand thrust itself confidingly forth from under its shrouding
+mantle and grasp mine with such a lingering and entreating pressure?
+And the Colonel? Does he realize, too, that I am any more to her than
+her other cast-off lovers and would-be friends? Sometimes I think he
+does, and eyes me with suspicion. But he is ever so courteous that I
+cannot be sure, and so do not trouble myself in regard to a jealousy
+so illy founded and so easily dispelled.
+
+He is always at Juliet's side and seems to surround her with a
+devotion which will make it very difficult for any other man, even
+Orrin, to get her ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The crisis is approaching. Orrin is again in town, and may be seen
+riding up and down the streets in his holiday clothes. Have some
+whispers of his secret love and evident intentions reached the ear of
+the Colonel? Or is Juliet's father alone concerned? For I see that the
+blinds of her lattice are tightly shut, and watch as I may, I cannot
+catch a glimpse of her eager head peering between them at the
+flaunting horseman as he goes careering by.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The hour has come and how different is the outcome from any I had
+imagined. I was sitting last night in my own lonely little room, which
+opens directly on the street, struggling as best I might against the
+distraction of my thoughts which would lead me from the book I was
+studying, when a knock on the panels of my door aroused me, and almost
+before I could look up, that same door swung open and a dark form
+entered and stood before me.
+
+For a moment I was too dazed to see who it was, and rising
+ceremoniously, I made my bow of welcome, starting a little as I met
+the Colonel's dark eyes looking at me from the folds of the huge
+mantle in which he had wrapped himself. "Your worship?" I began, and
+stumbling awkwardly, offered him a chair which he refused with a
+gesture of his smooth white hand.
+
+"Thank you, no," said he, "I do not sit down in your house till I know
+if it is you who have stolen the heart of my bride away from me and if
+it is you with whom she is prepared to flee."
+
+"Ah," was my involuntary exclamation, "then it has come. You know her
+folly, and will forgive it because she is such a child."
+
+"Her folly? Are you not then the man?" he cried; but in a subdued tone
+which showed what a restraint he was putting upon himself even in the
+moment of such accumulated emotions.
+
+"No," said I; "if your bride meditates flight, it is not with me she
+means to go. I am her friend, and the man who would take her from you
+is not. I can say no more, Colonel Schuyler."
+
+He eyed me for a moment with a deep and searching gaze which showed me
+that his intellect was not asleep though his heart was on fire.
+
+"I believe you," said he; and threw aside his cloak and sat down. "And
+now," he asked, "who is the man?"
+
+Taken by surprise, I stammered and uttered some faint disclaimer; but
+seeing by his steady look and firm-set jaw that he meant to know, and
+detecting as I also thought in his general manner and subdued tones
+the promise of an unexpected forbearance, I added impulsively:
+
+"Let the wayward girl tell you herself; perhaps in the telling she
+will grow ashamed of her caprice."
+
+"I have asked her," was the stern reply, "and she is dumb." Then in
+softer tones he added: "How can I do anything for her if she will not
+confide in me. She has treated me most ungratefully, but I mean to be
+kind to her. Only I must first know if she has chosen worthily."
+
+"Who is there of worth in town?" I asked, softened and fascinated by
+his manner. "There is no man equal to yourself."
+
+"You say so," he cried, and waved his hand impatiently. Then with a
+deep and thrilling intensity which I feel yet, he repeated, "His name,
+his name? Tell me his name."
+
+The Colonel is a man of power, accustomed to control men. I could not
+withstand his look or be unmoved by his tones. If he meant well to
+Orrin and to her, what was I that I should withhold Orrin's name.
+Falteringly I was about to speak it when a sudden sound struck my
+ears, and rising impetuously I drew him to the window, blowing out the
+candles as I passed them.
+
+"Hark!" I cried, as the rush of pounding hoofs was heard on the road,
+and "Look!" I added, as a sudden figure swept by on the panting white
+horse so well known by all in that town.
+
+"Is it he?" whispered the dark figure at my side as we both strained
+our eyes after Orrin's fast vanishing form.
+
+"You have seen him," I returned; and drawing him back from the window,
+I closed the shutters with care, lest Orrin should be seized with a
+freak to return and detect me in conference with his heart's dearest
+enemy.
+
+Silence and darkness were now about us, and the Colonel, as if anxious
+to avail himself of the surrounding gloom, caught my arm as I moved to
+relight the candles.
+
+"Wait," said he; and I understood and stopped still.
+
+And so we stood for a moment, he quiet as a carven statue and I
+restless but obedient to his wishes. When he stirred I carefully lit
+the candles, but I did not look at him till he had donned his cloak
+and pulled his hat well over his eyes. Then I turned, and eying him
+earnestly, said:
+
+"If I have made a mistake--"
+
+But he quickly interrupted me, averring:
+
+"You have made no mistake. You are a good lad, Philo, and if it had
+been you--" He did not say what he would have done, but left the
+sentence incomplete and went on: "I know nothing of this Orrin Day,
+but what a woman wills she must have. Will you bring this fellow--he
+is your friend is he not?--to Juliet's house in the morning? Her
+father is set on her being the mistress of the new stone house and we
+three will have to reason with him, do you see?"
+
+Astonished, I bowed with something like awe. Was he so great-hearted
+as this? Did he intend to give up his betrothed to the man whom she
+loved, and even to plead her cause with the father she feared? My
+admiration would have its vent, and I uttered some foolish words of
+sympathy, which he took with the stately, rather condescending grace
+which they perhaps merited; after which, he added again: "You will
+come, will you not?" and bowed kindly and retreated towards the door,
+while I, abashed and worshipful, followed with protestations that
+nothing should hinder me from doing his will, till he had passed
+through the doorway and vanished from my sight.
+
+And yet I do not want to do his will or take Orrin to that house. I
+might have borne with sad equanimity to see her married to the
+Colonel, for he is far above me, but to Orrin--ah, that is a bitter
+outlook, and I must have been a fool to have promised aught that will
+help to bring it about. Still, am I not her sworn friend, and if she
+thinks she can be happy with him, ought I not to do my share towards
+making her so?
+
+I wonder if the Colonel knows that Orrin too has been building himself
+a house?
+
+I did not sleep last night, and I have not eaten this morning.
+Thoughts robbed me of sleep, and a visit from Orrin effectually took
+away from me whatever appetite I might have had. He came in almost at
+daybreak. He looked dishevelled and wild, and spoke like a man who had
+stopped more than once at the tavern.
+
+"Philo," said he, "you have annoyed me by your curiosity for more than
+a year; now you can do me a favor. Will you call at Juliet's house and
+see if she is free to go and come as she was a week ago?"
+
+"Why?" I asked, thinking I perceived a reason for his bloodshot eye,
+and yet being for the moment too wary, perhaps too ungenerous, to
+relieve him from the tension of his uncertainty.
+
+"Why?" he repeated. "Must you know all that goes on in my mind, and
+cannot I keep one secret to myself?"
+
+"You ask me to do you a favor," I quietly returned. "In order to do it
+intelligently, I must know why it is asked."
+
+"I do not see that," objected Orrin, "and if you were not such a boy
+I'd leave you on the spot and do the errand myself. But you mean no
+harm, and so I will tell you that Juliet and I had planned to run away
+together last night, but though I was at the place of meeting, she did
+not come, nor has she made any sign to show me why she failed me."
+
+"Orrin," I began, but he stopped me with an oath.
+
+"No sermons," he protested. "I know what you would have done if
+instead of smiling on me she had chanced to give all her poor little
+heart to you."
+
+"I should not have tempted her to betray the Colonel," I exclaimed
+hotly, perhaps because the sudden picture he presented to my
+imagination awoke within me such a torrent of unsuspected emotions.
+"Nor should I have urged her to fly with me by night and in stealth."
+
+"You do not know what you would do," was his rude and impatient
+rejoinder. "Had she looked at you, with tears in her arch yet pathetic
+blue eyes, and listened while you poured out your soul, as if heaven
+were opening before her and she had no other thought in life but you,
+then--"
+
+"Hush!" I cried, "do you want me to go to her house for you, or do you
+want me to stay away?"
+
+"You know I want you to go."
+
+"Then be still, and listen to what I have to say. I will go, but you
+must go too. If you want to take Juliet away from the Colonel you must
+do it openly. I will not abet you, nor will I encourage any
+underhanded proceedings."
+
+"You are a courageous lad," he said, "in other men's affairs. Will you
+raise me a tomb if the Colonel runs me through with his sword?"
+
+"I at least should not feel the contempt for you which I should if you
+eloped with her behind his back."
+
+"Now you are courageous on your own behalf," laughed he, "and that is
+better and more to the point." Yet he looked as if he could easily
+spit me on his own sword, which I noticed was dangling at his heels.
+
+"Will you come?" I urged, determined not to conciliate or enlighten
+him even if my forbearance cost me my life.
+
+He hesitated, and then broke into a hoarse laugh. "I have drunk just
+enough to be reckless," said he; "yes, I will go; and the devil must
+answer for the result."
+
+I had never seen him look so little the gentleman, and perhaps it was
+on this very account I became suddenly quite eager to take him at his
+word before time and thought should give him an opportunity to become
+more like himself; for I could not but think that if she saw him in
+this condition she must make comparisons between him and the Colonel
+which could not but be favorable to the latter. But it was still quite
+early, and I dared not run the risk of displeasing the Colonel by
+anticipating his presence, so I urged Orrin into that little back
+parlor of mine, where I had once hoped to see a very different person
+installed, and putting wine and biscuits before him, bade him refresh
+himself while I prepared myself for appearing before the ladies.
+
+When the hour came for us to go I went to him. He was pacing the floor
+and trying to school himself into patience, but he made but a sorry
+figure, and I felt a twinge of conscience as he thrust on his hat
+without any attempt to smooth his dishevelled locks, or rearrange his
+disordered ruffles. Should I permit him to go thus disordered, or
+should I detain him long enough to fit him for the eye of the dainty
+Juliet? He answered the question himself. "Come," said he, "I have
+chewed my sleeve long enough in suspense. Let us go and have an end of
+it. If she is to be my wife she must leave the house with me to-day,
+if not, I have an hour's work before me down yonder," and he pointed
+in the direction of his new house. "When you see the sky red at
+noonday, you will know what that is."
+
+"Orrin!" I cried, and for the first time I seized his arm with
+something like a fellow-feeling.
+
+But he shook me off.
+
+"Don't interfere with me," he said, and strode on, sullen and fierce,
+towards the place where such a different greeting awaited him from any
+that he feared.
+
+Ought I to tell him this? Ought I to say: "Your sullenness is uncalled
+for and your fierceness misplaced; Juliet is constant, and the Colonel
+means you nothing but good"? Perhaps; and perhaps, too, I should be a
+saint and know nothing of earthly passions and jealousies. But I am
+not. I hate this Orrin, hate him more and more as every step brings
+us nearer to Juliet's house and the fate awaiting him from her
+weakness and the Colonel's generosity. So I hold my peace and we come
+to her gate, and the recklessness that has brought him thus far
+abandons him on the instant and he falls back and lets me go in
+several steps before him, so that I seem to be alone when I enter the
+house, and Juliet, who is standing in the parlor between the Colonel
+and her father, starts when she sees me, and breaking into sobs,
+cries:
+
+"Oh, Philo, Philo, tell my father there is nothing between us but what
+is friendly and honorable; that I--I--"
+
+"Hush!" commanded that father, while I stared at the Colonel, whose
+quiet, imperturbable face was for the first time such a riddle to me
+that I hardly heeded what the elder man said. "You have talked enough,
+Juliet, and denied enough. I will now speak to Mr. Adams and see what
+he has to say. Last night my daughter, who, as all the town knows, is
+betrothed to this gentleman"--and he waved his hand deferentially
+towards the Colonel--"was detected by me stealing out of the garden
+gate with a little packet on her arm. As my daughter never goes out
+alone, I was naturally startled, and presuming upon my rights as her
+father, naturally asked her where she was going. This question, simple
+as it was, seemed to both terrify and unnerve her. Stumbling back, she
+looked me wildly in the eye and answered, with an effrontery she had
+never shown me before, that she was flying to escape a hated marriage.
+That Colonel Schuyler had returned, and as she could not be his wife,
+she was going to her aunt's house, where she could live in peace
+without being forced upon a man she could not love. Amazed, for I had
+always supposed her duly sensible of the honor which had been shown
+her by this gentleman's attentions, I drew her into my study and
+there, pulling off the cloak which she held tightly drawn about her, I
+discovered that she was tricked out like a bride, and had a whole
+bunch of garden roses fastened in her breast. 'A pretty figure,' cried
+I, 'for travelling. You are going away with some man, and it is a
+runaway match I have interrupted.' She could not deny it, and just
+then the Colonel came in and--but we will not talk about that. It
+remained for us to find out the man who had led her to forget her
+duty, and I could think of no man but you. So I ask you now before my
+trembling daughter and this outraged gentleman if you are the
+villain."
+
+But here Colonel Schuyler spoke up quietly and without visible anger:
+"I was about to say when this gentleman's entrance interrupted my
+words that I had been convinced overnight that our first suspicions
+were false, and that Mr. Adams was, as your daughter persists in
+declaring, simply a somewhat zealous friend."
+
+"But," hastily vociferated the old man, "there has been no one else
+about my daughter for months. If Mr. Adams is not to blame for this
+attempted escapade, who is? I should like to see the man, and see him
+standing just there."
+
+"Then look and tell me what you think of him," came with an insolent
+fierceness from the doorway, and Orrin, booted and spurred, with mud
+on his holiday hose, and his hat still on his head, strode into our
+midst and confronted us all with an air of such haughty defiance that
+it half robbed him of his ruffianly appearance.
+
+Juliet shrieked and stepped back, fascinated and terrified. The
+Colonel frowned darkly, and the old man, who had seemed by his words
+to summon him before us, quailed at the effect of his words and stood
+looking from the well-known but unexpected figure thus introduced
+amongst us, to the Colonel who persistently avoided his gaze, till the
+situation became unbearable, and I turned about as if to go.
+
+Instantly the Colonel took advantage of the break and spoke to Orrin:
+"And so it is to you, sir, that I have to address the few words I have
+to say?"
+
+"Yes, to him and to me!" cried little Juliet, and gliding from between
+the two natural protectors of her girlhood she crossed the floor and
+stood by Orrin's side.
+
+This action, so unexpected and yet so natural, took away whatever
+restraint we had hitherto placed upon ourselves, and the Colonel
+looked for a moment as if his self-control would abandon him entirely
+and leave him a prey to man's fiercest and most terrible passions. But
+he has a strong soul, and before I could take a step to interpose
+myself between him and Juliet, his face had recovered its steady
+aspect and his hands ceased from their ominous trembling. Her father,
+on the contrary, seemed to grow more ireful with every instant that he
+saw her thus defiant of his authority, while Orrin, pleased with her
+courage and touched, I have no doubt, by the loving confidence of her
+pleading eyes, threw his arm about her with a gesture of pride which
+made one forget still more his disordered and dishevelled condition.
+
+I said nothing, but I did not leave the room.
+
+"Juliet!"--the words came huskily from the angry father's lips, "come
+from that man's embrace, and do not make me shudder that I ever
+welcomed the Colonel to my dishonored house."
+
+But the Colonel, putting out his hand, said calmly:
+
+"Let her stay; since she has chosen this very honorable gentleman to
+be her husband, where better could she stand than by his side?"
+
+Then forcing himself still more to seem impassive, he bowed to Orrin,
+and with great suavity remarked: "If she had chosen me to that honor,
+as I had every reason to believe she had, it would not have been many
+more weeks before I should have welcomed her into a home befitting
+her beauty and her ambition. May I ask if you can do as much for her?
+Have you a home for your bride in which I may look forward to paying
+her the respects which my humble duty to her demands?"
+
+Ah then, Orrin towered proudly, and the pretty Juliet smiled with
+something of her old archness.
+
+"Saddle your horse," cried the young lover, "and ride to the east. If
+you do not find a wee, fresh nest there, I am no prophet. What! steal
+a wife and not have a home to put her in!"
+
+And he laughed till the huge brown rafters above his head seemed to
+tremble, so blithe did he feel, and so full of pride at thus daring
+the one great man in the town.
+
+But the Colonel did not laugh, nor did he immediately answer. He had
+evidently not heard of the little cottage beyond both thicket and
+stream, and was consequently greatly disconcerted. But just when we
+were all wondering what held him so restrained, and what the words
+were which should break the now oppressive silence, he spoke and
+said:
+
+"A wee nest is no place for the lady who was to have been my wife. If
+you will have patience and wait a month she shall have the home that
+has been reared for her. The great stone house would not know any
+other mistress, and therefore it shall be hers."
+
+"No, no," Orrin began, aghast at such generosity. But the thoughtless
+Juliet, delighted at a prospect which promised her both splendor and
+love, uttered such a cry of joy that he stopped abashed and half
+angry, and turning upon her, said: "Are you not satisfied with what I
+can give you, and must you take presents even from the man you have
+affected to despise?"
+
+"But, but, he is so good," babbled out the inconsiderate little thing,
+"and--and I do like the great stone house, and we could be so happy in
+it, just like a king and queen, if--if--"
+
+She had the grace to stop, perhaps because she saw nothing but rebuke
+in the faces around her. But the Colonel, through whose voice ran in
+spite of himself an icy vein of sarcasm, observed, with another of his
+low bows:
+
+"You shall indeed be like king and queen there. If you do not believe
+me, come there with me a month hence, and I will show you what a
+disappointed man can do for the woman he has loved." And taking by the
+arm the old man who with futile rage had tried more than once to break
+into this ominous conversation, he drew him persuasively to his side,
+and so by degrees from the room.
+
+"Oh," cried Juliet, as the door closed behind them, "can he mean it?
+Can he mean it?"
+
+And Orrin, a little awed, did not reply, but I saw by his face and
+bearing that whether the Colonel meant it or not was little to him;
+that the cottage beyond the woods was the destined home of his bride,
+and that we must be prepared to lose her from our midst, perhaps
+before the month was over which the Colonel had bidden them to wait.
+
+I do not know through whom Dame Gossip became acquainted with
+yesterday's events, but everywhere in town people are laying their
+heads together in wonder over the jilting of Colonel Schuyler and the
+unprecedented magnanimity which he has shown in giving his new house
+to the rebellious lovers. If I have been asked one question to-day, I
+have been asked fifty, and Orrin, who flies into a rage at the least
+intimation that he will accept the gift which has been made him,
+spends most of his time in asserting his independence, and the firm
+resolution which he has made to owe nothing to the generosity of the
+man he has treated with such unquestionable baseness. Juliet keeps
+very quiet, but from the glimpse I caught of her this afternoon at her
+casement, I judge that the turn of affairs has had a very enlivening
+effect upon her beauty. Her eyes fairly sparkled as she saw me; and
+with something like her old joyous abandonment of manner, she tore off
+a branch of the flowering almond at her window and tossed it with
+delicious laughter at my feet. Yet though I picked it up and carried
+it for a few steps beyond her gate, I soon dropped it over the wall,
+for her sparkle and her laughter hurt me, and I would rather have seen
+her less joyous and a little more sensible of the ruin she had
+wrought.
+
+For she has wrought ruin, as any one can see who looks at the Colonel
+long enough to note his eye. For though he holds himself erect and
+walks proudly through the town, there is that in his look which makes
+me tremble and hold my own weak complainings in check. He has been up
+to his house to-day, and when he came back there was not a blind from
+one end of the street to the other but quivered when he went by, so
+curious are the women to see him who they cannot but feel has merited
+all the sympathy if not the homage of their sex. Ralph Urphistone
+tells me to-night that the workmen at the new house have been offered
+extra wages if they put the house into habitable condition by the end
+of the month.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For all his secret satisfaction Orrin is very restless. He has tried
+to induce Juliet to marry him at once, and go with him to the little
+cottage he has raised for her comfort. But she puts him off with
+excuses, which, however, are so mingled with sweet coquetries and
+caresses, that he cannot reproach her without seeming insensible to
+her affection, and it is not until he is away from the fascination of
+her presence, and amongst those who do not hesitate to say that he
+will yet see the advantage of putting his brilliant bird in a cage
+suitable to her plumage, that he remembers his manhood and chafes at
+his inability to assert it. I am sorry for him in a way, but not so
+deeply as I might be if _he_ were more humble and more truly sensible
+of the mischief he has wrought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin will yet make himself debtor to the Colonel. Something has
+happened which proves that fate--or man--is working against him to
+this end, and that he must from the very force of circumstances
+finally succumb. I say _man_, but do I not mean _woman_? Ah, no, no,
+no! my pen ran away with me, my thoughts played me false. It could
+have been no woman, for if it was, then is Juliet a--Let me keep to
+facts. I have not self-control enough for speculation.
+
+To-day the sun set red. As we had been having gray skies, and more or
+less rain for a fortnight, the brightness and vivid crimson in the
+west drew many people to their doors. I was amongst them, and as I
+stood looking intently at the sky that was now one blaze of glory
+from horizon to zenith, Orrin stepped up behind me and said:
+
+"Do you want to take a ride to-night?"
+
+Seeing him look more restless and moody than ever, I answered "Yes,"
+and accordingly about eight that night he rode up to my door and we
+started forth.
+
+I thought he would turn in the direction of the stone house, for one
+night when I had allowed myself to go there in my curiosity at its
+progress, I had detected him crouching in one of the thickest shadows
+cast by the surrounding trees. But if any such idea had been in his
+mind, it soon vanished, for almost the instant I was in the saddle, he
+wheeled himself about and led the way eastward, whipping and spurring
+his horse as if it were a devil's ride he contemplated, and not that
+easy, restful canter under the rising moon demanded by our excited
+spirits and the calm, exquisite beauty of the summer night.
+
+"Are you not coming?" was shouted back to me, as the distance
+increased between us.
+
+My answer was to spur my own horse, and as we rode once more side by
+side, I could not but note what a wild sort of beauty there was in
+him as he thus gave himself up to the force of his feelings and the
+restless energy of this harum-scarum ride. "Very different," thought
+I, "would the Colonel look on a horse at this hour of night"; and
+wondered if Juliet could see him thus she would any longer wound him
+by her hesitations, after having driven him by her coquetries to
+expect full and absolute surrender on her part.
+
+Did he guess my thoughts, or was his mind busy with the same, that he
+suddenly cried in harsh but thrilling tones:
+
+"If I had her where she ought to be, here behind me on this horse, I
+would ride to destruction before I would take her back again to the
+town and the temptations which beset her while she can hear the sound
+of hammer upon stone."
+
+"And you would be right," I was about to say in some bitterness, I
+own, when the full realization of the road we were upon stopped me and
+I observed instead:
+
+"You would take her yonder where you hope to see her happy, though no
+other woman lives within a half-mile of the place."
+
+"No man you should say," quoth Orrin bitterly, lashing his horse till
+it shot far ahead of me, so that some few minutes passed before we
+were near enough together for him to speak again. Then he said: "She
+loads me with promises and swears that she loves me more than all the
+world. If half of this is true she ought to be happy with me in a
+hovel, while I have a dainty cottage for her dwelling, where the vines
+will soon grow and the birds sing. You have not seen it since it has
+been finished. You shall see it to-night."
+
+I choked as I tried to answer, and wondered if he had any idea of what
+I had to contend with in these rides I seemed forced to take without
+any benefit to myself. If he had, he was merciless, for once launched
+into talk he kept on till I was almost wild with hateful sympathy and
+jealous chagrin. Suddenly he paused.
+
+The forest we had been threading had for the last few minutes been
+growing thinner, and as the quick cessation in his speech caused me to
+look up, I saw, or thought I saw, a faint glow shining through the
+branches before me, which could not have come from the reflection
+made by the setting sun, as that had long ago sunk into darkness.
+
+Orrin who, as he had ceased speaking, had suddenly reined in his
+panting horse, now gave a shout and shot forward, and I, hardly
+knowing what to fear or expect, followed him as fast as my evidently
+weary animal would carry me, and thus bounding along with but a few
+paces between us, we cleared the woods and came out into the open
+fields beyond. As we did so a cry went up from Orrin, faintly echoed
+by my own lips. It was a fire that we saw, and the flames, which had
+now got furious headway, rose up like pillars to the sky, illuminating
+all the country round, and showing me, both by their position and the
+glare of the stream beneath them, that it was Orrin's house which was
+burning, and Orrin's hopes which were being destroyed before our eyes.
+The cry he gave as he fully realized this I shall never forget, nor
+the gesture with which he drove his spurs into his horse and flashed
+down that long valley into the ever-increasing glare that lighted
+first his flowing hair and the wet flanks of the animal he bestrode,
+and finally seemed to envelop him altogether, till he looked like some
+avenging demon rushing through his own element of fury and fire.
+
+I was far behind him, but I made what time I could, feeling to the
+core, as I passed, the weirdness of the solitude before me, with just
+this element of horror flaming up in its midst. Not a sound save that
+of our pounding hoofs interrupted that crackling sound of burning
+wood, and when the roof fell in, as it did before I could reach his
+side, I could hear distinctly the echo which followed it. Orrin may
+have heard it too, for he gave a groan and drew in his horse, and when
+I reached him I saw him sitting there before the smouldering ashes of
+his home, silent and inert, without a word to say or an ear to hear
+the instinctive words of sympathy I could not now keep back.
+
+Who had done it? Who had started the blaze which had in one half-hour
+undone the work and hope of months? That was the question which first
+roused me and caused me to search the silence and darkness of the
+night for some trace of a human presence, if only so much as the mark
+of a human foot. And I found it. There, in the wet margin of the
+stream, I came upon a token which may mean nothing and which may
+mean--But I cannot write even here of the doubts it brought me; I
+will only tell how on our slow and wearisome passage home through the
+sombre woods, Orrin suddenly let his bridle fall, and, flinging up his
+arms above his head, cried bitterly:
+
+"O that I did not love her so well! O that I had never seen her who
+would make of me a slave when I would be a man!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The gossips at the corners nod knowingly this morning, and Orrin,
+whose brow is moodier than the Colonel's, walks fiercely amongst them
+without word and without look. He is on his way to Juliet's house, and
+if there is enchantment left in smiles, I bid her to use it, for her
+fate is trembling in the balance, and may tip in a direction of which
+she little recks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin has come back. Striding impetuously into the room where I sat at
+work, he drew himself up till his figure showed itself in all its
+full and graceful proportions.
+
+"Am I a man?" he asked, "or," with a fall in his voice brimmed with
+feeling, "am I a fool? She met me with such an unsuspicious look,
+Philo, and bore herself with such an innocent air, that I not only
+could not say what I meant to say, but have promised to do what I have
+sworn never to do--accept the Colonel's unwelcome gift, and make her
+mistress of the new stone house."
+
+"You are--a man," I answered. For what are men but fools where women
+of such enchantment are concerned!
+
+He groaned, perhaps at the secret sarcasm hidden in my tone, and sat
+down unbidden at the table where I was writing.
+
+"You did not see her," he cried. "You do not know with what charms she
+works, when she wishes to comfort and allure." Ah! did I not. "And
+Philo," he went on, almost humbly for him, "you are mistaken if you
+think she had any hand in the ruin which has come upon me. She had not.
+How I know it I cannot say, but I am ready to swear it, and you must
+forget any foolish fears I may have shown or any foolish words I may
+have uttered in the first confusion of my loss and disappointment."
+
+"I will forget," said I.
+
+"The fact is I do not understand her," he eagerly explained. "There
+was innocence in her air, but there was mockery too, and she laughed
+as I talked of my grief and rage, as though she thought I was playing
+a part. It was merry laughter, and there was no ring of falsehood in
+it, but why should she laugh at all?"
+
+This was a question I could not answer; who could? Juliet is beyond
+the comprehension of us all.
+
+"But what is the use of plaguing myself with riddles?" he now asked,
+starting up as suddenly as he had sat down. "We are to be married in a
+month, and the Colonel--I have seen the Colonel--has promised to dance
+at our wedding. Will it be in the new stone house? It would be a
+fitting end to this comedy if he were to dance in _that_?"
+
+I thought as Orrin did about this, but with more seriousness perhaps;
+and it was not till after he had left me that I remembered I had not
+asked whom he suspected of firing his house, now that he was assured
+of the innocence of her who was most likely to profit by its burning.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now I understand Juliet!" was the cry with which Orrin burst into my
+presence late this afternoon. "Men are saying and women whispering
+that I destroyed my own house, in order to save myself the shame of
+accepting the Colonel's offer while I had a roof of my own." And,
+burning with rage, he stamped his foot upon the ground, and shook his
+hand so threateningly in the direction of his fancied enemies that I
+felt some reflection of his anger in my own breast, and said or tried
+to say that they could not know him as I did or they would never
+accuse him of so mean a deed, whatever else they might bring against
+him.
+
+"It makes me wild, it makes me mad, it makes me feel like leaving the
+town forever!" was his hoarse complaint as I finished my feeble
+attempt at consolation. "If Juliet were half the woman she ought to be
+she would come and live with me in a log-cabin in the woods before
+she would accept the Colonel's house now. And to think that she, _she_
+should be affected by the opinions of the rest, and think me so
+destitute of pride that I would stoop to sacrifice my own home for the
+sake of stepping into that of a rival's. O woman, woman, what are you
+made of? Not of the same stuff as we men, surely."
+
+I strove to calm him, for he was striding fiercely and impatiently
+about the room. But at my first word he burst forth with:
+
+"And her father, who should control her, aids and encourages her
+follies. He is a slave to the Colonel, who is the slave of his own
+will."
+
+"In this case," I quietly observed, "his will seems to be most
+kindly."
+
+"That is the worst of it," chafed Orrin. "If only he offered me
+opposition I could struggle with him. But it is his generosity I hate,
+and the humiliating position into which it thrusts me. And that is not
+all," he angrily added, while still striding feverishly about the
+room. "The Colonel seems to think us his property ever since we
+decided to accept his, and as a miser watches over his gold so does
+he watch over us, till I scarcely have the opportunity now of speaking
+to Juliet alone. If I go to her house, there he is sitting like a
+black statue at the fireplace, and when I would protest, and lead her
+into another room or into the garden, he rises and overwhelms me with
+such courtesies and subtle disquisitions that I am tripped up in my
+endeavors, and do not know how to leave or how to stay. I wish he
+would fall sick, or his house tumble about his head!"
+
+"Orrin, Orrin!" I cried. But he interrupted my remonstrance with the
+words:
+
+"It is not decent. I am her affianced husband now, and he should leave
+us alone. Does he think I can ever forget that he used to court her
+once himself, and that the favors she now shows me were once given as
+freely, if not as honestly, to him? He knows I cannot forget, and he
+delights--"
+
+"There, Orrin," I broke in, "you do him wrong. The Colonel is above
+your comprehension as he is above mine; but there is nothing
+malevolent in him."
+
+"I don't know about that," rejoined his angry rival. "If he wanted to
+steal back my bride he could take no surer course for doing it.
+Juliet, who is fickle as the wind, already looks from his face to mine
+as if she were contrasting us. And he is so damned handsome and suave
+and self-forgetting!"
+
+"And you," I could not help but say, "are so fierce and sullen even in
+your love."
+
+"I know it," was his half-muttered retort, "but what can you expect?
+Do you think I will see him steal her heart away from before my eyes?"
+
+"It would be but a natural return on his part for your former
+courtesies," I could not forbear saying, in my own secret chagrin and
+soreness of heart.
+
+"But he shall not do it," exclaimed Orrin, with a backward toss of his
+head, and a sudden thump of his strong hand on the table before me. "I
+won her once against all odds, and I will keep her if I have to don
+the devil's smiles myself. He shall never again see her eyes rest
+longer on his face than mine. I will hold her by the power of my love
+till he finds himself forgotten, and for very shame steals away,
+leaving me with the bride he has himself bestowed upon me. He shall
+never have Juliet back."
+
+"I doubt if he wishes to," I quietly remarked, as Orrin, weary with
+passion, ran from my presence.
+
+I do not know whether Orrin succeeded or not in his attempts to shame
+the Colonel from intruding upon his interviews with Juliet. I am only
+sure that Orrin's countenance smoothed itself after this day, and that
+I heard no more complaints of Juliet's wavering fidelity. I myself do
+not believe she has ever wavered. Simply because she ought from every
+stand-point of good judgment and taste to have preferred the Colonel
+and clung to him, she will continue to cleave to Orrin and make him
+the idol of her wayward heart. But it is all a mystery to me and one
+that does not make me very happy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I went up by myself to the new stone house to-day, and found that it
+only needs the finishing touches. Twenty workmen or more were there,
+and the great front door had just been brought and was leaning against
+the walls preparatory to being hung. Being curious to see how they
+were progressing within, I climbed up to one of the windows and looked
+in, and not satisfied with what I could thus see, made my way into the
+house and up the main staircase, which I was surprised to see was
+nearly completed.
+
+The sound of the hammer and saw was all about me, and the calling of
+orders from above and below interfered much with any sentimental
+feelings I might have had. But I was not there to indulge in
+sentiment, and so I roamed on from room to room till I suddenly came
+upon a sight that drove every consideration of time and place from my
+mind, and made me for a moment forgetful of every other sentiment than
+admiration. This was nothing less than the glimpse which I obtained in
+passing one of the windows, of the Colonel himself down on his knees
+on the scaffolding aiding the workmen. So, so, he is not content with
+hurrying the work forward by his means and influence, but is lending
+the force of his example, and actually handling the plane and saw in
+his anxiety not to disappoint Juliet in regard to the day she has
+fixed for her marriage.
+
+A week ago I should have told Orrin what I had seen, but I had no
+desire to behold the old frowns come back to his face, so I determined
+to hold my silence with him. But Juliet ought to know with what manner
+of heart she has been so recklessly playing, so after stealing down
+the stairs I felt I should never have mounted, I crept from the house
+and made my way as best I could through the huge forest-trees that so
+thickly clustered at its back, till I came upon the high-road which
+leads to the village. Walking straight to Juliet's house I asked to
+see her, and shall never forget the blooming beauty of her presence as
+she stepped into the room and gave me her soft white hand to kiss.
+
+As she is no longer the object of my worship and hardly the friend of
+my heart, I think I can speak of her loveliness now without being
+misunderstood. So I will let my pen trace for once a record of her
+charms, which in that hour were surely great enough to excuse the
+rivalry of which they had been the subject, and perhaps to account for
+the disinterestedness of the man who had once given her his heart.
+
+She is of medium height, this Juliet, and her form has that sway in it
+which you see in a lily nodding on its stem. But she is no lily in her
+most enchanting movements, but rather an ardent passion-flower burning
+and palpitating in the sun. Her skin, which is milk-white, has strange
+flushes in it, and her eyes, which never look at you twice with the
+same meaning, are blue, or gray, or black, as her feeling varies and
+the soul informing them is in a state of joy, or trouble. Her most
+bewitching feature is her mouth, which has two dangerous dimples near
+it that go and come, sometimes without her volition and sometimes, I
+fear, with her full accord and desire. Her hair is brown and falls in
+such a mass of ringlets that no cap has ever yet been found which can
+confine it and keep it from weaving a golden net in which to entangle
+the hearts of men. When she smiles you feel like rushing forward; when
+she frowns you question yourself humbly what you have done to merit a
+look so out of keeping with the playful cast of her countenance and
+the arch bearing of her spirited young form. She was dressed, as she
+always is, simply, but there was infinite coquetry in the tie of the
+blue ribbon on her shoulder, and if a close cap of dainty lace could
+make a face look more entrancing, I should like the privilege of
+seeing it. She was in an amiable mood and smiled upon my homage like a
+fairy queen.
+
+"I have come to pay my final respects to Juliet Playfair," I
+announced; "for by the tokens up yonder she will soon be classed among
+our matrons."
+
+My tone was formal and she looked surprised at it, but my news was
+welcome and so she made me a demure little courtesy before saying
+joyously:
+
+"Yes, the house is nearly done, and to-morrow Orrin and I are going up
+there together to see it. The Colonel has asked us to do this that we
+might say whether all is to our liking and convenience."
+
+"The Colonel is a man in a thousand," I began, but, seeing her frown
+in her old pettish way, I perceived that she partook enough of Orrin's
+spirit to dislike any allusion to one whose generosity threw her own
+selfishness into startling relief.
+
+So I said no more on this topic, but let my courtesy expend itself in
+good wishes, and came away at last with a bewildering remembrance of
+her beauty, which I am doing my best to blot out by faithfully
+recounting to myself the story of those infinite caprices of hers
+which have come so near wrecking more than one honorable heart.
+
+I do not expect to visit her again until I pay my respects to her as
+Orrin's wife.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is the day when Orrin and Juliet are to visit the new house. If I
+had not known this from her own lips, I should have known it from the
+fact that the workmen all left at noon, in order, as one of them said,
+to leave the little lady more at her ease. I saw them coming down the
+road, and had the curiosity to watch for the appearance of Orrin and
+the Colonel at Juliet's gate but they did not come, and assured by
+this that they meditated a later visit than I had anticipated, I went
+about my work. This took me up the road, and as it chanced, led me
+within a few rods of the wood within which lies the new stone house. I
+had not meant to go there, for I have haunted the place enough, but
+this time there was reason for it, and satisfied with the fact, I
+endeavored to fix my mind on other matters and forget who was likely
+at any moment to enter the forest behind me.
+
+But when one makes an effort to forget he is sure to remember all the
+more keenly, and I was just picturing to my mind Juliet's face and
+Juliet's pretty air of mingled pride and disdain as the first sight of
+the broad stone front burst upon her, when I heard through the
+stillness of the woods the faint sound of a saw, which coming from the
+direction of the house seemed to say that some one was still at work
+there. As I had understood that all the men had been given a
+half-holiday, I felt somewhat surprised at this, and unconsciously to
+myself moved a few steps nearer the opening where the house stood,
+when suddenly all was still and I could not for the moment determine
+whether I had really heard the sound of a saw or not. Annoyed at
+myself, and ashamed of an interest that made every trivial incident
+connected with this affair of such moment to me, I turned back to my
+work, and in a few moments had finished it and left the wood, when
+what was my astonishment to see Orrin coming from the same place,
+with his face turned toward the village, and a hardy, determined
+expression upon it which made me first wonder and then ask myself if I
+really comprehended this man or knew what he cherished in his heart of
+hearts.
+
+Going straight up to him, I said:
+
+"Well, Orrin, what's this? Coming away from the house instead of going
+to it? I understood that you and Juliet were expecting to visit it
+together this afternoon."
+
+He paused, startled, and his eyes fell as I looked him straight in the
+face.
+
+"We are going to visit it," he admitted, "but I thought it would be
+wiser for me to inspect the place first and see if all was right. An
+unfinished building has so many traps in it, you know." And he laughed
+loudly and long, but his mirth was forced, and I turned and looked
+after him, as he strode away, with a vague but uneasy feeling I did
+not myself understand.
+
+"Will the Colonel go with you?" I called out.
+
+He wheeled about as if stung. "Yes," he shouted, "the Colonel will go
+with us. Did you suppose he would allow us the satisfaction of going
+alone? I tell you, Philo," and he strode back to my side, "the Colonel
+considers us his property. Is not that pleasant? His _property_! And
+so we are," he fiercely added, "while we are his debtors. But we shall
+not be his debtors long. When we are married--if we _are_ married--I
+will take Juliet from this place if I have to carry her away by force.
+She shall never be the mistress of this house."
+
+"Orrin! Orrin!" I protested.
+
+"I have said it," was his fierce rejoinder, and he left me for the
+second time and passed hurriedly down the street.
+
+I was therefore somewhat taken aback when a little while later he
+reappeared with Juliet and the Colonel, in such a mood of forced
+gayety that more than one turned to look after them as they passed
+merrily laughing down the road. Will Juliet never be the mistress of
+that house? I think she will, my Orrin. That dimpled smile of hers has
+more force in it than that dominating will of yours. If she chooses to
+hold her own she will hold it, and neither you nor the Colonel can
+ever say her nay.
+
+What did Orrin tell me? That she would never be mistress of that
+house? Orrin was right, she never will; but who could have thought of
+a tragedy like this? Not I, not I; and if Orrin did and planned it--
+But let me tell the whole just as it happened, keeping down my horror
+till the last word is written and I have plainly before me the awful
+occurrences of this fearful day.
+
+They went, the three, to that fatal house together, and no man, saving
+myself perhaps, thought much more about the matter till we began to
+see Juliet's father peering anxiously from over his gate in the
+direction of the wood. Then we realized that the afternoon had long
+passed and that it was getting dark; and going up to the old man, I
+asked whom he was looking for. The answer was as we expected.
+
+"I am looking for Juliet. The Colonel took her and Orrin up to their
+new house, but they do not come back. I had a dreadful dream last
+night, and it frightens me. Why don't they come? It must be dark
+enough in the wood."
+
+"They will come soon," I assured him, and moved off, for I do not like
+Juliet's father.
+
+But when I passed by there again a half-hour later and found the old
+man still standing bare-headed and with craning neck at his post, I
+became very uneasy myself, and proposed to two or three neighbors,
+whom I found standing about, that we should go toward the woods and
+see if all were well. They agreed, being affected, doubtless, like
+myself, by the old man's fears, and as we proceeded down the street,
+others joined us till we amounted in number to a half-dozen or more.
+Yet, though the occasion seemed a strange one, we were not really
+alarmed till we found ourselves at the woods and realized how dark
+they were and how still. Then I began to feel an oppression at my
+heart, and trod with careful and hesitating steps till we came into
+the open space in which the house stands. Here it was lighter, but oh!
+how still. I shall never forget how still; when suddenly a shrill cry
+broke from one amongst us, and I saw Ralph Urphistone pointing with
+finger frozen in horror at something which lay in ghastly outline upon
+the broad stone which leads up to the gap of the great front door.
+
+What was it? We dared not approach to see, yet we dared not linger
+quiescent. One by one we started forward till finally we all stood in
+a horrified circle about the thing that looked like a shadow, and yet
+was not a shadow, but some horrible nightmare that made us gasp and
+shudder till the moon came suddenly out, and we saw that what we
+feared and shrank from were the bodies of Juliet and Orrin, he lying
+with face upturned and arms thrown out, and she with her head pillowed
+on his breast as if cast there in her last faint moment of
+consciousness. They were both dead, having fallen through the planks
+of the scaffolding, as was shown by the fatal gap open to the
+moonlight above our heads. Dead! dead! and though no man there knew
+how, the terror of their doom and the retribution it seemed to bespeak
+went home to our hearts, and we bowed our heads with a simultaneous
+cry of terror, which in that first moment was too overwhelming even
+for grief.
+
+The Colonel was nowhere to be seen, and after the first few minutes of
+benumbing horror, we tried to call aloud his name. But the cries died
+in our throat, and presently one amongst us withdrew into the house to
+search, and then another and another, till I was left alone in awful
+attendance upon the dead. Then I began to realize my own anguish, and
+with some last fragment of secret jealousy--or was it from some other
+less definite but equally imperative feeling?--was about to stoop
+forward and lift her head from a pillow that I somehow felt defiled
+it, when a quick hand drew me aside, and looking up, I saw Ralph
+standing at my back. He did not speak, and his figure looked ghostly
+in the moonlight, but his hand was pointing toward the house, and when
+I moved to follow him, he led the way into the hollow entrance and up
+the stairway till we came to the upper story where he stopped, and
+motioned me toward a door opening into one of the rooms.
+
+There were several of our number already standing there, so I did not
+hesitate to approach, and as I went the darkness in which I had
+hitherto moved disappeared before the broad band of moonlight shining
+into the room before us, and I saw, darkly silhouetted against a
+shining background, the crouching figure of the Colonel, staring with
+hollow eyes and maddened mien out of the unfinished window through
+which in all probability the devoted couple had stepped to their
+destruction.
+
+"Can you make him speak?" asked one. "He does not seem to heed us,
+though we have shouted to him and even shook his arm."
+
+"I shall not try," said I. "Horror like this should be respected." And
+going softly in I took up my station by his side in silent awe.
+
+But they would have me talk, and finally in some desperation I turned
+to him and said, quietly:
+
+"The scaffolding broke beneath them, did it not?" At which he first
+stared and then flung up his arms with a wild but suppressed cry. But
+he said nothing, and next moment had settled again into his old
+attitude of silent horror and amazement.
+
+"He might better be lying with them," I whispered after a moment,
+coming from his side. And one by one they echoed my words, and as he
+failed to move or even show any symptoms of active life, we gradually
+drifted from the spot till we were all huddled again below in the
+hollow blackness of that doorway guarded over by the dead.
+
+Who should tell her father? They all looked at me, but I shook my
+head, and it fell to another to perform this piteous errand, for
+fearful thoughts were filling my brain, and Orrin did not look
+altogether guiltless to me as he lay there dead beside the maiden he
+had declared so fiercely should never be mistress of this house.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was ever such a night of horror known in this town!
+
+They have brought the two bruised bodies down into the village and
+they now lie side by side in the parlor where I last saw Juliet in the
+bloom and glow of life. The Colonel is still crouching where I left
+him. No one can make him speak and no one can make him move, and the
+terror which his terror has produced affects the whole community, not
+even the darkness of the night serving to lessen the wild excitement
+which drives men and women about the streets as if it were broad
+daylight, and makes of every house an open thorough-fare through
+which anybody who wishes can pass.
+
+I, who have followed every change and turn in this whole calamitous
+affair, am like one benumbed at this awful crisis. I too go and come
+through the streets, hear people say in shouts, in cries, with bitter
+tears and wild lamentations, "Juliet is dead!" "Orrin is dead!" and
+get no sense from the words. I have even been more than once to that
+spot where they lie in immovable beauty, and though I gaze and gaze
+upon them, I feel nothing--not even wonder. Only the remembrance of
+that rigid figure frozen into its place above the gulf where so much
+youth and so many high hopes fell, has power to move me. When amid the
+shadows which surround me I see _that_, I shudder and the groan rises
+slowly to my lips as if I too were looking down into a gulf from which
+hope and love would never again rise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Colonel is now in his father's house. He was induced to leave the
+place by Ralph Urphistone's little child. When the great man first
+felt the touch of those baby fingers upon his, he shuddered and half
+recoiled, but as the little one pulled him gently but persistently
+towards the stair, he gradually yielded to her persuasion, and
+followed till he had descended to the ground-floor and left the fatal
+house. I do not think any other power could have induced him to pass
+that blood-stained threshold. For he seems thoroughly broken down, and
+will, I fear, never be the same man that he was before this fearful
+tragedy took place before his eyes.
+
+All day I have paced the floor of my room asking myself if I should
+allow Juliet to be laid away in the same tomb as Orrin. He was her
+murderer, without doubt, and though he has shared her doom, was it
+right for me to allow one stone to be raised above their united
+graves. Feeling said no, but reason bade me halt before I disturbed
+the whole community with whispers of a crime. I therefore remained
+undecided, and it was in this same condition of doubt that I finally
+went to the funeral and stood with the rest of the lads beside the
+open grave which had been dug for the unhappy lovers in that sunny
+spot beside the great church door. At sight of this grave and the twin
+coffins about to be lowered into it, I felt my struggle renewed, and
+yet I held my peace and listened as best I could to the minister's
+words and the broken sobs of such as had envied these two in their
+days of joyance, but had only pity for pleasure so soon over and hopes
+doomed to such early destruction.
+
+We were all there; Ralph and Lemuel and the other neighbors, old and
+young, all except that chief of mourners, the Colonel; for he was
+still under the influence of that horror which kept him enchained in
+silence, and had not even been sensible enough of the day and its
+mournful occasion to rise and go to the window as the long funeral
+cortege passed his house. We were all there and the minister had said
+the words, and Orrin's body had been lowered to its final rest, when
+suddenly, as they were about to move Juliet, a tumult was observed in
+the outskirts of the crowd, and the Colonel towering in his rage and
+appalling in his just indignation, fought his way through the
+recoiling masses till he stood in our very midst.
+
+"Stop!" he cried, "this burial must not go on." And he advanced his
+arm above Juliet's body as if he would intervene his very heart
+between it and the place of darkness into which it was about to
+descend. "She was the victim, he the murderer; they shall not lie
+together if I have to fling myself between them in the grave which you
+have dug."
+
+"But--but," interposed the minister, calm and composed even in the
+face of this portentous figure and the appalling words which it had
+uttered, "by what right do you call this one a murderer and the other
+a victim? Did you see him murder her? Was there a crime enacted before
+your eyes?"
+
+"The boards were sawn," was the startling answer. "They must have been
+sawn or they would never have given way beneath so light a weight. And
+then he urged her--I saw him--pleaded with her, drew her by force of
+eye and hand to step upon the scaffold without, though there was no
+need for it, and she recoiled. And when her light foot was on it and
+her half-smiling, half-timid face looked back upon us, he leaped out
+beside her, when instantly came the sound of a great crack, and I
+heard his laugh and her cry go up together, and--and--everything has
+been midnight in my soul ever since, till suddenly through the blank
+and horror surrounding me I caught the words, 'They will lie together
+in one tomb!' Then--then I awoke and my voice came back to me and my
+memory, and hither I hastened to stop this unhallowed work; for to lay
+the victim beside her murderer is a sacrilege which I for one would
+come back even from the grave to prevent."
+
+"But why," moaned the father feebly amid the cries and confusion which
+had been aroused by so gruesome an interference on the brink of the
+grave, "but why should Orrin wish my Juliet's death? They were to have
+been married soon--"
+
+But piteous as were his tones no one listened, for just then a lad who
+had been hiding behind the throng stepped out before us, showing a
+face so white and a manner so perturbed that we all saw that he had
+something to say of importance in this matter.
+
+"The boards _have_ been sawn," he said. "I wanted to know and I
+climbed up to see." At which words the whole crowd moved and swayed,
+and a dozen hands stooped to lift the body of Juliet and carry it away
+from that accursed spot.
+
+But the minister is a just man and cautious, and he lifted up his arms
+in such protest that they paused.
+
+"Who knows," he suggested, "that it was Orrin's hand which handled the
+saw?"
+
+And then I perceived that it was time for me to speak. So I raised my
+voice and told my story, and as I told it the wonder grew on every
+face and the head of each man slowly drooped till we all stood with
+downcast eyes. For crime had never before been amongst us or soiled
+the honor of our goodly town. Only the Colonel still stood erect; and
+as the vision of his outstretched arm and flaming eyes burned deeper
+and deeper into my consciousness, I stammered in my speech and then
+sobbed, and was the first to lift the silent form of the beauteous
+dead and bear it away from the spot denounced by one who had done so
+much for her happiness and had met with such a bitter and
+heart-breaking reward.
+
+And where did we finally lay her? In that spot--ah! why does my blood
+run chill while I write it--where she stood when she took that oath to
+the Colonel, whose breaking caused her death.
+
+A few words more and this record must be closed forever. That night,
+when all was again quiet in the village and the mourners no longer
+went about the streets, Lemuel, Ralph, and I went for a final visit to
+the new stone house. It showed no change, that house, and save for the
+broken scaffolding above gave no token of its having been the scene of
+such a woful tragedy. But as we looked upon it from across its
+gruesome threshold Lemuel said:
+
+"It is a goodly structure and nigh completed, but the hand that began
+it will never finish it, nor will man or woman ever sleep within its
+walls. The place is accursed, and will stand accursed till it is
+consumed by God's lightning or falls piecemeal to the ground from
+natural decay. Though its stones are fresh, I see ruin already written
+upon its walls."
+
+It was a strong statement, and we did not believe it, but when we got
+back to the village we were met by one who said:
+
+"The Colonel has stopped the building of the new house. 'It is to be
+an everlasting monument,' he says, 'to a rude man's pride and a sweet
+woman's folly.'"
+
+Will it be a monument that he will love to gaze upon? I wot not, or
+any other man who remembers Juliet's loveliness and the charm it gave
+to our village life for one short year.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What was it that I said about this record being at an end? Some
+records do not come to an end, and though twenty years have passed
+since I wrote the above, I have cause this day to take these faded
+leaves from their place and add a few lines to the story of the
+Colonel's new house.
+
+It is an old house now, old and desolate. As Lemuel said--he is one of
+our first men--it is accursed and no one has ever felt brave enough or
+reckless enough to care to cross again its ghostly threshold. Though I
+never heard any one say it is haunted, there are haunting memories
+enough surrounding it for one to feel a ghastly recoil from invading
+precincts defiled by such a crime. So the kindly forest has taken it
+into its protection, and Nature, who ever acts the generous part, has
+tried to throw the mantle of her foliage over the decaying roof, and
+about the lonesome walls, accepting what man forsakes and so
+fulfilling her motherhood.
+
+I am still a resident in the town, and I have a family now that has
+outgrown the little cottage which the apple-tree once guarded. But it
+is not to tell of them or of myself that I have taken these pages from
+their safe retreat to-day, but to speak of the sight which I saw this
+morning when I passed through the churchyard, as I often do, to pluck
+a rose from the bush which we lads planted on Juliet's grave twenty
+years ago. They always seem sweeter to me than other roses, and I take
+a superstitious delight in them, in which my wife, strange to say,
+does not participate. But that is neither here nor there.
+
+The sight which I thought worth recording was this: I had come slowly
+through the yard, for the sunshine was brilliant and the month June,
+and sad as the spot is, it is strangely beautiful to one who loves
+nature, when as I approached the corner where Juliet lies, and which
+you will remember was in the very spot where I once heard her take her
+reluctant oath, I saw crouched against her tomb a figure which seemed
+both strange and vaguely familiar to me. Not being able to guess who
+it was, as there is now nobody in town who remembers her with any more
+devotion than myself, I advanced with sudden briskness, when the
+person I was gazing upon rose, and turning towards me, looked with
+deeply searching and most certainly very wretched eyes into mine. I
+felt a shock, first of surprise, and then of wildest recollection. The
+man before me was the Colonel, and the grief apparent in his face and
+disordered mien showed that years of absence had not done their work,
+and that he had never forgotten the arch and brilliant Juliet.
+
+Bowing humbly and with a most reverent obeisance, for he was still the
+great man of the county, though he had not been in our town for years,
+I asked his pardon for my intrusion, and then drew back to let him
+pass. But he stopped and gave me a keen look, and speaking my name,
+said: "You are married, are you not?" And when I bowed the meek
+acquiescence which the subject seemed to demand, he sighed as I
+thought somewhat bitterly, and shrugging his shoulders, went
+thoughtfully by and left me standing on the green sward alone. But
+when he had reached the gate he turned again, and without raising his
+voice, though the distance between us was considerable, remarked: "I
+have come back to spend my remaining days in the village of my birth.
+If you care to talk of old times, come to the house at sunset. You
+will find me sitting on the porch."
+
+Gratified more than I ever expected to be by a word from him, I bowed
+my thanks and promised most heartily to come. And that was the end of
+our first interview.
+
+It has left me with very lively sensations. Will they be increased or
+diminished by the talk he has promised me?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I had a pleasant hour with the Colonel, but we did not talk of _her_.
+Had I expected to? I judge so by the faint but positive disappointment
+which I feel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have been again to the Colonel's, but this time I did not find him
+in. "He is much out evenings," explained the woman who keeps house
+for him, "and you will have to come early to see him at his own
+hearth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is there about the Colonel that daunts me? He seems friendly,
+welcomes my company, and often hands me the hospitable glass. But I am
+never easy in his presence, though the distance between us is not so
+great as it was in our young days, now that I have advanced in worldly
+prosperity and he has stood still. Is it that his intellect cows me,
+or do I feel too much the secret melancholy which breathes through all
+his actions, and frequently cuts short his words? I cannot answer; I
+am daunted by him and I am fascinated, and after leaving him think
+only of the time when I shall see him again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The children, who have grown up since the Colonel has been gone, seem
+very shy of him. I have noted them more than once shrink away from his
+path, huddling and whispering in a corner, and quite forgetting to
+play as long as his shadow fell across the green or the sound of his
+feet could be heard on the turf. I think they fear his melancholy, not
+understanding it. Or perhaps some hint of his sorrows has been given
+them, and it is awe they feel rather than fear. However that may be,
+no child ever takes his hand or prattles to him of its little joys or
+griefs; and this in itself makes him look solitary, for we are much
+given in this town to merry-making with our little ones, and it is a
+common sight to see old and young together on the green, making sport
+with ball or battledore.
+
+And it is not the children only who hold him in high but distant
+respect. The best men here are contented with a courteous bow from
+him, while the women--matrons now, who once were blushing
+maidens--think they have shown him enough honor if they make him a
+deep curtsey and utter a mild "Good-morrow."
+
+The truth is, he invites nothing more. He talks to me because he must
+talk to some one, but our conversation is always of things outside of
+our village life, and never by any chance of the place or any one in
+it. He lives at his father's house, now his, and has for his sole
+companion an old servant of the family, who was once his nurse, and
+who is, I believe, the only person in the world who is devotedly
+attached to him.
+
+Unless it is myself. Sometimes I think I love him; sometimes I think I
+do not. He fascinates me, and could make me do most anything he
+pleased, but have I a real affection for him? Almost; and this is
+something which I consider strange.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where does the Colonel go evenings? His old nurse has asked me, and I
+find I cannot answer. Not to the tavern, for I am often there; not to
+the houses of the neighbors, for none of them profess to know him.
+Where then? Is the curiosity of my youth coming back to me? It looks
+very much like it, Philo, very much like it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My daughter said to me to-day: "Father, do not go any more to the
+Colonel's." And when I asked her why, she answered that her lover--she
+has a _lover_, the minx--had told her that the Colonel held secret
+talks with the witches, and though I laughed at this, it has set me
+thinking. He goes to the forest at night, and roams for hours among
+its shadows. Is this a healthy occupation for a man, especially a man
+with a history? I shall go early to the Schuyler homestead to-night
+and stay late, for these midnight communings with nature may be the
+source of the hideous gloom which I have observed of late is growing
+upon his spirits. No other duty seems to me now greater than this, to
+win him back to a healthy realization of life, and the need there is
+of looking cheerfully upon such blessings as are left to our lot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I went to the Colonel's at early candle-light, and I stayed till ten,
+a late hour for me, and, as I hoped, for him. When I left I caught a
+sight of old Hannah, standing in a distant hallway, and I thought she
+looked grateful; at all events, she came forward very quickly after my
+departure, for I heard the key turn in the lock of the great front
+door before I had passed out of the gate.
+
+Why did I not go home? I had meant to, and there was every reason why
+I should. But I had no sooner felt the turf under my feet and seen the
+stars over my head, than I began to wander in the very opposite
+direction, and that without any very definite plan or purpose. I think
+I was troubled, and if not troubled, restless, and yet movement did
+not seem to help me, for I grew more uneasy with every step I took,
+and began to look towards the woods to which I was half unconsciously
+tending as if there I should find relief just as the Colonel, perhaps,
+was in the habit of doing. Was it a mere foolish freak which had
+assailed me, or was I under some uncanny influence, caught from the
+place where I had been visiting?
+
+I was yet asking myself this, when I heard distinctly through the
+silence of the night the sound of a footstep behind me, and astonished
+that any one else should have been beguiled at this hour into a walk
+so dreary, I slipped into the shadow of a tree that stood at the
+wayside and waited till the slowly advancing figure should pass and
+leave me free to pursue my way or to go back unnoticed and
+undisturbed.
+
+I had not long to wait. In a moment a weirdly muffled form appeared
+abreast of me, and it was with difficulty I suppressed a cry, for it
+was the Colonel I saw, escaped, doubtless, from his old nurse's
+surveillance, and as he passed he groaned, and the sad sound coming
+through the night at a time when my own spirits were in no comfortable
+mood affected me with almost a superstitious power, so that I trembled
+where I stood and knew not whether to follow him or go back and seek
+the cheer of my own hearth. But I decided in another moment to follow
+him, and when he had withdrawn far enough up the road not to hear the
+sound of my footfalls, I stepped out from my retreat and went with him
+into the woods.
+
+I have been as you know a midnight wanderer in that same place many a
+time in my life; but never did I leave the fields and meadows with
+such a foreboding dread, or step into the clustering shadows of the
+forest with such a shrinking and awe-struck heart. Yet I went on
+without a pause or an instant of hesitation, for I knew now where he
+was going, and if he were going to the old stone house I was
+determined to be his companion, or at least his watcher. For I knew
+now that I loved him and could never see him come to ill.
+
+There was no moon at this time, but the sound of his steps guided me
+and when I had come into the open place where the stars shone I saw by
+the movement which took place in the shadows lying around the open
+door of the old house, that he was near the fatal threshold and would
+in another moment be across it and within those mouldy halls. That I
+was right, another instant proved, for suddenly through the great
+hollow of the open portal a mild gleam broke and I saw he had lighted
+a lantern and was moving about within the empty rooms.
+
+Softly as man could go, I followed him. Crouching in the doorway, with
+ear turned to the emptiness within, I listened. And as I did so, I
+felt the chill run through my blood and stiffen the hair on my head,
+for he was talking as he walked, and his tones were affable and
+persuasive, as if two ghosts roamed noiselessly at his side and he
+were showing them as in the days of yore, the beauties of his nearly
+completed home.
+
+"An ample parlor, you see," came in distinct, suave monotone to my
+ear. "Room enough for many a couple on gala nights, as even sweet
+Mistress Juliet will say. Do you like this fireplace, and will there
+be space enough here for the portrait which Lawrence has promised to
+make of young Madam Day? I do not like too much light myself, so I
+have ordered curtains to be hung here. But if Mistress Juliet prefers
+the sunshine, we will tell the men nay, for all is to be according to
+your will, fair lady, as you must know, being here. Pardon me, that
+was an evil step; you should have a quick eye for such mishaps, friend
+Orrin, and not leave it to my courtesy to hold out a helping hand. Ah!
+you like this dusky nook. It was made for a sweet young bride to hide
+in when her heart's fulness demands quiet and rest. Do the trees come
+too near the lattice? If so they shall be trimmed away. And this
+dining-parlor--Can you judge of it with the floor half laid and its
+wainscoting unnailed? I trow not, but you can trust me, pretty Juliet,
+you can trust me; and Orrin, too, need not speak, for me to know just
+how to finish this study for him. Up-stairs? You do not wish to go
+up-stairs? Ah, then, you miss the very cream of the house. I have
+worked with my own hand upon the rooms up-stairs, and there is a
+little Cupid wrought into the woodwork of a certain door which I
+greatly wish you to pass an opinion upon. I think the wings lack
+airiness, but the workmen swear it is as if he would fly from the door
+at a whisper. Come, Mistress Juliet; come, friend Orrin, if I lead the
+way you need not hesitate. Come! come!"
+
+Was he alone? Were those eager steps of his unaccompanied, and should
+I not behold, if I looked within, the blooming face of Juliet and the
+frowning brows of Orrin, crowding close behind him as he moved? The
+fancy invoked by his words was so vivid, that for a moment I thought I
+should, and I never shall forget the thrill which seized me as I
+leaned forward and peered for one minute into the hall and saw there
+his solitary figure pausing on the lower step of the stairs, with that
+bend of the body which bespeaks an obeisance which is half homage and
+half an invitation. He was still talking, and as he went up, he looked
+back smiling and gossiping over his shoulder in a smooth and courtly
+way which made it impossible for me to withdraw my fascinated eyes.
+
+"No banisters, sweet Juliet? Not yet--not yet; but Orrin will protect
+you from falling. No harm can come to you while he is at your side. Do
+you admire this sweep to the stairs? I saw a vision when I planned it,
+of a pretty woman coming down at the sound of her husband's step. The
+step has changed in sound to my imagination, but the pretty woman is
+prettier than ever, and will look her best as she comes down these
+stairs. Oh, that is a window-ledge for flowers. A honeymoon is nothing
+without flowers, and you must have forget-me-nots and pansies here
+till one cannot see from the window. You do not like such humble
+flowers? Fie! Mistress Juliet, it is hard to believe that,--even Orrin
+doubts it, as I see by his chiding air."
+
+Here the gentle and bantering tones ceased, for he had reached the top
+of the stair. But in another moment I heard them again as he passed
+from room to room, pausing here and pausing there, till suddenly he
+gave a cheerful laugh, spoke her name in most inviting accents, and
+stepped into _that_ room.
+
+Then as if roused into galvanic action, I rose and followed, going up
+those midnight stairs and gaining the door where he had passed as if
+the impulse moving me had lent to my steps a certainty which preserved
+me from slipping even upon that dank and dangerous ascent. When in
+view of him again, I saw, as I had expected, that he was drawn up by
+the window and was bowing and beckoning with even more grace and
+suavity than he had shown below. "Will you not step out, Mistress
+Juliet?" he was saying; "I have a plan which I am anxious to submit to
+your judgment and which can only be decided upon from without. A high
+step true, but Orrin has lifted you over worse places and--and you
+will do me a great favor if only--" Here he gave a malignant shriek,
+and his countenance, from the most smiling and benignant expression,
+altered into that of a fiend from hell. "Ha, ha, ha!" he yelled. "She
+goes, and he is so fearful for her that he leaps after. That is a
+goodly stroke! Both--both--Crack! Ah, she looks at me, she looks--"
+
+Silence and then a frozen figure crouching before my eyes, just the
+silence and just the figure I remembered seeing there twenty years
+before, only the face is older and the horror, if anything, greater.
+What did it mean? I tried to think, then as the full import of the
+scene burst upon me, and I realized that it was a murderer I was
+looking upon, and that Orrin, poor Orrin, had been innocent, I sank
+back and fell upon the floor, lost in the darkness of an utter
+unconsciousness.
+
+I did not come to myself for hours; when I did I found myself alone in
+the old house.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nothing was ever done to the Colonel, for when I came to tell my story
+the doctors said that the facts I related did not prove him to have
+been guilty of crime, as his condition was such that his own words
+could not be relied upon in a matter on which he had brooded more or
+less morbidly for years. So now when I see him pass through the
+churchyard or up and down the village street and note that he is
+affable as ever when he sees me, but growing more and more preoccupied
+with his own thoughts I do not know whether to look upon him with
+execration or profoundest pity, nor can any man guide me or satisfy my
+mind as to whether I should blame his jealousy or Orrin's pride for
+the pitiful tragedy which once darkened my life, and turned our
+pleasant village into a desert.
+
+Of one thing only have I been made sure; that it was the Colonel who
+lit the brand which fired Orrin's cottage.
+
+
+
+
+A MEMORABLE NIGHT.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+I am a young physician of limited practice and great ambition. At the
+time of the incidents I am about to relate, my office was in a
+respectable house in Twenty-fourth Street, New York City, and was
+shared, greatly to my own pleasure and convenience, by a clever young
+German whose acquaintance I had made in the hospital, and to whom I
+had become, in the one short year in which we had practised together,
+most unreasonably attached. I say unreasonably, because it was a
+liking for which I could not account even to myself, as he was neither
+especially prepossessing in appearance nor gifted with any too great
+amiability of character. He was, however, a brilliant theorist and an
+unquestionably trustworthy practitioner, and for these reasons
+probably I entertained for him a profound respect, and as I have
+already said a hearty and spontaneous affection.
+
+As our specialties were the same, and as, moreover, they were of a
+nature which did not call for night-work, we usually spent the evening
+together. But once I failed to join him at the office, and it is of
+this night I have to tell.
+
+I had been over to Orange, for my heart was sore over the quarrel I
+had had with Dora, and I was resolved to make one final effort towards
+reconciliation. But alas for my hopes, she was not at home; and, what
+was worse, I soon learned that she was going to sail the next morning
+for Europe. This news, coming as it did without warning, affected me
+seriously, for I knew if she escaped from my influence at this time, I
+should certainly lose her forever; for the gentleman concerning whom
+we had quarrelled, was a much better match for her than I, and almost
+equally in love. However, her father, who had always been my friend,
+did not look upon this same gentleman's advantages with as favorable
+an eye as she did, and when he heard I was in the house, he came
+hurrying into my presence, with excitement written in every line of
+his fine face.
+
+"Ah, Dick, my boy," he exclaimed joyfully, "how opportune this is! I
+was wishing you would come, for, do you know, Appleby has taken
+passage on board the same steamer as Dora, and if he and she cross
+together, they will certainly come to an understanding, and that will
+not be fair to you, or pleasing to me; and I do not care who knows
+it!"
+
+I gave him one look and sank, quite overwhelmed, into the seat nearest
+me. Appleby was the name of my rival, and I quite agreed with her
+father that the _tête-à-têtes_ afforded by an ocean voyage would
+surely put an end to the hopes which I had so long and secretly
+cherished.
+
+"Does she know he is going? Did she encourage him?" I stammered.
+
+But the old man answered genially: "Oh, she knows, but I cannot say
+anything positive about her having encouraged him. The fact is, Dick,
+she still holds a soft place in her heart for you, and if you were
+going to be of the party--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I think you would come off conqueror yet."
+
+"Then I will be of the party," I cried. "It is only six now, and I can
+be in New York by seven. That gives me five hours before midnight,
+time enough in which to arrange my plans, see Richter, and make
+everything ready for sailing in the morning."
+
+"Dick, you are a trump!" exclaimed the gratified father. "You have a
+spirit I like, and if Dora does not like it too, then I am mistaken in
+her good sense. But can you leave your patients?"
+
+"Just now I have but one patient who is in anything like a critical
+condition," I replied, "and her case Richter understands almost as
+well as I do myself. I will have to see her this evening of course and
+explain, but there is time for that if I go now. The steamer sails at
+nine?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"Do not tell Dora that I expect to be there; let her be surprised.
+Dear girl, she is quite well, I hope?"
+
+"Yes, very well; only going over with her aunt to do some shopping. A
+poor outlook for a struggling physician, you think. Well, I don't know
+about that; she is just the kind of a girl to go from one extreme to
+another. If she once loves you she will not care any longer about
+Paris fashions."
+
+"She shall love me," I cried, and left him in a great hurry, to catch
+the first train for Hoboken.
+
+It seemed wild, this scheme, but I determined to pursue it. I loved
+Dora too much to lose her, and if three weeks' absence would procure
+me the happiness of my life, why should I hesitate to avail myself of
+the proffered opportunity. I rode on air as the express I had taken
+shot from station to station, and by the time I had arrived at
+Christopher Street Ferry my plans were all laid and my time disposed
+of till midnight.
+
+It was therefore with no laggard step I hurried to my office, nor was
+it with any ordinary feelings of impatience that I found Richter out;
+for this was not his usual hour for absenting himself and I had much
+to tell him and many advices to give. It was the first balk I had
+received and I was fuming over it, when I saw what looked like a
+package of books lying on the table before me, and though it was
+addressed to my partner, I was about to take it up, when I heard my
+name uttered in a tremulous tone, and turning, saw a man standing in
+the doorway, who, the moment I met his eye, advanced into the room and
+said:
+
+"O doctor, I have been waiting for you an hour. Mrs. Warner has been
+taken very bad, sir, and she prays that you will not delay a moment
+before coming to her. It is something serious I fear, and she may have
+died already, for she would have no one else but you, and it is now an
+hour since I left her."
+
+"And who are you?" I asked, for though I knew Mrs. Warner well--she is
+the patient to whom I have already referred--I did not know her
+messenger.
+
+"I am a servant in the house where she was taken ill."
+
+"Then she is not at home?"
+
+"No, sir, she is in Second Avenue."
+
+"I am very sorry," I began, "but I have not the time--"
+
+But he interrupted eagerly: "There is a carriage at the door; we
+thought you might not have your phaeton ready."
+
+I had noticed the carriage.
+
+"Very well," said I. "I will go, but first let me write a line--"
+
+"O sir," the man broke in pleadingly, "do not wait for anything. She
+is really very bad, and I heard her calling for you as I ran out of
+the house."
+
+"She had her voice then?" I ventured, somewhat distrustful of the
+whole thing and yet not knowing how to refuse the man, especially as
+it was absolutely necessary for me to see Mrs. Warner that night and
+get her consent to my departure before I could think of making further
+plans.
+
+So, leaving word for Richter to be sure and wait for me if he came
+home before I did, I signified to Mrs. Warner's messenger that I was
+ready to go with him, and immediately took a seat in the carriage
+which had been provided for me. The man at once jumped up on the box
+beside the driver, and before I could close the carriage door we were
+off, riding rapidly down Seventh Avenue.
+
+As we went the thought came, "What if Mrs. Warner will not let me
+off!" But I dismissed the fear at once, for this patient of mine is an
+extremely unselfish woman, and if she were not too ill to grasp the
+situation, would certainly sympathize with the strait I was in and
+consent to accept Richter's services in place of my own, especially as
+she knows and trusts him.
+
+When the carriage stopped it was already dark and I could distinguish
+little of the house I entered, save that it was large and old and did
+not look like an establishment where a man servant would be likely to
+be kept.
+
+"Is Mrs. Warner here?" I asked of the man who was slowly getting down
+from the box.
+
+"Yes, sir," he answered quickly; and I was about to ring the bell
+before me, when the door opened and a young German girl, courtesying
+slightly, welcomed me in, saying:
+
+"Mrs. Warner is up-stairs, sir; in the front room, if you please."
+
+Not doubting her, but greatly astonished at the barren aspect of the
+place I was in, I stumbled up the faintly lighted stairs before me and
+entered the great front room. It was empty, but through an open door
+at the other end I heard a voice saying: "He has come, madam"; and
+anxious to see my patient, whose presence in this desolate house I
+found it harder and harder to understand, I stepped into the room
+where she presumably lay.
+
+Alas! for my temerity in doing so; for no sooner had I crossed the
+threshold than the door by which I had entered closed with a click
+unlike any I had ever heard before, and when I turned to see what it
+meant, another click came from the opposite side of the room, and I
+perceived, with a benumbed sense of wonder, that the one person whose
+somewhat shadowy figure I had encountered on entering had vanished
+from the place, and that I was shut up alone in a room without visible
+means of egress.
+
+This was startling, and hard to believe at first, but after I had
+tried the door by which I had entered and found it securely locked,
+and then bounding to the other side of the room, tried the opposite
+one with the same result, I could not but acknowledge I was caught.
+What did it mean? Caught, and I was in haste, mad haste. Filling the
+room with my cries, I shouted for help and a quick release, but my
+efforts were naturally fruitless, and after exhausting myself in vain
+I stood still and surveyed, with what equanimity was left me, the
+appearance of the dreary place in which I had thus suddenly become
+entrapped.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+It was a small square room, and I shall not soon forget with what a
+foreboding shudder I observed that its four blank walls were literally
+unbroken by a single window, for this told me that I was in no
+communication with the street, and that it would be impossible for me
+to summon help from the outside world. The single gas jet burning in a
+fixture hanging from the ceiling was the only relief given to the eye
+in the blank expanse of white wall that surrounded me; while as to
+furniture, the room could boast of nothing more than an old-fashioned
+black-walnut table and two chairs, the latter cushioned, but stiff in
+the back and generally dilapidated in appearance. The only sign of
+comfort about me was a tray that stood on the table, containing a
+couple of bottles of wine and two glasses. The bottles were full and
+the glasses clean, and to add to this appearance of hospitality a box
+of cigars rested invitingly near, which I could not fail to perceive,
+even at the first glance, were of the very best brand.
+
+Astonished at these tokens of consideration for my welfare, and
+confounded by the prospect which they offered of a lengthy stay in
+this place, I gave another great shout; but to no better purpose than
+before. Not a voice answered, and not a stir was heard in the house.
+But there came from without the faint sound of suddenly moving wheels,
+as if the carriage which I had left standing before the door had
+slowly rolled away. If this were so, then was I indeed a prisoner,
+while the moments so necessary to my plans, and perhaps to the
+securing of my whole future happiness, were flying by like the wind.
+As I realized this, and my own utter helplessness, I fell into one of
+the chairs before me in a state of perfect despair. Not that any fears
+for my life were disturbing me, though one in my situation might well
+question if he would ever again breathe the open air from which he had
+been so ingeniously lured. I did not in that first moment of utter
+downheartedness so much as inquire the reason for the trick which had
+been played upon me. No, my heart was full of Dora, and I was asking
+myself if I were destined to lose her after all, and that through no
+lack of effort on my part, but just because a party of thieves or
+blackmailers had thought fit to play a game with my liberty.
+
+It could not be; there must be some mistake about it; it was some
+great joke, or I was the victim of a dream, or suffering from some
+hideous nightmare. Why, only a half hour before I was in my own
+office, among my own familiar belongings, and now--But, alas, it was
+no delusion. Only four blank, whitewashed walls met my inquiring eyes,
+and though I knocked and knocked again upon the two doors which
+guarded me on either side, hollow echoes continued to be the only
+answer I received.
+
+Had the carriage then taken away the two persons I had seen in this
+house, and was I indeed alone in its great emptiness? The thought made
+me desperate, but notwithstanding this I was resolved to continue my
+efforts, for I might be mistaken; there might yet be some being left
+who would yield to my entreaties if they were backed by something
+substantial.
+
+Taking out my watch, I laid it on the table; it was just a quarter to
+eight. Then I emptied my trousers pockets of whatever money they held,
+and when all was heaped up before me, I could count but twelve
+dollars, which, together with my studs and a seal ring which I wore,
+seemed a paltry pittance with which to barter for the liberty of which
+I had been robbed. But it was all I had with me, and I was willing to
+part with it at once if only some one would unlock the door and let me
+go. But how to make known my wishes even if there was any one to
+listen to them? I had already called in vain, and there was no
+bell--yes, there was; why had I not seen it before? There was a bell
+and I sprang to ring it. But just as my hand fell on the cord, I heard
+a gentle voice behind my back saying in good English, but with a
+strong foreign accent:
+
+"Put up your money, Mr. Atwater; we do not want your money, only your
+society. Allow me to beg you to replace both watch and money."
+
+Wheeling about in my double surprise at the presence of this intruder
+and his unexpected acquaintance with my name, I encountered the
+smiling glance of a middle-aged man of genteel appearance and
+courteous manners. He was bowing almost to the ground, and was, as I
+instantly detected, of German birth and education, a gentleman, and
+not the blackleg I had every reason to expect to see.
+
+"You have made a slight mistake," he was saying; "it is your society,
+only your society, that we want."
+
+Astonished at his appearance, and exceedingly irritated by his words,
+I stepped back as he offered me my watch, and bluntly cried:
+
+"If it is my society only that you want, you have certainly taken very
+strange means to procure it. A thief could have set no neater trap,
+and if it is money you want, state your sum and let me go, for my time
+is valuable and my society likely to be unpleasant."
+
+He gave a shrug with his shoulders that in no wise interfered with his
+set smile.
+
+"You choose to be facetious," he observed. "I have already remarked
+that we have no use for your money. Will you sit down? Here is some
+excellent wine, and if this brand of cigars does not suit you, I will
+send for another."
+
+"Send for the devil!" I cried, greatly exasperated. "What do you mean
+by keeping me in this place against my will? Open that door and let me
+out, or--"
+
+I was ready to spring and he saw it. Smiling more atrociously than
+ever, he slipped behind the table, and before I could reach him, had
+quietly drawn a pistol, which he cocked before my eyes.
+
+"You are excited," he remarked, with a suavity that nearly drove me
+mad. "Now excitement is no aid to good company, and I am determined
+that none but good company shall be in this room to-night. So if you
+will be kind enough to calm yourself, Mr. Atwater, you and I may yet
+enjoy ourselves, but if not--" the action he made was significant, and
+I felt the cold sweat break out on my forehead through all the heat of
+my indignation.
+
+But I did not mean to show him that he had intimidated me.
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "and put down your pistol. Though you are making
+me lose irredeemable time, I will try and control myself enough to
+give you an opportunity for explaining yourself. Why have you
+entrapped me into this place?"
+
+"I have already told you," said he, gently laying the pistol before
+him, but within easy reach of his hand.
+
+"But that is preposterous," I began, fast losing my self-control
+again. "You do not know me, and if you did--"
+
+"Pardon me, you see I know your name."
+
+Yes, that was true, and the fact set me thinking. How did he know my
+name? I did not know him, nor did I know this house, or any reason for
+which I could have been beguiled into it. Was I the victim of a
+conspiracy, or was the man mad? Looking at him very earnestly, I
+declared:
+
+"My name is Atwater, and so far you are right, but in learning that
+much about me you must also have learned that I am neither rich nor
+influential, nor of any special value to a blackmailer. Why choose me
+out then for--your society? Why not choose some one who can--talk?"
+
+"I find your conversation very interesting."
+
+Baffled, exasperated almost beyond the power to restrain myself, I
+shook my fist in his face, notwithstanding I saw his hand fly to his
+pistol.
+
+"Let me go!" I shrieked. "Let me go out of this place. I have
+business, I tell you, important business which means everything to me,
+and which, if I do not attend to it to-night, will be lost to me for
+ever. Let me go, and I will so far reward you that I will speak to no
+one of what has taken place here to-night, but go my ways, forgetful
+of you, forgetful of this house, forgetful of all connected with it."
+
+"You are very good," was his quiet reply, "but this wine has to be
+drunk." And he calmly poured out a glass, while I drew back in
+despair. "You do not drink wine?" he queried, holding up the glass he
+had filled between himself and the light. "It is a pity, for it is of
+most rare vintage. But perhaps you smoke?"
+
+Sick and disgusted, I found a chair, and sat down in it. If the man
+were crazy, there was certainly method in his madness. Besides, he
+had not a crazy eye; there was calm calculation in it and not a little
+good-nature. Did he simply want to detain me, and if so, did he have a
+motive it would pay me to fathom before I exerted myself further to
+insure my release? Answering the wave he made me with his hand by
+reaching out for the bottle and filling myself a glass, I forced
+myself to speak more affably as I remarked:
+
+"If the wine must be drunk, we had better be about it, as you cannot
+mean to detain me more than an hour, whatever reason you may have for
+wishing my society."
+
+He looked at me inquiringly before answering, then tossing off his
+glass, he remarked:
+
+"I am sorry, but in an hour a man can scarcely make the acquaintance
+of another man's exterior."
+
+"Then you mean--"
+
+"To know you thoroughly, if you will be so good; I may never have the
+opportunity again."
+
+He must be mad; nothing else but mania could account for such words
+and such actions; and yet, if mad, why was he allowed to enter my
+presence? The man who brought me here, the woman who received me at
+the door, had not been mad.
+
+"And I must stay here--" I began.
+
+"Till I am quite satisfied. I am afraid that will take till morning."
+
+I gave a cry of despair, and then in my utter desperation spoke up to
+him as I would to a man of feeling:
+
+"You don't know what you are doing; you don't know what I shall suffer
+by any such cruel detention. This night is not like other nights to
+me. This is a special night in my life, and I need it, I need it, I
+tell you, to spend as I will. The woman I love"--it seemed horrible to
+speak of her in this place, but I was wild at my helplessness, and
+madly hoped I might awake some answering chord in a breast which could
+not be void of all feeling or he would not have that benevolent look
+in his eye--"the woman I love," I repeated, "sails for Europe
+to-morrow. We have quarrelled, but she still cares for me, and if I
+can sail on the same steamer, we will yet make up and be happy."
+
+"At what time does this steamer start?"
+
+"At nine in the morning."
+
+"Well, you shall leave this house at eight. If you go directly to the
+steamer you will be in time."
+
+"But--but," I panted, "I have made no arrangements. I shall have to go
+to my lodgings, write letters, get money. I ought to be there at this
+moment. Have you no mercy on a man who never did you wrong, and only
+asks to quit you and forget the precious hour you have made him lose?"
+
+"I am sorry," he said, "it is certainly quite unfortunate, but the
+door will not be opened before eight. There is really no one in the
+house to unlock it."
+
+"And do you mean to say," I cried aghast, "that you could not open
+that door if you would, that you are locked in here as well as I, and
+that I must remain here till morning, no matter how I feel or you
+feel?"
+
+"Will you not take a cigar?" he asked.
+
+Then I began to see how useless it was to struggle, and visions of
+Dora leaning on the steamer rail with that serpent whispering soft
+entreaties in her ear came rushing before me, till I could have wept
+in my jealous chagrin.
+
+"It is cruel, base, devilish," I began. "If you had the excuse of
+wanting money, and took this method of wringing my all from me, I
+could have patience, but to entrap and keep me here for nothing, when
+my whole future happiness is trembling in the balance, is the work of
+a fiend and--" I made a sudden pause, for a strange idea had struck
+me.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+What if this man, these men and this woman, were in league with him
+whose rivalry I feared, and whom I had intended to supplant on the
+morrow. It was a wild surmise, but was it any wilder than to believe I
+was held here for a mere whim, a freak, a joke, as this bowing,
+smiling man before me would have me believe?
+
+Rising in fresh excitement, I struck my hand on the table. "You want
+to keep me from going on the steamer," I cried. "That other wretch who
+loves her has paid you--"
+
+But that other wretch could not know that I was meditating any such
+unusual scheme, as following him without a full day's warning. I
+thought of this even before I had finished my sentence, and did not
+need the blank astonishment in the face of the man before me to
+convince me that I had given utterance to a foolish accusation. "It
+would have been some sort of a motive for your actions," I humbly
+added, as I sank back from my hostile attitude; "now you have none."
+
+I thought he bestowed upon me a look of quiet pity, but if so he soon
+hid it with his uplifted glass.
+
+"Forget the girl," said he; "I know of a dozen just as pretty."
+
+I was too indignant to answer.
+
+"Women are the bane of life," he now sententiously exclaimed. "They
+are ever intruding themselves between a man and his comfort, as for
+instance just now between yourself and this good wine."
+
+I caught up the bottle in sheer desperation.
+
+"Don't talk of them," I cried, "and I will try and drink. I almost
+wish there was poison in the glass. My death here might bring
+punishment upon you."
+
+He shook his head, totally unmoved by my passion.
+
+"We deal punishment, not receive it. It would not worry me in the
+least to leave you lying here upon the floor."
+
+I did not believe this, but I did not stop to weigh the question
+then; I was too much struck by a word he had used.
+
+"Deal punishment?" I repeated. "Are you punishing me? Is that why I am
+here?"
+
+He laughed and held out his glass to mine.
+
+"You enjoy being sarcastic," he observed. "Well, it gives a spice to
+conversation, I own. Talk is apt to be dull without it."
+
+For reply I struck the glass from his hand; it fell and shivered, and
+he looked for the moment really distressed.
+
+"I had rather you had struck me," he remarked, "for I have an answer
+for an injury like that; but for a broken glass--" He sighed and
+looked dolefully at the pieces on the floor.
+
+Mortified and somewhat ashamed, I put down my own glass.
+
+"You should not have exasperated me," I cried, and walked away beyond
+temptation, to the other side of the room.
+
+His spirits had received a dampener, but in a few minutes he seized
+upon a cigar and began smoking; as the wreaths curled over his head he
+began to talk, and this time it was on subjects totally foreign to
+myself and even to himself. It was good talk; that I recognized,
+though I hardly listened to what he said. I was asking myself what
+time it had now got to be, and what was the meaning of my
+incarceration, till my brain became weary and I could scarcely
+distinguish the topic he discussed. But he kept on for all my seeming,
+and indeed real, indifference, kept on hour after hour in a monologue
+he endeavored to make interesting, and which probably would have been
+so if the time and occasion had been fit for my enjoying it. As it
+was, I had no ear for his choicest phrases, his subtlest criticisms,
+or his most philosophic disquisitions. I was wrapped up in self and my
+cruel disappointment, and when in a certain access of frenzy I leaped
+to my feet and took a look at the watch still lying on the table, and
+saw it was four o'clock in the morning, I gave a bound of final
+despair, and throwing myself on the floor, gave myself up to the heavy
+sleep that mercifully came to relieve me.
+
+I was roused by feeling a touch on my breast. Clapping my hand to the
+spot where I had felt the intruding hand, I discovered that my watch
+had been returned to my pocket. Drawing it out I first looked at it
+and then cast my eyes quickly about the room. There was no one with
+me, and the doors stood open between me and the hall. It was eight
+o'clock, as my watch had just told me.
+
+That I rushed from the house and took the shortest road to the
+steamer, goes without saying. I could not cross the ocean with Dora,
+but I might yet see her and tell her how near I came to giving her my
+company on that long voyage which now would only serve to further the
+ends of my rival. But when, after torturing delays on cars and
+ferry-boats, and incredible efforts to pierce a throng that was
+equally determined not to be pierced, I at last reached the wharf, it
+was to behold her, just as I had fancied in my wildest moments,
+leaning on a rail of the ship and listening, while she abstractedly
+waved her hand to some friends below, to the words of the man who had
+never looked so handsome to me or so odious as at this moment of his
+unconscious triumph. Her father was near her, and from his eager
+attitude and rapidly wandering gaze I saw that he was watching for me.
+At last he spied me struggling aboard, and immediately his face
+lighted up in a way which made me wish he had not thought it necessary
+to wait for my anticipated meeting with his daughter.
+
+"Ah, Dick, you are late," he began, effusively, as I put foot on deck.
+
+But I waved him back and went at once to Dora.
+
+"Forgive me, pardon me," I incoherently said, as her sweet eyes rose
+in startled pleasure to mine. "I would have brought you flowers, but I
+meant to sail with you, Dora, I tried to--but wretches, villains,
+prevented it and--and--"
+
+"Oh, it does not matter," she said, and then blushed, probably because
+the words sounded unkind, "I mean--"
+
+But she could not say what she meant, for just then the bell rang for
+all visitors to leave, and her father came forward, evidently thinking
+all was right between us, smiled benignantly in her face, gave her a
+kiss and me a wink and disappeared in the crowd that was now rapidly
+going ashore.
+
+I felt that I must follow, but I gave her one look and one squeeze of
+the hand, and then as I saw her glances wander to his face, I groaned
+in spirit, stammered some words of choking sorrow and was gone, before
+her embarrassment would let her speak words, which I knew would only
+add to my grief and make this hasty parting unendurable.
+
+The look of amazement and chagrin with which her father met my
+reappearance on the dock can easily be imagined.
+
+"Why, Dick," he exclaimed, "aren't you going after all? I thought I
+could rely on you. Where's your pluck, lad? Scared off by a frown? I
+wouldn't have believed it, Dick. What if she does frown to-day; she
+will smile to-morrow."
+
+I shook my head; I could not tell him just then that it was not
+through any lack of pluck on my part that I had failed him.
+
+When I left the dock I went straight to a restaurant, for I was faint
+as well as miserable. But my cup of coffee choked me and the rolls and
+eggs were more than I could face. Rising impatiently, I went out. Was
+any one more wretched than I that morning and could any one nourish a
+more bitter grievance? As I strode towards my lodgings I chewed the
+cud of my disappointment till my wrongs loomed up like mountains and
+I was seized by a spirit of revenge. Should I let such an interference
+as I had received go unpunished? No, if the wretch who had detained me
+was not used to punishment he should receive a specimen of it now and
+from a man who was no longer a prisoner, and who once aroused did not
+easily forego his purposes. Turning aside from my former destination,
+I went immediately to a police-station and when I had entered my
+complaint was astonished to see that all the officials had grouped
+about me and were listening to my words with the most startled
+interest.
+
+"Was the man who came for you a German?" one asked.
+
+I said "Yes."
+
+"And the man who stood guardian over you and entertained you with wine
+and cigars, was not he a German too?"
+
+I nodded acquiescence and they at once began to whisper together; then
+one of them advanced to me and said:
+
+"You have not been home, I understand; you had better come."
+
+Astonished by his manner I endeavored to inquire what he meant, but he
+drew me away, and not till we were within a stone's throw of my office
+did he say, "You must prepare yourself for a shock. The impertinences
+you suffered from last night were unpleasant no doubt, but if you had
+been allowed to return home, you might not now be deploring them in
+comparative peace and safety."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That your partner was not as fortunate as yourself. Look up at the
+house; what do you see there?"
+
+A crowd was what I saw first, but he made me look higher, and then I
+perceived that the windows of my room, of our room, were shattered and
+blackened and that part of the casement of one had been blown out.
+
+"A fire!" I shrieked. "Poor Richter was smoking--"
+
+"No, he was not smoking. He had no time for a smoke. An infernal
+machine burst in that room last night and your friend was its wretched
+victim."
+
+I never knew why my friend's life was made a sacrifice to the revenge
+of his fellow-countrymen. Though we had been intimate in the year we
+had been together, he had never talked to me of his country and I had
+never seen him in company with one of his own nation. But that he was
+the victim of some political revenge was apparent, for though it
+proved impossible to find the man who had detained me, the house was
+found and ransacked, and amongst other secret things was discovered
+the model of the machine which had been introduced into our room, and
+which had proved so fatal to the man it was addressed to. Why men who
+were so relentless in their purposes towards him should have taken
+such pains to keep me from sharing his fate, is one of those anomalies
+in human nature which now and then awake our astonishment. If I had
+not lost Dora through my detention at their hands I should look back
+upon that evening with sensations of thankfulness. As it is, I
+sometimes question if it would not have been better if they had let me
+take my chances.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Have I lost Dora? From a letter I received to-day I begin to think
+not.
+
+
+
+
+THE BLACK CROSS.
+
+
+A black cross had been set against Judge Hawkins' name; why, it is not
+for me to say. We were not accustomed to explain our motives or to
+give reasons for our deeds. The deeds were enough, and this black
+cross meant death; and when it had been shown us, all that we needed
+to know further was at what hour we should meet for the contemplated
+raid.
+
+A word from the captain settled that; and when the next Friday came, a
+dozen men met at the place of rendezvous, ready for the ride which
+should bring them to the Judge's solitary mansion across the
+mountains.
+
+I was amongst them, and in as satisfactory a mood as I had ever been
+in my life; for the night was favorable, and the men hearty and in
+first-rate condition.
+
+But after we had started, and were threading a certain wood, I began
+to have doubts. Feelings I had never before experienced assailed me
+with a force that first perplexed and then astounded me. I was afraid,
+and what rather heightened than diminished the unwonted sensation, was
+the fact that I was not afraid of anything tangible, either in the
+present or future, but of something unexplainable and peculiar, which,
+if it lay in the skies, certainly made them look dark indeed; and if
+it hid in the forest, caused its faintest murmur to seem like the
+utterance of a great dread, as awful as it was inexplicable.
+
+I nevertheless proceeded, and should have done so if the great streaks
+of lightning which now and then shot zigzag through the sky had taken
+the shape of words and bid us all beware. I was not one to be daunted,
+and knew no other course than that of advance when once a stroke of
+justice had been planned, and the direction for its fulfilment marked
+out. I went on, but I began to think, and that to me was an
+experience; for I had never been taught to reflect, only to fight and
+obey.
+
+The house towards which we were riding was built on a hillside, and
+the first thing we saw on emerging from the forest, was a light
+burning in one of its distant windows. This was a surprise; for the
+hour was late, and in that part of the country people were accustomed
+to retire early, even such busy men as the Judge. He must have a
+visitor, and a visitor meant a possible complication of affairs; so a
+halt was called and I was singled out to reconnoitre the premises, and
+bring back word of what we had a right to expect.
+
+I started off in a strange state of mind. The fear I had spoken of had
+left me, but a vague shadow remained, through which, as through a
+mist, I saw the light in that far away window beckoning me on to what
+I felt was in some way to make an end of my present life. As I drew
+nearer to it, the feeling increased; then it, too, left me, and I
+found myself once more the daring avenger. This was when I came to the
+foot of the hill and discovered I had but a few steps more to take.
+
+The house, which had now become plainly visible, was a solid one of
+stone, built as I have said, on the hillside. It faced the road, as
+was shown by the large portico, dimly to be discerned in that
+direction; but its rooms were mainly on the side, and it was from one
+of these that the light shone. As I came yet nearer, I perceived that
+these rooms were guarded by a piazza, which, communicating with the
+portico in front, afforded an open road to that window and a clear
+sight of what lay behind it.
+
+I was instantly off my horse and upon the piazza, and before I had had
+time to realize that my fears had returned to me with double force, I
+had crept with stealthy steps towards that uncurtained window and
+looked in.
+
+What did I see? At first nothing but a calm, studious figure, bending
+above a batch of closely written papers, upon which the light shone
+too brightly for me to perceive much of what lay beyond them. But
+gradually an influence, of whose workings I was scarcely conscious,
+drew my eyes away, and I began to discover on every side strange and
+beautiful objects which greatly interested me, until suddenly my eyes
+fell upon a vision of loveliness so enchanting that I forgot to look
+elsewhere, and became for the moment nothing but sight and feeling.
+
+It was a picture, or so I thought in that first instant of awe and
+delight. But presently I saw that it was a woman, living and full of
+the thoughts that had never been mine; and at the discovery a sudden
+trembling seized me; for I had never seen anything in heaven or earth
+like her beauty, while she saw nothing but the man who was bending
+over his papers.
+
+There was a door or something dark behind her, and against it her tall
+strong figure, clad in a close white gown, stood out with a
+distinctness that was not altogether earthly. But it was her face that
+held me, and made of me from moment to moment a new man.
+
+For in it I discerned what I had never believed in till now, devotion
+that had no limit, and love which asked nothing in return. She seemed
+to be faltering on the threshold of that room, like one who would like
+to enter but does not dare, and in another moment, with a smile that
+pierced me through and through, she turned as if to go. Instantly I
+forgot everything but my despair, and leaned forward with an
+impetuosity that betrayed my presence, for she glanced quickly towards
+the window, and seeing me, turned pale, even while she rose in height
+till I felt myself shrink and grow small before her.
+
+Thrusting out her hand, she caught from the table before her what
+looked like a small dagger, and holding it up, advanced upon me with
+blazing eyes and parted lips, not seeing that the Judge had risen to
+his feet, not seeing anything but my face glued against the pane, and
+staring with an expression that must have struck her to the heart as
+surely as her look pierced mine. When she was almost upon me I turned
+and fled. Hell could not have frightened me, but Heaven did; and for
+me that woman was Heaven whether she smiled or frowned, gazed upon
+another with love, or raised a dagger to strike me to the ground.
+
+How soon I met my mates I cannot say. In a few minutes, doubtless, for
+they had stolen after me and had detected me running away from the
+window. I was forced to tell my tale, and I told it unhesitatingly,
+for I knew I could not save him--if I wanted to--and I knew I should
+save her or die in the attempt.
+
+"He is alone there with a girl," I announced. "Whether she is his wife
+or not I cannot say, but there is no cross against her name, and I
+ask that she be spared not only from sharing his fate, but from the
+sight of his death, for she loves him."
+
+This from me! No wonder the captain stared, then laughed. But I did
+not laugh in return, and being the strongest man in the band and the
+surest with my rifle, he did not trifle long, but listened to my plans
+and in part consented to them, so that I retreated to my post at the
+gateway with something like confidence, while he, approaching the
+door, lifted the knocker and let it fall with a resounding clang that
+must have rung like a knell of death to the hearts within.
+
+For the Judge knew our errand. I saw it in his face when he rose to
+his feet, and he had no hope, for we had never failed in our attempts,
+and the house, though strongly built, was easily assailable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While the captain knocked, three men had scaled the portico and were
+ready to enter the open windows, if the Judge refused to appear or
+offered any resistance to what was known as the captain's will.
+
+"Death to the Judge!" was the cry; and it was echoed not only at the
+door, but around the house, where the rest of the men had drawn a
+cordon ready to waylay any one who sought to escape. Death to the
+Judge! And the Judge was loved by that woman and would be mourned by
+her till--But a voice is speaking, a voice from out that great house,
+and it asks what is wanted and what the meaning is of these threats of
+death.
+
+And the captain answers short and sharp:
+
+"The Ku-Klux commands but never explains. What it commands now is for
+Judge Hawkins to come forth. If he shrinks or delays his house will be
+entered and burnt; but if he will come out and meet like a man what
+awaits him, his house shall go free and his family remain unmolested."
+
+"And what is it that awaits him?" pursued the voice.
+
+"Four bullets from four unerring rifles," returned the captain.
+
+"It is well; he will come forth," cried the voice, and then in a
+huskier tone: "Let me kiss the woman I love. I will not keep you
+long."
+
+And the captain answered nothing, only counted out clearly and
+steadily, "One--two--three," up to a hundred, then he paused, turned,
+and lifted his hand; when instantly our four rifles rose, and at the
+same moment the door, with a faint grating sound I shall never forget,
+slowly opened and the firm, unshrinking figure of the Judge appeared.
+
+We did not delay. One simultaneous burst of fire, one loud quick
+crack, and his figure fell before our eyes. A sound, a cry from
+within, then all was still, and the captain, mounting his horse, gave
+one quick whistle and galloped away. We followed him, but I was the
+last to mount, and did not follow long; for at the flash of those guns
+I had seen a smile cross our victim's lip, and my heart was on fire,
+and I could not rest till I had found my way back to that open doorway
+and the figure lying within it.
+
+There it was, and behind it a house empty as my heart has been since
+that day. A man's dress covering a woman's form--and over the
+motionless, perfect features, that same smile which I had seen in the
+room beyond and again in the quick glare of the rifles.
+
+I had harbored no evil thought concerning her, but when I beheld that
+smile now sealed and fixed upon her lips, I found the soul I had never
+known I possessed until that day.
+
+
+
+
+A MYSTERIOUS CASE.
+
+
+It was a mystery to me, but not to the other doctors. They took, as
+was natural, the worst possible view of the matter, and accepted the
+only solution which the facts seem to warrant. But they are men, and I
+am a woman; besides, I knew the nurse well, and I could not believe
+her capable of wilful deceit, much less of the heinous crime which
+deceit in this case involved. So to me the affair was a mystery.
+
+The facts were these:
+
+My patient, a young typewriter, seemingly without friends or enemies,
+lay in a small room of a boarding-house, afflicted with a painful but
+not dangerous malady. Though she was comparatively helpless, her vital
+organs were strong, and we never had a moment's uneasiness concerning
+her, till one morning when we found her in an almost dying condition
+from having taken, as we quickly discovered, a dose of poison,
+instead of the soothing mixture which had been left for her with the
+nurse. Poison! and no one, not even herself or the nurse, could
+explain how the same got into the room, much less into her medicine.
+And when I came to study the situation, I found myself as much at loss
+as they; indeed, more so; for I knew I had made no mistake in
+preparing the mixture, and that, even if I had, this especial poison
+could not have found its way into it, owing to the fact that there
+neither was nor ever had been a drop of it in my possession.
+
+The mixture, then, was pure when it left my hand, and, according to
+the nurse, whom, as I have said, I implicitly believe, it went into
+the glass pure. And yet when, two hours later, without her having left
+the room or anybody coming into it, she found occasion to administer
+the draught, poison was in the cup, and the patient was only saved
+from death by the most immediate and energetic measures, not only on
+her part, but on that of Dr. Holmes, whom in her haste and
+perturbation she had called in from the adjacent house.
+
+The patient, young, innocent, unfortunate, but of a strangely
+courageous disposition, betrayed nothing but the utmost surprise at
+the peril she had so narrowly escaped. When Dr. Holmes intimated that
+perhaps she had been tired of suffering, and had herself found means
+of putting the deadly drug into her medicine, she opened her great
+gray eyes, with such a look of child-like surprise and reproach, that
+he blushed, and murmured some sort of apology.
+
+"Poison myself?" she cried, "when you promise me that I shall get
+well? You do not know what a horror I have of dying in debt, or you
+would never say that."
+
+This was some time after the critical moment had passed, and there
+were in the room Mrs. Dayton, the landlady, Dr. Holmes, the nurse, and
+myself. At the utterance of these words we all felt ashamed and cast
+looks of increased interest at the poor girl.
+
+She was very lovely. Though without means, and to all appearance
+without friends, she possessed in great degree the charm of
+winsomeness, and not even her many sufferings, nor the indignation
+under which she was then laboring, could quite rob her countenance of
+that tender and confiding expression which so often redeems the
+plainest face and makes beauty doubly attractive.
+
+"Dr. Holmes does not know you," I hastened to say; "I do, and utterly
+repel for you any such insinuation. In return, will you tell me if
+there is any one in the world whom you can call your enemy? Though the
+chief mystery is how so deadly and unusual a poison could have gotten
+into a clean glass, without the knowledge of yourself or the nurse,
+still it might not be amiss to know if there is any one, here or
+elsewhere, who for any reason might desire your death."
+
+The surprise in the child-like eyes increased rather than diminished.
+
+"I don't know what to say," she murmured. "I am so insignificant and
+feeble a person that it seems absurd for me to talk of having an
+enemy. Besides, I have none. On the contrary, every one seems to love
+me more than I deserve. Haven't you noticed it, Mrs. Dayton?"
+
+The landlady smiled and stroked the sick girl's hand.
+
+"Indeed," she replied, "I have noticed that people love you, but I
+have never thought that it was more than you deserved. You are a dear
+little thing, Addie."
+
+And though she knew and I knew that the "every one" mentioned by the
+poor girl meant ourselves, and possibly her unknown employer, we were
+none the less touched by her words. The more we studied the mystery,
+the deeper and less explainable did it become.
+
+And indeed I doubt if we should have ever got to the bottom of it, if
+there had not presently occurred in my patient a repetition of the
+same dangerous symptoms, followed by the same discovery, of poison in
+the glass, and the same failure on the part of herself and nurse to
+account for it. I was aroused from my bed at midnight to attend her,
+and as I entered her room and met her beseeching eyes looking upon me
+from the very shadow of death, I made a vow that I would never cease
+my efforts till I had penetrated the secret of what certainly looked
+like a persistent attempt upon this poor girl's life.
+
+I went about the matter deliberately. As soon as I could leave her
+side, I drew the nurse into a corner and again questioned her. The
+answers were the same as before. Addie had shown distress as soon as
+she had swallowed her usual quantity of medicine, and in a few minutes
+more was in a perilous condition.
+
+"Did you hand the glass yourself to Addie?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Where did you take it from?"
+
+"From the place where you left it--the little stand on the farther
+side of the bed."
+
+"And do you mean to say that you had not touched it since I prepared
+it?"
+
+"I do, ma'am."
+
+"And that no one else has been in the room?"
+
+"No one, ma'am."
+
+I looked at her intently. I trusted her, but the best of us are but
+mortal.
+
+"Can you assure me that you have not been asleep during this time?"
+
+"Look at this letter I have been writing," she returned. "It is eight
+pages long, and it was not begun when you left us at 10 o'clock."
+
+I shook my head and fell into a deep revery. How was that matter to be
+elucidated, and how was my patient to be saved? Another draught of
+this deadly poison, and no power on earth could resuscitate her. What
+should I do, and with what weapons should I combat a danger at once so
+subtle and so deadly? Reflection brought no decision, and I left the
+room at last, determined upon but one point, and that was the
+immediate removal of my patient. But before I had left the house I
+changed my mind even on this point. Removal of the patient meant
+safety to her, perhaps, but not the explanation of her mysterious
+poisoning. I would change the position of her bed, and I would even
+set a watch over her and the nurse, but I would not take her out of
+the house--not yet.
+
+And what had produced this change in my plans? The look of a woman
+whom I met on the stairs. I did not know her, but when I encountered
+her glance I felt that there was some connection between us, and I was
+not at all surprised to hear her ask:
+
+"And how is Miss Wilcox to-day?"
+
+"Miss Wilcox is very low," I returned. "The least neglect, the least
+shock to her nerves, would be sufficient to make all my efforts
+useless. Otherwise--"
+
+"She will get well?"
+
+I nodded. I had exaggerated the condition of the sufferer, but some
+secret instinct compelled me to do so. The look which passed over the
+woman's face satisfied me that I had done well; and, though I left the
+house, it was with the intention of speedily returning and making
+inquiries into the woman's character and position in the household.
+
+I learned little or nothing. That she occupied a good room and paid
+for it regularly seemed to be sufficient to satisfy Mrs. Dayton. Her
+name, which proved to be Leroux, showed her to be French, and her
+promptly paid $10 a week showed her to be respectable--what more could
+any hard-working landlady require? But I was distrustful. Her face,
+though handsome, possessed an eager, ferocious look which I could not
+forget, and the slight gesture with which she had passed me at the
+close of the short conversation I have given above had a suggestion of
+triumph in it which seemed to contain whole volumes of secret and
+mysterious hate. I went into Miss Wilcox's room very thoughtful.
+
+"I am going--"
+
+But here the nurse held up her hand. "Hark," she whispered; she had
+just set the clock, and was listening to its striking.
+
+I did hark, but not to the clock.
+
+"Whose step is that?" I asked, after she had left the clock, and sat
+down.
+
+"Oh, some one in the next room. The walls here are very thin--only
+boards in places."
+
+I did not complete what I had begun to say. If I could hear steps
+through the partition, then could our neighbors hear us talk, and what
+I had determined upon must be kept secret from all outsiders. I drew a
+sheet of paper toward me and wrote:
+
+"I shall stay here to-night. Something tells me that in doing this I
+shall solve this mystery. But I must appear to go. Take my
+instructions as usual, and bid me good-night. Lock the door after me,
+but with a turn of the key instantly unlock it again. I shall go down
+stairs, see that my carriage drives away, and quietly return. On my
+re-entrance I shall expect to find Miss Wilcox on the couch with the
+screen drawn up around it, you in your big chair, and the light
+lowered. What I do thereafter need not concern you. Pretend to go to
+sleep."
+
+The nurse nodded, and immediately entered upon the programme I had
+planned. I prepared the medicine as usual, placed it in its usual
+glass, and laid that glass where it had always been set, on a small
+table at the farther side of the bed. Then I said "Good-night," and
+passed hurriedly out.
+
+I was fortunate enough to meet no one, going or coming. I regained the
+room, pushed open the door, and finding everything in order, proceeded
+at once to the bed, upon which, after taking off my hat and cloak and
+carefully concealing them, I lay down and deftly covered myself up.
+
+My idea was this--that by some mesmeric influence of which she was
+ignorant, the nurse had been forced to either poison the glass herself
+or open the door for another to do it. If this were so, she or the
+other person would be obliged to pass around the foot of the bed in
+order to reach the glass, and I should be sure to see it, for I did
+not pretend to sleep. By the low light enough could be discerned for
+safe movement about the room, and not enough to make apparent the
+change which had been made in the occupant of the bed. I waited with
+indescribable anxiety, and more than once fancied I heard steps, if
+not a feverish breathing close to my bed-head; but no one appeared,
+and the nurse in her big chair did not move.
+
+At last I grew weary, and fearful of losing control over my eyelids, I
+fixed my gaze upon the glass, as if in so doing I should find a
+talisman to keep me awake, when, great God! what was it I saw! A hand,
+a creeping hand coming from nowhere and joined to nothing, closing
+about that glass and drawing it slowly away till it disappeared
+entirely from before my eyes!
+
+I gasped--I could not help it--but I did not stir. For now I knew I
+was asleep and dreaming. But no, I pinch myself under the clothes, and
+find that I am very wide awake indeed; and then--look! look! the glass
+is returning; the hand--a woman's hand--is slowly setting it back in
+its place, and--
+
+With a bound I have that hand in my grasp. It is a living hand, and it
+is very warm and strong and fierce, and the glass has fallen and lies
+shattered between us, and a double cry is heard, one from behind the
+partition, through an opening in which this hand had been thrust, and
+one from the nurse, who has jumped to her feet and is even now
+assisting me in holding the struggling member, upon which I have
+managed to scratch a tell-tale mark with a piece of the fallen glass.
+At sight of the iron-like grip which this latter lays upon the
+intruding member, I at once release my own grasp.
+
+"Hold on," I cried, and leaping from the bed, I hastened first to my
+patient, whom I carefully reassured, and then into the hall, where I
+found the landlady running to see what was the matter. "I have found
+the wretch," I cried, and drawing her after me, hurried about to the
+other side of the partition, where I found a closet, and in it the
+woman I had met on the stairs, but glaring now like a tiger in her
+rage, menace, and fear.
+
+That woman was my humble little patient's bitter but unknown enemy.
+Enamoured of a man who--unwisely, perhaps--had expressed in her
+hearing his admiration for the pretty typewriter, she had conceived
+the idea that he intended to marry the latter, and, vowing vengeance,
+had taken up her abode in the same house with the innocent girl,
+where, had it not been for the fortunate circumstance of my meeting
+her on the stairs, she would certainly have carried out her scheme of
+vile and secret murder. The poison she had bought in another city, and
+the hole in the partition she had herself cut. This had been done at
+first for the purpose of observation, she having detected in passing
+by Miss Wilcox's open door that a banner of painted silk hung over
+that portion of the wall in such a way as to hide any aperture which
+might be made there.
+
+Afterward, when Miss Wilcox fell sick, and she discovered by short
+glimpses through her loop-hole that the glass of medicine was placed
+on a table just under this banner, she could not resist the temptation
+to enlarge the hole to a size sufficient to admit the pushing aside of
+the banner and the reaching through of her murderous hand. Why she did
+not put poison enough in the glass to kill Miss Wilcox at once I have
+never discovered. Probably she feared detection. That by doing as she
+did she brought about the very event she had endeavored to avert, is
+the most pleasing part of the tale. When the gentleman of whom I have
+spoken learned of the wicked attempt which had been made upon Miss
+Wilcox's life, his heart took pity upon her, and a marriage ensued,
+which I have every reason to believe is a happy one.
+
+
+
+
+SHALL HE WED HER?
+
+
+When I met Taylor at the Club the other night, he looked so cheerful I
+scarcely knew him.
+
+"What is it?" cried I, advancing with outstretched hand.
+
+"I am going to be married," was his gay reply. "This is my last night
+at the Club."
+
+I was glad, and showed it. Taylor is a man for whom domestic life is a
+necessity. He has never been at home with us, though we all liked him,
+and he in his way liked us.
+
+"And who is the fortunate lady?" I inquired; for I had been out of
+town for some time, and had not as yet been made acquainted with the
+latest society news.
+
+"My intended bride is Mrs. Walworth, the young widow--"
+
+He must have seen a change take place in my expression, for he
+stopped.
+
+"You know her, of course?" he added, after a careful study of my face.
+
+I had by this time regained my self-possession.
+
+"Of course," I repeated, "and I have always thought her one of the
+most attractive women in the city. Another shake upon it, old man."
+
+But my heart was heavy and my mind perplexed notwithstanding the
+forced cordiality of my tones, and I took an early opportunity to
+withdraw by myself and think over the situation.
+
+Mrs. Walworth? She is a pretty woman, and what is more, she is to all
+appearance a woman whose winning manners bespeak a kindly heart. "Just
+the person," I contemplated, "whom I would pick out for the helpmate
+of my somewhat exacting friend, if--" I paused on that if. It was a
+formidable one and grew none the smaller or less important under my
+broodings. Indeed, it seemed to dilate until it assumed gigantic
+proportions, worrying me and weighing so heavily upon my conscience
+that I at last rose from the newspaper at which I had been hopelessly
+staring, and looking up Taylor again asked him how soon he expected to
+become a benedict.
+
+His answer startled me. "In a week," he replied, "and if I have not
+asked you to the ceremony it is because Helen is not in a position
+to--"
+
+I suppose he finished the sentence, but I did not hear him. If the
+marriage was so near, of course it would be folly on my part to
+attempt to hinder it. I drew off for the second time.
+
+But I could not remain easy. Taylor is a good fellow, and it would be
+a shame to allow him to marry a woman with whom he could never be
+happy. He would feel any such disappointment so keenly, so much more
+keenly than most men. A lack of principle or even of sensibility on
+her part would make him miserable. Anticipating heaven, he would not
+need a hell to make him wretched; a purgatory would do it. Was I right
+then in letting him proceed in his intentions regarding Mrs. Walworth,
+when she possibly was the woman who--I paused and tried to call up
+her countenance before me. It was a sweet one and possibly a true
+one. I might have trusted her for myself, but I do not look for
+perfection, and Taylor does, and will certainly go to the bad if he is
+deceived in his expectations. But in a week! It is too late for
+interference--only it is never too late till the knot is tied. As I
+thought of this, I decided impulsively, and perhaps you may say
+unwisely, to give him a hint of his danger, and I did it in this wise:
+
+"Taylor," said I, when I had him safely in my own rooms, "I am going
+to tell you a bit of personal history, curious enough, I think, to
+interest you even upon the eve of your marriage. I do not know when I
+shall see you again, and I should like you to know how a lawyer and
+man of the world can sometimes be taken in."
+
+He nodded, accepting the situation good-humoredly, though I saw by the
+abstraction with which he gazed into the fire that I should have to be
+very interesting to lure him from the thoughts that engrossed him. As
+I meant to be very interesting, this did not greatly concern me.
+
+"One morning last spring," I began, "I received in my morning mail a
+letter, the delicate penmanship of which at once attracted my
+attention and awakened my curiosity. Turning to the signature, I read
+the name of a young lady friend of mine, and somewhat startled at the
+thought that this was the first time I had ever seen the handwriting
+of one I knew so well, I perused the letter with an interest that
+presently became painful as I realized the tenor of its contents. I
+will not quote the letter, though I could, but confine myself to
+saying that after a modest recognition of my friendship for her--quite
+a fatherly friendship, I assure you, as she is only eighteen, and I,
+as you know, am well on towards fifty--she proceeded to ask in a
+humble and confiding spirit for the loan--do not start--of fifty
+dollars. Such a request coming from a young girl well connected and
+with every visible sign of being generously provided for by her
+father, was certainly startling to an old bachelor of settled ways and
+strict notions, but remembering her youth and the childish innocence
+of her manner, I turned over the page and read as her reason for
+proffering such a request, that her heart was set upon aiding a
+certain poor family that stood in immediate need of food, clothes, and
+medicines, but that she could not do what she wished, because she had
+already spent all the money allowed her by her father for such
+purposes and dared not go to him for more, as she had once before
+offended him by doing this, and feared if she repeated her fault he
+would carry out the threat he had then made of stopping her allowance
+altogether. But the family was a deserving one and she could not see
+any member of it starve, so she came to me, of whose goodness she was
+assured, convinced I would understand her perplexity and excuse her,
+and so forth and so forth, in language quite child-like and
+entreating, which, if it did not satisfy my ideas of propriety, at
+least touched my heart and made any action which I could take in the
+matter extremely difficult.
+
+"To refuse her request would be at once to mortify and aggrieve her;
+to accede to it and give her the fifty dollars she asked--a sum by the
+way I could not well spare--would be to encourage an action easily
+pardoned once, but which if repeated would lead to unpleasant
+complications, to say the least. The third course, of informing her
+father of what she needed, I did not even consider, for I knew him
+well enough to be sure that nothing but pain to her would be the
+result. I therefore compromised the affair by inclosing the money in a
+letter, in which I told her that I comprehended her difficulty and
+sent with pleasure the amount she needed, but that as a friend I must
+add that while in the present instance she had run no risk of being
+misunderstood or unkindly censured, that such a request made to
+another man and under other circumstances might provoke a surprise
+capable of leading to the most unpleasant consequences, and advised
+her if she ever again found herself in such a strait to appeal
+directly to her father, or else to deny herself a charity which she
+was in no position to bestow.
+
+"This letter I undertook to deliver myself, for one of the curious
+points of her communication had been the entreaty that I would not
+delay the help she needed by trusting the money to any hand but my
+own, but would bring it to a certain hotel down-town and place it at
+the beginning of the book of Isaiah in the large Bible I would find
+lying on a side table in the small parlor off the main one. She would
+seek it there before the morning was over, and so, without the
+intervention of a third party, acquire the means she desired for
+helping a poor and deserving family.
+
+"I knew the hotel she mentioned, and I remembered the room, but I did
+not remember the Bible. However, it was sure to be in the place she
+indicated; and though I was not in much sympathy with my errand, I
+respected her whim and carried the letter down-town. I had reached
+Main Street and was in sight of the hotel designated, when suddenly on
+the opposite corner of the street I saw the young girl herself. She
+looked as fresh as the morning, and smiled so gayly I felt somewhat
+repaid for the annoyance she had caused me, and gratified that I could
+cut matters short by putting the letter directly in her hand, I
+crossed the street to her side. As soon as we were face to face, I
+said:
+
+"'How fortunate I am to meet you. Here is the amount you need sealed
+up in this letter. You see I had it all ready.'
+
+"The face she lifted to mine wore so blank a look that I paused,
+astonished.
+
+"'What do you mean?' she asked, her eyes looking straight into mine
+with such innocence in their clear blue depths, I was at once
+convinced she knew nothing of the matter with which my thoughts were
+busy. 'I am very glad to see you, but I do not in the least understand
+what you mean by the amount I need.' And she glanced at the letter I
+held out, with an air of distrust mingled with curiosity.
+
+"'You cut me short in my efforts to do a charitable action. I heard,
+no matter how, that you were interested just now in a destitute
+family, and took this way of assisting you in their behalf.'
+
+"Her blue eyes opened wider. 'The poor are always with us,' she
+replied, 'but I know of no especial family just now that requires any
+such help as you intimate. If I did, papa would give me what
+assistance I needed.'
+
+"I was greatly pleased to hear her say this, for I am very fond of my
+young friend, but I was deeply indignant also against the unknown
+person who had taken advantage of my regard for this young girl to
+force money from me. I therefore did not linger at her side, but after
+due apologies hastened immediately here where there is a man employed
+who to my knowledge had once been a trusted member of the police.
+
+"Telling him no more of the story than was necessary to ensure his
+co-operation in the plan I had formed to discover the author of this
+fraud, I extracted the bank-notes from the letter I had written, and
+put in their place stiff pieces of manila paper. Taking the envelope
+so filled to the hotel already referred to, I placed it at the opening
+chapters of Isaiah in the Bible, as described. There was no one in any
+of the rooms when I went in, and I encountered only a bell-boy as I
+came out, but at the door I ran against a young man whom I strictly
+forbore to recognize, but whom I knew to be my improvised detective
+coming to take his stand in some place where he could watch the parlor
+and note who went into it.
+
+"At noon I returned to the hotel, passed immediately to the small
+parlor and looked into the Bible. The letter was gone. Coming out of
+the room, I was at once joined by my detective.
+
+"'Has the letter been taken?' he eagerly inquired.
+
+"I nodded.
+
+"His brows wrinkled and he looked both troubled and perplexed.
+
+"'I don't understand it,' he remarked. 'I've seen every one who has
+gone into that room since you left it, but I do not know any more than
+before who took the letter. You see,' he continued, as I looked at him
+sharply, 'I had to remain out here. If I had gone even into the large
+room, the Bible would not have been disturbed, nor the letter either.
+So, in the hope of knowing the rogue at sight, I strolled about this
+hall, and kept my eye constantly on that door, but--'
+
+"He looked embarrassed, and stopped. 'You say the letter is gone,' he
+suggested, after a moment.
+
+"'Yes,' I returned.
+
+"He shook his head. 'Nobody went into that room or came out of it,' he
+went on, 'whom you would have wished me to follow. I should have
+thought myself losing time if I had taken one step after any one of
+them.'
+
+"'But who did go into that room?' I urged, impatient at his
+perplexity.
+
+"'Only three persons this morning,' he returned. 'You know them all.'
+And he mentioned first Mrs. Couldock."
+
+Taylor, who was lending me the superficial attention of a preoccupied
+man, smiled frankly at the utterance of this name. "Of course, she had
+nothing to do with such a debasing piece of business," he observed.
+
+"Of course not," I repeated. "Nor does it seem likely that Miss Dawes
+could have been concerned in it. Yet my detective told me that she was
+the next person who went into the parlor."
+
+"I do not know Miss Dawes so well," remarked Taylor, carelessly.
+
+"But I do," said I; "and I would as soon suspect my sister of a
+dishonorable act as this noble, self-sacrificing woman."
+
+"The third person?" suggested Taylor.
+
+I got up and crossed the floor. When my back was to him, I said,
+quietly--"was Mrs. Walworth."
+
+The silence that followed was very painful. I did not care to break
+it, and he, doubtless, found himself unable to do so. It must have
+been five minutes before either of us spoke; then he suddenly cried:
+
+"Where is that detective, as you call him? I want to see him."
+
+"Let me see him for you," said I. "I should hardly wish Sudley,
+discreet as I consider him, to know you had any interest in this
+affair."
+
+Taylor rose and came to where I stood.
+
+"You believe," said he, "that she, the woman I am about to marry, is
+the one who wrote you that infamous letter?"
+
+I faced him quite frankly. "I do not feel ready to acknowledge that,"
+I replied. "One of those three women took my letter out from the
+Bible, where I placed it; which of them wrote the lines that provoked
+it I do not dare conjecture. You say it was not Mrs. Couldock, I say
+it was not Miss Dawes, but--"
+
+He broke in upon me impetuously.
+
+"Have you the letter?" he asked.
+
+I had, and showed it to him.
+
+"It is not Helen's handwriting," he said.
+
+"Nor is it that of Mrs. Couldock or Miss Dawes."
+
+He looked at me for a moment in a wild sort of way.
+
+"You think she got some one to write it for her?" he cried. "Helen! my
+Helen! But it is not so; it cannot be so. Why, Huntley, to have sent
+such a letter as that over the name of an innocent young girl, who,
+but for the happy chance of meeting you as she did might never have
+had the opportunity of righting herself in your estimation, argues a
+cold and calculating selfishness closely allied to depravity. And my
+Helen is an angel--or so I have always thought her."
+
+The depth to which his voice sank in the last sentence showed that for
+all his seeming confidence he was not without his doubts.
+
+I began to feel very uncomfortable, and not knowing what consolation
+to offer, I ventured upon the suggestion that he should see Mrs.
+Walworth and frankly ask her whether she had been to the hotel on Main
+Street on such a day, and if so, if she had seen a letter addressed
+to Miss N---- lying on the table of the small parlor. His answer
+showed how much his confidence in her had been shaken.
+
+"A woman who, for the sake of paying some unworthy debt or of
+gratifying some whim of feminine vanity, could make use of a young
+girl's signature to obtain money, would not hesitate at any denial.
+She would not even blench at my questions."
+
+He was right.
+
+"I must be convinced in some other way," he went on. "Mrs. Couldock or
+Miss Dawes do not either of them possess any more truthful or
+ingenuous countenance than she does, and though it seems madness to
+suspect such women--"
+
+"Wait," I broke in. "Let us be sure of all the facts before we go on.
+You lie down here and close your eyes; now pull the rug up so. I will
+have Sudley in and question him. If you do not turn towards the light
+he will not know who you are."
+
+Taylor followed my suggestion, and in a few moments Sudley stood
+before me. I opened upon him quite carelessly.
+
+"Sudley," said I, throwing down the newspaper I had been ostensibly
+reading, "you remember that little business you did for me in Main
+Street last month? Something I've been reading made me think of it
+again."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Have you never had a conviction yourself as to which of the three
+ladies you saw go into the parlor took the letter I left hid in the
+Bible?"
+
+"No, sir. You see I could not. All of them are well known in society
+here and all of them belong to the most respectable families. I
+wouldn't dare to choose between them, sir."
+
+"Certainly not," I rejoined, "unless you have some good reason for
+doing so, such as having been able to account for the visits of two of
+the ladies to the hotel, and not of the third."
+
+"They all had a good pretext for being there. Mrs. Couldock gave her
+card to the boy before going into the parlor, and left as soon as he
+returned with word that the lady she called to see was not in. Miss
+Dawes gave no card, but asked for a Miss Terhune, I think, and did
+not remain a moment after she was informed that that lady had left the
+hotel."
+
+"And Mrs. Walworth?"
+
+"She came in from the street adjusting her veil, and upon looking
+around for a mirror was directed to the parlor, into which she at once
+stepped. She remained there but a moment, and when she came out passed
+directly into the street."
+
+These words disconcerted me; the mirror was just over the table in the
+small room, but I managed to remark nonchalantly:
+
+"Could you not tell whether any of these three ladies opened the
+Bible?"
+
+"Not without seeming intrusive."
+
+I sighed and dismissed the man. When he was gone I approached Taylor.
+
+"He can give us no assistance," I cried.
+
+My friend was already on his feet, looking very miserable.
+
+"I know of only one thing to do," he remarked. "To-morrow I shall call
+upon Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes, and entreat them to tell me if, for
+any reason, they undertook to deliver a letter mysteriously left in
+the Bible of the ---- Hotel one day last month. They may have been
+deputed to do so, and be quite willing to acknowledge it."
+
+"And Mrs. Walworth? Will you not ask her the same question?"
+
+He shook his head and turned away.
+
+"Very well," said I to myself, "then I will."
+
+Accordingly the next day I called upon Mrs. Walworth.
+
+Taking her by the hand, I gently forced her to stand for a moment
+where the light from the one window fell full upon her face. I said:
+
+"You must pardon my intrusion upon you at a time when you are
+naturally so busy, but there is something you can do for me that will
+rid me of a great anxiety. You remember being in ---- Hotel one
+morning last month?"
+
+She was looking quietly up at me, her lips parted, her eyes smiling
+and expectant, but at the mention of that hotel I thought--and yet I
+may have been mistaken--that a slight change took place in her
+expression, if it was only that the glance grew more gentle and the
+smile more marked.
+
+But her voice when she answered was the same as that with which she
+had uttered her greeting.
+
+"I do not remember," she replied, "yet I may have been there; I go to
+so many places. Why do you ask?" she inquired.
+
+"Because if you were there on that morning--and I have been told you
+were--you may be able to solve a question that is greatly perplexing
+me."
+
+Still the same gentle, inquiring look on her face; only now there was
+a little furrow of wonder or interest between the eyes.
+
+"I had business in that hotel on that morning," I continued. "I had
+left a letter for a young friend of mine in the Bible that lies on the
+small table of the inner parlor, and as she never received it I have
+been driven into making all kinds of inquiries in the hope of finding
+some explanation of the fact. As you were there at the time you may
+have seen something that would aid me. Is it not possible, Mrs.
+Walworth?"
+
+Her smile, which had faded, reappeared. On the lips which Taylor so
+much admired a little pout became visible, and she looked quite
+enchanting.
+
+"I do not even remember being at that hotel at all," she protested.
+"Did Mr. Taylor say I was there?" she inquired, with just that added
+look of exquisite näivete which the utterance of a lover's name should
+call up on the face of a prospective bride.
+
+"No," I answered gravely; "Mr. Taylor, unhappily, was not with you
+that morning." She looked startled.
+
+"Unhappily," she repeated. "What do you mean by that word?" And she
+drew back looking very much displeased.
+
+I had expected this, and so was not thrown off my guard.
+
+"I mean," I proceeded calmly, "that if you had had such a companion
+with you on that morning I should now be able to put my questions to
+him, instead of taking your time and interrupting your affairs by my
+importunities."
+
+"You will tell me just what you mean," said she, earnestly.
+
+I was equally emphatic in my reply. "That is only just. You ought to
+know why I trouble you with this matter. It is because this letter of
+which I speak was taken from its hiding-place by some one who went
+into the hotel parlor between the hours of 10:30 and 12 o'clock, and
+as to my certain knowledge only three persons crossed its threshold on
+that especial morning at that especial time, I naturally appeal to
+each of them in turn for an answer to the problem that is troubling
+me. You know Miss N----. Seeing by accident a letter addressed to her
+lying in a Bible in a strange hotel, you might have thought it your
+duty to take it out and carry it to her. If you did and if you lost
+it--"
+
+"But I didn't," she interrupted, warmly. "I know nothing about any
+such letter, and if you had not declared so positively that I was in
+that hotel on that especial day I should be tempted to deny that too,
+for I have no recollection of going there last month."
+
+"Not for the purpose of rearranging a veil that had been blown off?"
+
+"Oh!" she said, but as one who recalls a forgotten fact, not as one
+who is tripped up in an evasion.
+
+I began to think her innocent, and lost some of the gloom which had
+been oppressing me.
+
+"You remember now?" said I.
+
+"Oh, yes, I remember that."
+
+Her manner so completely declared that her acknowledgments stopped
+there, I saw it would be useless to venture further. If she were
+innocent she could not tell more, if she were guilty she would not;
+so, feeling that the inclination of my belief was in favor of the
+former hypothesis, I again took her hand, and said:
+
+"I see that you can give me no help. I am sorry, for the whole
+happiness of a man, and perhaps that of a woman also, depends upon the
+discovery as to who took the letter from out the Bible where I had
+hidden it on that unfortunate morning." And, making her another low
+bow, I was about to take my departure, when she grasped me impulsively
+by the arm.
+
+"What man?" she whispered; and in a lower tone still, "What woman?"
+
+I turned and looked at her. "Great heaven!" thought I, "can such a
+face hide a selfish and intriguing heart?" and in a flash I summoned
+up in comparison before me the plain, honest, and reliable countenance
+of Mrs. Couldock and that of the comely and unpretending Miss Dawes,
+and knew not what to think.
+
+"You do not mean yourself?" she continued, as she met my look of
+distress.
+
+"No," I returned; "happily for me my welfare is not bound up in the
+honor of any woman." And leaving that shaft to work its way into her
+heart, if that heart were vulnerable, I took my leave, more troubled
+and less decided than when I entered.
+
+For her manner had been absolutely that of a woman surprised by
+insinuations she was too innocent to rate at their real importance.
+And yet, if she did not take away that letter, who did? Mrs. Couldock?
+Impossible. Miss Dawes? The thought was untenable, even for an
+instant. I waited in great depression of spirits for the call I knew
+Taylor would not fail to make that evening.
+
+When he came I saw what the result of my revelations was likely to be
+as plainly as I see it now. He had conversed frankly with Mrs.
+Couldock and with Miss Dawes, and was perfectly convinced as to the
+utter ignorance of them both in regard to the whole affair. In
+consequence, Mrs. Walworth was guilty in his estimation, and being
+held guilty could be no wife for him, much as he had loved her, and
+urgent as may have been the cause for her act.
+
+"But," said I, in some horror of the consequences of an interference
+for which I was almost ready to blame myself now, "Mrs. Couldock and
+Miss Dawes could have done no more than deny all knowledge of this
+letter. Now Mrs. Walworth does that, and--"
+
+"You have seen her? You have asked her--"
+
+"Yes, I have seen her, and I have asked her, and not an eyelash
+drooped as she affirmed a complete ignorance of the whole affair."
+
+Taylor's head fell.
+
+"I told you how that would be," he murmured at last. "I cannot feel
+that it is any proof of her innocence. Or rather," he added, "I should
+always have my doubts."
+
+"And Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes?"
+
+"Ah!" he cried, rising and turning away; "there is no question of
+marriage between either of them and myself."
+
+I was therefore not astonished when the week went by and no
+announcement of his wedding appeared. But I was troubled and am
+troubled still, for if mistakes are made in criminal courts, and the
+innocent sometimes, through the sheer force of circumstantial
+evidence, are made to suffer for the guilty, might it not be that in
+this little question of morals Mrs. Walworth has been wronged, and
+that when I played the part of arbitrator in her fate, I only
+succeeded in separating two hearts whose right it was to be made
+happy?
+
+It is impossible to tell, nor is time likely to solve the riddle. Must
+I then forever blame myself, or did I only do in this matter what any
+honest man would have done in my place? Answer me, some one, for I do
+not find my lonely bachelor life in any wise brightened by the doubt,
+and would be grateful to any one who would relieve me of it.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Old Stone House and Other Stories, by Anna Katharine Green</title>
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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Old Stone House and Other Stories, by
+Anna Katharine Green</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Old Stone House and Other Stories</p>
+<p>Author: Anna Katharine Green</p>
+<p>Release Date: June 13, 2007  [eBook #21824]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>THE OLD STONE HOUSE<br />
+AND OTHER STORIES</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>ANNA KATHARINE GREEN</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4><i>Short Story Index Reprint Series</i></h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>BOOKS FOR LIBRARIES PRESS</h3>
+
+<h3>FREEPORT, NEW YORK</h3>
+
+<h4>First Published 1891
+</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<table summary="Contents">
+<tr><td></td><td class="tocpg"><span class="smcap">Page</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#THE_OLD_STONE_HOUSE">The Old Stone House</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#A_MEMORABLE_NIGHT">A Memorable Night</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#THE_BLACK_CROSS">The Black Cross</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#A_MYSTERIOUS_CASE">A Mysterious Case</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><span class="smcap"><a href="#SHALL_HE_WED_HER">Shall He Wed Her?</a></span></td>
+<td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_OLD_STONE_HOUSE" id="THE_OLD_STONE_HOUSE"></a>THE OLD STONE HOUSE.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;was riding along one autumn day through a certain wooded portion of
+New York State, when I came suddenly upon an old stone house in which
+the marks of age were in such startling contrast to its unfinished
+condition that I involuntarily stopped my horse and took a long survey
+of the lonesome structure. Embowered in a forest which had so grown in
+thickness and height since the erection of this building that the
+boughs of some of the tallest trees almost met across its decayed
+roof, it presented even at first view an appearance of picturesque
+solitude almost approaching to desolation. But when my eye had time to
+note that the moss was clinging to eaves from under which the
+scaffolding had never been taken, and that of the ten large windows in
+the blackened front of the house only two had ever been furnished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+with frames, the awe of some tragic mystery began to creep over me,
+and I sat and wondered at the sight till my increasing interest
+compelled me to alight and take a nearer view of the place.</p>
+
+<p>The great front door which had been finished so many years ago, but
+which had never been hung, leaned against the side of the house, of
+which it had almost become a part, so long had they clung together
+amid the drippings of innumerable rains. Close beside it yawned the
+entrance, a large black gap through which nearly a century of storms
+had rushed with their winds and wet till the lintels were green with
+moisture and slippery with rot. Standing on this untrod threshold, I
+instinctively glanced up at the scaffolding above me, and started as I
+noticed that it had partially fallen away, as if time were weakening
+its supports and making the precipitation of the whole a threatening
+possibility. Alarmed lest it might fall while I stood there, I did not
+linger long beneath it, but, with a shudder which I afterwards
+remembered, stepped into the house and proceeded to inspect its
+rotting, naked, and unfinished walls. I found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> them all in the one
+condition. A fine house had once been planned and nearly completed,
+but it had been abandoned before the hearths had been tiled, or the
+wainscoting nailed to its place. The staircase which ran up through
+the centre of the house was without banisters but otherwise finished
+and in a state of fair preservation. Seeing this and not being able to
+resist the temptation which it offered me of inspecting the rest of
+the house, I ascended to the second story.</p>
+
+<p>Here the doors were hung and the fireplaces bricked, and as I wandered
+from room to room I wondered more than ever what had caused the
+desertion of so promising a dwelling. If, as appeared, the first owner
+had died suddenly, why could not an heir have been found, and what
+could be the story of a place so abandoned and left to destruction
+that its walls gave no token of ever having offered shelter to a human
+being? As I could not answer this question I allowed my imagination
+full play, and was just forming some weird explanation of the facts
+before me when I felt my arm suddenly seized from behind, and paused
+aghast. Was I then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> not alone in the deserted building? Was there some
+solitary being who laid claim to its desolation and betrayed jealousy
+at any intrusion within its mysterious precincts? Or was the dismal
+place haunted by some uneasy spirit, who with long, uncanny fingers
+stood ready to clutch the man who presumed to bring living hopes and
+fears into a spot dedicated entirely to memories? I had scarcely the
+courage to ask, but when I turned and saw what it was that had alarmed
+me, I did not know whether to laugh at my fears or feel increased awe
+of my surroundings. For it was the twigs of a tree which had seized
+me, and for a long limb such as this to have grown into a place
+intended for the abode of man, necessitated a lapse of time and a
+depth of solitude oppressive to think of.</p>
+
+<p>Anxious to be rid of suggestions wellnigh bordering upon the
+superstitious, I took one peep from the front windows, and then
+descended to the first floor. The sight of my horse quietly dozing in
+the summer sunlight had reassured me, and by the time I had recrossed
+the dismal threshold, and regained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> the cheerful highway, I was
+conscious of no emotions deeper than the intense interest of a curious
+mind to solve the mystery and understand the secret of this remarkable
+house.</p>
+
+<p>Rousing my horse from his comfortable nap, I rode on through the
+forest; but scarcely had I gone a dozen rods before the road took a
+turn, the trees suddenly parted, and I found myself face to face with
+wide rolling meadows and a busy village. So, then, this ancient and
+deserted house was not in the heart of the woods, as I had imagined,
+but in the outskirts of a town, and face to face with life and
+activity. This discovery was a shock to my romance, but as it gave my
+curiosity an immediate hope of satisfaction, I soon became reconciled
+to the situation, and taking the road which led to the village, drew
+up before the inn and went in, ostensibly for refreshment. This being
+speedily provided, I sat down in the cosy dining-room, and as soon as
+opportunity offered, asked the attentive landlady why the old house in
+the woods had remained so long deserted.</p>
+
+<p>She gave me an odd look, and then glanced aside at an old man who sat
+doubled up in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> opposite corner. "It is a long story," said she,
+"and I am busy now; but later, if you wish to hear it, I will tell you
+all we know on the subject. After father is gone out," she whispered.
+"It always excites him to hear any talk about that old place."</p>
+
+<p>I saw that it did. I had no sooner mentioned the house than his white
+head lifted itself with something like spirit, and his form, which had
+seemed a moment before so bent and aged, straightened with an interest
+that made him look almost hale again.</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you," he broke in; "I am not busy. I was ninety last
+birthday, and I forget sometimes my grandchildren's names, but I never
+forget what took place in that old house one night fifty years
+ago&mdash;never, never."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, I know," hastily interposed his daughter, "you remember
+beautifully; but this gentleman wishes to eat his dinner now, and must
+not have his appetite interfered with. You will wait, will you not,
+sir, till I have a little more leisure?"</p>
+
+<p>What could I answer but Yes, and what could the poor old man do but
+shrink back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> into his corner, disappointed and abashed. Yet I was not
+satisfied, nor was he, as I could see by the appealing glances he gave
+me now and then from under the fallen masses of his long white hair.
+But the landlady was complaisant and moved about the table and in and
+out of the room with a bustling air that left us but little
+opportunity for conversation. At length she was absent somewhat longer
+than usual, whereupon the old man, suddenly lifting his head, cried
+out:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>She</i> cannot tell the story. She has no feeling for it; she wasn't
+<i>there</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"And you were," I ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I was there, always there; and I see it all now," he
+murmured. "Fifty years ago, and I see it all as if it were happening
+at this moment before my eyes. But she will not let me talk about it,"
+he complained, as the sound of her footsteps was heard again on the
+kitchen boards. "Though it makes me young again, she always stops me
+just as if I were a child. But she cannot help my showing you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here her steps became audible in the hall, and his words died away on
+his lips. By the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> time she had entered, he was seated with his head
+half turned aside, and his form bent over as if he were in spirit a
+thousand miles from the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Amused at his cunning, and interested in spite of myself at the
+childish eagerness he displayed to tell his tale, I waited with a
+secret impatience almost as great as his own perhaps, for her to leave
+the room again, and thus give him the opportunity of finishing his
+sentence. At last there came an imperative call for her presence
+without, and she hurried away. She was no sooner gone than the old man
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"I have it all written down. I wrote it years and years ago, at the
+very time it happened. She cannot keep me from showing you that; no,
+no, she cannot keep me from showing you that." And rising to his feet
+with a difficulty that for the first time revealed to me the full
+extent of his infirmity, he hobbled slowly across the floor to the
+open door, through which he passed with many cunning winks and nods.</p>
+
+<p>"It grows quite exciting," thought I, and half feared his daughter
+would not allow him to return. But either she was too much engrossed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+to heed him, or had been too much deceived by his seeming indifference
+when she last entered the room, to suspect the errand which had taken
+him out of it. For sooner than I had expected, and quite some few
+minutes before she came back herself, he shuffled in again, carrying
+under his coat a roll of yellow paper, which he thrust into my hand
+with a gratified leer, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"There it is. I was a gay young lad in those days, and could go and
+come with the best. Read it, sir, read it; and if Maria says anything
+against it, tell her it was written long before she was born and when
+I was as pert as she is now, and a good deal more observing."</p>
+
+<p>Chuckling with satisfaction, he turned away, and had barely
+disappeared in the hall when she came in and saw me with the roll in
+my hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Well! I declare!" she exclaimed; "and has he been bringing you that?
+What ever shall I do with him and his everlasting manuscript? You will
+pardon him, sir; he is ninety and upwards, and thinks everybody is as
+interested in the story of that old house as he is himself."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"And I, for one, am," was my hasty reply. "If the writing is at all
+legible, I am anxious to read it. You won't object, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," was her good-humored rejoinder. "I won't object; I only hate
+to have father's mind roused on this subject, because he is sure to be
+sick after it. But now that you have the story, read it; whether you
+will think as he did, on a certain point, is another question. I
+don't; but then father always said I would never believe ill of
+anybody."</p>
+
+<p>Her smile certainly bore out her words, it was so good-tempered and
+confiding; and pleased with her manner in spite of myself, I accepted
+her invitation to make use of her own little parlor, and sat down in
+the glow of a brilliant autumn afternoon to read this old-time
+history.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Will Juliet be at home to-day? She must know that I am coming. When I
+met her this morning, tripping back from the farm, I gave her a look
+which, if she cares anything about me, must have told her that I would
+be among the lads who would be sure to pay her their respects at early
+candle-light. For I cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> resist her saucy pout and dancing dimples
+any longer. Though I am barely twenty, I am a man, and one who is
+quite forehanded and able to take unto himself a wife. Ralph
+Urphistone has both wife and babe, and he was only twenty-one last
+August. Why, then, should I not go courting, when the prettiest maid
+that has graced the town for many a year holds out the guerdon of her
+smiles to all who will vie for them?</p>
+
+<p>To be sure, the fact that she has more than one wooer already may be
+considered detrimental to my success. But love is fed by rivalry, and
+if Colonel Schuyler does not pay her his addresses, I think my chances
+may be considered as good as any one's. For am I not the tallest and
+most straightly built man in town, and have I not a little cottage all
+my own, with the neatest of gardens behind it, and an apple-tree in
+front whose blossoms hang ready to shower themselves like rain upon
+the head of her who will enter there as a bride? It is not yet dark,
+but I will forestall the sunset by a half hour and begin my visit now.
+If I am first at her gate, Lemuel Phillips may look less arrogant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+when he comes to ask her company to the next singing school.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I was not first at her gate; two others were there before me. Ah, she
+is prettier than ever I supposed, and chirper than the sparrow which
+builds every year a nest in my old apple-tree. When she saw me come up
+the walk, her cheeks turned pink, but I do not know if it was from
+pleasure or annoyance, for she gave nothing but vexing replies to
+every compliment I paid her. But then Lemuel Phillips fared no better;
+and she was so bitter-sweet to Orrin Day that he left in a huff and
+vowed he would never step across her threshold again. I thought she
+was a trifle more serious after he had gone, but when a woman's eyes
+are as bright as hers, and the frowns and smiles with which she
+disports herself chase each other so rapidly over a face both
+mischievous and charming, a man's judgment goes astray, and he
+scarcely knows reality from seeming. But true or false, she is pretty
+as a harebell and bright as glinting sunshine; and I mean to marry
+her, if only Colonel Schuyler will hold himself aloof.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Colonel Schuyler may hold himself aloof, but he is a man like the rest
+of us for all that. Yesterday as I was sauntering in the churchyard
+waiting for the appearance of a certain white-robed figure crowned by
+the demurest of little hats, I caught a glimpse of his face as he
+leaned on one of the tombstones near Patience Goodyear's grave, and I
+saw that he was waiting also for the same white figure and the same
+demure hat. This gave me a shock; for though I had never really dared
+to hope he would remain unmoved by a loveliness so rare in our
+village, and indeed, as I take it, in any village, I did not think he
+would show so much impatience, or await her appearance with such
+burning and uncontrollable ardor.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed I was so affected by his look that I forgot to watch any longer
+for her coming, but kept my gaze fixed on his countenance, till I saw
+by the change which rapidly took place in it that she had stepped out
+of the great church door and was now standing before us, making the
+sunshine more brilliant by her smiles, and the spring the sweeter for
+her presence.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then I came to myself and rushed forward with the rest of the lads.
+Did he follow behind us? I do not think so, for the rosy lips which
+had smiled upon us with so airy a welcome soon showed a discontented
+curve not to be belied by the merry words that issued from them, and
+when we would have escorted her across the fields to her father's
+house, she made a mocking curtsy, and wandered away with the ugliest
+old crone who mouths and mumbles in the meeting-house. Did she do this
+to mock us or him? If to mock him he had best take care, for beauty
+scorned is apt to grow dangerous. But perhaps it was to mock us? Well,
+well, there would be nothing new in that; she is ever mocking us.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>They say the Colonel passes her gate a dozen times a day, but never
+goes in and never looks up. Is he indifferent then? I cannot think so.
+Perhaps he fears her caprices and disapproves of her coquetry. If that
+is so, she shall be my wife before he wakens to the knowledge that her
+coquetry hides a passionate and loving heart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Colonel Schuyler is a dark man. He has eyes which pierce you, and a
+smile which, if it could be understood, might perhaps be less
+fascinating than it is. If she has noticed his watching her, the
+little heart that flutters in her breast must have beaten faster by
+many a throb. For he is the one great man within twenty miles, and so
+handsome and above us all that I do not know of a woman but Juliet
+whose voice does not sink a tone lower whenever she speaks of him. But
+he is a proud man, and seems to take no notice of any one. Indeed he
+scarcely appears to live in our world. Will he come down from his high
+estate at the beck of this village beauty? Many say not, but I say
+yes; with those eyes of his he cannot help it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Juliet is more capricious than ever. Lemuel Phillips for one is tired
+of it, and imitating Orrin Day, bade her a good-even to-night which I
+am sure he does not intend to follow with a blithe good-morrow.</p>
+
+<p>I might do the same if her pleading eyes would let me. But she seems
+to cling to me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> even when she is most provokingly saucy; and though I
+cannot see any love in her manner, there is something in it very
+different from hate; and this it is which holds me. Can a woman be too
+pretty for her own happiness, and are many lovers a weariness to the
+heart?</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Juliet is positively unhappy. To-day when she laughed the gayest it
+was to hide her tears, and no one, not even a thoroughly spoiled
+beauty, could be as wayward as she if there were not some bitter arrow
+rankling in her heart. She was riding down the street on a pillion
+behind her father, and Colonel Schuyler, who had been leaning on the
+gate in front of his house, turned his back upon her and went inside
+when he saw her coming. Was this what made her so white and reckless
+when she came up to where I was standing with Orrin Day, and was it
+her chagrin at the great man's apparent indifference which gave that
+sharp edge to the good-morning with which she rode haughtily away? If
+it was I can forgive you, my lady-bird, for there is reason for your
+folly if I am any judge of my fellow-men. Colonel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> Schuyler is not
+indifferent but circumspect, and circumspection in a lover is an
+insult to his lady's charms.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>She knows now what I knew a week ago. Colonel Schuyler is in love with
+her and will marry her if she does not play the coquette with him. He
+has been to her house and her father already holds his head higher as
+he paces up and down the street. I am left in the lurch, and if I had
+not foreseen this end to my hopes, might have been a very miserable
+man to-night. For I was near obtaining the object of my heart, as I
+know from her own lips, though the words were not intended for my
+ears. You see I was the one who surprised him talking with her in the
+garden. I had been walking around the place on the outer side of the
+wall as I often did from pure love for her, and not knowing she was on
+the other side was very much startled when I heard her voice speaking
+my name; so much startled that I stood still in my astonishment and
+thus heard her say:</p>
+
+<p>"Philo Adams has a little cottage all his own and I can be mistress of
+it any day,&mdash;or so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> he tells me. I had rather go into that little
+cottage where every board I trod on would be my own, than live in the
+grandest room you could give me in a house of which I would not be the
+mistress."</p>
+
+<p>"But if I make a home for you," he pleaded, "grand as my father's, but
+built entirely for you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" was her soft reply, "that might make me listen to you, for I
+should then think you loved me."</p>
+
+<p>The wall was between us, but I could see her face as she said this as
+plainly as if I had been the fortunate man at her side. And I could
+see his face too, though it was only in fancy I had ever beheld it
+soften as I knew it must be softening now. Silence such as followed
+her words is eloquent, and I feared my own passions too much to linger
+till it should be again broken by vows I had not the courage to hear.
+So I crept away conscious of but one thing, which was that my dream
+was ended, and that my brave apple-tree would never shower its bridal
+blossoms upon the head I love, for whatever threshold she crosses as
+mistress it will not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> now be that of the little cottage every board of
+which might have been her own.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>If I had doubted the result of the Colonel's offer to Juliet, the news
+which came to me this morning would have convinced me that all was
+well with them and that their marriage was simply a matter of time.
+Ground has been broken in the pleasant opening on the verge of the
+forest, and carts and men hired to bring stone for the fine new
+dwelling Colonel Schuyler proposes to rear for himself. The whole town
+is agog, but I keep the secret I surprised, and only Juliet knows that
+I am no longer deceived as to her feelings, for I did not go to see
+her to-night for the first time since I made up mind that I would have
+her for my wife. I am glad I restrained myself, for Orrin Day, who had
+kept his word valiantly up to this very day, came riding by my house
+furiously a half hour ago, and seeing me, called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you tell me she had a new adorer? I went there to-night
+and Colonel Schuyler sat at her side as you and I never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> sat yet,
+and&mdash;and&mdash;" he stammered frantically, "<i>I did not kill him.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;Come back!" I shouted, for he was flying by like the wind. But
+he did not heed me nor stop, but vanished in the thick darkness, while
+the lessening sound of his horse's hoofs rang dismally back from the
+growing distance.</p>
+
+<p>So this man has loved her passionately too, and the house which is
+destined to rise in the woods will throw a shadow over more than one
+hearthstone in this quiet village. I declare I am sorry that Orrin has
+taken it so much to heart, for he has a proud and determined spirit,
+and will not forget his wrongs as soon as it would be wise for him to
+do. Poor, poor Juliet, are you making enemies against your bridal day?
+If so, it behooves me at least to remain your friend.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I saw Orrin again to-day, and he looks like one haunted. He was riding
+as usual, and his cloak flew out behind him as he sped down the street
+and away into the woods. I wonder if she too saw him, from behind her
+lattice. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> thought I detected the curtain move as he thundered by her
+gate, but I am so filled with thoughts of her just now that I cannot
+always trust my judgment. I am, however, sure of one thing, and that
+is that if Colonel Schuyler and Orrin meet, there will be trouble.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I never thought Orrin handsome till to-day. He is fair, and I like
+dark men; and he is small, and I admire men of stature. But when I
+came upon him this morning, talking and laughing among a group of lads
+like ourselves, I could not but see that his blue eye shone with a
+fire that made it as brilliant as any dark one could be, and that in
+his manner, verging as it did upon the reckless, there was a spirit
+and force which made him look both dangerous and fascinating. He was
+haranguing them on a question of the day, but when he saw me he
+stepped out of the crowd, and, beckoning me to follow him, led the way
+to a retired spot, where, the instant we were free from watching eyes,
+he turned and said: "You liked her too, Philo Adams. I should have
+been willing if you&mdash;" Here he choked and paused. I had never seen a
+face so full of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> fiery emotions. "No, no, no," he went on, after a
+moment of silent struggle; "I could not have borne it to see any man
+take away what was so precious to me. I&mdash;I&mdash;I did not know I cared for
+her so much," he now explained, observing my look of surprise. "She
+teased me and put me off, and coquetted with you and Lemuel and
+whoever else happened to be at her side till I grew beside myself and
+left her, as I thought, forever. But there are women you can leave and
+women you cannot, and when I found she teased and fretted me more at a
+distance than when she was under my very eye, I went back only to
+find&mdash;Philo, do you think he will marry her?"</p>
+
+<p>I choked down my own emotions and solemnly answered: "Yes, he is
+building her a home. You must have seen the stones that are being
+piled up yonder on the verge of the forest."</p>
+
+<p>He turned, glared at me, made a peculiar sound with his lips, and then
+stood silent, opening and closing his hands in a way that made my
+blood run chill in spite of myself.</p>
+
+<p>"A house!" he murmured, at last; "I wish I had the building of that
+house!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The tone, the look he gave, alarmed me still further.</p>
+
+<p>"You would build it well!" I cried. It was his trade, the building of
+houses.</p>
+
+<p>"I would build it slowly," was his ominous answer.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Juliet certainly likes me, and trusts me, I think, more than any other
+of the young men who used to go a-courting her. I have seen it for
+some time in the looks she has now and then given me across the
+meeting-house during the long sermon on Sunday mornings, but to-day I
+am sure of it. For she has spoken to me, and asked me&mdash;But let me
+tell you how it was: We were all standing under Ralph Urphistone's big
+tree, looking at his little one toddling over the grass after a ball
+one of the lads had thrown after her, when I felt the slightest touch
+on my arm, and, glancing round, saw Juliet.</p>
+
+<p>She was standing beside her father, and if ever she looked pretty it
+was just then, for the day was warm and she had taken off her great
+hat so that the curls flew freely around her face that was dimpled and
+flushed with some feeling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> which did not allow her to lift her eyes.
+Had she touched me? I thought so, and yet I did not dare to take it
+for granted, for Colonel Schuyler was standing on the edge of the
+crowd, frowning in some displeasure at the bare head of his provoking
+little betrothed, and when Colonel Schuyler frowns there is no man of
+us but Orrin who would dare approach the object of his preference,
+much less address her, except in the coldest courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>But I was sure she had something to say to me, so I lingered under the
+tree till the crowd had all dispersed and Colonel Schuyler, drawn away
+by her father, had left us for a moment face to face. Then I saw I was
+right.</p>
+
+<p>"Philo," she murmured, and oh, how her face changed! "you are my
+friend, I know you are my friend, because you alone out of them all
+have never given me sharp words; will you, will you do something for
+me which will make me less miserable, something which may prevent
+wrong and trouble, and keep Orrin&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Orrin? did she call him Orrin?</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she cried, "you have no sympathy. You&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" I entreated. "You have not treated me well, but I am always
+your friend. What do you want me to do?"</p>
+
+<p>She trembled, glanced around her in the pleasant sunshine, and then up
+into my face.</p>
+
+<p>"I want you," she murmured, "to keep Orrin and Colonel Schuyler apart.
+You are Orrin's friend; stay with him, keep by him, do not let him run
+alone upon his enemy, for&mdash;for there is danger in their
+meeting&mdash;and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She could not say more, for just then her father and the Colonel came
+back, and she had barely time to call up her dimples and toss her head
+in merry banter before they were at her side.</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, I stood dazed and confused, feeling that my six feet
+made me too conspicuous, and longing in a vague and futile way to let
+her know without words that I would do what she asked.</p>
+
+<p>And I think I did accomplish it, though I said nothing to her and but
+little to her companions. For when we parted I took the street which
+leads directly to Orrin's house; and when Colonel Schuyler queried in
+his soft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> and gentlemanlike way why I left them so soon, I managed to
+reply:</p>
+
+<p>"My road lies here"; and so left them.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have not told Orrin what she said, but I am rarely away from his
+vicinity now, during those hours when he is free to come and go about
+the village. I think he wonders at my persistent friendship,
+sometimes, but he says nothing, and is not even disagreeable to&mdash;<i>me</i>.
+So I share his pleasures, if they are pleasures, expecting every day
+to see him run across the Colonel in the tavern or on the green; but
+he never does, perhaps because the Colonel is always with her now, and
+we are not nor are ever likely to be again.</p>
+
+<p>Do I understand her, or do I understand Orrin, or do I even understand
+myself? No, but I understand my duty, and that is enough, though it is
+sometimes hard to do it, and I would rather be where I could forget,
+instead of being where I am forced continually to remember.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Am I always with Orrin when he is not at work or asleep? I begin to
+doubt it. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> are times when there is such a change in him that I
+feel sure he has been near her, or at least seen her, but where or
+how, I do not know and cannot even suspect. He never speaks of her,
+not now, but he watches the house slowly rising in the forest, as if
+he would lay a spell upon it. Not that he visits it by daylight, or
+mingles with the men who are busy laying stone upon stone; no, no, he
+goes to it at night, goes when the moon and stars alone shed light
+upon its growing proportions; and standing before it, seems to count
+each stone which has been added through the day, as if he were
+reckoning up the months yet remaining to him of life and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>I never speak to him during these expeditions. I go with him because
+he does not forbid me to do so, but we never exchange a word till we
+have left the forest behind us and stand again within the village
+streets. If I did speak I might learn something of what is going on in
+his bitter and burning heart, but I never have the courage to do so,
+perhaps because I had rather not know what he plans or purposes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She is not as daintily rounded as she was once. Her cheek is thinner,
+and there is a tremulous move to her lip I never saw in it in the old
+coquettish days. Is she not happy in her betrothal, or are her fears
+of Orrin greater than her confidence in me? It must be the latter, for
+Colonel Schuyler is a lover in a thousand, and scarcely a day passes
+without some new evidence of his passionate devotion. She ought to be
+happy, if she is not, and I am sure there is not another woman in town
+but would feel herself the most favored of her sex if she had the half
+of Juliet's prospects before her. But Juliet was ever wayward; and
+simply because she ought to increase in beauty and joy, she pales and
+pines and gets delicate, and makes the hearts of her lovers grow mad
+with fear and longing.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Where have I been? What have I seen, and what do the events of this
+night portend? As Orrin and myself were returning from our usual visit
+to the house in the woods&mdash;it is well up now, and its huge empty
+square looms weirdly enough in the moonlighted forest,&mdash;we came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> out
+upon the churchyard in front of the meeting-house, and Orrin said:</p>
+
+<p>"You may come with me or not, I do not care; but I am going in amongst
+these graves. I feel like holding companionship with dead people
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Then so do I," said I, for I was not deceived by his words. It was
+not to hold companionship with the dead, but with the living, that he
+chose to linger there. The churchyard is in a direct line with her
+house, and, sitting on the meeting-house steps one can get a very good
+view of the windows of her room.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," he sighed, and disdained to say more.</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, I felt too keenly the weirdness of the whole situation
+to do more than lean my back against a tree and wait till his fancy
+wearied of the moonlight and silence. The stones about us, glooming
+darkly through the night, were not the most cheerful of companions,
+and when you add to this the soughing of the willows and the
+flickering shadows which rose and fell over the face of the
+meeting-house as the branches moved in the wind, you can understand
+why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> I rather regretted the hitherto gloomy enough hour we were
+accustomed to spend in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>But Orrin seemed to regret nothing. He had seated himself where I knew
+he would, on the steps of the meeting-house, and was gazing, with chin
+sunk in his two hands, down the street where Juliet dwelt. I do not
+think he expected anything to happen; I think he was only reckless and
+sick with a longing he had not the power to repress, and I watched him
+as long as I could for my own inner sickness and longing, and when I
+could watch no longer I turned to the gnomish gravestones that were no
+more motionless or silent than he.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly I felt myself shiver and start, and, turning, beheld him
+standing erect, a black shadow against the moonlighted wall behind
+him. He was still gazing down the street but no longer in apathetic
+despair, but with quivering emotion visible in every line of his
+trembling form. Reaching his side, I looked where he looked, and saw
+Juliet&mdash;it must have been Juliet to arouse him so,&mdash;standing with some
+companion at the gate in the wall that opens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> upon the street. The
+next moment she and the person with her stepped into the street, and,
+almost before we realized it, they began to move towards us, as if
+drawn by some power in Orrin or myself, straight, straight to this
+abode of death and cold moonbeams.</p>
+
+<p>It was not late, but the streets were otherwise deserted, and we four
+seemed to be alone in the whole world. Breathing with Orrin and almost
+clasping his hand in my oneness with him, I watched and watched the
+gliding approach of the two lovers, and knew not whether to be
+startled or satisfied when I saw them cross to the churchyard and
+enter where we had entered ourselves so short a time before. For us
+all to meet, and meet here, seemed suddenly strangely natural, and I
+hardly knew what Orrin meant when he grasped me forcibly by the arm
+and drew me aside into the darkest of the dark shadows which lay in
+the churchyard's farthest corner.</p>
+
+<p>Not till I perceived Juliet and the Colonel halt in the moonlight did
+I realize that we were nothing to them, and that it was not our
+influence but some purpose or passion of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> own which had led them
+to this gruesome spot.</p>
+
+<p>The place where they had chosen to pause was at the grave of old
+Patience Goodyear, and from the corner where we stood we could see
+their faces plainly as they turned and looked at each other with the
+moonbeams pouring over them. Was it fancy that made her look like a
+wraith, and he like some handsome demon given to haunting churchyards?
+Or was it only the sternness of his air, and the shrinking timidity of
+hers, which made him look so dark and she so pallid.</p>
+
+<p>Orrin, who stood so close to me that I could hear his heart beat as
+loudly as my own, had evidently asked himself the same question, for
+his hand closed spasmodically on mine, as the Colonel opened his lips,
+and neither of us dared so much as to breathe lest we should lose what
+the lovers had to say.</p>
+
+<p>But the Colonel spoke clearly, if low, and neither of us could fail to
+hear him as he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought you here, Juliet mine, because I want to hear you
+swear amongst the graves that you will be no man's wife but mine."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But have I not already promised?" she protested, with a gentle uplift
+of her head inexpressibly touching in one who had once queened it over
+hearts so merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you have promised, but I am not satisfied. I want you to swear.
+I want to feel that you are as much mine as if we had stood at the
+altar together. Otherwise how can I go away? How can I leave you,
+knowing there are three men at least in this town who would marry you
+at a day's notice, if you gave them full leave. I love you, and I
+would marry you to-night, but you want a home of your own. Swear that
+you will be my wife when that home is ready, and I will go away happy.
+Otherwise I shall have to stay with you, Juliet, for you are more to
+me than renown, or advancement, or anything else in all God's world."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not like the graves; I do not want to stay here, it is so late,
+so dark," she moaned.</p>
+
+<p>"Then swear! Lay your hand on Mother Patience's tombstone, and say, 'I
+will be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house is finished which
+you are building in the woods';<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> and I will carry you back in my arms
+as I carry you always in my heart."</p>
+
+<p>But though Orrin clinched my arm in apprehension of her answer, and we
+stood like two listening statues, no words issued from her lips, and
+the silence grew appalling.</p>
+
+<p>"Swear!" seemed to come from the tombs; but whether it was my emotion
+that made it seem so, or whether it was Orrin who threw his voice
+there, I did not know then and I do not know now. But that the word
+did not come from the Colonel was evident from the startled look he
+cast about him and from the thrill which all at once passed over her
+form from her shrouded head to her hidden feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Do the heavens bid me?" she murmured, and laid her hand without
+hesitation on the stone before her, saying, "I swear by the dead that
+surround us to be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house you are
+building for me in the woods is completed." And so pleased was he at
+the readiness with which she spoke that he seemed to forget what had
+caused it, and caught her in his arms as if she had been a child, and
+so bore her away from before our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> eyes, while the man at my side
+fought and struggled with himself to keep down the wrath and jealousy
+which such a sight as this might well provoke in one even less
+passionate and intemperate than himself.</p>
+
+<p>When the one shadow which they now made had dissolved again into two,
+and only Orrin and myself were left in that ghostly churchyard, I
+declared with a courage I had never before shown:</p>
+
+<p>"So that is settled, Orrin. She will marry the Colonel, and you and I
+are wasting time in these gloomy walks."</p>
+
+<p>To which, to my astonishment, he made this simple reply, "Yes, we are
+wasting time"; and straightway turned and left the churchyard with a
+quick step that seemed to tell of some new and fixed resolve.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Colonel Schuyler has been gone a week, and to-night I summoned up
+courage to call on Juliet's father. I had no longer any right to call
+upon <i>her</i>; but who shall say I may not call on him if he chooses to
+welcome me and lose his time on my account. The reason for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> my going
+is not far to seek. Orrin has been there, and Orrin cannot be trusted
+in her presence alone. Though he seems to have accepted his fate, he
+is restless, and keeps his eye on the ground in a brooding way I do
+not comprehend and do not altogether like. Why should he think so
+much, and why should he go to her house when he knows the sight of her
+is inflaming to his heart and death to his self-control?</p>
+
+<p>Juliet's father is a simple, proud old man who makes no attempt to
+hide his satisfaction at his daughter's brilliant prospects. He talked
+mainly of <i>the house</i>, and if he honored Orrin with half as much of
+his confidence on that subject as he did me, then Orrin must know many
+particulars about its structure of which the public are generally
+ignorant. Juliet was not to be seen&mdash;that is, during the first part of
+the evening, but towards its close she came into the room and showed
+me that same confiding courtesy which I have noticed in her ever since
+I ceased to be an aspirant for her hand. She was not so pale as on
+that weird night when I saw her in the churchyard, and I thought her
+step had a light spring in it which spoke of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> hope. She wore a gown
+which was coquettishly simple, and the fresh flower clinging to her
+bosom breathed a fragrance that might have intoxicated a man less
+determined to be her friend. Her father saw us meet without any
+evident anxiety; and if he was as complacent to Orrin when he was
+here, then Orrin had a chance to touch her hand.</p>
+
+<p>But was he as complacent to Orrin? That I could not find out. I am
+only sure that I will be made welcome there again <i>if</i> I confine my
+visits to the father and do not seek anything more from Juliet than
+that simple touch of her hand.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Orrin has not repeated his visit, but I have repeated mine. Why?
+Because I am uneasy. Colonel Schuyler's house does not progress, and
+whether there is any connection between this fact and that of Orrin's
+sudden interest in the sawmills and quarries about here, I cannot
+tell, but doubts of his loyalty will rise through all my friendship
+for him, and I cannot keep away from Juliet any longer.</p>
+
+<p>Does Juliet care for Colonel Schuyler? I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> have sometimes thought no,
+and I have oftener thought yes. At all events she trembles when she
+speaks of him, and shows emotion of no slight order when a letter of
+his is suddenly put in her hand. I wish I could read her pretty,
+changeful face more readily. It would be a comfort for me to know that
+she saw her own way clearly, and was not disturbed by Orrin's comings
+and goings. For Orrin is not a safe man, I fear, and a faith once
+pledged to Colonel Schuyler should be kept.</p>
+
+<p>I do not think Juliet understands just how great a man Colonel
+Schuyler promises to be. When her father told me to-night that his
+daughter's betrothed had been charged with some very important
+business for the Government, her pretty lip pouted like a child's. Yet
+she flushed, and for a minute looked pleased when I said, "That is a
+road which leads to Washington. We shall hear of you yet as being
+presented at the White House."</p>
+
+<p>I think her father anticipates the same. For he told me a few minutes
+later that he had sent for tutors to teach his daughter music and the
+languages. And I noticed that at this she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> pouted again, and indeed
+bore herself in a way which promised less for her future learning than
+for that influence which breathes from gleaming eyes and witching
+smiles. Ah, I fear she is a frivolous fairy, but how pretty she is,
+and how dangerously captivating to a man who has once allowed himself
+to study her changes of feeling and countenance. When I came away I
+felt that I had gained nothing, and lost&mdash;what? Some of the
+complacency of spirit which I had acquired after much struggle and
+stern determination.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Colonel Schuyler has not yet returned, and now Orrin has gone away.
+Indeed, no one knows where to find him nowadays, for he is here and
+there on his great white horse, riding off one day and coming back the
+next, ever busy, and, strange to say, always cheerful. He is making
+money, I hear, buying up timber and then selling it to builders, but
+he does not sell to one builder, whose house seems to suffer in
+consequence. Where is the Colonel, and why does he not come home and
+look after his own?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I have learned her secret at last, and in a strange enough way. I was
+waiting for her father in his own little room, and as he did not come
+as soon as I anticipated, I let my secret despondency have its way for
+a moment, and sat leaning forward, with my head buried in my hands. My
+face was to the fire and my back to the door, and for some reason I
+did not hear it open, and was only aware of the presence of another
+person in the room by the sound of a little gasp behind me, which was
+choked back as soon as it was uttered. Feeling that this could come
+from no one but Juliet, I for some reason hard to fathom sat still,
+and the next moment became conscious of a touch soft as a rose-leaf
+settle on my hair, and springing up, caught the hand which had given
+it, and holding it firmly in mine, gave her one look which made her
+chin fall slowly on her breast and her eyes seek the ground in the
+wildest distress and confusion.</p>
+
+<p>"Juliet&mdash;" I began.</p>
+
+<p>But she broke in with a passion too impetuous to be restrained:</p>
+
+<p>"Do not&mdash;do not think I knew or realized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> what I was doing. It was
+because your head looked so much like his as you sat leaning forward
+in the firelight that I&mdash;I allowed myself one little touch just for
+the heart's ease it must bring. I&mdash;I am so lonesome, Philo,
+and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I dropped her hand. I understood the whole secret now. My hair is
+blonde like Orrin's, and her feelings stood confessed, never more to
+be mistaken by me.</p>
+
+<p>"You love Orrin!" I gasped; "you who are pledged to Colonel Schuyler!"</p>
+
+<p>"I love Orrin," she whispered, "and I am pledged to Colonel Schuyler.
+But you will never betray me," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I betray you?" I cried, and if some of the bitterness of my own
+disappointed hopes crept into my tones, she did not seem to note it,
+for she came quite close to my side and looked up into my face in a
+way that almost made me forget her perfidy and her folly. "Juliet," I
+went on, for I felt never more strongly than at this moment that I
+should act a brother's part towards her, "I could never find it in my
+heart to betray you, but are you sure that you are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> doing wisely to
+betray the Colonel for a man no better than Orrin. I&mdash;I know you do
+not want to hear me say this, for if you care for him you must think
+him good and noble, but Juliet, I know him and I know the Colonel, and
+he is no more to be compared with the man you are betrothed to
+than&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" she cried, almost commandingly, and the airy, dainty, dimpled
+creature whom I knew seemed to grow in stature and become a woman, in
+her indignation; "you do not know Orrin and you do not know the
+Colonel. You shall not draw comparisons between them. I will have you
+think of Orrin only, as I do, day and night, ever and always."</p>
+
+<p>"But," I exclaimed, aghast, "if you love him so and despise the
+Colonel, why do you not break your troth with the latter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," she murmured, with white cheeks and a wandering gaze, "I
+have sworn to marry the Colonel, and I dare not break my oath. Sworn
+to be his wife when the house he is building is complete; and the oath
+was on the graves of the dead; <i>on the graves of the dead!</i>" she
+repeated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"But," I said, without any intimation of having heard that oath, "you
+are breaking that oath in private with every thought you give to
+Orrin. Either complete your perjury by disowning the Colonel
+altogether, or else give up Orrin. You cannot cling to both without
+dishonor; does not your father tell you so?"</p>
+
+<p>"My father&mdash;oh, he does not know; no one knows but you. My father
+likes the Colonel; I would never think of telling him."</p>
+
+<p>"Juliet," I declared solemnly, "you are on dangerous ground. Think
+what you are doing before it is too late. The Colonel is not a man to
+be trifled with."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," she murmured, "I know it," and would not say another word
+or let me.</p>
+
+<p>And so the burden of this new apprehension is laid upon me; for
+happiness cannot come out of this complication.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Where is Orrin, and what is he doing that he stays so much from home?
+If it were not for the intent and preoccupied look which he wears when
+I do see him, I should think that he was absenting himself for the
+purpose of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> wearing out his unhappy passion. But the short glimpses I
+have had of him as he has ridden busily through the town have left me
+with no such hope, and I wait with feverish impatience for some fierce
+action on his part, or what would be better, the Colonel's return. And
+the Colonel must come back soon, for nothing goes well in a long
+absence, and his house is almost at a standstill.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Colonel Schuyler has come and, I hear, is storming angrily over the
+mishaps that have delayed the progress of his new dwelling. He says he
+will not go away again till it is completed, and has been riding all
+the morning in every direction, engaging new men to aid the dilatory
+workmen already employed. Does Orrin know this? I will go down to his
+house and see.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>And now I know <i>Orrin's</i> secret. He was not at home, of course, and
+being determined to get at the truth of his mysterious absences, I
+mounted a horse of my own and rode off to find him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Why I took this upon myself, or whether I had the right to do it, I
+have not stopped to ask. I went in the direction he had last gone, and
+after I had ridden through two villages I heard of him as having
+passed still farther east some two hours before.</p>
+
+<p>Not in the least deterred, I hurried on, and having threaded a thicket
+and forded a stream, I came upon a beautiful open country wholly new
+to me, where, on the verge of a pleasant glade and in full view of a
+most picturesque line of hills, I saw shining the fresh boards of a
+new cottage. Instantly the thought struck me, "It is Orrin's, and he
+is building it for Juliet," and filled with a confusion of emotions, I
+spurred on my horse, and soon drew up before it.</p>
+
+<p>Orrin was standing, pale and defiant, in the doorway, and as I met his
+eye, I noticed, with a sick feeling of contempt, that he swung the
+whip he was holding smartly against his leg in what looked like a very
+threatening manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening, Orrin," I cried. "You have a very pleasant site
+here&mdash;preferable to the Colonel's, I should say."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"What has the Colonel to do with me?" was his fierce reply, and he
+turned as if about to go into the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Only this," I calmly answered; "I think he will get his house done
+first."</p>
+
+<p>He wheeled and faced me, and his eye which had looked simply sullen
+shot a fierce and dangerous gleam.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think that?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>"He has come back, and to-day engaged twenty extra men to push on the
+work."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed!" and there was contempt in his tone. "Well, I wish him joy
+and a sound roof!"</p>
+
+<p>And this time he did go into the house.</p>
+
+<p>As he had not asked me to follow, I of course had no alternative but
+to ride on. As I did so, I took another look at the house and saw with
+a strange pang at the heart that the plastering was on the walls and
+the windows ready for glazing. "I was wrong," said I to myself; "it is
+Orrin's house which will be finished first."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>And what if it is? Will she turn her back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> upon the Colonel's lofty
+structure and take refuge in this cottage remote from the world? I
+cannot believe it, knowing how she loves show and the smiles and
+gallantries of men. And yet&mdash;and yet, she is so capricious and Orrin
+so determined that I do not know what to think or what to fear, and I
+ride back with a heavy heart, wishing she had never come up from the
+farm to worry and inflame the souls of honest men.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>And now the Colonel's work goes on apace, and the whole town is filled
+with the noise and bustle of lumbering carts and eager workmen. The
+roof which Orrin so bitterly wished might be a sound one has been
+shingled; and under the Colonel's eye and the Colonel's constant
+encouragement, part after part of the new building is being fitted to
+its place with a precision and despatch that to many minds promise the
+near dawning of Juliet's wedding-day. But I know that afar in the east
+another home is nearer completion than this, and whether she knows it
+too or does not know it (which is just as probable), her wilful,
+sportive, and butterfly nature seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> to be preparing itself for a
+struggle which may rend if not destroy its airy and delicate wings.</p>
+
+<p>I have prepared myself too, and being still and always her friend, I
+stand ready to mediate or assist, as opportunity offers or
+circumstances demand. She realizes this, and leans on me in her secret
+hours of fear, or why does her face brighten when she sees me, and her
+little hand thrust itself confidingly forth from under its shrouding
+mantle and grasp mine with such a lingering and entreating pressure?
+And the Colonel? Does he realize, too, that I am any more to her than
+her other cast-off lovers and would-be friends? Sometimes I think he
+does, and eyes me with suspicion. But he is ever so courteous that I
+cannot be sure, and so do not trouble myself in regard to a jealousy
+so illy founded and so easily dispelled.</p>
+
+<p>He is always at Juliet's side and seems to surround her with a
+devotion which will make it very difficult for any other man, even
+Orrin, to get her ear.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The crisis is approaching. Orrin is again in town, and may be seen
+riding up and down the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> streets in his holiday clothes. Have some
+whispers of his secret love and evident intentions reached the ear of
+the Colonel? Or is Juliet's father alone concerned? For I see that the
+blinds of her lattice are tightly shut, and watch as I may, I cannot
+catch a glimpse of her eager head peering between them at the
+flaunting horseman as he goes careering by.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The hour has come and how different is the outcome from any I had
+imagined. I was sitting last night in my own lonely little room, which
+opens directly on the street, struggling as best I might against the
+distraction of my thoughts which would lead me from the book I was
+studying, when a knock on the panels of my door aroused me, and almost
+before I could look up, that same door swung open and a dark form
+entered and stood before me.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment I was too dazed to see who it was, and rising
+ceremoniously, I made my bow of welcome, starting a little as I met
+the Colonel's dark eyes looking at me from the folds of the huge
+mantle in which he had wrapped himself. "Your worship?" I began,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> and
+stumbling awkwardly, offered him a chair which he refused with a
+gesture of his smooth white hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, no," said he, "I do not sit down in your house till I know
+if it is you who have stolen the heart of my bride away from me and if
+it is you with whom she is prepared to flee."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," was my involuntary exclamation, "then it has come. You know her
+folly, and will forgive it because she is such a child."</p>
+
+<p>"Her folly? Are you not then the man?" he cried; but in a subdued tone
+which showed what a restraint he was putting upon himself even in the
+moment of such accumulated emotions.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said I; "if your bride meditates flight, it is not with me she
+means to go. I am her friend, and the man who would take her from you
+is not. I can say no more, Colonel Schuyler."</p>
+
+<p>He eyed me for a moment with a deep and searching gaze which showed me
+that his intellect was not asleep though his heart was on fire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I believe you," said he; and threw aside his cloak and sat down. "And
+now," he asked, "who is the man?"</p>
+
+<p>Taken by surprise, I stammered and uttered some faint disclaimer; but
+seeing by his steady look and firm-set jaw that he meant to know, and
+detecting as I also thought in his general manner and subdued tones
+the promise of an unexpected forbearance, I added impulsively:</p>
+
+<p>"Let the wayward girl tell you herself; perhaps in the telling she
+will grow ashamed of her caprice."</p>
+
+<p>"I have asked her," was the stern reply, "and she is dumb." Then in
+softer tones he added: "How can I do anything for her if she will not
+confide in me. She has treated me most ungratefully, but I mean to be
+kind to her. Only I must first know if she has chosen worthily."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is there of worth in town?" I asked, softened and fascinated by
+his manner. "There is no man equal to yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"You say so," he cried, and waved his hand impatiently. Then with a
+deep and thrilling intensity which I feel yet, he repeated, "His name,
+his name? Tell me his name."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Colonel is a man of power, accustomed to control men. I could not
+withstand his look or be unmoved by his tones. If he meant well to
+Orrin and to her, what was I that I should withhold Orrin's name.
+Falteringly I was about to speak it when a sudden sound struck my
+ears, and rising impetuously I drew him to the window, blowing out the
+candles as I passed them.</p>
+
+<p>"Hark!" I cried, as the rush of pounding hoofs was heard on the road,
+and "Look!" I added, as a sudden figure swept by on the panting white
+horse so well known by all in that town.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it he?" whispered the dark figure at my side as we both strained
+our eyes after Orrin's fast vanishing form.</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen him," I returned; and drawing him back from the window,
+I closed the shutters with care, lest Orrin should be seized with a
+freak to return and detect me in conference with his heart's dearest
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Silence and darkness were now about us, and the Colonel, as if anxious
+to avail himself of the surrounding gloom, caught my arm as I moved to
+relight the candles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Wait," said he; and I understood and stopped still.</p>
+
+<p>And so we stood for a moment, he quiet as a carven statue and I
+restless but obedient to his wishes. When he stirred I carefully lit
+the candles, but I did not look at him till he had donned his cloak
+and pulled his hat well over his eyes. Then I turned, and eying him
+earnestly, said:</p>
+
+<p>"If I have made a mistake&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But he quickly interrupted me, averring:</p>
+
+<p>"You have made no mistake. You are a good lad, Philo, and if it had
+been you&mdash;" He did not say what he would have done, but left the
+sentence incomplete and went on: "I know nothing of this Orrin Day,
+but what a woman wills she must have. Will you bring this fellow&mdash;he
+is your friend is he not?&mdash;to Juliet's house in the morning? Her
+father is set on her being the mistress of the new stone house and we
+three will have to reason with him, do you see?"</p>
+
+<p>Astonished, I bowed with something like awe. Was he so great-hearted
+as this? Did he intend to give up his betrothed to the man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> whom she
+loved, and even to plead her cause with the father she feared? My
+admiration would have its vent, and I uttered some foolish words of
+sympathy, which he took with the stately, rather condescending grace
+which they perhaps merited; after which, he added again: "You will
+come, will you not?" and bowed kindly and retreated towards the door,
+while I, abashed and worshipful, followed with protestations that
+nothing should hinder me from doing his will, till he had passed
+through the doorway and vanished from my sight.</p>
+
+<p>And yet I do not want to do his will or take Orrin to that house. I
+might have borne with sad equanimity to see her married to the
+Colonel, for he is far above me, but to Orrin&mdash;ah, that is a bitter
+outlook, and I must have been a fool to have promised aught that will
+help to bring it about. Still, am I not her sworn friend, and if she
+thinks she can be happy with him, ought I not to do my share towards
+making her so?</p>
+
+<p>I wonder if the Colonel knows that Orrin too has been building himself
+a house?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I did not sleep last night, and I have not eaten this morning.
+Thoughts robbed me of sleep, and a visit from Orrin effectually took
+away from me whatever appetite I might have had. He came in almost at
+daybreak. He looked dishevelled and wild, and spoke like a man who had
+stopped more than once at the tavern.</p>
+
+<p>"Philo," said he, "you have annoyed me by your curiosity for more than
+a year; now you can do me a favor. Will you call at Juliet's house and
+see if she is free to go and come as she was a week ago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" I asked, thinking I perceived a reason for his bloodshot eye,
+and yet being for the moment too wary, perhaps too ungenerous, to
+relieve him from the tension of his uncertainty.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" he repeated. "Must you know all that goes on in my mind, and
+cannot I keep one secret to myself?"</p>
+
+<p>"You ask me to do you a favor," I quietly returned. "In order to do it
+intelligently, I must know why it is asked."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see that," objected Orrin, "and if you were not such a boy
+I'd leave you on the spot and do the errand myself. But you mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> no
+harm, and so I will tell you that Juliet and I had planned to run away
+together last night, but though I was at the place of meeting, she did
+not come, nor has she made any sign to show me why she failed me."</p>
+
+<p>"Orrin," I began, but he stopped me with an oath.</p>
+
+<p>"No sermons," he protested. "I know what you would have done if
+instead of smiling on me she had chanced to give all her poor little
+heart to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have tempted her to betray the Colonel," I exclaimed
+hotly, perhaps because the sudden picture he presented to my
+imagination awoke within me such a torrent of unsuspected emotions.
+"Nor should I have urged her to fly with me by night and in stealth."</p>
+
+<p>"You do not know what you would do," was his rude and impatient
+rejoinder. "Had she looked at you, with tears in her arch yet pathetic
+blue eyes, and listened while you poured out your soul, as if heaven
+were opening before her and she had no other thought in life but you,
+then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" I cried, "do you want me to go to her house for you, or do you
+want me to stay away?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You know I want you to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Then be still, and listen to what I have to say. I will go, but you
+must go too. If you want to take Juliet away from the Colonel you must
+do it openly. I will not abet you, nor will I encourage any
+underhanded proceedings."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a courageous lad," he said, "in other men's affairs. Will you
+raise me a tomb if the Colonel runs me through with his sword?"</p>
+
+<p>"I at least should not feel the contempt for you which I should if you
+eloped with her behind his back."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you are courageous on your own behalf," laughed he, "and that is
+better and more to the point." Yet he looked as if he could easily
+spit me on his own sword, which I noticed was dangling at his heels.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you come?" I urged, determined not to conciliate or enlighten
+him even if my forbearance cost me my life.</p>
+
+<p>He hesitated, and then broke into a hoarse laugh. "I have drunk just
+enough to be reckless," said he; "yes, I will go; and the devil must
+answer for the result."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I had never seen him look so little the gentleman, and perhaps it was
+on this very account I became suddenly quite eager to take him at his
+word before time and thought should give him an opportunity to become
+more like himself; for I could not but think that if she saw him in
+this condition she must make comparisons between him and the Colonel
+which could not but be favorable to the latter. But it was still quite
+early, and I dared not run the risk of displeasing the Colonel by
+anticipating his presence, so I urged Orrin into that little back
+parlor of mine, where I had once hoped to see a very different person
+installed, and putting wine and biscuits before him, bade him refresh
+himself while I prepared myself for appearing before the ladies.</p>
+
+<p>When the hour came for us to go I went to him. He was pacing the floor
+and trying to school himself into patience, but he made but a sorry
+figure, and I felt a twinge of conscience as he thrust on his hat
+without any attempt to smooth his dishevelled locks, or rearrange his
+disordered ruffles. Should I permit him to go thus disordered, or
+should I detain him long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> enough to fit him for the eye of the dainty
+Juliet? He answered the question himself. "Come," said he, "I have
+chewed my sleeve long enough in suspense. Let us go and have an end of
+it. If she is to be my wife she must leave the house with me to-day,
+if not, I have an hour's work before me down yonder," and he pointed
+in the direction of his new house. "When you see the sky red at
+noonday, you will know what that is."</p>
+
+<p>"Orrin!" I cried, and for the first time I seized his arm with
+something like a fellow-feeling.</p>
+
+<p>But he shook me off.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't interfere with me," he said, and strode on, sullen and fierce,
+towards the place where such a different greeting awaited him from any
+that he feared.</p>
+
+<p>Ought I to tell him this? Ought I to say: "Your sullenness is uncalled
+for and your fierceness misplaced; Juliet is constant, and the Colonel
+means you nothing but good"? Perhaps; and perhaps, too, I should be a
+saint and know nothing of earthly passions and jealousies. But I am
+not. I hate this Orrin, hate him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> more and more as every step brings
+us nearer to Juliet's house and the fate awaiting him from her
+weakness and the Colonel's generosity. So I hold my peace and we come
+to her gate, and the recklessness that has brought him thus far
+abandons him on the instant and he falls back and lets me go in
+several steps before him, so that I seem to be alone when I enter the
+house, and Juliet, who is standing in the parlor between the Colonel
+and her father, starts when she sees me, and breaking into sobs,
+cries:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Philo, Philo, tell my father there is nothing between us but what
+is friendly and honorable; that I&mdash;I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Hush!" commanded that father, while I stared at the Colonel, whose
+quiet, imperturbable face was for the first time such a riddle to me
+that I hardly heeded what the elder man said. "You have talked enough,
+Juliet, and denied enough. I will now speak to Mr. Adams and see what
+he has to say. Last night my daughter, who, as all the town knows, is
+betrothed to this gentleman"&mdash;and he waved his hand deferentially
+towards the Colonel&mdash;"was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> detected by me stealing out of the garden
+gate with a little packet on her arm. As my daughter never goes out
+alone, I was naturally startled, and presuming upon my rights as her
+father, naturally asked her where she was going. This question, simple
+as it was, seemed to both terrify and unnerve her. Stumbling back, she
+looked me wildly in the eye and answered, with an effrontery she had
+never shown me before, that she was flying to escape a hated marriage.
+That Colonel Schuyler had returned, and as she could not be his wife,
+she was going to her aunt's house, where she could live in peace
+without being forced upon a man she could not love. Amazed, for I had
+always supposed her duly sensible of the honor which had been shown
+her by this gentleman's attentions, I drew her into my study and
+there, pulling off the cloak which she held tightly drawn about her, I
+discovered that she was tricked out like a bride, and had a whole
+bunch of garden roses fastened in her breast. 'A pretty figure,' cried
+I, 'for travelling. You are going away with some man, and it is a
+runaway match I have interrupted.' She could not deny it, and just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+then the Colonel came in and&mdash;but we will not talk about that. It
+remained for us to find out the man who had led her to forget her
+duty, and I could think of no man but you. So I ask you now before my
+trembling daughter and this outraged gentleman if you are the
+villain."</p>
+
+<p>But here Colonel Schuyler spoke up quietly and without visible anger:
+"I was about to say when this gentleman's entrance interrupted my
+words that I had been convinced overnight that our first suspicions
+were false, and that Mr. Adams was, as your daughter persists in
+declaring, simply a somewhat zealous friend."</p>
+
+<p>"But," hastily vociferated the old man, "there has been no one else
+about my daughter for months. If Mr. Adams is not to blame for this
+attempted escapade, who is? I should like to see the man, and see him
+standing just there."</p>
+
+<p>"Then look and tell me what you think of him," came with an insolent
+fierceness from the doorway, and Orrin, booted and spurred, with mud
+on his holiday hose, and his hat still on his head, strode into our
+midst and confronted us all with an air of such haughty defiance that
+it half robbed him of his ruffianly appearance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Juliet shrieked and stepped back, fascinated and terrified. The
+Colonel frowned darkly, and the old man, who had seemed by his words
+to summon him before us, quailed at the effect of his words and stood
+looking from the well-known but unexpected figure thus introduced
+amongst us, to the Colonel who persistently avoided his gaze, till the
+situation became unbearable, and I turned about as if to go.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the Colonel took advantage of the break and spoke to Orrin:
+"And so it is to you, sir, that I have to address the few words I have
+to say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, to him and to me!" cried little Juliet, and gliding from between
+the two natural protectors of her girlhood she crossed the floor and
+stood by Orrin's side.</p>
+
+<p>This action, so unexpected and yet so natural, took away whatever
+restraint we had hitherto placed upon ourselves, and the Colonel
+looked for a moment as if his self-control would abandon him entirely
+and leave him a prey to man's fiercest and most terrible passions. But
+he has a strong soul, and before I could take a step to interpose
+myself between him and Juliet,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> his face had recovered its steady
+aspect and his hands ceased from their ominous trembling. Her father,
+on the contrary, seemed to grow more ireful with every instant that he
+saw her thus defiant of his authority, while Orrin, pleased with her
+courage and touched, I have no doubt, by the loving confidence of her
+pleading eyes, threw his arm about her with a gesture of pride which
+made one forget still more his disordered and dishevelled condition.</p>
+
+<p>I said nothing, but I did not leave the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Juliet!"&mdash;the words came huskily from the angry father's lips, "come
+from that man's embrace, and do not make me shudder that I ever
+welcomed the Colonel to my dishonored house."</p>
+
+<p>But the Colonel, putting out his hand, said calmly:</p>
+
+<p>"Let her stay; since she has chosen this very honorable gentleman to
+be her husband, where better could she stand than by his side?"</p>
+
+<p>Then forcing himself still more to seem impassive, he bowed to Orrin,
+and with great suavity remarked: "If she had chosen me to that honor,
+as I had every reason to believe she had, it would not have been many
+more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> weeks before I should have welcomed her into a home befitting
+her beauty and her ambition. May I ask if you can do as much for her?
+Have you a home for your bride in which I may look forward to paying
+her the respects which my humble duty to her demands?"</p>
+
+<p>Ah then, Orrin towered proudly, and the pretty Juliet smiled with
+something of her old archness.</p>
+
+<p>"Saddle your horse," cried the young lover, "and ride to the east. If
+you do not find a wee, fresh nest there, I am no prophet. What! steal
+a wife and not have a home to put her in!"</p>
+
+<p>And he laughed till the huge brown rafters above his head seemed to
+tremble, so blithe did he feel, and so full of pride at thus daring
+the one great man in the town.</p>
+
+<p>But the Colonel did not laugh, nor did he immediately answer. He had
+evidently not heard of the little cottage beyond both thicket and
+stream, and was consequently greatly disconcerted. But just when we
+were all wondering what held him so restrained, and what the words
+were which should break the now oppressive silence, he spoke and
+said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"A wee nest is no place for the lady who was to have been my wife. If
+you will have patience and wait a month she shall have the home that
+has been reared for her. The great stone house would not know any
+other mistress, and therefore it shall be hers."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," Orrin began, aghast at such generosity. But the thoughtless
+Juliet, delighted at a prospect which promised her both splendor and
+love, uttered such a cry of joy that he stopped abashed and half
+angry, and turning upon her, said: "Are you not satisfied with what I
+can give you, and must you take presents even from the man you have
+affected to despise?"</p>
+
+<p>"But, but, he is so good," babbled out the inconsiderate little thing,
+"and&mdash;and I do like the great stone house, and we could be so happy in
+it, just like a king and queen, if&mdash;if&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She had the grace to stop, perhaps because she saw nothing but rebuke
+in the faces around her. But the Colonel, through whose voice ran in
+spite of himself an icy vein of sarcasm, observed, with another of his
+low bows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"You shall indeed be like king and queen there. If you do not believe
+me, come there with me a month hence, and I will show you what a
+disappointed man can do for the woman he has loved." And taking by the
+arm the old man who with futile rage had tried more than once to break
+into this ominous conversation, he drew him persuasively to his side,
+and so by degrees from the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," cried Juliet, as the door closed behind them, "can he mean it?
+Can he mean it?"</p>
+
+<p>And Orrin, a little awed, did not reply, but I saw by his face and
+bearing that whether the Colonel meant it or not was little to him;
+that the cottage beyond the woods was the destined home of his bride,
+and that we must be prepared to lose her from our midst, perhaps
+before the month was over which the Colonel had bidden them to wait.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know through whom Dame Gossip became acquainted with
+yesterday's events, but everywhere in town people are laying their
+heads together in wonder over the jilting of Colonel Schuyler and the
+unprecedented magnanimity which he has shown in giving his new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> house
+to the rebellious lovers. If I have been asked one question to-day, I
+have been asked fifty, and Orrin, who flies into a rage at the least
+intimation that he will accept the gift which has been made him,
+spends most of his time in asserting his independence, and the firm
+resolution which he has made to owe nothing to the generosity of the
+man he has treated with such unquestionable baseness. Juliet keeps
+very quiet, but from the glimpse I caught of her this afternoon at her
+casement, I judge that the turn of affairs has had a very enlivening
+effect upon her beauty. Her eyes fairly sparkled as she saw me; and
+with something like her old joyous abandonment of manner, she tore off
+a branch of the flowering almond at her window and tossed it with
+delicious laughter at my feet. Yet though I picked it up and carried
+it for a few steps beyond her gate, I soon dropped it over the wall,
+for her sparkle and her laughter hurt me, and I would rather have seen
+her less joyous and a little more sensible of the ruin she had
+wrought.</p>
+
+<p>For she has wrought ruin, as any one can see who looks at the Colonel
+long enough to note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> his eye. For though he holds himself erect and
+walks proudly through the town, there is that in his look which makes
+me tremble and hold my own weak complainings in check. He has been up
+to his house to-day, and when he came back there was not a blind from
+one end of the street to the other but quivered when he went by, so
+curious are the women to see him who they cannot but feel has merited
+all the sympathy if not the homage of their sex. Ralph Urphistone
+tells me to-night that the workmen at the new house have been offered
+extra wages if they put the house into habitable condition by the end
+of the month.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>For all his secret satisfaction Orrin is very restless. He has tried
+to induce Juliet to marry him at once, and go with him to the little
+cottage he has raised for her comfort. But she puts him off with
+excuses, which, however, are so mingled with sweet coquetries and
+caresses, that he cannot reproach her without seeming insensible to
+her affection, and it is not until he is away from the fascination of
+her presence, and amongst those who do not hesitate to say that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> he
+will yet see the advantage of putting his brilliant bird in a cage
+suitable to her plumage, that he remembers his manhood and chafes at
+his inability to assert it. I am sorry for him in a way, but not so
+deeply as I might be if <i>he</i> were more humble and more truly sensible
+of the mischief he has wrought.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Orrin will yet make himself debtor to the Colonel. Something has
+happened which proves that fate&mdash;or man&mdash;is working against him to
+this end, and that he must from the very force of circumstances
+finally succumb. I say <i>man</i>, but do I not mean <i>woman</i>? Ah, no, no,
+no! my pen ran away with me, my thoughts played me false. It could
+have been no woman, for if it was, then is Juliet a&mdash;Let me keep to
+facts. I have not self-control enough for speculation.</p>
+
+<p>To-day the sun set red. As we had been having gray skies, and more or
+less rain for a fortnight, the brightness and vivid crimson in the
+west drew many people to their doors. I was amongst them, and as I
+stood looking intently at the sky that was now one blaze of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> glory
+from horizon to zenith, Orrin stepped up behind me and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to take a ride to-night?"</p>
+
+<p>Seeing him look more restless and moody than ever, I answered "Yes,"
+and accordingly about eight that night he rode up to my door and we
+started forth.</p>
+
+<p>I thought he would turn in the direction of the stone house, for one
+night when I had allowed myself to go there in my curiosity at its
+progress, I had detected him crouching in one of the thickest shadows
+cast by the surrounding trees. But if any such idea had been in his
+mind, it soon vanished, for almost the instant I was in the saddle, he
+wheeled himself about and led the way eastward, whipping and spurring
+his horse as if it were a devil's ride he contemplated, and not that
+easy, restful canter under the rising moon demanded by our excited
+spirits and the calm, exquisite beauty of the summer night.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not coming?" was shouted back to me, as the distance
+increased between us.</p>
+
+<p>My answer was to spur my own horse, and as we rode once more side by
+side, I could not but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> note what a wild sort of beauty there was in
+him as he thus gave himself up to the force of his feelings and the
+restless energy of this harum-scarum ride. "Very different," thought
+I, "would the Colonel look on a horse at this hour of night"; and
+wondered if Juliet could see him thus she would any longer wound him
+by her hesitations, after having driven him by her coquetries to
+expect full and absolute surrender on her part.</p>
+
+<p>Did he guess my thoughts, or was his mind busy with the same, that he
+suddenly cried in harsh but thrilling tones:</p>
+
+<p>"If I had her where she ought to be, here behind me on this horse, I
+would ride to destruction before I would take her back again to the
+town and the temptations which beset her while she can hear the sound
+of hammer upon stone."</p>
+
+<p>"And you would be right," I was about to say in some bitterness, I
+own, when the full realization of the road we were upon stopped me and
+I observed instead:</p>
+
+<p>"You would take her yonder where you hope to see her happy, though no
+other woman lives within a half-mile of the place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No man you should say," quoth Orrin bitterly, lashing his horse till
+it shot far ahead of me, so that some few minutes passed before we
+were near enough together for him to speak again. Then he said: "She
+loads me with promises and swears that she loves me more than all the
+world. If half of this is true she ought to be happy with me in a
+hovel, while I have a dainty cottage for her dwelling, where the vines
+will soon grow and the birds sing. You have not seen it since it has
+been finished. You shall see it to-night."</p>
+
+<p>I choked as I tried to answer, and wondered if he had any idea of what
+I had to contend with in these rides I seemed forced to take without
+any benefit to myself. If he had, he was merciless, for once launched
+into talk he kept on till I was almost wild with hateful sympathy and
+jealous chagrin. Suddenly he paused.</p>
+
+<p>The forest we had been threading had for the last few minutes been
+growing thinner, and as the quick cessation in his speech caused me to
+look up, I saw, or thought I saw, a faint glow shining through the
+branches before me, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> could not have come from the reflection
+made by the setting sun, as that had long ago sunk into darkness.</p>
+
+<p>Orrin who, as he had ceased speaking, had suddenly reined in his
+panting horse, now gave a shout and shot forward, and I, hardly
+knowing what to fear or expect, followed him as fast as my evidently
+weary animal would carry me, and thus bounding along with but a few
+paces between us, we cleared the woods and came out into the open
+fields beyond. As we did so a cry went up from Orrin, faintly echoed
+by my own lips. It was a fire that we saw, and the flames, which had
+now got furious headway, rose up like pillars to the sky, illuminating
+all the country round, and showing me, both by their position and the
+glare of the stream beneath them, that it was Orrin's house which was
+burning, and Orrin's hopes which were being destroyed before our eyes.
+The cry he gave as he fully realized this I shall never forget, nor
+the gesture with which he drove his spurs into his horse and flashed
+down that long valley into the ever-increasing glare that lighted
+first his flowing hair and the wet flanks of the animal he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> bestrode,
+and finally seemed to envelop him altogether, till he looked like some
+avenging demon rushing through his own element of fury and fire.</p>
+
+<p>I was far behind him, but I made what time I could, feeling to the
+core, as I passed, the weirdness of the solitude before me, with just
+this element of horror flaming up in its midst. Not a sound save that
+of our pounding hoofs interrupted that crackling sound of burning
+wood, and when the roof fell in, as it did before I could reach his
+side, I could hear distinctly the echo which followed it. Orrin may
+have heard it too, for he gave a groan and drew in his horse, and when
+I reached him I saw him sitting there before the smouldering ashes of
+his home, silent and inert, without a word to say or an ear to hear
+the instinctive words of sympathy I could not now keep back.</p>
+
+<p>Who had done it? Who had started the blaze which had in one half-hour
+undone the work and hope of months? That was the question which first
+roused me and caused me to search the silence and darkness of the
+night for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> some trace of a human presence, if only so much as the mark
+of a human foot. And I found it. There, in the wet margin of the
+stream, I came upon a token which may mean nothing and which may
+mean&mdash;But I cannot write even here of the doubts it brought me; I
+will only tell how on our slow and wearisome passage home through the
+sombre woods, Orrin suddenly let his bridle fall, and, flinging up his
+arms above his head, cried bitterly:</p>
+
+<p>"O that I did not love her so well! O that I had never seen her who
+would make of me a slave when I would be a man!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The gossips at the corners nod knowingly this morning, and Orrin,
+whose brow is moodier than the Colonel's, walks fiercely amongst them
+without word and without look. He is on his way to Juliet's house, and
+if there is enchantment left in smiles, I bid her to use it, for her
+fate is trembling in the balance, and may tip in a direction of which
+she little recks.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Orrin has come back. Striding impetuously into the room where I sat at
+work, he drew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> himself up till his figure showed itself in all its
+full and graceful proportions.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I a man?" he asked, "or," with a fall in his voice brimmed with
+feeling, "am I a fool? She met me with such an unsuspicious look,
+Philo, and bore herself with such an innocent air, that I not only
+could not say what I meant to say, but have promised to do what I have
+sworn never to do&mdash;accept the Colonel's unwelcome gift, and make her
+mistress of the new stone house."</p>
+
+<p>"You are&mdash;a man," I answered. For what are men but fools where women
+of such enchantment are concerned!</p>
+
+<p>He groaned, perhaps at the secret sarcasm hidden in my tone, and sat
+down unbidden at the table where I was writing.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not see her," he cried. "You do not know with what charms she
+works, when she wishes to comfort and allure." Ah! did I not. "And
+Philo," he went on, almost humbly for him, "you are mistaken if you
+think she had any hand in the ruin which has come upon me. She had not.
+How I know it I cannot say, but I am ready to swear it, and you must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+forget any foolish fears I may have shown or any foolish words I may
+have uttered in the first confusion of my loss and disappointment."</p>
+
+<p>"I will forget," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is I do not understand her," he eagerly explained. "There
+was innocence in her air, but there was mockery too, and she laughed
+as I talked of my grief and rage, as though she thought I was playing
+a part. It was merry laughter, and there was no ring of falsehood in
+it, but why should she laugh at all?"</p>
+
+<p>This was a question I could not answer; who could? Juliet is beyond
+the comprehension of us all.</p>
+
+<p>"But what is the use of plaguing myself with riddles?" he now asked,
+starting up as suddenly as he had sat down. "We are to be married in a
+month, and the Colonel&mdash;I have seen the Colonel&mdash;has promised to dance
+at our wedding. Will it be in the new stone house? It would be a
+fitting end to this comedy if he were to dance in <i>that</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>I thought as Orrin did about this, but with more seriousness perhaps;
+and it was not till<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> after he had left me that I remembered I had not
+asked whom he suspected of firing his house, now that he was assured
+of the innocence of her who was most likely to profit by its burning.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Now I understand Juliet!" was the cry with which Orrin burst into my
+presence late this afternoon. "Men are saying and women whispering
+that I destroyed my own house, in order to save myself the shame of
+accepting the Colonel's offer while I had a roof of my own." And,
+burning with rage, he stamped his foot upon the ground, and shook his
+hand so threateningly in the direction of his fancied enemies that I
+felt some reflection of his anger in my own breast, and said or tried
+to say that they could not know him as I did or they would never
+accuse him of so mean a deed, whatever else they might bring against
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"It makes me wild, it makes me mad, it makes me feel like leaving the
+town forever!" was his hoarse complaint as I finished my feeble
+attempt at consolation. "If Juliet were half the woman she ought to be
+she would come and live with me in a log-cabin in the woods<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> before
+she would accept the Colonel's house now. And to think that she, <i>she</i>
+should be affected by the opinions of the rest, and think me so
+destitute of pride that I would stoop to sacrifice my own home for the
+sake of stepping into that of a rival's. O woman, woman, what are you
+made of? Not of the same stuff as we men, surely."</p>
+
+<p>I strove to calm him, for he was striding fiercely and impatiently
+about the room. But at my first word he burst forth with:</p>
+
+<p>"And her father, who should control her, aids and encourages her
+follies. He is a slave to the Colonel, who is the slave of his own
+will."</p>
+
+<p>"In this case," I quietly observed, "his will seems to be most
+kindly."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the worst of it," chafed Orrin. "If only he offered me
+opposition I could struggle with him. But it is his generosity I hate,
+and the humiliating position into which it thrusts me. And that is not
+all," he angrily added, while still striding feverishly about the
+room. "The Colonel seems to think us his property ever since we
+decided to accept his, and as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> a miser watches over his gold so does
+he watch over us, till I scarcely have the opportunity now of speaking
+to Juliet alone. If I go to her house, there he is sitting like a
+black statue at the fireplace, and when I would protest, and lead her
+into another room or into the garden, he rises and overwhelms me with
+such courtesies and subtle disquisitions that I am tripped up in my
+endeavors, and do not know how to leave or how to stay. I wish he
+would fall sick, or his house tumble about his head!"</p>
+
+<p>"Orrin, Orrin!" I cried. But he interrupted my remonstrance with the
+words:</p>
+
+<p>"It is not decent. I am her affianced husband now, and he should leave
+us alone. Does he think I can ever forget that he used to court her
+once himself, and that the favors she now shows me were once given as
+freely, if not as honestly, to him? He knows I cannot forget, and he
+delights&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There, Orrin," I broke in, "you do him wrong. The Colonel is above
+your comprehension as he is above mine; but there is nothing
+malevolent in him."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that," rejoined his an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>gry rival. "If he wanted to
+steal back my bride he could take no surer course for doing it.
+Juliet, who is fickle as the wind, already looks from his face to mine
+as if she were contrasting us. And he is so damned handsome and suave
+and self-forgetting!"</p>
+
+<p>"And you," I could not help but say, "are so fierce and sullen even in
+your love."</p>
+
+<p>"I know it," was his half-muttered retort, "but what can you expect?
+Do you think I will see him steal her heart away from before my eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"It would be but a natural return on his part for your former
+courtesies," I could not forbear saying, in my own secret chagrin and
+soreness of heart.</p>
+
+<p>"But he shall not do it," exclaimed Orrin, with a backward toss of his
+head, and a sudden thump of his strong hand on the table before me. "I
+won her once against all odds, and I will keep her if I have to don
+the devil's smiles myself. He shall never again see her eyes rest
+longer on his face than mine. I will hold her by the power of my love
+till he finds himself forgotten, and for very shame steals away,
+leav<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>ing me with the bride he has himself bestowed upon me. He shall
+never have Juliet back."</p>
+
+<p>"I doubt if he wishes to," I quietly remarked, as Orrin, weary with
+passion, ran from my presence.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know whether Orrin succeeded or not in his attempts to shame
+the Colonel from intruding upon his interviews with Juliet. I am only
+sure that Orrin's countenance smoothed itself after this day, and that
+I heard no more complaints of Juliet's wavering fidelity. I myself do
+not believe she has ever wavered. Simply because she ought from every
+stand-point of good judgment and taste to have preferred the Colonel
+and clung to him, she will continue to cleave to Orrin and make him
+the idol of her wayward heart. But it is all a mystery to me and one
+that does not make me very happy.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I went up by myself to the new stone house to-day, and found that it
+only needs the finishing touches. Twenty workmen or more were there,
+and the great front door had just been brought and was leaning against
+the walls preparatory to being hung. Being curious to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> how they
+were progressing within, I climbed up to one of the windows and looked
+in, and not satisfied with what I could thus see, made my way into the
+house and up the main staircase, which I was surprised to see was
+nearly completed.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of the hammer and saw was all about me, and the calling of
+orders from above and below interfered much with any sentimental
+feelings I might have had. But I was not there to indulge in
+sentiment, and so I roamed on from room to room till I suddenly came
+upon a sight that drove every consideration of time and place from my
+mind, and made me for a moment forgetful of every other sentiment than
+admiration. This was nothing less than the glimpse which I obtained in
+passing one of the windows, of the Colonel himself down on his knees
+on the scaffolding aiding the workmen. So, so, he is not content with
+hurrying the work forward by his means and influence, but is lending
+the force of his example, and actually handling the plane and saw in
+his anxiety not to disappoint Juliet in regard to the day she has
+fixed for her marriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A week ago I should have told Orrin what I had seen, but I had no
+desire to behold the old frowns come back to his face, so I determined
+to hold my silence with him. But Juliet ought to know with what manner
+of heart she has been so recklessly playing, so after stealing down
+the stairs I felt I should never have mounted, I crept from the house
+and made my way as best I could through the huge forest-trees that so
+thickly clustered at its back, till I came upon the high-road which
+leads to the village. Walking straight to Juliet's house I asked to
+see her, and shall never forget the blooming beauty of her presence as
+she stepped into the room and gave me her soft white hand to kiss.</p>
+
+<p>As she is no longer the object of my worship and hardly the friend of
+my heart, I think I can speak of her loveliness now without being
+misunderstood. So I will let my pen trace for once a record of her
+charms, which in that hour were surely great enough to excuse the
+rivalry of which they had been the subject, and perhaps to account for
+the disinterestedness of the man who had once given her his heart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She is of medium height, this Juliet, and her form has that sway in it
+which you see in a lily nodding on its stem. But she is no lily in her
+most enchanting movements, but rather an ardent passion-flower burning
+and palpitating in the sun. Her skin, which is milk-white, has strange
+flushes in it, and her eyes, which never look at you twice with the
+same meaning, are blue, or gray, or black, as her feeling varies and
+the soul informing them is in a state of joy, or trouble. Her most
+bewitching feature is her mouth, which has two dangerous dimples near
+it that go and come, sometimes without her volition and sometimes, I
+fear, with her full accord and desire. Her hair is brown and falls in
+such a mass of ringlets that no cap has ever yet been found which can
+confine it and keep it from weaving a golden net in which to entangle
+the hearts of men. When she smiles you feel like rushing forward; when
+she frowns you question yourself humbly what you have done to merit a
+look so out of keeping with the playful cast of her countenance and
+the arch bearing of her spirited young form. She was dressed, as she
+always is, simply, but there was infinite coquetry in the tie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> of the
+blue ribbon on her shoulder, and if a close cap of dainty lace could
+make a face look more entrancing, I should like the privilege of
+seeing it. She was in an amiable mood and smiled upon my homage like a
+fairy queen.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to pay my final respects to Juliet Playfair," I
+announced; "for by the tokens up yonder she will soon be classed among
+our matrons."</p>
+
+<p>My tone was formal and she looked surprised at it, but my news was
+welcome and so she made me a demure little courtesy before saying
+joyously:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, the house is nearly done, and to-morrow Orrin and I are going up
+there together to see it. The Colonel has asked us to do this that we
+might say whether all is to our liking and convenience."</p>
+
+<p>"The Colonel is a man in a thousand," I began, but, seeing her frown
+in her old pettish way, I perceived that she partook enough of Orrin's
+spirit to dislike any allusion to one whose generosity threw her own
+selfishness into startling relief.</p>
+
+<p>So I said no more on this topic, but let my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> courtesy expend itself in
+good wishes, and came away at last with a bewildering remembrance of
+her beauty, which I am doing my best to blot out by faithfully
+recounting to myself the story of those infinite caprices of hers
+which have come so near wrecking more than one honorable heart.</p>
+
+<p>I do not expect to visit her again until I pay my respects to her as
+Orrin's wife.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It is the day when Orrin and Juliet are to visit the new house. If I
+had not known this from her own lips, I should have known it from the
+fact that the workmen all left at noon, in order, as one of them said,
+to leave the little lady more at her ease. I saw them coming down the
+road, and had the curiosity to watch for the appearance of Orrin and
+the Colonel at Juliet's gate but they did not come, and assured by
+this that they meditated a later visit than I had anticipated, I went
+about my work. This took me up the road, and as it chanced, led me
+within a few rods of the wood within which lies the new stone house. I
+had not meant to go there, for I have haunted the place enough,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> but
+this time there was reason for it, and satisfied with the fact, I
+endeavored to fix my mind on other matters and forget who was likely
+at any moment to enter the forest behind me.</p>
+
+<p>But when one makes an effort to forget he is sure to remember all the
+more keenly, and I was just picturing to my mind Juliet's face and
+Juliet's pretty air of mingled pride and disdain as the first sight of
+the broad stone front burst upon her, when I heard through the
+stillness of the woods the faint sound of a saw, which coming from the
+direction of the house seemed to say that some one was still at work
+there. As I had understood that all the men had been given a
+half-holiday, I felt somewhat surprised at this, and unconsciously to
+myself moved a few steps nearer the opening where the house stood,
+when suddenly all was still and I could not for the moment determine
+whether I had really heard the sound of a saw or not. Annoyed at
+myself, and ashamed of an interest that made every trivial incident
+connected with this affair of such moment to me, I turned back to my
+work, and in a few moments had finished it and left the wood, when
+what was my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> astonishment to see Orrin coming from the same place,
+with his face turned toward the village, and a hardy, determined
+expression upon it which made me first wonder and then ask myself if I
+really comprehended this man or knew what he cherished in his heart of
+hearts.</p>
+
+<p>Going straight up to him, I said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Orrin, what's this? Coming away from the house instead of going
+to it? I understood that you and Juliet were expecting to visit it
+together this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, startled, and his eyes fell as I looked him straight in the
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"We are going to visit it," he admitted, "but I thought it would be
+wiser for me to inspect the place first and see if all was right. An
+unfinished building has so many traps in it, you know." And he laughed
+loudly and long, but his mirth was forced, and I turned and looked
+after him, as he strode away, with a vague but uneasy feeling I did
+not myself understand.</p>
+
+<p>"Will the Colonel go with you?" I called out.</p>
+
+<p>He wheeled about as if stung. "Yes," he shouted, "the Colonel will go
+with us. Did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> you suppose he would allow us the satisfaction of going
+alone? I tell you, Philo," and he strode back to my side, "the Colonel
+considers us his property. Is not that pleasant? His <i>property</i>! And
+so we are," he fiercely added, "while we are his debtors. But we shall
+not be his debtors long. When we are married&mdash;if we <i>are</i> married&mdash;I
+will take Juliet from this place if I have to carry her away by force.
+She shall never be the mistress of this house."</p>
+
+<p>"Orrin! Orrin!" I protested.</p>
+
+<p>"I have said it," was his fierce rejoinder, and he left me for the
+second time and passed hurriedly down the street.</p>
+
+<p>I was therefore somewhat taken aback when a little while later he
+reappeared with Juliet and the Colonel, in such a mood of forced
+gayety that more than one turned to look after them as they passed
+merrily laughing down the road. Will Juliet never be the mistress of
+that house? I think she will, my Orrin. That dimpled smile of hers has
+more force in it than that dominating will of yours. If she chooses to
+hold her own she will hold it, and neither you nor the Colonel can
+ever say her nay.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What did Orrin tell me? That she would never be mistress of that
+house? Orrin was right, she never will; but who could have thought of
+a tragedy like this? Not I, not I; and if Orrin did and planned it&mdash;
+But let me tell the whole just as it happened, keeping down my horror
+till the last word is written and I have plainly before me the awful
+occurrences of this fearful day.</p>
+
+<p>They went, the three, to that fatal house together, and no man, saving
+myself perhaps, thought much more about the matter till we began to
+see Juliet's father peering anxiously from over his gate in the
+direction of the wood. Then we realized that the afternoon had long
+passed and that it was getting dark; and going up to the old man, I
+asked whom he was looking for. The answer was as we expected.</p>
+
+<p>"I am looking for Juliet. The Colonel took her and Orrin up to their
+new house, but they do not come back. I had a dreadful dream last
+night, and it frightens me. Why don't they come? It must be dark
+enough in the wood."</p>
+
+<p>"They will come soon," I assured him, and moved off, for I do not like
+Juliet's father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But when I passed by there again a half-hour later and found the old
+man still standing bare-headed and with craning neck at his post, I
+became very uneasy myself, and proposed to two or three neighbors,
+whom I found standing about, that we should go toward the woods and
+see if all were well. They agreed, being affected, doubtless, like
+myself, by the old man's fears, and as we proceeded down the street,
+others joined us till we amounted in number to a half-dozen or more.
+Yet, though the occasion seemed a strange one, we were not really
+alarmed till we found ourselves at the woods and realized how dark
+they were and how still. Then I began to feel an oppression at my
+heart, and trod with careful and hesitating steps till we came into
+the open space in which the house stands. Here it was lighter, but oh!
+how still. I shall never forget how still; when suddenly a shrill cry
+broke from one amongst us, and I saw Ralph Urphistone pointing with
+finger frozen in horror at something which lay in ghastly outline upon
+the broad stone which leads up to the gap of the great front door.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>What was it? We dared not approach to see, yet we dared not linger
+quiescent. One by one we started forward till finally we all stood in
+a horrified circle about the thing that looked like a shadow, and yet
+was not a shadow, but some horrible nightmare that made us gasp and
+shudder till the moon came suddenly out, and we saw that what we
+feared and shrank from were the bodies of Juliet and Orrin, he lying
+with face upturned and arms thrown out, and she with her head pillowed
+on his breast as if cast there in her last faint moment of
+consciousness. They were both dead, having fallen through the planks
+of the scaffolding, as was shown by the fatal gap open to the
+moonlight above our heads. Dead! dead! and though no man there knew
+how, the terror of their doom and the retribution it seemed to bespeak
+went home to our hearts, and we bowed our heads with a simultaneous
+cry of terror, which in that first moment was too overwhelming even
+for grief.</p>
+
+<p>The Colonel was nowhere to be seen, and after the first few minutes of
+benumbing horror, we tried to call aloud his name. But the cries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> died
+in our throat, and presently one amongst us withdrew into the house to
+search, and then another and another, till I was left alone in awful
+attendance upon the dead. Then I began to realize my own anguish, and
+with some last fragment of secret jealousy&mdash;or was it from some other
+less definite but equally imperative feeling?&mdash;was about to stoop
+forward and lift her head from a pillow that I somehow felt defiled
+it, when a quick hand drew me aside, and looking up, I saw Ralph
+standing at my back. He did not speak, and his figure looked ghostly
+in the moonlight, but his hand was pointing toward the house, and when
+I moved to follow him, he led the way into the hollow entrance and up
+the stairway till we came to the upper story where he stopped, and
+motioned me toward a door opening into one of the rooms.</p>
+
+<p>There were several of our number already standing there, so I did not
+hesitate to approach, and as I went the darkness in which I had
+hitherto moved disappeared before the broad band of moonlight shining
+into the room before us, and I saw, darkly silhouetted against a
+shining background, the crouching figure of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> Colonel, staring with
+hollow eyes and maddened mien out of the unfinished window through
+which in all probability the devoted couple had stepped to their
+destruction.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you make him speak?" asked one. "He does not seem to heed us,
+though we have shouted to him and even shook his arm."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not try," said I. "Horror like this should be respected." And
+going softly in I took up my station by his side in silent awe.</p>
+
+<p>But they would have me talk, and finally in some desperation I turned
+to him and said, quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"The scaffolding broke beneath them, did it not?" At which he first
+stared and then flung up his arms with a wild but suppressed cry. But
+he said nothing, and next moment had settled again into his old
+attitude of silent horror and amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"He might better be lying with them," I whispered after a moment,
+coming from his side. And one by one they echoed my words, and as he
+failed to move or even show any symptoms of active life, we gradually
+drifted from the spot till we were all huddled again<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> below in the
+hollow blackness of that doorway guarded over by the dead.</p>
+
+<p>Who should tell her father? They all looked at me, but I shook my
+head, and it fell to another to perform this piteous errand, for
+fearful thoughts were filling my brain, and Orrin did not look
+altogether guiltless to me as he lay there dead beside the maiden he
+had declared so fiercely should never be mistress of this house.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Was ever such a night of horror known in this town!</p>
+
+<p>They have brought the two bruised bodies down into the village and
+they now lie side by side in the parlor where I last saw Juliet in the
+bloom and glow of life. The Colonel is still crouching where I left
+him. No one can make him speak and no one can make him move, and the
+terror which his terror has produced affects the whole community, not
+even the darkness of the night serving to lessen the wild excitement
+which drives men and women about the streets as if it were broad
+daylight, and makes of every house an open thorough-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>fare through
+which anybody who wishes can pass.</p>
+
+<p>I, who have followed every change and turn in this whole calamitous
+affair, am like one benumbed at this awful crisis. I too go and come
+through the streets, hear people say in shouts, in cries, with bitter
+tears and wild lamentations, "Juliet is dead!" "Orrin is dead!" and
+get no sense from the words. I have even been more than once to that
+spot where they lie in immovable beauty, and though I gaze and gaze
+upon them, I feel nothing&mdash;not even wonder. Only the remembrance of
+that rigid figure frozen into its place above the gulf where so much
+youth and so many high hopes fell, has power to move me. When amid the
+shadows which surround me I see <i>that</i>, I shudder and the groan rises
+slowly to my lips as if I too were looking down into a gulf from which
+hope and love would never again rise.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The Colonel is now in his father's house. He was induced to leave the
+place by Ralph Urphistone's little child. When the great man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> first
+felt the touch of those baby fingers upon his, he shuddered and half
+recoiled, but as the little one pulled him gently but persistently
+towards the stair, he gradually yielded to her persuasion, and
+followed till he had descended to the ground-floor and left the fatal
+house. I do not think any other power could have induced him to pass
+that blood-stained threshold. For he seems thoroughly broken down, and
+will, I fear, never be the same man that he was before this fearful
+tragedy took place before his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>All day I have paced the floor of my room asking myself if I should
+allow Juliet to be laid away in the same tomb as Orrin. He was her
+murderer, without doubt, and though he has shared her doom, was it
+right for me to allow one stone to be raised above their united
+graves. Feeling said no, but reason bade me halt before I disturbed
+the whole community with whispers of a crime. I therefore remained
+undecided, and it was in this same condition of doubt that I finally
+went to the funeral and stood with the rest of the lads beside the
+open grave which had been dug for the unhappy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> lovers in that sunny
+spot beside the great church door. At sight of this grave and the twin
+coffins about to be lowered into it, I felt my struggle renewed, and
+yet I held my peace and listened as best I could to the minister's
+words and the broken sobs of such as had envied these two in their
+days of joyance, but had only pity for pleasure so soon over and hopes
+doomed to such early destruction.</p>
+
+<p>We were all there; Ralph and Lemuel and the other neighbors, old and
+young, all except that chief of mourners, the Colonel; for he was
+still under the influence of that horror which kept him enchained in
+silence, and had not even been sensible enough of the day and its
+mournful occasion to rise and go to the window as the long funeral
+cortege passed his house. We were all there and the minister had said
+the words, and Orrin's body had been lowered to its final rest, when
+suddenly, as they were about to move Juliet, a tumult was observed in
+the outskirts of the crowd, and the Colonel towering in his rage and
+appalling in his just indignation, fought his way through the
+recoiling masses till he stood in our very midst.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Stop!" he cried, "this burial must not go on." And he advanced his
+arm above Juliet's body as if he would intervene his very heart
+between it and the place of darkness into which it was about to
+descend. "She was the victim, he the murderer; they shall not lie
+together if I have to fling myself between them in the grave which you
+have dug."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but," interposed the minister, calm and composed even in the
+face of this portentous figure and the appalling words which it had
+uttered, "by what right do you call this one a murderer and the other
+a victim? Did you see him murder her? Was there a crime enacted before
+your eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"The boards were sawn," was the startling answer. "They must have been
+sawn or they would never have given way beneath so light a weight. And
+then he urged her&mdash;I saw him&mdash;pleaded with her, drew her by force of
+eye and hand to step upon the scaffold without, though there was no
+need for it, and she recoiled. And when her light foot was on it and
+her half-smiling, half-timid face looked back upon us, he leaped out
+beside her, when instantly came the sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> of a great crack, and I
+heard his laugh and her cry go up together, and&mdash;and&mdash;everything has
+been midnight in my soul ever since, till suddenly through the blank
+and horror surrounding me I caught the words, 'They will lie together
+in one tomb!' Then&mdash;then I awoke and my voice came back to me and my
+memory, and hither I hastened to stop this unhallowed work; for to lay
+the victim beside her murderer is a sacrilege which I for one would
+come back even from the grave to prevent."</p>
+
+<p>"But why," moaned the father feebly amid the cries and confusion which
+had been aroused by so gruesome an interference on the brink of the
+grave, "but why should Orrin wish my Juliet's death? They were to have
+been married soon&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But piteous as were his tones no one listened, for just then a lad who
+had been hiding behind the throng stepped out before us, showing a
+face so white and a manner so perturbed that we all saw that he had
+something to say of importance in this matter.</p>
+
+<p>"The boards <i>have</i> been sawn," he said. "I wanted to know and I
+climbed up to see." At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> which words the whole crowd moved and swayed,
+and a dozen hands stooped to lift the body of Juliet and carry it away
+from that accursed spot.</p>
+
+<p>But the minister is a just man and cautious, and he lifted up his arms
+in such protest that they paused.</p>
+
+<p>"Who knows," he suggested, "that it was Orrin's hand which handled the
+saw?"</p>
+
+<p>And then I perceived that it was time for me to speak. So I raised my
+voice and told my story, and as I told it the wonder grew on every
+face and the head of each man slowly drooped till we all stood with
+downcast eyes. For crime had never before been amongst us or soiled
+the honor of our goodly town. Only the Colonel still stood erect; and
+as the vision of his outstretched arm and flaming eyes burned deeper
+and deeper into my consciousness, I stammered in my speech and then
+sobbed, and was the first to lift the silent form of the beauteous
+dead and bear it away from the spot denounced by one who had done so
+much for her happiness and had met with such a bitter and
+heart-breaking reward.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And where did we finally lay her? In that spot&mdash;ah! why does my blood
+run chill while I write it&mdash;where she stood when she took that oath to
+the Colonel, whose breaking caused her death.</p>
+
+<p>A few words more and this record must be closed forever. That night,
+when all was again quiet in the village and the mourners no longer
+went about the streets, Lemuel, Ralph, and I went for a final visit to
+the new stone house. It showed no change, that house, and save for the
+broken scaffolding above gave no token of its having been the scene of
+such a woful tragedy. But as we looked upon it from across its
+gruesome threshold Lemuel said:</p>
+
+<p>"It is a goodly structure and nigh completed, but the hand that began
+it will never finish it, nor will man or woman ever sleep within its
+walls. The place is accursed, and will stand accursed till it is
+consumed by God's lightning or falls piecemeal to the ground from
+natural decay. Though its stones are fresh, I see ruin already written
+upon its walls."</p>
+
+<p>It was a strong statement, and we did not believe it, but when we got
+back to the village we were met by one who said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The Colonel has stopped the building of the new house. 'It is to be
+an everlasting monument,' he says, 'to a rude man's pride and a sweet
+woman's folly.'"</p>
+
+<p>Will it be a monument that he will love to gaze upon? I wot not, or
+any other man who remembers Juliet's loveliness and the charm it gave
+to our village life for one short year.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>What was it that I said about this record being at an end? Some
+records do not come to an end, and though twenty years have passed
+since I wrote the above, I have cause this day to take these faded
+leaves from their place and add a few lines to the story of the
+Colonel's new house.</p>
+
+<p>It is an old house now, old and desolate. As Lemuel said&mdash;he is one of
+our first men&mdash;it is accursed and no one has ever felt brave enough or
+reckless enough to care to cross again its ghostly threshold. Though I
+never heard any one say it is haunted, there are haunting memories
+enough surrounding it for one to feel a ghastly recoil from invading
+precincts defiled by such a crime. So the kindly forest has taken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> it
+into its protection, and Nature, who ever acts the generous part, has
+tried to throw the mantle of her foliage over the decaying roof, and
+about the lonesome walls, accepting what man forsakes and so
+fulfilling her motherhood.</p>
+
+<p>I am still a resident in the town, and I have a family now that has
+outgrown the little cottage which the apple-tree once guarded. But it
+is not to tell of them or of myself that I have taken these pages from
+their safe retreat to-day, but to speak of the sight which I saw this
+morning when I passed through the churchyard, as I often do, to pluck
+a rose from the bush which we lads planted on Juliet's grave twenty
+years ago. They always seem sweeter to me than other roses, and I take
+a superstitious delight in them, in which my wife, strange to say,
+does not participate. But that is neither here nor there.</p>
+
+<p>The sight which I thought worth recording was this: I had come slowly
+through the yard, for the sunshine was brilliant and the month June,
+and sad as the spot is, it is strangely beautiful to one who loves
+nature, when as I approached the corner where Juliet lies, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> which
+you will remember was in the very spot where I once heard her take her
+reluctant oath, I saw crouched against her tomb a figure which seemed
+both strange and vaguely familiar to me. Not being able to guess who
+it was, as there is now nobody in town who remembers her with any more
+devotion than myself, I advanced with sudden briskness, when the
+person I was gazing upon rose, and turning towards me, looked with
+deeply searching and most certainly very wretched eyes into mine. I
+felt a shock, first of surprise, and then of wildest recollection. The
+man before me was the Colonel, and the grief apparent in his face and
+disordered mien showed that years of absence had not done their work,
+and that he had never forgotten the arch and brilliant Juliet.</p>
+
+<p>Bowing humbly and with a most reverent obeisance, for he was still the
+great man of the county, though he had not been in our town for years,
+I asked his pardon for my intrusion, and then drew back to let him
+pass. But he stopped and gave me a keen look, and speaking my name,
+said: "You are married, are you not?" And when I bowed the meek
+acquies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>cence which the subject seemed to demand, he sighed as I
+thought somewhat bitterly, and shrugging his shoulders, went
+thoughtfully by and left me standing on the green sward alone. But
+when he had reached the gate he turned again, and without raising his
+voice, though the distance between us was considerable, remarked: "I
+have come back to spend my remaining days in the village of my birth.
+If you care to talk of old times, come to the house at sunset. You
+will find me sitting on the porch."</p>
+
+<p>Gratified more than I ever expected to be by a word from him, I bowed
+my thanks and promised most heartily to come. And that was the end of
+our first interview.</p>
+
+<p>It has left me with very lively sensations. Will they be increased or
+diminished by the talk he has promised me?</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I had a pleasant hour with the Colonel, but we did not talk of <i>her</i>.
+Had I expected to? I judge so by the faint but positive disappointment
+which I feel.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have been again to the Colonel's, but this time I did not find him
+in. "He is much out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> evenings," explained the woman who keeps house
+for him, "and you will have to come early to see him at his own
+hearth."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>What is there about the Colonel that daunts me? He seems friendly,
+welcomes my company, and often hands me the hospitable glass. But I am
+never easy in his presence, though the distance between us is not so
+great as it was in our young days, now that I have advanced in worldly
+prosperity and he has stood still. Is it that his intellect cows me,
+or do I feel too much the secret melancholy which breathes through all
+his actions, and frequently cuts short his words? I cannot answer; I
+am daunted by him and I am fascinated, and after leaving him think
+only of the time when I shall see him again.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The children, who have grown up since the Colonel has been gone, seem
+very shy of him. I have noted them more than once shrink away from his
+path, huddling and whispering in a corner, and quite forgetting to
+play as long as his shadow fell across the green or the sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> of his
+feet could be heard on the turf. I think they fear his melancholy, not
+understanding it. Or perhaps some hint of his sorrows has been given
+them, and it is awe they feel rather than fear. However that may be,
+no child ever takes his hand or prattles to him of its little joys or
+griefs; and this in itself makes him look solitary, for we are much
+given in this town to merry-making with our little ones, and it is a
+common sight to see old and young together on the green, making sport
+with ball or battledore.</p>
+
+<p>And it is not the children only who hold him in high but distant
+respect. The best men here are contented with a courteous bow from
+him, while the women&mdash;matrons now, who once were blushing
+maidens&mdash;think they have shown him enough honor if they make him a
+deep curtsey and utter a mild "Good-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>The truth is, he invites nothing more. He talks to me because he must
+talk to some one, but our conversation is always of things outside of
+our village life, and never by any chance of the place or any one in
+it. He lives at his father's house, now his, and has for his sole
+companion an old servant of the family, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> was once his nurse, and
+who is, I believe, the only person in the world who is devotedly
+attached to him.</p>
+
+<p>Unless it is myself. Sometimes I think I love him; sometimes I think I
+do not. He fascinates me, and could make me do most anything he
+pleased, but have I a real affection for him? Almost; and this is
+something which I consider strange.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Where does the Colonel go evenings? His old nurse has asked me, and I
+find I cannot answer. Not to the tavern, for I am often there; not to
+the houses of the neighbors, for none of them profess to know him.
+Where then? Is the curiosity of my youth coming back to me? It looks
+very much like it, Philo, very much like it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>My daughter said to me to-day: "Father, do not go any more to the
+Colonel's." And when I asked her why, she answered that her lover&mdash;she
+has a <i>lover</i>, the minx&mdash;had told her that the Colonel held secret
+talks with the witches, and though I laughed at this, it has set me
+thinking. He goes to the forest at night, and roams<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> for hours among
+its shadows. Is this a healthy occupation for a man, especially a man
+with a history? I shall go early to the Schuyler homestead to-night
+and stay late, for these midnight communings with nature may be the
+source of the hideous gloom which I have observed of late is growing
+upon his spirits. No other duty seems to me now greater than this, to
+win him back to a healthy realization of life, and the need there is
+of looking cheerfully upon such blessings as are left to our lot.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I went to the Colonel's at early candle-light, and I stayed till ten,
+a late hour for me, and, as I hoped, for him. When I left I caught a
+sight of old Hannah, standing in a distant hallway, and I thought she
+looked grateful; at all events, she came forward very quickly after my
+departure, for I heard the key turn in the lock of the great front
+door before I had passed out of the gate.</p>
+
+<p>Why did I not go home? I had meant to, and there was every reason why
+I should. But I had no sooner felt the turf under my feet and seen the
+stars over my head, than I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> began to wander in the very opposite
+direction, and that without any very definite plan or purpose. I think
+I was troubled, and if not troubled, restless, and yet movement did
+not seem to help me, for I grew more uneasy with every step I took,
+and began to look towards the woods to which I was half unconsciously
+tending as if there I should find relief just as the Colonel, perhaps,
+was in the habit of doing. Was it a mere foolish freak which had
+assailed me, or was I under some uncanny influence, caught from the
+place where I had been visiting?</p>
+
+<p>I was yet asking myself this, when I heard distinctly through the
+silence of the night the sound of a footstep behind me, and astonished
+that any one else should have been beguiled at this hour into a walk
+so dreary, I slipped into the shadow of a tree that stood at the
+wayside and waited till the slowly advancing figure should pass and
+leave me free to pursue my way or to go back unnoticed and
+undisturbed.</p>
+
+<p>I had not long to wait. In a moment a weirdly muffled form appeared
+abreast of me, and it was with difficulty I suppressed a cry,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> for it
+was the Colonel I saw, escaped, doubtless, from his old nurse's
+surveillance, and as he passed he groaned, and the sad sound coming
+through the night at a time when my own spirits were in no comfortable
+mood affected me with almost a superstitious power, so that I trembled
+where I stood and knew not whether to follow him or go back and seek
+the cheer of my own hearth. But I decided in another moment to follow
+him, and when he had withdrawn far enough up the road not to hear the
+sound of my footfalls, I stepped out from my retreat and went with him
+into the woods.</p>
+
+<p>I have been as you know a midnight wanderer in that same place many a
+time in my life; but never did I leave the fields and meadows with
+such a foreboding dread, or step into the clustering shadows of the
+forest with such a shrinking and awe-struck heart. Yet I went on
+without a pause or an instant of hesitation, for I knew now where he
+was going, and if he were going to the old stone house I was
+determined to be his companion, or at least his watcher. For I knew
+now that I loved him and could never see him come to ill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was no moon at this time, but the sound of his steps guided me
+and when I had come into the open place where the stars shone I saw by
+the movement which took place in the shadows lying around the open
+door of the old house, that he was near the fatal threshold and would
+in another moment be across it and within those mouldy halls. That I
+was right, another instant proved, for suddenly through the great
+hollow of the open portal a mild gleam broke and I saw he had lighted
+a lantern and was moving about within the empty rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Softly as man could go, I followed him. Crouching in the doorway, with
+ear turned to the emptiness within, I listened. And as I did so, I
+felt the chill run through my blood and stiffen the hair on my head,
+for he was talking as he walked, and his tones were affable and
+persuasive, as if two ghosts roamed noiselessly at his side and he
+were showing them as in the days of yore, the beauties of his nearly
+completed home.</p>
+
+<p>"An ample parlor, you see," came in distinct, suave monotone to my
+ear. "Room enough for many a couple on gala nights, as even sweet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+Mistress Juliet will say. Do you like this fireplace, and will there
+be space enough here for the portrait which Lawrence has promised to
+make of young Madam Day? I do not like too much light myself, so I
+have ordered curtains to be hung here. But if Mistress Juliet prefers
+the sunshine, we will tell the men nay, for all is to be according to
+your will, fair lady, as you must know, being here. Pardon me, that
+was an evil step; you should have a quick eye for such mishaps, friend
+Orrin, and not leave it to my courtesy to hold out a helping hand. Ah!
+you like this dusky nook. It was made for a sweet young bride to hide
+in when her heart's fulness demands quiet and rest. Do the trees come
+too near the lattice? If so they shall be trimmed away. And this
+dining-parlor&mdash;Can you judge of it with the floor half laid and its
+wainscoting unnailed? I trow not, but you can trust me, pretty Juliet,
+you can trust me; and Orrin, too, need not speak, for me to know just
+how to finish this study for him. Up-stairs? You do not wish to go
+up-stairs? Ah, then, you miss the very cream of the house. I have
+worked with my own hand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> upon the rooms up-stairs, and there is a
+little Cupid wrought into the woodwork of a certain door which I
+greatly wish you to pass an opinion upon. I think the wings lack
+airiness, but the workmen swear it is as if he would fly from the door
+at a whisper. Come, Mistress Juliet; come, friend Orrin, if I lead the
+way you need not hesitate. Come! come!"</p>
+
+<p>Was he alone? Were those eager steps of his unaccompanied, and should
+I not behold, if I looked within, the blooming face of Juliet and the
+frowning brows of Orrin, crowding close behind him as he moved? The
+fancy invoked by his words was so vivid, that for a moment I thought I
+should, and I never shall forget the thrill which seized me as I
+leaned forward and peered for one minute into the hall and saw there
+his solitary figure pausing on the lower step of the stairs, with that
+bend of the body which bespeaks an obeisance which is half homage and
+half an invitation. He was still talking, and as he went up, he looked
+back smiling and gossiping over his shoulder in a smooth and courtly
+way which made it impossible for me to withdraw my fascinated eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No banisters, sweet Juliet? Not yet&mdash;not yet; but Orrin will protect
+you from falling. No harm can come to you while he is at your side. Do
+you admire this sweep to the stairs? I saw a vision when I planned it,
+of a pretty woman coming down at the sound of her husband's step. The
+step has changed in sound to my imagination, but the pretty woman is
+prettier than ever, and will look her best as she comes down these
+stairs. Oh, that is a window-ledge for flowers. A honeymoon is nothing
+without flowers, and you must have forget-me-nots and pansies here
+till one cannot see from the window. You do not like such humble
+flowers? Fie! Mistress Juliet, it is hard to believe that,&mdash;even Orrin
+doubts it, as I see by his chiding air."</p>
+
+<p>Here the gentle and bantering tones ceased, for he had reached the top
+of the stair. But in another moment I heard them again as he passed
+from room to room, pausing here and pausing there, till suddenly he
+gave a cheerful laugh, spoke her name in most inviting accents, and
+stepped into <i>that</i> room.</p>
+
+<p>Then as if roused into galvanic action, I rose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> and followed, going up
+those midnight stairs and gaining the door where he had passed as if
+the impulse moving me had lent to my steps a certainty which preserved
+me from slipping even upon that dank and dangerous ascent. When in
+view of him again, I saw, as I had expected, that he was drawn up by
+the window and was bowing and beckoning with even more grace and
+suavity than he had shown below. "Will you not step out, Mistress
+Juliet?" he was saying; "I have a plan which I am anxious to submit to
+your judgment and which can only be decided upon from without. A high
+step true, but Orrin has lifted you over worse places and&mdash;and you
+will do me a great favor if only&mdash;" Here he gave a malignant shriek,
+and his countenance, from the most smiling and benignant expression,
+altered into that of a fiend from hell. "Ha, ha, ha!" he yelled. "She
+goes, and he is so fearful for her that he leaps after. That is a
+goodly stroke! Both&mdash;both&mdash;Crack! Ah, she looks at me, she looks&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Silence and then a frozen figure crouching before my eyes, just the
+silence and just the figure I remembered seeing there twenty years<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+before, only the face is older and the horror, if anything, greater.
+What did it mean? I tried to think, then as the full import of the
+scene burst upon me, and I realized that it was a murderer I was
+looking upon, and that Orrin, poor Orrin, had been innocent, I sank
+back and fell upon the floor, lost in the darkness of an utter
+unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>I did not come to myself for hours; when I did I found myself alone in
+the old house.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Nothing was ever done to the Colonel, for when I came to tell my story
+the doctors said that the facts I related did not prove him to have
+been guilty of crime, as his condition was such that his own words
+could not be relied upon in a matter on which he had brooded more or
+less morbidly for years. So now when I see him pass through the
+churchyard or up and down the village street and note that he is
+affable as ever when he sees me, but growing more and more preoccupied
+with his own thoughts I do not know whether to look upon him with
+execration or profoundest pity, nor can any man guide me or satisfy my
+mind as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> whether I should blame his jealousy or Orrin's pride for
+the pitiful tragedy which once darkened my life, and turned our
+pleasant village into a desert.</p>
+
+<p>Of one thing only have I been made sure; that it was the Colonel who
+lit the brand which fired Orrin's cottage.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="A_MEMORABLE_NIGHT" id="A_MEMORABLE_NIGHT"></a>A MEMORABLE NIGHT.</h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;am a young physician of limited practice and great ambition. At the
+time of the incidents I am about to relate, my office was in a
+respectable house in Twenty-fourth Street, New York City, and was
+shared, greatly to my own pleasure and convenience, by a clever young
+German whose acquaintance I had made in the hospital, and to whom I
+had become, in the one short year in which we had practised together,
+most unreasonably attached. I say unreasonably, because it was a
+liking for which I could not account even to myself, as he was neither
+especially prepossessing in appearance nor gifted with any too great
+amiability of character. He was, however, a brilliant theorist and an
+unquestionably trustworthy practitioner, and for these reasons
+probably I entertained for him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> a profound respect, and as I have
+already said a hearty and spontaneous affection.</p>
+
+<p>As our specialties were the same, and as, moreover, they were of a
+nature which did not call for night-work, we usually spent the evening
+together. But once I failed to join him at the office, and it is of
+this night I have to tell.</p>
+
+<p>I had been over to Orange, for my heart was sore over the quarrel I
+had had with Dora, and I was resolved to make one final effort towards
+reconciliation. But alas for my hopes, she was not at home; and, what
+was worse, I soon learned that she was going to sail the next morning
+for Europe. This news, coming as it did without warning, affected me
+seriously, for I knew if she escaped from my influence at this time, I
+should certainly lose her forever; for the gentleman concerning whom
+we had quarrelled, was a much better match for her than I, and almost
+equally in love. However, her father, who had always been my friend,
+did not look upon this same gentleman's advantages with as favorable
+an eye as she did, and when he heard I was in the house, he came
+hurrying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> into my presence, with excitement written in every line of
+his fine face.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Dick, my boy," he exclaimed joyfully, "how opportune this is! I
+was wishing you would come, for, do you know, Appleby has taken
+passage on board the same steamer as Dora, and if he and she cross
+together, they will certainly come to an understanding, and that will
+not be fair to you, or pleasing to me; and I do not care who knows
+it!"</p>
+
+<p>I gave him one look and sank, quite overwhelmed, into the seat nearest
+me. Appleby was the name of my rival, and I quite agreed with her
+father that the <i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;tes</i> afforded by an ocean voyage would
+surely put an end to the hopes which I had so long and secretly
+cherished.</p>
+
+<p>"Does she know he is going? Did she encourage him?" I stammered.</p>
+
+<p>But the old man answered genially: "Oh, she knows, but I cannot say
+anything positive about her having encouraged him. The fact is, Dick,
+she still holds a soft place in her heart for you, and if you were
+going to be of the party&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Well?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you would come off conqueror yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will be of the party," I cried. "It is only six now, and I can
+be in New York by seven. That gives me five hours before midnight,
+time enough in which to arrange my plans, see Richter, and make
+everything ready for sailing in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Dick, you are a trump!" exclaimed the gratified father. "You have a
+spirit I like, and if Dora does not like it too, then I am mistaken in
+her good sense. But can you leave your patients?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just now I have but one patient who is in anything like a critical
+condition," I replied, "and her case Richter understands almost as
+well as I do myself. I will have to see her this evening of course and
+explain, but there is time for that if I go now. The steamer sails at
+nine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not tell Dora that I expect to be there; let her be surprised.
+Dear girl, she is quite well, I hope?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very well; only going over with her aunt to do some shopping. A
+poor outlook for a struggling physician, you think. Well, I don't know
+about that; she is just the kind of a girl to go from one extreme to
+another. If she once loves you she will not care any longer about
+Paris fashions."</p>
+
+<p>"She shall love me," I cried, and left him in a great hurry, to catch
+the first train for Hoboken.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed wild, this scheme, but I determined to pursue it. I loved
+Dora too much to lose her, and if three weeks' absence would procure
+me the happiness of my life, why should I hesitate to avail myself of
+the proffered opportunity. I rode on air as the express I had taken
+shot from station to station, and by the time I had arrived at
+Christopher Street Ferry my plans were all laid and my time disposed
+of till midnight.</p>
+
+<p>It was therefore with no laggard step I hurried to my office, nor was
+it with any ordinary feelings of impatience that I found Richter out;
+for this was not his usual hour for absenting himself and I had much
+to tell him and many advices to give. It was the first balk I had
+received and I was fuming over it, when I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> saw what looked like a
+package of books lying on the table before me, and though it was
+addressed to my partner, I was about to take it up, when I heard my
+name uttered in a tremulous tone, and turning, saw a man standing in
+the doorway, who, the moment I met his eye, advanced into the room and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"O doctor, I have been waiting for you an hour. Mrs. Warner has been
+taken very bad, sir, and she prays that you will not delay a moment
+before coming to her. It is something serious I fear, and she may have
+died already, for she would have no one else but you, and it is now an
+hour since I left her."</p>
+
+<p>"And who are you?" I asked, for though I knew Mrs. Warner well&mdash;she is
+the patient to whom I have already referred&mdash;I did not know her
+messenger.</p>
+
+<p>"I am a servant in the house where she was taken ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Then she is not at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir, she is in Second Avenue."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry," I began, "but I have not the time&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But he interrupted eagerly: "There is a car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>riage at the door; we
+thought you might not have your phaeton ready."</p>
+
+<p>I had noticed the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said I. "I will go, but first let me write a line&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"O sir," the man broke in pleadingly, "do not wait for anything. She
+is really very bad, and I heard her calling for you as I ran out of
+the house."</p>
+
+<p>"She had her voice then?" I ventured, somewhat distrustful of the
+whole thing and yet not knowing how to refuse the man, especially as
+it was absolutely necessary for me to see Mrs. Warner that night and
+get her consent to my departure before I could think of making further
+plans.</p>
+
+<p>So, leaving word for Richter to be sure and wait for me if he came
+home before I did, I signified to Mrs. Warner's messenger that I was
+ready to go with him, and immediately took a seat in the carriage
+which had been provided for me. The man at once jumped up on the box
+beside the driver, and before I could close the carriage door we were
+off, riding rapidly down Seventh Avenue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As we went the thought came, "What if Mrs. Warner will not let me
+off!" But I dismissed the fear at once, for this patient of mine is an
+extremely unselfish woman, and if she were not too ill to grasp the
+situation, would certainly sympathize with the strait I was in and
+consent to accept Richter's services in place of my own, especially as
+she knows and trusts him.</p>
+
+<p>When the carriage stopped it was already dark and I could distinguish
+little of the house I entered, save that it was large and old and did
+not look like an establishment where a man servant would be likely to
+be kept.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Mrs. Warner here?" I asked of the man who was slowly getting down
+from the box.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," he answered quickly; and I was about to ring the bell
+before me, when the door opened and a young German girl, courtesying
+slightly, welcomed me in, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Warner is up-stairs, sir; in the front room, if you please."</p>
+
+<p>Not doubting her, but greatly astonished at the barren aspect of the
+place I was in, I stumbled up the faintly lighted stairs before me and
+entered the great front room. It was empty, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> through an open door
+at the other end I heard a voice saying: "He has come, madam"; and
+anxious to see my patient, whose presence in this desolate house I
+found it harder and harder to understand, I stepped into the room
+where she presumably lay.</p>
+
+<p>Alas! for my temerity in doing so; for no sooner had I crossed the
+threshold than the door by which I had entered closed with a click
+unlike any I had ever heard before, and when I turned to see what it
+meant, another click came from the opposite side of the room, and I
+perceived, with a benumbed sense of wonder, that the one person whose
+somewhat shadowy figure I had encountered on entering had vanished
+from the place, and that I was shut up alone in a room without visible
+means of egress.</p>
+
+<p>This was startling, and hard to believe at first, but after I had
+tried the door by which I had entered and found it securely locked,
+and then bounding to the other side of the room, tried the opposite
+one with the same result, I could not but acknowledge I was caught.
+What did it mean? Caught, and I was in haste, mad haste. Filling the
+room with my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> cries, I shouted for help and a quick release, but my
+efforts were naturally fruitless, and after exhausting myself in vain
+I stood still and surveyed, with what equanimity was left me, the
+appearance of the dreary place in which I had thus suddenly become
+entrapped.</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div>
+<p>t was a small square room, and I shall not soon forget with what a
+foreboding shudder I observed that its four blank walls were literally
+unbroken by a single window, for this told me that I was in no
+communication with the street, and that it would be impossible for me
+to summon help from the outside world. The single gas jet burning in a
+fixture hanging from the ceiling was the only relief given to the eye
+in the blank expanse of white wall that surrounded me; while as to
+furniture, the room could boast of nothing more than an old-fashioned
+black-walnut table and two chairs, the latter cushioned, but stiff in
+the back and generally dilapidated in appearance. The only sign of
+comfort about me was a tray that stood on the table, containing a
+couple of bottles of wine and two glasses. The bottles were full and
+the glasses clean, and to add to this appearance of hospitality a box
+of cigars rested invit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>ingly near, which I could not fail to perceive,
+even at the first glance, were of the very best brand.</p>
+
+<p>Astonished at these tokens of consideration for my welfare, and
+confounded by the prospect which they offered of a lengthy stay in
+this place, I gave another great shout; but to no better purpose than
+before. Not a voice answered, and not a stir was heard in the house.
+But there came from without the faint sound of suddenly moving wheels,
+as if the carriage which I had left standing before the door had
+slowly rolled away. If this were so, then was I indeed a prisoner,
+while the moments so necessary to my plans, and perhaps to the
+securing of my whole future happiness, were flying by like the wind.
+As I realized this, and my own utter helplessness, I fell into one of
+the chairs before me in a state of perfect despair. Not that any fears
+for my life were disturbing me, though one in my situation might well
+question if he would ever again breathe the open air from which he had
+been so ingeniously lured. I did not in that first moment of utter
+downheartedness so much as inquire the reason for the trick which had
+been played upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> me. No, my heart was full of Dora, and I was asking
+myself if I were destined to lose her after all, and that through no
+lack of effort on my part, but just because a party of thieves or
+blackmailers had thought fit to play a game with my liberty.</p>
+
+<p>It could not be; there must be some mistake about it; it was some
+great joke, or I was the victim of a dream, or suffering from some
+hideous nightmare. Why, only a half hour before I was in my own
+office, among my own familiar belongings, and now&mdash;But, alas, it was
+no delusion. Only four blank, whitewashed walls met my inquiring eyes,
+and though I knocked and knocked again upon the two doors which
+guarded me on either side, hollow echoes continued to be the only
+answer I received.</p>
+
+<p>Had the carriage then taken away the two persons I had seen in this
+house, and was I indeed alone in its great emptiness? The thought made
+me desperate, but notwithstanding this I was resolved to continue my
+efforts, for I might be mistaken; there might yet be some being left
+who would yield to my entreaties if they were backed by something
+substantial.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Taking out my watch, I laid it on the table; it was just a quarter to
+eight. Then I emptied my trousers pockets of whatever money they held,
+and when all was heaped up before me, I could count but twelve
+dollars, which, together with my studs and a seal ring which I wore,
+seemed a paltry pittance with which to barter for the liberty of which
+I had been robbed. But it was all I had with me, and I was willing to
+part with it at once if only some one would unlock the door and let me
+go. But how to make known my wishes even if there was any one to
+listen to them? I had already called in vain, and there was no
+bell&mdash;yes, there was; why had I not seen it before? There was a bell
+and I sprang to ring it. But just as my hand fell on the cord, I heard
+a gentle voice behind my back saying in good English, but with a
+strong foreign accent:</p>
+
+<p>"Put up your money, Mr. Atwater; we do not want your money, only your
+society. Allow me to beg you to replace both watch and money."</p>
+
+<p>Wheeling about in my double surprise at the presence of this intruder
+and his unexpected ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>quaintance with my name, I encountered the
+smiling glance of a middle-aged man of genteel appearance and
+courteous manners. He was bowing almost to the ground, and was, as I
+instantly detected, of German birth and education, a gentleman, and
+not the blackleg I had every reason to expect to see.</p>
+
+<p>"You have made a slight mistake," he was saying; "it is your society,
+only your society, that we want."</p>
+
+<p>Astonished at his appearance, and exceedingly irritated by his words,
+I stepped back as he offered me my watch, and bluntly cried:</p>
+
+<p>"If it is my society only that you want, you have certainly taken very
+strange means to procure it. A thief could have set no neater trap,
+and if it is money you want, state your sum and let me go, for my time
+is valuable and my society likely to be unpleasant."</p>
+
+<p>He gave a shrug with his shoulders that in no wise interfered with his
+set smile.</p>
+
+<p>"You choose to be facetious," he observed. "I have already remarked
+that we have no use for your money. Will you sit down? Here is some
+excellent wine, and if this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> brand of cigars does not suit you, I will
+send for another."</p>
+
+<p>"Send for the devil!" I cried, greatly exasperated. "What do you mean
+by keeping me in this place against my will? Open that door and let me
+out, or&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I was ready to spring and he saw it. Smiling more atrociously than
+ever, he slipped behind the table, and before I could reach him, had
+quietly drawn a pistol, which he cocked before my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You are excited," he remarked, with a suavity that nearly drove me
+mad. "Now excitement is no aid to good company, and I am determined
+that none but good company shall be in this room to-night. So if you
+will be kind enough to calm yourself, Mr. Atwater, you and I may yet
+enjoy ourselves, but if not&mdash;" the action he made was significant, and
+I felt the cold sweat break out on my forehead through all the heat of
+my indignation.</p>
+
+<p>But I did not mean to show him that he had intimidated me.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," said I, "and put down your pistol. Though you are making
+me lose irre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>deemable time, I will try and control myself enough to
+give you an opportunity for explaining yourself. Why have you
+entrapped me into this place?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have already told you," said he, gently laying the pistol before
+him, but within easy reach of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"But that is preposterous," I began, fast losing my self-control
+again. "You do not know me, and if you did&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, you see I know your name."</p>
+
+<p>Yes, that was true, and the fact set me thinking. How did he know my
+name? I did not know him, nor did I know this house, or any reason for
+which I could have been beguiled into it. Was I the victim of a
+conspiracy, or was the man mad? Looking at him very earnestly, I
+declared:</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Atwater, and so far you are right, but in learning that
+much about me you must also have learned that I am neither rich nor
+influential, nor of any special value to a blackmailer. Why choose me
+out then for&mdash;your society? Why not choose some one who can&mdash;talk?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I find your conversation very interesting."</p>
+
+<p>Baffled, exasperated almost beyond the power to restrain myself, I
+shook my fist in his face, notwithstanding I saw his hand fly to his
+pistol.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me go!" I shrieked. "Let me go out of this place. I have
+business, I tell you, important business which means everything to me,
+and which, if I do not attend to it to-night, will be lost to me for
+ever. Let me go, and I will so far reward you that I will speak to no
+one of what has taken place here to-night, but go my ways, forgetful
+of you, forgetful of this house, forgetful of all connected with it."</p>
+
+<p>"You are very good," was his quiet reply, "but this wine has to be
+drunk." And he calmly poured out a glass, while I drew back in
+despair. "You do not drink wine?" he queried, holding up the glass he
+had filled between himself and the light. "It is a pity, for it is of
+most rare vintage. But perhaps you smoke?"</p>
+
+<p>Sick and disgusted, I found a chair, and sat down in it. If the man
+were crazy, there was certainly method in his madness. Besides, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+had not a crazy eye; there was calm calculation in it and not a little
+good-nature. Did he simply want to detain me, and if so, did he have a
+motive it would pay me to fathom before I exerted myself further to
+insure my release? Answering the wave he made me with his hand by
+reaching out for the bottle and filling myself a glass, I forced
+myself to speak more affably as I remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"If the wine must be drunk, we had better be about it, as you cannot
+mean to detain me more than an hour, whatever reason you may have for
+wishing my society."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me inquiringly before answering, then tossing off his
+glass, he remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry, but in an hour a man can scarcely make the acquaintance
+of another man's exterior."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"To know you thoroughly, if you will be so good; I may never have the
+opportunity again."</p>
+
+<p>He must be mad; nothing else but mania could account for such words
+and such actions; and yet, if mad, why was he allowed to enter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> my
+presence? The man who brought me here, the woman who received me at
+the door, had not been mad.</p>
+
+<p>"And I must stay here&mdash;" I began.</p>
+
+<p>"Till I am quite satisfied. I am afraid that will take till morning."</p>
+
+<p>I gave a cry of despair, and then in my utter desperation spoke up to
+him as I would to a man of feeling:</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know what you are doing; you don't know what I shall suffer
+by any such cruel detention. This night is not like other nights to
+me. This is a special night in my life, and I need it, I need it, I
+tell you, to spend as I will. The woman I love"&mdash;it seemed horrible to
+speak of her in this place, but I was wild at my helplessness, and
+madly hoped I might awake some answering chord in a breast which could
+not be void of all feeling or he would not have that benevolent look
+in his eye&mdash;"the woman I love," I repeated, "sails for Europe
+to-morrow. We have quarrelled, but she still cares for me, and if I
+can sail on the same steamer, we will yet make up and be happy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"At what time does this steamer start?"</p>
+
+<p>"At nine in the morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you shall leave this house at eight. If you go directly to the
+steamer you will be in time."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;but," I panted, "I have made no arrangements. I shall have to go
+to my lodgings, write letters, get money. I ought to be there at this
+moment. Have you no mercy on a man who never did you wrong, and only
+asks to quit you and forget the precious hour you have made him lose?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry," he said, "it is certainly quite unfortunate, but the
+door will not be opened before eight. There is really no one in the
+house to unlock it."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to say," I cried aghast, "that you could not open
+that door if you would, that you are locked in here as well as I, and
+that I must remain here till morning, no matter how I feel or you
+feel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Will you not take a cigar?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Then I began to see how useless it was to struggle, and visions of
+Dora leaning on the steamer rail with that serpent whispering soft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+entreaties in her ear came rushing before me, till I could have wept
+in my jealous chagrin.</p>
+
+<p>"It is cruel, base, devilish," I began. "If you had the excuse of
+wanting money, and took this method of wringing my all from me, I
+could have patience, but to entrap and keep me here for nothing, when
+my whole future happiness is trembling in the balance, is the work of
+a fiend and&mdash;" I made a sudden pause, for a strange idea had struck
+me.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_02.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div>
+<p>hat if this man, these men and this woman, were in league with him
+whose rivalry I feared, and whom I had intended to supplant on the
+morrow. It was a wild surmise, but was it any wilder than to believe I
+was held here for a mere whim, a freak, a joke, as this bowing,
+smiling man before me would have me believe?</p>
+
+<p>Rising in fresh excitement, I struck my hand on the table. "You want
+to keep me from going on the steamer," I cried. "That other wretch who
+loves her has paid you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But that other wretch could not know that I was meditating any such
+unusual scheme, as following him without a full day's warning. I
+thought of this even before I had finished my sentence, and did not
+need the blank astonishment in the face of the man before me to
+convince me that I had given utterance to a foolish accusation. "It
+would have been some sort of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> a motive for your actions," I humbly
+added, as I sank back from my hostile attitude; "now you have none."</p>
+
+<p>I thought he bestowed upon me a look of quiet pity, but if so he soon
+hid it with his uplifted glass.</p>
+
+<p>"Forget the girl," said he; "I know of a dozen just as pretty."</p>
+
+<p>I was too indignant to answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Women are the bane of life," he now sententiously exclaimed. "They
+are ever intruding themselves between a man and his comfort, as for
+instance just now between yourself and this good wine."</p>
+
+<p>I caught up the bottle in sheer desperation.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk of them," I cried, "and I will try and drink. I almost
+wish there was poison in the glass. My death here might bring
+punishment upon you."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head, totally unmoved by my passion.</p>
+
+<p>"We deal punishment, not receive it. It would not worry me in the
+least to leave you lying here upon the floor."</p>
+
+<p>I did not believe this, but I did not stop to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> weigh the question
+then; I was too much struck by a word he had used.</p>
+
+<p>"Deal punishment?" I repeated. "Are you punishing me? Is that why I am
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>He laughed and held out his glass to mine.</p>
+
+<p>"You enjoy being sarcastic," he observed. "Well, it gives a spice to
+conversation, I own. Talk is apt to be dull without it."</p>
+
+<p>For reply I struck the glass from his hand; it fell and shivered, and
+he looked for the moment really distressed.</p>
+
+<p>"I had rather you had struck me," he remarked, "for I have an answer
+for an injury like that; but for a broken glass&mdash;" He sighed and
+looked dolefully at the pieces on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Mortified and somewhat ashamed, I put down my own glass.</p>
+
+<p>"You should not have exasperated me," I cried, and walked away beyond
+temptation, to the other side of the room.</p>
+
+<p>His spirits had received a dampener, but in a few minutes he seized
+upon a cigar and began smoking; as the wreaths curled over his head he
+began to talk, and this time it was on sub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>jects totally foreign to
+myself and even to himself. It was good talk; that I recognized,
+though I hardly listened to what he said. I was asking myself what
+time it had now got to be, and what was the meaning of my
+incarceration, till my brain became weary and I could scarcely
+distinguish the topic he discussed. But he kept on for all my seeming,
+and indeed real, indifference, kept on hour after hour in a monologue
+he endeavored to make interesting, and which probably would have been
+so if the time and occasion had been fit for my enjoying it. As it
+was, I had no ear for his choicest phrases, his subtlest criticisms,
+or his most philosophic disquisitions. I was wrapped up in self and my
+cruel disappointment, and when in a certain access of frenzy I leaped
+to my feet and took a look at the watch still lying on the table, and
+saw it was four o'clock in the morning, I gave a bound of final
+despair, and throwing myself on the floor, gave myself up to the heavy
+sleep that mercifully came to relieve me.</p>
+
+<p>I was roused by feeling a touch on my breast. Clapping my hand to the
+spot where I had felt the intruding hand, I discovered that my watch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+had been returned to my pocket. Drawing it out I first looked at it
+and then cast my eyes quickly about the room. There was no one with
+me, and the doors stood open between me and the hall. It was eight
+o'clock, as my watch had just told me.</p>
+
+<p>That I rushed from the house and took the shortest road to the
+steamer, goes without saying. I could not cross the ocean with Dora,
+but I might yet see her and tell her how near I came to giving her my
+company on that long voyage which now would only serve to further the
+ends of my rival. But when, after torturing delays on cars and
+ferry-boats, and incredible efforts to pierce a throng that was
+equally determined not to be pierced, I at last reached the wharf, it
+was to behold her, just as I had fancied in my wildest moments,
+leaning on a rail of the ship and listening, while she abstractedly
+waved her hand to some friends below, to the words of the man who had
+never looked so handsome to me or so odious as at this moment of his
+unconscious triumph. Her father was near her, and from his eager
+attitude and rapidly wandering gaze I saw that he was watching for me.
+At last he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> spied me struggling aboard, and immediately his face
+lighted up in a way which made me wish he had not thought it necessary
+to wait for my anticipated meeting with his daughter.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Dick, you are late," he began, effusively, as I put foot on deck.</p>
+
+<p>But I waved him back and went at once to Dora.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me, pardon me," I incoherently said, as her sweet eyes rose
+in startled pleasure to mine. "I would have brought you flowers, but I
+meant to sail with you, Dora, I tried to&mdash;but wretches, villains,
+prevented it and&mdash;and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it does not matter," she said, and then blushed, probably because
+the words sounded unkind, "I mean&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>But she could not say what she meant, for just then the bell rang for
+all visitors to leave, and her father came forward, evidently thinking
+all was right between us, smiled benignantly in her face, gave her a
+kiss and me a wink and disappeared in the crowd that was now rapidly
+going ashore.</p>
+
+<p>I felt that I must follow, but I gave her one look and one squeeze of
+the hand, and then as I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> saw her glances wander to his face, I groaned
+in spirit, stammered some words of choking sorrow and was gone, before
+her embarrassment would let her speak words, which I knew would only
+add to my grief and make this hasty parting unendurable.</p>
+
+<p>The look of amazement and chagrin with which her father met my
+reappearance on the dock can easily be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Dick," he exclaimed, "aren't you going after all? I thought I
+could rely on you. Where's your pluck, lad? Scared off by a frown? I
+wouldn't have believed it, Dick. What if she does frown to-day; she
+will smile to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head; I could not tell him just then that it was not
+through any lack of pluck on my part that I had failed him.</p>
+
+<p>When I left the dock I went straight to a restaurant, for I was faint
+as well as miserable. But my cup of coffee choked me and the rolls and
+eggs were more than I could face. Rising impatiently, I went out. Was
+any one more wretched than I that morning and could any one nourish a
+more bitter grievance? As I strode towards my lodgings I chewed the
+cud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> of my disappointment till my wrongs loomed up like mountains and
+I was seized by a spirit of revenge. Should I let such an interference
+as I had received go unpunished? No, if the wretch who had detained me
+was not used to punishment he should receive a specimen of it now and
+from a man who was no longer a prisoner, and who once aroused did not
+easily forego his purposes. Turning aside from my former destination,
+I went immediately to a police-station and when I had entered my
+complaint was astonished to see that all the officials had grouped
+about me and were listening to my words with the most startled
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Was the man who came for you a German?" one asked.</p>
+
+<p>I said "Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"And the man who stood guardian over you and entertained you with wine
+and cigars, was not he a German too?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded acquiescence and they at once began to whisper together; then
+one of them advanced to me and said:</p>
+
+<p>"You have not been home, I understand; you had better come."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Astonished by his manner I endeavored to inquire what he meant, but he
+drew me away, and not till we were within a stone's throw of my office
+did he say, "You must prepare yourself for a shock. The impertinences
+you suffered from last night were unpleasant no doubt, but if you had
+been allowed to return home, you might not now be deploring them in
+comparative peace and safety."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"That your partner was not as fortunate as yourself. Look up at the
+house; what do you see there?"</p>
+
+<p>A crowd was what I saw first, but he made me look higher, and then I
+perceived that the windows of my room, of our room, were shattered and
+blackened and that part of the casement of one had been blown out.</p>
+
+<p>"A fire!" I shrieked. "Poor Richter was smoking&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, he was not smoking. He had no time for a smoke. An infernal
+machine burst in that room last night and your friend was its wretched
+victim."</p>
+
+<p>I never knew why my friend's life was made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> a sacrifice to the revenge
+of his fellow-countrymen. Though we had been intimate in the year we
+had been together, he had never talked to me of his country and I had
+never seen him in company with one of his own nation. But that he was
+the victim of some political revenge was apparent, for though it
+proved impossible to find the man who had detained me, the house was
+found and ransacked, and amongst other secret things was discovered
+the model of the machine which had been introduced into our room, and
+which had proved so fatal to the man it was addressed to. Why men who
+were so relentless in their purposes towards him should have taken
+such pains to keep me from sharing his fate, is one of those anomalies
+in human nature which now and then awake our astonishment. If I had
+not lost Dora through my detention at their hands I should look back
+upon that evening with sensations of thankfulness. As it is, I
+sometimes question if it would not have been better if they had let me
+take my chances.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Have I lost Dora? From a letter I received to-day I begin to think
+not.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="THE_BLACK_CROSS" id="THE_BLACK_CROSS"></a>THE BLACK CROSS.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_03.jpg" alt="A" width="51" height="50" /></div>
+<p>&nbsp;black cross had been set against Judge Hawkins' name; why, it is not
+for me to say. We were not accustomed to explain our motives or to
+give reasons for our deeds. The deeds were enough, and this black
+cross meant death; and when it had been shown us, all that we needed
+to know further was at what hour we should meet for the contemplated
+raid.</p>
+
+<p>A word from the captain settled that; and when the next Friday came, a
+dozen men met at the place of rendezvous, ready for the ride which
+should bring them to the Judge's solitary mansion across the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>I was amongst them, and in as satisfactory a mood as I had ever been
+in my life; for the night was favorable, and the men hearty and in
+first-rate condition.</p>
+
+<p>But after we had started, and were threading a certain wood, I began
+to have doubts. Feel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>ings I had never before experienced assailed me
+with a force that first perplexed and then astounded me. I was afraid,
+and what rather heightened than diminished the unwonted sensation, was
+the fact that I was not afraid of anything tangible, either in the
+present or future, but of something unexplainable and peculiar, which,
+if it lay in the skies, certainly made them look dark indeed; and if
+it hid in the forest, caused its faintest murmur to seem like the
+utterance of a great dread, as awful as it was inexplicable.</p>
+
+<p>I nevertheless proceeded, and should have done so if the great streaks
+of lightning which now and then shot zigzag through the sky had taken
+the shape of words and bid us all beware. I was not one to be daunted,
+and knew no other course than that of advance when once a stroke of
+justice had been planned, and the direction for its fulfilment marked
+out. I went on, but I began to think, and that to me was an
+experience; for I had never been taught to reflect, only to fight and
+obey.</p>
+
+<p>The house towards which we were riding was built on a hillside, and
+the first thing we saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> on emerging from the forest, was a light
+burning in one of its distant windows. This was a surprise; for the
+hour was late, and in that part of the country people were accustomed
+to retire early, even such busy men as the Judge. He must have a
+visitor, and a visitor meant a possible complication of affairs; so a
+halt was called and I was singled out to reconnoitre the premises, and
+bring back word of what we had a right to expect.</p>
+
+<p>I started off in a strange state of mind. The fear I had spoken of had
+left me, but a vague shadow remained, through which, as through a
+mist, I saw the light in that far away window beckoning me on to what
+I felt was in some way to make an end of my present life. As I drew
+nearer to it, the feeling increased; then it, too, left me, and I
+found myself once more the daring avenger. This was when I came to the
+foot of the hill and discovered I had but a few steps more to take.</p>
+
+<p>The house, which had now become plainly visible, was a solid one of
+stone, built as I have said, on the hillside. It faced the road, as
+was shown by the large portico, dimly to be dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>cerned in that
+direction; but its rooms were mainly on the side, and it was from one
+of these that the light shone. As I came yet nearer, I perceived that
+these rooms were guarded by a piazza, which, communicating with the
+portico in front, afforded an open road to that window and a clear
+sight of what lay behind it.</p>
+
+<p>I was instantly off my horse and upon the piazza, and before I had had
+time to realize that my fears had returned to me with double force, I
+had crept with stealthy steps towards that uncurtained window and
+looked in.</p>
+
+<p>What did I see? At first nothing but a calm, studious figure, bending
+above a batch of closely written papers, upon which the light shone
+too brightly for me to perceive much of what lay beyond them. But
+gradually an influence, of whose workings I was scarcely conscious,
+drew my eyes away, and I began to discover on every side strange and
+beautiful objects which greatly interested me, until suddenly my eyes
+fell upon a vision of loveliness so enchanting that I forgot to look
+elsewhere, and became for the moment nothing but sight and feeling.</p>
+
+<p>It was a picture, or so I thought in that first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> instant of awe and
+delight. But presently I saw that it was a woman, living and full of
+the thoughts that had never been mine; and at the discovery a sudden
+trembling seized me; for I had never seen anything in heaven or earth
+like her beauty, while she saw nothing but the man who was bending
+over his papers.</p>
+
+<p>There was a door or something dark behind her, and against it her tall
+strong figure, clad in a close white gown, stood out with a
+distinctness that was not altogether earthly. But it was her face that
+held me, and made of me from moment to moment a new man.</p>
+
+<p>For in it I discerned what I had never believed in till now, devotion
+that had no limit, and love which asked nothing in return. She seemed
+to be faltering on the threshold of that room, like one who would like
+to enter but does not dare, and in another moment, with a smile that
+pierced me through and through, she turned as if to go. Instantly I
+forgot everything but my despair, and leaned forward with an
+impetuosity that betrayed my presence, for she glanced quickly towards
+the window, and seeing me, turned pale, even while she rose in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> height
+till I felt myself shrink and grow small before her.</p>
+
+<p>Thrusting out her hand, she caught from the table before her what
+looked like a small dagger, and holding it up, advanced upon me with
+blazing eyes and parted lips, not seeing that the Judge had risen to
+his feet, not seeing anything but my face glued against the pane, and
+staring with an expression that must have struck her to the heart as
+surely as her look pierced mine. When she was almost upon me I turned
+and fled. Hell could not have frightened me, but Heaven did; and for
+me that woman was Heaven whether she smiled or frowned, gazed upon
+another with love, or raised a dagger to strike me to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>How soon I met my mates I cannot say. In a few minutes, doubtless, for
+they had stolen after me and had detected me running away from the
+window. I was forced to tell my tale, and I told it unhesitatingly,
+for I knew I could not save him&mdash;if I wanted to&mdash;and I knew I should
+save her or die in the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>"He is alone there with a girl," I announced. "Whether she is his wife
+or not I cannot say,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> but there is no cross against her name, and I
+ask that she be spared not only from sharing his fate, but from the
+sight of his death, for she loves him."</p>
+
+<p>This from me! No wonder the captain stared, then laughed. But I did
+not laugh in return, and being the strongest man in the band and the
+surest with my rifle, he did not trifle long, but listened to my plans
+and in part consented to them, so that I retreated to my post at the
+gateway with something like confidence, while he, approaching the
+door, lifted the knocker and let it fall with a resounding clang that
+must have rung like a knell of death to the hearts within.</p>
+
+<p>For the Judge knew our errand. I saw it in his face when he rose to
+his feet, and he had no hope, for we had never failed in our attempts,
+and the house, though strongly built, was easily assailable.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>While the captain knocked, three men had scaled the portico and were
+ready to enter the open windows, if the Judge refused to appear or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+offered any resistance to what was known as the captain's will.</p>
+
+<p>"Death to the Judge!" was the cry; and it was echoed not only at the
+door, but around the house, where the rest of the men had drawn a
+cordon ready to waylay any one who sought to escape. Death to the
+Judge! And the Judge was loved by that woman and would be mourned by
+her till&mdash;But a voice is speaking, a voice from out that great house,
+and it asks what is wanted and what the meaning is of these threats of
+death.</p>
+
+<p>And the captain answers short and sharp:</p>
+
+<p>"The Ku-Klux commands but never explains. What it commands now is for
+Judge Hawkins to come forth. If he shrinks or delays his house will be
+entered and burnt; but if he will come out and meet like a man what
+awaits him, his house shall go free and his family remain unmolested."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is it that awaits him?" pursued the voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Four bullets from four unerring rifles," returned the captain.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well; he will come forth," cried the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> voice, and then in a
+huskier tone: "Let me kiss the woman I love. I will not keep you
+long."</p>
+
+<p>And the captain answered nothing, only counted out clearly and
+steadily, "One&mdash;two&mdash;three," up to a hundred, then he paused, turned,
+and lifted his hand; when instantly our four rifles rose, and at the
+same moment the door, with a faint grating sound I shall never forget,
+slowly opened and the firm, unshrinking figure of the Judge appeared.</p>
+
+<p>We did not delay. One simultaneous burst of fire, one loud quick
+crack, and his figure fell before our eyes. A sound, a cry from
+within, then all was still, and the captain, mounting his horse, gave
+one quick whistle and galloped away. We followed him, but I was the
+last to mount, and did not follow long; for at the flash of those guns
+I had seen a smile cross our victim's lip, and my heart was on fire,
+and I could not rest till I had found my way back to that open doorway
+and the figure lying within it.</p>
+
+<p>There it was, and behind it a house empty as my heart has been since
+that day. A man's dress covering a woman's form&mdash;and over the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+motionless, perfect features, that same smile which I had seen in the
+room beyond and again in the quick glare of the rifles.</p>
+
+<p>I had harbored no evil thought concerning her, but when I beheld that
+smile now sealed and fixed upon her lips, I found the soul I had never
+known I possessed until that day.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="A_MYSTERIOUS_CASE" id="A_MYSTERIOUS_CASE"></a>A MYSTERIOUS CASE.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_01.jpg" alt="I" width="25" height="50" /></div>
+<p>t was a mystery to me, but not to the other doctors. They took, as
+was natural, the worst possible view of the matter, and accepted the
+only solution which the facts seem to warrant. But they are men, and I
+am a woman; besides, I knew the nurse well, and I could not believe
+her capable of wilful deceit, much less of the heinous crime which
+deceit in this case involved. So to me the affair was a mystery.</p>
+
+<p>The facts were these:</p>
+
+<p>My patient, a young typewriter, seemingly without friends or enemies,
+lay in a small room of a boarding-house, afflicted with a painful but
+not dangerous malady. Though she was comparatively helpless, her vital
+organs were strong, and we never had a moment's uneasiness concerning
+her, till one morning when we found her in an almost dying condition
+from having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> taken, as we quickly discovered, a dose of poison,
+instead of the soothing mixture which had been left for her with the
+nurse. Poison! and no one, not even herself or the nurse, could
+explain how the same got into the room, much less into her medicine.
+And when I came to study the situation, I found myself as much at loss
+as they; indeed, more so; for I knew I had made no mistake in
+preparing the mixture, and that, even if I had, this especial poison
+could not have found its way into it, owing to the fact that there
+neither was nor ever had been a drop of it in my possession.</p>
+
+<p>The mixture, then, was pure when it left my hand, and, according to
+the nurse, whom, as I have said, I implicitly believe, it went into
+the glass pure. And yet when, two hours later, without her having left
+the room or anybody coming into it, she found occasion to administer
+the draught, poison was in the cup, and the patient was only saved
+from death by the most immediate and energetic measures, not only on
+her part, but on that of Dr. Holmes, whom in her haste and
+perturbation she had called in from the adjacent house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The patient, young, innocent, unfortunate, but of a strangely
+courageous disposition, betrayed nothing but the utmost surprise at
+the peril she had so narrowly escaped. When Dr. Holmes intimated that
+perhaps she had been tired of suffering, and had herself found means
+of putting the deadly drug into her medicine, she opened her great
+gray eyes, with such a look of child-like surprise and reproach, that
+he blushed, and murmured some sort of apology.</p>
+
+<p>"Poison myself?" she cried, "when you promise me that I shall get
+well? You do not know what a horror I have of dying in debt, or you
+would never say that."</p>
+
+<p>This was some time after the critical moment had passed, and there
+were in the room Mrs. Dayton, the landlady, Dr. Holmes, the nurse, and
+myself. At the utterance of these words we all felt ashamed and cast
+looks of increased interest at the poor girl.</p>
+
+<p>She was very lovely. Though without means, and to all appearance
+without friends, she possessed in great degree the charm of
+winsomeness, and not even her many sufferings, nor the indignation
+under which she was then laboring,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> could quite rob her countenance of
+that tender and confiding expression which so often redeems the
+plainest face and makes beauty doubly attractive.</p>
+
+<p>"Dr. Holmes does not know you," I hastened to say; "I do, and utterly
+repel for you any such insinuation. In return, will you tell me if
+there is any one in the world whom you can call your enemy? Though the
+chief mystery is how so deadly and unusual a poison could have gotten
+into a clean glass, without the knowledge of yourself or the nurse,
+still it might not be amiss to know if there is any one, here or
+elsewhere, who for any reason might desire your death."</p>
+
+<p>The surprise in the child-like eyes increased rather than diminished.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what to say," she murmured. "I am so insignificant and
+feeble a person that it seems absurd for me to talk of having an
+enemy. Besides, I have none. On the contrary, every one seems to love
+me more than I deserve. Haven't you noticed it, Mrs. Dayton?"</p>
+
+<p>The landlady smiled and stroked the sick girl's hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," she replied, "I have noticed that people love you, but I
+have never thought that it was more than you deserved. You are a dear
+little thing, Addie."</p>
+
+<p>And though she knew and I knew that the "every one" mentioned by the
+poor girl meant ourselves, and possibly her unknown employer, we were
+none the less touched by her words. The more we studied the mystery,
+the deeper and less explainable did it become.</p>
+
+<p>And indeed I doubt if we should have ever got to the bottom of it, if
+there had not presently occurred in my patient a repetition of the
+same dangerous symptoms, followed by the same discovery, of poison in
+the glass, and the same failure on the part of herself and nurse to
+account for it. I was aroused from my bed at midnight to attend her,
+and as I entered her room and met her beseeching eyes looking upon me
+from the very shadow of death, I made a vow that I would never cease
+my efforts till I had penetrated the secret of what certainly looked
+like a persistent attempt upon this poor girl's life.</p>
+
+<p>I went about the matter deliberately. As soon as I could leave her
+side, I drew the nurse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> into a corner and again questioned her. The
+answers were the same as before. Addie had shown distress as soon as
+she had swallowed her usual quantity of medicine, and in a few minutes
+more was in a perilous condition.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you hand the glass yourself to Addie?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you take it from?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the place where you left it&mdash;the little stand on the farther
+side of the bed."</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to say that you had not touched it since I prepared
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"And that no one else has been in the room?"</p>
+
+<p>"No one, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at her intently. I trusted her, but the best of us are but
+mortal.</p>
+
+<p>"Can you assure me that you have not been asleep during this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Look at this letter I have been writing," she returned. "It is eight
+pages long, and it was not begun when you left us at 10 o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head and fell into a deep revery. How was that matter to be
+elucidated, and how was my patient to be saved? Another draught<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> of
+this deadly poison, and no power on earth could resuscitate her. What
+should I do, and with what weapons should I combat a danger at once so
+subtle and so deadly? Reflection brought no decision, and I left the
+room at last, determined upon but one point, and that was the
+immediate removal of my patient. But before I had left the house I
+changed my mind even on this point. Removal of the patient meant
+safety to her, perhaps, but not the explanation of her mysterious
+poisoning. I would change the position of her bed, and I would even
+set a watch over her and the nurse, but I would not take her out of
+the house&mdash;not yet.</p>
+
+<p>And what had produced this change in my plans? The look of a woman
+whom I met on the stairs. I did not know her, but when I encountered
+her glance I felt that there was some connection between us, and I was
+not at all surprised to hear her ask:</p>
+
+<p>"And how is Miss Wilcox to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wilcox is very low," I returned. "The least neglect, the least
+shock to her nerves, would be sufficient to make all my efforts
+useless. Otherwise&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She will get well?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded. I had exaggerated the condition of the sufferer, but some
+secret instinct compelled me to do so. The look which passed over the
+woman's face satisfied me that I had done well; and, though I left the
+house, it was with the intention of speedily returning and making
+inquiries into the woman's character and position in the household.</p>
+
+<p>I learned little or nothing. That she occupied a good room and paid
+for it regularly seemed to be sufficient to satisfy Mrs. Dayton. Her
+name, which proved to be Leroux, showed her to be French, and her
+promptly paid $10 a week showed her to be respectable&mdash;what more could
+any hard-working landlady require? But I was distrustful. Her face,
+though handsome, possessed an eager, ferocious look which I could not
+forget, and the slight gesture with which she had passed me at the
+close of the short conversation I have given above had a suggestion of
+triumph in it which seemed to contain whole volumes of secret and
+mysterious hate. I went into Miss Wilcox's room very thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But here the nurse held up her hand. "Hark," she whispered; she had
+just set the clock, and was listening to its striking.</p>
+
+<p>I did hark, but not to the clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Whose step is that?" I asked, after she had left the clock, and sat
+down.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, some one in the next room. The walls here are very thin&mdash;only
+boards in places."</p>
+
+<p>I did not complete what I had begun to say. If I could hear steps
+through the partition, then could our neighbors hear us talk, and what
+I had determined upon must be kept secret from all outsiders. I drew a
+sheet of paper toward me and wrote:</p>
+
+<p>"I shall stay here to-night. Something tells me that in doing this I
+shall solve this mystery. But I must appear to go. Take my
+instructions as usual, and bid me good-night. Lock the door after me,
+but with a turn of the key instantly unlock it again. I shall go down
+stairs, see that my carriage drives away, and quietly return. On my
+re-entrance I shall expect to find Miss Wilcox on the couch with the
+screen drawn up around it, you in your big chair, and the light
+lowered. What I do there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>after need not concern you. Pretend to go to
+sleep."</p>
+
+<p>The nurse nodded, and immediately entered upon the programme I had
+planned. I prepared the medicine as usual, placed it in its usual
+glass, and laid that glass where it had always been set, on a small
+table at the farther side of the bed. Then I said "Good-night," and
+passed hurriedly out.</p>
+
+<p>I was fortunate enough to meet no one, going or coming. I regained the
+room, pushed open the door, and finding everything in order, proceeded
+at once to the bed, upon which, after taking off my hat and cloak and
+carefully concealing them, I lay down and deftly covered myself up.</p>
+
+<p>My idea was this&mdash;that by some mesmeric influence of which she was
+ignorant, the nurse had been forced to either poison the glass herself
+or open the door for another to do it. If this were so, she or the
+other person would be obliged to pass around the foot of the bed in
+order to reach the glass, and I should be sure to see it, for I did
+not pretend to sleep. By the low light enough could be discerned for
+safe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> movement about the room, and not enough to make apparent the
+change which had been made in the occupant of the bed. I waited with
+indescribable anxiety, and more than once fancied I heard steps, if
+not a feverish breathing close to my bed-head; but no one appeared,
+and the nurse in her big chair did not move.</p>
+
+<p>At last I grew weary, and fearful of losing control over my eyelids, I
+fixed my gaze upon the glass, as if in so doing I should find a
+talisman to keep me awake, when, great God! what was it I saw! A hand,
+a creeping hand coming from nowhere and joined to nothing, closing
+about that glass and drawing it slowly away till it disappeared
+entirely from before my eyes!</p>
+
+<p>I gasped&mdash;I could not help it&mdash;but I did not stir. For now I knew I
+was asleep and dreaming. But no, I pinch myself under the clothes, and
+find that I am very wide awake indeed; and then&mdash;look! look! the glass
+is returning; the hand&mdash;a woman's hand&mdash;is slowly setting it back in
+its place, and&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>With a bound I have that hand in my grasp. It is a living hand, and it
+is very warm and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> strong and fierce, and the glass has fallen and lies
+shattered between us, and a double cry is heard, one from behind the
+partition, through an opening in which this hand had been thrust, and
+one from the nurse, who has jumped to her feet and is even now
+assisting me in holding the struggling member, upon which I have
+managed to scratch a tell-tale mark with a piece of the fallen glass.
+At sight of the iron-like grip which this latter lays upon the
+intruding member, I at once release my own grasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on," I cried, and leaping from the bed, I hastened first to my
+patient, whom I carefully reassured, and then into the hall, where I
+found the landlady running to see what was the matter. "I have found
+the wretch," I cried, and drawing her after me, hurried about to the
+other side of the partition, where I found a closet, and in it the
+woman I had met on the stairs, but glaring now like a tiger in her
+rage, menace, and fear.</p>
+
+<p>That woman was my humble little patient's bitter but unknown enemy.
+Enamoured of a man who&mdash;unwisely, perhaps&mdash;had expressed in her
+hearing his admiration for the pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> typewriter, she had conceived
+the idea that he intended to marry the latter, and, vowing vengeance,
+had taken up her abode in the same house with the innocent girl,
+where, had it not been for the fortunate circumstance of my meeting
+her on the stairs, she would certainly have carried out her scheme of
+vile and secret murder. The poison she had bought in another city, and
+the hole in the partition she had herself cut. This had been done at
+first for the purpose of observation, she having detected in passing
+by Miss Wilcox's open door that a banner of painted silk hung over
+that portion of the wall in such a way as to hide any aperture which
+might be made there.</p>
+
+<p>Afterward, when Miss Wilcox fell sick, and she discovered by short
+glimpses through her loop-hole that the glass of medicine was placed
+on a table just under this banner, she could not resist the temptation
+to enlarge the hole to a size sufficient to admit the pushing aside of
+the banner and the reaching through of her murderous hand. Why she did
+not put poison enough in the glass to kill Miss Wilcox at once I have
+never discovered. Probably she feared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> detection. That by doing as she
+did she brought about the very event she had endeavored to avert, is
+the most pleasing part of the tale. When the gentleman of whom I have
+spoken learned of the wicked attempt which had been made upon Miss
+Wilcox's life, his heart took pity upon her, and a marriage ensued,
+which I have every reason to believe is a happy one.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="SHALL_HE_WED_HER" id="SHALL_HE_WED_HER"></a>SHALL HE WED HER?</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_02.jpg" alt="W" width="65" height="50" /></div>
+<p>hen I met Taylor at the Club the other night, he looked so cheerful I
+scarcely knew him.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" cried I, advancing with outstretched hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to be married," was his gay reply. "This is my last night
+at the Club."</p>
+
+<p>I was glad, and showed it. Taylor is a man for whom domestic life is a
+necessity. He has never been at home with us, though we all liked him,
+and he in his way liked us.</p>
+
+<p>"And who is the fortunate lady?" I inquired; for I had been out of
+town for some time, and had not as yet been made acquainted with the
+latest society news.</p>
+
+<p>"My intended bride is Mrs. Walworth, the young widow&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He must have seen a change take place in my expression, for he
+stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"You know her, of course?" he added, after a careful study of my face.</p>
+
+<p>I had by this time regained my self-possession.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," I repeated, "and I have always thought her one of the
+most attractive women in the city. Another shake upon it, old man."</p>
+
+<p>But my heart was heavy and my mind perplexed notwithstanding the
+forced cordiality of my tones, and I took an early opportunity to
+withdraw by myself and think over the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Walworth? She is a pretty woman, and what is more, she is to all
+appearance a woman whose winning manners bespeak a kindly heart. "Just
+the person," I contemplated, "whom I would pick out for the helpmate
+of my somewhat exacting friend, if&mdash;" I paused on that if. It was a
+formidable one and grew none the smaller or less important under my
+broodings. Indeed, it seemed to dilate until it assumed gigantic
+proportions, worrying me and weighing so heavily upon my conscience
+that I at last rose from the newspaper at which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> I had been hopelessly
+staring, and looking up Taylor again asked him how soon he expected to
+become a benedict.</p>
+
+<p>His answer startled me. "In a week," he replied, "and if I have not
+asked you to the ceremony it is because Helen is not in a position
+to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I suppose he finished the sentence, but I did not hear him. If the
+marriage was so near, of course it would be folly on my part to
+attempt to hinder it. I drew off for the second time.</p>
+
+<p>But I could not remain easy. Taylor is a good fellow, and it would be
+a shame to allow him to marry a woman with whom he could never be
+happy. He would feel any such disappointment so keenly, so much more
+keenly than most men. A lack of principle or even of sensibility on
+her part would make him miserable. Anticipating heaven, he would not
+need a hell to make him wretched; a purgatory would do it. Was I right
+then in letting him proceed in his intentions regarding Mrs. Walworth,
+when she possibly was the woman who&mdash;I paused and tried to call up
+her countenance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> before me. It was a sweet one and possibly a true
+one. I might have trusted her for myself, but I do not look for
+perfection, and Taylor does, and will certainly go to the bad if he is
+deceived in his expectations. But in a week! It is too late for
+interference&mdash;only it is never too late till the knot is tied. As I
+thought of this, I decided impulsively, and perhaps you may say
+unwisely, to give him a hint of his danger, and I did it in this wise:</p>
+
+<p>"Taylor," said I, when I had him safely in my own rooms, "I am going
+to tell you a bit of personal history, curious enough, I think, to
+interest you even upon the eve of your marriage. I do not know when I
+shall see you again, and I should like you to know how a lawyer and
+man of the world can sometimes be taken in."</p>
+
+<p>He nodded, accepting the situation good-humoredly, though I saw by the
+abstraction with which he gazed into the fire that I should have to be
+very interesting to lure him from the thoughts that engrossed him. As
+I meant to be very interesting, this did not greatly concern me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"One morning last spring," I began, "I received in my morning mail a
+letter, the delicate penmanship of which at once attracted my
+attention and awakened my curiosity. Turning to the signature, I read
+the name of a young lady friend of mine, and somewhat startled at the
+thought that this was the first time I had ever seen the handwriting
+of one I knew so well, I perused the letter with an interest that
+presently became painful as I realized the tenor of its contents. I
+will not quote the letter, though I could, but confine myself to
+saying that after a modest recognition of my friendship for her&mdash;quite
+a fatherly friendship, I assure you, as she is only eighteen, and I,
+as you know, am well on towards fifty&mdash;she proceeded to ask in a
+humble and confiding spirit for the loan&mdash;do not start&mdash;of fifty
+dollars. Such a request coming from a young girl well connected and
+with every visible sign of being generously provided for by her
+father, was certainly startling to an old bachelor of settled ways and
+strict notions, but remembering her youth and the childish innocence
+of her manner, I turned over the page and read as her reason for
+proffering such a request, that her heart was set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> upon aiding a
+certain poor family that stood in immediate need of food, clothes, and
+medicines, but that she could not do what she wished, because she had
+already spent all the money allowed her by her father for such
+purposes and dared not go to him for more, as she had once before
+offended him by doing this, and feared if she repeated her fault he
+would carry out the threat he had then made of stopping her allowance
+altogether. But the family was a deserving one and she could not see
+any member of it starve, so she came to me, of whose goodness she was
+assured, convinced I would understand her perplexity and excuse her,
+and so forth and so forth, in language quite child-like and
+entreating, which, if it did not satisfy my ideas of propriety, at
+least touched my heart and made any action which I could take in the
+matter extremely difficult.</p>
+
+<p>"To refuse her request would be at once to mortify and aggrieve her;
+to accede to it and give her the fifty dollars she asked&mdash;a sum by the
+way I could not well spare&mdash;would be to encourage an action easily
+pardoned once, but which if repeated would lead to unpleasant
+com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>plications, to say the least. The third course, of informing her
+father of what she needed, I did not even consider, for I knew him
+well enough to be sure that nothing but pain to her would be the
+result. I therefore compromised the affair by inclosing the money in a
+letter, in which I told her that I comprehended her difficulty and
+sent with pleasure the amount she needed, but that as a friend I must
+add that while in the present instance she had run no risk of being
+misunderstood or unkindly censured, that such a request made to
+another man and under other circumstances might provoke a surprise
+capable of leading to the most unpleasant consequences, and advised
+her if she ever again found herself in such a strait to appeal
+directly to her father, or else to deny herself a charity which she
+was in no position to bestow.</p>
+
+<p>"This letter I undertook to deliver myself, for one of the curious
+points of her communication had been the entreaty that I would not
+delay the help she needed by trusting the money to any hand but my
+own, but would bring it to a certain hotel down-town and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> place it at
+the beginning of the book of Isaiah in the large Bible I would find
+lying on a side table in the small parlor off the main one. She would
+seek it there before the morning was over, and so, without the
+intervention of a third party, acquire the means she desired for
+helping a poor and deserving family.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew the hotel she mentioned, and I remembered the room, but I did
+not remember the Bible. However, it was sure to be in the place she
+indicated; and though I was not in much sympathy with my errand, I
+respected her whim and carried the letter down-town. I had reached
+Main Street and was in sight of the hotel designated, when suddenly on
+the opposite corner of the street I saw the young girl herself. She
+looked as fresh as the morning, and smiled so gayly I felt somewhat
+repaid for the annoyance she had caused me, and gratified that I could
+cut matters short by putting the letter directly in her hand, I
+crossed the street to her side. As soon as we were face to face, I
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"'How fortunate I am to meet you. Here is the amount you need sealed
+up in this letter. You see I had it all ready.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"The face she lifted to mine wore so blank a look that I paused,
+astonished.</p>
+
+<p>"'What do you mean?' she asked, her eyes looking straight into mine
+with such innocence in their clear blue depths, I was at once
+convinced she knew nothing of the matter with which my thoughts were
+busy. 'I am very glad to see you, but I do not in the least understand
+what you mean by the amount I need.' And she glanced at the letter I
+held out, with an air of distrust mingled with curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"'You cut me short in my efforts to do a charitable action. I heard,
+no matter how, that you were interested just now in a destitute
+family, and took this way of assisting you in their behalf.'</p>
+
+<p>"Her blue eyes opened wider. 'The poor are always with us,' she
+replied, 'but I know of no especial family just now that requires any
+such help as you intimate. If I did, papa would give me what
+assistance I needed.'</p>
+
+<p>"I was greatly pleased to hear her say this, for I am very fond of my
+young friend, but I was deeply indignant also against the unknown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+person who had taken advantage of my regard for this young girl to
+force money from me. I therefore did not linger at her side, but after
+due apologies hastened immediately here where there is a man employed
+who to my knowledge had once been a trusted member of the police.</p>
+
+<p>"Telling him no more of the story than was necessary to ensure his
+co-operation in the plan I had formed to discover the author of this
+fraud, I extracted the bank-notes from the letter I had written, and
+put in their place stiff pieces of manila paper. Taking the envelope
+so filled to the hotel already referred to, I placed it at the opening
+chapters of Isaiah in the Bible, as described. There was no one in any
+of the rooms when I went in, and I encountered only a bell-boy as I
+came out, but at the door I ran against a young man whom I strictly
+forbore to recognize, but whom I knew to be my improvised detective
+coming to take his stand in some place where he could watch the parlor
+and note who went into it.</p>
+
+<p>"At noon I returned to the hotel, passed immediately to the small
+parlor and looked into the Bible. The letter was gone. Coming out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> of
+the room, I was at once joined by my detective.</p>
+
+<p>"'Has the letter been taken?' he eagerly inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"I nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"His brows wrinkled and he looked both troubled and perplexed.</p>
+
+<p>"'I don't understand it,' he remarked. 'I've seen every one who has
+gone into that room since you left it, but I do not know any more than
+before who took the letter. You see,' he continued, as I looked at him
+sharply, 'I had to remain out here. If I had gone even into the large
+room, the Bible would not have been disturbed, nor the letter either.
+So, in the hope of knowing the rogue at sight, I strolled about this
+hall, and kept my eye constantly on that door, but&mdash;'</p>
+
+<p>"He looked embarrassed, and stopped. 'You say the letter is gone,' he
+suggested, after a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes,' I returned.</p>
+
+<p>"He shook his head. 'Nobody went into that room or came out of it,' he
+went on, 'whom you would have wished me to follow. I should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> have
+thought myself losing time if I had taken one step after any one of
+them.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But who did go into that room?' I urged, impatient at his
+perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"'Only three persons this morning,' he returned. 'You know them all.'
+And he mentioned first Mrs. Couldock."</p>
+
+<p>Taylor, who was lending me the superficial attention of a preoccupied
+man, smiled frankly at the utterance of this name. "Of course, she had
+nothing to do with such a debasing piece of business," he observed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," I repeated. "Nor does it seem likely that Miss Dawes
+could have been concerned in it. Yet my detective told me that she was
+the next person who went into the parlor."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not know Miss Dawes so well," remarked Taylor, carelessly.</p>
+
+<p>"But I do," said I; "and I would as soon suspect my sister of a
+dishonorable act as this noble, self-sacrificing woman."</p>
+
+<p>"The third person?" suggested Taylor.</p>
+
+<p>I got up and crossed the floor. When my back was to him, I said,
+quietly&mdash;"was Mrs. Walworth."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The silence that followed was very painful. I did not care to break
+it, and he, doubtless, found himself unable to do so. It must have
+been five minutes before either of us spoke; then he suddenly cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is that detective, as you call him? I want to see him."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see him for you," said I. "I should hardly wish Sudley,
+discreet as I consider him, to know you had any interest in this
+affair."</p>
+
+<p>Taylor rose and came to where I stood.</p>
+
+<p>"You believe," said he, "that she, the woman I am about to marry, is
+the one who wrote you that infamous letter?"</p>
+
+<p>I faced him quite frankly. "I do not feel ready to acknowledge that,"
+I replied. "One of those three women took my letter out from the
+Bible, where I placed it; which of them wrote the lines that provoked
+it I do not dare conjecture. You say it was not Mrs. Couldock, I say
+it was not Miss Dawes, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He broke in upon me impetuously.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you the letter?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>I had, and showed it to him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"It is not Helen's handwriting," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Nor is it that of Mrs. Couldock or Miss Dawes."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me for a moment in a wild sort of way.</p>
+
+<p>"You think she got some one to write it for her?" he cried. "Helen! my
+Helen! But it is not so; it cannot be so. Why, Huntley, to have sent
+such a letter as that over the name of an innocent young girl, who,
+but for the happy chance of meeting you as she did might never have
+had the opportunity of righting herself in your estimation, argues a
+cold and calculating selfishness closely allied to depravity. And my
+Helen is an angel&mdash;or so I have always thought her."</p>
+
+<p>The depth to which his voice sank in the last sentence showed that for
+all his seeming confidence he was not without his doubts.</p>
+
+<p>I began to feel very uncomfortable, and not knowing what consolation
+to offer, I ventured upon the suggestion that he should see Mrs.
+Walworth and frankly ask her whether she had been to the hotel on Main
+Street on such a day, and if so, if she had seen a letter addressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+to Miss N&mdash;&mdash; lying on the table of the small parlor. His answer
+showed how much his confidence in her had been shaken.</p>
+
+<p>"A woman who, for the sake of paying some unworthy debt or of
+gratifying some whim of feminine vanity, could make use of a young
+girl's signature to obtain money, would not hesitate at any denial.
+She would not even blench at my questions."</p>
+
+<p>He was right.</p>
+
+<p>"I must be convinced in some other way," he went on. "Mrs. Couldock or
+Miss Dawes do not either of them possess any more truthful or
+ingenuous countenance than she does, and though it seems madness to
+suspect such women&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait," I broke in. "Let us be sure of all the facts before we go on.
+You lie down here and close your eyes; now pull the rug up so. I will
+have Sudley in and question him. If you do not turn towards the light
+he will not know who you are."</p>
+
+<p>Taylor followed my suggestion, and in a few moments Sudley stood
+before me. I opened upon him quite carelessly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Sudley," said I, throwing down the newspaper I had been ostensibly
+reading, "you remember that little business you did for me in Main
+Street last month? Something I've been reading made me think of it
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you never had a conviction yourself as to which of the three
+ladies you saw go into the parlor took the letter I left hid in the
+Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir. You see I could not. All of them are well known in society
+here and all of them belong to the most respectable families. I
+wouldn't dare to choose between them, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," I rejoined, "unless you have some good reason for
+doing so, such as having been able to account for the visits of two of
+the ladies to the hotel, and not of the third."</p>
+
+<p>"They all had a good pretext for being there. Mrs. Couldock gave her
+card to the boy before going into the parlor, and left as soon as he
+returned with word that the lady she called to see was not in. Miss
+Dawes gave no card, but asked for a Miss Terhune, I think,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> and did
+not remain a moment after she was informed that that lady had left the
+hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Walworth?"</p>
+
+<p>"She came in from the street adjusting her veil, and upon looking
+around for a mirror was directed to the parlor, into which she at once
+stepped. She remained there but a moment, and when she came out passed
+directly into the street."</p>
+
+<p>These words disconcerted me; the mirror was just over the table in the
+small room, but I managed to remark nonchalantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Could you not tell whether any of these three ladies opened the
+Bible?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not without seeming intrusive."</p>
+
+<p>I sighed and dismissed the man. When he was gone I approached Taylor.</p>
+
+<p>"He can give us no assistance," I cried.</p>
+
+<p>My friend was already on his feet, looking very miserable.</p>
+
+<p>"I know of only one thing to do," he remarked. "To-morrow I shall call
+upon Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes, and entreat them to tell me if, for
+any reason, they undertook to deliver a letter mysteriously left in
+the Bible of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> &mdash;&mdash; Hotel one day last month. They may have been
+deputed to do so, and be quite willing to acknowledge it."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Walworth? Will you not ask her the same question?"</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head and turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said I to myself, "then I will."</p>
+
+<p>Accordingly the next day I called upon Mrs. Walworth.</p>
+
+<p>Taking her by the hand, I gently forced her to stand for a moment
+where the light from the one window fell full upon her face. I said:</p>
+
+<p>"You must pardon my intrusion upon you at a time when you are
+naturally so busy, but there is something you can do for me that will
+rid me of a great anxiety. You remember being in &mdash;&mdash; Hotel one
+morning last month?"</p>
+
+<p>She was looking quietly up at me, her lips parted, her eyes smiling
+and expectant, but at the mention of that hotel I thought&mdash;and yet I
+may have been mistaken&mdash;that a slight change took place in her
+expression, if it was only that the glance grew more gentle and the
+smile more marked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But her voice when she answered was the same as that with which she
+had uttered her greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not remember," she replied, "yet I may have been there; I go to
+so many places. Why do you ask?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Because if you were there on that morning&mdash;and I have been told you
+were&mdash;you may be able to solve a question that is greatly perplexing
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Still the same gentle, inquiring look on her face; only now there was
+a little furrow of wonder or interest between the eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I had business in that hotel on that morning," I continued. "I had
+left a letter for a young friend of mine in the Bible that lies on the
+small table of the inner parlor, and as she never received it I have
+been driven into making all kinds of inquiries in the hope of finding
+some explanation of the fact. As you were there at the time you may
+have seen something that would aid me. Is it not possible, Mrs.
+Walworth?"</p>
+
+<p>Her smile, which had faded, reappeared. On the lips which Taylor so
+much admired a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> pout became visible, and she looked quite
+enchanting.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not even remember being at that hotel at all," she protested.
+"Did Mr. Taylor say I was there?" she inquired, with just that added
+look of exquisite n&auml;ivete which the utterance of a lover's name should
+call up on the face of a prospective bride.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I answered gravely; "Mr. Taylor, unhappily, was not with you
+that morning." She looked startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Unhappily," she repeated. "What do you mean by that word?" And she
+drew back looking very much displeased.</p>
+
+<p>I had expected this, and so was not thrown off my guard.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean," I proceeded calmly, "that if you had had such a companion
+with you on that morning I should now be able to put my questions to
+him, instead of taking your time and interrupting your affairs by my
+importunities."</p>
+
+<p>"You will tell me just what you mean," said she, earnestly.</p>
+
+<p>I was equally emphatic in my reply. "That is only just. You ought to
+know why I trouble<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> you with this matter. It is because this letter of
+which I speak was taken from its hiding-place by some one who went
+into the hotel parlor between the hours of 10:30 and 12 o'clock, and
+as to my certain knowledge only three persons crossed its threshold on
+that especial morning at that especial time, I naturally appeal to
+each of them in turn for an answer to the problem that is troubling
+me. You know Miss N&mdash;&mdash;. Seeing by accident a letter addressed to her
+lying in a Bible in a strange hotel, you might have thought it your
+duty to take it out and carry it to her. If you did and if you lost
+it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I didn't," she interrupted, warmly. "I know nothing about any
+such letter, and if you had not declared so positively that I was in
+that hotel on that especial day I should be tempted to deny that too,
+for I have no recollection of going there last month."</p>
+
+<p>"Not for the purpose of rearranging a veil that had been blown off?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she said, but as one who recalls a forgotten fact, not as one
+who is tripped up in an evasion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I began to think her innocent, and lost some of the gloom which had
+been oppressing me.</p>
+
+<p>"You remember now?" said I.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, I remember that."</p>
+
+<p>Her manner so completely declared that her acknowledgments stopped
+there, I saw it would be useless to venture further. If she were
+innocent she could not tell more, if she were guilty she would not;
+so, feeling that the inclination of my belief was in favor of the
+former hypothesis, I again took her hand, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I see that you can give me no help. I am sorry, for the whole
+happiness of a man, and perhaps that of a woman also, depends upon the
+discovery as to who took the letter from out the Bible where I had
+hidden it on that unfortunate morning." And, making her another low
+bow, I was about to take my departure, when she grasped me impulsively
+by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"What man?" she whispered; and in a lower tone still, "What woman?"</p>
+
+<p>I turned and looked at her. "Great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> heaven!" thought I, "can such a
+face hide a selfish and intriguing heart?" and in a flash I summoned
+up in comparison before me the plain, honest, and reliable countenance
+of Mrs. Couldock and that of the comely and unpretending Miss Dawes,
+and knew not what to think.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not mean yourself?" she continued, as she met my look of
+distress.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I returned; "happily for me my welfare is not bound up in the
+honor of any woman." And leaving that shaft to work its way into her
+heart, if that heart were vulnerable, I took my leave, more troubled
+and less decided than when I entered.</p>
+
+<p>For her manner had been absolutely that of a woman surprised by
+insinuations she was too innocent to rate at their real importance.
+And yet, if she did not take away that letter, who did? Mrs. Couldock?
+Impossible. Miss Dawes? The thought was untenable, even for an
+instant. I waited in great depression of spirits for the call I knew
+Taylor would not fail to make that evening.</p>
+
+<p>When he came I saw what the result of my revelations was likely to be
+as plainly as I see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> it now. He had conversed frankly with Mrs.
+Couldock and with Miss Dawes, and was perfectly convinced as to the
+utter ignorance of them both in regard to the whole affair. In
+consequence, Mrs. Walworth was guilty in his estimation, and being
+held guilty could be no wife for him, much as he had loved her, and
+urgent as may have been the cause for her act.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said I, in some horror of the consequences of an interference
+for which I was almost ready to blame myself now, "Mrs. Couldock and
+Miss Dawes could have done no more than deny all knowledge of this
+letter. Now Mrs. Walworth does that, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You have seen her? You have asked her&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have seen her, and I have asked her, and not an eyelash
+drooped as she affirmed a complete ignorance of the whole affair."</p>
+
+<p>Taylor's head fell.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you how that would be," he murmured at last. "I cannot feel
+that it is any proof of her innocence. Or rather," he added, "I should
+always have my doubts."</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he cried, rising and turning away; "there is no question of
+marriage between either of them and myself."</p>
+
+<p>I was therefore not astonished when the week went by and no
+announcement of his wedding appeared. But I was troubled and am
+troubled still, for if mistakes are made in criminal courts, and the
+innocent sometimes, through the sheer force of circumstantial
+evidence, are made to suffer for the guilty, might it not be that in
+this little question of morals Mrs. Walworth has been wronged, and
+that when I played the part of arbitrator in her fate, I only
+succeeded in separating two hearts whose right it was to be made
+happy?</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to tell, nor is time likely to solve the riddle. Must
+I then forever blame myself, or did I only do in this matter what any
+honest man would have done in my place? Answer me, some one, for I do
+not find my lonely bachelor life in any wise brightened by the doubt,
+and would be grateful to any one who would relieve me of it.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Old Stone House and Other Stories, by
+Anna Katharine Green
+
+
+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 Old Stone House and Other Stories
+
+
+Author: Anna Katharine Green
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 13, 2007  [eBook #21824]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER
+STORIES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER STORIES
+
+by
+
+ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
+
+Short Story Index Reprint Series
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Books for Libraries Press
+Freeport, New York
+First Published 1891
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+   THE OLD STONE HOUSE
+
+   A MEMORABLE NIGHT
+
+   THE BLACK CROSS
+
+   A MYSTERIOUS CASE
+
+   SHALL HE WED HER?
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE OLD STONE HOUSE.
+
+
+I was riding along one autumn day through a certain wooded portion of
+New York State, when I came suddenly upon an old stone house in which
+the marks of age were in such startling contrast to its unfinished
+condition that I involuntarily stopped my horse and took a long survey
+of the lonesome structure. Embowered in a forest which had so grown in
+thickness and height since the erection of this building that the
+boughs of some of the tallest trees almost met across its decayed
+roof, it presented even at first view an appearance of picturesque
+solitude almost approaching to desolation. But when my eye had time to
+note that the moss was clinging to eaves from under which the
+scaffolding had never been taken, and that of the ten large windows in
+the blackened front of the house only two had ever been furnished
+with frames, the awe of some tragic mystery began to creep over me,
+and I sat and wondered at the sight till my increasing interest
+compelled me to alight and take a nearer view of the place.
+
+The great front door which had been finished so many years ago, but
+which had never been hung, leaned against the side of the house, of
+which it had almost become a part, so long had they clung together
+amid the drippings of innumerable rains. Close beside it yawned the
+entrance, a large black gap through which nearly a century of storms
+had rushed with their winds and wet till the lintels were green with
+moisture and slippery with rot. Standing on this untrod threshold, I
+instinctively glanced up at the scaffolding above me, and started as I
+noticed that it had partially fallen away, as if time were weakening
+its supports and making the precipitation of the whole a threatening
+possibility. Alarmed lest it might fall while I stood there, I did not
+linger long beneath it, but, with a shudder which I afterwards
+remembered, stepped into the house and proceeded to inspect its
+rotting, naked, and unfinished walls. I found them all in the one
+condition. A fine house had once been planned and nearly completed,
+but it had been abandoned before the hearths had been tiled, or the
+wainscoting nailed to its place. The staircase which ran up through
+the centre of the house was without banisters but otherwise finished
+and in a state of fair preservation. Seeing this and not being able to
+resist the temptation which it offered me of inspecting the rest of
+the house, I ascended to the second story.
+
+Here the doors were hung and the fireplaces bricked, and as I wandered
+from room to room I wondered more than ever what had caused the
+desertion of so promising a dwelling. If, as appeared, the first owner
+had died suddenly, why could not an heir have been found, and what
+could be the story of a place so abandoned and left to destruction
+that its walls gave no token of ever having offered shelter to a human
+being? As I could not answer this question I allowed my imagination
+full play, and was just forming some weird explanation of the facts
+before me when I felt my arm suddenly seized from behind, and paused
+aghast. Was I then not alone in the deserted building? Was there some
+solitary being who laid claim to its desolation and betrayed jealousy
+at any intrusion within its mysterious precincts? Or was the dismal
+place haunted by some uneasy spirit, who with long, uncanny fingers
+stood ready to clutch the man who presumed to bring living hopes and
+fears into a spot dedicated entirely to memories? I had scarcely the
+courage to ask, but when I turned and saw what it was that had alarmed
+me, I did not know whether to laugh at my fears or feel increased awe
+of my surroundings. For it was the twigs of a tree which had seized
+me, and for a long limb such as this to have grown into a place
+intended for the abode of man, necessitated a lapse of time and a
+depth of solitude oppressive to think of.
+
+Anxious to be rid of suggestions wellnigh bordering upon the
+superstitious, I took one peep from the front windows, and then
+descended to the first floor. The sight of my horse quietly dozing in
+the summer sunlight had reassured me, and by the time I had recrossed
+the dismal threshold, and regained the cheerful highway, I was
+conscious of no emotions deeper than the intense interest of a curious
+mind to solve the mystery and understand the secret of this remarkable
+house.
+
+Rousing my horse from his comfortable nap, I rode on through the
+forest; but scarcely had I gone a dozen rods before the road took a
+turn, the trees suddenly parted, and I found myself face to face with
+wide rolling meadows and a busy village. So, then, this ancient and
+deserted house was not in the heart of the woods, as I had imagined,
+but in the outskirts of a town, and face to face with life and
+activity. This discovery was a shock to my romance, but as it gave my
+curiosity an immediate hope of satisfaction, I soon became reconciled
+to the situation, and taking the road which led to the village, drew
+up before the inn and went in, ostensibly for refreshment. This being
+speedily provided, I sat down in the cosy dining-room, and as soon as
+opportunity offered, asked the attentive landlady why the old house in
+the woods had remained so long deserted.
+
+She gave me an odd look, and then glanced aside at an old man who sat
+doubled up in the opposite corner. "It is a long story," said she,
+"and I am busy now; but later, if you wish to hear it, I will tell you
+all we know on the subject. After father is gone out," she whispered.
+"It always excites him to hear any talk about that old place."
+
+I saw that it did. I had no sooner mentioned the house than his white
+head lifted itself with something like spirit, and his form, which had
+seemed a moment before so bent and aged, straightened with an interest
+that made him look almost hale again.
+
+"I will tell you," he broke in; "I am not busy. I was ninety last
+birthday, and I forget sometimes my grandchildren's names, but I never
+forget what took place in that old house one night fifty years
+ago--never, never."
+
+"I know, I know," hastily interposed his daughter, "you remember
+beautifully; but this gentleman wishes to eat his dinner now, and must
+not have his appetite interfered with. You will wait, will you not,
+sir, till I have a little more leisure?"
+
+What could I answer but Yes, and what could the poor old man do but
+shrink back into his corner, disappointed and abashed. Yet I was not
+satisfied, nor was he, as I could see by the appealing glances he gave
+me now and then from under the fallen masses of his long white hair.
+But the landlady was complaisant and moved about the table and in and
+out of the room with a bustling air that left us but little
+opportunity for conversation. At length she was absent somewhat longer
+than usual, whereupon the old man, suddenly lifting his head, cried
+out:
+
+"_She_ cannot tell the story. She has no feeling for it; she wasn't
+_there_."
+
+"And you were," I ventured.
+
+"Yes, yes, I was there, always there; and I see it all now," he
+murmured. "Fifty years ago, and I see it all as if it were happening
+at this moment before my eyes. But she will not let me talk about it,"
+he complained, as the sound of her footsteps was heard again on the
+kitchen boards. "Though it makes me young again, she always stops me
+just as if I were a child. But she cannot help my showing you--"
+
+Here her steps became audible in the hall, and his words died away on
+his lips. By the time she had entered, he was seated with his head
+half turned aside, and his form bent over as if he were in spirit a
+thousand miles from the spot.
+
+Amused at his cunning, and interested in spite of myself at the
+childish eagerness he displayed to tell his tale, I waited with a
+secret impatience almost as great as his own perhaps, for her to leave
+the room again, and thus give him the opportunity of finishing his
+sentence. At last there came an imperative call for her presence
+without, and she hurried away. She was no sooner gone than the old man
+exclaimed:
+
+"I have it all written down. I wrote it years and years ago, at the
+very time it happened. She cannot keep me from showing you that; no,
+no, she cannot keep me from showing you that." And rising to his feet
+with a difficulty that for the first time revealed to me the full
+extent of his infirmity, he hobbled slowly across the floor to the
+open door, through which he passed with many cunning winks and nods.
+
+"It grows quite exciting," thought I, and half feared his daughter
+would not allow him to return. But either she was too much engrossed
+to heed him, or had been too much deceived by his seeming indifference
+when she last entered the room, to suspect the errand which had taken
+him out of it. For sooner than I had expected, and quite some few
+minutes before she came back herself, he shuffled in again, carrying
+under his coat a roll of yellow paper, which he thrust into my hand
+with a gratified leer, saying:
+
+"There it is. I was a gay young lad in those days, and could go and
+come with the best. Read it, sir, read it; and if Maria says anything
+against it, tell her it was written long before she was born and when
+I was as pert as she is now, and a good deal more observing."
+
+Chuckling with satisfaction, he turned away, and had barely
+disappeared in the hall when she came in and saw me with the roll in
+my hand.
+
+"Well! I declare!" she exclaimed; "and has he been bringing you that?
+What ever shall I do with him and his everlasting manuscript? You will
+pardon him, sir; he is ninety and upwards, and thinks everybody is as
+interested in the story of that old house as he is himself."
+
+"And I, for one, am," was my hasty reply. "If the writing is at all
+legible, I am anxious to read it. You won't object, will you?"
+
+"Oh, no," was her good-humored rejoinder. "I won't object; I only hate
+to have father's mind roused on this subject, because he is sure to be
+sick after it. But now that you have the story, read it; whether you
+will think as he did, on a certain point, is another question. I
+don't; but then father always said I would never believe ill of
+anybody."
+
+Her smile certainly bore out her words, it was so good-tempered and
+confiding; and pleased with her manner in spite of myself, I accepted
+her invitation to make use of her own little parlor, and sat down in
+the glow of a brilliant autumn afternoon to read this old-time
+history.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Will Juliet be at home to-day? She must know that I am coming. When I
+met her this morning, tripping back from the farm, I gave her a look
+which, if she cares anything about me, must have told her that I would
+be among the lads who would be sure to pay her their respects at early
+candle-light. For I cannot resist her saucy pout and dancing dimples
+any longer. Though I am barely twenty, I am a man, and one who is
+quite forehanded and able to take unto himself a wife. Ralph
+Urphistone has both wife and babe, and he was only twenty-one last
+August. Why, then, should I not go courting, when the prettiest maid
+that has graced the town for many a year holds out the guerdon of her
+smiles to all who will vie for them?
+
+To be sure, the fact that she has more than one wooer already may be
+considered detrimental to my success. But love is fed by rivalry, and
+if Colonel Schuyler does not pay her his addresses, I think my chances
+may be considered as good as any one's. For am I not the tallest and
+most straightly built man in town, and have I not a little cottage all
+my own, with the neatest of gardens behind it, and an apple-tree in
+front whose blossoms hang ready to shower themselves like rain upon
+the head of her who will enter there as a bride? It is not yet dark,
+but I will forestall the sunset by a half hour and begin my visit now.
+If I am first at her gate, Lemuel Phillips may look less arrogant
+when he comes to ask her company to the next singing school.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I was not first at her gate; two others were there before me. Ah, she
+is prettier than ever I supposed, and chirper than the sparrow which
+builds every year a nest in my old apple-tree. When she saw me come up
+the walk, her cheeks turned pink, but I do not know if it was from
+pleasure or annoyance, for she gave nothing but vexing replies to
+every compliment I paid her. But then Lemuel Phillips fared no better;
+and she was so bitter-sweet to Orrin Day that he left in a huff and
+vowed he would never step across her threshold again. I thought she
+was a trifle more serious after he had gone, but when a woman's eyes
+are as bright as hers, and the frowns and smiles with which she
+disports herself chase each other so rapidly over a face both
+mischievous and charming, a man's judgment goes astray, and he
+scarcely knows reality from seeming. But true or false, she is pretty
+as a harebell and bright as glinting sunshine; and I mean to marry
+her, if only Colonel Schuyler will hold himself aloof.
+
+Colonel Schuyler may hold himself aloof, but he is a man like the rest
+of us for all that. Yesterday as I was sauntering in the churchyard
+waiting for the appearance of a certain white-robed figure crowned by
+the demurest of little hats, I caught a glimpse of his face as he
+leaned on one of the tombstones near Patience Goodyear's grave, and I
+saw that he was waiting also for the same white figure and the same
+demure hat. This gave me a shock; for though I had never really dared
+to hope he would remain unmoved by a loveliness so rare in our
+village, and indeed, as I take it, in any village, I did not think he
+would show so much impatience, or await her appearance with such
+burning and uncontrollable ardor.
+
+Indeed I was so affected by his look that I forgot to watch any longer
+for her coming, but kept my gaze fixed on his countenance, till I saw
+by the change which rapidly took place in it that she had stepped out
+of the great church door and was now standing before us, making the
+sunshine more brilliant by her smiles, and the spring the sweeter for
+her presence.
+
+Then I came to myself and rushed forward with the rest of the lads.
+Did he follow behind us? I do not think so, for the rosy lips which
+had smiled upon us with so airy a welcome soon showed a discontented
+curve not to be belied by the merry words that issued from them, and
+when we would have escorted her across the fields to her father's
+house, she made a mocking curtsy, and wandered away with the ugliest
+old crone who mouths and mumbles in the meeting-house. Did she do this
+to mock us or him? If to mock him he had best take care, for beauty
+scorned is apt to grow dangerous. But perhaps it was to mock us? Well,
+well, there would be nothing new in that; she is ever mocking us.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They say the Colonel passes her gate a dozen times a day, but never
+goes in and never looks up. Is he indifferent then? I cannot think so.
+Perhaps he fears her caprices and disapproves of her coquetry. If that
+is so, she shall be my wife before he wakens to the knowledge that her
+coquetry hides a passionate and loving heart.
+
+Colonel Schuyler is a dark man. He has eyes which pierce you, and a
+smile which, if it could be understood, might perhaps be less
+fascinating than it is. If she has noticed his watching her, the
+little heart that flutters in her breast must have beaten faster by
+many a throb. For he is the one great man within twenty miles, and so
+handsome and above us all that I do not know of a woman but Juliet
+whose voice does not sink a tone lower whenever she speaks of him. But
+he is a proud man, and seems to take no notice of any one. Indeed he
+scarcely appears to live in our world. Will he come down from his high
+estate at the beck of this village beauty? Many say not, but I say
+yes; with those eyes of his he cannot help it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet is more capricious than ever. Lemuel Phillips for one is tired
+of it, and imitating Orrin Day, bade her a good-even to-night which I
+am sure he does not intend to follow with a blithe good-morrow.
+
+I might do the same if her pleading eyes would let me. But she seems
+to cling to me even when she is most provokingly saucy; and though I
+cannot see any love in her manner, there is something in it very
+different from hate; and this it is which holds me. Can a woman be too
+pretty for her own happiness, and are many lovers a weariness to the
+heart?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet is positively unhappy. To-day when she laughed the gayest it
+was to hide her tears, and no one, not even a thoroughly spoiled
+beauty, could be as wayward as she if there were not some bitter arrow
+rankling in her heart. She was riding down the street on a pillion
+behind her father, and Colonel Schuyler, who had been leaning on the
+gate in front of his house, turned his back upon her and went inside
+when he saw her coming. Was this what made her so white and reckless
+when she came up to where I was standing with Orrin Day, and was it
+her chagrin at the great man's apparent indifference which gave that
+sharp edge to the good-morning with which she rode haughtily away? If
+it was I can forgive you, my lady-bird, for there is reason for your
+folly if I am any judge of my fellow-men. Colonel Schuyler is not
+indifferent but circumspect, and circumspection in a lover is an
+insult to his lady's charms.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She knows now what I knew a week ago. Colonel Schuyler is in love with
+her and will marry her if she does not play the coquette with him. He
+has been to her house and her father already holds his head higher as
+he paces up and down the street. I am left in the lurch, and if I had
+not foreseen this end to my hopes, might have been a very miserable
+man to-night. For I was near obtaining the object of my heart, as I
+know from her own lips, though the words were not intended for my
+ears. You see I was the one who surprised him talking with her in the
+garden. I had been walking around the place on the outer side of the
+wall as I often did from pure love for her, and not knowing she was on
+the other side was very much startled when I heard her voice speaking
+my name; so much startled that I stood still in my astonishment and
+thus heard her say:
+
+"Philo Adams has a little cottage all his own and I can be mistress of
+it any day,--or so he tells me. I had rather go into that little
+cottage where every board I trod on would be my own, than live in the
+grandest room you could give me in a house of which I would not be the
+mistress."
+
+"But if I make a home for you," he pleaded, "grand as my father's, but
+built entirely for you--"
+
+"Ah!" was her soft reply, "that might make me listen to you, for I
+should then think you loved me."
+
+The wall was between us, but I could see her face as she said this as
+plainly as if I had been the fortunate man at her side. And I could
+see his face too, though it was only in fancy I had ever beheld it
+soften as I knew it must be softening now. Silence such as followed
+her words is eloquent, and I feared my own passions too much to linger
+till it should be again broken by vows I had not the courage to hear.
+So I crept away conscious of but one thing, which was that my dream
+was ended, and that my brave apple-tree would never shower its bridal
+blossoms upon the head I love, for whatever threshold she crosses as
+mistress it will not now be that of the little cottage every board of
+which might have been her own.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+If I had doubted the result of the Colonel's offer to Juliet, the news
+which came to me this morning would have convinced me that all was
+well with them and that their marriage was simply a matter of time.
+Ground has been broken in the pleasant opening on the verge of the
+forest, and carts and men hired to bring stone for the fine new
+dwelling Colonel Schuyler proposes to rear for himself. The whole town
+is agog, but I keep the secret I surprised, and only Juliet knows that
+I am no longer deceived as to her feelings, for I did not go to see
+her to-night for the first time since I made up mind that I would have
+her for my wife. I am glad I restrained myself, for Orrin Day, who had
+kept his word valiantly up to this very day, came riding by my house
+furiously a half hour ago, and seeing me, called out:
+
+"Why didn't you tell me she had a new adorer? I went there to-night
+and Colonel Schuyler sat at her side as you and I never sat yet,
+and--and--" he stammered frantically, "_I did not kill him._"
+
+"You--Come back!" I shouted, for he was flying by like the wind. But
+he did not heed me nor stop, but vanished in the thick darkness, while
+the lessening sound of his horse's hoofs rang dismally back from the
+growing distance.
+
+So this man has loved her passionately too, and the house which is
+destined to rise in the woods will throw a shadow over more than one
+hearthstone in this quiet village. I declare I am sorry that Orrin has
+taken it so much to heart, for he has a proud and determined spirit,
+and will not forget his wrongs as soon as it would be wise for him to
+do. Poor, poor Juliet, are you making enemies against your bridal day?
+If so, it behooves me at least to remain your friend.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I saw Orrin again to-day, and he looks like one haunted. He was riding
+as usual, and his cloak flew out behind him as he sped down the street
+and away into the woods. I wonder if she too saw him, from behind her
+lattice. I thought I detected the curtain move as he thundered by her
+gate, but I am so filled with thoughts of her just now that I cannot
+always trust my judgment. I am, however, sure of one thing, and that
+is that if Colonel Schuyler and Orrin meet, there will be trouble.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I never thought Orrin handsome till to-day. He is fair, and I like
+dark men; and he is small, and I admire men of stature. But when I
+came upon him this morning, talking and laughing among a group of lads
+like ourselves, I could not but see that his blue eye shone with a
+fire that made it as brilliant as any dark one could be, and that in
+his manner, verging as it did upon the reckless, there was a spirit
+and force which made him look both dangerous and fascinating. He was
+haranguing them on a question of the day, but when he saw me he
+stepped out of the crowd, and, beckoning me to follow him, led the way
+to a retired spot, where, the instant we were free from watching eyes,
+he turned and said: "You liked her too, Philo Adams. I should have
+been willing if you--" Here he choked and paused. I had never seen a
+face so full of fiery emotions. "No, no, no," he went on, after a
+moment of silent struggle; "I could not have borne it to see any man
+take away what was so precious to me. I--I--I did not know I cared for
+her so much," he now explained, observing my look of surprise. "She
+teased me and put me off, and coquetted with you and Lemuel and
+whoever else happened to be at her side till I grew beside myself and
+left her, as I thought, forever. But there are women you can leave and
+women you cannot, and when I found she teased and fretted me more at a
+distance than when she was under my very eye, I went back only to
+find--Philo, do you think he will marry her?"
+
+I choked down my own emotions and solemnly answered: "Yes, he is
+building her a home. You must have seen the stones that are being
+piled up yonder on the verge of the forest."
+
+He turned, glared at me, made a peculiar sound with his lips, and then
+stood silent, opening and closing his hands in a way that made my
+blood run chill in spite of myself.
+
+"A house!" he murmured, at last; "I wish I had the building of that
+house!"
+
+The tone, the look he gave, alarmed me still further.
+
+"You would build it well!" I cried. It was his trade, the building of
+houses.
+
+"I would build it slowly," was his ominous answer.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Juliet certainly likes me, and trusts me, I think, more than any other
+of the young men who used to go a-courting her. I have seen it for
+some time in the looks she has now and then given me across the
+meeting-house during the long sermon on Sunday mornings, but to-day I
+am sure of it. For she has spoken to me, and asked me--But let me
+tell you how it was: We were all standing under Ralph Urphistone's big
+tree, looking at his little one toddling over the grass after a ball
+one of the lads had thrown after her, when I felt the slightest touch
+on my arm, and, glancing round, saw Juliet.
+
+She was standing beside her father, and if ever she looked pretty it
+was just then, for the day was warm and she had taken off her great
+hat so that the curls flew freely around her face that was dimpled and
+flushed with some feeling which did not allow her to lift her eyes.
+Had she touched me? I thought so, and yet I did not dare to take it
+for granted, for Colonel Schuyler was standing on the edge of the
+crowd, frowning in some displeasure at the bare head of his provoking
+little betrothed, and when Colonel Schuyler frowns there is no man of
+us but Orrin who would dare approach the object of his preference,
+much less address her, except in the coldest courtesy.
+
+But I was sure she had something to say to me, so I lingered under the
+tree till the crowd had all dispersed and Colonel Schuyler, drawn away
+by her father, had left us for a moment face to face. Then I saw I was
+right.
+
+"Philo," she murmured, and oh, how her face changed! "you are my
+friend, I know you are my friend, because you alone out of them all
+have never given me sharp words; will you, will you do something for
+me which will make me less miserable, something which may prevent
+wrong and trouble, and keep Orrin--"
+
+Orrin? did she call him Orrin?
+
+"Oh," she cried, "you have no sympathy. You--"
+
+"Hush!" I entreated. "You have not treated me well, but I am always
+your friend. What do you want me to do?"
+
+She trembled, glanced around her in the pleasant sunshine, and then up
+into my face.
+
+"I want you," she murmured, "to keep Orrin and Colonel Schuyler apart.
+You are Orrin's friend; stay with him, keep by him, do not let him run
+alone upon his enemy, for--for there is danger in their
+meeting--and--and--"
+
+She could not say more, for just then her father and the Colonel came
+back, and she had barely time to call up her dimples and toss her head
+in merry banter before they were at her side.
+
+As for myself, I stood dazed and confused, feeling that my six feet
+made me too conspicuous, and longing in a vague and futile way to let
+her know without words that I would do what she asked.
+
+And I think I did accomplish it, though I said nothing to her and but
+little to her companions. For when we parted I took the street which
+leads directly to Orrin's house; and when Colonel Schuyler queried in
+his soft and gentlemanlike way why I left them so soon, I managed to
+reply:
+
+"My road lies here"; and so left them.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have not told Orrin what she said, but I am rarely away from his
+vicinity now, during those hours when he is free to come and go about
+the village. I think he wonders at my persistent friendship,
+sometimes, but he says nothing, and is not even disagreeable to--_me_.
+So I share his pleasures, if they are pleasures, expecting every day
+to see him run across the Colonel in the tavern or on the green; but
+he never does, perhaps because the Colonel is always with her now, and
+we are not nor are ever likely to be again.
+
+Do I understand her, or do I understand Orrin, or do I even understand
+myself? No, but I understand my duty, and that is enough, though it is
+sometimes hard to do it, and I would rather be where I could forget,
+instead of being where I am forced continually to remember.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Am I always with Orrin when he is not at work or asleep? I begin to
+doubt it. There are times when there is such a change in him that I
+feel sure he has been near her, or at least seen her, but where or
+how, I do not know and cannot even suspect. He never speaks of her,
+not now, but he watches the house slowly rising in the forest, as if
+he would lay a spell upon it. Not that he visits it by daylight, or
+mingles with the men who are busy laying stone upon stone; no, no, he
+goes to it at night, goes when the moon and stars alone shed light
+upon its growing proportions; and standing before it, seems to count
+each stone which has been added through the day, as if he were
+reckoning up the months yet remaining to him of life and happiness.
+
+I never speak to him during these expeditions. I go with him because
+he does not forbid me to do so, but we never exchange a word till we
+have left the forest behind us and stand again within the village
+streets. If I did speak I might learn something of what is going on in
+his bitter and burning heart, but I never have the courage to do so,
+perhaps because I had rather not know what he plans or purposes.
+
+She is not as daintily rounded as she was once. Her cheek is thinner,
+and there is a tremulous move to her lip I never saw in it in the old
+coquettish days. Is she not happy in her betrothal, or are her fears
+of Orrin greater than her confidence in me? It must be the latter, for
+Colonel Schuyler is a lover in a thousand, and scarcely a day passes
+without some new evidence of his passionate devotion. She ought to be
+happy, if she is not, and I am sure there is not another woman in town
+but would feel herself the most favored of her sex if she had the half
+of Juliet's prospects before her. But Juliet was ever wayward; and
+simply because she ought to increase in beauty and joy, she pales and
+pines and gets delicate, and makes the hearts of her lovers grow mad
+with fear and longing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where have I been? What have I seen, and what do the events of this
+night portend? As Orrin and myself were returning from our usual visit
+to the house in the woods--it is well up now, and its huge empty
+square looms weirdly enough in the moonlighted forest,--we came out
+upon the churchyard in front of the meeting-house, and Orrin said:
+
+"You may come with me or not, I do not care; but I am going in amongst
+these graves. I feel like holding companionship with dead people
+to-night."
+
+"Then so do I," said I, for I was not deceived by his words. It was
+not to hold companionship with the dead, but with the living, that he
+chose to linger there. The churchyard is in a direct line with her
+house, and, sitting on the meeting-house steps one can get a very good
+view of the windows of her room.
+
+"Very well," he sighed, and disdained to say more.
+
+As for myself, I felt too keenly the weirdness of the whole situation
+to do more than lean my back against a tree and wait till his fancy
+wearied of the moonlight and silence. The stones about us, glooming
+darkly through the night, were not the most cheerful of companions,
+and when you add to this the soughing of the willows and the
+flickering shadows which rose and fell over the face of the
+meeting-house as the branches moved in the wind, you can understand
+why I rather regretted the hitherto gloomy enough hour we were
+accustomed to spend in the forest.
+
+But Orrin seemed to regret nothing. He had seated himself where I knew
+he would, on the steps of the meeting-house, and was gazing, with chin
+sunk in his two hands, down the street where Juliet dwelt. I do not
+think he expected anything to happen; I think he was only reckless and
+sick with a longing he had not the power to repress, and I watched him
+as long as I could for my own inner sickness and longing, and when I
+could watch no longer I turned to the gnomish gravestones that were no
+more motionless or silent than he.
+
+Suddenly I felt myself shiver and start, and, turning, beheld him
+standing erect, a black shadow against the moonlighted wall behind
+him. He was still gazing down the street but no longer in apathetic
+despair, but with quivering emotion visible in every line of his
+trembling form. Reaching his side, I looked where he looked, and saw
+Juliet--it must have been Juliet to arouse him so,--standing with some
+companion at the gate in the wall that opens upon the street. The
+next moment she and the person with her stepped into the street, and,
+almost before we realized it, they began to move towards us, as if
+drawn by some power in Orrin or myself, straight, straight to this
+abode of death and cold moonbeams.
+
+It was not late, but the streets were otherwise deserted, and we four
+seemed to be alone in the whole world. Breathing with Orrin and almost
+clasping his hand in my oneness with him, I watched and watched the
+gliding approach of the two lovers, and knew not whether to be
+startled or satisfied when I saw them cross to the churchyard and
+enter where we had entered ourselves so short a time before. For us
+all to meet, and meet here, seemed suddenly strangely natural, and I
+hardly knew what Orrin meant when he grasped me forcibly by the arm
+and drew me aside into the darkest of the dark shadows which lay in
+the churchyard's farthest corner.
+
+Not till I perceived Juliet and the Colonel halt in the moonlight did
+I realize that we were nothing to them, and that it was not our
+influence but some purpose or passion of their own which had led them
+to this gruesome spot.
+
+The place where they had chosen to pause was at the grave of old
+Patience Goodyear, and from the corner where we stood we could see
+their faces plainly as they turned and looked at each other with the
+moonbeams pouring over them. Was it fancy that made her look like a
+wraith, and he like some handsome demon given to haunting churchyards?
+Or was it only the sternness of his air, and the shrinking timidity of
+hers, which made him look so dark and she so pallid.
+
+Orrin, who stood so close to me that I could hear his heart beat as
+loudly as my own, had evidently asked himself the same question, for
+his hand closed spasmodically on mine, as the Colonel opened his lips,
+and neither of us dared so much as to breathe lest we should lose what
+the lovers had to say.
+
+But the Colonel spoke clearly, if low, and neither of us could fail to
+hear him as he said:
+
+"I have brought you here, Juliet mine, because I want to hear you
+swear amongst the graves that you will be no man's wife but mine."
+
+"But have I not already promised?" she protested, with a gentle uplift
+of her head inexpressibly touching in one who had once queened it over
+hearts so merrily.
+
+"Yes, you have promised, but I am not satisfied. I want you to swear.
+I want to feel that you are as much mine as if we had stood at the
+altar together. Otherwise how can I go away? How can I leave you,
+knowing there are three men at least in this town who would marry you
+at a day's notice, if you gave them full leave. I love you, and I
+would marry you to-night, but you want a home of your own. Swear that
+you will be my wife when that home is ready, and I will go away happy.
+Otherwise I shall have to stay with you, Juliet, for you are more to
+me than renown, or advancement, or anything else in all God's world."
+
+"I do not like the graves; I do not want to stay here, it is so late,
+so dark," she moaned.
+
+"Then swear! Lay your hand on Mother Patience's tombstone, and say, 'I
+will be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house is finished which
+you are building in the woods'; and I will carry you back in my arms
+as I carry you always in my heart."
+
+But though Orrin clinched my arm in apprehension of her answer, and we
+stood like two listening statues, no words issued from her lips, and
+the silence grew appalling.
+
+"Swear!" seemed to come from the tombs; but whether it was my emotion
+that made it seem so, or whether it was Orrin who threw his voice
+there, I did not know then and I do not know now. But that the word
+did not come from the Colonel was evident from the startled look he
+cast about him and from the thrill which all at once passed over her
+form from her shrouded head to her hidden feet.
+
+"Do the heavens bid me?" she murmured, and laid her hand without
+hesitation on the stone before her, saying, "I swear by the dead that
+surround us to be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house you are
+building for me in the woods is completed." And so pleased was he at
+the readiness with which she spoke that he seemed to forget what had
+caused it, and caught her in his arms as if she had been a child, and
+so bore her away from before our eyes, while the man at my side
+fought and struggled with himself to keep down the wrath and jealousy
+which such a sight as this might well provoke in one even less
+passionate and intemperate than himself.
+
+When the one shadow which they now made had dissolved again into two,
+and only Orrin and myself were left in that ghostly churchyard, I
+declared with a courage I had never before shown:
+
+"So that is settled, Orrin. She will marry the Colonel, and you and I
+are wasting time in these gloomy walks."
+
+To which, to my astonishment, he made this simple reply, "Yes, we are
+wasting time"; and straightway turned and left the churchyard with a
+quick step that seemed to tell of some new and fixed resolve.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has been gone a week, and to-night I summoned up
+courage to call on Juliet's father. I had no longer any right to call
+upon _her_; but who shall say I may not call on him if he chooses to
+welcome me and lose his time on my account. The reason for my going
+is not far to seek. Orrin has been there, and Orrin cannot be trusted
+in her presence alone. Though he seems to have accepted his fate, he
+is restless, and keeps his eye on the ground in a brooding way I do
+not comprehend and do not altogether like. Why should he think so
+much, and why should he go to her house when he knows the sight of her
+is inflaming to his heart and death to his self-control?
+
+Juliet's father is a simple, proud old man who makes no attempt to
+hide his satisfaction at his daughter's brilliant prospects. He talked
+mainly of _the house_, and if he honored Orrin with half as much of
+his confidence on that subject as he did me, then Orrin must know many
+particulars about its structure of which the public are generally
+ignorant. Juliet was not to be seen--that is, during the first part of
+the evening, but towards its close she came into the room and showed
+me that same confiding courtesy which I have noticed in her ever since
+I ceased to be an aspirant for her hand. She was not so pale as on
+that weird night when I saw her in the churchyard, and I thought her
+step had a light spring in it which spoke of hope. She wore a gown
+which was coquettishly simple, and the fresh flower clinging to her
+bosom breathed a fragrance that might have intoxicated a man less
+determined to be her friend. Her father saw us meet without any
+evident anxiety; and if he was as complacent to Orrin when he was
+here, then Orrin had a chance to touch her hand.
+
+But was he as complacent to Orrin? That I could not find out. I am
+only sure that I will be made welcome there again _if_ I confine my
+visits to the father and do not seek anything more from Juliet than
+that simple touch of her hand.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin has not repeated his visit, but I have repeated mine. Why?
+Because I am uneasy. Colonel Schuyler's house does not progress, and
+whether there is any connection between this fact and that of Orrin's
+sudden interest in the sawmills and quarries about here, I cannot
+tell, but doubts of his loyalty will rise through all my friendship
+for him, and I cannot keep away from Juliet any longer.
+
+Does Juliet care for Colonel Schuyler? I have sometimes thought no,
+and I have oftener thought yes. At all events she trembles when she
+speaks of him, and shows emotion of no slight order when a letter of
+his is suddenly put in her hand. I wish I could read her pretty,
+changeful face more readily. It would be a comfort for me to know that
+she saw her own way clearly, and was not disturbed by Orrin's comings
+and goings. For Orrin is not a safe man, I fear, and a faith once
+pledged to Colonel Schuyler should be kept.
+
+I do not think Juliet understands just how great a man Colonel
+Schuyler promises to be. When her father told me to-night that his
+daughter's betrothed had been charged with some very important
+business for the Government, her pretty lip pouted like a child's. Yet
+she flushed, and for a minute looked pleased when I said, "That is a
+road which leads to Washington. We shall hear of you yet as being
+presented at the White House."
+
+I think her father anticipates the same. For he told me a few minutes
+later that he had sent for tutors to teach his daughter music and the
+languages. And I noticed that at this she pouted again, and indeed
+bore herself in a way which promised less for her future learning than
+for that influence which breathes from gleaming eyes and witching
+smiles. Ah, I fear she is a frivolous fairy, but how pretty she is,
+and how dangerously captivating to a man who has once allowed himself
+to study her changes of feeling and countenance. When I came away I
+felt that I had gained nothing, and lost--what? Some of the
+complacency of spirit which I had acquired after much struggle and
+stern determination.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has not yet returned, and now Orrin has gone away.
+Indeed, no one knows where to find him nowadays, for he is here and
+there on his great white horse, riding off one day and coming back the
+next, ever busy, and, strange to say, always cheerful. He is making
+money, I hear, buying up timber and then selling it to builders, but
+he does not sell to one builder, whose house seems to suffer in
+consequence. Where is the Colonel, and why does he not come home and
+look after his own?
+
+I have learned her secret at last, and in a strange enough way. I was
+waiting for her father in his own little room, and as he did not come
+as soon as I anticipated, I let my secret despondency have its way for
+a moment, and sat leaning forward, with my head buried in my hands. My
+face was to the fire and my back to the door, and for some reason I
+did not hear it open, and was only aware of the presence of another
+person in the room by the sound of a little gasp behind me, which was
+choked back as soon as it was uttered. Feeling that this could come
+from no one but Juliet, I for some reason hard to fathom sat still,
+and the next moment became conscious of a touch soft as a rose-leaf
+settle on my hair, and springing up, caught the hand which had given
+it, and holding it firmly in mine, gave her one look which made her
+chin fall slowly on her breast and her eyes seek the ground in the
+wildest distress and confusion.
+
+"Juliet--" I began.
+
+But she broke in with a passion too impetuous to be restrained:
+
+"Do not--do not think I knew or realized what I was doing. It was
+because your head looked so much like his as you sat leaning forward
+in the firelight that I--I allowed myself one little touch just for
+the heart's ease it must bring. I--I am so lonesome, Philo,
+and--and--"
+
+I dropped her hand. I understood the whole secret now. My hair is
+blonde like Orrin's, and her feelings stood confessed, never more to
+be mistaken by me.
+
+"You love Orrin!" I gasped; "you who are pledged to Colonel Schuyler!"
+
+"I love Orrin," she whispered, "and I am pledged to Colonel Schuyler.
+But you will never betray me," she said.
+
+"I betray you?" I cried, and if some of the bitterness of my own
+disappointed hopes crept into my tones, she did not seem to note it,
+for she came quite close to my side and looked up into my face in a
+way that almost made me forget her perfidy and her folly. "Juliet," I
+went on, for I felt never more strongly than at this moment that I
+should act a brother's part towards her, "I could never find it in my
+heart to betray you, but are you sure that you are doing wisely to
+betray the Colonel for a man no better than Orrin. I--I know you do
+not want to hear me say this, for if you care for him you must think
+him good and noble, but Juliet, I know him and I know the Colonel, and
+he is no more to be compared with the man you are betrothed to
+than--"
+
+"Hush!" she cried, almost commandingly, and the airy, dainty, dimpled
+creature whom I knew seemed to grow in stature and become a woman, in
+her indignation; "you do not know Orrin and you do not know the
+Colonel. You shall not draw comparisons between them. I will have you
+think of Orrin only, as I do, day and night, ever and always."
+
+"But," I exclaimed, aghast, "if you love him so and despise the
+Colonel, why do you not break your troth with the latter?"
+
+"Because," she murmured, with white cheeks and a wandering gaze, "I
+have sworn to marry the Colonel, and I dare not break my oath. Sworn
+to be his wife when the house he is building is complete; and the oath
+was on the graves of the dead; _on the graves of the dead!_" she
+repeated.
+
+"But," I said, without any intimation of having heard that oath, "you
+are breaking that oath in private with every thought you give to
+Orrin. Either complete your perjury by disowning the Colonel
+altogether, or else give up Orrin. You cannot cling to both without
+dishonor; does not your father tell you so?"
+
+"My father--oh, he does not know; no one knows but you. My father
+likes the Colonel; I would never think of telling him."
+
+"Juliet," I declared solemnly, "you are on dangerous ground. Think
+what you are doing before it is too late. The Colonel is not a man to
+be trifled with."
+
+"I know it," she murmured, "I know it," and would not say another word
+or let me.
+
+And so the burden of this new apprehension is laid upon me; for
+happiness cannot come out of this complication.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where is Orrin, and what is he doing that he stays so much from home?
+If it were not for the intent and preoccupied look which he wears when
+I do see him, I should think that he was absenting himself for the
+purpose of wearing out his unhappy passion. But the short glimpses I
+have had of him as he has ridden busily through the town have left me
+with no such hope, and I wait with feverish impatience for some fierce
+action on his part, or what would be better, the Colonel's return. And
+the Colonel must come back soon, for nothing goes well in a long
+absence, and his house is almost at a standstill.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Colonel Schuyler has come and, I hear, is storming angrily over the
+mishaps that have delayed the progress of his new dwelling. He says he
+will not go away again till it is completed, and has been riding all
+the morning in every direction, engaging new men to aid the dilatory
+workmen already employed. Does Orrin know this? I will go down to his
+house and see.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now I know _Orrin's_ secret. He was not at home, of course, and
+being determined to get at the truth of his mysterious absences, I
+mounted a horse of my own and rode off to find him.
+
+Why I took this upon myself, or whether I had the right to do it, I
+have not stopped to ask. I went in the direction he had last gone, and
+after I had ridden through two villages I heard of him as having
+passed still farther east some two hours before.
+
+Not in the least deterred, I hurried on, and having threaded a thicket
+and forded a stream, I came upon a beautiful open country wholly new
+to me, where, on the verge of a pleasant glade and in full view of a
+most picturesque line of hills, I saw shining the fresh boards of a
+new cottage. Instantly the thought struck me, "It is Orrin's, and he
+is building it for Juliet," and filled with a confusion of emotions, I
+spurred on my horse, and soon drew up before it.
+
+Orrin was standing, pale and defiant, in the doorway, and as I met his
+eye, I noticed, with a sick feeling of contempt, that he swung the
+whip he was holding smartly against his leg in what looked like a very
+threatening manner.
+
+"Good-evening, Orrin," I cried. "You have a very pleasant site
+here--preferable to the Colonel's, I should say."
+
+"What has the Colonel to do with me?" was his fierce reply, and he
+turned as if about to go into the house.
+
+"Only this," I calmly answered; "I think he will get his house done
+first."
+
+He wheeled and faced me, and his eye which had looked simply sullen
+shot a fierce and dangerous gleam.
+
+"What makes you think that?" he cried.
+
+"He has come back, and to-day engaged twenty extra men to push on the
+work."
+
+"Indeed!" and there was contempt in his tone. "Well, I wish him joy
+and a sound roof!"
+
+And this time he did go into the house.
+
+As he had not asked me to follow, I of course had no alternative but
+to ride on. As I did so, I took another look at the house and saw with
+a strange pang at the heart that the plastering was on the walls and
+the windows ready for glazing. "I was wrong," said I to myself; "it is
+Orrin's house which will be finished first."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And what if it is? Will she turn her back upon the Colonel's lofty
+structure and take refuge in this cottage remote from the world? I
+cannot believe it, knowing how she loves show and the smiles and
+gallantries of men. And yet--and yet, she is so capricious and Orrin
+so determined that I do not know what to think or what to fear, and I
+ride back with a heavy heart, wishing she had never come up from the
+farm to worry and inflame the souls of honest men.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+And now the Colonel's work goes on apace, and the whole town is filled
+with the noise and bustle of lumbering carts and eager workmen. The
+roof which Orrin so bitterly wished might be a sound one has been
+shingled; and under the Colonel's eye and the Colonel's constant
+encouragement, part after part of the new building is being fitted to
+its place with a precision and despatch that to many minds promise the
+near dawning of Juliet's wedding-day. But I know that afar in the east
+another home is nearer completion than this, and whether she knows it
+too or does not know it (which is just as probable), her wilful,
+sportive, and butterfly nature seems to be preparing itself for a
+struggle which may rend if not destroy its airy and delicate wings.
+
+I have prepared myself too, and being still and always her friend, I
+stand ready to mediate or assist, as opportunity offers or
+circumstances demand. She realizes this, and leans on me in her secret
+hours of fear, or why does her face brighten when she sees me, and her
+little hand thrust itself confidingly forth from under its shrouding
+mantle and grasp mine with such a lingering and entreating pressure?
+And the Colonel? Does he realize, too, that I am any more to her than
+her other cast-off lovers and would-be friends? Sometimes I think he
+does, and eyes me with suspicion. But he is ever so courteous that I
+cannot be sure, and so do not trouble myself in regard to a jealousy
+so illy founded and so easily dispelled.
+
+He is always at Juliet's side and seems to surround her with a
+devotion which will make it very difficult for any other man, even
+Orrin, to get her ear.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The crisis is approaching. Orrin is again in town, and may be seen
+riding up and down the streets in his holiday clothes. Have some
+whispers of his secret love and evident intentions reached the ear of
+the Colonel? Or is Juliet's father alone concerned? For I see that the
+blinds of her lattice are tightly shut, and watch as I may, I cannot
+catch a glimpse of her eager head peering between them at the
+flaunting horseman as he goes careering by.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The hour has come and how different is the outcome from any I had
+imagined. I was sitting last night in my own lonely little room, which
+opens directly on the street, struggling as best I might against the
+distraction of my thoughts which would lead me from the book I was
+studying, when a knock on the panels of my door aroused me, and almost
+before I could look up, that same door swung open and a dark form
+entered and stood before me.
+
+For a moment I was too dazed to see who it was, and rising
+ceremoniously, I made my bow of welcome, starting a little as I met
+the Colonel's dark eyes looking at me from the folds of the huge
+mantle in which he had wrapped himself. "Your worship?" I began, and
+stumbling awkwardly, offered him a chair which he refused with a
+gesture of his smooth white hand.
+
+"Thank you, no," said he, "I do not sit down in your house till I know
+if it is you who have stolen the heart of my bride away from me and if
+it is you with whom she is prepared to flee."
+
+"Ah," was my involuntary exclamation, "then it has come. You know her
+folly, and will forgive it because she is such a child."
+
+"Her folly? Are you not then the man?" he cried; but in a subdued tone
+which showed what a restraint he was putting upon himself even in the
+moment of such accumulated emotions.
+
+"No," said I; "if your bride meditates flight, it is not with me she
+means to go. I am her friend, and the man who would take her from you
+is not. I can say no more, Colonel Schuyler."
+
+He eyed me for a moment with a deep and searching gaze which showed me
+that his intellect was not asleep though his heart was on fire.
+
+"I believe you," said he; and threw aside his cloak and sat down. "And
+now," he asked, "who is the man?"
+
+Taken by surprise, I stammered and uttered some faint disclaimer; but
+seeing by his steady look and firm-set jaw that he meant to know, and
+detecting as I also thought in his general manner and subdued tones
+the promise of an unexpected forbearance, I added impulsively:
+
+"Let the wayward girl tell you herself; perhaps in the telling she
+will grow ashamed of her caprice."
+
+"I have asked her," was the stern reply, "and she is dumb." Then in
+softer tones he added: "How can I do anything for her if she will not
+confide in me. She has treated me most ungratefully, but I mean to be
+kind to her. Only I must first know if she has chosen worthily."
+
+"Who is there of worth in town?" I asked, softened and fascinated by
+his manner. "There is no man equal to yourself."
+
+"You say so," he cried, and waved his hand impatiently. Then with a
+deep and thrilling intensity which I feel yet, he repeated, "His name,
+his name? Tell me his name."
+
+The Colonel is a man of power, accustomed to control men. I could not
+withstand his look or be unmoved by his tones. If he meant well to
+Orrin and to her, what was I that I should withhold Orrin's name.
+Falteringly I was about to speak it when a sudden sound struck my
+ears, and rising impetuously I drew him to the window, blowing out the
+candles as I passed them.
+
+"Hark!" I cried, as the rush of pounding hoofs was heard on the road,
+and "Look!" I added, as a sudden figure swept by on the panting white
+horse so well known by all in that town.
+
+"Is it he?" whispered the dark figure at my side as we both strained
+our eyes after Orrin's fast vanishing form.
+
+"You have seen him," I returned; and drawing him back from the window,
+I closed the shutters with care, lest Orrin should be seized with a
+freak to return and detect me in conference with his heart's dearest
+enemy.
+
+Silence and darkness were now about us, and the Colonel, as if anxious
+to avail himself of the surrounding gloom, caught my arm as I moved to
+relight the candles.
+
+"Wait," said he; and I understood and stopped still.
+
+And so we stood for a moment, he quiet as a carven statue and I
+restless but obedient to his wishes. When he stirred I carefully lit
+the candles, but I did not look at him till he had donned his cloak
+and pulled his hat well over his eyes. Then I turned, and eying him
+earnestly, said:
+
+"If I have made a mistake--"
+
+But he quickly interrupted me, averring:
+
+"You have made no mistake. You are a good lad, Philo, and if it had
+been you--" He did not say what he would have done, but left the
+sentence incomplete and went on: "I know nothing of this Orrin Day,
+but what a woman wills she must have. Will you bring this fellow--he
+is your friend is he not?--to Juliet's house in the morning? Her
+father is set on her being the mistress of the new stone house and we
+three will have to reason with him, do you see?"
+
+Astonished, I bowed with something like awe. Was he so great-hearted
+as this? Did he intend to give up his betrothed to the man whom she
+loved, and even to plead her cause with the father she feared? My
+admiration would have its vent, and I uttered some foolish words of
+sympathy, which he took with the stately, rather condescending grace
+which they perhaps merited; after which, he added again: "You will
+come, will you not?" and bowed kindly and retreated towards the door,
+while I, abashed and worshipful, followed with protestations that
+nothing should hinder me from doing his will, till he had passed
+through the doorway and vanished from my sight.
+
+And yet I do not want to do his will or take Orrin to that house. I
+might have borne with sad equanimity to see her married to the
+Colonel, for he is far above me, but to Orrin--ah, that is a bitter
+outlook, and I must have been a fool to have promised aught that will
+help to bring it about. Still, am I not her sworn friend, and if she
+thinks she can be happy with him, ought I not to do my share towards
+making her so?
+
+I wonder if the Colonel knows that Orrin too has been building himself
+a house?
+
+I did not sleep last night, and I have not eaten this morning.
+Thoughts robbed me of sleep, and a visit from Orrin effectually took
+away from me whatever appetite I might have had. He came in almost at
+daybreak. He looked dishevelled and wild, and spoke like a man who had
+stopped more than once at the tavern.
+
+"Philo," said he, "you have annoyed me by your curiosity for more than
+a year; now you can do me a favor. Will you call at Juliet's house and
+see if she is free to go and come as she was a week ago?"
+
+"Why?" I asked, thinking I perceived a reason for his bloodshot eye,
+and yet being for the moment too wary, perhaps too ungenerous, to
+relieve him from the tension of his uncertainty.
+
+"Why?" he repeated. "Must you know all that goes on in my mind, and
+cannot I keep one secret to myself?"
+
+"You ask me to do you a favor," I quietly returned. "In order to do it
+intelligently, I must know why it is asked."
+
+"I do not see that," objected Orrin, "and if you were not such a boy
+I'd leave you on the spot and do the errand myself. But you mean no
+harm, and so I will tell you that Juliet and I had planned to run away
+together last night, but though I was at the place of meeting, she did
+not come, nor has she made any sign to show me why she failed me."
+
+"Orrin," I began, but he stopped me with an oath.
+
+"No sermons," he protested. "I know what you would have done if
+instead of smiling on me she had chanced to give all her poor little
+heart to you."
+
+"I should not have tempted her to betray the Colonel," I exclaimed
+hotly, perhaps because the sudden picture he presented to my
+imagination awoke within me such a torrent of unsuspected emotions.
+"Nor should I have urged her to fly with me by night and in stealth."
+
+"You do not know what you would do," was his rude and impatient
+rejoinder. "Had she looked at you, with tears in her arch yet pathetic
+blue eyes, and listened while you poured out your soul, as if heaven
+were opening before her and she had no other thought in life but you,
+then--"
+
+"Hush!" I cried, "do you want me to go to her house for you, or do you
+want me to stay away?"
+
+"You know I want you to go."
+
+"Then be still, and listen to what I have to say. I will go, but you
+must go too. If you want to take Juliet away from the Colonel you must
+do it openly. I will not abet you, nor will I encourage any
+underhanded proceedings."
+
+"You are a courageous lad," he said, "in other men's affairs. Will you
+raise me a tomb if the Colonel runs me through with his sword?"
+
+"I at least should not feel the contempt for you which I should if you
+eloped with her behind his back."
+
+"Now you are courageous on your own behalf," laughed he, "and that is
+better and more to the point." Yet he looked as if he could easily
+spit me on his own sword, which I noticed was dangling at his heels.
+
+"Will you come?" I urged, determined not to conciliate or enlighten
+him even if my forbearance cost me my life.
+
+He hesitated, and then broke into a hoarse laugh. "I have drunk just
+enough to be reckless," said he; "yes, I will go; and the devil must
+answer for the result."
+
+I had never seen him look so little the gentleman, and perhaps it was
+on this very account I became suddenly quite eager to take him at his
+word before time and thought should give him an opportunity to become
+more like himself; for I could not but think that if she saw him in
+this condition she must make comparisons between him and the Colonel
+which could not but be favorable to the latter. But it was still quite
+early, and I dared not run the risk of displeasing the Colonel by
+anticipating his presence, so I urged Orrin into that little back
+parlor of mine, where I had once hoped to see a very different person
+installed, and putting wine and biscuits before him, bade him refresh
+himself while I prepared myself for appearing before the ladies.
+
+When the hour came for us to go I went to him. He was pacing the floor
+and trying to school himself into patience, but he made but a sorry
+figure, and I felt a twinge of conscience as he thrust on his hat
+without any attempt to smooth his dishevelled locks, or rearrange his
+disordered ruffles. Should I permit him to go thus disordered, or
+should I detain him long enough to fit him for the eye of the dainty
+Juliet? He answered the question himself. "Come," said he, "I have
+chewed my sleeve long enough in suspense. Let us go and have an end of
+it. If she is to be my wife she must leave the house with me to-day,
+if not, I have an hour's work before me down yonder," and he pointed
+in the direction of his new house. "When you see the sky red at
+noonday, you will know what that is."
+
+"Orrin!" I cried, and for the first time I seized his arm with
+something like a fellow-feeling.
+
+But he shook me off.
+
+"Don't interfere with me," he said, and strode on, sullen and fierce,
+towards the place where such a different greeting awaited him from any
+that he feared.
+
+Ought I to tell him this? Ought I to say: "Your sullenness is uncalled
+for and your fierceness misplaced; Juliet is constant, and the Colonel
+means you nothing but good"? Perhaps; and perhaps, too, I should be a
+saint and know nothing of earthly passions and jealousies. But I am
+not. I hate this Orrin, hate him more and more as every step brings
+us nearer to Juliet's house and the fate awaiting him from her
+weakness and the Colonel's generosity. So I hold my peace and we come
+to her gate, and the recklessness that has brought him thus far
+abandons him on the instant and he falls back and lets me go in
+several steps before him, so that I seem to be alone when I enter the
+house, and Juliet, who is standing in the parlor between the Colonel
+and her father, starts when she sees me, and breaking into sobs,
+cries:
+
+"Oh, Philo, Philo, tell my father there is nothing between us but what
+is friendly and honorable; that I--I--"
+
+"Hush!" commanded that father, while I stared at the Colonel, whose
+quiet, imperturbable face was for the first time such a riddle to me
+that I hardly heeded what the elder man said. "You have talked enough,
+Juliet, and denied enough. I will now speak to Mr. Adams and see what
+he has to say. Last night my daughter, who, as all the town knows, is
+betrothed to this gentleman"--and he waved his hand deferentially
+towards the Colonel--"was detected by me stealing out of the garden
+gate with a little packet on her arm. As my daughter never goes out
+alone, I was naturally startled, and presuming upon my rights as her
+father, naturally asked her where she was going. This question, simple
+as it was, seemed to both terrify and unnerve her. Stumbling back, she
+looked me wildly in the eye and answered, with an effrontery she had
+never shown me before, that she was flying to escape a hated marriage.
+That Colonel Schuyler had returned, and as she could not be his wife,
+she was going to her aunt's house, where she could live in peace
+without being forced upon a man she could not love. Amazed, for I had
+always supposed her duly sensible of the honor which had been shown
+her by this gentleman's attentions, I drew her into my study and
+there, pulling off the cloak which she held tightly drawn about her, I
+discovered that she was tricked out like a bride, and had a whole
+bunch of garden roses fastened in her breast. 'A pretty figure,' cried
+I, 'for travelling. You are going away with some man, and it is a
+runaway match I have interrupted.' She could not deny it, and just
+then the Colonel came in and--but we will not talk about that. It
+remained for us to find out the man who had led her to forget her
+duty, and I could think of no man but you. So I ask you now before my
+trembling daughter and this outraged gentleman if you are the
+villain."
+
+But here Colonel Schuyler spoke up quietly and without visible anger:
+"I was about to say when this gentleman's entrance interrupted my
+words that I had been convinced overnight that our first suspicions
+were false, and that Mr. Adams was, as your daughter persists in
+declaring, simply a somewhat zealous friend."
+
+"But," hastily vociferated the old man, "there has been no one else
+about my daughter for months. If Mr. Adams is not to blame for this
+attempted escapade, who is? I should like to see the man, and see him
+standing just there."
+
+"Then look and tell me what you think of him," came with an insolent
+fierceness from the doorway, and Orrin, booted and spurred, with mud
+on his holiday hose, and his hat still on his head, strode into our
+midst and confronted us all with an air of such haughty defiance that
+it half robbed him of his ruffianly appearance.
+
+Juliet shrieked and stepped back, fascinated and terrified. The
+Colonel frowned darkly, and the old man, who had seemed by his words
+to summon him before us, quailed at the effect of his words and stood
+looking from the well-known but unexpected figure thus introduced
+amongst us, to the Colonel who persistently avoided his gaze, till the
+situation became unbearable, and I turned about as if to go.
+
+Instantly the Colonel took advantage of the break and spoke to Orrin:
+"And so it is to you, sir, that I have to address the few words I have
+to say?"
+
+"Yes, to him and to me!" cried little Juliet, and gliding from between
+the two natural protectors of her girlhood she crossed the floor and
+stood by Orrin's side.
+
+This action, so unexpected and yet so natural, took away whatever
+restraint we had hitherto placed upon ourselves, and the Colonel
+looked for a moment as if his self-control would abandon him entirely
+and leave him a prey to man's fiercest and most terrible passions. But
+he has a strong soul, and before I could take a step to interpose
+myself between him and Juliet, his face had recovered its steady
+aspect and his hands ceased from their ominous trembling. Her father,
+on the contrary, seemed to grow more ireful with every instant that he
+saw her thus defiant of his authority, while Orrin, pleased with her
+courage and touched, I have no doubt, by the loving confidence of her
+pleading eyes, threw his arm about her with a gesture of pride which
+made one forget still more his disordered and dishevelled condition.
+
+I said nothing, but I did not leave the room.
+
+"Juliet!"--the words came huskily from the angry father's lips, "come
+from that man's embrace, and do not make me shudder that I ever
+welcomed the Colonel to my dishonored house."
+
+But the Colonel, putting out his hand, said calmly:
+
+"Let her stay; since she has chosen this very honorable gentleman to
+be her husband, where better could she stand than by his side?"
+
+Then forcing himself still more to seem impassive, he bowed to Orrin,
+and with great suavity remarked: "If she had chosen me to that honor,
+as I had every reason to believe she had, it would not have been many
+more weeks before I should have welcomed her into a home befitting
+her beauty and her ambition. May I ask if you can do as much for her?
+Have you a home for your bride in which I may look forward to paying
+her the respects which my humble duty to her demands?"
+
+Ah then, Orrin towered proudly, and the pretty Juliet smiled with
+something of her old archness.
+
+"Saddle your horse," cried the young lover, "and ride to the east. If
+you do not find a wee, fresh nest there, I am no prophet. What! steal
+a wife and not have a home to put her in!"
+
+And he laughed till the huge brown rafters above his head seemed to
+tremble, so blithe did he feel, and so full of pride at thus daring
+the one great man in the town.
+
+But the Colonel did not laugh, nor did he immediately answer. He had
+evidently not heard of the little cottage beyond both thicket and
+stream, and was consequently greatly disconcerted. But just when we
+were all wondering what held him so restrained, and what the words
+were which should break the now oppressive silence, he spoke and
+said:
+
+"A wee nest is no place for the lady who was to have been my wife. If
+you will have patience and wait a month she shall have the home that
+has been reared for her. The great stone house would not know any
+other mistress, and therefore it shall be hers."
+
+"No, no," Orrin began, aghast at such generosity. But the thoughtless
+Juliet, delighted at a prospect which promised her both splendor and
+love, uttered such a cry of joy that he stopped abashed and half
+angry, and turning upon her, said: "Are you not satisfied with what I
+can give you, and must you take presents even from the man you have
+affected to despise?"
+
+"But, but, he is so good," babbled out the inconsiderate little thing,
+"and--and I do like the great stone house, and we could be so happy in
+it, just like a king and queen, if--if--"
+
+She had the grace to stop, perhaps because she saw nothing but rebuke
+in the faces around her. But the Colonel, through whose voice ran in
+spite of himself an icy vein of sarcasm, observed, with another of his
+low bows:
+
+"You shall indeed be like king and queen there. If you do not believe
+me, come there with me a month hence, and I will show you what a
+disappointed man can do for the woman he has loved." And taking by the
+arm the old man who with futile rage had tried more than once to break
+into this ominous conversation, he drew him persuasively to his side,
+and so by degrees from the room.
+
+"Oh," cried Juliet, as the door closed behind them, "can he mean it?
+Can he mean it?"
+
+And Orrin, a little awed, did not reply, but I saw by his face and
+bearing that whether the Colonel meant it or not was little to him;
+that the cottage beyond the woods was the destined home of his bride,
+and that we must be prepared to lose her from our midst, perhaps
+before the month was over which the Colonel had bidden them to wait.
+
+I do not know through whom Dame Gossip became acquainted with
+yesterday's events, but everywhere in town people are laying their
+heads together in wonder over the jilting of Colonel Schuyler and the
+unprecedented magnanimity which he has shown in giving his new house
+to the rebellious lovers. If I have been asked one question to-day, I
+have been asked fifty, and Orrin, who flies into a rage at the least
+intimation that he will accept the gift which has been made him,
+spends most of his time in asserting his independence, and the firm
+resolution which he has made to owe nothing to the generosity of the
+man he has treated with such unquestionable baseness. Juliet keeps
+very quiet, but from the glimpse I caught of her this afternoon at her
+casement, I judge that the turn of affairs has had a very enlivening
+effect upon her beauty. Her eyes fairly sparkled as she saw me; and
+with something like her old joyous abandonment of manner, she tore off
+a branch of the flowering almond at her window and tossed it with
+delicious laughter at my feet. Yet though I picked it up and carried
+it for a few steps beyond her gate, I soon dropped it over the wall,
+for her sparkle and her laughter hurt me, and I would rather have seen
+her less joyous and a little more sensible of the ruin she had
+wrought.
+
+For she has wrought ruin, as any one can see who looks at the Colonel
+long enough to note his eye. For though he holds himself erect and
+walks proudly through the town, there is that in his look which makes
+me tremble and hold my own weak complainings in check. He has been up
+to his house to-day, and when he came back there was not a blind from
+one end of the street to the other but quivered when he went by, so
+curious are the women to see him who they cannot but feel has merited
+all the sympathy if not the homage of their sex. Ralph Urphistone
+tells me to-night that the workmen at the new house have been offered
+extra wages if they put the house into habitable condition by the end
+of the month.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+For all his secret satisfaction Orrin is very restless. He has tried
+to induce Juliet to marry him at once, and go with him to the little
+cottage he has raised for her comfort. But she puts him off with
+excuses, which, however, are so mingled with sweet coquetries and
+caresses, that he cannot reproach her without seeming insensible to
+her affection, and it is not until he is away from the fascination of
+her presence, and amongst those who do not hesitate to say that he
+will yet see the advantage of putting his brilliant bird in a cage
+suitable to her plumage, that he remembers his manhood and chafes at
+his inability to assert it. I am sorry for him in a way, but not so
+deeply as I might be if _he_ were more humble and more truly sensible
+of the mischief he has wrought.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin will yet make himself debtor to the Colonel. Something has
+happened which proves that fate--or man--is working against him to
+this end, and that he must from the very force of circumstances
+finally succumb. I say _man_, but do I not mean _woman_? Ah, no, no,
+no! my pen ran away with me, my thoughts played me false. It could
+have been no woman, for if it was, then is Juliet a--Let me keep to
+facts. I have not self-control enough for speculation.
+
+To-day the sun set red. As we had been having gray skies, and more or
+less rain for a fortnight, the brightness and vivid crimson in the
+west drew many people to their doors. I was amongst them, and as I
+stood looking intently at the sky that was now one blaze of glory
+from horizon to zenith, Orrin stepped up behind me and said:
+
+"Do you want to take a ride to-night?"
+
+Seeing him look more restless and moody than ever, I answered "Yes,"
+and accordingly about eight that night he rode up to my door and we
+started forth.
+
+I thought he would turn in the direction of the stone house, for one
+night when I had allowed myself to go there in my curiosity at its
+progress, I had detected him crouching in one of the thickest shadows
+cast by the surrounding trees. But if any such idea had been in his
+mind, it soon vanished, for almost the instant I was in the saddle, he
+wheeled himself about and led the way eastward, whipping and spurring
+his horse as if it were a devil's ride he contemplated, and not that
+easy, restful canter under the rising moon demanded by our excited
+spirits and the calm, exquisite beauty of the summer night.
+
+"Are you not coming?" was shouted back to me, as the distance
+increased between us.
+
+My answer was to spur my own horse, and as we rode once more side by
+side, I could not but note what a wild sort of beauty there was in
+him as he thus gave himself up to the force of his feelings and the
+restless energy of this harum-scarum ride. "Very different," thought
+I, "would the Colonel look on a horse at this hour of night"; and
+wondered if Juliet could see him thus she would any longer wound him
+by her hesitations, after having driven him by her coquetries to
+expect full and absolute surrender on her part.
+
+Did he guess my thoughts, or was his mind busy with the same, that he
+suddenly cried in harsh but thrilling tones:
+
+"If I had her where she ought to be, here behind me on this horse, I
+would ride to destruction before I would take her back again to the
+town and the temptations which beset her while she can hear the sound
+of hammer upon stone."
+
+"And you would be right," I was about to say in some bitterness, I
+own, when the full realization of the road we were upon stopped me and
+I observed instead:
+
+"You would take her yonder where you hope to see her happy, though no
+other woman lives within a half-mile of the place."
+
+"No man you should say," quoth Orrin bitterly, lashing his horse till
+it shot far ahead of me, so that some few minutes passed before we
+were near enough together for him to speak again. Then he said: "She
+loads me with promises and swears that she loves me more than all the
+world. If half of this is true she ought to be happy with me in a
+hovel, while I have a dainty cottage for her dwelling, where the vines
+will soon grow and the birds sing. You have not seen it since it has
+been finished. You shall see it to-night."
+
+I choked as I tried to answer, and wondered if he had any idea of what
+I had to contend with in these rides I seemed forced to take without
+any benefit to myself. If he had, he was merciless, for once launched
+into talk he kept on till I was almost wild with hateful sympathy and
+jealous chagrin. Suddenly he paused.
+
+The forest we had been threading had for the last few minutes been
+growing thinner, and as the quick cessation in his speech caused me to
+look up, I saw, or thought I saw, a faint glow shining through the
+branches before me, which could not have come from the reflection
+made by the setting sun, as that had long ago sunk into darkness.
+
+Orrin who, as he had ceased speaking, had suddenly reined in his
+panting horse, now gave a shout and shot forward, and I, hardly
+knowing what to fear or expect, followed him as fast as my evidently
+weary animal would carry me, and thus bounding along with but a few
+paces between us, we cleared the woods and came out into the open
+fields beyond. As we did so a cry went up from Orrin, faintly echoed
+by my own lips. It was a fire that we saw, and the flames, which had
+now got furious headway, rose up like pillars to the sky, illuminating
+all the country round, and showing me, both by their position and the
+glare of the stream beneath them, that it was Orrin's house which was
+burning, and Orrin's hopes which were being destroyed before our eyes.
+The cry he gave as he fully realized this I shall never forget, nor
+the gesture with which he drove his spurs into his horse and flashed
+down that long valley into the ever-increasing glare that lighted
+first his flowing hair and the wet flanks of the animal he bestrode,
+and finally seemed to envelop him altogether, till he looked like some
+avenging demon rushing through his own element of fury and fire.
+
+I was far behind him, but I made what time I could, feeling to the
+core, as I passed, the weirdness of the solitude before me, with just
+this element of horror flaming up in its midst. Not a sound save that
+of our pounding hoofs interrupted that crackling sound of burning
+wood, and when the roof fell in, as it did before I could reach his
+side, I could hear distinctly the echo which followed it. Orrin may
+have heard it too, for he gave a groan and drew in his horse, and when
+I reached him I saw him sitting there before the smouldering ashes of
+his home, silent and inert, without a word to say or an ear to hear
+the instinctive words of sympathy I could not now keep back.
+
+Who had done it? Who had started the blaze which had in one half-hour
+undone the work and hope of months? That was the question which first
+roused me and caused me to search the silence and darkness of the
+night for some trace of a human presence, if only so much as the mark
+of a human foot. And I found it. There, in the wet margin of the
+stream, I came upon a token which may mean nothing and which may
+mean--But I cannot write even here of the doubts it brought me; I
+will only tell how on our slow and wearisome passage home through the
+sombre woods, Orrin suddenly let his bridle fall, and, flinging up his
+arms above his head, cried bitterly:
+
+"O that I did not love her so well! O that I had never seen her who
+would make of me a slave when I would be a man!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The gossips at the corners nod knowingly this morning, and Orrin,
+whose brow is moodier than the Colonel's, walks fiercely amongst them
+without word and without look. He is on his way to Juliet's house, and
+if there is enchantment left in smiles, I bid her to use it, for her
+fate is trembling in the balance, and may tip in a direction of which
+she little recks.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Orrin has come back. Striding impetuously into the room where I sat at
+work, he drew himself up till his figure showed itself in all its
+full and graceful proportions.
+
+"Am I a man?" he asked, "or," with a fall in his voice brimmed with
+feeling, "am I a fool? She met me with such an unsuspicious look,
+Philo, and bore herself with such an innocent air, that I not only
+could not say what I meant to say, but have promised to do what I have
+sworn never to do--accept the Colonel's unwelcome gift, and make her
+mistress of the new stone house."
+
+"You are--a man," I answered. For what are men but fools where women
+of such enchantment are concerned!
+
+He groaned, perhaps at the secret sarcasm hidden in my tone, and sat
+down unbidden at the table where I was writing.
+
+"You did not see her," he cried. "You do not know with what charms she
+works, when she wishes to comfort and allure." Ah! did I not. "And
+Philo," he went on, almost humbly for him, "you are mistaken if you
+think she had any hand in the ruin which has come upon me. She had not.
+How I know it I cannot say, but I am ready to swear it, and you must
+forget any foolish fears I may have shown or any foolish words I may
+have uttered in the first confusion of my loss and disappointment."
+
+"I will forget," said I.
+
+"The fact is I do not understand her," he eagerly explained. "There
+was innocence in her air, but there was mockery too, and she laughed
+as I talked of my grief and rage, as though she thought I was playing
+a part. It was merry laughter, and there was no ring of falsehood in
+it, but why should she laugh at all?"
+
+This was a question I could not answer; who could? Juliet is beyond
+the comprehension of us all.
+
+"But what is the use of plaguing myself with riddles?" he now asked,
+starting up as suddenly as he had sat down. "We are to be married in a
+month, and the Colonel--I have seen the Colonel--has promised to dance
+at our wedding. Will it be in the new stone house? It would be a
+fitting end to this comedy if he were to dance in _that_?"
+
+I thought as Orrin did about this, but with more seriousness perhaps;
+and it was not till after he had left me that I remembered I had not
+asked whom he suspected of firing his house, now that he was assured
+of the innocence of her who was most likely to profit by its burning.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now I understand Juliet!" was the cry with which Orrin burst into my
+presence late this afternoon. "Men are saying and women whispering
+that I destroyed my own house, in order to save myself the shame of
+accepting the Colonel's offer while I had a roof of my own." And,
+burning with rage, he stamped his foot upon the ground, and shook his
+hand so threateningly in the direction of his fancied enemies that I
+felt some reflection of his anger in my own breast, and said or tried
+to say that they could not know him as I did or they would never
+accuse him of so mean a deed, whatever else they might bring against
+him.
+
+"It makes me wild, it makes me mad, it makes me feel like leaving the
+town forever!" was his hoarse complaint as I finished my feeble
+attempt at consolation. "If Juliet were half the woman she ought to be
+she would come and live with me in a log-cabin in the woods before
+she would accept the Colonel's house now. And to think that she, _she_
+should be affected by the opinions of the rest, and think me so
+destitute of pride that I would stoop to sacrifice my own home for the
+sake of stepping into that of a rival's. O woman, woman, what are you
+made of? Not of the same stuff as we men, surely."
+
+I strove to calm him, for he was striding fiercely and impatiently
+about the room. But at my first word he burst forth with:
+
+"And her father, who should control her, aids and encourages her
+follies. He is a slave to the Colonel, who is the slave of his own
+will."
+
+"In this case," I quietly observed, "his will seems to be most
+kindly."
+
+"That is the worst of it," chafed Orrin. "If only he offered me
+opposition I could struggle with him. But it is his generosity I hate,
+and the humiliating position into which it thrusts me. And that is not
+all," he angrily added, while still striding feverishly about the
+room. "The Colonel seems to think us his property ever since we
+decided to accept his, and as a miser watches over his gold so does
+he watch over us, till I scarcely have the opportunity now of speaking
+to Juliet alone. If I go to her house, there he is sitting like a
+black statue at the fireplace, and when I would protest, and lead her
+into another room or into the garden, he rises and overwhelms me with
+such courtesies and subtle disquisitions that I am tripped up in my
+endeavors, and do not know how to leave or how to stay. I wish he
+would fall sick, or his house tumble about his head!"
+
+"Orrin, Orrin!" I cried. But he interrupted my remonstrance with the
+words:
+
+"It is not decent. I am her affianced husband now, and he should leave
+us alone. Does he think I can ever forget that he used to court her
+once himself, and that the favors she now shows me were once given as
+freely, if not as honestly, to him? He knows I cannot forget, and he
+delights--"
+
+"There, Orrin," I broke in, "you do him wrong. The Colonel is above
+your comprehension as he is above mine; but there is nothing
+malevolent in him."
+
+"I don't know about that," rejoined his angry rival. "If he wanted to
+steal back my bride he could take no surer course for doing it.
+Juliet, who is fickle as the wind, already looks from his face to mine
+as if she were contrasting us. And he is so damned handsome and suave
+and self-forgetting!"
+
+"And you," I could not help but say, "are so fierce and sullen even in
+your love."
+
+"I know it," was his half-muttered retort, "but what can you expect?
+Do you think I will see him steal her heart away from before my eyes?"
+
+"It would be but a natural return on his part for your former
+courtesies," I could not forbear saying, in my own secret chagrin and
+soreness of heart.
+
+"But he shall not do it," exclaimed Orrin, with a backward toss of his
+head, and a sudden thump of his strong hand on the table before me. "I
+won her once against all odds, and I will keep her if I have to don
+the devil's smiles myself. He shall never again see her eyes rest
+longer on his face than mine. I will hold her by the power of my love
+till he finds himself forgotten, and for very shame steals away,
+leaving me with the bride he has himself bestowed upon me. He shall
+never have Juliet back."
+
+"I doubt if he wishes to," I quietly remarked, as Orrin, weary with
+passion, ran from my presence.
+
+I do not know whether Orrin succeeded or not in his attempts to shame
+the Colonel from intruding upon his interviews with Juliet. I am only
+sure that Orrin's countenance smoothed itself after this day, and that
+I heard no more complaints of Juliet's wavering fidelity. I myself do
+not believe she has ever wavered. Simply because she ought from every
+stand-point of good judgment and taste to have preferred the Colonel
+and clung to him, she will continue to cleave to Orrin and make him
+the idol of her wayward heart. But it is all a mystery to me and one
+that does not make me very happy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I went up by myself to the new stone house to-day, and found that it
+only needs the finishing touches. Twenty workmen or more were there,
+and the great front door had just been brought and was leaning against
+the walls preparatory to being hung. Being curious to see how they
+were progressing within, I climbed up to one of the windows and looked
+in, and not satisfied with what I could thus see, made my way into the
+house and up the main staircase, which I was surprised to see was
+nearly completed.
+
+The sound of the hammer and saw was all about me, and the calling of
+orders from above and below interfered much with any sentimental
+feelings I might have had. But I was not there to indulge in
+sentiment, and so I roamed on from room to room till I suddenly came
+upon a sight that drove every consideration of time and place from my
+mind, and made me for a moment forgetful of every other sentiment than
+admiration. This was nothing less than the glimpse which I obtained in
+passing one of the windows, of the Colonel himself down on his knees
+on the scaffolding aiding the workmen. So, so, he is not content with
+hurrying the work forward by his means and influence, but is lending
+the force of his example, and actually handling the plane and saw in
+his anxiety not to disappoint Juliet in regard to the day she has
+fixed for her marriage.
+
+A week ago I should have told Orrin what I had seen, but I had no
+desire to behold the old frowns come back to his face, so I determined
+to hold my silence with him. But Juliet ought to know with what manner
+of heart she has been so recklessly playing, so after stealing down
+the stairs I felt I should never have mounted, I crept from the house
+and made my way as best I could through the huge forest-trees that so
+thickly clustered at its back, till I came upon the high-road which
+leads to the village. Walking straight to Juliet's house I asked to
+see her, and shall never forget the blooming beauty of her presence as
+she stepped into the room and gave me her soft white hand to kiss.
+
+As she is no longer the object of my worship and hardly the friend of
+my heart, I think I can speak of her loveliness now without being
+misunderstood. So I will let my pen trace for once a record of her
+charms, which in that hour were surely great enough to excuse the
+rivalry of which they had been the subject, and perhaps to account for
+the disinterestedness of the man who had once given her his heart.
+
+She is of medium height, this Juliet, and her form has that sway in it
+which you see in a lily nodding on its stem. But she is no lily in her
+most enchanting movements, but rather an ardent passion-flower burning
+and palpitating in the sun. Her skin, which is milk-white, has strange
+flushes in it, and her eyes, which never look at you twice with the
+same meaning, are blue, or gray, or black, as her feeling varies and
+the soul informing them is in a state of joy, or trouble. Her most
+bewitching feature is her mouth, which has two dangerous dimples near
+it that go and come, sometimes without her volition and sometimes, I
+fear, with her full accord and desire. Her hair is brown and falls in
+such a mass of ringlets that no cap has ever yet been found which can
+confine it and keep it from weaving a golden net in which to entangle
+the hearts of men. When she smiles you feel like rushing forward; when
+she frowns you question yourself humbly what you have done to merit a
+look so out of keeping with the playful cast of her countenance and
+the arch bearing of her spirited young form. She was dressed, as she
+always is, simply, but there was infinite coquetry in the tie of the
+blue ribbon on her shoulder, and if a close cap of dainty lace could
+make a face look more entrancing, I should like the privilege of
+seeing it. She was in an amiable mood and smiled upon my homage like a
+fairy queen.
+
+"I have come to pay my final respects to Juliet Playfair," I
+announced; "for by the tokens up yonder she will soon be classed among
+our matrons."
+
+My tone was formal and she looked surprised at it, but my news was
+welcome and so she made me a demure little courtesy before saying
+joyously:
+
+"Yes, the house is nearly done, and to-morrow Orrin and I are going up
+there together to see it. The Colonel has asked us to do this that we
+might say whether all is to our liking and convenience."
+
+"The Colonel is a man in a thousand," I began, but, seeing her frown
+in her old pettish way, I perceived that she partook enough of Orrin's
+spirit to dislike any allusion to one whose generosity threw her own
+selfishness into startling relief.
+
+So I said no more on this topic, but let my courtesy expend itself in
+good wishes, and came away at last with a bewildering remembrance of
+her beauty, which I am doing my best to blot out by faithfully
+recounting to myself the story of those infinite caprices of hers
+which have come so near wrecking more than one honorable heart.
+
+I do not expect to visit her again until I pay my respects to her as
+Orrin's wife.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is the day when Orrin and Juliet are to visit the new house. If I
+had not known this from her own lips, I should have known it from the
+fact that the workmen all left at noon, in order, as one of them said,
+to leave the little lady more at her ease. I saw them coming down the
+road, and had the curiosity to watch for the appearance of Orrin and
+the Colonel at Juliet's gate but they did not come, and assured by
+this that they meditated a later visit than I had anticipated, I went
+about my work. This took me up the road, and as it chanced, led me
+within a few rods of the wood within which lies the new stone house. I
+had not meant to go there, for I have haunted the place enough, but
+this time there was reason for it, and satisfied with the fact, I
+endeavored to fix my mind on other matters and forget who was likely
+at any moment to enter the forest behind me.
+
+But when one makes an effort to forget he is sure to remember all the
+more keenly, and I was just picturing to my mind Juliet's face and
+Juliet's pretty air of mingled pride and disdain as the first sight of
+the broad stone front burst upon her, when I heard through the
+stillness of the woods the faint sound of a saw, which coming from the
+direction of the house seemed to say that some one was still at work
+there. As I had understood that all the men had been given a
+half-holiday, I felt somewhat surprised at this, and unconsciously to
+myself moved a few steps nearer the opening where the house stood,
+when suddenly all was still and I could not for the moment determine
+whether I had really heard the sound of a saw or not. Annoyed at
+myself, and ashamed of an interest that made every trivial incident
+connected with this affair of such moment to me, I turned back to my
+work, and in a few moments had finished it and left the wood, when
+what was my astonishment to see Orrin coming from the same place,
+with his face turned toward the village, and a hardy, determined
+expression upon it which made me first wonder and then ask myself if I
+really comprehended this man or knew what he cherished in his heart of
+hearts.
+
+Going straight up to him, I said:
+
+"Well, Orrin, what's this? Coming away from the house instead of going
+to it? I understood that you and Juliet were expecting to visit it
+together this afternoon."
+
+He paused, startled, and his eyes fell as I looked him straight in the
+face.
+
+"We are going to visit it," he admitted, "but I thought it would be
+wiser for me to inspect the place first and see if all was right. An
+unfinished building has so many traps in it, you know." And he laughed
+loudly and long, but his mirth was forced, and I turned and looked
+after him, as he strode away, with a vague but uneasy feeling I did
+not myself understand.
+
+"Will the Colonel go with you?" I called out.
+
+He wheeled about as if stung. "Yes," he shouted, "the Colonel will go
+with us. Did you suppose he would allow us the satisfaction of going
+alone? I tell you, Philo," and he strode back to my side, "the Colonel
+considers us his property. Is not that pleasant? His _property_! And
+so we are," he fiercely added, "while we are his debtors. But we shall
+not be his debtors long. When we are married--if we _are_ married--I
+will take Juliet from this place if I have to carry her away by force.
+She shall never be the mistress of this house."
+
+"Orrin! Orrin!" I protested.
+
+"I have said it," was his fierce rejoinder, and he left me for the
+second time and passed hurriedly down the street.
+
+I was therefore somewhat taken aback when a little while later he
+reappeared with Juliet and the Colonel, in such a mood of forced
+gayety that more than one turned to look after them as they passed
+merrily laughing down the road. Will Juliet never be the mistress of
+that house? I think she will, my Orrin. That dimpled smile of hers has
+more force in it than that dominating will of yours. If she chooses to
+hold her own she will hold it, and neither you nor the Colonel can
+ever say her nay.
+
+What did Orrin tell me? That she would never be mistress of that
+house? Orrin was right, she never will; but who could have thought of
+a tragedy like this? Not I, not I; and if Orrin did and planned it--
+But let me tell the whole just as it happened, keeping down my horror
+till the last word is written and I have plainly before me the awful
+occurrences of this fearful day.
+
+They went, the three, to that fatal house together, and no man, saving
+myself perhaps, thought much more about the matter till we began to
+see Juliet's father peering anxiously from over his gate in the
+direction of the wood. Then we realized that the afternoon had long
+passed and that it was getting dark; and going up to the old man, I
+asked whom he was looking for. The answer was as we expected.
+
+"I am looking for Juliet. The Colonel took her and Orrin up to their
+new house, but they do not come back. I had a dreadful dream last
+night, and it frightens me. Why don't they come? It must be dark
+enough in the wood."
+
+"They will come soon," I assured him, and moved off, for I do not like
+Juliet's father.
+
+But when I passed by there again a half-hour later and found the old
+man still standing bare-headed and with craning neck at his post, I
+became very uneasy myself, and proposed to two or three neighbors,
+whom I found standing about, that we should go toward the woods and
+see if all were well. They agreed, being affected, doubtless, like
+myself, by the old man's fears, and as we proceeded down the street,
+others joined us till we amounted in number to a half-dozen or more.
+Yet, though the occasion seemed a strange one, we were not really
+alarmed till we found ourselves at the woods and realized how dark
+they were and how still. Then I began to feel an oppression at my
+heart, and trod with careful and hesitating steps till we came into
+the open space in which the house stands. Here it was lighter, but oh!
+how still. I shall never forget how still; when suddenly a shrill cry
+broke from one amongst us, and I saw Ralph Urphistone pointing with
+finger frozen in horror at something which lay in ghastly outline upon
+the broad stone which leads up to the gap of the great front door.
+
+What was it? We dared not approach to see, yet we dared not linger
+quiescent. One by one we started forward till finally we all stood in
+a horrified circle about the thing that looked like a shadow, and yet
+was not a shadow, but some horrible nightmare that made us gasp and
+shudder till the moon came suddenly out, and we saw that what we
+feared and shrank from were the bodies of Juliet and Orrin, he lying
+with face upturned and arms thrown out, and she with her head pillowed
+on his breast as if cast there in her last faint moment of
+consciousness. They were both dead, having fallen through the planks
+of the scaffolding, as was shown by the fatal gap open to the
+moonlight above our heads. Dead! dead! and though no man there knew
+how, the terror of their doom and the retribution it seemed to bespeak
+went home to our hearts, and we bowed our heads with a simultaneous
+cry of terror, which in that first moment was too overwhelming even
+for grief.
+
+The Colonel was nowhere to be seen, and after the first few minutes of
+benumbing horror, we tried to call aloud his name. But the cries died
+in our throat, and presently one amongst us withdrew into the house to
+search, and then another and another, till I was left alone in awful
+attendance upon the dead. Then I began to realize my own anguish, and
+with some last fragment of secret jealousy--or was it from some other
+less definite but equally imperative feeling?--was about to stoop
+forward and lift her head from a pillow that I somehow felt defiled
+it, when a quick hand drew me aside, and looking up, I saw Ralph
+standing at my back. He did not speak, and his figure looked ghostly
+in the moonlight, but his hand was pointing toward the house, and when
+I moved to follow him, he led the way into the hollow entrance and up
+the stairway till we came to the upper story where he stopped, and
+motioned me toward a door opening into one of the rooms.
+
+There were several of our number already standing there, so I did not
+hesitate to approach, and as I went the darkness in which I had
+hitherto moved disappeared before the broad band of moonlight shining
+into the room before us, and I saw, darkly silhouetted against a
+shining background, the crouching figure of the Colonel, staring with
+hollow eyes and maddened mien out of the unfinished window through
+which in all probability the devoted couple had stepped to their
+destruction.
+
+"Can you make him speak?" asked one. "He does not seem to heed us,
+though we have shouted to him and even shook his arm."
+
+"I shall not try," said I. "Horror like this should be respected." And
+going softly in I took up my station by his side in silent awe.
+
+But they would have me talk, and finally in some desperation I turned
+to him and said, quietly:
+
+"The scaffolding broke beneath them, did it not?" At which he first
+stared and then flung up his arms with a wild but suppressed cry. But
+he said nothing, and next moment had settled again into his old
+attitude of silent horror and amazement.
+
+"He might better be lying with them," I whispered after a moment,
+coming from his side. And one by one they echoed my words, and as he
+failed to move or even show any symptoms of active life, we gradually
+drifted from the spot till we were all huddled again below in the
+hollow blackness of that doorway guarded over by the dead.
+
+Who should tell her father? They all looked at me, but I shook my
+head, and it fell to another to perform this piteous errand, for
+fearful thoughts were filling my brain, and Orrin did not look
+altogether guiltless to me as he lay there dead beside the maiden he
+had declared so fiercely should never be mistress of this house.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Was ever such a night of horror known in this town!
+
+They have brought the two bruised bodies down into the village and
+they now lie side by side in the parlor where I last saw Juliet in the
+bloom and glow of life. The Colonel is still crouching where I left
+him. No one can make him speak and no one can make him move, and the
+terror which his terror has produced affects the whole community, not
+even the darkness of the night serving to lessen the wild excitement
+which drives men and women about the streets as if it were broad
+daylight, and makes of every house an open thorough-fare through
+which anybody who wishes can pass.
+
+I, who have followed every change and turn in this whole calamitous
+affair, am like one benumbed at this awful crisis. I too go and come
+through the streets, hear people say in shouts, in cries, with bitter
+tears and wild lamentations, "Juliet is dead!" "Orrin is dead!" and
+get no sense from the words. I have even been more than once to that
+spot where they lie in immovable beauty, and though I gaze and gaze
+upon them, I feel nothing--not even wonder. Only the remembrance of
+that rigid figure frozen into its place above the gulf where so much
+youth and so many high hopes fell, has power to move me. When amid the
+shadows which surround me I see _that_, I shudder and the groan rises
+slowly to my lips as if I too were looking down into a gulf from which
+hope and love would never again rise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Colonel is now in his father's house. He was induced to leave the
+place by Ralph Urphistone's little child. When the great man first
+felt the touch of those baby fingers upon his, he shuddered and half
+recoiled, but as the little one pulled him gently but persistently
+towards the stair, he gradually yielded to her persuasion, and
+followed till he had descended to the ground-floor and left the fatal
+house. I do not think any other power could have induced him to pass
+that blood-stained threshold. For he seems thoroughly broken down, and
+will, I fear, never be the same man that he was before this fearful
+tragedy took place before his eyes.
+
+All day I have paced the floor of my room asking myself if I should
+allow Juliet to be laid away in the same tomb as Orrin. He was her
+murderer, without doubt, and though he has shared her doom, was it
+right for me to allow one stone to be raised above their united
+graves. Feeling said no, but reason bade me halt before I disturbed
+the whole community with whispers of a crime. I therefore remained
+undecided, and it was in this same condition of doubt that I finally
+went to the funeral and stood with the rest of the lads beside the
+open grave which had been dug for the unhappy lovers in that sunny
+spot beside the great church door. At sight of this grave and the twin
+coffins about to be lowered into it, I felt my struggle renewed, and
+yet I held my peace and listened as best I could to the minister's
+words and the broken sobs of such as had envied these two in their
+days of joyance, but had only pity for pleasure so soon over and hopes
+doomed to such early destruction.
+
+We were all there; Ralph and Lemuel and the other neighbors, old and
+young, all except that chief of mourners, the Colonel; for he was
+still under the influence of that horror which kept him enchained in
+silence, and had not even been sensible enough of the day and its
+mournful occasion to rise and go to the window as the long funeral
+cortege passed his house. We were all there and the minister had said
+the words, and Orrin's body had been lowered to its final rest, when
+suddenly, as they were about to move Juliet, a tumult was observed in
+the outskirts of the crowd, and the Colonel towering in his rage and
+appalling in his just indignation, fought his way through the
+recoiling masses till he stood in our very midst.
+
+"Stop!" he cried, "this burial must not go on." And he advanced his
+arm above Juliet's body as if he would intervene his very heart
+between it and the place of darkness into which it was about to
+descend. "She was the victim, he the murderer; they shall not lie
+together if I have to fling myself between them in the grave which you
+have dug."
+
+"But--but," interposed the minister, calm and composed even in the
+face of this portentous figure and the appalling words which it had
+uttered, "by what right do you call this one a murderer and the other
+a victim? Did you see him murder her? Was there a crime enacted before
+your eyes?"
+
+"The boards were sawn," was the startling answer. "They must have been
+sawn or they would never have given way beneath so light a weight. And
+then he urged her--I saw him--pleaded with her, drew her by force of
+eye and hand to step upon the scaffold without, though there was no
+need for it, and she recoiled. And when her light foot was on it and
+her half-smiling, half-timid face looked back upon us, he leaped out
+beside her, when instantly came the sound of a great crack, and I
+heard his laugh and her cry go up together, and--and--everything has
+been midnight in my soul ever since, till suddenly through the blank
+and horror surrounding me I caught the words, 'They will lie together
+in one tomb!' Then--then I awoke and my voice came back to me and my
+memory, and hither I hastened to stop this unhallowed work; for to lay
+the victim beside her murderer is a sacrilege which I for one would
+come back even from the grave to prevent."
+
+"But why," moaned the father feebly amid the cries and confusion which
+had been aroused by so gruesome an interference on the brink of the
+grave, "but why should Orrin wish my Juliet's death? They were to have
+been married soon--"
+
+But piteous as were his tones no one listened, for just then a lad who
+had been hiding behind the throng stepped out before us, showing a
+face so white and a manner so perturbed that we all saw that he had
+something to say of importance in this matter.
+
+"The boards _have_ been sawn," he said. "I wanted to know and I
+climbed up to see." At which words the whole crowd moved and swayed,
+and a dozen hands stooped to lift the body of Juliet and carry it away
+from that accursed spot.
+
+But the minister is a just man and cautious, and he lifted up his arms
+in such protest that they paused.
+
+"Who knows," he suggested, "that it was Orrin's hand which handled the
+saw?"
+
+And then I perceived that it was time for me to speak. So I raised my
+voice and told my story, and as I told it the wonder grew on every
+face and the head of each man slowly drooped till we all stood with
+downcast eyes. For crime had never before been amongst us or soiled
+the honor of our goodly town. Only the Colonel still stood erect; and
+as the vision of his outstretched arm and flaming eyes burned deeper
+and deeper into my consciousness, I stammered in my speech and then
+sobbed, and was the first to lift the silent form of the beauteous
+dead and bear it away from the spot denounced by one who had done so
+much for her happiness and had met with such a bitter and
+heart-breaking reward.
+
+And where did we finally lay her? In that spot--ah! why does my blood
+run chill while I write it--where she stood when she took that oath to
+the Colonel, whose breaking caused her death.
+
+A few words more and this record must be closed forever. That night,
+when all was again quiet in the village and the mourners no longer
+went about the streets, Lemuel, Ralph, and I went for a final visit to
+the new stone house. It showed no change, that house, and save for the
+broken scaffolding above gave no token of its having been the scene of
+such a woful tragedy. But as we looked upon it from across its
+gruesome threshold Lemuel said:
+
+"It is a goodly structure and nigh completed, but the hand that began
+it will never finish it, nor will man or woman ever sleep within its
+walls. The place is accursed, and will stand accursed till it is
+consumed by God's lightning or falls piecemeal to the ground from
+natural decay. Though its stones are fresh, I see ruin already written
+upon its walls."
+
+It was a strong statement, and we did not believe it, but when we got
+back to the village we were met by one who said:
+
+"The Colonel has stopped the building of the new house. 'It is to be
+an everlasting monument,' he says, 'to a rude man's pride and a sweet
+woman's folly.'"
+
+Will it be a monument that he will love to gaze upon? I wot not, or
+any other man who remembers Juliet's loveliness and the charm it gave
+to our village life for one short year.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What was it that I said about this record being at an end? Some
+records do not come to an end, and though twenty years have passed
+since I wrote the above, I have cause this day to take these faded
+leaves from their place and add a few lines to the story of the
+Colonel's new house.
+
+It is an old house now, old and desolate. As Lemuel said--he is one of
+our first men--it is accursed and no one has ever felt brave enough or
+reckless enough to care to cross again its ghostly threshold. Though I
+never heard any one say it is haunted, there are haunting memories
+enough surrounding it for one to feel a ghastly recoil from invading
+precincts defiled by such a crime. So the kindly forest has taken it
+into its protection, and Nature, who ever acts the generous part, has
+tried to throw the mantle of her foliage over the decaying roof, and
+about the lonesome walls, accepting what man forsakes and so
+fulfilling her motherhood.
+
+I am still a resident in the town, and I have a family now that has
+outgrown the little cottage which the apple-tree once guarded. But it
+is not to tell of them or of myself that I have taken these pages from
+their safe retreat to-day, but to speak of the sight which I saw this
+morning when I passed through the churchyard, as I often do, to pluck
+a rose from the bush which we lads planted on Juliet's grave twenty
+years ago. They always seem sweeter to me than other roses, and I take
+a superstitious delight in them, in which my wife, strange to say,
+does not participate. But that is neither here nor there.
+
+The sight which I thought worth recording was this: I had come slowly
+through the yard, for the sunshine was brilliant and the month June,
+and sad as the spot is, it is strangely beautiful to one who loves
+nature, when as I approached the corner where Juliet lies, and which
+you will remember was in the very spot where I once heard her take her
+reluctant oath, I saw crouched against her tomb a figure which seemed
+both strange and vaguely familiar to me. Not being able to guess who
+it was, as there is now nobody in town who remembers her with any more
+devotion than myself, I advanced with sudden briskness, when the
+person I was gazing upon rose, and turning towards me, looked with
+deeply searching and most certainly very wretched eyes into mine. I
+felt a shock, first of surprise, and then of wildest recollection. The
+man before me was the Colonel, and the grief apparent in his face and
+disordered mien showed that years of absence had not done their work,
+and that he had never forgotten the arch and brilliant Juliet.
+
+Bowing humbly and with a most reverent obeisance, for he was still the
+great man of the county, though he had not been in our town for years,
+I asked his pardon for my intrusion, and then drew back to let him
+pass. But he stopped and gave me a keen look, and speaking my name,
+said: "You are married, are you not?" And when I bowed the meek
+acquiescence which the subject seemed to demand, he sighed as I
+thought somewhat bitterly, and shrugging his shoulders, went
+thoughtfully by and left me standing on the green sward alone. But
+when he had reached the gate he turned again, and without raising his
+voice, though the distance between us was considerable, remarked: "I
+have come back to spend my remaining days in the village of my birth.
+If you care to talk of old times, come to the house at sunset. You
+will find me sitting on the porch."
+
+Gratified more than I ever expected to be by a word from him, I bowed
+my thanks and promised most heartily to come. And that was the end of
+our first interview.
+
+It has left me with very lively sensations. Will they be increased or
+diminished by the talk he has promised me?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I had a pleasant hour with the Colonel, but we did not talk of _her_.
+Had I expected to? I judge so by the faint but positive disappointment
+which I feel.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I have been again to the Colonel's, but this time I did not find him
+in. "He is much out evenings," explained the woman who keeps house
+for him, "and you will have to come early to see him at his own
+hearth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+What is there about the Colonel that daunts me? He seems friendly,
+welcomes my company, and often hands me the hospitable glass. But I am
+never easy in his presence, though the distance between us is not so
+great as it was in our young days, now that I have advanced in worldly
+prosperity and he has stood still. Is it that his intellect cows me,
+or do I feel too much the secret melancholy which breathes through all
+his actions, and frequently cuts short his words? I cannot answer; I
+am daunted by him and I am fascinated, and after leaving him think
+only of the time when I shall see him again.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The children, who have grown up since the Colonel has been gone, seem
+very shy of him. I have noted them more than once shrink away from his
+path, huddling and whispering in a corner, and quite forgetting to
+play as long as his shadow fell across the green or the sound of his
+feet could be heard on the turf. I think they fear his melancholy, not
+understanding it. Or perhaps some hint of his sorrows has been given
+them, and it is awe they feel rather than fear. However that may be,
+no child ever takes his hand or prattles to him of its little joys or
+griefs; and this in itself makes him look solitary, for we are much
+given in this town to merry-making with our little ones, and it is a
+common sight to see old and young together on the green, making sport
+with ball or battledore.
+
+And it is not the children only who hold him in high but distant
+respect. The best men here are contented with a courteous bow from
+him, while the women--matrons now, who once were blushing
+maidens--think they have shown him enough honor if they make him a
+deep curtsey and utter a mild "Good-morrow."
+
+The truth is, he invites nothing more. He talks to me because he must
+talk to some one, but our conversation is always of things outside of
+our village life, and never by any chance of the place or any one in
+it. He lives at his father's house, now his, and has for his sole
+companion an old servant of the family, who was once his nurse, and
+who is, I believe, the only person in the world who is devotedly
+attached to him.
+
+Unless it is myself. Sometimes I think I love him; sometimes I think I
+do not. He fascinates me, and could make me do most anything he
+pleased, but have I a real affection for him? Almost; and this is
+something which I consider strange.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Where does the Colonel go evenings? His old nurse has asked me, and I
+find I cannot answer. Not to the tavern, for I am often there; not to
+the houses of the neighbors, for none of them profess to know him.
+Where then? Is the curiosity of my youth coming back to me? It looks
+very much like it, Philo, very much like it.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+My daughter said to me to-day: "Father, do not go any more to the
+Colonel's." And when I asked her why, she answered that her lover--she
+has a _lover_, the minx--had told her that the Colonel held secret
+talks with the witches, and though I laughed at this, it has set me
+thinking. He goes to the forest at night, and roams for hours among
+its shadows. Is this a healthy occupation for a man, especially a man
+with a history? I shall go early to the Schuyler homestead to-night
+and stay late, for these midnight communings with nature may be the
+source of the hideous gloom which I have observed of late is growing
+upon his spirits. No other duty seems to me now greater than this, to
+win him back to a healthy realization of life, and the need there is
+of looking cheerfully upon such blessings as are left to our lot.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I went to the Colonel's at early candle-light, and I stayed till ten,
+a late hour for me, and, as I hoped, for him. When I left I caught a
+sight of old Hannah, standing in a distant hallway, and I thought she
+looked grateful; at all events, she came forward very quickly after my
+departure, for I heard the key turn in the lock of the great front
+door before I had passed out of the gate.
+
+Why did I not go home? I had meant to, and there was every reason why
+I should. But I had no sooner felt the turf under my feet and seen the
+stars over my head, than I began to wander in the very opposite
+direction, and that without any very definite plan or purpose. I think
+I was troubled, and if not troubled, restless, and yet movement did
+not seem to help me, for I grew more uneasy with every step I took,
+and began to look towards the woods to which I was half unconsciously
+tending as if there I should find relief just as the Colonel, perhaps,
+was in the habit of doing. Was it a mere foolish freak which had
+assailed me, or was I under some uncanny influence, caught from the
+place where I had been visiting?
+
+I was yet asking myself this, when I heard distinctly through the
+silence of the night the sound of a footstep behind me, and astonished
+that any one else should have been beguiled at this hour into a walk
+so dreary, I slipped into the shadow of a tree that stood at the
+wayside and waited till the slowly advancing figure should pass and
+leave me free to pursue my way or to go back unnoticed and
+undisturbed.
+
+I had not long to wait. In a moment a weirdly muffled form appeared
+abreast of me, and it was with difficulty I suppressed a cry, for it
+was the Colonel I saw, escaped, doubtless, from his old nurse's
+surveillance, and as he passed he groaned, and the sad sound coming
+through the night at a time when my own spirits were in no comfortable
+mood affected me with almost a superstitious power, so that I trembled
+where I stood and knew not whether to follow him or go back and seek
+the cheer of my own hearth. But I decided in another moment to follow
+him, and when he had withdrawn far enough up the road not to hear the
+sound of my footfalls, I stepped out from my retreat and went with him
+into the woods.
+
+I have been as you know a midnight wanderer in that same place many a
+time in my life; but never did I leave the fields and meadows with
+such a foreboding dread, or step into the clustering shadows of the
+forest with such a shrinking and awe-struck heart. Yet I went on
+without a pause or an instant of hesitation, for I knew now where he
+was going, and if he were going to the old stone house I was
+determined to be his companion, or at least his watcher. For I knew
+now that I loved him and could never see him come to ill.
+
+There was no moon at this time, but the sound of his steps guided me
+and when I had come into the open place where the stars shone I saw by
+the movement which took place in the shadows lying around the open
+door of the old house, that he was near the fatal threshold and would
+in another moment be across it and within those mouldy halls. That I
+was right, another instant proved, for suddenly through the great
+hollow of the open portal a mild gleam broke and I saw he had lighted
+a lantern and was moving about within the empty rooms.
+
+Softly as man could go, I followed him. Crouching in the doorway, with
+ear turned to the emptiness within, I listened. And as I did so, I
+felt the chill run through my blood and stiffen the hair on my head,
+for he was talking as he walked, and his tones were affable and
+persuasive, as if two ghosts roamed noiselessly at his side and he
+were showing them as in the days of yore, the beauties of his nearly
+completed home.
+
+"An ample parlor, you see," came in distinct, suave monotone to my
+ear. "Room enough for many a couple on gala nights, as even sweet
+Mistress Juliet will say. Do you like this fireplace, and will there
+be space enough here for the portrait which Lawrence has promised to
+make of young Madam Day? I do not like too much light myself, so I
+have ordered curtains to be hung here. But if Mistress Juliet prefers
+the sunshine, we will tell the men nay, for all is to be according to
+your will, fair lady, as you must know, being here. Pardon me, that
+was an evil step; you should have a quick eye for such mishaps, friend
+Orrin, and not leave it to my courtesy to hold out a helping hand. Ah!
+you like this dusky nook. It was made for a sweet young bride to hide
+in when her heart's fulness demands quiet and rest. Do the trees come
+too near the lattice? If so they shall be trimmed away. And this
+dining-parlor--Can you judge of it with the floor half laid and its
+wainscoting unnailed? I trow not, but you can trust me, pretty Juliet,
+you can trust me; and Orrin, too, need not speak, for me to know just
+how to finish this study for him. Up-stairs? You do not wish to go
+up-stairs? Ah, then, you miss the very cream of the house. I have
+worked with my own hand upon the rooms up-stairs, and there is a
+little Cupid wrought into the woodwork of a certain door which I
+greatly wish you to pass an opinion upon. I think the wings lack
+airiness, but the workmen swear it is as if he would fly from the door
+at a whisper. Come, Mistress Juliet; come, friend Orrin, if I lead the
+way you need not hesitate. Come! come!"
+
+Was he alone? Were those eager steps of his unaccompanied, and should
+I not behold, if I looked within, the blooming face of Juliet and the
+frowning brows of Orrin, crowding close behind him as he moved? The
+fancy invoked by his words was so vivid, that for a moment I thought I
+should, and I never shall forget the thrill which seized me as I
+leaned forward and peered for one minute into the hall and saw there
+his solitary figure pausing on the lower step of the stairs, with that
+bend of the body which bespeaks an obeisance which is half homage and
+half an invitation. He was still talking, and as he went up, he looked
+back smiling and gossiping over his shoulder in a smooth and courtly
+way which made it impossible for me to withdraw my fascinated eyes.
+
+"No banisters, sweet Juliet? Not yet--not yet; but Orrin will protect
+you from falling. No harm can come to you while he is at your side. Do
+you admire this sweep to the stairs? I saw a vision when I planned it,
+of a pretty woman coming down at the sound of her husband's step. The
+step has changed in sound to my imagination, but the pretty woman is
+prettier than ever, and will look her best as she comes down these
+stairs. Oh, that is a window-ledge for flowers. A honeymoon is nothing
+without flowers, and you must have forget-me-nots and pansies here
+till one cannot see from the window. You do not like such humble
+flowers? Fie! Mistress Juliet, it is hard to believe that,--even Orrin
+doubts it, as I see by his chiding air."
+
+Here the gentle and bantering tones ceased, for he had reached the top
+of the stair. But in another moment I heard them again as he passed
+from room to room, pausing here and pausing there, till suddenly he
+gave a cheerful laugh, spoke her name in most inviting accents, and
+stepped into _that_ room.
+
+Then as if roused into galvanic action, I rose and followed, going up
+those midnight stairs and gaining the door where he had passed as if
+the impulse moving me had lent to my steps a certainty which preserved
+me from slipping even upon that dank and dangerous ascent. When in
+view of him again, I saw, as I had expected, that he was drawn up by
+the window and was bowing and beckoning with even more grace and
+suavity than he had shown below. "Will you not step out, Mistress
+Juliet?" he was saying; "I have a plan which I am anxious to submit to
+your judgment and which can only be decided upon from without. A high
+step true, but Orrin has lifted you over worse places and--and you
+will do me a great favor if only--" Here he gave a malignant shriek,
+and his countenance, from the most smiling and benignant expression,
+altered into that of a fiend from hell. "Ha, ha, ha!" he yelled. "She
+goes, and he is so fearful for her that he leaps after. That is a
+goodly stroke! Both--both--Crack! Ah, she looks at me, she looks--"
+
+Silence and then a frozen figure crouching before my eyes, just the
+silence and just the figure I remembered seeing there twenty years
+before, only the face is older and the horror, if anything, greater.
+What did it mean? I tried to think, then as the full import of the
+scene burst upon me, and I realized that it was a murderer I was
+looking upon, and that Orrin, poor Orrin, had been innocent, I sank
+back and fell upon the floor, lost in the darkness of an utter
+unconsciousness.
+
+I did not come to myself for hours; when I did I found myself alone in
+the old house.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Nothing was ever done to the Colonel, for when I came to tell my story
+the doctors said that the facts I related did not prove him to have
+been guilty of crime, as his condition was such that his own words
+could not be relied upon in a matter on which he had brooded more or
+less morbidly for years. So now when I see him pass through the
+churchyard or up and down the village street and note that he is
+affable as ever when he sees me, but growing more and more preoccupied
+with his own thoughts I do not know whether to look upon him with
+execration or profoundest pity, nor can any man guide me or satisfy my
+mind as to whether I should blame his jealousy or Orrin's pride for
+the pitiful tragedy which once darkened my life, and turned our
+pleasant village into a desert.
+
+Of one thing only have I been made sure; that it was the Colonel who
+lit the brand which fired Orrin's cottage.
+
+
+
+
+A MEMORABLE NIGHT.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+I am a young physician of limited practice and great ambition. At the
+time of the incidents I am about to relate, my office was in a
+respectable house in Twenty-fourth Street, New York City, and was
+shared, greatly to my own pleasure and convenience, by a clever young
+German whose acquaintance I had made in the hospital, and to whom I
+had become, in the one short year in which we had practised together,
+most unreasonably attached. I say unreasonably, because it was a
+liking for which I could not account even to myself, as he was neither
+especially prepossessing in appearance nor gifted with any too great
+amiability of character. He was, however, a brilliant theorist and an
+unquestionably trustworthy practitioner, and for these reasons
+probably I entertained for him a profound respect, and as I have
+already said a hearty and spontaneous affection.
+
+As our specialties were the same, and as, moreover, they were of a
+nature which did not call for night-work, we usually spent the evening
+together. But once I failed to join him at the office, and it is of
+this night I have to tell.
+
+I had been over to Orange, for my heart was sore over the quarrel I
+had had with Dora, and I was resolved to make one final effort towards
+reconciliation. But alas for my hopes, she was not at home; and, what
+was worse, I soon learned that she was going to sail the next morning
+for Europe. This news, coming as it did without warning, affected me
+seriously, for I knew if she escaped from my influence at this time, I
+should certainly lose her forever; for the gentleman concerning whom
+we had quarrelled, was a much better match for her than I, and almost
+equally in love. However, her father, who had always been my friend,
+did not look upon this same gentleman's advantages with as favorable
+an eye as she did, and when he heard I was in the house, he came
+hurrying into my presence, with excitement written in every line of
+his fine face.
+
+"Ah, Dick, my boy," he exclaimed joyfully, "how opportune this is! I
+was wishing you would come, for, do you know, Appleby has taken
+passage on board the same steamer as Dora, and if he and she cross
+together, they will certainly come to an understanding, and that will
+not be fair to you, or pleasing to me; and I do not care who knows
+it!"
+
+I gave him one look and sank, quite overwhelmed, into the seat nearest
+me. Appleby was the name of my rival, and I quite agreed with her
+father that the _tete-a-tetes_ afforded by an ocean voyage would
+surely put an end to the hopes which I had so long and secretly
+cherished.
+
+"Does she know he is going? Did she encourage him?" I stammered.
+
+But the old man answered genially: "Oh, she knows, but I cannot say
+anything positive about her having encouraged him. The fact is, Dick,
+she still holds a soft place in her heart for you, and if you were
+going to be of the party--"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I think you would come off conqueror yet."
+
+"Then I will be of the party," I cried. "It is only six now, and I can
+be in New York by seven. That gives me five hours before midnight,
+time enough in which to arrange my plans, see Richter, and make
+everything ready for sailing in the morning."
+
+"Dick, you are a trump!" exclaimed the gratified father. "You have a
+spirit I like, and if Dora does not like it too, then I am mistaken in
+her good sense. But can you leave your patients?"
+
+"Just now I have but one patient who is in anything like a critical
+condition," I replied, "and her case Richter understands almost as
+well as I do myself. I will have to see her this evening of course and
+explain, but there is time for that if I go now. The steamer sails at
+nine?"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+"Do not tell Dora that I expect to be there; let her be surprised.
+Dear girl, she is quite well, I hope?"
+
+"Yes, very well; only going over with her aunt to do some shopping. A
+poor outlook for a struggling physician, you think. Well, I don't know
+about that; she is just the kind of a girl to go from one extreme to
+another. If she once loves you she will not care any longer about
+Paris fashions."
+
+"She shall love me," I cried, and left him in a great hurry, to catch
+the first train for Hoboken.
+
+It seemed wild, this scheme, but I determined to pursue it. I loved
+Dora too much to lose her, and if three weeks' absence would procure
+me the happiness of my life, why should I hesitate to avail myself of
+the proffered opportunity. I rode on air as the express I had taken
+shot from station to station, and by the time I had arrived at
+Christopher Street Ferry my plans were all laid and my time disposed
+of till midnight.
+
+It was therefore with no laggard step I hurried to my office, nor was
+it with any ordinary feelings of impatience that I found Richter out;
+for this was not his usual hour for absenting himself and I had much
+to tell him and many advices to give. It was the first balk I had
+received and I was fuming over it, when I saw what looked like a
+package of books lying on the table before me, and though it was
+addressed to my partner, I was about to take it up, when I heard my
+name uttered in a tremulous tone, and turning, saw a man standing in
+the doorway, who, the moment I met his eye, advanced into the room and
+said:
+
+"O doctor, I have been waiting for you an hour. Mrs. Warner has been
+taken very bad, sir, and she prays that you will not delay a moment
+before coming to her. It is something serious I fear, and she may have
+died already, for she would have no one else but you, and it is now an
+hour since I left her."
+
+"And who are you?" I asked, for though I knew Mrs. Warner well--she is
+the patient to whom I have already referred--I did not know her
+messenger.
+
+"I am a servant in the house where she was taken ill."
+
+"Then she is not at home?"
+
+"No, sir, she is in Second Avenue."
+
+"I am very sorry," I began, "but I have not the time--"
+
+But he interrupted eagerly: "There is a carriage at the door; we
+thought you might not have your phaeton ready."
+
+I had noticed the carriage.
+
+"Very well," said I. "I will go, but first let me write a line--"
+
+"O sir," the man broke in pleadingly, "do not wait for anything. She
+is really very bad, and I heard her calling for you as I ran out of
+the house."
+
+"She had her voice then?" I ventured, somewhat distrustful of the
+whole thing and yet not knowing how to refuse the man, especially as
+it was absolutely necessary for me to see Mrs. Warner that night and
+get her consent to my departure before I could think of making further
+plans.
+
+So, leaving word for Richter to be sure and wait for me if he came
+home before I did, I signified to Mrs. Warner's messenger that I was
+ready to go with him, and immediately took a seat in the carriage
+which had been provided for me. The man at once jumped up on the box
+beside the driver, and before I could close the carriage door we were
+off, riding rapidly down Seventh Avenue.
+
+As we went the thought came, "What if Mrs. Warner will not let me
+off!" But I dismissed the fear at once, for this patient of mine is an
+extremely unselfish woman, and if she were not too ill to grasp the
+situation, would certainly sympathize with the strait I was in and
+consent to accept Richter's services in place of my own, especially as
+she knows and trusts him.
+
+When the carriage stopped it was already dark and I could distinguish
+little of the house I entered, save that it was large and old and did
+not look like an establishment where a man servant would be likely to
+be kept.
+
+"Is Mrs. Warner here?" I asked of the man who was slowly getting down
+from the box.
+
+"Yes, sir," he answered quickly; and I was about to ring the bell
+before me, when the door opened and a young German girl, courtesying
+slightly, welcomed me in, saying:
+
+"Mrs. Warner is up-stairs, sir; in the front room, if you please."
+
+Not doubting her, but greatly astonished at the barren aspect of the
+place I was in, I stumbled up the faintly lighted stairs before me and
+entered the great front room. It was empty, but through an open door
+at the other end I heard a voice saying: "He has come, madam"; and
+anxious to see my patient, whose presence in this desolate house I
+found it harder and harder to understand, I stepped into the room
+where she presumably lay.
+
+Alas! for my temerity in doing so; for no sooner had I crossed the
+threshold than the door by which I had entered closed with a click
+unlike any I had ever heard before, and when I turned to see what it
+meant, another click came from the opposite side of the room, and I
+perceived, with a benumbed sense of wonder, that the one person whose
+somewhat shadowy figure I had encountered on entering had vanished
+from the place, and that I was shut up alone in a room without visible
+means of egress.
+
+This was startling, and hard to believe at first, but after I had
+tried the door by which I had entered and found it securely locked,
+and then bounding to the other side of the room, tried the opposite
+one with the same result, I could not but acknowledge I was caught.
+What did it mean? Caught, and I was in haste, mad haste. Filling the
+room with my cries, I shouted for help and a quick release, but my
+efforts were naturally fruitless, and after exhausting myself in vain
+I stood still and surveyed, with what equanimity was left me, the
+appearance of the dreary place in which I had thus suddenly become
+entrapped.
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+It was a small square room, and I shall not soon forget with what a
+foreboding shudder I observed that its four blank walls were literally
+unbroken by a single window, for this told me that I was in no
+communication with the street, and that it would be impossible for me
+to summon help from the outside world. The single gas jet burning in a
+fixture hanging from the ceiling was the only relief given to the eye
+in the blank expanse of white wall that surrounded me; while as to
+furniture, the room could boast of nothing more than an old-fashioned
+black-walnut table and two chairs, the latter cushioned, but stiff in
+the back and generally dilapidated in appearance. The only sign of
+comfort about me was a tray that stood on the table, containing a
+couple of bottles of wine and two glasses. The bottles were full and
+the glasses clean, and to add to this appearance of hospitality a box
+of cigars rested invitingly near, which I could not fail to perceive,
+even at the first glance, were of the very best brand.
+
+Astonished at these tokens of consideration for my welfare, and
+confounded by the prospect which they offered of a lengthy stay in
+this place, I gave another great shout; but to no better purpose than
+before. Not a voice answered, and not a stir was heard in the house.
+But there came from without the faint sound of suddenly moving wheels,
+as if the carriage which I had left standing before the door had
+slowly rolled away. If this were so, then was I indeed a prisoner,
+while the moments so necessary to my plans, and perhaps to the
+securing of my whole future happiness, were flying by like the wind.
+As I realized this, and my own utter helplessness, I fell into one of
+the chairs before me in a state of perfect despair. Not that any fears
+for my life were disturbing me, though one in my situation might well
+question if he would ever again breathe the open air from which he had
+been so ingeniously lured. I did not in that first moment of utter
+downheartedness so much as inquire the reason for the trick which had
+been played upon me. No, my heart was full of Dora, and I was asking
+myself if I were destined to lose her after all, and that through no
+lack of effort on my part, but just because a party of thieves or
+blackmailers had thought fit to play a game with my liberty.
+
+It could not be; there must be some mistake about it; it was some
+great joke, or I was the victim of a dream, or suffering from some
+hideous nightmare. Why, only a half hour before I was in my own
+office, among my own familiar belongings, and now--But, alas, it was
+no delusion. Only four blank, whitewashed walls met my inquiring eyes,
+and though I knocked and knocked again upon the two doors which
+guarded me on either side, hollow echoes continued to be the only
+answer I received.
+
+Had the carriage then taken away the two persons I had seen in this
+house, and was I indeed alone in its great emptiness? The thought made
+me desperate, but notwithstanding this I was resolved to continue my
+efforts, for I might be mistaken; there might yet be some being left
+who would yield to my entreaties if they were backed by something
+substantial.
+
+Taking out my watch, I laid it on the table; it was just a quarter to
+eight. Then I emptied my trousers pockets of whatever money they held,
+and when all was heaped up before me, I could count but twelve
+dollars, which, together with my studs and a seal ring which I wore,
+seemed a paltry pittance with which to barter for the liberty of which
+I had been robbed. But it was all I had with me, and I was willing to
+part with it at once if only some one would unlock the door and let me
+go. But how to make known my wishes even if there was any one to
+listen to them? I had already called in vain, and there was no
+bell--yes, there was; why had I not seen it before? There was a bell
+and I sprang to ring it. But just as my hand fell on the cord, I heard
+a gentle voice behind my back saying in good English, but with a
+strong foreign accent:
+
+"Put up your money, Mr. Atwater; we do not want your money, only your
+society. Allow me to beg you to replace both watch and money."
+
+Wheeling about in my double surprise at the presence of this intruder
+and his unexpected acquaintance with my name, I encountered the
+smiling glance of a middle-aged man of genteel appearance and
+courteous manners. He was bowing almost to the ground, and was, as I
+instantly detected, of German birth and education, a gentleman, and
+not the blackleg I had every reason to expect to see.
+
+"You have made a slight mistake," he was saying; "it is your society,
+only your society, that we want."
+
+Astonished at his appearance, and exceedingly irritated by his words,
+I stepped back as he offered me my watch, and bluntly cried:
+
+"If it is my society only that you want, you have certainly taken very
+strange means to procure it. A thief could have set no neater trap,
+and if it is money you want, state your sum and let me go, for my time
+is valuable and my society likely to be unpleasant."
+
+He gave a shrug with his shoulders that in no wise interfered with his
+set smile.
+
+"You choose to be facetious," he observed. "I have already remarked
+that we have no use for your money. Will you sit down? Here is some
+excellent wine, and if this brand of cigars does not suit you, I will
+send for another."
+
+"Send for the devil!" I cried, greatly exasperated. "What do you mean
+by keeping me in this place against my will? Open that door and let me
+out, or--"
+
+I was ready to spring and he saw it. Smiling more atrociously than
+ever, he slipped behind the table, and before I could reach him, had
+quietly drawn a pistol, which he cocked before my eyes.
+
+"You are excited," he remarked, with a suavity that nearly drove me
+mad. "Now excitement is no aid to good company, and I am determined
+that none but good company shall be in this room to-night. So if you
+will be kind enough to calm yourself, Mr. Atwater, you and I may yet
+enjoy ourselves, but if not--" the action he made was significant, and
+I felt the cold sweat break out on my forehead through all the heat of
+my indignation.
+
+But I did not mean to show him that he had intimidated me.
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "and put down your pistol. Though you are making
+me lose irredeemable time, I will try and control myself enough to
+give you an opportunity for explaining yourself. Why have you
+entrapped me into this place?"
+
+"I have already told you," said he, gently laying the pistol before
+him, but within easy reach of his hand.
+
+"But that is preposterous," I began, fast losing my self-control
+again. "You do not know me, and if you did--"
+
+"Pardon me, you see I know your name."
+
+Yes, that was true, and the fact set me thinking. How did he know my
+name? I did not know him, nor did I know this house, or any reason for
+which I could have been beguiled into it. Was I the victim of a
+conspiracy, or was the man mad? Looking at him very earnestly, I
+declared:
+
+"My name is Atwater, and so far you are right, but in learning that
+much about me you must also have learned that I am neither rich nor
+influential, nor of any special value to a blackmailer. Why choose me
+out then for--your society? Why not choose some one who can--talk?"
+
+"I find your conversation very interesting."
+
+Baffled, exasperated almost beyond the power to restrain myself, I
+shook my fist in his face, notwithstanding I saw his hand fly to his
+pistol.
+
+"Let me go!" I shrieked. "Let me go out of this place. I have
+business, I tell you, important business which means everything to me,
+and which, if I do not attend to it to-night, will be lost to me for
+ever. Let me go, and I will so far reward you that I will speak to no
+one of what has taken place here to-night, but go my ways, forgetful
+of you, forgetful of this house, forgetful of all connected with it."
+
+"You are very good," was his quiet reply, "but this wine has to be
+drunk." And he calmly poured out a glass, while I drew back in
+despair. "You do not drink wine?" he queried, holding up the glass he
+had filled between himself and the light. "It is a pity, for it is of
+most rare vintage. But perhaps you smoke?"
+
+Sick and disgusted, I found a chair, and sat down in it. If the man
+were crazy, there was certainly method in his madness. Besides, he
+had not a crazy eye; there was calm calculation in it and not a little
+good-nature. Did he simply want to detain me, and if so, did he have a
+motive it would pay me to fathom before I exerted myself further to
+insure my release? Answering the wave he made me with his hand by
+reaching out for the bottle and filling myself a glass, I forced
+myself to speak more affably as I remarked:
+
+"If the wine must be drunk, we had better be about it, as you cannot
+mean to detain me more than an hour, whatever reason you may have for
+wishing my society."
+
+He looked at me inquiringly before answering, then tossing off his
+glass, he remarked:
+
+"I am sorry, but in an hour a man can scarcely make the acquaintance
+of another man's exterior."
+
+"Then you mean--"
+
+"To know you thoroughly, if you will be so good; I may never have the
+opportunity again."
+
+He must be mad; nothing else but mania could account for such words
+and such actions; and yet, if mad, why was he allowed to enter my
+presence? The man who brought me here, the woman who received me at
+the door, had not been mad.
+
+"And I must stay here--" I began.
+
+"Till I am quite satisfied. I am afraid that will take till morning."
+
+I gave a cry of despair, and then in my utter desperation spoke up to
+him as I would to a man of feeling:
+
+"You don't know what you are doing; you don't know what I shall suffer
+by any such cruel detention. This night is not like other nights to
+me. This is a special night in my life, and I need it, I need it, I
+tell you, to spend as I will. The woman I love"--it seemed horrible to
+speak of her in this place, but I was wild at my helplessness, and
+madly hoped I might awake some answering chord in a breast which could
+not be void of all feeling or he would not have that benevolent look
+in his eye--"the woman I love," I repeated, "sails for Europe
+to-morrow. We have quarrelled, but she still cares for me, and if I
+can sail on the same steamer, we will yet make up and be happy."
+
+"At what time does this steamer start?"
+
+"At nine in the morning."
+
+"Well, you shall leave this house at eight. If you go directly to the
+steamer you will be in time."
+
+"But--but," I panted, "I have made no arrangements. I shall have to go
+to my lodgings, write letters, get money. I ought to be there at this
+moment. Have you no mercy on a man who never did you wrong, and only
+asks to quit you and forget the precious hour you have made him lose?"
+
+"I am sorry," he said, "it is certainly quite unfortunate, but the
+door will not be opened before eight. There is really no one in the
+house to unlock it."
+
+"And do you mean to say," I cried aghast, "that you could not open
+that door if you would, that you are locked in here as well as I, and
+that I must remain here till morning, no matter how I feel or you
+feel?"
+
+"Will you not take a cigar?" he asked.
+
+Then I began to see how useless it was to struggle, and visions of
+Dora leaning on the steamer rail with that serpent whispering soft
+entreaties in her ear came rushing before me, till I could have wept
+in my jealous chagrin.
+
+"It is cruel, base, devilish," I began. "If you had the excuse of
+wanting money, and took this method of wringing my all from me, I
+could have patience, but to entrap and keep me here for nothing, when
+my whole future happiness is trembling in the balance, is the work of
+a fiend and--" I made a sudden pause, for a strange idea had struck
+me.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+What if this man, these men and this woman, were in league with him
+whose rivalry I feared, and whom I had intended to supplant on the
+morrow. It was a wild surmise, but was it any wilder than to believe I
+was held here for a mere whim, a freak, a joke, as this bowing,
+smiling man before me would have me believe?
+
+Rising in fresh excitement, I struck my hand on the table. "You want
+to keep me from going on the steamer," I cried. "That other wretch who
+loves her has paid you--"
+
+But that other wretch could not know that I was meditating any such
+unusual scheme, as following him without a full day's warning. I
+thought of this even before I had finished my sentence, and did not
+need the blank astonishment in the face of the man before me to
+convince me that I had given utterance to a foolish accusation. "It
+would have been some sort of a motive for your actions," I humbly
+added, as I sank back from my hostile attitude; "now you have none."
+
+I thought he bestowed upon me a look of quiet pity, but if so he soon
+hid it with his uplifted glass.
+
+"Forget the girl," said he; "I know of a dozen just as pretty."
+
+I was too indignant to answer.
+
+"Women are the bane of life," he now sententiously exclaimed. "They
+are ever intruding themselves between a man and his comfort, as for
+instance just now between yourself and this good wine."
+
+I caught up the bottle in sheer desperation.
+
+"Don't talk of them," I cried, "and I will try and drink. I almost
+wish there was poison in the glass. My death here might bring
+punishment upon you."
+
+He shook his head, totally unmoved by my passion.
+
+"We deal punishment, not receive it. It would not worry me in the
+least to leave you lying here upon the floor."
+
+I did not believe this, but I did not stop to weigh the question
+then; I was too much struck by a word he had used.
+
+"Deal punishment?" I repeated. "Are you punishing me? Is that why I am
+here?"
+
+He laughed and held out his glass to mine.
+
+"You enjoy being sarcastic," he observed. "Well, it gives a spice to
+conversation, I own. Talk is apt to be dull without it."
+
+For reply I struck the glass from his hand; it fell and shivered, and
+he looked for the moment really distressed.
+
+"I had rather you had struck me," he remarked, "for I have an answer
+for an injury like that; but for a broken glass--" He sighed and
+looked dolefully at the pieces on the floor.
+
+Mortified and somewhat ashamed, I put down my own glass.
+
+"You should not have exasperated me," I cried, and walked away beyond
+temptation, to the other side of the room.
+
+His spirits had received a dampener, but in a few minutes he seized
+upon a cigar and began smoking; as the wreaths curled over his head he
+began to talk, and this time it was on subjects totally foreign to
+myself and even to himself. It was good talk; that I recognized,
+though I hardly listened to what he said. I was asking myself what
+time it had now got to be, and what was the meaning of my
+incarceration, till my brain became weary and I could scarcely
+distinguish the topic he discussed. But he kept on for all my seeming,
+and indeed real, indifference, kept on hour after hour in a monologue
+he endeavored to make interesting, and which probably would have been
+so if the time and occasion had been fit for my enjoying it. As it
+was, I had no ear for his choicest phrases, his subtlest criticisms,
+or his most philosophic disquisitions. I was wrapped up in self and my
+cruel disappointment, and when in a certain access of frenzy I leaped
+to my feet and took a look at the watch still lying on the table, and
+saw it was four o'clock in the morning, I gave a bound of final
+despair, and throwing myself on the floor, gave myself up to the heavy
+sleep that mercifully came to relieve me.
+
+I was roused by feeling a touch on my breast. Clapping my hand to the
+spot where I had felt the intruding hand, I discovered that my watch
+had been returned to my pocket. Drawing it out I first looked at it
+and then cast my eyes quickly about the room. There was no one with
+me, and the doors stood open between me and the hall. It was eight
+o'clock, as my watch had just told me.
+
+That I rushed from the house and took the shortest road to the
+steamer, goes without saying. I could not cross the ocean with Dora,
+but I might yet see her and tell her how near I came to giving her my
+company on that long voyage which now would only serve to further the
+ends of my rival. But when, after torturing delays on cars and
+ferry-boats, and incredible efforts to pierce a throng that was
+equally determined not to be pierced, I at last reached the wharf, it
+was to behold her, just as I had fancied in my wildest moments,
+leaning on a rail of the ship and listening, while she abstractedly
+waved her hand to some friends below, to the words of the man who had
+never looked so handsome to me or so odious as at this moment of his
+unconscious triumph. Her father was near her, and from his eager
+attitude and rapidly wandering gaze I saw that he was watching for me.
+At last he spied me struggling aboard, and immediately his face
+lighted up in a way which made me wish he had not thought it necessary
+to wait for my anticipated meeting with his daughter.
+
+"Ah, Dick, you are late," he began, effusively, as I put foot on deck.
+
+But I waved him back and went at once to Dora.
+
+"Forgive me, pardon me," I incoherently said, as her sweet eyes rose
+in startled pleasure to mine. "I would have brought you flowers, but I
+meant to sail with you, Dora, I tried to--but wretches, villains,
+prevented it and--and--"
+
+"Oh, it does not matter," she said, and then blushed, probably because
+the words sounded unkind, "I mean--"
+
+But she could not say what she meant, for just then the bell rang for
+all visitors to leave, and her father came forward, evidently thinking
+all was right between us, smiled benignantly in her face, gave her a
+kiss and me a wink and disappeared in the crowd that was now rapidly
+going ashore.
+
+I felt that I must follow, but I gave her one look and one squeeze of
+the hand, and then as I saw her glances wander to his face, I groaned
+in spirit, stammered some words of choking sorrow and was gone, before
+her embarrassment would let her speak words, which I knew would only
+add to my grief and make this hasty parting unendurable.
+
+The look of amazement and chagrin with which her father met my
+reappearance on the dock can easily be imagined.
+
+"Why, Dick," he exclaimed, "aren't you going after all? I thought I
+could rely on you. Where's your pluck, lad? Scared off by a frown? I
+wouldn't have believed it, Dick. What if she does frown to-day; she
+will smile to-morrow."
+
+I shook my head; I could not tell him just then that it was not
+through any lack of pluck on my part that I had failed him.
+
+When I left the dock I went straight to a restaurant, for I was faint
+as well as miserable. But my cup of coffee choked me and the rolls and
+eggs were more than I could face. Rising impatiently, I went out. Was
+any one more wretched than I that morning and could any one nourish a
+more bitter grievance? As I strode towards my lodgings I chewed the
+cud of my disappointment till my wrongs loomed up like mountains and
+I was seized by a spirit of revenge. Should I let such an interference
+as I had received go unpunished? No, if the wretch who had detained me
+was not used to punishment he should receive a specimen of it now and
+from a man who was no longer a prisoner, and who once aroused did not
+easily forego his purposes. Turning aside from my former destination,
+I went immediately to a police-station and when I had entered my
+complaint was astonished to see that all the officials had grouped
+about me and were listening to my words with the most startled
+interest.
+
+"Was the man who came for you a German?" one asked.
+
+I said "Yes."
+
+"And the man who stood guardian over you and entertained you with wine
+and cigars, was not he a German too?"
+
+I nodded acquiescence and they at once began to whisper together; then
+one of them advanced to me and said:
+
+"You have not been home, I understand; you had better come."
+
+Astonished by his manner I endeavored to inquire what he meant, but he
+drew me away, and not till we were within a stone's throw of my office
+did he say, "You must prepare yourself for a shock. The impertinences
+you suffered from last night were unpleasant no doubt, but if you had
+been allowed to return home, you might not now be deploring them in
+comparative peace and safety."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That your partner was not as fortunate as yourself. Look up at the
+house; what do you see there?"
+
+A crowd was what I saw first, but he made me look higher, and then I
+perceived that the windows of my room, of our room, were shattered and
+blackened and that part of the casement of one had been blown out.
+
+"A fire!" I shrieked. "Poor Richter was smoking--"
+
+"No, he was not smoking. He had no time for a smoke. An infernal
+machine burst in that room last night and your friend was its wretched
+victim."
+
+I never knew why my friend's life was made a sacrifice to the revenge
+of his fellow-countrymen. Though we had been intimate in the year we
+had been together, he had never talked to me of his country and I had
+never seen him in company with one of his own nation. But that he was
+the victim of some political revenge was apparent, for though it
+proved impossible to find the man who had detained me, the house was
+found and ransacked, and amongst other secret things was discovered
+the model of the machine which had been introduced into our room, and
+which had proved so fatal to the man it was addressed to. Why men who
+were so relentless in their purposes towards him should have taken
+such pains to keep me from sharing his fate, is one of those anomalies
+in human nature which now and then awake our astonishment. If I had
+not lost Dora through my detention at their hands I should look back
+upon that evening with sensations of thankfulness. As it is, I
+sometimes question if it would not have been better if they had let me
+take my chances.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Have I lost Dora? From a letter I received to-day I begin to think
+not.
+
+
+
+
+THE BLACK CROSS.
+
+
+A black cross had been set against Judge Hawkins' name; why, it is not
+for me to say. We were not accustomed to explain our motives or to
+give reasons for our deeds. The deeds were enough, and this black
+cross meant death; and when it had been shown us, all that we needed
+to know further was at what hour we should meet for the contemplated
+raid.
+
+A word from the captain settled that; and when the next Friday came, a
+dozen men met at the place of rendezvous, ready for the ride which
+should bring them to the Judge's solitary mansion across the
+mountains.
+
+I was amongst them, and in as satisfactory a mood as I had ever been
+in my life; for the night was favorable, and the men hearty and in
+first-rate condition.
+
+But after we had started, and were threading a certain wood, I began
+to have doubts. Feelings I had never before experienced assailed me
+with a force that first perplexed and then astounded me. I was afraid,
+and what rather heightened than diminished the unwonted sensation, was
+the fact that I was not afraid of anything tangible, either in the
+present or future, but of something unexplainable and peculiar, which,
+if it lay in the skies, certainly made them look dark indeed; and if
+it hid in the forest, caused its faintest murmur to seem like the
+utterance of a great dread, as awful as it was inexplicable.
+
+I nevertheless proceeded, and should have done so if the great streaks
+of lightning which now and then shot zigzag through the sky had taken
+the shape of words and bid us all beware. I was not one to be daunted,
+and knew no other course than that of advance when once a stroke of
+justice had been planned, and the direction for its fulfilment marked
+out. I went on, but I began to think, and that to me was an
+experience; for I had never been taught to reflect, only to fight and
+obey.
+
+The house towards which we were riding was built on a hillside, and
+the first thing we saw on emerging from the forest, was a light
+burning in one of its distant windows. This was a surprise; for the
+hour was late, and in that part of the country people were accustomed
+to retire early, even such busy men as the Judge. He must have a
+visitor, and a visitor meant a possible complication of affairs; so a
+halt was called and I was singled out to reconnoitre the premises, and
+bring back word of what we had a right to expect.
+
+I started off in a strange state of mind. The fear I had spoken of had
+left me, but a vague shadow remained, through which, as through a
+mist, I saw the light in that far away window beckoning me on to what
+I felt was in some way to make an end of my present life. As I drew
+nearer to it, the feeling increased; then it, too, left me, and I
+found myself once more the daring avenger. This was when I came to the
+foot of the hill and discovered I had but a few steps more to take.
+
+The house, which had now become plainly visible, was a solid one of
+stone, built as I have said, on the hillside. It faced the road, as
+was shown by the large portico, dimly to be discerned in that
+direction; but its rooms were mainly on the side, and it was from one
+of these that the light shone. As I came yet nearer, I perceived that
+these rooms were guarded by a piazza, which, communicating with the
+portico in front, afforded an open road to that window and a clear
+sight of what lay behind it.
+
+I was instantly off my horse and upon the piazza, and before I had had
+time to realize that my fears had returned to me with double force, I
+had crept with stealthy steps towards that uncurtained window and
+looked in.
+
+What did I see? At first nothing but a calm, studious figure, bending
+above a batch of closely written papers, upon which the light shone
+too brightly for me to perceive much of what lay beyond them. But
+gradually an influence, of whose workings I was scarcely conscious,
+drew my eyes away, and I began to discover on every side strange and
+beautiful objects which greatly interested me, until suddenly my eyes
+fell upon a vision of loveliness so enchanting that I forgot to look
+elsewhere, and became for the moment nothing but sight and feeling.
+
+It was a picture, or so I thought in that first instant of awe and
+delight. But presently I saw that it was a woman, living and full of
+the thoughts that had never been mine; and at the discovery a sudden
+trembling seized me; for I had never seen anything in heaven or earth
+like her beauty, while she saw nothing but the man who was bending
+over his papers.
+
+There was a door or something dark behind her, and against it her tall
+strong figure, clad in a close white gown, stood out with a
+distinctness that was not altogether earthly. But it was her face that
+held me, and made of me from moment to moment a new man.
+
+For in it I discerned what I had never believed in till now, devotion
+that had no limit, and love which asked nothing in return. She seemed
+to be faltering on the threshold of that room, like one who would like
+to enter but does not dare, and in another moment, with a smile that
+pierced me through and through, she turned as if to go. Instantly I
+forgot everything but my despair, and leaned forward with an
+impetuosity that betrayed my presence, for she glanced quickly towards
+the window, and seeing me, turned pale, even while she rose in height
+till I felt myself shrink and grow small before her.
+
+Thrusting out her hand, she caught from the table before her what
+looked like a small dagger, and holding it up, advanced upon me with
+blazing eyes and parted lips, not seeing that the Judge had risen to
+his feet, not seeing anything but my face glued against the pane, and
+staring with an expression that must have struck her to the heart as
+surely as her look pierced mine. When she was almost upon me I turned
+and fled. Hell could not have frightened me, but Heaven did; and for
+me that woman was Heaven whether she smiled or frowned, gazed upon
+another with love, or raised a dagger to strike me to the ground.
+
+How soon I met my mates I cannot say. In a few minutes, doubtless, for
+they had stolen after me and had detected me running away from the
+window. I was forced to tell my tale, and I told it unhesitatingly,
+for I knew I could not save him--if I wanted to--and I knew I should
+save her or die in the attempt.
+
+"He is alone there with a girl," I announced. "Whether she is his wife
+or not I cannot say, but there is no cross against her name, and I
+ask that she be spared not only from sharing his fate, but from the
+sight of his death, for she loves him."
+
+This from me! No wonder the captain stared, then laughed. But I did
+not laugh in return, and being the strongest man in the band and the
+surest with my rifle, he did not trifle long, but listened to my plans
+and in part consented to them, so that I retreated to my post at the
+gateway with something like confidence, while he, approaching the
+door, lifted the knocker and let it fall with a resounding clang that
+must have rung like a knell of death to the hearts within.
+
+For the Judge knew our errand. I saw it in his face when he rose to
+his feet, and he had no hope, for we had never failed in our attempts,
+and the house, though strongly built, was easily assailable.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+While the captain knocked, three men had scaled the portico and were
+ready to enter the open windows, if the Judge refused to appear or
+offered any resistance to what was known as the captain's will.
+
+"Death to the Judge!" was the cry; and it was echoed not only at the
+door, but around the house, where the rest of the men had drawn a
+cordon ready to waylay any one who sought to escape. Death to the
+Judge! And the Judge was loved by that woman and would be mourned by
+her till--But a voice is speaking, a voice from out that great house,
+and it asks what is wanted and what the meaning is of these threats of
+death.
+
+And the captain answers short and sharp:
+
+"The Ku-Klux commands but never explains. What it commands now is for
+Judge Hawkins to come forth. If he shrinks or delays his house will be
+entered and burnt; but if he will come out and meet like a man what
+awaits him, his house shall go free and his family remain unmolested."
+
+"And what is it that awaits him?" pursued the voice.
+
+"Four bullets from four unerring rifles," returned the captain.
+
+"It is well; he will come forth," cried the voice, and then in a
+huskier tone: "Let me kiss the woman I love. I will not keep you
+long."
+
+And the captain answered nothing, only counted out clearly and
+steadily, "One--two--three," up to a hundred, then he paused, turned,
+and lifted his hand; when instantly our four rifles rose, and at the
+same moment the door, with a faint grating sound I shall never forget,
+slowly opened and the firm, unshrinking figure of the Judge appeared.
+
+We did not delay. One simultaneous burst of fire, one loud quick
+crack, and his figure fell before our eyes. A sound, a cry from
+within, then all was still, and the captain, mounting his horse, gave
+one quick whistle and galloped away. We followed him, but I was the
+last to mount, and did not follow long; for at the flash of those guns
+I had seen a smile cross our victim's lip, and my heart was on fire,
+and I could not rest till I had found my way back to that open doorway
+and the figure lying within it.
+
+There it was, and behind it a house empty as my heart has been since
+that day. A man's dress covering a woman's form--and over the
+motionless, perfect features, that same smile which I had seen in the
+room beyond and again in the quick glare of the rifles.
+
+I had harbored no evil thought concerning her, but when I beheld that
+smile now sealed and fixed upon her lips, I found the soul I had never
+known I possessed until that day.
+
+
+
+
+A MYSTERIOUS CASE.
+
+
+It was a mystery to me, but not to the other doctors. They took, as
+was natural, the worst possible view of the matter, and accepted the
+only solution which the facts seem to warrant. But they are men, and I
+am a woman; besides, I knew the nurse well, and I could not believe
+her capable of wilful deceit, much less of the heinous crime which
+deceit in this case involved. So to me the affair was a mystery.
+
+The facts were these:
+
+My patient, a young typewriter, seemingly without friends or enemies,
+lay in a small room of a boarding-house, afflicted with a painful but
+not dangerous malady. Though she was comparatively helpless, her vital
+organs were strong, and we never had a moment's uneasiness concerning
+her, till one morning when we found her in an almost dying condition
+from having taken, as we quickly discovered, a dose of poison,
+instead of the soothing mixture which had been left for her with the
+nurse. Poison! and no one, not even herself or the nurse, could
+explain how the same got into the room, much less into her medicine.
+And when I came to study the situation, I found myself as much at loss
+as they; indeed, more so; for I knew I had made no mistake in
+preparing the mixture, and that, even if I had, this especial poison
+could not have found its way into it, owing to the fact that there
+neither was nor ever had been a drop of it in my possession.
+
+The mixture, then, was pure when it left my hand, and, according to
+the nurse, whom, as I have said, I implicitly believe, it went into
+the glass pure. And yet when, two hours later, without her having left
+the room or anybody coming into it, she found occasion to administer
+the draught, poison was in the cup, and the patient was only saved
+from death by the most immediate and energetic measures, not only on
+her part, but on that of Dr. Holmes, whom in her haste and
+perturbation she had called in from the adjacent house.
+
+The patient, young, innocent, unfortunate, but of a strangely
+courageous disposition, betrayed nothing but the utmost surprise at
+the peril she had so narrowly escaped. When Dr. Holmes intimated that
+perhaps she had been tired of suffering, and had herself found means
+of putting the deadly drug into her medicine, she opened her great
+gray eyes, with such a look of child-like surprise and reproach, that
+he blushed, and murmured some sort of apology.
+
+"Poison myself?" she cried, "when you promise me that I shall get
+well? You do not know what a horror I have of dying in debt, or you
+would never say that."
+
+This was some time after the critical moment had passed, and there
+were in the room Mrs. Dayton, the landlady, Dr. Holmes, the nurse, and
+myself. At the utterance of these words we all felt ashamed and cast
+looks of increased interest at the poor girl.
+
+She was very lovely. Though without means, and to all appearance
+without friends, she possessed in great degree the charm of
+winsomeness, and not even her many sufferings, nor the indignation
+under which she was then laboring, could quite rob her countenance of
+that tender and confiding expression which so often redeems the
+plainest face and makes beauty doubly attractive.
+
+"Dr. Holmes does not know you," I hastened to say; "I do, and utterly
+repel for you any such insinuation. In return, will you tell me if
+there is any one in the world whom you can call your enemy? Though the
+chief mystery is how so deadly and unusual a poison could have gotten
+into a clean glass, without the knowledge of yourself or the nurse,
+still it might not be amiss to know if there is any one, here or
+elsewhere, who for any reason might desire your death."
+
+The surprise in the child-like eyes increased rather than diminished.
+
+"I don't know what to say," she murmured. "I am so insignificant and
+feeble a person that it seems absurd for me to talk of having an
+enemy. Besides, I have none. On the contrary, every one seems to love
+me more than I deserve. Haven't you noticed it, Mrs. Dayton?"
+
+The landlady smiled and stroked the sick girl's hand.
+
+"Indeed," she replied, "I have noticed that people love you, but I
+have never thought that it was more than you deserved. You are a dear
+little thing, Addie."
+
+And though she knew and I knew that the "every one" mentioned by the
+poor girl meant ourselves, and possibly her unknown employer, we were
+none the less touched by her words. The more we studied the mystery,
+the deeper and less explainable did it become.
+
+And indeed I doubt if we should have ever got to the bottom of it, if
+there had not presently occurred in my patient a repetition of the
+same dangerous symptoms, followed by the same discovery, of poison in
+the glass, and the same failure on the part of herself and nurse to
+account for it. I was aroused from my bed at midnight to attend her,
+and as I entered her room and met her beseeching eyes looking upon me
+from the very shadow of death, I made a vow that I would never cease
+my efforts till I had penetrated the secret of what certainly looked
+like a persistent attempt upon this poor girl's life.
+
+I went about the matter deliberately. As soon as I could leave her
+side, I drew the nurse into a corner and again questioned her. The
+answers were the same as before. Addie had shown distress as soon as
+she had swallowed her usual quantity of medicine, and in a few minutes
+more was in a perilous condition.
+
+"Did you hand the glass yourself to Addie?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"Where did you take it from?"
+
+"From the place where you left it--the little stand on the farther
+side of the bed."
+
+"And do you mean to say that you had not touched it since I prepared
+it?"
+
+"I do, ma'am."
+
+"And that no one else has been in the room?"
+
+"No one, ma'am."
+
+I looked at her intently. I trusted her, but the best of us are but
+mortal.
+
+"Can you assure me that you have not been asleep during this time?"
+
+"Look at this letter I have been writing," she returned. "It is eight
+pages long, and it was not begun when you left us at 10 o'clock."
+
+I shook my head and fell into a deep revery. How was that matter to be
+elucidated, and how was my patient to be saved? Another draught of
+this deadly poison, and no power on earth could resuscitate her. What
+should I do, and with what weapons should I combat a danger at once so
+subtle and so deadly? Reflection brought no decision, and I left the
+room at last, determined upon but one point, and that was the
+immediate removal of my patient. But before I had left the house I
+changed my mind even on this point. Removal of the patient meant
+safety to her, perhaps, but not the explanation of her mysterious
+poisoning. I would change the position of her bed, and I would even
+set a watch over her and the nurse, but I would not take her out of
+the house--not yet.
+
+And what had produced this change in my plans? The look of a woman
+whom I met on the stairs. I did not know her, but when I encountered
+her glance I felt that there was some connection between us, and I was
+not at all surprised to hear her ask:
+
+"And how is Miss Wilcox to-day?"
+
+"Miss Wilcox is very low," I returned. "The least neglect, the least
+shock to her nerves, would be sufficient to make all my efforts
+useless. Otherwise--"
+
+"She will get well?"
+
+I nodded. I had exaggerated the condition of the sufferer, but some
+secret instinct compelled me to do so. The look which passed over the
+woman's face satisfied me that I had done well; and, though I left the
+house, it was with the intention of speedily returning and making
+inquiries into the woman's character and position in the household.
+
+I learned little or nothing. That she occupied a good room and paid
+for it regularly seemed to be sufficient to satisfy Mrs. Dayton. Her
+name, which proved to be Leroux, showed her to be French, and her
+promptly paid $10 a week showed her to be respectable--what more could
+any hard-working landlady require? But I was distrustful. Her face,
+though handsome, possessed an eager, ferocious look which I could not
+forget, and the slight gesture with which she had passed me at the
+close of the short conversation I have given above had a suggestion of
+triumph in it which seemed to contain whole volumes of secret and
+mysterious hate. I went into Miss Wilcox's room very thoughtful.
+
+"I am going--"
+
+But here the nurse held up her hand. "Hark," she whispered; she had
+just set the clock, and was listening to its striking.
+
+I did hark, but not to the clock.
+
+"Whose step is that?" I asked, after she had left the clock, and sat
+down.
+
+"Oh, some one in the next room. The walls here are very thin--only
+boards in places."
+
+I did not complete what I had begun to say. If I could hear steps
+through the partition, then could our neighbors hear us talk, and what
+I had determined upon must be kept secret from all outsiders. I drew a
+sheet of paper toward me and wrote:
+
+"I shall stay here to-night. Something tells me that in doing this I
+shall solve this mystery. But I must appear to go. Take my
+instructions as usual, and bid me good-night. Lock the door after me,
+but with a turn of the key instantly unlock it again. I shall go down
+stairs, see that my carriage drives away, and quietly return. On my
+re-entrance I shall expect to find Miss Wilcox on the couch with the
+screen drawn up around it, you in your big chair, and the light
+lowered. What I do thereafter need not concern you. Pretend to go to
+sleep."
+
+The nurse nodded, and immediately entered upon the programme I had
+planned. I prepared the medicine as usual, placed it in its usual
+glass, and laid that glass where it had always been set, on a small
+table at the farther side of the bed. Then I said "Good-night," and
+passed hurriedly out.
+
+I was fortunate enough to meet no one, going or coming. I regained the
+room, pushed open the door, and finding everything in order, proceeded
+at once to the bed, upon which, after taking off my hat and cloak and
+carefully concealing them, I lay down and deftly covered myself up.
+
+My idea was this--that by some mesmeric influence of which she was
+ignorant, the nurse had been forced to either poison the glass herself
+or open the door for another to do it. If this were so, she or the
+other person would be obliged to pass around the foot of the bed in
+order to reach the glass, and I should be sure to see it, for I did
+not pretend to sleep. By the low light enough could be discerned for
+safe movement about the room, and not enough to make apparent the
+change which had been made in the occupant of the bed. I waited with
+indescribable anxiety, and more than once fancied I heard steps, if
+not a feverish breathing close to my bed-head; but no one appeared,
+and the nurse in her big chair did not move.
+
+At last I grew weary, and fearful of losing control over my eyelids, I
+fixed my gaze upon the glass, as if in so doing I should find a
+talisman to keep me awake, when, great God! what was it I saw! A hand,
+a creeping hand coming from nowhere and joined to nothing, closing
+about that glass and drawing it slowly away till it disappeared
+entirely from before my eyes!
+
+I gasped--I could not help it--but I did not stir. For now I knew I
+was asleep and dreaming. But no, I pinch myself under the clothes, and
+find that I am very wide awake indeed; and then--look! look! the glass
+is returning; the hand--a woman's hand--is slowly setting it back in
+its place, and--
+
+With a bound I have that hand in my grasp. It is a living hand, and it
+is very warm and strong and fierce, and the glass has fallen and lies
+shattered between us, and a double cry is heard, one from behind the
+partition, through an opening in which this hand had been thrust, and
+one from the nurse, who has jumped to her feet and is even now
+assisting me in holding the struggling member, upon which I have
+managed to scratch a tell-tale mark with a piece of the fallen glass.
+At sight of the iron-like grip which this latter lays upon the
+intruding member, I at once release my own grasp.
+
+"Hold on," I cried, and leaping from the bed, I hastened first to my
+patient, whom I carefully reassured, and then into the hall, where I
+found the landlady running to see what was the matter. "I have found
+the wretch," I cried, and drawing her after me, hurried about to the
+other side of the partition, where I found a closet, and in it the
+woman I had met on the stairs, but glaring now like a tiger in her
+rage, menace, and fear.
+
+That woman was my humble little patient's bitter but unknown enemy.
+Enamoured of a man who--unwisely, perhaps--had expressed in her
+hearing his admiration for the pretty typewriter, she had conceived
+the idea that he intended to marry the latter, and, vowing vengeance,
+had taken up her abode in the same house with the innocent girl,
+where, had it not been for the fortunate circumstance of my meeting
+her on the stairs, she would certainly have carried out her scheme of
+vile and secret murder. The poison she had bought in another city, and
+the hole in the partition she had herself cut. This had been done at
+first for the purpose of observation, she having detected in passing
+by Miss Wilcox's open door that a banner of painted silk hung over
+that portion of the wall in such a way as to hide any aperture which
+might be made there.
+
+Afterward, when Miss Wilcox fell sick, and she discovered by short
+glimpses through her loop-hole that the glass of medicine was placed
+on a table just under this banner, she could not resist the temptation
+to enlarge the hole to a size sufficient to admit the pushing aside of
+the banner and the reaching through of her murderous hand. Why she did
+not put poison enough in the glass to kill Miss Wilcox at once I have
+never discovered. Probably she feared detection. That by doing as she
+did she brought about the very event she had endeavored to avert, is
+the most pleasing part of the tale. When the gentleman of whom I have
+spoken learned of the wicked attempt which had been made upon Miss
+Wilcox's life, his heart took pity upon her, and a marriage ensued,
+which I have every reason to believe is a happy one.
+
+
+
+
+SHALL HE WED HER?
+
+
+When I met Taylor at the Club the other night, he looked so cheerful I
+scarcely knew him.
+
+"What is it?" cried I, advancing with outstretched hand.
+
+"I am going to be married," was his gay reply. "This is my last night
+at the Club."
+
+I was glad, and showed it. Taylor is a man for whom domestic life is a
+necessity. He has never been at home with us, though we all liked him,
+and he in his way liked us.
+
+"And who is the fortunate lady?" I inquired; for I had been out of
+town for some time, and had not as yet been made acquainted with the
+latest society news.
+
+"My intended bride is Mrs. Walworth, the young widow--"
+
+He must have seen a change take place in my expression, for he
+stopped.
+
+"You know her, of course?" he added, after a careful study of my face.
+
+I had by this time regained my self-possession.
+
+"Of course," I repeated, "and I have always thought her one of the
+most attractive women in the city. Another shake upon it, old man."
+
+But my heart was heavy and my mind perplexed notwithstanding the
+forced cordiality of my tones, and I took an early opportunity to
+withdraw by myself and think over the situation.
+
+Mrs. Walworth? She is a pretty woman, and what is more, she is to all
+appearance a woman whose winning manners bespeak a kindly heart. "Just
+the person," I contemplated, "whom I would pick out for the helpmate
+of my somewhat exacting friend, if--" I paused on that if. It was a
+formidable one and grew none the smaller or less important under my
+broodings. Indeed, it seemed to dilate until it assumed gigantic
+proportions, worrying me and weighing so heavily upon my conscience
+that I at last rose from the newspaper at which I had been hopelessly
+staring, and looking up Taylor again asked him how soon he expected to
+become a benedict.
+
+His answer startled me. "In a week," he replied, "and if I have not
+asked you to the ceremony it is because Helen is not in a position
+to--"
+
+I suppose he finished the sentence, but I did not hear him. If the
+marriage was so near, of course it would be folly on my part to
+attempt to hinder it. I drew off for the second time.
+
+But I could not remain easy. Taylor is a good fellow, and it would be
+a shame to allow him to marry a woman with whom he could never be
+happy. He would feel any such disappointment so keenly, so much more
+keenly than most men. A lack of principle or even of sensibility on
+her part would make him miserable. Anticipating heaven, he would not
+need a hell to make him wretched; a purgatory would do it. Was I right
+then in letting him proceed in his intentions regarding Mrs. Walworth,
+when she possibly was the woman who--I paused and tried to call up
+her countenance before me. It was a sweet one and possibly a true
+one. I might have trusted her for myself, but I do not look for
+perfection, and Taylor does, and will certainly go to the bad if he is
+deceived in his expectations. But in a week! It is too late for
+interference--only it is never too late till the knot is tied. As I
+thought of this, I decided impulsively, and perhaps you may say
+unwisely, to give him a hint of his danger, and I did it in this wise:
+
+"Taylor," said I, when I had him safely in my own rooms, "I am going
+to tell you a bit of personal history, curious enough, I think, to
+interest you even upon the eve of your marriage. I do not know when I
+shall see you again, and I should like you to know how a lawyer and
+man of the world can sometimes be taken in."
+
+He nodded, accepting the situation good-humoredly, though I saw by the
+abstraction with which he gazed into the fire that I should have to be
+very interesting to lure him from the thoughts that engrossed him. As
+I meant to be very interesting, this did not greatly concern me.
+
+"One morning last spring," I began, "I received in my morning mail a
+letter, the delicate penmanship of which at once attracted my
+attention and awakened my curiosity. Turning to the signature, I read
+the name of a young lady friend of mine, and somewhat startled at the
+thought that this was the first time I had ever seen the handwriting
+of one I knew so well, I perused the letter with an interest that
+presently became painful as I realized the tenor of its contents. I
+will not quote the letter, though I could, but confine myself to
+saying that after a modest recognition of my friendship for her--quite
+a fatherly friendship, I assure you, as she is only eighteen, and I,
+as you know, am well on towards fifty--she proceeded to ask in a
+humble and confiding spirit for the loan--do not start--of fifty
+dollars. Such a request coming from a young girl well connected and
+with every visible sign of being generously provided for by her
+father, was certainly startling to an old bachelor of settled ways and
+strict notions, but remembering her youth and the childish innocence
+of her manner, I turned over the page and read as her reason for
+proffering such a request, that her heart was set upon aiding a
+certain poor family that stood in immediate need of food, clothes, and
+medicines, but that she could not do what she wished, because she had
+already spent all the money allowed her by her father for such
+purposes and dared not go to him for more, as she had once before
+offended him by doing this, and feared if she repeated her fault he
+would carry out the threat he had then made of stopping her allowance
+altogether. But the family was a deserving one and she could not see
+any member of it starve, so she came to me, of whose goodness she was
+assured, convinced I would understand her perplexity and excuse her,
+and so forth and so forth, in language quite child-like and
+entreating, which, if it did not satisfy my ideas of propriety, at
+least touched my heart and made any action which I could take in the
+matter extremely difficult.
+
+"To refuse her request would be at once to mortify and aggrieve her;
+to accede to it and give her the fifty dollars she asked--a sum by the
+way I could not well spare--would be to encourage an action easily
+pardoned once, but which if repeated would lead to unpleasant
+complications, to say the least. The third course, of informing her
+father of what she needed, I did not even consider, for I knew him
+well enough to be sure that nothing but pain to her would be the
+result. I therefore compromised the affair by inclosing the money in a
+letter, in which I told her that I comprehended her difficulty and
+sent with pleasure the amount she needed, but that as a friend I must
+add that while in the present instance she had run no risk of being
+misunderstood or unkindly censured, that such a request made to
+another man and under other circumstances might provoke a surprise
+capable of leading to the most unpleasant consequences, and advised
+her if she ever again found herself in such a strait to appeal
+directly to her father, or else to deny herself a charity which she
+was in no position to bestow.
+
+"This letter I undertook to deliver myself, for one of the curious
+points of her communication had been the entreaty that I would not
+delay the help she needed by trusting the money to any hand but my
+own, but would bring it to a certain hotel down-town and place it at
+the beginning of the book of Isaiah in the large Bible I would find
+lying on a side table in the small parlor off the main one. She would
+seek it there before the morning was over, and so, without the
+intervention of a third party, acquire the means she desired for
+helping a poor and deserving family.
+
+"I knew the hotel she mentioned, and I remembered the room, but I did
+not remember the Bible. However, it was sure to be in the place she
+indicated; and though I was not in much sympathy with my errand, I
+respected her whim and carried the letter down-town. I had reached
+Main Street and was in sight of the hotel designated, when suddenly on
+the opposite corner of the street I saw the young girl herself. She
+looked as fresh as the morning, and smiled so gayly I felt somewhat
+repaid for the annoyance she had caused me, and gratified that I could
+cut matters short by putting the letter directly in her hand, I
+crossed the street to her side. As soon as we were face to face, I
+said:
+
+"'How fortunate I am to meet you. Here is the amount you need sealed
+up in this letter. You see I had it all ready.'
+
+"The face she lifted to mine wore so blank a look that I paused,
+astonished.
+
+"'What do you mean?' she asked, her eyes looking straight into mine
+with such innocence in their clear blue depths, I was at once
+convinced she knew nothing of the matter with which my thoughts were
+busy. 'I am very glad to see you, but I do not in the least understand
+what you mean by the amount I need.' And she glanced at the letter I
+held out, with an air of distrust mingled with curiosity.
+
+"'You cut me short in my efforts to do a charitable action. I heard,
+no matter how, that you were interested just now in a destitute
+family, and took this way of assisting you in their behalf.'
+
+"Her blue eyes opened wider. 'The poor are always with us,' she
+replied, 'but I know of no especial family just now that requires any
+such help as you intimate. If I did, papa would give me what
+assistance I needed.'
+
+"I was greatly pleased to hear her say this, for I am very fond of my
+young friend, but I was deeply indignant also against the unknown
+person who had taken advantage of my regard for this young girl to
+force money from me. I therefore did not linger at her side, but after
+due apologies hastened immediately here where there is a man employed
+who to my knowledge had once been a trusted member of the police.
+
+"Telling him no more of the story than was necessary to ensure his
+co-operation in the plan I had formed to discover the author of this
+fraud, I extracted the bank-notes from the letter I had written, and
+put in their place stiff pieces of manila paper. Taking the envelope
+so filled to the hotel already referred to, I placed it at the opening
+chapters of Isaiah in the Bible, as described. There was no one in any
+of the rooms when I went in, and I encountered only a bell-boy as I
+came out, but at the door I ran against a young man whom I strictly
+forbore to recognize, but whom I knew to be my improvised detective
+coming to take his stand in some place where he could watch the parlor
+and note who went into it.
+
+"At noon I returned to the hotel, passed immediately to the small
+parlor and looked into the Bible. The letter was gone. Coming out of
+the room, I was at once joined by my detective.
+
+"'Has the letter been taken?' he eagerly inquired.
+
+"I nodded.
+
+"His brows wrinkled and he looked both troubled and perplexed.
+
+"'I don't understand it,' he remarked. 'I've seen every one who has
+gone into that room since you left it, but I do not know any more than
+before who took the letter. You see,' he continued, as I looked at him
+sharply, 'I had to remain out here. If I had gone even into the large
+room, the Bible would not have been disturbed, nor the letter either.
+So, in the hope of knowing the rogue at sight, I strolled about this
+hall, and kept my eye constantly on that door, but--'
+
+"He looked embarrassed, and stopped. 'You say the letter is gone,' he
+suggested, after a moment.
+
+"'Yes,' I returned.
+
+"He shook his head. 'Nobody went into that room or came out of it,' he
+went on, 'whom you would have wished me to follow. I should have
+thought myself losing time if I had taken one step after any one of
+them.'
+
+"'But who did go into that room?' I urged, impatient at his
+perplexity.
+
+"'Only three persons this morning,' he returned. 'You know them all.'
+And he mentioned first Mrs. Couldock."
+
+Taylor, who was lending me the superficial attention of a preoccupied
+man, smiled frankly at the utterance of this name. "Of course, she had
+nothing to do with such a debasing piece of business," he observed.
+
+"Of course not," I repeated. "Nor does it seem likely that Miss Dawes
+could have been concerned in it. Yet my detective told me that she was
+the next person who went into the parlor."
+
+"I do not know Miss Dawes so well," remarked Taylor, carelessly.
+
+"But I do," said I; "and I would as soon suspect my sister of a
+dishonorable act as this noble, self-sacrificing woman."
+
+"The third person?" suggested Taylor.
+
+I got up and crossed the floor. When my back was to him, I said,
+quietly--"was Mrs. Walworth."
+
+The silence that followed was very painful. I did not care to break
+it, and he, doubtless, found himself unable to do so. It must have
+been five minutes before either of us spoke; then he suddenly cried:
+
+"Where is that detective, as you call him? I want to see him."
+
+"Let me see him for you," said I. "I should hardly wish Sudley,
+discreet as I consider him, to know you had any interest in this
+affair."
+
+Taylor rose and came to where I stood.
+
+"You believe," said he, "that she, the woman I am about to marry, is
+the one who wrote you that infamous letter?"
+
+I faced him quite frankly. "I do not feel ready to acknowledge that,"
+I replied. "One of those three women took my letter out from the
+Bible, where I placed it; which of them wrote the lines that provoked
+it I do not dare conjecture. You say it was not Mrs. Couldock, I say
+it was not Miss Dawes, but--"
+
+He broke in upon me impetuously.
+
+"Have you the letter?" he asked.
+
+I had, and showed it to him.
+
+"It is not Helen's handwriting," he said.
+
+"Nor is it that of Mrs. Couldock or Miss Dawes."
+
+He looked at me for a moment in a wild sort of way.
+
+"You think she got some one to write it for her?" he cried. "Helen! my
+Helen! But it is not so; it cannot be so. Why, Huntley, to have sent
+such a letter as that over the name of an innocent young girl, who,
+but for the happy chance of meeting you as she did might never have
+had the opportunity of righting herself in your estimation, argues a
+cold and calculating selfishness closely allied to depravity. And my
+Helen is an angel--or so I have always thought her."
+
+The depth to which his voice sank in the last sentence showed that for
+all his seeming confidence he was not without his doubts.
+
+I began to feel very uncomfortable, and not knowing what consolation
+to offer, I ventured upon the suggestion that he should see Mrs.
+Walworth and frankly ask her whether she had been to the hotel on Main
+Street on such a day, and if so, if she had seen a letter addressed
+to Miss N---- lying on the table of the small parlor. His answer
+showed how much his confidence in her had been shaken.
+
+"A woman who, for the sake of paying some unworthy debt or of
+gratifying some whim of feminine vanity, could make use of a young
+girl's signature to obtain money, would not hesitate at any denial.
+She would not even blench at my questions."
+
+He was right.
+
+"I must be convinced in some other way," he went on. "Mrs. Couldock or
+Miss Dawes do not either of them possess any more truthful or
+ingenuous countenance than she does, and though it seems madness to
+suspect such women--"
+
+"Wait," I broke in. "Let us be sure of all the facts before we go on.
+You lie down here and close your eyes; now pull the rug up so. I will
+have Sudley in and question him. If you do not turn towards the light
+he will not know who you are."
+
+Taylor followed my suggestion, and in a few moments Sudley stood
+before me. I opened upon him quite carelessly.
+
+"Sudley," said I, throwing down the newspaper I had been ostensibly
+reading, "you remember that little business you did for me in Main
+Street last month? Something I've been reading made me think of it
+again."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Have you never had a conviction yourself as to which of the three
+ladies you saw go into the parlor took the letter I left hid in the
+Bible?"
+
+"No, sir. You see I could not. All of them are well known in society
+here and all of them belong to the most respectable families. I
+wouldn't dare to choose between them, sir."
+
+"Certainly not," I rejoined, "unless you have some good reason for
+doing so, such as having been able to account for the visits of two of
+the ladies to the hotel, and not of the third."
+
+"They all had a good pretext for being there. Mrs. Couldock gave her
+card to the boy before going into the parlor, and left as soon as he
+returned with word that the lady she called to see was not in. Miss
+Dawes gave no card, but asked for a Miss Terhune, I think, and did
+not remain a moment after she was informed that that lady had left the
+hotel."
+
+"And Mrs. Walworth?"
+
+"She came in from the street adjusting her veil, and upon looking
+around for a mirror was directed to the parlor, into which she at once
+stepped. She remained there but a moment, and when she came out passed
+directly into the street."
+
+These words disconcerted me; the mirror was just over the table in the
+small room, but I managed to remark nonchalantly:
+
+"Could you not tell whether any of these three ladies opened the
+Bible?"
+
+"Not without seeming intrusive."
+
+I sighed and dismissed the man. When he was gone I approached Taylor.
+
+"He can give us no assistance," I cried.
+
+My friend was already on his feet, looking very miserable.
+
+"I know of only one thing to do," he remarked. "To-morrow I shall call
+upon Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes, and entreat them to tell me if, for
+any reason, they undertook to deliver a letter mysteriously left in
+the Bible of the ---- Hotel one day last month. They may have been
+deputed to do so, and be quite willing to acknowledge it."
+
+"And Mrs. Walworth? Will you not ask her the same question?"
+
+He shook his head and turned away.
+
+"Very well," said I to myself, "then I will."
+
+Accordingly the next day I called upon Mrs. Walworth.
+
+Taking her by the hand, I gently forced her to stand for a moment
+where the light from the one window fell full upon her face. I said:
+
+"You must pardon my intrusion upon you at a time when you are
+naturally so busy, but there is something you can do for me that will
+rid me of a great anxiety. You remember being in ---- Hotel one
+morning last month?"
+
+She was looking quietly up at me, her lips parted, her eyes smiling
+and expectant, but at the mention of that hotel I thought--and yet I
+may have been mistaken--that a slight change took place in her
+expression, if it was only that the glance grew more gentle and the
+smile more marked.
+
+But her voice when she answered was the same as that with which she
+had uttered her greeting.
+
+"I do not remember," she replied, "yet I may have been there; I go to
+so many places. Why do you ask?" she inquired.
+
+"Because if you were there on that morning--and I have been told you
+were--you may be able to solve a question that is greatly perplexing
+me."
+
+Still the same gentle, inquiring look on her face; only now there was
+a little furrow of wonder or interest between the eyes.
+
+"I had business in that hotel on that morning," I continued. "I had
+left a letter for a young friend of mine in the Bible that lies on the
+small table of the inner parlor, and as she never received it I have
+been driven into making all kinds of inquiries in the hope of finding
+some explanation of the fact. As you were there at the time you may
+have seen something that would aid me. Is it not possible, Mrs.
+Walworth?"
+
+Her smile, which had faded, reappeared. On the lips which Taylor so
+much admired a little pout became visible, and she looked quite
+enchanting.
+
+"I do not even remember being at that hotel at all," she protested.
+"Did Mr. Taylor say I was there?" she inquired, with just that added
+look of exquisite naeivete which the utterance of a lover's name should
+call up on the face of a prospective bride.
+
+"No," I answered gravely; "Mr. Taylor, unhappily, was not with you
+that morning." She looked startled.
+
+"Unhappily," she repeated. "What do you mean by that word?" And she
+drew back looking very much displeased.
+
+I had expected this, and so was not thrown off my guard.
+
+"I mean," I proceeded calmly, "that if you had had such a companion
+with you on that morning I should now be able to put my questions to
+him, instead of taking your time and interrupting your affairs by my
+importunities."
+
+"You will tell me just what you mean," said she, earnestly.
+
+I was equally emphatic in my reply. "That is only just. You ought to
+know why I trouble you with this matter. It is because this letter of
+which I speak was taken from its hiding-place by some one who went
+into the hotel parlor between the hours of 10:30 and 12 o'clock, and
+as to my certain knowledge only three persons crossed its threshold on
+that especial morning at that especial time, I naturally appeal to
+each of them in turn for an answer to the problem that is troubling
+me. You know Miss N----. Seeing by accident a letter addressed to her
+lying in a Bible in a strange hotel, you might have thought it your
+duty to take it out and carry it to her. If you did and if you lost
+it--"
+
+"But I didn't," she interrupted, warmly. "I know nothing about any
+such letter, and if you had not declared so positively that I was in
+that hotel on that especial day I should be tempted to deny that too,
+for I have no recollection of going there last month."
+
+"Not for the purpose of rearranging a veil that had been blown off?"
+
+"Oh!" she said, but as one who recalls a forgotten fact, not as one
+who is tripped up in an evasion.
+
+I began to think her innocent, and lost some of the gloom which had
+been oppressing me.
+
+"You remember now?" said I.
+
+"Oh, yes, I remember that."
+
+Her manner so completely declared that her acknowledgments stopped
+there, I saw it would be useless to venture further. If she were
+innocent she could not tell more, if she were guilty she would not;
+so, feeling that the inclination of my belief was in favor of the
+former hypothesis, I again took her hand, and said:
+
+"I see that you can give me no help. I am sorry, for the whole
+happiness of a man, and perhaps that of a woman also, depends upon the
+discovery as to who took the letter from out the Bible where I had
+hidden it on that unfortunate morning." And, making her another low
+bow, I was about to take my departure, when she grasped me impulsively
+by the arm.
+
+"What man?" she whispered; and in a lower tone still, "What woman?"
+
+I turned and looked at her. "Great heaven!" thought I, "can such a
+face hide a selfish and intriguing heart?" and in a flash I summoned
+up in comparison before me the plain, honest, and reliable countenance
+of Mrs. Couldock and that of the comely and unpretending Miss Dawes,
+and knew not what to think.
+
+"You do not mean yourself?" she continued, as she met my look of
+distress.
+
+"No," I returned; "happily for me my welfare is not bound up in the
+honor of any woman." And leaving that shaft to work its way into her
+heart, if that heart were vulnerable, I took my leave, more troubled
+and less decided than when I entered.
+
+For her manner had been absolutely that of a woman surprised by
+insinuations she was too innocent to rate at their real importance.
+And yet, if she did not take away that letter, who did? Mrs. Couldock?
+Impossible. Miss Dawes? The thought was untenable, even for an
+instant. I waited in great depression of spirits for the call I knew
+Taylor would not fail to make that evening.
+
+When he came I saw what the result of my revelations was likely to be
+as plainly as I see it now. He had conversed frankly with Mrs.
+Couldock and with Miss Dawes, and was perfectly convinced as to the
+utter ignorance of them both in regard to the whole affair. In
+consequence, Mrs. Walworth was guilty in his estimation, and being
+held guilty could be no wife for him, much as he had loved her, and
+urgent as may have been the cause for her act.
+
+"But," said I, in some horror of the consequences of an interference
+for which I was almost ready to blame myself now, "Mrs. Couldock and
+Miss Dawes could have done no more than deny all knowledge of this
+letter. Now Mrs. Walworth does that, and--"
+
+"You have seen her? You have asked her--"
+
+"Yes, I have seen her, and I have asked her, and not an eyelash
+drooped as she affirmed a complete ignorance of the whole affair."
+
+Taylor's head fell.
+
+"I told you how that would be," he murmured at last. "I cannot feel
+that it is any proof of her innocence. Or rather," he added, "I should
+always have my doubts."
+
+"And Mrs. Couldock and Miss Dawes?"
+
+"Ah!" he cried, rising and turning away; "there is no question of
+marriage between either of them and myself."
+
+I was therefore not astonished when the week went by and no
+announcement of his wedding appeared. But I was troubled and am
+troubled still, for if mistakes are made in criminal courts, and the
+innocent sometimes, through the sheer force of circumstantial
+evidence, are made to suffer for the guilty, might it not be that in
+this little question of morals Mrs. Walworth has been wronged, and
+that when I played the part of arbitrator in her fate, I only
+succeeded in separating two hearts whose right it was to be made
+happy?
+
+It is impossible to tell, nor is time likely to solve the riddle. Must
+I then forever blame myself, or did I only do in this matter what any
+honest man would have done in my place? Answer me, some one, for I do
+not find my lonely bachelor life in any wise brightened by the doubt,
+and would be grateful to any one who would relieve me of it.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OLD STONE HOUSE AND OTHER
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