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diff --git a/30247-0.txt b/30247-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48dca8f --- /dev/null +++ b/30247-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16668 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30247 *** + +MABEL'S MISTAKE. + +BY + +MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS. + + AUTHOR OF "FASHION AND FAMINE," "THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS," "DOUBLY FALSE," + "SILENT STRUGGLES," "THE OLD HOMESTEAD," "THE REJECTED WIFE," "THE + HEIRESS," "THE GOLD BRICK," "MARY DERWENT," "THE WIFE'S SECRET," ETC., + ETC. + + "Imagine something purer far, + More free from stain of clay, + There friendship, love, or passion are, + Yet human still as they: + And if thy lips for love like this + No mortal word can frame, + Go ask of angels what it is, + And call it by that name." + + + PHILADELPHIA: + T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS; + 306 CHESTNUT STREET. + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by + + T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, + + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, + in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. + + * * * * * + + ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS. + + Each work complete in one vol., 12mo. + + _THE CURSE OF GOLD._ + _WIVES AND WIDOWS._ + _THE REJECTED WIFE._ + _FASHION AND FAMINE._ + _THE GOLD BRICK._ + _SILENT STRUGGLES._ + _THE OLD HOMESTEAD._ + _MARY DERWENT._ + _THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS._ + _THE WIFE'S SECRET._ + _MABEL'S MISTAKE._ + _DOUBLY FALSE._ + _THE HEIRESS._ + + Price of each, $1.75 in Cloth; or $1.50 in Paper Cover. + + * * * * * + +Above books are for sale by all Booksellers. Copies of any or all of the +above books will be sent to any one, to any place, postage pre-paid, on +receipt of their price by the Publishers, + + T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, + 306 CHESTNUT STREET, PHILADELPHIA, PA. + + + + + TO + + MY DEAR, YOUNG FRIEND, + MISS EUDORA J. HART, + + OF NEW YORK, + + THIS VOLUME + IS + MOST AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. + + ANN S. STEPHENS. + + WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 17, 1868. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--THE STEP-MOTHER AND STEP-SON 23 + + II.--OLD MR. HARRINGTON 29 + + III.--THE HILL SIDE ADVENTURE 32 + + IV.--LINA COMES OUT OF HER FAINTING FIT 38 + + V.--ON THE BANKS AND ON THE RIVER 45 + + VI.--THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE HILL 51 + + VII.--THE UNEXPECTED PASSENGER 57 + + VIII.--OUT OF THE STORM 63 + + IX.--THE BURNING CEDAR 70 + + X.--HOME IN SAFETY 75 + + XI.--GENERAL HARRINGTON IS SHOCKED 82 + + XII.--LOVE DREAMS 85 + + XIII.--THE BROKEN CONFESSION 93 + + XIV.--RALPH'S LOVE DREAM 101 + + XV.--THE STOLEN JOURNAL 107 + + XVI.--JAMES HARRINGTON'S RIDE 111 + + XVII.--THAT WOMAN 117 + + XVIII.--OLD HEADS AND YOUNG HEARTS 125 + + XIX.--THE LOVER'S CONFESSION 131 + + XX.--THE BOUQUET OF ROSES 136 + + XXI.--BEN BENSON GIVES AN OPINION 139 + + XXII.--A RENEWAL OF CONFIDENCE 147 + + XXIII.--THE LOVE SONG 152 + + XXIV.--A MEETING IN THE HILLS 155 + + XXV.--CONTINUED PLOTTING 160 + + XXVI.--THE NOTE WITH A GREEN SEAL 165 + + XXVII.--GENERAL HARRINGTON'S CONFESSION 168 + + XXVIII.--THE NOTE ON THE BREAKFAST TABLE 172 + + XXIX.--FATHER AND DAUGHTER 179 + + XXX.--BROTHER AND SISTER 186 + + XXXI.--THE SLAVE AND HER MASTER 190 + + XXXII.--THE BOAT-HOUSE 198 + + XXXIII.--GENERAL HARRINGTON READS THE VELLUM BOOK 202 + + XXXIV.--AMONG THE WATER LILIES 211 + + XXXV.--AFTER THE STORM 216 + + XXXVI.--MISTRESS AND MAID 218 + + XXXVII.--THE SLAVE WE LEFT BEHIND US 223 + + XXXVIII.--THE EATON FAMILY 226 + + XXXIX.--THAT SPANISH NOBLEMAN 230 + + XL.--THE MANOEUVRING MOTHER 236 + + XLI.--THE CATHEDRAL AT SEVILLE 239 + + XLII.--A DUKE IN THE HOUSE 245 + + XLIII.--HOPES AND PERSUASIONS 248 + + XLIV.--THE INFANTA AND HER GUESTS 252 + + XLV.--THE PROCESSION OF THE MADONNAS 256 + + XLVI.--WHERE WE SAW THE DUKE 259 + + XLVII.--MRS. EATON'S TRIBULATION 265 + + XLVIII.--ZILLAH'S LETTER 270 + + XLIX.--THE GENERAL PROPOSES A TRIP TO CADIZ 273 + + L.--MISS EATON MAKES MISS CRAWFORD A VISIT 279 + + LI.--CONTINUED MISUNDERSTANDING 286 + + LII.--GENERAL HARRINGTON RETURNS WITH ZILLAH 290 + + LIII.--ZILLAH IS ANXIOUS ABOUT THE HEALTH OF HER + MISTRESS 296 + + LIV.--BEHIND THE GIPSIES' TENT 301 + + LV.--BURDENED WITH A SECRET 304 + + LVI.--TOO LATE, TOO LATE 313 + + LVII.--ZILLAH 318 + + LVIII.--GENERAL HARRINGTON'S TEMPTATION 323 + + LIX.--A STORM IN THE WOODS 328 + + LX.--THE DARK-HOUSE 332 + + LXI.--STRANGE PLANS 337 + + LXII.--THE TEMPTATION 339 + + LXIII.--JAMES HARRINGTON'S GREAT STRUGGLE 347 + + LXIV.--THE LIFE DEED 352 + + LXV.--WHO WAS LINA FRENCH? 355 + + LXVI.--THREATS AND PERSUASIONS 360 + + LXVII.--THE EVENING RIDE 367 + + LXVIII.--RALPH FINDS LINA 372 + + LXIX.--AGNES BECOMES PATHETIC 376 + + LXX.--MABEL HARRINGTON AND HER SON 382 + + LXXI.--THE MISSING BOOK 387 + + LXXII.--FRAGMENTS OF MABEL'S JOURNAL 391 + + LXXIII.--THE TWO BROTHERS 393 + + LXXIV.--GENERAL HARRINGTON'S SECRET 399 + + LXXV.--THE DESERTED CHAMBER 404 + + LXXVI.--THE UNEXPECTED RETURN 407 + + LXXVII.--MOTHER AND DAUGHTER 411 + + LXXVIII.--A STORMY PARTING 414 + + LXXIX.--UNDER THE ICE 419 + + LXXX.--WHO WAS LINA 423 + + LXXXI.--THE MANIAC 426 + + + + +MABEL'S MISTAKE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE STEP-MOTHER AND STEP-SON. + + +It was autumn, one of those balmy Indian summer days which, if the eyes +were closed, would remind you of Andalusia when the orange trees put +forth their blossoms with the matured fruit still clinging to their +boughs, burying its golden ripeness among cool, green leaves, and buds +of fragrant snow. Still, save in the delicious atmosphere that autumnal +sunset would not have reminded you of any land but our own. For what +other climate ever gave the white wings of the frost the power to +scatter that rich combination of red, green, gold and dusky purple upon +a thousand forests in a single night? What other land ever saw the sun +go down upon a world of green foliage, and rise to find the same foliage +bathed in a sea of brilliant tints, till the east was paled by its +gorgeousness? + +Indeed, there was nothing in this calm, Indian-summer twilight to remind +you of any other land, save its stillness and the balm of dying flowers +giving up their lives to the frost. But the links of association are +rapid and mysterious, and the scenes that awaken a reminiscence are +sometimes entirely opposite to the memory awakened. + +Be this as it may, there was something in the landscape suddenly clad +in its gorgeous fall tints--in the river so coldly transparent twelve +hours before, now rolling on through the glowing shadows as if the sands +and pebbles in its bed had been turned to jewels, which reminded at +least one person in that old mansion house, of scenes long ago witnessed +in the south of Spain. + +The old mansion house which we speak of, stood some miles above that +gorge in the Harlem River which is now spanned by the High Bridge. This +region of Manhattan Island is even yet more than half buried in its +primeval forest trees. Hills as abrupt, and moss as greenly fleecy as if +found on the crags of the Rocky Mountains, still exist among the wild +nooks and wilder peaks which strike the eye more picturesquely from +their vicinity to the great metropolis. + +At the particular spot I wish to describe, the hills fall back from the +Hudson, north and south, far enough to leave a charming little valley of +some two or three hundred acres cradled in their wildness and opening +greenly to the river, which is sure to catch a sheaf of sunbeams in its +bosom when the day fires its last golden salute from behind the +Palisades. Sheltered by hills, some broken into cliffs, some rolling +smoothly back, clothed in variously tinted undergrowth and fine old +trees, the valley itself received a double charm from the contrast of +cultivation. It was entirely cleared of trees and undergrowth, save +where a clump of cool hemlocks, a grove of sugar maples, or a drooping +elm gave it those features we so much admire in the country homes of old +England. + +In the centre of the valley was a swell of land sloping down to the +river in full, grassy waves, which ended at the brink in a tiny cove +overhung by a clump of golden willows. + +Crowning the swell of this elevation stood the old mansion commanding a +fine view of the river, with a glimpse of the opposite shore, where the +Weehawken hills begin to consolidate into the Palisades. A score of +picturesque and pleasant little nooks were visible from the numerous +windows, for it was an irregular old place, varying as much as an +American house can vary in its style of architecture. The original idea +had undoubtedly sprung from our Knickerbocker ancestors, for the gables +were not only pointed, but notched down the steep edges after a +semi-battlemented fashion, while stacks of quaint chimneys and heavy +oaken doors bespoke a foundation far antecedent to the revolution. + +But in addition to these proofs of antiquity, were balconies of carved +stone, curving over modern bay windows, which broke up the stiff +uniformity of the original design; and along one tall gable that fronted +on the river, French windows, glittering with plate glass, opened to a +verandah of stone-work, surrounded by a low railing also of stone; and +if these windows were not one blaze of gold at sunset, you might be +certain that a storm was lowering over the Palisades, and that the next +day would be a cloudy one. + +Another gable facing the south was lighted by a broad arched window +crowded full of diamond-shaped glass, tinted through and through by the +bloom and glow of a conservatory within. In short the mansion was a +picturesque incongruity utterly indescribable, and yet one of the most +interesting old houses in the world. + +Whatever might be said of its architecture, it certainly had a most +aristocratic appearance, and bore proofs in every line and curve of its +stone traceries, both of fine taste and great wealth, inherited from +generation to generation. Time itself would have failed to sweep these +traces of family pride from the old house, for each century had carved +it deeper and deeper into the massive stone, and it was as much a +portion of the scenery, as the stately old forest trees that sheltered +it. + +But we have alluded to one who sat in a room of this old mansion, +looking thoughtfully out upon the change that a single night had left +upon the landscape. Her seat, a crimson easy-chair, stood near one of +the broad bay windows we have mentioned. The sashes were folded back, +and she looked dreamily out upon the river and the opposite shore. The +whole view was bathed in a subdued glow of crimson and golden purple; +for the sun was sinking behind the Palisades, and shot sheaf after sheaf +of flashing arrows across the river, that melted into a soft glowing +haze before they reached the apartment which she occupied. + +The room behind was full of shadows, and nothing but the light of a +hickory-wood fire revealed the objects it contained. She was looking +forth upon the sunset, and yet thinking of other countries and scenes +long gone by. Her mind had seized upon the salient points of a history +full of experience, and she was swept away into the past. + +No, she was not young, nor beautiful even. The flush of youth was gone +for ever. Her features were thoughtful, almost severe, her form stately +and mature. + +No, she was not beautiful. At her age that were impossible, and yet she +was a woman to fix the attention at a glance, and keep herself in the +memory for ever--a grand, noble woman, with honor and strength, and +beautiful depths of character, apparent even in her thoughtful repose. + +But this woman shakes off the reverie that has held her so long in +thrall, and looks up at the sound of a voice within the room, blushing +guiltily like a young girl aroused from her first love thoughts. She +casts aside the remembrance of black fruited olive groves and orange +trees sheeted with snowy fragrance, and knows of a truth that she is at +home surrounded by the gorgeous woods of America, in the clear chill air +inhaled with the first breath of her life. + +"Did you speak, James?" + +She turned quietly and looked within the room. Near her, sitting with +his elbows on a small table and his broad forehead buried in the palms +of his hands, sat a man of an age and presence that might have befitted +the husband of a woman, at once so gentle and so proud as the one who +spoke to him; for even in the light produced by the gleams of a dull +fire and the dusky sunset, as they floated together around his +easy-chair, you could see that he was a man of thought and power. + +The man looked up and, dropping his hands to the table with a sort of +weariness, answered, as if to some person away off-- + +"No, I did not speak--I never did speak!" + +It was a strange answer, and the lady's face grew anxious as she looked +upon him. Certainly he had uttered some sound, or she would not have +asked the question. She arose and moving across the room, leaned her +elbow upon his chair, looking thoughtfully down in his face. + +He started, as if but that moment conscious of her presence, and arose +probably to avoid the grave questioning of her look. + +"Of what were you thinking, James?" she said almost abruptly, for a +superstitious thought forced the question to her lips almost against her +will. + +"I was thinking," said the man, resting his head against the oak +carvings of his chair, "I was thinking of a time when we were all in the +south of Spain." + +"Of your mother's death?" inquired the lady in a low voice. "It was a +mournful event to remember. What is there in this soft twilight to +remind us both of the same thing, for I was thinking of that time also!" + +"Of my mother's death?" inquired the gentleman, lifting his eyes to her +face suddenly, almost sternly. "I was not thinking of that, but of my +father's marriage." + +The lady did not speak, but her face grew pale, and over it swept a +smile so vivid with surprise, so eloquent of mournfulness, that she +seemed transfigured. Her hand dropped away from the chair, and walking +back to the window she sat down, uttering a faint sigh, as if some +slumbering pain had been sharpened into anguish by the few words that +had been spoken. Twenty years had she lived in the house with James +Harrington, and never before had the subject of her marriage with his +father been mentioned between them, save as it arose in the discussion +of household events. + +Her marriage with his father, that was the subject of his gloomy +thoughts. Had she then failed to render him content in his home? Had she +in anything fallen short of those gentle duties he had received so +gratefully from the mother that was gone? Why was it that thoughts of +Spain and of events that had transpired there, should have seized upon +them both at the same time? + +She arose again, pale and with a tremor of the limbs. The balmy air grew +sickening to her--his presence an oppression. For the first time she +began to doubt if she were not an object of dislike to her husband's +guest. He saw her pass from the room without turning a glance that way, +and followed her with a look of self-reproach. He felt pained and +humiliated. After a silence of so many years, why had he dared to utter +words to that woman--his best friend--which could never be explained? +Had all manhood forsaken him? Had he sunk to be a common-place carper in +the household which she had invested with so much beautiful happiness? +Stung with these thoughts he arose and sought the open air also. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OLD MR. HARRINGTON. + + +An old man sat in a room above the one just deserted by its inmates. He +was watching the sunset also, with unusual interest, not because it +brought back loving or sad memories, but with an admiration of the sense +alone. With tastes cultivated to their extremest capacity, and a +philosophy of happiness essentially material, this old man permitted no +hour to pass by without gleaning some sensual enjoyment from it, that a +less egotistical person might never have discovered. An epicure in all +things, he had attained to a sort of self-worship, which would have been +sublime if applied to the First Cause of all that is beautiful. His +splendid person was held in reverence, not because it was made in the +image of his God, but for the powers of enjoyment it possessed--for the +symmetry it displayed, and the defiance which it had so long given to +the inroads of time. + +As a whole and in detail, this old man was a self-worshipper. Like all +idolaters he was blind to the defects of his earthly god, and if a gleam +of unpleasant self knowledge would occasionally force itself upon his +notice, the conviction only rendered him more urgent to extort homage +from others. + +The room in which this old man sat, was a library fitted up expressly +for himself. It was one of his peculiarities that his sources of +enjoyment must be exclusive, in order to be valuable. He would not +willingly have shared a single tint of that beautiful sunset with +another, unless satisfied that the admiration thus excited would give +zest to his own pleasurable sensations. + +Thus, with the selfishness of an epicure and the tastes of a savant, he +surrounded himself with the most luxurious elegance. The book-cases of +carved ebony that run along two sides of the apartment, were filled with +rare books, accumulated during his travels, some of them worth their +weight in gold. Doors of plate glass protected their antique and often +gorgeous bindings, and medallions of rare bronzes were inlaid in the +rich carvings of the cornices. + +Over the mantle-piece of Egyptian marble, carved to a miracle of art, +hung an original by Guido, one of those ethereal pictures in which the +figures seem to float through the glowing atmosphere, borne onward only +by a gushing sense of their own happiness. + +The French windows opposite were filled, like the book-cases, with +plate-glass pure and limpid as water, and two bronze Bacchantes, thrown +into attitudes of riotous enjoyment, held back voluminous folds of +crimson brocade that enriched the light which fell through them. A +variety of chairs stood about, carved like the book-cases, cushioned +with crimson leather and embossed with gold. The ebony desk upon which +the old man's elbow rested, as he looked forth upon the river, was +scattered over with books and surmounted by a writing apparatus of +malachite, whose mate could hardly have been found out of the imperial +_salons_ of Russia. + +Everything was in keeping, the luxurious room and the old man whose +presence completed it. If the two persons we have just described seemed +imposing in their moral grandeur, while they sat thoughtfully watching +the sunset, this man with his keen, black eyes, his beard flowing +downward in white waves from the chin and upper lip, which was curved +exactly in the form of a bow, took from the material alone an interest +almost as impressive. + +The old man saw his wife pass down in front of the house and descend +toward the river. The black dress and scarlet shawl which she wore, +rendered her a picturesque object in the landscape, and as such the old +man was admiring her. Directly after, his son followed, and another +stately figure was added to the view; but his walk verged toward the +hills, and he was soon lost among the trees. + +The old man was vexed at this derangement in his picture; but directly +there came in sight a little boat, ploughing through the golden ripples +cast downward by the sun, and half veiled in the glowing mists of the +river. He watched the boat while it came dancing toward the shore, and +smiled when his wife paused a moment on the bank, as if awaiting its +approach. + +"She is right. A figure upon the shore completes the whole thing. One +seldom sees a picture so perfect! Claude Lorraine!--why, his sunsets are +leaden compared to this! Oh, she turns off and spoils the effect by +throwing the willows between us! Why will women be so restless! Now a +female caprice--nothing more--has destroyed the most lovely effect I +ever saw; just as I was drinking it in, too. But the boat is +pretty--yes, yes, that enlivens the foreground--bravo! Capital, Ben, +capital!--that stoop is just the thing; and the youngsters, how +beautifully they group themselves! Hallo! upon my honor, if that young +scamp is not making love to Lina! I don't pretend to know what the +attitude of love-making is!" + +The old man fell back in his chair, and drew a hand over his eyes with a +restless motion, muttering uneasily, + +"Ralph and Lina? upon my word, I have been blind as a bat. How far has +the thing gone? Has Mabel encouraged it? Does she know? What hand can +James have had in bringing this state of things about? These two +children--why, the thing is preposterous!" + +The old man left his easy-chair, as these unpleasant conjectures forced +themselves upon him, and, as if sickened by the landscape he had just +been admiring, shut it out by a jerk of the hand, which brought the +crimson drapery flowing in loose folds from its gilded rods, and gave +the whole room a tent-like seclusion. In the rich twilight thus +produced, the old man walked to and fro, angry and thoughtful. At last +he took his hat and left the house. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HILL SIDE ADVENTURE. + + +Ralph Harrington and Lina French had been out upon the river, since the +shadow began to fall eastward upon its waters. The day had been so calm, +and everything their eyes fell upon was so luxuriantly lovely, that they +could not force themselves to come in doors, till the twilight overtook +them. + +Old Ben--or rather our Ben, for he was not so very old, after all--who +considered himself master of the little craft which he was mooring in +the cove, had aided and abetted this truant disposition in the young +people, after a fashion that Mr. Harrington might not have approved; and +all that day there was a queer sort of smile upon his features, that +meant more than a host of words would have conveyed in another person. +Never, in his whole life, had Ben been so obliging in his management of +the boat. If Lina took a fancy to a branch of golden rod, or a cluster +of fringed gentian upon the shore, Ben would put in at the nearest +convenient point, and sit half an hour together in the boat, with his +arms folded over his oars, and his head bowed, as if fast asleep. Yet +Ben Benson, according to my best knowledge and belief, was never more +thoroughly awake than on that particular day. + +They were gliding dreamily along at the foot of the Weehawken hills, +with their boat half full of fall flowers and branches, when Lina saw a +tree so brilliantly red, that she insisted on climbing to the rock where +it was rooted, in search of the leaves that were dropped sleepily from +its boughs. + +Ben shot into a little inlet formed by two jutting rocks, and Ralph +sprang ashore, holding out his hand for Lina, who scarcely touched it as +she took her place by his side. + +"Now for a scramble!" exclaimed the youth, grasping Lina's hand tightly +in his own; and away, like a pair of wild birds, the two young creatures +darted up the hill. + +The rock, behind which the tree stood, was scattered over with leaves of +a deep crimson, brightening to scarlet on the edges, and veined with a +green so deep, that it seemed like black. Among the endless variety of +leaves they had discovered, these were the most singular, and Lina +gathered them up in handfuls only to scatter them abroad again when a +more tempting waif caught her eye. + +"Wait a moment--wait, Ralph; oh, here is a whole drift of them; see how +bright they look, quivering over the fleeces of moss that slope down the +rocks. If I could but take the whole home, just as it is, for mamma!" + +Lina was stooping eagerly as she spoke. A quick, rattling sound in the +leaves struck her, and she called out, laughing-- + +"If it were not so late in the fall, Ralph, I should think there was a +locust singing in the leaves." + +That moment Ben, who had tied his boat, came scrambling up the hill. He +took his place by Ralph upon a shelf of the rock, and began to sniff the +air with his flat, pug nose, like a watch-dog scenting an enemy. The +noise which interested Lina was over now, and he only heard her +observation about the locust. + +"Ain't there a strong smell of honey about here, Mister Ralph?" he +said, looking anxiously around; "something between the scent of an old +bee-hive and a wasp's nest?" + +"There is a singular scent I fancy, Ben," answered the young man, +following Lina with his eyes. "Not disagreeable, though!" + +"Do you begin to guess what it means?" inquired Ben, anxiously. + +"Not at all," answered Ralph, waving his hand and smiling upon Lina, who +held up a branch of richly shaded leaves she had just taken from a maple +bough, laughing gaily as the main branch swept rustling back to its +place. "Not at all, Ben; it may be the frost-bitten fern-leaves--they +sometimes give out a delicious odor. Everything in the woods takes a +pleasant scent at this season of the year, I believe." + +Lina, who was restless as a bird, changed her position again, and the +movement was followed by another quick, hissing sound from a neighboring +rock. + +"So that is Miss Lina's idea of a locust, is it," muttered Ben, looking +sharply around. "If that's a locust, Mister Ralph, the animal has got a +tremenjus cold, for he's hoarse--yes, hoarse as a rattlesnake--do you +hear, Mister Ralph? Hoarse as a rattlesnake!" + +Ben was intensely excited, and looked eagerly around, searching for +danger. + +"Look!" he whispered, after a moment; "the sunshine on the red leaves +dazzles the eyesight--but look stiddy on the rock there, where the green +moss is fluttered over with them red leaves--don't you see the moss +kinder a stirrin'?" + +Ralph looked, and there, about six feet from Lina, he saw what seemed at +first a mass of gorgeous foliage, quivering upon the green moss, for a +glow of warm sunshine fell athwart it and dazzled his eyes for the +moment. But anxiety cleared his vision, and he saw that the glowing +mass was a serpent drawn from a cleft of the rock by the warm sun. +Disturbed by Lina's approach, he was that instant coiling itself up for +a spring. His head was erect, his tongue quivered like a thread of +flame, and two horrible fangs, crooked and venomous, shot out on each +side his open jaws. In the centre of the coil, and just behind the head +which vibrated to and fro with horrible eagerness, the rattles kept in +languid play, as if tired of warning her. + +Ralph, pale as death and trembling all over, stooped down and seized a +fragment of rock; but Lina was too near, he dared not hurl it. The young +girl enticed by the floating leaves which the sun struck so brightly +around the serpent, had her foot poised to spring forward. + +"Lina!" cried Ralph, in a low voice, "Lina!" + +"In one moment," cried the girl, laughing wilfully; "wait till I get +those leaves drifting across the rock there." + +The gipsy hat had fallen on one side; her hands were full of red leaves, +and she was smiling saucily. This unconsciousness of danger was +horrible. The young man shrunk and quivered through all his frame. + +"Lina, step aside--to the right--dear Lina, I entreat, I insist!" + +His voice was deep and husky, scarcely more than a whisper, and yet full +of command. + +Lina looked back, and her smiling lips grew white with astonishment. +Ralph stood above her pale as marble; his hand grasping the rock was +uplifted, his fierce, distended eyes looked beyond her. Wild with +nameless dread the young girl stepped backward, following his glance +with her eyes. Her breath was checked--she could not scream. The +glittering eyes of the rattlesnake, though turned upon another, held her +motionless. A prickly sensation pierced her lips through and through, as +the snake loosened his coils and changed his position so abruptly, that +his back glittered in the sunshine, like a mass of jewels rapidly +disturbed, making her blind and dizzy with the poisonous glow. Still she +moved backward like a statue recoiling from its base. + +"Now," whispered Ben, "now give it to him." + +A crash--a spring--and like a fiery lance the rattlesnake shot by her, +striking her garments as he went, and, falling short of his enemy, +coiled himself for a new spring. + +Ralph's hand was uplifted as the fragment of rock had left it; and +there, within a few feet, lay the rattlesnake making ready for a second +spring, and quivering through all its folds. + +She uttered a wild cry, stooped quick as lightning, seized a fragment of +rock,--dashed it with both hands upon the rattlesnake, and, rushing by, +threw herself before Ralph. Her eyes turned with horror upon the work +she had done. + +"Oh, have mercy! have mercy! he is alive yet!" she shrieked, as writhing +and convulsed, the rattlesnake drew his glittering folds out from +beneath the stone, and wound himself up, coil after coil, more venomous +than ever. + +"Step behind me--behind me, Lina," cried the young man attempting to +force her away. + +But she threw her arms around him, and with her eyes turned back upon +the glittering horror, strove with all her frail strength to push him +backward out of danger. + +The brave generosity of this attempt might have destroyed them both; +but, just as the rattlesnake was prepared to lance out again, Ben, who +had torn a branch from an ash tree overhead, rushed fearlessly down and +struck at him with the host of light twigs that were yet covered with +delicate maize-colored leaves. + +This act increased Lina's terror, for the blows which Ben gave were so +light that a baby would have laughed at them. + +"Don't be skeer'd, nor nothing," shouted Ben, gently belaboring his +enemy with the ash bough, "I've got the pizen sarpent under, just look +this way and you'll find him tame as a rabbit. Lord! how the critter +does hate the smell of ash leaves! Now do look, Miss Lina!" + +Lina clung trembling to Ralph, but turned her eyes with breathless dread +toward the rattlesnake. + +"Come close by--just get a look at him--the stiffening is out of his +back-bone now, I tell you!" cried Ben, triumphantly. "See him a trying +to poke his head under the moss just at the sight of a yaller ash +leaf--ain't he a coward, now ain't he?" + +"What is it--what does it mean?" inquired Ralph, reassured now that Lina +was out of danger--"did the stone wound him?" + +"The stone!" repeated Ben scornfully,--"a round stone covered over with +moss like a pin cushion! Why, if this ere rattlesnake could laugh as +well as bite, he'd have a good haw-haw over Miss Lina's way of fighting +snakes. It takes something to kill them, I tell you. But I've got +him--he knows me. Look at him now!" + +Ralph moved a step forward and looked down upon the rattlesnake, towards +which Ben was pointing with his ash branch, as unconcerned as if it had +been an earth-worm. + +The rattlesnake had loosened all his folds, and lay prone upon his back +striving to burrow his head beneath the leaves and moss, evidently +without power to escape or show fight. + +"Wonderful, isn't it!" said Ben, eyeing the snake with grim complacency; +"now I should just like to know what there is in the natur of this ere +ash limb that wilts his pizen down so? Why, he's harmless as a +catterpillar. Come down and see for yourself, Mister Ralph." + +"No, no!" pleaded Lina, faint and trembling, for the reaction of the +recent terror was upon her, and she grew sick now that the danger was +over. "I am ill--blind--Ralph--Ralph!" + +She spoke his name in faint murmurs, her head fell forward and her eyes +closed. Ralph thought she was dying. He remembered that the rattlesnake +had touched her in his first spring, and took the faintness as the +working of his venom in her veins. He called out in the agony of this +thought,-- + +"Ben! Ben! she is dying--she is dead--he struck her!" + +Ben gave the rattlesnake a vigorous lash, which turned him on his back +again, and sprang up the rocks. + +"Have you killed him? Is he dead? Oh, Ben, he has struck her on her arm +or hand, perhaps! Look, look--see if you can find the wound!" + +Ben gave a hasty glance at the white face lying upon Ralph's shoulder, +uttered a smothered humph, and with this emphatic expression turned to +watch the common enemy. The snake had turned slowly over upon the moss +and was slinking away through a crevice in the rocks. Ben uttered a +mellow chuckling laugh as his rattles disappeared. + +"Did you see him, the sneak? Did you see him steal off?" he said, +looking at Ralph. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LINA COMES OUT OF HER FAINTING FIT. + + +Ralph lifted his white face to old Ben and broke forth fiercely: + +"You should have crushed him--ground him to powder. He has poisoned all +the sweet life in her veins. She is dying, Ben, she is dying!" + +Ben threw down the ash branch and plunged one hand into a pocket in +search of his tobacco box. With great deliberation he rolled up a +quantity of the weed and deposited it under one cheek, before he +attempted to answer either the pleading looks or passionate language of +the youth. + +"Mister Ralph, it's plain as a marlin-spike, you ain't used to snakes +and wimmen. In that partiklar your education's been shamefully +neglected. Never kill a rattlesnake arter he's shut in his fangs and +turns on his back for mercy--its sneakin' business. Never think a woman +is dead till the sexton sends in his bill. Snakes and feminine wimmen is +hard to kill. Now any landshark, as has his eyes out of his heart, could +see that Miss Lina's only took a faintin' turn, that comes after a skeer +like hers, axactly as sleep stills a tired baby. Just give her here now, +I'll take her down the river, throw a cap full of water in her face, and +she'll be bright as a new dollar long before we get across." + +The look of relief that came to the face of Ralph Harrington was like a +flash of sunshine. A grateful smile lighted his eyes, but instead of +resigning Lina to the stout arms held out by Ben Benson, he gathered her +close to his bosom, saying in a proud voice, + +"Why, Ben, I want no help to carry Lina." + +Then he bore her down the hill, looking now and then upon her face so +tenderly, that Ben, who was eyeing him all the way with sidelong +glances, made a hideous face to himself, as if to capitulate with his +dignity for wanting to smile at anything so childish. + +"Sit down there," said Ben, pointing to the stern of his boat, "sit down +there, Mister Ralph, and kinder ease her down to the seat; your face is +hot as fire a carrying her. Now I'll fill my hat with water and give her +a souse that'll bring the red to her mouth in a jiffy." + +"No, no," said Ralph, arresting Ben as he stooped to fill his little +glazed hat, "don't throw it, hold your cap here, Ben, and I'll sprinkle +her face. How pale it is! How like a dear lifeless angel she looks?" + +Ben stooped to the water, and Ralph trembling and flushed, bent over the +pale beautiful face on his bosom, closer, closer, till his lips drew the +blood back to hers, and her eyelids began to quiver like shadows on a +white rose. + +Ben had slowly risen from the water with the glazed hat dripping between +his two great hands; but when he saw Ralph's position, the good fellow +ducked downward again, and made a terrible splashing in the river, as he +dipped the brimming hat a second time, while that grotesque suppression +of a smile convulsed his hard features. + +It was wonderful how long it took Ben to fill his hat this time. One +would have thought him fishing for pearls in the depths of the river, he +was so fastidious in finding the exact current best calculated to +restore a young lady from faintness. When he did arise, everything about +the young people was, to use his nautical expression, ship-shape and +above-board. The color was stealing back to Lina's face, like blushes +from the first flowering of apple blossoms, and a brightness stole from +beneath her half-closed eyelids, that had something softer and deeper +than mere life in it. + +"It is not necessary, Ben; she is better, I think," said the young man, +looking half-timidly into the boatman's face. "Don't you think she looks +beauti----I mean, don't you think she looks better, a great deal better, +Ben?" + +Again, that grotesque expression seized upon Ben's features; and, +setting down his hat, as if it had been a washbowl, he took Lina's straw +hat from the bottom of the boat, where it had fallen, and began to shake +out the ribbons with great energy. + +"She grows pale--I'm afraid she is losing ground again, Ben," said +Ralph, as the color wavered to and fro on the fair cheek beneath his +gaze. + +"Shall I fill the hat again?" answered Ben, demurely. + +"It kinder seems to be the filling on it that brings her round easiest?" + +"No, you're very kind, but I'll sprinkle her forehead--she has been so +frightened, you know, I dare say she thought the snake had bitten--had +bitten one of us, Ben! That is right, hold the hat this way." + +Ben dropped on his knees in the bottom of the boat, crushing down a +whole forest of Lina's wild flowers, and held up the hat reverently +between his hands. + +Ralph put back the masses of brown hair from Lina's face, and began to +bathe it gently, almost holding his breath, as if she were a babe he was +afraid of waking. + +"Isn't she a dear, generous creature?" he said, at last, with a burst of +admiration. "It took a fright like this, to prove how precious she was +to us all!" + +Instantly, a cloud of crimson swept over Lina's face and bosom, and with +it came an illumination of the features, that made the young man tremble +beneath her light weight. + +"Lina, dear Lina!" he whispered. + +She arose from his arms, crimson again to the temples, and sat down in +silence, her eyes downcast, her lips trembling, as if a great effort +kept her from bursting into tears. + +Ralph saw this, and his face clouded. + +"What have I done? Are you angry with me, Lina?" he whispered, as Ben +pushed the boat off and gathered up his oars. + +"Angry! No, I cannot tell. What has happened to us, Ralph?" + +"Don't you remember, Lina?" + +"Remember?--yes--now. Oh, it was horrible!" + +"I, Lina, I shall always remember it with more pleasure than pain." + +She lifted her eyes with a timid, questioning glance. The young man drew +close to her, and as Ben dashed his oars in the water, thus drowning +his voice to all but her, whispered-- + +"Because it has told me in my heart of hearts how entirely I love you, +Lina." + +Her maidenly shame was aroused now. She shrunk from his glance, blushing +and in silence. + +"Will you not speak to me, Lina?" + +"What can I say, Ralph?" + +"That you love me." + +A little coquettish smile stole over her mouth. + +"We have said that to each other from the cradle up." + +"No, never before, never with this depth of meaning--my heart is broken +up, Lina; there is nothing left of it but a flood of tender love--you +are no longer my sister, but my idol; I worship you, Lina!" + +Again Lina lifted her eyes, so blue, so flooded with gentle gratitude; +but she did not speak, for Ben was resting on his oars, while the boat +crept silently down the current. + +"Why don't you steer for home?" asked Ralph, impatient of Ben's eyes. + +"I see that ere old respectable gentleman on the bank, a looking this +way, so I thought we'd lie to and refit more particularly about the +upper story. If Miss Lina there'll just shake them ere curls back a +trifle, and tie on her bonnet; and if you, Mister Ralph, could just +manage to look t'other way and take an observation of the scenery, +perhaps we should make out to pass with a clear bill and without +over-haulin'." + +"You are right," said Ralph after a moment, looking anxiously, toward +the shore, where the stately figure of old Mr. Harrington was distinctly +visible; "my father is a great stickler for proprieties. Here is your +hat, Lina--let me fold this scarf about you." + +As Ralph spoke, the flush left his face, and a look of fatigue crept +over Lina. Ben still rested on his oars. He was determined to give the +old gentleman ample opportunity to continue his walk inland, before the +young people were submitted to his scrutiny. As they lingered floating +upon the waters, a tiny boat shot from beneath a cliff below them, and +was propelled swiftly down the river. In it was a female rendered +conspicuous by a scarlet shawl, and in the still life around them, this +boat became an object of interest. It was only for a moment, the young +people were too deeply occupied with their own feelings to dwell upon +even this picturesque adjunct to a scene which was now flooded +gorgeously with the sunset. Ben, however, became restless and anxious. +Without a word he seized his oars, and pushed directly for the cove in +which his boat was usually moored. + +Ralph and Lina went homewards with a reluctance never experienced +before. A sense of concealment oppressed them. An indefinite terror of +meeting their friends, rendered their steps slow upon the green sward. +As they drew towards the house, Ralph paused. + +"Speak to me, Lina, my heart is heavy without the sound of your voice: +say you love me, or shall I be miserable with suspense?" + +The young girl listened with a saddened and downcast look. A heaviness +had fallen upon her with the first sight of old Mr. Harrington on the +bank. True he had gone now, but his shadow seemed to oppress her still. + +"Will you not speak to me, Lina? Will you not relieve this suspense by +one little word?" + +She lifted her head gently, but with modest pride. + +"You know that I love you, Ralph." + +"But not as you have done. I am not content with simple household +affection. Say that you love me, body and soul, faults and virtues, as I +love you." + +Lina drew herself up, and a smile, sad but full of sweetness--half +presentiment, half faith--beamed on her face. + +"Your soul may search mine to its depths and find only itself there. I +do love you, Ralph, even as you love me!" + +Her answer was almost solemn in its dignity; for the moment that fair +young girl looked and spoke like a priestess. + +Ralph Harrington reached out his hand, taking hers in its grasp. + +"Why are you so pale? Why tremble so?" he said, moving towards the +house. + +"I do not know," answered Lina, "but it seems as if the breath of that +rattlesnake were around us yet." + +"You are sad--your nerves have been dreadfully shaken--but to-morrow, +Lina, all will be bright again." + +Lina smiled faintly. + +"Oh, yes, all must be bright to-morrow." + +As they passed the iron gate that separated the lawn from the shore, +Ben, who had seated himself in the boat, arose suddenly, and pushed his +little craft into the river again. His weather-beaten face was turned +anxiously down the stream. He seized the oars, and urging his boat into +the current, pulled stoutly, as if some important object had suddenly +seized upon him. + +"Where can she be a going to? What on earth is she after? Has the old +rascal broke out at last? Has she give way? But I'll overhaul her! Pull +away, Ben Benson, pull away, you old rascal! What bisness had you with +them ere youngsters, and _she_ in trouble! Pull away, or I'll break +every bone in your body, Ben Benson!" + +Thus muttering and reviling himself, Ben was soon out of sight, burying +himself, as it seemed, in the dull purple of the night as it crept over +the Hudson. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ON THE BANKS AND ON THE RIVER. + + +There are moments in every human life when we would gladly flee from +ourselves and plunge into action of any kind, to escape from the +recognition of our own memories. This recoil from the past seldom comes +to early youth, for to that, memories are like the light breezes of +April, with nothing but tender green foliage, and opening buds to +disturb. With youth the past is so close to the present, that thought +always leaps forward into the future, and in the first flush of +existence that is invariably beautiful. But it is a different thing when +life approaches its maturity. Then the spirit, laden down with events +that have culminated, and feelings that have been shaken by many a heart +storm, bends reluctantly to the tempest like the stately old forest +trees laden with foliage, which bow to nothing but the inevitable +tornado. + +Mabel Harrington left the old Mansion House with a quicker movement and +more rapid step than was natural to her, unless some strong feeling was +aroused, or some important aim to be accomplished. At such times her +action was quick, almost imperious, and all the evidences of an ardent +nature, fresh as youth and strong as maturity, broke forth in each +movement of her person and in every thought of her mind. + +She walked more and more rapidly as the distance between her and the +house increased, for the open air and wider country gave freedom to her +spirit. As she walked her earnest grey eyes turned from the river to the +sky and abroad upon the hills, as if seeking for something in nature to +which her soul might appeal for sympathy in the swell and storm of +feeling that a few simple words had let loose upon her, after a sleep of +many years. + +"Does he know what I have felt and how I have suffered, that he stings +me with such words? His father's marriage! And was I not the +spirit--nay, the victim of that marriage? Why should he speak to me +thus? The air was enough--the calm sleep of the winds--the fragrance. I +was a girl again, till his quiet taunt awoke me. Does he think that I +have lost a thought or a feeling because of this dull heavy routine of +cares? Why did he speak to me in that cold tone? I have not deserved it. +Heaven knows I have not deserved it from him, or from any of them!" + +Mabel uttered these words aloud, as she approached the banks of the +river, and her voice clear and rich with feeling, was swept out upon the +wind which bore it away, mingled with fragrance from the dying leaves. + +"Does he think with common men, that the impulses of youth die out and +are gone? As if the passions of youth did not become the power of +maturity, and mellow at last into the calm grandeur of old age. If love +were not immortal, how dreary even this beautiful world would seem, yet +being so, I can but look forward to another, when the shackles of this +life will fall away." + +It was a relief to speak aloud. The sound of her own voice came back +like the sympathy she dared to claim only of the wind and the waters, +that flowed on with their eternal rush of sound, like the years of life +that Mabel was mourning over. She stood upon the shore, stately and +motionless, her eyes full of trouble, her lips tremulous with impulsive +words that betrayed a soul at once ardent and pure. The wind rose around +her, and seizing upon her shawl swept it in picturesque folds about her +person, half drowning her voice, or she would not have dared to give her +thoughts this bold utterance. + +It was this picturesque attitude which had attracted the attention of +her husband in the library, and that moment he resolved to join her on +the shore. + +As if this resolve had been expressed to her in words, a feeling of +unrest seized upon Mabel, and long before the old man was ready to come +forth, she was walking rapidly across the brow of a hill that bounded +the valley southward, keeping along the bank, but concealed by the +undergrowth. + +She paused upon a rocky cliff that broke the hill side, breathing more +freely as if conscious that she had escaped some unwelcome intrusion. A +boat upon the river drew her attention, and she saw within it her son +and Lina floating pleasantly down the stream together. + +"How happy and how young they are!" she said with a gush of gentle +affection. "No cares--no broken hopes--no wishes unexpressed--no +_secrets_; oh! in this lies the great happiness of existence. Until he +has a secret to keep, man is, indeed, next to the angels." + +Mabel sat down upon a fallen tree, covered with a drapery of pale green +moss. She watched the boat in a sort of dream, as it drifted toward her. +How much of the suffering she endured might yet be saved to the young +persons it contained! Was not that an object worth living and enduring +for? Might she not renew her youth in them? + +Renew her youth? What need was there of that? In all her existence had +she ever been so full of life--so vigorous of mind--so capable of the +highest enjoyment? In the very prime and glory of all her +faculties--wise in experience--strong from many a silent heart-struggle, +what could she gain by a return of youth? Nothing! surely nothing! Yet +she watched those two young persons with a vague feeling of sadness. +They had life before them, a thousand dreamy delusions--a thousand +alluring hopes evanescent as the apple blossoms of May, but as sweet +also. + +Mabel was too noble for envy, but these thoughts subdued her excitement +into silent mournfulness. At first, she thought to walk slowly back and +meet the young people when they landed, but something withheld her and +she sat still, dreamily watching them. + +She saw the boat drifting idly upon the current. The gorgeous forest +leaves with which it was literally carpeted struck her eyes in rich +masses of colors, as if the young people had imprisoned a portion of the +sunset around their feet. She could distinguish Ben stooping forward +seemingly half asleep upon his oars. All in the boat seemed tranquil and +happy, like creatures of another life afloat upon the rivers of +paradise; she could almost see their faces--those happy faces that made +the fancy still more natural. + +As she watched them a strange pain stole to her heart. She rose suddenly +to her feet, and sweeping a hand across her eyes as if to clear their +vision, cast long searching glances toward the boat, striving to read +those young faces afar off, and thus relieve her mind of a powerful +suspicion. + +"Why has this thought never presented itself before?" she said with a +pang of self reproach. "Has this eternal dream blinded me, or am I now +mistaken? Poor children--poor Lina--is this cruel destiny to fall on you +also?" + +The boat came drifting toward her now in the crimson light, again +enveloped in purple shadows like those fairy skiffs that glide through +our dreams. Mabel watched it till her eyes filled with tears, a strange +thing--for she was not a woman given to weeping, save as tears are +sometimes the expression of a tender or poetic thought. Pain or wrong +were things for her to endure or redress; she never wept over them. + +That night the interest which she felt in these young persons blended +painfully with memories that had risen, like a sudden storm, in her +nature. She felt as if they were destined to carry forth and work out +the drama of her own life, and that this agency was just commencing. As +she stood thus wrapped in turbulent thoughts, there came through the +brushwood a crash of branches and a stir of the foliage louder than the +wind could have produced. + +Mabel Harrington was in no mood for companionship. She had fled from the +house to be alone, and this approach startled her. + +A little footpath led down the brow of the hill to a tiny promontory on +which a few hickory trees were now dropping their nuts. She struck +hastily into this path and descended to the river. Close to the bank, +half hidden among the dying fern leaves that drooped over it, lay a +miniature boat scarcely larger than an Indian canoe. It was a highly +ornamented and symmetrical little craft, that any child might have +propelled and which a queen fairy would have been proud to own. + +Mabel sprang into the boat, and seating herself on a pile of cushions +heaped in the centre, pushed out into the stream. There was no hardihood +in this, she had been accustomed to action and exercise all her life, +and could propel her little skiff with the skill and grace of any Indian +girl. + +Her boat ran out from the promontory and shot like an arrow across the +water, for she trembled lest some voice should call her back, and urged +her light oars with all the impetuosity of her nature. + +At last, beyond hail from the shore, she looked back and saw a man +standing upon the brow of the hill, leaning against the oak that had +sheltered her a few moments before. Mabel paused and rested on her oars. +The distance would not permit her to distinguish his features, but the +size and air might have been that of her husband had his usual habits +permitted the idea. She put it aside at once, nothing could have induced +the General to climb the steeps of that hill. It must be James. These +two persons were alike in stature and partook of the same imposing air. +Yes, it must be James Harrington, and was it from him she had fled? Had +he repented of the harsh words that had driven her forth and followed +her with hopes of atonement? Her heart rose kindly at the thought. She +half turned her little boat, tempted back by that longing wish for +reconciliation, which was always uppermost in her warm nature. + +But then came the wholesome after-thought which had so often checked +these genial impulses. She turned the boat slowly back upon its course +and let it float with the current, watching the rise of land on which he +stood, with sad, wistful glances, that no one saw, save the God who +knows how pure they were, and how much the resolution to go on had cost +her. + +As the boat drifted downward, she saw the person turn as if speaking to +some one, and directly a female form stood by his side. They drew close +together, and seemed to be conversing eagerly. His look was no longer +towards the boat; he had doubtless forgotten its existence. + +Mabel held her breath, the color left her lips and she grasped the oars +with each hand, till the blood was strained back from her fingers, +leaving them white as marble. + +"Oh, not that! not that! I can endure anything but that! God help me! O +my God, help me! if this is added to the rest, I cannot live." + +Drops of perspiration sprang to her temples as she spoke. Unconsciously +she expended the first strength of her anguish on the oars, and the boat +shot like a mad thing into the rapids which swept round a projection of +rocks, and like some tormented spirit, she was borne away from the sight +that had wounded her. + +There was danger now. The rush of the current, tortured by hidden rocks, +sent the little craft onward, as if it had been a dead leaf cast into +the eddy. Mabel liked the danger and the tumult. The rising wind blew in +her face. The waters sparkled and dashed around her. The frail oars bent +and quivered in her hands. It was something to brave and fight against; +but for this scope of action the new anguish that had swept through the +soul of that woman must have smothered her. + +On the little boat went, dancing and leaping down the current, recoiling +with a quiver from the hidden rocks which it touched more than once, but +springing vigorously back to its flight, like a bird upon the wing. + +"Oh, if this be so, let me die now. Why will it not strike? How came +they to make the boat so light and yet so strong? It is true! It is +true! I feel it in every throb of my pulse. After this, the life that I +thought so dreary, will be a lost paradise, to which, plead as I may, +there is no going back. I will know, God help me, but I must know if +this is a wild suspicion, or a miserable, miserable reality!" + +These words bespoke the concentration of some resolves. She grasped her +oars more firmly, and with a sharp glance around, put her boat upon its +course. It shot through hidden rocks; it cut across the eddies +recklessly as before, but all the time a single course was pursued. At +last the little craft entered the mouth of a mountain stream that came +sparkling down a pretty hemlock hollow in the hills. The hollow was +dusky with coming night, but the tree-tops were still brightened by a +red tinge from the sunset, and there was light enough to find a footpath +which wound upward along the margin of the brook. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE HILL. + + +Mabel left her boat and followed the path till she reached a natural +terrace in the hills, narrow and green, upon which a small, one-story +house was snugly bestowed. The terrace was uncultivated, save a small +garden patch close to the house, where the soil was torn and uneven from +the uprooting of vegetables from the rudely-shaped beds. Sweetbrier and +wild honey-suckles gave a picturesque grace to the building, at variance +with the untidy state of the grounds, and there was something in the +whole place more suggestive of refinement than is usual to dwellings +where the inmates work hard for their daily bread. + +Mabel Harrington had never been in this place before. As she approached +it, the cry of a whippowil came up from the hollow, as if warning her +away. Everything was still within the house. There was no light; the +rustle of leaves with the flow of waters from the ravine, joined their +mournful whispers with the wail of the night bird. + +Mabel was imaginative as a girl, and this solitude depressed her; still +she moved steadily towards the house, and knocked at the door. + +A woman opened it, whose person was seen but indistinctly, as she stood +within the small entry, holding the door with one hand; but Mabel saw +that she was dark and dressed as she had seen that class of persons in +the south. + +"I wish to see Miss Agnes Barker for a moment: is she in?" said Mrs. +Harrington with her usual dignified repose of manner, for however much +interested, Mabel was not one to invite curiosity by any display of +excitement, and it must have been a close observer who could have +detected the faint quiver of her voice as she expressed this +common-place wish. + +"She don't liv hear in dis shantee." + +"I know. She lives at General Harrington's, up the river," replied +Mabel, "but it is some weeks since she has been there, and I expected to +find her with you." + +"Missus, pears like you don't know as Miss Agnes is young lady, from top +to toe, ebery inch ob her. Is you the Missus?" + +"I am Mrs. Harrington," said Mabel, quietly. + +"Oh!" exclaimed the woman, prolonging the monosyllable almost into a +sneer, "jes come in. I'se mighty sorry de candle all burnt out an done +gone." + +Mabel entered the house, and sat down in the dim light. + +"Is Missus 'lone mong dese hills?" said the woman, retreating to the +darkest corner of the room. + +"Yes, I am alone!" answered Mabel. + +"All 'lone in de dark wid nothin but that whippoorwill to keep company; +skeery, ain't it, Missus?" + +If the woman had hoped to terrify Mabel Harrington by these words, she +was mistaken. A vague feeling of loneliness was upon her, but she had no +cowardly timidity to contend with. + +"Don't pear skeery no how," said the woman. + +"I am seldom afraid of anything," answered Mabel with a wan smile. "I +came to inquire for Miss Barker, if she is not here, tell me where she +can be found?" + +"Done gone out to de hills, pears like she could not stay away from em." + +"Was she your mistress in the south?" inquired Mabel, troubled by the +woman's voice. + +"Pears so, Missus." + +"Some one has managed to give her a fine education--I have seldom known +a young person so thoroughly accomplished," continued Mabel with +apparent calm, but keenly attentive to every word that fell from the +woman's lips. "General Harrington informed me that she came highly +recommended, but her attainments surprised us all." + +"Oh yes, young missus knows heap 'bout dem books an pianers. Done born +lady, no poor white trash, gorry mighty knows dat." + +"Her duties are more particularly with Miss Lina, Gen. Harrington's +adopted daughter, who makes no complaint against her--for myself, our +intercourse is very limited, but she pleases the General. We have +expected her at the house for several days, and thought it strange that +she did not return." + +"Ben gone ebery day dis week, sartin sure, long walk, but her's ready +for it. Nebber gets home fore dark--walk, walk, walk, in de woods wid +Marsa James." + +Mabel arose. A sickening sensation crept over her, and she went to the +open door for air. + +It was true then--that suspicion was all true! Agnes Barker had been in +the neighborhood of her old home for a week, without the knowledge of +its mistress. That very day the girl had met James Harrington in the +hills. Her own eyes had seen them standing side by side in the sunset. + +"'Pears like de Missus am sick," said the woman, coming toward her as +she stood cold and shuddering under this conviction. + +"No," answered Mabel, gathering up her strength, but pressing both hands +upon her heart beneath the crimson folds of her shawl. "If Miss Barker +comes to the house again she will have the goodness to see that I am +informed. Miss Lina is anxious to renew her studies." + +"Yes Missus." + +"Give my message faithfully," answered Mabel. "I must speak with her +before the duties of her situation are resumed. Good night." + +"Good night to you," muttered the woman, as Mabel walked away. "I +understand you, never doubt that. Agnes is beautiful, and keen enough +for a dozen such as you. I thought it would work!" + +Mrs. Harrington made the best of her way down the footpath which she had +threaded, though the hollow was filled with gloom, and the whippowil +called mournfully after her as she went. + +Her boat lay where she had left it in the mouth of the creek. As she +stepped into it a cry broke from her lips, and turning, she looked +wildly up the hollow. A woman sprang over the boat as she stooped for +the oars, and with a single leap cleared the bank, landing with a bound +in the footpath above her. + +One sharp glance she cast behind, then darted away as if eager to bury +herself in the hemlock gloom. + +The leap had been so sudden and the whole progress so rapid, that Mabel +scarcely saw the woman, but she remembered after, that her dress was +dusky red, and that a velvet cloak swept from her shoulders downward to +the ground, half torn from her person in its abrupt movements. As she +stood lost in amazement at this singular apparition, Mabel fancied that +she heard the dip of oars, and could detect the dim outline of a boat +making up the river. + +She sat down mute, and troubled, looking after what seemed at best a +floating shadow; the night had darkened rapidly, and instead of the new +moon which should have silvered the sky, came billows of black, angry +clouds, in which the thunder began to roll and mutter hoarse threats of +a storm. Frightened by the brooding tempest, Mabel pushed her boat out +from the shore, and began to row vigorously homeward; but she had +scarcely got into deep water when the clouds became black as midnight; +the winds rose furiously, lashing the waters and raging fiercely through +the tree tops, while burst after burst of thunder broke over the hills. +She could only see her course clearly when flashes of lightning shot at +intervals through the trees, and broke in gleams of scattered fire among +the waves, now dashing and leaping angrily around her. + +Mabel was excited out of her anxieties by this turmoil. There was +something in the force and suddenness of the storm that aroused all her +courage. The vexed trees were bent and torn by the winds. The river was +lashed into a sea of foam, over which her frail boat leaped and +quivered like a living thing; but she sat steady in the midst, pale and +firm, taking advantage of each gleam of lightning to fix her course, and +facing the storm with a steady bravery which had no fear of death. + +Still the tempest rose and lashed itself into fury from the rocky coast +to the depths of the stream, and the little boat went plunging through +it, keeping the brave woman safe. The oars were useless as rushes in her +hands. The waves leaped upward as the wind lashed them, and at times +rushed entirely over her. It was a fearful sight, that noble woman, all +alone with the storm! so close to death and yet so resolute! Blacker and +nearer grew the clouds torn by whirlwinds, and shooting out lurid gleams +of lightning, that flashed and curled along the water like fiery +serpents chasing each other into their boiling depths. So great was the +tumult that another sound, which came like a smothered howl through the +storm, seemed but a part of it. Thus Mabel was unconscious of this new +danger, till a glare of lightning swept everything else aside, and +bearing directly toward her, she saw a huge steamer ploughing through +the tempest, on her downward course. + +Scarce had she time to recoil with horror from the danger, when it was +wrapped in darkness again, and she could only guess of its approach by +the cabin windows that glared upon her nearer and nearer, like great +fiery eyes half blinded by the storm. Mabel nerved herself, and with a +desperate effort bent her strength upon the oars. But the heave of the +waters tore one from her grasp, and the other remained useless. Human +strength was of no avail now. She was given up to the tempest, and could +only cling to the reeling boat mute with horror, still with a thought of +those she loved vital at her heart. Another sheet of lightning, blue and +livid, rolled down the hills, and in it, standing upon a spur of rocks, +she saw James Harrington, either in life or in spirit, looking forth +upon the river. His figure took the deadly hue of the light. His +garments shook to the storm. The pale flame quivered around him a +moment, and he was engulphed in darkness again. + +Mabel flung up her hands with a cry that cut through the storm like an +arrow. + +"Save me! save me! oh, my God! my God!" + +Her pale hands quivered in the lightning. The shrieks that rang from her +white lips were smothered in the fierce wind. The tortured boat seemed +flinging her out to utter despair. + +A roar that was not of the elements, now broke through all the tumult. +There came a rush--an upheaving of the waters, which flung her high into +the darkness--a blow that made her little bark quake in all its +timbers--a plunge--a black rush of waters. She was hurled beneath the +wheels of the steamer--engulphed in utter darkness. It was her last +struggle with the storm. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE UNEXPECTED PASSENGER. + + +While Ben Benson was landing Ralph Harrington and Lina, he lost sight of +the boat which had so effectually aroused his interest, and when he was +ready to put out again, it was lost in the inequalities of the shore. + +Ben put out into the river, bearing towards the opposite bank at first, +but meeting with no signs of his object, he returned again, consuming +time, and thus giving considerable start to Mrs. Harrington's little +craft. + +As Ben neared the land again, he saw a gleam of crimson garments through +the evergreens that fringed the rocky shore, and remembering the shawl +which Mabel had on, was overjoyed to know that she had landed, and was +comparatively safe from the storm, which grew more and more assured in +its signs. + +With his anxieties thus appeased, Ben rowed his boat more securely to +the nearest point that promised a safe landing, resolved to court the +recognition of his mistress, and when she was weary of her ramble, +convey her safely home again. + +When he reached the desired point, Ben could see that the crimson +garments were moving through the undergrowth with a pace more rapid than +any mere rambler would have chosen; but what surprised him was the +course pursued down the river. His mistress, if frightened by the +clouds, would doubtless have turned homeward. + +Ben stood up in his boat and waved his tarpaulin with energy. + +"Hallo--Madam--Mrs. Harrington, I say, there's thunder and war ahead, I +tell you. Don't go too far. Don't go out of sight. The water's a-getting +roughish now, and the woods won't be safe after the clouds burst!" + +Ben sent these words through an impromptu speaking trumpet made with one +hand curved around his mouth. He was well pleased with the effect, for +the red garments began to flutter, and he saw that the wearer was moving +rapidly down the hill towards the point where he lay. + +"That's what I call obeying signals at once!" said the honest fellow, +seating himself in the stern of his boat. "But she knows as Ben Benson +wouldn't take the liberty of hurrying her if he hadn't a good reason for +what he's a-doin'--not he!" + +And with this complacent reflection, Ben withdrew the tobacco from his +mouth, and sent it far into the water, remembering Mrs. Harrington's +objections to the weed, and ready to send his life after that, if it +could afford her a moment's gratification. + +"Ben," said he, looking after the tobacco as it was tossed from one wave +to another, and shaking his fist after it in virtuous indignation, +"that's a habit as you ought to be ashamed on, Ben Benson, a habit as no +dog wouldn't take from you on any account, yet you've just kept it up +chawing and chawing from morning till night, till she'll catch you at it +some day, and then you'll have done for yourself, and no mistake. I +should like to see her a-settin' in your boat arter that. Tobackee 'll +be the ruin of you yit, Ben. Grog's nothing to it." + +A light step upon the moss silenced the boatman, but he kept his +position, resolved to be very severe with himself for his manifold sins, +this of tobacco being uppermost. + +"Mr. Benson, you are kind, I am so much obliged!" + +Ben started. The voice was a pleasant one, but his rough heart sunk low +with disappointment--the tones were not those of Mrs. Harrington. + +"I could not possibly have reached home on foot," said the same sweet +voice, and a young lady sprang lightly into the boat. "I hope the river +will prove safe!" + +"I was waiting for Mrs. Harrington, marm, and mistook you for +her--that's all," said Ben, without lifting his eyes to the singular +girl that stood close to him. + +"Mrs. Harrington has gone down the river long ago--she passed that point +of land with the last sunbeam," said the young girl, seating herself +comfortably among the cushions. + +"Are you sartin of that ere?" questioned Ben, taking up his oars +hurriedly. "Just give me her bearing, and I'll show you what rowing is." + +"You can't possibly have a better pilot than I am," answered the lady, +laughing till a row of closely set but uneven teeth were visible in the +waning light. "In searching for Mrs. Harrington, you will naturally take +me homeward; when she is found, I will allow myself to be set ashore." + +"The shore's no fit place for a young gal arter dark," said Ben gruffly, +but pushing his boat out into the stream. "For my part, I can't make out +what brings you up into the hills so often. Why don't you come home for +good and all? Miss Lina don't want any more vacation, I reckon." + +"Oh, my health isn't quite established yet, Mr. Benson," said the girl, +looking at the boatman with a sidelong glance of her black, +almond-shaped eyes, a glance that Ben was internally comparing to that +of the rattlesnake, when he shrank off into a hollow of the rocks. + +"I shouldn't think it very wholesome to be out so much at night!" said +Ben. + +"Oh, I live on fresh air, and love it best when moist with dew!" +answered the girl. + +"If it ain't moist with something stronger than dew afore long, I lose +my guess!" muttered Ben, looking upward. "If this night don't see a +reg'lar tornado, I'll give up--beat." + +For a short time Ben plied his oars, casting anxious glances down the +shore, hoping to find Mrs. Harrington and her boat safe in some inlet or +cove, waiting for them. + +"In course," said Ben, muttering as usual to himself. "In course, she'd +know, as I was sure to come. What on the Lord's arth is Ben Benson good +for, but to follow arter and tend on her? The king of all the Sandwich +Islands couldn't have a higher business than that, let alone a poor +feller of a boatman, as has circumwented his sea voyages down to a pair +of oars and a passenger that's not over agreeable." + +"Whom are you talking to, Mr. Benson?" inquired the young lady, wasting +a smile on the moody boatman, though the threatening sky made her +somewhat anxious about her own safety. + +"To an individual as calls hisself Ben Benson. He's a feller as bears +with my faults better than anybody else, as I knows on, and one as is +rather particular about being intruded on, when he's holding a private +conversation with hisself. That's the individual, Miss Agnes, as I was a +holding a council with." + +"And you would a little rather have no interruption--is that it?" said +the lady. "Well, well, I can be silent, you shall see that!" + +"Doubtful!" muttered Ben, using his oars with fresh vigor. + +The girl he called Agnes, folded her cloak about her and settled down +among the cushions, casting wistful glances at the sky. "Look," she said +at last, pointing upward, "those small lead-colored clouds, how darkly +they drift together! Did you ever see a flock of pigeons flying over the +western woods, Mr. Benson?" + +"Knew she wouldn't do it," muttered Ben, with his eyes bent on the +clouds. + +"See, see!" cried the girl. "The sky is black--I have seen the same +thing!" + +"But them was nothing but innocent birds a flying after something to +eat," said Ben. "These ere clouds, Miss Agnes, has got a good many +unroofed housen', and shipwrecks, and trees broken in two, and torn up +by the roots, in 'em, to say nothing of this ere boat as may be upsot +any minute." + +The girl turned pale; her black eyes shone with sudden fear. + +"Do you think there is really any danger, Mr. Benson?" + +"Danger? Of course there's danger! What did I follow arter that little +boat for, if there wasn't no danger?" + +"Perhaps--perhaps," said Agnes tremulously, "it would be safer on shore. +The walk will not be much now. What do you say to running ashore?" + +"There'll be a howling among the rocks afore you get round the first +point, that 'ud take your breath; besides, when the winds begin to rush +there'll be a crashing down of trees, and broken limbs will be flying +thick enough. No, no--unsartain as the river is, you'd better keep +still. I don't want your death on my conscience, any how." + +"But can you swim if we should capsize?" questioned Agnes, growing pale +and cold. + +"Swim, can Ben Benson swim?" cried the boatman with a hoarse laugh. +"Well, I should think that he can swim a trifle." + +The girl fixed her black eyes upon him. They were large and bright with +terror. + +"Fast, pull fast," she said, "let me help you--is there anything in +which I can help you? How slow the boat goes--pull, pull!" + +"We are agin the wind, and it's getting strongish," answered Ben. + +"What can we do?" cried out the girl clasping her hands. "Hear how it +howls--how the trees begin to moan! Is not the storm at its height now?" + +"You'll see by and by," said Ben, bowing his moist forehead down to the +sleeve of his jacket, and wiping away the perspiration that was now +falling from it like rain. + +"Oh, what will become of us?" shrieked the girl. + +"What has become of _her_?" echoed Ben, casting sharp despairing glances +toward the shore, which was now darkened, and in a turmoil. + +"There is my home--there, there, on the side hill. A light is just +struck in the window. Set me on shore--oh, Mr. Benson, do set me on +shore!" + +"Not till I find _her_," answered Ben, resolutely, "you would get in, so +make the best of it." + +The girl grew white as death. + +"Let me ashore, or it will be my death--I am sick with terror," she +pleaded. + +Ben did not appear to listen. He was looking wildly down the stream, +right and left, with despair in his glances. + +"Where is she? What can have become of her?" he cried out at last, +sinking forward on his oars, and allowing the boat to struggle for +herself against the wind. + +"At home, no doubt," answered the girl, struck with a selfish thought, +in which there was hope of safety. + +"How! What?" exclaimed Ben fiercely, "at home!" + +"No doubt she left her boat in some cove and went home along the shore," +persisted the girl. "She would be sure to put in somewhere!" + +Ben's face lighted up, and his eyes glowed with hope. + +"It may be--of course it is. She went back long ago, no doubt on it," he +exclaimed, joyfully. "Why Ben Benson, what a precious old fool you was +not to think of that. Miss Agnes, I'll set you ashore now anywhere +you'll pint out, if the boat lives through it." + +"Now, now!" cried the girl, breathless with terror, "strike for land +anywhere--I know the shore. Only put me on dry land again--it's all I +ask." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OUT OF THE STORM. + + +Ben altered his course with a great effort, and forced a passage to the +broken shore. He was too busy in preserving his boat from being dashed +upon the rocks, to remark with what eager selfishness the girl left him, +only uttering a quick ejaculation, and darting away without thanks. By +the time he could look around she had plunged into a neighboring ravine, +and he saw no more of her. + +Though the current was running high, Ben had the whole force of the wind +to urge him on, and his steady seamanship made the progress up stream +less dangerous than the descent had been. But the toil was great and +every muscle of his brawny arms rose to its full strain as he bent all +his strength upon the oars. But with his greatest anxieties at rest, Ben +cared little for this. With no life but his own at stake, the tempest +was nothing to the brave man. + +But it grew terrible. The boat was more than once hurled out of water. +The waves dashed over him; the wind carried off his hat and beat +fiercely against his head, sweeping the long hair over his face. Again +and again the current wheeled his boat around, drifting it back with a +force he could not resist, sometimes close to the shore, sometimes out +in the torrent of waters. It was impossible now to see his course, +except by the lightning. The entire darkness baffled him more than the +storm. + +Once when the boat was seized upon and hurled backward, Ben saw +innumerable lights sweeping by in the fog between him and the shore, and +he uttered a shout of wild thanksgiving that the steamer had not run him +down. As the water heaved him to and fro, a glare of lightning revealed +this monster boat, moving downward, and--oh, horror of horrors! Mabel +Harrington, just as the vortex engulphed her. Two white arms were flung +upward. Her hair streamed in the lightning. The deathly white face was +turned shoreward. + +The might of twenty men was in his arms then. He flung back the rushing +waves with his oars, and from a will fiercer than his strength, forced +his boat toward her. In a minute the darkness of death was around him. +Blasts of wind and great gushes of rain swept over him. He shouted +aloud. He beat the waters madly with his oars. He called upon God for +one more flash of lightning. + +It came. He saw a distant steamer, an up-turned boat and something +darker than the foam heaving upon the waters. + +"Hold on! Hold on!--I'm coming--I'm coming--it's Ben--it's Ben. Oh God, +give me light!" + +He was answered. A crash of thunder--a trail of fire--and an old cedar +tree on the shore flamed up with the light he had prayed for. + +It flamed up and Ben saw a man plunge from the rocks into the boiling +waters. He bent to the oar, his boat rushed through the waves, and as he +came one way, that white face moved steadily from the shore. The waters +were buffeted fiercely around it. Some mighty power seemed to sweep back +the storm from where it moved. + +It disappeared, rose and sunk again. Ben pushed his boat to the spot +where he had seen Mabel disappear. His bow dashed against the little +boat already broken in twain, and its fragments broke upon the water. He +looked wildly about. The face was gone. The dark heap which he had taken +for Mabel, had disappeared. Ben's strong arms began to tremble; tears of +anguish met the beating rain, as it broke over his face. Despair seized +upon him. He dashed his oars into the bottom of the boat and stood up, +ready for a plunge. He would never go back and say that his mistress had +been suffered to drown before his face. His clasped hands were +uplifted--the boat reeled under him--he was poised for the mad plunge! + +No, his hands fell. A hoarse shout broke from him. + +"Here, here I am! here--away!" + +He seized the oars again, looking wildly around, for the voice that had +hailed him by name, up from the deep, as it seemed. It came again, and +close by the boat that grand head appeared struggling for life. + +Ben struck out his oars. + +"Do not move--do not strike, or you may kill her yet!" + +"Is she there? Can you hold on?" cried Ben, trembling in every limb of +his stout frame. + +A hand seized one side of the boat. Close to the manly head he had seen, +was the marble face of Mabel Harrington, half veiled by tresses of wet +hair. Ben fell upon his knees, and plunging his arms into the waves, +drew her into the boat. + +"For the shore--for your life!" shouted James Harrington, refusing to be +helped, but clinging to the boat. "No, no--strike out; I will hold +on--pull--pull!" + +Ben took off his coat, and rolling it in a bundle, placed it under Mabel +Harrington's head. It was all he could do. The boat was a third full of +water, and he had nothing else. + +"Get in--get in--or she will be drowned over again!" he pleaded, seizing +James Harrington by the shoulders, and dragging him over the side. "Get +down, keep her head out of water, and it'll take a worse storm than this +to drive me back." + +Harrington fell rather than sat down, and took Mabel in his arms, close +to a heart so chilled that it had almost ceased beating. But as her cold +face fell upon his bosom, a glow of life came back to it, with a pang of +unsupportable feeling. It was not joy--it was not sorrow--but the warmth +in his veins seemed like a sweet poison, which would end in death. + +He put the numb and senseless form aside with a great effort, resting +the head upon Ben's coat. Twice he attempted to speak, but his trembling +lips uttered nothing but broken moans. + +"Take her," he said to Ben, "take her and I will pull the oars." + +"You haven't life enough in you, sir," pleaded Ben, shrinking from the +proposal. + +"I am strong again," said Harrington, placing himself on the seat and +taking the oars. "See!" + +The boat plunged heavily shoreward. Ben held his mistress with a sort of +terror at the sacrilege. His brawny arms trembled around her. He turned +his face to the storm, rather than allow his eyes to rest upon her. But +James Harrington had no compassion; he still kept to the oars. + +At last they shot into a point of the shore, formed by two or three +jutting rocks. Harrington dropped the oars, and the two men lifted Mabel +Harrington from the boat, and bore her to a slope of the hill. No +shelter was in sight. The sudden storm was abating, but rain still +dropped in showers from the trees. + +"Where can we convey her? What shall we do?" said Harrington, looking +around in dismay. "She will perish before we can obtain warmth, if she +is not already gone." + +Ben had flung down his coat. They laid her upon it. James Harrington +knelt upon the turf, and lifted her head to his knee. The face was pale +as death; purple shadows lay about the mouth, and under the eyes; her +flesh was cold as marble. + +Again the deathly cold came creeping to Harrington's heart. He shuddered +from head to foot, "She is dead--she is dead!" broke from his chilled +lips. + +"Oh, Mr. Harrington, Mr. Harrington, what can we do? What can we do?" +groaned Ben, clasping his huge hands, and crying like a child over the +poor lady. "She isn't dead--don't! That word is enough to kill a poor +miserable feller, as wanted to die for her and couldn't." + +His only answer was a low moan from James Harrington. + +"Is there no house, no living soul near to give us help?" said James +Harrington, lifting his white face to that of Ben Benson, while his +voice shook, and his arms trembled around the cold form they half +supported, half embraced. "If there is a spark of life left it will go +out in this cold--if she is dead--" + +"Don't! oh, Mister James, don't!" cried Ben wringing his hands with +fresh violence, "them's cruel words to stun a poor fellow's heart +with--she ain't dead, God don't take his angels up to glory in that 'ere +way!" + +James laid Mabel reverently from his arms, and stood up casting anxious +glances through the storm. + +"There is a light, yonder upon the hill-side,--you can just see it +through the drifting clouds--go, Ben, climb for your life and bring us +help!" + +Ben stooped down, clapped a hand on each knee and took an observation. + +"There is a light, that's sartin," he said joyfully, settling himself in +his wet clothes and making a start for the hill; but directly he turned +back again. + +"If she's so near gone as you speak on, Mister James, it wouldn't be of +no use for me to go up there for help--she'd be chilled through and +through, till there was no bringing her back, long afore I could +half-way climb the hill!" + +"I fear it, I fear it!" said Harrington, looking mournfully down on the +white face at his feet, "God help her!" + +"See," said Ben stretching forth his hand towards the burning cedar, +"God Almighty has gin us light and fire close by--the grass is crisped +and dried up all around that tree. What if we carry the madam there? +I'll go up the hill with a heart in it arter that!" + +Ben stooped as if about to take the cold form of his mistress in his +arms, but as his hands touched her garments some inward restraint fell +upon him, and he drew back, looking wistfully from Harrington to the +prostrate woman he dared not raise from the earth even in her extremity. + +As he stooped a strange light had flashed into James Harrington's eyes, +and he made a motion as if to push the poor boatman aside. + +Ben did not see this, as we have said, his retreat was a voluntary +impulse. He saw James Harrington take up the form he dared not touch, +with a feeling of deep humiliation, submitting to the abrupt and stern +manner which accompanied the action, as a well deserved rebuke for his +boldness. + +A small ravine separated the point of land occupied by the little party +from the burning cedar, and towards this Harrington bore his silent +burden. His cheeks grew deadly pale from a feeling deeper than fear or +cold, and his eyes flashed back the gleams of light that reached him +from the burning tree with a wild splendor that no mortal man had ever +seen in them before. + +He held Mabel closer and closer to his heart, which rose and heaved +beneath its burden; his breath came in broken volumes from his chest, +and an insane belief seized upon him, that though dead he could arouse +her from that icy sleep, by forcing the breath of his own abundant +existence through her lips. + +Fired by this wild thought he bowed his head nearer and nearer to the +pallid face upon his shoulder. But the voice of Ben Benson brought him +back to sanity again. + +"Be careful, sir! The hollow is full of ruts and broken stones! She is +too heavy--You stagger and reel like a craft that has lost her helm! +Steady, sir--steady, or she'll be hurt!" + +James Harrington stopped suddenly, as if a war trumpet had checked his +progress. His face changed in the burning light. His arms relaxed around +the form they had clasped so firmly a moment before. + +"Take her!" he said, with an imploring look. "Take her! I am very weak. +You see how I falter--Take her, Benson. She is not heavy, it is only I +that have lost all strength!" + +Ben reached forth his brawny arms, as we sometimes see a great +school-boy receive a baby sister, and folded them reverently around the +form which Harrington relinquished with a sigh of unutterable +humiliation. + +Ben moved forward with a quick firm tread, following Harrington, who +went before trampling down the undergrowth, and putting aside the +drooping branches from his path. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE BURNING CEDAR. + + +The cedar tree stood on a slope of the bank, and had cast its fiery rain +over the herbage and brushwood for yards around, leaving them crisped +and dry. + +Harrington gathered up a quantity of the seared grass, and heaped a dry +couch upon which Ben laid his charge within the genial heat that came +from the cedar tree. Then they gathered up all the combustible matter +within reach, and began to kindle a fire so near to the place where she +lay that its heat must help to drive back the chill of death if there +was a spark of life yet vital in her bosom. + +Harrington knelt beside Mabel. He chafed her hands between his own, and +wrung the water from her long hair. But it all seemed in vain. No color +came to those blue fingers. The purple tinge still lay like the shadow +of violets under the closed eyes,--no motion of the chest--no stir of +the limbs. At last drops of water came oozing through the white lips, +and a scarcely perceptible shiver ran through the limbs. + +"It is life!" said Harrington, lifting his radiant face to the boatman. + +"Are you sartin it ain't the wind a stirring her gown?" asked Ben, +trembling between anxiety and delight. + +"No, no--her chest heaves,--she struggles. It is life, precious, holy +life; God has given her back to us, Ben!" + +"I don't know--I ain't quite sartin yet, if she'd only open her eyes, or +lift her hand!" exclaimed the poor fellow. + +Here a faint groan broke from the object of his solicitude, and she +began to struggle upon the ground. + +"Go," said Harrington, "search out the light we saw--she will need rest +and shelter more than anything now." + +"I will, in course I will--only let me be sartin she's coming to." + +The good fellow knelt down by Mabel as he spoke, and lifting her hand in +his, laid it to his rough cheek. + +"It's alive--it moves like a drenched bird put back in its nest--I'll go +now, Mister James, but d'ye see I felt like thanking the great Admiral +up aloft there, and didn't want no mistake about it." + +"Yes, we may well thank God; she lives," said Harrington, looking down +upon Mabel with tears in his eyes. + +"Then I _do_ thank God, soul and body, I thanks him," answered Ben, +throwing his clasped hands aloft, "and if I was commander of the +stoutest man-of-war as ever floated, I'd thank him all the same." + +With these words Ben disappeared in the undergrowth and proceeded in +search of help. + +Admonished by the throes and struggles which proclaimed a painful return +of life, Harrington lifted Mabel to a sitting posture and supported her +there. His heart was wrung by every spasm of anguish that swept over +her; yet at each one, he sent up a brief thanksgiving, for it was a +proof of returning consciousness. Still she looked very deathly, and the +sighs that broke through her pale lips seemed like an echo of some +struggling pang within. + +"Mabel," said Harrington, catching his breath as the name escaped his +lips, "Mabel, do you understand?--are you better, Mabel?" + +The name once spoken it seemed as if he could not repeat it often +enough, it fell so like music upon his soul. + +She struggled faintly--a thrill ran through her frame, and both lips and +eyelids began to quiver. + +"Who calls me?" she said, in a whisper. "Who calls and where am I?" + +Her eyes were open now, and the refulgence falling around her from the +burning cedar, seemed like the glory of heaven. In that light she saw +only James Harrington bending over her. A smile bright and pure, as if +she had been in truth an angel, stole over her face. + +"Yes," she whispered with a sigh of ineffable happiness, "he may call me +Mabel here." + +He could not distinguish her words, but knew from the light upon her +face, that she was very happy. His own features grew luminous. + +"Mabel, have you ceased to suffer?" he said. + +Her eyes were closed in gentle weariness now, but the smile came fresh +upon her features, and she murmured dreamily: + +"There is no suffering here--nothing but heaven and our two selves." + +Oh, James Harrington, be careful now! You have heard those soft +words--you have drank in the glory of that smile. In all your life what +temptation has equalled this? + +For one delirious moment the strong man gave himself up to the joy of +those words: for one moment his hands were uplifted in +thanksgiving--then they were clasped and fell heavily to the earth, and +a flood of bitter, bitter self-reproach flowed silently from his heart. +Mabel moved like a child that had been lulled to rest by the music of a +dear voice. She thirsted for the sound again. + +"Did not some one call me Mabel?" she asked. + +Harrington was firm now, and he answered calmly: + +"Yes, Mrs. Harrington, it was I." + +"Mrs. Harrington," muttered Mabel in a troubled tone, "how came that +name here? It is of earth, earthy." + +"We are all of earth," answered James, strong in self command. "You have +been ill, Mrs. Harrington, drenched through, and almost drowned--but, +thank God, your life is saved." + +"My life is saved, and am I yet of earth? Then what is this light so +heavenly, and yet so false!" + +"The storm which overwhelmed your boat struck this light. It is from a +tree smitten with fire." + +"And you?" questioned Mabel, but very mournfully. "You are General +Harrington's guest, and I am his wife?" + +"Even so, dear lady!" + +Mabel turned her head and tears stole softly from beneath her closed +lashes. How could she reconcile herself to life again? To be thus torn +back from a sweet delusion, was more painful than all the pangs she had +suffered. + +They were silent now. For one moment they had met, soul to soul, but the +old barriers were fast springing up between them, barriers that made the +hearts of both heavy as death, yet neither would have lifted a hand to +tear them away. + +Mabel at last quietly wiped the tears from her eyes and sat up. She +still shivered and her face was pale, but she smiled yet, only the smile +was so touchingly sad. + +"I must have been quite gone,--why did you bring me back?" she said. + +"Why did we bring you back," repeated Harrington with a sudden outburst +of passion, "why did we bring you back!" He checked himself and went on +more calmly. "It is the duty of every one to save life, Mrs. Harrington, +and to receive it gratefully when, by God's mercy, it is saved." + +"I know, I know," she answered, attempting to gather up the tresses of +her hair, "I shall be grateful for this gift of life to-morrow; but +now--indeed I am, very thankful that you saved me." + +"It was Ben more than myself--but for him you would have been lost," +answered Harrington, rejecting her sweet gratitude with stoicism. "He +followed you in his boat through all the storm, and was nearly lost with +you!" + +"Poor Ben!" she said, "faithful always, I had not thought of him, though +he saved my life." + +Harrington had claimed all her gratitude for Ben with resolute +self-restraint; but when she acknowledged it so kindly, he could not +help feeling somewhat wronged. But against such impulses he had armed +himself, and directly cast them aside. + +"How strange everything looks," she said, "are those stars breaking +through between the clouds? They seem very pale and sad, after the light +that dazzled me when I first awoke: then there is a mournful sound +coming through the trees--the waters, I suppose. After all, this earth +does seem very dark and sorrowful, to which you have brought me back." + +"You are ill yet--you suffer, perhaps?" + +"No, I am only sad!" + +And so was he. Her mournful voice--the reluctance with which she took +back the burden of life, pained him, yet he could offer no adequate +consolation. Commonplaces are a mockery with persons who know that there +are thoughts in the depths of the soul, which must not be spoken, though +they color every other thought. Silence or subterfuge is the only refuge +for those who dare not speak frankly. + +Thus without a word, for they were too honest for pretence, the two +remained together listening to the low sob of the winds and to the rain +that dripped from the leaves, long after it had ceased to fall from the +clouds. This hush of the storm was oppressive more to Harrington than +the lady. She was languid and dreamy lying upon her couch of dry leaves, +very feeble and weeping quietly without a sob, like a helpless child +who has no language but tears and laughter. In this entire prostration +of the nervous system, she forgot--if she had ever been conscious of the +words that filled him with a tumult of painful feelings. + +He moved a little from the place where Mabel lay, and burying his face +in both hands, remained perfectly still, lifting a solemn petition +heavenward from his silent heart, not that she might live--not even of +thanksgiving--but a subdued cry for strength rose up with the might of +his whole being, a cry so ardent and sincere, that its very intensity +kept him still. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOME IN SAFETY. + + +While this was going on in that struggling heart a black shadow had +crept close to the man, and Agnes Barker stood between him and Mabel, +leaving her in the firelight, but shutting it out from him. + +He did not feel the darkness, and the girl stood by him more than a +minute before he looked up. + +Mabel moved with a faint expression of pain, as if she felt the shadow +of some evil thing falling athwart the light; but she did not unclose +her eyes, and Agnes, who had been for some time within earshot, spoke +before her presence was recognized. + +"Is there anything I can do?" she said in her usual low tones. + +James lifted his head, bowed almost to the dust in the humility of his +prayer, and saw this strange girl standing before him, her red garments +glowing in the firelight, her arms folded on her bosom, and her eyes +glittering beneath their long lashes, like half-buried diamonds. She +seemed so like an embodiment of the evil passions he had prayed against, +that he sat mute and pale, gazing upon her. + +"You look deathly. You are hurt," she said, stooping toward him with a +gesture at once subtle and fascinating. "I saw her boat engulphed--I saw +you plunge into the stream--the storm was raging through the woods, but +I came through it all." + +Still Harrington remained silent, gazing fixedly upon her, so astonished +by her presence that he did not heed her words. + +"The lady is not dead," continued the girl, looking over her shoulders, +while her garment grew dusky, and lurid in the waning light. "I heard +her speaking, but a few moments ago." + +James Harrington arose to his feet with grave dignity. + +"You have come in good time, Miss Barker," he said. "If your cloak is +dry throw it around her; even in this warmth she shivers." + +Agnes looked back as she drew off her short cloak, and held the garment +irresolutely in her hand. + +"But you are wet and cold, too, wrap the cloak around yourself. What +life can be more precious!" + +She said this in a low voice, and moved towards him. He put the garment +aside, and passing Agnes, stooped over Mrs. Harrington, addressing her +in a grave, gentle voice. + +"Are you stronger, now, dear lady?" + +"I think so!" answered Mabel, moving uneasily, "but some one else is +here--I heard speaking!" + +"It was me," answered Agnes, spreading her cloak softly over Mabel; "I +saw your peril, dear Mrs. Harrington, and came to offer help. My old +nurse lives upon the hill--if you can walk so far, she will be glad to +shelter you." + +Mabel attempted to sit up. The presence of Agnes Barker excited her +with new strength. She pushed aside the cloak with a feeling of +repulsion, and looked pleadingly on Harrington. + +"You will not take me up there!" she said. "It is a dreary, dreary +place!" + +"But it is the only shelter at hand," urged Harrington. + +"I know; but that woman--don't place me, helpless as I am, with that +strange woman!" + +"You will find a capital nurse there; I left her preparing a warm bed!" +whispered Agnes, stooping toward Harrington, till her breath floated +across his face; "the walk is a little toilsome, but short; between us, +I think she could manage it." + +Mabel heard the whisper, and sinking back on her bed of leaves, pleaded +against the measure. + +"I cannot go up there," she said with some resolution, "I could not rest +with that woman near." + +"Of whom does she speak?" inquired Harrington. + +"It is impossible for me to guess; the fright has unsettled her mind, I +fear," answered Agnes. + +"No, I am sane enough," murmured Mrs. Harrington, "but I have been +warned. No human voice ever spoke more plainly than that lone night +bird, as I went up the hollow--he knew that it was unholy ground I trod +upon!" + +"But you are not strong enough to reach home," persisted the girl Agnes, +"the river is yet rough--the wind unsettled." + +"She is well enough to go just where she's a mind to, I reckon," said +Ben Benson, crashing through the undergrowth, "and I'm here to help her +do it." + +"Thank you," said Mabel, gently, "I wish to go home!" + +Ben turned towards Harrington, and, without regard to the presence of +Agnes, spoke his mind. + +"I don't like the cut of things up yonder, somehow. The woman looks like +a female Judas Iscariot. She's eager but not kind. The madam is better +off here with the old tree to warm her." + +Agnes kept her eyes steadily on Ben as he spoke; when he had finished, +she laughed. + +"You are complimentary to my mammy!" she said, "I will tell her your +opinion. But have your own way. We have offered hospitality to the lady +in good faith--if she prefers other shelter, I dare say we shall find +the means of reconciling ourselves to her wishes and to your very +flattering opinion, Mr. Boatman." + +Ben threw back his right foot and made the young lady a nautical bow, +accompanied with an overwhelming flourish of the hand. + +"Delighted to hear as you and the old woman is agreeable. Now if you'd +just as lieves, we'll try and get madam down to the boat; I've just +bailed it out. The river may be a trifle roughish yet, but there's no +danger." + +Ben directed this portion of his speech to Mr. James Harrington, who +stood by in silence, without appearing to regard the conversation. + +He now stepped forward, and stooping over Mabel, inquired if she was +willing, and felt strong enough to attempt a return home by water. + +"Yes," answered Mabel, sitting up and striving to arrange her dress, "I +am stronger now--take me home by all means. General Harrington will be +terrified by my absence, and Lina--dear, dear Lina, how grateful she +will be to have her mother back again!" + +"And your son!" said Harrington gently. + +"Oh, if I did not mention him, he is always here!" answered Mabel, +pressing a hand to her heart, and looking upward with a face beaming +with vivid tenderness; "I never knew how much of love was in my soul +before." + +How unconscious the noble woman was of her dreamy wanderings of +speech--how pure and trustful was the look which she fixed upon +Harrington's face as she said this. A holy thankfulness pervaded her +whole being; from the black deep she seemed to have gathered a world of +beautiful strength. + +"Come," she said, struggling to her feet and smiling in gentle derision +of her weakness, as she felt her head begin to reel, "I am not afraid to +try the boat again, if some one will help me." + +Harrington did not move, and after a perplexed look from one to the +other, Ben stooped his shoulder that she might lean upon it. + +When they reached the boat, Mabel was almost exhausted, but she found +strength to think of Agnes, who had silently followed them. + +"Will you not get in?" she said, faintly, "I should be glad to have you +with me." + +"No," answered the girl, in the sweetest of all accents, "nurse would be +terrified to death. I will return home." + +"Not alone," said James Harrington, "that must not be." + +"Oh, Mr. Harrington, I am used to being alone. It is the fate of a poor +girl like me!" + +There was something plaintive in her voice, and she drooped meekly +forward, as if imploring pardon for having said so much. + +Harrington remained a moment thoughtful; at last he addressed Ben. + +"Proceed up the river," he said, "slowly it must be, for the stream is +against you. I will see that Miss Barker reaches home safely, and +overtake you." + +Ben looked up in astonishment. "Why, Mister James, she's allers alone in +these ere woods. No blackbird knows the bush better, what's the use?" + +Mabel said nothing, but her eyes turned upon Harrington with a wistful +and surprised look. + +"No matter, she must not go through the woods alone," answered +Harrington. "Keep snug to the shore, and be ready to answer my hail; I +will overtake you in a few minutes." + +Harrington moved away as he uttered these words, following Agnes into +the woods. + +Mabel looked after them with sadness in her eyes; then, bowing her face +softly upon her folded arms, she remained motionless, save that her lips +moved, and broken whispers which the angels of Heaven gathered and laid +before the throne of God, stole through them. They had advanced some +distance up the shore, when Harrington hailed the boat; Ben did not +pretend to hear him, but Mabel, lifting her face, now full of +gentleness, said, with a smile-- + +"Stop, Ben, he is calling for you!" + +"Let him call and be----" Ben caught the profane word in his teeth, and +swallowing it with a great struggle, commenced again-- + +"Let him call till he's tired, why didn't he stay with that old Judas +and the young witch. To think of going off with sich like, and madame +just a dying--halloo away, Ben Benson 'll sink afore he hears you!" + +Ben muttered this between his teeth, and worked away at the oars, +doggedly resolved to continue his fit of deafness, and give his master a +midnight walk through the dripping and rough woods, but Mabel addressed +him again with a quiet firmness which he could not find the heart to +resist. + +"Put on shore, Ben, and take your master in." + +"I begin to thing he's took us all in a little too often!" muttered Ben; +but he turned reluctantly for the shore, and Harrington, without +speaking, took his place in the boat. + +The moon had broken through the drift-clouds left by the storm, before +the little party reached the cove below General Harrington's dwelling. +The front of the house was entirely dark, but lights wandered to and fro +along the hollow, and anxious voices were heard calling to each other +along the bank. + +"They're out searching for us!" said Ben, dropping his oars and making +an impromptu speaking-trumpet of his hand. Directly his voice rang along +the shore. + +"Ben Benson, and passengers from down stream. All well!" + +A shout answered from the shore, and directly eager voices and rapid +footsteps rushed toward the little cove; first came Ralph, wild with +joy, leaping downward like a panther. + +"Is she safe! is she here!" he cried, pausing with dread upon the bank. + +"Ralph, Ralph!" + +He knew the voice. He sprang into the boat, and fell upon his knees +before his mother. + +"Thank God, oh mother, mother!" + +He could say no more. Unspeakable joy choked his utterance. He kissed +her hands, her face, and her wet robes. + +"Mother, mother, tell me what has happened! You are cold--you +tremble--all your clothes are wet--your bonnet is off--that dear pale +face, oh mother, you have been in danger, and I not there!" + +His love gave her strength. She took his head between her trembling +hands, and kissed him again and again on the forehead. + +"Oh, yes, my Ralph, I have been very near death--but with all this to +live for, God would not let me die." + +"No, no, he could not make us so wretched. Oh, mother, what would home +be without you? It is only an hour or two since we missed you; but those +hours were full of desolation. Tell me--tell me how it was!" + +"They did it--they will tell you--I was in the depths of the river, but +they drew me out." + +"They, my brother James, and that blessed old rogue, Ben Benson, did +they save you, mother, while I--I, your only son--was dreaming at home? +Oh, James, must I thank you for my mother, with all the rest!" + +"Thank God, Ralph, for He has saved your mother!" + +His voice was impressive and solemn. It seemed like a rebuke to the +ardent gratitude of the young man. + +"I do thank God, brother James," he answered reverently, uncovering his +head. "But, to be grateful to God's creatures is, so far, giving thanks +to Him! How often have you told me this?" + +"You are right," answered James gently, "but see, your mother needs +assistance!" + +Mabel had risen, and was making ready to step from the boat. Ralph +turned, flung one arm around her. + +"Lean on me, dear mother. Lay your head on my shoulder; don't mind the +weight; I can carry you, if needful!" + +Mabel submitted herself to the affectionate guidance of her son, with a +sigh of pleasure, and proceeded towards the house. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON IS SHOCKED. + + +The rigid ideas of female propriety which General Harrington enforced in +his family, had been greatly outraged that day. This well-regulated home +was thrown into disorder by the unaccountable absence of his wife and +Lina from the tea-table. He had followed his wife to the bank of the +river, and with a feeling of quiet indignation had watched her rowing +her own boat down the stream like a wild gipsy. The gathering storm and +the danger she was in scarcely impressed him, but the impropriety of +the thing outraged all his fastidiousness. + +Still he was glad to have her away for the brief time that he was in the +hills, and but for her long absence this escapade on the river might +have been forgiven. + +A solitary evening, added to these causes of discontent, had greatly +ruffled the general's equanimity of temper, and when his wife appeared +deep in the night, her clothes in disorder, her hair disarranged, and +her face pale as death, he felt her return in this state as a positive +insult to his house. + +"Madam," he said, with that quiet irony which was the gift of his cold +nature, "it is rather late, and your toilet somewhat disarranged for the +presence of gentlemen; allow me to lead you to a mirror." It was not +necessary; Mabel had seen herself reflected in the great oval glass +opposite, and shrunk back, shocked both by her appearance and the cold +insult to which it had given rise. + +James Harrington remained silent, but his eyes grew bright with +indignation, while Ralph flung one arm around his mother's waist, and +turned his bright face upon the general. + +"My mother's life has been in peril--she comes back to us, father, +almost cold from the dead." + +"Indeed!" said the general with a look of cold surprise. "Surely, madam, +you did not remain out in the storm? You have not been on the river all +this time?" + +"I have been in the depths of the river, I believe!" answered Mabel. +"The boat was upset--I was dashed beneath the wheels of a steamer, but +for--" She hesitated, and a red flush shot over her face; the noble +woman recovered herself in an instant, "but for James, and Ben Benson." + +An answering flush came to the general's cheek. He darted a quick glance +at James. + +"And how came Mr. Harrington so near you, madam? They told me you had +gone upon the river alone." + +"And so she did," answered James, stepping forward. "I saw her put out +from the shore, apparently unconscious of the coming storm, and followed +the course of her boat." + +"Why did you not warn her, sir?" + +"I did, more than once at the top of my voice, but the wind was against +me!" + +"And where did all this happen?" inquired the general, more interested +than he had been. + +"Near a ravine, some distance down the stream. You will not perhaps be +able to recognize the place, sir," answered Mabel, "but it is nearly +opposite the small house in which Miss Barker resides with her mother." + +The general did not start, but a strange expression crept over his +features, as if he were becoming more interested and less pleased. + +"May I ask you what took you in that direction, madam?" + +"Nothing better than a caprice, I fear," answered Mabel; "at first I +went out for exercise and solitude, then remembering Miss Barker, I put +on shore." + +"Surely you did not go to that house!" cried the general, interrupting +her almost for the first time in his life. + +"Yes, I went," answered Mabel with simplicity. + +"Indeed! and what did you find--whom did you see?" + +"I saw a dusky woman, rude and insolent, who called herself Agnes +Barker's nurse--nothing more." + +"So you found an insolent woman." + +"A very disagreeable one, at least, General Harrington, but I am faint +and ill--permit me to answer all farther questions to-morrow!" + +General Harrington's manner imperceptibly changed; he no longer enforced +abrupt questions upon the exhausted lady, but with a show of gallant +attention, stepped forward and drew her arm through his. + +"You can go to your rooms, young men," he said, "I will attend Mrs. +Harrington." + +"Shall I have Lina called, mother?" said Ralph, following his parents, +"she did not know of your absence, and I would not terrify her!" + +Before Mabel could speak, the general answered for her-- + +"No, why should Lina be disturbed? Send Mrs. Harrington's maid," and +with a gentle wave of the hand which forbade all farther conversation, +the general led his wife from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LOVE DREAMS. + + +Lina had slept sweetly through all this turmoil of the elements and of +human passions. Beautifully as a dove she lay in her pretty white bed, +with its snowy curtains brooding over her like summer clouds above +opening roses. A night-lamp of pale alabaster shed its soft moonlight +through the room, and when bursts of thunder shook the heavens, and the +lightning flashed and gleamed around the single Gothic casement of her +chamber, it only gave to this pearly light a golden tinge, and made Lina +smile more dreamily in her happy slumber. + +She was abroad upon the hills again, and in sleep lived over the bright +hours that never return, save in dreams, to any human soul. + +She had left Ralph in the hall, and hoarding up her new found happiness +she stole away to her room, kindled the alabaster lamp that no broader +light should look upon her blushes, and sat down lost in a trance of +thought. She veiled her eyes even from the pure light around her, and +started covered with blushes, when the happiness flooding her soul broke +in murmurs to her lips. + +She longed to speak over his name, to whisper the words with which he +had blessed her, and ponder over and over the tone of those words. She +was bewildered and astonished by her own happiness. Now she longed to +steal into Mrs. Harrington's presence, and tell her of the great joy +that had fallen upon her life, but the first motion to that effect +brought the blushes to her cheeks, and made her cover them with both +hands, like a child who strives to hide the shame of some innocent joy. + +At last she began to undress, softly and bashfully, as if she had found +some new value in her own beauty. Her hands lingered fondly among the +tresses of her hair, and gathering them up beneath her pretty +Valenciennes cap, she smiled to see its gossamer shadows fall upon her +forehead, giving the whole face a Madonna-like purity. + +With a gentle sigh, she pillowed herself upon the couch, and looked up +through the cloud of snowy lace that overshadowed it with a wistful +smile, as if she expected to see stars break through, revealing new +glimpses of the Heaven already dawning in her young life. + +Thus cradled in her own happiness, like a lily with its cup full of dew, +she laid that beautiful head upon her arm, and slept. The wind had no +power to arouse her, though it shook the old house in all its gables. +The thunder rolled through her dreams, like the reverberating strains of +a celestial harp, and when the lightning flamed through her room, it +only kindled the volume of lace over her head into a cloud of golden +tissue, under which she slept like a cherub in one of Murillo's +pictures. + +Thus Lina spent the night. In the morning she arose at the usual hour, +and stole forth to walk. The household were astir in the kitchen, but +she saw no member of the family, and went out unconscious of Mrs. +Harrington's accident. When she came back, a shy terror seized upon her +at the thought of meeting Ralph again in the presence of his relatives; +and, evading the breakfast-room, she stole to her own chamber. But +loneliness at length became oppressive, and, with a breathless effort at +composure, she sought a little boudoir or private sitting-room, which +opened from Mrs. Harrington's bed-chamber, and where that lady usually +spent some hours of the morning. Lina unclosed the door softly and went +in, trembling with a world of gentle emotions as she approached Ralph's +mother. + +Mrs. Harrington was seated in a large easy-chair. A morning shawl of +pale blue cashmere flowed over an under-dress of French embroidery. The +tint of these garments did not relieve the pallor of her cheek which +would have been painful, but for the crimson glow reflected upon it from +the brocaded cushions of the chair. Her foot rested upon an embroidered +cushion; and she was languidly sipping chocolate from a cup of embossed +parian which she had scarcely strength to hold. A beautiful Italian +grey-hound stood close by the cushion, regarding her with looks of eager +interrogation that seemed almost human. + +Lina glided softly behind the easy-chair, and remained a moment +gathering courage to speak. At last, she bent softly forward: + +"Mother!" + +Mrs. Harrington looked up kindly, but with a touch of seriousness. She +had been wounded by Lina's seeming inattention. + +Before another word could be spoken, the door opened noiselessly, and +Agnes Barker hesitated upon the threshold, regarding the two with a dark +glance. She stood a moment with the latch in her hand, as if about to +withdraw again, but seemed to change her mind, and stepped boldly into +the room. + +Mabel was looking at her adopted daughter and the door opened so +noiselessly that neither of them had observed it. Thus Agnes Barker +remained some minutes in the room, listening to their conversation with +breathless attention. + +"Mother," repeated Lina, and her face flushed like a wild rose, "I have +something to say; don't look at me, please, it makes me afraid." + +"Afraid, my child!" said Mabel, smiling, "afraid of your mother! Shame, +Lina!" + +"But I can only remember that you are _his_ mother now, dear Mrs. +Harrington!" + +"Dear Mrs. Harrington! Why child what has come over you?" + +"Something--something so strange and sweet that it makes the very heart +tremble in my bosom, dear mamma, and yet----" + +"And yet you are afraid!" + +"Yes, mamma; you have thought so highly of him--he is so much wiser and +nobler than I am--he--" + +Mabel drew a quick breath, and turned her eyes almost wildly on the face +of the young girl. + +"Of whom do you speak, Lina?" + +Lina was terrified by her look, and faltered, "of--of Mr. Harrington, +dear mamma." + +The Parian cup in Mabel's hand shook like a lily in the wind. She sat it +slowly down, and suppressing a thrill of pain that ran through her like +the creep of a serpent, remained for a moment bereft of all speech. It +was the first time that Lina had ever called Ralph, Mr. Harrington, and +the mistake drove the very blood from the heart of her benefactress. + +"Mr. Harrington? and what of him?" inquired the pallid woman, clasping +her tremulous hands and striving to hold them still in her lap. "What of +Mr. Harrington, Lina?" Her voice was low and hoarse; the very atmosphere +around her froze poor Lina into silence. + +"Nothing, indeed nothing at all!" she gasped at length. "I was so +terrified, I don't know what I wished to say. It took me so by surprise, +and--and--" + +Mabel's face lighted. She remembered her adventure the night before, and +again mistook poor Lina. + +"Oh, yes, my own sweet child, I forgot that they kept my peril from you +all night. Mr. Harrington did, indeed, save me." + +"Save you, mamma? how? from what?" + +"I see they have not told you how near death I was. Oh, Lina! it was +terrible when that wheel plunged me into the black depths. In a single +minute, I thought of everything--of my home, of Ralph, of you, Lina." + +The young girl did not answer. She stood aghast with surprise and +terror. + +"I thought," said Mabel, still excited and nervous, "I thought of +everything I had ever done in my life--the time, the place, the objects +with which each act had been surrounded, flashed before me like a living +panorama." + +"Mother, how did this happen?" faltered Lina, trembling from head to +foot. + +Mabel lifted her face, and saw how pale and troubled the young girl was. + +"Sit down, darling, here at my feet, and I will tell you all. Move, +Fair-Star, and let your mistress sit down." + +The beautiful Italian grey-hound that had been looking so wistfully at +his mistress all the morning, as if he knew all the risk she had run, +drew back from his place near the embroidered stool, and allowed Lina to +seat herself thereon. Then he stole back to his position, contrasting +the snowy folds of her morning-dress with the pretty scarlet housings, +edged with black velvet, which he always wore in chilly weather. + +"Why, how you tremble! how white you are, Lina! and I was but just +thinking you neglectful." + +"Neglectful--oh, mother!" + +"Well, well, it was all a mistake, child; but what kept you from me so +long?" + +"I went out to walk." + +"What, after hearing of----" + +"Oh! mamma, how can you think so? I have seen no one this morning." + +"Then you knew nothing of this accident?" questioned Mabel, +thoughtfully. + +"Indeed, indeed I did not. What could have kept me from your side, if I +had known? Oh, it was terrible! What must have become of us all had you +never returned--of me, of _him_?" + +Lina could hardly speak, the whole thing had come upon her so suddenly, +but sat wistfully questioning her mother with those tender blue eyes. + +Mabel told her all, even to the false illumination of the cedar tree, +and the appearance of Agnes Barker, like an evil shadow in the +firelight. All? no, no! The facts she related faithfully, but +feelings--those haunting spirits that fluttered in her heart even +yet--those Mabel Harrington could not have spoken aloud even to her God. + +When Mabel had told all, Lina's face, that had been growing paler and +paler as the recital progressed, flushed with sudden thanksgiving; her +eyes filled with great bright drops, such as we see flash downward when +rain and sunshine strive together; and, creeping up to her mother's +bosom, she began to sob and murmur thanksgivings, breaking them up with +soft tender kisses, that went to Mabel's heart. + +"You are glad to have me back again, my Lina?" + +"Glad, mamma, glad? Oh, if I only knew how to thank God, as he should be +thanked!" + +"I think you love me, Lina," answered Mabel, and her face was luminous +with that warm, tender light, which made her whole countenance +beautiful, at times, beyond any mere symmetry of features that ever +existed. "I think you love me, Lina." + +The young girl did not answer but crept closer to Mrs. Harrington's +bosom. A deep breath came in a tremor from her bosom, as odor shakes the +lily-bell it escapes from. + +Thus, for a little time, the two remained in each other's embrace, +blissful and silent. All this time Agnes Barker looked on, with a +dawning sneer upon her lip. + +At length, Mabel lifted Lina's face from her bosom, and kissing the +white forehead, bade her sit down and partake of the breakfast that +stood upon a little table at her side. She filled a cup with chocolate +from the small silver kettle, and pressed it upon the young girl. + +"My heart is too full--I cannot taste a drop," said Lina. + +"Nonsense, child," answered Mabel, and, with a laugh and a bright look, +she hummed-- + + "Lips, though blooming, must still be fed, + For not even love can live on flowers." + +Why did the rosy blood leap into that young face at the word "Love?" Why +did those eyelids droop so bashfully, and the little hand begin to shake +under the snowy cup it would gladly have put down? Lina remembered now +that her secret was still untold, while Mabel, startled by her blushes, +thought of the first words that had marked their interview, and grew +timid as one does, who has suffered and dreads a renewal of pain. + +Thus these two persons, loving each other so deeply, shrunk apart, and +were afraid to speak. Poor Lina, with her exquisite intuition, which was +a remarkable gift, drooped bashfully forward, the roses dying on her +cheek beneath the frightened glance which Mabel fixed upon them, and her +eyelids drooping their dark lashes downward, as the leaves of a japonica +cast shadows. + +At last Mabel spoke low and huskily, for, like all brave persons, she +only recoiled from pain for the moment. Her heart always rose to meet +its distresses at once, and steadily. + +"Tell me, Lina, what is it? You have not heard of my escape, and yet +something disturbed you." + +"Yes, mamma!" + +"And, what is it?" + +Lina struggled a moment, lifted her eyes full of wistful love, and, +dropping her head in Mabel's lap, burst into tears. + +"You love some one?" said Mabel, with an instinctive recoil; "is that +it?" + +"Yes, yes; oh, forgive us!" burst out from among Lina's sobs. + +"Forgive us--and who is the other?" There was a tremble in Mabel's +voice--a premonitory shiver of the limbs. Oh, how she dreaded the answer +that would come. + +"You know--you must guess," pleaded poor Lina. + +"No, who is he?" + +"Mrs.--Mrs. Harrington, oh, don't send me away!" + +There was no danger that Mabel Harrington would send the young girl +away. Her nerves were yet unstrung, her strength all gone. A look of +anguish, keen but tender, swept over her face. Her hand fell slowly on +the bowed head of poor Lina. She struggled to sit upright and speak +words of encouragement, but the brave true heart sunk back, repulsed in +its goodness by the enfeebled body, and she fell back in her chair, +white and still, like some proud flower torn up by the roots. + +She was so still, that Lina ventured to look up. The deathly white of +that face terrified her, and with a cry she sprang to her feet, looking +wildly around for help. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE BROKEN CONFESSION. + + +Agnes Barker came coldly into the room, answering Lina's cry. + +"Mrs. Harrington has only fainted," she said, closing the door which she +still held slightly ajar, as if that moment entering. + +"There is aromatic vinegar on the console yonder--do bring it, while I +open the window." + +Lina ran for the crystal flask pointed out, and began to sprinkle +Mabel's face, sobbing and moaning all the time. Agnes opened the sash +door, that led to a stone balcony full of flowers, and their breath came +floating into the room. + +"Shall I run? shall I call help?" questioned Lina, letting Mrs. +Harrington's head fall back upon the crimson cushions of her chair, +"I--I am sure Ralph would bring her to." + +"Be quiet," answered Agnes Barker, dragging the easy-chair towards the +window, where the fragrant wind blew clear and cold into that deathly +face. + +"If you call any one, let it be Mr. Harrington." + +"The General?" + +"No, Mr. James Harrington." + +"I will go," answered Lina, eagerly. + +But the name of James Harrington, even upon those lips, had reached the +sleeping sense of Mabel. She made a faint struggle. Her lips quivered +with an ineffectual attempt to speak. This brought Lina back. + +"Shall I call help, dear mamma? Shall I call help?" + +"No!" + +The monosyllable was uttered so faintly, that nothing but a loving ear, +like Lina's, would have heard it. The warm-hearted girl stooped and +kissed Mabel softly upon the forehead, thanking God silently in her +heart. + +Mabel shrunk from that pure kiss, turned her head abruptly on the +cushion, and tears stole through her eyelashes, leaving them dark and +moist. + +"Madam, is there anything I can do?" + +As she spoke Agnes bent over the helpless woman, and shed her glances +over that pale face, as the upas tree weeps poison. + +The unaccountable dislike that Mabel felt for this girl, gave her +strength, and she sat up, stung by the reflection that her weakness had +so objectionable a witness. + +"You here, Miss Barker!" she said with cold dignity; "I have always held +this room sacred from all, but my own family." + +"I come by invitation," answered Agnes, meekly. "Yesterday afternoon you +left a message with my nurse, desiring that I should seek you before +entering upon my duties again. This command brought me here, not a wish +to intrude." + +Mrs. Harrington arose, walked feebly back to the little breakfast-table, +and taking up a small teapot of frosted silver, poured some strong tea +into a cup which she drank off clear. Then moving back her chair, she +sat down, evidently struggling for composure. + +"I remember," she said very quietly, for Mabel had controlled herself, +"I remember leaving this message with a woman who called you her +mistress." + +Agnes smiled. "Oh, yes, our Southern nurses always claim us in some +form. 'My mammy,' I think she must have called herself that. Every child +has its slave mammy at the South." + +"Then you _are_ from the South, Miss Barker?" + +"Did not General Harrington tell you this, madam?" + +"I do not recollect it, if he did," answered Mabel, searching the girl's +face with her clear eyes; "in truth, Miss Barker, I made so few +inquiries when you entered my family, that your very presence in it is +almost a mystery to me. General Harrington told me you were well +educated, and an orphan. I found that he was correct in the latter +point, but was somewhat astonished yesterday afternoon to hear the woman +whom I met, claim you as her mistress." + +"You do not understand our Southern ways, Mrs. Harrington, or this would +not appear so singular. With us the tie between a slave nurse and her +child, is never broken." + +"Then this woman is a slave?" questioned Mabel. + +"She has been, madam, but though I had nothing else in the world, when I +became of age, she was made a free woman." + +"But she is not very black--at least, in the dim light, I saw but faint +traces of it." + +Again Agnes smiled a soft unpleasant smile, that one could put no faith +in: + +"Perhaps it was that which rendered her so valuable, but black or white, +the woman you saw was a born slave." + +"And how does she support herself in that solitary house?" + +"She has a garden, and some poultry. The woods around afford plenty of +dry fuel, and my own humble labors supply the rest." + +Mabel became thoughtful and ceased to ask questions. The governess stood +quietly waiting. All her answers had been straightforward and given +unhesitatingly, but they did not bring confidence or conviction with +them. Still Mrs. Harrington was silenced for the time, and remained in +deep thought. + +"May I retire, madam?" said the governess at last, drawing slowly toward +the door. + +Mabel started from her reverie. + +"Not yet. I would know more of you, of your parents, and previous life. +Where we intrust those most dear to us, there should be a perfect +knowledge and profound confidence." + +"Of myself I have nothing to say," answered Agnes, turning coldly white, +for she was a girl who seldom blushed. All her emotions broke out in a +chilly pallor. "Of my parents all that can be said is told, when I +repeat that they left me with nothing but an honorable name, and this +old woman in the wide world." + +Her voice broke a little here, and this struck Mabel with a shade of +compassion. + +"But how did you chance to come North?" + +"I entered a Louisianian family as governess, directly after my parents' +death. They brought me North in the summer, recommended me to General +Harrington, and I remained." + +Nothing could be more simple or frankly spoken. Agnes, as I have said, +was pale; but for this, she might have seemed unconscious that all this +questioning was mingled with distrust. + +Mabel had nothing more to say. The feelings with which she had commenced +this conversation, were not in the slightest degree removed, and yet +they seemed utterly without foundation. She waved her hand uneasily, +murmuring, "you may go," and the governess went out softly as she had +entered. + +"Can I stay with you, mamma?" pleaded Lina, creeping timidly up to +Mabel's chair. + +"I am weary," answered Mrs. Harrington, closing her eyes, and turning +aside her head. "Let me rest awhile!" + +"But you will kiss me before I go?" said the gentle girl. + +"Yes, child," and Mabel kissed that white forehead with her quivering +lips. + +"Is it with your whole heart, mamma?" + +Mabel turned away her face, that Lina might not see how it was +convulsed. So the young girl went out from the boudoir, grieved to the +verge of tears. + +After they were gone, Mabel grew strong again and began to pace to and +fro in the boudoir, as if striving to outstrip the pain of thinking. The +accident had left her nerves greatly shattered, and it was difficult to +concentrate the high moral courage that formed the glory of her woman's +nature. Thus she walked to and fro in a sort of vague, dreamy passion, +her thoughts all in a tumult, her very soul up in arms against the new +struggle forced upon her. Sometimes Mabel wrung her hand with a sudden +gush of sorrow. Her eyes would fill and her lips quiver, and she looked +around upon the sumptuous objects in her room, as if seeking out +something among all the elegance that filled it, which might have power +to comfort her. + +There was no bitter or bad passion in the heart of Mabel Harrington. She +had only laid down her burden for a moment, and finding its weight +doubled, shrank from taking it up again. But she had a brave, strong +heart, that after a little would leap forward, like a checked racehorse +to its duty. This might not have been, had she always relied upon her +own strength, which so far as human power can go, was to be confided in. +But Mabel had a firmer and holier reliance, which was sure in the end to +subdue all these storms of trouble, and prepare her for the battle which +was to be fought over and over again before she found rest. + +After a time, Mabel Harrington stole gently back to her easy-chair, and +kneeling down, buried her face in the cushions. Fair-Star, which had +been following her up and down, wondering at her distress, and looking +in that agitated face with his intelligent eyes, came and lay softly +down with his head resting on the folds of her shawl, where it swept +over the floor. He knew with his gentle instinct, that she was quieter +now, and with a contented whine lay down to guard her as she prayed. + +While she was upon her knees, a rustling among the flowers in the +balcony made Fair-Star rise suddenly to his fore feet, and cast a +vigilant glance that way. He saw a hand cautiously outstretched, as if +to put back the trails of a passion flower, and then a dark figure stole +along behind the screen of blossoms, and crouching down, peered +cautiously through the leaves into the room. Fair-Star dropped his head; +he had recognized the intruder, and, not having any very definite ideas +of etiquette, concluded that the governess had a right to crouch like a +thief behind that screen of flowers, if her fancy led that way. For a +little time her presence kept the pretty hound restless, but it was not +long before Agnes had so draped the passion-flower that it entirely +concealed her person, and then Fair-Star betook himself entirely to his +mistress. A soul-struggle does not always break forth in words, or +exhaust itself in cries. The heart has a still small voice, which God +recognizes the more readily, because it is like his own. + +Mabel came with no rush of stormy passion before the Lord. The very +force of her anguish was laid aside as she bowed her proud head, and +meekly besought strength to suffer and be still--to struggle for the +right. Now and then her clasped hands were uplifted, once the spy on the +balcony caught a glimpse of her face. It was luminous and lovely, spite +of the anguish to be read there. + +At last she arose, and seating herself, remained for some time in +thoughtful silence, her arms folded on her bosom, her eyes full of +troubled light, looking afar off, as if she were following with her eyes +the angels that had been gathering over her as she knelt. + +After awhile, Mabel arose, and walking across the room more composedly, +unlocked a little escritoir of ebony, from which she drew forth a book +bound in white vellum, and embossed with gold. Seating herself at the +escritoir, she began to search among the trinkets attached to her +chatelaine for a small key, which she inserted in a little heart beset +with rubies, which locked the golden clasps of the book. + +All this time Agnes Barker was watching each movement of her +benefactress with the eyes of a serpent. She saw the tiny heart fly +open, and the manuscript pages of the book exposed. She saw Mrs. +Harrington turn these pages, now slowly, now hurriedly--reading a line +here, a sentence there, and more than once two or three pages together. +Sometimes her fine eyes were full of tears. Sometimes they were +reverently uplifted to Heaven, as if seeking strength or comfort there; +but more frequently she pursued those pages with a sad thoughtfulness, +full of dignity. + +After she had been reading, perhaps an hour, she dipped a pen into the +standish on her escritoir, and began to write slowly, as if weighing +every word as it dropped from her pen. Then she closed the book, locked +it carefully, and securing it in the escritoir again, walked slowly +toward her bed-chamber, which opened from the boudoir, evidently worn +out and ready to drop down with exhaustion. A slight disturbance in the +passion-vine betrayed that Agnes Barker had changed her position, and +now commanded a view through the open door of Mabel's chamber. She saw +the poor lady move wearily toward a bed, which stood like a snowdrift in +the midst of the room, and pulling the cloud of white lace, which +enveloped it aside, with her trembling hands, fell wearily down upon the +pillows, and dropped away into tranquil slumber, like a child that had +played itself to sleep in a daisy field. + +Mabel had asked for strength, and God gave her its first tranquilizing +element--rest. + +Agnes stood motionless till the lace curtains above the sleeper closed +again, leaving nothing visible upon the snowy white beneath but the +calm, sleeping face of Mabel Harrington, gleaming as it were through a +cloud, and the folds of her azure shawl, that lay around her like +fragments of the blue sky. Mrs. Harrington had evidently sunk into a +heavy slumber, but Agnes kept her concealment some time after this, for +Fair-Star was still vigilant, and she shrunk from his glances as if they +had been human. + +But the dog crept into his mistress's chamber at last, and then Agnes +Barker stole from her fragrant hiding-place, and entered the boudoir +again. + +The escritoir was closed, but Agnes saw with joy that the key still +remained in its lock, and that Mrs. Harrington had left her watch upon a +marble console close by. Stealing across the room, and holding her +wicked breath, as if she felt that it would poison the air of that +tranquil room, she crept to the escritoir, turned the key, and +stealthily drawing forth the vellum book, dropped on one knee, while she +reached forth her hand, drawing the watch softly to her lap. + +There was a quiver in her hands as she unlocked that little golden +heart, forcing it asunder with a jerk, for the dog came back just then, +and stood regarding her with his clear, honest eyes. She strove to evade +him, and gleams of angry shame stole across her cheeks as she laid down +the watch, and stole, like the thief that she was, through the sash +door, along the pretty labyrinth of flowers, and into another door that +opened upon one end of the balcony. + +And Mabel slept on, while this ruthless girl was tearing the secret from +her life. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +RALPH'S LOVE CHASE. + + +It was an uncomfortable breakfast-table to which the Harringtons sat +down that morning. The lady of the house and Lina, its morning-star, +were both absent, and the servant, who stood at the coffee-urn ready to +distribute its contents, was a most unsatisfactory substitute. + +Their absence left a gloom on everything. The very morning seemed +darkened by the want of their smiling faces and cheerful garments. A +breakfast-table at which no lady presides, is always a desert--and so +was this; spite of its glittering silver, its transparent china, and the +warm October sunshine, which penetrated the broad eastern window with a +thousand cheerful flashes, scarcely broken by the gorgeous tree boughs, +or the climbing vines that waved and clustered around it. + +Gen. Harrington was out of sorts, as your polished man of the world +sometimes proves when his circle of admirers is a household one. The +absence of his wife was an annoyance which, under the circumstances, he +could not well resent, but that Lina should have been so indolent, or so +forgetful, he considered a just cause of complaint. Thus in that smooth, +ironical way, which usually expressed the General's anger, he began a +series of complaints, that in another might have been considered +grumbling, but in a man of Gen. Harrington's perfect breeding, could +have been only an expression of elegant displeasure. + +Ralph, radiant with his new-born happiness, and full of generous +enthusiasm, strove to dissipate this gloom by extra cheerfulness; but +this only irritated the grand old gentleman, who stirred the cream in +his coffee, and buttered his delicate French rolls in dignified silence, +into which his displeasure had at last subsided. + +James Harrington, unlike his irritable father, or the bright animation +of his brother, was so rapt in heavy thought, that he seemed unmindful +of all that was going on. He had cast one quick, almost wild glance at +the head of the table as he entered, and after that took his seat like +one in a dream. + +"Let me," said Ralph, taking the second cup from the servant, and +carrying it to the General, "let me help you, father." + +"My boy," said the General, "when will you learn to comprehend the +refined taste which I fear you will never emulate? You ought to know, +sir, that a breakfast without a lady is an unnatural thing in society, +calculated to disturb the composure and injure the digestion of any +gentleman. As Mrs. Harrington is not able to preside, will you have the +goodness to inform Miss Lina that her seat is empty?" + +"I--I don't know where Lina is, father. Indeed, I have been searching +and searching for her all the morning," answered the youth with a vivid +blush. + +"Go knock at her door. She may be ill," answered the General, "and, in +the meantime, inquire after Mrs. Harrington, with my compliments." + +Ralph grew crimson to the temples. A hundred times before, he had +summoned Lina from her slumbers, but now it seemed like presumption. + +It was strange, but James Harrington had not inquired after either of +the ladies; but he looked up with an eager flash of the eyes when the +General gave his message; and, as Ralph hesitated, he said in a grave +voice-- + +"What are you waiting for, Ralph? There is something strange in Lina's +absence." + +"Is there? Do you think so?" exclaimed the excitable boy, and the +crimson came and went in flashes over his face. "Oh, brother James, do +you think so?" + +The General lowered his cup to the table, and began tinkling the spoon +against its side, softly, but in a way which bespoke a world of +impatience. Ralph understood the signal, and disappeared. + +"Upon my word, I'd rather be shot," thought Ralph, pausing before the +door he had knocked at heedlessly a thousand times during his boyish +life; "I wonder what she'll think of it, so coarse and rude to present +myself in this fashion after her first sweet sleep. Dear, dear Lina." + +He reached forth his hand timidly, and with a pleasant tremble in all +the nerves, drew it back, attempted again, and ended with one of the +faintest possible taps against the black walnut panelling. + +No answer came. The knock was repeated, louder and louder, still no +answer. But at last the door was suddenly opened, and while Ralph stood +in breathless expectation, he saw a mulatto chambermaid before him, +beating a pillow with one hand, from which two or three feathers had +broken loose, and stood quivering in her braided wool. + +"Oh, it's you, is it, Master Ralph? Thought, mebbe, it was Miss Lina +a-coming back agin. Everything sixes and sevens, I can tell you, since +Miss Mabel took sick--now I tell you." + +"Can you tell me where Miss Lina is?" + +"Don't know nothin' 'bout her, no how--cum in here a little while ago, +and didn't speak a word when I said 'Good mornin',' as pleasant as could +be--but jist turned her head away and went off, as if I'd been the dirt +under her feet." + +With these words the exasperated damsel punched her right hand +ferociously into the pillow, as if that had been in fault, and added +half a dozen more feathers to those already encamped in her dingy +tresses. + +Ralph was troubled. What could this mean? Lina was never ill-tempered. +Something must have grieved her. + +"Tell me," he said, addressing the indignant girl, "was anything the +matter? Did my--did Miss Lina look ill?" + +"Just as blooming as a rose, de fust time I see her, and as white as +this pillar when she went out, after I'd expressed myself regarding the +ridickelousness of her stuck up ways." + +"But where is she now?" + +"Don't know. Shouldn't wonder if she's wid de madam--like as not." + +Ralph went to his mother's boudoir, and after knocking in vain, softly +opened the door. Fair-Star came towards him with his serious eyes and +velvet tread, looking back toward the inner room, where Ralph saw his +mother through the lace curtains, asleep and alone. He saw also the +shrubs in motion at the window, and fancied that a rustling sound came +from the balcony. + +"Hist, Lina--sweet Lina, it is I!" + +Before he reached the balcony, all was still there, but certainly the +sound of a closing door had reached him, and the plants at one end of +the balcony were vibrating yet. + +"Ah, she is teasing me," thought the boy, and his heart rose with the +playful thought. "We'll see if Lady Lina escapes in this way." + +He opened a door leading from the balcony, and entered a room that had +once been occupied by General Harrington's first wife. It was a small +chamber, rich in old-fashioned decorations, and gloomy with disuse. The +shutters were all closed, and curtains of heavy silk darkened the +windows entirely. Still Ralph could see a high-post bedstead and the +outlines of other objects equally ponderous. Beyond this, he saw a +female figure, evidently attempting to hide itself behind the bed +drapery. + +Ralph sprang forward with his hands extended. + +"Ah, ha, my lady-bird, with all this fluttering I have found you!" + +There was a quick rush behind the drapery, which shook and swayed, till +the dust fell from it in showers. Again Ralph laughed, "Ah, lapwing, +struggle away, I have you safe." + +He seized an armful of the damask drapery as he spoke, and felt a slight +form struggling and trembling in his embrace. Instinctively his arms +relaxed their hold, and with something akin to terror, he whispered:-- + +"Why, Lina, darling, what is this? I thought that we loved each other. +You did not tremble so, when I held you in my arms yesterday!" + +A smothered cry, as of acute pain, broke from beneath the drapery, and +then, while Ralph stood lost in surprise, the curtains fell rustling +together, and the faint sound of a door cautiously closed, admonished +him that he was alone. + +"Lina, dear Lina," he called, reluctant to believe that she had left him +so abruptly. + +There was no answer, not even a rustle of the damask. + +He was alone. When satisfied of this, the young man found his way to the +light again. But for the terror and evident recoil of the person who had +evaded him, he would have considered the whole adventure a capital joke, +in which he had been famously baffled; but there was something too +earnest in that struggle and cry for trifling, and the remembrance left +him with a heart-ache. + +When Ralph came back to the breakfast-table, he found Lina seated in his +mother's place. A faint color came into her cheek as she saw him, but +otherwise she was calm and thoughtful. Nay, there was a shade of sorrow +upon her countenance, but nothing of the flush and tumult that would +naturally have followed the encounter from which she was so fresh. + +Spite of himself, Ralph was shocked. The delicacy of a first passion had +been a little outraged by the rude way in which he and Lina had just +met, and struggled together, but her composure wounded him still more +deeply. "So young, so innocent, and so deceptive," he thought, looking +at her almost angrily, "I would not have believed it." + +Lina was all unconscious. Full of her own sorrowful perplexities, she +experienced none of the bashful tremors that had troubled her in +anticipation. That interview in Mrs. Harrington's room had chilled all +the joy of her young love. Thus she sat, pale and cold, under the +reproachful glances of her lover. + +And General Harrington was watching them with his keen, worldly glances. +A smile crept over his lips as he read those young hearts, a smile of +cool quiet craft, which no one remarked; but there was destiny in it. + +Altogether the breakfast was a gloomy meal. There was discord in every +heart, and a foreshadowing of trouble which no one dared to speak about. +For some time after his father had left the table, Ralph sat moodily +thinking of Lina's changed manner. A revulsion came over him as he +thought of his singular encounter with her that morning, and with the +quick anger of youth, he allowed her to rise from the table and leave +the room without a smile or a word. + +James saw nothing that was passing. Self-centred and thoughtful, he was +scarcely conscious of their presence. + +Lina sought Mrs. Harrington's chamber, but found it perfectly quiet, and +the lady asleep. Then she took a straw hat from the hall, and flinging a +mantilla about her, went out into the grounds, ready to weep anywhere, +if she could but be alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE STOLEN JOURNAL. + + +Ralph saw Lina pass, from the breakfast-room window, and his heart smote +him. What had she done, poor, dear girl, to warrant his present +feelings? What evil spirit possessed him to think ill of her, so pure, +so truly good, as she was? + +Ralph took his hat and followed Lina through the grounds, up to a hollow +in the hills, where a great white pine tree sheltered a spring that +sparkled out from its roots, like a gush of diamonds. It was a heavy +day, not without flashes of sunshine, but sombre heaps of clouds drifted +to and fro across the sky, and the wet earth was literally carpeted with +leaves beaten from their branches by the storm. Amid all these dead +leaves, and within the gloomy shadow of the pine, Lina sat alone +weeping. She heard Ralph's tread upon the wet foliage, and arose as if +to flee him, for with all her gentleness, Lina was proud, and his +presence made her ashamed of the tears that her little hand had no power +to dash entirely away. + +"Lina," said Ralph, holding out his hand, rejoiced by her tears, for he +longed to think that she was offended by his rudeness in the dusky room, +"Lina, forgive me. I was a brute to wound you with my rough ways." + +Lina turned away and sobbed. "It was not that, Ralph. You were only +silent, not rude. But I have seen your mother this morning. Oh, Ralph, +she will never consent to it--we must give each other up." + +"What did she say? Tell me, Lina, tell me!" cried Ralph, full of +emotion. + +"She said nothing, Ralph, but her face--for a moment it was terrible. +Then she fainted!" + +"Fainted, Lina!--my mother?" + +"I thought her dead, she looked so cold and white. Oh, Ralph, if my +words had killed her, what would have become of us?" + +"Lina, you astonish me. My mother is not a woman to faint from +displeasure. It is the effect of her accident. You should not have +spoken to her now!" + +"I could not help it. Indeed, I was so happy, and it seemed right and +natural to tell her first of all." + +"But, what did you tell her, darling?" + +Lina looked up, and regarded him gratefully through her tears. + +"I don't know--something that displeased her--that almost killed her, I +am afraid." + +"Don't cry, don't, Lina--it will all come out right." + +"No, no--I feel it--I know it--we must give each other up. The very +first hint almost killed her, and no wonder. I did not think of it +before--so much kindness made me forget. But what am I? Who am I, to +dare equal myself with her son?" + +"What are you, Lina!" said Ralph, and his fine face glowed with generous +feelings. "What are you! An angel! the dearest, best!" + +Lina could not help being pleased with this enthusiasm, but she cut it +short, placing her hand upon his mouth. + +"It is kind of you to say this, but the facts--oh! these facts--are +stubborn things. What am I but a poor little girl, who wandered from, no +one can say where, into your house, a miserable waif, drifted by chance +upon the charity of your parents! I have no antecedents beyond their +kindness--no name, save that which they gave me--no past, no future. Is +it for me to receive affection from their son--to climb ambitiously to +the topmost branches of the roof-tree that sheltered my happiness and my +poverty?" + +And this was the girl he had dared to think coarse and forward in not +blushing at the liberties he had taken. This fair, noble girl, who, with +all her delicacy, could utter such true, proud thoughts. For the moment, +Ralph would have dropped on his knees, and asked her pardon in the dust. +But, beware, young man--he that doubts a beloved object once, will doubt +again. When you could, even in passing thought, judge that young +creature wrongfully, it was a break in the chain of confidence that +should bind true hearts together. Ralph! Ralph! a jewel is lost from the +chain of your young life, and once rent asunder many a diamond bead will +drop away from that torn link. + +"Believe me," said the youth, burning with enthusiastic admiration of +the young creature before him, "These proud words slander the noblest +heart that ever beat in a woman's bosom. My mother loves you for +yourself. All the better that God sent you to her unsought, as he does +the wild flowers. Lina, the pride which reddens your cheek, would be +abashed in her presence." + +"It is not pride, Ralph, but shame that such thoughts should never have +presented themselves before. I have dreamed all my life; up to this +morning, I was a child. Now, a single hour has surrounded me with +realities. The whole universe seems changed since yesterday." + +Lina looked drearily around as she spoke. The hill-sides were indeed +changed. The boughs, twelve hours before, so luxuriously gorgeous, were +half denuded of their foliage. The over-ripe leaves were dropping +everywhere through the damp atmosphere. A gush of wind shook them in +heavy clouds to the earth. All the late wild flowers were beaten down +and half-uprooted. Nature seemed merely a waste of luxurious beauty +thrown into gloomy confusion, among which the high winds tore and +rioted. + +Lina was chilled by these winds, and drew her shawl closely, with a +shivering consciousness of the change. The young man's ardent hope had +no power to reassure her. The subtle intuition of her nature could not +be reasoned with. Sad and disheartened, she followed Ralph slowly +homeward. + +A few hours after the scene we have described, the governess was +half-way up the hill, on which the house of her nurse stood. She had +walked all the way from General Harrington's dwelling, and her person +bore marks of a rough passage across the hills. Her gaiter boots were +saturated with wet, and soiled with reddish clay. Burdock burs and +brambles clung to the skirt of her merino dress, which exhibited one or +two serious rents. Her shawl had been torn off by a thicket of wild +roses, and she carried it thrown across her arm, too much heated by +walking to require it, though the day was cold. + +On her way up the hill, she paused, and flinging her shawl on the +ground, sat down. Opening the vellum-bound book, she read a few +sentences in it, with a greedy desire to know the most important portion +of its contents, before resigning it into hands that might hereafter +deprive her of all knowledge regarding them. But the winds shook and +rustled the pages about, till she was obliged to desist, and at last +made her way up the hill in a flushed and excited state, leaving her +shawl behind. + +The moment she rose to a level with the house, the door opened, and the +woman whom she claimed as a slave nurse, came forth, advancing towards +Agnes with almost ferocious eagerness. She called out: + +"Back again so soon! Then there is news." + +"Look here," answered Agnes, holding up the volume, from which the +jewelled heart still dangled, cleft in twain as it was. "In less than an +hour after entering the house I had it safe. Isn't that quick work?" + +"Give it to me--give it to me. You are a good girl, Agnes, a noble girl, +worth a hundred of your lily-faced white folks. Give me the book, +honey--do you hear?" + +But Agnes, who had again opened the volume, held it back. + +"Not yet, mammy--I have only read a little--don't be too eager--I have a +right to know all that is in it!" + +"Give me that book. Her secrets belong to me--only to me. Hand over the +book, I say!" + +"But I wish to read it, myself--who has a better right?" + +The dark eyes of the slave flashed fire, and her hands quivered like the +wings of a bird when its prey is in sight. She clutched fiercely at the +book, hissing out her impatience like a serpent. + +"Take it!" exclaimed Agnes fiercely, "but don't expect me to steal for +you again." + +"Hist!" answered the woman, crushing the book under her arm; "here comes +one of the Harringtons on horseback. Clear that face and be ready to +meet him, while I go in and hide Mabel Harrington's soul!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +JAMES HARRINGTON'S RIDE. + + +James Harrington left the breakfast-table with a restless desire to be +alone in the free air. He had not slept during the night, but spent the +silent hours in thought, which filled both his heart and brain with +excitement. The deep tenderness of his nature warred terribly against +its strong moral force, but only as the quick tempests of summer hurled +against a rock, beat down all the beautiful wild blossoms and moss upon +its surface, but leave it immovable as ever. + +As he went forth from his room, Ralph passed him, looking restless and +anxious. + +"Brother James! Brother James!" he said, "I wish to speak with you very +much, but not now. I have no heart to say anything just yet!" + +James smiled, very gravely, but with a look of gentle patience, that +told how completely his strong passions were held in control. Few men in +his excited state would have proved so thoughtful of others; for he had +no idea that Ralph had any more important subject to consult him about, +than some shooting excursion in the hills, or a horse-back ride with +Lina. + +"I am going out for an hour or two," he said; "I have been suffering +with headache all night. The air seems close to me in-doors. After I +come back, will that be time enough, Ralph?" + +"I don't know. Yes, of course it will--there is no hurry," answered the +impetuous boy, "only I'm so vexed and troubled just now." + +"Well, come up to my room. It does not matter much if I go or not--this +miserable headache will not probably be driven away." + +"No, I can wait. You ought to ride out. How pale you are! Why, your face +is quite changed! Indeed, brother James, I will not speak another word +till you get back. I wonder what has come over us all this morning. Poor +mother ill--the General out of sorts--you with a headache, and I, yes, I +may as well own up--I have got something so near heart-sickness here, +that--but never mind--I'll shake it off, or know the reason why. But one +word, James, did you ever think my mother an illiberal woman?" + +"Illiberal, Ralph? Your mother!" + +"Well, I mean this. Is she a woman to reject beauty and worth, and +everything estimable, because--" James Harrington cut the question short +by laying a hand on his brother's shoulder somewhat heavily. + +"Your mother, Ralph, is a woman so much above question in all her +actions and motives, that even these half-doubts in her son are +sacrilegious." + +The color rushed up to Ralph's forehead. First he had lost confidence in +Lina--now, in his mother. + +"If you have a doubt of your mother, speak it to her," said James more +gently, as he drew on his riding gloves. "After that, I will talk with +you!" + +"I wonder what has come over me--James is offended; I never saw him so +grave before," muttered Ralph, as his brother moved down the hall. + +"Everything goes wrong. Even Fair-Star started, as if she would spring +at me, when I looked in to see if my mother was up. I will put an end to +this!" + +Thus half-passionately, half in thought, he went in search of Lina. + +James Harrington mounted his horse and rode away. He wanted the clear +air and freedom of expanse, motion, anything that would distract his +thoughts, and bring back the self-control that had almost departed from +him. He rode at random along the highway leading to the city, down cross +roads and by the shore, sometimes at a sharp gallop, sometimes giving +his well-trained horse the head, till both steed and rider flashed like +an arrow between the stooping branches. + +In this wild way he rode, unconscious of his course, and without any +absolute object, save free air and that rapid motion which harmonizes so +well with turbulent feelings. The horse took his own way up hill, along +shore, up hill again, till all at once he came out on a green shelf in +the hills, upon which a single dwelling stood. + +He drew up his horse suddenly, for there a little way from the house and +some distance before him, stood two women in eager conversation. One had +her back toward him, but her left hand was in sight, and in it was an +open book, with its leaves fluttering in the wind. The air and dress of +this person reminded him so forcibly of Lina's governess, that he +remained a moment looking earnestly that way; not that her presence on +the hill would have been particularly remarkable, for on glancing around +he recognized by its position, that her nurse's house must be in that +neighborhood. But that very morning he had seen the governess passing +toward Mrs. Harrington's room, and her appearance in both these places +so nearly at the same time, aroused his curiosity, not to say suspicion. + +The object that struck him most forcibly was the female with whom she +seemed to be conversing. The stately person, the picturesque costume, +composed entirely of rich warm colors, the eager expression of features +that must once have been eminently handsome--above all, the air of +almost ferocious authority, with which she was speaking, struck him as +strangely out of place in that solitary spot. Beyond this, he felt a +vague impression, impalpable and formless, of some connection between +that woman and former events of his own life. It might have been her +dress so foreign to the place, or her humble mode of life. The Madras +kerchief, folded in a turban over the black hair falling down each side +of her face in the heaviest waves of rippling jet, and the massive +earrings that gleamed beneath, were in themselves calculated to awake +remembrances of an early youth spent in the South, where this +picturesque costume was common among the slaves; but the woman's face +fascinated his gaze more than her general appearance. Some recollection +too vague for embodiment, arose on his brain so powerfully, that he was +unconscious of the time thus spent in gazing upon her. + +At last the woman gave a quick glance toward him, and darting forward, +snatched at the book in her companion's hand, talking rapidly. + +There was some resistance--an attempt to ward her off--but the book was +at last yielded to her impetuosity. He saw it, gathered up under the +woman's arm, concealed by the folds of an orange-colored scarf, overrun +with a pattern of many gorgeous colors, which she wore, and carried into +the house. + +Then the person whose back had been toward him, turned and looked that +way. It was Agnes Barker. She saw him, evidently without much surprise, +and turning, rather leisurely walked that way, as if it had been the +most natural thing in the world to meet him there. + +"Oh, Mr. Harrington," she said, coming close to his horse, picking the +burs from her dress as she moved along, "can it be possible that you +have only reached this point now? I left home half an hour after you +rode away--on foot, too, and am here before you." + +Harrington did not answer, except with a grave bow, but looked at her +searchingly from head to foot. + +"Yes," she continued, dragging her veil forward, "I found a rough walk +after the storm, everything is so wet and gloomy. The only dry spot upon +the shore was around the old cedar, where we had that rather interesting +scene last night." + +A quiet smile stole over Harrington's lip. "Indeed," he said, "I must +have ridden at a snail's pace, to let you reach this spot before +me--especially if the entire walk was beguiled by the book I just saw +you surrender!" + +A faint flush stole over Agnes Barker's forehead, and for an instant her +eyes fell; then she looked up again with the pretty deprecating glance +of one who had been caught in a meritorious act, which her modesty +disclaimed. + +"Oh, you must not think me quite insane, Mr. Harrington, if I did bring +out my sketch-book, in hopes of stealing some of the beautiful autumn +tints from these masses of foliage. My good nurse has just been scolding +me for sitting on the damp ground, forgetting my shawl behind, and all +that. As a punishment, she has carried off my poor book, and threatens +to burn it. I have been very imprudent, and very indecorous, you will +say," she added, glancing at her dress, with a faint laugh, "but, no +doubt my caprice is sufficiently punished by this time; for, if that +access of smoke means anything, my poor sketch-book is ashes now." + +She spoke a little rapidly, as one does in a fever, but otherwise her +manner was the perfection of modest innocence. Indeed, there was no +appearance of confusion, which the derangement of her dress was not +quite sufficient to account for. + +"Well, you come in and rest a while?" she said at last, casting a soft +glance upward from her dress. "My good mammy may not be prepared for +such company, but she will make you welcome." + +"Yes," said Harrington, struck by a sudden wish to see more of the woman +who had interested him so much, "I will go in, thank you!" + +She turned, as if to precede him, but throwing his bridle over a +sapling, he walked rapidly forward, and overtook her just before she +entered the house. The door was partly open. Agnes turned upon the +threshold. + +"I know that my poor book is burned, without asking," she said, in a +voice much louder than usual. "You have no idea, Mr. Harrington, how +careful nurse is of my health. Do not be surprised if she is very angry +with me!" + +"It is very difficult to surprise me with anything," said Harrington, +drawing nearer to the door, through which he saw glimpses of +orange-colored drapery disappearing into an inner room. + +"You must not say that, for I had expected some surprise at the view +from this particular point," she answered, evidently wishing to detain +him on the door step. + +"Yes, it is very fine; but you will find the wind rather keen. Allow +me." + +Harrington pushed the door wide open, and Agnes was obliged to pass into +the apartment beyond. She seemed relieved to find it empty, and when her +guest looked toward the opposite door, observed; "I am in disgrace, you +see, mammy has shut herself up." + +"And yet I have some desire to see her, if it were only to excuse the +fright we gave her last night, by allowing you to enter without +knocking." + +"Oh, she did not mind it in the least. It was nothing, I assure you." + +"Still I would like to speak with her." + +Agnes grew pale about the lips, a sign of emotion that did not escape +her guest; but it passed off in an instant, and she was slowly +approaching the inner door, when it opened, and the object of their +conversation presented herself. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THAT WOMAN. + + +Harrington was, indeed, surprised when he saw this woman. She was +evidently ten years older than she had appeared at a distance, and, +though that seemed an impossibility, darker too. The Madras kerchief +certainly had been refolded since her return to the house, for it came +low upon the forehead, and the hair visible beneath it was thickly +scattered with white. She stooped somewhat, and her gait was slow, +almost shuffling. Not a vestige of the imperious air that had rendered +her so picturesque a few minutes before, remained. She appeared before +him simply as a common-place light mulatto of rather more than middle +age, who might have been an upper house servant in her day, but nothing +more. On closer inspection, even the orange-tinted shawl was soiled and +held around her person in a slovenly manner, as rich cast-off garments +usually are by the servants who inherit them. + +At first, Harrington would not believe that this was the same woman +whose appearance had made so deep an impression on him, for a heavy sort +of sluggishness, both of thought and feeling, lay on her features, while +those that had aroused his attention so keenly, were active and full of +intelligence. The woman did not sit down, but stood by the open door, +looking stupidly at Agnes Barker, as if waiting for some command. + +"Well, Miss Agnes, I'se here, what does the master please to want?" + +It was rather difficult for James Harrington, self-possessed as he was, +to answer that question. The woman had taken him by surprise. Her +appearance was so completely that of a common-place servant, that he was +silenced by the very surprise she had given him. But for her dress, he +would not have believed in her identity with the person he had seen in +the open air, and that was worn with a slovenliness altogether unlike +the ease remarkable in the person whom she represented, without +conveying an impression of absolute identity. + +Harrington had spent his early life in the South, and was at no loss to +comprehend the peculiar class to which this woman belonged. He answered +her quietly, but still with suspicion: + +"Nothing, aunty, except that you will oblige me with a glass of water." + +The woman shuffled across the room, and brought him some water, which +she placed scrupulously on a plate, by way of waiter, before presenting +it. Her air--the loose, indolent gait, like that of a leopard moving +sleepily around its lair--convinced him that she had been nothing more +than a common household slave, out of place in her cold, and almost +poverty-stricken northern home. He drank the water she gave him, and +handing back the glass, inquired if she did not feel lonely and chilled +by the cold climate? + +"I'se allus warm and comfortable where dat ere chile is," said the +woman, looking at Agnes, "any place 'pears like home when she's by, and +I 'xpect she feels like dat where old aunty is, if she is poor." + +"She is happy in having one faithful friend," answered Harrington, more +and more satisfied that the woman was simply what she seemed. + +A strange smile quivered for a moment around Agnes Barker's lip, but as +Harrington turned his glance that way, it subsided into a look of gentle +humility. + +"You will inform the ladies that I shall return to-night. It proved a +chilly day for sketching, and finding myself nearer my own home than the +mansion-house, I stole a few moments for poor, old, lonesome mammy +here." + +Harrington had arisen as she commenced speaking, and with a grave bend +of the head, promised to convey her message. + +The two women watched him as he crossed the rude garden, and mounted his +horse; then drawing hurriedly back into the house, they closed the door. + +"What could have brought him here? Did she send him?" inquired the +slave-woman anxiously, and all at once assuming the haughty air natural +to her, while a keen intelligence came to her features. + +"No," answered Agnes, "she is ill in bed; I am sure she has not seen him +this morning. It must have been accident that brought him in this +direction." + +The slave-woman looked searchingly in the girl's face. + +"Did he know that you came this way?" + +"That is impossible." + +"It should not be impossible. You have been months in his house, +Agnes--I did not expect so little progress." + +Agnes was annoyed, and put aside the subject with an impatient gesture. + +"What have you been doing, girl?" persisted the woman, "remember your +own destiny is in this more than mine." + +"But why select this man, so difficult of access, so unattainable?" + +"Because he has wealth and power." + +"There is some other reason, mammy. Let me know it!" + +"Well, know it, then--I believe that woman loves him--I know that she +loved him once." + +"I know that she loves him _yet_," said Agnes, with a sinister smile. +"For I witnessed a scene last night, when she came to after they had +dragged her from the water, which settled that in my mind; but what do +you care for that? How will it help us?" + +"What do I care for that--I--I--what does the hungry man care for food, +or the thirsty one for water? What do I care, child? Listen: I hate that +woman--from my soul I hate her!" + +"Then it was hatred of her, not love for me, that brought us here!" + +"It was both, Agnes--do not doubt it. When I avenge the wrongs of my +life on her, you must be a gainer." + +"I do not understand you." + +"It is not necessary; obey me, that is enough." + +"But how has Mrs. Harrington wronged you?" + +"How has she wronged me, Agnes! Be quiet, I am not to be questioned in +this way." + +"But, I am no longer a child to be used blindly. You have objects which +I do not comprehend--motives which are so rigidly concealed that I, who +am to help work them out, grope constantly in the dark. I am told to +listen, watch, work, even steal, and am left ignorant of the end to be +accomplished." + +"Have I not told you that it is your marriage with Mr. James Harrington, +the real owner of all the property which his father is supposed to +possess? Am I not working to make you the richest lady of the North, the +wife of a man whom all other men hold in reverence; and in this am I not +securing the dearest and sweetest vengeance that mortal ever tasted?" + +"But I do not think Mr. Harrington cares for me, or ever will." + +"What have you been doing, then?" cried the woman fiercely. "You have +beauty, or, if not that, something far more powerful--that subtle +magnetism which all men feel a thousand times more forcibly, deep +knowledge; for have I not taught you what human hearts are worth, and +how to dissect them, leaf by leaf? You have coolness, self-control, and +passion when it is wanted. Have I not trained you from the cradle for +this one object, and dare you talk of its failure?" + +"Mammy, let us understand each other. Cannot we accomplish the same +thing, and both be gratified? I do not love Mr. James Harrington, but +there is one of the name that I do love, heart and soul." + +"And who is that?" demanded the woman sharply, and her black eyes caught +fire from the anger within her. + +"It is the other, Ralph Harrington." + +How hard and defiant was the voice in which Agnes Barker said this--a +young girl expressing her first love without a blush, and with that air +of cold-blooded defiance. It was terrible! + +"Ralph Harrington, he is _her_ son, and a beggar!" cried the woman +bitterly. + +"I do not understand what force may lie in the first objection, and I do +not believe in the second. Ralph cannot be a beggar, while his brother +holds so much wealth; at any rate, I love him." + +"Love, girl! What have you to do with this sweet poison? The thing Love +is not your destiny." + +"It is, though, and shall control it," replied Agnes, with the same +half-insolent tone; for it seemed to be a relief for this young girl to +act out spontaneously the evil of her nature, and she appeared to enjoy +the kindling anger of her servant--if that slave woman was her +servant--with vicious relish. + +The woman walked close to the insolent girl, with her hand clenched, and +her lips pressed firmly together. + +"Agnes, Agnes--you cannot know how much rests on you--how great a +revenge your obstinacy may baffle." + +"I know that I love Ralph Harrington, and if it will comfort you to hear +it, he does not love me," answered the girl with a burning glow in +either cheek. + +"Oh, you have come back again--it is his blood on fire in your cheeks. I +have no fear of you, Agnes. That blood grows strong with age like old +wine, and soon learns to give hatred for unanswered love. I can trust +the blood." + +"But he shall love me, or, at any rate, no one else shall have what he +withholds from me." + +"Be still, Agnes, do not make me angry again. You and I must work +together. Tell me, did you succeed in quieting General Harrington's +inquiries regarding the letters of recommendation?" + +"Did I succeed?" answered Agnes, with a smile that crept over her young +lips like a viper. "The old General is more pliable than the son. Oh, +yes, when he began questioning me of the whereabouts of our kind friends +who think so much of us, you know, I put forth all the accomplishments +you have taught me, and wiled him from the subject in no time. You have +just questioned my beauty, mammy. I doubt if he did then, for his eyes +were not off my face a moment. What fine eyes the old gentleman has, +though! I think it would be easier to obey you in that quarter than the +other." + +As she uttered the last words with a reckless lift of the head, the +slave-woman made a spring at her, and grasping the scornfully uplifted +shoulder, bent her face--which was that of a fiend--close to the young +girl's ear: "Beware, girl, beware!" she whispered, "you are treading +among adders." + +"I think you are crazy," was the contemptuous reply, as Agnes released +her shoulder from the gripe of that fierce hand. "My shoulder will be +black and blue after this, and all for a joke about a conceited old +gentleman whom we are both taking in. Did you not tell me to delude him +off the subject if he mentioned those letters of recommendation again?" + +The woman did not answer, but stood bending forward as if ashamed of her +violence, but yet with a gleam of rage lingering in her black eyes. + +"Have you done?" said Agnes, arranging her velvet sacque, which had been +torn from its buttons in front, by the rude handling she had received. + +"You must not speak in that way again," answered the old woman in a low +voice, "I did not mean to hurt you, child, but General Harrington is not +a man for girls like you to joke about." + +"This is consistent, upon my word," answered the girl with a short +scornful laugh. "You teach me to delude the old gentleman into a +half-flirtation. He meets me in the grounds--begins to ask about the +persons from whom we obtained those precious recommendations, and when I +attempt to escape the subject, persists in walking by me till I led him +a merry dance up the steepest hill that could be found, and left him +there out of breath, and in the midst of a protestation that I was the +loveliest person he had ever seen. Loveliest--no, that was not it--the +most bewitching creature! these were the last words I remember, for that +moment Benson's boat hove in sight, and there sat madam looking fairly +at us. If they had been a moment later, I'm quite sure the old fellow +would have been down upon his knees in the dead leaves." + +The slave-woman listened to this flippant speech in cold silence. She +was endowed with a powerful will, matched with pride that was almost +satanic. She saw the malicious pleasure with which Agnes said all this, +and would not gratify it by a single glance. With all her wicked craft, +the young girl was no match for the woman. + +"You have acted unwisely," she said with wonderful self-command; "never +trifle with side issues when they can possibly interfere with the main +object. I wished to evade General Harrington's close scrutiny into our +antecedents; to soothe the lion, not goad him. Be careful of this a +second time!" + +How calmly she spoke! You would not have believed her the same woman who +had sprung upon the girl so like a tiger only a few moments before. Even +Agnes looked upon her with amazement. + +"Woman," she said, "tell me what you are at--trust me, and I will help +you heart and soul." + +"What! even to the giving up of this new-born love?" + +"Even to that, if I can be convinced of its necessity." + +"I will trust you." + +"Wholly--entirely?" + +"Entirely!" + +The girl threw her arms around that singular woman, their lips met, and +the subtle force of one heart kindled and burned in the bosom of the +other. + +"Tell me everything, mamma!" + +"I will. But first, let us read Mabel Harrington's journal, it will +prepare you for the rest." + +They opened the stolen book, and sat down together so close that their +arms were interlaced, and their cheeks touched as they read. + +It was a terrible picture, that meagre, dimly-lighted room, the +tree-boughs waving against the window, their leaves vocal with the last +sob of the storm, and those two women with their keen evil faces, their +lips parted with eagerness, and their eyes gleaming darkly, as they +drank up the secrets of poor Mabel Harrington's life. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +OLD HEADS AND YOUNG HEARTS. + + +General Harrington spent the entire day at home. After the rather +uncomfortable breakfast we have already described, he went to his +library, discontented and moody. All day he was disposed to be restless +and dissatisfied with his books, as he had been with the appointments of +his morning meal. Indignant with his whole household, for not being on +the alert to amuse him, he declined going down to dinner; but ordering +some choicely cooked birds and a bottle of champagne in his own room, +amused his rather fastidious appetite with these delicacies, while he +luxuriated in his dressing-gown, and read snatches from a new book of +poems that had interested him for the moment. + +This rather pleasant occupation wiled away an hour, when he was +interrupted by a knock at the door. Lifting his eyes from the book, the +General said, "Come in," rather hastily, for the knock had broken into +one of the finest passages of the poem, and General Harrington detested +interruptions of any kind, either in a mental or sensual enjoyment. + +"Come in!" + +The General was a good deal astonished when his son Ralph opened the +door, and stood before him with an air of awkward constraint, that +would certainly have secured him a reprimand had he not been the first +to speak. + +"Father!" + +General Harrington gave an impatient wave of the hand. + +"Young gentleman," he said, "how often am I to remind you that the use +of the paternal title after childhood is offensive. Can't you call me +General Harrington, sir, as other people do? A handsome young fellow six +feet high should learn to forget the nursery. Sit down, sir, sit down +and converse like a gentleman, if you have anything to say." + +The blood rose warmly in Ralph's face, not that he was angry or +surprised, but it seemed impossible to open his warm heart to the man +before him. + +"Well then, General," he said, with a troubled smile, "I--I've been +getting into--into----" + +"Not into debt, I trust," said the General, folding the skirts of the +Turkish dressing-gown over his knees, and smoothing the silken fabric +with his hand, but speaking with a degree of genuine bitterness, +"because, if that's it, you had better go to James at once--he is the +millionaire. I am not much better than his pensioner myself!" + +"It is not that," answered Ralph, with an effort which sent the blood +crimsoning to his temples, "though money may have something to do with +it in time. The truth is, General, I have been in love with Lina all my +life, and never found it out till yesterday." + +General Harrington gave the youth a look from under his bent brows, that +made the young man shrink back in his chair, but in a moment the +unpleasant expression went off, and a quiet smile stole over the old +man's lip. + +"Oh, you will get over that, Ralph. It isn't worth being angry about. Of +course, you will get over it. I think this is a first love, hey!" + +"The first and last with me, fath--General." + +"Yes, yes, of course--I think I remember feeling a little in the same +way at your age. It won't be serious--these things never are!" + +"But I am very serious. I have told her all about it. My honor is +pledged." + +The young man--who, by the way, really seemed a mere boy yet to his +father--was going on with some vehemence, but he was coldly cut short by +the General, who sat regarding his enthusiasm with a most provoking +smile. + +"Of course, I supposed so--eternal constancy and devotion on both sides! +Very well, what can I do about it?" + +"Oh, father, I beg your pardon--but you can do everything. Your free, +hearty consent is all I ask--and if you would be so kind as to exert a +little influence with mother." + +"Then you have told this to her, before coming to me," said the General, +and his brow darkened. + +"No, sir, I have spoken to no one but Lina. It was my duty to come to +you first, and I am here." + +"That is better; but how do you know that Mrs. Harrington will +disapprove of your caprice for her protégé, if no one has spoken to her +on the subject?" + +"I believe, sir, that Lina said something about it; but before she could +be very definite, my mother fainted. This frightened my--I mean, it +terrified poor Lina, and she had no courage to go on; so we were in +hopes, sir, that you would be so good." + +The General sat gazing upon the handsome face of his son, with the air +of a person revolving some thought rapidly in his mind. At last, his +cold eyes brightened, and a smile crept over his mouth. + +"It was very right to come here first, Ralph, and remember your duty +goes no farther. I will only consent to your marrying this girl at all, +on condition that you, neither of you, ever speak on the subject to any +one. You are both very young, and a year or two hence will be time +enough for a decision; but I will have no gossip about the matter. Above +all, my son James must be left entirely uncommitted. I only consent to +let this fancy have a proper trial. If it proves serious, of course the +whole family will be informed; but till then I must have your promise +not to speak of it to any one not already informed." + +The young man drew close to his father, and taking his hand, kissed it. + +"I promise, father!" + +The General was pleased with the homage and grace of this action, and +rising placed a hand on Ralph's shoulder, more cordially than he had +done for years. + +"Are you sure she cares for you, Ralph? I have seen nothing to suggest +the idea." + +"I think, indeed I am quite certain that she does not like any one else +near so much," answered the young man, reluctant to compromise Lina's +delicacy by a broader confession. + +"Young men are always confident," said the General with a bland smile. +"I think that faith in woman was the first delusion that I gave up. +Still it is pleasant while it lasts. Heaven forbid that I should brush +the bloom from your grapes, my boy. So you really think that mamma's +little protégé knows her own mind, and that my son knows his?" + +A pang came to the ardent heart of the youth as he listened. Another +golden thread snapped under the cold-blooded worldliness of that crafty +old man. + +General Harrington looked in his face, and analyzed the play of those +handsome features, exactly as he had tasted the game-birds and champagne +a half hour before. The same relish was in both enjoyments, only one was +the epicureanism of a mind that found pleasure in dissecting a young +heart, and the other, quite as important to him, was a delicious +sensuality. + +And Ralph stood under this scrutiny with a cloud on his fine brow and a +faint quiver of the lip. It was agony to think of Lina without perfect +confidence in her affection for himself. Yet he was so young, and his +father had seen so much. If he found no evidence of Lina's attachment to +himself, it might be that all was a delusion. + +The old man read these thoughts, and took upon himself a gentle air of +composure. + +"These things often happen when young people are thrown together in the +same house, Ralph. It is a pleasant dream. Both parties wake up, and +there is no harm done. Don't take the thing to heart, it isn't worth +while." + +"Then you think, sir, she really does not care for me?" + +With all his worldliness, the old man could hardly withstand the appeal +of those magnificent eyes, for Ralph possessed the beautiful charm of +deep feeling, without a particle of self-conceit. He began to wonder how +Lina ever could have fancied him, and to grieve over the delusion. + +"It is strange," said the General, as if musing with himself, "it is +strange, but these very young creatures seldom do give their first +preferences to persons of corresponding age. Girls love to look up to +men with reverence. It is really wonderful." + +The young man started, fire flashed into his eyes, and for an instant he +was breathless. + +"You--you cannot mean that, Lina--_my_ Lina loves some one else!" he +said, speaking rapidly--"Who has she known but me, and--and--?" He +stopped short, looking wistfully at his father. + +"You and my son James? No one, certainly, no one." + +"Brother James! oh, father." + +"But you are satisfied that she loves you, and that is enough," answered +the General, waving his hand as if tired of the discussion. "It is +decided that this whole subject rests between ourselves. Come to me a +year, nay, six months from now, and if you desire it, then, I will not +be hard with you." + +The General seated himself as he spoke, and resumed his book with a +gentle wave of the hand. Ralph bent his head partly in submission, +partly to conceal the flush that suppressed tears left about his eyes +and went out, leaving the first pure jewel of his heart in that old +man's hands. + +The twilight had crept on during this conversation. General Harrington +rang the bell for a servant to remove the silver tray on which his +dinner had been served, and consumed considerable time in directing how +the lamp should be placed, in order to protect his eyes as he read. When +once more alone, he cast a thought back to his son. + +"It will do him good. I wonder now if I, General Harrington, ever was so +confiding, so rash, so generous,--for the boy is generous. My son, on +whom so much depends, married to that girl! I was almost tempted into a +scene with the first mention of it." + +With these thoughts floating through his brain, the General leaned back +in his chair more discomposed than usual by his late interview, for +though his reflections were all worldly and commonplace, they had a +deeper and unexpressed importance hardly recognized by himself. + +Again there was a low knock at the door, and again the General bade the +intruder come in, rather hastily, for he was in no humor for company! +"Miss Barker; Miss Agnes Barker," he said, as that girl presented +herself and softly closed the door, "you are too kind--I only regret +that this pleasant surprise detects me en déshabillé." + +"General Harrington is always General Harrington in any dress--besides, +I have a preference for this sort of orientalism." + +"You are kind to forgive me, and kinder to allow me the happiness of +your presence. Sit down!" + +"No," answered the governess, with a look from her black almond-shaped +eyes that brought a glow into the old man's cheek deeper than the wine +had left. "I found the book open upon Mrs. Harrington's desk. She must +have forgotten it there after her fainting fit this morning. I am sure +she has no secrets from her husband, and so bring it to you, as it may +excite her to be disturbed, and I have no key to her desk." + +The General reached forth his hand, struck by the vellum binding and +jewelled clasp, for he was a connoisseur in such matters, and the effect +pleased him. + +"What is it?" he said, opening the book and leaning towards the light, +"some illuminated missal, I fancy, or rare manuscript. Oh--ha, my lady's +journal--let us see." + +He had opened the book at random, and with a gratified smile, but +directly the expression of his face hardened, and his lips parted with +surprise. He turned the open volume toward Agnes, who stood leaning upon +the table opposite; placed his finger sternly upon a passage of the +writing, and demanded whether she had read it. + +"You insult me with the question," said the lady, drawing herself up, "I +did not expect this," and before he could speak Agnes glided from the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE LOVER'S CONFESSION. + + +Ralph dared not confide in his brother James, as he had proposed to +himself, and the elder Harrington was so occupied with his own +conflicting thoughts that the momentary annoyance expressed by the youth +had passed from his mind. He did not even remark that Ralph avoided any +conversation with him, or that Lina was paler than usual, and from time +to time looked anxiously in his face, as if to draw some reassurance +from its expression that might bring her back into the bosom of the +family from which she felt all at once inexplicably repulsed. The +General was absent, or remained in his own room, sending down word that +he was occupied, and that the business of the day must go on without +him. + +Mabel was not yet well enough to leave her own immediate apartments. +Thus it happened that a silent and uncomfortable meal followed every +reunion of the family for some days after the storm, which seemed still +brooding blackly over the household. James Harrington went forth again +and again from the breakfast room, without regarding the anxious looks +of his brother, or the tearful eyes of poor Lina, and both these young +persons held him in that awe which is always felt when reserve and +secrets creep into bosoms warmed with kindred life. + +Poor Lina. She felt, in that splendid mansion, like Eve wandering +through the bowers of paradise after the sentence of banishment had been +passed upon her. Lonely and sad of heart, she sat hour after hour in her +solitary chamber waiting for some one to summon her, or ask a cause for +the tears that came trembling with every thought to her heavy eyes. She +avoided Ralph, for without his parents' consent, her own sensitive +delicacy rendered the old intercourse impossible, and any other wounded +her to the soul with its restraints. Thus it happened that pretty, +pure-hearted Lina sat in her room and wept. + +But Ralph was more impetuous. After exploring every part of the old +mansion, dragging out guns, fishing tackle, and other provocatives of +amusement, only to put them back again in disgust--after rowing +furiously up and down the river, unconscious and uncaring what course he +took, the youth grew impatient under his restraints, and promptly +resolved to break through them at any rate, as far as Lina was +concerned. She should creep away in gentle silence and spend her time in +weeping no longer. He remembered that General Harrington had not +forbidden them to meet as of old, and that his prohibition of speech +could not extend to the mother, who had already been to some extent +confided in. In short, Ralph was young, ardent, and restive of trouble, +so, after a brief battle with himself, he resolved that the General had +meant nothing by his prohibition, but to prevent premature gossip in the +household. + +When quite convinced of this, the youth cast all other thoughts aside, +and sought out Lina in her solitude. She heard his footsteps with a leap +of the heart, and a brightening of the eye which no sense of duty could +check. How hopefully it sounded, how bold and firm it was. What had +happened? Would he stop at her door? + +Yes, yes, Lina! his heart bounds and throbs even more warmly than your +own! His face is radiant with hope, which, without other source, springs +out of his own buoyant nature. He has cast doubt behind him, and says, +in answer to the arguments that struggle to get possession of his +reason, "Let to-morrow take care of itself. I will see Lina to-day!" + +He knocks at her door, and a smile that she cannot help, breaks through +the trouble in Lina's eyes, as she arises with a thrill of mingled joy +and dread, to let him in. She opens the door, and stands before him, +blushing, and all in a tremor of delight, which will not be suppressed, +but which her little heart says is very ungrateful and wicked, knowing, +as she did, how wrong it was for her, a poor little outcast, to think of +Ralph Harrington, when his mother is opposed to it utterly, and his +father almost treats the whole subject with ridicule. Ralph has told her +faithfully every word that passed between him and his father, and her +delicate intuition detects the uncertainty and hollowness of it all. +With these honorable feelings warring against the newly-awakened love +in her heart, it is no wonder that gentle Lina trembled, and grew red +and white again in the presence of her lover. + +"Lina, dear, dear, Lina." + +She reached out her hand. How could she resist beneath that bright, +hopeful look? Her lips, that had begun to quiver, dimpled into a smile, +as the soft fingers yielded themselves to his clasp. She attempted to +reprove his coming, but that rebellious little mouth would only say +"Ralph! oh, Ralph!" with a gush of tender joy in the words, which made +the heart leap in his bosom, like a prisoned bird called suddenly by its +mate. + +"Lina, dear, dear, Lina! you look sad. Your poor eyes are heavy. You can +bear this no longer. I am a man, and strong, but it almost kills me to +be away from you. The General is away. I believe my mother is in her +room. Come with me. Anything is better than seeing you suffer." + +Lina drew back, and tried to wrest her hand from his grasp, but he only +held it more firmly. + +"No, no. I do not suffer any, hardly. Go away, Ralph, dear Ralph, go +away, or it will kill me." + +"I do not wish to see you unauthorized. Come to my mother, Lina!" + +"No, no, I dare not. It kills me to remember that look." + +"But I can endure these restraints no longer, Lina. My father, at least, +does not withhold a conditional consent--surely our mother, the dearest +and best woman that ever drew breath, will not be less generous. At any +rate, we will know the worst. Come, Lina." + +The young man, with his untamed will, drew the timid Lina firmly, but +tenderly, from her vantage ground in the room, and hurried her away +toward his mother's room. + +Mabel was sitting up, calm and pale, like one who ceases to resist, +though in the midst of a storm. She arose to receive her son with a +gentle smile, and glanced kindly at Lina. + +Ralph, full of impetuous warmth, threw his arm around the young girl, +and brought her forward with gentle force. + +"Mother, you have always loved her; now let it be more than ever, for my +sake. She is all the world to me." + +They were looking upward to Mabel's face--the one boldly and with honest +confidence, the other shy and wistful--dreading the first glance, as if +it had been a dagger. But an exclamation of astonishment broke from them +both, at the sudden illumination of those eyes--at the smile that parted +her lips, like sunshine forcing a red rose bud into sudden flower. Yes, +the countenance of Mabel Harrington brightened into beauty then, and it +was one which the heart leaped toward with gushes of tenderness. + +The eyes of Ralph Harrington danced and sparkled in their joy, and +Lina's brightened up, till the very tears shone like diamonds in them. + +"Oh, mother, my blessed, blessed mother, how happy you have made us--how +good you are!" + +And yet she had not spoken a word. That eloquent face had done it all. +She sunk slowly to her seat, sighing, but, oh! how pleasantly. Ralph +seized her hand, which he covered with grateful kisses. Lina fell upon +her knees, and burying her face in Mabel's lap, mingled soft murmurs +with a world of broken sighs, as she had done many a time when a little +petted child. Her gentle heart was brimful of thanksgiving, which she +could utter in no other way. + +"My children you have made me so happy!" exclaimed Mabel, folding them +both in her arms. "I never expected to be happy again, and lo! God heaps +all this blessedness at my feet." + +"I thought you were offended with me," said Lina, lifting her bright +face to meet the pleasant glance bent upon her. + +"Offended, darling! I misunderstood you. Why, lady-bird, did you call my +son Ralph, Mr. Harrington?" + +Lina blushed scarlet, and Ralph laughed, little dreaming what cruel +struggles had followed this trifling change of names. Indeed, Ralph was +rather proud of the new dignity with which Lina's bashful love had +invested him; and Lina was greatly puzzled to know what harm there was +in calling so fine a young fellow Mr. Harrington, after all. + +While they were hovering around Mabel's chair, overwhelming her with the +abundance of their own happiness, there was a commotion among the +passion-flowers at the window, and the vine was once so violently +agitated, that some of its blossoms dropped away and fell through the +sash-door; but no one of that happy trio heeded it, and Agnes Barker +escaped once more from the balcony unseen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BOUQUET OF ROSES. + + +And now Mabel was left alone, with the cup of bitter trial removed from +her lips, and a flood of thankfulness gushing up from her heart. How she +loved those two young people! How her eyes filled as she gazed after +them! + +She sat down in her easy-chair, serene and happy. The very absence of +the harassing doubts that had tormented her, was in itself almost a +bliss. + +The day was quiet and dreamy--one of those late Indian Summer mornings, +when existence itself seems heavenly. The sash was open, and the odor of +heliotrope and roses came through, softening the sweet thoughts that +floated in her brain, and becoming, as it were, a part of them. She +became very languid and dreamy after this, for the strain upon her +energies being removed, the reaction rendered her helpless as a little +child. God had put aside the evil day. She was not to be wounded by +those whom she had cherished closest to her heart. Ralph and Lina! How +she loved to murmur over those names in her solitude! How pleasant it +was to think of them, united, and still keeping the family bond +unbroken. + +Ralph had forgotten to enforce secrecy on his mother, and her first +thought was to talk this new promise of family union over with James +Harrington. Then, all at once, she remembered that since her accident, +no message had been given her from him, and though he was always +admitted to her boudoir with as little ceremony as her own son, that +privilege had not been once claimed since the storm. + +This thought fell like a shadow amid her serene contentment. She began +to wonder at this strange desertion, and have a vague consciousness that +something was wrong between them. Still, how could this be? Had not +Harrington saved her life at the peril of his own? Was not his face, +full of agonized hope, bending over her when she awoke from the midnight +of the deep? + +Mabel gave a sudden start, and her eyes took an expression of alarm. +What if he were ill? What if the terrible exertions of that night had +overpowered him, and all this was kept from her knowledge? Starting up +under the excitement of this apprehension, she was approaching the door, +when it opened, and Agnes Barker came in. The young woman looked more +than usually excited that morning. The fire, which always lay +smouldering in her evasive eyes, was kindled up, and a flush lay redly +on her cheek, an evil flush, such as we may imagine the poison in a +laurel plant to spread over its blossoms. In her hand she held a few +leaves of verbena and rose geranium, encircling a white rose-bud, and a +crimson rose, which had evidently been arranged with considerable care. + +Mabel moved back to her seat, overcome by that strange thrill of +repulsion which always troubled her at the approach of this girl. + +"Who sent them?" she inquired, with a gleam of pleasure, as she saw the +exquisite bouquet, "who sent them?" and with a look half wistful, half +pleased, she reached out her hand. Agnes withheld the bouquet, smiling: + +"I fear to give offence were I to part with it, even to you, madam. It +was intended for me, I believe." + +Mabel drew back her hand, stung by the smile, and recoiling proudly from +any further question. A faint flush of self-reproach stole up to her +forehead, for her heart had leaped back twenty years, when rose buds +buried in fragrant leaves had been the mystic language by which her +heart read the pulses of another. + +Agnes stood before her gazing down into the tiny bouquet with apparent +unconsciousness of the feelings she had aroused, and with a smile +quivering about her lips, she began blowing dreamily into the half open +bud, till it fluttered apart, and took an unhealthy bloom from her hot +breath. + +"Don't--it will sicken and droop," said Mabel, who could never see a +flower rudely touched, without a sensation that it must feel a pang. + +"But I shall have it in full bloom while it lasts," answered the +governess, "and when that is gone, more will come: I like things that +flash into a glow and out again." + +Mabel was surprised; the girl, hitherto so retiring and quiet, had all +at once taken an air of authority. There was something in the speech +that shocked the heart more than the ear, and the sensitive woman felt a +thrill of pain as she saw Agnes tear off a leaf from the crimson +rose--place it between her lips--and fasten the cluster in her bosom. +The quiet self-possession with which she did all this was so unlike her +usual manner, that Mabel sat regarding her in silent astonishment. + +When Agnes had arranged the flowers to her satisfaction, she looked up. + +"I beg pardon," she said, "for intruding, but Mr. Harrington told me +that Lina was in here, and I hurried to join her, fearing that my walk +after breakfast had encroached on the hour for lessons." + +"Miss Lina has just left me," answered Mrs. Harrington, coldly, but with +a quiver of the voice, "you will find her with my son somewhere about +the grounds, I fancy." + +Agnes looked out of the window, casting sharp glances over that portion +of the grounds which it commanded. + +"Oh," she said, "yes, it is a heavenly day--what a pity that you cannot +go out," and, with a little haste in her manner, Agnes left the room. + +Mabel looked out of the window, in time to catch a glimpse of James +Harrington walking slowly and thoughtfully towards the shore. Directly +Agnes Barker joined him, and they seemed to enter into conversation, but +moved on, and were soon out of sight. + +He was not ill then, but avoided her purposely, and took long strolls +with that strange girl. More and worse--no other hand could have +arranged those rose buds. Years and years ago, she had worn such buds +and leaves, tint for tint, upon her own bosom. Alas, that the memory +gave her so much anguish. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +BEN BENSON GIVES AN OPINION. + + +Mabel went back into the room sick and faint; her heart was enveloped in +shadows again. + +Another knock at the door, a rambling timid knock, as if every knuckle +of a great hand lent its own sound to the wood. Mabel was impatient and +cried out, "come in, come in." + +The door half opened and closed, opened again, and a huge foot was +planted on a cluster of roses in the carpet. Another foot appeared, and +our old friend Ben presented himself with a small basket on his arm, and +a huge bouquet of wild flowers in hand. + +"I beg pardon, marm," said the honest fellow, taking off his tarpaulin +and setting it down by the door, "I begs any amount of pardons for this +here intrusion, but I thought that you'd like to see these ere shiners +afore the cook spiled their beauty on the gridiron; besides I found some +blue asters and a tuft of golden-rod in a holler of the woods that the +frost hasn't found out yet, and tied 'em up ship shape, thinking as you +might like the smell on 'em, now that they've got so scarce." + +The quick tears sprung into Mabel Harrington's eyes. She held out her +hand with that beaming expression of face which rendered her at times +more than beautiful. + +"Ben, my good old friend, you helped to save my life; how can I ever +thank you enough!" + +Ben took the white hand in his huge grasp tenderly as if it had been a +newly-fledged dove. "Don't, don't, now, I can't stand it, that ere look +knocks the pins from under me, circumvents me into a lubberly boy again. +What was Ben Benson--the old scoundrel about, that he didn't do the hull +thing hisself? Don't hurt the poor feller's feelins by thanking him for +what he didn't do--he's ashamed of hisself, and hain't done nothing but +rip and tear at hisself for a sneak and coward ever since." + +"Oh, Benson, don't abuse yourself in this manner--I cannot speak all my +thankfulness--I can never do enough for you. Sometimes, Ben, sometimes, +I think you are the best, almost the only true friend that I have on +earth--that is among the old friends, Ben." + +Her eyes were full of tears. She pressed Ben's hard hand with her white +fingers. + +"He'd die for you--that ere old weather-beaten chap--he'd die for you +any minute, and never ask the reason; but don't talk to him in that ere +way--it'll break his heart if you do. His eyes have sprung aleak +already, and no pump rigged, nothing to help hisself with, but the cuff +of his coat!" + +"Well, well, I will not vex you with my thanks; but remember, good +friend, I must always feel them. Now tell me what you have got in the +basket. Something nice or beautiful, I daresay, for you bring the breath +of the hills in your very clothes." + +Ben sat down his basket, with a glow of satisfaction, and proceeded to +display its contents: first, he removed a layer of crimson maple leaves, +presenting a surface of bright golden tints underneath, which were +daintily lifted from a bed of the softest and greenest moss in which a +pair of superb speckled trout lay softly embedded. Ben looked up with a +broad smile, as Mabel touched their spotted sides, gleaming up through +the delicate green, as if the gorgeous coloring of the leaves which lay +heaped upon the marble console had struck through, leaving prismatic +stains behind. + +"I thought," said Ben, peering affectionately down into the basket, +"that a pair of these ere beauties might tempt you into eating +something. I've been a watching 'em a good while in the holler of the +rocks, just above where Miss Barker's mammy lives. The brook that comes +down by the side of her house is as pure as ice, and almost as cold, and +that's the kind of water for fellers like this. Ain't they smashers, +now? More'n a foot long, both on 'em, and sparkling like a lady's +bracelet." + +"Thank you, thank you. They will be delicious. I have tasted no +breakfast yet. Tell the cook to prepare one for me." + +"Will you have the goodness to trust that ere to Ben Benson, marm, and +he'll see that there's no mistake this time. That same awkward chap +brought a pair of shiners just like these, from the brook last night, +and instid of gitting in here, as he expected they would, what does he +see but that ar' gov'rness a-carrying them up in a silver platter to +General Harrington's room, as if he'd been sick, and not the lady. If +you've no objection, marm, Ben Benson 'll sarve these ere fellows +hisself, for the brook hasn't got another of the same sort, if he beat +brush for 'em a week." + +"You are always kind," answered Mabel, "and it won't be the first time +you have turned cook in my behalf. Do you remember, Ben, doing like +services for me in Spain, years ago, when you insisted on leaving the +ship, and turning courier for us all?" + +"Don't I, now?" said Ben, and his face brightened all over. "Didn't Ben +Benson? He was a smartish youngster then. Didn't he use to scour their +skillets and sasepans, to git the garlic out on 'em? But it wasn't of no +use, that ere garlic strikes through and through even hard iron in them +countries, and a'most everything you touch tastes on it, but the hard +biled eggs that had tough shells to 'em, as I used to bile for you and +the poor sick lady--they stood out agin it." + +Mabel was looking sadly downward, and a troubled shadow came to her face +as she murmured-- + +"Poor lady--poor lady! How she suffered, and yet how completely her +disease baffled the Spanish physicians! That was a hard death." + +Ben drew close to his mistress as she spoke. A strange meaning was in +his glance, as he said, impressively-- + +"Lady, that was a strange death. I've seen consumption enough, but it +wasn't what ailed _her_!" + +Mabel lifted her eyes and looked anxiously at the honest face bent +toward her. "How can you think so, Benson?" she said. + +"Because I know who gave that lady her medicine o'nights, when you and +the rest on 'em were in bed, and fast asleep; and I know that one time, +at any rate, it wasn't of the same color or taste as that the doctor +left, and she give it ten times when he told her once. I didn't think +much about it at the time, but since then, it's constantly a-coming into +my head." + +Mabel turned deathly pale, and, yielding to a sudden faintness, sat +down. + +"You do not think--you cannot think that there was really any neglect?" + +"I didn't say nothing about neglect, marm--there wasn't much of that, +any how, for the poor lady never had a minute to herself. That ere +cream-colored gal was always a-hanging over her like a pison vine, and +the more she tended her, the sicker she grew--anybody with an eye to the +windward, could see that without a glass." + +"Benson, you surprise--you pain me!" cried Mabel, with sudden energy. +"Great Heavens, what could have put this wild idea into your head?" + +"It was in my head years ago, and went to sleep there," answered Ben +impressively--"but the sight of just sich a face, and just sich a +cretur, all but the color, prowling about this ere very house--in and +out like a mouser--has woke up the idee agin, and my own mother couldn't +sing it to sleep, if she rose from the dead with the old lol-lo-by on +her lips. I wish something could drive it away, for it's all the time a +sighing in my ear, like the sound of waves when they close over a +corpse." + +"It is a terrible thought," said Mabel, shuddering. + +"Now, don't go to turning pale nor nothing," said Ben, with prompt +anxiety, "don't take it to heart, no how--just as like as not, it's one +of old Ben Benson's sea-sarpents, that'll float off the minute it's +touched, and if it does amount to any thing, ain't that individual here +with his face to the wind, and his hand on the helm? Only do be careful +what you eat and drink here alone, if that ere gov'rness is turning +waiter for you or the general. There's a reason for it--be sartain of +that." + +"How foolish all this is," said Mabel, striving to laugh. + +"One would think, Benson, that we lived in Italy, when the Borgias made +poison an amusement, instead of being quiet people in the quietest land +on earth!" + +"The quietest country on earth," answered Ben, reflecting over her words +with a hand buried amid the jack-knives, bits of twine, and lumps of +lead, in his deepest of deep pockets. "That ere sentiment used to sound +beautiful on a Fourth of July, when I was a shaver, but it's took after +my example, and out-grown itself a long shot. Why, marm, there ain't ere +a day but what some poor woman goes through a post mitimus, and two or +three men are found with their skulls driv in by sling shot down in the +city, to say nothing of them that never git under the crouner's hands, +but are put away with a doctor's pass, into the grave that somebody +should be hanged for filling. I can't go out a-fishing on the Hudson +now, marm, without a feeling that some gang of rowdies may set upon me +and steal my boat. I can't go into the city with a sartinty that a bowie +knife won't be buried in my side, before I get home. In short, marm, I +don't believe in calling countries quiet where murders and amusements go +hand in hand. America was a peaceable country once, but it ain't that +thing no longer. Them ere Borgers, as I've hearn, did their murders +softly and arter dark, and it won't be long afore we learn to do the +thing genteelly, as they did. I tell you, marm, I don't like strangers +a-running about this house while you and Miss Lina live in it. Ain't the +old sarvants enough--What have they done to be turned out of doors?" + +"Who has been turned out of doors, Benson? No one by me," said Mabel, a +good deal surprised by this harangue. + +"No, marm--but they're dropping out of their places softly marm, as the +leaves fall out yonder, without the least idee what wind strikes 'em. +Yesterday, the old cook, as has been in your kitchen twenty years, got +her discharge. To-morrow, for anything that old feller knows, Ben Benson +may git his mitimus, and when he asks to see the lady as he's sarved +heart and soul since he was a boy a'most, they'll tell him as they did +the cook--that this ere lady is sick, and can't be troubled with such +matters." + +"And have they discharged my cook--poor, faithful Nancy? Is this so, +Benson? Who has done it? How dare they!" cried Mabel, surprised and +indignant. "Why did she not come to me? Has Nancy really gone?" + +"Yes, marm, I saw her myself go off to the city, with a bandbox under +her arm, and a man behind, carrying her trunk." + +"But what was her offence?" + +"She didn't keep the General's woodcocks quite long enough to make 'em +tender--sarved 'em up too fresh and sweet--I don't know of nothing else +that they brought agin her." + +"And she has gone--actually gone!" + +"Bag and baggage, marm; they made clean work of it." + +"They? Of whom do you speak? Not of Lina, not of Mr. Harrington--who, +but the General, himself, would dare to discharge my servants?" + +"In course, nobody but the old Gineral could do it; but that are +gov'rness, marm, as has been a whispering with him in his room and out +on it, ever since you've been shut up here. She's been a-doing some of +that ere Borger work in a new way, pizening the mind, instead of the +stomach. Since that ere black-eyed pussy-cat came here and got to +mousing around, there hasn't been a mite of comfort anywhere, in-doors +or out. The very boat, as was as kind a craft as ever tuk to water's got +to running contrary, and is allus cutting across currents, and tussling +agin the wind. It ain't Christian, and as like as not, it's slandering +the poor feller to say it, but my 'pinion is, that Ben Benson's +a-beginning to hate that ere gal like pizon." + +Mabel was so occupied with new thoughts, that she did not hear the +conclusion of this speech, but sat gazing steadily on the carpet. + +"What can all this mean," she reflected. "The General has not been to +see me since the first day of my illness; then the half insolent air of +this girl--the discharge of my old servant, what can it mean?" + +"More 'an this," continued Ben, warming up, "Nelly the chambermaid is a +going. She says that things don't suit her, and she's got too many +mistresses, by half, for her money!" + +"This is very strange," said Mabel, rising with that firm moral courage, +which always prompted her to face a difficulty at once. "Say to the +General, that I wish to speak with him." + +"The General isn't at home Mar'm, and hasn't been since yesterday." + +"Very well, Benson, I shall dine with the family; a household always +goes wrong when its mistress is away." + +"And shall I cook these beauties for you?" inquired Ben, gathering up +the moist leaves, and laying them over the trout again, with pleasant +alacrity; "the new cook mayn't know how to manage 'em; I don't want to +flatter that ere conceited feller--but Ben Benson does know how to cook +a trout arter he's catched it." + +"Do as you please, Benson; they will certainly taste better from your +hand than if prepared by a cook whom I have never seen." + +"In course they will," answered Ben, taking up his basket. "I'll go down +to the kitchen, and get things under way." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A RENEWAL OF CONFIDENCE. + + +Mabel saw him depart almost unconsciously. The morning had been one of +surprises and painfully conflicting feelings. She felt that a crisis in +her life had arrived, that the time for dreamy thoughts and gentle +endurance was at an end, and her strength rose to meet the occasion. The +lassitude and nervous reluctance to give up her seclusion which had +oppressed her of late, gave way, and with that dignity which is born of +womanly self-command, she changed her toilet, and passed from the +solitude of her sick room. + +The sitting-room which we described in a chapter of this narration was +empty when Mrs. Harrington entered it. The luxurious easy-chairs stood +about the floor, as if recently occupied, and the fire of hickory-wood +burned brightly behind a fender of steel lace-work that broke the light +in a thousand gleams and scattered it far out on the moss-like rug. +Everything was as she had left it, even to the position of her own +easy-chair in a corner of the bay window, but the absence of all living +objects chilled her, and a presentiment of perpetual loneliness crept +slowly to her heart, as she sat down, looking out of the window with +that peculiar vividness of interest which we always feel in seeing +familiar objects after convalescence. + +The gorgeousness and wealth of the autumn had gone by during her +illness; a few red and golden trees, contrasted with the hemlocks and +pines in sheltered hollows; but, on the hill-tops, half the trees had +cast off their leaves, while those which clung to the boughs had lost +all their vivid tints, and thrilled mournfully to every breath of wind, +like humanity trembling at the approach of death. + +But the calm flow of the Hudson was the same. Its hills might be +stripped of their affluent foliage, the grass grow crisp along its +banks, but this had no effect on the grand, old stream, that flowed on +ever the same, like that river of Christian faith that Mabel fed from +the humble springs of a heart, already smitten down to its deepest +waters. + +She was a strong woman, that Mabel Harrington, and knew well that no +trouble could fall upon her, of which she had not already tasted the +bitterness, and lived. + +But the flow of those waters, gliding by her ever and returning no more, +filled her with mournfulness. She felt like a pilgrim who drops his +scrip on the wayside for a moment's rest, and dreads the hour when he +must take it up and toil on, with a patient hope of finding some shrine +at which he may repose, though none is in sight. + +"Well," she murmured with a patient smile, which came across her mobile +features with a gleam of heavenly beauty, "Let it flow on, this earthly +life; be it laggard or fast, the moments that we leave behind but send +us onward with a swifter speed. The descent grows steeper every day, and +years rush on impetuously, as hours did in that beautiful time of youth. +The stream of life was impetuous then. Now it is slow and powerful, nor +stops to foam and ripple at the troubles that are always falling, like +drift-wood upon it." + +Thus Mabel mused within herself--confident that some stern trial was at +hand, but resolved to meet it steadily, and trust to God for help. She +needed such help; for, in solemn truth, the great battle of her life was +at hand. + +The door opened softly behind her, as she sat gazing upon the river. The +back of her chair was toward him, and James Harrington saw only the +garments of a female flowing downward to the carpet; and, thinking that +it was Lina, he came into the room. He, too, had been gazing upon the +scene without, and thoughts kindred to those stirring in Mabel's heart, +and left him sad and gentle as a child. + +"Lina, my sweet child," he said approaching the chair, "I am glad to +find you in-doors." + +Mabel started at the sound of his voice, with a quick leap of the heart; +then, she arose slowly and stood up, holding forth her hand, as a sister +might claim congratulations of her brother after illness. + +"It is not Lina, James, but one whom you will not be less pleased to +see, I am sure. How is this? You look pale and careworn, my friend; have +you, also, been ill?" + +For one instant, the flash that lighted up Harrington's eyes was +dazzling--the next, he grew calm again; but the expression of his face +was unutterably mournful. + +"I had a very long walk; the fine weather tempted me too far," he said, +with a faint smile, relinquishing her hand almost the moment it was +taken. + +He did not inquire after her health, but stood for a moment, +thoughtfully regarding her. + +Mabel smiled, and instantly his own features grew luminous. + +"I am glad, I am very glad to see you so much better," he said, yielding +to the old friendly habit; "it has been very lonely without you." + +"I hope you missed me," said Mabel, the pure joy of an affectionate +heart breaking over her face. "That was a fearful night, Harrington." + +"It was, indeed, fearful. I shudder to remember that night. It seems +impossible to imagine anything more dreadful than the scene, as that +steamer ploughed over your boat. When you came up, with the blue +lightning quivering around you, the rocks seemed to reel under my feet. +Nothing but the power of God could have saved you then." + +"I remember--I knew it all," said Mabel, lifting her clasped hands +gratefully upward. "The last thing that left me, was your figure on the +rock; no, not on the rock, but midway between me and the bleak waves. I +tried to scream, but the waters choked me." + +Harrington took her hand, and wrung it with unconscious warmth. + +"Thank God, it is over," he said fervently. + +"I do thank God, first, that I am alive, and, then, that it was one of +our own household that saved me. But this coming back from death, it is +full of pain, to which the last agony seems but little. The scene around +that old tree haunts me yet." + +"And me," said Harrington, thoughtfully. + +"You all looked so strange and wild, I could not comprehend the identity +of any one. Even Ben Benson appeared like an angel luminous from Heaven, +and that cedar a pillar of holy flame, around which he ministered." + +"You did not know any of us, then?" inquired Harrington, eagerly. + +"I did not know myself, for I, too, seemed like an angel, bound to love +everything around me, as heavenly spirits do." + +"Then you remembered nothing?" questioned Harrington, bending his +earnest eyes upon her with a power that would have won the truth from a +statue. + +She did not blush; her eyes looked quietly and truthfully into his, and +a pang both of joy and regret came to his heart, as he regarded the +innocence of that look. + +"It was, after all, a pleasant hallucination," said Mabel, "for even +the governess, whom I do not much like, seemed transformed into a +seraph, as she bent over me. As for Ben Benson, he was really sublime." + +"Thank God!" answered Harrington, but the exclamation was followed by a +deep sigh, as if the anxiety preying upon him had been changed, not +entirely removed. Still there was a relief and freedom in his manner, as +he drew a chair up to the window, and fell into his old habit of talk. + +"Why is it," inquired Mabel, "that you have not once been to inquire +after me? It was very strange." + +"I did inquire after you every day," was the rather embarrassed answer. + +"I did not hear of it," said Mabel, easily satisfied, and too happy for +repining at anything. + +"You may not know," answered her companion, "that I have been making +arrangements to go abroad?" + +"Abroad? But when--why?" + +"Indeed, it seems impossible to give a reason, except that my health +seemed to require change." + +"Your health?" + +"Remember, please, that your first remark was about my looks." + +"But you are not really suffering?" + +"Not now--not as I have been." + +"But you will leave us?" + +Harrington left his seat, and began to pace the room, as was his habit, +when conflicting thoughts beset him. Mabel followed his movements sadly +with her eyes, which were eloquent of a thousand gentle feelings. + +"And you _will_ go?" she said at last, with a quiver of the voice. "You +will leave us all?" + +"No," answered Harrington with energy, "I will not go. Why undertake a +pilgrimage when there is nothing to gain, and nothing to avoid." + +"Thank you--thank you," said Mabel, with her eyes full of tears. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE LOVE SONG. + + +There was a slight stir in the hall, and Ralph came into Mrs. +Harrington's room followed by Lina, both brilliant and smiling, as if +the conservatory in which they had loitered away the hours, had bathed +them with the perfume of its blossoms. + +"Oh, mamma, it is so pleasant!" cried Lina, stealing forward and seating +herself on a cushion at Mabel's feet. "Isn't this a beautiful, beautiful +day?" + +"All days are beautiful to the light-hearted," answered Mabel, burying +her hand fondly in the golden curls that fell, a perfect network of +light, from Lina's drooping head. "I thought it very dull and heavy this +morning; now, the air seems invigorating as old wine. Still, I think the +day itself has changed but little." + +"Hasn't it?" questioned Lina, looking up tenderly through the sunny mist +of her hair. "But you are so much better, and look so blooming--perhaps +it is that." + +"Perhaps," said Ralph, stooping down and kissing his mother's forehead, +"it's because we are all together again; even this room seems like a +desert, when our lady mother is absent. This should be a gala day with +us; what shall we do, Lina? Crown her with roses, or bring an offering +of fruit and nuts from the hills." + +"I will give her some music," answered Lina, springing up and taking her +guitar from a sofa, where it had been lying, neglected and untuned; +"mamma shall have a serenade." + +Lina flung the broad, blue ribbon attached to the guitar over her neck; +and, seating herself again, began to tune her instrument, with her +pleasant eyes lifted to Mabel's face. + +"Now, what shall it be about," she inquired, casting a half-coquettish +look at Ralph, and blushing like a damask rose beneath the brightness of +his eyes. "What shall I sing about, mamma?" + +"Oh, love, sing of nothing but love, to-day, sweet Lina," whispered +Ralph, as he stooped down and pretended to adjust the ribbon over her +white neck. + +"Shall I, mamma?" said Lina. + +"Sing anything that pleases you," answered Mabel. + +"Then it shall be some lines, mamma, that I found in an old book in the +library, with the leaves of a white rose folded in the paper. It was +yellow with age, and so were the poor, dead leaves. I took it to my +room, learned it by heart, and found out that it went by the music of an +old song which Ralph and I used to sing together. That is all I know +about love," continued the rogue, with a blush and a glance upward. + +"Well, well, pretty torment, begin," whispered Ralph, again busy with +the ribbon. + +For a moment, Lina's little hand fluttered like a bird over the strings +of her guitar; then it made a graceful dash, and her voice broke forth: + + Like a water-lily floating, + On the bosom of a rill, + Like a star sent back to Heaven, + When the lake is calm and still; + A woman's soul lies dreaming, + On the stilly waves of life, + Till love comes with its sunshine-- + Its tenderness and strife. + + Then hope grows bright and glorious, + Her faith is deep and strong, + And her thoughts swell out like music + Set to a heavenly song; + Her heart has twined its being, + And awakes from its repose + As that water-lily trembles + When its chalice overflows. + + Then she feels a new existence-- + For the loveless do not live!-- + The best wealth of the universe + Is hers to keep and give-- + Wealth, richer than earth's golden veins + That yield their blood to toil, + And brighter than the diamond lights + That burn within the soil. + + Oh, her soul is full of richness, + Like a goblet of old wine + Wreathed in with purple blossoms + And soft tendrils of the vine; + Its holy depths grow luminous, + Its strings are sweet with tune, + And the visions floating through it + Have the rosiness of June. + + Oh, she counts not time by cycles, + Since the day that she was born! + From the soul-time of a woman + Let all the years be shorn + Not full of grateful happiness-- + Not brimming o'er with love-- + Not speaking of her womanhood + To the Holy One above. + +Mabel gave a start as the first words of this melody fell upon her ear, +and the slow crimson stole over her face; she kept her gaze steadily on +the carpet, and had any one looked at her, the sadness of her +countenance must have been remarked. But the young people were occupied +with each other, and James Harrington sat, like herself, preoccupied and +listening. As Lina broke into another and lighter air, the two looked +up, and their eyes met. The blush on Mabel's cheek spread and glowed +over her brow and temples. She arose, and went to the window. + +"You have heard this before, I think," said Harrington, following her. + +"Yes," answered Mabel, regaining self-control; "and always truthful. I +remembered it at once." + +"And the author?" + +Again Mabel blushed. "Oh, it was written years ago." + +"Then you were the author?" + +"Oh, yes; why not. I wrote a great many trifles like that at one time." + +"I knew it; I was sure of it." + +That instant the governess came in, followed by Fair-Star, who began to +plunge and caper at the sight of his mistress. Agnes looked keenly at +Mrs. Harrington's flushed face; but, the covert smile, dawning on her +lip, vanished, as she saw Ralph in the chair his mother had abandoned, +bending over Lina; who sat upon the cushion, trifling with her guitar, +from which, in her confusion, she drew forth a broken strain, now and +then. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A MEETING IN THE HILLS. + + +"Mammy, this is too much. I can endure it no longer. You keep me working +in the dark, and every step I take but adds to my own misery. I am +baffled, defeated, almost exposed, and yet you say, go on." + +Agnes Barker spoke in a harsh, angry tone. Her eyes blazed with passion. +Her features had lost all their usual grace. She was not the same being +whom we saw creeping softly into the family circle at General +Harrington's with that velvety tread and sidelong glance of the eye. + +The woman who stood before her, regarded this outbreak with signs of +kindred impatience, and gathering a vast blanket shawl of crimson and +green around her imposing figure, she stood with her arms wreathed +together in the gorgeous folds, steadily regarding the impetuous young +creature, till the fury of her first onset had exhausted itself. + +They had met upon the hill-side, upon the very spot where Mabel +Harrington rested after her rescue from the Hudson, and the charred +trunk of the cedar stood like a pillar of ruined ebony, just behind the +woman, with the sunset playing around it, and spotting the rocks behind +with flecks and dashes of golden light. + +This, with naked trees, and a broken hill towering upward, formed a +background to the two persons who had met by appointment, and who always +came together with a clash which made each interview a mental and moral +storm. + +The woman remained silent for a moment after this rude assault, and +fixed her dark, oriental eyes with a sort of fascination on the flushed +face lifted in audacious rebellion to hers. + +"Agnes," she said at last, "I am weary of this rebellion, of this rude +questioning. In intrigue, as in war, there can be but one commander, and +there must be implicit obedience." + +"I am obedient--I have been so from the beginning," answered the girl, +yielding to the frown of those eyes, "until you asked me to stand by and +witness the triumphs of a rival--to see the man I love better than my +own soul, better than ten thousand souls, if I had them, parading his +passion for another in my very presence. Till you asked this, I was +obedient, but I can endure it no longer. They are torturing me to +death!" + +"Not to death," said the woman with a strange smile. "Women who love as +you can, and as I did, have no power to die. Tortured you may be to the +verge of the grave, but never into it. Listen, girl, and learn how +charitable and just the world is. When wrong stings the soul into +strength, and every access of vitality brings an additional pang to it, +while you would gladly call on death as a comforter, and court oblivion +as a second heaven, men denounce you for the very strength of endurance +that cannot succumb to trouble. The suffering that does not kill, brings +forth no compassion. Struggle is nothing--endurance is nothing--it is +only those who weakly lie down and perish, that can claim charity of the +world, and then it comes too late. With you and I, Agnes, love is +destiny. What I have been and am, you will be. Our hearts are strong to +endure, sensitive to feel, and quick to resent. Time, alone, divides us +two. Where you are passionate, I am strong. Where you would act, I can +wait. The fire of my own nature breaks out too vividly in your girlish +bosom. It must be suppressed, or quenched altogether. The woman who does +not know how to wait and watch, should die of her first love, and let +school-girls plant daisies on her grave." + +Agnes watched the impetuous movement of those features as the woman +spoke, and her own face worked in harmony till no one could have doubted +the sympathy existing between them. Her eyes lost something of their +fire, and took that deep, smouldering light which springs from a +concentration of will. Her arms unconsciously folded themselves on her +bosom, and she answered, with the air of a princess-- + +"I will learn to wait. Only give me some assurance that Ralph Harrington +shall not marry that girl." + +"He never shall marry her--is that enough?" + +"But he loves her, and General Harrington has consented, or almost +consented." + +"Ha! but the mother?" + +"There again you have been mistaken. His mother has not only consented, +but seems rejoiced at the attachment." + +"But you told me that she fainted at the very idea." + +"And so she did, but in less than twenty-four hours after we met, she +sanctioned the engagement with a joy that surpassed their own." + +"What! in your presence?" + +"Not exactly," answered Agnes, confessing her meanness without a blush. +"I took advantage of the flower-screen which you know of, and, behind +the plants, with the help of a floating curtain, managed to hear every +word, and to see enough--more than enough." + +The woman seemed surprised. Her brow contracted, and she looked hard at +Agnes, as one appears to search through an object without seeing it, +when the mind resolves a new idea. + +"This is strange," she said; "I had more faith in Mabel Harrington's +pride. She glories in her son, you say--yet is willing to marry him to a +penniless foundling." + +"And is Lina a foundling?" inquired Agnes, eagerly. + +The woman did not heed her. + +"I would not believe it," she muttered--"and General Harrington--what +can it all mean? I thought one might safely calculate on his family +pride." + +"If you have calculated much on that, it is all over with me, I can tell +you," said the girl, sullenly unfolding her arms. "I do not think +General Harrington cares much who his son marries, so long as he is not +called upon for help. You tell me that Mr. James is the millionaire. +Ralph will be independent of his father so long as he keeps on the right +side of the richer Harrington." + +"Then this thing is settled," muttered the woman, with her eyes cast +downward, and her brows gathered in a frown. + +"Yes, with all your management, it _is_ settled." + +"You are mistaken, girl. Now, I will teach you how much faith can be +placed on a woman's promise. Ralph Harrington shall not marry Lina +French." + +Agnes looked suddenly up. The woman's face was composed and confident; +her eyes sparkled, and her lip curved proudly, as if conscious of having +resolved some difficulty to her own satisfaction. + +"What do you mean, mammy? How can you prevent it?" + +"I will prevent it, girl." + +"But, how?" + +"General Harrington shall withdraw his consent." + +Agnes laughed rather scornfully. "_Shall_ withdraw his consent? Who will +make him?" + +"As a reward for your obedience, _you_ shall make him." + +"I, mammy? but he is not easily won upon; the General has strange ideas +of his own, which one does not know how to meet. There is nothing, it +seems to me, so unimpressible as a worldly old man--especially if he has +had all heart polished out of him by what is called society. It takes a +great deal to disturb the apathy of men who have settled down from +active evil into selfish respectability; and that, I take it, is General +Harrington's present condition." + +"Then, the influence that you rather boasted of has failed of late, I +take it," said the woman, with a gleam of the eye at once unpleasant and +triumphant. + +Agnes colored with mortified vanity, but she answered, with a forced +laugh: + +"A young girl of eighteen does not care to waste much energy on a +conceited old man, at any one's command. Still, if you desire it, I will +strive to be more agreeable." + +"No," answered the woman, sharply, "I will control this matter hereafter +myself. That affair of the journal was badly managed, Agnes." + +"I did the best in my power," replied the girl, with a tinge of +insolence in her manner. "But, how was it possible to force a knowledge +of the contents on the old man, after I had denied reading the book? He +must have opened at some unimportant passage, or a deeper interest +would have been excited." + +"Are you certain that he did not read the book?" demanded the woman. + +"I am certain that it lies unlocked in a drawer of his writing-desk, +this moment, where I saw him place it, while I turned to close the +library door after me." + +"But, he may have read it." + +"Impossible, for when I went to look, an hour after, one half of the +clasp had accidentally been shut into the book, a thing that could not +happen twice in the same way; and there it lies yet." + +The woman dropped into thought an instant, with her eyes on the ground; +a shade of sadness came to her face, and she murmured regretfully: + +"Indeed, how he must have changed: one so passionate, so suspicious, +so"---- + +She started and looked up, keenly regarding Agnes Barker, as if angry +that these broken thoughts were overheard--angry in vain, for the gentle +reminiscences of which she was ashamed had trembled away from her lips +in a deep sigh; and Agnes only saw a look of tender trouble, where +suspicion and anger had been a moment before. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +CONTINUED PLOTTING. + + +"Mammy," said Agnes, with a sudden gush of sympathy, "what is there in +General Harrington's family that interests you so much?" + +The woman answered her with a keen glance and a single word: + +"Everything!" + +"And will you tell me nothing?" + +"No, girl, I will not startle your nerves and confuse your intellect +with a history that, as yet, you could not understand. Do not importune +me again; I will not submit to it." + +"Then I will do nothing more!" said Agnes, petulantly. + +"I do not intend that you shall. The whole thing is, I find, beyond your +management. I might have known that your first step would be to fall in +love with a boy." + +"Well, and if I did, has that prevented me carrying out all your +directions?" + +"It has blindfolded and paralyzed you--that is all!" + +"It maddened me to know that he loved another, and yet I acted with +coolness throughout." + +"What was this penniless boy to either of us, that you should have +thwarted, or, at least, delayed all my plans for James Harrington----" + +"He is all the world to me!" cried Agnes, "Worth ten thousand General +Harringtons and James Harringtons. I tell you, once for all, I would not +marry that solemn-faced bachelor, with all his millions, if he were at +my feet this instant." + +"And this is why you would not obey the directions I gave, regarding +your conduct toward him?" + +"Obey! why, everything was done to the letter. I followed him to the +conservatory, and kept him half an hour that morning talking over Miss +Lina's studies. One by one I gathered the flowers so often mentioned in +that journal, and tied them in a bouquet, which I offered him; blushing, +I am sure, as much as you could wish, for my face burned like flame." + +"Well, did he take the flowers?" + +"He turned white at the first glance, and put them back with his hand; +muttering that the scent of verbena and roses together, always made him +faint." + +"Ha!--he said that--he turned pale; it is better than I expected?" cried +the woman, eagerly. "Well, what else?" + +"Nothing more. He went out from the conservatory at once, leaving me +standing there, half-frightened to death with the bouquet in my hand; +but I turned it to account." + +"Well, how?" + +"Why, as it produced so decided an effect in one quarter, I concluded to +make another experiment, and went into Mrs. Harrington's boudoir with +the flowers in my hand. She saw them--started and blushed to the +temples--hesitated an instant, and then held out her hand; it trembled +like a leaf, and I could see her eyes fill with moisture--not tears +exactly, but a sort of tender dew. It was enough to make one pity her, +when I kept back the bouquet, saying, that it had just been given to +me." + +"Well, what followed? You are sure it was the flowers--that she +recognized the arrangement at once?" + +"It could be nothing else; besides, she became cold and haughty all at +once. The blush left her face pale as snow, and she shrouded her eyes +with one hand, as if to shut me and my flowers out from her sight. I saw +her hand shiver as I fastened the roses upon my bosom; and when I went +out into the grounds a short time after, intending to join Mr. +Harrington again, a curve in the path gave me a view of her window--and +there she stood, looking out so wistfully. Determined to force her +jealousy to the utmost, I hurried up to Mr. James Harrington, and began +to consult him regarding my pupil's exercise and lessons, the only +subject I really believe that he could have been induced to speak about, +for he seemed terribly depressed." + +"And she stood watching you all the time?" + +"No, not all the time; for, when in the eagerness of my +subject--remember I am deeply interested in Lina's progress--I reached +my hand towards Mr. Harrington's arm, not touching it, though it must +have appeared so from the distance, she disappeared from the window, as +if a ball had struck her; and I took a short cut through the +shrubberies, quite satisfied with the information those two pretty roses +had won for us. Now, say if I have been altogether blind or inert?" + +"Indeed, I was unjust to think it; this is an important point gained. +There is no doubt that the feelings so vividly recorded in that journal +exist yet; this knowledge opens everything to us." + +"Then I have done pretty well for a blind girl," persisted Agnes, with a +touch of sarcasm in her voice; "give me, at least, that praise." + +"With one exception, child, you have done well in everything." + +"And that exception--I know what you mean, but where Ralph Harrington is +concerned, I will not be controlled." + +"No one wishes to control you, foolish girl. Be obedient and adroit as +you have been, and this blue-eyed girl shall be swept from your path +like thistle downs." + +"Ah, do this, and I am twice your slave!" cried Agnes, with an impulse +of genuine feeling, flinging her arms around the elder woman. + +"And you love him so much!" said the woman, returning her caress with a +touch of sympathy--"well, child, well--since the reading of that book I +have thought better of it. It may be, that your silly caprice for this +boy can be indulged without interfering with more important objects. +This first love is--well, well, no matter what it is, I would rather not +turn it to gall in the bosom of a young girl. So trust me, Agnes, and be +faithful." + +"I will!" + +"Now, listen, child. Have you settled about the old servants?" + +"Indeed I have. The cook is away already--the chambermaid discontented +and going to-morrow. As for that uncouth boatman and factotum, I find +him hard to manage--he will neither take offence, nor listen to anything +I say." + +"Let him pass. It will not do for us to frighten off too many at once. +But the new cook--what is she?" + +"Fresh from Germany, and speaks no English." + +"That will do. Now listen. You must intercede with General Harrington +for your poor old mammy, up yonder, as chambermaid, when this one is +gone." + +Agnes opened her eyes wide, and a low laugh broke from her lips, that +were at first parted with astonishment. + +"Mammy, what can you mean!" + +The woman answered as much by the crafty smile, that crept over her +face, as by words. + +"The old house is cold and lonely, Agnes, and the poor old slave will be +much more comfortable in a service-place for the winter, you understand. +She must have the place." + +"In real earnest?" + +"In real earnest." + +"Well, it shall be done--but you will keep your word, this time." + +"Have I ever broken it to you?" + +"I don't know; in fact, until the whole of this affair is made plain to +me, all must be doubt and darkness. I know that my mission is to leave +distrust and misery wherever my voice reaches, or my step can force +itself in that household--yet they have all been kind to me, and most of +all, the lady herself." + +"_She_ kind to _you_! I know what such kindness is. A sweet, gentle +indifference, that for ever keeps you at arms' length, or that proud +patronage of manner, which is more galling still. Oh, yes, I have felt +it. Such kindness is poison." + +"I did not find it so," said Agnes, with a touch of feeling, "till your +lessons began to work. Then, acting like a traitor, I felt like one, and +began to hate those I wronged. But, I suppose this is always so." + +The woman laughed. "You turn philosopher early, young lady. Most girls +of your age are content to feel and act--you must stop to analyze and +reflect. It is a bad habit." + +"I suppose so--certainly reflection gives me no pleasure," answered the +girl, a little sadly. + +"Well, well, child, we have no time for sentiment, now. The sun is +almost down, and you have a long walk before you--another week, and if +you manage to get your poor old mammy a place, we need not chill +ourselves to death in these damp woods. She will bring messages back and +forth, you know!" + +Agnes shook her head, and laughed, "Oh, mammy, mammy!" + +The woman mocked her laugh with a sort of good-natured bitterness. +"There now, that is easily managed, but there is something else for you +to undertake; wait." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE NOTE WITH A GREEN SEAL. + + +The woman took from among the folds of her dress, a small writing-case +of satin wood, formed like a scroll. Touching a spring, she opened it, +took out implements for writing, and some note-paper, which emitted a +faint and very peculiar perfume, as she began to write. After tracing a +few hasty lines, she folded the paper, placed it carefully in an +envelope, and proceeded to seal it. Taking from her pocket a singular +little taper box of gold, covered with antique chasing, she lighted one +of the tapers, and dropped a globule of green wax upon her note, which +she carefully impressed with a tiny seal taken from another compartment +of the taper box. + +Agnes watched all this dainty preparation with a look of half-sarcastic +surprise. When the note was placed in her hand, she examined the address +and the seal with parted lips, as if she would have smiled, but for a +feeling of profound astonishment. + +"To General Harrington. The seal a cupid writing on a tablet. Well, what +am I to do with this?" + +"Leave it upon General Harrington's library-table after breakfast, +to-morrow morning--that is all." + +The woman arose, folded up her writing case, and gathering the +voluminous folds of her shawl from the moss, where it had been allowed +to trail, turned away. Agnes watched her as she disappeared through the +forest trees with a rapid step, fluttering out her shawl now and then, +like the wings of some great tropical bird. + +"I wonder who she really is, and what she would be at?" muttered the +girl. "Do all girls distrust so much? Now, this note--shall I read it, +and learn what mystery links her with the family up yonder? Why not? It +is but following out her own lessons, so it be done adroitly." + +Agnes placed her finger carefully upon the envelope, and with a steady +pressure, forced it from under the wax. + +"Ha! neatly done!" she exclaimed, taking out the enclosed, and unfolding +it with hands that shook, spite of herself, "and a fool for my pains, +truly. I might have known she would baffle me--written in cypher, even +to the name. Well, one thing is certain, that my witch and old General +Harrington understand each other, that is something gained. If I had but +time, now, to make out these characters, and--and"-- + +She broke off almost with a shriek, for a hand was reached over her +shoulder, and the note taken suddenly from her grasp, while she stood +cowering beneath the discovery of her meanness. The woman whom she had +supposed on the other side the hill, stood smiling quietly upon her. Not +a word was spoken. The woman took out her taper box, dropped some fresh +wax beneath the seal, and smiling all the time, handed the note back +again. + +Agnes turned her face, now swarthy with shame, aside from that smiling +look, and began to plunge her little foot down angrily into the moss, +biting her lips till the blood came. At last, she lifted her head with a +toss, and turning her black eyes boldly on the woman, said, in a voice +of half-tormenting defiance, "Very well, what if I did open it? My first +lesson was, when you and I read Mrs. Harrington's letter. If that was +right, this is, also." + +"Who complained? Who, in fact, cares?" was the terse answer, "only it +was badly done. The next time you break a seal, be sure and have wax of +exactly the same tint on hand. I thought of that, and came back. It +would ruin all, if General Harrington saw his letters tampered with." + +"You are a strange woman!" said Agnes, shaking off the weight of shame +that oppressed her, and preparing to go. + +"And you, a strange girl. Now go home, and leave the note as I directed. +In a day or two we shall meet again. Almost any time, at nightfall you +will find me here. Good night!" + +"Good night," said Agnes, sullenly, "I will obey you this once, but +remember my reward." + +Again the two parted, and each went on her separate path of evil--the +one lost in shadows, the other bathed in the light of a warm sunset. + +It did not strike the woman, as she toiled upward to her solitary +dwelling, that she was training a viper which would in the end turn and +sting her own bosom. Her evil purposes required instruments, and without +hesitation, she had gathered them out of her own life. But, even now, +she found them difficult to wield, and hard to control. What they might +prove in the future remained for proof. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON'S CONFESSION. + + +General Harrington had spent a good many years of his life abroad, and +no American ever went through that slow and too fashionable method of +expatriation with more signal effect. While walking through the rooms +peculiarly devoted to his use, you might have fancied yourself intruding +on the privacy of some old nobleman of Louis the Fourteenth's court. + +His bed chamber was arranged after the most approved French style, his +dressing-room replete with every conceivable invention of the toilet, +from the patent boot-jack with its silver mountings, to the superb +dressing-case, glittering with gold and crystal, everything was perfect +in its sumptuousness. In his own house, this old man was given up to +self-worship, without a shadow of concealment. In society the graceful +hypocrisy of his deportment was beautiful to contemplate, like any other +exhibition of the highest art. If benevolence was the fashion, then +General Harrington was the perfection of philanthropy. Nay, as it was +his ambition to lead, the exemplary gentleman sometimes made a little +exertion to render benevolence the rage! His name often lead in +committees for charity festivals, and he was particularly interested in +seeing that the funds were distributed with the most distinguished +elegance, and by ladies sure to dignify humanity by distributing the +munificence of the fashionable world in flowing silks and immaculate +white gloves. + +After this fashion, the General was a distinguished philanthropist. +Indeed, humanity presents few conditions of elegant selfishness in which +he was not prominent. A tyrant in his own household, he had, from his +youth up, been the veriest slave to the world in which he moved. Its +homage was essential to his happiness. He could not entirely cheat his +astute mind into a belief of his own perfections, without the constant +acclamations of society. As he grew old, this assurance became more and +more essential to his self-complacency. + +The General studied a good deal. His mind was naturally of more than +ordinary power, and it was necessary that he should keep up with the +discoveries and literature of the day, in order to shine as a savant, +and belles-lettres scholar. Thus some three or four hours of every day +were spent in his library, and few professional men studied harder to +secure position in life, than he did to accumulate knowledge which had +no object higher than self-gratulation. + +Still, with all his selfishness and want of true principle, the General +was, at least, by education, a gentleman, and he would at any time have +found it much easier to force himself into an act of absolute +wickedness, than to be thought guilty of ill-breeding in any of its +forms. In short, with General Harrington, habit stood in the place of +principle. He possessed few of those high passions that lead men into +rash or wicked deeds, and never was guilty of wrong without knowing it. + +Unconsciously to herself, Agnes Barker had wounded the old man in his +weakest point, when she resented his question if she had read Mabel's +journal, with so much pride. This haughty denial was a reproach to the +impulse that had seized him to read the book from beginning to end. His +conscience had nothing to urge in the matter, but the meanness of the +thing he intended, struck him forcibly, and after a moment's hesitation, +he closed the journal and laid it in a drawer of his desk. Thus, by +affectation and over-acting, the girl defeated her object, much to her +own mortification. The passage on which General Harrington had opened at +random, was in itself harmless, a warm and somewhat glowing description +of a passage up the Guadalquivir in the spring months, had nothing in it +to provoke farther research, and the General seldom read much from mere +curiosity. Certainly, the book might contain many secret thoughts and +hidden feelings of which Mabel's husband had never dreamed, but it was +many years since the old gentleman had taken sufficient interest in the +feelings of his wife to care about their origin or changes, and so, +Mabel's precious book, in which so many secret thoughts were registered, +and memories stored, lay neglected in her husband's desk. + +Fortunately, she was unconscious of her loss. Sometimes for months +together, she shrank from opening the escritoir in which the volume was +kept. At this period, she was under the reaction of a great excitement, +and turned with a nervous shudder from anything calculated to remind her +of all the pain which lay in the past. + +Another reason, perhaps, why General Harrington was less curious about +his wife's journal than seemed natural to his tempters, lay in his own +preoccupation at the time. One of his youthful vices had grown strong, +and rooted itself amid the selfishness of his heart; all other sins had +so cooled down and hardened in his nature, that with most men they might +have passed for virtues, the evil was so buried in elegant +conventionalisms; but one active vice he still possessed, always +gleaming up from the white ashes of his burnt out sins, with a spark of +vivid fire. + +General Harrington was a gambler. Understand me----it is not probable +that he had ever entered a gambling hall openly or frankly since his +youth, or ever sat down with swindlers or professed blacklegs around the +faro table. The General was altogether too fastidious in his vices for +that. No, he rather plumed himself secretly upon the aristocratic +fashion in which he indulged this most lasting remembrance of a reckless +youth. + +The club life of England had always possessed great fascinations for +this fine old republican gentleman, and he was among the first to +introduce the system in New York. Here, his naturally fine energies had +been vigorously put forth, and he became not only a prominent member of +an aristocratic club, but a principal director and supporter also. + +At this lordly rendezvous, the General spent a great portion of his +time, and somehow, I do not pretend to point out the direct process, for +it was generally understood that no high play was sanctioned in the +establishment, and the mysterious glances and half-murmurs which +transferred five dollar notes into five thousand, as the harmless games +proceeded, are not capable of an embodiment--but, it chanced very often, +that General Harrington found a transfer of funds necessary after one of +these club nights, and once or twice, a rather unpleasant interview with +Mr. James Harrington had been the result. + +But these unsatisfactory consequences seldom arose. The General was too +cool and self-controlled to be always the loser, and up to the time of +our story, this one active vice had rather preponderated in favor of his +own interests. + +But a rash adventure, and a sudden turn of fortune, reversed all this in +a single night; and General Harrington--who possessed only the old +mansion-house, and a few thousand a year in his own right--all at once +found himself involved to more than the value of his family home, and +two years income in addition. Close upon this, came that fearful +accident upon the river----and, worse still, the application of his son +to marry a penniless little girl, whose very existence depended on his +charity. + +With all these perplexities on his mind, the General had very little +time for idle curiosity, and thus his wife's secret remained for the +time inviolate. + +Like most extravagant men, the General, under the weight of an enormous +gambling debt, became excessively parsimonious in his household, and +talked loudly of retrenchment and home reforms. In this new mood, Agnes +Barker found little difficulty in having several of the old servants +discharged, before Mabel left her sick room. Indeed this girl, with her +velvety tread and fawning attentions, was the only one of his household +with whom General Harrington was not for the time in ill-humor. + +With all his self-possession, this old man was a moral coward. He knew +that James Harrington was the only person to whom he could look for +help--and yet the very thought of applying to him, made the gall rise +bitterly in his bosom. To save time, he gave notes for the debt, and +made no change in his life, save that he was away from home now almost +constantly--a circumstance which the members of his household scarcely +remarked in their new-found happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE NOTE ON THE BREAKFAST TABLE. + + +One morning General Harrington came forth from his bed chamber, harassed +and anxious. He had slept little during the night, and the weariness of +age would make itself felt, after a season of excitement like that +through which he had passed. + +He found the Sevrés cup on his table, filled with strong, hot coffee, +and a muffin delicately toasted, upon the salver of frosted silver, by +its side. Indeed, as he entered the room, a flutter of garments reached +him from the door, and he muttered, with a smile, as he looked in an +opposite mirror. + +"Faith, the little girl is very kind; I must think of this." He sat down +and drank off the coffee, rejecting the muffin with a faint expression +of disgust. As he lifted it from the salver, a note, lying half across +the edge, as if it had lodged there when the papers on the table were +pushed aside, attracted his attention. He was about to cast it on one +side, when a singular perfume came across him with a sickening +sweetness. Snatching at the note, he stared an instant at the seal, and +tore it open. + +The color left General Harrington's cheek. As he read he started up, +crushing the note in his hand, while he rang the bell. + +"Did you ring, General. I was going by, and so answered the bell," said +Agnes Barker, presenting herself. + +"Yes, I rang, certainly I rang--but where are the servants? Where is the +woman who takes charge of my rooms?" + +"The chambermaid? oh, she went away yesterday. I believe Mrs. Harrington +has not supplied her place yet." + +"Who brought up my coffee? who arranged my rooms yesterday and this +morning?" + +Agnes blushed, and cast down her eyes in pretty confusion. "The new cook +has not learned your ways, sir; there was no one else, and I"---- + +"You are very kind, Miss Agnes--another time I shall not forget it: but, +tell me, here is a note lying on my table near the breakfast tray; how +long has it been there--who brought it--where did it come from?" + +Agnes looked up, with the most innocent face in the world. + +"Indeed, sir, I cannot tell. A good many papers lay on the table, which +I carefully put aside; but no sealed note, that I remember." + +"This is strange," muttered the General, walking up and down, stopping +to look in his coffee-cup, as if still athirst; but waving her away when +Agnes filled it again, and would have pressed it upon him. + +"Remove these things, Miss Agnes, if you please--and order some one to +have the carriage ready. I must go to the city at once." + +Agnes took up the salver, and moved away, hesitating, by the door, as if +she wished to speak. + +"Well," said the General, a little impatiently, "is there anything I can +do?" + +"The chambermaid, sir, I dare say Mrs. Harrington has no choice; and I +should be so obliged if you permitted my old nurse to have the place. +She is very capable, and I am lonely without her." + +"A colored woman, is it?" asked the General, hastily. + +"Yes, from the South. She is all I have left." + +"Of course, let her come, if she knows her duty. I will mention it to +Mrs. Harrington." + +"Thank you," said the girl, gliding softly away. "It will make me so +happy to have some one in the house that loves me." + +The General answered this attack on his sympathies, with an impatient +wave of the hand. He seemed greatly disturbed--and, as the door closed, +threw himself into a chair, with something like a groan. + +"Can this be true? Lina, poor little Lina, can this be real? and Ralph, +my own son. Great Heavens, it is terrible!" + +He swept a hand across his forehead, distractedly. Then, starting up, as +if stung to action by some agonizing thought, he began to pace up and +down the room with a degree of excitement very unusual to him. At +length he paused by the window, and, opening the note, again read it +over and over with great anxiety. At last he went to a desk standing in +a corner of the room, and opening one secret drawer after another, drew +forth a bundle of faded letters. As he untied them, the identical +perfume that hung about the note he had been reading, stole around him; +and, turning paler and paler, as if the odor made him faint, he began to +read the letters, one after another, comparing them first with the note, +and then with a key to the cypher in which they were all written, that +he took from another compartment of the desk. + +At last he drew a deep breath, and wearily folded the papers up. + +"This is plausible, and it may be true," he said, locking his hands on +the table. "The persistent malice of the thing, confirms its +probability. She was capable of it--capable of anything; and yet I do +think the poor creature loved me. If I could but see her, and learn all +the facts from her own lips. Yet the note is better evidence. Who, +except us two, ever learned this cypher? How else could she have known +these particulars about poor Lina? But, this is terrible. I did not +think anything could shake me so! Ralph, my son Ralph, I must speak with +him----No, no! Let me think; it's better that Lina alone should know +it." + +The old man arose--tottered towards the bell, and rang it, nervelessly, +as if the silver knob were a hand he loathed to touch. + +Agnes answered the summons, but even her self-possession gave way as she +saw the General's face, pale and almost convulsed, turned upon her. + +"I have ordered the carriage--it will be at the door in a few moments, +sir," she stammered forth. + +"Send it back to the stables: I shall not go out. The morning has +clouded over." + +Agnes glanced at the sunshine pouring its silvery warmth through the +library window, but she did not venture to speak. + +"Go," said General Harrington, in a suppressed voice, "go find your +pupil, and say that I wish to speak with her a moment." + +"Miss Lina--is it Miss Lina I am to call?" stammered Agnes, taken by +surprise. + +"It is Miss Lina that I wish to see; have the goodness to call her." + +The courteous but peremptory voice in which this was said, left Agnes no +excuse for delay; and, though racked with curiosity, she was obliged to +depart on her errand. + +The General sat down the moment he was alone--and shrouding his +forehead, lost himself in painful thought. + +The door opened, and Lina came in, smiling like a sunbeam, and rosy with +assured happiness. "Did you send for me, General?" she said, drawing +close the chair in which the old man sat. "Is there something I can do +that will give you pleasure. I hope so!" + +The General looked up; his eyes were heavy--his face bore an expression +she had never witnessed in it till then. He looked on her a moment, and +she saw the mist melting away from his glance, and it seemed to her that +his proud lip began to quiver. + +"Have I offended you?" inquired Lina, with gentle regret. "What have I +done?" + +The old man arose, and laying a hand on each of her shoulders, bore +heavily upon her, as he perused her face with an earnestness that made +her tremble. He lifted one hand at last, and sweeping the heavy curls +back from her brow, gazed sadly and earnestly down into her eyes. Those +soft blue eyes, that filled with tears beneath the sad pathos of his +gaze. + +"Lina!" His hand began to tremble among her curls. He bent his forehead +down, and rested it on her shoulders sighing heavily. + +"Tell me--do tell me what I have done," said the gentle girl, weeping; +"or, is it Ralph? Oh, sir, he cannot have intended to wound you!" + +"Ralph!" exclaimed the General, starting up, with a flush of the brow. +"Do not speak of him; never let me hear his name on your lips again!" + +"What? Ralph--never speak of Ralph? You do not mean it. Indeed, I am +quite sure, you do not mean it. Not speak of Ralph? Dear General, if he +has done anything wrong, let me run for him at once, and he will beg +your pardon--oh, how willingly! Not speak of Ralph? Ah, you are teasing +me, General, because you know--that is, you guess--it would break my +heart not to think of him every minute of my life." + +"Silence, girl; I must not hear this," said the old man, dashing his +hand aside with a violence that scattered Lina's hair all over her +shoulders. + +"General," said Lina, lifting up her eyes, all brimming with tears, and +regarding him with the look of a grieved cherub: "don't terrify me so. +What have I done? What has Ralph done? For the whole world we would not +displease you, after all your kindness. Indeed, indeed we are too happy +for anything evil to come within our thoughts." + +"And you are happy, girl?" + +"Very, very happy. It seems to me that all the earth has blossomed +afresh. I thought this morning, that the sunshine never was so bright as +it is to-day, and what few leaves are left on the branches, seem more +beautiful than roses in full flower. Dear, dear General, it is something +to have made two young creatures so happy! I thought last night, for +life seemed so sweet that I could not waste it in slumber--and when the +moonbeams came stealing in around me, making the curtains luminous, like +summer clouds--I thought that you must have such heavenly dreams and +grateful prayers to God, for giving you power--so like his own--that of +filling young souls with this beautiful, beautiful joy!" + +"Ah!" said the General, with a deep sigh; "all this must change, my poor +child. I thought yours was but a pretty love-dream, that would pass over +in a week." + +"Oh, do not say that--do not say your consent was not real--that you +have trilled with two young creatures, who honestly left their hearts +all helpless in your hands." + +"Peace, peace," said the old man, standing upright, and speaking with an +effort. "I have not trifled with you. I did hope that all this might +pass off as such love-dreams usually do; but, I have promised nothing +which should not have been accomplished, had not a destiny stronger than +my will, or your love, intervened. Lina, you can never be married to my +son!" + +Lina looked in his face--it was pale and troubled; his eyes fell beneath +the intensity of her gaze--his proud shoulders stooped--he did not seem +so tall as he was, by some inches. The deathly white of her face, the +violet lips parted and speechless, the wild agony of those eyes, made +him tremble from head to foot. + +"Why? oh, why!" at last broke from her lips. + +"Because," said the old man, drawing himself up, and speaking with a +hoarse effort; "because, God forgive me, you are my own daughter!" + +She was looking in his face. A sob broke upon her pale lips--the +strength left her limbs--and she fell down before him, shrouding her +agony with both hands. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +General Harrington had no power to comfort the poor creature at his +feet. More deeply moved than he had been for years, the strangeness of +his own feelings paralyzed his action. But the hand to which Lina clung +grew cold in her grasp, and over his face stole an expression of +sadness, the more touching because so foreign to its usual apathy. + +"Father--oh, my heart breaks with the word--are you indeed my father?" +cried Lina, lifting her pale face upward and sweeping her hair back with +a desperate motion of the hand. + +"Poor child--poor child!" muttered the old man compassionately. + +"What can I do? what shall I do? It will kill me! It will kill us both. +Oh, Ralph, Ralph, if I had but died yesterday!" cried the poor girl, +attempting to rise, but falling back again with a fresh burst of grief. + +The old man stood gazing to harden his heart--striving to compose the +unusual tremor of his nerves, but all in vain. Sorrow, regret, and +something almost like remorse smote him to the soul, for he had once +been a man of strong passions, and the ice of his selfishness again +broken up, the turbid waters rose and swelled in his bosom, with a power +that all the force of habit could not resist. He bent down and lifted +the girl from his feet, trembling slightly, and with a touch of pity in +his voice. + +"It is useless and foolish to take any misfortune in this manner, +child." + +"Child!" Lina shuddered at the word. She shrunk away from his hand, +arose without his help, and staggered backward with a feeling of +unutterable repulsion. + +He saw the quiver of pain in her features, and his soul hardened once +more. She had not met the feeling of tenderness, so new, and, for the +moment, so exquisite to himself, and it withered away like a hot-house +blossom. + +"This is a new and strange relation to us both," he said, seating +himself, and regarding her gravely. "Of course it involves many +important and painful questions. Up to this day you have been to Mrs. +Harrington and myself a daughter in everything but the name!" + +Lina wrung her hands, wildly moaning: "That name! Oh, heavens! how can I +bear that name unless he should have given it to me. Now, now--just as +it sounded so sweet, it separates us for ever. This unholy name of +child!" + +General Harrington moved in his chair with a gesture of annoyance, but +Lina, growing still more impassioned, came toward him, wringing her +small hands impetuously. + +"You are my father--God forgive you! But there is yet another to curse +or bless me with her claims--where and whom is my mother? Is Mrs. +Harrington indeed the parent she has always seemed to me?" + +The General waved his hand with a dissenting gesture. + +"Do not question me upon a subject that must be painful to us both. This +is no time to answer you." + +"No time, when you uproot every hope of my life and present a future +black with improbable things? Up to this day, that dear lady was enough. +I had no desire to ask about father or mother. They told me I was an +orphan's destiny, and overlooked by all the world, if the dear ones +under this roof only loved me. I had no other place on earth, and now, +what am I?--an impostor, cast upon the charity of the dear lady my birth +has wronged." + +General Harrington arose, and advancing toward Lina, took her hands in +his. The poor little hands quivered like wounded birds in his clasp, and +she lifted her eyes with a piteous and pleading look that no human +heart could have withstood. + +"Ah! you are trying me? It isn't true?" she said, with a gleam of hope +and hysterical sobs. + +"No! it is all real, far too real, Lina! Do not deceive yourself. I +would not wound you thus for an aimless experiment. You are indeed my +child!" + +"Your child, really--really your own child? Oh, I cannot understand it! +Ralph--my brother, Ralph!" + +Lina started as if some new pang had struck her, and then drew away her +hands with a gesture of passionate grief. + +"Ralph, my own brother, and older than I am, for he is older--oh, this +is terrible." + +"You will see," said General Harrington, speaking in a composed voice, +that seemed like a mockery of her passionate accents--"you will see by +this how necessary it is that what I have told you should be kept secret +from my wife and child. Your peculiar relations with my son rendered it +imperative. I have intrusted you with a secret of terrible importance. +You can imagine what the consequences would be, were your relationship +to myself made known." + +"I will not tell. Oh! thank God, I need not tell!" cried Lina wildly; +"but then, Ralph?--what will he think--how will he act? Ralph, Ralph--my +brother! Oh, if I had but died on the threshold of this room!" + +"Be comforted," said the General, in his usual bland voice, for the +scene had begun to weary him. "You will soon get used to the new +position of things." + +"But who will explain to Ralph? What can I say? how can I act? He will +not know." + +"Ralph is a very young man. He will go into the world, and see more of +society. This is his first fancy--I will take care that he is more +occupied. The world is full of beautiful women." + +Lina turned deadly pale. The cruel speech struck her to the soul. + +The old man saw it, but worldly philosophy made him ruthless. "I will +crush the boy out of her heart," he said, inly, "to be rude here is to +be merciful." + +"You must forget Ralph," he said, and his voice partook of the hardness +of his thoughts. + +"I cannot forget," answered the girl, with a faint moan, "but I will +strive to remember that--that he is my brother!" + +The last words came to her lips almost in a cry. She shuddered all over, +and the name of brother broke from her with a pang, as if her +heart-strings snapped with the utterance. + +"Can I go away?" she said, at last, creeping like a wounded fawn slowly +to the door. + +"Not yet," answered the old man. "You must first comprehend the great +necessity there is for composure and silence. Not a word of this must be +breathed under my roof now or ever. My own tranquillity and that of Mrs. +Harrington are at stake, to say nothing of your own. I have told you a +momentous secret. Let it be sacred." + +"Oh! the terrible burden of this secret! Must I carry it for ever? Even +now I go out from your presence like a guilty thing, and yet I am not +guilty." + +"No one was talking of guilt, I imagine," answered the General, with a +slight flush of the forehead. "The whole thing is certainly an +annoyance, and in one sense, a misfortune, perhaps. But guilt is an +unfeminine word, and I regret that you could have used it." + +Lina wrung her hands in desperation. + +"I could not help it. This misery has found me so unprepared." + +"Misery! Indeed, young lady, it seems to me that few women would +consider it so great an evil to have the blood of a Harrington in her +veins," said the General, stung in the inner depths of his vanity by her +words, and losing all pity in his wounded self-love. + +"But I am a Harrington without a name--a daughter without parent--a +beggar upon the charity of one to whom my existence is an insult! Would +you have me grateful for this?" cried Lina, with all the grief and fire +of her young nature in arms against the cold-blooded composure of the +man who so quietly called her child. + +"I would have you prudent, silent, and at all events, more lady-like in +your expressions; with well-bred people, a scene is always revolting, +and it pains me that a daughter of mine can be led into the intemperance +of action and speech that has marked this interview." + +The General glanced with a look of cool criticism at the excited girl as +he spoke. Her pale, tearful face, the dishevelled masses of hair falling +upon her shoulders, and the almost crouching attitude that a sudden +sense of shame had left her in, outraged his fastidious taste, and the +old habits of a life swept over his new-born tenderness. Feeling, if not +elegantly expressed, always shocked the old gentleman, and for the +moment, shame and tears had swept Lina's beauty all away. She might have +been picturesque to an artist, but General Harrington was not an +artist--only a fastidious, selfish old man, whose eyes always led what +little of heart he possessed. + +"Can I go, sir? I am faint--the room is growing dark. I wish, sir, +I--I"---- + +The poor girl attempted to move toward the door, as she uttered this +broken protestation; but the sight utterly left her eyes--and, instead +of the entrance, she tottered toward the General, with her hands +extended as if to catch at some support, and fell forward, resting her +poor white face upon the folds of his Oriental dressing gown that fell +around his feet. + +"This is very embarrassing," muttered the General, jerking the gorgeous +folds of his gown from beneath the head of his child, and scattering her +hair, in a thousand glossy tresses, over the floor. "What is to be done +now? I suppose the religious people would call this sowing dragon's +teeth with a vengeance. I wish the girl had more coolness; there is no +managing events against weak nerves and hysterics--but she must be +soothed; at this rate, we shall have the whole house in commotion. Lina, +my child, make an effort to be calm. Look up, I am not angry with you!" + +The old man was so encased and wrapped in self-love, that he really +believed his own severe words had alone dashed the strength from those +young limbs, and that a little gentle encouragement would make all right +again. So, stooping downward, he laid his soft, white hand, upon Lina's +head, as the last words were uttered; and, when this failed, made an +effort to lift her from the floor. But the leaden weight of utter +insensibility rendered more effort necessary, and, at last really +frightened, he arose and lifted the insensible girl in his arms. + +That moment, as her pale face lay upon his bosom, and her loosened hair +fell in floods over his arm, the door softly opened, and Agnes Barker +looked in. + +"Did you ring, General? I heard a bell ring somewhere." + +"No, I did not ring, young lady," answered General Harrington, sharply, +"but this young lady has been over-fatigued someway, or was taken +suddenly ill as I was speaking of her studies." + +A faint smile crept over Agnes' lips, but she checked it in an instant, +and moved forward with an air of gentle interest. + +"She has studied very hard of late, no wonder her strength gave way," +suggested Agnes, softly smoothing the hair back from Lina's forehead. + +There seemed to be fascination in the movement of those treacherous +fingers, for they had scarcely touched her brow, when Lina started to +life with a shudder, as if the rattlesnake of the hill had sprung upon +her unawares. + +Casting one wild look upon the female, and another upon the General, she +drew from his arm, with a sensation of loathing that made her faint +again. + +"Let me go to my room--I must be alone!" she said, with a hand pressed +upon either temple. "The air of this place drives me frantic: so +close--so dreary--so--so"---- + +She moved away wavering in her walk, but making feeble motions with her +hand, as if to repel all assistance. Thus faint, pale, and almost +broken-hearted, the poor girl stole away, to weep over her new-born +shame. + +"She seems very ill," said Agnes, softly, "very ill!" + +"You have allowed her studies to prey upon her health," said General +Harrington, seating himself and fixing his cold, clear eyes on the face +of his questioner. "I must hereafter more directly superintend her +education in person. You will have the goodness to inform Mrs. +Harrington of this sudden indisposition." + +Agnes changed color. The self-poise of this old man of the world, +baffled even her eager curiosity. She had expected that he would desire +her to keep the whole scene secret; and when he quietly told her to +reveal it to his wife, and took a resenting tone, as if she had herself +been the person in fault, her astonishment was extreme. The General saw +his advantage, and improved upon it. After softly folding the skirts of +his dressing-gown over his knees, and smoothing the silk with his palm, +he took up a volume from the table, and adjusted the gold glasses to his +eyes with more than usual deliberation. Agnes looked at him steadily, +baffled, but not deceived, till his thoughts seemed completely buried in +the volume. As she gazed, the evil of her half-smothered passion broke +out in her glance; and, as the General languidly raised his eyes from +the book, they met hers. + +"Is there anything you wait for?" he inquired, meeting that fierce gaze +with his cold eyes. "Ah, I had forgotten, my people may drive the +carriage round--please say as much." + +Agnes left the room, biting her lips till they glowed again, and with +her hand clenched in impatient fury. As she closed the door, General +Harrington laid down his book with an impatient gesture. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +BROTHER AND SISTER. + + +Lina could not rest. She went to her room, but it seemed so changed, so +unlike her old home, that a terror, that was almost insanity, fell upon +her. The rich blue curtains, to her excited mind, looked sombre against +their underwaves of frost-like lace, and her bed, with its snowy canopy, +now overclouded with damask, had a deadly whiteness about it, that made +her shrink within herself, as if some leprosy had fallen upon her, which +forbade her ever again to approach a thing so pure. + +Lina crept into this room sad and disheartened; looking wearily around, +she cowered down on the carpet in the farthest corner, and sat watching +the door, as if she expected some enemy to come in and drive her forth. +At the least sound in the hall she would start and shrink back with a +moan upon her white lips, but she shed no tears, and her look was rather +one of affright than of the intense grief which had overpowered her +while in the presence of General Harrington. + +At that moment there was a hurried tread upon the staircase. Every pulse +in Lina's heart throbbed wildly, and she sat leaning eagerly forward +with a half-expectant, half-frightened air, as the steps paused before +her door. A low, quick knock caused her to start from the floor. She +looked wildly round, as if seeking some means of escape, then sunk +against the wall, while her whole frame trembled with agitation. The +knock was repeated, and she covered her face with her hands, uttering a +low, shuddering moan. A third time that impatient summons shook her form +as with a convulsion, and when a voice, whose lightest tone possessed +the power to move her inmost soul, reached her ear in an eager whisper, +she rose again and stood upright, transfixed by that voice, which had +never before met her ear without filling her whole being with gentle +pleasure. + +"Lina--Lina--are you there?" + +It was Ralph who spoke. Lina gasped for breath and wrung her hands +desperately, like one who entreats for mercy, and feels that it is all +in vain. + +"Lina, answer me--are you there?" + +"I am here," she replied, in a low, unnatural tone. + +"Open the door, Lina--I want to speak to you." + +"Ralph, I cannot!" + +"Cannot! What ails you, Lina? _Do_ open the door. Let me speak to you +for a moment." + +She staggered feebly to the door, then with a quick motion, the hurried +resolve of which was strangely at variance with her previous hesitation, +flung it open, and stood before the young man. + +"Why, Lina, have you forgotten your promise?" he began eagerly; then, +checked himself, as he raised his eyes to her face, and marked the +wildness of her glance, and ghastly pallor of her cheek. "Lina, what is +the matter? Are you ill? Tell me, Lina, what ails you?" He took her +hands in his, with a manner in which the impetuosity of a youthful +lover, and the kind, protecting air of a brother, were strangely +mingled. + +"Answer me, Lina, my own Lina." + +But Lina had no words; when her eyes met his, the tears which during her +lonely vigil had refused to flow, burst forth, and she buried her head +in her hands, sobbing like a frightened child. Ralph folded his arms +about her, and drew her back into the chamber, gathering her closely to +his heart, as if to reassure her by his protecting presence. He did not +question her again for several moments, but forcing her head gently down +on his shoulder, he strove to soothe her with whispered words, until she +gathered strength to check her tears, and drew herself from him, +striving all the time to appear more composed. + +"Now tell me, Lina, what does this mean?" + +She shook her head sadly, murmuring: + +"Nothing, Ralph, nothing." + +"Do not trifle with me, Lina. Something must have occurred to cause this +agitation. Can you not trust me?" + +"There is nothing the matter! I was ill, and--and cried without knowing +why." + +"You cannot deceive me with an excuse like that. Has any one hurt your +feelings! _do_ tell me what has happened." + +But Lina only shook her head, and choked back the despair which rose to +her lips. He would have taken her in his arms again, but the movement +and the touch of his hand roused her to the fearful consciousness that +she had no longer a right to seek consolation in his companionship. She +broke away, terrified and oppressed, with a feeling of guilt at her +momentary forgetfulness. + +"Leave me, Ralph, I wish--I need to be alone." + +"You wish--you _need_ to be alone! This is very strange, Lina! Will you +give me no explanation? Have I offended you--tell me what I can have +done? You know that I would rather die ten thousand deaths than cause +you a moment's pain." + +"Do not speak so, Ralph; do not torture me by such fears. You have never +wounded me by word or look--you have always been kind and generous." + +"Thank you! thank you! Then tell me what pains you! Darling, darling, +you cannot know how I suffer to see you in this state. I must have an +explanation. Lina, you have no right to refuse it." + +"I can give none! Ralph, leave me, I must be alone. Another time I may +be able to converse, but now"--she broke off abruptly, wringing her +hands in impotent despair, while the great tears fell over them, like +the last heavy drops of a spent shower. "Leave me, Ralph, leave me!" she +exclaimed, with a gesture of insane agony. + +"I cannot understand this! Can this be Lina--my own dear little Lina, +always so confiding and truthful? Since my earliest recollection have +you not known my every thought and wish--been as familiar with my heart +as you were with your own? This is the first time that the slightest +shadow has fallen upon your mind against me, yet there you stand, +separated from me by some fearful sorrow, to which I can obtain no +clue." + +"Do not speak so, Ralph! I repeat that nothing troubles me much! Will +you not believe me?" + +"I never doubted your word before, Lina; but now--forgive me--I feel +that you are concealing something terrible from me. When I left you, +this morning, you promised to walk with me, and I hurried here the +moment I was free, longing to take a ramble over the hills--will you not +go?" + +"Not to-day. I cannot--I am ill." + +"Do not seek to excuse yourself! Say at once that you do not choose to +go." + +"You misunderstand me, Ralph, indeed you do." + +"Forgive me, Lina; I am so maddened by the sight of your tears, that I +scarcely know what I am saying. Only confide in me--can you not trust +me, your lover, your betrothed?" + +"God help me!" broke from Lina's white lips, but the exclamation was +unheeded by the young man in his agitation. + +"Have you a desire to hide anything from me--can you love, when you +refuse to trust me." + +"Ralph, leave me! If you have any mercy, go away, and let me be alone." +In her frenzy she threw up her arms with a gesture which seemed to him +almost one of repulsion. He looked at her for a moment, his heart +bursting with the first revelation of its woe, then muttering-- + +"Lina, has it come to this?" he sprang from the room, and the sound of +his flying footsteps on the stair recalled her to a consciousness of +what had befallen her. + +She strove to utter his name, but it died husky and low in her parched +throat. She must fly--anywhere to be out in the air, for the atmosphere +of that close chamber seemed stifling her. She caught up a shawl which +lay on a table, and rushed from the room and from the house. A sudden +thought, which seemed instinct rather than reason, had made her start +thus madly away to search for old Ben, the honest protector of her +childhood, hoping that from him she could gather some explanation of the +secret that seemed crushing the life from her frame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SLAVE AND HER MASTER. + + +The carriage which conveyed General Harrington, went at a rapid speed, +till it entered the city. The General seemed unconscious of his unusual +progress, and was lost in what seemed a disagreeable reverie, till he +awoke amid a crash of omnibuses, and a whirl of carriages in Broadway. +Here he checked the driver, and leaving the carriage, bade him proceed +to the club, and await his return there. He paused upon the side-walk, +till the man was out of sight, then turning into a cross street, he +walked rapidly forward into a neighborhood that he had seldom, if ever, +visited before. + +The dwelling he sought, proved to be a common brick house, without any +peculiar feature to distinguish it from some twenty others, which +completed a block, that stood close upon the street, and had a dusty, +worn appearance, without a picturesque feature to attract attention. + +General Harrington advanced up the steps, after a little disgustful +hesitation, and rang the bell. The door was promptly opened, and an +ordinary maid-servant stood in the entrance. The General inquired for +some person in a low voice, and the girl made room for him to pass, with +a nod of the head. + +The hall was dark and gloomy, lighted only by narrow sashes each side of +the door, and the whole building so far, presented nothing calculated to +remove the distaste with which the fastidious old man had entered it. + +The servant opened a door with some caution, closed it behind her, and +after a little delay, returned, motioning with her hand that General +Harrington should enter the room she had just left. + +With this rather singular summons the woman disappeared, and General +Harrington entered the door she had pointed out. It was a large room, +lighted after the usual fashion in front, and with a deep long window in +the lower end. This magnificent window occupied the entire end of the +room, save where the corners were rendered convex by two immense +mirrors, which formed a beautiful finish to the rich mouldings of the +casement, and curved gracefully back to the wall, making that end of +the apartment almost semicircular. + +Hangings of pale, straw-colored silk, brocaded with clusters of flowers, +in which blue and pink predominated, gave a superb effect to the walls, +and from the ceilings, a half-dozen cupids, beautifully painted in +fresco, seemed showering roses upon the visitor, as he passed under. The +carpet was composed of a vast medallion pattern upon a white ground, +scattered over with bouquets a little more defined and gorgeous than +those upon the walls, as if the blossoms had grown smaller and more +delicate as they crept upward toward the exquisite ceiling. The front +windows were entirely muffled by draperies of rich orange damask, lined +with white, and with a silvery sheen running through the pattern, while +curtains of the same warm material, fell on each side the bay window, +giving it the appearance of a tent, open, and yet, to a certain degree, +secluded, for a fall of lace swept from the cornice, hanging like a veil +of woven frost-work before the glass, rendering every thing beyond +indistinct, but dreamily beautiful. + +General Harrington was surprised by the air of almost oriental +magnificence which pervaded this apartment. + +This room was not only in powerful contrast with the exterior of the +dwelling, but it possessed an air of tropical splendor that would have +surprised the General in any place. Divans, such as are seldom found out +of an eastern palace, but slightly raised from the floor, and surmounted +with cushions heavily embroidered with gold, ran more than half around +it. A few pictures, gorgeous and showy, but of little value, hung upon +the walls; and there was some display of statuary, equally deficient in +ideal beauty. + +The light which fell upon General Harrington, was soft and dreamy imbued +with a faint tinge of greenish gold, like that which the sunshine leaves +when it penetrates the foliage of a hemlock grove in spring. For the bay +window opened into a broad balcony, open in summer, but sheeted in from +the front by sashes, so arranged that the glass seemed to roll +downwards, in waves of crystal, to the floor. This unique conservatory +was crowded with the rarest plants, in full blossom, that swept their +perfume in through the open window, penetrated the floating lace, and +filled that end of the apartment with the glow of their blooming +clusters. + +The singular beauty of this scene--the quiet so profound, broken only by +the bell-like dropping of a fountain--and the twitter of birds, hung in +gilded cages, among the blossoms, had an overpowering charm even to a +man so _blasé_ as the General. He paused in astonishment, looking around +with pleasant interest--for an instant, forgetful of the person he was +seeking. But, to a man so accustomed to magnificence, this forgetfulness +was but momentary, and with a quiet and almost derisive smile, he +muttered: + +"Upon my life, the creature is either witch or fairy, if this is really +her home!" + +He was interrupted by a sound, as of one moving upon a cushioned seat. + +The light was so dim at the upper end of the room, that General +Harrington had supposed himself alone, till the rustle of silk drew his +attention to a lady rising from the divan, who came toward him with a +sweeping motion, like some tropical bird disturbed in its nest. + +The General paused, and stood gazing upon her as she advanced, +irresolute and uncertain; for the whole place was so different to +anything he had expected to find, that for a moment he was bewildered. + +The lady advanced into the light, calmly and proudly, and with a gleam +in her eyes, as if she enjoyed his astonishment. Her dress was of purple +silk, wrought with clusters of gold-tinted flowers, that scintillated +and gleamed as she moved out of the shadows; her raven hair, arranged +in heavy bandeaux on each side her face, was surmounted by a cashmere +scarf of pale green, which was carelessly knotted on one side of her +head, and fell in a mass of fringe and embroidery on her left shoulder. +The flowing waves of her robe swept the carpet as she moved, and the +undulations of her magnificent person, were like the movements of a +leopard in its native forest. There was neither fairness nor youth in +her person, and yet the large, oriental eyes, so velvety and black, had +a power of beauty in them, that any man must have acknowledged; and +there was a creamy softness of complexion, a peach-like bloom of the +cheek, dusky but glowing--that harmonized With the gorgeous richness of +her dress and surroundings. The woman stood before her visitor, her +proud figure stooping slightly forward, and her eyes downcast, waiting +for him to speak. + +The General gazed on her a moment in silence, but a quiet smile of +recognition stole to his lips; and, with an air, half-patronizing, +half-pleased, he at last held out his hand. + +"Zillah!" + +The woman's hand trembled as she touched his; her head was uplifted for +an instant, and an exulting glance shot from those strange eyes, bright +as scintillations from a diamond. + +"I was afraid you would not come," she said, gently. + +"Why, Zillah?" + +"Because men do not often like to meet those who remind them of broken +ties." + +The General slightly waved his hand with a half dissenting gesture, and +a gratified expression stole over his countenance, answered by a sudden +gleam in that strange woman's eyes; for she read in that very look an +intimation that her former power was not wholly extinguished. + +"How comes it that you are here, Zillah?" he asked, glancing around the +room. "This is a singular place to find you in." + +"You are astonished to see me here? as if I were a slave yet. Was it +strange that I, a free woman, longed to leave the places which reminded +me of the past, to see and learn something of the world? But, there was +another and more important reason--had I not a child and a mother's +heart longing to behold her offspring?" + +"Zillah, tell me truly, is this thing real? is the girl we call Lina +French your child?" + +"Have I not said it," replied the woman, regarding him stealthily from +under her half-closed lashes. "Why should I attempt to deceive you? it +would gain me nothing." + +"That is true; but how did it happen that you abandoned her?" + +The woman lifted her face, with a sudden flush of the forehead-- + +"You sold me, made me another man's slave: me, me!" She paused, with a +struggle, as if some suppressed passion choked her; but directly her +self-possession returned; the flush died from her face, and she drooped +into her former attitude, looking downward as before. "But that I always +was--a slave, and the daughter of a slave. Your child, though unknown +and unacknowledged, better that it died than lived my life over again, +cursed with the proud Anglo-Saxon blood, debased by the African taint, +that, if it exists but in the slightest degree, poisons all the rest." + +"Zillah, you speak bitterly. Was it my fault that you were born a slave +on the plantation of my friend; that your complexion was fair, and your +beauty so remarkable, that few men could have detected the shadows on +your forehead. Surely, you had no cause to complain of too much hardship +as my servant?" + +For an instant, the haughty lip of the woman writhed like a serpent in +its venom, struggling to keep back the bitter words that burned upon +them. Then her face settled into comparative calm again, and she said, +in a tone of gentle reproach, "But you sold me!" + +"I was compelled to it, Zillah. It was impossible to keep you on the +plantation. James Harrington became your owner on the death of his +mother, and you know how terribly he was prejudiced against you. It was +the only command that he made; everything else he left to me; but here, +here he was imperative. All that a kind and obliging master could do, I +accomplished in spite of him. You had your own choice of masters, +Zillah; that, at least, I secured to you." + +"A choice of masters!" repeated the woman, turning pale with intense +feeling. "What did I care about a choice of masters, when you sold me? +Had you given me to the grave, it would have been Heaven to the years +that followed. You sold me without warning--coldly sent an order to the +agent, and I was taken away. Your own child was the slave of another +man." + +"But you kept me in ignorance, Zillah; besides, I had been married +again. A northern man, I was, of course, desirous to live in the North. +What could I do?" + +"But the other slaves were set free. Master James provided means for +those who wished it, to emigrate to Liberia; a few went, more remained +of choice. No servant was kept on the estate who did not desire it. I +alone was sold." + +"But you know how the young man detested you; he never could be +persuaded that your presence in her sick room, had not an evil influence +on his mother. In short Zillah, after her death he seemed to think of +little else." + +The woman turned deadly pale, as the sick room of her old mistress was +mentioned. A shudder ran through her frame, and she sat down upon a +neighboring divan, gasping for breath. General Harrington watched this +strange emotion with keen interest; he did not comprehend its source, +but it brought up vague suspicions that had in former years passed like +shadows across his brain, when the sickness and death of his first wife +was a recent event. + +"Zillah," he said, seating himself on the divan by her side, "you turn +pale--you shiver--what does this mean?" + +The woman sat up, forcing herself to look into his questioning eyes. + +"I was surprised at your blindness, shocked at the duplicity of this +man, James Harrington. So he excuses his hatred of me by this pretence, +and you believe him. I will speak now--why should I be silent longer? +Listen to me, General Harrington. It was because I knew his secret, that +James Harrington hated me. He loved the woman you have married, for +whose tranquillity I was sold to a new master." + +"Very possible," replied the General, with a complacent smile. "I should +have been sorry to give my name to any woman whom a man of taste could +know, without loving. Of course, the young gentleman, like many others, +was dying of envy when that remarkable woman became my wife." + +Zillah's eyes flashed, and she turned pale, lip and forehead. A bitter +laugh broke away with the words, as she said, + +"But she loved _him_--adored him, rather." + +The General was moved now, his self-love was all up in arms; he was +evidently getting furious. + +"Zillah, this is one of your jealous dreams. You have no proof!" + +"Master--let me call you so once more--among other benefits which came +to me through your kindness, I was taught to read and write--that was a +key to much else that I learned afterwards. In a vellum covered book, +which Miss Mabel always kept locked with a little golden heart, I saw +more than proof of what I say. She lost the key from her watch-chain, +one night, and I found it. The book is probably destroyed now, but if it +existed, I should need no other proof of what I know to be true!" + +"Indeed," said the General, prolonging the word, thoughtfully, "Indeed!" + +"Are you going?" exclaimed the woman, as he arose from the divan. + +"Yes, Zillah, I have left some important papers in my library that may +be disturbed. In a few days I will see you again." + +Zillah smiled a soft, exulting smile, but she did not allow it to +brighten her whole face till General Harrington had left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE BOAT-HOUSE. + + +Down upon the shore, so built as to form a picturesque feature in the +landscape, stood an old boat-house, in which Ben Benson made his home +when out of active service at the Mansion. Here the stout old seaman +kept his fishing-tackle, his rifle, and a thousand miscellaneous things +that appertained to his various avocations, for Ben was not only a +naturalist and philosopher at large, but a mechanic of no ordinary +skill. He not only devised his own fishing-flies, wove his own +shad-nets, and game-baskets, but performed the duties of a +ship-carpenter whenever his boats got out of order, or a new one was +wanted for the river. + +On the day of Lina's great sorrow, Ben was standing in front of the +boat-house, superintending a kettle of pitch that was boiling over a +fire of dried logs and bark. The boat which had been almost torn to +pieces on the night when Mabel Harrington so narrowly escaped a terrible +death, was now turned upside down, and Ben was preparing to calk the +bottom and repair the injuries it had received. + +Lina saw him as she came down the avenue, and her pace quickened. The +thin shawl she had flung about her was fluttering in the wind, but there +was a fever in heart and brain, which rendered her insensible to the +blast which swept the curls back from her burning forehead, and rustled +through her light garments. The little Italian grey-hound, which had +been for months her special pet, had followed her, unperceived, striving +in vain to win some sign of attention from the distracted girl. + +Lina flew down the bank, and Ben looked up as the sound of her footsteps +warned him who it was that approached. + +"I knowed that it was you, Miss Lina," he said, while every feature in +his rough face softened, as he looked toward her. "Sakes alive! what +brought ye out here such a day as this--this wind is enough to snap you +right in two." + +"I don't mind the cold, Ben; I wanted to talk to you." + +"Wal, if there's any one thing Ben Benson kin do for you, you've only +jest to mention it, and consider it done a'ready." + +"I know it, Ben, and that is why I come. I wanted to ask you something." + +"Why, you're shakin' worse nor a poplar leaf, and you're as white as if +you hadn't a drop of blood in your precious little body. What on arth's +the matter with you, Lina? See that ere dog; now, ain't he a pretty +specimen of an animal exotic to be out of a hot house in such a wind as +this." + +Ben gathered the shivering little creature to his bosom with one hand, +snugly enveloping him in the capacious folds of his pilot jacket, while +with the other he seized Lina's hands, and leaning back against the +boat, stood looking at her with a half-pitying, half-affectionate +glance, that was indescribably comic and touching. + +"I should like to know what Mister Ralph was a-thinkin' on, to let you +come out alone sich a day as this." + +That name made Lina shudder, and a sudden spasm contracted her features. + +"No one knew that I was coming out. Oh, Ben! I want to ask something--do +not refuse to tell me, or I shall die! How came I here--where was I +born--oh, who am I, Ben?" + +"Sakes alive! How she goes on! One question at a time, if _you_ please, +Miss Lina! What on arth's been putting sich ideas into your little head? +Now no circumwenting--speak the truth, if you be a woman." + +"Oh, Ben, I have always wondered and longed to know something about +myself, and of late, this desire has increased. I can think of nothing +else. Do not put me off--I shall die if I am kept longer in this +suspense." + +Ben began to hug the pretty dog more and more tenderly to his bosom, as +if it was that which needed comforting, and not the poor girl before +him. At last, turning himself uneasily about, like a man disturbed by a +sudden recurrence of painful memories. + +"Now, don't go to gettin' oneasy idees into your little head; there's +nothin' wuss for the femenine constitution. When you're well enough, let +yerself alone, and be satisfied." + +"Oh, Ben, don't--don't! You are my friend--you have always been kind to +me; do not turn from me, now, when I am tortured by these strange +doubts. There is no one else of whom I can ask an explanation, and you +cannot refuse it! I am so very, very, unhappy, Ben--dear, good Ben!" + +"There, there, Miss Lina!" Ben muttered, hoarsely, patting her hand with +his hard palm; then, clasping it again in his huge fingers, and looking +at it earnestly, as if it had been a delicately wrought sea-shell. +"Don't say no more--now don't--when Ben Benson gives advice, 'taint +without a reason. Now, you just listen to me, and then run away, and +don't get no more tantrums in that little head o' yours. Hain't the +madam, Mrs. Harrington, always been like a mother to you--hain't she +treated you as if you had been her own flesh and blood--do you want to +make her unhappy now, little gal, do you worry her about such things?" + +"You know I would rather die, Ben!" + +"I do believe you would, Miss Lina, I raly do! But there ain't no +question about dyin'--you've only to be patient and good, as is nat'ral +to you--take things as they come, and that's enough. I ain't a goin' to +have you ask me no questions, and I know you won't do it." + +"But, Ben." + +"Hush!" said Ben, pressing her hands hard between his broad palms, and +dropping them tenderly downward. "I can't listen to another word of this +'ere. It ain't of no use," and with a gesture of stubborn sorrow, Ben +walked deliberately into his domain, and closing the door, bolted it +against Lina, leaving her shivering in the cold. + +Lina looked ruefully at the closed door, and her heart sunk as she heard +the heavy bolt drawn within. The last faint hope died out then; and, +without a word, she turned and walked away into the woods, desolate +beyond comparison with any former moment of her life. The wind grew +sharp, and whistled through the light indoor garments with which she had +recklessly come forth; her lips turned purple with cold; her hands were +so numb, that they fell apart as she attempted to clasp them; the tears +rushed warm from her eyes, and dropped away, frozen, like hail: and yet +poor Lina struggled on, thinking the cold only another pang of anguish, +which it was her duty to bear. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON READS THE VELLUM BOOK. + + +General Harrington was alone in his library. His hat and cloak lay in a +heap on a sofa near the door, an indication of unwonted perturbation, +for with him, a misplaced article was a proof of excitement which he was +always ready to condemn. His dress was a good deal disturbed, and his +hair disordered, as if he had threaded it more than once with the white +fingers that now clasped the open covers of Mabel's Journal which he was +eagerly reading. + +It was almost painful to see the excitement under which that old man +labored. The book trembled in his grasp, his lips clung more and more +firmly together, his blue eyes shone vividly from under his bent brows, +yet from beneath all, there stole out a gleam of triumph, as if he were +weaving some crafty web of underthought out from the angry tumult with +which his soul labored. There was no sorrow in his look, no feeling of +sadness or regret for the greatest loss man ever experienced, that of a +good woman's love. With him vanity was the grand passion. Touch that and +he became sensitive as a boy of fifteen. In all things else he was +invulnerable. + +And yet Mabel's Journal might have touched deeper feelings than her +husband was capable of knowing. Another man would have been roused to +compassion by the fragments of thought, sometimes artless, sometimes +passionate, that seemed to have dropped fresh from her heart upon the +pages he was reading. + +He opened the vellum book at the beginning, for with all his impatience, +the methodical habits of his life prevailed even then, and at first, +there was little to excite more than a strong curiosity. But as he read +on, the perturbation we have described in his countenance, became +evident. He turned over the leaves violently, glancing here and there, +as if eager to devour his mortification at a single dash. The cleft +heart, whose breaking had given him access to poor Mabel's secrets, +struck against his hand as he closed the book, and opened it again at +random. He tore the pretty trinket away, and dashed it into the grate, +and a curse broke from his shut teeth, as he saw it fall glowing among +the hot embers. Then he turned back to the beginning, and began to read +more deliberately, allowing his anger to cool and harden, like lava, +above his smouldering wrath. + +Thus it was that Mabel commenced her journal. + + * * * * * + +"A letter from my guardian. This is indeed an event. A year ago he wrote +me a long letter of advice, touching my studies, and giving a world of +counsel regarding my deportment. That cold, half-dictatorial, +half-fatherly letter, seemed forced from his heart by a sense of duty. +This is brief, elegant and kind. He is satisfied with my progress at +school, and hears with pleasure, of the improvement in my person--this +means, probably, that I am not near so plain as he fancied me. They tell +him I have a sort of fire and animation of the countenance, more +effective than perfection of outline could render me. I wonder if this +be true--of course it is impossible to judge of one's self in a point +which depends so much upon the feelings. There is no animation in a +hurried or tedious toilet, and the beauty he speaks of is never given +back by the mirror. To my vision, now, this is a rather dull and +uninteresting face. I wonder if it ever does light up into anything like +beauty. Some one must have said this to my guardian. Could it have been +the young heir of Neathcote? He did not seem to look at me at all, when +he called at the school and I was frightened to death by his great, +earnest eyes; if my guardian proves half as imposing, I shall be afraid +to look up in his presence. + +"There is something strange in the situation of my guardian. He is +considered one of the most eloquent men in America, and by his marriage +with the widow of a cousin, three or four times removed, is the master +of great wealth. But every dollar of it came by his wife, on whom the +son was left entirely dependent as he is now. They tell me that General +Harrington is a liberal step-father and gives the young man no reason to +complain, but it seems a little hard that all his father's great wealth +should have been swept into the possession of a comparative stranger; +for, though these two men bear one common name, and are remotely of the +same blood, they met for the first time at the wedding out of which +sprang these present rather singular relations. + +"There is another strange thing about this. Mrs. Harrington can only +dispose of the property by will. She has no power to alienate it during +her life, but can bequeath it where she likes. So if the General should +outlive her, this young man may be utterly disinherited; a hard case it +seems to me, for the lady is very gentle and yielding, so devoted to her +handsome husband, that his faintest wish is a law to her. All this has +been told me from time to time, leaving such an impression of injustice +on my mind, that I fairly began to pity the young man before I saw him. +But after that, the idea of pity never entered my mind. Millions could +not enhance the nobility of his presence, or make him one shade more +interesting. His mother is said to be very beautiful. She should be, she +should be! But how foolishly I am writing about a person whom I have +never seen but once, and who seemed to have taken no interest in that +meeting, except to give me a letter from his Step-father, which will +alter my whole course of life. The young gentleman himself is only +passing this way on his travels westward. + +"So, I am to start at once, now that my education is +completed--completed; I like the term--as if education were not always +progressive, rounded off by death only. Well, at least, I am grateful to +leave this tiresome routine of lessons, and yet there is something of +mournfulness in this abrupt entrance into life. + +"I have just opened the window, and would gladly look forth upon the +morning. But this screen of Cherokee roses hangs before me like a +curtain, shedding fragrance from every fold. In parting its clusters +with my hands, tenderly--for to my fancy, flowers are sensitive and +recoil from a rude touch--the dew that has been all night asleep in +their heart, bathes my hands with its sweet rain, and through the +opening comes a gush of odor from the great magnolia that reaches out +its boughs so near my window, that I could lean forth and shake the +drops from those snowy chalices, as they gleam and tremble in the bright +air. + +"What a beautiful world is this. The very breath one draws leaves a +delicious languor behind it, a languor that falls upon the senses and +gives back to the whole being a dreamy quietude that makes the mere +effort of existence an exquisite enjoyment. And yet there is a feeling +of strange loneliness in it all. It is pleasant to be happy, but oh! how +more than pleasant to have some one near, to whom all these charming +sensations can be expressed. I think one is never quite content alone, +but then who ever is really content? + +"How exquisitely pure every thing seems; my little chamber here, with +its delicate matting and snowy draperies, looks like the nest of a +ring-dove, it is so white and quiet. The sweet visions which visit me +here are melodious as the warbling of the young bird, when the early +morning wakens it, as the dawn has just aroused me. + +"I have been now three days beneath my guardian's roof. Dear Neathcote, +I love it already for its singular beauty! I shall never forget the +strange feelings which crowded my bosom, as the carriage passed through +the park gates and rolled slowly up the broad avenue. I threw open the +window and leaned out with the eagerness of a child to catch a sight of +my new home. When, as a sudden turn in the road brought the front of the +mansion in full view, I shrunk into my seat again, trembling from a +vague fear, which had as much of joy as pain in it. + +"I grew fairly dizzy and faint with excitement, as the carriage paused +before the entrance, and I saw my guardian waiting on the steps to greet +me, standing up so stately and proud, with his wife by his side, her +sweet face lighted up with a sort of friendly curiosity, to see what her +unknown visitor would be like. + +"It was not embarrassment that I felt, it was a deep, strange emotion +for which I could not account. It seemed as if in crossing that +threshold I was to bid an eternal farewell to the repose of my past +life. Like a flash of lightning those thoughts swept in a tumult through +my brain as I descended from the carriage, and went up the steps to meet +my guardian, and his wife, who came forward to welcome me. + +"I shall always love to look back upon that arrival! + +"Everything was so homelike and comfortable, in spite of the +magnificence which reigned around! My guardian's rather cold face +brightened into a smile that rendered him very handsome, and his wife +greeted me as if I had been indeed her child, returning home after a +long absence. Then I caught sight of a woman's face at the window--a +servant evidently, yet there was a singular look in her great black +eyes, as she raised them boldly to my face, which almost terrified me. +Neither my guardian nor Mrs. Harrington appeared to see her, but I +wondered how she ventured to thrust herself forward in that manner, on +the arrival of a stranger. + +"It was she who followed me to my chamber, when Mrs. Harrington +conducted me there, yet she offered no assistance, until her mistress +bade her attend to my toilet; then she obeyed, searching my face all the +while from under her black eyelashes. Yet her singularity was probably +an exaggeration of my own fancy, for she seems quiet and well-behaved, +though a little sullen. I am glad she is not to be my attendant, for +there is certainly an evil look in her eyes, whenever she regards me, +and I could never feel quite comfortable at night if I knew that she +were any where near. + +"The girl had just left my rooms after arranging the toilet, which was +already in order, as if for an excuse for the intrusion. She cannot be a +slave, for though a little dark, I can trace nothing of the African +blood in her face; there is a glossy ripple in the blackness of her +hair, but that is a beauty which any woman might envy. No, no, she +cannot be a slave. Her singular style of beauty forbids the thought; +besides, she is not an uneducated person, and there is a certain subtle +grace in her movements that I cannot resist admiring, and yet loathe. +This is strange. Why is the girl so constantly in my thoughts? Yesterday +I spoke to Mrs. Harrington about her, for my curiosity became +irresistible. She is a slave, a new purchase of Gen. Harrington's, and +the personal servant of his wife. Mrs. Harrington smiled in her usual +contented way, and gently complained of the girl's uselessness and +studied inattention, but she seems unused to opposition of any kind, and +languidly allows even her servants to control her wishes. This fiery +slave--for, with all her stillness, she _is_ fiery--overpowers the +gentle nature of her mistress, and really seems to drink up her strength +with the glances of those great black eyes. + +"How indifferent proud men sometimes are to the beauty of their +inferiors! now, this girl Zillah is constantly charming even my +half-repulsed admiration by her rare loveliness, yet I have scarcely +seen General Harrington turn his eyes upon her face during the whole +time that I have been in his house, but then, his devotion to Mrs. +Harrington is so perfect, he evidently has no eyes for any one else. + +"How long is it since I opened my journal? Three months, I really +believe, and not a word of record. Even now, when the world becomes more +real, I feel like one aroused very softly from dreaming among the +angels. How would I write and see emblazoned upon paper, doomed, +perhaps, frail as it is, to outlive me, thoughts that even yet are so +intangible, that, like the butterflies that I used to run after when a +child, they are constantly eluding my grasp, and as constantly +brightening all the atmosphere around me. Is it possible that so many +weeks have gone by since _he_ came home? It seems like a prolonged +sunset, when the summer is in prime, and one trembles to see a single +tint fade from the sky, or a single flower overshadowed, lest it should +depart forever. Can it be this heavenly atmosphere which imparts to the +whole being a languor so delightful, mingled with that sweet unrest +which only wakes you to a keener relish of existence? I have been +striving to interrogate my own heart, and ask many questions which it +cannot answer, because the whole world here is so new and strange, that +it is impossible to discriminate between the luxurious sweetness of +material life and those quieter impulses that I have known hitherto. + +"I remember the delight with which I first looked out upon this lovely +scene, but with all the novelty and perfect freedom of a heart ready to +enjoy the beautiful, I never before felt enjoyment so intense. I come to +my room at night and lie down to rest, jealous of the sleep that +swallows up so many hours of happiness. I am fond of dreaming no +longer, for visions that the angels send are no compensation for the +lost thoughts that sleep steal from me. + +"I sat down with a determination to write of events, and as ever dwell +only upon feelings. After all, what has happened? Another member has +been added to the family circle, that is all, and yet, what a change his +coming has made. His presence seems to pervade the whole house. The +servants look more cheerful when he speaks to them. His mother brightens +up, and throws off her languor as she hears his tread upon the veranda. +Even the General's courtly politeness is toned down into something like +affection, and all his artificial stateliness takes its natural level, +when contrasted by the simple dignity of this young man's nature. +Indeed, until James Harrington came, I had no idea how superficial and +untrue was the character of my guardian. But now, with the pure gold of +this fine heart as a test, I can more clearly see the entire selfishness +which lies under his elaborate manners. + +"'James will be here to-day,' he said one morning, while we all lingered +around the breakfast table, 'and his company, I trust, will render your +new home more pleasant than we have been able to make it.' + +"'He will be like an elder brother to you,' said Mrs. Harrington, +smoothing the lace ruffles over her fair arm, and turning her soft eyes +upon me with a look of gentle affection, 'and you--oh, he cannot help +liking you.' + +"Why did the blood rush into my face so hotly? Why did the lashes droop +over my eyes, and the tears spring up beneath them? Was it that I am so +completely an orphan, that this loving hint of brotherly companionship +made me more lonely than harshness could have done? I cannot tell; but +at this word 'brother'--utterly strange to my life hitherto--my heart +made a sudden recoil, and I could scarcely keep from weeping outright. +General Harrington lifted his eyes to mine, with evident surprise, while +the little white hand of his wife crept into my lap, and softly pressed +mine. That moment a horse dashed up to the door, and young Harrington +came into the breakfast-room; his fine eyes full of eager affection; his +cheeks in a glow, and with the most beautiful smile I ever saw on mortal +lips breaking over his mouth. + +"'Mother, mother!' he said, coming toward Mrs. Harrington, with both +hands extended. 'I rose at midnight, and have ridden fast ever since, in +order to surprise you at the breakfast-table.' + +"Mrs. Harrington started up; a flush stole over her face, and for once +her eyes sparkled before they filled with pleasant tears. This arrival +was, indeed, a surprise to her. + +"As he was about to release her hands from his clasp, she drew him +towards me, and said pleasantly: + +"'This is Mabel Crawford--the General's ward.' + +"He took my hand, and an expression of surprise or interest rose to his +face as he felt my poor fingers quiver in his; while my face was burning +with a consciousness of feelings more tumultuous by far, than the +occasion could warrant. He held my hand a moment longer than was +necessary to a cordial welcome, and, for an instant, seemed to wonder at +my perturbation; then his features relaxed into the most kindly +expression I ever saw, and some words of welcome fell upon my ears, but +to this hour I cannot recollect what they were; the sound entered my +heart, and that was enough. + +"General Harrington seemed to watch us closely, for I saw a smile creep +over his face, as if my awkwardness rather amused him; while his lady +stood by, regarding us with her soft, brown eyes, which were beaming +with a thousand affectionate welcomes. + +"I think it was from that moment this strange happiness of heart +commenced, which has made Neathcote seem so much like a pleasant corner +of paradise to me. I never knew what companionship was before. If I +wish to read, he seems ever to have the book uppermost in his mind that +meets my own thought. If I am restless--and this mood grows upon me of +late--he is ready to gallop by my side down to the quarters, where I am +never weary of watching the queer little negroes at their play, or +through the magnolia groves that envelope us with a cloud of perfume as +we sweep beneath their branches. In fact, I have no wish from morning to +night, which Harrington does not either share or anticipate; no brother +could be more kind; and yet it gives me a strange pang to feel that all +this---- + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +AMONG THE WATER LILIES. + + +"I left off with a half-finished sentence. Mrs. Harrington's maid broke +in upon me at the moment with a message from the young master, as she +calls him. In a hollow among the hills he has found a pond of +water-lilies, and I must hasten to see them unfold their snowy hearts to +the morning sun, after sleeping all night upon the lake. + +"Will I go? Surely one of those lotus flowers never thrilled a more +grateful response to the wave that sways it, than my heart gives back to +his wish--will I go? Those sleeping buds will not answer the sunbeams +that kiss them into another day of bloom, more gladly than I take the +happiness he offers. I have been restless and sad all night, and my +heart leaps to this new prospect of pleasure, as a bird flutters forth +from the shadowy leaves where it has spent the dark hours. + +"The lotus pond was like a fairy lake, when we reached it; the banks +were festooned and garlanded with wild vines, prairie roses, and yellow +jessamines, overrunning whole hedgerows of swamp magnolias, whose +blended odor floated like a mist over the waters. Here and there an oak, +with long, hoary moss bearding its limbs, lifted whole masses of this +entangled foliage into the air, and flung it back again in a thousand +garlands and blooming streamers, that rippled dreamily in the waters of +the lake. As we came up, an oriole had lighted on one of these pendant +branches, and poured a flood of song over us as we passed down to the +boat, which lay in a pretty cove ready to receive us. + +"An old negro sat in the boat, lazily waiting our approach, with his +face bowed upon his brawny bosom, and the sun striking through the +branches upon a head that seemed covered with crisp frost, age had so +completely whitened his hair. A word from the young master roused the +slumbering old man; and, with a broad grin of delight, he proceeded to +arrange the crimson cushions, and trim his sails, making haste to put +forth on our cruise along the shore, which was starred with opening +lotus blossoms, and green with their broad-floating leaves. + +"It made my heart thrill with a sort of pain, as our boat ploughed +through this exquisite sheet of blossoms--for, as I have said before, it +has always seemed to me like uprooting a tender thought when a flower is +torn from its stem. I said something like this, as Harrington laid a +handful of the open flowers in my lap. He looked at me steadily for a +moment--muttered that it was a strange fancy--but plucked no more +water-lilies that day. After a time, when the old man, thinking to +please us, commenced to tear them up by the roots, Harrington rebuked +him for his roughness, and bade him trim the boat for a sail across the +lake. + +"I wonder why it is, that, when we feel deepest, a disposition to +silence always holds the senses in thralldom. I did not speak half a +dozen words, as our boat sped like a bird across the lake; and yet my +heart was full of happiness, for Harrington had his dark eyes fixed +with a sort of dreamy earnestness on my face all the time. A +consciousness so strange, and almost delirious, seized upon me, that I +could neither look up nor speak, but bowed my head over the blossoms in +my lap, whispering to them what had never been uttered in words, and +never perhaps, may be. + +"While we sat thus in mute happiness, with nothing but the ripple of the +boat to break the exquisite joy of our silence, the oriole began to sing +again, and his mate answered back the song from across the lake. I +looked up, and met his eyes: a flush came to his forehead, and I felt +the warm blood burning over my cheeks and forehead. His lips parted, and +for one instant he took my hand, but only to drop it among the cold +water-lilies again, as if some distressing thought had aroused him to +painful consciousness. Why was this? how came it that he relinquished my +hand so abruptly? Was he shocked with my upward glances--did he think my +recognition of his thoughts unmaidenly? + +"The orioles ceased to sing just then, and a sullen cloud came sweeping +over us, which broke upon the pond in a sudden squall of wind. Before +the old man could reef his sail, it gave way, and fluttered out, like +the wounded wing of a bird, bearing our boat with it. The first plunge +cast me forward at Harrington's feet; he caught me to his bosom, +pressing me there with one arm, while he drew in the sail with the +other. + +"The wind rose high, tearing in a tornado across the pond; but, I am +sure--sure as I am of the beating of my own heart, that Harrington +trembled from other causes than the danger we were in. Twice he bent his +lips to my face, but checked himself with murmurs which the cruel wind +carried from me. + +"I do not know how we reached the shore, or why it was that we walked in +such profound silence homeward--but this I do know, another hour like +that would have broken my heart with its wealth of happiness. + +"I could not sleep last night, but lay quietly, with my hands folded +softly over my bosom as had been a childish habit, thinking over that +sail upon the lotus pond. The moonbeams stole into my room, penetrating +the roses that hung around the casement, and bringing their odor softly +around my couch. This rendered my happiness complete. + +"The morning found me wakeful, but when it brightened into day, I closed +my eyes, and turned my head upon the pillow, ashamed that the broad +light should witness my happiness. + + * * * * * + +"How sudden this is. Mrs. Harrington has been fading away for a month. +Her physician recommends change of climate, and in ten days we all start +for Madeira, or perhaps, Spain. _He_ goes with us, and I am content. + +"On shipboard at last! Here I sit in my little cabin and listen to the +heaving of the waves against the vessel, as it ploughs proudly along, as +if full of the consciousness of its own strength, and defying the very +elements to impede its progress. + +"The past ten days have been one continued fever of excitement, and I +have scarcely opened my journal. This trip to Europe was finally decided +upon in such haste, that we have known hardly a moment of rest. + +"We were on board this morning at ten o'clock, and two hours after, New +York lay stretched out behind us on the shore of its beautiful bay, like +some enchanted city asleep in the sunlight. + +"All that was dear to me stood by my side, so I had no sorrow at my +departure, beyond the natural feeling of regret that all must feel on +quitting their native land. I could not understand Mrs. Harrington's +burst of grief, so unlike her usual quiet demeanor. She has not seemed +much in favor of this voyage, although she made no opposition when +certain how greatly her husband desired to go. There has been a strange +unrest about her for days, that I could not comprehend, but from a few +words she unthinkingly uttered this morning, I imagine her to be haunted +by one of those morbid fancies, which at times seize upon the strongest +mind, in the eve of a long journey--the idea that she will never again +behold the land she is leaving behind. + +"She has been laying down in her cabin all day, for she suffers greatly, +and I spent several hours with her, but at sunset James called me on +deck. We stood side by side at the stern of the ship, and saw the sun go +down behind a mass of clouds more gorgeous than I ever beheld. The +western sky seemed alive with molten flame--great billows of crimson +rolled up against the amber waves of light the sun had left behind, +streaming down over the waters, like a torrent of rainbows, until one +could scarce tell which was sea and which sky. + +"We stood there until the latest glories died, and then the moon stole +slowly up, with only one star beside her, like the one bright hope of a +human heart. We conversed but little. My soul was too full of the home +we had left, and I knew, by the expression of Harrington's face, that he +understood and shared my feelings. It was late when I left him, and I +cannot write more. My hand is tremulous with the strange feelings which +thrill at my heart; the excitement of these last few days has been too +much for me, but in the quiet of this new life I shall grow calm again, +perhaps. Just now something of Mrs. Harrington's fears seems to oppress +me. + +"A month has passed. Our voyage is almost at an end, for to-morrow the +captain promises that we shall be safely anchored in the harbor of +Cadiz. The sun went down this evening in an embankment of clouds, +shedding pale, watery gleams upon the sea, that threatened rough +weather. As the darkness came on, the clouds spread upward, blackening +the whole sky, and flashes of lightning now and then tore through them, +like fiery chain shot through the smoke of a battle. There was +consternation on board, for we were nearing the coast, and a storm like +this threatened danger. + +"I remained on deck till the rising wind almost swept me over the +bulwarks. James Harrington was with me, and as the lightning gleamed +athwart his face, I saw that it was anxious and very pale. He strove to +appear unconcerned, and went down to the cabin, with a strong effort at +cheerfulness, which neither deceived me, nor checked the terrible fears +of his poor mother. General Harrington had retired to his state-room, +where he sat in moody silence, wrapped in a large travelling cloak. When +his invalid wife joined him, trembling with nervous terror, he only +folded his cloak the tighter around himself, and muttered that she need +apprehend no danger. + +"Young Mr. Harrington wrung my hand with more of warmth than he had ever +exhibited before, when he bade me good night. He has gone on deck, while +I am cowering in my state-room, unable to seek rest, and striving to +write, though the storm is howling louder and louder, and every lurch of +the ship flings the book from my lap." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +AFTER THE STORM. + + +"Alive and on land. In the country, back a little from the coast, we +have found a shelter from the shipwreck. That we live at all is owing to +the bravery of a seaman who superintended the making of a raft after the +ship struck, and almost forced us to save our lives by risking them +upon it. The other passengers refused to go, and for a long time we +hesitated, but Ben Benson was so determined, that at last we trusted +every thing to his frail craft, which, alas! was all of our brave vessel +that ever reached the shore. + +"I shudder even now, as I remember the fearful rush of waters around us +when our craft was cut loose from the sinking vessel. A hundred ghostly +forms looked down upon us from the crowded stern, dreading the death for +us, which too surely fell on them. + +"It was a terrible venture. The storm still raging, the sea rising high, +and breakers howling on either hand, like hungry tigers tearing at their +chains. It all seems like a hideous dream to me now, but I remember one +thing that kept the life in my heart, when it seemed turning to stone. +In the midst of the storm, as the raft reeled and plunged over the +lightning-stricken waves, I found myself gathered to his bosom, and +while the warmth of that embrace reached my heart, I heard such words as +sent the blood thrilling like a gush of wine, back through all my veins. +In the rage and whirl of the storm, while we were quivering in the very +jaws of death, James Harrington uttered in many a wild word, the love +that I had felt to be mine before. He seems to have forgotten it now, +for since we have been housed safely on land, with the breath of a dozen +orange groves awaking nothing but sweet emotions, he seems to have lost +the passion of those delirious words, but that they are burned like +enamel on my heart, I might fancy them a dream and nothing more. + +"Why is this? What makes him so reserved and yet so gently courteous. +There is no impediment to free speech. Are we not equals in birth--and +as for fortune, thank Heaven, I am rich enough for both. Why should he +almost shun me then, and spend so much time wandering along the coast, +looking upon the waves that have almost proved fatal to us? These +thoughts make me very sad. Does he repent, or has a passion that seemed +so strong when death was nigh, gone out with the storm that witnessed +its first utterance." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +MISTRESS AND MAID. + + +"We had no particular object in touching the coast of Spain but the +health of Mrs. Harrington. Strange enough, the shock and tumult of the +storm seems to have done her good. She looks stronger and brighter day +by day. I never saw such a change. But Zillah, that wild beautiful +slave, has been ill from that terrible morning, and keeps her room. They +are all very good to her. Mr. Harrington, James, and even the lady, vie +with each other in offering kindness to her. These things seem to affect +her greatly; last night, when Mrs. Harrington sat down by her bed, and +took the feverish hand which she seemed unwilling to extend, the girl +turned from her suddenly, and burst into a passion of tears that shook +the bed. + +"Mrs. Harrington tried to soothe her. She passed her delicate hand over +the waves of purplish black hair, which was all afloat from her head, +and asked in her sweet, gentle way, 'What the girl was crying for. Was +she homesick?' + +"Zillah turned suddenly and looked into that sweet face. Her lips +parted, and some strong resolve came into those almond-shaped eyes; +through her inky lashes, laden down with tears, I saw a gleam of true +feeling that made me almost like the girl. But she closed her lips +again, and the noble expression died out of her face, leaving it full of +dusky shadows. + +"'No, I am only sick,' she said, 'something struck me as I flung myself +down to the raft. All had left but me. But what does it matter whether a +poor slave lives or dies? It is a thousand dollars gone--two, I +remember, for a pretty slave like me--and that is all.' + +"She spoke with bitterness, and her eyes gleamed angrily under the tears +that still trembled on their lashes. + +"'But you have scarcely been a slave, Zillah,' said Mrs. Harrington. 'It +would be a shame to look upon you exactly in that light with this face, +fair almost as my own, and this hand soft, and shapely as a child's. +Surely no girl ever had lighter duties.' + +"Zillah gave one quick glance at her mistress, and I saw the faint +dimpling of a smile around her lips. She drew her hand away and hid it +under the bed clothes. + +"'You--you are making fun of me, searching for purple marks around the +nails. There is no need of that. But for the black blood I could not +have been bought and sold. That is proof enough.' + +"The girl spoke bitterly, and her lips trembled with passion. Then I +saw, what had never presented itself to me before, sure signs of her +race. Temper brought the black blood uppermost, and stamped it for a +time on the features. The lips seemed heavier, the nose flattened, the +forehead lowered and grew dusky, a strange vitality stirred the waves of +her hair. No serpent, disturbed in its nest, ever gave out its colors +more vividly. These were thoughts to bring great repulsion with them. I +never had liked the girl; now, this upheaving of the dark blood, from +which all that made her kin to me revolted, even in her own system, +shocked and humiliated me. + +"Mrs. Harrington, born and bred in the south, felt all this less keenly, +she still smoothed the young creature's hair and attempted to comfort +her. + +"'You have no cause for trouble,' she said. 'Have I not always taught +you that a faithful servant had all the claims of a friend, else why am +I here in your sick room, Zillah?' + +"'Oh, I am worth full two thousand dollars,' answered the girl, +bitterly. 'General Harrington takes excellent care of his horses. Is it +for love?' + +"'Zillah, this is unkind, remember it is not my fault that you are a +slave.' + +"'Mrs. Harrington arose; the insolent ingratitude of the girl had +wounded her greatly. For my part, indignation forbade me to pity the +creature. As we left the room I saw that she followed us with her eyes, +and the African stamp grew broader and plainer on her face, till all +beauty left it. As we closed the door she started up and called out with +sudden dread, + +"'Mistress, mistress.' + +"Mrs. Harrington hesitated a moment, with her hand on the latch, but +went back into Zillah's room murmuring, + +"'Poor thing, poor thing, she is sorry already.' + +"'Mistress, don't tell him, don't tell the master. I--I did not mean to +say such things. It was the black blood burning in my heart. Don't tell +him, or he will send me back.' + +"Mrs. Harrington smiled. + +"'No, I will not tell him,' she said kindly, 'for I think he would send +you home at once if he knew how perverse you have been. You ought to +remember that he never will forgive disrespect to his wife.' + +"I was looking at Zillah. She half covered her face with the bed +clothes, and her form writhed under them as if in pain. It might have +been a sudden pang, but the look of a rattlesnake, before it springs, +was in those eyes. + +"Mrs. Harrington was thinking of her husband, and observed nothing. + +"'That is one great proof of his love,' she said addressing me, 'and I +think he does love me as few men love their wives. Have you not +observed how cheerful and happy he is since I am so much better? It was +only last night he told me that no woman, living or dead, ever had or +ever could touch the heart entirely mine, not even if God had taken me +from him. I know it seems foolish to repeat these things, but when the +heart is full, one cannot always help being boastful and silly.' + +"Zillah turned rudely in the bed, and I saw her hand clench itself into +the blanket, tearing at the tough fabric. Mrs. Harrington, with that +feeling of household trust which has no consciousness of the +intelligence listening, went on as if the girl were a thousand miles +off. + +"'You will not mind if I am a little egotistical. It is so pleasant to +be held supreme in the one heart, to feel sure that no other woman ever +has or can share your influence. If there is a woman on earth that I +pity, it is one who doubts the love of her husband. Thank God I have +never, never had reason to know that pang. If ever two people adored +each other it is us.' + +"Perhaps it was a little singular that this lady should talk of the most +sacred domestic relations thus freely before her own servant, but it did +not seem strange to me. A child-like, affectionate woman like her, may +be excused many things that persons prouder and more reticent might +properly avoid; besides, the domestic habits of the south admit of very +close relationship between the mistress and her servants, unknown to +other regions even of our own country. I could only smile an answer to +this wifely enthusiasm, but it seemed to me genuine and so sincere, that +all my sympathy went with it. As for the maid, she lay perfectly still, +listening, and apparently half asleep, for she had gathered the bed +clothes around her, and it was only by a quick glitter that broke +through her eyelashes now and then, that I could detect the interest she +took in this singular conversation. + +"'No, no,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'I would not tell the General for the +world, how really perverse Zillah has been. She has never quite met his +approbation I know, and the least thing would set him against her.' + +"'Hush, she is listening,' I said. + +"Mrs. Harrington turned and saw that Zillah was looking at her with a +strange expression. Something like a mocking smile parted her full lips. + +"'You must believe me, Zillah. It was in spite of the General's wish to +leave you behind, that I brought you here.' + +"Again Zillah smiled, this time with more of mischief than malice. + +"'I know, myself, the General never liked me much. It was master James +that got him to buy me; the General would do anything to please him.' + +"'Yes indeed,' replied Mrs. Harrington, addressing me, 'no step-father +was ever so indulgent. James has been a fortunate boy, though he does +not always seem to think so. It was he who took a fancy to Zillah, and +insisted that we should bring her with us, so the General gave up his +prejudice against her and consented. James thinks no one can take proper +care of me but Zillah.' + +"I was still watching the girl. All the frowns had left her face and she +was almost laughing; something seemed to amuse her very much. I said +nothing of this, but the girl puzzled me greatly, and so did the +conversation of Mrs. Harrington. Somehow I had got the impression that +James Harrington had been opposed to Zillah as an attendant for his +mother; that he had suggested an older person, and regarded this one +with distrust. But surely Mrs. Harrington, his own mother, knew best." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE SLAVE WE LEFT BEHIND US. + + +"Zillah was really ill, and for her sake we were detained in that little +hamlet on the coast for three weeks. Even then she was unable to travel, +and General Harrington resolved to move on without her. The barren +little village had no attractions for him, and he certainly was not a +man to sacrifice much time or convenience to a slave against whom he had +prejudices. + +"Why had I become so painfully interested in that girl? Why was it that +my heart grew heavy, when James Harrington expostulated with his father +so earnestly against the abandonment of that poor girl, as he called +her, in a strange place and among people whose language was unknown to +her. + +"But the General was resolute. The girl could follow them to Seville, he +said, when she became well enough to travel, no harm need come to her +and she could be well spared. Mrs. Harrington had improved so much in +her health that Zillah could have plenty of time to get well without +much inconvenience to her mistress. Miss Crawford's little maid was +always at her disposal. + +"James Harrington did not seem satisfied with this reasoning, but he +said nothing more, and the next day we went up to Cadiz, leaving Zillah +behind. + +"The girl was greatly distressed, and protested that she was well enough +to travel anywhere with her mistress, that everything would go wrong if +she was left behind, that the people were strange and would not know how +to direct her. She attempted to leave her bed and put on a traveling +dress, but fainted as her foot touched the floor. I was sorry for the +poor creature, and my heart ached at the necessity of leaving her +alone; but like her I was powerless in the hands of my guardian. + +"Just before we left, General Harrington went in to speak with her. She +was acting very unreasonably, he said, and deserved chastisement for her +folly. Did she expect his whole family to wait in that dull place till +it was her pleasure to get well? The truth was, James had spoiled the +girl. + +"He must have been harsh with the poor thing, though that was not at all +like him, for she was sobbing as if her heart would break ten minutes +after, when I went into her room, and said many bitter things of her +master's cruelty, which in common charity I shall never repeat. +Certainly the girl does seem to be terribly spoiled. I wish her no harm, +poor wretch, but if she were going back home a free woman my heart would +be lighter. I wonder if they would let me purchase her and give her the +freedom which belongs to every one of God's creatures. She has managed +to pick up a tolerable education, and in a country where hundreds of the +blue blood are darker than she is, might do well; for she certainly is +beautiful and has bright native talent enough to carve out a happy +future for herself. As for the money, a year's income would be nothing +compared with the relief of seeing her happy, free, and of all things, +away from us. I will speak of this to Mrs. Harrington; no woman ever had +a kinder heart or a keener sense of justice; the difficulty with her is +that she spoils her servants with too much kindness. That is a thing +which people just out of barbarism are apt to mistake for weakness. + +"I think this girl has been made unhappy by the education which lifts +her out of the common herd of slaves. She feels the disgrace of caste +with terrible acuteness, and in no strata of society can find a place +for herself. In order to make the slaves useful or happy, they must be +educated in masses. It does not do to lift one from among his fellows +as a specimen of what they can possibly become. Open a future for the +slaves, give them intelligence and freedom at the same time; but I need +not go on. How many times has all this been said. But the day will come +when justice shall be brought about. + +"We are leaving Cadiz for Seville, where General Harrington proposes to +spend the holy week. I have had no opportunity to speak with Mrs. +Harrington yet, but the fate of the poor girl we have left behind hangs +heavily on my spirits. James Harrington, too, seems depressed. Is +it--can it be? No, no, no! A thousand times no! How dare I form it in +thought? Still, she is beautiful, clever, elevated by her intelligence +far above some of my own order. She has caressing ways, too, when it +pleases her to assume them, and a look out of those almond-shaped eyes +when she is pleased or grieved, that troubles even me with painful +admiration. No, if money can buy her she shall be out of her thraldom, +and happy as a bird, but only on condition that she flies away to her +own country, or stays in this after we leave it. Strive as I will for +charity, nothing on earth, I do think, will ever make me like that girl +even as a servant. + +"Our steamboat is just now turning into the mouth of the Guadalquiver. +What strange, barren-looking things are these Spanish castles! Their +walls, of a dull, yellowish red, seem more like an upheaving of the soil +itself, than massive stone piled up by the labor of man. They are bare, +too, of the rich vines and tremulous leafage which makes the ruins of +Italy so picturesque, and those of England so grand in their decay. Here +is a massive building on our right, full of historic interest, I dare +say, and it may be rich in Moorish embellishments if I could see the +interior; but at this distance it looks bleak and barren as a prison. My +own vague 'castles in Spain' are ten thousand times more beautiful. + +"I said this to James Harrington as he came and stood beside me on the +deck. + +"'Oh,' he answered with a sigh, 'Who of us does not build air castles +only to see them vanish into mist. As you say, mine have been more +beautiful than that heap of stones. After all, architecture is severely +perfect, which Nature does not claim after it leaves the hand of its +constructor. The struggle which she makes to draw art back into her own +bosom, is always beautiful.' + +"Thus he will talk to me for hours, but never of himself. What have I +done that we are driven so far apart,--that he so studiously turns his +eyes away when mine question him with unconscious +earnestness,--unconscious till some look of his reminds me that for a +moment I have been off my guard. Then I grow angry with myself, and +avoid him with what must seem to him childish caprice. Does he +understand all that I think and suffer? Does he know how that day among +the water lilies haunts my memory?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE EATON FAMILY. + + +"There is an American family on board--some persons whom the Harringtons +have met before in the South, and who have attempted to renew the +acquaintance. The old people seem to me very coarse, common-place +persons--planters from the interior of Louisiana--rich and vulgar; but +the daughter is beautiful--a blonde, with lovely hair, full of sunshine, +and eyes of that deep purplish blue which one seldom sees after +childhood. Her figure is petite but finely rounded. She has all the +health and freshness of a child, with the sweetest graces of womanhood. +Yes, I can say this, and acknowledge the charm of her beauty, though she +has given me the most wretched day I ever passed in my life. + +"James Harrington had known her before, and was rejoiced at the meeting. +When he saw her across the deck my hand was on his arm, for we were +walking together. The start he gave shook off my hold and, with both +hands extended, he went to meet her, glad as I had never seen him +before. + +"The girl blushed like a rose, and came forward to meet him, quite half +way, smiling up in his face as I had never dared to smile through all +the months of our domestic intercourse. My heart turned cold. I felt a +strange contraction about my mouth as if all the blood were retreating +from the lips, which would not syllable a word when he brought the young +lady towards me and presented her. + +"She looked at me earnestly, like a child who felt itself repulsed, and +stood silent as if expecting me to come out of my reticence and receive +her as every one evidently did. + +"At last I spoke with an effort, and I dare say brusquely, for I felt +that my voice sounded forced and cold. + +"'You are an old friend--you have known Gen. Harrington and his family +before?' I said. + +"'Oh yes,' she answered, smiling up at James. 'We are old friends. How +long is it, Mr. Harrington, since you taught me to ride? Indeed, Miss +Crawford, I think he has taught me almost everything worth knowing that +I can boast of.' + +"I made an effort to smile, and answered in the insincerity of my pain, +that it must have been a pleasant task to instruct so lovely a pupil. + +"She laughed sweetly, and replied in her childish fashion, 'He used to +say as much, but I am sure it was only to encourage me.' + +"Just then her father crossed the deck, radiant with pleasure, and +shouted a greeting as he came. He was a large, heavy man, robust and +genial, overshadowed by a broad Panama hat, and flourishing a large +white handkerchief in his hand, as if it had been the star spangled +banner, which was to open the heart of every American he met. + +"'Hallo! We have overtaken them at last, have we, Miss Lucy? Now I hope +you are satisfied. How are you, Harrington? Did not expect to see us in +this part of the world, I dare say? Is the General and Mrs. Harrington +on board? Of course I might have known as much from a sight of this +young lady. The General's ward, I suppose.' Here Mr. Eaton took off his +Panama hat and made an elaborate bow, which I returned, striving to meet +his cordiality, with some show of interest. + +"'Well, this is comfortable,' he said, fanning himself with the broad +rim of his hat, 'of all countries in the world Spain is the one where an +American likes to meet an American best. I don't understand one word of +their lingo, and our courier isn't much better off--hates the Spaniards +so that he never would learn their language, in hopes that it might keep +any one from bringing him here. But he is a good fellow, can be trusted +with untold gold. Language or no language, I wasn't going to do without +him. But it is awkward work trying to make these Spaniards understand. +Ask what you will and they answer all alike, Kiem Sabe, as if that was +the answer to an honest question. Oh my boy, I'd give twice the money we +got for her, that I hadn't sold you that girl Zillah. When we took her +to Cuba she pitched in and learned the language right smart; wonderful +girl that; have you got her yet, Harrington?' + +"'She came with us to Spain,' said Harrington, looking a good deal +disturbed, 'but you forget she was General Harrington's purchase. I +believe my mother took a fancy to her.' + +"'Your mother! Why bless your soul, she never saw the girl till General +Harrington took her home. He said that _you_ had urged him to buy her; +come, come, don't blush up like that, what the deuce do I care who +fancied the girl, she was a great bargain to any one.' + +"'Are you speaking of Zillah?' said Miss Eaton, languidly. 'What a +pretty creature she was. It seemed a shame to keep her with the other +negroes. I remember often and often visitors mistook her for me.' + +"'But that was before they had seen you, Lucy. The girl is well enough, +but no one could mistake her for you. Such coal black hair, eyes like +velvet. Yes, yes, the girl was a beauty,--one good reason why I was +willing to sell her.' + +"James Harrington was so annoyed by the conversation, that he walked +away frowning. I had never seen his noble face darken so unpleasantly +before. + +"Miss Eaton laughed, and followed him with a pair of sparkling eyes, +that had a world of mischief in them. + +"'Something wrong I see. That girl will keep things stirring wherever +she is; knows a heap, and far too handsome for my plantation; glad to +get rid of her, if the truth must be told. Women folks were fools enough +to teach her to read and write, after that she took the bits into her +own mouth, and learned every thing. What do you think I would do with a +fancy slave like that?' + +"'Father, you cannot see, but General Harrington is coming,' said Miss +Eaton. + +"'Oh, ho! my old friend, how is the lady?' + +"'Mrs. Harrington is quite well, the voyage has done her a world of +good, long enough for a chance at health you understand. That is why we +selected a sailing vessel. It isn't going to sea at all when you get +into the steamers. Where is James? I thought he came this way, his +mother wants him.' + +"'Oh, I am to blame, I drove him off talking about that girl Zillah.' + +"'Come this way,' said the General hastily, 'I wish to surprise Mrs. +Harrington, she will be rejoiced to know that you are here.' + +"They went away together. I saw General Harrington stop his friend after +they got out of hearing, and talk with him earnestly as if expostulating +about something. Then I saw Mr. Eaton clap his hand on the General's +shoulders, nod his head half a dozen times, and move on as if some +matter had been amicably settled between them. From that day, I never +heard Mr. Eaton mention the girl Zillah again. Was it because James +Harrington seemed so displeased with the subject? + +"I was left alone with the young lady, who seemed so sweet and good that +it was impossible to look upon her with anything but kindness. Yet I +never turned towards her without a nervous thrill that almost held my +breath; every line of her face, and graceful curve of her form, seemed +burned on my memory from the first moment I saw her. Was this jealousy? +What had I to be jealous of? A fair girl whom he had known well, and was +pleased to see in a strange country, where friends are few and unusually +welcome, surely I am not so weak or wild as to give myself up to an +unreasonable and unreasoning fancy like that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THAT SPANISH NOBLEMAN. + + +"Miss Eaton was enthusiastic about the scenery of the river, as the boat +swept over its amber-hued waves, and the scenery became more and more +Arcadian. She was a little romantic too, and fell into some childish +affectations, that gave me a fair excuse for not thinking her perfect. +Upon the boat was a tall, powerful looking man, with bold black eyes, +and the carriage of a person used to power of some kind. His dress was +remarkable,--the short jacket of the country, buttoned and ornamented +with quantities of round golden buttons, that rattled and tinkled as he +walked up and down, was ornamented with a very rich embroidery, in which +gleams of crimson and brown were enwrought on the blue ground with +delicate effect; a traveling cap, also richly embroidered, sat +jauntingly on the side of his head. Everything about him was apparently +new, and if too gorgeous, effective. + +"Miss Eaton watched this man with her furtive blue eyes, as he passed us +ever and again, each time fastening his gaze on her face with a look of +audacious admiration that made the blood come hotly into my cheek. + +"'What is he, have you any idea?' she whispered, as he passed us for the +fifth time, 'some nobleman I am sure. Don't you think so, Miss +Crawford?' + +"I answered pleasantly, that as this was the first country of Europe +that I had seen, it was impossible for me to judge what particular trait +distinguished its nobility. While I was saying this, a little fussy +woman, wearing a showy dress and lace mantilla, came up to us and called +Miss Eaton by name. + +"'My dear,' she said, giving Lucy's bonnet a jerk forward. 'Have you +seen him?' + +"'Who, mamma?' + +"'Why that duke, he passed here just now, and I saw him looking at +you--with that bonnet stuck on end, dear me!' + +"Lucy began to re-arrange her bonnet, entering into her mother's +anxiety. 'Was it--was it the gentleman with the buttons, mamma. How is +it now? too far forward I think,--with the buttons?' + +"'Such buttons!' interrupted the mother, 'solid gold every one of 'em, +blue blood, every drop in his veins--any one could swear to that without +telling. Did you see him, Miss?' + +"'Miss Crawford, mamma,' said Lucy, 'General Harrington's ward, whom we +have heard so much about.' + +"The woman looked at me keenly through an enamelled eye glass, which she +carried fastened to a chain of gold, twisted around her wrist. + +"'Glad to make your acquaintance, Miss Crawford,' she said, dropping the +glass after a full survey of my person. 'James has told us so much about +you. Indeed, we were getting almost jealous, weren't we, Lucy? There, +there he comes again. Drop your parasol, Lucy, carelessly, you know. +Hush, hush!' + +"The Spanish traveller came by us again, with his long sweeping walk and +bold eyes, which he kept on the blushing face of Miss +Eaton--impertinently, I thought. + +"Mrs. Eaton gave me a little punch with the point of her parasol, after +he had passed. + +"'Struck! undoubtedly struck. Don't you think so?' + +"'Oh, mamma, how can you! I'm sure it was Miss Crawford his Highness was +admiring.' + +"'But how do you know it is his Highness,' I inquired. + +"'How? Why, look at him. His very tread has nobility in it. You have not +been travelling abroad long enough to distinguish at a glance. In order +to know the aristocracy of a nation one must have mingled with it on +equal terms. Now that gentleman is a royal duke, I take it. Lucy, dear, +if you could manage to be speaking French when he comes this way again. +Perhaps Miss Crawford knows enough to give you countenance. I am a +little--just a little--out of practice since my passion for the Spanish. +Noble language, isn't it, Miss? Something so dignified--so rolling--so +rich in sound. Here comes Mr. James Harrington, handsome as ever, but +wanting, as I may suggest, in the grand air. See with what modest +appreciation he passes the duke.' + +"The vulgarity of this woman did more to lift the cloud from my heart +than a hundred arguments could have done. I knew young Harrington well +enough to feel that he was safe with a woman like this, though the +mother of an angel. A sense of amusement stole over me, and I awaited +his approach, cured of the anxiety that had, for a time, made me so +wretched. + +"If I had calculated on a second exhibition of snobbery after Harrington +joined us, Mrs. Eaton disappointed me. I think she held the young +gentleman in too much awe for a free exercise of the vanity that was in +her. She did not even mention 'the duke,' and I remarked that this +personage kept on another portion of the deck while James was with us. + +"How beautiful are the banks of this river, as we go nearer and nearer +its source! It is strange that I, an American, born in a land which +spreads the broadest prairies on earth to the breeze and the sunshine, +should have caught my first glimpse of one in the heart of Spain. Here +mile after mile, the Guadalquiver, spread through vast plains of tall +grass and wild flowers, which sweeps away from you on either hand in a +sea of billowy green touched with purple and crimson, gleams now and +then where the tall flowers grow thickest, and swayed by the wind till +the waving grass seems to heave and roll like the ocean itself. + +"I had left my companions, and stood by the bulwarks admiring the beauty +of this scene with a sense of keen pleasure. Its vastness, its soft +wave-like undulations charmed me into forgetfulness of all that has made +the trip unpleasant. There was no habitation in sight, yet those +prairies gave one an idea of infinite life. + +"'It is here,' said a voice at my elbow, 'where the people of Seville +come for the wild bulls that form the great feature in their bull +fights. Wandering about in that long grass are thousands of splendid +animals that probably never saw the face of man.' + +"It was James Harrington. I felt that he was there before he spoke. A +quick throbbing of my heart had warned me of his presence. + +"'I see nothing of them,' was my answer. 'It seems one broad sea of wavy +grass, more still and lonely than the ocean itself, because no ships are +to be seen.' + +"'Look,' he said, pointing to a long, undulating ripple in the grass, +which seemed like the flow of some brook, 'a drove is coming toward the +shore.' + +"As he spoke, the thick wall of grass that hedged in the river was +parted, and the fiery head and broad chest of a wild bull, black as jet, +came into full view, while the rest of his body was still concealed. + +"Rosa Bonheur would have gloried in a study like that. The great wild +eyes, burning with angry fire--the long, slender horns, black as ebony, +and sharp as steel, which curved out from the proud symmetry of that +head, would have inspired lower genius than hers. The furious toss of +those horns, the swelling nostrils, blood red with angry heat, the +vehement pawing of his hoof upon the bank, were enough to terrify a +bolder person than I am. But the river was deep, and our boat far enough +from the shore to silence any fear of danger. Besides, the creature was +so magnificent in his wild rage, that admiration overwhelmed all other +feelings. + +"As the boat came opposite this bull, there was commotion in the tall +grass all around him, and out from the dense covert broke half a dozen +kindred beasts, all drawn to the shore by the rush and sound of the +steamboat. Superb animals they were, one and all; perfect creatures, +fresh from the hand of Nature, untouched by fetter or lasso, untamable +as the lion in his jungle. Some were ready for fight with the monster +beast that had seemed to challenge combat, with its rushing wheels and +the defiant snort of its engine. Others looked gravely at the passing +phenomenon, and stood motionless, with the long grass closing over +their backs, evidently wondering what terrible thing had come among them +to torment the waters so. While we were looking, these grave old +animals, who had doubtless been within sight of human beings before, +wheeled slowly and were lost in the long grass which closed over their +backs, as sea waves cover a victim. But the black bull came farther out +from his covert, tearing the bank with his hoofs, erecting his tail like +a banner, ripping up the earth with his sharp horns, and bellowing a +defiance after us, that made me tremble where I stood. Heaven help the +matador, whom fate should throw into the path of that terrible creature. + +"The banks of the Guadalquiver are Arcadian, after the prairies are +passed. As we approached the beautiful basin in which the old city of +Seville is built, villas and country houses were seen here and there +along the shores; clumps of gnarled old olive trees wound down to the +water; orange and citron trees in full blossom, and fruit, perfumed the +air; sometimes a single tree stood out alone large and symmetrical as a +New England pear tree; then whole orchards sloped down to the river, +with great golden piles of fruit heaped on the grass underneath, and the +blossoms showering down so thickly, that it seemed as if a squall of +snow must have swept by only an hour before. I think in the whole world, +there cannot be found trees so large, so perfect, and so vivid in their +greenness, as those we saw in the orange orchards, just before we came +in sight of Seville. How I longed to go ashore and bathe myself in their +perfume, and taste their delicious fruit! + +"James Harrington was standing near, and he too must have felt the +influence of all that subdued me; for the scent of the orange blossoms +swept over us both, the rich amber-hued waves of the river whispered the +same music to him that I had listened to. We had conversed but +little,--a climate like this induces reverie, rather than speech; all +the sensibilities of one's nature exert themselves unconsciously, a +harsh word or bitter thought would melt into forgiveness, before either +could be spoken. Was he affected in this way? I cannot tell; my heart +deceives me if there was not unusual tenderness in his voice, a tremor +as if he feared to say what my heart paused to gather in. I dared not +look at him. In my soul there lay thoughts he might shrink from reading, +and I should perish with shame if he but guessed that they existed." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE MANOEUVRING MOTHER. + + +"We come in sight of Seville, the high tower of the Giralda, cutting +against the blue of the sky, first won my attention; then a portion of +the old city came in view, backed by one of the finest cathedrals in the +world. + +"It was just before holy week; the steamboat brought many passengers +from Cadiz, who had come to witness the ceremonies in this the second +city of Spain. + +"Many persons, mostly ladies, were on the shore when our boat came up to +its landing place. Dressed in their light flowing muslins and lace +mantillas, they had a picturesque appearance quite in harmony with the +place. The moment we came in sight, a hundred pretty hands gave out +signals of welcome from the twinkle of their delicate fingers. There was +no bustle, no confusion, but a world of welcoming smiles, and soft +murmuring words, which would have filled me with a sense of loneliness, +had not all that I loved been close by. How could I miss those wreathing +welcomes, when the wealth of my whole existence went with me? + +"'You are pleased. You like Seville. I can read it in your face.' + +"He had not spoken to me during the last ten minutes, and I started from +the dreaming observation into which I had fallen, to answer him. + +"'I was wondering if all the world could produce another spot more +lovely.' + +"'And I was thinking pretty much the same thing. In a scene like this +the hard cares of life seem impossible. It is a place to live, love, and +die in.' + +"I could not answer him. Indeed, his words were spoken so dreamily that +they required no response. + +"We were on shore then, waiting for General and Mrs. Harrington. The +Eatons joined us, full of some important intelligence, which I saw the +elder lady was dying to communicate. + +"'I told you so--never was mistaken in my life,' she whispered. 'The +captain speaks French almost as well as I do.' + +"To have saved my life I could not have helped smiling. The woman had +given me a specimen of her French that day, and I could imagine how +perfect any information must be conveyed to her in that language. + +"'I asked him who the gentleman was, and he told me he was the greatest +man in Seville, just then. No wonder I admired him--all the ladies did, +not excepting the Infanta herself, who would present him with a golden +key next week, in token of her high appreciation! She must be some +member of the royal family--master of the wardrobe, I suppose, by the +key. They never give such offices to anything less than a duke, you +know.' + +"The little woman was all in a flutter of excitement. Again she made a +motion that I should bend my head to listen. + +"'Would I oblige her and ride or walk with Mr. James. She would rather +that the duke should not see Lucy with him just now. He might understand +an engagement, and the Spaniards were so proud and particular. That was +a good soul! She could trust me with all her little secrets.' + +"The silly thing did not dream how willing I was to oblige her, but +General Harrington broke up our plans. He had engaged a carriage, and +called on me to get in with Mrs. Harrington. My maid was already seated +there, so James walked to the shore alone. The Eatons had their way, for +he did not offer to go with them. They lingered at the landing till the +duke drove off. Mrs. Eaton told me that he had absolutely waved a kiss +to Lucy from his carriage window. Of course it was not returned, 'but +straws show where the wind lies,' she said. 'So many people told us +before we came away, that we ought to look higher for a girl like our +Lucy. I wonder if a duke would meet the ideas of our friends.' + +"The woman's fussy vanity wearied me--so puerile, so ridiculous, yet +there was a sting in it. Look higher for their daughter! Higher than +whom? But why should I let the talk of this silly woman annoy me? The +daughter is wonderfully beautiful, but what of that? Still I have heard +it said that the most brilliant men often choose such women for their +wives. There is repose in this companionship it is said, and so it may +be for a time, but men do not live for repose. When a man wants rest for +his intellect, let him sleep, not marry a pretty idiot. + +"Dear, dear! how bitter I am becoming! How unhappy I am! What possesses +me to think of this poor girl as an enemy? Is it because he took her to +the cathedral yesterday and left me to General Harrington. + +"We went to the cathedral again this morning. I saw General Harrington +talking earnestly with James just before we started. He seemed a little +angry. I could not hear a word, but they both looked towards me, and I +saw the blood rush into James' face when he saw that I was regarding +them. He hesitated a moment after the General left him, and advanced a +step towards me, then wheeled suddenly and went away. A few minutes +after I saw him walking towards the cathedral with Lucy Eaton. We +followed them after a little, General Harrington observing, with a +laugh, that we must give the young people their chances." + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +THE CATHEDRAL AT SEVILLE. + + +"The cathedral was magnificent. All its rich properties in velvets, +silver and gold, had been brought forth for its adornment. The altar was +one blaze of light--tapers of snow-white wax rose in crowds from golden +candlesticks, garlanded with flowers which sent their sweetness through +the pungent smoke of the censers, and clothed the altar with a sacred +whiteness. Reliquaires flaming with jewels, flashed out through all this +noonday splendor, and two enormous tapers, six feet high, stood like +sentinels on each side the altar. Yet all this was insufficient to light +up the vast edifice or penetrate the chapels in the side aisles. Here +all was shadowy and full of religious gloom, where any weary soul might +pray in solitude, notwithstanding the priests were saying high mass at +the great altar, and a grand choir of fresh, young voices filled the +whole edifice with music which seemed born of Heaven. + +"The gloom along the centre of the building was heightened by draperies +of warm crimson velvet, which, banded at each seam with gold, swept down +the vast stone pillars and fell in massive folds over the great entrance +doors. + +"I could not understand all that was said, for the service was in Latin, +but I did feel the solemn swell of the music in every fibre of my being, +and the devotional feeling which impressed the crowd touched me with +holy sympathy. + +"I do not know what caused the impulse, but Mrs. Harrington took my hand +tenderly in hers. Then we stole to a side altar gleaming snow-white +through the shadows, and kneeling down together asked that help and +blessing from God which both of us thirsted for. The whispered prayers +we uttered that solemn hour, undoubtedly sanctified a friendship which +has been growing deeper and stronger from the first hour of my meeting +with this lovely woman. She wept that day, and I saw, for the first +time, that under her soft and gentle exterior, lay feelings and passions +which the world would never dream of. + +"I did not appear to notice the singular emotion she betrayed at that +altar, but it recurred to me afterwards, and my mind was filled with +conjectures about its cause. Surely it could not be her husband. No +human being was ever more attentive and kind to a wife than General +Harrington was to his. There was something almost chivalric in his +devotion to her wishes. Was it her son? There my heart stood still. With +only these near relatives in the world, she could have no grief which +did not relate to them or one of them at least. + +"That night Mrs. Harrington came into my room, which opened upon the +same verandah with her own. She sat down on the sofa I occupied, and +began to talk to me of the ceremonies we had witnessed that day in the +cathedral. From that she glided gradually to other subjects, and dwelt +with a touch of sadness on the impolicy of early marriages. 'Her own,' +she said, 'had been a happy one, and she had married at sixteen; but as +a general thing she would advise no girl to undertake the cares of +domestic life under two or three and twenty. Particularly she would urge +this on me. With no mother to guide me in a choice, with money enough +to invite venal offers, I was, she thought, liable to peculiar +temptations. Besides,' she added sweetly, 'I have no daughter, and crave +a little of your life, for there will come a time when I shall be very +lonely.' + +"I did not ask her when that time would be, or to whom it related, but +sat still, mute and cold. Was James Harrington engaged? I thought of +Mrs. Eaton's vague speeches regarding him, of her daughter's blushes and +Harrington's attention to her that day when I seemed utterly forgotten. +Was the kind lady preparing me? Had she seen my weakness! Heavens, how +my heart burned within me that I had so betrayed myself to this delicate +and high-minded woman, his mother too. Wounded pride made me courageous. +I would answer carelessly. She should never know that I had been mute +from want of speech. I arose from the sofa and drank a glass of water, +eagerly, for it seemed as if I must strangle. Then I said with a laugh, + +"'You have something to tell me. Who is it that is likely to enter into +an early marriage! certainly it is not me.' + +"'No indeed, I have little fear of that, but they have been forcing the +subject on me since I came home. Why cannot people allow a family to +rest in peace. I have never seen that he cared so much for the girl.' + +"'Of whom are you speaking?' I asked. + +"'Of my son and Miss Eaton.' + +"'Is he then engaged to her?' + +"'I do not understand it, but the General seems confident that it will +soon come about. The Eatons are enormously wealthy, you know, and Lucy +is an only child.' + +"'But what of that? There is no need that Mr. Harrington should make a +mercenary marriage. Are not you rich, and is not he an only son?' + +"'Why how sharply you speak, Mabel. I never observed your voice so +shrill before,' exclaimed the lady, lifting up her two delicate hands as +if to ward off a disagreeable sound. 'Upon my word I think we are all +getting cross. When I told the General how much better I should like +you,--that is, how much better I did like you than that pretty thing +with the blue eyes, he asked me if I was willing to betray the young +creature thrown into our protection, by giving her wealth into the hands +of my own son, whom I knew--' + +"She checked herself and turned her face from me like a guilty child. + +"'When you knew that he did not like me?' I questioned, controlling +myself. + +"'No, no, he did not say that. Who could help liking you, Mabel? It was +love he was talking about. She said it would be treacherous to let him +entangle you for your money, when I was sure that he looked upon you +only as a sister. I said that we were not sure of that by any means. +Indeed, sometimes it had seemed to me--Oh Mabel, how wild you look. I +did not say a thing to wound your delicacy. There is not a lady in the +land who might not be proud of any preference James Harrington can give. +I only thought that General Harrington was mistaken. As for my James +liking or marrying anybody for her money, the idea made me quite beside +myself. It is not often that I get out of temper, but this really made +me angry.' + +"'No wonder,' I said, 'It was unkind indeed in the General to speak of +me in that way.' + +"'No, no, you quite misunderstand again. General Harrington is incapable +of unkindness. As for indelicacy, a more perfect gentleman never lived. +His sensitive honor was touched. You are his ward, beautiful, young, +rich. James is his step-son, without a dollar of his own, wholly +dependent on the General--' + +"'But I thought the property came from his father.' I said this so +abruptly that it brought the color into Mrs. Harrington's face, and sent +the hot blood into my own. + +"'So it did, but my husband loved me dearly, and in his will gave every +dollar to me; knowing, he said, that I would be generous with our only +child; and so I have been, Mabel. The General is liberal to a fault. +James never wants for money.' + +"'But he is a man now, and dependence must be irksome.' + +"'Oh, he is not dependent; that feeling is impossible with a man like +the General. James knows well enough that the whole property will be his +when my husband has done with it--that is made sure in my will; first +the General, then my son. I should be a wretched woman else.' + +"'I am sure you will do right in the end,' I said. + +"'I had thought at one time that the property was so large and had +increased so much in value, that it would be well to divide it and give +James half; but the General fancied that it might take him too much away +from us--that he might get to speculate or want to go into business,--a +thing none of the Harringtons ever had stooped to, and we decided to put +it off. James felt a little hurt, I know, but it was all for his own +good, and because his society is so dear to us.' + +"I think the woman was in earnest, and had no idea how unjust she seemed +in thus withholding the natural inheritance of her son, in behalf of the +man she had married. The whole thing disturbed me, all the more because +I dared not speak out the revolt of my own feelings. Mrs. Harrington saw +this in my face, I dare say, and began to apologise about troubling me +with family matters. + +"'Here, I came to have a little chat about that girl Lucy, and we have +branched off into discussions on money, the last thing on earth that I +ever care to think about,' she said. 'Now tell me, do you think that she +is so very pretty?' + +"'Yes,' I answered, 'very pretty. I have seldom seen anything more +delicately beautiful.' + +"I spoke the truth, in spite of all the bitter feelings which the few +last days had engendered. That girl's beauty was so patent that even +prejudice must acknowledge it. Nay, in my determination to be just, her +perfections were perhaps a little exaggerated. + +"'There, I think you are wrong, Mabel. I have seen fifty prettier girls +even of her own type--necks like lilies, cheeks like the lip of a sea +shell, and golden hair. But I like coloring, depth, richness. Now in my +estimation you are fifty times more beautiful than Lucy Eaton, and I +know James thinks so in spite of the General's belief about that girl.' + +"'Oh, Mrs. Harrington, how partial and how kind you are.' + +"'Well, I should like to have any one look at you now, and say if I am +wrong. Why, no peach was ever so richly crimsoned as your cheeks this +moment, and as for the eyes, Mabel, you have splendid eyes! That was the +first thing James told me when I asked about you; 'purplish gray,' he +said, with such curling lashes, their glance is something to remember +when she looks up.' + +"'Did Mr. Harrington say this?' + +"'Indeed he did, and a great deal more. Upon my word, Mabel, I think he +was taken with you then.' + +"'I am sure you are mistaken. We scarcely exchanged a dozen words.' + +"'But James has his eyes.' + +"'I must not trust my ears when you flatter so sweetly,' I said. + +"'Well, the truth is, Mabel, I am a little disappointed. My heart, I may +as well own it, was set on having you for a daughter-in-law, and I wont +believe it quite impossible yet. General Harrington is so nice in his +sense of honor, but women care nothing about business, and the idea of +refusing a noble young fellow because you have money, is just +ridiculous, especially as my son will have plenty by and by, don't you +think so.' + +"'It would be where love existed, certainly,' I answered, ready to cast +myself into this woman's arms, and tell her all that was stirring in my +heart. + +"'Ah, it is a pity that you could not have fancied him,' she answered, +'seeing it would have saved him from this choice which General +Harrington approves so much; but I cannot believe it yet.' + +"'But the General should know.' + +"'I hope not, I hope not. The truth is, dear, I never could like the +girl, and as for her mother, the very idea of a connection with her +makes me shiver.' + +"'She certainly is not a pleasant woman,' I said. + +"'Pleasant! but we will not talk of her. Mercy! that is her voice, let +me escape.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A DUKE IN THE HOUSE. + + +"Mrs. Harrington gathered up the cloud-like drapery of her white dress, +and glided out of the room. She was certainly a lovely woman, sweet and +gentle as a child, with nerve and energy, too, as I afterwards found +out; but that night she had wounded me terribly, and I was glad to see +her go. + +"I sat down on the couch when quite alone, and covering my face with +both hands, struggled hard to free the tears that weighed down my heart. +It seemed that some wrong had been done me,--that the whole Harrington +family was in league to break up my life before it had really commenced. +But I could not shed a tear, a keen sense of shame kept me from the +relief of weeping. Shame that I, a young girl, should suffer thus from a +knowledge of another's happiness. Yes, I was bitterly ashamed, and shut +my face out from the mirror before me, afraid to look upon my own +humiliation. Did they know it? Had that aristocratic old man guessed at +my weakness, and sent his wife there to convince me how hopeless it was? +Not directly--not in any way that she could recognise as a mission; that +was impossible to a woman so sensitive, but was she not the unconscious +instrument of his keener penetration? + +"While I was tormenting myself with these fears, Mrs. Eaton came in, +swinging her lilac parasol, and with her rich lace shawl trailing to the +ground. + +"'Oh, I have come to tell you one must have confidence in some persons, +or the heart would give out, you know. Guess who it was that Lucy and I +met in the Court of Oranges, just now.' + +"'I cannot tell. Mr. Harrington, perhaps!' + +"'Mr. Harrington, no indeed. We can meet him at any time. It was his +Highness, the duke, walking quite alone, under the orange trees, with a +slender little cane in his hand, that he was beating the branches with, +all in a brown study, showering down the blossoms among his gold +buttons--so romantic--and in his glossy hair. Lucy gave a little scream +when she saw him, and clasped her hands so. The duke gave a start and +came toward us, then checked himself and begged pardon in such delicious +Spanish, only we couldn't quite understand it. He saw that, and broke a +twig of orange blossoms from one of the branches bending over him, and +gave it to Lucy with an air--I cannot describe it--but you never saw +anything so princely. Lucy blushed beautifully, and fastened the orange +blossoms in her bosom. He smiled then, and gave her _such_ a look. There +is no two ways about it, Miss Crawford, that girl of mine was born to +wear the purple. Her head is just the size for a coronet. Why not? The +empress Josephine was no handsomer than my Lucy. As for family, who has +got anything to say against any genteel American family being good +enough to marry dukes, and emperors too, providing they've got money +enough?' + +"The woman tired me dreadfully. I was too wretched for any enjoyment of +her absurdities, or they might have amused me. I answered her with +civility, and tried my best to fasten some attention on the ridiculous +things she was saying, but an under current of painful thought disturbed +me all the while. + +"'Now I tell you this in the strictest confidence, remember,' she went +on to say. 'I must have some one to rely upon; but not a word to the +Harringtons. You know the old adage, 'It's well to be off with an old +love, before you are on with a new.' Promise not to say a word about it, +Miss Crawford.' + +"'I shall not speak--I shall not care to speak to any one about it,' I +answered almost impatiently, I fear, for the woman was tormenting me +beyond endurance. + +"'But I did not tell you all. When we came home it happened, I really +can't tell how, that the duke moved along with us, and when we got to +the hotel I could not avoid asking him in. He understood my Spanish +splendidly, and when Lucy ventured on a few words, seemed perfectly +delighted. Miss Crawford, say nothing about it, but he's in there now.' + +"'What, with Miss Eaton?' + +"'Yes, he's there talking to her. I don't suppose she can make out all +he says, but some people talk with their eyes, you know. What +magnificent eyes he has. Did you notice, Miss Crawford?' + +"'No, I did not observe.' + +"'But he has. Well, good night. I mustn't stay out too long. Remember, +not a word to any human being.' + +"With a sensation of relief I saw this silly woman leave the room. Why +should she come there to mingle so much of contempt with the pain I was +suffering! _Can_ this be true? + +"How many times during the night I asked myself this question! Each time +my heart turned away humiliated and wounded. I did not sleep, I could +not. All the pride of my nature was up in arms. Why did she drag up this +question of money? Are such things to render every sentiment of the soul +coarse and earthy, by mingling with them as the better element? What +wild thoughts came over me as I lay awake that long night! How I +reasoned for and against the thing I dreaded. With what keen scrutiny I +criticised every word and look of his during our acquaintance!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +HOPES AND PERSUASIONS. + + +"In the morning my head and heart both ached with the strain of thought +which had racked them so piteously. I shrank nervously from appearing +before any of my tormentors. But they came to my door, wondering what +kept me so late. There was to be a splendid religious procession that +day. All the churches of Seville were to send forth their imaged +Madonnas in great splendor, with attending priests, that their +worshipers might see them by broad daylight. Great preparations had been +made on this occasion, for one Madonna of wonderful potency was to be +brought forth from her convent for the first time in ninety years. The +convent Montes Serat being one of most holy repute, and at a distance +from the city, had not, for nearly a century, joined in the procession +of the holy week; but now its famous Madonna was coming forth from her +sacred privacy, rich in the gifts of her votaries, resplendent with the +jewels which attested her superior sanctity. + +"The advent of no crowned monarch into his capital ever produced a +greater sensation than this coming of our Lady of Montes Serat. It awoke +a strong spirit of rivalry in all the churches of Seville. Fair devotees +emptied their jewel cases in behalf of their favorite Madonnas--nothing +was withheld which female pride could bestow on the object of its +religious idolatry. So, for a time, all Seville was in a tumult of +ambitious rivalry, and out of this was sure to come the most brilliant +day of the holy week. I had not cared to go to this exhibition, but +General Harrington had secured a balcony overlooking that of the Infanta +and her suite. It was to be a splendid procession, they said, and I +should regret it forever if they permitted me to remain at home. + +"I found it easier to submit than to contend, but still hesitated, when +James Harrington came up to the verandah where we were sitting, and +leaning over my chair, whispered a request that I should go. His manner +was almost caressing, and there thrilled through his voice such genuine +anxiety, that I could hardly suppress the quick leaping of my heart, or +speak at first, it throbbed so loudly. The rest had left us and we were +alone. + +"'Do go! It seems an age since I have seen you except in a crowd,' he +said, drawing a chair to mine. + +"'But this will be a crowd, also!' + +"'Not for us.' + +"I looked up suddenly and felt the warm crimson leap to my face, when my +eyes met his. + +"'Let us be happy this once,' he said, 'the crowd itself will be well +worth seeing. Besides, the Infanta will be there, with her husband, Le +Duc de Montpensier. Then remember that the Princess Clementina, wife of +the Prince of Saxe Coburg will be of the party,--quite a nest of +royalty, you will find; just the persons that I for one should like to +see.' + +"'And so would I. My heart always warms toward the children of that good +man, Louis Philippe,' I answered. + +"'Then you will go?' + +"'Yes, I will certainly go; the promise of seeing all these interesting +persons makes me almost impatient.' + +"'Ah, how bright you look; we shall have a pleasant day. Mother is +getting ready. She seems to be feeling young as a girl. Did you ever see +any one change as she has since we came to Seville?' + +"'The General was speaking of it this morning,' I replied. 'She is so +well and happy,' he said, 'that I can hardly think of moving yet. The +very air of Seville carries balm with it.' + +"Harrington turned away and walked to a window, as if I had said +something to disturb him. After a little he came back again with the air +of a man who had flung aside some unpleasant burden, and began to talk +of the country we were in. + +"'What a calm, delicious climate it is,' he said, 'I wonder people can +get angry or very much in earnest here. For myself this country life +seems like floating at will on some lake, with scarcely air enough to +stir a sail, or ripple foam wreaths around the prow of one's boat; the +very breath we draw is a luxury.' + +"'A sad one sometimes,' I answered, 'the very solitude and repose which +steal over one, enfeebles the spirit and makes life too harmonious for +improvement either of the mind or heart. Continued life in a place like +this, would rob an American of his last attribute,--a love of +progression. Rest and sensuous enjoyment were not intended for a people +like us. Yet the place is so lovely, I feel like a traitor while saying +this.' + +"He looked at me with unconscious earnestness, sighed gently and paced +the room once or twice before he resumed the subject. + +"'You are right; a soul worth having would never content itself with the +drowsy sweetness of a life like this. After all, the great glory of +existence lies in action.' + +"'And the greatest happiness;' I answered, with a dreamy sense of the +inaction to which I, as a woman, was forever consigned. + +"'You speak with the feeling of a man, shut out from his proper career,' +he said, 'there, I think you and I can have sympathy; only the life of a +woman should be restful, and full of love.' + +"'And I of a man?' I questioned. + +"'You must not ask that question of a man shut out from action, and--and +even from the woman's privilege of loving.' + +"What was there in my expression that changed his so instantly? Could he +discover in my eyes the brightness that had come over me with the sound +of his voice, tender and impressive as it had been that day among the +water lilies? I do not know, but in a moment a cloud crept over his +face, and a chill into his voice. + +"'Excuse me, if I have pressed you over much,' he said. 'But it is a +lovely day and the procession will be well worth seeing. If it would not +be considered sacrilegious among so many good Catholics, I should say, +there would be a rivalry among the Madonnas. You will go?' + +"'Yes,' I answered, sinking into depression again, 'as well there as +here. Who will be of our party?' + +"'Oh, the General, and my mother, of course, with the Eatons. That will +be enough to fill the balcony.' + +"I felt the blood growing warm in my cheeks. Why must those Eatons +forever compose a portion of our party? Could no one see how I detested +this eternal companionship with persons who had not a single idea or +principle in common with us? + +"Just then Miss Eaton came into the balcony--her transparent muslin +dress looped up at the sleeves and throat with delicate blue ribbons, +floating like a cloud around her, and a wreath of forget-me-nots +relieving the snow-white chip of her bonnet. Her parasol was frosted +over with soft Brussels lace, and a better dressed or more beautiful +creature I have seldom set my eyes upon. James Harrington left my chair +the moment she appeared. Taking the parasol from her hand, he commenced +playing with it as he conversed with her, lightly, carelessly, and with +such smiles as he had not given me in many a long day. + +"At times one gets in love with pain, to abridge it seems like +cowardice. What mattered it whether I suffered a little more or less, +since suffering was so early become my destiny? This girl, with her +bright beauty and soft words, superseded me every where; yet she did not +seem to prize the homage for which I famished, but stood there, smiling +up in his face, and dropping a sweet word now and then, carelessly, as +she would have given sugar to a parrot." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE INFANTA AND HER GUESTS. + + +"I went into my room and threw a world of bitter energy into my toilet, +angry with myself for not being beautiful enough to win one heart from +that pretty face, angry with him that he could not understand the depth +of feeling and of thought which made my preference so much more worthy +than anything that young creature could ever feel. I had a cruel +pleasure in depreciating myself, and almost hated the face which looked +into mine half angrily from the glass. Its large gray eyes, with their +thick lashes, seemed heavy with unshed tears. There was a frown on the +forehead, rendering it dark and turbulent. The mouth harmonized with +this stormy look, and trembled into half sarcastic smiles, as if each +feature reviled the other. Now I was larger, taller, more pronounced in +face and person than the pretty fairy who could entertain him so +flippantly, while I sat dumb and silent in his presence. No wonder I +hated myself, yet many persons had thought me good looking, and I could +recollect a thousand compliments on my talents and powers of pleasing, +which came to me then like remembered mockeries. + +"I made no effort to look beautiful, but over my simple white dress +threw a lace mantilla, fastening it to my head with clusters of tea +roses, and allowing it to sweep over my person, black and shadowy, like +the thoughts that haunted my mind. This was a common dress among the +Spanish ladies, and I put it on that day for the first time, thinking to +escape the observation that a foreign costume was sure to provoke. Miss +Eaton gave an exclamation of delight when I went down to the parlor. If +any thing could inspire her to enthusiasm it was a novelty in dress. + +"'Oh, how charming! And you have turned Spaniard,' she said, clasping +her little hands and examining me from head to foot, in a sort of +rapture. 'Ain't she splendid, Mr. Harrington! Those crimson roses look +superb in the black lace. I am sick of my bonnet. Just hold my parasol +while I make myself a senorita also.' + +"She ran out of the room, snatching some orange blossoms from a vase as +she went, and sending back soft gushes of an opera song to us. + +"'What a light-hearted creature she is,' said Harrington, watching her +with admiring eyes as she floated off. 'A lovely face, don't you think +so?' + +"'Yes, I think so, a very lovely face.' + +"Perhaps some of the bitterness in my heart found its way through my +voice. Something there was which disturbed James Harrington. He turned +and looked at me keenly, seemed about to make some reply, but checked +himself and began to play with the coral handle of Lucy's parasol. +Directly, Lucy Eaton came back more like a summer cloud than ever, for +over her head she had thrown a veil of Brussels point, delicate as a +mist, and white as frost. But for her canary colored gloves and blue +ribbons, she would have appeared in absolute bridal costume, for she had +twisted the orange blossoms into a pretty garland which held the veil or +mantilla over her head, and was blushing like a rose with a sense of her +own completeness. + +"We started for the public square through which the procession was to +pass. The streets were full of people, men, women, and children, all in +their richest costume, and brilliant with expectation. Every woman had +the national fall of lace on her head, almost invariably fastened with +clusters of natural roses; some of these mantillas were marvels of +costly work, and fell shadow-like over those soft summer dresses, giving +them a graceful and cloud-like lightness. All Seville was on foot, no +carriages are permitted in the street during the holy week. Poor and +rich were, for the time, on a perfect level, and each came forth well +dressed and radiant, to honor the most interesting spectacle known to +the nation. It was like looking down on an out door opera when we +entered the queint stone balcony reserved for us, with fresh palm leaves +interwoven in the carved work, and cushioned chairs waiting for our +occupation. No flower garden was ever more radiant and blooming. +Hundreds of colored parasols swayed towards the sun like mammoth +poppies, gay fans kept the air in perpetual motion. Pretty white hands +twinkled recognition from friend to friend; floating lace gave a +cloud-like softness to the whole scene, indescribably beautiful. All was +eagerness and gay commotion. On the outskirts of the square, horsemen +with arms at their sides, were stationed like statues. The balconies +were hung with gorgeously tinted draperies, crowded with beautiful women +and garlanded with flowers. + +"One balcony, more spacious than the rest, was richly ornamented with +draperies of crimson velvet falling from a gilded crown over head, and +drawn back by cords of heavy bullion. A flight of steps led to this +balcony from the street, and altogether it had a look of regal +magnificence which drew the general attention that way. + +"While we were occupied with this novel scene, a hum and murmur of +voices drew the general attention toward one of the principal streets +entering the square. This was followed by a general commotion in the +crowd, through which a murmur, like that of hiving bees, ran to and fro; +ladies stood up, parasols swayed confusedly, expectation was in every +face. + +"Directly the cause of all this excitement became apparent. The Infanta +had entered the square, and was approaching the royal balcony. She was a +lovely woman, very young and in the full bloom of her beauty, dark-eyed, +dark-haired, well formed, and carrying herself with queenly dignity, +which it is said the sovereign herself does not equal. The slanting +sunbeams fell directly upon her as she passed by our balcony in full +state; the train of her dress, blue as the sky, and looped with clusters +of pink roses, was carried by four noblemen, all richly attired, as if +the street had been some palace hall. Her dress was looped back at the +shoulders with aigrette of diamonds, whose pendent sparks dropped half +way to the elbow, quivering like fire from beneath the long white +mantilla that swept over her person as sweeps the blue of a summer sky. +The veil was fastened to her graceful head by a tiara of the same pure +gems, which twinkled through it like starlight on frost. Her walk was +queenly, her look full of sweet womanliness. They tell me she is +prettier and more popular than the queen, and I can readily believe it, +for this young creature is very lovely. + +"The steps of the royal balcony descended directly to the pavement. The +Infanta mounted them, gliding upward with the grace of a bird of +paradise, followed by her train-bearers. Directly after she was seated, +the balcony filled from a room beyond it, into which the royal party had +assembled. Le Duc de Montpensier, his sister, Princess Clementina, and +her husband, the Duke of Saxe Coburg, the cousin of Prince Albert of +England, and two or three pretty children, mingled with the group, +giving it a domestic grace pleasant to contemplate." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE PROCESSION OF THE MADONNAS. + + +"Now the procession commenced. Lines of solemn monks, with their gray +gowns fastened at the waist with rope girdles, came out of their +monasteries and reverently followed the particular Madonna worshipped by +their order, as she was carried around, standing on a platform carpeted +with velvet, dressed sumptuously, like a woman of the world. Some of +these Madonnas were covered with jewels richer and in greater profusion +than those worn by the Infanta herself. One, our Lady of Montes Serat, +was elevated on a platform ten feet long, carried by eight stalwart +priests. The platform was carpeted with crimson velvet, ornamented at +the sides with heavy bullion fringe. Her black velvet robe was studded +with diamonds over the whole length of its ample and flowing train. This +swept back to the verge of the platform in heavy folds, while adown the +front was one maze of jewels, covering the velvet so thickly that you +could scarcely see it. A mantilla of such lace as cannot be bought for +gold, fell over her shoulders, and in her stiff hand she carried a +marvel of point lace which, with a living person, would have answered +for a pocket handkerchief. + +"Six tall tapers of white wax shed their refulgence over the image, +lighting up all its wealth of jewels, and its sweeping draperies into +wonderful magnificence. The platform was strewn with garlands and +freshly gathered roses, which perfumed the air as she passed through +thousands and thousands who looked upon her with smiles of wonder and +adoration. + +"Just as this particular Madonna came slowly in sight, a glorious sunset +poured its last beams upon us, filling the square with an atmosphere of +sifted gold. In the midst of this refulgence, and just as our Lady of +Montes Serat was approaching the royal balcony, a strange scene +surprised us. + +"The worshipers of a rival Madonna, composed of priests in sweeping +robes that trailed along the street some ten or fifteen feet, and tall +caps, like extinguishers, on the head--crowded so close upon our Lady of +Montes Serat, that the whole procession was thrown into confusion. One +priest trod on the trailing garments of another, forcing him back +against his brethren. Bitter rivalry between the followers of both +Madonnas was at work. The two images were crowded together and hustled +before the balcony in which the Infanta sat, surrounded by her royal +guests; but the priests still in confusion broke line and fell upon each +other, dealing blows that might have come from prize-fighters. The guard +took alarm, swords flashed from their scabbards. A wild cry arose from +the crowd. The tornado of a great panic swept over it, and while we +looked on terrified, a cloud of dust, a few troopers riding madly about +with drawn swords, and the rival Madonnas, standing stiff and stately +before the Infanta's balcony, were all that remained of the crowd, or +the pageant. + +"The square was empty, but every street leading to it was closed up with +frightened people. The Infanta arose, knelt first to one virgin, then +to the other, with impartial homage, and one of her officers gave some +order from a window of the house. Instantly every lamp in the square +blazed into brilliant light, and the people came crowding back rapidly +as they had left. The priests fell into line, and the Infanta, sweeping +down those balcony steps with her four train bearers, placed herself in +front of our Lady of Montes Serat, and led the procession forward in her +own person. + +"When the panic was at its height, and the rush of people underneath our +balcony was like a stampede of wild animals, I felt myself growing +faint, and looked around for something to rest against. That instant an +arm supported me and a voice whispered, 'Do not be frightened, you are +safe.' + +"I started from his arms lest he should feel the quick beating of my +heart, and replied quickly that I was not afraid. + +"He left me then, and I could have cried with vexation at receiving his +kindness so ungraciously. What must he think of me? + +"While I was blaming myself and wondering how I could redeem this +seeming coolness, Mrs. Eaton called James Harrington into the room from +which our balcony opened, where she held an animated conversation with +him. Lucy remained behind. I noticed that she leaned over the railing +and seemed anxious about some one who had evidently been swept off with +the crowd, which was then gathering back to the square. Directly I saw +her face brighten, and looking downward for the cause saw the young man +whom we had met on the steamboat, leaning against a lamp post and +looking up to our balcony in an easy, familiar way, that annoyed me. +Still I could not withhold some admiration from the man. He certainly +was a splendid creature, formed in the perfection of manly strength, +and quite handsome enough to turn the head of a vain girl like Lucy. + +"I watched the movements of these two persons listlessly, for the +faintness had not quite left me, and they seemed to me like creatures in +a dream. I saw Lucy take a note from her bosom and tie it to a spray of +orange blossoms which she had been wearing there. This she held a moment +carefully in her hands, then leaning over the railing dropped it. + +"Had her mother called James Harrington away, that Lucy might be left +unwatched, to give this signal to her strange admirer? All this seemed +like it. How innocent she looked when James came back to the balcony! No +sunshine ever touched a red rose more sweetly than the smile settled on +her lips when he came and bent over her chair." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +WHERE WE SAW THE DUKE. + + +"The Holy Week is over, carriages once more appear in the streets. The +world claims its own again. I have been to a bull fight and am even now +shivering with disgust of myself. Still, it was a magnificent +spectacle--that grand amphitheatre of beautiful faces, the hilarity and +gay confusion, the open homage, the child-like enjoyment. Until these +wild, brave animals came bounding into the arena, there was nothing in +the scene which any out-door amusement might not exhibit. Indeed, the +gathering of an assembly in Spain is full of spirited life. If a woman +is beautiful, a hundred voices tell her so as she presents herself to +the general gaze. When our party entered the amphitheatre, a general +murmur of admiring comments hailed us. Beautiful--superb--fair as a +lily--bright as an angel! were the exclamations that followed that +lovely creature as she moved to her seat, leaning upon James +Harrington's arm. No wonder he looked proud of her! + +"Mrs. Harrington did not care to see a scene so revolting, and I would +have stayed at home gladly, but they refused to hear of it, reason as I +might. It seems as if they were determined to chain me like a slave to +this girl's chariot wheels. Well, I can endure it. There must have been +thousands of persons present, for the great amphitheatre was full long +before the Infanta appeared with her family and her royal guests. She +was received with exclamations, and took her seat with a slight bow of +recognition and a smile full of eloquent thanks for the popular favor so +pleasantly manifested. Two or three lovely children were in the box, +evidently eager for the fighting to commence. Soon after the Infanta was +seated, a man richly dressed, and of noble presence, strode across the +arena, flung his cap on the ground, and made a profound bow to the royal +party. The Infanta arose, leaned a little forward and cast a golden key +at his feet. This key was to unlock the door which connected the arena +with the compartment outside, in which the wild bulls were kept. + +"All this time the man had stood with his back toward us. When he +stooped to pick up the key and turned from the presence, Lucy Eaton +uttered a faint cry, and her mother caught hold of my arm with a grasp +that pained me. 'Oh mercy--oh mercy! It is--it is the Duke,' she +exclaimed, 'What can he be doing there?' + +"'I think it is his place,' I answered in a low voice. 'Hush, I would +say nothing about it.' + +"I looked at Lucy. She was white as snow, and her eyes dwelt on the man +with a frightened stare. + +"'Why is he there?' she whispered, shivering perceptibly. 'Tell me, if +you can, what it means.' + +"'What are you inquiring about?' questioned General Harrington, bending +toward us with suave politeness. 'Anything that I can tell you?' + +"'Who is that man?' I inquired, observing that Lucy could not speak +without bursting into tears. + +"'Which man?' + +"'That person in the arena, who was just bowing to the Infanta.' + +"'Oh that man? He is the chief matadore. The best bull-fighter in all +Spain.' + +"'A matadore, a bull fighter!' almost shrieked Mrs. Eaton, turning upon +her daughter and snatching a moss rose from her bosom where it held the +folds of her muslin dress together. 'Fling it away, child. Pitch it +after him. The humbug--the impostor--the--the--' + +"Here the good woman broke down for want of breath, and rattled her fan +open with a vicious twist of the hand, as if she longed to box some +one's ears with it. + +"I saw that Lucy was troubled and that her lips were quivering. General +Harrington had turned his attention to the arena, for that moment the +matadore was crossing towards a door in the wall, and the first wild +bull was expected momentarily. He was so absorbed that he did not heed +Mrs. Eaton's angry exclamations, though her husband did. + +"'What is the matter, mother. Why, you will smash that fan to flinders; +it cost--' + +"'No matter how much it cost,' said Mrs. Eaton; 'I don't think these +Spaniards care about that, or anything else but cheating the very eyes +out of your head. The impostors!' + +"'Why, who has been cheating us, mother?' + +"'Never you mind. Oh mercy!' + +"Lucy, too, gave a faint scream and clung to me like a frightened child. +No wonder. That instant a door in the wall swung open, and a black bull +rushed through. With a bound or more he plunged into the heart of the +arena, tossed his head upwards, and stood motionless surveying the great +concourse of people with his flaming eyes, as if making up his mind +where to plunge first. + +"A shout followed his appearance, for he was a beautiful savage +creature, with a superb chest and head, black and glossy as a raven. +Ladies clapped their hands and waved their gossamer handkerchiefs in +wild enthusiasm, while the general shout rolled upward like thunder. +This terrified the creature till he tore up the earth and plunged hither +and thither in his madness, bellowing hoarsely through the tumult, and +leveling his horns at the crowd as if he burned to toss every one in +sight. + +"Then the matadores came in, closely dressed, glittering with embroidery +and a profuse display of buttons. One carried a red cloak in his hand, +with which he taunted and exasperated the bull into hot rage. Then the +contact commenced. The Matadores, slight, agile and vigilant, fell to +tormenting the noble creature into new wrath. They flung their cloaks +over his eyes, they leaped on his back and away again, pricked him with +their swords, taunted him from a distance, and, when he made a mad +plunge upon them, slipped through some secret door in the wall and +laughed at his grave astonishment. + +"Lucy looked on all this, fascinated. Tears stood in her eyes, but an +eager curiosity shone through them. + +"'There must be some mistake,' I heard her murmur. 'He is not among +them.' + +"She was undeceived. The bull had begun to exhaust his rage, his +tormentors had done their utmost, and the people wanted more excitement. +_He_ came in then, splendid as an Apollo, tall, lithe, powerful. Then +followed the lightning play of human intelligence and trained strength +against savage impulse. The man was everywhere at the same moment. His +sword flashed now here, now there, up and down like a quiver of +lightning. He would entice the animal close to him, and just as his +fierce horns were lowered, leap astride his neck, and land, with a +bound, ten feet away. Now he darted under him, now made a flying leap +over his back, cheered on, and accompanied by waving handkerchiefs, +eager hands, and bursts of admiring applause. + +"A new feature was added to the scene. Several horses were brought in, +blindfolded and old, ridden by inferior matadores. One of these poor +creatures was urged up to the waiting bull, which made a rush at his +chest with both horns, tore his way to the vitals, and let the heart +out, almost heaving the beast from the earth as those murderous horns +rent their way out of his body. + +"Oh! it was sickening; the smell of the hot blood, the overwhelming +bravos, the exultation of delicate women and innocent children, as the +infuriated bull plunged his horns, reddened to the frontlet, again and +again into that writhing breast. I wish I had never seen it. In fact I +could not see clearly, for every thing grew misty from the sick +shuddering that fell upon me. I shivered down in my seat and shut my +eyes, degraded and full of self contempt, that any thing should have +brought me to that horrid place. + +"I would have gone home, but the confusion was so great, and the crowd +so dense, that I dared not propose it, especially as General Harrington +joined heartily in the enthusiasm, and would, I feared, resent any +interruption. + +"So I sat there, with my head bowed and my face covered, loathing myself +and everything around me. A shriek from Lucy Eaton brought me out of +this state. Starting up, I saw the man she had called a duke, tossed +high in the air, whence he came to the earth with a crash. This stunned +him for a moment, but before the bull could follow up its advantage, he +sprung to his feet, flung his scarlet cloak over the creature's eyes, +and gave the signal for a general attack. + +"Out rushed the matadores in a body, armed with javelins and darts, +feathered at the ends with fringes of variegated paper, and sharp as +steel at the head. These were hurled at the bull, and as each struck +through his jetty hide, fire-crackers concealed in the paper ornaments, +gave out a storm of noisy fire;--another and another darted through the +air, thicker and sharper, till the tortured animal bellowed out his +agony in pathetic helplessness, and fell upon his knees exhausted. Then +the matadore drew toward the Infanta and seemed waiting for some signal. +She smiled, lifted her hand, closing all but the delicate thumb. This +was a death signal for the poor brute, who seemed to know that his fate +was coming, and staggered up from his knees ready to fight for the last +breath of his life. + +"Then commenced a fresh onset of death. The bull fought desperately, +staggering, reeling, plunging and making fierce attacks with his horns, +while the fire-crackers blazed around him, and a hundred javelins +quivered in his body. The matadore became cool and cautious as his +victim grew more and more frantic. He played with the creature's agony, +flitted here and there in the smoke of his torment, pierced his sides +with the point of his sword, and flung fresh javelins into the bleeding +wounds. The Infanta lifted her thumb again. The Matadore saw it. His +sword flashed in the sunbeams like a gleam of fire, fell on the animal's +dripping neck, and he sank to the earth, dead. + +"More of this happened that day; twelve of those splendid beasts were +brought forth to slaughter and be slaughtered one after another. Some, +braver than the rest, were sent back alive; but that ornamented sledge +dragged off twelve of the finest creatures I ever saw. At last, even the +Spanish ladies became weary of this terrible work. As for me, I went +home sickened, and so nervous I could not rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +MRS. EATON'S TRIBULATION. + + +"While I was lying in my room, shocked by the day I had spent, Mrs. +Eaton came in, sun-burned, excited, and panting for breath. 'Wasn't it a +terrible thing! Such an imposition. To pass himself off for a duke! I +declare I could kill him.' + +"'But did he deceive you?' I asked. + +"'Did he, why of course, the scamp! And poor Lucy liking him so much. +She wont believe it now, hardly. He looked so splendid taking up that +key and swinging his sword about like a Saracen, Lucy says, just to +tantalize me, when I know exactly what he is. But I come to ask a great +favor, Miss Crawford. You're the only person that I breathed a word to +about it. Supposing you just keep quiet, now, especially to James +Harrington. It might do mischief there if you said a word, and I'm sure +you wouldn't want to do that. Only think of a daughter of mine almost +falling in love with one of them matadore fellows. I tell you it makes +my blood boil--but you wont say a word. Poor Lucy would die of shame if +you did.' + +"'I certainly shall not mention the man to any one,' I answered. + +"'That's a good soul. I was sure we might depend on you. Now I'll go and +tell Lucy. She's been crying like a baby ever since we come home. I +wonder if the fellow will have the impudence to follow us again. The +Duke! The impostor, I say,--to look like a nobleman and not be one.' + +"How fussy and disagreeable the woman is. But I am too weary for much +thought of her or any thing else indeed, yet I cannot sleep. + +"Mrs. Harrington lay on the low couch which was her favorite resting +place during the day, and I sat beside her reading aloud a new English +novel that Miss Eaton had lent me. Presently James came in, and making +me a sign not to stop, sat down near one of the windows, as if to listen +to the story; but when I glanced at him, I saw by his face that his +thoughts were leagues away from any consciousness of the words my voice +pronounced. + +"I suppose I had no right to wonder whither his fancies had strayed, but +I could not help it; and when I looked at him again, I knew that it was +no idle reverie which had possession of him, but stern, absorbing +thought, for his face looked hard and cold as it so often had done of +late. + +"I almost lost the consciousness of what I was reading, in the rush of +odd fancies that came over my mind. My voice must have grown careless +and indistinct, for I heard Mrs. Harrington say:-- + +"'Don't read any more, Mabel; I am sure you are tired.' + +"I felt myself start and color; I colored all the more from annoyance at +feeling my cheeks begin to glow, and I could hear that I answered +constrainedly: + +"'No; I am not tired.' + +"'I know by your voice, my dear,' Mrs. Harrington said with her usual +thoughtfulness for others. 'It was selfish in me, I should not have +allowed you to read so long, but I was so interested in the story that I +forgot.' + +"I closed the book; it was always very difficult for me to read aloud +with any listener besides herself, but she seemed so troubled at what +she considered her selfishness, that I said truthfully enough: + +"'I did not know that I was tired, it is such a beautiful book that one +forgets everything in the interest of the story.' + +"'Yes, indeed,' Mrs. Harrington said, smelling at a little bouquet of +roses she held in her hand, 'James,' she called in a louder voice, 'have +you read it?' + +"He started and exclaimed quickly-- + +"'Did you speak, mother? I beg your pardon, I did not know you were +talking to me.' + +"'I only asked if you had read this new novel of Bulwer's, that Mabel +and I are so delighted with.' + +"'Not yet,' he replied, settling back in his chair. + +"I could see his face in the mirror; and the effort he made to collect +his thoughts and appear to listen while his mother went on talking about +the book, was perfectly plain to me. + +"'You like it,' he said, absently. + +"'My dear James,' she exclaimed, laughing in her pleasant, genial way, +'where are your thoughts this morning? I don't believe you have heard +one word I was saying.' + +"'Oh yes,' he replied, 'you were saying how much you and Miss Crawford +were interested in the book.' + +"'I had done with that,' said she, shaking her bouquet at him playfully, +'I was asking you the name of his last work.' + +"'Whose? Ah! Bulwer's--I am stupid this morning, I must acknowledge.' + +"I was sorry for the sort of embarrassment he displayed--something +unusual with him, so strong and self-centered, and I mentioned the name +of the romance that had preceded the one we were reading. + +"'Of course,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'Mabel's memory never fails! Do you +know, James, the faculty she has of retaining names and dates is +something marvellous, especially to poor me, who sometimes can scarcely +recollect my own age and rightful appellation. + +"'One has the opportunity of admiring so many splendid qualities in Miss +Crawford,' he answered, in the distant, ceremonious way which he so +often employed toward me of late. + +"I felt absolutely hurt, silly and childish as it was to care for so +slight a thing. I suppose my tell-tale face showed it, for Mrs. +Harrington said, teasingly-- + +"'Really, James, you are very stately and magnificent, this morning! +that speech sounded grand and stilted enough to have suited Sir Charles +Grandison.' + +"He laughed a little, but it sounded so forced that I wondered Mrs. +Harrington did not observe it. + +"'I told you that I was stupid,' he said, 'so you need not be severe on +my poor attempt at a compliment.' + +"'I assure your lordship that Mabel does not care for compliments,' +continued his mother. 'Do you, my pretty Queen Mab?' + +"'I think they are a very poor substitute for real kindness between +friends,' I said. + +"I could hear that my voice sounded somewhat irritable, but I could not +resist speaking, though the instant after, I could have bitten my tongue +off for showing so plainly any annoyance at his manner and words. Mrs. +Harrington did not notice my little ebullition--was it wounded +selfishness and pride, I wonder? She took my remark quite as a matter of +course. + +"'You are perfectly right,' she said. 'Please to remember that, master +James.' + +"I saw that he was looking earnestly at me--perhaps he thought that he +had hurt me, but I was determined to make no more silly self betrayals. +I forced my face to look indifferent, and sat playing carelessly with +the bronze paper cutter in my hand. + +"'I am sure Miss Crawford knows that I should be only too proud to be +acknowledged as her friend, and that I value her intellect too highly +for an attempt at empty compliments,' James observed, gravely. + +"'Ah, _viola l'amende honorable_!" laughed Mrs. Harrington. 'Mabel is +appeased, and I am content with your explanation.' + +"There was a brief silence; I could feel that James was still looking at +me, and did not raise my eyes. Mrs. Harrington was playing with her +flowers, and when she spoke again had forgotten the whole matter--the +merest trifle to her, indeed to anybody possessed of a grain of common +sense, but of so much importance to ridiculous, fanciful me. + +"'This is so perfect a day,' she said, 'that I think we must go out to +drive. Will you go with us, James?' + +"'I fear that I shall be unable,' he replied, 'I have several letters to +write, and the American mail goes out to-day.' + +"'Then we will ask Miss Eaton, Mabel,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'she always +likes to go with us.' + +"I could have dispensed with this young lady's society, but of course I +did not say so, and I had the decency to be ashamed of my unaccountable +feeling toward her. She was so very beautiful that to anybody less +captious than I had grown, even nonsense from such lips as hers would +have been more graceful and acceptable than the wisest remark from +almost any other woman. + +"'I am sorry you can't go, James,' Mrs. Harrington was saying, when I +had finished my little mental self-flagellation for all my misdemeanors +and evil thoughts, and could listen to what they were saying. + +"'Are you particularly anxious to have me go with you, this morning, +_petite mia_?' James asked, with more animation than he had before +displayed. + +"'Indeed I am! I feel babyish to-day, and want to be petted! If you +don't go, I shall think you are beginning to tire of this poor invalid +woman who is so great a trouble to you all.' + +"'My mother could never think that,' he said hastily, rising, and moving +close to her sofa, where he stood gently smoothing her beautiful hair +with his hand. + +"'Besides,' she went on, 'these women are just no party at all. Mabel's +head is full of the book, and between us, poor little Miss Eaton will +have a wearisome drive of it.' + +"'I shall go with you,' James answered, 'my letters can wait till the +next mail.' + +"'We have conquered, Mabel!' cried Mrs. Harrington, with that air of +triumph so many women show on such occasions,--a feeling which, I +confess, has always been a mystery to me. + +"But just now Mrs. Harrington made a sad mistake when she said that we +had conquered--as if either of us had anything to do with Mr. James' +change of determination! The moment she had announced her intention of +inviting our beautiful neighbor, he had discovered that it was easy for +him to let his correspondence lie over. Either Mrs. Harrington was very +blind, or she chose to ignore a fact that was as palpable as if he had +given utterance to it. + +"I felt tired and moody, and half inclined to make that ordinary +feminine fib, a headache, a plea for not making one of the party. I do +not know what I might have said; I dare say something I should have been +sorry for, because I felt strangely perverse and irritable." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +ZILLAH'S LETTER. + + +"One morning, while we were arranging a drive for the afternoon, General +Harrington entered the room, bringing a letter in his hand. + +"'How do you find yourself this morning, fair lady!' he asked, +approaching his wife and kissing her hand with his accustomed +gallantry. + +"'Quite well,' she answered, lifting her eyes to his with that lovely +smile of greeting she always had for him, and which made her face so +beautiful. + +"'That is the most delightful news that could greet me,' he replied, +with one of his courtly bows. 'How is my paragon of wards?' he +continued, turning to me. + +"I answered him pleasantly; he was so elegant and thorough-bred that one +was insensibly forced to restrain even pettish thoughts in his presence. +But I was abashed all the while, for I noticed that as the General came +up to the sofa, James immediately retreated and resumed his seat in the +window. He had often of late betrayed those little signs of desiring to +avoid the General's society, and they puzzled me very much, for the +elder man's behavior to him was always friendly and courteous in the +extreme. + +"'I need not ask after your health, James,' the General said, good +naturedly, 'because it cannot have materially altered since I made the +inquiry an hour ago.' + +"'What is that letter?' asked Mrs. Harrington, with the curiosity that +becomes habitual with most invalids, and speaking so quickly, that +James' disregard of his stepfather's remark was not noticeable. + +"'It is for you, madam; I could not resist the pleasure of giving it to +you myself, for I know how much you like to receive letters.' + +"'Thanks! You manage in everything to give me a double pleasure,' she +said, taking the letter from his hand and tearing it open. + +"'From Zillah,' she said, glancing down the page. + +"I saw James start. He caught me looking at him, and quieted himself at +once; but I noted his agitation plainly. + +"The General was busy wheeling an easy chair near the sofa, and did not +catch his wife's remark. + +"'From whom did you say it was, my dear?' he asked. + +"'From Zillah,' she replied, without looking up. + +"'She, indeed,' said he carelessly, 'and what does the poor and rather +bad tempered Zillah have to say?' + +"He sat down by his wife's side, playing with the flowers that lay on +her cushions, and did not observe the quick, angry, defiant look that +James shot at him as he spoke. + +"'Poor girl,' said Mrs. Harrington, as she finished reading the hurried +scrawl, 'she is pining to come and join us; she says she is much better, +but so lonely and homesick that she feels it will be impossible for her +to get well until she is safe with us again.' + +"The General shrugged his shoulders. + +"'Your spoiled Zillah is seldom contented,' he said, pleasantly enough. + +"'Just read the letter,' Mrs. Harrington said, placing it in his hands. +'I am sure you will be sorry for her--she says she feels like a poor +little Italian grey-hound left out in the cold.' + +"The General read the letter and returned it to his wife, saying-- + +"'I suppose she is lonely, and since she is well enough to travel, of +course she had better come on at once--she can be of service to you, I +dare say, even if she is not strong enough to resume her old duties.' + +"'I really want to see her, pretty creature,' Mrs. Harrington said, +glancing over portions of the letter again. + +"'I feel quite lost without her caprices and bad temper--besides, she +always knows exactly what is to be done for me, and does it in the best +way.' + +"'Only, thanks to Miss Mabel's kindness, you have not had time to miss +her,' the General said. + +"'Oh, there never was such a nurse as Mabel,' cried she, 'but then I +can't quite make a servant of her, willing as she is to sacrifice +herself to my whims.' + +"'I scarcely thought you regarded the girl Zillah quite as a servant,' +said James, speaking for the first time. There was something so bitter +in his voice, that I wondered they did not notice it. + +"'Indeed I do not,' Mrs. Harrington replied. 'She is faithful and +loving, and so handsome that it is like having some exotic flower about +me.' + +"'Mrs. Harrington never forgets what is due herself or others, James, +whether they may be dependent or friends,' the General said, in a more +reproving tone than I ever before heard him employ towards his wife's +son. + +"Again James' dark eyes flashed upon him that strange look of anger and +defiance. + +"'May I see the letter, mother?' he asked, quickly. + +"'Certainly,' Mrs. Harrington said, stretching out her hand over the +back of the sofa. + +"As James took the letter, the General said-- + +"'Zillah is not likely to have any important secrets to write to your +mother.' + +"I might--perhaps it was fancy, caused by the suspicion that was in my +own mind--but I thought he slightly emphasized the words 'your mother.' +No, I am sure it was not fancy, for James' lips shut together in the +compressed way they did when he was angry, and a frown gathered on his +forehead--he had caught the peculiar tone as I did." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE GENERAL PROPOSES A TRIP TO CADIZ. + + +"While James was reading the letter, the General said to his wife-- + +"'I find that I shall be obliged to go back to Cadiz, so I will bring +Zillah home.' + +"James crumpled the letter in his hand, and called out in so loud and +agitated a voice that Mrs. Harrington absolutely started-- + +"'I will go back for Zillah, mother.' + +"The General turned a little in his chair, glanced at me, then regarded +James--his eyebrows slightly raised with an expression of surprise. + +"'Upon my word,' said he, pleasantly as ever, 'I scarcely see the +necessity for your playing _preux chevalier_ in this case, James.' + +"'Not the slightest,' said Mrs. Harrington. 'But James is always +thoughtful for others.' + +"'Always,' the General said. + +"'I have nothing to detain me here--I have seen Seville thoroughly, and +shall be glad to make this journey,' James said, without paying +attention to what had passed. + +"I felt my cheeks tingling with impatience and indignation. What did +this eagerness and solicitude mean? Did he forget how unbecoming it +was--did he not remember how this strange, passionate, ill-regulated +creature, in spite of her beauty, her marvelous eyes, and her bewitching +voice, belonged to a race separated from us by all natural laws! Did he +forget that she was a menial--a slave? + +"The General was smiling still, and smoothing a long curl of his wife's +hair that had broken loose from the comb and fell over the cushion in a +shining wave. + +"'James is so full of his scheme of becoming a modern Don Quixote, that +he did not even hear me say that I would bring Zillah on here,' he said. + +"'It strikes me that you are inclined to do Don Quixote yourself, sir,' +exclaimed James, and his voice was sharp and harsh. + +"'Excuse me--you misunderstand,' replied the General, in a rather +drawling, sarcastic tone; 'if I were inclined to emulate Cervantes, here +I think my taste is sufficiently patrician for me to display it in some +other quarter than toward my wife's domestic.' + +"The tone was somewhat sneering, and the speech was a little affected +and fatuous, but I knew he said it as a reproof to James, and he +deserved it well. + +"'I am sure the courier seems the proper person to send back,' Mrs. +Harrington said, a little disturbed by this unusual tone between her +husband and son. 'Why should'nt he go, General?' + +"'You are right, my treasure, as you always are,' he replied. 'But as I +began to tell you, I am obliged to return to Cadiz myself.' + +"'If you have business there I can transact it for you,' persisted +James. + +"'Thanks! I have the utmost confidence in your judgment, but this is a +matter that I feel inclined to take in my own hands.' + +"'Business in Cadiz!' muttered James, ironically. + +"His mother did not catch the words, but the General and I did. The +General only smiled--he looked a little contemptuous now. + +"'Why do you have to go back, dear?' his wife asked. + +"'Simply because I got a letter this morning from that stupid banker, +Henriquez. He has made a muddle of buying those three pictures we +wanted, and that Englishman who was so crazy about them will get the lot +after all, unless I go on myself.' + +"'Oh, I wouldn't lose that Cano for the world,' cried Mrs. Harrington; +'I have set my heart on having it in my bed room at home.' + +"'Precisely the reason I made up my mind to go, dear lady,' said the +General, lifting her pretty hand to his lips with exquisite gallantry. +'I am a foolish man, and I cannot bear to have you disappointed in +anything--be it of importance or the veriest trifle.' + +"'Oh, how good you are,' said Mrs. Harrington, with the grateful tears +swimming in her eyes. 'Far--far, far too good to me.' + +"'I could not equal your deserts, my best one,' he answered. 'Besides, +those three pictures are very valuable--worth double what I can get them +for, and as a man who likes to further the cause of art in our new +country, I should not feel justified in neglecting this opportunity. Am +I not right?' + +"'Perfectly,' she said. + +"'Miss Crawford thinks so too, I hope!' he asked politely. + +"I bowed--I was too much shaken by a world of strange, inexplicable +emotions, to trust my voice just then. + +"'I can attend to that business easily enough,' James added; 'and you +profess to hate travelling.' + +"'I shall be upheld by a consciousness that I am performing my duty,' +replied the General, laughing. 'No, James, I am convinced that unless I +go myself, we shall lose those pictures. I really have, what +superstitious people call a premonition, in regard to the matter.' + +"'It is useless to prolong the discussion,' exclaimed James, angrily, +rising from his chair. + +"'Oh quite,' replied the General, 'I am an indolent man, but a perfect +Spartan in the cause of duty--pray give me some credit, ladies.' + +"'I can only think how I shall miss you,' exclaimed his wife. + +"'My dear friend, we shall both have one pleasant anticipation amid the +pain of separation--that of meeting soon again.' + +"James was walking up and down the room, moody and preoccupied. + +"'When shall you go?' Mrs. Harrington asked. + +"'This very day--I must lose no time.' + +"'And when will you be back?' + +"'Within the week; I shall make all haste, you may be sure.' + +"'But you will stay in Cadiz long enough to rest,' she said anxiously; +'you must not make yourself ill.' + +"'Always thoughtful--always kind!' he half whispered. Then he added +aloud--'I shall send for Zillah to join me there, and will bring her on; +so you see everything arranges itself admirably.' + +"James paused suddenly in his impatient march up and down the room, and +said more quietly than he had spoken during the whole conversation--'I +will go with you, General--I shall be glad of a little change.' + +"'My dear friend, few things could be pleasanter to me than to have your +society, but you forget that it is quite out of the question here; you +would leave your mother and Miss Crawford alone.' + +"I could not keep silence a moment longer--if I had died for it, I must +have spoken. + +"'We have plenty of friends,' I said; 'we should do very well. Mr. +Harrington could have a pleasant trip, and leave us quite satisfied that +Zillah would not be carried off by bandits on the road.' + +"I did not look at James as I spoke. I felt that I neither colored or +showed any emotion--it seemed as if I was only surprised and slightly +disgusted at so much discussion concerning a servant. + +"'Oh, you must not go, James,' his mother said. 'I should die of fright +in twenty-four hours.' + +"'I see that it would be out of the question,' returned he, in a voice +that wavered between vexation and trouble. + +"The General cast another quick glance toward me--that strange fleeting +look which I had detected several times before, and which proved to me +that the suspicions in my own mind, to which I could scarcely have given +a name, in fact but vaguely understood, had a place in his. + +"James turned to leave the room; the General had risen and was standing +at a little distance from me, bending over a vase of flowers and +inhaling their perfume with that love of all beautiful things which was +one of his most prominent characteristics. + +"In leaving the room, Mr. Harrington had to pass near him, and I +distinctly heard the General say--'You surprise me! Imprudent, most +imprudent.' + +"James passed on as if he had not heard the words, but I saw his face, +and I knew by the pale wrath that locked his features and glittered in +his eyes, that not a syllable of that quiet remonstrance upon the +glaring impropriety of his behavior, had escaped him. + +"The General had evidently forgotten that I sat near enough to have +overheard his remark, but as he turned and looked at me, I suppose he +saw by the expression of my countenance that I had done so. He seemed +troubled. I knew that he divined the vague suspicions that disturbed me, +and was annoyed to think that any words of his should so clearly have +shown me that he shared my ideas in regard to James' singular conduct. + +"I left Mrs. Harrington and the General together, for I knew that she +would wish to be alone with him to receive his farewell; for it was so +seldom that he left her, and her nerves were so fragile and excitable +from long illness, that this brief separation and journey were matters +of painful import to her. + +"But whatever the General's decision in any case might be, it was seen +to be right in her eyes; and it was not wonderful that she trusted him +so implicitly, for his manner to her was always perfect, his care and +attention to her unvarying; besides all, his judgment was seldom at +fault. + +"I went away to my room; as I passed through the corridor, I heard Lucy +Eaton's voice on the landing above, and I hurried on, for I was in no +mood to listen patiently to her girlish chatter. + +"I was alone for a long hour, and it was a sad, dark watch that I kept +there by myself in that gloomy chamber. The very fact that so many +varying suspicions disturbed me, that they were all so vague and +shifting, made my reflections full of unrest. But I could settle upon +nothing--could form no conclusion. + +"Only the other day I had believed that he loved Lucy Eaton--at least +that he was captivated by her golden curls, blue eyes, and her pretty +childish ways; the weak fascinations that seem to possess such strange +power for the strongest men." + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +MISS EATON MAKES MISS CRAWFORD A VISIT. + + +"The next morning there came a knock at the door; it was my maid. She +came to inform me that the General was ready to start, and desired to +bid me good-bye. + +"I went down stairs and met him coming out of his wife's room. + +"'Pray go and comfort her,' he said in a tremulous voice; 'I would not +have undertaken this journey if I had thought that she would have felt +it so much, though she insists on my going; she is very cheerful now, +but I am afraid she will break down when I am gone.' + +"'I will do all that I can to comfort her,' I said. + +"'I am sure of that! I could not leave her if you were not here. James +is fond of his mother--but--well, young men will be young men.' + +"I did not attempt to return his smile--I was too indignant with young +Mr. Harrington to aid in glossing over his conduct. + +"'Believe me, my dear ward,' said the General suddenly, 'only a grave +reason has made me start on this journey. Good bye--God bless you. Let +me find you well and happy when I return.' + +"He touched my forehead gently with his lips, and was gone. + +"I was about to knock at Mrs. Harrington's door, when I saw James coming +down the corridor, evidently going there, too. I turned away and went +into the salon. I did not wish even to exchange a word with him then. + +"It might have been half an hour after, when Lucy Eaton tapped at the +door and opened it before I could speak. + +"'I knew you were here alone,' she said, 'may I come in?' + +"How pretty she looked, standing there in her dress of thin blue muslin, +her golden hair falling about that lovely face which, probably, had +never in her whole life been disturbed by a single thought or fancy that +could cause pain to another. + +"'So the General has gone to Cadiz,' she said, as she came into the room +and flung herself in a graceful attitude on the sofa near me. 'How lost +dear Mrs. Harrington will be;--we must all try to console her.' + +"I was so unreasonable and bad tempered that I fear my first impulse was +to ask her what possible right she could have to offer the lady +consolation; but I managed to keep back that little ebullition of +temper, and answered, instead-- + +"'He will only be gone a few days; Mrs. Harrington will not have a great +deal of time to be lonely.' + +"'And then she has you with her, and I can't fancy anybody feeling +solitary, dear Miss Crawford, while they can have your society.' + +"'Dear Miss Crawford,' was in no mood to accept compliments +patiently--they would have had a false ring to my ear at that moment, +coming even from those whom I knew well and loved, so they were not +likely to be accepted with good grace from this comparative stranger. I +suppose she would have thought me unkind for considering her so, but I +never found it easy to get up the girlish enthusiasm necessary for +cementing sudden and violent friendship. + +"'That is a very pretty speech,' I said bluntly, 'but it doesn't mean +anything at all.' + +"Lucy dropped her tiny hands and went off into a peal of laughter that, +I must confess, was sweet as a chime of silver bells. + +"'You do say the oddest things!' she exclaimed. 'I never knew any one so +original as you are, but dear Miss Crawford, though I like it +exceedingly myself, do you think--' + +"She hesitated, and as I saw she never would finish her sentence unless +I asked the desired question, I inquired-- + +"'Do I think what, Miss Eaton?' + +"'That--that gentlemen quite like it. Young girls have to be so +particular, you know, or they displease them.' + +"'Really,' I said, 'I have never taken the trouble to think about the +matter; and to tell you the truth, I fear I should not much care, even +if I had.' + +"'Ah, to be sure, you are differently situated from so many girls--with +your beauty and your great fortune, whatever you say or do will always +be thought charming--Oh, dear Miss Crawford, I did not mean that--indeed +I did not! Now you are vexed with me, I am sure.' + +"'I am not quite bad tempered enough to take offence where none is +meant, Miss Eaton.' + +"'Bad tempered? Why, I think you have the sweetest disposition I ever +knew! Mamma was saying only this morning, that you had a face like an +angel.' + +"I doubted that, for I was confident Mrs. Eaton had no great +prepossession in my favor, but of course I let it pass. + +"'I am so heedless,' moaned Lucy; 'I say everything that comes in my +head--mamma says she wishes I could acquire a little of your +dignity--but I never shall be like you--never.' + +"The glance of self satisfaction which she cast in the mirror where her +pretty figure was reflected gracefully curled up among the sofa +cushions, was extremely amusing to me. + +"'I think,' I said, 'that you may congratulate yourself on there being +no resemblance between us.' + +"'Oh, that was not what I meant,' she replied. 'You are very beautiful, +and I am sure nobody would ever say that of poor little me.' + +"I thought I had now talked all the nonsense that the most exaggerated +idea of courtesy could require, so I said-- + +"'You must not think me unkind, but--' + +"'Unkind?' she repeated. 'I never knew you to have an unkind thought. +Whatever you do or say would always be considered charming.' + +"'More pretty speeches,' said I, trying to laugh, for I had the grace to +feel a little ashamed of my ill humor. 'You quite overwhelm me with them +to-day--let me try my skill. Do you know that your dress is particularly +becoming, and that you are looking your very loveliest to-day?' + +"'Oh, my! no,' returned she, glancing at herself in the opposite mirror. +'I don't think the dress pretty at all--it's mamma's taste--and I am +sure I am looking horribly. I told mamma I would not come in, only I was +certain there was nobody here beside you.' + +"'I have not seen Mrs. Harrington since the General left,' I said, by +way of trying to bear my part in the conversation more than from any +other reason; 'but her son is with her.' + +"'Mr. Harrington is so devoted to his mother,' exclaimed Lucy. 'Mamma +says that he is a model, and that so good a son could not fail to +make--' + +"She broke off with a little attempt at embarrassment, that was rather a +failure. + +"'Would make a good husband, you mean, I suppose,' returned I. 'That is +the old proverb, I believe.' + +"'Yes--but I hesitated--I'm so foolish. It always seems immodest to name +such things outright.' + +"'I am sorry that I am immodest,' said I, 'but straight-forward words +are natural to me, and I utter them abruptly sometimes.' + +"'I suppose I really ought to go and see if I can do anything for Mrs. +Harrington. She is probably alone by this time.' + +"At that moment the door opened, and James looked into the room. He did +not see Lucy Eaton where he stood, and said coldly enough-- + +"'Miss Crawford, if you have leisure, my mother would like to see you.' + +"'Certainly,' I said, rising. + +"'And I must go back,' cried Lucy, springing up in a flutter. 'Mamma +will positively think I am lost.' + +"'Good morning, Miss Eaton,' James said; 'pray excuse me. I supposed +Miss Crawford was alone. I beg pardon of both for having interrupted +you.' + +"'Oh, there was no interruption,' said Lucy, moving toward him with her +thin dress sweeping out like a cloud. 'We were through talking, and what +do you suppose it was all about?' she added coquettishly. + +"'I really have no idea,' he answered, with a degree of indifference +that I wondered she did not notice. + +"'I am sure I shall not tell you,' she said, tossing her curls. 'We'll +not tell, will we, Miss Crawford?' I was busy putting away some books +that had been lying on a chair, and so had an excuse for being +conveniently deaf. + +"'Since you are so determined, it would be useless for me to attempt to +persuade you,' James replied, and I knew that he was trying to be polite +in order to hide how it bored him to stand there and talk nonsense. + +"I think that a few days before it would have pleased me to have this +proof that Mr. Harrington did not care so much for pretty Lucy Eaton, +but it brought me no satisfaction now. Straightway, as if something had +whispered it in my ear, came the reason for his indifference. His mind +was so completely engrossed by thoughts of our conversation about the +girl Zillah, that there was no room for other ideas to find a place. + +"The bare idea turned me faint with indignation and disquiet. The worst +thing of all--the hardest to bear--was to lose my respect for him; and +he was forcing me rapidly to do that. + +"If he had loved Lucy Eaton, it would have been an honorable affection, +such as every man has a right to choose for himself; but in this +entanglement, which I was more and more convinced fettered his feelings +and movements, there could be nothing but secresy and dishonor. + +"I wanted to go away--to get beyond the sight of his face--the sound of +his voice. As I stood there listening to their idle conversation, I felt +that I almost hated the man. With his wicked secret on his soul what +right had he to bring himself into the presence of innocent women, and +assume a position of equality with them. I knew how foolish it all +was--I tried to think that the meanness was in my entertaining such +suspicions, but I could no more change my feelings than I could banish +my doubts. + +"I walked to the door; as James stepped aside to allow us to pass, I +caught one strange, troubled look from his eyes, which I could not +understand. Did it mean that he believed I had divined his secret, and +was appealing to my generosity for silence? + +"There was no time to think about it. Lucy was holding me by the sleeve +and saying-- + +"'I don't believe you have heard a syllable Mr. Harrington has said. His +mother wants us to go out driving with her toward sunset.' + +"'So Mrs. Harrington told me this morning.' + +"'But you did not mention it.' + +"'No, because she spoke before she knew of her husband's journey, and I +thought she might not feel inclined to go out.' + +"'I am sure I shall be delighted,' Lucy said. 'Do you mean to take the +other seat, Mr. Harrington?' + +"'If you permit.' + +"'Oh, my! I'm sure it's not for me to say! But I know your mother never +half enjoys herself unless you are present, and really, one feels so +much safer driving when there's a gentleman along. One never knows what +these dreadful Spanish coachmen may do.' + +"'I believe ours is very trusty,' James replied. 'Please don't hint your +fears to my mother, or she would not drive again while she is here.' + +"'Oh, of course not! Any way, I did not mean anything--I always speak +without thought! Mamma says my head is no better than a feather. Isn't +that cruel of her, Mr. Harrington?' + +"'You can console yourself by being certain that she does not mean it.' + +"'Oh, I don't know! Mamma has a great admiration for dignified, stately +creatures, like our dear Miss Crawford. She says I will be nothing but a +spoiled little kitten all my days.' + +"James looked so impatient of all this nonsense, that I was amused in +spite of myself. I went away to his mother's room, and left him to free +himself from Miss Eaton the best way he could." + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +CONTINUED MISUNDERSTANDING. + + +"Mrs. Harrington was lying on her sofa when I entered. She looked up and +smiled cheerfully, but I could see that she had been crying. + +"'I sent for you, dear, because James wanted to go out for a while,' she +said. 'Some way I don't just like being left alone--you don't mind +sitting with me?' + +"'You know I like it, Mrs. Harrington.' + +"'You're a dear, good girl, Mabel! I never can be grateful enough to you +for all your kindness and patience with me.' + +"I kissed her forehead but did not answer. + +"'Toward evening we'll go out to drive,' she said, 'and take that little +Lucy with us.' + +"'Yes; Mr. Harrington gave her your invitation. Shall I go on with our +book now?' + +"'Oh yes, do; I am wonderfully interested in it.' + +"I had left the novel in the _salon_, and went back to get it. As I +opened the door, James was pacing up and down the room, and the face he +turned toward me was pale and troubled. + +"'I came for my book,' I said, and began searching for it among the +volumes on the table. + +"'Can I help you?' + +"'Thanks--no--here it is.' + +"How different it all was from the days--so far off and faded they +seemed now--when we had conversed like friends, with neither restraints +or concealment between us! + +"Now he was reserved--distant, and I could feel that my manner was +absolutely cold and haughty. I had reached the door when he came +hurriedly toward me, saying-- + +"'Miss Crawford!' + +"I stopped. + +"'What is it, Mr. Harrington?' + +"I knew my voice sounded icy--he looked at me, and the odd, troubled +look came over his face again. + +"'I only wished to ask if you were going to my mother,' he said in a +hesitating, embarrassed way, very unusual with him. + +"It was not true; he had meant to speak of something entirely different. +I have wondered since if my frigid manner and lack of sympathy prevented +him. Yet what could he have said--there was no possibility of his +bringing even the slightest allusion to his trouble before me. + +"'Certainly I am,' I said. + +"'I have to go out,' he continued; 'I will be back by the time you wish +to drive.' + +"'Very well; but I assure you as far as I am concerned, I have no fear +that the coachman cannot manage the horses without difficulty.' + +"He colored slightly--offended, I suppose, by my tone and my +indifference. + +"'My mother desired me to accompany her,' he said, coldly, 'so I shall +be obliged to force myself upon your society.' + +"'Are you not too modest in your estimate of yourself?' I asked with a +laugh, that even to my own ears, sounded so harsh and mocking, that I +scarcely recognized it as my own. + +"He gave me another of those quick, strange glances. It was too late to +attempt to soften my judgments or opinions now, by looks or words. While +hating myself for the thoughts that tormented me, I could neither return +to my old faith or believe in the evil that disturbed it. + +"'I fear I hardly appreciate satire,' he said, gravely. + +"'No!' returned I, laughingly. 'You must cultivate a taste for it--read +the old English humorists.' + +"'Certainly Miss Crawford seems to have been studying the art lately +with great diligence, if one may judge from the results.' + +"'That is a somewhat doubtful compliment, still I must take it for +granted that you meant it to be one,' said I. 'But I cannot wait to +listen--Mrs. Harrington is wondering what I am about, I dare say.' + +"'And we are not friends any longer? 'he asked with a sudden change of +manner, extending his hand as he spoke. + +"'The best of friends, certainly,' I answered, 'only I have not time +just now to talk about the matter.' + +"I pretended not to notice his offered hand, and ran away down the +corridor. I glanced back as I reached his mother's door. He was still +standing where I had left him--he was looking after me. All this seemed +needless duplicity, and only made me feel more harshly toward him. I +would not have touched his hand then for the world. Why did he wish to +keep up the farce of trying to make me believe that my opinion was of +consequence to him? Perhaps from that absorbing vanity which so many men +are said to possess, which makes them unwilling to suppose that any +woman in the world is absolutely indifferent to them. + +"I went back to Mrs. Harrington, and sat reading to her for a long time. +Then my maid came to help her dress--we had both forgotten how late it +was. The carriage was already at the door. + +"Lucy Eaton was ready when we sent for her, and in the salon. Mr. +Harrington joined us, so we went out for our drive. It was almost +sunset, one of those glorious days that it seems to me only Spain can +show in their full perfection. Italy even falls short. There is a +softness, a witchery, an absolute intoxication about them, which must be +felt in order to be understood; but any one who has enjoyed them would +say with me, that no words could be found to express their wonderful +charm. + +"A rather dull, silent drive, though Lucy Eaton talked a great deal; and +James, who was sitting beside her, of course, made an effort to talk and +to appear interested. But it was evident that it was an effort--so +evident that I wondered how she could help seeing it. + +"Mrs. Harrington was in one of her most quiet moods, and as for me, I +leaned back in the carriage and kept my mouth resolutely shut. I am sure +I must have looked both obstinate and disagreeable, but I could not help +it--in fact, I am afraid that I did not much care. + +"I was mortally tired; I could not tell why. Certainly a few hours of +reading aloud could not have reduced me to a state of such extreme +weariness, and I had made no other exertion; but body and mind I felt +utterly prostrated, as if I should never be rested or strong again. + +"I was glad enough when the drive was over. I must have shown in my face +something of the lassitude, for even Lucy, who was the most thoughtless +and unobservant of human beings said, as we got out of the carriage-- + +"'You look so pale, Miss Crawford; I am sure you cannot be well.' + +"'Only dreadfully tired,' I said; 'I shall have a cup of tea and go +straight to my room.' + +"Mrs. Harrington was inclined to be anxious about me, but I succeeded in +convincing her that there was no occasion. + +"'I only want a long sleep; I was wakened very early this morning, and +there is so much of the dormouse about me, that if I am cheated out of a +single half hour of my usual allowance, I am fit for nothing all day.' + +"I knew James was to stay with his mother; and as Lucy Eaton seemed +inclined to spend the evening too, I drank a cup of tea and went away to +my room. + +"I undressed myself and lay down on my bed, too thoroughly worn out to +sit up longer, but I could not sleep. I felt as if I would give the +world to have fallen into a slumber so heavy that it could not have been +disturbed even by a dream, till the new day came in. + +"But not even a sensation of drowsiness would come. There I lay and +watched the full moon soaring up the purple heavens--thinking--thinking, +and yet so longing to be free from thought--and oh, so tired, so tired. + +"Many a time I have passed a week that did not seem so long as that +night! I had a horrible feeling that it would never come to an end. I +felt as if time had ceased suddenly, and I had been flung into the +pulseless hush of eternity, and was to be left alone there forever, with +my dreary meditations for company and punishment." + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON RETURNS WITH ZILLAH. + + +"Of the remainder of that week, while we were waiting for the General's +return, there are no events to record. The time passed quietly enough; +Mrs. Harrington, in spite of her pining somewhat over her husband's +unexpectedly prolonged absence, improved in health every day. It was a +great pleasure to notice how each morning she seemed stronger and +brighter, taking a new interest in everything that went on about her, +and so cheerful and kind that I grew to love her very dearly. + +"I suppose I may as well own the truth; Lucy Eaton was a great trial to +me. I have no doubt that I was cross and irritable. I used to reproach +myself twenty times each day, for being so captious and unreasonable; +but really, that pretty, childish creature fretted me almost beyond all +powers of endurance. + +"I got so weary of hearing about dress, that I felt that I should never +care again whether I had anything pretty or not. As for young men, and +marriage, and the pleasures of society, I heard them discussed until I +wished that neither of them had ever had an existence. + +"But I have no doubt it was all greatly owing to the state of feeling +into which I had fallen, and I knew it was wrong, but at that time I +could not exercise the least control over myself. + +"At last the General returned, bringing Zillah with him. I was out of +the room when he arrived, so that I did not witness the meeting between +him and his wife; but when I joined them soon after, one glance at Mrs. +Harrington's face was sufficient to show how happy his return had made +her. + +"The General greeted me in his usual cordial, gallant manner. I was very +glad to have him with us once more. + +"'James cannot know you have come,' Mrs. Harrington said, 'or he would +be here.' + +"'He is quite well, I hope,' the General said. + +"'Quite. Oh dear, how glad I am to have you back.' + +"'You may know by your own pleasure, how glad I am to return,' he +answered. 'Nothing would have induced me to go but that I felt it right. +I did not approve--I may speak before my dear ward,--I thought James +quite too young to be entrusted with the business of bringing back so +pretty a girl as Zillah, even if she was only a servant.' + +"'I must send for her,' Mrs. Harrington said. 'Poor thing, she will take +it dreadfully to heart if she thinks I am not glad to see her.' + +"She rang the little bell that sat on the table, and asked the man to +send Zillah in. Just as he went, James entered. I looked with a little +curiosity to see the meeting between him and his step-father. + +"The General's manner was the same as ever--that exquisite blending of +courtesy and kindly feeling which always characterized his +communications with his wife's son. But young Mr. Harrington was +constrained, almost cold. I knew that he had not forgiven the General +for the course he had taken regarding that journey. + +"When I saw that, I fairly hated him. He exchanged a little conversation +with the General, talked for a moment with his mother, and after a +frigid salutation to me passed on to a window, and stood there looking +out into the court. + +"In a short time the door opened again, and Zillah entered. The creature +fairly bounded toward Mrs. Harrington like some beautiful wild animal, +and fell at her feet, kissing her hands, and pouring out a torrent of +delighted exclamations. + +"The slave was more gorgeously lovely than ever; somewhat paler and +thinner, and her great eyes beamed with more eager light. + +"Mrs. Harrington was touched almost to tears by the girl's manner, but +to me it was fairly repulsive. Her gladness was so exaggerated that I +could not help thinking it all acting from beginning to end. + +"'I am so glad, so glad!' she kept repeating. 'Dear mistress, I thought +I should die and never see you again! It broke my heart! Oh, I am so +happy.' + +"'And I am very glad to have you back, my pretty Zillah,' Mrs. +Harrington said. 'I have missed you very much.' + +"Zillah kissed the fair hands again, but it seemed to me--oh, how +suspicious I had grown--that the evil light I had so often noticed in +her eyes deepened till, in defiance of her beauty, she looked absolutely +fiendish. + +"'See,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'you have not spoken to Miss Mabel.' + +"The girl rose from her knees and came toward me, dropping a graceful +curtsey that seemed to me fairly insulting, instead of a mark of +respect. + +"'I am glad you are quite well again, Zillah,' was all I could bring +myself to say. + +"She murmured something--I do not know exactly what--at the same moment +she caught sight of James standing in the window. The color rushed in a +torrent to her face, then as suddenly receded, leaving her pale and +trembling with excitement. + +"She went timidly toward him. He did not stir--did not even look round. +Was it because he was afraid to let us see his face? + +"Zillah stopped in the recess, and I heard her say in a faltering +voice-- + +"'Mr. James, Mr. James! Everybody else is glad to see poor Zillah back, +but you will not even speak to me.' + +"He turned then. He was very pale, and his features were set and hard. I +was certain this arose from a violent effort to conceal his feelings. + +"'I am very glad you are well again,' he said; 'my mother has missed +you.' + +"The girl made a quick, angry gesture, and I saw--yes, I could swear +that it was not fancy--I saw James Harrington make a little sign with +his hand, as if to caution her. + +"She checked herself at once, and with a few broken words about her love +of her mistress, she turned away and went hastily out of the room. + +"'Poor Zillah,' said Mrs. Harrington, 'she could not bear it any longer; +she has gone away to have a good cry all by herself. She is the most +sensitive, affectionate creature I ever saw in my life. I must go after +her or she will be getting into one of her desperate fits, thinking +nobody is pleased to have her back.' + +"'Better leave her to herself,' the General said, carelessly; 'I think +the girl is a good deal spoiled already--better not add to it.' + +"James darted a perfectly furious glance at him as he spoke, then turned +and looked out of the window again. + +"'Perhaps you are right, dear,' Mrs. Harrington said; 'I do spoil the +child, but she is so pretty, I really cannot help it.' + +"'A reason that answers with women,' said the General, smiling, 'and +young men,' he added to himself, but I caught the words, low as they +were spoken. + +"I suppose my face betrayed that I had heard him, for he gave me a +little deprecatory bow and smile, half playful, half apologetic. + +"James moved suddenly from the window and was leaving the room. + +"'Are you going out, dear?' his mother asked. + +"'Not yet,' he answered, 'Have you any commands, _madre mia_?' + +"'None, I believe,' she replied with her happiest smile. 'Perhaps Mabel +has, though.' + +"'Miss Crawford has only to express them,' he replied, half turning +toward me, his voice changing so quickly, growing so cold and +indifferent, that I wondered even his mother, unobservant as she was, +did not notice it. + +"'You are too kind,' I answered, and if his tone was cold, mine +certainly, was haughty enough. 'I have none with which I need trouble +you.' + +"The General, whom nothing escaped, looked curiously from one to the +other, but did not speak. + +"'You will not be gone long, James?' Mrs. Harrington asked, with the +unconscious spirit of exaction which is apt to grow upon those who have +been ill and suffered a good deal. + +"'Not long enough for you to miss me, dear,' he replied, and his voice +was kind and gentle as ever. + +"I must do him that justice at least--his manner to his mother never +varied. Whatever the secret was that disturbed him, however much +preoccupied he might be--and sometimes he looked worn and troubled, as a +man might who was struggling with evil spirits--he had always cheerful +words and smiles at his command for her. + +"He went up to her now, kissed her and said something in a low +voice--some pleasant, affectionate words, I knew by the light that came +over her face. + +"'Good morning, James,' said the General kindly. + +"'Good morning, General Harrington,' returned he in a hard, steely +voice, bowed to me, and quitted the room abruptly. + +"The General shrugged his shoulders, looked somewhat impatient, and a +little amused. + +"I had withdrawn to the window, and the General, walking up and down the +room, passed me, and stopped a moment. + +"'I gave up being astonished a good many years ago,' said he, 'but I +confess the conduct of that eccentric young gentleman almost surprises +me.' + +"I am afraid my smile expressed something like contempt. + +"'Wasn't it Rochefoucault who said, a woman is happiest when most +deceived?' he asked, with a glance towards his wife. 'Either he or some +other misanthropic old Frenchman; but whoever it was, master James has +evidently read and remembered the maxim.' + +"'What conspiracy are you and Mabel hatching?' laughed Mrs. Harrington +from her chair. + +"'Just at this instant,' returned the General, 'I am telling Miss Mabel +that she looks a little pale and out of spirits.' + +"'She has been kept in the house too much since you went away,' his wife +said. 'Mabel, dear, James must take you and Miss Eaton to drive.' + +"'I dare say he has engagements,' I answered carelessly. 'The courier +can go with us perfectly well, and with him we can take the liberty of +changing our minds as often as we please, about what we shall do.' + +"'And that, I suppose, is a great happiness to young ladies,' said the +General, playfully. + +"'At all events, it is the charge made against us from time immemorial,' +I replied, trying to speak in the same tone. + +"'I am sure Mabel is not given to changing her mind,' said Mrs. +Harrington. + +"'No,' said the General, 'there are many subjects upon which her +opinion, once formed, she would never change, I fancy,' and he smiled +with a significance which I thoroughly understood. + +"I murmured some unintelligible excuse, and left the room. I heard Mrs. +Harrington say-- + +"'See Miss Eaton, dear, and settle about going to ride.' But I did not +promise to do so." + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +ZILLAH IS ANXIOUS ABOUT THE HEALTH OF HER MISTRESS. + + +"As I passed the _salon_, the door was open, and I saw the girl, Zillah, +standing before James, talking eagerly, and evidently in a fierce state +of excitement. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes blazing--she raised her +hands with a quick, Southern gesture of entreaty. I thought she was +about to lay them on his arm. + +"That moment he caught sight of me, and made a little sign--she checked +herself at once. He looked disconcerted, but the girl's assurance was +not so easily shaken. She followed me at once, and as she overtook me, +said-- + +"'Oh, Miss Crawford, I am so near crazy with joy at finding myself with +the mistress and all of you, again, that I don't know what I do or say. +I was just telling Mr. James how happy it made me to see my dear +mistress looking so much better. She is better, Miss Mabel, you are +certain sure of that.' + +"Her look was eager; her eyes searched mine with keen scrutiny. + +"'She is greatly improved,' I replied, coldly. + +"'I was very sick, too, Miss Mabel,' she went on; 'at one time I thought +I should die, and never see her again, or the master; master James, I +mean, or any one. Oh, it seemed as if heaven was cruel to me, as if +everything I saw was cruel.' + +"'That is absolutely wicked, Zillah,' I answered, almost harshly. + +"'I know it. I am sorry now--but I could not help it. We cannot always +put down wicked feelings. But you are sure that the mistress is +better--getting well?' + +"I was a little conscience-stricken by the thought that there had been +slight Christian feeling in the admonition I had given her, and so found +nothing to say, except that I was sure Mrs. Harrington was almost quite +well. + +"'Are we going to stay here long, Miss Mabel?' she asked, following me, +'now that she is so much better--quite well--did you say quite well, +young mistress.' + +"'I don't know--perhaps, since Mrs. Harrington seems so much benefited +by the air. The doctor considers her almost cured--there is only the +weakness to overcome now. You can see how the color has come back to her +face, yourself, Zillah.' + +"Zillah gave a little groan, and staggered back against the wall, +pressing her hand on her heart. She was deathly white, and her face was +convulsed with pain. + +"'Are you sick?' I demanded, really frightened, 'What is the matter, +Zillah?' + +"'Nothing--nothing,' she gasped. 'Let me sit down a minute--only a +pain. I'm not very strong yet, young mistress.' + +"She sank on a lounge that stood in the corridor, and covered her face +with her hand. We were near my room, so I ran in there and got a glass +of water and carried it to her. + +"'Drink a little,' I said. + +"The creature's hand shook so that she could scarcely hold the goblet, +but the tremor passed quickly. + +"'Thank you, young mistress,' she said, with a humility that displeased +me, because it looked like acting. 'It is not the thing for you to wait +on me.' + +"'Are you better?' I asked. + +"'Yes--yes--well now! I think it was only joy--my dear, dear mistress! I +have this queer pain lately when I am taken of a sudden. It will go away +by and by; I'm going to lie down--mayn't I, Miss Mabel?' + +"It was absurd to ask the question--the girl had always done just as she +pleased. + +"'You know that you can,' I said. + +"'If my mistress wants me, I'll come at once--I want to do everything +for her now. I'm quite well--quite strong.' + +"She got up from the lounge and walked down the corridor, but her step +was unsteady and faltering. I was sorry for her, but my repugnance, my +absolute repulsion toward the beautiful creature was only increased, +though I could not have told why. + +"Even her affection for her mistress seemed so exaggerated, that I could +not believe it. Oh, I was growing very hard and wicked. I reproached +myself bitterly, but the strange distrust would not be overcome. + +"There is a fair in Seville, where many curious and beautiful things are +offered for sale. This morning the Eatons were urgent that we should go. +Some of the Rommany gipsies, from Grenada, had camped on the ground, +and Lucy was dying to have her fortune told. Did the silly wish affect +me? Was I weak enough to cover a latent desire to consult these strange +people under the pretence of obliging Lucy Eaton? I fear so. In the +restless state of mind which disturbed me, I was willing to fly even to +absurdities for relief. Mrs. Harrington, greatly to my astonishment, +consented to go with us. James protested a little against this, for she +had not been so well for a day or two, and he feared the fatigue; but +she, too, had a curiosity to see the gipsies, and protested that she +could do well enough. If they had any fears, Zillah should go with us; +and if she got weary, the carriage could take them back to the hotel, +and return. + +"No one objected to this arrangement, which delighted Zillah +inexpressibly. The girl had been out a good deal since her arrival, +especially after the fair commenced. Once or twice I had seen her come +in with traces of strange excitement in her face and manner. She gave no +account of herself, when questioned, more than to say she had been out +to see the town; but I, who watched her closely in spite of myself, saw +that she was pale, silent and preoccupied, for hours after these +excursions. + +"This morning she came to me in a quiet, mysterious manner, which seemed +to spring out of suppressed excitement, and hesitating like a bashful +child, asked me to give her a little money. She wanted to buy some +ribbons for her hair, she said, but hated to ask the master or mistress +for money. The Spanish servants had a way of braiding the hair down the +back, and knotting it with bows of ribbon. She wanted to surprise the +mistress by the length of her own hair, that was why she came to me for +money. + +"I gave her a napoleon, and in doing so my hand touched hers. It was +cold as snow, and shook nervously as I laid the gold in her palm. This +agitation surprised me, and I looked suddenly in her face to read the +cause there; but her eyes were cast down, and, but for a cold whiteness +about the mouth, I should have seen but little difference from her usual +manner. + +"'Zillah,' I said, 'what is the matter that you look so white?' + +"She started and cast a frightened look upon me, while a rush of crimson +swept her face like a stormy sunset. + +"'So white?' she stammered. 'Do I look white?' Then she added quickly, +with a faded smile, so evidently forced that it was unpleasant to me, +'Miss Mabel forgets how ill I have been; I am not strong yet, and it +doesn't take much to tire me--I suppose I ran down stairs too quick.' + +"She slipped the gold I had given her into her bosom, and thanking me +again for it, started away down the corridor. I had risen and was moving +to the door, intending to go to Mrs. Harrington's room to speak to her +for a moment, when Zillah came back. + +"'Miss Mabel,' she said, speaking like a person who had been running, 'I +want to say something to you--don't be anxious, may be it is only my +foolishness--but I'm afraid the dear mistress isn't so well as you have +all thought.' + +"'What makes you think that, Zillah?' + +"'This morning, when I was dressing her, she had one of her old faint +attacks, but she made me promise not to tell. Oh! Miss Mabel, I was so +frightened--that was what made me look so strange when I came up. I +can't bear to think of it! My mistress, my dear mistress!' + +"She was wringing her hands in a wild agitation that was not feigned, +and I did all that I could to comfort her, though this sad news unnerved +me almost as much as herself." + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +BEHIND THE GIPSIES' TENT. + + +"Soon after Zillah left me, a servant came to announce that the carriage +was ready. I found the whole party assembled in the salon, Zillah +waiting outside the door. I never remember to have seen Mrs. Harrington +in such spirits as she was that morning; she looked so young and pretty, +too, that it seemed impossible that she could be the mother of that +handsome, proud-looking man. We drove through the streets, away out of +the town, to the place where the fair was held. It was an odd, +picturesque sight, with the gaily decorated booths, the crowds of +quaintly dressed men and women, the noise and laughter. + +"There was a throng gathered about a puppet-show, somewhat like the +English Punch and Judy, shrieking with laughter like so many children; a +group of girls consulting an old fortune-teller; pretty peasant girls +from the hills slily listening to compliments from the town gallants, +evidently to the great indignation of their country swains; in short, +every way we turned, some picture that would have been a treasure to any +great artist, met the eye, and all so strange and picturesque, that I +became more interested than I had thought possible. + +"The Gipsies were grouped in a green lane just on the outskirts of the +fair. I had seen persons in my own country who claimed to be these +people, but they were as unlike the pure Rommany gipsies as races of men +could be. These people were thin, wiry and keen; their features, in most +instances, finely cut, and the expression of their countenances full of +sharp intelligence. They had pitched a double line of tents, where the +elder women were busy selling drinks, and frying cakes, which they sold +hot from an iron cauldron full of simmering fat, out of which the +smoking cakes were lifted with a skimmer, as customers wanted them. The +young girls of the tribe hovered around the doors of the tents, or were +grouped in a larger tent, dancing for money, at the behest of any +stranger who cared to amuse himself by their wild and eccentric +movements. + +"We were told that these dances were not always such as ladies would +care to witness, and so avoided the great tent, and gave ourselves up to +the swarms of women who were eager to tell our fortunes, or steal our +purses, as the case might be. In the midst of this confusion, Mrs. +Harrington took hold of my arms in a wild, agitated way, whispering that +she was tired, and would like to go home. + +"I looked around for Zillah, but she had disappeared, and the gentlemen, +just at the moment, were out of sight. + +"'Sit here,' I said, leading Mrs. Harrington into one of the tents, +'while I go in search of some one who can tell me where the carriage +is.' + +"Mrs. Harrington sat down, white and faint, both Mrs. Eaton and her +daughter came to her and offered help. I left Lucy fanning the gentle +lady, and went into the lane in search of Zillah, though her mistress, +made a faint effort to prevent it. As I turned a corner of the lane, two +women who stood a little apart from the road, near the back of one of +the tents, struck me as familiar. They stood upon the turf, and were +talking earnestly. One held something in her hand, which she looked down +upon, now and then, as she talked. After a moment, I became sure that +one of these persons was Zillah, and went toward her. The turf on which +I walked gave forth no sound, and I moved close to the girl before she +could be aware of my presence. That moment a small phial passed from the +hand of that old gipsy woman to that of Zillah, who held the little +flask up to the light, and examined it curiously, speaking in a quick, +abrupt way, in Spanish. + +"I could not distinguish the meaning, she spoke so rapidly. When the +gipsy answered, I caught the word _Droa_, uttered under the breath two +or three times. The woman seemed to be giving some directions; she spoke +almost in a whisper, and I saw the long bony hand clutch Zillah's arm, +as if to impress what she was saying more forcibly upon the girl's +attention. Then I saw Zillah hand the piece of gold I had given her that +morning, to the woman, while she asked other questions in a whisper. + +"'Zillah!' + +"The girl fairly leaped from the ground, and uttered a sharp scream, as +if I had struck her to the heart. + +"'Zillah, what is this? Why are you so terrified?' She had drawn back +towards the tent, grasping the phial close in her hands; then with her +wild eyes on my face, and her features locked in gray whiteness, she +stood a full minute staring at me in dumb terror. At last, she faltered +out, 'Miss, Miss Crawford, how--how you frightened me. I--I am so +nervous.' + +"'But there is nothing to make you nervous, Zillah. I only came to say +that your mistress wishes to go home.' + +"'Oh! I am ready--I am ready, but--but when did you get here? We--we +were talking--' + +"'About something you had in your hand. What is it, Zillah?' + +"I saw the girl's slender fingers close spasmodically on the phial, and +the dead whiteness returned to her face. + +"'Oh! it is--' + +"Then the gipsy broke in. 'It is a love philter--something that will +make her sweetheart tender and faithful--would the senorita like to buy +one?' + +"I turned my eyes on Zillah; she was still pale, and trembled visibly. +With her magnificent eyes cast down, and her whole figure bowed as if by +some invisible power, she seemed to deprecate my scorn or anger. I was +angry. What did she want with the philter in her hand--to whom was it +applicable? + +"'Foolish, ignorant girl,' I said. 'So it was for this poor fraud you +wanted money. Zillah, I thought you had more sense?' + +"The girl stood up more firmly. It seemed as if a load had dropped from +her shoulders. She gave a sharp laugh, and said 'I know it, young +mistress. It is a folly--but I could not help it--the gipsies have such +power--and I may never see them again. Don't tell of me, they will laugh +so?'" + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +BURDENED WITH A SECRET. + + +"I turned away without answering, only ordering Zillah to have done with +such nonsense, and go to her mistress. She walked on a little behind me, +with more meekness than was natural to her; but I was troubled with a +sort of dread, which nothing in the circumstances could explain. + +"It was all natural enough. In the name of heaven, what had I suspected? +I did not know--I do not now! but I felt faint and sick with some +horrible dread, to which I could give neither name or reason. + +"'Miss Mabel,' said Zillah, coming to my side. 'I suppose you think I +told you a story this morning.' + +"'Yes,' I said, 'I saw you give that money to the old woman.' + +"'I was ashamed to tell you what I really wanted, for fear you would +laugh at me,' she replied, 'I never do tell the least bit of a fib that +I'm not found out.' + +"'That ought to teach you not to tell any,' I said, rather severely. + +"'Indeed I don't, Miss Mabel--unless it's about some foolishness like +this. I'm not a big story teller--don't think I am.' + +"'I shall not unless you force me to,' I answered. 'Come, we must find +your mistress now.' + +"I walked quickly on, and she followed me in silence. Once I glanced +back at her--there was an expression on her face which puzzled me, yes, +almost made me afraid. I could imagine Clytemnestra holding her midnight +watch, with a face like that--Lady Macbeth waiting for her husband's +return, with eyes like those--oh, I had grown so fanciful and silly +during those past days. + +"We found Mr. James Harrington with his mother, who was just driving +away in the carriage. + +"When it came back, I saw him return to the Eatons, who seemed to occupy +him entirely. Feeling myself completely unregarded, I wandered off by +myself, interested in the strange people that surrounded me. + +"I looked about and found that I had lost sight of the whole party. I +was not frightened, because the fair grounds were in full view, and I +could find my way back easily enough, but I was a little amazed to think +that my presence had been of so little consequence to the gentlemen of +the party, that I had been permitted to steal away unnoticed. + +"I walked on among the tents--nobody looked at me unpleasantly or spoke +rudely to me, and when my first feeling of pique had subsided, I was not +sorry to have an opportunity of examining more closely these strange and +incomprehensible people who, during so many ages, have kept up their +distinctive manners and customs, as much a mystery now as when they +first made their appearance among the inhabitants of Europe. + +"Such picturesque looking men, lazily basking in the noon-tide sun--such +groups of lovely children, that would have sent Murillo into +ecstacies--such beautiful girls, whose every movement had a willowy, +sensuous grace that the women of no other people ever possessed--weird, +witch-like old crones, with such depths of wickedness in their fiery +eyes, that in looking at them one could easily have believed in the +old-time evidence of those who made bargains for their souls with the +Evil One. On I wandered, sometimes stopping to admire the children, or +speak a few words to the young girls. + +"While I was thus occupied, James Harrington joined me, and began +speaking of his mother. + +"'She is getting worse,' he said, 'and I can do nothing for her. It +seems as if the presence of this slave girl has a baleful influence on +every one she approaches!' + +"I looked at him wonderingly. Why had he opened that subject with me. I +had no wish to discuss it, even in reference to his mother. Before I +could answer him, General Harrington and the Eatons joined us, and we +all walked back to the hotel together. + +"I went at once to Mrs. Harrington's room. She was lying on a couch near +the window, with her hands clasped, and her eyes closed; but I saw the +lids quivering, and discovered heavy tears dropping one by one, on the +cushion beneath her head. + +"'Are you so ill,' I said, sitting down on the edge of the couch and +kissing her troubled forehead. + +"'Ill!' she sobbed, lifting both arms toward my neck, like an unhappy +child, 'Oh Mabel, my heart is broken. I shall never, never be well +again!' + +"She trembled all over, and seemed ready to go into convulsions in my +arms. + +"'What is it,' I said. 'What could have happened to distress you so?' + +"She looked into my face so helplessly, that my soul yearned toward her. + +"'Tell me, oh tell me of the trouble, for it _is_ trouble, and nothing +else,' I said, holding her close in my arms, for I felt that we were +fellow-sufferers, and that my heart must ache with something more +painful than sympathy. + +"She began to tremble again, and clung closer to me. + +"'It was foolish. I did wrong, but who would have thought what would +follow. I--I saw him going toward that large tent, where the music was. +Zillah had gone in just before, while I was buying some embroidery of a +woman. You had all walked on--I wanted to speak with Zillah, and +followed him.' + +"'Go on,' I said, as well as the pain at my heart would permit of +speech--for she stopped suddenly, and made a faint effort to leave the +clasp of my arms. 'Go on, you cannot feel this more than I do.' + +"'Ah, you love me so, thank God for that.' + +"'And you can trust me, I would not speak of this, dear friend, to a +living soul, not to save my own life.' + +"'It is not that, Mabel, but I have loved him so,--been so proud of him. +Never, till this day, have I known what it was to suspect any one dear +to me. Now it is not suspicion, but certainty. He loves her, Mabel! My +own servant! I saw her clinging to his arm, while those wild girls were +dancing before them. I heard him tell her how much more beautiful she +was than any woman he had ever seen. Don't look at me so wildly, Mabel! +I cannot repeat the words, but they are buried in here.' + +"'And you heard this, there is no mistake.' + +"'Mistake, oh if there could be!' + +"'Still this man is--' + +"'I know it--the shame and disgrace must be buried here. I dare not +speak of it, dare not reproach him--for there is one who loves me so +dearly that he would take revenge, and there might be bloodshed as well +as perfidy. Oh Mabel, I am glad you did not make yourself a slave by +loving as I wished. All this is terrible.' + +"'Yes,' I said hoarsely, 'It is terrible, but it does not take me by +surprise.' + +"'Then you have suspected something--oh Mabel, keep that girl away from +me. I will be silent, I will do anything a good woman ought, but the +sight of her will be too great a torment.' + +"I promised to keep Zillah away if that were possible, without giving a +reason, and again pledged my word to hold all that she had said, secret +as the grave. But I went to my own room, fell upon the bed, and passed +into an agony of jealous shame. + +"During the last two weeks Mrs. Harrington is much worse. All her old +complaints have come back, and she lies upon her sofa all day long, +weary and languid. Nothing can equal the devotion of her husband; as for +the son, his attentions are unremitting; does he guess why she is so +much worse, and is he striving by kindness to silence her unspoken +reproaches? She gives no sign of the trouble that is sapping away her +life, not a word has passed between us since that day. The Eatons have +left us. The atmosphere of a sick room disturbs them. Worse and +worse--alas! I greatly fear this gentle lady will never leave Seville +alive. The last remnant of strength seems to be dying out of that +fragile form. + +"Zillah is most attentive--always by her door--always ready to be of +service, yet I loathe and fear the girl. There are times when her eyes +have a look that makes me shudder, and I long to remove that pale, +gentle creature from her care. But, strange enough, General Harrington +has taken a singular liking to the girl, and insists upon it that no one +can prepare his wife's medicines, or soothe her, so well. Poor lady, she +must submit, or destroy all her husband's respect for the son who has +wounded her so. + +"Weaker and weaker--alas! poor lady, she seems to have no real illness, +but fades away calmly and softly, like a flower that the frost had +kissed to death. + +"Harrington watches the gentle decline with silent anguish, that I can +feel, while I bitterly condemn him. How cold and distant this trouble +renders me! He speaks sometimes of his fears as she grows worse and +worse, but it is with mournful restraint, and when I lift my look to +his, or attempt those broken words of comfort that spring naturally to +the lips, he turns away without reply, as if my attempt at consolation +had only deepened his remorse. Was that wild confession on the raft all +a dream? Had terror and privation rendered me delirious? Could these +words, so deeply written in my memory, have been only a wild +hallucination? Is this man the same being I almost worshiped then? + +"She is dead--oh, heavens! She died last night, with no one near but the +slave, and, as the girl Zillah said, without a struggle or a sigh. + +"The slave came to my room just at daylight, weeping and wringing her +hands in such distress, that she fairly terrified me, when I saw her +standing in the open door. + +"'Oh,' she said, tossing her arms on high, 'she is gone, she is gone.' I +watched her, young mistress, just like a mother hangs over her sick +child. She made a motion with her hand,--I thought she wanted more +drink, but she turned her face on the pillow, and looked at me so wild, +I couldn't turn my eyes away, but sat watching, watching, watching till +her face turned gray under my eyes, and I could see the white edges of +the teeth, between her lips, as they fell more and more apart. I reached +out my hand to touch hers. It was cold as snow, but her eyes were wide +open, looking straight into mine, dull and heavy, as if they had been +filling with frost. + +"In the gray light of that morning, I went down to the death chamber. +General Harrington and James received me in mournful silence. I had no +heart even for unspoken reproaches, there. If ever forgiveness was +glorified, I saw it on that sweet, dear face. + +"We passed a gloomy day. The shock has been terrible to James, terrible +to us all--for the General is greatly disturbed, and, as for the +slave-girl, her grief is fearful; she raves rather than weeps, and +trembles like an aspen at the mention of her dead lady's name. + +"With the solemn burial services of the Catholic Church, we have +consigned the remains of this lovely woman to her grave, and now my +loneliness is complete. My own poor heart seems to have partaken of the +chill that has quenched her life. I am weary of this beautiful +land--weary of everything--alone and unloved; for now I am almost sure +my own wild brain coined the words that seemed to come from his lips in +the storm--alone, unloved--what remains for me but---- + +"A great disappointment has fallen upon General Harrington. A will is +found, and every dollar of his wife's property is left to her son. All +this seems incomprehensible. I pity the proud old man. + +----"It is all over now! Oh, Heaven, that I should have so deceived +myself! Harrington loves another--Lucy whom he has known almost since +childhood, and from whom a series of untoward circumstances separated +him. There is, there can be no doubt--no room for a single hope--the +General himself informed me of it to-day. + +"I cannot write--I cannot even think! There is a strange confusion in my +brain--a fever in my heart which give me no rest. I long for some one to +advise me--some one to whom I can look for sympathy--but I have no +counsellor. Kindred--mine are in the grave! Friends--the last one sleeps +in the cemetery yonder--in the wide world I am utterly alone. The +General grows kinder to me daily, but to him how could I speak of all +these things? No! I must bury the secret deep, deep in my own +heart--must endure this suffering in silence and alone. + +"I have but one wish now--could I but be the means of uniting James +Harrington with the woman he loves. The only consolation left to me, +would be to know that he was happy, and that it was to me he owed that +happiness. But I can do nothing; the General only hinted at some +mysterious history, and he requested me to consider all that he had +revealed as sacred. Is this the secret? Does Lucy Eaton suspect the +unworthiness which it kills me to know? + +"Six months in a convent. It is too late to look back, or to retract +anything I have promised. I have consented to become General +Harrington's wife--to fill the place of one who took me to her heart as +if I had been her own child, bestowing upon me the fondness which I +could have no right to claim, except from a mother. + +"The change I had remarked in the General's manner was not fancy, as I +strove to think. He desires to make me his wife. He alluded to it +yesterday for the first time, and to-night I gave him my answer. I can +but confess that the arguments he employed were just; a young girl could +not remain in the house with a man no older than he without being +connected to him by a nearer tie than that which binds us. He spoke to +me very kindly, more gently and tenderly than I had thought he could do. +He believes that I have formed no other attachment, or, if not entirely +heart free, it was but a girlish fancy, which had no real basis. He +assures me that I shall be happy as his wife, but my heart answers how +impossible that is! I do not ask happiness--let me but find quiet and +contentment--I seek no more. + +"A year has gone by. We are in America again. General Harrington will +join me to-morrow. Ay, it is better thus--I would have it over. Perhaps, +in the peaceful home I shall find in my native land, I may learn to +still this poor heart to rest. I long to return. + +"_He_ is not here. He left us when we reached Madrid, for the purpose of +entering France through the Basque countries; but this month the +General received another letter from him--he is staying in Italy. The +General, it seems, had written that he had obtained my consent to become +his wife, and the answer is--'Whatever will conduce to your happiness, +and that of the lady, must be acceptable to me.' + +"Nothing more--not even an expression of astonishment! Yes, it is better +thus! I will marry General Harrington--he is the only being on earth who +cares for me--the only one who would seek to render me happy. In a few +years he will be an old man, and the trust and friendship I now feel, +will be sufficient to his contentment. This firm and trusting friendship +I shall always be willing to give. If I do not accept him, where am I to +turn for a protector--of what avail is my great wealth, since it cannot +win for me a home in any human heart? + +"I marvel at my own calmness--pray Heaven that when too late, I do not +find that it has been only the apathy of despair. I _will_ be calm--my +hushed and trembling heart shall at least be silent--by-and-by it will, +perhaps, be numbed into insensibility. I can expect nothing more; for I +know that the uprooted flowers of a love like mine can have no +second-blossom, the sweet fountain of affection once wasted, its waters +may never flow again. + +"I will write no more in my journal for a season--why should I make this +record of my weary life--this plaint of my troubled soul? + +"I have suffered the one terrible grief of a lifetime; of what avail to +inscribe upon these pages a memento of a lasting wretchedness!" + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +TOO LATE, TOO LATE. + + +"A year to-day since I became a wife, a year into which has been crowded +an eternity of sorrow and regret; can I never learn to endure in +silence! Did my husband mean to deceive me when he told me that James +Harrington was plighted to another. I spoke of it to-day trembling as +the words left my mouth. My husband laughed pleasantly, and answered +'oh, child, that was a love ruse. I had a vague fancy that the young +fellow might be in my way, and so disposed of him poetically. There was +nothing in it. The fellow has not spirit enough to win a beautiful +woman.' + +"Great Heaven! did he know how faint and cold those words left me--how I +almost loathed him for this awful fraud. God help me--God help me to +forgive him! It seems now as if I never could. How this portion of my +life has passed I hardly know; seldom have I made a record of its +secrets. Much of the time has been spent in the gay world, for my +husband--how strangely the word husband sounds even now--seems to grow +every day fonder of its pleasures. The months thus spent have been most +wearisome to me; I like better the calm retreat where I have spent my +summers, with only a few servants to disturb the quiet of the house, and +faithful Ben Benson, who has never left us, to gratify, as if by magic, +every wish of his capricious mistress. But there is to be a +change--henceforth we are to reside wholly at the North, and _he_ is +coming home to live with us. + +"A new blessing has been granted to me! Forgive me my God, that I have +dared thus to repine and forget that Thy protecting care was over me! I +am a mother! My baby sleeps in his cradle by my side, and one glance at +his face makes me forget all the misery I have endured. James returned +during my illness. My heart was too full of its new bliss for any other +feeling. With my child folded over my heart, I could meet him without +one of its pulses being stirred--there is a sacredness in the duties God +has now given me, which I should not have dared profane by one human +regret. + +"He looks ill and careworn--would that I might speak of his affairs, but +I can do nothing, though it is fearful to see him thus; to know that he +suffers and feel that I have no power to relieve him. He seems to love +my baby. Heaven bless him for that! The General's indifference has +pained me, but the nurse says men never like children--when he grows +older and his father sees him all that is noble and good he will love +him; how could he do otherwise?--my precious, precious child. + +"This little girl, poor, forsaken, young, innocent, she seems to have +been sent to be the companion of my boy. How he loves her already; +bending over the cradle where she lies to touch her little face with his +dimpled hands, his great eyes lit up, and his whole countenance aglow +with feeling, such as one seldom witnesses in a child. This is only +another kind act for which I have to bless Ben Benson. He found the +infant wandering away from some unknown home in a fearful storm, almost +perished, and unable to tell even her name. + +"It is a beautiful child, and the nurse pronounces her a very healthy +one. The General seems quite willing that I should adopt her; so I have +now a daughter--the word sounds sweet, very sweet to me. James looks at +me strangely as I sit with Lina in my lap, and little Ralph by my side, +there is a mournfulness in his face which wrings my very heart; +doubtless he reflects upon the happiness denied him--ah! he need not +envy me a few blessings which have been bestowed upon me. + +"Am I happier now! My children are growing all that I could wish. I have +wealth, kind friends--say, am I happy? I would not repine nor be +ungrateful, but, oh! were it not for the little ones Heaven has confided +to my care, how gladly would I seek a quiet resting place in the grave! + +"I know now that time cannot alleviate suffering, that nothing can teach +the heart to forget or still it into quietude, save for a little season. +Yet my existence is not wholly vain, and while those youthful creatures +need my care I am willing to live, but there are times when the burden +forced upon my soul seems harder than I can endure. When I fling myself +down in utter despair, feeling unable to tread longer the weary path +which lies before me. + +"It seems to me that I should suffer less could I but see James happy, +but his sad silence increases my own pain. He is always gentle and kind, +devoted to the children; full of respect and quiet attentions for me; +but how changed from the bright youth of former years. How distant that +season--through what a fearful gloom I look back upon the brightness of +those summer years! How often I ask myself if I am indeed the dreaming +girl who, in her chamber at Neathcote watching the stars out in a vigil +which was like a charmed vision, believing that life was to be one long +fairy dream of delight. + +"I have been thinking of that sail upon the lake. I could not help it! +Ralph brought me some water lilies that he and Lina had gathered; as if +the odor of those flowers had possessed a spell to conjure up the past, +the fleeting happiness of that summer day came back to me. + +"Ralph left me alone, and for a long hour I gave myself up to the +feelings which his simple offering had aroused. I had not thought there +could be so much of passion in my suffering now--the tears I shed burned +my cheek like flame; and, when the storm gust had spent its might, I +lay back on my couch, weak and faint. + +"I was roused from those haunting memories by voices beneath my +window--it was _his_ voice; he was conversing with Ralph. I leaned +forward, and looked down upon them--then I realized how fearful was the +change which had passed over him. I had been dreaming of him, as he +appeared upon that blessed day, and the being I beheld beneath my +casement looked like the ghost of the happy-eyed boy of my vision. + +"O, had he but confided in me--would he but have trusted me as his +sister--hush! am I not a wife? Whither have my mad thoughts led me! My +God, have mercy upon me, stay the terrible tempest which has desolated +my whole being, and now breathes its deadly simoon through the sepulchre +which was once a heart. I will neither write, nor think more--there must +be an end of this weakness--how unlike the fortitude I had promised +myself to acquire. + +"Yet it seems strange that I have no right to indulge in these memories +of an era in my existence gone forever! How few and fleeting were those +moments of unshadowed sunlight; the brightest twin memories which my +soul can recall, were given to me under such different auspices. Of the +first sweet hour, I have just promised my soul never again to +think--upon the gloomy waters of my existence, no lilies are blossoming +now--the last withered flowers have been torn from their roots, and +swept idly down the current to perish, leaving only a faint perfume in +my heart, which is but an added pain. + +"Now I know that its very bliss was a delusion of my fancy, like the +words, I believed to have heard, wrung from Harrington's breast during +that fearful tempest, when we stood upon the deck of the ill-fated +vessel, and death seemed so near us. Could I have died then, died with +his arms enfolding me, his manly heart against my own, the measure of +my existence had been complete--it began beneath the sunlight of his +smile, it would have ended with the last life-pulse within his noble +bosom. + +"Now I will lay this book aside nor shall my hand again turn its pages, +until I have taught myself something of the quiet I have so long striven +to attain. If in the sight of Heaven I have sinned, cannot my sufferings +atone for it?--the evil, if evil there has been, was involuntary; the +penitence has been deep and earnest; surely the angels watching over me +will not let it be without avail. + + * * * * * + +"Great heavens! will this heart never have rest--will years do nothing +for me? Ralph is now a man; Lina, one of the most lovely creatures I +ever saw. These two children, whose infant kisses seem, even now, upon +my lips, have sprung up into sudden youth, and seem ready to escape my +love. Yesterday, Lina came to me with a world of innocent blushes, and +hung about my chair, as if longing to whisper some secret into my ear, +yet without the courage to speak. I wondered what the child wanted, but +would not force her confidence. + +"I thank God, oh! I thank my God that I am alive. The terrible shock of +that night is still through my frame. I have been so close to death, +that the vitality at my heart seems unreal. Last night I was hurled into +the depths of the river, that is even now rushing onward to the ocean so +near to my window, that the eternal sweep of its waters haunt me like a +threat of death. + +"He saved me--or rather they--for Ben Benson was in the midst of the +storm, resolute, like the other. I must have been dead for a time, for, +when my memory came back, it seemed as if I had forgotten all these +miserable years of married life, and was upon that heaving raft again, +with his arms around me, and whispering those low, passionate words in +my ear. Why did that dream come back then? Was it to lay my heart open, +and reveal to me how little prayer and time have done to wrest this +first and last love from my heart?" + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +ZILLAH. + + +As General Harrington hurried through his wife's journal, his eyes grew +bright and cold, like steel when the sun strikes it; his lips, always so +soft and sensual in their expression, became rigid with passion, and +clung together hardened by the silent rage that burned in the depths of +his heart. Had Mabel proved herself vicious or unprincipled in the book +so cruelly purloined, he might have forgiven it; but here the struggle +to love him had been so great, that it wounded his self-love in every +fibre. The struggle to love him--General Harrington, the invincible, the +adored of so many hearts! "He would soon be an old man, and then the +friendship, which was all her heart could ever give, would content him. +_He_ an old man--he who had solemnly determined never to know what age +or infirmity was." The insult was too much. His outraged vanity hardened +into absolute malice. For the first time he positively hated the man who +could be loved better than himself. He forgot the self-sacrifice, the +wealth given up to his use--the sublime devotion which had made James +Harrington a guardian angel to Mabel's son. He forgot everything save +that the noble girl he had married for her wealth--wealth even on her +wedding-day half squandered at the gaming table, by an unfaithful +guardian, had give the preference of her taste--he cared little for a +deeper feeling--to one younger than himself, and that one the man to +whom his first wife's wealth had descended in one vast property. + +Was it not enough that the young man had stepped into his place on the +death of his mother--that when he fancied himself in the untrammelled +possession of her fortune, a will, undreamed of during her life, should +have been found, transmitting every dollar of her property into the +uncontrolled possession of a son--was not this disappointment enough? +Must his self-love and pride be swept into the same vortex? Had both +wives proved their treason against him where he was most sensitive? + +The old man would not remember that James Harrington had not only +allowed him to remain the ostensible possessor of this large fortune, +undoubtedly his own just inheritance, but that more than two thirds of +the annual income had for nearly twenty years been surrendered to his +unquestioned disposal. He forgot that Mabel's fortune had melted away at +the gaming-table without inquiry or protest on her part, and that, in +fact, his own luxurious life was fostered only by their magnanimous +bounty. All these things were ignored in his rage at the secrets +revealed in that unhappy journal, and he really believed himself the +most wronged and outraged of human beings--wronged because the woman +whom he had first married for her wealth alone, had divined the truth, +and left all that she possessed to her son, which seemed a new offense +to him then--and outraged that any woman honored by his preference, +should ever have given another place in her thoughts. His grounds for +anger went no deeper than this at the moment, for even his stony heart +would not give birth to a thought of wrong against Mabel, beyond the +erring love so feelingly regretted in every line of that book; but there +was a tempter at hand, ready to infuse venom into even his selfish +nature. + +General Harrington sat with the book open before him. One hand, on +which was a costly seal-ring, had, in unconscious warmth, grasped a +dozen of the leaves, and half-torn them from the cover, while his eye +read on, fascinated, and yet repulsed by the secret thoughts thus torn +with unmanly violence from poor Mabel's life. All the craft and coolness +of his nature had disappeared for the moment. His whole being was fired +with disgust and bitter rage. Still, in his soul, he felt that these two +persons had in reality suffered a deadly wrong from himself; that, after +encouraging the attachment which he had hoped might spring up between +them before his wife's death had swept her great wealth out of his +hands, he had ruthlessly, and without questioning the state of these two +souls, severed them for the accomplishment of his own interests. It had +not once occurred to him that any lasting attachment for another could +exist, while he condescended to solicit a woman's preference; and that +which had for a time made itself manifest between the two young people, +only gave a fresher zest to his conquest. To win a woman from one so +much younger than himself, was even then, a triumph almost as agreeable +as the possession of Mabel's fortune. + +But now, when he was beginning to feel the approach of age, and to +wither under the preference given to younger men--a preference rendered +each day more decided in a country where statesmen are jostled aside by +beardless boys, and the senseless giggle of pert school girls might +drive Sappho into a second watery grave, sickened with disgust. His +personal vanity became almost a monomania, and he sat there, clutching +Mabel's book, pale as death, and with flecks of foam gathering upon his +lips, longing to appease his mortified vanity by tearing fiercely at +something, as a baffled hound digs his claws into the earth when his +prey is beyond reach. + +As he sat there shaking with silent rage, a door, not used for years, +opened in his bed-chamber, and a woman came through, leaving the dark +and dusty room which had for a short time been occupied by the first +Mrs. Harrington, before her fatal voyage to Europe, in total darkness +again. She stood for a moment, concealed by the crimson curtains, and +keenly watched the old man, as he sat trembling before her in the first +rage of his humiliation. Then, having satisfied herself that her hour +was propitious, she stole softly into the library, and dropping one arm +softly over General Harrington's shoulder, stooped down and kissed his +forehead. The old man started, looked up, and a faint laugh, almost +childish in the sudden reaction from which it sprung, broke from his +lips. + +"Zillah, my beautiful, my true-hearted, is it you?" + +The woman dropped on one knee, trembling from head to foot. Some +endearing epithet, uttered in French, which converted the laugh on his +lips into a smile, broke as it were, unconsciously from her; and he felt +the arm upon his shoulder shiver like the wing of a bird just as it +settles after flight. + +He answered her in French, and his eyes, full of gratitude for the balm +her emotion brought to his vanity, sought hers. + +"Zillah, you loved me. I am at least sure of that!" + +"Loved!" said the woman, lifting her black eyes, to his face. "Loved my +master. You speak as if such feelings were not eternal; to say that your +poor slave loved once, is nothing; turn over every leaf of her heart, +and you will find the same record upon them all. Thank Heaven, I am not +entirely white! There is enough of tropical fire in my blood, to save me +from burying my soul under the ashes of a dead love." + +"How beautiful you are still," muttered the old man, passing his palm +over the black waves of her hair, with a light caress. "Your presence +kindles the very atmosphere. This is to be worshipped worthily. You +loved me, and I sold you for her sake. I bartered you off for so much +money to another; it was a cruel act, Zillah; but your love surmounted +even that, while hers"---- + +"She never loved you; never--never!" cried the woman, passionately. "I, +I alone of all the women on earth, really loved you. As for her"---- + +"Hush, Zillah, hush! I know all. I have read that book. I know all her +treachery; and he, ever a serpent in my path, ever a restraint upon my +actions, he has in this point also assailed me." + +"But there is revenge!" said the woman, with a fierce gleam of the eyes; +"revenge on him and her!" + +"No!" answered the General, gloomily. "To anger him, would be to make +myself a beggar. I must bear this in silence." + +"Not if he loves her yet." + +"But, does he? What man ever remained faithful to a first love twenty +years?" + +A faint moan broke from the woman's lips, and dropping her face between +her hands, she cowered at his feet, as if he had stricken her down with +a blow, instead of those cruel words that no physical pain can equal, +when they fall upon a woman's heart. + +"What is the matter, Zillah? Why do you moan and droop in this fashion?" +said the General, quite unconscious of the pang he had given. + +The woman looked up; her eyes were heavy with pain, and a scarcely +perceptible quiver stirred her mouth. + +"He sold me, and I lived; this cannot kill me either," she murmured +drearily. + +"Oh," said the General, smiling, for he began to divine the cause of her +stricken attitude. "But remember, Zillah, you were not my _first_ love. +I was no boy when we met, and it was of boyish dreams that I spoke." + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON'S TEMPTATION. + + +Zillah drew a deep breath, and raised herself up, like a panther which a +ball has grazed. A wild illumination shot over her face, and seizing the +General's hands, she kissed them passionately. + +"Foolish creature," said the General, soothed in the depths of his +vanity by this devotion. + +"You did love me," she said, with a wistful look; "you did love me?" + +"Yes--yes." + +"And, it is all over?" + +He looked down into her face. No girl of sixteen, in her first love +quarrel, ever wore a look so full of anxiety, so tremulous with hope and +doubt. + +"Oh, I cannot say that, Zillah. There is something piquant, even +picturesque, about you, that one does not readily forget, or ever +dislike; besides, real earnest love is better worth having, after the +domestic treason which I have just discovered." + +Again the woman's eyes blazed forth their sudden joy. She arose from his +feet, restless and eager. + +"She has wronged you--she has embittered my life. I was your slave--let +her become so. Then shall we both have vengeance!" + +"And beggary with it," answered the General, bitterly. "No, no, Zillah, +I am not so fond of vengeance as that; besides, hers is only a sin of +feeling, and she seems to have suffered for it." + +The woman turned white, till the dusky shadows under her eyes seemed +black by contrast. + +"A sin of feeling!" she almost shrieked, seizing the vellum book, and +turning over the crushed leaves rapidly with her trembling hands. "You +have not read all. You have only glanced at passages, perhaps!" + +"And they have been sufficiently unpleasant. I do not care to search +farther!" + +Zillah still turned over the leaves, tearing them more than once in her +rude haste. Her fierce eyes glanced from passage to passage. At length, +like a hawk pouncing upon its prey, she opened the book wide, and +pressed her hand hard upon a page which seemed more hastily written than +the rest, for it was blotted and broken up, evidently full of +exclamations and bursts of passionate thought. + +"Read that!" said the woman, pressing her finger upon the page till the +blood was strained back to the wrist, leaving the hand pallid as marble. +"Read that!" + +The General took up the journal, and read. Again that expression of +white rage crept over his face, and a smile rose up to his mouth, +coiling around it like a viper. + +"Yes," he said, hoarsely. "This means something. It is her own +confession." + +"It is enough to crush her forever!" cried the woman. + +"Yes, yes, that society may laugh at me as a dupe; vengeance is sweet, +but I cannot afford it. To assail her, would be to arm him against me." + +"And you will submit to this wrong?" cried the woman, while her eyes +flashed fire and her lips writhed in scorn. + +"Submit, no--my fiery Zillah; but the richest enjoyments of life should +be tasted daintily--a noisy revenge is not to my taste." + +"But you will live with this woman yet?" + +The General smiled meaningly. + +"She will, perhaps, remain under my roof." + +"And you will not take away the name she has disgraced?" persisted +Zillah, pale with suspense. + +"You are a little too fast there, my friend. A name is never dishonored +by anything kept secret within the bosom of a family. Disgrace is the +scorn of society, and how can the world scorn that which it does not +know?" + +"But it shall know. I will myself proclaim this infamy!" cried the +woman, clenching her hand, and shaking from head to foot with internal +rage. + +The General cast on her a look half-surprised, half-amused. + +"Ah, Zillah, and who on earth of our world can you know, or--if that +were possible--what would your word be against the life of a woman so +universally admired and beloved, as my wife has been?" + +"But, I will prove what I say by that book." + +"Which is just now in my possession, where it is likely to remain. Be +content, beautiful Zillah. The fate of Mabel Harrington rests with me. I +shall not trust her to your jealous rage." + +"To my jealous rage!" repeated Zillah, hardening down in her passion +till she seemed turning to marble from a single effort of will. "I +thought of your honor, not of my own wrongs. I struggle against contempt +for the man whom I have so long and so miserably loved." + +"Contempt, Zillah?" + +"Yes, sir, contempt. Even your slave has a right to despise the man who +connives at his own dishonor." + +"Woman, are you mad!--but no matter. I am too weary for much anger. You +should have remembered of old that I hate scenes. This has been gotten +up with too much intensity. I am tired of it." + +"I see, I see!" replied the woman, resuming her slave-like submission. +"You are tired, with no one to care about it. Let me serve you once +more." + +Zillah went to a marble console in another part of the room, poured out +a glass of wine, and, sinking gently at his feet, presented it after the +Oriental fashion which he had taught her years before. + +He took the wine and drank it off, dropping his hand carelessly upon her +shoulder as he returned the glass. The woman sat gazing into his face, +her brow knitted, and her eyes full of thought. + +"Then you shrink from a public exposure in this matter?" she said at +last, bending her head on one side and touching his hand with her lips, +which fell upon it cold as ice, so deep was the craft and so cruel was +the passion that prompted this caress. + +"I shrink from purchasing revenge at the cost of everything that renders +life worth having. Once for all, Zillah, to quarrel with James +Harrington is to give up all that I enjoy. Of my wife's fortune, nothing +but this old mansion, and some fragments of real estate, remain. My +first wife, as you know, left every dollar of her property to James, +else the marriage which has created all this turmoil would never have +taken place. Up to this hour, the young man has given me almost the +entire control of his income. Mrs. Harrington has no idea that her +property has not always supplied our income. To assail them, is to +expose my own losses at the gambling-table--both while I was her +guardian and her husband--I only wish the accursed book had never +reached my hands. So long as she was acknowledged the most correct and +splendid woman in society, what was her heart and its secrets to me? I +tell you, I am tied to silence in this matter, and your interference can +but annoy me." + +"Not if I point out the way by which the vengeance you pant for may +enrich yourself," said the woman, arousing from her thoughtfulness. + +"Oh, that would be a discovery, indeed." + +"James Harrington loves the lady." + +"I am not so sure of that; but, suppose it so, what then?" + +"Legal separations are easy in this country. Let her go to one of those +States where incompatibility of temper, absence, or caprice, is deemed +sufficient reason for divorce. This will be generous, and they must be +grateful for a forbearance that she has no right to expect. Half his +fortune--nay, the whole of it--will be little to ask in return." + +"Woman, has a fiend or angel put this thought into your head?" + +"Both; if love is an angel, and hate a fiend." + +"And, what can you expect from this?" + +"Nothing!" + +"Nothing! This is not true, Zillah!" + +"Is it hoping much, when I only wish to be a slave again?" + +"My poor Zillah; and did you, indeed, care for me so much?" + +The woman fell down upon her knees, buried her face between both hands, +and burst into a passion of tears. + +The General was annoyed; there was something too much like a scene in +the attitude and tears of his former slave. He leaned back in his chair, +regarding her with a glance of cynical impatience. She caught the look, +as her hands fell apart; and the hot blood that rushed over her face +seemed to burn up her tears. She broke into a smile, and arose, sweeping +a hand across her eyes fiercely, as if to punish them for weeping. + +"There, there, I will go now. It is a long time since I have been so +foolish." + +General Harrington smiled; the flush of her face and the brilliant mist +which tears had left in her eyes, reminded him of past years, when he +had, from mere wantonness, provoked those passionate outbursts, in order +to kindle up the beauty of her face. + +"But you have forgotten to say how you obtained entrance into my private +apartments. I trust no one saw you come in." + +"No one that could recognize me. I became too well acquainted with the +house when we stopped here with my old mistress, on our way to Europe, +for any need of a door. The balconies are too near the ground for that." + +"And how long had you been waiting in my bed-chamber, then?" continued +the General, pleased with the prompt return of her cheerfulness. + +"All the time that you were reading. I only sought to look on you again +from a distance, and would have escaped without disturbing you, had it +been possible." + +The General smiled complacently. After the outrage suffered by his +self-love, this devotion soothed him greatly. + +"My poor Zillah!" he said, with a sort of compassion in his voice, "poor +Zillah!" + +She did not answer him, and when he turned a moment after to learn the +cause, her place was empty. Like some gorgeous wild bird, she had +lighted at his feet a moment, and flown away. But the vellum-book was in +his hands, and her wicked counsel lay folded close among the evil things +in his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +A STORM IN THE WOODS. + + +And Lina wandered off, deep, deep into the woods--her head aching with +overcharged thought, her heart lying wounded and cold in her bosom. Hour +after hour she toiled on, wild with the pain of her new sorrow. It +seemed to her that intense action could only bring rest. Thus, she +clambered hill after hill, drew herself up the steep face of many a rock +that, at another time, would have defied her efforts, and waded, +knee-deep, in drifts of dead leaves that choked up the hollows. +Sometimes she would stop suddenly, out of breath, and panting with the +fatigue of her aimless exertions. But after looking wildly about, as if +in fear of pursuit, she would dart off again, perhaps retreading the +rough path she had left. At last, she sat down, exhausted, at the foot +of a tree, and looked around in bitter despair as she saw the woods +darken overhead, and felt a soft storm of snow flakes floating dreamily +over her. + +The poor child was numb and cold. Her very breath seemed turning to ice +upon her lips. But for the little hound that crept up to her bosom, and +lay patiently there, with its slender head laid upon her shoulder, and +its limbs trembling with the cold, she would have perished. But the +warmth from this little animal's body kept the vitality in her poor +heart, and instead of death, a drowsiness fell upon her, which would +perhaps have ended in a wakeless sleep. But just as she was sinking away +into that deathly torpor from which few are aroused, a female figure +came, floating like a dark bird of prey, through the storm, now obscured +by the thick interlacing of naked branches, and again dimmed in her +approach by the veil of virgin snow-flakes that filled the air. + +The hound lifted its slender head, gave a faint whine and lay down again +motionless, but with his vigilant eyes on the shadowy figure that +approached. That pale face was evidently known to the dog, or he would +not have rested there so peacefully, though it moved through the falling +snow, like a phantom which might disappear with the slightest sound. + +Close to the prostrate girl it came--that sinister, white face--and the +figure stooped from under the folds of its black and ample cloak, to +whisper in the cold ear of Lina French. + +"Go to the house upon the hill-side. There your mother is waiting for +you." + +Lina struggled like one aroused from the thrall of a nightmare. The +word mother had broken up the ice at her heart. She pushed the hound +from her bosom, and staggering to her feet, looked to the right and +left. No one was near. The pale quiver of the snow flakes, and the naked +tree boughs, trembling and sighing together, was all that she could make +out. But the word mother still sounded in her ear, and the sentence +uttered to her sleep grew trumpet-toned, and seemed wailed back to her +by the storm. + +"'The house upon the hill-side!' where is it?" she cried. "Which way +shall I go? Answer me, thou voice of the storm! is it north or south, to +the right or left? Answer me--or if I am indeed mad, be silent and let +me die!" + +Then, through the drifting snow flakes that settled down heavier and +heavier, there came a voice clear and musical, like the low tones of a +flute, half-singing, half-speaking, which might have been the disguise +of some voice that feared detection. + +"To the southward--to the southward, where a hearth gives forth its +white smoke, and your mother awaits her child." + +Then, with a wild laugh, ending in sobs that wasted themselves on the +silence, Lina sprang away southward, always with the storm beating in +her face, and the snow weltering like a shroud around her feet. + +Sometimes she would pause in a rift of the hills and look wistfully upon +the bed of sere leaves and feathery snow, tempting her to sink down and +die, with the grim hemlock boughs, plumed with snow wreaths drooping +over her, and lulled by the gurgle of unseen waters wandering to the +river, under their jewelled network of ice, but she resisted the +impulse, and still bent her way to the south, while the little dog, so +delicate and yet so faithful, rushed after her without a whine, as if he +knew, gentle creature, that a cry of pain, added to her own sorrow, +would be enough to smite away all her insane strength and leave her +prostrate upon the white earth. + +At last she came out of the woods upon a hill-side covered with the +tangled undergrowth that follows a fire upon the hills. The trunk of an +old cedar tree, blackened and charred to the roots, warned her of a +close approach to the river, and in the distance she saw a wreath of dim +smoke curling up through the snow. Leaving the cedar-tree on her right, +Lina toiled up the hill, and crossed a ravine darkened with great white +pines and spruce trees. At the bottom, a mountain stream broke through +ten thousand fairy chains of ice, and melting the pearly foam of the +snow as it fell, sent it leaping downward in a torrent that seemed half +diamonds, half pearl drifts, under which the pure waters went singing +softly on their way to the river. + +Lina did not heed the gentle warning of the waters, but sprang forward +in wild haste. Her step shattered the glittering ice right and left, and +the cold water gushed over her feet and garments, but she moved on +without pause, climbing up the banks of the stream till a smooth +platform of snow, and a house whose windows were fitfully revealed by +pale gleams of light, evidently from a half buried fire, stood before +her. + +She drew near to the house, standing there in the darkness, and began to +stagger, for now the unnatural strength which had nerved her, gave way. +The icy waters of the brook froze into fetters, around her ankles, and +she fell, without a sigh or moan, with her face toward the earth. + +The poor little hound, after pulling at her garments with piteous +whines, set up a howl that rang mournfully over the snow waste around. +Lina did not move. She was sensible, but utterly strengthless. All that +she had suffered was lost in a single desire to be still, and sleep or +die. + +The howl of her poor, shivering companion, so sharp and plaintive in +reality came to her ear as if from a great distance, and for once she +struggled to call Fair-Star by name, and tell him where she was, but her +lips gave forth no sound, and when the dog set up another cry, Lina did +not hear it. + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +THE DARK-HOUSE. + + +In less than an hour after Lina French fell so helplessly upon the snow +drifted around that old house, the storm swept by, and forcing the +leaden clouds aside, came the moon, followed by ten thousand stars, that +shone calmly and pure in the frosty atmosphere. Directly, bright +scintillations of frost arose upon the white waste of snow, and the +whole earth seemed crusted with diamond dust. The midnight was supremely +beautiful, and the stillness around that old house had something that +seemed holy in it, but now and then a faint howl broke over the +glittering hills, which gave warning that sorrow, pain, and, perhaps, +death were near. + +A woman coming up from the shore heard the cry, and stopped to listen. +She, too, was weary and panting from a toilsome struggle with the storm. +But a cloak of soft Russian sables and a hood of crimson silk protected +her as far as it was possible from the weather. Still her feet sunk +heavily in the snow at each step, and her footprints filled with shadows +as she passed on, blackening her way over the universal whiteness that +covered the earth. Thus it had always been in her life--that woman never +moved without leaving shadows and darkness behind her. + +She came forward, guided by the wail of Fair-Star, tramping down the +snow and breathing heavily, from her up-hill toil. + +At last her searching eyes detected the black sleeve, which fell away +from an arm flung upward, as if its owner had made a vain effort to +prevent herself falling. And there prone upon the earth, her garments +frozen stiff, till they rattled to the touch, and covered with a slight +sprinkling of snow, which had fallen off in waves during her struggles +to rise, the woman found Lina French. + +A cold, half-sneering smile at the easy success of her own schemes, +stole over the woman's face, but as she stooped and touched the cold +hand with her finger, the smile gave way to a look of affright, and +bending down, she raised the prostrate girl in her arms, tearing her +garments up from the ice, and wrenching open a little gate, before which +Lina had fallen, bore her into the house. + +Fair-Star followed, shivering and whining, with a piteous attempt at +joy, and, after a moment, both the mistress and her hound lay upon a +mattress the woman had dragged from the next room, and spread upon the +hearth-stone, which a bed of hot ashes had kept warm. With a look of +wild apprehension, the woman whom we have seen in her rooms at New York, +and later, in General Harrington's library--proceeded to divest the cold +form before her of its frozen garments. + +She took the fur mantle from her shoulders, and folded it over the +insensible girl; then dragging blankets and quilts from the next room, +heaped them over her, burying poor little Fair-Star up with his +mistress, while she proceeded to rake open the fire and throw armful +after armful of dry wood upon it. The woman was evidently well prepared +for this task of humanity, for, as the fire blazed up and went roaring +in a volume of flame through the chimney, she began to chafe the small +hands and feet buried in those blankets, and from time to time rubbed +the pale lips with brandy. + +It was long before the half-perished girl began to feel the warmth, +great as it was. The woman kept on her labor patiently, but she grew +paler and more anxious each moment, fearing that the young creature was +really dead. At last, the little hound, revived by the warmth, crept up +to the pale bosom of his mistress, and began to lick her face. Either +the animal warmth so close to her heart, or some more powerful impulse +of nature followed this act with a thrill of life. Lina did not open her +eyes, but softly, as the limbs move in a dream, her arms folded +themselves over Fair-Star, and a tear stole from under her trembling +lashes, chasing away those that had melted on her cheeks. + +Zillah regarded her with a look of profound satisfaction. She had placed +a cup of spiced wine on the hearth, ready for use, and with her soft +voice and caressing touch, now bent over the girl. + +"Take this," she said, holding the spicy draught to Lina's lips. "Drink, +it is warm and invigorating--after that you can sleep." + +Lina opened her eyes and looked dreamily at the woman, but her hands +wandered as she attempted to take the cup, and she had no power to lift +her head. + +Zillah put her arm softly beneath the drooping head, and raised it to +her bosom. Then with gentle words of persuasion she lifted the cup, and +Lina drank off the wine with thirsty eagerness. Her eyes were open and +lifted to the strange face bending over her with a glance, half wonder, +half content, as we often remark in an infant when its hunger is +satisfied, and it lies with drops of milk trembling like pearls upon the +red of its lips. + +"My child--my child!" whispered Zillah, pressing her lips down upon the +forehead of the passive young creature, "my child!" As the kiss touched +her forehead, Lina uttered a sharp cry, for, with that keen intuition, +which is a rare and sometimes fatal gift, she felt the moral poison of +that kiss in all her veins, and began to struggle in the woman's +embrace, but without the power to cast it off. + +Zillah's brow blackened, and her eyes shot forth gleams of anger, but +the hushing tones of her voice were unbroken, and she made a gentle +effort to cradle the restless head once more upon her bosom. Lina ceased +to resist. Some narcotic had evidently been mingled with her drink, for +the white lids fell drowsily over her eyes, and she surrendered herself +more and more helplessly to that evil embrace, dropping at last into a +heavy slumber, that seemed like death. + +The woman soon wearied of her position, and after a little, thrust the +sleeping girl from her bosom with a degree of loathing quite equal to +that Lina had suffered under her first kiss. + +"There is no danger that she will be found dead on my hands now," she +muttered, huddling the blankets rudely over the prostrate girl, "let her +sleep while I take a little care of myself. This awful night has almost +killed me. I wonder the girl is alive." + +The woman drew a chair close to one end of the hearth after preparing a +fresh cup of the spiced wine, which she sipped with thoughtful slowness +while her eyes were fixed on the pale face at her feet. + +"This snow has proved unfortunate," she muttered. "I fear that no +carriage will be able to cut through it, and in this place she will +prove very troublesome. Still, Agnes may be trusted, even against the +storm; the girl has a spirit that will conquer anything, when her +passions are concerned. Heavens, how cold it is! I can hear the snow +crack, the frost crusts it so suddenly over; the window-panes seem +curtained over with lace, which the moonbeams are turning to silver; it +is a bitter cold night. I fancy half an hour more would have settled all +things for the young lady. How she sleeps; but there is unrest about +her yet. She knits her brows and moans in her dreams, as if some enemy +were near. Oh, ha! ha! my pretty hound, what is the matter now?" + +Fair-Star had provoked this question by thrusting his head out from +under the blankets, and giving a low bark, as if disturbed by something +that he disliked. + +"Hush!" said the woman, sharply. "Hush, sir!" and she listened keenly +for the noise that had disturbed him. + +It was a quick footstep on the snow-crust--a fluttering sound near the +window; and then the keen eyes of the woman saw a hand softly brushing +away the frost traceries on the window, and a human face looking +through. Zillah arose with an eager look, and opened the door. + +"Agnes, is it you?" + +"I should like to know what other person you expect?" said the girl in a +whisper. + +"She is sound asleep, of course; trust you for that." + +"Yes, yes," said the woman; "but, have you brought the carriage? Can +anything penetrate this depth of snow?" + +"Not a carriage, certainly; but I have a sleigh and two good horses +outside. It will be a hard drag, but she must be out of his reach before +morning." + +"And you expect me to go out again, this bitter cold night?" said the +woman, shuddering. "I would rather run some risks than attempt it." + +"Nonsense, nonsense!" exclaimed the young woman, speaking more boldly as +she saw the deathly nature of Lina's slumber. "The whole thing must be +arranged before sunrise, and I safe at home again. This has been a +terrible night; I almost despaired of reaching you!" + +"And who comes with you?" + +"Your own people; no one else." + +"But the cold!" + +"It is nothing, with cushions and plenty of buffalo robes. An hour will +take you safely into the city. I must be let out on the way, and get +home on foot. Come, are you ready?" + +"In a moment--in a moment!" answered Zillah, gathering up her furs, and +putting on a warm hood. "But, how can we get her dressed and out to the +sleigh? Her clothes are like ice; they were absolutely frozen down!" + +"Here, here!" cried Agnes, going into the inner room, and coming forth +with some dark garments across her arms; "fortunately, I left these +things at home. We must get them on, as she sleeps. There is no fear of +waking her, I suppose?" + +"No, no! Make haste, if it must be to-night!" + +The two women lifted Lina from her couch upon the floor; arranged her in +the garments that Agnes had selected; and, wrapping her in a large +cloak, bore her between them out to a sleigh that had been drawn up near +the house. + +The driver appeared quite prepared for the singular appearance of a girl +evidently insensible, for he flung back the fur robes without any +appearance of curiosity; and, when the women had taken their places, +drove away as rapidly as the drifted snow would permit. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +STRANGE PLANS. + + +When Lina awoke, she was alone in a chamber that seemed both unfamiliar +and unpleasant, though sumptuous objects met her on every side. The +atmosphere was stifling, as if some pastilles had just been burned in +it, and a heavy pain in the head flung a mistiness all around. She was +surprised to find herself dressed in garments strange as the room; but +the heavy aching of all her limbs, and the glow of coming fever in her +cheek, rendered connected thought impossible. She dropped asleep again, +but only to be aroused by a soft tread that stole through her room, and +the breath of some person bending downward, which made her shudder, as +if it had been the poison of a upas tree floating across her mouth. + +"Are you better, Lina? are you awake?" + +"Who speaks?" cried the girl, starting wildly up. "Where am I--and who +calls me Lina?" + +"It is your mother who speaks--it is her house that shelters you." + +"My mother? oh, Father of Heaven! now I remember: take me hence--take me +hence!" + +"My child," said the woman Zillah, stepping out from the curtains that +had half concealed her; "let me look into your eyes, and see if they +dare turn in scorn or rebukingly from mine. Sit up, girl, and let me +read your face!" + +"I cannot, I cannot; my head reels--my heart aches with a pain that will +never go away;" cried the poor girl, bending forward and striving to +shut out the woman's face with both her clasped hands. "God help me; I +would rather die now!" + +The woman went softly up to that excited young creature, and, placing +one hand on her forehead, pressed her gently back upon the pillow from +which she had started so wildly. + +"I am your mother. Look at me--I am your mother!" + +Lina lifted her feverish eyes, and looked in that face, so repulsive and +yet so beautiful, with a strained, wild gaze, that burned with a +brilliancy more terrible than fever. + +"I do not know you!" she cried, dashing the woman's hands aside. "Let me +rest--I do not know you!" + +"But, I am your mother." + +"Well, go on and tell the whole story!" cried Lina, with insane +vehemence. "I know who my father is--he told me himself; but you, +madam--you with those strange eyes, and that proud stoop of the head, +how came you to be my mother? Don't you know that General Harrington has +a wife, and that Ralph is her son. What are you, then, and what am I?" + +"I was General Harrington's slave, and you are my daughter. You need not +look at me, with those great wondering eyes. I would have broken this +more kindly, but you receive me as if I were your slave--not his. You +reject me--so be it; but my blood is in your veins, and my shame on your +forehead. You cannot shake it off; it will cling around you like a +curse, forever and ever. Now sleep if you can!" + +A shrill cry broke from the poor young creature, who had fallen forward +grovelling in the bed. She struggled to get up, but her limbs were numb, +and refused to move. She flung her clasped hands wildly out, and the +prayer that she strove to utter broke forth in a sound, that bore with +it the last sane thought that she was to know for weeks. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII + +THE TEMPTATION. + + +"Gen. Harrington wants to see you!" + +A new chambermaid had been introduced into Gen. Harrington's household, +and it was this woman who addressed James Harrington as he sat in the +remote chamber which had fallen to his lot in a wing of the family +mansion. + +Harrington looked up as the mulatto presented herself, startled by the +southern accent and appearance of the woman, which struck him +disagreeably; when she moved away, with her indolent walk and +indifferent air, he watched her with a sense of relief of which he was +himself unconscious. + +"The General am in his own room," she muttered in answer to his +question, turning back as she spoke, "something don't seem to 'gree with +him somehow this mornin', 'pears like he ain't right well." + +The unpleasant impression left by this woman passed but partially away; +trifles sometimes affect sensitive characters with a feeling of unrest +long after the cause is displaced from the memory; disturbed by this +shadowy feeling, James arose and sought General Harrington's room, +wondering a little in his mind what the business might be which +occasioned this unusual request for an interview. He passed the mulatto +woman in one of the passages, who retreated to the wall and stood with +her gaze bent on the floor as he passed, but the moment his back was +turned the sleepy lids rose suddenly from over her black eyes that +flamed out with evil passions, and a repulsive smile stirred her mouth +till it worked like a nest of reptiles. Again an unpleasant sensation +crept over James Harrington, and he hurried forward with an +unconquerable desire to escape her presence. + +He found General Harrington alone, surrounded by the luxurious +appointments which distinguished his apartments above all others in the +house; but the old man was restless and even pallid, as if some unusual +moral force had been necessary to urge on this interview with a man +against whom he meditated a temptation so atrocious. + +For the first moment these two men stood regarding each other in +silence. General Harrington stood up at his visitor's approach, but all +his self-possession was insufficient to keep his limbs from trembling +and the color from fleeing his face. The painful compression of his lips +grew more rigid, and a cold glitter stole into his eyes as they met the +calm questioning gaze fixed upon them. + +"You desired to speak with me, sir," said James Harrington at length, +with that gentle respect which had become a habit of self-control, +rather than a genuine impulse of reverence for the man before him. + +"Yes, sit down," said the General, with a cold harshness of tone so at +variance with his usual bland insincerity, that James Harrington looked +at him in grave surprise, as he drew a seat toward the library table. +For a moment there was profound silence between the two; then the +General turned stiffly in his chair, placed one hand on a book with +broken clasps that lay before him, and spoke. There was something more +than bitterness in his voice; it was harsh with poisonous malice. + +"Mr. James Harrington, you loved my wife before I married her," he said, +with rude abruptness, that made his auditor rise from his chair, pale +and aghast. + +"Sir, sir!" broke from his white lips. + +"Before and since; before and since! Do you understand, sir, your +hypocrisy is at last exposed? I say again"---- + +"Stop!" said James Harrington, lifting his hand with authority, though +it shook like an aspen. "Stop, sir; you are dealing with things that +only God himself has power to scrutinize. For my acts, sir, you have a +right to arraign me; and there I will answer you with the frankness of a +little child, for as childhood they are innocent." + +James Harrington stood upright as he spoke, with one arm folded across +his chest, guarding the secret which that old man was attempting to +wrench from his heart with such ruthless cruelty. + +"Innocent!" sneered the old man; "innocent! But I do not blame you, sir! +Among men of honor, it is a gentleman's duty to lie broadly and boldly +where a lady's reputation is at stake. You have enough of the Harrington +blood in your veins to deny this woman's guilt with sufficient +indignation; but I, sir, am not mad or blind enough to believe you." + +The very might of his emotions kept James Harrington still as he +listened to these scathing words. He sat down very quietly, and gazed +into the old man's face, shocked to the soul, yet unable to comprehend +the reality of a charge so atrocious. + +"Will you explain?" he faltered. + +"I have explained sufficiently, sir! You loved the lady, and she"---- + +"Hush! sir; say what you will of me, but do not dare to utter Mabel +Harrington's name in this connection. The angels of Heaven are not more +blameless than that woman." + +"Indeed!" sneered the old man again, dashing open the book before him, +and clenching his hand fiercely among its leaves. "Read, sir, read!" + +James Harrington reached out his hands, and took the volume held toward +him; it had been opened at random, and the passage that met his eye +contained a pathetic appeal to Heaven for help to conquer the passion +which Mabel confessed to herself as a grievous fault. + +The blood rushed athwart James Harrington's forehead as he read; for +through the mist that floated over his eyes and brain, he recognized +Mabel's handwriting, and felt how coarsely her unhappiness was being +revealed to his own heart, which had hardly dared to suspect it before. +He was bewildered by the suddenness with which this subject had been +forced upon him, and for a moment sat like one fascinated, gazing in +pale wonder at the written characters that proved how much he had been +beloved. + +"Read on!" said the old man. "It is a book which makes research +pleasant. Read it through, sir, and then, if you can, repeat the +gentlemanly lie which contradicts her own written confession." + +James closed the book reverently, and laid it down. + +"I have been surprised into reading a few words that should have been +kept sacred--it was not my fault, I was bewildered; but no power on +earth could induce me to open that book again, though I am very certain +nothing can be found in it which an angel need condemn; for, if an +honorable and upright woman lives on earth, it is the lady who bears +your name." + +"You dare not read the proofs of her dishonor, and yours!" + +"I deny that such proofs exist, or can exist!" + +General Harrington opened the book, and glanced at the passage which had +just been read. + +"Even here, she confesses her love; you have seen it in her own +handwriting--the whole world shall see not only this passage, but the +whole book. I will scatter its pages broadcast over the country. See, +then, if your denial will shield her from universal scorn." + +"You could not do this!" + +"I can!" + +"She would die under the first bitter sneer." + +"Let her die, then! The woman who marries a Harrington, should at least +learn not to commit herself." + +James Harrington shrunk back in his seat, appalled by the vision of +humiliation that opened itself before him. He saw Mabel's name bandied +from lip to lip with pity or sneers, by the very society in which she +had been held in so much honor. He saw her reputation, so spotless now, +consigned to a thousand reckless presses, each tearing her secret forth +with its cruel iron fingers, crushing it into some slanderous shape +between its ponderous cylinders, and hurling it, blackened with lies and +coarse jests, scoffingly to the world. + +He saw the effect of this murderous publicity upon Mabel herself, when +it should recoil back to her. She, so generous, so kindly, and yet so +proud--how would she endure this outrage upon feelings held secret +almost from her prayers--feelings struggled against and forced back +without a word of utterance, save when they broke forth in the pages of +a journal locked so vigilantly from all eyes but her own; that luckless +journal to open which seemed like pillaging her proud heart. + +Would she yield at once to the extreme delicacy of her nature, and +shrinking away from notice, perish under this rude publicity?--or, +struggling against it, go mad, and die like an eagle striving to keep +its wings poised on high, though pierced with a thousand arrows. He knew +that she would resist to the last. The exquisite sensitiveness which +rendered her so unlike ordinary women, was matched with a strength of +will which would give suffering its keenest power. It would not be +death--that is the relief of weaker natures--but relentless life--life +full of those torturing agonies that trample every upspringing joy from +the heart. Compared to this life, poisoned in all its sources, death +would be a sweet dream to a woman like Mabel. The intense vitality of +her own nature, would be its torment. + +As this picture rose upon his brain, James Harrington shrouded his face, +silent and appalled. His strong heart was racked to the centre--a +tortuous strain closed in upon his nerves, and for the time, that stout, +brave man was helpless as a child. + +"You love this woman yet, I see." + +General Harrington's voice had resumed its usual slow intonation. The +first anger had left it with a harsh, cold attempt at composure; his +eyes moved from object to object, and his soft white fingers worked +nervously with the tassel of his dressing-gown: if at any moment of his +life this old man could have been awkward, it must have been then, for +he was too keen-sighted not to feel his own meanness, but not honest +enough to crush it beneath his feet. + +"You love this woman yet?" + +James Harrington dashed the hands away from his pale face, and sat +upright. + +"Ask me that, or anything else that appertains only to my own feelings, +and I will answer. I did love the woman you married with every power of +my soul!" + +"And now?" + +"Now, sir, and from the day she took your name, she has been sacred to +my thoughts, as an angel in Heaven." + +General Harrington smiled incredulously. + +"I have answered the simple truth, sir," said James, in reply to the +smile. + +Instead of being pleased with the honest simplicity of this answer, the +old man looked disappointed; his brow clouded, and his eye fell. + +"You would gladly have married her at the time, though?" + +James again shrouded his eyes. These questions were so coldly put--so +rudely forced upon him, that he could only answer by an inward shudder +of repulsion. + +"You are not a man to change in anything," continued the General. "You +loved the woman once--I knew it at the time." + +"Knew it, and yet married her!" cried James, with bitterness. + +"You seemed to be playing a dog in the manger part--this might do for +young fellows who were too timid for speech, or too certain for doubt. +The lady was young, beautiful, rich, and appeared to give me the +preference. You did not speak. I did; that is all." + +"I was not selfishly silent, sir. Before my mother's unhappy death, I +was dependent entirely on her bounty, and that you controlled. Mabel was +an heiress. I was not mercenary, and hesitated to appear so. My mother +loved her. She was very young, and your ward. It would have seemed like +taking an unfair advantage of her inexperience, had I used my mother's +hospitality as a means of reaching her favor. After that came a more +painful reason for silence." + +"And what was that, sir?" demanded the General, sharply. + +"I learned that her fortune had disappeared; that, large as it was, her +guardian, unable to control more than the income of his wife's property, +had staked this poor orphan's wealth at the gaming-table, and lost it." + +General Harrington half rose from his chair, and sat down again, looking +at James in pale astonishment. + +"To have declared my love under circumstances so disgraceful to my +family, would have been to expose you, sir, both to my gentle mother and +to the world. The will which gave Mabel her wealth, provided that a full +settlement should be made on the day of her marriage. I had not the +courage to hurry on an event that would brand my mother's husband with +dishonor." + +Still the General sat mute and pale, looking steadfastly on the floor; +he seemed for a time unconscious that James had ceased to speak, but at +last raising his head slowly, he cast a look that was almost fiendish on +the younger Harrington. + +"Go on, go on!" he said, hoarsely. + +"I will, sir! Heaven knows it was my wish to bury this secret forever, +but you force me to speak. My poor mother's sickness added new pain to +my unhappy situation; she died"---- + +"And left me a beggar--you a rich man!" said the General, hoarsely. "I +have not forgotten it!" + +"Then," continued James, "I was free to marry the lady on equal +terms--free to replace her fortune from my own inheritance, and keep +your secret still from her knowledge--but it was no time for selfish +affection, just as my angel mother was laid in a foreign grave. It +required time before I could control so large a portion of the property +that had been hers. I left you in Spain, sad, but hopeful, a few months +would have brought me back prepared to save your honor and my own +happiness. You know the rest!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +JAMES HARRINGTON'S GREAT STRUGGLE. + + +General Harrington arose, slowly, for his limbs trembled with intense +rage, and it was with difficulty that he stood up. + +"We know each other!" he said, shaking his finger at the younger +Harrington, and drawing closer and closer, till it almost touched his +face. "You have been the traitor in my household--plundered my closest +secrets--alienated my wife; talk of dishonor, sir, what was mine +compared to yours?" + +But James Harrington had regained all his strength, and stood up firmly +before the infuriated old man. + +"I have said before, that from the hour this lady became your wife, the +place of my sainted mother enshrined her. As I would have studied that +mother's happiness, I gave myself and all that I possessed to her +welfare and yours. My own tastes were simple, and I had no hopes. The +larger portion of my income, you have always controlled." + +"And always will command, or this woman's name shall become a by-word +from Maine to Georgia!" exclaimed the General, resuming some control +over his rage. "We comprehend each other now, and can talk plainly. You +have learned some of my secrets, and shall know more. I have other debts +of honor, and no ward's fortune to pay them with: her reputation or +mine is at stake--one must save the other." + +"I do not understand you, sir." + +"You can very well comprehend that the contents of this precious book, +will render anything like affection for Mrs. Harrington impossible to +me. Indeed, the unhappy position in which your mother's death left me, +not only penniless, but frightfully involved, enforced this second +marriage. I can afford to forgive an outrage on affections that never +existed. So while the lady's faithlessness does not affect my interests +or my honor, I can endure it with self-complacency." + +"I am shocked--astonished, sir, to hear you speak in this way!" said +James, indignantly. + +The old man smiled. + +"You are a dreamer, sir, which I am not. Scenes and excitements are my +abhorrence; we hold unpleasant relations toward each other. You are my +step-son. The only child of my very distant cousin, a Harrington like +myself, to whom, but for your birth, I was the direct heir. The +property, a vast one, which might have been justly divided, fell to his +widow, your mother, by will. I married the lady, thus, as any sensible +man would have supposed, ensuring the inheritance which should have been +mine, and which undoubtedly would have been mine, but the lady took it +into her head to get jealous one fine day"---- + +"Stop, sir!" said James Harrington. "I guessed too well the cause of her +death--the bitter sorrow which haunted my mother to her grave. She died +a broken-hearted woman; do not take her name irreverently into your +lips, or I shall forget myself." + +"You _are_ forgetting yourself, sir!" answered the General, waving his +hand with gentle deprecation. "This is neither time nor place for +heroics. I did but attempt to impress you with the fact, that your +mother's unjust will had caused all this domestic turmoil. You took the +property from me--I won the lady from you. Let us look upon the thing +like sensible men, and make restitution." + +"Restitution, sir! Restitution of a wasted life!" + +"Do be composed--I am tired of storms. You love the lady--I do not. I +want money--you care nothing for it." + +"Well, sir, well?" + +"Really, it is difficult coming to the point, while you look so excited; +but, if you will listen tranquilly, all this may be settled." + +James sat down, with one hand pressed to his forehead. + +"Go on, sir. I am listening." + +"It is but just, as I said before, that you disburse the bulk of a +property which originally came from the Harrington family. Give me a +deed, conveying two-thirds of that property to my unrestricted control +during life--I have no ambition to make wills--and the secrets of this +book are safe. The west is broad, and most conveniently accommodating +when marriage ties become irksome. Mabel can take that direction for her +summer travels, while I remain here. In three months the fashionable +world may thank us for a week's gossip, which I can very well endure. +The world is large--there is California, Australia, or Europe--her +second marriage in any of these countries would never be heard of." + +James Harrington started up, shaking from head to foot; and so white, +that the General half-rose, tempted to flee his presence. + +"Tempter, hoary-headed fiend, how dare you!" broke from his white lips. + +The old man faltered a little as he went on, and an anxious restlessness +of the eye betrayed more emotion than he cared to make apparent. + +"I neither tempt nor persuade. We have done each other great injury; +this lady has been the cause, and in some sort the victim. After +reading that book, it is impossible for this household to contain us +all. I will not submit to be turned out a beggar, nor to live an hour +longer on your munificence. The plan I offer is the only one that can be +peaceably acted upon." + +"And the lady, Mrs. Harrington, does she know this?" + +"Not a syllable. I have no fancy for hysterics, protestations, or +fainting fits. The _rôle_ of an injured husband, is not to my taste; and +I should prefer that she base her complaints on my indifference, +abandonment, infidelity, or whatever faults of that nature she pleases. +I will take a trip to Paris, if that promises to facilitate matters." + +"And, if I refuse?" + +"Then the lady shall be quietly waited upon by my lawyer, and invited to +leave my house. This book will not only be placed in evidence against +her, but every line it contains shall be duplicated by thousands, and +spread far and wide." + +"Give me time--give me air. I cannot think or breathe!" answered James, +struggling with himself amid a whirl of contending feelings, like a +drowning man engulphed by a flood. "A few minutes, and I will speak +again." + +He arose, and walked unsteadily towards the library window, threw it +open, and stepped out upon the balcony. There he strove to look the +difficulty before him in the face--to meet the terrible temptation with +courage. He dared not turn his thoughts, even for a moment, toward the +possibility of the proposed divorce, but crushed it back resolutely, as +if it had been a serpent attempting to charm his soul away. If a glow of +delight had touched his heart with the first certainty of Mabel's love, +it was gone now, quenched by a consciousness of the terrible dangers +that were closing around her. + +It was a bitter cold morning; all around him the earth lay sheeted with +deep snow. The river was frozen over from shore to shore. Not a green +thing was near, save the spruces and pines upon the shrouded lawn, and +they drooped and moaned under a burden of cold whiteness, which the wind +might disturb but fail to sweep away. The balcony was littered with +slender icicles which had fallen from the gables above, and flashed out +like shattered jewels from his impetuous footsteps as he trod them down, +walking to and fro in the wild excitement that seized upon him. At +another time he must have shuddered beneath the sharp wind that filled +his hair and clothes with frost. But now, the fever in his blood burned +too hotly not to feel the biting cold as a relief. + +He leaned against a pillar of the balcony, shocked to the soul, and yet +so indignant that the frozen particles that filled the air, flashed +athwart his eyes like sparks of fire. The hand with which he strove to +force back the painful rush of thought from his forehead, fell upon it +like ice, but in a moment that too was burning. He tore off his cravat, +and in vain exposed his bosom to the frost. He gathered handfuls of snow +from where it had lodged in ridges on the stone balustrade, and pressed +them to his forehead, hoping thus to slake the fever of his wild +thoughts. A little time, and this fierce struggle must have killed him; +for, not to have found some means of saving Mabel Harrington from the +dangers that encompassed her, would have been a thousand deaths to him. +Oh! how his bad angel toiled and struggled to fix that divorce upon his +mind, as the best and only means of saving her. But the heart that +swelled so tumultuously in his bosom, was honest and unselfish. He took +hold of the temptation, firmly wrestled with, and hurled it aside, +facing the right with heroic courage. + +At last, his restless footsteps ceased; some new idea contracted his +features, sweeping all the fire away. Slowly and steadily, like the +beams of a star, thought followed thought, till his face grew luminous +with generous resolution. The red fever had burned itself out on his +forehead, leaving it pale and calm, while across his lips stole an +expression so much more beautiful than a smile, that I cannot impress it +upon the reader. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +THE LIFE DEED. + + +James Harrington turned from the balcony, and entered the open window, +composed and firm, but paler than before he went out. + +General Harrington looked sharply up as James came forward, but did not +speak; there was a force and dignity in his aspect that filled even that +worldly old man with respect, amounting almost to awe. They sat down +face to face; James leaning heavily against the table, General +Harrington retreating far back in his chair, to avoid the firm glance of +those eyes. + +"There is another way of settling this matter," he said, plunging at +once into the depths of the subject. "I have wealth which you desire. To +obtain it you will sell your revenge on a helpless woman whose hand you +have obtained, but whose love you have never sought. Your offer is +specious, but to accept it would be wickedness in me, degradation to +her. I know well that she would die rather than escape your vengeance on +such terms. I reject them utterly!" + +"It is well," said the old man, pale and trembling in his turn, "I have +at least this left;" and gathering up Mabel's book, he seemed preparing +to go out. + +"But," said James Harrington, still with great self-possession, "I am +ready to purchase the tranquillity of your wife on other terms. Give me +that book--pledge your solemn word of honor that its contents shall +never be mentioned again to mortal being--leave Mabel Harrington in the +entire enjoyment of her home and station, exactly as she has received +them during her married life, and I will at once give you entire control +of my income during your natural life, only reserving for myself enough +for a bare subsistence. I will leave this house to-morrow. Henceforth, I +will hold no communication with you or your family. As you said, the +world is broad--any place will answer for one who has no hopes." + +The old man was so taken by surprise that he could not answer, but sat +searching the face before him with eager scrutiny. + +"And you will do this?" + +"I will." + +"Without entering into explanation with her, or any one else?" + +"Explanations are impossible. The family will understand that I am +suddenly called away; after that, any prolonged absence can be accounted +for. But remember, sir, this lady's tranquillity must be assured beyond +a chance of revocation; on that rests the validity of any deed I shall +draw. The day and hour in which her position is in the slightest degree +impaired, no matter from what cause, and I return, though it were from +the uttermost ends of the earth, to resume my own and protect her." + +"Have no fear," answered the general, with an impatient wave of the +hand. "The shelter of my roof, and the protection of my name, will +ensure all; these I promise never to withdraw." + +"And that book?" + +"Shall be kept secret as the grave!" + +"It must be burned before I leave the room!" + +The old man was about to hesitate, and demand the life-deed before he +surrendered Mabel's journal; but there was a stern dignity in his +step-son that checked the mean impulse. He knew well that no bond would +be held more sacred than that man's word. James read the thought with a +smile of contempt, and turned to leave the room. + +"In half an hour I will return with the deed; keep the book till then!" + +"No, no, it is here!" cried the General, flushing with shame. + +But Harrington had gone, leaving him in a state of humiliation which no +self-complacency could soften or conceal. After he had been left a +little time, the old man went out upon the balcony, for a brilliant fire +made the heat oppressive, cold as the day was; and there was a sensation +of shame at his heart, that made his breath come heavily. + +He was gone scarcely more than a minute, but that was long enough for +the mulatto chambermaid to steal out from the bed-chamber, tear half a +dozen pages from Mabel's journal, and creep back again, grasping the +crushed paper in her hand as she glided through the door which opened +behind the curtains of General Harrington's bed. The drapery was yet +rustling from her sudden retreat, when the old gentleman returned to the +library. He found the book as he had left it, and sat down with +something of triumph but more of self-contempt, to await the return of +his step-son. + +Directly, James came back with the deed in his hand. The General took +it, read it carefully section by section, folded it with studied +deliberation; and taking up the journal, placed it in Harrington's hand +with a forced smile and a scarcely perceptible bow. + +As the book touched his hands, James Harrington grasped it with +violence; a trembling fit seized upon him, and he shook like an aspen +tree while carrying it to the fire. Opening the covers wide, he laid the +fluttering pages down upon the flames, which darted through them like a +nest of fiery vipers, and in an instant devoured poor Mabel Harrington's +secret, over which the vellum covers writhed and curled like living +things given up to torture. + +Till the last fragment was consumed, James Harrington stood looking on, +with the light falling upon his pale face, which revealed a depth of +mournful tenderness that touched even that selfish old man with +reverence. It seemed as if Mabel's heart had been given to the flames by +his own hands. When all was consumed he turned away like one in a +painful dream, and without speaking a word, left the room. + +Two hours after, he quitted the house. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +WHO WAS LINA FRENCH? + + +James Harrington and Lina left the same roof within a few hours of each +other, without warning or explanation. Was it strange that Mabel should +be tortured with wild doubts, or that her son should believe the +step-brother whom he had looked up to with such honest devotion, and the +girl he had loved so truly, domestic conspirators who had been deceiving +him all the time? + +Poor Ralph! these doubts fell with cruel force on his generous nature. +His confidence was all swept away--the best jewel of his life had fallen +off. To him, love had no longer the holiness of truth. Household +trust--faith in human goodness--all was disturbed. He was wild with +indignation, torn with a thousand conflicting feelings; sometimes +heart-broken with grief--again, reckless and defiant; then a spirit of +bitter retaliation seized upon him. What was Lina, with her gentle +affections and pretty reserves, that he should waste a life in regrets +for her, while another, ardent, impassioned, and loving him madly, was +pining to death for the affection he had thrown away so lavishly for +nothing? What, after all, was there to charm more in one woman than +another? Lina was false; why should he remain faithful? + +These were wild, rash thoughts; but Ralph was young, tortured in his +first love, and tempted by an artful, impassioned woman, whose perverse +will carried the strength of fate with it. + +Still, it was only at times that his heart rose hotly against its old +nature. There was more of scorn and rage, mingled with the certainty +that Agnes Barker loved him, than of real passion, but it assuaged the +humiliation of Lina's falsehood, and the consciousness of her attachment +diverted the grief that would otherwise have consumed him. Though +maddened by all these conflicting passions, the young man had sought +desperately after the lost girl from the moment her absence was +discovered on the morning after the storm, but she seemed to have +disappeared like a shadow from the earth; for from the hour when she +left Ben Benson's boat-house, not a trace of her movements could be +found. + +For the third time, Ralph went down to the boat-house to question the +old sailor, whom he found housed up, as he called it, in a fit of sullen +grief, which it required some tact to break in upon. + +Ben was sitting in his domicile before a rousing fire, which he now and +then stooped to feed with hickory logs, till the whole room was filled +with a warm glow of light. So many additions and ornaments had been +added to the boat-house, that it took the appearance of a ship's cabin +more than anything else. The fire revealed a trap-door in the centre of +the room, which answered for a gangway, while coils of rope, carpenters' +tools, cans of pitch, and bits of iron, all in their place and +ship-shape, as Ben would have said, gave both a busy and maritime look +to the premises. + +Everything was very comfortable in the boat-house, but Ben kept piling +on wood and raking out the coals with an iron bar, as if the heat and +light were still insufficient, when in fact he thought nothing of +either, but was making desperate efforts to work off the anxieties that +had beset him like so many hounds, ever since his interview with Lina. + +"What can a feller do now?" he said, looking wistfully up to the models +of gun-boats, brigs, and clippers, that occupied the rude shelves and +brackets on the wall, as if taking counsel from them. "I have sarched +the woods from hill to hill, and nary a sign of her. She 'caint a gone +and fell through the ice, for it's friz two feet thick; and, as for +running away, or going for to kill herself, it wasn't in the gal to do +no sich thing. Ben Benson, you was a brute, beast, and two or three +sarpents to boot, not to tell the gal all she wanted to know. You +obstinate old wretch, you've gone and done it now, and no mistake. It's +as much as I can do to keep from knocking you on the head with a +marlin-spike, you sneakin' old sea-dog! What if she was dead now, friz +stiff agin a tree, or a lyin' in the bottom of the river, what would you +think of yourself, I'd like to know?" + +Thus half in muttered breath, half in thought, Ben gave forth the burden +of his anxieties, till at last self-reproachful beyond endurance, he +seized a fragment of pine wood, and opening his jack-knife with +superfluous energy, began to whittle, as if his life depended on +sharpening the stick to a point. + +He was interrupted by the crunching sound of snow beneath footsteps that +came in haste toward the boat-house. Ben cut a deep gash into the wood, +and sat motionless, with his hand on the knife, listening. + +"It's too heavy--she never trod down the snow-crust like that, poor +bird!" and, resuming his work, Ben kicked the shavings he had made into +the fire, and flung the mutilated pine after them. + +"Is't you, mister Ralph?" said Ben, rising as the door opened, and +seating himself moodily on a bench, that his guest might come to the +fire. "You look flustered, and out of sorts, but this isn't no place to +get ship-shape in. It's awful lonesome here, sin' that night." + +"Then, you have heard nothing!" + +"No, not a whisper. That fool, Ben Benson, has been sarching and +sarching, like an old desarter as he is, but it ain't no sort o' good; +the gal may be dead for what he cares--a toasting hisself before a fire, +while she--may be Mr. James has hearn something." + +"Mr. James Harrington has gone also," answered Ralph, bitterly. "It's no +use searching further. They have fled together. James Harrington, the +man whom I have looked up to all my life, the saint, the angel; he has +disappeared as she did. They cheated me from the beginning. He has taken +advantage of his wealth, and she--what chance had a poor fellow like me +against his millions? It was hardly worth while to deceive me so +shamefully though; but craft is natural to the sex, I believe." There +was a struggle between grief and rage in the young man's voice, and +while his eye blazed his lips began to quiver. + +Ben slowly stooped forward, and resting an elbow on each knee, touched +his fore-fingers thoughtfully together, while his eyes, clear and honest +as those of a Newfoundland dog, were bent on the young man's face. At +last he burst forth. + +"Ralph Harrington, I should say, that next to that mule-headed feller, +Ben Benson, as isn't worth the husks he sleeps on--you was the +consarnedest fool that ever sot hisself up with an opinion. You talk +agin wimmen afore the moustachoes are black on your upper lip, because +there's something about one on 'em, as you can't make out. Then, there's +Mister James, a man as that ere shark Ben Benson ain't afeared to swear +by through thick and thin, the most gentlemanliest Harrington as ever +drawd breath, you set up to speak again him, it's enough to agrivate a +British admiral." + +Ralph had scarcely heeded this speech, but stood with one elbow resting +upon the rude shelf, that served as a mantelpiece, sullen and +thoughtful. + +"I was in hopes you would tell me something. Oh! Ben, it seems +impossible to believe that fair, young creature so false," he said, at +length giving way to the feelings that oppressed him, "what faith can +one have in human nature after this?" + +"Mister Ralph Harrington, you ain't no sailor, to talk in that ere way. +There's many a stout ship as goes down in a storm, with its timbers +sound and its masts standing. Then, agin, there's others as give +themselves up to the storm, and lead off hither and yon, but get back to +their reckoning, and do good sarvice arter all. Wimmen are like +ships--some get unrigged--some founder--some go agin wind and weather, +right in the teeth of the world, and some drift like poor little boats, +without compass or rudder, but yet, the generality cast anchor in deep, +clear water at last, and for one wreck, thousands and thousands come in +with all sails set--only Mister Ralph, remember this. The craft that +ales goes steadily and safe, cuts a still wake; but your leaky vessels +makes any amount of whirlpools as they go down. It's only boys," +continued Ben, taking the tobacco from his mouth, and casting it +indignantly into the fire--"It's only boys as knows nothing, and men as +knows too much, that ever speak in this ere wholesale way about wimmen. +Ralph, you're young, that's all." + +"I am distracted, Ben; Heaven knows how gladly I would believe her +blameless, but her manner changed toward me so strangely, she was +evidently premeditating this abandonment; but that she should go +off--and with him, of all men upon earth. Oh! Ben, what man, not a fool, +could persist in his faith, after that." + +"I tell you, it wasn't that as driv the gal away. She wanted to know +something as I wouldn't tell her. Something more'en Ben Benson reckoned +on, was in her mind; she got discouraged because he wouldn't tell her." + +"If I'd told her, she'd a been here now." Here Ben covered his face with +both hands and cried out, "God forgive me! God forgive me!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +THREATS AND PERSUASIONS. + + +Directly after James Harrington left the General's room, the +waiting-woman Zillah entered cautiously, and with breathless eagerness. +She stood some moments partly behind the General's chair, before he +regarded her. When he did look up, a faint color swept over his face, +and he made a gesture of annoyance. + +"You are not pleased to find me here so soon," she said quickly, for +impatience had for the moment disturbed the wonderful self-control with +which her interviews with General Harrington were invariably conducted. +"Is it a sign this woman, who has outraged the name of wife, is to +triumph over me always?" + +"Zillah!" answered the General, angrily, "my relations with my wife are +beyond your interference." + +"Your wife!" exclaimed the woman with a fiendish sneer. "You can still +call her that!" + +"Zillah, be careful. I have permitted you to go in and out of my house +in this surreptitious fashion unmolested, from regard to old +attachments; but you shall not again interfere in my family +arrangements. The charges that you have, I see now, been the means of +making against Mrs. Harrington, are groundless. I will not have a word +spoken--mark me--against that excellent lady." + +"What!" said the woman hoarsely; "what does this mean?" + +"It means, Zillah, that I am perfectly convinced not only of Mrs. +Harrington's rectitude, but of her entire attachment to myself. As for +Mr. James Harrington, his conduct has been unexceptionable--nay, +magnanimous. We are a happy and united family, Zillah." + +"A happy and united family!" almost shrieked the woman. "And has it all +come to this--am I again spurned, again hurled back to the earth--Hagar +thrust forth to wander forever and ever with her child in the broad +desert--the world. I tell you, General Harrington, this shall not be!" + +"Shall not--slave, how dare you?" cried the old man, rising haughtily. + +"Slave, slave! Yes, I am your slave, for I love you, my master, love you +with a madness this cold white lady never dreamed of. Do not crush me +beneath this woman's feet--do not. For years and years I have lived on +this one wish, to be your slave again. She, your wife, is faithless, +false, cold as marble; put her away--send her forth, as I have been. The +same God made us both, and should punish us both alike. I have been +tortured long enough; take me home, master, take me home--a servant, a +slave, anything; but send this woman from beneath your roof. She has +had her life, I have a right to mine! Give it to me--give it to me for +my love's sake, for our child's sake!" + +The woman fell upon her knees as she spoke; her locked hands were +uplifted, and wrung madly together--her eyes were full of wild, +passionate tears. She looked, indeed, a Hagar coming back from the +desert, where she had left her youth buried. + +"Master, master, send her away, send her away!" she pleaded, in a burst +of pathetic entreaty. "What has she been to you, that I was not? She is +the mother of your child--so am I. She was your wife--I was your slave. +She claimed rights, station, wealth, power, and returned nothing. I gave +my soul, my being, every breath of my life, every pulse in my heart, and +claimed only bonds. You fettered her with flowers--me with iron. I loved +these chains, for they bound me to you--they have drawn me to your feet +again. I will not give way to that woman a second time!" + +The old man had been growing calm amid this passionate appeal. Strong +feeling always annoyed him, and the woman seemed actuated by a species +of madness, that filled him with repulsion. He turned from her with a +look of quiet contempt. + +"Why, Zillah, you should go on the stage. These wild paroxysms, +half-pathetic, half-demoniac, tell splendidly with the public: a little +dash of blasphemy now, and you are perfect. The best society would run +wild about you--ladies, most of all, especially if they knew exactly who +and what you were, Zillah." + +The woman sprang to her feet, white as death; her eyes closing, her lips +specked with foam. She attempted to speak, but the words writhed +themselves to death on her lips without a sound. + +How still intense rage can sometimes appear! The woman stood mute for +more than a moment, in which General Harrington held his breath, awed, +in spite of himself, by a force of passion he had never witnessed +before. + +"Zillah," he said at last, half-terrified, "Zillah, control yourself; +this rage will injure you. Come, come, let us talk together more +reasonably. You know how I dislike these wild flights of temper, and how +little good they can effect. Take that hand from your bosom, girl; if +you have a poniard there, let it stay sheathed. I do not fear you, at +any rate." + +"You need not," said the woman, in a hoarse whisper. "I could not +strike, even while you were mocking me." + +Her hand fell slowly downward as she spoke, leaving the hilt of a dagger +just visible under her dress. + +The General stepped toward her, took the dagger from her bosom, and cast +it contemptuously on the fire. + +"Have done with this acting, girl, and talk like a sensible woman, if +you have really anything to say." + +Zillah smiled scornfully, as he had done, while her eyes followed the +dagger to its lodgment in the fire. + +"It is the purpose, not the instrument, which is dangerous," she said, +with pale self-possession, still speaking in hoarse undertones; "and, in +order to reach that, you must clutch here." + +Zillah pressed one hand hard on her heart as she spoke, and the old man +could see that concentrated passion shook her from head to foot, still +as she seemed. + +"Zillah, this passion will prevent me ever seeing you again. I am no +boy, to be terrified into concessions; as for violence, attempt it, and +I will have you dealt with like any other house-breaker. In the North we +have heavier chains than you have ever worn. You will find that the +slavery which springs from crime, is a reality that you have not yet +known. No more threats, then, if you ever hope to see your master +again." + +"I was wrong," said the woman, standing before him with the downcast +look learned in her early bondage. "It was wounded love, not anger, +against you, my master, that tortured me into this rash language. I came +to tell you of L----of our child; she is very, very ill." + +"What, Lina? poor child, no wonder she is heart-broken. Heaven knows I +would have kept this miserable secret from her, but for Ralph! Where is +she now?" + +"In my own house, raving with brain fever!" + +"And have you told her all?" + +"Yes, and she, too, spurned me--every one repulses and scorns me, while +that woman"---- + +"Hush! Zillah, you are getting fierce again, and that I will not submit +to." + +"No, no, master, it was grief for my child, not anger," said the woman, +checking herself. "She is ill, very ill. The doctor thinks she must +die." + +"Indeed, I am grieved to hear it. Let her have every care; have a dozen +physicians, if it is needful. Poor child--poor child!" + +"You love her, then, this daughter of a slave?" said Zillah, with a +fierce gleam in her eyes, as if jealous of his very love for her own +child. + +"Love her? Why she has always been a pet in the house--a beautiful, +sweet-tempered creature, whom everyone loved. I think she is even dearer +to me than Ralph himself." + +Again the woman turned white. + +"And you love her so much?" + +"Again, Zillah: you are hard to please; but take good care of the +child--in a day or two I will come to see her!" + +"Indeed, to see her--her only." + +"Have done with this paltry childishness, I am tired of it!" answered +the General, with authority. "This comes of allowing you a foothold +here. Remember I cannot have my privacy intruded on in future by these +mysterious visits; they will become known to the family, and Mrs. +Harrington may think them a just cause of complaint--a thing above all +others to be avoided. I tell you, Zillah, this rash passion, which at +your age should be controlled, inconveniences me very much; indeed, as a +man of honor, I cannot encourage it farther." + +Zillah's lips writhed, as if she were repeating over his last words in +the scorn of her heart; but she stood immovable and silent, with her +eyes bent on the floor. + +"If money is needed for you or Lina, whose future I will liberally +provide for, that can at any time be supplied to the extent of your +wishes." + +"I shall not need your money," answered the woman coldly. + +"But you cannot be rich!" + +"The master to whom you sold me left his property to be divided between +some half dozen slaves, who received their freedom and the legacy +together. I am spending mine; when it is gone, I can work." + +"Then you reject all help from me?" + +"I was your slave, General Harrington--twice bound, first by your laws, +again by the will of my own heart, but I am no beggar; even when you +loved me, I worked for my own bread." + +"I am glad that you are so well provided for: now let this romance come +to an end. We are no boy and girl, remember, Zillah; and, though it is +very pleasant to feel that one heart at least proves faithful to the +end, I cannot, in justice to Mrs. Harrington, admit you under the same +roof with herself. Her peace of mind is important to me, very important, +and her tranquillity must not be endangered by these wild visits. I will +withdraw, now, and give you an opportunity to leave the house; be +careful that no one sees you, especially Mrs. Harrington. Adieu! In two +or three days, at most, I shall be able to see you and Lina." + +The old gentleman waved his hand, in token of a friendly adieu, as he +went, leaving his singular visitor standing in the middle of the room, +so numbed in feeling or lost in thought, that she seemed unconscious of +his departure. + +It was more than a minute before the woman lifted her head; then her +face was pale, and a deep smouldering purpose burned like fire in the +depths of her eyes. She looked around wildly, as if searching for the +man who had just left the room; then her recollection seemed to come +back, and she went up to the table, examining everything upon it with +eager haste. The journal was no longer there, but in its place she found +a folded paper placed in a small portfolio, which bore the General's +initials. + +The paper shook in her hands as she unfolded it, for all her former +agitation had come back; and, in her haste to read, the fire seemed to +leap from her black eyes over the writing. It was the life-deed which +had just passed between General Harrington and his son-in-law. + +The woman laughed as she folded up the paper--a laugh of such bitter +mockery that it started even herself, as if some other person had been +reviling her. + +"And has it ended in this, after years of plotting and privations that +would have killed a common person? Have I ended in binding them more +firmly together. This accounts for his solicitude for her welfare. This +is why these visits of mine trouble him. They might break the compact +which secures repose and reputation to Mabel Harrington, for so much +money--and she is to triumph a second time! I am nothing--a weed, a bit +of miserable night-shade that has poison in it, and nothing more." + +As she muttered over these thoughts, more and more slowly, the woman +folded her arms, and stood immovable for several minutes; her brow grew +dark as midnight, and a strange, settled expression came up to her +face, as if the poison she had just spoken of were diffusing itself +through her entire system. At last she heard steps approaching the +library, and hurried away through the disused entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +THE EVENING RIDE. + + +As Ralph Harrington was returning from Benson's cabin one night, he met +Agnes Barker. It was yet early in the evening, but the sharp, frosty air +rendered it singular that a young girl should have ventured into the +cold, without some important object to urge her forth. Ralph had been +touched, and a good deal subdued, by his conversation with Ben; and he +would gladly have avoided this rencontre with the governess, who +invariably left him excited and wretched with fresh doubts whenever he +conversed with her. But Agnes came directly towards him, and he remarked +that her manner of walking was excited, and like that of a person who +had some important object to pursue. + +"Mr. Ralph Harrington, you have been unjust to me. When I told you that +Lina French was still in the neighborhood quietly domesticated, where +your saintly step-brother could visit her at will, you disbelieved me, +and cast discredit on my word. Since then, James Harrington has +disappeared mysteriously as she did. I now say that he, also, is in the +city, making preparations to take the girl South; in a few days she will +leave it with him." + +"Why should he take this course, Miss Barker, if it is true? My brother +was wealthy, free, and has been for years his own master. If he loved +Lina, there was no need of concealment--nothing but my own mad passion +stood in the way, and Heaven knows that I was ready to take the heart +from my bosom, could that have made him or her happier. There is a +mystery in all this that I cannot fathom. My brother, so noble, so more +than generous, could not have lived the life he has, to prove this +traitor to himself and us at last." + +"Then you still have faith in this girl?" + +"I will not believe so ill of her as you seem to desire, until some +farther explanation is had. She may love my brother, and he, I cannot +well understand how any man could help loving her, for she was the +purest, the most lovely character I ever knew." + +"She _was_ that character, it is well you say was," answered Agnes, with +a dash of scorn in her voice; "for I am about to offer you proof of what +she is." + +Ralph turned white, and recoiled a step back. "Proof--proof, have you +heard something, then?" + +"Yes, I have heard from Miss Lina--she has sent for me. A private +message, of which no one is to be informed." + +"And, when are you going?--where is she now?" inquired Ralph, in +breathless astonishment. + +"Now," answered Agnes. "She has sent a conveyance from the city, which +waits at a curve of the road. I may not return to-night--may never +return. My occupation here is gone, and no one will regret me. I came +unloved, and I go away the stranger I was then!" + +It was dark, and Ralph could not see her face distinctly, but the sound +of tears was in her voice. + +"Not so--not so!" said he, impetuously. "You will be regretted--we, at +least, are not strangers; I will go with you. If this girl is in the +city, I will convince myself of the fact; then, if your suspicions were +correct, she shall never occupy a thought of mine while I have +existence." + +"Go with me if you wish," said Agnes, mournfully; "it will be a few +moments taken from the desolation of life that must follow; after that I +shall be alone." + +Ralph scarcely heeded her; a wild desire to see Lina, and convince +himself of her falsehood, drove all other thoughts from his mind; but +the words and voice which bespoke so much tender sorrow, were remembered +afterward. + +"Come, let us begone at once," he said, folding his paletot closely, and +drawing her arm through his. "I thank Heaven this suspense will be ended +to-morrow. I shall be a man again." + +Agnes leaned heavily on his arm; the deep snow made walking difficult, +and this was her excuse. Ralph only noticed it to lend her assistance; +his thoughts ran wildly toward Lina French, the gentle, kind-hearted +girl who had been so long a portion of his own life, and whose +unworthiness he could not yet wholly realize. + +A two-horse sleigh, crowded with buffalo robes, evidently the equipage +of some wealthy establishment, stood on the highway where it swept down +to General Harrington's mansion. Ralph helped his companion in, and they +dashed off noiselessly as lightning, and almost as swift. + +No word was spoken between the two during the ride. Agnes shivered now +and then, as if with cold, and this aroused Ralph for an instant from +the painful reverie into which he had fallen; but he only drew the fur +robes more closely about her, and sunk into perfect unconsciousness of +her presence once more. Thus, in profound silence they reached the city, +and dashing onward, they drew up before the house to which Lina had been +conveyed only a few weeks before. + +"This is the house," said Agnes, pushing the fur robes from around her; +and, without waiting for help, she sprang out, and mounted the steps +just as the door was opened by some one from within. A single word +passed between her and the servant, just as Ralph reached her side; but +he only heard her inquiring in the ordinary way for the young lady who +had just taken up her residence there. + +The door was flung wide open, as if she had been expected, and the +servant led the way into what, in the dim light, seemed a small +drawing-room. The bland, warm atmosphere that filled this room would +have been most welcome, under other circumstances, after the severe cold +of the night; but now Ralph was hardly conscious either of the warmth, +or an atmosphere of blooming plants which floated luxuriously around +him. Rich jets of gas burned like fairy beads in the lower end of the +room, dimly revealing the small conservatory from which this fragrance +came, and affording a glimpse here and there of rich silk hangings and +pictures upon the wall, whose gorgeousness forced itself upon the +observation even in that dim twilight. + +Ralph looked around with surprise; the place was so unlike anything he +had expected to find, that for the moment he lost sight of the object of +his coming. All at once he became conscious of a third presence--a soft +flutter of garments, and the movement of some person advancing towards +that portion of the room in which those tiny stars seemed burning. +Directly a glow of light burst over the whole apartment. The stars had +broken into brilliant jets of flame, and a tent of blossoms rose before +him, like some fairy nook flooded with radiance. + +Half-way between this background of plants and the place he occupied, +stood a female, so gorgeously attired and so singular in her whole +appearance, that the young man uttered an exclamation of surprise, which +was answered by an angry start and an abrupt movement of the woman, who +was evidently both astonished and displeased by his presence there. + +"What is this?" she said, haughtily; "I gave no orders for the admission +of strangers here." + +Before Ralph could speak, Agnes Barker came forward, and stood for a +moment looking steadily in the woman's face, thus concentrating her +entire attention on herself. + +"Madam, if you are the mistress of this house," she said, with great +self-possession, "you will not consider this an intrusion, for it must +have been with your knowledge that I was sent for to attend Miss +French--the young lady who has lately taken up her residence here." + +The woman stood for a moment as if struck dumb with astonishment, then a +faint smile dawned on her mouth, which was at once displaced by angry +glances cast upon Ralph Harrington. + +"And this young gentleman, certainly he was not sent for?" + +Again Agnes interrupted the explanation Ralph was ready to give. + +"Your message, madam, was a strange one, and reached me after dark. +Surely a young girl coming so far from home, might be expected to bring +an escort." + +"Besides," said Ralph, impetuously, "if Lina--if Miss French is here, I +have a better right to see her than any one else; and if she is in this +house, I must and will know her reasons for coming here." + +"The young lady is in her room, and will receive no one at this time of +night," answered the woman, firmly; "if you wish to see her, let it be +at some more proper hour." + +"But I, madam, have been summoned here by Miss French herself!" said +Agnes, with that firmness which had marked her conduct since she entered +the house. "Permit me to desire that you lead me to her room." + +The woman looked keenly in her face a moment, as if about to contest the +wish, but some new thought seemed to spring up; and answering abruptly, +"Come, then," she left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +RALPH FINDS LINA. + + +Ralph had been alone only a moment when Agnes came back, apparently in +breathless haste. + +"Be ready," she whispered, "follow me after a moment--the room is dark +next to hers; be cautious and you can both see and hear what passes." + +Before he could accept or reject her proposition, she was gone. + +"It is but right," he reflected, controlling the first honorable impulse +which revolted at this secret method of gaining information; "there is +some mystery which can never be fathomed by straight-forward questions. +I will not listen meanly; but proper or not, if Lina French is in this +house I will speak with her!" + +Obeying the impulse urged by these thoughts, he passed through the half +open door, and following Agnes by the rustle of her dress, paused in the +chamber she had designated, reluctant to enter the room beyond; for he +saw at a glance that the bed which stood at one end was occupied. A +white hand fell over the side, working nervously among the folds of the +counterpane, as if the person who lay there was awake and ill at ease. + +Breathless with emotions which crowded fast and painfully upon him, the +young man sunk into a chair, and covering his face with both hands, +strove thus to gain some portion of self-control; but the first tone of +Lina's voice set him to trembling from head to foot, and it was a moment +before he could see objects distinctly enough to recognize her in her +white robe and among those snowy pillows. + +"So you have come at last," she said, rising on one elbow and holding +out her hand to Agnes, with a look of eager delight, which flushed her +cheeks and kindled her blue eyes with a wild brilliancy the young man +had never seen in them before; "tell me, oh, tell me how they all +are--my dear, dear mamma, is she well? does she pine about my +absence--does she talk of me?" + +"Mrs. Harrington is grieved and very anxious," said Agnes Barker, +gently, "why did you leave them so abruptly, Miss French?" + +"I could not help leaving them. It was time. My presence there was sure +to bring trouble and--and--don't ask me about it. Let me rest. Don't you +understand that it has nearly killed me. It was great love that drove me +away--nothing else. Still I did not mean to go just then. A few days +would not have made so much difference, and they would have been heaven +to me; oh, such heaven, such heaven, you cannot guess how precious every +moment was at the last!" + +"But why did you send for me?" questioned Agnes, gently. "Is it that you +wish to go back?" + +"Go back!" cried the poor girl, starting up with a flush of wild delight +that faded away in an instant; "oh why did you say this cruel thing? It +is too late--it is impossible; I can never go back, never, never, +never!" + +Lina fell back upon her pillows, and began to moan piteously, but made a +brave attempt to stifle her sobs on the pillow. + +"No, no, I did not send to you with that hope, only it was so hard to +sit in this room day after day and hear nothing--not even that they +hated me. I think that would have been better than this dull +uncertainty. I only wanted to hear just one little word; my poor heart +has asked for it so long, and now you tell me nothing." + +"What can I tell you except that your flight has filled the whole +household with grief and consternation." + +"I knew it--I was sure they would feel the gloom, but that was better +than remaining a curse and a shame to them all, you know." + +"A curse and a shame, Miss French!" said Agnes, with dignity; "these are +harsh words applied to one's-self. I hope you do not deserve them." + +"Did I say shame?" cried Lina, starting up in affright; "well, well, if +I did, it cannot reach him or wound poor mamma; as for me, why, it is +not much matter, you know; the world does not care what becomes of a +poor little girl like me." + +A shade of compassion stole over Agnes Barker's face. She took Lina's +hand in hers, and pressed it softly to her lips. + +"You look grieved. I hope it is for me," said the gentle girl, and her +eyes filled with tears. "It won't hurt you or any one to be sorry for a +poor child who is so very, very miserable." + +Ralph would endure this touching scene no longer; he started up and +rushed towards the bed, with both trembling hands extended, and his +chest heaving with emotion. + +"Lina, Lina!" he cried, falling on his knees by the bed. "Stop, Lina, +you are killing me--oh, girl, girl, what had I done that you should +bring this ruin on us both?" + +Lina uttered a wild cry at his approach, half rose in the bed with her +arms outstretched, and flung herself upon his bosom, covering his hands, +his face and his hair with kisses, then as if struck to the soul with a +sudden memory, her arms fell away, her lips grew deadly white, and she +sunk back to the pillows, shuddering from head to foot. + +"Lina, Lina, say that you love me yet--in the name of heaven tell me +what this means--never before have you seemed to love me entirely, and +now"---- + +"Now," she said, rising feebly to a sitting posture, "now sweep those +kisses away, sweep them utterly away, I charge you--there is shame and +sin in every one; would that my lips had been withered before they gave +such kisses, and to you, Ralph Harrington!" + +"Lina, Lina French, is this real?" cried the young man, rising slowly to +his feet, pale as death, but checking the tears that had at first rushed +tenderly to his eyes. "May the God of heaven forgive you and help me, +for I had rather die than meet the pang of this moment." + +"I know, I know it is dreadful--see what it has done!" + +She lifted up her pale hand that had fallen away till it looked almost +transparent, like that of a sick child, and held it trembling towards +him. Then she besought him, with mournful entreaty, to go away, for her +heart had ceased to beat. She wanted time for prayer before the +death-pang came. + +There was a depth of despondency in her voice, and an utter hopelessness +of speech that touched every kind feeling in the young man's heart. + +"No, Lina, I will not leave you in this unhappy condition," he said; +"your words have shocked me beyond everything; nothing but your own +avowal would have convinced me that one so good as you were, Lina, could +have--have--oh! Lina, Lina, this is terrible." + +"I know it," she answered faintly, "I know it, but we must be patient." + +"Patient!" exclaimed the young man, "but if I can be nothing else, one +thing is certain, I have the right of a wronged, outraged brother to +protect you, this specious hypocrite shall answer for the ruin he has +brought upon us all!" + +Lina started up wildly, "Ralph, Ralph, of whom are you speaking?" + +"Of the man who has wronged you, Lina--who has disgraced the name of +Harrington, and who, so help me God! shall yet render you such justice +as the case permits." + +Lina gasped for breath, "you know it then--who told you, not my--not +him?" + +"No one told me, Lina: he is not so base as to boast of the ruin he has +made; heaven forbid that one who has a drop of my blood in his veins +should sink low enough for that; but the facts, your presence here, this +cruel desertion of your friends, the insane tenacity with which you +cling to this miserable fate--is it not enough?" + +"Then he knows nothing--oh! thank God for that," gasped Lina, with a +faint hysterical laugh. + +"I know enough to justify me in demanding an explanation, and avenging +you after it is made," said Ralph, sternly. + +"No, not that, I charge you, Ralph Harrington, not to ask this +explanation of any one. It will only deepen and widen the ruin that has +so far fallen on me alone--promise me, Ralph, promise me, if you would +not have me die before your eyes!" + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +AGNES BECOMES PATHETIC. + + +Ralph took Lina's hand and spoke to her in a sad broken voice, "On one +condition, Lina; go home with me now--my mother will receive you +joyfully. This miserable absence has not been made public. Take back the +protection you have abandoned. I will not ask your confidence, only be +honest and truthful with my mother. She loves you. She is forgiving as +the angels. Her beautiful virtues will redeem you, Lina. She is too +magnanimous for severity, too pure for cowardly hesitation"---- + +Lina began to weep on her pillow, till the pale hands with which she +covered her face, were wet with tears. + +"Oh! she is good--she is an angel of love and mercy; but this is why it +is impossible for me to go back--don't ask me, oh! Ralph, Ralph, you are +killing me with this kindness. Go away, go away! perhaps God will let me +die, and then all will be right." + +"Lina, this is infatuation; you _shall_ return home with me; have no +fear of my presence; in a week after you accept the shelter of my +father's roof, again I go away." + +For an instant Lina brightened up, then a still more mournful expression +came to her eyes, quenching the gleam of yearning hope, and she shook +her head with a gesture of total despondency. "Don't, don't, my heart is +breaking. I could tell her nothing; _he_ has forbidden it." + +"_He!_" repeated the young man, furiously, "great heavens, can you plead +such authority, and to me?" + +"Forgive me, oh, forgive me; I am so feeble, so miserably helpless, +words escape me when I do not know it. Do not bring them up against me. +Oh, Ralph, I am very unhappy. The lonesomeness was killing me, and now +you have come upon me unawares, to turn that dull anguish into torture. +How could you ask me to go home? it was cruel--ah, me, how cruel!" + +"What can I do, how shall I act?" cried Ralph, appealing to Agnes +Barker, who stood earnestly regarding the scene. + +"Leave her at present," said the girl, softly smoothing Lina's tresses +with her hand. "Reflection may induce her to accept your noble offer; +certainly, at present, she is too ill for any attempt at a removal." + +"I will consult my mother," said Ralph, looking mournfully down upon the +unhappy girl, whose eyelids began to quiver from the weight of tears +that pressed against them, when he spoke of her benefactress; "Lina, +promise me not to leave this place till I have consulted with her." + +Again Lina struggled for energy to speak, but her voice only reached him +in a hoarse whisper. + +"Ralph, don't; please never mention me to mamma, it can only do +harm--promise this, Ralph. I cannot plead, I cannot weep, but if this is +my last breath it prays you not to mention that you saw me, to your +mother." + +Ralph hesitated till he saw Lina's eyes, that were fixed imploringly +upon him, closing with a deathly slowness, while her face became as +pallid as the linen on which it rested. + +"Lina, Lina, I promise anything, only do not turn so white!" he +exclaimed, terrified by her stillness. + +She opened her eyes quickly, and tried to smile, but the effort died out +in a faint quiver of the lips. She was too much exhausted even for +weeping. + +"Come," said Agnes, laying her hand on the young man's arm; "this +excitement will do her more injury than you dream of. Go down stairs a +little while, and wait for me there." + +Ralph took Lina's poor little hand from its rest on the counterpane, +and, with a touch of his old tenderness, was about to press his lips +upon it; but a bitter memory seized him, and he dropped it, murmuring, +"Poor child, poor child, it is a hard wish, but God had been merciful if +this stillness were, indeed, death!" + +A pang of tender sorrow ran through Lina's apparently lifeless frame, as +a broken lily is disturbed by the wind, but she had no strength even for +a sob; she heard his footsteps as he went out, but they sounded afar +off, and, when all was still, she fell into total unconsciousness. + +Then the woman who had received Ralph and Agnes came in from an +adjoining room, and, bending down, listened for the breath that had just +been suspended; when satisfied that the poor sufferer was totally +unconscious, she turned with a fierce look upon Agnes. + +"Now, Agnes, tell me the meaning of this intrusion. How dare you bring +that young man here without my permission?" + +"I brought him, madam, because you were resolved to leave my share of +the compact half-performed. Did I not warn you in the beginning that his +alienation from this girl must be complete? Nothing would convince him +that she was utterly lost, but the sight he has just witnessed. It was a +dangerous experiment, but I have conquered with it." + +"And for what purpose? I tell you, girl, all this craft and perseverance +is exhausted for nothing. You are constantly crossing my purposes, and +only to defeat yourself in the end." + +"It is useless reasoning in this fashion," answered Agnes, insolently; +"half-confidences always lead to confusion. The truth is, madam, you +have not at any time really studied my interests; there is something +beyond it all that I have had no share in from the first. I have been +frank and above-board, while you are all mystery. My love for the young +gentleman below was confessed the moment my own heart became conscious +of it. Nothing but his lingering trust in this frail thing kept back all +the response to that love that I can desire. This visit has utterly +uprooted that faith. The way is clear now. Another month, and you shall +see if I am defeated." + +The woman smiled derisively. + +"Poor fool," she said, "a single sweep of my hand--or a word from my +lips, and all your romantic dreams are dashed away. I have separated the +miserable girl from her lover to gratify the wildest delusion that ever +entered a human brain. This very night I sent for you, that this game of +cross-purposes might have an end. The confidence you have so often asked +for, would have been yours but for this rash introduction of the young +man into a house he should never have seen." + +"Give me that confidence now, and it may avail something!" answered +Agnes, always insolent and disrespectful to the woman before her; "that +I have some of your precious blood in my veins, you have taken plenty of +opportunities to impress upon me, but it shall not prevent my seeking +happiness in my own way!" + +"Then you are resolved to entice this young man into a marriage, Agnes?" + +"I am resolved that he shall desire it as much as myself." + +Again Zillah covered the girl with her scornful glances. + +"I tell you, girl," she broke forth passionately, "this is a subject +that you shall not dare to trifle with. I desire you to leave General +Harrington's house; it is no safe home for you. Obey me, and, in a +little time all the fragments of my legacy shall be yours." + +"I should fancy those fragments were pretty well used up, if all the +finery in this house is paid for," said Agnes, with a scornful laugh. +"Even as a speculation, my own project is the best." + +"Then you are determined to stay in the house with this young man?" + +"Why, am I not well protected, and is it not the most natural thing in +the world? Mrs. Harrington has lost her companion--I fill her place. +Then, there is the precious old chambermaid; she might have more +dangerous people in the house than I am." + +"True," muttered Zillah, thoughtfully. "Well, girl, take your own way a +little longer; but, remember, I must have a promise that no engagement +shall be made with Ralph Harrington without my previous knowledge. A few +weeks, Agnes, will bring our affairs to a crisis--when you and I shall +be all-powerful or nothing. As for this wild--but hush!" + +Zillah pointed warningly toward the bed, where Lina was struggling into +consciousness again. "Are you better, love?" she inquired, gently +bending over the pale form. + +But Lina faintly turned away her head, without even an attempt at +speech. + +Taking advantage of the moment, Agnes left the chamber, and glided down +into the room where Ralph sat waiting, harassed with painful thoughts. + +He did not notice Agnes as she came gliding up the room, and took her +place on the sofa by his side; but directly the clasp of soft fingers on +his hand, which fell listlessly on the cushion, made him look up, and +the large, compassionate eyes of Agnes Barker looked into his. +Unconsciously he clasped the fingers that had sought his. "How is she +now? I am sure that you were kind to her, poor young thing." + +Agnes did not answer; but, as he looked up, astonished at her silence, +the sight of her dark eyes flooded with tears, and a broken sob that +struggled up from her bosom, took him by surprise. In all his +acquaintance with her, he had never seen Agnes shed a tear till that +moment. + +"You are ready to cry," he said, gratefully. "Heaven knows a better +reason for tears never existed--poor, lost girl!" + +"You give me too much credit," said Agnes, in a low voice; "from my soul +I pity the unhappy young creature up-stairs--but, indeed, indeed I envy +her, too!" + +"Envy her?" + +"Indeed, yes, that so much love--such heavenly forgiveness can outlive +her fault; that she has even now the power to reject the compassion +withheld from deeper and purer feelings in others. Oh, yes, Ralph +Harrington, it is envy more than anything else that fills my eyes with +tears." + +"Agnes!" exclaimed the young man, breathlessly. + +The girl bent her head, and made a faint effort to withdraw her hand +from his tightened clasp. Directly Ralph relinquished the hand slowly, +and arose. + +"Miss Barker, you pity me. You feel compassion for the tenacity of +affection which clings around its object even in ruin. I understand +this, and am grateful." + +Agnes clenched the rejected hand in noiseless passion, but Ralph only +saw the great tears that fell into her lap. He stood a moment +irresolute, and then placed himself again by her side. + +"Do not weep, Miss Barker; you only make my unhappiness more complete!" + +He looked up, and again their eyes met. + +"If it were so, you can at least give me pity in exchange for pity!" she +said, with gentle humility; "faith to the faithless cannot forbid this +to me." + +Ralph was silent; in the tumult of his thoughts he forgot to answer, and +that moment Zillah entered the room. + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +MABEL HARRINGTON AND HER SON. + + +Ben Benson was never at home now; he went into the woods daily to snare +partridges, and set box-traps for rabbits, he said; and the inmates of +General Harrington's mansion were too sad and disheartened even for +smiles, at the idea of rabbits or partridges on New York island. Indeed, +the old fellow was too unhappy for his usual avocations. He would not +force himself to sit down at his nets, or touch the carpenter's tools +with which the boat-house was garnished. A strange belief haunted him +night and day, that Lina was somewhere in the wood, frozen to death, and +buried in the snow drifts--or worse, perhaps, had fallen through some +air-hole in the ice, and perished, calling in vain for help! The idea +that she had deliberately left her home, never found a place in his +belief for an instant. + +Sometimes, in these wanderings, the old seaman saw Mabel Harrington +taking her own solitary way through the woods, but he had no wish to +address her; and, if she passed near him, would shrink behind some tree, +or pretend to be busy with his traps; for the mere sight of her face, +rigid and stern with a continued strain of thought, was enough to strike +him mute. + +Thus it was that Mabel appeared to her family now. The strength and the +sunshine had departed from beneath that roof, and a dull, heavy +depression lay everywhere about her. General Harrington rather made the +old mansion a convenience than a home; half his time was spent at the +club-house. He had of late taken rooms at one of those aristocratic +up-town hotels, so foreign in all their appointments, that they might as +well be in the Boulevards of Paris as in New York, and often remained in +them all night; thus, without any apparent abandonment of his wife, he +in reality made the separation between them more complete than it had +yet been. + +Did Mabel never inquire of herself the reason of all this? Alas! it is +difficult to say what anxiety or idea fixed itself uppermost in that +disturbed mind. The period was one of continued and heavy depression +with her. She had ceased to struggle with her own heart, or with the +dead, heavy weight of misery that settled each hour colder and more +drearily about her life. She took no interest in the household, but left +everything to the management of Agnes Barker. The very presence of the +young woman was oppressive to her, yet so drearily had her high spirit +yielded itself to the one numbing thought of James Harrington's absence, +that she had no power even to repel this repulsion, much less cast its +object off. + +For a time, Ralph had broken up the monotony of this dead life, with his +wild conjectures and bitter complaints. He spoke of his half-brother in +wrath the more stern and deep, that his love for him had once been so +full of tenderness. He was like a man whose old religious faith being +once uprooted, believes that no other can exist, and that the Deity is +unstable. In his wrath against this brother--in his weak distrust of +Lina, the young man had recklessly cast away the brightest jewel of his +nature, because they appeared faithless; he believed that all humanity +was frail. Alas! when such gems of the soul drop away in youth, it is +only with hard experience and keen suffering that they can be gathered +back from the depths of life again. + +But, during the last few days, Ralph had seen little of his mother. His +interview with Lina, and his promise of silence, had effected this. The +dead certainty that fell upon him of her utter unworthiness, had buried +all the fiery passions of his heart into a smouldering desire for +revenge on the man who had smitten her down from the altar of his +esteem. Formerly he had raved, and argued, and out-run his own belief of +her faithlessness--hoping, poor fellow, that out of all this storm some +proof would be wrung that his suspicions wronged her. His mother's sweet +attempts at defence--her broken-hearted efforts to explain away the +disgraceful appearances that hung around the departure of Harrington and +her protégé at the same time, only exasperated him. He wanted her to +condemn his suspicions--contradict, trample on them. He would have +gloried in any injustice against himself, if she had only stood up +stoutly against his bitter suspicions. But Mabel was too truthful for +this. The proud heart recoiled in her bosom, as from a blow, at every +harsh word against either Harrington or her adopted daughter. The strong +sense of justice, which was her finest attribute, kept her from those +impetuous bursts of defence, which a single gleam of doubt would have +brought vividly to her lips. + +Mabel did not for an instant believe in the coarse interpretation which +others might have given to the elopement; had that been possible, the +keenest of her pain might have been dulled by contempt. No, no! The +worst that she thought was that Harrington, for some inexplicable +reason, had withdrawn Lina from her home to marry her in private; but +this was enough. It had broken up that confidence, unexpressed, but +always a holy principle in both, which had so long held those two souls +together, spite of everything that ought to have kept them apart, and +did keep them apart, completely as the most rigid moralist could have +demanded. + +But we suffer as often for our feelings as our actions; and, in the bare +fact that a woman like Mabel Harrington--so capable of deep feeling, so +rich in all those higher qualities that ripen to perfection only in the +warm atmosphere of love--had married a man whom she never could love, +lay a bitter reason for her unhappiness; the one sin that had woven its +iron thread through what seemed to others the golden coil of her life. + +Mabel saw all this; for years the knowledge of her own rash act had +coiled the snake around her heart, which was eating away its life, had +been the shadow around her footsteps which nothing could sweep away, not +even her own will. She was a slave, the slave of her own deadly sin; for +a deadly sin it is which links two unloving hearts together, even in so +brief a period of eternity as this world. And Mabel was too good, too +great, too kindly of heart to be the bond slave of one sin forever and +ever, to feel her soul eternally dragged back by the chain and ball +which she had fastened to it in one rash moment of her early youth. Had +she been otherwise, some thought of escape would have presented itself +to a mind so full of strength and vivid imagination as hers. On every +hand the law, and society itself, held out temptations, and pointed to +the way by which she might cast off her bonds, and, as thousands do, +escape the penalty of one rash act by a cowardly defiance of the laws +of God, under the mean shelter of human legislation. + +In a country where venal statesmen make "marriage vows as false as +dicers' oaths," by reducing a solemn sacrament into a miserable compact, +Mabel Harrington might have escaped the evil of her own act, and taken a +dastardly refuge in the law, but the thought had never entered her mind. +It is a hard penalty for sins, which the world will not recognize as +such, when every hour calls for some atonement--when each household step +is made heavy by loveless thoughts; Mabel was conscious of her own +wrong, and even these small doling atonements never regarded by the +world, yet which tell so fearfully on the life, had been patiently +performed. She had given way to no sentimental repinings--nor striven to +cast the blame upon others that justly belonged to herself; but, like a +brave true-hearted woman, had always been willing to gather up the +night-shade her own hands had planted, with the flowers that God had +still left in her path, without appealing to the world for sympathy or +approval. + +This had been Mabel Harrington's life--a coarse woman would, perhaps, +have contented herself with its material comforts, and, without loving, +ceased to desire the capacities of love; the world is full of such. A +wicked woman would have skulked out of her fate through the oily-hinged +portals of the law--a feeble woman would have pined herself to death; +but Mabel was none of these, else my pen would not love to dwell upon +her character, as it does now. She had gone through her life honestly, +cultivating all her good feelings with genial hopefulness, seizing upon +the bad with a firm will, and crowding them back into the darkness, +where they had little chance to grow. + +But, sin is like the houseleek planted upon a mossy roof,--after one +fibre has taken root, you find the tough heads springing up everywhere, +fruitful of harsh, thorny-edged leaves, and nothing else. You work +diligently, tear them up by the roots, trample them to pieces, and, when +you think the evil of that first planting is altogether eradicated, up +from the heart of some moss-flower, or creeping out from the curved edge +of the eaves, comes a fresh crop; and you know that the one fibre is +spreading and entangling itself constantly with a hold that you little +dreamed of in the outset. + +Mabel had planted her one houseleek, and it was with faithful exertion +she kept it from covering her whole nature. At times it seemed that +every beautiful thing of life would be eaten up and choked to death in +this one tough growth, and at this period of her life, Mabel felt like +sitting down in apathy, while she watched the evil thing thrive. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +THE MISSING BOOK. + + +Mabel sat, hour after hour, week after week, passive, still, and sad, +with a world of sorrow in her face, looking back upon the jewels that +had dropped away from her life, mournfully, but with little wish to +gather them up again. Her husband never asked an explanation of this +strange mood in his wife, but at times he seemed perfectly conscious of +it, and to feel a hidden pleasure in her depression; for, though he did +not love this woman, the old man's vanity was as quick as ever, and it +pleased him to see that her own soul was taking the vengeance on itself +that he had bartered off for a price. Miserable, selfish, old man! All +the gold of his life had turned to paltry tinsel years ago. + +At another time, Mabel was too quick of thought not to have remarked the +singularity of General Harrington's silence regarding the departure of +his step-son, but now she was only thankful to shrink away from the +subject; and, during their brief interviews, nothing but the most bland +inquiries, and polite common-places, marked his behavior. He seemed in +high good humor--more than usually lavish of money, and altogether one +of the most charming, antique gentlemen in the world. Shallow worldlings +would tell you that this decorous old rebel was happier than his +victims, and point to his rosy cheeks, his eyes twinkling with sunshine, +and his handsome, portly figure, as the proof. Let worldlings think so, +if they like; for my part, I would rather have the pain of a fine nature +like Mabel's, than the smooth, selfish sensuality, which some men +honestly call happiness. Shallow and frozen waters are never turbulent, +but who envies the ice over one, or the pebbles under the other? +Happiness! Why, one little word in that handsome, old man's ear, would +make him shiver, and tremble, and look the coward, as Mabel would never +do, woman though she was--the one word _death_; just speak it! Mark how +the color will flee from his frightened face! Speak that same word to +her, and you will see her features, so sad before, light up with a +pearly glow, like that shed through an alabaster lamp when its perfumed +oil is alight. + +But Mabel is just beginning to awake from the thrall in which her mind +has been held, and wonder a little at Ralph's changed manner--his look +is so grave and stern now--he utters no complaint, and says but little +in any way; these moods shock his mother less than the old one, but it +lifts her out of her dreams, and makes her thoughtful once more. But, +Ralph is no longer communicative--he is sometimes seen holding long +conversations with Agnes Barker in the now deserted breakfast-room, but +he avoids honest old Ben, and talks cautiously and under restraint with +his mother. This is a new phase of Ralph's character which Mabel +regards with something like surprise; but her energies are all +prostrated for the time, and in these vague surmises there is not shock +enough to arouse them into life again. + +There was one thing which Mabel, with all her thinking, had never yet +been able to solve--why had James Harrington found it needful to +persuade that inexperienced girl away from her home? There existed no +reason for it. He was wealthy--his own master--accountable to no one; +surely it was not fear of his younger brother, who would have given the +very heart from his bosom, had James desired it. If he loved Lina, a +single appeal to the noble young fellow's generosity would have been +enough--then why wound and insult him by a course so unnecessarily +cruel? + +Mabel revolved these questions over and over in her mind, till they +threw her thoughts back upon herself. Had she anything to account +for--had James suspected the secret of her own weary life, and, fearing +to wound her by his love for another, fled to be alone with his +happiness? + +This thought broke up the apathy into which she had fallen, with a +sudden shock, as we hear sheets of ice crack, and shoot a thousand +silver arrows over what has been a smooth surface the moment before. A +new thought seized upon her--a fear that made her tremble from head to +foot. + +Mabel was alone in her boudoir, when this new terror fell upon her. She +arose suddenly, and going up to her escritoire, unlocked it, and +searched for the vellum book. It was nowhere to be found. She tore the +papers out in pale eagerness, opened drawers, unlocked secret +compartments, searched in other cabinets, till every nook and corner of +her apartments had been examined. Then she sat down, breathless, and so +pale that the face which looked back on her from the opposite mirror, +seemed that of another person. Where had the book gone--who had dared to +remove it from the place where, for years and years, it had been kept +sacred from all eyes, as the pulses of her own heart? + +Breathless with anxiety, desperate with apprehension, determined to +question every servant of the house, she rang the bell. + +Agnes Barker presented herself in answer to this summons. The girl had, +of late, seemed to find pleasure in forcing herself upon Mabel, and +would frequently make an excuse to seek her room in place of the +servant, whenever one was summoned. Though her presence was generally +unwelcome, Mabel was glad to see her then. Excitement had, for the +moment, swept away the nervous recoil with which she always regarded +her. + +"Miss Barker, I had a book in this escritoire, bound in vellum, and +filled with manuscript notes. It had a curious gold clasp. You cannot +mistake the description. That book is missing." + +"Well, madam!" answered the girl, with cold composure; "is it of me you +demand that book? I have not seen it. This is the first time I ever saw +your desk open. I believe the key has always been in your own +possession!" + +"I thought so," answered Mabel, feeling once more among the charms +attached to her watch, to be sure the key was still there; "I thought +so, but the book is gone." + +"Shall I call the servant, madam? The new chambermaid possibly knows +something of it; she has taken charge of this room lately." + +"Indeed, I have not observed," said Mabel. "Yes, send her here." + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +FRAGMENTS OF MABEL'S JOURNAL. + + +Agnes went out quietly, as if there had been neither anger nor suspicion +in Mrs. Harrington's voice. The poor lady sat trembling from head to +foot, still searching the room wildly with her eyes, till the mulatto +chambermaid came in. + +"What's de matter wid de chile; she's white as snow, and seems a'most as +cold; 'pears like something 'stresses her," said the woman, casting a +sidelong glance at the lady from under the half-closed lids of her eyes, +which never seemed capable of opening themselves fully in Mabel's +presence. + +"Woman!" said Mabel, sharply, for her anxiety was like a pain. "Woman, I +have lost a book from my escritoire yonder--a white book, clasped with +gold--what has become of it?" + +"Goodness knows, missus! I don't know nothin' 'bout no book, praise de +Lor'! I dussent know one kind of readin' from t'other. Books ain't no +kind o' use to dis colored pusson, no how; so t'ain't I as has gone and +tuk it." + +"No, no, but you may have seen it. Possibly the desk may have been left +open, and you, not knowing it from other books, have put it away among +those of the library. See, it was filled with writing like this." + +Here Mabel took up a pen, and hastily dashed off a line or two on a +loose sheet of paper. The woman took the paper, turned it wrong end up, +and began to examine it with serious scrutiny, as if she were striving +to make out its meaning. + +"'Pears like the inside was like this, miss?" she said at last, with +another glance at the pale face of her mistress. + +Mabel took the paper impatiently from her. "No, like this," she cried, +reversing the page. "You should be able to understand the peculiarities +of the marks, even though you cannot read." + +"Like dis is it--de high marks shootin' up so, and the long one running +out scrigly scrawley like dis one; 'pears 's if I'd seen 'em afore, but +'twasn't in a bounden book, golly knows." + +"You have seen the writing--very well--where was it?" + +"Up in Master James' room, the day he went off. Them's the same marks, +Lor' knows." + +"In Mr. James Harrington's room!" exclaimed Mabel, white as snow. + +"Please, missus, tell jus' what the book was outside and in." + +Mabel held up the sheet of paper on which she had written, but it +trembled like a plucked leaf in her hand. + +"This size, with a white cover, edged with gold. The lock was clasped +with a trinket like this on my watch, only larger, and with red sparks +set in it." + +"Like dis, with little red stuns--the cover white, and shut wid a thing +like this. Yes, missus, Master James had a book jus' like de one you +mean in his room, de berry morning afore he done and went off!" + +"Go," said Mabel, shivering, "go search for it!" + +The woman shuffled herself out of the room; directly she returned, with +several leaves of crumpled writing in one hand, and some small object +clenched in the other. + +"The book's done gone, missus; but here's something dat I found on his +table, 'sides dis what I sifted out of de ashes." + +She handed Mabel some crumpled pages of her journal, evidently torn from +the book; the half of a broken heart, dulled with fire, and the corner +of what had once been a vellum cover, burned almost away, but with a +gleam of the tarnished gold and white upon the edge. + +"Sakes alive, how white you is, missus!" exclaimed the woman, and a +disagreeable gleam broke from under her half-shut eyelids, as she saw +Mabel stagger and sink faintly back into her chair, grasping the +fragments of her journal as she fell. + +"No, no!" she gasped, repulsing the mulatto with her hand: "I am not +white--I am not ill. These--these--you found them in Mr. James +Harrington's room!" + +"Them papers was on his table wid his cigar-case, an' pipe, an' dem +tings. De gol' heart, and dat oder, dis chile fished out o' de grate, +for de Lord just as 'tis dare." + +"Go!" commanded Mabel, hoarsely. "I know where the book went to; that is +enough!" + +"'Pears like you is goin' to faint," answered the woman, who seemed +reluctant to leave her. + +"No, I am well--very well. Leave me." + +The woman turned away, and, as she went forth, the disagreeable smile we +have before mentioned, crept slowly across her mouth. + +As the door closed, the fragments of her journal dropped from Mabel's +hand; her arms fell loosely downward, and shrinking to a pale heap in +the chair, she fainted quite away. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +THE TWO BROTHERS. + + +Ralph had been away from home since the day before Mabel was taken ill. +He had left suddenly, after a conversation with Agnes in the +breakfast-room; and, though the governess sat up till late at night, +anxious and watchful, he did not return. Thus it happened that Mrs. +Harrington was, for the time, left completely in the hands of her +servants. + +But, where had Ralph gone, and why? To indulge in one strong passion, +and escape the meshes of another, the young man had left home. Spite of +her craft, and that consummate self-control that seemed incompatible +with her evil nature, Agnes had at last madly confessed her love to the +young man. It is possible that some kindly expression on his part might +have led to this unwomanly exposure, for Agnes had an amount of sullen +pride in her nature which would have kept her silent, had not some +misinterpreted word or action led her astray. Ralph's unfeigned +surprise, joined to the cold restraint with which he met her outgush of +passion, fell like cold lead upon her fiery nature. All that was bitter +and hard in her soul, rose up at once to resent the indignity which her +own uncurbed impulses had provoked. But, she was tenacious of an object +once aimed at; and, instead of the hope that had filled her life till +now, came a firm resolution, at any cost of truth or conscience, to win +a return of her love, even though it were to cast it back in bitter +retribution, for the shame under which she writhed. + +This was a new source of distress to the young man, and he left home +really without any definite object, but to escape the society of a +person whose presence had become almost a reproach to him. He did not +speak of his departure to Mrs. Harrington, because its object was +indefinite in his own mind, and he had spent one night from home before +she was aware of his absence. + +By some attraction, which we do not pretend to explain, the young man +went first to the house where he had seen Lina. He had no wish to enter +it, and shrunk painfully from the thought of seeing her again; but still +he lingered around the dwelling--left it--returned again, and could not +tear himself away, so tenacious and cruel was his object. + +His object--true it was not love; now the very word seemed enough to +drive him mad. The unwelcome passion of one woman heaped upon the wrongs +done him by another, was enough to make the very remembrance repulsive. +No, love was lost to him, he madly thought, forever. But there is yet a +fiercer and more burning passion and that urged him forward. He would be +revenged on the man who had torn all the joy from his life. He would +meet that false brother face to face, beyond that Ralph had calculated +nothing. It seemed to him that the very glances of his eyes would be +enough to cover the traitor with eternal remorse. So he watched and +waited before Zillah's house, hoping, burning with impatience, that +Harrington would pass in or out while seeking the presence of his +victim, and thus they might meet. But he watched in vain. + +Already had Ralph inquired at every hotel where James Harrington would +be likely to stay, and now weary and full of smouldering rage, he +resolved to go home, and there await some news of him. + +On his way up town, a hotel carriage passed him, filled with passengers +from some newly arrived train. In that carriage Ralph saw his brother. + +The carriage stopped after a little. James Harrington, dusty, pale and +travel-worn, stepped out, and stood face to face with his young brother. + +For one instant his fine eye lighted up, and he grasped the youth's +hand. + +"Ralph!" + +Ralph wrenched his hand away, and James saw that his eyes were full of +lurid fire. + +"What is this, Ralph? You look strangely!" he said. + +"I feel strangely," answered the youth, shuddering under the rush of +tenderness that surged up through his wrath. "I have been searching for +you, sir, waiting for you"---- + +"Why, it is not so long since I left home, Ralph." + +"It seems an eternity to me," answered the boy; and spite of his +wrathful manhood, tears sprang up, and spread like a mist over the +smouldering fire of his eyes. + +James looked at him with grave earnestness, his own face was pale and +careworn, his eyes heavy with a potent sorrow, but it took an expression +of deeper anxiety as he perused the working features before him. + +"My dear boy, something is amiss with you; come into the hotel. I have a +room here yet. Cheer up, it must be a bitter sorrow, indeed, if your +brother cannot help you out of it." + +Ralph ground his teeth, and the word "hypocrite" broke through them. + +But James did not hear it, he had turned to enter the hotel. Ralph +followed him, growing paler and paler as he walked. The bitter wrath +that had been for a moment disturbed was concentrating itself at his +heart again. + +They entered James Harrington's room, a small chamber in the highest +story of the hotel, and both sat down. + +"Now," said James, kindly, "tell me why it is that you are so changed. I +scarcely know you with that look, Ralph." + +"I scarcely know myself with these feelings," cried the youth, smiting +his breast in a sudden storm of passion. "Oh! James, James! how could +you be so generous, so kind to a poor fellow only to plunder and crush +him at last? What had I done that you should tear up my youth by the +roots, just as it began to feel the warmth of life?" + +"Ralph, are you mad?" + +"It is not your fault or hers if I am not mad," was the bitter reply. + +"Or hers!" repeated Harrington, turning deathly white, "or hers--who are +you speaking of?" + +"Of the woman we both love. I cannot speak her name to you. How dare you +brand that noble creature with shame, after using the privileges of my +father's house to win her love? Was it not enough that you had stolen +her heart from me--from us all? Could nothing but her disgrace content +your horrible vanity?" + +"Ralph, Ralph, in the name of Heaven, what is this?" cried Harrington, +starting up with an outcry of terrible agony, which whitened his face to +the lips. + +"What is this!" thundered Ralph, "are you detected at last? arch +hypocrite, that you are--desecrating the roof that you should have +upheld, leaving traces of your wickedness on every thing that ever loved +you. I ask you again, why did you seek her love? why, having won it, did +you leave her to shame?" + +"Ralph, speak briefly and clearly--what is it you mean? has your father +put this cruel charge against me into your mind? No more hints, no more +vague upbraidings--out with it at once--what do you charge me with?" + +Ralph did not speak, there was a grandeur of passion in the man that +held him silent. + +"In the name of God, speak!" cried the brother, "you are killing me." + +He spoke truly; no human strength could long have withstood the strain +of anxiety that cramped his features almost into half their size, and +made his strong hands quiver like reeds. + +"In the name of God, speak!" he cried out again; "of what do they charge +me?" + +"I charge you," said Ralph, in a faltering voice, for the power of that +man's innocence was upon him as he spoke; "I charge you with the ruin of +the purest and noblest"-- + +"Ruin!--who dares"---- + +"Yes, ruin--has she not left my father's roof, followed you into this +miserable city--left us all, refusing to go back"---- + +"Boy, boy, she has not--she has not. God help us all, she has not done +this. Your father is pledged, solemnly pledged against it. Ralph, my +dear boy, there is some mistake here; she cannot be so desperate." + +"She left home on the very day with yourself, in the storm, when the +snow and the ice cut one to the heart." + +"Yes, I remember; the storm seemed of a piece with the rest; a hopeful +heart would have frozen in it. I remember that storm well." + +"But she has greater cause to remember it, for in its drifts was buried +her good name forever; if it could have whitened over the infamy that +fell on our house, I should have prayed the snows to be eternal!" + +"Ralph, Ralph, this is terrible!" + +"Terrible!" repeated the young man, "you should have thought how +terrible before tempting that poor young creature to her ruin. The house +is desolate as the grave. My mother wanders through it like a ghost; she +is worn to a shadow mourning over the ruin of her child, for Lina was +dear as her own child could"---- + +James Harrington struggled for voice; his pale features began to quiver; +his lips parted; he grasped Ralph by the arm. + +"Brother, brother, is it Lina who has left home?" + +"Lina--yes." + +James Harrington dropped into his chair without uttering a word; and, +for the first time in his life, Ralph saw great tears rush to his eyes. + +"Oh, my God! make me, make me grateful!" he cried, and a great shudder +of joy shook his soul. "Ralph Harrington, you will never know how great +a blessing your words have been to me." + +Ralph stood by, amazed. The face of his brother looked like that of a +glorified saint. There was no guilt in him; the young man felt this in +the depths of his soul; wrong there certainly was somewhere, but not in +the great-hearted man before him. + +"Brother," said James, arousing himself, and reaching forth his hand, +"now, tell me what this trouble is. I can listen like a man--has Lina +left her home? poor child, she loved you, Ralph--what drove her away?" + +"I do not know--till now"---- + +"You thought it was me. Shame on it, Ralph, I did not think you would +believe ill of me." The tear that quivered on that young cheek, proved +that at least "lost faith" had been restored to him. "Come," said James +Harrington, warmly shaking the hand in his, "let us search out this good +child, and save her." + +"She will not be saved--she refuses to go home," answered Ralph, sadly. + +"Not so, not so--have more faith, my boy. There is something here which +we do not understand, but not guilt, certainly not _her_ guilt--did not +your mother guide her up from the cradle almost? besides that, does she +not love you with her whole heart, and that is not a little? Tell me +where to find her, and I will soon tear out the heart of this mystery. I +am strong now, Ralph, and feel as if mountains would be nothing in my +way. Come." + +And Ralph went hopefully forth with his brother. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +GENERAL HARRINGTON'S SECRET. + + +Harrington and Ralph stood opposite Zillah's house, pausing for a +moment's conversation before they went in. + +"No," said Ralph, earnestly, "do not ask it; I will not give even this +evidence of a doubt which I never can feel again. Go yourself, and see +her alone. Learn, if possible, by what evil influence she has been wiled +from her home. If she has fled to escape the importunity of my love, +tell her to fear it no more; I will leave the country--do anything +rather than stand in the way of her return to my mother." + +Harrington wrung the hand which Ralph had in his earnestness extended. + +"Wait at the hotel," he said; "in an hour expect me with news. I will +not leave the poor child till her secret is mine. Be hopeful, Ralph, for +I tell you Lina is an honest, good girl, and a little time will make it +all clear." + +"God grant that we do not deceive ourselves!" said Ralph, hopefully. "I +will wait for you, but it will be a terrible hour, James." + +"But such hours go by like the rest," answered Harrington, with a grave +smile; "you will learn this in time." + +With these words, James Harrington crossed the street, and entered +Zillah's house. + +Ralph watched him till the door closed, and then walked slowly back to +the hotel. + +Harrington was right--such hours do go by like the rest; those that are +tear-laden toil on a little slower than such as are bright with smiles, +but the eternity which crowds close upon them receives both alike, and +they float away into the past, mistily together. + +In less than the given time, James Harrington came back, but his step +was heavy as he mounted the stairs, and a look of haggard trouble hung +upon his brow. Ralph felt his breath come painfully; he dared not speak, +for never in his life had he felt such awe of the man before him. At +length he drew close to James, and whispered: + +"One word, only one: is she lost?" + +"Ralph" said Harrington, drawing a hand across his forehead once or +twice, as if to sweep away some pain that ached there, "I am at a loss +what to say!" + +Ralph turned white and drew back. + +"No, no, it is not as you think. The sweet girl is blameless as the +angels, but she is bound by promises and obligations that even I cannot +feel free to fling aside: yet this secrecy can only end in pain. It is +my duty, at any risk, to free her name from reproach. Ralph, I have +something very distressing to tell you, and it must be told." + +"If Lina is innocent, if she loves me, all else is nothing!" answered +Ralph, with enthusiasm. "Oh, James, you have made a man of me once +more!" + +"This hopefulness pains me, Ralph." + +"How? Did you not charge me to keep hopeful? did you not tell me that +Lina was blameless? While I can respect, love--nay, adore her--what else +has the power to wound me?" + +James Harrington shrank back, and his face flushed. + +"Hush! hush! these words are too ardent--they wound, they repulse me! If +you guessed all that I know, your own heart would recoil from them." + +"Guessed all that you know!--well, speak out. It must be something +terrible, indeed, if it prevents me loving her, after what you have +already said." + +James Harrington hesitated; looked wistfully at the eager face turned +full of inquiry to his, and at last said, in a low, almost solemn voice: + +"Ralph, Lina is your father's daughter." + +"My father's daughter?" cried Ralph, aghast; "my father's daughter!" + +"He told her so with his own lips, binding her by a promise not to +reveal the secret to us. Poor thing, it was too weighty for her +strength; she grew wild under it and fled to the woman you saw, who +claims to be her mother." + +"Claims to be her mother! That woman--it is false!" + +"I fear not, Ralph! I myself recognized that woman as a beautiful slave +whom your father owned when my own poor mother died. She has changed +but"---- + +"A slave--Lina, the child of a slave? I tell you it is false; the dews +of heaven are not more pure than the blood that fills those blue veins; +there is some fraud here!" cried Ralph, impetuously. + +"I fear not. She is certain of it; this cruel conviction is killing her. +But for her feeble state, I never could have won her secret. Poor child, +poor child, what can be done for her?" + +Ralph walked the room impetuously, beating the air with his hand: all at +once he stopped--the cloud upon his brow cleared away--his lips parted +almost with a cry. + +"I tell you, brother James, this is a fraud, to which Lina's face alone +is enough to give the lie! Ask Ben Benson--only ask Ben, he is truthful +as the sun; he has known her from the cradle. Ben Benson told me with +his own lips, that Lina's mother was dead!" + +James Harrington became excited; his eye kindled. + +"Did Ben Benson tell you this?" + +"He did, indeed; but why waste time in guessing? Let us go home; the old +fellow will help us to put this right." + +James hesitated, and shrunk within himself; the look of pain came back +to his face, and he answered with some constraint, that the steamer +sailed for Europe on the morrow, and his passage was already taken. + +Ralph looked astonished and distressed. + +"Would you leave us now?" he said, reproachfully. + +James remained thoughtful a moment, and then answered with a touch of +mournfulness: + +"No, I will remain for a little time. So long as I am wanted, it must be +so." + +"Then, let us go home at once." + +"Yes, it is a duty; I will return with you," said Harrington, with +gentle concession; and, spite of himself, a gleam of pleasure broke into +his eyes. + +"Come, then, come!" cried Ralph, impetuously. "I cannot breathe till old +Ben has spoken. Come!" + +"Have patience, Ralph; let us talk this matter over more quietly. We are +not at liberty to tell this painful secret to your mother, it would +shock her too much; besides, I pledged my honor to the poor child that +it should not be done. Let me find General Harrington, and learn the +whole truth from him. If Lina proves to be your sister--do not turn so +pale, my dear boy--if she proves to be this, you must go with me to +Europe, and learn to regard her with that gentle affection which becomes +these new relations." + +"I tell you, Lina is _not_ my sister; every feeling of my soul rises up +to contradict it!" cried the youth, impetuously. "General Harrington +will not say it." + +"Is the General at home now?" inquired Harrington, with a gentle wave of +the hand. + +"No; he seldom is, of late. He almost lives at the club-house." + +"I will seek him there," said Harrington; "come with me." + +"Not on this errand, James; I could not see my father, and maintain that +self-control which is due from a son to his parent. His sins have fallen +too heavily on me for that." + +"You are right, perhaps," answered James, thoughtfully. "It will be a +painful interview; but for her sake I will undertake it, though I had +thought all subjects of this kind were at an end between General +Harrington and myself." + +Ralph wrung the hand extended to him, and the two went out, each taking +his own way. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. + +THE DESERTED CHAMBER. + + +Mabel had been very ill; the sense of humiliation, the outrage on every +feeling of delicacy that had beset her after the fragments of that +vellum book were placed in her hand, fell upon her strength with +terrible effect. To herself, she seemed disgraced forever; the holiest +portion of her life was torn away, to be trodden down by the feet of the +multitude. No sin, however heinous, could have fallen upon her with more +crushing effect. The very maturity of age, which should have so far +removed her from the romance of love, embittered her grief by a sense of +self-ridicule. At times, she felt like reviling and scoffing at +affections that up to this time had been hoarded away from her own +thoughts. For a train of wrong feelings, unaccompanied by a single false +act, save that of her marriage, she was suffering the most terrible +humiliation before God and her own conscience. + +Is it strange that her nerves, so long excited and so delicate in +themselves, gave way at last, prostrating her to the earth, strengthless +as a child? She did not leave her room, she scarcely looked up when the +servants entered it, and was so broken and bowed down by the weight of +her shame, that even the absence of her son was disregarded. No criminal +ever shrank from the face of man more sensitively than this high-souled +woman. + +It annoyed Mabel to see any one enter her apartments. When the mulatto +chambermaid came there, in the ordinary course of her duties, she would +shrink back in her chair and shade her eyes, as if some hideous spectre +had crossed her path; but, if Agnes Barker entered, this nervous shock +became unendurable, and it was with the greatest effort that she could +refrain from rushing madly into the next room, and holding the door +against her intrusions. + +One night--it was that on which James Harrington went out in search of +an explanation from the General--Mabel was more terribly oppressed than +ever; all the bitter recollections of a most tedious life crowded upon +her at once. She longed to flee away into some new place, where human +intrusion would be impossible--and yet Agnes Barker would enter the +room; again and again she saw the poor woman wince and shiver at her +approach, but with malicious servility insisted on arranging her +cushions, and performing all those little services which are so sweet +when love prompts them, yet which fall upon us like insults when +rendered by those against whom our natures are in repulsion. To save +herself from this officious tending, Mabel inquired for the mulatto +woman, preferring her presence to the endurance of attentions so +oppressive. + +Agnes smiled sweetly at the inquiry: "but the chambermaid had gone out," +she said, "and might not be back till late; meantime, it was a happiness +to attend madam--was the cushion comfortably arranged? should she move +the footstool?" + +The girl sank upon her knees, and, in moving the ottoman, touched +Mabel's foot with her hand. The excited woman sprang up with a shudder, +as if a rattlesnake had crept across her ankles, and, unable to endure +the presence of her tormentor a moment more, hurried out of the room. + +"Is there no place," she said, moving wildly forward, "no place in which +I can hide myself, and snatch a moment's rest? Will these creatures +trail themselves in my path forever and ever!" + +The unhappy woman did not even think that she possessed the right to +send the offensive persons at any moment from her presence; for, since +the discovery of her secret, Mabel no longer felt that she was the +mistress of these people, or that she held a power of command anywhere. +All that she wished was to hide herself from every one. Influenced only +by this unconquerable desire, she hurried up the stairs, and taking a +bronze lamp from a statue that occupied a niche in the first landing, +went forward till she came to the door of a chamber that had been +occupied by James Harrington. Here a gleam of intelligence shot over her +pale face, and she eagerly tried the lock. It yielded, and, drawing a +quick breath, she crossed the threshold, turning the key which had been +left inside with an impatient violence, and looked round exultingly at +the solitude which she had thus insured. + +"It was here," she said, looking around on the grate and on the table, +while her pale brow darkened and her lips began to tremble; "it was here +that he burned my poor journal--here that he tore the secret from my +soul, while I lay sleeping below. After this cruel pillage of my life, +he fled to hide the----No, no! Scorn he could _not_ feel--hate, pity, +anything but scorn! Let me search if any vestige remains." + +She bent over the empty grate, peering through the polished bars with +keen glances, but it was bare and cold; not an ember remained, nor a +grain of dust. The very ashes of her book had been cast forth with the +common refuse. The table was empty, not a paper littered it: a bronze +standish, in which the ink was frozen to a black ice and a useless pen +or two, alone met her search; all was in cruel order. The bed, with its +unpressed pillows smooth as iced snow--the easy-chair wheeled into a +corner of the room--the closed shutters without--everything was +desolate. + +Mabel sat down upon the bed, the most dreary thing there; she looked +mournfully around. The wild eagerness died out of her features, and +lowering her face upon the cold pillow, she began to cry like a child. +Directly the chill of the night struck through and through her. She +shivered till the teeth chattered beneath her quivering lips; what with +grief, cold, and exhaustion, the poor lady had become helpless as +infancy. Forgetting where she was, and careless of everything on earth, +she gathered the bed-clothes slowly around her, and shuddered herself to +sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. +[ +THE UNEXPECTED RETURN. + + +As General Harrington was dining at his club that day, a note was sent +up to him; and, as his meal had reached the last stage of a luxurious +dessert, he quietly broke open the envelope, and read: + + "James Harrington has found means to see Lina, and she has told + him everything. I shall await you here during the next hour. + ZILLAH." + +The General crushed this note slowly in his hand, a quiet smile stole +over his face, and sipping his wine with great complacency, he murmured: + +"Well? but the life deeds are safe, what is his anger to me?" + +But, directly a less pleasant thought forced itself on his mind; he +remembered that the deeds he exulted over, were only binding so long as +Mabel Harrington remained contentedly beneath his roof. What if James +should take advantage of the knowledge obtained from Lina, as a +counterbalancing power against him? What if Mabel should at once use +that knowledge to protect herself, and by suing out a divorce, cast all +the shame he had threatened to heap upon her, back upon his own head? +Certainly, James Harrington would not fail to inform her of the powers +of retaliation that lay within her grasp; perhaps even now she knew +everything. + +He started up from the table, calling for his furred paletot, and gave +orders that his sleigh and horses should be brought round. The well-bred +waiters, whose duty it was to be surprised at nothing, were evidently +astonished at these signs of agitation in the most urbane and reposeful +visitor at the club-rooms. With a hurried step he descended to the +street, stepped into his sleigh, buried himself to the chin in furs, and +the driver dashed off with a ringing of bells and a flourish of the whip +around his horses' ears, that made them dance like Russian leaders. + +The day was growing dusky, and General Harrington urged the driver on, +for he was eager to reach home and have an interview with his wife, +before the younger Harrington could reveal his secret. Trusting much to +Mabel's noble powers of forgiveness, and more to the allurements of his +own eloquence, which should so word his contrition that it would be sure +to touch a nature like hers, he was only anxious to forestall her anger +by what would appear to be a frank confession of his fault; thus, by +throwing himself upon her mercy, and challenging the generosity which +had never yet failed him, he hoped to retain control of the wealth which +had become doubly important from the lavish expenditure of the last few +weeks. + +Thus, full of anxiety and terror regarding a revelation that James +Harrington would have died rather than make to Mabel, the old gentleman +dashed on toward home, eager to be in advance with his disgraceful news. + +The house was very still when he entered it; faint lights broke through +the library windows and from the balcony in front of Mabel's boudoir, +but the rest of the house was dark and quiet as death. General +Harrington had left his sleigh at the stables, which were some distance +from the house--thus the noise of his arrival was lost on the inmates; +and, as he let himself in at the front door with a latch-key, no one was +aware of his presence. + +Flinging off his wrappers in the hall, he looked into the usual +sitting-room to assure himself that it was empty; then going to his own +room long enough to change his boots for a pair of furred slippers, he +went at once to Mabel's boudoir. A fire burned dimly on the hearth, and +over the table hung a small alabaster lamp, that seemed full of +imprisoned moonlight, but was not brilliant enough to subdue the quiet +shadows that lay like a mist all around the room. Mabel was not there, +and the General sought for her in the bed-chamber adjoining, but all was +still; the faint light that stole in from the alabaster lamp, revealed a +snowy night-robe laid upon the bed, and everything prepared for rest, +but the lady was absent. + +"Well, well," muttered the old gentleman, drawing Mabel's easy-chair to +the hearth, and warming his hands by the pleasant fire, "she cannot be +gone far, and, at any rate, my hopeful step-son will find himself too +late for an interview to-night; so I will quietly await her here. What a +dreamy place it is, though; I did not think that she possessed so much +of the philosophy of life; but the strangeness reminds me that I have +been rather too negligent of late. No matter, she will only be the more +ready to welcome me; for, with all her romance and journalizing, the +woman loves me: I was sure of that, even while pushing the hard bargain +with her cavalier. Faith," he continued, rubbing his velvety palms +together, and leaning toward the fire, "I am glad she did not happen to +be present! A little warmth and calm thought will do everything towards +preparing me for the interview." + +With these thoughts running through his mind, the old man--for he was +old, spite of appearances--began to feel the effects of a long ride in +the cold. The bland warmth of the fire overcame him with luxurious +drowsiness, and he would have dropped to sleep in his chair, but that it +afforded no easy rest for his head, which fell forward, whenever he sank +into a doze, with a jerk that awoke him very unpleasantly. + +"I wonder Mrs. Harrington does not select more comfortable chairs for +her room," he muttered, looking around uneasily for something more +commodious to rest in. "I will call at King's to-morrow, and order one +of his latest inventions--a Voltaire or Sleepy Hollow; no wonder she +wanders off for better accommodation. The fire is down in my library, so +I must wait for her here. Let me see if there is anything more promising +in the next room." + +He went into the sleeping chamber as he spoke, and threw himself upon a +couch near the window; but it was so remote from the fire that he soon +grew cold, and started up again. Removing Mabel's night robe from the +bed, he flung himself upon it, gathering the counterpane over him, and +burying his head in the frilled pillows. + +"She cannot come in without waking me, that is certain," he murmured, +dreamily; "so this is the best place to wait in. I did not think the +cold could have chilled me through all those furs. Ah! this is +comfortable; I can wait for madam with patience now, with, wi"---- + +Spite of his anxiety, the old gentleman dropped off to sleep here, with +a luxurious sense of comfort. That was a quiet and profound sleep, +notwithstanding the old man had many sins unrepented of. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. + +MOTHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +About an hour after General Harrington drove up to his stables, with +such a clash of bells, and stole from it so noiselessly, there came +another sleigh along the high road, the very one which had borne Lina +French to her wretched city home. Noiselessly as it had moved that +stormy night, the sleigh crept toward General Harrington's dwelling. At +the cross of the roads it made a halt, and out from the pile of furs +stepped a female, mantled from head to foot, who set her foot firmly +upon the snow, and, with a wave of her hand, dismissed the sleigh, +which, turning upon its track, glided like a shadow into the darkness +again. + +The woman stood still till the sleigh was out of sight; then gathering +the cloak about her, walked rapidly towards the house. As General +Harrington had done, she opened the door with a latch-key, and glided +into the darkened vestibule. Her tread left no sound on the marble, and +she glided on through the darkness like a shadow, meeting no one, and +apparently so well acquainted with the building that light was +unnecessary. At length she paused opposite a door, opened it cautiously, +and entered a dusky chamber, lighted only by a small lamp that was so +shaded that a single gleam of light shot across the floor, leaving the +rest in darkness. A bed stood in this room with a low couch, on which +Agnes Barker was sleeping. The woman took up the lamp, allowing a stream +of light to fall upon her face, at the same moment it revealed that of +the holder, which shone out hard as iron, and with a grey pallor upon +it. + +"Is it you?" exclaimed the girl, starting up and putting back the hair +from her face. "Have you found him? Has he returned? Why can't you speak +to me? Where is Ralph Harrington?" + +"Agnes!" + +"Well," answered the girl, impatiently. + +"It is useless pursuing this infatuation longer. The time has come when +you must learn to command yourself. You are my daughter!" + +"I don't believe it!" answered the girl, angrily. + +"Have you ever known any other parent?" + +"I never had any parent!" + +"Who placed you at school? who paid for your education?" + +"I don't know--your mistress, I dare say, who was ashamed of my birth, +and made you her agent. I have always believed so and believe it yet." + +"Agnes, you are my own child. I call on Heaven to witness it!" + +"I am not fool enough to believe you." + +"You would have the poor thing separated from young Harrington, and I +had no other way of appeasing your unreasonable demands, being your +mother." + +"Well, at any rate they are separated, and I am not married to James the +millionaire, which was your wish; so, after all, I do not come out +second best in a fair trial of strength, you see." + +"I do not wish your marriage with James Harrington, and Ralph you can +never hope for." + +"You think so!" answered the girl, with a vicious sneer. "You fancy that +one rebuff will crush me. I neither know nor care who told you that he +has met my love with scorn, fled my presence as if I were a viper on his +father's hearth. I tell you he shall return. I have a will that shall +yet bend his love to mine though it were tougher than iron. Woman, I +say again, Ralph Harrington shall yet be my lawfully wedded husband!" + +"Girl, I tell you again, and with far better reasons, it can never be!" +cried Zillah, towering over her as she sat upon the couch. + +"It shall be!" almost hissed the girl, meeting the black eyes bent upon +her with glances of sullen wrath. + +"Not till the laws permit brothers and sisters to marry!" answered +Zillah. "For I call upon the living God to witness that you are General +Harrington's child!" Her face hardened and grew white, as the secret +burst from her lips; for she saw the shudder and heard the shriek that +broke from her child. + +"His and yours?" questioned Agnes, pale as death. + +"His and mine!" + +"And you were a slave?" + +"_His_ slave." + +Agnes started up, tossing her hands wildly in the air. + +"A noble parentage--a thrice noble parentage!" she cried out, hoarse +with pain and rage. "The child of a villain, and his slave! Woman, I +could tear you into atoms, for daring to pour your black blood into my +life!" + +Zillah drew back, pale and aghast. She could not speak. + +"Ah, now I know why this flesh crept, and the blood fell back upon my +heart, when that vicious old man was near! My life rose up against the +outrage of its own being. I tell you, woman, if this man is my father, I +_hate_ him!" + +"And me," faltered Zillah, shuddering. + +"And you, negro-slave that you are." + +"I am neither a negro or a slave," answered Zillah, recovering a portion +of her haughtiness; "the taint of my blood has died out in yours. Look +on me, unfeeling girl, and say where you find a trace of the +African--not in this hair, it is straight and glossy as Mabel +Harrington's--not on my forehead, see how smooth it is--not in my heart +or brain, for when did an African ever have the mind to invent, or the +courage to carry out, the designs that fill my brain? I tell you, girl, +your mother has neither the look nor the soul of a slave; but she has +will, and power, and a purpose, too, that shall lift her child so high, +that the whitest woman of her father's race will yet be proud to render +her homage!" + +"Dreaming, dreaming!" exclaimed Agnes, scornfully. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII. + +A STORMY PARTING. + + +Zillah drew her tall form to its full height. + +"Dreaming!" she said. "No. This is the time for us to act; no, not +us--you shall have nothing of this but the advantage. You are my child, +his child, and I love you; therefore, let all the risk, and sin, and +pain be mine. You shall have nothing but the power and the gold. Listen, +girl, you should not marry James Harrington, now, though he wished it; +he is no match for you--he is penniless as this boy Ralph, your +half-brother. Do not shrink and look at me so wildly, but learn to hear +the truth. This boy is your brother, and his son; for that reason he +must not want, when you and I have our rights; out of the property which +was once James Harrington's, we must persuade the General to give the +young man a few thousands; as for James, let him remain the beggar his +romantic folly has left him. + +"Agnes, your father, General Harrington--your father! impress the word +on your soul, child--your father is now master of everything; while he +lives, James Harrington is penniless. To-morrow, we shall reign in Mabel +Harrington's house. You look surprised, you ask me how all this has +been brought about. Listen: you remember the vellum book which you stole +for me, out of her escritoire. Well, it contained many secrets, but not +the one I wanted most--not enough to make Mabel Harrington an outcast. I +lived with her in her youth, and knew how much she loved this priestly +Harrington--and, when his mother died, hoped that he would marry her; +but she was too wealthy. The General wanted her money, and, in defiance +of my anger and my tears, made her his wife. I rebelled, threatened, +grew mad, and to save himself, this man, whom I loved better than my own +soul, persuaded me back to the plantation, and sold me! You turn pale, +even you look shocked. For a time, I could have torn him to atoms, like +a tiger when food is scarce; for the love that had been so deep and +fiery, turned to hate: but wrong does not uproot a passion like mine. He +had sold me into a double bondage--his child was the slave of another +man; yet every wish of my soul struggled to his feet again--in that I +_was_ a slave. + +"Yes, bend your eyes upon me, and curve your lips with that unspoken +taunt; at least, I was not the slave of a boy! Sit still, sit still, I +say! it is no use flinging your tiger glances at me; I have no time for +quarreling. While I was his slave, General Harrington's liberality had +no bounds, and, dreading the time when it might cease, I hoarded a large +sum of money, more than enough to buy myself a dozen times over. I was +about to enter into a bargain with my new master for myself and child, +when he died, setting us free by his will. + +"I waited, worked, saved, adding gold to gold, till years came between +me and the man who had owned and sold me; dulling the influence of that +woman, and turning my passion into a power. + +"At first, I intended to introduce you into this house, and marry you to +James Harrington--thus ensuring a high position to my child, depriving +Mabel of a protector, and sweeping away General Harrington's sources of +wealth at the same time. Then, while stripped of the luxuries he loves +so well, my hoarded gold would have paved my way back to his favor; but +you, ever perverse, ever disobedient, became infatuated with this boy, +Mabel Harrington's son, and thus defeated a plan that this brain had +been weaving for years. You had stolen the book, that was something; but +your perverse fancy rendered new complications necessary, and, to keep +you quiet, I was compelled to cumber myself with that poor girl, to lie, +and almost betray myself. + +"Be quiet, and listen. The book was incomplete, but I had studied Mabel +Harrington's writing well in my youth; she had left blank pages here and +there in her journal; _I_ filled them up; he read them; all would have +gone well--she would have been degraded, turned out of doors, but for +the mad generosity of James Harrington. I listened, and saw that all was +lost; that the journal would be given up to him, and the falsehood of +those pages made known. I tore them out, and with them other pages that +have since served a good purpose. Listen, still, for I have no time. +To-day, James Harrington came to the house in my absence, and had a +conversation with Lina; what it was, I do not know, but it may put us in +this woman's power. Before morning, this battle must be over." + +"Great heavens!" exclaimed Agnes, with a fresh burst of passion, so +absorbed by her own thoughts that she disregarded the purport of +Zillah's words. "_His_ child, _his_ sister, and the tool of a slave,--a +noble burden this, to carry on through life!" + +She arose and walked toward the door, pale as death, and with her teeth +clenched. + +"Where are you going?" inquired Zillah. + +"Into the cold, where I can breathe. Do not speak. Let me go!" + +"But not down stairs--not into her room!" + +"I tell you," answered the girl, hoarse with passion, "I tell you that +it is air, space, a storm, a whirlwind that I want; nothing else will +give back the breath to my lungs!" + +She went out fiercely, like the tempest her evil heart evoked. + +For an instant the woman Zillah stood still, looking after her; then she +rushed to the door, and called out in a loud whisper, + +"Agnes, Agnes, come back!" + +But the call was too late. Like a black shadow, Agnes Barker had passed +out of the house. + +Zillah reëntered the room, looking so white that you would not have +known the face again. She turned the gas full upon her, and, taking a +bowl from the cabinet, poured some colored liquid into it. She placed +the bowl upon the floor, and, kneeling by it, began to lave her hands, +neck, and face in the liquid, leaving them of a nutty darkness. Then she +opened the window, flung out the dye she had used, and proceeded to put +on a front of woolly hair, tangled with grey, over which a Madras +'kerchief was carefully folded. One by one she removed her rich +garments, and directly stood out in dress, gait, and action, the colored +chambermaid who had for months infested Mabel Harrington's home. + +The woman went out from the room, locking the door after her. She must +have been very pale, though the color upon her face revealed no trace of +this white terror; but her limbs shook, her knees knocked together, and +her wild eyes grew fearful as she paused in the hall, looking up and +down, to see if it was empty, before she moved away. + +The moment Zillah left her chamber door, all became dark in the hall, +for she concealed the light in passing, and moved away as her daughter +had done, still and black, like a retreating cloud. + +When Zillah's face was again revealed, it was far down in the coal +vaults under the house. She was upon her knees, filling a small iron +furnace with lumps of charcoal, which she dropped one by one on a +handful of embers that glowed in the bottom, as she had found them after +late use in the laundry. As she dropped the coal, Zillah looked +fearfully about from time to time; and once, when a mouse scampered +across the floor close by her, she started up with a smothered shriek; +but, even in her terror, blew out the lamp, which rattled in the +darkness some moments after, notwithstanding the efforts that she made +to still her shaking hands. + +At last she struck a match, and kindled the light once more, and fell to +work again. A minute sufficed to heap the little furnace, and a faint +crackling at the bottom gave proof that the living embers underneath +were taking effect. When satisfied of this, she put out her lamp, took +up the furnace, and, though it was still hot from recent use, placed one +hand over the draft, that the fire might not ignite too rapidly, and +crept out of the cellar. Any person awake in the house, might have +traced the dark progress of this woman by a faint crackle, and the +sparks that shot now and then up through the black mass of coal, which +was kindling so fast, that the hand which she still kept upon the draft +was almost blistered. + +She moved along the hall, noiselessly and rapid as death. The sparks +that leaped up from the furnace, gave all the light she had, and more +than she desired; for many a time before had she threaded the same +passage, rehearsing the terrible deed she was enacting. She paused +directly in front of Mabel Harrington's boudoir, and laid her hand upon +the latch without a moment's search, as if it had been broad daylight. + +She did not pause in the boudoir, but stole through, shuddering beneath +the pale light of that alabaster lamp, as if it had distilled poison +over her. + +There was no stir in the chamber when she entered it. The low regular +breathing of some one asleep upon the bed which stood entirely in +shadow, was all the sound that reached her when she paused to listen. +From without she could hear nothing, not even the sharp whisperings of +the wind; for that day her own hands had calked the windows with +singular care, and besides that, rich curtains muffled them from floor +to ceiling. + +Zillah dared not look toward the bed, but with the stealthy movements of +a panther she crept to the fire-place sealed up with a marble slab, and +placing the furnace on the hearth, slunk away from the chamber and +through the boudoir, closing both doors cautiously behind her. + +After that, she staggered away into the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX + +UNDER THE ICE. + + +Agnes Barker rushed into the cold night so wrathfully that even the +shadow that followed her seemed vital with hate. On they walked +together--the girl and this weird shadow--blackening the snow with +momentary darkness as they passed; the one tossing out her arms with +unconscious gesticulation, the other mocking her, grotesquely, from the +crusted snow. + +She descended from the eminence upon which the house stood, into the +hollow where Lina and Ralph had paused on the first day of their +confessed love. Over the spot made holy by the feelings of this +beautiful epoch, she trod her way in mad haste, reckless of the cold, +which, but for the fiery strife within, must have pierced her to the +vitals; Zillah had aroused her from sleep but half-robed--her dress had +been loosened as she lay down, and the sharp wind lifted particles of +snow with every gust, sweeping them into her bosom and over her +uncovered head. Neither shawl nor mantle shielded her, but thus all +exposed as she had risen from her sleep, she rushed on, mad as a wild +animal which save in form, for that fatal moment, she was. + +The snow upon the hills, drifted its white carpet out upon the Hudson, +and even in the day time a practised eye only could tell where the shore +ended, and the water commenced. Agnes had no motive for crossing the +river, and, for a time, she kept along the bank, going nearer and nearer +to Ben Benson's boat-house, but perfectly regardless of that or anything +else. + +As she came out from among the evergreens close by Ben's retreat, a +light, gleaming through its window, made her halt and swerve toward the +river. Any vestige of humanity was hateful to her then, and she was glad +to plunge into the cold winds which swept down the channel of the +stream, that, lacking all other opponents, she might wrestle with them. + +Out she went upon the sheeted river. It was white some distance from the +shore, but in the centre lay a space of blue ice, with a surface like +polished steel, and a deep, swift current rushing beneath. This frozen +channel took an unnatural darkness from the gleam of snow on either +side. Toward this black line the girl made her way, trampling down the +snow like an enraged lioness, and laughing back a defiance to the winds +as they drifted cutting particles of snow into her face and through the +loose tresses of her hair. + +It was in her face, this keen wind, beating against her, and closing the +eyes which rage had already rendered blind. She left the snow and struck +out upon the ice. That instant a cloud swept over the moon. Her shadow +forsook her then--even her shadow! A step, a hoarse plunge, and a +piercing cry rushed up from that break in the ice, a cry that cut +through the air sharper than an arrow, piercing far and wide through the +cold night! Then the moon came out, and revealed a ghastly face low down +in the blackness, and two hands grasping the ragged edges of the ice, +slipping away--clutching out again, and still again, so fiercely, that +drops of blood fell after them into the dark current beneath. Still the +white face struggled upward through masses of wet hair, and the baffled +hands groped about fiercer, but more aimlessly, till both were forced +away beneath the ice, sending back a shriek so sharp and terrible that +it might have aroused the dead!--no, not the dead, for up in that +stately mansion, frowning among the snows a little way off, a human soul +had just departed--nor paused to look back, though the existence, which +was its own great sin, followed close, till both stood face to face +before the God they had offended! + +But, in the stillness of the night, and in the depths of his honest +sleep, Ben Benson heard the cry. He started from his bed, hurriedly +dressed himself, and went out in great alarm, listening, as he went, for +a renewal of that fierce cry; but, though he reached the ice, and bent +over the yawning hole, nothing but the wail of the winds, and the rush +of waters underneath, met his ear. Still, as he peered down into the +darkness, a human face weltered up through the waters. Instantly, Ben +threw himself upon the ice, plunged his arms downward, and rose +staggering to his feet. In the grasp of his strong hands, he drew a +human form half-way upon the ice. He had paused for breath, but horror +gave him double strength; and, gathering the pale form in his arms, he +laid it upon the ice, parting the long, dark hair reverently with his +hands, and leaving the marble face bare in the moonlight. + +"Lord a mercy on us!" he exclaimed, stooping over the cold form. "It's +the young governess, dead as a stone! How on arth did she get here? Not +a purpose, I hope to mercy; it wasn't a purpose. Poor critter, if it +hadn't a been that the ice broke just here in the eddy, her poor body +would a been miles down stream 'fore now. Instead of that, she was +sucked under, and has been a whirling and a whirling the Lord of heaven +only knows how long--how long--Ben Benson, be you crazy? Wasn't it her +scream as woke you up? Ma' be there's a spark of life yet, and you a +talking over her here. Go home, you old heathen; go home at 'onst. Poor +young critter, I didn't like you over much, but now I'd give ten years +of my old life to be sarten there was a drop of warm blood in this +little heart!" + +Ben knelt over the governess as he muttered those feeling words, and +laid his great kind hand over the heart, but the touch made even his +strong nerves recoil. + +"It ain't a beatin'--it doesn't stir--she seems to be a freezing now +under my hand. But, I'll try. God have mercy on the poor thing! I'll +try." + +Ben took the body in his arms, and carried it to the boat-house; but +with all his earnestness and strength, he had no power to give back +life, where it had been so rudely quenched. Pure or not, the blood in +those veins was frozen to ice, and though Ben heaped up wood on his +hearth till the flames roared up the wide-throated chimney, there was +not heat enough to thaw a single drop. At last, Ben gave up his own +exertions, and laid the dead girl reverently on his own couch; kneeling +meekly by her side, and then he began repeating the Lord's Prayer over +her again and again: for, when the boatman was in great trouble he +always went back, like a little child, to the prayer learned at his +mother's knee. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXX. + +WHO WAS LINA? + + +The sound of sleigh-bells stopping suddenly and a sharp knock at his own +door, aroused Ben from his mournful prayers. He got up and turned the +latch. To his astonishment, it was broad daylight. The persons who had +aroused him were James and Ralph Harrington. + +"Ben," said Ralph, stepping eagerly forward, "tell us--repeat to James +what you refused to tell Lina. On your life, on your honor, dear old +Ben: tell him whose child she is." + +"All that you know about her. I am sure there is something you can +explain. If you ever loved her or care for me, speak out now. You said +that she had gone off because you refused to tell her something." + +Ben had been praying in the presence of death, and there were both power +and pathos in his voice as he clasped those rough hands and said: + +"As the great God aloft is his witness! Ralph Harrington, Ben Benson +spoke nothing but the truth when he said that ere." + +"But you will tell us, for her dear sake, you will tell us." + +"Yes, Master Ralph I will. Jist ask what you want to know, and I'll tell +it." + +"Who was she, Ben? I've asked my mother often, but she always answered, +that the child, while a mere infant, was seen one day wandering on the +banks of the river, quite alone. At night, she came up to the house, and +was found asleep on the door-step--from that day to this, she has never +been inquired after, but dropped into the family naturally as a +pet-bird. I loved her the better for having no friends--for belonging +entirely to us." + +Ben drew the back of one hand across his eyes and dropped into his +lounging attitude again. + +"But, yet, she had one friend, Mister Ralph." + +"And, who was that?" + +"Ben Benson--as carried her up to that ere identical door-step, and laid +her down like the babes in the woods--a knowing in his heart all the +time, that Mrs. Harrington would take her in the minute she sot her eyes +on her purty face." + +"You know who she was, then?" + +"I ought to," answered Ben, "for she was my own sister's child." + +"Your sister's child!" + +"You wouldn't a belaved it; for the mother of that gal was like a water +lily, fresh from the pond, when I run away from hum and went to sea." + +"Well," said Ralph, breathless. + +"The old man died a little while after I ran off, and so the poor little +thing was left alone, to fight her way through the world. She had more +larning than ever could be driv into my brain, and went into a rich +man's family to larn his children their letters. There was a young +feller in that house, as was likewise given to larning, a sickly, pale +chap, just a going into consumption. This chap loved the orphan gal, and +as her hard-hearted brother had deserted the helm, he stepped in and +took the craft amost without a summons." + +"They got married somewhere down in York, and in less 'en three months +arter, the poor, young feller died--neither on 'em had plucked up +courage enough to tell the proud, old father, and the young man was took +off so suddenly at last, that he hadn't no chance." + +"Lizzy was obliged to speak out arter this, but the certificate was +amongst his things, and the old folks pretended that it never could be +found. She didn't know where to find the minister as married 'em, and +so her husband's own father turned her out of doors. When I came ashore +two years arter, no one could tell me where she had gone; but a few +months arter I cast anchor in this ere land-craft, my poor sister came +here one night, leading a toddling little girl by the hand. That gal was +Lina. My sister's face was white as foam, when she came in. I asked her +about the child, and she told me what I have been a telling you. In the +night she went away. I had fell asleep, leaning against the wall, and +didn't know she was agoing. The baby was left behind on the husk-bed. + +"The next thing, my sister wandered back to the lonesome place, where +she and her baby had lived together, and without telling any one that +she was sick, lay down and died. + +"Ben Benson sat in his cabin all that day, and the little child went out +and in like a lonesome bird, now a picking posies from the bank and agin +crying by the cabin door. That miserable old feller never had but one +guardian spirit on arth, and that ere night he thought of her, while the +baby lay hived up in his bosom. So he took the child up as if it had +been a little helpless lamb, and laid it down where that ere angel could +find it." + +"And this was Lina!" exclaimed Ralph, with tears in his eyes. "I thank +you, Ben." + +"You know this--you are certain of her identity?" said James Harrington. + +"I am sartin that she's my own sister's darter, and can swear to it +afore God and man," was Ben's solemn reply. "But where is the gal? Is +she found--will she come back--does she know as this ere old chap is her +uncle?" + +"She knows nothing," said Ralph, shaking the hand which Ben extended +while propounding these eager questions. "She is yonder in the sleigh, +Ben--no, not yet; she is ill, and the least excitement may do harm. Go +and find us an entrance to the house; we have tried the doors, but no +one seems astir--my fa--the General, is not home, I suppose"---- + +"No," answered Ben, believing what he said; "I haven't seen the General +about these four days." + +"And my mother?" inquired Ralph. + +"She's sartain to be there, poor lady," answered Ben, shaking his head +sorrowfully. + +"Yes, yes, she's pining about Lina, but that will soon be over--bless +the dear girl--on second thought, if my mother is ill, I had better go +myself; some of the servants must be up by this time. See, there she is, +Ben, in the sleigh, muffled up in furs, poor little birdie. Go speak to +her, but remember she is feeble as a babe, so be very quiet." + +"You can trust old Ben Benson for that ere," cried the boatman, looking +eagerly towards the sleigh; but with the first glance great tears came +chasing each other down his cheeks, and all unconsciously he held out +both arms, shouting, "my own, own little gal!" + +There was a struggle in the sleigh, and with low murmurs of delight, +Lina held forth her hand. + +"Remember and keep cool," said Ralph; then turning towards James, he +said, "drive to the door, I will soon rouse the household." + +With these words he strode towards the house, eager to carry glad +tidings to his mother. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI. + +THE MANIAC. + + +All night long the slave woman crouched down in the middle of her bed, +with the blankets drawn over her like a tent, and her eyes looking out +into the darkness, waiting for the morning, and yet shrinking with +terror whenever a gleam of light appeared. At last, when the morning +broke, grey and cold, she crept forth in her clothes--as she had been +all night--and stood for a time listening as if she expected some +unusual sound. But all was still, no servant was yet abroad, and she sat +down upon the bed, waiting with a dull heavy gleam of the eye that had +something awful in it. At last she was aroused by a loud ring at the +hall door, which brought a smothered scream to her lips; but she arose +and went down stairs, opening the door with a sort of mechanical +composure. Ralph Harrington stood upon the threshold, and a little way +off winding up the circular carriage sweep was a sleigh, in which she +discovered James Harrington and the pale face of Lina. The sight made +her tremble in every limb, and her eyes were terrible to look upon. + +"Is my mother up yet?" said Ralph, without regarding the woman, who did +not answer, for her teeth chattered when she made the attempt. + +"Well, then we must arouse her; of course the fires are kept up such +nights as this; take Miss French to the breakfast-room while I inquire +for Mrs. Harrington." + +But Lina would not be restrained: joy at the sight of that dear old home +gave her temporary strength; she ran up the steps, passing James and +Ralph, in the speed of her love. + +"No, no, I _cannot_ wait. Let me go to her room. I will awake her as of +old with my kisses--they will not frighten her." + +Before the sentence was finished, Lina had reached the door of Mabel's +boudoir, and throwing it open, flew into the bed-room. A close stifling +vapor enclouded her as she entered, but in the ardor of her love she +rushed through it, flung back the bed-curtains, and throwing her arms +over the sleeper there cried out---- + +"Mamma, awake! it is Lina--your own Lina come back to live at home, +mamma--mamma"-- + +The last word died away in an exclamation of horror, for the face she +touched was cold as marble, and she fell forward struggling for breath. + +Ralph had followed her to the door, and lingered there, waiting for his +mother to summon him, but there was something in the atmosphere which +crept through into the hall that awoke his apprehension, this was +increased by Lina's sudden silence. + +With a quickened beat of the heart he went in, but a stifling haze +filled the room, which was so dark that he could only see Lina, lying +motionless across the bed. He rushed to the window and tore back the +curtains, filling the room with a dull luminous fog, through which he +saw Lina, pale as marble, and gasping for breath, but with her eyes wide +open, and fixed on the face of his father. + +"My God--oh, my God! what is this?" he cried, staggering forward. + +"It is your father, Ralph, cold as death." + +Ralph uttered a cry so sharp and piercing that it reached James and +Benson, who came in alarm from the breakfast-room--nay, it penetrated +farther, and aroused Mabel from her comfortless sleep in the chamber +above. She arose with a thrill of unaccountable awe, and glided down the +stairs, passing the mulatto chambermaid, who stood motionless as a +bronze statue outside the door. As the woman saw her she gave a cry and +her eyes dilated with unspeakable horror; slowly, as if she had been +forced into motion by some irresistible power, she turned and followed +after Mabel, step by step, till both stood in the room of death. The +eyes of those two women fell on the dead body of General Harrington at +the same moment; Mabel burst into tears. The mulatto seemed turning to +stone--she did not breathe, she did not move, but stood with her lips +apart, helpless, speechless, stricken with a terrible horror. + +James Harrington saw the furnace standing on the hearth with a handful +of white ashes at the bottom. + +"It is the fumes of charcoal--he has been smothered--who brought this +here?" he exclaimed, looking at the woman. + +If he expected to see that ashen grey upon her cheek, which is the +nearest approach to pallor that her race can know, he was disappointed. +She neither changed color nor moved, but a gleam of horrible +intelligence came into her eyes, and as her lips closed, a faint quiver +stirred them. + +She did not heed his question, but turned in silence and went out. + +Half an hour after, when the first great shock was over, and James +Harrington sent to have the movements of this woman watched, she was +nowhere to be found. The servants had seen a handsome and richly dressed +lady pass through the front door, and walk swiftly toward the highway. +The chambermaid could not have passed without being observed. Yet no +human being ever saw her afterward. + + * * * * * + +The day on which General Harrington was buried, the funeral procession +passed by the house in which Lina had lived during her painful sojourn +in the city. As it went by, a woman rushed to and fro in the house, +uttering the most piteous cries, and tearing at everything within her +reach. From that little fairy-like conservatory she had torn down the +blossoming vines, and broken the plants, crowning herself fantastically +with the trailing garlands, and trampling the blossoms beneath her feet +with bursts of wild laughter, alternated with groans, that seemed to +rend her heart asunder. As the funeral cortége went by, these groans and +shrieks of laughter aroused the neighborhood. Some members of the police +entered, and took the maniac away. + + * * * * * + +It was a year after General Harrington's death, a steamer was passing +through a channel of the East River, leaving Blackwell's Island on the +left. Sitting upon the deck was a bridal party: that morning had made +Lina, Ralph Harrington's wife. James Harrington had given her away, +having first richly endowed the young couple, and Mabel made one of the +wedding party. + +Upon the shore near the end of Blackwell's Island, stands that most +painful appendage to a lunatic asylum, the mad-house; looming over the +water like a huge menagerie, in which wild animals are kept. Through the +iron lattices, which gird in the granite walls of this building, you may +at any time see the maniacs roaming to and fro, sometimes in sullen +silence, sometimes shrieking out their fantasies or their rage to the +winds as they whistle by, and the waters that flow on forever and ever, +unconscious of the miserable secrets given to their keeping. + +As the boat containing the bridal party swept by the mad-house a +beautiful but most fiendish face looked out between these bars; a +clenched hand was thrust through, and a storm of terrible curses hailed +after Mabel and her newly married children. But the boat swept calmly +by, leaving them behind. Mabel saw the clenched hand, but the curses +rushed by her in one confused wail, which touched her only with gentle +compassion; for she little thought that Zillah, the woman who, in +seeking her life, had murdered her husband, was hurling these fiendish +anathemas after her. + +So in her happiness, for Mabel was happy then--she turned away from the +mad-house, touched with momentary gloom and, taking James Harrington's +arm moved to the other side of the boat, and leaning upon him watched +the sun go down. Thus, with the rich twilight falling softly around +them, these two noble beings drifted into their new life. + + +THE END. + + + + +T. B. PETERSON AND BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. + + +NEW BOOKS ISSUED EVERY WEEK. + +Comprising the most entertaining and absorbing Works published, suitable +for the Parlor, Library, Sitting Room, Railroad or Steamboat Reading, by +the best writers in the world. + +--> Orders solicited from Booksellers, Librarians, Canvassers, News +Agents, and all others in want of good and fast selling books, which +will be supplied at very Low Prices. <-- + + +MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS. + + The Curse of Gold, $1 50 + Mabel's Mistake, 1 50 + Doubly False, 1 50 + The Soldiers' Orphans, 1 50 + Silent Struggles, 1 50 + The Heiress, 1 50 + The Wife's Secret, 1 50 + The Rejected Wife, 1 50 + Fashion and Famine, 1 50 + The Old Homestead, 1 50 + The Gold Brick, 1 50 + Mary Derwent, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +MRS. EMMA D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH'S WORKS. + + The Changed Brides, 1 50 + The Brides' Fate. 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The following books are each + contained in two volumes._ + + Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, 3.00 + Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 3.00 + Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 3.00 + Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 3.00 + David Copperfield, Cloth, 3.00 + Oliver Twist, Cloth, 3.00 + Christmas Stories, Cloth, 3.00 + Bleak House, Cloth, 3.00 + Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 3.00 + Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 3.00 + Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 3.00 + Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 3.00 + Little Dorrit, Cloth, 3.00 + Dombey and Son, Cloth, 3.00 + +_The following are each complete in one volume, and are reduced in price +from $2.50 to $1.50 a volume._ + + Great Expectations, Cloth, 1.50 + Dickens' New Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + American Notes; and The Uncommercial Traveler, Cloth, 1.50 + Hunted Down; and other Reprinted Pieces, Cloth, 1.50 + The Holly-Tree Inn; and other Stories, Cloth, 1.50 + + Price of a set, in thirty-three volumes, bound in cloth, 49.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 66.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 99.00 + " " Half 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volumes, 36.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 45.00 + " " Half calf, sprinkled edges, 55.00 + " " Half calf, marbled edges, 62.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 70.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc., 70.00 + + +"NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF DICKENS' WORKS. + +This is the cheapest complete edition of the works of Charles Dickens, +"Boz," published in the world, being contained in _seven large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Charles Dickens, and other illustrations, +the whole making nearly _six thousand very large double columned pages_, +in large, clear type, and handsomely printed on fine white paper, and +bound in the strongest and most substantial manner. + + Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seven volumes, 20.00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 25.00 + " " Half calf, antique, 30.00 + " " Half calf, full gilt back, etc., 30.00 + + +CHEAP SALMON PAPER COVER EDITION. + +_Each book being complete in one large octavo volume._ + + Pickwick Papers, 35 + Nicholas Nickleby, 35 + Dombey and Son, 35 + David Copperfield, 25 + Martin Chuzzlewit, 35 + Old Curiosity Shop, 25 + Oliver Twist, 25 + American Notes, 25 + Great Expectations, 25 + Hard Times, 25 + A Tale of Two Cities, 25 + Somebody's Luggage, 25 + Message from the Sea, 25 + Barnaby Rudge, 25 + Sketches by "Boz," 25 + Christmas Stories, 25 + The Haunted House, 25 + Uncommercial Traveler, 25 + A House to Let, 25 + Perils of English Prisoners, 25 + Wreck of the Golden Mary, 25 + Tom Tiddler's Ground, 25 + Our Mutual Friend, 35 + Bleak House, 35 + Little Dorrit, 35 + Joseph Grimaldi, 50 + The Pic-Nic Papers, 50 + No Thoroughfare, 10 + Hunted Down, 25 + The Holly-Tree Inn, 25 + Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings and Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy, 25 + Mugby Junction and Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions, 25 + + + +CHARLES LEVER'S BEST WORKS. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Jack Hinton, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + +Above are each in paper, or finer edition in cloth, price $2.00 each + + Horace Templeton, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + + +MADAME GEORGE SAND'S WORKS. + + Consuelo, 75 + Countess of Rudolstadt, 75 + First and True Love, 75 + The Corsair, 50 + Jealousy, paper, 1 50 + Do. cloth, 1 75 + Fanchon, the Cricket, paper, 1 00 + Do. do. cloth, 1 50 + Indiana, a Love Story, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 1 75 + Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both + in one volume, cloth, 2 00 + + +WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS. + + The Crossed Path, or Basil, 1 50 + The Dead Secret. 12mo 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Hide and Seek, 75 + After Dark, 75 + The Dead Secret. 8vo 75 + +Above in cloth at $1.00 each. + + The Queen's Revenge, 75 + Mad Monkton, 50 + Sights a-Foot, 50 + The Stolen Mask, 25 + The Yellow Mask, 25 + Sister Rose, 25 + + +MISS PARDOE'S WORKS. + + Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 75 + The Wife's Trials, 75 + The Jealous Wife, 50 + Rival Beauties, 75 + Romance of the Harem, 75 + +The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $4.00. + + The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, 1 75 + The Earl's Secret. One volume, paper, $1.50; or in cloth, 1 75 + + +MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS. + + Red Court Farm, 1 50 + Elster's Folly, 1 50 + St. Martin's Eve, 1 50 + Mildred Arkell, 1 50 + Shadow of Ashlydyat, 1 50 + Oswald Cray, 1 50 + Verner's Pride, 1 50 + Lord Oakburn's Daughters; or, the Earl's Heirs, 1 50 + Squire Trevlyn's Heir; or, Trevlyn Hold, 1 50 + The Castle's Heir; or, Lady Adelaide's Oath, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + The Mystery, 75 + A Life's Secret, 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each. + + The Channings, 1 00 + Aurora Floyd, 75 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each. + + Orville College, 50 + The Runaway Match, 50 + The Lost Will, 50 + The Haunted Tower, 50 + The Lost Bank Note, 75 + Better for Worse, 75 + Foggy Night at Offord, 25 + The Lawyer's Secret, 25 + William Allair, 25 + A Light and a Dark Christmas, 25 + + + +GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS' WORKS. + + Mysteries of Court of London, 1 00 + Rose Foster. Sequel to it, 1 50 + Caroline of Brunswick, 1 00 + Venetia Trelawney, 1 00 + Lord Saxondale, 1 00 + Count Christoval, 1 00 + Rosa Lambert, 1 00 + Mary Price, 1 00 + Eustace Quentin, 1 00 + Joseph Wilmot, 1 00 + Banker's Daughter, 1 00 + Kenneth, 1 00 + The Rye-House Plot, 1 00 + The Necromancer, 1 00 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Opera Dancer, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Robert Bruce, 75 + Discarded Queen, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Isabella Vincent, 75 + Vivian Bertram, 75 + Countess of Lascelles, 75 + Loves of the Harem, 75 + Ellen Percy, 75 + Agnes Evelyn, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + May Middleton, 75 + Duke of Marchmont, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Queen Joanna; Court Naples, 75 + Pickwick Abroad, 75 + Parricide, 75 + The Ruined Gamester, 50 + Ciprina; or, the Secrets of a Picture Gallery, 50 + Life in Paris, 50 + Countess and the Page, 50 + Edgar Montrose, 50 + + +WAVERLEY NOVELS. BY SIR WALTER SCOTT. + +CHEAPEST EDITION IN THE WORLD. + + Ivanhoe, 20 + Rob Roy, 20 + Guy Mannering, 20 + The Antiquary, 20 + Old Mortality, 20 + Heart of Mid Lothian, 20 + Bride of Lammermoor, 20 + Waverley, 20 + St. Ronan's Well, 20 + Kenilworth, 20 + The Pirate, 20 + The Monastery, 20 + The Abbot, 20 + The Fortunes of Nigel, 20 + The Betrothed, 20 + Peveril of the Peak, 20 + Quentin Durward, 20 + Red Gauntlet, 20 + The Talisman, 20 + Woodstock, 20 + Highland Widow, etc., 20 + The Fair Maid of Perth, 20 + Anne of Geierstein, 20 + Count Robert of Paris, 20 + The Black Dwarf and Legend of Montrose, 20 + Castle Dangerous, and Surgeon's Daughter, 20 + +Above edition is the cheapest in the world, and is complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Twenty cents each, or Five Dollars for the +complete set. + +A finer edition is also published of each of the above, complete in +twenty-six volumes, price Fifty cents each, or Ten Dollars for the +complete set. + + Moredun. A Tale of 1210, 50 + Tales of a Grandfather, 25 + Scott's Poetical Works, 5 00 + Life of Scott, cloth, 2 50 + +"NEW NATIONAL EDITION" OF "WAVERLEY NOVELS." + +This edition of the Waverley Novels is contained in _five large octavo +volumes_, with a portrait of Sir Walter Scott, making _four thousand +very large double columned pages_, in good type, and handsomely printed +on the finest of white paper, and bound in the strongest and most +substantial manner. + + Price of a set, in Black cloth, in five volumes, 15 00 + " " Full sheep, Library style, 17 50 + " " Half calf, antique, or Half calf, gilt, 25 00 + + The Complete Prose and Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott, are + also published in ten volumes, bound in half calf, for 60.00 + + +HUMOROUS AMERICAN WORKS. + +_Beautifully Illustrated by Felix O. C. Darley._ + + Major Jones' Courtship, 75 + Major Jones' Travels, 75 + Simon Suggs' Adventures and Travels, 75 + Major Jones' Chronicles of Pineville, 75 + Polly Peablossom's Wedding, 75 + Mysteries of the Backwoods, 75 + Widow Rugby's Husband, 75 + Big Bear of Arkansas, 75 + Western Scenes; or, Life on the Prairie, 75 + Streaks of Squatter Life, 75 + Pickings from the Picayune, 75 + Stray Subjects, Arrested and Bound Over, 75 + Louisiana Swamp Doctor, 75 + Charcoal Sketches, 75 + Misfortunes of Peter Faber, 75 + Yankee among the Mermaids, 75 + New Orleans Sketch Book, 75 + Drama in Pokerville, 75 + The Quorndon Hounds, 75 + My Shooting Box, 75 + Warwick Woodlands, 75 + The Deer Stalkers, 75 + Peter Ploddy, 75 + Adventures of Captain Farrago, 75 + Major O'Regan's Adventures, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Apprenticeship, 75 + Sol. Smith's Theatrical Journey-Work, 75 + The Quarter Race in Kentucky, 75 + Aunt Patty's Scrap Bag, 75 + Percival Mayberry's Adventures and Travels, 75 + Sam Slick's Yankee Yarns and Yankee Letters, 75 + Adventures of Fudge Fumble, 75 + American Joe Miller, 50 + Following the Drum, 50 + + +D'ISRAELI'S WORKS. + + Henrietta Temple, 50 + Vivian Grey, 75 + Venetia, 50 + Young Duke, 50 + Miriam Alroy, 50 + Contarina Fleming, 50 + + +FRANK FAIRLEGH'S WORKS. + + Frank Fairlegh, 75 + Lewis Arundel, 75 + Harry Racket Scapegrace, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + +Finer editions of above are also issued in cloth, at $1.75 each. + + Harry Coverdale's Courtship, 1 50 + Lorrimer Littlegood, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +C. J. PETERSON'S WORKS. + + The Old Stone Mansion, 1 50 + Kate Aylesford, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Valley Farm, 25 + Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at Saratoga, 50 + + +JAMES A. MAITLAND'S WORKS. + + The Old Patroon, 1 50 + The Watchman, 1 50 + The Wanderer, 1 50 + The Lawyer's Story, 1 50 + Diary of an Old Doctor, 1 50 + Sartaroe, 1 50 + The Three Cousins, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +WILLIAM H. MAXWELL'S WORKS. + + Wild Sports of the West, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + Brian O'Lynn, 75 + + +WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH'S WORKS. + + Life of Jack Sheppard, 50 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + +Above in 1 vol., cloth, $1.75. + + Court of the Stuarts, 75 + Windsor Castle, 75 + The Star Chamber, 75 + Old St. Paul's, 75 + Court of Queen Anne, 50 + Life of Dick Turpin, 50 + Life of Davy Crockett, 50 + Tower of London, 1 50 + Miser's Daughter, 1 00 + +Above in cloth $1.75 each. + + Life of Grace O'Malley, 50 + Life of Henry Thomas, 25 + Desperadoes of the New World, 25 + Life of Ninon De L'Enclos, 25 + Life of Arthur Spring, 25 + Life of Mrs. Whipple and Jessee Strang, 25 + +G. P. R. JAMES'S BEST BOOKS. + + Lord Montague's Page, 1 50 + The Cavalier, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Man in Black, 75 + Mary of Burgundy, 75 + Arrah Neil, 75 + Eva St. Clair, 50 + + +DOW'S PATENT SERMONS. + + Dow's Patent Sermons, 1st Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 2d Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 3d Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + Dow's Patent Sermons, 4th Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 + + +SAMUEL C. WARREN'S BEST BOOKS. + + Ten Thousand a Year, paper, 1 50 + Do. do. cloth, 2 00 + Diary of a Medical Student, 75 + + +Q. K. PHILANDER DOESTICKS' WORKS. + + Doesticks' Letters, 1 50 + Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1 50 + The Elephant Club, 1 50 + Witches of New York, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + +GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING. + + Gambling Exposed, 1 50 + The Gambler's Life, 1 50 + The Reformed Gambler, 1 50 + Secret Band of Brothers, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + +MISS ELLEN PICKERING'S WORKS. + + The Grumbler, 75 + Marrying for Money, 75 + Poor Cousin, 50 + Kate Walsingham, 50 + Orphan Niece, 50 + Who Shall be Heir? 38 + The Squire, 38 + Ellen Wareham, 38 + Nan Darrel, 38 + + +CAPTAIN MARRYATT'S WORKS. + + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Japhet in Search of a Father, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Frank Mildmay, Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + +EUGENE SUE'S GREAT WORKS. + + Wandering Jew, 1 50 + Mysteries of Paris, 1 50 + Martin, the Foundling, 1 50 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + First Love, 50 + Woman's Love, 50 + Female Bluebeard, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Life and Adventures of Raoul De Surville, 25 + + +MRS. GREY'S WORKS. + + Cousin Harry, 1 50 + The Little Beauty, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + Gipsy's Daughter, 50 + Old Dower House, 50 + Belle of the Family, 50 + Duke and Cousin, 50 + The Little Wife, 50 + Lena Cameron, 50 + Sybil Lennard, 50 + Manoeuvring Mother, 50 + Baronet's Daughters, 50 + Young Prima Donna, 50 + Hyacinthe, 25 + Alice Seymour, 25 + Mary Seaham, 75 + Passion and Principle, 75 + The Flirt, 75 + Good Society, 75 + Lion-Hearted, 75 + + +J. F. SMITH'S WORKS. + + The Usurer's Victim; or, Thomas Balscombe, 75 + Adelaide Waldegrave; or, the Trials of a Governess, 75 + + +REVOLUTIONARY TALES. + + The Brigand, 50 + Ralph Runnion, 50 + Seven Brothers of Wyoming, 50 + The Rebel Bride, 50 + The Flying Artillerist, 50 + Wau-nan-gee, 50 + Old Put; or, Days of 1776, 50 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + Grace Dudley, 50 + The Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Quaker Soldier, paper, 1 50 + do. do. cloth, 1 75 + + +EMERSON BENNETT'S WORKS. + + The Border Rover, 1 50 + Clara Moreland, 1 50 + Viola; or Adventures in the Far South-West, 1 50 + Bride of the Wilderness, 1 50 + Ellen Norbury, 1 50 + The Forged Will, 1 50 + Kate Clarendon, 1 50 + +The above are each in paper cover, or in cloth, price $1.75 each. + + The Heiress of Bellefonte, and Walde-Warren, 75 + Pioneer's Daughter and the Unknown Countess, 75 + + +T. S. ARTHUR'S HOUSEHOLD NOVELS. + + The Lost Bride, 50 + The Two Brides, 50 + Love in a Cottage, 50 + Love in High Life, 50 + Year after Marriage, 50 + The Lady at Home, 50 + Cecelia Howard, 50 + Orphan Children, 50 + Debtor's Daughter, 50 + Mary Moreton, 50 + The Divorced Wife, 50 + Pride and Prudence, 50 + Agnes; or, the Possessed, 50 + Lucy Sandford, 50 + The Banker's Wife, 50 + The Two Merchants, 50 + Trial and Triumph, 50 + The Iron Rule, 50 + Insubordination; or, the Shoemaker's Daughters, 50 + + Six Nights with the Washingtonians. With nine original + Illustrations. By Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $1.75; or + in paper, 1 50 + + Lizzy Glenn; or, the Trials of a Seamstress. Cloth $1.75; + or paper, 1 50 + + +EXCITING SEA TALES. + + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Jack Adams, the Mutineer, 75 + Jack Ariel's Adventures, 75 + Petrel; or, Life on the Ocean, 75 + Life of Paul Periwinkle, 75 + Life of Tom Bowling, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + Cruising in the Last War, 75 + Red King, 50 + The Corsair, 50 + The Doomed Ship, 50 + The Three Pirates, 50 + The Flying Dutchman, 50 + The Flying Yankee, 50 + The Yankee Middy, 50 + The Gold Seekers, 50 + The King's Cruisers, 50 + Life of Alexander Tardy, 50 + Red Wing, 50 + Yankee Jack, 50 + Yankees in Japan, 50 + Morgan, the Buccaneer, 50 + Jack Junk, 50 + Davis, the Pirate, 50 + Valdez, the Pirate, 50 + Gallant Tom, 50 + Harry Helm, 50 + Harry Tempest, 50 + Rebel and Rover, 50 + Man-of-War's-Man, 50 + Dark Shades of City Life, 25 + The Rats of the Seine, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + The River Pirates, 25 + The Pirate's Son, 25 + Jacob Faithful, 50 + Phantom Ship, 50 + Midshipman Easy, 50 + Pacha of Many Tales, 50 + Naval Officer, 50 + Snarleyow, 50 + Newton Forster, 50 + King's Own, 50 + Japhet, 50 + Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 + Peter Simple, 50 + Percival Keene, 50 + Poor Jack, 50 + Sea King, 50 + + +GEORGE LIPPARD'S GREAT BOOKS. + + The Quaker City, 1 50 + Paul Ardenheim, 1 50 + Blanche of Brandywine, 1 50 + Washington and his Generals; or, Legends of the American + Revolution, 1 50 + Mysteries of Florence, 1 00 + +Above in cloth at $2.00 each. + + The Empire City, 75 + Memoirs of a Preacher, 75 + The Nazarene, 75 + Washington and his Men, 75 + Legends of Mexico, 50 + The Entranced, 25 + The Robbers, 25 + The Bank Director's Son, 25 + + +MILITARY NOVELS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + +With Illuminated Military Covers, in five Colors. + + Charles O'Malley, 75 + Jack Hinton, the Guardsman, 75 + The Knight of Gwynne, 75 + Harry Lorrequer, 75 + Tom Burke of Ours, 75 + Arthur O'Leary, 75 + Con Cregan, 75 + Kate O'Donoghue, 75 + Horace Templeton, 75 + Davenport Dunn, 75 + Jack Adams' Adventures, 75 + Valentine Vox, 75 + Twin Lieutenants, 75 + Stories of Waterloo, 75 + The Soldier's Wife, 75 + Guerilla Chief, 75 + The Three Guardsmen, 75 + Twenty Years After, 75 + Bragelonne, Son of Athos, 75 + Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 + Tom Bowling's Adventures, 75 + Life of Robert Bruce, 75 + The Gipsy Chief, 75 + Massacre of Glencoe, 75 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Child of Waterloo, 75 + Adventures of Ben Brace, 75 + Life of Jack Ariel, 75 + Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 1 00 + Following the Drum, 50 + The Conscript, a Tale of War. By Alexander Dumas, 1 50 + + +GUSTAVE AIMARD'S WORKS. + + The White Scalper, 50 + The Freebooters, 50 + The Prairie Flower, 75 + The Indian Scout, 75 + The Trail Hunter, 75 + The Indian Chief, 75 + The Red Track, 75 + Trapper's Daughter, 75 + The Tiger Slayer, 75 + The Gold Seekers, 75 + The Rebel Chief, 75 + The Smuggler Chief, 75 + The Border Rifles, 75 + Pirates of the Prairies, 75 + + +LANGUAGES WITHOUT A MASTER. + + French without a Master, 40 + Spanish without a Master, 40 + Latin without a Master, 40 + German without a Master, 40 + Italian without a Master, 40 + +The above five works on the French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Italian +Languages, whereby any one or all of these Languages can be learned by +any one without a Teacher, with the aid of this book, by A. H. Monteith, +Esq., is also published in finer style, in one volume, bound, price, +$1.75. + + +HARRY COCKTON'S WORKS. + + Sylvester Sound, 75 + Valentine Vox, in paper, 75 + do. finer edition, cloth, 2 00 + The Sisters, 75 + The Steward, 75 + Percy Effingham, 75 + + +WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MORFORD. + + Shoulder-Straps, 1 50 + The Coward, 1 50 + The Days of Shoddy. A History of the late War, 1 50 + +Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.75 each. + + +LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEN. + + Life of John A. Murrel, 50 + Life of Joseph T. Hare, 50 + Life of Col. Monroe Edwards, 50 + Life of Jack Sheppard, 50 + Life of Jack Rann, 50 + Life of Dick Turpin, 50 + Life of Helen Jewett, 50 + Desperadoes of the New World, 50 + Mysteries of New Orleans, 50 + The Robber's Wife, 50 + Obi; or Three Fingered Jack, 50 + Kit Clayton, 50 + Life of Tom Waters, 50 + Nat Blake, 50 + Bill Horton, 50 + Galloping Gus, 50 + Life & Trial of Antoine Probst, 50 + Ned Hastings, 50 + Eveleen Wilson, 50 + Diary of a Pawnbroker, 50 + Silver and Pewter, 50 + Sweeney Todd, 50 + Life of Grace O'Malley, 50 + Life of Davy Crockett, 50 + Life of Sybil Grey, 50 + Life of Jonathan Wild, 25 + Life of Henry Thomas, 25 + Life of Arthur Spring, 25 + Life of Jack Ketch, 25 + Life of Ninon De L'Enclos, 25 + Lives of the Felons, 25 + Life of Mrs. Whipple, 25 + Life of Biddy Woodhull, 25 + Life of Mother Brownrigg, 25 + Dick Parker, the Pirate, 25 + Life of Mary Bateman, 25 + Life of Captain Blood, 25 + Capt. Blood and the Beagles, 25 + Sixteen-Stringed Jack's Fight for Life, 25 + Highwayman's Avenger, 25 + Life of Raoul De Surville, 25 + Life of Rody the Rover, 25 + Life of Galloping Dick, 25 + Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 + Life and Adventures of Vidocq, 1 50 + + +MILITARY AND ARMY BOOKS. + + Ellsworth's Zouave Drill, 25 + U. S. Government Infantry & Rifle Tactics, 25 + U. S. Light Infantry Drill, 25 + The Soldier's Companion, 25 + The Soldier's Guide, 25 + + +WORKS AT 75 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Hans Breitman's Party. With other Ballads. New and Enlarged + Edition, printed on Tinted paper. By Charles G. Leland, 75 + Webster and Hayne's Speeches in Reply to Colonel Foote, 75 + The Brigand; or, the Demon of the North. By Victor Hugo, 75 + Roanoke; or, Where is Utopia? By C. H. Wiley. Illustrated, 75 + Banditti of the Prairie, 75 + Tom Racquet, 75 + Red Indians of Newfoundland, 75 + Salathiel, by Croly, 75 + Corinne; or, Italy, 75 + Ned Musgrave, 75 + Aristocracy, 75 + Inquisition in Spain, 75 + Elsie's Married Life, 75 + Leyton Hall. By Mark Lemon, 75 + Flirtations in America, 75 + The Coquette, 75 + Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book, 75 + Whitehall, 75 + The Beautiful Nun, 75 + Mysteries of Three Cities, 75 + Genevra. By Miss Fairfield, 75 + New Hope; or, the Rescue, 75 + Crock of Gold. By Tupper, 75 + Twins and Heart. By Tupper, 75 + + +WORKS AT 50 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + The Woman in Red. A Companion to the "Woman in Black," 50 + Twelve Months of Matrimony. By Emelie F. Carlen, 50 + Leah; or the Forsaken, 50 + The Greatest Plague of Life, 50 + Clifford and the Actress, 50 + Two Lovers, 50 + Ryan's Mysteries of Marriage, 50 + The Orphans and Caleb Field, 50 + Moreton Hall, 50 + Bell Brandon, 50 + Sybil Grey, 50 + Female Life in New York, 50 + Agnes Grey, 50 + Diary of a Physician, 50 + The Emigrant Squire, 50 + The Monk, by Lewis, 50 + The Beautiful French Girl, 50 + Father Clement, paper, 50 + do. do. cloth, 75 + Miser's Heir, paper, 50 + do. do. cloth, 75 + The Admiral's Daughter, 50 + The American Joe Miller, 50 + Ella Stratford, 50 + Josephine, by Grace Aguilar, 50 + The Fortune Hunter, 50 + The Orphan Sisters, 50 + Robert Oaklands; or, the Outcast Orphan, 50 + Abednego, the Money Lender, 50 + Jenny Ambrose, 50 + Father Tom and the Pope, in cloth gilt, 75 cents, or paper, 50 + The Romish Confessional, 50 + Victims of Amusements, 50 + Violet, 50 + Alieford, a Family History, 50 + General Scott's $5 Portrait, 1 00 + Henry Clay's $5 Portrait, 1 00 + Tangarua, a Poem, 1 00 + + +WORKS AT 25 CENTS. BY BEST AUTHORS. + + Aunt Margaret's Trouble, 25 + The Woman in Grey, 25 + The Deformed, 25 + Two Prima Donnas, 25 + The Mysterious Marriage, 25 + Jack Downing's Letters, 25 + The Mysteries of a Convent, 25 + Rose Warrington, 25 + The Iron Cross, 25 + Charles Ransford, 25 + The Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 + The Nobleman's Daughter, 25 + Madison's Exposition of Odd Fellowship, 25 + Ghost Stories. Illustrated, 25 + Ladies' Science of Etiquette, 25 + The Abbey of Innismoyle, 25 + Gliddon's Ancient Egypt, 25 + Philip in Search of a Wife, 25 + Rifle Shots, 25 + + +THE SHAKSPEARE NOVELS. + + The Secret Passion, 1 00 + The Youth of Shakspeare, 1 00 + Shakspeare and his Friends, 1 00 + +The three above Books are also published complete in one large octavo +volume, bound in cloth. Price Four Dollars. + + + --> Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by T. B. + Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mabel's Mistake, by Ann S. Stephens + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30247 *** |