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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4721-0.txt b/4721-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..829fab1 --- /dev/null +++ b/4721-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14083 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 4721 *** + +DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. + +A Novel + +BY + +MRS. MARY J. HOLMES, + +AUTHOR OF "LENA RIVERS," "MARIAN GREY," "MEADOW BROOK," +"HOMESTEAD," "DORA DEANE," "COUSIN MAUDE," "TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE," +"ENGLISH ORPHANS," ETC. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + I. COLLINGWOOD + II. EDITH HASTINGS GOES TO COLLINGWOOD + III. GRACE ATHERTON + IV. RICHARD AND EDITH + V. VISITORS AT COLLINGWOOD AND VISITORS AT BRIER HILL + VI. ARTHUR AND EDITH + VII. RICHARD AND ARTHUR + VIII. RICHARD AND EDITH + IX. WOMANHOOD + X. EDITH AT HOME + XI. MATTERS AT GRASSY SPRING + XII. LESSONS + XIII. FRIDAY + XIV. THE MYSTERY AT GRASSY SPRING + XV. NINA + XVI. ARTHUR'S STORY + XVII. NINA AND MIGGIE + XVIII. DR. GRISWOLD + XIX. EX OFFICIO + XX. THE DECISION + XXI. THE DEERING WOODS + XXII. THE DARKNESS DEEPENS + XXIII. PARTING + XXIV. THE NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY + XXV. DESTINY + XXVI. EDITH AND THE WORLD + XXVII. THE LAND OF FLOWERS + XXVIII. SUNNYBANK + XXIX. THE SISTERS + XXX. ARTHUR AND NINA + XXXI. LAST DAYS + XXXII. PARTING WITH THE DEAD AND PARTING WITH THE LIVING + XXXIII. HOME + XXXIV. NINA'S LETTER + XXXV. THE FIERY TEST + XXXVI. THE SACRIFICE + XXXVII. THE BRIDAL + XXXVIII. SIX YEARS LATER + + + + + + +DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +COLLINGWOOD. + + +Collingwood was to have a tenant at last. For twelve long years +its massive walls of dark grey stone had frowned in gloomy silence +upon the passers-by, the terror of the superstitious ones, who had +peopled its halls with ghosts and goblins, saying even that the +snowy-haired old man, its owner, had more than once been seen +there, moving restlessly from room to room and muttering of the +darkness which came upon him when he lost his fair young wife and +her beautiful baby Charlie. The old man was not dead, but for +years he had been a stranger to his former home. + +In foreign lands he had wandered--up and down, up and down--from +the snow-clad hills of Russia to where the blue skies of Italy +bent softly over him and the sunny plains of France smiled on him +a welcome. But the darkness he bewailed was there as elsewhere, +and to his son he said, at last, "We will go to America, but not +to Collingwood--not where Lucy used to live, and where the boy was +born." + +So they came back again and made for themselves a home on the +shore of the silvery lake so famed in song, where they hoped to +rest from their weary journeyings. But it was not so decreed. +Slowly as poison works within the blood, a fearful blight was +stealing upon the noble, uncomplaining Richard, who had sacrificed +his early manhood to his father's fancies, and when at last the +blow had fallen and crushed him in its might, he became as +helpless as a little child, looking to others for the aid he had +heretofore been accustomed to render. Then it was that the weak +old man emerged for a time from beneath the cloud which had +enveloped him so long, and winding his arms around his stricken +boy, said, submissively, "What will poor Dick have me do?" + +"Go to Collingwood, where I know every walk and winding path, and +where the world will not seem so dreary, for I shall be at home." + +The father had not expected this, and his palsied hands shook +nervously; but the terrible misfortune of his son had touched a +chord of pity, and brought to his darkened mind a vague +remembrance of the years in which the unselfish Richard had +thought only of his comfort, and so he answered sadly, "We will go +to Collingwood." + +One week more, and it was known in Shannondale, that crazy Captain +Harrington and his son, the handsome Squire Richard, were coming +again to the old homestead, which was first to be fitted up in a +most princely style. All through the summer months the extensive +improvements and repairs went on, awakening the liveliest interest +in the villagers, who busied themselves with watching and +reporting the progress of events at Collingwood. Fires were +kindled on the marble hearths, and the flames went roaring up the +broad-mouthed chimneys, frightening from their nests of many years +the croaking swallows, and scaring away the bats, which had so +long held holiday in the deserted rooms. Partitions were removed, +folding doors were made, windows were cut down, and large panes of +glass were substituted for those of more ancient date. The grounds +and garden too were reclaimed from the waste of briers and weeds +which had so wantonly rioted there; and the waters of the fish- +pond, relieved of their dark green slime and decaying leaves, +gleamed once more in the summer sunshine like a sheet of burnished +silver, while a fairy boat lay moored upon its bosom as in the +olden time. Softly the hillside brooklet fell, like a miniature +cascade, into the little pond, and the low music it made blended +harmoniously with the fall of the fountain not far away. + +It was indeed a beautiful place; and when the furnishing process +began, crowds of eager people daily thronged the spacious rooms, +commenting upon the carpets, the curtains, the chandeliers, the +furniture of rosewood and marble, and marvelling much why Richard +Harrington should care for surroundings so costly and elegant. +Could it be that he intended surprising them with a bride? It was +possible--nay, more, it was highly probable that weary of his +foolish sire's continual mutterings of "Lucy and the darkness," he +bad found some fair young girl to share the care with him, and +this was her gilded cage. + +Shannondale was like all country towns, and the idea once +suggested, the story rapidly gained ground, until at last it +reached the ear of Grace Atherton, the pretty young widow, whose +windows looked directly across the stretches of meadow and +woodland to where Collingwood lifted its single tower and its +walls of dark grey stone. As became the owner of Brier Hill and +the widow of a judge, Grace held herself somewhat above the rest +of the villagers, associating with but few, and finding her +society mostly in the city not many miles away, + +When her cross, gouty, phthisicy, fidgety old husband lay sick for +three whole months, she nursed him so patiently that people +wondered if it could be she loved the SURLY DOG, and one woman, +bolder than the others, asked her if she did. + +"Love him? No," she answered, "but I shall do my duty." + +So when he died she made him a grand funeral, but did not pretend +that she was sorry. She was not, and the night on which she +crossed the threshold of Brier Hill a widow of twenty-one saw her +a happier woman than when she first crossed it as a bride. Such +was Grace Atherton, a proud, independent, but well principled +woman, attending strictly to her own affairs, and expecting others +to do the same. In the gossip concerning Collingwood, she had +taken no verbal part, but there was no one more deeply interested +than herself, spite of her studied indifference. + +"You never knew the family," a lady caller said to her one +morning, when at a rather late hour she sat languidly sipping her +rich chocolate, and daintily picking at the snowy rolls and nicely +buttered toast, "you never knew them or you would cease to wonder +why the village people take so much interest in their movements, +and are so glad to have them back." + +"I have heard their story," returned Mrs. Atherton, "and I have no +doubt the son is a very fine specimen of an old bachelor; thirty- +five, isn't he, or thereabouts?" + +"Thirty-five!" and Kitty Maynard raised her hands in dismay. "My +dear Mrs. Atherton, he's hardly thirty yet, and those who have +seen him since his return from Europe, pronounce him a splendid +looking man, with an air of remarkably high breeding. I wonder if +there IS any truth in the report that he is to bring with him a +bride." + +"A bride, Kitty!" and the massive silver fork dropped from Grace +Atherton's hand. + +SHE was interested now, and nervously pulling the gathers of her +white morning gown, she listened while the loquacious Kitty told +her what she knew of the imaginary wife of Richard Harrington. The +hands ceased their working at the gathers, and assuming an air of +indifference, Grace rang her silver bell, which was immediately +answered by a singular looking girl, whom she addressed as Edith, +bidding her bring some orange marmalade from an adjoining closet. +Her orders were obeyed, and then the child lingered by the door, +listening eagerly to the conversation which Grace had resumed +concerning Collingwood and its future mistress. + +Edith Hastings was a strange child, with a strange habit of +expressing her thoughts aloud, and as she heard the beauties of +Collingwood described in Kitty Maynard's most glowing terms, she +suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, JOLLY don't I wish I could live there, +only I'd be afraid of that boy who haunts the upper rooms." + +"Edith!" said Mrs. Atherton, sternly, "why are you waiting here? +Go at once to Rachel and bid her give you something to do." + +Thus rebuked the black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced little girl +waited away, not cringingly, for Edith Hastings possessed a spirit +as proud as that of her high born mistress, and she went slowly to +the kitchen, where, under Rachel's directions, she was soon in the +mysteries of dish-washing, while the ladies in the parlor +continued their conversation. + +"I don't know what I shall do with that child," said Grace, as +Edith's footsteps died away. I sometimes wish I had left her where +I found her." + +"Why, I thought her a very bright little creature," said Kitty, +and her companion replied, + +"She's too bright, and that's the trouble. She imitates me in +everything, walks like me, talks like me, and yesterday I found +her in the drawing-room going through with a pantomime of +receiving calls the way I do. I wish you could have seen her +stately bow when presented to an imaginary stranger." + +"Did she do credit to you?" Kitty asked, and Grace replied, + +"I can't say that she did not, but I don't like this disposition +of hers--to put on the airs of people above her. Now if she were +not a poor--" + +"Look, look!" interrupted Kitty, "that must be the five hundred +dollar piano sent up from Boston," and she directed her +companion's attention to the long wagon which was passing the +house on the way to Collingwood. + +This brought the conversation back from the aspiring Edith to +Richard Harrington, and as old Rachel soon came in to remove her +mistress' breakfast, Kitty took her leave, saying as she bade her +friend good morning, + +"I trust it will not be long before you know him." + +"Know him!" repeated Grace, when at last she was alone. "Just as +if I had not known him to my sorrow. Oh, Richard, Richard! maybe +you'd forgive me if you knew what I have suffered," and the proud, +beautiful eyes filled with tears as Grace Atherton plucked the +broad green leaves from the grape vine over her head, and tearing +them in pieces scattered the fragments upon the floor of the +piazza. "Was there to be a bride at Collingwood?" This was the +question which racked her brain, keeping her in a constant state +of feverish excitement until the very morning came when the family +were expected. + +Mrs. Matson, the former housekeeper, had resumed her old position, +and though she came often to Brier Hill to consult the taste of +Mrs. Atherton as to the arrangement of curtains and furniture, +Grace was too haughtily polite to question her, and every car +whistle found her at the window watching for the carriage and a +sight of its inmates. One after another the western trains +arrived, and the soft September twilight deepened into darker +night, showing to the expectant Grace the numerous lights shining +from the windows of Collingwood. Edith Hastings, too, imbued with +something of her mistress' spirit, was on the alert, and when the +last train in which they could possibly come, thundered through +the town, her quick ear was the first to catch the sound of wheels +grinding slowly up the hill. + +"They are coming, Mrs. Atherton!" she cried; and nimble as a +squirrel she climbed the great gate post, where with her elf locks +floating about her sparkling face, she sat, while the carriage +passed slowly by, then saying to herself, "Pshaw, it wasn't worth +the trouble--I never saw a thing," she slid down from her high +position, and stealing in the back way so as to avoid the scolding +Mrs. Atherton was sure to give her, she crept up to her own +chamber, where she stood long by the open window, watching the +lights at Collingwood, and wondering if it WOULD make a person +perfectly happy to be its mistress and the bride of Richard +Harrington. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EDITH HASTINGS GOES TO COLLINGWOOD. + + +The question Edith had asked herself, standing by her chamber +window, was answered by Grace Atherton sitting near her own. "Yes, +the bride of Richard Harrington MUST be perfectly happy, if bride +indeed there were." She was beginning to feel some doubt upon this +point, for strain her eyes as she might, she had not been able to +detect the least signs of femininity in the passing carriage, and +hope whispered that the brightest dream she had ever dreamed might +yet be realized. + +"I'll let him know to-morrow, that I'm here," she said, as she +shook out her wavy auburn hair, and thought, with a glow of pride, +how beautiful it was. "I'll send Edith with my compliments and a +bouquet of flowers to the bride. She'll deliver them better than +any one else, if I can once make her understand what I wish her to +do." + +Accordingly, the next morning, as Edith sat upon the steps of the +kitchen door, talking to herself, Grace appeared before her with a +tastefully arranged bouquet, which she bade her take with her +compliments to Mrs. Richard Harrington, if there was such a body, +and to Mr. Richard Harrington if there were not. + +"Do you understand?" she asked, and Edith far more interested in +her visit to Collingwood than in what she was to do when she +reached there, replied, + +"Of course I do; I'm to give your compliments;" and she jammed her +hand into the pocket of her gingham apron, as if to make sure the +compliments were there. "I'm to give them to MR. Richard, if there +is one, and the flowers to Mrs. Richard, if there ain't!" + +Grace groaned aloud, while old Rachel, the colored cook, who on +all occasions was Edith's champion, removed her hands from the +dough she was kneading and coming towards them, chimed in, "She +ain't fairly got it through her har, Miss Grace. She's such a +substracted way with her that you mostly has to tell her twicet," +and in her own peculiar style Rachel succeeded in making the +"substracted" child comprehend the nature of her errand. + +"Now don't go to blunderin'," was Rachel's parting injunction, as +Edith left the yard and turned in the direction of Collingwood. + +It was a mellow September morning, and after leaving the main road +and entering the gate of Collingwood, the young girl lingered by +the way, admiring the beauty of the grounds, and gazing with +feelings of admiration upon the massive building, surrounded by +majestic maples, and basking so quietly in the warm sunlight. At +the marble fountain she paused for a long, long time, talking to +the golden fishes which darted so swiftly past each other, and +wishing she could take them in her hand "just to see them squirm." + +"I mean to catch ONE any way," she said, and glancing nervously at +the windows to make sure no Mrs. Richard was watching her, she +bared her round, plump arm, and thrust it into the water, just as +a footstep sounded near. + +Quickly withdrawing her hand and gathering up her bouquet, she +turned about and saw approaching her one of Collingwood's ghosts. +She knew him in a moment, for she had heard him described too +often to mistake that white-haired, bent old man for other than +Capt. Harrington. He did not chide her as she supposed he would, +neither did he seem in the least surprised to see her there. On +the contrary, his withered, wrinkled face brightened with a look +of eager expectancy, as he said to her, "Little girl, can you tell +me where Charlie is?" + +"Charlie?" she repeated, retreating a step or two as he approached +nearer and seemed about to lay his hand upon her hair, for her +bonnet was hanging down her back, and her wild gipsy locks fell in +rich profusion about her face. "I don't know any boy by that name, +I'm nobody but Edith Hastings, Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid, and +she don't let me play with boys. Only Tim Doolittle and I went +huckleberrying once, but I hate him, he has such great warts on +his hands," and having thus given her opinion of Tim Doolittle, +Edith snatched up her bonnet and placed it upon her head, for the +old man was evidently determined to touch her crow-black hair. + +Her answer, however, changed the current of his thoughts, and +while a look of intense pain flitted across his face, he whispered +mournfully, "The same old story they all tell. I might have known +it, but this one looked so fresh, so truthful, that I thought +maybe she'd seen him. Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid," and he turned +toward Edith--"Charlie's dead, and we all walk in darkness now, +Richard and all." + +This allusion to Richard reminded Edith of her errand, and +thinking to herself, "I'll ask the crazy old thing if there's a +lady here," she ran after him as he walked slowly away and +catching him by the arm, said, "Tell me, please, is there any Mrs. +Richard Harrington?" + +"Not that I know of. They've kept it from me if there is, but +there's Richard, he can tell you," and he pointed toward a man in +a distant part of the grounds. + +Curtseying to her companion, Edith ran off in the direction of the +figure moving so slowly down the gravelled walk. + +"I wonder what makes him set his feet down so carefully," she +thought, as she came nearer to him. "Maybe there are pegs in his +shoes, just as there were in mine last winter," and the barefoot +little girl glanced at her naked toes, feeling glad they were for +the present out of torture. + +By this time she was within a few rods of the strange acting man, +who, hearing her rapid steps, stopped, and turning round with a +wistful, questioning look, said, + +"Who's there? Who is it?" + +The tone of his voice was rather sharp, and Edith paused suddenly, +while he made an uncertain movement toward her, still keeping his +ear turned in the attitude of intense listening. + +"I wonder what he thinks of me?" was Edith's mental comment as the +keen black eyes appeared to scan her closely. + +Alas, he was not thinking of her at all, and soon resuming his +walk, he whispered to himself, "They must have gone some other +way." + +Slowly, cautiously he moved on, never dreaming of the little +sprite behind him, who, imitating his gait and manner, put down +her chubby bare feet just when his went down, looking occasionally +over her shoulder to see if her clothes swung from side to side +just like Mrs. Atherton's, and treading so softly that he did not +hear her until he reached the summer-house, when the cracking of a +twig betrayed the presence of some one, and again that sad, +troubled voice demanded, "Who is here?" while the arms were +stretched out as if to grasp the intruder, whoever it might be. + +Edith was growing excited. It reminded her of blind man's buff; +and she bent her head to elude the hand which came so near +entangling itself in her hair. Again a profound silence ensued, +and thinking it might have been a fancy of his brain that some one +was there with him, poor blind Richard Harrington sat down within +the arbor, where the pleasant September sunshine, stealing through +the thick vine leaves, fell in dancing circles upon his broad +white brow, above which his jet black hair lay in rings. He was a +tall, dark, handsome man, with a singular cast of countenance, and +Edith felt that she had never seen anything so grand, so noble, +and yet so helpless as the man sitting there before her. She knew +now that he was blind, and she was almost glad that it was so, for +had it been otherwise she would never have dared to scan him as +she was doing now. She would not for the world have met the flash +of those keen black eyes, had they not been sightless, and she +quailed even now, when they were bent upon her, although she knew +their glance was meaningless. It seemed to her so terrible to be +blind, and she wondered why he should care to have his house and +grounds so handsome when he could not see them. Still she was +pleased that they were so, for there was a singular fitness, she +thought, between this splendid man and his surroundings. + +"I wish he had a little girl like me to lead him and be good to +him," was her next mental comment, and the wild idea crossed her +brain that possibly Mrs. Atherton would let her come up to +Collingwood and be his waiting maid. This brought to mind a second +time the object of her being there now, and she began to devise +the best plan for delivering the bouquet. "I don't believe he +cares for the compliments," she said to herself, "any way, I'll +keep them till another time," but the flowers; how should she give +those to him? She was beginning to be very much afraid of the +figure sitting there so silently, and at last mustering all her +courage, she gave a preliminary cough, which started him to his +feet, and as his tall form towered above her she felt her fears +come back, and scarcely knowing what she was doing she thrust the +bouquet into his hand, saying as she did so, "POOR blind man, I am +so sorry and I've brought you some nice flowers." + +The next moment she was gone, and Richard heard the patter of her +feet far up the gravelled walk ere he had recovered from his +surprise. Who was she, and why had she remembered him? The voice +was very, very sweet, thrilling him with a strange melody, which +carried him back to a summer sunset years ago, when on the banks +of the blue Rhine he had listened to a beautiful, dark-eyed Swede +singing her infant daughter to sleep. Then the river itself +appeared before him, cold and grey with the November frosts, and +on its agitated surface he saw a little dimpled hand disappearing +from view, while the shriek of the dark-eyed Swede told that her +child was gone. A plunge--a fearful struggle--and he held the +limp, white object in his arms; he bore it to the shore; he heard +them say that he had saved its life, and then he turned aside to +change his dripping garments and warm his icy limbs. This was the +first picture brought to his mind by Edith Hastings' voice. The +second was a sadder one, and he groaned aloud as he remembered how +from the time of the terrible cold taken then, and the severe +illness which followed, his eyesight had begun to fail--slowly, +very slowly, it is true--and for years he could not believe that +Heaven had in store for him so sad a fate. But it had come at +last--daylight had faded out and the night was dark around him. +Once, in his hour of bitterest agony, he had cursed that Swedish +baby, wishing it had perished in the waters of the Rhine, ere he +saved it at so fearful a sacrifice. But he had repented of the +wicked thought; he was glad he saved the pretty Petrea's child, +even though be should never see her face again. He knew not where +she was, that girlish wife, speaking her broken English for the +sake of her American husband, who was not always as kind to her as +he should have been. He had heard no tidings of her since that +fatal autumn. He had scarcely thought of her for months, but she +came back to him now, and it was Edith's voice which brought her. + +"Poor blind man," he whispered aloud. "How like that was to +Petrea, when she said of my father, 'Poor, soft old man;'" and +then he wondered again who his visitor had been, and why she had +left him so abruptly. + +It was a child, he knew, and he prized her gift the more for that, +for Richard Harrington was a dear lover of children and he kissed +the fair bouquet as he would not have kissed it had he known from +whom it came. Rising at last from his seat, he groped his way back +to the house, and ordering one of the costly vases in his room to +be filled with water, he placed the flowers therein, and thought +how carefully he would preserve them for the sake of his unknown +friend. + +Meantime Edith kept on her way, pausing once and looking back just +in time to see Mr. Harrington kiss the flowers she had brought. + +"I'm glad they please him," she said; "but how awful it is to be +blind;" and by way of trying the experiment, she shut her eyes, +and stretching out her arms, walked just as Richard, succeeding so +well that she was beginning to consider it rather agreeable than +otherwise, when she unfortunately ran into a tall rose-bush, +scratching her forehead, tangling her hair, and stubbing her toes +against its gnarled roots. "'Taint so jolly to be blind after +all," she said, "I do believe I've broken my toe," and extricating +herself as best she could from the sharp thorns, she ran on as +fast as her feet could carry her, wondering what Mrs. Atherton +would say when she heard Richard was blind, and feeling a kind of +natural delight in knowing she should be the first to communicate +the bad news. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +GRACE ATHERTON. + + +"Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, who had seen her coming, and hastened +out to meet her, "you were gone a long time, I think." + +"Yes'm," answered Edith, spitting out the bonnet strings she had +been chewing, and tossing back the thick black locks which nearly +concealed her eyes from view. "Yes'm; it took me a good while to +talk to old Darkness." + +"Talk to whom?" asked Grace; and Edith returned, + +"I don't know what you call him if 'taint old Darkness; he kept +muttering about the dark, and asked "where Charlie was." + +"Ole Cap'n Harrington," said Rachel. "They say how't he's allus +goin' on 'bout Charlie an' the dark." + +This explanation was satisfactory to Grace, who proceeded next to +question Edith concerning Mrs. Richard Harrington, asking if she +saw her, etc. + +"There ain't any such," returned Edith, "but I saw Mr. Richard. +Jolly, isn't he grand? He's as tall as the ridge-pole, and---" + +"But what did he say to the flowers?" interrupted Grace, far more +intent upon knowing how her gift had been received, than hearing +described the personal appearance of one she had seen so often. + +Edith felt intuitively that a narrative of the particulars +attending the delivery of the bouquet would insure her a scolding, +so she merely answered, "He didn't say a word, only kissed them +hard, but he can't see them, Mrs. Atherton. He can't see me, nor +you, nor anybody. He's blind as a bat--" + +"Blind! Richard blind! Oh, Edith;" and the bright color which had +stained Grace's cheeks when she knew that Richard had kissed her +flowers, faded out, leaving them of a pallid hue. Sinking into the +nearest chair, she kept repeating "blind--blind--poor, poor +Richard. It cannot be. Bring me some water, Rachel, and help me to +my room. This intensely hot morning makes me faint." + +Rachel could not be thus easily deceived. She remembered an old +house in England, looking out upon the sea, and the flirtation +carried on all summer there between her mistress, then a beautiful +young girl of seventeen, and the tall, handsome man, whom they +called Richard Harrington. She remembered, too, the white-haired, +gouty man, who, later in the autumn, came to that old house, and +whose half million Grace had married, saying, by way of apology, +that if Richard chose to waste his life in humoring the whims of +his foolish father, she surely would NOT waste hers with him. SHE +would see the world! + +Alas, poor Grace. She had seen the world and paid dearly for the +sight, for, go where she might, she saw always one face, one form; +heard always one voice murmuring in her ear, "Could you endure to +share my burden?" + +No, she could not, she said, and so she had taken upon herself a +burden ten-fold heavier to bear--a burden which crushed her +spirits, robbed her cheek of its youthful bloom, after which she +sent no regret when at last it disappeared, leaving her free to +think again of Richard Harrington. It was a terrible blow to her +that he was blind, and talk as she might about the faintness of +the morning, old Rachel knew the real cause of her distress, and +when alone with her, said, by way of comfort, + +"Law, now, Miss Grace, 'taint worth a while to take on so. Like +'nough he'll be cured--mebby it's nothin' but them fetch-ed water- +falls--CAT-A-RATS, that's it--and he can have 'em cut out. I +wouldn't go to actin' like I was love-sick for a man I 'scarded +oncet." + +Grace was far too proud to suffer even her faithful Rachel thus to +address her, and turning her flashing eyes upon the old woman, she +said haughtily, + +"How dare you talk to me in this way--don't you know I won't allow +it? Besides, what reason have you for asserting what you have?" + +"What reason has I? Plenty reason--dis chile ain't a fool if she +is a nigger, raised in Georgy, and a born slave till she was +turned of thirty. Your poor marm who done sot me free, would never +spoke to me that way. What reason has I? I'se got good mem'ry--I +'members them letters I used to tote forrid and back, over thar in +England; and how you used to watch by the winder till you seen him +comin', and then, gal-like, ran off to make him think you wasn't +particular 'bout seein' him. But, it passes me, what made you have +ole money bags. I never could see inter that, when I knowd how you +hated his shiny bald head, and slunk away if he offered to tache +you with his old, soft, flappy hands. You are glad he's in Heaven, +yon know you be; and though I never said nothin', _I_ knowd you +was glad that Squire Herrin'ton was come back to Collingwood, just +as I knowd what made you choke like a chicken with the pip when +Edith tole you he was blind. Can't cheat dis chile," and adjusting +her white turban with an air of injured dignity, Rachel left her +mistress, and returned to the kitchen. + +"What ails Mrs. Atherton?" asked Edith, fancying it must be +something serious which could keep the old negress so long from +her bread. + +On ordinary occasions the tolerably discreet African would have +made some evasive reply, but with her feathers all ruffled, she +belched out, "The upshot of the matter is, she's in love?" + +"In love? Who does Mrs. Atherton love?" + +"Him--the blind man," returned Rachel, adding fiercely, "but if +you ever let her know I told you, I'll skin you alive--do you +hear? Like enough she'll be for sendin' you up thar with more +posies, an' if she does, do you hold your tongue and take 'em +along." + +Edith had no desire to betray Rachel's confidence, and slipping +one shoulder out of her low dress she darted off after a +butterfly, wondering to herself if it made everybody faint and +sick at their stomach to be in love! It seemed very natural that +one as rich and beautiful as Grace should love Richard Harrington, +and the fact that she did, insensibly raised in her estimation the +poor, white-faced woman, who, in the solitude of her chamber was +weeping bitterer tears than she had shed before in years. + +Could it he so? She hoped there was some mistake--and when an hour +later she heard Kitty Maynard's cheerful voice in the lower hall +her heart gave a bound as she thought, "She'll know--she's heard +of it by this time." + +"Please may I come in?" said Kitty, at her door. "Rachel told me +you had a headache, but I know you won't mind me," and ere the +words were half out of her mouth, Kitty's bonnet was off and she +was perched upon the foot of the bed. HAVE you heard the news?" +she began. "It's so wonderful, and so sad, too. Squire Harrington +is not married; he's worse off than that--he's hopelessly blind." + +"Indeed!" and Grace Atherton's manner was very indifferent. + +"Yes," Kitty continued, "His French valet, Victor, who travelled +with him in Europe, told brother Will all about it. Seven or eight +years ago they were spending the summer upon the banks of the +Rhine, and in a cottage near them was an American with a Swedish +wife and baby. The man, it seems, was a dissipated fellow, much +older than his wife, whom he neglected shamefully, leaving her +alone for weeks at a time. The baby's name was Eloise, and she was +a great pet with Richard who was fond of children. At last, one +day in autumn, the little Eloise, who had just learned to run +alone, wandered off by herself to a bluff, or rock, or something, +from which she fell into the river. The mother, Petrea, was close +by, and her terrific shrieks brought Richard to the spot in time +to save the child. He had not been well for several days, and the +frightful cold he took induced a fever, which seemed to settle in +his eyes, for ever since his sight has been failing until now it +has left him entirely. But hark! isn't some one in the next room?" +and she stepped into the adjoining apartment just as the nimble +Edith disappeared from view. + +She had been sent up by Rachel with a message to Mrs. Atherton, +and was just in time to hear the commencement of Kitty's story. +Any thing relating to the blind man was interesting to her, and so +she listened, her large black eyes growing larger and blacker as +the tale proceeded. It did NOT seem wholly new to her, that story +of the drowning child--that cottage on the Rhine, and for a moment +she heard a strain of low, rich music sung as a lullaby to some +restless, wakeful child. Then the music, the cottage and the blue +Rhine faded away. She could not recall them, but bound as by a +spell she listened still, until the word Petrea dropped from +Kitty's lips. Then she started suddenly. Surely, she'd heard that +NAME before. Whose was it? When was it? Where was it? She could +not tell, and she repeated it in a whisper so loud that it +attracted Kitty's attention. + +"I shall catch it if she finds me listening," thought Edith, as +she heard Kitty's remark, and in her haste to escape she forgot +all about Petrea--all about the lullaby, and remembered nothing +save the noble deed of the heroic Richard. "What a noble man he +must be," she said, "to save that baby's life, and how she would +pity him if she knew it made him blind. I wonder where she is. She +must be most as big as I am now;" and if it were possible Edith's +eyes grew brighter than their wont as she thought how had SHE been +that Swedish child, she would go straight up to Collingwood and be +the blind man's slave. She would read to him. She would see for +him, and when he walked, she would lead him so carefully, removing +all the ugly pegs from his boots, and watching to see that he did +not stub his toes, as she was always doing in her headlong haste. +"What a great good man he is," she kept repeating, while at the +same time she felt an undefinable interest in the Swedish child, +whom at that very moment, Grace Atherton was cursing in her heart +as the cause of Richard's misfortune. + +Kitty was gone at last, and glad to be alone she wept passionately +over this desolation of her hopes, wishing often that the baby had +perished in the river ere it had wrought a work so sad. How she +hated that Swedish mother and her child--how she hated all +children then, even the black haired Edith, out in the autumn +sunshine, singing to herself a long-forgotten strain, which had +come back to her that morning, laden with perfume from the vine- +clad hills of Bingen, and with music from the Rhine. Softly the +full, rich melody came stealing through the open window, and Grace +Atherton as she listened to the mournful cadence felt her heart +growing less hard and bitter toward fate, toward the world, and +toward the innocent Swedish babe. Then as she remembered that +Richard kissed the flowers, a flush mounted to her brow. He did +love her yet; through all the dreary years of their separation he +had clung to her, and would it not atone for her former +selfishness, if now that the world was dark to him, she should +give herself to the task of cheering the deep darkness? It would +be happiness, she thought, to be pointed out as the devoted wife +of the blind man, far greater happiness to bask in the sunlight of +the blind man's love, for Grace Atherton did love him, and in the +might of her love she resolved upon doing that from which she +would have shrunk had he not been as helpless and afflicted as he +was. Edith should be the medium between them. Edith should take +him flowers every day, until he signified a wish for her to come +herself, when she would go, and sitting by his side, would tell +him, perhaps, how sad her life had been since that choice of hers +made on the shore of the deep sea. Then, if he asked her again to +share his lonely lot, she would gladly lay her head upon his +bosom, and whisper back the word she should have said to him seven +years ago. + +It was a pleasant picture of the future which Grace Atherton drew +as she lay watching the white clouds come and go over the distant +tree tops of Collingwood, and listening to the song of Edith, +still playing in the sunshine, and when at dinner time she failed +to appear at the ringing of the bell, and Edith was sent in quest +of her, she found her sleeping quietly, dreaming of the Swedish +babe and Richard Harrington. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +RICHARD AND EDITH. + + +On Richard's darkened pathway, there WAS now a glimmer of +daylight, shed by Edith Hastings' visit, and with a vague hope +that she might come again, he on the morrow groped his way to the +summer house, and taking the seat where he sat the previous day, +he waited and listened for the footstep on the grass which should +tell him she was near. Nor did he wait long ere Edith came +tripping down the walk, bringing the bouquet which Grace had +prepared with so much care. + +"Hist!" dropped involuntarily from her lips, when she descried +him, sitting just where she had, without knowing why, expected she +should find him, and her footfall so light that none save the +blind could have detected it. + +To Richard there was something half amusing, half ridiculous in +the conduct of the capricious child, and for the sake of knowing +what she would do, he professed to be ignorant of her presence, +and leaning back against the lattice, pretended to be asleep, +while Edith came so near that he could hear her low breathing as +she stood still to watch him. Nothing could please her more than +his present attitude, for with his large bright eyes shut she +dared to look at him as much and as long she chose. He was to her +now a kind of divinity, which she worshipped for the sake of the +Swedish baby rescued from a watery grave, and she longed to wind +her arms around his neck and tell him how she loved him for that +act; but she dared not, and she contented herself with whispering +softly, "If I wasn't so spunky and ugly, I'd pray every night that +God would make you see again. Poor blind man." + +It would be impossible to describe the deep pathos of Edith's +voice as she uttered the last three words. Love, admiration, +compassion and pity, all were blended in the tone, and it is not +strange that it touched an answering chord in the heart of the +"poor blind man." Slowly the broad chest heaved, and tears, the +first he had shed since the fearful morning when they led him into +the sunlight he felt but could not see, moistened his lashes, and +dropped upon his face. + +"He's dreaming a bad dream," Edith said, and with her little +chubby hand she brushed his tears away, cautiously, lest she +should rouse him from his slumbers. + +Softly she put back from the white forehead his glossy hair, +taking her own round comb to subdue an obdurate look, while he was +sure that the fingers made more than one pilgrimage to the lips as +the little barber found moisture necessary to her task. + +"There, Mr. Blindman, you look real nice," she said, with an +immense amount of satisfaction, as she stepped back, the better to +inspect the whole effect. "I'll bet you'll wonder who's been here +when you wake up, but I shan't tell you now. Maybe, though, I'll +come again to-morrow," and placing the bouquet in his hands, she +ran away. + +Pausing for a moment, and looking back, she saw Richard again +raise to his lips her bouquet, and with a palpitating heart, as +she thought, "what if he wern't asleep after all!" she ran on +until Brier Hill was reached. + +"Not any message this time either?" said Grace, when told that he +had kissed her flowers, and that was all. + +Still this was proof that he was pleased, and the infatuated woman +persisted in preparing bouquets, which Edith daily carried to +Collingwood, going always at the same time, and finding him always +in the same spot waiting for her. As yet no word had passed +between them, for Edith, who liked the novelty of the affair, was +so light-footed that she generally managed to slip the bouquet +into his hand, and run away ere he had time to detain her. One +morning, however, near the middle of October, when, owing to a +bruised heel, she had not been to see him for more than a week, he +sat in his accustomed place, half-expecting her, and still +thinking how improbable it was that she would come. He had become +strangely attached to the little unknown, as he termed her; he +thought of her all the day long, and when, in the chilly evening, +he sat before the glowing grate, listening to the monotonous +whisperings of his father, he wished so much that she was there +beside him. His life would not be so dreary then, for in the +society of that active, playful child, he should forget, in part, +how miserable he was. She was blue-eyed, and golden-haired, he +thought, with soft, abundant curls veiling her sweet young face; +and he pictured to himself just how she would look, flitting +through the halls, and dancing upon the green sward near the door, + +"But it cannot be," he murmured on that October morning, when he +sat alone in his wretchedness. "Nothing I've wished for most has +ever come to pass. Sorrow has been my birthright from a boy. A +curse is resting upon our household, and all are doomed who come +within its shadow. First my own mother died just when I needed her +the most, then that girlish woman whom I also called my mother; +then, our darling Charlie. My father's reason followed next, while +_I_ am hopelessly blind. Oh, sometimes I wish that I could die." + +"Hold your breath with all your might, and see if you can't," said +the voice of Edith Hastings, who had approached him cautiously, +and heard his sad soliloquy. + +Richard started, and stretching out his long arm, caught the +sleeve of the little girl, who, finding herself a captive, ceased +to struggle, and seated herself beside him as he requested her to +do. + +"Be you holding your breath?" she asked, as for a moment he did +not speak, adding as he made no answer, "Tell me when you're dead, +won't you?" + +Richard laughed aloud, a hearty, merry laugh, which startled +himself, it was so like an echo of the past, ere his hopes were +crushed by cruel misfortune. + +"I do not care to die now that I have you," he said; "and if you'd +stay with me always, I should never be unhappy." + +"Oh, wouldn't that be jolly," cried Edith, using her favorite +expression, "I'd read to you, and sing to you, only Rachel says my +songs are weird-like, and queer, and maybe you might not like +them; but I'd fix your hair, and lead you in the smooth places +where you wouldn't jam your heels;" and she glanced ruefully at +one of hers, bound up in a cotton rag. "I wish I could come, but +Mrs. Atherton won't let me, I know. She threatens most every day +to send me back to the Asylum, 'cause I act so. I'm her little +waiting-maid, Edith Hastings." + +"Waiting maid!" and the tone of Richard's voice was indicative of +keen disappointment. + +The Harringtons were very proud, and Richard would once have +scoffed at the idea of being particularly interested in one so far +below him as a waiting-maid. He had never thought of this as a +possibility, and the child beside him was NOT of quite so much +consequence as she had been before. Still he would know something +of her history, and he asked her where she lived, and why she had +brought him so many flowers. + +"I live with Mrs. Atherton," she replied. "She sent the flowers, +and if you'll never tell as long as you live and breathe, I'll +tell you what Rachel says. Rachel's an old colored woman, who used +to be a nigger down South, but she's free now, and says Mrs. +Atherton loves you. I guess she does, for she fainted most away +that day I went home and told her you were blind." + +"Mrs. Atherton!" and Richard's face grew suddenly dark. "Who is +Mrs. Atherton, child?" + +"Oh-h-h!" laughed Edith deprecatingly; "don't you know her? She's +Grace Atherton--the biggest lady in town; sleeps in linen sheets +and pillow cases every night, and washes in a bath-tub every +morning." + +"Grace Atherton!" and Edith quailed beneath the fiery glance bent +upon her by those black sightless eyes. "Did Grace Atherton send +these flowers to me?" and the bright-hued blossoms dropped +instantly from his hand. + +"Yes, sir, she did. What makes you tear so? Are you in a tantrum?" +said Edith, as he sprang to his feet and began unsteadily to pace +the summer-house. + +Richard Harrington possessed a peculiar temperament, Grace +Atherton had wounded his pride, spurned his love, and he THOUGHT +he hated her, deeming it a most unwomanly act in her to make these +overtures for a reconciliation. This was why he TORE so, as Edith +had expressed it, but soon growing more calm, he determined to +conceal from the quick-witted child the cause of his agitation, +and resuming his seat beside her, he asked her many questions +concerning Grace Atherton and herself, and as he talked he felt +his olden interests in his companion gradually coming back. What +if she were now a waiting-maid, her family might have been good, +and he asked her many things of her early life. But Edith could +tell him nothing. The Orphan Asylum was the first home of which +she had any vivid remembrance, though it did seem to her she once +had lived where the purple grapes were growing rich and ripe upon +the broad vine stalk, and where all the day long there was music +such as she'd never heard since, but which came back to her +sometimes in dreams, staying long enough for her to catch the air. +Her mother, the matron told her, had died in New York, and she was +brought to the Asylum by a woman who would keep her from +starvation. This was Edith's story, told without reserve or the +slightest suspicion that the proud man beside her would think the +less of her because she had been poor and hungry. Neither did he, +after the first shock had worn away; and he soon found himself +wishing again that she would come up there and live with him. She +was a strange, odd child, he knew, and he wondered how she looked. +He did not believe she was golden-haired and blue-eyed now. Still +he would not ask her lest he should receive a second +disappointment, for he was a passionate admirer of female beauty, +and he could not repress a feeling of aversion for an ugly face. + +"Is Mrs. Atherton handsome?" he suddenly asked, remembering the +fresh, girlish beauty of Grace Elmendorff, and wishing to know if +it had faded. + +"Oh, jolly," said Edith, "I guess she is. Such splendid blue hair +and auburn eyes." + +"She must be magnificent," returned Richard, scarcely repressing a +smile. "Give her my compliments and ask her if she's willing NOW +to share my self-imposed labor. Mind, don't you forget a word, and +go now. I'll expect you again to-morrow with her answer." + +He made a gesture for Edith to leave, and though she wanted so +much to tell him how she loved him for saving that Swedish baby, +she forbore until another time, and ran hastily away, repeating +his message as she ran lest she should forget it. + +"Sent his compliments, and says ask you if you're willing to +share, his--his--his--share his--now--something--anyway, he wants +you to come up there and live, and I do so hope you'll go. Won't +it be jolly?" she exclaimed, as half out of breath she burst into +the room where Grace sat reading a letter received by the +morning's mail. + +"Wants me to what?" Grace asked, fancying she had not heard +aright, and as Edith repeated the message, there stole into her +heart a warm, happy feeling, such as she had not experienced since +the orange wreath crowned her maiden brow. + +Edith had not told her exactly what he said, she knew, but it was +sufficient that he cared to see her, and she resolved to gratify +him, but with something of her olden coquetry she would wait +awhile and make him think she was not coming. So she said no more +to Edith upon the subject, but told her that she was expecting her +cousin Arthur St. Claire, a student from Geneva College, that he +would be there in a day or two, and while he remained at Brier +Hill she wished Edith to try and behave herself. + +"This Mr. St. Claire," said she, "belongs to one of the most +aristocratic Southern families. He is not accustomed to anything +low, either in speech or manner." + +"Can't I even say JOLLY?" asked Edith, with such a seriously +comical manner that Grace had great difficulty to keep from +smiling. + +"Jolly" was Edith's pet word, the one she used indiscriminately +and on all occasions, sometimes as an interjection, but oftener as +an adjective. If a thing suited her it was sure to be jolly--she +always insisting that 'twas a good proper word, for MARIE used it +and SHE knew. Who Marie was she could not tell, save that 'twas +somebody who once took care of her and called her jolly. It was in +vain that Grace expostulated, telling her it was a slang phrase, +used only by the vulgar. Edith was inexorable, and would not even +promise to abstain from it during the visit of Arthur St. Claire. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +VISITORS AT COLLINGWOOD AND VISITORS AT BRIER HILL. + + +The morning came at last on which Arthur was expected, but as he +did not appear, Grace gave him up until the morrow, and toward the +middle of the afternoon ordered out her carriage, and drove slowly +in the direction of Collingwood. Alighting before the broad +piazza, and ascending the marble steps, she was asked by Richard's +confidential servant into the parlor, where she sat waiting +anxiously while he went, in quest of his master. + +"A lady, sir, wishes to see you in the parlor," and Victor Dupres +bowed low before Richard, awaiting his commands. + +"A lady, Victor? Did she give her name?" + +"Yes, sir; Atherton--Mrs. Grace Atherton, an old friend, she +said," Victor replied, marveling at the expression of his master's +face, which indicated anything but pleasure. + +He had expected her--had rather anticipated her coming; but now +that she was there, he shrank from the interview. It could only +result in sorrow, for Grace was not to him now what she once had +been. He could value her, perhaps, as a friend, but Edith's tale +had told him that he to her was more than a friend. Possibly this +knowledge was not as distasteful to him as he fancied it to be; at +all events, when he remembered it, he said to Victor: + +"Is the lady handsome?" feeling a glow of satisfaction in the +praises heaped upon the really beautiful Grace. Ere long the hard +expression left his face, and straightening up his manly form, he +bade Victor take him to her. + +As they crossed the threshold of the door, he struck his foot +against it, and instantly there rang in his ear the words which +little Edith had said to him so pityingly, "Poor blind man!" while +he felt again upon his brow the touch of those childish fingers; +and this was why the dark, hard look came back. Edith Hastings +rose up between him and the regal creature waiting so anxiously +his coming, and who, when he came and stood before her, in his +helplessness, wept like a child. + +"Richard! oh, Richard! that it should be thus we meet again!" was +all that she could say, as, seizing the groping hand, she covered +it with her tears. + +Victor had disappeared, and she could thus give free vent to her +emotions, feeling it almost a relief that the eyes whose glance +she once had loved to meet could not witness her grief. + +"Grace," he said at last, the tone of his voice was so cold that +she involuntarily dropped his hands and looked him steadily in the +face. "Grace, do not aggravate my misfortune by expressing too +much sympathy. I am not as miserable as you may think, indeed, I +am not as unhappy even now as yourself." + +"It's true, Richard, true," she replied, "and because I am unhappy +I have come to ask your forgiveness if ever word or action, or +taunt of mine caused you a moment's pain. I have suffered much +since we parted, and my suffering has atoned for all my sin." + +She ceased speaking and softened by memories of the past, when he +loved Grace Elmendorf, Richard reached for her hand, and holding +it between his own, said to her gently, "Grace, I forgave you +years ago. I know you have suffered much, and I am sorry for it, +but we will understand each other now. You are the widow of the +man you chose, I am hopelessly blind--our possessions adjoin each +other, our homes are in sight. I want you for a neighbor, a +friend, a sister, if you like. I shall never marry. That time is +past. It perished with the long ago, and it will, perhaps, relieve +the monotony of my life if I have a female acquaintance to visit +occasionally. I thank you much for your flowers, although for a +time I did not know you sent them, for the little girl would place +them in my hands without a word and dart away before I could stop +her. Still I knew it was a child, and I preserved them carefully +for her sake until she was last here, when I learned who was the +real donor. I am fond of flowers and thank you for sending them. I +appreciate your kindness. I like you much better than I did an +hour since, for the sound of your voice and the touch of your +hands seem to me like old familiar friends. I am glad you came to +see me, Grace. I wish you to come often, for I am very lonely +here. We will at least be friends, but nothing more. Do you +consent to my terms?" + +She had no alternative but to consent, and bowing her head, she +answered back, "Yes, Richard; that is all I can expect, all I +wish. I had no other intention in sending you bouquets." + +He knew that she did not tell him truly, but he pitied her +mortification, and tried to divert her mind by talking upon +indifferent subjects, but Grace was too much chagrined and +disappointed to pay much heed to what he said, and after a time +arose to go. + +"Come again soon," he said, accompanying her to the door, "and +send up that novelty Edith, will you?" + +"Edith," muttered Grace, as she swept haughtily down the box-lined +walk, and stepped into her carriage. "I'll send her back to the +Asylum, as I live. Why didn't she tell me just how it was, and so +prevent me from making myself ridiculous?" + +Grace was far too much disturbed to go home at once. She should do +or say something unlady-like if she did, and she bade Tom drive +her round the village, thus unconsciously giving the offending +Edith a longer time in which to entertain and amuse the guest at +Brier Hill, for Arthur St. Claire had come. + +Edith was the first to spy him sauntering slowly up the walk, and +she watched him curiously as he came, mimicing his gait, and +wondering if he didn't feel big. + +"Nobody's afraid of you," she soliloquised, "if you do belong to +the firstest family in Virginia." Then, hearing Rachel, who +answered his ring, bid him walk into the parlor and amuse himself +till Mrs. Atherton came, she thought, "Wouldn't it be jolly to go +down and entertain him myself. Let me see, what does Mrs. Atherton +say to the Shannondale gentlemen when they call? Oh, I know, she +asks them if they've read the last new novel; how they liked it, +and so on. I can do all that, and maybe he'll think I'm a famous +scholar. I mean to wear the shawl she looks so pretty in," and +going to her mistress' drawer, the child took out and threw around +her shoulders a crimson scarf, which Grace often wore, and then +descended to the parlor, where Arthur St. Claire stood, leaning +against the marble mantel, and listlessly examining various +ornaments upon it. + +At the first sight of him Edith felt her courage forsaking her, +there seemed so wide a gulf between herself and the haughty- +looking stranger, and she was about to leave the room when he +called after her, bidding her stay, and asking who she was. + +"I'm Edith Hastings," she answered, dropping into a chair, and +awkwardly kicking her heels against the rounds in her +embarrassment at having those large, quizzical brown eyes fixed so +inquiringly upon her. + +He was a tall, handsome young man, not yet nineteen years of age, +and in his appearance there certainly was something savoring of +the air supposed to mark the F. F. V's. His manners were polished +in the extreme, possessing, perhaps, a little too much hauteur, +and impressing the beholder with the idea that he could, if he +chose, be very cold and overbearing. His forehead, high and +intellectually formed, was shaded by curls of soft brown hair, +while about his mouth there lurked a mischievous smile, somewhat +at variance with the proud curve of his upper lip, where an +incipient mustache was starting into life. Such was Arthur St. +Claire, as he stood coolly inspecting Edith Hastings, who mentally +styling him the "hatefullest upstart" she ever saw, gave him back +a glance as cool and curious as his own. + +"You are an odd little thing," he said at last. + +"No I ain't neither," returned Edith, the tears starting in her +flashing black eyes. + +"Spunky," was the young man's next remark, as he advanced a step +or two toward her. "But don't let's quarrel, little lady. You've +come down to entertain me, I dare say; and now tell me who you +are." + +His manner at once disarmed the impulsive Edith of all prejudice, +and she replied: + +"I told you I was Edith Hastings, Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid." + +"Waiting maid!" and Arthur St. Claire took a step or two backwards +as he said: "Why are you in here? This is not your place." + +Edith sprang to her feet. She could not misunderstand the feeling +with which he regarded her, and with an air of insulted dignity +worthy of Grace herself, she exclaimed, + +"Oh, how I hate you, Arthur St. Claire! At first I thought you +might be good, like Squire Harrington; but you ain't. I can't bear +you. Ugh!" + +"Squire Harrington? Does he live near here?" and the face which at +the sight of her anger had dimpled all over with smiles, turned +white as Arthur St. Claire asked this question, to which Edith +replied: + +"Yes; he's blind, and he lives up at Collingwood. You can see its +tower now," and she pointed across the fields. + +But Arthur did not heed her, and continued to ply her with +questions concerning Mr. Harrington, asking if he had formerly +lived near Geneva, in western New York, if he had a crazy father, +and if he ever came to Brier Hill. + +Edith's negative answer to this last query seemed to satisfy him, +and when, mistaking his eagerness for a desire to see her +divinity, Edith patronizingly informed him that he might go with +her some time to Collingwood, he answered her evasively, asking if +Richard recognized voices, as most blind people did. + +Edith could not tell, but she presumed he did, for he was the +smartest man that ever lived; and in her enthusiastic praises she +waxed so eloquent, using, withal, so good language, that Arthur +forgot she was a waiting maid, and insensibly began to entertain a +feeling of respect for the sprightly child, whose dark face +sparkled and flashed with her excitement. She WAS a curious +specimen, he acknowledged, and he began adroitly to sound the +depths of her intellect. Edith took the cue at once, and not +wishing to be in the background, asked him, as she had at first +intended doing, if he'd read the last new novel. + +Without in the least comprehending WHAT novel she meant, Arthur +promptly replied that he had. + +"How did you like it?" she continued, adjusting her crimson scarf +as she had seen Mrs. Atherton do under similar circumstances. + +"Very much indeed," returned the young man with imperturbable +gravity, but when with a toss of her head she asked; "Didn't you +think there was too much 'PHYSICS in it?" he went off into peals +of laughter so loud and long that they brought old Rachel to the +door to see if "he was done gone crazy or what." + +Taking advantage of her presence, the crest-fallen Edith crept +disconsolately up the stairs, feeling that she had made a most +ridiculous mistake, and wondering what the word COULD be that +sounded so much like 'PHYSICS, and yet wasn't that at all. She +know she had made herself ridiculous, and was indulging in a fit +of crying when Mrs. Atherton returned, delighted to meet her young +cousin, in whom she felt a pardonable pride. + +"You must have been very lonely," she said, beginning to apologize +for her absence. + +"Never was less so in my life," he replied. "Why, I've been +splendidly entertained by a little black princess, who called +herself your waiting maid, and discoursed most eloquently of +METAPHYSICS and all that." + +"Edith, of course," said Grace. "It's just, like her. Imitated me +in every thing, I dare say." + +"Rather excelled you, I think, in putting on the fine lady," +returned the teasing Arthur, who saw at once that Edith Hastings +was his fair cousin's sensitive point. + +"What else did she say?" asked Grace, but Arthur generously +refrained from repeating the particulars of his interview with the +little girl who, as the days went by, interested him so much that +he forgot his Virginia pride, and greatly to Mrs. Atherton's +surprise, indulged with her in more than one playful romp, +teasingly calling her his little "Metaphysics," and asking if she +hated him still. + +She did not. Next to Richard and Marie, she liked him better than +any one she had ever seen, and she was enjoying his society so +much when a most unlucky occurrence suddenly brought her happiness +to an end, and afforded Grace an excuse for doing what she had +latterly frequently desired to do, viz. that of sending the little +girl back to the Asylum from which she had taken her. + +Owing to the indisposition of the chambermaid, Edith was one day +sent with water to Mr. St. Claire's room. Arthur was absent, but +on the table his writing desk lay open, and Edith's inquisitive +eyes were not long in spying a handsome golden locket, left there +evidently by mistake. Two or three times she had detected him +looking at this picture, and with an eager curiosity to see it +also, she took the locket in her hand, and going to the window, +touched the spring. + +It was a wondrously beautiful face which met her view--the face of +a young girl, whose golden curls rippling softly over her white +shoulders, and whose eyes of lustrous blue, reminded Edith of the +angels about which Rachel sang so devoutly every Sunday. To Edith +there was about that face a nameless but mighty fascination, a +something which made her warm blood chill and tingle in her veins, +while there crept over her a second time dim visions of something +far back in the past--of purple fruit on vine-clad hills--of music +soft and low--of days and nights on some tossing, moving object-- +and then of a huge white building, embowered in tall green trees, +whose milk-white blossoms she gathered in her hand; while distinct +from all the rest was this face, on which she gazed so earnestly. +It is true that all these thoughts were not clear to her mind; it +was rather a confused mixture of ideas, one of which faded ere +another came, so that there seemed no real connection between +them; and had she embodied them in words, they would have been +recognized as the idle fancies of a strange, old-fashioned child. +But the picture--there WAS something in it which held Edith +motionless, while her tongue seemed struggling to articulate a +NAME, but failed in the attempt; and when, at last, her lips did +move, they uttered the word MARIE, as if she too, were associated +with that sweet young face. + +"Oh, but she's jolly," Edith said, "I don't wonder Mr. Arthur +loves her," and she felt her own heart throb with a strange +affection for the beautiful original of that daguerreotype. + +In the hall without there was the sound of a footstep. It was +coming to that room. It was Grace herself, Edith thought; and +knowing she would be censured for touching what did not belong to +her, she thrust the locket into her bosom, intending to return it +as soon as possible, and springing out upon the piazza, scampered +away, leaving the water pail to betray her recent presence. + +It was NOT Grace, as she had supposed, but Arthur St. Claire +himself come to put away the locket, which he suddenly remembered +to have left upon the table. Great was his consternation when he +found it gone, and that no amount of searching could bring it to +light. He did not notice the empty pail the luckless Edith had +left, although he stumbled over it twice in his feverish anxiety +to find his treasure. But what he failed to observe was discovered +by Grace, whom he summoned to his aid, and who exclaimed: + +"Edith Hastings has been here! She must be the thief!" + +"Edith, Grace, Edith--it cannot be," and Arthur's face indicated +plainly the pain it would occasion him to find that it was so. + +"I hope you may be right, Arthur, but I have not so much +confidence in her as you seem to have. There she is now," +continued Grace, spying her across the yard and calling to her to +come. + +Blushing, stammering, and cowering like a guilty thing, Edith +entered the room, for she heard Arthur's voice and knew that he +was there to witness her humiliation. + +"Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, sternly, "what have you been doing?" + +No answer from Edith save an increase of color upon her face, and +with her suspicions confirmed, Grace went on, + +"What have you in your pocket?" + +"'Taint in my pocket; it's in my bosom," answered Edith, drawing +it forth and holding it to view. + +"How dare you steal it," asked Grace, and instantly there came +into Edith's eyes the same fiery, savage gleam from which Mrs. +Atherton always shrank, and beneath which she now involuntarily +quailed. + +It had never occurred to Edith that she could be accused of theft, +and she stamped at first like a little fury, then throwing herself +upon the sofa, sobbed out, "Oh, dear--oh, dear, I wish God would +let me die. I don't want to live any longer in such a mean, nasty +world. I want to go to Heaven, where everything is jolly." + +"You are a fit subject for Heaven," said Mrs. Atherton, +scornfully, and instantly the passionate sobbing ceased; the tears +were dried in the eyes which blazed with insulted dignity as Edith +arose, and looking her mistress steadily in the face, replied, + +"I suppose you think I meant to steal and keep the pretty picture, +but the one who was in here with me knows I didn't." + +"Who was that?" interrupted Grace, her color changing visibly at +the child's reverent reply. + +"God was with me, and I wish he hadn't let me touch it, but he +did. It lay on the writing desk and I took it to the window to see +it. Oh, isn't she jolly?" and as she recalled the beautiful +features, the hard expression left her own, and she went on, "I +couldn't take my eyes from her; they would stay there, and I was +almost going to speak her name, when I heard you coming, and ran +away. I meant to bring it back, Mr. Arthur," and she turned +appealingly to him. "I certainly did, and you believe me, don't +you? I never told a lie in my life." + +Ere Arthur could reply, Grace chimed in. + +"Believe you? Of course not. You stole the picture and intended to +keep it. I cannot have you longer in my family, for nothing is +safe. I shall send you back at once." + +There was a look in the large eyes which turned so hopelessly from +Arthur to Grace, and from Grace back to Arthur, like that the +hunted deer wears when hotly pursued in the chase. The white lips +moved but uttered no sound and the fingers closed convulsively +around the golden locket which Arthur advanced to take away. + +"Let me see her once more," she said. + +He could not refuse her request, and touching the spring he held +it up before her. + +"Pretty lady," she whispered, "sweet lady, whose name I most know, +speak, and tell Mr. Arthur that I didn't do it. I surely didn't." + +This constant appeal to Arthur, and total disregard of herself, +did not increase Mrs. Atherton's amiability, and taking Edith by +the shoulder she attempted to lead her from the room. + +At the door Edith stopped, and said imploringly to Arthur, + +"DO you think I stole it?" + +He shook his head, a movement unobserved by Grace, but fraught +with so much happiness for the little girl. She did not heed +Grace's reproaches now, nor care if she was banished to her own +room for the remainder of the day. Arthur believed her innocent; +Uncle Tom believed her innocent, and Rachel believed her innocent, +which last fact was proved by the generous piece of custard pie +hoisted to her window in a small tin pail, said pail being poised +upon the prongs of a long pitch-fork. The act of thoughtful +kindness touched a tender chord in Edith's heart, and the pie +choked her badly, but she managed to eat it all save the crust, +which she tossed into the grass, laughing to see how near it came +to hitting Mrs. Atherton, who looked around to discover whence it +could possibly have come. + +That night, just before dark, Grace entered Edith's room, and told +her that as Mr. St. Claire, who left them on the morrow, had +business in New York, and was going directly there, she had +decided to send her with him to the Asylum. "He will take a letter +from me," she continued, "telling them why you are sent back, and +I greatly fear it will be long ere you find as good a home as this +has been to you." + +Edith sat like one stunned by a heavy blow. She had not really +believed that a calamity she so much dreaded, would overtake her, +and the fact that it had, paralyzed her faculties. Thinking her in +a fit of stubbornness Mrs. Atherton said no more, but busied +herself in packing her scanty wardrobe, feeling occasionally a +twinge of remorse as she bent over the little red, foreign-looking +chest, or glanced at the slight figure sitting so motionless by +the window. + +"Whose is this?" she asked, holding up a box containing a long, +thick braid of hair. + +"Mother's hair! mothers hair! for Marie told me so. You shan't +touch THAT!" and like a tigress Edith sprang upon her, and +catching the blue-black tress, kissed it passionately, exclaiming, +"'Tis mother's--'tis. I remember now, and I could not think +before, but Marie told me so the last time I saw her, years and +years ago. Oh, mother, if I ever had a mother, where are you to- +night, when I want you so much?" + +She threw herself upon her humble bed, not thinking of Grace, nor +yet of the Asylum, but revelling in her newborn joy. Suddenly, +like a flash of lightning, an incident of the past had come back +to her bewildered mind, and she knew now whose was the beautiful +braid she had treasured so carefully. Long ago--oh, how long it +seemed to her--there had come to the Asylum a short, dumpy woman, +with a merry face, who brought her this hair in a box, telling her +it was her mother's, and also that she was going to a far country, +but should return again sometime--and this woman was Marie, who +haunted her dreams so often, whispering to her of magnolias and +cape-jessamines. All this Edith remembered distinctly, and while +thinking of it she fell asleep, nor woke to consciousness even +when Rachel's kind old hands undressed her carefully and tucked +her up in bed, saying over her a prayer, and asking that Miss +Grace's heart might relent and keep the little girl. It had not +relented when morning came, and still, when at breakfast, Arthur +received a letter, which made it necessary for him to go to New +York by way of Albany, she did suggest that it might be too much +trouble to have the care of Edith. + +"Not at all," he said; and half an hour later Edith was called +into the parlor, and told to get herself in readiness for the +journey. + +"Oh, I can't, I can't," cried Edith, clinging to Mrs. Atherton's +skirt, and begging of her not to send her back. + +"Where will you go?" asked Grace. "I don't want you here." + +"I don't know," sobbed Edith, uttering the next instant a scream +of joy, as she saw, in the distance, the carriage from +Collingwood, and knew that Richard was in it. "To him! to him!" +she exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "Let me go to Mr. Harrington! +He wants me, I know." + +"Are you faint?" asked Grace, as she saw the sudden paling of +Arthur's lips. + +"Slightly," he answered, taking her offered salts, and keeping his +eyes fixed upon the carriage until it passed slowly by, "I'm +better now," he said, returning the salts, and asking why Edith +could not go to Collingwood. + +Grace would rather she should go anywhere else, but she did not +say so to Arthur. She merely replied that Edith was conceited +enough to think Mr. Harrington pleased with her just because he +had sometimes talked to her when she carried him flowers. + +"But of course he don't care for her," she said. "What could a +blind man do with a child like her? Besides, after what has +occurred, I could not conscientiously give her a good name." + +Arthur involuntarily gave an incredulous whistle, which spoke +volumes of comfort to the little girl weeping so passionately by +the window, and watching with longing eyes the Collingwood +carriage now passing from her view. + +"We must go or be left," said Arthur, approaching her gently, and +whispering to her not to cry. + +"Good bye, Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, putting out her jewelled +band; but Edith would not touch it, and in a tone of voice which +sank deep into the proud woman's heart, she answered: + +"You'll be sorry for this some time." + +Old Rachel was in great distress, for Edith was her pet; and +winding her black arms about her neck, she wept over her a simple, +heartfelt blessing, and then, as the carriage drove from the gate, +ran back to her neglected churning, venting her feelings upon the +dasher, which she set down so vigorously that the rich cream flew +in every direction, bespattering the wall, the window, the floor, +the stove, and settling in large white flakes upon her tawny skin +and tall blue turban. + +Passing through the kitchen, Grace saw it all, but offered no +remonstrance, for she knew what had prompted movements so +energetic on the part of odd old Rachel. She, too, was troubled, +and all that, day she was conscious of a feeling of remorse which +kept whispering to her of a great wrong done the little girl whose +farewell words were ringing in her ear: "You'll be sorry for this +some time." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ARTHUR AND EDITH. + + +If anything could have reconciled Edith to her fate, it would have +been the fact that she was travelling with Arthur St. Claire, who, +after entering the cars, cared for her as tenderly as if she had +been a lady of his own rank, instead of a little disgraced waiting +maid, whom he was taking back, to the Asylum. It was preposterous, +he thought, for Grace to call one as young as Edith a waiting +maid, but it was like her, he knew. It had a lofty sound, and +would impress some people with a sense of her greatness; so he +could excuse it much more readily than the injustice done to the +child by charging her with a crime of which he knew she was +innocent. This it was, perhaps, which made him so kind to her, +seeking to divert her mind from her grief by asking her many +questions concerning herself and her family. But Edith did not +care to talk. All the way to Albany she continued crying; and +when, at last, they stood within the noisy depot, Arthur saw that +the tears were still rolling down her cheeks like rain. + +"Poor little girl. How I pity her!" he thought, as she placed her +hand confidingly in his, and when he saw how hopelessly she looked +into his face, as she asked, with quivering lip, if "it wasn't +ever so far to New York yet?" the resolution he had been trying +all the day to make was fully decided upon, and when alone with +Edith in the room appropriated to her at, the Delavan House, he +asked her why she supposed Richard Harrington would be willing to +take her to Collingwood. + +Very briefly Edith related to him the particulars of her +interviews with the blind man, saying, when she had finished, + +"Don't you believe he likes me?" + +"I dare say he does," returned Arthur, at the same time asking if +she would be afraid to stay alone one night in that great hotel, +knowing he was gone?" + +"Oh, Mr. Arthur, you won't leave me here?" and in her terror +Edith's arms wound themselves around the young man's neck as if +she would thus keep him there by force. + +Unclasping her hand's, and holding them in his own, Arthur said, + +"Listen to me, Edith. I will take the Boston train which leaves +here very soon, and return to Shannondale, reaching there some +time to-night. I will go to Collingwood, will tell Mr. Harrington +what has happened, and ask him to take you, bringing him back here +with me, if he will---" + +"And if he won't?" interrupted Edith, joy beaming in every +feature. "If he won't have me, Mr. Arthur, will you? Say, will you +have me if he won't?" + +"Yes, yes, I'll have you," returned Arthur, laughing to himself, +as he thought of the construction which might be put upon this +mode of speech. + +But a child nine and a half years old could not, he knew, have any +designs upon either himself or Richard Harrington, even had she +been their equal, which he fancied she was not. She was a poor, +neglected orphan, and as such he would care for her, though the +caring compelled him to do what scarcely anything else could have +done, to wit, to seek an interview with the man who held his +cherished secret. + +"Are you willing to stay here alone now?" he said again. "I'll +order your meals sent to your room, and to-morrow night I shall +return." + +"If I only knew you meant for sure," said Edith, trembling at the +thought of being deserted in a strange city. + +Suddenly she started, and looking him earnestly in the face, said +to him, + +"Do you love that pretty lady in the glass--the one Mrs. Atherton +thinks I stole?" + +Arthur turned white but answered her at once. + +"Yes, I love her very, very much." + +"Is she your sister, Mr. Arthur?" and the searching black eyes +seemed compelling him to tell the truth. + +"No, not my sister, but a dear friend." + +"Where is she, Mr. Arthur? In New York?" + +"No, not in New York." + +"In Albany then?" + +"No, not in Albany. She's in Europe with her father," and a shade +of sadness crept over Arthur's face, "She was hardly a young lady +when this picture was taken, and he drew the locket from its +hiding place. She was only thirteen. She's not quite sixteen now." + +Edith by this time had the picture in her hand, and holding it to +the light exclaimed, "Oh, but she's so jolly, Mr. Arthur. May I +kiss her, please?" + +"Certainly," he answered, and Edith's warm red lips pressed the +senseless glass, which seemed to smile upon her. + +"Pretty--pretty--pretty N-n-n-Nina!" she whispered, and in an +instant Arthur clutched her so tightly that she cried out with +pain. + +"Who told you her name was Nina?" he asked in tones so stern and +startling that Edith's senses all forsook her, and trembling with +fright she stammered, + +"I don't know, sir--unless you did. Of course you did, how else +should I know. I never saw the lady." + +Yes, how else should she know, and though he would almost have +sworn that name had never passed his lips save in solitude, he +concluded be most have dropped it inadvertently in Edith's +hearing, and still holding her by the arm, he said, "Edith, if I +supposed yon would repeat the word Nina, either at Collingwood or +elsewhere, I certainly should be tempted to leave you here alone." + +"I won't, I won't, oh, Mr. Arthur, I surely won't!" and Edith +clung to him in terror. "I'll never say it--not even to Mr. +Harrington. Ill forget it, I can, I know." + +"Not to Mr. Harrington of all others," thought Arthur, but he +would not put himself more in Edith's power than he already was, +and feeling that he must trust her to a certain extent, he +continued, "If you stay at Collingwood, I may sometime bring this +Nina to see you, but until I do you must never breathe her name to +any living being, or say a word of the picture." + +"But Mr. Harrington," interrupted the far-seeing Edith, "He'll +have to know why Mrs. Atherton sent me away. + +"I'll attend to that," returned Arthur. "I shall tell him it was a +daguerreotype of a lady friend. There's nothing wrong in that, is +there?" he asked, as he noticed the perplexed look of the honest- +hearted Edith. + +"No," she answered hesitatingly. "It is a lady friend, but--but-- +seems as if there was something wrong somewhere. Oh, Mr. Arthur-- +"and she grasped his hand as firmly as he had held her shoulder. +"You ain't going to hurt pretty Nina, are you? You never will do +her any harm?" + +"Heaven forbid," answered Arthur, involuntarily turning away from +the truthful eyes of the dark-haired maiden pleading with him not +to harm the Nina--who, over the sea, never dreamed of the scene +enacted in that room between the elegant Arthur St. Claire and the +humble Edith Hastings. "Heaven forbid that I should harm her---" + +He said it twice, and then asked the child to swear solemnly never +to repeat that name where any one could hear. + +"I won't swear," she said, "but I'll promise as true as I live and +breathe, and draw the breath of life, and that's as good as a +swear." + +Arthur felt that it was, and with the compact thus sealed between +them, he arose to go, reaching out his hand for the picture. + +"No," said Edith, "I want her for company. I shan't be lonesome +looking in her eyes, and I know you will come back if I keep her." + +Arthur understood her meaning, and answered laughingly, "Well, +keep her then, as a token that I will surely return," and pressing +a kiss upon the beautiful picture he left the room, while Edith +listened with a beating heart, until the sound of his footsteps +had died away. Then a sense of dreariness stole over her; the +tears gathered in her eyes, and she sought by a one-sided +conversation with her picture to drive the loneliness away. + +"Pretty Nina! Sweet Nina! Jolly Nina!" she kept repeating, "I +guess I used to see you in Heaven, before I came down to the nasty +old Asylum. And mother was there, too, with a great long veil of +hair, which came below her waist. Where was it?" she asked herself +as Nina, her mother and Marie were all mingled confusedly together +in her mind; and while seeking to solve the mystery, the darkness +deepened in the room, the gas lamps were lighted in the street, +and with a fresh shudder of loneliness Edith crept into the bed, +and nestling down among her pillows, fell asleep with Nina, +pressed lovingly to her bosom. + +At a comparatively early hour next morning, the door of her room, +which had been left unfastened, was opened, and a chambermaid +walked in, starting with surprise at sight of Edith, sitting up in +bed, her thick black hair falling over her shoulders, and her +large eyes fixed inquiringly upon her. + +"An, sure," she began, "is it a child like you staying here alone +the blessed night? Where's yer folks?" + +"I hain't no folks," answered Edith, holding fast to the locket, +and chewing industriously the bit of gum which Rachel, who knew +her taste, had slipped into her pocket at parting. + +"Hain't no folks! How come you here then?" and the girl Lois +advanced nearer to the bedside. + +"A man brought me," returned Edith. "He's gone off now, but will +come again to-night." + +"Your father, most likely," continued the loquacious Lois. + +"My father!" and Edith laughed scornfully, "Mr. Arthur ain't big +enough to be anybody's father--or yes, maybe he's big enough, for +he's awful tall. But he's got the teentiest whiskers growing you +ever saw," and Edith's nose went up contemptuously at Arthur's +darling mustache. "I don't believe he's twenty," she continued, +"and little girl's pa's must be older than that I guess, and have +bigger whiskers." + +"How old are you?" asked Lois, vastly amused at the quaint +speeches of the child, who replied, with great dignity, + +"Going on TEN, and in three years more I'll be THIRTEEN!" + +"Who are you, any way?" asked Lois, her manner indicating so much +real interest that Edith repeated her entire history up to the +present time, excepting, indeed, the part pertaining to the locket +held so vigilantly in her hand. + +She had taken a picture belonging to Mr. Arthur, she said, and as +Lois did not ask what picture, she was spared any embarrassment +upon that point. + +"You're a mighty queer child," said Lois, when the narrative was +ended; "but I'll see that you have good care till he comes back;" +and it was owing, in a measure, to her influence, that the +breakfast and dinner carried up to Edith was of a superior +quality, and comprised in quantity far more than she could eat. + +Still the day dragged heavily, for Lois could not give her much +attention; and even Nina failed to entertain her, as the western +sunlight came in at her window, warning her that it was almost +night. + +"Will Arthur come? or if he does, will Mr. Harrington be with +him?" she asked herself repeatedly, until at last, worn out with +watching and waiting, she laid her head upon the side of the bed, +and fell asleep, resting so quietly that she did not hear the +rapid step in the hall, the knock upon the door, the turning of +the knob, or the cheery voice which said to her: + +"Edith, are you asleep?" + +Arthur had come. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RICHARD AND ARTHUR. + + +It was not a common occurrence for a visitor to present himself at +Collingwood at so early an hour as that in which Arthur St. Claire +rung for admittance, and Victor, who heard the bell, hastened in +some surprise to answer it, + +"Tell Mr. Harrington a stranger wishes to see him," said Arthur, +following the polite valet into the library, where a fire was +slowly struggling into life. + +"Yes, sir. What name?" and Victor waited for a moment, while +Arthur hesitated, and finally stammered out: + +"Mr. St. Claire, from Virginia." + +Immediately Victor withdrew, and seeking his master, delivered the +message, adding that the gentleman seemed embarrassed, and he +wouldn't wonder if he'd come to borrow money." + +"St Claire--St. Claire," Richard repeated to himself. "Where have +I heard that name before? Somewhere, sure." + +"He called himself a stranger," returned Victor, adding that a +youth by that name was visiting at Brier Hill, and it was probably +of him that Mr. Harrington was thinking, + +"It may be, though I've no remembrance of having heard that fact," +returned Richard; "but, lead on," and he took the arm of Victor, +who lead him to the library floor and then, as was his custom, +turned away. + +More than once during the rapid journey, Arthur had half resolved +to turn back and not run the fearful risk of being recognized by +Richard Harrington, but the remembrance of Edith's mute distress +should he return alone, emboldened him to go on and trust to +Providence, or, if Providence failed, trust to Richard's +generosity not to betray his secret. He heard the uncertain +footsteps in the hall, and forgetting that the eyes he so much +dreaded could not see, he pulled his coat collar up around his +face so as to conceal as much of it as possible. + +"Mr. St. Claire? Is there such a person here?" and Richard +Harrington had crossed the threshold of the door, and with his +sightless eyes rolling around the room, stood waiting for an +answer. + +How well Arthur remembered that rich, full, musical voice. It +seemed to him but yesterday since, he heard it before, and he +shrank more and more from the reply which must be made to that +question, and quickly, too, for the countenance of the blind man +was beginning to wear a look of perplexity at the continued +silence. + +Summoning all his courage he stepped forward and taking the hand +groping in the air, said rapidly, "Excuse me, Mr. Harrington, I +hardly know what to say, I've come upon so queer an errand. You +know Edith Hastings, the little girl who lived with Mrs. +Atherton?" + +He thought by introducing Edith at once to divert the blind man +from himself; but Richard's quick ear had caught a tone not wholly +unfamiliar as he replied, + +"Yes, I know Edith Hastings, and it seems to me I ought to know +you, too. I've heard your name and voice before. Wasn't it in +Geneva?" and the eagle eves fastened themselves upon the wall just +back of where Arthur stood. + +Arthur fairly gasped for breath, and for an instant he was as +blind as Richard himself; then, catching at the word Geneva, he +answered, "Did you ever live in Geneva, sir?" + +"Not in the village, but near there on the lake shore," answered +Richard, and Arthur continued, + +"You probably attended the examinations then at the Academy, and +heard me speak. I was a pupil there nearly two years before +entering the college." + +Arthur fancied himself remarkably clever for having suggested an +idea which seemed so perfectly to satisfy his companion and which +was not a falsehood either. He had been a student in the Academy +for nearly two years, had spoken at all the exhibitions, receiving +the prize at one; he had seen Richard Harrington among the +spectators, and had no doubt that Richard might have observed him, +though not very closely, else he had never put himself in his +power by the one single act which was embittering his young life. + +"It is likely you are right," said Richard, "I was often at the +examinations, and since my misfortune I find myself recognizing +voices as I never could have done when I had sight as well as +hearing upon which to depend. But you spoke of Edith Hastings. I +trust no harm has befallen the child. I am much interested in her +and--wonder she has not been here long ere this. What would you +tell me of her?" + +Briefly Arthur related the particulars of his visit at Brier Hill, +a visit which had ended so disastrously to Edith, and even before +he reached the important point, Richard answered promptly, "She +shall come here, I need her, I want her--want her for my sister, +my child. I shall never have another;" then pressing his hands +suddenly up on his forehead, whose blue veins seemed to swell with +the intensity of his emotions, he continued. "But, no, Mr. St. +Claire. It cannot be, she is too young, too merry-hearted, too +full of life and love to be brought into the shadow of our +household. She would die upon my hands. Her voice would grow +sadder and more mournful with the coming of every season, until at +last when I had learned to love her as my life, I should some +morning listen for what, would never greet my ear again. It's a +great temptation, but it must not be. A crazy old man and his +blind son are not fit guardians for a child like Edith Hastings. +She must not walk in our darkness." + +"But might not her presence bring daylight to that darkness?" +asked Arthur, gazing with mingled feelings of wonder and +admiration upon the singularly handsome noble-looking man, who was +indeed walking in thick darkness. + +"She might," said Richard. "Yes, she might bring the full rich +daylight to us, but on her the shadow would fail with a fearful +blackness if she linked her destiny with mine. Young man, do you +like Edith Hastings, if so, take her yourself and if money----" + +Arthur here interrupted him with, "I have money of my own, sir; +but I have no home at present. I am a student in college. I can do +nothing with her there, but--" and his voice sunk almost to a +whisper. "Years hence, I hope to have a home, and then, if you are +tired of Edith I will take her. Meantime keep her at Collingwood +for me. Is it a bargain?" + +"You are young, I think," said Richard, smiling at Arthur's +proposition, and smiling again, when in tones apologetical, as if +to be only so old were something of which he ought to be ashamed, +Arthur returned, + +"I am nineteen this month." + +"And I was thirty, last spring," said Richard. "An old man, you +think, no doubt. But to return to Edith Hastings. My heart wants +her so much, while my better judgment rebels against it. Will she +be greatly disappointed if I refuse?" + +"Oh, yes, yes," said Arthur, grasping the hand laying on Richard's +knee. "I CAN'T go back to her without you. But, Mr. Harrington, +before I urge it farther, let me ask as her friend, will she come +here as a SERVANT, or an equal." + +There was an upward flashing of the keen black eyes, a flush upon +the high, white forehead, and Richard impatiently stamped upon the +floor as he answered proudly, + +"She comes as an equal, or not at all. She shall be as highly +educated and as thoroughly accomplished as if the blood of the +Harrington's flowed in her veins." + +"Then take her," and Arthur seemed more anxious than before. "She +will do justice to your training. She will be wondrously +beautiful. She will grace the halls of Collingwood with the air of +England's queen. You will not be ashamed of her, and who knows but +some day--" + +Arthur began to stammer, and at last managed to finish with, +"There is NOT such a vast difference in your ages. Twenty-one +years is nothing when weighed against the debt of gratitude she +will owe you--" + +"There, I've made a fool of myself," he thought, as he saw the +forehead tie itself up in knots, and the corners of the mouth +twitch with merriment. + +"By that last speech you've proved how YOUNG and romantic you +are," answered Richard. "Winter and spring go not well together. +Edith Hastings will never be my wife. But she shall come to +Collingwood. I will return with you and bring her back myself." + +Ringing the bell for Victor, he bade him see that breakfast was +served at once, saying that he was going with his friend to +Albany. + +"Without ME?" asked Victor in much surprise, and Richard replied, + +"Yes, without you," adding in an aside to Arthur, "Victor is so +much accustomed to waiting upon me that he thinks himself +necessary to every movement, but I'd rather travel alone with +Edith, she'll do as well as Victor, and I have a fancy to keep my +movements a secret, at least until the child is fairly in the +house. It will be a surprise to Mrs. Atherton; I'll have John +drive us to the next station, and meet me there to-morrow," + +So saying, he excused himself for a few moments and groped his way +up stairs to make some necessary changes in his dress. For several +minutes Arthur was alone, and free to congratulate himself upon +his escape from detection. + +"In my dread of recognition I undoubtedly aggravated its chances," +he thought. "Of course this Mr. Harrington did not observe me +closely. It was night, and he was almost blind, even then. My +voice and manner are all that can betray me, and as he is +apparently satisfied on that point, I have nothing further to +apprehend from him." + +Arthur liked to feel well--disagreeable reflections did not suit +his temperament, and having thus dismissed from his mind the only +thing annoying him at the present, he began to examine the books +arrayed so carefully upon the shelves, whistling to himself as he +did so, and pronouncing Arthur St. Claire a pretty good fellow +after all, if he had a secret of which most people would not +approve. He had just reached this conclusion when Richard +reappeared, and breakfast was soon after announced by the valet, +Victor. That being over, there was not a moment to be lost if they +would reach the cars in time for the next train, and bidding his +father a kind adieu, Richard went with Arthur to the carriage, and +was driven to the depot of the adjoining town. More than one +passenger turned their heads to look at the strangers as they came +in, the elder led by the younger, who yet managed so skillfully +that but few guessed how great a calamity had befallen the man +with the dark hair, and black, glittering eyes. Arthur took a +great pride in ministering to the wants of his companion, and in +all he did there was a delicacy and tenderness which touched a +chord almost fraternal in the heart of the blind man, who, as the +day wore on, found himself drawn more and more toward his new +acquaintance. + +"I believe even I might be happy if both you and Edith could live +with me," he said, at last, when Albany was reached, and they were +ascending the steps to the Delevan. + +"Poor little Edith," rejoined Arthur, "I wonder if she has been +very lonely? Shall we go to her at once?" + +"Yes," answered Richard, and leaning on Arthur's arm, he proceeded +to the door of Edith's room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RICHARD AND EDITH. + + +"Oh, Mr. Arthur, you did come back," and forgetting, in her great +joy, that Arthur was a gentleman, and she a waiting-maid, Edith +wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him twice ere he well +knew what she was doing. + +For an instant the haughty young man felt a flush of insulted +dignity, but it quickly vanished when he saw the tall form of +Richard bending over the little girl and heard him saying to her, + +"Have you no welcoming kiss for me?" + +"Yes, forty hundred, if you like," and in her delight Edith danced +about the room like one insane. + +Thrusting the locket slily into Arthur's hand, she whispered, + +"I slept with her last night, and dreamed it was not the first +time either. Will you ask her when you see her if she ever knew +me?" + +"Yes, yes," he answered, making a gesture for her to stop as +Richard was about to speak. + +"Edith, said Richard, winding his arm around her, "Edith, I have +come to take you home--to take you to Collingwood to live with me. +Do you wish to go?" + +"Ain't there ghosts at Collingwood?" asked Edith, who, now that +what she most desired was just within her reach, began like every +human being to see goblins in the path. "Ain't there ghosts, at +Collingwood?--a little boy with golden curls, and must I sleep in +the chamber with him?" + +"Poor child," said Richard, "You too, have heard that idle tale. +Shall I tell you of the boy with golden hair?" and holding her so +close to him that he could feel the beating of her heart and hear +her soft, low breathing, he told her all there was to tell of his +half-brother Charlie, who died just one day after his young +mother, and was buried in the same coffin. + +They could not return to Collingwood that night, and the evening +was spent in the private parlor which Arthur engaged for himself +and his blind friend. It was strange how fast they grew to liking +each other, and it was a pleasant sight to look at them as they +sat there in the warm firelight which the lateness of the season +made necessary to their comfort--the one softened and toned down +by affliction and the daily cross he was compelled to bear, the +other in the first flush of youth when the world lay all bright +before him and he had naught to do but enter the Elysian fields +and pluck the fairest flowers. + +It was late when they separated, but at a comparatively early hour +the next morning they assembled again, this time to bid good-by, +for their paths hereafter lay in different directions. + +"You must write to me, little metaphysics," said Arthur, as with +hat and shawl in hand he stood in the depot on the east side of +the Hudson. + +"Yes," rejoined Richard, "she is to be my private amanuensis, and +shall let you know of our welfare, and now, I suppose, we must +go." + +It was a very pleasant ride to Edith, pleasanter than when she +came with Arthur, but a slight headache made her drowsy, and +leaning on Richard's arm she fell asleep, nor woke until West +Shannondale was reached. The carriage was in waiting for them, and +Victor sat inside. He had come ostensibly to meet his master, but +really to see the kind of specimen he was bringing to the +aristocratic halls of Collingwood. + +Long and earnest had been the discussion there concerning the +little lady; Mrs. Matson, the housekeeper, sneering rather +contemptuously at one who heretofore had been a servant at Brier +Hill. Victor, on the contrary, stood ready to espouse her cause, +thinking within himself how he would teach her many points of +etiquette of which he knew she must necessarily be ignorant; but +firstly he would, to use his own expression, "see what kind of +metal she was made of." + +Accordingly his first act at the depot was to tread upon her toes, +pretending he did not see her, but Edith knew he did it purposely, +and while her black eyes blazed with anger, she exclaimed, + +"You wretch, how dare you be so rude?" + +Assisting Richard into the carriage, Victor was about to turn +away, leaving Edith to take care of herself, when with all the air +of a queen, she said to him, + +"Help me in, sir. Don't you know your business!" + +"Pardonnez, moi," returned Victor, speaking in his mother tongue, +and bowing low to the indignant child, whom he helped to a seat by +Richard. + +An hour's drive brought them to the gate of Collingwood, and Edith +was certainly pardonable if she did cast a glance of exultation in +the direction of Brier Hill, as they wound up the gravelled road +and through the handsome grounds of what henceforth was to be her +home. + +"I guess Mrs. Atherton will be sorry she acted so," she thought, +and she was even revolving the expediency of putting on airs and +not speaking to her former mistress, when the carriage stopped and +Victor appeared at the window all attention, and asking if he +should "assist Miss Hastings to alight." + +In the door Mrs. Matson was waiting to receive them, rubbing her +gold-bowed spectacles and stroking her heavy silk with an air +which would have awed a child less self-assured than Edith. +Nothing grand or elegant seemed strange or new to her. On the +contrary she took to it naturally as if it were her native +clement, and now as she stepped upon the marble floor of the lofty +hall she involuntarily cut a pirouette, exclaiming, "Oh, but isn't +this jolly! Seems as if I'd got back to Heaven. What a splendid +room to sing in," and she began to warble a wild, impassioned air +which made Richard pause and listen, wondering whence came the +feeling which so affected him carrying him back to the hills of +Germany. + +Mrs. Matson looked shocked, Victor amused, while the sensible +driver muttered to himself as he gathered up his reins, "That gal +is just what Collingwood needs to keep it from being a dungeon." + +Mrs. Matson had seen Edith at Brier Hill, but this did not prevent +her from a close scrutiny as she conducted her to the large, +handsome chamber, which Richard in his hasty directions of the +previous morning had said was to be hers, and which, with its +light, tasteful furniture, crimson curtains, and cheerful blazing +fire seemed to the delighted child a second paradise. Clapping her +hands she danced about the apartment, screaming, "It's the +jolliest place I ever was in." + +"What do you mean by that word JOLLY?" asked Mrs. Matson, with a +great deal of dignity; but ere Edith could reply, Victor, who came +up with the foreign chest, chimed in, "She means PRETTY, Madame +Matson, and understands French, no doubt. Parley vous Francais?" +and he turned to Edith, who, while recognizing something familiar +in the sound, felt sure he was making fun of her and answered +back, "Parley voo fool! I'll tell Mr. Harrington how you tease +me." + +Laughing aloud at her reply, Victor put the chest in its place, +made some remark concerning its quaint appearance, and bowed +himself from the room, saying to her as he shut the door, + +"Bon soir, Mademoiselle." + +"I've heard that kind of talk before," thought Edith, as she began +to brush her hair, preparatory to going down to supper, which Mrs. +Matson said was waiting. + +At the table she met with the old man, who had seen her alight +from the carriage, and had asked the mischievous Victor, "Who was +the small biped Richard had brought home?" + +"That," said Victor. "Why, that is Charlie turned into a girl." +And preposterous as the idea seemed, the old man seized upon it at +once, smoothing Edith's hair when he saw her, tapping her rosy +cheeks, calling her Charlie, and muttering to himself of the +wonderful process which had transformed his fair-haired boy into a +black-haired girl. + +Sometimes the utter impossibility of the thing seemed to penetrate +even his darkened mind, and then he would whisper, "I'll make +believe it's Charlie, any way," so Charlie he persisted in calling +her, and Richard encouraged him in this whim, when he found how +much satisfaction it afforded the old man to "make believe." + +The day following Edith's arrival at Collingwood there was a long +consultation between Richard and Victor concerning the little +girl, about whose personal appearance the former would now know +something definite. + +"How does Edith Hastings look?" he asked, and after a moment of +grave deliberation, Victor replied, + +"She has a fat round face, with regular features, except that the +nose turns up somewhat after the spitfire order, and her mouth is +a trifle too wide. Her forehead is not very high--it would not +become her style if it were. Her hair is splendid--thick, black +and glossy as satin, and her eyes,--there are not words enough +either in the French or English language with which to describe +her eyes--they are so bright and deep that nobody can look into +them long without wincing. I should say, sir, if put on oath, +there was a good deal of the deuce in her eyes." + +"When she is excited, you mean," interrupted Richard. "How are +they in repose?" + +"They are never there," returned Victor. "They roll and turn and +flash and sparkle, and light upon one so uncomfortably, that he +begins to think of all the badness he ever did, and to wonder if +those coals of fire can't ferret out the whole thing." + +"I like her eyes," said Richard, "but go on. Tell me of her +complexion." + +"Black, of course," continued Victor, "but smooth as glass, with +just enough of red in it to make rouge unnecessary. On the whole I +shouldn't wonder if in seven or eight years' time she'd be as +handsome as the young lady of Collingwood ought to be." + +"How should she be dressed?" asked Richard, who knew that Victor's +taste upon such matters was infallible, his mother and sister both +having been Paris mantua-makers. + +"She should have scarlet and crimson and dark blue trimmed with +black," said Victor, adding that he presumed Mrs. Atherton would +willingly attend to those matters. + +Richard was not so sure, but he thought it worth the while to try, +and he that night dispatched Victor to Brier Hill with a request +that she would, if convenient, call upon him at once. + +"Don't tell her what I want," he said, "I wish to surprise her +with a sight of Edith." + +Victor promised obedience and set off for Brier Hill, where he +found no one but Rachel, sitting before this kitchen fire, and +watching the big red apples roasting upon the hearth. + +"Miss Grace had started that morning for New York," she said, "and +the Lord only knew when she'd come home." + +"And as he probably won't tell, I may as well go back," returned +Victor, and bidding Rachel send her mistress to Collingwood as +soon as she should return, he bowed himself from the room. + +As Rachel said, Grace had gone to New York, and the object of her +going was to repair the wrong done to Edith Hastings, by taking +her a second time from the Asylum, and bringing her back to Brier +Hill. Day and night the child's parting words, "You'll be sorry +sometime," rang in her ears, until she could endure it no longer, +and she astonished the delighted Rachel by announcing her +intention of going after the little girl. With her to will was to +do, and while Victor was reporting her absence to his master, she, +half-distracted, was repeating the words of the matron, + +"Has not been here at all, and have not heard from her either! +What can it mean?" + +The matron could not tell, and for several days Grace lingered in +the city, hoping Arthur would appear, but as he failed to do this, +she at last wrote to him at Geneva, and then, in a sad, perplexed +state of mind, returned to Shannondale, wondering at and even +chiding old Rachel for evincing so little feeling at her +disappointment. + +But old Rachel by this time had her secret which she meant to +keep, and when at last Grace asked if any one had called during +her absence, she mentioned the names of every one save Victor, and +then tried very hard to think "who that 'tother one was. She +knowed there WAS somebody else, but for the life of her she +couldn't"--Rachel did not quite dare to tell so gross a falsehood, +and so at this point she concluded to THINK, and added suddenly, + +"Oh, yes, I remember now. 'Twas that tall, long-haired, scented- +up, big-feelin' man they call Squire Herrin'ton's VALLY." + +"Victor Dupres been here!" and Grace's face lighted perceptibly. + +"Yes, he said MOUSE-EER, or somethin' like that--meanin' the +squire, in course--wanted you to come up thar as soon as you got +home, and my 'pinion is that you go to oncet. 'Twont be dark this +good while." + +Nothing could be more in accordance with Grace's feelings than to +follow Rachel's advice, and, half an hour later, Victor reported +to his master that the carriage from Brier Hill had stopped before +their door. It would be impossible to describe Mr. Atherton's +astonishment when, on entering the parlor, the first object that +met her view was her former waiting-maid, attired in the crimson +merino which Mrs. Matson, Lulu, the chambermaid, and Victor had +gotten up between them; and which, though not the best fit in the +world, was, in color, exceedingly becoming to the dark-eyed child, +who, perched upon the music-stool, was imitating her own operatic +songs to the infinite delight of the old man, nodding his approval +of the horrid discords. + +"Edith Hastings!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" +Springing from the stool and advancing towards Grace, Edith +replied, + +"I live here. I'm Mr. Richard's little girl. I eat at the table +with him, too, and don't have to wash the dishes either. I'm going +to be a lady just like you, ain't I, Mr. Harrington?" and she +turned to Richard, who had entered in time to hear the last of her +remarks. + +There was a world of love in the sightless eyes turned toward the +little girl, and by that token, Grace Athertoa knew that Edith had +spoken truly. + +"Run away, Edith," he said, "I wish to talk with the lady alone." + +Edith obeyed, and when she was gone Richard explained to Grace +what seemed to her so mysterious, while she in return confessed +the injustice done to the child, and told how she had sought to +repair the wrong. + +"I am glad you have taken her," she said. "She will be happier +with you than with me, for she likes you best. I think, too, she +will make good use of any advantages you may give her. She has a +habit of observing closely, while her powers of imitation are +unsurpassed. She is fond of elegance and luxury, and nothing can +please bar more than to be an equal in a house like this. But what +do you wish of me? What can I do to assist you?" + +In a few words Richard stated his wishes that she should attend to +Edith's wardrobe, saying he had but little faith in Mrs. Matson's +taste. He could not have selected a better person to spend his +money than Grace, who, while purchasing nothing out of place, +bought always the most expensive articles in market, and when at +last the process was ended, and the last dressmaker gone from +Collingwood, Victor, with a quizzical expression upon his face, +handed his master a bill for five hundred dollars, that being the +exact amount expended upon Edith's wardrobe. But Richard uttered +no word of complaint. During the few weeks she had lived with him +she had crept away down into his heart just where Charlie used to +be, and there was nothing in his power to give which he would +withhold from her now. She should have the best of teachers, he +said, particularly in music, of which she was passionately fond. + +Accordingly, in less than a week there came to Collingwood a +Boston governess, armed and equipped with all the accomplishments +of the day; and beneath the supervision of Richard and Victor, +Grace Atherton and Mrs. Chapen, Edith's education began. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +WOMANHOOD. + + +Eight times have the Christmas fires been kindled on the hearths +of Shannondale's happy homes; eight times the bell from St Luke's +tower has proclaimed an old year dead, and a new one born; eight +times the meek-eyed daisy struggling through the April snow, has +blossomed, faded and died; eight times has summer in all her +glowing beauty sat upon the New England hills, and the mellow +autumnal light of the hazy October days falls on Collingwood for +the eighth time since last we trod the winding paths and gravelled +walks where now the yellow leaves are drifting down from the tall +old maples and lofty elms, and where myriad flowers of gorgeous +hue are lifting their proud heads unmindful of the November frosts +hastening on apace. All around Collingwood seems the same, save +that the shrubs and vines show a more luxurious growth, and the +pond a wider sweep, but within there is an empty chair, a vacant +place, for the old man has gone to join his lost ones where there +is daylight forever, and the winter snows have four times fallen +upon his grave. They missed him at first and mourned for him +truly, but they have become accustomed to live without him, and +the household life goes on much as it did before. + +It is now the afternoon of a mild October day, and the doors and +windows are opened wide to admit the warm south wind, which, +dallying for a moment with the curtains of costly lace, floats on +to the chamber above, where it toys with the waving plumes a young +girl is arranging upon her riding hat, pausing occasionally to +speak to the fair blonde who sits watching her movements, and +whose face betokens a greater maturity than her own, for Grace +Atherton's family Bible says she is thirty-two, while Edith is +seventeen. + +Beautiful Edith Hastings. Eight years of delicate nurture, tender +care and perfect health have ripened her into a maiden of wondrous +beauty, and far and near the people talk of the blind man's ward, +the pride and glory of Collingwood. Neither pains nor money, nor +yet severe discipline, have been spared by Richard Harrington to +make her what she is, and while her imperious temper has bent to +the one, her intellect and manners have expanded and improved +beneath this influence of the other, and Richard has not only a +plaything and pet in the little girl he took from obscurity, but +also a companion and equal, capable of entering with him the mazy +labyrinths of science, and astonishing him with the wealth of her +richly stored mind. Still, in everything pertaining to her +womanhood she is wholly feminine and simple-hearted as a child. +Now, as of old, she bounds through the spacious grounds of +Collingwood, trips over the grassy lawn, dances up the stairs, and +fills the once gloomy old place with a world of melody and +sunlight. Edith knows that she is beautiful! old Rachel has told +her so a thousand times, while Victor, the admiring valet, tells +her so every day, taking to himself no little credit for having +taught her, as he thinks, something of Parisian manners. Many are +the conversations she holds with him in his mother tongue, for she +has learned to speak that language with a fluency and readiness +which astonished her teachers and sometimes astonished herself. It +did not seem difficult to her, but rather like an old friend, and +Marie at first was written on every page of Ollendorff. But Marie +has faded now almost entirely from her mind, as have those other +mysterious memories which used to haunt her so. Nothing but the +hair hidden in the chest binds her to the past, and at this she +often looks, wondering where the head it once adorned is lying, +whether in the noisy city or on some grassy hillside where the +wild flowers she loves best are growing, and the birds whose songs +she tries to imitate, pause sometimes to warble a requiem for the +dead. Those tresses are beautiful, but not so beautiful as +Edith's. Her blue-black hair is thicker, glossier, more abundant +than in her childhood, and is worn in heavy braids or bands around +her head, adding greatly to her regal style of beauty. Edith has a +pardonable pride in her satin hair, and as she stands before the +mirror she steals an occasional glance at her crowning glory, +which is this afternoon arranged with far more care than usual; +not for any particular reason, but because she had a fancy that it +should be so. + +They were going to visit Grassy Spring, a handsome country seat, +whose grounds lay contiguous to those of Collingwood, and whose +walls were in winter plainly discernible from the windows of the +upper rooms. It had recently been purchased and fitted up somewhat +after the style of Collingwood, and its owner was expected to take +possession in a few days. Edith's heart always beat faster when +she heard his name, for Arthur St. Claire was one of the links of +the past which still lingered in the remembrance. She had never +seen him since they parted in Albany, and after his leaving +college she lost sight of him entirely. Latterly, however, she had +heard from Grace, who knew but little more of him than herself, +that he was coming into their very neighborhood; that at he had +purchased Grassy Spring, and was to keep a kind of bachelor's hall +inasmuch as he had no wife, nor yet a prospect of any. So much +Edith knew and no more. She did not dare to speak of NINA, for +remembering her solemn promise, she had never breathed that name +to any living being. But the picture in the glass, as she ever +termed it, was not forgotten, and the deep interest she felt in +Grassy Spring was owing, in a great measure, to the fact that Nina +was in her mind intimately associated with the place. Sooner or +later she should meet her there, she was sure; should see those +golden curls again, and look into those soft blue eyes, whose +peculiar expression she remembered as if it were but yesterday +since they first met her view. + +"It is strange your cousin never married; he must, by this time, +be nearly twenty-seven," she said to Grace, thinking the while of +Nina, and carelessly adjusting the jaunty hat upon her head. + +"I think so too," returned Grace. "When quite young he was very +fond of the ladies, but I am told that he now utterly ignores +female society. Indeed, in his last letter to me, he states +distinctly that he wishes for no company except occasional calls +in a friendly way." + +"Been disappointed, probably," suggested Edith, still thinking of +Nina, and wondering if Arthur did love her so very much as to put +faith in no one because of her treachery. + +"It may be," said Grace; "and if so, isn't it a little queer that +he and Mr. Harrington should live so near each other; both so +eccentric; both so handsome and rich; both been disappointed; and +both so desirable as husbands?" + +"Disappointed, Mrs. Atherton! Has Mr. Harrington been +disappointed?" and the rich bloom on Edith's cheek deepened to a +scarlet hue, which Grace did not fail to notice. + +Her friendship for Edith Hastings had been a plant of sluggish +growth, for she could not, at once, bring herself to treat as an +equal one whom she formerly held as a servant, but time and +circumstances had softened her haughty pride, while Edith's +growing popularity, both in the village and at Collingwood, +awakened in her a deep interest for the young girl, who, meeting +her advances more than half the way, compelled her at last to +surrender, and the two were now as warm friends as individuals +well can be when there is between them so great a disparity of +years and so vast a difference in disposition. In Grace's heart +the olden love for Richard had not died out, and hitherto, it had +been some consolation to believe that no other ear would ever +listen to the words of love, to remember which continually would +assuredly drive her mad. But matters now were changed. Day by day, +week by week, month by month, and year by year, a rose had been +unfolding itself at Collingswood, and with every opening petal had +grown more and more precious to the blind man, until more than one +crone foretold the end; and Grace Atherton, grown fonder of gossip +than she was wont to be, listened to the tale, and watched, and +wondered, and wept, and still caressed and loved the bright, +beautiful girl, whom she dreaded as a powerful rival. This it was +which prompted her to speak of Richard's disappointment; and when +she saw the effect produced upon Edith, it emboldened her to go +on, and tell how, years and years ago, when Richard Harrington +first went to Europe, be had sued for the hand of a young girl +whom he met there, and who, while loving him dearly, shrank from +walking in his shadow, and gave herself to another. + +"I must not tell you the name of this faithless girl," said Grace. +"It is sufficient that her refusal made Richard gloomy, eccentric +and misanthropical; in short, it nearly ruined him." + +"My curse be on the woman's head who wrought this ruin, then," +said Edith, her black eyes flashing with something of their former +fire. + +She had forgotten the scene in the kitchen of Brier Hill when +Rachel whispered to her that Grace Atherton was in love, and she +had now no suspicion that the calm, white-faced woman sitting +there before her was the being she would curse. Neither was her +emotion caused, as Grace imagined, by any dread lest the early +love of Richard Harrington should stand between herself and him. +The thought that SHE could be his wife had never crossed her +brain, and her feelings were those of indignation toward a person +who could thus cruelly deceive a man as noble and good as Richard, +and of pity for him who had been so deceived. + +"I will love him all the more and be the kinder to him for this +vile creature's desertion," she thought, as she beat the floor +nervously with the little prunella gaiter, and this was all the +good Grace Atherton had achieved. + +Edith had cursed her to her face, and with a sigh audible only to +herself she arose and said laughingly, "It's time we were off, and +you've certainly admired that figure in the glass long enough. +What do you think of yourself, any way?" + +"Why," returned Edith, in the same light, bantering tone, "I think +I'm rather jolie, as I used to say. I wonder where I picked up +that word. Victor says I must have had a French nurse, but I'm +sure I was too poor for that. I wish I knew where I did come from +and who I am. It's terrible, this uncertainty as to one's birth. I +may be marrying my brother one of these days, who knows?" + +"See rather that you do not marry your father," retorted Grace, +following Edith as she tripped down the stairs and down the walk, +whipping the tufts of box as she went, and answering to Grace who +asked if she did not sometimes find her duties irksome at +Collingwood. "Never, never. The links of my chains are all made of +love and so they do not chafe. Then, too, when I remember what +Richard has done for me and how few sources of happiness he has, I +am willing to give my whole life to him, if need be. Why, Mrs. +Atherton, you can't imagine how his dark features light up with +joy, when on his return from riding or from transacting business +he hears me in the hall, and knows that I am there to meet him," +and Edith's bright face sparkled and glowed as she thought how +often the blind man had blessed her with his sightless but +speaking eyes, when she gave up some darling project which would +take her from his side and stayed to cheer his solitude. + +They had mounted their horses by this time, and at the speed which +characterized Edith's riding, dashed down the road and struck into +the woods, the shortest route to Grassy Spring. With the exception +of Collingwood, Grassy Spring was the handsomest country seat for +miles around, and thinking, as she continually did, of Nina, Edith +rather gave it the preference as she passed slowly through the +grounds and drew near to the building. Grace had seen the +housekeeper, Mrs. Johnson, a talkative old lady, who, big with the +importance of her office, showed them over the house, pointing out +this elegant piece of furniture and that handsome room with quite +as much satisfaction as if it had all belonged to herself. + +In the third story, and only accessible by two flights of stairs +leading from Arthur's suite of rooms, was a large square +apartment, the door of which Mrs. Johnson unlocked with a +mysterious shake of the head, saying to the ladies, "The Lord only +knows what this place is for. Mr. St. Claire must have fixed it +himself for I found it locked tighter than a drum, but I +accidentally found on the but'ry shelf a rusty old key, that fits +it to a T. I've been in here once and bein' you're his kin," +nodding to Grace, "and t'other one is with you, it can't do an +atom of harm for you to go. He's took more pains with this chamber +than with all the rest, and when I asked what 'twas for, he said +it was his "den," where he could hide if he wanted to." + +"Don't go," whispered Edith, pulling at Grace's dress, "Mr. St. +Claire might not like it." + +But Grace felt no such scruples, and was already across the +threshold, leaving Edith by the door. + +"It's as bad to look in as to go in," thought Edith, and +conquering her curiosity with a mighty effort, she walked +resolutely down stairs, having seen nothing save that the carpet +was of the richest velvet and that the windows had across them +slender iron bars, rather ornamental than otherwise, and so +arranged as to exclude neither light nor air. + +Grace, on the contrary, examined the apartment thoroughly, +thinking Mrs. Johnson right when she said that more pains had been +taken with this room than with all the others. The furniture was +of the most expensive and elegant kind. Handsome rosewood easy- +chairs and sofas covered with rich satin damask, the color and +pattern corresponding with the carpet and curtains. Ottomans, +divans and footstools were scattered about--pictures and mirrors +adorned the walls, while in one corner, covered with a misty veil +of lace, hung the portrait of a female in the full, rich bloom of +womanhood, her light chestnut curls falling about her uncovered +neck, and her dreamy eyes of blue having in them an expression +much like that which Edith had once observed in Nina's peculiar +eyes. The dress was quite old-fashioned, indicating that the +picture must have been taken long ago, and while Grace gazed upon +it her wonder grew as to whose it was and whence it came. + +"Look at the bed," said Mrs. Johnson, and touching Grace's elbow, +she directed her attention to a side recess, hidden from view by +drapery of exquisite lace, and containing a single bed, which +might have been intended for an angel, so pure and white it looked +with its snowy covering. + +"What does it mean?" asked Grace, growing more and more +bewildered, while Mrs. Johnson replied in her favorite mode of +speech. + +"The Lord only knows--looks as if he was going to make it a prison +for some princess; but here's the queerest thing of all," and she +thumped upon a massive door, which was locked and barred, and +beyond which her prying eyes had never looked. + +Over the door was a ventilator, and Grace, quite as curious as +Mrs. Johnson, suggested that a chair or table be brought, upon +which she, being taller than her companion, might stand and +possibly obtain a view. + +"What DO you see?" asked Mrs. Johnson, as Grace, on tip-toe, +peered into what seemed to be a solitary cell, void of furniture +of every kind, save a little cot, corresponding in size with the +fairy bed in the recess, but in naught else resembling it, for its +coverings were of the coarsest, strongest materials, and the +pillows scanty and small. + +Acting from a sudden impulse, Grace determined not to tell Mrs. +Johnson what she saw, and stepping down from the table, which she +quickly rolled back to its place, she said, + +"It's nothing but a closet, where, I dare say, Mr. St. Claire will +keep his clothes when he occupies his den. You must not let any +one else in here, for Arthur might be offended." + +Mrs. Johnson promised obedience, and turning the rusty key, +followed her visitor down the two long flights of stairs, she, +returning to her duties, while Grace went to the pleasant library, +where, with her hat and whip upon the floor, Edith sat reading the +book she had ventured to take from the well-filled shelves, and in +which she had been so absorbed as not to hear the slight rustling +in the adjoining room, where a young man was standing in the +enclosure of the deep bay window, and gazing intently at her. He +had heard from Mrs. Johnson's daughter that some ladies were going +over the house, and not caring to meet them, he stepped into the +recess of the window just as Edith entered the library. As the eye +of the stranger fell upon her, he came near uttering an +exclamation of surprise that anything so graceful, so queenly, and +withal so wondrously beautiful, should be found in Shannondale, +which, with the city ideas still clinging to him, seemed like an +out-of-the-way place, where the girls were buxom, good-natured and +hearty, just as he remembered Kitty Maynard to have been, and not +at all like this creature of rare loveliness sitting there before +him, her head inclined gracefully to the volume she was reading, +and showing to good advantage her magnificent hair. + +"Who can she be?" he thought, and a thrill of unwonted admiration +ran through his veins as Edith raised for a moment her large eyes +of midnight blackness, and from his hiding-place he saw how soft +and mild they were in their expression, "Can Grace have spirited +to her retreat some fair nymph for company? Hark! I hear her +voice, and now for the solution of the mystery." + +Standing back a little further, so as to escape observation, the +young man waited till Grace Atherton came near. + +"Here you are," she said, "poring over a book as usual. I should +suppose you'd had enough of that to do in reading to Mr. +Harrington--German Philosophy, too! Will wonders never cease? +Arthur was right, I declare, when he dubbed you Metaphysics!" + +"Edith Hastings!" The young man said it beneath his breath, while +he involuntarily made a motion forward. + +"Can it be possible, and yet now that I know it, I see the little +black-eyed elf in every feature. Well may the blind man be proud +of his protege. She might grace the saloons of Versailles, and +rival the Empress herself!" + +Thus far he had soliloquised, when something Grace was saying +caught his ear and chained his attention at once. + +"Oh, Edith," she began, "you don't know what you lost by being +over squeamish. Such a perfect jewel-box of a room, with the +tiniest single bed of solid mahogany! Isn't it queer that Arthur +should have locked it up, and isn't it fortunate for us that Mrs. +Johnson found that rusty old key which must have originally +belonged to the door of the Den, as she says he calls it?" + +Anxiously the young man awaited Edith's answer, his face aglow +with indignation and his eyes flashing with anger. + +"Fortunate for YOU, perhaps," returned Edith, tying on her riding- +hat, "but I wouldn't have gone in for anything." + +"Why not?" asked Grace, walking into the hall. + +"Because," said Edith, "Mr. St. Claire evidently did not wish any +one to go in, and I think Mrs. Johnson was wrong in opening the +door." + +"What a little Puritan it is!" returned Grace, playfully caressing +the rosy cheeks of Edith, who had now joined her in the hall. +"Arthur never will know, for I certainly shall not tell either him +or any one, and I gave Mrs. Johnson some very wholesome advice +upon that subject. There she is now in the back-yard. If you like, +we'll go round and give her a double charge." + +The young man saw them as they turned the corner of the building, +and gliding from his post, he hurried up the stairs and entering +the Den, locked the door, and throwing himself upon the sofa, +groaned aloud, while the drops of perspiration oozed out upon his +forehead, and stood thickly about his lips. Then his mood changed, +and pacing the floor he uttered invectives against the meddlesome +Mrs. Johnson, who, by this one act, had proved that she could not +be trusted. Consequently SHE must not remain longer at Grassy +Spring, and while in the yard below Mrs. Johnson was promising +Grace "to be as still as the dead," Arthur St. Claire was planning +her dismissal. This done, and his future course decided upon, the +indignant young man felt better, and began again to think of Edith +Hastings, whom he admired for her honorable conduct in refusing to +enter a place where she had reason to think she was not wanted. + +"Noble, high-principled girl," he said. "I'm glad I told Mr. +Harrington what I did before seeing her. Otherwise he might have +suspected that her beauty had something to do with my offer, and +so be jealous lest I had designs upon his singing-bird, as he +called her. But alas, neither beauty, nor grace, nor purity can +now avail with me, miserable wretch that I am," and again that +piteous moan, as of a soul punished before its time, was heard in +the silent room. + +But hark, what sound is that, which, stealing through the iron- +latticed windows, drowns the echo of that moan, and makes the +young man listen? It is Edith Hastings singing one of her wild +songs, and the full rich melody of her wonderful voice falls upon +his ear, Arthur St. Claire bows his head upon his hands and weeps, +for the music carries him back to the long ago when he had no +terrible secret haunting every hour, but was as light-hearted as +the maiden whom, as she gallops away on her swift-footed Arabian, +he looks after, with wistful eyes, watching her until the sweep of +her long riding-skirt and the waving of her graceful plumes +disappear beneath the shadow of the dim woods, where night is +beginning to fall. Slowly, sadly, he turns from the window-- +merrily, swiftly, the riders dash along, and just us the clock +strikes six, their panting steeds pause at the entrance to +Collingwood. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EDITH AT HOME. + + +It was too late for Grace to call, and bidding her companion good- +bye, she galloped down the hill, while Edith, in a meditative +mood, suffered her favorite Bedouin to walk leisurely up the +carriage road which led to the rear of the house. + +"Victor Dupres!" she exclaimed, as a tall figure emerged from the +open door and came forward to meet her. "Where did you come from?" + +"From New York," he replied, bowing very low, "Will Mademoiselle +alight?" and taking the little foot from out the shoe he lifted +her carefully from the saddle. + +"Is HE here?" she asked, and Victor replied, + +"Certainement; and has brought home a fresh recruit of the blues, +too, judging from the length and color of his face." + +"Why did he go to New York?" interrupted Edith, who had puzzled +her brain not a little with regard to the business which had taken +Richard so suddenly from home. + +"As true as I live I don't know," was Victor's reply. "For once +he's kept dark even to me, scouring all the alleys, and lanes, and +poor houses in the city, leaving me at the hotel, and taking with +him some of those men with brass buttons on their coats. One day +when he came back he acted as if he were crazy and I saw the great +tears drop on the table over which he was leaning, then when I +asked 'if he'd heard bad news,' he answered, 'No, joyful news. I'm +perfectly happy now. I'm ready to go home,' and he did seem happy, +until we drove up to the gate and you didn't come to meet him. +'Where's Edith?' he asked, and when Mrs. Matson said you were out, +his forehead began to tie itself up in knots, just as it does when +he is displeased. It's my opinion, Miss Edith, that you humor him +altogether too much, You are tied to him as closely as a mother to +her baby." + +Edith sighed, not because she felt the bonds to which Victor had +alluded, but because she reproached herself for not having been +there to welcome the blind man home when she knew how much he +thought of these little attentions. + +"I'll make amends though, now," she said, and remembering the +story of his disappointment, her heart swelled with a fresh +feeling of pity for the helpless Richard, who, sitting before the +blazing fire in the library, did not hear the light step coming so +softly toward him. + +All the way from the station, and indeed all the way from New +York, he had pictured to himself Edith's sylph-like form running +down the steps to meet him; had felt her warm hands in his, heard +her sweet voice welcoming him home again, and the world around him +was filled with daylight, but Edith was the sun which shone upon +his darkness. She was dearer to him now, if possible, than when he +left Collingwood, for, during his absence he had learned that +which, if she knew it, would bind her to him by cords of gratitude +too strong to be lightly broken. SHE owed everything to him, and +he, alas, he groaned when he thought WHAT he owed to her, but he +loved her all the same, and this it was which added to the +keenness of his disappointment when among the many feet which +hastened out to meet him, he listened for hers in vain. He knew it +was very pleasant in his little library whither Victor led him; +very pleasant to sit in his accustomed chair, and feel the fire- +light shining on his face, but there was something missing, and +the blue veins were swelling on his forehead, and the lines +deepening about his mouth, when a pair of soft, white arms were +wound about his neck, two soft white hands patted his bearded +cheeks, and a voice, whose every tone made his heart throb and +beat with ecstasy, murmured in his ear, + +"Dear Mr. Richard, I am so glad you've come home, and so sorry I +was not here to meet you. I did not expect you to-night. Forgive +me, won't you? There, let me smooth the ugly wrinkles away, they +make you look so cross and old," and the little fingers he vainly +tried to clasp, wandered caressingly over the knit brows, while, +for the first time since people began to call her Miss Hastings, +Edith's lips touched his. + +Nor was she sorry when she saw how beautiful the lovelight broke +all over the dark, stern face, irradiating every feature, and +giving to it an expression almost divine. + +"Kiss me again, Birdie," he said. "It is not often you grant me +such a treat," and he held her arms about his neck until she +pressed her lips once more against his own. + +Then he released her, and making her sit down beside him, rested +his hand upon her shining hair, while he asked her how she had +busied herself in his absence, if she had missed the old dark +cloud, a bit, and if she was not sorry to have him back. + +He know just what her answer would be, and when it was given, he +took her face between his hands, and turning it up toward him, +said, "I'd give all Collingwood, darling, just to look once into +your eyes and see if---" then, apparently changing his mind, he +added, "see if you are pleased with what I've brought you, look;" +and taking from his pocket a square box he displayed to her view +an entire set of beautiful pearls. "I wanted to buy diamonds, but +Victor said pearls were more appropriate for a young girl like +you. Are they becoming?" and he placed some of them amid the +braids of her dark hair. + +Like all girls of seventeen, Edith was in raptures, nor could he +make her sit still beside him until, divested of her riding habit, +she had tried the effect of the delicate ornaments, bracelets, +ear-rings, necklace and all. + +"I am so glad you like them," he said, and he did enjoy it very +much, sitting there and listening to her as she danced about the +room, uttering little girlish screams of delight, and asking +Victor, when at last he came in--"if she wasn't irresistible?" + +Victor FELT that she was, and in his polite French way he +complimented her, until Richard bade him stop, telling him "she +was already spoiled with flattery." + +The pearls being laid aside and Victor gone, Edith resumed her +accustomed seat upon a stool at Richard's feet, and folding both +hands upon his knee, looked into his face, saying, "Well, +monsieur, why did you go off to New York so suddenly? I think you +might tell me now unless it's something I ought not to know." + +He hesitated a moment as if uncertain whether to tell her or not; +then said to her abruptly, "You've heard, I believe, of the little +child whom I saved from drowning?" + +"Yes," she answered. "Don't you know I told you once how I used to +worship you because you were so brave. I remember, too, of praying +every night in my childish way that you might some day find the +little girl." + +"Edith, I have found her," and the nervous hands pressed tenderly +upon the beautiful head almost resting in his lap. + +"Found her!" and Edith sprang to her feet, her large eyes growing +larger, but having in them no shadow of suspicion. "Where did you +find her? Where is she now? What is her name? Why didn't you bring +her home?" and out of breath with her rapid questioning, Edith sat +down again, while Richard laughingly replied, "Where shall I begin +to answer all your queries? Shall I take them in order? I found +out all about her in New York." + +"That explains your scouring the alleys and lanes as Victor said +you did," interrupted Edith, and Richard rejoined rather sharply, +"What does HE know about it?" + +"Nothing, nothing," returned Edith, anxious to shield Victor from +his master's anger. "I asked him what you did in New York, and he +told me that. Go on--what is her name?" + +"Eloise Temple. Her mother was a Swede, and her father an +American, much older than his wife." + +"Eloise--Eloise--Eloise." + +Edith repealed it three times. + +"Where have I heard that name before? Oh, I know. I heard Kitty +Maynard telling the story to Mrs. Atherton. Where is she, did you +say, and how does she look?" + +"She is with the family who adopted her as their own, for her +mother is dead. Eloise is an orphan, Edith," and again the broad +hand touched the shining hair, pityingly this time, while the +voice which spoke of the mother was sad and low. + +Suddenly a strange, fanciful idea flashed on Edith's mind, and +looking into Richard's face she asked, "How old is Eloise?" + +"Seventeen, perhaps. Possibly, though, she's older." + +"And you, Mr. Harrington--how old are you, please? I'll never tell +as long as I live, if you don't want me to." + +She knew he was becoming rather sensitive with regard to his age, +but she thought he would not mind HER knowing, never dreaming that +SHE of all others was the one from whom he would, if possible, +conceal the fact that he was thirty-eight. Still he told her +unreservedly, asking her the while if she did not consider him +almost her grandfather. + +"Why, no," she answered; "you don't look old a bit. You haven't a +single grey hair. _I_ think you are splendid, and so I'm sure did +the mother of Eloise; didn't she?" and the roguish black eyes +looked up archly into the blind man's face. + +Remembering what Grace had said of his love affair in Europe many +years since, and adding to that the evident interest he felt in +little Eloise Temple, the case was clear to her as daylight. The +Swedish maiden was the girl who jilted Richard Harrington, and +hence his love for Eloise, for she knew he did love her from his +manner when speaking of her and the pains he had taken to find +her. He had not answered her last question yet, for he did not +understand its drift, and when at last he spoke he said, + +"Mrs. Temple esteemed me highly, I believe; and I admired her very +much. She had the sweetest voice I ever heard, not even excepting +yours, which is something like it." + +Edith nodded to the bright face on the mirror opposite, and the +bright face nodded back as much was to say, "I knew 'twas so." + +"Was she really handsome, this Mrs. Temple?" she asked, anxious to +know how Richard Harrington's early love had looked. + +Instinctively the hands of the blind man met together round +Edith's graceful neck, as he told her how beautiful that Swedish +mother was, with her glossy, raven hair, and her large, soft, +lustrous eyes, and as he talked, there crept into Edith's heart a +strange, inexplicable affection for that fair young Swede, who +Richard said was not as happy with her father-husband as she +should have been, and who, emigrating to another land, had died of +a homesick, broken heart. + +"I am sorry I cursed her to-day," thought Edith, her tears falling +fast to the memory of the lonely, homesick woman, the mother of +Eloise. + +"Had she married Richard," she thought, "he would not now be +sitting here in his blindness, for SHE would be with him, and +Eloise, too, or some one very much like her. I wish she were here +now," and after a moment she asked why he had not brought the +maiden home with him. "I should love her as much as my sister," +she said; "and you'd be happier with two of us, wouldn't you?" + +"No," he answered; "one young girl is enough for any house. I +couldn't endure two." + +"Then _I_ ought to go away," said Edith promptly, her bosom +swelling with a dread lest she should eventually have to go. +"Eloise has certainly the best right here. You loved her mother, +yon know, and you'd rather have her than me, wouldn't you?" + +She held both his hands now within her own. She bent her face upon +them, and he felt her tears trickling through his fingers. Surely +he was not to blame if, forgetting himself for the moment, he +wound his arms about her and hugging her to his bosom, told her +that of all the world SHE was the one he most wanted there at +Collingwood, there just where she was now, her head upon his +shoulder, her cheek against his own. 0nce she felt slightly +startled, his words were so fraught with tender passion, but +regarding him as her father, or at least her elder brother, she +could not believe he intended addressing her save as his sister or +his child, and releasing herself from his embrace, she slid back +upon her stool and said, "I'm glad you're willing I should stay. +It would kill me to go from Collingwood now. I've been so happy +here, and found in you so kind a FATHER." + +She WOULD say that last word, and she did, never observing that +Richard frowned slightly as if it were to him an unwelcome sound. + +Presently Edith went on, "I think, though, this Eloise ought to +come, too, no matter how pleasant a home she has. It is her duty +to care for you who lost your sight for her. Were I in her place, +I should consider no sacrifice too great to atone for the past. I +would do everything in the world you asked of me, and then not +half repay you." + +"Every thing, Edith? Did you say every thing?" and it would seem +that the blind eyes had for once torn away their veil, so lovingly +and wistfully they rested upon the bowed head of the young girl, +who, without looking up, answered back, + +"Yes, every thing. But I'm glad I am not this Eloise." + +"Why, Edith, why?" and the voice which asked the question was +mournful in its tone. + +"Because," returned Edith, "I should not care to be under so great +obligations to any one. The burden would be oppressive. I should +be all the while wondering what more I could do, while you, too, +would be afraid that the little kindnesses which now are prompted +in a great measure by love would be rendered from a sense of +gratitude and duty. Wouldn't it be so, Mr. Richard?" + +"Yes, yes," he whispered. "You are right. I should be jealous that +what my heart craved as love would be only gratitude. I am glad +you suggested this, Edith; very, very, glad, and now let us talk +no more of Eloise." + +"Ah, but I must," cried Edith. "There are so many things I want to +know, and you've really told me nothing. Had she brothers or +sisters? Tell me that, please." + +"There was a half sister, I believe, hut she is dead," said +Richard. "They are all dead but this girl. She is alive and happy, +and sometime I will tell you more of her, but not now. I am sorry +I told you what I have." + +"So am I if I can't hear the whole," returned Edith, beginning to +pout. + +"I DID intend to tell you all when I began," said Richard, "but +I've changed my mind, and Edith, I have faith to believe you will +not repeat to any one our conversation. Neither must you tease me +about this girl. It is not altogether an agreeable subject." + +Edith saw that he was in earnest, and knowing how useless it would +be to question him further, turned her back upon him and gazing +steadily into the fire, was wondering what made him so queer, when +by way of diverting her mind, he said, "Did Victor tell you that +Mr. St. Claire came with us all the way from New York?" + +"Mr. St. Claire, no," and Edith brightened at once, forgetting all +about Eloise Temple. "Why then didn't Mrs. Atherton and I see him? +We went over the house this afternoon. It's a splendid place, most +as handsome us Collingwood." + +"How would you like to live there?" asked Richard, playfully. "One +of the proposed conditions on which I consented to receive you, +was that when Mr. St. Claire had a home of his own he was to take +you off my hands; at least, that was what he said, standing here +where you sit; and on my way from New York he reminded me of it, +inquiring for little Metaphysics, and asking if I were ready to +part with her." + +"Do you wish me to go and let Eloise come?" Edith asked, +pettishly, and Richard replied, + +"No, Edith, I need you more than Arthur ever can, and you'll stay +with me, too, stay always, won't you? Promise that you will." + +"Of course I shall," she answered. "I'll stay until I'm married, +as I suppose I shall he sometime; everybody is." + +Richard tried to be satisfied with this reply, but it grated +harshly, and it seemed to him that a shadow deeper, darker than +any he had ever known, was creeping slowly over him, and that +Arthur St. Claire's was the presence which brought the threatening +cloud. He knew this half jealous feeling was unworthy of him, and +with a mighty effort he shook it off and saying to Edith, calmly, +"Mr. St. Claire asked many questions concerning you and your +attainments, and when I spoke of your passion for drawing, +lamenting that since Miss Chapin's departure, there was in town no +competent instructor, he offered to be your teacher, provided you +would come up there twice a week. He is a very sensible young man, +for when I hesitated he guessed at once that I was revolving the +propriety of your going alone to the house of a bachelor, where +there were no females except the servants, and he said to me 'You +can come with her, if you like.'" + +"So it's more proper for a young lady to be with two gentlemen +than with one, is it?" and Edith laughed merrily, at the same time +asking if Richard had accepted the offer. + +"I did, provided it met your approbation," was the reply, and as +Victor just then appeared, the conversation for the present +ceased. + +But neither Eloise nor Arthur left the minds of either Richard or +Edith, and while in her sleep that night the latter dreamed of the +gentle Eloise, who called her sister, and from whom Arthur St. +Claire strove to part her, the former tossed restlessly upon his +pillow, moaning to him-self, "I am glad I did not tell her. She +must answer me for love and not for gratitude." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MATTERS AT GRASSY SPRING. + + +The next morning as the family at Collingwood sat at their rather +late breakfast a note was brought to Richard, who immediately +handed it to Edith. Breaking the seal, and glancing at the name at +the end, she exclaimed, "It's from Mr. St. Claire, and he says,-- +let me see: + +GRASSY SPRING, Oct. 18-- + +"Dear Sir:--A wholly unexpected event makes it necessary for me to +be absent from home for the next few weeks. During this time my +house will be shut up, and I shall be very glad if in her daily +rides Miss Hastings will occasionally come round this way and see +that everything is straight. I would like much to give the keys +into her charge, knowing as I do that I can trust her. The books +in my library are at her disposal, as is also the portfolio of +drawings, which I will leave upon the writing table. + +"When I return, and have become somewhat domesticated, I hope to +have her for my pupil, as proposed yesterday. Please let me know +at once if she is willing to take charge of my keys. + +In haste, + +ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE." + +"What does he mean?" asked Edith, as she finished reading this +note aloud. "What does he wish me to do?" + +"Why," returned Richard, "He is to shut up his house, which, being +brick, will naturally become damp, and I suppose he wishes you to +air it occasionally, by opening the windows and letting in the +sunlight. + +"Wishes me, in short, to perform a servant's duty," said Edith, +haughtily. "Very well, I'll do it. Perhaps it will pay my TUITION +in part; who knows?" and in spite of Richard's remonstrances, she +seized a pen and dashed off the following: + +"Mr. St. Claire: + +"Dear Sir,--Miss Hastings accepts the great honor of looking after +your house, and will see that nothing gets mouldy during your +absence." + +In haste, RICHARD HARRINGTON, "Per Edith Hastings." + +"P.S. Will you have her CLEAN it before you return?" + +"Edith!" and Richard's voice was very stern. "Arthur St. Claire +never intended to insult you and you shall NOT send that note. +Tear it up at once." + +Edith stood a moment irresolute, while her eyes flashed with +indignation, but she had been too long accustomed to obey the man, +who, groping his way to her side, stood commandingly before her to +resist his authority now, and mechanically tearing the note in +pieces, she tossed them into the fire. + +"Victor," said Richard, wishing to spare Edith the mortification +of writing a second answer, "tell the man from Grassy Spring that +Mr. St. Claire can leave his keys at Collingwood." + +Victor departed with the message, and Edith, somewhat recovered +from her pet, said, + +"Isn't it queer, though, that Mr. St. Claire should ask to leave +his keys with me? One would suppose he'd trust his cousin to +rummage his goods and chattels sooner than a stranger." + +"He has his reasons, I dare say, for preferring you," returned +Richard, adding that he himself would go with her some day to +Grassy Spring, and assist her in airing the house. + +Toward the middle of the afternoon, the keys of Collingwood were +delivered to Edith, together with a sealed note, containing a +single line, + +"The iron broken key unlocks the DEN." + +Had Arthur wished to puzzle Edith he could not have done so more +effectually than he did by these few words. + +"What do I care," she said, "which unlocks the Den. I certainly +should not cross its threshold were the door left wide open. What +does he mean?" and she was still wondering over the message when +Grace Atherton was announced. + +As she grew older Grace assumed a more familiar, youthful manner +than had characterized her early womanhood, and now, tossing her +riding hat and whip upon the bed, she sank into Edith's easy chair +and began: "The funniest thing imaginable has happened at Grassy +Spring. His Royal Highness, Lord St. Claire, has flown into a +violent passion with Mrs. Johnson for having shown us into that +room." + +"Shown YOU, you mean. I didn't go in," interrupted Richard, and +Grace continued, "Well, shown ME, then, though I think you might +at least share in the disgrace. I never saw Arthur as indignant as +he was last night when he called on me. 'Women were curious, +prying creatures, anyway,' he said, 'and he had no faith in any of +them.'" + +"Did he say so?" asked Edith, and Grace replied, "Well, not +exactly that. He did make a few exceptions, of which you are one. +Mrs. Johnson must have told him that you refused to enter. What +harm was there, any way, and what's the room for? I'm beginning to +grow curious. Here, he's dismissed Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, +telling her if he could not trust her in small matters he could +not in those of greater importance, and the good soul has taken +the afternoon express for Boston, where she formerly lived. She +says he paid her three months' extra wages, so he was liberal in +that respect; but the strangest part of all is that he is going to +Florida, where he has some claim to or owns a plantation of +negroes, and he intends to bring a whole cargo of them to Grassy +Spring--housekeeper, cook, chambermaid, coachman, gardener, and +all. Don't you think he's crazy?" + +Edith thought the facts would warrant such a conclusion, and Grace +went on. "I offered to take charge of his house, telling him it +ought not to be shut up for several weeks, but he declined so +haughtily, saying he should leave the keys with someone less +curious than myself, and asked if I supposed YOU would be offended +if he offered them to you. I told him no, and I dare say he will +send them here, if indeed, he has not already done so. Has he?" +she asked, quickly, as she saw a peculiar smile on Edith's lip. + +"Yes," Edith answered, feeling the while SO glad that Richard had +prevented her from sending that insulting note. + +She knew now why the keys were given to her, and the fact that +Arthur St. Claire trusted HER even before his own cousin, left a +warm, happy spot in her heart. Upon second thought this act was +not displeasing to Grace herself. It evinced a preference in +Arthur for Edith Hastings, and on her way home she busied herself +in building castles of the future, when Edith, as the wife of +Arthur and mistress of Grassy Spring, would cease to be her rival. +As Grace had said, Mrs. Johnson and Rose, her daughter, were +dismissed, the house was shut up, the owner gone, the keys in +Edith's possession, and for many days the leaves of crimson and of +gold drifted down upon the walks and lay piled beneath the windows +and upon the marble steps, where they rested undisturbed, save +when the evening wind whirled them in fantastic circles and then +sent them back again to their first lodging place. + +Occasionally Edith, on her spirited Bedouin, rode slowly by, +glancing at the grounds and garden, where so many flowers were +blossoming for naught, and then gazing curiously at the latticed +windows looking out toward Collingwood. She knew which ones they +were, though the blinds were closed tightly over them, and she +wondered if the mystery of that room would ever be revealed to +her. Once, as she was riding by, she saw a stranger standing upon +the steps of the front door and pulling vehemently at the silver +knob which brought him no response. Reining Bedouin at the gate +the waited until the gentleman, tired of ringing, came slowly down +the walk, apparently absorbed in some perplexing thought. He did +not see her until almost upon her, when, bowing politely, he said, +"I beg your pardon, Miss, can you tell me where Mr. St. Claire's +to be found?" + +"He has gone to Florida," she answered, "and will not return for +some weeks." + +"Gone to Florida, and I not know it! That's very queer," and the +stranger bit his lip with vexation. + +"Did you wish particularly to see him?" asked Edith, and he +replied, + +"Yes, a friend lies very sick in the--" he paused a moment, looked +searchingly at Edith, and added, "in Worcester. We can do nothing +with her, and I have come for him." + +Edith thought of NINA, thought of the Den, thought of everything, +except that the man seemed waiting for her to speak. + +"Won't be home for some weeks," he said at last, as she continued +silent, "And you don't know where a letter would reach him?" + +"No, sir, but I will deliver any message from you as soon as he +returns." + +The stranger scrutinized her closely a second time ere he replied, + +"Tell him Griswold has been here and wishes him to come to +Worcester at once." + +Edith was mortal, nay more, was a genuine descendant of mother +Eve, and with a feeling akin to what that fair matron must have +felt when she wondered how those apples did taste, she said to the +man, "Who shall I say is sick?" + +"A friend," was the laconic reply, as he walked rapidly away, +muttering to himself, "A pretty scrape St. Claire is getting +himself into. Poor Arthur, poor Arthur." + +It would seen that Edith, too, was imbued with something of the +spirit which prompted him to say, "Poor Arthur," for she +involuntarily sighed, and casting another glance at the windows of +the den, gave loose rein to Bedouin and galloped swiftly down the +road. + +The next morning was clear and bright, and as Richard felt the +bracing air, he said to her, "We will visit Grassy Spring to-day. +It's time you gave it a little air." + +The carriage was accordingly brought out, and in half an hour's +time Richard and Edith were treading the deserted rooms, into +which they let the warm sunlight by opening wide the windows, all +save those of one chamber. Edith did not go near the Den, and she +marvelled that Arthur should have given her its key, indicating +which it was. She did not know that the rather peculiar young man +had lain for her a snare, by which means he would surely know how +far her curiosity had led her. He might have spared himself the +trouble, for Edith was the soul of honor, and nothing could have +induced her to cross the proscribed threshold. + +"It's very pleasant here, isn't it?" Richard asked, as they went +from one room to another, and he felt the soft carpets yield to +his tread. + +"Yes," she answered; "but not as pleasant as Collingwood. I like +my own home best," and she looked into his face in time to catch +the expression she loved so well--an expression of trusting, +childlike happiness, touching to behold in a strong man. + +He liked to know that Edith was contented with Collingwood; +contented with him; and he hoped it would be so always. He could +not bear the thought that he had suffered every fibre of his heart +to twine and intertwine themselves around her, only to be one day +broken and cast bleeding at his feet. But somehow, here at Grassy +Spring, in the home of Arthur St. Claire, he felt oppressed with a +dread lest this thing should be; and to Edith, when she asked what +made him so pale, he said, + +"It's close in here, I think. Let's hurry out into the open air." + +She led him to an iron chair beneath a forest maple, and leaving +him there alone went back to close the windows she had opened. One +of those in the drawing-room resisted all her efforts for a time, +but came down at last with a bang, causing her to start, and hit +her foot against a frame which she had not before observed, but +which she now saw was a portrait standing in the dark corner with +its face against the wall. + +"Truly there can be no harm in looking at this," she thought, and +turning it to the light she stepped back to examine it. + +'Twas the picture of a black-eyed, black-haired child--a little +girl, scarcely three years old, judging from the baby face, and +the fat, dimpled hands turning so earnestly the leaves of a +picture book. One tiny foot was bare, and one encased in a red +morocco shoe. + +"Dear, darling baby," she said aloud, feeling an irresistible +desire to hug the little creature to her bosom. "Who are you, +baby? Where are you now? and how came you with Mr. St. Claire?" + +She asked these questions aloud, and was answered by Richard +calling from his seat beneath the maple to know why she tarried so +long. With one more lingering glance at the infant, she locked the +doors and hastened out to her blind charge. On three or four other +occasions she came alone to Grassy Spring, opening the doors and +windows, and feasting her eyes upon the beautiful little child. +Edith was wonderfully in love with that picture, and many a theory +she built as to the original. Grace had told her that Arthur had +no sister, and this, while it tended to deepen the mystery, +increased her interest. + +"I'll ask him about her when he gets home," she thought; and she +waited anxiously for his return, which occurred much sooner than +she anticipated. + +It was a cold, raw November day, and the rain was beating against +the windows of the little room she called her boudoir, and where +she now sat sewing, when Victor, who had been sent to Grassy +Spring to see that the storm did not penetrate the western blinds, +appeared before her, ejaculating, "Mon Dieu, Miss Hastings. What +do you think there is over yonder at Grassy Spring? A whole swarm +of niggers, and Guinea niggers at that, I do believe. Such +outlandish specimens! There they sit bent up double with the cold +and hovering round the kitchen fire, some on the floor, some on +chairs, and one has actually taken the tin dish pan and turned it +bottom side up for a stool. They come from Florida, they say, and +they sorter 'long to Marsa St. Claire. They called me MARSA, too, +and when Mr. St. Claire asked me how my MASTER and young lady +were, the old she one who sat smoking in the corner, with a turban +on her head as high as a church steeple, took the pipe from her +month and actually SWORE. + +"Swore, Victor!" exclaimed Edith, who had listened in amazement to +his story. + +"I don't know what you call it but swearing; says she, 'A white +nigger, Lor'-a-mighty,' and the whole bevy of them opened their +ranks for time to sit down in their circle--kind of a fellow +feeling, you know," and Victor endeavored to hide the shock his +pride had received by laughing loudly at the negroes' mistake. + +"How did you get in?" asked Edith. "He must have been there before +you." + +"He had a key to the back door," returned Victor, "and I gave him +up mine. He wants you to send the others. Shall I take them over?" + +"Yes--no--I will go myself," said Edith, remembering Mr. Griswold, +from Worcester, and the message she was to deliver. + +"YOU go in this rain! Mr. Harrington won't let you," said Victor, +and Edith rejoined, "I shan't ask him. I've been out in worse +storms than this. Bring up Bedouin." + +Victor was never happier than when obeying Edith, and in an +inconceivably short space of time Bedouin stood at the back +piazza, where his mistress mounted him and rode away. It was not +until she had left the Collingwood grounds and was out upon the +main road, that she began to feel any doubts as to the propriety +of what she was doing. She had not seen Arthur St. Claire for +eight years. She must, of course, introduce herself and would he +not marvel to see her there in that rain, when a servant could +have brought the keys its well. And the message, too--Victor might +have delivered that had she been willing to trust him with it, but +she was not. Arthur St. Claire had a secret of some kind; Mr. +Griswold was concerned in it, and it was to guard this secret from +all curious ears that she was doing what she was. Having thus +settled the matter to her mind, Edith rode on, unmindful of the +rain, which had partially subsided, but still dripped from her +black plumes and glanced off from her velvet habit. A slight +nervous trepidation seized her, however, as she drew near to +Grassy Spring, and noticed the look of surprise with which a +stalwart African, standing by the gate, regarded her. Riding up to +him she said, good-naturedly, "How d'ye, uncle?" having learned so +much of negro dialect from Rachel, who was a native of Georgia. + +Immediately the ivories of the darkie became visible, and with a +not ungraceful bow, he answered, "Jest tolable, thankee;" while +his eyes wandered up the road, as if in quest of something they +evidently did not find, for bending forward helooked curiously +behind Edith, saying by way of apology, "I'se huntin' for yer +little black boy; whar is he?" + +"Where's who?" and in her fright, lest some one of the little +"Guinea niggers" about whom Victor had told her, might be seated +behind her, Edith leaped with on bound form the saddle, nearly +upsetting the young man hastening out to meet her. + +Southern bred as the negro was he could not conceive of a white +lady's riding without an escort, and failing to see said escort, +he fancied it must be some diminutive child perched upon the +horse, and was looking to find him, feeling naturally curious to +know how the negroes of Yankee land differed from those of +Florida. All this Edith understood afterward, but she was too much +excited now to thing of any thing except that she had probably +made herself ridiculous in the eyes of Arthur St. Claire, who +adroitly rescued her from a fall in the mud, by catching her about +the waist and clasping one of her hands. + +"Miss Hastings, I believe," he said, when he saw that she had +regained her equilibrium, "This is a pleasure I hardly expected in +this storm,--but come in. You are drenched with rain;" and still +holding her hand, he led her into the library, where a cheerful +fire was blazing. + +Drawing a chair before it he made her sit down, while he untied +and removed her hat, brushing the drops of rain from her hair, and +doing it in so quiet, familiar, and withal so womanly a manner +that Edith began to feel quite at home with him, and to think she +had not done so foolish a thing, after all, in coming there. When +sure she was comfortable, he drew a chair opposite to her, and for +the first time since they met, she had a chance to see what +changes eight years had wrought in one she thought so handsome, as +a youth. He was larger, more fully developed than when she parted +from him in Albany, and it seemed to her as if he were taller, +too. He was certainly manlier in his appearance, and the incipient +mustache at which her nose was once contemptuously elevated, was +now rich, brown beard, adding, as some would think, to the beauty +of his face, the pride of his barber, and the envy of his less +fortunate comrades. He was a remarkably fine looking man, +handsomer even than Richard Harrington, inasmuch as he had not +about him the air of helplessness which characterized the blind +man. The same old mischievous twinkle lurked in the soft brown +eyes, and the corners of the mouth curved just as they used to do. +But his smile was not as frequent or as joyous as of old, while on +his brow there was a shadow resting--an expression of sad +disquiet, as if thus early he had drank deeply from the cup of +sorrow. Amid his wavy hair a line of silver was now and then +discernible, and Edith thought how much faster he had grown old +than Richard Harrington. And well be might, for Richard, in his +blindness was happier far than Arthur St. Claire, blessed with +health, and riches, and eyesight, and youth. He had no secret +eating to his very heart's core, and with every succeeding year +magnifying itself into a greater evil than it really was, as an +error concealed is sure to do. Besides that, Richard had Edith, +while Arthur, alas, poor Arthur, he had worse than nothing; and as +he looked across the hearth to where Edith sat, he ceased to +wonder that one who for eight years had basked in the sunshine of +her presence, should be as young, as vigorous and happy as Richard +had appeared to him. But he must not think of this. He professed +to be a woman-hater, he who, in his early boyhood, had counted his +conquests by scores; and even if he were not, beautiful Edith +Hastings could never be aught to him; and he must not suffer +himself for a single moment to think HOW beautiful she was, still +he could not help looking at her, and not a movement of her hand +or a bund of her head escaped him. But so skillfully did he manage +that the deluded girl fancied he never once glanced at her, while +he expressed to her his gratitude for having taken so good care of +his house. + +"There is one room, however, you did not open," and the eyes of +brown met now the eyes of black, but were quickly withdrawn, as he +continued, "I mean the one at the head of the stairs, leading from +my private sitting-room." + +"How do you know?" asked Edith, a suspicion of the truth flashing +upon her. "Did Blue Beard lay a snare in which to catch Fatima?" + +"He did," Arthur answered, "but was nearly as certain then as now +that she would not fall into it. Miss Hastings, it gives me more +pleasure than I can well express to find one female who is worthy +to be trusted--who has no curiosity." + +"But I have a heap of curiosity," returned Edith, laughingly. "I'm +half crazy to know what that room is for and why you are so +particular about it." + +"Then you deserve more credit than I have given you," he replied, +a dark shadow stealing over his handsome face. + +Edith was about to ask him of the portrait in the drawing room, +when he prevented her by making some playful allusion to the +circumstances of their first acquaintance. + +"I began to think you had forgotten me," said Edith, "though I +knew you could not well forget the theft unjustly charged to me." + +She hoped he would now speak of Nina, but he did not, and as she +for the first time remembered Mr. Griswold, she said, after a +moment's pause, + +"I came near forgetting my principal errand here. I could have +sent your keys, but I would rather deliver Mr. Griswold's message +myself." + +She expected Arthur to start, but she was not prepared for him to +spring from his chair as suddenly as he did. + +"Mr. Griswold!" he repeated. "Where did you see him? Has HE been +here? What did he say? Tell me, Edith--Miss Hastings--I beg your +pardon--tell me his errand." + +He stood close to her now, and his eyes did not leave her face for +an instant while she repeated the particulars of her interview +with the stranger. + +"And this is all--you've told me all that passed between you?" he +asked, eagerly. + +"Yes, all," she answered, pitying him, he looked so frightened, so +disturbed. + +Consulting his watch, he continued, "There's time, I see, if I am +expeditious, I must take the next train east though I would so +much rather stay and talk with you. I shall see you again, Miss +Hastings. You'll come often to Grassy Spring, won't you? I need +the sight of a face like yours to keep me from going MAD." + +He wrung her hand and stepped into the hall just as one of the +black women he had brought from Florida appeared. + +"Aunt Phillis," he said, "I wish to speak with you," and going +with her to the extremity of the hall, they conversed together in +low, earnest tones, as if talking of some great sorrow in which +both were interested. + +Once Edith heard Aunt Phillis say, "Blessed lamb, that I've done +toted so many tunes in these old arms. Go, Marser Arthur; never +you mind old Phillis, she'll get on somehow. Mebby the young lady +in thar kin show me the things and tell me the names of yer Yankee +gimcracks." + +"I have no doubt she will," returned Arthur, adding something in a +whisper which Edith could not hear. + +A moment more and Arthur passed the door, equipped with overcoat +and umbrella, and she heard his rapid steps upon the back piazza +as he went towards the carriage house. Aunt Phillis now re-entered +the library, curtesying low to Edith, who saw upon her old black +face the trace of recent tears. + +"Is Mr. St. Claire's friend very sick?" Edith ventured to ask, and +instantly the round bright eyes shot at her a glance of alarm, +while the negress replied, "Dunno, misses. He keeps his 'fars +mostly to hisself, and Phillis has done larnt not to pry." + +Thus rebuked, Edith arose and began to tie on her hat preparatory +to leaving. + +"Come in dis way a minute, Miss," said Phillis. "We're from +Floridy, and dunno more'n the dead what to do in such a shiny +kitchen as Marster St. Claire done keeps." + +Edith followed her to the kitchen, in which she found several +dusky forms crouched before the fire, and gazing about them with a +wondering look. To Edith they were exceedingly polite, and taking +a seat in their midst she soon learned from a loquacious old lady, +who seemed to be superannuated, that "they were all one family, +she being the grandmother, Ike and Phillis the father and mother, +and 'tothers the children. We're all Ber-NARDS," she said, "case +that was ole marster's name, but now I dunno who we does 'long to. +Some says to Marster St. Claire and some says to Miss---" + +"Mother!" and Phillis bustled up to the old lady, who, uttering a +loud outcry, exclaimed, + +"The Lord, Phillis; you needn't done trod on my fetched corns. I +warn't a gwine to tell," and she loudly bewailed her aching foot, +encased in a shoe of most wonderful make. + +When the pain had partially subsided, the talkative Judy +continued, + +"There wasn't no sense, so I tole 'em, in 'totin' us way off here +in the dead o' winter. I'se kotched a misery in my back, and got +the shivers all over me. I'se too old any way to leave my cabin +thar in Floridy, and I'd a heap sight rather of stayed and died on +de old plantation. We has good times thar, me and Uncle Abe-- +that's an old colored gentleman that lives jinin', and does +nothin', just as I do. He lost his wife nex Christmas'll be a +year; and, bein' lonesome like, he used to come over o' nights to +talk about her, and tell how mizzable it was to be alone." + +"You are a widow, I presume," said Edith, her black eyes brimming +with fun. + +"Yes, chile, I'se been a widdy thirty year, an' Uncle Abe was such +a well-to-do nigger, a trifle shaky in the legs, I know; but it +don't matter. Marster St. Claire wouldn't part the family, he +said, and nothin' to do but I must come. Uncle Abe's cabin was +comfable enough, and thar was a hull chest of Rhody's things, a +doin' nobody no good." + +Aunt Judy paused, and looked into the fire as if seeing there +images of the absent Abel, while Edith regarded her intently, +pressing her hands twice upon her forehead, as if trying to retain +a confused, blurred idea which flitted across her mind. + +"Judy," she said, at last, "it seems to me I must have seen YOU +somewhere before, though where, I don't know." + +"Like enough, honey," returned Judy. "Your voice sounds mighty +nateral, and them black eyes shine an' glisten like some oder eyes +I seen somewhar. Has you been in Floridy, chile?" + +"No," returned Edith; "I was born in New York City, I believe." + +"Then 'taint likely we's met afore," said Judy, "though you do +grow on me 'mazin'ly. You're the very spawn o' somebody. Phillis, +who does the young lady look like?" + +Phillis, who had been rummaging the closets and cupboards, now +came forward, and scrutinizing Edith's features, said, "She favors +Master Ber-nard's last wife, only she's taller and plumper." + +But with the querulousness of old age Judy scouted the idea. + +"Reckoned she knowed how Marster Bernard's last wife looked. +'Twan't no more like the young lady than 'twas like Uncle Abe," +and with her mind thus brought back to Abel, she commenced an +eulogy upon him, to which Edith did not care to listen, and she +gladly followed Phillis into the pantry, explaining to her the use +of such conveniences as she did not fully understand. + +"Two o'clock!" she exclaimed, as she heard the silver bell from +the library clock. "Richard'll think I'm lost," and bidding her +new acquaintances good bye, she hurried to the gate, having first +given orders for Bedouin to be brought from the stable. + +"Shan't I go home wid you, Miss?" asked the negro, who held the +pony; "it's hardly fittin' for you to go alone." + +But Edith assured him she was not afraid, and galloped swiftly +down the road, while the negro John looked admiringly after, +declaring to his father, who joined him, that "she rode mighty +well for a Yankee girl." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LESSONS. + + +Arthur St. Claire had returned from Worcester, but it was several +days ere he presented himself at Collingwood; and Edith was +beginning to think he had forgotten her and the promised drawing +lessons, when he one evening was ushered by Victor into the +parlor, where she was singing to Richard his favorite songs. He +was paler than when she saw him before, and she fancied that he +seemed weary and worn, as if sleep and himself had been for a long +time strangers. + +"Did you leave your friend better?" she asked. + +"Yes, better," he answered hurriedly, changing the conversation to +topics evidently more agreeable. + +One could not be very unhappy in Edith's presence. She possessed +so much life, vivacity and vigor, that her companions were sure to +become more or less imbued with her cheerful spirit; and as the +evening advanced, Arthur became much like the Arthur of Brier Hill +memory, and even laughed aloud on several occasions. + +"I wish I was sure of finding at Grassy Spring somebody just like +you," he said to Edith when at last he arose to go. "Yon have +driven away a whole army of blues. I almost believe I'd be willing +to be blind, if, by that means, I could be cared for as Mr. +Harrington is." + +"And crazy, too?" slily interrupted Edith, who was standing near +him as he leaned against the marble mantel. + +"No, no--oh, heavens, no! anything but that," and the hand he +placed in Edith's shook nervously, but soon grew still between her +soft, warm palms. + +There was something life-giving in Edith's touch, as well as soul- +giving in her presence, and standing there with his cold, nervous +hand in hers, the young man felt himself grow strong again, and +full of courage to hope for a happier future than the past had +been. He knew SHE could not share the future with him--but he +would have as much of her as possible, and just as she was +wondering if he would remember the lessons, he spoke of them and +asked when she could come. + +"Just when Mr. Harrington thinks best," she replied, and thus +appealed to, Richard, guided by Edith's voice, came forward and +joined them. + +"Any time," he said. "To-morrow, if you like," adding that he +believed he, too, was to be always present. + +Edith's eyes sought those of Arthur, reading there a reflection of +her own secret thoughts, to wit, that THREE would he one too many, +but they could not tell him so and Arthur responded at once, +"Certainly, I shall expect you both, say to-morrow at ten o'clock; +I am most at leisure then." + +The next morning, at the appointed time, Richard and Edith +appeared at Grassy Spring, where they found Arthur waiting for +them, his portfolio upon the table, and his pencils lying near, +ready to be used. + +"I am afraid you'll find it tiresome, Mr. Harrington," he said, as +he assigned his visitor a chair, and then went back to Edith. + +"I shall do very well," answered Richard, and so he did for that +lesson, and the next, and the next, but at last, in spite of his +assertion to the contrary, he found it dull business going to +Grassy Spring twice each week, and sitting alone with nothing to +occupy his mind, except, indeed, to wonder how NEAR Arthur was to +Edith, and if he bent over her as he remembered seeing drawing +teachers do at school. + +Richard was getting very tired of it--very weary of listening to +Arthur's directions, and to Edith's merry laughs at her awkward +blunders, and he was not sorry when one lesson-day, the fifth +since they began, Grace Atherton's voice was heard in the hall +without asking for admission. He had long since forgiven Grace for +jilting him, and they were the best of friends; so when she +suggested their going into the adjoining room, where it was +pleasanter and she could play to him if he liked, he readily +assented, and while listening to her lively conversation and fine +playing, he forgot the lapse of time, and was surprised when Edith +came to him with the news that it was 12 o'clock. + +"Pray, don't go yet," said Arthur, who was loth to part with his +pupil. "You surely do not dine till three, and I have already +ordered lunch. Here it comes," and he pointed to the door where +Phillis stood, bearing a huge silver salver, on which were wine +and cake and fruit of various kinds. + +"Grapes," screamed Edith, as she saw the rich purple clusters, +which had been put up for winter use by poor, discarded Mrs. +Johnson. "I really cannot go till I have some of them," and as +there was no alternative Richard sat down to wait the little +lady's pleasure. + +He did not care for lunch, but joined in the conversation, which +turned upon matrimony. + +"It must be a very delightful state," said Edith, "provided one +were well matched and loved her husband, as I am sure I should +do." + +"Supposing you didn't love him," asked Grace, "but had married him +from force of circumstances, what then?" + +"I'd kill him and the circumstances too," answered Edith. +"Wouldn't you, Mr. St. Claire?" + +"I can hardly tell," he replied, "not having matrimony in my mind. +_I_ shall never marry." + +"Never marry!" and the pang at Edith's heart was discernible in +her soft, black eyes, turned so quickly toward this candidate for +celibacy. + +"How long since you came to that decision?" asked Grace; and in +tones which indicated truth, Arthur replied, + +"Several years at least, and I have never for a moment changed my +mind." + +"Because the right one has not come, perhaps," put in Richard, +growing very much interested in the conversation. + +"The right one will never come," and Arthur spoke earnestly. "The +girl does not live, who can ever be to me a wife, were she +graceful as a fawn and beautiful as---" he glanced at Edith as if +he would call her name, but added instead--"as a Hebe, it could +make no difference. That matter is fixed, and is as changeless as +the laws of the Medes and Persians." + +"I am sorry for you, young man," said Richard, whose face, +notwithstanding this assertion, indicated anything but sorrow. + +He could now trust Edith alone at Grassy Spring--he need not +always be bored with coming there, and he was glad Arthur had so +freely expressed his sentiments, as it relieved him of a great +burden; so, at parting, when Arthur said to him us usual, "I'll +see you again on Friday," he replied, + +"I don't know, I'm getting so worried with these abominably +tedious lessons, that for once I'll let her come alone." + +Alas, poor, deluded Richard! He did not know that to attain this +very object, Arthur had said what he did. It is true, he meant +every word he uttered. Matrimony and Edith Hastings must not be +thought of together. That were worse than madness, and his better +judgment warned him not to see too much of her--told him it was +better far to have that sightless man beside them when they met +together in a relation so intimate as the teacher bears to his +pupil. But Arthur would not listen; Edith was the first who for +years had really touched a human chord in his palsied heart, and +the vibration would not cease without a fiercer struggle than he +cared to make. It could do no harm, he said. He had been so +unhappy--was so unhappy now. Edith would, of course, be Richard's +wife; he had foreseen that from the very first--had predicted it +long ago, but ere the sacrifice was made, he was surely pardonable +if, for a little while, he gave himself to the bewildering +intoxication of basking in the sunshine of her eyes, of bending so +near to her that he could feel her fragrant breath, feel the warm +glow of her cheek, of holding those little hands a moment in his +own after he had ceased to teach her fingers how to guide the +pencil. + +All this passed in rapid review before his mind while his lips +uttered the words which had so delighted Richard, and when he saw +the shadow on Edith's face, his poor, aching heart throbbed with a +joy as wild and intense as it was hopeless and insane. This was +Arthur St. Claire with Edith present, but with Edith gone, he was +quite another man. Eagerly he watched her till she disappeared +from view, then returning to the library he sat down where she had +sat--laid his head upon the table where her hands had lain, and +cursed himself for daring to dream of love in connection with +Edith Hastings. It would be happiness for a time, he knew, to hang +upon her smile, to watch the lights and shadows of her speaking +face, to look into her eyes--those clear, truthful eyes which had +in them no guile. All this would be perfect bliss, were it not +that the end must come at last--the terrible end--remorse bitterer +than death for him, and for her--the pure, unsullied, trusting +Edith--ruin, desolation, and madness, it might be. + +"Yes, MADNESS!" he exclaimed aloud, "hateful as the word may +sound." And he gnashed his teeth as it dropped from between them. +"No, Edith, no. Heaven helping me, I will not subject you to this +temptation. I will not drag you down with me, and yet, save +Griswold, there lives not the person who knows my secret. May be +he could be bought. Oh, the maddening thought. Am I a demon or a +brute?" And he leaped from his chair, cursing himself again and +again for having fallen so low as to dream of an act fraught with +so much wrong to Edith, and so much treachery to one as fair, as +beautiful as she, and far, far more to be pitied. + +Arthur St. Claire was, at heart, a noble, upright, honorable man, +and sure, at last, to choose the right, however rugged were the +road. For years he had groped in a darkness deeper, more hopeless +than that which enshrouded the blind man, and in all that time +there had shone upon his pathway not a single ray of daylight. The +past, at which he dared not look, lay behind him a dreary waste, +and the black future stretched out before him, years on years it +might be, in which there would be always the same old cankering +wound festering in his soul. He could NOT forget this plague spot. +He never had forgotten it for a single moment until he met with +Edith Hatings, who possessed for him a powerful mesmeric charm, +causing him in her presence to forget everything but her. This +fascination was sudden but not less powerful for that. Arthur's +was an impulsive nature, and it seemed to him that he had known +Edith all his life, that she was a part of his very being. But he +must forget her now, she must not come there any more, he could +not resist her if she did; and seizing his pen he dashed off a few +lines to the effect that, for certain reasons, the drawing lessons +must henceforth be discontinued. + +Arthur though himself very strong to do so much, but when he arose +to ring for the servant who was to take this note to Collingwood, +his courage all forsook him. Why need he cast her off entirely? +Why throw away the only chance for happiness there was left for +him? 'Twas Arthur's weaker manhood which spoke, and he listened, +for Edith Hastings was in the scale, a mighty, overwhelming +weight. She might come just once more, he said, and his heart +swelled within his throat as he thought of being alone with her, +no jealous Richard hovering near, like a dark, brooding cloud, his +blind eyes shielding her from harm even more than they could have +done had they been imbued with sight. The next time she came, the +restraint would be removed. She would be alone, and the hot blood +poured swiftly through his veins as he thought how for one brief +moment he would be happy. He WOULD wind his arm around that +girlish waist, where no other manly arm save that of Richard had +ever been; he WOULD hug her to his bosom, where no other head than +hers could ever lie; he would imprint one burning kiss upon her +lips; would tell her how dear she was to him; and then--his brain +reeled and grew dizzy as he thought that THEN he must bid her +leave him forever, for an interview like that must not he +repeated. But for once, just once, he would taste of the forbidden +fruit, and so the good angel Arthur St. Claire wept over the +wayward man and then flew sadly away, leaving him to revel in +anticipations of what the next Friday would bring him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FRIDAY. + + +It was just beginning to be light when Edith opened her eyes, and +lifting up her head, looked about the room to see if Lulu had been +in to make her fire. She always awoke earlier on lesson day, so as +to have a good long time TO THINK, and now as she counted the +hours, one, two, three and a half, which must intervene before she +saw Arthur St. Claire again, she hid her blushing face in the +pillow, as if ashamed to let the gray daylight see just how happy +she was. These lessons had become the most important incidents in +her life, and this morning there was good cause why she should +anticipate the interview. She believed Richard was not going, and +though she was of course very sorry to leave him behind, she tried +hard to be reconciled, succeeding so well that when at 8 o'clock +she descended to the breakfast room, Victor asked what made her +look so unusually bright and happy. + +"I don't know," she replied, "unless it is because we are going to +ride," and she glanced inquiringly at Richard, seating himself at +the table. + +Victor shrugged his shoulders. HE knew more than Edith thought he +did, and waited like herself for Richard's answer. Richard HAD +intended to remain at home, but it seemed that Edith expected him +to go, by her saying WE, and rather than disappoint her he began +to think seriously of martyring himself again. Something like this +he said, adding that he found it vastly tedious, but was willing +to endure it for Edith's sake. + +"Pardonnez moi, Monsieur," said Victor, who for the sake of Edith, +would sometimes stretch the truth, "I saw Mr. Floyd yesterday, and +he is coming here this morning to talk with you about the west +wood lot you offered for sale. Hadn't you better stay home for +once and let Miss Edith go alone." + +Edith gave a most grateful look t Victor, who had only substituted +"this morning" for "some time to-day," the latter being what Mr. +Floyd had really said. + +"Perhaps I had," returned Richard. "I want so much to sell that +lot, but if Edith---" + +"Never mind me, Mr. Harrington," she cried; "I have not been on +Bedouin's back in so long a time that he is getting quite +unmanageable, they say, and I shall be delighted to discipline him +this morning; the roads are quite fine for winter, are they not +Victor?" + +"Never were better," returned the Frenchman; smooth and hard as a +rock. "You'll enjoy it amazingly, I know. I'll tell Jake not to +get out the carriage," and without waiting for an answer the +politic victor left the room. + +Richard had many misgivings as to the propriety of letting Edith +go without him, and he was several times on the point of changing +his mind, but Edith did not give him any chance, and at just a +quarter before ten she came down equipped in her riding habit, and +asking if he had any message for Mr. St. Claire. + +"None in particular," he answered, adding that she might come back +through the village and bring the mail. + +Once on the back of Bedouin, who danced for a few moments like a +playful kitten, Edith felt sure she was going alone, and +abandoning herself to her delight she flew down the carriage road +at a terrific speed, which startled even Victor, great as was his +faith in his young lady's skill. But Edith had the utmost +confidence in Bedouin, while Bedouin had the utmost confidence in +Edith, and by the time they were out upon the main road they had +come to a most amicable understanding. + +"I mean to gallop round to the office now," thought Edith; "and +then I shall not be obliged to hurry away from Grassy Spring." + +Accordingly Bedouin was turned toward the village, and in an +inconceivably short space of time she stood before the door of the +post-office. + +"Give me Mr. Harrington's mail, please," Edith said to the clerk +who came out to meet her; "and--and Mr. St. Claire's too, I'm +going up there, and can take it as well as not." + +The clerk withdrew, and soon returned with papers for Richard, and +a letter for Arthur. It was post-marked at Worcester, and Edith +thought of Mr. Griswold, as she thrust it into her pocket, and +started for Grassy Spring, where Arthur was anxiously awaiting +her. Hastening out to meet her, he held her hand in his, while he +led her up the walk, telling her by his manner, if by nothing +else, how glad he was to see her. + +"It has seemed an age since Tuesday," he said. "I only live on +lesson-days. I wish it was lesson-day always." + +"So do I," said Edith, impulsively, repenting her words the moment +she met the peculiar glance of Arthur's eyes. + +She was beginning to be afraid of him, and half wished Richard was +there. Remembering his letter at last, she gave it to him, +explaining how she came by it, and marvelling at the sudden +whiteness of his face. + +"I will wait till she is gone," he thought, as he recognized Dr. +Griswold's writing, and knew well what it was about. "I won't let +anything mar the bliss of the next two hours," and he laid it upon +the table. + +"Ain't you going to read it?" asked Edith, as earnestly as if she +knew the contents of that letter would save her from much future +pain. "Read it," she persisted, declaring, with pretty willfulness +that she would not touch a pencil until he complied with her +request. + +"I suppose I must yield then," he said, withdrawing into the +adjoining room, where he broke the seal and read--once--twice-- +three times--lingering longest over the sentences which we +subjoin. + +* * * "To-day, for the first time since you were here, our poor +little girl spoke of you of her own accord, asking where you were +and why you left her so long alone. I really think it would be +better for you to take her home. She is generally quiet with you, +and latterly she has a fancy that you are threatened with some +danger, for she keeps whispering to herself, 'Keep Arthur from +temptation. Keep him from temptation, and don't let any harm come +to little MIGGIE.' Who is Miggie? I don't think I ever heard her +name until within the last few days." * * * + +And this it was which kept Arthur St. Claire from falling. Slowly +the tears, such as strong men only shed, gathered in his eyes and +dropped upon the paper. Then his pale lips moved, and he whispered +sadly, "Heaven bless you, NINA, poor unfortunate Nina. Your prayer +SHALL save me, and henceforth Edith shall be to me just what your +darling Miggie would have been were she living. God help me to do +right," he murmured, as he thought of Edith Hastings, and +remembered how weak he was. That prayer of anguish was not +breathed in vain, and when the words were uttered he felt himself +growing strong again--strong to withstand the charms of the young +girl waiting impatiently for him in the adjoining room. + +There were many things she meant to say to him in Richard's +absence. She would ask him about NINA, and the baby picture which +had so interested her. It had disappeared from the drawing room +and as yet she had found no good opportunity to question him about +it, but she would do so to-day. She would begin at once so as not +to forget, and she was just wondering how long it took a man to +read a letter, when he came in. She saw at a glance that something +had affected him, and knowing intuitively that it was not the time +for idle questionings, she refrained from all remark, and the +lesson both had so much anticipated, proceeded in almost unbroken +silence. It was very dull indeed, she thought, not half so nice as +when Richard was there, and in her pet at Arthur's coolness and +silence, she made so many blunders that at last throwing pencil +and paper across the room, she declared herself too stupid for any +thing. + +"You, too, are out of humor," she said, looking archly into +Arthur's face, "and I won't stay here any longer. I mean to go +away and talk with Judy about Abel." + +So saying, she ran off to the kitchen where she was now a great +favorite, and sitting down at Judy's feet, began to ask her of +Florida and Sunnybank, her former home. + +"Tell me more of the magnolias," she said, "It almost seems to me +as if I had seen those beautiful white blossoms and that old house +with its wide hall." + +"Whar was you raised?" asked Judy, and Edith replied, + +"I told you once, in New York, but I have such queer fancies, as +if I had lived before I came into this world." + +"Jest the way Miss Nina used to go on, muttered the old woman, +looking steadily into the fire. + +"Nina!" and Edith started quickly. "DID you know Nina, Aunt Judy? +Do you know her now? Where is she? Who is she, and that black-eyed +baby in the frame? Tell me all about them." + +"All about what?" I asked Phillis, suddenly appearing and casting +a warning glance at her mother, who replied, "'Bout marster's last +wife, the one you say she done favors." Then, in an aside to +Edith, she added, "I kin pull de wool over her eyes. Bimeby mabby +I'll done tell you how that ar is de likeness of Miss Nina's half +sister what is dead, and 'bout Miss Nina, too, the sweetest, most +misfortinest human de Lord ever bornd." + +"She isn't a great ways from here, is she?" whispered Edith, as +Phillis bustled into the pantry, hurrying back ere Judy could more +than shake her head significantly. + +"Dear Aunt Phillis, won't you please tell Ike to bring up +Bedouin," Edith said coaxingly, hoping by this ruse to get rid of +the old negress; but Phillis was too cunning, and throwing up the +window sash, she called to Ike, delivering the message. + +Edith, however, managed slily to whisper, "In Worcester, isn't +she?" while Judy as slily nodded affirmatively, ere Phillis' sharp +eyes were turned again upon them. Edith's curiosity concerning the +mysterious Nina was thoroughly roused, and determining to ferret +out the whole affair by dint of quizzing Judith whenever an +opportunity should occur, she took her leave. + +"Mother," said Phillis, the moment Edith was out of hearing, +"havn't you no sense, or what possessed you to talk of Miss Nina +to her? Havn't you no family pride, and has you done forgot that +Marster Arthur forbade our talkin' of her to strangers?" + +Old Judy at first received the rebuke in silence, then bridling up +in her own defense, she replied, "Needn't tell me that any good +will ever come out o' this kiverin' up an' hidin', and keeping +whist. It'll come out bimeby, an' then folks'll wonder what 'twas +all did for. Ole marster didn't act so by Miss Nina's mother, an' +I believe thar's somethin' behind, some carrying on that we don't +know; but it's boun' to come out fust or last. That ar Miss Edith +is a nice trim gal. I wish to goodness Marster Arthur'd done set +to her. I'd like her for a mistress mighty well. I really b'lieve +he has a hankerin' notion after her, too, an' it's nater that he +should have. It's better for the young to marry, and the old, too, +for that matter. Poor Uncle Abe! Do you s'pose, Phillis, that he +goes over o' nights to Aunt Dilsey's cabin sen' we've come away. +Dilsey's an onery nigger, anyhow," and with her mind upon Uncle +Abel, and her possible rival Dilsey, old Judy forgot Edith +Hastings, who, without bidding Arthur good morning, had gallopped +home to Collingwood, where she found poor, deluded Richard, +waiting and wondering at the non-appearance of Mr. Floyd, who was +to buy his western wood lot. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MYSTERY AT GRASSY SPRING. + + +For several weeks longer Edith continued taking lessons of Arthur, +going sometimes with Richard, but oftener alone, and feeling +always that a change had gradually come over her teacher. He was +as kind to her as ever, took quite as much pains with her, and she +was sensible of a greater degree of improvement than had marked +the days when she trembled every time he touched her hands. Still +there was a change. He did not bend over her now as he used to do; +did not lay his arm across the back of her chair, letting it some +times fall by accident upon her shoulders; did not look into her +eyes with a glance which made her blush and turn away; in short, +he did not look at her at all, if he could help it, and in this +very self-denial lay his strength. He was waging a mighty battle +with himself, and inch by inch he was gaining the victory, for +victory it would be when he brought himself to think of Edith +Hastings without a pang--to listen to her voice and look into her +face without a feeling that she must be his. He could not do this +yet, but he kept himself from telling her of his love by assuming +a reserved, studied manner, which led her at last to think he +might be angry, and one day, toward the first of March, when he +had been more than usually silent, she asked him abruptly how she +had offended, her soft eyes filling with tears as she expressed +her sorrow if by any thoughtless act she had caused him pain. + +"You could not offend me, Edith," he said; "that would be +impossible, and if I am sometimes could an abstracted, it is +because I have just cause for being so. I am very unhappy, Edith, +and your visits here to me are like oases to the weary traveller. +Were it not for you I should wish to die; and yet, strange as it +may seem, I have prayed to die oftener since I knew you as you now +are than I ever did before, I committed a fatal error once and it +has embittered my whole existence. It was early in life, to, +before I ever say you, Edith." + +"Why Mr. St. Claire," she exclaimed, "you were nothing but a boy +when you came to Brier Hill." + +"Yes, a boy," he exclaimed, "or I had never done what I did; but +it cannot be helped, and I must abide the consequences. Now let us +talk of something else. I am going away to-morrow, and you need +not come again until I send for you; but whatever occurs, don't +think I am offended." + +She could not think so when she met the olden look she ahs missed +so long, and wondering where he could be going, she arose to take +her leave. He went with her to the door, and wrung her hand +nervously, bidding her in heart a final farewell, for when they +met again a great gulf would be between them,--a gulf he had +helped to dig, and which he could not ass. Edith had intended to +ask old Judy where Arthur was going, without, however, having much +hope of success: for, since the conversation concerning Nina, Judy +had been wholly non-committal, plainly showing that she had been +trained for the occasion, but changed her mind, and rode leisurely +away, going round by Brier Hill to call upon Grace whom she had +not seen for some little time. Grace, as usual, was full of +complaints against Arthur for being so misanthropical, so cross- +grained and so queer, shutting himself up like a hermit and +refusing to see any one but herself and Edith. + +"What is he going to Worcester for?" she asked, adding that one of +the negroes had told old Rachel, who was there the previous night. + +But Edith did not know, unless it was to be married, and laughing +at her own joke, she bade Grace good-bye, having learned by +accident what she so much desired to know. + +The next morning she arose quite early, and looking in the +direction of Grassy Spring, which, when the leaves were fallen, +was plainly discernible, she saw Arthur's carriage driving from +his gate. There was no train due at that hour, and she stood +wondering until the carriage, which, for a moment, had been hidden +from her view, appeared a second time in sight, and as it passed +the house she saw Aunt Phillis's dusky face peering from the +window. She did not see Arthur, but she was sure he was inside; +and when the horses were turned into the road, which, before the +day of cars, was the great thoroughfare between Shannondale and +Worcester, she knew he had started for the latter place in his +carriage. + +"What can it be for?" she said; "and why has he taken Phillis?" + +But puzzle her brain as she might, she could not fathom the +mystery, and she waited for what would next occur. + +In the course of the day Victor, who, without being really +meddlesome, managed to keep himself posted with regard to the +affairs at Grassy Spring, told her that Mr. St. Claire, preferring +his carriage to the cars, had gone in it to Worcester, and taken +Phillis with him; that he would be absent some days; and that +Sophy, Phillis's daughter, when questioned as to his business, had +answered evasively, + +"Gone to fetch his wife home for what I know." + +"Maybe it is so," said Victor, looking Edith steadily in the face, +"Soph didn't mean me to believe it; but there's many a truth +spoken in jest." + +Edith knew that, but she would not hearken for a moment to +Victor's suggestion. It made her too unhappy, and for three days +she had a fair opportunity of ascertaining the nature of her +feelings toward Arthur St. Claire, for nothing is more conducive +to the rapid development of love, than a spice of jealousy lest +another has won the heart we so much covet. + +The next day, the fourth after Arthur's departure, she asked +Victor to ride with her on horseback, saying the fresh March wind +would do her good. It was nearly sunset when they started, and, as +there was a splendid moon, they continued their excursion to quite +a distance, so that it was seven ere they found themselves at the +foot of the long hill which wound past Collingwood and on to +Grassy Spring. Half way up the hill, moving very slowly, as if the +horses were jaded and tired, was a traveling carriage, which both +Edith and Victor recognized at once as belonging to Arthur St. +Claire. + +"Let's overtake them," said Edith, and chirruping to Bedouin, she +was soon so near to the carriage that her quick ear caught the +sound of a low, sweet voice singing a German air, with which she +herself had always been familiar, though when she first learned it +she could not tell. + +It was one of those old songs which Rachel had called weird and +wild, and now, as she listened to the plaintive tones, they +thrilled on every nerve with a strange power as if it were a +requiem sung by the dead over their own buried hopes. Nearer and +nearer Bedouin pressed to the slowly moving vehicle, until at last +she was nearly even with it. + +"Look, Miss Edith!" and Victor grasped her bridle rein, directing +her attention to the arms folded upon the window and the girlish +head resting upon the arms, in the attitude of a weary child. + +One little ringless, blue-veined hand was plainly discernible in +the bright moonlight, and Edith thought how small and white and +delicate it was. + +"Let's go on," she whispered, and they dashed past the carriage +just as Arthur leaned forward to see who they were. + +"That was a young lady," said Victor coming up with Edith, who was +riding at a headlong speed. + +"Yes, I knew it," and Edith again touched Bedouin with her whip as +if the fast riding suited well her tumultuous emotions. + +"His bride?" said Victor, interrogatively, and Edith replied, +"Very likely, Victor," and she stopped Bedouin short. "Victor, +don't tell any one of the lady in the carriage until it's known +for certain that there is one at Grassy Spring." + +Victor could see no reason for this request, but it was sufficient +for him that Edith had made it, and he promised readily all that +she desired. They were at home by this time, and complaining of a +headache Edith excused herself earlier than usual and stole up to +her chamber where she could he alone to wonder WHO was the visitor +at Grassy Spring. It might be a bride, and it might be NINA. +Starting to her feet as the last mentioned individual came into +her mind, she walked to the window and saw just what she more than +half expected to see--a light shining through the iron lattice of +the DEN--a bright, cheerful light--and as she gazed, there crept +over her a faint, sick feeling, as if she knew of the ruin, the +desolation, the blighted hopes and beautiful wreck embodied in the +mystery at Grassy Spring. Covering her eyes with her hands the +tears trickled through her fingers, falling not so much for Arthur +St. Claire as for the plaintive singing girl shrouded in so dark a +mystery. Drying her eyes she looked again across the meadow, but +the blinds of the Den were closed, and only the moonbeams fell +where the blaze of the lamp had been. + +A week went by, and though Grace came twice to Collingwood, while +Victor feigned several errands to Grassy Spring, nothing was known +of the stranger. Grace evidently had no suspicion of her +existence, while Victor declared there was no trace of a white +woman any where about the premises. Mr. St. Claire, he said, sat +in the library, his feet crossed in a chair and his hands on top +of his head as if in a brown study, while Aunt Phillis appeared +far more impatient than usual and had intimated to him plainly +that "in her 'pinion white niggers had better be at home tendin' +to thar own business, of they had any, and not pryin' into thar +neighbor's affairs." + +At last Edith was surprised at receiving a note from Arthur, +saying he was ready to resume their lessons at any time. Highly +delighted with the plan Edith answered immediately that she would +come on the morrow, which was Friday. Richard did not offer to go, +owing in a great measure to the skillful management of Victor, +who, though he did not suggest Mr. Floyd and the western wood lot, +found some equally good excuse why his master's presence would, +that day of all others, be necessary at home. + +The wild March winds by this time had given place to the warmer, +balmier air of April. The winter snow had melted from the +hillside, and here and there tufts of fresh young grass were seen +starting into life. It was just such a morning, in short, as is +most grateful to the young, and Edith felt its inspiriting +influence as she rode along the rather muddy road. Another there +was, too, who felt it; and as Edith sauntered slowly up the path, +entering this time upon the rear piazza instead of the front, she +heard again the soft, low voice which had sounded so mournful and +sweet when heard in the still moonlight. Looking up she saw that a +window of the Den was open, and through the lattice work a little +hand was thrust, as if beckoning her to come. Stepping bank she +tried to obtain a view of the person, but failed to do so, though +the hand continued beckoning, and from the height there floated +down to her the single word, "MIGGIE." That was all; but it +brought her hand to her head as if she had received a sudden blow. + +"Miggie--Miggie," she repeated. "I HAVE heard that name before. It +must have belonged to some one in the Asylum." + +A confused murmur as if of expostulation and remonstrance was now +heard--the childish hand disappeared and scarcely knowing what she +was about, Edith stepped into the hall and advanced into the +library, where she sat down to wait for Arthur. It was not long +ere he appeared, locking the door as he came in and thus cutting +off all communication between that room and the stairway leading +to the Den. Matters were, in Edith's estimation, assuming a +serious aspect, and remembering how pleadingly the name "Miggie" +had been uttered, she half-resolved to demand of Arthur the +immediate release of the helpless creature thus held in durance +vile. But he looked so unhappy, so hopelessly wretched that her +sympathy was soon enlisted for him rather than his fair captive. +Still she would try him a little and when they were fairly at work +she said to him jestingly, + +"I heard it hinted that you would bring home a wife, but I do not +see her. Where is she, pray?" + +Arthur uttered no sound save a stifled moan, and when Edith dared +to steal a look at him she saw that his brown hair was moist with +perspiration, which stood also in drops about his lips. + +"Mr. St. Claire," she said, throwing down her pencil and leaning +back in her chair, "I can endure this no longer. What IS the +matter? Tell me. You have some great mental sorrow, I know, and I +long to share it with you--may I? Who have you up stairs and why +this mystery concerning her?" + +She laid her hand upon his arm, and looked imploringly into the +face, which turned away from her, as if afraid to meet her +truthful glance. Once he thought to tell her all, but when he +remembered how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, and how +dear her society was to him, he refrained, for he vainly fancied +that a confession would drive her from him forever. He did not +know Edith Hastings; he had not yet fathomed the depths of her +womanly nature, and he could not guess how tenderly, even while +her own heart was breaking, she would have soothed his grief and +been like an angel of mercy to the innocent cause of all his woe. + +"I dare not tell you," he said. "You would hate me if I did, and +that I could not endure. It may not be pleasant for you to come +here any more, and perhaps you had better not." + +For a moment Edith sat motionless. She had not expected this from +Arthur, and it roused within her a feeling of resentment. + +"And so you only sent for me to give me my dismissal," she said, +in a cold, icy tone. "Be it as you like. I draw tolerably well, +you say. I have no doubt I can get along alone. Send your bill at +once to Mr. Harrington. He does not like to be in debt." + +She spoke proudly, haughtily, and her eyes, usually so soft in +their expression, had in them a black look of anger, which pierced +Arthur's very soul. He could not part with her THUS, and grasping +the hand reached out to take its gauntlet, he held it fast, while +he said, "What are we doing, Edith? Quarrelling? It must not be. I +suggested your giving up the lessons because I thought the +arrangement might be satisfactory to you, and not because _I_ +wished it, for I do not; I cannot give up the only source of +happiness left to me. Forget what I said. Remain my pupil and I'll +try to be more cheerful in your presence. You shall NOT help to +bear my burden as you bear that of Collingwood's unfortunate +inmates." + +Edith never liked to hear her relations to Richard referred to in +this manner, and she answered quickly, + +"You are mistaken, Mr. St. Claire, in thinking I bear any burden +either here or elsewhere. No one ever had a happier home than I, +and there's nothing on earth I would not do for Richard." + +"Would you marry him, Edith?" and Arthur scanned her closely. +"Would you be his wife if he demanded it as his right? and I think +he will do this sometime." + +Edith trembled from head to foot, as she answered, + +"Not if he demanded it as a right, though he might well do that, +for I owe him everything. But if he loved me, and I loved him." + +She paused, and in the silence which ensued the tumultuous beating +of her heart was plainly audible. No one before had suggested to +her the possibility of her being Richard's wife, and the idea was +terrible to her. She loved him, but not as a wife should love her +husband. He loved her, too; and now, as she remembered many things +in the past, she was half convinced that she to him was dearer +than a sister, child, or friend. He had forgotten the Swedish +baby's mother. She knew he had by his always checking her when she +attempted to speak of Eloise. Out of the ashes of this early love +a later love had sprung, and SHE was possibly its object. The +thought was a crushing one, and unmindful of Arthur's presence she +laid her head upon the table and sobbed, + +"It cannot be. Richard will never ask me to be his wife. Never, oh +never." + +"But if he does, Edith, you will not tell him NO. Promise me that. +It's my only hope of salvation from total ruin!" and Arthur drew +so near to her that his arm found its way around her slender +waist. + +Had he struck her with a glittering dagger he could not have hurt +her more than by pleading with her to be another's wife. But she +would not let him know it. He did not love her as she had +sometimes foolishly fancied he did; and lifting up her head she +answered him proudly, + +"Yes, Arthur St. Claire, when Richard Harrington asks me to be his +bride I will not tell him no. Are you satisfied?" + +"I am," he said, though his white lips gave the lie to the words +he uttered, and his heart smote him cruelly for his selfishness in +wishing to save himself by sacrificing Edith; and it would be a +sacrifice, he knew--a fearful sacrifice, the giving her to a blind +man, old enough to be her sire, noble, generous and good, though +he were. + +It was a little singular that Arthur's arm should still linger +about the waist of one who had promised to be another's wife, +provided she were asked, but so it was; it staid there, while he +persuaded her to come again to Grassy Spring, and not to give up +the lessons so pleasant to them both. + +He was bending very near to her when a sound upon the stairs +caught his ear. It was the same German air Edith had heard in the +yard, and she listened breathlessly while it came nearer to the +door. Suddenly the singer seemed to change her mind, for the music +began slowly to recede and was soon lost to hearing within the +four walls of the Den. Not a word was spoken by either Arthur or +Edith, until the latter said, + +"It is time I was at home," and she arose to go. + +He offered no remonstrance, but accompanying her to the gate, +placed her in the saddle, and then stood watching her as she +galloped away. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +NINA. + + +Three or four times Edith went to Grassy Spring, seeing nothing of +the mysterious occupant of the Den, hearing nothing of her, and +she began to think she might have returned to Worcester. Many +times she was on the point of questioning Arthur, but from what +had passed, she knew how disagreeable the subject was to him, and +she generously forbore. + +"I think he might tell me, anyway," she said to herself, half +poutingly, when, one morning near the latter part of April, she +rode slowly toward Grassy Spring. + +Their quarrel, if quarrel it could be called, had been made up, +or, rather, tacitly forgotten, and Arthur more than once had +cursed himself for having, in a moment of excitement, asked her to +marry Richard Harrington. While praying to be delivered from +temptation he was constantly keeping his eyes fixed upon the +forbidden fruit, longing for it more and move, and feeling how +worthless life would be to him without it. Still, by a mighty +effort, he restrained himself from doing or saying aught which +could be constrained into expressions of love, and their +interviews were much like those which had preceded his last visit +to Worcester. People were beginning to talk about him and his +beautiful pupil, but leading the isolated life he did, it came not +to his ears. Grace indeed, might have enlightened both himself and +Edith with regard to the village gossip, but looking upon the +latter as her rival, and desiring greatly that she should marry +Arthur, she forebore from communicating to either of them anything +which would be likely to retard an affair she fancied was +progressing famously. Thus without a counsellor or friend was +Edith left to follow the bent of her inclinations; and on this +April morning, as she rode along, mentally chiding Arthur for not +entrusting his secret to her, she wondered how she had ever +managed to be happy without him, and if the time would ever come +when her visits to Grassy Spring would cease. + +Leaving Bedouin at the rear gate she walked slowly to the house, +glancing often in the direction of the DEN, the windows of which +were open this morning, and as she came near she saw a pair of +soft blue eyes peering at her through the lattice, then a little +hand was thrust outside, beckoning to her as it did once before. + +"Wait, Miggie, while I write," came next to her ear, in a voice as +sweet and plaintive as a broken lute. + +Instantly Edith stopped, and at last a tiny note came fluttering +to her feet. Grasping it eagerly she read, in a pretty, girlish +hand: + +"DARLING MIGGIE:--Nina has been SO sick this great long while, and +her head is so full of pain. Why don't you come to me, Miggie? I +sit and wait and listen till my forehead thumps and thumps, just +as a bad nurse thumped it once down in the Asylum. + +"Let's run away--you and I; run back to the magnolias, where it's +always summer, with no asylums full of wicked people. + +"I'm so lonely, Miggie. Come up stairs, won't you? They say I rave +and tear my clothes, but I won't any more if you'll come. Tell +Arthur so. He's good. He'll do what you ask him." + +"Poor little Nina," and Edith's tears fell fast upon the bit of +paper. "I WILL see you to-day. Perhaps I may do you some good. +Dear, unfortunate Nina!" + +There was a step upon the grass, and thrusting the note into her +pocket, Edith turned to meet Arthur, who seemed this morning +unusually cheerful and greeted her with something like his olden +tenderness. But Edith was too intent upon Nina to think much of +him, and after the lesson commenced, she appeared so abstracted +that it was Arthur's turn to ask if she were offended. She had +made herself believe she was, for notwithstanding Nina's assertion +that "Arthur was good," she thought it a sin and a shame for him +to keep any thing but a raving lunatic hidden away up stairs; and +after a moment's hesitation she answered, "Yes, I am offended, and +I don't mean to come here any more, unless---" + +"Edith," and the tone of Arthur's voice was fraught with pain so +exquisite that Edith paused and looked into his face, where +various emotions were plainly visible. Love, fear, remorse, +apprehension, all were blended together in the look he fixed upon +her. "You won't leave me," he said. "Any thing but that. Tell me +my error, and how I can atone." + +Edith was about to speak, when, on the stairs without,--the stairs +leading from the den--there was the patter of little feet, and a +gentle, timid knock was heard upon the door. + +"It's locked--go back;" and Arthur's voice had in it a tone of +command. + +"Mr. St. Claire," and Edith sprang from her chair, "I can unlock +that door, and I will." + +Like a block of marble Arthur stood while Edith opened the oak- +paneled door. Another moment and Nina stood before her, as she +stands now first before our readers. + +Edith knew her in a moment from the resemblance to the +daguerreotype seen more than eight years before, and as she now +scanned her features it seemed to her they had scarcely changed at +all. Arthur had said of her then that she was not quite sixteen, +consequently she was now nearly twenty-five, but she did not look +as old as Edith, so slight was her form, so delicate her limbs, +and so childlike and simple the expression of her face. She was +very, very fair, and Edith felt that never before had she looked +upon a face so exquisitely beautiful. Her hair was of a reddish- +yellow hue, and rippled in short silken rings all over her head, +curling softly in her neck, but was not nearly as long as it had +been in the picture. Alas, the murderous shears had more than once +strayed roughly among those golden locks, to keep the little +white, fat hands, now clasped so harmlessly together, from tearing +them out with frantic violence. Edith thought of this and sighed, +while her heart yearned toward the helpless young creature, who +stood regarding her with a scrutinizing glance, as one studies a +beautiful picture. The face was very white--indeed, it seemed as +if it were long since the blood had visited the cheeks, which, +nevertheless, were round and plump, as were the finely moulded +arms, displayed to good advantage by the loose sleeves of the +crimson cashmere wrapper. The eyes were deeply, darkly blue, and +the strangely gleaming light which shone from them, betrayed at +once the terrible truth that Nina was crazed. + +It was a novel sight, those two young girls watching each other so +intently, both so beautiful and yet so unlike--the one, tall, +stately, and almost queen-like in her proportions, with dark, +brilliant complexion; eyes of midnight blackness, and masses of +raven hair, bound around her head in many a heavy braid--the +other, fairy-like in size, with golden curls and soft blue eyes, +which filled with tears at last as some undefinable emotion swept +over her. In the rich, dark beauty of Edith's face there was a +wonderful fascination, which riveted the crazy girl to the spot +where she had stopped when first she crossed the threshold, and +when at last, sinking upon the sofa, Edith extended her arms, as a +mother to her child, poor little Nina went forward, and with a +low, gasping sob, fell upon her bosom, weeping passionately, her +whole frame trembling and her sobs so violent that Edith became +alarmed, and tried by kisses and soft endearing words to soothe +her grief and check the tears raining in torrents from her eyes. + +"It's nice to cry. It takes the heavy pain away," and Nina made a +gesture that Edith must not stop her, while Arthur, roused from +his apathy, also said, + +"She has not wept before in years. It will be a great relief." + +At the sound of HIS voice Nina lifted up her head, and turned +toward the corner whence it came, but Edith saw that in the glance +there was neither reproach nor fear, nothing save trusting +confidence, and her heart insensibly softened toward him. + +"Poor Arthur," Nina murmured, and laying her head again on Edith's +bosom, she said, "Every body is sad where I am, but I can't help +it. Oh, I can't help it. Nina's crazy, Miggie, Nina is. Poor +Nina," and the voice which uttered these words was so sadly +touching that Edith's tears mingled with those of the young +creature she hugged the closer to her, whispering, + +"I know it, darling, and I pity you so much. Maybe you'll get +well, now that you know me." + +"Yea, if you'll stay here always," said Nina. "What made you gone +so long? I wanted you so much when the nights were dark and +lonesome, and little bits of faces bent over me like yours used to +be, Miggie--yours in the picture, when you wore the red morocco +shoe and I led you on the high verandah." + +"What does she mean?" asked Edith, who had listened to the words +as to something not wholly new to her. + +"I don't know," returned Arthur, "unless she has confounded you +with her sister, MARGUERITE, who died many years ago, I have heard +that Nina, failing to speak the real name, always called her +MIGGIE. Possibly you resemble Miggie's mother. I think Aunt +Phillis said you did." + +Edith, too, remembered Phillis' saying that she looked like +"Master Bernard's" wife, and Arthur's explanations seemed highly +probable. + +"Dear, darling Nina," she said, kissing the pure white forehead, +"I WILL be a sister to you." + +"And stay with me?" persisted Nina. "Sleep with me nights with +your arms round my neck, just like yon used to do? I hate to sleep +alone, with Soph coiled up on the floor, she scares me so, and +won't answer when I call her. Then, when I'm put in the recess, +it's terrible. DON'T let me go in there again, will you?" + +Edith had not like Grace, looked into the large closet adjoining +the Den, and she did not know what Nina meant, but at a venture +she replied, + +"No, darling. You'll be so good that they will not wish to put you +there." + +"I CAN'T," returned Nina, with the manner of one who distrusted +herself. "I try, because it will please Arthur, but I must sing +and dance and pull my hair when my head feels so big and heavy, +and once, Miggie, when it was big as the house, and I pulled my +hair till they shaved it off, I tore my clothes in pieces and +threw them into the fire. Then, when Arthur came--Dr. Griswold +sent for him, you see--I buried my fingers in HIS hair, so," and +she was about to clutch her own golden locks when Edith +shudderingly caught her hands and held them tightly lest they +should harm the tresses she thought so beautiful. + +"Arthur cried," continued Nina--"cried so hard that my brain grew +cool at once. It's dreadful to see a man cry, Miggie--a great, +strong man like Arthur. Poor Arthur, didn't you cry and call me +your lost Nina?" + +A suppressed moan was Arthur's answer, and Nina, when she heard +it, slid from Edith's arms and crossing over to where she sat, +climbed into his lap with all the freedom of a little child, and +winding her arms about his neck, said to him softly, + +"Don't be so sorry, Arthur, Nina'll be good. Nina is good now. +He's crying again. Make him stop, wont you? It hurts Nina so. +There, poor boy," and the little waxen hands wiped away the tears +falling so fast over Arthur's face. + +Holding one upon the end of her finger and watching it until it +dropped upon the carpet, she said with a smile, "Look, Miggie, +MEN'S tears are bigger than girls." + +Oh, how Edith's heart ached for the strange couple opposite her-- +the strong man and the crazy young girl who clung to him as +confidingly, as if his bosom were her rightful resting place. She +pitied them both, but her sympathies were enlisted for Arthur, and +coming to his side she laid her hand upon the damp brown locks, +which Nina once had torn in her insane fury, and in a voice which +spoke volumes of sympathy, whispered, "I am sorry for you." + +This was too much for Arthur, and he sobbed aloud, while Edith, +forgetting all proprieties in her grief for him, bowed her face +upon his head, and he could feel her hot tears dropping on his +hair. + +For a moment Nina looked from one to the other in silence, then +standing upon her feet and bending over both, she said, + +"Don't cry, Miggie, don't cry, Arthur. Nina ain't very bad to day. +She wont be bad any more. Don't. It will all come right some time. +It surely will. Nina won't be here always, and there'll be no need +to cry when she is gone." + +She seemed to think the distress was all on her account, and in +her childish way she sought to comfort them until hope whispered +to both that, as she said, "It would come right sometime." + +Edith was the first to be comforted, for she did not, like Arthur, +know what coming right involved. She only thought that possibly +Nina's shattered intellect might be restored, and she longed to +ask the history of one, thoughts of whom had in a measure been +blended with her whole life, during the last eight years. There +was a mystery connected with her, she knew, and she was about to +question Arthur, who had dried his tears and was winding Nina's +short curls around his fingers, when Phillis appeared in the +library, starting with surprise when she saw the trio assembled +there. + +"Marster Arthur," she began, glancing furtively at Edith, "how +came Miss Nina here? Let me take her back. Come, honey," and she +reached out her hand to Nina, who, jumping again upon Arthur's +knee, clung to him closely, exclaiming, "No, no, old Phillis; +Nina's good--Nina'll stay with Miggie!" and as if fancying that +Edith would be a surer protector than Arthur, she slid from his +lap and running to the sofa where Edith sat, half hid herself +behind her, whispering, "Send her off--send her off. Let me stay +with you!" + +Edith was fearful that Nina's presence might interfere with the +story she meant to hear, but she could not find it in her heart to +send away the little girl clinging so fondly to her, and to +Phillis she said, "She may stay this once, I am sure. I will +answer for her good behavior." + +"'Taint that--'taint that," muttered Phillis, jerking herself from +the room, "but how's the disgrace to be kep' ef everybody sees +her." + +"Disgrace!" and Edith glanced inquiringly at Arthur. + +She could not believe that Nina was any disgrace, and she asked +what Phillis meant. + +Crossing the room Arthur sat down upon the sofa with Nina between +himself and Edith, who was pleased to see that he wound his arm +around the young girl as if she were dear to him, notwithstanding +her disgrace. Like a child Nina played with his watch chain, his +coat buttons, and his fingers, apparently oblivious to what was +passing about her. She only felt that she was where she wished to +be, and knowing that he could say before her what he pleased +without the least danger of her comprehending a word, Arthur, much +to Edith's surprise, began: + +"You have seen Nina, Miss Hastings. You know what is the mystery +at Grassy Spring--the mystery about which the villagers are +beginning to gossip, so Phillis says, but now that you have seen, +now that you know she is here, I care not for the rest. The +keenest pang is over and I am beginning already to feel better. +Concealment is not in accordance with my nature, and it has worn +on me terribly. Years ago you knew OF Nina; it is due to you now +that you know WHO she is, and why her destiny is linked to mine. +Listen, then, while I tell you her sad story." + +"But SHE," interrupted Edith, pointing to Nina, whose blue eyes +were turned to Arthur. "Will it not be better to wait? Won't she +understand?" + +"Not a word," he replied. "She's amusing herself, you see, with my +buttons, and when these fail, I'll give her my drawing pencil, or +some one of the numerous playthings I always keep in my pocket for +her. She seldom comprehends what we say and never remembers it. +This is one of the peculiar phases of her insanity." + +"Poor child," said Edith, involuntarily caressing Nina, who smiled +up in her face, and leaning her head upon her shoulder, continued +her play with the buttons. + +Meanwhile Arthur sat lost in thought, determining in his own mind +how much he should tell Edith of Nina, and how much withhold. He +could not tell her all, even though he knew that by keeping back a +part, much of his past conduct would seem wholly inexplicable, but +he could not help it, and when at last he saw that Edith was +waiting for him, he pressed his hands a moment against his heart +to stop its violent beating, and drawing a long, long sigh, began +the story. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ARTHUR'S STORY. + + +"I must commence at the beginning," he said, "and tell you first +of Nina's father--Ernest Bernard, of Florida. I was a load of +fourteen when I met him in Richmond, Virginia, which you know as +my former home. He was spending a few weeks there, and dined one +day with my guardian, with whom I was then living. I did not fancy +him at all. He seemed even to me, a boy, like a bad, unprincipled +man, and I afterward learned that such had been his former +character, though at the time I knew him he had reformed in a +great measure. He was very kind indeed to me, and as I became +better acquainted with him my prejudices gradually wore away, +until at last I liked him very much, and used to listen with +delight to the stories he told of his Florida home, and of his +little, golden-haired Nina, always finishing his remarks +concerning he with, 'But you can't have her, boy. Nobody can marry +Nina. Had little Miggie lived you might, perhaps, have been my +son-in-law, but you can't as 'tis, for Nina will never marry.'" + +"No, Nina can never marry;" and the golden curls shook decidedly, +as the Nina in question repeated the words, "Miggie can marry +Arthur, but not Nina, no--no!" + +Edith blushed painfully, and averted her eyes, while Arthur +continued: + +"During Mr. Bernard's stay in Richmond he was attacked with that +loathsome disease the small pox, and deserted by all his friends, +was in a most deplorable condition, when I, who had had the +varioloid, begged and obtained permission to nurse him, which I +did as well as I was able, staying by him until the danger was +over. How far I was instrumental to his recovery I cannot say. He +professed to think I saved his life, and was profuse in his +protestations of gratitude. He was very impulsive and conceived +for me a friendship which ended only with his death. At all events +he proved as much by the great trust eventually reposed in me," +and he nodded toward Nina, who having tired of the buttons and the +chain, was busy now with the bunch of keys she had purloined from +his pocket. + +"I was in delicate health," said Arthur, "and as the cold weather +was coming on, he insisted upon taking me home with him, and I +accordingly accompanied him to Florida--to Sunny-bank, his country +seat. It was a grand old place, shaded by magnolias and surrounded +by a profusion of vines and flowering shrubs, but the most +beautiful flower of all was NINA, then eleven years age." + +Nina knew that he was praising her--that Edith sanctioned the +praise, and with the same feeling the little child experiences +when told that it is good, she smiled upon Arthur, who, smoothing +her round white check, went on: + +"My sweet Florida rose, I called her, and many a romping frolic we +had together during the winter months, and many a serious talk, +too, we had of her second mother; her own she did not remember, +and of her sister Miggie whose grave we often visited, strewing it +with flowers and watering it with tears, for Nina's attention for +her lost sister was so touching that I often wept with her over +Miggie's grave." + +"Miggie ISN'T dead," said Nina. "She's here, ain't you Miggie?" +and she nestled closer to Edith, who was growing strangely +interested in that old house, shaded with magnolias, and in the +grave of that little child. + +"I came home in the spring," said Arthur, going on with the story +Nina had interrupted, "but I kept up a boyish correspondence with +Nina, though my affection for her gradually weakened. After +becoming a pupil in Geneva Academy, I was exceedingly ambitious, +and to stand first in my class occupied more of my thoughts than +Nina Bernard. Still, when immediately after I entered Geneva +College as a sophomore, I learned that her father intended sending +her to the seminary in that village, I was glad, and when I saw +her again all my old affection for her returned with ten-fold +vigor, and the ardor of my passion was greatly increased from the +fact that other youths of my age worshipped her too, toasting the +Florida rose, and quoting her on all occasions. GRISWOLD was one +of these. Dr. Griswold. How deep his feelings were, I cannot tell. +I only know that he has never married, and he is three years older +than myself. We were room-mates in college, and when he saw that +Nina's preference was for me, he acted the part of a noble, +disinterested friend. Few know Griswold as he is." + +Arthur paused, and Edith fancied he was living over the past when +Nina was not as she was now, but alas, he was thinking what to +tell her next. Up to this point he had narrated the facts just as +they had occurred, but he could do so no longer. He must leave out +now--evade, go round the truth, and it was hard for him to do so. + +"We were engaged," he began at last. "I was eighteen, she fifteen. +But she looked quite as old as she does now. Indeed, she was +almost as far in advance of her years as she is now behind them. +Still we had no idea of marriage until I had been graduated, +although Nina's confidential friend, who was quite romantic, +suggested that we should run away. But from this I shrank as a +most foolish act, which, if divulged, would result in my being +expelled, and this disgrace I could not endure. In order, however, +to make the matter sure, I wrote to her father, asking for his +daughter when I became of age. Very impatiently I waited for his +answer, which, when it came, was a positive refusal, yet couched +in language so kind that none save a fool would have been angry. + +"'Nina could not marry,' he said, 'and I must break the engagement +at once. Sometime he would tell me why, but not then--not till I +was older.'" + +Accompanying this was a note to Nina, in which he used rather +severer terms, forbidding her to think of marriage, and telling +her he was coming immediately to take her to Europe, whither he +had long contemplated going. + +There was another pause, and a long blank was made in the story, +which Arthur at last resumed, as follows: + +"He came for her sooner than we anticipated, following close upon +the receipt of his letter, and in spite of Nina's tears took her +with him to New York, from whence early in May they started for +Europe. That was nine years ago next month, and during the +vacation following I came to Shannondale and saw you, Edith, while +you saw Nina's picture." + +Nina was apparently listening now, and turning to him she said, +"Tell her about the night when I stepped on your back and so got +out of the window." + +Arthur's face was crimson, but he answered laughingly "I fear +Miggie will not think us very dignified, if I tell her of all our +stolen interviews and the means used to procure them." + +Taking a new toy from his pocket he gave it to Nina, who, while +examining it, forgot THAT NIGHT, and he went on. + +"I come now to the saddest part of my story. Nina and I continued +to write, for her father did not forbid that, stipulating, +however, that he should see the letters which passed between us. +He had placed her in a school at Paris, where she remained until +after I was graduated and of age. Edith," and Arthur's voice +trembled, "I was too much a boy to know the nature of my feelings +toward Nina when we were engaged, and as the time wore on my love +began to wane." + +Edith's heart beat more naturally now than it had before since the +narrative commenced, but she could not forbear from saying to him, +reproachfully, "Oh, Arthur." + +"It was wrong, I know," he replied, "and I struggled against it +with all my strength, particularly when I heard that she was +coming home. Griswold knew everything, and he suggested that a +sight of her might awaken the olden feeling, and with a feverish +anxiety I waited in Boston for the steamer which I supposed was to +bring her home. After many delays she came in a sailing vessel, +but came alone. Her father had died upon the voyage and been +buried in the sea, leaving her with no friend save a Mr. Hudson, +whose acquaintance they had made in Paris." + +At the mention of Mr. Hudson the toy dropped from Nina's fingers +and the blue eyes flashed up into Edith's face with a more +rational expression than she had heretofore observed in them. + +"What is it, darling?" she asked, as she saw there was something +Nina would say. + +The lip quivered like that of a grieved child, while Nina answered +softly, "I did love Charlie better than Arthur, and it was so +wicked." + +"Yes," rejoined Arthur quickly, "Nina's love for me had died away, +and centered itself upon another. Charlie Hudson had sought her +for his wife, and while confessing her love for him she insisted +that she could not be his, because she was bound to me. This, +however, did not prevent his seeking an interview with her father, +who told him frankly the terrible impediment to Nina's marriage +with any one. It was a crushing blow to young Hudson, but he still +clung to her with all a brother's devotion, soothing her grief +upon the sea, and caring for her tenderly until Boston was +reached, and he placed her in my hands, together with a letter, +which her father wrote a few days before he died." + +"He's married now," interrupted Nina, "Charlie's married, but he +came to see me once, down at the old Asylum, and I saw him through +the grates, for I was shut up in a TANTRUM. He cried, Miggie, just +as Arthur does sometimes, and called me POOR LOST NINA. He held an +angel in his arms with blue eyes like mine, and he said she was +his child and Margaret's! Her name was Nina, too. Wasn't it nice?" +And she smiled upon Edith, who involuntarily groaned as she +thought how dreadful it must have been for Mr. Hudson to gaze +through iron bars upon the wreck of his early love. + +"Poor man," she sighed, turning to Arthur. "Is he happy with his +Margaret!" + +"He seems to be," said Arthur, "People can outlive their first +affection, you know. He resides in New York now, and is to all +appearance a prosperous, happy man. The curse has fallen alone on +me, who alone deserve it." + +He spoke bitterly, and for a moment sat apparently thinking; then, +resuming his story, said, + +"I did not open Mr. Bernard's letter until we reached the Revere +House, and I was alone in my room. Then I broke the seal and read, +while my blood curdled within my veins and every hair pricked at +its roots. The old man knew he was about to die, and confessed to +me in part his manifold transgressions, particularly his inhuman +treatment of his last wife, the mother of little Miggie, but as +this cannot, of course, be interesting to you, I will not repeat +it." + +"Oh, do," exclaimed Edith, feeling somehow that anything +concerning the mother of Miggie Bernard would interest her. + +"Well, then," returned Arthur, "he did not tell me all the +circumstances of his marriage. I only know that she was a +foreigner and very beautiful--a governess, too, I think in some +German family, and that he married her under an assumed name." + +"An assumed name!" Edith cried. "Why was that, pray?" + +"I hardly know," returned Arthur, "but believe he became in some +way implicated in a fight or gambling brawl in Paris, and being +threatened with arrest took another name than his own, and fled to +Germany or Switzerland, where he found his wife. They were married +privately, and after two or three years he brought her to his +Florida home, where his proud mother and maiden sister affected to +despise her because of her poverty. He was at that time given to +drinking, and almost every day became beastly intoxicated, abusing +his young wife so shamefully that her life became intolerable, and +at last when he was once absent from home for a few weeks, he +resolved upon going back to Europe, and leaving him forever. This +plan she confided to a maid servant who had accompanied her from +England, a resolute, determined woman, who arranged the whole so +skillfully that no one suspected their designs until they were far +on their way to New York. The old mother, who was then living, +would not suffer them to be pursued, and more than a week went by +ere Mr. Bernard learned what had occurred. He followed them of +course. He was man enough for that, but falling in with some of +his boon companions, almost as soon as he reached the city, he +drank so deeply that for several days he was unable to search for +them, and in that time both his wife and Miggie died." + +"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," and Edith's eyes filled with tears. + +"Yes, both of them died," he continued. "Mrs. Bernard's health was +greatly undermined by sorrow, and when a prevailing epidemic +fastened itself upon her, it found an easy prey. The waiting-maid +wrote immediately to Florida, and her letter was sent back to Mr. +Bernard, who, having become sobered, hastened at once to find her +place of abode. She was a very intelligent woman for one of her +class, and had taken the precaution to have the remains of her +late mistress and child deposited in such a manner that they could +easily be removed if Mr. Bernard should so desire it. He did +desire it, and the bodies were taken undisturbed to Florida, where +they now rest quietly, side by side with the proud mother and +sister, since deceased. After this Mr. Bernard became a changed +and better man, weeping often over the fate of his young girl-wife +and his infant daughter, whom he greatly loved. Other troubles he +had, too, secret troubles which he confided to me in the letter +brought by Mr. Hudson. After assuring me of his esteem and telling +me how much he should prefer me for his son-in-law to Charlie +Hudson, he added that in justice to us both he must now speak of +the horrible cloud hanging over his beautiful Nina, and which was +sure at last to envelop her in darkness. You can guess it, Edith. +You have guessed it already--hereditary insanity--reaching far +back into the past, and with each successive generation developing +itself earlier and in a more violent form. He knew nothing of it +when he married Nina's mother, a famous New Orleans belle, for her +father purposely kept it from him, hoping thus to get her off his +hands ere the malady manifested itself. + +"In her case it came on with the birth of Nina, and from that day +to her death she was a raving, disgusting maniac, as her mother +and grandmother had been before her. This was exceedingly +mortifying to the proud Bernards, negroes and all, and the utmost +care was taken of Nina, who, nevertheless, was too much like her +mother to hope for escape. There was the same peculiar look in the +eye--the same restless, nervous motions, and from her babyhood up +he knew his child was doomed to chains, straight jackets and +narrow cells, while the man who married her was domed to a still +more horrible fate. These were his very words, and my heart +stopped its beating as I read, while I involuntarily thanked +Heaven, who had changed her feelings towards me. She told me with +many tears that she had ceased to love me, and asked to be +released for the fulfillment of her vow. I knew then she would one +day be just what she is, and did not think it my duty to insist. +But I did not forsake her, though my affection for her then was +more like a brother's than a lover's. In his will, which was duly +made and witnessed, Mr. Bernard appointed me the guardian of his +child, empowering me to do for her as if she were my sister, and +bidding me when the calamity should overtake her, care for her to +the last. + +"'They don't usually survive ling,' he wrote, and he made me his +next heir after Nina's death. It was a great charge for one just +twenty-two, a young, helpless girly and an immense fortune to look +after; but Griswold, my tied friend, came to my aid, and pointed +out means by which a large portion of the Bernard estate could be +turned into money, and thus save me much trouble. I followed his +advice, and then old homestead is all the landed property there is +for me to attend to now, and as this is under the supervision of a +competent overseer, it give me no uneasiness. I suggested to Nina +that she should accompany me to Florida soon after her arrival in +Boston, but she preferred remaining for a time in some boarding +school, and I made arrangements for her to be received as a +boarder in Charlestown Seminary, leaving her there while I went +South to transact business incumbent upon me as her guardian. + +"How it happened I never knew, but by some accident her father's +letter to me became mixed up with her papers, and while I was gone +she read it, learning for the first time what the mystery was +which hung over her mother's fate, and also of the doom awaiting +her. She fainted, it was said, and during the illness which +followed raved in frantic fury, suffering no one to approach her +save Griswold, who, being at that time a physician in the Lunatic +Asylum at Worcester, hastened to her side, acquiring over her a +singular power. It is strange that in her fits of violence she +never speaks of me, nor yet of Charlie Hudson. Indeed, the past +seems all a blank to her, save as she refers to it incidentally as +she has to-day." + +"But did she stay crazy?" asked Edith. + +"Not wholly so," returned Arthur, "but from that time her reason +began to fail, until now she is hopelessly insane, and has not +known a rational moment for more than three years." + +"Nor been home in all that time?" said Edith, while Arthur +replied, + +"She would not go. She seemed to shrink from meeting her former +friends; and at last, acting upon Griswold's advice, I placed her +in the Asylum, going myself hither and thither like a feather +tossed about by the gale. Griswold was my ballast, my polar star, +and when he said to me, buy a house and have a home, I answered +that I would; and when he told me of Grassy Spring, bidding me +purchase it, I did so, although I dreaded coming to this +neighborhood of all others. I had carefully kept everything from +Grace, who, while hearing that I was in some way interested in a +Florida estate, knew none of the particulars, and I became +morbidly jealous lest she or anyone else should hear of Nina's +misfortune, or what she was to me. + +"It was a favorite idea of Griswold's that Nina might be benefited +by a change of place, and when I first came here I knew that she, +too, would follow me in due time. She has hitherto been subject to +violent attacks of frenzy, during which nothing within her reach +was safe; and, knowing this, Griswold advised me to prepare a +room, where, at such times, she could be kept by herself, for the +sight of people always made her worse. The Den, with the large +closet adjoining, was the result of this suggestion, and as I have +a great dread of neighborhood gossip, I resolved to say nothing of +her until compelled to do so by her presence in the house. I +fancied that Mrs. Johnson was a discreet woman, and my purpose was +to tell her of Nina as soon as I was fairly settled; but she +abused her trust by letting Grace into the room. You refused to +enter, and my respect for you from that moment was unbounded." + +She looked at him in much surprise, and he added, + +"You wonder, I suppose, how I know this. I was here at the time, +was in the next room when you came into the library to wait for +Grace. I watched you through the glass door, wondering who you +were, until my cousin appeared and I overheard the whole." + +"And that is why you chose me instead of Grace to take charge of +your keys," interrupted Edith, beginning to comprehend what had +heretofore been strange to her. "But, Mr. St. Claire, I don't +understand it at all--don't see why there was any need for so much +secrecy. Supposing you did dread neighborhood gossip, you could +not help being chosen Nina's guardian. She could not help being +crazy. Why not have told at once that there was such a person +under your charge? Wouldn't it have been better? It was no +disgrace to you that you have kept the father's trust, and cared +for his poor child," and she glanced lovingly at the pretty face +nestled against her arm, for Nina had fallen asleep. + +Arthur did not answer immediately, and when he did, his voice +trembled with emotion. + +"It would have been better," he said; "but when she first became +insane, I shrank from having it generally known, and the longer I +hugged the secret the harder I found it to divulge the whole. It +would look queerly, I thought, for a young man like me to be +tramelled with a crazy girl. Nobody would believe she was my ward, +and nothing more, and I became a sort of monomaniac upon the +subject. Had I never loved her--" he paused, and leaned his head +upon his hands, while Edith, bending upon him a most searching +look, startled him with the words, "Mr. St. Claire, you have not +told me all. There is something behind, something mightier than +pride or a dread of gossip." + +"Yes, Edith, there is something behind, but I can't tell YOU what +it is, you of all others." + +He was pacing the floor hurriedly now, but stopped suddenly, and +standing before Edith, said: "Edith Hastings, you are somewhat to +blame in this matter. Before I knew you I only shrank from having +people talk of my matters sooner than was absolutely necessary. +But after you became my pupil, the desire that you should never +see Nina as she is, grew into a species of madness, and I have +bent every energy to keeping you apart. I did not listen to +reason, which told me you must know of it sooner or later, but +plunged deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of attempted +concealment. When I found it necessary to dismiss Mrs. Johnson, if +I would keep my affairs to myself, I thought of the old family +servants at Sunnybank. I knew they loved and pitied Nina, and were +very sensitive with regard to her misfortune. It touches Phillis' +pride to think her young mistress is crazy, and as hers is the +ruling mind, she keeps the others in subjection, though old Judy +came near disclosing the whole to you at one time, I believe. You +know her sad story now, but you do not know how like an iron +weight it hangs upon me, crushing me to the earth, wearing my life +away, and making me old before my time. See here," and lifting his +brown locks, he showed her many a line of silver. "If I loved Nina +Bernard, my burden would be easier to bear." + +"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," interrupted Edith, "You surely do love her. +You cannot help loving her, and she so beautiful, so innocent." + +"Yes," he answered, "as a brother loves an unfortunate sister. I +feel towards her, I think, as a mother does towards a helpless +child, a tender pity which prompts me to bear with her even when +she tries me almost beyond endurance. She is not always as mild as +you see her now, though her frenzied moods do not occur as +frequently as they did. She loves me, I think, as an infant loves +its mother, and is better when I am with her. At all events, since +coming to Grassy Spring, she has been unusually quiet, until +within the last two weeks, when a nervous fever has confined her +to her room and made her somewhat unmanagable. Griswold said she +would be better here, and though I had not much faith in the +experiment, I see now that he was right. Griswold is always right, +and had I followed his advice years ago, much of my trouble might +have been averted. Edith, never conceal a single act, if you wish +to be happy. A little fault, if covered up, grows into a mountain; +and the longer it is hidden, the harder it is to be confessed. +This is my experience. There was a false step at first, and it +lies too far back in the past to be remedied now. No one knows of +it but myself, Griswold, Nina, and my God. Yes, there IS one more +whose memory might be refreshed, but I now have no fear of him." + +Edith did not ask who this other was, neither did she dream that +Richard Harrington was in any way connected with the mystery. She +thought of him, however, wondering if she might tell him of Nina, +and asking if she could. + +Arthur's face was very white, as he replied, "Tell him if you +like, or any one else. It is needless to keep it longer, but, +Edith, you'll come again, won't you? come to see Nina if nothing +more. I am glad you have seen her, provided you do not desert me +wholly." + +"Of course I shall not," she said, as she laid the golden head of +the sleeping girl upon the cushion of the sofa, preparatory to +leaving, "I'll come again, and forgive you, too, for anything you +may have done, except a wrong to her," and she carefully kissed the +poor, crazy Nina. + +Then, offering her hand to Arthur she tried to bid him good-bye as +of old, but he missed something in her manner, and with feelings +sadly depressed he watched her from the window, as, assisted by +Ike, she mounted her pony and galloped swiftly away. + +"She's lost to me forever, and there's nothing worth living for +now," he said, just as a little hand pressed his arm, and a sweet +childish voice murmured, "Yes, there is, Arthur. Live for Nina, +poor Nina," and the snowy fingers, which, for a moment, had rested +lightly on his arm, began to play with the buttons of his coat, +while the soft blue eyes looted pleadingly into his. + +"Yes, darling; he said, caressing her flowing curls, and pushing +them back from her forehead, "I will live for you, hereafter. I +will love no one else." + +"No one but Miggie. You MAY love her. You must love her, Arthur. +She's so beautiful, so grand, why has she gone from Nina, I want +her here, want her all the time;" and Nina's mood began to change. + +Tears filled her eyes, and burying her face in Arthur's bosom she +begged him to go after Miggie, to bring her. back and keep her +there always, threatening that if he did'nt "Nina would be bad." + +Tenderly, but firmly, as a parent soothes a refractory child, did +Arthur soothe the excitable Nina, telling her Miggie should come +again, or if she did not, they'd go up and see her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +NINA AND MIGGIE. + + +It would be impossible to describe Edith's feelings as she rode +toward home. She knew Arthur had not told her the whole, and that +the part omitted was the most important of all. What could it be? +She thought of a thousand different things, but dismissed them one +after another from her mind as too preposterous to be cherished +for a moment. The terrible reality never once occurred to her, +else her heart had not beaten as lightly as it did, in spite of +the strange story she had heard. She was glad that she had met +with Nina--glad that every obstacle to their future intercourse +was removed--and while she censured Arthur much she pitied him the +more and scolded herself heartily for feeling so comfortable and +satisfied because he had ceased to love the unfortunate Nina. + +"I can't blame him for not wishing to be talked about," she said. +"Shannondale IS a horribly gossipping place, and people would have +surmised everything; but the sooner they know it now the sooner it +will die away. Let me think. Who will be likely to spread the news +most industriously?" + +Suddenly remembering Mrs. Eliakim Rogers, the busiest gossip in +town, she turned Bedouin in the direction of the low brown house, +standing at a little distance from the road, and was soon seated +in Mrs. Eliakim's kitchen, her ostensible errand being to inquire +about some plain sewing the good lady was doing for her, while her +real object was to communicate as much of Arthur's story as she +thought proper. Incidentally she spoke of Mr. St. Claire, and when +the widow asked "What under the sun possessed him to live as he +did," she replied by telling of NINA, his ward, who, she said, had +recently come to Grassy Spring from the Asylum, adding a few items +as to how Arthur chanced to be her guardian, talking as if she had +known of it all the time, and saying she did not wonder that a +young man like him should shrink from having it generally +understood that he had a crazy girl upon his hands. He was very +kind to her indeed, and no brother could treat his sister more +tenderly than he treated Nina. + +To every thing she said, Mrs. Eliakim smilingly assented, drawing +her own conclusions the while and feeling vastly relieved when, at +last, her visitor departed, leaving her at liberty to don her +green calash and start for the neighbors with this precious morsel +of gossip. Turning back, Edith saw her hurrying across the fields, +and knew it would not be long ere all Shannondale were talking of +Arthur's ward. + +Arrived at home she found the dinner waiting for her, and when +asked by Richard what had kept her she replied by repeating to him +in substance what she had already told Mrs. Eliakim Rogers. There +was this difference however, between the two stories--the one told +to Richard was longer and contained more of the particulars. She +did not, however, tell him of Arthur's love for Nina, or of the +neglected wife, the mother of little Miggie, though why she +withheld that part of the story she could not tell. She felt a +strange interest in that young mother dying alone in the noisome +city, and in the little child buried upon her bosom, but she had +far rather talk of Nina and her marvellous beauty, feeling sure +that she had at least one interested auditor, Victor, who was +perfectly delighted to have the mystery of Grassy Spring +unravelled, though he felt a little disappointed that it should +amount to nothing more than a crazy girl, to whom Mr. St. Claire +was guardian. + +This feeling of Victor was in a great measure shared by the +villagers, and, indeed, after a day or two of talking and +wondering, the general opinion seemed to be that Arthur had +magnified the evil and been altogether too much afraid of Madam +Rumor, who was inclined to be rather lenient toward him, +particularly as Edith Hastings took pains to tell how kind he was +to Nina, who gave him oftentimes so much trouble. The tide of +popular feeling was in his favor, and the sympathy which many +openly expressed for him was like a dagger to the young man, who +knew he did not deserve it. Still he was relieved of a great +burden, and was far happier than he had been before, and even +signified to Grace his willingness to mingle in society and see +company at his own house. The consequence of this was throngs of +visitors at Grassy Spring, said visitors always asking for Mr. St. +Claire, but caring really to see Nina, who shrank from their +advances, and hiding herself in her room refused at last to go +down unless Miggie were there. + +MIGGIE had purposely absented herself from Grassy Spring more than +two whole weeks, and when Richard asked the cause of it she +answered that she did not know, and, indeed, she could not to +herself define the reason of her staying so long from a place +where she wished so much to be, unless it were that she had not +quite recovered from the shock it gave her to know that Arthur had +once been engaged, even though he had wearied of the engagement. +It seemed to her that he had built between them a barrier which +she determined he should be the first to cross. So she studiously +avoided him, and thus unconsciously plunged him deeper and deeper +into the mire, where he was already foundering. Her apparent +indifference only increased the ardor of his affection, and though +he struggled against it as against a deadly sin, he could not +overcome it, and at last urged on by Nina, who begged so hard for +Miggie, he resolved upon going to Collingwood and taking Nina with +him. + +It was a warm, pleasant afternoon in May, and Nina had never +looked more beautiful than when seated in the open carriage, and +on her way to Collingwood, talking incessantly of Miggie, whom she +espied long before they reached the house. It was a most joyful +meeting between the two young girls, Nina clinging to Edith as if +fearful of losing her again, if by chance she should release her +hold. + +Arthur did not tell Edith how much he had missed her, but Nina +did, and when she saw the color deepen on Edith's cheeks she +added, "You love him, don't you, Miggie?" + +"I love every body, I hope," returned the blushing Edith, as she +led her guests into the room where Richard was sitting. + +At sight of the blind man Nina started, and clasping her hands +together, stood regarding him fixedly, while a look of perplexity +deepened upon her face. + +"Speak to her, Edith," whispered Arthur, but ere Edith could +comply with his request, Nina's lips parted and she said, "YOU DID +DO IT, DIDN'T YOU?" + +"Whose voice was that?" and Richard started forward. + +It's Nina, Mr. Harrington; pretty Nina Bernard; and Edith came to +the rescue. + +"She has a sweet, familiar voice," said Richard, "Come to me, +little one, will you?" + +He evidently thought her a child, for in her statement Edith had +not mentioned her age, and Richard had somehow received the +impression that she was very young. It suited Nina to be thus +addressed, and she went readily to Richard, who pressed her soft, +warm hands, and then telling her playfully that he wished to know +how she looked, passed his own hand slowly over her face and hair, +caressing the latter and twining one of the curls around his +fingers; then, winding his arm about her slender waist, he asked +how old she was. + +"FIFTEEN YEARS AND A HALF," was her prompt reply.' + +Richard never thought of doubting her word. She was very slight +indeed. "A little morsel," he called her, and as neither Arthur +nor Edith corrected the mistake, he was suffered to think of Nina +Bernard as one, who, were she rational, would be a mere school- +girl yet. + +She puzzled him greatly, and more than once he started at some +peculiar intonation of her voice. + +"Little Snowdrop," he said, at last, "it seems to me I have known +you all my life. Look at me, and say if we have met before?" + +Edith was too intent upon Nina's answer to notice Arthur, and she +failed to see the spasm of pain and fear which passed over his +face, leaving it paler than its wont. Bending over Nina he waited +like Edith while she scanned Richard curiously, and then replied, +"Never, UNLESS YOU ARE THE ONE THAT DID IT--are you?" + +"Did what?" asked Richard, and while Nina hesitated, Arthur +replied, "She has a fancy that somebody made her crazy." + +"Not I, oh, no, not I, poor little dove. I did not do it, sure," +and Richard smoothed the yellow curls resting on his knee. + +"Who was it, then?" persisted Nina. "He was tall, like you, and +dark and handsome, wasn't he Arthur? You know--you were there?" +and she turned appealingly to the young man, whose heart beat so +loudly as to be plainly audible to himself. + +"It was Charlie Hudson, perhaps," suggested Edith, and Arthur +mentally blessed her for a remark which turned the channel of +Nina's thoughts, and set her to telling Richard how Charlie cried +when he saw her through the iron bars, wearing that queer-looking +gown. + +"I danced for him with all my might," she said, "and sang so loud, +for I thought it would make him laugh as it did the folks around +me, but he only cried the harder. What made him?" and she looked +up wistfully in Richard's face. "YOU are crying, too!" she +exclaimed. "Everybody cries where I am. Why do they? I wish they +wouldn't. I'm good to-day--there, please don't, Mr. Big-man, THAT +DID DO IT,"? and raising her waxen hand she brushed away the tear +trembling on Richard's long eyelashes. + +Edith now sought to divert her by asking if she were fond of +music, and would like to hear her play, + +"Nina'll play," returned the little maiden, and going to the piano +she dashed off a wild, impassioned, mixed-up impromptu, resembling +now the soft notes of the lute or the plaintive sob of the winter +wind, and then swelling into a full, rich, harmonious melody, +which made the blood chill in Edith's veins, and caused both +Richard and Arthur to hold their breath. + +This music ceased, and rising from the stool Nina expressed a +desire to go home, insisting that Edith should go with her and +stay all night. + +"I want to sleep with my arms around your neck just like you used +to do," she said; and when Arthur, too, joined in the request, +Edith answered that she would if Richard were willing. + +"And sleep with a lunatic,--is it quite safe?" he asked. + +"Perfectly so," returned Arthur, adding that the house was large +enough, and Edith could act her own pleasure with regard to +sleeping apartments. + +"Then it's settled that I may go," chimed in Edith, quite as much +delighted at the prospect of a long evening with Arthur, as with +the idea of seeing more of Nina. + +She knew she was leaving Richard very lonely, but she promised to +be home early on the morrow, and bidding good-bye, followed Arthur +and Nina to the carriage. + +Nina was delighted to have Edith with her, and after their arrival +at Grassy Spring, danced and skipped about the house like a gay +butterfly, pausing every few moments to wind her arms around the +neck of her guest, whom she kissed repeatedly, calling her always +MIGGIE, and telling her how much she loved her. + +"Don't you want to see YOU as you used to be?" she asked suddenly. +"If you do, come up,--come to my room. She may?" and she turned +toward Arthur, who answered, "certainly, I will go myself," and +the three soon stood at the door of the DEN. + +It was Edith's first visit there, and a feeling of awe came over +her as she crossed the threshold of the mysterious room. Then a +cry of joyful surprise burst from her lips as she saw how pleasant +it was in there, and how tastefully the chamber was fitted up. Not +another apartment in the house could compare with it, and Edith +felt that she could be happy there all her life, were it not for +the iron lattice, which gave it somewhat the appearance of a +prison. + +"Here you are," cried Nina, dragging her across the floor to the +portrait of the little child which had so interested her during +Arthur's absence. "This is she--this is you,--this is Miggie," and +Nina jumped up and down, while Edith gazed again upon the sweet +baby face she had once seen in the drawing-room. + +"There is a slight resemblance between you," said Arthur, glancing +from one to the other, "Had she lived, her eyes must have been +like yours; but look, this was Nina's father." + +Edith did not answer him. Indeed, she scarcely knew what he was +saying, for a nameless fascination chained her to the spot, a +feeling as if she were beholding her other self, as if she had +leaped backward many years, and was seated again upon the nursery +floor like the child before her. Like gleams of lightning, +confused memories of the past came rushing over her only to pass +away, leaving her in deeper darkness. One thought, however, like a +blinding flash caused her brain to reel, while she grasped +Arthur's arm, exclaiming, "Are you sure the baby died--sure she +was buried with her mother?" + +"Yes, perfectly sure," was Arthur's reply, and with the sensation +of disappointment, Edith turned at last from Miggie to the +contemplation of the father; the Mr. Bernard whom she was not +greatly disposed to like. + +He was a portly, handsome man, but his face showed traces of early +debauchery and later dissipation. Still, Edith was far more +interested in him than in the portrait of Nina's mother, the +light-haired, blue-eyed woman, so much like the daughter that the +one could easily be recognized from it a resemblance to the other. + +"Where is the second Mrs. Bernard's picture?" she asked, and +Arthur answered, "It was never taken, but Phillis declares YOU are +like her, and this accounts for Nina's pertinacity in calling you +Miggie." + +The pictures were by this time duly examined, and then Nina, still +playing the part of hostess, showed to Edith every thing of the +least interest until she came to the door, leading into the large +square closet. + +"Open it, please," she whispered to Arthur. "Let Miggie see where +Nina stays when she tears." + +Arthur unlocked the door, and Edith stepped with a shudder into +the solitary cell which had witnessed more than one wild revel, +and echoed to more than one delirious shriek. + +"Is it necessary?" she asked, and Arthur replied: "We think so; +otherwise she would demolish every thing within her reach, and +throw herself from the window it may be." + +"THAT'S SO," said Nina, nodding approvingly. "When I'm bad, I have +to tear. It cures my head, and I'm so strong then, that it takes +Phillis and Arthur both to put that gown on me. I can't tear +that," and she pointed to a loose sacque-like garment, made of the +heaviest possible material, and hanging upon a nail near the door +of the cell. + +"Have you been shut up since you came here?" Edith inquired, and +Nina rejoined. "Once; didn't you hear me scream?" Phillis tried to +make me quit, but I told her I wouldn't unless they'd let you +come. I saw you on the walk, you know. I'm better with you, +Miggie; a heap better since you made me cry. It took a world of +hardness and pain away, and my head has not ached a single time +since then. I'm most well; ain't I, Arthur." + +"Miss Hastings certainly has a wonderful influence over you," +returned Arthur, and as the evening wore away, Edith began to +think so, too. + +Even the servants commented upon the change in Nina, who appeared +so natural and lady-like, that once there darted across Arthur's +mind the question, "what if her reason SHOULD be restored! I will +do right, Heaven helping me," he moaned mentally, for well he knew +that Nina sane would require of him far different treatment from +what Nina crazy did. It was late that night when they parted, he +to his lonely room where for hours he paced the floor with +feverish disquiet, while Edith went from choice with Nina to the +DEN, determined to share her single bed, and smiling at her own +foolishness when once a shadow of fear crept into her heart. How +could she be afraid of the gentle creature, who, in her snowy +night dress, with her golden hair falling about her face and neck, +looked like some beautiful angel flitting about the room, +pretending to arrange this and that, casting half bashful glances +at Edith, who was longer in disrobing and at last, as if summoning +all her courage for the act, stepping behind the thin lace window +curtains, which she drew around her, saying softly, "don't look at +me, Miggie, will you, 'cause I'm going to pray." + +Instantly the brush which Edith held was stayed amid her raven +hair, and the hot tears rained over her face as she listened to +that prayer, that God would keep Nina from TEARING any more, and +not let Arthur cry, but make it all come right some time with him +and Miggie, too. Then followed that simple petition, "now I lay me +down to sleep," learned at the mother's knee by so many thousand +children whose graves like hillocks in the church-yard lie, and +when she arose and came from behind the gauzy screen where she +fancied she had been hidden from view, Edith was not wrong in +thinking that something like the glory of Heaven shone upon her +pure white brow. All dread of her was gone, and when Sophy came +in, offering to sleep upon the floor as was her usual custom, she +promptly declined, for she would rather be alone with Nina. + +Edith had never been intimate with any girl of her own age, and to +her it was a happiness entirely new, she nestling down in the +narrow bed with a loved companion whose arms wound themselves +caressingly around her neck, and whose lips touched hers many +times, whispering, "Bless you, Miggie, bless you, precious sister, +you can't begin to guess how much I love you. Neither can I tell +you. Why, it would take me till morning." + +It became rather tiresome after a time being kept awake, and +fearing lest she WOULD talk till morning, Edith said to her, + +"I shall go home if you are not more quiet." + +There was something in Edith's voice which prompted the crazy girl +to obey, and with one more assurance of love she turned to her +pillow, and Edith knew by her soft, regular breathing, that her +troubles were forgotten. + +"I hardly think you'll care to repeat the experiment again," +Arthur said to Edith next morning, when he met her at the table, +and saw that she looked rather weary. "Nina, I fear, was +troublesome, as Sophy tells me she often is." + +Edith denied Nina's having troubled her much. Still she felt that +she preferred her own cozy bed-chamber to Nina's larger, handsomer +room, and would not promise to spend another night at Grassy +Spring, although she expressed her willingness to resume her +drawing lessons, and suggested that Nina, too, should become a +pupil. Arthur would much rather have had Edith all to himself, for +he knew that Nina's presence would be a restraint upon him, but it +was right, and he consented as the only means of having Edith back +again in her old place, fancying that when he had her there it +would be the same as before. But he was mistaken, for when the +lessons were resumed, he found there was something between them,-- +something which absorbed Edith's mind, and was to him a constant +warning and rebuke. Did he bend so near Edith at her task, that +his brown locks touched her blacker braids, a shower of golden +curls was sure to mingle with the twain, as Nina also bent her +down to see what he was looking at. Did the hand which sometimes +guided Edith's pencil ever retain the fingers longer than +necessary, a pair of deep blue eyes looked into his, not +reproachfully, for Nina could not fathom the meaning of what she +saw, but with an expression of childlike trust and confidence far +more potent than frowns and jealous tears would have been. Nina +was in Arthur's way, but not in Edith's, and half the pleasure she +experienced now in going to Grassy Spring, was derived from the +fact that she thus saw more of Nina than she would otherwise have +done. It was a rare and beautiful sight, the perfect love existing +between these two young girls, Edith seeming the elder, inasmuch +as she was the taller and more self-reliant of the two. As a +mother watches over and loves her maimed infant, so did Edith +guard and cherish Nina, possessing over her so much power that a +single look from her black eyes was sufficient to quiet at once +the little lady, who, under the daily influence of her society +visibly improved both in health and spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DR. GRISWOLD. + + +Still Nina's mind was enshrouded in as deep a gloom as ever, and +Dr. Griswold, who, toward the latter part of June, came to see +her, said it would be so always. There was no hope of her +recovery, and with his olden tenderness of manner he caressed his +former patient, sighing as he thought of the weary life before +her. For two days Dr. Griswold remained at Grassy Spring, learning +in that time much how matters stood. He saw Edith Hastings,-- +scanned with his clear, far-reaching eye every action of Arthur +St. Claire, and when at last his visit was ended, and Arthur was +walking with him to the depot, he said abruptly, "I am sorry for +you, St. Claire; more sorry than I ever was before, but you know +the path of duty and you must walk in it, letting your eyes stray +to neither side, lest they fall upon forbidden fruit." + +Arthur made no reply save to kick the gnarled roots of the tree +under which they had stopped for a few moments. + +"Edith Hastings is very beautiful!" Dr. Griswold remarked +suddenly, and as if SHE had just entered his mind. "Does she come +often to Grassy Spring?" + +"Every day," and Arthur tried to look his friend fully in the +face, but could not, and his brown eyes fell as he added hastily, +"she comes to see Nina; they are greatly attached." + +"She HAS a wonderful power over her, I think," returned Dr. +Griswold; "and I am not surprised that you esteem her highly on +that account, but how will it be hereafter when other duties, +other relations claim her attention. Will she not cease to visit +you and so Nina made worse?" + +"What new duties? What relations do you mean," Arthur asked +quickly, trembling in every joint as he anticipated the answer. + +"I have a fancy that Miss Hastings will reward that blind man for +all his kindness with her heart and hand." + +"Her hand it may be, but her heart, NEVER," interrupted Arthur, +betraying by his agitation what Dr. Griswold had already guessed. + +"Poor Arthur," he said, "I know what is in your mind and pity you +so much, but you can resist temptation and you MUST. There's no +alternative. You chose your destiny years ago--abide by it, then. +Hope and pray, as I do, that Edith Hastings will be the blind +man's bride." + +"Oh, Griswold," and Arthur groaned aloud, "you cannot wish to +sacrifice her thus!" + +"I can--I do--it will save you both from ruin." + +"Then you think--you DO think she loves me," and Arthur looked +eagerly at his friend, who answered, "I think nothing, save that +she will marry Mr. Harrington. Your cousin told me there was a +rumor to that effect. She is often at Collingwood, and ought to be +posted." + +"Griswold, I wish I were dead," exclaimed Arthur. "Yes, I wish I +were dead, and were it not that I dread the hereafter, I would end +my existence at once in yonder river," and he pointed to the +Chicopee, winding its slow way to the westward. + +Dr. Griswold gazed at him a moment in silence, and then replied +somewhat sternly, "Rather be a man and wait patiently for the +future." + +"I would, but for the fear that Edith will be lost to me forever," +Arthur answered faintly, and Dr. Griswold replied, "Better so than +lost herself. Why not be candid with her; tell her everything; go +over the entire past, and if she truly loves you, she will wait, +years and years if need be. She's young yet, too young to be a +wife. Will you tell her?" + +"I can't, I can't," and Arthur shook his head despairingly. "I have +hidden the secret too long to tell it now. It might have been easy +at first, but now--it's too late. Oh, Griswold, you do not +understand what I suffer, for you never knew what it was to love +as I love Edith Hastings." For a moment Dr. Griswold looked at him +in silence. He knew how fierce a storm had gathered round him, and +how bravely he had met it. He knew, too, how impetuous and ardent +was his disposition, how much one of his temperament must love +Edith Hastings, and he longed to speak to him a word of comfort. +Smoothing the brown hair of the bowed head, and sighing to see how +many threads of silver were woven in it, he said, + +"I pity you so much, and can feel for you more than you suspect. +You say I know not what it is to love. Oh, Arthur, Arthur. You +little guessed what it cost me, years ago, to give up NINA +BERNARD. It almost broke my heart, and the wound is bleeding yet! +Could the past be undone; could we stand where we did that night +which both remember so well, I would hold you back; and Nina, +crazy as she is, should this moment be mine--mine to love, to +cherish, to care for and weep over when she is dead. Poor little +unfortunate Nina--my darling--my idol--my clipped-wing bird!" + +It was Dr. Griswold's voice which trembled now, and Arthur's which +essayed to comfort him. + +"I never dreamed of this," he said. "I knew you, with others, had +a liking for her, but you relinquished her so willingly, I could +not guess you loved her so well," and in his efforts to soothe his +friend, Arthur forgot his own sorrow in part. + +It was time now for the Dr. to go, as the smoke of the coming +train was visible over the hills. "You need not accompany me +further," he said, offering his hand to Arthur, who pressed it in +silence, and then walked slowly back to Grassy Spring. + +Those were terrible days which followed the visit of Dr. Griswold, +for to see Edith Hastings often was a danger he dared not incur, +while to avoid her altogether was utterly impossible, and at last +resolving upon a change of scene as his only hope, he one morning +astonished Grace with the announcement that he was going South, +and it might be many weeks ere he returned. + +Since coming to that neighborhood, Arthur had been a puzzle to +Grace, and she watched him now in amazement, as he paced the +floor, giving her sundry directions with regard to Nina, and +telling her where a letter would find him in case she should be +sick, and require his personal attention. It was in vain that +Grace expostulated with him upon what seemed to her a foolish and +uncalled-for journey. He was resolved, and saying he should not +probably see Edith ere his departure, he left his farewell with +her. + +Once he thought of bidding her encourage Edith to marry the blind +man, but he could not quite bring himself to this. Edith was +dearer to him now than when she promised him that if Richard +sought her hand she would not tell him no, and he felt that he +would rather she should die than be thus sacrificed. Anxiously +Grace looked after him as he walked rapidly away, thinking within +herself that long association with Nina had impaired his reason. +And Arthur was more than half insane. Not until now had he been +wholly roused to the reality of his position. Dr. Griswold had +rent asunder the flimsy veil, showing him how hopeless was his +love for Edith, and so, because he could not have her, he must go +away. It was a wise decision, and he was strengthened to keep it +in spite of Nina's tears that he should stay. + +"Nina'll die, or somebody'll die, I know," and the little girl +clung sobbing to his neck, when the hour of parting came. + +Very gently he unclasped her clinging arms; very tenderly he +kissed her lips, bidding her give one to Miggie, and then he left +her, turning back ere he reached the gate, as a new idea struck +him. Would NINA go with him; go to her Florida home, if so he +would defer his journey a day or so. He wondered he had not +thought of this before. It would save him effectually, and he +anxiously waited her answer. + +"If Miggie goes I will, but not without." + +This was Nina's reply, and Arthur turned a second time away. + +In much surprise, Edith, who came that afternoon, heard of +Arthur's departure. + +"Why did he go without bidding me good-bye?" she asked. + +"I don't know, but he left a kiss for you right on my lips," said +Nina, putting up her rosebud mouth for Edith to take what was +unquestionably her own. + +While they were thus talking together, the door bell rang, and +Soph, who answered the ring, admitted Dr. Griswold. + +"Dr. Griswold here again so soon!" exclaimed Edith, a suspicion +crossing her mind that Arthur had arranged for him to take charge +of Nina during his absence. "But it shall not be," she thought, "I +can prevent her returning to the Asylum, and I will." + +She might have spared herself all uneasiness, for Dr. Griswold +knew nothing of Arthur's absence, and seemed more surprised than +she had been. + +"I am so glad, so glad," he said; and when Edith looked +inquiringly at him, he answered, "I am glad because it is right +that he should go." + +Edith did not in the least comprehend his meaning, and as he +manifested no intention to explain, the conversation soon turned +upon other topics than Arthur and his sudden journey. Since +Arthur's visit to Worcester, Dr. Griswold had heard nothing from +him, and impelled by one of those strange influences which will +sometimes lead a person on to his fate, he had come up to +Shannondale partly to see how matters stood and partly to whisper +a word of encouragement to one who needed it so much. He had never +been very robust or strong; the secret which none save Arthur knew +had gradually undermined his health, and he was subject to +frequent attacks of what he called his nervous headaches. The +slightest cause would sometimes induce one of these, and when on +the morning after his arrival at Grassy Spring he awoke from a +troubled sleep he knew by certain unmistakable signs that a day of +suffering was in store for him. This on his own account he would +not have minded particularly, for he was accustomed to it, but his +presence was needed at home; and the knowledge of this added to +the intensity of his pain, which became so great that to rise from +his pillow was impossible, and Soph, when sent to his room to +announce that breakfast was waiting, reported him to her mother as +"mighty sick with blood in the face." + +All the day long he lay in the darkened room, sometimes dreaming, +sometimes moaning, and watching through his closed eyes the +movements of Nina, who had constituted herself his nurse, treading +on tiptoe across the floor, whispering to herself, and apparently +carrying on an animated conversation with some imaginary +personage. Softly, she bathed his aching head, asking every moment +if he were better, and going once behind the door where he heard +her praying that "God would make the good doctor well." + +Blessed Nina, there was far more need for this prayer than she +supposed, for when the next day came, the pain and heat about the +eyes and head were not in the least abated, and a physician was +called, who pronounced the symptoms to be those of typhoid fever. +With a stifled moan, Dr. Griswold turned upon his pillow, while +his great, unselfish heart went out after his poor patients in the +Asylum, who would miss him so much. Three days passed away, and it +was generally known in the village that a stranger lay sick of +typhus fever at Grassy Spring, which with common consent was +shunned as if the deadly plague had been rioting there. Years +before the disease had raged with fearful violence in the town, +and many a fresh mound was reared in the graveyard, and many a +hearth-stone desolated. This it was which struck a panic to the +hearts of the inhabitants when they knew the scourge was again in +their midst, and save the inmates of the house, and Edith +Hastings, none came to Dr. Griswold's aid. At first Richard +refused to let the latter put herself in the way of danger, but +for once Edith asserted her right to do as she pleased, and +declared that she WOULD share Nina's labors. So for many weary +days and nights those two young girls hovered like angels of mercy +around the bed where the sick man tossed from side to side, while +the fever burned more and more fiercely in his veins until his +reason was dethroned, and a secret told which otherwise would have +died with him. Gradually the long hidden love for Nina showed +itself, and Edith, who alone could comprehend the meaning of what +he said and did, saw how a strong, determined man can love, even +when there is no hope. + +"Little wounded dove," he called the golden-haired maiden, who +bent so constantly over him, caressing his burning face with her +cool, soft hands, passing her snowy fingers through his disordered +hair, and suffering him to kiss her as he often did, but insisting +always that MIGGIE should be kissed also, and Edith, knowing that +what was like healing to the sick man would be withheld unless +she, too, submitted, would sometimes bow her graceful head and +receive upon her brow the token of affection. + +"You must hug Miggie, too," Nina said to him one day, when he had +held her slight form for a moment to his bosom. "She's just as +good to you as I am." + +"Nina," said Edith, "Dr. Griswold does not love me as he does you, +and you must not worry him so. Don't you see it makes him worse?" +and lifting the hair she pointed to the drops of perspiration +standing upon his forehead. + +This seemed to satisfy Nina, while at the same time her darkened +mind must have caught a glimmer of the truth, for her manner +changed perceptibly, and for a day or so she was rather shy of Dr. +Griswold. Then the mood changed again, and to the poor dying man +was vouchsafed a glimpse of what it might have been to be loved by +Nina Bernard. + +"Little sunbeam--little clipped-winged bird--little pearl," were +the terms of endearment he lavished upon her, as, with his feeble +arm about her, he told her one night how he loved her. "Don't go +Edith," he said, as he saw her stealing from the room; "sit down +here beside me and listen to what I have to say." + +Edith obeyed, and taking her hand and Nina's in his, as if the +touch of them both would make him strong to unburden his mind, he +began: + +"Let me call you Edith, while I'm talking, for the sake of one who +loves you even as I love Nina," + +Edith started, and very foolishly replied, + +"Do you mean Mr. Harrington?" + +She knew he didn't, but her heart was so sore on the subject of +Arthur's absence that she longed to be reassured in some way, and +so said what she did. + +"No, Edith, it is not Mr. Harrington, I mean," and Dr. Griswold's +bright eyes fastened themselves upon the trembling girl as if to +read her inmost soul, and see how far her feelings were enlisted. + +"It's Arthur," said Nina, nodding knowingly at both. + +"Arthur," Edith repeated bitterly. "Fine proof he gives of his +love. Going from home for an indefinite length of time without one +word for me. He hates me, I know," and bursting into tears she +buried her face in the lap of Nina, who sat upon the bed. + +"Poor Edith!" and another hand than Nina's smoothed her bands of +shining hair. "By this one act you have confessed that Arthur's +love is not unrequited. I hoped it might be otherwise. God help +you, Edith. God help you." + +He spoke earnestly, and a thrill of fear ran through Edith's +veins. Lifting up her head, she said, + +"You talk as if it were a certainty that Arthur St. Claire loves +me. He has never told me so--never." + +She could not add that he had never given her reason to think so, +for he had, and her whole frame quivered with joy as she heard her +suspicions confirmed by Dr. Griswold. + +"He does love you, Edith Hastings. He has confessed as much to me, +and this is why he has gone from home. He would forget you, and it +is right. He must forget you; he must not love. It would be a +wicked, wicked thing; and Edith--are you listening--do you hear +all I say?" + +"Yes," came faintly from Nina's lap, where Edith had laid her face +again. + +"Then promise not to marry him, so long--so long--Oh, Nina, how +can I say it? Edith, swear you'll never marry Arthur. Swear, +Edith, swear." + +His voice was raised to a shriek, and by the dim light of the +lamp, which fell upon his pallid features, both Edith and Nina saw +the wild delirium flashing from his eye. Nina was the first to +detect it, and wringing Edith's hand she whispered, imploringly, + +"Swear, Miggie, once. Say THUNDER, or something like that as +softly as you can. It won't be so very bad, and he wants you to so +much." + +Frightened as Edith was at Dr. Griswold's manner she could not +repress a smile at Nina's mistaken idea. Still she did NOT swear, +and all that night he continued talking incoherently of Arthur, of +Edith, of Nina, Geneva, Richard Harrington, and a thousand other +matters, mingling them together in such a manner that nothing +clear or connected could be made of what he said. In the morning +he was more quiet, but there was little hope of his life, the +physician said. From the first he had greatly desired to see +Arthur once more, and when his danger became apparent a telegram +had been forwarded to the wanderer, but brought back no response. +Another was sent, and another, the third one, in the form of a +letter, finding him far up the Red river, where in that sultry +season the air was rife with pestilence, which held with death +many a wanton revel, and would surely have claimed him for its +victim, but for the timely note which called him away. + +Night and day, day and night, as fast as the steam-god could take +him, he traveled, his heart swelling with alternate hope and fear +as he neared the north-land, seeing from afar the tall heads of +the New England mountains, and knowing by that token that he was +almost home. + + * * * * * * + +It was night, dark night at Grassy Spring, and the summer +rain, which all the day had fallen in heavy showers, beat drearily +against the windows of the room where a fair young girl was +keeping watch over the white-faced man whose life was fast ebbing +away. They were alone,--Dr. Griswold and Nina--for both would have +it so. He, because he felt how infinitely precious to him would be +his last few hours with her, when there was no curious ear to +listen; and she, because she would have Miggie sleep. Nina knew no +languor from wakefulness. She was accustomed to it, and as if +imbued with supernatural strength, she had sat night after night +in that close room, ministering to the sick man as no one else +could have done, and by her faithfulness and tender care repaying +him in part for the love which for long, weary years had known no +change, and which, as life draw near its close, manifested itself +in a desire to have her constantly at his side, where he could +look into her eyes, and hear the murmurings of her bird-like +voice. + +Thus far Edith and the servants had shared her vigils, but this +night she preferred to be alone, insisting that Edith, who began +to show signs of weariness, should occupy the little room, +adjoining, where she could be called, if necessary. Not +apprehending death so soon the physician acquiesced in this +arrangement, stipulating, however, that Phillis should sleep upon +the lounge in Dr. Griswold's chamber, but the care, the +responsibility, should all be Nina's, he said, and with childish +alacrity she hastened to her post. It was the first time she had +kept the watch alone, but from past experience the physician +believed she could be trusted, and he left her without a moment's +hesitation. + +Slowly the hours went by, and Nina heard no sound save the low +breathing of the sleepers near, the dropping of the rain, and the +mournful sighing of the wind through the maple trees. Midnight +came, and then the eyes of the sick man opened wide and wandered +about the room as if in quest of some one. + +"Nina," he said, faintly, "Are you here? Why has the lamp gone +out? It's so dark that I can't see your face." + +Bending over him, Nina replied, + +"I'm here, doctor. Nina's here. Shall I get more light so you CAN +see?" + +"Yes, darling, more light--more light;" and swift as a fawn Nina +ran noiselessly from room to room, gathering up lamp after lamp, +and candle after candle, and bringing them to the sick chamber, +which blazed as if on fire, while the musical laugh of the lunatic +echoed through the room as she whispered to herself, "Twenty sperm +candles and fifteen lamps! 'Tis a glorious watch I keep to-night." + +Once she thought of wakening Edith to share in her transports, but +was withheld from doing so by a feeling that "Miggie" would not +approve her work. + +"It's light as noonday," she said, seating herself upon the +bedside. "Can't you see me now?" + +"No, Nina, I shall never look on your dear face again until we +meet in Heaven. There you will be my own. No one can come between +us," and the feeble arms wound themselves lovingly around the +maiden, who laid her cheek against his feverish one, while her +little fingers strayed once more amid the mass of disordered hair, +pushing it back from the damp forehead, which she touched with her +sweet lips. + +"Nina," and the voice was so low that Nina bent her down to catch +the sound, "I am dying, darling. You are not afraid to stay with +me till the last?" + +"No," she answered, "not afraid, but I do so wish you could see +the splendid illumination. Twenty candles and fifteen lamps--the +wicks of them all an inch in height. Oh, it's grand!" and again +Nina chuckled as she saw how the lurid blaze lit up the window +panes with a sheet of flame which, flashing backward, danced upon +the wall in many a grotesque form, and cast a reddish glow even +upon the white face of the dying. + +He was growing very restless now, for the last great struggle had +commenced; the soul was waging a mighty battle with the body, and +the conflict was a terrible one, wringing groans of agony from him +and great tears from Nina, who forgot her bonfire in her grief. +Once when the fever had scorched her veins and she had raved in +mad delirium, Dr. Griswold had rocked her in his arms as he would +have rocked a little child, and remembering this the insane desire +seized on Nina to rock him, too, to sleep. But she could not lift +him up, though she bent every energy to the task, and at last, +passing one arm beneath his neck she managed to sit behind him, +holding him in such a position that he rested easier, and his +convulsive movements ceased entirely. With his head upon her bosom +she rocked to and fro, uttering a low, cooing sound, as if +soothing him to sleep. + +"Sing, Nina, sing," he whispered, and on the night air a mournful +cadence rose, swelling sometimes so high that Edith moved uneasily +upon her pillow, while even Phillis stretched out a hand as if +about to awaken. + +Then the music changed to a plaintive German song, and Edith +dreamed of Bingen on the Rhine, while Dr. Griswold listened +eagerly, whispering at intervals, + +"Precious Nina, blessed dove, sing on--sing till I am at rest." + +This was sufficient for Nina, and one after another she warbled +the wild songs she knew he loved the best, while the lamps upon +the table and the candles upon the floor flickered and flamed and +cast their light far out into the yard, where the August rain was +falling, and where more than one bird, startled from its slumbers, +looked up to see whence came the fitful glare, wondering, it may +be, at the solemn dirge, floating out into the darkness far beyond +the light. + +The gray dawn broke at last, and up the graveled walk rapid +footsteps came--Arthur St. Claire hastening home. From a distant +hill he had caught the blaze of Nina's bonfire, and trembling with +fear and dread, he hurried on to learn what it could mean. There +was no stir about the house--no sign of life, only the crimson +blaze shining across the fields, and the sound of a voice, feeble +now, and sunk almost to a whisper, for Nina's strength was giving +way. For hours she had sung, while the head upon her bosom pressed +more and more heavily--the hand which clasped hers unloosed its +hold--the eyes which had fastened themselves upon her with a look +of unutterable love, closed wearily--the lips, which, so long as +there was life in them, ceased not to bless her, were still, and +poor, tired, crazy Nina, fancying that he slept at last, still +swayed back and forth, singing to the cold senseless clay, an +infant lullaby. + +"Hushaby, my baby--go to sleep, my child." + +HE had sung it once to her. SHE sang it now to him, and the +strange words fell on Arthur's ear, even before he stepped across +the threshold, where he stood appalled at the unwonted spectacle +which met his view. Nina manifested no surprise whatever, but +holding up her finger, motioned him to tread cautiously, if he +would come near where she was. + +"He couldn't see," she whispered, "and I made him a famous light. +Isn't it glorious here, smoke, and fire and all? He is sleeping +quietly now, only his head is very heavy. It makes my arm ache so +hard, and his hands are growing cold, I cannot kiss them warm," +and she held the stiffening fingers against her burning cheek, +shuddering at the chill they gave her, just as Arthur shuddered at +the sight, for it needed nothing more to tell him that Dr. +Griswold was dead! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +EX-OFFICIO. + + +The spacious rooms at Grassy Spring had been filled to their +utmost capacity by those of the villagers, who, having recovered +from their panic, came to join in the funeral obsequies of Dr. +Griswold. In the yard without the grass was trampled down and the +flowers broken from their stalks by the crowds, who, failing to +gain admittance to the interior of the house, hovered about the +door, struggling for a sight of the young girl, whose strange +death watch and stranger bonfire was the theme of every tongue. +Solemnly the voice of God's ambassador was heard, proclaiming, "I +am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that +believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," and then +a song was sung, the voices of the singers faltering, all but one, +which, rising clear and sweet above the rest, sang of the better +world, where the bright eternal noonday ever reigns, and the +assembled throng without held their breath to listen, whispering +to each other, "It is Nina, the crazy girl. She was the doctor's +betrothed." + +Down the gravelled walk,--along the highway,--over the river, and +up the hill to the village churchyard the long procession moved, +and when it backward turned, one of the number was left behind, +and the August sunset fell softly upon his early grave. Sadly the +mourners, Arthur, Edith and Nina, went to their respective homes, +Edith seeking the rest she so much needed, Nina subdued and awed +into perfect quiet, sitting with folded hands in the room where +her truest friend had died, while Arthur, alone in his chamber, +held as it were communion with the dead, who seemed this night to +be so near to him. + +Swiftly, silently, one by one, the days came and went until it was +weeks since Dr. Griswold died, and things at Grassy Spring assumed +their former routine. At first Nina was inclined to be melancholy, +talking much of the deceased, and appearing at times so depressed +that Arthur trembled, lest she should again become unmanageable, +wondering what he should do with her now the Dr. was gone. +Gradually, however, she recovered her usual health and spirits, +appearing outwardly the same; but not so with Arthur, whose +thoughts and feelings no one could fathom. It was as if he had +locked himself within a wall of ice, which nothing had power to +thaw. He saw but little of Edith now; the lessons had been tacitly +given up, and, after what she had heard from Dr. Griswold, she +could not come to Grassy Spring just as she used to do, so she +remained at home, marvelling at the change in Arthur, and +wondering if he really loved her, why he did not tell her so. Much +of what Dr. Griswold had said she imputed to delirium, and with +the certainty that she was beloved, she would not dwell upon +anything which made her unhappy, and she waited for the end, now +hastening on with rapid strides. + +Behind the icy wall which Arthur had built around himself, a +fierce storm was blowing, and notwithstanding the many midnight +watches kept over Dr. Griswold's grave, the tempest still raged +fearfully, threatening to burst its barriers and carry all before +it. But it reached its height at last, and wishing to test his +strength, Arthur asked Nina one pleasant night to go with him to +Collingwood. She consented readily, and in a few moments they were +on their way. They found the family assembled upon the broad +piazza, where the full moon shone upon them through the broad +leaves of woodbine twining about the massive pillars. Edith sat as +usual upon a stool at Richard's feet, and her face wore a look of +disappointment. Thoughts of Eloise Temple had been in her mind the +entire day, and sitting there with Richard, she had ventured to +ask him again of the young girl in whom she was so much +interested. But Richard shook his head. He was reserving Eloise +Temple for a future day, and he said to Edith, + +"I cannot tell you of her yet, or where she is." + +"When will you then?" and Edith spoke pettishly. "You always put +me off, and I don't see either why you need to be so much afraid +of telling me about her, unless her mother was bad, or something." + +"Edith," Richard replied, "I do not wish to explain to you now. By +and by I'll tell you, it may be, though even that will depend on +circumstances;" and he sighed as he thought what the circumstances +must be which would keep from Edith any further knowledge of +Eloise than she already possessed. + +Edith did not hear the sigh. She only knew that it was useless to +question him, and beating her little foot impatiently, she +muttered, "More mystery. If there's any thing I hate it's +mystery.--" + +She did not finish what she meant to say, for at that moment she +spied Arthur and Nina coming through the garden gate as the +nearest route. + +Edith was not in the best of humors. She was vexed at Richard, +because he wouldn't tell and at Arthur for "acting so," as she +termed it,--this acting so implying the studied indifference with +which he had treated her of late. But she was not vexed with Nina, +and running out to meet her, she laid her arm across her neck, and +led her with many words of welcome to the stool she had just +vacated, saying laughingly: "I know Mr. Harrington would rather +you should sit here than a cross patch like me! I'm ill-natured +to-night, Mr. St. Claire," and she bit her words off with playful +spitefulness. + +"Your face cannot be an index to your feelings, then," returned +Arthur, retaining her offered hand a moment, and looking into her +eyes, just to see if he could do it without flinching. + +It was a dangerous experiment, for Edith's soul looked through her +eyes, and Arthur read therein that which sent feverish heats and +icy chills alternately through his veins. Releasing her hand he +sat down upon the upper step of the piazza, and leaning against +one of the pillars, began to pluck the leaves within his reach, +and mechanically tear them in pieces. + +Meantime Richard had signified to Edith his wish that she should +bring another stool, and sit beside him just as Nina was doing. + +"I can then rest my hands upon the heads of you both," he said, +smoothing the while Nina's golden curls, + +"Now tell us a story, please," said Nina; and when Richard asked +what it should be, she replied, + +"Oh, tell us about the years ago when you were over the sea, and +why you have never married. Maybe you have, though. You are old +enough, I reckon. Did you ever marry anybody?" + +"YES, _I_ DID," returned Richard; "a little girl with hair like +yours, I think, though my eyesight then was almost gone, and I saw +nothing distinctly." + +"Wha-a-at!" exclaimed Edith, at the same time asking Arthur if he +was hurt as he started suddenly, + +"There it goes. It was a BEE, I guess;" and Nina pointed to an +insect flitting by, but so far from Arthur as to render a sting +from the diminutive creature impossible. Still it served as an +excuse, and blessing Nina in his heart for the suggestion, Arthur +talked rapidly of various matters, hoping in this way to change +the conversation. But Edith was not to be put off, even if Nina +were. She was too much interested to know what Richard meant, and +as soon as politeness would permit, she said to him, + +"Please go on, and tell us of the girl you married. Who was the +bridegroom, and where did it occur?" + +There was no longer a shadow of hope that the story would not be +told, and folding his arms like one resigned to his fate, Arthur +listened, while Richard related to the two girls how, soon after +his removal to Geneva, he had been elected Justice of the Peace in +place of one resigned. "I did not wish for the office." he said, +"although I was seldom called upon to act, and after my sight +began to fail so fast, people never came to me except on trivial +matters. One night, however, as many as--let me see--as many as +ten years ago, my house keeper told me there were in the parlor +four young people desirous of seeing me, adding that she believed +a wedding was in contemplation." + +"Splendid!" cried Edith; "and you married them, didn't you? Tell +us all about it; how the bride looked, and every thing." + +"I cannot gratify you in that respect," returned Richard. "There +was a veil of darkness between us, and I could see nothing +distinctly, but I knew she was very slight, so much so, indeed, +that I was sorry afterward that I did not question her age." + +"A runaway match from the Seminary, perhaps," suggested Arthur, in +tones so steady as to astonish himself. + +"I have sometimes thought so since," was Richard's reply, "but as +nothing of the kind was ever known to have occurred, I may have +been mistaken." + +"But the names?" cried Edith, eagerly, "you could surely tell by +that, unless they were feigned." + +"Which is hardly probable," Richard rejoined, "though they might +as well have been for any good they do me now. I was too unhappy +then, too much wrapped up in my own misfortunes to care for what +was passing around me, and though I gave them a certificate, +keeping myself a memorandum of the same, I soon forgot their names +entirely." + +"But the copy," chimed in Edith, "that will tell. Let's hunt it +up. I'm so interested in these people, and it seems so funny that +you should have married them. I wonder where they are. Have you +never heard a word from them?" + +"Never, since that night," said Richard; "and what is more +unfortunate still for an inquisitive mother Eve, like you, the +copy which I kept was burned by a servant who destroyed it with +sundry other business papers, on one of her cleaning house days." + +"Ah-h," and Arthur drew a long, long breath, which prompted Edith +to ask if be were tired. + +"You're not as much interested as I am," she said. "I do wish I +knew who the young bride was--so small and so fair. Was she as +tall as Nina?" and she turned to Richard, who replied, + +"I can hardly judge the height of either. Stand up, Snow Drop, and +let me feel if you are as tall as the bride of ten years ago." + +"Yes, Nina is the taller of the two," said Richard, as he complied +with his request and stood under his hand. "I have often thought +of this girl-wife and her handsome boy-husband, doubting whether I +did right to marry them, but the young man who accompanied them +went far toward reassuring me that all was right. They were +residents of the village, he said, and having seen me often in +town, had taken a fancy to have me perform the ceremony, just for +the novelty of the thing." + +"It's queer you never heard of them afterward," said Edith; while +Nina, looking up in the blind man's face, rejoined, + +"YOU DID IT THEN?" + +"Nina," said Arthur ere Richard could reply, "it is time we were +going home; there is Sophy with the shawl which you forgot." And +he pointed toward Sophy coming through the garden, with a warm +shawl tucked under her arm, for the dew was heavy that night and +she feared lest Nina should take cold. + +"Nina won't go yet; she isn't ready," persisted the capricious +maiden. "Go till I call you," and having thus summarily dismissed +Soph, the little lady resumed the seat from which she had arisen, +and laying her head on Richard's, whispered to him softly, "CAN'T +YOU SCRATCH IT OUT?" + +"Scratch what out?" he asked; and Nina replied, + +"Why, IT; what you've been talking about. Nothing ever came of it +but despair and darkness." + +"I do not know what you mean," Richard said, and as Arthur did not +volunteer any information, but sat carelessly scraping his thumb +nail with a pen-knife, Edith made some trivial remark which turned +the channel of Nina's thoughts, and she forgot to urge the request +that "it should be scratched out." + +"Nina'll go now," she said, after ten minutes had elapsed, and +calling Soph, Arthur was soon on his way home, hardly knowing +whether he was glad or sorry that every proof of his early error +was forever destroyed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE DECISION. + + +The summer was over and gone; its last breath had died away amid +the New England hills, and the mellow October days had come, when +in the words of America's sweetest poetess, + + "The woods stand bare and brown, + And into the lap of the South land, + The flowers are blowing down." + +Over all there was that dreamy, languid haze, so common to the +Autumn time, when the distant hills are bathed in a smoky light +and all things give token of decay. The sun, round and red, as the +October sun is wont to be, shone brightly upon Collingwood, and +looked cheerily into the room where Edith Hastings sat, waiting +apparently for some one whose tardy appearance filled her with +impatience. In her hand she held a tiny note received the previous +night, and as she read for the twentieth time the few lines +contained therein, her blushes deepened on her cheek, and her +blank eyes grew softer and more subdued in their expression. + +"Edith," the note began, "I must see you alone. I have something +to say to you which a third person cannot hear. May I come to +Collingwood to-morrow at three o'clock, P.M.? In haste, Arthur St. +Claire." + +The words were very cold, but to Edith they contained a world of +meaning. She knew she was beloved by Arthur St. Claire. Dr. +Griswold had told her so. Grace had told her so. Nina had told her +so, while more than all his manner had told her so repeatedly, and +now HE would tell her so himself and had chosen a time when +Richard and Victor were both in Boston, as the one best adapted to +the interview. Edith was like all other maidens of eighteen, and +her girlish heart fluttered with joy as she thought what her +answer would be, but not at first,--not at once, lest she seem too +anxious. She'd make him wait a whole week, then see how he felt. +He deserved it all for his weak vacillation. If he loved her why +hadn't he told her before! She didn't believe there was such a +terrible impediment in the way. Probably he had sworn never to +marry any one save Nina, but her insanity was certainly a +sufficient reason for his not keeping the oath. Dr. Griswold was +peculiar,--over-nice in some points, and Arthur had been wholly +under his control, becoming morbidly sensitive to the past, and +magnifying every trivial circumstance into a mountain too great to +be moved. + +This was Edith's reasoning as she sat waiting that October +afternoon for Arthur, who came ere long, looking happier, more +like himself than she had seen him since the memorable day when +she first met Nina. Arthur had determined to do right, to tell +without reserve the whole of his past history to Edith Hastings, +and the moment he reached this decision half his burden was lifted +from his mind. It cost him a bitter struggle thus to decide, and +lest his courage should give way, he had asked for an early +interview. It was granted, and without giving himself time to +repent he came at once and stood before the woman who was dearer +to him than his life. Gladly would he have died could he thus have +blotted out the past and made Edith his wife, but he could not, +and he had come to tell her so. + +Never had she been more beautiful than she was that afternoon. Her +dress of crimson merino contrasted well with her clear dark +complexion. Her magnificent hair, arranged with far more care than +usual, was wound in many a heavy braid around her head, while, +half-hidden amid the silken bands, and drooping gracefully behind +one ear, was a single white rose-bud, mingled with scarlet +blossoms of verbena; the effect adding greatly to her beauty. +Excitement lent a brighter sparkle to her brilliant eyes, and a +richer bloom to her glowing cheeks, and thus she sat waiting for +Arthur St. Claire, who felt his heart grow cold and faint as he +looked upon her, and knew her charms were not for him. She +detected his agitation, and as a kitten plays with a captured +mouse, torturing it almost to madness, so she played with him ere +suffering him to reach the point. Rapidly she went from one +subject to another, dragging him with her whether he would or not, +until at last as if suddenly remembering herself, she turned her +shining eyes upon him, and said, "I have talked myself out, and +will now give you a chance. You wrote that you wished to see me." + +But for this direct allusion to his note, Arthur would assuredly +have gone away, leaving his errand untold. But he could not do so +now. She was waiting for him to speak, and undoubtedly wondering +at his silence. Thrice he attempted to articulate, but his tongue +seemed paralyzed, and reeking with perspiration, he sat unable to +move until she said again, "Is it of Nina you would tell me?" + +Then the spell was broken, Nina was the sesame which unlocked his +powers of speech; and wiping the large drops from his forehead, he +answered, + +"Yes, Edith, of Nina, of myself, of you. Edith, you know how much +I love you, don't you, darling?" + +The words were apparently wrung from him greatly against his will. +They were not what he intended to say, and he would have given +worlds to have recalled them, but they were beyond his reach, and +the very walls of the room seemed to echo in thunder tones, + +"You know how much I love you, don't you, darling?" + +Yes, she did know; he knew she did by the glance she gave him +back, and laying his head upon the table, he neither moved nor +spoke until a footstep glided to his side, and a soft hand pressed +his burning brow, while a voice, whose tones drifted him far, far +back to the sea of darkness and doubt where he had so long been +bravely buffetting the billows, whispered to him, + +"Arthur, I DO know, or rather believe you love me. You would not +tell me an untruth, but I do not understand why it should make you +so unhappy." + +He did not answer her at once, but retained within his own the +little hand which trembled for a moment like an imprisoned bird +and then grew warm and full of vigorous life just as Edith was, +standing there before him. What should he do? What could he do? +Surely, never so dark an hour had gathered round him, or one so +fraught with peril. Like lightning his mind took in once more the +whole matter as it was. Griswold was dead. On his grave the autumn +leaves were falling and the nightly vigils by that grave had been +of no avail. Nina could never comprehend, the written proof was +burned, Richard had forgotten, there was nothing in the way save +his CONSCIENCE and that would not be silent. Loudly it whispered +to the anguished man that happiness could not be secured by +trampling on Nina's rights; that remorse would mix itself with +every joy and at the last would drive him mad. + +"You mistake me, I cannot," he began to say, but Edith did not +heed it, for a sound without had caught her ear, telling her that +Richard had unexpectedly returned, and Victor was coming for her. + +There was an expression of impatience on Edith's face, as to +Victor's summons she replied, "Yes, yes, in a moment;" but Arthur +breathed more freely as, rising to his feet, he said, "I cannot +now say all I wish to say, but meet me, to-morrow at this hour in +the Deering Woods, near the spot where the mill brook falls over +those old stones. You know the place. We went there once with-- +NINA." + +He wrung her hand, pitying her more than he did himself, for he +knew how little she suspected the true nature of what he intended +to tell her. + +"God help us both, me to do right, and her to bear it," was his +mental prayer, as he left her at the door of the room where +Richard was waiting for her. + +There were good and bad angels lugging at Arthur's heart as he +hastened across the fields where the night was falling, darker, +gloomier, than ever it fell before. Would it be a deadly sin to +marry Edith Hastings? Would Nina be wronged if he did? were +questions which the bad spirits kept whispering in his ear, and +each time that he listened to these questionings, he drifted +further and farther away from the right, until by the time his +home was reached he hardly knew himself what his intentions were. + +Very bright were the lights shining in the windows of his home, +and the fire blazed cheerfully in the library, where Nina, pale +and fair as a white pond lily, had ordered the supper table to be +set, because she thought it would please him, and where, with her +golden curls tucked behind her ears, and a huge white apron on, +she knelt before the glowing coals, making the nicely-buttered +toast he liked so well. Turning toward him her childish face as he +came in, she said, + +"See--Nina's a nice little housekeeper. Wouldn't it be famous if +we could live alone, you and I?" + +Arthur groaned inwardly, but made her no reply. Sitting down in +his arm-chair, he watched her intently as she made his tea, +removed her apron, brushed her curls, and then look her seat at +the table, bidding him do the same. Mechanically he obeyed, +affecting to eat for her sake, while his eyes were constantly +fastened upon her face. Supper being over and the table removed, +he continued watching her intently as she flitted about the room, +now perching herself upon his knee, calling him "her good boy," +now holding a whispered conversation with Miggie, who, she +fancied, was there, and again singing to herself a plaintive song +she had sung to Dr. Griswold. When it drew near her bedtime she +went to the window, from which the curtain was thrown back, and +looking out upon the blackness of the night, said to Arthur, + +"The darkness is very dark. I should think poor Dr. Griswold would +be afraid lying there alone in that narrow grave. What made him +die, Arthur? I didn't want him to. It had better been I, hadn't +it?" + +She came close to him now, and sitting on his knee held his +bearded chin in her hand, while she continued, + +"Would my poor boy be very lonesome, knowing that Nina wasn't +here, nor up stairs, nor in the Asylum, nor over at Miggie's, nor +anywhere? Would you miss me a bit?" + +"YES, YES, YES!" + +The words came with quiet, gasping sobs, for in his hour of +bitterest anguish, Arthur had never for an instant wished HER +gone--the little blue-eyed creature clinging so confidingly to him +and asking if he would miss her when she was dead. + +"Nina's would be a little grave," she said, "not as large as +Miggie's, and perhaps it won't be long before they dig it. I can +wait. You can wait; can't you, boy?" + +What was it which prompted her thus to speak to him? What was it +which made him see Griswold's glance in the eyes looking so +earnestly to his own? Surely there was something more than mere +chance in all this. Nina would save him. She had grasped his +conscience, and she stirred it with no gentle hand, until the +awakened man writhed in agony, such as the drowning are said to +feel when slowly restored to life, and bowing his head on Nina's, +he cried, + +"What shall I do? Tell me, Nina, what to do!" + +Once before, when thus appealed to, she had answered him, "Do +right," and she now said the same to the weeping man, who sobbed +aloud, "I will. I will tell her all to-morrow. I wish it were to- +morrow now, but the long night must intervene, and a weak, +vacillating fool like me may waver in that time. Nina," and he +held her closer to him, "stay here with me till morning. I am +stronger where you are. The sight of you does me good. Phillis +will fix you a bed upon the sofa and make you comfortable; will +you stay?" + +Every novelty was pleasing to Nina and she assented readily, +stipulating, however, that he should not look at her while she +said her prayers. + +In much surprise Phillis heard of this arrangement, but offered no +objection, thinking that Arthur had probably detected signs of a +frenzied attack and chose to keep her with him where he could +watch her. Alas! they little dreamed that 'twas to save himself he +kept her there, kneeling oftentimes beside her as she slept, and +from the sight of her helpless innocence gathering strength for +the morrow's duty. How slowly the hours of that never-to-be- +forgotten night dragged on, and when at last the grey dawn came +creeping up the east, how short they seemed, looked back upon. +Through them all Nina had slept quietly, moving only once, and +that when Arthur's tears dropped upon her face. Then, +unconsciously, she put her arms around his neck and murmured, "It +will all be right sometime." + +"Whether it is or not, I will do right to-day," Arthur said aloud, +and when the sun came stealing into the room, it found him firm as +a granite rock. + +Nina's presence saved him, and when the clock pointed to three, he +said to her, "Miggie is waiting for me in the Deering woods, where +the mill-brook falls over the stones. You called it Niagara, you +know, when you went there once with us. Go to Miggie, Nina. Tell +her I'm coming soon. Tell her that I sent you." + +"And that you will do right?" interrupted Nina, retaining a +confused remembrance of last night's conversation. + +"Yes, tell her I'll do right. Poor Edith, she will need your +sympathy so much;" and with trembling hands Arthur himself wrapped +Nina's shawl around her, taking more care than usual to see that +she was shielded from the possibility of taking cold; then, +leading her to the door and pointing in the direction of the +miniature Niagara he bade her go, watching her with a beating +heart as she bounded across the fields toward the Deering woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE DEERING WOODS. + + +Edith had been in a state of feverish excitement all the day, so +happy had she been made by the certainty that Arthur loved her. +She had not doubted it before, but having it told her in so many +words was delightful, and she could scarcely wait for the hour +when she was to hear the continuation of a story abruptly +terminated by the return of Richard. Poor Richard! He was sitting +in his library now, looking so lonely, when on her way through the +hall she glanced in at him, that she almost cried to think how +desolate he would be when she was gone. + +"I'll coax Arthur to come here and live," she said to herself, +thinking how nice it would be to have Arthur and Nina and Richard +all in one house. + +The hands of her watch were pointing to three, as, stepping out +upon the piazza she passed hurriedly through the grounds and +turned in the direction of the Deering Woods. Onward, onward, over +the hill and across the fields she flew, until the woods were +reached--the silent, leafless woods, where not a sound was heard +save the occasional dropping of a nut, the rustle of a leaf, or +the ripple of the mill-brook falling over the stones. The warm sun +had dried the withered grass, and she sat down beneath a forest +tree, watching, waiting, wondering, and trembling violently at +last as in the distance she heard the cracking of the brittle +twigs and fancied he was coming. + +"I'll pretend I don't hear him," she said, and humming a simple +air she was industriously pulling the bark from the tree when NINA +stood before her, exclaiming, + +"You ARE here just as Arthur said you'd be. The woods were so +still and smoky that I was most afraid." + +Ordinarily Edith would have been delighted at this meeting, but +now she could not forbear wishing Nina away, and she said to her +somewhat sternly, + +"What made you come?" + +"He sent me," and Nina crouched down at Edith's feet, like a +frightened spaniel. "Arthur is coming, too, and going to do right. +He said he was, bending right over me last night, and when I woke +this morning there was a great tear on my face. 'Twasn't mine, +Miggie. It was too big for that. It was Arthur's." + +"How came he in your room?" Edith asked, a little sharply, and +Nina replied, + +"I was in the library. We both staid there all night. It wasn't in +my room, though Arthur has a right, Miggie. IT NEVER WAS SCRATCHED +OUT!" + +Edith was puzzled, and was about to question Nina as to her +meaning, when another step was heard, a manly, heavy tread, +precluding all possibility of a mistake this time. Arthur St. +Claire had come! + +"It's quite pleasant since yesterday," he said, trying to force a +smile, but it was a sickly effort, and only made more ghastly and +wan his pallid features, over which ages seemed to have passed +since the previous day, leaving them scarred, and battered, and +worn. + +Edith had never noticed so great a change in so short a time, for +there was scarcely a vestige left of the once handsome, merry- +hearted Arthur in the stooping, haggard man, who stood before her, +with blood-shot eyes, and an humble, deprecating manner, as if +imploring her forgiveness for the pain he had come to inflict. +Nothing could prevent it now. Her matchless beauty was naught to +him. He did not even see it. He thought of her only as a being for +whose sake he would gladly die the most torturing death that human +ingenuity could devise, if by this means, he could rescue her +unscathed from the fire he had kindled around her. But this could +not be; he had fallen, dragging her down with him, and now he must +restore her even though it broke her heart just as his was broken. +He had felt the fibres snapping, one by one; knew his life blood +was oozing out, drop by drop, and this it was which made him +hesitate so long. It was painful for him to speak, his throat was +so parched and dry, his tongue so heavy and thick. + +"What is it, Arthur?" Edith said at last, as Nina, uttering a cry +of fear, hid her face in the grass to shut out Arthur from her +sight, "Tell me, what is it?" + +Seating himself upon a log near by, and clasping his hands +together with a gesture of abject misery, Arthur replied. + +"Edith, I am not worthy to look into your face; unless you take +your eyes from mine--oh, take them away, or I cannot tell you what +I must." + +Had her very life depended upon it, Edith could not have removed +her eyes from his. An undefinable fear was curdling her blood--a +fear augmented by the position of her two companions--Nina, with +her head upon the grass, and that strange, white-faced being on +the log. Could THAT be Arthur St. Claire, or was she laboring +under some horrible delusion? No, the lips moved; it was Arthur, +and leaning forward she listened to what he was saying, + +"Edith, when yesterday I was with you, some words which I uttered +and which were wrung from me, I know not how, gave you reason to +believe that I was then asking you to become my wife, while +something in your manner told me that to such asking you would not +answer no. The temptation then to take you to my arms, defying +earth and heaven, was a terrible one, and for a time I wavered, I +forgot everything but my love for you; but that is past and I come +now to the hardest part of all, the deliberate surrender of one +dearer than life itself. Edith, do you remember the obstacle, the +hindrance which I always said existed to my marrying any one?" + +She did not answer; only the eyes grew larger as they watched him; +and he continued, + +"I made myself forgot it for a time, but Heaven was kinder far +than I deserved, and will not suffer me longer. Edith, you CANNOT +be my wife." + +She made a movement as if she would go to him, but his swaying +arms kept her off, and he went on; + +"There IS an obstacle, Edith--a mighty obstacle, I could trample +it down if I would, and there is none to question the act; but, +Edith, I dare not do you this wrong." + +His voice was more natural now, and Nina, lifting up her head, +crept closely to him, whispering softly, "Good boy, you will do +right." + +His long, white fingers threaded her sunny hair, and this was all +the token he gave that he was conscious of her presence. + +"Don't you know now, Edith, what it is which stands between us?" +he asked; and Edith answered, "It is Nina, but how I do not +understand." + +Arthur groaned a sharp, bitter groan, and rocking to and fro +replied, "Must I tell you? Won't you ever guess until I do? Oh, +Edith, Edith--put the past and present together--remember the +picture found in my room when you were a little girl, the picture +of Nina Bernard; think of all that has happened; my dread to meet +with Richard, though that you possibly did not know; my foolish +fear, lest you should know of Nina; her clinging devotion to me; +my brotherly care for her; Richard's story of the one single +marriage ceremony he ever performed, where the bride's curls were +like these," and he lifted Nina's golden ringlets. "You hear me, +don't you?" + +He knew she did, for her bosom was heaving with choking sobs as if +her soul were parting from the body; her breath came heavily from +between her quivering lips, and her eyes were riveted upon him +like coals of living fire. Yes, he knew she heard, and he only +questioned her to give himself another moment ere he cut asunder +the last chord and sent her drifting out upon the dark sea of +despair. + +"Edith--Edith--Edith," and with each word he hugged Nina closer to +him, so close that she gave a cry of pain, but he did not heed it; +he hardly knew he held her--his thoughts were all for the poor, +wretched girl, rising slowly to her feet. "Edith, you surely +understand me now. The obstacle between us is---; oh, Nina, say it +for me, tell her what you are to me." + +"I know," and Edith Hastings stood tall and erect before him, +"NINA IS YOUR WIFE." + +Nina looked up and smiled, while Edith crossed her arms upon her +breast, and waited for him to answer. + +"Yes, Edith,--though never before acknowledged as such, Nina is my +wife; but, Edith, I swear it before high Heaven, she is only a +wife in name. Never for a day, or hour, or moment have I lived +with her as such. Were it otherwise, I could not have fallen so +low. Her father came the very night we were married, and took her +away next morning. Griswold and I must have met him just as we +left the yard, after having assisted Nina and her room-mate, Sarah +Warren, to reach the window, from which they had adroitly escaped +little move than an hour before. No one had missed them,--no one +ever suspected the truth, and as Miss Warren died a few months +afterward, only Nina, Griswold and myself knew the secret, which I +guarded most carefully for fear of expulsion from college. You +know the rest. You know it all, Nina is my wife. Nina is my wife,- +-my wife,--my wife." + +He kept whispering it to himself, as if thus he would impress it +the more forcibly upon the unconscious Edith, who lay upon the +withered grass just where Nina had lain, rigid and white and free +for the present from all suffering. Arthur could not move; the +blow had fallen on them both with a mightier force than even he +had anticipated, killing her he feared, and so benumbing himself +that to act was impossible, and he continued sitting upon the log +with his elbows resting on his knees and his face upon his hands. +Only Nina had any reason then or judgment. Hastening to Edith she +knelt beside her, and lifting up her head pillowed it upon her +lap, wiping from her temple the drops of blood slowly trickling +from a cut, made by a sharp stone. + +"Miggie, Miggie," she cried, "wake up. You scare me, you look so +white and stiff. Please open your eyes, darling, just a little +ways, so Nina'll know that you ain't dead. Oh, Arthur, she is +DEAD!" and Nina shrieked aloud, when, opening herself the lids, +she saw the dull, fixed expression of the glassy eye. + +Laying her back upon the grass, she crept to Arthur's side, and +tried to rouse him, saying imploringly, "Miggie's dead, Arthur; +Miggie's dead. There is blood all over her face. It's on me, too, +look," and she held before him her fingers, covered with a crimson +stain. Even this did not move him; he only kissed the tiny hand +wet with Edith's blood, and whispered to her, "Richard." + +It was enough. Nina comprehended his meaning at once; and when +next he looked about him she was flying like a deer across the +fields to Collingwood, leaving him alone with Edith. From where he +sat he could see her face, and its corpse-like pallor chilled him +with horror. He must go to her. It would be long ere Nina guided +the blind man to the spot, and, exerting all his strength, he +tottered to the brook, filled his hat with water, and crawling, +rather than walking, to Edith's side, dashed it upon her head, +washing the stains of blood, away, and forcing back the life so +nearly gone. Gradually the eyes unclosed, and looked into his with +a glance so full of love. tenderness, reproach, and cruel +disappointment, that he turned away, for he could not meet that +look. + +The blood from the wound upon the forehead was flowing freely now, +and faint from its loss, Edith sank again into a state of +unconsciousness, while Arthur, scarcely knowing what he did, crept +away to a little distance, where, leaning against a tree, he sat +insensible as it were, until the sound of footsteps roused him, +and he saw Nina coming, holding fast to the blind man's wrist, and +saying to him encouragingly, + +"We are almost there. I see her dress now by the bank. Wake up, +Miggie; we're coming--Richard and I. Don't you hear me, Miggie?" + + * * * * * * + +Victor had been sent to the village upon an errand for Richard, +who was sitting in his arm-chair, just where Edith had left him an +hour before, dozing occasionally, as was his custom after dinner, +and dreaming of his singing bird. + +"Little rose-bud," he whispered to himself. "It's strange no +envious, longing eyes have sought her out as yet, and tried to win +her from me. There's St. Claire--cannot help admiring her, but +thus far he's been very discreet, I'm sure. Victor would tell me +if he saw any indications of his making love to Edith." + +Deluded Richard! Victor Dupres kept his own counsel with regard to +Edith and the proprietor of Grassy Spring; and when questioned by +his master, as he sometimes was, he always answered, "Monsieur St. +Claire does nothing out of the way." + +So Richard, completely blinded, trusted them both, and had no +suspicion of the scene enacted that afternoon in the Deering +Woods. Hearing a swift footstep coming up the walk, he held his +breath to listen, thinking it was Edith, but a moment only +sufficed to tell it was Nina. With a rapid, bounding tread she +entered the library, and gliding to his side, startled him with, +"Come, quick, Miggie's dead--dead in the Deering Woods!" + +For an instant Richard's brain reeled, and rings of fire danced +before his sightless eyes; then, remembering the nature of the one +who had brought to him this news, hope whispered that it might not +be so bad, and this it was which buoyed him up and made him strong +to follow his strange guide. + + * * * * * * + +Down the lane, across the road, and over the fields Nina led him, +bareheaded as he was, and in his thin-soled, slippers, which were +torn against the briers and stones, for in her haste Nina did not +stop to choose the smoothest path, and Richard was too intent on +Edith to heed the roughness of the way. Many questions be asked +her as to the cause of the accident, but she told him nothing save +that "Miggie was talking and fell down dead." She did not mention +Arthur, for, fancying that he had in some way been the cause of +the disaster, she wished to shield him from all censure, +consequently Richard had no idea of the crushed, miserable wretch +leaning against the sycamore and watching him as he came up. He +only heard Nina's cry, "Wake up, Miggie, Richard's here!" + +It needed more than that appeal, however, to rouse the unconscious +girl, and Richard, as he felt her cold, clammy flesh, wept aloud, +fearing lest she were really dead. Eagerly he felt for her heart, +knowing then that she still lived. + +"Edith, darling, speak to me," and he chafed her nerveless hands, +bidding Nina bring him water from the brook. + +Spying Arthur's hat Nina caught it up, when the thought entered +her mind, "He'll wonder whose this is." Then with a look of subtle +cunning, she stole up behind the blind man, and placing the hat +suddenly upon his head, withdrew it as quickly, saying, "I'll get +it in this, shan't I?" + +Richard was too much excited to know whether he had worn one hat +or a dozen, and he answered her at once, "Use it of course." + +The cold water brought by Nina roused Edith once more, and with a +sigh she lay back on Richard's bosom, so trustfully, so +confidingly, that Arthur, looking on, foresaw what the future +would bring, literally giving her up then and there to the blind +man, who, as if accepting the gift, hugged her fondly to him and +said aloud, "I thank the good Father for restoring to me my +Edith." + +She suffered him to caress her as much as he liked, and offered no +remonstrance when lifting her in his strong arms, he bade Nina +lead him back to Collingwood. Like a weary child Edith rested her +head upon his shoulder, looking behind once, and regarding Arthur +with a look he never forgot, even when the darkness in which he +now was groping had passed away, and the full daylight was shining +o'er him. Leading Richard to a safe distance, Nina bade him wait a +moment while she went back for something she had forgotten--then +hastening to Arthur's side she wound her arms around his neck, +smoothed his hair, kissed his lips, and said to him so low that +Richard could not hear, + +"NINA won't desert you. She'll come to you again, when she gets +Miggie home. You did do it, didn't you? but Nina'll never tell." + +Kissing him once more, she bounded away, and with feelings of +anguish which more than compensated for his error, Arthur looked +after them as they moved slowly across the field, Richard +sometimes tottering beneath his load, which, nevertheless, he +would not release, and Nina, holding to his arm, telling him where +to go, and occasionally glancing backward toward the spot where +Arthur sat, until the night shadows were falling, and he shivered +with the heavy dew. Nina did not return, and thinking that she +would not, he started for home, never knowing how he reached +there, or when; only this he knew, no one suspected him of being +in the Deering Woods when Edith Hastings was attacked with that +strange fainting fit. Thanks for this to little Nina, who, +returning as she had promised, found the forgotten HAT still +dripping with water, and hiding it beneath her shawl, carried it +safely to Grassy Spring, where it would betray no one. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE DARKNESS DEEPENS. + + +Death brooded over Collingwood, and his black wing beat +clamorously against the windows of the room to which, on that +fearful night, Richard had borne his fainting burden, and where +for days and weeks she lay so low that with every coming morning +the anxious villagers listened for the first stroke of the bell +which should tell that Edith was dead. Various were the rumors +concerning the cause of her illness, all agreeing upon one point, +to wit, that she had fainted suddenly in the woods with Nina, and +in falling, had received a deep gash upon her forehead. This it +was which made her crazy, the people said, and the physician +humored the belief, although with his experience he knew there was +some secret sorrow preying upon that young mind, the nature of +which he could not easily guess. It never occurred to him that it +was in any way associated with Arthur St. Claire, whose heart- +broken expression told how much he suffered, and how dear to him +was the delirious girl, who never breathed his name, or gave token +that she knew of his existence. Every morning, regularly he rung +the Collingwood bell, which was always answered by Victor, between +whom and himself there was a tacit understanding, perceptible in +the fervent manner with which the faithful valet's hand was +pressed whenever the news was favorable. He did not venture into +her presence, though repeatedly urged to do so by Grace, who +mentally accused him of indifference toward Edith. Alas, she knew +not of the nightly vigils kept by the wretched man, when with dim +eye and throbbing head he humbled himself before his Maker, +praying to be forgiven for the sorrow he had wrought, and again +wrestling in agony for the young girl, whose sick room windows he +could see, watching the livelong night the flickering of the lamp, +and fancying he could tell from its position, if any great change +occurred in her. + +Richard was completely crushed, and without noticing any one he +sat hour after hour, day after day, night after night, always in +one place, near the head of the bed, his hands folded submissively +together, and his sightless eyes fixed upon the pillow, where he +knew Edith was, with a hopeless, subdued expression touching to +witness. He did not weep, but his dry, red eyes, fastened always +upon the same point, told of sealed fountains where the hot tears +were constantly welling up, and failing to find egress without, +fell upon the bruised heart, which blistered and burned beneath +their touch, but felt no relief. It was in vain they tried to +persuade him to leave the room; he turned a deaf ear to their +entreaties, and the physician was beginning to fear for his +reason, when crazy Nina came to his aid, and laying her moist hand +upon his said to him, not imploringly, but commandingly, "Come +with me." + +There was a moment's hesitation, and then Richard followed her out +into the open air, sitting where she bade him sit, and offering no +resistance when she perched herself upon his knee and passed her +arm around his neck. + +"Make him cry, can't you? That will do him good," whispered +Victor, who had come out with them. + +Nina knew that better than himself. SHE remembered the time when +the sight of Edith had wrung from her torrents of tears, cooling +her burning brow, and proving a blessed relief, the good effects +of which were visible yet. And now it was her task to make the +blind man cry. She recognized something familiar in the hard, +stony expression of his face, something which brought back the +Asylum, with all its dreaded horrors. She had seen strong men +there look just as he was looking. Dr. Griswold had called them +crazy, and knowing well what that word implied she would save +Richard from so sad a fate. + +"It will be lonesome for you when Miggie's gone," she said, as a +prelude, to the attempt; "lonesomer than it has ever been before; +and the nights will be so dark, for when the morning comes +there'll be no Miggie here. She will look sweetly in her coffin, +but you can't see her, can you? You can FEEL how beautiful she is, +perhaps; and I shall braid her hair just as she used to wear it." + +There was a perceptible tremor in Richard's frame, and perceiving +it, Nina continued quickly, + +"We shall never forget her, shall we? and we'll often fancy we +hear her singing through the halls, even though we know she's far +away heading the choir in Heaven. That will be a pleasanter sound, +won't it, than the echo of the bell when the villagers count the +eighteen strokes and a half, and know it tolls for Miggie? The +hearse wheels, too--how often we shall hear them grinding through +the gravel, as they will grind, making a little track when they +come up, and a deeper one when they go away, for they'll carry +Miggie then." + +"Oh, Nina! hush, hush! No, no!" and Richard's voice was choked +with tears, which ran over his face like rain. + +Nina had achieved her object, and, with a most satisfied +expression she watched him as he wept. Her's was a triple task, +caring for Richard, caring for Arthur, and caring for Edith, but +most faithfully did she perform it. Every day, when the sun was +low in the western sky, she stole away to Grassy Spring, speaking +blessed words of comfort to the despairing Arthur, who waited for +her coming as for the visit of an angel. She was dearer to him now +since he had confessed his sin to Edith, and could she have been +restored to reason he would have compelled himself to make her his +wife in reality as well as in name. She was a sweet creature, he +knew; and he always caressed her with unwonted tenderness ere he +sent her back to the sick room, where Edith ever bemoaned her +absence, missing her at once, asking for pretty Nina, with the +golden hair. She apparently did not remember that Nina stood +between herself and Arthur St. Claire, or, if she did, she bore no +malice for the patient, all-enduring girl who nursed her with so +much care, singing to her the plaintive German air once sung to +Dr. Griswold, and in which Edith would often join, taking one +part, while Nina sang the other; and the members of the household, +when they heard the strange melody, now swelling load and full, as +some fitful fancy took possession of the crazy vocalists, and now +sinking to a plaintive wail, would shudder, and turn aside to +weep, for there was that in the music which reminded them of the +hearse wheels grinding down the gravel, and of the village bell +giving the eighteen strokes. Sometimes, for nearly a whole night +those songs of the olden time would echo through the house, and +with each note she sang the fever burned more fiercely in Edith's +veins, and her glittering black eyes flashed with increased fire, +while her fingers clutched at her tangled hair, as if they thus +would keep time to the thrilling strain. Her hair troubled her, it +was so heavy, so thick, so much in her way, and when she +manifested a propensity to relieve herself of the burden by +tearing it from the roots the physician commanded them to cut away +those beautiful shining braids, Edith's crowning glory. + +It was necessary, he said, and the sharp, polished scissors were +ready for the task, when Nina, stepping in between them and the +blue-black locks, saved the latter from the nurse's barbaric hand. +She remembered well when her own curls had fallen one by one +beneath the shears of an unrelenting nurse, and she determined at +all hazards to spare Edith from a like fancied indignity. + +"Miggie's hair shall not be harmed," she said, covering with her +apron the wealth of raven tresses. "I can keep her from pulling +it. I can manage her;" and the sequel proved that she was right. + +It was a singular power that blue-eyed blonde possessed over the +dark-eyed brunette, who became at last as obedient to Nina's will +as Nina once had been to her's, and it was amusing to watch Nina +flitting about Edith, now reasoning with, now coaxing, and again +threatening her capricious patient, who was sure eventually to do +as she was bidden. + +Only once while the delirium lasted did Edith refer to Arthur, and +then she said reproachfully, "Oh, Nina, what made him do so?" + +They were alone, and bending over her, Nina replied, "I am so +sorry, Miggie, and I'll try to have the ugly thing SCRATCHED OUT." + +This idea once fixed in Nina's mind could not easily be dislodged, +and several times she went to Richard, asking him to SCRATCH IT +OUT! Wishing to humor her as far as possible he always answered +that he would if he knew what she meant. Nina felt that she must +not explain, and with vigilant cunning she studied how to achieve +her end without betraying Arthur. It came to her one night, and +whispering to Edith, "I am going to get it fixed," she glided from +the room and sought the library where she was sure of finding +Richard. It was nearly eleven o'clock, but he had not yet retired, +and with his head bent forward he sat in his accustomed place, the +fire-light shining on his face, which had grown fearfully haggard +and white within the last two weeks. He heard Nina's step, and +knowing who it was, asked if Edith were worse. + +"No," returned Nina, "she'll live, too, If you'll only scratch it +out." + +He was tired of asking what she meant, and he made no answer. But +Nina was too intent upon other matters to heed his silence. Going +to his secretary she arranged materials for writing, and then +taking his hand, said, in the commanding tone she used toward +Edith when at all refractory, "Come and write. 'Tis the only +chance of saving her life." + +"Write what?" he asked, as he rose from his chair and suffered her +to lead him to the desk. + +He had written occasionally since his blindness, but it was not a +frequent thing, and his fingers closed awkwardly about the pen she +placed in his hand. Feeling curious to know the meaning of all +this, he felt for the paper and then said to her, + +"I am ready for you to dictate." + +But dictation was no part of Nina's intentions. The lines traced +upon that sheet would contain a secret which Richard must not +know; and with a merry laugh, as she thought how she would cheat +him, she replied, + +"No, SIR. Only Miggie and I can read what you write. Nina will +guide your hand and trace the words." + +Dipping the pen afresh into the ink, she bade him take it, and +grasping his fingers, guided them while they wrote as follows; + +"I, THE BLIND MAN, RICHARD HARRINGTON,-- + +"That last was my name," interrupted Richard, who was rewarded by +a slight pull of the hair, as Nina said, + +"Hush, be quiet." + +A great blot now came after the "Harrington," and wiping it up +with the unresisting Richard's coat sleeve, Nina continued: + +"--DO HEREBY SOLEMNLY--" + +She was not sure whether "swear" or "declare" would be the more +proper word, and she questioned Richard, who decided upon "swear" +as the stronger of the two, and she went on: + +"--SWEAR THAT THE MARRIAGE OF-- + +"As true as you live you can't SEE?" she asked, looking curiously +into the sightless eyes. + +"No; I can't see," was the response, and satisfied that she was +safe, Nina made him write, + +"--ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE AND NINA BERNARD, PERFORMED AT MY HOUSE, IN +MY PRESENCE, AND BY ME--" + +Nina didn't know what, but remembering a phrase she had often +heard used, and thinking it might be just what was needed, she +said, + +"Does 'NULL AND VOID' mean 'SCRATCHED OUT?'" + +"Yes," he answered, smiling in spite of himself, and Nina added +with immense capitals, + +"--NULL AND VOID," to what she had already written. + +"I reckon it will be better to have your name," she said, and the +cramped fingers were compelled to add: "RICHARD HARRINGTON, +COLLINGWOOD, November 25th 18--" + +"There!" and Nina glanced with an unusual amount of satisfaction +at the wonderful hieroglyphics which covered nearly an entire page +of foolscap, so large were the letters and so far apart the words. +"That'll cure her, sure," and folding it up, she hastened back to +Edith's chamber. + +Old Rachel watched that night, but Nina had no difficulty in +coaxing her from the room, telling her she needed sleep, and +Miggie was so much more quiet when alone with her. Rachel knew +this was true, and after an hour or so withdrew to another +apartment, leaving Edith alone with Nina. For a time Edith slept +quietly, notwithstanding that Nina rattled the spoons and upset a +chair hoping thus to wake her. + +Meanwhile Richard's curiosity had been thoroughly roused with +regard to the SCRATCHING OUT, and knowing Victor was still up, he +summoned him to his presence, repeating to him what had just +occurred and saying, "If you find that paper read it. It is surely +right for me to know what I have written." + +"Certainly," returned Victor, bowing himself from the room. + +Rightly guessing that Nina would read it aloud to Edith, he +resolved to be within hearing distance, and when he heard Rachel +leave the chamber he drew near the door, left ajar for the purpose +of admitting fresher air. From his position he saw that Edith was +asleep, while Nina, with the paper clasped tightly in her hand, +sat watching her. Once the latter thought she heard a suspicious +sound, and stealing to the door she looked up and down the hall +where a lamp was burning, showing that it was empty. + +"It must have been the wind," she said, resuming her seat by the +bedside, while Victor Dupres, gliding from the closet where he had +taken refuge, stood again at his former post, waiting for that +deep slumber to end. + +"Nina, are you here?" came at last from the pale lips, and the +bright, black eyes unclosed looking wistfully about the room. + +Silent and motionless Victor stood, while Nina, bending over +Edith, answered, "Yes, Miggie, I am here, and I've brought you +something to make you well. HE wrote it--Richard did--just now, in +the library. Can you see if I bring the lamp?" and thrusting the +paper into Edith's hands she held the lamp close to her eyes. + +"You havn't strength, have you?" she continued, as Edith paid no +heed. "Let me do it for you," and taking the crumpled sheet, she +read in tones distinct and dear: + +"I, THE BLIND MAN, RICHARD HARRINGTON, DO HEREBY SOLEMNLY SWEAR +THAT THE MARRIAGE OF ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE AND NINA BERNARD, PERFORMED +AT MY HOUSE, IN MY PRESENCE, AND BY ME, IS NULL AND VOID. RICHARD +HARRINGTON, COLLINGWOOD, NOVEMBER 5TH, 18--" + +Slowly a faint color deepened on Edith's cheek, a soft lustre was +kindled in her eye, and the great tears dropped from her long +lashes. Her intellect was too much clouded for her to reason +clearly upon anything, and she did not, for a moment, doubt the +validity of what she heard. Richard could annul the marriage if he +would, she was sure, and now that he had done so, the bitterness +of death was past,--the dark river forded, and she was saved. Nina +had steered the foundering bark into a calm, quiet sea, and +exulting in her good work, she held Edith's head upon her bosom, +and whispered to her of the joyous future when she would live with +Arthur. + +As a child listens to an exciting tale only comprehends in part, +so Edith listened to Nina, a smile playing about her mouth and +dancing in her eyes, which at last, as the low voice ceased, +closed languidly as did the soft blue orbs above them, and when +the grey dawn stole into the room it found them sleeping in each +other's arms,--the noble-hearted Nina who had virtually given up +her husband and the broken-hearted Edith who had accepted him. +They made a beautiful tableau, and Victor for a time stood +watching them, wiping the moisture from his own eyes, and +muttering to himself, "Poor Edith, I understand it now, and pity +you so much. But your secret is safe. Not for worlds would I +betray that blessed angel, Nina." Then, crossing the hall with a +cautious tread, he entered his own apartment and sat down to +THINK. + +Victor Dupres knew WHAT HAD BEEN SCRATCHED OUT! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +PARTING. + + +It was late the next morning, ere Nina and Edith awoke from that +long sleep, which proved so refreshing to the latter, stilling her +throbbing pulse, cooling her feverish brow, and subduing the wild +look of her eyes, which had in them the clear light of reason. +Edith was better. She would live, the physician said, feeling a +glow of gratified vanity as he thought how that last dose of +medicine, given as an experiment, and about which he had been so +doubtful, had really saved her life. She would have died without +it, he knew, just as Mrs. Matson, who inclined to homoeopathic +principles, knew her patient would have died if she had not slily +thrown it in the fire, substituting in its stead sweetened water +and pills of bread. + +Victor and Nina, too, had their theory with regard to the real +cause of Edith's convalescence, but each kept his own counsel, +Victor saying to Richard when questioned as to whether he had read +the paper or not, + +"No, Miss Nina keeps it clutched tightly in her hand, as if +suspecting my design." + +In the course of the day, however, Nina relaxed her vigilance, and +Victor, who was sent up stairs with wood, saw the important +document lying upon the hearth rug, where Nina had unconsciously +dropped it. + +"It's safer with me," he thought, and picking it up, he carried it +to his own apartment, locking it in his trunk where he knew no +curious eyes would ever find it. + +In her delight at Edith's visible improvement, Nina forgot the +paper for a day or two, and when at last she did remember it, +making anxious inquiries for it, Mrs. Matson, who was not the +greatest stickler for the truth, pacified her by saying she had +burned up a quantity of waste papers scattered on the floor, and +presumed this was among them. As Nina cared for nothing save to +keep the SCRATCHING OUT from every one except those whom it +directly concerned, she dismissed the subject from her mind, and +devoted herself with fresh energy to Edith, who daily grew better. + +She had not seen Arthur since that night in the Deering Woods, +neither did she wish to see him. She did not love him now, she +said; the shock had been so great as to destroy the root of her +affections, and no excuse he could offer her would in the least +palliate his sin. Edith was very harsh, very severe toward Arthur. +She should never go to Grassy Spring again, she thought; never +look upon his face unless he came to Collingwood, which she hoped +he would not do, for an interview could only be painful to them +both. She should tell him how deceived she was in him, and Edith's +cheeks grew red, and her eyes unusually bright, as she mentally +framed the speech she should make to Arthur St. Claire, if ever +they did meet. Her excitement was increasing, when Nina came in, +and tossing bonnet and shawl on the floor, threw herself upon the +foot of the bed, and began to cry, exclaiming between each sob, + +"Nina can't go! Nina won't go, and leave you here alone! I told +him so the vile boy, but he wouldn't listen, and Soph is packing +my trunks. Oh, Miggie, Miggie! how can I go without you? I shall +tear again, and be as bad as ever." + +"What do you mean?" asked Edith, "Where are you going, and why?" + +Drying her tears, Nina, in her peculiar way, related how "Arthur +wouldn't believe it was scratched out; Richard couldn't do such a +thing, he said; nobody could do it, but a divorce, and Arthur +wouldn't submit to that. He loves me better, than he used to do," +she said; "and he talked a heap about how he'd fix up Sunny Bank. +Then he asked me how I liked the name of Nina St. Claire. _I_ HATE +IT!" and the blue eyes flashed as Edith had never seen them flash +before. "I won't be his wife! I'd forgotten all what it was that +happened that night until he told it to you in the woods. Then it +came back to me, and I remembered how we went to Richard, because +he was most blind, and did not often come to Geneva. That was +Sarah Warren's plan I believe, but my head has ached and whirled +so since that I most forget. Only this I know, nothing ever came +of it; and over the sea I loved Charlie Hudson, and didn't love +Arthur. But, Miggie he's been so good to me so like my mother. +He's held me in his arms a heap of nights when the fire was in my +brain; and once, Miggie, he held me so long, and I tore so +awfully, that he fainted, and Dr. Griswold cried, and said, 'Poor +Arthur; poor boy!' That's when _I_ BIT HIM!--bit Arthur, Miggie, +right on his arm, because he wouldn't let me pull his hair. Dr. +Griswold shook me mighty hard, but Arthur never said a word. He +only looked at me so sorry, so grieved like, that I came out of my +tantrum, and kissed the place. I've kissed it ever so many times +since then, and Arthur knows I'm sorry. I ain't a fit wife for +him. I don't blame him for wanting you. I can't see the WRONG, but +it's because I'm so thick-headed, I suppose! I wish I wasn't!" And +fixing her gaze upon the window opposite, Nina seemed to be living +over the past, and trying to arrange the events of her life in +some clear, tangible form. + +Gradually as she talked Edith had softened toward Arthur--poor +Arthur, who had borne so much. She might, perhaps, forgive him, +but to FORGET was impossible. She had suffered too much at his +hands for that, and uttering a faint moan as she thought how all +her hopes of happiness were blasted, she turned on her pillow just +as Nina, coming out of her abstracted fit, said to her, + +"Did I tell you we are going to Florida--Arthur and I--going back +to our old home, in two or three days, Arthur says it is better +so. Old scenes may cure me." + +Alas, for poor human nature. Why did Edith's heart throb so +painfully, as she thought of Nina cured, and taken to Arthur's +bosom as his wife. She knew SHE could not be that wife, and only +half an hour before she had said within herself, "_I_ HATE HIM." +Now, however, she was conscious of a strong unwillingness to yield +to another the love lost to her forever, and covering her head +with the sheet, she wept to think how desolate her life would be +when she knew that far away, in the land of flowers, Arthur was +learning to forget her and bestowing his affection upon restored, +rational Nina. + +"Why do you cry?" asked Nina, whose quick ear detected the stifled +sobs. "Is it because we are going? I told him you would, when he +bade me come and ask if you would see him before he goes." + +"Did he--did he send me that message?" and the Edith, who wouldn't +for the world meet Arthur St. Claire again, uncovered her face +eagerly. "Tell him to come to-morrow at ten o'clock. I am the +strongest then; and Nina, will you care if I ask you to stay away? +I'd rather see him alone." + +Edith's voice faltered as she made this request, but Nina received +it in perfect good faith, answering that she would remain at home. + +"I must go now," she added. "He's waiting for me, and I do so hope +you'll coax him to stay here. I hate old Florida." + +Edith however felt that it was better for them both to part. She +had caught a glimpse of her own heart, and knew that its bleeding +fibres still clung to him, and still would cling till time and +absence had healed the wound. + +"I will be very cold and indifferent to-morrow," she said to +herself, when after Nina's departure, she lay, anticipating the +dreaded meeting and working herself up to such a pitch of +excitement that the physician declared her symptoms worse, asking +who had been there, and saying no one must see her, save the +family, for several days. + +The doctor's word was law at Collingwood, and with sinking spirits +Edith heard Richard in the hall without, bidding Mrs. Matson keep +every body from the sick room for a week. Even Nina was not to be +admitted, for it was clearly proved that her last visit had made +Edith worse. What should she do? Arthur would be gone ere the week +went by, and she MUST see him. Suddenly Victor came into her mind. +She could trust him to manage it, and when that night, while Mrs. +Matson was at her tea he came up as usual with wood, she said to +him, "Victor, shut the door so no one can hear, and then come +close to me." + +He obeyed, and standing by her bedside waited for her to speak. + +"Victor, Mr. St. Claire is going to Florida in a day or two. I've +promised to see him to-morrow at ten o'clock, and Richard says no +one can come in here, but I must bid Arthur good-bye and Nina, +too. Can't you manage it, Victor?" + +"Certainly," returned Victor, who, better than any one else knew +his own power over his master. "You shall see Mr. St. Claire, and +see him alone." + +Victor had not promised more than be felt able to perform, and +when at precisely ten o'clock next day the door bell rang, he +hastened to answer the summons, admitting Arthur, as he had +expected. + +"I called to see Miss Hastings," said Arthur, "I start for Florida +to-morrow, and would bid her good-bye." + +Showing him into the parlor, Victor sought Richard's presence, and +by a few masterly strokes of policy and well-worded arguments, +obtained his consent for Arthur to see Edith just a few moments. + +"It was too bad to send him away without even a good-bye, when she +had esteemed him so highly as a teacher," Richard said, +unwittingly repeating Victor's very words--that a refusal would do +her more injury than his seeing her could possibly do. "I'll go +with him. Where is he?" he asked, rising to his feet. + +"Now, I wouldn't if I was you. Let him talk with her alone. Two +excite her a great deal more than one, and he may wish to say some +things concerning Nina which he does not care for any one else to +hear. There is a mystery about HER, you know." + +Richard did not know, but he suffered himself to be persuaded, and +Victor returned to Arthur, whom be conducted in triumph to the +door of Edith's chamber. She heard his well known step. She knew +that he was coming, and the crimson spots upon her cheeks told how +much she was excited. Arthur did not offer to caress her--he dared +not do that now--but be knelt by her side, and burying his face in +her pillow, said to her, + +"I have come for your forgiveness, Edith. I could not go without +it. Say that I am forgiven, and it will not be so hard to bid you +farewell forever." + +Edith meant to be very cold, but her voice was choked as she +replied, + +"I can forgive you, Arthur, but to forget is harder far. And still +even that might be possible were I the only one whom you have +wronged; but Nina--how could you prove so faithless to your +marriage vow?" + +"Edith," and Arthur spoke almost sternly. "You would not have me +live with Nina as she is now." + +"No, no," she moaned, "not as she is now, but years ago. Why +didn't you acknowledge her as your wife, making the best of your +misfortune. People would have pitied you so much, and I--oh, +Arthur, the world would not then have been so dark, so dreary for +me. Why did you deceive me, Arthur? It makes my heart ache so +hard." + +"Oh, Edith, Edith, you drive me mad," and Arthur took in his the +hand which all the time had unconsciously been creeping toward +him. "I was a boy, a mere boy, and Nina was a little girl. We +thought it would be romantic, and were greatly influenced by +Nina's room-mate, who planned the whole affair. I told you once +how Nina wept, pleading with her father to let her stay in Geneva, +but I have not told you that she begged of me to tell him all, +while I unhesitatingly refused. I knew expulsion from College +would surely be the result, and I was far too ambitious to submit +to this degradation when it could be avoided. You know of the +gradual change in our feelings for each other, know what followed +her coming home, and you can perhaps understand how I grew so +morbidly sensitive to anything concerning her, and so desirous to +conceal my marriage from every one. This, of course, prompted me +to keep her existence a secret as long as possible, and, in my +efforts to do so, I can see now that I oftentimes acted the part +of a fool. If I could live over the past again I would proclaim +from the housetops that Nina was my wife. I love her with a +different love since I told you all. She is growing fast into my +heart, and I have hopes that a sight of her old home, together +with the effects of her native air, will do her good. Griswold +always said it would, and preposterous as it seems, I have even +dared to dream of a future, when Nina will be in a great measure +restored to reason." + +"If she does, Arthur, what then?" and, in her excitement, Edith +raised herself in bed, and sat looking at him with eyes which grew +each moment rounder, blacker, brighter, but had in them, alas, no +expression of joy; and when in answer to her appeal, Arthur said, + +"I shall make her my wife," she fell back upon her pillow, +uttering a moaning cry, which to the startled Arthur sounded like, + +"No, no! no, no! not your wife." + +"Edith," and rising to his feet Arthur stood with folded arms, +gazing pityingly upon her, himself now the stronger of the two. +"Edith, you, of all others, must not tempt me to fall. You surely +will counsel me to do right! Help me! oh, help me! I am so weak, +and I feel my good resolutions all giving way at sight of your +distress! If it will take one iota from your pain to know that +Nina shall never be my acknowledged wife, save as she is now, I +will swear to you that, were her reason ten times restored, she +shall not; But, Edith, don't, don't make me swear it. I am lost, +lost if you do. Help me to do right, won't you, Edith?" + +He knelt beside her again, pleading with her not to tempt him from +the path in which he was beginning to walk; and Edith, as she +listened, felt the last link, which bound her to him, snapping +asunder. For a moment she HAD wavered; had shrank from the thought +that any other could ever stand to him in the relation she once +had hoped to stand; but that weakness was over, and while chiding +herself for it, she hastened to make amends. + +Turning her face toward him, and laying both her hands on his +bowed head, she said, + +"May the Good Father bless you, Arthur, even as you prove true to +Nina. I have loved you, more than you will ever know, or I can +ever tell, and my poor, bruised heart clings to you still with a +mighty grasp. It is so hard to give you up, but it is right. I +shall think of you often in your beautiful Southern home, praying +always that God will bless you and forgive you at the last, even +as I forgive you. And now farewell, MY Arthur, I once fondly hoped +to call you, but mine no longer--NINA'S Arthur--go." + +She made a gesture for him to leave her, but did not unclose her +eyes. She could not look upon him, find know it was the last, last +time, but she offered no remonstrance when he left, upon her lips +a kiss so full of hopeless and yearning tenderness that it burned +there many a day after he was gone. She heard him turn away, heard +him cross the floor, knew he paused upon the threshold, and still +her eye-lids never opened, though the hot tears rained over her +face in torrents. + +"The sweetest joy I have ever known was my love for you, Edith +Hastings," he whispered, and then the door was closed between +them. + +Down the winding stairs he went, Edith counting every step, for +until all sound of him had ceased she could not feel that they +were parted forever. The sounds did cease at last, he had bidden +Richard a calm good-bye, had said good-bye to Victor, and now he +was going from the house. He would soon be out of sight, and with +an intense desire to stamp his image upon her mind just as he was +now, the changed, repentant Arthur, Edith arose, and tottering to +the window, looked after him, through blinding tears, as he passed +slowly from her sight, and then crawling, rather than walking back +to her bed, she wept herself to sleep. + +It was a heavy, unnatural slumber, and when she awoke from it, the +fever returned with redoubted violence, bringing her a second time +so near the gates of death that Arthur St. Claire deferred his +departure for several days, and Nina became again the nurse of the +sick room. But all in vain were her soft caresses and words of +love. Edith was unconscious of everything, and did not even know +when Nina's farewell kiss was pressed upon her lips and Nina's +gentle hands smoothed her hair for the last time. A vague +remembrance she had of an angel flitting around the room, a +bright-haired seraph, who held her up from sinking in the deep, +dark river, pointing to the friendly shore where life and safety +lay, and this was all she knew of a parting which had wrung tears +from every one who witnessed it, for there was something +wonderfully touching in the way the crazy Nina bade adieu to +"Miggie," lamenting that she must leave her amid the cold northern +hills, and bidding her come to the southland, where the magnolias +were growing and flowers were blossoming all the day long. Seizing +the scissors, which lay upon the stand, she severed one of her +golden curls, and placing it on Edith's pillow, glided from the +room, followed by the blessing of those who had learned to love +the beautiful little girl as such as she deserved to be loved. + + * * * * * * + +One by one the grey December days went by, and Christmas fires +were kindled on many a festal hearth. Then the New Year dawned +upon the world, and still the thick, dark curtains shaded the +windows of Edith's room. But there came a day at last, a pleasant +January day, when the curtains were removed, the blinds thrown +open, and the warm sunlight came in shining upon Edith, a +convalescent. Very frail and beautiful she looked in her crimson +dressing gown, and her little foot sat loosely in the satin +slipper, Grace Atherton's Christmas gift. The rich lace frill +encircling her throat was fastened with a locket pin of +exquisitely wrought gold, in which was encased a curl of soft, +yellow hair, Nina's hair, a part of the tress left on Edith's +pillow. This was Richard's idea,--Richard's New Year's gift to his +darling; but Richard was not there to share in the general joy. + +Just across the hall, in a chamber darkened as hers had been, he +was lying now, worn out with constant anxiety and watching. When +Nina left, his prop was gone, and the fever which had lain in wait +for him so long, kindled within his veins a fire like to that +which had burned in Edith's, but his strong, muscular frame met it +fiercely, and the danger had been comparatively slight. + +All this Grace told to Edith on that morning when she was first +suffered to sit up, and asked why Richard did not come to share +her happiness, for in spite of one's mental state, the first +feeling of returning health is one of joy. Edith felt it as such +even though her heart was so sore that every beat was painful. She +longed to speak of Grassy Spring, but would not trust herself +until Victor, reading her feelings aright, said to her with an +assumed indifference, "Mr. St. Claire's house is shut up, all but +the kitchen and the negro apartments. They are there yet, doing +nothing and having a good time generally." + +"And I have had a letter from Arthur," chimed in Mrs. Atherton, +while the eyes resting on Victor's face turned quickly to hers. +"They reached Sunny Bank in safety, he and Nina, and Soph." + +"And Nina," Edith asked faintly, "how is she?" + +"Improving, Arthur thinks, though she misses you very much." + +Edith drew a long, deep sigh, and when next she spoke, she said, +"Take me to the window, please, I want to see the country." + +In an instant, Victor, who knew well what she wanted, took her in +his arms, and carrying her to the window, set her down in the +chair which Grace brought for her; then, as if actuated by the +same impulse, both left her and returned to the fire, while she +looked across the snow-clad fields to where Grassy Spring reared +its massive walls, now basking in the winter sun. It was a +mournful pleasure to gaze at that lonely building, with its barred +doors, its closed shutters, and the numerous other tokens it gave +of being nearly deserted. There was no smoke curling from the +chimneys, no friendly door opened wide, no sweet young face +peering from the iron lattice of the Den, no Arthur, no Nina +there. Nothing but piles of snow upon the roof, snow upon the +window-sills, snow upon the doorsteps, snow upon the untrodden +walk, snow on the leafless elms, standing there so bleak and +brown. Snow everywhere, as cold, as desolate as Edith's heart, and +she bade Victor take her back again to the warm grate where she +might perhaps forget how gloomy and sad, and silent, was Grassy +Spring. + +"Did I say anything when I was delirious--anything I ought not to +have said?" she suddenly asked of Grace; and Victor, as if she had +questioned him, answered quickly, + +"Nothing, nothing--all is safe." + +Like a flash of lightning, Grace Atherton's eyes turned upon him, +while he, guessing her suspicions, returned her glance with one as +strangely inquisitive as her own. + +"Mon Dieu! I verily believe she knows," he muttered, as he left +the room, and repairing to his own, dived to the bottom of his +trunk, to make sure that he still held in his possession the paper +on which it had been "scratched out." + +That night as Grace Atherton took her leave of Edith, she bent +over the young girl, and whispered in her ear, + +"I know it all. Arthur told me the night before he left. God pity +you, Edith! God pity you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE NINETEENTH BIRTH-DAY. + + +Edith was nineteen. She was no longer the childish, merry-hearted +maiden formerly known as Edith Hastings. Her cruel disappointment +had ripened her into a sober, quiet woman, whose songs were seldom +heard in the halls of Collingwood, and whose bounding steps had +changed into a slower, more measured tread. + +Still, there was in her nature too much of life and vigor to be +crushed out at once, and oftentimes it flashed up with something +of its olden warmth, and the musical laugh fell again on Richard's +listening ear. He knew she was changed, but he imputed it all to +her long, fearful sickness; when the warm summer days came back, +she would be as gay as ever, he thought, or if she did not he +would in the autumn take her to FLORIDA, to visit Nina, for whom +he fancied she might be pining. Once he said as much to her, but +his blindness was a shield between them, and he did not see the +sudden paling of her cheek and quivering of her lip. + +Alas, for Richard, that he walked in so great a darkness. Hour by +hour, day by day, had his love increased for the child of his +adoption, until now she was a part of his very life, pervading +every corner and crevice of his being. He only lived for her, and +in his mighty love, he became selfishly indifferent to all else +around him. Edith was all he cared for;--to have her with him;--to +hear her voice,--to know that she was sitting near,--that by +stretching forth his hand he could lay it on her head, or feel her +beautiful cheeks,--this was his happiness by day, and when at +night he parted unwillingly from her, there was still a +satisfaction in knowing that he should meet her again on the +morrow,--in thinking that she was not far away--that by stepping +across the hall and knocking at her door he could hear her sweet +voice saying to him, + +"What is it, Richard?" + +He liked to have her call him Richard, as she frequently did. It +narrowed the wide gulf of twenty-one years between them, bringing +him nearer to her, so near, in fact, that bridal veils and orange +wreaths now formed a rare loveliness walked ever at his side; +clothed in garments such as the mistress of Collingwood's half +million ought to wear, and this maiden was Edith--the Edith who, +on her nineteenth birth-day, sat in her own chamber devising a +thousand different ways of commencing a conversation which she +meant to have with her guardian, the subject of said conversation +being no less a personage than Grace Atherton. Accidentally Edith +had learned that not the Swedish baby's mother but Grace +Elmendorff had been the lady who jilted Richard Harrington and +that, repenting bitterly of her girlish coquetry, Mrs. Atherton +would now gladly share the blind man's lot, and be to him what she +had not been to her aged, gouty lord. Grace did not say all this +to Edith, it is true, but the latter read as much in the trembling +voice and tearful eyes with which Grace told the story of her +early love, and to herself she said, "I will bring this matter +about. Richard often talks of her to me, asking if she has faded, +and why she does not come more frequently to Collingwood. I will +speak to him at the very first opportunity, and will tell him of +my mistake, and ask him who Eloise Temple's mother was, and why he +was so much interested in her." + +With this to engross her mind and keep it from dwelling too much +upon the past, Edith became more like herself than she had been +since that dreadful scene in the Deering woods. Even her long +neglected piano was visited with something of her former interest, +she practising the songs which she knew Grace could sing with her, +and even venturing upon two or three duets, of which Grace played +one part. It would be so nice, she thought, to have some female in +the house besides old Mrs. Matson, and she pictured just how Grace +would look in her white morning gowns, with her blue eyes and +chestnut curls, presiding at the breakfast table and handling the +silver coffee urn much more gracefully than she could do. + +It was a pleasant picture of domestic bliss which Edith drew that +April morning, and it brought a glow to her cheeks, whence the +roses all had fled. Once, indeed, as she remembered what Arthur +had said concerning Richard's probable intentions, and what she +had herself more than half suspected, she shuddered with fear lest +by pleading for Grace, she should bring a fresh trial to herself. +But no, whatever Richard might once have thought of her, his +treatment now was so fatherly that she had nothing to fear, and +with her mind thus at ease Edith waited rather impatiently until +the pleasant April day drew to its close. Supper was over, the +cloth removed, Victor gone to an Ethiopian concert, Mrs. Matson +knitting in her room, Sarah, the waiting-maid, reading a yellow +covered novel, and Richard sitting alone in his library. + +Now was Edith's time if ever, and thrusting the worsted work she +was crocheting into her pocket, she stepped to the library door +and said pleasantly "You seem to be in a deep study. Possibly you +don't want me now?" + +"Yes, I do," he answered quickly. "I always want you." + +"And can always do without me, too, I dare say," Edith rejoined +playfully, as she took her seat upon a low ottoman, near him. + +"No, I couldn't," and Richard sighed heavily. "If I had not you I +should not care to live. I dreamed last night that you were dead, +that you died while I was gone, and I dug you up with my own hands +just to look upon your face again. I always see you in my sleep. I +am not blind then, and when a face fairer, more beautiful than any +of which the poets ever sang flits before me, I whisper to myself, +'that's Edith,--that's my daylight.'" + +"Oh, mistaken man," Edith returned, laughingly, "how terribly you +would be disappointed could you be suddenly restored to sight and +behold the long, lank, bony creature _I_ know as Edith Hastings-- +low forehead, turned-up nose, coarse, black hair, all falling out, +black eyes, yellowish black skin, not a particle of red in it--the +fever took that away and has not brought it back. Positively, +Richard, I'm growing horridly ugly. Even my hair, which I'll +confess I did use to think was splendid, is as rough as a chestnut +burr. Feel for yourself if you don't believe me," and she laid his +hand upon her hair, which, though beautiful and abundant, still +was quite uneven and had lost some of its former satin gloss. + +Richard shook his head. Edith's description of her personal +appearance made not a particle of difference with him. She might +not, perhaps, have recovered her good looks, but she would in +time. She was improving every day, and many pronounced her +handsomer than before her sickness, for where there had been, +perhaps, a superabundance of color and health there was now a +pensive, subdued beauty, preferred by some to the more glowing, +dashing style which had formerly distinguished Edith Hastings from +every one else in Shannondale. Something like this he said to her, +but Edith only laughed and continued her crocheting, wondering how +she should manage to introduce Grace Atherton. It was already +half-past eight, Victor might soon be home, and if she spoke to +him that night she must begin at once. Clearing her throat and +making a feint to cough, she plunged abruptly into the subject by +saying, "Richard, why have you never married? Didn't you ever see +anybody you loved well enough?" + +Richard's heart gave one great throb and then grew still, for +Edith had stumbled upon the very thing uppermost in his mind. What +made her? Surely, there was a Providence in it. 'Twas an omen of +good, boding success to his suit, and after a moment he replied, + +"Strange that you and I should both be thinking of matrimony. Do +you know that my dreaming you were dead is a sign that you will +soon be married?" + +"_I_, Mr. Harrington!" and Edith started quickly. "The sign is not +true. I shall never marry, never. I shall live here always, if +you'll let me, but I do want you to have a wife. You will be so +much happier, I think. Shall I propose one for you?" + +"Edith," Richard answered, "sit close to me while I tell you of +one I once wished to make my wife." + +Edith drew nearer to him, and he placed upon her head the hands +which were cold and clammy as if their owner were nerving himself +for some mighty effort. + +"Edith, in my early manhood I loved a young girl, and I thought my +affection returned, but a wealthier, older man came between us, +and she chose his riches in preference to walking in my shadow, +for such she termed my father." + +"But she's repented, Mr. Harrington--she surely has," and Edith +dropped her work in her earnestness to defend Grace Atherton. "She +is sorry for what she made you suffer; she has loved you through +all, and would be yours now if you wish it, I am sure. You DO wish +it, Richard. You will forgive Grace Atherton," and in her +excitement Edith knelt before him, pleading for her friend. + +Even before he answered her she knew she pleaded in vain, but she +was not prepared for what followed the silence Richard was first +to break. + +"Grace Atherton can never be to me more than what she is, a tried, +respected friend. My boyish passion perished long ago, and into my +later life another love has crept, compared with which my first +was as the darkness to the full noonday. I did not think to talk +of this to-night, but something compels me to do so--tells me the +time has come, and Edith, you must hear me before you speak, but +sit here where I can touch you, and when I'm through if what I've +said meets with a responsive chord, lay your hand in mine, and I +shall know the nature of your answer." + +It was coming now--the scene which Arthur foresaw when, sitting in +the Deering woods, with life and sense crushed out, he gave his +Edith up to one more worthy than himself. It was the foreshadowing +of the "SACRIFICE," the first step taken toward it, and as one +who, seeing his destiny wrapping itself about him fold on fold, +sits down stunned and powerless, so Edith sat just where he bade +her sit, and listened to his story. + +"Years ago, Edith, a solitary, wretched man I lived in my dark +world alone, weary of life, weary of every thing, and in my +weariness I was even beginning to question the justice of my +Creator for having dealt so harshly with me, when one day a wee +little singing bird, whose mother nest had been made desolate, +fluttered down at my feet, tired like myself, and footsore even +with the short distance it had come on life's rough journey. There +was a note in the voice of this sinking bird which spoke to me of +the past, and so my interest grew in the helpless thing until at +last it came to nestle at my side, not timidly, for such was not +its nature, but as if it had a right to be there--a right to be +caressed and loved as I caressed and loved it, for I did learn to +love it, Edith, so much, oh, so much, and the sound of its voice +was sweeter to me than the music of the Swedish nightingale, who +has filled the world with wonder. + +"Years flew by, and what at first had been a tiny fledgling, +became a very queen of birds, and the blind man's heart throbbed +with pride when he heard people say of his darling that she was +marvellously fair. He knew it was not for him to look upon her +dark, rich, glowing beauty, but he stamped her features upon his +mind in characters which could not be effaced, and always in his +dreams her face sat on his pillow, watching while be slept, and +when he woke bent over him, whispering, 'Poor blind man,' just as +the young bird had whispered ere it's home was in his bosom. + +"Edith, that face is always with me, and should it precede me to +the better land, I shall surely know it from all the shining +throng. I shall know my singing bird, which brought to our +darkened household the glorious daylight, just as Arthur St. +Claire said she would when he asked me to take her." + +From the ottoman where Edith sat there came a low, choking sound, +but it died away in her throat, and with her hands locked so +firmly together that the taper nails made indentation in the +tender flesh, she listened, while Richard continued: + +"It is strange no one has robbed me of my gem. Perhaps they spared +me in their pity for my misfortune. At all events, no one has come +between us, not even Arthur St. Claire, who is every way a +desirable match for her." + +Again that choked, stifled moan, and a ring of blood told where +the sharp nail had been, but Edith heeded nothing save Richard's +voice, saying to her, + +"You have heard of little streams trickling from the heart of some +grim old mountain, growing in size and strength as they advanced, +until at last they became a mighty river, whose course nothing +could impede, Such, Edith, is my love for that singing bird. +Little by little, inch by inch, it has grown in its intensity +until there is not a pulsation of my being which does not bear +with it thoughts of her. But my bird is young while I am old. Her +mate should be one on whose head the summer dews are resting, one +more like Arthur St Claire, and not an owl of forty years growth +like me; but she has not chosen such an one, and hope has +whispered to the tough old owl that his bright-eyed dove might be +coaxed into his nest; might fold her wings there forever, nor seek +to fly away. If this COULD be, Edith. Oh, if this could be, I'd +guard that dove so tenderly that not a feather should be ruffled, +and the winds of heaven should not blow too roughly on my darling. +I'd line her cage all over with gold and precious stones, but the +most costly gem of all should be the mighty unspeakable love I'd +bear to her. Aye, that I do bear her now, Edith,--my daylight, my +life. You surely comprehend me; tell me, then, can all this be? +Give me the token I desire." + +He stretched out his groping hand, which swayed back and forth in +the empty air, but felt the clasp of no soft fingers clinging to +it, and a wistful, troubled look settled upon the face of the +blind man, just as a chill of fear was settling upon his heart. + +"Edith, darling, where are you?" and his hand sought the ottoman +where she had been, but where she was not now. + +Noiselessly, as he talked, she had crept away to the lounge in the +corner, where she crouched like a frightened deer, her flush +creeping with nervous terror, and her eyes fastened upon the man +who had repeated her name, asking where she was. + +"Here, Richard," she answered at last, her eyelids involuntarily +closing when she saw him rising, and knew he was coming toward +her. + +She had forgotten her promise to Arthur that she would not answer +Richard "No," should he ask her to be his wife; that, like Nina's +"scratching out," was null and void, and when he knelt beside her, +she said half bitterly, + +"It must not be; THE SINGING BIRD CANNOT MATE WITH THE OWL!" + +Instantly there broke from the blind man's lips a cry of agony so +pitiful, so reproachful in its tone, that Edith repented her +insulting words, and winding her arms around his neck, entreated +his forgiveness for having so cruelly mocked him.. + +"You called yourself so first," she sobbed, "or I should not have +thought of it. Forgive me. Richard, I didn't mean it. I could not +thus pain the noblest, truest friend I ever had. Forgive your +singing bird. She surely did not mean it," and Edith pressed her +burning cheeks against his own. + +What was it she did not mean? That it could not be, or that he was +an owl? He asked himself this question many times during the +moment of silence which intervened; then as he felt her still +clinging to him, his love for her rolled back upon him with +overwhelming force, and kneeling before her as the slave to his +master, he pleaded with her again to say IT COULD BE, the great +happiness he had dared to hope for. + +"Is there any other man whom my darling expects to marry?" he +asked, and Edith was glad he put the question in this form, as +without prevarication she could promptly answer, + +"No, Richard, there is none." + +"Then you may learn to love me," Richard said. "I can wait, I can +wait; but must it be very long? The days will be so dreary, and I +love you so much that I am lost if you refuse. Don't make my +darkness darker, Edith." + +He laid his head upon her lap, still kneeling before her, the +iron-willed man kneeling to the weak young girl, whose hands were +folded together like blocks of lead, and gave him back no +answering caress, only the words, + +"Richard, I can't. It's too sudden. I have thought of you always +as my elder brother, Be my brother, Richard. Take me as your +sister, won't you?" + +"Oh, I want you for my wife," and his voice was full of pleading +pathos. "I want you in my bosom, I need you there, darling. Need +some one to comfort me. I've suffered so much, for your sake, too. +Oh, Edith, my early manhood was wasted; I've reached the autumn +time, and the gloom which wrapped me then in its black folds lies +around me still, and will you refuse to throw over my pathway a +single ray of sunlight? No, no, Edith, you won't, you can't. I've +loved you too much. I've lost too much. I'm growing old--and--oh, +Birdie, Birdie, I'M BLIND! I'M BLIND!" + +She did not rightly interpret his suffering FOR HER SAKE. She +thought he meant his present pain, and she sought to soothe him as +best she could without raising hopes which never could be +realized. He understood her at last; knew the heart he offered her +was cast back upon him, and rising from his kneeling posture, he +felt his way back to his chair, and burying his head upon a table +standing near, sobbed as Edith had never heard man sob before, not +even Arthur St. Claire, when in the Deering Woods he had rocked to +and fro in his great agony. Sobs they were which seemed to rend +his broad chest asunder, and Edith stopped her ears to shut out +the dreadful sound. + +But hark, what is it he is saying? Edith fain would know, and +listening intently, she hears him unconsciously whispering to +himself; "OH, EDITH, WAS IT FOR THIS THAT _I_ SAVED YOU FROM THE +RHINE, PERILING MY LIFE AND LOSING MY EYESIGHT? BETTER THAT YOU +HAD DIED IN THE DEEP WATERS THAN THAT _I_ SHOULD MEET THIS HOUR OF +ANGUISH." + +"Richard, Richard!" and Edith nearly screamed as she flew across +the floor. Lifting up his head she pillowed it upon her bosom, and +showering kisses upon his quivering lips, said to him, "Tell me-- +tell me, am _I_ that Swedish baby, _I_ that Eloise Temple?" + +He nodded in reply, and Edith continued: "the child for whose sake +you were made blind! Why have you not told me before? I could not +then have wounded you so cruelly. How can I show my gratitude? I +am not worthy of you, Richard; not worthy to bear your name, much +less to be your bride, but such as I am take me. I cannot longer +refuse. Will you, Richard? May I be your wife?" + +She knelt before HIM now; hers was the supplicating posture, and +when he shook his head, she continued, + +"You think it a sudden change, and so it is, but I mean it. I'm in +earnest, I do love you, dearly, oh, so dearly, and by and by I +shall love you a great deal more. Answer me--may I be your wife?" + +It was a terrible temptation, and Richard Harrington reeled from +side to side like a broken reed, while his lips vainly essayed to +speak the words his generous nature bade them speak. He could not +see the eagerness of the fair young face upturned to his--the +clear, truthful light shining in Edith's beautiful dark eyes, +telling better than words could tell that she was sincere in her +desire to join her sweet spring life with his autumn days. He +could not see this, else human flesh had proved too weak to say +what he did say at last. + +"No, my darling, I cannot accept a love born of gratitude and +nothing more. You remember a former conversation concerning this +Eloise when you told me you were glad you were not she, as in case +you were you should feel compelled to be grateful, or something +like that, where as you would rather render your services to me +from love. Edith, that remark prevented me from telling you then +that you were Eloise, the Swedish mother's baby." + +Never before had the words "that Swedish mother" touched so tender +a chord in Edith's heart as now, and forgetting every thing in her +intense desire to know something of her own early history, she +exclaimed, "You knew my mother, Richard. You have heard her voice, +seen her face; now tell me of her, please. Where is she? And +Marie, too, for there was a Marie. Let's forget all that's been +said within the last half hour. Let's begin anew, making believe +it's yesterday instead of now, and, when the story is ended, ask +me again if the singing bird can mate with the eagle. The grand, +royal eagle, Richard, is the best similitude for you," and forcing +herself to sit upon his knee, she put her arms around his neck +bidding him again tell her of her mother. + +With the elastic buoyancy of youth Edith could easily shake off +the gloom which for a few brief moments had shrouded her like a +pall, but not so with Richard. "The singing-bird must not mate +with the owl," rang continually in his ears. It was her real +sentiment he knew, and his heart ached so hard as he thought how +he had staked his all on her and lost it. + +"Begin," she said, "Tell me where you first met my mother." + +Richard heaved a sigh which smote heavily on Edith's ear, for she +guessed of what he was thinking, and she longed to reassure him of +her intention to be his sight hereafter, but he was about to speak +and she remained silent. + +"Your mother," he said "was a Swede by birth, and her marvellous +beauty first attracted your father, whose years were double her +own." + +"I'm so glad," interrupted Edith, "As much as twenty-one years +older, wasn't he?" + +"More than that," answered Richard, a half pleased, half bitter +smile playing over his dark face, "Forgive me, darling, but I'm +afraid he was not as good a man as he should have been, or as kind +to his young wife. When I first saw her she lived in a cottage +alone, and he was gone. She missed him sadly, and her sweet voice +seemed full of tears as she sang her girl baby to sleep. You have +her voice, Edith, and its tones came back to me the first time I +ever heard you speak. But I was telling of your father. He was +dissipated, selfish and unprincipled,--affectionate and kind to +Petrea one day, cold, hard and brutal the next. Still she loved +him and clung to him, for he was the father of her child. You were +a beautiful little creature, Edith, and I loved you so much that +when I knew you had fallen from a bluff into the river, I +unhesitatingly plunged after you." + +"I remember it," cried Edith, "I certainly do, or else it was +afterwards told to me so often that it seems a reality." + +"The latter is probably the fact," returned Richard. "You were too +young to retain any vivid recollections of that fall." + +Still Edith persisted that she did remember the face of a little +girl in the water as she looked over the rock, and of bending to +touch the arm extended toward her. She remembered Bingen, too, +with its purple grapes; else why had she been haunted all her life +with vine-clad hills and plaintive airs. + +"Your mother sang to you the airs, while your nurse, whose name I +think was Marie, told you of the grapes growing on the hills," +said Richard. "She was a faithful creature, greatly attached to +your mother, but a bitter foe of your father. I was too much +absorbed in the shadow stealing over me to pay much heed to my +friends, and after they left Germany I lost sight of them +entirely, nor dreamed that the little girl who came to me that +October morning was my baby Eloise. Your voice always puzzled me, +and something I overheard you saying to Grace one day about your +mysterious hauntings of the past, together with an old song of +Petrea's which you sang, gave me my first suspicion as to who you +were, and decided me upon that trip to New York. Going first to +the Asylum of which you were once an inmate, I managed after much +diligent inquiry to procure the address of the woman who brought +you there when you were about three years old. I had but little +hope of finding her, but determining to persevere I sought out the +humble cottage in the suburbs of the city. It was inhabited by an +elderly woman who denied all knowledge of Edith Hastings until +told that I was Richard Harrington. Then her manner changed at +once, and to my delight I heard that she was Marie's sister. She +owned the cottage, had lived there more than twenty years, and saw +your mother die. Petrea, it seems, had left her husband, intending +to return to Sweden, but sickness overtook her and she died in New +York, committing you to the faithful Marie's care in preference to +your father's. Such was her dread of him that she made Marie swear +to keep your existence a secret from him, lest he should take you +back to a place where she had been so wretched and where all the +influences, she thought, were bad. She would rather you should be +poor, she said, than to be brought up by him, and as a means of +eluding discovery, she said you should not bear his name, and with +her dying tears she baptised you Edith Hastings. After her decease +Marie wrote to him that both of you were dead, and he came on at +once, seemed very penitent and sorry when it was too late." + +"Where was his home?" Edith asked eagerly; and Richard replied, + +"That is one thing I neglected to enquire, but when I met him in +Europe I had the impression that it was in one of the Western or +South-western states." + +"Is he still alive?" Edith asked again, a daughter's love slowly +gathering in her heart in spite of the father's cruelty to the +mother. + +"No," returned Richard. "Marie, who kept sight of his movements, +wrote to her sister some years since that he was dead, though when +he died, or how, Mrs. Jamieson did not know. She, too, was ill +when he came to her house, and consequently never saw him +herself." + +"And the Asylum--how came I there?" said Edith; and Richard +replied, + +"It seems your mother was an orphan, and had no near relatives to +whom you could be sent, and as Marie was then too poor and +dependent to support you she placed you in the Asylum as Edith +Hastings, visiting you occasionally until she went back to France, +her native country. Her intention was to return in a few months, +but a violent attack of inflammatory rheumatism came upon her, +depriving her of the use of her limbs, and confining her to her +bed for years, and so prevented her from coming back. Mrs. +Jamieson, however, kept her informed with regard to you, and told +me that Marie was greatly when she heard you were with me, whom +she supposed to be the same Richard Harrington who had saved your +life, and of whom her mistress had often talked. Marie is better +now, and when I saw her sister more than a year ago, she was +hoping she might soon revisit America. I left directions for her +to visit Collingwood, and for several months I looked for her a +little, resolving if she came, to question her minutely concerning +your father. He must have left a fortune, Edith, which by right is +yours, if we can prove that you are his child, and with Marie's +aid I hope to do this sometime. I have, however, almost given her +up; but now that you know all I will go again to New York, and +seek another interview with Mrs. Jamieson. Would it please you to +have the little orphan, Edith Hastings, turn out to be an +heiress?" + +"Not for my own sake," returned Edith; "but if it would make you +love me more, I should like it;" and she clung closer to him as he +replied, + +"Darling that could not be. I loved you with all the powers I had, +even before I knew you were Petrea's child. Beautiful Petrea! I +think you must be like her, Edith, except that you are taller. She +was your father's second wife. This I knew in Germany, and also +that there was a child of Mr. Temple's first marriage, a little +girl, he said." + +"A child--a little girl," and Edith started quickly, but the +lightning flash which had once gleamed across her bewildered mind, +when in the Den she stood gazing at the picture of Miggie Bernard, +did not come back to her now, neither did she remember Arthur's +story, so much like Richard's. She only thought that possibly +there was somewhere in the world a dear, half-sister, whom she +should love so much, could she only find her. Edith was a famous +castle-builder, and forgetting that this half-sister, were she +living, would be much older than herself, she thought of her only +as a school-girl, whose home should be at Collingwood, and on whom +MRS. RICHARD HARRINGTON would lavish so much affection, wasting on +her the surplus love which, perhaps, could not be given to the +father--husband. How then was her castle destroyed, when Richard +said, + +"She, too, is dead, so Mrs. Jamieson told me, and there is none of +the family left save you." + +"I wish I knew where mother was buried," Edith sighed, her tears +falling to the memory of her girl mother, whose features it seamed +to her she could recall, as well as a death-bed scene, when +somebody with white lips and mournful black eyes clasped her in +her arms and prayed that God would bless her, and enable her +always to do right. + +It might have been a mere fancy, but to Edith it was a reality, +and she said within herself, + +"Yes, darling mother, I will do right, and as I am sure yon would +approve my giving myself to Richard, so I will be his wife." + +One wild, longing, painful throb her heart gave to the past when +she had hoped for other bridegroom than the middle-aged man on +whose knee she sat, and then laying her hot face against his +bearded cheek, she whispered, + +"You've told the story, Richard. It does not need Marie to confirm +it, though she, too, will come sometime to tell me who I am, but +when she comes, I shan't be Edith Hastings, shall I. The initials +won't be changed, though. They will be 'E.H.' still--Edith +Harrington. It has not a bad sound, has it?" + +"Don't, darling, please don't," and Richard's voice had in it a +tone much like that which first rang through the room, when Edith +said, + +"It cannot be." + +"Richard," and Edith took his cold face between her soft, warm +hands, "Richard, won't you let the singing bird call you husband? +If you don't, she will fly away and sing to some one else, who +will prize her songs. I thought you loved me, Richard." + +"Oh, Edith, my precious Edith! If I knew I could make the love +grow where it is not growing--the right kind of love, I mean--I +would not hesitate; but, darling, Richard Harrington would die a +thousand deaths rather than take you to his bosom an unloving +wife. Remember that, and do NOT mock me; do not deceive me. You +think now in the first flush of your gratitude to me for having +saved your life and in your pity for my blindness that you can do +anything; but wait awhile--consider well--think how I shall be old +while you still are young,--a tottering, gray-haired man, while +your blood still retains the heat of youth. The Harringtons live +long. I may see a hundred." + +"And I shall then be seventy-nine; not so vast a difference," +interrupted Edith. + +"No, not a vast difference then," Richard rejoined, "but 'tis not +then I dread. 'Tis now, the next twenty-five years, during which I +shall be slowly decaying, while you will be ripening into a +matured, motherly beauty, dearer to your husband than all your +girlish loveliness. 'Tis then that I dread the contrast in you; +not when both are old; and, Edith, remember this, you can never be +old to me, inasmuch as I can never see you. I may feel that your +smooth, velvety flesh is wrinkled, that your shining hair is thin, +your soft round arms more sinewy and hard, but I cannot see it, +and in my heart I shall cherish ever the image I first loved as +Edith Hastings. You, on the contrary, will watch the work of death +go on in me, will see my hair turn gray, my form begin to stoop, +my hand to tremble, my eyes grow blear and watery, and when all +has come to pass, won't you sicken of the shaky old man and sigh +for a younger, more vigorous companion?" + +"Not unless you show me such horrid pictures," Edith sobbed, +impetuously, for in her heart of hearts she felt the truth of +every word he uttered, and her whole soul revolted against the +view presented to her of the coming time. + +But she would conquer such feelings--she would be his wife, and +drying her eyes she said, "I can give you my decision now as well +as at any other time, but if you prefer it, I will wait four weeks +and then bring you the same answer I make you now--I will be your +wife." + +"I dare not hope it," returned Richard, "You will change your +mind, I fear, but, Edith, if you do not,--if you promise to be +mine, don't forsake me afterwards, for I should surely die," and +as if he already felt the agony it would cost him to give his +darling up after he had once possessed her, he clasped his hands +upon his heart, which throbbed so rapidly that Edith heard its +muffled beat and saw its rise and fall. "I could not lose you and +still live on without you, Edith," and he spoke impetuously, "You +won't desert me, if you promise once." + +"Never, never," she answered, and with a good night kiss upon his +lips she went out from the presence of the man she already looked +upon as her future husband, breathing freer when she stood within +the hall where he was not, and freer still when in her own chamber +there was a greater distance between them. + +Alas, for Edith, and a thousand times alas, for poor, poor +Richard! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +DESTINY. + + +Not for one moment did Edith waver in her purpose, and lest +Richard should suspect what he could not see, she affected a +gayety in his presence sadly at variance with her real feelings. +Never had her merry laugh rang out so frequently before him--never +had her wit been one half so sparkling, and when he passed his +hands over her flushed cheek, feeling how hot it was, he said to +himself, "The roses are coming back, she cannot be unhappy," and +every line and lineament of the blind man's face glowed with the +new-born joy springing up within his heart, and making the world +around him one grand jubilee. + +Victor was quick to note the change in his master, and without the +least suspicion of the truth, he once asked Edith, "What made Mr. +Harrington so young and almost boyish, acting as men were supposed +to act when they were just engaged?" + +"Victor," said Edith, after a moment's reflection, "can you keep a +secret?" + +"Certainly," he replied. "What is it, pray? Is Mr. Harrington +matrimonially inclined?" + +Edith's heart yearned for sympathy--for some one to sustain her-- +to keep her from fainting by the wayside, and as she could not +confide in Grace, Victor was her only remaining refuge. He had +been the repositary of all her childish secrets, entering into her +feelings as readily and even more demonstratively than any female +friend could have done. Richard would tell him, of course, as soon +as it was settled, and as she knew now that it was settled, why +not speak first and so save him the trouble. Thus deciding, she +replied to his question, + +"Yes, Richard is going to be married; but you must not let him +know I told you, till the engagement is made public." + +Victor started, but had no shadow of suspicion that the young girl +before him was the bride elect. His master had once been foolish +enough to think of her as such he believed, but that time was +passed. Richard had grown more sensible, and Edith was the future +wife of Arthur St. Claire. Nina would not live long, and after she +was dead there would be no further hindrance to a match every way +so suitable. This was Victor's theory, and never doubting that the +same idea had a lodgment in the minds of both Arthur and Edith, he +could not conceive it possible that the latter would deliberately +give herself to Richard. Grace Atherton, on the contrary, would be +glad to do it; she had been coaxing his master these forty years, +and had succeeded in winning him at last. Victor did not fancy +Grace; and when at last he spoke, it was to call both his master +and Mrs. Atherton a pair of precious fools. Edith looked +wonderingly at him as he raved on. + +"I can't bear her, I never could, since I heard how she abused +you. Why, I'd almost rather you'd be his wife than that gay +widow." + +"Suppose I marry him then in her stead," Edith said, laughingly. +"I verily believe he'd exchange." + +"Of course he would," Victor answered, bitterly. "The older a man +grows, the younger the girl he selects, and it's a wonder he +didn't ask you first." + +"Supposing he had?" returned Edith, bending over a geranium to +hide her agitation. "Supposing he had, and it was I instead of +Grace to whom he is engaged." + +"Preposterous!" Victor exclaimed. "You could not do such a thing +in your right senses. Why, I'd rather see you dead than married to +your father. I believe I'd forbid the banns myself," and Victor +strode from the room, banging the door behind him, by way of +impressing Edith still more forcibly with the nature of his +opinion. + +Edith was disappointed. She had expected sympathy at least from +Victor, had surely thought he would he pleased to have her for his +mistress, and his words, "I would rather see you dead," hurt her +cruelly. Perhaps every body would say so. It was an unnatural +match, this union of autumn and spring, but she must do something. +Any thing was preferable to the aimless, listless life she was +leading now. She could not be any more wretched than she was, and +she might perhaps be happier when the worst was over and she knew +for certain that she was Richard's wife. HIS WIFE! It made her +faint and sick just to say those two words. What then would the +reality be? She loved him dearly as a guardian, a brother, and she +might in time love him as her husband. Such things had been. They +could be again. Aye, more, they should he, and determining +henceforth to keep her own counsel, and suffer Victor to believe +it was Grace instead of herself, she ran into the garden, where +she knew Richard was walking, and stealing to his side, caught his +arm ere he was aware of her presence. + +"Darling, is it you?" he asked, and his dark face became +positively beautiful with the radiant love-light shining out all +over it. + +Every day the hope grew stronger that the cherished object of his +life might be realized. Edith did not avoid him as he feared she +would. On the contrary she rather sought his society than +otherwise, never, however, speaking of the decision. It was a part +of the agreement that they should not talk of it until the four +weeks were gone, the weeks which to Richard dragged so slowly, +while to Edith they flew on rapid wing; and with every rising sun, +she felt an added pang as she thought how soon the twelfth of May +would be there. It wanted but four days of it when she joined him +in the garden, and for the first time since their conversation +Richard alluded to it by asking playfully, "what day of the month +it was?" + +"The eighth;" and Edith's eyes closed tightly over the tears +struggling to gain egress, then with a mighty effort she added, +laughingly, + +"When the day after to-morrow comes, it will be the tenth, then +the eleventh, then the twelfth, and then, you know, I'm coming to +you in the library. Send Victor off for that evening, can't you? +He's sure to come in when I don't want him, if he's here," and +this she said because she feared it would be harder to say yes if +Victor's reproachful eyes should once look upon her, as they were +sure to do, if he suspected her designs. + +Richard could not understand why Victor must be sent away, but +anything Edith asked was right, and he replied that Victor should +not trouble them. + +"There, he's coming now!" and Edith dropped the hand she held, as +if fearful lest the Frenchman should suspect. + +This was not the proper feeling, she knew, and returning to the +house, she shut herself up in her room, crying bitterly because +she could not make herself feel differently! + +The twelfth came at last, not a balmy, pleasant day as May is wont +to bring, but a rainy, dreary April day, when the gray clouds +chased each other across the leaden sky, now showing a disposition +to bring out patches of blue, and again growing black and heavy as +the fitful showers came pattering down. Edith was sick. The strong +tension of nerves she had endured for four long weeks was giving +way. She could not keep up longer; and Richard breakfasted and +dined without her, while with an aching head she listened to the +rain beating against her windows, and watched the capricious +clouds as they floated by. Many times she wished it all a dream +from which she should awaken; and then, when she reflected that +'twas a fearful reality, she covered her head with the bed-clothes +and prayed that she might die. But why pray for this? She need not +be Richard's wife unless she chose--he had told her so repeatedly, +and now she too said "I will not!" Strange she had not thus +decided before and stranger still that she should be so happy now +she had decided! + +There was a knock at the door, and Grace Atherton asked to be +admitted. + +"Richard told me you were sick," she said, as she sat down by +Edith's side; "and you do look ghostly white. What is the matter, +pray?" + +"One of my nervous headaches;" and Edith turned from the light so +that her face should tell no tales of the conflict within. + +"I received a letter from Arthur last night," Grace continued, +"and thinking you might like to hear from Nina, I came round in +the rain to tell you of her. Her health is somewhat improved, and +she is now under the care of a West India physician, who holds out +strong hopes that her mental derangement may in time be cured." + +Edith was doubly glad now that she had turned her face away, for +by so doing she hid the tears which dropped so fast upon her +pillow. + +"Did Arthur mention me?" she asked, and Grace knew then that she +was crying. + +Still it was better not to withhold the truth, and bending over +her she answered, + +"No, Edith, he did not. I believe he is really striving to do +right." + +"And he will live with Nina if she gets well?" came next from the +depths of the pillows where Edith lay half smothered. + +"Perhaps so. Would you not like to have him?" Grace asked. + +"Ye-e-e-s. I sup-pose so. Oh, I don't know what I like. I don't +know anything except that I wish I was dead," and the silent +weeping became a passionate sobbing as Edith shrank further from +Grace, plunging deeper and deeper among her pillows until she was +nearly hidden from view. + +Grace could not comfort her; there was no comfort as she saw, and +as Edith refused to answer any of her questions upon indifferent +topics, she ere long took her leave, and Edith was left alone. She +had reversed her decision while Grace was sitting there, and the +news from Florida was the immediate cause. She should marry +Richard now, and her whole body shook with the violence of her +emotions; but as the fiercest storm will in time expend its fury, +so she grew still at last, though it was rather the stillness of +despair than any healthful, quieting influence stealing over her. +She hated herself because she could not feel an overwhelming joy +at the prospect of Nina's recovery; hated Arthur because he had +forgotten her; hated Grace for telling her so; hated Victor for +saying he would rather see her dead than Richard's wife; hated +Mrs. Matson for coming in to ask her how she was; hated her for +staying there when she would rather be alone, and made faces at +her from beneath the sheet; hated everybody but Richard, and in +time she should hate him--at least, she hoped she should, for on +the whole she was more comfortable when hating people than she had +ever been when loving them. It had such a hardened effect upon +her, this hatred of all mankind, such a don't care influence, that +ahe rather enjoyed it than otherwise. + +And this was the girl who, as that rainy, dismal day drew to its +close and the sun went down in tears, dressed herself with a firm, +unflinching hand, arranging her hair with more than usual care, +giving it occasionally a sharp pull, as a kind of escape valve to +her feelings and uttering an impatient exclamation whenever a pin +proved obstinate and did not at once slip into its place. She was +glad Richard was blind and could not see her swollen eyes, which, +in spite of repeated bathings in ice-water and cologne would look +red and heavy. Her voice, however, would betray her, and so she +toned it down by warbling snatches of a love song learned ere she +knew the meaning of love, save as it was connected with Richard. +It was not Edith Hastings who left that pleasant chamber, moving +with an unfaltering step down the winding stairs and across the +marble hall, but a half-crazed, defiant woman going on to meet her +DESTINY and biting her lip with vexation when she heard that +Richard had company--college friends, who being in Shannondale on +business had come up to see him. + +This she learned from Victor, whom she met in the hall, and who +added, that he never saw his master appear quite so dissatisfied +as when told they were in the library, and would probably pass the +night. Edith readily guessed the cause of his disquiet, and +impatiently stamped her little foot upon the marble floor, for she +knew their presence would necessarily defer the evil hour, and she +could not live much longer in her present state of excitement. + +"I was just coming to your room," said Victor, "to see if you were +able to appear in the parlor. Three men who have not met in years +are stupid company for each other; and then Mr. Harrington wants +to show you off I dare say. Pity the widow wasn't here." + +Victor spoke sarcastically, but Edith merely replied, + +"Tell your master I will come in a few minutes." + +Then, with a half feeling of relief, she ran back to her room, +bathing her eyes afresh, and succeeding in removing the redness to +such an extent, that by lamplight no one would suspect she had +been crying. Her headache was gone, and with spirits somewhat +elated, she started again for the parlor where she succeeded in +entertaining Richard's guests entirely to his satisfaction. + +It was growing late, and the clock was striking eleven when at +last Richard summoned Victor, bidding him show the gentleman to +their rooms. As they were leaving the parlor Edith came to +Richard's side and in a whisper so low that no one heard her, save +himself, said to him, + +"Tell Victor he needn't come back." + +He understood her meaning, and said to his valet, + +"I shall not need your services to-night. You may retire as soon +as you choose." + +Something in his manner awakened Victor's suspicions, and his keen +eyes flashed upon Edith, who, with a haughty toss of the head, +turned away to avoid meeting it again. + +The door was dosed at last; Victor was gone; their guests were +gone, and she was alone with Richard, who seemed waiting for her +to speak; but Edith could not. The breath she fancied would come +so freely with Victor's presence removed, would scarcely come at +all, and she felt the tears gathering like a flood every time she +looked at the sightless man before her, and thought of what was to +come. By a thousand little devices she strove to put it off, and +remembering that the piano was open, she walked with a faltering +step across the parlor, closed the instrument, smoothed the heavy +cover, arranged the sheets of music, whirled the music stool as +high as she could, turned it back as low as she could, sat down +upon it, crushed with her fingers two great tears, which, with all +her winking she could not keep in subjection, counted the flowers +on the paper border and wondered how long she should probably +live. Then, with a mighty effort she arose, and with a step which +this time did not falter, went and stood before Richard, who was +beginning to look troubled at her protracted silence. He knew she +was near him now, he could hear her low breathing, and he waited +anxiously for her to speak. + +Edith's face was a study then. Almost every possible emotion was +written upon it. Fear, anguish, disappointed hopes, cruel longings +for the past, terrible shrinkings from the present, and still more +terrible dread of the future. Then these passed away, and were +succeeded by pity, sympathy, gratitude, and a strong desire to do +right. The latter feelings conquered, and sitting down by Richard, +she took his warm hand between her two cold ones, and said to him, + +"'Tis the twelfth of May to-night, did you know it?" + +Did he know it? He had thought of nothing else the livelong day, +and when, early in the morning, he heard that she was sick, a sad +foreboding had swept over him, lest what he coveted so much should +yet be withheld. But she was there beside him. She had sought the +opportunity and asked if he knew it was the twelfth, and, drawing +her closer to him, he answered back: "Yes, darling; 'tis the day +on which you were to bring me your decision. You have kept your +word, birdie. You have brought it to me whether good or bad. Now +tell me, is it the old blind man's wife, the future mistress of +Collingwood, that I encircle with my arm?" + +He bent down to listen for the reply, feeling her breath stir his +hair, and hearing each heart-beat as it counted off the seconds. +Then like a strain of music, sweet and rich, but oh, so touchingly +sad, the words came floating in a whisper to his ear, "Yes, +Richard, your future wife; but please, don't call yourself the old +blind man. It makes you seem a hundred times my father. You are +not old, Richard--no older than I feel!" and the newly betrothed +laid her head on Richard's shoulder, sobbing passionately. + +Did all girls behave like this? Richard wished he knew. Did sweet +Lucy Collingwood, when she gave her young spring life to his +father's brown October? Lucy had loved her husband, he knew, and +there was quite as much difference between them as between himself +and Edith. Possibly 'twas a maidenly weakness to cry, as Edith was +doing. He would think so at all events. It were death to think +otherwise, and caressing her with unwonted tenderness, he kissed +her tears away, telling her how happy she had made him by +promising to be his--how the darkness, the dreariness all was +gone, and the world was so bright and fair. Then, as she continued +weeping and he remembered what had heretofore passed between them, +he said to her earnestly: "Edith, there is one thing I would know. +Is it a divided love you bring me, or is it no love at all. I have +a right to ask you this, my darling. Is it gratitude alone which +prompted your decision? If it is, Edith, I would die rather than +accept it. Don't deceive me, darling, I cannot see your face-- +cannot read what's written there. Alas! alas! that I am blind to- +night; but I'll trust you, birdie; I'll believe what you may tell +me. Has an affection, different from a sister's, been born within +the last four weeks? Speak! do you love me more than you did? Look +into my eyes, dearest; you will not deal falsely with me then." + +Like an erring, but penitent child, Edith crept into his lap, but +did not look into the sightless eyes. She dared not, lest the gaze +should wring from her quivering lips the wild words trembling +there, "Forgive me, Richard, but I loved Arthur first." So she hid +her face in his bosom, and said to him, + +"I do not love you, Richard, as you do me. It came too sudden, and +I had not thought about it. But I love you dearly, very dearly, +and I want so much to be your wife. I shall rest so quietly when I +have you to lean upon, you to care for. I am young for you, I +know, but many such matches have proved happy, and ours assuredly +will. You are so good, so noble, so unselfish, that I shall be +happy with you. I shall be a naughty, wayward wife, I fear, but +you can control me, and you must. We'll go to Europe sometime, +Richard, and visit Bingen on the Rhine, where the little baby girl +fell in the river, and the brave boy Richard jumped after her. +Don't you wish you'd let me die? There would then have been no bad +black-haired Edith lying in your lap, and torturing you with fears +that she does not love you as she ought." + +Edith's was an April temperament, and already the sun was shining +through the cloud; the load at her heart was not so heavy, nor the +future half so dark. Her decision was made, her destiny accepted, +and henceforth she would abide by it nor venture to look back. + +"Are you satisfied to take me on my terms?" she asked, as Richard +did not immediately answer. + +He would rather she had loved him more, but it was sudden, he +knew, and she was young. He was terribly afraid, it is true, that +gratitude alone had influenced her actions, but the germ of love +was there, he believed; and by and by it would bear the rich, ripe +fruit. He could wait for that; and he loved her so much, wanted +her so much, needed her so much, that he would take her on any +terms. + +"Yes" he said at last, resting his chin upon her bowed head, "I am +satisfied, and never since my rememberance, has there come to +Richard Harrington a moment so fraught with bliss as this in which +I hold you in my arms and know I hold my wife, my darling wife, +sweetest name ever breathed by human tongue--and Edith, if you +must sicken of me, do it now--to-night. Don't put it off, for +every fleeting moment binds me to you with an added tie, which +makes it harder to lose you." + +"Richard," and, lifting up her head, Edith looked into the eyes +she could not meet before, "I swear to you, solemnly, that never, +by word or deed, will I seek to be released from our engagement, +and if I am released, it will be because you give me up of your +own free will. You will be the one to break it, not I." + +"Then it will not be broken," came in a quick response from +Richard, as he held closer to him one whom he now felt to be his +forever. + +The lamps upon the table, and the candles on the mantel flashed +and smoked, and almost died away--the fire on the marble hearth +gave one or two expiring gasps and then went out--the hands of the +clock moved onward, pointing to long after midnight, and still +Richard, loth to let his treasure go, kept her with him, talking +to her of his great happiness, and asking if early June would be +too soon for her to be his bride. + +"Yes, yes, much too soon," cried Edith. "Give me the whole summer +in which to be free. I've never been any where you know. I want to +see the world. Let's go to Saratoga, and to all those places I've +heard so much about. Then, in the autumn, we'll have a famous +wedding at Collingwood, and I will settle down into the most +demure, obedient of wives." + +Were it not that the same roof sheltered them both, Richard would +have acceded to this delay, but when he reflected that he should +not be parted from Edith any more than if they were really +married, he consented, stipulating that the wedding should take +place on the anniversary of the day when she first came to him +with flowers, and called him "poor blind man." + +"You did not think you'd ever be the poor blind man's wife," he +said, asking her, playfully, if she were not sorry even now. + +"No," she answered. Nor was she. In fact, she scarcely felt at +all. Her heart was palsied, and lay in her bosom like a block of +stone--heavy, numb, and sluggish in its beat. + +Of one thing, only, was she conscious, and that a sense of +weariness--a strong desire to be alone, up stairs, where she was +not obliged to answer questions, or listen to loving words, of +which she was so unworthy. She was deceiving Richard, who, when +his quick ear caught her smothered yawn, as the little clock +struck one, bade her leave him, chiding himself for keeping her so +long from the rest he knew she needed. + +"For me, I shall never know fatigue or pain again," he said, as he +led her to the door, "but my singing-bird is different--she must +sleep. God bless you, darling. You have made the blind man very +happy." + +He kissed her forehead, her lips, her hands, and then released +her, standing in the door and listening to her footsteps as they +went up the winding stairs and out into the hall beyond--the dark, +gloomy hall, where no light was, save a single ray, shining +through the keyhole of Victor's door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +EDITH AND THE WORLD. + + +"Victor is faithful," Edith said, as she saw the light, and +fancied that the Frenchman was still up, waiting to assist his +master. + +But not for Richard did Victor keep the watch that night. He would +know how long that interview lasted below, and when it was ended +he would know its result. What Victor designed he was pretty sure +to accomplish, and when, by the voices in the lower hall, he knew +that Edith was coming, he stole on tip-toe to the balustrade, and, +leaning over, saw the parting at the parlor door, feeling +intuitively that Edith's relations to Richard had changed since he +last looked upon her. Never was servant more attached to his +master than was Victor Dupres to his, and yet he was strongly +unwilling that Edith's glorious beauty should be wasted thus. + +"If she loved him," he said to himself, as, gliding back to his +room, he cautiously shut the door, ere Edith reached the first +landing. "If she loved him, I would not care. More unsuitable +matches than this have ended happily--but she don't. Her whole +life is bound with that of another, and she shrinks from Mr. +Harrington as she was not wont to do. I saw it in her face, as she +turned away from him. There'll be another grave in the Collingwood +grounds--another name on the tall monument, 'Edith, wife of +Richard Harrington, aged 20.'" + +Victor wrote the words upon a slip of paper, reading them over +until tears dimmed his vision, for, in fancy, the imaginative +Frenchman assisted at Edith's obsequies, and even heard the +grinding of the hearse wheels, once foretold by Nina. Several +times he peered out into the silent hall, seeing the lamplight +shining from the ventilator over Edith's door, and knowing by that +token that she had not retired. What was she doing there so long? +Victor fain would know, and as half-hour after half-hour went by, +until it was almost four, he stepped boldly to the door and +knocked. Long association with Victor had led Edith to treat him +more as an equal than a servant; consequently he took liberties +both with her and Richard, which no other of the household would +dare to do, and now, as there came no response, he cautiously +turned the knob and walked into the room where, in her crimson +dressing-gown, her hair unbound and falling over her shoulders, +Edith sat, her arms crossed upon the table, and her face upon her +arms. She was not sleeping, for as the door creaked on its hinges, +she looked up, half-pleased to meet only the good-humored face of +Victor where she had feared to see that of Richard. + +"Miss Edith, this is madness--this is folly," and Victor sat down +before her. "I was a fool to think it was Mrs. Atherton." + +"Victor Dupres, what do you mean? What do you know? Why are you +here?" and Edith's eyes flashed with insulted pride; but Victor +did not quail before them. Gazing steadily at her, he replied, +"You are engaged to your guardian, and you do not love him." + +"Victor Dupres, _I_ DO!" and Edith struck her hand upon the table +with a force which made the glass lamp rattle. + +"Granted you do," returned Victor, "but how do you love him? As a +brother, as a friend, as a father, if you will, but not as you +should love your husband; not as you could love Arthur St. Claire, +were he not bound by other ties," + +Across the table the blanched, frightened face of Edith looked, +and the eyes which never before had been so black, scanned Victor +keenly. + +"What do you know of Arthur St. Claire's ties?" she asked at last, +every word a labored breath. + +Victor made no answer, but hurrying from the room, returned with +the crumpled, soiled sheet of foolscap, which he placed before +her, asking if she ever saw it before. + +Edith's mind had been sadly confused when Nina read to her the +SCRATCHING OUT, and she had forgotten it entirely, but it came +back to her now, and catching up the papers, she recognized +Richard's unmistakable hand-writing. He knew, then, of her love +for Arthur--of the obstacle to that love--of the agony it cost her +to give him up. He had deceived her--had won her under false +pretenses, assuming that she loved no one. She did not think this +of Richard, and in her eyes, usually so soft and mild, there was a +black, hard, terrible expression, as she whispered hoarsely, "How +came this in your possession?" + +He told her how--thus exonerating Richard from blame, and the +hard, angry look was drowned in tears as Edith wept aloud. + +"Then he don't know it," she said at length, "Richard don't. I +should hate him if he did and still wished me to be his wife." + +"I can tell him," was Victor's dry response, and in an instant +Edith was over where he sat. + +"You cannot, you must not, you shall not. It will kill him if I +desert him. He told me so, and I promised that I wouldn't-- +promised solemnly. I would not harm a hair of Richard's head, and +he so noble, so good, so helpless, with so few sources of +enjoyment; but oh, Victor, I did love Arthur best--did love him so +much," and in that wailing cry Edith's true sentiments spoke out. +"I did love him so much--I love him so much now," and she kept +whispering it to herself, while Victor sought in vain for some +word of comfort, but could find none. Once he said to her, "Wait, +and Nina may die," but Edith recoiled from him in horror. + +"Never hint that Again," she almost screamed. "It's murder, foul +murder. I would not have Nina die for the whole world--beautiful, +loving Nina. I wouldn't have Arthur, if she did. I couldn't, for I +am Richard's wife. I wish I'd told him early June instead of +October. I'll tell him to-morrow and in four weeks more all the +dreadful uncertainty will be ended. I ought to love him, Victor, +he's done so much for me. I am that Swedish child he saved from +the river Rhine, periling life and limb, losing his sight for me. +He found it so that time he went with you to New York," and +Edith's tears ceased as she repeated to Victor all she knew of her +early history. "Shouldn't I marry him?" she asked, when the story +was ended. "Ought I not to be his eyes? Help me, Victor. Don't +make it so hard for me; I shall faint by the way if you do." + +Victor conceded that she owed much to Richard, but nothing could +make him think it right for her to marry him with her present +feelings. It would be a greater wrong to him than to refuse him, +but Edith did not think so. + +"He'll never know what I feel," she said, and by and by I shall be +better,--shall love him as he deserves. There are few Richards in +the world, Victor." + +"That is true," he replied, "but 'tis no reason why you must be +sacrificed. Edith, the case is like this: I wish, and the world at +large, if it could speak, would wish for Richard to marry you, but +would not wish you to marry Richard." + +"But I shall," interrupted Edith. "There is no possible chance of +my not doing so, and Victor, you will help me.--You won't tell him +of Arthur. You know how his unselfish heart would give me up if +you did, and break while doing it. Promise, Victor." + +"Tell me first what you meant by early June, and October," he +said, and after Edith had explained, he continued, "Let the +wedding be still appointed for October, and unless I see that it +is absolutely killing you, I will not enlighten Mr. Harrington." + +And this was all the promise Edith could extort from him. + +"Unless he saw it was absolutely killing her, he would not +enlighten Richard." + +"He shall see that it will not kill me," she said to herself, "I +will be gay whether I feel it or not. I will out-do myself, and if +my broken heart should break again, no one shall be the wiser." + +Thus deciding, she turned toward the window where the gray dawn +was stealing in, and pointing to it, said: + +"Look, the day is breaking; the longest night will have an end, so +will this miserable pain at my heart. Daylight will surely come +when I shall be happy with Richard. Don't tell him, Victor, don't; +and now leave me, for my head is bursting with weariness." + +He knew it was, by the expression of her face, which, in the dim +lamp-light, looked ghastly and worn, and he was about to leave +her, when she called him back, and asked how long he had lived +with Mr. Harrington. + +"Thirteen years," he replied. "He picked me up in Germany, just +before he came home to America. He was not blind then." + +"Then you never saw my mother?" + +"Never." + +"Nor Marie?" + +"Never to my knowledge," + +"You were in Geneva with Richard, you say. Where were you, when-- +when--" + +Edith could not finish, but Victor understood what she would ask, +and answered her, + +"I must have been in Paris. I went home for a few months, ten +years ago last fall, and did not return until just before we came +to Collingwood. The housekeeper told me there had been a wedding +at Lake View, our Geneva home, but I did not ask the particulars. +There's a moral there, Edith; a warning to all foolish college +boys, and girls, who don't half know their minds." + +Edith was too intent upon her own matters to care for morals, and +without replying directly, she said, + +"Richard will tell you to-morrow or to-day, rather, of the +engagement, and you'll be guarded, won't you?" + +"I shall let him know I disapprove," returned Victor, "but I +shan't say anything that sounds like Arthur St. Claire, not yet, +at all events." + +"And, Victor, in the course of the day, you'll make some errand to +Brier Hill, and incidentally mention it to Mrs. Atherton. Richard +won't tell her, I know, and I can't--I can't. Oh, I wish it were-- +" + +"The widow, instead of you," interrupted Victor, as he stood with +the door knob in his hand. "That's what you mean, and I must say +it shows a very proper frame of mind in a bride-elect." + +Edith made a gesture for him to leave her, and with a low bow he +withdrew, while Edith, alternately shivering with cold and flushed +with fever, crept into bed, and fell away to sleep, forgetting, +for the time, that there were in the world such things as broken +hearts, unwilling brides, and blind husbands old enough to be her +father. + + * * * * * * + +The breakfast dishes were cleared away, all but the exquisite +little service brought for Edith's use when she was sick, and +which now stood upon the side-board waiting until her long morning +slumber should end. Once Mrs. Matson had been to her bedside, +hearing from her that her head was aching badly, and that she +would sleep longer. This message was carried down to Richard, who +entertained his guests as best he could, but did not urge them to +make a longer stay. + +They were gone now, and Richard was alone. It was a favorable +opportunity for telling Victor of his engagement, and summoning +the latter to his presence, he bade him sit down, himself +hesitating, stammering and blushing like a woman, as he tried to +speak of Edith. Victor might have helped him, but he would not, as +he sat, rather enjoying his master's confusion, until the latter +said, abruptly, + +"Victor, how would you like to have a mistress here--a bona fide +one, I mean, such as my wife would be?" + +"That depends something upon who it was," Victor exclaimed, as if +this were the first intimation he had received of it. + +"What would you say to Edith?" Richard continued, and Victor +replied with well-feigned surprise, "Miss Hastings! You would not +ask that little girl to be your wife! Why you are twenty-five +years her senior." + +"No, no, Victor, only twenty-one," and Richard's voice trembled, +for like Edith, he wished to be reassured and upheld even by his +inferiors. + +He knew Victor disapproved, that he considered it a great +sacrifice on Edith's part, but for this he had no intention of +giving her up. On the contrary it made him a very little vexed +that his valet should presume to question his acts, and he said +with more asperity of manner than was usual for him, + +"You think it unsuitable, I perceive, and perhaps it is, but if we +are satisfied, it is no one's else business, I think," + +"Certainly not," returned Victor, a meaning smile curling his lip, +"if both are satisfied, I ought to be. When is the wedding?" + +He asked this last with an appearance of interest, and Richard, +ever ready to forgive and forget, told him all about it, who Edith +was, and sundry other matters, to which Victor listened as +attentively as if he had not heard the whole before. Like Edith, +Richard was in the habit of talking to Victor more as if he were +an equal than a servant and in speaking of his engagement, he +said, + +"I had many misgivings as to the propriety of asking Edith to be +my wife--she is so young, so different from me, but my excuse is +that I cannot live without her. She never loved another, and thus +the chance is tenfold that she will yet be to me all that a +younger, less dependent husband could desire." + +Victor bit his lip, half resolved one moment to undeceive poor +Richard, whom he pitied for his blind infatuation, but remembering +his promise, he held his peace, until his master signified that +the conference was ended, when he hastened to the barn, where he +could give vent to his feeling in French, his adopted language +being far too prosy to suit his excited mood. Suddenly Grace +Atherton came into his mind, and Edith's request that he should +tell her. + +"Yes, I'll do it," he said, starting at once for Brier Hill "'Twill +be a relief to let another know it, and then I want to see her +squirm, when she hears all hope for herself is gone." + +For once, however, Victor was mistaken. Gradually the hope that +she could ever be aught to Richard was dying out of Grace's heart, +and though, for an instant, she turned very white when, as if by +accident, he told the news, it was more from surprise at Edith's +conduct than from any new feeling that she had lost him. She was +in the garden bending over a bed of daffodils, so he did not see +her face, but he knew from her voice how astonished she was and +rather wondered that she could question him so calmly as she did, +asking if Edith were very happy, when the wedding was to be, and +even wondering at Richard's willingness to wait so long. + +"Women are queer any way," was Victor's mental comment, as, balked +of his intention to see Grace Atherton squirm, he bade her good +morning, and bowed himself from the garden, having first received +her message that she would come up in the course of the day, and +congratulate the newly betrothed. + +Once alone, Grace's calmness all gave way; and though the +intelligence did not affect her as it once would have done, the +fibres of her heart quivered with pain, and a sense of dreariness +stole over her, as, sitting down on the thick, trailing boughs of +an evergreen, she covered her face with her hands, and wept as +women always weep over a blighted hope. It was all in vain that +her pet kitten came gamboling to her feet, rubbing against her +dress, climbing upon her shoulder, and playfully touching, with +her velvet paw, the chestnut curls which fell from beneath her +bonnet. All in vain that the Newfoundland dog came to her side, +licking her hands and gazing upon her with a wondering, human look +of intelligent. Grace had no thought for Rover or for Kitty, and +she wept on, sometimes for Arthur, sometimes for Edith, but +oftener for the young girl who years ago refused the love offered +her by Richard Harrington; and then she wondered if it were +possible that Edith had so soon ceased to care for Arthur, + +"I can tell from her manner," she thought; and with her mind thus +brought to the call she would make at Collingwood, she dried her +eyes, and speaking playfully to her dumb pets, returned to the +house a sad, subdued woman, whose part in the drama of Richard +Harrington was effectually played out. + +That afternoon, about three o'clock, a carriage bearing Grace +Atherton, wound slowly up the hill to Collingwood and when it +reached the door a radiant, beautiful woman stepped out, her face +all wreathed in smiles and her voice full of sweetness as she +greeted Richard, who came forth to meet her. + +"A pretty march you've stolen upon me," she began, in a light, +bantering tone--"you and Edith--never asked my consent or said so +much as 'by your leave' but no matter, I congratulate you all the +same. I fancied it would end in this. Where is she--the bride- +elect?" + +Richard was stunned with such a volley of words from one whom he +supposed ignorant of the matter, and observing his evident +surprise Grace continued, "You wonder how I know, Victor told me +this morning; he was too much delighted to keep it to himself. But +say, where is Edith?" + +"Here I am," and advancing from the parlor, where she had +overheard the whole, Edith laughed a gay, musical laugh, as hollow +and meaningless as Mrs. Atherton's forced levity. + +Had she followed the bent of her inclinations she would not have +left her pillow that day, but remembering Victor's words, "Unless +I see it's killing you," she felt the necessity of exerting +herself, of wearing the semblance of happiness at least, and about +noon she had arisen and dressed herself with the utmost care, +twining geranium leaves in her hair just as she used to do when +going to see Arthur, and letting them droop from among her braids +in the way he had told her was so becoming. Then, with flushed +cheeks and bright, restless eyes, she went down to Richard, +receiving his caresses and partially returning them when she +fancied Victor was where he could see her, + +"Women are queer," he said again to himself, as he saw Edith on +Richard's knee, with her arm around his neck. "Their love is like +a footprint on the seashore; the first big wave washes it away, +and they are ready to make another. I reckon I shan't bother +myself about her any more. If she loved Arthur as I thought she +did, she couldn't hug another one so soon. It isn't nature--man +nature, any way; but Edith's like a reed that bends. That +character of Cooper's suits her exactly. I'll call her so to +myself hereafter--Reed that bends," and Victor hurried off, +delighted with his new name. + +But if Victor was in a measure deceived by Edith's demeanor, Grace +Atherton was not. Women distrust women sooner than men; can read +each other better, detect the hidden motive sooner, and ere the +two had been five minutes together, Grace had caught a glimpse of +the troubled, angry current over which the upper waters rippled so +smoothly that none save an accurate observer would have suspected +the fierce whirlpool which lay just below the surface. Because, he +thought, they would like it better, Richard left the two ladies +alone at last and then turning suddenly upon Edith, Grace said, + +"Tell me, Edith, is your heart in this or have you done it in a +fit of desperation?" + +"I have had a long time to think of it," Edith answered proudly. +"It is no sudden act. Richard is too noble to accept it if it +were. I have always loved him,--not exactly as I loved Arthur, it +is true." + +Here the whirlpool underneath threatened to betray itself, but +with a mighty effort Edith kept it down, and the current was +unruffled as she continued, + +"Arthur is nearer my age--nearer my beau ideal, but I can't have +him, and I'm not going to play the part of a love-lorn damsel for +a married man. Tell him so when you write. Tell him I'm engaged to +Richard just as he said I would be. Tell him I'm happy, too, for I +know I'm doing right. It is not wicked to love Richard and it was +wicked to love him." + +It cost Edith more to say this than she supposed, and when she +finished, the perspiration stood in drops beneath her hair and +about her mouth. + +"You are deceiving yourself," said Grace, who, without any selfish +motive now, really pitied the hard, white-faced girl, so unlike +the Edith of other days. "You are taking Richard from gratitude, +nothing else. Victor told me of your parentage, but because he +saved your life, you need not render yours as a return. Your heart +is not in this marriage." + +"Yes, it is--all the heart I have," Edith answered curtly. Then, +as some emotion stronger than the others swept over her, she laid +her head upon the sofa arm and sobbed, "You are all leagued +against me, but I don't care. I shall do as I like, I have +promised to marry Richard, and Edith Hastings never lied. She will +keep her word," and in the eyes which she now lifted up, Grace saw +the years glittering like diamonds. + +Then a merry laugh burst from the lips of the wayward girl as she +met Mrs. Atherton's anxious glance, and running to the piano she +dashed off most inspiriting waltz, playing so rapidly that the +bright bloom came back, settling in a small round spot upon her +cheek, and making her surpassingly beautiful even to Grace, whose +great weakness was an unwillingness to admit that another's charms +were superior to her own. When the waltz was ended Edith's mood +had changed, and turning to Grace she nestled closely to her, and +twining one of the silken curls around her fingers, said +coaxingly, + +"You think me a naughty child no doubt, but you do not understand +me. I certainly do love Richard more than you suppose; and Grace, +I want you to help me, to encourage me. Engaged girls always need +it, I guess, and Victor is so mean, he says all sorts of hateful +things about my marrying my father, and all that. Perhaps the +village people will do so, too, and if they do, you'll stand up +for me, won't you? You'll tell them how much I owe him--how much I +love him, and, Grace," Edith's voice was very low now, and sad, +"and when you write to Arthur don't repeat the hateful things I +said before, but tell him I'm engaged; that I'm the Swedish baby; +that I never shall forget him quite; and that I love Richard very +much." + +Oh, how soft and plaintive was the expression of the dark eyes +now, as Edith ceased to speak, and pressed the hand which warmly +pressed hers back, for Grace's womanly nature was aroused by this +appeal, and she resolved to fulfill the trust reposed in her by +Edith. Instead of hedging her way with obstacles she would help +her, if possible; would encourage her to love the helpless blind +man, whose step was heard In the hall. He was coming to rejoin +them, and instantly into Edith's eyes there flashed a startled, +shrinking look, such as the recreant slave may be supposed to wear +when he hears his master's step. Grace knew the feeling which +prompted that look full well. She had felt it many a time, in an +intensified degree, stealing over her at the coming of one whose +snowy looks and gouty limbs had mingled many a year with the dust +of Shannondale, and on her lips the words were trembling, "This +great sacrifice must not be," when Edith sprang up, and running +out into the hall, met Richard as be came. + +Leading him into the parlor, and seating him upon the sofa, she +aat beside him, holding his hand in hers, as if she thus would +defy her destiny, or, at the least, meet it bravely. Had Grace +known of Victor's new name for Edith she too would have called her +"Reed that bends," and as it was she thought her a most +incomprehensible girl, whom no one could fathom, and not caring to +tarry longer, soon took her leave, and the lovers were alone. + +Arrived at home, Grace opened her writing desk and commenced a +letter, which started next day for Florida, carrying to Arthur St. +Claire news which made his brain reel and grow giddy with pain, +while his probed heart throbbed, and quivered, and bled with a +fresh agony, as on his knees by Nina's pillow he prayed, not that +the cup of bitterness might pass from him--he was willing now to +quaff that to its very dregs, but that Edith might be happy with +the husband she had chosen, and that he, the desolate, weary +Arthur might not faint beneath this added burden. + +Five weeks went by--five weeks of busy talk among the villagers, +some of whom approved of the engagement, while more disapproved. +Where was that proud Southerner? they asked, referring to Arthur +St. Claire. They thought him in love with Edith. Had he deserted +her, and so in a fit of pique she had given herself to Richard? +This was probably the fact, and the gossips, headed by Mrs. +Eliakim Rogers, speculated upon it, while the days glided by, +until the five weeks were gone, and Edith, sitting in Grace's +boudoir, read, with eyes which had not wept since the day +following her betrothal, the following extract from Arthur's +letter to his cousin: + +"Richard and Edith! Oh! Grace, Grace! I thought I had suffered all +that mortal man could suffer, but when that fatal message came, I +died a thousand deaths in one, enduring again the dreadful agony +when in the Deering woods I gave my darling up. Oh, Edith, Edith, +Edith, my soul goes after her even now with a quenchless, mighty +love, and my poor, bruised, blistered heart throbs as if some +great giant hand were pressing its festered wounds, until I faint +with anguish and cry out, 'my punishment is greater than I can +bear.' + +"Still I would not have it otherwise, if I could. I deserve it +all, aye, and more, too. Heaven bless them both, Richard and his +beautiful singing bird. Tell her so, Grace. Tell her how I blessed +her for cheering the blind man's darkness, but do not tell her how +much it costs me to bid her, as I now do, farewell forever and +ever, farewell." + +It was strange that Grace should have shown this letter to Edith, +but the latter coaxed so hard that she reluctantly consented, +repenting of it however when she saw the effect it had on Edith. +Gradually as she read, there crept over her a look which Grace had +never seen before upon the face of any human being--a look as if +the pent-up grief of years was concentrated in a single moment of +anguish too acute to be described. There were livid spots upon her +neck--livid spots upon her face, while the dry eyes seemed fading +out, so dull, and dim, and colorless they looked, as Edith read +the wailing cry with which Arthur St. Claire bade her his adieu. + +For several minutes she sat perfectly motionless, save when the +muscles of her mouth twitched convulsively, and when the hard, +terrible look gave way--the spots began to fade--the color came +back to her cheeks--the eyes resumed their wonted brilliancy--the +fingers moved nervously, and Edith was herself. She had suffered +all she could, and never again would her palsied heart know the +same degree of pain which she experienced when reading Arthur's +letter. It was over now--the worst of it. Arthur knew of her +engagement--blessing her for it, and pitying he would not have it +otherwise. The bitterness of death was past, and henceforth none +save Grace and Victor suspected the worm which fed on Edith's very +life, so light, so merry, so joyous she appeared; and Edith was +happier than she had supposed it possible for her to be. The firm +belief that she was doing right, was, of itself, a source of +peace, and helped to sustain her fainting spirits, still there was +about her a sensation of disquiet, a feeling that new scenes would +do her good, and as the summer advanced, and the scorching July +sun penetrated even to the cool shades of Collingwood, she coaxed +Richard, Grace and Victor to go away. She did not care where, she +said, "anything for a change; she was tired of seeing the same +things continually. She never knew before how stupid Shannondale +was. It must have changed within the last few months." + +"I think it was you who have changed," said Grace, fancying that +she could already foresee the restless, uneasy, and not altogether +agreeable woman, which Edith, as Richard's wife, would assuredly +become. + +Possibly Richard, too, thought of this, for a sigh escaped him as +he heard Edith find fault with her beautiful home. + +Still he offered no remonstrance to going from home awhile, and +two weeks more found them at the Catskill Mountain House, where at +first not one of the assembled throng suspected that the beautiful +young maiden who in the evening danced like a butterfly in their +midst, and in the morning bounded up the rocky heights like some +fearless, graceful chamois, was more than ward to the man who had +the sympathy of all from the moment the whispered words went +round, "He is blind." + +Hour after hour would Edith sit with him upon the grass plat +overlooking the deep ravine, and make him see with her eyes the +gloriously magnificent view, than which there is surely none finer +in all the world; then, when the looked toward the west, and the +mountain shadow began to creep across the valley, the river, and +the hills beyond, shrouding them in an early twilight, she would +lead him away to some quiet sheltered spot, where unobserved, she +could lavish upon him the little acts of love she knew he so much +craved and which she would not give to him when curious eyes were +looking on. It was a blissful paradise to Richard, and when in +after years he looked back upon the past, he always recurred to +those few weeks as the brightest spot in his whole life, blessing +Edith for the happiness she gave him during that season of +delicious quiet spent amid the wild scenery of the Catskill +Mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE LAND OF FLOWERS. + + +It was the original plan for the party to remain two weeks or more +at the Mountain House, and then go on to Saratoga, but so +delighted were they with the place that they decided to tarry +longer, and the last of August found them still inmates of the +hotel, whose huge white walls, seen from the Hudson, stand out +from the dark wooded landscape, like some mammoth snow bank, +suggestive to the traveller of a quiet retreat and a cool shelter +from the summer's fervid heat. Edith's health and spirits were +visibly improved, and her musical laugh often rang through the +house in tones so merry and gleeful that the most solemn of the +guests felt their boyhood coming back to them as they heard the +ringing laugh, and a softer light suffused their cold, stern eyes +as they paused in the midst of some learned discussion to watch +the frolicsome, graceful belle of the Mountain House--the bride +elect of the blind man. + +It was known to be so now. The secret was out--told by Victor, +when closely questioned with regard to Edith's relationship to Mr. +Harrington. It created much surprise and a world of gossip, but +shielded Edith from attentions which might otherwise have been +annoying, for more than Richard thought her the one of all others +whose presence could make the sunshine of their life. But Edith +was betrothed. The dun leaves of October would crown her a wife, +and so one pleasant morning some half a score young men, each as +like to the other as young men at fashionable places of resort are +apt to be, kicked their patent leather boots against the pillars +of the rear piazza, broke a part of the tenth commandment +shockingly, muttered to themselves speeches anything but +complimentary to Richard, and then, at the appearance of a plaid +silk travelling dress and brown straw flat, rushed forward en +masse, each contending frantically for the honor of assisting Miss +Hastings to enter the omnibus, where Richard was already seated, +and which was to convey a party to the glens of the Kauterskill +Falls. + +Edith had been there often. The weird wildness of the deep gorge +suited her, and many an hour had she whiled away upon the broken +rocks, watching the flecks of sunlight as they came struggling +down through the overhanging trees, listening to the plaintive +murmur of the stream, or gazing with delight upon the fringed, +feathery falls which hung from the heights above like some long, +white, gauzy ribbon. Richard, on the contrary, had never visited +them before, and he only consented to do so now from a desire to +gratify Edith, who acted as his escort in place of Victor. Holding +fast to her hand he slowly descended the winding steps and +circuitous paths, and then, with a sad feeling of helpless +dependence, sat down upon the bank where Edith bade him sit, +herself going off in girlish ecstasies as a thin spray fell upon +her face and she saw above her a bright-hued rainbow, spanning the +abyss. + +"They are letting the water on," she cried, "Look, Richard! do +look!" and she grasped his hand, while he said to her mournfully, + +"Has Birdie forgotten that I am blind, and helpless, and old--that +she must lead me as a child?" + +There was a touching pathos in his voice which went straight to +Edith's heart, and forgetting the rainbow, she eat down beside +him, still keeping his hand in hers, and asked what was the +matter? She knew he was unusually disturbed, for seldom had she +seen upon his face a look of so great disquiet. Suddenly as she +remembered his unwillingness to come there alone, it flashed upon +her that it might arise from an aversion to seem so dependent upon +a weak girl in the presence of curious strangers. With Victor he +did not mind it, but with her it might be different, and she asked +if it were not so. + +"Hardly that, darling; hardly that;" and the sightless eyes +drooped as if heavy with unshed tears. "Edith," and he pressed the +warm hand he held, "ours will be an unnatural alliance. I needed +only to mingle with the world to find it so. People wonder at your +choice--wonder that one so young as you should choose a battered, +blasted tree like me round which to twine the tendrils of your +green, fresh life." + +"What have you heard?" Edith asked, half bitterly, for since their +engagement was known at the hotel, she had more than once +suspected the truth of what he said to her. The world did not +approve, but she would not tell Richard that she knew it, and she +asked again what he had heard. + +"The ear of the blind is quick," he replied; "and as I sat waiting +in the stage this morning I heard myself denounced as a 'blind old +Hunks,' a selfish dog, who had won the handsomest girl in the +country. Then, as we were descending to this ravine you remember +we stopped at the foot of some stairs while you removed a brier +from your dress, and from a group near by I heard the whispered +words, 'There they come--the old blind man, who bought his ward +with money and gratitude. 'Twas a horrid sacrifice! Look how +beautiful she is!' Darling, I liked to hear you praised, but did +not like the rest. It makes me feel as if I were dragging you to +the altar against your will. And what is worse than all, the +verdict of the people here is the verdict of the world. Edith, you +don't want me. You cannot wish to call one husband whose +dependence upon you will always make you blush for your choice. It +was gratitude alone which prompted your decision. Confess that it +was, and I give you back your troth. You need not be the old blind +man's wife." + +For an instant Edith's heart leaped up, and the sun spots dancing +on the leaves were brighter than she had ever seen them, but the +feeling passed away, and laying both her hands reverently in +Richard's, she said, + +"I will be your wife. I care nothing for the world, and we won't +mingle in it any more to cause remarks. We'll stay at Collingwood, +where people know us best. Let's go home to-morrow. I'm tired of +this hateful place. Will you go?" + +Ere Richard could answer, Grace Atherton was heard exclaiming, + +"Ah, here you are, I've hunted everywhere. Mr. Russell," and she +turned to the dark man at her side, "this is Mr. Harrington--Miss +Hastings--Mr. Russell, from Tallahassee." Edith did not at first +think that Tallahassee was in Florida, not many miles from +Sunnybank, and she bowed to the gentleman as to any stranger, +while Grace, who had just arrived in another omnibus, explained to +her that Mr. Russell was a slight acquaintance of Arthur's; that +the latter being in town, and accidentally hearing that he was +coming North, had intrusted him with some business matters, which +would require his visiting Grassy Spring--had given him a letter +of introduction to herself, said letter containing a note for +Edith--that Mr. Russell had been to Shannondale, and ascertaining +their whereabouts, had followed them, reaching the Mountain House +in the morning stage. + +"He can spend but one day here," she added, in conclusion, "and +wishing him to see as much as possible of our northern grandeur I +brought him at once to the Falls. Here is your note," and tossing +it into Edith's lap she moved away. + +A note from Arthur! How Edith trembled as she held it in her hand, +and with a quick, furtive glance at sightless eyes beside her, she +raised the dainty missive to her lips, feeling a reproachful pang +as she reflected that she was breaking her vow to Richard. Why had +Arthur written to her--she asked herself this question many times, +while Richard, too, asked, + +"What news from Florida?" ere she broke the seal and read, not +words of changeless and dark despair, but words of entreaty that +for the sake of Nina, sick, dying Nina, she would come at once to +Florida, for so the crazy girl had willed it, pleading with them +the live-long day to send for Miggie, precious Miggie, with the +bright, black eyes, which looked her into subjection, and the soft +hands which drove the ugly pain away. + +"All the summer," Arthur wrote, "she has been failing. The heat +seems to oppress her, and several times I've been on the point of +returning with her to the North, thinking I made a mistake in +bringing her here, but she refuses to leave Sunnybank. Old sights +and familiar places have a soothing effect upon her, and she is +more as she used to be before the great calamity fell upon her. +Her disease is consumption, hereditary like her insanity, and as +her physical powers diminish her mental faculties seem to +increase. The past is not wholly a blank to her now; she remembers +distinctly much that has gone by, but of nothing does she talk so +constantly as of Miggie, asking every hour if I've sent for you-- +how long before you'll come; and if you'll stay until she's dead. +I think your coming will prolong her life; and you will never +regret it, I am sure. Mr. Russell will be your escort, as he will +return in three weeks." + +To this note two postscripts were appended--the first in a +girlish, uneven hand, was redolent of the boy Arthur's "Florida +rose." + +"Miggie, precious Miggie--come to Sunnybank; come to Nina. She is +waiting for you. She wants you here--wants to lay her poor, empty +head, where the bad pain used to be, on your soft, nice bosom--to +shut her eyes and know it is your breath she feels--your sweet, +fragrant breath, and not Arthur's, brim full of cigar smoke. Do +come, Miggie, won't you? There's a heap of things I want to fix +before I die, and I am dying, Miggie. I see it in my hands, so +poor and thin, not one bit like they used to be, and I see it, +too, in Arthur's actions. Dear Arthur boy! He is so good to me-- +carries me every morning to the window, and holds me in his lap +while I look out into the garden where we used to play, you and I. +I think it was you, but my brain gets so twisted, and I know the +real Miggie is out under the magnolias, for it says so on the +stone, but I can't help thinking you are she. Arthur has a new +name for me, a real nice name, too. He took it from a book, he +says--about just such a wee little girl as I am. 'Child-wife,' +that's what he calls me, and he strokes my hair so nice. I'm +loving Arthur a heap, Miggie. It seems just as if he was my +mother, and the name 'Child-wife' makes little bits of waves run +all over me. He's a good boy, and God will pay him by and by for +what he's been to me. Some folks here call me Mrs. St. Claire. Why +do they? Sometimes I remember something about somebody somewhere, +more than a hundred years ago, but just as I think I've got hold +of it right, it goes away. I lose it entirely, and my head is so +snarled up. Come and unsnarl it, wont you? Nina is sick, Nina is +dying, Nina is crazy. You must come." + +The second postscript showed a bolder, firmer hand, and Edith +read, + +"I, too, echo Nina's words, 'Come, Miggie, come.' Nina wants you, +and I--Heaven only knows how much I want you--but, Edith, were you +in verity Richard's wife, you could not be more sacred to me than +you are as his betrothed, and I promise solemnly that I will not +seek to influence your decision. The time is surely coming when I +shall be alone; no gentle Nina, sweet 'Child-wife' clinging to me. +She will be gone, and her Arthur boy, as she calls me, free to +love whomsoever he will. But this shall make no difference. I have +given you to Richard. I will not wrong the blind man. Heaven bless +you both and bring you to us." + +The sun shone just as brightly in the summer sky--the Kauterskill +fell as softly into the deep ravine--the shouts of the tourists +were just us gay--the flecks of sunshine on the grass danced just +as merrily, but Edith did not heed them. Her thoughts were riveted +upon the lines she had read, and her heart throbbed with an +unutterable desire to respond at once to that pleading call--to +take to herself wings and fly away--away over mountain and valley, +river and rill, to the fair land of flowers where Nina was, and +where too was Arthur. As she read, she uttered no sound, but when +at last Richard said to her, + +"What is it, Birdie? Have you heard bad news?" her tears flowed at +once, and leaning her head upon his shoulder, she answered, + +"Nina is dying--dear little, bright-haired Nina. She has sent for +me. She wants me to come so much. May I, Richard? May I go to +Nina?" + +"Read me the letter," was Richard's reply, his voice unusually low +and sad. + +Edith could not read the whole. Arthur's postscript must be +omitted, as well as a portion of Nina's, but she did the best she +could, breaking down entirely when she reached the point where +Nina spoke of her Arthur boy's goodness in carrying her to the +window. + +Richard, too, was much affected, and his voice trembled as he +said, "St. Claire is a noble fellow. I always felt strangely drawn +toward him. Isn't there something between him and Nina--something +more than mere guardianship?" + +"They were engaged before she was crazy," returned Edith, while +Richard sighed, "poor boy, poor boy! It must be worse than death. +His darkness is greater than mine." + +Then his thoughts came back to Edith's question, "May I go to +Nina?" and his first feeling was that she might, even though her +going would necessarily defer a day to which he was so continually +looking forward, but when he remembered the danger to which she +would be exposed from the intense heat at that season of the year, +he shrank from it at once, mildly but firmly refusing to let her +incur the fearful risk. + +"Could I be assured that my bird would fly back to me again with +its plumage all unruffled I would let her go," he said, "but the +chances are against it. You would surely sicken and die, and I +cannot let you go." + +Edith offered no remonstrance, but her face was very white and her +eyes strangely black as she said, "Let us go home, then; go to- +morrow. This is no place for me, with Nina dying." + +Nothing could please Richard more than to be back at Collingwood, +and when Grace came to them he announced his intention of leaving +on the morrow. Grace was willing, and Victor, when told of the +decision, was wild with delight. Mr. Russell, too, decided to go +with them to Shannondale, and when, next morning, the party came +out to take the downward stage, they found him comfortably seated +on the top, whither he had but little trouble in coaxing Grace, +who expressed a wish to enjoy the mountain scenery as they +descended. + +"Will Miss Hastings come up, too?" he asked, but Edith declined +and took her seat inside between Richard and Victor, the latter of +whom had heard nothing of the letter; neither did Edith tell him +until the next day when, arrived at Collingwood, they were alone +for a moment in the library--then she explained to him that Nina +was sick, possibly had sent for her. + +"I thought things would work out after a time, though honestly I'd +rather that little girl shouldn't die if it could be brought round +any other way," was Victor's reply, which called a flush at once +to Edith's cheek. + +"Victor Dupres," said she, "never hint such a thing again. It is +too late now; it cannot be--it shall not be; and if I go, Arthur +has promised not to say one word which can influence me." + +"If you go," repeated Victor, "Then you have some intention of +going--I thought he had objected." + +"So he has," returned Edith, the same look stealing into her eyes +which came there at the Falls. "So he has, but if Nina lives till +the middle of October I shall go. My mind is made up." + +"Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel," muttered Victor, as hearing +some one coming, he walked away. "Means to jump down the lion's +throat, but does not expect to be swallowed! Splendid logic that!" +and Victor shrugged his shoulders at what seemed so contradictory +as Edith's talk and Edith's conduct. + +As she had said, Edith meant to go, nay more, was determined to +go, and when, on the third day after their return, Mr. Russell +came for her final decision, she said to him, ere Richard had time +to speak, + +"I shall not go now; it is too early for that, but if Nina +continues worse, I will come to her the latter part of October. I +am writing so to her to-day." + +Richard was confounded, and could only stammer out, + +"Who is to be your escort?" + +"You, Richard;" and Edith clasped his arm, thus reassuring him at +once. + +She had some thought, some consideration for him; she did not +intend to desert him wholly, and he playfully tapped her chin, +laughing to think how the little lady had boldly taken matters +into her own hands, telling what should be with as much sang froid +as if she were master instead of himself. And Richard rather liked +the independent spirit of Edith, particularly when he found that +he was not wholly left out of her calculations. And so he arranged +with Mr. Russell, that if Nina were not better as the autumn +advanced, Edith should perhaps go down to see her. + +Arthur had made his marriage with Nina public as soon as he +returned to Sunnybank, but as Mr. Russell's home was in +Tallahassee, and he himself a quiet, taciturn man, he had not +heard of it, and in speaking of Nina to Edith, he called her Miss +Bernard, as usual, and thus Richard still remained in ignorance, +never suspecting that golden haired Nina was the same young girl +he had married years before. + +Poor Richard, he was ignorant of many things and never dreamed how +light and gay was Edith's heart at the prospect of going to +Florida, even though she half expected that when she went it would +be as his wife. But Richard determined it otherwise. It cost him a +struggle so to do, but his iron will conquered every feeling, save +those of his better judgment, and calling Edith to him one day two +weeks after Mr. Russell's departure, he said, + +"Birdie, I've come to the conclusion that a blind man like me will +only be in your way, in case you go to Florida. I am not an +interesting traveling companion. I require too much care, and I +dread the curious gaze of strangers. It makes me very +uncomfortable. So on the whole I'd rather stay at home and let +Victor go in my stead. What does Birdie say?" + +"She says you are the noblest, most unselfish man that ever +lived," and Edith kissed his lips, chiding herself seriously for +the spirit which whispered to her that she too would rather go +without him. "I won't stay very long," she said. "Our wedding need +not be deferred more than two months; say, till the first of +January, at 7 o'clock, just as we before arranged it for October, +only a more quiet affair, I shall then be your New Year's gift. +Does that suit you, dearest?" + +She did not often call him thus, and when she did she was sure of +accomplishing her purpose. The strong man melted beneath a few +words of love, becoming a very tool in the hands of a weak girl. + +"Yes, darling," he replied, "that will do--but supposing we hear +that Nina is better, or dead--what then?" + +The mere possibility was terrible to Edith, but she answered +calmly, + +"Then we'll be married in October, just as first proposed;" and +thus was the die cast, and a fresh link added to the chain of +Edith's destiny. She was going to Florida; going to Arthur; and +going alone, so far as Richard was concerned. + +Spying Victor coming up the walk from the post-office, she ran out +to meet him, telling him of the journey before him, and almost +crying for joy when he placed in her hand a worn envelope bearing +the post-mark of Tallahassee. It was from Arthur, and contained a +few lines only, telling of Nina's increasing illness, and her +restless, impatient desire for Miggie. In conclusion he wrote, + +"We have had no fever this summer. You will be perfectly safe in +coming any time after the middle of October. I shall welcome Mr. +Harrington most cordially if he sees fit to accompany you." + +Edith could read this to Richard, and she did, feeling a pang at +the perfect faith with which he answered, + +"Were it not for the tedious journey I believe I would go with +you, but it's too much of an undertaking. I won't trammel you with +so great a burden. I'd rather stay at home and anticipate my +darling's return." + +Then with the same forethought and careful consideration which +marked all his actions, Richard consulted with her as to the beat +time for her to start, fixing upon the 15th of October, and making +all his arrangements subservient to this. He did not tell her how +lonely he should be without her--how he should miss her merry +laugh, which, strange to say, grew merrier each day; but he let +her know in various ways how infinitely precious she was to him, +and more than once Edith felt constrained to give up the journey, +but the influences from Florida drew her strangely in that +direction, and revolving to pay Richard for his self-denial by an +increase of love when she should return, she busied herself with +her preparations until the 15th of October came, and her trunks +stood ready in the hall. + +"If I could only read your letters myself, it would not seem one- +half so bad," Richard said, when at the last moment, he held +Edith's hand, "but there's a shadow over me this morning--a dark +presentiment that in suffering you to leave me I am losing you +forever." + +Edith could not answer, she pitied him so much, and kissing his +lips, she put from her neck his clinging arms, wiped his tears +away, smoothed his ruffled hair, and then went out from his +presence, leaving him there in his sorrow and blindness alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +SUNNYBANK. + + +"Berry soon, Miss, an' we're thar. We turns the corner yonder, we +drives 'cross the plain, down a hill, up anoder, an' then we's +mighty nigh a mile from the spot." + +Such was the answer made by Tom, the Bernard coachman to Edith's +repeated inquiries, "Are we almost there." + +For three successive days the Bernard carriage had been to +Tallahassee in quest of the expected guest, whose coming was +watched for so eagerly at Sunnybank, and who, as the bright +October afternoon was drawing to its close, looked eagerly out at +a huge old house which stood not very far distant with the setting +sun shining on the roof and illuminating all the upper windows. A +nearer approach showed it to be a large, square, wooden building, +divided in the centre by a wide, airy hall, and surrounded on +three sides by a verandah, the whole bearing a more modern look +than most of the country houses in Florida, for Mr. Bernard had +possessed considerable taste, and during his life had aimed at +fitting up his residence somewhat after the northern fashion. To +Edith there was something familiar about that old building, with +its handsome grounds, and she said aloud, + +"I've surely dreamed of Sunnybank." + +"Berry likely, Miss," answered Tom, thinking the remark addressed +to him, inasmuch as Edith's head protruded from the window. +"Dreams is mighty onsartin. Git 'long, you Bill, none o'yer lazy +carlicues, case don't yer mind thar's Mars'r Arthur on the +v'randy, squinting to see if I's fotched 'em," and removing his +old straw hat, Tom swung it three times around his head, that +being the signal he was to give if Edith were in the carriage. + +With an increased flush upon his brow, Arthur St. Claire hastened +down, pausing at an inner room while he bent over and whispered to +a young girl reclining on her pillow, + +"Nina, darling, Miggie's come." + +There was a low cry of unutterable delight, and Nina Bernard +raised herself upon her elbow, looking wistfully toward the door +through which Arthur had disappeared. + +"Be quiet, la petite Nina," said a short, thick woman, who sat by +the bed, apparently officiating in the capacity of nurse; then, as +the carriage stopped at the gate, she glided to the window, +muttering to herself, "Charmant charmant, magnifique," as she +caught a full view of the eager, sparkling face, turned toward the +young man hastening down the walk. Then, with that native +politeness natural to her country, she moved away so as not to +witness the interview. + +"Arthur!" + +"Edith!" + +That was all they said, for Richard and Nina stood between them, a +powerful preventive to the expression of the great joy throbbing +in the heart of each, as hand grasped hand, and eye sought eye, +fearfully, tremblingly, lest too much should be betrayed. + +"Miggie, Miggie, be quick," came from the room where Nina was now +standing up in bed, her white night dress hanging loosely about +her forehead and neck. + +It needed but this to break the spell which bound the two without, +and dropping Edith's hand, Arthur conducted her to the house, +meeting in the hall with Nina, who, in spite of Mrs. Lamotte had +jumped from her bed and skipping across the floor, flung herself +into Edith's arms, sobbing frantically, + +"You did come, precious Miggie, to see sick Nina, didn't you, and +you'll stay forever and ever, won't you, my own sweet Miggie, and +Arthur's too? Oh, joy, joy, Nina's so happy to-night." + +The voice grew very faint, the white lips ceased their pressure of +kisses upon Edith's--the golden head began to droop, and Arthur +took the fainting girl in his arms, carrying her back to her bed, +where he laid her gently down, himself caring for her until she +began to revive. + +Meanwhile Edith was introduced to Mrs. Lamotte, a French woman, +who once was Nina's nurse, and who had come to Sunnybank a few +weeks before. Any one at all interested in Nina was sure of a +place in Edith's affections, and she readily took Mrs. Lamotte's +proffered hand, but she was not prepared for the peculiarly +curious gaze fastened upon her, as Mrs. Lamotte waved off Teeny, +the black girl, and taking her traveling bag and shawl, said to +her, + +"This way, s'il vous plait, Mademoiselle Marguerite. Pardonnez +moi," she added quickly, as she met Edith's questioning glance, +"Mademoiselle Miggie, as la petite Nina calls you." + +Once in Edith's room, Mrs. Lamotte did not seem in haste to leave +it, but continued talking in both English and French to Edith, who +more than once, as the tones fell upon her ear, turned quickly to +see if it were not some one she had met before. + +"Je m'en irai," Mrs. Lamotte said at last, as she saw that her +presence was annoying Edith; and as the latter offered no +remonstrance, she left the room, and Edith was alone with her +confused thoughts. + +Where was she? What room was this, with the deep window seats, and +that wide-mouthed fire-place? Who was this woman that puzzled her +so? Edith kept asking herself these questions, but could find for +them no satisfactory answer. Struggle as she might, she felt more +like a child returned to its home than like a stranger in a +strange land. Even the soft south wind, stealing through the open +casement, and fanning her feverish cheek, had something familiar +in its breath, as if it had stolen in upon her thus aforetime; and +when across the fields, she heard the negroes' song as they came +homeward from their toil, she laid her head upon the window sill, +and wept for the something which swept over her, something so +sweet, so sad, and yet so indescribable. + +Fearing lest the Frenchwoman should return, she made a hasty +toilet, and then stole down to Nina, who, wholly exhausted with +the violence of her emotions at meeting Edith, lay perfectly still +upon her pillow, scarcely whiter than her own childish face, round +which a ray of the setting sun was shining, encircling it with a +halo of glorious beauty, and making her look like an angel of +purity and love. She did not attempt to speak as Edith came in, +but her eyes smiled a welcome, and her thin, wasted fingers +pointed to where Edith was to sit upon the bed beside her. Arthur +sat on the other side, holding one of Nina's hands, and the other +was given to Edith, who pressed it to her lips, while her tears +dropped upon it like rain. The sight of them disturbed the sick +girl, and shaking her wealth of curls which, since Edith saw them, +had grown thick and long, she whispered, + +"Don't, Miggie; tears are not for Nina; she's so glad, for she is +almost home. She'll go down to the river brink with your arms and +Arthur boy's around her. Precious Miggie, nice Arthur. Nina is +happy to-night." + +Such were the disjointed sentences she kept whispering, while her +eyes turned from Edith to Arthur and from Arthur back to Edith, +resting longer there, and the expression of the face told of the +unutterable joy within. Softly the twilight shadows stole into the +room, and the servants glided in and out, casting furtive and +wondering glances at Edith, who saw nothing save the clear blue +eyes shining upon her, even through the gathering darkness, and +telling her of the love which could not be expressed. + +As it grew darker Nina drew the two hands she clasped together-- +Arthur's and Edith's--laid them one above the other upon her +bosom, pressed her own upon them, and when, at last, the candles +were brought in and placed upon the table, Edith saw that the +weary lids had closed and Nina was asleep. Every effort, however, +which she made to disengage her hand from its rather embarrassing +position, threatened to arouse the sleeper, and for nearly half an +hour she sat there with her hand beneath Arthur's, but she dared +not look at him, and with her face turned away, she answered his +questions concerning Shannondale and its inhabitants. + +After a time Mrs. Lamotte came in and asked if mademoiselle would +like to retire. Edith would far rather have gone to her room +alone, but Mrs. Lamotte seemed bent upon hovering near her, and as +there was no alternative she followed her up the stairs and into +the chamber, where she had lain aside her things. To her great +relief her companion did not stay longer than necessary, and ere +the entire household was still, Edith was dreaming of Collingwood +and Richard. + +The next morning was bright, balmy, and beautiful, and at an early +hour Edith arose and went down to Nina, who heard her step in the +hall, and called to her to come. + +"Darling Miggie, I dreamed you were gone," she said, "and, I cried +so hard that it woke Arthur up. He sleeps here every night, on +that wide lounge," and she pointed toward a corner, "I've grown so +silly that I won't let any body else take care of me but Arthur +boy--he does it so nice and lifts me so carefully. Hasn't he grown +pale and thin?" + +Edith hardly knew, for she had not ventured to look fully at him, +but she assumed that he had, and Nina continued: "He's a darling +boy, and Nina loves him now." + +"How is your head this morning," Edith asked, and Nina replied, +"It's better. It keeps growing better, some days it's clear as a +bell, but I don't like it so well, for I know then that you ain't +Miggie,--not the real Miggie who was sent home in mother's coffin. +We have a new burying ground, one father selected long ago, the +sweetest spot you ever saw, and they are moving the bodies there +now. They are going to take up my last mother, and the little bit +of Miggie to-day, and Marie is so flurried." + +Arthur's step was now heard in the hall, and this it was which so +excited Edith that she failed to catch the word Marie, or to +understand that it was Mrs. Lamotte who was worried about the +removal of the bodies. In a moment Arthur appeared, bringing a +delicate bouquet for Nina, and a world of sunshine to Edith. He +was changed, Edith saw as she looked at him now, and yet she liked +his face better than before. He seemed to her like one over whom +the fire had passed, purifying as it burned, and leaving a better +metal than it had found. He was wholly self-possessed this +morning, greeting her as if the scene in the Deering woods had +never been enacted, and she could hardly believe that they were +the same, the Arthur of one year ago, and the Arthur of to-day; +the quiet, elegant young man, who, with more than womanly +tenderness, pushed Nina's curls back under her lace cap, kissed +her forehead, and then asked Edith if she did not look like a +little nun with her hair so plain. + +Nina liked to be caressed, and she smiled upon him a smile so full +of trusting faith and love, that Edith's eyes filled with tears, +and her rebellious heart went out toward Arthur as it had never +done before, inasmuch as she felt that he was now far more worthy +of her. + +Very rapidly the morning passed away, and it was after three +o'clock P.M., when, as Arthur sat with Edith upon the cool piazza, +one of the negroes came running up, the perspiration starting from +every pore, and himself almost frantic with excitement. + +"What is it, Caesar?" Arthur asked. "What has happened to you?" + +"Nothing to me, Mars'r," returned the negro; "but sumfin mighty +curis happen over dar," and he pointed in the direction where his +comrades were busy removing the family dead to a spot selected by +Mr. Bernard years before as one more suitable than the present +location. "You see, we was histin' de box of the young Miss and de +chile, when Bill let go his holt, and I kinder let my hands slip +off, when, Lor' bless you, the box busted open, an' we seen the +coffin spang in the face. Says Bill, says he--he's allus a +reasonin', you know--an', says he, 'that's a mighty narrer coffin +for two;' and wid that, Mr. Berry, the overseer, Miss," turning to +Edith, "He walked up, and findin' de screws rattlin' and loose, +just turned back de top piece, an', as true as Caesar's standin' +here, there wasn't no chile thar; nothin' 'tall but the Miss, an' +she didn't look no how; never should have guessed them heap of +bones had ever been Miss Petry." + +Edith started from her chair and was about to speak when a hand +was laid upon her wrist, and turning, she saw Mrs. Lamotte +standing behind her, and apparently more excited than herself. + +"Come with me," she said, leading the unresisting Edith away, and +leaving Arthur to follow Caesar. + +Of all the household at Sunnybank no one had been so much +interested in the removal of the bodies as Mrs. Lamotte, and yet +her interest was all centered upon the grave of Miggie Bernard's +mother. When that was disturbed, she was watching from her window, +and when the accident occurred which revealed the fraud of years, +she hurried down and, with a cat-like tread, glided behind Edith's +chair where she stood while Caesar told his story. + +It would be impossible to describe Edith's feeling as she followed +the strange woman up to her own room, sitting down just where Mrs. +Lamotte bade her sit, and watching nervously the restless rolling +of the eyes, which had no terror for her now, particularly after +their owner said to her in French, + +"Do you know me, Edith Hastings, Eloise Temple, Marguerite +Bernard? Have we never met before?" + +Like the rushing of some mighty, pent up flood the past swept over +her then, almost bearing her senses down with the headlong tide; +link after link was joined, until the chain of evidence was +complete, and with a scream of joy Edith went forward to the arms +unfolded to receive her. + +"Marie, Marie!" she cried, "How is it? When was it? Where was it? +Am I anybody or not, tell me?" + +Then question followed question go rapidly that Marie, with all +her voluble French and broken English, was hardly able to keep up. +But the whole was told at last; everything was clear to Edith as +the daylight, and tottering to the bed, she asked to be alone, +while she wept and prayed over this great joy, which had come so +suddenly upon her. + +"Nina, Nina. I thank thee, oh, my Father, for sweet, precious +Nina." + +That was all she could say, as with her face in the pillows, she +lay until the sun went down, and night fell a second time on +Sunnybank. + +"No one shall tell her but myself," she thought as she descended +to Nina's room, where Arthur was telling of the discovery they had +made--a discovery for which he could not account, and about which +the negroes, congregated together in knots, were talking, each +offering his or her own theory with regard to the matter, and +never once thinking to question Mrs. Lamotte, who, they knew, had +been with Mrs. Bernard when she died. + +"Oh, Miggie!" Nina cried. "HAVE you heard? do you know? Little +Miggie isn't there where we thought she was. She's gone. Nobody's +there but my other mother." + +"Yes, I know," Edith answered, and laying her hand on Arthur's she +said, "Please, Mr. St Claire, go away awhile. I must see Nina +alone. Don't let anybody disturb us, will you? Go to Mrs. +Lamotte. Ask her what I mean. She can tell you. She told me." + +Thus importuned, Arthur left the room, and Edith was alone with +Nina. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE SISTERS. + + +Oh, how Edith yearned to take that sweet young creature to her +bosom, and concentrate in one wild, passionate hug the love of so +many wasted years; but Nina must not be unduly startled if she +would make her comprehend what she had to tell, and conquering her +own agitation with a wondrous effort she sat down upon the bed, +and said, + +"How is my darling? Is her head all in a twist?" + +Nina smiled, a rational, knowing smile, and answered, + +"There wasn't the least bit of a twist in it till Arthur told me +about that in the graveyard, and then it began to thump so loud, +but with you sitting here, I'm better. You do me so much good, +Miggie. Your eyes keep me quiet. Where do you suppose she is--the +other Miggie; and how did she get out of the coffin?" + +"Nina," said Edith, "can you understand me if I tell you a story +about a little girl who resembled your sister Miggie?" + +Nina liked stories and though she would rather have talked of the +real Miggie, she expressed a willingness to listen, and by the dim +candle light Edith saw that the blue eyes, fixed so intently upon +her, still retained the comparatively rational expression she had +observed when she first came in. Moving a little nearer to her, +she began, + +"A great many years ago, nearly eighteen, we will say, a beautiful +little girl, eight years old, I guess, with curls like yours, +waited one night in just such a house as this, for her father, who +had been long in Europe, and who was to bring her a new mother, +and a dear baby sister, two years old or thereabouts." + +"Didn't I wear my blue dress, trimmed with white?" Nina asked +suddenly, her mind seeming to have followed Edith's, and grasped +the meaning of what she heard. + +"I dare say you did," Edith answered; "at all events this little +girl was very beautiful as she waited in the twilight for the +travellers." + +"Call the little girl Nina, please, I'll get at it better then," +was the next interruption; and with a smile, Edith said, + +"Nina, then, waited till they came--her father, her new mother +Petrea, and--" + +"Beautiful Petrea," Nina exclaimed, "la belle Petrea, black hair +like yours, Miggie, and voice like the soft notes of the piano. +She taught me a heap of tunes which I never have forgotten, but +tell me more of the black-eyed baby, Nina's precious sister. I did +hug and squeeze her so--'la jolie enfant,' Marie called her." + +Nina seemed to have taken the story away from Edith, who, when she +ceased speaking, again went on: + +"Eloise Marguerite was the baby sister's name; Eloise, for a proud +aunt, who, after they came home, would not suffer them to call her +so, and she was known as Marguerite, which Nina shortened into +Miggie, Nina darling," and Edith spoke sadly now. "Was your father +always kind to Petrea?" + +There was a look in Nina's face like a scared bird, and raising +her hands to her head, she said, + +"Go away, old buzzing. Let Nina think what it was they used to do- +-pa and grandma and aunt Eloise. I know now; grandma and auntie +were proud of the Bernard blood, they said, and they called Petrea +vulgar, and baby sister a brat; and pa--oh, Miggie, I reckon he +was naughty to the new mother. He had a buzz in his head most +every night, not like mine, but a buzz that he got at the dinner +and the side-board, where they kept the bottles, and he struck +her, I saw him, and Marie, she was here, too, she stepped between +them, and called him a drunken, deceitful beast, and a heap more +in French. Then one morning when he was gone to New Orleans, and +would come home pretty soon, mother and Marie and Miggie went a +visiting to Tallahassee, or somewhere, and they never came back +again, though pa went after them as soon as he got home. Why +didn't they, Miggie?" + +"Petrea was very unhappy here," Edith answered. "Mr. Bernard +abused her, as did his haughty mother, and once when he was gone +Petrea said she would go to Tallahassee to see a lady who had +visited her at Sunnybank. So she went with Marie, and Miggie, then +three years old, but did not stop in Tallahassee. They ran away to +New York, where Marie's sister lived. Here Petrea was taken sick +and died, making Marie promise that Miggie should never go back to +her bad father and his proud family. And Marie, who hated them +bitterly, all but Nina, kept her word. She wrote to Sunnybank that +both were dead, and the letter was forwarded by your grandmother +to Mr. Bernard, who had gone after his wife, but who lay drunk +many days at a hotel. The letter sobered him, and as it contained +Marie's address, he found her at last, crying bitterly for little +Miggie, up stairs asleep, but he thought her in the coffin with +her mother. Marie said so and he believed her, bringing the bodies +back to Sunnybank, and burying them beneath the magnolias." + +"And built a great marble there with both their names cut on it," +chimed in Nina, fearful lest any part of the story should be +omitted. + +"Yes," returned Edith, "he raised a costly monument to their +memory; but don't you wish to know what became of Miggie?" + +"Yes, yes, oh, yes, go on," was Nina's answer; and Edith +continued, + +"Marie was too poor to take care of Miggie, and she put her in the +Asylum." + +"The Asylum!" Nina fairly screamed. "Nina's baby sister in the +nasty old Asylum. No, no, it ain't. I won't, I shan't listen to +the naughty story," and the excited girl covered her head with a +pillow. + +But Edith removed it gently, and with a few loving words quieted +the little lady, who said again, "Go on." + +"It was the Orphan Asylum, where Nina's sister was put, but they +didn't call her Miggie. Her dying mother gave her another name +lest the father should some time find her, and there in that great +noisy city Miggie lived five or six long years, gradually +forgetting everything in the past, everything but Marie's name and +the airs her mother used to sing. Miggie had a taste for music, +and she retained the plaintive strains sung to her as lullabys." + +"I know them, too," Nina said, beginning to hum one, while Edith +continued, + +"After a time Marie went back to France. She did not mean to stay +long, but she was attacked with a lingering, painful sickness, and +could not return to Miggie, whom a beautiful lady took at last as +her waiting-maid. Then Arthur came--Arthur, a boy--and she saw +Nina's picture." + +"The one in the locket! Nina asked, and Edith answered, "Yes, +'twas in a locket, and it puzzled Miggie till she spoke the name, +but thought it was Arthur who told her." + +"Wait, wait," cried Nina, suddenly striking her forehead a heavy +blow; "I'm getting all mixed up, and something flashes across my +brain like lightning. I reckon it's a streak of sense. It feels +like it." + +Nina was right. It was "a streak of sense," and when Edith again +resumed her story the crazy girl was very calm and quiet. + +"After a time this Miggie went to live with a blind man--with +Richard," and Edith's hands closed tightly around the snowy +fingers, which crept so quickly toward her. "She grew to be a +woman. She met this golden-haired Nina, but did not know her, +though Nina called her Miggie always, because she looked like +Petrea, and the sound to Miggie was very sweet, like music heard +long ago. They loved each other dearly, and to Miggie there was +nothing in the whole world so beautiful, so precious, as poor +little crazy Nina, Arthur's Nina, Dr. Griswold's Nina, 'Snow- +Drop,' Richard called her. You remember Richard, darling?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember everything," and Nina's chest began to +heave, her chin to quiver, her white lips, too, but still she shed +no tear, and the dry, blue eyes seemed piercing Edith's very soul +as the latter continued, rapidly, "Nina came home to Florida; she +sent for Miggie, and Miggie came, finding Marie who told her all-- +told her where the baby was--and the real Miggie fell on her face, +thanking the good Father for giving her the sweetest, dearest +sister a mortal ever had. Do you understand me, darling? Do you +know now who I am--know who Miggie is?" + +Edith's voice began to falter, and when she had finished she sat +gazing at the fairy form, which trembled and writhed a moment as +if in fearful convulsions, then the struggling ceased, the +features became composed, and raising herself in bed Nina crept +closer and closer to Edith, her lips quivering as if she fain +would speak but had not the power. Slowly the little hands were +raised and met together around Edith's neck; nearer and nearer the +white face came to the dark glowing one, until breath met breath, +lip met lip, golden tresses mixed with raven braids, and with a +cry which made the very rafters ring and went echoing far out into +the darkness, Nina said, "You are--that--that--ba-baby--the one we +thought was dead. You are my--my--Nina's--oh, Miggie, say it for +me or Nina'll choke to death. She can't think what the right word +is--the word that means MIGGIE," and poor exhausted Nina fell back +upon the pillow, while Edith, bending over her, whispered in her +ear, "Miggie means SISTER, darling; your SISTER; do you hear?" + +"Yes, yes," and again the wild, glad cry went ringing through the +house, as Nina threw herself a second time on Edith's bosom. +"Sister, sister, Nina's sister. Nina's little Miggie once, great, +tall Miggie now,--mine, my own--nobody's sister but mine. Does +Arthur know, Ho, Arthur! come quick! He is coming, don't you hear +him. Arthur, Arthur, Miggie is mine. My precious sister," and Nina +Bernard fell back fainting just as Arthur appeared in the room, +and just as from the yard without there went up from the +congregated blacks, who together with their master and Victor, had +listened to Marie's story, a deafening shout, a loud huzza for +"Miggie Bernard," come back to Sunnybank, and back to those who +generously admitted her claim, and would ere long acknowledge her +as their mistress. + +The few particulars which Edith had omitted in her story to Nina +may, perhaps, be better told now than at any other time. Mr. +Bernard, while in Paris, had been implicated in some disgraceful +affair which rendered him liable to arrest, and taking the name of +Temple, by way of avoiding suspicion, he fled to Germany, where he +met and married the beautiful Swedish Petrea, who, being young and +weary of a governess's life, was the more easily charmed with his +wealth and rather gentlemanly address. Because it suited his +peculiar nature to do so, he kept his real name from her until +they reached New York, when, fearful of meeting with some of his +acquaintances there, he confessed the fraud, laughing at it as a +good joke, and pronounced Petrea over nice for saying he had done +wrong. + +The year which followed their arrival at Sunnybank was a year of +wretchedness and pining home-sickness on the part of both mistress +and maid, until at last the former, with her love for her husband +changed to hate, determined to leave him; and in his absence, +planned the visit to Tallahassee, going instead to New York, where +she died at the house of Mrs. Jamieson, Marie's sister. Even to +the last, the dread of her hated husband prevailed, and she made +Marie swear that her child should not go back to him. + +"She will be happier to be poor," she said, "and I would rather +far that not a cent of the Bernard property should ever come into +her possession than that she should return to Sunnybank; but +sometime, Marie, when she is older, you may tell her my sad story, +and if he has become a better man, tell her who she is, and of the +bright-haired Nina. They will love each other, I am sure, for Nina +possesses nothing in common with her father, and lest she should +think ill of me for having married him, tell her how young, how +inexperienced I was, and how he deceived me, withholding even his +real name." + +This was the point on which Petrea dwelt the most, shrinking, with +a kind of pride, from having it generally known, and persisting in +calling herself Temple to Mrs. Jamieson, who supposed this to be +her real name, inasmuch as Marie had called her so on the occasion +of her first visit after landing in New York the year previous, +and before the deception had been confessed. + +"Don't undeceive her," Petrea said to Marie, who did her +mistress's bidding; and as Mrs. Jamieson was sick when Mr. Bernard +came, she did not see him, and was thus effectually kept in +ignorance that Edith's real name was Marguerite Bernard, else she +had divulged it to Richard, when in after years he came inquiring +for her parentage. + +The rest the reader knows, except indeed, how Marie came to +Sunnybank a second time, and why she had so long neglected Edith. +She was with her mistress in Germany when Richard saved the child +from drowning. She never forgot him, and when from her sister she +learned that Edith was with him, she felt that interference on her +part was unnecessary. So even after recovering from her illness +she deferred returning to America, marrying, at last, and living +in an humble way in Paris, where she more than once saw Mr. +Bernard in the streets, when he was there with Nina. So many years +had elapsed since his first visit that he had no fears of arrest, +and openly appeared in public, recognised by none save Marie, who +never could forget him. Her husband's sudden death determined her +upon coming to America and looking up her child. The vessel in +which she sailed was bound for New Orleans, and, with a desire to +visit Sunnybank once more, she first wended her way thither, +expecting to find it inhabited by strangers; for, from an American +paper, which accidentally fell into her hands, she had heard of +Mr. Bernard's decease, and later still had heard from one who was +Nina's waiting maid while in Paris, that she, too, was dead. How +this information was obtained she did not know, but believing it +to be authentic, she supposed strangers, of course, were now the +tenants of Sunnybank; and anticipated much pleasure in restoring +to the so-called Edith Hastings her rightful heritage. Great then +was her surprise to find Nina living, and when she heard that +Edith was soon expected in Florida, she determined to await her +coming. + +This was the story she told to Edith and also to the negroes, many +of whom remembered their unfortunate young mistress and her +beautiful baby Miggie still; but for the missing body they might +have doubted Marie's word, but that was proof conclusive, and +their loud hurrahs for Miss Miggie Bernard were repeated until +Nina came back to consciousness, smiling as she heard the cry and +remembered what it meant. + +"Go to them--let them see you, darling," she said; and, with +Arthur as her escort, Edith went out into the midst of the sable +group, who crowded around her, with blessings, prayers, tears and +howlings indescribable, while many a hard, black hand grasped +hers, as negro after negro called her "mistress," adding some word +of praise, which showed how proud they were of this beautiful, +queenly scion of the Bernard stock, which they had feared would +perish with Nina. Now they would be kept together--they would not +be scattered to the four winds, and one old negro fell on his +knees, kissing Edith's dress, and crying, + +"Cato bresses yon for lettin' his bones rot on de ole plantation." + +Edith was perplexed, for to her the discovery had only brought +sweet images of sistership with Nina. Money and lands formed no +part of her thoughts, and turning to Arthur she asked what it all +meant. + +Arthur did not reply at once, for he knew he held that which would +effectually take away all right from Edith. After Nina, he was Mr. +Bernard's chosen heir, but not for an instant did he waver in the +course he should pursue, and when the interview was ended with the +negroes, and Edith was again with Nina, he excused himself for a +moment, but soon returned, bearing in his hand Mr. Bernard's will, +which he bade Edith read. + +And she did read it, feeling intuitively as if her father from the +grave were speaking to her, the injured Petrea's child, and +virtually casting her aside. + +The tears gathered slowly in her eyes, dropping one by one upon +the paper, which without a word she handed back to Arthur. + +"What is it, Arthur boy?" Nina asked. "What is it that makes +Miggie cry?" + +Arthur doubted whether either of the girls would understand him if +he entered into an explanation involving many technical terms, but +he would do the best he could, and sitting down by Nina, he held +her upon his bosom, while he said, "Does my little girl remember +the time when I met her in Boston, years ago, and Charlie Hudson +brought me papers from her father?" + +"Yes," answered Nina; "there was one that had in it something +about straight jackets, and when I read it, I hit my head against +the bureau. It's never been quite right since. Is this the letter +that made Miggie cry?" + +"No," returned Arthur. "This is your father's will, made when he +thought there was no Miggie. In it, I am, his heir after you, and +Miggie hasn't a cent." + +"You may have mine, Miggie. Nina'll give you hers, she will," and +the little maiden made a movement toward Edith, while Arthur +continued, + +"Yon can't, darling. It's mine after you;" and this he said, not +to inflict fresh pain on Edith, but to try Nina, and hear what she +would say. + +There was a perplexed, troubled look in her eyes, and then, +drawing his head close to her, she whispered, + +"Couldn't you scratch it out, just as Richard did, only he didn't. +That's a good boy. He will, Miggie," and she nodded toward Edith, +while Arthur rejoined, + +"Would it please my child-wife very much to have me scratch it +out?" + +He had never called her thus before Edith until now, and he stole +a glance at her to witness the effect. For an instant she was +white as marble; then the hot blood seemed bursting from the small +round spot where it had settled in her cheeks, and involuntarily +she extended her hand toward him in token of her approval. She +could not have reassured him better than by this simple act, and +still retaining her hand, he went on, + +"When I came to Florida, after Mr. Bernard's death, my first step +was to have the will proved, and consequently this sheet is now of +very little consequence; but as you both will, undoubtedly, +breathe more freely if every vestige of this writing is removed. I +will destroy it at once, and, as soon as possible, take the legal +steps for reinstating Edith." + +Then releasing Edith's hand, Arthur took the candle from the +stand, and said to Nina, + +"Have you strength to hold it?" + +"Yes, yes," she cried, grasping it eagerly, while, with a hand far +steadier than hers, Arthur held the parchment in the flame, +watching as the scorched, brown flakes dropped upon the floor, nor +sending a single regret after the immense fortune he was giving +up. + +It was done at last. The will lay crisped and blackened upon the +carpet; Edith, in her own estimation was reinstated in her rights, +and then, as if demanding something for the sacrifice, Arthur +turned playfully to her, and winding his arm around her said, + +"Kiss me once as a sister, for such you are, and once for giving +you back your inheritance." + +The kisses Arthur craved were given, and need we say returned! +Alas, those kisses! How they burned on Edith's lips, making her so +happy--and how they blistered on Arthur's heart, making him doubt +the propriety of having given or received them. His was the braver +spirit now. He had buffeted the billow with a mightier struggle +than Edith had ever known. Around his head a blacker, fiercer +storm had blown than any she had ever felt, and from out that +tumultuous sea of despair he had come a firmer, a better man, with +strength to bear the burden imposed upon him. Were it not so he +would never have sent for Edith Hastings--never have perilled his +soul by putting himself a second time under her daily influence. +But he felt that there was that within him which would make him +choose the right, make him cling to Nina, and so he wrote to +Edith, meeting her when she came as friend meets friend, and +continually thanking Heaven which enabled him to hide from +everyone the festered wound, which at the sound of her familiar +voice smarted and burned, and throbbed until his soul was sick and +faint with pain. + +The discovery of Edith's parentage filled him with joy--joy for +Nina, and joy because an opportunity was thus afforded him of +doing an act unselfish to the last degree, for never for a single +moment did the thought force itself upon him that possibly Edith +might yet be his, and so the property come back to him again. He +had given her up, surrendered her entirely, and Richard's +interests were as safe with him as his gold and silver could have +been. Much he wished he knew exactly the nature of her feelings +toward her betrothed, but he would not so much as question Victor, +who, while noticing his calmness and self-possession, marvelled +greatly, wondering the while if it were possible that Arthur's +love were really all bestowed on Nina. It would seem so, from the +constancy with which he hung over her pillow, doing for her the +thousand tender offices, which none but a devoted husband could +do, never complaining, never tiring even when she taxed his good +nature to its utmost limit, growing sometimes so unreasonable and +peevish that even Edith wondered at his forbearance. + +It was a whim of Edith's not to write to Richard of her newly- +found relationship. She would rather tell it to him herself, she +said, and in her first letter, she merely mentioned the incidents +of her journey, saying she reached Sunnybank in safety, that Nina +was no better, that Mr. St. Claire was very kind, and Victor very +homesick, while she should enjoy herself quite well, were it not +that she knew he was so lonely without her. And this was the +letter for which Richard waited so anxiously, feeling when it came +almost as if he had not had any, and still exonerating his singing +bird from blame, by saying that she could not write lovingly to +him so long us she knew that Mrs. Matson must be the interpreter +between them. + +It was an odd-looking missive which he sent back and Edith's heart +ached to its very core as she saw the uneven handwriting, which +went up and down, the lines running into and over each other, now +diagonally, now at right angles, and again darting off in an +opposite direction as he held his pencil a moment in his fingers +and then began again. Still she managed to decipher it, and did +not lose a single word of the message intended for Nina. + +"Tell little Snowdrop the blind man sends her his blessing and his +love, thinking of her often as he sits here alone these gloomy +autumn nights, no Edith, no Nina, nothing but lonesome darkness. +Tell her that he prays she may get well again, or if she does not, +that she may be one of the bright angels which make the fields of +Jordan so beautiful and fair" + +This letter Edith took to Nina one day, when Arthur and Victor had +gone to Tallahassee, and Mrs. Lamotte was too busy with her own +matters to interrupt them. Nina had not heard of the engagement, +for Arthur could not tell her, and Edith shrank from the task as +from something disagreeable. Still she had a strong desire for +Nina to know how irrevocably she was bound to another, hoping thus +to prevent the unpleasant allusions frequently made to herself and +Arthur. The excitement of finding a sister in Miggie, had in a +measure overturned Nina's reason again, and for many days after +the disclosure she was more than usually wild, talking at random +of the most absurd things, but never for a moment losing sight of +the fact that Edith was her sister. This seemed to be the one +single clear point from which her confused ideas radiated, and the +love she bore her sister was strong enough to clear away the +tangled web of thought and bring her at last to a calmer, more +natural state of mind. There were hours in which no one would +suspect her of insanity, save that as she talked childish, and +even meaningless expressions were mingled with what she said, +showing that the woof of her intellect was defective still, and in +such a condition as this Edith found her that day when, with +Richard's letter in her hand, she seated herself upon the foot of +the bed and said, "I heard from Richard last night. You remember +him, darling?" + +"Yes, he made me Arthur's wife; but I wish he hadn't for then you +would not look so white and sorry." + +"Never mind that," returned Edith, "but listen to the message he +sent his little Snowdrop," and she read what Richard had written +to Nina. + +"I wish I could be one of those bright angels," Nina said, +mournfully, when Edith finished reading; "but, Miggie, Nina's so +bad. I can think about it this morning, for the buzzing in my head +is very faint, and I don't get things much twisted, I reckon. I've +been bad to Arthur a heap of times, and he was never anything but +kind to me. I never saw a frown on his face or heard an impatient +word, only that sorry look, and that voice so sad." + +"Don't, Nina, don't. + +"Even Dr. Griswold was not patient as Arthur. He was quicker like, +and his face would grow so red. He used to shake me hard, and once +he raised his hand, but Arthur caught it quick and said 'No, +Griswold, not that--not strike Nina,' and I was tearing Arthur's +hair out by handfuls, too. That's when I bit him. I told you +once." + +"Yes, I know," Edith replied; "but I wish to talk of something +besides Arthur, now. Are you sure you can understand me?" + +"Yes, it only buzzed like a honey-bee, right in here," and Nina +touched the top of her head, while Edith continued. + +"Did Arthur ever tell you who it was that fell into the Rhine?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Atherton wrote, and I cried so hard, but he did not say +your name was Eloise, or I should have guessed you were Miggie, +crazy as I am." + +"Possibly Grace did not so write to him," returned Edith; "but let +me tell you of Edith Hastings as she used to be when a child;" and +with the blue eyes of Nina fixed upon her, Edith narrated that +portion of her history already known to the reader, dwelling long +upon Richard's goodness, and thus seeking to prepare her sister +for the last, the most important part of all. + +"After Arthur deceived me so," she said," I thought my heart would +never cease to ache, and it never has." + +"But it will--it will," cried Nina, raising herself in bed. "When +I'm gone, it will all come right. I pray so every day, though it's +hard to do it sometimes now I know you are my sister. It would be +so nice to live with you and Arthur, and I love you so much. You +can't begin to know," and the impulsive girl fell forward on +Edith's bosom sobbing impetuously, "I love you so much, so much, +that it makes it harder to die; but I must, and when the little +snow-birds come back to the rose bushes beneath the windows of +Grassy Spring a great ways off, the hands that used to feed them +with crumbs will be laid away where they'll never tear Arthur +boy's hair any more. Oh, I wish they never had--I wish they never +had," and sob after sob shook Nina's delicate frame as she gave +vent to her sorrow for the trial she had been to Arthur. Edith +attempted to comfort her by saying, "He has surely forgiven you, +darling; and Nina, please don't talk so much of dying, Arthur and +I both hope you will live yet many years." + +"Yes, Arthur does," Nina rejoined quickly, "him praying so one +night when he thought I was asleep--I make believe half of the +time, so as to hear what he says when he kneels down over in that +corner; and once, Miggie, a great while ago, it was nothing but +one dreadful groan, except when he said, 'God help me in this my +darkest hour, and give me strength to drink this cup.' But there +wasn't any cup there for I peaked, thinking maybe he'd go some of +my nasty medicine, and it wasn't dark, either for there were two +candles on the mantel and they shone on Arthur's face, which +looked to me as if it were a thousand years old. Then he +whispered, 'Edith, Edith,' and the sound was so like a wail that I +felt my blood growing cold. Didn't you hear him, Miggie, way off +to the north; didn't you hear him call? God did, and helped him, I +reckon, for he got up and came and bent over me, kissing me so +much, and whispering, 'My wife, my Nina.' It was sweet to be so +kissed, and I fell away to sleep; but Arthur must have knelt +beside me the livelong night, for every time I moved I felt his +hand clasp mine. The next day he told me that Richard saved you +from the river, and his lips quivered as if he feared you were +really lost." + +Alas! Nina had come nearer the truth than she supposed, and Edith +involuntarily echoed her oft-repeated words, "Poor Arthur," for +she knew now what had preceded that cry of more than mortal +anguish which Arthur sent to Grace after hearing first of the +engagement. + +"Nina" she said, after a moment's silence, "before that time of +which you speak, there came a night of grief to me--a night when I +wished that I might die, because Richard asked me to be his wife-- +me, who looked upon him as my father rather than a husband. I +can't tell you what he said to me, but it was very touching, very +sad, and my heart ached so much for the poor blind man." + +"But you didn't tell him yes," interrupted Nina. "You couldn't. +You didn't love him. It's wicked to act a lie Miggie--as wicked as +'tis to tell one. Say you told him no; it chokes me just to think +of it." + +"Nina," and Edith's voice was low and earnest in its tone, "I +thought about it four whole weeks and at last I went to Richard +and said, 'I will be your wife.' I have never taken it back, I am +engaged to him, and I shall keep my word. Were it not that you +sent for me I should have been his bride ere this. I shall be his +bride on New Year's night." + +Edith spoke rapidly, as if anxious to have the task completed, and +when at last it was done, she felt that her strength was leaving +her, so great had been the effort with which she told her story to +Nina. Gradually as she talked Nina had crept away from her, and +sitting upright in bed, stared at her fixedly, her face for once +putting on the mature dignity of her years, and seeming older than +Edith's. Then the clear-minded, rational Nina spoke out, "Miggie +Bernard, were you ten thousand times engaged to Richard, it shall +not be. You must not stain your soul with a perjured vow, and you +would, were this sacrifice to be. Your lips would say 'I love,' +but your heart would belie the words, and God's curse will rest +upon you if you do Richard this cruel wrong. He does not deserve +that you should deal so treacherously with him, and Miggie, I +would far rather you were lying in the grave-yard over yonder, +than to do this great wickedness. You must not, you shall not," +and in the eyes of violet blue there was an expression beneath +which the stronger eyes of black quailed as they had done once +before, when delirium had set its mark upon them. + +It was in vain that Edith persisted in saying she did, or at least +should love Richard as he deserved. Nina was not to be convinced, +and at last, in self-defence, Edith broke out bitterly against +Arthur as the immediate cause of her sufferings. Had he not been +faithless to his marriage vow, and might she not keep hers quite +as well as he kept his. + +Nina was very white, and the swollen veins stood out full upon her +forehead as she lay panting on her pillow, but the eyes never for +an instant left Edith's, as she replied, "Arthur was in fault, +Miggie, greatly in fault, but there was much to excuse his error. +He was so young; not as old as you, Miggie, and Sarah Warren urged +us on. I knew afterward why she did it, too. She is dead now, and +I would not speak against her were it not necessary, but, Miggie, +she wanted Dr. Griswold, and she fancied he liked me, so she would +remove me from her path; and she did. She worked upon my love of +the romantic, and Arthur's impulsive nature, until she persuaded +us to run away. While we were on the road, Arthur whispered to me, +'Let's go back,' but I said, 'No,' while Sarah, who overheard him, +sneered at him as cowardly, and we went on. Then father took me +off to Paris, and I dared not tell him, he was so dreadful when he +was angry; and then I loved Charlie Hudson, and loved him the more +because I knew I musn't." + +The mature expression was passing rapidly from Nina's face, and +the child-like one returning in its stead as she continued, + +"I couldn't bear to think of Arthur, and before I came home I +determined never to live with him as his wife. I didn't know then +about this buzzing in my head, and the first thing I did when +alone with him at the Revere House was to go down on my knees and +beg of him not to make me keep my vow. I told him I loved Charlie +best, and he talked so good to me--said maybe I'd get over it, and +all that. Then he read pa's letter, which told what I would some +time be, and he didn't ask me after that to live with him, but +when he came from Florida and found me so dreadful, he put his +arms around me, loving-like, and cried, while I raved like a fury +and snapped at him like a dog. You see the buzzing was like a +great noisy factory then, and Nina didn't know what she was doing, +she hated him so, and the more he tried to please her the more she +hated him. Then, when I came to my senses enough to think I did +not want our marriage known, I made him promise not to tell, in +Florida or anywhere, so he didn't, and the weary years wore on +with people thinking I was his ward. Dr. Griswold was always kind +and good, but not quite as patient and woman-like as Arthur. It +seemed as if he had a different feeling toward me, and required +more of me, for he was not as gentle when I tore as Arthur was. I +was terribly afraid of him, though, and after a while he did me +good. The buzzing wasn't bigger than a mill-wheel, and it creaked +just as a big wheel does when there is no water to carry it. It +was crying that I wanted. I had not wept in three years, but the +sight of you touched a spring somewhere and the waters poured like +a flood, turning the wheel without that grating noise that used to +drive me mad, and after that I never tore but once. He didn't tell +you, because I asked him not, but I scratched him, struck Phillis, +burned up his best coat, broke the mirror, and oh, you don't know +how I did cut up! Then the pain went away and has never come back +like that. Sometimes I can see that it was wrong for him to love +you and then again I can't, but if it was he has repented so +bitterly of it since. He would not do it now. He needn't have told +you, either, for everybody was dead, and it never would have come +back to me if he hadn't said it in the Deering Woods. Don't you +see?" + +"Yes, I see," cried Edith, her tears dropping fast into her lap, +"I see that I tempted him to sin. Oh, Arthur, I am most to blame-- +most to blame." + +"And you will give up Richard, won't you?" Nina said. "Arthur is +just as good, just as noble, just as true, and better too, it may +be, for he has passed through a fiercer fire than Richard ever +did. Will you give up Richard?" + +"I can't," and Edith shook her head. "The chords by which he holds +me are like bands of steel, and cannot be sundered. I promised +solemnly that by no word or deed would I seek to break our +engagement, and I dare not. I should not be happy if I did." + +And this was all Nina could wring from her, although she labored +for many hours, sometimes rationally, sometimes otherwise, but +always with an earnest simplicity which showed how pure were her +motives, and how great her love for Edith. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +ARTHUR AND NINA. + + +It was rather late in the evening when Arthur returned, looking +more than usually pale and weary, and still there was about him an +air of playful pleasantry, such as there used to be, when Edith +first knew him. During the long ride to Tallahassee, Victor, +either from accident or design, touched upon the expected marriage +of his master, and although Arthur would not ask a single +question, he was a deeply-interested auditor, and listened +intently, while Victor told him much which had transpired between +himself and Edith, saying that unless some influence stronger than +any he or Grace could exert were thrown around her, she would keep +her vow to Richard, even though she died in keeping it. + +"Girls like Edith Hastings do not die easily," was Arthur's only +comment, and Victor half wished he had kept his own counsel and +never attempted to meddle in a love affair. + +But if Arthur said nothing, he thought the more, and the warfare +within was not the less severe, because his face was so unruffled +and his manner so composed. Thought, intense and almost +bewildering, was busy at work, and ere the day was done, he had +resolved that he would help Edith if all else forsook her. He +would not throw one single obstacle across her pathway. He would +make the sacrifice easier for her, even if to do it, he suffered +her to think that his own love had waned. Nothing could more +effectually cure her, and believing that she might be happy with +Richard if she did not love another, he determined to measure +every word and act so as to impress her with the conviction that +though she was dear to him as a sister and friend, he had +struggled with his affection for her and overcome it. It would be +a living death to do this, he knew--to act so contrary to what he +felt, but it was meet that he should suffer, and when at last he +was left alone--when both wore lost to him forever--Edith and his +child-wife Nina, he would go away across the sea, and lose, if +possible, in foreign lands, all rememberance of the past. And this +it was that made him seem so cheerful when he came in that night, +calling Edith "little sister," winding his arm around Nina, +kissing her white face, asking if she had missed him any, if she +were glad to have him back, and how she and Miggie had busied +themselves during the day. + +"We talked of you, Arthur, and of Richard," Nina said. "Miggie has +promised to many him! Did you know it?" + +"Yes, I know it," was Arthur's reply; "and there is no person in +the world to whom I would sooner give her than to Richard, for I +know he will leave nothing undone to make her happy." + +There was no tremor in Arthur's voice, and Nina little guessed how +much it cost him thus to speak, with Edith sitting near. Looking +up into his face with a startled, perplexed expression, she said, +"I did not expect this, Arthur boy. I thought you loved Miggie." + +"Nina, please don't," and Edith spoke entreatingly, but Nina +answered pettishly, "I ain't going to please, for everything has +got upside down. It's all going wrong, and it won't make a speck +of difference, as I see, whether I die or not." + +"I think I'd try to live then," Arthur said, laughingly, while +Edith hailed the appearance of Marie as something which would put +a restraint upon Nina. + +It had been arranged that Edith should take Arthur's place in the +sick room that night, but Nina suddenly changed her mind, +insisting that Arthur should sleep there as usual. + +"There's a heap of things I must tell you," she whispered to him; +"and my head is clearer when it's darker and the candles are on +the stand." + +So Edith retired to her own room, and after a time Arthur was +alone with Nina. He was very tired, but at her request he sat down +beside her, where she could look into his face and see, as she +said, if he answered her for true. At first it was of herself she +spoke--herself, as she used to be. + +"I remember so well," she said "when you called me your Florida +rose, and asked for one of my curls. That was long ago, and there +have been years of darkness since, but the clouds are breaking +now--daylight is coming up, or rather Nina is going out, into the +daylight, where there is no more buzzing, no more headache. Will I +be crazy in Heaven, think?" + +"No, darling, no," and Arthur changed his seat from the chair to +the bed, where he could be nearer to the little girl, who +continued, + +"I've thought these many weeks how good you've been to me--how +happy you have made my last days, while I have been so bad to you, +but you musn't remember it against me, Arthur boy, when I'm dead +and there isn't any naughty Nina anywhere, neither at the Asylum, +nor Grassy Spring, nor here in bed, nothing but a teenty grave, +out in the yard, with the flowers growing on it, I say you must +not remember the wicked things I've done, for it wasn't the Nina +who talks to you now. It was the buzzing Nina who tore your hair, +and scratched your face, and bit your arm. Oh, Arthur, Nina's so +sorry now; but you musn't lay it up against me." + +"No, my darling, God forbid that I, who have wronged you so +terribly, should remember aught against you," and Arthur kissed +the slender hands which had done him so much mischief. + +They were harmless now, those little waxen hands, and they +caressed Arthur's face and hair as Nina went on. + +"Arthur boy, there's one question I must ask you, now there's +nobody to hear, and you will tell me truly. Do you love me any-- +love me differently from what you did when I was in the Asylum, +and if the buzzing all was gone, and never could come back, would +you really make me your wife just as other husbands do--would you +let me sit upon your knee, and not wish it was some one else, and +in the night when you woke up and felt me close to you would you +be glad thinking it was Nina? And when you had been on a great +long journey, and were coming home, would the smoke from the +chimney look handsomer to you because you knew it was Nina waiting +for you by the hearth-stone, and keeping up the fire? Don't tell +me a falsehood, for I'll forgive you, if you answer no." + +"Yes, Nina, yes. I would gladly take you as my wife if it could +be. My broken lily is very precious to me now, far more so than +she used to be. The right love for her began to grow the moment I +confessed she was my wife, and when she's gone, Arthur will be so +lonely." + +"Will you, Arthur boy? Will you, as true as you live and breathe, +miss poor, buzzing Nina? Oh, I'm so glad, so glad," and the great +tears dimmed the brightness of the blue eyes, which looked up so +confidingly at Arthur. "I, too, have loved you a heap; not exactly +as I loved Charlie Hudson, I reckon, but the knowing you are my +husband, makes Nina feel kind of nice, and I want you to love me +some--miss me some--mourn for me some, and then, Arthur, Nina +wants you to marry Miggie. There is no buzzing; no twist in her +head. It will rest as quietly on your bosom where mine has never +lain, not as hers will, I mean, and you both will be so happy at +last--happy in knowing that Nina has gone out into the eternal +daylight, where she would rather be. You'll do it, Arthur; she +must not marry Richard, and you must speak to her quick, before +she goes home, so as to stop it, for New Year's is the time. Will +you, Arthur?" + +There was an instant of silence in the room--Nina waiting for +Arthur to speak, and Arthur mustering all his strength to answer +her as he felt he must. + +"My darling," laying his face down upon her neck among her yellow +curls, "I shall never call another by the dear name I call you +now, my wife." + +"Oh, Arthur," and Nina's cheeks flushed with indignant surprise, +that he, too, should prove refractory. Everything indeed, was +getting upside down. "Why not?" she asked. "Don't you love +Miggie?" + +"Yes, very, very dearly! but it is too much to hope that she will +ever be mine. I do not deserve it. You ask me my forgiveness, +Nina. Alas! alas! I have tenfold more need of yours. It did not +matter that we both wearied of our marriage vows, made when we +were children--did not matter that you are crazy--I had no right +to love another. + +"But you have paid for it all a thousand times!" interrupted Nina. +"You are a better Arthur than you were before, and Nina never +could see the wrong in your preferring beautiful, sensible Miggie, +to crazy, scratching, biting, teasing Nina, even if Richard had +said over a few words, of which neither of us understood the +meaning, or what it involved, this taking for better or worse. It +surely cannot be wrong to marry Miggie when I'm gone, and you +will, Arthur, you will!" + +"No, Nina, no! I should be adding sin to sin did I seek to change +her decision, and so wrong the noble Richard. His is the first, +best claim. I will not interfere. Miggie must keep her word +uninfluenced by me. I shall no raise my voice against it." + +"Oh, Arthur, Arthur!" Nina cried, clasping her hands together; +"Miggie does not love him, and you surely know the misery of a +marriage without love. It must not be! It shall no be! you can +save Miggie, and you must!" + +Every word was fainter than the preceding, and, when the last was +uttered, Nina's head dropped from Arthur's shoulder to the pillow, +and he saw a pinkish stream issuing from her lips. A small blood +vessel had been ruptured, and Arthur, who knew the danger, laid +his hand upon her mouth as he saw her about to speak, bidding her +be quiet if she would not die at once. + +Death, however long and even anxiously expected is unwelcome at +the last, and Nina shrank from its near approach, laying very +still, while Arthur summoned aid. Only once she spoke, and then +she whispered, "Miggie," thus intimating that she would have her +called. In much alarm Edith came, trembling when she saw the +fearful change which had passed over Nina, whose blue eyes +followed her movements intently, turning often from her to Arthur +as If they fain would utter what was in her mind. But not then was +Nina St. Claire to die. Many days and nights were yet appointed +her, and Arthur and Edith watched her with the tenderest care; +only these two, for so Nina would have it. Holding their hands in +hers she would gaze from one to the other with a wistful, pleading +look, which, far better than words, told what she would say, were +It permitted her to speak, but in the deep brown eyes of Arthur, +she read always the same answer, while Edith's would often fill +with tears as she glanced timidly at the apparently cold, silent +man, who, she verily believed, had ceased to love her. + +But Nina knew better. Clouded as was her reason, she penetrated +the mask he wore, and saw where the turbulent waters surged around +him, while with an iron will and a brave heart he contended with +the angry waves, and so outrode the storm. And as she watched them +day after day, the purpose grew strong within her that if it were +possible the marriage of Edith and Richard should be prevented, +and as soon as she was able to talk she broached the subject to +them both. + +"Stay, Miggie," she said to Edith, who was stealing from the room. +"Hear me this once. You are together now, you and Arthur." + +"Nina," said the latter, pitying Edith's agitation, "You will +spare us both much pain if you never allude again to what under +other circumstances might have been." + +"But I must," cried Nina. "Oh, Arthur, why won't you go to Richard +and tell him all about it?" + +"Because it would be wrong," was Arthur's answer, and then Nina +turned to Edith, "Why won't you, Miggie?" + +"Because I have solemnly promised that I would not," was her +reply. + +And Nina rejoined, "Then I shall write. He loved little Snow Drop. +He'll heed what she says when she speaks from the grave. I'll send +him a letter." + +"Who'll take it or read it to him if you do?" Arthur asked, and +the troubled eyes of blue turned anxiously to Edith. + +"Miggie, sister, won't you?" + +Edith shook her head, not very decidedly, it is true, still it was +a negative shake, and Nina said, "Arthur boy, will you?" + +"No, Nina, no." + +Hia answer was determined, and poor, discouraged Nina sobbed +aloud, "Who will, who will?" + +In the adjoining room there was a rustling sound--a coming +footstep, and Victor Dupres appeared in the door. He had been an +unwilling hearer of that conversation, and when Nina cried "who +will?" he started up, and coming into the room as if by accident, +advanced to the bedside and asked in his accustomed friendly way, +"How is Nina to-night?" Then bending over her so that no one +should hear, he whispered softly, "Don't tell them, but I'll read +that letter to Richard!" + +Nina understood him and held his hand a moment while she looked +the thanks she dared not speak. + +"Nina must not talk any more" Arthur said, as Victor walked away, +"she is wearing out too fast," and with motherly tenderness he +smoothed her tumbled pillow--pushed back behind her ears the +tangled curls--kissed her forehead, and then went out into the +deepening night, whose cool damp air was soothing to his burning +brow, and whose sheltering mantle would tell no tales of his white +face or of the cry which came heaving up from where the turbulent +waters lay, "if it be possible let this temptation pass from me, +or give me strength to resist it." + +His prayer was heard--the turmoil ceased at last--the waters all +were stilled, and Arthur went back to Nina, a calm, quiet man, +ready and willing to meet whatever the future might bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +LAST DAYS. + + +"Aunt Hannah will stay with me to-night," Nina said to Arthur the +next day, referring to an old negress who had taken cure of her +when a child; and Arthur yielded to her request the more +willingly, because of his own weariness. + +Accordingly old Hannah was installed watcher in the sick room, +receiving orders that her patient should not on any account be +permitted to talk more than was absolutely necessary. Nina heard +this injunction of Arthur and a smile of cunning flitted across +her face as she thought how she would turn it to her own advantage +in case Hannah refused to comply with her request, which she made +as soon as they were left alone. + +Hannah must first prop her up in bed, she said, and then give her +her port-folio, paper, pen and ink. As she expected, the negress +objected at once, bidding her be still, but Nina declared her +intention of talking as fast and as loudly as she could, until her +wish was gratified. Then Hannah threatened calling Arthur, +thereupon the willful little lady rejoined, "I'll scream like +murder, if you do, and burst every single blood-vessel I've got, +so bring me the paper, please, or shall I got it myself," and she +made a motion as if the would leap upon the floor, while poor old +Hannah, regretting the task she had undertaken, was compelled to +submit and bring the writing materials as desired. + +"Now you go to sleep," Nina said coaxingly, and as old Hannah +found but little difficulty in obeying the command, Nina was left +to herself while she wrote that long, long message, a portion of +which we give below. + +"DEAR MR. RICHARD: + +"Poor blind man! Nina is so sorry for you to-night, because she +knows that what she has to tell you will crush the strong life all +out of your big heart, and leave it as cold and dead as she will +be when Victor reads this to you. There won't be any Nina then, +for Miggie and Arthur, and a heap more, will have gone with their +way out where both my mothers are lying, and Miggie'll cry, I +reckon when she hears the gravel stones ruttling down just over my +head, but I shall know they cannot hit me, for the coffin-lid will +be between, and Nina'll lie so still. No more pain; no more +buzzing; no more headache; no more darkness; won't it be grand, +the rest I'm going to. I shan't be crazy in Heaven. Arthur says +so; and he knows. + +"Poor Arthur! It is of him and Miggie I am writing to you, if I +ever can get to them; and Richard; when you hear this read, +Nina'll be there with you; but you can't see her, because you're +blind, and you couldn't see if you wern't, but she'll be there +just the same. She'll sit upon your knee, and wind her arms around +your neck, so as to comfort you when the great cry comes in, the +crash like the breaking up of the winter ice on the northern +ponds, and when you feel yourself all crushed like they are in the +spring, listen and you'll hear her whispering, 'Poor Richard, Nina +pities you so much! She'll kiss your tears away, too, though maybe +you won't feel her. And, Richard, you'll do right, won't you. +You'll give Miggie up. You'll let Arthur have her, and so bring +back the sunshine to her face. She's so pale now and sorry, and +the darkness lies thickly around her. + +"There are three kinds of darkness, Richard. One like mine, when +the brain has a buzz in the middle, and everything is topsy-turvy. +One, like yours, when the world is all shut out with its beauty +and its flowers; and then there's another, a blacker darkness when +the buzz is in the heart, making it wild with pain. Such, Richard +is the darkness, which lies like a pall around our beautiful +sister Miggie, and it will deepen and deepen unless you do what +Nina asks you to do, and what Miggie never will, because she +promised that she wouldn't-----" + +Then followed the entire story of the marriage performed by +Richard, of the grief which followed, of Arthur's gradually +growing love of Edith, of the scene of the Deering Woods, of the +incidents connected with Edith's sickness, her anguish at parting +with Arthur, her love for him still, her struggles to do right, +and her determination to keep her engagement even though she died +in doing it. + +All this was told in Nina's own peculiar style; and then came her +closing appeal that Richard himself should break the bonds and set +poor Miggie free. + +"... It will be dreadful at first, I know, and may be all three of +the darknesses will close around you for a time,--darkness of the +heart, darkness of the brain, and darkness of the eyes, but it +will clear away and the daylight will break, in which you will be +happier than in calling Miggie your wife, and knowing how she +shrinks from you, suffering your caresses only because she knows +she must, but feeling so sick at her stomach all the time, and +wishing you wouldn't touch her. I know just how it feels, for when +Arthur kissed me, or took my hand, or even came in my sight, +before the buzz got into my head, it made me so cold and faint and +ugly, the way the Yankees mean, knowing he was my husband when I +wanted Charlie Hudson. Don't subject Miggie to this horrid fate. +Be generous and give her up to Arthur. He may not deserve her more +than you, but she loves him the best and that makes a heap of +difference. + +"It's Nina who asks it, Richard; dead Nina not a living one. She +is sitting on your knee; her arms are round your neck; her face +against yours and you must not tell her no, or she'll cling to you +day and night, night and day; when you are in company and when you +are alone. When it is dark and lonely and all but you asleep, +she'll sit upon your pillow and whisper continually, 'Give Miggie +up; give Miggie up,' or if you don't, and Miggie's there beside +you, Nina'll stand between you; a mighty, though invisible shield, +and you'll feel it's but a mockery, the calling her your wife when +her love is given to another. + +"Good bye, now, Richard, good bye. My brain begins to buzz, my +hand to tremble. The lines all run together, and I am most as +blind as you. God bless you, Mr. Richard; bless you any way, but a +heap more if you give Miggie up. May be He'll give you back your +sight to pay for Miggie. I should rather have it than a wife who +did not love me; and I'll tease Him till He'll let me bring it to +you some day. + +"Good bye, again, good bye. + +"NINA ARTHUR BERNARD." + +The night was nearly worn away ere the letter was finished; and +Nina's eyes flashed with unwonted fire as laughing aloud at the +Arthur added to her name, she laid it away beneath her pillow and +then tried herself to sleep. But this last was impossible, and +when the morning broke she was so much worse that the old nurse +trembled lest her master should censure her severely for having +yielded to her young mistress's whim. Mild and gentle as he +seemed, Arthur could, if necessary, be very stern, and knowing +this, old Hannah concluded at last that if Nina did not betray +herself she would not, and when Arthur came, expressing his +surprise at the change, and asking for its cause, she told glibly +"how restless and onquiet Miss Nina done been flirtin' round till +the blood all got in her head and she was dreadful." + +"You should have called me," Arthur said, sitting down by Nina, +whose feverish hands he clasped, while he asked, "Is my little +girl's head very bad this morning?" + +Nina merely nodded, for she really was too weak to talk, and +Arthur watched her uneasily, wondering why it was that her eyes +were fixed so constantly upon the door, as if expecting some one. +When breakfast was announced she insisted that both he and Edith +should leave her, and, the moment they were gone, she asked for +Victor, who came at once, half guessing why he was sent for. + +"Under my pillow," she whispered, as he bent over her, and in an +instant the letter, of whose existence neither Arthur nor Edith +suspected, was safe in Victor's pocket. + +Nina had accomplished her object, and she became unusually quiet. +Richard would get the letter--Richard would do right, she knew, +and the conviction brought to her a deep peace, which nothing ever +after disturbed. She did not speak of him again, and her last days +were thus pleasanter to Edith, who, from the sweet companionship +held with her gentle sister, learned in part what Nina Bernard +was, ere the darkness of which she had written to Richard crept +into her brain. Fair and beautiful as the white pond lily, she +faded rapidly, until Arthur carried her no longer to the window, +holding her in his arms while she looked out upon the yard and +garden where she used to play--but she lay all day upon her bed +holding Edith's hands, and talking to her of that past still so +dim and vague to the latter. Marie, too, often joined them, +repeating to Edith many incidents of interest connected with both +her parents, but speaking most of the queenly Petrea, whom Edith +so strongly resembled. Nina, too, remembered her well, and Edith +was never weary of hearing her tell of the "beautiful new mamma," +who kissed her so tenderly that night when she first came home, +calling her la petite enfant, and placing in her arms a darling +little sister, with eyes just like the stars! + +Very precious to Edith was the memory of those days, when she +watched the dying Nina, who, as death drew near, clung closer and +closer to her sister, refusing to let her go. + +"I want you with me," she said, one afternoon, when the late +autumn rain was beating against the window-pane, and the clouds +hung leaden and dull in the Southern sky. "I want you and Arthur, +both, to lead me down to the very edge of the river, and not let +go my hands until the big waves wash me away, for Nina's a wee bit +of a girl, and she'll be afraid to launch out alone upon the +rushing stream. I wish you'd go too, Miggie,--go over Jordan with +me. Why does God make me go alone?" + +"You will not go alone, my darling!" and Edith's voice was choked +with tears as she told the listening Nina of one whose arm would +surely hold her up, so that the waters should not overflow. + +"It's the Saviour you mean," and Nina spoke reverently. "I loved +Him years ago before the buzzing came, but I've been so bad since +then, that I'm afraid that He'll cast me off. Will He, think? When +I tell him I am little Nina Bernard come from Sunnybank, will He +say, 'Go 'way old crazy Nina, that tore poor Arthur boy's hair?'" + +"No, no, oh, no," and Edith sobbed impetuously as she essayed to +comfort the bewildered girl, whose mind grasped but faintly the +realities of eternity. + +"And you'll stand on the bank till I am clear across," she said, +when Edith had ceased speaking, "You and Arthur stand where I can +see you if I should look back. And, Miggie, I have a presentiment +that Nina'll go to-night, but I don't want any body here except +you and Arthur. I remember when grandma died the negroes howled so +dismally, and they didn't love her one bit either. They used to +make mouths at her, and hide her teeth. But they do love me, and +their screeches will get my head all in a twist. I'd rather they +wouldn't know till morning; then when they ask for me Arthur'll +tell them sorry like that Nina's dead; Nina's gone into the +daylight, and left a world of love to them who have been so kind +to her. Don't let them crowd up around me, or make too much ado. +It isn't worth the while, for I'm of no account, and you'll be +good to them Miggie--good to the poor ignorant blacks. They are +your's after me, and I love them a heap. Don't let them be sold, +will you?" + +Here Nina paused, too much exhausted to talk longer, and when +about dark Arthur came in, he found her asleep with Edith at her +side, while upon her face and about her nose there was a sharp, +pitched look he had never seen before. Intuitively, however, he +knew that look was the harbinger of death, and when Edith told him +what Nina had said, he felt that ere the morning came his broken +lily would be gone. + +Slowly the evening wore on, and one by one the family retired, +leaving Arthur and Edith alone with the pale sleeper whose +slumbers ended not until near the midnight hour; silently, sadly, +Arthur and Edith watched her, she on one side, he upon the other, +neither speaking for the sorrow which lay so heavy at their +hearts, She was very beautiful as she lay there so motionless, and +Arthur felt his heart clinging more and more to his fair, childish +wife, while his conscience smote him cruelly for any wrong he +might have done to her. She was going from him now so fast, and as +the clock struck twelve the soft blue eyes unclosed and smiled up +in his face with an expression which, better than words could do, +told that she bore no malice toward him, nothing but trusting +faith and confiding love. He had been kind to her, most kind, and +she told him so again, for she seemed to know how dear to him such +testimonial would be when she was gone. + +"The clouds are weeping for Nina," she said, as she heard the rain +still beating against the window. "Will it make the river deeper, +think? I hear its roar in the distance. It's just beginning to +heave in sight, and I dread it so much. 'Twill be lonesome +crossing this dismal, rainy night. Oh, Arthur--boy, Arthur--boy, +let me stay with you. Can't you keep me? Can't you hide me +somewhere? you, Miggie? I won't be in the way. It's so icy, and +the river is so deep. Save me, do!" and she stretched out her +hands to Arthur as if imploring him to hold her back from the +rushing stream bearing down so fast upon her. + +Forcing down his own great grief, Arthur took her in his arms and +hugging her fondly to him, sought to comfort her by whispering of +the blessed Saviour who would carry her in His bosom beyond the +swelling flood, and Nina, as she listened, grew calm and still, +while something like the glory of the better land shone upon her +face as she repeated after him, "There'll be no night, no darkness +there, no headache, no pain,--nor buzzing either?" she suddenly +asked. "Say, will there be any buzzing brains in Heaven?" + +Arthur shook his head, and she continued, "That will be so nice, +and Dr. Griswold will be so glad when he knows Nina is not crazy. +He's gone before, I reckon, to take care of me,--gone where +there's nothing but daylight, glorious, grand; kiss me again, +Arthur boy. 'Tis sweet to die upon your bosom with Miggie standing +near, and when you both are happy in each other's love, don't +quite forget little Nina,--Nina out under the flowers, will you? +She's done a heap of naughtiness, I know; but she's sorry, Arthur, +she is so sorry that she ever bit your arm or tore your hair! Poor +hair! Pretty brown hair! Bad Nina made the white threads come," +and her childish hands caressed the thick brown locks mingling +with her sunny curls, as Arthur bent over her, answering only with +his tears, which fell in torrents. + +"Don't, darling, don't," he said, at last. "The bad has all been +on my side, and I would that you should once more say I am +forgiven." + +Nina gazed wonderingly at him a moment, then made a motion that he +should lay her back upon the pillow. + +"Now put your head down here, right on my neck--so." + +He complied with her request, and placing both her bands upon the +bowed head of the young man, Nina whispered, + +"May the Good Shepherd, whose lamb Nina hopes to be, keep my +Arthur boy, and bless him a hundred fold for all he's been to me, +and if he has wronged me, which I don't believe, but if he has, +will God please forgive him as fully, as freely as Nina does--the +best Arthur boy that ever lived. I'll tell God all about it, and +how I pestered you, and how good you were, my Arthur boy--Nina's +Arthur first and Miggie's after me. Now put your arms around me +again," she said, as she finished the blessing which brought such +peace to Arthur. "Put them around me tight, for the river is +almost here. Don't you hear its splashing? Miggie, Miggie," she +cried, shivering as with an ague chill, "hold my hand with all +your might, but don't let me pull you in. I'm going down the bank. +My feet are in the water, and it's so freezing cold. I'm sinking, +too, and the big waves roll over me. Oh, Arthur, you said it would +not hurt," and the dim eyes flashed upon the weeping man a most +reproachful glance, as if he had deceived her, while the feet were +drawn shudderingly up, as if they had, indeed, touched the chill +tide of death, and shrank affrighted from it. Edith could only sob +wildly, as she grasped the clammy hand stretched toward her, but +Arthur, more composed, whispered to the dying girl, + +"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I +will fear no evil, for thou, Lord, art with me; thy staff and thy +rod, they comfort me." + +"Look away to the shore," he continued, as Nina ceased to +struggle, and lay still on his bosom. "Look away to the glorious +city--my darling is almost there." + +"Yes, yes, I do, I am," came faintly up, and then with a glad cry +of joy, which rang in their ears for many a day and night, Nina +said, + +"You may lay me down, my Arthur boy, and take your arm away. +There's a stronger one than yours around me now. The arm that +Miggie told me of, and it will not let me down. I'm going over so +easy, easy, in a cradle-like, and Dr. Griswold's there waiting for +clipped-winged birdie. He looks so glad, so happy. It is very nice +to die; but stand upon the bank, Arthur and Miggie. Wait till I'm +across." + +They thought she had left them, when softly, sweetly, as if it +were a note of heavenly music sent back to them from the other +world, there floated on the air the words, + +"Climb up the bank, I'm most across. I do not see you now. MOTHER- +-and Miggie's mother--and Dr. Griswold have waded out to meet me. +The darkness is passed, the daylight has dawned; Miggie precious, +and darling Arthur boy, good-bye, for Nina's gone, good-bye." + +The white lips never moved again, the waxen hands lay lifelessly +in Arthur's, the damp, bright hair lay half-uncurled upon the +pillow, the blue eyes were closed, the aching head was still, the +"twisted brain" had ceased to "buzz," the Darkness for her was +over, and Nina had gone out into the Daylight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +PARTING WITH THE DEAD, AND PARTING WITH THE LIVING. + + +Softly the morning broke and the raindrops glittered like diamonds +in the rising sun, whose rays fell mockingly upon desolate +Sunnybank, where the howling of the blacks mingled with the sobs +of those more nearly bereaved. Very troublesome had the beautiful +departed been in life; none knew how troublesome one-half so well +as Arthur, and yet of all the weeping band who gathered around her +bed, none mourned her more truly than did he who had been her +husband in name for eleven years. Eleven years! How short they +seemed, looked back upon, and how much sorrow they had brought +him. But this was all forgotten, and in his heart there was naught +save tender love for the little maiden now forever at rest. + +All the day he sat by her, and both Edith and Victor felt that it +was not the mere semblance of grief he wore, while others of the +household, who knew nothing of his past in connection with Edith, +said to each other, "It is strange he should love her so well when +she was so much care to him." + +They did not know it was this very care for her; this bearing with +her which made her so dear to him, and as the mother longs for and +wishes back the unfortunate but beloved child which made her life +so wearisome so Arthur mourned and wept for Nina, thanking God one +moment that her poor, pain-worn head was at rest, and again +murmuring to himself, "I would that I had her back again." + +He scarcely spoke to Edith, although he knew whenever her +footsteps crossed the threshold of the darkened room; knew when +she bent over Nina; heard the kisses she pressed on the cold lips; +and even watched until it was dry the tear she once left on Nina's +cheek, but he held no communication with her, and she was left to +battle with her grief alone. Once, indeed, she went to him and +asked what Nina should be buried in, and this for a time roused +him from his apathetic grief. + +"Nina must be buried in white," he said; "she looked the best in +that; and, Edith, I would have her curls cut off, all but those +that shade her face. You have arranged them every day. Will you do +so once more if I will hold her up?" + +Edith would rather the task had devolved upon some one else, but +she offered no objection, though her tears fell like rain when she +brought the curling-stick and brush and began to separate the +tangled locks, while Arthur encircled the rigid form with his arm, +as carefully as if she still were living, watching her with +apparent interest as she twined about her fingers the golden hair. +But when, at last, she held the scissors which were to sever those +bright tresses, his fortitude all gave way, for he remembered +another time when he had held poor Nina, not as he held her now, +but with a stronger, firmer grasp, while, by rougher hands than +Edith's, those locks were shorn away. Groan after groan came from +his broad chest, and his tears moistened the long ringlets he so +lovingly caressed. + +"You may cut them now," he said at last, holding his breath as if +the sharp steel were cutting into his heart's core, as, one by +one, the yellowish curls were severed, and dropped, some into +Edith's lap, while others, lodging upon his fingers, curled about +them with a seemingly human touch, making him moan bitterly, as he +pressed them to his lips, and then shook them gently off. + +Nina's hair, like her sister's, had been her crowning glory--so +thick, so wavy, so luxuriant it was; and when the task was done, +and the tresses divided, five heavy curls were Arthur's and five +more were Edith's. + +"Where shall I put yours?" Edith asked, and for a moment Arthur +did not answer. + +In a rosewood box, into which he had not looked for years, there +was a mass of longer, paler, more uneven curls than these, but +Arthur would not distress Edith by telling her about them, and he +replied, at last, "I will put them away, myself." Then taking them +from her and going to his own private chamber, he opened the box +and dropped them in, weeping when he saw how strongly they +contrasted with the other faded crazy curls, as he called them. + +In a plain white muslin, which had been made for Nina at Grassy +Spring, they arrayed her for the coffin, the soft, rich lace +encircling her throat and falling about her slender arms folded so +meekly together. Flowers were twined about her head--flowers were +on her pillow--flowers in her hands--flowers upon her bosom-- +flowers of purest white, and meet emblems of the sweet young girl, +whose features, to the last, retained the same childlike, peaceful +expression which had settled upon them when she called back to +Arthur, "Climb up the bank. I'm most across." + +The day of her burial was balmy and warm, and the southern wind +blew softly across the fields as the weeping band followed the +lost one across the threshold and laid her away where the flowers +of spring would blossom above her little grave. Very lonely and +desolate seemed the house when the funeral train returned to it, +and the lamentations of the blacks broke out afresh as they began +to realize that their young mistress was really gone, and +henceforth another must fill her place. Would it be Arthur or +would it be the queenly Edith, whose regal beauty had captivated +all their hearts? Assembled in the kitchen they discussed this +question, giving to neither the preference, for though they had +tried Arthur and found him a kind and humane master, they felt +that after Nina, Edith had the right. Then, as other than blacks +will do, they speculated upon the future, wondering why both +Arthur and Edith could not rule jointly over them; they would like +that vastly, and had nearly decided that it would be, when Victor, +who was with them, tore down their castle by telling them that +Edith was already engaged to some one else. This changed the +channel of conversation, and Victor left them wondering still what +the future would bring. + +Slowly the evening passed, in kitchen and in parlor and only those +who have felt it can tell the unspeakable loneliness of that first +evening after the burial of the dead. Several times Arthur started +as if he would go to the bed standing empty in the corner, while +Edith, too, fancied that she heard the name "Miggie," spoken as +only Nina could speak it. Then came a feeling of desolation as the +thought was forced upon them, "She is gone;" and as the days went +on till three suns had risen on her grave, the loneliness +increased until Edith could bear it no longer, and to Victor she +said, "We will go back to Richard, who is waiting so anxiously for +us." + +Everything which Arthur could do he did to reinstate Edith in her +rights. Not one dollar of the Bernard estate had he ever spent for +himself and very little for Nina, preferring to care for her out +of his own resources and thus the property had increased so +rapidly that Edith was richer than her wildest hopes. But not one +feather did this weigh with her, and on the day when matters were +arranged, she refused to do or say anything about it, persisting +so obstinately in her refusal, that the servants whispered slily +to each other, "That's a heap of old marster's grit thar." + +For a time Arthur coaxed and reasoned with her; then finding that +this did not avail, he changed the mode of treatment, and, placing +a chair by his own, said to her commandingly, "Edith, sit here!" +and she sat there, for there was that in Arthur's sternness which +always enforced obedience. + +"It cannot be more unpleasant for you than for me, but it is +necessary," he said to her, in a low tone, as she sank into her +seat, and ashamed of her willfulness, Edith whispered back, "I am +sorry I behaved so like a child. Forgive me won't you?" + +Still it grated harshly, this being compelled to listen while the +lawyer, summoned by Arthur, talked to her of lands and mortgages, +of bank stock, and, lastly, of the negroes. Would she have them +sold, or what? Then Edith roused from her apathy. Nina had +entrusted them to her, and she would care for them. They should +not be sold, and so she said; they should still live at Sunnybank, +having free papers made out in case of accident to herself, or, if +they preferred, they should go with her at once to Collingwood, +and Sunnybank to be sold. + +"Oh, Heavens!" exclaimed Victor, who had stationed himself behind +Edith. "Forty niggers at Collingwood! Mr. Harrington never would +stand that. Leave them here." + +Arthur smiled at the Frenchman's evident distress, while Edith +made a gesture that Victor should be still, and then continued, +"It may be better to leave them here for a time at least, and Mr. +Harrington shall decide upon their future home." + +She said this naturally, and as a matter of course, but her heart +leaped to her throat when she saw the pallor which for an instant +overspread Arthur's face at her allusion to one who would soon +have the right to rule her and hers. + +"Is Mr. Harrington your guardian, Miss Bernard?" the lawyer asked, +and ere Edith could reply, Arthur answered for her, "He is to be +her husband." + +The lawyer bowed and went on with his writing, all unconscious of +the wounds his question had tore open, leaving them to bleed +afresh as both Arthur and Edith assumed a mask of studied +indifference, never looking at or addressing each other again +while that painful interview lasted. It was over at length, and +the lawyer gone. Matters were adjusted as well they could be at +present. The negroes were to remain at Sunnybank under charge of +an overseer as usual, while Arthur was to stay there, too, until +he decided upon his future course. This was his own proposition, +and Edith acceded to it joyfully. There were no sweet home +associations, connected in her mind with Sunnybank, it is true, +for she was too young when she left it to retain more than a dim, +shadowy remembrance of a few scenes and places; but it had been +Nina's home; there she was born, there she had lived, there she +had died, and Edith felt that it would not be one half so dreary +looked back upon, if Arthur would stay there always. + +"Why can't you?" she asked of him when in the evening she sat with +him in the rather gloomy parlor. "I'll make you my agent in +general, giving you permission to do whatever you please, or would +you rather live at Grassy Spring?" + +"Anywhere but there," was Arthur's quick response, "I shall sell +Grassy Spring and go abroad. I shall be happier so. I have never +known the comfort of a home for any length of time, and it does +not matter where I am. My mother, as Grace may have told you, was +a gay, fashionable woman, and after the period of mourning had +expired, I only remember her resplendent in satin and diamonds, +kissing me good-night ere her departure for some grand party. +Then, when I was eight years old, she, too, died, leaving me to +the care of a guardian. Thus, you see, I have no pleasant memories +of a home, and the cafes of Paris will suit me as well as +anything, perhaps. Once I hoped for something better, but that is +over now, Nina is dead, while you, on whom, as my wife's sister, I +have some claim, will soon be gone from here and I shall be alone. +I shall sell Grassy Spring,--shall place the negroes there in your +keeping, and then next spring leave the country, never to return, +it may be." + +He ceased speaking, and there was a silence in the room which +Edith could not break. Arthur had told her frankly of his intended +future, but she could not speak of hers--could not tell him that +Collingwood's doors were ever open to him--that she would be his +sister in very deed--that Richard would welcome him as a brother +for her sake, and that the time might come when they could be +happy thus. All this passed through her mind, but not a word of it +escaped her lips, lest by doing so she would betray her real +feelings. Arthur did not seem to her now as he had done a few days +previous; their relations to each other had changed, and were +there no Richard, it would not be wicked to love him now. Nina was +gone; the past was more than atoned for; the marble, at first +unsightly to some degree, had been hewn and polished, and though +the blows had each struck deep, they wrought in Arthur St. Claire +a perfect work. Ennobled, subdued, and purified, he was every way +desirable, both as brother, friend, and husband, but he was not +for her, and the consciousness that it was so, palsied her powers +of speech. + +Wishing to say something to break the awkward silence, Arthur +asked at last, if it were true, as Victor had said, that she +intended starting for Collingwood the day after to-morrow, and +then she burst into tears, but made him no reply, only passionate +sobs which smote cruelly upon his heart, for well he guessed their +meaning. He could read Edith Hastings aright--could fathom her +utmost thoughts, find he knew how she shrank from the future +dreading a return to Collingwood, and what awaited her there. He +knew, too, that but a few words from himself were needed to keep +her at Sunnybank with him forever. Others might be powerless to +influence her decision, but he was not; he could change her whole +future life by whispering in her ear, "Stay with me, Edith; don't +go back," but the Arthur of to-day was stronger than the Arthur of +one year ago, and though the temptation was a terrible one, he met +it bravely, and would not deal thus treacherously with Richard, +who had so generously trusted her with him. Edith must keep her +vow, and when at last he spoke, it was to say something of the +journey, as if that had all the time been uppermost in his mind. + +"He does not love me any more, and I don't care," was Edith's +mental comment, as she soon after left him and hurried to her +room, where she wept herself to sleep, never suspecting how long +and dreary was that night to the young man whose eyelids never for +a moment closed, and who, as the day was breaking, stole out to +Nina's grave, finding there a peace which kept his soul from +fainting. + +At the breakfast table he was the same easy, elegant, attentive +host he always was in his own house, conversing pleasantly upon +indifferent topics, but he could not look at her now, on this her +last day with him; could not endure to hear her voice, and he +avoided her presence, seeing as little of her as possible, and +retiring unusually early, even though he read in her speaking eyes +a wish that he would tarry longer. + +The next morning, however, he knew the instant she was astir, +listening eagerly to the sound of her footsteps as she made her +hasty toilet, and watching her from his window as she went to +Nina's grave, sobbing out her sad farewell to the loved dead. He +saw her, too, as she came back to the house, and then with a +beating heart went down to meet her. + +The breakfast was scarcely touched, and the moment it was over +Edith hurried to her chamber, for it was nearly time to go. The +trunks were brought down--Edith's and Marie's--for the latter was +to live henceforth with her young mistress; the servants had +crowded to the door, bidding their mistress good bye, and then it +was Arthur's turn. Oh, who shall tell of the tempest which raged +within as he held for a moment her soft, white hand in his and +looked into the face which, ere he saw it again, might lose its +girlish charm for him, inasmuch as a husband's kisses would have +been showered upon it. Many times he attempted to speak, but could +not, and pressing his lips to hers, he hastened away, going +straight to Nina's grave which had become to him of late a Bethel. + +Scarcely was he gone, when Tom, the driver, announced that +something was the matter with the harness, and by this delay, +Edith gained a few moments, which she resolved to spend with Nina. +She did not know that Arthur, too, was there, until she came close +upon him as he bent over the little mound. He heard her step, and +turning toward her, and, half bitterly, "Edith, why will you tempt +me so?" + +"Oh, Arthur, don't," and with a piteous cry Edith sank at his +feet, and laying her face on Nina's grave, sobbed out, "I did not +know that you were here, but I am so glad that you are, for I +cannot be without your blessing, you must tell me I am doing +right, or I shall surely die. The world is so dark--so dark." + +Arthur had been tempted before--sorely, terribly tempted--but +never like this, and recoiling a pace or two, he stood with the +dead Nina between himself and she weeping heavily, while the wild +thought swept over him, "Is it right that I should fiend her away? +" but over her an instant, and stretching his hand across the +grave, he laid it on the head of the kneeling girl, giving her the +blessing she so much craved, and then bidding her leave him. + +"They are calling to you," he added, as he heard Victor's voice in +the distance, and struggling to her feet, Edith started to go, but +forgetting all sense of propriety in that dreadful parting, she +turned to him again and said, + +"I am going, Arthur, but I must ask one question. It will make my +future brighter if I know you love me still, be it ever so little. +Do you, Arthur, and when you know I am Richard's wife will you +think of me sometimes, and pity me, too? I shall need it so much!" + +Arthur had not expected this, and he reeled as if smitten with a +heavy blow. Leaning for support against Petrea's monument, whence +Miggie's name had been effaced, he gasped: + +"God help me, Edith! You should have spared me this. Do I love +you? Oh Edith, alas, alas! Here with Nina, whom, Heaven is my +witness, I did love truly at the last--here with her, I say, lying +dead between us, I swear to you that never was maiden loved as I +this moment love you; but I cannot make you mine. I dare not prove +thus treacherous to Richard, who trusted you with me, and, Edith, +you can be happy with him, and you will. You must forget that I +ever crossed your path, thinking of me only as one who was your +sister's husband. And God will give you strength to do this if you +ask it of him aright I shall not forgot you, Edith. That cannot +be. Across the sea, wherever I may be, I shall remember you, +enshrining your memory in my heart, together with Nina, whom I so +much wish I had loved earlier, and so have saved us both from +pain. And now go--go back to Collingwood, and keep your vow to +Richard. He is one of God's noblest works, an almost perfect man. +You will learn to love him. You will be happy. Do not write to me +till it is over, then send your cards, and I shall know 'tis done. +Farewell, my sister--farewell forever." + +Without a word of reply Edith moved away, nor cast a backward +glance at the faint, sick man, who leaned his burning forehead +against the gleaming marble; while drop after drop of perspiration +fell upon the ground, but brought him no relief. He heard the +carriage wheels as they rolled from the door, and the sound seemed +grinding his life to atoms, for by that token he knew that Edith +was gone--that to him there was nothing left save the little mound +at his feet and the memory of his broken lily who slept beneath +it. How he wanted her now--wanted his childish Nina--his fair +girl-wife, to comfort him. But it could not be, Nina was dead--her +sweet, bird-like voice was hushed; it would never meet his +listening ear again, and for him there was nothing left, save the +wailing wind to whisper sadly to him as she was wont to do, "Poor +Arthur boy, poor Arthur boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HOME. + + +Oh, what a change it was from sunny Florida to England, just how +both Edith and Victor shivered, arrived at the last stage of their +journey, they looked out upon the snow-clad hills and leafless +trees which fitted out by bare and brown against the winter sky. +West Shannondale! the brakeman shouted, and Edith drew her furs +around her, for in a few moments more their own station would be +reached. + +"The river is frozen; it must be very cold," said Victor, pointing +to the blue-black stream; skimmered over with a thin coat of ice. + +"Yes, very, very cold," and Edith felt the meaning of the word in +more senses than one. + +Why wasn't she glad to be home again? Why did her thoughts cling +so to distant Sunnybank, or her heart die within her as waymark +after waymark told her Collingwood was near? Alas! she was not a +loving, eager bride elect, returning to the arms of her beloved, +but a shrinking, hopeless, desolate woman, going back to meet the +destiny she dared not avoid. The change was all in herself, for +the day was no colder, the clouds no greyer, the setting sun no +paler than New England wintry days and clouds and suns are wont to +be. Collingwood was just the same, and its massive walls rose as +proudly amid the dark evergreens around it as they had done in +times gone by, when to the little orphan it seemed a second +Paradise. Away to the right lay Grassy Spring, the twilight +shadows gathering around it, piles of snow resting on its roof, +and a thin wreath of smoke curling from a single chimney in the +rear. + +All this Edith saw as in the village omnibus she was driven toward +home, Richard was not expecting them until the morrow, and thus no +new fires were kindled, no welcoming lights hung out, and the +house was unusually gloomy and dark. During Edith's absence +Richard had staid mostly in the library, and there he was sitting +now, with his hands folded together in that peculiarly helpless +way which characterized all his motions. He heard the sound of +wheels, the banging of trunks, and then his ear caught a footstep +it knew full well, a slow, shuffling tread, but Edith's still, and +out into the silent hall he groped his way, watching there until +she came. + +How he hugged her to his bosom--never heeding that she gave him +back but one answering kiss, a cold, a frozen thing, which would +not thaw even after it touched his lips, so full of life and +warmth. Poor, deluded man! he fancied that the tears he felt upon +his face were tears of joy at being home again; but alas! alas! +they were tears wrung out by a feeling of dreary home-sickness--a +longing to be somewhere else--to have some other one than Richard +chafing her cold hands and calling her pet names. He looked older, +too, than he used to do, and Edith thought of what he once had +said about her seeing the work of decay go on in him while she yet +was young and vigorous. Still her voice was natural as she +answered his many questions and greeted Mrs. Matson who came in to +see her as soon as she heard of her arrival. + +"In mourning!" the latter exclaimed as with womanly curiosity she +inspected Edith's dress. + +Richard started, and putting his hand to Edith's neck, felt that +her collar was of crape, and a shadow passed over his face. He +liked to think of her as a bright plumaged bird, not as sombre- +hued and wearing the habiliments which come only from some grave. + +"Was it necessary that my darling should carry her love for a +stranger quite so far as this?" he asked. "Need you have dressed +in black?" + +Without meaning it, his tone implied reproach, and it cut Edith +cruelly, making her wish that she had told him all, when she wrote +that she was coming home. + +"Oh, Richard," she cried, "don't chide me for these outward tokens +of sorrow. Nina, dear, darling Nina, was my sister--my fathers +child. Temple was only a name he assumed to avoid arrest, so it +all got wrong. Everything is wrong," and Edith sobbed impetuously, +while Richard essayed to comfort her. + +The dress of black was not displeasing to him now, and he passed +his hands caressingly over its heavy folds as if to ask +forgiveness for having said aught against it. + +Gradually Edith grew calm, and after she had met the servants, and +the supper she could not taste was over, she repeated to Richard +the story she had heard from Marie, who had stopped for a time in +New York to visit her sister. + +A long time they sat together that night, while Richard told her +how lonely he had been without her, and asked her many questions +of Nina's last days. + +"Did she send no message to me?" he said. "She used to like me, I +fancied." + +Edith did not know how terrible a message Nina had sent to him, +and she replied, "She talked of you a great deal, but I do not +remember any particular word. I told her I was to be your wife." +and Edith's voice trembled, for this was but a prelude to what she +meant to say ere she bade him good night. She should breathe so +much more freely if she knew her bridal was not so near, and her +sister's death was surely a sufficient reason for deferring it. + +Summoning all her courage, she arose, and sitting on Richard's +knee, buttoned and unbuttoned his coat in a kind of abstracted +manner, while she asked if it might be so. "I know I promised for +New Year's night," she said, "but little Nina died so recently and +I loved her so much, May it be put off, Richard--put over until +June?" + +Edith had not thought of this in Florida, but here at home, it +came to her like succor to the drowning, and she anxiously awaited +Richard's answer. + +A frown for an instant darkened his fine features, for he did not +like this second deferring the day, but he was too unselfish to +oppose it, and he answered, + +"Yes, darling, if you will have it so. It may be better to wait at +least six months, shall it be in June, the fifteenth say?" + +Edith was satisfied with this, and when they parted her heart was +lighted of a heavy load, for six months seemed to her a great, +great while. + +The next day when Grace came up to call on Edith, and was told of +the change, she shrugged her shoulders, for she knew that by this +delay Richard stood far less chance of ever calling Edith his +wife. But she merely said it was well, congratulating Edith upon +her good fortune in being an heiress, and asking many questions +about Arthur and Nina, both, and at last taking her leave without +a hint as to her suspicions of the future. To Edith the idea had +never occurred. She should marry Richard of course, and nothing +could happen to defer the day a third time. So she said at least +to Victor, when she told him of the arrangement, and with a very +expressive whistle, Victor, too, shrugged his shoulders, thinking, +that possibly he need not read Nina's letter after all. He would +rather not if it could be avoided, for he knew how keen the pang +it would indict upon his noble master, and he would not add one +unnecessary drop to the cup of sorrow he saw preparing for poor +Richard. + +After a few days of listless languor and pining home-sickness, +Edith settled into her olden routine of reading, talking and +singing to Richard, who thought himself happy even though she did +not caress him as often as she used to do, and was sometimes +impatient and even ill-natured towards him. + +"She mourns so much for Nina," was the excuse which Richard wrote +down in his heart for all her sins, either of omission or +commission; and in a measure he was right. + +Edith did mourn for sweet little Nina, but mourned not half so +much for her as for the hopes forever fled--for Arthur, at whose +silence she greatly marvelled, thinking that she would write to +him as to her brother, and then shrinking from the task because +she knew not what to say. + +Spite of her feelings the six months she had thought so long were +passing far too rapidly to suit her. Time lingers for no one, and +January glided into February, February into March, whose melting +snows and wailing winds gave place at last to April, and then +again the people of Shannondale begun to talk of "that wedding," +fixed for the 15th of June. Marie had become domesticated at +Collingwood, but the negroes, who now called Edith mistress, still +remained at Grassy Spring, waiting until Arthur should come, or +some message be received from him. It was four months now since +Edith left Sunnybank, and in all that time no tiding had come to +her from Arthur. Grace's letters were unanswered, and Grace +herself was beginning to feel alarmed, when one afternoon, Victor +called Edith to an upper balcony and pointing in the direction of +Grassy Spring, bade her look where the graceful columns of smoke +were rising from all its chimneys, while its windows were opened +wide, and the servants hurried in and out, seemingly big with some +important event. + +"Saddle Bedouin," said Edith, more excited than she had deemed it +possible for her to be. "Mr. St. Claire must be expected, I am +going down to see." + +Victor obeyed, and without a word to Richard, Edith was soon +galloping off toward Grassy Spring, where she found Grace +hurriedly giving orders to the delighted blacks, who tumbled over +each other in their zeal to have everything in readiness for +"Marster Arthur." He was coming that night, so Grace had told +them, she having received a telegram that morning from New York, +together with a letter. + +"He started North the first of Feb." she said to Edith, "taking +Richmond on the way, and has been detained there ever since by +sickness. He is very feeble yet, but is anxious to see us all. He +has received no letters from me, it seems, and thinks you are +married." + +Edith turned very white for a moment, and then there burned upon +her cheek a round, red spot, induced by the feeling that the +believing she was married had been the immediate cause of Arthur's +illness. Edith was no longer the pale, listless woman who moved so +like a breathing statue around Collingwood, but a flushed, excited +creature, flitting from room to room, and entering heart and soul +into Grace's plans for having everything about the house as +cheerful and homelike as possible for the invalid. She should stay +to welcome him, too, she said, bidding one of the negroes put +Bedouin in the stable and then go up to Collingwood to tell +Richard where she was. + +Arthur was indeed coming to Grassy Spring, brought thither by the +knowing that something must be done with the place ere he went to +Europe as he intended doing, and by the feverish desire to see +Edith once more even though she were the wife of Richard, as he +supposed her to be. Grace's first letter had been lost, and as he +had been some weeks on the way he knew nothing of matters at +Collingwood, though occasionally there crept into his heart a +throb of hope that possibly for Nina's sake the marriage had been +deferred and Edith might be Edith Hastings still. It was very sad +coming back to the spot so fraught with memories of Nina, and this +it was in part which made him look so pale and haggard when at +last he stood within the hall and was met by Grace, who uttered an +exclamation of surprise at seeing him so changed. + +"I am very tired," he said, with the tone and air of an invalid, +"Let me rest in the library awhile, before I see the negroes. +Their noise will disturb me," and he walked into the very room +where Edith stood waiting for him. + +She had intended to meet him as a brother, the husband of her +sister, but the sight of his white, suffering face swept her +calmness all away, and with a burst of tears she cried, "Oh, +Arthur, Arthur, I did not think you had been so sick. Why did you +not let us know; I would have come to you," and she brought +herself the arm-chair which he took, smiling faintly upon her and +saying, + +"It was bad business being sick at a hotel, and I did sometimes +wish you were there, but of course I could not expect you to leave +your husband. How is he?" + +Edith could hear the beating of her heart and feel the blood +tingling her cheeks as she replied, "You mean Richard, but he is +not my husband. He--" + +Quickly, eagerly Arthur looked up, the expression of his face +speaking volumes of joy, surprise, and even hope, but all this +faded away, leaving him paler, sicker-looking than before, as +Edith continued, + +"The marriage was a second time deferred on account of Nina's +death. It will take place in June." + +Grace had left the room and an awkward silence ensued during which +Arthur looked absently into the fire, while Edith gazed out upon +the darkening sky, wondering if life would always be as hard to +bear as now, and half wishing that Arthur St. Claire had staid at +Sunnybank until the worst was over. + +There was a sound of wheels outside, and Edith heard Richard as he +passed into the hall. He had received her message, and thinking it +proper for him to welcome Mr. St. Claire, he had come to Grassy +Spring to do so, as well as to escort Edith home. Richard could +not see how much Arthur was changed, but his quick ear detected +the weak, tremulous tones of the voice, which tried to greet him +steadily, and so the conversation turned first upon Arthur's +recent illness, and then upon Nina, until at last, as Richard rose +to leave, he laid his arm across Edith's shoulder and said +playfully, "You know of course, that what you predicted, when +years ago you asked me to take a certain little girl, is coming +true. Edith has promised to be my wife. You will surely remain at +Grassy Spring through the summer, and so be present at our wedding +on the 15th of June. I invite you now." + +"Thank you," was all Arthur could say, as with his accustomed +politeness he arose to bid his guests good night; but his lip +quivered as he said it, and his eye never for a moment rested upon +Edith, who led Richard in silence to the carriage, feeling that +all she loved in the wide world was left there in the little +library where the light was shining, and where, although she did +not know it, Grace was ministering to the half fainting Arthur. + +The sight of Edith and Richard had effected him more than he +supposed it would, but the worst was over now, and as he daily +grew stronger in the bracing northern air he felt more and more +competent to meet what lay before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +NINA'S LETTER. + + +After a week or two had passed, Arthur went occasionally to +Collingwood, where Richard greeted him most cordially, urging him +to come more frequently and wondering why he always seemed in so +much haste to get away. On the occasion of these visits Edith +usually kept out of the way, avoiding him so studiously that +Richard began to fear she might perhaps dislike him, and he +resolved to ask her the first good opportunity. But Edith avoided +him, too, never coming now to sit with him alone; somebody must +always be present when she was with him, else had her bursting +heart betrayed the secret telling so fearfully upon her. Oh, how +hateful to her were the preparations for her bridal, which had +commenced on a most magnificent scale, for Richard, after waiting +so long, would have a grand wedding, and that all who chose might +witness the ceremony, it was to be performed in the church, from +which the guests would accompany him back to Collingwood. + +All Shannondale was interested, and the most extravagant stories +were set afloat, not only concerning the trouseau of the bride, +but the bride herself. What ailed her? What made her so cold, so +white, so proudly reserved, so like a walking ghost? She, who had +been so full of vigorous life, so merry, so light-hearted. Could +it be the mourning for sweet little Nina, or was it--? + +And here the knot of gossippers, at the corner of the streets, or +in the stores, or in the parlors at home, would draw more closely +together as they whispered, + +"Does she love Richard Harrington as she ought? Is not her heart +given rather to the younger, handsomer St. Claire?" + +How they pitied her if it were so, and how curiously they watched +her whenever she appeared in their midst, remarking every action, +and construing it according to their convictions. + +Victor, too, was on the alert, and fully aware of the public +feeling. Day after day he watched his young mistress, following +her when she left the house alone, and seeing her more than once +when in the Deering woods she laid her face in the springing grass +and prayed that she might die. But for her promise, sworn to +Richard, she would have gone to him, and kneeling at his feet +begged him to release her from her vow, and so spare her the +dreadful trial from which she shrank more and more as she saw it +fast approaching. + +Edith was almost crazy, and Arthur, whenever he chanced to meet +her, marvelled at the change since he saw her last. Once he, too, +thought of appealing to Richard to save her from so sad a fate as +that of an unloving wife, but he would not interfere, lest by so +doing he should err again, and so in dreary despair, which each +day grew blacker and more hopeless, Edith was left alone, until +Victor roused in her behalf, and without allowing himself time to +reflect, sought his master's presence, bearing with him Nina's +letter, and the soiled sheet on which Richard had unwittingly +scratched out Arthur's marriage. + +It was a warm, balmy afternoon, and through the open windows of +the library, the south wind came stealing in, laden with the +perfume of the pink-tinted apple blossoms, and speaking to the +blind man of the long ago, when it was his to see the budding +beauties now shut out from his sight. The hum of the honey-bee was +heard, and the air was rife with the sweet sounds of later spring. +On the branch of a tree without, a robin was trilling a song. It +had sung there all the morning, and now it had come back again, +singing a second time to Richard, who thought of the soft nest up +in the old maple, and likened that robin and its mate to himself +and Edith, his own singing-bird. + +But why linger so long over that May-day which Richard remembered +through many, many future years, growing faint and sick as often +as the spring brought back the apple-blossom perfume or the song +of mated robins. It is, alas, that we shrink as Victor did from +the task imposed, that, like him, we dread the blow which will +strike at the root of Richard's very life, and we approach +tearfully, pityingly, half remorsefully, as we stand sometimes by +a sunken grave, doubting whether our conduct to the dead were +always right and just. So Victor felt, as he drew near to Richard; +and sitting down beside him said, + +"Can I talk with you awhile about Miss Hastings?" Richard started. +Victor had come to tell him she was sick, and he asked if it were +not so. + +"Something has ailed her of late," he said. + +"She is greatly changed since Nina's death. She mourns much for +her sister." + +"Yes," returned Victor, "she loved Nina dearly, but it is more +than this which ails her. God forbid that I should unnecessarily +wound you, Mr. Harrington, but I think it right for you to know." + +The dark face, shaded with the long beard, was very white now, and +the sightless eyes had in them a look of terror as Richard asked, + +"What is it, Victor? Tell me." + +"Come to the sofa first," Victor rejoined, feeling intuitively +that he was safer there than in that high arm-chair, and with +unusual tenderness he led his master to the spot, then sitting +down beside him, he continued, "Do you remember Nina once made you +write something upon a sheet of paper, and that you bade me +ascertain what it was?" + +"Yes, I remember," answered Richard, "you told me you had not read +it, and imputing it to some crazy fancy of no importance, I gave +it no more thought. What of it, Victor?" + +"I had not read it then," answered Victor, "but I have done so +since, I have it in my possession--here in my hand. Would you like +to hear it?" + +Richard nodded, and Victor read aloud: "I, the blind man, Richard +Harrington, do hereby solemnly swear that the marriage of Arthur +St. Claire and Nina Bernard, performed by me and at my house, is +null and void," + +"What! Read it again! It cannot be that I heard aright," and +Richard listened while Victor repeated the lines. "Arthur and +Nina! Was she the young girl wife, he, the boy husband, who came +to me that night?" Richard exclaimed. "Why have I never known of +this before? Why did Edith keep it from me? Say, Victor," and +again Richard listened, this time, oh, how eagerly, while Victor +told him what he knew of that fatal marriage, kept so long a +secret, and as he listened, the beaded drops stood thickly upon +his forehead and gathered around his ashen lips, for Victor +purposely let fall a note of warning which shot through the +quivering nerves of the blind man like a barbed burning arrow, +wringing from him the piteous cry, + +"Oh, Victor, Victor, does she--does Edith love Arthur? Has she +loved him all the time? Is it this which makes her voice so sad, +her step so slow? Speak--better that I know it now than after 'tis +too late. What other paper is it you are unfolding?" + +"'Tis a letter from Nina to you. Can you hear it now?" + +"Yes, but tell me first all you know. Don't withhold a single +thing. I would hear the whole." + +So Victor told him what he knew up to the time of their going to +Florida; and then, opening Nina's letter, he began to read, +pausing, occasionally, to ask if he should stop. + +"No, no; go on!" Richard whispered, hoarsely, his head dropping +lower and lower, until the face was hidden from view and the chin +rested upon the chest, which heaved with every labored breath. + +Once at the words, "When you hear this Nina'll be there with you. +She'll sit upon your knee and wind her arms around your neck"--he +started, and seemed to be thrusting something from his lap-- +something which made him shiver. Was it Nina? He thought so, and +strove to push her off but when Victor read, "She will comfort you +when the great cry comes in--the crash like the breaking up of the +ice in the Northern ponds," he ceased to struggle, and Victor +involuntarily stopped when he saw the long arms twine themselves +as it were around an invisible form. Then he commenced again: "And +when you feel yourself broken up like they are in the spring, +listen and you'll hear me whispering, 'Poor Richard! I pity you so +much, and I'll kiss your tears away.'" + +Did he hear her? hear Nina whispering comfort to his poor bruised +heart? We cannot tell. We only know he bent his ear lower, as if +to catch the faintest breath; but alas! there were no tears to +kiss away. The blind eyes could not weep--they were too hot, too +dry for that--and blood-red rings of fire danced before them as +they did when Nina came to him with the startling news that Miggie +was dead in the Deering woods. + +Victor was reading now about these woods and the scene enacted +there, and Richard understood it all, even to the reason why Edith +had persisted in being his wife. The deepest waters run silently, +it is said, and so, perhaps, the strongest heart when crushed to +atoms lies still as death, and gives outwardly no token of its +anguish. True it is that Richard neither moaned, nor moved, nor +spoke; only the head drooped lower, while the arms clung tightly +to the fancied form he held, as if between himself and Nina, +wherever she was that dreary day, there was a connecting link of +sympathy which pervaded his whole being, and so prevented him from +dying outright as he wished he could. + +It was finished at last, Nina's letter--and it seemed to Richard +as if the three kinds of darkness, of which she told him, had +indeed settled down upon him, so confused was his brain, so +crushed his heart, and so doubly black his blindness. He looked to +Victor like some great oak, scathed and blasted with one fell +blow, and he was trembling for the result, when the lips moved and +he caught the words, "Leave me little Snow Drop. Go back to +Heaven, whence you came. The blind man will do right." + +Slowly then the arms unclosed, and as if imbued with sight, the +red eyes followed something to the open window and out into the +bright sunshine beyond; then they turned to Victor, and a smile +broke over the stormy features as Richard whispered: + +"Nina's gone! Now take me to my room." + +Across the threshold Victor led the half-fainting man, meeting +with no one until his master's chamber was reached, when Edith +came through the hall, and, glancing in, saw the white face on the +pillow, where Victor had laid his master down, Richard heard her +step, and said, faintly, "Keep her off; I cannot bear it yet!" But +even while he spoke Edith was there beside him, asking, in much +alarm, what was the matter. She did not observe how Richard +shuddered at the sound of her voice; she only thought that he was +very ill, and, with every womanly, tender feeling aroused, she +bent over him and pressed upon his lips a kiss which burned him +like a coal of fire. She must not kiss him now, and, putting up +his hands with the feebleness of a little child, he cried +piteously, + +"Don't Edith, don't! Please leave me for a time. I'd rather be +alone!" + +She obeyed him then, and went slowly out, wondering what it was +which had so affected him as to make even her presence +undesirable. + +Meantime, with hand pressed over his aching eyes, to shut out, if +possible, the rings of fire still dancing before them, Richard +Harrington thought of all that was past and of what was yet to +come. + +"How can I lose her now," he moaned, "Why didn't she tell me at +the first? It would not then have been half so bad. Oh, Edith, my +lost Edith. You have not been all guiltless in this matter. The +bird I took to my bosom has struck me at last with its talons, and +struck so deep. Oh, how it aches, how it aches, and still I love +her just the same; aye, love her more, now that I know she must +not be mine. Edith, oh, my Edith!" + +Then Richard's thoughts turned upon Arthur. He must talk with him, +and he could not meet him there at Collingwood. There were too +many curious eyes to see, too many ears to listen. At Grassy +Spring they would be more retired, and thither he would go, that +very night. He never should sleep again until he heard from +Arthur's own lips a confirmation of the cruel story. He could not +ask Edith. Her voice would stir his heart-strings with a keener, +deeper agony than he was enduring now. But to Arthur he could +speak openly, and then too--Richard was loth to confess it, even +to himself, but it was, never the less, true--Arthur, though a +man, was gentler than Edith. He would be more careful, more +tender, and while Edith might confirm the whole with one of her +wild, impulsive outbursts, Arthur would reach the same point +gradually and less painfully. + +"Order the carriage, Victor," he said, as it was growing dark in +the room. "I am going to Grassy Spring," + +It was in vain that Victor attempted to persuade him to wait until +the morrow. Richard was determined, and when Edith came from her +scarcely tasted supper, she saw the carriage as it passed through +the Collingwood grounds on its way to Grassy Spring, but little +dreamed of what would be ere its occupant returned to them again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE FIERY TEST. + + +Arthur was not at home. From the first he had intended making +Edith a bridal present--a life-sized portrait of Nina, which he +knew she would value more than gifts of gold and silver. He had in +his possession a daguerreotype taken when she was just eighteen, +and sent to him by her father among other things, of which Charlie +Hudson was the bearer. From this he would have a picture painted, +employing the best artist in Boston, and it was upon this business +that he left Grassy Spring the previous day, saying he should +probably be home upon the next evening's train. + +Just before Richard arrived at Grassy Spring, however, a telegram +had been received to the effect that Arthur was detained and would +not return until midnight. This Phillis repeated to Richard, who +for an instant stood thinking, and then said to Victor, "I shall +stay. I cannot go back to Collingwood till I have talked with +Arthur. But you may go, I would rather be left alone, and, Victor, +you will undoubtedly think it a foolish fancy, but I must sleep in +Nina's room. There will be something soothing to me in a place so +hallowed by her former presence. Ask old Phillis if I may. Tell +her it is a whim, if you like, but get her consent at all +hazards." + +Phillis' consent was easily won, and after Victor was gone, +Richard sat alone in the parlor until nearly eleven, when, feeling +weary, he consented to retire, and Ike led him up the two flights +of stairs into the Den, where he had never been before. + +"I do not need your services," he said to the negro, who departed, +having first lighted the gas and turned it on to its fullest +extent out of compliment to the blind man. + +Gas was a luxury not quite two years old in Shannondale, and had +been put in Arthur's house just before he left for Florida. +Collingwood being further from the village could not boast of it +yet and consequently Richard was not as much accustomed to it as +he would otherwise have been. On this occasion he did not know +that it was lighted until, as he stood by the dressing bureau, he +felt the hot air in his face. Thinking to extinguish the light by +turning the arm of the fixture just as he remembered having done +some years before, he pushed it back within an inch of the heavy +damask curtain which now shaded the window, and too much absorbed +in his own painful reflections to think of ascertaining whether +the light was out or not, he groped his way to the single bed, and +threw himself upon it, giving way to a paroxysm of grief. + +It was strange that one in his frame of mind should sleep, but +nature was at last exhausted, and yielding to the influence of the +peculiar atmosphere slowly pervading the room, he fell away into a +kind of lethargic slumber, while the work of destruction his own +hand had prepared, went silently on around him. First the crimson +curtain turned a yellowish hue, than the scorched threads dropped +apart and the flame crept into the inner lining of cotton, running +swiftly through it until the whole was in a blaze, and the wood- +work of the window, charred and blackened, and bore the deadly +element still onward, but away from the unconscious Richard, +leaving that portion of the room unscathed, and for the present +safe. Along the cornice under the lathing, beneath the eaves they +crept--those little fiery tongues--lapping at each other in +wanton, playfulness, and whispering to the dry old shingles on the +roof above of the mischief they meant to do. + +Half an hour went by, and from the three towers of Shannondale the +deep toned bells rang out the watchword of alarm, which the +awakened inhabitants caught up, echoing it from lip to lip until +every street resounded with the fearful cry, "Fire, fire, Grassy +Spring is all on fire." + +Then the two engines were brought, from their shelter, and went +rattling through the town and out into the country, a quarter of a +mile away, to where the little forked tongues had grown to a +mammoth size, darting their vicious heads from beneath the +rafters, reaching down to touch the heated panes, hissing defiance +at the people below, and rolling over the doomed building until +billow of flame leaped billow, both licking up in their mad chase +the streams of water poured continually upon them. + +Away to the eastward the night express came thundering on, and one +of its passengers, looking from his window, saw the lurid blaze, +just as once before he had seen the bonfire crazy Nina kindled, +and as he watched, a horrible fear grow strong within him, +manifesting itself at last in the wild outcry, "'Tis Grassy +Spring, 'tis Grassy Spring." + +Long before the train reached the depot, Arthur St. Claire, had +jumped from the rear car, and was flying across the meadow toward +his burning home, knowing ere he reached it that all was lost. +Timbers were falling, glass was melting, windows were blazing, +while at every step the sparks and cinders whirled in showers +around his head. + +And where all this time was Richard? Victor was asking that +question--Victor, just arrived, and followed by the whole +household of Collingwood. They were the last to waken, and they +came with headlong haste; but Victor's longer strides outran them +all, and when Arthur appeared, he was asking frantically for his +master. The negroes in their fright had forgotten him entirely, +and the first words which greeted Arthur were, "Mr. Harrington is +in the building!" + +"Where? where?" he shrieked, darting away, and dragging Victor +with him. + +"In Nina's room. He would sleep there," Victor answered, and with +another cry of horror, Arthur sprang to the rear of the building, +discovering that the stairs leading to the Den were comparatively +unharmed as yet. + +"Who will save him?" he screamed, and he turned toward Victor, who +intuitively drew back from incurring the great peril. + +There was no one to volunteer, and Arthur said, + +"I will do it myself." + +Instantly a hundred voices were raised against it. It were worse +than madness, they said. The fire must have caught in the vicinity +of that room, and Richard was assuredly dead. + +"He may not be, and if he is not, I will save him or perish too," +was Arthur's heroic reply, as he sprang up the long winding +stairs, near which the flames were roaring like some long pent up +volcano. + +He reached the door of the Den. It was bolted, but with superhuman +strength he shook it down, staggering backward as the dense cloud +of yellowish smoke rolled over and around him, warning him not to +advance. But Arthur heeded no warning then. By the light which +illumined the entire front of the house, he saw that two sides of +the room were not yet touched; the bed in the recess was unharmed, +but Richard was not there, and a terrible fear crept over Arthur +lest he had perished in his attempt to escape. Suddenly he +remembered Nina's cell, and groping his way through fire and +smoke, he opened the oaken door, involuntarily breathing a prayer +of thanksgiving when he saw the tall form stretched upon the empty +bedstead. He had probably mistaken the way out, and by entering +here, had prolonged his life, for save through the glass +ventilator the smoke could not find entrance to that spot. Arthur +knew that he was living, for the lips moved once and whispered, +"Edith," causing Arthur's brain to reel, and the cold sweat to +start from every pore as he thought for what and for whom he was +saving his rival. Surely in that terrible hour, in Nina's cell, +with death staring him in the face on every side, Arthur St. +Claire atoned for all the past, and by his noble unselfishness +proved how true and brave he was. + +Snatching from the nail the heavy sack, he wound it round +Richard's head to shield him from the flames, then recollecting +that on the bed without there was a thick rose blanket, he wrapped +that too around him, and bending himself with might and main, bore +him in his arms across the heated floor and out into the narrow +hall, growing sick and faint when he saw the wall of fire now +rolling steadily up the stairway. + +"Oh, must I die!" he groaned, as he leaned panting against the +wall, listening to the roar without, which sounded in his ear like +demons yelling over their prey. + +Life looked very fair to the young man then; even life without +Edith was preferable far to a death like this. He was too young to +die and the heart which had said in its bitterness, "there is +nothing worth living for," clung tenaciously to a world which +seemed so fast receding from view. + +By leaving Richard there, by stripping him of his covering, and +folding it about himself, he could assuredly leap down those +stairs, and though he reached the bottom a scarred, disfigured +thing, life would be in him yet; but Arthur did not waver, Richard +should share his fate, be it for weal or woe, and with a prayer +for help, he turned aside into a little room from which a few wide +steps led up into the cupola. Heaven surely saved this way for +him, for the fire was not there yet, and he passed in safety to +the roof, where he stood, many dizzy feet from the shouting +multitude, who, hoping he might take advantage of it, were +watching for him to appear, greeting him with many a loud huzza, +and bidding him take courage. The engines had been brought to bear +on this part of the building, subduing the fire to such an extent +that it was barely possible for him to reach the northern +extremity, where, by jumping upon a flat, lower roof, whose +surface was tin, and then walking a beam over a sea of hissing +flame, he could reach the ladder hoisted against the wall. All +this they made him understand, and with but little hope of his +success they watched him breathlessly as he trod the black, +steaming shingles, which crisped the soles of his boots, and +penetrated even to his flesh. He has passed that point in safety, +he leaps upon the wing, staggering, aye, falling with his burden, +and when he struggles to his feet, the red blaze, wheeling in +circles around him, shows where the blood is flowing from a wound +upon the forehead. The batteries of the engine are directed toward +him now, and they saturate his clothes with water, for the most +fearful, most dangerous part is yet to come, the treading that +single beam. Will he do it? Can he do it? Untrammeled he might, +but with that heavy form he hugs so carefully to him, never! So +the crowd decide, and they shout to him, "Leave him; he is dead. +Save yourself, young man;" but the brave Arthur answers, "No," and +half wishes he were blind, so as to shut out the seething vortex +into which one mistep would plunge him. And while he stood there +thus, amid the roaring of the flames, and the din of the +multitude, there floated up to him a girlish voice, + +"Shut your eyes, Arthur, make believe you are blind, and maybe you +can walk the beam." + +It was Edith. He saw her where she stood, apart from all the rest, +her long black hair unbound just as she sprang from her pillow, +her arms outstretched toward him, and the sight nerved him to the +trial. He looked at her once more, it might be for the last time, +but he would carry the remembrance of that clear face even to +eternity, and with a longing, wistful glance he closed his eyes +and prepared to do her bidding. Then it seemed to him that another +presence than Edith's was around him, another voice than hers was +whispering words of courage, Nina, who went before, guiding his +footsteps, and lightening his load, screening him from the +scorching heat and buoying him up, while he walked the blackened +beam, which shook and bent at every tread, and at last fell with a +crash, but not until the ladder was reached, and a dozen friendly +arms were outstretched for Richard, and for him, too, for sight +and strength had failed him when they were no longer needed. With +countless blessings on the noble young man, they laid him on the +grass at Edith's side, wounded, burned, smoke-stained, and totally +unconscious. + +It was well for Richard that the entire household of Collingwood +were there to care for him, for Edith's thoughts were all bestowed +on Arthur. She hardly looked at Richard, but kneeling down by +Arthur, kissed, and pitied, and wept over his poor, raw, bleeding +hands, wiped the blood from the wound on the forehead, thinking +even then how it would be concealed by the brown hair--the hair +all singed and matted, showing how fiercely he had battled for his +life. Many gathered around her as she sat there with his head +pillowed on her lap, and from the anguish written on her face +learned what it was about which the curious villagers had so long +been pondering. + +"He must go home with me," Grace Atherton said, "My carriage will +soon be here." + +This reminded Edith that she too must act, and beckoning to +Victor, she bade him hasten to Collingwood and see that his +masters room was made comfortable. + +This was the first token she had given that she knew of Richard's +presence near her. She had heard them say that he still lived; +that not a hair of his head was singed or a thread of his night +garments harmed, and for this she was glad, but nothing could have +tempted her to leave Arthur, and she sat by him until the arrival +of the carriages which were to convey the still unconscious men to +their respective homes. + +At Collingwood, however, her whole attention was given to Richard, +who, as he began to realise what was passing around him, seemed so +much disturbed at having her near him that Victor whispered to +her, "Hadn't you better go out? I think your presence excites +him." + +Edith had fancied so too, and wondering much why it should, she +left him and going to her own room, sat down by the window, gazing +sadly across the fields, to where Grassy Spring lay in the morning +sunshine a blackened, mouldering ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE SACRIFICE. + + +For a few days Edith hoped that the fire might defer her marriage +a little longer but almost the first thing which Richard addressed +directly to her was, "Let the preparations go on as usual; there +need be no delay." + +So the dressmakers were recalled and bridal finery tossed about +until the whole was finished and the last sewing woman departed, +taking with her, as her predecessors had done, a large budget of +items touching the cool indifference of the bride elect and the +icy reserve of the bridegroom, who was greatly changed, they said. +It is true he was kind and considerate, as of old, and his voice, +whenever he spoke to Edith, was plaintively sad and touching, but +he preferred to be much alone, spending his time in his chamber, +into which few save his valet was admitted. And thus no one +suspected the mighty conflict he was waging with himself, one +moment crying out, "I cannot give her up," and again moaning +piteously, "I must, I must." + +The first meeting between himself and Arthur after the fire had +been a most affecting one, Richard sobbing like a child, kissing +the hands wounded so cruelly for him, and whispering amid his +sobs, "You saved my life at the peril of your own, and I shall +never forget it. God help me to do right." + +Many times after this he rode down to Brier Hill whither Edith had +frequently preceded him; but Richard never uttered a word of +reproach when near the window he heard a rustling sound and knew +who was sitting there. Neither would he ask a single question when +soft footsteps glided past him and out into the hall, but he +always heard them until they died away, and he knew those little +feet were treading the verge of the grave he had dug within his +heart. It was not yet filled up--that grave--but his mighty love +for Edith may coffined there, and he only waited for the needful +strength to bury it forever by verbally giving her up. + +And while he waited the May-days glided by, and where the apple +blossoms once had been, the green hard fruit was swelling now, the +lilacs, purple and limp, had dropped from the tree, the hyacinths +and daffodils were gone, and June with her sunny skies and wealth +of roses, queened it over Collingwood. It lacked but a week now of +the day appointed for the wedding, and Edith wished the time would +hasten, for anything was preferable to the numb, apathetic feeling +which lay around her heart. She had no hope that she should not be +Richard's wife, and she wondered much at his manner, trying more +than once to coax him from his strange mood by playful words, and +even by caresses, which won from him no response--only once, when, +he hugged her tightly to him, kissing her lips and hair, and +saying to her, "God forgive me, Birdie, I never meant to wrong you +and I am going to make amends." The next day when Victor went up +to his room he was struck with the peculiar expression of his +face--a subdued, peaceful expression which told that he was ready +at last to make the great sacrifice--to fold the darkness more +thickly around himself and give to Arthur the glorious daylight he +once hoped would shine for him and Richard would make this +sacrifice in his own way. Edith should read Nina's letter aloud to +him, with Arthur sitting near, and then, when it was finished, he +would ask if it were true, und why she had not told him before. + +Dinner was over, and in the library, where Richard had asked Edith +to be his wife, he sat waiting for her now, and for Arthur who had +been invited to Collingwood that afternoon. The day was much like +that other day when Victor alone sat with him, save that the south +wind stealing through the casement was warmer, more fragrant than +the breath of May had been. The robin was not now singing in the +maple tree, but it would come home ere long, and Richard knew full +well the chirping sounds which would welcome its approach. Once he +had likened himself to the mated robin, but now, alas, he knew he +was but the wounded bird, who finds its nest all desolate, its +hopes all fled--I'm a tough old owl," he said, smiling bitterly as +he remembered when first he used that term. Edith was right; she +could not mate with the owl, he thought, just as Arthur stepped +across the threshold, and Edith came flipping down the stairs. + +"Sit on a stool at my feet, as you used to do," Richard said to +her; "and you, Arthur, sit by me upon this sofa." + +They obeyed him, and after a moment he began, "I have sent for you +my children, not to inflict pain, but to remove it. Heaven forbid +that through me you should suffer longer, or that any act of mine +should embitter your young lives. Do not interrupt me," he +continued, as Edith was about to speak. "I must hasten on, or my +courage all will fail me. Arthur, give me your hands, the hands +that saved my life. I will touch them as carefully, as tenderly as +I am about to deal with you." + +Arthur complied with his request, and pressing the right one, +Richard continued, + +"I joined this once with another, a tiny, little hand, now laid +away beneath the Southern flowers; and you said after me, 'I, +Arthur, take thee, Nina, for my wife.' You remember it, don't +you?" + +Arthur could not speak, and, save the violent start which Edith +gave, there came no answer to Richard's question as he went on: + +"It is only a few weeks since I learned who was that boy husband +of eighteen and that girlish bride of fifteen and a half, but I +know it now. I know it all, and this explains much that has been +strange in me of late. Edith," and he felt for her bowed head, +"Edith, I have here Nina's letter, written by stealth, and brought +by Victor to me, and you must read it to us--then tell me, if you +can, why I have so long been deceived?" + +Edith had glanced at the beginning, and with a choking voice she +said, + +"No, no, oh, Richard, no. Don't require it of me. Anything but +that. I never knew she wrote it. I never meant--oh, Richard, +Richard!" + +She laid her head now on his knee and sobbed aloud, while he +continued: + +"You must read it to me, 'Tis the only punishment I shall inflict +upon you." + +"Read it, Edith," Arthur said, withdrawing one of his hands from +Richard's, and resting it upon her head thus to re-assure her, + +Richard guessed his intention and laid his own on Arthur's. Edith +felt the gentle, forgiving pressure, even through the wounded, +bandaged hand, and this it was which gave her strength to read +that message, which brought Nina before them all, a seemingly +living, breathing presence. And when it was finished there was +heard in that library more than one "great cry, like the breaking +up of the ice on the Northern ponds." + +Richard was the calmest of the three. The contents of the letter +were not new to him, and did not touch so tender a chord as that +which thrilled and quivered in Arthur's heart as he listened to +the words of his sweet child-wife, the golden haired Nina. Though +dead she was all powerful yet, and Nina, from her grave, swayed a +mightier sceptre than Nina living could have done. + +"Edith," Richard said, when her agitation had in a measure +subsided, "you have read the letter, now tell me, is it true? +Crazy people do not always see or hear aright. Did Nina? Has +Arthur loved you all the time?" + +"Spare Edith," Arthur cried; "And question me. I did love Edith +Hastings, even when I had no right so to do." + +"And would you ask her to be your wife if there were no Richard in +the way, and she was free as when you first knew and loved her?" + +Arthur knew the blind man was not trifling with him, and he +answered promptly, + +"I would, but she will bear me witness that never since Nina died, +have I sought, by word or deed, to influence her decision." + +"I believe you," Richard said; "and now, let us compare our love +for her, one with the other. Let us see which is the stronger of +the two. Do you love Edith so much that you would give her to +another, if you knew she loved that other best? If she were +promised to you by a vow she dared not break, would you give her +to me, supposing I was preferred before you?" + +Arthur was very white, as he answered, + +"That would not be one-half so hard as the yielding her to one +whom she did not love, and, Richard, I have done this. I have +given her to you, even when I knew that a word from me would have +kept her from you." + +"That is hardly an answer to my question," Richard rejoined, "but +it shows how honorable you have been. I question whether I could +have done as much. Your sense of right and wrong was stronger than +your love." + +"But," said Arthur, quickly interrupting him, "you must not think +that I loved Edith less, because I did not speak. Silence only fed +the flame, and she cannot be so inexpressibly dear to you as she +is to me. Oh, Richard, Richard, you do not know how much I love +her." + +"Don't I?" and Richard smiled mournfully; then turning to Edith, +he continued, And you, my darling, I would hear from you now. Is +it Richard or Arthur you prefer?" + +"Oh, Richard," Edith cried, "I meant to keep my vow, and never let +you know. I was going to be a true, a faithful wife, even if it +killed me--I certainly was--but, forgive me, Richard, I did love +Arthur first, Arthur best, Arthur most of all," and again the +"great cry" smote on Richard's ear, touching a chord like that +which is touched in a mother's bosom when she hears her suffering +infant's wail. + +"Edith," he said, "if I insist upon it, will you still be my +wife?" + +"Yes, Richard, and it will not be so dreadful now that you know I +do love Arthur best, for I do, I do, I can't help it, and I have +tried so hard. He is young like me, and then I loved him first, I +loved him best." + +And in this last the whole was embodied. Edith loved Arthur best. +Richard knew she did, and turning to Arthur, he continued, + +"And what will you do if I insist? Will memories of the love you +bore your lost Nina sustain and comfort you?" + +Richard spoke half-tauntingly, but Arthur conquered the emotion of +anger he felt arising within him at this allusion to the past, and +answered mildly, + +"As I hope for Heaven, I did love my poor Nina at the last, with a +love which, had it been sooner born, would have made me a happier +man; and Nina knew it too, I told her so before she died, and I +would fain have kept her with me, but I could not, and now, if I +lose Edith, too, it will not be so hard, because I did love Nina, +and sweet memories of her will keep my soul from fainting, when I +am far away from her little grave, far away from you, and far away +from Edith." + +Arthur arose to leave the room, but Richard held him back, saying +to him, + +"You have answered well. Now listen to me. Edith Hastings cannot +be dearer to you than she is to me, but think you I will compel +her to be mine? Should I be happy, knowing that always in her +dreams another arm than mine encircled her dear form, that other +lips than mine were pressed to hers, which moaned in sleep not +Richard's, but Arthur's name? And this would surely be. The wife I +mockingly called mine would be yours in spirit; whether on land or +sea, and I ask for no such bride. Were I sure I could win her +love, even though it might not be in years, not all the powers of +earth should wrest her from me. But I cannot. Such is her +temperament that she would give me only hatred, and I do not +deserve this from her." + +"Oh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't," Edith sobbed, and Richard continued, + +"Hush, my child, I know how it would be, even if I did forget it +for a time. You must not be the blind man's wife, though the +giving you up is like tearing me asunder. And now, Edith, let me +hold you once more as I never shall hold you again. It will make +me strong to do what I must do." + +Edith could not move, but Arthur lifted her up, and placing her in +Richard's lap, laid one of his own hands pityingly on the head of +the blind man, whose tears dropped on Edith's neck, as he breathed +over her his farewell. + +"Light of my eyes, joy of my heart, you know not what it costs me +to give you up, but God in Heaven knows. He will remember all my +pain, removing it in His own good time, and I shall yet be happy. +It is true, a black, dreary waste stretches on into the future, +but beyond it, even in this world, the bright daylight is shining, +and Richard will reach it at last,--will learn to think of you +without a pang, to love you as his sister. Arthur, I give to you +my darling. I release her from her vow, and may the kind Father +bless you both, giving you every possible good. Let no sorrow for +me mingle with your joy. I shall have grief and heaviness for a +time, but I am strong to bear it. Morning will break at last. Let +the wedding night be kept the same as is appointed, there need be +no change, save in the bridegroom, and of that the world will all +approve. And, Edith, if during the coming week I am not much with +you, if I stay altogether in my room, do not try to see me. I once +thought you would be my wife. I know you cannot now, and you must +not come to me at present. But on your bridal night, I shall go +with you to the church. It would look strangely if I did not. I +shall return with you to the house, shall force myself to hear +them call you by another name than mine, and then, the next +morning Arthur must take you away--for a time, I mean. I know you +will wish to thank me, but I'd rather you would not. God will +reward me in some way for the sacrifice I make this day. Now, +Edith, kiss me once, kiss me twice, with your arms around my neck. +Lay your soft cheek against mine. Yes--so--so--" and over the dark +face there broke a shadowy smile, as Edith did his bidding, +kissing him many, many times, and blessing him for the great +happiness bestowed upon her. + +"There, that will do. Now, Arthur, lead me to my room, and sit +with me until this horrid giddiness is gone, and my heart beats +more naturally." + +He put Edith from his lap--passed his hand slowly over her face as +if thus he would remember it, and then, leaning heavily on +Arthur's arm, tottered from the room--the noble Richard who had +made this mighty sacrifice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE BRIDAL. + + +The week went by as all weeks will, whether laden with happiness +or pain, and the rosy light of the 15th morning broke over the New +England hills and over Collingwood, where the servants, headed by +Grace Atherton, were all astir, and busy with their preparations +for the festive scene of the coming night. Edith had made +strenuous efforts to have the party given up, sending message +after message to Richard, who, without any good reason for it, was +determined upon this one point, and always answered "No." + +He had adhered to his resolution of staying in his room, and Edith +had not seen him since the eventful day when he had made the great +sacrifice. Arthur, however, was admitted daily to his presence, +always coming from those interviews with a sad look upon his face, +as if his happiness were not unmixed with pain. And still Richard +tried to be cheerful, talking but little of Edith, and appearing +so calm when he did mention her, that a casual observer would have +said he did not care. + +In the village nothing was talked about save the change of +bridegrooms and the approaching wedding, and when the morning +came, others than the inmates of Collingwood were busy and +excited. + +It was a glorious day, for leafy June had donned her gala robes +for the occasion, and every heart, save one, beat with joy, as the +sun rose higher and higher in the heavens, nearer and nearer the +appointed hour. Richard could not be glad, and that bridal day was +the saddest he had ever known. Not even Arthur was permitted to be +with him, and none save Victor saw the white, still anguish +creeping over his face as hour after hour went by, and from the +sounds without he knew that they had come whose business it was to +array his Edith in her bridal robes of costly satin and fleecy +lace. Then two more hours dragged heavily on, and going to his +window he felt that the sun was setting. It was time his own +toilet was commenced, and like a little child he submitted himself +to Victor, groaning occasionally as he heard the merry laugh of +the bridesmaids on the stairs, and remembered a time when he, too, +felt as light, as joyous as they, aye, and almost as young. He was +strangely altered now, and looked far older than his years, when, +with his wedding garments on, he sat in his arm-chair waiting for +the bride. He had sent Victor for her, knowing it would be better +to meet her once before the trying moment at the altar. Edith +obeyed the summons, and in all her wondrous beauty, which this +night shone forth resplendently, she came and stood before him, +saying softly, + +"Richard, I am here." + +There was no need to tell him that. He knew she was there, and +drawing her to his side, he said, + +"I am glad that I am blind for once, for should I behold you as +you are, I could not give you up. Kneel down here, darling, and +let me feel how beautiful you are." + +She knelt before him, and her tears fell fast as she felt his hand +moving slowly over her dress, pressing her round arms, pausing for +a moment upon her white neck, tarrying still longer upon her +glowing cheeks, and finally resting in mute blessing upon her +braids of hair, where the orange blossoms were. + +"I must have a lock of my Birdie's hair, he said. "Let Arthur cut +it off to-night. It will be dearer to me than if 'tis later +severed, Leave it on the table, where Victor can find it, for, +Edith, when you return from your bridal tour, I shall be gone, and +I have sent for you because I would talk with you again ere we +part--it may be for years, and it may be forever." + +"No, Richard, no," Edith sobbed. "You must not go away, I want you +here with us." + +"It is best that I go for a while," he replied, "I am almost as +much at home in Europe as I am here, and Victor is anxious to see +Paris again. I have talked with Arthur about it, asking him to +live here while I am gone at least and take charge of my affairs. +He had thought to rebuild Grassy Spring, but finally consented to +defer it for a time and do as I desired. The negroes will be +pleased with this arrangement, and as Grace must wish to be rid of +them, they will come up here at once. I shall be happier knowing +that you are here; and when I feel that I can, I will come back +again, but do not let thoughts of the wanderer mar your bliss. I +have been thinking it over, Edith, and I see more and more that it +was right for me to release you. I do not censure you for aught +except that you did not tell me in the beginning. For this I did +blame you somewhat, but have forgiven you now." + +"Oh. Richard, Richard," Edith burst out impetuously, "I never +loved you one half so much as since you gave me to Arthur, and I +have wanted to come and tell you so, but you would not let me." + +He knew what kind of love she meant, and his heart beat just the +same as she continued, + +"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that I was ever cross to you, +and I have been many times since that night I promised to be +yours. I don't know what made me. I do not feel so now." + +"I know what made you," Richard replied. "You did not love the +blind old man well enough to be his wife, and the feeling that you +must be, soured your disposition. Forgive me, darling, but I don't +believe I should have been happy with you after a time--not as +happy as Arthur, and it is this which helps me to bear it." + +This was not very complimentary to Edith, but it comforted her +just as Richard meant it should, and made the future look +brighter. Richard was dearer to her now than he had over been, and +the tender, loving caress she gave him, when at last Arthur's +voice was heard without asking for admission was not feigned, for +she felt that he was the noblest, the best of men, and she told +him so, kissing again and again his face, and sighing to think how +white and wan it had grown within the last few weeks. + +"Come, darling, we are waiting for you," Arthur said, as he +advanced into the room, and Richard put from his lap the beautiful +young girl around whose uncovered shoulders Arthur wrapped the +white merino cloak which was to shield her from the night air; +then bending over Richard, he said, "Heaven will bless you, even +as I do, for the peerless gift I have received from you, and +believe me, there is much of pain mingled with my joy--pain at +leaving you so desolate. I cannot tell you all I feel, but if a +lifetime of devotion can in the smallest degree repay you what I +owe, it shall be freely given. Now bless me once more, me and my-- +bride." + +Richard had arisen as Arthur was speaking, and at the word bride +he put out his hand as if to keep from falling, then steadying +that on Arthur's head and laying the other on Edith's he +whispered, + +"To him who saved my life when he believed I was his rival I give +my singing bird, who for eleven years has been the blind man's +sunshine--give her freely, cheerfully, harboring no malice against +him who takes her. My Arthur and my precious Edith, I bless and +love you both." + +The nerveless hands pressed heavily for a moment upon the two +bowed heads, and then Arthur led his bride away to where the +carriage waited. + +The ceremony was appointed for half-past eight, but long before +that hour St. Luke's was filled to overflowing, some coming even +as early as six to secure seats most favorable to sight. And there +they waited, until the roll of wheels was heard and the clergyman +appeared in the chancel. Then seven hundred tired heads turned +simultaneously toward the door through which the party came, the +rich robes of the bride trailing upon the carpet and sweeping from +side to side as she moved up the middle aisle. But not upon her +did a single eye in all that vast assemblage linger, nor yet upon +the bridegroom, nor yet upon the bridesmaid, filing in one behind +the other, but upon the stooping figure which moved so slowly, +blind Richard groping his way to the altar, caring nothing for the +staring crowd, nothing for the sudden buzz as he came in, hearing +nothing but Victor's whispered words, "'twill soon be over." + +Yes, it would soon be over. It was commencing now, the marriage +ceremony, and Richard listened in a kind of maze, until the +clergyman asked, + +"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" + +As Arthur had supposed this part would, of course, be omitted, no +arrangements had been made for it, and an awkward pause ensued, +while all eyes involuntarily turned upon the dark man now standing +up so tall, so erect, among that group of lighter, airier forms. +Like some frozen statue Richard stood, and the minister, thinking +he did not hear, repeated his demand. Slowly Richard moved +forward, and Grace, who was next to Edith, stepped aside as he +came near. Reverently he laid his hand on Edith's head, and said +aloud, + +"I DO!" + +Then the hand, sliding from her head rested on her shoulder, where +it lay all through that ceremony, and the weeping speculators +sitting near, heard distinctly the words whispered by the white +lips which dripped with the perspiration of this last dreadful +agony. + +"I, Richard, take thee, Birdie, to be my wedded wife, to have and +to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer +for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, +till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and +thereto I plight thee my troth." + +He said it every word, and when it was Edith's turn, he bent a +little forward, while his hand grasped her bare shoulder so firmly +as to leave a mark when she put Arthur's name where his should +have been, and the quivering lips moaned faintly, + +"Don't Birdie, don't." + +It was a strange bridal, more sad than joyous, for though in the +hearts of bride and groom there was perfect love for each other, +there were too many bitter memories crowding upon them both to +make it a moment of unmixed bliss--memories of Nina, who seemed to +stand by Arthur, blessing him in tones unheard, and a sadder, a +living memory of the poor blind man whose low wail, when all was +done, smote painfully on Edith's ear. + +In a pew near to the altar Victor sat weeping like a child, and +when the last Amen was uttered, he sprang to his master's side and +said, + +"Come with me. You cannot wish to go home with the bride." + +Instantly the crowd divided right and left as Victor passed +through their midst, leading out into the open air the faint, sick +man, who, when they were alone, leaned his head meekly on his +faithful valet's arm, saying to him, + +"You are all there is left to care for me now. Be good to me, +won't you?" + +Victor answered with a clasp of his hand and hurried on, reaching +Collingwood before the bridal guests, who ere long came swarming +in like so many buzzing bees, congratulating the newly-wedded +pair, and looking curiously round for Richard. But Richard was not +there. He had borne all he could, and on his bed in his bolted +room he lay, scarcely giving a token of life save when the sounds +from the parlors reached his ear, when he would whisper, + +"'Tis done. It is done." + +One by one the hours went by, and then up the gravelled walk the +carriages rolled a second time to take the guests away. Hands were +shaken and good nights said. There was cloaking in the ladies' +room and impatient waiting in the gentlemen's; there was hurrying +down the stairs, through the hall, and out upon the piazza. There +was banging to of carriage doors, cracking of drivers' whips, and +racing down the road. There was a hasty gathering up of silver, a +closing of the shutters, a putting out of lamps, until at last +silence reigned over Collingwood, from whose windows only two +lights were gleaming. Arthur was alone with his bride, and Richard +alone with his God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +SIX YEARS LATER. + + +The New York and Springfield train eastward bound stood waiting in +the depot at New Haven. There had been a slight accident which +occasioned a detention of several minutes, and taking advantage of +this delay many of the passengers alighted to stretch their weary +limbs or inhale a breath of purer air than could be obtained +within the crowded car. Several seats were thus left unoccupied, +one of which a tall, dark, foreign-looking man, with eyes +concealed by a green shade, was about appropriating to himself, +when a wee little hand was laid on his and a sweet baby voice +called out, + +"That's my mamma's chair, big man, mamma gone after cake for +Nina!" + +The stranger started, and his face flushed with some strong +emotion, while his hand rested caressingly upon the flowing curls +of the beautiful three-years-old girl, as he asked, + +"Who Is mamma, darling? What is her name, I mean?" + +"I can tell that a heap better'n Kina," chimed in a boy of five, +who was sitting just across the aisle, and joining the little +girl, he continued, 'My mother is Edith, so Aunt Grace calls her, +but father says Miggie most all the time. + +The stranger sank into the seat, dizzy and faint with the mighty +shock, for he knew now that Edith's children were standing them +before him--that frank, fearless boy, and that sweet little girl, +who, not caring to be outdone by her brother, said, in a half +exultant way, as if it were something of which she were very +proud, + +"I've got an Uncle 'Ichard, I have, and he's tomin' home bime by." + +"And going to bring me lots of things," interrupted the boy again, +"Marie said so." + +At this point a tall, slender Frenchman, who had entered behind +the man with the green shade, glided from the car, glancing +backward just in time to see that his master had coaxed both +children into his lap, the girl coming shyly, while the boy sprang +forward with that wide-awake fearlessness which characterized all +his movements. He was a noble-looking little fellow, and the +stranger hugged him fondly as he kissed the full red lips so like +to other lips kissed long years ago. + +"What makes you wear this funny thing?" asked the child, peering +up under the shade. + +"Because my eyes are weak," was the reply, "People around your +home call me blind." + +"Uncle 'Ichard is blind," lisped the little girl, while the boy +rejoined, "but the bestest man that ever lived. Why, he's betterer +than father, I guess, for I asked ma wan't he, and pa told me +yes." + +"Hush-sh, child," returned the stranger, fearing lest they might +attract too much attention. + +Then removing the shade, his eyes rested long and wistfully upon +the little boy and girl as he said, + +"I am your Uncle Richard." + +"True as you live and breathe are you Uncle Dick," the boy almost +screamed, winding his chubby arms around the stranger's neck, +while Nina standing upon her feet chirped out her joy as she +patted the bearded cheek, and called him "Uncle 'Ick." + +Surely if there had been any lingering pain in the heart of +Richard Harrington it was soothed away by the four soft baby hands +which passed so caressingly over his face and hair, while honeyed +lips touched his, and sweet bird-like voices told how much they +had been taught to love the one whom they always called Uncle. +These children had been the hardest part of all to forgive, +particularly the first born, for Richard, when he heard of him had +felt all the old sorrow coming back again; a feeling as if Edith +had no right with little ones which did not call him father. But +time had healed that wound too, until from the sunny slopes of +France, where his home had so long been, his heart had often +leaped across the sea in quest of those same children now +prattling in his ear and calling him Uncle Dick. There was +another, a dearer name by which they might have called him, but he +knew now that 'twas not for him to be thus addressed. And still he +felt something like a father's love stealing into his heart as he +wound his arms around the little forms, giving back kiss for kiss, +and asking which was like their mother. + +"Ain't none of us much," Dick replied, "We're like father and Aunt +Nina, hanging on the wall in the library. Mother's got big black +eyes, with winkers a rod long, and her hair shines like my velvet +coat, and comes most to her feet." + +Richard smiled, und was about to speak again, when Dick +forestalled him by asking--not if he had him something but where +it was. + +"It's in your trunk, I guess," he said, as his busy fingers +investigated every pocket and found nothing savoring of +playthings, except a knife, both blades of which were opened in a +trice, and tried upon the window sill! + +Richard, who, never having known much of children, had not thought +of presents, was sorely perplexed, when luckily Victor returned, +bringing a paper of molasses candy, which he slyly thrust into his +master's hand, whispering to him, + +"They always like that." + +Victor had calculated aright, for nothing could have pleased the +St. Claires more; and when, as she entered at the door, Edith +caught sight of her offspring, she hardly knew them, so besmeared +were their little faces with molasses, Nina having wiped her hands +first upon her hair and then rubbed them upon Richard's knee, +while Victor looked on a little doubtful us to what the mother +might say. + +"There's mam-ma," Nina cried, trying to shake back her curls, +which nevertheless stuck lightly to her forehead. "There's mam- +ma," and in an instant Little Dick, as he was called, found +himself rather unceremoniously set down upon his feet, as Richard +adjusted his shade, and resumed the air of helplessness so natural +to the blind. + +Edith had been to New York with Marie and the children, leaving +the former there for a few weeks, and was now on her way home, +whither she hoped ere long to welcome Richard, whom she had never +seen since the night of her marriage, when Victor led him half +fainting from the altar. He would not join them at the breakfast +next morning, but sent them his good-bye, and when they returned +from their long, happy bridal tour they found a letter for them +saying Richard was in Paris. + +Regularly after that they heard from him, and though he never +referred to the past, Edith knew how much it cost him to write to +one whom he had loved so much. Latterly, however, his letters had +been far more cheerful in their tone, and it struck Edith that his +hand-writing too, was more even than formerly, but she suspected +nothing and rather anticipated the time when she should be eyes +for him again, just as she used to be. He had said in his last +letter that he was coming home ere long, but she had no idea that +he was so near, and she wondered what tall, greyish haired +gentleman it was who had taken possession of her seat. + +"Mother," little Dick was about to scream, when Victor placed his +hand upon his mouth, at the same time turning his back to Edith, +who, a little surprised at the proceeding, and a little indignant +it may be, said rather haughtily, and with a hasty glance at +Richard, + +"My seat, sir, if you please." + +The boy by this time had broken away from Victor, and yelled out, +"Uncle Dick, ma, Uncle Dick;" but it did not need this now to tell +Edith who it was. A second glance had told her, and with face +almost as white as the linen collar about her neck, she reeled +forward, and would have fallen but for Victor, who caught her by +the shoulder and sat her down beside his master. + +Richard was far less excited than herself, inasmuch as he was +prepared for the meeting and as she sank down with the folds of +her grey traveling dress lying in his lap, he offered her his +hand, and with the same old sunny smile she remembered so well, +said to her, + +"Do you not know me?" + +"Yes," she gasped, "but it takes my breath away. I was not +expecting you so soon. I am so glad." + +He knew she was by the way her snowy fingers twined themselves +around his own and by the fervent pressure of her lips upon his +hand. + +"Mam-ma's tyin," said Nina, and then Edith's tears fell fast, +dropping upon the broad hand she still held, which very, very +gradually, but still intentionally drew hers directly beneath the +green shade, and there Richard kept it, his thumb hiding the broad +band of gold which told she was a wife. + +It was a very small, white, pretty hand, and so perhaps he +imagined, for he held it a long, long time, while he talked quite +naturally of Arthur, of Grace, of the people of Shannondale, and +lastly of her children. + +"They crept into my heart before I knew it," he said, releasing +Edith's hand and lifting Nina to his knee. "They are neither of +them much like you, my namesake says." + +This reminded Edith of the mysterious shade which puzzled her so +much, and, without replying directly to him, she asked why it was +worn. Victor shot a quick, nervous glance at his master, who +without the slightest tremor in his voice, told her that he had of +late been troubled with weak eyes, and as the dust and sunlight +made them worse, he had been advised to wear it while traveling as +a protection. + +"I shall remove it by and by, when I am rested," he said. + +And Edith hoped he would, for he did not seem natural to her with +that ugly thing disfiguring him as it did. + +When Hartford was reached Richard found an opportunity of +whispering something to Victor, who replied, + +"Tired find dusty. Better wait, if you want a good impression." + +So, with a spirit of self-denial of which we can scarcely conceive +Richard did wait, and the shade was drawn closely down as little +Nina, grown more bold climbed up beside him, and poised upon one +foot, her fat arm resting on his neck, played "peek-a-boo" beneath +the shade, screaming at every "peek," "I seen your eyes, I did." + +A misstep backward, a tumble and a bumped head brought this sport +to an end, just as Shannondale was reached, and in her attempts to +soothe the little girl, Edith failed to see that the shade was +lifted for a single moment, while, standing upon the platform, +Richard's eyes wandered eagerly, greedily over the broad meadow +lands and fields of waving grain, over the wooded hills, rich in +summer glory, and lastly toward Collingwood, with its roofs and +slender tower basking in the July sun. + +"Thank God thank God," he whispered, just as Victor caught his +arm, bidding him alight as the train was about to move forward. + +"There's papa, there--right across the track," and Dick tugged at +his father's coat skirts, trying to make him comprehend, but +Arthur had just then neither eyes nor ears for any thing but his +sobbing little daughter, whose forehead he kissed tenderly, +thereby curing the pain and healing the wounded heart, of his +favorite child, his second golden-haired Nina. Dick, however, +persevered, until his father understood what he meant, and Nina +was in danger of being hurt again, so hastily was she dropped when +Arthur learned that Richard had come. There was already a crowd +around him, but they made way for Arthur, who was not ashamed to +show before them all, how much he loved the noble man, or how glad +he was to have him back. + +"Richard has grown old," the spectators said to each other, as +they watched him till he entered the carriage. + +And so he had. His hair was quite grey now, and the tall figure +was somewhat inclined to stoop, while about the mouth were deep- +cut lines which even the heavy mustache could not quite conceal. +But he would grow young again, and even so soon he felt his +earlier manhood coming back as he rode along that pleasant +afternoon, past the fields where the newly-mown hay, fresh from a +recent shower, sent forth its fragrance upon the summer air, while +the song of the mowers mingled with the click of the whetting +scythe, made sweet, homelike sounds which he loved to hear. Why +did he lean so constantly from the carriage, and why when Victor +exclaimed, "The old ruin is there yet," referring to Grassy Spring +did he, too, look across the valley? + +Arthur asked himself this question many times, and at last, when +they reached Collingwood and Edith had alighted, he bent forward +and whispered in Richard's ear, not an interrogation, but a +positive affirmation, which brought back the response, + +"Don't tell her--not yet, I mean." Arthur turned very white and +could scarcely stand as he stepped to the ground, for that answer, +had taken his strength away, and Victor led him instead of his +master into the house, where the latter was greeted joyfully by +the astonished servants. + +He seemed very weary and after receiving them all, asked to go to +his room where he could rest. + +"You will find it wholly unchanged," Arthur said. "Nothing new but +gas." + +"I trust I shall not set the house on fire this time," was +Richard's playful rejoinder, as he followed Victor up the stairs +to the old familiar chamber, where his valet left him alone to +breathe out his fervent thanksgivings for the many blessings +bestowed on one, who, when last he left that room, had said in his +sorrow, there were no sunspots left. + +The first coming home he so much dreaded was over now, and had +been accompanied with far less pain than he feared. He knew they +were glad to have him back--Arthur and his dear sister, as he +always called her now. Never since the bridal night had the name +Edith passed his lips and if perchance he heard it from others, he +shuddered involuntarily. Still the sound of her voice had not hurt +him as he thought it would; nothing had been half so hard as he +had anticipated, and falling upon his knees, he poured out his +soul in prayer, nor heard the steps upon the threshold as Arthur +came in, his heart too full to tarry outside longer. Kneeling by +Richard, he, too, thanked the Good Father, not so much for his +friend's safe return as for the boon, precious as life itself +which had been given to that friend. + +When at last their prayers were ended, both involuntarily advanced +to the window, where, with his handsome, manly face turned fully +to the light, Arthur stood immovable, nor flinched a hair, as +Edith would ere long when passing the same ordeal. He did not ask +what Richard thought of him, neither did Richard tell, only the +remark, + +"I do not wonder that she loved you best." + +They then talked together of a plan concerning Edith, after which +Arthur left his brother to the repose he so much needed ere +joining them in the parlor below. Never before had pillows seemed +so soft or bed so grateful as that on which Richard laid him down +to rest, and sleep was just touching his heavy eyelids, when upon +the door there came a gentle rap, accompanied with the words, + +"P'eae, Uncle 'Ick, let Nina tome. She's all dressed up so nice." + +That little girl had crept way down into Richard's heart, just as +she did into every body's, and he admitted her at once, suffering +her to climb up beside him, where, with her fat, dimpled hands +folded together, she sat talking to him in her sweet baby +language, + +"'Ess go to sleep, Nina tired," she said at last, and folding his +arms about her, Richard held her to his bosom as if she had been +his own. "'Tain't time to say p'ayers, is it?" she asked, fearing +lest she should omit her duty; and when Richard inquired what her +prayers were, she answered, + +"Now I lay me--and God bess Uncle 'Ick. Mam-ma tell me that." + +Richard's eyes filled with tears, which the waxen fingers wiped +away, and when somewhat later Victor cautiously looked in, he saw +them sleeping there together, Nina's golden head nestled in +Richard's neck, and one of her little hands lain upon his cheek. + +Meantime, in Edith's room Arthur was virtually superintending the +making of his wife's evening toilet, a most unprecedented +employment for mankind in general, and him in particular. But for +some reason wholly inexplicable to Edith, Arthur was unusually +anxious about her personal appearance, suggesting among other +things that she should wear a thin pink muslin, which he knew so +well became her dark style of beauty; and when she reminded him of +its shortcomings with regard to waist and sleeves, he answered +playfully, + +"That does not matter. 'Twill make you look girlish and young." + +So Edith donned the pink dress, and clasping upon her neck and +arms the delicate ornaments made from Nina's hair, asked of +Arthur, "How she looked." + +"Splendidly," he replied, "Handsomer even than on our bridal +night." + +And Edith was handsomer than on the night when she stood at the +altar a bride, for six years of almost perfect happiness had +chased away the restless, careworn, sorrowful look which was fast +becoming habitual, and now, at twenty-six, Edith St. Claire was +pronounced by the world the most strikingly beautiful woman of her +age. Poets had sung of her charms, artists had transferred them to +canvas; brainless beaux, who would as soon rave about a married +woman as a single one, provided it were the fashion so to do, had +stamped them upon their hearts; envious females had picked them +all to pieces, declaring her too tall, too black, too hoydenish to +be even pretty; while little Dick and Nina likened her to the +angels, wondering if there were anything in heaven, save Aunt +Nina, as beautiful as she. And this was Edith, who when her toilet +was completed went down to meet Grace Atherton just arrived and +greatly flurried when she heard that Richard had come. Very +earnestly the two ladies were talking together when Arthur glanced +in for a moment and then hastened up to Richard, whom he found +sitting by the window, with Dick and Nina both seated in his lap, +the former utterly astounded at the accuracy with which his blind +uncle guessed every time how many fingers he held up! + +"Father! father!" he screamed, as Arthur came in, "He can see just +as good as if he wasn't blind!" and he looked with childish +curiosity into the eyes which had discovered in his infantile +features more than one trace of the Swedish Petrea, grandmother to +the boy. + +Arthur smiled and without replying to his son, said to Richard, + +"I have come now to take you to Edith. Grace Atherton is there, +too--a wonderfully young and handsome woman for forty-two. I am +not sure that you can tell them apart. + +"I could tell your wife from all the world," was Richard's answer, +as putting down the children and resuming the green shade, he went +with Arthur to the door of the library, where Grace and Edith, +standing with their backs to them were too much engaged to notice +that more than Arthur was coming. + +Him Edith heard, and turning towards him she was about to speak, +when Richard lowered the green shade he had raised for a single +moment, and walking up to her took her hand in his. Twining his +fingers around her slender wrist he said to her, + +"Come with me to the window and sit on a stool at my feet just as +you used to do." + +Edith was surprised, and stammered out something about Grace's +being in the room. + +"Never mind Mrs. Atherton," he said, "I will attend to her by and +by--my business is now with you," and he led her to the window, +where Arthur had carried a stool. + +Like lightning the truth flashed upon Grace, and with a nervous +glance at the mirror to see how she herself was looking that +afternoon, she stood motionless, while Richard dashing the shade +to the floor, said to the startled Edith, + +"The blind man would know how Petrea's daughter looks." + +With a frightened shriek Edith covered up her face, and laying her +head in its old resting place, Richard's lap, exclaimed, + +"No, no, oh no, Richard. Please do not look at me now. Help me, +Arthur. Don't let him," she continued, as she felt the strong +hands removing her own by force. But Arthur only replied by +lifting up her head himself and holding in his own the struggling +hands, while Richard examined a face seen now for the first time +since its early babyhood. Oh how scrutinisingly he scanned that +face, with its brilliant black eyes, where tears were glittering +like diamonds in the sunlight, its rich healthful bloom, its +proudly curved lip, its dimpled chin and soft, round cheeks What +did he think of it? Did it meet his expectations? Was the face he +had known so long in his darkness as Edith's, natural when seen by +daylight? Mingled there no shadow of disappointment in the +reality? Was Arthur's Edith at all like Richard's singing bird? +How Arthur wished he knew. But Richard kept his own counsel, for a +time at least. He did not say what he thought of her. He only +kissed the lips beginning to quiver with something like a grieved +expression that Arthur should hold her so long, kissed them twice, +and with his hand wiped her tears away, saying playfully, + +"'Tis too bad, Birdie, I know, but I've anticipated this hour so +long." + +He had not called her Birdie before, and the familiar name +compensated for all the pain which Edith had suffered when she saw +those strangely black eyes fastened upon her, and knew that they +could see. Springing to her feet the moment, she was released, she +jumped into his lap in her old impetuous way, and winding her arms +around his neck, sobbed out, + +"I am so glad, Richard, so glad. You can't begin to guess how +glad, and I've prayed for this every night and every day, Arthur +and I. Didn't we, Arthur? Dear, dear Richard. I love you so much." + +"What he make mam-ma cry for?" asked a childish voice from the +comer where little Dick stood, half frightened at what he saw, his +tiny fist doubled ready to do battle for mother in case he should +make up his mind that her rights were invaded. + +This had the effect of rousing Edith, who, faint with excitement, +was led by Arthur out into the open air, thus leaving Richard +alone with his first love of twenty-five years ago. It did not +seem to him possible that so many years had passed over the face +which, at seventeen, was marvellously beautiful, and which still +was very, very fair and youthful in its look, for Grace was +wondrously well preserved and never passed for over thirty, save +among the envious ones, who, old themselves, strove hard to make +others older still. + +"Time has dealt lightly with you, Grace," Richard said, after the +first curious glance. "I could almost fancy you were Grace +Elmendorff yet," and he lifted gallantly one of her chestnut +curls, just as he used to do in years agone, when she was Grace +Elmendorff. + +This little act recalled so vivedly the scenes of other days that +Grace burst into a flood of tears, and hurried from the room to +the parlor adjoining, where, unobserved, she could weep again over +the hopes forever fled. Thus left to himself, with the exception +of little Dick, Richard had leisure to look about him, descrying +ere long the life-sized portrait of Nina hanging on the wall. In +an instant he stood before what was to him, not so much a picture +painted on rude canvas, as a living reality--the golden-haired +angel, who was now as closely identified with his every thought +and feeling as even Edith herself had ever been. She had followed +him over land and sea, bringing comfort to him in his dark hours +of pain, coloring his dreams with rainbow hues of promise, buoying +him up and bidding him wait a little--try yet longer, when the +only hope worth his living for now seemed to be dying out, and +when at last it, the wonderful cure, was done, and those gathered +around him said each to the other "He will see," he heard nothing +for the buzzing sound which filled his ear, and the low voice +whispering to him, "I did it--brought the daylight straight from +heaven. God said I might--and I did. Nina takes care of you." + +They told him that he had fainted from excess of joy, but Richard +believed that Nina had been with him all the same, cherishing that +conviction even to this hour, when he stood there face to face +with her, unconsciously saying to himself, "Gloriously beautiful +Nina. In all my imaginings of you I never saw aught so fair as +this. Edith is beautiful, but not--" + +"As beautiful as Nina was, am I?" said a voice behind him, and +turning round, Richard drew Edith to his side, and encircling her +with his arm answered frankly, + +"No, my child, you are not as beautiful as Nina." + +"Disappointed in me, are you not? Tell me honestly," and Edith +peered up half-archly, half-timidly into the eyes whose glance she +scarcely yet dared meet. + +"I can hardly call it disappointment," Richard answered, smiling +down upon her. "You are different-looking from what I supposed, +that is all. Still you are much like what I remember your mother +to have been, save that her eyes were softer than yours, and her +lip not quite so proudly curved." + +"In other words, I show by my face that I am a Bernard, and +something of a spitfire," suggested Edith, and Richard rejoined, + +"I think you do," adding as he held her a little closer to him, +"Had I been earlier blessed with sight, I should have known I +could not tame you. I should only have spoiled you by indulgence." + +Just at this point, little Nina came in, and taking her in her +arms, Edith said, + +"I wanted to call her Edith, after myself, as I thought it might +please you; but Arthur said no, she must be Nina Bernard," + +"Better so," returned Richard, moving away from the picture, "I +can never call another by the name I once called you," and this +was all the sign he gave that the wound was not quite healed. + +But it was healing fast. Home influences were already doing him +good, and when at last supper was announced, he looked very happy +as he took again his accustomed seat at the table, with Arthur +opposite Edith just where she used to be, and Grace, sitting at +his right. It was a pleasant family party they made, and the +servants marvelled much to hear Richard's hearty laugh mingling +with Edith's merry peal. + +That night, when the July moon came up over the New England hills, +it looked down upon the four--Richard and Arthur, Grace and Edith, +sitting upon the broad piazza as they had not sat in years, Grace +a little apart from the rest, and Edith between her husband and +Richard, holding a hand of each, and listening intently while the +latter told them how rumors of a celebrated Parisian oculist had +reached him in his wanderings; how he had sought the rooms of that +oculist, leaving them a more hopeful man than when he entered; how +the hope then enkindled grew stronger month after month, until the +thick folds of darkness gave way to a creamy kind of haze, which +hovered for weeks over his horizon of sights growing gradually +whiter and thinner, until faint outlines were discovered, and to +his unutterable joy he counted the window panes, knowing then that +sight was surely coming back. He did not tell them how through all +that terrible suspense Nina seemed always with him; he would not +like to confess how superstitious he had become, fully believing +that Nina was his guardian angel, that she hovered near him, and +that the touch of her soft, little hands had helped to heal the +wound gaping so cruelly when he last bade adieu to his native +land. Richard was not a spiritualist. He utterly repudiated their +wild theories, and built up one of his own, equally wild and +strange, but productive of no evil, inasmuch as no one was +admitted into his secret, or suffered to know of his one +acknowledged sphere where Nina reigned supreme. This was something +he kept to himself, referring but once to Nina during his +narrative, and that when he said to Edith, + +"You remember, darling, Nina told me in her letter that she'd keep +asking God to give me back my sight." + +Edith cared but little by whose agency this great cure had been +accomplished, and laying her head on Richard's knee, just as a +girl she used to do, she wept out her joy for sight restored to +her noble benefactor, reproaching him for having kept the good +news from them so carefully, even shutting his eyes when he wrote +to them so that his writing should be natural, and the surprise +when he did return, the greater. + +Meanwhile Grace's servant came up to accompany her home, and she +bade the happy group good night, her heart beating faster than its +wont as Richard said to her at parting, "I was going to offer my +services, but see I am forestalled. My usual luck, you know," and +his black eyes rested a moment, on her face and then wandered to +where Edith sat. Did he mean anything by this? Had the waves of +time, which had beaten and battered his heart so long, brought it +back at last to its first starting point, Grace Elmendorff? Time +only can tell. He believed his youthful passion had died out years +ago, that matrimony was for him an utter impossibility. + +He had been comparatively happy across the sea, and he was happier +still now that he was at home, wishing he had come before, and +wondering why it was that the sight of Edith did not pain him, as +he feared it would. He liked to look at her, to hear her musical +voice, to watch her graceful movements as she flitted about the +house, and as the days and weeks went on he grew young again in +her society, until he was much like the Richard to whom she once +said, "I will be your wife," save that his raven hair was tinged +with grey, making him, as some thought, finer-looking than ever. +To Arthur and Edith he was like a dearly beloved brother; while to +Dick and Nina he was all the world. He was very proud of little +Dick, but Nina was his pet, as she was every body's who knew her, +and she ere long learned to love him better, if possible, than she +did her father, calling him frequently "her oldest papa," and +wondering in her childish way why he kissed so tenderly as often +as she lisped out that dear name. + +And now but little more remains to tell. It is four months since +Richard came home, and the hazy Indian summer sun shines o'er the +New England hills, bathing Collingwood in its soft, warm rays, and +falling upon the tall bare trees and the withered grass below, +carpeted with leaves of many a bright hue. On the velvety sward, +which last summer showed so rich a green, the children are racing +up and down, Dick's cheeks glowing like the scarlet foliage he +treads beneath his feet, and Nina's fair hair tossing in the +autumn wind, which seems to blow less rudely on the little girl +than on her stronger older brother. On one of the iron seats +scattered over the lawn sits Richard; watching them as they play, +not moodily, not mournfully, for grief and sorrow have no lodgment +in the once blind Richard's heart, and he verily believes that he +is as happy without Edith as he could possibly have been with her. +She is almost everything to him now that a wife could be +consulting his wishes before her own, or Arthur's, and making all +else subservient to them. No royal sovereign ever lorded it over +his subjects more completely than could Richard over Collingwood, +if he chose, for master and servants alike yield him unbounded +deference; but Richard is far too gentle to abuse the power vested +in his hands and so he rules by perfect love, which knows no +shadow of distrust. The gift of sight has compensated for all his +olden pain, and often to himself he says, "I would hardly be blind +again for the sake of Edith's first affections." + +He calls her Edith now, just as he used to do, and Edith knows +that only a scar is left, as a memento of the fearful sacrifice. +The morning has broken at last, the darkness passed away, and +while basking in the full, rich daylight, both Richard and Arthur, +and Edith wonder if they are the same to whom the world was once +so dreary. Only over Grace Atherton is any darkness brooding. She +cannot forget the peerless boon she throw away when she +deliberately said to Richard Harrington, "I will not walk in your +shadow," and the love she once bore him is alive in all its force, +but so effectually concealed that few suspect its existence. + +Richard goes often to Brier Hill, staying sometimes hours, and +Victor, with his opinion of the "gay widow" somewhat changed, has +more than once hinted at Collingwood how he thinks these visits +will end. But the servants scoffed, at the idea, while Arthur and +Edith look curiously on, half hoping Victor is right, and so that +matter remains in uncertainty. + +Across the fields, Grassy Spring still lies a mass of shapeless +ruins. Frequently has Arthur talked of rebuilding it as a home for +his children, but as Richard has always opposed it and Edith is +indifferent, he will probably remain at Collingwood. + +Away to the south, the autumn winds blow softly around Sunnybank, +where Edith's negroes are living as happy under the new +administration as the old, speaking often of their beautiful +mistress who, when the winter snows fall on the Bay State hills, +will wend her way to the southward, and Christmas fires will again +be kindled upon the hearthstones left desolate so many years. Nor +is she, whose little grave lies just across the field forgotten. +Enshrined is her memory within the hearts of all who knew and +loved her, while away to the northward where the cypress and +willow mark the resting-place of Shannondale's dead, a costly +marble rears its graceful column, pointing far upward to the sky, +the home of her whose name that marble bears. "NINA." That is all. +No laudations deeply cut tell what she was or where she died. +"NINA." Nothing more. And yet this single word has a power to +touch the deepest, tenderest feeling of two hearts at least, +Arthur's and Edith's--speaking to them of the little golden-haired +girl who crossed so innocently their pathway, striving hard to +efface all prints of her footsteps, caring to the last for her +"Arthur boy" and the "Miggie" she loved so well, and calling to +them as it were, even after the rolling river was safely forded, +and she was landed beside the still waters in the bright, green +fields of Eden. + +And now to the sweet little girl and the noble man who, through +the mazy labyrinths of Darkness and of Daylight, have grown so +strongly into our love, whose faces were familiar as our own, +whose names were household words, over whose sorrows our tears +have fallen like rain, and in whose joys we have rejoiced, we bid +a final adieu. Farewell to thee, beautiful NINA. "Earth hath none +fairer lost. Heaven none purer gained." Farewell to thee forever, +and blessings, rich and rare, distil like evening dew upon the +dear head of the brave-hearted, generous hero RICHARD HARRINGTON. + +THE END. + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 4721 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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Holmes + +Release Date: December, 2003 [Etext #4721] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Darkness and Daylight, by Mary J. Holmes +*********This file should be named 4721.txt or 4721.zip********* + +Produced by Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + + + + + + + + + + +DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. + +A Novel + +BY + +MRS. MARY J. HOLMES, + +AUTHOR OF "LENA RIVERS," "MARIAN GREY," "MEADOW BROOK," +"HOMESTEAD," "DORA DEANE," "COUSIN MAUDE," "TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE," +"ENGLISH ORPHANS," ETC. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + I. COLLINGWOOD + II. EDITH HASTINGS GOES TO COLLINGWOOD + III. GRACE ATHERTON + IV. RICHARD AND EDITH + V. VISITORS AT COLLINGWOOD AND VISITORS AT BRIER HILL + VI. ARTHUR AND EDITH + VII. RICHARD AND ARTHUR + VIII. RICHARD AND EDITH + IX. WOMANHOOD + X. EDITH AT HOME + XI. MATTERS AT GRASSY SPRING + XII. LESSONS + XIII. FRIDAY + XIV. THE MYSTERY AT GRASSY SPRING + XV. NINA + XVI. ARTHUR'S STORY + XVII. NINA AND MIGGIE + XVIII. DR. GRISWOLD + XIX. EX OFFICIO + XX. THE DECISION + XXI. THE DEERING WOODS + XXII. THE DARKNESS DEEPENS + XXIII. PARTING + XXIV. THE NINETEENTH BIRTHDAY + XXV. DESTINY + XXVI. EDITH AND THE WORLD + XXVII. THE LAND OF FLOWERS + XXVIII. SUNNYBANK + XXIX. THE SISTERS + XXX. ARTHUR AND NINA + XXXI. LAST DAYS + XXXII. PARTING WITH THE DEAD AND PARTING WITH THE LIVING + XXXIII. HOME + XXXIV. NINA'S LETTER + XXXV. THE FIERY TEST + XXXVI. THE SACRIFICE + XXXVII. THE BRIDAL + XXXVIII. SIX YEARS LATER + + + + + + +DARKNESS AND DAYLIGHT. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +COLLINGWOOD. + + +Collingwood was to have a tenant at last. For twelve long years +its massive walls of dark grey stone had frowned in gloomy silence +upon the passers-by, the terror of the superstitious ones, who had +peopled its halls with ghosts and goblins, saying even that the +snowy-haired old man, its owner, had more than once been seen +there, moving restlessly from room to room and muttering of the +darkness which came upon him when he lost his fair young wife and +her beautiful baby Charlie. The old man was not dead, but for +years he had been a stranger to his former home. + +In foreign lands he had wandered--up and down, up and down--from +the snow-clad hills of Russia to where the blue skies of Italy +bent softly over him and the sunny plains of France smiled on him +a welcome. But the darkness he bewailed was there as elsewhere, +and to his son he said, at last, "We will go to America, but not +to Collingwood--not where Lucy used to live, and where the boy was +born." + +So they came back again and made for themselves a home on the +shore of the silvery lake so famed in song, where they hoped to +rest from their weary journeyings. But it was not so decreed. +Slowly as poison works within the blood, a fearful blight was +stealing upon the noble, uncomplaining Richard, who had sacrificed +his early manhood to his father's fancies, and when at last the +blow had fallen and crushed him in its might, he became as +helpless as a little child, looking to others for the aid he had +heretofore been accustomed to render. Then it was that the weak +old man emerged for a time from beneath the cloud which had +enveloped him so long, and winding his arms around his stricken +boy, said, submissively, "What will poor Dick have me do?" + +"Go to Collingwood, where I know every walk and winding path, and +where the world will not seem so dreary, for I shall be at home." + +The father had not expected this, and his palsied hands shook +nervously; but the terrible misfortune of his son had touched a +chord of pity, and brought to his darkened mind a vague +remembrance of the years in which the unselfish Richard had +thought only of his comfort, and so he answered sadly, "We will go +to Collingwood." + +One week more, and it was known in Shannondale, that crazy Captain +Harrington and his son, the handsome Squire Richard, were coming +again to the old homestead, which was first to be fitted up in a +most princely style. All through the summer months the extensive +improvements and repairs went on, awakening the liveliest interest +in the villagers, who busied themselves with watching and +reporting the progress of events at Collingwood. Fires were +kindled on the marble hearths, and the flames went roaring up the +broad-mouthed chimneys, frightening from their nests of many years +the croaking swallows, and scaring away the bats, which had so +long held holiday in the deserted rooms. Partitions were removed, +folding doors were made, windows were cut down, and large panes of +glass were substituted for those of more ancient date. The grounds +and garden too were reclaimed from the waste of briers and weeds +which had so wantonly rioted there; and the waters of the fish- +pond, relieved of their dark green slime and decaying leaves, +gleamed once more in the summer sunshine like a sheet of burnished +silver, while a fairy boat lay moored upon its bosom as in the +olden time. Softly the hillside brooklet fell, like a miniature +cascade, into the little pond, and the low music it made blended +harmoniously with the fall of the fountain not far away. + +It was indeed a beautiful place; and when the furnishing process +began, crowds of eager people daily thronged the spacious rooms, +commenting upon the carpets, the curtains, the chandeliers, the +furniture of rosewood and marble, and marvelling much why Richard +Harrington should care for surroundings so costly and elegant. +Could it be that he intended surprising them with a bride? It was +possible--nay, more, it was highly probable that weary of his +foolish sire's continual mutterings of "Lucy and the darkness," he +bad found some fair young girl to share the care with him, and +this was her gilded cage. + +Shannondale was like all country towns, and the idea once +suggested, the story rapidly gained ground, until at last it +reached the ear of Grace Atherton, the pretty young widow, whose +windows looked directly across the stretches of meadow and +woodland to where Collingwood lifted its single tower and its +walls of dark grey stone. As became the owner of Brier Hill and +the widow of a judge, Grace held herself somewhat above the rest +of the villagers, associating with but few, and finding her +society mostly in the city not many miles away, + +When her cross, gouty, phthisicy, fidgety old husband lay sick for +three whole months, she nursed him so patiently that people +wondered if it could be she loved the SURLY DOG, and one woman, +bolder than the others, asked her if she did. + +"Love him? No," she answered, "but I shall do my duty." + +So when he died she made him a grand funeral, but did not pretend +that she was sorry. She was not, and the night on which she +crossed the threshold of Brier Hill a widow of twenty-one saw her +a happier woman than when she first crossed it as a bride. Such +was Grace Atherton, a proud, independent, but well principled +woman, attending strictly to her own affairs, and expecting others +to do the same. In the gossip concerning Collingwood, she had +taken no verbal part, but there was no one more deeply interested +than herself, spite of her studied indifference. + +"You never knew the family," a lady caller said to her one +morning, when at a rather late hour she sat languidly sipping her +rich chocolate, and daintily picking at the snowy rolls and nicely +buttered toast, "you never knew them or you would cease to wonder +why the village people take so much interest in their movements, +and are so glad to have them back." + +"I have heard their story," returned Mrs. Atherton, "and I have no +doubt the son is a very fine specimen of an old bachelor; thirty- +five, isn't he, or thereabouts?" + +"Thirty-five!" and Kitty Maynard raised her hands in dismay. "My +dear Mrs. Atherton, he's hardly thirty yet, and those who have +seen him since his return from Europe, pronounce him a splendid +looking man, with an air of remarkably high breeding. I wonder if +there IS any truth in the report that he is to bring with him a +bride." + +"A bride, Kitty!" and the massive silver fork dropped from Grace +Atherton's hand. + +SHE was interested now, and nervously pulling the gathers of her +white morning gown, she listened while the loquacious Kitty told +her what she knew of the imaginary wife of Richard Harrington. The +hands ceased their working at the gathers, and assuming an air of +indifference, Grace rang her silver bell, which was immediately +answered by a singular looking girl, whom she addressed as Edith, +bidding her bring some orange marmalade from an adjoining closet. +Her orders were obeyed, and then the child lingered by the door, +listening eagerly to the conversation which Grace had resumed +concerning Collingwood and its future mistress. + +Edith Hastings was a strange child, with a strange habit of +expressing her thoughts aloud, and as she heard the beauties of +Collingwood described in Kitty Maynard's most glowing terms, she +suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, JOLLY don't I wish I could live there, +only I'd be afraid of that boy who haunts the upper rooms." + +"Edith!" said Mrs. Atherton, sternly, "why are you waiting here? +Go at once to Rachel and bid her give you something to do." + +Thus rebuked the black-eyed, black-haired, black-faced little girl +waited away, not cringingly, for Edith Hastings possessed a spirit +as proud as that of her high born mistress, and she went slowly to +the kitchen, where, under Rachel's directions, she was soon in the +mysteries of dish-washing, while the ladies in the parlor +continued their conversation. + +"I don't know what I shall do with that child," said Grace, as +Edith's footsteps died away. I sometimes wish I had left her where +I found her." + +"Why, I thought her a very bright little creature," said Kitty, +and her companion replied, + +"She's too bright, and that's the trouble. She imitates me in +everything, walks like me, talks like me, and yesterday I found +her in the drawing-room going through with a pantomime of +receiving calls the way I do. I wish you could have seen her +stately bow when presented to an imaginary stranger." + +"Did she do credit to you?" Kitty asked, and Grace replied, + +"I can't say that she did not, but I don't like this disposition +of hers--to put on the airs of people above her. Now if she were +not a poor--" + +"Look, look!" interrupted Kitty, "that must be the five hundred +dollar piano sent up from Boston," and she directed her +companion's attention to the long wagon which was passing the +house on the way to Collingwood. + +This brought the conversation back from the aspiring Edith to +Richard Harrington, and as old Rachel soon came in to remove her +mistress' breakfast, Kitty took her leave, saying as she bade her +friend good morning, + +"I trust it will not be long before you know him." + +"Know him!" repeated Grace, when at last she was alone. "Just as +if I had not known him to my sorrow. Oh, Richard, Richard! maybe +you'd forgive me if you knew what I have suffered," and the proud, +beautiful eyes filled with tears as Grace Atherton plucked the +broad green leaves from the grape vine over her head, and tearing +them in pieces scattered the fragments upon the floor of the +piazza. "Was there to be a bride at Collingwood?" This was the +question which racked her brain, keeping her in a constant state +of feverish excitement until the very morning came when the family +were expected. + +Mrs. Matson, the former housekeeper, had resumed her old position, +and though she came often to Brier Hill to consult the taste of +Mrs. Atherton as to the arrangement of curtains and furniture, +Grace was too haughtily polite to question her, and every car +whistle found her at the window watching for the carriage and a +sight of its inmates. One after another the western trains +arrived, and the soft September twilight deepened into darker +night, showing to the expectant Grace the numerous lights shining +from the windows of Collingwood. Edith Hastings, too, imbued with +something of her mistress' spirit, was on the alert, and when the +last train in which they could possibly come, thundered through +the town, her quick ear was the first to catch the sound of wheels +grinding slowly up the hill. + +"They are coming, Mrs. Atherton!" she cried; and nimble as a +squirrel she climbed the great gate post, where with her elf locks +floating about her sparkling face, she sat, while the carriage +passed slowly by, then saying to herself, "Pshaw, it wasn't worth +the trouble--I never saw a thing," she slid down from her high +position, and stealing in the back way so as to avoid the scolding +Mrs. Atherton was sure to give her, she crept up to her own +chamber, where she stood long by the open window, watching the +lights at Collingwood, and wondering if it WOULD make a person +perfectly happy to be its mistress and the bride of Richard +Harrington. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +EDITH HASTINGS GOES TO COLLINGWOOD. + + +The question Edith had asked herself, standing by her chamber +window, was answered by Grace Atherton sitting near her own. "Yes, +the bride of Richard Harrington MUST be perfectly happy, if bride +indeed there were." She was beginning to feel some doubt upon this +point, for strain her eyes as she might, she had not been able to +detect the least signs of femininity in the passing carriage, and +hope whispered that the brightest dream she had ever dreamed might +yet be realized. + +"I'll let him know to-morrow, that I'm here," she said, as she +shook out her wavy auburn hair, and thought, with a glow of pride, +how beautiful it was. "I'll send Edith with my compliments and a +bouquet of flowers to the bride. She'll deliver them better than +any one else, if I can once make her understand what I wish her to +do." + +Accordingly, the next morning, as Edith sat upon the steps of the +kitchen door, talking to herself, Grace appeared before her with a +tastefully arranged bouquet, which she bade her take with her +compliments to Mrs. Richard Harrington, if there was such a body, +and to Mr. Richard Harrington if there were not. + +"Do you understand?" she asked, and Edith far more interested in +her visit to Collingwood than in what she was to do when she +reached there, replied, + +"Of course I do; I'm to give your compliments;" and she jammed her +hand into the pocket of her gingham apron, as if to make sure the +compliments were there. "I'm to give them to MR. Richard, if there +is one, and the flowers to Mrs. Richard, if there ain't!" + +Grace groaned aloud, while old Rachel, the colored cook, who on +all occasions was Edith's champion, removed her hands from the +dough she was kneading and coming towards them, chimed in, "She +ain't fairly got it through her har, Miss Grace. She's such a +substracted way with her that you mostly has to tell her twicet," +and in her own peculiar style Rachel succeeded in making the +"substracted" child comprehend the nature of her errand. + +"Now don't go to blunderin'," was Rachel's parting injunction, as +Edith left the yard and turned in the direction of Collingwood. + +It was a mellow September morning, and after leaving the main road +and entering the gate of Collingwood, the young girl lingered by +the way, admiring the beauty of the grounds, and gazing with +feelings of admiration upon the massive building, surrounded by +majestic maples, and basking so quietly in the warm sunlight. At +the marble fountain she paused for a long, long time, talking to +the golden fishes which darted so swiftly past each other, and +wishing she could take them in her hand "just to see them squirm." + +"I mean to catch ONE any way," she said, and glancing nervously at +the windows to make sure no Mrs. Richard was watching her, she +bared her round, plump arm, and thrust it into the water, just as +a footstep sounded near. + +Quickly withdrawing her hand and gathering up her bouquet, she +turned about and saw approaching her one of Collingwood's ghosts. +She knew him in a moment, for she had heard him described too +often to mistake that white-haired, bent old man for other than +Capt. Harrington. He did not chide her as she supposed he would, +neither did he seem in the least surprised to see her there. On +the contrary, his withered, wrinkled face brightened with a look +of eager expectancy, as he said to her, "Little girl, can you tell +me where Charlie is?" + +"Charlie?" she repeated, retreating a step or two as he approached +nearer and seemed about to lay his hand upon her hair, for her +bonnet was hanging down her back, and her wild gipsy locks fell in +rich profusion about her face. "I don't know any boy by that name, +I'm nobody but Edith Hastings, Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid, and +she don't let me play with boys. Only Tim Doolittle and I went +huckleberrying once, but I hate him, he has such great warts on +his hands," and having thus given her opinion of Tim Doolittle, +Edith snatched up her bonnet and placed it upon her head, for the +old man was evidently determined to touch her crow-black hair. + +Her answer, however, changed the current of his thoughts, and +while a look of intense pain flitted across his face, he whispered +mournfully, "The same old story they all tell. I might have known +it, but this one looked so fresh, so truthful, that I thought +maybe she'd seen him. Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid," and he turned +toward Edith--"Charlie's dead, and we all walk in darkness now, +Richard and all." + +This allusion to Richard reminded Edith of her errand, and +thinking to herself, "I'll ask the crazy old thing if there's a +lady here," she ran after him as he walked slowly away and +catching him by the arm, said, "Tell me, please, is there any Mrs. +Richard Harrington?" + +"Not that I know of. They've kept it from me if there is, but +there's Richard, he can tell you," and he pointed toward a man in +a distant part of the grounds. + +Curtseying to her companion, Edith ran off in the direction of the +figure moving so slowly down the gravelled walk. + +"I wonder what makes him set his feet down so carefully," she +thought, as she came nearer to him. "Maybe there are pegs in his +shoes, just as there were in mine last winter," and the barefoot +little girl glanced at her naked toes, feeling glad they were for +the present out of torture. + +By this time she was within a few rods of the strange acting man, +who, hearing her rapid steps, stopped, and turning round with a +wistful, questioning look, said, + +"Who's there? Who is it?" + +The tone of his voice was rather sharp, and Edith paused suddenly, +while he made an uncertain movement toward her, still keeping his +ear turned in the attitude of intense listening. + +"I wonder what he thinks of me?" was Edith's mental comment as the +keen black eyes appeared to scan her closely. + +Alas, he was not thinking of her at all, and soon resuming his +walk, he whispered to himself, "They must have gone some other +way." + +Slowly, cautiously he moved on, never dreaming of the little +sprite behind him, who, imitating his gait and manner, put down +her chubby bare feet just when his went down, looking occasionally +over her shoulder to see if her clothes swung from side to side +just like Mrs. Atherton's, and treading so softly that he did not +hear her until he reached the summer-house, when the cracking of a +twig betrayed the presence of some one, and again that sad, +troubled voice demanded, "Who is here?" while the arms were +stretched out as if to grasp the intruder, whoever it might be. + +Edith was growing excited. It reminded her of blind man's buff; +and she bent her head to elude the hand which came so near +entangling itself in her hair. Again a profound silence ensued, +and thinking it might have been a fancy of his brain that some one +was there with him, poor blind Richard Harrington sat down within +the arbor, where the pleasant September sunshine, stealing through +the thick vine leaves, fell in dancing circles upon his broad +white brow, above which his jet black hair lay in rings. He was a +tall, dark, handsome man, with a singular cast of countenance, and +Edith felt that she had never seen anything so grand, so noble, +and yet so helpless as the man sitting there before her. She knew +now that he was blind, and she was almost glad that it was so, for +had it been otherwise she would never have dared to scan him as +she was doing now. She would not for the world have met the flash +of those keen black eyes, had they not been sightless, and she +quailed even now, when they were bent upon her, although she knew +their glance was meaningless. It seemed to her so terrible to be +blind, and she wondered why he should care to have his house and +grounds so handsome when he could not see them. Still she was +pleased that they were so, for there was a singular fitness, she +thought, between this splendid man and his surroundings. + +"I wish he had a little girl like me to lead him and be good to +him," was her next mental comment, and the wild idea crossed her +brain that possibly Mrs. Atherton would let her come up to +Collingwood and be his waiting maid. This brought to mind a second +time the object of her being there now, and she began to devise +the best plan for delivering the bouquet. "I don't believe he +cares for the compliments," she said to herself, "any way, I'll +keep them till another time," but the flowers; how should she give +those to him? She was beginning to be very much afraid of the +figure sitting there so silently, and at last mustering all her +courage, she gave a preliminary cough, which started him to his +feet, and as his tall form towered above her she felt her fears +come back, and scarcely knowing what she was doing she thrust the +bouquet into his hand, saying as she did so, "POOR blind man, I am +so sorry and I've brought you some nice flowers." + +The next moment she was gone, and Richard heard the patter of her +feet far up the gravelled walk ere he had recovered from his +surprise. Who was she, and why had she remembered him? The voice +was very, very sweet, thrilling him with a strange melody, which +carried him back to a summer sunset years ago, when on the banks +of the blue Rhine he had listened to a beautiful, dark-eyed Swede +singing her infant daughter to sleep. Then the river itself +appeared before him, cold and grey with the November frosts, and +on its agitated surface he saw a little dimpled hand disappearing +from view, while the shriek of the dark-eyed Swede told that her +child was gone. A plunge--a fearful struggle--and he held the +limp, white object in his arms; he bore it to the shore; he heard +them say that he had saved its life, and then he turned aside to +change his dripping garments and warm his icy limbs. This was the +first picture brought to his mind by Edith Hastings' voice. The +second was a sadder one, and he groaned aloud as he remembered how +from the time of the terrible cold taken then, and the severe +illness which followed, his eyesight had begun to fail--slowly, +very slowly, it is true--and for years he could not believe that +Heaven had in store for him so sad a fate. But it had come at +last--daylight had faded out and the night was dark around him. +Once, in his hour of bitterest agony, he had cursed that Swedish +baby, wishing it had perished in the waters of the Rhine, ere he +saved it at so fearful a sacrifice. But he had repented of the +wicked thought; he was glad he saved the pretty Petrea's child, +even though be should never see her face again. He knew not where +she was, that girlish wife, speaking her broken English for the +sake of her American husband, who was not always as kind to her as +he should have been. He had heard no tidings of her since that +fatal autumn. He had scarcely thought of her for months, but she +came back to him now, and it was Edith's voice which brought her. + +"Poor blind man," he whispered aloud. "How like that was to +Petrea, when she said of my father, 'Poor, soft old man;'" and +then he wondered again who his visitor had been, and why she had +left him so abruptly. + +It was a child, he knew, and he prized her gift the more for that, +for Richard Harrington was a dear lover of children and he kissed +the fair bouquet as he would not have kissed it had he known from +whom it came. Rising at last from his seat, he groped his way back +to the house, and ordering one of the costly vases in his room to +be filled with water, he placed the flowers therein, and thought +how carefully he would preserve them for the sake of his unknown +friend. + +Meantime Edith kept on her way, pausing once and looking back just +in time to see Mr. Harrington kiss the flowers she had brought. + +"I'm glad they please him," she said; "but how awful it is to be +blind;" and by way of trying the experiment, she shut her eyes, +and stretching out her arms, walked just as Richard, succeeding so +well that she was beginning to consider it rather agreeable than +otherwise, when she unfortunately ran into a tall rose-bush, +scratching her forehead, tangling her hair, and stubbing her toes +against its gnarled roots. "'Taint so jolly to be blind after +all," she said, "I do believe I've broken my toe," and extricating +herself as best she could from the sharp thorns, she ran on as +fast as her feet could carry her, wondering what Mrs. Atherton +would say when she heard Richard was blind, and feeling a kind of +natural delight in knowing she should be the first to communicate +the bad news. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +GRACE ATHERTON. + + +"Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, who had seen her coming, and hastened +out to meet her, "you were gone a long time, I think." + +"Yes'm," answered Edith, spitting out the bonnet strings she had +been chewing, and tossing back the thick black locks which nearly +concealed her eyes from view. "Yes'm; it took me a good while to +talk to old Darkness." + +"Talk to whom?" asked Grace; and Edith returned, + +"I don't know what you call him if 'taint old Darkness; he kept +muttering about the dark, and asked "where Charlie was." + +"Ole Cap'n Harrington," said Rachel. "They say how't he's allus +goin' on 'bout Charlie an' the dark." + +This explanation was satisfactory to Grace, who proceeded next to +question Edith concerning Mrs. Richard Harrington, asking if she +saw her, etc. + +"There ain't any such," returned Edith, "but I saw Mr. Richard. +Jolly, isn't he grand? He's as tall as the ridge-pole, and---" + +"But what did he say to the flowers?" interrupted Grace, far more +intent upon knowing how her gift had been received, than hearing +described the personal appearance of one she had seen so often. + +Edith felt intuitively that a narrative of the particulars +attending the delivery of the bouquet would insure her a scolding, +so she merely answered, "He didn't say a word, only kissed them +hard, but he can't see them, Mrs. Atherton. He can't see me, nor +you, nor anybody. He's blind as a bat--" + +"Blind! Richard blind! Oh, Edith;" and the bright color which had +stained Grace's cheeks when she knew that Richard had kissed her +flowers, faded out, leaving them of a pallid hue. Sinking into the +nearest chair, she kept repeating "blind--blind--poor, poor +Richard. It cannot be. Bring me some water, Rachel, and help me to +my room. This intensely hot morning makes me faint." + +Rachel could not be thus easily deceived. She remembered an old +house in England, looking out upon the sea, and the flirtation +carried on all summer there between her mistress, then a beautiful +young girl of seventeen, and the tall, handsome man, whom they +called Richard Harrington. She remembered, too, the white-haired, +gouty man, who, later in the autumn, came to that old house, and +whose half million Grace had married, saying, by way of apology, +that if Richard chose to waste his life in humoring the whims of +his foolish father, she surely would NOT waste hers with him. SHE +would see the world! + +Alas, poor Grace. She had seen the world and paid dearly for the +sight, for, go where she might, she saw always one face, one form; +heard always one voice murmuring in her ear, "Could you endure to +share my burden?" + +No, she could not, she said, and so she had taken upon herself a +burden ten-fold heavier to bear--a burden which crushed her +spirits, robbed her cheek of its youthful bloom, after which she +sent no regret when at last it disappeared, leaving her free to +think again of Richard Harrington. It was a terrible blow to her +that he was blind, and talk as she might about the faintness of +the morning, old Rachel knew the real cause of her distress, and +when alone with her, said, by way of comfort, + +"Law, now, Miss Grace, 'taint worth a while to take on so. Like +'nough he'll be cured--mebby it's nothin' but them fetch-ed water- +falls--CAT-A-RATS, that's it--and he can have 'em cut out. I +wouldn't go to actin' like I was love-sick for a man I 'scarded +oncet." + +Grace was far too proud to suffer even her faithful Rachel thus to +address her, and turning her flashing eyes upon the old woman, she +said haughtily, + +"How dare you talk to me in this way--don't you know I won't allow +it? Besides, what reason have you for asserting what you have?" + +"What reason has I? Plenty reason--dis chile ain't a fool if she +is a nigger, raised in Georgy, and a born slave till she was +turned of thirty. Your poor marm who done sot me free, would never +spoke to me that way. What reason has I? I'se got good mem'ry--I +'members them letters I used to tote forrid and back, over thar in +England; and how you used to watch by the winder till you seen him +comin', and then, gal-like, ran off to make him think you wasn't +particular 'bout seein' him. But, it passes me, what made you have +ole money bags. I never could see inter that, when I knowd how you +hated his shiny bald head, and slunk away if he offered to tache +you with his old, soft, flappy hands. You are glad he's in Heaven, +yon know you be; and though I never said nothin', _I_ knowd you +was glad that Squire Herrin'ton was come back to Collingwood, just +as I knowd what made you choke like a chicken with the pip when +Edith tole you he was blind. Can't cheat dis chile," and adjusting +her white turban with an air of injured dignity, Rachel left her +mistress, and returned to the kitchen. + +"What ails Mrs. Atherton?" asked Edith, fancying it must be +something serious which could keep the old negress so long from +her bread. + +On ordinary occasions the tolerably discreet African would have +made some evasive reply, but with her feathers all ruffled, she +belched out, "The upshot of the matter is, she's in love?" + +"In love? Who does Mrs. Atherton love?" + +"Him--the blind man," returned Rachel, adding fiercely, "but if +you ever let her know I told you, I'll skin you alive--do you +hear? Like enough she'll be for sendin' you up thar with more +posies, an' if she does, do you hold your tongue and take 'em +along." + +Edith had no desire to betray Rachel's confidence, and slipping +one shoulder out of her low dress she darted off after a +butterfly, wondering to herself if it made everybody faint and +sick at their stomach to be in love! It seemed very natural that +one as rich and beautiful as Grace should love Richard Harrington, +and the fact that she did, insensibly raised in her estimation the +poor, white-faced woman, who, in the solitude of her chamber was +weeping bitterer tears than she had shed before in years. + +Could it he so? She hoped there was some mistake--and when an hour +later she heard Kitty Maynard's cheerful voice in the lower hall +her heart gave a bound as she thought, "She'll know--she's heard +of it by this time." + +"Please may I come in?" said Kitty, at her door. "Rachel told me +you had a headache, but I know you won't mind me," and ere the +words were half out of her mouth, Kitty's bonnet was off and she +was perched upon the foot of the bed. HAVE you heard the news?" +she began. "It's so wonderful, and so sad, too. Squire Harrington +is not married; he's worse off than that--he's hopelessly blind." + +"Indeed!" and Grace Atherton's manner was very indifferent. + +"Yes," Kitty continued, "His French valet, Victor, who travelled +with him in Europe, told brother Will all about it. Seven or eight +years ago they were spending the summer upon the banks of the +Rhine, and in a cottage near them was an American with a Swedish +wife and baby. The man, it seems, was a dissipated fellow, much +older than his wife, whom he neglected shamefully, leaving her +alone for weeks at a time. The baby's name was Eloise, and she was +a great pet with Richard who was fond of children. At last, one +day in autumn, the little Eloise, who had just learned to run +alone, wandered off by herself to a bluff, or rock, or something, +from which she fell into the river. The mother, Petrea, was close +by, and her terrific shrieks brought Richard to the spot in time +to save the child. He had not been well for several days, and the +frightful cold he took induced a fever, which seemed to settle in +his eyes, for ever since his sight has been failing until now it +has left him entirely. But hark! isn't some one in the next room?" +and she stepped into the adjoining apartment just as the nimble +Edith disappeared from view. + +She had been sent up by Rachel with a message to Mrs. Atherton, +and was just in time to hear the commencement of Kitty's story. +Any thing relating to the blind man was interesting to her, and so +she listened, her large black eyes growing larger and blacker as +the tale proceeded. It did NOT seem wholly new to her, that story +of the drowning child--that cottage on the Rhine, and for a moment +she heard a strain of low, rich music sung as a lullaby to some +restless, wakeful child. Then the music, the cottage and the blue +Rhine faded away. She could not recall them, but bound as by a +spell she listened still, until the word Petrea dropped from +Kitty's lips. Then she started suddenly. Surely, she'd heard that +NAME before. Whose was it? When was it? Where was it? She could +not tell, and she repeated it in a whisper so loud that it +attracted Kitty's attention. + +"I shall catch it if she finds me listening," thought Edith, as +she heard Kitty's remark, and in her haste to escape she forgot +all about Petrea--all about the lullaby, and remembered nothing +save the noble deed of the heroic Richard. "What a noble man he +must be," she said, "to save that baby's life, and how she would +pity him if she knew it made him blind. I wonder where she is. She +must be most as big as I am now;" and if it were possible Edith's +eyes grew brighter than their wont as she thought how had SHE been +that Swedish child, she would go straight up to Collingwood and be +the blind man's slave. She would read to him. She would see for +him, and when he walked, she would lead him so carefully, removing +all the ugly pegs from his boots, and watching to see that he did +not stub his toes, as she was always doing in her headlong haste. +"What a great good man he is," she kept repeating, while at the +same time she felt an undefinable interest in the Swedish child, +whom at that very moment, Grace Atherton was cursing in her heart +as the cause of Richard's misfortune. + +Kitty was gone at last, and glad to be alone she wept passionately +over this desolation of her hopes, wishing often that the baby had +perished in the river ere it had wrought a work so sad. How she +hated that Swedish mother and her child--how she hated all +children then, even the black haired Edith, out in the autumn +sunshine, singing to herself a long-forgotten strain, which had +come back to her that morning, laden with perfume from the vine- +clad hills of Bingen, and with music from the Rhine. Softly the +full, rich melody came stealing through the open window, and Grace +Atherton as she listened to the mournful cadence felt her heart +growing less hard and bitter toward fate, toward the world, and +toward the innocent Swedish babe. Then as she remembered that +Richard kissed the flowers, a flush mounted to her brow. He did +love her yet; through all the dreary years of their separation he +had clung to her, and would it not atone for her former +selfishness, if now that the world was dark to him, she should +give herself to the task of cheering the deep darkness? It would +be happiness, she thought, to be pointed out as the devoted wife +of the blind man, far greater happiness to bask in the sunlight of +the blind man's love, for Grace Atherton did love him, and in the +might of her love she resolved upon doing that from which she +would have shrunk had he not been as helpless and afflicted as he +was. Edith should be the medium between them. Edith should take +him flowers every day, until he signified a wish for her to come +herself, when she would go, and sitting by his side, would tell +him, perhaps, how sad her life had been since that choice of hers +made on the shore of the deep sea. Then, if he asked her again to +share his lonely lot, she would gladly lay her head upon his +bosom, and whisper back the word she should have said to him seven +years ago. + +It was a pleasant picture of the future which Grace Atherton drew +as she lay watching the white clouds come and go over the distant +tree tops of Collingwood, and listening to the song of Edith, +still playing in the sunshine, and when at dinner time she failed +to appear at the ringing of the bell, and Edith was sent in quest +of her, she found her sleeping quietly, dreaming of the Swedish +babe and Richard Harrington. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +RICHARD AND EDITH. + + +On Richard's darkened pathway, there WAS now a glimmer of +daylight, shed by Edith Hastings' visit, and with a vague hope +that she might come again, he on the morrow groped his way to the +summer house, and taking the seat where he sat the previous day, +he waited and listened for the footstep on the grass which should +tell him she was near. Nor did he wait long ere Edith came +tripping down the walk, bringing the bouquet which Grace had +prepared with so much care. + +"Hist!" dropped involuntarily from her lips, when she descried +him, sitting just where she had, without knowing why, expected she +should find him, and her footfall so light that none save the +blind could have detected it. + +To Richard there was something half amusing, half ridiculous in +the conduct of the capricious child, and for the sake of knowing +what she would do, he professed to be ignorant of her presence, +and leaning back against the lattice, pretended to be asleep, +while Edith came so near that he could hear her low breathing as +she stood still to watch him. Nothing could please her more than +his present attitude, for with his large bright eyes shut she +dared to look at him as much and as long she chose. He was to her +now a kind of divinity, which she worshipped for the sake of the +Swedish baby rescued from a watery grave, and she longed to wind +her arms around his neck and tell him how she loved him for that +act; but she dared not, and she contented herself with whispering +softly, "If I wasn't so spunky and ugly, I'd pray every night that +God would make you see again. Poor blind man." + +It would be impossible to describe the deep pathos of Edith's +voice as she uttered the last three words. Love, admiration, +compassion and pity, all were blended in the tone, and it is not +strange that it touched an answering chord in the heart of the +"poor blind man." Slowly the broad chest heaved, and tears, the +first he had shed since the fearful morning when they led him into +the sunlight he felt but could not see, moistened his lashes, and +dropped upon his face. + +"He's dreaming a bad dream," Edith said, and with her little +chubby hand she brushed his tears away, cautiously, lest she +should rouse him from his slumbers. + +Softly she put back from the white forehead his glossy hair, +taking her own round comb to subdue an obdurate look, while he was +sure that the fingers made more than one pilgrimage to the lips as +the little barber found moisture necessary to her task. + +"There, Mr. Blindman, you look real nice," she said, with an +immense amount of satisfaction, as she stepped back, the better to +inspect the whole effect. "I'll bet you'll wonder who's been here +when you wake up, but I shan't tell you now. Maybe, though, I'll +come again to-morrow," and placing the bouquet in his hands, she +ran away. + +Pausing for a moment, and looking back, she saw Richard again +raise to his lips her bouquet, and with a palpitating heart, as +she thought, "what if he wern't asleep after all!" she ran on +until Brier Hill was reached. + +"Not any message this time either?" said Grace, when told that he +had kissed her flowers, and that was all. + +Still this was proof that he was pleased, and the infatuated woman +persisted in preparing bouquets, which Edith daily carried to +Collingwood, going always at the same time, and finding him always +in the same spot waiting for her. As yet no word had passed +between them, for Edith, who liked the novelty of the affair, was +so light-footed that she generally managed to slip the bouquet +into his hand, and run away ere he had time to detain her. One +morning, however, near the middle of October, when, owing to a +bruised heel, she had not been to see him for more than a week, he +sat in his accustomed place, half-expecting her, and still +thinking how improbable it was that she would come. He had become +strangely attached to the little unknown, as he termed her; he +thought of her all the day long, and when, in the chilly evening, +he sat before the glowing grate, listening to the monotonous +whisperings of his father, he wished so much that she was there +beside him. His life would not be so dreary then, for in the +society of that active, playful child, he should forget, in part, +how miserable he was. She was blue-eyed, and golden-haired, he +thought, with soft, abundant curls veiling her sweet young face; +and he pictured to himself just how she would look, flitting +through the halls, and dancing upon the green sward near the door, + +"But it cannot be," he murmured on that October morning, when he +sat alone in his wretchedness. "Nothing I've wished for most has +ever come to pass. Sorrow has been my birthright from a boy. A +curse is resting upon our household, and all are doomed who come +within its shadow. First my own mother died just when I needed her +the most, then that girlish woman whom I also called my mother; +then, our darling Charlie. My father's reason followed next, while +_I_ am hopelessly blind. Oh, sometimes I wish that I could die." + +"Hold your breath with all your might, and see if you can't," said +the voice of Edith Hastings, who had approached him cautiously, +and heard his sad soliloquy. + +Richard started, and stretching out his long arm, caught the +sleeve of the little girl, who, finding herself a captive, ceased +to struggle, and seated herself beside him as he requested her to +do. + +"Be you holding your breath?" she asked, as for a moment he did +not speak, adding as he made no answer, "Tell me when you're dead, +won't you?" + +Richard laughed aloud, a hearty, merry laugh, which startled +himself, it was so like an echo of the past, ere his hopes were +crushed by cruel misfortune. + +"I do not care to die now that I have you," he said; "and if you'd +stay with me always, I should never be unhappy." + +"Oh, wouldn't that be jolly," cried Edith, using her favorite +expression, "I'd read to you, and sing to you, only Rachel says my +songs are weird-like, and queer, and maybe you might not like +them; but I'd fix your hair, and lead you in the smooth places +where you wouldn't jam your heels;" and she glanced ruefully at +one of hers, bound up in a cotton rag. "I wish I could come, but +Mrs. Atherton won't let me, I know. She threatens most every day +to send me back to the Asylum, 'cause I act so. I'm her little +waiting-maid, Edith Hastings." + +"Waiting maid!" and the tone of Richard's voice was indicative of +keen disappointment. + +The Harringtons were very proud, and Richard would once have +scoffed at the idea of being particularly interested in one so far +below him as a waiting-maid. He had never thought of this as a +possibility, and the child beside him was NOT of quite so much +consequence as she had been before. Still he would know something +of her history, and he asked her where she lived, and why she had +brought him so many flowers. + +"I live with Mrs. Atherton," she replied. "She sent the flowers, +and if you'll never tell as long as you live and breathe, I'll +tell you what Rachel says. Rachel's an old colored woman, who used +to be a nigger down South, but she's free now, and says Mrs. +Atherton loves you. I guess she does, for she fainted most away +that day I went home and told her you were blind." + +"Mrs. Atherton!" and Richard's face grew suddenly dark. "Who is +Mrs. Atherton, child?" + +"Oh-h-h!" laughed Edith deprecatingly; "don't you know her? She's +Grace Atherton--the biggest lady in town; sleeps in linen sheets +and pillow cases every night, and washes in a bath-tub every +morning." + +"Grace Atherton!" and Edith quailed beneath the fiery glance bent +upon her by those black sightless eyes. "Did Grace Atherton send +these flowers to me?" and the bright-hued blossoms dropped +instantly from his hand. + +"Yes, sir, she did. What makes you tear so? Are you in a tantrum?" +said Edith, as he sprang to his feet and began unsteadily to pace +the summer-house. + +Richard Harrington possessed a peculiar temperament, Grace +Atherton had wounded his pride, spurned his love, and he THOUGHT +he hated her, deeming it a most unwomanly act in her to make these +overtures for a reconciliation. This was why he TORE so, as Edith +had expressed it, but soon growing more calm, he determined to +conceal from the quick-witted child the cause of his agitation, +and resuming his seat beside her, he asked her many questions +concerning Grace Atherton and herself, and as he talked he felt +his olden interests in his companion gradually coming back. What +if she were now a waiting-maid, her family might have been good, +and he asked her many things of her early life. But Edith could +tell him nothing. The Orphan Asylum was the first home of which +she had any vivid remembrance, though it did seem to her she once +had lived where the purple grapes were growing rich and ripe upon +the broad vine stalk, and where all the day long there was music +such as she'd never heard since, but which came back to her +sometimes in dreams, staying long enough for her to catch the air. +Her mother, the matron told her, had died in New York, and she was +brought to the Asylum by a woman who would keep her from +starvation. This was Edith's story, told without reserve or the +slightest suspicion that the proud man beside her would think the +less of her because she had been poor and hungry. Neither did he, +after the first shock had worn away; and he soon found himself +wishing again that she would come up there and live with him. She +was a strange, odd child, he knew, and he wondered how she looked. +He did not believe she was golden-haired and blue-eyed now. Still +he would not ask her lest he should receive a second +disappointment, for he was a passionate admirer of female beauty, +and he could not repress a feeling of aversion for an ugly face. + +"Is Mrs. Atherton handsome?" he suddenly asked, remembering the +fresh, girlish beauty of Grace Elmendorff, and wishing to know if +it had faded. + +"Oh, jolly," said Edith, "I guess she is. Such splendid blue hair +and auburn eyes." + +"She must be magnificent," returned Richard, scarcely repressing a +smile. "Give her my compliments and ask her if she's willing NOW +to share my self-imposed labor. Mind, don't you forget a word, and +go now. I'll expect you again to-morrow with her answer." + +He made a gesture for Edith to leave, and though she wanted so +much to tell him how she loved him for saving that Swedish baby, +she forbore until another time, and ran hastily away, repeating +his message as she ran lest she should forget it. + +"Sent his compliments, and says ask you if you're willing to +share, his--his--his--share his--now--something--anyway, he wants +you to come up there and live, and I do so hope you'll go. Won't +it be jolly?" she exclaimed, as half out of breath she burst into +the room where Grace sat reading a letter received by the +morning's mail. + +"Wants me to what?" Grace asked, fancying she had not heard +aright, and as Edith repeated the message, there stole into her +heart a warm, happy feeling, such as she had not experienced since +the orange wreath crowned her maiden brow. + +Edith had not told her exactly what he said, she knew, but it was +sufficient that he cared to see her, and she resolved to gratify +him, but with something of her olden coquetry she would wait +awhile and make him think she was not coming. So she said no more +to Edith upon the subject, but told her that she was expecting her +cousin Arthur St. Claire, a student from Geneva College, that he +would be there in a day or two, and while he remained at Brier +Hill she wished Edith to try and behave herself. + +"This Mr. St. Claire," said she, "belongs to one of the most +aristocratic Southern families. He is not accustomed to anything +low, either in speech or manner." + +"Can't I even say JOLLY?" asked Edith, with such a seriously +comical manner that Grace had great difficulty to keep from +smiling. + +"Jolly" was Edith's pet word, the one she used indiscriminately +and on all occasions, sometimes as an interjection, but oftener as +an adjective. If a thing suited her it was sure to be jolly--she +always insisting that 'twas a good proper word, for MARIE used it +and SHE knew. Who Marie was she could not tell, save that 'twas +somebody who once took care of her and called her jolly. It was in +vain that Grace expostulated, telling her it was a slang phrase, +used only by the vulgar. Edith was inexorable, and would not even +promise to abstain from it during the visit of Arthur St. Claire. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +VISITORS AT COLLINGWOOD AND VISITORS AT BRIER HILL. + + +The morning came at last on which Arthur was expected, but as he +did not appear, Grace gave him up until the morrow, and toward the +middle of the afternoon ordered out her carriage, and drove slowly +in the direction of Collingwood. Alighting before the broad +piazza, and ascending the marble steps, she was asked by Richard's +confidential servant into the parlor, where she sat waiting +anxiously while he went, in quest of his master. + +"A lady, sir, wishes to see you in the parlor," and Victor Dupres +bowed low before Richard, awaiting his commands. + +"A lady, Victor? Did she give her name?" + +"Yes, sir; Atherton--Mrs. Grace Atherton, an old friend, she +said," Victor replied, marveling at the expression of his master's +face, which indicated anything but pleasure. + +He had expected her--had rather anticipated her coming; but now +that she was there, he shrank from the interview. It could only +result in sorrow, for Grace was not to him now what she once had +been. He could value her, perhaps, as a friend, but Edith's tale +had told him that he to her was more than a friend. Possibly this +knowledge was not as distasteful to him as he fancied it to be; at +all events, when he remembered it, he said to Victor: + +"Is the lady handsome?" feeling a glow of satisfaction in the +praises heaped upon the really beautiful Grace. Ere long the hard +expression left his face, and straightening up his manly form, he +bade Victor take him to her. + +As they crossed the threshold of the door, he struck his foot +against it, and instantly there rang in his ear the words which +little Edith had said to him so pityingly, "Poor blind man!" while +he felt again upon his brow the touch of those childish fingers; +and this was why the dark, hard look came back. Edith Hastings +rose up between him and the regal creature waiting so anxiously +his coming, and who, when he came and stood before her, in his +helplessness, wept like a child. + +"Richard! oh, Richard! that it should be thus we meet again!" was +all that she could say, as, seizing the groping hand, she covered +it with her tears. + +Victor had disappeared, and she could thus give free vent to her +emotions, feeling it almost a relief that the eyes whose glance +she once had loved to meet could not witness her grief. + +"Grace," he said at last, the tone of his voice was so cold that +she involuntarily dropped his hands and looked him steadily in the +face. "Grace, do not aggravate my misfortune by expressing too +much sympathy. I am not as miserable as you may think, indeed, I +am not as unhappy even now as yourself." + +"It's true, Richard, true," she replied, "and because I am unhappy +I have come to ask your forgiveness if ever word or action, or +taunt of mine caused you a moment's pain. I have suffered much +since we parted, and my suffering has atoned for all my sin." + +She ceased speaking and softened by memories of the past, when he +loved Grace Elmendorf, Richard reached for her hand, and holding +it between his own, said to her gently, "Grace, I forgave you +years ago. I know you have suffered much, and I am sorry for it, +but we will understand each other now. You are the widow of the +man you chose, I am hopelessly blind--our possessions adjoin each +other, our homes are in sight. I want you for a neighbor, a +friend, a sister, if you like. I shall never marry. That time is +past. It perished with the long ago, and it will, perhaps, relieve +the monotony of my life if I have a female acquaintance to visit +occasionally. I thank you much for your flowers, although for a +time I did not know you sent them, for the little girl would place +them in my hands without a word and dart away before I could stop +her. Still I knew it was a child, and I preserved them carefully +for her sake until she was last here, when I learned who was the +real donor. I am fond of flowers and thank you for sending them. I +appreciate your kindness. I like you much better than I did an +hour since, for the sound of your voice and the touch of your +hands seem to me like old familiar friends. I am glad you came to +see me, Grace. I wish you to come often, for I am very lonely +here. We will at least be friends, but nothing more. Do you +consent to my terms?" + +She had no alternative but to consent, and bowing her head, she +answered back, "Yes, Richard; that is all I can expect, all I +wish. I had no other intention in sending you bouquets." + +He knew that she did not tell him truly, but he pitied her +mortification, and tried to divert her mind by talking upon +indifferent subjects, but Grace was too much chagrined and +disappointed to pay much heed to what he said, and after a time +arose to go. + +"Come again soon," he said, accompanying her to the door, "and +send up that novelty Edith, will you?" + +"Edith," muttered Grace, as she swept haughtily down the box-lined +walk, and stepped into her carriage. "I'll send her back to the +Asylum, as I live. Why didn't she tell me just how it was, and so +prevent me from making myself ridiculous?" + +Grace was far too much disturbed to go home at once. She should do +or say something unlady-like if she did, and she bade Tom drive +her round the village, thus unconsciously giving the offending +Edith a longer time in which to entertain and amuse the guest at +Brier Hill, for Arthur St. Claire had come. + +Edith was the first to spy him sauntering slowly up the walk, and +she watched him curiously as he came, mimicing his gait, and +wondering if he didn't feel big. + +"Nobody's afraid of you," she soliloquised, "if you do belong to +the firstest family in Virginia." Then, hearing Rachel, who +answered his ring, bid him walk into the parlor and amuse himself +till Mrs. Atherton came, she thought, "Wouldn't it be jolly to go +down and entertain him myself. Let me see, what does Mrs. Atherton +say to the Shannondale gentlemen when they call? Oh, I know, she +asks them if they've read the last new novel; how they liked it, +and so on. I can do all that, and maybe he'll think I'm a famous +scholar. I mean to wear the shawl she looks so pretty in," and +going to her mistress' drawer, the child took out and threw around +her shoulders a crimson scarf, which Grace often wore, and then +descended to the parlor, where Arthur St. Claire stood, leaning +against the marble mantel, and listlessly examining various +ornaments upon it. + +At the first sight of him Edith felt her courage forsaking her, +there seemed so wide a gulf between herself and the haughty- +looking stranger, and she was about to leave the room when he +called after her, bidding her stay, and asking who she was. + +"I'm Edith Hastings," she answered, dropping into a chair, and +awkwardly kicking her heels against the rounds in her +embarrassment at having those large, quizzical brown eyes fixed so +inquiringly upon her. + +He was a tall, handsome young man, not yet nineteen years of age, +and in his appearance there certainly was something savoring of +the air supposed to mark the F. F. V's. His manners were polished +in the extreme, possessing, perhaps, a little too much hauteur, +and impressing the beholder with the idea that he could, if he +chose, be very cold and overbearing. His forehead, high and +intellectually formed, was shaded by curls of soft brown hair, +while about his mouth there lurked a mischievous smile, somewhat +at variance with the proud curve of his upper lip, where an +incipient mustache was starting into life. Such was Arthur St. +Claire, as he stood coolly inspecting Edith Hastings, who mentally +styling him the "hatefullest upstart" she ever saw, gave him back +a glance as cool and curious as his own. + +"You are an odd little thing," he said at last. + +"No I ain't neither," returned Edith, the tears starting in her +flashing black eyes. + +"Spunky," was the young man's next remark, as he advanced a step +or two toward her. "But don't let's quarrel, little lady. You've +come down to entertain me, I dare say; and now tell me who you +are." + +His manner at once disarmed the impulsive Edith of all prejudice, +and she replied: + +"I told you I was Edith Hastings, Mrs. Atherton's waiting maid." + +"Waiting maid!" and Arthur St. Claire took a step or two backwards +as he said: "Why are you in here? This is not your place." + +Edith sprang to her feet. She could not misunderstand the feeling +with which he regarded her, and with an air of insulted dignity +worthy of Grace herself, she exclaimed, + +"Oh, how I hate you, Arthur St. Claire! At first I thought you +might be good, like Squire Harrington; but you ain't. I can't bear +you. Ugh!" + +"Squire Harrington? Does he live near here?" and the face which at +the sight of her anger had dimpled all over with smiles, turned +white as Arthur St. Claire asked this question, to which Edith +replied: + +"Yes; he's blind, and he lives up at Collingwood. You can see its +tower now," and she pointed across the fields. + +But Arthur did not heed her, and continued to ply her with +questions concerning Mr. Harrington, asking if he had formerly +lived near Geneva, in western New York, if he had a crazy father, +and if he ever came to Brier Hill. + +Edith's negative answer to this last query seemed to satisfy him, +and when, mistaking his eagerness for a desire to see her +divinity, Edith patronizingly informed him that he might go with +her some time to Collingwood, he answered her evasively, asking if +Richard recognized voices, as most blind people did. + +Edith could not tell, but she presumed he did, for he was the +smartest man that ever lived; and in her enthusiastic praises she +waxed so eloquent, using, withal, so good language, that Arthur +forgot she was a waiting maid, and insensibly began to entertain a +feeling of respect for the sprightly child, whose dark face +sparkled and flashed with her excitement. She WAS a curious +specimen, he acknowledged, and he began adroitly to sound the +depths of her intellect. Edith took the cue at once, and not +wishing to be in the background, asked him, as she had at first +intended doing, if he'd read the last new novel. + +Without in the least comprehending WHAT novel she meant, Arthur +promptly replied that he had. + +"How did you like it?" she continued, adjusting her crimson scarf +as she had seen Mrs. Atherton do under similar circumstances. + +"Very much indeed," returned the young man with imperturbable +gravity, but when with a toss of her head she asked; "Didn't you +think there was too much 'PHYSICS in it?" he went off into peals +of laughter so loud and long that they brought old Rachel to the +door to see if "he was done gone crazy or what." + +Taking advantage of her presence, the crest-fallen Edith crept +disconsolately up the stairs, feeling that she had made a most +ridiculous mistake, and wondering what the word COULD be that +sounded so much like 'PHYSICS, and yet wasn't that at all. She +know she had made herself ridiculous, and was indulging in a fit +of crying when Mrs. Atherton returned, delighted to meet her young +cousin, in whom she felt a pardonable pride. + +"You must have been very lonely," she said, beginning to apologize +for her absence. + +"Never was less so in my life," he replied. "Why, I've been +splendidly entertained by a little black princess, who called +herself your waiting maid, and discoursed most eloquently of +METAPHYSICS and all that." + +"Edith, of course," said Grace. "It's just, like her. Imitated me +in every thing, I dare say." + +"Rather excelled you, I think, in putting on the fine lady," +returned the teasing Arthur, who saw at once that Edith Hastings +was his fair cousin's sensitive point. + +"What else did she say?" asked Grace, but Arthur generously +refrained from repeating the particulars of his interview with the +little girl who, as the days went by, interested him so much that +he forgot his Virginia pride, and greatly to Mrs. Atherton's +surprise, indulged with her in more than one playful romp, +teasingly calling her his little "Metaphysics," and asking if she +hated him still. + +She did not. Next to Richard and Marie, she liked him better than +any one she had ever seen, and she was enjoying his society so +much when a most unlucky occurrence suddenly brought her happiness +to an end, and afforded Grace an excuse for doing what she had +latterly frequently desired to do, viz. that of sending the little +girl back to the Asylum from which she had taken her. + +Owing to the indisposition of the chambermaid, Edith was one day +sent with water to Mr. St. Claire's room. Arthur was absent, but +on the table his writing desk lay open, and Edith's inquisitive +eyes were not long in spying a handsome golden locket, left there +evidently by mistake. Two or three times she had detected him +looking at this picture, and with an eager curiosity to see it +also, she took the locket in her hand, and going to the window, +touched the spring. + +It was a wondrously beautiful face which met her view--the face of +a young girl, whose golden curls rippling softly over her white +shoulders, and whose eyes of lustrous blue, reminded Edith of the +angels about which Rachel sang so devoutly every Sunday. To Edith +there was about that face a nameless but mighty fascination, a +something which made her warm blood chill and tingle in her veins, +while there crept over her a second time dim visions of something +far back in the past--of purple fruit on vine-clad hills--of music +soft and low--of days and nights on some tossing, moving object-- +and then of a huge white building, embowered in tall green trees, +whose milk-white blossoms she gathered in her hand; while distinct +from all the rest was this face, on which she gazed so earnestly. +It is true that all these thoughts were not clear to her mind; it +was rather a confused mixture of ideas, one of which faded ere +another came, so that there seemed no real connection between +them; and had she embodied them in words, they would have been +recognized as the idle fancies of a strange, old-fashioned child. +But the picture--there WAS something in it which held Edith +motionless, while her tongue seemed struggling to articulate a +NAME, but failed in the attempt; and when, at last, her lips did +move, they uttered the word MARIE, as if she too, were associated +with that sweet young face. + +"Oh, but she's jolly," Edith said, "I don't wonder Mr. Arthur +loves her," and she felt her own heart throb with a strange +affection for the beautiful original of that daguerreotype. + +In the hall without there was the sound of a footstep. It was +coming to that room. It was Grace herself, Edith thought; and +knowing she would be censured for touching what did not belong to +her, she thrust the locket into her bosom, intending to return it +as soon as possible, and springing out upon the piazza, scampered +away, leaving the water pail to betray her recent presence. + +It was NOT Grace, as she had supposed, but Arthur St. Claire +himself come to put away the locket, which he suddenly remembered +to have left upon the table. Great was his consternation when he +found it gone, and that no amount of searching could bring it to +light. He did not notice the empty pail the luckless Edith had +left, although he stumbled over it twice in his feverish anxiety +to find his treasure. But what he failed to observe was discovered +by Grace, whom he summoned to his aid, and who exclaimed: + +"Edith Hastings has been here! She must be the thief!" + +"Edith, Grace, Edith--it cannot be," and Arthur's face indicated +plainly the pain it would occasion him to find that it was so. + +"I hope you may be right, Arthur, but I have not so much +confidence in her as you seem to have. There she is now," +continued Grace, spying her across the yard and calling to her to +come. + +Blushing, stammering, and cowering like a guilty thing, Edith +entered the room, for she heard Arthur's voice and knew that he +was there to witness her humiliation. + +"Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, sternly, "what have you been doing?" + +No answer from Edith save an increase of color upon her face, and +with her suspicions confirmed, Grace went on, + +"What have you in your pocket?" + +"'Taint in my pocket; it's in my bosom," answered Edith, drawing +it forth and holding it to view. + +"How dare you steal it," asked Grace, and instantly there came +into Edith's eyes the same fiery, savage gleam from which Mrs. +Atherton always shrank, and beneath which she now involuntarily +quailed. + +It had never occurred to Edith that she could be accused of theft, +and she stamped at first like a little fury, then throwing herself +upon the sofa, sobbed out, "Oh, dear--oh, dear, I wish God would +let me die. I don't want to live any longer in such a mean, nasty +world. I want to go to Heaven, where everything is jolly." + +"You are a fit subject for Heaven," said Mrs. Atherton, +scornfully, and instantly the passionate sobbing ceased; the tears +were dried in the eyes which blazed with insulted dignity as Edith +arose, and looking her mistress steadily in the face, replied, + +"I suppose you think I meant to steal and keep the pretty picture, +but the one who was in here with me knows I didn't." + +"Who was that?" interrupted Grace, her color changing visibly at +the child's reverent reply. + +"God was with me, and I wish he hadn't let me touch it, but he +did. It lay on the writing desk and I took it to the window to see +it. Oh, isn't she jolly?" and as she recalled the beautiful +features, the hard expression left her own, and she went on, "I +couldn't take my eyes from her; they would stay there, and I was +almost going to speak her name, when I heard you coming, and ran +away. I meant to bring it back, Mr. Arthur," and she turned +appealingly to him. "I certainly did, and you believe me, don't +you? I never told a lie in my life." + +Ere Arthur could reply, Grace chimed in. + +"Believe you? Of course not. You stole the picture and intended to +keep it. I cannot have you longer in my family, for nothing is +safe. I shall send you back at once." + +There was a look in the large eyes which turned so hopelessly from +Arthur to Grace, and from Grace back to Arthur, like that the +hunted deer wears when hotly pursued in the chase. The white lips +moved but uttered no sound and the fingers closed convulsively +around the golden locket which Arthur advanced to take away. + +"Let me see her once more," she said. + +He could not refuse her request, and touching the spring he held +it up before her. + +"Pretty lady," she whispered, "sweet lady, whose name I most know, +speak, and tell Mr. Arthur that I didn't do it. I surely didn't." + +This constant appeal to Arthur, and total disregard of herself, +did not increase Mrs. Atherton's amiability, and taking Edith by +the shoulder she attempted to lead her from the room. + +At the door Edith stopped, and said imploringly to Arthur, + +"DO you think I stole it?" + +He shook his head, a movement unobserved by Grace, but fraught +with so much happiness for the little girl. She did not heed +Grace's reproaches now, nor care if she was banished to her own +room for the remainder of the day. Arthur believed her innocent; +Uncle Tom believed her innocent, and Rachel believed her innocent, +which last fact was proved by the generous piece of custard pie +hoisted to her window in a small tin pail, said pail being poised +upon the prongs of a long pitch-fork. The act of thoughtful +kindness touched a tender chord in Edith's heart, and the pie +choked her badly, but she managed to eat it all save the crust, +which she tossed into the grass, laughing to see how near it came +to hitting Mrs. Atherton, who looked around to discover whence it +could possibly have come. + +That night, just before dark, Grace entered Edith's room, and told +her that as Mr. St. Claire, who left them on the morrow, had +business in New York, and was going directly there, she had +decided to send her with him to the Asylum. "He will take a letter +from me," she continued, "telling them why you are sent back, and +I greatly fear it will be long ere you find as good a home as this +has been to you." + +Edith sat like one stunned by a heavy blow. She had not really +believed that a calamity she so much dreaded, would overtake her, +and the fact that it had, paralyzed her faculties. Thinking her in +a fit of stubbornness Mrs. Atherton said no more, but busied +herself in packing her scanty wardrobe, feeling occasionally a +twinge of remorse as she bent over the little red, foreign-looking +chest, or glanced at the slight figure sitting so motionless by +the window. + +"Whose is this?" she asked, holding up a box containing a long, +thick braid of hair. + +"Mother's hair! mothers hair! for Marie told me so. You shan't +touch THAT!" and like a tigress Edith sprang upon her, and +catching the blue-black tress, kissed it passionately, exclaiming, +"'Tis mother's--'tis. I remember now, and I could not think +before, but Marie told me so the last time I saw her, years and +years ago. Oh, mother, if I ever had a mother, where are you to- +night, when I want you so much?" + +She threw herself upon her humble bed, not thinking of Grace, nor +yet of the Asylum, but revelling in her newborn joy. Suddenly, +like a flash of lightning, an incident of the past had come back +to her bewildered mind, and she knew now whose was the beautiful +braid she had treasured so carefully. Long ago--oh, how long it +seemed to her--there had come to the Asylum a short, dumpy woman, +with a merry face, who brought her this hair in a box, telling her +it was her mother's, and also that she was going to a far country, +but should return again sometime--and this woman was Marie, who +haunted her dreams so often, whispering to her of magnolias and +cape-jessamines. All this Edith remembered distinctly, and while +thinking of it she fell asleep, nor woke to consciousness even +when Rachel's kind old hands undressed her carefully and tucked +her up in bed, saying over her a prayer, and asking that Miss +Grace's heart might relent and keep the little girl. It had not +relented when morning came, and still, when at breakfast, Arthur +received a letter, which made it necessary for him to go to New +York by way of Albany, she did suggest that it might be too much +trouble to have the care of Edith. + +"Not at all," he said; and half an hour later Edith was called +into the parlor, and told to get herself in readiness for the +journey. + +"Oh, I can't, I can't," cried Edith, clinging to Mrs. Atherton's +skirt, and begging of her not to send her back. + +"Where will you go?" asked Grace. "I don't want you here." + +"I don't know," sobbed Edith, uttering the next instant a scream +of joy, as she saw, in the distance, the carriage from +Collingwood, and knew that Richard was in it. "To him! to him!" +she exclaimed, throwing up her arms. "Let me go to Mr. Harrington! +He wants me, I know." + +"Are you faint?" asked Grace, as she saw the sudden paling of +Arthur's lips. + +"Slightly," he answered, taking her offered salts, and keeping his +eyes fixed upon the carriage until it passed slowly by, "I'm +better now," he said, returning the salts, and asking why Edith +could not go to Collingwood. + +Grace would rather she should go anywhere else, but she did not +say so to Arthur. She merely replied that Edith was conceited +enough to think Mr. Harrington pleased with her just because he +had sometimes talked to her when she carried him flowers. + +"But of course he don't care for her," she said. "What could a +blind man do with a child like her? Besides, after what has +occurred, I could not conscientiously give her a good name." + +Arthur involuntarily gave an incredulous whistle, which spoke +volumes of comfort to the little girl weeping so passionately by +the window, and watching with longing eyes the Collingwood +carriage now passing from her view. + +"We must go or be left," said Arthur, approaching her gently, and +whispering to her not to cry. + +"Good bye, Edith," said Mrs. Atherton, putting out her jewelled +band; but Edith would not touch it, and in a tone of voice which +sank deep into the proud woman's heart, she answered: + +"You'll be sorry for this some time." + +Old Rachel was in great distress, for Edith was her pet; and +winding her black arms about her neck, she wept over her a simple, +heartfelt blessing, and then, as the carriage drove from the gate, +ran back to her neglected churning, venting her feelings upon the +dasher, which she set down so vigorously that the rich cream flew +in every direction, bespattering the wall, the window, the floor, +the stove, and settling in large white flakes upon her tawny skin +and tall blue turban. + +Passing through the kitchen, Grace saw it all, but offered no +remonstrance, for she knew what had prompted movements so +energetic on the part of odd old Rachel. She, too, was troubled, +and all that, day she was conscious of a feeling of remorse which +kept whispering to her of a great wrong done the little girl whose +farewell words were ringing in her ear: "You'll be sorry for this +some time." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ARTHUR AND EDITH. + + +If anything could have reconciled Edith to her fate, it would have +been the fact that she was travelling with Arthur St. Claire, who, +after entering the cars, cared for her as tenderly as if she had +been a lady of his own rank, instead of a little disgraced waiting +maid, whom he was taking back, to the Asylum. It was preposterous, +he thought, for Grace to call one as young as Edith a waiting +maid, but it was like her, he knew. It had a lofty sound, and +would impress some people with a sense of her greatness; so he +could excuse it much more readily than the injustice done to the +child by charging her with a crime of which he knew she was +innocent. This it was, perhaps, which made him so kind to her, +seeking to divert her mind from her grief by asking her many +questions concerning herself and her family. But Edith did not +care to talk. All the way to Albany she continued crying; and +when, at last, they stood within the noisy depot, Arthur saw that +the tears were still rolling down her cheeks like rain. + +"Poor little girl. How I pity her!" he thought, as she placed her +hand confidingly in his, and when he saw how hopelessly she looked +into his face, as she asked, with quivering lip, if "it wasn't +ever so far to New York yet?" the resolution he had been trying +all the day to make was fully decided upon, and when alone with +Edith in the room appropriated to her at, the Delavan House, he +asked her why she supposed Richard Harrington would be willing to +take her to Collingwood. + +Very briefly Edith related to him the particulars of her +interviews with the blind man, saying, when she had finished, + +"Don't you believe he likes me?" + +"I dare say he does," returned Arthur, at the same time asking if +she would be afraid to stay alone one night in that great hotel, +knowing he was gone?" + +"Oh, Mr. Arthur, you won't leave me here?" and in her terror +Edith's arms wound themselves around the young man's neck as if +she would thus keep him there by force. + +Unclasping her hand's, and holding them in his own, Arthur said, + +"Listen to me, Edith. I will take the Boston train which leaves +here very soon, and return to Shannondale, reaching there some +time to-night. I will go to Collingwood, will tell Mr. Harrington +what has happened, and ask him to take you, bringing him back here +with me, if he will---" + +"And if he won't?" interrupted Edith, joy beaming in every +feature. "If he won't have me, Mr. Arthur, will you? Say, will you +have me if he won't?" + +"Yes, yes, I'll have you," returned Arthur, laughing to himself, +as he thought of the construction which might be put upon this +mode of speech. + +But a child nine and a half years old could not, he knew, have any +designs upon either himself or Richard Harrington, even had she +been their equal, which he fancied she was not. She was a poor, +neglected orphan, and as such he would care for her, though the +caring compelled him to do what scarcely anything else could have +done, to wit, to seek an interview with the man who held his +cherished secret. + +"Are you willing to stay here alone now?" he said again. "I'll +order your meals sent to your room, and to-morrow night I shall +return." + +"If I only knew you meant for sure," said Edith, trembling at the +thought of being deserted in a strange city. + +Suddenly she started, and looking him earnestly in the face, said +to him, + +"Do you love that pretty lady in the glass--the one Mrs. Atherton +thinks I stole?" + +Arthur turned white but answered her at once. + +"Yes, I love her very, very much." + +"Is she your sister, Mr. Arthur?" and the searching black eyes +seemed compelling him to tell the truth. + +"No, not my sister, but a dear friend." + +"Where is she, Mr. Arthur? In New York?" + +"No, not in New York." + +"In Albany then?" + +"No, not in Albany. She's in Europe with her father," and a shade +of sadness crept over Arthur's face, "She was hardly a young lady +when this picture was taken, and he drew the locket from its +hiding place. She was only thirteen. She's not quite sixteen now." + +Edith by this time had the picture in her hand, and holding it to +the light exclaimed, "Oh, but she's so jolly, Mr. Arthur. May I +kiss her, please?" + +"Certainly," he answered, and Edith's warm red lips pressed the +senseless glass, which seemed to smile upon her. + +"Pretty--pretty--pretty N-n-n-Nina!" she whispered, and in an +instant Arthur clutched her so tightly that she cried out with +pain. + +"Who told you her name was Nina?" he asked in tones so stern and +startling that Edith's senses all forsook her, and trembling with +fright she stammered, + +"I don't know, sir--unless you did. Of course you did, how else +should I know. I never saw the lady." + +Yes, how else should she know, and though he would almost have +sworn that name had never passed his lips save in solitude, he +concluded be most have dropped it inadvertently in Edith's +hearing, and still holding her by the arm, he said, "Edith, if I +supposed yon would repeat the word Nina, either at Collingwood or +elsewhere, I certainly should be tempted to leave you here alone." + +"I won't, I won't, oh, Mr. Arthur, I surely won't!" and Edith +clung to him in terror. "I'll never say it--not even to Mr. +Harrington. Ill forget it, I can, I know." + +"Not to Mr. Harrington of all others," thought Arthur, but he +would not put himself more in Edith's power than he already was, +and feeling that he must trust her to a certain extent, he +continued, "If you stay at Collingwood, I may sometime bring this +Nina to see you, but until I do you must never breathe her name to +any living being, or say a word of the picture." + +"But Mr. Harrington," interrupted the far-seeing Edith, "He'll +have to know why Mrs. Atherton sent me away. + +"I'll attend to that," returned Arthur. "I shall tell him it was a +daguerreotype of a lady friend. There's nothing wrong in that, is +there?" he asked, as he noticed the perplexed look of the honest- +hearted Edith. + +"No," she answered hesitatingly. "It is a lady friend, but--but-- +seems as if there was something wrong somewhere. Oh, Mr. Arthur-- +"and she grasped his hand as firmly as he had held her shoulder. +"You ain't going to hurt pretty Nina, are you? You never will do +her any harm?" + +"Heaven forbid," answered Arthur, involuntarily turning away from +the truthful eyes of the dark-haired maiden pleading with him not +to harm the Nina--who, over the sea, never dreamed of the scene +enacted in that room between the elegant Arthur St. Claire and the +humble Edith Hastings. "Heaven forbid that I should harm her---" + +He said it twice, and then asked the child to swear solemnly never +to repeat that name where any one could hear. + +"I won't swear," she said, "but I'll promise as true as I live and +breathe, and draw the breath of life, and that's as good as a +swear." + +Arthur felt that it was, and with the compact thus sealed between +them, he arose to go, reaching out his hand for the picture. + +"No," said Edith, "I want her for company. I shan't be lonesome +looking in her eyes, and I know you will come back if I keep her." + +Arthur understood her meaning, and answered laughingly, "Well, +keep her then, as a token that I will surely return," and pressing +a kiss upon the beautiful picture he left the room, while Edith +listened with a beating heart, until the sound of his footsteps +had died away. Then a sense of dreariness stole over her; the +tears gathered in her eyes, and she sought by a one-sided +conversation with her picture to drive the loneliness away. + +"Pretty Nina! Sweet Nina! Jolly Nina!" she kept repeating, "I +guess I used to see you in Heaven, before I came down to the nasty +old Asylum. And mother was there, too, with a great long veil of +hair, which came below her waist. Where was it?" she asked herself +as Nina, her mother and Marie were all mingled confusedly together +in her mind; and while seeking to solve the mystery, the darkness +deepened in the room, the gas lamps were lighted in the street, +and with a fresh shudder of loneliness Edith crept into the bed, +and nestling down among her pillows, fell asleep with Nina, +pressed lovingly to her bosom. + +At a comparatively early hour next morning, the door of her room, +which had been left unfastened, was opened, and a chambermaid +walked in, starting with surprise at sight of Edith, sitting up in +bed, her thick black hair falling over her shoulders, and her +large eyes fixed inquiringly upon her. + +"An, sure," she began, "is it a child like you staying here alone +the blessed night? Where's yer folks?" + +"I hain't no folks," answered Edith, holding fast to the locket, +and chewing industriously the bit of gum which Rachel, who knew +her taste, had slipped into her pocket at parting. + +"Hain't no folks! How come you here then?" and the girl Lois +advanced nearer to the bedside. + +"A man brought me," returned Edith. "He's gone off now, but will +come again to-night." + +"Your father, most likely," continued the loquacious Lois. + +"My father!" and Edith laughed scornfully, "Mr. Arthur ain't big +enough to be anybody's father--or yes, maybe he's big enough, for +he's awful tall. But he's got the teentiest whiskers growing you +ever saw," and Edith's nose went up contemptuously at Arthur's +darling mustache. "I don't believe he's twenty," she continued, +"and little girl's pa's must be older than that I guess, and have +bigger whiskers." + +"How old are you?" asked Lois, vastly amused at the quaint +speeches of the child, who replied, with great dignity, + +"Going on TEN, and in three years more I'll be THIRTEEN!" + +"Who are you, any way?" asked Lois, her manner indicating so much +real interest that Edith repeated her entire history up to the +present time, excepting, indeed, the part pertaining to the locket +held so vigilantly in her hand. + +She had taken a picture belonging to Mr. Arthur, she said, and as +Lois did not ask what picture, she was spared any embarrassment +upon that point. + +"You're a mighty queer child," said Lois, when the narrative was +ended; "but I'll see that you have good care till he comes back;" +and it was owing, in a measure, to her influence, that the +breakfast and dinner carried up to Edith was of a superior +quality, and comprised in quantity far more than she could eat. + +Still the day dragged heavily, for Lois could not give her much +attention; and even Nina failed to entertain her, as the western +sunlight came in at her window, warning her that it was almost +night. + +"Will Arthur come? or if he does, will Mr. Harrington be with +him?" she asked herself repeatedly, until at last, worn out with +watching and waiting, she laid her head upon the side of the bed, +and fell asleep, resting so quietly that she did not hear the +rapid step in the hall, the knock upon the door, the turning of +the knob, or the cheery voice which said to her: + +"Edith, are you asleep?" + +Arthur had come. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +RICHARD AND ARTHUR. + + +It was not a common occurrence for a visitor to present himself at +Collingwood at so early an hour as that in which Arthur St. Claire +rung for admittance, and Victor, who heard the bell, hastened in +some surprise to answer it, + +"Tell Mr. Harrington a stranger wishes to see him," said Arthur, +following the polite valet into the library, where a fire was +slowly struggling into life. + +"Yes, sir. What name?" and Victor waited for a moment, while +Arthur hesitated, and finally stammered out: + +"Mr. St. Claire, from Virginia." + +Immediately Victor withdrew, and seeking his master, delivered the +message, adding that the gentleman seemed embarrassed, and he +wouldn't wonder if he'd come to borrow money." + +"St Claire--St. Claire," Richard repeated to himself. "Where have +I heard that name before? Somewhere, sure." + +"He called himself a stranger," returned Victor, adding that a +youth by that name was visiting at Brier Hill, and it was probably +of him that Mr. Harrington was thinking, + +"It may be, though I've no remembrance of having heard that fact," +returned Richard; "but, lead on," and he took the arm of Victor, +who lead him to the library floor and then, as was his custom, +turned away. + +More than once during the rapid journey, Arthur had half resolved +to turn back and not run the fearful risk of being recognized by +Richard Harrington, but the remembrance of Edith's mute distress +should he return alone, emboldened him to go on and trust to +Providence, or, if Providence failed, trust to Richard's +generosity not to betray his secret. He heard the uncertain +footsteps in the hall, and forgetting that the eyes he so much +dreaded could not see, he pulled his coat collar up around his +face so as to conceal as much of it as possible. + +"Mr. St. Claire? Is there such a person here?" and Richard +Harrington had crossed the threshold of the door, and with his +sightless eyes rolling around the room, stood waiting for an +answer. + +How well Arthur remembered that rich, full, musical voice. It +seemed to him but yesterday since, he heard it before, and he +shrank more and more from the reply which must be made to that +question, and quickly, too, for the countenance of the blind man +was beginning to wear a look of perplexity at the continued +silence. + +Summoning all his courage he stepped forward and taking the hand +groping in the air, said rapidly, "Excuse me, Mr. Harrington, I +hardly know what to say, I've come upon so queer an errand. You +know Edith Hastings, the little girl who lived with Mrs. +Atherton?" + +He thought by introducing Edith at once to divert the blind man +from himself; but Richard's quick ear had caught a tone not wholly +unfamiliar as he replied, + +"Yes, I know Edith Hastings, and it seems to me I ought to know +you, too. I've heard your name and voice before. Wasn't it in +Geneva?" and the eagle eves fastened themselves upon the wall just +back of where Arthur stood. + +Arthur fairly gasped for breath, and for an instant he was as +blind as Richard himself; then, catching at the word Geneva, he +answered, "Did you ever live in Geneva, sir?" + +"Not in the village, but near there on the lake shore," answered +Richard, and Arthur continued, + +"You probably attended the examinations then at the Academy, and +heard me speak. I was a pupil there nearly two years before +entering the college." + +Arthur fancied himself remarkably clever for having suggested an +idea which seemed so perfectly to satisfy his companion and which +was not a falsehood either. He had been a student in the Academy +for nearly two years, had spoken at all the exhibitions, receiving +the prize at one; he had seen Richard Harrington among the +spectators, and had no doubt that Richard might have observed him, +though not very closely, else he had never put himself in his +power by the one single act which was embittering his young life. + +"It is likely you are right," said Richard, "I was often at the +examinations, and since my misfortune I find myself recognizing +voices as I never could have done when I had sight as well as +hearing upon which to depend. But you spoke of Edith Hastings. I +trust no harm has befallen the child. I am much interested in her +and--wonder she has not been here long ere this. What would you +tell me of her?" + +Briefly Arthur related the particulars of his visit at Brier Hill, +a visit which had ended so disastrously to Edith, and even before +he reached the important point, Richard answered promptly, "She +shall come here, I need her, I want her--want her for my sister, +my child. I shall never have another;" then pressing his hands +suddenly up on his forehead, whose blue veins seemed to swell with +the intensity of his emotions, he continued. "But, no, Mr. St. +Claire. It cannot be, she is too young, too merry-hearted, too +full of life and love to be brought into the shadow of our +household. She would die upon my hands. Her voice would grow +sadder and more mournful with the coming of every season, until at +last when I had learned to love her as my life, I should some +morning listen for what, would never greet my ear again. It's a +great temptation, but it must not be. A crazy old man and his +blind son are not fit guardians for a child like Edith Hastings. +She must not walk in our darkness." + +"But might not her presence bring daylight to that darkness?" +asked Arthur, gazing with mingled feelings of wonder and +admiration upon the singularly handsome noble-looking man, who was +indeed walking in thick darkness. + +"She might," said Richard. "Yes, she might bring the full rich +daylight to us, but on her the shadow would fail with a fearful +blackness if she linked her destiny with mine. Young man, do you +like Edith Hastings, if so, take her yourself and if money----" + +Arthur here interrupted him with, "I have money of my own, sir; +but I have no home at present. I am a student in college. I can do +nothing with her there, but--" and his voice sunk almost to a +whisper. "Years hence, I hope to have a home, and then, if you are +tired of Edith I will take her. Meantime keep her at Collingwood +for me. Is it a bargain?" + +"You are young, I think," said Richard, smiling at Arthur's +proposition, and smiling again, when in tones apologetical, as if +to be only so old were something of which he ought to be ashamed, +Arthur returned, + +"I am nineteen this month." + +"And I was thirty, last spring," said Richard. "An old man, you +think, no doubt. But to return to Edith Hastings. My heart wants +her so much, while my better judgment rebels against it. Will she +be greatly disappointed if I refuse?" + +"Oh, yes, yes," said Arthur, grasping the hand laying on Richard's +knee. "I CAN'T go back to her without you. But, Mr. Harrington, +before I urge it farther, let me ask as her friend, will she come +here as a SERVANT, or an equal." + +There was an upward flashing of the keen black eyes, a flush upon +the high, white forehead, and Richard impatiently stamped upon the +floor as he answered proudly, + +"She comes as an equal, or not at all. She shall be as highly +educated and as thoroughly accomplished as if the blood of the +Harrington's flowed in her veins." + +"Then take her," and Arthur seemed more anxious than before. "She +will do justice to your training. She will be wondrously +beautiful. She will grace the halls of Collingwood with the air of +England's queen. You will not be ashamed of her, and who knows but +some day--" + +Arthur began to stammer, and at last managed to finish with, +"There is NOT such a vast difference in your ages. Twenty-one +years is nothing when weighed against the debt of gratitude she +will owe you--" + +"There, I've made a fool of myself," he thought, as he saw the +forehead tie itself up in knots, and the corners of the mouth +twitch with merriment. + +"By that last speech you've proved how YOUNG and romantic you +are," answered Richard. "Winter and spring go not well together. +Edith Hastings will never be my wife. But she shall come to +Collingwood. I will return with you and bring her back myself." + +Ringing the bell for Victor, he bade him see that breakfast was +served at once, saying that he was going with his friend to +Albany. + +"Without ME?" asked Victor in much surprise, and Richard replied, + +"Yes, without you," adding in an aside to Arthur, "Victor is so +much accustomed to waiting upon me that he thinks himself +necessary to every movement, but I'd rather travel alone with +Edith, she'll do as well as Victor, and I have a fancy to keep my +movements a secret, at least until the child is fairly in the +house. It will be a surprise to Mrs. Atherton; I'll have John +drive us to the next station, and meet me there to-morrow," + +So saying, he excused himself for a few moments and groped his way +up stairs to make some necessary changes in his dress. For several +minutes Arthur was alone, and free to congratulate himself upon +his escape from detection. + +"In my dread of recognition I undoubtedly aggravated its chances," +he thought. "Of course this Mr. Harrington did not observe me +closely. It was night, and he was almost blind, even then. My +voice and manner are all that can betray me, and as he is +apparently satisfied on that point, I have nothing further to +apprehend from him." + +Arthur liked to feel well--disagreeable reflections did not suit +his temperament, and having thus dismissed from his mind the only +thing annoying him at the present, he began to examine the books +arrayed so carefully upon the shelves, whistling to himself as he +did so, and pronouncing Arthur St. Claire a pretty good fellow +after all, if he had a secret of which most people would not +approve. He had just reached this conclusion when Richard +reappeared, and breakfast was soon after announced by the valet, +Victor. That being over, there was not a moment to be lost if they +would reach the cars in time for the next train, and bidding his +father a kind adieu, Richard went with Arthur to the carriage, and +was driven to the depot of the adjoining town. More than one +passenger turned their heads to look at the strangers as they came +in, the elder led by the younger, who yet managed so skillfully +that but few guessed how great a calamity had befallen the man +with the dark hair, and black, glittering eyes. Arthur took a +great pride in ministering to the wants of his companion, and in +all he did there was a delicacy and tenderness which touched a +chord almost fraternal in the heart of the blind man, who, as the +day wore on, found himself drawn more and more toward his new +acquaintance. + +"I believe even I might be happy if both you and Edith could live +with me," he said, at last, when Albany was reached, and they were +ascending the steps to the Delevan. + +"Poor little Edith," rejoined Arthur, "I wonder if she has been +very lonely? Shall we go to her at once?" + +"Yes," answered Richard, and leaning on Arthur's arm, he proceeded +to the door of Edith's room. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +RICHARD AND EDITH. + + +"Oh, Mr. Arthur, you did come back," and forgetting, in her great +joy, that Arthur was a gentleman, and she a waiting-maid, Edith +wound her arms around his neck, and kissed him twice ere he well +knew what she was doing. + +For an instant the haughty young man felt a flush of insulted +dignity, but it quickly vanished when he saw the tall form of +Richard bending over the little girl and heard him saying to her, + +"Have you no welcoming kiss for me?" + +"Yes, forty hundred, if you like," and in her delight Edith danced +about the room like one insane. + +Thrusting the locket slily into Arthur's hand, she whispered, + +"I slept with her last night, and dreamed it was not the first +time either. Will you ask her when you see her if she ever knew +me?" + +"Yes, yes," he answered, making a gesture for her to stop as +Richard was about to speak. + +"Edith, said Richard, winding his arm around her, "Edith, I have +come to take you home--to take you to Collingwood to live with me. +Do you wish to go?" + +"Ain't there ghosts at Collingwood?" asked Edith, who, now that +what she most desired was just within her reach, began like every +human being to see goblins in the path. "Ain't there ghosts, at +Collingwood?--a little boy with golden curls, and must I sleep in +the chamber with him?" + +"Poor child," said Richard, "You too, have heard that idle tale. +Shall I tell you of the boy with golden hair?" and holding her so +close to him that he could feel the beating of her heart and hear +her soft, low breathing, he told her all there was to tell of his +half-brother Charlie, who died just one day after his young +mother, and was buried in the same coffin. + +They could not return to Collingwood that night, and the evening +was spent in the private parlor which Arthur engaged for himself +and his blind friend. It was strange how fast they grew to liking +each other, and it was a pleasant sight to look at them as they +sat there in the warm firelight which the lateness of the season +made necessary to their comfort--the one softened and toned down +by affliction and the daily cross he was compelled to bear, the +other in the first flush of youth when the world lay all bright +before him and he had naught to do but enter the Elysian fields +and pluck the fairest flowers. + +It was late when they separated, but at a comparatively early hour +the next morning they assembled again, this time to bid good-by, +for their paths hereafter lay in different directions. + +"You must write to me, little metaphysics," said Arthur, as with +hat and shawl in hand he stood in the depot on the east side of +the Hudson. + +"Yes," rejoined Richard, "she is to be my private amanuensis, and +shall let you know of our welfare, and now, I suppose, we must +go." + +It was a very pleasant ride to Edith, pleasanter than when she +came with Arthur, but a slight headache made her drowsy, and +leaning on Richard's arm she fell asleep, nor woke until West +Shannondale was reached. The carriage was in waiting for them, and +Victor sat inside. He had come ostensibly to meet his master, but +really to see the kind of specimen he was bringing to the +aristocratic halls of Collingwood. + +Long and earnest had been the discussion there concerning the +little lady; Mrs. Matson, the housekeeper, sneering rather +contemptuously at one who heretofore had been a servant at Brier +Hill. Victor, on the contrary, stood ready to espouse her cause, +thinking within himself how he would teach her many points of +etiquette of which he knew she must necessarily be ignorant; but +firstly he would, to use his own expression, "see what kind of +metal she was made of." + +Accordingly his first act at the depot was to tread upon her toes, +pretending he did not see her, but Edith knew he did it purposely, +and while her black eyes blazed with anger, she exclaimed, + +"You wretch, how dare you be so rude?" + +Assisting Richard into the carriage, Victor was about to turn +away, leaving Edith to take care of herself, when with all the air +of a queen, she said to him, + +"Help me in, sir. Don't you know your business!" + +"Pardonnez, moi," returned Victor, speaking in his mother tongue, +and bowing low to the indignant child, whom he helped to a seat by +Richard. + +An hour's drive brought them to the gate of Collingwood, and Edith +was certainly pardonable if she did cast a glance of exultation in +the direction of Brier Hill, as they wound up the gravelled road +and through the handsome grounds of what henceforth was to be her +home. + +"I guess Mrs. Atherton will be sorry she acted so," she thought, +and she was even revolving the expediency of putting on airs and +not speaking to her former mistress, when the carriage stopped and +Victor appeared at the window all attention, and asking if he +should "assist Miss Hastings to alight." + +In the door Mrs. Matson was waiting to receive them, rubbing her +gold-bowed spectacles and stroking her heavy silk with an air +which would have awed a child less self-assured than Edith. +Nothing grand or elegant seemed strange or new to her. On the +contrary she took to it naturally as if it were her native +clement, and now as she stepped upon the marble floor of the lofty +hall she involuntarily cut a pirouette, exclaiming, "Oh, but isn't +this jolly! Seems as if I'd got back to Heaven. What a splendid +room to sing in," and she began to warble a wild, impassioned air +which made Richard pause and listen, wondering whence came the +feeling which so affected him carrying him back to the hills of +Germany. + +Mrs. Matson looked shocked, Victor amused, while the sensible +driver muttered to himself as he gathered up his reins, "That gal +is just what Collingwood needs to keep it from being a dungeon." + +Mrs. Matson had seen Edith at Brier Hill, but this did not prevent +her from a close scrutiny as she conducted her to the large, +handsome chamber, which Richard in his hasty directions of the +previous morning had said was to be hers, and which, with its +light, tasteful furniture, crimson curtains, and cheerful blazing +fire seemed to the delighted child a second paradise. Clapping her +hands she danced about the apartment, screaming, "It's the +jolliest place I ever was in." + +"What do you mean by that word JOLLY?" asked Mrs. Matson, with a +great deal of dignity; but ere Edith could reply, Victor, who came +up with the foreign chest, chimed in, "She means PRETTY, Madame +Matson, and understands French, no doubt. Parley vous Francais?" +and he turned to Edith, who, while recognizing something familiar +in the sound, felt sure he was making fun of her and answered +back, "Parley voo fool! I'll tell Mr. Harrington how you tease +me." + +Laughing aloud at her reply, Victor put the chest in its place, +made some remark concerning its quaint appearance, and bowed +himself from the room, saying to her as he shut the door, + +"Bon soir, Mademoiselle." + +"I've heard that kind of talk before," thought Edith, as she began +to brush her hair, preparatory to going down to supper, which Mrs. +Matson said was waiting. + +At the table she met with the old man, who had seen her alight +from the carriage, and had asked the mischievous Victor, "Who was +the small biped Richard had brought home?" + +"That," said Victor. "Why, that is Charlie turned into a girl." +And preposterous as the idea seemed, the old man seized upon it at +once, smoothing Edith's hair when he saw her, tapping her rosy +cheeks, calling her Charlie, and muttering to himself of the +wonderful process which had transformed his fair-haired boy into a +black-haired girl. + +Sometimes the utter impossibility of the thing seemed to penetrate +even his darkened mind, and then he would whisper, "I'll make +believe it's Charlie, any way," so Charlie he persisted in calling +her, and Richard encouraged him in this whim, when he found how +much satisfaction it afforded the old man to "make believe." + +The day following Edith's arrival at Collingwood there was a long +consultation between Richard and Victor concerning the little +girl, about whose personal appearance the former would now know +something definite. + +"How does Edith Hastings look?" he asked, and after a moment of +grave deliberation, Victor replied, + +"She has a fat round face, with regular features, except that the +nose turns up somewhat after the spitfire order, and her mouth is +a trifle too wide. Her forehead is not very high--it would not +become her style if it were. Her hair is splendid--thick, black +and glossy as satin, and her eyes,--there are not words enough +either in the French or English language with which to describe +her eyes--they are so bright and deep that nobody can look into +them long without wincing. I should say, sir, if put on oath, +there was a good deal of the deuce in her eyes." + +"When she is excited, you mean," interrupted Richard. "How are +they in repose?" + +"They are never there," returned Victor. "They roll and turn and +flash and sparkle, and light upon one so uncomfortably, that he +begins to think of all the badness he ever did, and to wonder if +those coals of fire can't ferret out the whole thing." + +"I like her eyes," said Richard, "but go on. Tell me of her +complexion." + +"Black, of course," continued Victor, "but smooth as glass, with +just enough of red in it to make rouge unnecessary. On the whole I +shouldn't wonder if in seven or eight years' time she'd be as +handsome as the young lady of Collingwood ought to be." + +"How should she be dressed?" asked Richard, who knew that Victor's +taste upon such matters was infallible, his mother and sister both +having been Paris mantua-makers. + +"She should have scarlet and crimson and dark blue trimmed with +black," said Victor, adding that he presumed Mrs. Atherton would +willingly attend to those matters. + +Richard was not so sure, but he thought it worth the while to try, +and he that night dispatched Victor to Brier Hill with a request +that she would, if convenient, call upon him at once. + +"Don't tell her what I want," he said, "I wish to surprise her +with a sight of Edith." + +Victor promised obedience and set off for Brier Hill, where he +found no one but Rachel, sitting before this kitchen fire, and +watching the big red apples roasting upon the hearth. + +"Miss Grace had started that morning for New York," she said, "and +the Lord only knew when she'd come home." + +"And as he probably won't tell, I may as well go back," returned +Victor, and bidding Rachel send her mistress to Collingwood as +soon as she should return, he bowed himself from the room. + +As Rachel said, Grace had gone to New York, and the object of her +going was to repair the wrong done to Edith Hastings, by taking +her a second time from the Asylum, and bringing her back to Brier +Hill. Day and night the child's parting words, "You'll be sorry +sometime," rang in her ears, until she could endure it no longer, +and she astonished the delighted Rachel by announcing her +intention of going after the little girl. With her to will was to +do, and while Victor was reporting her absence to his master, she, +half-distracted, was repeating the words of the matron, + +"Has not been here at all, and have not heard from her either! +What can it mean?" + +The matron could not tell, and for several days Grace lingered in +the city, hoping Arthur would appear, but as he failed to do this, +she at last wrote to him at Geneva, and then, in a sad, perplexed +state of mind, returned to Shannondale, wondering at and even +chiding old Rachel for evincing so little feeling at her +disappointment. + +But old Rachel by this time had her secret which she meant to +keep, and when at last Grace asked if any one had called during +her absence, she mentioned the names of every one save Victor, and +then tried very hard to think "who that 'tother one was. She +knowed there WAS somebody else, but for the life of her she +couldn't"--Rachel did not quite dare to tell so gross a falsehood, +and so at this point she concluded to THINK, and added suddenly, + +"Oh, yes, I remember now. 'Twas that tall, long-haired, scented- +up, big-feelin' man they call Squire Herrin'ton's VALLY." + +"Victor Dupres been here!" and Grace's face lighted perceptibly. + +"Yes, he said MOUSE-EER, or somethin' like that--meanin' the +squire, in course--wanted you to come up thar as soon as you got +home, and my 'pinion is that you go to oncet. 'Twont be dark this +good while." + +Nothing could be more in accordance with Grace's feelings than to +follow Rachel's advice, and, half an hour later, Victor reported +to his master that the carriage from Brier Hill had stopped before +their door. It would be impossible to describe Mr. Atherton's +astonishment when, on entering the parlor, the first object that +met her view was her former waiting-maid, attired in the crimson +merino which Mrs. Matson, Lulu, the chambermaid, and Victor had +gotten up between them; and which, though not the best fit in the +world, was, in color, exceedingly becoming to the dark-eyed child, +who, perched upon the music-stool, was imitating her own operatic +songs to the infinite delight of the old man, nodding his approval +of the horrid discords. + +"Edith Hastings!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" +Springing from the stool and advancing towards Grace, Edith +replied, + +"I live here. I'm Mr. Richard's little girl. I eat at the table +with him, too, and don't have to wash the dishes either. I'm going +to be a lady just like you, ain't I, Mr. Harrington?" and she +turned to Richard, who had entered in time to hear the last of her +remarks. + +There was a world of love in the sightless eyes turned toward the +little girl, and by that token, Grace Athertoa knew that Edith had +spoken truly. + +"Run away, Edith," he said, "I wish to talk with the lady alone." + +Edith obeyed, and when she was gone Richard explained to Grace +what seemed to her so mysterious, while she in return confessed +the injustice done to the child, and told how she had sought to +repair the wrong. + +"I am glad you have taken her," she said. "She will be happier +with you than with me, for she likes you best. I think, too, she +will make good use of any advantages you may give her. She has a +habit of observing closely, while her powers of imitation are +unsurpassed. She is fond of elegance and luxury, and nothing can +please bar more than to be an equal in a house like this. But what +do you wish of me? What can I do to assist you?" + +In a few words Richard stated his wishes that she should attend to +Edith's wardrobe, saying he had but little faith in Mrs. Matson's +taste. He could not have selected a better person to spend his +money than Grace, who, while purchasing nothing out of place, +bought always the most expensive articles in market, and when at +last the process was ended, and the last dressmaker gone from +Collingwood, Victor, with a quizzical expression upon his face, +handed his master a bill for five hundred dollars, that being the +exact amount expended upon Edith's wardrobe. But Richard uttered +no word of complaint. During the few weeks she had lived with him +she had crept away down into his heart just where Charlie used to +be, and there was nothing in his power to give which he would +withhold from her now. She should have the best of teachers, he +said, particularly in music, of which she was passionately fond. + +Accordingly, in less than a week there came to Collingwood a +Boston governess, armed and equipped with all the accomplishments +of the day; and beneath the supervision of Richard and Victor, +Grace Atherton and Mrs. Chapen, Edith's education began. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +WOMANHOOD. + + +Eight times have the Christmas fires been kindled on the hearths +of Shannondale's happy homes; eight times the bell from St Luke's +tower has proclaimed an old year dead, and a new one born; eight +times the meek-eyed daisy struggling through the April snow, has +blossomed, faded and died; eight times has summer in all her +glowing beauty sat upon the New England hills, and the mellow +autumnal light of the hazy October days falls on Collingwood for +the eighth time since last we trod the winding paths and gravelled +walks where now the yellow leaves are drifting down from the tall +old maples and lofty elms, and where myriad flowers of gorgeous +hue are lifting their proud heads unmindful of the November frosts +hastening on apace. All around Collingwood seems the same, save +that the shrubs and vines show a more luxurious growth, and the +pond a wider sweep, but within there is an empty chair, a vacant +place, for the old man has gone to join his lost ones where there +is daylight forever, and the winter snows have four times fallen +upon his grave. They missed him at first and mourned for him +truly, but they have become accustomed to live without him, and +the household life goes on much as it did before. + +It is now the afternoon of a mild October day, and the doors and +windows are opened wide to admit the warm south wind, which, +dallying for a moment with the curtains of costly lace, floats on +to the chamber above, where it toys with the waving plumes a young +girl is arranging upon her riding hat, pausing occasionally to +speak to the fair blonde who sits watching her movements, and +whose face betokens a greater maturity than her own, for Grace +Atherton's family Bible says she is thirty-two, while Edith is +seventeen. + +Beautiful Edith Hastings. Eight years of delicate nurture, tender +care and perfect health have ripened her into a maiden of wondrous +beauty, and far and near the people talk of the blind man's ward, +the pride and glory of Collingwood. Neither pains nor money, nor +yet severe discipline, have been spared by Richard Harrington to +make her what she is, and while her imperious temper has bent to +the one, her intellect and manners have expanded and improved +beneath this influence of the other, and Richard has not only a +plaything and pet in the little girl he took from obscurity, but +also a companion and equal, capable of entering with him the mazy +labyrinths of science, and astonishing him with the wealth of her +richly stored mind. Still, in everything pertaining to her +womanhood she is wholly feminine and simple-hearted as a child. +Now, as of old, she bounds through the spacious grounds of +Collingwood, trips over the grassy lawn, dances up the stairs, and +fills the once gloomy old place with a world of melody and +sunlight. Edith knows that she is beautiful! old Rachel has told +her so a thousand times, while Victor, the admiring valet, tells +her so every day, taking to himself no little credit for having +taught her, as he thinks, something of Parisian manners. Many are +the conversations she holds with him in his mother tongue, for she +has learned to speak that language with a fluency and readiness +which astonished her teachers and sometimes astonished herself. It +did not seem difficult to her, but rather like an old friend, and +Marie at first was written on every page of Ollendorff. But Marie +has faded now almost entirely from her mind, as have those other +mysterious memories which used to haunt her so. Nothing but the +hair hidden in the chest binds her to the past, and at this she +often looks, wondering where the head it once adorned is lying, +whether in the noisy city or on some grassy hillside where the +wild flowers she loves best are growing, and the birds whose songs +she tries to imitate, pause sometimes to warble a requiem for the +dead. Those tresses are beautiful, but not so beautiful as +Edith's. Her blue-black hair is thicker, glossier, more abundant +than in her childhood, and is worn in heavy braids or bands around +her head, adding greatly to her regal style of beauty. Edith has a +pardonable pride in her satin hair, and as she stands before the +mirror she steals an occasional glance at her crowning glory, +which is this afternoon arranged with far more care than usual; +not for any particular reason, but because she had a fancy that it +should be so. + +They were going to visit Grassy Spring, a handsome country seat, +whose grounds lay contiguous to those of Collingwood, and whose +walls were in winter plainly discernible from the windows of the +upper rooms. It had recently been purchased and fitted up somewhat +after the style of Collingwood, and its owner was expected to take +possession in a few days. Edith's heart always beat faster when +she heard his name, for Arthur St. Claire was one of the links of +the past which still lingered in the remembrance. She had never +seen him since they parted in Albany, and after his leaving +college she lost sight of him entirely. Latterly, however, she had +heard from Grace, who knew but little more of him than herself, +that he was coming into their very neighborhood; that at he had +purchased Grassy Spring, and was to keep a kind of bachelor's hall +inasmuch as he had no wife, nor yet a prospect of any. So much +Edith knew and no more. She did not dare to speak of NINA, for +remembering her solemn promise, she had never breathed that name +to any living being. But the picture in the glass, as she ever +termed it, was not forgotten, and the deep interest she felt in +Grassy Spring was owing, in a great measure, to the fact that Nina +was in her mind intimately associated with the place. Sooner or +later she should meet her there, she was sure; should see those +golden curls again, and look into those soft blue eyes, whose +peculiar expression she remembered as if it were but yesterday +since they first met her view. + +"It is strange your cousin never married; he must, by this time, +be nearly twenty-seven," she said to Grace, thinking the while of +Nina, and carelessly adjusting the jaunty hat upon her head. + +"I think so too," returned Grace. "When quite young he was very +fond of the ladies, but I am told that he now utterly ignores +female society. Indeed, in his last letter to me, he states +distinctly that he wishes for no company except occasional calls +in a friendly way." + +"Been disappointed, probably," suggested Edith, still thinking of +Nina, and wondering if Arthur did love her so very much as to put +faith in no one because of her treachery. + +"It may be," said Grace; "and if so, isn't it a little queer that +he and Mr. Harrington should live so near each other; both so +eccentric; both so handsome and rich; both been disappointed; and +both so desirable as husbands?" + +"Disappointed, Mrs. Atherton! Has Mr. Harrington been +disappointed?" and the rich bloom on Edith's cheek deepened to a +scarlet hue, which Grace did not fail to notice. + +Her friendship for Edith Hastings had been a plant of sluggish +growth, for she could not, at once, bring herself to treat as an +equal one whom she formerly held as a servant, but time and +circumstances had softened her haughty pride, while Edith's +growing popularity, both in the village and at Collingwood, +awakened in her a deep interest for the young girl, who, meeting +her advances more than half the way, compelled her at last to +surrender, and the two were now as warm friends as individuals +well can be when there is between them so great a disparity of +years and so vast a difference in disposition. In Grace's heart +the olden love for Richard had not died out, and hitherto, it had +been some consolation to believe that no other ear would ever +listen to the words of love, to remember which continually would +assuredly drive her mad. But matters now were changed. Day by day, +week by week, month by month, and year by year, a rose had been +unfolding itself at Collingswood, and with every opening petal had +grown more and more precious to the blind man, until more than one +crone foretold the end; and Grace Atherton, grown fonder of gossip +than she was wont to be, listened to the tale, and watched, and +wondered, and wept, and still caressed and loved the bright, +beautiful girl, whom she dreaded as a powerful rival. This it was +which prompted her to speak of Richard's disappointment; and when +she saw the effect produced upon Edith, it emboldened her to go +on, and tell how, years and years ago, when Richard Harrington +first went to Europe, be had sued for the hand of a young girl +whom he met there, and who, while loving him dearly, shrank from +walking in his shadow, and gave herself to another. + +"I must not tell you the name of this faithless girl," said Grace. +"It is sufficient that her refusal made Richard gloomy, eccentric +and misanthropical; in short, it nearly ruined him." + +"My curse be on the woman's head who wrought this ruin, then," +said Edith, her black eyes flashing with something of their former +fire. + +She had forgotten the scene in the kitchen of Brier Hill when +Rachel whispered to her that Grace Atherton was in love, and she +had now no suspicion that the calm, white-faced woman sitting +there before her was the being she would curse. Neither was her +emotion caused, as Grace imagined, by any dread lest the early +love of Richard Harrington should stand between herself and him. +The thought that SHE could be his wife had never crossed her +brain, and her feelings were those of indignation toward a person +who could thus cruelly deceive a man as noble and good as Richard, +and of pity for him who had been so deceived. + +"I will love him all the more and be the kinder to him for this +vile creature's desertion," she thought, as she beat the floor +nervously with the little prunella gaiter, and this was all the +good Grace Atherton had achieved. + +Edith had cursed her to her face, and with a sigh audible only to +herself she arose and said laughingly, "It's time we were off, and +you've certainly admired that figure in the glass long enough. +What do you think of yourself, any way?" + +"Why," returned Edith, in the same light, bantering tone, "I think +I'm rather jolie, as I used to say. I wonder where I picked up +that word. Victor says I must have had a French nurse, but I'm +sure I was too poor for that. I wish I knew where I did come from +and who I am. It's terrible, this uncertainty as to one's birth. I +may be marrying my brother one of these days, who knows?" + +"See rather that you do not marry your father," retorted Grace, +following Edith as she tripped down the stairs and down the walk, +whipping the tufts of box as she went, and answering to Grace who +asked if she did not sometimes find her duties irksome at +Collingwood. "Never, never. The links of my chains are all made of +love and so they do not chafe. Then, too, when I remember what +Richard has done for me and how few sources of happiness he has, I +am willing to give my whole life to him, if need be. Why, Mrs. +Atherton, you can't imagine how his dark features light up with +joy, when on his return from riding or from transacting business +he hears me in the hall, and knows that I am there to meet him," +and Edith's bright face sparkled and glowed as she thought how +often the blind man had blessed her with his sightless but +speaking eyes, when she gave up some darling project which would +take her from his side and stayed to cheer his solitude. + +They had mounted their horses by this time, and at the speed which +characterized Edith's riding, dashed down the road and struck into +the woods, the shortest route to Grassy Spring. With the exception +of Collingwood, Grassy Spring was the handsomest country seat for +miles around, and thinking, as she continually did, of Nina, Edith +rather gave it the preference as she passed slowly through the +grounds and drew near to the building. Grace had seen the +housekeeper, Mrs. Johnson, a talkative old lady, who, big with the +importance of her office, showed them over the house, pointing out +this elegant piece of furniture and that handsome room with quite +as much satisfaction as if it had all belonged to herself. + +In the third story, and only accessible by two flights of stairs +leading from Arthur's suite of rooms, was a large square +apartment, the door of which Mrs. Johnson unlocked with a +mysterious shake of the head, saying to the ladies, "The Lord only +knows what this place is for. Mr. St. Claire must have fixed it +himself for I found it locked tighter than a drum, but I +accidentally found on the but'ry shelf a rusty old key, that fits +it to a T. I've been in here once and bein' you're his kin," +nodding to Grace, "and t'other one is with you, it can't do an +atom of harm for you to go. He's took more pains with this chamber +than with all the rest, and when I asked what 'twas for, he said +it was his "den," where he could hide if he wanted to." + +"Don't go," whispered Edith, pulling at Grace's dress, "Mr. St. +Claire might not like it." + +But Grace felt no such scruples, and was already across the +threshold, leaving Edith by the door. + +"It's as bad to look in as to go in," thought Edith, and +conquering her curiosity with a mighty effort, she walked +resolutely down stairs, having seen nothing save that the carpet +was of the richest velvet and that the windows had across them +slender iron bars, rather ornamental than otherwise, and so +arranged as to exclude neither light nor air. + +Grace, on the contrary, examined the apartment thoroughly, +thinking Mrs. Johnson right when she said that more pains had been +taken with this room than with all the others. The furniture was +of the most expensive and elegant kind. Handsome rosewood easy- +chairs and sofas covered with rich satin damask, the color and +pattern corresponding with the carpet and curtains. Ottomans, +divans and footstools were scattered about--pictures and mirrors +adorned the walls, while in one corner, covered with a misty veil +of lace, hung the portrait of a female in the full, rich bloom of +womanhood, her light chestnut curls falling about her uncovered +neck, and her dreamy eyes of blue having in them an expression +much like that which Edith had once observed in Nina's peculiar +eyes. The dress was quite old-fashioned, indicating that the +picture must have been taken long ago, and while Grace gazed upon +it her wonder grew as to whose it was and whence it came. + +"Look at the bed," said Mrs. Johnson, and touching Grace's elbow, +she directed her attention to a side recess, hidden from view by +drapery of exquisite lace, and containing a single bed, which +might have been intended for an angel, so pure and white it looked +with its snowy covering. + +"What does it mean?" asked Grace, growing more and more +bewildered, while Mrs. Johnson replied in her favorite mode of +speech. + +"The Lord only knows--looks as if he was going to make it a prison +for some princess; but here's the queerest thing of all," and she +thumped upon a massive door, which was locked and barred, and +beyond which her prying eyes had never looked. + +Over the door was a ventilator, and Grace, quite as curious as +Mrs. Johnson, suggested that a chair or table be brought, upon +which she, being taller than her companion, might stand and +possibly obtain a view. + +"What DO you see?" asked Mrs. Johnson, as Grace, on tip-toe, +peered into what seemed to be a solitary cell, void of furniture +of every kind, save a little cot, corresponding in size with the +fairy bed in the recess, but in naught else resembling it, for its +coverings were of the coarsest, strongest materials, and the +pillows scanty and small. + +Acting from a sudden impulse, Grace determined not to tell Mrs. +Johnson what she saw, and stepping down from the table, which she +quickly rolled back to its place, she said, + +"It's nothing but a closet, where, I dare say, Mr. St. Claire will +keep his clothes when he occupies his den. You must not let any +one else in here, for Arthur might be offended." + +Mrs. Johnson promised obedience, and turning the rusty key, +followed her visitor down the two long flights of stairs, she, +returning to her duties, while Grace went to the pleasant library, +where, with her hat and whip upon the floor, Edith sat reading the +book she had ventured to take from the well-filled shelves, and in +which she had been so absorbed as not to hear the slight rustling +in the adjoining room, where a young man was standing in the +enclosure of the deep bay window, and gazing intently at her. He +had heard from Mrs. Johnson's daughter that some ladies were going +over the house, and not caring to meet them, he stepped into the +recess of the window just as Edith entered the library. As the eye +of the stranger fell upon her, he came near uttering an +exclamation of surprise that anything so graceful, so queenly, and +withal so wondrously beautiful, should be found in Shannondale, +which, with the city ideas still clinging to him, seemed like an +out-of-the-way place, where the girls were buxom, good-natured and +hearty, just as he remembered Kitty Maynard to have been, and not +at all like this creature of rare loveliness sitting there before +him, her head inclined gracefully to the volume she was reading, +and showing to good advantage her magnificent hair. + +"Who can she be?" he thought, and a thrill of unwonted admiration +ran through his veins as Edith raised for a moment her large eyes +of midnight blackness, and from his hiding-place he saw how soft +and mild they were in their expression, "Can Grace have spirited +to her retreat some fair nymph for company? Hark! I hear her +voice, and now for the solution of the mystery." + +Standing back a little further, so as to escape observation, the +young man waited till Grace Atherton came near. + +"Here you are," she said, "poring over a book as usual. I should +suppose you'd had enough of that to do in reading to Mr. +Harrington--German Philosophy, too! Will wonders never cease? +Arthur was right, I declare, when he dubbed you Metaphysics!" + +"Edith Hastings!" The young man said it beneath his breath, while +he involuntarily made a motion forward. + +"Can it be possible, and yet now that I know it, I see the little +black-eyed elf in every feature. Well may the blind man be proud +of his protege. She might grace the saloons of Versailles, and +rival the Empress herself!" + +Thus far he had soliloquised, when something Grace was saying +caught his ear and chained his attention at once. + +"Oh, Edith," she began, "you don't know what you lost by being +over squeamish. Such a perfect jewel-box of a room, with the +tiniest single bed of solid mahogany! Isn't it queer that Arthur +should have locked it up, and isn't it fortunate for us that Mrs. +Johnson found that rusty old key which must have originally +belonged to the door of the Den, as she says he calls it?" + +Anxiously the young man awaited Edith's answer, his face aglow +with indignation and his eyes flashing with anger. + +"Fortunate for YOU, perhaps," returned Edith, tying on her riding- +hat, "but I wouldn't have gone in for anything." + +"Why not?" asked Grace, walking into the hall. + +"Because," said Edith, "Mr. St. Claire evidently did not wish any +one to go in, and I think Mrs. Johnson was wrong in opening the +door." + +"What a little Puritan it is!" returned Grace, playfully caressing +the rosy cheeks of Edith, who had now joined her in the hall. +"Arthur never will know, for I certainly shall not tell either him +or any one, and I gave Mrs. Johnson some very wholesome advice +upon that subject. There she is now in the back-yard. If you like, +we'll go round and give her a double charge." + +The young man saw them as they turned the corner of the building, +and gliding from his post, he hurried up the stairs and entering +the Den, locked the door, and throwing himself upon the sofa, +groaned aloud, while the drops of perspiration oozed out upon his +forehead, and stood thickly about his lips. Then his mood changed, +and pacing the floor he uttered invectives against the meddlesome +Mrs. Johnson, who, by this one act, had proved that she could not +be trusted. Consequently SHE must not remain longer at Grassy +Spring, and while in the yard below Mrs. Johnson was promising +Grace "to be as still as the dead," Arthur St. Claire was planning +her dismissal. This done, and his future course decided upon, the +indignant young man felt better, and began again to think of Edith +Hastings, whom he admired for her honorable conduct in refusing to +enter a place where she had reason to think she was not wanted. + +"Noble, high-principled girl," he said. "I'm glad I told Mr. +Harrington what I did before seeing her. Otherwise he might have +suspected that her beauty had something to do with my offer, and +so be jealous lest I had designs upon his singing-bird, as he +called her. But alas, neither beauty, nor grace, nor purity can +now avail with me, miserable wretch that I am," and again that +piteous moan, as of a soul punished before its time, was heard in +the silent room. + +But hark, what sound is that, which, stealing through the iron- +latticed windows, drowns the echo of that moan, and makes the +young man listen? It is Edith Hastings singing one of her wild +songs, and the full rich melody of her wonderful voice falls upon +his ear, Arthur St. Claire bows his head upon his hands and weeps, +for the music carries him back to the long ago when he had no +terrible secret haunting every hour, but was as light-hearted as +the maiden whom, as she gallops away on her swift-footed Arabian, +he looks after, with wistful eyes, watching her until the sweep of +her long riding-skirt and the waving of her graceful plumes +disappear beneath the shadow of the dim woods, where night is +beginning to fall. Slowly, sadly, he turns from the window-- +merrily, swiftly, the riders dash along, and just us the clock +strikes six, their panting steeds pause at the entrance to +Collingwood. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EDITH AT HOME. + + +It was too late for Grace to call, and bidding her companion good- +bye, she galloped down the hill, while Edith, in a meditative +mood, suffered her favorite Bedouin to walk leisurely up the +carriage road which led to the rear of the house. + +"Victor Dupres!" she exclaimed, as a tall figure emerged from the +open door and came forward to meet her. "Where did you come from?" + +"From New York," he replied, bowing very low, "Will Mademoiselle +alight?" and taking the little foot from out the shoe he lifted +her carefully from the saddle. + +"Is HE here?" she asked, and Victor replied, + +"Certainement; and has brought home a fresh recruit of the blues, +too, judging from the length and color of his face." + +"Why did he go to New York?" interrupted Edith, who had puzzled +her brain not a little with regard to the business which had taken +Richard so suddenly from home. + +"As true as I live I don't know," was Victor's reply. "For once +he's kept dark even to me, scouring all the alleys, and lanes, and +poor houses in the city, leaving me at the hotel, and taking with +him some of those men with brass buttons on their coats. One day +when he came back he acted as if he were crazy and I saw the great +tears drop on the table over which he was leaning, then when I +asked 'if he'd heard bad news,' he answered, 'No, joyful news. I'm +perfectly happy now. I'm ready to go home,' and he did seem happy, +until we drove up to the gate and you didn't come to meet him. +'Where's Edith?' he asked, and when Mrs. Matson said you were out, +his forehead began to tie itself up in knots, just as it does when +he is displeased. It's my opinion, Miss Edith, that you humor him +altogether too much, You are tied to him as closely as a mother to +her baby." + +Edith sighed, not because she felt the bonds to which Victor had +alluded, but because she reproached herself for not having been +there to welcome the blind man home when she knew how much he +thought of these little attentions. + +"I'll make amends though, now," she said, and remembering the +story of his disappointment, her heart swelled with a fresh +feeling of pity for the helpless Richard, who, sitting before the +blazing fire in the library, did not hear the light step coming so +softly toward him. + +All the way from the station, and indeed all the way from New +York, he had pictured to himself Edith's sylph-like form running +down the steps to meet him; had felt her warm hands in his, heard +her sweet voice welcoming him home again, and the world around him +was filled with daylight, but Edith was the sun which shone upon +his darkness. She was dearer to him now, if possible, than when he +left Collingwood, for, during his absence he had learned that +which, if she knew it, would bind her to him by cords of gratitude +too strong to be lightly broken. SHE owed everything to him, and +he, alas, he groaned when he thought WHAT he owed to her, but he +loved her all the same, and this it was which added to the +keenness of his disappointment when among the many feet which +hastened out to meet him, he listened for hers in vain. He knew it +was very pleasant in his little library whither Victor led him; +very pleasant to sit in his accustomed chair, and feel the fire- +light shining on his face, but there was something missing, and +the blue veins were swelling on his forehead, and the lines +deepening about his mouth, when a pair of soft, white arms were +wound about his neck, two soft white hands patted his bearded +cheeks, and a voice, whose every tone made his heart throb and +beat with ecstasy, murmured in his ear, + +"Dear Mr. Richard, I am so glad you've come home, and so sorry I +was not here to meet you. I did not expect you to-night. Forgive +me, won't you? There, let me smooth the ugly wrinkles away, they +make you look so cross and old," and the little fingers he vainly +tried to clasp, wandered caressingly over the knit brows, while, +for the first time since people began to call her Miss Hastings, +Edith's lips touched his. + +Nor was she sorry when she saw how beautiful the lovelight broke +all over the dark, stern face, irradiating every feature, and +giving to it an expression almost divine. + +"Kiss me again, Birdie," he said. "It is not often you grant me +such a treat," and he held her arms about his neck until she +pressed her lips once more against his own. + +Then he released her, and making her sit down beside him, rested +his hand upon her shining hair, while he asked her how she had +busied herself in his absence, if she had missed the old dark +cloud, a bit, and if she was not sorry to have him back. + +He know just what her answer would be, and when it was given, he +took her face between his hands, and turning it up toward him, +said, "I'd give all Collingwood, darling, just to look once into +your eyes and see if---" then, apparently changing his mind, he +added, "see if you are pleased with what I've brought you, look;" +and taking from his pocket a square box he displayed to her view +an entire set of beautiful pearls. "I wanted to buy diamonds, but +Victor said pearls were more appropriate for a young girl like +you. Are they becoming?" and he placed some of them amid the +braids of her dark hair. + +Like all girls of seventeen, Edith was in raptures, nor could he +make her sit still beside him until, divested of her riding habit, +she had tried the effect of the delicate ornaments, bracelets, +ear-rings, necklace and all. + +"I am so glad you like them," he said, and he did enjoy it very +much, sitting there and listening to her as she danced about the +room, uttering little girlish screams of delight, and asking +Victor, when at last he came in--"if she wasn't irresistible?" + +Victor FELT that she was, and in his polite French way he +complimented her, until Richard bade him stop, telling him "she +was already spoiled with flattery." + +The pearls being laid aside and Victor gone, Edith resumed her +accustomed seat upon a stool at Richard's feet, and folding both +hands upon his knee, looked into his face, saying, "Well, +monsieur, why did you go off to New York so suddenly? I think you +might tell me now unless it's something I ought not to know." + +He hesitated a moment as if uncertain whether to tell her or not; +then said to her abruptly, "You've heard, I believe, of the little +child whom I saved from drowning?" + +"Yes," she answered. "Don't you know I told you once how I used to +worship you because you were so brave. I remember, too, of praying +every night in my childish way that you might some day find the +little girl." + +"Edith, I have found her," and the nervous hands pressed tenderly +upon the beautiful head almost resting in his lap. + +"Found her!" and Edith sprang to her feet, her large eyes growing +larger, but having in them no shadow of suspicion. "Where did you +find her? Where is she now? What is her name? Why didn't you bring +her home?" and out of breath with her rapid questioning, Edith sat +down again, while Richard laughingly replied, "Where shall I begin +to answer all your queries? Shall I take them in order? I found +out all about her in New York." + +"That explains your scouring the alleys and lanes as Victor said +you did," interrupted Edith, and Richard rejoined rather sharply, +"What does HE know about it?" + +"Nothing, nothing," returned Edith, anxious to shield Victor from +his master's anger. "I asked him what you did in New York, and he +told me that. Go on--what is her name?" + +"Eloise Temple. Her mother was a Swede, and her father an +American, much older than his wife." + +"Eloise--Eloise--Eloise." + +Edith repealed it three times. + +"Where have I heard that name before? Oh, I know. I heard Kitty +Maynard telling the story to Mrs. Atherton. Where is she, did you +say, and how does she look?" + +"She is with the family who adopted her as their own, for her +mother is dead. Eloise is an orphan, Edith," and again the broad +hand touched the shining hair, pityingly this time, while the +voice which spoke of the mother was sad and low. + +Suddenly a strange, fanciful idea flashed on Edith's mind, and +looking into Richard's face she asked, "How old is Eloise?" + +"Seventeen, perhaps. Possibly, though, she's older." + +"And you, Mr. Harrington--how old are you, please? I'll never tell +as long as I live, if you don't want me to." + +She knew he was becoming rather sensitive with regard to his age, +but she thought he would not mind HER knowing, never dreaming that +SHE of all others was the one from whom he would, if possible, +conceal the fact that he was thirty-eight. Still he told her +unreservedly, asking her the while if she did not consider him +almost her grandfather. + +"Why, no," she answered; "you don't look old a bit. You haven't a +single grey hair. _I_ think you are splendid, and so I'm sure did +the mother of Eloise; didn't she?" and the roguish black eyes +looked up archly into the blind man's face. + +Remembering what Grace had said of his love affair in Europe many +years since, and adding to that the evident interest he felt in +little Eloise Temple, the case was clear to her as daylight. The +Swedish maiden was the girl who jilted Richard Harrington, and +hence his love for Eloise, for she knew he did love her from his +manner when speaking of her and the pains he had taken to find +her. He had not answered her last question yet, for he did not +understand its drift, and when at last he spoke he said, + +"Mrs. Temple esteemed me highly, I believe; and I admired her very +much. She had the sweetest voice I ever heard, not even excepting +yours, which is something like it." + +Edith nodded to the bright face on the mirror opposite, and the +bright face nodded back as much was to say, "I knew 'twas so." + +"Was she really handsome, this Mrs. Temple?" she asked, anxious to +know how Richard Harrington's early love had looked. + +Instinctively the hands of the blind man met together round +Edith's graceful neck, as he told her how beautiful that Swedish +mother was, with her glossy, raven hair, and her large, soft, +lustrous eyes, and as he talked, there crept into Edith's heart a +strange, inexplicable affection for that fair young Swede, who +Richard said was not as happy with her father-husband as she +should have been, and who, emigrating to another land, had died of +a homesick, broken heart. + +"I am sorry I cursed her to-day," thought Edith, her tears falling +fast to the memory of the lonely, homesick woman, the mother of +Eloise. + +"Had she married Richard," she thought, "he would not now be +sitting here in his blindness, for SHE would be with him, and +Eloise, too, or some one very much like her. I wish she were here +now," and after a moment she asked why he had not brought the +maiden home with him. "I should love her as much as my sister," +she said; "and you'd be happier with two of us, wouldn't you?" + +"No," he answered; "one young girl is enough for any house. I +couldn't endure two." + +"Then _I_ ought to go away," said Edith promptly, her bosom +swelling with a dread lest she should eventually have to go. +"Eloise has certainly the best right here. You loved her mother, +yon know, and you'd rather have her than me, wouldn't you?" + +She held both his hands now within her own. She bent her face upon +them, and he felt her tears trickling through his fingers. Surely +he was not to blame if, forgetting himself for the moment, he +wound his arms about her and hugging her to his bosom, told her +that of all the world SHE was the one he most wanted there at +Collingwood, there just where she was now, her head upon his +shoulder, her cheek against his own. 0nce she felt slightly +startled, his words were so fraught with tender passion, but +regarding him as her father, or at least her elder brother, she +could not believe he intended addressing her save as his sister or +his child, and releasing herself from his embrace, she slid back +upon her stool and said, "I'm glad you're willing I should stay. +It would kill me to go from Collingwood now. I've been so happy +here, and found in you so kind a FATHER." + +She WOULD say that last word, and she did, never observing that +Richard frowned slightly as if it were to him an unwelcome sound. + +Presently Edith went on, "I think, though, this Eloise ought to +come, too, no matter how pleasant a home she has. It is her duty +to care for you who lost your sight for her. Were I in her place, +I should consider no sacrifice too great to atone for the past. I +would do everything in the world you asked of me, and then not +half repay you." + +"Every thing, Edith? Did you say every thing?" and it would seem +that the blind eyes had for once torn away their veil, so lovingly +and wistfully they rested upon the bowed head of the young girl, +who, without looking up, answered back, + +"Yes, every thing. But I'm glad I am not this Eloise." + +"Why, Edith, why?" and the voice which asked the question was +mournful in its tone. + +"Because," returned Edith, "I should not care to be under so great +obligations to any one. The burden would be oppressive. I should +be all the while wondering what more I could do, while you, too, +would be afraid that the little kindnesses which now are prompted +in a great measure by love would be rendered from a sense of +gratitude and duty. Wouldn't it be so, Mr. Richard?" + +"Yes, yes," he whispered. "You are right. I should be jealous that +what my heart craved as love would be only gratitude. I am glad +you suggested this, Edith; very, very, glad, and now let us talk +no more of Eloise." + +"Ah, but I must," cried Edith. "There are so many things I want to +know, and you've really told me nothing. Had she brothers or +sisters? Tell me that, please." + +"There was a half sister, I believe, hut she is dead," said +Richard. "They are all dead but this girl. She is alive and happy, +and sometime I will tell you more of her, but not now. I am sorry +I told you what I have." + +"So am I if I can't hear the whole," returned Edith, beginning to +pout. + +"I DID intend to tell you all when I began," said Richard, "but +I've changed my mind, and Edith, I have faith to believe you will +not repeat to any one our conversation. Neither must you tease me +about this girl. It is not altogether an agreeable subject." + +Edith saw that he was in earnest, and knowing how useless it would +be to question him further, turned her back upon him and gazing +steadily into the fire, was wondering what made him so queer, when +by way of diverting her mind, he said, "Did Victor tell you that +Mr. St. Claire came with us all the way from New York?" + +"Mr. St. Claire, no," and Edith brightened at once, forgetting all +about Eloise Temple. "Why then didn't Mrs. Atherton and I see him? +We went over the house this afternoon. It's a splendid place, most +as handsome us Collingwood." + +"How would you like to live there?" asked Richard, playfully. "One +of the proposed conditions on which I consented to receive you, +was that when Mr. St. Claire had a home of his own he was to take +you off my hands; at least, that was what he said, standing here +where you sit; and on my way from New York he reminded me of it, +inquiring for little Metaphysics, and asking if I were ready to +part with her." + +"Do you wish me to go and let Eloise come?" Edith asked, +pettishly, and Richard replied, + +"No, Edith, I need you more than Arthur ever can, and you'll stay +with me, too, stay always, won't you? Promise that you will." + +"Of course I shall," she answered. "I'll stay until I'm married, +as I suppose I shall he sometime; everybody is." + +Richard tried to be satisfied with this reply, but it grated +harshly, and it seemed to him that a shadow deeper, darker than +any he had ever known, was creeping slowly over him, and that +Arthur St. Claire's was the presence which brought the threatening +cloud. He knew this half jealous feeling was unworthy of him, and +with a mighty effort he shook it off and saying to Edith, calmly, +"Mr. St. Claire asked many questions concerning you and your +attainments, and when I spoke of your passion for drawing, +lamenting that since Miss Chapin's departure, there was in town no +competent instructor, he offered to be your teacher, provided you +would come up there twice a week. He is a very sensible young man, +for when I hesitated he guessed at once that I was revolving the +propriety of your going alone to the house of a bachelor, where +there were no females except the servants, and he said to me 'You +can come with her, if you like.'" + +"So it's more proper for a young lady to be with two gentlemen +than with one, is it?" and Edith laughed merrily, at the same time +asking if Richard had accepted the offer. + +"I did, provided it met your approbation," was the reply, and as +Victor just then appeared, the conversation for the present +ceased. + +But neither Eloise nor Arthur left the minds of either Richard or +Edith, and while in her sleep that night the latter dreamed of the +gentle Eloise, who called her sister, and from whom Arthur St. +Claire strove to part her, the former tossed restlessly upon his +pillow, moaning to him-self, "I am glad I did not tell her. She +must answer me for love and not for gratitude." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +MATTERS AT GRASSY SPRING. + + +The next morning as the family at Collingwood sat at their rather +late breakfast a note was brought to Richard, who immediately +handed it to Edith. Breaking the seal, and glancing at the name at +the end, she exclaimed, "It's from Mr. St. Claire, and he says,-- +let me see: + +GRASSY SPRING, Oct. 18-- + +"Dear Sir:--A wholly unexpected event makes it necessary for me to +be absent from home for the next few weeks. During this time my +house will be shut up, and I shall be very glad if in her daily +rides Miss Hastings will occasionally come round this way and see +that everything is straight. I would like much to give the keys +into her charge, knowing as I do that I can trust her. The books +in my library are at her disposal, as is also the portfolio of +drawings, which I will leave upon the writing table. + +"When I return, and have become somewhat domesticated, I hope to +have her for my pupil, as proposed yesterday. Please let me know +at once if she is willing to take charge of my keys. + +In haste, + +ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE." + +"What does he mean?" asked Edith, as she finished reading this +note aloud. "What does he wish me to do?" + +"Why," returned Richard, "He is to shut up his house, which, being +brick, will naturally become damp, and I suppose he wishes you to +air it occasionally, by opening the windows and letting in the +sunlight. + +"Wishes me, in short, to perform a servant's duty," said Edith, +haughtily. "Very well, I'll do it. Perhaps it will pay my TUITION +in part; who knows?" and in spite of Richard's remonstrances, she +seized a pen and dashed off the following: + +"Mr. St. Claire: + +"Dear Sir,--Miss Hastings accepts the great honor of looking after +your house, and will see that nothing gets mouldy during your +absence." + +In haste, RICHARD HARRINGTON, "Per Edith Hastings." + +"P.S. Will you have her CLEAN it before you return?" + +"Edith!" and Richard's voice was very stern. "Arthur St. Claire +never intended to insult you and you shall NOT send that note. +Tear it up at once." + +Edith stood a moment irresolute, while her eyes flashed with +indignation, but she had been too long accustomed to obey the man, +who, groping his way to her side, stood commandingly before her to +resist his authority now, and mechanically tearing the note in +pieces, she tossed them into the fire. + +"Victor," said Richard, wishing to spare Edith the mortification +of writing a second answer, "tell the man from Grassy Spring that +Mr. St. Claire can leave his keys at Collingwood." + +Victor departed with the message, and Edith, somewhat recovered +from her pet, said, + +"Isn't it queer, though, that Mr. St. Claire should ask to leave +his keys with me? One would suppose he'd trust his cousin to +rummage his goods and chattels sooner than a stranger." + +"He has his reasons, I dare say, for preferring you," returned +Richard, adding that he himself would go with her some day to +Grassy Spring, and assist her in airing the house. + +Toward the middle of the afternoon, the keys of Collingwood were +delivered to Edith, together with a sealed note, containing a +single line, + +"The iron broken key unlocks the DEN." + +Had Arthur wished to puzzle Edith he could not have done so more +effectually than he did by these few words. + +"What do I care," she said, "which unlocks the Den. I certainly +should not cross its threshold were the door left wide open. What +does he mean?" and she was still wondering over the message when +Grace Atherton was announced. + +As she grew older Grace assumed a more familiar, youthful manner +than had characterized her early womanhood, and now, tossing her +riding hat and whip upon the bed, she sank into Edith's easy chair +and began: "The funniest thing imaginable has happened at Grassy +Spring. His Royal Highness, Lord St. Claire, has flown into a +violent passion with Mrs. Johnson for having shown us into that +room." + +"Shown YOU, you mean. I didn't go in," interrupted Richard, and +Grace continued, "Well, shown ME, then, though I think you might +at least share in the disgrace. I never saw Arthur as indignant as +he was last night when he called on me. 'Women were curious, +prying creatures, anyway,' he said, 'and he had no faith in any of +them.'" + +"Did he say so?" asked Edith, and Grace replied, "Well, not +exactly that. He did make a few exceptions, of which you are one. +Mrs. Johnson must have told him that you refused to enter. What +harm was there, any way, and what's the room for? I'm beginning to +grow curious. Here, he's dismissed Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, +telling her if he could not trust her in small matters he could +not in those of greater importance, and the good soul has taken +the afternoon express for Boston, where she formerly lived. She +says he paid her three months' extra wages, so he was liberal in +that respect; but the strangest part of all is that he is going to +Florida, where he has some claim to or owns a plantation of +negroes, and he intends to bring a whole cargo of them to Grassy +Spring--housekeeper, cook, chambermaid, coachman, gardener, and +all. Don't you think he's crazy?" + +Edith thought the facts would warrant such a conclusion, and Grace +went on. "I offered to take charge of his house, telling him it +ought not to be shut up for several weeks, but he declined so +haughtily, saying he should leave the keys with someone less +curious than myself, and asked if I supposed YOU would be offended +if he offered them to you. I told him no, and I dare say he will +send them here, if indeed, he has not already done so. Has he?" +she asked, quickly, as she saw a peculiar smile on Edith's lip. + +"Yes," Edith answered, feeling the while SO glad that Richard had +prevented her from sending that insulting note. + +She knew now why the keys were given to her, and the fact that +Arthur St. Claire trusted HER even before his own cousin, left a +warm, happy spot in her heart. Upon second thought this act was +not displeasing to Grace herself. It evinced a preference in +Arthur for Edith Hastings, and on her way home she busied herself +in building castles of the future, when Edith, as the wife of +Arthur and mistress of Grassy Spring, would cease to be her rival. +As Grace had said, Mrs. Johnson and Rose, her daughter, were +dismissed, the house was shut up, the owner gone, the keys in +Edith's possession, and for many days the leaves of crimson and of +gold drifted down upon the walks and lay piled beneath the windows +and upon the marble steps, where they rested undisturbed, save +when the evening wind whirled them in fantastic circles and then +sent them back again to their first lodging place. + +Occasionally Edith, on her spirited Bedouin, rode slowly by, +glancing at the grounds and garden, where so many flowers were +blossoming for naught, and then gazing curiously at the latticed +windows looking out toward Collingwood. She knew which ones they +were, though the blinds were closed tightly over them, and she +wondered if the mystery of that room would ever be revealed to +her. Once, as she was riding by, she saw a stranger standing upon +the steps of the front door and pulling vehemently at the silver +knob which brought him no response. Reining Bedouin at the gate +the waited until the gentleman, tired of ringing, came slowly down +the walk, apparently absorbed in some perplexing thought. He did +not see her until almost upon her, when, bowing politely, he said, +"I beg your pardon, Miss, can you tell me where Mr. St. Claire's +to be found?" + +"He has gone to Florida," she answered, "and will not return for +some weeks." + +"Gone to Florida, and I not know it! That's very queer," and the +stranger bit his lip with vexation. + +"Did you wish particularly to see him?" asked Edith, and he +replied, + +"Yes, a friend lies very sick in the--" he paused a moment, looked +searchingly at Edith, and added, "in Worcester. We can do nothing +with her, and I have come for him." + +Edith thought of NINA, thought of the Den, thought of everything, +except that the man seemed waiting for her to speak. + +"Won't be home for some weeks," he said at last, as she continued +silent, "And you don't know where a letter would reach him?" + +"No, sir, but I will deliver any message from you as soon as he +returns." + +The stranger scrutinized her closely a second time ere he replied, + +"Tell him Griswold has been here and wishes him to come to +Worcester at once." + +Edith was mortal, nay more, was a genuine descendant of mother +Eve, and with a feeling akin to what that fair matron must have +felt when she wondered how those apples did taste, she said to the +man, "Who shall I say is sick?" + +"A friend," was the laconic reply, as he walked rapidly away, +muttering to himself, "A pretty scrape St. Claire is getting +himself into. Poor Arthur, poor Arthur." + +It would seen that Edith, too, was imbued with something of the +spirit which prompted him to say, "Poor Arthur," for she +involuntarily sighed, and casting another glance at the windows of +the den, gave loose rein to Bedouin and galloped swiftly down the +road. + +The next morning was clear and bright, and as Richard felt the +bracing air, he said to her, "We will visit Grassy Spring to-day. +It's time you gave it a little air." + +The carriage was accordingly brought out, and in half an hour's +time Richard and Edith were treading the deserted rooms, into +which they let the warm sunlight by opening wide the windows, all +save those of one chamber. Edith did not go near the Den, and she +marvelled that Arthur should have given her its key, indicating +which it was. She did not know that the rather peculiar young man +had lain for her a snare, by which means he would surely know how +far her curiosity had led her. He might have spared himself the +trouble, for Edith was the soul of honor, and nothing could have +induced her to cross the proscribed threshold. + +"It's very pleasant here, isn't it?" Richard asked, as they went +from one room to another, and he felt the soft carpets yield to +his tread. + +"Yes," she answered; "but not as pleasant as Collingwood. I like +my own home best," and she looked into his face in time to catch +the expression she loved so well--an expression of trusting, +childlike happiness, touching to behold in a strong man. + +He liked to know that Edith was contented with Collingwood; +contented with him; and he hoped it would be so always. He could +not bear the thought that he had suffered every fibre of his heart +to twine and intertwine themselves around her, only to be one day +broken and cast bleeding at his feet. But somehow, here at Grassy +Spring, in the home of Arthur St. Claire, he felt oppressed with a +dread lest this thing should be; and to Edith, when she asked what +made him so pale, he said, + +"It's close in here, I think. Let's hurry out into the open air." + +She led him to an iron chair beneath a forest maple, and leaving +him there alone went back to close the windows she had opened. One +of those in the drawing-room resisted all her efforts for a time, +but came down at last with a bang, causing her to start, and hit +her foot against a frame which she had not before observed, but +which she now saw was a portrait standing in the dark corner with +its face against the wall. + +"Truly there can be no harm in looking at this," she thought, and +turning it to the light she stepped back to examine it. + +'Twas the picture of a black-eyed, black-haired child--a little +girl, scarcely three years old, judging from the baby face, and +the fat, dimpled hands turning so earnestly the leaves of a +picture book. One tiny foot was bare, and one encased in a red +morocco shoe. + +"Dear, darling baby," she said aloud, feeling an irresistible +desire to hug the little creature to her bosom. "Who are you, +baby? Where are you now? and how came you with Mr. St. Claire?" + +She asked these questions aloud, and was answered by Richard +calling from his seat beneath the maple to know why she tarried so +long. With one more lingering glance at the infant, she locked the +doors and hastened out to her blind charge. On three or four other +occasions she came alone to Grassy Spring, opening the doors and +windows, and feasting her eyes upon the beautiful little child. +Edith was wonderfully in love with that picture, and many a theory +she built as to the original. Grace had told her that Arthur had +no sister, and this, while it tended to deepen the mystery, +increased her interest. + +"I'll ask him about her when he gets home," she thought; and she +waited anxiously for his return, which occurred much sooner than +she anticipated. + +It was a cold, raw November day, and the rain was beating against +the windows of the little room she called her boudoir, and where +she now sat sewing, when Victor, who had been sent to Grassy +Spring to see that the storm did not penetrate the western blinds, +appeared before her, ejaculating, "Mon Dieu, Miss Hastings. What +do you think there is over yonder at Grassy Spring? A whole swarm +of niggers, and Guinea niggers at that, I do believe. Such +outlandish specimens! There they sit bent up double with the cold +and hovering round the kitchen fire, some on the floor, some on +chairs, and one has actually taken the tin dish pan and turned it +bottom side up for a stool. They come from Florida, they say, and +they sorter 'long to Marsa St. Claire. They called me MARSA, too, +and when Mr. St. Claire asked me how my MASTER and young lady +were, the old she one who sat smoking in the corner, with a turban +on her head as high as a church steeple, took the pipe from her +month and actually SWORE. + +"Swore, Victor!" exclaimed Edith, who had listened in amazement to +his story. + +"I don't know what you call it but swearing; says she, 'A white +nigger, Lor'-a-mighty,' and the whole bevy of them opened their +ranks for time to sit down in their circle--kind of a fellow +feeling, you know," and Victor endeavored to hide the shock his +pride had received by laughing loudly at the negroes' mistake. + +"How did you get in?" asked Edith. "He must have been there before +you." + +"He had a key to the back door," returned Victor, "and I gave him +up mine. He wants you to send the others. Shall I take them over?" + +"Yes--no--I will go myself," said Edith, remembering Mr. Griswold, +from Worcester, and the message she was to deliver. + +"YOU go in this rain! Mr. Harrington won't let you," said Victor, +and Edith rejoined, "I shan't ask him. I've been out in worse +storms than this. Bring up Bedouin." + +Victor was never happier than when obeying Edith, and in an +inconceivably short space of time Bedouin stood at the back +piazza, where his mistress mounted him and rode away. It was not +until she had left the Collingwood grounds and was out upon the +main road, that she began to feel any doubts as to the propriety +of what she was doing. She had not seen Arthur St. Claire for +eight years. She must, of course, introduce herself and would he +not marvel to see her there in that rain, when a servant could +have brought the keys its well. And the message, too--Victor might +have delivered that had she been willing to trust him with it, but +she was not. Arthur St. Claire had a secret of some kind; Mr. +Griswold was concerned in it, and it was to guard this secret from +all curious ears that she was doing what she was. Having thus +settled the matter to her mind, Edith rode on, unmindful of the +rain, which had partially subsided, but still dripped from her +black plumes and glanced off from her velvet habit. A slight +nervous trepidation seized her, however, as she drew near to +Grassy Spring, and noticed the look of surprise with which a +stalwart African, standing by the gate, regarded her. Riding up to +him she said, good-naturedly, "How d'ye, uncle?" having learned so +much of negro dialect from Rachel, who was a native of Georgia. + +Immediately the ivories of the darkie became visible, and with a +not ungraceful bow, he answered, "Jest tolable, thankee;" while +his eyes wandered up the road, as if in quest of something they +evidently did not find, for bending forward helooked curiously +behind Edith, saying by way of apology, "I'se huntin' for yer +little black boy; whar is he?" + +"Where's who?" and in her fright, lest some one of the little +"Guinea niggers" about whom Victor had told her, might be seated +behind her, Edith leaped with on bound form the saddle, nearly +upsetting the young man hastening out to meet her. + +Southern bred as the negro was he could not conceive of a white +lady's riding without an escort, and failing to see said escort, +he fancied it must be some diminutive child perched upon the +horse, and was looking to find him, feeling naturally curious to +know how the negroes of Yankee land differed from those of +Florida. All this Edith understood afterward, but she was too much +excited now to thing of any thing except that she had probably +made herself ridiculous in the eyes of Arthur St. Claire, who +adroitly rescued her from a fall in the mud, by catching her about +the waist and clasping one of her hands. + +"Miss Hastings, I believe," he said, when he saw that she had +regained her equilibrium, "This is a pleasure I hardly expected in +this storm,--but come in. You are drenched with rain;" and still +holding her hand, he led her into the library, where a cheerful +fire was blazing. + +Drawing a chair before it he made her sit down, while he untied +and removed her hat, brushing the drops of rain from her hair, and +doing it in so quiet, familiar, and withal so womanly a manner +that Edith began to feel quite at home with him, and to think she +had not done so foolish a thing, after all, in coming there. When +sure she was comfortable, he drew a chair opposite to her, and for +the first time since they met, she had a chance to see what +changes eight years had wrought in one she thought so handsome, as +a youth. He was larger, more fully developed than when she parted +from him in Albany, and it seemed to her as if he were taller, +too. He was certainly manlier in his appearance, and the incipient +mustache at which her nose was once contemptuously elevated, was +now rich, brown beard, adding, as some would think, to the beauty +of his face, the pride of his barber, and the envy of his less +fortunate comrades. He was a remarkably fine looking man, +handsomer even than Richard Harrington, inasmuch as he had not +about him the air of helplessness which characterized the blind +man. The same old mischievous twinkle lurked in the soft brown +eyes, and the corners of the mouth curved just as they used to do. +But his smile was not as frequent or as joyous as of old, while on +his brow there was a shadow resting--an expression of sad +disquiet, as if thus early he had drank deeply from the cup of +sorrow. Amid his wavy hair a line of silver was now and then +discernible, and Edith thought how much faster he had grown old +than Richard Harrington. And well be might, for Richard, in his +blindness was happier far than Arthur St. Claire, blessed with +health, and riches, and eyesight, and youth. He had no secret +eating to his very heart's core, and with every succeeding year +magnifying itself into a greater evil than it really was, as an +error concealed is sure to do. Besides that, Richard had Edith, +while Arthur, alas, poor Arthur, he had worse than nothing; and as +he looked across the hearth to where Edith sat, he ceased to +wonder that one who for eight years had basked in the sunshine of +her presence, should be as young, as vigorous and happy as Richard +had appeared to him. But he must not think of this. He professed +to be a woman-hater, he who, in his early boyhood, had counted his +conquests by scores; and even if he were not, beautiful Edith +Hastings could never be aught to him; and he must not suffer +himself for a single moment to think HOW beautiful she was, still +he could not help looking at her, and not a movement of her hand +or a bund of her head escaped him. But so skillfully did he manage +that the deluded girl fancied he never once glanced at her, while +he expressed to her his gratitude for having taken so good care of +his house. + +"There is one room, however, you did not open," and the eyes of +brown met now the eyes of black, but were quickly withdrawn, as he +continued, "I mean the one at the head of the stairs, leading from +my private sitting-room." + +"How do you know?" asked Edith, a suspicion of the truth flashing +upon her. "Did Blue Beard lay a snare in which to catch Fatima?" + +"He did," Arthur answered, "but was nearly as certain then as now +that she would not fall into it. Miss Hastings, it gives me more +pleasure than I can well express to find one female who is worthy +to be trusted--who has no curiosity." + +"But I have a heap of curiosity," returned Edith, laughingly. "I'm +half crazy to know what that room is for and why you are so +particular about it." + +"Then you deserve more credit than I have given you," he replied, +a dark shadow stealing over his handsome face. + +Edith was about to ask him of the portrait in the drawing room, +when he prevented her by making some playful allusion to the +circumstances of their first acquaintance. + +"I began to think you had forgotten me," said Edith, "though I +knew you could not well forget the theft unjustly charged to me." + +She hoped he would now speak of Nina, but he did not, and as she +for the first time remembered Mr. Griswold, she said, after a +moment's pause, + +"I came near forgetting my principal errand here. I could have +sent your keys, but I would rather deliver Mr. Griswold's message +myself." + +She expected Arthur to start, but she was not prepared for him to +spring from his chair as suddenly as he did. + +"Mr. Griswold!" he repeated. "Where did you see him? Has HE been +here? What did he say? Tell me, Edith--Miss Hastings--I beg your +pardon--tell me his errand." + +He stood close to her now, and his eyes did not leave her face for +an instant while she repeated the particulars of her interview +with the stranger. + +"And this is all--you've told me all that passed between you?" he +asked, eagerly. + +"Yes, all," she answered, pitying him, he looked so frightened, so +disturbed. + +Consulting his watch, he continued, "There's time, I see, if I am +expeditious, I must take the next train east though I would so +much rather stay and talk with you. I shall see you again, Miss +Hastings. You'll come often to Grassy Spring, won't you? I need +the sight of a face like yours to keep me from going MAD." + +He wrung her hand and stepped into the hall just as one of the +black women he had brought from Florida appeared. + +"Aunt Phillis," he said, "I wish to speak with you," and going +with her to the extremity of the hall, they conversed together in +low, earnest tones, as if talking of some great sorrow in which +both were interested. + +Once Edith heard Aunt Phillis say, "Blessed lamb, that I've done +toted so many tunes in these old arms. Go, Marser Arthur; never +you mind old Phillis, she'll get on somehow. Mebby the young lady +in thar kin show me the things and tell me the names of yer Yankee +gimcracks." + +"I have no doubt she will," returned Arthur, adding something in a +whisper which Edith could not hear. + +A moment more and Arthur passed the door, equipped with overcoat +and umbrella, and she heard his rapid steps upon the back piazza +as he went towards the carriage house. Aunt Phillis now re-entered +the library, curtesying low to Edith, who saw upon her old black +face the trace of recent tears. + +"Is Mr. St. Claire's friend very sick?" Edith ventured to ask, and +instantly the round bright eyes shot at her a glance of alarm, +while the negress replied, "Dunno, misses. He keeps his 'fars +mostly to hisself, and Phillis has done larnt not to pry." + +Thus rebuked, Edith arose and began to tie on her hat preparatory +to leaving. + +"Come in dis way a minute, Miss," said Phillis. "We're from +Floridy, and dunno more'n the dead what to do in such a shiny +kitchen as Marster St. Claire done keeps." + +Edith followed her to the kitchen, in which she found several +dusky forms crouched before the fire, and gazing about them with a +wondering look. To Edith they were exceedingly polite, and taking +a seat in their midst she soon learned from a loquacious old lady, +who seemed to be superannuated, that "they were all one family, +she being the grandmother, Ike and Phillis the father and mother, +and 'tothers the children. We're all Ber-NARDS," she said, "case +that was ole marster's name, but now I dunno who we does 'long to. +Some says to Marster St. Claire and some says to Miss---" + +"Mother!" and Phillis bustled up to the old lady, who, uttering a +loud outcry, exclaimed, + +"The Lord, Phillis; you needn't done trod on my fetched corns. I +warn't a gwine to tell," and she loudly bewailed her aching foot, +encased in a shoe of most wonderful make. + +When the pain had partially subsided, the talkative Judy +continued, + +"There wasn't no sense, so I tole 'em, in 'totin' us way off here +in the dead o' winter. I'se kotched a misery in my back, and got +the shivers all over me. I'se too old any way to leave my cabin +thar in Floridy, and I'd a heap sight rather of stayed and died on +de old plantation. We has good times thar, me and Uncle Abe-- +that's an old colored gentleman that lives jinin', and does +nothin', just as I do. He lost his wife nex Christmas'll be a +year; and, bein' lonesome like, he used to come over o' nights to +talk about her, and tell how mizzable it was to be alone." + +"You are a widow, I presume," said Edith, her black eyes brimming +with fun. + +"Yes, chile, I'se been a widdy thirty year, an' Uncle Abe was such +a well-to-do nigger, a trifle shaky in the legs, I know; but it +don't matter. Marster St. Claire wouldn't part the family, he +said, and nothin' to do but I must come. Uncle Abe's cabin was +comfable enough, and thar was a hull chest of Rhody's things, a +doin' nobody no good." + +Aunt Judy paused, and looked into the fire as if seeing there +images of the absent Abel, while Edith regarded her intently, +pressing her hands twice upon her forehead, as if trying to retain +a confused, blurred idea which flitted across her mind. + +"Judy," she said, at last, "it seems to me I must have seen YOU +somewhere before, though where, I don't know." + +"Like enough, honey," returned Judy. "Your voice sounds mighty +nateral, and them black eyes shine an' glisten like some oder eyes +I seen somewhar. Has you been in Floridy, chile?" + +"No," returned Edith; "I was born in New York City, I believe." + +"Then 'taint likely we's met afore," said Judy, "though you do +grow on me 'mazin'ly. You're the very spawn o' somebody. Phillis, +who does the young lady look like?" + +Phillis, who had been rummaging the closets and cupboards, now +came forward, and scrutinizing Edith's features, said, "She favors +Master Ber-nard's last wife, only she's taller and plumper." + +But with the querulousness of old age Judy scouted the idea. + +"Reckoned she knowed how Marster Bernard's last wife looked. +'Twan't no more like the young lady than 'twas like Uncle Abe," +and with her mind thus brought back to Abel, she commenced an +eulogy upon him, to which Edith did not care to listen, and she +gladly followed Phillis into the pantry, explaining to her the use +of such conveniences as she did not fully understand. + +"Two o'clock!" she exclaimed, as she heard the silver bell from +the library clock. "Richard'll think I'm lost," and bidding her +new acquaintances good bye, she hurried to the gate, having first +given orders for Bedouin to be brought from the stable. + +"Shan't I go home wid you, Miss?" asked the negro, who held the +pony; "it's hardly fittin' for you to go alone." + +But Edith assured him she was not afraid, and galloped swiftly +down the road, while the negro John looked admiringly after, +declaring to his father, who joined him, that "she rode mighty +well for a Yankee girl." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +LESSONS. + + +Arthur St. Claire had returned from Worcester, but it was several +days ere he presented himself at Collingwood; and Edith was +beginning to think he had forgotten her and the promised drawing +lessons, when he one evening was ushered by Victor into the +parlor, where she was singing to Richard his favorite songs. He +was paler than when she saw him before, and she fancied that he +seemed weary and worn, as if sleep and himself had been for a long +time strangers. + +"Did you leave your friend better?" she asked. + +"Yes, better," he answered hurriedly, changing the conversation to +topics evidently more agreeable. + +One could not be very unhappy in Edith's presence. She possessed +so much life, vivacity and vigor, that her companions were sure to +become more or less imbued with her cheerful spirit; and as the +evening advanced, Arthur became much like the Arthur of Brier Hill +memory, and even laughed aloud on several occasions. + +"I wish I was sure of finding at Grassy Spring somebody just like +you," he said to Edith when at last he arose to go. "Yon have +driven away a whole army of blues. I almost believe I'd be willing +to be blind, if, by that means, I could be cared for as Mr. +Harrington is." + +"And crazy, too?" slily interrupted Edith, who was standing near +him as he leaned against the marble mantel. + +"No, no--oh, heavens, no! anything but that," and the hand he +placed in Edith's shook nervously, but soon grew still between her +soft, warm palms. + +There was something life-giving in Edith's touch, as well as soul- +giving in her presence, and standing there with his cold, nervous +hand in hers, the young man felt himself grow strong again, and +full of courage to hope for a happier future than the past had +been. He knew SHE could not share the future with him--but he +would have as much of her as possible, and just as she was +wondering if he would remember the lessons, he spoke of them and +asked when she could come. + +"Just when Mr. Harrington thinks best," she replied, and thus +appealed to, Richard, guided by Edith's voice, came forward and +joined them. + +"Any time," he said. "To-morrow, if you like," adding that he +believed he, too, was to be always present. + +Edith's eyes sought those of Arthur, reading there a reflection of +her own secret thoughts, to wit, that THREE would he one too many, +but they could not tell him so and Arthur responded at once, +"Certainly, I shall expect you both, say to-morrow at ten o'clock; +I am most at leisure then." + +The next morning, at the appointed time, Richard and Edith +appeared at Grassy Spring, where they found Arthur waiting for +them, his portfolio upon the table, and his pencils lying near, +ready to be used. + +"I am afraid you'll find it tiresome, Mr. Harrington," he said, as +he assigned his visitor a chair, and then went back to Edith. + +"I shall do very well," answered Richard, and so he did for that +lesson, and the next, and the next, but at last, in spite of his +assertion to the contrary, he found it dull business going to +Grassy Spring twice each week, and sitting alone with nothing to +occupy his mind, except, indeed, to wonder how NEAR Arthur was to +Edith, and if he bent over her as he remembered seeing drawing +teachers do at school. + +Richard was getting very tired of it--very weary of listening to +Arthur's directions, and to Edith's merry laughs at her awkward +blunders, and he was not sorry when one lesson-day, the fifth +since they began, Grace Atherton's voice was heard in the hall +without asking for admission. He had long since forgiven Grace for +jilting him, and they were the best of friends; so when she +suggested their going into the adjoining room, where it was +pleasanter and she could play to him if he liked, he readily +assented, and while listening to her lively conversation and fine +playing, he forgot the lapse of time, and was surprised when Edith +came to him with the news that it was 12 o'clock. + +"Pray, don't go yet," said Arthur, who was loth to part with his +pupil. "You surely do not dine till three, and I have already +ordered lunch. Here it comes," and he pointed to the door where +Phillis stood, bearing a huge silver salver, on which were wine +and cake and fruit of various kinds. + +"Grapes," screamed Edith, as she saw the rich purple clusters, +which had been put up for winter use by poor, discarded Mrs. +Johnson. "I really cannot go till I have some of them," and as +there was no alternative Richard sat down to wait the little +lady's pleasure. + +He did not care for lunch, but joined in the conversation, which +turned upon matrimony. + +"It must be a very delightful state," said Edith, "provided one +were well matched and loved her husband, as I am sure I should +do." + +"Supposing you didn't love him," asked Grace, "but had married him +from force of circumstances, what then?" + +"I'd kill him and the circumstances too," answered Edith. +"Wouldn't you, Mr. St. Claire?" + +"I can hardly tell," he replied, "not having matrimony in my mind. +_I_ shall never marry." + +"Never marry!" and the pang at Edith's heart was discernible in +her soft, black eyes, turned so quickly toward this candidate for +celibacy. + +"How long since you came to that decision?" asked Grace; and in +tones which indicated truth, Arthur replied, + +"Several years at least, and I have never for a moment changed my +mind." + +"Because the right one has not come, perhaps," put in Richard, +growing very much interested in the conversation. + +"The right one will never come," and Arthur spoke earnestly. "The +girl does not live, who can ever be to me a wife, were she +graceful as a fawn and beautiful as---" he glanced at Edith as if +he would call her name, but added instead--"as a Hebe, it could +make no difference. That matter is fixed, and is as changeless as +the laws of the Medes and Persians." + +"I am sorry for you, young man," said Richard, whose face, +notwithstanding this assertion, indicated anything but sorrow. + +He could now trust Edith alone at Grassy Spring--he need not +always be bored with coming there, and he was glad Arthur had so +freely expressed his sentiments, as it relieved him of a great +burden; so, at parting, when Arthur said to him us usual, "I'll +see you again on Friday," he replied, + +"I don't know, I'm getting so worried with these abominably +tedious lessons, that for once I'll let her come alone." + +Alas, poor, deluded Richard! He did not know that to attain this +very object, Arthur had said what he did. It is true, he meant +every word he uttered. Matrimony and Edith Hastings must not be +thought of together. That were worse than madness, and his better +judgment warned him not to see too much of her--told him it was +better far to have that sightless man beside them when they met +together in a relation so intimate as the teacher bears to his +pupil. But Arthur would not listen; Edith was the first who for +years had really touched a human chord in his palsied heart, and +the vibration would not cease without a fiercer struggle than he +cared to make. It could do no harm, he said. He had been so +unhappy--was so unhappy now. Edith would, of course, be Richard's +wife; he had foreseen that from the very first--had predicted it +long ago, but ere the sacrifice was made, he was surely pardonable +if, for a little while, he gave himself to the bewildering +intoxication of basking in the sunshine of her eyes, of bending so +near to her that he could feel her fragrant breath, feel the warm +glow of her cheek, of holding those little hands a moment in his +own after he had ceased to teach her fingers how to guide the +pencil. + +All this passed in rapid review before his mind while his lips +uttered the words which had so delighted Richard, and when he saw +the shadow on Edith's face, his poor, aching heart throbbed with a +joy as wild and intense as it was hopeless and insane. This was +Arthur St. Claire with Edith present, but with Edith gone, he was +quite another man. Eagerly he watched her till she disappeared +from view, then returning to the library he sat down where she had +sat--laid his head upon the table where her hands had lain, and +cursed himself for daring to dream of love in connection with +Edith Hastings. It would be happiness for a time, he knew, to hang +upon her smile, to watch the lights and shadows of her speaking +face, to look into her eyes--those clear, truthful eyes which had +in them no guile. All this would be perfect bliss, were it not +that the end must come at last--the terrible end--remorse bitterer +than death for him, and for her--the pure, unsullied, trusting +Edith--ruin, desolation, and madness, it might be. + +"Yes, MADNESS!" he exclaimed aloud, "hateful as the word may +sound." And he gnashed his teeth as it dropped from between them. +"No, Edith, no. Heaven helping me, I will not subject you to this +temptation. I will not drag you down with me, and yet, save +Griswold, there lives not the person who knows my secret. May be +he could be bought. Oh, the maddening thought. Am I a demon or a +brute?" And he leaped from his chair, cursing himself again and +again for having fallen so low as to dream of an act fraught with +so much wrong to Edith, and so much treachery to one as fair, as +beautiful as she, and far, far more to be pitied. + +Arthur St. Claire was, at heart, a noble, upright, honorable man, +and sure, at last, to choose the right, however rugged were the +road. For years he had groped in a darkness deeper, more hopeless +than that which enshrouded the blind man, and in all that time +there had shone upon his pathway not a single ray of daylight. The +past, at which he dared not look, lay behind him a dreary waste, +and the black future stretched out before him, years on years it +might be, in which there would be always the same old cankering +wound festering in his soul. He could NOT forget this plague spot. +He never had forgotten it for a single moment until he met with +Edith Hatings, who possessed for him a powerful mesmeric charm, +causing him in her presence to forget everything but her. This +fascination was sudden but not less powerful for that. Arthur's +was an impulsive nature, and it seemed to him that he had known +Edith all his life, that she was a part of his very being. But he +must forget her now, she must not come there any more, he could +not resist her if she did; and seizing his pen he dashed off a few +lines to the effect that, for certain reasons, the drawing lessons +must henceforth be discontinued. + +Arthur though himself very strong to do so much, but when he arose +to ring for the servant who was to take this note to Collingwood, +his courage all forsook him. Why need he cast her off entirely? +Why throw away the only chance for happiness there was left for +him? 'Twas Arthur's weaker manhood which spoke, and he listened, +for Edith Hastings was in the scale, a mighty, overwhelming +weight. She might come just once more, he said, and his heart +swelled within his throat as he thought of being alone with her, +no jealous Richard hovering near, like a dark, brooding cloud, his +blind eyes shielding her from harm even more than they could have +done had they been imbued with sight. The next time she came, the +restraint would be removed. She would be alone, and the hot blood +poured swiftly through his veins as he thought how for one brief +moment he would be happy. He WOULD wind his arm around that +girlish waist, where no other manly arm save that of Richard had +ever been; he WOULD hug her to his bosom, where no other head than +hers could ever lie; he would imprint one burning kiss upon her +lips; would tell her how dear she was to him; and then--his brain +reeled and grew dizzy as he thought that THEN he must bid her +leave him forever, for an interview like that must not he +repeated. But for once, just once, he would taste of the forbidden +fruit, and so the good angel Arthur St. Claire wept over the +wayward man and then flew sadly away, leaving him to revel in +anticipations of what the next Friday would bring him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +FRIDAY. + + +It was just beginning to be light when Edith opened her eyes, and +lifting up her head, looked about the room to see if Lulu had been +in to make her fire. She always awoke earlier on lesson day, so as +to have a good long time TO THINK, and now as she counted the +hours, one, two, three and a half, which must intervene before she +saw Arthur St. Claire again, she hid her blushing face in the +pillow, as if ashamed to let the gray daylight see just how happy +she was. These lessons had become the most important incidents in +her life, and this morning there was good cause why she should +anticipate the interview. She believed Richard was not going, and +though she was of course very sorry to leave him behind, she tried +hard to be reconciled, succeeding so well that when at 8 o'clock +she descended to the breakfast room, Victor asked what made her +look so unusually bright and happy. + +"I don't know," she replied, "unless it is because we are going to +ride," and she glanced inquiringly at Richard, seating himself at +the table. + +Victor shrugged his shoulders. HE knew more than Edith thought he +did, and waited like herself for Richard's answer. Richard HAD +intended to remain at home, but it seemed that Edith expected him +to go, by her saying WE, and rather than disappoint her he began +to think seriously of martyring himself again. Something like this +he said, adding that he found it vastly tedious, but was willing +to endure it for Edith's sake. + +"Pardonnez moi, Monsieur," said Victor, who for the sake of Edith, +would sometimes stretch the truth, "I saw Mr. Floyd yesterday, and +he is coming here this morning to talk with you about the west +wood lot you offered for sale. Hadn't you better stay home for +once and let Miss Edith go alone." + +Edith gave a most grateful look t Victor, who had only substituted +"this morning" for "some time to-day," the latter being what Mr. +Floyd had really said. + +"Perhaps I had," returned Richard. "I want so much to sell that +lot, but if Edith---" + +"Never mind me, Mr. Harrington," she cried; "I have not been on +Bedouin's back in so long a time that he is getting quite +unmanageable, they say, and I shall be delighted to discipline him +this morning; the roads are quite fine for winter, are they not +Victor?" + +"Never were better," returned the Frenchman; smooth and hard as a +rock. "You'll enjoy it amazingly, I know. I'll tell Jake not to +get out the carriage," and without waiting for an answer the +politic victor left the room. + +Richard had many misgivings as to the propriety of letting Edith +go without him, and he was several times on the point of changing +his mind, but Edith did not give him any chance, and at just a +quarter before ten she came down equipped in her riding habit, and +asking if he had any message for Mr. St. Claire. + +"None in particular," he answered, adding that she might come back +through the village and bring the mail. + +Once on the back of Bedouin, who danced for a few moments like a +playful kitten, Edith felt sure she was going alone, and +abandoning herself to her delight she flew down the carriage road +at a terrific speed, which startled even Victor, great as was his +faith in his young lady's skill. But Edith had the utmost +confidence in Bedouin, while Bedouin had the utmost confidence in +Edith, and by the time they were out upon the main road they had +come to a most amicable understanding. + +"I mean to gallop round to the office now," thought Edith; "and +then I shall not be obliged to hurry away from Grassy Spring." + +Accordingly Bedouin was turned toward the village, and in an +inconceivably short space of time she stood before the door of the +post-office. + +"Give me Mr. Harrington's mail, please," Edith said to the clerk +who came out to meet her; "and--and Mr. St. Claire's too, I'm +going up there, and can take it as well as not." + +The clerk withdrew, and soon returned with papers for Richard, and +a letter for Arthur. It was post-marked at Worcester, and Edith +thought of Mr. Griswold, as she thrust it into her pocket, and +started for Grassy Spring, where Arthur was anxiously awaiting +her. Hastening out to meet her, he held her hand in his, while he +led her up the walk, telling her by his manner, if by nothing +else, how glad he was to see her. + +"It has seemed an age since Tuesday," he said. "I only live on +lesson-days. I wish it was lesson-day always." + +"So do I," said Edith, impulsively, repenting her words the moment +she met the peculiar glance of Arthur's eyes. + +She was beginning to be afraid of him, and half wished Richard was +there. Remembering his letter at last, she gave it to him, +explaining how she came by it, and marvelling at the sudden +whiteness of his face. + +"I will wait till she is gone," he thought, as he recognized Dr. +Griswold's writing, and knew well what it was about. "I won't let +anything mar the bliss of the next two hours," and he laid it upon +the table. + +"Ain't you going to read it?" asked Edith, as earnestly as if she +knew the contents of that letter would save her from much future +pain. "Read it," she persisted, declaring, with pretty willfulness +that she would not touch a pencil until he complied with her +request. + +"I suppose I must yield then," he said, withdrawing into the +adjoining room, where he broke the seal and read--once--twice-- +three times--lingering longest over the sentences which we +subjoin. + +* * * "To-day, for the first time since you were here, our poor +little girl spoke of you of her own accord, asking where you were +and why you left her so long alone. I really think it would be +better for you to take her home. She is generally quiet with you, +and latterly she has a fancy that you are threatened with some +danger, for she keeps whispering to herself, 'Keep Arthur from +temptation. Keep him from temptation, and don't let any harm come +to little MIGGIE.' Who is Miggie? I don't think I ever heard her +name until within the last few days." * * * + +And this it was which kept Arthur St. Claire from falling. Slowly +the tears, such as strong men only shed, gathered in his eyes and +dropped upon the paper. Then his pale lips moved, and he whispered +sadly, "Heaven bless you, NINA, poor unfortunate Nina. Your prayer +SHALL save me, and henceforth Edith shall be to me just what your +darling Miggie would have been were she living. God help me to do +right," he murmured, as he thought of Edith Hastings, and +remembered how weak he was. That prayer of anguish was not +breathed in vain, and when the words were uttered he felt himself +growing strong again--strong to withstand the charms of the young +girl waiting impatiently for him in the adjoining room. + +There were many things she meant to say to him in Richard's +absence. She would ask him about NINA, and the baby picture which +had so interested her. It had disappeared from the drawing room +and as yet she had found no good opportunity to question him about +it, but she would do so to-day. She would begin at once so as not +to forget, and she was just wondering how long it took a man to +read a letter, when he came in. She saw at a glance that something +had affected him, and knowing intuitively that it was not the time +for idle questionings, she refrained from all remark, and the +lesson both had so much anticipated, proceeded in almost unbroken +silence. It was very dull indeed, she thought, not half so nice as +when Richard was there, and in her pet at Arthur's coolness and +silence, she made so many blunders that at last throwing pencil +and paper across the room, she declared herself too stupid for any +thing. + +"You, too, are out of humor," she said, looking archly into +Arthur's face, "and I won't stay here any longer. I mean to go +away and talk with Judy about Abel." + +So saying, she ran off to the kitchen where she was now a great +favorite, and sitting down at Judy's feet, began to ask her of +Florida and Sunnybank, her former home. + +"Tell me more of the magnolias," she said, "It almost seems to me +as if I had seen those beautiful white blossoms and that old house +with its wide hall." + +"Whar was you raised?" asked Judy, and Edith replied, + +"I told you once, in New York, but I have such queer fancies, as +if I had lived before I came into this world." + +"Jest the way Miss Nina used to go on, muttered the old woman, +looking steadily into the fire. + +"Nina!" and Edith started quickly. "DID you know Nina, Aunt Judy? +Do you know her now? Where is she? Who is she, and that black-eyed +baby in the frame? Tell me all about them." + +"All about what?" I asked Phillis, suddenly appearing and casting +a warning glance at her mother, who replied, "'Bout marster's last +wife, the one you say she done favors." Then, in an aside to +Edith, she added, "I kin pull de wool over her eyes. Bimeby mabby +I'll done tell you how that ar is de likeness of Miss Nina's half +sister what is dead, and 'bout Miss Nina, too, the sweetest, most +misfortinest human de Lord ever bornd." + +"She isn't a great ways from here, is she?" whispered Edith, as +Phillis bustled into the pantry, hurrying back ere Judy could more +than shake her head significantly. + +"Dear Aunt Phillis, won't you please tell Ike to bring up +Bedouin," Edith said coaxingly, hoping by this ruse to get rid of +the old negress; but Phillis was too cunning, and throwing up the +window sash, she called to Ike, delivering the message. + +Edith, however, managed slily to whisper, "In Worcester, isn't +she?" while Judy as slily nodded affirmatively, ere Phillis' sharp +eyes were turned again upon them. Edith's curiosity concerning the +mysterious Nina was thoroughly roused, and determining to ferret +out the whole affair by dint of quizzing Judith whenever an +opportunity should occur, she took her leave. + +"Mother," said Phillis, the moment Edith was out of hearing, +"havn't you no sense, or what possessed you to talk of Miss Nina +to her? Havn't you no family pride, and has you done forgot that +Marster Arthur forbade our talkin' of her to strangers?" + +Old Judy at first received the rebuke in silence, then bridling up +in her own defense, she replied, "Needn't tell me that any good +will ever come out o' this kiverin' up an' hidin', and keeping +whist. It'll come out bimeby, an' then folks'll wonder what 'twas +all did for. Ole marster didn't act so by Miss Nina's mother, an' +I believe thar's somethin' behind, some carrying on that we don't +know; but it's boun' to come out fust or last. That ar Miss Edith +is a nice trim gal. I wish to goodness Marster Arthur'd done set +to her. I'd like her for a mistress mighty well. I really b'lieve +he has a hankerin' notion after her, too, an' it's nater that he +should have. It's better for the young to marry, and the old, too, +for that matter. Poor Uncle Abe! Do you s'pose, Phillis, that he +goes over o' nights to Aunt Dilsey's cabin sen' we've come away. +Dilsey's an onery nigger, anyhow," and with her mind upon Uncle +Abel, and her possible rival Dilsey, old Judy forgot Edith +Hastings, who, without bidding Arthur good morning, had gallopped +home to Collingwood, where she found poor, deluded Richard, +waiting and wondering at the non-appearance of Mr. Floyd, who was +to buy his western wood lot. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MYSTERY AT GRASSY SPRING. + + +For several weeks longer Edith continued taking lessons of Arthur, +going sometimes with Richard, but oftener alone, and feeling +always that a change had gradually come over her teacher. He was +as kind to her as ever, took quite as much pains with her, and she +was sensible of a greater degree of improvement than had marked +the days when she trembled every time he touched her hands. Still +there was a change. He did not bend over her now as he used to do; +did not lay his arm across the back of her chair, letting it some +times fall by accident upon her shoulders; did not look into her +eyes with a glance which made her blush and turn away; in short, +he did not look at her at all, if he could help it, and in this +very self-denial lay his strength. He was waging a mighty battle +with himself, and inch by inch he was gaining the victory, for +victory it would be when he brought himself to think of Edith +Hastings without a pang--to listen to her voice and look into her +face without a feeling that she must be his. He could not do this +yet, but he kept himself from telling her of his love by assuming +a reserved, studied manner, which led her at last to think he +might be angry, and one day, toward the first of March, when he +had been more than usually silent, she asked him abruptly how she +had offended, her soft eyes filling with tears as she expressed +her sorrow if by any thoughtless act she had caused him pain. + +"You could not offend me, Edith," he said; "that would be +impossible, and if I am sometimes could an abstracted, it is +because I have just cause for being so. I am very unhappy, Edith, +and your visits here to me are like oases to the weary traveller. +Were it not for you I should wish to die; and yet, strange as it +may seem, I have prayed to die oftener since I knew you as you now +are than I ever did before, I committed a fatal error once and it +has embittered my whole existence. It was early in life, to, +before I ever say you, Edith." + +"Why Mr. St. Claire," she exclaimed, "you were nothing but a boy +when you came to Brier Hill." + +"Yes, a boy," he exclaimed, "or I had never done what I did; but +it cannot be helped, and I must abide the consequences. Now let us +talk of something else. I am going away to-morrow, and you need +not come again until I send for you; but whatever occurs, don't +think I am offended." + +She could not think so when she met the olden look she ahs missed +so long, and wondering where he could be going, she arose to take +her leave. He went with her to the door, and wrung her hand +nervously, bidding her in heart a final farewell, for when they +met again a great gulf would be between them,--a gulf he had +helped to dig, and which he could not ass. Edith had intended to +ask old Judy where Arthur was going, without, however, having much +hope of success: for, since the conversation concerning Nina, Judy +had been wholly non-committal, plainly showing that she had been +trained for the occasion, but changed her mind, and rode leisurely +away, going round by Brier Hill to call upon Grace whom she had +not seen for some little time. Grace, as usual, was full of +complaints against Arthur for being so misanthropical, so cross- +grained and so queer, shutting himself up like a hermit and +refusing to see any one but herself and Edith. + +"What is he going to Worcester for?" she asked, adding that one of +the negroes had told old Rachel, who was there the previous night. + +But Edith did not know, unless it was to be married, and laughing +at her own joke, she bade Grace good-bye, having learned by +accident what she so much desired to know. + +The next morning she arose quite early, and looking in the +direction of Grassy Spring, which, when the leaves were fallen, +was plainly discernible, she saw Arthur's carriage driving from +his gate. There was no train due at that hour, and she stood +wondering until the carriage, which, for a moment, had been hidden +from her view, appeared a second time in sight, and as it passed +the house she saw Aunt Phillis's dusky face peering from the +window. She did not see Arthur, but she was sure he was inside; +and when the horses were turned into the road, which, before the +day of cars, was the great thoroughfare between Shannondale and +Worcester, she knew he had started for the latter place in his +carriage. + +"What can it be for?" she said; "and why has he taken Phillis?" + +But puzzle her brain as she might, she could not fathom the +mystery, and she waited for what would next occur. + +In the course of the day Victor, who, without being really +meddlesome, managed to keep himself posted with regard to the +affairs at Grassy Spring, told her that Mr. St. Claire, preferring +his carriage to the cars, had gone in it to Worcester, and taken +Phillis with him; that he would be absent some days; and that +Sophy, Phillis's daughter, when questioned as to his business, had +answered evasively, + +"Gone to fetch his wife home for what I know." + +"Maybe it is so," said Victor, looking Edith steadily in the face, +"Soph didn't mean me to believe it; but there's many a truth +spoken in jest." + +Edith knew that, but she would not hearken for a moment to +Victor's suggestion. It made her too unhappy, and for three days +she had a fair opportunity of ascertaining the nature of her +feelings toward Arthur St. Claire, for nothing is more conducive +to the rapid development of love, than a spice of jealousy lest +another has won the heart we so much covet. + +The next day, the fourth after Arthur's departure, she asked +Victor to ride with her on horseback, saying the fresh March wind +would do her good. It was nearly sunset when they started, and, as +there was a splendid moon, they continued their excursion to quite +a distance, so that it was seven ere they found themselves at the +foot of the long hill which wound past Collingwood and on to +Grassy Spring. Half way up the hill, moving very slowly, as if the +horses were jaded and tired, was a traveling carriage, which both +Edith and Victor recognized at once as belonging to Arthur St. +Claire. + +"Let's overtake them," said Edith, and chirruping to Bedouin, she +was soon so near to the carriage that her quick ear caught the +sound of a low, sweet voice singing a German air, with which she +herself had always been familiar, though when she first learned it +she could not tell. + +It was one of those old songs which Rachel had called weird and +wild, and now, as she listened to the plaintive tones, they +thrilled on every nerve with a strange power as if it were a +requiem sung by the dead over their own buried hopes. Nearer and +nearer Bedouin pressed to the slowly moving vehicle, until at last +she was nearly even with it. + +"Look, Miss Edith!" and Victor grasped her bridle rein, directing +her attention to the arms folded upon the window and the girlish +head resting upon the arms, in the attitude of a weary child. + +One little ringless, blue-veined hand was plainly discernible in +the bright moonlight, and Edith thought how small and white and +delicate it was. + +"Let's go on," she whispered, and they dashed past the carriage +just as Arthur leaned forward to see who they were. + +"That was a young lady," said Victor coming up with Edith, who was +riding at a headlong speed. + +"Yes, I knew it," and Edith again touched Bedouin with her whip as +if the fast riding suited well her tumultuous emotions. + +"His bride?" said Victor, interrogatively, and Edith replied, +"Very likely, Victor," and she stopped Bedouin short. "Victor, +don't tell any one of the lady in the carriage until it's known +for certain that there is one at Grassy Spring." + +Victor could see no reason for this request, but it was sufficient +for him that Edith had made it, and he promised readily all that +she desired. They were at home by this time, and complaining of a +headache Edith excused herself earlier than usual and stole up to +her chamber where she could he alone to wonder WHO was the visitor +at Grassy Spring. It might be a bride, and it might be NINA. +Starting to her feet as the last mentioned individual came into +her mind, she walked to the window and saw just what she more than +half expected to see--a light shining through the iron lattice of +the DEN--a bright, cheerful light--and as she gazed, there crept +over her a faint, sick feeling, as if she knew of the ruin, the +desolation, the blighted hopes and beautiful wreck embodied in the +mystery at Grassy Spring. Covering her eyes with her hands the +tears trickled through her fingers, falling not so much for Arthur +St. Claire as for the plaintive singing girl shrouded in so dark a +mystery. Drying her eyes she looked again across the meadow, but +the blinds of the Den were closed, and only the moonbeams fell +where the blaze of the lamp had been. + +A week went by, and though Grace came twice to Collingwood, while +Victor feigned several errands to Grassy Spring, nothing was known +of the stranger. Grace evidently had no suspicion of her +existence, while Victor declared there was no trace of a white +woman any where about the premises. Mr. St. Claire, he said, sat +in the library, his feet crossed in a chair and his hands on top +of his head as if in a brown study, while Aunt Phillis appeared +far more impatient than usual and had intimated to him plainly +that "in her 'pinion white niggers had better be at home tendin' +to thar own business, of they had any, and not pryin' into thar +neighbor's affairs." + +At last Edith was surprised at receiving a note from Arthur, +saying he was ready to resume their lessons at any time. Highly +delighted with the plan Edith answered immediately that she would +come on the morrow, which was Friday. Richard did not offer to go, +owing in a great measure to the skillful management of Victor, +who, though he did not suggest Mr. Floyd and the western wood lot, +found some equally good excuse why his master's presence would, +that day of all others, be necessary at home. + +The wild March winds by this time had given place to the warmer, +balmier air of April. The winter snow had melted from the +hillside, and here and there tufts of fresh young grass were seen +starting into life. It was just such a morning, in short, as is +most grateful to the young, and Edith felt its inspiriting +influence as she rode along the rather muddy road. Another there +was, too, who felt it; and as Edith sauntered slowly up the path, +entering this time upon the rear piazza instead of the front, she +heard again the soft, low voice which had sounded so mournful and +sweet when heard in the still moonlight. Looking up she saw that a +window of the Den was open, and through the lattice work a little +hand was thrust, as if beckoning her to come. Stepping bank she +tried to obtain a view of the person, but failed to do so, though +the hand continued beckoning, and from the height there floated +down to her the single word, "MIGGIE." That was all; but it +brought her hand to her head as if she had received a sudden blow. + +"Miggie--Miggie," she repeated. "I HAVE heard that name before. It +must have belonged to some one in the Asylum." + +A confused murmur as if of expostulation and remonstrance was now +heard--the childish hand disappeared and scarcely knowing what she +was about, Edith stepped into the hall and advanced into the +library, where she sat down to wait for Arthur. It was not long +ere he appeared, locking the door as he came in and thus cutting +off all communication between that room and the stairway leading +to the Den. Matters were, in Edith's estimation, assuming a +serious aspect, and remembering how pleadingly the name "Miggie" +had been uttered, she half-resolved to demand of Arthur the +immediate release of the helpless creature thus held in durance +vile. But he looked so unhappy, so hopelessly wretched that her +sympathy was soon enlisted for him rather than his fair captive. +Still she would try him a little and when they were fairly at work +she said to him jestingly, + +"I heard it hinted that you would bring home a wife, but I do not +see her. Where is she, pray?" + +Arthur uttered no sound save a stifled moan, and when Edith dared +to steal a look at him she saw that his brown hair was moist with +perspiration, which stood also in drops about his lips. + +"Mr. St. Claire," she said, throwing down her pencil and leaning +back in her chair, "I can endure this no longer. What IS the +matter? Tell me. You have some great mental sorrow, I know, and I +long to share it with you--may I? Who have you up stairs and why +this mystery concerning her?" + +She laid her hand upon his arm, and looked imploringly into the +face, which turned away from her, as if afraid to meet her +truthful glance. Once he thought to tell her all, but when he +remembered how beautiful she was, how much he loved her, and how +dear her society was to him, he refrained, for he vainly fancied +that a confession would drive her from him forever. He did not +know Edith Hastings; he had not yet fathomed the depths of her +womanly nature, and he could not guess how tenderly, even while +her own heart was breaking, she would have soothed his grief and +been like an angel of mercy to the innocent cause of all his woe. + +"I dare not tell you," he said. "You would hate me if I did, and +that I could not endure. It may not be pleasant for you to come +here any more, and perhaps you had better not." + +For a moment Edith sat motionless. She had not expected this from +Arthur, and it roused within her a feeling of resentment. + +"And so you only sent for me to give me my dismissal," she said, +in a cold, icy tone. "Be it as you like. I draw tolerably well, +you say. I have no doubt I can get along alone. Send your bill at +once to Mr. Harrington. He does not like to be in debt." + +She spoke proudly, haughtily, and her eyes, usually so soft in +their expression, had in them a black look of anger, which pierced +Arthur's very soul. He could not part with her THUS, and grasping +the hand reached out to take its gauntlet, he held it fast, while +he said, "What are we doing, Edith? Quarrelling? It must not be. I +suggested your giving up the lessons because I thought the +arrangement might be satisfactory to you, and not because _I_ +wished it, for I do not; I cannot give up the only source of +happiness left to me. Forget what I said. Remain my pupil and I'll +try to be more cheerful in your presence. You shall NOT help to +bear my burden as you bear that of Collingwood's unfortunate +inmates." + +Edith never liked to hear her relations to Richard referred to in +this manner, and she answered quickly, + +"You are mistaken, Mr. St. Claire, in thinking I bear any burden +either here or elsewhere. No one ever had a happier home than I, +and there's nothing on earth I would not do for Richard." + +"Would you marry him, Edith?" and Arthur scanned her closely. +"Would you be his wife if he demanded it as his right? and I think +he will do this sometime." + +Edith trembled from head to foot, as she answered, + +"Not if he demanded it as a right, though he might well do that, +for I owe him everything. But if he loved me, and I loved him." + +She paused, and in the silence which ensued the tumultuous beating +of her heart was plainly audible. No one before had suggested to +her the possibility of her being Richard's wife, and the idea was +terrible to her. She loved him, but not as a wife should love her +husband. He loved her, too; and now, as she remembered many things +in the past, she was half convinced that she to him was dearer +than a sister, child, or friend. He had forgotten the Swedish +baby's mother. She knew he had by his always checking her when she +attempted to speak of Eloise. Out of the ashes of this early love +a later love had sprung, and SHE was possibly its object. The +thought was a crushing one, and unmindful of Arthur's presence she +laid her head upon the table and sobbed, + +"It cannot be. Richard will never ask me to be his wife. Never, oh +never." + +"But if he does, Edith, you will not tell him NO. Promise me that. +It's my only hope of salvation from total ruin!" and Arthur drew +so near to her that his arm found its way around her slender +waist. + +Had he struck her with a glittering dagger he could not have hurt +her more than by pleading with her to be another's wife. But she +would not let him know it. He did not love her as she had +sometimes foolishly fancied he did; and lifting up her head she +answered him proudly, + +"Yes, Arthur St. Claire, when Richard Harrington asks me to be his +bride I will not tell him no. Are you satisfied?" + +"I am," he said, though his white lips gave the lie to the words +he uttered, and his heart smote him cruelly for his selfishness in +wishing to save himself by sacrificing Edith; and it would be a +sacrifice, he knew--a fearful sacrifice, the giving her to a blind +man, old enough to be her sire, noble, generous and good, though +he were. + +It was a little singular that Arthur's arm should still linger +about the waist of one who had promised to be another's wife, +provided she were asked, but so it was; it staid there, while he +persuaded her to come again to Grassy Spring, and not to give up +the lessons so pleasant to them both. + +He was bending very near to her when a sound upon the stairs +caught his ear. It was the same German air Edith had heard in the +yard, and she listened breathlessly while it came nearer to the +door. Suddenly the singer seemed to change her mind, for the music +began slowly to recede and was soon lost to hearing within the +four walls of the Den. Not a word was spoken by either Arthur or +Edith, until the latter said, + +"It is time I was at home," and she arose to go. + +He offered no remonstrance, but accompanying her to the gate, +placed her in the saddle, and then stood watching her as she +galloped away. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +NINA. + + +Three or four times Edith went to Grassy Spring, seeing nothing of +the mysterious occupant of the Den, hearing nothing of her, and +she began to think she might have returned to Worcester. Many +times she was on the point of questioning Arthur, but from what +had passed, she knew how disagreeable the subject was to him, and +she generously forbore. + +"I think he might tell me, anyway," she said to herself, half +poutingly, when, one morning near the latter part of April, she +rode slowly toward Grassy Spring. + +Their quarrel, if quarrel it could be called, had been made up, +or, rather, tacitly forgotten, and Arthur more than once had +cursed himself for having, in a moment of excitement, asked her to +marry Richard Harrington. While praying to be delivered from +temptation he was constantly keeping his eyes fixed upon the +forbidden fruit, longing for it more and move, and feeling how +worthless life would be to him without it. Still, by a mighty +effort, he restrained himself from doing or saying aught which +could be constrained into expressions of love, and their +interviews were much like those which had preceded his last visit +to Worcester. People were beginning to talk about him and his +beautiful pupil, but leading the isolated life he did, it came not +to his ears. Grace indeed, might have enlightened both himself and +Edith with regard to the village gossip, but looking upon the +latter as her rival, and desiring greatly that she should marry +Arthur, she forebore from communicating to either of them anything +which would be likely to retard an affair she fancied was +progressing famously. Thus without a counsellor or friend was +Edith left to follow the bent of her inclinations; and on this +April morning, as she rode along, mentally chiding Arthur for not +entrusting his secret to her, she wondered how she had ever +managed to be happy without him, and if the time would ever come +when her visits to Grassy Spring would cease. + +Leaving Bedouin at the rear gate she walked slowly to the house, +glancing often in the direction of the DEN, the windows of which +were open this morning, and as she came near she saw a pair of +soft blue eyes peering at her through the lattice, then a little +hand was thrust outside, beckoning to her as it did once before. + +"Wait, Miggie, while I write," came next to her ear, in a voice as +sweet and plaintive as a broken lute. + +Instantly Edith stopped, and at last a tiny note came fluttering +to her feet. Grasping it eagerly she read, in a pretty, girlish +hand: + +"DARLING MIGGIE:--Nina has been SO sick this great long while, and +her head is so full of pain. Why don't you come to me, Miggie? I +sit and wait and listen till my forehead thumps and thumps, just +as a bad nurse thumped it once down in the Asylum. + +"Let's run away--you and I; run back to the magnolias, where it's +always summer, with no asylums full of wicked people. + +"I'm so lonely, Miggie. Come up stairs, won't you? They say I rave +and tear my clothes, but I won't any more if you'll come. Tell +Arthur so. He's good. He'll do what you ask him." + +"Poor little Nina," and Edith's tears fell fast upon the bit of +paper. "I WILL see you to-day. Perhaps I may do you some good. +Dear, unfortunate Nina!" + +There was a step upon the grass, and thrusting the note into her +pocket, Edith turned to meet Arthur, who seemed this morning +unusually cheerful and greeted her with something like his olden +tenderness. But Edith was too intent upon Nina to think much of +him, and after the lesson commenced, she appeared so abstracted +that it was Arthur's turn to ask if she were offended. She had +made herself believe she was, for notwithstanding Nina's assertion +that "Arthur was good," she thought it a sin and a shame for him +to keep any thing but a raving lunatic hidden away up stairs; and +after a moment's hesitation she answered, "Yes, I am offended, and +I don't mean to come here any more, unless---" + +"Edith," and the tone of Arthur's voice was fraught with pain so +exquisite that Edith paused and looked into his face, where +various emotions were plainly visible. Love, fear, remorse, +apprehension, all were blended together in the look he fixed upon +her. "You won't leave me," he said. "Any thing but that. Tell me +my error, and how I can atone." + +Edith was about to speak, when, on the stairs without,--the stairs +leading from the den--there was the patter of little feet, and a +gentle, timid knock was heard upon the door. + +"It's locked--go back;" and Arthur's voice had in it a tone of +command. + +"Mr. St. Claire," and Edith sprang from her chair, "I can unlock +that door, and I will." + +Like a block of marble Arthur stood while Edith opened the oak- +paneled door. Another moment and Nina stood before her, as she +stands now first before our readers. + +Edith knew her in a moment from the resemblance to the +daguerreotype seen more than eight years before, and as she now +scanned her features it seemed to her they had scarcely changed at +all. Arthur had said of her then that she was not quite sixteen, +consequently she was now nearly twenty-five, but she did not look +as old as Edith, so slight was her form, so delicate her limbs, +and so childlike and simple the expression of her face. She was +very, very fair, and Edith felt that never before had she looked +upon a face so exquisitely beautiful. Her hair was of a reddish- +yellow hue, and rippled in short silken rings all over her head, +curling softly in her neck, but was not nearly as long as it had +been in the picture. Alas, the murderous shears had more than once +strayed roughly among those golden locks, to keep the little +white, fat hands, now clasped so harmlessly together, from tearing +them out with frantic violence. Edith thought of this and sighed, +while her heart yearned toward the helpless young creature, who +stood regarding her with a scrutinizing glance, as one studies a +beautiful picture. The face was very white--indeed, it seemed as +if it were long since the blood had visited the cheeks, which, +nevertheless, were round and plump, as were the finely moulded +arms, displayed to good advantage by the loose sleeves of the +crimson cashmere wrapper. The eyes were deeply, darkly blue, and +the strangely gleaming light which shone from them, betrayed at +once the terrible truth that Nina was crazed. + +It was a novel sight, those two young girls watching each other so +intently, both so beautiful and yet so unlike--the one, tall, +stately, and almost queen-like in her proportions, with dark, +brilliant complexion; eyes of midnight blackness, and masses of +raven hair, bound around her head in many a heavy braid--the +other, fairy-like in size, with golden curls and soft blue eyes, +which filled with tears at last as some undefinable emotion swept +over her. In the rich, dark beauty of Edith's face there was a +wonderful fascination, which riveted the crazy girl to the spot +where she had stopped when first she crossed the threshold, and +when at last, sinking upon the sofa, Edith extended her arms, as a +mother to her child, poor little Nina went forward, and with a +low, gasping sob, fell upon her bosom, weeping passionately, her +whole frame trembling and her sobs so violent that Edith became +alarmed, and tried by kisses and soft endearing words to soothe +her grief and check the tears raining in torrents from her eyes. + +"It's nice to cry. It takes the heavy pain away," and Nina made a +gesture that Edith must not stop her, while Arthur, roused from +his apathy, also said, + +"She has not wept before in years. It will be a great relief." + +At the sound of HIS voice Nina lifted up her head, and turned +toward the corner whence it came, but Edith saw that in the glance +there was neither reproach nor fear, nothing save trusting +confidence, and her heart insensibly softened toward him. + +"Poor Arthur," Nina murmured, and laying her head again on Edith's +bosom, she said, "Every body is sad where I am, but I can't help +it. Oh, I can't help it. Nina's crazy, Miggie, Nina is. Poor +Nina," and the voice which uttered these words was so sadly +touching that Edith's tears mingled with those of the young +creature she hugged the closer to her, whispering, + +"I know it, darling, and I pity you so much. Maybe you'll get +well, now that you know me." + +"Yea, if you'll stay here always," said Nina. "What made you gone +so long? I wanted you so much when the nights were dark and +lonesome, and little bits of faces bent over me like yours used to +be, Miggie--yours in the picture, when you wore the red morocco +shoe and I led you on the high verandah." + +"What does she mean?" asked Edith, who had listened to the words +as to something not wholly new to her. + +"I don't know," returned Arthur, "unless she has confounded you +with her sister, MARGUERITE, who died many years ago, I have heard +that Nina, failing to speak the real name, always called her +MIGGIE. Possibly you resemble Miggie's mother. I think Aunt +Phillis said you did." + +Edith, too, remembered Phillis' saying that she looked like +"Master Bernard's" wife, and Arthur's explanations seemed highly +probable. + +"Dear, darling Nina," she said, kissing the pure white forehead, +"I WILL be a sister to you." + +"And stay with me?" persisted Nina. "Sleep with me nights with +your arms round my neck, just like yon used to do? I hate to sleep +alone, with Soph coiled up on the floor, she scares me so, and +won't answer when I call her. Then, when I'm put in the recess, +it's terrible. DON'T let me go in there again, will you?" + +Edith had not like Grace, looked into the large closet adjoining +the Den, and she did not know what Nina meant, but at a venture +she replied, + +"No, darling. You'll be so good that they will not wish to put you +there." + +"I CAN'T," returned Nina, with the manner of one who distrusted +herself. "I try, because it will please Arthur, but I must sing +and dance and pull my hair when my head feels so big and heavy, +and once, Miggie, when it was big as the house, and I pulled my +hair till they shaved it off, I tore my clothes in pieces and +threw them into the fire. Then, when Arthur came--Dr. Griswold +sent for him, you see--I buried my fingers in HIS hair, so," and +she was about to clutch her own golden locks when Edith +shudderingly caught her hands and held them tightly lest they +should harm the tresses she thought so beautiful. + +"Arthur cried," continued Nina--"cried so hard that my brain grew +cool at once. It's dreadful to see a man cry, Miggie--a great, +strong man like Arthur. Poor Arthur, didn't you cry and call me +your lost Nina?" + +A suppressed moan was Arthur's answer, and Nina, when she heard +it, slid from Edith's arms and crossing over to where she sat, +climbed into his lap with all the freedom of a little child, and +winding her arms about his neck, said to him softly, + +"Don't be so sorry, Arthur, Nina'll be good. Nina is good now. +He's crying again. Make him stop, wont you? It hurts Nina so. +There, poor boy," and the little waxen hands wiped away the tears +falling so fast over Arthur's face. + +Holding one upon the end of her finger and watching it until it +dropped upon the carpet, she said with a smile, "Look, Miggie, +MEN'S tears are bigger than girls." + +Oh, how Edith's heart ached for the strange couple opposite her-- +the strong man and the crazy young girl who clung to him as +confidingly, as if his bosom were her rightful resting place. She +pitied them both, but her sympathies were enlisted for Arthur, and +coming to his side she laid her hand upon the damp brown locks, +which Nina once had torn in her insane fury, and in a voice which +spoke volumes of sympathy, whispered, "I am sorry for you." + +This was too much for Arthur, and he sobbed aloud, while Edith, +forgetting all proprieties in her grief for him, bowed her face +upon his head, and he could feel her hot tears dropping on his +hair. + +For a moment Nina looked from one to the other in silence, then +standing upon her feet and bending over both, she said, + +"Don't cry, Miggie, don't cry, Arthur. Nina ain't very bad to day. +She wont be bad any more. Don't. It will all come right some time. +It surely will. Nina won't be here always, and there'll be no need +to cry when she is gone." + +She seemed to think the distress was all on her account, and in +her childish way she sought to comfort them until hope whispered +to both that, as she said, "It would come right sometime." + +Edith was the first to be comforted, for she did not, like Arthur, +know what coming right involved. She only thought that possibly +Nina's shattered intellect might be restored, and she longed to +ask the history of one, thoughts of whom had in a measure been +blended with her whole life, during the last eight years. There +was a mystery connected with her, she knew, and she was about to +question Arthur, who had dried his tears and was winding Nina's +short curls around his fingers, when Phillis appeared in the +library, starting with surprise when she saw the trio assembled +there. + +"Marster Arthur," she began, glancing furtively at Edith, "how +came Miss Nina here? Let me take her back. Come, honey," and she +reached out her hand to Nina, who, jumping again upon Arthur's +knee, clung to him closely, exclaiming, "No, no, old Phillis; +Nina's good--Nina'll stay with Miggie!" and as if fancying that +Edith would be a surer protector than Arthur, she slid from his +lap and running to the sofa where Edith sat, half hid herself +behind her, whispering, "Send her off--send her off. Let me stay +with you!" + +Edith was fearful that Nina's presence might interfere with the +story she meant to hear, but she could not find it in her heart to +send away the little girl clinging so fondly to her, and to +Phillis she said, "She may stay this once, I am sure. I will +answer for her good behavior." + +"'Taint that--'taint that," muttered Phillis, jerking herself from +the room, "but how's the disgrace to be kep' ef everybody sees +her." + +"Disgrace!" and Edith glanced inquiringly at Arthur. + +She could not believe that Nina was any disgrace, and she asked +what Phillis meant. + +Crossing the room Arthur sat down upon the sofa with Nina between +himself and Edith, who was pleased to see that he wound his arm +around the young girl as if she were dear to him, notwithstanding +her disgrace. Like a child Nina played with his watch chain, his +coat buttons, and his fingers, apparently oblivious to what was +passing about her. She only felt that she was where she wished to +be, and knowing that he could say before her what he pleased +without the least danger of her comprehending a word, Arthur, much +to Edith's surprise, began: + +"You have seen Nina, Miss Hastings. You know what is the mystery +at Grassy Spring--the mystery about which the villagers are +beginning to gossip, so Phillis says, but now that you have seen, +now that you know she is here, I care not for the rest. The +keenest pang is over and I am beginning already to feel better. +Concealment is not in accordance with my nature, and it has worn +on me terribly. Years ago you knew OF Nina; it is due to you now +that you know WHO she is, and why her destiny is linked to mine. +Listen, then, while I tell you her sad story." + +"But SHE," interrupted Edith, pointing to Nina, whose blue eyes +were turned to Arthur. "Will it not be better to wait? Won't she +understand?" + +"Not a word," he replied. "She's amusing herself, you see, with my +buttons, and when these fail, I'll give her my drawing pencil, or +some one of the numerous playthings I always keep in my pocket for +her. She seldom comprehends what we say and never remembers it. +This is one of the peculiar phases of her insanity." + +"Poor child," said Edith, involuntarily caressing Nina, who smiled +up in her face, and leaning her head upon her shoulder, continued +her play with the buttons. + +Meanwhile Arthur sat lost in thought, determining in his own mind +how much he should tell Edith of Nina, and how much withhold. He +could not tell her all, even though he knew that by keeping back a +part, much of his past conduct would seem wholly inexplicable, but +he could not help it, and when at last he saw that Edith was +waiting for him, he pressed his hands a moment against his heart +to stop its violent beating, and drawing a long, long sigh, began +the story. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ARTHUR'S STORY. + + +"I must commence at the beginning," he said, "and tell you first +of Nina's father--Ernest Bernard, of Florida. I was a load of +fourteen when I met him in Richmond, Virginia, which you know as +my former home. He was spending a few weeks there, and dined one +day with my guardian, with whom I was then living. I did not fancy +him at all. He seemed even to me, a boy, like a bad, unprincipled +man, and I afterward learned that such had been his former +character, though at the time I knew him he had reformed in a +great measure. He was very kind indeed to me, and as I became +better acquainted with him my prejudices gradually wore away, +until at last I liked him very much, and used to listen with +delight to the stories he told of his Florida home, and of his +little, golden-haired Nina, always finishing his remarks +concerning he with, 'But you can't have her, boy. Nobody can marry +Nina. Had little Miggie lived you might, perhaps, have been my +son-in-law, but you can't as 'tis, for Nina will never marry.'" + +"No, Nina can never marry;" and the golden curls shook decidedly, +as the Nina in question repeated the words, "Miggie can marry +Arthur, but not Nina, no--no!" + +Edith blushed painfully, and averted her eyes, while Arthur +continued: + +"During Mr. Bernard's stay in Richmond he was attacked with that +loathsome disease the small pox, and deserted by all his friends, +was in a most deplorable condition, when I, who had had the +varioloid, begged and obtained permission to nurse him, which I +did as well as I was able, staying by him until the danger was +over. How far I was instrumental to his recovery I cannot say. He +professed to think I saved his life, and was profuse in his +protestations of gratitude. He was very impulsive and conceived +for me a friendship which ended only with his death. At all events +he proved as much by the great trust eventually reposed in me," +and he nodded toward Nina, who having tired of the buttons and the +chain, was busy now with the bunch of keys she had purloined from +his pocket. + +"I was in delicate health," said Arthur, "and as the cold weather +was coming on, he insisted upon taking me home with him, and I +accordingly accompanied him to Florida--to Sunny-bank, his country +seat. It was a grand old place, shaded by magnolias and surrounded +by a profusion of vines and flowering shrubs, but the most +beautiful flower of all was NINA, then eleven years age." + +Nina knew that he was praising her--that Edith sanctioned the +praise, and with the same feeling the little child experiences +when told that it is good, she smiled upon Arthur, who, smoothing +her round white check, went on: + +"My sweet Florida rose, I called her, and many a romping frolic we +had together during the winter months, and many a serious talk, +too, we had of her second mother; her own she did not remember, +and of her sister Miggie whose grave we often visited, strewing it +with flowers and watering it with tears, for Nina's attention for +her lost sister was so touching that I often wept with her over +Miggie's grave." + +"Miggie ISN'T dead," said Nina. "She's here, ain't you Miggie?" +and she nestled closer to Edith, who was growing strangely +interested in that old house, shaded with magnolias, and in the +grave of that little child. + +"I came home in the spring," said Arthur, going on with the story +Nina had interrupted, "but I kept up a boyish correspondence with +Nina, though my affection for her gradually weakened. After +becoming a pupil in Geneva Academy, I was exceedingly ambitious, +and to stand first in my class occupied more of my thoughts than +Nina Bernard. Still, when immediately after I entered Geneva +College as a sophomore, I learned that her father intended sending +her to the seminary in that village, I was glad, and when I saw +her again all my old affection for her returned with ten-fold +vigor, and the ardor of my passion was greatly increased from the +fact that other youths of my age worshipped her too, toasting the +Florida rose, and quoting her on all occasions. GRISWOLD was one +of these. Dr. Griswold. How deep his feelings were, I cannot tell. +I only know that he has never married, and he is three years older +than myself. We were room-mates in college, and when he saw that +Nina's preference was for me, he acted the part of a noble, +disinterested friend. Few know Griswold as he is." + +Arthur paused, and Edith fancied he was living over the past when +Nina was not as she was now, but alas, he was thinking what to +tell her next. Up to this point he had narrated the facts just as +they had occurred, but he could do so no longer. He must leave out +now--evade, go round the truth, and it was hard for him to do so. + +"We were engaged," he began at last. "I was eighteen, she fifteen. +But she looked quite as old as she does now. Indeed, she was +almost as far in advance of her years as she is now behind them. +Still we had no idea of marriage until I had been graduated, +although Nina's confidential friend, who was quite romantic, +suggested that we should run away. But from this I shrank as a +most foolish act, which, if divulged, would result in my being +expelled, and this disgrace I could not endure. In order, however, +to make the matter sure, I wrote to her father, asking for his +daughter when I became of age. Very impatiently I waited for his +answer, which, when it came, was a positive refusal, yet couched +in language so kind that none save a fool would have been angry. + +"'Nina could not marry,' he said, 'and I must break the engagement +at once. Sometime he would tell me why, but not then--not till I +was older.'" + +Accompanying this was a note to Nina, in which he used rather +severer terms, forbidding her to think of marriage, and telling +her he was coming immediately to take her to Europe, whither he +had long contemplated going. + +There was another pause, and a long blank was made in the story, +which Arthur at last resumed, as follows: + +"He came for her sooner than we anticipated, following close upon +the receipt of his letter, and in spite of Nina's tears took her +with him to New York, from whence early in May they started for +Europe. That was nine years ago next month, and during the +vacation following I came to Shannondale and saw you, Edith, while +you saw Nina's picture." + +Nina was apparently listening now, and turning to him she said, +"Tell her about the night when I stepped on your back and so got +out of the window." + +Arthur's face was crimson, but he answered laughingly "I fear +Miggie will not think us very dignified, if I tell her of all our +stolen interviews and the means used to procure them." + +Taking a new toy from his pocket he gave it to Nina, who, while +examining it, forgot THAT NIGHT, and he went on. + +"I come now to the saddest part of my story. Nina and I continued +to write, for her father did not forbid that, stipulating, +however, that he should see the letters which passed between us. +He had placed her in a school at Paris, where she remained until +after I was graduated and of age. Edith," and Arthur's voice +trembled, "I was too much a boy to know the nature of my feelings +toward Nina when we were engaged, and as the time wore on my love +began to wane." + +Edith's heart beat more naturally now than it had before since the +narrative commenced, but she could not forbear from saying to him, +reproachfully, "Oh, Arthur." + +"It was wrong, I know," he replied, "and I struggled against it +with all my strength, particularly when I heard that she was +coming home. Griswold knew everything, and he suggested that a +sight of her might awaken the olden feeling, and with a feverish +anxiety I waited in Boston for the steamer which I supposed was to +bring her home. After many delays she came in a sailing vessel, +but came alone. Her father had died upon the voyage and been +buried in the sea, leaving her with no friend save a Mr. Hudson, +whose acquaintance they had made in Paris." + +At the mention of Mr. Hudson the toy dropped from Nina's fingers +and the blue eyes flashed up into Edith's face with a more +rational expression than she had heretofore observed in them. + +"What is it, darling?" she asked, as she saw there was something +Nina would say. + +The lip quivered like that of a grieved child, while Nina answered +softly, "I did love Charlie better than Arthur, and it was so +wicked." + +"Yes," rejoined Arthur quickly, "Nina's love for me had died away, +and centered itself upon another. Charlie Hudson had sought her +for his wife, and while confessing her love for him she insisted +that she could not be his, because she was bound to me. This, +however, did not prevent his seeking an interview with her father, +who told him frankly the terrible impediment to Nina's marriage +with any one. It was a crushing blow to young Hudson, but he still +clung to her with all a brother's devotion, soothing her grief +upon the sea, and caring for her tenderly until Boston was +reached, and he placed her in my hands, together with a letter, +which her father wrote a few days before he died." + +"He's married now," interrupted Nina, "Charlie's married, but he +came to see me once, down at the old Asylum, and I saw him through +the grates, for I was shut up in a TANTRUM. He cried, Miggie, just +as Arthur does sometimes, and called me POOR LOST NINA. He held an +angel in his arms with blue eyes like mine, and he said she was +his child and Margaret's! Her name was Nina, too. Wasn't it nice?" +And she smiled upon Edith, who involuntarily groaned as she +thought how dreadful it must have been for Mr. Hudson to gaze +through iron bars upon the wreck of his early love. + +"Poor man," she sighed, turning to Arthur. "Is he happy with his +Margaret!" + +"He seems to be," said Arthur, "People can outlive their first +affection, you know. He resides in New York now, and is to all +appearance a prosperous, happy man. The curse has fallen alone on +me, who alone deserve it." + +He spoke bitterly, and for a moment sat apparently thinking; then, +resuming his story, said, + +"I did not open Mr. Bernard's letter until we reached the Revere +House, and I was alone in my room. Then I broke the seal and read, +while my blood curdled within my veins and every hair pricked at +its roots. The old man knew he was about to die, and confessed to +me in part his manifold transgressions, particularly his inhuman +treatment of his last wife, the mother of little Miggie, but as +this cannot, of course, be interesting to you, I will not repeat +it." + +"Oh, do," exclaimed Edith, feeling somehow that anything +concerning the mother of Miggie Bernard would interest her. + +"Well, then," returned Arthur, "he did not tell me all the +circumstances of his marriage. I only know that she was a +foreigner and very beautiful--a governess, too, I think in some +German family, and that he married her under an assumed name." + +"An assumed name!" Edith cried. "Why was that, pray?" + +"I hardly know," returned Arthur, "but believe he became in some +way implicated in a fight or gambling brawl in Paris, and being +threatened with arrest took another name than his own, and fled to +Germany or Switzerland, where he found his wife. They were married +privately, and after two or three years he brought her to his +Florida home, where his proud mother and maiden sister affected to +despise her because of her poverty. He was at that time given to +drinking, and almost every day became beastly intoxicated, abusing +his young wife so shamefully that her life became intolerable, and +at last when he was once absent from home for a few weeks, he +resolved upon going back to Europe, and leaving him forever. This +plan she confided to a maid servant who had accompanied her from +England, a resolute, determined woman, who arranged the whole so +skillfully that no one suspected their designs until they were far +on their way to New York. The old mother, who was then living, +would not suffer them to be pursued, and more than a week went by +ere Mr. Bernard learned what had occurred. He followed them of +course. He was man enough for that, but falling in with some of +his boon companions, almost as soon as he reached the city, he +drank so deeply that for several days he was unable to search for +them, and in that time both his wife and Miggie died." + +"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," and Edith's eyes filled with tears. + +"Yes, both of them died," he continued. "Mrs. Bernard's health was +greatly undermined by sorrow, and when a prevailing epidemic +fastened itself upon her, it found an easy prey. The waiting-maid +wrote immediately to Florida, and her letter was sent back to Mr. +Bernard, who, having become sobered, hastened at once to find her +place of abode. She was a very intelligent woman for one of her +class, and had taken the precaution to have the remains of her +late mistress and child deposited in such a manner that they could +easily be removed if Mr. Bernard should so desire it. He did +desire it, and the bodies were taken undisturbed to Florida, where +they now rest quietly, side by side with the proud mother and +sister, since deceased. After this Mr. Bernard became a changed +and better man, weeping often over the fate of his young girl-wife +and his infant daughter, whom he greatly loved. Other troubles he +had, too, secret troubles which he confided to me in the letter +brought by Mr. Hudson. After assuring me of his esteem and telling +me how much he should prefer me for his son-in-law to Charlie +Hudson, he added that in justice to us both he must now speak of +the horrible cloud hanging over his beautiful Nina, and which was +sure at last to envelop her in darkness. You can guess it, Edith. +You have guessed it already--hereditary insanity--reaching far +back into the past, and with each successive generation developing +itself earlier and in a more violent form. He knew nothing of it +when he married Nina's mother, a famous New Orleans belle, for her +father purposely kept it from him, hoping thus to get her off his +hands ere the malady manifested itself. + +"In her case it came on with the birth of Nina, and from that day +to her death she was a raving, disgusting maniac, as her mother +and grandmother had been before her. This was exceedingly +mortifying to the proud Bernards, negroes and all, and the utmost +care was taken of Nina, who, nevertheless, was too much like her +mother to hope for escape. There was the same peculiar look in the +eye--the same restless, nervous motions, and from her babyhood up +he knew his child was doomed to chains, straight jackets and +narrow cells, while the man who married her was domed to a still +more horrible fate. These were his very words, and my heart +stopped its beating as I read, while I involuntarily thanked +Heaven, who had changed her feelings towards me. She told me with +many tears that she had ceased to love me, and asked to be +released for the fulfillment of her vow. I knew then she would one +day be just what she is, and did not think it my duty to insist. +But I did not forsake her, though my affection for her then was +more like a brother's than a lover's. In his will, which was duly +made and witnessed, Mr. Bernard appointed me the guardian of his +child, empowering me to do for her as if she were my sister, and +bidding me when the calamity should overtake her, care for her to +the last. + +"'They don't usually survive ling,' he wrote, and he made me his +next heir after Nina's death. It was a great charge for one just +twenty-two, a young, helpless girly and an immense fortune to look +after; but Griswold, my tied friend, came to my aid, and pointed +out means by which a large portion of the Bernard estate could be +turned into money, and thus save me much trouble. I followed his +advice, and then old homestead is all the landed property there is +for me to attend to now, and as this is under the supervision of a +competent overseer, it give me no uneasiness. I suggested to Nina +that she should accompany me to Florida soon after her arrival in +Boston, but she preferred remaining for a time in some boarding +school, and I made arrangements for her to be received as a +boarder in Charlestown Seminary, leaving her there while I went +South to transact business incumbent upon me as her guardian. + +"How it happened I never knew, but by some accident her father's +letter to me became mixed up with her papers, and while I was gone +she read it, learning for the first time what the mystery was +which hung over her mother's fate, and also of the doom awaiting +her. She fainted, it was said, and during the illness which +followed raved in frantic fury, suffering no one to approach her +save Griswold, who, being at that time a physician in the Lunatic +Asylum at Worcester, hastened to her side, acquiring over her a +singular power. It is strange that in her fits of violence she +never speaks of me, nor yet of Charlie Hudson. Indeed, the past +seems all a blank to her, save as she refers to it incidentally as +she has to-day." + +"But did she stay crazy?" asked Edith. + +"Not wholly so," returned Arthur, "but from that time her reason +began to fail, until now she is hopelessly insane, and has not +known a rational moment for more than three years." + +"Nor been home in all that time?" said Edith, while Arthur +replied, + +"She would not go. She seemed to shrink from meeting her former +friends; and at last, acting upon Griswold's advice, I placed her +in the Asylum, going myself hither and thither like a feather +tossed about by the gale. Griswold was my ballast, my polar star, +and when he said to me, buy a house and have a home, I answered +that I would; and when he told me of Grassy Spring, bidding me +purchase it, I did so, although I dreaded coming to this +neighborhood of all others. I had carefully kept everything from +Grace, who, while hearing that I was in some way interested in a +Florida estate, knew none of the particulars, and I became +morbidly jealous lest she or anyone else should hear of Nina's +misfortune, or what she was to me. + +"It was a favorite idea of Griswold's that Nina might be benefited +by a change of place, and when I first came here I knew that she, +too, would follow me in due time. She has hitherto been subject to +violent attacks of frenzy, during which nothing within her reach +was safe; and, knowing this, Griswold advised me to prepare a +room, where, at such times, she could be kept by herself, for the +sight of people always made her worse. The Den, with the large +closet adjoining, was the result of this suggestion, and as I have +a great dread of neighborhood gossip, I resolved to say nothing of +her until compelled to do so by her presence in the house. I +fancied that Mrs. Johnson was a discreet woman, and my purpose was +to tell her of Nina as soon as I was fairly settled; but she +abused her trust by letting Grace into the room. You refused to +enter, and my respect for you from that moment was unbounded." + +She looked at him in much surprise, and he added, + +"You wonder, I suppose, how I know this. I was here at the time, +was in the next room when you came into the library to wait for +Grace. I watched you through the glass door, wondering who you +were, until my cousin appeared and I overheard the whole." + +"And that is why you chose me instead of Grace to take charge of +your keys," interrupted Edith, beginning to comprehend what had +heretofore been strange to her. "But, Mr. St. Claire, I don't +understand it at all--don't see why there was any need for so much +secrecy. Supposing you did dread neighborhood gossip, you could +not help being chosen Nina's guardian. She could not help being +crazy. Why not have told at once that there was such a person +under your charge? Wouldn't it have been better? It was no +disgrace to you that you have kept the father's trust, and cared +for his poor child," and she glanced lovingly at the pretty face +nestled against her arm, for Nina had fallen asleep. + +Arthur did not answer immediately, and when he did, his voice +trembled with emotion. + +"It would have been better," he said; "but when she first became +insane, I shrank from having it generally known, and the longer I +hugged the secret the harder I found it to divulge the whole. It +would look queerly, I thought, for a young man like me to be +tramelled with a crazy girl. Nobody would believe she was my ward, +and nothing more, and I became a sort of monomaniac upon the +subject. Had I never loved her--" he paused, and leaned his head +upon his hands, while Edith, bending upon him a most searching +look, startled him with the words, "Mr. St. Claire, you have not +told me all. There is something behind, something mightier than +pride or a dread of gossip." + +"Yes, Edith, there is something behind, but I can't tell YOU what +it is, you of all others." + +He was pacing the floor hurriedly now, but stopped suddenly, and +standing before Edith, said: "Edith Hastings, you are somewhat to +blame in this matter. Before I knew you I only shrank from having +people talk of my matters sooner than was absolutely necessary. +But after you became my pupil, the desire that you should never +see Nina as she is, grew into a species of madness, and I have +bent every energy to keeping you apart. I did not listen to +reason, which told me you must know of it sooner or later, but +plunged deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of attempted +concealment. When I found it necessary to dismiss Mrs. Johnson, if +I would keep my affairs to myself, I thought of the old family +servants at Sunnybank. I knew they loved and pitied Nina, and were +very sensitive with regard to her misfortune. It touches Phillis' +pride to think her young mistress is crazy, and as hers is the +ruling mind, she keeps the others in subjection, though old Judy +came near disclosing the whole to you at one time, I believe. You +know her sad story now, but you do not know how like an iron +weight it hangs upon me, crushing me to the earth, wearing my life +away, and making me old before my time. See here," and lifting his +brown locks, he showed her many a line of silver. "If I loved Nina +Bernard, my burden would be easier to bear." + +"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," interrupted Edith, "You surely do love her. +You cannot help loving her, and she so beautiful, so innocent." + +"Yes," he answered, "as a brother loves an unfortunate sister. I +feel towards her, I think, as a mother does towards a helpless +child, a tender pity which prompts me to bear with her even when +she tries me almost beyond endurance. She is not always as mild as +you see her now, though her frenzied moods do not occur as +frequently as they did. She loves me, I think, as an infant loves +its mother, and is better when I am with her. At all events, since +coming to Grassy Spring, she has been unusually quiet, until +within the last two weeks, when a nervous fever has confined her +to her room and made her somewhat unmanagable. Griswold said she +would be better here, and though I had not much faith in the +experiment, I see now that he was right. Griswold is always right, +and had I followed his advice years ago, much of my trouble might +have been averted. Edith, never conceal a single act, if you wish +to be happy. A little fault, if covered up, grows into a mountain; +and the longer it is hidden, the harder it is to be confessed. +This is my experience. There was a false step at first, and it +lies too far back in the past to be remedied now. No one knows of +it but myself, Griswold, Nina, and my God. Yes, there IS one more +whose memory might be refreshed, but I now have no fear of him." + +Edith did not ask who this other was, neither did she dream that +Richard Harrington was in any way connected with the mystery. She +thought of him, however, wondering if she might tell him of Nina, +and asking if she could. + +Arthur's face was very white, as he replied, "Tell him if you +like, or any one else. It is needless to keep it longer, but, +Edith, you'll come again, won't you? come to see Nina if nothing +more. I am glad you have seen her, provided you do not desert me +wholly." + +"Of course I shall not," she said, as she laid the golden head of +the sleeping girl upon the cushion of the sofa, preparatory to +leaving, "I'll come again, and forgive you, too, for anything you +may have done, except a wrong to her," and she carefully kissed the +poor, crazy Nina. + +Then, offering her hand to Arthur she tried to bid him good-bye as +of old, but he missed something in her manner, and with feelings +sadly depressed he watched her from the window, as, assisted by +Ike, she mounted her pony and galloped swiftly away. + +"She's lost to me forever, and there's nothing worth living for +now," he said, just as a little hand pressed his arm, and a sweet +childish voice murmured, "Yes, there is, Arthur. Live for Nina, +poor Nina," and the snowy fingers, which, for a moment, had rested +lightly on his arm, began to play with the buttons of his coat, +while the soft blue eyes looted pleadingly into his. + +"Yes, darling; he said, caressing her flowing curls, and pushing +them back from her forehead, "I will live for you, hereafter. I +will love no one else." + +"No one but Miggie. You MAY love her. You must love her, Arthur. +She's so beautiful, so grand, why has she gone from Nina, I want +her here, want her all the time;" and Nina's mood began to change. + +Tears filled her eyes, and burying her face in Arthur's bosom she +begged him to go after Miggie, to bring her. back and keep her +there always, threatening that if he did'nt "Nina would be bad." + +Tenderly, but firmly, as a parent soothes a refractory child, did +Arthur soothe the excitable Nina, telling her Miggie should come +again, or if she did not, they'd go up and see her. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +NINA AND MIGGIE. + + +It would be impossible to describe Edith's feelings as she rode +toward home. She knew Arthur had not told her the whole, and that +the part omitted was the most important of all. What could it be? +She thought of a thousand different things, but dismissed them one +after another from her mind as too preposterous to be cherished +for a moment. The terrible reality never once occurred to her, +else her heart had not beaten as lightly as it did, in spite of +the strange story she had heard. She was glad that she had met +with Nina--glad that every obstacle to their future intercourse +was removed--and while she censured Arthur much she pitied him the +more and scolded herself heartily for feeling so comfortable and +satisfied because he had ceased to love the unfortunate Nina. + +"I can't blame him for not wishing to be talked about," she said. +"Shannondale IS a horribly gossipping place, and people would have +surmised everything; but the sooner they know it now the sooner it +will die away. Let me think. Who will be likely to spread the news +most industriously?" + +Suddenly remembering Mrs. Eliakim Rogers, the busiest gossip in +town, she turned Bedouin in the direction of the low brown house, +standing at a little distance from the road, and was soon seated +in Mrs. Eliakim's kitchen, her ostensible errand being to inquire +about some plain sewing the good lady was doing for her, while her +real object was to communicate as much of Arthur's story as she +thought proper. Incidentally she spoke of Mr. St. Claire, and when +the widow asked "What under the sun possessed him to live as he +did," she replied by telling of NINA, his ward, who, she said, had +recently come to Grassy Spring from the Asylum, adding a few items +as to how Arthur chanced to be her guardian, talking as if she had +known of it all the time, and saying she did not wonder that a +young man like him should shrink from having it generally +understood that he had a crazy girl upon his hands. He was very +kind to her indeed, and no brother could treat his sister more +tenderly than he treated Nina. + +To every thing she said, Mrs. Eliakim smilingly assented, drawing +her own conclusions the while and feeling vastly relieved when, at +last, her visitor departed, leaving her at liberty to don her +green calash and start for the neighbors with this precious morsel +of gossip. Turning back, Edith saw her hurrying across the fields, +and knew it would not be long ere all Shannondale were talking of +Arthur's ward. + +Arrived at home she found the dinner waiting for her, and when +asked by Richard what had kept her she replied by repeating to him +in substance what she had already told Mrs. Eliakim Rogers. There +was this difference however, between the two stories--the one told +to Richard was longer and contained more of the particulars. She +did not, however, tell him of Arthur's love for Nina, or of the +neglected wife, the mother of little Miggie, though why she +withheld that part of the story she could not tell. She felt a +strange interest in that young mother dying alone in the noisome +city, and in the little child buried upon her bosom, but she had +far rather talk of Nina and her marvellous beauty, feeling sure +that she had at least one interested auditor, Victor, who was +perfectly delighted to have the mystery of Grassy Spring +unravelled, though he felt a little disappointed that it should +amount to nothing more than a crazy girl, to whom Mr. St. Claire +was guardian. + +This feeling of Victor was in a great measure shared by the +villagers, and, indeed, after a day or two of talking and +wondering, the general opinion seemed to be that Arthur had +magnified the evil and been altogether too much afraid of Madam +Rumor, who was inclined to be rather lenient toward him, +particularly as Edith Hastings took pains to tell how kind he was +to Nina, who gave him oftentimes so much trouble. The tide of +popular feeling was in his favor, and the sympathy which many +openly expressed for him was like a dagger to the young man, who +knew he did not deserve it. Still he was relieved of a great +burden, and was far happier than he had been before, and even +signified to Grace his willingness to mingle in society and see +company at his own house. The consequence of this was throngs of +visitors at Grassy Spring, said visitors always asking for Mr. St. +Claire, but caring really to see Nina, who shrank from their +advances, and hiding herself in her room refused at last to go +down unless Miggie were there. + +MIGGIE had purposely absented herself from Grassy Spring more than +two whole weeks, and when Richard asked the cause of it she +answered that she did not know, and, indeed, she could not to +herself define the reason of her staying so long from a place +where she wished so much to be, unless it were that she had not +quite recovered from the shock it gave her to know that Arthur had +once been engaged, even though he had wearied of the engagement. +It seemed to her that he had built between them a barrier which +she determined he should be the first to cross. So she studiously +avoided him, and thus unconsciously plunged him deeper and deeper +into the mire, where he was already foundering. Her apparent +indifference only increased the ardor of his affection, and though +he struggled against it as against a deadly sin, he could not +overcome it, and at last urged on by Nina, who begged so hard for +Miggie, he resolved upon going to Collingwood and taking Nina with +him. + +It was a warm, pleasant afternoon in May, and Nina had never +looked more beautiful than when seated in the open carriage, and +on her way to Collingwood, talking incessantly of Miggie, whom she +espied long before they reached the house. It was a most joyful +meeting between the two young girls, Nina clinging to Edith as if +fearful of losing her again, if by chance she should release her +hold. + +Arthur did not tell Edith how much he had missed her, but Nina +did, and when she saw the color deepen on Edith's cheeks she +added, "You love him, don't you, Miggie?" + +"I love every body, I hope," returned the blushing Edith, as she +led her guests into the room where Richard was sitting. + +At sight of the blind man Nina started, and clasping her hands +together, stood regarding him fixedly, while a look of perplexity +deepened upon her face. + +"Speak to her, Edith," whispered Arthur, but ere Edith could +comply with his request, Nina's lips parted and she said, "YOU DID +DO IT, DIDN'T YOU?" + +"Whose voice was that?" and Richard started forward. + +It's Nina, Mr. Harrington; pretty Nina Bernard; and Edith came to +the rescue. + +"She has a sweet, familiar voice," said Richard, "Come to me, +little one, will you?" + +He evidently thought her a child, for in her statement Edith had +not mentioned her age, and Richard had somehow received the +impression that she was very young. It suited Nina to be thus +addressed, and she went readily to Richard, who pressed her soft, +warm hands, and then telling her playfully that he wished to know +how she looked, passed his own hand slowly over her face and hair, +caressing the latter and twining one of the curls around his +fingers; then, winding his arm about her slender waist, he asked +how old she was. + +"FIFTEEN YEARS AND A HALF," was her prompt reply.' + +Richard never thought of doubting her word. She was very slight +indeed. "A little morsel," he called her, and as neither Arthur +nor Edith corrected the mistake, he was suffered to think of Nina +Bernard as one, who, were she rational, would be a mere school- +girl yet. + +She puzzled him greatly, and more than once he started at some +peculiar intonation of her voice. + +"Little Snowdrop," he said, at last, "it seems to me I have known +you all my life. Look at me, and say if we have met before?" + +Edith was too intent upon Nina's answer to notice Arthur, and she +failed to see the spasm of pain and fear which passed over his +face, leaving it paler than its wont. Bending over Nina he waited +like Edith while she scanned Richard curiously, and then replied, +"Never, UNLESS YOU ARE THE ONE THAT DID IT--are you?" + +"Did what?" asked Richard, and while Nina hesitated, Arthur +replied, "She has a fancy that somebody made her crazy." + +"Not I, oh, no, not I, poor little dove. I did not do it, sure," +and Richard smoothed the yellow curls resting on his knee. + +"Who was it, then?" persisted Nina. "He was tall, like you, and +dark and handsome, wasn't he Arthur? You know--you were there?" +and she turned appealingly to the young man, whose heart beat so +loudly as to be plainly audible to himself. + +"It was Charlie Hudson, perhaps," suggested Edith, and Arthur +mentally blessed her for a remark which turned the channel of +Nina's thoughts, and set her to telling Richard how Charlie cried +when he saw her through the iron bars, wearing that queer-looking +gown. + +"I danced for him with all my might," she said, "and sang so loud, +for I thought it would make him laugh as it did the folks around +me, but he only cried the harder. What made him?" and she looked +up wistfully in Richard's face. "YOU are crying, too!" she +exclaimed. "Everybody cries where I am. Why do they? I wish they +wouldn't. I'm good to-day--there, please don't, Mr. Big-man, THAT +DID DO IT,"? and raising her waxen hand she brushed away the tear +trembling on Richard's long eyelashes. + +Edith now sought to divert her by asking if she were fond of +music, and would like to hear her play, + +"Nina'll play," returned the little maiden, and going to the piano +she dashed off a wild, impassioned, mixed-up impromptu, resembling +now the soft notes of the lute or the plaintive sob of the winter +wind, and then swelling into a full, rich, harmonious melody, +which made the blood chill in Edith's veins, and caused both +Richard and Arthur to hold their breath. + +This music ceased, and rising from the stool Nina expressed a +desire to go home, insisting that Edith should go with her and +stay all night. + +"I want to sleep with my arms around your neck just like you used +to do," she said; and when Arthur, too, joined in the request, +Edith answered that she would if Richard were willing. + +"And sleep with a lunatic,--is it quite safe?" he asked. + +"Perfectly so," returned Arthur, adding that the house was large +enough, and Edith could act her own pleasure with regard to +sleeping apartments. + +"Then it's settled that I may go," chimed in Edith, quite as much +delighted at the prospect of a long evening with Arthur, as with +the idea of seeing more of Nina. + +She knew she was leaving Richard very lonely, but she promised to +be home early on the morrow, and bidding good-bye, followed Arthur +and Nina to the carriage. + +Nina was delighted to have Edith with her, and after their arrival +at Grassy Spring, danced and skipped about the house like a gay +butterfly, pausing every few moments to wind her arms around the +neck of her guest, whom she kissed repeatedly, calling her always +MIGGIE, and telling her how much she loved her. + +"Don't you want to see YOU as you used to be?" she asked suddenly. +"If you do, come up,--come to my room. She may?" and she turned +toward Arthur, who answered, "certainly, I will go myself," and +the three soon stood at the door of the DEN. + +It was Edith's first visit there, and a feeling of awe came over +her as she crossed the threshold of the mysterious room. Then a +cry of joyful surprise burst from her lips as she saw how pleasant +it was in there, and how tastefully the chamber was fitted up. Not +another apartment in the house could compare with it, and Edith +felt that she could be happy there all her life, were it not for +the iron lattice, which gave it somewhat the appearance of a +prison. + +"Here you are," cried Nina, dragging her across the floor to the +portrait of the little child which had so interested her during +Arthur's absence. "This is she--this is you,--this is Miggie," and +Nina jumped up and down, while Edith gazed again upon the sweet +baby face she had once seen in the drawing-room. + +"There is a slight resemblance between you," said Arthur, glancing +from one to the other, "Had she lived, her eyes must have been +like yours; but look, this was Nina's father." + +Edith did not answer him. Indeed, she scarcely knew what he was +saying, for a nameless fascination chained her to the spot, a +feeling as if she were beholding her other self, as if she had +leaped backward many years, and was seated again upon the nursery +floor like the child before her. Like gleams of lightning, +confused memories of the past came rushing over her only to pass +away, leaving her in deeper darkness. One thought, however, like a +blinding flash caused her brain to reel, while she grasped +Arthur's arm, exclaiming, "Are you sure the baby died--sure she +was buried with her mother?" + +"Yes, perfectly sure," was Arthur's reply, and with the sensation +of disappointment, Edith turned at last from Miggie to the +contemplation of the father; the Mr. Bernard whom she was not +greatly disposed to like. + +He was a portly, handsome man, but his face showed traces of early +debauchery and later dissipation. Still, Edith was far more +interested in him than in the portrait of Nina's mother, the +light-haired, blue-eyed woman, so much like the daughter that the +one could easily be recognized from it a resemblance to the other. + +"Where is the second Mrs. Bernard's picture?" she asked, and +Arthur answered, "It was never taken, but Phillis declares YOU are +like her, and this accounts for Nina's pertinacity in calling you +Miggie." + +The pictures were by this time duly examined, and then Nina, still +playing the part of hostess, showed to Edith every thing of the +least interest until she came to the door, leading into the large +square closet. + +"Open it, please," she whispered to Arthur. "Let Miggie see where +Nina stays when she tears." + +Arthur unlocked the door, and Edith stepped with a shudder into +the solitary cell which had witnessed more than one wild revel, +and echoed to more than one delirious shriek. + +"Is it necessary?" she asked, and Arthur replied: "We think so; +otherwise she would demolish every thing within her reach, and +throw herself from the window it may be." + +"THAT'S SO," said Nina, nodding approvingly. "When I'm bad, I have +to tear. It cures my head, and I'm so strong then, that it takes +Phillis and Arthur both to put that gown on me. I can't tear +that," and she pointed to a loose sacque-like garment, made of the +heaviest possible material, and hanging upon a nail near the door +of the cell. + +"Have you been shut up since you came here?" Edith inquired, and +Nina rejoined. "Once; didn't you hear me scream?" Phillis tried to +make me quit, but I told her I wouldn't unless they'd let you +come. I saw you on the walk, you know. I'm better with you, +Miggie; a heap better since you made me cry. It took a world of +hardness and pain away, and my head has not ached a single time +since then. I'm most well; ain't I, Arthur." + +"Miss Hastings certainly has a wonderful influence over you," +returned Arthur, and as the evening wore away, Edith began to +think so, too. + +Even the servants commented upon the change in Nina, who appeared +so natural and lady-like, that once there darted across Arthur's +mind the question, "what if her reason SHOULD be restored! I will +do right, Heaven helping me," he moaned mentally, for well he knew +that Nina sane would require of him far different treatment from +what Nina crazy did. It was late that night when they parted, he +to his lonely room where for hours he paced the floor with +feverish disquiet, while Edith went from choice with Nina to the +DEN, determined to share her single bed, and smiling at her own +foolishness when once a shadow of fear crept into her heart. How +could she be afraid of the gentle creature, who, in her snowy +night dress, with her golden hair falling about her face and neck, +looked like some beautiful angel flitting about the room, +pretending to arrange this and that, casting half bashful glances +at Edith, who was longer in disrobing and at last, as if summoning +all her courage for the act, stepping behind the thin lace window +curtains, which she drew around her, saying softly, "don't look at +me, Miggie, will you, 'cause I'm going to pray." + +Instantly the brush which Edith held was stayed amid her raven +hair, and the hot tears rained over her face as she listened to +that prayer, that God would keep Nina from TEARING any more, and +not let Arthur cry, but make it all come right some time with him +and Miggie, too. Then followed that simple petition, "now I lay me +down to sleep," learned at the mother's knee by so many thousand +children whose graves like hillocks in the church-yard lie, and +when she arose and came from behind the gauzy screen where she +fancied she had been hidden from view, Edith was not wrong in +thinking that something like the glory of Heaven shone upon her +pure white brow. All dread of her was gone, and when Sophy came +in, offering to sleep upon the floor as was her usual custom, she +promptly declined, for she would rather be alone with Nina. + +Edith had never been intimate with any girl of her own age, and to +her it was a happiness entirely new, she nestling down in the +narrow bed with a loved companion whose arms wound themselves +caressingly around her neck, and whose lips touched hers many +times, whispering, "Bless you, Miggie, bless you, precious sister, +you can't begin to guess how much I love you. Neither can I tell +you. Why, it would take me till morning." + +It became rather tiresome after a time being kept awake, and +fearing lest she WOULD talk till morning, Edith said to her, + +"I shall go home if you are not more quiet." + +There was something in Edith's voice which prompted the crazy girl +to obey, and with one more assurance of love she turned to her +pillow, and Edith knew by her soft, regular breathing, that her +troubles were forgotten. + +"I hardly think you'll care to repeat the experiment again," +Arthur said to Edith next morning, when he met her at the table, +and saw that she looked rather weary. "Nina, I fear, was +troublesome, as Sophy tells me she often is." + +Edith denied Nina's having troubled her much. Still she felt that +she preferred her own cozy bed-chamber to Nina's larger, handsomer +room, and would not promise to spend another night at Grassy +Spring, although she expressed her willingness to resume her +drawing lessons, and suggested that Nina, too, should become a +pupil. Arthur would much rather have had Edith all to himself, for +he knew that Nina's presence would be a restraint upon him, but it +was right, and he consented as the only means of having Edith back +again in her old place, fancying that when he had her there it +would be the same as before. But he was mistaken, for when the +lessons were resumed, he found there was something between them,-- +something which absorbed Edith's mind, and was to him a constant +warning and rebuke. Did he bend so near Edith at her task, that +his brown locks touched her blacker braids, a shower of golden +curls was sure to mingle with the twain, as Nina also bent her +down to see what he was looking at. Did the hand which sometimes +guided Edith's pencil ever retain the fingers longer than +necessary, a pair of deep blue eyes looked into his, not +reproachfully, for Nina could not fathom the meaning of what she +saw, but with an expression of childlike trust and confidence far +more potent than frowns and jealous tears would have been. Nina +was in Arthur's way, but not in Edith's, and half the pleasure she +experienced now in going to Grassy Spring, was derived from the +fact that she thus saw more of Nina than she would otherwise have +done. It was a rare and beautiful sight, the perfect love existing +between these two young girls, Edith seeming the elder, inasmuch +as she was the taller and more self-reliant of the two. As a +mother watches over and loves her maimed infant, so did Edith +guard and cherish Nina, possessing over her so much power that a +single look from her black eyes was sufficient to quiet at once +the little lady, who, under the daily influence of her society +visibly improved both in health and spirits. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +DR. GRISWOLD. + + +Still Nina's mind was enshrouded in as deep a gloom as ever, and +Dr. Griswold, who, toward the latter part of June, came to see +her, said it would be so always. There was no hope of her +recovery, and with his olden tenderness of manner he caressed his +former patient, sighing as he thought of the weary life before +her. For two days Dr. Griswold remained at Grassy Spring, learning +in that time much how matters stood. He saw Edith Hastings,-- +scanned with his clear, far-reaching eye every action of Arthur +St. Claire, and when at last his visit was ended, and Arthur was +walking with him to the depot, he said abruptly, "I am sorry for +you, St. Claire; more sorry than I ever was before, but you know +the path of duty and you must walk in it, letting your eyes stray +to neither side, lest they fall upon forbidden fruit." + +Arthur made no reply save to kick the gnarled roots of the tree +under which they had stopped for a few moments. + +"Edith Hastings is very beautiful!" Dr. Griswold remarked +suddenly, and as if SHE had just entered his mind. "Does she come +often to Grassy Spring?" + +"Every day," and Arthur tried to look his friend fully in the +face, but could not, and his brown eyes fell as he added hastily, +"she comes to see Nina; they are greatly attached." + +"She HAS a wonderful power over her, I think," returned Dr. +Griswold; "and I am not surprised that you esteem her highly on +that account, but how will it be hereafter when other duties, +other relations claim her attention. Will she not cease to visit +you and so Nina made worse?" + +"What new duties? What relations do you mean," Arthur asked +quickly, trembling in every joint as he anticipated the answer. + +"I have a fancy that Miss Hastings will reward that blind man for +all his kindness with her heart and hand." + +"Her hand it may be, but her heart, NEVER," interrupted Arthur, +betraying by his agitation what Dr. Griswold had already guessed. + +"Poor Arthur," he said, "I know what is in your mind and pity you +so much, but you can resist temptation and you MUST. There's no +alternative. You chose your destiny years ago--abide by it, then. +Hope and pray, as I do, that Edith Hastings will be the blind +man's bride." + +"Oh, Griswold," and Arthur groaned aloud, "you cannot wish to +sacrifice her thus!" + +"I can--I do--it will save you both from ruin." + +"Then you think--you DO think she loves me," and Arthur looked +eagerly at his friend, who answered, "I think nothing, save that +she will marry Mr. Harrington. Your cousin told me there was a +rumor to that effect. She is often at Collingwood, and ought to be +posted." + +"Griswold, I wish I were dead," exclaimed Arthur. "Yes, I wish I +were dead, and were it not that I dread the hereafter, I would end +my existence at once in yonder river," and he pointed to the +Chicopee, winding its slow way to the westward. + +Dr. Griswold gazed at him a moment in silence, and then replied +somewhat sternly, "Rather be a man and wait patiently for the +future." + +"I would, but for the fear that Edith will be lost to me forever," +Arthur answered faintly, and Dr. Griswold replied, "Better so than +lost herself. Why not be candid with her; tell her everything; go +over the entire past, and if she truly loves you, she will wait, +years and years if need be. She's young yet, too young to be a +wife. Will you tell her?" + +"I can't, I can't," and Arthur shook his head despairingly. "I have +hidden the secret too long to tell it now. It might have been easy +at first, but now--it's too late. Oh, Griswold, you do not +understand what I suffer, for you never knew what it was to love +as I love Edith Hastings." For a moment Dr. Griswold looked at him +in silence. He knew how fierce a storm had gathered round him, and +how bravely he had met it. He knew, too, how impetuous and ardent +was his disposition, how much one of his temperament must love +Edith Hastings, and he longed to speak to him a word of comfort. +Smoothing the brown hair of the bowed head, and sighing to see how +many threads of silver were woven in it, he said, + +"I pity you so much, and can feel for you more than you suspect. +You say I know not what it is to love. Oh, Arthur, Arthur. You +little guessed what it cost me, years ago, to give up NINA +BERNARD. It almost broke my heart, and the wound is bleeding yet! +Could the past be undone; could we stand where we did that night +which both remember so well, I would hold you back; and Nina, +crazy as she is, should this moment be mine--mine to love, to +cherish, to care for and weep over when she is dead. Poor little +unfortunate Nina--my darling--my idol--my clipped-wing bird!" + +It was Dr. Griswold's voice which trembled now, and Arthur's which +essayed to comfort him. + +"I never dreamed of this," he said. "I knew you, with others, had +a liking for her, but you relinquished her so willingly, I could +not guess you loved her so well," and in his efforts to soothe his +friend, Arthur forgot his own sorrow in part. + +It was time now for the Dr. to go, as the smoke of the coming +train was visible over the hills. "You need not accompany me +further," he said, offering his hand to Arthur, who pressed it in +silence, and then walked slowly back to Grassy Spring. + +Those were terrible days which followed the visit of Dr. Griswold, +for to see Edith Hastings often was a danger he dared not incur, +while to avoid her altogether was utterly impossible, and at last +resolving upon a change of scene as his only hope, he one morning +astonished Grace with the announcement that he was going South, +and it might be many weeks ere he returned. + +Since coming to that neighborhood, Arthur had been a puzzle to +Grace, and she watched him now in amazement, as he paced the +floor, giving her sundry directions with regard to Nina, and +telling her where a letter would find him in case she should be +sick, and require his personal attention. It was in vain that +Grace expostulated with him upon what seemed to her a foolish and +uncalled-for journey. He was resolved, and saying he should not +probably see Edith ere his departure, he left his farewell with +her. + +Once he thought of bidding her encourage Edith to marry the blind +man, but he could not quite bring himself to this. Edith was +dearer to him now than when she promised him that if Richard +sought her hand she would not tell him no, and he felt that he +would rather she should die than be thus sacrificed. Anxiously +Grace looked after him as he walked rapidly away, thinking within +herself that long association with Nina had impaired his reason. +And Arthur was more than half insane. Not until now had he been +wholly roused to the reality of his position. Dr. Griswold had +rent asunder the flimsy veil, showing him how hopeless was his +love for Edith, and so, because he could not have her, he must go +away. It was a wise decision, and he was strengthened to keep it +in spite of Nina's tears that he should stay. + +"Nina'll die, or somebody'll die, I know," and the little girl +clung sobbing to his neck, when the hour of parting came. + +Very gently he unclasped her clinging arms; very tenderly he +kissed her lips, bidding her give one to Miggie, and then he left +her, turning back ere he reached the gate, as a new idea struck +him. Would NINA go with him; go to her Florida home, if so he +would defer his journey a day or so. He wondered he had not +thought of this before. It would save him effectually, and he +anxiously waited her answer. + +"If Miggie goes I will, but not without." + +This was Nina's reply, and Arthur turned a second time away. + +In much surprise, Edith, who came that afternoon, heard of +Arthur's departure. + +"Why did he go without bidding me good-bye?" she asked. + +"I don't know, but he left a kiss for you right on my lips," said +Nina, putting up her rosebud mouth for Edith to take what was +unquestionably her own. + +While they were thus talking together, the door bell rang, and +Soph, who answered the ring, admitted Dr. Griswold. + +"Dr. Griswold here again so soon!" exclaimed Edith, a suspicion +crossing her mind that Arthur had arranged for him to take charge +of Nina during his absence. "But it shall not be," she thought, "I +can prevent her returning to the Asylum, and I will." + +She might have spared herself all uneasiness, for Dr. Griswold +knew nothing of Arthur's absence, and seemed more surprised than +she had been. + +"I am so glad, so glad," he said; and when Edith looked +inquiringly at him, he answered, "I am glad because it is right +that he should go." + +Edith did not in the least comprehend his meaning, and as he +manifested no intention to explain, the conversation soon turned +upon other topics than Arthur and his sudden journey. Since +Arthur's visit to Worcester, Dr. Griswold had heard nothing from +him, and impelled by one of those strange influences which will +sometimes lead a person on to his fate, he had come up to +Shannondale partly to see how matters stood and partly to whisper +a word of encouragement to one who needed it so much. He had never +been very robust or strong; the secret which none save Arthur knew +had gradually undermined his health, and he was subject to +frequent attacks of what he called his nervous headaches. The +slightest cause would sometimes induce one of these, and when on +the morning after his arrival at Grassy Spring he awoke from a +troubled sleep he knew by certain unmistakable signs that a day of +suffering was in store for him. This on his own account he would +not have minded particularly, for he was accustomed to it, but his +presence was needed at home; and the knowledge of this added to +the intensity of his pain, which became so great that to rise from +his pillow was impossible, and Soph, when sent to his room to +announce that breakfast was waiting, reported him to her mother as +"mighty sick with blood in the face." + +All the day long he lay in the darkened room, sometimes dreaming, +sometimes moaning, and watching through his closed eyes the +movements of Nina, who had constituted herself his nurse, treading +on tiptoe across the floor, whispering to herself, and apparently +carrying on an animated conversation with some imaginary +personage. Softly, she bathed his aching head, asking every moment +if he were better, and going once behind the door where he heard +her praying that "God would make the good doctor well." + +Blessed Nina, there was far more need for this prayer than she +supposed, for when the next day came, the pain and heat about the +eyes and head were not in the least abated, and a physician was +called, who pronounced the symptoms to be those of typhoid fever. +With a stifled moan, Dr. Griswold turned upon his pillow, while +his great, unselfish heart went out after his poor patients in the +Asylum, who would miss him so much. Three days passed away, and it +was generally known in the village that a stranger lay sick of +typhus fever at Grassy Spring, which with common consent was +shunned as if the deadly plague had been rioting there. Years +before the disease had raged with fearful violence in the town, +and many a fresh mound was reared in the graveyard, and many a +hearth-stone desolated. This it was which struck a panic to the +hearts of the inhabitants when they knew the scourge was again in +their midst, and save the inmates of the house, and Edith +Hastings, none came to Dr. Griswold's aid. At first Richard +refused to let the latter put herself in the way of danger, but +for once Edith asserted her right to do as she pleased, and +declared that she WOULD share Nina's labors. So for many weary +days and nights those two young girls hovered like angels of mercy +around the bed where the sick man tossed from side to side, while +the fever burned more and more fiercely in his veins until his +reason was dethroned, and a secret told which otherwise would have +died with him. Gradually the long hidden love for Nina showed +itself, and Edith, who alone could comprehend the meaning of what +he said and did, saw how a strong, determined man can love, even +when there is no hope. + +"Little wounded dove," he called the golden-haired maiden, who +bent so constantly over him, caressing his burning face with her +cool, soft hands, passing her snowy fingers through his disordered +hair, and suffering him to kiss her as he often did, but insisting +always that MIGGIE should be kissed also, and Edith, knowing that +what was like healing to the sick man would be withheld unless +she, too, submitted, would sometimes bow her graceful head and +receive upon her brow the token of affection. + +"You must hug Miggie, too," Nina said to him one day, when he had +held her slight form for a moment to his bosom. "She's just as +good to you as I am." + +"Nina," said Edith, "Dr. Griswold does not love me as he does you, +and you must not worry him so. Don't you see it makes him worse?" +and lifting the hair she pointed to the drops of perspiration +standing upon his forehead. + +This seemed to satisfy Nina, while at the same time her darkened +mind must have caught a glimmer of the truth, for her manner +changed perceptibly, and for a day or so she was rather shy of Dr. +Griswold. Then the mood changed again, and to the poor dying man +was vouchsafed a glimpse of what it might have been to be loved by +Nina Bernard. + +"Little sunbeam--little clipped-winged bird--little pearl," were +the terms of endearment he lavished upon her, as, with his feeble +arm about her, he told her one night how he loved her. "Don't go +Edith," he said, as he saw her stealing from the room; "sit down +here beside me and listen to what I have to say." + +Edith obeyed, and taking her hand and Nina's in his, as if the +touch of them both would make him strong to unburden his mind, he +began: + +"Let me call you Edith, while I'm talking, for the sake of one who +loves you even as I love Nina," + +Edith started, and very foolishly replied, + +"Do you mean Mr. Harrington?" + +She knew he didn't, but her heart was so sore on the subject of +Arthur's absence that she longed to be reassured in some way, and +so said what she did. + +"No, Edith, it is not Mr. Harrington, I mean," and Dr. Griswold's +bright eyes fastened themselves upon the trembling girl as if to +read her inmost soul, and see how far her feelings were enlisted. + +"It's Arthur," said Nina, nodding knowingly at both. + +"Arthur," Edith repeated bitterly. "Fine proof he gives of his +love. Going from home for an indefinite length of time without one +word for me. He hates me, I know," and bursting into tears she +buried her face in the lap of Nina, who sat upon the bed. + +"Poor Edith!" and another hand than Nina's smoothed her bands of +shining hair. "By this one act you have confessed that Arthur's +love is not unrequited. I hoped it might be otherwise. God help +you, Edith. God help you." + +He spoke earnestly, and a thrill of fear ran through Edith's +veins. Lifting up her head, she said, + +"You talk as if it were a certainty that Arthur St. Claire loves +me. He has never told me so--never." + +She could not add that he had never given her reason to think so, +for he had, and her whole frame quivered with joy as she heard her +suspicions confirmed by Dr. Griswold. + +"He does love you, Edith Hastings. He has confessed as much to me, +and this is why he has gone from home. He would forget you, and it +is right. He must forget you; he must not love. It would be a +wicked, wicked thing; and Edith--are you listening--do you hear +all I say?" + +"Yes," came faintly from Nina's lap, where Edith had laid her face +again. + +"Then promise not to marry him, so long--so long--Oh, Nina, how +can I say it? Edith, swear you'll never marry Arthur. Swear, +Edith, swear." + +His voice was raised to a shriek, and by the dim light of the +lamp, which fell upon his pallid features, both Edith and Nina saw +the wild delirium flashing from his eye. Nina was the first to +detect it, and wringing Edith's hand she whispered, imploringly, + +"Swear, Miggie, once. Say THUNDER, or something like that as +softly as you can. It won't be so very bad, and he wants you to so +much." + +Frightened as Edith was at Dr. Griswold's manner she could not +repress a smile at Nina's mistaken idea. Still she did NOT swear, +and all that night he continued talking incoherently of Arthur, of +Edith, of Nina, Geneva, Richard Harrington, and a thousand other +matters, mingling them together in such a manner that nothing +clear or connected could be made of what he said. In the morning +he was more quiet, but there was little hope of his life, the +physician said. From the first he had greatly desired to see +Arthur once more, and when his danger became apparent a telegram +had been forwarded to the wanderer, but brought back no response. +Another was sent, and another, the third one, in the form of a +letter, finding him far up the Red river, where in that sultry +season the air was rife with pestilence, which held with death +many a wanton revel, and would surely have claimed him for its +victim, but for the timely note which called him away. + +Night and day, day and night, as fast as the steam-god could take +him, he traveled, his heart swelling with alternate hope and fear +as he neared the north-land, seeing from afar the tall heads of +the New England mountains, and knowing by that token that he was +almost home. + + * * * * * * + +It was night, dark night at Grassy Spring, and the summer +rain, which all the day had fallen in heavy showers, beat drearily +against the windows of the room where a fair young girl was +keeping watch over the white-faced man whose life was fast ebbing +away. They were alone,--Dr. Griswold and Nina--for both would have +it so. He, because he felt how infinitely precious to him would be +his last few hours with her, when there was no curious ear to +listen; and she, because she would have Miggie sleep. Nina knew no +languor from wakefulness. She was accustomed to it, and as if +imbued with supernatural strength, she had sat night after night +in that close room, ministering to the sick man as no one else +could have done, and by her faithfulness and tender care repaying +him in part for the love which for long, weary years had known no +change, and which, as life draw near its close, manifested itself +in a desire to have her constantly at his side, where he could +look into her eyes, and hear the murmurings of her bird-like +voice. + +Thus far Edith and the servants had shared her vigils, but this +night she preferred to be alone, insisting that Edith, who began +to show signs of weariness, should occupy the little room, +adjoining, where she could be called, if necessary. Not +apprehending death so soon the physician acquiesced in this +arrangement, stipulating, however, that Phillis should sleep upon +the lounge in Dr. Griswold's chamber, but the care, the +responsibility, should all be Nina's, he said, and with childish +alacrity she hastened to her post. It was the first time she had +kept the watch alone, but from past experience the physician +believed she could be trusted, and he left her without a moment's +hesitation. + +Slowly the hours went by, and Nina heard no sound save the low +breathing of the sleepers near, the dropping of the rain, and the +mournful sighing of the wind through the maple trees. Midnight +came, and then the eyes of the sick man opened wide and wandered +about the room as if in quest of some one. + +"Nina," he said, faintly, "Are you here? Why has the lamp gone +out? It's so dark that I can't see your face." + +Bending over him, Nina replied, + +"I'm here, doctor. Nina's here. Shall I get more light so you CAN +see?" + +"Yes, darling, more light--more light;" and swift as a fawn Nina +ran noiselessly from room to room, gathering up lamp after lamp, +and candle after candle, and bringing them to the sick chamber, +which blazed as if on fire, while the musical laugh of the lunatic +echoed through the room as she whispered to herself, "Twenty sperm +candles and fifteen lamps! 'Tis a glorious watch I keep to-night." + +Once she thought of wakening Edith to share in her transports, but +was withheld from doing so by a feeling that "Miggie" would not +approve her work. + +"It's light as noonday," she said, seating herself upon the +bedside. "Can't you see me now?" + +"No, Nina, I shall never look on your dear face again until we +meet in Heaven. There you will be my own. No one can come between +us," and the feeble arms wound themselves lovingly around the +maiden, who laid her cheek against his feverish one, while her +little fingers strayed once more amid the mass of disordered hair, +pushing it back from the damp forehead, which she touched with her +sweet lips. + +"Nina," and the voice was so low that Nina bent her down to catch +the sound, "I am dying, darling. You are not afraid to stay with +me till the last?" + +"No," she answered, "not afraid, but I do so wish you could see +the splendid illumination. Twenty candles and fifteen lamps--the +wicks of them all an inch in height. Oh, it's grand!" and again +Nina chuckled as she saw how the lurid blaze lit up the window +panes with a sheet of flame which, flashing backward, danced upon +the wall in many a grotesque form, and cast a reddish glow even +upon the white face of the dying. + +He was growing very restless now, for the last great struggle had +commenced; the soul was waging a mighty battle with the body, and +the conflict was a terrible one, wringing groans of agony from him +and great tears from Nina, who forgot her bonfire in her grief. +Once when the fever had scorched her veins and she had raved in +mad delirium, Dr. Griswold had rocked her in his arms as he would +have rocked a little child, and remembering this the insane desire +seized on Nina to rock him, too, to sleep. But she could not lift +him up, though she bent every energy to the task, and at last, +passing one arm beneath his neck she managed to sit behind him, +holding him in such a position that he rested easier, and his +convulsive movements ceased entirely. With his head upon her bosom +she rocked to and fro, uttering a low, cooing sound, as if +soothing him to sleep. + +"Sing, Nina, sing," he whispered, and on the night air a mournful +cadence rose, swelling sometimes so high that Edith moved uneasily +upon her pillow, while even Phillis stretched out a hand as if +about to awaken. + +Then the music changed to a plaintive German song, and Edith +dreamed of Bingen on the Rhine, while Dr. Griswold listened +eagerly, whispering at intervals, + +"Precious Nina, blessed dove, sing on--sing till I am at rest." + +This was sufficient for Nina, and one after another she warbled +the wild songs she knew he loved the best, while the lamps upon +the table and the candles upon the floor flickered and flamed and +cast their light far out into the yard, where the August rain was +falling, and where more than one bird, startled from its slumbers, +looked up to see whence came the fitful glare, wondering, it may +be, at the solemn dirge, floating out into the darkness far beyond +the light. + +The gray dawn broke at last, and up the graveled walk rapid +footsteps came--Arthur St. Claire hastening home. From a distant +hill he had caught the blaze of Nina's bonfire, and trembling with +fear and dread, he hurried on to learn what it could mean. There +was no stir about the house--no sign of life, only the crimson +blaze shining across the fields, and the sound of a voice, feeble +now, and sunk almost to a whisper, for Nina's strength was giving +way. For hours she had sung, while the head upon her bosom pressed +more and more heavily--the hand which clasped hers unloosed its +hold--the eyes which had fastened themselves upon her with a look +of unutterable love, closed wearily--the lips, which, so long as +there was life in them, ceased not to bless her, were still, and +poor, tired, crazy Nina, fancying that he slept at last, still +swayed back and forth, singing to the cold senseless clay, an +infant lullaby. + +"Hushaby, my baby--go to sleep, my child." + +HE had sung it once to her. SHE sang it now to him, and the +strange words fell on Arthur's ear, even before he stepped across +the threshold, where he stood appalled at the unwonted spectacle +which met his view. Nina manifested no surprise whatever, but +holding up her finger, motioned him to tread cautiously, if he +would come near where she was. + +"He couldn't see," she whispered, "and I made him a famous light. +Isn't it glorious here, smoke, and fire and all? He is sleeping +quietly now, only his head is very heavy. It makes my arm ache so +hard, and his hands are growing cold, I cannot kiss them warm," +and she held the stiffening fingers against her burning cheek, +shuddering at the chill they gave her, just as Arthur shuddered at +the sight, for it needed nothing more to tell him that Dr. +Griswold was dead! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +EX-OFFICIO. + + +The spacious rooms at Grassy Spring had been filled to their +utmost capacity by those of the villagers, who, having recovered +from their panic, came to join in the funeral obsequies of Dr. +Griswold. In the yard without the grass was trampled down and the +flowers broken from their stalks by the crowds, who, failing to +gain admittance to the interior of the house, hovered about the +door, struggling for a sight of the young girl, whose strange +death watch and stranger bonfire was the theme of every tongue. +Solemnly the voice of God's ambassador was heard, proclaiming, "I +am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that +believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live," and then +a song was sung, the voices of the singers faltering, all but one, +which, rising clear and sweet above the rest, sang of the better +world, where the bright eternal noonday ever reigns, and the +assembled throng without held their breath to listen, whispering +to each other, "It is Nina, the crazy girl. She was the doctor's +betrothed." + +Down the gravelled walk,--along the highway,--over the river, and +up the hill to the village churchyard the long procession moved, +and when it backward turned, one of the number was left behind, +and the August sunset fell softly upon his early grave. Sadly the +mourners, Arthur, Edith and Nina, went to their respective homes, +Edith seeking the rest she so much needed, Nina subdued and awed +into perfect quiet, sitting with folded hands in the room where +her truest friend had died, while Arthur, alone in his chamber, +held as it were communion with the dead, who seemed this night to +be so near to him. + +Swiftly, silently, one by one, the days came and went until it was +weeks since Dr. Griswold died, and things at Grassy Spring assumed +their former routine. At first Nina was inclined to be melancholy, +talking much of the deceased, and appearing at times so depressed +that Arthur trembled, lest she should again become unmanageable, +wondering what he should do with her now the Dr. was gone. +Gradually, however, she recovered her usual health and spirits, +appearing outwardly the same; but not so with Arthur, whose +thoughts and feelings no one could fathom. It was as if he had +locked himself within a wall of ice, which nothing had power to +thaw. He saw but little of Edith now; the lessons had been tacitly +given up, and, after what she had heard from Dr. Griswold, she +could not come to Grassy Spring just as she used to do, so she +remained at home, marvelling at the change in Arthur, and +wondering if he really loved her, why he did not tell her so. Much +of what Dr. Griswold had said she imputed to delirium, and with +the certainty that she was beloved, she would not dwell upon +anything which made her unhappy, and she waited for the end, now +hastening on with rapid strides. + +Behind the icy wall which Arthur had built around himself, a +fierce storm was blowing, and notwithstanding the many midnight +watches kept over Dr. Griswold's grave, the tempest still raged +fearfully, threatening to burst its barriers and carry all before +it. But it reached its height at last, and wishing to test his +strength, Arthur asked Nina one pleasant night to go with him to +Collingwood. She consented readily, and in a few moments they were +on their way. They found the family assembled upon the broad +piazza, where the full moon shone upon them through the broad +leaves of woodbine twining about the massive pillars. Edith sat as +usual upon a stool at Richard's feet, and her face wore a look of +disappointment. Thoughts of Eloise Temple had been in her mind the +entire day, and sitting there with Richard, she had ventured to +ask him again of the young girl in whom she was so much +interested. But Richard shook his head. He was reserving Eloise +Temple for a future day, and he said to Edith, + +"I cannot tell you of her yet, or where she is." + +"When will you then?" and Edith spoke pettishly. "You always put +me off, and I don't see either why you need to be so much afraid +of telling me about her, unless her mother was bad, or something." + +"Edith," Richard replied, "I do not wish to explain to you now. By +and by I'll tell you, it may be, though even that will depend on +circumstances;" and he sighed as he thought what the circumstances +must be which would keep from Edith any further knowledge of +Eloise than she already possessed. + +Edith did not hear the sigh. She only knew that it was useless to +question him, and beating her little foot impatiently, she +muttered, "More mystery. If there's any thing I hate it's +mystery.--" + +She did not finish what she meant to say, for at that moment she +spied Arthur and Nina coming through the garden gate as the +nearest route. + +Edith was not in the best of humors. She was vexed at Richard, +because he wouldn't tell and at Arthur for "acting so," as she +termed it,--this acting so implying the studied indifference with +which he had treated her of late. But she was not vexed with Nina, +and running out to meet her, she laid her arm across her neck, and +led her with many words of welcome to the stool she had just +vacated, saying laughingly: "I know Mr. Harrington would rather +you should sit here than a cross patch like me! I'm ill-natured +to-night, Mr. St. Claire," and she bit her words off with playful +spitefulness. + +"Your face cannot be an index to your feelings, then," returned +Arthur, retaining her offered hand a moment, and looking into her +eyes, just to see if he could do it without flinching. + +It was a dangerous experiment, for Edith's soul looked through her +eyes, and Arthur read therein that which sent feverish heats and +icy chills alternately through his veins. Releasing her hand he +sat down upon the upper step of the piazza, and leaning against +one of the pillars, began to pluck the leaves within his reach, +and mechanically tear them in pieces. + +Meantime Richard had signified to Edith his wish that she should +bring another stool, and sit beside him just as Nina was doing. + +"I can then rest my hands upon the heads of you both," he said, +smoothing the while Nina's golden curls, + +"Now tell us a story, please," said Nina; and when Richard asked +what it should be, she replied, + +"Oh, tell us about the years ago when you were over the sea, and +why you have never married. Maybe you have, though. You are old +enough, I reckon. Did you ever marry anybody?" + +"YES, _I_ DID," returned Richard; "a little girl with hair like +yours, I think, though my eyesight then was almost gone, and I saw +nothing distinctly." + +"Wha-a-at!" exclaimed Edith, at the same time asking Arthur if he +was hurt as he started suddenly, + +"There it goes. It was a BEE, I guess;" and Nina pointed to an +insect flitting by, but so far from Arthur as to render a sting +from the diminutive creature impossible. Still it served as an +excuse, and blessing Nina in his heart for the suggestion, Arthur +talked rapidly of various matters, hoping in this way to change +the conversation. But Edith was not to be put off, even if Nina +were. She was too much interested to know what Richard meant, and +as soon as politeness would permit, she said to him, + +"Please go on, and tell us of the girl you married. Who was the +bridegroom, and where did it occur?" + +There was no longer a shadow of hope that the story would not be +told, and folding his arms like one resigned to his fate, Arthur +listened, while Richard related to the two girls how, soon after +his removal to Geneva, he had been elected Justice of the Peace in +place of one resigned. "I did not wish for the office." he said, +"although I was seldom called upon to act, and after my sight +began to fail so fast, people never came to me except on trivial +matters. One night, however, as many as--let me see--as many as +ten years ago, my house keeper told me there were in the parlor +four young people desirous of seeing me, adding that she believed +a wedding was in contemplation." + +"Splendid!" cried Edith; "and you married them, didn't you? Tell +us all about it; how the bride looked, and every thing." + +"I cannot gratify you in that respect," returned Richard. "There +was a veil of darkness between us, and I could see nothing +distinctly, but I knew she was very slight, so much so, indeed, +that I was sorry afterward that I did not question her age." + +"A runaway match from the Seminary, perhaps," suggested Arthur, in +tones so steady as to astonish himself. + +"I have sometimes thought so since," was Richard's reply, "but as +nothing of the kind was ever known to have occurred, I may have +been mistaken." + +"But the names?" cried Edith, eagerly, "you could surely tell by +that, unless they were feigned." + +"Which is hardly probable," Richard rejoined, "though they might +as well have been for any good they do me now. I was too unhappy +then, too much wrapped up in my own misfortunes to care for what +was passing around me, and though I gave them a certificate, +keeping myself a memorandum of the same, I soon forgot their names +entirely." + +"But the copy," chimed in Edith, "that will tell. Let's hunt it +up. I'm so interested in these people, and it seems so funny that +you should have married them. I wonder where they are. Have you +never heard a word from them?" + +"Never, since that night," said Richard; "and what is more +unfortunate still for an inquisitive mother Eve, like you, the +copy which I kept was burned by a servant who destroyed it with +sundry other business papers, on one of her cleaning house days." + +"Ah-h," and Arthur drew a long, long breath, which prompted Edith +to ask if be were tired. + +"You're not as much interested as I am," she said. "I do wish I +knew who the young bride was--so small and so fair. Was she as +tall as Nina?" and she turned to Richard, who replied, + +"I can hardly judge the height of either. Stand up, Snow Drop, and +let me feel if you are as tall as the bride of ten years ago." + +"Yes, Nina is the taller of the two," said Richard, as he complied +with his request and stood under his hand. "I have often thought +of this girl-wife and her handsome boy-husband, doubting whether I +did right to marry them, but the young man who accompanied them +went far toward reassuring me that all was right. They were +residents of the village, he said, and having seen me often in +town, had taken a fancy to have me perform the ceremony, just for +the novelty of the thing." + +"It's queer you never heard of them afterward," said Edith; while +Nina, looking up in the blind man's face, rejoined, + +"YOU DID IT THEN?" + +"Nina," said Arthur ere Richard could reply, "it is time we were +going home; there is Sophy with the shawl which you forgot." And +he pointed toward Sophy coming through the garden, with a warm +shawl tucked under her arm, for the dew was heavy that night and +she feared lest Nina should take cold. + +"Nina won't go yet; she isn't ready," persisted the capricious +maiden. "Go till I call you," and having thus summarily dismissed +Soph, the little lady resumed the seat from which she had arisen, +and laying her head on Richard's, whispered to him softly, "CAN'T +YOU SCRATCH IT OUT?" + +"Scratch what out?" he asked; and Nina replied, + +"Why, IT; what you've been talking about. Nothing ever came of it +but despair and darkness." + +"I do not know what you mean," Richard said, and as Arthur did not +volunteer any information, but sat carelessly scraping his thumb +nail with a pen-knife, Edith made some trivial remark which turned +the channel of Nina's thoughts, and she forgot to urge the request +that "it should be scratched out." + +"Nina'll go now," she said, after ten minutes had elapsed, and +calling Soph, Arthur was soon on his way home, hardly knowing +whether he was glad or sorry that every proof of his early error +was forever destroyed. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE DECISION. + + +The summer was over and gone; its last breath had died away amid +the New England hills, and the mellow October days had come, when +in the words of America's sweetest poetess, + + "The woods stand bare and brown, + And into the lap of the South land, + The flowers are blowing down." + +Over all there was that dreamy, languid haze, so common to the +Autumn time, when the distant hills are bathed in a smoky light +and all things give token of decay. The sun, round and red, as the +October sun is wont to be, shone brightly upon Collingwood, and +looked cheerily into the room where Edith Hastings sat, waiting +apparently for some one whose tardy appearance filled her with +impatience. In her hand she held a tiny note received the previous +night, and as she read for the twentieth time the few lines +contained therein, her blushes deepened on her cheek, and her +blank eyes grew softer and more subdued in their expression. + +"Edith," the note began, "I must see you alone. I have something +to say to you which a third person cannot hear. May I come to +Collingwood to-morrow at three o'clock, P.M.? In haste, Arthur St. +Claire." + +The words were very cold, but to Edith they contained a world of +meaning. She knew she was beloved by Arthur St. Claire. Dr. +Griswold had told her so. Grace had told her so. Nina had told her +so, while more than all his manner had told her so repeatedly, and +now HE would tell her so himself and had chosen a time when +Richard and Victor were both in Boston, as the one best adapted to +the interview. Edith was like all other maidens of eighteen, and +her girlish heart fluttered with joy as she thought what her +answer would be, but not at first,--not at once, lest she seem too +anxious. She'd make him wait a whole week, then see how he felt. +He deserved it all for his weak vacillation. If he loved her why +hadn't he told her before! She didn't believe there was such a +terrible impediment in the way. Probably he had sworn never to +marry any one save Nina, but her insanity was certainly a +sufficient reason for his not keeping the oath. Dr. Griswold was +peculiar,--over-nice in some points, and Arthur had been wholly +under his control, becoming morbidly sensitive to the past, and +magnifying every trivial circumstance into a mountain too great to +be moved. + +This was Edith's reasoning as she sat waiting that October +afternoon for Arthur, who came ere long, looking happier, more +like himself than she had seen him since the memorable day when +she first met Nina. Arthur had determined to do right, to tell +without reserve the whole of his past history to Edith Hastings, +and the moment he reached this decision half his burden was lifted +from his mind. It cost him a bitter struggle thus to decide, and +lest his courage should give way, he had asked for an early +interview. It was granted, and without giving himself time to +repent he came at once and stood before the woman who was dearer +to him than his life. Gladly would he have died could he thus have +blotted out the past and made Edith his wife, but he could not, +and he had come to tell her so. + +Never had she been more beautiful than she was that afternoon. Her +dress of crimson merino contrasted well with her clear dark +complexion. Her magnificent hair, arranged with far more care than +usual, was wound in many a heavy braid around her head, while, +half-hidden amid the silken bands, and drooping gracefully behind +one ear, was a single white rose-bud, mingled with scarlet +blossoms of verbena; the effect adding greatly to her beauty. +Excitement lent a brighter sparkle to her brilliant eyes, and a +richer bloom to her glowing cheeks, and thus she sat waiting for +Arthur St. Claire, who felt his heart grow cold and faint as he +looked upon her, and knew her charms were not for him. She +detected his agitation, and as a kitten plays with a captured +mouse, torturing it almost to madness, so she played with him ere +suffering him to reach the point. Rapidly she went from one +subject to another, dragging him with her whether he would or not, +until at last as if suddenly remembering herself, she turned her +shining eyes upon him, and said, "I have talked myself out, and +will now give you a chance. You wrote that you wished to see me." + +But for this direct allusion to his note, Arthur would assuredly +have gone away, leaving his errand untold. But he could not do so +now. She was waiting for him to speak, and undoubtedly wondering +at his silence. Thrice he attempted to articulate, but his tongue +seemed paralyzed, and reeking with perspiration, he sat unable to +move until she said again, "Is it of Nina you would tell me?" + +Then the spell was broken, Nina was the sesame which unlocked his +powers of speech; and wiping the large drops from his forehead, he +answered, + +"Yes, Edith, of Nina, of myself, of you. Edith, you know how much +I love you, don't you, darling?" + +The words were apparently wrung from him greatly against his will. +They were not what he intended to say, and he would have given +worlds to have recalled them, but they were beyond his reach, and +the very walls of the room seemed to echo in thunder tones, + +"You know how much I love you, don't you, darling?" + +Yes, she did know; he knew she did by the glance she gave him +back, and laying his head upon the table, he neither moved nor +spoke until a footstep glided to his side, and a soft hand pressed +his burning brow, while a voice, whose tones drifted him far, far +back to the sea of darkness and doubt where he had so long been +bravely buffetting the billows, whispered to him, + +"Arthur, I DO know, or rather believe you love me. You would not +tell me an untruth, but I do not understand why it should make you +so unhappy." + +He did not answer her at once, but retained within his own the +little hand which trembled for a moment like an imprisoned bird +and then grew warm and full of vigorous life just as Edith was, +standing there before him. What should he do? What could he do? +Surely, never so dark an hour had gathered round him, or one so +fraught with peril. Like lightning his mind took in once more the +whole matter as it was. Griswold was dead. On his grave the autumn +leaves were falling and the nightly vigils by that grave had been +of no avail. Nina could never comprehend, the written proof was +burned, Richard had forgotten, there was nothing in the way save +his CONSCIENCE and that would not be silent. Loudly it whispered +to the anguished man that happiness could not be secured by +trampling on Nina's rights; that remorse would mix itself with +every joy and at the last would drive him mad. + +"You mistake me, I cannot," he began to say, but Edith did not +heed it, for a sound without had caught her ear, telling her that +Richard had unexpectedly returned, and Victor was coming for her. + +There was an expression of impatience on Edith's face, as to +Victor's summons she replied, "Yes, yes, in a moment;" but Arthur +breathed more freely as, rising to his feet, he said, "I cannot +now say all I wish to say, but meet me, to-morrow at this hour in +the Deering Woods, near the spot where the mill brook falls over +those old stones. You know the place. We went there once with-- +NINA." + +He wrung her hand, pitying her more than he did himself, for he +knew how little she suspected the true nature of what he intended +to tell her. + +"God help us both, me to do right, and her to bear it," was his +mental prayer, as he left her at the door of the room where +Richard was waiting for her. + +There were good and bad angels lugging at Arthur's heart as he +hastened across the fields where the night was falling, darker, +gloomier, than ever it fell before. Would it be a deadly sin to +marry Edith Hastings? Would Nina be wronged if he did? were +questions which the bad spirits kept whispering in his ear, and +each time that he listened to these questionings, he drifted +further and farther away from the right, until by the time his +home was reached he hardly knew himself what his intentions were. + +Very bright were the lights shining in the windows of his home, +and the fire blazed cheerfully in the library, where Nina, pale +and fair as a white pond lily, had ordered the supper table to be +set, because she thought it would please him, and where, with her +golden curls tucked behind her ears, and a huge white apron on, +she knelt before the glowing coals, making the nicely-buttered +toast he liked so well. Turning toward him her childish face as he +came in, she said, + +"See--Nina's a nice little housekeeper. Wouldn't it be famous if +we could live alone, you and I?" + +Arthur groaned inwardly, but made her no reply. Sitting down in +his arm-chair, he watched her intently as she made his tea, +removed her apron, brushed her curls, and then look her seat at +the table, bidding him do the same. Mechanically he obeyed, +affecting to eat for her sake, while his eyes were constantly +fastened upon her face. Supper being over and the table removed, +he continued watching her intently as she flitted about the room, +now perching herself upon his knee, calling him "her good boy," +now holding a whispered conversation with Miggie, who, she +fancied, was there, and again singing to herself a plaintive song +she had sung to Dr. Griswold. When it drew near her bedtime she +went to the window, from which the curtain was thrown back, and +looking out upon the blackness of the night, said to Arthur, + +"The darkness is very dark. I should think poor Dr. Griswold would +be afraid lying there alone in that narrow grave. What made him +die, Arthur? I didn't want him to. It had better been I, hadn't +it?" + +She came close to him now, and sitting on his knee held his +bearded chin in her hand, while she continued, + +"Would my poor boy be very lonesome, knowing that Nina wasn't +here, nor up stairs, nor in the Asylum, nor over at Miggie's, nor +anywhere? Would you miss me a bit?" + +"YES, YES, YES!" + +The words came with quiet, gasping sobs, for in his hour of +bitterest anguish, Arthur had never for an instant wished HER +gone--the little blue-eyed creature clinging so confidingly to him +and asking if he would miss her when she was dead. + +"Nina's would be a little grave," she said, "not as large as +Miggie's, and perhaps it won't be long before they dig it. I can +wait. You can wait; can't you, boy?" + +What was it which prompted her thus to speak to him? What was it +which made him see Griswold's glance in the eyes looking so +earnestly to his own? Surely there was something more than mere +chance in all this. Nina would save him. She had grasped his +conscience, and she stirred it with no gentle hand, until the +awakened man writhed in agony, such as the drowning are said to +feel when slowly restored to life, and bowing his head on Nina's, +he cried, + +"What shall I do? Tell me, Nina, what to do!" + +Once before, when thus appealed to, she had answered him, "Do +right," and she now said the same to the weeping man, who sobbed +aloud, "I will. I will tell her all to-morrow. I wish it were to- +morrow now, but the long night must intervene, and a weak, +vacillating fool like me may waver in that time. Nina," and he +held her closer to him, "stay here with me till morning. I am +stronger where you are. The sight of you does me good. Phillis +will fix you a bed upon the sofa and make you comfortable; will +you stay?" + +Every novelty was pleasing to Nina and she assented readily, +stipulating, however, that he should not look at her while she +said her prayers. + +In much surprise Phillis heard of this arrangement, but offered no +objection, thinking that Arthur had probably detected signs of a +frenzied attack and chose to keep her with him where he could +watch her. Alas! they little dreamed that 'twas to save himself he +kept her there, kneeling oftentimes beside her as she slept, and +from the sight of her helpless innocence gathering strength for +the morrow's duty. How slowly the hours of that never-to-be- +forgotten night dragged on, and when at last the grey dawn came +creeping up the east, how short they seemed, looked back upon. +Through them all Nina had slept quietly, moving only once, and +that when Arthur's tears dropped upon her face. Then, +unconsciously, she put her arms around his neck and murmured, "It +will all be right sometime." + +"Whether it is or not, I will do right to-day," Arthur said aloud, +and when the sun came stealing into the room, it found him firm as +a granite rock. + +Nina's presence saved him, and when the clock pointed to three, he +said to her, "Miggie is waiting for me in the Deering woods, where +the mill-brook falls over the stones. You called it Niagara, you +know, when you went there once with us. Go to Miggie, Nina. Tell +her I'm coming soon. Tell her that I sent you." + +"And that you will do right?" interrupted Nina, retaining a +confused remembrance of last night's conversation. + +"Yes, tell her I'll do right. Poor Edith, she will need your +sympathy so much;" and with trembling hands Arthur himself wrapped +Nina's shawl around her, taking more care than usual to see that +she was shielded from the possibility of taking cold; then, +leading her to the door and pointing in the direction of the +miniature Niagara he bade her go, watching her with a beating +heart as she bounded across the fields toward the Deering woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE DEERING WOODS. + + +Edith had been in a state of feverish excitement all the day, so +happy had she been made by the certainty that Arthur loved her. +She had not doubted it before, but having it told her in so many +words was delightful, and she could scarcely wait for the hour +when she was to hear the continuation of a story abruptly +terminated by the return of Richard. Poor Richard! He was sitting +in his library now, looking so lonely, when on her way through the +hall she glanced in at him, that she almost cried to think how +desolate he would be when she was gone. + +"I'll coax Arthur to come here and live," she said to herself, +thinking how nice it would be to have Arthur and Nina and Richard +all in one house. + +The hands of her watch were pointing to three, as, stepping out +upon the piazza she passed hurriedly through the grounds and +turned in the direction of the Deering Woods. Onward, onward, over +the hill and across the fields she flew, until the woods were +reached--the silent, leafless woods, where not a sound was heard +save the occasional dropping of a nut, the rustle of a leaf, or +the ripple of the mill-brook falling over the stones. The warm sun +had dried the withered grass, and she sat down beneath a forest +tree, watching, waiting, wondering, and trembling violently at +last as in the distance she heard the cracking of the brittle +twigs and fancied he was coming. + +"I'll pretend I don't hear him," she said, and humming a simple +air she was industriously pulling the bark from the tree when NINA +stood before her, exclaiming, + +"You ARE here just as Arthur said you'd be. The woods were so +still and smoky that I was most afraid." + +Ordinarily Edith would have been delighted at this meeting, but +now she could not forbear wishing Nina away, and she said to her +somewhat sternly, + +"What made you come?" + +"He sent me," and Nina crouched down at Edith's feet, like a +frightened spaniel. "Arthur is coming, too, and going to do right. +He said he was, bending right over me last night, and when I woke +this morning there was a great tear on my face. 'Twasn't mine, +Miggie. It was too big for that. It was Arthur's." + +"How came he in your room?" Edith asked, a little sharply, and +Nina replied, + +"I was in the library. We both staid there all night. It wasn't in +my room, though Arthur has a right, Miggie. IT NEVER WAS SCRATCHED +OUT!" + +Edith was puzzled, and was about to question Nina as to her +meaning, when another step was heard, a manly, heavy tread, +precluding all possibility of a mistake this time. Arthur St. +Claire had come! + +"It's quite pleasant since yesterday," he said, trying to force a +smile, but it was a sickly effort, and only made more ghastly and +wan his pallid features, over which ages seemed to have passed +since the previous day, leaving them scarred, and battered, and +worn. + +Edith had never noticed so great a change in so short a time, for +there was scarcely a vestige left of the once handsome, merry- +hearted Arthur in the stooping, haggard man, who stood before her, +with blood-shot eyes, and an humble, deprecating manner, as if +imploring her forgiveness for the pain he had come to inflict. +Nothing could prevent it now. Her matchless beauty was naught to +him. He did not even see it. He thought of her only as a being for +whose sake he would gladly die the most torturing death that human +ingenuity could devise, if by this means, he could rescue her +unscathed from the fire he had kindled around her. But this could +not be; he had fallen, dragging her down with him, and now he must +restore her even though it broke her heart just as his was broken. +He had felt the fibres snapping, one by one; knew his life blood +was oozing out, drop by drop, and this it was which made him +hesitate so long. It was painful for him to speak, his throat was +so parched and dry, his tongue so heavy and thick. + +"What is it, Arthur?" Edith said at last, as Nina, uttering a cry +of fear, hid her face in the grass to shut out Arthur from her +sight, "Tell me, what is it?" + +Seating himself upon a log near by, and clasping his hands +together with a gesture of abject misery, Arthur replied. + +"Edith, I am not worthy to look into your face; unless you take +your eyes from mine--oh, take them away, or I cannot tell you what +I must." + +Had her very life depended upon it, Edith could not have removed +her eyes from his. An undefinable fear was curdling her blood--a +fear augmented by the position of her two companions--Nina, with +her head upon the grass, and that strange, white-faced being on +the log. Could THAT be Arthur St. Claire, or was she laboring +under some horrible delusion? No, the lips moved; it was Arthur, +and leaning forward she listened to what he was saying, + +"Edith, when yesterday I was with you, some words which I uttered +and which were wrung from me, I know not how, gave you reason to +believe that I was then asking you to become my wife, while +something in your manner told me that to such asking you would not +answer no. The temptation then to take you to my arms, defying +earth and heaven, was a terrible one, and for a time I wavered, I +forgot everything but my love for you; but that is past and I come +now to the hardest part of all, the deliberate surrender of one +dearer than life itself. Edith, do you remember the obstacle, the +hindrance which I always said existed to my marrying any one?" + +She did not answer; only the eyes grew larger as they watched him; +and he continued, + +"I made myself forgot it for a time, but Heaven was kinder far +than I deserved, and will not suffer me longer. Edith, you CANNOT +be my wife." + +She made a movement as if she would go to him, but his swaying +arms kept her off, and he went on; + +"There IS an obstacle, Edith--a mighty obstacle, I could trample +it down if I would, and there is none to question the act; but, +Edith, I dare not do you this wrong." + +His voice was more natural now, and Nina, lifting up her head, +crept closely to him, whispering softly, "Good boy, you will do +right." + +His long, white fingers threaded her sunny hair, and this was all +the token he gave that he was conscious of her presence. + +"Don't you know now, Edith, what it is which stands between us?" +he asked; and Edith answered, "It is Nina, but how I do not +understand." + +Arthur groaned a sharp, bitter groan, and rocking to and fro +replied, "Must I tell you? Won't you ever guess until I do? Oh, +Edith, Edith--put the past and present together--remember the +picture found in my room when you were a little girl, the picture +of Nina Bernard; think of all that has happened; my dread to meet +with Richard, though that you possibly did not know; my foolish +fear, lest you should know of Nina; her clinging devotion to me; +my brotherly care for her; Richard's story of the one single +marriage ceremony he ever performed, where the bride's curls were +like these," and he lifted Nina's golden ringlets. "You hear me, +don't you?" + +He knew she did, for her bosom was heaving with choking sobs as if +her soul were parting from the body; her breath came heavily from +between her quivering lips, and her eyes were riveted upon him +like coals of living fire. Yes, he knew she heard, and he only +questioned her to give himself another moment ere he cut asunder +the last chord and sent her drifting out upon the dark sea of +despair. + +"Edith--Edith--Edith," and with each word he hugged Nina closer to +him, so close that she gave a cry of pain, but he did not heed it; +he hardly knew he held her--his thoughts were all for the poor, +wretched girl, rising slowly to her feet. "Edith, you surely +understand me now. The obstacle between us is---; oh, Nina, say it +for me, tell her what you are to me." + +"I know," and Edith Hastings stood tall and erect before him, +"NINA IS YOUR WIFE." + +Nina looked up and smiled, while Edith crossed her arms upon her +breast, and waited for him to answer. + +"Yes, Edith,--though never before acknowledged as such, Nina is my +wife; but, Edith, I swear it before high Heaven, she is only a +wife in name. Never for a day, or hour, or moment have I lived +with her as such. Were it otherwise, I could not have fallen so +low. Her father came the very night we were married, and took her +away next morning. Griswold and I must have met him just as we +left the yard, after having assisted Nina and her room-mate, Sarah +Warren, to reach the window, from which they had adroitly escaped +little move than an hour before. No one had missed them,--no one +ever suspected the truth, and as Miss Warren died a few months +afterward, only Nina, Griswold and myself knew the secret, which I +guarded most carefully for fear of expulsion from college. You +know the rest. You know it all, Nina is my wife. Nina is my wife,- +-my wife,--my wife." + +He kept whispering it to himself, as if thus he would impress it +the more forcibly upon the unconscious Edith, who lay upon the +withered grass just where Nina had lain, rigid and white and free +for the present from all suffering. Arthur could not move; the +blow had fallen on them both with a mightier force than even he +had anticipated, killing her he feared, and so benumbing himself +that to act was impossible, and he continued sitting upon the log +with his elbows resting on his knees and his face upon his hands. +Only Nina had any reason then or judgment. Hastening to Edith she +knelt beside her, and lifting up her head pillowed it upon her +lap, wiping from her temple the drops of blood slowly trickling +from a cut, made by a sharp stone. + +"Miggie, Miggie," she cried, "wake up. You scare me, you look so +white and stiff. Please open your eyes, darling, just a little +ways, so Nina'll know that you ain't dead. Oh, Arthur, she is +DEAD!" and Nina shrieked aloud, when, opening herself the lids, +she saw the dull, fixed expression of the glassy eye. + +Laying her back upon the grass, she crept to Arthur's side, and +tried to rouse him, saying imploringly, "Miggie's dead, Arthur; +Miggie's dead. There is blood all over her face. It's on me, too, +look," and she held before him her fingers, covered with a crimson +stain. Even this did not move him; he only kissed the tiny hand +wet with Edith's blood, and whispered to her, "Richard." + +It was enough. Nina comprehended his meaning at once; and when +next he looked about him she was flying like a deer across the +fields to Collingwood, leaving him alone with Edith. From where he +sat he could see her face, and its corpse-like pallor chilled him +with horror. He must go to her. It would be long ere Nina guided +the blind man to the spot, and, exerting all his strength, he +tottered to the brook, filled his hat with water, and crawling, +rather than walking, to Edith's side, dashed it upon her head, +washing the stains of blood, away, and forcing back the life so +nearly gone. Gradually the eyes unclosed, and looked into his with +a glance so full of love. tenderness, reproach, and cruel +disappointment, that he turned away, for he could not meet that +look. + +The blood from the wound upon the forehead was flowing freely now, +and faint from its loss, Edith sank again into a state of +unconsciousness, while Arthur, scarcely knowing what he did, crept +away to a little distance, where, leaning against a tree, he sat +insensible as it were, until the sound of footsteps roused him, +and he saw Nina coming, holding fast to the blind man's wrist, and +saying to him encouragingly, + +"We are almost there. I see her dress now by the bank. Wake up, +Miggie; we're coming--Richard and I. Don't you hear me, Miggie?" + + * * * * * * + +Victor had been sent to the village upon an errand for Richard, +who was sitting in his arm-chair, just where Edith had left him an +hour before, dozing occasionally, as was his custom after dinner, +and dreaming of his singing bird. + +"Little rose-bud," he whispered to himself. "It's strange no +envious, longing eyes have sought her out as yet, and tried to win +her from me. There's St. Claire--cannot help admiring her, but +thus far he's been very discreet, I'm sure. Victor would tell me +if he saw any indications of his making love to Edith." + +Deluded Richard! Victor Dupres kept his own counsel with regard to +Edith and the proprietor of Grassy Spring; and when questioned by +his master, as he sometimes was, he always answered, "Monsieur St. +Claire does nothing out of the way." + +So Richard, completely blinded, trusted them both, and had no +suspicion of the scene enacted that afternoon in the Deering +Woods. Hearing a swift footstep coming up the walk, he held his +breath to listen, thinking it was Edith, but a moment only +sufficed to tell it was Nina. With a rapid, bounding tread she +entered the library, and gliding to his side, startled him with, +"Come, quick, Miggie's dead--dead in the Deering Woods!" + +For an instant Richard's brain reeled, and rings of fire danced +before his sightless eyes; then, remembering the nature of the one +who had brought to him this news, hope whispered that it might not +be so bad, and this it was which buoyed him up and made him strong +to follow his strange guide. + + * * * * * * + +Down the lane, across the road, and over the fields Nina led him, +bareheaded as he was, and in his thin-soled, slippers, which were +torn against the briers and stones, for in her haste Nina did not +stop to choose the smoothest path, and Richard was too intent on +Edith to heed the roughness of the way. Many questions be asked +her as to the cause of the accident, but she told him nothing save +that "Miggie was talking and fell down dead." She did not mention +Arthur, for, fancying that he had in some way been the cause of +the disaster, she wished to shield him from all censure, +consequently Richard had no idea of the crushed, miserable wretch +leaning against the sycamore and watching him as he came up. He +only heard Nina's cry, "Wake up, Miggie, Richard's here!" + +It needed more than that appeal, however, to rouse the unconscious +girl, and Richard, as he felt her cold, clammy flesh, wept aloud, +fearing lest she were really dead. Eagerly he felt for her heart, +knowing then that she still lived. + +"Edith, darling, speak to me," and he chafed her nerveless hands, +bidding Nina bring him water from the brook. + +Spying Arthur's hat Nina caught it up, when the thought entered +her mind, "He'll wonder whose this is." Then with a look of subtle +cunning, she stole up behind the blind man, and placing the hat +suddenly upon his head, withdrew it as quickly, saying, "I'll get +it in this, shan't I?" + +Richard was too much excited to know whether he had worn one hat +or a dozen, and he answered her at once, "Use it of course." + +The cold water brought by Nina roused Edith once more, and with a +sigh she lay back on Richard's bosom, so trustfully, so +confidingly, that Arthur, looking on, foresaw what the future +would bring, literally giving her up then and there to the blind +man, who, as if accepting the gift, hugged her fondly to him and +said aloud, "I thank the good Father for restoring to me my +Edith." + +She suffered him to caress her as much as he liked, and offered no +remonstrance when lifting her in his strong arms, he bade Nina +lead him back to Collingwood. Like a weary child Edith rested her +head upon his shoulder, looking behind once, and regarding Arthur +with a look he never forgot, even when the darkness in which he +now was groping had passed away, and the full daylight was shining +o'er him. Leading Richard to a safe distance, Nina bade him wait a +moment while she went back for something she had forgotten--then +hastening to Arthur's side she wound her arms around his neck, +smoothed his hair, kissed his lips, and said to him so low that +Richard could not hear, + +"NINA won't desert you. She'll come to you again, when she gets +Miggie home. You did do it, didn't you? but Nina'll never tell." + +Kissing him once more, she bounded away, and with feelings of +anguish which more than compensated for his error, Arthur looked +after them as they moved slowly across the field, Richard +sometimes tottering beneath his load, which, nevertheless, he +would not release, and Nina, holding to his arm, telling him where +to go, and occasionally glancing backward toward the spot where +Arthur sat, until the night shadows were falling, and he shivered +with the heavy dew. Nina did not return, and thinking that she +would not, he started for home, never knowing how he reached +there, or when; only this he knew, no one suspected him of being +in the Deering Woods when Edith Hastings was attacked with that +strange fainting fit. Thanks for this to little Nina, who, +returning as she had promised, found the forgotten HAT still +dripping with water, and hiding it beneath her shawl, carried it +safely to Grassy Spring, where it would betray no one. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE DARKNESS DEEPENS. + + +Death brooded over Collingwood, and his black wing beat +clamorously against the windows of the room to which, on that +fearful night, Richard had borne his fainting burden, and where +for days and weeks she lay so low that with every coming morning +the anxious villagers listened for the first stroke of the bell +which should tell that Edith was dead. Various were the rumors +concerning the cause of her illness, all agreeing upon one point, +to wit, that she had fainted suddenly in the woods with Nina, and +in falling, had received a deep gash upon her forehead. This it +was which made her crazy, the people said, and the physician +humored the belief, although with his experience he knew there was +some secret sorrow preying upon that young mind, the nature of +which he could not easily guess. It never occurred to him that it +was in any way associated with Arthur St. Claire, whose heart- +broken expression told how much he suffered, and how dear to him +was the delirious girl, who never breathed his name, or gave token +that she knew of his existence. Every morning, regularly he rung +the Collingwood bell, which was always answered by Victor, between +whom and himself there was a tacit understanding, perceptible in +the fervent manner with which the faithful valet's hand was +pressed whenever the news was favorable. He did not venture into +her presence, though repeatedly urged to do so by Grace, who +mentally accused him of indifference toward Edith. Alas, she knew +not of the nightly vigils kept by the wretched man, when with dim +eye and throbbing head he humbled himself before his Maker, +praying to be forgiven for the sorrow he had wrought, and again +wrestling in agony for the young girl, whose sick room windows he +could see, watching the livelong night the flickering of the lamp, +and fancying he could tell from its position, if any great change +occurred in her. + +Richard was completely crushed, and without noticing any one he +sat hour after hour, day after day, night after night, always in +one place, near the head of the bed, his hands folded submissively +together, and his sightless eyes fixed upon the pillow, where he +knew Edith was, with a hopeless, subdued expression touching to +witness. He did not weep, but his dry, red eyes, fastened always +upon the same point, told of sealed fountains where the hot tears +were constantly welling up, and failing to find egress without, +fell upon the bruised heart, which blistered and burned beneath +their touch, but felt no relief. It was in vain they tried to +persuade him to leave the room; he turned a deaf ear to their +entreaties, and the physician was beginning to fear for his +reason, when crazy Nina came to his aid, and laying her moist hand +upon his said to him, not imploringly, but commandingly, "Come +with me." + +There was a moment's hesitation, and then Richard followed her out +into the open air, sitting where she bade him sit, and offering no +resistance when she perched herself upon his knee and passed her +arm around his neck. + +"Make him cry, can't you? That will do him good," whispered +Victor, who had come out with them. + +Nina knew that better than himself. SHE remembered the time when +the sight of Edith had wrung from her torrents of tears, cooling +her burning brow, and proving a blessed relief, the good effects +of which were visible yet. And now it was her task to make the +blind man cry. She recognized something familiar in the hard, +stony expression of his face, something which brought back the +Asylum, with all its dreaded horrors. She had seen strong men +there look just as he was looking. Dr. Griswold had called them +crazy, and knowing well what that word implied she would save +Richard from so sad a fate. + +"It will be lonesome for you when Miggie's gone," she said, as a +prelude, to the attempt; "lonesomer than it has ever been before; +and the nights will be so dark, for when the morning comes +there'll be no Miggie here. She will look sweetly in her coffin, +but you can't see her, can you? You can FEEL how beautiful she is, +perhaps; and I shall braid her hair just as she used to wear it." + +There was a perceptible tremor in Richard's frame, and perceiving +it, Nina continued quickly, + +"We shall never forget her, shall we? and we'll often fancy we +hear her singing through the halls, even though we know she's far +away heading the choir in Heaven. That will be a pleasanter sound, +won't it, than the echo of the bell when the villagers count the +eighteen strokes and a half, and know it tolls for Miggie? The +hearse wheels, too--how often we shall hear them grinding through +the gravel, as they will grind, making a little track when they +come up, and a deeper one when they go away, for they'll carry +Miggie then." + +"Oh, Nina! hush, hush! No, no!" and Richard's voice was choked +with tears, which ran over his face like rain. + +Nina had achieved her object, and, with a most satisfied +expression she watched him as he wept. Her's was a triple task, +caring for Richard, caring for Arthur, and caring for Edith, but +most faithfully did she perform it. Every day, when the sun was +low in the western sky, she stole away to Grassy Spring, speaking +blessed words of comfort to the despairing Arthur, who waited for +her coming as for the visit of an angel. She was dearer to him now +since he had confessed his sin to Edith, and could she have been +restored to reason he would have compelled himself to make her his +wife in reality as well as in name. She was a sweet creature, he +knew; and he always caressed her with unwonted tenderness ere he +sent her back to the sick room, where Edith ever bemoaned her +absence, missing her at once, asking for pretty Nina, with the +golden hair. She apparently did not remember that Nina stood +between herself and Arthur St. Claire, or, if she did, she bore no +malice for the patient, all-enduring girl who nursed her with so +much care, singing to her the plaintive German air once sung to +Dr. Griswold, and in which Edith would often join, taking one +part, while Nina sang the other; and the members of the household, +when they heard the strange melody, now swelling load and full, as +some fitful fancy took possession of the crazy vocalists, and now +sinking to a plaintive wail, would shudder, and turn aside to +weep, for there was that in the music which reminded them of the +hearse wheels grinding down the gravel, and of the village bell +giving the eighteen strokes. Sometimes, for nearly a whole night +those songs of the olden time would echo through the house, and +with each note she sang the fever burned more fiercely in Edith's +veins, and her glittering black eyes flashed with increased fire, +while her fingers clutched at her tangled hair, as if they thus +would keep time to the thrilling strain. Her hair troubled her, it +was so heavy, so thick, so much in her way, and when she +manifested a propensity to relieve herself of the burden by +tearing it from the roots the physician commanded them to cut away +those beautiful shining braids, Edith's crowning glory. + +It was necessary, he said, and the sharp, polished scissors were +ready for the task, when Nina, stepping in between them and the +blue-black locks, saved the latter from the nurse's barbaric hand. +She remembered well when her own curls had fallen one by one +beneath the shears of an unrelenting nurse, and she determined at +all hazards to spare Edith from a like fancied indignity. + +"Miggie's hair shall not be harmed," she said, covering with her +apron the wealth of raven tresses. "I can keep her from pulling +it. I can manage her;" and the sequel proved that she was right. + +It was a singular power that blue-eyed blonde possessed over the +dark-eyed brunette, who became at last as obedient to Nina's will +as Nina once had been to her's, and it was amusing to watch Nina +flitting about Edith, now reasoning with, now coaxing, and again +threatening her capricious patient, who was sure eventually to do +as she was bidden. + +Only once while the delirium lasted did Edith refer to Arthur, and +then she said reproachfully, "Oh, Nina, what made him do so?" + +They were alone, and bending over her, Nina replied, "I am so +sorry, Miggie, and I'll try to have the ugly thing SCRATCHED OUT." + +This idea once fixed in Nina's mind could not easily be dislodged, +and several times she went to Richard, asking him to SCRATCH IT +OUT! Wishing to humor her as far as possible he always answered +that he would if he knew what she meant. Nina felt that she must +not explain, and with vigilant cunning she studied how to achieve +her end without betraying Arthur. It came to her one night, and +whispering to Edith, "I am going to get it fixed," she glided from +the room and sought the library where she was sure of finding +Richard. It was nearly eleven o'clock, but he had not yet retired, +and with his head bent forward he sat in his accustomed place, the +fire-light shining on his face, which had grown fearfully haggard +and white within the last two weeks. He heard Nina's step, and +knowing who it was, asked if Edith were worse. + +"No," returned Nina, "she'll live, too, If you'll only scratch it +out." + +He was tired of asking what she meant, and he made no answer. But +Nina was too intent upon other matters to heed his silence. Going +to his secretary she arranged materials for writing, and then +taking his hand, said, in the commanding tone she used toward +Edith when at all refractory, "Come and write. 'Tis the only +chance of saving her life." + +"Write what?" he asked, as he rose from his chair and suffered her +to lead him to the desk. + +He had written occasionally since his blindness, but it was not a +frequent thing, and his fingers closed awkwardly about the pen she +placed in his hand. Feeling curious to know the meaning of all +this, he felt for the paper and then said to her, + +"I am ready for you to dictate." + +But dictation was no part of Nina's intentions. The lines traced +upon that sheet would contain a secret which Richard must not +know; and with a merry laugh, as she thought how she would cheat +him, she replied, + +"No, SIR. Only Miggie and I can read what you write. Nina will +guide your hand and trace the words." + +Dipping the pen afresh into the ink, she bade him take it, and +grasping his fingers, guided them while they wrote as follows; + +"I, THE BLIND MAN, RICHARD HARRINGTON,-- + +"That last was my name," interrupted Richard, who was rewarded by +a slight pull of the hair, as Nina said, + +"Hush, be quiet." + +A great blot now came after the "Harrington," and wiping it up +with the unresisting Richard's coat sleeve, Nina continued: + +"--DO HEREBY SOLEMNLY--" + +She was not sure whether "swear" or "declare" would be the more +proper word, and she questioned Richard, who decided upon "swear" +as the stronger of the two, and she went on: + +"--SWEAR THAT THE MARRIAGE OF-- + +"As true as you live you can't SEE?" she asked, looking curiously +into the sightless eyes. + +"No; I can't see," was the response, and satisfied that she was +safe, Nina made him write, + +"--ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE AND NINA BERNARD, PERFORMED AT MY HOUSE, IN +MY PRESENCE, AND BY ME--" + +Nina didn't know what, but remembering a phrase she had often +heard used, and thinking it might be just what was needed, she +said, + +"Does 'NULL AND VOID' mean 'SCRATCHED OUT?'" + +"Yes," he answered, smiling in spite of himself, and Nina added +with immense capitals, + +"--NULL AND VOID," to what she had already written. + +"I reckon it will be better to have your name," she said, and the +cramped fingers were compelled to add: "RICHARD HARRINGTON, +COLLINGWOOD, November 25th 18--" + +"There!" and Nina glanced with an unusual amount of satisfaction +at the wonderful hieroglyphics which covered nearly an entire page +of foolscap, so large were the letters and so far apart the words. +"That'll cure her, sure," and folding it up, she hastened back to +Edith's chamber. + +Old Rachel watched that night, but Nina had no difficulty in +coaxing her from the room, telling her she needed sleep, and +Miggie was so much more quiet when alone with her. Rachel knew +this was true, and after an hour or so withdrew to another +apartment, leaving Edith alone with Nina. For a time Edith slept +quietly, notwithstanding that Nina rattled the spoons and upset a +chair hoping thus to wake her. + +Meanwhile Richard's curiosity had been thoroughly roused with +regard to the SCRATCHING OUT, and knowing Victor was still up, he +summoned him to his presence, repeating to him what had just +occurred and saying, "If you find that paper read it. It is surely +right for me to know what I have written." + +"Certainly," returned Victor, bowing himself from the room. + +Rightly guessing that Nina would read it aloud to Edith, he +resolved to be within hearing distance, and when he heard Rachel +leave the chamber he drew near the door, left ajar for the purpose +of admitting fresher air. From his position he saw that Edith was +asleep, while Nina, with the paper clasped tightly in her hand, +sat watching her. Once the latter thought she heard a suspicious +sound, and stealing to the door she looked up and down the hall +where a lamp was burning, showing that it was empty. + +"It must have been the wind," she said, resuming her seat by the +bedside, while Victor Dupres, gliding from the closet where he had +taken refuge, stood again at his former post, waiting for that +deep slumber to end. + +"Nina, are you here?" came at last from the pale lips, and the +bright, black eyes unclosed looking wistfully about the room. + +Silent and motionless Victor stood, while Nina, bending over +Edith, answered, "Yes, Miggie, I am here, and I've brought you +something to make you well. HE wrote it--Richard did--just now, in +the library. Can you see if I bring the lamp?" and thrusting the +paper into Edith's hands she held the lamp close to her eyes. + +"You havn't strength, have you?" she continued, as Edith paid no +heed. "Let me do it for you," and taking the crumpled sheet, she +read in tones distinct and dear: + +"I, THE BLIND MAN, RICHARD HARRINGTON, DO HEREBY SOLEMNLY SWEAR +THAT THE MARRIAGE OF ARTHUR ST. CLAIRE AND NINA BERNARD, PERFORMED +AT MY HOUSE, IN MY PRESENCE, AND BY ME, IS NULL AND VOID. RICHARD +HARRINGTON, COLLINGWOOD, NOVEMBER 5TH, 18--" + +Slowly a faint color deepened on Edith's cheek, a soft lustre was +kindled in her eye, and the great tears dropped from her long +lashes. Her intellect was too much clouded for her to reason +clearly upon anything, and she did not, for a moment, doubt the +validity of what she heard. Richard could annul the marriage if he +would, she was sure, and now that he had done so, the bitterness +of death was past,--the dark river forded, and she was saved. Nina +had steered the foundering bark into a calm, quiet sea, and +exulting in her good work, she held Edith's head upon her bosom, +and whispered to her of the joyous future when she would live with +Arthur. + +As a child listens to an exciting tale only comprehends in part, +so Edith listened to Nina, a smile playing about her mouth and +dancing in her eyes, which at last, as the low voice ceased, +closed languidly as did the soft blue orbs above them, and when +the grey dawn stole into the room it found them sleeping in each +other's arms,--the noble-hearted Nina who had virtually given up +her husband and the broken-hearted Edith who had accepted him. +They made a beautiful tableau, and Victor for a time stood +watching them, wiping the moisture from his own eyes, and +muttering to himself, "Poor Edith, I understand it now, and pity +you so much. But your secret is safe. Not for worlds would I +betray that blessed angel, Nina." Then, crossing the hall with a +cautious tread, he entered his own apartment and sat down to +THINK. + +Victor Dupres knew WHAT HAD BEEN SCRATCHED OUT! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +PARTING. + + +It was late the next morning, ere Nina and Edith awoke from that +long sleep, which proved so refreshing to the latter, stilling her +throbbing pulse, cooling her feverish brow, and subduing the wild +look of her eyes, which had in them the clear light of reason. +Edith was better. She would live, the physician said, feeling a +glow of gratified vanity as he thought how that last dose of +medicine, given as an experiment, and about which he had been so +doubtful, had really saved her life. She would have died without +it, he knew, just as Mrs. Matson, who inclined to homoeopathic +principles, knew her patient would have died if she had not slily +thrown it in the fire, substituting in its stead sweetened water +and pills of bread. + +Victor and Nina, too, had their theory with regard to the real +cause of Edith's convalescence, but each kept his own counsel, +Victor saying to Richard when questioned as to whether he had read +the paper or not, + +"No, Miss Nina keeps it clutched tightly in her hand, as if +suspecting my design." + +In the course of the day, however, Nina relaxed her vigilance, and +Victor, who was sent up stairs with wood, saw the important +document lying upon the hearth rug, where Nina had unconsciously +dropped it. + +"It's safer with me," he thought, and picking it up, he carried it +to his own apartment, locking it in his trunk where he knew no +curious eyes would ever find it. + +In her delight at Edith's visible improvement, Nina forgot the +paper for a day or two, and when at last she did remember it, +making anxious inquiries for it, Mrs. Matson, who was not the +greatest stickler for the truth, pacified her by saying she had +burned up a quantity of waste papers scattered on the floor, and +presumed this was among them. As Nina cared for nothing save to +keep the SCRATCHING OUT from every one except those whom it +directly concerned, she dismissed the subject from her mind, and +devoted herself with fresh energy to Edith, who daily grew better. + +She had not seen Arthur since that night in the Deering Woods, +neither did she wish to see him. She did not love him now, she +said; the shock had been so great as to destroy the root of her +affections, and no excuse he could offer her would in the least +palliate his sin. Edith was very harsh, very severe toward Arthur. +She should never go to Grassy Spring again, she thought; never +look upon his face unless he came to Collingwood, which she hoped +he would not do, for an interview could only be painful to them +both. She should tell him how deceived she was in him, and Edith's +cheeks grew red, and her eyes unusually bright, as she mentally +framed the speech she should make to Arthur St. Claire, if ever +they did meet. Her excitement was increasing, when Nina came in, +and tossing bonnet and shawl on the floor, threw herself upon the +foot of the bed, and began to cry, exclaiming between each sob, + +"Nina can't go! Nina won't go, and leave you here alone! I told +him so the vile boy, but he wouldn't listen, and Soph is packing +my trunks. Oh, Miggie, Miggie! how can I go without you? I shall +tear again, and be as bad as ever." + +"What do you mean?" asked Edith, "Where are you going, and why?" + +Drying her tears, Nina, in her peculiar way, related how "Arthur +wouldn't believe it was scratched out; Richard couldn't do such a +thing, he said; nobody could do it, but a divorce, and Arthur +wouldn't submit to that. He loves me better, than he used to do," +she said; "and he talked a heap about how he'd fix up Sunny Bank. +Then he asked me how I liked the name of Nina St. Claire. _I_ HATE +IT!" and the blue eyes flashed as Edith had never seen them flash +before. "I won't be his wife! I'd forgotten all what it was that +happened that night until he told it to you in the woods. Then it +came back to me, and I remembered how we went to Richard, because +he was most blind, and did not often come to Geneva. That was +Sarah Warren's plan I believe, but my head has ached and whirled +so since that I most forget. Only this I know, nothing ever came +of it; and over the sea I loved Charlie Hudson, and didn't love +Arthur. But, Miggie he's been so good to me so like my mother. +He's held me in his arms a heap of nights when the fire was in my +brain; and once, Miggie, he held me so long, and I tore so +awfully, that he fainted, and Dr. Griswold cried, and said, 'Poor +Arthur; poor boy!' That's when _I_ BIT HIM!--bit Arthur, Miggie, +right on his arm, because he wouldn't let me pull his hair. Dr. +Griswold shook me mighty hard, but Arthur never said a word. He +only looked at me so sorry, so grieved like, that I came out of my +tantrum, and kissed the place. I've kissed it ever so many times +since then, and Arthur knows I'm sorry. I ain't a fit wife for +him. I don't blame him for wanting you. I can't see the WRONG, but +it's because I'm so thick-headed, I suppose! I wish I wasn't!" And +fixing her gaze upon the window opposite, Nina seemed to be living +over the past, and trying to arrange the events of her life in +some clear, tangible form. + +Gradually as she talked Edith had softened toward Arthur--poor +Arthur, who had borne so much. She might, perhaps, forgive him, +but to FORGET was impossible. She had suffered too much at his +hands for that, and uttering a faint moan as she thought how all +her hopes of happiness were blasted, she turned on her pillow just +as Nina, coming out of her abstracted fit, said to her, + +"Did I tell you we are going to Florida--Arthur and I--going back +to our old home, in two or three days, Arthur says it is better +so. Old scenes may cure me." + +Alas, for poor human nature. Why did Edith's heart throb so +painfully, as she thought of Nina cured, and taken to Arthur's +bosom as his wife. She knew SHE could not be that wife, and only +half an hour before she had said within herself, "_I_ HATE HIM." +Now, however, she was conscious of a strong unwillingness to yield +to another the love lost to her forever, and covering her head +with the sheet, she wept to think how desolate her life would be +when she knew that far away, in the land of flowers, Arthur was +learning to forget her and bestowing his affection upon restored, +rational Nina. + +"Why do you cry?" asked Nina, whose quick ear detected the stifled +sobs. "Is it because we are going? I told him you would, when he +bade me come and ask if you would see him before he goes." + +"Did he--did he send me that message?" and the Edith, who wouldn't +for the world meet Arthur St. Claire again, uncovered her face +eagerly. "Tell him to come to-morrow at ten o'clock. I am the +strongest then; and Nina, will you care if I ask you to stay away? +I'd rather see him alone." + +Edith's voice faltered as she made this request, but Nina received +it in perfect good faith, answering that she would remain at home. + +"I must go now," she added. "He's waiting for me, and I do so hope +you'll coax him to stay here. I hate old Florida." + +Edith however felt that it was better for them both to part. She +had caught a glimpse of her own heart, and knew that its bleeding +fibres still clung to him, and still would cling till time and +absence had healed the wound. + +"I will be very cold and indifferent to-morrow," she said to +herself, when after Nina's departure, she lay, anticipating the +dreaded meeting and working herself up to such a pitch of +excitement that the physician declared her symptoms worse, asking +who had been there, and saying no one must see her, save the +family, for several days. + +The doctor's word was law at Collingwood, and with sinking spirits +Edith heard Richard in the hall without, bidding Mrs. Matson keep +every body from the sick room for a week. Even Nina was not to be +admitted, for it was clearly proved that her last visit had made +Edith worse. What should she do? Arthur would be gone ere the week +went by, and she MUST see him. Suddenly Victor came into her mind. +She could trust him to manage it, and when that night, while Mrs. +Matson was at her tea he came up as usual with wood, she said to +him, "Victor, shut the door so no one can hear, and then come +close to me." + +He obeyed, and standing by her bedside waited for her to speak. + +"Victor, Mr. St. Claire is going to Florida in a day or two. I've +promised to see him to-morrow at ten o'clock, and Richard says no +one can come in here, but I must bid Arthur good-bye and Nina, +too. Can't you manage it, Victor?" + +"Certainly," returned Victor, who, better than any one else knew +his own power over his master. "You shall see Mr. St. Claire, and +see him alone." + +Victor had not promised more than be felt able to perform, and +when at precisely ten o'clock next day the door bell rang, he +hastened to answer the summons, admitting Arthur, as he had +expected. + +"I called to see Miss Hastings," said Arthur, "I start for Florida +to-morrow, and would bid her good-bye." + +Showing him into the parlor, Victor sought Richard's presence, and +by a few masterly strokes of policy and well-worded arguments, +obtained his consent for Arthur to see Edith just a few moments. + +"It was too bad to send him away without even a good-bye, when she +had esteemed him so highly as a teacher," Richard said, +unwittingly repeating Victor's very words--that a refusal would do +her more injury than his seeing her could possibly do. "I'll go +with him. Where is he?" he asked, rising to his feet. + +"Now, I wouldn't if I was you. Let him talk with her alone. Two +excite her a great deal more than one, and he may wish to say some +things concerning Nina which he does not care for any one else to +hear. There is a mystery about HER, you know." + +Richard did not know, but he suffered himself to be persuaded, and +Victor returned to Arthur, whom be conducted in triumph to the +door of Edith's chamber. She heard his well known step. She knew +that he was coming, and the crimson spots upon her cheeks told how +much she was excited. Arthur did not offer to caress her--he dared +not do that now--but be knelt by her side, and burying his face in +her pillow, said to her, + +"I have come for your forgiveness, Edith. I could not go without +it. Say that I am forgiven, and it will not be so hard to bid you +farewell forever." + +Edith meant to be very cold, but her voice was choked as she +replied, + +"I can forgive you, Arthur, but to forget is harder far. And still +even that might be possible were I the only one whom you have +wronged; but Nina--how could you prove so faithless to your +marriage vow?" + +"Edith," and Arthur spoke almost sternly. "You would not have me +live with Nina as she is now." + +"No, no," she moaned, "not as she is now, but years ago. Why +didn't you acknowledge her as your wife, making the best of your +misfortune. People would have pitied you so much, and I--oh, +Arthur, the world would not then have been so dark, so dreary for +me. Why did you deceive me, Arthur? It makes my heart ache so +hard." + +"Oh, Edith, Edith, you drive me mad," and Arthur took in his the +hand which all the time had unconsciously been creeping toward +him. "I was a boy, a mere boy, and Nina was a little girl. We +thought it would be romantic, and were greatly influenced by +Nina's room-mate, who planned the whole affair. I told you once +how Nina wept, pleading with her father to let her stay in Geneva, +but I have not told you that she begged of me to tell him all, +while I unhesitatingly refused. I knew expulsion from College +would surely be the result, and I was far too ambitious to submit +to this degradation when it could be avoided. You know of the +gradual change in our feelings for each other, know what followed +her coming home, and you can perhaps understand how I grew so +morbidly sensitive to anything concerning her, and so desirous to +conceal my marriage from every one. This, of course, prompted me +to keep her existence a secret as long as possible, and, in my +efforts to do so, I can see now that I oftentimes acted the part +of a fool. If I could live over the past again I would proclaim +from the housetops that Nina was my wife. I love her with a +different love since I told you all. She is growing fast into my +heart, and I have hopes that a sight of her old home, together +with the effects of her native air, will do her good. Griswold +always said it would, and preposterous as it seems, I have even +dared to dream of a future, when Nina will be in a great measure +restored to reason." + +"If she does, Arthur, what then?" and, in her excitement, Edith +raised herself in bed, and sat looking at him with eyes which grew +each moment rounder, blacker, brighter, but had in them, alas, no +expression of joy; and when in answer to her appeal, Arthur said, + +"I shall make her my wife," she fell back upon her pillow, +uttering a moaning cry, which to the startled Arthur sounded like, + +"No, no! no, no! not your wife." + +"Edith," and rising to his feet Arthur stood with folded arms, +gazing pityingly upon her, himself now the stronger of the two. +"Edith, you, of all others, must not tempt me to fall. You surely +will counsel me to do right! Help me! oh, help me! I am so weak, +and I feel my good resolutions all giving way at sight of your +distress! If it will take one iota from your pain to know that +Nina shall never be my acknowledged wife, save as she is now, I +will swear to you that, were her reason ten times restored, she +shall not; But, Edith, don't, don't make me swear it. I am lost, +lost if you do. Help me to do right, won't you, Edith?" + +He knelt beside her again, pleading with her not to tempt him from +the path in which he was beginning to walk; and Edith, as she +listened, felt the last link, which bound her to him, snapping +asunder. For a moment she HAD wavered; had shrank from the thought +that any other could ever stand to him in the relation she once +had hoped to stand; but that weakness was over, and while chiding +herself for it, she hastened to make amends. + +Turning her face toward him, and laying both her hands on his +bowed head, she said, + +"May the Good Father bless you, Arthur, even as you prove true to +Nina. I have loved you, more than you will ever know, or I can +ever tell, and my poor, bruised heart clings to you still with a +mighty grasp. It is so hard to give you up, but it is right. I +shall think of you often in your beautiful Southern home, praying +always that God will bless you and forgive you at the last, even +as I forgive you. And now farewell, MY Arthur, I once fondly hoped +to call you, but mine no longer--NINA'S Arthur--go." + +She made a gesture for him to leave her, but did not unclose her +eyes. She could not look upon him, find know it was the last, last +time, but she offered no remonstrance when he left, upon her lips +a kiss so full of hopeless and yearning tenderness that it burned +there many a day after he was gone. She heard him turn away, heard +him cross the floor, knew he paused upon the threshold, and still +her eye-lids never opened, though the hot tears rained over her +face in torrents. + +"The sweetest joy I have ever known was my love for you, Edith +Hastings," he whispered, and then the door was closed between +them. + +Down the winding stairs he went, Edith counting every step, for +until all sound of him had ceased she could not feel that they +were parted forever. The sounds did cease at last, he had bidden +Richard a calm good-bye, had said good-bye to Victor, and now he +was going from the house. He would soon be out of sight, and with +an intense desire to stamp his image upon her mind just as he was +now, the changed, repentant Arthur, Edith arose, and tottering to +the window, looked after him, through blinding tears, as he passed +slowly from her sight, and then crawling, rather than walking back +to her bed, she wept herself to sleep. + +It was a heavy, unnatural slumber, and when she awoke from it, the +fever returned with redoubted violence, bringing her a second time +so near the gates of death that Arthur St. Claire deferred his +departure for several days, and Nina became again the nurse of the +sick room. But all in vain were her soft caresses and words of +love. Edith was unconscious of everything, and did not even know +when Nina's farewell kiss was pressed upon her lips and Nina's +gentle hands smoothed her hair for the last time. A vague +remembrance she had of an angel flitting around the room, a +bright-haired seraph, who held her up from sinking in the deep, +dark river, pointing to the friendly shore where life and safety +lay, and this was all she knew of a parting which had wrung tears +from every one who witnessed it, for there was something +wonderfully touching in the way the crazy Nina bade adieu to +"Miggie," lamenting that she must leave her amid the cold northern +hills, and bidding her come to the southland, where the magnolias +were growing and flowers were blossoming all the day long. Seizing +the scissors, which lay upon the stand, she severed one of her +golden curls, and placing it on Edith's pillow, glided from the +room, followed by the blessing of those who had learned to love +the beautiful little girl as such as she deserved to be loved. + + * * * * * * + +One by one the grey December days went by, and Christmas fires +were kindled on many a festal hearth. Then the New Year dawned +upon the world, and still the thick, dark curtains shaded the +windows of Edith's room. But there came a day at last, a pleasant +January day, when the curtains were removed, the blinds thrown +open, and the warm sunlight came in shining upon Edith, a +convalescent. Very frail and beautiful she looked in her crimson +dressing gown, and her little foot sat loosely in the satin +slipper, Grace Atherton's Christmas gift. The rich lace frill +encircling her throat was fastened with a locket pin of +exquisitely wrought gold, in which was encased a curl of soft, +yellow hair, Nina's hair, a part of the tress left on Edith's +pillow. This was Richard's idea,--Richard's New Year's gift to his +darling; but Richard was not there to share in the general joy. + +Just across the hall, in a chamber darkened as hers had been, he +was lying now, worn out with constant anxiety and watching. When +Nina left, his prop was gone, and the fever which had lain in wait +for him so long, kindled within his veins a fire like to that +which had burned in Edith's, but his strong, muscular frame met it +fiercely, and the danger had been comparatively slight. + +All this Grace told to Edith on that morning when she was first +suffered to sit up, and asked why Richard did not come to share +her happiness, for in spite of one's mental state, the first +feeling of returning health is one of joy. Edith felt it as such +even though her heart was so sore that every beat was painful. She +longed to speak of Grassy Spring, but would not trust herself +until Victor, reading her feelings aright, said to her with an +assumed indifference, "Mr. St. Claire's house is shut up, all but +the kitchen and the negro apartments. They are there yet, doing +nothing and having a good time generally." + +"And I have had a letter from Arthur," chimed in Mrs. Atherton, +while the eyes resting on Victor's face turned quickly to hers. +"They reached Sunny Bank in safety, he and Nina, and Soph." + +"And Nina," Edith asked faintly, "how is she?" + +"Improving, Arthur thinks, though she misses you very much." + +Edith drew a long, deep sigh, and when next she spoke, she said, +"Take me to the window, please, I want to see the country." + +In an instant, Victor, who knew well what she wanted, took her in +his arms, and carrying her to the window, set her down in the +chair which Grace brought for her; then, as if actuated by the +same impulse, both left her and returned to the fire, while she +looked across the snow-clad fields to where Grassy Spring reared +its massive walls, now basking in the winter sun. It was a +mournful pleasure to gaze at that lonely building, with its barred +doors, its closed shutters, and the numerous other tokens it gave +of being nearly deserted. There was no smoke curling from the +chimneys, no friendly door opened wide, no sweet young face +peering from the iron lattice of the Den, no Arthur, no Nina +there. Nothing but piles of snow upon the roof, snow upon the +window-sills, snow upon the doorsteps, snow upon the untrodden +walk, snow on the leafless elms, standing there so bleak and +brown. Snow everywhere, as cold, as desolate as Edith's heart, and +she bade Victor take her back again to the warm grate where she +might perhaps forget how gloomy and sad, and silent, was Grassy +Spring. + +"Did I say anything when I was delirious--anything I ought not to +have said?" she suddenly asked of Grace; and Victor, as if she had +questioned him, answered quickly, + +"Nothing, nothing--all is safe." + +Like a flash of lightning, Grace Atherton's eyes turned upon him, +while he, guessing her suspicions, returned her glance with one as +strangely inquisitive as her own. + +"Mon Dieu! I verily believe she knows," he muttered, as he left +the room, and repairing to his own, dived to the bottom of his +trunk, to make sure that he still held in his possession the paper +on which it had been "scratched out." + +That night as Grace Atherton took her leave of Edith, she bent +over the young girl, and whispered in her ear, + +"I know it all. Arthur told me the night before he left. God pity +you, Edith! God pity you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE NINETEENTH BIRTH-DAY. + + +Edith was nineteen. She was no longer the childish, merry-hearted +maiden formerly known as Edith Hastings. Her cruel disappointment +had ripened her into a sober, quiet woman, whose songs were seldom +heard in the halls of Collingwood, and whose bounding steps had +changed into a slower, more measured tread. + +Still, there was in her nature too much of life and vigor to be +crushed out at once, and oftentimes it flashed up with something +of its olden warmth, and the musical laugh fell again on Richard's +listening ear. He knew she was changed, but he imputed it all to +her long, fearful sickness; when the warm summer days came back, +she would be as gay as ever, he thought, or if she did not he +would in the autumn take her to FLORIDA, to visit Nina, for whom +he fancied she might be pining. Once he said as much to her, but +his blindness was a shield between them, and he did not see the +sudden paling of her cheek and quivering of her lip. + +Alas, for Richard, that he walked in so great a darkness. Hour by +hour, day by day, had his love increased for the child of his +adoption, until now she was a part of his very life, pervading +every corner and crevice of his being. He only lived for her, and +in his mighty love, he became selfishly indifferent to all else +around him. Edith was all he cared for;--to have her with him;--to +hear her voice,--to know that she was sitting near,--that by +stretching forth his hand he could lay it on her head, or feel her +beautiful cheeks,--this was his happiness by day, and when at +night he parted unwillingly from her, there was still a +satisfaction in knowing that he should meet her again on the +morrow,--in thinking that she was not far away--that by stepping +across the hall and knocking at her door he could hear her sweet +voice saying to him, + +"What is it, Richard?" + +He liked to have her call him Richard, as she frequently did. It +narrowed the wide gulf of twenty-one years between them, bringing +him nearer to her, so near, in fact, that bridal veils and orange +wreaths now formed a rare loveliness walked ever at his side; +clothed in garments such as the mistress of Collingwood's half +million ought to wear, and this maiden was Edith--the Edith who, +on her nineteenth birth-day, sat in her own chamber devising a +thousand different ways of commencing a conversation which she +meant to have with her guardian, the subject of said conversation +being no less a personage than Grace Atherton. Accidentally Edith +had learned that not the Swedish baby's mother but Grace +Elmendorff had been the lady who jilted Richard Harrington and +that, repenting bitterly of her girlish coquetry, Mrs. Atherton +would now gladly share the blind man's lot, and be to him what she +had not been to her aged, gouty lord. Grace did not say all this +to Edith, it is true, but the latter read as much in the trembling +voice and tearful eyes with which Grace told the story of her +early love, and to herself she said, "I will bring this matter +about. Richard often talks of her to me, asking if she has faded, +and why she does not come more frequently to Collingwood. I will +speak to him at the very first opportunity, and will tell him of +my mistake, and ask him who Eloise Temple's mother was, and why he +was so much interested in her." + +With this to engross her mind and keep it from dwelling too much +upon the past, Edith became more like herself than she had been +since that dreadful scene in the Deering woods. Even her long +neglected piano was visited with something of her former interest, +she practising the songs which she knew Grace could sing with her, +and even venturing upon two or three duets, of which Grace played +one part. It would be so nice, she thought, to have some female in +the house besides old Mrs. Matson, and she pictured just how Grace +would look in her white morning gowns, with her blue eyes and +chestnut curls, presiding at the breakfast table and handling the +silver coffee urn much more gracefully than she could do. + +It was a pleasant picture of domestic bliss which Edith drew that +April morning, and it brought a glow to her cheeks, whence the +roses all had fled. Once, indeed, as she remembered what Arthur +had said concerning Richard's probable intentions, and what she +had herself more than half suspected, she shuddered with fear lest +by pleading for Grace, she should bring a fresh trial to herself. +But no, whatever Richard might once have thought of her, his +treatment now was so fatherly that she had nothing to fear, and +with her mind thus at ease Edith waited rather impatiently until +the pleasant April day drew to its close. Supper was over, the +cloth removed, Victor gone to an Ethiopian concert, Mrs. Matson +knitting in her room, Sarah, the waiting-maid, reading a yellow +covered novel, and Richard sitting alone in his library. + +Now was Edith's time if ever, and thrusting the worsted work she +was crocheting into her pocket, she stepped to the library door +and said pleasantly "You seem to be in a deep study. Possibly you +don't want me now?" + +"Yes, I do," he answered quickly. "I always want you." + +"And can always do without me, too, I dare say," Edith rejoined +playfully, as she took her seat upon a low ottoman, near him. + +"No, I couldn't," and Richard sighed heavily. "If I had not you I +should not care to live. I dreamed last night that you were dead, +that you died while I was gone, and I dug you up with my own hands +just to look upon your face again. I always see you in my sleep. I +am not blind then, and when a face fairer, more beautiful than any +of which the poets ever sang flits before me, I whisper to myself, +'that's Edith,--that's my daylight.'" + +"Oh, mistaken man," Edith returned, laughingly, "how terribly you +would be disappointed could you be suddenly restored to sight and +behold the long, lank, bony creature _I_ know as Edith Hastings-- +low forehead, turned-up nose, coarse, black hair, all falling out, +black eyes, yellowish black skin, not a particle of red in it--the +fever took that away and has not brought it back. Positively, +Richard, I'm growing horridly ugly. Even my hair, which I'll +confess I did use to think was splendid, is as rough as a chestnut +burr. Feel for yourself if you don't believe me," and she laid his +hand upon her hair, which, though beautiful and abundant, still +was quite uneven and had lost some of its former satin gloss. + +Richard shook his head. Edith's description of her personal +appearance made not a particle of difference with him. She might +not, perhaps, have recovered her good looks, but she would in +time. She was improving every day, and many pronounced her +handsomer than before her sickness, for where there had been, +perhaps, a superabundance of color and health there was now a +pensive, subdued beauty, preferred by some to the more glowing, +dashing style which had formerly distinguished Edith Hastings from +every one else in Shannondale. Something like this he said to her, +but Edith only laughed and continued her crocheting, wondering how +she should manage to introduce Grace Atherton. It was already +half-past eight, Victor might soon be home, and if she spoke to +him that night she must begin at once. Clearing her throat and +making a feint to cough, she plunged abruptly into the subject by +saying, "Richard, why have you never married? Didn't you ever see +anybody you loved well enough?" + +Richard's heart gave one great throb and then grew still, for +Edith had stumbled upon the very thing uppermost in his mind. What +made her? Surely, there was a Providence in it. 'Twas an omen of +good, boding success to his suit, and after a moment he replied, + +"Strange that you and I should both be thinking of matrimony. Do +you know that my dreaming you were dead is a sign that you will +soon be married?" + +"_I_, Mr. Harrington!" and Edith started quickly. "The sign is not +true. I shall never marry, never. I shall live here always, if +you'll let me, but I do want you to have a wife. You will be so +much happier, I think. Shall I propose one for you?" + +"Edith," Richard answered, "sit close to me while I tell you of +one I once wished to make my wife." + +Edith drew nearer to him, and he placed upon her head the hands +which were cold and clammy as if their owner were nerving himself +for some mighty effort. + +"Edith, in my early manhood I loved a young girl, and I thought my +affection returned, but a wealthier, older man came between us, +and she chose his riches in preference to walking in my shadow, +for such she termed my father." + +"But she's repented, Mr. Harrington--she surely has," and Edith +dropped her work in her earnestness to defend Grace Atherton. "She +is sorry for what she made you suffer; she has loved you through +all, and would be yours now if you wish it, I am sure. You DO wish +it, Richard. You will forgive Grace Atherton," and in her +excitement Edith knelt before him, pleading for her friend. + +Even before he answered her she knew she pleaded in vain, but she +was not prepared for what followed the silence Richard was first +to break. + +"Grace Atherton can never be to me more than what she is, a tried, +respected friend. My boyish passion perished long ago, and into my +later life another love has crept, compared with which my first +was as the darkness to the full noonday. I did not think to talk +of this to-night, but something compels me to do so--tells me the +time has come, and Edith, you must hear me before you speak, but +sit here where I can touch you, and when I'm through if what I've +said meets with a responsive chord, lay your hand in mine, and I +shall know the nature of your answer." + +It was coming now--the scene which Arthur foresaw when, sitting in +the Deering woods, with life and sense crushed out, he gave his +Edith up to one more worthy than himself. It was the foreshadowing +of the "SACRIFICE," the first step taken toward it, and as one +who, seeing his destiny wrapping itself about him fold on fold, +sits down stunned and powerless, so Edith sat just where he bade +her sit, and listened to his story. + +"Years ago, Edith, a solitary, wretched man I lived in my dark +world alone, weary of life, weary of every thing, and in my +weariness I was even beginning to question the justice of my +Creator for having dealt so harshly with me, when one day a wee +little singing bird, whose mother nest had been made desolate, +fluttered down at my feet, tired like myself, and footsore even +with the short distance it had come on life's rough journey. There +was a note in the voice of this sinking bird which spoke to me of +the past, and so my interest grew in the helpless thing until at +last it came to nestle at my side, not timidly, for such was not +its nature, but as if it had a right to be there--a right to be +caressed and loved as I caressed and loved it, for I did learn to +love it, Edith, so much, oh, so much, and the sound of its voice +was sweeter to me than the music of the Swedish nightingale, who +has filled the world with wonder. + +"Years flew by, and what at first had been a tiny fledgling, +became a very queen of birds, and the blind man's heart throbbed +with pride when he heard people say of his darling that she was +marvellously fair. He knew it was not for him to look upon her +dark, rich, glowing beauty, but he stamped her features upon his +mind in characters which could not be effaced, and always in his +dreams her face sat on his pillow, watching while be slept, and +when he woke bent over him, whispering, 'Poor blind man,' just as +the young bird had whispered ere it's home was in his bosom. + +"Edith, that face is always with me, and should it precede me to +the better land, I shall surely know it from all the shining +throng. I shall know my singing bird, which brought to our +darkened household the glorious daylight, just as Arthur St. +Claire said she would when he asked me to take her." + +From the ottoman where Edith sat there came a low, choking sound, +but it died away in her throat, and with her hands locked so +firmly together that the taper nails made indentation in the +tender flesh, she listened, while Richard continued: + +"It is strange no one has robbed me of my gem. Perhaps they spared +me in their pity for my misfortune. At all events, no one has come +between us, not even Arthur St. Claire, who is every way a +desirable match for her." + +Again that choked, stifled moan, and a ring of blood told where +the sharp nail had been, but Edith heeded nothing save Richard's +voice, saying to her, + +"You have heard of little streams trickling from the heart of some +grim old mountain, growing in size and strength as they advanced, +until at last they became a mighty river, whose course nothing +could impede, Such, Edith, is my love for that singing bird. +Little by little, inch by inch, it has grown in its intensity +until there is not a pulsation of my being which does not bear +with it thoughts of her. But my bird is young while I am old. Her +mate should be one on whose head the summer dews are resting, one +more like Arthur St Claire, and not an owl of forty years growth +like me; but she has not chosen such an one, and hope has +whispered to the tough old owl that his bright-eyed dove might be +coaxed into his nest; might fold her wings there forever, nor seek +to fly away. If this COULD be, Edith. Oh, if this could be, I'd +guard that dove so tenderly that not a feather should be ruffled, +and the winds of heaven should not blow too roughly on my darling. +I'd line her cage all over with gold and precious stones, but the +most costly gem of all should be the mighty unspeakable love I'd +bear to her. Aye, that I do bear her now, Edith,--my daylight, my +life. You surely comprehend me; tell me, then, can all this be? +Give me the token I desire." + +He stretched out his groping hand, which swayed back and forth in +the empty air, but felt the clasp of no soft fingers clinging to +it, and a wistful, troubled look settled upon the face of the +blind man, just as a chill of fear was settling upon his heart. + +"Edith, darling, where are you?" and his hand sought the ottoman +where she had been, but where she was not now. + +Noiselessly, as he talked, she had crept away to the lounge in the +corner, where she crouched like a frightened deer, her flush +creeping with nervous terror, and her eyes fastened upon the man +who had repeated her name, asking where she was. + +"Here, Richard," she answered at last, her eyelids involuntarily +closing when she saw him rising, and knew he was coming toward +her. + +She had forgotten her promise to Arthur that she would not answer +Richard "No," should he ask her to be his wife; that, like Nina's +"scratching out," was null and void, and when he knelt beside her, +she said half bitterly, + +"It must not be; THE SINGING BIRD CANNOT MATE WITH THE OWL!" + +Instantly there broke from the blind man's lips a cry of agony so +pitiful, so reproachful in its tone, that Edith repented her +insulting words, and winding her arms around his neck, entreated +his forgiveness for having so cruelly mocked him.. + +"You called yourself so first," she sobbed, "or I should not have +thought of it. Forgive me. Richard, I didn't mean it. I could not +thus pain the noblest, truest friend I ever had. Forgive your +singing bird. She surely did not mean it," and Edith pressed her +burning cheeks against his own. + +What was it she did not mean? That it could not be, or that he was +an owl? He asked himself this question many times during the +moment of silence which intervened; then as he felt her still +clinging to him, his love for her rolled back upon him with +overwhelming force, and kneeling before her as the slave to his +master, he pleaded with her again to say IT COULD BE, the great +happiness he had dared to hope for. + +"Is there any other man whom my darling expects to marry?" he +asked, and Edith was glad he put the question in this form, as +without prevarication she could promptly answer, + +"No, Richard, there is none." + +"Then you may learn to love me," Richard said. "I can wait, I can +wait; but must it be very long? The days will be so dreary, and I +love you so much that I am lost if you refuse. Don't make my +darkness darker, Edith." + +He laid his head upon her lap, still kneeling before her, the +iron-willed man kneeling to the weak young girl, whose hands were +folded together like blocks of lead, and gave him back no +answering caress, only the words, + +"Richard, I can't. It's too sudden. I have thought of you always +as my elder brother, Be my brother, Richard. Take me as your +sister, won't you?" + +"Oh, I want you for my wife," and his voice was full of pleading +pathos. "I want you in my bosom, I need you there, darling. Need +some one to comfort me. I've suffered so much, for your sake, too. +Oh, Edith, my early manhood was wasted; I've reached the autumn +time, and the gloom which wrapped me then in its black folds lies +around me still, and will you refuse to throw over my pathway a +single ray of sunlight? No, no, Edith, you won't, you can't. I've +loved you too much. I've lost too much. I'm growing old--and--oh, +Birdie, Birdie, I'M BLIND! I'M BLIND!" + +She did not rightly interpret his suffering FOR HER SAKE. She +thought he meant his present pain, and she sought to soothe him as +best she could without raising hopes which never could be +realized. He understood her at last; knew the heart he offered her +was cast back upon him, and rising from his kneeling posture, he +felt his way back to his chair, and burying his head upon a table +standing near, sobbed as Edith had never heard man sob before, not +even Arthur St. Claire, when in the Deering Woods he had rocked to +and fro in his great agony. Sobs they were which seemed to rend +his broad chest asunder, and Edith stopped her ears to shut out +the dreadful sound. + +But hark, what is it he is saying? Edith fain would know, and +listening intently, she hears him unconsciously whispering to +himself; "OH, EDITH, WAS IT FOR THIS THAT _I_ SAVED YOU FROM THE +RHINE, PERILING MY LIFE AND LOSING MY EYESIGHT? BETTER THAT YOU +HAD DIED IN THE DEEP WATERS THAN THAT _I_ SHOULD MEET THIS HOUR OF +ANGUISH." + +"Richard, Richard!" and Edith nearly screamed as she flew across +the floor. Lifting up his head she pillowed it upon her bosom, and +showering kisses upon his quivering lips, said to him, "Tell me-- +tell me, am _I_ that Swedish baby, _I_ that Eloise Temple?" + +He nodded in reply, and Edith continued: "the child for whose sake +you were made blind! Why have you not told me before? I could not +then have wounded you so cruelly. How can I show my gratitude? I +am not worthy of you, Richard; not worthy to bear your name, much +less to be your bride, but such as I am take me. I cannot longer +refuse. Will you, Richard? May I be your wife?" + +She knelt before HIM now; hers was the supplicating posture, and +when he shook his head, she continued, + +"You think it a sudden change, and so it is, but I mean it. I'm in +earnest, I do love you, dearly, oh, so dearly, and by and by I +shall love you a great deal more. Answer me--may I be your wife?" + +It was a terrible temptation, and Richard Harrington reeled from +side to side like a broken reed, while his lips vainly essayed to +speak the words his generous nature bade them speak. He could not +see the eagerness of the fair young face upturned to his--the +clear, truthful light shining in Edith's beautiful dark eyes, +telling better than words could tell that she was sincere in her +desire to join her sweet spring life with his autumn days. He +could not see this, else human flesh had proved too weak to say +what he did say at last. + +"No, my darling, I cannot accept a love born of gratitude and +nothing more. You remember a former conversation concerning this +Eloise when you told me you were glad you were not she, as in case +you were you should feel compelled to be grateful, or something +like that, where as you would rather render your services to me +from love. Edith, that remark prevented me from telling you then +that you were Eloise, the Swedish mother's baby." + +Never before had the words "that Swedish mother" touched so tender +a chord in Edith's heart as now, and forgetting every thing in her +intense desire to know something of her own early history, she +exclaimed, "You knew my mother, Richard. You have heard her voice, +seen her face; now tell me of her, please. Where is she? And +Marie, too, for there was a Marie. Let's forget all that's been +said within the last half hour. Let's begin anew, making believe +it's yesterday instead of now, and, when the story is ended, ask +me again if the singing bird can mate with the eagle. The grand, +royal eagle, Richard, is the best similitude for you," and forcing +herself to sit upon his knee, she put her arms around his neck +bidding him again tell her of her mother. + +With the elastic buoyancy of youth Edith could easily shake off +the gloom which for a few brief moments had shrouded her like a +pall, but not so with Richard. "The singing-bird must not mate +with the owl," rang continually in his ears. It was her real +sentiment he knew, and his heart ached so hard as he thought how +he had staked his all on her and lost it. + +"Begin," she said, "Tell me where you first met my mother." + +Richard heaved a sigh which smote heavily on Edith's ear, for she +guessed of what he was thinking, and she longed to reassure him of +her intention to be his sight hereafter, but he was about to speak +and she remained silent. + +"Your mother," he said "was a Swede by birth, and her marvellous +beauty first attracted your father, whose years were double her +own." + +"I'm so glad," interrupted Edith, "As much as twenty-one years +older, wasn't he?" + +"More than that," answered Richard, a half pleased, half bitter +smile playing over his dark face, "Forgive me, darling, but I'm +afraid he was not as good a man as he should have been, or as kind +to his young wife. When I first saw her she lived in a cottage +alone, and he was gone. She missed him sadly, and her sweet voice +seemed full of tears as she sang her girl baby to sleep. You have +her voice, Edith, and its tones came back to me the first time I +ever heard you speak. But I was telling of your father. He was +dissipated, selfish and unprincipled,--affectionate and kind to +Petrea one day, cold, hard and brutal the next. Still she loved +him and clung to him, for he was the father of her child. You were +a beautiful little creature, Edith, and I loved you so much that +when I knew you had fallen from a bluff into the river, I +unhesitatingly plunged after you." + +"I remember it," cried Edith, "I certainly do, or else it was +afterwards told to me so often that it seems a reality." + +"The latter is probably the fact," returned Richard. "You were too +young to retain any vivid recollections of that fall." + +Still Edith persisted that she did remember the face of a little +girl in the water as she looked over the rock, and of bending to +touch the arm extended toward her. She remembered Bingen, too, +with its purple grapes; else why had she been haunted all her life +with vine-clad hills and plaintive airs. + +"Your mother sang to you the airs, while your nurse, whose name I +think was Marie, told you of the grapes growing on the hills," +said Richard. "She was a faithful creature, greatly attached to +your mother, but a bitter foe of your father. I was too much +absorbed in the shadow stealing over me to pay much heed to my +friends, and after they left Germany I lost sight of them +entirely, nor dreamed that the little girl who came to me that +October morning was my baby Eloise. Your voice always puzzled me, +and something I overheard you saying to Grace one day about your +mysterious hauntings of the past, together with an old song of +Petrea's which you sang, gave me my first suspicion as to who you +were, and decided me upon that trip to New York. Going first to +the Asylum of which you were once an inmate, I managed after much +diligent inquiry to procure the address of the woman who brought +you there when you were about three years old. I had but little +hope of finding her, but determining to persevere I sought out the +humble cottage in the suburbs of the city. It was inhabited by an +elderly woman who denied all knowledge of Edith Hastings until +told that I was Richard Harrington. Then her manner changed at +once, and to my delight I heard that she was Marie's sister. She +owned the cottage, had lived there more than twenty years, and saw +your mother die. Petrea, it seems, had left her husband, intending +to return to Sweden, but sickness overtook her and she died in New +York, committing you to the faithful Marie's care in preference to +your father's. Such was her dread of him that she made Marie swear +to keep your existence a secret from him, lest he should take you +back to a place where she had been so wretched and where all the +influences, she thought, were bad. She would rather you should be +poor, she said, than to be brought up by him, and as a means of +eluding discovery, she said you should not bear his name, and with +her dying tears she baptised you Edith Hastings. After her decease +Marie wrote to him that both of you were dead, and he came on at +once, seemed very penitent and sorry when it was too late." + +"Where was his home?" Edith asked eagerly; and Richard replied, + +"That is one thing I neglected to enquire, but when I met him in +Europe I had the impression that it was in one of the Western or +South-western states." + +"Is he still alive?" Edith asked again, a daughter's love slowly +gathering in her heart in spite of the father's cruelty to the +mother. + +"No," returned Richard. "Marie, who kept sight of his movements, +wrote to her sister some years since that he was dead, though when +he died, or how, Mrs. Jamieson did not know. She, too, was ill +when he came to her house, and consequently never saw him +herself." + +"And the Asylum--how came I there?" said Edith; and Richard +replied, + +"It seems your mother was an orphan, and had no near relatives to +whom you could be sent, and as Marie was then too poor and +dependent to support you she placed you in the Asylum as Edith +Hastings, visiting you occasionally until she went back to France, +her native country. Her intention was to return in a few months, +but a violent attack of inflammatory rheumatism came upon her, +depriving her of the use of her limbs, and confining her to her +bed for years, and so prevented her from coming back. Mrs. +Jamieson, however, kept her informed with regard to you, and told +me that Marie was greatly when she heard you were with me, whom +she supposed to be the same Richard Harrington who had saved your +life, and of whom her mistress had often talked. Marie is better +now, and when I saw her sister more than a year ago, she was +hoping she might soon revisit America. I left directions for her +to visit Collingwood, and for several months I looked for her a +little, resolving if she came, to question her minutely concerning +your father. He must have left a fortune, Edith, which by right is +yours, if we can prove that you are his child, and with Marie's +aid I hope to do this sometime. I have, however, almost given her +up; but now that you know all I will go again to New York, and +seek another interview with Mrs. Jamieson. Would it please you to +have the little orphan, Edith Hastings, turn out to be an +heiress?" + +"Not for my own sake," returned Edith; "but if it would make you +love me more, I should like it;" and she clung closer to him as he +replied, + +"Darling that could not be. I loved you with all the powers I had, +even before I knew you were Petrea's child. Beautiful Petrea! I +think you must be like her, Edith, except that you are taller. She +was your father's second wife. This I knew in Germany, and also +that there was a child of Mr. Temple's first marriage, a little +girl, he said." + +"A child--a little girl," and Edith started quickly, but the +lightning flash which had once gleamed across her bewildered mind, +when in the Den she stood gazing at the picture of Miggie Bernard, +did not come back to her now, neither did she remember Arthur's +story, so much like Richard's. She only thought that possibly +there was somewhere in the world a dear, half-sister, whom she +should love so much, could she only find her. Edith was a famous +castle-builder, and forgetting that this half-sister, were she +living, would be much older than herself, she thought of her only +as a school-girl, whose home should be at Collingwood, and on whom +MRS. RICHARD HARRINGTON would lavish so much affection, wasting on +her the surplus love which, perhaps, could not be given to the +father--husband. How then was her castle destroyed, when Richard +said, + +"She, too, is dead, so Mrs. Jamieson told me, and there is none of +the family left save you." + +"I wish I knew where mother was buried," Edith sighed, her tears +falling to the memory of her girl mother, whose features it seamed +to her she could recall, as well as a death-bed scene, when +somebody with white lips and mournful black eyes clasped her in +her arms and prayed that God would bless her, and enable her +always to do right. + +It might have been a mere fancy, but to Edith it was a reality, +and she said within herself, + +"Yes, darling mother, I will do right, and as I am sure yon would +approve my giving myself to Richard, so I will be his wife." + +One wild, longing, painful throb her heart gave to the past when +she had hoped for other bridegroom than the middle-aged man on +whose knee she sat, and then laying her hot face against his +bearded cheek, she whispered, + +"You've told the story, Richard. It does not need Marie to confirm +it, though she, too, will come sometime to tell me who I am, but +when she comes, I shan't be Edith Hastings, shall I. The initials +won't be changed, though. They will be 'E.H.' still--Edith +Harrington. It has not a bad sound, has it?" + +"Don't, darling, please don't," and Richard's voice had in it a +tone much like that which first rang through the room, when Edith +said, + +"It cannot be." + +"Richard," and Edith took his cold face between her soft, warm +hands, "Richard, won't you let the singing bird call you husband? +If you don't, she will fly away and sing to some one else, who +will prize her songs. I thought you loved me, Richard." + +"Oh, Edith, my precious Edith! If I knew I could make the love +grow where it is not growing--the right kind of love, I mean--I +would not hesitate; but, darling, Richard Harrington would die a +thousand deaths rather than take you to his bosom an unloving +wife. Remember that, and do NOT mock me; do not deceive me. You +think now in the first flush of your gratitude to me for having +saved your life and in your pity for my blindness that you can do +anything; but wait awhile--consider well--think how I shall be old +while you still are young,--a tottering, gray-haired man, while +your blood still retains the heat of youth. The Harringtons live +long. I may see a hundred." + +"And I shall then be seventy-nine; not so vast a difference," +interrupted Edith. + +"No, not a vast difference then," Richard rejoined, "but 'tis not +then I dread. 'Tis now, the next twenty-five years, during which I +shall be slowly decaying, while you will be ripening into a +matured, motherly beauty, dearer to your husband than all your +girlish loveliness. 'Tis then that I dread the contrast in you; +not when both are old; and, Edith, remember this, you can never be +old to me, inasmuch as I can never see you. I may feel that your +smooth, velvety flesh is wrinkled, that your shining hair is thin, +your soft round arms more sinewy and hard, but I cannot see it, +and in my heart I shall cherish ever the image I first loved as +Edith Hastings. You, on the contrary, will watch the work of death +go on in me, will see my hair turn gray, my form begin to stoop, +my hand to tremble, my eyes grow blear and watery, and when all +has come to pass, won't you sicken of the shaky old man and sigh +for a younger, more vigorous companion?" + +"Not unless you show me such horrid pictures," Edith sobbed, +impetuously, for in her heart of hearts she felt the truth of +every word he uttered, and her whole soul revolted against the +view presented to her of the coming time. + +But she would conquer such feelings--she would be his wife, and +drying her eyes she said, "I can give you my decision now as well +as at any other time, but if you prefer it, I will wait four weeks +and then bring you the same answer I make you now--I will be your +wife." + +"I dare not hope it," returned Richard, "You will change your +mind, I fear, but, Edith, if you do not,--if you promise to be +mine, don't forsake me afterwards, for I should surely die," and +as if he already felt the agony it would cost him to give his +darling up after he had once possessed her, he clasped his hands +upon his heart, which throbbed so rapidly that Edith heard its +muffled beat and saw its rise and fall. "I could not lose you and +still live on without you, Edith," and he spoke impetuously, "You +won't desert me, if you promise once." + +"Never, never," she answered, and with a good night kiss upon his +lips she went out from the presence of the man she already looked +upon as her future husband, breathing freer when she stood within +the hall where he was not, and freer still when in her own chamber +there was a greater distance between them. + +Alas, for Edith, and a thousand times alas, for poor, poor +Richard! + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +DESTINY. + + +Not for one moment did Edith waver in her purpose, and lest +Richard should suspect what he could not see, she affected a +gayety in his presence sadly at variance with her real feelings. +Never had her merry laugh rang out so frequently before him--never +had her wit been one half so sparkling, and when he passed his +hands over her flushed cheek, feeling how hot it was, he said to +himself, "The roses are coming back, she cannot be unhappy," and +every line and lineament of the blind man's face glowed with the +new-born joy springing up within his heart, and making the world +around him one grand jubilee. + +Victor was quick to note the change in his master, and without the +least suspicion of the truth, he once asked Edith, "What made Mr. +Harrington so young and almost boyish, acting as men were supposed +to act when they were just engaged?" + +"Victor," said Edith, after a moment's reflection, "can you keep a +secret?" + +"Certainly," he replied. "What is it, pray? Is Mr. Harrington +matrimonially inclined?" + +Edith's heart yearned for sympathy--for some one to sustain her-- +to keep her from fainting by the wayside, and as she could not +confide in Grace, Victor was her only remaining refuge. He had +been the repositary of all her childish secrets, entering into her +feelings as readily and even more demonstratively than any female +friend could have done. Richard would tell him, of course, as soon +as it was settled, and as she knew now that it was settled, why +not speak first and so save him the trouble. Thus deciding, she +replied to his question, + +"Yes, Richard is going to be married; but you must not let him +know I told you, till the engagement is made public." + +Victor started, but had no shadow of suspicion that the young girl +before him was the bride elect. His master had once been foolish +enough to think of her as such he believed, but that time was +passed. Richard had grown more sensible, and Edith was the future +wife of Arthur St. Claire. Nina would not live long, and after she +was dead there would be no further hindrance to a match every way +so suitable. This was Victor's theory, and never doubting that the +same idea had a lodgment in the minds of both Arthur and Edith, he +could not conceive it possible that the latter would deliberately +give herself to Richard. Grace Atherton, on the contrary, would be +glad to do it; she had been coaxing his master these forty years, +and had succeeded in winning him at last. Victor did not fancy +Grace; and when at last he spoke, it was to call both his master +and Mrs. Atherton a pair of precious fools. Edith looked +wonderingly at him as he raved on. + +"I can't bear her, I never could, since I heard how she abused +you. Why, I'd almost rather you'd be his wife than that gay +widow." + +"Suppose I marry him then in her stead," Edith said, laughingly. +"I verily believe he'd exchange." + +"Of course he would," Victor answered, bitterly. "The older a man +grows, the younger the girl he selects, and it's a wonder he +didn't ask you first." + +"Supposing he had?" returned Edith, bending over a geranium to +hide her agitation. "Supposing he had, and it was I instead of +Grace to whom he is engaged." + +"Preposterous!" Victor exclaimed. "You could not do such a thing +in your right senses. Why, I'd rather see you dead than married to +your father. I believe I'd forbid the banns myself," and Victor +strode from the room, banging the door behind him, by way of +impressing Edith still more forcibly with the nature of his +opinion. + +Edith was disappointed. She had expected sympathy at least from +Victor, had surely thought he would he pleased to have her for his +mistress, and his words, "I would rather see you dead," hurt her +cruelly. Perhaps every body would say so. It was an unnatural +match, this union of autumn and spring, but she must do something. +Any thing was preferable to the aimless, listless life she was +leading now. She could not be any more wretched than she was, and +she might perhaps be happier when the worst was over and she knew +for certain that she was Richard's wife. HIS WIFE! It made her +faint and sick just to say those two words. What then would the +reality be? She loved him dearly as a guardian, a brother, and she +might in time love him as her husband. Such things had been. They +could be again. Aye, more, they should he, and determining +henceforth to keep her own counsel, and suffer Victor to believe +it was Grace instead of herself, she ran into the garden, where +she knew Richard was walking, and stealing to his side, caught his +arm ere he was aware of her presence. + +"Darling, is it you?" he asked, and his dark face became +positively beautiful with the radiant love-light shining out all +over it. + +Every day the hope grew stronger that the cherished object of his +life might be realized. Edith did not avoid him as he feared she +would. On the contrary she rather sought his society than +otherwise, never, however, speaking of the decision. It was a part +of the agreement that they should not talk of it until the four +weeks were gone, the weeks which to Richard dragged so slowly, +while to Edith they flew on rapid wing; and with every rising sun, +she felt an added pang as she thought how soon the twelfth of May +would be there. It wanted but four days of it when she joined him +in the garden, and for the first time since their conversation +Richard alluded to it by asking playfully, "what day of the month +it was?" + +"The eighth;" and Edith's eyes closed tightly over the tears +struggling to gain egress, then with a mighty effort she added, +laughingly, + +"When the day after to-morrow comes, it will be the tenth, then +the eleventh, then the twelfth, and then, you know, I'm coming to +you in the library. Send Victor off for that evening, can't you? +He's sure to come in when I don't want him, if he's here," and +this she said because she feared it would be harder to say yes if +Victor's reproachful eyes should once look upon her, as they were +sure to do, if he suspected her designs. + +Richard could not understand why Victor must be sent away, but +anything Edith asked was right, and he replied that Victor should +not trouble them. + +"There, he's coming now!" and Edith dropped the hand she held, as +if fearful lest the Frenchman should suspect. + +This was not the proper feeling, she knew, and returning to the +house, she shut herself up in her room, crying bitterly because +she could not make herself feel differently! + +The twelfth came at last, not a balmy, pleasant day as May is wont +to bring, but a rainy, dreary April day, when the gray clouds +chased each other across the leaden sky, now showing a disposition +to bring out patches of blue, and again growing black and heavy as +the fitful showers came pattering down. Edith was sick. The strong +tension of nerves she had endured for four long weeks was giving +way. She could not keep up longer; and Richard breakfasted and +dined without her, while with an aching head she listened to the +rain beating against her windows, and watched the capricious +clouds as they floated by. Many times she wished it all a dream +from which she should awaken; and then, when she reflected that +'twas a fearful reality, she covered her head with the bed-clothes +and prayed that she might die. But why pray for this? She need not +be Richard's wife unless she chose--he had told her so repeatedly, +and now she too said "I will not!" Strange she had not thus +decided before and stranger still that she should be so happy now +she had decided! + +There was a knock at the door, and Grace Atherton asked to be +admitted. + +"Richard told me you were sick," she said, as she sat down by +Edith's side; "and you do look ghostly white. What is the matter, +pray?" + +"One of my nervous headaches;" and Edith turned from the light so +that her face should tell no tales of the conflict within. + +"I received a letter from Arthur last night," Grace continued, +"and thinking you might like to hear from Nina, I came round in +the rain to tell you of her. Her health is somewhat improved, and +she is now under the care of a West India physician, who holds out +strong hopes that her mental derangement may in time be cured." + +Edith was doubly glad now that she had turned her face away, for +by so doing she hid the tears which dropped so fast upon her +pillow. + +"Did Arthur mention me?" she asked, and Grace knew then that she +was crying. + +Still it was better not to withhold the truth, and bending over +her she answered, + +"No, Edith, he did not. I believe he is really striving to do +right." + +"And he will live with Nina if she gets well?" came next from the +depths of the pillows where Edith lay half smothered. + +"Perhaps so. Would you not like to have him?" Grace asked. + +"Ye-e-e-s. I sup-pose so. Oh, I don't know what I like. I don't +know anything except that I wish I was dead," and the silent +weeping became a passionate sobbing as Edith shrank further from +Grace, plunging deeper and deeper among her pillows until she was +nearly hidden from view. + +Grace could not comfort her; there was no comfort as she saw, and +as Edith refused to answer any of her questions upon indifferent +topics, she ere long took her leave, and Edith was left alone. She +had reversed her decision while Grace was sitting there, and the +news from Florida was the immediate cause. She should marry +Richard now, and her whole body shook with the violence of her +emotions; but as the fiercest storm will in time expend its fury, +so she grew still at last, though it was rather the stillness of +despair than any healthful, quieting influence stealing over her. +She hated herself because she could not feel an overwhelming joy +at the prospect of Nina's recovery; hated Arthur because he had +forgotten her; hated Grace for telling her so; hated Victor for +saying he would rather see her dead than Richard's wife; hated +Mrs. Matson for coming in to ask her how she was; hated her for +staying there when she would rather be alone, and made faces at +her from beneath the sheet; hated everybody but Richard, and in +time she should hate him--at least, she hoped she should, for on +the whole she was more comfortable when hating people than she had +ever been when loving them. It had such a hardened effect upon +her, this hatred of all mankind, such a don't care influence, that +ahe rather enjoyed it than otherwise. + +And this was the girl who, as that rainy, dismal day drew to its +close and the sun went down in tears, dressed herself with a firm, +unflinching hand, arranging her hair with more than usual care, +giving it occasionally a sharp pull, as a kind of escape valve to +her feelings and uttering an impatient exclamation whenever a pin +proved obstinate and did not at once slip into its place. She was +glad Richard was blind and could not see her swollen eyes, which, +in spite of repeated bathings in ice-water and cologne would look +red and heavy. Her voice, however, would betray her, and so she +toned it down by warbling snatches of a love song learned ere she +knew the meaning of love, save as it was connected with Richard. +It was not Edith Hastings who left that pleasant chamber, moving +with an unfaltering step down the winding stairs and across the +marble hall, but a half-crazed, defiant woman going on to meet her +DESTINY and biting her lip with vexation when she heard that +Richard had company--college friends, who being in Shannondale on +business had come up to see him. + +This she learned from Victor, whom she met in the hall, and who +added, that he never saw his master appear quite so dissatisfied +as when told they were in the library, and would probably pass the +night. Edith readily guessed the cause of his disquiet, and +impatiently stamped her little foot upon the marble floor, for she +knew their presence would necessarily defer the evil hour, and she +could not live much longer in her present state of excitement. + +"I was just coming to your room," said Victor, "to see if you were +able to appear in the parlor. Three men who have not met in years +are stupid company for each other; and then Mr. Harrington wants +to show you off I dare say. Pity the widow wasn't here." + +Victor spoke sarcastically, but Edith merely replied, + +"Tell your master I will come in a few minutes." + +Then, with a half feeling of relief, she ran back to her room, +bathing her eyes afresh, and succeeding in removing the redness to +such an extent, that by lamplight no one would suspect she had +been crying. Her headache was gone, and with spirits somewhat +elated, she started again for the parlor where she succeeded in +entertaining Richard's guests entirely to his satisfaction. + +It was growing late, and the clock was striking eleven when at +last Richard summoned Victor, bidding him show the gentleman to +their rooms. As they were leaving the parlor Edith came to +Richard's side and in a whisper so low that no one heard her, save +himself, said to him, + +"Tell Victor he needn't come back." + +He understood her meaning, and said to his valet, + +"I shall not need your services to-night. You may retire as soon +as you choose." + +Something in his manner awakened Victor's suspicions, and his keen +eyes flashed upon Edith, who, with a haughty toss of the head, +turned away to avoid meeting it again. + +The door was dosed at last; Victor was gone; their guests were +gone, and she was alone with Richard, who seemed waiting for her +to speak; but Edith could not. The breath she fancied would come +so freely with Victor's presence removed, would scarcely come at +all, and she felt the tears gathering like a flood every time she +looked at the sightless man before her, and thought of what was to +come. By a thousand little devices she strove to put it off, and +remembering that the piano was open, she walked with a faltering +step across the parlor, closed the instrument, smoothed the heavy +cover, arranged the sheets of music, whirled the music stool as +high as she could, turned it back as low as she could, sat down +upon it, crushed with her fingers two great tears, which, with all +her winking she could not keep in subjection, counted the flowers +on the paper border and wondered how long she should probably +live. Then, with a mighty effort she arose, and with a step which +this time did not falter, went and stood before Richard, who was +beginning to look troubled at her protracted silence. He knew she +was near him now, he could hear her low breathing, and he waited +anxiously for her to speak. + +Edith's face was a study then. Almost every possible emotion was +written upon it. Fear, anguish, disappointed hopes, cruel longings +for the past, terrible shrinkings from the present, and still more +terrible dread of the future. Then these passed away, and were +succeeded by pity, sympathy, gratitude, and a strong desire to do +right. The latter feelings conquered, and sitting down by Richard, +she took his warm hand between her two cold ones, and said to him, + +"'Tis the twelfth of May to-night, did you know it?" + +Did he know it? He had thought of nothing else the livelong day, +and when, early in the morning, he heard that she was sick, a sad +foreboding had swept over him, lest what he coveted so much should +yet be withheld. But she was there beside him. She had sought the +opportunity and asked if he knew it was the twelfth, and, drawing +her closer to him, he answered back: "Yes, darling; 'tis the day +on which you were to bring me your decision. You have kept your +word, birdie. You have brought it to me whether good or bad. Now +tell me, is it the old blind man's wife, the future mistress of +Collingwood, that I encircle with my arm?" + +He bent down to listen for the reply, feeling her breath stir his +hair, and hearing each heart-beat as it counted off the seconds. +Then like a strain of music, sweet and rich, but oh, so touchingly +sad, the words came floating in a whisper to his ear, "Yes, +Richard, your future wife; but please, don't call yourself the old +blind man. It makes you seem a hundred times my father. You are +not old, Richard--no older than I feel!" and the newly betrothed +laid her head on Richard's shoulder, sobbing passionately. + +Did all girls behave like this? Richard wished he knew. Did sweet +Lucy Collingwood, when she gave her young spring life to his +father's brown October? Lucy had loved her husband, he knew, and +there was quite as much difference between them as between himself +and Edith. Possibly 'twas a maidenly weakness to cry, as Edith was +doing. He would think so at all events. It were death to think +otherwise, and caressing her with unwonted tenderness, he kissed +her tears away, telling her how happy she had made him by +promising to be his--how the darkness, the dreariness all was +gone, and the world was so bright and fair. Then, as she continued +weeping and he remembered what had heretofore passed between them, +he said to her earnestly: "Edith, there is one thing I would know. +Is it a divided love you bring me, or is it no love at all. I have +a right to ask you this, my darling. Is it gratitude alone which +prompted your decision? If it is, Edith, I would die rather than +accept it. Don't deceive me, darling, I cannot see your face-- +cannot read what's written there. Alas! alas! that I am blind to- +night; but I'll trust you, birdie; I'll believe what you may tell +me. Has an affection, different from a sister's, been born within +the last four weeks? Speak! do you love me more than you did? Look +into my eyes, dearest; you will not deal falsely with me then." + +Like an erring, but penitent child, Edith crept into his lap, but +did not look into the sightless eyes. She dared not, lest the gaze +should wring from her quivering lips the wild words trembling +there, "Forgive me, Richard, but I loved Arthur first." So she hid +her face in his bosom, and said to him, + +"I do not love you, Richard, as you do me. It came too sudden, and +I had not thought about it. But I love you dearly, very dearly, +and I want so much to be your wife. I shall rest so quietly when I +have you to lean upon, you to care for. I am young for you, I +know, but many such matches have proved happy, and ours assuredly +will. You are so good, so noble, so unselfish, that I shall be +happy with you. I shall be a naughty, wayward wife, I fear, but +you can control me, and you must. We'll go to Europe sometime, +Richard, and visit Bingen on the Rhine, where the little baby girl +fell in the river, and the brave boy Richard jumped after her. +Don't you wish you'd let me die? There would then have been no bad +black-haired Edith lying in your lap, and torturing you with fears +that she does not love you as she ought." + +Edith's was an April temperament, and already the sun was shining +through the cloud; the load at her heart was not so heavy, nor the +future half so dark. Her decision was made, her destiny accepted, +and henceforth she would abide by it nor venture to look back. + +"Are you satisfied to take me on my terms?" she asked, as Richard +did not immediately answer. + +He would rather she had loved him more, but it was sudden, he +knew, and she was young. He was terribly afraid, it is true, that +gratitude alone had influenced her actions, but the germ of love +was there, he believed; and by and by it would bear the rich, ripe +fruit. He could wait for that; and he loved her so much, wanted +her so much, needed her so much, that he would take her on any +terms. + +"Yes" he said at last, resting his chin upon her bowed head, "I am +satisfied, and never since my rememberance, has there come to +Richard Harrington a moment so fraught with bliss as this in which +I hold you in my arms and know I hold my wife, my darling wife, +sweetest name ever breathed by human tongue--and Edith, if you +must sicken of me, do it now--to-night. Don't put it off, for +every fleeting moment binds me to you with an added tie, which +makes it harder to lose you." + +"Richard," and, lifting up her head, Edith looked into the eyes +she could not meet before, "I swear to you, solemnly, that never, +by word or deed, will I seek to be released from our engagement, +and if I am released, it will be because you give me up of your +own free will. You will be the one to break it, not I." + +"Then it will not be broken," came in a quick response from +Richard, as he held closer to him one whom he now felt to be his +forever. + +The lamps upon the table, and the candles on the mantel flashed +and smoked, and almost died away--the fire on the marble hearth +gave one or two expiring gasps and then went out--the hands of the +clock moved onward, pointing to long after midnight, and still +Richard, loth to let his treasure go, kept her with him, talking +to her of his great happiness, and asking if early June would be +too soon for her to be his bride. + +"Yes, yes, much too soon," cried Edith. "Give me the whole summer +in which to be free. I've never been any where you know. I want to +see the world. Let's go to Saratoga, and to all those places I've +heard so much about. Then, in the autumn, we'll have a famous +wedding at Collingwood, and I will settle down into the most +demure, obedient of wives." + +Were it not that the same roof sheltered them both, Richard would +have acceded to this delay, but when he reflected that he should +not be parted from Edith any more than if they were really +married, he consented, stipulating that the wedding should take +place on the anniversary of the day when she first came to him +with flowers, and called him "poor blind man." + +"You did not think you'd ever be the poor blind man's wife," he +said, asking her, playfully, if she were not sorry even now. + +"No," she answered. Nor was she. In fact, she scarcely felt at +all. Her heart was palsied, and lay in her bosom like a block of +stone--heavy, numb, and sluggish in its beat. + +Of one thing, only, was she conscious, and that a sense of +weariness--a strong desire to be alone, up stairs, where she was +not obliged to answer questions, or listen to loving words, of +which she was so unworthy. She was deceiving Richard, who, when +his quick ear caught her smothered yawn, as the little clock +struck one, bade her leave him, chiding himself for keeping her so +long from the rest he knew she needed. + +"For me, I shall never know fatigue or pain again," he said, as he +led her to the door, "but my singing-bird is different--she must +sleep. God bless you, darling. You have made the blind man very +happy." + +He kissed her forehead, her lips, her hands, and then released +her, standing in the door and listening to her footsteps as they +went up the winding stairs and out into the hall beyond--the dark, +gloomy hall, where no light was, save a single ray, shining +through the keyhole of Victor's door. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +EDITH AND THE WORLD. + + +"Victor is faithful," Edith said, as she saw the light, and +fancied that the Frenchman was still up, waiting to assist his +master. + +But not for Richard did Victor keep the watch that night. He would +know how long that interview lasted below, and when it was ended +he would know its result. What Victor designed he was pretty sure +to accomplish, and when, by the voices in the lower hall, he knew +that Edith was coming, he stole on tip-toe to the balustrade, and, +leaning over, saw the parting at the parlor door, feeling +intuitively that Edith's relations to Richard had changed since he +last looked upon her. Never was servant more attached to his +master than was Victor Dupres to his, and yet he was strongly +unwilling that Edith's glorious beauty should be wasted thus. + +"If she loved him," he said to himself, as, gliding back to his +room, he cautiously shut the door, ere Edith reached the first +landing. "If she loved him, I would not care. More unsuitable +matches than this have ended happily--but she don't. Her whole +life is bound with that of another, and she shrinks from Mr. +Harrington as she was not wont to do. I saw it in her face, as she +turned away from him. There'll be another grave in the Collingwood +grounds--another name on the tall monument, 'Edith, wife of +Richard Harrington, aged 20.'" + +Victor wrote the words upon a slip of paper, reading them over +until tears dimmed his vision, for, in fancy, the imaginative +Frenchman assisted at Edith's obsequies, and even heard the +grinding of the hearse wheels, once foretold by Nina. Several +times he peered out into the silent hall, seeing the lamplight +shining from the ventilator over Edith's door, and knowing by that +token that she had not retired. What was she doing there so long? +Victor fain would know, and as half-hour after half-hour went by, +until it was almost four, he stepped boldly to the door and +knocked. Long association with Victor had led Edith to treat him +more as an equal than a servant; consequently he took liberties +both with her and Richard, which no other of the household would +dare to do, and now, as there came no response, he cautiously +turned the knob and walked into the room where, in her crimson +dressing-gown, her hair unbound and falling over her shoulders, +Edith sat, her arms crossed upon the table, and her face upon her +arms. She was not sleeping, for as the door creaked on its hinges, +she looked up, half-pleased to meet only the good-humored face of +Victor where she had feared to see that of Richard. + +"Miss Edith, this is madness--this is folly," and Victor sat down +before her. "I was a fool to think it was Mrs. Atherton." + +"Victor Dupres, what do you mean? What do you know? Why are you +here?" and Edith's eyes flashed with insulted pride; but Victor +did not quail before them. Gazing steadily at her, he replied, +"You are engaged to your guardian, and you do not love him." + +"Victor Dupres, _I_ DO!" and Edith struck her hand upon the table +with a force which made the glass lamp rattle. + +"Granted you do," returned Victor, "but how do you love him? As a +brother, as a friend, as a father, if you will, but not as you +should love your husband; not as you could love Arthur St. Claire, +were he not bound by other ties," + +Across the table the blanched, frightened face of Edith looked, +and the eyes which never before had been so black, scanned Victor +keenly. + +"What do you know of Arthur St. Claire's ties?" she asked at last, +every word a labored breath. + +Victor made no answer, but hurrying from the room, returned with +the crumpled, soiled sheet of foolscap, which he placed before +her, asking if she ever saw it before. + +Edith's mind had been sadly confused when Nina read to her the +SCRATCHING OUT, and she had forgotten it entirely, but it came +back to her now, and catching up the papers, she recognized +Richard's unmistakable hand-writing. He knew, then, of her love +for Arthur--of the obstacle to that love--of the agony it cost her +to give him up. He had deceived her--had won her under false +pretenses, assuming that she loved no one. She did not think this +of Richard, and in her eyes, usually so soft and mild, there was a +black, hard, terrible expression, as she whispered hoarsely, "How +came this in your possession?" + +He told her how--thus exonerating Richard from blame, and the +hard, angry look was drowned in tears as Edith wept aloud. + +"Then he don't know it," she said at length, "Richard don't. I +should hate him if he did and still wished me to be his wife." + +"I can tell him," was Victor's dry response, and in an instant +Edith was over where he sat. + +"You cannot, you must not, you shall not. It will kill him if I +desert him. He told me so, and I promised that I wouldn't-- +promised solemnly. I would not harm a hair of Richard's head, and +he so noble, so good, so helpless, with so few sources of +enjoyment; but oh, Victor, I did love Arthur best--did love him so +much," and in that wailing cry Edith's true sentiments spoke out. +"I did love him so much--I love him so much now," and she kept +whispering it to herself, while Victor sought in vain for some +word of comfort, but could find none. Once he said to her, "Wait, +and Nina may die," but Edith recoiled from him in horror. + +"Never hint that Again," she almost screamed. "It's murder, foul +murder. I would not have Nina die for the whole world--beautiful, +loving Nina. I wouldn't have Arthur, if she did. I couldn't, for I +am Richard's wife. I wish I'd told him early June instead of +October. I'll tell him to-morrow and in four weeks more all the +dreadful uncertainty will be ended. I ought to love him, Victor, +he's done so much for me. I am that Swedish child he saved from +the river Rhine, periling life and limb, losing his sight for me. +He found it so that time he went with you to New York," and +Edith's tears ceased as she repeated to Victor all she knew of her +early history. "Shouldn't I marry him?" she asked, when the story +was ended. "Ought I not to be his eyes? Help me, Victor. Don't +make it so hard for me; I shall faint by the way if you do." + +Victor conceded that she owed much to Richard, but nothing could +make him think it right for her to marry him with her present +feelings. It would be a greater wrong to him than to refuse him, +but Edith did not think so. + +"He'll never know what I feel," she said, and by and by I shall be +better,--shall love him as he deserves. There are few Richards in +the world, Victor." + +"That is true," he replied, "but 'tis no reason why you must be +sacrificed. Edith, the case is like this: I wish, and the world at +large, if it could speak, would wish for Richard to marry you, but +would not wish you to marry Richard." + +"But I shall," interrupted Edith. "There is no possible chance of +my not doing so, and Victor, you will help me.--You won't tell him +of Arthur. You know how his unselfish heart would give me up if +you did, and break while doing it. Promise, Victor." + +"Tell me first what you meant by early June, and October," he +said, and after Edith had explained, he continued, "Let the +wedding be still appointed for October, and unless I see that it +is absolutely killing you, I will not enlighten Mr. Harrington." + +And this was all the promise Edith could extort from him. + +"Unless he saw it was absolutely killing her, he would not +enlighten Richard." + +"He shall see that it will not kill me," she said to herself, "I +will be gay whether I feel it or not. I will out-do myself, and if +my broken heart should break again, no one shall be the wiser." + +Thus deciding, she turned toward the window where the gray dawn +was stealing in, and pointing to it, said: + +"Look, the day is breaking; the longest night will have an end, so +will this miserable pain at my heart. Daylight will surely come +when I shall be happy with Richard. Don't tell him, Victor, don't; +and now leave me, for my head is bursting with weariness." + +He knew it was, by the expression of her face, which, in the dim +lamp-light, looked ghastly and worn, and he was about to leave +her, when she called him back, and asked how long he had lived +with Mr. Harrington. + +"Thirteen years," he replied. "He picked me up in Germany, just +before he came home to America. He was not blind then." + +"Then you never saw my mother?" + +"Never." + +"Nor Marie?" + +"Never to my knowledge," + +"You were in Geneva with Richard, you say. Where were you, when-- +when--" + +Edith could not finish, but Victor understood what she would ask, +and answered her, + +"I must have been in Paris. I went home for a few months, ten +years ago last fall, and did not return until just before we came +to Collingwood. The housekeeper told me there had been a wedding +at Lake View, our Geneva home, but I did not ask the particulars. +There's a moral there, Edith; a warning to all foolish college +boys, and girls, who don't half know their minds." + +Edith was too intent upon her own matters to care for morals, and +without replying directly, she said, + +"Richard will tell you to-morrow or to-day, rather, of the +engagement, and you'll be guarded, won't you?" + +"I shall let him know I disapprove," returned Victor, "but I +shan't say anything that sounds like Arthur St. Claire, not yet, +at all events." + +"And, Victor, in the course of the day, you'll make some errand to +Brier Hill, and incidentally mention it to Mrs. Atherton. Richard +won't tell her, I know, and I can't--I can't. Oh, I wish it were-- +" + +"The widow, instead of you," interrupted Victor, as he stood with +the door knob in his hand. "That's what you mean, and I must say +it shows a very proper frame of mind in a bride-elect." + +Edith made a gesture for him to leave her, and with a low bow he +withdrew, while Edith, alternately shivering with cold and flushed +with fever, crept into bed, and fell away to sleep, forgetting, +for the time, that there were in the world such things as broken +hearts, unwilling brides, and blind husbands old enough to be her +father. + + * * * * * * + +The breakfast dishes were cleared away, all but the exquisite +little service brought for Edith's use when she was sick, and +which now stood upon the side-board waiting until her long morning +slumber should end. Once Mrs. Matson had been to her bedside, +hearing from her that her head was aching badly, and that she +would sleep longer. This message was carried down to Richard, who +entertained his guests as best he could, but did not urge them to +make a longer stay. + +They were gone now, and Richard was alone. It was a favorable +opportunity for telling Victor of his engagement, and summoning +the latter to his presence, he bade him sit down, himself +hesitating, stammering and blushing like a woman, as he tried to +speak of Edith. Victor might have helped him, but he would not, as +he sat, rather enjoying his master's confusion, until the latter +said, abruptly, + +"Victor, how would you like to have a mistress here--a bona fide +one, I mean, such as my wife would be?" + +"That depends something upon who it was," Victor exclaimed, as if +this were the first intimation he had received of it. + +"What would you say to Edith?" Richard continued, and Victor +replied with well-feigned surprise, "Miss Hastings! You would not +ask that little girl to be your wife! Why you are twenty-five +years her senior." + +"No, no, Victor, only twenty-one," and Richard's voice trembled, +for like Edith, he wished to be reassured and upheld even by his +inferiors. + +He knew Victor disapproved, that he considered it a great +sacrifice on Edith's part, but for this he had no intention of +giving her up. On the contrary it made him a very little vexed +that his valet should presume to question his acts, and he said +with more asperity of manner than was usual for him, + +"You think it unsuitable, I perceive, and perhaps it is, but if we +are satisfied, it is no one's else business, I think," + +"Certainly not," returned Victor, a meaning smile curling his lip, +"if both are satisfied, I ought to be. When is the wedding?" + +He asked this last with an appearance of interest, and Richard, +ever ready to forgive and forget, told him all about it, who Edith +was, and sundry other matters, to which Victor listened as +attentively as if he had not heard the whole before. Like Edith, +Richard was in the habit of talking to Victor more as if he were +an equal than a servant and in speaking of his engagement, he +said, + +"I had many misgivings as to the propriety of asking Edith to be +my wife--she is so young, so different from me, but my excuse is +that I cannot live without her. She never loved another, and thus +the chance is tenfold that she will yet be to me all that a +younger, less dependent husband could desire." + +Victor bit his lip, half resolved one moment to undeceive poor +Richard, whom he pitied for his blind infatuation, but remembering +his promise, he held his peace, until his master signified that +the conference was ended, when he hastened to the barn, where he +could give vent to his feeling in French, his adopted language +being far too prosy to suit his excited mood. Suddenly Grace +Atherton came into his mind, and Edith's request that he should +tell her. + +"Yes, I'll do it," he said, starting at once for Brier Hill "'Twill +be a relief to let another know it, and then I want to see her +squirm, when she hears all hope for herself is gone." + +For once, however, Victor was mistaken. Gradually the hope that +she could ever be aught to Richard was dying out of Grace's heart, +and though, for an instant, she turned very white when, as if by +accident, he told the news, it was more from surprise at Edith's +conduct than from any new feeling that she had lost him. She was +in the garden bending over a bed of daffodils, so he did not see +her face, but he knew from her voice how astonished she was and +rather wondered that she could question him so calmly as she did, +asking if Edith were very happy, when the wedding was to be, and +even wondering at Richard's willingness to wait so long. + +"Women are queer any way," was Victor's mental comment, as, balked +of his intention to see Grace Atherton squirm, he bade her good +morning, and bowed himself from the garden, having first received +her message that she would come up in the course of the day, and +congratulate the newly betrothed. + +Once alone, Grace's calmness all gave way; and though the +intelligence did not affect her as it once would have done, the +fibres of her heart quivered with pain, and a sense of dreariness +stole over her, as, sitting down on the thick, trailing boughs of +an evergreen, she covered her face with her hands, and wept as +women always weep over a blighted hope. It was all in vain that +her pet kitten came gamboling to her feet, rubbing against her +dress, climbing upon her shoulder, and playfully touching, with +her velvet paw, the chestnut curls which fell from beneath her +bonnet. All in vain that the Newfoundland dog came to her side, +licking her hands and gazing upon her with a wondering, human look +of intelligent. Grace had no thought for Rover or for Kitty, and +she wept on, sometimes for Arthur, sometimes for Edith, but +oftener for the young girl who years ago refused the love offered +her by Richard Harrington; and then she wondered if it were +possible that Edith had so soon ceased to care for Arthur, + +"I can tell from her manner," she thought; and with her mind thus +brought to the call she would make at Collingwood, she dried her +eyes, and speaking playfully to her dumb pets, returned to the +house a sad, subdued woman, whose part in the drama of Richard +Harrington was effectually played out. + +That afternoon, about three o'clock, a carriage bearing Grace +Atherton, wound slowly up the hill to Collingwood and when it +reached the door a radiant, beautiful woman stepped out, her face +all wreathed in smiles and her voice full of sweetness as she +greeted Richard, who came forth to meet her. + +"A pretty march you've stolen upon me," she began, in a light, +bantering tone--"you and Edith--never asked my consent or said so +much as 'by your leave' but no matter, I congratulate you all the +same. I fancied it would end in this. Where is she--the bride- +elect?" + +Richard was stunned with such a volley of words from one whom he +supposed ignorant of the matter, and observing his evident +surprise Grace continued, "You wonder how I know, Victor told me +this morning; he was too much delighted to keep it to himself. But +say, where is Edith?" + +"Here I am," and advancing from the parlor, where she had +overheard the whole, Edith laughed a gay, musical laugh, as hollow +and meaningless as Mrs. Atherton's forced levity. + +Had she followed the bent of her inclinations she would not have +left her pillow that day, but remembering Victor's words, "Unless +I see it's killing you," she felt the necessity of exerting +herself, of wearing the semblance of happiness at least, and about +noon she had arisen and dressed herself with the utmost care, +twining geranium leaves in her hair just as she used to do when +going to see Arthur, and letting them droop from among her braids +in the way he had told her was so becoming. Then, with flushed +cheeks and bright, restless eyes, she went down to Richard, +receiving his caresses and partially returning them when she +fancied Victor was where he could see her, + +"Women are queer," he said again to himself, as he saw Edith on +Richard's knee, with her arm around his neck. "Their love is like +a footprint on the seashore; the first big wave washes it away, +and they are ready to make another. I reckon I shan't bother +myself about her any more. If she loved Arthur as I thought she +did, she couldn't hug another one so soon. It isn't nature--man +nature, any way; but Edith's like a reed that bends. That +character of Cooper's suits her exactly. I'll call her so to +myself hereafter--Reed that bends," and Victor hurried off, +delighted with his new name. + +But if Victor was in a measure deceived by Edith's demeanor, Grace +Atherton was not. Women distrust women sooner than men; can read +each other better, detect the hidden motive sooner, and ere the +two had been five minutes together, Grace had caught a glimpse of +the troubled, angry current over which the upper waters rippled so +smoothly that none save an accurate observer would have suspected +the fierce whirlpool which lay just below the surface. Because, he +thought, they would like it better, Richard left the two ladies +alone at last and then turning suddenly upon Edith, Grace said, + +"Tell me, Edith, is your heart in this or have you done it in a +fit of desperation?" + +"I have had a long time to think of it," Edith answered proudly. +"It is no sudden act. Richard is too noble to accept it if it +were. I have always loved him,--not exactly as I loved Arthur, it +is true." + +Here the whirlpool underneath threatened to betray itself, but +with a mighty effort Edith kept it down, and the current was +unruffled as she continued, + +"Arthur is nearer my age--nearer my beau ideal, but I can't have +him, and I'm not going to play the part of a love-lorn damsel for +a married man. Tell him so when you write. Tell him I'm engaged to +Richard just as he said I would be. Tell him I'm happy, too, for I +know I'm doing right. It is not wicked to love Richard and it was +wicked to love him." + +It cost Edith more to say this than she supposed, and when she +finished, the perspiration stood in drops beneath her hair and +about her mouth. + +"You are deceiving yourself," said Grace, who, without any selfish +motive now, really pitied the hard, white-faced girl, so unlike +the Edith of other days. "You are taking Richard from gratitude, +nothing else. Victor told me of your parentage, but because he +saved your life, you need not render yours as a return. Your heart +is not in this marriage." + +"Yes, it is--all the heart I have," Edith answered curtly. Then, +as some emotion stronger than the others swept over her, she laid +her head upon the sofa arm and sobbed, "You are all leagued +against me, but I don't care. I shall do as I like, I have +promised to marry Richard, and Edith Hastings never lied. She will +keep her word," and in the eyes which she now lifted up, Grace saw +the years glittering like diamonds. + +Then a merry laugh burst from the lips of the wayward girl as she +met Mrs. Atherton's anxious glance, and running to the piano she +dashed off most inspiriting waltz, playing so rapidly that the +bright bloom came back, settling in a small round spot upon her +cheek, and making her surpassingly beautiful even to Grace, whose +great weakness was an unwillingness to admit that another's charms +were superior to her own. When the waltz was ended Edith's mood +had changed, and turning to Grace she nestled closely to her, and +twining one of the silken curls around her fingers, said +coaxingly, + +"You think me a naughty child no doubt, but you do not understand +me. I certainly do love Richard more than you suppose; and Grace, +I want you to help me, to encourage me. Engaged girls always need +it, I guess, and Victor is so mean, he says all sorts of hateful +things about my marrying my father, and all that. Perhaps the +village people will do so, too, and if they do, you'll stand up +for me, won't you? You'll tell them how much I owe him--how much I +love him, and, Grace," Edith's voice was very low now, and sad, +"and when you write to Arthur don't repeat the hateful things I +said before, but tell him I'm engaged; that I'm the Swedish baby; +that I never shall forget him quite; and that I love Richard very +much." + +Oh, how soft and plaintive was the expression of the dark eyes +now, as Edith ceased to speak, and pressed the hand which warmly +pressed hers back, for Grace's womanly nature was aroused by this +appeal, and she resolved to fulfill the trust reposed in her by +Edith. Instead of hedging her way with obstacles she would help +her, if possible; would encourage her to love the helpless blind +man, whose step was heard In the hall. He was coming to rejoin +them, and instantly into Edith's eyes there flashed a startled, +shrinking look, such as the recreant slave may be supposed to wear +when he hears his master's step. Grace knew the feeling which +prompted that look full well. She had felt it many a time, in an +intensified degree, stealing over her at the coming of one whose +snowy looks and gouty limbs had mingled many a year with the dust +of Shannondale, and on her lips the words were trembling, "This +great sacrifice must not be," when Edith sprang up, and running +out into the hall, met Richard as be came. + +Leading him into the parlor, and seating him upon the sofa, she +aat beside him, holding his hand in hers, as if she thus would +defy her destiny, or, at the least, meet it bravely. Had Grace +known of Victor's new name for Edith she too would have called her +"Reed that bends," and as it was she thought her a most +incomprehensible girl, whom no one could fathom, and not caring to +tarry longer, soon took her leave, and the lovers were alone. + +Arrived at home, Grace opened her writing desk and commenced a +letter, which started next day for Florida, carrying to Arthur St. +Claire news which made his brain reel and grow giddy with pain, +while his probed heart throbbed, and quivered, and bled with a +fresh agony, as on his knees by Nina's pillow he prayed, not that +the cup of bitterness might pass from him--he was willing now to +quaff that to its very dregs, but that Edith might be happy with +the husband she had chosen, and that he, the desolate, weary +Arthur might not faint beneath this added burden. + +Five weeks went by--five weeks of busy talk among the villagers, +some of whom approved of the engagement, while more disapproved. +Where was that proud Southerner? they asked, referring to Arthur +St. Claire. They thought him in love with Edith. Had he deserted +her, and so in a fit of pique she had given herself to Richard? +This was probably the fact, and the gossips, headed by Mrs. +Eliakim Rogers, speculated upon it, while the days glided by, +until the five weeks were gone, and Edith, sitting in Grace's +boudoir, read, with eyes which had not wept since the day +following her betrothal, the following extract from Arthur's +letter to his cousin: + +"Richard and Edith! Oh! Grace, Grace! I thought I had suffered all +that mortal man could suffer, but when that fatal message came, I +died a thousand deaths in one, enduring again the dreadful agony +when in the Deering woods I gave my darling up. Oh, Edith, Edith, +Edith, my soul goes after her even now with a quenchless, mighty +love, and my poor, bruised, blistered heart throbs as if some +great giant hand were pressing its festered wounds, until I faint +with anguish and cry out, 'my punishment is greater than I can +bear.' + +"Still I would not have it otherwise, if I could. I deserve it +all, aye, and more, too. Heaven bless them both, Richard and his +beautiful singing bird. Tell her so, Grace. Tell her how I blessed +her for cheering the blind man's darkness, but do not tell her how +much it costs me to bid her, as I now do, farewell forever and +ever, farewell." + +It was strange that Grace should have shown this letter to Edith, +but the latter coaxed so hard that she reluctantly consented, +repenting of it however when she saw the effect it had on Edith. +Gradually as she read, there crept over her a look which Grace had +never seen before upon the face of any human being--a look as if +the pent-up grief of years was concentrated in a single moment of +anguish too acute to be described. There were livid spots upon her +neck--livid spots upon her face, while the dry eyes seemed fading +out, so dull, and dim, and colorless they looked, as Edith read +the wailing cry with which Arthur St. Claire bade her his adieu. + +For several minutes she sat perfectly motionless, save when the +muscles of her mouth twitched convulsively, and when the hard, +terrible look gave way--the spots began to fade--the color came +back to her cheeks--the eyes resumed their wonted brilliancy--the +fingers moved nervously, and Edith was herself. She had suffered +all she could, and never again would her palsied heart know the +same degree of pain which she experienced when reading Arthur's +letter. It was over now--the worst of it. Arthur knew of her +engagement--blessing her for it, and pitying he would not have it +otherwise. The bitterness of death was past, and henceforth none +save Grace and Victor suspected the worm which fed on Edith's very +life, so light, so merry, so joyous she appeared; and Edith was +happier than she had supposed it possible for her to be. The firm +belief that she was doing right, was, of itself, a source of +peace, and helped to sustain her fainting spirits, still there was +about her a sensation of disquiet, a feeling that new scenes would +do her good, and as the summer advanced, and the scorching July +sun penetrated even to the cool shades of Collingwood, she coaxed +Richard, Grace and Victor to go away. She did not care where, she +said, "anything for a change; she was tired of seeing the same +things continually. She never knew before how stupid Shannondale +was. It must have changed within the last few months." + +"I think it was you who have changed," said Grace, fancying that +she could already foresee the restless, uneasy, and not altogether +agreeable woman, which Edith, as Richard's wife, would assuredly +become. + +Possibly Richard, too, thought of this, for a sigh escaped him as +he heard Edith find fault with her beautiful home. + +Still he offered no remonstrance to going from home awhile, and +two weeks more found them at the Catskill Mountain House, where at +first not one of the assembled throng suspected that the beautiful +young maiden who in the evening danced like a butterfly in their +midst, and in the morning bounded up the rocky heights like some +fearless, graceful chamois, was more than ward to the man who had +the sympathy of all from the moment the whispered words went +round, "He is blind." + +Hour after hour would Edith sit with him upon the grass plat +overlooking the deep ravine, and make him see with her eyes the +gloriously magnificent view, than which there is surely none finer +in all the world; then, when the looked toward the west, and the +mountain shadow began to creep across the valley, the river, and +the hills beyond, shrouding them in an early twilight, she would +lead him away to some quiet sheltered spot, where unobserved, she +could lavish upon him the little acts of love she knew he so much +craved and which she would not give to him when curious eyes were +looking on. It was a blissful paradise to Richard, and when in +after years he looked back upon the past, he always recurred to +those few weeks as the brightest spot in his whole life, blessing +Edith for the happiness she gave him during that season of +delicious quiet spent amid the wild scenery of the Catskill +Mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE LAND OF FLOWERS. + + +It was the original plan for the party to remain two weeks or more +at the Mountain House, and then go on to Saratoga, but so +delighted were they with the place that they decided to tarry +longer, and the last of August found them still inmates of the +hotel, whose huge white walls, seen from the Hudson, stand out +from the dark wooded landscape, like some mammoth snow bank, +suggestive to the traveller of a quiet retreat and a cool shelter +from the summer's fervid heat. Edith's health and spirits were +visibly improved, and her musical laugh often rang through the +house in tones so merry and gleeful that the most solemn of the +guests felt their boyhood coming back to them as they heard the +ringing laugh, and a softer light suffused their cold, stern eyes +as they paused in the midst of some learned discussion to watch +the frolicsome, graceful belle of the Mountain House--the bride +elect of the blind man. + +It was known to be so now. The secret was out--told by Victor, +when closely questioned with regard to Edith's relationship to Mr. +Harrington. It created much surprise and a world of gossip, but +shielded Edith from attentions which might otherwise have been +annoying, for more than Richard thought her the one of all others +whose presence could make the sunshine of their life. But Edith +was betrothed. The dun leaves of October would crown her a wife, +and so one pleasant morning some half a score young men, each as +like to the other as young men at fashionable places of resort are +apt to be, kicked their patent leather boots against the pillars +of the rear piazza, broke a part of the tenth commandment +shockingly, muttered to themselves speeches anything but +complimentary to Richard, and then, at the appearance of a plaid +silk travelling dress and brown straw flat, rushed forward en +masse, each contending frantically for the honor of assisting Miss +Hastings to enter the omnibus, where Richard was already seated, +and which was to convey a party to the glens of the Kauterskill +Falls. + +Edith had been there often. The weird wildness of the deep gorge +suited her, and many an hour had she whiled away upon the broken +rocks, watching the flecks of sunlight as they came struggling +down through the overhanging trees, listening to the plaintive +murmur of the stream, or gazing with delight upon the fringed, +feathery falls which hung from the heights above like some long, +white, gauzy ribbon. Richard, on the contrary, had never visited +them before, and he only consented to do so now from a desire to +gratify Edith, who acted as his escort in place of Victor. Holding +fast to her hand he slowly descended the winding steps and +circuitous paths, and then, with a sad feeling of helpless +dependence, sat down upon the bank where Edith bade him sit, +herself going off in girlish ecstasies as a thin spray fell upon +her face and she saw above her a bright-hued rainbow, spanning the +abyss. + +"They are letting the water on," she cried, "Look, Richard! do +look!" and she grasped his hand, while he said to her mournfully, + +"Has Birdie forgotten that I am blind, and helpless, and old--that +she must lead me as a child?" + +There was a touching pathos in his voice which went straight to +Edith's heart, and forgetting the rainbow, she eat down beside +him, still keeping his hand in hers, and asked what was the +matter? She knew he was unusually disturbed, for seldom had she +seen upon his face a look of so great disquiet. Suddenly as she +remembered his unwillingness to come there alone, it flashed upon +her that it might arise from an aversion to seem so dependent upon +a weak girl in the presence of curious strangers. With Victor he +did not mind it, but with her it might be different, and she asked +if it were not so. + +"Hardly that, darling; hardly that;" and the sightless eyes +drooped as if heavy with unshed tears. "Edith," and he pressed the +warm hand he held, "ours will be an unnatural alliance. I needed +only to mingle with the world to find it so. People wonder at your +choice--wonder that one so young as you should choose a battered, +blasted tree like me round which to twine the tendrils of your +green, fresh life." + +"What have you heard?" Edith asked, half bitterly, for since their +engagement was known at the hotel, she had more than once +suspected the truth of what he said to her. The world did not +approve, but she would not tell Richard that she knew it, and she +asked again what he had heard. + +"The ear of the blind is quick," he replied; "and as I sat waiting +in the stage this morning I heard myself denounced as a 'blind old +Hunks,' a selfish dog, who had won the handsomest girl in the +country. Then, as we were descending to this ravine you remember +we stopped at the foot of some stairs while you removed a brier +from your dress, and from a group near by I heard the whispered +words, 'There they come--the old blind man, who bought his ward +with money and gratitude. 'Twas a horrid sacrifice! Look how +beautiful she is!' Darling, I liked to hear you praised, but did +not like the rest. It makes me feel as if I were dragging you to +the altar against your will. And what is worse than all, the +verdict of the people here is the verdict of the world. Edith, you +don't want me. You cannot wish to call one husband whose +dependence upon you will always make you blush for your choice. It +was gratitude alone which prompted your decision. Confess that it +was, and I give you back your troth. You need not be the old blind +man's wife." + +For an instant Edith's heart leaped up, and the sun spots dancing +on the leaves were brighter than she had ever seen them, but the +feeling passed away, and laying both her hands reverently in +Richard's, she said, + +"I will be your wife. I care nothing for the world, and we won't +mingle in it any more to cause remarks. We'll stay at Collingwood, +where people know us best. Let's go home to-morrow. I'm tired of +this hateful place. Will you go?" + +Ere Richard could answer, Grace Atherton was heard exclaiming, + +"Ah, here you are, I've hunted everywhere. Mr. Russell," and she +turned to the dark man at her side, "this is Mr. Harrington--Miss +Hastings--Mr. Russell, from Tallahassee." Edith did not at first +think that Tallahassee was in Florida, not many miles from +Sunnybank, and she bowed to the gentleman as to any stranger, +while Grace, who had just arrived in another omnibus, explained to +her that Mr. Russell was a slight acquaintance of Arthur's; that +the latter being in town, and accidentally hearing that he was +coming North, had intrusted him with some business matters, which +would require his visiting Grassy Spring--had given him a letter +of introduction to herself, said letter containing a note for +Edith--that Mr. Russell had been to Shannondale, and ascertaining +their whereabouts, had followed them, reaching the Mountain House +in the morning stage. + +"He can spend but one day here," she added, in conclusion, "and +wishing him to see as much as possible of our northern grandeur I +brought him at once to the Falls. Here is your note," and tossing +it into Edith's lap she moved away. + +A note from Arthur! How Edith trembled as she held it in her hand, +and with a quick, furtive glance at sightless eyes beside her, she +raised the dainty missive to her lips, feeling a reproachful pang +as she reflected that she was breaking her vow to Richard. Why had +Arthur written to her--she asked herself this question many times, +while Richard, too, asked, + +"What news from Florida?" ere she broke the seal and read, not +words of changeless and dark despair, but words of entreaty that +for the sake of Nina, sick, dying Nina, she would come at once to +Florida, for so the crazy girl had willed it, pleading with them +the live-long day to send for Miggie, precious Miggie, with the +bright, black eyes, which looked her into subjection, and the soft +hands which drove the ugly pain away. + +"All the summer," Arthur wrote, "she has been failing. The heat +seems to oppress her, and several times I've been on the point of +returning with her to the North, thinking I made a mistake in +bringing her here, but she refuses to leave Sunnybank. Old sights +and familiar places have a soothing effect upon her, and she is +more as she used to be before the great calamity fell upon her. +Her disease is consumption, hereditary like her insanity, and as +her physical powers diminish her mental faculties seem to +increase. The past is not wholly a blank to her now; she remembers +distinctly much that has gone by, but of nothing does she talk so +constantly as of Miggie, asking every hour if I've sent for you-- +how long before you'll come; and if you'll stay until she's dead. +I think your coming will prolong her life; and you will never +regret it, I am sure. Mr. Russell will be your escort, as he will +return in three weeks." + +To this note two postscripts were appended--the first in a +girlish, uneven hand, was redolent of the boy Arthur's "Florida +rose." + +"Miggie, precious Miggie--come to Sunnybank; come to Nina. She is +waiting for you. She wants you here--wants to lay her poor, empty +head, where the bad pain used to be, on your soft, nice bosom--to +shut her eyes and know it is your breath she feels--your sweet, +fragrant breath, and not Arthur's, brim full of cigar smoke. Do +come, Miggie, won't you? There's a heap of things I want to fix +before I die, and I am dying, Miggie. I see it in my hands, so +poor and thin, not one bit like they used to be, and I see it, +too, in Arthur's actions. Dear Arthur boy! He is so good to me-- +carries me every morning to the window, and holds me in his lap +while I look out into the garden where we used to play, you and I. +I think it was you, but my brain gets so twisted, and I know the +real Miggie is out under the magnolias, for it says so on the +stone, but I can't help thinking you are she. Arthur has a new +name for me, a real nice name, too. He took it from a book, he +says--about just such a wee little girl as I am. 'Child-wife,' +that's what he calls me, and he strokes my hair so nice. I'm +loving Arthur a heap, Miggie. It seems just as if he was my +mother, and the name 'Child-wife' makes little bits of waves run +all over me. He's a good boy, and God will pay him by and by for +what he's been to me. Some folks here call me Mrs. St. Claire. Why +do they? Sometimes I remember something about somebody somewhere, +more than a hundred years ago, but just as I think I've got hold +of it right, it goes away. I lose it entirely, and my head is so +snarled up. Come and unsnarl it, wont you? Nina is sick, Nina is +dying, Nina is crazy. You must come." + +The second postscript showed a bolder, firmer hand, and Edith +read, + +"I, too, echo Nina's words, 'Come, Miggie, come.' Nina wants you, +and I--Heaven only knows how much I want you--but, Edith, were you +in verity Richard's wife, you could not be more sacred to me than +you are as his betrothed, and I promise solemnly that I will not +seek to influence your decision. The time is surely coming when I +shall be alone; no gentle Nina, sweet 'Child-wife' clinging to me. +She will be gone, and her Arthur boy, as she calls me, free to +love whomsoever he will. But this shall make no difference. I have +given you to Richard. I will not wrong the blind man. Heaven bless +you both and bring you to us." + +The sun shone just as brightly in the summer sky--the Kauterskill +fell as softly into the deep ravine--the shouts of the tourists +were just us gay--the flecks of sunshine on the grass danced just +as merrily, but Edith did not heed them. Her thoughts were riveted +upon the lines she had read, and her heart throbbed with an +unutterable desire to respond at once to that pleading call--to +take to herself wings and fly away--away over mountain and valley, +river and rill, to the fair land of flowers where Nina was, and +where too was Arthur. As she read, she uttered no sound, but when +at last Richard said to her, + +"What is it, Birdie? Have you heard bad news?" her tears flowed at +once, and leaning her head upon his shoulder, she answered, + +"Nina is dying--dear little, bright-haired Nina. She has sent for +me. She wants me to come so much. May I, Richard? May I go to +Nina?" + +"Read me the letter," was Richard's reply, his voice unusually low +and sad. + +Edith could not read the whole. Arthur's postscript must be +omitted, as well as a portion of Nina's, but she did the best she +could, breaking down entirely when she reached the point where +Nina spoke of her Arthur boy's goodness in carrying her to the +window. + +Richard, too, was much affected, and his voice trembled as he +said, "St. Claire is a noble fellow. I always felt strangely drawn +toward him. Isn't there something between him and Nina--something +more than mere guardianship?" + +"They were engaged before she was crazy," returned Edith, while +Richard sighed, "poor boy, poor boy! It must be worse than death. +His darkness is greater than mine." + +Then his thoughts came back to Edith's question, "May I go to +Nina?" and his first feeling was that she might, even though her +going would necessarily defer a day to which he was so continually +looking forward, but when he remembered the danger to which she +would be exposed from the intense heat at that season of the year, +he shrank from it at once, mildly but firmly refusing to let her +incur the fearful risk. + +"Could I be assured that my bird would fly back to me again with +its plumage all unruffled I would let her go," he said, "but the +chances are against it. You would surely sicken and die, and I +cannot let you go." + +Edith offered no remonstrance, but her face was very white and her +eyes strangely black as she said, "Let us go home, then; go to- +morrow. This is no place for me, with Nina dying." + +Nothing could please Richard more than to be back at Collingwood, +and when Grace came to them he announced his intention of leaving +on the morrow. Grace was willing, and Victor, when told of the +decision, was wild with delight. Mr. Russell, too, decided to go +with them to Shannondale, and when, next morning, the party came +out to take the downward stage, they found him comfortably seated +on the top, whither he had but little trouble in coaxing Grace, +who expressed a wish to enjoy the mountain scenery as they +descended. + +"Will Miss Hastings come up, too?" he asked, but Edith declined +and took her seat inside between Richard and Victor, the latter of +whom had heard nothing of the letter; neither did Edith tell him +until the next day when, arrived at Collingwood, they were alone +for a moment in the library--then she explained to him that Nina +was sick, possibly had sent for her. + +"I thought things would work out after a time, though honestly I'd +rather that little girl shouldn't die if it could be brought round +any other way," was Victor's reply, which called a flush at once +to Edith's cheek. + +"Victor Dupres," said she, "never hint such a thing again. It is +too late now; it cannot be--it shall not be; and if I go, Arthur +has promised not to say one word which can influence me." + +"If you go," repeated Victor, "Then you have some intention of +going--I thought he had objected." + +"So he has," returned Edith, the same look stealing into her eyes +which came there at the Falls. "So he has, but if Nina lives till +the middle of October I shall go. My mind is made up." + +"Oh, consistency, thou art a jewel," muttered Victor, as hearing +some one coming, he walked away. "Means to jump down the lion's +throat, but does not expect to be swallowed! Splendid logic that!" +and Victor shrugged his shoulders at what seemed so contradictory +as Edith's talk and Edith's conduct. + +As she had said, Edith meant to go, nay more, was determined to +go, and when, on the third day after their return, Mr. Russell +came for her final decision, she said to him, ere Richard had time +to speak, + +"I shall not go now; it is too early for that, but if Nina +continues worse, I will come to her the latter part of October. I +am writing so to her to-day." + +Richard was confounded, and could only stammer out, + +"Who is to be your escort?" + +"You, Richard;" and Edith clasped his arm, thus reassuring him at +once. + +She had some thought, some consideration for him; she did not +intend to desert him wholly, and he playfully tapped her chin, +laughing to think how the little lady had boldly taken matters +into her own hands, telling what should be with as much sang froid +as if she were master instead of himself. And Richard rather liked +the independent spirit of Edith, particularly when he found that +he was not wholly left out of her calculations. And so he arranged +with Mr. Russell, that if Nina were not better as the autumn +advanced, Edith should perhaps go down to see her. + +Arthur had made his marriage with Nina public as soon as he +returned to Sunnybank, but as Mr. Russell's home was in +Tallahassee, and he himself a quiet, taciturn man, he had not +heard of it, and in speaking of Nina to Edith, he called her Miss +Bernard, as usual, and thus Richard still remained in ignorance, +never suspecting that golden haired Nina was the same young girl +he had married years before. + +Poor Richard, he was ignorant of many things and never dreamed how +light and gay was Edith's heart at the prospect of going to +Florida, even though she half expected that when she went it would +be as his wife. But Richard determined it otherwise. It cost him a +struggle so to do, but his iron will conquered every feeling, save +those of his better judgment, and calling Edith to him one day two +weeks after Mr. Russell's departure, he said, + +"Birdie, I've come to the conclusion that a blind man like me will +only be in your way, in case you go to Florida. I am not an +interesting traveling companion. I require too much care, and I +dread the curious gaze of strangers. It makes me very +uncomfortable. So on the whole I'd rather stay at home and let +Victor go in my stead. What does Birdie say?" + +"She says you are the noblest, most unselfish man that ever +lived," and Edith kissed his lips, chiding herself seriously for +the spirit which whispered to her that she too would rather go +without him. "I won't stay very long," she said. "Our wedding need +not be deferred more than two months; say, till the first of +January, at 7 o'clock, just as we before arranged it for October, +only a more quiet affair, I shall then be your New Year's gift. +Does that suit you, dearest?" + +She did not often call him thus, and when she did she was sure of +accomplishing her purpose. The strong man melted beneath a few +words of love, becoming a very tool in the hands of a weak girl. + +"Yes, darling," he replied, "that will do--but supposing we hear +that Nina is better, or dead--what then?" + +The mere possibility was terrible to Edith, but she answered +calmly, + +"Then we'll be married in October, just as first proposed;" and +thus was the die cast, and a fresh link added to the chain of +Edith's destiny. She was going to Florida; going to Arthur; and +going alone, so far as Richard was concerned. + +Spying Victor coming up the walk from the post-office, she ran out +to meet him, telling him of the journey before him, and almost +crying for joy when he placed in her hand a worn envelope bearing +the post-mark of Tallahassee. It was from Arthur, and contained a +few lines only, telling of Nina's increasing illness, and her +restless, impatient desire for Miggie. In conclusion he wrote, + +"We have had no fever this summer. You will be perfectly safe in +coming any time after the middle of October. I shall welcome Mr. +Harrington most cordially if he sees fit to accompany you." + +Edith could read this to Richard, and she did, feeling a pang at +the perfect faith with which he answered, + +"Were it not for the tedious journey I believe I would go with +you, but it's too much of an undertaking. I won't trammel you with +so great a burden. I'd rather stay at home and anticipate my +darling's return." + +Then with the same forethought and careful consideration which +marked all his actions, Richard consulted with her as to the beat +time for her to start, fixing upon the 15th of October, and making +all his arrangements subservient to this. He did not tell her how +lonely he should be without her--how he should miss her merry +laugh, which, strange to say, grew merrier each day; but he let +her know in various ways how infinitely precious she was to him, +and more than once Edith felt constrained to give up the journey, +but the influences from Florida drew her strangely in that +direction, and revolving to pay Richard for his self-denial by an +increase of love when she should return, she busied herself with +her preparations until the 15th of October came, and her trunks +stood ready in the hall. + +"If I could only read your letters myself, it would not seem one- +half so bad," Richard said, when at the last moment, he held +Edith's hand, "but there's a shadow over me this morning--a dark +presentiment that in suffering you to leave me I am losing you +forever." + +Edith could not answer, she pitied him so much, and kissing his +lips, she put from her neck his clinging arms, wiped his tears +away, smoothed his ruffled hair, and then went out from his +presence, leaving him there in his sorrow and blindness alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +SUNNYBANK. + + +"Berry soon, Miss, an' we're thar. We turns the corner yonder, we +drives 'cross the plain, down a hill, up anoder, an' then we's +mighty nigh a mile from the spot." + +Such was the answer made by Tom, the Bernard coachman to Edith's +repeated inquiries, "Are we almost there." + +For three successive days the Bernard carriage had been to +Tallahassee in quest of the expected guest, whose coming was +watched for so eagerly at Sunnybank, and who, as the bright +October afternoon was drawing to its close, looked eagerly out at +a huge old house which stood not very far distant with the setting +sun shining on the roof and illuminating all the upper windows. A +nearer approach showed it to be a large, square, wooden building, +divided in the centre by a wide, airy hall, and surrounded on +three sides by a verandah, the whole bearing a more modern look +than most of the country houses in Florida, for Mr. Bernard had +possessed considerable taste, and during his life had aimed at +fitting up his residence somewhat after the northern fashion. To +Edith there was something familiar about that old building, with +its handsome grounds, and she said aloud, + +"I've surely dreamed of Sunnybank." + +"Berry likely, Miss," answered Tom, thinking the remark addressed +to him, inasmuch as Edith's head protruded from the window. +"Dreams is mighty onsartin. Git 'long, you Bill, none o'yer lazy +carlicues, case don't yer mind thar's Mars'r Arthur on the +v'randy, squinting to see if I's fotched 'em," and removing his +old straw hat, Tom swung it three times around his head, that +being the signal he was to give if Edith were in the carriage. + +With an increased flush upon his brow, Arthur St. Claire hastened +down, pausing at an inner room while he bent over and whispered to +a young girl reclining on her pillow, + +"Nina, darling, Miggie's come." + +There was a low cry of unutterable delight, and Nina Bernard +raised herself upon her elbow, looking wistfully toward the door +through which Arthur had disappeared. + +"Be quiet, la petite Nina," said a short, thick woman, who sat by +the bed, apparently officiating in the capacity of nurse; then, as +the carriage stopped at the gate, she glided to the window, +muttering to herself, "Charmant charmant, magnifique," as she +caught a full view of the eager, sparkling face, turned toward the +young man hastening down the walk. Then, with that native +politeness natural to her country, she moved away so as not to +witness the interview. + +"Arthur!" + +"Edith!" + +That was all they said, for Richard and Nina stood between them, a +powerful preventive to the expression of the great joy throbbing +in the heart of each, as hand grasped hand, and eye sought eye, +fearfully, tremblingly, lest too much should be betrayed. + +"Miggie, Miggie, be quick," came from the room where Nina was now +standing up in bed, her white night dress hanging loosely about +her forehead and neck. + +It needed but this to break the spell which bound the two without, +and dropping Edith's hand, Arthur conducted her to the house, +meeting in the hall with Nina, who, in spite of Mrs. Lamotte had +jumped from her bed and skipping across the floor, flung herself +into Edith's arms, sobbing frantically, + +"You did come, precious Miggie, to see sick Nina, didn't you, and +you'll stay forever and ever, won't you, my own sweet Miggie, and +Arthur's too? Oh, joy, joy, Nina's so happy to-night." + +The voice grew very faint, the white lips ceased their pressure of +kisses upon Edith's--the golden head began to droop, and Arthur +took the fainting girl in his arms, carrying her back to her bed, +where he laid her gently down, himself caring for her until she +began to revive. + +Meanwhile Edith was introduced to Mrs. Lamotte, a French woman, +who once was Nina's nurse, and who had come to Sunnybank a few +weeks before. Any one at all interested in Nina was sure of a +place in Edith's affections, and she readily took Mrs. Lamotte's +proffered hand, but she was not prepared for the peculiarly +curious gaze fastened upon her, as Mrs. Lamotte waved off Teeny, +the black girl, and taking her traveling bag and shawl, said to +her, + +"This way, s'il vous plait, Mademoiselle Marguerite. Pardonnez +moi," she added quickly, as she met Edith's questioning glance, +"Mademoiselle Miggie, as la petite Nina calls you." + +Once in Edith's room, Mrs. Lamotte did not seem in haste to leave +it, but continued talking in both English and French to Edith, who +more than once, as the tones fell upon her ear, turned quickly to +see if it were not some one she had met before. + +"Je m'en irai," Mrs. Lamotte said at last, as she saw that her +presence was annoying Edith; and as the latter offered no +remonstrance, she left the room, and Edith was alone with her +confused thoughts. + +Where was she? What room was this, with the deep window seats, and +that wide-mouthed fire-place? Who was this woman that puzzled her +so? Edith kept asking herself these questions, but could find for +them no satisfactory answer. Struggle as she might, she felt more +like a child returned to its home than like a stranger in a +strange land. Even the soft south wind, stealing through the open +casement, and fanning her feverish cheek, had something familiar +in its breath, as if it had stolen in upon her thus aforetime; and +when across the fields, she heard the negroes' song as they came +homeward from their toil, she laid her head upon the window sill, +and wept for the something which swept over her, something so +sweet, so sad, and yet so indescribable. + +Fearing lest the Frenchwoman should return, she made a hasty +toilet, and then stole down to Nina, who, wholly exhausted with +the violence of her emotions at meeting Edith, lay perfectly still +upon her pillow, scarcely whiter than her own childish face, round +which a ray of the setting sun was shining, encircling it with a +halo of glorious beauty, and making her look like an angel of +purity and love. She did not attempt to speak as Edith came in, +but her eyes smiled a welcome, and her thin, wasted fingers +pointed to where Edith was to sit upon the bed beside her. Arthur +sat on the other side, holding one of Nina's hands, and the other +was given to Edith, who pressed it to her lips, while her tears +dropped upon it like rain. The sight of them disturbed the sick +girl, and shaking her wealth of curls which, since Edith saw them, +had grown thick and long, she whispered, + +"Don't, Miggie; tears are not for Nina; she's so glad, for she is +almost home. She'll go down to the river brink with your arms and +Arthur boy's around her. Precious Miggie, nice Arthur. Nina is +happy to-night." + +Such were the disjointed sentences she kept whispering, while her +eyes turned from Edith to Arthur and from Arthur back to Edith, +resting longer there, and the expression of the face told of the +unutterable joy within. Softly the twilight shadows stole into the +room, and the servants glided in and out, casting furtive and +wondering glances at Edith, who saw nothing save the clear blue +eyes shining upon her, even through the gathering darkness, and +telling her of the love which could not be expressed. + +As it grew darker Nina drew the two hands she clasped together-- +Arthur's and Edith's--laid them one above the other upon her +bosom, pressed her own upon them, and when, at last, the candles +were brought in and placed upon the table, Edith saw that the +weary lids had closed and Nina was asleep. Every effort, however, +which she made to disengage her hand from its rather embarrassing +position, threatened to arouse the sleeper, and for nearly half an +hour she sat there with her hand beneath Arthur's, but she dared +not look at him, and with her face turned away, she answered his +questions concerning Shannondale and its inhabitants. + +After a time Mrs. Lamotte came in and asked if mademoiselle would +like to retire. Edith would far rather have gone to her room +alone, but Mrs. Lamotte seemed bent upon hovering near her, and as +there was no alternative she followed her up the stairs and into +the chamber, where she had lain aside her things. To her great +relief her companion did not stay longer than necessary, and ere +the entire household was still, Edith was dreaming of Collingwood +and Richard. + +The next morning was bright, balmy, and beautiful, and at an early +hour Edith arose and went down to Nina, who heard her step in the +hall, and called to her to come. + +"Darling Miggie, I dreamed you were gone," she said, "and, I cried +so hard that it woke Arthur up. He sleeps here every night, on +that wide lounge," and she pointed toward a corner, "I've grown so +silly that I won't let any body else take care of me but Arthur +boy--he does it so nice and lifts me so carefully. Hasn't he grown +pale and thin?" + +Edith hardly knew, for she had not ventured to look fully at him, +but she assumed that he had, and Nina continued: "He's a darling +boy, and Nina loves him now." + +"How is your head this morning," Edith asked, and Nina replied, +"It's better. It keeps growing better, some days it's clear as a +bell, but I don't like it so well, for I know then that you ain't +Miggie,--not the real Miggie who was sent home in mother's coffin. +We have a new burying ground, one father selected long ago, the +sweetest spot you ever saw, and they are moving the bodies there +now. They are going to take up my last mother, and the little bit +of Miggie to-day, and Marie is so flurried." + +Arthur's step was now heard in the hall, and this it was which so +excited Edith that she failed to catch the word Marie, or to +understand that it was Mrs. Lamotte who was worried about the +removal of the bodies. In a moment Arthur appeared, bringing a +delicate bouquet for Nina, and a world of sunshine to Edith. He +was changed, Edith saw as she looked at him now, and yet she liked +his face better than before. He seemed to her like one over whom +the fire had passed, purifying as it burned, and leaving a better +metal than it had found. He was wholly self-possessed this +morning, greeting her as if the scene in the Deering woods had +never been enacted, and she could hardly believe that they were +the same, the Arthur of one year ago, and the Arthur of to-day; +the quiet, elegant young man, who, with more than womanly +tenderness, pushed Nina's curls back under her lace cap, kissed +her forehead, and then asked Edith if she did not look like a +little nun with her hair so plain. + +Nina liked to be caressed, and she smiled upon him a smile so full +of trusting faith and love, that Edith's eyes filled with tears, +and her rebellious heart went out toward Arthur as it had never +done before, inasmuch as she felt that he was now far more worthy +of her. + +Very rapidly the morning passed away, and it was after three +o'clock P.M., when, as Arthur sat with Edith upon the cool piazza, +one of the negroes came running up, the perspiration starting from +every pore, and himself almost frantic with excitement. + +"What is it, Caesar?" Arthur asked. "What has happened to you?" + +"Nothing to me, Mars'r," returned the negro; "but sumfin mighty +curis happen over dar," and he pointed in the direction where his +comrades were busy removing the family dead to a spot selected by +Mr. Bernard years before as one more suitable than the present +location. "You see, we was histin' de box of the young Miss and de +chile, when Bill let go his holt, and I kinder let my hands slip +off, when, Lor' bless you, the box busted open, an' we seen the +coffin spang in the face. Says Bill, says he--he's allus a +reasonin', you know--an', says he, 'that's a mighty narrer coffin +for two;' and wid that, Mr. Berry, the overseer, Miss," turning to +Edith, "He walked up, and findin' de screws rattlin' and loose, +just turned back de top piece, an', as true as Caesar's standin' +here, there wasn't no chile thar; nothin' 'tall but the Miss, an' +she didn't look no how; never should have guessed them heap of +bones had ever been Miss Petry." + +Edith started from her chair and was about to speak when a hand +was laid upon her wrist, and turning, she saw Mrs. Lamotte +standing behind her, and apparently more excited than herself. + +"Come with me," she said, leading the unresisting Edith away, and +leaving Arthur to follow Caesar. + +Of all the household at Sunnybank no one had been so much +interested in the removal of the bodies as Mrs. Lamotte, and yet +her interest was all centered upon the grave of Miggie Bernard's +mother. When that was disturbed, she was watching from her window, +and when the accident occurred which revealed the fraud of years, +she hurried down and, with a cat-like tread, glided behind Edith's +chair where she stood while Caesar told his story. + +It would be impossible to describe Edith's feeling as she followed +the strange woman up to her own room, sitting down just where Mrs. +Lamotte bade her sit, and watching nervously the restless rolling +of the eyes, which had no terror for her now, particularly after +their owner said to her in French, + +"Do you know me, Edith Hastings, Eloise Temple, Marguerite +Bernard? Have we never met before?" + +Like the rushing of some mighty, pent up flood the past swept over +her then, almost bearing her senses down with the headlong tide; +link after link was joined, until the chain of evidence was +complete, and with a scream of joy Edith went forward to the arms +unfolded to receive her. + +"Marie, Marie!" she cried, "How is it? When was it? Where was it? +Am I anybody or not, tell me?" + +Then question followed question go rapidly that Marie, with all +her voluble French and broken English, was hardly able to keep up. +But the whole was told at last; everything was clear to Edith as +the daylight, and tottering to the bed, she asked to be alone, +while she wept and prayed over this great joy, which had come so +suddenly upon her. + +"Nina, Nina. I thank thee, oh, my Father, for sweet, precious +Nina." + +That was all she could say, as with her face in the pillows, she +lay until the sun went down, and night fell a second time on +Sunnybank. + +"No one shall tell her but myself," she thought as she descended +to Nina's room, where Arthur was telling of the discovery they had +made--a discovery for which he could not account, and about which +the negroes, congregated together in knots, were talking, each +offering his or her own theory with regard to the matter, and +never once thinking to question Mrs. Lamotte, who, they knew, had +been with Mrs. Bernard when she died. + +"Oh, Miggie!" Nina cried. "HAVE you heard? do you know? Little +Miggie isn't there where we thought she was. She's gone. Nobody's +there but my other mother." + +"Yes, I know," Edith answered, and laying her hand on Arthur's she +said, "Please, Mr. St Claire, go away awhile. I must see Nina +alone. Don't let anybody disturb us, will you? Go to Mrs. +Lamotte. Ask her what I mean. She can tell you. She told me." + +Thus importuned, Arthur left the room, and Edith was alone with +Nina. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE SISTERS. + + +Oh, how Edith yearned to take that sweet young creature to her +bosom, and concentrate in one wild, passionate hug the love of so +many wasted years; but Nina must not be unduly startled if she +would make her comprehend what she had to tell, and conquering her +own agitation with a wondrous effort she sat down upon the bed, +and said, + +"How is my darling? Is her head all in a twist?" + +Nina smiled, a rational, knowing smile, and answered, + +"There wasn't the least bit of a twist in it till Arthur told me +about that in the graveyard, and then it began to thump so loud, +but with you sitting here, I'm better. You do me so much good, +Miggie. Your eyes keep me quiet. Where do you suppose she is--the +other Miggie; and how did she get out of the coffin?" + +"Nina," said Edith, "can you understand me if I tell you a story +about a little girl who resembled your sister Miggie?" + +Nina liked stories and though she would rather have talked of the +real Miggie, she expressed a willingness to listen, and by the dim +candle light Edith saw that the blue eyes, fixed so intently upon +her, still retained the comparatively rational expression she had +observed when she first came in. Moving a little nearer to her, +she began, + +"A great many years ago, nearly eighteen, we will say, a beautiful +little girl, eight years old, I guess, with curls like yours, +waited one night in just such a house as this, for her father, who +had been long in Europe, and who was to bring her a new mother, +and a dear baby sister, two years old or thereabouts." + +"Didn't I wear my blue dress, trimmed with white?" Nina asked +suddenly, her mind seeming to have followed Edith's, and grasped +the meaning of what she heard. + +"I dare say you did," Edith answered; "at all events this little +girl was very beautiful as she waited in the twilight for the +travellers." + +"Call the little girl Nina, please, I'll get at it better then," +was the next interruption; and with a smile, Edith said, + +"Nina, then, waited till they came--her father, her new mother +Petrea, and--" + +"Beautiful Petrea," Nina exclaimed, "la belle Petrea, black hair +like yours, Miggie, and voice like the soft notes of the piano. +She taught me a heap of tunes which I never have forgotten, but +tell me more of the black-eyed baby, Nina's precious sister. I did +hug and squeeze her so--'la jolie enfant,' Marie called her." + +Nina seemed to have taken the story away from Edith, who, when she +ceased speaking, again went on: + +"Eloise Marguerite was the baby sister's name; Eloise, for a proud +aunt, who, after they came home, would not suffer them to call her +so, and she was known as Marguerite, which Nina shortened into +Miggie, Nina darling," and Edith spoke sadly now. "Was your father +always kind to Petrea?" + +There was a look in Nina's face like a scared bird, and raising +her hands to her head, she said, + +"Go away, old buzzing. Let Nina think what it was they used to do- +-pa and grandma and aunt Eloise. I know now; grandma and auntie +were proud of the Bernard blood, they said, and they called Petrea +vulgar, and baby sister a brat; and pa--oh, Miggie, I reckon he +was naughty to the new mother. He had a buzz in his head most +every night, not like mine, but a buzz that he got at the dinner +and the side-board, where they kept the bottles, and he struck +her, I saw him, and Marie, she was here, too, she stepped between +them, and called him a drunken, deceitful beast, and a heap more +in French. Then one morning when he was gone to New Orleans, and +would come home pretty soon, mother and Marie and Miggie went a +visiting to Tallahassee, or somewhere, and they never came back +again, though pa went after them as soon as he got home. Why +didn't they, Miggie?" + +"Petrea was very unhappy here," Edith answered. "Mr. Bernard +abused her, as did his haughty mother, and once when he was gone +Petrea said she would go to Tallahassee to see a lady who had +visited her at Sunnybank. So she went with Marie, and Miggie, then +three years old, but did not stop in Tallahassee. They ran away to +New York, where Marie's sister lived. Here Petrea was taken sick +and died, making Marie promise that Miggie should never go back to +her bad father and his proud family. And Marie, who hated them +bitterly, all but Nina, kept her word. She wrote to Sunnybank that +both were dead, and the letter was forwarded by your grandmother +to Mr. Bernard, who had gone after his wife, but who lay drunk +many days at a hotel. The letter sobered him, and as it contained +Marie's address, he found her at last, crying bitterly for little +Miggie, up stairs asleep, but he thought her in the coffin with +her mother. Marie said so and he believed her, bringing the bodies +back to Sunnybank, and burying them beneath the magnolias." + +"And built a great marble there with both their names cut on it," +chimed in Nina, fearful lest any part of the story should be +omitted. + +"Yes," returned Edith, "he raised a costly monument to their +memory; but don't you wish to know what became of Miggie?" + +"Yes, yes, oh, yes, go on," was Nina's answer; and Edith +continued, + +"Marie was too poor to take care of Miggie, and she put her in the +Asylum." + +"The Asylum!" Nina fairly screamed. "Nina's baby sister in the +nasty old Asylum. No, no, it ain't. I won't, I shan't listen to +the naughty story," and the excited girl covered her head with a +pillow. + +But Edith removed it gently, and with a few loving words quieted +the little lady, who said again, "Go on." + +"It was the Orphan Asylum, where Nina's sister was put, but they +didn't call her Miggie. Her dying mother gave her another name +lest the father should some time find her, and there in that great +noisy city Miggie lived five or six long years, gradually +forgetting everything in the past, everything but Marie's name and +the airs her mother used to sing. Miggie had a taste for music, +and she retained the plaintive strains sung to her as lullabys." + +"I know them, too," Nina said, beginning to hum one, while Edith +continued, + +"After a time Marie went back to France. She did not mean to stay +long, but she was attacked with a lingering, painful sickness, and +could not return to Miggie, whom a beautiful lady took at last as +her waiting-maid. Then Arthur came--Arthur, a boy--and she saw +Nina's picture." + +"The one in the locket! Nina asked, and Edith answered, "Yes, +'twas in a locket, and it puzzled Miggie till she spoke the name, +but thought it was Arthur who told her." + +"Wait, wait," cried Nina, suddenly striking her forehead a heavy +blow; "I'm getting all mixed up, and something flashes across my +brain like lightning. I reckon it's a streak of sense. It feels +like it." + +Nina was right. It was "a streak of sense," and when Edith again +resumed her story the crazy girl was very calm and quiet. + +"After a time this Miggie went to live with a blind man--with +Richard," and Edith's hands closed tightly around the snowy +fingers, which crept so quickly toward her. "She grew to be a +woman. She met this golden-haired Nina, but did not know her, +though Nina called her Miggie always, because she looked like +Petrea, and the sound to Miggie was very sweet, like music heard +long ago. They loved each other dearly, and to Miggie there was +nothing in the whole world so beautiful, so precious, as poor +little crazy Nina, Arthur's Nina, Dr. Griswold's Nina, 'Snow- +Drop,' Richard called her. You remember Richard, darling?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember everything," and Nina's chest began to +heave, her chin to quiver, her white lips, too, but still she shed +no tear, and the dry, blue eyes seemed piercing Edith's very soul +as the latter continued, rapidly, "Nina came home to Florida; she +sent for Miggie, and Miggie came, finding Marie who told her all-- +told her where the baby was--and the real Miggie fell on her face, +thanking the good Father for giving her the sweetest, dearest +sister a mortal ever had. Do you understand me, darling? Do you +know now who I am--know who Miggie is?" + +Edith's voice began to falter, and when she had finished she sat +gazing at the fairy form, which trembled and writhed a moment as +if in fearful convulsions, then the struggling ceased, the +features became composed, and raising herself in bed Nina crept +closer and closer to Edith, her lips quivering as if she fain +would speak but had not the power. Slowly the little hands were +raised and met together around Edith's neck; nearer and nearer the +white face came to the dark glowing one, until breath met breath, +lip met lip, golden tresses mixed with raven braids, and with a +cry which made the very rafters ring and went echoing far out into +the darkness, Nina said, "You are--that--that--ba-baby--the one we +thought was dead. You are my--my--Nina's--oh, Miggie, say it for +me or Nina'll choke to death. She can't think what the right word +is--the word that means MIGGIE," and poor exhausted Nina fell back +upon the pillow, while Edith, bending over her, whispered in her +ear, "Miggie means SISTER, darling; your SISTER; do you hear?" + +"Yes, yes," and again the wild, glad cry went ringing through the +house, as Nina threw herself a second time on Edith's bosom. +"Sister, sister, Nina's sister. Nina's little Miggie once, great, +tall Miggie now,--mine, my own--nobody's sister but mine. Does +Arthur know, Ho, Arthur! come quick! He is coming, don't you hear +him. Arthur, Arthur, Miggie is mine. My precious sister," and Nina +Bernard fell back fainting just as Arthur appeared in the room, +and just as from the yard without there went up from the +congregated blacks, who together with their master and Victor, had +listened to Marie's story, a deafening shout, a loud huzza for +"Miggie Bernard," come back to Sunnybank, and back to those who +generously admitted her claim, and would ere long acknowledge her +as their mistress. + +The few particulars which Edith had omitted in her story to Nina +may, perhaps, be better told now than at any other time. Mr. +Bernard, while in Paris, had been implicated in some disgraceful +affair which rendered him liable to arrest, and taking the name of +Temple, by way of avoiding suspicion, he fled to Germany, where he +met and married the beautiful Swedish Petrea, who, being young and +weary of a governess's life, was the more easily charmed with his +wealth and rather gentlemanly address. Because it suited his +peculiar nature to do so, he kept his real name from her until +they reached New York, when, fearful of meeting with some of his +acquaintances there, he confessed the fraud, laughing at it as a +good joke, and pronounced Petrea over nice for saying he had done +wrong. + +The year which followed their arrival at Sunnybank was a year of +wretchedness and pining home-sickness on the part of both mistress +and maid, until at last the former, with her love for her husband +changed to hate, determined to leave him; and in his absence, +planned the visit to Tallahassee, going instead to New York, where +she died at the house of Mrs. Jamieson, Marie's sister. Even to +the last, the dread of her hated husband prevailed, and she made +Marie swear that her child should not go back to him. + +"She will be happier to be poor," she said, "and I would rather +far that not a cent of the Bernard property should ever come into +her possession than that she should return to Sunnybank; but +sometime, Marie, when she is older, you may tell her my sad story, +and if he has become a better man, tell her who she is, and of the +bright-haired Nina. They will love each other, I am sure, for Nina +possesses nothing in common with her father, and lest she should +think ill of me for having married him, tell her how young, how +inexperienced I was, and how he deceived me, withholding even his +real name." + +This was the point on which Petrea dwelt the most, shrinking, with +a kind of pride, from having it generally known, and persisting in +calling herself Temple to Mrs. Jamieson, who supposed this to be +her real name, inasmuch as Marie had called her so on the occasion +of her first visit after landing in New York the year previous, +and before the deception had been confessed. + +"Don't undeceive her," Petrea said to Marie, who did her +mistress's bidding; and as Mrs. Jamieson was sick when Mr. Bernard +came, she did not see him, and was thus effectually kept in +ignorance that Edith's real name was Marguerite Bernard, else she +had divulged it to Richard, when in after years he came inquiring +for her parentage. + +The rest the reader knows, except indeed, how Marie came to +Sunnybank a second time, and why she had so long neglected Edith. +She was with her mistress in Germany when Richard saved the child +from drowning. She never forgot him, and when from her sister she +learned that Edith was with him, she felt that interference on her +part was unnecessary. So even after recovering from her illness +she deferred returning to America, marrying, at last, and living +in an humble way in Paris, where she more than once saw Mr. +Bernard in the streets, when he was there with Nina. So many years +had elapsed since his first visit that he had no fears of arrest, +and openly appeared in public, recognised by none save Marie, who +never could forget him. Her husband's sudden death determined her +upon coming to America and looking up her child. The vessel in +which she sailed was bound for New Orleans, and, with a desire to +visit Sunnybank once more, she first wended her way thither, +expecting to find it inhabited by strangers; for, from an American +paper, which accidentally fell into her hands, she had heard of +Mr. Bernard's decease, and later still had heard from one who was +Nina's waiting maid while in Paris, that she, too, was dead. How +this information was obtained she did not know, but believing it +to be authentic, she supposed strangers, of course, were now the +tenants of Sunnybank; and anticipated much pleasure in restoring +to the so-called Edith Hastings her rightful heritage. Great then +was her surprise to find Nina living, and when she heard that +Edith was soon expected in Florida, she determined to await her +coming. + +This was the story she told to Edith and also to the negroes, many +of whom remembered their unfortunate young mistress and her +beautiful baby Miggie still; but for the missing body they might +have doubted Marie's word, but that was proof conclusive, and +their loud hurrahs for Miss Miggie Bernard were repeated until +Nina came back to consciousness, smiling as she heard the cry and +remembered what it meant. + +"Go to them--let them see you, darling," she said; and, with +Arthur as her escort, Edith went out into the midst of the sable +group, who crowded around her, with blessings, prayers, tears and +howlings indescribable, while many a hard, black hand grasped +hers, as negro after negro called her "mistress," adding some word +of praise, which showed how proud they were of this beautiful, +queenly scion of the Bernard stock, which they had feared would +perish with Nina. Now they would be kept together--they would not +be scattered to the four winds, and one old negro fell on his +knees, kissing Edith's dress, and crying, + +"Cato bresses yon for lettin' his bones rot on de ole plantation." + +Edith was perplexed, for to her the discovery had only brought +sweet images of sistership with Nina. Money and lands formed no +part of her thoughts, and turning to Arthur she asked what it all +meant. + +Arthur did not reply at once, for he knew he held that which would +effectually take away all right from Edith. After Nina, he was Mr. +Bernard's chosen heir, but not for an instant did he waver in the +course he should pursue, and when the interview was ended with the +negroes, and Edith was again with Nina, he excused himself for a +moment, but soon returned, bearing in his hand Mr. Bernard's will, +which he bade Edith read. + +And she did read it, feeling intuitively as if her father from the +grave were speaking to her, the injured Petrea's child, and +virtually casting her aside. + +The tears gathered slowly in her eyes, dropping one by one upon +the paper, which without a word she handed back to Arthur. + +"What is it, Arthur boy?" Nina asked. "What is it that makes +Miggie cry?" + +Arthur doubted whether either of the girls would understand him if +he entered into an explanation involving many technical terms, but +he would do the best he could, and sitting down by Nina, he held +her upon his bosom, while he said, "Does my little girl remember +the time when I met her in Boston, years ago, and Charlie Hudson +brought me papers from her father?" + +"Yes," answered Nina; "there was one that had in it something +about straight jackets, and when I read it, I hit my head against +the bureau. It's never been quite right since. Is this the letter +that made Miggie cry?" + +"No," returned Arthur. "This is your father's will, made when he +thought there was no Miggie. In it, I am, his heir after you, and +Miggie hasn't a cent." + +"You may have mine, Miggie. Nina'll give you hers, she will," and +the little maiden made a movement toward Edith, while Arthur +continued, + +"Yon can't, darling. It's mine after you;" and this he said, not +to inflict fresh pain on Edith, but to try Nina, and hear what she +would say. + +There was a perplexed, troubled look in her eyes, and then, +drawing his head close to her, she whispered, + +"Couldn't you scratch it out, just as Richard did, only he didn't. +That's a good boy. He will, Miggie," and she nodded toward Edith, +while Arthur rejoined, + +"Would it please my child-wife very much to have me scratch it +out?" + +He had never called her thus before Edith until now, and he stole +a glance at her to witness the effect. For an instant she was +white as marble; then the hot blood seemed bursting from the small +round spot where it had settled in her cheeks, and involuntarily +she extended her hand toward him in token of her approval. She +could not have reassured him better than by this simple act, and +still retaining her hand, he went on, + +"When I came to Florida, after Mr. Bernard's death, my first step +was to have the will proved, and consequently this sheet is now of +very little consequence; but as you both will, undoubtedly, +breathe more freely if every vestige of this writing is removed. I +will destroy it at once, and, as soon as possible, take the legal +steps for reinstating Edith." + +Then releasing Edith's hand, Arthur took the candle from the +stand, and said to Nina, + +"Have you strength to hold it?" + +"Yes, yes," she cried, grasping it eagerly, while, with a hand far +steadier than hers, Arthur held the parchment in the flame, +watching as the scorched, brown flakes dropped upon the floor, nor +sending a single regret after the immense fortune he was giving +up. + +It was done at last. The will lay crisped and blackened upon the +carpet; Edith, in her own estimation was reinstated in her rights, +and then, as if demanding something for the sacrifice, Arthur +turned playfully to her, and winding his arm around her said, + +"Kiss me once as a sister, for such you are, and once for giving +you back your inheritance." + +The kisses Arthur craved were given, and need we say returned! +Alas, those kisses! How they burned on Edith's lips, making her so +happy--and how they blistered on Arthur's heart, making him doubt +the propriety of having given or received them. His was the braver +spirit now. He had buffeted the billow with a mightier struggle +than Edith had ever known. Around his head a blacker, fiercer +storm had blown than any she had ever felt, and from out that +tumultuous sea of despair he had come a firmer, a better man, with +strength to bear the burden imposed upon him. Were it not so he +would never have sent for Edith Hastings--never have perilled his +soul by putting himself a second time under her daily influence. +But he felt that there was that within him which would make him +choose the right, make him cling to Nina, and so he wrote to +Edith, meeting her when she came as friend meets friend, and +continually thanking Heaven which enabled him to hide from +everyone the festered wound, which at the sound of her familiar +voice smarted and burned, and throbbed until his soul was sick and +faint with pain. + +The discovery of Edith's parentage filled him with joy--joy for +Nina, and joy because an opportunity was thus afforded him of +doing an act unselfish to the last degree, for never for a single +moment did the thought force itself upon him that possibly Edith +might yet be his, and so the property come back to him again. He +had given her up, surrendered her entirely, and Richard's +interests were as safe with him as his gold and silver could have +been. Much he wished he knew exactly the nature of her feelings +toward her betrothed, but he would not so much as question Victor, +who, while noticing his calmness and self-possession, marvelled +greatly, wondering the while if it were possible that Arthur's +love were really all bestowed on Nina. It would seem so, from the +constancy with which he hung over her pillow, doing for her the +thousand tender offices, which none but a devoted husband could +do, never complaining, never tiring even when she taxed his good +nature to its utmost limit, growing sometimes so unreasonable and +peevish that even Edith wondered at his forbearance. + +It was a whim of Edith's not to write to Richard of her newly- +found relationship. She would rather tell it to him herself, she +said, and in her first letter, she merely mentioned the incidents +of her journey, saying she reached Sunnybank in safety, that Nina +was no better, that Mr. St. Claire was very kind, and Victor very +homesick, while she should enjoy herself quite well, were it not +that she knew he was so lonely without her. And this was the +letter for which Richard waited so anxiously, feeling when it came +almost as if he had not had any, and still exonerating his singing +bird from blame, by saying that she could not write lovingly to +him so long us she knew that Mrs. Matson must be the interpreter +between them. + +It was an odd-looking missive which he sent back and Edith's heart +ached to its very core as she saw the uneven handwriting, which +went up and down, the lines running into and over each other, now +diagonally, now at right angles, and again darting off in an +opposite direction as he held his pencil a moment in his fingers +and then began again. Still she managed to decipher it, and did +not lose a single word of the message intended for Nina. + +"Tell little Snowdrop the blind man sends her his blessing and his +love, thinking of her often as he sits here alone these gloomy +autumn nights, no Edith, no Nina, nothing but lonesome darkness. +Tell her that he prays she may get well again, or if she does not, +that she may be one of the bright angels which make the fields of +Jordan so beautiful and fair" + +This letter Edith took to Nina one day, when Arthur and Victor had +gone to Tallahassee, and Mrs. Lamotte was too busy with her own +matters to interrupt them. Nina had not heard of the engagement, +for Arthur could not tell her, and Edith shrank from the task as +from something disagreeable. Still she had a strong desire for +Nina to know how irrevocably she was bound to another, hoping thus +to prevent the unpleasant allusions frequently made to herself and +Arthur. The excitement of finding a sister in Miggie, had in a +measure overturned Nina's reason again, and for many days after +the disclosure she was more than usually wild, talking at random +of the most absurd things, but never for a moment losing sight of +the fact that Edith was her sister. This seemed to be the one +single clear point from which her confused ideas radiated, and the +love she bore her sister was strong enough to clear away the +tangled web of thought and bring her at last to a calmer, more +natural state of mind. There were hours in which no one would +suspect her of insanity, save that as she talked childish, and +even meaningless expressions were mingled with what she said, +showing that the woof of her intellect was defective still, and in +such a condition as this Edith found her that day when, with +Richard's letter in her hand, she seated herself upon the foot of +the bed and said, "I heard from Richard last night. You remember +him, darling?" + +"Yes, he made me Arthur's wife; but I wish he hadn't for then you +would not look so white and sorry." + +"Never mind that," returned Edith, "but listen to the message he +sent his little Snowdrop," and she read what Richard had written +to Nina. + +"I wish I could be one of those bright angels," Nina said, +mournfully, when Edith finished reading; "but, Miggie, Nina's so +bad. I can think about it this morning, for the buzzing in my head +is very faint, and I don't get things much twisted, I reckon. I've +been bad to Arthur a heap of times, and he was never anything but +kind to me. I never saw a frown on his face or heard an impatient +word, only that sorry look, and that voice so sad." + +"Don't, Nina, don't. + +"Even Dr. Griswold was not patient as Arthur. He was quicker like, +and his face would grow so red. He used to shake me hard, and once +he raised his hand, but Arthur caught it quick and said 'No, +Griswold, not that--not strike Nina,' and I was tearing Arthur's +hair out by handfuls, too. That's when I bit him. I told you +once." + +"Yes, I know," Edith replied; "but I wish to talk of something +besides Arthur, now. Are you sure you can understand me?" + +"Yes, it only buzzed like a honey-bee, right in here," and Nina +touched the top of her head, while Edith continued. + +"Did Arthur ever tell you who it was that fell into the Rhine?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Atherton wrote, and I cried so hard, but he did not say +your name was Eloise, or I should have guessed you were Miggie, +crazy as I am." + +"Possibly Grace did not so write to him," returned Edith; "but let +me tell you of Edith Hastings as she used to be when a child;" and +with the blue eyes of Nina fixed upon her, Edith narrated that +portion of her history already known to the reader, dwelling long +upon Richard's goodness, and thus seeking to prepare her sister +for the last, the most important part of all. + +"After Arthur deceived me so," she said," I thought my heart would +never cease to ache, and it never has." + +"But it will--it will," cried Nina, raising herself in bed. "When +I'm gone, it will all come right. I pray so every day, though it's +hard to do it sometimes now I know you are my sister. It would be +so nice to live with you and Arthur, and I love you so much. You +can't begin to know," and the impulsive girl fell forward on +Edith's bosom sobbing impetuously, "I love you so much, so much, +that it makes it harder to die; but I must, and when the little +snow-birds come back to the rose bushes beneath the windows of +Grassy Spring a great ways off, the hands that used to feed them +with crumbs will be laid away where they'll never tear Arthur +boy's hair any more. Oh, I wish they never had--I wish they never +had," and sob after sob shook Nina's delicate frame as she gave +vent to her sorrow for the trial she had been to Arthur. Edith +attempted to comfort her by saying, "He has surely forgiven you, +darling; and Nina, please don't talk so much of dying, Arthur and +I both hope you will live yet many years." + +"Yes, Arthur does," Nina rejoined quickly, "him praying so one +night when he thought I was asleep--I make believe half of the +time, so as to hear what he says when he kneels down over in that +corner; and once, Miggie, a great while ago, it was nothing but +one dreadful groan, except when he said, 'God help me in this my +darkest hour, and give me strength to drink this cup.' But there +wasn't any cup there for I peaked, thinking maybe he'd go some of +my nasty medicine, and it wasn't dark, either for there were two +candles on the mantel and they shone on Arthur's face, which +looked to me as if it were a thousand years old. Then he +whispered, 'Edith, Edith,' and the sound was so like a wail that I +felt my blood growing cold. Didn't you hear him, Miggie, way off +to the north; didn't you hear him call? God did, and helped him, I +reckon, for he got up and came and bent over me, kissing me so +much, and whispering, 'My wife, my Nina.' It was sweet to be so +kissed, and I fell away to sleep; but Arthur must have knelt +beside me the livelong night, for every time I moved I felt his +hand clasp mine. The next day he told me that Richard saved you +from the river, and his lips quivered as if he feared you were +really lost." + +Alas! Nina had come nearer the truth than she supposed, and Edith +involuntarily echoed her oft-repeated words, "Poor Arthur," for +she knew now what had preceded that cry of more than mortal +anguish which Arthur sent to Grace after hearing first of the +engagement. + +"Nina" she said, after a moment's silence, "before that time of +which you speak, there came a night of grief to me--a night when I +wished that I might die, because Richard asked me to be his wife-- +me, who looked upon him as my father rather than a husband. I +can't tell you what he said to me, but it was very touching, very +sad, and my heart ached so much for the poor blind man." + +"But you didn't tell him yes," interrupted Nina. "You couldn't. +You didn't love him. It's wicked to act a lie Miggie--as wicked as +'tis to tell one. Say you told him no; it chokes me just to think +of it." + +"Nina," and Edith's voice was low and earnest in its tone, "I +thought about it four whole weeks and at last I went to Richard +and said, 'I will be your wife.' I have never taken it back, I am +engaged to him, and I shall keep my word. Were it not that you +sent for me I should have been his bride ere this. I shall be his +bride on New Year's night." + +Edith spoke rapidly, as if anxious to have the task completed, and +when at last it was done, she felt that her strength was leaving +her, so great had been the effort with which she told her story to +Nina. Gradually as she talked Nina had crept away from her, and +sitting upright in bed, stared at her fixedly, her face for once +putting on the mature dignity of her years, and seeming older than +Edith's. Then the clear-minded, rational Nina spoke out, "Miggie +Bernard, were you ten thousand times engaged to Richard, it shall +not be. You must not stain your soul with a perjured vow, and you +would, were this sacrifice to be. Your lips would say 'I love,' +but your heart would belie the words, and God's curse will rest +upon you if you do Richard this cruel wrong. He does not deserve +that you should deal so treacherously with him, and Miggie, I +would far rather you were lying in the grave-yard over yonder, +than to do this great wickedness. You must not, you shall not," +and in the eyes of violet blue there was an expression beneath +which the stronger eyes of black quailed as they had done once +before, when delirium had set its mark upon them. + +It was in vain that Edith persisted in saying she did, or at least +should love Richard as he deserved. Nina was not to be convinced, +and at last, in self-defence, Edith broke out bitterly against +Arthur as the immediate cause of her sufferings. Had he not been +faithless to his marriage vow, and might she not keep hers quite +as well as he kept his. + +Nina was very white, and the swollen veins stood out full upon her +forehead as she lay panting on her pillow, but the eyes never for +an instant left Edith's, as she replied, "Arthur was in fault, +Miggie, greatly in fault, but there was much to excuse his error. +He was so young; not as old as you, Miggie, and Sarah Warren urged +us on. I knew afterward why she did it, too. She is dead now, and +I would not speak against her were it not necessary, but, Miggie, +she wanted Dr. Griswold, and she fancied he liked me, so she would +remove me from her path; and she did. She worked upon my love of +the romantic, and Arthur's impulsive nature, until she persuaded +us to run away. While we were on the road, Arthur whispered to me, +'Let's go back,' but I said, 'No,' while Sarah, who overheard him, +sneered at him as cowardly, and we went on. Then father took me +off to Paris, and I dared not tell him, he was so dreadful when he +was angry; and then I loved Charlie Hudson, and loved him the more +because I knew I musn't." + +The mature expression was passing rapidly from Nina's face, and +the child-like one returning in its stead as she continued, + +"I couldn't bear to think of Arthur, and before I came home I +determined never to live with him as his wife. I didn't know then +about this buzzing in my head, and the first thing I did when +alone with him at the Revere House was to go down on my knees and +beg of him not to make me keep my vow. I told him I loved Charlie +best, and he talked so good to me--said maybe I'd get over it, and +all that. Then he read pa's letter, which told what I would some +time be, and he didn't ask me after that to live with him, but +when he came from Florida and found me so dreadful, he put his +arms around me, loving-like, and cried, while I raved like a fury +and snapped at him like a dog. You see the buzzing was like a +great noisy factory then, and Nina didn't know what she was doing, +she hated him so, and the more he tried to please her the more she +hated him. Then, when I came to my senses enough to think I did +not want our marriage known, I made him promise not to tell, in +Florida or anywhere, so he didn't, and the weary years wore on +with people thinking I was his ward. Dr. Griswold was always kind +and good, but not quite as patient and woman-like as Arthur. It +seemed as if he had a different feeling toward me, and required +more of me, for he was not as gentle when I tore as Arthur was. I +was terribly afraid of him, though, and after a while he did me +good. The buzzing wasn't bigger than a mill-wheel, and it creaked +just as a big wheel does when there is no water to carry it. It +was crying that I wanted. I had not wept in three years, but the +sight of you touched a spring somewhere and the waters poured like +a flood, turning the wheel without that grating noise that used to +drive me mad, and after that I never tore but once. He didn't tell +you, because I asked him not, but I scratched him, struck Phillis, +burned up his best coat, broke the mirror, and oh, you don't know +how I did cut up! Then the pain went away and has never come back +like that. Sometimes I can see that it was wrong for him to love +you and then again I can't, but if it was he has repented so +bitterly of it since. He would not do it now. He needn't have told +you, either, for everybody was dead, and it never would have come +back to me if he hadn't said it in the Deering Woods. Don't you +see?" + +"Yes, I see," cried Edith, her tears dropping fast into her lap, +"I see that I tempted him to sin. Oh, Arthur, I am most to blame-- +most to blame." + +"And you will give up Richard, won't you?" Nina said. "Arthur is +just as good, just as noble, just as true, and better too, it may +be, for he has passed through a fiercer fire than Richard ever +did. Will you give up Richard?" + +"I can't," and Edith shook her head. "The chords by which he holds +me are like bands of steel, and cannot be sundered. I promised +solemnly that by no word or deed would I seek to break our +engagement, and I dare not. I should not be happy if I did." + +And this was all Nina could wring from her, although she labored +for many hours, sometimes rationally, sometimes otherwise, but +always with an earnest simplicity which showed how pure were her +motives, and how great her love for Edith. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +ARTHUR AND NINA. + + +It was rather late in the evening when Arthur returned, looking +more than usually pale and weary, and still there was about him an +air of playful pleasantry, such as there used to be, when Edith +first knew him. During the long ride to Tallahassee, Victor, +either from accident or design, touched upon the expected marriage +of his master, and although Arthur would not ask a single +question, he was a deeply-interested auditor, and listened +intently, while Victor told him much which had transpired between +himself and Edith, saying that unless some influence stronger than +any he or Grace could exert were thrown around her, she would keep +her vow to Richard, even though she died in keeping it. + +"Girls like Edith Hastings do not die easily," was Arthur's only +comment, and Victor half wished he had kept his own counsel and +never attempted to meddle in a love affair. + +But if Arthur said nothing, he thought the more, and the warfare +within was not the less severe, because his face was so unruffled +and his manner so composed. Thought, intense and almost +bewildering, was busy at work, and ere the day was done, he had +resolved that he would help Edith if all else forsook her. He +would not throw one single obstacle across her pathway. He would +make the sacrifice easier for her, even if to do it, he suffered +her to think that his own love had waned. Nothing could more +effectually cure her, and believing that she might be happy with +Richard if she did not love another, he determined to measure +every word and act so as to impress her with the conviction that +though she was dear to him as a sister and friend, he had +struggled with his affection for her and overcome it. It would be +a living death to do this, he knew--to act so contrary to what he +felt, but it was meet that he should suffer, and when at last he +was left alone--when both wore lost to him forever--Edith and his +child-wife Nina, he would go away across the sea, and lose, if +possible, in foreign lands, all rememberance of the past. And this +it was that made him seem so cheerful when he came in that night, +calling Edith "little sister," winding his arm around Nina, +kissing her white face, asking if she had missed him any, if she +were glad to have him back, and how she and Miggie had busied +themselves during the day. + +"We talked of you, Arthur, and of Richard," Nina said. "Miggie has +promised to many him! Did you know it?" + +"Yes, I know it," was Arthur's reply; "and there is no person in +the world to whom I would sooner give her than to Richard, for I +know he will leave nothing undone to make her happy." + +There was no tremor in Arthur's voice, and Nina little guessed how +much it cost him thus to speak, with Edith sitting near. Looking +up into his face with a startled, perplexed expression, she said, +"I did not expect this, Arthur boy. I thought you loved Miggie." + +"Nina, please don't," and Edith spoke entreatingly, but Nina +answered pettishly, "I ain't going to please, for everything has +got upside down. It's all going wrong, and it won't make a speck +of difference, as I see, whether I die or not." + +"I think I'd try to live then," Arthur said, laughingly, while +Edith hailed the appearance of Marie as something which would put +a restraint upon Nina. + +It had been arranged that Edith should take Arthur's place in the +sick room that night, but Nina suddenly changed her mind, +insisting that Arthur should sleep there as usual. + +"There's a heap of things I must tell you," she whispered to him; +"and my head is clearer when it's darker and the candles are on +the stand." + +So Edith retired to her own room, and after a time Arthur was +alone with Nina. He was very tired, but at her request he sat down +beside her, where she could look into his face and see, as she +said, if he answered her for true. At first it was of herself she +spoke--herself, as she used to be. + +"I remember so well," she said "when you called me your Florida +rose, and asked for one of my curls. That was long ago, and there +have been years of darkness since, but the clouds are breaking +now--daylight is coming up, or rather Nina is going out, into the +daylight, where there is no more buzzing, no more headache. Will I +be crazy in Heaven, think?" + +"No, darling, no," and Arthur changed his seat from the chair to +the bed, where he could be nearer to the little girl, who +continued, + +"I've thought these many weeks how good you've been to me--how +happy you have made my last days, while I have been so bad to you, +but you musn't remember it against me, Arthur boy, when I'm dead +and there isn't any naughty Nina anywhere, neither at the Asylum, +nor Grassy Spring, nor here in bed, nothing but a teenty grave, +out in the yard, with the flowers growing on it, I say you must +not remember the wicked things I've done, for it wasn't the Nina +who talks to you now. It was the buzzing Nina who tore your hair, +and scratched your face, and bit your arm. Oh, Arthur, Nina's so +sorry now; but you musn't lay it up against me." + +"No, my darling, God forbid that I, who have wronged you so +terribly, should remember aught against you," and Arthur kissed +the slender hands which had done him so much mischief. + +They were harmless now, those little waxen hands, and they +caressed Arthur's face and hair as Nina went on. + +"Arthur boy, there's one question I must ask you, now there's +nobody to hear, and you will tell me truly. Do you love me any-- +love me differently from what you did when I was in the Asylum, +and if the buzzing all was gone, and never could come back, would +you really make me your wife just as other husbands do--would you +let me sit upon your knee, and not wish it was some one else, and +in the night when you woke up and felt me close to you would you +be glad thinking it was Nina? And when you had been on a great +long journey, and were coming home, would the smoke from the +chimney look handsomer to you because you knew it was Nina waiting +for you by the hearth-stone, and keeping up the fire? Don't tell +me a falsehood, for I'll forgive you, if you answer no." + +"Yes, Nina, yes. I would gladly take you as my wife if it could +be. My broken lily is very precious to me now, far more so than +she used to be. The right love for her began to grow the moment I +confessed she was my wife, and when she's gone, Arthur will be so +lonely." + +"Will you, Arthur boy? Will you, as true as you live and breathe, +miss poor, buzzing Nina? Oh, I'm so glad, so glad," and the great +tears dimmed the brightness of the blue eyes, which looked up so +confidingly at Arthur. "I, too, have loved you a heap; not exactly +as I loved Charlie Hudson, I reckon, but the knowing you are my +husband, makes Nina feel kind of nice, and I want you to love me +some--miss me some--mourn for me some, and then, Arthur, Nina +wants you to marry Miggie. There is no buzzing; no twist in her +head. It will rest as quietly on your bosom where mine has never +lain, not as hers will, I mean, and you both will be so happy at +last--happy in knowing that Nina has gone out into the eternal +daylight, where she would rather be. You'll do it, Arthur; she +must not marry Richard, and you must speak to her quick, before +she goes home, so as to stop it, for New Year's is the time. Will +you, Arthur?" + +There was an instant of silence in the room--Nina waiting for +Arthur to speak, and Arthur mustering all his strength to answer +her as he felt he must. + +"My darling," laying his face down upon her neck among her yellow +curls, "I shall never call another by the dear name I call you +now, my wife." + +"Oh, Arthur," and Nina's cheeks flushed with indignant surprise, +that he, too, should prove refractory. Everything indeed, was +getting upside down. "Why not?" she asked. "Don't you love +Miggie?" + +"Yes, very, very dearly! but it is too much to hope that she will +ever be mine. I do not deserve it. You ask me my forgiveness, +Nina. Alas! alas! I have tenfold more need of yours. It did not +matter that we both wearied of our marriage vows, made when we +were children--did not matter that you are crazy--I had no right +to love another. + +"But you have paid for it all a thousand times!" interrupted Nina. +"You are a better Arthur than you were before, and Nina never +could see the wrong in your preferring beautiful, sensible Miggie, +to crazy, scratching, biting, teasing Nina, even if Richard had +said over a few words, of which neither of us understood the +meaning, or what it involved, this taking for better or worse. It +surely cannot be wrong to marry Miggie when I'm gone, and you +will, Arthur, you will!" + +"No, Nina, no! I should be adding sin to sin did I seek to change +her decision, and so wrong the noble Richard. His is the first, +best claim. I will not interfere. Miggie must keep her word +uninfluenced by me. I shall no raise my voice against it." + +"Oh, Arthur, Arthur!" Nina cried, clasping her hands together; +"Miggie does not love him, and you surely know the misery of a +marriage without love. It must not be! It shall no be! you can +save Miggie, and you must!" + +Every word was fainter than the preceding, and, when the last was +uttered, Nina's head dropped from Arthur's shoulder to the pillow, +and he saw a pinkish stream issuing from her lips. A small blood +vessel had been ruptured, and Arthur, who knew the danger, laid +his hand upon her mouth as he saw her about to speak, bidding her +be quiet if she would not die at once. + +Death, however long and even anxiously expected is unwelcome at +the last, and Nina shrank from its near approach, laying very +still, while Arthur summoned aid. Only once she spoke, and then +she whispered, "Miggie," thus intimating that she would have her +called. In much alarm Edith came, trembling when she saw the +fearful change which had passed over Nina, whose blue eyes +followed her movements intently, turning often from her to Arthur +as If they fain would utter what was in her mind. But not then was +Nina St. Claire to die. Many days and nights were yet appointed +her, and Arthur and Edith watched her with the tenderest care; +only these two, for so Nina would have it. Holding their hands in +hers she would gaze from one to the other with a wistful, pleading +look, which, far better than words, told what she would say, were +It permitted her to speak, but in the deep brown eyes of Arthur, +she read always the same answer, while Edith's would often fill +with tears as she glanced timidly at the apparently cold, silent +man, who, she verily believed, had ceased to love her. + +But Nina knew better. Clouded as was her reason, she penetrated +the mask he wore, and saw where the turbulent waters surged around +him, while with an iron will and a brave heart he contended with +the angry waves, and so outrode the storm. And as she watched them +day after day, the purpose grew strong within her that if it were +possible the marriage of Edith and Richard should be prevented, +and as soon as she was able to talk she broached the subject to +them both. + +"Stay, Miggie," she said to Edith, who was stealing from the room. +"Hear me this once. You are together now, you and Arthur." + +"Nina," said the latter, pitying Edith's agitation, "You will +spare us both much pain if you never allude again to what under +other circumstances might have been." + +"But I must," cried Nina. "Oh, Arthur, why won't you go to Richard +and tell him all about it?" + +"Because it would be wrong," was Arthur's answer, and then Nina +turned to Edith, "Why won't you, Miggie?" + +"Because I have solemnly promised that I would not," was her +reply. + +And Nina rejoined, "Then I shall write. He loved little Snow Drop. +He'll heed what she says when she speaks from the grave. I'll send +him a letter." + +"Who'll take it or read it to him if you do?" Arthur asked, and +the troubled eyes of blue turned anxiously to Edith. + +"Miggie, sister, won't you?" + +Edith shook her head, not very decidedly, it is true, still it was +a negative shake, and Nina said, "Arthur boy, will you?" + +"No, Nina, no." + +Hia answer was determined, and poor, discouraged Nina sobbed +aloud, "Who will, who will?" + +In the adjoining room there was a rustling sound--a coming +footstep, and Victor Dupres appeared in the door. He had been an +unwilling hearer of that conversation, and when Nina cried "who +will?" he started up, and coming into the room as if by accident, +advanced to the bedside and asked in his accustomed friendly way, +"How is Nina to-night?" Then bending over her so that no one +should hear, he whispered softly, "Don't tell them, but I'll read +that letter to Richard!" + +Nina understood him and held his hand a moment while she looked +the thanks she dared not speak. + +"Nina must not talk any more" Arthur said, as Victor walked away, +"she is wearing out too fast," and with motherly tenderness he +smoothed her tumbled pillow--pushed back behind her ears the +tangled curls--kissed her forehead, and then went out into the +deepening night, whose cool damp air was soothing to his burning +brow, and whose sheltering mantle would tell no tales of his white +face or of the cry which came heaving up from where the turbulent +waters lay, "if it be possible let this temptation pass from me, +or give me strength to resist it." + +His prayer was heard--the turmoil ceased at last--the waters all +were stilled, and Arthur went back to Nina, a calm, quiet man, +ready and willing to meet whatever the future might bring. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +LAST DAYS. + + +"Aunt Hannah will stay with me to-night," Nina said to Arthur the +next day, referring to an old negress who had taken cure of her +when a child; and Arthur yielded to her request the more +willingly, because of his own weariness. + +Accordingly old Hannah was installed watcher in the sick room, +receiving orders that her patient should not on any account be +permitted to talk more than was absolutely necessary. Nina heard +this injunction of Arthur and a smile of cunning flitted across +her face as she thought how she would turn it to her own advantage +in case Hannah refused to comply with her request, which she made +as soon as they were left alone. + +Hannah must first prop her up in bed, she said, and then give her +her port-folio, paper, pen and ink. As she expected, the negress +objected at once, bidding her be still, but Nina declared her +intention of talking as fast and as loudly as she could, until her +wish was gratified. Then Hannah threatened calling Arthur, +thereupon the willful little lady rejoined, "I'll scream like +murder, if you do, and burst every single blood-vessel I've got, +so bring me the paper, please, or shall I got it myself," and she +made a motion as if the would leap upon the floor, while poor old +Hannah, regretting the task she had undertaken, was compelled to +submit and bring the writing materials as desired. + +"Now you go to sleep," Nina said coaxingly, and as old Hannah +found but little difficulty in obeying the command, Nina was left +to herself while she wrote that long, long message, a portion of +which we give below. + +"DEAR MR. RICHARD: + +"Poor blind man! Nina is so sorry for you to-night, because she +knows that what she has to tell you will crush the strong life all +out of your big heart, and leave it as cold and dead as she will +be when Victor reads this to you. There won't be any Nina then, +for Miggie and Arthur, and a heap more, will have gone with their +way out where both my mothers are lying, and Miggie'll cry, I +reckon when she hears the gravel stones ruttling down just over my +head, but I shall know they cannot hit me, for the coffin-lid will +be between, and Nina'll lie so still. No more pain; no more +buzzing; no more headache; no more darkness; won't it be grand, +the rest I'm going to. I shan't be crazy in Heaven. Arthur says +so; and he knows. + +"Poor Arthur! It is of him and Miggie I am writing to you, if I +ever can get to them; and Richard; when you hear this read, +Nina'll be there with you; but you can't see her, because you're +blind, and you couldn't see if you wern't, but she'll be there +just the same. She'll sit upon your knee, and wind her arms around +your neck, so as to comfort you when the great cry comes in, the +crash like the breaking up of the winter ice on the northern +ponds, and when you feel yourself all crushed like they are in the +spring, listen and you'll hear her whispering, 'Poor Richard, Nina +pities you so much! She'll kiss your tears away, too, though maybe +you won't feel her. And, Richard, you'll do right, won't you. +You'll give Miggie up. You'll let Arthur have her, and so bring +back the sunshine to her face. She's so pale now and sorry, and +the darkness lies thickly around her. + +"There are three kinds of darkness, Richard. One like mine, when +the brain has a buzz in the middle, and everything is topsy-turvy. +One, like yours, when the world is all shut out with its beauty +and its flowers; and then there's another, a blacker darkness when +the buzz is in the heart, making it wild with pain. Such, Richard +is the darkness, which lies like a pall around our beautiful +sister Miggie, and it will deepen and deepen unless you do what +Nina asks you to do, and what Miggie never will, because she +promised that she wouldn't-----" + +Then followed the entire story of the marriage performed by +Richard, of the grief which followed, of Arthur's gradually +growing love of Edith, of the scene of the Deering Woods, of the +incidents connected with Edith's sickness, her anguish at parting +with Arthur, her love for him still, her struggles to do right, +and her determination to keep her engagement even though she died +in doing it. + +All this was told in Nina's own peculiar style; and then came her +closing appeal that Richard himself should break the bonds and set +poor Miggie free. + +"... It will be dreadful at first, I know, and may be all three of +the darknesses will close around you for a time,--darkness of the +heart, darkness of the brain, and darkness of the eyes, but it +will clear away and the daylight will break, in which you will be +happier than in calling Miggie your wife, and knowing how she +shrinks from you, suffering your caresses only because she knows +she must, but feeling so sick at her stomach all the time, and +wishing you wouldn't touch her. I know just how it feels, for when +Arthur kissed me, or took my hand, or even came in my sight, +before the buzz got into my head, it made me so cold and faint and +ugly, the way the Yankees mean, knowing he was my husband when I +wanted Charlie Hudson. Don't subject Miggie to this horrid fate. +Be generous and give her up to Arthur. He may not deserve her more +than you, but she loves him the best and that makes a heap of +difference. + +"It's Nina who asks it, Richard; dead Nina not a living one. She +is sitting on your knee; her arms are round your neck; her face +against yours and you must not tell her no, or she'll cling to you +day and night, night and day; when you are in company and when you +are alone. When it is dark and lonely and all but you asleep, +she'll sit upon your pillow and whisper continually, 'Give Miggie +up; give Miggie up,' or if you don't, and Miggie's there beside +you, Nina'll stand between you; a mighty, though invisible shield, +and you'll feel it's but a mockery, the calling her your wife when +her love is given to another. + +"Good bye, now, Richard, good bye. My brain begins to buzz, my +hand to tremble. The lines all run together, and I am most as +blind as you. God bless you, Mr. Richard; bless you any way, but a +heap more if you give Miggie up. May be He'll give you back your +sight to pay for Miggie. I should rather have it than a wife who +did not love me; and I'll tease Him till He'll let me bring it to +you some day. + +"Good bye, again, good bye. + +"NINA ARTHUR BERNARD." + +The night was nearly worn away ere the letter was finished; and +Nina's eyes flashed with unwonted fire as laughing aloud at the +Arthur added to her name, she laid it away beneath her pillow and +then tried herself to sleep. But this last was impossible, and +when the morning broke she was so much worse that the old nurse +trembled lest her master should censure her severely for having +yielded to her young mistress's whim. Mild and gentle as he +seemed, Arthur could, if necessary, be very stern, and knowing +this, old Hannah concluded at last that if Nina did not betray +herself she would not, and when Arthur came, expressing his +surprise at the change, and asking for its cause, she told glibly +"how restless and onquiet Miss Nina done been flirtin' round till +the blood all got in her head and she was dreadful." + +"You should have called me," Arthur said, sitting down by Nina, +whose feverish hands he clasped, while he asked, "Is my little +girl's head very bad this morning?" + +Nina merely nodded, for she really was too weak to talk, and +Arthur watched her uneasily, wondering why it was that her eyes +were fixed so constantly upon the door, as if expecting some one. +When breakfast was announced she insisted that both he and Edith +should leave her, and, the moment they were gone, she asked for +Victor, who came at once, half guessing why he was sent for. + +"Under my pillow," she whispered, as he bent over her, and in an +instant the letter, of whose existence neither Arthur nor Edith +suspected, was safe in Victor's pocket. + +Nina had accomplished her object, and she became unusually quiet. +Richard would get the letter--Richard would do right, she knew, +and the conviction brought to her a deep peace, which nothing ever +after disturbed. She did not speak of him again, and her last days +were thus pleasanter to Edith, who, from the sweet companionship +held with her gentle sister, learned in part what Nina Bernard +was, ere the darkness of which she had written to Richard crept +into her brain. Fair and beautiful as the white pond lily, she +faded rapidly, until Arthur carried her no longer to the window, +holding her in his arms while she looked out upon the yard and +garden where she used to play--but she lay all day upon her bed +holding Edith's hands, and talking to her of that past still so +dim and vague to the latter. Marie, too, often joined them, +repeating to Edith many incidents of interest connected with both +her parents, but speaking most of the queenly Petrea, whom Edith +so strongly resembled. Nina, too, remembered her well, and Edith +was never weary of hearing her tell of the "beautiful new mamma," +who kissed her so tenderly that night when she first came home, +calling her la petite enfant, and placing in her arms a darling +little sister, with eyes just like the stars! + +Very precious to Edith was the memory of those days, when she +watched the dying Nina, who, as death drew near, clung closer and +closer to her sister, refusing to let her go. + +"I want you with me," she said, one afternoon, when the late +autumn rain was beating against the window-pane, and the clouds +hung leaden and dull in the Southern sky. "I want you and Arthur, +both, to lead me down to the very edge of the river, and not let +go my hands until the big waves wash me away, for Nina's a wee bit +of a girl, and she'll be afraid to launch out alone upon the +rushing stream. I wish you'd go too, Miggie,--go over Jordan with +me. Why does God make me go alone?" + +"You will not go alone, my darling!" and Edith's voice was choked +with tears as she told the listening Nina of one whose arm would +surely hold her up, so that the waters should not overflow. + +"It's the Saviour you mean," and Nina spoke reverently. "I loved +Him years ago before the buzzing came, but I've been so bad since +then, that I'm afraid that He'll cast me off. Will He, think? When +I tell him I am little Nina Bernard come from Sunnybank, will He +say, 'Go 'way old crazy Nina, that tore poor Arthur boy's hair?'" + +"No, no, oh, no," and Edith sobbed impetuously as she essayed to +comfort the bewildered girl, whose mind grasped but faintly the +realities of eternity. + +"And you'll stand on the bank till I am clear across," she said, +when Edith had ceased speaking, "You and Arthur stand where I can +see you if I should look back. And, Miggie, I have a presentiment +that Nina'll go to-night, but I don't want any body here except +you and Arthur. I remember when grandma died the negroes howled so +dismally, and they didn't love her one bit either. They used to +make mouths at her, and hide her teeth. But they do love me, and +their screeches will get my head all in a twist. I'd rather they +wouldn't know till morning; then when they ask for me Arthur'll +tell them sorry like that Nina's dead; Nina's gone into the +daylight, and left a world of love to them who have been so kind +to her. Don't let them crowd up around me, or make too much ado. +It isn't worth the while, for I'm of no account, and you'll be +good to them Miggie--good to the poor ignorant blacks. They are +your's after me, and I love them a heap. Don't let them be sold, +will you?" + +Here Nina paused, too much exhausted to talk longer, and when +about dark Arthur came in, he found her asleep with Edith at her +side, while upon her face and about her nose there was a sharp, +pitched look he had never seen before. Intuitively, however, he +knew that look was the harbinger of death, and when Edith told him +what Nina had said, he felt that ere the morning came his broken +lily would be gone. + +Slowly the evening wore on, and one by one the family retired, +leaving Arthur and Edith alone with the pale sleeper whose +slumbers ended not until near the midnight hour; silently, sadly, +Arthur and Edith watched her, she on one side, he upon the other, +neither speaking for the sorrow which lay so heavy at their +hearts, She was very beautiful as she lay there so motionless, and +Arthur felt his heart clinging more and more to his fair, childish +wife, while his conscience smote him cruelly for any wrong he +might have done to her. She was going from him now so fast, and as +the clock struck twelve the soft blue eyes unclosed and smiled up +in his face with an expression which, better than words could do, +told that she bore no malice toward him, nothing but trusting +faith and confiding love. He had been kind to her, most kind, and +she told him so again, for she seemed to know how dear to him such +testimonial would be when she was gone. + +"The clouds are weeping for Nina," she said, as she heard the rain +still beating against the window. "Will it make the river deeper, +think? I hear its roar in the distance. It's just beginning to +heave in sight, and I dread it so much. 'Twill be lonesome +crossing this dismal, rainy night. Oh, Arthur--boy, Arthur--boy, +let me stay with you. Can't you keep me? Can't you hide me +somewhere? you, Miggie? I won't be in the way. It's so icy, and +the river is so deep. Save me, do!" and she stretched out her +hands to Arthur as if imploring him to hold her back from the +rushing stream bearing down so fast upon her. + +Forcing down his own great grief, Arthur took her in his arms and +hugging her fondly to him, sought to comfort her by whispering of +the blessed Saviour who would carry her in His bosom beyond the +swelling flood, and Nina, as she listened, grew calm and still, +while something like the glory of the better land shone upon her +face as she repeated after him, "There'll be no night, no darkness +there, no headache, no pain,--nor buzzing either?" she suddenly +asked. "Say, will there be any buzzing brains in Heaven?" + +Arthur shook his head, and she continued, "That will be so nice, +and Dr. Griswold will be so glad when he knows Nina is not crazy. +He's gone before, I reckon, to take care of me,--gone where +there's nothing but daylight, glorious, grand; kiss me again, +Arthur boy. 'Tis sweet to die upon your bosom with Miggie standing +near, and when you both are happy in each other's love, don't +quite forget little Nina,--Nina out under the flowers, will you? +She's done a heap of naughtiness, I know; but she's sorry, Arthur, +she is so sorry that she ever bit your arm or tore your hair! Poor +hair! Pretty brown hair! Bad Nina made the white threads come," +and her childish hands caressed the thick brown locks mingling +with her sunny curls, as Arthur bent over her, answering only with +his tears, which fell in torrents. + +"Don't, darling, don't," he said, at last. "The bad has all been +on my side, and I would that you should once more say I am +forgiven." + +Nina gazed wonderingly at him a moment, then made a motion that he +should lay her back upon the pillow. + +"Now put your head down here, right on my neck--so." + +He complied with her request, and placing both her bands upon the +bowed head of the young man, Nina whispered, + +"May the Good Shepherd, whose lamb Nina hopes to be, keep my +Arthur boy, and bless him a hundred fold for all he's been to me, +and if he has wronged me, which I don't believe, but if he has, +will God please forgive him as fully, as freely as Nina does--the +best Arthur boy that ever lived. I'll tell God all about it, and +how I pestered you, and how good you were, my Arthur boy--Nina's +Arthur first and Miggie's after me. Now put your arms around me +again," she said, as she finished the blessing which brought such +peace to Arthur. "Put them around me tight, for the river is +almost here. Don't you hear its splashing? Miggie, Miggie," she +cried, shivering as with an ague chill, "hold my hand with all +your might, but don't let me pull you in. I'm going down the bank. +My feet are in the water, and it's so freezing cold. I'm sinking, +too, and the big waves roll over me. Oh, Arthur, you said it would +not hurt," and the dim eyes flashed upon the weeping man a most +reproachful glance, as if he had deceived her, while the feet were +drawn shudderingly up, as if they had, indeed, touched the chill +tide of death, and shrank affrighted from it. Edith could only sob +wildly, as she grasped the clammy hand stretched toward her, but +Arthur, more composed, whispered to the dying girl, + +"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I +will fear no evil, for thou, Lord, art with me; thy staff and thy +rod, they comfort me." + +"Look away to the shore," he continued, as Nina ceased to +struggle, and lay still on his bosom. "Look away to the glorious +city--my darling is almost there." + +"Yes, yes, I do, I am," came faintly up, and then with a glad cry +of joy, which rang in their ears for many a day and night, Nina +said, + +"You may lay me down, my Arthur boy, and take your arm away. +There's a stronger one than yours around me now. The arm that +Miggie told me of, and it will not let me down. I'm going over so +easy, easy, in a cradle-like, and Dr. Griswold's there waiting for +clipped-winged birdie. He looks so glad, so happy. It is very nice +to die; but stand upon the bank, Arthur and Miggie. Wait till I'm +across." + +They thought she had left them, when softly, sweetly, as if it +were a note of heavenly music sent back to them from the other +world, there floated on the air the words, + +"Climb up the bank, I'm most across. I do not see you now. MOTHER- +-and Miggie's mother--and Dr. Griswold have waded out to meet me. +The darkness is passed, the daylight has dawned; Miggie precious, +and darling Arthur boy, good-bye, for Nina's gone, good-bye." + +The white lips never moved again, the waxen hands lay lifelessly +in Arthur's, the damp, bright hair lay half-uncurled upon the +pillow, the blue eyes were closed, the aching head was still, the +"twisted brain" had ceased to "buzz," the Darkness for her was +over, and Nina had gone out into the Daylight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +PARTING WITH THE DEAD, AND PARTING WITH THE LIVING. + + +Softly the morning broke and the raindrops glittered like diamonds +in the rising sun, whose rays fell mockingly upon desolate +Sunnybank, where the howling of the blacks mingled with the sobs +of those more nearly bereaved. Very troublesome had the beautiful +departed been in life; none knew how troublesome one-half so well +as Arthur, and yet of all the weeping band who gathered around her +bed, none mourned her more truly than did he who had been her +husband in name for eleven years. Eleven years! How short they +seemed, looked back upon, and how much sorrow they had brought +him. But this was all forgotten, and in his heart there was naught +save tender love for the little maiden now forever at rest. + +All the day he sat by her, and both Edith and Victor felt that it +was not the mere semblance of grief he wore, while others of the +household, who knew nothing of his past in connection with Edith, +said to each other, "It is strange he should love her so well when +she was so much care to him." + +They did not know it was this very care for her; this bearing with +her which made her so dear to him, and as the mother longs for and +wishes back the unfortunate but beloved child which made her life +so wearisome so Arthur mourned and wept for Nina, thanking God one +moment that her poor, pain-worn head was at rest, and again +murmuring to himself, "I would that I had her back again." + +He scarcely spoke to Edith, although he knew whenever her +footsteps crossed the threshold of the darkened room; knew when +she bent over Nina; heard the kisses she pressed on the cold lips; +and even watched until it was dry the tear she once left on Nina's +cheek, but he held no communication with her, and she was left to +battle with her grief alone. Once, indeed, she went to him and +asked what Nina should be buried in, and this for a time roused +him from his apathetic grief. + +"Nina must be buried in white," he said; "she looked the best in +that; and, Edith, I would have her curls cut off, all but those +that shade her face. You have arranged them every day. Will you do +so once more if I will hold her up?" + +Edith would rather the task had devolved upon some one else, but +she offered no objection, though her tears fell like rain when she +brought the curling-stick and brush and began to separate the +tangled locks, while Arthur encircled the rigid form with his arm, +as carefully as if she still were living, watching her with +apparent interest as she twined about her fingers the golden hair. +But when, at last, she held the scissors which were to sever those +bright tresses, his fortitude all gave way, for he remembered +another time when he had held poor Nina, not as he held her now, +but with a stronger, firmer grasp, while, by rougher hands than +Edith's, those locks were shorn away. Groan after groan came from +his broad chest, and his tears moistened the long ringlets he so +lovingly caressed. + +"You may cut them now," he said at last, holding his breath as if +the sharp steel were cutting into his heart's core, as, one by +one, the yellowish curls were severed, and dropped, some into +Edith's lap, while others, lodging upon his fingers, curled about +them with a seemingly human touch, making him moan bitterly, as he +pressed them to his lips, and then shook them gently off. + +Nina's hair, like her sister's, had been her crowning glory--so +thick, so wavy, so luxuriant it was; and when the task was done, +and the tresses divided, five heavy curls were Arthur's and five +more were Edith's. + +"Where shall I put yours?" Edith asked, and for a moment Arthur +did not answer. + +In a rosewood box, into which he had not looked for years, there +was a mass of longer, paler, more uneven curls than these, but +Arthur would not distress Edith by telling her about them, and he +replied, at last, "I will put them away, myself." Then taking them +from her and going to his own private chamber, he opened the box +and dropped them in, weeping when he saw how strongly they +contrasted with the other faded crazy curls, as he called them. + +In a plain white muslin, which had been made for Nina at Grassy +Spring, they arrayed her for the coffin, the soft, rich lace +encircling her throat and falling about her slender arms folded so +meekly together. Flowers were twined about her head--flowers were +on her pillow--flowers in her hands--flowers upon her bosom-- +flowers of purest white, and meet emblems of the sweet young girl, +whose features, to the last, retained the same childlike, peaceful +expression which had settled upon them when she called back to +Arthur, "Climb up the bank. I'm most across." + +The day of her burial was balmy and warm, and the southern wind +blew softly across the fields as the weeping band followed the +lost one across the threshold and laid her away where the flowers +of spring would blossom above her little grave. Very lonely and +desolate seemed the house when the funeral train returned to it, +and the lamentations of the blacks broke out afresh as they began +to realize that their young mistress was really gone, and +henceforth another must fill her place. Would it be Arthur or +would it be the queenly Edith, whose regal beauty had captivated +all their hearts? Assembled in the kitchen they discussed this +question, giving to neither the preference, for though they had +tried Arthur and found him a kind and humane master, they felt +that after Nina, Edith had the right. Then, as other than blacks +will do, they speculated upon the future, wondering why both +Arthur and Edith could not rule jointly over them; they would like +that vastly, and had nearly decided that it would be, when Victor, +who was with them, tore down their castle by telling them that +Edith was already engaged to some one else. This changed the +channel of conversation, and Victor left them wondering still what +the future would bring. + +Slowly the evening passed, in kitchen and in parlor and only those +who have felt it can tell the unspeakable loneliness of that first +evening after the burial of the dead. Several times Arthur started +as if he would go to the bed standing empty in the corner, while +Edith, too, fancied that she heard the name "Miggie," spoken as +only Nina could speak it. Then came a feeling of desolation as the +thought was forced upon them, "She is gone;" and as the days went +on till three suns had risen on her grave, the loneliness +increased until Edith could bear it no longer, and to Victor she +said, "We will go back to Richard, who is waiting so anxiously for +us." + +Everything which Arthur could do he did to reinstate Edith in her +rights. Not one dollar of the Bernard estate had he ever spent for +himself and very little for Nina, preferring to care for her out +of his own resources and thus the property had increased so +rapidly that Edith was richer than her wildest hopes. But not one +feather did this weigh with her, and on the day when matters were +arranged, she refused to do or say anything about it, persisting +so obstinately in her refusal, that the servants whispered slily +to each other, "That's a heap of old marster's grit thar." + +For a time Arthur coaxed and reasoned with her; then finding that +this did not avail, he changed the mode of treatment, and, placing +a chair by his own, said to her commandingly, "Edith, sit here!" +and she sat there, for there was that in Arthur's sternness which +always enforced obedience. + +"It cannot be more unpleasant for you than for me, but it is +necessary," he said to her, in a low tone, as she sank into her +seat, and ashamed of her willfulness, Edith whispered back, "I am +sorry I behaved so like a child. Forgive me won't you?" + +Still it grated harshly, this being compelled to listen while the +lawyer, summoned by Arthur, talked to her of lands and mortgages, +of bank stock, and, lastly, of the negroes. Would she have them +sold, or what? Then Edith roused from her apathy. Nina had +entrusted them to her, and she would care for them. They should +not be sold, and so she said; they should still live at Sunnybank, +having free papers made out in case of accident to herself, or, if +they preferred, they should go with her at once to Collingwood, +and Sunnybank to be sold. + +"Oh, Heavens!" exclaimed Victor, who had stationed himself behind +Edith. "Forty niggers at Collingwood! Mr. Harrington never would +stand that. Leave them here." + +Arthur smiled at the Frenchman's evident distress, while Edith +made a gesture that Victor should be still, and then continued, +"It may be better to leave them here for a time at least, and Mr. +Harrington shall decide upon their future home." + +She said this naturally, and as a matter of course, but her heart +leaped to her throat when she saw the pallor which for an instant +overspread Arthur's face at her allusion to one who would soon +have the right to rule her and hers. + +"Is Mr. Harrington your guardian, Miss Bernard?" the lawyer asked, +and ere Edith could reply, Arthur answered for her, "He is to be +her husband." + +The lawyer bowed and went on with his writing, all unconscious of +the wounds his question had tore open, leaving them to bleed +afresh as both Arthur and Edith assumed a mask of studied +indifference, never looking at or addressing each other again +while that painful interview lasted. It was over at length, and +the lawyer gone. Matters were adjusted as well they could be at +present. The negroes were to remain at Sunnybank under charge of +an overseer as usual, while Arthur was to stay there, too, until +he decided upon his future course. This was his own proposition, +and Edith acceded to it joyfully. There were no sweet home +associations, connected in her mind with Sunnybank, it is true, +for she was too young when she left it to retain more than a dim, +shadowy remembrance of a few scenes and places; but it had been +Nina's home; there she was born, there she had lived, there she +had died, and Edith felt that it would not be one half so dreary +looked back upon, if Arthur would stay there always. + +"Why can't you?" she asked of him when in the evening she sat with +him in the rather gloomy parlor. "I'll make you my agent in +general, giving you permission to do whatever you please, or would +you rather live at Grassy Spring?" + +"Anywhere but there," was Arthur's quick response, "I shall sell +Grassy Spring and go abroad. I shall be happier so. I have never +known the comfort of a home for any length of time, and it does +not matter where I am. My mother, as Grace may have told you, was +a gay, fashionable woman, and after the period of mourning had +expired, I only remember her resplendent in satin and diamonds, +kissing me good-night ere her departure for some grand party. +Then, when I was eight years old, she, too, died, leaving me to +the care of a guardian. Thus, you see, I have no pleasant memories +of a home, and the cafes of Paris will suit me as well as +anything, perhaps. Once I hoped for something better, but that is +over now, Nina is dead, while you, on whom, as my wife's sister, I +have some claim, will soon be gone from here and I shall be alone. +I shall sell Grassy Spring,--shall place the negroes there in your +keeping, and then next spring leave the country, never to return, +it may be." + +He ceased speaking, and there was a silence in the room which +Edith could not break. Arthur had told her frankly of his intended +future, but she could not speak of hers--could not tell him that +Collingwood's doors were ever open to him--that she would be his +sister in very deed--that Richard would welcome him as a brother +for her sake, and that the time might come when they could be +happy thus. All this passed through her mind, but not a word of it +escaped her lips, lest by doing so she would betray her real +feelings. Arthur did not seem to her now as he had done a few days +previous; their relations to each other had changed, and were +there no Richard, it would not be wicked to love him now. Nina was +gone; the past was more than atoned for; the marble, at first +unsightly to some degree, had been hewn and polished, and though +the blows had each struck deep, they wrought in Arthur St. Claire +a perfect work. Ennobled, subdued, and purified, he was every way +desirable, both as brother, friend, and husband, but he was not +for her, and the consciousness that it was so, palsied her powers +of speech. + +Wishing to say something to break the awkward silence, Arthur +asked at last, if it were true, as Victor had said, that she +intended starting for Collingwood the day after to-morrow, and +then she burst into tears, but made him no reply, only passionate +sobs which smote cruelly upon his heart, for well he guessed their +meaning. He could read Edith Hastings aright--could fathom her +utmost thoughts, find he knew how she shrank from the future +dreading a return to Collingwood, and what awaited her there. He +knew, too, that but a few words from himself were needed to keep +her at Sunnybank with him forever. Others might be powerless to +influence her decision, but he was not; he could change her whole +future life by whispering in her ear, "Stay with me, Edith; don't +go back," but the Arthur of to-day was stronger than the Arthur of +one year ago, and though the temptation was a terrible one, he met +it bravely, and would not deal thus treacherously with Richard, +who had so generously trusted her with him. Edith must keep her +vow, and when at last he spoke, it was to say something of the +journey, as if that had all the time been uppermost in his mind. + +"He does not love me any more, and I don't care," was Edith's +mental comment, as she soon after left him and hurried to her +room, where she wept herself to sleep, never suspecting how long +and dreary was that night to the young man whose eyelids never for +a moment closed, and who, as the day was breaking, stole out to +Nina's grave, finding there a peace which kept his soul from +fainting. + +At the breakfast table he was the same easy, elegant, attentive +host he always was in his own house, conversing pleasantly upon +indifferent topics, but he could not look at her now, on this her +last day with him; could not endure to hear her voice, and he +avoided her presence, seeing as little of her as possible, and +retiring unusually early, even though he read in her speaking eyes +a wish that he would tarry longer. + +The next morning, however, he knew the instant she was astir, +listening eagerly to the sound of her footsteps as she made her +hasty toilet, and watching her from his window as she went to +Nina's grave, sobbing out her sad farewell to the loved dead. He +saw her, too, as she came back to the house, and then with a +beating heart went down to meet her. + +The breakfast was scarcely touched, and the moment it was over +Edith hurried to her chamber, for it was nearly time to go. The +trunks were brought down--Edith's and Marie's--for the latter was +to live henceforth with her young mistress; the servants had +crowded to the door, bidding their mistress good bye, and then it +was Arthur's turn. Oh, who shall tell of the tempest which raged +within as he held for a moment her soft, white hand in his and +looked into the face which, ere he saw it again, might lose its +girlish charm for him, inasmuch as a husband's kisses would have +been showered upon it. Many times he attempted to speak, but could +not, and pressing his lips to hers, he hastened away, going +straight to Nina's grave which had become to him of late a Bethel. + +Scarcely was he gone, when Tom, the driver, announced that +something was the matter with the harness, and by this delay, +Edith gained a few moments, which she resolved to spend with Nina. +She did not know that Arthur, too, was there, until she came close +upon him as he bent over the little mound. He heard her step, and +turning toward her, and, half bitterly, "Edith, why will you tempt +me so?" + +"Oh, Arthur, don't," and with a piteous cry Edith sank at his +feet, and laying her face on Nina's grave, sobbed out, "I did not +know that you were here, but I am so glad that you are, for I +cannot be without your blessing, you must tell me I am doing +right, or I shall surely die. The world is so dark--so dark." + +Arthur had been tempted before--sorely, terribly tempted--but +never like this, and recoiling a pace or two, he stood with the +dead Nina between himself and she weeping heavily, while the wild +thought swept over him, "Is it right that I should fiend her away? +" but over her an instant, and stretching his hand across the +grave, he laid it on the head of the kneeling girl, giving her the +blessing she so much craved, and then bidding her leave him. + +"They are calling to you," he added, as he heard Victor's voice in +the distance, and struggling to her feet, Edith started to go, but +forgetting all sense of propriety in that dreadful parting, she +turned to him again and said, + +"I am going, Arthur, but I must ask one question. It will make my +future brighter if I know you love me still, be it ever so little. +Do you, Arthur, and when you know I am Richard's wife will you +think of me sometimes, and pity me, too? I shall need it so much!" + +Arthur had not expected this, and he reeled as if smitten with a +heavy blow. Leaning for support against Petrea's monument, whence +Miggie's name had been effaced, he gasped: + +"God help me, Edith! You should have spared me this. Do I love +you? Oh Edith, alas, alas! Here with Nina, whom, Heaven is my +witness, I did love truly at the last--here with her, I say, lying +dead between us, I swear to you that never was maiden loved as I +this moment love you; but I cannot make you mine. I dare not prove +thus treacherous to Richard, who trusted you with me, and, Edith, +you can be happy with him, and you will. You must forget that I +ever crossed your path, thinking of me only as one who was your +sister's husband. And God will give you strength to do this if you +ask it of him aright I shall not forgot you, Edith. That cannot +be. Across the sea, wherever I may be, I shall remember you, +enshrining your memory in my heart, together with Nina, whom I so +much wish I had loved earlier, and so have saved us both from +pain. And now go--go back to Collingwood, and keep your vow to +Richard. He is one of God's noblest works, an almost perfect man. +You will learn to love him. You will be happy. Do not write to me +till it is over, then send your cards, and I shall know 'tis done. +Farewell, my sister--farewell forever." + +Without a word of reply Edith moved away, nor cast a backward +glance at the faint, sick man, who leaned his burning forehead +against the gleaming marble; while drop after drop of perspiration +fell upon the ground, but brought him no relief. He heard the +carriage wheels as they rolled from the door, and the sound seemed +grinding his life to atoms, for by that token he knew that Edith +was gone--that to him there was nothing left save the little mound +at his feet and the memory of his broken lily who slept beneath +it. How he wanted her now--wanted his childish Nina--his fair +girl-wife, to comfort him. But it could not be, Nina was dead--her +sweet, bird-like voice was hushed; it would never meet his +listening ear again, and for him there was nothing left, save the +wailing wind to whisper sadly to him as she was wont to do, "Poor +Arthur boy, poor Arthur boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +HOME. + + +Oh, what a change it was from sunny Florida to England, just how +both Edith and Victor shivered, arrived at the last stage of their +journey, they looked out upon the snow-clad hills and leafless +trees which fitted out by bare and brown against the winter sky. +West Shannondale! the brakeman shouted, and Edith drew her furs +around her, for in a few moments more their own station would be +reached. + +"The river is frozen; it must be very cold," said Victor, pointing +to the blue-black stream; skimmered over with a thin coat of ice. + +"Yes, very, very cold," and Edith felt the meaning of the word in +more senses than one. + +Why wasn't she glad to be home again? Why did her thoughts cling +so to distant Sunnybank, or her heart die within her as waymark +after waymark told her Collingwood was near? Alas! she was not a +loving, eager bride elect, returning to the arms of her beloved, +but a shrinking, hopeless, desolate woman, going back to meet the +destiny she dared not avoid. The change was all in herself, for +the day was no colder, the clouds no greyer, the setting sun no +paler than New England wintry days and clouds and suns are wont to +be. Collingwood was just the same, and its massive walls rose as +proudly amid the dark evergreens around it as they had done in +times gone by, when to the little orphan it seemed a second +Paradise. Away to the right lay Grassy Spring, the twilight +shadows gathering around it, piles of snow resting on its roof, +and a thin wreath of smoke curling from a single chimney in the +rear. + +All this Edith saw as in the village omnibus she was driven toward +home, Richard was not expecting them until the morrow, and thus no +new fires were kindled, no welcoming lights hung out, and the +house was unusually gloomy and dark. During Edith's absence +Richard had staid mostly in the library, and there he was sitting +now, with his hands folded together in that peculiarly helpless +way which characterized all his motions. He heard the sound of +wheels, the banging of trunks, and then his ear caught a footstep +it knew full well, a slow, shuffling tread, but Edith's still, and +out into the silent hall he groped his way, watching there until +she came. + +How he hugged her to his bosom--never heeding that she gave him +back but one answering kiss, a cold, a frozen thing, which would +not thaw even after it touched his lips, so full of life and +warmth. Poor, deluded man! he fancied that the tears he felt upon +his face were tears of joy at being home again; but alas! alas! +they were tears wrung out by a feeling of dreary home-sickness--a +longing to be somewhere else--to have some other one than Richard +chafing her cold hands and calling her pet names. He looked older, +too, than he used to do, and Edith thought of what he once had +said about her seeing the work of decay go on in him while she yet +was young and vigorous. Still her voice was natural as she +answered his many questions and greeted Mrs. Matson who came in to +see her as soon as she heard of her arrival. + +"In mourning!" the latter exclaimed as with womanly curiosity she +inspected Edith's dress. + +Richard started, and putting his hand to Edith's neck, felt that +her collar was of crape, and a shadow passed over his face. He +liked to think of her as a bright plumaged bird, not as sombre- +hued and wearing the habiliments which come only from some grave. + +"Was it necessary that my darling should carry her love for a +stranger quite so far as this?" he asked. "Need you have dressed +in black?" + +Without meaning it, his tone implied reproach, and it cut Edith +cruelly, making her wish that she had told him all, when she wrote +that she was coming home. + +"Oh, Richard," she cried, "don't chide me for these outward tokens +of sorrow. Nina, dear, darling Nina, was my sister--my fathers +child. Temple was only a name he assumed to avoid arrest, so it +all got wrong. Everything is wrong," and Edith sobbed impetuously, +while Richard essayed to comfort her. + +The dress of black was not displeasing to him now, and he passed +his hands caressingly over its heavy folds as if to ask +forgiveness for having said aught against it. + +Gradually Edith grew calm, and after she had met the servants, and +the supper she could not taste was over, she repeated to Richard +the story she had heard from Marie, who had stopped for a time in +New York to visit her sister. + +A long time they sat together that night, while Richard told her +how lonely he had been without her, and asked her many questions +of Nina's last days. + +"Did she send no message to me?" he said. "She used to like me, I +fancied." + +Edith did not know how terrible a message Nina had sent to him, +and she replied, "She talked of you a great deal, but I do not +remember any particular word. I told her I was to be your wife." +and Edith's voice trembled, for this was but a prelude to what she +meant to say ere she bade him good night. She should breathe so +much more freely if she knew her bridal was not so near, and her +sister's death was surely a sufficient reason for deferring it. + +Summoning all her courage, she arose, and sitting on Richard's +knee, buttoned and unbuttoned his coat in a kind of abstracted +manner, while she asked if it might be so. "I know I promised for +New Year's night," she said, "but little Nina died so recently and +I loved her so much, May it be put off, Richard--put over until +June?" + +Edith had not thought of this in Florida, but here at home, it +came to her like succor to the drowning, and she anxiously awaited +Richard's answer. + +A frown for an instant darkened his fine features, for he did not +like this second deferring the day, but he was too unselfish to +oppose it, and he answered, + +"Yes, darling, if you will have it so. It may be better to wait at +least six months, shall it be in June, the fifteenth say?" + +Edith was satisfied with this, and when they parted her heart was +lighted of a heavy load, for six months seemed to her a great, +great while. + +The next day when Grace came up to call on Edith, and was told of +the change, she shrugged her shoulders, for she knew that by this +delay Richard stood far less chance of ever calling Edith his +wife. But she merely said it was well, congratulating Edith upon +her good fortune in being an heiress, and asking many questions +about Arthur and Nina, both, and at last taking her leave without +a hint as to her suspicions of the future. To Edith the idea had +never occurred. She should marry Richard of course, and nothing +could happen to defer the day a third time. So she said at least +to Victor, when she told him of the arrangement, and with a very +expressive whistle, Victor, too, shrugged his shoulders, thinking, +that possibly he need not read Nina's letter after all. He would +rather not if it could be avoided, for he knew how keen the pang +it would indict upon his noble master, and he would not add one +unnecessary drop to the cup of sorrow he saw preparing for poor +Richard. + +After a few days of listless languor and pining home-sickness, +Edith settled into her olden routine of reading, talking and +singing to Richard, who thought himself happy even though she did +not caress him as often as she used to do, and was sometimes +impatient and even ill-natured towards him. + +"She mourns so much for Nina," was the excuse which Richard wrote +down in his heart for all her sins, either of omission or +commission; and in a measure he was right. + +Edith did mourn for sweet little Nina, but mourned not half so +much for her as for the hopes forever fled--for Arthur, at whose +silence she greatly marvelled, thinking that she would write to +him as to her brother, and then shrinking from the task because +she knew not what to say. + +Spite of her feelings the six months she had thought so long were +passing far too rapidly to suit her. Time lingers for no one, and +January glided into February, February into March, whose melting +snows and wailing winds gave place at last to April, and then +again the people of Shannondale begun to talk of "that wedding," +fixed for the 15th of June. Marie had become domesticated at +Collingwood, but the negroes, who now called Edith mistress, still +remained at Grassy Spring, waiting until Arthur should come, or +some message be received from him. It was four months now since +Edith left Sunnybank, and in all that time no tiding had come to +her from Arthur. Grace's letters were unanswered, and Grace +herself was beginning to feel alarmed, when one afternoon, Victor +called Edith to an upper balcony and pointing in the direction of +Grassy Spring, bade her look where the graceful columns of smoke +were rising from all its chimneys, while its windows were opened +wide, and the servants hurried in and out, seemingly big with some +important event. + +"Saddle Bedouin," said Edith, more excited than she had deemed it +possible for her to be. "Mr. St. Claire must be expected, I am +going down to see." + +Victor obeyed, and without a word to Richard, Edith was soon +galloping off toward Grassy Spring, where she found Grace +hurriedly giving orders to the delighted blacks, who tumbled over +each other in their zeal to have everything in readiness for +"Marster Arthur." He was coming that night, so Grace had told +them, she having received a telegram that morning from New York, +together with a letter. + +"He started North the first of Feb." she said to Edith, "taking +Richmond on the way, and has been detained there ever since by +sickness. He is very feeble yet, but is anxious to see us all. He +has received no letters from me, it seems, and thinks you are +married." + +Edith turned very white for a moment, and then there burned upon +her cheek a round, red spot, induced by the feeling that the +believing she was married had been the immediate cause of Arthur's +illness. Edith was no longer the pale, listless woman who moved so +like a breathing statue around Collingwood, but a flushed, excited +creature, flitting from room to room, and entering heart and soul +into Grace's plans for having everything about the house as +cheerful and homelike as possible for the invalid. She should stay +to welcome him, too, she said, bidding one of the negroes put +Bedouin in the stable and then go up to Collingwood to tell +Richard where she was. + +Arthur was indeed coming to Grassy Spring, brought thither by the +knowing that something must be done with the place ere he went to +Europe as he intended doing, and by the feverish desire to see +Edith once more even though she were the wife of Richard, as he +supposed her to be. Grace's first letter had been lost, and as he +had been some weeks on the way he knew nothing of matters at +Collingwood, though occasionally there crept into his heart a +throb of hope that possibly for Nina's sake the marriage had been +deferred and Edith might be Edith Hastings still. It was very sad +coming back to the spot so fraught with memories of Nina, and this +it was in part which made him look so pale and haggard when at +last he stood within the hall and was met by Grace, who uttered an +exclamation of surprise at seeing him so changed. + +"I am very tired," he said, with the tone and air of an invalid, +"Let me rest in the library awhile, before I see the negroes. +Their noise will disturb me," and he walked into the very room +where Edith stood waiting for him. + +She had intended to meet him as a brother, the husband of her +sister, but the sight of his white, suffering face swept her +calmness all away, and with a burst of tears she cried, "Oh, +Arthur, Arthur, I did not think you had been so sick. Why did you +not let us know; I would have come to you," and she brought +herself the arm-chair which he took, smiling faintly upon her and +saying, + +"It was bad business being sick at a hotel, and I did sometimes +wish you were there, but of course I could not expect you to leave +your husband. How is he?" + +Edith could hear the beating of her heart and feel the blood +tingling her cheeks as she replied, "You mean Richard, but he is +not my husband. He--" + +Quickly, eagerly Arthur looked up, the expression of his face +speaking volumes of joy, surprise, and even hope, but all this +faded away, leaving him paler, sicker-looking than before, as +Edith continued, + +"The marriage was a second time deferred on account of Nina's +death. It will take place in June." + +Grace had left the room and an awkward silence ensued during which +Arthur looked absently into the fire, while Edith gazed out upon +the darkening sky, wondering if life would always be as hard to +bear as now, and half wishing that Arthur St. Claire had staid at +Sunnybank until the worst was over. + +There was a sound of wheels outside, and Edith heard Richard as he +passed into the hall. He had received her message, and thinking it +proper for him to welcome Mr. St. Claire, he had come to Grassy +Spring to do so, as well as to escort Edith home. Richard could +not see how much Arthur was changed, but his quick ear detected +the weak, tremulous tones of the voice, which tried to greet him +steadily, and so the conversation turned first upon Arthur's +recent illness, and then upon Nina, until at last, as Richard rose +to leave, he laid his arm across Edith's shoulder and said +playfully, "You know of course, that what you predicted, when +years ago you asked me to take a certain little girl, is coming +true. Edith has promised to be my wife. You will surely remain at +Grassy Spring through the summer, and so be present at our wedding +on the 15th of June. I invite you now." + +"Thank you," was all Arthur could say, as with his accustomed +politeness he arose to bid his guests good night; but his lip +quivered as he said it, and his eye never for a moment rested upon +Edith, who led Richard in silence to the carriage, feeling that +all she loved in the wide world was left there in the little +library where the light was shining, and where, although she did +not know it, Grace was ministering to the half fainting Arthur. + +The sight of Edith and Richard had effected him more than he +supposed it would, but the worst was over now, and as he daily +grew stronger in the bracing northern air he felt more and more +competent to meet what lay before him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +NINA'S LETTER. + + +After a week or two had passed, Arthur went occasionally to +Collingwood, where Richard greeted him most cordially, urging him +to come more frequently and wondering why he always seemed in so +much haste to get away. On the occasion of these visits Edith +usually kept out of the way, avoiding him so studiously that +Richard began to fear she might perhaps dislike him, and he +resolved to ask her the first good opportunity. But Edith avoided +him, too, never coming now to sit with him alone; somebody must +always be present when she was with him, else had her bursting +heart betrayed the secret telling so fearfully upon her. Oh, how +hateful to her were the preparations for her bridal, which had +commenced on a most magnificent scale, for Richard, after waiting +so long, would have a grand wedding, and that all who chose might +witness the ceremony, it was to be performed in the church, from +which the guests would accompany him back to Collingwood. + +All Shannondale was interested, and the most extravagant stories +were set afloat, not only concerning the trouseau of the bride, +but the bride herself. What ailed her? What made her so cold, so +white, so proudly reserved, so like a walking ghost? She, who had +been so full of vigorous life, so merry, so light-hearted. Could +it be the mourning for sweet little Nina, or was it--? + +And here the knot of gossippers, at the corner of the streets, or +in the stores, or in the parlors at home, would draw more closely +together as they whispered, + +"Does she love Richard Harrington as she ought? Is not her heart +given rather to the younger, handsomer St. Claire?" + +How they pitied her if it were so, and how curiously they watched +her whenever she appeared in their midst, remarking every action, +and construing it according to their convictions. + +Victor, too, was on the alert, and fully aware of the public +feeling. Day after day he watched his young mistress, following +her when she left the house alone, and seeing her more than once +when in the Deering woods she laid her face in the springing grass +and prayed that she might die. But for her promise, sworn to +Richard, she would have gone to him, and kneeling at his feet +begged him to release her from her vow, and so spare her the +dreadful trial from which she shrank more and more as she saw it +fast approaching. + +Edith was almost crazy, and Arthur, whenever he chanced to meet +her, marvelled at the change since he saw her last. Once he, too, +thought of appealing to Richard to save her from so sad a fate as +that of an unloving wife, but he would not interfere, lest by so +doing he should err again, and so in dreary despair, which each +day grew blacker and more hopeless, Edith was left alone, until +Victor roused in her behalf, and without allowing himself time to +reflect, sought his master's presence, bearing with him Nina's +letter, and the soiled sheet on which Richard had unwittingly +scratched out Arthur's marriage. + +It was a warm, balmy afternoon, and through the open windows of +the library, the south wind came stealing in, laden with the +perfume of the pink-tinted apple blossoms, and speaking to the +blind man of the long ago, when it was his to see the budding +beauties now shut out from his sight. The hum of the honey-bee was +heard, and the air was rife with the sweet sounds of later spring. +On the branch of a tree without, a robin was trilling a song. It +had sung there all the morning, and now it had come back again, +singing a second time to Richard, who thought of the soft nest up +in the old maple, and likened that robin and its mate to himself +and Edith, his own singing-bird. + +But why linger so long over that May-day which Richard remembered +through many, many future years, growing faint and sick as often +as the spring brought back the apple-blossom perfume or the song +of mated robins. It is, alas, that we shrink as Victor did from +the task imposed, that, like him, we dread the blow which will +strike at the root of Richard's very life, and we approach +tearfully, pityingly, half remorsefully, as we stand sometimes by +a sunken grave, doubting whether our conduct to the dead were +always right and just. So Victor felt, as he drew near to Richard; +and sitting down beside him said, + +"Can I talk with you awhile about Miss Hastings?" Richard started. +Victor had come to tell him she was sick, and he asked if it were +not so. + +"Something has ailed her of late," he said. + +"She is greatly changed since Nina's death. She mourns much for +her sister." + +"Yes," returned Victor, "she loved Nina dearly, but it is more +than this which ails her. God forbid that I should unnecessarily +wound you, Mr. Harrington, but I think it right for you to know." + +The dark face, shaded with the long beard, was very white now, and +the sightless eyes had in them a look of terror as Richard asked, + +"What is it, Victor? Tell me." + +"Come to the sofa first," Victor rejoined, feeling intuitively +that he was safer there than in that high arm-chair, and with +unusual tenderness he led his master to the spot, then sitting +down beside him, he continued, "Do you remember Nina once made you +write something upon a sheet of paper, and that you bade me +ascertain what it was?" + +"Yes, I remember," answered Richard, "you told me you had not read +it, and imputing it to some crazy fancy of no importance, I gave +it no more thought. What of it, Victor?" + +"I had not read it then," answered Victor, "but I have done so +since, I have it in my possession--here in my hand. Would you like +to hear it?" + +Richard nodded, and Victor read aloud: "I, the blind man, Richard +Harrington, do hereby solemnly swear that the marriage of Arthur +St. Claire and Nina Bernard, performed by me and at my house, is +null and void," + +"What! Read it again! It cannot be that I heard aright," and +Richard listened while Victor repeated the lines. "Arthur and +Nina! Was she the young girl wife, he, the boy husband, who came +to me that night?" Richard exclaimed. "Why have I never known of +this before? Why did Edith keep it from me? Say, Victor," and +again Richard listened, this time, oh, how eagerly, while Victor +told him what he knew of that fatal marriage, kept so long a +secret, and as he listened, the beaded drops stood thickly upon +his forehead and gathered around his ashen lips, for Victor +purposely let fall a note of warning which shot through the +quivering nerves of the blind man like a barbed burning arrow, +wringing from him the piteous cry, + +"Oh, Victor, Victor, does she--does Edith love Arthur? Has she +loved him all the time? Is it this which makes her voice so sad, +her step so slow? Speak--better that I know it now than after 'tis +too late. What other paper is it you are unfolding?" + +"'Tis a letter from Nina to you. Can you hear it now?" + +"Yes, but tell me first all you know. Don't withhold a single +thing. I would hear the whole." + +So Victor told him what he knew up to the time of their going to +Florida; and then, opening Nina's letter, he began to read, +pausing, occasionally, to ask if he should stop. + +"No, no; go on!" Richard whispered, hoarsely, his head dropping +lower and lower, until the face was hidden from view and the chin +rested upon the chest, which heaved with every labored breath. + +Once at the words, "When you hear this Nina'll be there with you. +She'll sit upon your knee and wind her arms around your neck"--he +started, and seemed to be thrusting something from his lap-- +something which made him shiver. Was it Nina? He thought so, and +strove to push her off but when Victor read, "She will comfort you +when the great cry comes in--the crash like the breaking up of the +ice in the Northern ponds," he ceased to struggle, and Victor +involuntarily stopped when he saw the long arms twine themselves +as it were around an invisible form. Then he commenced again: "And +when you feel yourself broken up like they are in the spring, +listen and you'll hear me whispering, 'Poor Richard! I pity you so +much, and I'll kiss your tears away.'" + +Did he hear her? hear Nina whispering comfort to his poor bruised +heart? We cannot tell. We only know he bent his ear lower, as if +to catch the faintest breath; but alas! there were no tears to +kiss away. The blind eyes could not weep--they were too hot, too +dry for that--and blood-red rings of fire danced before them as +they did when Nina came to him with the startling news that Miggie +was dead in the Deering woods. + +Victor was reading now about these woods and the scene enacted +there, and Richard understood it all, even to the reason why Edith +had persisted in being his wife. The deepest waters run silently, +it is said, and so, perhaps, the strongest heart when crushed to +atoms lies still as death, and gives outwardly no token of its +anguish. True it is that Richard neither moaned, nor moved, nor +spoke; only the head drooped lower, while the arms clung tightly +to the fancied form he held, as if between himself and Nina, +wherever she was that dreary day, there was a connecting link of +sympathy which pervaded his whole being, and so prevented him from +dying outright as he wished he could. + +It was finished at last, Nina's letter--and it seemed to Richard +as if the three kinds of darkness, of which she told him, had +indeed settled down upon him, so confused was his brain, so +crushed his heart, and so doubly black his blindness. He looked to +Victor like some great oak, scathed and blasted with one fell +blow, and he was trembling for the result, when the lips moved and +he caught the words, "Leave me little Snow Drop. Go back to +Heaven, whence you came. The blind man will do right." + +Slowly then the arms unclosed, and as if imbued with sight, the +red eyes followed something to the open window and out into the +bright sunshine beyond; then they turned to Victor, and a smile +broke over the stormy features as Richard whispered: + +"Nina's gone! Now take me to my room." + +Across the threshold Victor led the half-fainting man, meeting +with no one until his master's chamber was reached, when Edith +came through the hall, and, glancing in, saw the white face on the +pillow, where Victor had laid his master down, Richard heard her +step, and said, faintly, "Keep her off; I cannot bear it yet!" But +even while he spoke Edith was there beside him, asking, in much +alarm, what was the matter. She did not observe how Richard +shuddered at the sound of her voice; she only thought that he was +very ill, and, with every womanly, tender feeling aroused, she +bent over him and pressed upon his lips a kiss which burned him +like a coal of fire. She must not kiss him now, and, putting up +his hands with the feebleness of a little child, he cried +piteously, + +"Don't Edith, don't! Please leave me for a time. I'd rather be +alone!" + +She obeyed him then, and went slowly out, wondering what it was +which had so affected him as to make even her presence +undesirable. + +Meantime, with hand pressed over his aching eyes, to shut out, if +possible, the rings of fire still dancing before them, Richard +Harrington thought of all that was past and of what was yet to +come. + +"How can I lose her now," he moaned, "Why didn't she tell me at +the first? It would not then have been half so bad. Oh, Edith, my +lost Edith. You have not been all guiltless in this matter. The +bird I took to my bosom has struck me at last with its talons, and +struck so deep. Oh, how it aches, how it aches, and still I love +her just the same; aye, love her more, now that I know she must +not be mine. Edith, oh, my Edith!" + +Then Richard's thoughts turned upon Arthur. He must talk with him, +and he could not meet him there at Collingwood. There were too +many curious eyes to see, too many ears to listen. At Grassy +Spring they would be more retired, and thither he would go, that +very night. He never should sleep again until he heard from +Arthur's own lips a confirmation of the cruel story. He could not +ask Edith. Her voice would stir his heart-strings with a keener, +deeper agony than he was enduring now. But to Arthur he could +speak openly, and then too--Richard was loth to confess it, even +to himself, but it was, never the less, true--Arthur, though a +man, was gentler than Edith. He would be more careful, more +tender, and while Edith might confirm the whole with one of her +wild, impulsive outbursts, Arthur would reach the same point +gradually and less painfully. + +"Order the carriage, Victor," he said, as it was growing dark in +the room. "I am going to Grassy Spring," + +It was in vain that Victor attempted to persuade him to wait until +the morrow. Richard was determined, and when Edith came from her +scarcely tasted supper, she saw the carriage as it passed through +the Collingwood grounds on its way to Grassy Spring, but little +dreamed of what would be ere its occupant returned to them again. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE FIERY TEST. + + +Arthur was not at home. From the first he had intended making +Edith a bridal present--a life-sized portrait of Nina, which he +knew she would value more than gifts of gold and silver. He had in +his possession a daguerreotype taken when she was just eighteen, +and sent to him by her father among other things, of which Charlie +Hudson was the bearer. From this he would have a picture painted, +employing the best artist in Boston, and it was upon this business +that he left Grassy Spring the previous day, saying he should +probably be home upon the next evening's train. + +Just before Richard arrived at Grassy Spring, however, a telegram +had been received to the effect that Arthur was detained and would +not return until midnight. This Phillis repeated to Richard, who +for an instant stood thinking, and then said to Victor, "I shall +stay. I cannot go back to Collingwood till I have talked with +Arthur. But you may go, I would rather be left alone, and, Victor, +you will undoubtedly think it a foolish fancy, but I must sleep in +Nina's room. There will be something soothing to me in a place so +hallowed by her former presence. Ask old Phillis if I may. Tell +her it is a whim, if you like, but get her consent at all +hazards." + +Phillis' consent was easily won, and after Victor was gone, +Richard sat alone in the parlor until nearly eleven, when, feeling +weary, he consented to retire, and Ike led him up the two flights +of stairs into the Den, where he had never been before. + +"I do not need your services," he said to the negro, who departed, +having first lighted the gas and turned it on to its fullest +extent out of compliment to the blind man. + +Gas was a luxury not quite two years old in Shannondale, and had +been put in Arthur's house just before he left for Florida. +Collingwood being further from the village could not boast of it +yet and consequently Richard was not as much accustomed to it as +he would otherwise have been. On this occasion he did not know +that it was lighted until, as he stood by the dressing bureau, he +felt the hot air in his face. Thinking to extinguish the light by +turning the arm of the fixture just as he remembered having done +some years before, he pushed it back within an inch of the heavy +damask curtain which now shaded the window, and too much absorbed +in his own painful reflections to think of ascertaining whether +the light was out or not, he groped his way to the single bed, and +threw himself upon it, giving way to a paroxysm of grief. + +It was strange that one in his frame of mind should sleep, but +nature was at last exhausted, and yielding to the influence of the +peculiar atmosphere slowly pervading the room, he fell away into a +kind of lethargic slumber, while the work of destruction his own +hand had prepared, went silently on around him. First the crimson +curtain turned a yellowish hue, than the scorched threads dropped +apart and the flame crept into the inner lining of cotton, running +swiftly through it until the whole was in a blaze, and the wood- +work of the window, charred and blackened, and bore the deadly +element still onward, but away from the unconscious Richard, +leaving that portion of the room unscathed, and for the present +safe. Along the cornice under the lathing, beneath the eaves they +crept--those little fiery tongues--lapping at each other in +wanton, playfulness, and whispering to the dry old shingles on the +roof above of the mischief they meant to do. + +Half an hour went by, and from the three towers of Shannondale the +deep toned bells rang out the watchword of alarm, which the +awakened inhabitants caught up, echoing it from lip to lip until +every street resounded with the fearful cry, "Fire, fire, Grassy +Spring is all on fire." + +Then the two engines were brought, from their shelter, and went +rattling through the town and out into the country, a quarter of a +mile away, to where the little forked tongues had grown to a +mammoth size, darting their vicious heads from beneath the +rafters, reaching down to touch the heated panes, hissing defiance +at the people below, and rolling over the doomed building until +billow of flame leaped billow, both licking up in their mad chase +the streams of water poured continually upon them. + +Away to the eastward the night express came thundering on, and one +of its passengers, looking from his window, saw the lurid blaze, +just as once before he had seen the bonfire crazy Nina kindled, +and as he watched, a horrible fear grow strong within him, +manifesting itself at last in the wild outcry, "'Tis Grassy +Spring, 'tis Grassy Spring." + +Long before the train reached the depot, Arthur St. Claire, had +jumped from the rear car, and was flying across the meadow toward +his burning home, knowing ere he reached it that all was lost. +Timbers were falling, glass was melting, windows were blazing, +while at every step the sparks and cinders whirled in showers +around his head. + +And where all this time was Richard? Victor was asking that +question--Victor, just arrived, and followed by the whole +household of Collingwood. They were the last to waken, and they +came with headlong haste; but Victor's longer strides outran them +all, and when Arthur appeared, he was asking frantically for his +master. The negroes in their fright had forgotten him entirely, +and the first words which greeted Arthur were, "Mr. Harrington is +in the building!" + +"Where? where?" he shrieked, darting away, and dragging Victor +with him. + +"In Nina's room. He would sleep there," Victor answered, and with +another cry of horror, Arthur sprang to the rear of the building, +discovering that the stairs leading to the Den were comparatively +unharmed as yet. + +"Who will save him?" he screamed, and he turned toward Victor, who +intuitively drew back from incurring the great peril. + +There was no one to volunteer, and Arthur said, + +"I will do it myself." + +Instantly a hundred voices were raised against it. It were worse +than madness, they said. The fire must have caught in the vicinity +of that room, and Richard was assuredly dead. + +"He may not be, and if he is not, I will save him or perish too," +was Arthur's heroic reply, as he sprang up the long winding +stairs, near which the flames were roaring like some long pent up +volcano. + +He reached the door of the Den. It was bolted, but with superhuman +strength he shook it down, staggering backward as the dense cloud +of yellowish smoke rolled over and around him, warning him not to +advance. But Arthur heeded no warning then. By the light which +illumined the entire front of the house, he saw that two sides of +the room were not yet touched; the bed in the recess was unharmed, +but Richard was not there, and a terrible fear crept over Arthur +lest he had perished in his attempt to escape. Suddenly he +remembered Nina's cell, and groping his way through fire and +smoke, he opened the oaken door, involuntarily breathing a prayer +of thanksgiving when he saw the tall form stretched upon the empty +bedstead. He had probably mistaken the way out, and by entering +here, had prolonged his life, for save through the glass +ventilator the smoke could not find entrance to that spot. Arthur +knew that he was living, for the lips moved once and whispered, +"Edith," causing Arthur's brain to reel, and the cold sweat to +start from every pore as he thought for what and for whom he was +saving his rival. Surely in that terrible hour, in Nina's cell, +with death staring him in the face on every side, Arthur St. +Claire atoned for all the past, and by his noble unselfishness +proved how true and brave he was. + +Snatching from the nail the heavy sack, he wound it round +Richard's head to shield him from the flames, then recollecting +that on the bed without there was a thick rose blanket, he wrapped +that too around him, and bending himself with might and main, bore +him in his arms across the heated floor and out into the narrow +hall, growing sick and faint when he saw the wall of fire now +rolling steadily up the stairway. + +"Oh, must I die!" he groaned, as he leaned panting against the +wall, listening to the roar without, which sounded in his ear like +demons yelling over their prey. + +Life looked very fair to the young man then; even life without +Edith was preferable far to a death like this. He was too young to +die and the heart which had said in its bitterness, "there is +nothing worth living for," clung tenaciously to a world which +seemed so fast receding from view. + +By leaving Richard there, by stripping him of his covering, and +folding it about himself, he could assuredly leap down those +stairs, and though he reached the bottom a scarred, disfigured +thing, life would be in him yet; but Arthur did not waver, Richard +should share his fate, be it for weal or woe, and with a prayer +for help, he turned aside into a little room from which a few wide +steps led up into the cupola. Heaven surely saved this way for +him, for the fire was not there yet, and he passed in safety to +the roof, where he stood, many dizzy feet from the shouting +multitude, who, hoping he might take advantage of it, were +watching for him to appear, greeting him with many a loud huzza, +and bidding him take courage. The engines had been brought to bear +on this part of the building, subduing the fire to such an extent +that it was barely possible for him to reach the northern +extremity, where, by jumping upon a flat, lower roof, whose +surface was tin, and then walking a beam over a sea of hissing +flame, he could reach the ladder hoisted against the wall. All +this they made him understand, and with but little hope of his +success they watched him breathlessly as he trod the black, +steaming shingles, which crisped the soles of his boots, and +penetrated even to his flesh. He has passed that point in safety, +he leaps upon the wing, staggering, aye, falling with his burden, +and when he struggles to his feet, the red blaze, wheeling in +circles around him, shows where the blood is flowing from a wound +upon the forehead. The batteries of the engine are directed toward +him now, and they saturate his clothes with water, for the most +fearful, most dangerous part is yet to come, the treading that +single beam. Will he do it? Can he do it? Untrammeled he might, +but with that heavy form he hugs so carefully to him, never! So +the crowd decide, and they shout to him, "Leave him; he is dead. +Save yourself, young man;" but the brave Arthur answers, "No," and +half wishes he were blind, so as to shut out the seething vortex +into which one mistep would plunge him. And while he stood there +thus, amid the roaring of the flames, and the din of the +multitude, there floated up to him a girlish voice, + +"Shut your eyes, Arthur, make believe you are blind, and maybe you +can walk the beam." + +It was Edith. He saw her where she stood, apart from all the rest, +her long black hair unbound just as she sprang from her pillow, +her arms outstretched toward him, and the sight nerved him to the +trial. He looked at her once more, it might be for the last time, +but he would carry the remembrance of that clear face even to +eternity, and with a longing, wistful glance he closed his eyes +and prepared to do her bidding. Then it seemed to him that another +presence than Edith's was around him, another voice than hers was +whispering words of courage, Nina, who went before, guiding his +footsteps, and lightening his load, screening him from the +scorching heat and buoying him up, while he walked the blackened +beam, which shook and bent at every tread, and at last fell with a +crash, but not until the ladder was reached, and a dozen friendly +arms were outstretched for Richard, and for him, too, for sight +and strength had failed him when they were no longer needed. With +countless blessings on the noble young man, they laid him on the +grass at Edith's side, wounded, burned, smoke-stained, and totally +unconscious. + +It was well for Richard that the entire household of Collingwood +were there to care for him, for Edith's thoughts were all bestowed +on Arthur. She hardly looked at Richard, but kneeling down by +Arthur, kissed, and pitied, and wept over his poor, raw, bleeding +hands, wiped the blood from the wound on the forehead, thinking +even then how it would be concealed by the brown hair--the hair +all singed and matted, showing how fiercely he had battled for his +life. Many gathered around her as she sat there with his head +pillowed on her lap, and from the anguish written on her face +learned what it was about which the curious villagers had so long +been pondering. + +"He must go home with me," Grace Atherton said, "My carriage will +soon be here." + +This reminded Edith that she too must act, and beckoning to +Victor, she bade him hasten to Collingwood and see that his +masters room was made comfortable. + +This was the first token she had given that she knew of Richard's +presence near her. She had heard them say that he still lived; +that not a hair of his head was singed or a thread of his night +garments harmed, and for this she was glad, but nothing could have +tempted her to leave Arthur, and she sat by him until the arrival +of the carriages which were to convey the still unconscious men to +their respective homes. + +At Collingwood, however, her whole attention was given to Richard, +who, as he began to realise what was passing around him, seemed so +much disturbed at having her near him that Victor whispered to +her, "Hadn't you better go out? I think your presence excites +him." + +Edith had fancied so too, and wondering much why it should, she +left him and going to her own room, sat down by the window, gazing +sadly across the fields, to where Grassy Spring lay in the morning +sunshine a blackened, mouldering ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +THE SACRIFICE. + + +For a few days Edith hoped that the fire might defer her marriage +a little longer but almost the first thing which Richard addressed +directly to her was, "Let the preparations go on as usual; there +need be no delay." + +So the dressmakers were recalled and bridal finery tossed about +until the whole was finished and the last sewing woman departed, +taking with her, as her predecessors had done, a large budget of +items touching the cool indifference of the bride elect and the +icy reserve of the bridegroom, who was greatly changed, they said. +It is true he was kind and considerate, as of old, and his voice, +whenever he spoke to Edith, was plaintively sad and touching, but +he preferred to be much alone, spending his time in his chamber, +into which few save his valet was admitted. And thus no one +suspected the mighty conflict he was waging with himself, one +moment crying out, "I cannot give her up," and again moaning +piteously, "I must, I must." + +The first meeting between himself and Arthur after the fire had +been a most affecting one, Richard sobbing like a child, kissing +the hands wounded so cruelly for him, and whispering amid his +sobs, "You saved my life at the peril of your own, and I shall +never forget it. God help me to do right." + +Many times after this he rode down to Brier Hill whither Edith had +frequently preceded him; but Richard never uttered a word of +reproach when near the window he heard a rustling sound and knew +who was sitting there. Neither would he ask a single question when +soft footsteps glided past him and out into the hall, but he +always heard them until they died away, and he knew those little +feet were treading the verge of the grave he had dug within his +heart. It was not yet filled up--that grave--but his mighty love +for Edith may coffined there, and he only waited for the needful +strength to bury it forever by verbally giving her up. + +And while he waited the May-days glided by, and where the apple +blossoms once had been, the green hard fruit was swelling now, the +lilacs, purple and limp, had dropped from the tree, the hyacinths +and daffodils were gone, and June with her sunny skies and wealth +of roses, queened it over Collingwood. It lacked but a week now of +the day appointed for the wedding, and Edith wished the time would +hasten, for anything was preferable to the numb, apathetic feeling +which lay around her heart. She had no hope that she should not be +Richard's wife, and she wondered much at his manner, trying more +than once to coax him from his strange mood by playful words, and +even by caresses, which won from him no response--only once, when, +he hugged her tightly to him, kissing her lips and hair, and +saying to her, "God forgive me, Birdie, I never meant to wrong you +and I am going to make amends." The next day when Victor went up +to his room he was struck with the peculiar expression of his +face--a subdued, peaceful expression which told that he was ready +at last to make the great sacrifice--to fold the darkness more +thickly around himself and give to Arthur the glorious daylight he +once hoped would shine for him and Richard would make this +sacrifice in his own way. Edith should read Nina's letter aloud to +him, with Arthur sitting near, and then, when it was finished, he +would ask if it were true, und why she had not told him before. + +Dinner was over, and in the library, where Richard had asked Edith +to be his wife, he sat waiting for her now, and for Arthur who had +been invited to Collingwood that afternoon. The day was much like +that other day when Victor alone sat with him, save that the south +wind stealing through the casement was warmer, more fragrant than +the breath of May had been. The robin was not now singing in the +maple tree, but it would come home ere long, and Richard knew full +well the chirping sounds which would welcome its approach. Once he +had likened himself to the mated robin, but now, alas, he knew he +was but the wounded bird, who finds its nest all desolate, its +hopes all fled--I'm a tough old owl," he said, smiling bitterly as +he remembered when first he used that term. Edith was right; she +could not mate with the owl, he thought, just as Arthur stepped +across the threshold, and Edith came flipping down the stairs. + +"Sit on a stool at my feet, as you used to do," Richard said to +her; "and you, Arthur, sit by me upon this sofa." + +They obeyed him, and after a moment he began, "I have sent for you +my children, not to inflict pain, but to remove it. Heaven forbid +that through me you should suffer longer, or that any act of mine +should embitter your young lives. Do not interrupt me," he +continued, as Edith was about to speak. "I must hasten on, or my +courage all will fail me. Arthur, give me your hands, the hands +that saved my life. I will touch them as carefully, as tenderly as +I am about to deal with you." + +Arthur complied with his request, and pressing the right one, +Richard continued, + +"I joined this once with another, a tiny, little hand, now laid +away beneath the Southern flowers; and you said after me, 'I, +Arthur, take thee, Nina, for my wife.' You remember it, don't +you?" + +Arthur could not speak, and, save the violent start which Edith +gave, there came no answer to Richard's question as he went on: + +"It is only a few weeks since I learned who was that boy husband +of eighteen and that girlish bride of fifteen and a half, but I +know it now. I know it all, and this explains much that has been +strange in me of late. Edith," and he felt for her bowed head, +"Edith, I have here Nina's letter, written by stealth, and brought +by Victor to me, and you must read it to us--then tell me, if you +can, why I have so long been deceived?" + +Edith had glanced at the beginning, and with a choking voice she +said, + +"No, no, oh, Richard, no. Don't require it of me. Anything but +that. I never knew she wrote it. I never meant--oh, Richard, +Richard!" + +She laid her head now on his knee and sobbed aloud, while he +continued: + +"You must read it to me, 'Tis the only punishment I shall inflict +upon you." + +"Read it, Edith," Arthur said, withdrawing one of his hands from +Richard's, and resting it upon her head thus to re-assure her, + +Richard guessed his intention and laid his own on Arthur's. Edith +felt the gentle, forgiving pressure, even through the wounded, +bandaged hand, and this it was which gave her strength to read +that message, which brought Nina before them all, a seemingly +living, breathing presence. And when it was finished there was +heard in that library more than one "great cry, like the breaking +up of the ice on the Northern ponds." + +Richard was the calmest of the three. The contents of the letter +were not new to him, and did not touch so tender a chord as that +which thrilled and quivered in Arthur's heart as he listened to +the words of his sweet child-wife, the golden haired Nina. Though +dead she was all powerful yet, and Nina, from her grave, swayed a +mightier sceptre than Nina living could have done. + +"Edith," Richard said, when her agitation had in a measure +subsided, "you have read the letter, now tell me, is it true? +Crazy people do not always see or hear aright. Did Nina? Has +Arthur loved you all the time?" + +"Spare Edith," Arthur cried; "And question me. I did love Edith +Hastings, even when I had no right so to do." + +"And would you ask her to be your wife if there were no Richard in +the way, and she was free as when you first knew and loved her?" + +Arthur knew the blind man was not trifling with him, and he +answered promptly, + +"I would, but she will bear me witness that never since Nina died, +have I sought, by word or deed, to influence her decision." + +"I believe you," Richard said; "and now, let us compare our love +for her, one with the other. Let us see which is the stronger of +the two. Do you love Edith so much that you would give her to +another, if you knew she loved that other best? If she were +promised to you by a vow she dared not break, would you give her +to me, supposing I was preferred before you?" + +Arthur was very white, as he answered, + +"That would not be one-half so hard as the yielding her to one +whom she did not love, and, Richard, I have done this. I have +given her to you, even when I knew that a word from me would have +kept her from you." + +"That is hardly an answer to my question," Richard rejoined, "but +it shows how honorable you have been. I question whether I could +have done as much. Your sense of right and wrong was stronger than +your love." + +"But," said Arthur, quickly interrupting him, "you must not think +that I loved Edith less, because I did not speak. Silence only fed +the flame, and she cannot be so inexpressibly dear to you as she +is to me. Oh, Richard, Richard, you do not know how much I love +her." + +"Don't I?" and Richard smiled mournfully; then turning to Edith, +he continued, And you, my darling, I would hear from you now. Is +it Richard or Arthur you prefer?" + +"Oh, Richard," Edith cried, "I meant to keep my vow, and never let +you know. I was going to be a true, a faithful wife, even if it +killed me--I certainly was--but, forgive me, Richard, I did love +Arthur first, Arthur best, Arthur most of all," and again the +"great cry" smote on Richard's ear, touching a chord like that +which is touched in a mother's bosom when she hears her suffering +infant's wail. + +"Edith," he said, "if I insist upon it, will you still be my +wife?" + +"Yes, Richard, and it will not be so dreadful now that you know I +do love Arthur best, for I do, I do, I can't help it, and I have +tried so hard. He is young like me, and then I loved him first, I +loved him best." + +And in this last the whole was embodied. Edith loved Arthur best. +Richard knew she did, and turning to Arthur, he continued, + +"And what will you do if I insist? Will memories of the love you +bore your lost Nina sustain and comfort you?" + +Richard spoke half-tauntingly, but Arthur conquered the emotion of +anger he felt arising within him at this allusion to the past, and +answered mildly, + +"As I hope for Heaven, I did love my poor Nina at the last, with a +love which, had it been sooner born, would have made me a happier +man; and Nina knew it too, I told her so before she died, and I +would fain have kept her with me, but I could not, and now, if I +lose Edith, too, it will not be so hard, because I did love Nina, +and sweet memories of her will keep my soul from fainting, when I +am far away from her little grave, far away from you, and far away +from Edith." + +Arthur arose to leave the room, but Richard held him back, saying +to him, + +"You have answered well. Now listen to me. Edith Hastings cannot +be dearer to you than she is to me, but think you I will compel +her to be mine? Should I be happy, knowing that always in her +dreams another arm than mine encircled her dear form, that other +lips than mine were pressed to hers, which moaned in sleep not +Richard's, but Arthur's name? And this would surely be. The wife I +mockingly called mine would be yours in spirit; whether on land or +sea, and I ask for no such bride. Were I sure I could win her +love, even though it might not be in years, not all the powers of +earth should wrest her from me. But I cannot. Such is her +temperament that she would give me only hatred, and I do not +deserve this from her." + +"Oh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't," Edith sobbed, and Richard continued, + +"Hush, my child, I know how it would be, even if I did forget it +for a time. You must not be the blind man's wife, though the +giving you up is like tearing me asunder. And now, Edith, let me +hold you once more as I never shall hold you again. It will make +me strong to do what I must do." + +Edith could not move, but Arthur lifted her up, and placing her in +Richard's lap, laid one of his own hands pityingly on the head of +the blind man, whose tears dropped on Edith's neck, as he breathed +over her his farewell. + +"Light of my eyes, joy of my heart, you know not what it costs me +to give you up, but God in Heaven knows. He will remember all my +pain, removing it in His own good time, and I shall yet be happy. +It is true, a black, dreary waste stretches on into the future, +but beyond it, even in this world, the bright daylight is shining, +and Richard will reach it at last,--will learn to think of you +without a pang, to love you as his sister. Arthur, I give to you +my darling. I release her from her vow, and may the kind Father +bless you both, giving you every possible good. Let no sorrow for +me mingle with your joy. I shall have grief and heaviness for a +time, but I am strong to bear it. Morning will break at last. Let +the wedding night be kept the same as is appointed, there need be +no change, save in the bridegroom, and of that the world will all +approve. And, Edith, if during the coming week I am not much with +you, if I stay altogether in my room, do not try to see me. I once +thought you would be my wife. I know you cannot now, and you must +not come to me at present. But on your bridal night, I shall go +with you to the church. It would look strangely if I did not. I +shall return with you to the house, shall force myself to hear +them call you by another name than mine, and then, the next +morning Arthur must take you away--for a time, I mean. I know you +will wish to thank me, but I'd rather you would not. God will +reward me in some way for the sacrifice I make this day. Now, +Edith, kiss me once, kiss me twice, with your arms around my neck. +Lay your soft cheek against mine. Yes--so--so--" and over the dark +face there broke a shadowy smile, as Edith did his bidding, +kissing him many, many times, and blessing him for the great +happiness bestowed upon her. + +"There, that will do. Now, Arthur, lead me to my room, and sit +with me until this horrid giddiness is gone, and my heart beats +more naturally." + +He put Edith from his lap--passed his hand slowly over her face as +if thus he would remember it, and then, leaning heavily on +Arthur's arm, tottered from the room--the noble Richard who had +made this mighty sacrifice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE BRIDAL. + + +The week went by as all weeks will, whether laden with happiness +or pain, and the rosy light of the 15th morning broke over the New +England hills and over Collingwood, where the servants, headed by +Grace Atherton, were all astir, and busy with their preparations +for the festive scene of the coming night. Edith had made +strenuous efforts to have the party given up, sending message +after message to Richard, who, without any good reason for it, was +determined upon this one point, and always answered "No." + +He had adhered to his resolution of staying in his room, and Edith +had not seen him since the eventful day when he had made the great +sacrifice. Arthur, however, was admitted daily to his presence, +always coming from those interviews with a sad look upon his face, +as if his happiness were not unmixed with pain. And still Richard +tried to be cheerful, talking but little of Edith, and appearing +so calm when he did mention her, that a casual observer would have +said he did not care. + +In the village nothing was talked about save the change of +bridegrooms and the approaching wedding, and when the morning +came, others than the inmates of Collingwood were busy and +excited. + +It was a glorious day, for leafy June had donned her gala robes +for the occasion, and every heart, save one, beat with joy, as the +sun rose higher and higher in the heavens, nearer and nearer the +appointed hour. Richard could not be glad, and that bridal day was +the saddest he had ever known. Not even Arthur was permitted to be +with him, and none save Victor saw the white, still anguish +creeping over his face as hour after hour went by, and from the +sounds without he knew that they had come whose business it was to +array his Edith in her bridal robes of costly satin and fleecy +lace. Then two more hours dragged heavily on, and going to his +window he felt that the sun was setting. It was time his own +toilet was commenced, and like a little child he submitted himself +to Victor, groaning occasionally as he heard the merry laugh of +the bridesmaids on the stairs, and remembered a time when he, too, +felt as light, as joyous as they, aye, and almost as young. He was +strangely altered now, and looked far older than his years, when, +with his wedding garments on, he sat in his arm-chair waiting for +the bride. He had sent Victor for her, knowing it would be better +to meet her once before the trying moment at the altar. Edith +obeyed the summons, and in all her wondrous beauty, which this +night shone forth resplendently, she came and stood before him, +saying softly, + +"Richard, I am here." + +There was no need to tell him that. He knew she was there, and +drawing her to his side, he said, + +"I am glad that I am blind for once, for should I behold you as +you are, I could not give you up. Kneel down here, darling, and +let me feel how beautiful you are." + +She knelt before him, and her tears fell fast as she felt his hand +moving slowly over her dress, pressing her round arms, pausing for +a moment upon her white neck, tarrying still longer upon her +glowing cheeks, and finally resting in mute blessing upon her +braids of hair, where the orange blossoms were. + +"I must have a lock of my Birdie's hair, he said. "Let Arthur cut +it off to-night. It will be dearer to me than if 'tis later +severed, Leave it on the table, where Victor can find it, for, +Edith, when you return from your bridal tour, I shall be gone, and +I have sent for you because I would talk with you again ere we +part--it may be for years, and it may be forever." + +"No, Richard, no," Edith sobbed. "You must not go away, I want you +here with us." + +"It is best that I go for a while," he replied, "I am almost as +much at home in Europe as I am here, and Victor is anxious to see +Paris again. I have talked with Arthur about it, asking him to +live here while I am gone at least and take charge of my affairs. +He had thought to rebuild Grassy Spring, but finally consented to +defer it for a time and do as I desired. The negroes will be +pleased with this arrangement, and as Grace must wish to be rid of +them, they will come up here at once. I shall be happier knowing +that you are here; and when I feel that I can, I will come back +again, but do not let thoughts of the wanderer mar your bliss. I +have been thinking it over, Edith, and I see more and more that it +was right for me to release you. I do not censure you for aught +except that you did not tell me in the beginning. For this I did +blame you somewhat, but have forgiven you now." + +"Oh. Richard, Richard," Edith burst out impetuously, "I never +loved you one half so much as since you gave me to Arthur, and I +have wanted to come and tell you so, but you would not let me." + +He knew what kind of love she meant, and his heart beat just the +same as she continued, + +"I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that I was ever cross to you, +and I have been many times since that night I promised to be +yours. I don't know what made me. I do not feel so now." + +"I know what made you," Richard replied. "You did not love the +blind old man well enough to be his wife, and the feeling that you +must be, soured your disposition. Forgive me, darling, but I don't +believe I should have been happy with you after a time--not as +happy as Arthur, and it is this which helps me to bear it." + +This was not very complimentary to Edith, but it comforted her +just as Richard meant it should, and made the future look +brighter. Richard was dearer to her now than he had over been, and +the tender, loving caress she gave him, when at last Arthur's +voice was heard without asking for admission was not feigned, for +she felt that he was the noblest, the best of men, and she told +him so, kissing again and again his face, and sighing to think how +white and wan it had grown within the last few weeks. + +"Come, darling, we are waiting for you," Arthur said, as he +advanced into the room, and Richard put from his lap the beautiful +young girl around whose uncovered shoulders Arthur wrapped the +white merino cloak which was to shield her from the night air; +then bending over Richard, he said, "Heaven will bless you, even +as I do, for the peerless gift I have received from you, and +believe me, there is much of pain mingled with my joy--pain at +leaving you so desolate. I cannot tell you all I feel, but if a +lifetime of devotion can in the smallest degree repay you what I +owe, it shall be freely given. Now bless me once more, me and my-- +bride." + +Richard had arisen as Arthur was speaking, and at the word bride +he put out his hand as if to keep from falling, then steadying +that on Arthur's head and laying the other on Edith's he +whispered, + +"To him who saved my life when he believed I was his rival I give +my singing bird, who for eleven years has been the blind man's +sunshine--give her freely, cheerfully, harboring no malice against +him who takes her. My Arthur and my precious Edith, I bless and +love you both." + +The nerveless hands pressed heavily for a moment upon the two +bowed heads, and then Arthur led his bride away to where the +carriage waited. + +The ceremony was appointed for half-past eight, but long before +that hour St. Luke's was filled to overflowing, some coming even +as early as six to secure seats most favorable to sight. And there +they waited, until the roll of wheels was heard and the clergyman +appeared in the chancel. Then seven hundred tired heads turned +simultaneously toward the door through which the party came, the +rich robes of the bride trailing upon the carpet and sweeping from +side to side as she moved up the middle aisle. But not upon her +did a single eye in all that vast assemblage linger, nor yet upon +the bridegroom, nor yet upon the bridesmaid, filing in one behind +the other, but upon the stooping figure which moved so slowly, +blind Richard groping his way to the altar, caring nothing for the +staring crowd, nothing for the sudden buzz as he came in, hearing +nothing but Victor's whispered words, "'twill soon be over." + +Yes, it would soon be over. It was commencing now, the marriage +ceremony, and Richard listened in a kind of maze, until the +clergyman asked, + +"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?" + +As Arthur had supposed this part would, of course, be omitted, no +arrangements had been made for it, and an awkward pause ensued, +while all eyes involuntarily turned upon the dark man now standing +up so tall, so erect, among that group of lighter, airier forms. +Like some frozen statue Richard stood, and the minister, thinking +he did not hear, repeated his demand. Slowly Richard moved +forward, and Grace, who was next to Edith, stepped aside as he +came near. Reverently he laid his hand on Edith's head, and said +aloud, + +"I DO!" + +Then the hand, sliding from her head rested on her shoulder, where +it lay all through that ceremony, and the weeping speculators +sitting near, heard distinctly the words whispered by the white +lips which dripped with the perspiration of this last dreadful +agony. + +"I, Richard, take thee, Birdie, to be my wedded wife, to have and +to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer +for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, +till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and +thereto I plight thee my troth." + +He said it every word, and when it was Edith's turn, he bent a +little forward, while his hand grasped her bare shoulder so firmly +as to leave a mark when she put Arthur's name where his should +have been, and the quivering lips moaned faintly, + +"Don't Birdie, don't." + +It was a strange bridal, more sad than joyous, for though in the +hearts of bride and groom there was perfect love for each other, +there were too many bitter memories crowding upon them both to +make it a moment of unmixed bliss--memories of Nina, who seemed to +stand by Arthur, blessing him in tones unheard, and a sadder, a +living memory of the poor blind man whose low wail, when all was +done, smote painfully on Edith's ear. + +In a pew near to the altar Victor sat weeping like a child, and +when the last Amen was uttered, he sprang to his master's side and +said, + +"Come with me. You cannot wish to go home with the bride." + +Instantly the crowd divided right and left as Victor passed +through their midst, leading out into the open air the faint, sick +man, who, when they were alone, leaned his head meekly on his +faithful valet's arm, saying to him, + +"You are all there is left to care for me now. Be good to me, +won't you?" + +Victor answered with a clasp of his hand and hurried on, reaching +Collingwood before the bridal guests, who ere long came swarming +in like so many buzzing bees, congratulating the newly-wedded +pair, and looking curiously round for Richard. But Richard was not +there. He had borne all he could, and on his bed in his bolted +room he lay, scarcely giving a token of life save when the sounds +from the parlors reached his ear, when he would whisper, + +"'Tis done. It is done." + +One by one the hours went by, and then up the gravelled walk the +carriages rolled a second time to take the guests away. Hands were +shaken and good nights said. There was cloaking in the ladies' +room and impatient waiting in the gentlemen's; there was hurrying +down the stairs, through the hall, and out upon the piazza. There +was banging to of carriage doors, cracking of drivers' whips, and +racing down the road. There was a hasty gathering up of silver, a +closing of the shutters, a putting out of lamps, until at last +silence reigned over Collingwood, from whose windows only two +lights were gleaming. Arthur was alone with his bride, and Richard +alone with his God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +SIX YEARS LATER. + + +The New York and Springfield train eastward bound stood waiting in +the depot at New Haven. There had been a slight accident which +occasioned a detention of several minutes, and taking advantage of +this delay many of the passengers alighted to stretch their weary +limbs or inhale a breath of purer air than could be obtained +within the crowded car. Several seats were thus left unoccupied, +one of which a tall, dark, foreign-looking man, with eyes +concealed by a green shade, was about appropriating to himself, +when a wee little hand was laid on his and a sweet baby voice +called out, + +"That's my mamma's chair, big man, mamma gone after cake for +Nina!" + +The stranger started, and his face flushed with some strong +emotion, while his hand rested caressingly upon the flowing curls +of the beautiful three-years-old girl, as he asked, + +"Who Is mamma, darling? What is her name, I mean?" + +"I can tell that a heap better'n Kina," chimed in a boy of five, +who was sitting just across the aisle, and joining the little +girl, he continued, 'My mother is Edith, so Aunt Grace calls her, +but father says Miggie most all the time. + +The stranger sank into the seat, dizzy and faint with the mighty +shock, for he knew now that Edith's children were standing them +before him--that frank, fearless boy, and that sweet little girl, +who, not caring to be outdone by her brother, said, in a half +exultant way, as if it were something of which she were very +proud, + +"I've got an Uncle 'Ichard, I have, and he's tomin' home bime by." + +"And going to bring me lots of things," interrupted the boy again, +"Marie said so." + +At this point a tall, slender Frenchman, who had entered behind +the man with the green shade, glided from the car, glancing +backward just in time to see that his master had coaxed both +children into his lap, the girl coming shyly, while the boy sprang +forward with that wide-awake fearlessness which characterized all +his movements. He was a noble-looking little fellow, and the +stranger hugged him fondly as he kissed the full red lips so like +to other lips kissed long years ago. + +"What makes you wear this funny thing?" asked the child, peering +up under the shade. + +"Because my eyes are weak," was the reply, "People around your +home call me blind." + +"Uncle 'Ichard is blind," lisped the little girl, while the boy +rejoined, "but the bestest man that ever lived. Why, he's betterer +than father, I guess, for I asked ma wan't he, and pa told me +yes." + +"Hush-sh, child," returned the stranger, fearing lest they might +attract too much attention. + +Then removing the shade, his eyes rested long and wistfully upon +the little boy and girl as he said, + +"I am your Uncle Richard." + +"True as you live and breathe are you Uncle Dick," the boy almost +screamed, winding his chubby arms around the stranger's neck, +while Nina standing upon her feet chirped out her joy as she +patted the bearded cheek, and called him "Uncle 'Ick." + +Surely if there had been any lingering pain in the heart of +Richard Harrington it was soothed away by the four soft baby hands +which passed so caressingly over his face and hair, while honeyed +lips touched his, and sweet bird-like voices told how much they +had been taught to love the one whom they always called Uncle. +These children had been the hardest part of all to forgive, +particularly the first born, for Richard, when he heard of him had +felt all the old sorrow coming back again; a feeling as if Edith +had no right with little ones which did not call him father. But +time had healed that wound too, until from the sunny slopes of +France, where his home had so long been, his heart had often +leaped across the sea in quest of those same children now +prattling in his ear and calling him Uncle Dick. There was +another, a dearer name by which they might have called him, but he +knew now that 'twas not for him to be thus addressed. And still he +felt something like a father's love stealing into his heart as he +wound his arms around the little forms, giving back kiss for kiss, +and asking which was like their mother. + +"Ain't none of us much," Dick replied, "We're like father and Aunt +Nina, hanging on the wall in the library. Mother's got big black +eyes, with winkers a rod long, and her hair shines like my velvet +coat, and comes most to her feet." + +Richard smiled, und was about to speak again, when Dick +forestalled him by asking--not if he had him something but where +it was. + +"It's in your trunk, I guess," he said, as his busy fingers +investigated every pocket and found nothing savoring of +playthings, except a knife, both blades of which were opened in a +trice, and tried upon the window sill! + +Richard, who, never having known much of children, had not thought +of presents, was sorely perplexed, when luckily Victor returned, +bringing a paper of molasses candy, which he slyly thrust into his +master's hand, whispering to him, + +"They always like that." + +Victor had calculated aright, for nothing could have pleased the +St. Claires more; and when, as she entered at the door, Edith +caught sight of her offspring, she hardly knew them, so besmeared +were their little faces with molasses, Nina having wiped her hands +first upon her hair and then rubbed them upon Richard's knee, +while Victor looked on a little doubtful us to what the mother +might say. + +"There's mam-ma," Nina cried, trying to shake back her curls, +which nevertheless stuck lightly to her forehead. "There's mam- +ma," and in an instant Little Dick, as he was called, found +himself rather unceremoniously set down upon his feet, as Richard +adjusted his shade, and resumed the air of helplessness so natural +to the blind. + +Edith had been to New York with Marie and the children, leaving +the former there for a few weeks, and was now on her way home, +whither she hoped ere long to welcome Richard, whom she had never +seen since the night of her marriage, when Victor led him half +fainting from the altar. He would not join them at the breakfast +next morning, but sent them his good-bye, and when they returned +from their long, happy bridal tour they found a letter for them +saying Richard was in Paris. + +Regularly after that they heard from him, and though he never +referred to the past, Edith knew how much it cost him to write to +one whom he had loved so much. Latterly, however, his letters had +been far more cheerful in their tone, and it struck Edith that his +hand-writing too, was more even than formerly, but she suspected +nothing and rather anticipated the time when she should be eyes +for him again, just as she used to be. He had said in his last +letter that he was coming home ere long, but she had no idea that +he was so near, and she wondered what tall, greyish haired +gentleman it was who had taken possession of her seat. + +"Mother," little Dick was about to scream, when Victor placed his +hand upon his mouth, at the same time turning his back to Edith, +who, a little surprised at the proceeding, and a little indignant +it may be, said rather haughtily, and with a hasty glance at +Richard, + +"My seat, sir, if you please." + +The boy by this time had broken away from Victor, and yelled out, +"Uncle Dick, ma, Uncle Dick;" but it did not need this now to tell +Edith who it was. A second glance had told her, and with face +almost as white as the linen collar about her neck, she reeled +forward, and would have fallen but for Victor, who caught her by +the shoulder and sat her down beside his master. + +Richard was far less excited than herself, inasmuch as he was +prepared for the meeting and as she sank down with the folds of +her grey traveling dress lying in his lap, he offered her his +hand, and with the same old sunny smile she remembered so well, +said to her, + +"Do you not know me?" + +"Yes," she gasped, "but it takes my breath away. I was not +expecting you so soon. I am so glad." + +He knew she was by the way her snowy fingers twined themselves +around his own and by the fervent pressure of her lips upon his +hand. + +"Mam-ma's tyin," said Nina, and then Edith's tears fell fast, +dropping upon the broad hand she still held, which very, very +gradually, but still intentionally drew hers directly beneath the +green shade, and there Richard kept it, his thumb hiding the broad +band of gold which told she was a wife. + +It was a very small, white, pretty hand, and so perhaps he +imagined, for he held it a long, long time, while he talked quite +naturally of Arthur, of Grace, of the people of Shannondale, and +lastly of her children. + +"They crept into my heart before I knew it," he said, releasing +Edith's hand and lifting Nina to his knee. "They are neither of +them much like you, my namesake says." + +This reminded Edith of the mysterious shade which puzzled her so +much, and, without replying directly to him, she asked why it was +worn. Victor shot a quick, nervous glance at his master, who +without the slightest tremor in his voice, told her that he had of +late been troubled with weak eyes, and as the dust and sunlight +made them worse, he had been advised to wear it while traveling as +a protection. + +"I shall remove it by and by, when I am rested," he said. + +And Edith hoped he would, for he did not seem natural to her with +that ugly thing disfiguring him as it did. + +When Hartford was reached Richard found an opportunity of +whispering something to Victor, who replied, + +"Tired find dusty. Better wait, if you want a good impression." + +So, with a spirit of self-denial of which we can scarcely conceive +Richard did wait, and the shade was drawn closely down as little +Nina, grown more bold climbed up beside him, and poised upon one +foot, her fat arm resting on his neck, played "peek-a-boo" beneath +the shade, screaming at every "peek," "I seen your eyes, I did." + +A misstep backward, a tumble and a bumped head brought this sport +to an end, just as Shannondale was reached, and in her attempts to +soothe the little girl, Edith failed to see that the shade was +lifted for a single moment, while, standing upon the platform, +Richard's eyes wandered eagerly, greedily over the broad meadow +lands and fields of waving grain, over the wooded hills, rich in +summer glory, and lastly toward Collingwood, with its roofs and +slender tower basking in the July sun. + +"Thank God thank God," he whispered, just as Victor caught his +arm, bidding him alight as the train was about to move forward. + +"There's papa, there--right across the track," and Dick tugged at +his father's coat skirts, trying to make him comprehend, but +Arthur had just then neither eyes nor ears for any thing but his +sobbing little daughter, whose forehead he kissed tenderly, +thereby curing the pain and healing the wounded heart, of his +favorite child, his second golden-haired Nina. Dick, however, +persevered, until his father understood what he meant, and Nina +was in danger of being hurt again, so hastily was she dropped when +Arthur learned that Richard had come. There was already a crowd +around him, but they made way for Arthur, who was not ashamed to +show before them all, how much he loved the noble man, or how glad +he was to have him back. + +"Richard has grown old," the spectators said to each other, as +they watched him till he entered the carriage. + +And so he had. His hair was quite grey now, and the tall figure +was somewhat inclined to stoop, while about the mouth were deep- +cut lines which even the heavy mustache could not quite conceal. +But he would grow young again, and even so soon he felt his +earlier manhood coming back as he rode along that pleasant +afternoon, past the fields where the newly-mown hay, fresh from a +recent shower, sent forth its fragrance upon the summer air, while +the song of the mowers mingled with the click of the whetting +scythe, made sweet, homelike sounds which he loved to hear. Why +did he lean so constantly from the carriage, and why when Victor +exclaimed, "The old ruin is there yet," referring to Grassy Spring +did he, too, look across the valley? + +Arthur asked himself this question many times, and at last, when +they reached Collingwood and Edith had alighted, he bent forward +and whispered in Richard's ear, not an interrogation, but a +positive affirmation, which brought back the response, + +"Don't tell her--not yet, I mean." Arthur turned very white and +could scarcely stand as he stepped to the ground, for that answer, +had taken his strength away, and Victor led him instead of his +master into the house, where the latter was greeted joyfully by +the astonished servants. + +He seemed very weary and after receiving them all, asked to go to +his room where he could rest. + +"You will find it wholly unchanged," Arthur said. "Nothing new but +gas." + +"I trust I shall not set the house on fire this time," was +Richard's playful rejoinder, as he followed Victor up the stairs +to the old familiar chamber, where his valet left him alone to +breathe out his fervent thanksgivings for the many blessings +bestowed on one, who, when last he left that room, had said in his +sorrow, there were no sunspots left. + +The first coming home he so much dreaded was over now, and had +been accompanied with far less pain than he feared. He knew they +were glad to have him back--Arthur and his dear sister, as he +always called her now. Never since the bridal night had the name +Edith passed his lips and if perchance he heard it from others, he +shuddered involuntarily. Still the sound of her voice had not hurt +him as he thought it would; nothing had been half so hard as he +had anticipated, and falling upon his knees, he poured out his +soul in prayer, nor heard the steps upon the threshold as Arthur +came in, his heart too full to tarry outside longer. Kneeling by +Richard, he, too, thanked the Good Father, not so much for his +friend's safe return as for the boon, precious as life itself +which had been given to that friend. + +When at last their prayers were ended, both involuntarily advanced +to the window, where, with his handsome, manly face turned fully +to the light, Arthur stood immovable, nor flinched a hair, as +Edith would ere long when passing the same ordeal. He did not ask +what Richard thought of him, neither did Richard tell, only the +remark, + +"I do not wonder that she loved you best." + +They then talked together of a plan concerning Edith, after which +Arthur left his brother to the repose he so much needed ere +joining them in the parlor below. Never before had pillows seemed +so soft or bed so grateful as that on which Richard laid him down +to rest, and sleep was just touching his heavy eyelids, when upon +the door there came a gentle rap, accompanied with the words, + +"P'eae, Uncle 'Ick, let Nina tome. She's all dressed up so nice." + +That little girl had crept way down into Richard's heart, just as +she did into every body's, and he admitted her at once, suffering +her to climb up beside him, where, with her fat, dimpled hands +folded together, she sat talking to him in her sweet baby +language, + +"'Ess go to sleep, Nina tired," she said at last, and folding his +arms about her, Richard held her to his bosom as if she had been +his own. "'Tain't time to say p'ayers, is it?" she asked, fearing +lest she should omit her duty; and when Richard inquired what her +prayers were, she answered, + +"Now I lay me--and God bess Uncle 'Ick. Mam-ma tell me that." + +Richard's eyes filled with tears, which the waxen fingers wiped +away, and when somewhat later Victor cautiously looked in, he saw +them sleeping there together, Nina's golden head nestled in +Richard's neck, and one of her little hands lain upon his cheek. + +Meantime, in Edith's room Arthur was virtually superintending the +making of his wife's evening toilet, a most unprecedented +employment for mankind in general, and him in particular. But for +some reason wholly inexplicable to Edith, Arthur was unusually +anxious about her personal appearance, suggesting among other +things that she should wear a thin pink muslin, which he knew so +well became her dark style of beauty; and when she reminded him of +its shortcomings with regard to waist and sleeves, he answered +playfully, + +"That does not matter. 'Twill make you look girlish and young." + +So Edith donned the pink dress, and clasping upon her neck and +arms the delicate ornaments made from Nina's hair, asked of +Arthur, "How she looked." + +"Splendidly," he replied, "Handsomer even than on our bridal +night." + +And Edith was handsomer than on the night when she stood at the +altar a bride, for six years of almost perfect happiness had +chased away the restless, careworn, sorrowful look which was fast +becoming habitual, and now, at twenty-six, Edith St. Claire was +pronounced by the world the most strikingly beautiful woman of her +age. Poets had sung of her charms, artists had transferred them to +canvas; brainless beaux, who would as soon rave about a married +woman as a single one, provided it were the fashion so to do, had +stamped them upon their hearts; envious females had picked them +all to pieces, declaring her too tall, too black, too hoydenish to +be even pretty; while little Dick and Nina likened her to the +angels, wondering if there were anything in heaven, save Aunt +Nina, as beautiful as she. And this was Edith, who when her toilet +was completed went down to meet Grace Atherton just arrived and +greatly flurried when she heard that Richard had come. Very +earnestly the two ladies were talking together when Arthur glanced +in for a moment and then hastened up to Richard, whom he found +sitting by the window, with Dick and Nina both seated in his lap, +the former utterly astounded at the accuracy with which his blind +uncle guessed every time how many fingers he held up! + +"Father! father!" he screamed, as Arthur came in, "He can see just +as good as if he wasn't blind!" and he looked with childish +curiosity into the eyes which had discovered in his infantile +features more than one trace of the Swedish Petrea, grandmother to +the boy. + +Arthur smiled and without replying to his son, said to Richard, + +"I have come now to take you to Edith. Grace Atherton is there, +too--a wonderfully young and handsome woman for forty-two. I am +not sure that you can tell them apart. + +"I could tell your wife from all the world," was Richard's answer, +as putting down the children and resuming the green shade, he went +with Arthur to the door of the library, where Grace and Edith, +standing with their backs to them were too much engaged to notice +that more than Arthur was coming. + +Him Edith heard, and turning towards him she was about to speak, +when Richard lowered the green shade he had raised for a single +moment, and walking up to her took her hand in his. Twining his +fingers around her slender wrist he said to her, + +"Come with me to the window and sit on a stool at my feet just as +you used to do." + +Edith was surprised, and stammered out something about Grace's +being in the room. + +"Never mind Mrs. Atherton," he said, "I will attend to her by and +by--my business is now with you," and he led her to the window, +where Arthur had carried a stool. + +Like lightning the truth flashed upon Grace, and with a nervous +glance at the mirror to see how she herself was looking that +afternoon, she stood motionless, while Richard dashing the shade +to the floor, said to the startled Edith, + +"The blind man would know how Petrea's daughter looks." + +With a frightened shriek Edith covered up her face, and laying her +head in its old resting place, Richard's lap, exclaimed, + +"No, no, oh no, Richard. Please do not look at me now. Help me, +Arthur. Don't let him," she continued, as she felt the strong +hands removing her own by force. But Arthur only replied by +lifting up her head himself and holding in his own the struggling +hands, while Richard examined a face seen now for the first time +since its early babyhood. Oh how scrutinisingly he scanned that +face, with its brilliant black eyes, where tears were glittering +like diamonds in the sunlight, its rich healthful bloom, its +proudly curved lip, its dimpled chin and soft, round cheeks What +did he think of it? Did it meet his expectations? Was the face he +had known so long in his darkness as Edith's, natural when seen by +daylight? Mingled there no shadow of disappointment in the +reality? Was Arthur's Edith at all like Richard's singing bird? +How Arthur wished he knew. But Richard kept his own counsel, for a +time at least. He did not say what he thought of her. He only +kissed the lips beginning to quiver with something like a grieved +expression that Arthur should hold her so long, kissed them twice, +and with his hand wiped her tears away, saying playfully, + +"'Tis too bad, Birdie, I know, but I've anticipated this hour so +long." + +He had not called her Birdie before, and the familiar name +compensated for all the pain which Edith had suffered when she saw +those strangely black eyes fastened upon her, and knew that they +could see. Springing to her feet the moment, she was released, she +jumped into his lap in her old impetuous way, and winding her arms +around his neck, sobbed out, + +"I am so glad, Richard, so glad. You can't begin to guess how +glad, and I've prayed for this every night and every day, Arthur +and I. Didn't we, Arthur? Dear, dear Richard. I love you so much." + +"What he make mam-ma cry for?" asked a childish voice from the +comer where little Dick stood, half frightened at what he saw, his +tiny fist doubled ready to do battle for mother in case he should +make up his mind that her rights were invaded. + +This had the effect of rousing Edith, who, faint with excitement, +was led by Arthur out into the open air, thus leaving Richard +alone with his first love of twenty-five years ago. It did not +seem to him possible that so many years had passed over the face +which, at seventeen, was marvellously beautiful, and which still +was very, very fair and youthful in its look, for Grace was +wondrously well preserved and never passed for over thirty, save +among the envious ones, who, old themselves, strove hard to make +others older still. + +"Time has dealt lightly with you, Grace," Richard said, after the +first curious glance. "I could almost fancy you were Grace +Elmendorff yet," and he lifted gallantly one of her chestnut +curls, just as he used to do in years agone, when she was Grace +Elmendorff. + +This little act recalled so vivedly the scenes of other days that +Grace burst into a flood of tears, and hurried from the room to +the parlor adjoining, where, unobserved, she could weep again over +the hopes forever fled. Thus left to himself, with the exception +of little Dick, Richard had leisure to look about him, descrying +ere long the life-sized portrait of Nina hanging on the wall. In +an instant he stood before what was to him, not so much a picture +painted on rude canvas, as a living reality--the golden-haired +angel, who was now as closely identified with his every thought +and feeling as even Edith herself had ever been. She had followed +him over land and sea, bringing comfort to him in his dark hours +of pain, coloring his dreams with rainbow hues of promise, buoying +him up and bidding him wait a little--try yet longer, when the +only hope worth his living for now seemed to be dying out, and +when at last it, the wonderful cure, was done, and those gathered +around him said each to the other "He will see," he heard nothing +for the buzzing sound which filled his ear, and the low voice +whispering to him, "I did it--brought the daylight straight from +heaven. God said I might--and I did. Nina takes care of you." + +They told him that he had fainted from excess of joy, but Richard +believed that Nina had been with him all the same, cherishing that +conviction even to this hour, when he stood there face to face +with her, unconsciously saying to himself, "Gloriously beautiful +Nina. In all my imaginings of you I never saw aught so fair as +this. Edith is beautiful, but not--" + +"As beautiful as Nina was, am I?" said a voice behind him, and +turning round, Richard drew Edith to his side, and encircling her +with his arm answered frankly, + +"No, my child, you are not as beautiful as Nina." + +"Disappointed in me, are you not? Tell me honestly," and Edith +peered up half-archly, half-timidly into the eyes whose glance she +scarcely yet dared meet. + +"I can hardly call it disappointment," Richard answered, smiling +down upon her. "You are different-looking from what I supposed, +that is all. Still you are much like what I remember your mother +to have been, save that her eyes were softer than yours, and her +lip not quite so proudly curved." + +"In other words, I show by my face that I am a Bernard, and +something of a spitfire," suggested Edith, and Richard rejoined, + +"I think you do," adding as he held her a little closer to him, +"Had I been earlier blessed with sight, I should have known I +could not tame you. I should only have spoiled you by indulgence." + +Just at this point, little Nina came in, and taking her in her +arms, Edith said, + +"I wanted to call her Edith, after myself, as I thought it might +please you; but Arthur said no, she must be Nina Bernard," + +"Better so," returned Richard, moving away from the picture, "I +can never call another by the name I once called you," and this +was all the sign he gave that the wound was not quite healed. + +But it was healing fast. Home influences were already doing him +good, and when at last supper was announced, he looked very happy +as he took again his accustomed seat at the table, with Arthur +opposite Edith just where she used to be, and Grace, sitting at +his right. It was a pleasant family party they made, and the +servants marvelled much to hear Richard's hearty laugh mingling +with Edith's merry peal. + +That night, when the July moon came up over the New England hills, +it looked down upon the four--Richard and Arthur, Grace and Edith, +sitting upon the broad piazza as they had not sat in years, Grace +a little apart from the rest, and Edith between her husband and +Richard, holding a hand of each, and listening intently while the +latter told them how rumors of a celebrated Parisian oculist had +reached him in his wanderings; how he had sought the rooms of that +oculist, leaving them a more hopeful man than when he entered; how +the hope then enkindled grew stronger month after month, until the +thick folds of darkness gave way to a creamy kind of haze, which +hovered for weeks over his horizon of sights growing gradually +whiter and thinner, until faint outlines were discovered, and to +his unutterable joy he counted the window panes, knowing then that +sight was surely coming back. He did not tell them how through all +that terrible suspense Nina seemed always with him; he would not +like to confess how superstitious he had become, fully believing +that Nina was his guardian angel, that she hovered near him, and +that the touch of her soft, little hands had helped to heal the +wound gaping so cruelly when he last bade adieu to his native +land. Richard was not a spiritualist. He utterly repudiated their +wild theories, and built up one of his own, equally wild and +strange, but productive of no evil, inasmuch as no one was +admitted into his secret, or suffered to know of his one +acknowledged sphere where Nina reigned supreme. This was something +he kept to himself, referring but once to Nina during his +narrative, and that when he said to Edith, + +"You remember, darling, Nina told me in her letter that she'd keep +asking God to give me back my sight." + +Edith cared but little by whose agency this great cure had been +accomplished, and laying her head on Richard's knee, just as a +girl she used to do, she wept out her joy for sight restored to +her noble benefactor, reproaching him for having kept the good +news from them so carefully, even shutting his eyes when he wrote +to them so that his writing should be natural, and the surprise +when he did return, the greater. + +Meanwhile Grace's servant came up to accompany her home, and she +bade the happy group good night, her heart beating faster than its +wont as Richard said to her at parting, "I was going to offer my +services, but see I am forestalled. My usual luck, you know," and +his black eyes rested a moment, on her face and then wandered to +where Edith sat. Did he mean anything by this? Had the waves of +time, which had beaten and battered his heart so long, brought it +back at last to its first starting point, Grace Elmendorff? Time +only can tell. He believed his youthful passion had died out years +ago, that matrimony was for him an utter impossibility. + +He had been comparatively happy across the sea, and he was happier +still now that he was at home, wishing he had come before, and +wondering why it was that the sight of Edith did not pain him, as +he feared it would. He liked to look at her, to hear her musical +voice, to watch her graceful movements as she flitted about the +house, and as the days and weeks went on he grew young again in +her society, until he was much like the Richard to whom she once +said, "I will be your wife," save that his raven hair was tinged +with grey, making him, as some thought, finer-looking than ever. +To Arthur and Edith he was like a dearly beloved brother; while to +Dick and Nina he was all the world. He was very proud of little +Dick, but Nina was his pet, as she was every body's who knew her, +and she ere long learned to love him better, if possible, than she +did her father, calling him frequently "her oldest papa," and +wondering in her childish way why he kissed so tenderly as often +as she lisped out that dear name. + +And now but little more remains to tell. It is four months since +Richard came home, and the hazy Indian summer sun shines o'er the +New England hills, bathing Collingwood in its soft, warm rays, and +falling upon the tall bare trees and the withered grass below, +carpeted with leaves of many a bright hue. On the velvety sward, +which last summer showed so rich a green, the children are racing +up and down, Dick's cheeks glowing like the scarlet foliage he +treads beneath his feet, and Nina's fair hair tossing in the +autumn wind, which seems to blow less rudely on the little girl +than on her stronger older brother. On one of the iron seats +scattered over the lawn sits Richard; watching them as they play, +not moodily, not mournfully, for grief and sorrow have no lodgment +in the once blind Richard's heart, and he verily believes that he +is as happy without Edith as he could possibly have been with her. +She is almost everything to him now that a wife could be +consulting his wishes before her own, or Arthur's, and making all +else subservient to them. No royal sovereign ever lorded it over +his subjects more completely than could Richard over Collingwood, +if he chose, for master and servants alike yield him unbounded +deference; but Richard is far too gentle to abuse the power vested +in his hands and so he rules by perfect love, which knows no +shadow of distrust. The gift of sight has compensated for all his +olden pain, and often to himself he says, "I would hardly be blind +again for the sake of Edith's first affections." + +He calls her Edith now, just as he used to do, and Edith knows +that only a scar is left, as a memento of the fearful sacrifice. +The morning has broken at last, the darkness passed away, and +while basking in the full, rich daylight, both Richard and Arthur, +and Edith wonder if they are the same to whom the world was once +so dreary. Only over Grace Atherton is any darkness brooding. She +cannot forget the peerless boon she throw away when she +deliberately said to Richard Harrington, "I will not walk in your +shadow," and the love she once bore him is alive in all its force, +but so effectually concealed that few suspect its existence. + +Richard goes often to Brier Hill, staying sometimes hours, and +Victor, with his opinion of the "gay widow" somewhat changed, has +more than once hinted at Collingwood how he thinks these visits +will end. But the servants scoffed, at the idea, while Arthur and +Edith look curiously on, half hoping Victor is right, and so that +matter remains in uncertainty. + +Across the fields, Grassy Spring still lies a mass of shapeless +ruins. Frequently has Arthur talked of rebuilding it as a home for +his children, but as Richard has always opposed it and Edith is +indifferent, he will probably remain at Collingwood. + +Away to the south, the autumn winds blow softly around Sunnybank, +where Edith's negroes are living as happy under the new +administration as the old, speaking often of their beautiful +mistress who, when the winter snows fall on the Bay State hills, +will wend her way to the southward, and Christmas fires will again +be kindled upon the hearthstones left desolate so many years. Nor +is she, whose little grave lies just across the field forgotten. +Enshrined is her memory within the hearts of all who knew and +loved her, while away to the northward where the cypress and +willow mark the resting-place of Shannondale's dead, a costly +marble rears its graceful column, pointing far upward to the sky, +the home of her whose name that marble bears. "NINA." That is all. +No laudations deeply cut tell what she was or where she died. +"NINA." Nothing more. And yet this single word has a power to +touch the deepest, tenderest feeling of two hearts at least, +Arthur's and Edith's--speaking to them of the little golden-haired +girl who crossed so innocently their pathway, striving hard to +efface all prints of her footsteps, caring to the last for her +"Arthur boy" and the "Miggie" she loved so well, and calling to +them as it were, even after the rolling river was safely forded, +and she was landed beside the still waters in the bright, green +fields of Eden. + +And now to the sweet little girl and the noble man who, through +the mazy labyrinths of Darkness and of Daylight, have grown so +strongly into our love, whose faces were familiar as our own, +whose names were household words, over whose sorrows our tears +have fallen like rain, and in whose joys we have rejoiced, we bid +a final adieu. Farewell to thee, beautiful NINA. "Earth hath none +fairer lost. Heaven none purer gained." Farewell to thee forever, +and blessings, rich and rare, distil like evening dew upon the +dear head of the brave-hearted, generous hero RICHARD HARRINGTON. + +THE END. + + + + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Darkness and Daylight, by Mary J. 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