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diff --git a/56980-0.txt b/56980-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab2e774 --- /dev/null +++ b/56980-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17648 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56980 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + HOLDEN WITH THE CORDS + + + BY W. M. L. JAY + + Author of "Shiloh," etc. + + + + "Sin will pluck on sin." + _King Richard III._ + + + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY, + 713 BROADWAY + 1874 + + + + + Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by + E. P. DUTTON & CO., + In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. + + + + +PREFACE. + +In sending forth another book belonging to the class known as religious +novels, the author is moved to say a word to the critics who received a +former one with so pleasant a mixture of praise and deprecation. As +one of them frankly explained, "they like a pill none the better for +being sugar-coated." It is not necessary to remind them that there may +be younger (and possibly older) people who do. It is more to the point +to state that persons to whom religion is a pill--a bitter, nauseous +compound, to be bolted in sickness, and kept out of sight in +health--are not the persons for whom the author writes. + +There is another class of objectors. They talk solemnly of Art and its +canons; they make a religion of it, having little other. One of these +remarks, that "a tract in the hands of the Venus di Medici would be an +impertinence." I quite agree with him. But why need he ignore the +fact that the Venus is also the outcome of a religion? To the ancient +sculptor, it was a goddess, not a woman, that grew under his hands; it +was Devotion, working together with Genius, that produced the two or +three statues which the world agrees to admire. So the few great poems +of the world are religious poems. Why, then, should not the great +novel of the world be a religious novel? Some day, be sure, a genius +sweeter than Hawthorne's, more genial than Dickens', and subtler than +Thackeray's, will arise to give it to us. Let me humbly help to +prepare the way for him! Meanwhile, be it also understood that the +persons to whom Art is a sufficing end, instead of a noble means, are +not the persons for whom I write. + +I do write for the "gentle reader" who enjoys religion in novels, as +elsewhere. Be thus much said for his liking, even from the art side. +There are two classes of novels--the descriptive and the analytical; +one pictures real life, the other passions and motives. Religion has +its rightful place in both, because it is an important part of real +life, and controls both passions and motives. Finally (for the subject +is much too wide for a preface), the modern novel being so potent a +power,--for evil on the one hand, for social and civil reform on the +other,--it is fair to suppose that it may do good service for religion. + +In conclusion, I have to make two acknowledgments. The first to an +unknown coadjutor, a hand that is doubtless mouldering into dust. Some +years ago, a yellow, time-worn manuscript, purporting to be a veritable +family history, fell into my hands. I am indebted to it for the main +outline of my story. The second is to MISS FREEBORNE,--the only +sculptor of our day, so far as I know, who has consecrated her genius +to Christian Art. From her studio I have quietly abstracted the +sculpture which lends its white grace to these pages. I should also +have seized upon the slender figure of her St. Agnes, and the bowed +head of her Martyr, had they been available to my purpose. + +NEW YORK, July, 1874. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + INTRODUCTION + + + PART FIRST. + + A WAY THAT SEEMETH RIGHT. + + I.--Proverbs and the Interpretation + II.--Studying to Answer + III.--Pattern of Old Fidelity + IV.--A Goodly Heritage + V.--Waste Places + VI.--The Day of Temptation + VII.--A Bitter Draught + VIII.--As a Dream when one Awaketh + IX.--The Blot Cleaves + + + PART SECOND. + + THE FRUIT OF THE WAY. + + I.--Through a Mist + II.--Strengthened out of Zion + III.--Seeing, but Understanding Not + IV.--Patient Waiting + V.--Under the Oaks + VI.--Of Clay + VII.--Hidden Riches + VIII.--The Wind Changes + IX.--The First Links of a Chain + X.--Feeling His Way + XI.--Sleepless Nights Appointed + XII.--A Consultation + XIII.--Dinner-Table Talk + + + PART THIRD. + + THE IN-GATHERING. + + I.--Unfoldings + II.--The Foundations Fail + III.--Building Anew + IV.--A Sermon + V.--Partings + VI.--With a Double Heart + VII.--Overburdened + VIII.--A Business Letter + IX.--Smoother Than Butter + X.--A Wicked Device + XI.--A Clue + XII.--Too Late + XIII.--Escaped + XIV.--The Way Stopped + + + PART FOURTH. + + A NEW FIELD. + + I.--Alive in Famine + II.--New Acquaintances + III.--Farview + IV.--A Word in Due Season + V.--Intercepted + VI.--An Aimless Stroll + VII.--Ordered Steps + VIII.--Though He Slay + IX.--Mistakes + X.--Like a Thief in the Night + XI.--After Many Days + + + PART FIFTH. + + A BETTER HARVEST. + + I.--A Cloud for a Covering + II.--Swift Feet + III.--Fatality or Temptation + IV.--Blind + V.--More Mystery + VI.--A Clue + VII.--The Set Time + VIII.--Gift and Giver + IX.--Faithful unto Death + + + + +HOLDEN WITH THE CORDS. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +Very beautiful was the long vista of the elm-arched street. So +irresistibly did it woo the eye to linger among its gray columns and +green arches, or wander adown its fair, temple-like perspective to the +hazy vanishing point, that the wayfarer might easily forget to observe +what sort of dwellings were ranged along its sides. Nor did they seek +to force themselves upon his notice. They were all plain, substantial +structures, with no obtrusive marks of ostentation or of meanness about +them; and they all stood a little back from the street, leaving room +for a trim grass-plot, or a thicket of flowering shrubs, between them +and the passer-by. They would impress him, collectively, as genuine, +well-to-do homes, free alike from the struggles of poverty and the +temptations of wealth, without troubling him to recognize them +individually, or diverting his gaze from the over-arching elms that +were so much better worth his looking at. + +Such, at least, would be the fact, until he came to a certain corner; +where a large square structure of stuccoed brick, coming boldly forward +to the pavement, and planting its heavy steps thereon, would be sure to +arrest his glance, and, perhaps, faintly stir his curiosity. It was +too large for a private building, and too unpretending for a public +one,--what was it? If he had put the inquiry into audible words, he +would have been told that it was the Medical College. And if his +interlocutor had chanced to be a white-haired, genial-faced old man, +long ago flung aside from the stream of active life, and, consequently, +with time on his hands for a little chat with a stranger,--he would, +doubtless, have woven into his answer the popular witticism;-- + +"Everything here, sir, is arranged just as it should be. The divinity +school is on the road to the poorhouse; the law-school adjoins the +jail; and the medical college--this building before you, sir--is hard +by the cemetery;--you can see the monuments rising above the hedge +yonder." + +But the young man now coming up the street, through the pleasant play +of sunshine and shadow beneath the elms, would neither have asked the +question, nor smiled at the answer. He knew the stuccoed building +well, as a three years' occupant thereof must needs do; and he had +heard and repeated the witticism too many times to leave it the +faintest sparkle. It was doubtful, too, whether he gave a thought to +the loveliness of the elm-arched vista that stretched before +him,--partly by reason of his familiarity therewith, partly on account +of a preoccupied mind, and still more, perhaps, because his bright, +brisk, energetic temperament was not of the sort which is quickest to +feel subtile charm, and recognize the delicate outline, of the spirit +of beauty. He came on rapidly, with an elastic step and a cheery +whistle, and, as he neared the college, he cast a quick glance at one +of its upper windows. What he saw there would have been a pretty +enough sight to most people,--merely a tiny brown bird hopping to and +fro on the window-sill, and turning its small head briskly from side to +side in its search for infinitesimal crumbs,--but it brought a shadow +to his broad, frank brow. + +"Not yet up," he muttered, "or that wren wouldn't be trotting up and +down there so complacently! To be sure, he may have gone out, but it +isn't likely." + +Neither for the look nor the thought did he pause, but strode straight +up two flights of stairs, his firm tread resounding loudly through the +empty, uncarpeted halls, and knocked at the door of a front room. +There was no response. He knocked again, with a somewhat impatient +hand, tried the door and found it locked, waited a moment, beat a third +emphatic rat-tat-too upon the panel, without eliciting other reply than +a faint and dreary echo from the attic above; and, finally, turned on +his heel, and walked down-stairs. At the head of the second flight, a +thought seemed to strike him; after a moment of hesitation, he turned +and knocked at a door close at hand. Scarcely waiting for the prompt +"Come in!" he opened it, with the question,--"Have you seen Arling this +morning?" + +The occupant of the room was a broad-shouldered young man, sitting at a +table covered with books and papers, and deeply absorbed in study. He +only half turned his head, showing a regular, clear-cut profile, as he +answered,-- + +"No. I left him so late last night that I overslept this morning, and +have thought of nothing but making up lost time. And really, Trubie, a +man might be excused for forgetting his best friend--if he had one--in +examination week. But, is Arling any worse?" + +"That's what I should like to know, Roath," returned Trubie, planting +himself a little more firmly on the threshold, but taking no notice of +the chair that the other had carelessly pushed toward him. "At any +rate, he's out." + +Roath started, and turned completely round, giving a view of a +square-featured, somewhat moody, but still handsome, face. "Out!" he +repeated, looking both amazed and startled. + +"So it would seem. The door is locked, and I rapped and rattled loud +enough to wake the dead." + +"Oh," said Roath, with a prolonged falling inflection. And after a +moment's consideration, he turned back to his books, as if there were +no more to be said. + +Trubie lingered. Not, evidently, from any special liking for Roath's +society, but because he was undecided what to do next. "I don't +understand it, Roath," he said slowly. "You know Arling was to have +kept his room to-day, by way of gaining strength, and guarding against +a relapse. And we were to have gone over 'Barnes' together this +morning, so as to be all primed for Professor Beers to-morrow. What +_can_ he have done with himself?" + +"Perhaps," said Roath, absently, with his eyes on his book, "some of +the others may have seen him." + +Trubie took the hint--if such it was meant to be--and withdrew. He +spent the next half hour in knocking at sundry doors, and repeating, +with slight variation, the questions and remarks wherewith he had +favored Roath. No one had seen Arling; no one knew anything about him. +All seemed surprised to learn that he had gone out; but all were +laboriously cramming for the examinations in progress, and the surprise +made but a faint and transient ripple on the surface of their troubled +minds. Trubie's persistency impressed them much more strongly; they +wondered that he had leisure to bestow upon any anxiety not connected +with those dreaded examinations, any fear save that of failing to +secure the right to sign himself, "Frank Trubie, M.D." + +Nor--to represent him fairly--was the young man himself wholly +insensible of his absurdity. "Well!" said he, at last, "I can't afford +to spend my morning in this way. I must go back to my room, and set to +work. When Arling comes in, tell him I've been here." And away he +went through the dancing elm-shadows, more quickly than he had come. + +Two hours passed. Then Roath closed his books, gathered up his papers, +and took his way to the examination room, amid the groups of assembling +students. Many eyes followed him, some with admiration, some with +envy,--few or none, it was plain to see, with affection. + +"No question but that he'll pass!" said one. "He's all brain,--I'd be +content with half as much." + +"And his memory!" exclaimed another. "It appears to be constructed on +the principle of a rat-trap; ingress is easy, egress--not provided for!" + +"No one can keep step with him but Arling," remarked a third; "if _he_ +gets well enough, there will be a close race between them." + +"I bet on Arling," said a fourth,--a somewhat slender young man, with +an easy, almost careless air, but a thoughtful face,--Mark Tracey by +name. + +"Eh! why?" asked the first speaker. + +"Because, as you said just now, Roath is all brain. Whereas Arling, +while he does not want for brain, has also a heart and a conscience. +And in medicine, as in everything else, that wonderful trio are too +strong for brain alone." + +"Moralizing, as usual," returned the other with a light laugh. + +"Not at all. It is plain common-sense. The history of the world shows +it. Perhaps there is no better type of pure intellect than Satan. And +Michael the archangel does very well for a representative of love, +duty, and intellect, combined. You remember which beat?" + +"It is not possible, Tracey, that you believe that fable!" + +"Grant that it is a fable," replied Tracey, lifting his eyebrows;--"it +nevertheless stands for the concrete wisdom of the ages which preceded +it." + +The last words were spoken on the threshold of the examination room, +and, of necessity, closed the discussion. + +Roath's examination, on this day, did not disappoint the general +expectation. Although somewhat paler than ordinary, he was thoroughly +self-possessed; his answers were clear and to the point; not once did +his memory play him false; scarcely once did he hesitate for a word. +He gave evidence not only of close study, but of careful analysis, and +profound, sagacious thought. But he looked worn when it was over, as +if the mental strain had been severe; and seemed scarcely to hear the +comments and congratulations showered upon him. + +Into the midst of these burst Trubie, with the old question, "Have you +seen anything of Arling?" and hardly waiting for the general "No" which +answered it, upstairs he rushed, three steps at a time, to the room of +his friend. The stream of talk had scarcely resumed its flow, ere he +was back again, with a hurried step, and a perturbed face. + +"It's odd about Arling," he began, abruptly. "I can't get any answer, +and there's nothing stirring in the room. But I looked into the +keyhole, and the key is certainly inside." + +Some few of the students, startled by his words, and the deep gravity +of his look, gathered around him to discuss the matter, when a stout, +gray-haired professor came out from the examination room. + +"Good day, Mr. Trubie," said he, as he passed the group. "I hope your +patient is doing well." + +"I--I don't know, sir," faltered Trubie; "I have not seen him since +yesterday, at dusk. And he is unaccountably missing this morning;--at +least, I thought he must be out when I went to his room, at eight +o'clock, and couldn't get in. But I have just been up again, and--and +the door is certainly locked on the inside." + +Being already in possession of the main facts of the case,--namely, +that Alec Arling, one of the class of medical students now undergoing +examination for their degree, had been suffering for some days from +severe and increasing intestinal trouble, and had been advised by the +faculty to keep his room for a day or two, under the care of his +friend, Frank Trubie;--the professor now, by means of a few rapid +questions, elicited the additional facts, that Trubie had been suddenly +called away, on the previous evening, by family affliction, to his home +in a near suburb, and had spent the night there, and that Edmund Roath, +who had volunteered to keep a little watch over the sick-room during +his absence, had remained with Arling till past midnight, engaged in +comparing notes of clinical lectures, and in psychological talk (with +which matters Arling _would_ busy himself, in spite of remonstrance), +and had then left him, recommending him to go to sleep at once, and had +heard the door duly locked on his exit. Roath further stated that, in +consequence of this protracted sitting, and previous hard work, he had +slept late this morning; and, taking it for granted that Trubie, +according to promise, was already back at his post, he had seated +himself at his books, immediately upon rising. Very shortly after, +Trubie had appeared, and informed him that Arling had gone out, whereat +he had been considerably surprised,--not that the young man was unable +to leave his room, but because it was inexpedient to do so. +Nevertheless, he frankly acknowledged that his mind was too much +preoccupied to give more than a passing thought to the matter, +especially as he knew well that any remissness on his part was sure to +be amply atoned for by Trubie,--he and Arling being, as everybody knew, +the Damon and Pythias of the class. + +The professor was a man of few words, quick conclusions, and prompt +action. "There is but one way of getting at the bottom of the matter," +said he, at the end of this rapid statement. "Let somebody bring a +crowbar, and pry open the door." + +Scarce sooner said than done. The door yielded easily to the rude +implement, in Trubie's impetuous hands, and was followed by a rush of +the assembled students toward the opening,--though, even in this moment +of eager curiosity, the instinct of subordination allowed the professor +to in first. He went straight to the bed, where was seen a human form, +lying on its side, in an easy attitude of slumber. He bent for a +moment above this form, while a sudden silence fell upon the startled +spectators,--he touched the brow, lifted the hand, and then, turning +slowly round, said, in deep, serious tones;-- + +"He is dead." + +Trubie let fall the crowbar, darted forward, and caught the hand of his +dead friend, with a kind of indignant incredulity. But the icy touch, +the marble pallor, the lifeless weight, brought instant conviction. He +stood as if stunned. + +The professor had turned from the bed to the table, where a glass, a +spoon, and four or five phials, stood within easy reach of the dead +man's hand. He held the spoon to his nostrils, and then examined the +phials, holding them up to the light. In one, labelled "_Mag. Sol. +Morph.,_" he seemed to find what he sought. + +"Mr. Trubie," said he, turning round, with the open phial in his hand, +"did your friend ever say anything to you, that indicated a disposition +to suicide?" + +The question roused the young man from his stupor, although it was a +moment or two ere he seemed to comprehend its purport fully. "Never, +sir!" he exclaimed, indignantly, a hot flush rising to his brow,--"Alec +Arling would have scorned to do such a thing! He was neither a fool +nor a coward, sir! Besides, there was no earthly reason why he should +do it." + +The professor shook his head. "He seems to have done it, +nevertheless," said he, thoughtfully. "To be sure," he added, after a +moment, "it is barely possible that he took it by mistake." + +"Most likely, that is the real state of the case," remarked Roath, who +was standing on the other side of the table, calmly and gravely +observant of the scene. + +In temperaments like Trubie's, the transition from grief to anger is +often curiously direct; the one is the natural outlet of the other; and +in this instance, the sound of Roath's voice seemed to afford the +bereaved and horrified young man the object of indignation that he so +sorely needed. Springing quickly forward, and clenching his fist, he +confronted the speaker with a convulsive rage and excitement in strong +contrast with Roath's grave composure. + +"You know better!" he shouted. "It was neither a suicide nor a +mistake. You killed him!" + +Roath gave a violent start, and seemed about to speak, but his lips +only trembled nervously. He was evidently confounded, almost +bewildered, by the suddenness and fierceness of the accusation. + +Trubie went on with scarce a moment's pause, and with, still hotter +indignation, "You were last in his room--you acknowledge it. And you +hated him." + +Roath had regained his self-command,--which, to do him justice, he had +but for an instant lost. "If you were not beside yourself with grief," +said he, coldly, "there could be but one answer to such a charge as +that. As it is--" + +"'As it is,' I repeat it," interrupted Trubie, with bitter scorn. "I +repeat it, and am ready to maintain it, always--anywhere--anyhow!" + +Roath drew himself up. "I, too, am ready,"--he began, haughtily, but +the professor interposed. "Mr. Roath," said he, with dignity, "I +command you to be silent. Mr. Trubie,"--laying his hand on the +shoulder of the agitated young man, and speaking in a tone of grave +rebuke,--"much may be forgiven to the first excitement of sorrow and +horror, but this is going too far. Such an accusation is not to be +made lightly." + +"Lightly!" repeated the frantic Trubie;--"he hated Alec, I tell you! +He couldn't forgive him for rivalling him--aye, and beating him, +too--everywhere; in scholarship, in popularity, in"--he hesitated for +an instant,--"in love." + +Roath's face grew dark; a frown traced a deep, vertical line between +his brows; he set his teeth, and made a quick stride forward. But a +dozen hands seized him, a dozen others laid hold of Trubie, and both +were half forced, half led away to their rooms; while the faculty of +the college, hastily called together, gathered around the corpse, to +examine more minutely into the cause of death. + + +A coroner's jury was duly summoned. It examined the body, weighed the +evidence, and being about equally divided in regard to the question of +suicide, finally agreed upon "Accidental Death by Poison," as, upon the +whole, the safer and less objectionable verdict. There seemed to be no +good reason to suspect murder, nor any ground whatever for implicating +Roath, or anybody else, as a perpetrator thereof. + +Trubie, to be sure, persisted in his accusation; but it was with a +vehemence and a dogmatism so unlike his wonted careless good nature, as +to suggest the idea that his mind had been temporarily thrown off its +balance by the shock of his friend's death. This idea gained color +from the fact that all which he could offer, in support of so grave a +charge, was the statement that he had long seen or suspected, in Roath +a secret hatred of Arling, and a willingness to do him covert mischief. +He had even mentioned the suspicion to his friend; but Arling--being of +the most candid and generous, as well as unsuspecting temper, unable to +conceive of any but an open, honorable enemy--had refused to entertain +it for a moment. Trubie also solemnly affirmed that his passionate +accusation of Roath, by the side of the newly-discovered corpse, was +the involuntary result of an intuition so sudden, so clear, and so +powerful, that, though little given to look for supernatural agencies +in human affairs, he could not rid himself of the conviction that it +was the direct inspiration of his dead friend. But it may readily be +imagined how much weight a statement of this sort was likely to have +with men of plain minds and sturdy understanding, searching among the +external phenomena of the event for grounds upon which to base a +reasonable verdict. + +On the other hand, the theory of accidental poisoning was supported, +negatively, by the lack of apparent cause for self-destruction; and +positively, by the fact that on the dead man's table, side by side with +the potent narcotic before mentioned, stood a phial of exactly the same +size, and with equally colorless contents. Of this Arling had been +accustomed to take two or three spoonfuls, mixed with a few drops of a +third preparation of exceeding bitter flavor. A careless hand might +have mistaken the one phial for the other. The taste of the morphine, +so swallowed, would be much disguised; while the dose was sufficient, +under the circumstances, to produce death. It will be seen, therefore, +that the verdict rendered was the only one upon which a coroner's jury +could well have been expected to agree. + +The body was next solemnly laid in a vault, to await the disposal of +the parents, who lived in a western state; and the widening circles of +excitement, horror, curiosity, and regret, of which it had been the +unconscious centre, rapidly subsided, or were effaced by the growing +interests of the now imminent closing examination. + +Even Trubie, though he flatly refused to acquiesce in the coroner's +verdict, was forced tacitly to accept its results. He took refuge in a +complete personal proscription of Roath; he neither spoke to him nor +looked at him; he treated him precisely as if he did not exist. To a +person of Roath's cold, hard, steely temper, and obtuse sensibilities, +this demeanor was, perhaps, the most tolerable of which the +circumstances admitted. It spared him the necessity of being either +conciliatory or resentful; he was well content to ignore Trubie as +completely as Trubie ignored him. + +He soon found, however, that he had greatly underestimated the moral +force of an abhorrence deeply rooted in immitigable distrust. Though +largely given to psychological studies, and profoundly learned, for his +years, in the intricacies and tendencies of the human mind, he was +astonished to find how soon the atmosphere grew heavy around him, how +quickly Trubie's dogged dislike communicated itself, more or less +strongly, to others; while the increased cordiality of a few, though +kindly intended to offset it, only served to point him out more clearly +as one set apart, for the time, from life's ordinary course and level, +by the force of an unenviable, if undeserved, notoriety. Not that he +ever appeared to be conscious of either of these manifestations, or of +their ultimate effect. Nature had given him a moral and intellectual +fibre so tough, and he had trained himself to a control so perfect, +that the keenest observer could not detect the least variation from his +usual composed, concentrated, somewhat moody demeanor. Whatever of +suffering, or of sin, lay at the bottom of his heart, not a shadow +thereof was seen in his face. + +It might well be, however, that he was glad when the examination was +over, his degree obtained, and himself left free to depart by any one +of the many paths which life opened before him. + +Yet he was in no suspicious haste to be gone. His departure was fixed +for an early hour on the following morning. Meanwhile, at dusk, he +went out for his habitual solitary stroll. Never had he invited +companionship, and was it thrust upon him. He had no intimate friend. +Though he had been not only admired, but respected, by many, for his +intellectual gifts, and for a certain firm, even texture of character, +and dispassionateness of judgment, that often looked like virtue, +whether such in reality or not, he was beloved by none. + +Where he went, what he thought, is not to the purpose of our narrative. +His walk was long, however; he did not return until dusk had deepened +into clear and starry, but moonless night. As he came up through the +great, dim elm-arches, with their solemn resemblance to a vast +cathedral nave, a strange tremor seized him. A complete sceptic in +regard to all superstitions and forebodings, he yet felt his nerves +shaking with an undefined fear; he could not rid himself of the +impression that something unprecedented and sinister was at that moment +taking place. Reaching the college, he ascended the steps with a +strange mixture of eagerness and reluctance; and immediately became +aware of a subdued but excited murmur of voices in the upper hall. At +the same moment, Mark Tracey came rushing down the stairs, carpet-bag +in hand. + +"What's up?" asked Roath, in a voice that trembled in spite of himself. + +"I don't rightly know," responded Tracey, hurriedly,--"I am so late for +the train, that I couldn't stop to hear. Something about a diamond +that Trubie has found in Arling's glass--the one from which the poor +fellow drank his death-draught, I believe. Good-by!" And away he went. + +Had he waited but for an instant, he would have been startled and +spellbound by the deadly whiteness of Roath's face. Through all the +glimmering indistinctness of the dimly-lighted hall, his features were +clearly discernible, by reason of that marble pallor. For the moment, +he seemed to lose sense and consciousness; he would have fallen, except +for the friendly support of the wall against which he leaned. + +But it was only for a moment. The man's hard energy of character, his +iron will, his rigid self-control, though they had gone down before the +suddenness and severity of the shock, quickly rose again. With a +mighty effort, he rallied his broken forces; back into his face came +the look of purpose, the sense of power, the sternness of immitigable +resolve; and this with so rapid and almost imperceptible a change, that +it seemed as if the granite man must have stood there from the first, +and the weak man not at all. While Tracey's receding footsteps still +echoed faintly from without, going swiftly in the direction of the +city's principal thoroughfare,--while the murmur of voices from above +was still at its eager, wondering height,--he had turned, noiselessly +descended the steps, and was gliding down through the sombre +elm-arches, swift and stealthy as a phantom. The street was shadowy at +best, but he chose the darker side; it was wellnigh deserted, at that +hour, but he soon turned into a still less frequented one, and then +struck into a more assured and less noiseless, as well as swifter, pace. + +As he went, he drew a ring from his finger, and glancing hastily round, +to make sure that he was unobserved, he flung it far into the dusky +shadow of a garden thicket. Only the day before, a friend had said to +him,--"Roath, do you know that the stone is gone from your ring?" and +he had answered,--"Yes; and I am sorry to have lost it, for it was my +father's." And he had proceeded to point out the antique setting, and +to describe the peculiar shape and tint of the gem which it had +inclosed. He gnashed his teeth as he recalled the short, but momentous +conversation. But for that, he would not have fled. + +The garden into which he had flung the ring adjoined a small cottage; +and, at one of the open windows, a gray-haired dame sat in a +high-backed chair, listening to the clear, musical voice of an +invisible reader. This fragment of a sentence floated out to him on +the dim night air,--"_He shall be holden with the cords of--_" + +Even at that moment, the words struck him sharply. Involuntarily he +slackened his pace, and half-turned to catch the remainder of the +sentence, but it was inaudible. The uncertainty before him, the terror +behind, were, for the time, almost forgotten in a certain chill +curiosity. "Holden with the cords--holden with the cords," he repeated +to himself, as he hurried on,--"I wonder what book she was reading! I +should really like to hear the end of that sentence!" + +Still keeping up his swift pace and vigilant glance, he nevertheless +sank into a partial abstraction. Some disconnected sentences, breaking +at intervals from his lips, served to show the current of his thoughts. + +"Set it down, once for all," he muttered, "that crime--absolute crime, +of which the law can take hold--is a mistake.--Into the best-laid +scheme, the one most carefully framed and skilfully executed, +Chance--many would say, Providence (_can_ there be a Providence after +all?)--drops some trivial, fortuitous circumstance, which disconcerts +or betrays everything.--The question is, could it have been +foreseen?--I have worn that ring for sixteen years.--No! no! it is too +subtile and too intricate a matter to think about now. I have more +pressing subjects of reflection.--Only, set it down, for future use, +that the essential thing is to keep clear of crime." + +"_Holden with the cords!_" echoed suddenly and pertinaciously through +his memory, as if by way of defiant answer to the conclusion that he +had reached. He set his teeth, and dashed more swiftly onward. + +Ere long, he reached the railway depot. In a large, underground space, +half-filled with smoke and steam, a train stood on the track, the +engine fretting and snorting like a steed impatient to be off, and the +bell ringing out a hasty summons, curiously typifying the sharp call to +leap on to some favorable train of circumstances, and be borne away to +fortune or to ruin, which life often gives us, at certain fateful +moments of its rapid career. Roath sprang to the rear platform, and, +on the instant, the train moved. + +Swiftly it left the depot behind: decayed fences, rickety outhouses, +heaps of rubbish and offal, quickly receded into a dingy perspective of +backside city life; scattered coal-yards, and freight and +engine-houses, succeeded; and then, the cool, moist air coming in at +the windows, and a swift-gliding panorama of what looked like a +terrestrial sky and stars, told him that he was being borne rapidly +along the causeway that traversed the broad bay,--in the tranquil +waters of which the fair night-heavens were faithfully mirrored. +Hastily running his eye over his fifty or sixty fellow-passengers, and +finding no familiar face, he settled himself back in his seat with a +long-drawn breath of relief. He remembered that he was on an express +train, with twenty miles between him and the next station; he could +count upon a safe half hour, at least, for the working out of the +difficult problem before him. To that problem he at once addressed +himself, with the whole force of his intellect and will;--though ever +and anon, that perplexing fragment of a sentence would float +distractingly through his mind, saying itself over and over to the +accompaniment of the sharp click of the rails,--"Holden with the +cords--Holden with the cords!" + + +From that night, for many years, Edmund Roath disappeared as completely +from the sight and search of all who had known him, as if the train +wherein he sat had suddenly flung itself headlong from that narrow +causeway, and those deep, silent, star-mirroring waters, closing above +him, had steadfastly refused to give up their dead. In brief space of +time, his very name, as well as the circumstances that had made it +notorious, was forgotten by those who had been most diligent in passing +it from mouth to mouth. Seldom was it recalled even by the few who had +known him best, and had yielded the heartiest admiration to his rare +intellectual gifts. Having never taken any real hold of any human +heart, it was but natural that he should pass behind the first +intervening cloud, and leave no vacancy. + +Did he thereby escape the worst consequences of his sin? + + + + +PART FIRST. + +A WAY THAT SEEMETH RIGHT. + + + +I. + +"PROVERBS, AND THE INTERPRETATION." + +The road was straight, level, and monotonous. It seemed to stretch on +for miles, walled in, on either hand, by the rank and profuse foliage +of the South. Great cotton woods and water-oaks, walnuts, cypresses, +larches, and junipers, stood side by side, with their brawny arms +interlaced, and their trunks hidden in a dense and varied undergrowth; +while jessamines and wild grapevines climbed up to meet the sunshine at +their tops, and pendent moss hung their boughs with swaying drapery of +gray-green leaves and filaments. + +What lay beyond these walls of verdure was only to be guessed at from +occasional and indistinct glimpses. Here, a transient view of corn or +vegetable rows, and a sound of voices, gave token of the vicinity of a +small plantation or market garden. There, a scarcity of deciduous +trees and a predominance of evergreens, a more lush and succulent +character of undergrowth, and a dark gleam of stagnant water, betrayed +the proximity of an extensive morass. Frequently, the eye lost itself +in the complicated vistas of thick pine-barrens, stretching far away to +right and left. And, ever and anon, a sudden break in the long line of +verdure, and the sight of a diverging wheel-track, quickly lost amid +overhanging boughs, served to show in what direction some large rice or +cotton estate lay hidden in the circumjacent forest. + +It scarcely needs to be added that the road was pleasantly cool and +shadowy in the late September afternoon. Even at midday, its track +would present but few and scant patches of sunshine, alternating with +dense masses of shadow or spots of flickering light and shade. Now, +therefore, with the sun hanging red and low in the western horizon, +scarce a fitful orange gleam fell athwart the path of the only +traveller in sight,--a young man, of thoughtful face and stalwart +figure, striding on at a firm, even pace, with a portmanteau strapped +across his shoulder. Both the face and the portmanteau seemed to +indicate that his walk was not for pleasure merely, but tended to some +definite, anticipated goal; while the keen, observant glance with which +he noted, not only every object of interest along his route, but the +character of the soil beneath and the foliage overhead, showed that his +road was as unfamiliar as it had been, for the most part, solitary. +Since he left the outskirts of the city of Savalla behind, more than +two hours ago, he had seen but three human faces. First, an old negro +woman, wrinkled and white-haired, had ducked her decrepit form to him +in what would have been, but for the stiffness of her joints, a most +deferential courtesy. Later on, a teamster, of the same dependent and +obsequious race, had doffed to him the ragged remnant of a palm-leaf +hat, and uttered a civil, "Good ebenin', Massa." Lastly, a lank, +listless, unkempt, sallow-skinned personage, in a white covered wagon, +snapping a long-lashed whip at a nondescript team, and belonging to the +curious class known as "crackers," had suddenly nodded to him, after a +prolonged, and, at first, contemptuous stare, as if finally convinced +of his claim to the civility. + +For some time past, the road had led through a monotonous pine barren, +and the traveller had fallen into a fit of thought. Raising his eyes, +at last, from the path on which they had been fixed in abstraction, he +saw that the long vista before him was once more enlivened by a moving +object. His keen, far sight, trained in western wilds, easily made it +out to be a half-obsolete kind of chaise, moving in the same direction +as himself, but moving so slowly that he gained on it at every step. +In a few moments, he was close behind it, quietly observing its +superannuated style and condition, as well as the skinny little horse +that furnished its motive power. Hearing the sound of his quick, firm +tread, its occupant lifted his eyes from the tattered volume over which +he was poring, and turned to look at him. + +He himself, in a very different way, was well worthy of observation. +He was small and spare, probably not more than sixty years of age, but +looking much older. He had that parched and wizened look, oftenest the +work of circumstances rather than years, which makes it difficult to +realize that the possessor was ever young. His hair and complexion had +once been light; the one was now gray, the other sallow, except for a +faint suggestion of red at the tip of an otherwise handsome nose. His +breath exhaled a perceptible odor of strong drink, surrounding him as +with an atmosphere of inflammable gas. His dress was made up of divers +ill-fitting garments that had doubtless accrued to him from cast-off +wardrobes; not one of them bearing any relation to the other, but all +being in an advanced stage of seediness well suited to the wearer. +Something of the same fusing of special incongruities into general +fitness also characterized his manner; wherein the mean and furtive air +of the shiftless old vagabond was curiously blended with the pathetic +dignity of the decayed gentleman. + +He eyed the young foot traveller narrowly for a moment, though with a +sidelong rather than a straightforward glance; then, bringing his +willing horse to a stand by a jerk of the reins, and a sonorous "Whoa!" +he lifted his hat and gravely accosted him:-- + +"_Manus manum lavat_. Men were meant to help each other. Have a ride, +sir?" + +The stranger hesitated, perhaps trying to reconcile the address and the +speaker, perhaps with a natural enough doubt as to the character of the +companionship thus offered. "Thank you," said he, at last, "but I +doubt if it be worth while." + +"'Good and Quickly seldom meet,'" responded the other, sententiously. +"Besides," he added, seeing that the traveller was puzzled to +understand the drift of his saw, "Pegasus--I call him Pegasus because +he's _not_ winged--is 'like a singed cat, better than he looks.' +Moreover, _Compagnon bien parlant vaut en chemin chariot branlant_. +Which may be freely translated, 'Good company shortens the road as much +as a swift horse.'" + +"Oh! I meant no disrespect to your equipage, I assure you," returned +the young man, smiling. "Only, I supposed that I must be near my +journey's end. Is it far to Berganton?" + +"That depends. 'The last straw breaks the camel's back.' It is three +miles, more or less. But I should have said, from your face, that you +would want to stop this side of that." + +"Do I look so tired? Indeed I am not." + +"Um--no, I should say not. But faces show something besides +weariness,--'like father, like son,' you know. If your looks are to be +trusted, there's an old mansion about a quarter of a mile farther on, +whose door ought to open to you of its own accord--if it can open at +all." + +The young man smiled and shook his head. "I am sorry that my looks +should belie me," said he, "but I have no claim upon the said mansion's +hospitality." + +"Umph! 'tis a wise child that knows its own father. Tush, tush, man!" +he added, hastily, seeing the young man's cheek flush, "I meant no +harm; proverbs run from my tongue like water from a Dutch roof. +Besides, _Nao ha palavra maldita se naõ fora mal entendida_,--that is +to say, 'No word is ill-spoken which is not ill-taken.' But come! +come! jump in! I'll carry you to Berganton, since that's your goal, +and welcome. The night is drawing on apace; you'll be glad of my +pilotage before we get there." + +The young man glanced down the darkening road, from which the last ray +of sunlight had vanished, and seemed still to hesitate; but finally +sprang lightly into the chaise, and the horse jogged on. + +"Proverbs," continued the old man, treating his three last sentences as +mere parentheses, "have been the study of my life. I know Lord +Chesterfield bans them as vulgar, but is he wiser than Solomon? or +better authority than Cicero and Scaliger and Erasmus and Bacon and +Bentley? Bah! the whole gist of his writings might be compressed into +two or three of the maxims that he affects to despise. +'Fair-and-Softly goes far in a day,' will live when his 'Letters' are +forgotten. And a good reason why. Proverbs are the royal road to +wisdom. They're the crystallized experience of the ages. They +epitomize the minds and manners of the people that brought them forth. +Who but a 'smooth, fause' Lowland Scot, for instance, would have said +'Rot him awa' wi' butter an' eggs?' Who but a marauding Hielander +would have declared, 'It's a bare moor that ane goes o'er and gets na a +coo?' Who but poor priest-ridden, king-ridden Spain would have said, +_Fraile que pide par Dios, pide por dos_, 'The friar that begs for God, +begs for two;' _Quien la vaca del rey come flaca, gorda la paga_, 'He +who eats the king's cow lean, pays for it fat;'--but I ought to beg +your pardon, perhaps you know Spanish?" + +"Not very well," good-naturedly replied the young man, taking pity on +his companion's inveterate habit of translation, and the delight which +it plainly afforded him. + +"Well enough, I suppose, to know that it's a mine of wealth to the +proverb-hunter," rejoined the old man graciously. "Here, now, is a +good one, of a different character,--_Adonde vas, mal? Adonde mas +hay_, 'Whither goest thou, misfortune? To where there is more?' And +here is a pertinent question for people who live well without visible +resources,--_Los que cabras no tienen, y cabritos venden, de donde les +vienen?_ 'They who keep no goats, and yet sell kids, where do they get +them?' But, after all, for right sharp and serviceable proverbs, +commend me to the Danish. Here is an old collection that I've lately +picked up, printed at Copenhagen, in 1761;---just let me read you two +or three." + +He opened the dingy volume aforementioned, and proceeded to read, +translate, and comment, with infinite zest. "_Ingen kommer i Skaden, +uden han selv hielper til_, 'No man gets into trouble without his own +help'--(a moral which no one can point better than your humble +servant); _Naar det regner Voelling, saa har Stodderen ingen Skee_, +'When it rains porridge, the beggar has no spoon'--(there's no +contenting discontented people); _Ingen Ko kaldes broget uden hun haver +en Flek_, 'A cow is not called dappled unless she has a spot'--(most +gossip has some small foundation); _Hvo som vil gjöre et stort Spring, +skal gaae vel tilbage_, 'He that would leap high must take a long +run'--(else we should have bishops and judges without gray hairs); _Det +kommer igien, sagde Manden, han gav sin So Floesk_, 'It will come back +again, said the man, when he gave his sow pork:'--don't you see how the +patient, shrewd, humorous character of the Danes peeps through them all? + +"Yet, if some proverbs are national, others are cosmopolitan, and fit +all generations, and all countries. For instance, there's the Greek +saw, Archè êmisu pantós,--see how it comes down through every language +under the sun, till, at last, it settles into terse English rhyme, + + 'Well begun + Is half done.' + +Or, take that common saying, 'To carry coals to Newcastle,' which seems +to have originated in the East. At least, we find it first in the +Persian of Saadi, 'To carry pepper to Hindostan;' then the Hebrews have +it, 'To carry oil to the City of Olives;' the Greeks, 'owls to Athens;' +the Latins, 'wood to the forest;' the French, 'water to the river;' the +Dutch, 'firs to Norway;' the Danish--Hallo! Pegasus! what are you +about?" + +The horse, being left to his own guidance while his master was riding +his favorite hobby, had taken occasion to shoot off from the main road +into an apparently little-used track, cut through a thick pine-barren +at the left. He had made several lengths before his driver, taken at a +disadvantage, could pull him up. + +"Pegasus is of the opinion that 'the longest way round is the surest +way home,'" remarked the old man, apologetically, as he scanned the +narrow, tree-lined track, with a view to the possibility of turning +safely around. "Or," he added, with a glance of sly humor at the +traveller, "perhaps he thinks, as I did just now, that Bergan Hall is +your natural destination." + +"Bergan Hall," repeated the young man, in a tone of extreme +surprise,--"is this the way to Bergan Hall? I thought you came to the +village first, from Savalla." + +"So you did, once," rejoined the old man, looking surprised, in his +turn; "but that must have been before you were born, if your face +doesn't belie your age. The road used to make a long elbow, to get +round that swamp which you crossed a mile back. But it was +straightened thirty years ago at least,--_Autre temps, autre +chemin_,--a different time, a different road. And so you are going to +Bergan Hall? Well, thanks to luck and Pegasus, you're in the right +way." + +"But I must not take you out of yours," responded the young man, +good-naturedly. And he had jumped out of the chaise before its owner +was well aware of his intention. + +"_Canis festinans coecos parit catulos_," muttered the old man, in a +tone of chagrin. "In other words, 'Look before you leap.' I'd as soon +have gone this way as the other. My place lies between the Hall and +the village, and the choice of roads isn't worth shucks,--at least, in +comparison with a pleasant chat. However, you're out, and I suppose +it's no use to ask you to get in again, since the Hall is but a few +rods away. Keep straight ahead till you come to the old avenue, then +turn to the left. Good day, _il n'y a si bons compagnons qui ne se +separent_,--the best friends must part." + +"Yes--to meet again," said the young man, pleasantly. + +"Very true; _les beaux esprits se rencontrent_," returned the old man, +slowly and cautiously backing his crazy vehicle around. And with +another "Good day," and a parting gesture, he quickly disappeared among +the fast-falling shadows. + +The young man stood looking after him for a moment, with a smile half +of amusement, half, of pity, upon his lips. But his features soon +settled into something more than their accustomed gravity, and suddenly +facing about, he pursued his way. + +Ere long the tall, crowded pines of the barren gave place to various +stubble and fallow grounds, with here and there a late crop waiting to +be harvested; and shortly after, the narrow, irregular track that he +had been following encountered a broader and more beaten one. +Recognizing this, with some difficulty, as the "avenue" of which his +late companion had spoken, he stopped, and gazed up and down with a +look of surprise and pain. + +It was bare of trees; but on either side extended a long row of live +oak stumps, the size of which showed what massive trunks and +far-reaching branches had once columned and arched it like a temple. +Here and there, some forgotten bole or bough lay and rotted upon the +very spot which it had formerly overhung with a soft canopy of verdure, +and made beautiful with pleasant play of sunshine and leaf-shadow; +while around it gathered a rank luxuriance of weeds, transmuting its +slow aristocratic decay into teeming, plebeian life. In one or two +cases, as if moved by an almost human sympathy, vines had sprung up +around the bereaved stumps, and sought to soften their hard outlines +with clinging drapery of leaves and tendrils. They had also done their +best to cover up various unsightly gaps in the long lines of ruinous +fence that divided the avenue from the open fields on either side. Yet +the final effect of these gentle touches was only to deepen the painful +impression of the scene. Where they did not reach, the bareness was so +much more bare, the dilapidation so much uglier! + +The young observer felt this bareness and dilapidation to his heart's +core,--felt it all the more keenly because an image of the avenue's +pristine grandeur, derived from the surrounding fragments (or from some +other source), continually rose before his mind's eye, to heighten its +present desolation by contrast. His brow contracted as he gazed; and +the expression of his face changed rapidly from surprise to +dissatisfaction, from dissatisfaction to perplexity, from perplexity to +doubt. Once, he turned as if half-minded to retrace his steps; but the +next moment, he shook off his irresolution with a gesture of disdain, +and immediately hastened forward. + +The avenue terminated in an open, circular space. Evidently, it had +once been a lawn; but it was now covered with half-obliterated furrows, +showing that at some not very remote period, it had been planted with +corn. Around it stood a number of gigantic live-oaks, heavily draped +with moss, and brooding dusky shadows under their massive boughs. +Fronting upon it, was a large mansion of dark brick, consisting of an +upright, two-story main building, with a huge, clustered chimney in the +midst, and long, low, rambling wings on either side. + +The whole place had a deserted and melancholy appearance. The moss on +the live-oaks swayed slowly to and fro in the evening breeze, with a +wonderfully sombre and funereal effect; and the mansion was dark and +silent as any ruin. Not a light shone from the closed windows; not a +sound came from the deep, shadowy doorway; and the unsteady stone +steps, slippery with damp and green with moss, gave the impression of a +spot where no human foot had left its print for many years. + +The young man halted at a little distance from the dark building, and +surveyed it moodily. "Can this be Bergan Hall?" he murmured. "Can +this gloomy old ruin be the open, cheery, hospitable mansion, full of +light and life, that my mother has so often described to me? It looks +a habitation for ghosts--and for ghosts only! I wonder if any living +being--" + +Breaking off abruptly, he ascended the moss-grown steps, only to find +that the vines which so heavily draped the portico, had woven a thick +network across the door. It was plain that it had not been opened for +months, perhaps years. Nevertheless, not to be easily daunted, he +found and lifted the knocker. It fell with a dull lifeless sound, that +smote the young man's heart like a sudden chill. A dreary +reverberation came from within, and then died away into silence. He +knocked again, and, listening intently, he fancied that he heard the +sound of stealthy footsteps within, and a slight creaking of the floor. +But so dead a silence followed upon these imaginary sounds, that he +soon became convinced of his involuntary self-deception. + +Turning from the door, he now noticed a little footpath running round +the end of one of the long wings. Committing himself to this timely +guide, he soon came in sight of the rear of the mansion, which looked +upon a sort of court; where a few ornamental shrubs still held an +uncertain tenure against the encroachments of divers sorts of lawless +and vagrant vegetation. At a little distance, was a long range of +dilapidated offices, showing upon what an almost princely scale the +housekeeping had once been administered. But this part of the premises +was not less dark, silent, and deserted, than the other. + +The footpath still held on, however, past the court and the offices, +toward a bright light at a considerable distance, "The negro quarter!" +muttered the young man, recognizing the whereabout of one of the most +salient features of his mother's well-remembered descriptions. "At +least, I may learn there what it all means." And, quickening his +steps, he soon came upon a busy and picturesque scene. + +In the midst of a large, quadrangular space, flanked on three sides by +double rows of negro-cabins, and on the fourth apparently sloping down +to a water-course, was a rough sort of threshing-mill, now idle, but +showing satisfactory results of its day's labor in a large heap of rice +by its side. A crowd of negroes, of both sexes, coarsely and uncouthly +clad, were busily filling odd, shallow baskets from this heap, which +they then poised on their heads, and bore off down the slope to some +unseen goal. There were two regular, silent files, the one coming, the +other going; and the heap of grain steadily and even swiftly +diminished. Near the mill, stood the only white person visible,--a +large, powerfully-framed man, carelessly and even shabbily dressed, yet +with the unmistakable air of ownership about him. At his left hand, a +half-naked, impish looking negro boy was holding a blazing pitch-pine +torch, by the light of which he seemed to be jotting down some sort of +memoranda in a small book. + +The scene was even more strange and weird than picturesque. The dark +figures of the negroes, filing noiselessly up the shadowed slope, +suddenly grew distinct, wild, and fantastic, within the circle of +enchantment made by the flaring light of the torch, only to become dim +and spectral again when received back into the dusk. They might have +passed for embodiments of those vagaries of the mind, which come from +no one knows whither, play their fitful parts within the illuminated +circle of the imagination, and vanish as they came. The young man +would almost have taken it as a matter of course, had the whole +spectacle suddenly melted into thin air. + +Yet, even in that case, he would have expected the masterful personage +aforementioned to have remained, as the one tangible link between the +phantasms and the earth. In truth, a single glance at his massive +figure, which seemed to have been hewn out of the rock, rather than +moulded from any softer material, went far to disenchant the scene. +Here was a touch of the actual, the substantial, and the dogmatic, not +to be mistaken; and serving as a clue to the reality of everything else. + +Toward this personage, after a moment's scrutiny, the young man +unhesitatingly made his way, with the air of one who has found +something certain amid much that is confused, illusory, and perplexing. +He was immediately spied by the negroes, and followed by their curious +gaze; albeit, they ventured not to intermit their labor for an instant, +but contented themselves with slowly and stiffly turning their burdened +heads toward him as they marched on, and keeping their shining black +eyes fixed on him to the last, in such that the heads of the retreating +file seemed to have been set on backwards. The boy with the torch was +perhaps the most wondering, open-mouthed gazer of them all. + +As yet, the master of the premises had not been made aware of the +stranger's approach; but, looking up to reprimand his torch-bearer for +inattention, he observed the imp's dumbfounded gaze, and turned to see +what had caused it. + +"My uncle, Mr. Bergan, I presume," said the young man, taking off his +hat, and bowing low: "I am Bergan Arling." And he added, after a +moment, seeing that the other did not speak, "I bring you a letter from +my mother." + + + + +II. + +STUDYING TO ANSWER. + +Major Bergan--to give him the title by which he was known throughout +the country round--displayed no alacrity of welcome. He first scanned +his visitor closely from head to foot, and then silently extended his +hand for the letter which the young man had drawn forth from an inner +pocket. + +"Hold that light here!" were his first words, in a tone deep as a +thunder-peal, and addressed not to Bergan Arling, but to the aforesaid +torch-bearer. "And quit your staring, and mind your business, or +I'll--" + +The sentence died away in an inarticulate growl, but the boy was +plainly at no loss to understand its purport. With a startled look, he +fixed his eyes on the torch, and only ventured to withdraw them for an +occasional, furtive glance at the object of his curiosity. Meanwhile, +his master opened the letter, and read it deliberately from beginning +to end. The light of the torch fell full upon his face as he did so, +giving Bergan Arling an opportunity to study him, in his turn. + +His face was a striking one; in youth it had doubtless been handsome. +Now, his brow was too massive, his mouth too stern, his eyes too cold, +his beard too gray and heavy, to bear any relation to mere personal +beauty. All soft lights and lines had long gone out of them; what +remained was hard, bold, and rugged, as a rocky headland in winter. +The rude strength which was the marked characteristic of his form, +repeated itself emphatically in his face. Comparing it with the mental +portrait, carefully touched and retouched by his mother's hand, which +Bergan had carried in his mind since childhood, he felt that the one +resembled the other only as a tree in autumn, stripped bare of its +foliage and its blossoms, resembles the same tree in its gracious +summer bloom and verdure. Little trace of the frank, proud lineaments, +the warm, yet generous temper, of that ideal picture, was to be found +in this harsh, stubborn, sarcastic face; the face of a man long given +over to the hardening influences of a solitary and a selfish life. In +short, Major Bergan confirmed anew the old truth that no man can live +long for himself alone, shutting out all gentler ties and amenities, +and driving straight at his own practical ends, unmindful of either the +ways, the opinions, or the feelings of others, without reaping his due +reward in a loss of moral health, and a gradual decay of all his finer +sensibilities and higher instincts. + +The only point wherein the real man resembled the ideal one, was in a +certain ineffaceable pride of birth, showing itself not only in his +port, but darkening his harsh features with a heavy shade of hauteur. + +Yet a smile might do much to light up and soften the Major's face; and +the smile came when he had finished the letter, and did its work all +the more effectually because it was a somewhat sad one. + +"Forty and two years," said he, musingly, "since Eleanor went! Yet I +can see her now, with her bright face and her arch ways! She was the +sunshine of the old Hall; it has never been the same place since she +left it. And she would hardly know it, if she were to come back now! +But times change; and we are fools if we do not change with them. +Well, my boy! I'm glad to see you, and that is not what I would say to +many,--I'm not much in the way of having visitors. But Eleanor's son +is heartily welcome to the old place." + +He took his nephew's hand, shook it cordially, and continued to hold it +in a vice-like grasp, while he once more attentively scanned the young +man's features. + +"You are a true Bergan," he said, at length, "I'm glad to see that! +And you have her eyes, too. Ah, what eyes they used to be! as soft and +bright as any fawn's! Well! well! it's no use to think of the old +times--they can't come back. But I am right glad to see you, my boy; +and I take it very kind of Eleanor to have sent you to me. Is she much +changed?" + +"I suppose so," said Bergan, smiling,--"that is, since you knew her. +She has not changed greatly during my remembrance. She is a +young-looking woman yet, for her years; her eyes are still bright, and +her cheeks rosy. Our western climate and life have agreed with her +well. Yet I cannot fancy her a young lady." + +"Ah, but you shall see her as a young lady! There's a portrait of her +in the old house, taken not long before she went away, that does +everything but speak and move. Indeed, I used to imagine that it did +both, when I had it in my quarters out here, as I did for a time. But +it gave me the blues so, to look at it, and think how things used to +be, and see how they had altered, that I finally sent it back to its +old place in the portrait gallery. But how did you get here, at this +hour?" + +"I walked from Savalla, leaving my baggage--except this portmanteau--to +come on by stage to-morrow." + +"Walked! A nice little tramp of thirteen miles or more! Why in the +name of sense didn't you ride?" + +"I was too late for the stage, and could not readily find a hack. To +be sure, I wasted but little time in looking for one; I do not mind +walking, I am used to it." + +"That may do very well for the West. But you'll lose caste, my boy, if +you walk here. You must have a horse." + +"When I can afford it," replied the young man, lightly shrugging his +shoulders. "Meanwhile, doubtless I shall find my western habit useful, +if vulgar. But I am not prepared to admit that it is vulgar. A young +English nobleman, who spent some months in our neighborhood, was a +practised walker; he thought nothing of fifteen or twenty miles, on +occasion. And if it was 'caste' for him, why not for me?" + +"Humph! we Southerners boast a good deal of our English ancestors, but +we don't feel called upon to imitate them!" + +With the softening recollections of his youth, the Major had also laid +aside his unwonted gentleness of manner; and the freezing satire of his +last words, though it was doubtful whether he meant it for himself or +his nephew, pained the young man's ear. Instinctively he dropped the +discussion. + +"I forgot to mention," said he, "that I did not walk quite the whole +distance. A queer old character whom I overtook, insisted upon giving +me a lift to Berganton." + +"To Berganton! What had you to do with Berganton, I should like to +know?" + +"I was not aware that the road had been changed; I supposed that I must +needs pass through the village on my way to Bergan Hall. I intended to +stay there over night, and come to you early in the morning,--I did not +think it right to descend upon you suddenly, late at night. But +finding myself unexpectedly on the road hither, and almost in sight of +the Hall, I regarded it as an indication of Providence not to be +misunderstood." + +"And well you did!" returned the Major, with rude emphasis, "well you +did! I should have taken it as a direct insult if my sister's son had +slept anywhere in this region, but on the old place. I wish I could +say, under the old roof," he went on, in a friendlier tone, "but that +leaks like a sieve, and I quitted it long ago. Of course, it might +have been mended; but, to tell the truth, the old house was much too +big and gloomy and damp and disagreeable to keep bachelor's hall in +comfortably, and I was glad to get out of it. Besides, I'd had all +sorts of trouble with my overseers, and I decided that the only way to +have things managed to my mind was to manage them myself. In order to +do that, it was necessary to be on the spot. So I fixed up my +overseer's cottage into a snug little box for myself, where I'm as +cosey and comfortable as a rat in a rice-heap. But come in, and see +for yourself how it looks. Jip, you rascal! why don't you take your +young master's portmanteau?" + +The torch-boy caught the portmanteau, and Bergan followed his uncle +into a small cottage at one corner of the quadrangle, so situated as to +command a view both of the mill and the cabins. The room into which he +was ushered was plainly but comfortably furnished. A fire of +pitch-pine knots blazed on the hearth, reddening the rough walls and +the bare floor with its pleasant glow. A slipshod negress, with a gay +turban, was busy laying the table for supper. The effect was, upon the +whole, cheery, and ought to have been especially so to a tired and +hungry traveller; yet Bergan looked around him with a manifest air of +disappointment. His uncle noticed it, and remarked, apologetically, + +"You would prefer to see the Hall, eh? Well, you shall see it in the +morning, and I reckon you'll agree with me that it's anything but a +cheerful-looking abode. Though, if I had known that a nephew of mine +was coming to keep me company, I don't know but I should have stayed +there." + +The negress now signified that supper was on the table, the food having +been brought in, ready cooked, from the nearest cabin; and Major Bergan +pointed to a chair opposite his own. + +"Sit down, Harry, and fall to. Your tramp must have given you a right +sharp appetite." + +"Thank you. But, uncle, my name is Bergan, not Harry." + +"Not Harry!" repeated the Major, sharply,--"I should like to know the +reason why! Didn't your mother write that she had named you for me?" + +"Yes, certainly. But she regarded you as the head of the family, and +in giving me the family name--" + +"She named you for the whole breed--my degenerate half-brother and +all!" interrupted the Major, bringing his clenched fist down upon the +table with a force that threatened to demolish it. "I tell you what it +is, sir, I shall not stand any half-way work! If you are named after +me, you've got to go the whole figure. Harry Bergan Arling you are, +and Harry Bergan Arling you shall be,--at least as long as you stay in +these parts." + +The imperious tone of this speech was by no means agreeable to Bergan's +ear; it was not without an effort that he replied, pleasantly;-- + +"Call me what you like, uncle. I shall not refuse to answer to any +name that you are pleased to give me." + +Major Bergan was evidently much gratified. "That's right, my +boy!--we'll shake hands upon that!" he exclaimed, heartily. "I'm glad +to see that Eleanor has raised her son in the good old fashion of +submission to elders. Bless my soul! I thought it was entirely +obsolete. Young men round here know more at twenty than the fathers +that begot them. As for obedience, they leave that to the negroes." + +The meal was abundant and substantial. It consisted of a single +course, of bacon, vegetables, and corn-bread, very simply, not to say +rudely, served. It would seem that the master of the feast cared no +more for refinements of table than of manner. Here, as elsewhere, were +to be seen the pernicious effects of his solitary mode of life. He ate +greedily; he forgot his duties as host, or they came but tardily to his +remembrance; he fell into fits of abstraction, and started as from a +dream at the sound of his nephew's voice. Yet tokens were not wanting +that he had once been well versed in the art of external manners. At +intervals, answering involuntarily, as it were, to the touch of +Bergan's fine, natural courtesy, the gentlemanly instincts of earlier +days revived, and flung a momentary grace around his words and actions. +It was like the sunbeams that occasionally glimmer out over a cloudy +landscape, attracting the gaze even more surely than any full blaze of +splendor, yet causing a certain impatience, as if they ought either to +kindle into satisfactory brightness, or be wholly extinguished. The +rudeness of his ordinary manner was only thrown into bolder relief by +these flashes of a half-extinct good breeding. + +To meet the demands of thirst, a bottle of brandy, and another of +water, stood by Major Bergan's plate; which, after filling his own +glass, he pushed over to his nephew. + +"There, Harry! that is what will put new life into you, after your +journey." + +"Thank you; but I seldom use brandy." + +"A little too strong for you, eh?" returned the Major, indulgently. +"Well, there's a stock of wine in the cellar of the Hall,--I reckon +some of it must be fifty or sixty years old, it has been there ever +since I can remember,--I'll send for a bottle or two of that." And he +uplifted a stentorian call of "Jip," which brought that +urchin-of-all-work to the door, in breathless haste. + +"Uncle,"--began Bergan, but the Major was thundering out minute +directions about cellars, and keys, and tiers, and labels, and either +could not, or would not, hear. + +"I am sorry that you have given yourself the trouble," said Bergan, +when quiet was restored. "I do not care for wine." + +Major Bergan set down his glass, and looked at his nephew sternly and +gloomily. "Don't tell me that you are a mean-spirited teetotaller," he +growled. "I can't say how I might take it. There never was a milksop +in the family yet." + +"No, I am hardly that. But I am not accustomed to use spirituous +liquors of any sort. And I certainly do not need them. I am in +perfect health; I hardly know what it is to feel tired." + +"I wish I didn't!" muttered his uncle, a little less savagely. "I'm +pretty hearty, for my years, to be sure. But an ache gets into my +bones now and then, just to remind me that I am not so young as I was +once. And the best thing to rout it is a good glass of brandy. Better +take one?" + +"Not if you will be so good as to excuse me," replied Bergan, with a +smile so frank, and a gesture so courteous, that the Major was +irresistibly mollified. + +"A guest's wish is a command," said he, with one of his rare glimmers +of courtesy. "But here comes the wine! I really cannot excuse you +from that,--at least, I should be very loath to do so. I'll even join +you in a glass. Here's to your mother's health and happiness!--you +won't refuse to drink that, not on the place where she was raised." + +If Bergan was annoyed by his uncle's persistency, he forebore to show +it. But, having duly honored the toast, he pushed his glass aside, and +declined every invitation to have it refilled. + +"Well, well," said his uncle, at last, in a tone of resignation, "we +won't quarrel about it now. But I see that your education is +incomplete, and I shall take it upon myself to finish it. If I don't +teach you to drink like a gentleman, in a month, I shall know that you +are no true Bergan, in spite of your looks." + +Bergan only smiled. + +"Your temperance is the one thing I don't like about you," pursued his +uncle, filling his own glass to the brim. "Ah, yes, there's one +more;--your mother writes that you have studied law, and mean to +practise it." + +"Yes; I received my license just two months ago." + +"Humph! it's well named! 'License,' indeed! Licensed to lie, cheat, +steal,--or, at least, to help others to do so, which amounts to the +same thing. No, no, Harry; it may be well to know law enough to keep +from being imposed upon, but a Bergan can't stoop to practise it. +Lawyers are, without exception, a set of miserable, lying, sneaking +pettifoggers. You could drop the souls of a dozen into a child's +thimble, and they'd rattle in the end of it after she had put it on her +finger." + +Bergan's cheek flushed a little, but he was more impressed by the comic +than the provoking side of his uncle's dogged prejudice, and he only +answered, good-humoredly;-- + +"I am sorry that you should have had occasion to think so badly of the +profession. I shall feel that it is incumbent upon me to make you +change your opinion." + +"Never!" growled Major Bergan, with an oath. "You would find it easier +to lift the Gibraltar rock on the point of a needle. Unless," he +added, after a moment, "you can tell me how to make a suit lie against +Godfrey Bergan. I've been trying it for ten years, and I've spent +money enough to buy another plantation as large as this." + +"My uncle Godfrey!" exclaimed Bergan, in much surprise. "Why, what has +he done?" + +"You had better not call him your 'uncle Godfrey' in my hearing," +responded the Major, grimly. "In ceasing to be my half-brother, he +ceased to be your uncle. Done! What hasn't he done? First, he got +his head filled with cursed abolitionist notions, and freed all his +slaves. Next, he offered the greater part of his land for sale at +public auction;--just think of it! some of the old lands of Bergan Hall +put up to be knocked down to the highest bidder! But I settled _that_ +business, by proclaiming far and wide that whoever bid for them might +expect to reckon with me for his impertinence; and as I'm known to be a +man of my word, no one dared to lift his voice at the sale, and I got +them at my own price. Finally Godfrey capped the climax of his +degeneracy by opening a hardware store in Berganton. Think of that, +Hairy!--a Bergan of Bergan Hall, with a long pedigree of warriors and +nobles at his back, standing behind a counter, selling hoes and +tea-kettles to negroes and crackers!" + +Bergan was silent. Though not without some touch of family pride, +derived from his mother, he had nevertheless been taught to believe all +upright labor honorable, to hold that life was ennobled from within, by +its motive and aim, rather than from without, by its place and form. +He could not help suspecting, therefore, that his host, deliberately +leading the narrow life of an overseer of slaves, on his ancestral +estate, was in reality a more degenerate son of his house than the +relative whom he so bitterly contemned. Yet he foresaw that any +attempt to defend Godfrey Bergan would but result in bringing down upon +himself a torrent of fierce, half-drunken vituperation. Seasoned +vessel though he were, the Major's repeated draughts of brandy, very +little diluted, had not been without effect, in flushing his face, and +inflaming his habitually irritable temper. His present mood would ill +brook contradiction. + +Fortunately, he neither expected nor waited for an answer. Hastily +emptying his glass and filling it again, he went on. + +"Now, Harry, if you can tell me any way by which I can ruin his +business, turn him out of his house, and make him quit the country, +I'll own that I've done the law an injustice, and give you a handsome +fee besides. Can the thing be done?" + +Bergan silently shook his head; he would not trust himself to speak. + +"Just as I told you!" exclaimed the Major, with great virulence of +expression. "The law has plenty of quibbles and quirks for the help of +rogues and scoundrels, but it can't lend a hand to an honest cause, at +a pinch! I'll none of it, Harry! I'll none of it! Get what you know +of it out of your head as soon as you can." + +The Major paused long enough to empty his glass, and then resumed, in a +more amiable tone. "The best thing you can do, Harry, is to stay here +with me; I'll make a rice-planter of you. It doesn't take a ninny for +that, by any means; your talents will not be thrown away. And if we +suit each other,--as I think we shall,--I'll give you Bergan Hall when +my title to it expires. To be sure, I'm strong and hearty yet; but no +one lasts forever. And as you are named for me, and I like your looks, +I would rather give it to you than anybody else. In fact, I've had it +in my mind, for some time, to write to Eleanor and ask her to do just +what she has done,--send one of her boys to live with me, and be my +heir." + +"You mistake," said Bergan, quickly, "neither my mother nor myself had +any such idea. She merely wished me to consult you about commencing my +profession in--" + +"Tut! tut! Harry," interrupted his uncle, "I meant it, if you and she +did not. And I mean it more than ever now; that is, if you'll yield to +my wish about the law. But if you persist in sticking to that, I give +you up, once for all--mind, I give you up!" + +"I should deserve to be given up," replied Bergan, smiling, "if I were +lightly to forsake a vocation for which I am fitted both by taste and +education, to enter upon one of which I know absolutely nothing. I may +reasonably hope to succeed as a lawyer; I fear I should make but a poor +planter. Moreover, it would not suit me to be dependent upon any one." + +"Stuff! nonsense!" exclaimed Major Bergan, bluntly. "I defy you to +make a poor planter under my tuition,--I claim to understand that +business. As for dependence, never you fear but that I shall get aid +and comfort enough out of you to make our accounts square. For, after +all, Harry, it is a dreary kind of a life that I'm leading, without +chick or child, kith or kin, to speak to, or to care for. I cannot +help asking myself, sometimes, what is the good of it all, and how Is +it to end. But with a fine young fellow like you here, to enter into +my plans now, and carry them out after I'm gone,--why, it would be like +a fresh lease of life to me! We'll rebuild the old house, you shall +drop the 'Arling,' and behold the seventh Harry Bergan of Bergan Hall, +on _this_ side the water! And really, I don't see how you can do +better, Harry. Here are wealth, position, influence, and a chance to +oblige your old uncle,--ready to your hand. Stay, my boy, stay!" + +The Major's bluff voice had sunken to a hoarse tone of sadness, in his +confession of loneliness, and finally, to one of entreaty, that touched +his nephew's heart. Nor was the prospect held up before him without +its own peculiar and powerful attraction. He looked thoughtfully into +the fire, debating with himself what and how he should reply. His +uncle watched him keenly for a moment, and then said, in his kindest +tone and manner;-- + +"Well, Harry, I won't press you for an answer, now. Stay here a month +or two, and look around you; and then, we'll talk the matter over +again, and see if we cannot settle upon something that shall be +mutually satisfactory. For so long, surely, you can afford to be my +guest." + + + + +III. + +"PATTERN OF OLD FIDELITY." + +Before Bergan could answer, there came a low tap at the door. A negro +woman, of unusual height, and singularly venerable and dignified +aspect, stood, courtesying slightly, on the threshold. She was plainly +of great age,--her face was deeply furrowed, and her hair, where it +could be seen under the dark blue kerchief that covered her head, was +white as snow,--yet her shoulders had not bent under the burden of +years, her tall frame, though gaunt, was little palsied by the touch of +actual infirmity. Although she carried a cane, it was not so much for +its support, as for its aid in feeling out her way along her accustomed +paths; she had been blind for many years. + +"Master Harry," said she, clasping her hands over the head of her cane, +and speaking in slow, somewhat tremulous tones, but with neither the +slovenly utterance nor the vicious pronunciation of the ordinary +slave,--"Master Harry, excuse me if I interrupt you, but I could not +wait any longer,--I wanted so much to see Miss Eleanor's son!" + +"It is Maumer Rue," said Major Bergan, not only with unwonted kindness +of tone, but with something akin to respect in his manner;--"your +mother must have spoken to you of our old nurse, Harry?" + +"Indeed she has!" exclaimed Bergan, earnestly, starting up to take the +blind woman's hand. "Your name has always been a household word with +us. The story of your devotion to my mother, in saving her from the +flames, at the risk of your own life, and with the ultimate loss of +your sight, was the one story of which we children never used to tire. +Probably we felt, in our vague, childish way, that it was the one which +came from the profoundest depth in her own heart,--since she could +never tell it to us without a little tremor in her voice, and a soft +dewiness in her eyes,--and that was the secret of its charm for us. +You may be sure that she has never forgotten how much she owes you!" + +The old woman's lips trembled, and large tears gathered in her +sightless eyes. "The Lord bless my dear young lady!" she ejaculated +fervently,--"I knew she would never forget her old maumer. And it's +like her to make much of my little service; but I did nothing but what +was my duty--nothing." + +"She thinks otherwise," replied Bergan, kindly. "She regards it as one +of those rare instances of courage and devotion, for which the whole +world is better and brighter. She bade me give you her kindest love, +and tell you that you must not despair of meeting her once more, even +on this side the grave. When the new railroad is finished, as far as +our place,--which it promises to be in a year or two,--she fully +intends to revisit her childhood's home, and look once more upon the +faces of her childhood's friends. She furthermore charged me to pay +you an early visit, in your own quarters, and tell you everything about +her western home and life that you might care to hear." + +"How kind of Miss Eleanor to think of that!" responded the blind woman, +delightedly. "It shows that she's just her own old self, always trying +to think what everybody would like, and then doing her best to give it +to them. Of course, there's a hundred questions that I should like to +ask about her; and if you really don't mind answering them, and will do +me the honor to step into my little cabin, some day when you're passing +by, I shall be more obliged to you than I can rightly tell. But as to +my ever seeing Miss Eleanor again,--I beg your pardon, sir; you see +I've not yet learned to say Mrs. Arling,--though there's nothing on +earth that would make me so glad as to meet her again, and hear the +sound of her sweet, cheery voice, yet I'm getting to be too old to dare +to reckon much upon the future. But the next best thing to meeting +her, is to meet her son, here on the old place; and I thank the Lord +that He has let me live long enough for that." + +The old negress bent her head devoutly for a moment, and then turned to +Major Bergan. "Does he favor Miss Eleanor much, Master Harry?" she +asked. + +"Yes, he is a good deal like her, maumer; he has her eyes exactly. But +he is even more like what I was forty years ago; it really makes me +feel young again to look at him. He's a real Bergan, I can tell you +that." + +Maumer Rue smiled as if well pleased; yet the smile seemed a little +burdened with sadness, too; and Bergan saw that it was followed by a +look of extreme wistfulness. + +"Can I do anything for you?" he asked, kindly. + +"Nothing, master,--unless--if it is not asking too much,--and if you +would not mind the touch of an old woman's fingers, that have to serve +her instead of eyes, I could get so much clearer an idea of your +looks,--" and she finished the sentence by raising her hand +significantly toward his face. + +Bergan was much moved. "Of course I should not mind," said he, drawing +near to her;--"examine me as closely as you like. It would be strange +indeed if there were anything unpleasant to me in the touch of hands +that have done so much for my mother!" + +"It's easy to see that you are Miss Eleanor's son, you have just her +kind, pleasant ways," responded the blind woman, gratefully. "He is a +little taller than you, Master Harry," she continued, turning toward +the Major, as she laid her hand on Bergan's head,--"yes, just a little +taller, though not much." + +"All the better for that," remarked the Major, parenthetically, "the +Bergans must not degenerate." + +Maumer Rue went on, without noticing the interruption; passing her +fingers lightly over Bergan's features, as she spoke. "His brow is +square and full, like yours, and he has the same straight nose; but his +eyes are not so deep-set, nor his eyebrows so heavy. His jaw is like +yours, too,--the set, square jaw of the Bergans,--but his mouth is more +like Miss Eleanor's:--a sweet, pleasant mouth she had, the mouth of the +Habershams, her mother's family. Yet it could be firm enough, too, +when there was need; our Miss Eleanor had plenty of character. And I'm +right glad to see that you are so much like her; you couldn't resemble +any one better or handsomer." + +She made a slight pause, and then added, in a half-humorous way,--"I +reckon she couldn't give you any spice of the 'black Bergan temper,' as +she had none of it herself." + +"I am afraid she did," answered Bergan, laughing, yet coloring, too; +"and many a scrape it has gotten me into, before now. But I hope that +I am learning to control it a little." + +"I don't see why you should," broke in the Major, gruffly. "The Bergan +temper is an heir-loom to be proud of; it identifies the breed. It has +run in the blood from time immemorial. A Bergan without it--that is, a +male, of course a woman counts for nothing--would be no Bergan at all." + +"You say true, Master Harry," rejoined Rue, composedly; "it's always +run in the blood, and heated it more than was good for it, many a time. +Yet, now and then, there has been a Bergan who has learned how to keep +it under, and been all the better for doing it. You surely must +recollect what a mild, kind gentleman your father was, young as you +were when he died; and I've heard say that there never was a truer +Bergan, or one more respected all the country through." + +The Major made a grimace, and muttered something unintelligible, in a +tone half of acquiescence, half of irritation. + +Rue turned again to Bergan. "You have been very patient with an old +woman's talk, and an old woman's infirmity," said she, with a kind of +natural dignity,--"I will not trouble you any longer. Good night, and +thank you, Master--what name shall I say?" + +Bergan hesitated, and looked doubtfully at his uncle. + +"He says his name is Bergan," explained the Major, shortly; "but I have +given him to understand that he is to be known by my own name, Harry, +while he stays here." + +Rue shook her head. "There can be but one Master Harry for me," she +said quietly,--"the one that I nursed as a babe and petted as a child, +the one that I have lived with so many years, and who has always been +so kind to me--kinder even than he has been to himself. So please let +me call him Master Bergan; but, of course, the rest of the people will +give him any name that you say." + +"Of course they will," returned the Major, haughtily, "or I'll know the +reason why. As for you, maumer, I shall let you do as you please; +you've had your own way too long to be balked of it now. But take care +that the others don't hear and imitate you,--or you know what they'll +get.". + +"Thank you, Master Harry," replied Rue, as gratefully as if the assent +had been more graciously given,--"you are always good to your poor old +maumer. Good night." And she turned to go. + +But on the threshold, she paused, and lifted her sightless face toward +the dim night-sky, across which dark clouds were swiftly scudding. + +"Master Harry," said she, suddenly, "do you remember how I told you, +six months ago, that the Bergan star was set, and how angry you were?" + +"Yes, yes, I remember," exclaimed the Major, hoarsely and +eagerly,--"what of it?" + +She slowly raised her right hand, and pointed skyward, with a strange, +intent, watchful expression in her uplifted "See! it is rising!" said +she; "it comes up through the clouds,--they try to hold it back, but +they cannot,--it grows brighter! it rises higher!--ah!"--drawing her +breath hard and gaspingly,--"it stops--it goes down again!--the clouds +cover it!--it is--No! it is not gone! it shines faintly behind the +clouds--it breaks through--slowly, slowly, slowly,--it rises! it rises!" + +Yielding, half-unconsciously, to the powerful influence of the blind +woman's rapt, ecstatic manner, Bergan had drawn near to her, and now +saw, with surprise, a single star shining for a moment through the +rifts of the clouds. Glancing at the Major, whom he had before seen to +be hanging with breathless interest upon the words of the old negress, +he perceived that his eyes were fixed upon it also, with a gaze that +was half-awed, half-triumphant. He knew not what to think. + +Maumer Rue still stood in the same commanding attitude, with raised +hand, and intent, uplooking face. Suddenly, her arm fell by her side; +her head drooped on her breast; the majesty that had informed her pose +and gesture went out like an expiring flame; she shivered, tottered, +and would have fallen but for the Major's prompt support. Without a +word, he guided her safely to the door of her cabin. + +Coming back, he reseated himself at the table, which had been cleared +of everything but the bottles and glasses, and hastily poured out and +swallowed some raw brandy. Then he remarked, in a half-explanatory and +half-apologetic tone,-- + +"She enjoys the reputation of a seer, or prophetess, among the negroes; +and I really think she has some faith in it herself. Certainly, she +seems to have strange visions now and then; and some of her predictions +have come true; I confess she puzzles even me. At all events, she is +the best and most faithful old creature that ever lived. She was born +on the estate, brought up in the Hall with my father and his sisters, +shared their education, is thoroughly steeped in the family traditions, +duly infected with the family pride, and entirely devoted to the family +interests. She is the only person that I allow to do pretty much as +she pleases; her long and faithful services to my father, Eleanor, and +myself, deserve that much, I think. And really, she is of great use to +me; I scarcely know what I should do without her. The negroes all +believe her to be a hundred years old--undoubtedly she is past +ninety--and that, together with her reputation as a prophetess, gives +her great power over them, and saves me a heap of trouble in managing +them. She has very good judgment, too, in many things; I frequently +take her advice, and never yet had occasion to regret doing so. +Indeed, it was chiefly at her instigation and entreaty that I had made +up my mind, as I told you, to write to your mother about sending me one +of her sons." + +He paused for a moment, and then asked, in a careless tone, but with a +quick, keen glance at his nephew, from under his shaggy brows,--"Did +you see that star?" + +"Yes," answered Bergan. "It was a curious coincidence." + +"Hum--very," returned his uncle, evidently not quite satisfied with +this view of the matter. But he said no more. + +The conversation now turned into various other channels. It touched +for a brief space upon the indefatigable quoter of proverbs whom Bergan +had overtaken on his way to the Hall; and whom the Major declared to be +the only living representative of one of the oldest and most +influential families in the county. He had been reared in affluence, +had been educated in Europe, and had inherited a large fortune and a +fine estate. But he had early fallen into bad habits,--not so much +from viciousness of temper and taste, as from weakness of will and +consequent inability to resist temptation,--had run a short, rapid +career of folly, extravagance, and dissipation, in which he had +frittered away his inheritance, and so had gradually sunken into his +present state of semi-vagabondage. He lived, by sufferance, in a +little cabin, on one corner of the estate which he had formerly owned. +From his wholesale shipwreck of fortune, position, will, energy, and +hope, he had saved but one thing--his love of proverbs. It had even +grown stronger in proportion as other things wasted and failed,--like a +plant striking deep root into soil enriched by the decay of many sister +plants. He had learned several languages solely for the sake of their +proverbs; he had even been seen to hesitate and waver long between the +diverse, but powerful, attractions of a bottle of ardent spirits and a +dingy, old collection of saws, when but one came within the compass of +his purse; and he was known far and wide by the _sobriquet_ of "Proverb +Dick." His real name was Richard Causton. + +In listening to this history, Bergan could not but be struck by the +curiously discriminating character of the Major's animadversion. He +had little, or nothing, to say in disapproval of the depraved and +ungovernable appetite for strong drink which, it was easy to see, had +played so important part in ruining poor Richard Causton; while he +could find no words strong enough to express his bitter contempt for +the flabby will, the pitiable irresolution, and the insane +extravagance, which had joined hands with that appetite for his +complete destruction. Tender, as a mother to her babe, over the fault +which he knew himself to possess (if he secretly acknowledged it to be +a fault), Major Bergan was merciless to the weaknesses from which he +was saved by a hardier will and a more energetic temperament. + +But as the evening wore on, and the brandy slowly worked its way up to +the stronghold of his brain, the Major's talk grew discursive, profane, +and incoherent; until Bergan, shocked and pained, and anxious to escape +from the mortifying spectacle, pleaded fatigue, and begged permission +to retire. Jip was accordingly summoned, and he was conducted to a +little, low room under the cottage roof, where his portmanteau had been +bestowed, and some little provision made for his comfort. + +Here Bergan quickly threw himself on the bed, to find, for the first +time in his life, that it was one thing to woo the fair maiden Sleep, +and another to win her. Recollections of his western home, of his +mother, of the ancestral traditions on which his childish imagination +had fed, of his youthful studies and aspirations, of his recent +journey, and the disappointment in which it had ended, mingled with +half-conceived plans and half-acknowledged hopes,--a vague, changeable, +teasing, tireless procession of thoughts and images,--filed slowly +through his mind, compelling his reluctant gaze, and blocking up every +avenue to Slumberland. And if, for an instant, the vexing march +stopped, and the importunate images began to waver and blend, sounds of +stamping feet, of jingling glass, of muttered oaths and sentences, or +two or three half-sung, half-shouted lines of a drunken ditty, coming +up from below, startled him once more into wakefulness, and told him +that his uncle's solitary debauch was not yet ended. It was already +gray dawn when, worn out with restlessness, he fell into a brief +slumber, and dreamed that old Rue, with the Bergan star in her hand, +was beckoning him to follow her over a dreary, desolate country, full +of briers and pitfalls, wherein he was so constantly entangled that, in +spite of his best endeavors, he could never get any nearer to her. +Turning suddenly, she flashed the star into his eyes, and:--oh, horror +of horrors!--he was blind! + +Starting up, all in a tremble, he found that the risen sun was shining +full in his face, through the uncurtained window. It was morning. + + + + +IV. + +A GOODLY HERITAGE. + +Early as was the hour, Bergan found the table already laid for +breakfast in the room below, where he was soon joined by the Major. He +brought with him (besides a noticeable odor of brandy), a cordial +morning greeting, and a temper which, though by no means urbane, had a +certain, flavor of bluff good nature, in pleasing contrast with his +extreme irritability of the preceding evening. Encouraged by these and +similar signs of a clearer mental atmosphere, Bergan ventured to +mention his uncle Godfrey, and to remark that he had been charged with +a letter to him from his mother, which he must take an early +opportunity to deliver. + +"Eh! what?" asked the Major, laying down his knife and fork, with the +look and tone of a man who doubts the evidence of his own senses. + +Bergan quietly repeated his words. + +The Major's face grew dark, and his eyebrows met in a heavy frown. "I +shall take it mighty hard of you, if you do," said he, sternly and +gloomily. "I tell you, Harry, he is no Bergan at all, and he ought not +to be treated like one. Eleanor would never have written to him, nor +desired you to visit him, if she had known the true state of +affairs;--you can safely take that for granted, and act accordingly. +Besides," he went on, after a slight pause, "it is only fair to warn +you that any one who goes from Bergan Hall over to Oakstead (that's +what he calls his place), doesn't come back again,--with my consent. +There's no relation, nor commerce, nor sympathy, nor liking, between +the two places; and there never can be any while I live,--nor after I +am dead, either, if I can help it. So just put that matter out of your +head, Harry, and say no more about it." + +Bergan looked down, and the color rose to his brow. Without seeking to +know the merits of the quarrel between his two uncles, he nevertheless +felt that the abject submission, the complete surrender of principle +and will, expected of him by Major Bergan, was simply impossible; and +he began to wonder if it were not his wisest course to place himself at +once on tenable ground, by saying that, while he should always be glad +of his uncle's advice, and ready to give all due and respectful +consideration to his wishes, yet, in matters involving questions of +right and duty, the final appeal must needs be to his own conscience. +Something of this sort was upon his lips, when the Major spoke again, +and in a more amiable tone. + +"I am really sorry, for your sake, Harry, that things are just as they +are," said he. "Of course, it is not agreeable to you to run thus +unexpectedly against a family feud;--I really ought to have written +Eleanor about it, but I thought to spare her the knowledge of her +half-brother's disgrace. Besides, as Godfrey is our nearest neighbor, +it might be pleasant to be on visiting terms, if he and his were only +the right sort of company to keep." + +"I think he has children near my own age," remarked Bergan. + +"Not now. His two eldest died a few years ago." + +"Ah, yes; I remember hearing of it when I was in college." + +"He has but one left--a daughter," pursued the Major. "A pretty, +bright little thing she was, too, as a child; I was really quite fond +of her, and she used to spend half her time here,--that is, in the old +Hall;--and Maumer Rue almost idolized her, because she fancied that she +was something like what Eleanor was at her age. She even used to run +away and come over here, after the trouble began; but I reckon they +must have found it out, and put a stop to it." And the Major ground +his teeth at the recollection, as if he owed his brother an especial +grudge on this very head. "However," he went on, "it is better so; for +though I could never have found it in my heart to be unkind to the +child,--so fond of me as she was, too!--yet I want nothing to do with +anybody, or anything, that belongs to Godfrey; and so I am glad, on the +whole, that she stopped coming. Doubtless, she will soon merge the +name of Bergan into Smith, or Brown, or something equally desirable; +and as Godfrey has no son, to bear his patronymic and carry on his +business, we may hope that there will be an end of _them_." + +The last words were spoken with ineffable contempt. Then, suddenly +rising, as if to dismiss the subject, the Major remarked, with an +entire change of tone and manner:-- + +"But I must not sit here chatting any longer, for I suspect that +Ben--that's my head driver--is waiting for instructions. Will you come +with me, or do you prefer to amuse yourself about home?" + +"I will go with you, uncle, if you are willing." + +"Both willing and glad. Come on." + +Bergan followed his uncle out into the quadrangle,--here called the +"street,"--and found it to be, for the most part, silent and deserted. +The cabins, many of which, on the evening previous, had been brightened +by a little gleam of firelight within, or vivified by moving figures, +were now closed and locked, the occupants being away at work in the +fields. They were all neatly whitewashed; and they stood well apart +from each other, leaving room for little gardens between, where +vegetables, and, occasionally, flowers, were growing. Here and there, +too, a pig rooted and grunted in a rude sty; or hens and chickens +fluttered and cackled, in their busy, enlivening fashion, around the +door. + +One of the buildings, of considerable size, and two stories high, where +several women and children, with peculiar haggard, heavy, listless, and +withal resigned faces, were lying or sitting around the porch, Bergan +easily recognized as the infirmary. Another, seemingly stuffed with +babies and young children, under the charge of several half-grown girls +and one superannuated old woman, he knew to be the day-nursery; for the +safe bestowal of the infant population of the quarter, during their +mothers' absence in the fields. Here, Maumer Rue seemed to be making a +visit of inspection; though invisible herself, the slow tones of her +voice, exhorting one of the young nurses to greater watchfulness, +sounded distinctly from within; and becoming quickly aware of the +approach of her master and his guest, she came to the door, and made +them a stately courtesy, as they passed. + +Quite apart from the quarter, yet within sight, stood a cabin of +especially rude and forlorn aspect; the open door of which disclosed a +strong stake driven into the ground in its centre, and divers rusty +chains, handcuffs, padlocks, _et cetera_, hanging round its sides. +This was the prison. Human justice being thus provided with a fitting +abode, Bergan involuntarily looked around in search of a corresponding +dwelling for Heaven's mercy, in the shape of a little cross-tipped +church or chapel,--but saw none. + +Major Bergan first stopped at the threshing-mill, where Engine (that is +to say "Engineer") Jack, a remarkably intelligent negro,--and an +exceedingly black one as well,--was waiting to bring to his master's +notice certain slight repairs necessary to the machinery. While the +needful discussion was going on, Bergan looked around him, the better +to understand the topography of the place. + +He observed that Bergan Hall, the roof of which he saw afar off, rising +among the trees, was situated upon a considerable elevation,--a sort of +bluff, overlooking a small inlet, or arm of the sea. To this +circumstance, Major Bergan owed his ability to live upon his plantation +throughout the year, instead of fleeing therefrom, like most of his +class, at the approach of summer. For, just when the home-scenery +takes on its most tender and fascinating grace,--when the rice-fields +are green as the meadows of paradise,--when the temple-like oak-glades +are most beautiful with gentle gloom and glinting sunshine,--when every +thicket has its garland of bloom, and every tree has its clinging, +flowering vine,--when the sweet-smelling pine-woods are glittering with +the gorgeous coloring, and melodious with the multifarious voice, of +thousands of birds and insects;--Just then, the rice-planter has to +flee for his life from its final, treacherous charm---the soft-shining +mist, the deadly malaria, that creeps up at night from the marshes, and +covers the land like a sea. If he lingers for but one ramble in the +fair, moon-lighted, and moss-festooned avenues, through that silver +haze, fever walks by his side under the grand arches, and death waits +for him at the end of the alluring vistas. + +From this terror and this necessity, the owner of Bergan Hall was free. +His vast plantation stretched across the border-line which divides the +pestilential rice-swamps from the healthful sea-islands; one extremity +touching the river, and the other the ocean. At one time, its chief +revenue was derived from the far-famed sea-island cotton, to the +production of which its sea-board portion was well-adapted, but as that +crop declined, and the rice-crop rose, in value, its neglected +swamp-lands were gradually reclaimed and brought under cultivation; and +were now the most valuable portion of the estate. Too remote from +Bergan Hall to poison it, or its vicinity, with their malaria, they +were yet quite near enough for necessary superintendence. + +The negro quarter lay somewhat lower than the Hall. On its left, the +ground sloped gradually down to a little creek; where lay several +flat-boats loaded with rice, to show what had been the goal of the +negro procession of the previous evening. Along the opposite bank ran +a dark fringe of pines. + +Horses were now brought. The one assigned to Bergan was a superb +blooded filly, full of life and fire. While he stood taking delighted +note of her many fine points, she sniffed round him in half-wild, +half-curious fashion,--now starting quickly back, now timidly drawing +near,--and ended by frankly putting her nose in his hand, as if in +token of amity. Nor had he been long on her back, ere he felt, with an +electric thrill of pleasure, that perfect sympathy between horse and +rider, that singular blending of their identity, which is the purest +delight of horsemanship, and best explains the fable of the Centaur. + +"How do you like her?" asked his uncle, at this juncture. + +"Exceedingly," replied Bergan, with enthusiastic emphasis. "I think +that I never rode anything more admirable." + +"Henceforth, then, she belongs to you. And never mind the thanks,--I +am really glad to hand her over to a fitting master. She is too much +given to dancing and frolicking for my use,---my sober-paced stallion +meets my wants a great deal better;--consequently, Vic--that's her +name, short for Victoria,--Vic stands in the stable, eating her head +and kicking her heels off, for the greater part of the time. She will +be much happier in the hands of a master young enough to sympathize +with her." + +Bergan could not fail to be delighted with a gift so generous and so +timely; bestowed, too, with a delicacy of manner, an appearance of +asking a favor instead of conferring one, in strong contrast with his +uncle's wonted bluntness. Visions of long, solitary rides of +exploration rose fascinatingly before him. Nor would he suffer his +pleasure to be alloyed by any insidious doubt lest the gift might some +day take the form of an unpleasant obligation. + +The road ran along the bank of the creek, passing divers fields under +cultivation, and divers others long "turned out,"--that is, exhausted, +and left to lapse back into their primitive pine-barrenness. In the +course of an hour, the two gentlemen came upon a second negro quarter, +considerably larger than the first, but with the same general +characteristics, even to the threshing-mill. This one, however, ran by +water power, instead of steam. + +The horses were here left in charge of a negro, while the gentlemen +walked over to the rice fields. They soon came into view, stretching, +almost as far as the eye could reach, along the bank of a broad, turbid +river. Bergan speedily became much interested in their complicated +system of dykes, ditches, canals, and gates; as well as in watching the +dusky laborers, both men and women, that were busy therein. Leaving +details for results, however, he could not but be impressed with the +fact that a vast amount of hard work was annually done, and a rich and +remunerative crop annually reaped. Plainly, Major Bergan was an +energetic, skilful manager. + +On his part, the Major was greatly pleased with his nephew's +intelligent interest, and predicted, more than once, that he would make +a rice-planter of him, in due time, who would show his neighbors "what +was what." + +The sun was half way down the western slope, when the uncle and nephew +returned to the cottage. Dinner over, the Major civilly expressed his +regret that he was unexpectedly called to another part of the +plantation. Bergan could accompany him; or--not to disappoint him of +his promised visit to the old Hall--he could get the keys of Maumer +Rue, and explore it by himself. + +Bergan eagerly caught at the latter alternative. Nor, to do him +justice, was the Major at all displeased thereby. Without troubling +himself to analyze his own emotions, he yet felt an unconquerable +aversion to the task of showing his nephew through the deserted home of +his forefathers. Though little accustomed to care for the opinions or +the feelings of others, he foresaw an inevitable mortification in +looking with Bergan upon the ruin and desolation for which he knew +himself to be so largely responsible; since, if he had not invited the +ravages of time, he had put forth no hand to stay them. Perhaps this +feeling was strong enough, even, to lend to the business that called +him away, an imperative aspect which it might otherwise have lacked. + +Bergan, on his part, was well content to dispense with his uncle's +guidance. Not only would his presence be a constraint upon his own +irrepressible emotions of sadness, regret, and, possibly, indignation; +but there would be a rare, subtile charm in wandering alone through +precincts at once so familiar and so strange, in finding out for +himself (or led only by the shadowy image of his maiden mother), spots +hallowed by the tender touch of oldtime joys and sorrows, and nooks and +corners darkened not more by mould and cobwebs than by the clinging +dust of immemorial family tradition. + +First, however, Major Bergan requested his companionship as far as the +stable. There they found a bright looking boy, somewhat older than +Jip, who had just finished rubbing down the filly of which Bergan had +so lately become the master, and now stood regarding the result with +great apparent satisfaction. + +"Well, Brick," said the Major, sternly, "I hope you've done better than +you did last time." + +"Yes, massa, she done berry fine, I'se sure,--spec' I put a right smart +hour on her. Look a dar, now, don' she shine?" + +The Major examined her carefully, and finding nothing to fault, silent. +It was not his way to waste words in commendation. He merely turned +from the horse to the negro, and asked, pointing to Bergan,-- + +"You see that young gentleman?" + +"Yis, massa; sartin, massa." And Brick made an embarrassed bow, +uncertain whither this conversation might tend. + +"Well, that's Vic's master, and yours. It's your business to take care +of her, and wait on him,--that is, do everything he tells you. +Hereafter, you are to go to him for orders." + +And quickly mounting his own horse, the Major rode off, without waiting +for thanks or comments. + +Bergan stood looking doubtfully at his new acquisition. Property of +this kind gave him a novel sensation; he could not tell, on the +instant, whether he liked it or no. Nevertheless, he recognized the +inexpediency of discussing the matter with the dusky chattel himself; +who, to represent him fairly, seemed in nowise displeased with his +change of owners. He had opened his eyes a trifle wider at his sudden +transfer, and uttered a mechanical, "Yis, massa,"--that was all. He +now stood, tattered hat in hand, waiting for orders. Bergan was +somewhat disconcerted to find that he had none to give. Finally, he +asked,-- + +"What is your name?" + +"Rubric, sah. But dey mos'ly calls me Brick." + +"Ah, yes, I see. And your family name?" + +"Hain't got no family, sah." + +"Your father's name, I mean." + +"Nebber had any fader, sah. He sold down souf, fore I's born." + +"Your second name, then." + +"Same's yours, massa, I s'pose." + +"Hum--How old are you?" + +Brick scratched his head reflectively. "Don' _jes'_ know, massa, +'zactly. Spec' bout--bout--fifteen or--twenty, sah; jess 's massa +likes." + +Bergan bit his lip. Never had he met with such a spirit of +accommodation. + +"Well, Brick," he asked, after a moment, "if you had a half-holiday, +now, what would you do with it?" + +Brick's face grew radiant through all its dusk. "Go a-fishin', massa," +he burst out, eagerly; "I jes' should!" + +"Well, go fishing, then,--if you think you can be back by supper-time." + +"Yis, massa. Tank you, massa." And Brick was off like an arrow from +the string. + +Bergan immediately sought out old Rue's cabin. Outwardly, it differed +little from its neighbors; but its interior was not without evidences +of thoughtful provision for the faithful old nurse's comfort. Having +kindly answered all the questions that she chose to ask, in reference +to "Miss Eleanor" and her western life, he made known his errand. She +instantly took a key from her pocket, and was about to put it in his +hand, when she suddenly drew back, exclaiming:-- + +"No, no, that will never do! I forgot. That is the key of the back +door. You see, sir, I sometimes look into the Hall, and that way is +most convenient." + +"I assure you that it will serve me very well, too," replied Bergan. +"It does not matter how I make my entrance." + +Rue shook her head. "It is not fitting," said she, "that the son and +heir of the house should first enter at the back, like a servant." + +"The son, but not the heir," replied Bergan, smiling. + +Rue turned quickly toward him. "Not the heir!" she exclaimed, as if +greatly surprised. "And why not?" + +The question was not easy to answer. Bergan could not say frankly, +"Because such heirship must be bought at too high a price,--even the +surrender of my profession, will, conscience, individuality." Nor did +the answer present itself to his own mind in this definite form. He +was conscious, at the moment, of nothing but a confused, hazy throng of +doubts, fears, possibilities, and wishes. + +Rue seemed quite satisfied with his silence. She turned to a bureau +near by, and, after a little search, drew forth a large, rusty key, +which she handed him with a kind of solemnity. + +"It has waited long," said she, "for the hand that should rightfully +put it into the lock, and let light and hope once more into the old +house. I thank the Lord that I live to see the day." + +Bergan was too much touched to answer. He walked quickly to the front +of the deserted mansion, cut the vines from the door, and put the key +in the lock. At first, it opposed a stubborn resistance to his +efforts; then, suddenly, the bolt yielded, the door turned slowly on +its long-unused hinges, and he stood, with a beating heart, in his +ancestral hall. + + + + +V. + +WASTE PLACES. + +He was met by a swift gust of wind, so chill and vault-like, and +hurrying past him with so woful a sigh, that it seemed like the rush of +innumerable imprisoned ghosts, eagerly seizing upon the opportunity for +escape. Involuntarily letting go the door, it fell to behind him with +a clangor that reverberated loudly, for a moment, through the house, +and then suddenly ceased, as if smothered in some remote corner by a +lurking hand. The silence which followed was dreary and +oppressive,--all the more, because Bergan, coming so suddenly from the +outward sunshine, was altogether bedimmed by such density of gloom as +brooded within, most of the windows being either darkened by blinds, or +closed with heavy opaque shutters. For a single instant, he felt a +thrill of unreasoning horror. The impenetrable gloom, the oppressive +stillness, the damp, dead air (which might have come straight from the +open mouth of a tomb), gave him a chill impression that he had +committed sacrilege. + +Quickly recovering himself, however, he again flung wide open the door, +and fastened it back. By the light thus admitted, he easily found his +way to a window at the other end of the hall, which he also opened. +There was an immediate inward rush, not only of the sunny daylight, but +of the sweet, warm air of the autumn afternoon, with its inevitable +suggestions of tranquil sea, and tender sky, and slow-waving forest; +quickly penetrating, he felt sure, to the uppermost corner of the +long-deserted dwelling, and scattering everywhere some healthful, +purifying, enlivening influence. + +He could now see that he stood in a wide and lofty entrance-hall, +decorated with a profusion of carved woodwork; panels, cornices, and +casements, being ornamented with garlands of oaken roses, or quaint +heads of animals, stiff as petrifactions, and almost ebon-black with +time and rubbing. The furniture consisted of a small table, a cumbrous +cabinet, and ponderous, high-backed chairs, of the Elizabethan age, or +perhaps earlier, brought from England, as heir-looms, by the first +emigrant Bergan. There was also a tall, spectral clock, which, to +Bergan's intense astonishment, suddenly began to fill the hall with a +loud, monotonous tick, as if the march of time, long ago arrested in +the deserted mansion, was now duly resumed:--doubtless the rusty wheels +had been jarred into spasmodic motion by the violent closing of the +door. By way of decoration, there were a few dingy pictures, in dark, +carved frames; and in two of the oaken panels hung complete suits of +armor,--helmets, cuirasses, gorgets, greaves, and +gauntlets,--memorials, not only of long-buried Bergans, but of +long-vanished days. + +Hesitating, for a moment, between two half-open doors, Bergan finally +chose to enter the main parlor, a room full of a dusky, old-time +grandeur. A piano stood between the windows, over the keys of which he +ran his fingers, but found that its music had been imprisoned so long +as to have grown hoarse and melancholy. So, doubtless, had that of the +harp, which showed skeleton-like through its torn baize cover, and was +flanked by a pile of music-books, the leaves of which were yellow with +age. Odd, unwieldy chairs, covered with faded silk damask and a rich +coat of dust, kept solemn state in the dim corners; ottomans and +footstools, elaborately embroidered by forgotten fingers with birds, +flowers, and other once cheerful devices, stood under the windows, or +were scattered around the floor. On the walls, in frames of tarnished +magnificence, hung two or three pictures in worsted, the designs of +which, like the hands that had wrought them, were now faded beyond +recognition. Just in proportion as these things had once helped to +brighten the room, they helped to make it more sombre now. Like the +images of vanished joys, they were all the gloomier because once so +glad. Looking upon them, Bergan was painfully impressed with the +latent identity of gayety and grief. Only give them time enough, and +they merge into the same dull neutral tint! + +Bergan next glanced into a second parlor, a dusky ante-room, and a +dining-room, but leaving these places undisturbed in their dim and +dusty sanctity, as not of pressing interest, he made his way to the +library, on the other side of the hall. It was a large and lofty room, +set round with ancient book-cases, above and between which hung rows of +portraits, in frames of oak and gilt. These represented the early +forefathers and later worthies of the Bergan lineage,--some in knightly +armor, with mailed hands clasping a gleaming sword-hilt; some in the +rich array of the Tudor or the Stuart court, with laced and plumed hats +under their arms; some in the red coats and top-boots of English +squires, with a favorite horse or hound looking out from one corner of +the picture; some in the huge horsehair wigs and ermined robes of the +judge's bench; and others in the cocked hats and knee-breeches of the +Revolution, or in the modern black coat and pantaloons, seated in +arm-chairs, with their backs to a crimson curtain. There were also +dames to match, with towers of lace and curls upon their heads, ruffs, +farthingales, and all manner of obsolete finery. + +Most of the faces had the austerity of aspect common to old portraits, +as if time had delighted to bring into clearer view the hard, stern +traits of character which the painter had dared but faintly to +delineate, and had even then done his best to cover up with pleasant +coloring, and a final coat of lustrous varnish. Nowhere was this +effect more striking than in the portrait of Sir Harry Bergan, earliest +emigrant of the name, and father of the American line. The younger son +of a noble English house, he had early fallen under the displeasure of +a stern father, by reason of careless and spendthrift habits; and had +finally been banished, in disgrace, to a small continental town, upon +an allowance barely sufficient to keep body and soul together. Under +this severe discipline,--smarting, too, with a rankling sense of +injustice in the treatment that he had received,--his character +underwent a complete transformation. His carelessness and +extravagance, as well as the generosity and frankness of which they had +been the rank, ill-trained outgrowth, fell from him like worn-out +garments; he became bitter, morose, and dogged. + +At this crisis, the sudden death of his mother placed him in possession +of her own large fortune and family estate. Life once more opened +before him; but no gentle affection called him back to the paternal +neighborhood. On the contrary, he emigrated to Georgia, just then +luminous with the career and the fame of General Oglethorpe; with the +ambitious design of founding a Bergan lineage in the new world, which +should equal, if not surpass, that of the old one. He bought a vast +tract of land, and vigorously commenced the work of bringing it under +cultivation; he distinguished himself both as soldier and citizen in +the Spanish war and the colonial trials, and was knighted for his +services; finally, he imported men and materials, and built Bergan Hall +as nearly as was possible in the style of his early English home, and +called it by the same name. The bricks, the tiles, the elaborate oak +carvings, the door and window-frames, the furniture and decorations, +the copies of ancestral portraits, were all brought from England, and +put in their places by English artisans. + +Scarcely was the work finished ere he died, bequeathing to his +descendants, not only a vast estate, a splendid home, and an +illustrious name, but, by a still stronger law of heirship, certain +marked traits of character hereditary in himself,--indomitable energy, +dogged independence, strong family pride, and an occasional lunacy of +rage, familiarly known as the "Black Bergan temper," to which the race +had been subject from time immemorial. These characteristics were to +be traced, more or less distinctly through all the portraits of his +successors; but in none did they seem to be so perfectly reproduced as +in his present representative. In truth, Major Bergan might be +regarded as the original Sir Harry over again; his harsh features and +stern expression being shown in the old, time-darkened picture with a +degree of prophetical accuracy little short of actual portraiture. + +Other pictured faces there were, however, which time, still faithful to +its work of bringing out the essential truth, had only touched into +softer beauty. Such was the face of Eleanor, wife of Sir Harry; a +woman of fair and noble presence, in the rich prime of her life, with a +wise, strong, beautiful soul, shining out through her deep, soft eyes. +Before this picture Bergan lingered long. Even in babyhood, his mother +had resembled it strongly enough to make it seem most fitting that she +should receive its name; and the likeness had so strengthened with +years, that now, it might easily have passed for her portrait, painted +from life. + +Seeing how perfectly these twain of their ancestors were reflected in +his mother and uncle, not only in features, but also in character, +Bergan was suddenly seized with a nightmare of doubt and questioning. +Was a man's good or evil, then, a mere matter of inheritance, an +inevitable heirloom, handed down to him from a remote ancestry, by a +more effectual law of transmission than has ever been established, in +respect to more tangible property? If so,--if the defects and +weaknesses, the depraved tastes and ungovernable passions, which +characterized the father were inevitably passed on to the son, and the +son's son,--if the moral disease under which this man groaned, as well +as the sweet temper which made that woman a household sunbeam, were to +be surely traced back to their ancestor of a hundred years ago; what +became of individual worth, individual shame, and individual +accountability? + +Bergan shrank from the apparently inevitable conclusion. He felt, with +an unutterable horror, its snaky coils tightening around him, squeezing +the breath out of every noble aim and aspiration. He could only escape +from it by an appeal from his reason to his consciousness. + +"If," he asked himself, "I should now take that grim picture from the +wall, and thrust it into the fire, in revenge for the pain which it has +given me, should I not know, despite all reasoning to the contrary, +that I--I alone, and not that bearded Sir Harry, was responsible for +the foolish act? Certainly, I should; for whatever else he may have +sent down to me, he did not give me either my will or my conscience. +These are my own, and never Bergan of them all had them before me!" +And he drew a long breath of relief. + +His attention was now directed to the portrait of a young girl, at the +end of the second row, nearest the window. It had an odd, illusive +resemblance to some one that he had known,--a singular likeness in +unlikeness, which puzzled while it attracted him. All at once, +capturing the fleeting, familiar expression, as it were, by a swift +side-glance, he recognized it as that portrait of his mother in her +youth, of which Major Bergan had spoken. He stood gazing upon it long +and earnestly, yet with a strange, undefinable feeling of sadness, too. +For this bright, young being, with the smooth brow, the arch, dimpled +face, and the unwakened soul dreaming at the depths of the soft eyes, +was, after all, a stranger to him,--a being that he had never known, +and never could know, any more than if she had been laid years ago +under the sod, and her sweet substance gradually transformed into +violets and daisies. He went back to the picture of Lady Eleanor, and +felt, with a thrill of gladness, that he had found again the mother +that he seemed, for a brief space, to have lost. + +He now turned from the pictures to the book-cases, and found them to +contain a heterogeneous collection of ancient and modern volumes, +carelessly ranged upon the shelves, without reference either to age or +theme. Latin and English classics stood shoulder to shoulder; law and +poetry were harmoniously cheek by jowl; divinity and science amiably +helped each other to stand upright; history, philosophy, morality, and +controversy, met on the same plane, and sunk their differences under +one uniform coat of dust. Geography that read like fiction, geology +that had no interest except to the antiquarian, and infidelity that had +not a peg left to stand upon, were huddled together in one corner, and +(no doubt to their utter amazement) helped, in these latter days, to +point the same moral. + +Growing oppressed, at last, with the sight of so much hopelessly +shelved thought, so many pages bearing the prints of a long succession +of fingers now crumbled into dust, Bergan turned back to the hall, +mounted the staircase, and glanced into two or three of the chambers. +He found in all faded carpets, ancient bureaus, high-post bedsteads, +shadow-haunted hangings, a thick coating of dust, and a heavy, +breathless scent which, it seemed to him, death must needs have left +there, in his oldtime visits. Indeed, he could almost have believed +that the last occupant of each dusky cavern of a bed had stiffened into +clay therein, and been left to choke the air, and coat the furniture, +with his own mouldering substance. No lighter dust, he thought, could +have made the atmosphere so thick, or caused him to draw his breath so +heavily. + +Opening the last door in the gallery, Bergan was startled to find a +room with every appearance of recent occupancy. Not a speck of dust +dimmed the carpet or the furniture; the curtains and the bed-drapery +stirred lightly with the breeze from a half-open window; the soft +pillows seemed waiting for the head that had dreamed upon them last +night; a chair, with a shawl thrown carelessly over the back, stood +where it must needs have been left a moment ago; an open workbox showed +a suggestive confusion of spools of silk and bits of ribbon and +worsted; a vase of flowers adorned the mantel; and a little white glove +lay on the toilet-table, among brushes and scent-bottles, and was +reflected in a small, bright mirror. Bergan hastily drew back, feeling +intuitively that he had intruded upon a maiden's bed-chamber, keeping +still the perfume of her sweet breath and happy thoughts. + +Yet--the bed-linen, how strangely yellow!--the shawl, how dim and +faded!--the flowers, how withered! He advanced again; he began to +understand that the maiden who had dreamed on that pillow, whose hand +had left its dainty mould in that glove, the sweetness of whose virgin +breath still lingered in the room with the scent of the withered +rosebuds, went out from it years ago,--a bride,--to be known +thenceforth as wife and mother,--his mother! His eyes grew moist; one +by one he touched the little possessions left behind with her girlhood, +striving thus to come a little closer to the fair, shy image, that +moved him with such unutterable tenderness, yet seemed so far beyond +his ken. Reverently, at last, he closed the door, as upon a still, +white, smiling corpse, at once ineffably beautiful and ineffably sad. + +But who had cared for this one room so tenderly, while all the rest of +the house had been left to go to ruin? The answer was plain. Old Rue, +whose love for her young mistress was half a worship, had taken a +sorrowful pleasure in keeping the room (with such help as she could +easily command) in the exact state in which it had been left. + +Bergan was in no mood for further exploration. He made his way back to +the entrance-hall, and sat down in one of the antique chairs. He was +not quite ready for the instant transition into the outward sunshine. +His heart was too heavy. The ancestral home was only an ancestral +tomb. Surrounded by memorials of the old state and splendor of Bergan +Hall, he felt all the more keenly its present desolation and decay. +Remembering the noble Bergan lineage, he was humiliated to the dust by +the thought of its present representative. + +And here, first, his uncle's offer rose before him in the dazzling +garments of temptation. Was it, after all, an ignoble ambition to lift +the family name out of the dust, to restore the family home, fill it +again with social life and warmth, and make it the centre of purer, +more refining, and more elevating influences than ever before? Was it +not better than any mere personal ambition? Might it not be just the +place which he was meant to fill, and which, if he declined to take it, +would be left empty? From questions he went on to answers; and his +thoughts shaped out a tempting vision of Bergan Hall restored, +revivified. Light steps and rustling garments went up and down the +broad staircase,--his mother sat smiling in her old room,--voices of +children echoed through the large, sunshiny parlors,--guests came and +went,--he himself sat in the library, crowned with honors as with +years, and-- + +He was recalled to the present and the actual by a low rumble of +thunder. The sunshine had faded from the sky; clouds were rolling up +from the west; he hastened back to the cottage through the first drops +of the rain. + +The evening passed much like its predecessor. When, at last, he went +up to his room, leaving his uncle to the dear companionship of his +bottle and glass, he found it half-flooded with water from a newly +sprung leak in the roof. Hastily declining the Major's hesitating +offer of a share in his own apartment, he begged permission to quarter +himself in the old Hall. + +Major Bergan set down his glass, and looked at him with a mixture of +wonder and admiration. "Certainly, Harry, if you are in earnest about +it," said he. "But I must say that you are a brave fellow to choose to +sleep alone in an old ruin like that,--haunted, too, the negroes say. +But are you sure that you can find a room there any less leaky than +your present one?" + +"Quite sure. I noticed two or three, on the south side, which seemed +to be in excellent condition." + +"Very well; take your choice, and make yourself as comfortable as you +can. Brick is under your orders, of course; and Maumer Rue will send +you out one of the women, with what linen is needed. Good night." + +The Major remained standing at the door, till he saw, first, a +wandering gleam of light through the crevices of the old house, and +then the steady beam of a candle, shining from an upper window. + +"A light in Eleanor's room!--I never expected to see that again!" he +murmured, and went back to his bottle, to drink all the deeper for some +unwontedly sad and remorseful thoughts. + +Meanwhile, Bergan had not once dreamed of appropriating that maiden +sanctuary. He had merely chosen the room next to it; and the door +between being transiently opened for better ventilation, Major Bergan +had seen his light through the designated window. + +It was not an easy task to make his dusty, mouldy room even tolerably +habitable, but it was finally achieved; and, dismissing Brick, Bergan +laid his head on his pillow, with a real satisfaction in being, at +last, domiciled under his ancestral roof. + + + + +VI. + +THE DAY OF TEMPTATION. + +Two days of drizzling rain followed, and did their best to make the +black roof and mouldy walls of Bergan Hall look more cheerless than +ever. But a counteracting influence was busy within. An energetic +young spirit was rapidly organizing a home for itself in one corner; +turning the shadows out of nooks where they had lain so long as almost +to have established a pre-emption right, and making short work with +dust, mould, and dead air. And, in some inexplicable way, the whole +house seemed to catch the pleasant infection, and to be faintly astir +with life. A passer-by of delicate instincts would have seen at once +that the long lease of silence and emptiness had expired. And in +truth, it would have been strange if a dwelling, so old--so long +familiar with human affairs and interests, the very timbers of which +must have been oozy with the exhalations of a long succession of joys +and sorrows--had not shown itself ready to sympathize with every +passing phase of life, and especially to welcome back to its empty old +bosom a fresh, young, beating heart. + +That it did so, Bergan felt intuitively. In return, he did what he +could to vivify with his single personality its whole wide indoor +world. Having received unlimited discretionary powers from his uncle, +in regard to choice of rooms and furniture, as well as the most +unrestrained privilege of exploration, he went from room to room, +ransacking and arranging, here picking up a quaintly carved chair, and +there an absurdly contorted little table, and setting wide open doors +and windows wherever he could find a reasonable excuse for doing so. +He even mounted to the garret, a great twilight-hall, stored with the +lumber of many vanished generations, and dived into nooks of dingiest +obscurity, with the eager zeal of a discoverer; coming forth covered +with dust and cobwebs, and laden with spoils. File upon file of yellow +papers, having a possible interest as family annals, a curiously +gnarled and twisted genealogical tree, a dust-choked flute, several +Spanish songs in manuscript, a discolored sketch-book, and a quaint old +secretary, from the innumerable pigeon-holes of which sprang a whole +colony of alarmed mice,--these were among the treasures that he +unearthed, and transferred to his own room for examination or use. +Every hour, the home-feeling grew upon him. Despite the gray and +dripping sky, and the disconsolate, water-soaked earth, these days had +their own peculiar illumination and charm. Oldness and newness +combined to produce one rich--albeit, a little heavy--atmosphere of +enjoyment. + +Occasionally, his uncle came to watch his progress, and favor him with +half-serious, half-jocular commentary. He was both interested and +amused to observe how readily the new inmate fitted himself into his +surroundings, and what talent he displayed in organizing various crude +and chaotic elements into one harmonious whole. By turns he adapted, +invented, or altered, until his room presented an aspect of +pleasantness, as well as an array of conveniences, in striking contrast +with the rude accommodations of the cottage, and even with the oldtime +appliances that had served former occupants. His uncle wondered and +admired even while he shook his head over the un-Bergan-like trait, and +questioned if, after all, it were not a sign of degeneracy. This doubt +wellnigh culminated in conviction when, on the afternoon of the second +day, in a lull of the storm, he discovered his nephew calmly seated +astride the high ridge-pole, with a bundle of shingles and a pocketful +of nails, stopping the leaks with which the long rain and his visits to +the garret had made him acquainted; and accompanying his work with a +very sweet and deftly executed whistle. + +"That settles the question, Harry," he shouted to the amateur +carpenter, a smile and a frown struggling for supremacy on his upturned +face. "There never was a Bergan, from first to last, who could have +done that!" + +"Do not speak so disrespectfully of our common ancestors, uncle! As if +they had not the use of their hands!" + +"Humph! It's plain that you have the use of yours, and of your head, +too! How in the world did you reach that dizzy altitude?" + +Bergan laughed. "'Where there's a will there's a way.' What should +you say to the chimney?" + +"Nonsense! How _did_ you get up there?" + +"I really cannot answer that question as it stands. There is a mistake +in the terms." + +"You rascal! what do you mean?'" + +"I did not 'get up;' I came down." And Bergan glanced at a great +oak-bough, swinging full ten feet above his head. + +The Major uttered a cry of admiration. "You are a Bergan, and no +mistake!" he cried, emphasizing the statement with an oath. "You've +got the real, old, brave Bergan stuff in you, Harry, and I'm proud of +you, in spite of your tinkering. But that bough is now out of your +reach; you cannot come down by that route." + +"A new one will be more interesting. And the chimney has a most +capacious throat; the builders must have contemplated the passage of +other things than smoke." + +"Harry! you'll break your neck! Don't you dare to come down till I +send you a ladder! At the same time, I'll order the carpenter to +finish up that job, if it must be done." + +"He will be too late, uncle; I am just laying the last shingle." + +"Speak lower, you scamp! lest the old portraits under your feet should +hear you and blush." + +"Their thanks would be much more to the point--especially Sir Harry's," +coolly replied Bergan. "Two hours ago, the water from this very leak +was pouring in a stream down his long ancestral nose; you would have +said the picture had an influenza." + +The Major emitted a sound between a laugh and a growl, and vanished. + +Poor Brick was even more scandalized by his young master's plebeian +readiness with his hands. The very ease with which Bergan performed +his self-imposed, and, for the most part, unaccustomed tasks, misled +the dusky spectator. To be sure, Brick was a little comforted to +observe that those agile hands knew the trick of the ivory piano-keys +full well, and could evolve soulful melody from the flute, that they +were not ignorant of the mysteries of sketching, and betrayed a +scholarly familiarity with books and papers, pen and ink; yet he +doubted if even these gracious accomplishments could wash from them the +stain of that dreadful manual labor in which they were erewhile +engaged,--the only redeeming feature of which was that it was not done +for bread. + +Nevertheless, Brick loved his young master with all his heart. He had +succumbed at once to the rare charm of Bergan's manner,--so grave and +thoughtful for his years, yet so richly illuminated, at times, with +soft gleams of humor, and always so genuinely kind. He followed him +like his shadow; he could scarcely be happy out of his presence; and +notwithstanding his own inward struggles with doubt and mortification, +he continually held him up to the admiration of the quarter in the +strongest language of encomium that he could command, as a "bery +high-tone gemman, and jes' de bes' massa dat ebber stepped foot on de +old place." + +The appearance of this "high-toned gentleman" on the roof, in the +humble _rôle_ of carpenter, was, therefore, a rude shock to Brick's +finer sensibilities. He watched him from the ground below, groaning +simultaneously over probable fractures to his limbs, and certain damage +to his reputation. It gave him some consolation to find that the Major +was inclined to treat the matter in a jocular rather than a serious +light; and he was profoundly impressed with his hearty admiration of +the gymnastic feat with which the questionable performance had opened. +That, at least, his own dusky friends of the quarter could understand +and approve. + +Brick was still further reassured by Maumer Rue, to whom he stood in +the relation of grandson. On being consulted, she had replied, +loftily,-- + +"A Bergan can do what he pleases, child. He is not obliged to walk by +rule and measure, like people whose pedigree stops with their +grandfathers. If a king chooses to make a box, a barrel, or a piece of +furniture, for his own use, it is not a meanness, but an eccentricity." +And the long word not only floored Brick's last remaining doubt, but +furnished him with the means of silencing other critics. In view of +carpentry and tinkering, dignified with the sonorous title of +"exkingtricities," nothing was left to the quarter but to roll its eyes +and shut its mouth in mute amazement. + +On the morning of the third day, the sky pushed aside its gray veil of +clouds, and smiled once more upon the wet and melancholy earth. +Thereupon the latter quickly dried up some of its tears, and made what +shift for joy it could with the remainder. Every pool reflected a bit +of the sky's wide smile, or the pleasant stir of overhanging foliage. +The grand old evergreen oaks around Bergan Hall shook from their +far-reaching boughs broken sunlight and dancing shadows, fresh breeze +and shining raindrops, in nearly equal measure. The whisper of the +pine-woods became a song rather than a sigh;--or, if it were a sigh, it +was of that pleasant kind which struggles up unconsciously from a heart +a little overfull of pleasure. Even the long streamers of gray moss +decked themselves with prismatic jewels, and forgot to be mournful. + +"If you do not mind a little mud," said the Major, at the dinner-table, +"we will order our horses, and ride over to Berganton this afternoon. +You must be tired of being cooped up in the house, by this time, in +spite of your ready knack at finding occupation and amusement where +most people would gape their heads off with ennui. Besides, it is high +time that you should see something of the neighborhood, outside our own +plantation,--as well as the village which your ancestors founded. To +be sure, there is precious little to see,--Berganton is not what it was +once,--but I shall be glad to show you that little, and also, to +introduce you to some of my old acquaintances." + +As the two gentlemen were riding through the mutilated avenue, Bergan +could not help asking if the trees which had formerly arched and shaded +it had been felled on account of decay. + +"No," replied the Major, a little gruffly, as if he suspected a latent +rebuke in the question; "but they spoiled twenty or thirty acres of the +best corn-land on the plantation, and were very valuable for timber, +besides. And, about that time, I was bent on lifting a certain old +mortgage off from the place, and getting generally forehanded with the +world, at any sacrifice, short of selling land. However," he +continued, his face clearing again, "if you will stay here, Harry, you +shall replant the avenue, just as soon as you like, if that is your +pleasure. The trees will not grow large enough to do much damage, in +my time;--besides, I can afford the land now,--and almost anything else +that you may happen to fancy. I have not saved and slaved all these +years for nothing;--you may be certain of that. And, as I've said +before, I don't believe in half-way work. If you stay here, it will be +as my adopted son; and I mean to show myself an indulgent father." + +A kindlier smile than was often seen on the Major's rugged features, +lit up his face as he concluded. Then, suddenly turning to Bergan, and +holding out his hand, he asked, in the husky tone of emotion, and with +a look of entreaty,-- + +"Shall we shake hands upon it?" + +Bergan was taken by surprise. In grateful recognition of his uncle's +manifest kindness of intention, as well as of his unwonted softness of +manner, he impulsively clasped the outstretched hand. At once he +became aware that, in so doing, he had appeared to yield an unqualified +assent to his uncle's wishes. Hurriedly casting about for inoffensive +phraseology wherein to disavow any such intent, it was singularly hard +to find. To increase the difficulty, Major Bergan was pouring forth +his gratification that the matter was finally settled, in terms of +unusual warmth and animation. It was evident, not only that the plan +lay nearer to his heart than had hitherto appeared, but that he himself +had taken stronger hold of his uncle's affections than he had imagined. + +In fact, Bergan had come to the Major just at the auspicious moment +when, having measurably accomplished the object which had absorbed all +his thoughts and energies for many years, he was looking around him for +something to fill its place in his life, and beginning vaguely to +discern that his heart was empty, and his future aimless. The old +family home was not the only thing that he had left to go drearily to +ruin, while pursuing his own selfish ends in his own unscrupulous way. + +Beholding, at this moment, a frank, brave, handsome youth by his side, +full of talent and of promise, and singularly attractive in manner,--in +whose veins, too, ran some of the same blood that filled his own, and +whose features were moulded after the best ancestral type,--his dormant +affections quickly awakened to fasten themselves pertinaciously around +the timely object. His thoughts began industriously to shape out for +himself a new future, which should embrace, as a setting its +appropriate jewel, a brilliant and prosperous career for this young +hope of his house. The unsuspected strength of these feelings now made +itself clearly visible, both in the hearty grasp which he gave his +nephew's hand, and in a sudden affectionateness of eyes, mouth, voice, +gesture, and every indescribable manifestation, that Bergan had never +seen in him before. Naturally enough, the young man shrank from the +utterance of words certain to drive back on itself this outgush of the +inestimable tenderness of a stern nature, to bring back the old +sharpness and severity to eyes that now lay so soft and deep under +their shaggy brows. + +Moreover, he felt that his own resolution was wavering. Bergan Hall +had grown strangely dear to him during his solitary occupation of its +silent, but suggestive precincts. He might have been proof against +every temptation that it could have offered in its grandeur and its +prosperity; but in its loneliness and decay there was a pathetic appeal +to much that was best and noblest in his nature. To this influence, a +stronger one, even, was now added. Seeing the strength of his uncle's +new-born affection, and its softening effect upon his face and manner, +Bergan began to question within himself whether a still better and +nobler work than the restoration of the ancestral home, might not here +call for his hand--even the restoration of a human life. Those woful +habits of intoxication and profanity, far worse than the dry-rot that +gnawed at the timbers of the old Hall; that roughness and sordidness +which had gathered over the once promising character, far sadder to +behold than the mould and the dust that dimmed the ancestral +grandeur;--were there not moral instruments available for the cure of +the one, as there were artisan's tools able to remove all traces of the +other. + +To young minds there is always a strong fascination in the prospect of +exerting a good influence upon others. Older heads--seeing how little +is often effected by the best and most persistent endeavors, and sadly +cognizant of the fact that influences are received as well as exerted +(a long deterioration in one's self being sometimes the price of a +little, brief improvement in another)--are not so ready to take upon +themselves the responsibility of acting upon any human soul, nor so +sanguine of success. But Bergan had none of this late wisdom,--if +wisdom it be. Through his quiet character there ran the golden vein of +a noble enthusiasm. He believed that it was his part and duty to make +the world better for having lived therein. Still susceptible to +influences himself, he had no conception of the iron bands, the +indestructible tendencies, of evil habits indulged for years. He stood +ready, at any time, and anywhere, to throw himself into the long +conflict between Right and Wrong, and doubted not that the issue of the +fray would turn upon his single sword. + +Half-buried in thought, half-listening to his uncle's talk, he rode +mechanically onward. On one side of his path, flowed the smooth, +shining waters of the creek; on the other ran the Bergan estate, with +its odd aspect of mingled thrift and neglect. He had often wondered at +the singular blending, in his uncle's character, of the sturdy English +energy inherited from that indefatigable Briton, Sir Harry, with the +indifference and impromptitude induced by the climate. It was +especially curious to note how these diverse qualities displayed +themselves in different directions. With human beings, his laborers +and dependents, and even with his animals, he was prompt, energetic, +and exacting, accepting no excuses, and showing no indulgence; with +inanimate things, he was often careless, negligent, and unobservant. +On this portion of the estate, which seemed but little cultivated, +fences were down or dilapidated, gates swung unwillingly on their +hinges, and outbuildings seemed ready to fall with their own weight. + +Soon, too, these things were made more noticeable by contrast, as a +long line of neatly-kept grounds and well ordered fences came into +view. Shortly after, a pleasant cottage, amply provided with broad, +cool, vine-draped piazzas, appeared on the right; standing a little +apart from the road, in the midst of a group of live-oak trees scarcely +less grand and venerable than those which flung their heavy shadow over +Bergan Hall. At sight of it, the Major's face grew dark again; +especially as Bergan, pleased with its neat and cheerful aspect, turned +to give it a second look. + +"Yes," he burst forth bitterly, with a fearful oath, "that is where my +brother, the hardware merchant, lives! I tell you what, Harry, the +very first thing that you are to do, as soon as you get a chance (if I +don't live to do it myself), is to buy out his heirs, and raze that +impertinent shanty to the ground. Just recollect that, will you? if I +should happen to forget to put it into my will." + +Bergan forebore to reply. He was learning that it was his wisest +course--at least, so he thought--to take no notice of his uncle's +bitter wrath and prejudice, since he could not sympathize with them. +If his growing wish to possess Bergan Hall lay at the bottom of this +silence, he was as yet unconscious of it. + +His uncle,--accepting his forbearance as a sign of acquiescence to his +wishes,--now, for the first time, really exerted himself for his +entertainment. He talked with vivacity, humor, intelligence, and much +of the tone and manner of his earlier days. His better self revived, +for a time; and Bergan recognized something of the refined, cultured, +accomplished gentleman, of his mother's descriptions, whose lightsome +flow of spirits, gay sparkle of wit, and frank, cordial address, had +made him the life and soul of the circle wherein he moved. It was +mournful to see him under this pleasant transformation, and think of +him in his usual aspect. Bergan could not but wonder how he had ever +fallen to that lower level. He had not seen the easy descent from +gayety to dissipation of his younger days; nor could he understand how +naturally, with years, drinking in frivolous companionship had been +exchanged for drinking alone, lavishness for parsimony, the gay, +aimless life of a man of the world for the steady, energetic pursuit of +one selfish, isolated, exclusive object. + +They now reached the village. As they rode through its principal +street, which was wide and handsomely shaded, the Major pointed to one +and another of the houses along its sides, and quietly named men and +women that had occupied them in years agone; either forgetting, or +unaware, that most of them were now tenanting that one earthly house, +of whose narrow accommodations every mortal must needs have some +experience,--namely, the grave. + +Bergan, meanwhile, felt himself quite at home among names so often +heard from his mother's lips; and momentarily expected that his uncle +would stop at some one of these friendly dwellings, for the renewal of +his own acquaintance, and the introduction of his nephew. But to his +extreme surprise, the Major rode straight through the village, and +dismounted, before a tavern, at its extreme end. + + + + +VII. + +A BITTER DRAUGHT. + +It needed but a glance to show Bergan that the tavern was of the lower +sort. It was dingy and dilapidated without, and from its open windows +were wafted sounds of hoarse voices, shouts of laughter, the jingling +of glasses, and a strong odor of tobacco, betokening a corresponding +amount of moral dinginess and dilapidation within. Bergan turned to +his uncle with a disgust that he hardly attempted to conceal,--the +natural disgust of a healthy body and mind for things coarse, foul, +noisy, and vulgar,--and inquired;-- + +"Do you intend to stop here long?" + +"Quite long enough for you to get off and stretch yourself," replied +the Major, carelessly. "This is an old halting-place of mine, and +looks as natural as possible, though it is a year or more since I have +set eyes on it. No doubt I shall find some old acquaintances here. +Come! don't sit there gaping at the outside, like a man trying to guess +at the purport of a letter from the looks of the envelope, when the +inside would tell him what he wants to know, in a jiffy; get off your +horse, and come in." + +Bergan obeyed, but with a manifest reluctance that brought a cloud to +the Major's brow. Muttering something between his teeth, which had the +tone and bitterness of a curse, but was unintelligible, the latter led +the way to the bar-room. + +Several varieties of the genus loafer, both of the genteel and vulgar +species, were leaning over the counter, or seated in tilted-up chairs, +puffing out tobacco smoke, and discussing matters of local interest. +The appearance of the Major was greeted with enthusiasm,--all the more, +that his first words, after a "How d'y" of very general application, +were an order to the landlord to make a stiff bowl of punch, on a scale +commensurate with the numbers of the party. + +"This is my nephew, gentlemen," he went on, addressing the delighted +audience,--"Harry Bergan Arling, as he now calls himself, or Harry +Bergan, of Bergan Hall, as he is to be, in good time,--a real chip of +the old family block, as you can see at a glance. I expect that you +will all do me the honor of drinking his health in a bowl of the best +punch that Gregg can concoct. Hurry up, Gregg! you know how I like +it,--not too strongly flavored with our two days' drizzle;--was there +ever a nastier spell of weather?" + +"Never knew the sky so leaky in all my life," responded a languid +loafer of the genteeler sort, too lazy to furnish his sentences with +nominatives. "Begun to think, with Father Miller, 'twas getting worn +out." + +"It will last our time, I reckon," returned the Major. "And 'after us +the deluge,' of course. I would not mind taking a swim in it myself, +if it were of punch such as Gregg, there, is mixing. It looks like the +real thing! Now, gentlemen, step forward and take your glasses. +Here's to the health of my nephew,--Harry Bergan,--and may he unite in +his single person all the virtues of all the Harrys of the line, from +Sir Harry down;--yes, and all the vices, too, they are good Bergan +stock, every one of them!" + +A toast so perfectly in harmony with the corrupt atmosphere of the +bar-room could but be received and drunk with acclamation. Bergan, +perforce, lifted his glass to his lips, but the fiery draught, prepared +with a single eye to the requirements of his uncle's sophisticated +palate, was so little suited to his own purer taste, that he set it +down with its contents very little diminished. Observing this, Major +Bergan's face grew dark. + +"That will never do, Harry," he growled, aside. "Don't disgrace me +here, whatever you may do at home! I insist upon your emptying your +glass like a man, and doing your part towards making things pleasant. +Now, then, gentlemen," he continued, aloud, "be pleased to make ready +for toast the second. We will drink success to my nephew's future +proprietorship of Bergan Hall;--may it come late, and last long!" + +The cords of conventionalism--even the conventionalism of a +bar-room--are strong; and Bergan was somewhat young for complete +independence of character. Nevertheless, he was quite capable of +turning his back on the whole company of tipplers, both genteel and +vulgar, indifferent alike to their wonder, censure, or scorn, had it +not been for his uncle; whose wishes, in his double character of host +and relative, seemed entitled to some degree of respect. Yet both +instinct and principle revolted from the certain intoxication of the +distasteful glass in his hand. By a quick and dexterous motion, he +sent half its contents flying out of the window near which he stood, +and supplied their place with water from a convenient pitcher. +Flattering himself that he had done this unobserved, he tried to +swallow his disgust at the place and the companionship in which he +found himself with the diluted draught. + +"That's pretty fair stuff," said the Major, setting down his empty +glass; "it has just about the right snap in it. Is there enough for +another round, Gregg?" + +"Plenty, sir, and another one on the end of that. I knew you didn't +like to see the bottom of the bowl, in a hurry, Major." + +"You are another Solon, Gregg. Your wisdom is only to be equalled by +your disinterestedness. Come, gentlemen, fill your glasses again! +Harry, is your glass filled?" + +As he spoke, the Major drew near, and fixed a keen eye on Bergan's +glass, in a way which led the latter to suspect that his late manoeuvre +had not been so successful as he had imagined. At any rate, it would +not be easy to repeat it. Well, what matter? He had submitted to his +uncle's tyranny long enough; he might as well free himself first as +last. He would try to do so in the way least likely to give offence. + +"Uncle," he pleaded, with a graceful frankness and courtesy that could +scarcely have failed to reach the Major's better self, if it had been +less under the vitiating influence of strong drink,--"uncle, I really +must beg your kind indulgence. I am not accustomed to potations so +many nor so strong; and whatever I may be able to do, in time, under +your skilful guidance, I must now use a little discretion. Pray excuse +me from taking any more at present." + +"I'll be hanged if I do!" said the Major, bluntly. "If you don't know +how to drink like a gentleman and a Bergan, it is high time you should +learn. Fill up his glass, Gregg; he _shall_ drink!" + +Scarcely were the insulting words spoken ere Bergan felt, with a thrill +of dismay, a hot tingling sensation in all his veins, as if the blood +in them had suddenly been turned to fire. Too well he knew what it +meant. The "black Bergan temper," which had been the one, great sorrow +and struggle of his life, thus far, and which he had believed to be +completely tamed, was stirring within him in a way to show that, if it +were not instantly controlled, it would carry him, in its headlong +fury, he knew not whither. Every other feeling, every other thought, +were, for the moment, swallowed up in the instinct of +self-preservation. He would submit to his uncle's imperious dictation, +not that he either prized his love or feared his anger, but because +that treacherous demon within must at once feel a firm foot upon its +neck, and be shown that it could expect no indulgence, and no quarter. + +At this moment, there was a slight bustle at the door, occasioned by an +arrival; under cover of which he again turned to the friendly water +pitcher, to make sure that, while fleeing from one fatal influence he +was not running blindly into the leashes of another. + +"_Dimidium plus toto_, I see," observed a well-remembered voice at his +elbow, in a tone of good-natured sarcasm. "But you make a slight +mistake in your practical translation; it is a 'half,' not a quarter +(or I might say, an eighth) which is 'better than the whole.' And +anyway, I doubt if old Hesiod meant his maxim to apply to punch." + +Glad of anything that promised to create a diversion, Bergan turned and +gave the hand of Richard Causton a much more cordial grasp than he +would have been likely to do, under other circumstances. The old man, +better accustomed to the cold shoulder from all reputable acquaintance, +returned it with tears in his blear eyes, and for once, had no proverb +at command wherein to do justice to his feelings. Before he could find +one, Major Bergan came up, with a sly gleam of humor or of mischief, on +his face. "What! you know Harry!" he exclaimed. "Oh! yes, I +remember,--you helped him on his way to Bergan Hall. So much the +better. You will be glad to know that it was my nephew to whom you +showed that courtesy, and to drink to your better acquaintance. All +ready?" + +Bergan turned round for his glass, which he had left standing on the +window-sill, and, the sooner to be done with the distasteful business, +swallowed at a gulp what, it seemed to him, the next moment, must have +been liquid fire. A loud laugh from his uncle told him to whom he was +indebted for the substitution of raw spirit for weak punch. The +passion which he had so promptly smothered, doubly inflamed by the +consciousness of being betrayed and the instantaneous action of the +potent draught, blazed up with sudden, ungovernable fury. Feeling that +he was losing control of temper and reason together, he rushed toward +the door. At a sign from the Major, two or three of the bystanders +threw themselves in his way. They were instantly sent reeling right +and left by two powerful blows. Dick Causton, catching hold of him +with the friendly design of preventing him from doing more mischief and +provoking more enmity, was shaken off with a violence that threw him in +a disordered heap on the floor; over which Bergan strode wrathfully +towards his uncle, who had planted himself in the doorway. The +spectators held their breath to witness the expected encounter between +uncle and nephew,--Bergan against Bergan, the blood of both up, the +hereditary frenzy blazing in each pair of dark eyes. + +But Bergan was not quite so mad as that. Seeing who it was that +impeded his way, he turned and darted through a window close at hand, +jumped over the piazza railing, sprang upon his horse, and was off +before the bystanders had well recovered their breath, or Dick had +picked himself up, with the caustic observation,-- + +"_Perit quod facis ingrato_,--'Save a thief from hanging, and he will +cut your throat.'" + +Poor Vic!--never in all her life had she been urged to such mad and +merciless speed as on that ill-starred day. Protesting, at first, by +various plunges and rearings, she finally fell in with her master's +wild humor, and sped through the village at a pace that sent the +foot-passengers to the fences in terror, and crowded the doors and +windows with wondering gazers. Whether he were fleeing from +destruction, or riding straight to it, was no affair of hers; in either +case, she would do her best to meet his wishes. The village was +quickly left behind; house after house, and field after field, slid by +in a swift panorama; already they were turning the corner, toward the +Hall, when Bergan's scattered senses were suddenly recalled by a stern +"Halloo! what are you about?" mingled with a faint cry of alarm. To +his horror, he saw himself to be on the point of riding down a young +lady equestrian, who was on her way to the village, accompanied by her +father. There was not an instant to lose, not a moment for reflection; +the heads of the two horses were almost in contact. Putting his whole +strength into one sudden, ill-considered jerk, Vic was thrown back on +her haunches, and he and she rolled over in the mud together. + +Fortunately, neither was much hurt, and both sprang to their feet +considerably sobered by the shock. Bergan was deeply humiliated, also; +he would gladly have compounded with his mortification for almost any +amount of physical pain. No bodily injury could have made him writhe +with so sharp a pang, as the conviction that he had flawed his claim to +the title of gentleman. To have nearly ridden over a lady, in a blind +frenzy of rage and semi-intoxication, was a disgrace that he could +never forget. He would gladly have buried himself in the mud with +which he was already tolerably well coated. Since he could not do +that, he took off his hat to the horseman,--he dared neither address +nor look at the lady,--and said, in a tone that trembled with shame and +regret,-- + +"I beg your pardon, sir." + +"You would have done better to look where you were going," replied the +gentleman, with the unreasoning anger that often follows upon the +reaction from fear and anxiety. "No thanks to you that my daughter is +not maimed or killed!" + +"I think you mistake, father," quickly interposed the young lady, in a +low, sweet voice, tremulous from the recent shock to her nerves;--"did +you not see how promptly the gentleman sacrificed himself to save me, +as soon as he saw the danger? I hope you are not hurt, sir," she +added, courteously, turning to Bergan. + +"Thank you; not half so much as I deserve to be," replied he, only the +more remorseful on account of the delicate consideration that she +showed for him, while her cheek was still blanched, and her lips +trembling, at her own narrow escape from danger caused by his rashness. +And, feeling wholly unworthy to say another word to anything so pure +and sweet, so utterly incompatible with the vile place and scene which +he had just quitted, he stood aside, with uncovered head, to let her +pass. + +Apparently, she would have lingered long enough to make sure that he +was really uninjured; but her father, who had been eyeing him keenly, +hurried her away. "Do you not see," he inquired, sharply, as they rode +on, "that the fellow is drunk?" + +"Impossible, father! He had such a fine, noble countenance!" + +"It will not be noble long," replied the father. "Neither will it be +the first noble countenance that has been spoiled by drunkenness," he +added, with a sigh. + +Left alone, Bergan remounted Vic, though not without difficulty. The +bewildering effect of his potent draught, which had momentarily been +overcome by the excitement of his late adventure, now made itself felt +again. As he rode along, his head began to swim; a deadly nausea +seized him; his limbs seemed paralyzed. Arrived within the gates of +his uncle's domain, he suffered himself to slide slowly from the saddle +to the ground; and almost immediately, consciousness forsook him. + + + + +VIII. + +AS A DREAM WHEN ONE AWAKETH. + +When, in due course of time, Bergan came partially to himself, he found +that he was lying on his own bed, with the twilight shadows gathering +duskily in its hangings. But his mind was too dull and confused to +trouble itself with the question how he came there, notwithstanding +that his ears seemed still to retain the sound of low voices, and his +limbs the pressure of careful hands. Scarcely had he unclosed his +heavy eyes, ere he was glad to shut them again, and to sink anew into +slumber. + +But this time, it was not, as before, a profound stupor, a deaf, blind, +torpid, state of nothingness. Though it lasted some hours, he never +quite lost an oppressive sense of overhanging trouble, imperfectly as +its nature was apprehended. Moreover, he was harassed by dreams of +that most trying character, wherein varying images revolve around one +fixed idea; combining the misery of continual change with that of +ceaseless iteration into one intolerable horror. + +Breaking, at length, from the teasing spell of these phantasms, he saw +that it was past midnight. Through the opposite window, he beheld a +pale, waning moon, and, by its light, a gray, dimly-outlined +landscape,--a faint and lifeless sketch, as it were, of a once bright, +breathing world. While he looked, over it came the black shadow of a +wind-driven cloud, blurring the lines, here and there, into still +grayer indistinctness, sweeping across the lawn, mounting the steps of +Bergan Hall, and laying, at last, its thin, light hand over his own +brow and eyes. + +With it, as if by right of near kinship, a deep gloom fell upon his +heart. Till now, it had not occurred to him why his head ached so +heavily, nor what weary weight it was that burdened his mind. Yet he +did not--as too many would have done, after a brief flush of shame, and +a momentary feeling of regret--seek to throw off this burden by telling +himself that his late aberration was, after all, a matter of small +moment, since it was only what hundreds like him had done before, were +now doing, and would continue to do till the end of time. Not of any +such weak stuff, incapable of looking his own acts squarely in the +face, and judging them according to their merits, was Bergan made. On +the contrary, he felt as much humiliated as if he had been the first, +last, only intoxicated young man in the universe. + +And this, be it understood, was not so much because he had violated the +higher law, as because he had broken his own law unto himself. With +the Bergan temper, he had also inherited a fair share of the Bergan +pride, and the Bergan strength of will. But, softened and guided by +home influences at once wise and genial, the one had hitherto shown +itself mainly in a lofty, almost an ideal, purity of character, and the +other had expended its force chiefly upon himself. The two, therefore, +had served him little less effectually, in keeping him free from +current vices, than higher motives might have done. He had taken a +stern, proud pleasure in knowing that he wore no yoke but such as it +pleased him deliberately to assume. He would have scorned to say, what +he often heard from the lips of his fellows,--"I _cannot_ quit +drinking, I cannot live without smoking, I _cannot_ resist the +fascinations of gambling," et cætera;--he would have felt it a woful +slur upon his manhood to avow himself so abject a slave to his animal +nature. So strong was this pride of character, that no sooner did he +feel any habit, any appetite, any pleasure, however innocent in itself, +taking firm hold of him, than he was immediately impelled to give it +up, to refuse it indulgence,--for a time, at least,--just to satisfy +one part of himself that its control over the other and baser part was +still perfect. At whatever price, he was determined to be his own +master. + +It may be imagined, then, with what sharp sting of pride, what +miserable sense of weakness and failure, he writhed, as Memory now +flung open the doors of her silent gallery, and showed him sombre +picture after picture, representing his own figure in divers +humiliating positions. It shrank from the utterance of its strong +convictions of right; it gave way to the assaults of a poor ambition; +it drifted with circumstance; it was driven to and fro like a +shuttlecock between outward temptation and inward passion; it was +successively a fighting rowdy, a blind lunatic, an insensate drunkard. + +Not that these representations were all true in tone, unexaggerated in +color, and correct in sentiment. Often, there is nothing more +difficult than to fix upon the exact point where the plain boundary +line between right and wrong was crossed; and neither pride nor remorse +is apt to do it correctly. Some steps may have been taken upon a kind +of debatable ground; had the march been arrested at any one of these, +its tendency would have been different. In reviewing his conduct, +Bergan failed to do justice either to his uncle's undeniable claims to +his respectful consideration, up to the point where he had been +required to follow him into a low bar-room, or to the real beauty and +worth of some of his own feelings and motives. Looking back, he +saw--or seemed to see--only a pitiable career of irresolution and moral +cowardice, ending in disgrace. Covering his face with his hands, as if +to shut out the unwelcome sight, he groaned aloud. + +To his surprise, the groan was distinctly prolonged and repeated. Was +it the responsive wail of the ancestral spirits, mourning over their +degenerate scion, or only the sympathizing echo of the ancestral walls? +Springing to his feet, he beheld a tall, erect figure standing on the +hearth, showing strangely weird and unearthly by the flickering blaze +of a few dying embers. Not till it turned and came toward him did he +recognize the dusky features and age-whitened hair of Maumer Rue. + +"I hope that it is not on my account that you are up at this time of +night," said he, gravely. + +"You forget that night and day are both alike to me," she quietly +answered. "Are you better?" + +"Much better, thank you." And he added after a moment,--"How came I +here?" + +"Brick found you in the avenue. By my direction, you were brought in. +At first, it was thought that you had been thrown from your horse, +but--" + +Rue paused. + +"I understand," said Bergan, bitterly. "I was drunk." + +Rue did not immediately answer. It was only after some moments that +she said, earnestly;-- + +"Master Bergan, I am an old woman. I have seen four generations of +your house,--I have nursed two,--and I have spent my life in its +service. If it had been my own, I could not have loved it better, nor +felt its welfare nearer my heart. If these things give me any right to +say a word of warning to you, let me say it now!" + +"Say whatever seems good to you," replied Bergan, gloomily, as he flung +himself into a chair. "I doubt if you can say anything so hard to bear +as what I have already said to myself." + +"Is that so?" asked Rue, in a tone of relief--"is that really so? Then +I need not say anything. It is a higher voice than mine that speaks +within you; and my poor words would only weaken its effect. Only +listen to it, Master Bergan, pray listen to it!" she went on, with +tears streaming from her blind eyes. "If you stifle it now, it may +never speak so clearly again!" + +"Make yourself easy, maumer," answered Bergan, much affected, yet doing +his best to speak cheerfully,--"I have not the least intention of +stifling it. Moreover, I assure you that I am in no danger of +repeating last night's miserable experience; drunkenness is not my +besetting sin. I only wish I were as certain that I should never again +give way to my temper." + +"It has run in the blood a great while," remarked Rue, not without a +certain respect for its length of pedigree; "it will be hard to get it +out." + +"It _shall_ be gotten out, though," responded Bergan, knitting his +brows and setting his teeth with true hereditary doggedness. + +"Very likely it may," replied Rue, quietly, "if you take _that_ tone. +No doubt the Lord meant the Bergan will to conquer the Bergan +temper--with His help. But I will not trouble you any longer, +sir;--thank you for setting my mind at rest. And don't be offended if +I recommend you not to come in your uncle's way this morning; give him +a little time to get into a better mood. I will send your breakfast +out to you." + +Bergan's brow darkened. "I do not intend to come in his way," he +answered a little shortly, "neither this morning, nor at any other +time. My visit here is at an end. I leave this house directly." + +"Oh, Master Bergan, I beg you will not do that!" exclaimed Rue. "Your +uncle really loves you in his heart; he will soon forget all about his +anger." + +"It is not because I dread his anger that I go," replied Bergan, +gravely; "it is because he has lowered me in my own eyes, and disgraced +me in the eyes of others, in a way that _I_ cannot forget. At least, +not until I have proved to myself that I am neither a moral coward nor +a miserable parasite, and to the world that drinking and fighting are +not the essential conditions of my existence. I cannot well do either +without leaving Bergan Hall. And I certainly shall not put myself in +my uncle's way again, until he sees fit to apologize for what he did +yesterday." + +"Is the world turned upside down, then," asked Rue, with a kind of slow +wonder, "that an old uncle must apologize to a young nephew?" + +Bergan colored, and the unwonted bitterness and irritation of his +manner gave way before the force of the implied rebuke. + +"Thank you," said he, almost in his natural tone, "I see that I am--or, +at least, that I was,--a little beside myself. Still, I must leave +Bergan Hall. I cannot think it right or expedient to remain here +longer. But when I have put myself in the way of living independently, +and cleared up my reputation, I will do what I can, without loss of +self-respect, to establish friendly relations with my uncle. Indeed, I +do not mean to be foolishly resentful, nor unbecomingly exacting." + +"May I ask what you are going to do?" inquired Rue, after a few moments +of thought. + +"Certainly. I am going to carry out my original plan, and my mother's +express wish, by opening a law-office in Berganton, and doing my best +to win fame and fortune in the place which my ancestors founded; and in +which," he added, with a smile, "their shades may reasonably be +expected to watch my career with especial interest, and also to do me a +good turn, whenever they have it in their power." + +"Well," said Rue, after a long pause, "perhaps you are right. I think +I begin to see that it may be quite as well for you to go away, for a +time. You shall not lose anything by it; I will take care of that. I +have more influence with your uncle than you would think. And I +promise you,--remember, I promise you," she repeated, with marked +emphasis,--"whatever comes, you shall have Bergan Hall." + +The young man shook his head. "I think not," said he. "Indeed, I have +ceased to wish for it; I do not see any place for it in the life which +I now contemplate. It was but a pleasant day-dream, at best; and it is +over." + +"It may be over for you," rejoined Rue, quietly, "but it is not over +for me. And my dreams are apt to come true. I may not live to see +it,--indeed, it is borne in upon me that I shall not,--but the Hall +will surely be yours, one day." + +Bergan again shook his head. Without making any pretensions to the +prophetic gift, he thought he could foretell, better than old Rue, the +effect of the course which he had marked out for himself, upon his +uncle. But the blind woman could not see the gesture; and he forebore +to put his doubt into words,--unless its subtle prompting was to be +detected in his next apparently irrelevant sentence:-- + +"I shall think it one of my first duties to go and see my uncle +Godfrey." + +"I am glad to hear it," replied Rue, placidly. "He is a wise, just +man; and no doubt he will give you good advice about setting up your +profession. I have been hoping that, through you, this long family +breach would be healed." + +And here the conversation strayed off amid thick-growing family topics, +where it is unnecessary to follow it. + +Gray dawn was in the east when, after a long, lingering look at the +ancestral portraits, Bergan went out from the old Hall. He could +scarcely believe that it was less than a week since he first entered +it. He had passed there one of those crises of life which do the work +of years. His short occupancy had left its indelible impress upon his +character, for good or evil. + +Rue attended him to the door, and detained him for a moment on the +threshold. + +"If ever you are in need of a quiet place where you can feel perfectly +at home," said she, "come here. Your room shall always be ready for +you; and you might stay here for weeks together, and no one be the +wiser,--rarely does any one but me come inside the door. And if ever +you should be in any trouble, or in any want, come and see what the +old, blind woman can do for you; she may be better able to help you +than you think. And now, good-bye, and God bless you, my dear young +master--the future master of Bergan Hall!" + +She raised her withered hands and sightless eyes to heaven, as she +ended; and when Bergan looked back from the farther verge of the lawn, +she was standing there still, in the dim dawn-light, a gray, venerable, +ghostly figure, framed in his ancestral doorway, calling down blessings +on his head. + + + + +IX. + +THE BLOT CLEAVES. + +Youthful spirits have a natural buoyancy that floats them easily over +the first wave of trouble, however severe. It is the long succession +of wearing disappointments and corroding griefs, of anxious days and +restless nights, of abortive aims and hopes deferred, which finally +overcomes their lightsomeness, and sinks them fathoms deep under a +smooth-flowing surface of gentle cheerfulness, a teasing ebb and flow +of worriment, or an icy plane of despair. + +But of this grievous iteration, and its depressing effect, Bergan, as +yet, had no experience. His heart involuntarily grew lighter as he +went down the long avenue. The old Hall, with its dust-clogged and +tradition-darkened atmosphere, its dusky delights and duskier +temptations, seemed to fade back again into the unsubstantiality of his +childhood's visions. His sojourn there was, at best, but a brief, +casual episode in an otherwise coherent life. He now recurred to the +main argument. Not that he could foresee precisely how it was to be +wrought out. But the very uncertainty before him was not without its +own special and potent charm. It gave such unlimited scope to hope and +imagination; there was in it so much room for sturdy endeavor and noble +achievement, for an iron age of progress, and a golden era of fame! + +It was still early when he reached the Berganton Hotel. The landlord +was in the office; he was also in the midst of a prolonged matutinal +stretch and yawn, when Bergan surprised him with a pleasant;-- + +"Good morning. Have you a vacant room for me?" + +"Yes, sir,--that is, I will see," was the somewhat inconclusive reply; +its first clause being due to the favorable impression made by Bergan's +face and manner, and its last to prudential considerations arising from +the quickly recognized facts that this prepossessing young man was on +foot, and without baggage. "Do you want it long?" + +"I can hardly tell,--some days, perhaps; possibly longer. I wish to +see if it be worth my while to locate myself permanently here. My name +is Bergan Arling. My baggage is to be sent over from Bergan Hall." + +"Ah, I see," said the landlord, in a tone which implied that he had +suddenly been lifted to a point of observation at once wide and +unpromising. And almost immediately he added,--"On the whole, I +believe I haven't got an eligible room to offer you. The one that I +thought of at first is partially engaged; I cannot let it go till I +know the gentleman's decision." + +Bergan was gifted with perceptions too quick and fine not to notice the +unfavorable effect produced by his frank explanation of himself. Nor +was he slow to divine the cause. No doubt his name had been bruited +abroad in connection with the disgraceful scenes of yesterday; and, as +a natural consequence, in the very place where it would otherwise have +been an advantage to him, it would now stand in his way. His heart +sank a little to find that he had not left yesterday's acts so +completely behind him as he had allowed himself to believe. He had +still to endure his inevitable term of bondage to their evil +consequences. + +Yet herein, he remembered, was his strongest motive for perseverance in +the path upon which he had entered. He could not leave a tarnished +reputation behind him in the place founded by his ancestors,--the very +dust of which, blowing about the streets, doubtless held many particles +closely akin to his own earthly substance, and dimly capable of pride +or shame on his account. At whatever cost of present pain or ulterior +loss, he must stay in Berganton long enough to set himself right in the +public eyes. + +And loss, it was plain, there might be. Berganton was no longer the +busy and prosperous town of his mother's reminiscences. All these +years, it had been going backwards. Looking up and down its long, +tame, principal street, with its scant and sluggish flow of human life, +he could discover little field for energy, little scope for ambition. +Were it not for the cords of obligation woven around him by yesterday's +events, he would scarcely have stayed for a second look. But those +cords held him firmly to his purpose. + +"Do you know of any respectable family where I should be likely to +obtain board, or, at least, lodgings?" was his next inquiry. + +"I do not. I think they might take you in at the Gregg House, down at +the lower end of the street." + +The words were spoken carelessly enough, yet Bergan could scarcely fail +to detect in them a covert insinuation, or to imagine one. His cheek +crimsoned, and his eye flashed. Ere he could speak, however, a +gentleman whom he had observed sitting near him, with a newspaper +before his face, dropped the printed screen, and came forward. + +"Mr. Arling can breakfast here, at any rate," said he, in the tone of a +man accustomed to overcome all obstacles; "it will give me pleasure to +have him for my _vis-à-vis_ at the early breakfast that I have bespoken +this morning, in order to gain time for a visit to a far-away patient. +And you can at least give him the room of which you speak until it is +called for; by that time, we will hope, he may be provided with one +even more to his mind." + +"Certainly, doctor," returned the landlord, looking a little +crestfallen. "If I had known the gentleman was a friend of yours--" + +"Hardly that yet," interposed the doctor, smiling, "though I trust he +may be, in good time. I know your uncle very well," he continued, +addressing Bergan, as the landlord moved away,--"indeed, I may say, +your two uncles,--if that be any ground of acquaintance. But I have +the advantage of you, in that I heard your name just now;--mine is +Remy--Felix Remy--very much at your service. Not that this +announcement places us on an equal footing; for, while your name puts +me at once in possession of your antecedents, to a certain extent, mine +tells you nothing about me except that I am of French descent. Are you +willing to take the rest on trust, until a fitting time for a fuller +explanation?" And the doctor held out his hand. + +"Until the end of time," replied Bergan, grasping it warmly. "It would +be strange if kindness were not its own sufficient explanation." + +Doctor Remy shrugged his shoulders with a frank cynicism. "Perhaps +so," said he. "Yet I make bold to confess that my own practice is to +look kindness a little more closely in the face than its opposite. The +latter generally wears its reasons openly on its forehead; but for the +complicated motives at the bottom of the former, one needs to look long +and deep." + +"Do they pay for the trouble?" asked Bergan, smiling. + +"Not unless you love knowledge for its own sake. As society is +constituted, you cannot well act upon it. To apparent kindness, one +has to return apparent gratitude." + +"I trust I succeed in making mine 'apparent,'" said Bergan, falling +into the doctor's humor. + +"Perfectly. It could not be told from the genuine article." + +"The same thing might be said of your kindness." + +"Doubtless. But here comes Cato, to show you to your room. I think +breakfast will be ready as soon as you are." + +A very few moments sufficed for Bergan to remove the traces of his +early morning walk, and rejoin his new acquaintance in the +breakfast-room. The two gentlemen at once seated themselves on +opposite sides of the table. An opportunity was thus afforded them to +observe each other at their leisure, of which Bergan was first to avail +himself. His interest had been awakened by the doctor's peculiar style +of conversation. + +He saw before him a man of medium height and compactly built figure. +His locks had been touched by thought or care to a premature grayness, +for he had scarcely yet entered upon middle age. His features were +regular, and would have been handsome had they been less keenly and +coldly intellectual,--the physical mould was forgotten in the mental +one that made itself so much more manifest. Their expression was one +of active intelligence and calm force, embittered, at the mouth, by a +touch of scorn. Yet the face did not absolutely repel; for many minds, +it would possess an inscrutable fascination. It provoked study; it +challenged the imagination and the understanding. + +The doctor's conversation was marked by a curious frankness, and an +equally curious reserve. He made no scruple whatever of opening to the +light of day shadowy recesses of motive and aim that most men would +studiously close, nor of putting himself at odds with the world on +various points of social or moral ethics, nor of boldly questioning and +criticising much that mankind consents to hold in reverence. Yet, at +the end of an hour's conversation, though he had talked readily and +fluently on many subjects, and said something true, or profound, or +brilliant, or suggestive, about each, his interested, amused, startled, +and bewildered hearer could find almost no _residuum_ of his real +opinions about any of them. It was impossible to decide where he had +been in jest, and where in earnest; through his most serious argument +had run a vein of mockery, from under his profoundest thought had +peeped forth a hidden sarcasm. His creed, social, moral, and +political, continually slipped through the seeker's fingers in subtle, +witty, or scornful negations and controversions. + +Not that Bergan was conscious of this, at the moment,--nor, indeed, +until after many days of familiar intercourse. He recognized in the +doctor an intellectual cultivation of no ordinary depth and scope; he +was interested and well-nigh dazzled by his originality of thought, the +boldness of his attacks, and the freedom of his speculations; but the +dubious aspect of his own affairs continually rose before him to harass +his mind and distract his attention;--he was himself incapable of close +observation or continuous thought. After a time, his glance sank upon +his plate, or wandered aimlessly out of the window: though he forgot no +requirement of courtesy, he was often in a state of semi-abstraction. + +Then, in his turn, Doctor Remy fixed his eyes upon his companion. It +was evident that to subjected him to a far more careful and penetrating +scrutiny than he had sustained himself. He noted his looks, he weighed +his words, he analyzed his turns of thought, in a way to indicate that +exceeding "love of knowledge for its own sake," of which he had spoken, +or some deeper motive than even his hardy frankness would care to +divulge. Whether or no he liked what he saw, no mortal could have +told. The doctor's face was a sort of mechanical mask, absolutely +under his control; it expressed anything or nothing, according to his +will. + +One thing only would have been plain to the observer, that he was +puzzled by something which he found, or did not find. After one of his +deeply penetrating glances, he suddenly called for a bottle of wine, +and, first filling his own glass, passed it across the table. + +"I am fortifying myself for a harder day's work than usual," said he, +as if by way of apology, if apology were needed. "Will you try it? I +think I can assure you that it is tolerably good." + +"Thank you; I never take wine at breakfast." + +"Anything else that you would prefer--" began the doctor, courteously. + +"Nothing whatever, thank you," replied Bergan, with a most conclusive +wave of the hand. + +"Then you do not hold the theory that a little good wine, or other +spirits, after a meal, clears the brain, and aids the digestion?" + +"Do I look as if I stood in need of either good office?" asked Bergan, +smiling. + +The doctor gave him a quick, critical glance. + +"No, I cannot see that you do," he answered. "I should say that, in +your case, Nature might safely be left to perform her own functions;--I +do not think I ever saw human mechanism in a sounder condition, or +animated by a richer vitality. Still, there can be no great harm in +drinking in moderation. Of course, if one cannot do that, it is best +to avoid it altogether." + +Bergan looked up quickly,--almost angrily,--but there was nothing in +the doctor's face or manner to indicate that his general remark was +weighted with any ulterior meaning. He was holding his wine up to the +light with the air of a connoisseur, and having sufficiently enjoyed +its color and _bouquet_, he tossed it off with apparent relish. Yet +Bergan could scarcely have failed to notice, had he been less +preoccupied, that he then quietly pushed both glass and bottle aside, +and seemed to forget their existence. + +"Can I do anything for you, before I set off on my daily treadmill?" he +asked, when the meal was ended. + +"Nothing, thank you,--unless you can tell me where I shall be most +likely to find lodgings and an office." + +"An office, did you say? Do I behold in you a brother of the order of +the Asclepiadæ?" + +"No, I have not that honor. I am enrolled in the ranks of the Law." + +"How many pegs shall I take myself down, in your estimation, if I +proclaim myself a deserter therefrom?" + +Bergan could not help looking the astonishment that he did not express. + +"It is true," said the doctor, answering the look. "I studied law, and +practised it for about two years. But it did not suit me." + +"Would it be impertinent to ask why?" + +"Not at all. It gave too much scope, or too little, to my natural +antagonism of mind;--too little for mental satisfaction, too much for +material advantage. For instance, I was always possessed with an +insane desire to clear the guilty man, whether he were my client, or +no." + +"Yet you deny to yourself the credit of generous impulses!" + +"Stay a little. I was often assailed with an equally insane desire to +convict the innocent one--when he was not my client. Do not look so +horrified, for the same motive was at the bottom of both. It was +because I saw so clearly that, with an exchange of +circumstances,--inherited traits, education, temptation, and so +forth,--there would also be an exchange of persons." + +"In that case, it would seem that neither should be convicted." + +"Exactly. But it was Society that needed to be convicted and punished. +There was a real satisfaction in reversing its unrighteous judgments." + +Bergan felt that he was sinking in a kind of mental quicksand. "But," +he objected, catching hold of the first twig of support that offered +itself, "you count the man's will for nothing." + +"With most men, it does count for nothing. Where one man performs +either a good or a bad action deliberately, looking behind and before +him, nine hundred and ninety-nine do it because of the pressure of +outward circumstance." + +"You think, then," said Bergan, after a moment's consideration, "that +when a man wilfully embarks on the current which tends toward the +Niagara cataract, it is his misfortune, and not his fault, if he +finally finds himself at a point where the pressure of outward +circumstance must needs carry him over the fall." + +"In that case," said the doctor, "the responsibility shifts back to the +power that made the current and the fall, and put them in his way." + +Bergan saw the wide labyrinth of controversy opening before him, and +tacitly declined to set foot in it. He was in no mood for polemics. +He merely asked,-- + +"And in what way--if the question is admissible--do you find medicine +more to your taste than the law?" + +"In medicine, there is always a distinct and a legitimate foe to +combat--disease. When one engages in a hand-to-hand fight with a +fever, there are no side issues. Nor does it matter in the least, +whether battle is to be done over the body of an incarnate demon or an +angel unfledged,--in both cases, the treatment is identical, the +physician's duty the same." + +"I think I understand you," said Bergan, after a pause, during which he +had been trying to reconcile these curious and half conflicting +statements with some underlying principles, and finding it, at last, in +his own heart, rather than in the doctor's words;--"a physician's +professional and abstract duty are never at variance, while a lawyer +must often be puzzled to decide if he is justified in using his legal +skill to save a criminal from merited punishment." + +"It is a question that puzzles few of them," remarked the doctor, +dryly. "But in regard to this office, _in posse_, of yours;--I rent my +own from a very respectable widow lady, whose house is much too large +for the narrow income to which she found herself restricted, at her +husband's death. I think she has another room, that she would be glad +to let to an eligible tenant. Shall we go and see? It is quite in my +way; I must visit my office before I set out on my rounds." + +The house won Bergan's liking, at a glance. It stood on a corner; it +was large and airy; double piazzas surrounded it on three sides; over +it a hale old live-oak and half-a-dozen gray, decrepit china-trees +flung their pleasant shade. In the rear, was a tempting thicket of a +garden, which Art had first planted, and then handed over to Nature, to +be taken care of at her leisure,--the result being an altogether +admirable and Eden-like wilderness of boughs and vines, and, in their +season, flowers and fruits, such as can be seen nowhere but at the +South. The interior of the dwelling wore a most attractive look of +neatness, comfort, and refinement, notwithstanding its extreme +plainness of finish and furniture. Crossing its threshold, he felt +that a true _home_ had received him into its beneficent shadow. +Nothing could be better for him, he thought, than to find an abiding +place therein. + +Nor was there any difficulty in the way. The doctor's magical touch +arranged the preliminaries. Then, Mrs. Lyte,--a pale, sweet, +fragile-looking woman, with the gentle gravity of manner that comes of +sorrow at once incurable and resigned--yielded at once to the magnetism +of Bergan's address,--the involuntary softening of tone wherewith he +recognized the claim of her black garments upon his sympathies, the +manifest deference which he paid to her loneliness, her bereavement, +her sorrow. Since it was needful to sacrifice something of the home +seclusion and sacredness to the necessity of daily bread, she could not +hope for a more desirable tenant. The negotiations were quickly +concluded. Not only was an office secured, but a lodging-room in its +rear was also placed at his disposal; and he was to take his meals at +the hotel. + +Returning thither, and finding that his baggage had duly arrived from +the Hall, Bergan's active temperament would not let him rest until he +had transported it to his new quarters, and gotten them in tolerable +order. In this business he consumed the greater part of the day. The +sun was low in the horizon, when, by way of a finishing touch, he +nailed a tin plate, bearing in gilt letters the words,--"BERGAN ARLING, +ATTORNEY AT LAW," to his office window. + +With the act, came a thrill of strange enjoyment. It was like the +first breath of a new and invigorating atmosphere. That little sign +imparted an element of solidity to his plans and aims, hitherto +lacking. It marked an epoch in his life. Now, first, he flung +himself, with all his strength and energy, into the great struggle of +mankind. + +To this pleasantly excited mood, motion was still desirable, weariness +unfelt. He decided to pay a visit to his second, and yet unknown, +uncle,--Godfrey Bergan. He quitted the village with the last, red +sunbeams. + + + + +PART SECOND. + +THE FRUIT OF THE WAY. + + + +I. + +THROUGH A MIST. + +Oakstead, the estate of Godfrey Bergan, was separated from the lands of +the Hall by the small river--or "creek," in local parlance--which has +before been mentioned. The pleasant dwelling of the owner stood not +far from a picturesque bend of the stream, commanding a view of its +tawny, slumberous current for a considerable distance up and down,--a +view made up of gentlest curves and softest coloring only, yet with +enough of quiet beauty to arrest Bergan's feet, for some moments, on +the oak-shadowed lawn. + +The river's tide stole almost imperceptibly past, mirroring in its +still bosom the sunset-painted sky, and the graver tinted objects of +earth, with equal felicity,--like a gentle spirit, in whose +well-ordered life the things of either world find their appropriate +place and exquisite harmony. Just at that point of the upper stream +where an artist would have placed it for the best pictorial effect, was +the bridge of the main road, with rough abutments half-buried in wild +foliage, and railings overrun with vines; and at a remoter point down +its shining course, the slenderer span of a narrow footbridge, with a +single rustic railing, was also seen, idealized by distance into an +aerial passway fit for fairy feet. In the earlier days of Godfrey's +proprietorship, while the half-brothers were yet on friendly terms, +this latter structure had furnished the means of easy and frequent +communication between the two households. On the cessation of +intercourse, however, Major Bergan had threatened its destruction, and +had even begun an attack upon his own abutment; but his operations +being suddenly suspended, and no convenient opportunity occurring for +their resumption, he had finally left the work of demolition to be +finished by the wear and tear of the elements, and the slow tooth of +time. Though in a somewhat ruinous condition, and but insecurely +poised on the damaged abutment, the bridge was still passable, with due +caution; and, doubtless, it served for the nocturnal visits of such +negroes of the two estates as were not set at odds by the bitterness of +their masters' feud. + +At a little distance below the footbridge, the river made another +graceful bend, and soon disappeared in the shadow of the pine +forest,--behind and above the dark, swaying fringe of which, the +posthumous glory of the sun was fading from the western sky. Against +this flitting splendor, the turret-like summits of the chimneys of +Bergan Hall were distinctly visible. A little saddened by the sight, +as forcing back on his mind thoughts and images which he had partially +succeeded in flinging off, Bergan turned and walked quickly up the path +to the house. Voices met him as he drew near. In one end of the broad +piazza, so shut in by interlacing vines as to constitute a kind of +leaf-tapestried parlor, two gentlemen were talking. + +"I am afraid the identity is only too certain," said the smooth, +sarcastic voice of Doctor Remy. "But I doubt if the habit be a +confirmed one,--certainly, the physical indications are lacking. At +any rate, as I said before, he is evidently making an effort to +overcome it." + +"I wish that no such effort were necessary,"--began a different voice; +but with the instinct of delicacy, Bergan set his foot upon the lower +step of the piazza in a way to be distinctly heard, and would have done +the same had he supposed that the conversation concerned him, which he +did not. The voice ceased abruptly, and a gentleman, whom he instantly +recognized as his uncle, advanced to meet him. Though he had enough of +the Bergan cast of feature to identify him at the first, casual glance, +as belonging to the race, it was lost, almost as soon as seen, amid +traits widely differing from the ancestral pattern. He was a much more +genuine outcome of American soil than the rest of Sir Harry's +descendants,--in whom a childhood fed upon old-world family traditions, +and a youth spent at Oxford or Cambridge, had availed to preserve the +English mould from all but the more unavoidable modifications. The +race had always been marked by a greater volume of muscle, a ruddier +complexion, and a sturdier texture of character, than was exactly +native to the soil. But, in Godfrey Bergan, these characteristics were +lacking. Though tall and well-formed, he was spare in figure and thin +in face. His complexion had the true American sallowness of tint. In +matters of bulk, weight, and coloring,--all the purely animal +characteristics,--he fell far below the standard of his half-brother. +By way of indemnity, his figure had more litheness and grace; and his +features were more clearly cut, and endowed with a keener vivacity of +expression,--apparently, they were informed by a quicker and finer +intellect, as well as a gentler spirit. + +Altogether, it was a thoughtful, a refined, and a benevolent +countenance, that confronted Bergan; yet not without certain firm lines +about the mouth to indicate that its owner could be decided, if he +chose, and perhaps severe. While it invited liking, it commanded +respect. + +It was with real pleasure that Bergan made his self-introduction to a +relative with so many apparent claims to affection and esteem. Yet, +even while he mentioned his name and relationship, and held out his +hand, as to a stranger,--albeit a friend,--he was beset by an uneasy +consciousness that he had met Mr. Bergan, or somebody very like him, +before. But where? Sending a swift, retrospective glance through his +life, he could find no clue to the perplexing feeling; and, having +scant time for investigation, he quickly dismissed it as the offspring +of some indefinite and elusive resemblance, perhaps to one of the +ancestral portraits, perhaps to a half-forgotten acquaintance. + +It was the more easily disposed of, that its place was soon filled by +another shadowy vexation. His uncle's reception was both courteous and +kind; yet he could not help feeling intuitively that it was lacking in +some indefinable element of cordiality, even while he repudiated the +intuition as a baseless figment of his own imagination. Certainly, +there was no tangible coolness, not so much as a thin film of +indifference, upon which to lay a plausible finger-tip; nothing that +did not slip away from every attempt at analysis, and seem to resolve +itself into a sickly humor of his own. At worst, he told himself, +there was only some less definite expression of consanguineous +sympathy, in the pressure of his uncle's hand, and in the modulations +of his voice, than he had allowed himself to look for; and this was a +mere matter of mood and temperament, the absence of which formed no +good ground of complaint, whatever warmth and grace might have been +contributed by its presence. No doubt, it would come in good time. + +Meanwhile Doctor Remy, sending forth his keen glance from the shadowy +end of the piazza, had recognized the new comer; and he now presented +himself, hat in hand. + +"The first meeting of near relatives," said he, with his indescribable +mixture of seriousness and sarcasm, "is a scene upon which a third +person is bound to pronounce his blessing, and--turn his back! Nay, no +disclaimers; he is equally bound not to listen to them. Good evening, +Mr. Bergan,--allow me to remark that good influences may avail much in +the matter that we were talking of. Good evening, Mr. Arling,--it +gives me pleasure to leave you in such agreeable quarters; Oakstead has +manifold attractions, as you are in the way to discover." + +And the doctor bowed, and descended the steps. + +Mr. Bergan turned to his nephew. "I hope you left my sister well," +said he. + +"Quite well. I have a letter from her for you. I am ashamed that it +has not been delivered before, but--" + +Bergan hesitated; a further explanation would take him upon delicate +ground. + +"Never mind the sequence of the 'but,'" said his uncle, smiling, albeit +a little gravely;--"I am aware that the road from Bergan Hall to +Oakstead is not so smooth as could be wished. I"--there was a slight +hesitation, as if a colder phrase had been sought, and not found,--"I +am glad that you were able to surmount its difficulties so soon. A +letter from Eleanor!" he went on, with a sudden change of +subject,--"that will be a treat indeed! I take shame to myself that +our correspondence has fallen into such desuetude. But what one ever +did survive the lapse of forty-two years, without the reviving impulse +of an occasional meeting? I hardly dare venture a question about my +sister's family, lest I make some terrific blunder. I am not even sure +about the present number of her children." + +"There are six of us left." + +"'Left' implies 'taken,'" said Mr. Bergan, with a sigh. + +"We have lost two of our number." + +"So have we," replied Mr. Bergan. "But we have not six left--we have +only one. However, she is a host in herself,--at least, we think +so,"--he added, with a smile at his own enthusiasm. "But, will you +come in and see your aunt and cousin?" + +He led the way to a small room, pleasantly furnished as a library; and +Bergan followed him, though not without a vague sense of a lurking +reluctance and lukewarmness in the invitation,--which he sternly +smothered, nevertheless, as unworthy of himself and unjust to his uncle. + +Stepping to an open French window, Mr. Bergan slightly raised his voice +and called,-- + +"Carice!" + +"Yes, father!" was the instant answer, in a voice of peculiar richness +and melody; and the next moment a young girl stood in the window, with +a light shawl wrapped round her slender figure, and her hands filled +with autumn flowers, just gathered. The light was too dim to show her +features clearly; but a certain indefinable freshness and sweetness +seemed to enter the room with her and diffuse itself through the +atmosphere not less perceptibly than the scent of the flowers. At +sight of a stranger, imperfectly seen in the twilight obscurity of the +room, she stopped abruptly. + +"It is your cousin, Bergan Arling, the son of my sister Eleanor," +briefly explained her father. + +There was a little start of surprise and of pleasure; then Carice +dropped her flowers on the nearest table, and gave Bergan two cordial +hands. Not only was there a charming grace in the unstudied action, +but also the pleasant heart-warmth, the frank recognition of kinship +and its appropriate sympathies, which Bergan had so unaccountably +missed from his uncle's manner, even while trying to persuade himself, +either that it was there, or that its absence was no matter of surprise. + +"Have I really a cousin, then!" said she, brightly. "I never believed +it till now. That story of cousins at the West always sounded like a +pleasant fiction to me,--I am glad to know that it is founded on fact." + +"On six facts," said Bergan, smiling. "I am the fortunate +representative of five other claimants to your cousinly regard." + +Carice laughingly shook her head. "I believe what I see," said +she,--"or rather what I should see, if it were not so dim here. By and +bye,--after I have ordered lights,--I may be able to reason from the +seen to the unseen." And she glided from the room, which seemed to +grow suddenly dark and chill behind her. + +Very shortly she returned, preceded by a servant bearing lights, and +accompanied by her mother. Looking toward Bergan with a smile, she +gave a slight start; the coming words were arrested on her parted lips; +the color mounted to her brow; across her face went a swift ripple of +disappointment and pain. Quickly recovering herself, she presented him +to her mother; but the bright cordiality, the warm heart-glow, of her +earlier manner, had faded, and came no more. It was as if a gray +screen had suddenly been drawn before a cheery household fire. + +Happily for Bergan, his aunt claimed his attention, before he had time +to feel the full dreariness of the change. She was a woman of rare +tact, and much kindliness of heart, despite a somewhat stately manner, +and a considerable degree of aristocratic chill for people not exactly +in her "set." She gave Bergan a warm welcome,--almost a motherly one; +there was something about him that brought a softening remembrance of +the two sons that slept in the family burial ground, and quietly opened +the way for him into her heart. Finding his entertainment left very +much in her hands, she cared for it kindly; though not without a secret +wonder at the inexplicable indifference of her husband and daughter. +But she did her best to make amends for it by her own friendliness, and +in part, succeeded. + +Meanwhile, Bergan was beset by another tantalizing resemblance. Never, +he thought, had he seen anything quite so lovely as his cousin +Carice,--with her soft, brown hair, her clear rose-complexion, her +large, limpid, blue eyes, the lily-like droop of her exquisitely formed +head, the inexhaustible grace of her attitudes and movements,--but he +had certainly seen somebody a little like her. So strong, yet so +puzzling was this conviction, and so frequent the glances consequently +sent in her direction, that he felt a word of explanation might not be +amiss. + +"Excuse me," said he, "if I seem to be looking at you almost +constantly; but there is something about you curiously familiar, though +it is impossible that we should have met before. I suppose I must have +seen somebody that resembled you; but I cannot tell when or where." + +Carice looked down, and colored slightly. Her father came to her +relief. + +"There is often no accounting for resemblances," said he. "When there +is any tie of blood, however remote, we understand them, of course; but +when the face of an utter stranger startles me in the street with the +very smile of my sister Eleanor, or the grave look of my dead father, +what am I to think?" + +"One would like to know," remarked Bergan, "if there is a mental and +moral likeness, to match the physical one. When I fix the resemblance +that eludes me so persistently in you," he added, turning to Carice, "I +hope it will help me to answer the question." + +"I doubt if it does," replied Carice, quietly, yet not without a +certain something in her tone that sounded almost like sarcasm. He +looked at her in considerable surprise, but her eyes were turned away, +and she said no more. + +Feeling as if he were walking in a mist, which everywhere eluded his +grasp, while it blinded his eyes, and chilled his heart, he rose to go. + +"Let me see," said his aunt, kindly, as she gave him her hand, +"to-morrow will be Sunday, will it not? Pray let us find you in our +pew at church in the morning; and come home with us to an early dinner, +before the evening service." + +Bergan hesitated. He had no reasonable excuse; yet his uncle had not +seconded the invitation. As if suddenly cognizant of the omission, Mr. +Bergan now spoke. + +"Come, by all means," said he, with more kindness than he had yet +shown,--for he could not bring himself to give a half-hearted +invitation to his sister's son,--"I have still a great deal to ask +about your mother." + +"And I," said his aunt, laughing, "have still a great deal to ask about +yourself. Good night." + +They stood on the piazza watching him, until he was out of sight. Then +Carice turned to her father. + +"Did he say anything about--yesterday?" she asked, gravely. + +"Not a word. I should have liked him better if he had offered some +explanation." + +"Perhaps he did not recognize us," suggested Carice. + +"How could he help it?" + +"I don't know,--only--you were angry and I was frightened; probably our +faces did not wear their natural expression. Besides, he was doubtless +a little bewildered by his fall, and--" + +"What or whom are you talking about?" here broke in the amazed Mrs. +Bergan. + +"About my nephew, the mad cavalier who so nearly came into collision +with Carice yesterday," replied her husband. + +Mrs. Bergan threw up her hands. "And you let me invite him to dinner!" +she exclaimed, in a tone of deep injury. + +"How could I help it, my dear? Besides, he is my sister's son." + +Meanwhile, Bergan found his way back to the village through the +darkness, wondering what had become of the lightness of heart and +cheerfulness of hope with which he had set out--he looked at his +watch--only two hours before! + + + + +II. + +STRENGTHENED OUT OF ZION. + +St. Paul's Church, Berganton, was a small, plain structure of brick and +stone, rather prettily situated on the bank of the aforesaid creek, +which flowed through the midst of the town. Its sole claim to exterior +beauty must have rested on the thick vines which covered its walls, +framed its windows, and climbed to the roof of its low, square tower; +doing their best to atone for its many architectural deficiencies, its +failure to present to the eye a certain material "beauty of holiness," +in harmony with the spiritual loveliness of the unseen temple, of which +it was the faint type. + +Toward this church, on the morning after his visit to Oakstead, Bergan +directed his steps. Meeting his uncle in the vestibule, he was soon +seated in the square family pew, and had a few moments to look about +him, before service. + +In its small way, the church was almost as much a memorial of the House +of Bergan as the old Hall itself. Sir Harry had been a fair sample of +the average English Churchman of his day, with whom a certain amount of +religious observance was deemed necessary and becoming, both by way of +seemly garmenting for one's self, and good example for one's neighbors. +If it did not reach very deep into the heart, it at least imparted a +certain completeness and dignity to the outward life. + +Moreover, family tradition was strongly in religion's favor. There had +always been relations of a highly friendly and decorous sort between +the house and the church; and to have turned his back disrespectfully +upon the one, would have been to show himself a degenerate scion of the +other. As a natural consequence, Sir Harry did not feel that he had +done his whole duty to himself, or his posterity, until he had provided +a fitting stage for the necessary family ceremonials of christening, +marriage, and burial; as well as an appropriate spot for his own +enjoyment of a respectable Sunday doze, under the soothing influence of +an orthodox sermon, after having duly taken his share in the responses +of the morning service. If this school of Churchmen had its faults, it +also had its virtues. If its standard of religion was a low one, with +a strong leaning toward human pride and selfish indulgence; it was +better than the open irreverence and infidelity, the unblushing +disregard of religious restraints and sanctions, of later generations. + +Under Sir Harry's auspices, therefore, the foundations of St. Paul's +were laid, and its walls arose, as a kind of necessary adjunct to +Bergan Hall. And his successors, with rare exceptions, had felt it a +duty to add to its interior attractions, as well as to make it a +continuous family record, by memorial windows of stained glass, mural +tablets of bronze or marble, and thank-offerings of font, communion +plate, and other appliances and adornments. Some of these, no doubt, +were merely self-laudatory, the fitful outgrowth of family pride; +others might have sprung from a sense of what was beautiful and +fitting,--which was a very good thing, as far as it went, though it +went not much below the surface; but a few there were, doubtless, which +had been consecrated to their use by heartfelt tears of sorrow, of +penitence, or of gratitude. Be this as it may, they all helped (at +least, in human eyes) to give the interior of St. Paul's a certain +completeness, and even a degree of beauty and harmony. + +Still, both in its size and its decorations, the church was far +inferior to the Hall. There was a vast disproportion, both in amount +and quality, between the space and the furniture set apart for the +service and pleasure of a single household, and that consecrated to the +worship of God, and the spiritual nurture of His people. But, in the +matter of preservation, as well as in answering a definite end, the +advantage was greatly on the side of the church and its appointments. +Wherever the Bergan hands had grown slack, or had been withdrawn, in +that work, others had taken it up, for the love of Christ, and carried +it forward to completion, or kept it from lapsing back into chaos. + +And so, Bergan--remembering how surely the merely secular memorials of +Sir Harry and his successors had been overtaken by the slow feet of +decay, while these others had been saved by their connection with an +institution having a deeper and broader principle of life--was led into +a natural enough, though for him a most unusual, train of thought. He +asked himself if Sir Harry would not have done better, even for his own +selfish end, to have given the larger share (or, at least, an equal +one) of his time, care, and money, to the edifice which had the surest +hold upon permanency, and was most likely to be sacredly kept for its +original purpose. In our country, more than almost anywhere else, +people build houses for other people to dwell in, and Time delights to +blot family names from his roll, at least on the page where they were +first written. All family mansions, however fair and proud, are surely +destined to fall into stranger hands, or to be given over to the Vandal +occupation of decay. All families, of however lofty position, are +certain to sojourn, at times, in the valley of humiliation, if they do +not lose themselves in the deeper valley of extinction. Would it not +have been better, then, to have foregone somewhat of the frail and +faithless magnificence of Bergan Hall, and linked the dear family name +and memory more closely with the indestructible institution which +belongs to the ages? + +And, as he thus questioned, the narrow walls, the low roof, and the +insignificant adornments of the little church seemed slowly to widen +and lift themselves to the grand proportions of a vast, pillared +temple; and the small chancel window--doing so little, nor doing that +little well, to keep alive the fair memory of "Elizabeth, wife of Sir +Harry"--became a great glory of pictured saints and angels, through +whose diaphanous bodies the rainbow-light fell softly among a crowd of +kneeling worshippers;--unto whom the sculptured mural tablets, the +jewel-tinted glass, the stately walls, the soaring arch, told over and +over again the lovely story, and held up to view the noble example, of +a race whose labor and delight it had been to build strong and +beautiful the walls of Zion; and which, in so doing, had raised up to +itself the most enduring, as well as the most precious of earthly +monuments. How much better this than the crumbling splendors of Bergan +Hall, and the fading glory of an almost extinct name! + +"The Lord is in His holy temple," was here breathed through Bergan's +visioned fane, in appropriately awed and solemn tones. Nevertheless, +they broke the slender thread of its being. As Bergan rose to his +feet, with the rest of the congregation, its majestic vista, its +pictured windows, and all its rich array, vanished like the filmy +imagery of a dream, at the moment of awakening. But it was not without +a keen sense of the contrast that he brought his mind back to the real +St. Paul's, and the service going on under its lowlier roof. + +Nothing remained but the harmonious voice, which had at once perfected +and broken the spell. Glancing toward the chancel, Bergan saw a +clergyman, with a face that would have been simply benignant, but for +the vivid illumination of a pair of deep-set, dark-blue eyes,--a light +never seen save where a great heart sends its warm glow through all the +chambers of a grand intellect. + +There is something marvellous in the inexhaustible adaptation of the +Church service to the wants of the soul. At the same time that it is a +miracle of fitness for the ends of public worship, it has its adequate +word for every secret, individual need. Though Bergan had heard it +hundreds of times before, and always with a hearty admiration of its +beauty and comprehensiveness, never had its rhythmic sentences fallen +upon his heart with such gracious and grateful effect. Doubtless, this +was owing, in great measure, to the subdued frame of mind induced by +the events of the last week; but it was also due, in some degree, to +the perfection with which the service was rendered. It was neither +hurried nor drawled, neither grumbled nor whined, neither a rasping +see-saw nor a dull monotone. It was not overlaid with the arts of +elocution; nor was it robbed of all life and warmth by the formal +emphasis and intonation of the merely correct reader. But, in Mr. +Islay's mouth, it became the living voice of living hearts. The dear +old words, without losing one whit of the accumulated power, and the +sacred associations, of long years of reverent use, came as freshly and +as fervently from the speaker's lips, as if they were the heart-warm +coinage of the moment. + +As an inevitable consequence, Bergan's responses were uttered with +answering fervor. And how perfectly they met his wants! How +wonderfully they expressed his sense of weakness and failure, his +depression and humiliation, his new-born self-distrust, his earnest +desire and determination to be stronger against future temptations. In +some sentences, there was a depth of meaning and of fitness, that +seemed to have been waiting all these years for this moment of complete +interpretation. Continually was he startled by subtile references to +his peculiar circumstances, by the calm precision with which his sores +were probed, and the tender skill which applied to them healing balm. + +Especially was he struck by the Collect for the day,--so clearly did it +express thoughts and feelings too vague in his own mind to have shaped +themselves into words:-- + +"O Lord, we beseech Thee, absolve Thy people from their offences; that +through Thy bountiful goodness, they may all be delivered from the +bands of those sins which by their frailty they have committed." + +Never before could he have so clearly understood what was meant by the +"bands" of sins, committed, not of deliberate intent, but through +frailty. How painfully he felt the pressure of those bands! how +certainly they would cramp his efforts and hinder his progress! And +how singularly distinct they had become to his sight, both in their +nature and their effects, by means of that old, oft-repeated, yet ever +new, Collect! + +With a half-unconscious attempt at divination, Bergan turned over the +leaves of his Prayer Book, during the short pause before the psalm, +wondering what other mystic meanings were waiting under familiar words, +for his future needs. It was not without a little chill at his heart +that his eye caught the opening sentences of the burial anthem. + +There could be no question about that. Whatever else might or might +not be waiting for him, that was certain, some day, to be said over his +dead body, and vainly to try to find entrance into his deaf ears. But +when? At the end of a long life; in the midst of his days; or ere his +work was scarce begun? + +His work. What was it? To walk in a vain shadow? To disquiet himself +in vain? To heap up riches for an unknown gatherer? To write his name +high on the temple of Fame? To become a philanthropist, or a reformer? +No; but to "apply his heart unto wisdom." + +It was both a deep and a hard saying. Bergan felt that he could not +fathom it, even while he saw how ruthlessly it struck at the roots of +human pride, and lopped the boughs of personal ambition. + +Meanwhile, the psalm had been sung, and with a rustling of leaves and +garments, the congregation had settled themselves into their seats. +Through the succeeding hush, Mr. Islay quietly sent the words of his +text: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might, for +there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor _wisdom_, in the grave +whither thou goest." + +It was the word in season! + +Bergan left the church that day, not only with a deeper sense of his +own mortality, and consequent weakness, than ever before; but also with +a modified view of life's work and duty. In one sense, it was a +narrower view,--with that narrowness which feels the need of some true, +fixed centre, from which to work outward, with any degree of safety and +system, and, consequently, of success. He began to see that he who +would influence others for good, and through them the world, must first +be certain of the point where his influence begins, and that toward +which it tends. + +Not that Bergan understood, or would ever be likely to understand, the +full measure and real character of the change that had been wrought in +him under that lowly church-roof. Up to this point, his life had been +from without, inward; henceforth, it was to be from within outward. +The inner life of the soul was really begun in him,--feebly, +half-unconsciously, it is true,--yet possessing a hidden power of +assimilation and growth, that would soon bend all things to itself. +Storm and sunshine, darkness and light, success and failure, would +alike minister to its wants, and help it to grow fair and strong. +Things most inimical to it, at first sight, would but give it tougher +fibre and lovelier grain; in the drought, it would but send its roots +down deeper in pursuit of hidden wells; under the pruning-knife, it +would but burst forth into fairer blossoms and richer fruit. + +Yet it was no sudden change, for all his life had been a preparation +for it. Oftenest the kingdom of God cometh without observation. The +stones of the spiritual temple may be fashioned amid clamor and +discord, but they are laid in their places with a silence that is full +of meaning. + + + + +III. + +SEEING, BUT UNDERSTANDING NOT. + +The service being ended, Bergan naturally turned to his kinsfolk for an +ampler and friendlier greeting than had been possible at their hurried +meeting in the crowded vestibule. Especially--with a grateful +remembrance of her yesterday's cordiality--did he look to his aunt for +a word of familiar kindness, that should make him feel less alone, less +of a stranger, amid the friendly chorus of salutations and +leave-takings coming to his ears from the departing congregation. But, +to his surprise and pain, the same indefinable chill which had made him +so vaguely uncomfortable with her husband and daughter, had now taken +possession of her also, and woven a thin film of ice over the manner +that yesterday was so kind. + +The change was so unaccountable that he could not believe in it. He +told himself that the real thing at fault was his own sickly +imagination, that he was morbidly sensitive, as well as foolishly +exacting. He convinced his understanding, but could not silence his +heart. That Cassandra of the depths continually smote his unwilling +ear with her lugubrious voice, calling upon him to observe how +strangely Mrs. Bergan had been transformed overnight, from the +interested, cordial, even affectionate aunt, into the polite and +practised woman of the world, doing merely what courtesy required for +the entertainment of the guest that circumstances had flung upon her +hands. + +In this state of affairs, Bergan would gladly have exchanged the dinner +at Oakstead for a quiet afternoon in his room and a sober talk with his +thoughts. But the invitation being already accepted, he must needs +abide by the event. Accordingly, he took the vacant seat in his +uncle's carriage, and was soon set down at the cottage steps. + +Before dinner, the two gentlemen were left to a quiet chat by +themselves on the cool, shady piazza. Bergan embraced this opportunity +to explain, more fully than he had yet done, his motives and aims. He +told his uncle,--a little proudly, it might be, for he wished it to be +understood that he had come hither with a self-respecting purpose of +independence, and not with any idea of leaning upon his friends,--he +told his uncle that his choice of Berganton as the starting-point of +his professional career, was due to the influence of his mother. Her +childhood's home, and its vicinity, had always kept a tenacious hold on +her affections, despite the fact that more than two-thirds of her +womanhood had been spent elsewhere, and all the deeper joys and sorrows +of her life had blossomed and fruited in different soil. When, +therefore, it became necessary for one of her sons to go out into the +world, in search of a better field of labor than was afforded in his +native village, her thoughts naturally turned to the spot so haloed in +her memory, and where her ancestry had sent such deep, old roots into +the soil, as to create a kind of kinship for evermore between their +descendants and the locality. It would be a pleasant thing for Bergan, +she thought, to make a home and a name for himself in a place where he +possessed so strong a claim to residence; it would be equally pleasant +for the old town to recognize the familiar mould of features and +character in its streets; and it would be pleasantest of all for +herself to know that her son was with her kinsfolk, amid well-known +scenes, rather than among strangers, on ground where her thoughts could +find no foothold. Some day, she hoped to visit him there, and feed her +mother's pride upon his success, at the same time that she renewed her +girlhood amid old associations. + +Bergan then touched lightly upon his disappointment in the dull old +town--finding it so much duller and older, even to decrepitude, than he +had expected, and consequently, so little eligible to his purpose. And +here, if he had been met by a more interested glance, and a fuller +sympathy, he would have gone on to speak of the disgraceful scene into +which he had been betrayed by his uncle--the Major--and the obligation +under which he felt himself placed thereby to remain in Berganton, at +least long enough to efface any unfavorable impression which it might +have caused. But, though his uncle Godfrey heard him patiently and +courteously enough, there was so little of the hearty interest of +kinship in his manner, that Bergan could not bring himself to open the +subject. Not only was it unpleasant in itself, but it touched at many +points on deep things of his nature, which instinctively refused to +pour themselves into any but a friendly, sympathetic ear. + +If he had known whence came the cloud between his relatives and +himself, he would have spoken, as a matter of course, at whatever cost +of feeling. But this explanation of the matter suggested itself to +him, only to be inevitably rejected. Although it might serve to +account for the coolness that had characterized his uncle's manner from +the first, it seemed to throw no light whatever upon the difficult +problem of the sudden change from cordiality to reserve, in Mrs. Bergan +and Carice. A much more natural supposition appeared to be, that +something in his own manner or conversation had unfortunately awakened +prejudice or created dislike. For that, there was no remedy save in +time. He could hope that, when his kinsfolk should come to know him +better, they might be fain to reverse their hasty judgment, and account +him worthy of a place in their liking. But, until that time should +arrive,--though he would do anything in reason to help it on,--there +was nothing to encourage or to warrant any overflow of personal +confidences. + +It was scarcely possible, under the circumstances, that Bergan should +have reached a different conclusion. Of his meeting with Mr. Bergan +and Carice, during his frenzy of rage and intoxication, he retained but +the vaguest recollection; and he had totally failed to recognize either +his uncle or cousin as his co-actors in the dim and misty adventure. +Nor was this the only missing link in the chain of events. Dr. Remy's +casual talk, in the visit immediately preceding his own, which had +first made Mr. Bergan acquainted with the fact of his nephew's presence +in the neighborhood, and gradually led to his identification with the +intoxicated cavalier of whom he entertained so disagreeable an +impression; Carice's subsequent recognition of him, as soon as his +features were distinctly revealed to her; and his aunt's later +discovery of the same lamentable identity;--all these facts were +necessary to a clear understanding of the situation, and its +requirements. Without them, no wonder that Bergan was led astray both +in his conclusions and his acts; the former being the inevitable result +of the false logic of the few facts of which he knew, and the latter +going to help the equally false logic of the facts known to others, of +which he knew nothing. + +So, after Mr. Bergan had politely assented to his observations upon the +dulness of Berganton, and somewhat pointedly remarked that perseverance +and energy, when conjoined with upright habits, were pretty sure to +command a reasonable measure of success anywhere, the conversation +turned aside into other channels. The opportunity for a frank +explanation--which could alone have placed him upon his proper footing +with his new-found relatives--was lost. It would not return until it +was too late to be of any considerable service. + +Nevertheless, at the dinner-table, the moral atmosphere cleared a +little. Mr. Bergan could not, in justice to himself, allow any guest +at his board--much less his sister's son--to shiver long in an +impalpable mist of coolness and reserve. His wife gladly seconded his +efforts toward geniality and cheerfulness. Under this opportune +sunshine, Bergan's manner soon lost its reflected touch of constraint, +and sparkled with pleasant humor, or was warmed through and through +with a rich glow of enthusiasm. Despite their prejudices, his +relatives could not but feel its potent charm. Under protest, as it +were, they yielded him a portion of their liking, even while they +refused him their confidence. "What a pity," they thought, "that he is +so dissipated, when he can be so captivating! What a fine character +his might be, but for its one miserable, ruinous flaw!" + +Especially was this thought prominent in the mind of Carice, as she +listened delightedly to the pleasant flow of his talk, and her youthful +enthusiasm involuntarily sprang forward to meet his. Two or three +times, he caught her eyes fixed upon him with an expression that not +only puzzled, but pained him. But for the absurdity of the +supposition, he would have said that it was pity! + +In the hope of finding a clue to the mystery, he took a position near +her, when they rose from the table,--leaning with an easy grace against +the mantel, while she occupied the low window-seat,--and the two were +soon deep in a conversation of absorbing interest. Beginning with +books, if slowly led, by the way of the morning's service and sermon, +up to vital questions of duty and morals. In its course, it developed +so many points of sympathy between the colloquists,--such happy +correspondence of opinion, without lifeless unanimity,--so many +dove-tailed segments of thought, glad to meet in close and completing +union,--that Mr. and Mrs. Bergan, listening, at first, with indulgent +interest, finally began to exchange uneasy glances, and, at length, +withdrew to the piazza for a hurried consultation. + +For this fair daughter of theirs--this blue-eyed Carice, with the +lily-like _pose_, and the rose-like face--was their idol. Not +specially congenial on other points, they were yet made one by their +engrossing devotion to her. She was at once their exceeding joy and +their exquisite pain. Although she had scarcely been ill a day in her +life, she had a seeming delicacy of constitution that kept them in a +constant quake of terror. She had also a sensitiveness of temperament, +as well as a singular purity and simplicity of character, that filled +them with nameless forebodings for her happiness. All their days were +spent in keeping safe watch and ward between her and the first +threatenings of evil, of whatever nature. Every coming shadow, every +adverse influence, was foreseen or forefelt, and turned aside, before +it could reach her. + +Especially, of late,--seeing her continual growth in loveliness, of a +character at once so rare and so attractive,--they had charged +themselves with the duty of watching against any unwise bestowal of her +affections, and consequent misery. And, up to this time, there had +been no cause for alarm. But now, as Mrs. Bergan glanced back through +the window at the rapt talker and listener, noting the earnestness and +heightened color of the one, and the unwonted brightness half-hidden +under the drooping lashes of the other, she turned to her husband with +an anxiety that needed no further explanation. + +"They are cousins, remember," said Mr. Bergan, snatching at the first +thread of hope, though not without a sufficient sense of its fragility. + +"Only half-cousins, at best,--or rather, at worst," replied his wife. +"And so utterly different in type and temperament, that the +relationship could never be set up as an insurmountable barrier. +Besides, having never met before, they now meet as strangers." + +"Then it will not do to encourage him in coming here," said Mr. Bergan, +after a pause. "I could never give Carice to a drunkard, though he +were fifty times as handsome and talented." + +At this moment, Carice, awaking as from a dream, looked round for her +parents. Seeing them on the piazza, she quickly rose, and came toward +them, followed by Bergan. There was something in the action +inexpressibly reassuring to the troubled spectators. The engrossing +spell of the young man's conversation was so suddenly broken, when she +missed her father and mother from her side! They looked at each other +with a smile, and Mrs. Bergan playfully whispered,-- + +"I suspect that we are two fools!" + +Nevertheless, enough of the effect of these few moments of parental +anxiety remained, to fling a slight shadow over the party. Carice felt +it first, in her quick sympathy with all her parents' moods; and Bergan +caught it from her as speedily as if there were already some invisible +bond between the two. Without knowing why, he very soon became aware +that the atmosphere was again growing chill around him. He had been +basking, not in a broad glory of summer, but only in a flicker of +winter sunshine. + +Under these circumstances, Mr. Bergan's announcement that it was time +to set forth for the five o'clock service, was heard as a relief. +Almost immediately, however, it was followed by an unreasoning pang of +regret. It needed no soothsayer to tell him that moments like those +just passed, were to be rare in his immediate experience of life. + +Dusk was fast gathering in the corners and under the arches of the +little church, when the service was over. Parting with his relatives +at the door, Bergan went his solitary way to his lodgings, through the +deepening twilight. He walked slowly, not that the road was so +pleasant, but because the end had so little attraction. The walls and +furniture of his room were still strangers to him;--no one corner would +allure him with a more familiar charm than another, no particular chair +would draw him irresistibly to its accustomed arms, no sweet, tangled +crop of associations would fling their mingled light and shadow across +the floor. It would all be dim, blank, lonely. And the foot falls but +heavily on the path, the termination of which neither habit nor excites +imagination! + +Nevertheless, the slowest progress brings one quickly to the end, if +the journey be short; and Bergan's lingering steps brought him to Mrs. +Lyte's gate ere the dusk had deepened into total obscurity. Entering +the wide hall, which extended through the whole depth of the house, he +saw Mrs. Lyte seated at the farther end, in a doorway opening on the +garden. Her little daughter Cathie was sobbing at her side, in what +seemed an uncontrollable passion of grief and indignation. The child's +protector and playmate, a half-superannuated old mastiff, named Nix, +sat on his haunches at a little distance, watching the scene with +sympathetic, intelligent eyes. + +Cathie was already Bergan's fast friend. During yesterday's work of +arrangement, she had at first hovered around him at a distance; then, +yielding to the unconscious fascination of the young man's look and +smile, as well as the irresistible attraction of the litter of books +and papers, she had drawn nearer; later on, she had eagerly favored him +with the somewhat questionable help of her small fingers, and the +amusing chatter of her tireless tongue; and she had ended by giving him +all her childish confidence, and a large share of her freakish +affections. + +Freakish--because Cathie was a sort of elf-child;--or it might be truer +to say that, in her small compass, there were many elf-children; +manifesting their several individualities through her changeable moods, +and sending their various gleam through the almost weird splendor of +her dark eyes. She could be wild and tender, playful and passionate, +wise and simple, by turns; or in such quick and capricious succession +that she seemed to be all at once. She took as many shapes, in her +flittings about the house, as there were hours in the day;--now a +teasing sprite, now a dancing fairy,--at this moment, a tender human +child, melting into your arms with dewey kisses,--the next, a mocking +elf, slipping from your grasp like quicksilver, and leaving you with a +doubt if there could be anything human about her,--and anon, a fiery +little demon, with enough of concentrated rage in her small frame to +suffice for a giant. + +It was in this latter phase that she was now exhibiting herself. + +"I won't believe it!" she screamed, clenching her small fists, and +jumping up and down in a fury of excitement. "I won't believe it! It +isn't true! Miss Ferrars is a--" + +"Hush!" said the mother, softly, hearing the sound of Bergan's step. + +--"A mean, lying old maid!" went on Cathie, without an instant's +hesitation. "I wish I had told her so! I will, when I see her again!" + +"Hush!" said the mother again, more decidedly; laying her hand over the +rebellious month, by way of enforcing the mandate. + +But Cathie broke from her, and ran towards Bergan. At a few paces +distant, she stopped and underwent one of her sudden metamorphoses; the +convulsive fury left her features, and in its stead, there came a grave +sorrow and wistfulness, piteous to behold. Fixing her dark, bright +eyes full on Bergan's face, she solemnly asked,-- + +"Are you bad, Mr. Arling? Tell me, are you really a bad man?" + +Whatever mistakes Bergan may have made, in his life, or may make +hereafter,--whatever sins he may commit, through ignorance, or in +sudden passion,--let it be remembered, to his credit, that he could +meet those clear, innocent, child-eyes, without a blush, and answer the +question as gravely and simply as it had been asked,-- + +"No, Cathie, I do not think that I am." + +The truthful accents found their instant way to the child's heart. Her +confidence--which, in truth, had really never been lost--was restored +fourfold. She threw herself into his arms, and laid her young cheek +against his, in a loving attempt to atone for the wrong that had been +done him. Nix came also, and rubbed his great head against the young +man's knee, with an apparent understanding of the whole matter. + +Nor was the child's mind the only one to which Bergan's words had +brought quick conviction. Hearing his low, grave tones of denial, Mrs. +Lyte felt a weight lifted from her spirits. She had just been +listening to the story of Bergan's intoxication, with adornments, +brought by a gossiping neighbor, and her heart had sunk with fear lest +trouble and discomfort had found their way under her roof, with the new +inmate. But seeing him thus acquitted by the child and the dog,--two +most unprejudiced judges, she thought,--she quietly dismissed her +fears. For, though so gentle and shrinking in manner as to give the +impression of having no character at all, Mrs. Lyte was yet quite +capable of forming an independent opinion, and of abiding by it. + +So, when Bergan came toward her, leading Cathie by the hand, she did +not hesitate to point him to a seat. + +"Your room must be lonely," said she, kindly. "Will you sit with us +for awhile?" + +But Bergan did not heed, if he heard, the invitation. He merely looked +his hostess in the eyes, and said;-- + +"Mrs. Lyte, will you be so kind as to tell me what made Cathie ask me +that question just now?" + +"Certainly, if you wish it. But, Mr. Arling, the subject was closed, +for me, with her question and your answer. Would it not be as well for +you to let it rest there, also?" + +Bergan only shook his head. And after a moment's study of his grave +face, Mrs. Lyte, very quietly, as if it were a matter in which she had +no concern, mentioned the report that had been brought her. As +quietly, Bergan told her the whole story of his stay at the +Hall:--doing so the more readily, it needs not to be said to those +anywise skilled in the intricacies of the human mind, because he felt +that it was not required of him. For, though Mrs. Lyte listened with +the kindest interest and sympathy, she took care to show by her manner +that she did so more to satisfy him than herself. In matters like +this, she was accustomed to trust her instincts more implicitly than +her reason; and she was wise enough to know that trust is the short +road to truth, in all characters not radically bad. + +And thus, with the singular inconsequence of human life, the +explanation was made where it was not needed, and left unspoken where +it would have availed much against future misunderstanding, trouble, +wrong, and sorrow! + + + + +IV. + +PATIENT WAITING. + +Five or six weeks now glided slowly by, without working any change in +either the circumstances or the relations of the characters with whom +this history has to do. Bergan still shivered in the chill remoteness +of position into which he had been flung, partly by his fault and +partly by his misfortune. Not only between him and his relatives, but +dividing him from the whole reputable outside world, there seemed to be +a gulf fixed, impassable save to formal courtesies and commonplace +usages. Anything warmer, more personal, more exacting, sought in vain +for an eligible crossing place; and, if it leaped the gray chasm, it +was only to lose itself among chill, elusive shapes of mist, on the +opposite side. + +Thus excluded from the only society for which he cared, Bergan did not, +as a weaker character might have done, betake himself for consolation +to the lower circles of vice and dissipation that would have welcomed +him rapturously. He could better afford to stand alone, he thought, +than to throw himself into arms whose embrace would soil, and whose +seeming support was an insidious undermining. Besides, it was much +more in accordance with his character to regard the exclusion from +which he suffered as a challenge to be answered, an adversary to be +overcome, rather than a verdict to be acquiesced in. He would prove to +the world that it had been mistaken. + +Day after day, therefore, he spent in his office,--as many a +new-fledged lawyer has done before him,--waiting with what patience he +might for the clients that never came, and reading hard, by way of +preparation for the cases that never presented themselves. It was dull +and lonely work; yet it did him good service, in giving him time for +thought and reflection, and in making him acquainted with his own +resources of will, courage, patience, and energy. + +The only persons who came within the circle of loneliness that +surrounded him, were Mrs. Lyte, Cathie, and Dr. Remy. The first showed +him much gentle, unobtrusive kindness, chiefly manifesting itself in a +motherly oversight of his rooms and prevision of his wants. The second +fluttered in and out of his office, like a bird or a butterfly, +affording him much amusing, and often opportune, distraction from hard +study or sober-hued thought. But neither of these two, for obvious +reasons, could give him just the close, helpful friendship, of which he +stood in need. + +Neither did he find it in Dr. Remy. Though he met the physician daily, +and often engaged with him in hour-long colloquies upon all sorts of +topics, he never felt that he really knew him any better than on the +first day of their acquaintance. The doctor's peculiar frankness, +which had seemed, at first sight, to promise such facility of intimacy, +proved to be really more of the nature of an elastic barrier, yielding +everywhere to the slightest pressure, but nowhere completely giving +way. Or, it might be still more fitly characterized as a deceitful +quagmire, wherein the curious explorer sank indefinitely, but never +touched solid bottom. + +Not that the doctor was at all reticent in regard to the main facts of +his outward life. In a desultory way he had furnished Bergan with a +sufficiently distinct outline sketch of his somewhat eventful career, +up to the present moment,--a career which, for shifts and turns, outdid +that of Gil Blas. According to this, he was born in New Orleans, the +posthumous son of a French refugee, by an American wife. When he was +twelve years old, his mother had presented him with a stepfather. The +gift proved so little to his taste that, two years later, he ran away +from the pair, and flung himself into that El Dorado of boyish +imagination--life at sea. In one capacity or another, during the next +twelve years, he not only contrived to visit most of the countries of +Europe, but also by dint of natural aptitude for study, to pick up a +language or two, and to acquaint himself with the essential part of a +college curriculum. It now occurred to him to return to New Orleans, +and claim the modest patrimony awaiting him there, in the hands of his +father's executors. He found that his stepfather had been dead for +three or four years, and his mother, after having exhausted her own +scanty resources, was sinking, with her two children, into the dreary +depths of poverty. It cost her some effort to recognize the slender +stripling of her memory in the brown, bearded, broad-shouldered man, +who now presented himself before her as her son. However, his identity +was satisfactorily established, both by certain indisputable personal +marks, and by the presumptive evidence of his willingness to assume the +burden of her support. + +His next step had been to place himself in a lawyer's office, where, in +virtue of close application, he made months do the work of years. +Admitted by-and-by to the Bar, he had practised his profession for a +brief space, but finding the legal life not wholly to his taste, he had +flung it aside; and with the ready facility which had characterized his +whole career, had betaken himself to the study and the practice of +medicine. Here, he averred, he had found his true vocation, the +rightful mistress of his intellect, and should undergo no more +transformations, and indulge in no more wanderings. + +So far, Dr. Remy gave quite as frank an account of himself as could be +expected or desired. But when it came to his inner life of thought, +opinion, principle, his frankness was of the sort that obscures, rather +than explains. It put forth jest and earnest, reason and sophistry, +airy spirituality and dead materialism, with equal readiness, and with +as much show of interest in one as the other. If Bergan caught at what +seemed to be substance, it turned to shadow in his grasp. If he +grappled with apparent earnest, it quickly resolved itself into a +hollow helmet of sudden championship, or a thin mask of irony. He was +often startled with a doubt whether the doctor had any settled opinions +or principles. He pulled down, but he built not up; he attacked, but +he rarely defended,--or, if he defended a thing to-day, more likely +than not, he would assault it to-morrow. All Bergan's own opinions and +beliefs seemed to lose their consistency in the universal solvent of +the doctor's talk, and only took shape again after a protracted process +of precipitation, in his own mind and heart. + +If the latter organ made any part of Doctor Remy's bodily system, it +never manifested itself to Bergan by any noticeable throb or sensible +warmth. The young man was often puzzled by the question whence came +the doctor's evident interest in himself, since it seemed so plain that +it did not spring from any warm personal liking. He felt himself to be +the object of his careful study, frequently; of his spontaneous +affection and sympathy, never. He could not but wonder at such an +amount and duration of a purely intellectual interest,--for such he +decided it to be,--when it promised so little result. + +However, the doctor's was the only society, worthy of the name, that +was offered to him; his, too, the only friendship, or semblance +thereof, that came within his reach. He gratefully availed himself of +both, even while conscious that neither fully met his wants, or would +have been the object of his deliberate choice. Without this resource, +the flow of Bergan's life would have been characterized by a drearier +monotony, even, than at present. + +The first slight break in its placid current, occurred one morning, on +his return from breakfasting at the hotel. To his surprise, Vic was +tied before Mrs. Lyte's gate, arching her neck, and twisting her ears +about, in her usual wild and nervous fashion. In most confiding +proximity to her restless heels, Brick lay fast asleep on the sunshiny +sward. + +Roused by the sound of approaching footsteps, the latter sprang to his +feet, and donned the palm-leaf debris that he termed his hat, in time +to doff it in deferential acknowledgment of Bergan's surprised greeting. + +"Why, Brick! how do you do? Is anything the matter at the Hall?" + +"No, massa Harry, nothing 't all. Only, ole massa, he say we's gittin +lazy,--Vic an' me;--an' he tought you'd better be gettin' some good out +ob us, dan to leab us in de stable--no, I mean, in the cabin, no, one +in de stable and turrer in de cabin--a-eatin' our heads off;--dat's +jes' what he said, massa. So he clared us off in a hurry, an' tole us +to gib you his lub, and tell you dat he 'sposed you'd kinder forgotten +'bout us." + +There could be no question but that the overture was kindly meant, on +the Major's part, but it was one that Bergan could not possibly accept. +Judging from present indications, it would be long before his +professional income would suffice for his own support, to say nothing +of the additional expense of a servant and horse. Besides, he had +never regarded either Brick or the filly as actual gifts, but only +convenient loans, for his use while at the Hall. Any other view of the +matter would, by no means, have suited his independent character. And, +if this had been the case before the rupture with his uncle, it was +doubly so, now. Major Bergan must not be suffered to think that his +resentment had given way, or that his good will had been restored, by +the aid of any gifts, however valuable, or kindly bestowed. + +Yet he would be glad to send his uncle a friendly message, to show that +he was really grateful for his kindness, and ready to accept any +overture which would not burden him with too heavy a sense of +obligation. To ensure its safe delivery, without the risk of hopeless +travesty, at Brick's hands, he went to his desk, and wrote: + + +"DEAR UNCLE: Thank you for sending me your love; _that_ is a thing +which I am glad to get and keep. But I cannot keep either Brick or +Vic,--I have no present use for them, and no means of providing for +them, if I had. Besides, I never regarded either as mine, except while +I remained at the Hall. Many thanks, all the same, for your kind +intentions. + + "Your affectionate nephew, + 'HARRY.'" + + +The signature was written only after considerable hesitation. His note +would be sure to fail of the desired conciliatory effect, if it wholly +ignored the name upon which his uncle had so strenuously insisted. Yet +he could not bring himself to incorporate it with his lawful +sign-manual. He was forced to compromise matters by thus using it as a +sort of _sobriquet_. + +Giving the note to Brick, he bade him take it straightway to his +master. The negro's face instantly fell; then, it brightened again +with the light of a plausible explanation. + +"I 'spec I'se to come back, arter I'se 'livered it?" he asked, +anxiously. + +"No, Brick," Bergan gravely answered. "I cannot afford to keep you; it +is as much as I can do, just now, to keep myself." + +"But, massa Harry," remonstrated Brick, "don't you know I 'longs to +you? I'se your nigger, sure as deff; ole massa gib me to you, an' tole +me to wait on you, don' you 'member? An' how's I a goin' to wait on +you, I'd jes' like to know, wid tree good miles atween us? 'Sides, I'd +feel so mortify to go right back dar, like a dog dat don' own no massa, +arter I done tole 'em all I's coming to lib wid you." + +It was not without difficulty that Brick was convinced of the +inevitableness of his return to Major Bergan. Not only did his heart +yearn to be in the service of his young master, but he was fully +persuaded that he could help, rather than hinder, his fortunes. He +forcibly expressed his willingness to work his fingers off in the +cause, and gravely proposed to put himself on a course of +semi-starvation, in the matter of "keep." All this being of no avail, +he was finally forced to mount Vic, and turn homeward, a picture of the +blackest despair. + +On the way, his mind was illumined with a gleam of hope. Like all the +negroes of the plantation, he had large faith in the occult power of +old Rue. His present journey, he well knew, was mainly owing to her +influence. If she could be made to see the propriety of his immediate +return to Bergan's service, as he did, no doubt she could find a way to +bring it to pass. And her conversion to his views could be effected, +he shrewdly thought, by a skilful use of Bergan's confession of +straitened circumstances, as well as a certain suggestive increase of +gravity that he had observed in the young man's manner. His smile had +not come quite so readily and brightly to his lips as in the old days +at Bergan Hall. No doubt he was poor, lonely, and troubled. He needed +some one to take care of him, and watch over him. And who so eligible +to this position as himself? For Brick had inherited his grandmother's +devotion to the Bergan blood, and believed that the chief end of his +being was to live and die loyally in its service. Moreover, his young +master had not only taken tenacious hold of his affections, but also of +that still stronger faculty of the negro mind--his imagination. Though +he might be a distressed knight, just at present, Brick's faith was +firm that his time of triumph was not far off; and then, he wanted to +be "there to see!" + +He lost no time, therefore, in presenting himself before Rue, on his +arrival at Bergan Hall. And so dexterously did he work upon her love +and pride, by the deplorable picture that he drew of Bergan's sadness +and poverty, that the faithful old nurse straightway betook herself to +her master, and never left him till she had persuaded him to mount his +horse, and set forth, at a brisk trot, toward Berganton. + +In truth, the Major was only too glad to be so persuaded. His anger +towards his nephew had quickly burned out, by reason of its own fury; +and in thinking the matter over, he had come to be more tickled by the +young man's prowess than he had, at first, been displeased by his +flight. + +"You should have seen him knocking those fellows around, like so many +ninepins!" he exclaimed, exultingly, to Rue. "I couldn't have done it +more neatly myself, in my best days. I tell you, he is a true Bergan +at bottom, if he has got a few crinks and cranks at top. What a pity +he could not make up his mind to stay quietly on the old place, where +he belongs; and which he might have done what he pleased with, if he +had only taken me on the right tack! But he'll come back--he'll come +back! Estates like Bergan Hall don't grow on every bush. It won't +take him long to find out that he can't raise one from the law. And +then, he'll be glad to come back to me; and I'll receive him as the +father did the prodigal son!" + +But, as time rolled on, and Bergan did not appear to claim this +welcome, the Major began to feel a chagrin that would quickly have been +intensified into anger, but for the happy suggestion that the young man +delayed merely because he was dubious as to his reception. This view +of the matter was an excellent salve to whatever of bitter or wounded +feeling the Major still retained. Bergan longing, yet fearing, to +return to him, was a vision that gently soothed his pride, while it +appealed powerfully to his sympathies. + +Matters having reached this point, he yielded easily to Rue's +suggestion that Bergan's horse and servant should be sent to him, as a +hint that hostilities had ceased. And though their prompt return was, +at first, new matter of wrath, Bergan's note, Brick's report, and Rue's +representations and entreaties, availed to smother the half-kindled +flame, and send him forth toward Berganton in a most forgiving and +patronizing frame of mind. He was ready to make any concessions to his +nephew's principles and habits. If Bergan would but return to the +Hall, he might dictate his own terms, and order his life in his own +way. The Major had missed him more than he would have been willing to +allow. The old place had not seemed the same without him. Its present +had lost a strong element of cheer and energy, and its future had faded +into dimness. + +Arriving, in due time, at Mrs. Lyte's gate, the Major dismounted, and +was about to enter, when his eyes fell on the little tin plate, in +Bergan's office window, which has before been mentioned. If it had +been the head of Medusa, with all its supernatural powers intact, it +could scarcely have wrought a more complete change in the expression of +his face. First, he glared at it in incredulous wonder; then, he +nearly choked with inarticulate rage; finally, words came to his +relief. To the consternation of Mrs. Lyte, and the intense +gratification of the crowd of boys and negroes which quickly gathered +at a safe distance, he proceeded to pour forth a volley of the +bitterest curses that he could frame upon the author of what he chose +to consider an insult to himself, and a disgrace to his lineage. + +"That I should live to see the name of Bergan on a snip of a tin sign, +like that!" he growled, shaking his fist at the offending plate, and +trembling with rage;--"what right had the scoundrel to put it there, I +should like to know? 'Attorney at Law,' indeed!--he shall have law +enough, since he likes it so well! I'll sue him for trespass, libel, +forgery,--I'll horsewhip him, and then have him indicted for assault +and battery,--I'll--." But here his indignation choked him, for a +moment. + +Recovering his voice, his anger took a new direction. "'Bergan +Arling,' indeed!" he muttered,--"I suppose he was ashamed of the +'Harry,' though he could put it at the end of his note,--smooth-faced +hypocrite that he is! Where is he?" he went on, lifting his voice. +"Why don't he come out, and face me, like a man? Must I go in and drag +him out, by the nape of the neck,--the mean, sneaking, insulting puppy!" + +"Mr. Arling is out, I regret to say," said Dr. Remy, appearing in the +doorway, and confronting the furious Major with his cool, cynical +smile. "He went out for a walk some fifteen or twenty minutes ago. If +he were here, no doubt it would give him great pleasure to meet you." + +Major Bergan scowled in a way to show how willingly he would transfer +his wrath to this timely object, if he could only find a reasonable +excuse. But, discovering not the shadow of one in the doctor's polite, +careless manner, he contented himself with growling,-- + +"Out, is he? I wish he were out of the county--and a good riddance! +When will he be in?" + +"Not under an hour or two," answered the doctor, wisely postponing the +era of Bergan's return to the utmost limit. + +"Umph! that's the way he spends his time, is it? loafing about the +country when he should be in his office! Well, I've got something to +do, besides wait for him. Just tell him, will you? that I owe him a +good, sound horse-whipping, and I'll pay it to him the first time I +meet him." + +"I will take charge of your kind message with pleasure," returned the +doctor, blandly. "Any further commands?" + +"No!" roared the Major, with a dim suspicion that he was being made to +appear ridiculous,--"not unless you like to come out and take the +horsewhipping yourself. On the whole, I'd just as soon give it to you." + +"Many thanks," replied the doctor, with imperturbable coolness. "But I +could not consent to appropriate anything designed for Mr. Arling." + +"If it hurts your conscience, you can pass it over to him," rejoined +Major Bergan, with grim humor. + +"It would lose its flavor at second-hand," said the doctor, smiling. + +"It would be your own fault, if it did," responded the Major. "At any +rate, take care that my message don't lose anything, on the way. And +while you're about it, just tell him that he shall never have Bergan +Hall, nor an inch of ground that belongs to it, never! I'll give it +to--Astra Lyte, first!" + +The doctor slightly shrugged his shoulders, as an intimation that the +Major's disposition of his property was a matter that did not interest +him; but the latter mistook it for a sign of incredulity. + +"I will! I swear I will!" he repeated, with an oath. "And why +shouldn't I?" he went on, after a slight pause, as if the sudden idea +had unexpectedly commended itself to him,--"why shouldn't I? Her +father was my cousin; and he had Bergan blood in his veins, too, +through his mother; and he was a right good fellow, besides. Where is +she?" + +"Miss Lyte is in New York, on a visit," replied the doctor. + +"Umph! I should like to see her. Is she growing up bright and +handsome?" + +"She is both," returned the doctor, briefly. + +"Then, she shall have it!" exclaimed the Major, with sudden decision. +"I'll go home, and make my will. Tell Harry so, for his comfort, when +he comes back." + +And the Major, delighted that he had bethought himself of a revenge so +swift and ample, mounted his horse, and rode off. + +On Bergan's return, the scene was described to him by Doctor Remy, with +a minuteness and accuracy of detail and coloring that did great credit +to that gentleman's powers both of observation and description. +Nevertheless, there was something of cynicism, or of satire, that +grated on his listener's ear; and he finally stopped the doctor's flow +of eloquence with the question,-- + +"Who is Astra Lyte?" + +The doctor looked at him, with much surprise. "Is it possible that you +have not yet heard of her?" he asked. "She is Mrs. Lyte's eldest +daughter; and a genius, too,--or, at least, an artist;--they are not +always synonymous terms, I believe. But where have you been living, +not to have become acquainted with her name before this? It is always +on Mrs. Lyte's lips; at least, she is ready to talk of her by the hour, +with a little encouragement." + +"My conversations with Mrs. Lyte have not been many nor long," replied +Bergan. "An artist, did you say?" + +But Doctor Remy had fallen into a fit of thought. He merely answered +the question by a nod; and very shortly, he left Bergan to his own +reflections. + + + + +V. + +UNDER THE OAKS. + +Not many weeks after the preceding incidents, Bergan went out, early +one afternoon, for a long, solitary ramble. It was not his wont to +leave his office before dusk, but his head ached with study, and his +heart with loneliness and discouragement; an intolerable weariness and +irksomeness had taken possession of him; his book seemed meaningless, +and his brain paralyzed; there was nothing for it but to turn from the +world of thought, that had suddenly grown so insufferably arid and +dead, to the living, breathing world of nature. Forest, and field, and +wave, if they could not give him intelligent sympathy, could at least +furnish him gentle distraction. + +And, oftentimes, there was a subtile harmony, almost amounting to +sympathy, between his lonely moods, and the soft, rich, yet melancholy, +Southern landscape,--for melancholy it always seemed to him, though +that effect may have been partly owing to the gray medium of isolation +and depression through which he viewed it. But, whatever its origin, +this gentle mournfulness was the landscape's consummate charm,--at +least, for any burdened human heart. It is possible that Eden wore a +soft grace of pensive beauty, after the fall, which Adam and Eve, +wandering back thither, would have counted a dearer delight, in their +then mood, than its old, unshadowed brightness. + +On his way out, Bergan found Nix stretched at full length across the +threshold. With the usual preference of his race for masculine over +feminine society, the dog had early attached himself to the young man, +as much as was consistent with a different ownership. He now rose, +shook himself, wagged his tail, and looked wistfully in Bergan's face. +Meeting with no rebuff, he made bold to follow him. + +Leaving the town behind as quickly as possible, Bergan first struck +into a long, lonely lane, shut in, on either side, by a thick border of +multifarious foliage. Trees and shrubs, both deciduous and evergreen, +not only mingled their boughs along its sides, but were tied together +in an intricate polygamous knot by tangled vines. There was an endless +diversity of form and color,--every shape of leaf, and every hue and +shade of green and brown, with occasional tints of red, purple, and +orange, both pale and bright,--and everywhere the gray fringe of the +Spanish moss. + +By and by, the lane terminated in the inevitable pine barren, which +frames all Southern landscape pictures. It stretched away, in every +direction, as far as the eye could reach,--a vast, dim solitude, with a +thick, blue-green roof, upheld by innumerable slender columns, and a +carpet of fallen needles, on which the foot fell without a sound. A +mysterious sigh pervaded it, even when no breeze was astir; its light +was but a gentle gloom; and it had a soft, aromatic atmosphere of its +own, as if it were another world. No fitter place could have been +found for the indulgence of a youthful day dream, with enough of +inherent light and color to overcome the prevailing sombreness, or, at +least, to set itself in stronger relief against so darksome a +background. But to Bergan, the vast, dim monotony, with its suggestive +correspondence to the circumstances of his own life, brought only added +heartache. The chance openings into the sky were so few, and the +sunshine never fell save flickeringly, at the farther extremity of some +long vista! He soon began to yearn for outlook and aspiration, some +spot affording at least a glimpse of the surrounding world, as well as +a fair look at the open sky. Happily, he knew where to find it. + +Long since, he had discovered for himself a convenient and attractive +out-door haunt,--a kind of natural amphitheatre, on the edge of one of +the numerous bays, or creeks, of the vicinity. Great, patriarchal +live-oaks, with hoary beards of moss trailing even to the ground, had +ranged themselves in a semi-circle, on a high bank, overlooking the +water. Standing in attitudes of ponderous grace, each one scattered +shade and quietude over fifty, sixty, or, it might be, an hundred, feet +of sward. Through a broad opening, in the midst of the dignified +circle, the cheerful sunshine fell unbrokenly; and on the water-side, +there was a fair stretch of blue waves, with a sea-green horizon-line +afar; and over all, a wide half-dome of sky, with its changeable +tracery of clouds, and its transparent concord of color. It was hard +to believe that the hand of man had not wrought with that of nature, to +produce a spot so perfect. Many a sunset had Bergan enjoyed there; +many a twilight had he mused away, under the rustling oak-boughs; many +a time, the rising moon had found him there, and surrounded him with +weird enchantment. + +All along, this spot had been the goal of his steps, though--by way of +trying first what help and heart were to be found in exercise--he had +chosen to reach it by a most circumlocutory route. So far as he knew, +it was his own, by right of occupancy, as well as discovery; never had +it showed a sign that it knew the pressure of any other human foot. + +As he drew near, the sun was sending long, slanting beams of ruddy +light athwart the amphitheatre, and dyeing the polished oak-leaves in +rich tints of gold and orange. He quickened his steps, the sooner to +reach the point whence sunset-splendors were to be seen to the best +advantage; and upon which he had taken occasion to construct a low, +rustic seat. + +To his amazement, it was already occupied. A lady was quietly seated +therein, her cheek resting on her hand, her eyes (as he judged from her +pose, for her back was toward him) fixed on the glowing sky. + +He stopped short, uncertain whether to advance or retreat. + +Nix--who had lingered behind, to make a feint of hunting a +squirrel--settled the question for him. Coming upon the scene, he +first sniffed the air, and then dashed at the intruder. Fearing lest +his intentions might be unfriendly,--or, at least, that the lady would +be startled by his sudden appearance,--Bergan sternly called after +him;-- + +"Nix! Nix! Here! Come back, you scamp!" + +But Nix, if he heard, certainly did not heed. He was fawning upon the +lady, in a way to indicate a previous acquaintance of considerable +standing and intimacy. She, on her part, received his rude caresses +quite as a matter of course, and cordially patted his rough head. Then +she turned to Bergan. + +"Nix does not mean to be disobedient," said she, apologetically. +"Only, he recognizes in me an older friend than Mr. Arling, and, +perhaps,"--she smiled,--"a superseding authority." + +Bergan bowed. "He is fortunate," said he,--"that is, in finding a +friend, old or new, where he did not look for one." + +He spoke with a slight bitterness of tone, in involuntary recognition +of the fact that no such pleasant discovery was ever the reward of his +own aimless rambles. At the same time, he looked curiously at the +lady, seeking a clue to her identity. She had seemed to know him; yet +he could not remember that he had ever met her before. + +Apparently, she was young; certainly, she was small, and somewhat +slender. Without being absolutely pretty, her face was exceedingly +interesting, by reason of its mobility and vivacity of +expression;--albeit, its changes were not always to be easily +understood, nor its language at once interpreted. Her eyes were of the +darkest gray, with a clear and penetrative glance, that seemed to go +straight to the depths of whatever object they sought. Her manner, +though perfectly feminine, had an air of strength and energy, in marked +contrast with the languid grace which is the more frequent product of +Southern soil. She was very simply dressed,--in some soft, gray +material, the one beauty of which was its ability to fall in artistic +folds about her figure;--nevertheless, there was a certain pleasant +peculiarity, a kind of sober picturesqueness, about her attire, that +lifted it more surely out of the region of the common-place than any +richness of texture, or newness of fashion, could have done. Moreover, +it satisfied the eye with a sense of fitness; it was plainly the +legitimate outgrowth of the wearer's character. Not that it bid +defiance to fashion, but it did not conform to it to the extent of a +complete sacrifice of individuality. + +Her only ornament was a cluster of bright scarlet leaves, that she had +doubtless found on her way thither, and fastened on her breast; and +which an opportune sun-ray now touched into vivid splendor. This, too, +suited her. It seemed the subtile outward expression of some +correspondingly warm and rich characteristic within; glowing soft +against the gray texture of an otherwise grave, earnest, almost severe +character. It might be sparkling wit, or warm affections, or both, +that were thus pleasantly symbolized. + +She met Bergan's curious glance with a quiet smile, that seemed to +understand its object, and enjoy, beforehand, its discomfiture. She +even answered it with a brief scrutiny, that was hardly less in +earnest, though not at all puzzled,--scarcely, even, inquiring. + +At this moment, the sun suddenly disappeared. The two faces, that had +been so clearly and ruddily lit up by his declining beams, were left +pale and shadowed, looking at each other under the solemn old trees; +through the branches of which the wind now began to whisper softly, as +if moved to utter some sombre prediction, which yet it could not make +quite plain. + +"Do you believe in omens?" asked the young lady, with a kind of playful +shiver. + +"Not at all," answered Bergan, looking a little surprised. + +"It is as well that you do not. For I suspect that they are like +certain modes of medical treatment; they require a large element of +faith to make them efficacious. And, to say truth, neither do I +believe in them--except in a poetical way. If I did, I should say that +this sudden shadow augurs but badly for our future acquaintance, and +influence upon each other." + +"If it means," replied Bergan, "that we are to know sunshine and shade +together, little more could be predicted--or desired--of any earthly +acquaintance." + +"Perhaps not. Still, as I _do_ believe in omens, as I said before, in +a poetical way, I am glad to see that the sun is not really set, after +all. He only sank into a deceptive line of cloud. There! he comes +forth again, to give us another bright glance before his final +leave-taking. And, in order to leave the omen in its present +satisfactory state, I will anticipate his departure. Good evening." + +Slightly inclining her head, as she passed Bergan, she quickly +disappeared under the low-hanging oak boughs. + +Nix looked after her, for a moment; then he turned to Bergan, as if +wondering why he did not go, too. Seeing no sign of departure, he was +about to fling himself upon the ground, when a clear, sweet whistle +suddenly sounded from the direction which the young lady had taken. +Pricking up his ears, he instantly set off at a great pace; leaving +Bergan with a vague sadness, as having been deserted by his last friend. + +However, the feeling was but momentary. Very quickly he turned to the +consideration of the interesting question who his late interlocutor +might be. Running over in his mind all the branches of the family of +Bergan, in the neighborhood (of which there were several, more or less +direct), he soon decided that she did not harmonize with what he knew +of any of them. Yet she had seemed to know him; and to think, and even +to intimate, that they were likely to meet again, and possibly to exert +a degree of influence upon each other's lives. And still, as he +pondered and questioned, the oak trees kept whispering overhead, with +all their multitudinous tongues, an apparently full, but +unintelligible, explanation. + +He bewildered himself with conjectures, until all the sunset tints had +faded from the sky, and darkness was fast gathering under the oak +boughs. Then he rose, and went his solitary way homeward. + +Arrived at Mrs. Lyte's gate, it seemed to him that there was an unusual +stir and liveliness about the house. Certainly, a broad beam of light +was shining across the hall, from a door that he had never before seen +open. Ere he could think what these things betokened, Cathie came +running to meet him, with a great piece of news in her beaming face. + +"Oh! Mr. Arling!" she exclaimed, in almost breathless delight, "Astra +has come!" + +The mystery was at an end. Indeed it could scarcely have been a +mystery, but for two concurrent circumstances. In the first place, +knowing Miss Lyte to be an artist,--or at least, an art-student,--and +possessed of a sufficiently independent character and spirit, he had +unconsciously sketched a portrait of her in his fancy, very different +from the original,--taller, larger, with more color, and, certainly, +less feminine. And, secondly, only the day before, he had heard Mrs. +Lyte lamenting that her daughter would not be at home for another month. + +A sudden turn of circumstances, however, had wrought an equally sudden +change in Miss Lyte's plans; and, taking advantage of the opportune +escort afforded by a business trip of a friend, she had journeyed +southward with such celerity as to outstrip the letter of announcement +that she had dispatched, a day before her departure from New York. +Reaching home almost immediately after Bergan had gone out for his +solitary stroll, she had spent the afternoon in a long, earnest, +circumstantial talk with her mother,--discussing her plans and +prospects,--throwing off, with careless fluency, vivid picture upon +picture of her art life and work in the city,--listening eagerly to +interjectional items of home news,--and cheering Mrs. Lyte's heart, +through and through, with her bright spirits, her ready, yet healthful, +sympathy, and the inspiring energy both of her manner and mind. With +the very sight of her, more than half the widow's burden of sorrow and +care had slipped unconsciously from her shoulders. + +Finally, toward sunset, foreseeing an unusual amount of sky-splendor, +she had gone forth for a brief enjoyment of it to her old, favorite +haunt,--the oak glade which Bergan had also discovered and taken into +favor. Meeting the young man there, she had instantly recognized +him,--by reason of Nix's suggestive companionship, and her mother's +recent description,--and had taken an innocent pleasure in subjecting +him to a transient mystification. + +"She gave us _such_ a surprise," went on Cathie, joyously. "Mamma +almost fainted, and I--guess what I did, Mr. Arling." + +To please her, Bergan guessed what he supposed to be the most unlikely +thing; and so, in consequence of the child's peculiar character, he +guessed right. + +"Doubtless, you cried," said he. + +"So I did," replied Cathie, opening her eyes wide, "though I can't see +how you knew it. But I thought I was laughing, all the time, till +Astra asked me why I was so sorry to see her, and offered to go away +again if the sight of her was so painful!' And _that_ made me laugh, +in good earnest! And oh! Mr. Arling, do come and see her little white +boy! She has just been unpacking him, to show him to mamma." + +"Willingly," replied Bergan, "if you are sure that she would like me to +see him." + +"I'll ask her," replied Cathie, darting through the open doorway at the +left, whence came the broad beam of light aforementioned, and through +which Bergan caught a glimpse of Mrs. Lyte's black-draped figure, +seated at the farther corner of the room, in an attitude of pleased +contemplation of some object not within his range of vision. + +The next moment, Miss Lyte herself appeared on the threshold, and, +seeing by his face that his mystification was over, she frankly held +out her hand to him. + +"So you have found me out!" said she, laughing. "Was it wicked in me +not to answer that look in your eyes, which said so plainly, 'Who on +earth _can_ she be?' Can you pardon my selfish enjoyment of your +perplexity?" + +"A perplexity that ends so pleasantly deserves thanks rather than +pardon," returned Bergan. + +And having answered Mrs. Lyte's cordial greeting, and congratulated her +upon the event which had brought such unaccustomed radiance into her +face, Bergan turned, with a pardonable curiosity--or it might more +fitly be termed, an inevitable interest,--to glance around the room in +which he found himself. Never before had he happened to enter that +middle ground between the airiest ideal and the earthliest real, which +is occupied by a sculptor's studio. + + + + +VI. + +OF CLAY. + +Bergan's first glance around the studio was necessarily a comprehensive +one, dealing with general effect, rather than minute detail. A large +(though not a lofty) room; a bare floor; walls crowded with designs and +studies; four or five busts and statues standing around the sides, and +the life-size figure of a child in the middle, of the room;--this was +what that first glance revealed to him. + +Cathie gave him no time for a second. "Look at the dear little boy, +Mr. Arling; do look at him!" she exclaimed, joining her hands over her +head, and executing a rapturous _pas seul_ around the object of her +delight. "See his cunning little whip, and his funny little feet, and +isn't he a little white darling!" + +Thus besought, Bergan turned his attention to the statue in the midst. + +At first sight, it seemed to represent merely a pretty and playful +human child, with a toy-whip in his hand, his head half-turned over one +shoulder, and an arch and roguish expression, as if bent on some errand +of mischief. But, while Bergan continued to gaze, fascinated, the +small physiognomy seemed to grow wily and malign, as well as arch; and +an intelligence, far more swift and subtle than ever infant of mortal +race was gifted withal, informed the tiny features. The light feet, +too, were plainly moved by deliberate purpose of guile, rather than +childish impulse; and on their soles, broad sinuate leaves were bound, +either for protection or disguise. + +Bergan looked at the figure long and earnestly, enjoying its delicate +freshness and piquancy, but trying in vain to fathom its meaning. + +"What will-o'-the-wisp is it?" he finally asked. "And what is he +doing, with his soft cunning and smiling malice?" + +"He is a god," replied Astra. "As to his errand, it is the laudable +one of cattle-stealing." + +"It seems to be a case of very early depravity," said Bergan, smiling, +yet puzzled. + +"Early enough to be termed 'original sin,'" returned Astra. "For + + 'The babe was born at the first peep of day * * + And the same evening did he steal away + Apollo's herds.'-- + +Did you ever read Homer's 'Hymn to Mercury?'" + +"Never. Indeed, I am not quite sure that I ever heard of it," replied +Bergan. "Is it usually counted among his works?" + +"I think so; though it is fair to say that his authorship of it has +been questioned. At any rate, Shelley has put it into very musical +English verse; and there I found my subject. The circumstances of +Mercury's birth being first narrated, the newborn immortal is described +as 'a babe all other babes excelling,' and also a subtle schemer and +thief. He first invents the lyre, and accompanies his own impromptu +song of 'plastic verse,' with it; then he is 'seized with a sudden +fancy for fresh meat,' and betakes himself to the Pierian mountains, +where Apollo's 'immortal oxen' are feeding. Separating fifty from the +herd, + + 'He drove them wandering o'er the sandy way, + But, being ever mindful of his craft,--' + +that is to say, his inborn guile,-- + + 'Backward and forward drove he them astray, + So that the tracks, which seemed before, were aft: + His sandals then he threw to the ocean-spray, + And for each foot he wrought a kind of raft + Of tamarisk and tamarisk-like twigs,'"-- + +"I see," said Bergan, smiling. "The consummate little rogue!" + +Astra went on:-- + + "'And on his feet he bound these sandals light, + The trail of whose wide leaves might not betray + His track; and then, a self-sufficing wight, * * + He from Pieria's mountain bent his flight,--' + +driving the stolen cattle before him, of course. And this is the +moment at which I have sought to represent him." + +"And very perfectly you have succeeded," said Bergan, admiringly. "The +arch cunning and malice of the face is simply wonderful. Indeed, it +seems to me that the statue lacks but one thing." + +"And what is that?" said Astra, quickly; at the same time flashing a +swift, searching glance at her work, as if she would fain have +anticipated the criticism. + +"It does not tell how the story ended." + +"Oh!" said Astra, looking both relieved and amused. "I am glad that +you did not keep me waiting so long as Michael Angelo did poor +Domenico." + +"How long was that, pray?" + +"You shall hear. Domenico Ghirlandaio, a celebrated Florentine +painter, having completed a picture of St. Francis, upon which he had +exhausted his utmost skill, and which seemed to him to be perfect, sent +for a young artist of great promise, Buonarotti by name, (who had also +been his pupil), and asked for his opinion of the work. The young man +contemplated it for some moments, said gravely, 'It needs but one +thing,' and departed. The master remained, to study the picture anew, +to pore over it hour after hour, and day after day, and rack his brain +with the question what it needed. Years after, when Buonarotti had +become Michael Angelo, and filled the world with his fame, Domenico +sent for him to come to his death-chamber. 'What did the picture +need?' he asked, faintly. 'Only speech,' replied Michael Angelo. The +old master smiled,--and died." + +"It is a touching story," said Bergan. "And it is almost an allegory, +too. For 'only speech' is so often the great need of life! All our +deepest feeling and best thought are inarticulate. But am I to be +indulged with the rest of _this_ story, also?" he added, turning again +to the statue. + +"I will give it you in brief," replied Astra, "by way of whetting your +appetite for the richer savors of the poem itself. Having driven his +stolen cattle to Alpheus, the infant god selected two fat heifers for +sacrifice. And here, it seems to me, is one of the finest touches in +the whole poem. After kindling his fire, slaying his heifers, and +offering a portion to each of the twelve gods, + + ----'his mind became aware + Of all the joys that in religion are. + For the sweet savor of the roasted meat + Tempted him, though immortal. Nathless + He checked his haughty will and did not eat, + Though what it cost him words can scarce express.' + +Here, you see, is real self-denial and self-conquest,--for the sake of +making an acceptable sacrifice,--and their deep after delight." + +"If the offering had been less ill-gotten," remarked Bergan, somewhat +dryly, "I think the 'touch' would have been still finer." + +"I confess that I had forgotten all about that," said Astra, laughing, +"in my admiration of the infant god's mastery over himself. Still, we +cannot expect to find the purity of the Gospel standard of life in the +heathen mythology; we can but be thankful for the gleams of Divine +light here and there irradiating it, since a whole people long lived +and died under its sanction. But, at this rate, my story will never +end! The baby god next proceeded to remove every trace of his +holocaust, working all night 'in the serene moonshine.' Then, at break +of day, he betook himself to his natal cavern, crept quickly to his +cradle, pulled his 'ambrosial swaddling clothes about him,' and put on +a soft semblance of new-born innocence. In due time, Apollo, having +discovered the loss of his cattle, and suspecting who was the rogue, +came to the cavern, found the 'subtle, swindling baby,' lying 'swathed +in his sly wiles,' and taxed him with the theft. At once, the young +'god of lies' shows forth his character. He stoutly denies all +knowledge of the mischief; he pathetically declares,-- + + 'I am but a little newborn thing, + Who yet, at least, can think of nothing wrong; + My business is to suck and sleep and fling + The cradle-clothes about me all day long,-- + Or, half-asleep, hear my sweet mother sing,-- + And to be washed in water clean and warm, + And hushed and kissed and kept secure from harm;--' + +and, finally, he swears that he does not even know 'whatever things +cows are!' However, Apollo turns a deaf ear to all his wiles and +pleadings, and compels him to go before Jupiter; who laughs to hear his +plausible account of himself,--'and every word a lie,'--but finally +bids him show Apollo where he has hidden the stolen cattle. This he +does, 'nothing loath,' and finally subdues the sun-god + + ----'by the might, + Of winning music, to his mightier will: + . . . . . sweet as love, + The penetrating notes did live and move + Within the heart of great Apollo: he + Listened with all his soul, and laughed for pleasure.' + + +"And here we may as well leave them. For the rest of the story,--as +well as for many pleasant pictures and nice touches, of which my +abstract gives no hint,--you should go to the poem itself." + +"I shall be sure to do so," said Bergan, "with this arch, airy little +figure to lead the way. But it should be in marble, it seems to me, +rather than in plaster." + +Astra smiled gravely. "For that, a patron--or, at least, a +purchaser--is needed. Marble is expensive as well as indestructible; +few artists can afford to put their works into its safe keeping, +without help. And perhaps it is as well that such is the case, else +Posterity would never be able to bear the stony accumulation that would +be heaped on its back." + +"I think I can venture to promise that it would never feel this airy +creation to be a burden," said Bergan, earnestly. + +"I hope not. But my little Mercury is still my youngest darling, and I +feel all a mother's partiality for it; I have no eyes for its faults. +When the inevitable time of disenchantment comes, and I am able to see +it as it is, I can better tell whether I care to commit it to the white +immortality of marble." + +She continued to gaze at the statue for some moments with fond, dreamy, +wistful eyes,---just as a mother might regard her newborn infant. +Bergan felt a slight pang in beholding this nearness of the work to its +author, this strong, tender, indissoluble bond between the two. Would +ever any work of his--any brief, or plea--come from such a warm depth +of his heart, and embody so much of his life? A poet, a musician even, +might know something of this deep gladness of creation; but a lawyer, a +judge, dealing with dry reason and dusty legal enactments,--was there +any such joy in his work for him? + +Leaving the question unanswered,--as he must needs do, until time and +experience should come, to his help,--Bergan turned anew to the +contemplation of the Mercury; which seemed to grow in beauty and power, +as he continued to look. It would be hard to say how much of this +pleasurable effect was due to the inherent charm of the work, and how +much to the spell shed from the rapt face and softly illuminated eyes +of the artist. Many a work that we look upon but coldly, would quickly +find its way to our hearts, if we knew enough of its history and its +author, to give us the clue to its subtler spirit and aim; while those +which we love without such knowledge, would, by its help, be +transfigured--glorified. If we could stand with Michael Angelo before +his "Moses," or with Guido before his triumphant "Archangel," what new +lights of interpretation would be lit for us at the eyes and lips of +those great masters! + +Nor must it be said that the spectator may be dazzled by the artist's +enthusiasm into awarding the work higher praise than a cooler judgment +would sanction. For just here lies the truth which is too often +overlooked in criticism, both of literature and art. If the critic be +not in sympathy with the worker,--if he do not, in some measure, behold +the work through his eyes,--if he cannot discern what was attempted as +well as what is attained,--then his eyes will be partially holden both +from the beauties and the faults of the work. For nothing, in life or +art, was meant to be looked at by itself. Everything is related to +something else; each helps all. The moment wherein the spectator's +mood and the artist's work make sweet harmony, is the moment of correct +appreciation. + +If Bergan did not understand what an illumination the presence of Miss +Lyte threw over her work, he was fully conscious that her work shed a +transfiguring light over her. The face under the whispering oak boughs +was not the same as this in the studio. That had been simply bright +and mobile, with a spice of _espiéglerie_; this was all alight and +astir with genius. Miss Lyte's very hand partook of the +transformation. Bergan had happened to notice its symmetrical shape, +as revealed by a careless gesture, at their first meeting; but he now +decided that it was not so much its beauty which had attracted his +attention, as a certain peculiarity of delicate energy and adroitness, +which ought of itself to have suggested its artistic skill. + +Bergan's eye fell next on the pedestal of the Mercury, improvised by +turning up on end the packing-box in which it had arrived. The lid lay +on the floor, in two pieces, and was surmounted by a sturdy-looking +hammer and chisel. Bergan's glance went back to that slender hand, +with an unconscious question in it; which Astra was quick to understand. + +"Why not?" said she, with a smile. "Of course, I might have called in +old Cato to open the box; but he would have done it so slowly and +awkwardly that I should have suffered tortures in watching him; it was +easier to do it myself. To be sure," she went on, taking up the hammer +and chisel, "these are not quite so fit for a lady's hands as the +lighter and slenderer implements that I use in modelling; but I like +them well, nevertheless. It would go hard with me, here in this quiet +country town, away from all aids and appliances of art, if I were not +on very good terms with purely mechanical labor. I made the mould, +from which that cast was taken, myself;"--she pointed to the Mercury. + +Bergan looked as if he scarcely understood. + +"I suppose you are aware," pursued Astra, "that the word 'sculptor' is +a misnomer, nowadays. The real sculpture--that is the +marble-cutting--except a few finishing touches, is done by artisans +skilled in that work. The plaster casts are made by regular casters, +from moulds taken from clay models. These last, only, are the work of +the artist throughout,--shaped by his fingers, and informed by his +thought. See! here is the raw material of my work!" + +She pointed to a large triangular box, in one corner of her closet, +filled with fine, moist clay. She even leaned over it, and inhaled its +earthy odor, with a kind of affection. + +Bergan also looked into it so long, so silently, and with so meditative +an aspect, that Miss Lyte finally interrupted the flow of his thoughts +with a question as to their character. + +"I was thinking," replied he, "of the many differing shapes,--lovely, +grand, sorrowful, joyous, winning, repulsive,--that might be lurking +within your tub. And I was wondering which of them you would next call +forth." + +"Think, rather," said Astra, smiling, "of all the shapes that I have +sent into it." + +"You do not mean to say that you use the same clay over again," +exclaimed Bergan, in surprise. + +"Certainly, I do. It loses none of its adaptability by use. In that +tub is the original clay of everything that you see in my studio,--all +the busts, statues, and reliefs, that I have ever done, or tried to +do,--all my successes, and all my failures;--every one of them has gone +into that tub, even as it came out of it." + +"Creation and death!" exclaimed Bergan. "'Dust thou art, and unto dust +thou shalt return.' It is a world in miniature!" + +"And does it not also show that there is nothing new under the sun?" +said Astra. "It is always the old material in new shapes, the old +thought in new phraseology, the old human nature in new conditions, +even the old particles of disintegrated human bodies in new organisms." + +"And yet," remarked Bergan, musingly, "the spirit, the idea, that +informed those bodies, and gave them identity, is not lost, as your +Mercury shows plainly. The being that you have created lives, and +glows with all his proper warmth and fire, even though his original +substance has not only returned whence it came, but has helped to frame +an entirely different being." + +"The natural body and the spiritual body," returned Astra. "Not that +the two processes are really analogous,--I do not mean that,--but one +naturally suggests the other to the mind. And, seeing how I am thus +able to accomplish a kind of resurrection, in a way that I understand, +I do not find it difficult to believe that the Almighty can do it, in a +way that I do not understand, and far more perfectly,--retaining not +only the indwelling spirit, but enough of the individual clay to +justify Job's saying, 'In my flesh I shall see God.'" + +The thought kept them both silent, for a moment; then Bergan turned to +see what else of interest was to be found in the studio. + +The completed works were not many; Miss Lyte was still too young to +have made a large accumulation of such things. There was a bust, with +a very sweet and noble expression, wherein she had embodied her +recollections of a fellow student in art. There was a half-sleepy, +half-ashamed boy-face, looking out from under the shadow of a drooping +hat, representing "Little Boy Blue," of nursery fame. There was a +winged cherub, with an exceedingly lovely, innocent face,--a very +incarnation of celestial joy and peace. In relief, there was a stout +urchin, ankle-deep in water, laden with pond-lilies, and looking for +more. Finally, there were innumerable studies, sketches, and designs, +with all the warmth and freshness of the original inspiration lingering +about them; which interested Bergan scarcely less than the finished +work, as admitting him still more freely into the arcana of the +artist's mind and method. + +He was especially interested to observe in how many directions the +genius of Miss Lyte had tried its wing. There were studies, and even +finished pictures, in oil and in crayon; there was an exquisitely-cut +cameo, fastened on a background of velvet; there were designs for +stained-glass windows; and in all, there was a curious medley of +subjects,--scriptural, mythological, historical, domestic, and +still-life. It was plain that she had been slowly feeling her way to +some point, where she could take her final stand, and see her life-work +lying clear and fair before her. Had she found it? Looking at the +Mercury, Bergan could almost believe that she had; but, glancing again +at her deep, wistful eyes, he doubted it. A little more time, a +profounder and wider experience, would settle her genius, fix her aims, +and make her capable of things far higher than aught that she had yet +achieved. + +Meanwhile, never, he thought, was anything quite so inspiriting as her +conversation. As she went with him from statue to statue, and sketch +to sketch, talking frankly of her difficulties and struggles, her +failures and successes, her aims and aspirations,--now dropping a +fertile suggestion, now pointing out a subtile analogy, now giving the +key-note to some elevating strain of thought,--she seemed to radiate +energy, and exhale inspiration. Listening to her, Bergan's depression +and discouragement vanished like mists before the sunshine. When he +went back to his studio, it was with new strength and courage and +ambition. Somehow, life had ceased to look unsympathizing, and success +remote. + + + + +VII. + +HIDDEN RICHES. + +Up to this time, the history of Astra Lyte may be compressed into a few +sentences. She was the daughter of Dr. Harvey Lyte, who had been, for +many years, the leading physician of Berganton. Her artistic talent +having early manifested itself, her father had taken pleasure in +fostering and developing it; first, by giving her the benefit of +whatever rudimentary instruction the neighborhood offered, and then, by +affording her a year's enjoyment of the best art advantages to be +procured in New York. + +Little more than a year ago, however, the good doctor had been forced +to succumb, in his own person, to the two powerful foes that he had +spent his lifetime in battling for others,--namely, disease and death. +His professional income necessarily dying with him, only a moderate +provision remained for his family; enough to enable them to eat the +bread of carefulness, but not sufficient to maintain them in the degree +of easy comfort and luxury to which they had long been accustomed. In +due time changes and sacrifices became necessary; among which may be +mentioned the letting of the vacant medical office to Doctor Remy, and +the subsequent handing over of other dispensable rooms to the occupancy +of Bergan Arling. + +Before this last arrangement was effected, however, Astra had gone to +New York, to see what could be done to make her art productive of +something besides pleasure. That had been a very bright moment, amid +the gloom and straitness following upon her father's death, wherein it +had occurred to her that she possessed in brain and fingers, in her +wonderful power of kneading together thought and matter into beautiful +and significant shapes, the means of restoring to her mother the ease +and independence which had been impaired by her father's death. Never +had her art looked so divine as when it cast aside the soft drapery of +personal gratifications and aims, and stood forth a young athlete, +eager for strife, a sturdy son of toil, ready to earn its bread by the +sweat of its brow. + +Not that Astra expected to win success all at once, or quickly. There +was a vast deal of practicality underlying her imaginativeness and +enthusiasm,--the solid foundation which is needed to make genius +available. She foresaw (no one more clearly) the difficulties, delays, +and disappointments, before her. But what of that? She was young; she +was in good health; she had a courageous heart, an energetic +temperament, and buoyant spirits; she could afford to work and wait. +Her tastes were simple, her wants, outside the domain of art, +few,--and, even there, deficiencies could be supplied, in a measure, by +severe study and closer application. If the superior masters, the +sojourn in Europe, to which she had looked forward, were denied her, +she was not going to break her heart nor cloud her brow, about it. +God, who had given her talent, would not leave it without due means of +increase. Her duty was to work, to be brave, and to be cheerful; all +else would come, in good time. + +This, then, was the sort of a person who had now come to dwell under +the same roof with Bergan; and who straightway set to work in her +studio, which was divided from his office only by the airy breadth of +the main hall. Of course, he saw her frequently; her art afforded them +broader, freer ground upon which to meet than is always open to man and +woman. Not that the proprieties need have been scandalized had Miss +Lyte's occupation been the embroidering of roses in worsted, instead of +the modelling of figures in clay; for the door between studio and +sitting-room stood always open, and Mrs. Lyte, from her work-table, +frequently threw a passing remark into the conversation that came so +freely to her ears; while Cathie continually flashed in and out like a +fire-fly or a humming bird. But the worsted roses would scarcely have +constituted a subject of mutual interest for the young man and woman, +as did the clay figures; nor would the talks over them have run so +naturally, and almost inevitably, upon the same elevated and impersonal +plane of thought. Setting the worker entirely aside, Bergan could not +fail to be deeply interested in the work. He liked to understand its +process, and watch its progress. It was wonderful to him to see the +dull clay slowly taking the shape of the viewless, informing thought. +He went back to his office, not only with a deeper comprehension of the +respective functions of mind and matter, but with a wider view of their +scope and influence. Words, he saw, were also a kind of plastic +material, through which thought revealed itself to eye and ear. He +began to study expression, as well as meaning; he selected words, and +constructed sentences, with greater care and conscientiousness; he saw +that, since thought could only become visible through form, form was a +matter of more moment, and involved a stricter duty, than he had +hitherto believed. + +But if Bergan learned so much from the work, it must be acknowledged +that he also learned something from the worker. She was so loyal to +her art and her aims. She wrought with such cheerful diligence, such +unwasting enthusiasm, and such thorough conscientiousness. Having done +the best of which she was capable, she maintained such a steady front +against the assaults of depression and discouragement, deploying their +forces upon the wide space between her conception and her achievement. +If she failed, she cheerfully declared that the failure had taught her +more than any success could have done, and commenced anew; if she +succeeded, she was soberly glad, as having gained an inch or two of the +field,--over which, however, it might be long ere she could wave the +banner of victory. The spectacle could not fail to have a healthful +influence upon Bergan, inasmuch as Miss Lyte's patrons were not more +numerous than his clients; he saw that she kept her face bright, and +her spirit brave, under very real trials of limitation, delay, and +disappointment. He always went to his own work with a stouter heart +and steadier purpose, after watching hers for some moments; whether she +merely retouched and revised the preceding day's labor, with minute, +inexhaustible patience; or quietly gathered up the fragments of a model +overtaken by sudden disaster; or moulded moist clay, with rapt face, +eyes lit by a deep, inward fire, and fingers so swift and forceful as +to suggest the guidance of some unseen power. In this last case, he +did not disturb her by so much as a word. He only looked on in silence +until her white heat of inspiration had kindled something like a +kindred glow in his own mind; when he noiselessly stole out, to plunge +into his own work with renewed ardor. We may well believe that, just +at the moment when Bergan's lonely life and dim prospects were +beginning to tell upon his spirits and energies, it was not without +providential design that an object so inspiring and heartening as Astra +Lyte in her studio, was placed before his eyes. + +Nor was the benefit wholly on one side. Astra found real help and +cheer in Bergan's intelligent interest and hearty appreciation. +Moreover, he was quick to see whenever mechanical contrivance or manly +strength could come to her aid; and he knew how to furnish both, in fit +and delicate measure. His perceptions were scarcely less nice than her +own; he knew just when to extend the helping hand, and when to withdraw +it; neither hesitation nor officiousness marred his aid. + +But Bergan was not the only visitor at the studio. Doctor Remy's +straight-featured, intellectual face was often to be seen there, with +its chill and satirical expression half-obliterated by a look of kindly +interest. And his aid was not less ready than Bergan's, and, perhaps, +more valuable. Hints and criticisms, suggested by his profound +anatomical and physiological knowledge, often came just in time to +prevent a blunder, or clinch a success. + +So time rolled on, for another month or two, doing much for the growth +of acquaintance, and even a degree of intimacy, between the artist, the +lawyer, and the physician, thus thrown together under one roof, but +very little for the pecuniary advantage of the two former. Astra had +received a commission for a small portrait-medallion; Bergan had been +employed to draw up a few law-papers. The two often exchanged +good-humored jests upon the manifest ability of the world to get on +without their help. But it was a much more serious matter for the +young man than the maiden. Astra had understood that, Art being a +luxury, it must first create the demand which it meant to supply; but +Bergan knew well that law was neither unknown nor unsought, in +Berganton. Courts were held, and lawyers gathered, there; it was +strange that so little of the work came to his hands. Meanwhile, the +funds with which he had been supplied, on leaving home, were rapidly +melting away; and he was unwilling to apply for more, both because he +desired to be self-dependent, and disliked to admit failure. + +He was sitting in his office, one afternoon, dividing his thoughts +between his books and the unpromising state of his affairs, when there +came a cautious knock at the door. + +"Come in!" he called out, wondering if his long-expected client were +about to present himself. + +First, appeared a black hand and a nondescript hat; next, a woolly head +and a wide, delighted grin; finally, a loose, slouching form, in a +shapeless suit of plantation gray. No client was this. It was only +his would-be property, Brick. + +Perhaps Bergan's disappointment showed itself in his countenance, for +the negro hastily began to explain the reason of his coming. + +"Gramma Rue, she sent me, massa. She don't feel right smart, dese yere +times, an' she say she tink her days drawin' to her close, an' she's +mighty anxious to see you, massa, 'fore she done gone. So she tole me +to ax you, could n' you come to yer ole room in de Hall, some ob dese +yere ebenins, jes' so's to gib her a chance to talk wid you. Ole massa +need n' know nothin' 'bout it; he's allers safe 'nough in de cottage +dem times. An' she hopes you'll hab de kin'ness to come, 'case she's +got suthin' bery partic'lar to say to you." + +Bergan hesitated. He could not visit the old Hall without reviving +painful recollections; besides, it did not suit his natural +straightforwardness to go thither in a half-clandestine way. Yet how +could he refuse the urgent request of Maumer Rue, weighted not only +with the probability of coming death, but with the consideration of her +long, faithful, life service of his mother's family? And, after all, +there was no great harm in a visit to the deserted Hall, to gratify an +old, infirm, attached dependent. He certainly need do no skulking; if +he chanced to come upon his uncle, he could fairly and frankly face +both him and the situation. + +Accordingly, he directed his evening stroll toward Bergan Hall. It was +an obscure night of late March. A gray veil of cloud covered the wide +expanse of sky, from horizon to zenith; through which only the faintest +light struggled, to guide his steps up the ruined avenue. He could not +but be reminded of his first forlorn coming upon the desolate scene; +even though he was obliged to confess that, in some respects, matters +were mending. Though the Hall stood silent and ruinous as before, +under the sighing oaks, it was not wholly dark. An arch of light shone +above the doorway, and a second gleam came invitingly from the window +of the room that he had once called his own. The door, too, yielded +readily to his pressure. At this rate of improvement, a few years +might easily transform the shadow-haunted old ruin into a cheery, +heartwarm home. + +It was only a passing thought, and did not slacken in the least the +light, quick step with which he ran up to his old room. Rue had done +her best to give it a look of home and welcome. A fire blazed on the +hearth, and reddened the walls; his favorite arm-chair was drawn before +it; near by, stood a round table, with two tall candles, a few +scattered books, and a tray of refreshments. It all looked strangely +familiar:--there was the secretary at which he had written his letters +home; there was the book that he had been reading, with his mark +between the leaves; there was the flute, so few of whose long-prisoned +harmonies he had been able to set free. Was it really five months +since he saw them last? + +Rue was not in the room when he entered it; it did not suit her notion +of their respective positions to assume any quality of hostess. But +she almost immediately appeared, and greeted him with tearful affection +and respect. Bergan looked at her narrowly, and was pained to see that +her tall form had lost much of its old erect stateliness, and that she +leaned heavily on her cane as she walked. Still, there was no sign of +immediate loosing of the silver life-cord; on the whole, he thought +that she bore her heavy burden of years wonderfully well, and the +thought came naturally to his lips. + +"It may seem so," replied the old woman, with a slow shake of her head, +"but I feel a greater change than you can see, Master Bergan. Till +now, I never knew anything about the chill or the heaviness of age; it +has come upon me all at once. I do not think, any more than you do, +that the end itself is close at hand; but the beginning of the end is +certainly here. Let it come as soon as the Lord wills; He knows I'm +ready. Only it is borne in upon me that there's something more for me +to do for the family, before I leave their service; though I cannot +rightly see what. Sometimes I am almost sure that it's just to see +that you are put into your rightful place as the master of Bergan Hall. +If that is all that I am waiting for, I wish it might be done quickly. +Couldn't you make up your mind to come back here now, if Master Harry +would ask you kindly? I know I can get him to do it." + +"Indeed, I could not, maumer," answered Bergan, quietly, but very +firmly. "I am not yet in a position to treat with my uncle, on equal +terms. And I am less than ever inclined to be dependent upon him, or +any one. Let me beg you to give yourself no further care or thought in +the matter." + +Rue sighed deeply. There was something in the young man's tone that +forestalled either argument or entreaty. + +"Pardon an old woman's curiosity," she said, at length, "but, are you +very much nearer to independence than when you left here?" + +"I cannot say that I am." + +"Do you have much to do, in the way of your profession?" + +"I could easily do more." There was a slight dryness in Bergan's +intonation, that did not escape the blind woman's quick ear. + +"Come with, me, please; I have something to show you," said she, +turning toward the door. "You had better bring a light, too; you will +need it, though I do not." + +She led the way to a large room on the other side of the hall,--the +bed-chamber (and death-chamber, too) of the mansion's departed owners. +It was lined, from floor to ceiling, with carved and panelled +wainscoting. Rue went straightway to one side, not far from the +mantel, ran her fingers carefully over the dark, uneven surface, and +finally pressed hard on a projecting point. + +"Now, Master Bergan," said she, pointing to a great, carved acorn, +"take hold of that, and push this way." + +Bergan obeyed, and a considerable portion of the wainscoting slid +easily to one side, disclosing a small room or closet, so artfully +contrived between wall and chimney, that its existence could never have +been suspected. It was lighted and ventilated by a window, and +furnished with an armchair and a massive, old-fashioned secretary. Rue +opened one of the compartments of the latter, and revealed several +small canvas bags, which, it was easy to see, contained gold and silver +coin. + +Bergan was naturally a good deal surprised at sight of the hidden +hoard. It seemed scarcely credible that any man in his senses should +care to lay up such idle store of the precious metals, which might +otherwise be profitably employed in an easy process of +self-augmentation. Still, he knew enough of his uncle's surly and +suspicious character, and of his distrust of banks (which he had once +heard him characterize as "ready sinks for fools' money"), to leave +only room for a passing wonder. + +"I have brought you here, Master Bergan," said Rue, solemnly, "because +this secret rightly belongs to you, as the future master of the Hall. +It is the duty of each owner to make it known to his heir, on his +deathbed, or earlier. The place was contrived by Sir Harry, because +there was something like it in the English Bergan Hall, which served +for a hiding place for men and women in troublous times; and he +provided for the keeping and handing down of the secret, in the same +way as it, had been done there. It was only to be known to the owner +and the heir." + +"Then how came you to know it?" asked Bergan. + +"I will tell you. When the third Harry Bergan was at the point of +death, his heir was in Europe. The person whom he most trusted, in the +world, was his body-servant, Cato. He gave the secret to him, to be +kept till the heir's return. Cato was my great-great-great +grandfather. He thought the same thing might happen again, and the +secret be lost; so, on his deathbed, he told it to his son, and the son +told it to his son, and so on, till my father, who had no son, told it +to me. So, you see, the secret has run down in the black blood +alongside of the white blood, and been kept just as sacredly. But the +white blood has never known it till now; when I tell it to you, because +I have no child living, and Brick is still too young to be trusted with +such a matter." + +"What a strange circumstance!" said Bergan, deeply interested. "Has +the place ever been used except as a storeroom for valuables?" + +"Only once, to my knowledge. During the Revolution, Colonel Bergan was +hidden here some days, when a party of British were quartered on the +premises,--some of the same party that Sergeant Jasper afterwards +captured." + +She paused for a moment, while Bergan silently looked round the narrow +walls; and then she resumed. + +"You see what use Master Harry makes of the place. And perhaps you +know him well enough to understand that he will never tell any one +where he keeps his money, until his breath is almost out of his body. +That is why I brought you here. I cannot expect to outlive him; and if +he should die suddenly, or with the secret only half-way off his +tongue, it would die with him." + +"Perhaps you have done well," said Bergan, after a moment of thought. +"Certainly, I shall regard it only as a trust for the future owner of +the Hall, whoever he may be." + +"He will be none other than yourself," returned Rue, decidedly. "I +only wish I were as certain of the time, as I am of the fact. And +now," she continued, pointing to the bags of coin, "take as much of +that as you need. Master Harry will never miss it; I don't think he +ever counts it over, he is so sure that it is safe here. And it will +all be your own some day." + +"What do you mean!" exclaimed Bergan, angrily, starting back. "Do you +take me for a thief?" + +"Of course not, Master Bergan, of course not," answered Rue, earnestly +and deprecatingly, laying her hand on his arm. "It is only because I +know that it will be yours in time; and as Master Harry does not need +it nor use it, why shouldn't you have the good of it now, when you need +it more than you ever may again? If it suits you better, take it as a +loan, and pay it back, when you are able." + +"No! no!" said Bergan, turning hurriedly away, "it is impossible. You +mean kindly, I know, Maumer Rue, but you do not seem to understand the +facts. I have no more right to it than any stranger; I could not touch +it, to save me from starving. Come, let us go! I have seen enough." + +"I believe you are right," said Rue, after a pause, "and I am a foolish +old woman. I could not bear to think that my dear Miss Eleanor's son +was pinching himself, in the least, when there was so much idle gold in +the old house; but I see you are right, sir; and I beg your pardon." + +It was not without a sense of relief that Bergan soon after closed the +door of the old Hall behind him, and stepped out into the cool, fresh +night air. Not that he had suffered any real trial of temptation,--his +principles were too true and firm for that;--but there had been +something in the whole sombre scene--the deserted, death-scented +chamber, the concealed closet, the hoarded gold--that had left him with +a sense of oppression, which kept its hold of him all the way home. + +It was late when he reached his office. To his surprise, it was not +empty. A gentleman was sitting by the table, with a pile of papers +before him, and a weary, discontented face, as if his waiting had +outlasted his patience. + +Bergan's heart gave a great leap. He divined that his long-looked-for +client was before him! + + + + +VIII. + +THE WIND CHANGES. + +"Good evening, Squire," said the stranger, in a deep voice,--a voice +that would have been gruff, but for the melodizing influences of the +soft southern climate. "My name is Corlew--John Corlew, of Williston. +I came to see if you would consent to take charge of a case of mine, +which is to be called to-morrow." + +"To-morrow!" repeated Bergan, in much surprise. "That is very short +notice." + +"I know it. But it is of the greatest consequence to me that the case +should be tried at this time, and not carried over to another term. It +was in the hands of Squire Fielder, one of our Williston lawyers; but +he was taken sick this afternoon,--fell down in court, some brain +difficulty or other,--and is forbidden by the physicians to do a thing. +So I inquired for a lawyer that hadn't got his hands full of business, +and somebody mentioned you. I remembered your name; I happened to be +North five years ago, and heard your Commencement speech, and knew what +sort of a reputation you graduated with; so I quickly made up my mind +that you were the man for my need. I've brought all the +papers,--Squire Fielder's notes and all,--he couldn't well do less than +give them to me, under the circumstances. I understand matters pretty +well myself; and we've got the night before us. If you'll undertake to +master the case by ten o'clock to-morrow morning, I am willing to put +it in your hands." + +"I will do my best," said Bergan, after a brief consideration. + +Mr. Corlew immediately began to open and sort his papers; Bergan +brought writing materials, drew his chair to the opposite side of the +table, and bent all the powers of his mind to the hard task before him. +It was an action for ejectment, involving trial of title, and with the +usual mixed and intricate character of such things; interwoven, too, +with a pathetic story of misfortune. Bergan patiently examined and +questioned; Mr. Corlew intelligently explained and answered. The +investigation was scarce half concluded, when Bergan quietly pushed Mr. +Fielder's notes aside. + +"They do not help me," he explained, in answer to a glance from Mr. +Corlew, "In my judgment, he has mistaken the point on which the case +really hangs. At all events, I shall do better to manage it in my own +way." + +Midnight came and went on silent feet; the "wee, sma' hours," sacred to +love rather than law, hastened, one after another, to join their +numerous kin in the misty vale of the Heretofore; the stars went out +like spent lamps; the dim night-silence began to stir with vague +premonitions of light and sound; finally, gray dawn looked solemnly in +through the windows. Then Bergan lifted his head, and pushed back the +hair from his brow. + +"Now leave me," he said to his companion, with unwonted sombreness. +"The rest must be done by myself. I will meet you at the court-house, +in good time." + +He made an almost imperceptible pause. Then, looking Mr. Corlew full +in the face, he said, in a tone half-assertive, half-questioning;-- + +"You wish to succeed in this suit?" + +Mr. Corlew's eyes fell under his penetrating gaze. "Of course I do," +he answered a little surlily. "What else am I here for?" + +Bergan seemed to muse for a moment. "Well," said he, at length, in the +tone of a man who recalls his thoughts from an episodical flight to the +main subject, "I think you may reasonably expect success, if your +witnesses testify as is here set down. The law is clearly in your +favor." + +"I am glad to hear it," returned Mr. Corlew, heartily. Yet he looked +slightly annoyed, none the less; and his "Good morning," as he went +out, was a little stiff. + +Bergan leaned back in his chair, folded his arms, and knitted his brow. +He looked like a man assailed by some miserable doubt or suspicion, +which yet he is half-inclined to regard, as illegitimate. + +"It is a necessity of my profession," he muttered, at last; and, with a +mighty effort, he tore himself free from the teasing phantom, and +addressed himself anew to his work. + +There is no need to burden these pages with the tedious formalities of +a trial at law. Suffice it to say that Bergan conducted the case with +an ease and ability that surprised his legal associates. They had +looked for some nervousness, some hesitation, some solicitude, some +awkwardness, in the manner of the young legal _débutant_; they could +detect nothing of the sort. He made his opening speech with consummate +clearness and composure; and he examined and cross-examined witnesses, +quoted authorities, took exceptions, and made points, with a quiet +ease, and even, at times, with a touch of listlessness, that argued +excellent training and profound knowledge. + +Perhaps his quietude of manner was the more perfect, that a slight +cloud hung on his brow, all through the two days of the trial; though +his observers were too little acquainted with the wonted expression of +his face to discover it. Not till he rose to make his final speech did +the shadow lift. Then, indeed, the spectators noticed a change. He +had spoken but a few sentences, when his eyes kindled, his brow +cleared, his voice gathered fulness and melody, he forgot himself and +his doubt in the glow of an irresistible inspiration, in the glad +exercise of a natural gift of oratory so wondrous, so unexpected, and +so potent, that court and spectator were alike taken by storm. Only in +dim tradition had such a speech ever been heard in that court room,--so +fluent, so animated, so skilfully throwing an ideal grace around dry, +bare legal facts, without dimming their outline or destroying their +logical connection. People held their breath to listen, unwilling to +lose one delicate shade of thought, one fit, luminous expression. Two +or three times, the judge was forced to suppress outbursts of applause, +in which, nevertheless, his pleased and interested face concurred; and +when Bergan took his seat, gray-headed lawyers stretched their hands +across the table in hearty congratulation. + +A verdict for his client was almost immediately rendered. Then he +stepped out into the crowd, to be met on all sides by extended hands +and enthusiastic compliments. People that had always studiously +avoided him, now sought to catch his eye; gentlemen who had never +vouchsafed him more than a stiff nod, now waited to give him a friendly +hand-grasp and a few congratulatory words. One of the magnates of the +neighborhood publicly stamped him, as it were, with the seal of his +high approbation, by engaging him for a few moments in conversation, +and then parting from him with an intimation that he might expect an +early invitation to dinner. + +Turning away from the dog-day smile of this personage,--late and +sultry,--Bergan encountered the meaning gaze of a pair of blear eyes. + +"Sudden change of weather," remarked Dick Causton, dryly. "'it never +rains but it pours.' You are in a heavy shower, Mr. Arling." + +And with unwonted consideration, Dick waited till Bergan had passed on, +before he muttered, "_In picciol tempo passa ogni gran pioggia_,--a +heavy shower is soon over." + +Dr. Remy came next. "I never sing in chorus," said he, shrugging his +shoulders, and putting his hands behind him; "I shall keep my +compliments for a day of dearth. But what a weathercock is public +opinion!" + +Yet the change was not altogether so sudden and radical as it appeared. +Bergan's upright, independent course of conduct, so quietly persisted +in, through all these months, despite every discouragement, had at last +begun to tell upon the prejudices of the community. Mrs. Lyte's warm +advocacy and indignant protest, in her small circle, had also had its +weight. Probably both would have availed much earlier, but for the +curiously infelicitous language in which Dr. Remy had all along chosen +to couch his responses to such persons as had approached him in +relation to Bergan's character and habits. + +"As talented a fellow as ever lived," he replied to one inquirer,--"and +as deep a one. Ah! he knows well what he's about!" + +"Sober?" he answered another,--"certainly; as sober as an anchorite. I +hope he will keep so." + +"Mr. Arling is my neighbor and friend, as friendship goes," he said to +another; "I neither make, nor listen to, derogatory remarks about him. +If you want confirmation for your prejudice, go elsewhere. I am not in +that line." + +Intentionally or not, Dr. Remy's cool cynicism rather damaged than +helped Bergan's cause. + +Nevertheless, the steadfast testimony of his upright life remained, and +could not be wholly ignored. The feeling was fast becoming general +that the young man deserved somewhat better at the hands of the +community than he had received. And the feeling would doubtless have +manifested itself in good time, and with due caution, if Bergan's +unexampled success in the court-room had not fairly dazzled out of +sight the last lingering shadow of prejudice, and caused a popular +reaction toward the other extreme of enthusiastic admiration and +approval,--a reaction all the stronger because spurred on by a lurking +sense of past injustice. + +Moreover, the little, sleepy town, whose intellectual brilliants were +few, and not of the first water, naturally felt that it could not +afford to ignore the fine talent which had so suddenly blazed out in +its midst, and which might be regarded as, in some sense, of its own +creation. + +"He really belongs to us, you know," remarked one townsman proudly to +another. "He comes of the Bergans of Bergan Hall, on the mother's +side,--good old aristocratic stock. And he's an honor to it!" + +And so, as has been said before, Bergan's exit from the court-room was +a scene of triumph that might easily have turned an older head, and +quickened the beating of a chiller heart. + +But Bergan took it all quietly, gravely,--almost indifferently. The +cloud had settled back upon his brow, and never stirred for any +compliment, or congratulation, or friendliness. Most persons +attributed it to wounded pride, not yet healed. In the midst of the +ovation, they believed that he kept a rankling remembrance of the +coldness and neglect which had preceded it. One observer only, a +little clearer eyed than the rest, said to him:-- + +"You look tired." + +"And well he may!" responded Mr. Corlew, standing by with a face of +unalloyed satisfaction. "He never saw the case until evening before +last; and he has not slept for two nights." + +There was another, and a stronger, burst of admiration, mingled with +wonder; but the complacent, satisfied tone of Mr. Corlew's voice only +deepened the shadow on Bergan's brow. Quickly extricating himself from +both crowd and client, he walked swiftly home, meditating, as he went, +upon the seeming churlishness of human existence, in that it never +gives us what we want, or gives it only in such way and shape as to +neutralize its sweetness. + +What, then, was the drop of bitterness in his cup of triumph? + +Not the paltry pride that had been attributed to him, nor yet the +depressing reaction that comes after excitement, but an uneasy +suspicion that he had helped to do an injustice. He had +discovered,--or seemed to discover,--as the intricacies of the recent +case had unfolded themselves before him, that law and justice stood on +opposite sides of it. Of his client's legal right to the property in +dispute, admitting his statements to be true, there seemed to be no +question; but of his moral right to it, as well as of his own personal +integrity, and that of his principal witness, Bergan had grave doubts. +And these doubts had followed him, and planted a heavy footstep on his +conscience, all the way down through the trial. For he was still +young, his personal conscience tender, and his professional one +undeveloped. His duty as a man, and his duty as a lawyer, had not yet +distinctly separated themselves into opposing segments. + +So, while the whole town was ringing with the fame of his successful +legal _début_, he sat moodily in his office, a prey to troubled and +half-regretful thought, until Sleep, so long defrauded of her rights, +stole upon him in his chair, and held him fast prisoned in her soft +embrace. + + + + +IX. + +THE FIRST LINKS OF A CHAIN. + +"I don't beg pardon for disturbing you," said Doctor Remy, giving the +sleeper a vigorous shake. "You are in as fair a way to catch your +death of cold, a your worst enemy could wish you to be." + +Bergan slowly opened his eyes and stared vacantly around him. The +doctor's words, though they had reached his ears, had not penetrated to +his understanding. As yet, he was but half cognizant of his +whereabouts, not at all of his circumstances. + +"Come, up with you!" persisted the doctor, "and take a turn round the +room, to get the chill out of your Mood. Man alive! what were you +thinking of, to go to sleep before that window, with such a damp wind +blowing in?" + +"I did not mean to," responded Bergan, drowsily. And his eyes closed +again. + +"Did not mean to!" repeated Doctor Remy, in a tone of ineffable +contempt. "You might at least have vouchsafed me a newer excuse: that +is worn threadbare. It has served the whole human race, from Eve over +her apple, down to Cathie over her last broken doll. Nobody 'means' to +do anything. Except me--I 'mean' to wake you up." And the doctor gave +Bergan another uncompromising shake. + +"It is so good to sleep!" remonstrated the young man, in the same +drowsy tone. + +"It is so good to have the rheumatism, or that cream of delights known +hereabout as the broken-bone fever!" returned the doctor, with cool +irony. "However," he added, indifferently, turning away, "_chacun à +son goût_." + +"You surely do not mean to leave him, in that way, Doctor," said a +rebuking voice, beneath the window. Miss Lyte, fastening up a +rosebush, in the dusk outside, had heard the whole. + +"Certainly not, if it pleases you to wish otherwise," replied the +doctor, gallantly. + +And returning to the charge, Doctor Remy did not remit his efforts +until he had gotten the half-vexed young man upon his feet, and forced +him to pace two or three times up and down the office. Thereupon +Bergan was fain to avow that his limbs were stiff and sore, and he had +no mind for further exercise. + +"Just as I expected," said the doctor, calmly. + +Without further words, he marched Bergan off to bed, and did not let +him alone, until, by dint of various outward and inward applications, +he had restored natural warmth and circulation to his chilled, benumbed +frame. In doing this, the young man was effectually roused; and memory +and thought came back with consciousness. + +"Doctor," said he, suddenly, "I almost envy you your profession." + +"Why?" + +"Because, as you told me at our first meeting, your duty is always +plainly one thing--to save life." + +"Humph! it seems to me that yours is equally plain--to save your +client." + +"What! whether his cause be right or wrong?" + +"_I_ save life, whether it be good or evil--a thief's or a saint's." + +Bergan was silent for a moment. He felt the sophistry, but could not, +on the instant, detect wherein it lay. He allowed himself to be +diverted from the main question by a side issue. + +"You say that you save life," said he, "but do you feel that it is +really you? Are you never conscious of a power above you, without +whose help your efforts would avail nothing?" + +"Granted, for the sake of argument," replied Doctor Remy, composedly. +"Then you may believe that it is not your efforts which gain a cause, +but the 'power above,' of which you speak." + +It is not often that a side issue leads so directly back to the main +point as in this instance, thanks to Doctor Remy's mode of treating it. +"I see," said Bergan, musingly, "the difference is in the intent. Of +course, God does decide the event, or consequence,--_that_ is beyond +us. He can frustrate our best efforts, or crown them with success, as +He pleases. Our business, then, is with motives--and aims--and means." +(The last clauses came slowly, and in the natural, if not the logical, +order of thought.) "It is only after we have made sure that those +three are right," he went on, "that we are freed from responsibility, +and can comfortably leave results to God." + +"All very fine," returned Doctor Remy, coolly. "But it seems to me +that our motives, means, and aims (that is to say, yours and mine) are +the same. Motive, love of life; means, a profession; aim, +money,--which though in itself only a means, is the most convenient +representative of all that it will buy; that is, all that supports +life, and enhances its enjoyments." + +"I hope you are not serious," replied Bergan, gravely. "I should be +sorry to think that any man--much less a man with your talent, culture, +and opportunities for benefiting his fellows--could be satisfied with +so poor an ambition as that." + +Doctor Remy slightly raised his eyebrows. "My dear fellow," said he, +"if you do not follow your profession for the sake of the money that +you expect it to bring you, what _do_ you follow it for?" + +"Money is one object, of course," answered Bergan, "but I hope it is +not the only one, nor even the chief one. When my mind takes a leap +into the future, it is not so much fees that I think of, as wrongs to +be redressed, and rights to be protected, and influence to be gained +and exercised,--yes, and fame and independence to be won." + +"All very good things," returned Doctor Remy, smiling; "and all very +dependent on those same fees, of which you think so little. Without +money, you will not do much for right, nor against wrong; neither can +you be independent, or famous, or influential." + +"I do not know about that," rejoined Bergan, smiling. "Certainly, it +was not his riches that made Diogenes independent. Neither does the +name of Howard borrow any of its lustre from gold. Nor--to come down +to our own time--is Mr. Islay influential on account of his wealth." + +"Mr. Islay influential!" repeated Doctor Remy, contemptuously. "In +what way, let me ask?" + +"In a hundred ways. Every week, his words, his thoughts, go into +scores of hearts and homes, for warning, for comfort, for inspiration; +and reappear constantly in human lives. Certain sentences of his last +Sunday's sermon have been ringing in my ears all day. And only three +or four days ago, Miss Lyte, under the influence of that suggestive +discourse, asked me how far I thought one was justified in a purely +negative use of a talent,--that is, in merely refraining from doing +harm, rather than trying actively to do good. And these are only two +examples, you see, where there are doubtless many." + +"Priests easily influence women," said the doctor, scornfully. + +"Women!" exclaimed Bergan, stretching out a stalwart arm toward the +doctor. "Are not those the muscles and sinews of a man?" + +"I beg your pardon," said the Doctor, laughing, "I had forgotten what +was the first of your two examples. Still, that sort of influence +would never suffice for me. If I cared for anything of the kind, it +would be for power,--direct, absolute power over men's acts and lives. +But as that belongs only to kings and generals, I am content to do +with--" + +He hesitated. + +"Well, what?" said Bergan. + +"Wealth--when I get it," answered the doctor. "Wealth, and what it +brings; ease, leisure, unlimited opportunity and means for the +cultivation of the intellect." + +"The intellect, then, is your final object, your ultimate good?" said +Bergan. + +"Yes; it is the one thing which distinguishes man from the brutes," +replied the doctor. + +"With the soul," rejoined Bergan. + +"A word without an idea," returned the doctor,--"unless, indeed, you +mean to apply it to that life-principle, which belongs to plants and +animals, as well as men." + +Bergan looked amazed. "Do you really make no distinction," he asked, +"between mind and soul?" + +"None. To me, they are synonymous terms." + +"Is it from the intellect, then," said Bergan, "that the moral sense +comes?" + +Doctor Remy's lips opened for a reply, but closed again in silence. +And, knowing that he was never at a loss for a rejoinder, Bergan +suspected that the words so suddenly cut off from utterance were of a +franker character than his second thought approved. Before his less +impromptu answer was ready, Bergan, following out some rapid, +unexplained train of thought, asked;-- + +"Doctor, did you ever feel remorse?" + +"Never. That is a disease. I am in health." + +"But, doctor," persisted Bergan, "should you call that a healthy body, +which was incapable of feeling pain? Should you not rather say that it +was paralyzed, or ossified?" + +"Just as I should say that it was inflamed, if mere pressure caused it +acute pain," answered Doctor Remy. + +Bergan looked unconvinced. + +"I do not mean that I never feel regret," explained the doctor. "I +have often been angry with myself for having been guilty of a mistake." + +"A mistake," repeated Bergan, doubtfully. "Do you mean a sin?" + +"I will not be particular about terms," replied Doctor Remy, shrugging +his shoulders. "But I prefer my own, as better expressing my ideas." + +Bergan looked a little bewildered. The doctor again condescended to +explain. + +"Like you," said he, "I hold it to be every man's duty to make the most +of his life,--his talents, time, and health. If he so act as to hinder +the development, or impair the value and efficiency, of any of these, +does it make any practical difference whether we call it a sin or a +mistake?" + +"None," answered Bergan, with scorn that he could not repress; "except +that it narrows everything,--aim, responsibility, hope, faith, desire, +and fulfilment,--down to man's miserable self!" + +"Well," said the doctor, coldly, "bring me the most signal example of +heroism, disinterestedness, charity,--what you like,--that you can +find; and I will point out to you a plain germ of selfishness at the +bottom of it." + +"What of that?" replied Bergan, with kindling eyes. "Because we can +never wholly get rid of self, in this lower life, does it therefore +follow that we must concentrate our thoughts and aims upon it? Must we +forever deny ourselves the ennobling, elevating, softening influence of +a duty and a hope outside of ourselves; an object of affection, trust, +and desire, higher than ourselves?" + +Bergan reached out for a book, found a marked passage, and read aloud. + +"'Take the example of a dog, and mark what a generosity and courage he +will put on, when he finds himself maintained by a man, who, to him, is +instead of a God, or _melior natura_; which courage is manifestly such +as that creature, without that confidence in a nature better than his +own, could never attain. So man, when he resteth and assureth himself +upon Divine protection and favor, gathereth a force and faith which +human nature would not otherwise obtain.'" + +"I deny--" began Dr. Remy, with his wonted audacity. But, at this +moment, his office-boy, Scipio, thrust his woolly head in the door with +the laconic intimation,-- + +"Sent for, massa. Drefful hurry." + +"And in good time," laughed the doctor. "I was forgetting my +professional duty to you,--which was, to have left you long ago to the +sleep which you so much need, and which you may now safely and +profitably take. Good night." + +For some moments, Bergan lay thinking over the conversation. Never had +Dr. Remy's low and limited notions of life been so nakedly presented to +his abhorrent gaze. A certain distrust and dread awoke within him, +accompanied by a chill creeping of the flesh, as at something not +altogether human. It impressed him that there was a dark and sinister +peculiarity about this man, with the rarely cultivated intellect and +the inert affections,--this man whom he had so long called his friend, +and who, so far as he knew, had not ill deserved the name;--a +peculiarity that could not fail to be pernicious to lives and +characters too intimately connected with him. Running over in his mind +the whole course of their acquaintance, he could not remember ever to +have heard the doctor give utterance to one lofty aspiration, one +purely benign impulse, one word of hearty sympathy or generous +affection. His opinions and beliefs were chill products of the +intellect, unwarmed by any glow of the affections, unpurified by any +strict assay of conscience. And Bergan was just beginning to discover +that, while pretending to great breadth and depth, they were really +narrow, because limited to life and earth, and shallow, because never +penetrating below or above the reach of the human intellect, when his +thoughts suddenly began to grow vague and dim, as if seen through a +mist, and the next moment, he was sound asleep. + +Meanwhile, much to his surprise, as well as gratification, Doctor Remy +was hastening toward Bergan Hall. Maumer Rue being suddenly seized +with alarming symptoms, the Major's head man, Ben, had been despatched +to Berganton, with instructions not to return without a physician. In +his haste and anxiety, it had not occurred to the Major to make any +exception; though he retained a sufficiently angry reminiscence of +Doctor Remy's cool and satirical demeanor, on the occasion of his +ill-fated visit of reconciliation to Bergan, to have prompted one, if +he had bethought himself of it in time. + +Ben, therefore, having sought two other representatives of the medical +profession without success, finally presented himself at Dr. Remy's +office. There the doctor found him, on quitting Bergan's room; and in +very brief space of time, the two were driving swiftly up the long +avenue, through a moonlight that was scarcely less illuminative than +sunshine, and far more beautifying, by reason of the soft charm with +which it enhanced beauties while it concealed defects. + +It was the first time that Doctor Remy had entered upon the territory +of Bergan Hall. He was surprised both at its extent, and its signs of +opulence. As he passed the stately, deserted mansion,--showing so fair +in the moonlight, under its grand, sheltering oaks,--and came in sight +of the populous negro-quarter, and the far stretch of cultivated fields +beyond, his face was alive not only with interest, but with something +deeper still; it might be calculation. + +"A fair inheritance!" he said to himself. "Miss Astra will be a most +eligible _parti_. I wonder if that will is made!" + +The Major was standing in the door of his cottage, as the buggy drove +up with the doctor. + +"So it's _you_, is it?" was his curt salutation. And his tone and look +said plainly enough, "I wish it were anybody else!" + +But Doctor Remy, though generally armed at all points against such +looks and tones, now seemed to take no notice. "Yes," said he, +good-naturedly, "it is I. Harris and Gerrish were both out, and Ben +had to take me or nobody. Allow me to assure you that he chose wisely, +for, if the case be what I suspect, from his account, it does not admit +of delay. It follows, therefore, that the sooner I am introduced to +the patient, the better." + +If the doctor had been studying his speech for the last half-hour, it +could not have been more skilfully constructed. The Major's irritation +instantly gave way, partly melted by the doctor's good humor, partly +forgotten in a sudden rush of anxiety. + +"Come on, then," said he, turning to lead the way to old Rue's cabin, +which was but a little way from the cottage. As they approached, +painful gasps and groans were distinctly heard from within. + +On the doorstep, Major Bergan paused. "She is my old, faithful nurse," +said he, feelingly. "Spare nothing,--no skill, nor trouble, nor +expense,--no more than if she were the first lady of the county." + +A kind of spasm crossed his rugged features, and throwing himself down +on a bench beside the door, he left the doctor to enter alone. + + + + +X. + +FEELING HIS WAY. + +Rue was lying on her bed, propped up by pillows into a half-sitting +posture. Her breath came raspingly and painfully, and she had the +dingy pallor wherewith disease is wont to write itself on the African +face. + +"Is it death?" she asked, hoarsely, when the doctor had finished his +examination. "Because, if it is, I should be glad to know in time to +send for Master Bergan,--I mean, Mr. Arling." + +Doctor Remy looked down upon the blind woman with a grave,--almost a +frowning, face--which she could not see. + +"So you are attached to Mr. Arling," said he. + +"Certainly, sir," replied Rue, simply. "He is Miss Eleanor's son, you +know." + +If Doctor Remy did not know, he could easily understand. He was aware +that the daughter of a Southern house remains "Miss Eleanor" (or +whatever the Christian name might be) to the end of her days, with the +dusky home population, although, in the meantime, she may have become a +great-grandmother. Moreover, various scattered shreds of rumor came to +his recollection, enough to afford a tolerably accurate explanation of +the blind woman's reason for desiring to see Bergan Arling at her +bedside. And though the matter would seem to be no concern of his, it +is certain that he gave it a moment or two of profound study, ere he +answered the question which Rue had addressed to him. Indeed, it was +very much Doctor Remy's habit--as it is that of selfish natures in +general--to consider all events mainly with reference to their bearing +upon his own interests, and to hold them important or trivial, +according to the degree of favorable or adverse influence which they +would be likely to exert upon his fortunes. + +The doctor's reflections were short and swift. To the bystanders, +there seemed to be only the natural, deliberate pause of the careful +physician, before deciding upon the case presented to him. Nor was +Rue's patience greatly tried, ere his answer to her question was ready +for her. + +"Your case is not desperate, this time," said he, "though I can see +that it is painful. Your cold, being unwisely left to run its own +course, has resulted in inflammation of the throat, and, partially, of +the lungs. But it is not beyond present relief, nor permanent cure, I +think. At least, we shall soon see." + +There was no question of Doctor Remy's professional skill. In +Berganton, his scientific superiority had early been recognized by the +community, and tacitly conceded by his medical brethren. Yet he could +hardly be said to be popular, even with his patients. There was no +affection mingled with the respect accorded to his talent. It was +intuitively felt, if not clearly understood and expressed, that, though +he brought every resource of science to the sick-chamber, he brought +nothing else. He was as cold and pitiless as his own steel probe or +lance. And there are times when a deep, human sympathy, on the part of +the physician, is as real a medicament to the sufferer, as any set down +in the pharmacopeia; in which fact many a genial quack finds his +account. It had come, therefore, to be very much the Berganton habit +to reserve Doctor Remy's skill for severe accidents, for consultations, +for the awful conflict of life and death over wasted forms writhing +with sharp pain, or locked in moveless stupor. But the thousand +pettier ills of life, which asked for tender consideration almost as +imperatively as for medicine, preferred to commit themselves to the +fatherly kindness of good old Doctor Harris, or the warm-hearted +enthusiasm of the last medical arrival,--Doctor Gerrish, whose +scientific attainments had, as yet, to be taken for granted, but whose +smile was a veritable cordial. + +It was Doctor Remy's fate, therefore, to stand by many +deathbeds,--where he comported himself much more like a baffled and +beaten general than a sympathetic, sorrow-stricken friend. It was also +his frequent privilege to see the life-forces rally and stand fast, +under his generalship, to begin anew the fight that seemed wellnigh +over, to win back, inch by inch, the ground that had been lost, and +finally to stand a conqueror on the field. Even then, those most +indebted to his skill were often chilled to see how little the cold +triumph of his face had to do with their deep heart gladness. +Nevertheless, this was the position wherein the doctor appeared at his +best,--as now at Rue's bedside. + +For some reason,--probably as a step to Major Bergan's favor,--he was +putting forth all his skill. In one respect, he was always admirable: +he never hesitated to put his professional hand to any business that +might seem to belong more properly to the nurse. Rue's attendants were +ignorant and awkward; if Doctor Remy had not helped to carry his orders +into effect, progress would have been slow. As it was, the treatment +was prompt and effective. In about an hour, the acute pains had +ceased, respiration had become less difficult, and Rue having devoutly +thanked the doctor, under God, for relief so speedy and so grateful, +had turned on her side for a complete self-surrender to the delightful +drowsiness that was stealing over her. + +Coming out, Dr. Remy found Brick waiting for him, on the bench where he +had left the Major. + +"Is gramma goin' to get well?" he asked, anxiously. + +"Certainly,--in a few days," returned the doctor. "Where is your +master?" + +The negro pointed to the Major's cottage. "Ole massa is thar," he +answered. "He tole me, when you's t'rough, to ax you to come an' see +him." + +The doctor turned in the direction indicated, but was plainly in no +hurry to reach the goal. He walked very leisurely, stopping, now and +then, to look round on the moonlit landscape. Not till he seemed to +have settled some knotty point to his satisfaction, did he enter the +cottage. + +The Major was seated at the table, with his bottle and glass before +him. He did not need to ask Doctor Remy how the case had gone; _that_ +had already been made known to him by the mouths of half-a-dozen eager +messengers. He merely said, in a tone that was half a protest;-- + +"I never expected to be so much obliged to you, Doctor Remy. I should +be sorry to lose my faithful old nurse. She is the last link between +me and my early days. Is she out of danger?" + +"For the present, yes. And in the morning, I will look in to see how +she goes on,--that is, if you wish." + +"I shall take it as a favor," returned the Major, in a tone that was +almost courteous. "Sit down, before you go, and take a drink." + +Doctor Remy quietly took a chair, but shook his head at the proffered +glass. "No, thank you," said he. "We physicians need to keep our +heads clear and our nerves steady; and brandy does not conduce to +either." + +"It never hurt mine," answered Major Bergan, rather surlily, as if he +suspected a covert insinuation in the doctor's words. + +"Perhaps not," replied Dr. Remy, indifferently. And, glancing out of +the open window, he added, "A fine place you have here." + +"The finest in the county," replied the Major, with frank pride. "That +is, as far as soil and crops are concerned. The old Hall is out of +repair, to be sure, but it can be restored to its former grandeur, +whenever I see fit." + +Dr. Remy gave his host a long, penetrating, comprehensive look. "I +should advise you not to neglect the work too long," he observed, +gravely, "if you have it much at heart." + +Major Bergan set down the glass that was on its way to his lips, and +looked wonderingly at his guest. + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because a man of your age, with your habits, breaks down soon, when +once he begins." + +"My habits!" growled the Major, drawing his eyebrows into a heavy +frown, "what do you mean, you insolent scamp?" + +"I mean," replied Doctor Remy, composedly, "habits at once active, +careless, and self-indulgent; such as riding or walking in the heat of +the day, spending hours in the rice fields, rising early and sitting up +late, eating _ad libitum_, and drinking _ad infinitum_." + +The summary was too truthful, and the tone too professional, for the +Major to retain his unreasonable anger. He merely asked,--"How do you +know that I do these things?" + +"By your looks." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed Major Bergan, with a scornful curl of the lip. + +Doctor Remy smiled, with the calm unconcern of a man who knows his +ground. "Your looks tell me more than that," said he. + +"If they tell you anything but that I am well,--perfectly well,--they +lie," answered the Major, bluntly. + +"I am glad to hear it," replied Doctor Remy. "Doubtless, then, you +sleep sound and soft." + +"No, I don't," grumbled the Major, with unsuspecting frankness, "I +sleep like a man tossed in a blanket." + +"And probably you have pleasant dreams." + +"On the contrary, a perfect Bedlam of furies and horrors." + +"And I suppose that you never have headaches, or dizziness, or +vagueness and loss of sight." + +"I have them all," growled the Major, with an oath, "every miserable +item of them. I had an attack, about a fortnight ago, that actually +laid me up in bed for a day! I wonder what it all means!" + +Doctor Remy forebore to signalize his victory by so much as a +triumphant look. "It means," he answered, quietly, "that you will be +none the worse for a little medicine in the house, as a provision for +future attacks of the sort." + +And opening his pocket medicine-case, Doctor Remy selected three or +four small phials, and began to measure, mix, and fold up powders, with +a dexterity that it pleased the Major to witness. He noticed, too, +that the doctor's brow was deeply knit as he prosecuted his task, and +that he held one of the phials suspended, for a moment, over the small +square of paper, before discharging its contents. All this looked as +if his case was getting due consideration, and the Major was proportion +ably gratified. + +Doctor Remy ended by pushing a dozen or more of tiny folded papers +across the table. "Take one, in water, every two hours," said he, +"till the symptoms abate,--that is, of course, when you have another +attack. There are enough for several occasions; I know you do not like +to send for a doctor, if it can be avoided. At the same time," he +added, "take care to drop those careless habits that I mentioned." + +The last sentence brought a cloud to Major Bergan's brow; but the +doctor gave it time to dissipate while he packed his medicine case, and +chatted pleasantly about its convenient arrangements. "And now," said +he, rising, "what else can I do for you?" + +"Nothing, that I know of," replied the Major, "except it be to present +your bill. What else _can_ a doctor do?" + +"Several things," answered Doctor Remy, lightly. "Make your will, for +instance." + +The Major laughed outright. "I should say that was a lawyer's +business," said he. + +"So it is. But do you not know that I once belonged to the bar?" + +"I do remember hearing something of the sort, now that you remind me of +it," rejoined the Major dryly. "I don't think any the better of you +for it." + +"Nor any the worse, I hope," returned Doctor Remy, placidly. "At all +events, I always advise my patients to make their wills. There is +nothing like a mind at rest about the future, to prolong life." He +seemed to speak carelessly, yet he fastened a keen look on the Major's +face, nevertheless. + +The latter only smiled. "When I want my will made," said he, coolly, +"I will employ you to do the job." + +"He has made it already, as he said he would," thought Doctor Remy to +himself. "And the chances are that he won't live to alter it. + +"I shall be very much at your service," he answered, aloud. "And now, +I must be getting townward; I have to see another patient this evening." + +The Major followed him out, and stood for some moments watching the +retreating buggy. Doctor Remy, looking back, saw him there in the +moonlight, and a strange, furtive look came into his eyes. + +"I have given 'Providence' a chance," said he to himself. "Let us see +what it does with it." + +Major Bergan, meanwhile, was muttering,--"What did he mean, I wonder, +by talking to me about my will? It is certainly no concern of his. +Does he really think me near death?" And the Major shivered, as if +there had been an uncomfortable chill in the thought. + +"Uncle Harry," said a clear, sweet voice, close at his elbow. He +started, and turned quickly round. + +A slender, girlish shape,--a graceful head, drooping like a lily on its +stem,--a fair, pure, bright face,--this was the vision that confronted +him, and carried him back to his youth, and to the love of his youth; +the untoward course of which had doubtless helped to make him the man +that he was. + +"Clarissa!" he exclaimed, trembling, and feeling as if he were in a +dream. + +The vision smiled. "Do you not know me, uncle?" it asked, in its sweet +tones; "I am Carice." + +"Ah!" said the Major, slowly, and as if but half awake. He took his +niece's hands, and gazed earnestly in her face. "You are like your +mother, child, or like what she was at your age, much more than you are +like the child that used to play around my knees,--let me +see,--six--eight--nine years ago. I missed her, Carice, when she +stopped coming, I missed her." + +"She missed you, too, uncle," replied Carice. "She was very fond of +you.' + +"Then why did she stop coming? asked the Major, gloomily. + +"Because, uncle," answered Carice, simply, "she grew old enough to know +that it is a child's duty to obey, and not to question." + +The Major's brow darkened; but he looked sad, too. "I never laid it up +against _you_, Carice," he said, with significant emphasis. + +"Nor against any one, I hope," replied Carice, coaxingly. "Oh, uncle, +ought not this long feud to cease?" + +Major Bergan shook his head. "There is no feud between you and me, +child," said he. "But, as for your father," he went on, with a +kindling eye and a roughening voice, "when _he_--" + +Carice laid her hand upon his arm. "As you were just saying," said +she, gently, "he is my father. And, dear uncle, a daughter's ear is +easily hurt." + +The Major stopped, and nearly choked himself with the sentence so +suddenly arrested on his lips. "Then, what are you here for?" he +finally blurted out, half-wonderingly, half-sternly. + +"Ah!" exclaimed Carice, in a tone of sudden recollection, "I had nearly +forgotten my errand, in the pleasure of seeing you." + +The Major's face grew soft again. He put his hands on Carice's +shoulders, turned her toward the full moonlight, and looked long and +earnestly in her face. "How beautiful you have grown!" said he, with +even more of wonder than admiration in his voice; "I am not sure but +that you are still more beautiful than _she_ was. But you don't look +as if you belonged to this earth, child; and there's not a bit of the +family look left in you. Are you certain that you are Carice Bergan, +and not a changeling?" + +"Quite sure, uncle," she answered, smiling, "Ask Rosa, there, if I am +not." She pointed to her maid, who had accompanied her, and stood +waiting near. + +"Then, Miss Bergan," said the Major, making her a courtly bow, "what +can your old uncle do for you?" + +"Nothing, at present," she replied, "except to let me keep my own, old +corner in his heart. I only came to see Maumer Rue, if I may. We +heard she was dying. So I begged hard to be allowed to come and tell +her that I had not forgotten how kind she used to be to me, and to see +if I could do anything for her. I fancied it would please her to see +me, if she is still able to recognize me. Is she?" + +"Perfectly able," replied Major Bergan, "and will be, I hope, for years +to come. She has been very ill, but she is much better. She is now +asleep." + +"Then I will not disturb her," returned Carice. "And yet, I am loath +to go back without a glimpse of her. Could I not look in upon her for +one moment? I will be sure not to make a sound." + +Major Bergan led her to Rue's cabin, and waited on the threshold, +while, with her finger on her lips, to guard against any outburst of +astonishment from the negro woman in attendance, she stole softly to +the bedside, and bent over the sleeping Rue. A wondrously lovely +picture she made there,--a picture of such unearthly grace, delicacy, +and purity, that the Major's eyes filled with unconscious moisture as +he gazed. + +Suddenly Rue's lips parted, in a dream, "The Bergan star!" said she. +"See! it rises!" And, after a moment, she added, decidedly, "He +_shall_ have Bergan Hall!" + +Carice quickly stole out to her uncle. His face looked very gloomy, as +he led her back toward the cottage. + +"Carice," said he, suddenly, "have you seen your Western cousin?" + +"Bergan Arling? Yes, certainly," she answered. + +"How do you like him?" + +"He seems very pleasant," she replied, evasively. + +"Seems!" repeated her uncle, gruffly. "What is the matter with him?" + +"I do not know, uncle. It is said that he is very dissipated." + +The Major laughed ironically. "Nonsense! The most incorrigible +milksop that ever I saw," said he. "That is why we quarrelled." + +Carice looked at him doubtfully. "The very first thing that we heard +of him," said she, "was that he had been mixed up in a low brawl at +Gregg's tavern." + +"All my fault, Carice," returned Major Bergan, shortly. "I took him +there, and cheated him into swallowing a glass of raw brandy." + +Carice's blue eyes looked a sorrowful astonishment. + +"I did not mean to do him any harm," pursued the Major, answering their +mute eloquence; "I only wanted to teach him to drink like a man and a +Bergan. I loved the boy, Carice, like my own son, and would have kept +him with me, if I could. But he forsook me for the law, the ungrateful +dog!" + +"Perhaps he had no choice," suggested Carice. + +"No choice! Didn't he have the choice of Bergan Hall, and all that +belongs to it? That was what was running in Maumer Rue's head, just +now. But he preferred independence--and a tin sign in his window! He +is a degenerate scion of the race, like your--" The Major suddenly +recollected himself, and broke off with a dry cough. + +Carice was looking down thoughtfully. An unexpected clue to Bergan's +character, motives, and aims, had been put into her hands; and she was +slowly trying to follow it out. + +"Thank you, uncle, for telling me this," said she, at length. "I am +afraid we have been doing Bergan an injustice." + +"You certainly have, if you have thought him a drunkard," replied the +Major. "But, nevertheless, he's no true Bergan, Carice; don't have +anything to do with him." + +"No more than is just and right," said Carice, quietly. "And now I +must go; mamma will be getting anxious. Come a little way with me, +uncle, as you used to do." + +The Major walked by her side down to the creek, and watched her +anxiously across the dilapidated bridge. + +"Don't come that way again," he called to her, as she reached the other +end. "It's unsafe." + +"Mend it then, uncle," she called back to him. "For I like old +paths--and old friends--best." + +The Major turned away with a smile. And all the way to the cottage he +was saying to himself,-- + +"Perhaps I _had_ better make my will." + + + + +XI. + +SLEEPLESS NIGHTS APPOINTED. + +Doctor Remy possessed in perfection the power of rapid concentration of +thought. Otherwise, he would have taken a divided mind to the bedside +of his second patient, that night, after leaving Bergan Hall. As it +was, he was glad when the stroke of midnight set him free, body and +mind; the one to find its way mechanically to the hotel, through the +silent moonlighted streets of Berganton, the other to occupy itself in +arranging and perfecting the details of a certain plan for his future +advantage, which had suddenly shaped itself out before him, so +distinctly, if roughly, that he had already taken an important step +toward its accomplishment. It now remained to provide for the rest of +the way. + +The midnight heaven was without a cloud, and the moon filled it with +white radiance. Every object down the long line of the town's +principal street was shown with the clearness of noonday, but also with +the ghostlike awfulness that moonlight is wont to impart to objects the +most familiar. The large, wooden houses, with their broad, shadowy +piazzas and dim doorways; the wide, empty sidewalks; the great, +shining-leaved oaks, dotting the silvered highway with black islands of +shadow; the narrow wheel-track, with its broad margin of grass and +weeds, through which an isolated footpath took its solitary way to +every gate;--all were distinctly visible, but with a singularity of +aspect that seemed to change their whole character and meaning. + +And perhaps something of the same effect extended to the countenance of +Doctor Remy, as he came down the street, followed by the dreary echo of +his own lonely footsteps, as if dogged by immitigable fate. To his +features, as to all other objects, the moonlight seemed to impart a new +expression. Those who were best acquainted with him, had any such been +abroad, would have needed to look twice at his dark moody countenance, +and the ominous gleam of his deepset eyes, to feel themselves quite +sure of his identity. Continuing to brood over the casual encounter, +as they pursued their way, they might have tried to divine what sombre +energy of purpose it was that had lit his eyes with such deep, dusky +light, and marked his brow and eyes with lines so sternly rigid; +shuddering, too, to think how remorselessly he would sweep from his +terribly direct, if underground, path, whatever object should intervene +between himself and his goal. Then, seeing how the moonbeams had +subtilized some mean hovel into a phantom palace or tomb, wrought of +alternate silver and ebony, they would be fain to set down both the +origin and substance of their reflections to the same magical agency, +and breathe more freely in making haste to forget the whole matter. + +Secure in the absence of all observation, the dark face kept on its way +through the silent street, giving its features the fullest liberty of +evil expression. Opposite the principal dry goods store of the street, +it paused for a moment; its restless glance had caught sight of a faint +gleam from one of the rear shutters, which was plainly not moonlight. + +"They are up late," muttered the doctor, "or there is mischief afoot. +Well! what is it to me? Have I not enough else to think of?" And he +kept on his rapid way. + +But the incident seemed to have set free the faculty of speech. Words +began to drop from his set lips; short, disconnected sentences, through +which, nevertheless, there ran a distinct thread of suggestion. + +"I have waited long enough,"--so ran one of these half-involuntary +utterances,--"I have waited long enough for Fortune's willing favors; +it is time to grapple with the exasperating jade, and wring them from +her reluctant hands, by fair means or foul. For what else was I +endowed with talent, daring, energy, and will, beyond most men? Not, +certainly, to waste them all in earning a bare subsistence, or little +more, as I am now doing." + +"Is it my fault," he went on, in broken, detached sentences,--"is it my +fault that Fortune never shows herself to me, save at the farther end +of some dark vista which the world calls crime?--Pshaw! what is a life, +one worthless, drunken, half-worn-out life, in comparison with the ends +that I have in view,--increase of knowledge, expansion and perfection +of science, and through them--as a casual end, I do not pretend that it +is a direct one, for me--the advancement of the human race.--The plan +seems feasible, as much so, at least, as anything can be, in this +miserable, mocking world, where Fate seems to delight in balking the +best talent and deranging the artfulest contrivance.--Fate, Chance, or +Providence, which? Three different terms for the same thing;--language +would be more accurate, if there were less of it.--At any rate, I have +given Providence a chance. Let it take the responsibility of the +result.--If that will be not made! But to whom else should he give the +place? He cannot abide either his brother or his nephew. And Miss +Lyte comes next. Besides, there are ways of finding a will, at need. +The essential point is, that no other be made." + +He was now nearing Mrs. Lyte's house, and the sight of it prompted his +next sentence. + +"Astra!--there, at least, the way is easy. Only, it must be secret;--I +doubt if the old Major would altogether relish me for his heir, despite +to-night's increase of cordiality.--As for Arling, it is said that +history--" + +Dr. Remy broke off suddenly. The subject of his soliloquy was calmly +looking at him across Mrs. Lyte's gate. + +"Pardon me for interrupting jour conversation," said Bergan, with a +smile which satisfied the doctor that he had not heard what he was +saying. "One's talks with one's self are sometimes very interesting." + +"Why are you not in bed?" asked the doctor, with a sharpness that +Bergan set down to professional anxiety. + +"A man who goes to bed at six may well get up at twelve," he replied, +lightly, "especially if sleep forsakes him. Have you been out until +this time?" + +"Yes," answered the doctor, debating within himself whether he would +speak of his visit to Bergan Hall, and quickly deciding in the +negative, since there was little probability that Bergan would hear it +from anybody else; inasmuch as the Hall led an independent, isolated +life of its own, the events of which rarely made their way into the +talk of the town. "It is nothing new for me to be late," he added, by +way of finish to his monosyllable. + +"I will walk down with you as far as the hotel," said Bergan, coming +out, and closing the gate behind him. "Perhaps I may be able to pick +up a few seeds of sleep on the way, which will sprout into another nap, +when I return. What a night it is!" + +"For lunatics--yes," said the doctor dryly. + +"Among which you would doubtless class your humble servant," returned +Bergan, "if you could look into his mind, at this moment." + +"Very likely," rejoined Doctor Remy, indifferently; but he gave his +companion a quick, keen glance, nevertheless. + +Bergan was looking straight before him. "Doctor," said he, suddenly, +"I believe you know the world well; what does it do to the man who goes +counter to its traditions and prejudices,--whom, in short, it is +pleased to look upon as a kind of modern Don Quixote?" + +"Laughs at him first, hammers him next, flings him aside last," +returned the doctor, sententiously. + +"But if he does not mind being laughed at, bears the hammering without +flinching when he must, hammers back again when he may, and will not be +flung aside, what then?" pursued Bergan. + +The doctor stopped short in his walk, and looked long and searchingly +in the young man's face. "Then," said he, slowly, as if the words were +drawn out of him almost against his will,--"then it gives way to him, +and honors its conqueror. But," he added, "it is a long, exhausting +contest. I do not advise you to try it." + +"Thank you," answered Bergan, quietly. "I am inclined to try it, +nevertheless. But here we are at the hotel. Good night." + +Doctor Remy stood on the steps of the hotel, looking moodily after him. + +"What has he taken into his head now?" he asked himself. + +He had not long to wait for an answer. In the morning, the light which +he had noticed in the rear of the drygoods store, found its sufficient +explanation in an empty safe and rifled shelves. A week afterward, a +tall, ill-favored man was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in +the robbery. Two days later, it was known that Bergan Arling had +positively refused to undertake his defence. In due course of time, it +leaked out, through the amazed prisoner himself, that he had done so +because he believed it to be no part of his professional duty to try to +shield a criminal from just punishment. + + + + +XII. + +A CONSULTATION. + +Plainly, Mrs. Bergan had something on her mind, that bright spring +morning. Though she poured her husband's second cup of coffee with a +deliberation that seemed to promise much for its flavor, he was fain to +send it back, after tasting it, with the explanatory remark:-- + +"You have forgotten to smile into it, my dear; it is not sweet enough." + +"Eh!" exclaimed Mrs. Bergan, absently, extending her hand toward the +cream pitcher. + +"I doubt if cream will mend the matter much," observed Mr. Bergan, +gravely. "A lump of sugar might do, if the smile be absolutely _non +est_." + +Mrs. Bergan's mind having by this time returned to the business in +hand, both sugar and smile were immediately forthcoming, in sufficient +measure to threaten the coffee with excess of sweets. Nevertheless, +she continued to have fits of abstraction, at short intervals, until +the breakfast things had been removed, and Carice had quitted the room. +Then, she turned to her husband with a serious face. + +"I really think, Godfrey," she began, "that we owe your nephew some +attention." + +"Of what kind, pray?" inquired Mr. Bergan, in considerable surprise. + +"Well, it seems to me that we ought,--once, at least,--to invite him +formally to dinner." + +"Pray, what has he been doing, to place us under such an obligation?" +asked Mr. Bergan, somewhat dryly. + +Mrs. Bergan colored slightly. "I am afraid that we made a mistake at +the outset," said she. "Of course, the attention was due to him then +as much as now." + +"I thought we agreed that the less Carice saw of him, the better," +replied Mr. Bergan. + +"Yes, I know. But that was because we believed him to be of +intemperate habits." + +Men of Godfrey Bergan's thoughtful and deliberate character, when they +adopt a mistaken opinion, are wont to wedge it in so firmly among +things undeniably true and just, that to dislodge it is like tearing up +an oak which has rooted itself in a rock cleft. "I wish I were certain +that he is not," he answered, with a slow, grave shake of the head. + +Mrs. Bergan gave him a surprised look. "I don't see why you should +doubt him," said she. "Everybody agrees that a more correct young man +does not exist. He is always to be found in his office during office +hours, attends Church regularly on Sundays, as well as at most of the +occasional services, goes into but little society, and that of the very +best,--what more would you have?" + +"Nothing," replied her husband, "except the certainty that it will +last. A drunkard's reform is so rarely a permanent thing, that one is +justified in distrusting it. Though he may keep as sober as a +Carthusian monk for a few months, or even for a year or two, his +unhappy appetite is only a caged lion: in the first unguarded moment, +it is certain to break out, and to sweep everything before +it--resolution, hope, energy, and promise. Unfortunately for my +nephew, perhaps, but very fortunately for ourselves, I fancy, I happen +to retain a distinct recollection of my first meeting with him." + +"But," urged Mrs. Bergan, "I thought Carice told you what your brother +Harry said about that matter." + +"With all due respect for my brother Harry," returned her husband, +coolly, "I don't consider his testimony, in this matter, to be worth +much. Intemperance is, in his estimation, so very venial a sin,--not +to say, so very Berganly a virtue,--that he would be sure to extenuate +it, if he could." + +"He would never say what was not true," affirmed Mrs. Bergan, decidedly. + +"No, but he would look at the affair from his own point of view, and +speak accordingly." + +"But your nephew left him on account of that very affair," persisted +Mrs. Bergan, "and has refused to have anything to do with him since, +even with Bergan Hall held out to him as a bait." + +"In which," rejoined Mr. Bergan, composedly, "he shows that he has more +of the hereditary temper than is good for him, or any one connected +with him. It is the same trait that has made Harry so bitter against +us, all these years. And one feud in the family was enough--and too +much." + +Mrs. Bergan began to look annoyed. While she admitted the general +truth of her husband's observations, she had an intuitive conviction of +their present misapplication. Her womanly instincts were all in +Bergan's favor. But that, she knew, was no ground of effective +argument. + +Her husband looked at her clouded face, for a moment, and then went to +her side. "Confess now, Clarissa," said he, pleasantly, laying his +hand on her shoulder, "that our nephew's claims upon our attention +would never have presented themselves so strongly to your mind, were it +not for his late brilliant hit in the court room, and the sudden +admiration and popularity which it has won him." + +A slight flush showed on Mrs. Bergan's cheek; nevertheless, she met her +husband's eyes frankly. "I acknowledge that those things had their +effect in making me ashamed of myself," she answered. "But, all the +time, I have had an uneasy feeling that we were not doing our duty by +your sister's son. Surely, we ought to have been the very last persons +to have listened to, and acted upon, a rumor unfavorable to him; or, if +it were certain that he had made a false step, we should have been +ready with our influence and countenance, to help him to retrieve +himself." + +"You forget, my dear," said Mr. Bergan, gently, "that it was for +Carice's sake. We were thinking only of her." + +"And so we did evil that good might come," returned his wife, somewhat +ruefully. "But evil follows the universal law, and brings forth after +its kind." + +"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Bergan, looking both surprised and +puzzled. + +Mrs. Bergan smiled at him half-pityingly, half-sarcastically. "Oh, ye +men!" she exclaimed, "if ye are wise as serpents, in matters of the +intellect, ye are blind as bats, in matters of the heart." + +"I am ready to admit the truth of the abstract proposition," said Mr. +Bergan, quizzically, "as soon as I am made to understand in what way I +furnish a proof of it." + +"Don't you see," returned Mrs. Bergan, seriously, "that if ever Carice +is to become over-interested in Bergan, now is the time,--now that he +is presented to her imagination in the attractive light of a long +neglected and misunderstood, but patient, persevering, and, finally, +all-conquering hero?" + +Mr. Bergan looked as if he did see--several things. "Is that the +reason why you propose to throw them together?" he asked, dryly. + +"Certainly," replied Mrs. Bergan, with perfect composure. "The first +thing is to destroy the halo with which he is now surrounded, by +bringing him into the disenchanting daylight of commonplace, everyday +association. Next, we must rob him of the crown of martyrdom, so far +as we are concerned, by frankly confessing that we were a little too +severe upon him at first, and by doing full justice to his talents in a +matter-of-fact way. Finally, we must make the most of the +relationship." + +"You may be right," said Mr. Bergan, after some moments of deep +thought. "Though, at first sight, it looks very much like jumping into +the river, to avoid the rain." + +"My dear," replied Mrs. Bergan, earnestly, "we cannot keep them apart, +if we would, as matters are now turning. Twice already, we have met +him at dinner parties, where he is the lion of the hour, and everybody +makes much of him but ourselves; and we shall continue to do so, until +the round is finished. It must be confessed that he wears his honors +modestly; at times, I cannot help feeling proud of him myself." + +"I never doubted his ability, nor overlooked his pleasing manners," +said Mr. Bergan. "But what are they but gems on a poisoned cup, if the +virus of intemperance be in his blood, or his principles be unsound?" + +"The latter can hardly be the case," remarked Mrs. Bergan, "if the +report be true that he refuses to have anything to do with a cause that +he does not believe to be just. That seems to argue uncommon strength +of principle." + +"I am not so sure about that," returned Mr. Bergan, shaking his head +dubiously. "Most people, I find, regard it as one of the many +eccentricities of genius. Others think he only showed his shrewdness +in declining to undertake a cause that he was sure to lose, after his +brilliant victory in the case of Corlew vs. Kenan. Besides, he has not +announced that such is to be his settled course of action. And if he +did, it would seem arrogant, in so young a man. It is, in fact, +judging the cause before it is tried." + +"It strikes me that a man must needs judge things beforehand, where his +own conscience is concerned," observed Mrs. Bergan, thoughtfully. "You +would not expect him to act first, and decide afterward whether he had +done right or wrong." + +"In judging his own actions, he need not judge those of his fellows," +replied Mr. Bergan, somewhat magisterially. + +His wife could not help wondering within herself how such judgment +could well be avoided, where a course of action was involved. But she +wisely forbore to press the point, and reverted to the main argument. + +"At all events," said she, "if he gets to visit here frequently and +familiarly, we shall have an opportunity of seeing for ourselves what +his character really is. He may prove to be everything that is safe +and admirable; or he and Carice may never think of each other in the +way that we are contemplating. And, after all, I think we might trust +our daughter; she has never shown herself silly or wilful; she is not +likely to despise our judgment, or disregard our wishes." + +"All the more reason why we should do our whole duty by her," rejoined +Mr. Bergan, "in the way of prevention as well as cure. In such +matters, parental commands generally come too late to forestall +mischief; the most that they do is to prevent it from going any +farther." + +"True," replied Mrs. Bergan, quietly. "And I confess that I might have +been more puzzled what to do, if,"--Mrs. Bergan made a slight pause, to +give her words the greater effect (like a wise woman, she had kept her +strongest argument until the last),--"if I were not tolerably certain +that he is already engaged--or, at least, likely to become so--to Astra +Lyte." + +"That alters the case, indeed," said Mr. Bergan, thoughtfully. "But +what reason have you for thinking so?" + +"Miss Ferrars was here last evening, and she told me--in confidence, +you know--that she had no doubt of it whatever. Her window overlooks +Astra's studio, and she says that she often sees him there, helping +Astra about her work, or watching her with the most absorbing interest, +or talking to her with a very tell-tale earnestness." + +"It would hardly be received as evidence in a court of justice," said +Mr. Bergan, smiling, "though it sounds suggestive. But Miss Ferrars is +given to gossip--'in confidence,' as you say." + +His wife laughed. "Of course she is; else I should never have heard of +this pleasant probability. For both pleasant and probable it certainly +is. Astra is turning out a wonderfully fine, talented girl; and she +and Mrs. Lyte have been Bergan's fast friends and defenders, all along. +How can he show his gratitude more gracefully than by marrying her?" + +"Does Carice know of this?" asked Mr. Bergan, after a moment. + +"Yes; Miss Ferrars told me in her presence, and greatly shocked her by +doing so. She thinks it wrong to connect names so carelessly." + +"She is right," said Mr. Bergan, emphatically. + +"At the same time," continued Mrs. Bergan, "she remarked, that it would +be a very nice thing, if it were only true. And afterward she said +that she would like to renew her acquaintance with Astra;--you remember +that the two were very good child-friends, though circumstances have +kept them apart, of late,--as they have their mothers! I really feel +guilty when I think how fond I used to be of Catherine Lyte, and how I +have allowed her to slip out of my life. But then, we were both +invalids, for many years, with scarce strength enough for home cares, +and not a jot for friendship or society. Still, I have all my old +regard for her carefully buried in my heart, like the talent in the +parable; intact, if not in a way to increase. One of these days, I +mean to dig it up, and go with Carice to pay her a visit, and take a +look at the wonders of Astra's studio." + +"I am glad to hear it," said Mr. Bergan. "Well! I suppose the +conclusion of the whole matter is, that we are to give Bergan a dinner, +and the freedom of the house." + +"Precisely," replied Mrs. Bergan, nodding her head. "And now, I want +to consult you about the invitation list." + +Mr. Bergan rose hastily. "I am quite content to leave that to you, my +dear." + +His wife caught his arm, "You are not going to shirk the responsibility +in that way," she said, decidedly. "I really want your advice. Am I +to ask Dr. Remy?" + +"Why not?" + +"I don't quite like the man." + +"I cannot see what you have against him, unless it be that he was not +born in the county, and you don't know his whole pedigree." + +Mrs. Bergan did not answer. She knew her dislike to be a case of +spontaneous generation, and not at all qualified to give a lucid +account of itself. + +"Besides," continued her husband, "he is Bergan's particular friend." + +"Is he?" asked Mrs. Bergan, innocently. "I did not know that he was +anybody's friend." + +"Clarissa!" exclaimed Mr. Bergan, rebukingly. "I never heard Dr. Remy +speak ill of anybody, in all my acquaintance with him." + +"Did you ever hear him speak well of anybody?" responded Mrs. +Bergan,--"well enough, that is, to give you new interest, faith, +delight, in the person of whom he spoke? On the contrary, does he not +somehow manage to chill what you have?" + +"I cannot say that he talks of his friends with the warm effusion of a +woman," answered Mr. Bergan, sarcastically. + +"But only with the cold malice of a man," retorted Mrs. Bergan. +"There! a truce! He shall come, if only to prove what I have said. +Next, I want to invite Mrs. Lyte and Astra." + +"Very well." + +"And Mr. Islay, and Judge and Mrs. Morris, and--" + +"You have seven already," interrupted Mr. Bergan, "making ten with +ourselves; which I hold to be the magic number for a dinner party. If +you want to invite anybody else, better wait till another time." + +Mrs. Bergan was wise enough to be the bearer of her own invitation to +Mrs. Lyte; else it would scarcely have been accepted. The latter had +lost the taste for society with the habit of it; nothing short of the +personal solicitation of her old friend, now asking it as a favor to +herself, and now urging it for Astra's sake, would have induced her to +give up, even for a few hours, the seclusion that had slowly been +transformed, for her as for most invalids, from a grievous necessity +into a calm pleasantness. + +Thus far, Mrs. Bergan was successful. But she missed seeing either +Astra or Bergan; both happened to be out, on their respective ways. As +regarded the former, it did not much matter; but she was sorry not to +see Bergan, and utter the few graceful words of apology for the past, +as well as of promise for the future, wherewith she had intended to +preface her invitation to dinner, and inaugurate her new policy. As it +was, she could only leave a pencilled note of invitation on his desk, +and reserve her explanation for a personal interview. Then she went +back to the studio, where she admired everything cordially, and with +wonderful impartiality. Carice, meanwhile, was hanging over the winged +cherub, with a deep, silent delight that went to Mrs. Lyte's heart. + +"You will take such pleasure in meeting her again!" she said to Astra, +when she came in, a few moments after the visitors had gone. "She is +just the friend that you need." + +"I am not so sure about that!" returned Astra wilfully. "I sometimes +catch a glimpse of her at church; and she looks a great deal too soft +and dainty and delicate for a friend. If I were a Roman Catholic, I +might set her up in a corner, and worship her as a madonna, or a saint. +But, being a Protestant, I really don't see that I have any need of +her,--or she, indeed, of me!" + +Mrs. Lyte shook her head in mild reproof. "You do say such strange +things, Astra," said she, "things so liable to be misunderstood." + +"_You_ do not misunderstand them, mamma," returned Astra, fondly. + +"No, but Mr. Arling might." + +Astra turned, in surprise, and met Bergan's quiet smile. He had come +in just behind her, and had heard almost the whole. + +"I think not," said Astra, coolly. "Mr. Arling is pretty well used to +my ways, by this time. We were speaking," she continued, "of that +ineffable combination of snow and sunshine, lily and rose, saint and +angel, known among mortals by the name of Carice Bergan. Can you even +imagine being on familiar terms with her? Or would you if you could? +Does she not seem fitter for a pedestal or a shrine,--some place a +little above, or remote from, life's ordinary round?" + +"She does, indeed," replied Bergan, earnestly. "There is a +half-unearthly purity about her, that keeps even one's thoughts at a +reverent distance. Snow and sunshine!--yes, she has something of both, +a kind of soft, white chill, interfused with a rich brightness, +half-golden, half roseate;--but it is impossible to put the idea into +words!" + +And Bergan turned, musingly, toward his office door. + +Astra looked after him, for a moment, and then glanced smilingly at her +mother. + +"Fortunately, there are such things as household divinities," said she. + +"Eh?" said Mrs. Lyte, wonderingly. + +But Astra did not explain. + + + + +XIII. + +DINNER-TABLE TALK. + +Late wisdom is apt to taste of the flower of folly whence it is +distilled. So, at least, thought Mrs. Bergan, when, months afterward, +she looked back upon her dinner-party, and seemed to see in it the +beginning of trouble. But it is probable that nothing which she could +have done, or left undone, would have availed to alter the natural, +irresistible course of events. At the most, she may have hastened its +current a little. Her dinner-party only furnished a convenient point +of meeting for lives inevitably tending toward each other, for +influences long converging, and certain to meet at last, in clash or +harmony. Without it, there must needs have been a swift birth of +friendship between Carice and Astra, at their next meeting; which +meeting could not have been much longer deferred. Without it, Doctor +Remy would assiduously have spun his web for self-advantage, fastening +his threads indifferently to whatever or whomsoever seemed to promise +the best support, and quickly unfastening them whenever a prop failed +him. Without it, the hearts of Bergan and Carice would sooner or later +have inclined toward each other, by reason of an instinct truer and +surer than maternal foresight or forestalling. + +The dinner was, _per se_, a success. The table was elegant with glass, +silver, and flowers; the viands were the creation of one of those +round, greasy Africanesses, who are born to the gridiron not less +indubitably than a poet to the lyre; and white-haired old Sancho waited +with a blending of obsequiousness and pomposity, wonderful to behold. +There were neither culinary failures to harrow the soul of the hostess, +nor glass-fractures or sauce-spillings to disconcert her guests. + +The conversation was bright, easy, and desultory, as well as +interlocutory and general by turns, as dinner-table talk should be. +Only once, and that quite at the last, did it take a graver turn than +was well suited to the occasion, or seem to stir any ill-feeling. In a +pause of the more general conversation, Doctor Remy was heard saying to +Carice, who sat next him;-- + +"You are fortunate in being able to believe so implicitly, without +ampler proof." + +"Do you think the proof insufficient, then?" asked Carice, with a +little look of wonder in her blue eyes. + +"To some minds," answered Doctor Remy, evasively. + +"Perhaps," interposed Mr. Islay, whose ears had been open for some +moments toward this conversation,--"perhaps such minds find the proof +insufficient only because they have not yet been able to look at it in +the right light." + +"What light do you mean?" asked Doctor Remy, a little doubtfully. + +"The light of a renewed heart and an obedient life. No man apprehends +the truths of Christianity clearly, nor believes them with a belief +that is worth anything, until he feels his own personal need of them. +When that time comes, he catches hold of them, without proof, as it +were,--or, at least, without other proof than their felt adaptation to +that intense need,---just as a man who is hungry and thirsty accepts +convenient food without troubling himself about its chemical analysis. +Then, holding them fast, and feeling how perfectly they meet his wants, +what strength and satisfaction they give to his mind, and what symmetry +and dignity they impart to his life, he begins to look back over the +long line of prophecy and testimony for proof, and finds it ample. Men +are prone to forget, Dr. Remy, that the natural order--as we see in +children--is through the heart to the intellect, not through the +intellect to the heart." + +"But," objected Doctor Remy, "if a man is not sensible of any such +personal need, how is he to be made to feel it?" + +"Who can tell?" responded Mr. Islay, solemnly. "If the eye sees no +comeliness in Christ, to desire Him, if the heart feels no void which +craves His fulness, no pang which needs His healing, who can tell when +the one will be opened, the other emptied or smitten? 'The wind +bloweth where it listeth.' But I can tell you, Doctor Remy, how a man +can postpone the time of conviction to the last moment, perhaps to the +very end." + +"Indeed," answered Doctor Remy, lifting his eyebrows. "May I ask for +the formula?" + +"Simply by leading a life of deliberate, habitual sin and selfishness. +There is nothing like sin for blinding the eyes, and misleading the +judgment, in regard to spiritual things. Indeed, if I desired to shake +my own faith in Christ to the very centre, I know no way in which I +could do it so surely as by committing some dreadful crime--murder, for +instance. All my views of life and death, earth and heaven, would at +once become distorted and confused, just as all my thoughts and aims +would immediately take a new direction." + +Mr. Islay being on the same side of the table as his interlocutor, +could not observe the latter's sudden change of countenance; but +Bergan, sitting opposite, was surprised to see the doctor's face darken +with some powerful emotion, while he shot a furtive, suspicious glance +at the speaker. Yet his voice, when he spoke, was studiously low and +even, so much so that its latent venom was unnoticed by the majority of +the party. + +"Inasmuch," said he, "as Mr. Islay is able to speak so intelligently of +religious faith, because of his thorough acquaintance therewith, so, +doubtless, his remarks upon crime and its effects are the outcome of +his own personal experience." + +Bergan colored with indignation, and was about to say something in +sharp rebuke of the covert insult; but Mr. Islay stopped him by a look, +and a slight, yet decided gesture. + +"You are thinking, doubtless," said he, mildly, turning to Dr. Remy, +"of the deep truth that he who would teach successfully, must know +something of his subject by experience as well as theory. A clergyman +certainly does find in his own heart both the suggestion and the proof +of the truths which he seeks to enforce upon others. Herein lies his +fitness for his office. Out of seeming weakness comes real strength. +Feeling, or having felt, in his own person, the power both of sin and +of redeeming love, he can the better set forth the hatefulness of the +one, and the efficacy of the other." + +There was a slight pause; then, Mrs. Bergan made haste to break the +silence, and to do it in such a manner as to induce a speedy change of +subject. And Dr. Remy, after a brief moodiness, which seemed to +indicate some lingering effect of the preceding discussion, suddenly +unbent his brow, and threw himself into the new theme with animation, +to the immediate enlivenment of the party, and the gradual extinction +of his hostess's resentment. She acknowledged to herself that he could +be exceedingly agreeable, when it pleased him. If he would but spice +his conversation a little less freely with sarcasm! + +And then she gave the signal for the ladies to leave the table. + +As has been already hinted, the more immediate and visible result of +the dinner-party at Oakstead, was a swift budding and blossoming of +friendship between Carice and Astra. Despite the playful disclaimer of +the latter, when the probability of such a consummation had been +mentioned by her mother, no sooner did the two girls meet face to face, +the gray eyes and the blue ones looking straight into each other's +depths, than there was an instant, unlooked-for revival of their +childish affection and confidence; quickly informed by a deeper +sympathy and fuller comprehension. It was much like +sisters--unavoidably separated for years, but in whom the instinct of +kinship cannot be lost--that they sat talking together, in a twilight +corner of the parlor, until the gentlemen came from the dining-room. +Not only were there pleasant childhood memories to recall, but the +life-story of each was to be brought fairly up to the present time, for +the enlightenment of the other. Astra's was the more eventful; it +embraced all her art-education and life, with its toils, pleasures, +difficulties, ambitions, and disappointments. Carice's was more like +that of a flower; she had lived and grown in the home-precinct, she had +fed on sunshine and dew, sweet and right thoughts had been as natural +to her as perfume to a rose, she had made a little space very +delightsome with her beauty and her sweetness; and that was all. Each +felt a very genuine admiration for the other;--Carice bent loyally +before Astra's crown of genius; Astra held her breath, half in awe, +half in tenderness, before the aureola that she saw encircling the fair +head of Carice. As for the "chill" of which she had spoken to Bergan, +she had ceased to think of it. Carice's affections were warm enough, +she saw, when they were reached. Yet there was something about her +too, which she would still have been forced to call chill, for want of +a better word,---that indefinable quality which is inseparable from +anything at once white and pure,--a pearl, a star, or the white wing of +a dove. + +As a natural consequence of this friendship, Carice came often to +Astra's studio. Not infrequently she met Bergan there. Remembering +Miss Ferrar's statement, and giving it more credit than she was really +aware of, she wondered, sometimes, that she could detect no sign of a +secret, or tacit, understanding between him and Astra. Their manner to +each other was most frank and kind, but it seemed totally devoid of any +lover-like quality. She finally settled it in her mind that no +engagement existed as yet; but she also decided that, inasmuch as they +were admirably fitted for each other, it was sure to come, in good +time. Nothing better, she thought, in her innocent heart, could well +be devised for either. + +Astra, meanwhile was watching Bergan and Carice with as warm an +interest, and a far more penetrating glance; and often she smiled to +herself over the discoveries that she made. To her, they appeared to +be drifting as surely, if unconsciously, down the smooth, gliding +current of love, as could be desired. She was glad to have it so. She +believed them to be true counterparts, needing each to be completed by +the other. Bergan had strength, nobleness, enthusiasm; Carice had +sweetness, purity, repose; how beautiful and fit the union, how +symmetrical the result! There was a genuine artistic joy in the +thought. + +And then, all at once, she forgot to watch them. Suddenly, or +gradually, she knew not which, a magical change had been wrought in her +surroundings; old things had vanished, all things had become new. A +new sky, a new earth,--stars and cloud-shapes of bewitching vagueness +and softness,--scenery of wondrous coloring and surpassing +loveliness,--lights that were tenderer than any shadows, and shadows +that were only subdued lights;--of what were these things the signs? +Had she also been drifting, and whither? + + + + +PART THIRD. + +THE IN-GATHERING. + + + +I. + +UNFOLDINGS. + +Spring was abroad in the land. No one could tell just when she had +stolen into the woods and gardens, and begun her pleasant labors, but +there was no question about the fact of her presence and industry. +Everywhere, there were the tender green of newborn foliage, and the +varied odors of opening buds and blossoms. The new leaves of the ilex +trees had quietly pushed off the old ones. The hedges were thick-sown +with the white stars of the Cherokee rose. The passion-vine trailed +its purple garments along the fences. Houstonias spread a soft blue +haze over the grass. Wild plum and cherry trees flung drifts of +fragrant snow along the road side. The air was faint with perfume from +the ivory censers of the magnolia, swinging dreamily overhead. +Wherever a vine could cling and climb, there was a seemingly miraculous +outburst of foliage and flowers; every dry stick and stem became a +leafy thyrsus, every crumbling stump a green and garlanded altar. + +Mrs. Lyte's great, irregular thicket of a garden was quick to feel the +genial influence, and to twine and twist itself into a denser tangle +than ever. Rose bushes laughed the virtue of economy to scorn, with +their perfumed affluence of pink and crimson and yellow. Pomegranates +burst into scarlet flames; mimosas tossed aloft feathery balls of many +hues. Jessamines and honeysuckles, holding up vases of gold, to catch +every sunbeam, ran hither and thither at their own sweet will. So did +tiny green lizards, with scarlet throats, and swift chameleons, with +curious intelligent eyes. The air was tuneful with the flight and song +of bees and humming-birds, cooing doves, and shining-winged spindles. +Manifold, in truth, were the garden's delights: varied sound and color +and perfume, cheerful radiance and gentle gloom, unobtrusive +companionship and soft seclusion, were all to be found within its +pleasant compass. + +And, as the days grew long and warm with the Spring's advance, Bergan +now and then, growing weary of the confinement and monotony of his +office, took his Blackstone, or Kent, or whatever might be the legal +authority under examination, and gave himself the refreshment of an +hour's reading, in one of the garden's shady, sequestered nooks. Doing +this, one sultry afternoon in May, the drowsy influence of the +atmosphere, and the soothing murmurousness of the insects' song, soon +proved too potent for the logical connection of the learned legal +thesis; there were unaccountable gaps between fact and deduction; and, +going back to pick up the broken thread, Bergan lost it altogether. +Sleep had stolen upon him through the dusky foliage, and she held him +fast until the latest sunbeam, through a convenient aperture in the +verdant walls, laid its light finger on his eyelids. + +Waking suddenly, but completely, hushed voices, proceeding from a +neighboring thicket, met his ear. + +"Impossible, Felix." + +"But, Astra,--" + +Had there been danger in those low, earnest accents, Bergan could +scarcely have started up more quickly and cautiously, nor have fled +from them faster. As he expected and desired, the low boughs closing +and rustling behind him, made what followed inaudible. He was loath to +hear another word. He felt almost guilty for having heard so much. +Those subdued, confidential tones, those quietly spoken Christian +names, had, of themselves, been a startling revelation. For, +notwithstanding her frank, easy, affable deportment toward those who +came within her sphere, Astra Lyte knew well how to hedge herself round +with a maidenly dignity that kept familiarity at a distance. She was +not the kind of girl whose Christian name finds its way easily to +unaccustomed lips. Despite his own residence, for a considerable time, +under the same roof, and the frank and friendly intercourse which had +grown out of it,--despite, too, the fact that Mrs. Lyte often called +him her son, and Cathie was wont to spring to his arms as to those of a +brother,--it had never occurred to himself to call her anything less +formal than "Miss Lyte." Nor would it have done to Dr. Remy, he felt +sure, without the sufficient warrant of a close and tender relation. +This premise being established, the conclusion that such a relation +existed was unavoidable. + +And, looking back over the events of the past few weeks, Bergan was +amazed to see with what an amount of corroboratory evidence he was +unexpectedly furnished. Not only did numberless glances, tones, and +actions, bearing directly upon the case, start suddenly into view, but, +just as the landscape through which one passes presents new outlines, +new features, and a new sentiment, in a backward survey, so these +things assumed new faces and a new meaning, in his review of them. +Once or twice, of late, it had occurred to him that Astra was scarcely +at her ease, in Dr. Remy's presence; he now understood that this +constraint came of affection, fearful of betraying itself, and not, as +he had imagined, of some newborn distrust or dislike. Anterior to +this, he had observed that the doctor's visits to Miss Lyte's studio +were much more frequent than formerly, and that he was making an +obvious enough attempt to commend himself to her favor by a more +cordial and constant interest in her work, as well as by exercising a +more careful circumspection over his conversation. His cynicism +vanished, or veiled itself, before the rich glow of her enthusiasm. +His satire spared her generous ambition. His scepticism, though not +less frank, was less hostile and inveterate; and often it resolved +itself into a kind of weary and wistful sadness, as if it were less a +choice than a misfortune, and would gladly exchange itself for +something better, if it only knew how. At such times, Bergan himself +was sensible of a singular charm in his conversation, a kind of +autumn-night splendor; chill, lustrous moonlight, mystical shadow, and +vague mournfulness, blending into one, irresistible fascination. No +doubt, Astra had been made to feel it still more keenly; no doubt, too, +she had been led to believe that whatever was amiss in the doctor's +beliefs would yield readily to her influence,--that he would prove +scarcely less plastic in her hands than the clay wherewith she was wont +to deal so cunningly. + +Yet Bergan could not help wondering a little at the doctor's ready +success. Astra's genius, he thought, should have saved her from any +hasty bestowal of her affections. He did not know that, in this +regard, a woman of genius differs little from the most commonplace of +her sisters. She gives her affections as trustfully, and flings +herself away as freely, as the silliest of them all. + +Having gotten to this point in his meditations, and also to the middle +of the open field, back of the garden, Bergan could not help turning +and looking toward the thicket, the neighborhood of which he had so +hastily quitted. His face grew troubled and anxious, as he gazed. Was +Doctor Remy anywise worthy of the heart that he had won? Bergan shook +his head ruefully, as he asked himself this question. Without intent +or wish of his own--in spite, even, of some strenuous efforts to the +contrary--a deep distrust of the doctor had rooted itself in his mind. +Though it gave but scanty justification of itself to his intellect, and +was not allowed to show itself in his actions; though, now and then, he +made a sturdy effort to uproot it, and cast it out, as an ungenerous +return for kindness, or something that looked like it; it, +nevertheless, kept its ground, and quietly strengthened itself there. +It did not fail, now, to thrust itself into view, as a partial answer +to his question. The bright spring landscape, with its crowded leaf +and bloom, and its rich promise of fruit, seemed to darken with a +shadow from Astra's future, as thus revealed to him. Must the promise +of seed-time and harvest fail, then, only in the moral world? + +Though Bergan, driven by a nice sense of honor, had fled so +precipitately from the voices and the neighborhood of the lovers, there +is no reason why the reader may not return thither, and see what is to +be learned from their conversation. + +"I cannot think it right," said Astra, "to leave mother in ignorance +any longer." + +"Do you think, then," asked Doctor Remy, reproachfully, "that I would +ask you to do anything wrong?" + +Astra hesitated for a moment. Perhaps it then and there occurred to +her, for the first time, that the doctor's standard of right was likely +to differ from her own, in the same ratio as his religious faith. + +Doctor Remy did not wait for the tardy answer. Putting his arm round +Astra, he drew her head on to his shoulder. The movement might have +been prompted by tenderness; none the less, it had the effect to take +his face out of her line of vision. + +"All my life long, Astra," said he, in a deep, moved tone--(it is often +easier to put a desired note into the voice, than a corresponding +expression into the face)--"all my life long, I have had a strange +desire to be trusted,--trusted implicitly. Faith without sight--blind, +unquestioning faith--is to me one of the most beautiful as well as +desirable things on earth; all the more so, perhaps, that it is not +given to me to feel it. But it has always been my dream, my hope, to +inspire it. In my ideal picture of the woman whom I should love, it +was always her consummate, irresistible charm. Must I now make up my +mind to do without it?" + +Astra was touched. "If it did not seem to be wrong!" she exclaimed. + +The doctor shook his head. "_That_ is not trust," said he, "at least, +not the trust that I mean. Who can so order circumstances that they +shall never seem to condemn him? But the faith of which I speak, +having once assured itself of the integrity of its beloved, never again +admits it to be an open question." + +Astra was silent. The doctor heaved a heavy sigh. "I see that I am +not to realize my ideal," said he. "Well, it cannot be helped. I will +give you the explanation that you need. Perhaps, being satisfied, in +this instance, that I have a good reason for what I do, you will be +able to trust me hereafter." + +"I will, indeed I will!" exclaimed Astra, eagerly. + +"The worst of it is," pursued the doctor, "that you compel me to betray +a trust--your mother's trust." + +Astra's cheek flushed. She had been miserable at the idea of keeping +anything from her mother; was she, then, the one really excluded from +confidence? + +"Stay," said she, proudly, "I do not wish to hear anything that my +mother desires to conceal from me." + +"Then," replied the doctor, "it is impossible for me to explain why our +engagement must not be made known, at present, to your mother." + +Astra looked bewildered, as well she might, at this apparently +inscrutable complication. + +Doctor Remy seemed to take pity on her perplexity. "Listen, dear," +said he, "and you will soon understand. Your mother consulted me +professionally, a fortnight since." + +Astra's cheek grew white with sudden fear. "What is it?" she gasped. + +"There is no immediate danger," said the doctor, "and may not be, for +years, with due precautions. But there is a tendency to heart disease; +and it is imperative, just now, that she should not be agitated. And +this, Astra, is the reason why she must not hear of our engagement, for +some time to come." + +Astra looked down thoughtfully. "I think you are mistaken," said she. +"I believe it would be a relief to her to know that my future is in +such good hands." + +"Doubtless, that would be the ultimate effect," replied Doctor Remy; +"but there would be emotional excitement, at first, more than is good +for her;--so much that I, as a physician, am bound to forbid it." + +Astra could not but admit that the prohibition was just. Mrs. Lyte had +seemed very fragile and feeble, of late. Astra had urged that +application to Doctor Remy which, it now appeared, her mother had made, +but in regard to the results of which she had chosen to keep +silence,--from a loving wish, probably, to save her daughter from +unavailing anxiety. Astra's heart swelled at the thought. + +"Are you _sure_," she asked, "that there is no immediate danger?" + +"As sure as one can be, in such cases--_if_ she is kept quiet." + +"And is there any probability that the disease may be eventually cured?" + +"There is a possibility,--with the same indispensable condition." + +Doctor Remy waited for a moment, in order that Astra might be duly +impressed with this answer; then, he asked with a kind of proud +humility;-- + +"Have I justified myself, in this matter?" + +"Forgive me," said Astra, penitently. "Of course I never really +distrusted your motives; I only fancied that my duty to my mother could +not be affected by them." + +"You see," suggested Doctor Remy, "how easy it is to be misled by +appearances, even with the best intentions. The faith, of which I used +to dream, would never have fallen into that error." + +"I will try to have it, hereafter," said Astra. + +"And yet," returned Doctor Remy, "you will doubtless insist upon a +further explanation of the reason why I do not wish our engagement to +be known to the outside world." + +"Indeed, I shall not," returned Astra, glad of an opportunity of +proving that she was neither so distrustful, nor so curious, as he +believed. "Of course, the outside world must wait till mother is +informed; she has the right to the first telling. If you have any +other reason for keeping the matter secret, I do not seek to know it." + +Could Astra have seen the look of triumph in Doctor Remy's face, she +would have been startled. But he only said, quietly,-- + +"Thank you for so much trust." And, after a moment, he added,--"As you +say, it is your mother's right to know first. Of course, then, you +will not indulge in any confidences to intimate friends." + +"Certainly not," said Astra, a little surprised. "Indeed, I have +none,--except, perhaps, Carice Bergan." + +"I would not mention it, even to her," said the doctor. + +"I do not intend to," replied Astra, decidedly. "But I must go in; +mother will miss me." + + + + +II. + +THE FOUNDATIONS FAIL. + +Astra's light form being quickly lost behind the intervening foliage, +Doctor Remy turned slowly and meditatively toward his office; which, +inasmuch as it had been built for the use and behoof of the late Doctor +Lyte, possessed its own door of convenient communication with the +garden. + +Given opportunity, social equality, and a fine, unremitting tact, and +it would seem that any man can marry any woman, whose affections are +free. Else, it would be hard to understand how Doctor Remy could have +found his way into the heart of Astra Lyte; unless indeed, as is +frequently the case, their very dissimilarity should have constituted a +principle of attraction; character has its own laws of effective +contrast. Astra was enthusiastic, generous, affectionate, with strong +religious instincts and aspirations; Doctor Remy was cold, selfish, +austere, without reverential sentiment, and, in matters of faith, an +utter sceptic. But these traits need not be supposed to have exhibited +themselves to Astra in their naked unloveliness. To her imagination, +doubtless, they took the fairer form of a calm temperament, and great +force and firmness of character, allied to a keen and critical +intellect; which last must needs be allowed to take its own appropriate +time and road to belief (except as it seemed willing to owe something +to her loving guidance). And Astra was of the age and character which +are most prone to fall down and worship human intellect; failing, as +yet, to understand that it is, in itself, of the earth earthy, and +really noble and admirable only as it is enlightened by the spirit of +God. She was dazzled and fascinated by the extent and variety of +Doctor Remy's attainments, and the range and freedom of his ideas. To +talk with him was like drawing the curtain and opening wide the window +on a wintry evening, admitting free, frosty air, and giving a far +outlook over bleak, white hills and leafless forests. Nor did it alarm +her that the air was much too fresh and chill to be breathed long with +comfort or safety, and the landscape drearily bare and skeleton-like, +since the doctor was always ready, at her slightest sign, to drop +window and curtain, and turn back with her to warmer precincts and +gentler themes. + +And so, it had come to pass that, as Doctor Remy walked up the shady +garden walk, he had good reason to congratulate himself upon the +success, thus far, of his plans. Not only was Astra won, but she had +consented to keep silence about the wooing, for awhile. Thus he was +saved from the awkwardness of having to account to Mrs. Lyte for his +unwillingness to have the engagement made public. It would be +difficult to invent a reason likely to commend itself to her judgment; +yet it was out of the question to give her the real one,--namely, his +reasonable doubt whether he should be altogether acceptable to Major +Bergan as the future husband of that gentleman's heiress, and so, in +some sense, as his heir; and his consequent fear lest the will in her +favor should be set aside. Such a confession might give a mercenary +tinge to his suit, in Mrs. Lyte's eyes, which he wisely deprecated. So +far as he knew, neither she nor her daughter had ever heard of the +Major's declaration of his gracious intentions toward the latter; or, +if they had, they regarded it only as a meaningless ebullition of his +rage at Bergan Arling. Such, in truth, would the doctor himself have +thought it, except for certain later inquiries respecting Miss Lyte, +put to himself by the Major; which seemed to show that the matter had +not escaped his memory. Besides, in consideration of the Major's +bitter resentment toward his brother and nephew,--extending, +apparently, to everybody connected with either,--no more eligible heir +to the Bergan estate was to be found, than Astra Lyte. If the Major +had made his will, as he threatened, there was no one, in the whole +Bergan connection, with so strong a claim upon his favorable +consideration. + +Here the doctor paused, for a moment, in his slow walk. "If!" he +muttered, peevishly. "To think that the whole thing turns on a +miserable 'if!' I must contrive some way of finding out whether that +will--or any will--was ever made. There must be no defective nor +missing links in this chain, nothing to invite the meddling of the +cursed fate which has followed me so long. The Major must not be +permitted to die, one of these days,--by the interposition of +Providence and delirium tremens, or something vastly like it,--and +leave me with an abortive plan and a portionless _fiancée_. To be +sure, I should not be long in getting rid of the latter, but there +would be no help for the former." + +His soliloquy had brought him to his office door. Suddenly bethinking +himself, then, that a certain patient had been overlooked in the +catalogue of the day's duties, he called for his horse, and set out to +make good the omission. + +His road led past the Bergan estate. As he was galloping swiftly +onward, absorbed in his own reflections, he heard an energetic +"Halloo!" Pulling up his horse, and looking back, he beheld Major +Bergan leaning over a small gate, which opened into the fields near the +quarter. + +"Are you deaf?" was his angry salutation, duly emphasized with an oath. +"Here I've been hollering after you, till I'm black in the face. I +wish I had saved myself the trouble!" + +"All the fault of my horse's hoofs," replied the doctor, +good-humoredly, as he turned his horse toward the gate; "they made such +a clatter under me that I could not well hear anything else. How can I +serve you?" + +Major Bergan hesitated. Apparently his business did not come readily +to his lips. + +"Perhaps you are on your way to a patient," he finally observed, as if +he would be well enough suited to find an excuse for not broaching it +at all. + +His reluctance only stimulated the doctor's curiosity. "The case is +not urgent," said he, carelessly; "by and by, or even to-morrow +morning, will do just as well. There is no reason why I should not be +entirely at your service--as I am." + +"Come in, then," returned the Major, in a tone that was far from +gracious; but swinging open the gate, nevertheless, for Doctor Remy's +admission. + +The latter dismounted, led his horse through, and slipping the bridle +over his arm, walked by the Major's side to the cottage. On the way, +the latter vouchsafed a brief explanation of his wishes. + +"I've been thinking a good deal of the advice that you gave me awhile +ago," said he, "and--and--I've concluded to make my will. So, seeing +you riding by, just as my mind was full of the subject, it occurred to +me that I might as well call you in, and have the thing over with." + +"And a very sensible decision," returned Doctor Remy, as quietly as if +he were not filled with unexpected delight that the information which +he had hoped to gain only at cost of some deep and difficult scheming, +was thus placed within easy reach. "I only wonder that you have not +done it before." + +"I don't see why I should," replied Major Bergan, sharply; "I've always +been strong and hearty,--what had I to do with making wills? And, now +that I think of it, what have I to do with it now? I'm not in a +decline yet, by any means." + +"So much the better for your work," replied Doctor Remy, composedly. +"Deathbed wills are often contested. No one will question your +soundness of mind, at present." + +"I should think not," said the Major, decidedly. "If he did, he +wouldn't be apt to doubt the soundness of my sinews,--I'd horsewhip him +into instant conviction." + +"Are you provided with witnesses?" asked the Doctor, when the Major's +chuckle had subsided. + +"Witnesses? How many does it want?" + +"Two are necessary." + +The Major mused for a moment. "I can have them here by the time they +are needed," said he. "My new overseer at Number Two will do for one, +and I'll send for Proverb Dick for the other. Step into the cottage, +and make yourself at home for a moment, while I see about it." + + +Doctor Remy flung himself into the first chair that presented itself, +and sank into a fit of thought. A vague disquietude oppressed him, +notwithstanding that events seemed to be shaping themselves so much in +accordance with his wishes. He believed himself to be on the eve of +victory, or at least of a certain measure of present success which +would insure victory; but both religion and philosophy, he knew, were +agreed in representing human expectations as of the nature of the +flower of the field, in various danger from the frost, the knife, and +the uprooting wind. To this general testimony he could add the special +confirmation of his own experience. Like most men, Doctor Remy had the +sobering privilege of looking back upon a career of which the successes +were few, and the failures and disappointments many. The track of his +earthly pilgrimage, thus far, he bitterly thought, was tolerably well +strewn with wrecks and abortions. + +A better man, trying to spell out the meaning and tendency of his life +by the aid of a higher inspiration, might have found some comfort in +the review, nevertheless. He might have discovered some evidences of +harmony and design amid seeming discord and confusion, some solid +foundations showing underneath abortive ruins, some steady inward +growth of patience and strength and hope, in lieu of an outward harvest +of earthly possessions. He might have discerned, with awe and +humility, that sometimes he had builded better than he knew, because +building in accordance with a certain overruling design, of which he +now first began to catch faint and partial glimpses. But such +consolation was not allowed to Doctor Remy. In his past, all was +incomplete, confused, and unsatisfactory. He had not gained what he +sought, and nothing better had come to him through its loss. For many +years of time, and an uncommon measure of talent, he had scarce +anything to show of what he considered life's highest prizes--wealth, +position, influence. He set himself seriously to discover why. And, +for one moment, he, too, had a chill perception of a certain unity and +sequence in the debris left behind him, unperceived before; which +seemed to show that, though he had served his own ends but poorly, he +had none the less helped to forward some extended scheme, whereof he +had known nothing at the time, and could now discern only the most +fragmentary outline. But Doctor Remy quickly shook himself free of +this notion, with a smile at his own absurdity. + +Why, then, he asked himself, had he failed? Because of his mistakes, +no doubt. Let every man bear the blame of his own acts, and not try to +throw it off on his neighbors, or that convenient scapegoat, +Providence. Looking back, he could discern many a point (and notably +one), where he had committed a grave error. But his mistakes had been +his instructors, nevertheless. He had gained from them knowledge that +should stand him in good stead yet. To his former qualities of +boldness, energy, perseverance, and skill, he now added the experience +that could use them to better effect. It would be strange, indeed, if +he could not henceforth command success. + +He had just reached this conclusion when Major Bergan joined him. +Ample provision of lights, paper, pens, and ink, being then placed upon +the table, together with the inevitable brandy bottle, the two +gentlemen sat down opposite each other, and Doctor Remy began his task +of drawing up the will. He first wrote the usual legal preamble, in a +clear, rapid hand, and read it aloud for Major Bergan's approval. Some +small legacies followed, taken down nearly verbatim from the Major's +dictation. Doctor Remy then waited, for some moments, with his pen +suspended over the paper, while the Major seemed trying vainly to +arrange his thoughts. + +"I don't quite know how to word the next," said he, at length, "you +must put it into shape yourself. I hold a mortgage of the place where +Catherine Lyte lives; and I want it cancelled, at my death, in her +favor, or, if she does not survive me, in favor of her daughter Astra." + +"You surprise me," remarked Doctor Remy, as he began to write; "I have +always understood that the place was free from incumbrance." + +"You understood wrong, then," replied Major Bergan. "Though, for +anything that I know, Catherine Lyte may think so herself. You see, +Harvey got into difficulties eight or nine years ago, and I lent him +money, and took a mortgage on the place. He kept the interest paid up +until his death; and since then, nothing has been said to me about +either interest or principal; from which I concluded that Catherine did +not know of the fact. And as I felt sorry for her, I decided to say +nothing about it myself, as long as I was not in need of the money, nor +likely to be. But it will not do her any harm to know, after I am +dead, that I have been kinder to her than she knew of." + +Doctor Remy looked up with a smile. "I suspect," said he, "that it +would not be well for her to offend you." + +"I don't know about that," replied Major Bergan, complacently. "She +did offend me, when she took my nephew in; and I came pretty near +foreclosing then. But Maumer Rue convinced me that she could not +afford to refuse a good offer for her rooms; and moreover, as Harry +only had his office there, and took his meals at the hotel, she need +not have much more to do with him than I did, if she did not choose." + +Doctor Remy did not think it necessary to enlighten the Major in regard +to Bergan's familiarity with the family of Mrs. Lyte, since such a +disclosure must needs militate directly against his own ends. He +silently put the Major's wish into correct legal phrase and form, and +then lifted his head with the question;-- + +"What next?" + +Major Bergan's face grew grave and troubled. Thus far, it had been +easy work, merely giving away what he did not care for, and should not +miss. But now that the bulk of his property, real and personal, was to +come in question, he groaned inwardly at the necessity of bequeathing +it to any one. Did it not represent all the hopes, energies, labors +and results of his whole life? What a naked, shivering, miserable soul +he would be without it! He had a feeling that he should never be quite +certain of his own identity, in eternity, without the houses and the +lands, the negroes and the gold, for which he had lived in time. + +"Well!" said Dr. Remy, by way of reminding him that he was still +waiting. + +The Major frowned; nevertheless, after another moment, he resumed his +dictation. + +"I give and bequeath," said he, slowly, "my house known as Bergan Hall, +with all the lands thereto pertaining, including the rice-plantation +known as 'Number Two;' also my three houses in the town of Berganton; +also my block in the city of Savannah; also my negroes, horses, mills, +and plantation implements; also, my household furniture and other +personal property, including all bonds, mortgages, moneys, and all +other property whereof I die possessed, to-----" + +Doctor Remy had written down the items of this comprehensive inventory +with a delight that he could scarcely keep from shining out in his +face; and he now held his pen over the paper, while the Major paused, +in real enjoyment of so timely an opportunity for pleasurable +recapitulation and anticipation. The pause being a long one, however, +he finally raised his eyes to the rugged features opposite, and saw +that they were tremulous with emotion. Words, too, soon began to break +from the Major's lips, according to the habit which had grown upon him +in his solitude;--he had forgotten for the time, that he was not alone. + +"He is the natural heir, as Maumer Rue insists," he muttered, "and the +only one justified by the old family precedents. But," he went on, as +Dr. Remy began to tremble, vicariously, for Astra's prospects, "he left +me without so much as saying 'good bye;' he did just what he knew I was +most bitterly opposed to; and he has never come near me since. No, he +shall not have it!--he never shall have it, in spite of Maumer Rue's +prophecies--I'll take care of that!" + +And he began to repeat slowly, "bonds, mortgages, moneys, and all other +property whereof I die possessed, to--to--" + +Again he paused. + +"Why can't he say 'to Astra Lyte,' and done with it?" thought Dr. Remy, +impatiently, as he suddenly checked his pen in the midst of the first +curve of the letter A. + +The Major made another effort;--"To my niece, Carice Bergan," he +concluded, with a sigh. + +Doctor Remy's face fell so suddenly, that it attracted the Major's +attention. + +"Well! what is the matter now?" he demanded, sharply. + +Doctor Remy could not immediately answer. His mind was in a whirl of +confusion, disappointment, and anxiety. Mechanically, he put his hand +to his brow; and the gesture helped him to a plausible explanation. + +"A sudden pain," said he, in a low, shaken voice; "I have felt it +several times of late. Wait a minute, it will soon be over." + +And covering his eyes with his hands, he addressed himself at once to +the task of answering the difficult question;-- + +What is to be done now? + +It was well for him that he was accustomed to think rapidly and +clearly, in the immediate presence of danger, that he was tenacious of +purpose too, and that his instinct, in the midst of overthrow and ruin, +was to commence at once to rebuild. Yet, for some moments, not an +available suggestion presented itself, not a shadow of help for the +exigency that had so unexpectedly arisen. + +"Then, suddenly, a thought came to him, and with it, a gleam of hope. +He took his hands from his eyes, and looked the Major gravely in the +face. + +"Before we go any farther," said he, "I feel bound in honor to make a +confession. If I had supposed that writing your will was going to put +me in such an awkward position, I should certainly have desired you to +look elsewhere for a lawyer. However, it cannot be helped now. Well, +the truth is"--he stopped for a moment, as if to overcome an excessive +reluctance,--"the truth is, I have long admired your niece; and now, as +my practice is steadily increasing, and I think I could take care of a +wife, I had made up my mind to ask permission to pay her my addresses." + +Major Bergan uttered a prolonged "Whew!" and settled himself back in +his chair. "That alters the case, certainly," said he, after a brief +consideration of this new phase of the matter. + +"I am glad to hear it," exclaimed Dr. Remy, eagerly. "Pray--if it is +not too selfish in me to ask it--pray give Bergan Hall to the next most +eligible claimant, and leave me Miss Carice." + +The Major raised his eyebrows, and leaning forward, fixed his eyes on +Doctor Remy, as if he had found a new and interesting subject of study. + +"Do you mean to say," he asked, gravely, "that you would rather have +Carice without Bergan Hall than with it?" + +"Decidedly," replied Doctor Remy. "I prefer an equal match to an +unequal one. I prefer to be credited with honorable motives, rather +than mercenary ones. I don't want to be a pensioner on my wife's +bounty. It is doubtful if I could ever make up my mind to address the +heiress of Bergan Hall. And thus, you see, if you persist in making +Miss Bergan your legatee, you are playing the mischief with my hopes +and plans." + +Major Bergan continued to stare, thoughtfully, at the doctor. He was +beginning rather to like this disinterested suitor. + +"Have you any reason to think that Carice favors you?" he asked, +finally. + +Doctor Remy hesitated. "I really don't know how to answer that +question. If I should say 'yes,' in view of the 'trifles light as +air,' from which I have ventured to draw some slight encouragement, I +should seem, even to myself, to be a conceited ass; and yet, if you +would only be good enough not to throw Bergan Hall into the scale +against me, I should not be absolutely without hope." + +Major Bergan gave a short laugh. "Who will know," he asked, "that +Carice is to have Bergan Hall? I expect you to keep my counsel in this +matter. That is why I asked you to do the business. I had an idea +that you were closer-mouthed, both by nature and training, than those +lawyers in Berganton." + +"_I_ shall know it," replied Doctor Remy, virtuously, answering the +Major's question, and taking no notice of the compliment which followed +it. "And I shall know, too, that the heiress of Bergan Hall, if she +were aware of her position, might reasonably expect to find a better +match than a mere country physician." + +"On my soul," exclaimed the Major, heartily, "I think she might 'go +farther and fare worse!' Go on, doctor and win her, if you can;--you +have my best wishes for your success. Leave Bergan Hall out of the +question; indeed, it may never come into it, after all. Carice may +refuse you----" + +("Little doubt of that," thought the doctor.) + +"I may alter my will a dozen times, or make a new one,--" + +("You will have to be in a hurry, if you do," thought the doctor again, +grimly.) + +"At any rate, I expect you to frame that one so that Carice's husband, +whoever he may be, can have no control whatever over the property. It +is to be hers, and her children's, only. So scribble away there, at +your best pace, or Proverb Dick will be here before we get through." + +"But your brother Godfrey,"--began Doctor Remy, in despair, racking his +brains for some consideration that would be likely to shake the Major's +purpose. + +"My brother Godfrey," interrupted Major Bergan, sternly, "has nothing +to do with this matter. I don't give the property to him, but to +Carice. Perhaps, on the whole, I had better just give her a +life-interest in it, and then have it go to her eldest son, who shall +take the name of Bergan, and be christened Harry. Yes, that will be +the better way. Write it down so." + +"But"--began Doctor Remy again. + +"Save your 'buts,' until we get through," broke in Major Bergan, +sharply. "I tell you, Carice shall have the place. If you don't want +her with it, you can let her alone. And if you can't, or won't, write +my will to suit me, I'll scud for some one who can and will." + +This threat effectually silenced Doctor Remy. It was essential that +the matter should not be taken out of his hands, till he had satisfied +himself that it could in nowise be turned to his account. "If it comes +to the worst," said he to himself, "it is something to have the +document in my own handwriting. That gives me a better chance to +furnish a substitute, at need." + +With the rigid self-control that always characterized him, therefore, +he now put aside, as far as might be, his own hopes and plans, and set +himself diligently to the work of completing the will, in accordance +with the Major's instructions, and to his entire satisfaction. He did +not even move a muscle when, in due time, the Major dictated a +paragraph to the effect that if Carice should not survive him, or +should die without issue, the estate should fall to a distant cousin, +now in Europe, whose sole claim to his consideration appeared to be +that he bore the family name. The doctor was proof against any further +shocks, this evening. Fate had done her worst for him, in forcing him +to write "Carice Bergan," where he had confidently expected to write +"Astra Lyte," and to find his account in so doing. + +At the end of an hour, three closely written sheets lay upon the table, +ready for the signatures of the witnesses, whenever they should appear; +and the Major, drawing a long breath of relief, to see his lugubrious +business so nearly finished, applied himself to the brandy bottle for +appropriate refreshment. Doctor Remy sat silent, abstractedly toying +with the pen that had been making such havoc with his plans. + +Suddenly he raised his eyes to Major Bergan's face with the question;-- + +"How did that medicine suit you?" + +"Admirably," replied the Major. "I have had one attack since you were +here,--a tolerably severe one, too,--but the second powder acted like a +charm." + +"The second powder!" thought the doctor. "I am afraid that I gave him +too many! At that rate, if chance favors him, he may hold on for a +year, or more." + +He was opening his lips for another remark, when the door shook under a +vigorous rap; and scarce waiting for the Major's invitation, Dick +Causton entered. + + + + +III. + +BUILDING ANEW. + +The new comer opened his eyes wide at sight of Doctor Remy, and the +table littered with writing materials; and looked with evident +curiosity at the closely written sheets of the will, the character of +which he seemed at once to discover or divine. + +"I see," said he, sententiously, nodding his head,--"'Our last garment +is made without pockets.'" + +Major Bergan shivered as if he had felt a chill breath from the mouth +of a tomb. It was hard to be so often reminded that he and his +possessions must soon part, with small prospect of meeting again. + +"If you must quote proverbs, Dick," he exclaimed peevishly, "pray don't +quote such cold-blooded ones as that!" + +"How could I help it, when 'it came to my hand like the bow o' a pint +stoup?'" answered Dick Causton coolly, with his eyes fixed hungrily on +the Major's brandy bottle. + +The hint was successful. Bottle and glass were immediately placed +within his reach, and he made haste to warm and quicken his age-frosted +blood with a deep draught of the potent liquor. It was both strange +and sad to see how his eye brightened, his face grew more animated, his +figure became more erect, his whole frame seemed to gather vigor and +energy, under its influence, while his air became, if possible, more +mean and slouching than before. It was as if he felt conscious +himself, and knew that any beholder would be sure to discover, that his +proper strength and manhood had long since died out of him, and he was +now drawing unworthy breath and life from a source of which he was +thoroughly ashamed, though unable to do without it. + +Major Bergan, meanwhile, briefly explained why he had sent for him, +adding, in a tone that was meant to be courteous, but narrowly escaped +condescension;-- + +"I knew that you would be glad to do a favor to an old friend like me, +Dick." + +"Certainly," replied Richard Causton, heartily; "especially as I +suspect that I shall also be doing a favor to my young friend, Mr. +Arling. 'He that loves the tree, loves the branch,' you know." + +Major Bergan frowned. "I don't see what my nephew has to do with it," +said he, surlily. + +Dick Causton gave him a look of surprise. "_De vrucht valt niet ver +van den stam_," said he, shaking his head. "That is to say, The fruit +falls near the stem. It isn't nature for a man to leave his property +away from his own blood. It isn't right, either, in my opinion." + +"I am not going to leave mine away from my blood," replied Major +Bergan, austerely; "though, if I were, I do not see that it is +anybody's affair but my own." + +"Nor I either," rejoined Dick Causton, coolly, "unless your dead +ancestors should imagine it to be theirs. _Os demos á os suyos +quieren_,--The devils are fond of their own,--and so, doubtless, are +the saints, if any such are to be found in your pedigree. It is +reasonable to suppose that they would all prefer to see their earthly +possessions go down in the channel marked out by nature. Anyway, I'm +right glad to know that Mr. Arling is to have his rights, some day, +fine fellow that he is! I've always had a kindness for him, ever since +I first gave him a lift, on his way to you." + +Major Bergan looked very grim. "Yes, Mr. Arling will have his rights," +said he, with stern emphasis,--"I've seen to that." + +Dick Causton glanced from the Major's face to the will, with an +instinctive feeling that all was not right, but could make nothing of +either. The one was dark and impenetrable; the other was upside down, +from his point of view. Apparently, nothing invited attack but the +brandy bottle. That, he was glad to see, was not yet empty. + +"I am wasting words," said he, shrugging his shoulders. "_A chose +faite conseil pris_. 'Advice after action is like medicine after +death'--or brandy after one has ceased to be thirsty." + +"Take another glass," said Major Bergan. + +Dick obeyed with alacrity. The dram was scarcely swallowed, ere a tap +at the door announced the arrival of the overseer from "Number Two,"--a +tall, lank, taciturn Texan, whom the Major had recently taken into his +employ, as a short cut to that avoidance of the rice fields which +Doctor Remy had recommended. + +The ceremonies of signing and sealing the will immediately followed. +Dick Causton was greatly disappointed that the document was not read in +his hearing, as he had expected. + +"Never buy a pig in a poke, nor sign a paper without reading it," said +he, as he took the pen into his hand. "How am I to tell what will I +really signed, if I know nothing of the contents? However, it's your +risk, not mine," he added, hastily, seeing that Major Bergan was +beginning to look impatient. And, forthwith, he bent his energies to +the task of writing his name in a large, angular, and very tremulous +hand; and then shook his head dubiously over the result. + +"It looks like nothing that ever I wrote before," he remarked, as he +laid down the pen. "But _Hund er hund om han er aldrig saa broget_,--A +dog, is a dog whatever be his color,--and so, a signature must be a +signature though it wiggle across the paper like a tipsy eel. Perhaps +I shall know it by that token, when I see it again. But I can't +promise." + +"I shall know mine," observed the overseer, confidently, as he lifted +the pen. + +Doctor Remy leaned forward with sudden interest. The name was written +in commonplace fashion enough, but it was finished with an odd, +complicated flourish. + +"Do you always sign your name in that way?" he asked. + +"Always." + +"It looks very difficult; yet you seemed to do it with much ease. Let +me see the process again." And he pushed a piece of paper over to the +man, who, gratified to find his skill so heartily appreciated, scrawled +it all over with his sign-manual, in wearisome repetition. The paper +was then passed from one to another, for a brief examination, and was +finally left in the hands of Doctor Remy; who first began absently to +roll it round his fingers, and ended by tearing it in three or four +pieces, in a fit of apparent abstraction. Nobody noticed that one of +these found its way into his pocket as a thing of possible utility, in +the future. + +He then rose. "I am sorry to be obliged to go so soon," said he, +courteously, "but a physician's time is not his own. Good evening, +Major Bergan, I am always at your service, and in any capacity. Good +evening, Mr. Causton, doubtless, we shall meet again." + +Dick glanced at the brandy bottle, and, seeing that it was empty, was +taken with a sudden fancy for the doctor's society. + +"I'll walk along with you, doctor, at least as far as our road is one," +said he, rising. "Good company makes short miles." + +"I came in the saddle," answered Doctor Remy, "but we can be companions +as far as the gate, if you like." + +Nevertheless, the pair did not separate at the gate. Their +conversation had become too interesting, apparently, to both; and Dick +Causton continued to walk on by the side of the doctor's horse. + +It was late when he reached his cabin, that night. Very suggestively, +too, he reeled across the threshold, and, missing the bed, deposited +himself heavily on the floor. + +"_Tidt meder man ei did som man vil skyde_, A man does not always aim +at what he means to hit,"--he muttered, resignedly, merely changing his +position for a more comfortable one, and dozing off to sleep. + +Somewhere, on the way--or out of it--apparently, he had found a +supplementary brandy bottle, and had not left it until it was as empty +as the Major's. + +It was late, too, when Doctor Remy laid his head on his pillow, that +night. And, perhaps, in all Berganton, there was no wearier nor sadder +man than he. One apparently well-constructed plan had just gone to +pieces in his hands, without note of warning. Another was now to be +built up out of the fragments, pitilessly rejecting whatever had been +an element of weakness in the first. Already, its outline had begun to +shape itself dimly against his mental horizon. Yet he did not allow +himself to linger upon it to-night. With the rigid self-control which +he habitually exercised, he put aside disappointment, care, and hope, +and soon slept as soundly as if no anxiety rested on his mind, no stain +on his conscience. + +He was early astir. With the morning light came quickness and +clearness of thought. His scheme began to look more distinct and +feasible. By way of getting it in hand at once, he tapped lightly at +the door of Astra's studio. + +He was somewhat surprised to find her before an easel, palette and +brushes in hand. She smiled and blushed at his approach. + +"I know what you would say," she began, apologetically,--"'A Jack at +all trades,' _et caetera_, but I really wanted color for _this_ +subject." She pointed to her canvas. "Do you recognize it?" + +"I can see that those are Miss Bergan's eyes," replied Doctor +Remy;--"all else is delightfully vague and suggestive." + +"And what eyes they are!" exclaimed Astra, admiringly,---not without a +pleasant perception, too, that she had succeeded wonderfully well in +putting them on canvas. + +Doctor Remy did not answer immediately. He was regarding the portrait +with a gravity that Astra could not understand,--unless, indeed, his +thoughts were elsewhere. Nevertheless, when he spoke, it was +sufficiently to the point. + +"Yes, they are very fine eyes," said he. "And Miss Bergan is +altogether very pretty,--in an uncommon style, too. It is surprising +that she has remained heartfree so long." + +Astra looked at him with soft, smiling, amused eyes. "Heartfree! As +much as I am," said she. + +Doctor Remy gave her a questioning look. + +"I am not going to tell you anything about it," said she, laughingly. +"Use your eyes, sometimes, in watching your neighbors, as I do." + +"Who _is_ my neighbor?" asked Doctor Remy, smiling. + +"The proper question!" laughed Astra. "In this case, you need not +journey beyond this roof, to find him." + +Doctor Remy's eyes lit with a sudden, strange gleam. "Do you _know_ it +is so?" he asked, quickly. + +"Ho, I cannot quite say that;--I doubt if she knows it herself yet. +But I believe it, all the same." + +Doctor Remy watched her absently for some moments, then made a few +curt, critical remarks about her work, bade her a cool good morning, +and withdrew. + +Astra looked after him, with a troubled, wondering expression. + +"What has come over him?" she asked herself. "How have I offended him? +Or was it only my fancy that he seemed so cold and strange?" + + +Before Doctor Remy began his professional rounds, that morning, he had +sketched, in outline, the main features of a new plan for the +acquisition of Bergan Hall. The minor details he wisely left to the +suggestions of time and circumstance. + +One of these proved to be very close at hand. As he drove mechanically +through the principal street of Berganton, revolving various +probabilities and possibilities in his mind, and trying to make some +provision for each, he espied Miss Ferrars coming up the +sidewalk,--easily recognizable, at almost any distance, by her +peculiarly mincing and swaying gait. In all similar encounters with +the slightly faded maiden,--whom he shrewdly suspected of designs upon +his bachelor liberty,--it had been his wont to slide swiftly past, with +a low and deprecatory bow, suggestive of his deep regret that the +urgency of his haste denied him the pleasure of stopping to inquire +after her health. On this occasion, therefore, she was agreeably +surprised to see him rein his horse up to the sidewalk, with the +obvious intention of speaking to her. Perhaps her heart beat a little +more quickly, as she stopped to listen. + +Apparently, however, he had nothing of more importance to communicate +than a commonplace enough observation about the heat of the weather, +and a friendly caution not to walk far in so fervid a sunshine as was +flooding the town with its golden waves. Then, he gathered up his +reins, as if to signify that his say was said, and he was ready to +proceed. Nevertheless, he lingered a moment longer, to add, +carelessly,-- + +"By the way, I ought to acknowledge that you were right, and I was +wrong, the other day. It is not the first time that man's reason has +had to admit the superior correctness, as well as quickness, of woman's +intuition." + +Miss Ferrars looked both pleased and puzzled. "It is very good of you +to say so," she answered, simpering;--"but really, I can't think what +you allude to." + +"When you called at my office, a few days ago," explained the doctor, +"you did me the honor to confide to me your impressions with regard to +my friends, Miss Lyte and Mr. Arling. I thought you were mistaken, and +told you so. It turns out, however, that the mistake was on my part, +not yours. I was really blind--not wilfully so, as you had the charity +to suppose. I mention the matter the more readily because it must soon +be patent to everybody. Good morning." + +And without waiting for a reply, Doctor Remy courteously lifted his +hat, and went his way, with a curious smile on his lips. + +"That last intimation ensures speed," said he to himself. "Miss +Ferrars will do her best to be beforehand with the news. Before +to-morrow morning, it will be known throughout the town. Then, I can +easily manage so that it shall reach the Major's ears, and--by the help +of my loving commentary--produce the desired effect. Astra must be +gotten out of the way, for the present, at least. So must Arling; last +night's business convinced me that he is more dangerous than I +imagined. The Major deceives himself, but he does not deceive me; his +bitterness towards his nephew is nothing more than piqued and smothered +affection,--affection undergoing fermentation, as it were, and certain +to work itself clear and sweet, in time. If Arling remains in the +neighborhood, the Major will soon be seizing upon some pretext for a +reconciliation. Failing of that, Miss Carice is certain to inherit his +estate; just because he wooed--and did not win--her mother, some +twenty-five or thirty years ago! No doubt, a marriage between the two +would suit him exactly, if he once got hold of the idea. Yes, Arling +must be gotten rid of. But how?" + +He bent his brows moodily. Some expedient, apparently, soon suggested +itself to him, and was immediately rejected with a shake of the head. + +"No, not _that_ way," he muttered. "I'm determined against actual, +point-blank crime, so called,--except as a last resource. Besides, it +is not necessary; I only want to get rid of him until the Major is +dead, and Miss Carice is my wife. There _must_ be some way to dispose +of him, by lawful means, if I could only hit upon it! Really, if there +were a Devil, as some people believe, he would strain a point now in my +favor! At all events, I think I see my way clear with Astra." + +He was silent, for an instant; his brow grew sombre with unwonted +regret. + +"Poor Astra!" he murmured, as he drove into the cathedral-like gloom of +the far-stretching pine barren,--"I am really loath to give her up! +But her chance of the Hall, I see now, is not worth a picayune. And it +won't do to trust to the possibility of substituting a manufactured +will for the real one, as long as I cannot find out where the latter is +deposited. The Major was very close-mouthed about _that_ matter. No, +Miss Carice is my safest resort. Yet Astra would suit me much better, +on the whole." And once again, looking absently up the long, columned +vista of the narrow road, he murmured regretfully;-- + +"Poor Astra!" + + + + +IV. + +A SERMON. + +The next day was Sunday. It came to the earth, as it comes always, +with kindly, hallowed hands full of blessings, but found not everywhere +hearts and minds open to receive them. Carice Bergan, to be sure, +knelt in her accustomed place, in the little church of her fathers, +with a face which might almost have rivalled that of an angel in its +bright peacefulness, and with all the windows of her soul plainly open +to the heavenly sunshine. Bergan Arling, too, conscious that each one +of these holy days had its own special gift or grace for him, its own +kind and measure of spiritual food, which he could ill afford to lose, +knelt in his proper place, and reverently lent his full, rich voice to +swell the solemn flow of common prayer, or the harmonious burst of +choral praise. And Mrs. Lyte, in her widow's weeds, looking upward in +spirit, to the long peace of Paradise, and the shining faces of the +redeemed, was glad to believe in "the communion of saints," and +rejoiced in the day that was both a foretaste and a promise of the +"life everlasting." Even Astra Lyte, though suffering from a vague and +nameless depression,--a burden of which, as yet, she felt only the +weight and chill, without comprehending, or daring to try to +comprehend, whence it came or what it meant,--was sensible of a dim +delight, and possibly a latent helpfulness, in the sweet and solemn +influences of the day and the place. Here and there, moreover, a soul +bowed under the weight of recent affliction, or shaken with the terrors +of a newly-awakened conscience, was both awed and glad to be able to +give itself audible expression in words so fit and forcible as those of +the Confession and the Litany, and thankful if it might pick up so much +as a crumb of pardon and peace from the Master's bountiful table. + +But, to Doctor Remy, paying an unwilling tribute to public opinion by +showing himself at church, on this morning, after many weeks of +absence, and leaving it to be inferred that, but for his professional +duties, he would be seen there regularly; to Miss Ferrars, mingling +solemn words of confession and penitence with frivolous thoughts of +dress and gossip; to Dick Causton, slinking shame-facedly into the rear +pew, to listen to the conclusion of the sweet, old, familiar hymn, the +first sounds of which had fallen enticingly upon his ear, as he was +staggering up the street;--to these, and many others like them, +doubtless, Sunday brought only present irksomeness and future +condemnation. + +The hymn being finished, Mr. Islay ascended the pulpit, and, laying his +manuscript open before him, looked round on the crowded congregation, +with serious, almost melancholy, eyes. Perhaps he sought, amid those +upturned faces, for some sign of human sympathy, to lighten a little +his heavy sense of responsibility; perhaps he wondered to which of +these souls his words were now to prove a savor of life unto life, and +to which, a savor of death unto death. Deep and clear, and full of a +solemn music, his voice broke the silence. + +"In the fifth, chapter of Proverbs, and in the twenty-second verse, it +is written: + +'HE SHALL BE HOLDEN WITH THE CORDS OF HIS SINS.'" + + +Three faces were at once alive with interest. Doctor Remy, indeed, +gave a slight and almost imperceptible start, as if his intellect not +only, but his memory or his conscience, had felt an awakening touch. +Bergan Arling merely fixed his eyes more intently on the speaker, with +the aspect of a man who was glad to find that the coming discourse was +likely to link into, and carry on, some previous train of thought. As +for Dick Causton, the word "Proverbs" was sufficient to command his +earnest, and even critical, attention. He believed that he knew a good +deal about proverbs himself; he had made a lifelong study of their +characteristics and principles of interpretation; he had often declared +those of Solomon--such as were strictly proverbs--to be of the best; he +would stay and hear what a tyro like Mr. Islay had to say about this +particular one. + +This, briefly, was what the clergyman said. + +"Many texts are like rosebuds. They have a simple form, and an obvious +signification. But if you steep them in the dew of meditation and the +sunshine of faith, they begin to unfold meaning after meaning, as the +rosebud petal after petal; and in the centre there is a golden +heart,--the gracious blessing of God on the fervent and prayerful +spirit, and the inquiring and teachable mind. Let us pray that the +text which we are considering, may prove such an one to each of us. + +"A man's sin is sure to find him out. It may have been committed in +secret, muffled thickly with caution, and finally buried deep under +time and distance and circumstance; it may remain hidden for years; it +may have been forgotten, except for an occasional dark moment, by the +sinner himself; yet, some time, some day, what seems to be a chance, +but is truly a providence, lifts the veil, and takes hold of the +clue,--or death throws the lurid light of his inverted torch over the +dark transaction,--and the liar, the thief, the adulterer, the +murderer, or whatever may be the miserable man's miserable name, is +brought to the bar either of human or divine justice. And there is no +escape. The bands of his iniquity are around him; they bind him hand +and foot; he is holden with the cords of his sins. + +"This is perhaps the first and most obvious meaning of the text. It +assures us that, 'though punishment be lame, it arrives.' It warns us +not to make cords which are certain to be used, some day, for our own +binding. + +"But men are apt to think lightly of a remote evil. The present +monopolizes their fears, as it does their labors. Moreover (they say), +there are dozens of little, everyday sins, which entail no such fearful +consequences. Let us see how our text bears upon these points. + +"Sin is not a simple, but a complex, thing. It is a cord twisted of +many threads, and some of them begin very far back. A man is seldom +taken in the toils of a sudden, single temptation, or bound with the +cords of an utterly unimagined and unpremeditated sin. He has made the +way and work easy to each of them, by yielding to preliminary +temptations, and carelessly allowing the binding of preparatory sins. +He is holden with the cords of the evil thought to the unhallowed +desire and the foul gratification. He is holden with the cords of that +seemingly venial sin to this final burden of guilt and shame, by that +unbridled passion to this startling, terrible crime. The slender cord +draws the stout one after it: at sight of _that_, the man may start and +shrink, but he is already half-bound, and his resistance is feeble. +Having taken the first step, he is committed to the second; having +admitted the premise, he is bound to the logical conclusion. Here, as +before, he is holden with the cords of his sins. + +"Moreover, there are few things stronger, for good or ill, than habit. +And every sin, however small, _may_ begin an evil habit, and is _sure_ +to confirm one. Round and round goes the slender cord, till it binds +as strongly as a chain of iron. One part after another yields to the +subtle, stealing influence; first, the will succumbs; then, the reason; +finally, the conscience. Day by day, good ceases to attract, and evil +to repel. Day by day, the right becomes more difficult, and the wrong +easier. The habit soon becomes fixed; the man is firmly bound. To the +side of evil, and the service of Satan, he is holden with the cords of +his sins. + +"Again: If thought be the spring of action, action is also the spring +of thought. If it be true that, 'as a man thinks, he is,' so it is +true that as he is, he thinks. Thought is by turns cause and effect. +If a man's sins are the result of his evil thoughts, so his evil and +erroneous thoughts are sometimes the result of his sins. He cannot +long continue to think right if he act wrong. After breaking the +Sabbath awhile, he ceases to think of it as a holy day. After +committing murder, he ceases to regard life as sacred. Violating human +law, it becomes a terror instead of a protection. Defying the Divine +law, he soon denies its authority. Sin distorts his views, as well as +his life. The truths of religion lose their clearness to his mind with +their power to influence his action. Doubts, scepticism, infidelity, +find an open door, and an easy road, to his heart. If a man would keep +fast hold of his Christian faith, let him take care to order his +actions, as far as possible, in conformity to its precepts. But, on +the other hand, let him give free rein to his appetites and +ambitions,--yea, even to the commission of absolute crime,--if he +wishes to become a mocker and an infidel, without love of God or man, +without correct views of time or clear ones of eternity. For, to all +these things, he will be sure to be holden with the cords of his sins. + +"Finally; All men love liberty. But sin, though it may seem, at first, +to be the wildest liberty, soon proves to be the narrowest bondage. +The sinner is the slave of appetites, of habits, of thoughts, that are +hard task-masters; and the wages of which are every kind of death. For +there are many kinds,--social, political, moral, before the final, +everlasting death;--and one, or all, of these, he is sure to taste, as +the reward of his faithful service of Satan. His health is undermined, +or his reputation destroyed; his fortune is dissipated, or his gold +corroded in the using; he is shaken with the terrors of conscience, or +hardened into the semblance of stone; he is without adequate +consolation in the day of trouble, and without strengthening hope in +the day of death; but his slavery is abject and absolute. He neither +will nor can escape. He is holden with the cords of his sins. + +"Thus you will see, beloved, that our text has a word of solemn warning +for the present, as well as for the future. The holding of sin is to +be dreaded in life, not less than at death. One sin holds fast to +another. Single sins twist together into the strong cord of habitual +sin. The sinful act draws after it evil thoughts and loose opinions. +Sin is a continual, daily bondage, as well as a final retribution. + +"Beware then, oh, ye young! how you bind yourselves with cords of +sinful thoughts, or habits, or opinions, or passions, to the exclusion +of that blessed liberty which is in Christ Jesus. Beware, oh, ye +adults! how you go on adding sin to sin, and cord to cord, till you are +bound hand and foot, thought and will, body and soul; and are finally +cast down to perdition, in bonds of your own industrious +forging--holden with the cords of your sins! + +"But,--do you say?--we are all sinners, we are all 'holden,' how are we +to break from the cords of our sins? Go to Christ. At His feet, all +bonds are broken, all slavery ends. He leads captivity captive, and +His service is perfect freedom. He is our righteousness, and the man +that trusteth in Him, shall no more be holden with the cords of His +sins." + +Such was the substance of the sermon. But in the delivery, there was a +warmth and an earnestness, a happiness of expression and illustration, +and a deep solemnity, that held the congregation spell-bound with +interest, to the end! + +Perhaps no one had listened more attentively, or humbly, than Bergan +Arling. So recently had he felt the irksome holding of the cords of +his sins! And he would still, no doubt, be holden to their +consequences, all the days of his life, if not to their guilt. + +As for Doctor Remy, there was an unusual pallor in his face, when he +rose, at the singing of the last hymn. But it was quickly gone; he +came out of the church with much of his usual cold, composed demeanor. +His sins had held him too long to loosen their stricture at one +transient quake of conscience. + +Dick Causton had listened for some time with marked attention, and +apparent approval. Then, a kind of haze had slowly bedimmed his sight +and beclouded his brain. When the congregation came down the aisles, +he was fast asleep, with his head drooping heavily on his breast. If +anything could have added to the effect of the sermon, this sight ought +to have done so. Most certainly, poor Dick was "holden with the cords +of his sins." + +When the church was empty, he was shaken rudely by the sexton, and +turned out, muttering caustic proverbs by way of retaliation. + + + + +V. + +PARTINGS. + +Bergan and Doctor Remy walked home from the church, as they had gone +thither, side by side; yet, for a considerable time, neither spoke. If +not altogether congenial spirits, they were on sufficiently easy and +familiar terms, in virtue of their almost daily association, to allow +each to pursue his own train of thought, on occasion, without reference +to the other. + +To Bergan, Mr. Islay's sermon had been interesting and effective, not +only for what it contained, but for what it suggested. Naturally, +therefore, his mind was now busy in following out those suggestions to +the point where they bore upon his own experience, and unfolded their +lessons for his own soul. + +But Dr. Remy's thoughts had long since strayed away from any channel +into which the sermon was calculated to lead them. There had been some +brief moments, during its delivery, to be sure, when he had shrunken +inwardly, iron-nerved though he were, from the deep, sharp probing of +certain of its sentences; and there had been a single instant, perhaps, +wherein he had been made dimly to see, or to suspect, that his own life +and character--much as he had prided himself upon being the independent +artificer of them both--were really the results to which he had been +holden by the cords of former, half-forgotten sins. But he had made +haste to shake himself free from both the idea and its effect, with one +smile of scorn at his own folly, and another at what he chose to +consider the weak superstition of the clergyman and his awed, +interested flock. He thanked God--using the phrase in a vague, general +sense which, perhaps, was only equivalent to thanking himself--that he +was not as these men were. And no sooner was he in the open air than +he set his busy mind to the consideration of his own projects. Some +clue to its workings may perhaps be afforded by the question with which +he finally broke the silence. + +"Have you ever had the yellow fever, Arling?" + +"No; it does not visit our western villages." + +"Then, I advise you to take refuge in one of them, for the next three +months. It is certain to visit Berganton ere long." + +"Indeed!" said Bergan, with more curiosity than alarm. "Why do you +think so?" + +"From the weather, the atmosphere, the present type of disease,--a +dozen indications patent to the eye of experience. Besides, I am +informed by a private letter that it has already appeared in New +Orleans. Its arrival here is but a question of time. And I assure you +that its acquaintance is to be avoided." + +"Doubtless. And I shall do my best to avoid it--except by running +away." + +"You might as well say," answered Doctor Remy, dryly, "that you will +take every precaution against drowning--except to keep your head above +water. Don't be fool-hardy, Arling. Yellow Jack has a keen appetite +for strangers,--that is to say, for all who are not native born. If he +spares any, it is usually the sickly and feeble, not the strong and +vigorous. He would consider you a toothsome morsel. Take my advice, +and go home, or go North, or take a sea-voyage,--do anything rather +than remain here during the last of summer and the beginning of autumn. +It will be no loss to you. After the first of next month, there will +be absolutely nothing for a lawyer to do here but try to keep cool." + +"And you?" asked Bergan. + +"Oh, I stay, of course. An epidemic is a physician's harvest time. +Besides, I have had the yellow fever." + +"Then the native-born do not all escape?" + +"By no means. Besides, I lost my birthright by many years' absence in +Europe. It was immediately after my return that I was taken. Now I +may consider myself acclimated." + +"As I must be," replied Bergan, "if, as is likely, I am to spend the +remainder of my life at the South. Thank you for your friendly +warning, but I think I must stay." + +Doctor Remy shrugged his shoulders, and said no more. He had merely +tried the first and simplest expedient which occurred to him, for +removing Bergan from the neighborhood. He was not surprised nor +troubled that it had failed. He had expected as much. But there were +other and surer means to his end, he believed, at his command. + +However, he was not obliged to resort to them. Early next morning +Bergan came into his office, with an open letter in his hand, and a +most anxious face. + +"Read that," said he, huskily, "and tell me if there is any hope." + +Doctor Remy obeyed, reading the letter not once only, but twice, and +looking long and meditatively at the signature. Then he lifted his +eyes to Bergan's face. + +"Plenty of hope, in my opinion," said he; "I do not attach as much +importance as this Doctor Trubie does to your mother's fancy that she +is going to die. It only argues a depressed state of mind, +corresponding to a low state of body. Nevertheless, it is well to do +whatever can be done to raise her spirits; and I suspect that your +presence at her bedside will avail much to that end. Of course, you +set out at once?" + +"Certainly. Can you tell me at what hour the next train leaves +Savalla?" + +Doctor Remy glanced at his watch. "In an hour and a half. That gives +you ample time;--fifteen minutes to throw a few things into a +portmanteau, and tell me what I can do for you while you are away; five +minutes for _adieux_, and an hour and ten minutes to reach Savalla, in +the saddle, with a swift horse." + +"If I can find one at such short notice," said Bergan, doubtfully. + +Doctor Remy pulled a bell-wire, and Scipio's black head appeared as +instantaneously as if he had been attached to the other end of it. + +"Saddle the roan, and take him round to the front gate," said Doctor +Remy. "Mr. Arling will ride him to Savalla, You will go after him, by +the stage, this afternoon. Quick now!" + +The head ducked, and disappeared. + +"How can I thank you!" exclaimed Bergan, wringing the doctor's hand. + +"By attending to the portmanteau business at once. I will come with +you; we can talk while you work. I want to ask something about this +Doctor Trubie. Does he keep up with the times,--in medicine, that is?" + +"I don't know--I believe so." + +"H'm; there have been some recent discoveries of great value in the +treatment of typhoids, when they run long and low, as they are apt to +do. Suppose I write down a few suggestions, which, if there is grave +need, you can commend to Doctor Trubie's favorable consideration. +Otherwise, don't interfere." + +Bergan tried once more to express his gratitude, as the folded paper +was put in his hand; but Doctor Remy cut him short. + +"If you really want to thank me," said he, "do it by staying away until +the sickly season is over; I shall have yellow fever patients enough +without you. Indeed, you _must_; having left, it would be suicidal to +come back before the first of November. Tell your mother that I said +so, when she is convalescent." + +"When she is convalescent," repeated Bergan, quickly. "Then you _do_ +hope!" + +"Of course I do. There is every reason for it. Your mother, being a +Bergan, has a sound constitution, and an almost indomitable vitality; +and she is not yet old. If Trubie makes a good fight, he is sure to +win. At any rate, never despair till the breath is out of the body; +nor even then, till you are certain that it cannot be brought back." + +Bergan could not but feel a pang of self-reproach for his +long-smothered dislike and distrust of the man who was thus loading him +with obligations,--help on his way to his mother, ready encouragement, +and valuable professional advice. It did not occur to him that there +is such a thing as doing good that evil may come! + +Doctor Remy looked after him with a triumphant smile. "One out of my +way already!" he exclaimed. "It would seem that the Devil (another +name for Fate or Chance) _has_ helped me!" + +Bergan next sought Mrs. Lyte and Astra, for a parting word. He found +the latter in her studio, sitting idly by a window, with her hands +folded listlessly in her lap, and a weary, dejected face that went to +his heart. Never before had he seen her otherwise than busy, bright, +and earnest; never had she met his look with so faint and transient a +smile. + +"I am sorry that you are going," said she, sombrely; "sorrier, perhaps, +than the occasion may seem to warrant. But I cannot rid myself of a +suspicion that this phase of our life and friendship is finished; and +who can tell what the next may be! Do you remember our first meeting +under the oaks, and the red sunset light, and the dark sunset cloud? +You interpreted them to mean that we were to know sunshine and shade +together, did you not? Well, we have had the sunshine; now, it is time +for the shade." + +"You forget," said Bergan, kindly, "that the cloud was but for a +moment, and the sunshine returned." + +"No, I remember it well. But the cloud was very dark while it lasted, +and the shine was not quite so bright afterward. It was nearer to its +setting." + +Bergan could scarcely believe that it was Astra who spoke. Hitherto, +she had been the moral sunshine of the house, felt even where it did +not directly fall. Her spirit, in its potency of cheer, resembled the +sunbeam which, though it kindle but one little spot on the floor into +actual brightness, diffuses its light and cheerfulness throughout a +whole room. As every article of furniture, every picture, every face, +in the room, is the brighter for the sunbeam, so every inmate of Mrs. +Lyte's rambling old dwelling had been the happier for Astra's presence +and influence. The sound of her clear, buoyant voice, the thought of +her light, busy figure, just across the hall, had always served to +quicken and brighten his own energies. It had been very much his wont +to bring all his shadows, discouragements, and despondencies, to be +dissipated by contact with her breezy activity and cheery hopefulness. +What had come over her, that she met him now with such dreary +premonition of ill, such persistent dwelling upon the dark side? He +looked down upon her with the question in his eyes, if not on his lips. + +She understood and answered it. + +"It is only a dark mood," said she, passing her hand over her brow, +"not an actual trouble,--at least, not yet. But forgive me for +afflicting you with it now, when you are under the shadow of a real +cloud. Let us hope that it will pass quickly. When you reach home, +may the sunshine be already there!" + +"Thank you. I shall expect to hear from you through Doctor Remy--all +of you, I mean. He has promised to let me know how everything goes on +here." + +Astra lifted her eyes searchingly to his face. Her fine perceptions +had not failed to take note of his inadvertent linking together of +Doctor Remy and herself, and his quick attempt to conceal it. She +divined that he knew her secret. Her eyes fell, and her face flushed. + +Bergan took her hand, and lifted it, in gentle, chivalrous fashion, to +his lips. "I wish you every happiness," said he, in a tone that said +more than the words,--"every sunshine, and few clouds. Good-bye." + +"Good-bye," she answered, withdrawing her hand, yet not without a +certain lingering pressure, that seemed even sadder than her face, and +that Bergan felt long afterwards. And he left her sitting where he +found her. + +Mrs. Lyte and Cathie followed him to the door, the one with much quiet +sympathy and regret, the other with passionate tears and lamentations. + +"He will not come back! He will not come back!" she screamed, wringing +her hands, as he rode away; and the mournful cry followed him down the +street, like a prophecy of woe. + +A little farther on, he discovered that Nix was trotting quietly +alongside of his horse. And so intimately had the dog been connected +with all his sojourn under Mrs. Lyte's roof, that, in sending him back, +he seemed to close the final page of this whole epoch of his life. + +His road skirted a retired portion of the grounds of Oakstead. +Suddenly, he espied Carice, standing on the bank of the creek, with her +eyes thoughtfully fixed upon its rippling flow. His sad heart yearned +towards her with irresistible force. Glancing at his watch, he saw +that there was yet time for a brief, parting word. He flung himself +from his horse, threw the bridle over a gatepost, and ran quickly +towards her. + +"I am so glad to find you here!" he exclaimed, as he drew near. +"Otherwise, I must have gone without saying good-bye. I am sent for, +in great haste; my mother is very ill, and--" + +He stopped; his grave face said the rest. + +"I am very, very sorry!" putting her hand in his, with quick, earnest +sympathy. "When did you hear?" + +"This morning. She insisted that I should be sent for, as soon as she +was taken ill; she believed that she could not recover. It is the +typhoid fever." + +Carice's face blanched suddenly. "Ah! that has a fearful sound," she +said, shiveringly. "My two brothers"-- + +Her voice failed, and her slight frame shook with sudden emotion. It +was the first time that Bergan had heard her allude to the only sorrow +which she had yet known; but the effect of which had been all the more +keenly felt, doubtless, because, for her parents' sake, she had shut it +resolutely into the depths of her heart, never allowing its shadow to +be seen for a moment on the face wherein they now looked for +consolation and cheer. + +Much moved, Bergan put his arm round the slender, tremulous form. At +first, it was only the blind, manly instinct of help and support that +prompted him; but with the act there came a swift revelation, a great +rush of tenderness, that almost took his breath away. Though he had +never suspected it till now, he knew, in an instant, beyond the +possibility of a doubt, not only that he loved Carice, but that he had +loved her long. + +Carice, on her part, was quick to feel the sudden, subtile change in +the character of the support given her, and made a fluttering movement +of escape. But Bergan would not let her go. + +"Carice," said he, gravely, "if I should return sorrowing, will you +console me?" + +"If I can," she answered, simply, raising her blue eyes to his face. + +"If you can!" he repeated, with a deep tender intonation,--"oh, Carice! +it must be a heavy sorrow indeed that you cannot console!" + +As he spoke, the day, which had hitherto been cloudy, suddenly broke +into a smile, pouring a flood of golden light on the river, trickling +through the boughs of the overhanging trees in great, shining drops, +and flinging a yellow gleam far down their gray trunks. Wondrous +sympathy of Nature with the bliss of two spirits made one,--the tender +joy that keeps, throughout the musty years, the freshness and fragrance +of its Eden birth! Yet, had the day still held its gloom, it would +have been bright in Carice's eyes, and bright in Bergan's! Wherever +Love is newly born, it creates a sunshine of the heart, which overflows +upon the outward world, and fills it with celestial radiance. + +Five minutes later, and Carice was alone by the river's bank, blushing +to hear how persistently the little stream kept whispering and singing +of what it had just seen and heard. The leaves, too, seemed to be +softly talking it over among themselves; and a red bird and a gray one +were gossiping merrily about it among the branches. + +Still more plainly, Carice's face told the story, when she sought her +parents. They saw at once that it was not the same face which had gone +out from them an hour before. It had changed as an opening rosebud +must have changed in the same time, under the balmy breathing of the +warm south wind. Its merely girlish loveliness was over; playing about +the mouth, and shining from the eyes, there was a bright and tender +smile that seemed gushing from the very heart of awakening womanhood. +Never had she seemed so lovely, never so radiant. Looking upon her, it +was easy to divine the secret of angelic beauty. The heavenly +existences are immortally beautiful because immortally happy. + +"Did you engage yourself to him?" asked Mr. Bergan, almost sternly, +when her brief tale was told. + +"Of course not," answered Carice, opening wide her blue eyes at the +unusual tone,--"not until you and mamma are consulted. Only, we know +that we love each other." + +At the same time, Dr. Remy stood smiling to himself, in his office,--a +dark, ominous smile. + +"I am sure of three months," said he. "And, in three months, tact and +perseverance can accomplish a great deal." + +At the same time, too, Astra rose suddenly from the chair, where Bergan +had left her sitting, and began to pace up and down the room. + +"I have been idle too long," she said to herself; "I have let myself +dream till my world is peopled with shadows, and I cannot distinguish +the false from the true. Work is what I want. Work will exorcise +these phantoms, and make my brain clear and strong again." + +She stopped and looked fixedly into vacancy, striving to recall a +former conception that had been dazzled out of sight in the golden dawn +of her love. In a moment, it rose again before her; a great, stalwart, +straining figure,--a man struggling up out of the waves that had +wellnigh worsted him, with a little child on his shoulders. + +Quickly she improvised a kind of platform, and brought out her fertile +box of clay. Nervously, she fastened her supports together; rapidly +around them rose the soft, gray, plastic material in the rude, rough +resemblance of a human form. + + + + +VI. + +WITH A DOUBLE HEART. + +Now and then, on a summer's day, the air is suddenly filled with +minute, swarming insects of the genus _ephemera_. They come unnoticed +and unheralded; the air is thick with them ere one is aware; ears, +mouths, and nostrils are filled with them, despite all efforts to the +contrary; they are variously regarded from the scientific, the poetic, +and the moral point of view, or merely as nuisances; by and by, they +are gone as they came. + +In just such wise, a swarm of rumors prejudicial to the reputation of +Bergan Arling suddenly filled the air of Berganton; coming no one knew +whence, but quickly circulating everywhere, to be variously met with +surprise, doubt, belief, regret, anger, and indifference. It was +averred that he had gone home deeply in debt, at least to his good +friend Doctor Remy, who certainly deserved better treatment at his +hands. It was alleged that he was hopelessly the victim of a depraved +appetite for strong drink, although, by the help of the same good +friend, he had managed, thus far, to save himself from public exposure. +It was affirmed that he had persuaded Astra Lyte into a secret +engagement, perhaps for the sake of mere pastime, perhaps with a view +to the ultimate possession of the roof which had so long sheltered him, +or to the union of his own with Astra's chances for the future +ownership of Bergan Hall. Finally, it was shrewdly suspected that, +having grown weary alike of the debts, the engagement, and the measure +of constraint which he had hitherto exercised over himself, he had +suddenly broken away from all three, with the trumped-up excuse of his +mother's illness, and taken himself off, not to return. + +Coming, as has been said, no one knew from whence, and having no +apparent voucher, these rumors nevertheless penetrated to +counting-rooms and boudoirs, to offices and to bar-rooms, to Major +Bergan on his vast estate, and Dick Causton in his narrow cabin, to +Godfrey Bergan at his desk, and Carice beside her mother,--everywhere, +save to the two persons most directly interested; namely, Bergan Arling +on his rapid way homeward, and Astra Lyte in her studio. + +Astra was hard at work now. Every hour, her clay model grew in +strength or symmetry under her rapid touches. Yet her hope of finding +clearness and quietness of mind in the exercise of her beloved art, had +been wofully disappointed. The phantoms of doubt and anxiety which had +haunted her idleness were not laid by her industry, but only held in +abeyance until the inevitable moment of exhaustion, or of suspended +inspiration, brought them upon her again, with tenfold power to annoy. +Do what she would, she could not shut her eyes to the fact that a +change had come over Doctor Remy, nor prevent herself from speculating +as to its nature and cause. At first, it was only that miserable and +dream-like change of look and manner which forbids one to complain, +because it gives no lucid explanation of itself to the intellect, +however it may disturb and depress the heart. Its effect was magical, +nevertheless, in clearing Astra's vision from that soft, transfiguring +haze of the imagination through which love delights to gaze at its +object, and in giving her occasional glimpses into the depths and +intricacies of Doctor Remy's character. Unconsciously, whenever he +came near her, she fell to watching his words, his tones, his looks, +even his motions and attitudes, for indications of the hidden, inner +man, upon whose qualities and tendencies her happiness so largely +depended. The object of this scrutiny was too keen-witted not to be +aware of it, and too subtile not to avail himself of it to further his +own ends. With apparent carelessness, but consummate art, he allowed +more and more of his true character to come to the surface; he showed +himself scornful toward religion, faithless toward mankind, indifferent +and unsympathizing toward herself, in the hope of quickly transforming +her affection into disgust, and forcing her to put a speedy end to +their engagement. Doing this whenever he met her, he none the less +took good care to make it manifest that he avoided her as far as +possible. + +Under these circumstances, no wonder that Astra grew pale and thin, +that alternately she worked as in a fever, or stood idle as in a dream, +that her old, cheery alacrity gave place to sombre restlessness, and +her glow of happy spirits to pale depression, that, in short, she +speedily became so unlike herself as greatly to alarm Mrs. Lyte, who +finally appealed to Doctor Remy. He was only too glad to prescribe +immediate change of air and scene. + +Mrs. Lyte stood aghast. + +"I do not see how I can manage it," said she, slowly. "My income is +just sufficient for our present mode of life; there is no surplus to +meet the added expense of a health trip." + +Doctor Remy mused for a moment. "We will talk over this matter again," +said he, at length, looking at his watch; "just now I have an +engagement. But trust my assurance that wherever there is a plain +necessity for a thing, there is a way to obtain it. Good morning." + +Doctor Remy's engagement did not prevent him from repairing straightway +to Bergan Hall, whither the rumors already alluded to had preceded him. +And so artfully did he work upon Major Bergan's hasty and arbitrary +temper as to induce him forthwith to warn Mrs. Lyte of the existence of +the forfeited mortgage, and his intention to foreclose at an early day. +Be it said, however, in the Major's behalf, that he graciously designed +said warning to play somewhat of the part of a blessing in disguise. +For, having first shown Mrs. Lyte how completely she was in his power, +it was his generous intention to offer her the largest mercy +thereafter, even to the immediate relinquishment of every claim against +her estate, on the easy condition that she, and her daughter should at +once break off all relations and engagements with his nephew, Bergan +Arling. Thus, he would save Astra from what he was easily persuaded +would turn out to be a most unhappy marriage; at the same time that he +would gratify a certain odd itching in his fingers to meddle in +Bergan's affairs. The whole business was arranged in less than an +hour, and Doctor Remy returned homeward triumphant. + +Nor was his elation at all shadowed by any thought of the suffering +about to be inflicted at his instigation. Men of his naturally hard +and forceful character, intensified by long culture of the intellect at +the expense of the sensibilities, are apt to take a terribly straight +path in one sense, if a wofully crooked one in another, to whatever end +they have in view. The feelings of others, where they cannot be made +to subserve their purposes, are regarded as so many obstructions in +their way; to be pushed aside, or trampled under-foot, as the case may +be. + +Possibly, too, they do not credit others with a greater depth of +feeling than they are conscious of in themselves. Certainly, Doctor +Remy, knowing nothing, by experience, of the tender and sacred +associations that cluster around the home of years, was not likely to +concern himself about the probable grief of Mrs. Lyte, at leaving hers, +except as it might hinder or prevent her departure. For, go she +must,--at least, for a time,--since Astra would not be likely to go +without her. His present task was so to smooth and clear the way for +them, on the one hand, while he furnished the necessary degree of +motive power, on the other, that they should be gone ere Major Bergan +was aware, or had submitted his terms of compromise to their +consideration. + +In furtherance of this design, he had tapped lightly at the door of +Astra's studio, ere the sound of voices from within told him that she +was not alone. Carice Bergan was with her, and both were discussing +Astra's statue of clay; unto the creation of which she had lately +turned--with such scanty measure of success--for distraction, if not +for comfort. With a slight bow and a word of greeting to Doctor Remy, +Carice went on with what she was saying, in her own singularly gentle, +yet frank and fearless, fashion. + +"As I said just now, it is simply wonderful, in its way; but, Astra, I +don't like its way at all. The Offero (for I suppose he is not to be +called Saint Christopher yet,) is much too near to falling and fainting +under his burden,--" + +"Perhaps he may literally do so," interrupted Astra, with a sad and +bitter smile. "Nay, you need not look so startled, I only mean that I +fear his supports are not strong enough; I did not realize what would +be the gravitation of such a huge mass of clay. The figure is +certainly settling more than I like to see." + +"I did not allude to material supports," replied Carice, steadily, "but +to that spiritual aid which the Christ-Child would be sure to give to +one who bore Him so cheerfully and bravely as Offero did, however +heavily He might be pleased to burden him. There should be more of +steady hope and courage, as well as of wonder at the supernatural +weight of his small burden, instead of that terrible strain and agony +of effort, and that dreary, dogged sort of resolve." + +"You forget," said Astra, "that he does not yet understand the nature +of his burden, nor wherefore it is laid upon him;--neither," she added +mournfully to herself, "neither do I." + +Carice shook her head. "You have forgotten," she replied, "that he is +not bearing the burden _for himself_, but for love of that far-off, +mighty King of whom he has heard; which feeling ought to strengthen his +heart and his sinews, and shine out in his face." + +Astra turned away her head. As she had unconsciously wrought her own +wretched, despondent moods of the past week into the sensitive clay, so +Carice's comments upon the result had their sidelong application to +herself. + +"As for the Christ-Child," continued Carice, raising her eyes from the +Bearer to the Burden, "how did you ever get that look of immitigable +fate into a child's rounded face? As a piece of work, it is almost +miraculous; but, as a conception of the Christ-Child--I beg your +pardon, Astra--it is absolutely dreadful." + +"It may stand for Offero's idea of the face which he cannot see," +suggested Astra, in a low voice. + +"Well, perhaps it might, if he were thinking of the face, which I +doubt. That is to say, the true Offero would be thinking of the King +whom he was trying to serve, rather than the burthen that he was +bearing. At any rate, it is just because he cannot see the face that +he has such an idea of it. But to us, who can see it, it ought to show +itself most benignant, most pitying, most tender and satisfying in +every respect. Else, we miss the only really helpful lesson that your +Offero is calculated to teach." + +Astra looked at her friend half sadly, half-wonderingly. "Let no one +trust your gentle, innocent look, Carice," said she; "you are a +sharp-sighted critic, and as severe as you are sharp-sighted." + +"On the contrary," returned Carice, "I am not criticising at all; I am +merely telling you how your statue looks to me, in its unfinished +condition. No doubt every stroke of that magical scraper of yours will +take away something of the look which I do not like, and put in +something of that which I long to see." + +"I do not know," responded Astra drearily, shaking her head. "I have +not your singular depth and simplicity of vision, in spiritual things." + +"Nay," Carice, "you have something more than that,--the power to +create; I have only the power to discern. That cherub yonder, for +instance;--I am glad that I am able to see that it is lovely beyond +expression, but the power to make it so, ah! that is beyond me!" + +And Carice moved away to the object of her admiration, and seemed to +forget herself and all around her, in contemplating it. + +Doctor Remy remained, looking critically at the clay figure. + +"You have not yet said what you think of it," said Astra, turning and +looking him intently in the face. + +"I had nothing to say--from the spiritual side," he answered, coolly. +"Miss Bergan exhausted that; besides, it is not in my line. But, if +you are pleased to desire my sort of criticism, here it is. That arm +is too long, and that clavicle is not sufficiently raised, and this +muscle is too flat. For the rest," he added, after a slight pause, "it +is a sufficiently ambitious work." + +There was a touch of mockery in his tone which did not escape the +sensitive ear of his listener. "You think it too ambitious, perhaps," +she said, quietly, yet not without a keen glance at his face. + +He gave the clay figure another comprehensive look; then he turned to +Astra with a gentler expression than she had seen in his eyes for many +days past. + +"Poor child!" said he, pityingly, "what disadvantages your genius has +to labor under, in this little, remote town, where you never see a work +of art, nor an artist, from month's end to month's end! Why do you not +go--for awhile, at least--where you can find something for your genius +to feed upon? It is a law of life that there can be no good growth +without proper food." + +"You know," replied Astra, very gravely, "that I cannot leave my home +and my mother." + +"Then," returned Doctor Remy, with equal gravity, "it would be a kindly +blast--though it might not seem so, at first--that should blow you all +to some point where your genius could find fuller and freer +development. If such an one should ever come to you, I hope you will +be able to regard it as--what Miss Bergan would doubtless call a +providence." + +Carice was looking towards them, now; and his last words were spoken +with a smiling glance that was apparently meant to draw her into the +conversation. + +"And what would Doctor Remy call it?" she asked, but without any +answering smile. + +"Doctor Remy does not concern himself about names, but things," he +replied, pleasantly. + +"Things answer to names," she rejoined, quickly; "and if Doctor Remy to +call a providence a chance, for instance, let him not wonder if it +prove a chance--to him." + +"I am afraid that I am wofully obtuse," returned the doctor, with the +air of a man who asks for a further explanation. + +"From the hand of Chance," she answered briefly, "one gets little good, +and much harm; from the hand of Providence, only good, however +disguised. The difference is in the taking and the using." + +She turned towards the window as she finished, with the air of who +dismisses the subject. + +Astra, meanwhile, stood gazing at the doctor with a most anxious, +disturbed expression. She was beginning to understand too well that +under many of his seemingly most careless utterances, there lurked a +deep significance and design. In the tone of his last speech to her, +there had been something which caused her a vague alarm. + +"What did he mean?" she asked herself, wearily putting her hand to her +brow,--"What did he mean?" + + + + +VII. + +OVERBURDENED. + +Carice Bergan was gifted with instincts singularly quick and delicate. +She had not long breathed the same atmosphere with Astra and Doctor +Remy before she felt it growing heavy around her with some intensity of +emotion which she neither shared nor understood. It might be sympathy, +it might be aversion; in either case, its effect was to make her feel +confused and constrained, in their presence. At one moment, she seemed +to behold them afar off, as it were, in a sphere of their own, whither +she had neither the right nor the ability to follow them; at another, +she felt herself standing between them, barring their way to a free and +satisfactory interchange of thought and feeling; and again, she +believed that Doctor Remy alone was responsible for her discomfort, +interrupting, by his presence, the cordial flow of sympathy between +Astra and herself. At any rate, it would be a relief to escape from so +oppressive an atmosphere; accordingly, she took her departure, leaving +the lovers--if such they can be called--together. + +Certainly, there was nothing lover-like in the manner with which they +faced each other, a few moments after the door had closed behind her. +That brief interval had been spent by both in preparation for the +crisis which the one knew, and the other felt, to be approaching. +Astra awaited it with a mixture of eagerness and dread; she was weary +of wearing the checkered tissue of suspense and anxiety; she would be +glad to know exactly what was in store for her, even though the bitter +fruit of such knowledge should be mortification and anguish. Doctor +Remy's face was set and hard; over it a sombre emotion, like the gray +shadow of a cloud on a rock, now and then passed swiftly, taking +nothing from its sternness, but adding much to its gloom. He looked +like a man who, at no slight cost to himself, has braced his soul with +iron for the performance of some heavy, but necessary, task. Little as +he likes it, he will carry it out pitilessly to the end. + +With an inauspicious frown on his brow--none the less dark because it +must have been assumed--he now opened the conversation by saying, +abruptly;-- + +"Astra, I have heard some very strange rumors, of late." + +"Indeed!" she returned, with a note of disappointment, as well as of +surprise, in her voice. This was but a roundabout road to explanation, +she thought; it would have pleased her better had the doctor chosen a +more direct one. She looked round for a chair, and sat down wearily, +as if to wait his pleasure with such patience as she could command. + +However, Doctor Remy was going as straight to the point--his point, at +least--as could be wished. "Perhaps you will be less indifferent to +these rumors," he continued, insinuatingly, "when you understand that +they concern you, and your good name, much." + +A slight flush rose to Astra's face, and her eyes lit; but she kept her +seat, and she answered not a word, though Doctor Remy waited a moment, +as if he expected her to speak. Seeing her silent, however, he went +on, slowly, and with seeming reluctance; yet, to a keen and +disinterested observer, it might have appeared that he was trying his +best to provoke her. + +"I once told you that it was not in my nature to trust," said he. "But +I have trusted you, Astra, even to blindness,--else I should not have +been indebted to others for the first intimations of things that I +ought to have seen for myself. I should have discovered what sort of +game you were playing, before the knowledge was forced upon me at the +hands of public rumor. I suppose that I ought to take shame to myself +for being so easily deceived;--I do,--nevertheless your shame is +certainly the greater for having so deceived me." + +The flame in Astra's eyes was kindling brightly now, and her breath +came quick and short; nevertheless, it was in a tone of the coldest and +quietest dignity that she answered;-- + +"I am not quick at reading riddles--be so good as to tell me, plainly, +what you mean." + +"As plainly as the subject allows," returned Doctor Remy, in a tone +that was in itself a taunt. "I mean that the names of Astra Lyte and +Bergan Arling are ringing together from one end of the town to the +other, in a way which, it may readily be believed, is not pleasant to +my ears. It is confidently asserted--and believed--that a secret +engagement exists between them. That is to say; the lady has long +admitted the gentleman to a degree of daily intimacy and familiarity, +which she could not with propriety have accorded to any other than her +promised husband;--some say, not even to him. Mr. Arling has been +observed to be in her studio for hours together; he has been seen +strolling with her in the outskirts of the town; the twain have been +noticed talking earnestly together in that out-of-the-way spot known as +the oak amphitheatre. On all these occasions the lady has been +observed to be so much the more demonstrative of the two, as to give +rise to the suspicion that the gentleman's sudden journey westward has +been taken, mainly, for the purpose of freeing himself from +entanglements not approved by his better judgment." + +As these atrocious sentences fell, one by one, with distinct and +cutting emphasis, from Doctor Remy's lips, Astra rose to her feet; the +flush on either cheek settled into a vivid crimson spot, in the midst +of a deadly pallor; her eyes darted fire; her lips trembled with the +rush of an indignation too tumultuous, as yet, for word or action. +Noting these signs, Doctor Remy congratulated himself upon the +successful progress of his experiment. Already, the lioness was at +bay; with a little more provocation, she would think only of vengeance. + +He resumed his statement. "At first, of course, I paid no attention to +these rumors; my ears and eyes were closed against them by that blind, +foolish trust in you, of which I have spoken. By and by, they came +thicker and faster, and in a shape to compel my consideration. I began +to understand that the possible heir of Bergan Hall possessed an +immense advantage over the humble physician;--although it might be well +to keep a hold on the latter until the former was secure, and his +inheritance certain. By way of two strings to the bow, there might be +two secret engagements. I commenced an investigation. I traced the +reports which I have mentioned back to their source--" + +"You did!" interrupted Astra, with indignation that she could no longer +repress. "Instead of sending these foul slanders back down the throats +which invented them, you--" She stopped, choked by her bitter sense of +indignity and wrong. + +"--took the pains to verify them," rejoined Doctor Remy, coolly +finishing her sentence. "Every accusation was established in the +mouths of several witnesses. Arling himself had spoken frankly, as +well as lightly, of his engagement, to more than one person." + +"It is false, and you know it!" exclaimed Astra. "Mr. Arling is +incapable of such baseness." + +"Never mind defending _him_," said Doctor Remy, with a curl of the lip. +"What have you to say for yourself?" + +Astra walked to the door, and flung it wide open. "I have _that_ to +say," she replied, turning upon him with a look of ineffable scorn, and +a queenly gesture of dismissal. "Go!" + +Doctor Remy stood for a moment irresolute, with an unwonted flush of +shame rising to his brow. The climax had not only come sooner than he +anticipated, but in an unexpectedly embarrassing shape,--a shape that +gave him a sudden, startling perception of the vileness of the task +which he had set himself to do. Naturally, he was inclined to be angry +with Astra for the action to which he owed this moment of +self-recognition; yet, on the whole, it was the most bewitching thing +that he had ever seen her do. Never had she attracted him so strongly +as while she thus stood pointing him to the door. Her free and noble +attitude, the wonderful vividness of her expression, the maidenly +dignity of her tacit refusal to descend for one moment to his level, +and discuss with him the points that he had raised, thrilled him with +involuntary admiration. It irked him to think that he must needs give +her up. Was there really no way to keep her, and at the same time win +Bergan Hall? He sent his thoughts back over the road which they had +trodden so often, during the past fortnight, and decided once more that +the risk was too great. He must persevere in the course upon which he +had entered. Nor did a little present mortification matter, in +comparison with hopeful progress. Astra was only helping him forward +in the way that he wished to go. How easily the affections and +passions of others became the puppets of his will! + +Nevertheless, it was not without a softened, almost regretful, tone +that he finally said,--"If I go, Astra, you understand that our +engagement is at an end." + +"Our engagement!" repeated Astra, looking at him with a kind of +scornful amaze. "How dare you insult me thus? I was never engaged to +you,--never!" + +Doctor Remy stood aghast. For one moment, he believed that her senses +were taking leave of her. + +"Never!" repeated Astra, with proud emphasis. "I was engaged," she +went on, after a moment, in an altered and tremulous tone, "to a +MAN,--a calm, wise, noble man,--not a monster, nor a piece of +mechanism. I was engaged to an earnest seeker after truth, a +courageous grappler with problems that other men shunned, an honest +speaker of his own thoughts and moulder of his own opinions,--a man +who, though he might be temporarily led astray by the very excess of +his virtues of candor, boldness, and integrity, would be sure to come +right in the end. He is dead,--or he never lived, except in my +imagination,--_requiescat in pace_. But to _you_,--a body without a +soul, an intellect without a heart, a will without a faith, a kind of +human beast of prey, intent on nothing but the gratification of his own +selfish ends,--to you I was never pledged. I would as soon have bound +myself to a corpse, or a calculating machine." + +"This is plain talk, Astra," said Dr. Remy, growing pale with anger and +mortification. "If you were not a woman, it would be easier to answer +it." + +"It is not only plain talk, but plain sight," replied Astra. "The +scales have fallen from my eyes; at last, I see you as you are. The +most that can be said for you, as well as in excuse for my late +infatuation (for I would not seem altogether despicable in my own +eyes), is that great and rich capabilities have been miserably +perverted, in your person. A grand soul has somehow been strangled +within you. Some hidden canker--beginning I know not when nor where, +but to which your surgeon's knowledge ought to have impelled you long +ago to put the surgeon's knife--has slowly eaten out everything that +was sound and good, in your moral system, and left nothing but +rottenness. And it is now too late for remedy. If it were not,--if +there were any hope that I could help to save you, by clinging to +you,--I think I have the strength and courage to do it. As it is, I +should only corrupt myself. Indeed, I fear it will be long ere I get +rid of the virus of doubt and captiousness, which, I find, you have +already introduced into my mind; and of which that figure" (she pointed +to the statue of clay) "is the legitimate outcome. You have given a +bias to my mode of thought, which has already shaken my faith to its +foundations,--and might, in time (but for the scathing commentary of +your life upon your opinions), have destroyed it. Leave me now. We +have done with each other." + +Perhaps Dr. Remy's good angel, absent from his side for many years, +hovered, at that moment, above his head, with a wistful--almost a +hopeful--face. For, at last, the strong man was visibly affected. +Some chance word of Astra's had found a joint in his iron armor, and +penetrated to the living flesh. His lip trembled,--it may have been +with an unshaped prayer to Astra to make that effort to save him, of +which she had declared herself capable,--it may have been with a sudden +perception of the barrenness of his life, and the valuelessness of its +ends, disposing him, for a moment, to try whether any richer realities +were to be reaped from an unselfish human affection and an +unquestioning heavenly faith. + +But not thus easily and quickly was the whole bent of a life to be +changed, not thus the holding of the cords of evil to be loosed! +Suddenly, between him and Astra, rose a vision of Bergan Hall, with its +immense revenues, its ancient and aristocratic _prestige_, the vast +power and influence that it would impart to capable hands, the abundant +means and leisure that it would allow for scientific pursuits. For, if +Doctor Remy lived for anything besides himself, it was for science. He +had managed to persuade himself that the interests of the two were +identical. He had embodied his selfishness, as it were, in a theory; +for the development, confirmation, and proclamation, of which, he +believed that he desired leisure and wealth, far more than for himself; +and through which he meant to be a benefactor to his race, as well as +to wreathe his own name with undying laurels. On the one hand, then, +was this wide prospect of wealth, freedom, usefulness, and fame; on the +other, Astra, and a life of restrictions and limitations, narrowed down +to the daily necessity of daily bread. Quickly he made his choice. +The angel spread his white wings, and flew upward,--never to return! + +Doctor Remy turned to Astra, and held out his hand. "Let us part +friends," said he. + +"Not so," replied Astra; "let us part--as we are to remain--strangers. +No need to mock the sacred past with the commonplace civilities of +ordinary intercourse. The relation that once existed between us is +simply dead, not changed into something else." + +"As you will," returned Doctor Remy, after a pause. "At least let me +wish you a short mourning, and a bright thereafter. Adieu." + +He went out as he spoke, closing the door behind him. In his +excitement, he used more force than he was aware of, and it fell to +with a clangor that reverberated loudly through the large, uncarpeted +room, and jarred painfully upon Astra's nerves. She shivered, and her +eyes fell upon the clay figure. Apparently, it was trembling with +sympathetic emotion; it even bent toward her, as if suddenly endued +with life; for one moment, the old fable of Pygmalion seemed coming +true, in her modern experience. Then, the limbs gave way, the trunk +fell forward, down went Bearer and Child together, the faces of each +giving her one last, distorted look of malign meaning, ere they crushed +into fragments on the platform. + +"It is not the only ruin that he has left behind him," murmured Astra +to herself, with a sad and bitter smile. + +In another moment, she too began to sink. The long fever of suspense +was ended; the excitement that had carried her through the late trying +interview was over; the inevitable time of reaction and depression had +come. The thought of the terrible blank left in her heart and life, of +the woful loss of affection, faith, and hope, that she had suffered, of +the miserable waste in her past, and of the chaotic emptiness in her +future, came over her with awful force. Slowly she sank, as if an +invisible weight were pressing her to the earth. Settling upon her +knees, she leaned her head on the ruins of her statue, and shook with +sobs of tearless agony. + +She knew not how long a time went by thus; it seemed to her to stretch +its slow length over an age. But it is a merciful provision that acute +sorrow soon exhausts itself. The mind, like the body, has beneficent +limits to its power of endurance. In due time, Astra exchanged the +anguish of wretchedness for its torpor. Her sobs died away, the +convulsive trembling of her frame ceased, she sat up and looked around +her with a face of quiet misery. Perhaps it was a little hard, too. +Her pride was coming to her aid in bearing the burden for which, she +told herself, she was largely accountable, and must therefore struggle +along with as best she could. It was miraculously heavy, it would tax +all her strength and resolution, she saw that plainly enough; but she +forgot to look into it for any sign of divine origin, or promise of +divine help. The baleful effect of Doctor Remy's influence still +followed her, making God an overhanging Law, instead of a surrounding +Love. She could not even read aright the lesson of her own fragments +of clay! + +She was struggling up to her feet, when Mrs. Lyte hurriedly entered, +holding an open letter in her hand, and looking both frightened and +bewildered. Perhaps nothing could have been better for either mother +or daughter, at that moment, than to see the other's troubled face. In +both countenances, there was a quick change of expression,--something +of sorrow and anxiety gone, something of loving sympathy in its +place,--as each uttered the eager inquiry;-- + +"What is the matter?" + +Fortunately, Astra was not obliged to answer. Mrs. Lyte instantly +discovered the fallen statue, and connected it, though not without a +degree of surprise, with her daughter's woe-begone face. For Astra had +been wont to bear disaster with more fortitude! Still, this was the +largest work that she had yet undertaken; besides, she had seemed so +far from well, of late! Mrs. Lyte's heart thrilled with motherly +sympathy. + +"I am so sorry!" she said, pityingly. "Is it an utter ruin?" + +"Utter," replied Astra, with dreary emphasis. "But never mind about it +now. What has happened to distress you?" + +Mrs. Lyte put the letter into Astra's hand. "Read that," said she, +"and see what you can make of it." + +It was not without difficulty, under the pressure of her own misery, +that Astra made herself comprehend the purport of the document before +her, through the disguise of the legal terms wherein it had duly been +couched by the lawyer employed by Major Bergan. With enlightenment, +however, strange to say, came a quick sense of relief. Here, at least, +was a necessity for action; and the trouble which is attended by that, +is never so great as one which calls only for patient endurance. +Besides, how glad would she be to leave Berganton at this juncture, to +escape at once from its curiosity, its sympathy, or its censure, to be +spared the pain of meeting Doctor Remy's altered face, and the +irksomeness of going on with the old life, in the old scene, after it +had lost all the old color and substance. Her face brightened so much, +as she looked up from the letter, that Mrs. Lyte gave a sigh of relief. + +"Then it is not so bad as I thought," said she. + +Astra's heart smote her for her selfishness. She reflected what grief +it would cause her mother to be thrust out from the home endeared to +her by so many and sacred associations. Her face fell, and her heart +sank again. Covering her eyes with her hands, she burst into a sudden +passion of tears,--a softer agony than had shaken her before, but still +so plainly an agony disproportionate to the occasion, that Mrs. Lyte's +eyes suddenly opened to the perception of some hitherto unsuspected +sorrow. She put her arms round her daughter, and drew her head on to +her bosom, as in the days of her childhood. + +"What is it, darling?" she asked. + +The soft tone, the affectionate touch, the motherly sympathy, were +irresistible. Before she well knew what she was doing, Astra was +pouring forth all her sad story. + +"Oh, mother!" she moaned, as she finished, "if we could only go +away,--just for a time, at least, until I have recovered myself a +little! If we could only go at once, too, without explanations or +farewells!" + +"We will, my child," returned Mrs. Lyte, soothingly,--"that is, if I +can manage it." + +Then followed a long consultation. + + + + +VIII. + +A BUSINESS LETTER. + +From Astra's studio, Doctor Remy went to his office, and devoted an +hour to the task of writing a letter; which seemed to make an unusual +demand upon his skill, either of composition or penmanship. Three +different sheets were defaced and destroyed, ere the work was +accomplished to his mind. The epistle was addressed to Mrs. Lyte, +enclosing what purported to be the amount of an old, outlawed debt to +her deceased husband; of which the debtor, having recently met with a +stroke of good fortune, was glad to relieve his conscience. In good +time, after making a short _détour_, it arrived at its destination; and +played an important part in events, by furnishing Mrs. Lyte with an +opportune sum of ready money. + +Five days afterward, as Major Bergan was about to sally forth for his +customary morning visit to his beloved rice fields, a letter was put +into his hands. It ran as follows: + + +"DEAR MAJOR BERGAN: I duly received your notice of foreclosure, and I +thank you for the measure of forbearance that you have hitherto +exercised toward me. As you are doubtless aware, I have no means of +paying off the mortgage, except by the sale of the property which it +covers. As I am about to leave Berganton, for a time, on account of my +daughter's health, I hereby surrender my house and grounds into your +hands, to be sold, or otherwise disposed of, as you may deem best for +our mutual interests. If they sell for more than the amount of the +mortgage (as I hope they will), I know I may safely trust to you, as a +man of honor, and a good friend of my late husband, to hold the balance +subject to my order. You will find the house in charge of my old and +faithful servant, Cato; whom I also venture to commend to your kind +care, until I shall be able to send for him. I cannot find it in my +heart to sell him; besides, he is too old to be of much value, though +still quite able to earn his bread, on your plantation. + +"This is not a man's way of doing business, I am well aware; it is only +a woman's way of shirking responsibility, in matters that she does not +understand. I know that my interests are safer in your hands than in +my own. As soon as I am comfortably settled anywhere, I will let you +know my address. Till then, believe me, + + "Very truly yours, + "CATHERINE LYTE." + + +It will be seen that this epistle was a masterpiece of diplomacy, in +its way. Though it proved Mrs. Lyte to be a most unbusiness-like +woman, it none the less evinced her thorough knowledge of the one-sided +and contradictory character of the man with whom she had to deal. +Grasping and impracticable as Major Bergan would be sure to be, with a +surly and obstinate debtor who met him squarely on his own ground, she +believed that he would not fail to show himself scrupulously just, and +even generous, to the woman who, without a word of reproach or +remonstrance, quietly resigned herself and her affairs into his hands, +to be dealt with according to his good pleasure. + +In this conclusion, she was justified by the event. A more astonished +and disgusted man than Major Bergan, after he had mastered the contents +of her letter, it would be hard to find. For once, even his brandy +bottle was empty of comfort. He could only partially relieve his mind, +while his horse was being saddled, by pouring forth volley upon volley +of curses; distributed, impartially, at first, among Mrs. Lyte, Doctor +Remy, his nephew, his frightened servants, and himself. Later, his +wrath began to concentrate itself on Doctor Remy. That personage had +undoubtedly influenced him to the commission of the act which he now +stigmatized, in his most emphatic manner, as unworthy a Bergan and a +gentleman. In return, he threatened to break every bone in the +doctor's body, and grimly consigned the fragments to a place of deposit +always much in favor with men of his habits. Finally, he mounted his +horse, and trotted rapidly toward Berganton. + +His first visit was, of course, to Doctor Remy. With the most +imperturbable good humor, that gentleman listened to the flow of his +oaths and objurgations, until it had partially exhausted itself by its +own fury. He then assured the Major that his surprise and regret at +Mrs. Lyte's departure were fully equalled by his own. The thing had +been managed so quietly and adroitly, that he had not suspected it, +until his attention had been attracted by the deserted look of the +house. At the same time, he must acknowledge that it was only a short +time since he had advised Mrs. Lyte to try a change of air, both for +herself and her daughter; and doubtless that had had its share in +influencing her action. Besides, it was on the whole the best thing +that could do to take Miss Astra out of the way, until the present +cloud of gossip had blown over. Finally, he threw out a suggestion +that the twain had possibly gone to join Mr. Arling. + +Hereupon, Major Bergan's wrath broke out afresh. It was not in human +nature--certainly not in that particular species of human nature +represented by the Major--to hear with equanimity that the very measure +which he had taken to prevent what he considered to be an unsuitable +marriage, had possibly availed to hasten it forward. The walls of the +doctor's office trembled with the oral thunderbolts launched at the +offenders. In due time, however, these also subsided into the low +growl of the exhausted tempest; dying away, at last, in muttered +imprecations upon that curious turn of events--the grim humor of which +the Major was now quite capable of appreciating--which had made him the +trustee of Mrs. Lyte's affairs, and the guardian of her interests. + +To the Major's credit be it spoken, that he was incapable of betraying +the trust thus committed to him. Quitting Doctor Remy's office, he +went in search of old Cato, put the premises in his charge during the +absence of his mistress, promised him an occasional visit of inspection +(and a sound thrashing if all was not found in complete order), made +due provision for his maintenance, and then took himself grumblingly +home, to drown the remnant of his chagrin in the Lethean glass that had +already swallowed up so many of his better thoughts, impulses, and +characteristics. + +Of course, Mrs. Lyte's departure--or flight, as it was not infrequently +termed--made the nine days' wonder of Berganton. Some few gentle, +charitable souls there were, no doubt, who, judging their neighbor by +themselves, saw no harm either in the fact or the manner of her going. +She was ill; so was her daughter; they had neither time nor heart for +leavetakings. But there were others, wise in the crooked ways of the +human heart through much practice therein, who scrupled not to find +motives and objects for the course of the pale-faced widow and her +gifted daughter, with which it is not necessary to stain this page. +There was the more room for this, inasmuch as Major Bergan, partly out +of consideration for Mrs. Lyte, and partly out of shame on his own +account, had taken care that the existence of the mortgage should not +transpire. Yet Mrs. Lyte had depended upon the ultimate disclosure of +this fact, to furnish that explanation of her departure which she had +shunned to give herself, and to turn the current of popular sympathy in +her favor. In yielding to Astra's morbid desire not only to leave the +scene of her untoward love behind, but to do it in such swift and +silent wise that neither curiosity, nor sympathy, nor malevolence, +could immediately follow them, to inflict their various torture upon +her sore heart, Mrs. Lyte had looked confidently forward to this +forthcoming justification of her step. Her old friends, she thought, +would be sure to understand the feeling that led her to flee from the +sight of the sale of her lifelong home (it might be under the +auctioneer's hammer), and to shut off all means of communication +between herself and the painful transaction, until time had given her +strength to bear it. + +Next to Major Bergan, the person who felt most aggrieved at the fact +and manner of her departure was Carice. Astra, to be sure, had not +failed to send her friend a brief note of farewell; but it was couched +in such vague terms, owing to the confusion and distress of mind in +which it had been written, as to afford little satisfaction to the +reader. She could only gather from it that, in one way or another, +Astra's happiness was very seriously compromised; so much so as to make +a change desirable, though it were only a change of pain. And, in +Carice's present circumstances, this was either too much or too little. +The rumors which had filled Berganton had found their way to Oakstead +also; and, for the first time in their lives, parents and daughter were +divided in sentiment, and alien in sympathy. Mr. and Mrs. +Bergan--terrified that their idolized child should have given her heart +to a man persistently held up to view as a thin mask of outward +morality over an inward rottenness of intemperance, indebtedness, and +unscrupulous trifling with affection--could think of no better way of +correcting the mischief than by continually repeating in her unwilling +ears the various dark rumors in circulation, together with such facts +and theories as tended to confirm them. Carice, on her part, turned +from them all with the instinctive disgust of a pure mind, and the +generous faith and confidence of a true affection. And she was right. +Trust, as long as it is in anywise possible, is the heart's deepest +wisdom, as well as its surest instinct. + +Nevertheless, it was hard to find her parents arrayed against her, with +all the rest of the world. Duty, decorum, forbade her to set up her +own opinion in opposition to theirs; often she had but to listen in +silence to statements and inferences which she could neither admit nor +disprove. She would have been glad, therefore, had Astra's note +furnished one scrap of evidence in support of her own convictions; on +the contrary, its testimony went quite the other way. She could only +neutralize its effect upon herself by supposing that Astra had given +her affections to Bergan unsought, and was now suffering from a +disappointment none the less bitter that she had brought it upon +herself. But Carice was too delicate and generous to breathe this +suspicion aloud; at the same time she knew that it would have no weight +with minds so deeply prejudiced as those of her parents. + +Carice's worst trial was, however, her growing wonder why nothing was +heard from Bergan. His last words to her had been a promise to write +immediately, both to her father and herself,--to the former by way of +frankly avowing his love, and asking for permission to address his +daughter; to the latter, as a necessary sequence to that brief +interview by the singing river, the thought of which was Carice's one +subject of delightful contemplation. But no letter came, not so much +as a word of regret or excuse for necessary delay. As time dragged its +slow length along, a touching look of wistfulness, mingled with a +sorrowful patience, came into the face that had lately been so serenely +happy,--a look over which Mr. and Mrs. Bergan scarcely knew whether +most to lament or to rejoice, it was grievous to behold it there; and +yet, if Bergan would only keep silent, she must eventually give him up! + +Alas for Carice! there was no doubt whatever that Bergan would keep +silent--or seem to do so. Her parents' minds would have been set at +rest on that point, if they could invisibly have followed Doctor Remy +into the Berganton Post Office some weeks previous, and listened to his +conversation with the pale, slight, weak-looking young man in charge. +One month before, he had so obstinately and successfully fought death +at the bedside of this young man's newly wedded wife, as to call forth +an unusual amount of gratitude. To this fact he now alluded. + +"Well, Jekyll," said he, "I have come to make trial of that eternal +gratitude which you swore to me, not long ago." + +"I am glad of it, sir," responded Jekyll, warmly. "What can I do for +you?" + +"The question is rather, what _will_ you do for me?" returned the +doctor, with marked emphasis. + +"Anything, anything, that is not wrong," replied Jekyll. + +"Right and wrong are relative terms," replied Doctor Remy, quietly. +"If you had understood the nature of the drugs which I gave your wife +the other night, you would have said that I was trying to poison +her;--yet, you see, I saved her life. It is the motive which +determines the character of the act." + +"Y-e-s, sir," rejoined Jekyll, considerably bewildered; but, +nevertheless, feeling quite certain that so learned a man as Doctor +Remy must understand these matters a great deal better than he did. + +"And so," continued the doctor, suavely, "what I am about to ask you to +do, is not really wrong, though it may seem so at first sight. It is +only a quiet method of averting a great deal of trouble and scandal +from a very worthy family. Should you recognize this handwriting, if +you were to see it again?" + +Jekyll looked at the paper held towards him, and answered,--"Yes, +certainly; it is--" + +"Never mind whose it is," interrupted the doctor; "it is just as well +not to know anything about that. Well, Jekyll, what I want you to do, +is simply to keep a sharp lookout for any letters, in that handwriting, +which may come to Godfrey Bergan, or his daughter, or his wife, and +hand them over to me." + +Jekyll opened his eyes wide with surprise and terror. "Good gracious!" +he exclaimed, "it's a penitentiary business!" + +"Not at all," replied Doctor Remy, calmly. "In the first place, no one +will know anything about it but you and me. In the second, you are not +doing this thing for your own advantage, but just to help me to save +certain excellent people from sore sorrow and trouble." + +Jekyll did not answer, but he still looked dismayed and unconvinced. + +"If it will ease your scruples any," pursued the doctor, after a pause, +"I don't mind telling you, in confidence, that Mr. Godfrey Bergan very +much desires the suppression of these letters, though he does not want +to appear in the matter himself. And you must admit that he has a +right to control the correspondence of his own household. + +"But why does he want his own letters stopped?" asked Jekyll. + +"For the best of reasons,--he does not want to receive them. He +prefers to be able to say that he hears nothing, and knows nothing. +Therefore, you will readily understand that nothing is to be said, or +even hinted, to him. He puts the matter in my hands, and you are +responsible to me only." + +It is unnecessary to trace the conversation to the end. Its results +are already patent to the reader. Doctor Remy was specious and +plausible; Jekyll was weak and grateful; the yielding of the pliant +nature of the former to the stronger one of the latter, could only be a +question of time. + + + + +IX. + +SMOOTHER THAN BUTTER. + +No sooner was the way made clear, by the removal of Bergan and Astra, +than Doctor Remy began to visit assiduously at Oakstead; taking good +care, at first, that the object of these visits should seem to be +anything but Carice. He came to discuss local politics or town hygiene +with Mr. Bergan; or he sought to interest his wife in some newly +discovered object of charity. By and by, it was a mere matter of +pleasant habit, apparently, that he stopped at Oakstead four or five +times a week, as he came and went on his professional rounds. + +If Carice was absent, on these occasions, he never asked for her; if +she was present, he rarely addressed his conversation to her; +nevertheless he weighed every word, and shaped every sentence, with +artful reference to its effect upon her ear and mind. Every resource +of his tact and skill was exhausted, in his effort to attract and keep +the attention of the fair, silent girl, sitting in the shadow, with the +drooping head, and the patient, preoccupied face. + +It was long ere he could congratulate himself upon any measure of +success. The little that Carice had hitherto known of Doctor Remy, she +had intuitively disliked. She now acknowledged that she had scarcely +done him justice in her thought; or he had changed since then. +Occasionally, in his mention of his poorer patients, there peeped out +traits of thoughtful kindness and generosity,--or something that looked +like them,--for which she would never have given him credit. She was +glad to know that he was better than he had seemed. But here the +matter ended, so far as she was concerned. She did not care for him, +personally; she shunned his visits, as much as possible; when compelled +to be present, she oftenest sat a little apart, thinking her own +thoughts over her embroidery or her drawing, and letting the brightest +flow of his conversation pass by her unheeded. + +But so consummate a social strategist as Doctor Remy was not thus to be +baffled. One day, he took fitting occasion to bring Bergan's name into +his talk,--speaking of him quietly and unconcernedly, as it was natural +to speak of a man with whom he had been intimately associated for some +months,--and speaking of him kindly, too, as of one for whom he +entertained a real regard. Carice turned away her head, and tears +sprang to her eyes. It was so long since she had heard Bergan's name +spoken in a friendly tone, and unaccompanied by a disparaging +commentary! When she ventured to look at Doctor Remy, it was with a +soft, grateful expression, which he did not fail to detect and +understand. There was a certain wistfulness, also, as of a flower +which, having been refreshed by one little drop of unexpected dew, +opens its petals for more. This, too, the doctor understood, and was +too wise to disappoint. + +"By the way," said he, turning to Mr. Bergan, "perhaps I can give you +the latest news from your sister,--I had a letter from Mr. Arling this +morning." + +Carice's heart gave a great leap, of mingled pleasure and pain. At +last she was to hear something;--yet, certainly, it ought not to be in +this roundabout way. + +"It will be the earliest news as well as the latest," responded Mr. +Bergan, drily; "I have heard nothing, as yet." + +"Is it possible!" exclaimed Doctor Remy, with well-feigned surprise; "I +had no idea of that. Still, severe sickness is an engrossing guest in +a house, as I often have occasion to notice; outside friends are apt to +be forgotten, or rather ignored, except as they can be made useful. +Probably, Arling would not have written to me, if he had not wanted +something supplementary to certain medical suggestions with which I +furnished him, when he left, and which seem to have been of use. +Anyway, I am glad to be able to tell you that the fever has passed the +crisis." + +"I am glad to hear it," returned Mr. Bergan, heartily enough, yet with +an evident dislike of the subject. Carice being present, he could not +forget that talking of Mrs. Arling was the next thing to talking of her +son. + +Mrs. Bergan, however, was more alive to the demands both of kinship and +of courtesy. "Is our sister out of danger, then?" she asked with +interest. + +"Except as there is always danger of a relapse," answered Doctor Remy. +"Still, judging from Mr. Arling's letter, I should say that there is +good reason to hope that his mother's convalescence will be sure and +swift. In that case, we may look for him back among us, ere long." + +Mr. Bergan frowned; Carice turned away her face, that her gladness +might not be seen shining in her eyes. This, then, was the reason why +Bergan had not written to Oakstead. At first, there had been +engrossing anxiety and fear; then, finding that he should soon be able +to come and plead his cause in person, he had not thought it wise to +commit it to the colder advocacy of a letter. There were many +advantages in a face-to-face discussion; especially where, as he +doubtless suspected, prejudice was to be met and overcome! And he +could not honorably write to her, until he had written to her father. + +Nor would she admit, even to herself, that this explanation did not +quite cover every point, that it hardly excused Bergan for subjecting +her to so long a strain of expectation and suspense. She was so glad, +poor child! to discern even the outline of a reasonable solution of the +mystery that had so oppressed her! And, for the rest, was he not +coming soon, to make everything smooth and plain? Might he not be here +in a few days,--a week,--a fortnight,--at farthest? Or, suppose it +should be a month:--well, no need for her heart to sink thus,--could a +month ever seem long again, in comparison with that which was just past? + + +Perhaps it may be well to offset the foregoing scene with one or two +veritable paragraphs from Bergan's letter:-- + +"The crisis of the fever, Doctor Trubie thinks, was passed a week ago. +But my mother does not rally, in the least. We just succeed in keeping +her alive--if anything so like death can be called life--by the means +which you suggested. If she does live, we shall owe it, under God, to +you. The great obstacle to her recovery, now, is the ulceration +mentioned above; Doctor Trubie warns us that it may terminate fatally, +any day. If you have any further suggestions to offer, I need not say +how gratefully we shall accept them. + +"Can you tell me if they are all well at Oakstead? I wrote some time +ago, but have heard nothing." + +The second of these paragraphs, Doctor Remy had dismissed with a single +reading and a sinister smile; but, over the first, he had knitted his +brows into their sternest, deepest lines of thought,--the look of a man +hurling all his reserved force into the fight, and determined to wring +victory from defeat. + +"She must not die!" he muttered to himself,--"that would set Arling +free too soon. The longer and slower her convalescence, the +better,--but she _must not die!_" + +And the return mail carried back to Mrs. Arling's bedside--where the +battle seemed wellnigh over--the strong reinforcements of Doctor Remy's +science and experience, to carry on the fight. + +From all of which, it will easily be seen that Carice's days of +suspense were not yet over. Doctor Remy had artfully lifted her a +little way into the sunshine, first, as a means of commending himself +to her favor, and next, in order that her lapse into the shadow should +be the more complete. + +In the first of these objects, he was measurably successful. Carice no +longer shunned him. He was certain to see her, soon or late, whenever +he came to Oakstead. With the current of feeling setting so strongly +against Bergan, in every other quarter, she could not afford to lose +any kindly mention of him, in this one. Though she still sat a little +apart, it was plain that she lost no word of his conversation. Her +face, as she listened, had the same look of patient interest, with +which a solitary prisoner might watch for the flight of a bird across +the small square of blue sky which is his only prospect. + +Her parents noticed the change, and rejoiced in it, inasmuch as they +did not suspect its cause. For it must be confessed that Doctor Remy +acquitted himself marvellously well of the delicate task of mentioning +Bergan in terms at once pleasant to the daughter's ears, and void of +offence to those of the parents. He understood perfectly the art of +constructing two-sided sentences, which gave Carice the impression that +he was the young man's stanch, if undemonstrative, friend, at the same +time that Mr. and Mrs. Bergan found in them abundant confirmation of +their prejudices. + +Of course, neither party discussed these impressions with the other. +Carice, feeling the uselessness of the task, had long since ceased to +defend Bergan; her parents, believing that his silence was operating +more powerfully against him than any arguments of theirs could do, had +ceased to attack him. Nor will it seem any paradox to say that, while +they were unspeakably glad of his omission to write, it was, on the +whole, his worst fault, in their eyes. They resented the slight to +their daughter none the less, because it hastened the end which they +ardently desired. To have sought her love was bad enough, but to have +flung it aside so quickly, as a thing of no value, was a thousand times +worse. Godfrey Bergan gnashed his teeth, whenever he thought of it, +with an indignation for which he had no words. + +One day, Doctor Remy, to his great gratification, found Carice alone in +the library; and at once seized upon the opportunity to speak of +Bergan, in kinder and fuller strain than he had ever yet ventured to +do,--though not in a way to suggest that he was aware of any special +bond between his listener and his subject. He described his first +meeting with the young man, and its immediate results; he sketched +various pleasant scenes and incidents that had come to pass under Mrs. +Lyte's kindly roof; and he dwelt with hearty admiration upon Bergan's +oratorical and intellectual gifts. Carice listened like one entranced. +Her joy was too perfect to admit of any alloy, even when Doctor Remy +went on to speak of Bergan as a young man whose character was still in +process of formation, whose talents were, as yet, far in advance of his +judgment, and whose kindly impulses often led him into error. Yet +these few words, of all that had ever been spoken disparagingly of +Bergan, in her hearing, were the only ones that had yet effected any +lodgment in her mind. So artfully thrown in, among much that was +friendly and encomiastic, as to be scarcely noticed at the moment, the +time came when these words shot up, in Carice's memory, into manifold +thorn-branches of suggestion. + +At present, however, she was inexpressibly cheered by this hour's talk +on the subject that lay nearest her heart. She greeted her parents, +upon their return, with a face so much more like that which had once +been the sunshine of their hearts, that they exchanged looks of +surprise and delight. They were looks of questioning too. Was this +pleasant change owing to Doctor Remy's influence? Was he beginning to +think of Carice, in lover's wise? Was she beginning to turn +unconsciously from the love that had failed her, to the calm and mature +affection that was certain to stand by her? Then, by all means, let +the matter so arrange itself. Though Doctor Remy was not quite the man +whom they would have chosen for Carice, he was infinitely better and +safer than their nephew. His reputation was fair, his talents +undeniable; he was certain to win eminence in his profession; and +possibly, fame beyond it, as a man of science. If he had seemed a +little cold and hard, hitherto, love would soften him. Who could be +otherwise than soft to Carice! + +And so, Doctor Remy came and went, and unlimited opportunities were +given him to talk to Carice,--of Bergan, or of anything else,--of which +he failed not to make artful use, with reference both to the present +and the future. In due time, she came to look upon him somewhat as +Astra had once done,--as a man more wise and calm than tender, more +just than genial, but a man to be greatly esteemed and trusted, +nevertheless; and, certainly a true, if not an enthusiastic, friend of +Bergan. Yet she never thought of him, strange to say, as a friend to +herself. Her instincts were far too fine and clear for that. If ever, +for a moment, she felt inclined to turn to him for sympathy, she +immediately shrank back from him, as powerless to give her what she +sought. It was precisely the same feeling--though she did not +recognize it as such--with which she would have turned away from an +image in a mirror, which, during a single illusive moment of twilight, +she had mistaken for a living form. + +And the days came and went, and another month drew nigh its close. + + + + +X. + +A WICKED DEVICE. + +Carice was strolling languidly along the bank of the creek, the +heaviness of her heart easily discoverable in her absent face and +languid step. Her eyes rested on the same stream, her ears were filled +with the murmur of the same leaves, which had witnessed her parting +with Bergan, nearly two months before, yet neither made any distinct +impression on her mind; she saw and heard but the flow and murmur of +her own troubled thoughts. She had noticed a singular change of tone +in Doctor Remy, of late, with respect to Bergan. He no longer made the +young man the subject of free and frank conversation; if obliged to +mention him at all, he did it with a certain reserve and caution, an +air of picking and choosing his phrases, which at first puzzled, and +was now beginning to alarm, the poor girl, already worn and nervous +with the long sickness of hope deferred. + +Her fears, however, took a different direction from what Doctor Remy +had anticipated. He had intended his alteration of manner to suggest +the grave, stern reserve of a man, who, though he had himself lost +confidence in his friend, is still honorably reluctant to injure him in +the estimation of another. But from any such suggestion, Carice's mind +was shielded by her loyal faith in her lover, as by an armor of proof. +Dr. Remy's change of manner only served to strengthen her growing +conviction that Bergan's failure either to write, or to appear in +person, could be caused by nothing short of some great and unexpected +calamity. As her eyes followed a swift cloud-shadow from object to +object of the summer landscape, so her mind followed the dark shade of +her fears from point to point of possible ill. Perhaps the fever, +quitting his mother, had fastened upon Bergan himself; perhaps he was +ill, suffering, unconscious, dying, even, or--the thought shook her +like a sudden blow--dead! Gasping for breath, she leaned against a +friendly tree, and closed her eyes, as if to shut out the agonizing +vision, which, nevertheless, rose but the more vividly before her. +Quickly opening them again, she saw Doctor Remy coming toward her from +the direction of the cottage. He had espied her from the piazza, as he +was taking his leave, after having spent a half-hour with her mother. + +She was glad to see him. He could set her free from the intolerable +chafing of suspense, though it were but to hand her over to the chill +bondage of despair. He would doubtless have done so, ere this, but for +some request or warning of her parents to the contrary. How far this +might have let him into the secret of her relations with Bergan, she +know not,--neither did she care much, just now; how far it might avail +to close his lips was a much more important consideration,--still she +believed that she could gather something from the expression of his +face, even though he should think it right to evade her questions. + +She seized upon the first opportunity, therefore, to look him, steadily +in the face, though her own flushed a little, as she did so; and to +ask, quietly,--"Have you heard anything from my cousin Bergan lately?" + +Doctor Remy's face underwent a quick change of expression, none the +less effective that it was obedient to his will. "Yes," replied he, +sombrely, "I had a letter from him two or three days ago." + +Carice could scarcely restrain a cry of joy; it was such a relief to +know that Bergan was alive, and able to write. But her immediate +perception that something was kept back, saved her self-possession. + +"And my aunt," she went on, as soon as she could, command her voice, +"is she quite recovered?" + +"Yes,--that is, I inferred so." + +Carice looked a little surprised. It would seem that Bergan's letter +had made no mention of his mother. "Has the fever attacked any of the +others?" she continued. + +"None." + +"And Bergan is quite well himself?" + +"He says nothing to the contrary." + +Satisfactory as were these replies, in substance, there was a degree of +dryness and brevity about them which was far otherwise. Unwilling to +quit the subject thus, Carice ventured another query:--"Then, I suppose +he may be expected back very soon?" + +Doctor Remy looked grave even to sternness. "No, I think not." + +Carice's heart sank. "Did he not say when he should come?" asked she, +anxiously. + +Doctor Remy seemed to become suddenly aware that she really had +something more than a conventional interest in the subject, and to be +willing to gratify it, to the best of his ability. + +"I forget exactly what he said about it," replied he, "but I think I +have his letter in my pocket-book." He drew forth a closely written +sheet, and glanced rapidly over it, but seemed not to find what he +sought. Applying again to the envelope, he produced a separate bit of +paper. "Ah, yes, here we have it, in this slip of a postscript," he +went on,--"'In order to'--um--um--'I think I shall postpone my return +until after Christmas.' That is all." + +Carice stood as in a dream. Bergan well! Bergan silent only to her! +Bergan not coming back for three months yet!--her mind utterly refused +to receive three such incongruous ideas. There must be some miserable +mistake,--but where? She put her hand to her brow with a piteous +gesture of perplexity and bewilderment. + +Doctor Remy, meanwhile, failed not to observe the effect of his words, +though apparently thinking only of refolding and rearranging his +papers. It was precisely what he had expected; and, feeling quite +secure, for the moment, from Carice's observation, he took occasion, as +he returned Bergan's letter to his pocket-book, to let the postscript +drop to the ground, taking care to conceal it with his foot during the +remainder of his stay, which he wisely made short. + +"Can I do anything more for you?" he asked, graciously, as he put up +his pocket-book. + +Carice gave a slight start, and turned toward him, with an inquiring +look. She had heard, but she had not understood. He repeated his +question. + +"No, thank you," replied Carice, letting her eyes go back to the far, +dark line of the pine forest. + +"Then I must leave you. I only stopped to say good morning and +good-bye. I had already spent my few moments of leisure with Mrs. +Bergan." + +He raised his hat courteously, and was gone. + +Carice remained, trying her best to reduce the confusion of her mind to +order, and, especially, to discover some clue to the mystery of +Bergan's doings and intentions. She gave up the difficult task, at +last, with a weary little shake of the head, and a smile of pity at her +own helplessness. + +"It is too deep for me," she said to herself, "but Bergan will be sure +to explain it all. I must just go on trusting till he comes, or +writes. He shall never be able to say that my faith in him was +conquered by the first difficulty!" + +There was something quieting and strengthening in the mere resolve. +Trust has its own special delight,--a far subtler and sweeter thing +than any satisfaction of the understanding. Carice's face was almost +bright, as she turned to go home. + +A folded paper lay directly in her path. Mechanically she picked it +up; mechanically she read it almost through, before her mind, busy with +other thoughts, began, even vaguely, to grasp its meaning. + +It ran thus:-- + +"P.S. I cannot understand how my foolish engagement to Astra Lyte +should have leaked out. With all due respect for your opinion, I +cannot think of fulfilling it; indeed, I wrote to break it off +immediately after coming home. I should never have entered into it, +but for a mistaken notion that it would advance my interests in a +certain quarter. Finding that it was likely to do just the opposite, +there was nothing for it but to take the shortest cut out of the +scrape. Never fear for Astra, she does not belong to the Ophelia order +of women, she has pride and pluck enough to carry her through a worse +disappointment; besides, hearts are never broken except in novels and +plays. I am much obliged to her for leaving Berganton, the affair will +blow over the sooner. In order to give it time to do so, I think I +shall postpone my return until after Christmas. "Yours, B.A." + + +Twice did Carice read the paper's contents through, before she began to +understand what it was, and whence it came. She had seen Bergan's +handwriting a few times, in notes addressed to her mother; and she +remembered enough of its peculiarities to recognize them in the lines +before her, as soon as her mind was able to grasp the fact that, in +this heartless production, she beheld the postscript which she had seen +in Doctor Remy's hand, and which he had doubtless dropped accidentally, +while replacing his papers in his pocket-book. That it should have +been deliberately forged, and designedly put in her way--a sort of +moral torpedo, loaded with mischief--was a depth of wickedness, of +which, in her innocence, she could never have conceived. She could +scarcely make herself comprehend the evil tenor of the words before her +eyes. She read them over again, with a feeling that either their form +or their purport must change, if she only studied them carefully +enough; it was impossible that she had read them aright. + +No, they would not alter. Her efforts only served to brand them more +deeply on her mind. She looked up, at last, with a kind of wonder that +the earth was still firm under her feet, and the sky's arch entire +above her head. It would have seemed more in keeping to have beheld +the universe crashing backward into chaos. + +Not that she suffered very keenly yet. She was too much stunned to +realize the extent of her wounds and bruises. She picked herself up, +as it were, after the fall and the shock, and walked mechanically +homeward. Her strength did not give way until she found herself in her +room, shutting her door behind her, and felt what a different being had +gone out of it only a little while before. + +An hour after, Mrs. Bergan found her lying on her bed, white and still, +more like a corpse than a living, suffering girl. + +"Carice!" she cried, appalled, but not without an intuitive perception +of the truth,--"Carice, my child! what is the matter?" + +"I don't know--don't ask me," replied Carice, turning her face to the +wall. + +Mrs. Bergan burst into tears, and stole softly away. Here was a grief +in which even she could only intermeddle as a stranger. She could +simply commend her child to tenderer, wiser hands than hers. + +A day or two went by, and Carice was down-stairs again, white; still, +patient; filling her old place, and doing her old tasks, with a sad +composure that was more affecting than any abandonment of sorrow. Her +woe seemed to take the form of torpor, rather than of anguish. It was +that chill and heavy misery, that dismal realization of the actual +presence and power of evil in the world, which never comes to us except +through the sin of some cherished, trusted friend; standing hitherto as +the representative of all that is good and true, the earthly type of +the Divine perfection. Falling, he falls not alone, but drags down +with him the supports of every earthly confidence, and even makes the +foundation of our heavenly faith to tremble. Such grief is dumb and +tearless; it coils itself round the heart in cold, serpent-like folds, +chilling the blood, and oppressing the breath; but it makes no single, +special wound, to call forth cries and sobs of pain. + +Meanwhile, the yellow fever, as foreseen long ago by Doctor Remy, made +its silent entry into Berganton. One day a single case was reported in +the outskirts of the town; another week, and there was scarcely a +threshold which it had not crossed, either to strike or slay. The town +put on sackcloth and ashes; business was suspended, except the business +of nursing the sick and burying the dead; the streets were deserted, +except by hearses and doctors. Or, it would be truer to say, a doctor; +for Doctor Gerrish, being unacclimated, was one of the earliest +patients; and Doctor Harris, being old and infirm, quickly sank +exhausted; so Doctor Remy was soon left to face the pestilence alone, +and multiply himself as best he could, to meet the demands of a whole +people. + +Let us do him ample justice. All that an iron frame, a steady courage, +admirable executive ability, profound medical skill, and deep +scientific interest, could prompt or do, he did. He organized and +instructed a corps of nurses, and made them do effective work; he +scattered printed suggestions and directions broadcast over the town, +for the behoof of sick and well; he was himself constantly in the +thickest of the fight, animating the workers, cheering the sick, +wellnigh raising the dead,--doing everything but comfort the mourners, +for that he had neither time nor talent. The town rang with praises of +his energy and skill; his presence had brought back hope to many a +house whence it seemed to have flown forever, joy into many a heart +that had only made itself ready for sorrow. Even Carice, as her +private grief half-sank, for the time, under the great wave of public +calamity, was moved to a degree of respect and admiration for the +doctor, of which, two or three weeks before, she could not have +believed herself capable. There was still a hero, and room for +heroism, in the world! + +By and by, Mr. Bergan fell ill, not of the fever, but of one of the +sympathetic diseases, which often go hand in hand with it. There were +a few days of intense anxiety, during which the wife and daughter +lived, as it were, on the words of Doctor Remy's mouth, and the look of +his eyes. After these came slow weeks of convalescence, of exacting +feebleness and irritable complaint. + +It was during these that Doctor Remy spoke. + +Is it necessary to describe the conflict, or designate the result? On +the one side were parental wisdom, love, and authority, with the strong +sanction of recent danger and present feebleness; on the other, filial +respect, affection, and obedience, and a great self-distrust. For +Carice remembered that she had taken her own way before, and whither it +had led; now, ought she not to submit to the guidance ordained of God? + +October found her bound fast by a promise, held irrevocably to a day. +The outward conflict was over; but the inward struggle, she found, was +scarce begun! Under that, she paled and wasted; sleep and appetite +forsook her; her eyes grew to have the pathetic, pleading look of a +dumb animal taken in a net. Finally, worn-out nature took refuge in +apathy that nothing seemed to disturb. + + + + +XI + +A CLUE. + +A chill November day was drawing near its close. With the evening dusk +snowflakes filled the air, and began to whiten the swells and slopes of +the Arling farm, and lay the foundation of future drifts beside the +doorstep and under the eaves of the Arling homestead. This structure +had begun life as a log cabin, but had grown, by the simple and natural +process of adding on a room or a wing, as fast as it was required and +could be afforded, into a large, and somewhat picturesque, cluster of +roofs and gables; beneath which there might easily be not only room for +the fullest, heartiest flow of domestic and social life, but also means +and influences to a considerable degree of refinement and culture. + +Toward it, a stout, broad-shouldered personage was making his way, +through the dusk and the snow, with a cheery face and an energetic +tread, that plainly minded neither. Tramp, tramp, went the brisk +footfalls up the gravel walk, the bright brass knocker was made to send +a note of warning through the house, and the wayfarer admitted himself +into a lighted hall, through which he strode to the open door of the +sitting-room at the farther end. + +A pleasant family picture was before him. Bergan Arling, on one side +of the crimson-covered centre-table, looked up, smiling, from the book +out of which he had been reading aloud. Two of his sisters sat near +him, busy with crotchet needles and bright worsteds. Still another was +drawing at a side-table; and over her, giving her the benefit of his +criticism, leaned her brother Hubert, scarce two years younger than +Bergan, and so strikingly like him, that one was often taken for the +other, outside the family circle. At one side of the fire-place sat +the master of the house, a tall, noble-looking man, with eye undimmed +and hair unfrosted by the snows of over sixty years. Opposite him was +the home's true light and centre, the house-mother. She reclined in a +large, low easy chair, the paleness on her face half concealed by the +glow of the blazing fire, and her eyes shining with that tender joy and +peace which convalescents sometimes bring back from the edge of the +grave,--a reflection, perhaps, from the paradise that was already +opening before the gaze of the half-freed spirit. + +Doctor Trubie paused for a moment in the doorway, to master the details +of the scene. He has changed but little since he was introduced to the +reader, fourteen years ago, in his medical Alma Mater. His figure has +gained in breadth and strength, and his features in character, but it +is the same frank, genial face, and the same good-humored smile. No +one that knew him then, could fail to recognize him now. + +In a moment, he caught sight of Mrs. Arling, and hastened toward her +with outstretched hand. "I don't know whether to congratulate or to +scold you," he began, smiling, yet shaking his head with mild +disapproval. + +Hubert Arling came forward to Bergan's side. "I can settle the +question for you," said he. "Congratulate her, and scold us. We +brought her down, chair and all; she did not touch foot to the floor in +the transit." + +"Then I will save my scolding until it is needed. It seems little less +than miraculous to see you here," he went on, turning to Mrs. Arling, +"when I think how things seemed to be going, a few weeks ago. It has +been a hard pull, and a long one." + +"And a strong one, and a pull altogether," added Hubert Arling, +merrily, by way of arresting the tears that he saw starting into his +sisters' eyes. + +"The strong pull," remarked Doctor Trubie, "came from my medical +brother, down South." + +"You underrate yourself," replied Mr. Arling. "Of what avail would +Doctor Remy's suggestions have been, without your indefatigable +vigilance, and your professional skill and knowledge to carry them out?" + +"That is to say," returned Doctor Trubie, "that a good +commander-in-chief can do nothing without good generals. At all +events, Doctor Remy is a wonderfully talented fellow. He seems to keep +not only abreast of medical science, but in advance of it. That very +suggestion of his, which proved most valuable to us, was mentioned in +my last medical review, as the latest discovery at Paris. There is +something about his bold, yet scientific mode of reasoning which +reminds me strangely of an old fellow-student. But Doctor Remy, I +hope, is a better fellow than _he_ was. By the way," he added, turning +to Bergan, "I came near forgetting that I have brought you a letter +from him, as I judge from the handwriting." + +Bergan tore open the letter, and with an apologetic bow to the company, +began eagerly to read it. Doctor Trubie seated himself by the table, +picked up the rejected envelope, and gave it a critical examination. + +"That's what I call a good hand," said he, "a round, clear, energetic +hand, that neither tries your eyesight, nor rouses your distrust. +There is no crookedness nor meanness in it; yet there is plenty of +character; one can see, at a glance, that the writer is bold and +sagacious as well as profound, a man of action as well as a man of +science." + +Bergan had finished the letter, which was short; and he now looked up +with a much amused face. "I ought to tell you," said he, "that Doctor +Remy possesses the rare accomplishment of being able to write with +either hand; he uses the right or the left, at pleasure. But the two +handwritings are entirely distinct. That address was written with his +left hand, and so, I remember, were the suggestions and prescriptions +that I handed over to you. But this letter was written with his right +hand; see what you can make of it," and Bergan pushed the open sheet +across the table. + +The change in Doctor Trubie's face was startling. "This!" he +exclaimed, his voice trembling with excitement, "who did you say wrote +this?" + +"Doctor Remy, the same man who wrote that address." + +Doctor Trubie glanced back at the letter, and his eyes lit with a +strange, stern joy. "At last!" he muttered through his set teeth. + +Mrs. Arling leaned forward, and her face grew pale. "What is it, +doctor?" she asked, trembling. "What is the matter?" + +Doctor Trubie glanced at her excited face, and saw what mischief he was +doing. "Nothing," he hastened to answer, "nothing, only an old sore +pressed on suddenly. This handwriting reminds me of one that--I never +expected to see again." + +He gave the letter a long, moody look, then refolded it, and handed it +back to Bergan. + +Mrs. Arling looked anxiously at her son. "Does Doctor Remy give you +any special news?" she asked. + +"Not much. Uncle Godfrey is better, and the fever is over. Business +is still dull." + +"Then you will not need to hurry back?" + +Bergan knelt by his mother's side. "My dear mother," he whispered, +"you know it is not for the sake of my business that I am anxious to +return, as soon as I may. I must see Carice, and satisfy myself that +nothing is amiss." + +Mrs. Arling smiled, yet she sighed, too. "Ah, yes, I remember," said +she, "and you are quite right." + +Doctor Trubie rose, and came to the other side of Mrs. Arling's chair. +"I am glad to see that I am not wanted here any longer," he began, +pleasantly;-- + +"But you are wanted," interrupted Mrs. Arling; "you are always wanted, +as a friend." + +"Thank you; but I am wanted elsewhere as a physician; so I must take my +leave, for the present." + +He shook hands with Mrs. Arling, and gave Bergan a meaning glance, as +he did so. The young man rose. "I will walk a little way with you, if +you like," said he. "I have a boyish delight in the first snow, and I +did not see any last winter, you remember." + +The two gentlemen were hardly outside the gate, before Doctor Trubie +asked;--"What do you know of this Doctor Remy's antecedents?" + +Bergan narrated the facts which he had gathered, from time to time, +from Doctor Remy's conversation. + +"So, he would have us believe," said Doctor Trubie, contemptuously, +"that he transformed himself from a poor lawyer into a scientific +physician, in a year and a half, by the help of a friendly doctor, and +a course of lectures! There is falsehood on the face of it." + +"He had a genius for the study," replied Bergan. + +"Aye, I'll warrant! that is the saving grain of truth in the whole +story. Do you remember the circumstances of your elder brother's +death?" + +"Not very distinctly. I was so young, at the time; and then, you know, +mother could never bear to hear any allusion to them." + +"You know that he was murdered?" + +Bergan looked surprised. "I know there was talk of suicide," said he, +"but I thought it was decided that he was poisoned by mistake." + +"He was murdered," asserted Doctor Trubie, getting his teeth, "foully +murdered by the man who professed to be his friend,--a man who wrote a +hand as much like this Doctor Remy's as one side of your face is like +the other. I charged him with it, at the time, and I have always +believed that I should live to see the charge proven." And he finished +by giving a succinct account of the circumstances attending Alec +Arling's death. + +Bergan listened attentively and critically, as became his legal +training. "I do not understand why the finding of the diamond was such +conclusive evidence of guilt," said he, when the doctor paused. + +"Because Roath swore, at the inquest, that he did not touch either +bottle or glass, and did not even go to that end of the table. That +was where he overreached himself; without that, the stone in the glass +would not have been such a damning circumstance. He recognized it as +such himself;--else why did he fly?" + +"Well, you may be right about the murder," said Bergan, after a little +consideration, "but I think you have mistaken the man." + +"Let us see," said Doctor Trubie. "He is about my height?" + +"Yes,--perhaps a little taller." + +"He stoops a little?" + +"Not at all, he is uncommonly erect." + +"He has dark hair?" + +"It may have been so, it is prematurely gray." + +Doctor Trubie looked a little discomfited. "Give me a sketch of his +character," said he. + +Bergan hesitated. It was a difficult thing to do, on the instant. His +impressions of Doctor Remy's character had varied, as he remembered. + +"On second thought," said Doctor Trubie, "I will give you one. All of +him, that is not intellect, is ice. In religious matters, he is an +utter sceptic. Socially, he is brilliant; but he has no intimate +friends, and he makes no confidants. Men and women, to him, are +subjects of study, not objects of affection. He cares for nothing but +himself and his profession. And no one cares for him--much. They may +admire, but they cannot love." + +Bergan looked considerably startled. "Your sketch tallies well with +some impressions of mine, which I did my best to rid myself of," said +he. "But Doctor Remy has befriended me, from the first, and you +yourself say that he has been largely the means of saving my mother's +life." + +"He has had his own reasons for both; Edmund Roath never did anything +without a reason, and a selfish one. Has he anything to gain by +keeping you out of the way?" + +"Nothing, that I can imagine." + +"When do you return to Berganton?" + +"Mother has consented that I shall start on Monday, if she is no worse." + +"She will be much better. Do not delay longer than that. I will +accompany you; I want to see this Doctor Remy. Seeing is believing. +But, mind, not a word of my coming, to him or any one else. Now, go +back to your mother, or she will be alarmed. Good night." + +Bergan walked back slowly and thoughtfully. Without being fully +convinced of the truth of Doctor Trubie's suspicions, he was strangely +disturbed and startled. Reaching the gate, he turned his face +south-eastward, and gazed across the white meadows, toward the dim +outline of the distant hills. His thoughts overleaped even that far +barrier, and took an air line to Oakstead and to Carice. Her face rose +vividly before him, not, strange to say, as he had seen it last, rosy +and bright, but pale and piteous, and gazing toward him with a look +that besought sympathy and succor, plainer than any speech. His eyes +grew moist, his breath tremulous; his heart swelled with passionate +love and longing. + +"I will beg my mother to consent to my going at once," said he to +himself. "I cannot wait another day." + +The next afternoon, he was on his way to Berganton, whither Doctor +Trubie was shortly to follow him. + + + + +XII. + +TOO LATE. + +In those days, there was a pleasant spice of uncertainty about Southern +journeyings. Cars, steamboats, and stages ran in happy independence of +each other and the time-table. The traveller never knew at what point +of juniper swamp, or pine barren, or cotton plantation, he would be set +down to while away some hours in botanical or ethnological +investigations, if his mind were sufficiently at ease, or in chewing +the bitter cud of impatience, if it were not. Defective machinery and +lazy officials labored mightily together to miss connections, and +wherever human inefficiency came short, down swept a hurricane from the +skies, and strewed the roads with prostrate trunks of trees, through +which the cumbrous stage coach had literally to hew its path. + +More than one such delay attended Bergan's progress southward. Under +their teasing friction, the shadowy anxiety with which he had set out, +increased to a positive weight of alarm. Reaching Savalla on the +twelfth evening, he stopped neither for rest nor refreshment, but +looked up a horse, flung himself into the saddle, and set off toward +Berganton at a rapid rate. Outside the city limits, however, he was +forced to slacken his pace. The night was dark, no faintest gleam of +moon or star tempered the black obscurity of the tree-arched and +swamp-bordered road. Compelled thus to feel his way, as it were, it +was near midnight when he came upon the outlying fields of Oakstead. +Reluctantly he told himself that an interview with Carice, to-night, +was out of the question; she and all the household were certain to be +fast asleep, it was doubtful if even the faintest outline of the +darkened dwelling would be discernible through the murky night. He had +no choice but to ride on to Berganton. + +Scarcely had he reached this conclusion, when a radiant window shone +vision-like through the trees; a little farther on, and the cottage, +though yet distant, came full into view through an opening in the +forest, brilliantly illuminated from roof to foundation as for a +festivity of no ordinary magnitude. Even the surrounding lawn was +lighted up into the semblance of day; and in its remotest corner, a +group of negroes, dancing to some strain of music inaudible to the +wondering spectator, looked fantastic enough for the unsubstantial +images of a dream. + +For a moment or two, Bergan suspected his jaded senses of playing him +false, as a step preparatory to taking leave of him altogether. There +was something too incongruous to be real, between this gay scene of +festivity and the picture presented by Doctor Remy's last letter,--a +dull, silent house, its master a feeble, exacting convalescent, its +mistress and daughter worn out with anxiety and watching. An intuition +of some unlooked-for calamity seized him. Putting spurs to his horse, +he dashed over the mile that intervened between him and the cottage, at +a scarcely less furious rate than that with which Vic had borne him +over the same road--how well he remembered it!--just one year ago. He +did not suspect that he was now to taste the bitterest consequences of +that ride. + +In a very few moments, he rode through the open gates of Oakstead. +Here, he found the avenue to the house encumbered with teams and +saddle-horses, tied to every tree and post. The every-day aspect of +these sleepy animals was like a bucket of cold water to his excited +imagination. Strains of dancing music, too, came to his ear,--flutes +and violins, none too well played, sent forth the notes of a popular +air. Plainly, he had been a fool to connect the thought of calamity +with anything so exceedingly common-place as an evening party. If +Godfrey Bergan chose to call in his friends and neighbors to dance over +his restoration to health, who should gainsay him? Convalescents had +their fancies, and must be humored. + +In this cooler frame of mind, it naturally occurred to Bergan that he +was in no fit condition to face a festal throng. His appearance, thus +way-worn and travel-stained, would be scarcely more timely than that of +the Ancient Mariner to the wedding guest. It would look as if he, too, +had a tale of horror to impart, and Carice might be unpleasantly +startled,--Carice, who little imagined him so near to her! At the +thought, a strange, indefinable thrill and shiver passed over him, hard +to define as either pleasure or pain. + +After a moment's consideration, he dismounted, and walked quietly round +to the spot where the negroes still kept up their lively dance. One of +them, Bruno by name, stood a little apart, a smiling spectator of the +merriment that he was too old to join. It was easy to touch him on the +shoulder, without attracting the notice of the rest. The negro turned, +and instantly recognized Bergan; but his exclamation of surprise was +cut short by the young man's significant gesture, and he silently +followed him to a spot equi-distant between the cottage and the dancers. + +"All well, Bruno?" was Bergan's first inquiry. + +"All bery well, Massa Arling. You's welcome back, sah. But I'se sorry +you's too late for de weddin'." + +_The wedding_,--the word fell almost meaninglessly on Bergan's ear, so +intent was he upon satisfying himself that his late anxieties had been +groundless. "And Miss Carice," he went on, "is she quite well, too?" + +Bruno smiled. "Yes, massa, I 'spec so, tho' she do look mighty pale +and peaked, dese yere last weeks. But dey mostly look so, at sich +times, I s'pose. She'll be better when de weddin's ober, an' all de +fuss and flurry." + +This second mention of "the wedding" penetrated to Bergan's +understanding, and awakened a faint emotion of surprise. + +"The wedding!--whose wedding?" he asked. + +Bruno opened his eyes wide in astonishment. "Why, don' you know, sah? +I thought you'd come on purpose. Miss Carice's weddin', to be sure." + +It was Bergan's turn to look more than astonished, confounded. "Miss +Carice's wedding!" he repeated, as doubting the trustworthiness of his +own ears. + +"Yes, sah, to Doctor Remy, sah. Dey had--" + +Bruno stopped short in alarm. Bergan's face had grown deadly pale, his +blank stare was that of a man who neither saw nor heard. For a few +merciful moments, he was simply stunned with the suddenness and +severity of the shock. Too soon his benumbed senses began to revive, +he put his hand to his head, where a dull, heavy pain was beginning to +make itself felt; mechanically he sat down on the grass, and his breath +came hard like that of a man stricken with apoplexy. + +With a delicacy not uncommon in his race, Bruno turned his eyes away. +A trusted servant of the household, he had seen Bergan and Carice +together enough to be able to divine something of the state of the case. + +Slowly, one by one, Bergan's thoughts came out of chaos, and ranged +themselves into something like order. This, then, was the reason why +Doctor Remy had so persistently discouraged his earlier return to +Berganton, and allayed his anxiety with plausible statements respecting +Carice and her father,--that he might supplant him in her affections. +But why? It must be taken as evidence that he had estimated the +doctor's character more correctly than he knew, that it never once +occurred to him as possible that love for Carice had been the doctor's +motive; yet, considered solely as holding the reversion of the Oakstead +estate, her hand was scarcely worth the labor and treachery it had cost. + +There was so little to reward investigation in this direction, that +Bergan's thoughts came back to his own blighted hopes, and here he was +pierced with the sharpest pain that he had yet felt. The treachery of +the doctor was as nothing to the faithlessness of Carice. Two +months,--yea, two days ago, he would have staked all his hopes for time +and eternity on her truth. Fair and delicate as was the cast of her +beauty, and sweet and gentle as was her manner, there had always been a +certain quiet steadfastness about her, which was one of her most potent +charms. All hearts felt intuitively that they might safely trust in +her. What subtle or powerful influence could have been brought to bear +upon her, to make her so belie herself! + +He looked up. "Bruno, how long has this been going on?" + +The negro did not quite understand, but made shift to guess what was +meant. + +"De engagement, sah? since October, I b'lieve." + +"And how long has Doctor Remy visited here?" + +"Oh, a good while, 'bout eber since you went away. But after massa was +took sick, he come oftener, ob course--ebery day, sometimes two, tree +times a day. Massa got so--'pendent on him, like, he couldn't bear to +have him out ob de house, one time." + +Bergan fell into thought again. He began dimly to understand something +of the sort of pressure to which Carice had been subjected, and the +motives that had governed her,--not that he held her exonerated, by any +means--only she was a little less culpable than she had seemed, at +first. But if she had sinned, poor child! how miserably she would be +punished! What a sterile soil, what a chill, unfriendly climate, +awaited this delicate flower, in Doctor Remy's hands! It was as if a +lily should think to root itself in a rock, or a rose expect to bud and +blossom on an iceberg. Besides--why had he not thought of it +before?--to-morrow, perhaps, in two or three days, at farthest, Doctor +Trubie would be here, with authority, if it seemed good to him, to take +this man, _her husband_, into custody as a murderer! + +Bergan's was the fine, strong temperament, which rises to the greatness +of a crisis. With the necessity of action, the chaos of his mind began +to clear itself. "Bruno," he asked, suddenly, "does--Miss Carice love +this man?" + +Bruno looked surprised, as well he might, at the question; but there +was something in Bergan's tone that made him answer at once, and +frankly; "I don' know,--de servants do say she done it to please her +father." + +Bergan laid his hand impressively on the old negro's shoulder. "Bruno, +I must see her at once. Her happiness--more than her happiness, the +honor and peace of the whole family--is at stake. Find some way to let +her know, quietly, that I am here, and that I must see her for one +moment. Hurry! there's no time to waste." + +Bruno was so thoroughly mastered by Bergan's earnestness, that he +started swiftly toward the cottage, without a word. As he ascended the +piazza steps, however, he began to be appalled at the difficulty of the +task that he had undertaken. Looking into the window, he saw Carice +standing at the farther end of the long parlor, with her bridesmaids +clustered around her. He could neither get at her, nor she escape, +without challenging a good deal of wondering observation. While he +stood hesitating, Godfrey Bergan came out into the hall, and caught +sight of his troubled face. + +"Well, Bruno, what do you want?" + +"I--jes' wanted to speak to Miss Carice," stammered the negro. + +The request was an odd one, at that moment; still, Mr. Bergan might +have been moved to grant it, as the whim of an old and faithful +servant, if the negro's disturbed face and faltering tone had not +excited his suspicions that something unusual was on foot. "What is +the matter?" he asked. "What do you want to speak to her for?" + +Bruno was wholly unprepared for this question. Vainly he racked his +brains for a plausible answer, but nothing better rewarded his efforts +than,--"I jes' wanted to speak to her, dat's all;"--a reply so little +congruous with his frightened face and voice, that Mr. Bergan's +suspicions were confirmed. He stepped out on the piazza, and closed +the door behind him. + +"How, Bruno," said he, sternly, "I want to know what this means. Come, +no shuffling; tell the truth." + +Bruno's self-possession gave way entirely. "I--I--I--it's only Mr. +Arling." + +Mr. Bergan started. "My nephew, Bergan Arling, do you mean?" + +"Yes, massa." + +"What--where?" + +"Out dar, under de larches, massa." + +"And he--he dared to ask for my daughter?" + +Mr. Bergan's voice shook with anger. Bruno tried to explain, not very +coherently. + +"He didn't mean no harm, massa, I'se _sartain_. He said her happiness +and all you'se happiness, was at de stake." + +"Did he!" muttered Mr. Bergan, scornfully. "Hark you, Bruno, not a +word of this to anybody--to _anybody_, mind you! Now, go back to your +dance,--I'll see Mr. Arling." + + +Bergan's impatience had brought him from under the larches to a point +commanding a view of the path to the cottage. He was both surprised +and disappointed to see his uncle instead of Carice; nevertheless, he +came frankly forward to meet him, holding out his hand. + +Mr. Bergan took no notice of the friendly offer. "How dare you show +yourself here?" he began, his voice quivering with rage. "How dare you +insult my daughter with your presence, at this time? Have you not done +harm enough already?" + +"Uncle," replied Bergan, gently, "I know not what you mean. I have +never harmed Carice, that I know of, and now I came here to save her, +if it be not too late. Oh! uncle"--and here his calmness began to fail +him, and his voice grew eager--"do not, _do_ not let this marriage +proceed,--at least, not until you have heard my story, and have +satisfied yourself of the real character of this Doctor Remy!" + +"What have you to say against his character?" demanded Mr. Bergan, +icily. + +Bergan felt the full disadvantage of his position. It was a heavy +charge that he had to make against a man of Doctor Remy's standing, +without documents or witnesses, nothing to substantiate it but his +single assertion. Besides, to say truth, there was nothing to allege +against Doctor Remy but Doctor Trubie's suspicions. He hesitated, and +his hesitation was not lost upon his uncle; neither was the want of +assurance with which he finally spoke. + +"Uncle, there is great reason to believe--or, at least to suspect--that +Doctor Remy is a--murderer,--the murderer of my brother Alec." + +Godfrey Bergan stood in silent scorn. The accusation struck him as too +extravagant, too baseless, to be seriously discussed. His nephew must +be drunk, or mad, to make it. And, now that he looked at him more +narrowly, his face was haggard and his dress disordered enough to befit +either condition. + +Bergan saw the impression that he had made, and a cold, sick despair +crept over him. "I beg of you, uncle," he exclaimed, vehemently, "as +you value your own future peace of mind, put a stop to this unhappy +business, ere it be too late." + +"It is too late now," said Mr. Bergan, impatiently, "Carice is already +married." + +"Must she, therefore, be left in the hands of a murderer? Save her, at +least, from further contamination. If you will do nothing else, call +her, and let her decide the matter for herself." + +"Impossible," answered Mr. Bergan, decidedly. "Carice has already +borne and suffered too much; her nerves are in an exceedingly sensitive +state; this story would kill her, I verily believe. If you really have +her happiness at heart, go away quietly, and leave her to the care of +the husband she has chosen." + +"Chosen?" repeated Bergan, bitterly,--"has she chosen him, or has she +only been forced to wed him?" + +Godfrey Bergan's eyes lit. "You forget to whom you are speaking," said +he, coldly. "Enough of this, my patience is exhausted. I have +listened to your drivel longer than it deserves. The quicker you take +your leave, the better." + +Bergan drew himself up haughtily, and his eyes flashed back an +answering flame. "My patience is also exhausted," said he. "I have +begged and pleaded long enough. I tell you now, uncle, that I will not +go, until I have seen Carice, if I seek her out among the wedding +guests." + +Godfrey Bergan set his teeth hard. "Will not?" he repeated angrily. +"_Will not_! I will have you to understand, young man, that there is +neither _will_, nor _will not_, on these premises, but mine. On my +soul, if you do not go, and quickly, I will call my servants, and have +you put off from the place as a drunkard and a vagabond." + +At this threat, the hereditary temper, scotched in Bergan's heart, but +not yet killed, reared its evil head aloft, and sent its deadly poison +burning through all his veins. + +"Call them," he retorted, in a voice deep and low as a distant thunder +peal, and lifting his clenched hand on high,--"call them, if it so +pleases you! Their blood be on your head, not mine." + +Godfrey Bergan was no coward, yet he might well stand aghast at the +unexpected fury of the tempest that he had evoked. Moreover, to put +his threat in execution, he now saw, to court that publicity which he +specially desired to avoid. He stood irresolute, questioning within +himself how best to deal with the emergency. + +He was saved the trouble of a decision. While he still hesitated, +Bergan's hand fell by his side, his eyes softened, and a spasm of +anguish passed over his face. "God forgive me!" he murmured, +shudderingly,--"I, too, was a murderer--in heart!" + +He bowed his head on his hands. Woful was the inner conflict. Within +his soul, the "black Bergan temper" was gasping out its last venomous +breath, with the clutch of a firm hand on its throat. Agonizing were +its death-throes. They ceased at last. It would never trouble him +more. + +Godfrey Bergan, standing by, saw something of the struggle, yet did not +understand it in the least. "A drunkard's aimless wrath!" he said to +himself,--"quenched in its own fury." + +So carelessly does the world construe the deeper soul-conflicts that +come under its observation! + +Bergan lifted his head, and his face was ashy pale. "I go, uncle," +said he, hoarsely, "since that is your wish. In all that I have said, +though said never so unwisely, I assure you that I have had only +Carice's happiness at heart; and I pray God that you may not have cause +to rue it, to your dying day, that you did not listen to me!" + +He turned and plunged into the darkness, not knowing whither he went. + + + + +XIII. + +ESCAPED. + +Godfrey Bergan stood motionless for some minutes. His nephew's +persistency had irritated his nerves, if it had not convinced his +understanding. Nor was he altogether unimpressed by the solemnity of +the young man's parting words. Though he had not condescended to state +the fact to Bergan, it was still true that he had exacted what he +considered to be very complete and satisfactory evidence, touching the +correctness of Doctor Remy's antecedents, before giving him his +daughter. Yet it was only after he had recapitulated this evidence to +himself, point by point, and had also taken into account the doctor's +late brilliant achievements, present high standing, and promising +prospects for the future, that he could rid himself of a certain chill +weight of responsibility, which seemed somehow to have been flung upon +his shoulders by Bergan's last sentence. + +On entering the cottage, he met Carice in the hall, encircled by her +bridesmaids. He was half pleased, half startled to see that the +singular listlessness, amounting to a degree of apathy, which had +characterized her for some weeks, had given place to a certain +tremulous agitation. A round red spot burned on either cheek, where of +late the bloom had been both rare and faint; and her eyes were bright +and wistful almost to wildness. With a sudden impulse of tenderness, +he put his arms round her, and pressed her to his heart. + +"Father," she whispered, with her lips close to his ear, "am I dreaming +or mad? I have heard a voice in the air--Bergan's voice. I was +standing by the window, and I heard it distinctly,--no words, only +tones,--pleading, pleading, until I thought they would break my heart. +Then all at once, they changed to anger,--fierce, bitter anger! And +they ended in despair! Father, what could it mean!" + +"My child," said Godfrey Bergan, after a pause, and there was a +perceptible tremor in his voice, "you are very weak and nervous, and +these wedding gayeties have been too much for you. Go to rest, and +sleep away your fatigues and your fancies together; joy cometh in the +morning. The wife of Felix Remy will hear no voices in the air. +Good-night." + +He unclasped his arms, and her bridesmaids, again clustering round her, +led her upstairs in triumph. + +But no sooner had they freed her from her bridal garniture,--the veil's +soft mistiness, the robe's heavy, satiny folds, the fragrant orange +blossoms, already beginning to fade!--than she put them gently aside. + +"Bid me good-night, now," she said, with quiet decision. "I am very +tired, and I want to be alone for awhile. Rosa will do the rest." + +There was something in her tone which forbade remonstrance; quickly the +door shut out the fresh, young faces, and snowy, fluttering robes. + +Was she, as she had desired to be, alone? + +Alas! no. The image evoked by that "voice in the air," had followed +her across the threshold, and still faced her with sad, upbraiding +eyes. Instinctively, she threw herself upon her knees to exorcise it +by the spell of prayer. Though no intelligible word might come to her +trembling lips, though not a coherent thought might shape itself in her +dizzy brain, she was, nevertheless, prostrate at the foot of the cross, +and the Saviour would understand! + +And so--let us not presume to doubt it--He did, and, moreover, +answered. But the ways of Providence are utterly inscrutable; and the +answer came in no shape that would have been likely to present itself +to her mind, had she been capable of definite thought. She rose from +her knees but little comforted. + +For the delirious disquietude that had taken possession of her, had its +physical, not less than its mental, side. The long overstraining of +the delicate nerves, the long overburdening of the heart that knew its +own bitterness, were fast reaching the point beyond which must needs +come fever, or insanity, or death. Nature--often the wisest of +physicians, when left to herself--had sought to work restoration by +means of the apathy aforementioned, wrapping her mind and heart as with +quilted armor; but the events of this night had pierced quite through +the soft sheathing, and set every nerve quivering with pain. Unable to +remain long in one position, she soon began to pace restlessly up and +down the room. She was dimly aware that Rosa had come in, and was +waiting her commands; but she never once looked to see with what a +disturbed and doubtful face the young negress was regarding her. + +Getting weary, at last, of her monotonous march to and fro, she went to +the window, and leaned out to bathe her fevered temples in the cool +night air. Suddenly she cried out;-- + +"Rosa, see! Is not that a light in the old Hall?" + +"Yes, Miss Carice, it's just that," answered Rosa, impressively. "It's +in Mr. Arling's room. He's here." + +"Here!" Carice started, and turned round with eager, expectant eyes. + +"No, no," Rosa hastened to say, "not here,--at least, not now." + +"Not now," repeated Carice, wonderingly. "When was he here, then?" + +Rosa hesitated for an instant, and then flung herself at her mistress's +feet. "I will tell you," she cried, vehemently,--"master may kill me, +if he likes, but I _will_ tell you! Mr. Arling was here not much more +than half an hour ago." + +Carice smiled,--a strange, wan smile, with no spirit of mirthfulness in +it, but something of gentle triumph, as well as relief. "It was no +fancy, then," she murmured, softly. + +Rosa went on. "I was walking down by the river--with Tom, you +know--when I thought it must be getting late, and you might want me, +and so I took the short cut through the larches. And who should I see +standing there but Mr. Arling, and your father coming to meet him! So +I slipped back behind the trees, meaning to come round the other way; +but I caught a few words, and then I listened;--I couldn't help it, +Miss Carice, if I'd died for it. For Mr. Arling began to beg and plead +that your father wouldn't let your wedding go on, if he cared anything +about your happiness. He said there was something dreadful against +Doctor Remy,--oh! Miss Carice, I don't like to say it, but I think you +ought to know,--he said he was a"--sinking her voice almost to a +whisper--"a murderer." + +Carice's eyes dilated with horror. "A murderer!" she gasped,--"oh! no, +no, Rosa; you could not have heard him right!" + +"Indeed I did," rejoined Rosa, firmly. "That's the very word he +used,--more than once, too. At least, he said there was great reason +to believe so; and he begged your father to wait until he could make +sure about it. Oh! Miss Carice, I never did like Doctor Remy, but I +always liked Mr. Arling, and I don't believe he'd say a word that +wasn't true. Do pray wait, as he said, until you can find out the +whole truth, before you have anything more to say to the doctor. Lock +your door, and say you're sick--I'm sure you look as if you might +be--and I'll promise to keep him out, if he were ten Doctor Remys." + +And Rosa set her teeth and clenched her hands, in a way that promised +much for her valor in the cause of her young mistress. + +Carice put her hand to her brow, and tried to think, but merely +succeeded in bewildering herself with images of horror. That frightful +word, murderer, continually sounded in her ears, to the effectual +hindrance of anything like connected thought. Only one idea presented +itself to her confused brain with even tolerable distinctness,--Bergan +was near, Bergan was in possession of knowledge that might yet relieve +her, to some extent, from a burden too heavy to be borne,--a burden +which she ought never to have consented to take upon herself, nor ever +would have done, had she not first been bound fast with a torpor that +benumbed both feeling and will. Still, having so consented, she would +have tried, but for Rosa's terrible revelation, to endure it patiently. +Now, it seemed to her, this was no longer possible. + +Again she fixed her eyes upon the gleaming light from the old Hall; the +only star of hope or suggestion that had yet risen upon her darkness. +What could she do, in her mortal terror and bewilderment, but follow it? + +"Rosa," she said, suddenly, "I am going to the Hall. I must see +Bergan, and hear what he has to say; then I can decide what it is right +to do." + +"And so I would," rejoined Rosa, approvingly. "Just let me slip this +dark wrapper on you, and wind this scarf round your head, and well over +your face,--so;--why, your own father wouldn't know you, if he were to +meet you! Now, we'll be off." + +Carice hesitated. "No, Rosa, that will never do; our absence would be +quickly discovered. You must stay and keep the door." + +"But, Miss Carice, you can't go alone!" + +"I can, and must. It is the only way to prevent discovery. Remember, +no one is to be let in, upon any consideration, until I return." + +"Let me alone for that," responded Rosa, emphatically. And having seen +Carice safely down the steps from the upper piazza, and watched her +light form till it was lost among the trees, Rosa returned to mount +guard over the door of the deserted chamber. + + +Godfrey Bergan had been unaccountably shaken by that brief meeting and +parting with his daughter, in the hall. Watching her slender form as +it toiled up the staircase, with the languid step that betrays a heavy +or a reluctant heart, he sighed to think with what a graceful alacrity +she had used to flit upward, as if lifted on invisible wings, her happy +smile seeming to make a little illuminated space about her, like the +light which is seen irradiating angelic forms, in old pictures. A +sudden burden of despondency fell upon his heart, whereof he understood +neither the purport, nor whether it bore reference to her or himself, +but only knew that it quite unfitted him for playing the part of a gay +and gracious host to his guests. Seeing Miss Ferrars coming toward +him, with her stereotyped smile, an impulse of flight seized him; and +hastily stepping through one of the long windows, he soon found himself +once more under the sighing trees, which were swaying to and fro under +the first breathings of a rising wind. + +The night was no longer dark. Here and there, a star looked through +the broken clouds, and lighted him to the river's bank, down which he +walked slowly; torturing himself, as he went, with that weary +after-birth of doubts and questions, which often follows hard upon the +accomplishment of a cherished purpose. Had he done well in wedding +Carice to the doctor? Had he not done wrong in refusing to listen to +Bergan, at least with courtesy and calmness? Was it barely possible +that there could have been some small grain of truth at the bottom of +the young man's turbid story? What was the meaning of that odd, wild +look in Carice's eyes? Had he been thrusting himself, as it were, into +the awful place of Providence, only, by reason of his human +short-sightedness, to work irremediable ruin? + +At that moment, a dark, slender woman's figure hurried past him, toward +the ruined foot-bridge, which was near at hand. "One of my brother's +servants, who has stolen over to dance with mine," he said to himself, +turning idly to watch her progress. + +To his utter amazement, at the further end, he seemed to see her cast +herself deliberately into the water! + +Godfrey Bergan was a practised swimmer, and, after the first motionless +moment of astonishment, he threw off his coat, plunged into the stream, +which, at this point, was neither rapid nor deep, and swam rapidly +toward the spot where he had seen the body disappear. Here, the water +was scarcely up to his armpits; in a few moments, he had caught the +floating garments, and borne the lifeless form to land. The heavy head +fell back on his arm; the scarf trailed away from the white features; +he recognized Carice! + +With a thick, muffled cry of horror, the father sank upon his knees, +not so much of devotional intent, as crushed under the double-weight of +his physical burden and mental anguish. + +"Oh, God! have mercy upon us!" he ejaculated, brokenly,--"I have driven +my child to suicide!" + + + + +XIV. + +THE WAY STOPPED. + +Bergan Arling, on quitting his uncle, had flung himself into the +surrounding darkness, without aim, without hope; conscious only of an +intolerable burden of grief and despair. Coming to the river, he had +mechanically strode down its bank. Mechanically, too, he had crossed +the foot-bridge, when it came in his way; and was scarcely aware that +its last rotten plank, on the Hall end, had given away under his feet, +and that he had narrowly missed being precipitated into the water. In +due time, he found himself standing before the deserted mansion, +looking up to its dark front with eyes just beginning to be capable of +intelligent vision, and acknowledging to himself that, though his path +had been but blindly chosen, it had brought him to a fitting goal. + +"A ruined home, and a ruined life," he murmured, with a kind of bitter +mournfulness,--"they will suit each other well!" + +The door was locked, but there was a dilapidated flight of steps +leading to the rotten upper piazza, and the window of his old room +yielded readily to pressure. The lamp, too, was in its remembered +place, and, having lighted it, he threw himself into a chair, to sum up +the record of his past life, and strike the balance. + +Not that he did this consciously. Although he felt intuitively that he +had reached a turning-point in his path, from whence its course and +circumstance, if not its aim, might well be changed, it was with the +future only--the consideration of the question what to do next--that he +purposed to occupy himself. But the sight of the familiar room, and +the ancient furniture and ornaments wherewith he had filled it, having +inevitably recalled the period of his first occupancy, and the occasion +of his sudden departure, he could not fail to see how all his life +since had seemed to hinge on that one deplorable incident. Had he +resisted Major Bergan's will in the single particular of entering that +vile tavern, or refused, first as well as last, to drink at his +bidding, doubtless he would have lost _his_ favor all the same, but he +would scarcely have been so completely subjugated by his own fierce +temper, he would not have commenced his career in Berganton under such +a cloud, he would not have been left to drift in so inauspicious an +intimacy with Doctor Remy, his Uncle Godfrey would not have become so +deeply prejudiced against him,--possibly, even, the course of his love +might have run smooth, despite the verdict of the immortal poet, nor +yet have vitiated its claim to be a "true" one. What a pregnant +commentary was all this upon that wonderful text of Mr. Islay's +memorable sermon. How tightly had he been "holden with the cords of +his sins" to a long and wearisome discipline, and a final mystery of +retribution,--a retribution involving, alas! the innocent not less than +the guilty. Poor, poor Carice! how much easier would it be to bear his +own portion, if only hers could be remitted! + +Hark! was not that a cry from the direction of the river? He leaned +out of the window, and listened attentively; but the sound--if sound it +were, and not the simple product of his own disordered fancy--was not +repeated. Nothing was to be heard save the low sough of the rising +wind, and the melancholy voices of the trees, as one solemn old oak-top +leaned toward another, and talked mysteriously of some woful event that +it had witnessed--perhaps a century ago, perhaps later--or recounted +drearily the long list of human sorrows and sins and retributions +stored up in its dreamy old memory. There might have been heard, too, +in its further talk, if only the ear were fine enough that +listened,--something of patience born of sorrow, and blessedness +wrenched from the hand of suffering; of lofty hopes blossoming out of +the ashes of despair, and fair, new temples, vocal with the anthem of +glory to God and good will to man, built over and out of heaps of +ruins. A few words, too, might have been added of love--human love--as +the crowning grace and gladness of a man's life,--the delicate carving +beautifying the arches, capitals, and pinnacles of the temple, the +thick greenery softening its sharp outlines, and the odorous blossoms +rooting themselves in its angles and hollows; but neither its strong +foundations, its majestic walls, nor the upward spring of its +spire,--and never, in any sense, the object of its rightful worship. + +Perhaps Bergan heard something of all this; at any rate, that cry from +the river, whether real or imagined, had broken the thread of his +review of the past, and brought back his mind to the question of the +future. What was to be done? Leave Berganton, of course. The place +was not wide enough to hold Carice and himself, with comfort to either. +If her marriage had been brought about in the way that he suspected, +the sight of him would scarce conduce to her peace; while the sight of +her, in her new relation, could only cause him useless pain. Moreover, +he had seen, from the first, that Berganton afforded little scope for +talent; none whatever for ambition. And, now that his life seemed +likely to be limited to its public side, and to have no sweet, +compensating domestic one, he felt the necessity of directing its +course to some quarter where there was room for proper expansion. + +Happily, the way was open. Only a short time ago, he had received a +most favorable offer, which he still held under consideration,--an +invitation to enter into partnership with an eminent lawyer of Savalla, +beginning to succumb to the infirmities of old age, and likely, ere +long, to surrender to him all the active business of the firm. Nothing +could suit him better. Here was scope for all his talent, employment +for all his energy. He would be near enough to Berganton, too, for any +good name that he might win to reach thither, and clear away whatever +prejudice against him still lingered there; yet not near enough to be +necessarily brought into contact with its inhabitants. + +So much for the future; what of the present? + +First, he would see Mrs. Lyte and Astra, bid them farewell, and arrange +for the removal of his effects. Then he would hasten to Savalla, to do +the last kindness that it was in his power to do for Carice, even +though it would seem to justify her father's late incredulity and +contemptuous treatment,--namely, meet Doctor Trubie, and dissuade him +from any further proceedings against Doctor Remy. There was still room +for a doubt that the latter was the murderer of Alec Arling;--let it +remain forever a doubt! No weapon should be lifted against him, that +must needs fall most heavily upon Carice! + +It was gray dawn when this conclusion was reached. The stars were +fading from the sky, as a hint that it was time to extinguish his lamp. +The East showed a broad rim of light,--only a silver one now, but with +some mystic intimation of the gold to which it would soon be +transmuted. Was any similar change beginning to show itself in +Bergan's heart? + +If so, he was in nowise conscious of it. His mind having attained to a +comparative degree of composure, his body began to press its claims +upon him with some pertinacity. It was twenty-four hours since he had +taken food, and nearly double that time since he had slept; this, too, +on the end of a long, tedious journey, and while undergoing sore +anxiety and distress of mind. No wonder that his head was aching +furiously at the temples, and seemed to have a ponderous weight on top, +nor that he had a sensation of dizziness at times, while a blinding +mist came before his eyes. + +He prepared to leave Bergan Hall. That, too, was to be henceforth, so +far as he was concerned, a thing of the past. It had given him needful +solitude and shelter, in his hour of deep despair; it had been the +fittest possible place wherein to take leave of the old life and its +shattered hope; but for the new, it had nothing to offer,--except, +perhaps, a warning. The stream of active, expansive, beneficent life +must forever flow away from its faded splendor, its crumbling +massiveness, its dusty traditions and aristocratic genealogies, and its +corrupt feudal laws and customs, as well as from that moral ruin, its +selfish, tyrannic, besotted master. Together, they might well be +likened to a half-buried, decomposing corpse; showing still, through +the overspreading mould and fungi, some faint trace of its former grace +and nobility of shape and feature, but chiefly impressing the spectator +with the carelessness of its exposure and the unsightliness of its +decay. + +And yet, how strong a hold, after all, had both master and mansion upon +his heart! Some time, surely, when he should have won fame and fortune +enough to be above all suspicion of self-seeking, he might come back to +visit them, and see what could be done for both. + +With this thought in his mind, he was about to quit the room as he had +entered it, by the window, when a light knock on the door arrested his +attention. Almost immediately, Rue entered, and bade him good morning. + +"How did you know I was here?" was Bergan's first startled inquiry. + +"I heard you when you came," she answered, quietly, "and I knew your +step. I always spend this night in the old house; it is the +anniversary of your mother's wedding; and she comes back to me in all +her youth and beauty, and the rooms light up, and flowers sweeten the +air, and there is music and dancing, and the sound of gay young voices; +and then, all goes out, and I remember that earth grows dim as heaven +draws near. Yes, Master Bergan, I heard you when you came, and I +should have come to you at once, only that there was something in your +step which told me you came with a heavy heart, and would not like to +be disturbed. It is lighter now?" + +"A little, maumer; though it is heavy enough yet." + +"And nothing will lighten it but time,--and that means the Lord, for +time is the Lord's servant, and does His will." + +"You know, then,"--began Bergan, and stopped, unable to finish the +sentence. + +"I know much, Master Bergan; more than you think. Many voices come to +whisper in the old blind woman's ear." + +"Do you know," asked Bergan, suddenly, "why Doctor Remy has married +Carice?" + +"Certainly,--to make himself master of Bergan Hall. The more fool he! +Rue could have told him it was written on the stars that it should have +another and a better master; and the stars do not lie. But I am sorry +for Miss Carice; I would have saved her if I could, but there the stars +were silent." + +"I could have helped the stars in that matter, if I had known," thought +Bergan. But he only asked, doubtfully;--"How should Doctor Remy expect +to get the Hall by marrying Carice?" + +"Because your Uncle Harry has made his will, giving it to her. Never +doubt me, Master Bergan, I know what I am talking of; and when I tell +you that you shall yet own Bergan Hall, and all the gold that is hidden +in it, and every foot of land that belongs to it, you may believe it as +implicitly as if it were written in your Bible." + +Bergan shook his head; the Hall had ceased to have any value in his +eyes, as a possession of his own, or any place in the future that he +proposed to himself. Apparently, Rue understood his silence as well as +if he had spoken, for she did not press the subject. + +She next inquired into his plans, and he explained them to her, as far +as they concerned himself. + +"It is well," she said, after a moment of reflection. "You could not +stay here, of course,--you would be eating your heart out in this dull +place. Do your duty in the path that lies so straight before you, and +trust God for the rest." + +As he quitted the old Hall it occurred to him how strangely events were +repeating themselves. Once more, Rue stood in the doorway, in the gray +light of the dawn, and promised him its future ownership; once more, he +took the road to Berganton, leaving behind him one phase of his life, +and entering upon a new one. + +Arrived at the hotel he learned that the horse, which he had left at +Oakstead on the previous evening, had been sent to the stables, with +strict injunctions that he should be notified accordingly, immediately +on his arrival,--the friendly act, no doubt, of old Bruno. + +Here, too, he first learned the absence of Mrs. Lyte and her family; a +piece of information which he received with much unmistakable surprise +and wonder, that the landlord, who, like most of the Berganton folk, +had suspected him of some connection with their departure, was +constrained to believe him innocent. + +There being now nothing to detain him in Berganton, he ordered his +horse for an immediate return to Savalla. First, however, he went to +the breakfast-room, but found that he was unable to eat; food was like +ashes in his mouth; the most that he could do was to swallow a cup of +coffee. + +That ride to Savalla remained always a horrible nightmare in his +memory. Sometimes he was riding through the darkness of infinite +space; sometimes through whirling trees, over a road heaving as with +the throes of an earthquake, and seemingly interminable. Now and then, +his senses seemed slipping entirely from his grasp, and were only +dragged back by the convulsive effort of an iron will. Reaching the +office of the Pulaski House, where he was well known, he just managed +to hold them together long enough to scratch a few lines on a sheet of +paper, and give directions for its delivery. Then, with a wan smile of +relief, he relaxed his hold, and let them slide swiftly away into +oblivion. + + +Two days later, Doctor Trubie, arriving at the same hotel, according to +previous agreement, was met by the information that Mr. Arling was +lying dangerously ill with that fever which guards, like a flaming +sword, the gates of the sunny South; and the letter was put into his +hands. Tearing it open, he read:-- + + +"I charge you, by everything that is sacred, to take no further step in +the business that brings you here, until I recover, and we can consult +together; and, if I die, I charge you, as you would have me rest +quietly in my grave, to take none at all. BERGAN." + + +Doctor Trubie flung down the letter with a most disgusted face. "To +think that Roath should escape me thus!" he exclaimed, discontentedly. +"That is, to be sure, if Bergan does not recover. He _shall_ recover!" + +Upstairs he sprang, two steps at a time. But, once in Bergan's +chamber, his heart failed him. The patient lay in a stupor that seemed +very near of kin to death. Two physicians stood by the bed, and the +first words that met his ear were,--"No hope." + + + + +PART FOURTH. + +A NEW FIELD. + + + +I. + +ALIVE IN FAMINE. + +Rarely does a man go down to the verge of the grave, and look into its +profound and pregnant depths, without carrying from henceforth traces +of the journey. His views of life will be truer, if not sadder, +forever afterward. The laws of moral perspective, though they do not +change, will be better understood; so that objects at a distance are no +longer dwarfed to the understanding, however they may appear to the +eye. Character becomes the central "point of sight," toward which duty +continually draws converging right lines, by the aid of which +happiness, fame, and wealth, fall into their proper places, and assume +their true proportions. + +Bergan Arling was seated in his office at Savalla. At first sight, it +might seem that he was little changed, but a closer inspection would +have awakened some surprise that the lapse of little more than a year +could have changed him so much. The youthfulness had gone out of his +face,--that half-eager, half-wistful look which says so plainly, "The +world is all before me, where to choose;"--it was now the face of a man +among men, who had found his place and his work, who had grappled with +many hard problems, and solved some, who was accustomed to deal with +serious subjects in a serious way, and who had withal, a definite rule +and object of life. In short, it was informed with a positive and +noble individuality, born out of suffering, and not yet wholly +oblivious of the pangs that had given it birth, but certain, in good +time, to attain to the fulness of an inward joy, which, having a deep +wellspring of its own, would be little dependent upon the ebb and flow +of outward circumstance. + +Nor had the year been fruitless of exterior results. Scarcely had +Bergan mastered the details of his new office, when his partner, Mr. +Youle, was taken sick, and he was left to conduct its affairs pretty +much alone. Several cases of importance being in hand, he was thus +afforded a rare opportunity to achieve a rapid fame. His reputation +already overshadowed that of many of his legal brethren who had greatly +the advantage of him in years and experience. + +From the first, he had made it an invariable rule never to speak +against his clear convictions of right; and it was curious to observe +what an influence the knowledge of this fact was beginning to have upon +the community. The cause which he embraced, however hopeless its +aspect, always commanded a degree of respect, and was watched with a +certain reservation of judgment, in consideration of his acknowledged +integrity of purpose; while, as a necessary sequence (from which +Bergan, in his humility, would have been glad to escape), the cause +which he was understood to have declined was apt to be pronounced +suspicious in the popular judgment, however it might go in the courts. +So certain is the talent which is known to be conjoined with a pure aim +and an upright life, to win, soon or late, high place and strong +influence, even in a world that disallows its very principle of being! +The visible fruits of righteousness commend themselves to all lips, +whatever is thought of the root from whence they spring. + +Bergan's desk was littered with papers, but his eyes were studying only +the opposite wall, half in abstraction, half in perplexity. Nor did +their expression alter much when the door opened, and he rose to greet +Mr. Youle, who came in slowly and feebly, leaning on a cane. He was of +medium height, with gray hair, a thin face, and a kindly blue eye; and +it was easy to see, was on the best of terms with his talented young +partner. No room in that ripe intellect and gentle nature for so +ignoble a passion as jealousy! + +"There, that will do, Arling," he said, humorously, when Bergan had +helped him carefully to a chair; "the old gentleman is as comfortable +as he's likely to be,--or deserves to be, for that matter. Well, how +goes on our case?" + +Bergan shook his head, with a faint smile. "Very badly, I should +say,--if anything can be said to go badly, which is so entirely in the +hands of Providence. I confess that I can make nothing of it." + +Mr. Youle looked grave. "I warned you in the beginning," said he, +"that there was not a reasonable peg to hang a line of defence on." + +"But I believe the man to be innocent," rejoined Bergan. "And," he +added, smiling, "'I warned you, in the beginning,' that I should never +advocate a cause which seemed to be unrighteous, nor refuse one that +seemed to be just, though the one should offer me a fortune in fees, +and the other not a cent." + +"Yes, yes, I know," replied Mr. Youle. "And I must admit that your two +rules have worked miraculously well thus far; we have lost but one +case, I believe, since you came into the office. Well, well, such a +vein of good luck cannot be expected to last forever,--after the +nugget, the rock or the sand. But I don't see how it is that you are +so strongly persuaded of Unwick's innocence." + +"You would easily understand, if you had looked into his face once; it +is a clean passport to confidence. Besides, there is the unvarying +testimony of his past life, as set forth by everybody that knows +him.--sober, honest, frank, kind, religious, everything that is +desirable. A man does not become a murderer in cold blood, all at +once; he has to prepare himself for it by vice, or intemperance, or a +course of hard, cold, selfish living. There is always a downward +slope, before the final plunge." + +"Granted; but I doubt if you can make the jury see it clearly enough to +ground a verdict of acquittal upon it, in the face of all that terribly +strong circumstantial evidence." + +Bergan mused for a little time without answering. "I cannot rid +myself," he said, at length, "of a conviction that that son of the +murdered man could throw some light on the subject, if he chose." + +Mr. Youle stared. "I did not know that he had been suspected, for a +moment," said he. + +"Nor has he. But he is the one who profits most by the murder, since +he is heir-at-law. And what a reckless and disobedient youth he has +been!--always on bad terms with his father, when he was at home, and +doing nothing but write letters for money, while he was in Europe. By +the way, I can't help wondering if he _was_ in Europe, all this past +year; though really, I don't know why I should doubt it. +Well,"--rising and looking at his watch,--"it is time to go to court." + +"And, as I am feeling better to-day, I think I'll go along," said Mr. +Youle. "Since you seem to think that Providence has the case very +specially in His hands,--indeed, I don't mean it irreverently,--I'd +like to see how He conducts it." + +"I am glad to think that He _is_ conducting it," said Bergan, in a low +voice; "else I should be utterly discouraged." + +The trial dragged its slow length through the greater part of the +morning, without any incident of interest. One witness after another +came upon the stand, was examined, and dismissed; each adding something +to the weight of evidence against the prisoner, Unwick. The son of the +murdered man, Varley by name, sat nearly opposite to Bergan, by the +side of the prosecuting attorney; and being of a restless temperament, +as well as gifted with extraordinary facility in the use of a pencil, +he busied himself, as he listened to the monotonous drone of a witness, +with mechanically sketching the faces of the witnesses or the +spectators, or scenes and places that he had visited, recalled to his +mind by the evidence, or by his own roving thoughts. One of these +caught Bergan's eye, and he furtively watched its progress, while +seeming to be occupied with his papers. When finished, it was +carelessly dropped on the floor, like those which had preceded it; and +the skilful pencil quickly set to work on a new subject. In a moment +or two, Bergan dropped one of his papers, in a way to take it well +under the table, and immediately stooped to get it. When he +reappeared, a close observer might have noticed that the look of +patient watchfulness, which his face had worn so long, was gone; but +the keenest eyes would have been puzzled to read his present +expression. Was it triumph, or thankfulness, or perplexity, or a +mixture of all? + +Mr. Varley was now put upon the stand, to furnish some small link in +the chain of evidence that the prosecution was drawing so skilfully +around the prisoner. The little that he was desired to say being said, +the opposing counsel politely inquired if Mr. Arling had any questions +to ask. + +"One or two, if you please," answered Bergan, quietly; and rising, and +turning toward the witness, he said:-- + +"I believe you stated, Mr. Varley, that you had never seen the place +where your father died?" + +"No; he bought it, and removed to it after I went abroad." + +"Have you visited it, since your return?" + +"I have not. I only got here just before the commencement of this +trial, and I have been kept too busy since to find time for the trip." + +"Then you have never seen the room where your father came to his death?" + +"No, certainly not," returned the witness, beginning to look a little +startled by this unaccountable persistency. + +"Has it ever been very minutely described to you?" + +Varley hesitated;--more, it was evident, to consider what could be the +possible drift of the question, than to search his memory for a correct +answer. He finally ventured to say that to the best of his +recollection he had been favored with no such description. + +"According to my notes of the evidence taken during this trial," +pursued Bergan, "the only facts about the room brought out with much +distinctness, were the positions of the bedstead and the window near +it;--does your memory serve you with any additional particulars?" + +"N--o," faltered the witness, with symptoms of growing uneasiness. + +"Then," said Bergan, with very distinct and deliberate emphasis, "if, +as you say, you never have seen this room, nor heard it minutely +described, how is it that you have been able to make so accurate a +representation of it as this which I hold in my hand?" + +There was a breathless silence, while Bergan held up a small, but +distinct, pencil sketch to the view of the pale and trembling witness. + +"This sketch," continued Bergan, after waiting a few moments for the +answer that did not come, "as I can vouch, and as many of these +witnesses can testify, is an exact representation of the room in +question, as it would appear from the head of the bedstead;--the very +spot in which, it will be remembered, the prosecution has assumed that +the murderer must have been concealed; and where, doubtless, he +remained long enough to fix all the details of this sketch in his +memory. Here is the peculiar double window, facing the east, and +wreathed round with vines, which is so marked a feature of the room, +yet which there has been no need to mention, during this trial, except +in the most casual way; and here, on the right, are the round table and +large armchair, where Mr. Varley wrote, and, on the left, an +old-fashioned chest of drawers, with a plaster cast of Shakespeare on +top;--all in their proper places, just as I saw them when I visited the +room, after undertaking the defence of this case. How is it, I ask +again," he went on, turning to the witness, "how is it that you could +make this sketch, if you never saw the room?" + +"Who says he made it?" demanded the opposing counsel, sharply. + +"I say it," calmly replied Bergan. "I saw him draw it, not half an +hour ago, on a piece of the same paper that you are using for your +notes, as you can satisfy yourself, if you choose to compare them. +Besides," he added, looking keenly at the witness, "Mr. Varley will not +deny that he made it." + +No, plainly he would not, for he was physically incapable of speech. +He was shivering as with an ague fit, his knees knocked together, his +lips trembled convulsively, but no articulate sound came forth. In +another moment, he fell forward heavily on the rail that divided the +witness-stand from the lawyers' table. + +"Carry him out! Give him air!" cried a dozen voices; "he has fainted." + +"Yes, carry him out," said Bergan gravely, and not without a touch of +compassion in his voice; "since he is not on trial, we have no further +need of him. But let me recommend that he be not lost sight of, till +this present trial is over." + +And it was over very quickly. The influence of the scene just +witnessed was not to be ignored nor overcome. Prosecution and defence +were alike glad to waste no time on the road to a foregone conclusion. +The summing up, on both sides, was brief almost beyond precedent, the +judge's charge was correspondingly so, and the jury returned a verdict +of "Not Guilty," without leaving their seats. + + +"Well," exclaimed Mr. Youle, when he and Bergan had finally succeeded +in escaping from the gratitude of Unwick, and the congratulations of +friends. "I must say, I never saw such a sudden turn of events as +that, in all my legal experience." And after a moment, he added, with +unusual gravity, "It does seem as if the blessing of God were with you, +and your two rules, Arling." + +"I hope so," rejoined Bergan, quietly, "for I have learned that I can +do nothing worth doing, without it." + +"I really think," mused Mr. Youle, "if I were to live my life over +again, I would adopt your plan. I am afraid that I have helped to save +many a scoundrel from deserved punishment, as well as to rob an honest +man, now and then, of his just rights; and when one comes to look back +on it all, from the stand-point of my age, it does seem as if one might +have been in better business. Yes, I believe you are right, Arling; +and you have my cordial consent from this time forth, to keep on as you +have begun. I confess I thought it was a freak, a whim at first, that +would soon give way to the temptations--what we usually call the +necessities--of actual, steady practice; but I see that you have a +solid principle at the bottom which there's no shaking. Nevertheless, +Arling, you can't expect that your judgment is going to be +infallible,--that you will never mistake the guilty man for the +innocent one, and _vice versa_." + +"I do not expect it," answered Bergan, seriously. "Errors in judgment, +I take it for granted that I shall make, being mortal; but errors in +will, I mean to do my best, with God's help, to avoid." + +A plain carriage, with a trim African on the box, was in waiting when +the two gentlemen descended the courthouse steps. + +"Come, Arling," said Mr. Youle, in a tone of command rather than +invitation, "go home and dine with me; there are several things I want +to talk to you about." + +Bergan hesitated; it was easy to see that the plan did not commend +itself to his taste. + +"Never rack your brain for excuses; they won't serve," pursued Mr. +Youle, with good-natured peremptoriness; "I mean to take you with me, +whether you will or no. It is time for you to overcome your morbid +dislike of society; besides, you will see no one but my own family." + +Thus urged, Bergan could only take a seat in the carriage, and be +driven off; albeit, in direct contravention of his inclinations and +habits. For, although, on coming back to life and health from the +borders of death, he had been quick to hear, and to heed, the plain, +stern call of Duty to work while it is yet day, there had been no +gracious response in his heart, as yet, to that softer voice wherewith +she enjoins brotherly kindness, as well in gentle, social courtesies +and amenities as in deeds of benevolence. Life had become too serious +a thing, he thought, to be wasted in trifles such as these. Busy at +the centre of the circle, he had lost sight of the circumference; +intent upon the weightier matters of the law, he forgot the tithes of +mint, anise and cummin, which yet, said the Master, ought not to be +left undone. But it was a natural mistake, under the circumstances; +and there was still time for him to learn that, in every well-ordered +life, there is a place for little things,--little courtesies, little +duties, little friends. + + + + +II. + +NEW ACQUAINTANCES. + +"Well, Coralie," said Mr. Youle, an hour later, as he preceded Bergan +into the drawing-room of the fine old family mansion that had been the +home of the Youles for many years, "bring out your laurels, I have +brought you a conquering hero." + +"Oh! it is Mr. Arling; he is very welcome." And Coralie, who had seen +Bergan two or three times in her father's office, greeted him with +marked cordiality, and gave him her small, soft hand. + +It is odd how strong a resemblance can co-exist with perfect +dissimilarity of features and complexion. Though she was very +lovely--this Coralie Youle--and with a blithesome and bewitching +loveliness all her own, Bergan had never been able to look upon her, +nor could he see her now, without some deep, keen pain, as from an +unhealed wound. There were tones in her voice which reminded him of +one that he would hear no more; and she had ways and gestures which +continually awakened memories not yet softened by distance into lines +and tints of perfect purity and peace. And yet, what an irresistible, +subtle charm in her was this very power to pain him! + +"You said that Mr. Arling was a _conquering_ hero, papa," she went on, +turning to Mr. Youle. "Have you gained the case, then, after all? +That is wonderful indeed! How did it happen? Tell me all about it." + +Nothing loath, Mr. Youle gave a sufficiently graphic account of the +scene in the court-room, taking occasion to lavish no small amount of +hearty encomium upon Bergan's share in it. + +"How I wish I could have been there to see!" exclaimed Coralie, when +the recital was ended, her cheeks glowing with sympathetic excitement; +"it sounds like a chapter out of a novel, rather than a bit of real +life. Mr. Arling does, in truth, deserve the laurels of victory; and, +by the way--Diva! where are you?--here is some one who is worthy to +give them to him." + +No one had noticed, until now, that a lady was standing in the window, +half concealed by the curtain. But, as she came forward everything +else seemed to fade out of sight, for the moment, and leave only her, +standing there alone in the clear, cold light of her marvellous beauty. + +Before this, Bergan's ideal of proud and queenly beauty had been +painted with dark hair and eyes; he now saw reason to change it at once +and forever. The lady was the most perfect blonde that he had ever +seen. Her hair was of the palest brown, with only a faint gold light +in it; her eyes were blue or gray, he could not tell which, at the +moment, nor would he have been less puzzled after a much longer +acquaintance; and her complexion was fair and colorless, almost, as +marble; yet never had he beheld anything so stately, so proud, so calm, +and--it must needs be said--so cold. She came forth from the shadow of +the curtain as Galatea might have done, had she been endowed with life +only, not with love. + +Worthy she might be to crown a victor, in right of her queenliness, but +the laurels from her hands, Bergan thought, would be very chill! + +"Miss Thane!" exclaimed Mr. Youle, "why this _is_ a surprise, and a +most pleasant one. It is seldom that you allow any of us to see you +here, except Coralie." + +"Because my visits are usually morning visits," replied Miss Thane, in +a low, yet singularly musical monotone, that harmonized perfectly with +her face, "when I know that you are sure to be better engaged than in +gossipping with me." + +Mr. Youle slightly raised his eyebrows, in good-humored recognition of +the possibly careless, possibly studied, ambiguity of this explanation; +but he let it pass without comment, as Coralie hastened to present her +guests to each other. + +Bergan bowed low, with the graceful deference which always marked his +bearing toward women; but Miss Thane was guilty of no waste of +civility. She slightly inclined her head, vouchsafed him a single +glance out of her wondrous eyes, and coolly turned back to the window, +to lose herself, a moment after, in a fit of abstraction. + +Miss Youle--Mr. Youle's maiden sister, and the mistress of his +household since his wife's death, many years ago--now appeared, clad in +a thick, black silk that rustled like a field of corn in the wind, and +dropped Bergan her stately, old-time courtesy. And Coralie immediately +began to repeat the story of the trial to her, aided and abetted by Mr. +Youle; from which embarrassing iteration Bergan would have been glad to +escape, by joining Miss Thane at her window, had not her manner seemed +to indicate so clearly that she was amply sufficient to herself, and +did not care to be anything to anybody else. But the eloquence of +Coralie and Mr. Youle finally came to a pause, if not to an end; Miss +Thane roused from her abstraction; and the party went down to dinner. + +Bergan was inclined to be somewhat silent, at first. Lonely dweller in +offices, hotels, and restaurants, that he had been, for the year past, +he had half lost the habit of conversation; besides, Coralie's tones +continually swept the chords of association in a way to thrill him with +a sombre mixture of pain and pleasure, and keep his mind confusedly +vibrating between the present and the past. But he was too +conscientiously courteous to allow himself long to remain a dead weight +upon his hosts; and, though it cost him an effort, he was soon talking +with the old ease and fluency, enriched by a profounder thoughtfulness, +and a subtler play of imagination. In his hands, commonplace subjects +discovered hidden treasures; while loftier themes gleamed and glowed +like stained windows seen against a golden western sky. Miss Thane +lost something of her apathetic manner, after awhile, and paid him the +compliment of listening with attention, if not with interest. And +opposite to him was Coralie's listening, speaking face, full of such +quick comprehension and sympathy, that he could scarcely help being +beguiled into a fuller, freer expression of thought, opinion, and +feeling, than he would have believed possible, an hour before. + +But was it not Miss Thane's subtle management, rather than Coralie's +sympathy, which finally led the talk into the sombre channels dug by +human disappointments, losses, and failures, and kept it there until +they had returned to the drawing-room? Then Bergan said, by way of +dismissing the subject:--"But all these things are to be looked at as +materials, not results. Happy the prophetic vision which sees the +perfect form of the Future rising from the chaos of past and +present!--as a sculptor sees before him, not a rough block of marble, +but the finished statue,--an architect, not shapeless heaps of stone +and mortar, but the grand completed temple." + +"Let him but look far enough," rejoined Miss Thane, "and he can behold +a sadder phase,--the statue broken and defaced, the temple overthrown +and prostrate; once more a rough block of marble, and shapeless heaps +of stone." + +"Nay," replied Bergan, "it is at that very point that Prophecy should +spread her whitest wings, and soar to the temple not made with hands, +and the jewelled walls of the city let down from the clouds. Miss +Coralie," he continued, glancing at the open piano, "do you sing?" + +"Not much; I play mostly. But Miss Thane does. Dear Diva, won't you +sing for us?" + +Miss Thane looked at Bergan, but he said nothing. If he had added a +word to Coralie's entreaty, the chances are that she would not have +sung. But since she had only Coralie to oblige--Coralie, who alone +seemed to have found the deep way to her heart, and to whom she rarely +refused anything--she went straight to the piano, took the first music +that presented itself, which happened to be Rossini's "Cujus Animam," +and began to sing, not only with perfect method--that might have been +expected--but with exquisite feeling. Her voice was a rich contralto, +deep and broad as a river flowing to the sea, and bearing the listener +whither it pleased. There were tears in the eyes of her auditors, when +she had finished, and would have been, doubtless, had she sung anything +else, for the quality of her voice touched that point of perfection, +which, in this world, gives a pleasure closely akin to pain. + +She waited a moment, but no one spoke; then she put her fingers again +on the keys, and, looking far out into the evening dusk, sang a dismal, +hopeless dirge, which Bergan felt intuitively to be her own; and which +wrung his heart with passionate longing and pain. She would sing no +more. + +Yet no one could talk after those heartbreaking strains. So Bergan +quietly took his leave. + +Coralie wound her arm round her friend's waist, and drew her to the +window, to watch him down the street. "What do you think of him?" she +asked. + +"I think--that he has a genius for conversation," replied Miss Thane, +coolly. + +"Oh, Diva, you know that is not what I mean! How do you like him?" + +"I like no one--but you. I think I might respect him in time. As for +you, little one, take care you do not like him too well." + +"Why?" asked Coralie, blushing. + +"Because he has buried his heart--the best part of it--in somebody's +grave." + + + + +III. + +FARVIEW. + +Diva Thane, it is perhaps needless to say, was a child of the North. +Her peculiar type of beauty blossoms only out of soil, which, for half +the year, withdraws its warmth into its deep heart, and wraps itself in +a chill, white robe of snow. She had made her appearance in Savalla, +about a twelvemonth before, unheralded and unknown, had rented the +parlor of a decayed aristocratic mansion as a studio, and had tacked on +the door a card signifying to the public that she was a painter in +oils. She had thenceforth been an example of that freedom and +independence of life which Art makes possible for its votaries, of +either sex, as a compensation, in some sort, for the sacrifices that +they are bound to make to her. + +It soon became known that the Youles endorsed Miss Thane to the fullest +extent, both socially and financially; else society might have given +her a cool reception. But it could scarcely, in its haughtiest mood, +have meted out to her a fuller measure of scornful indifference than +she accorded to it, when, in due time, it made up its mind to hold out +a condescending hand to her. She declined its invitations, she took no +notice of its calls, she would none of its patronage. Just in +proportion as it grew more eager, piqued by her indifference, and +curious to penetrate the mystery which surrounded her, she became +colder and more distant. Finally, society was compelled to understand +that the sole favor which she would accept at its hands, was +forgetfulness of her existence. + +Nor was the public treated much better, in her capacity of artist. +Visitors at her studio found free admission, and opportunity to +examine, at their leisure, the pictures, sketches, and studies, which +crowded the walls; but rarely did she turn from her easel, to give them +more than the briefest glimpse of her statuesque beauty, or the most +concise of answers to their questions. Generally, she found some +reason for declining their orders; and fully one half of the pictures +on her walls were labelled, "Not to be Sold," while the sale of the +remainder was plainly a matter of the profoundest indifference to her. +It must needs be inferred that she had means of subsistence other than +her art, amply sufficient for her quiet, inexpensive mode of life. + +Nevertheless, she worked with indefatigable industry, as well as +undeniable talent. If her pictures evinced some lack of technical +skill, they were endued with a force and feeling which more than atoned +for its absence; since the one would address itself chiefly to +connoisseurs, while the other went straight to the universal heart. +They covered a wide range of subjects, yet a profound observer would +have traced a certain connection and sequence in them all. The earlier +and cruder efforts of her pencil were pleasant outdoor +scenes,--children wading in a sunshine brook, farm youths and maidens +tossing about new-mown hay, and village girls dancing under +wide-spreading boughs,--scenes so perfect in their idealization as to +seem familiar to every eye, yet never without that inestimable +something added or eliminated, which constitutes the difference between +the picturesque and the commonplace. After these came works not only +marked by greater skill of design and felicity of color, but informed +with a deeper feeling;--yet so delicately indicated that none but the +finest instinct would have perceived how softly Love illumined the +landscape, or shone in the smile of the youth, or looked up to the +maiden from her own downcast eyes reflected in the water. Then came a +sudden change,--pictures and sketches wherein the artist's pencil must +have been driven by some terrible intensity of feeling, to have wrought +with such sombre power;--such as an illimitable desert, with a man +riding fast toward a wan, setting sun, and his long, backward shadow +falling upon a woman's outstretched, yearning hands,--or the black +silhouette of a drifting and dismantled ship, seen against a blood-red +moon, setting in a dun and angry sea,--or a deep and dismal cavern, +with a female figure lying bruised and broken at the bottom of a +fissure, and a man, also torn and bleeding, seen at the end of a long +vista, searching for what he will not find. These pictures affected +the spectator like a nightmare; there was such a fell shadow of +immitigable fate in them all, and so notable an absence of anything +like hope or faith, that while he acknowledged their power, he +shuddered at their spirit. + +Of course, Rumor could not help busying herself with a subject so +inviting as the artist, though so bare of definite results. She was +variously reported to be an escaped nun, a bride that had nearly lost +her life at the hands of an insane bridegroom, a widow--barely one +month a wife--seeking to throw off an intolerable burden of grief by +the help of new scenes, new faces, and a new manner of life, and an +heiress, fled from the importunities of harsh guardians and an +unwelcome suitor. It will serve as an indication of the occasional +correctness of the popular instinct, that not one of these conjectures +cast any shadow upon the whiteness of her fame. Not more inevitably +did her face suggest snow, marble, and whatever was at once white and +cold, than her demeanor suggested their chill purity. Moreover, +notwithstanding that she led so unfettered and independent a life, as +compared with the majority of her sex--dwelling under her own +guardianship, and ordering her day's routine to her own liking--the +closest scrutiny could not detect anything therein, that was not +austere, lonely, and laborious enough to suit the cell of an anchorite. + +Yet, though there was so little in her way of living to suggest +affluence, it soon became known that her hands were open, and her purse +deep, to any claim upon her benevolence. While it never appeared that +she set herself to seek out objects of charity, to such as came to her, +either in person or by proxy, her bounty was generally far in excess of +the demand. The only grace which it lacked, was that subtle element of +the giver in the gift, which imparts a sympathetic warmth to the silver +or the gold, as it is dropped in the outstretched hand; augmenting, to +a degree incalculable by any known arithmetic, its power of relieving +the distressed heart. Though Miss Thane gave generously, she gave none +the less carelessly and coldly. + +The only person whom she distinguished by any mark of affection, or +measure of confidence, was Coralie Youle. The two had been classmates +at a Northern boarding-school, where the native girl had first soothed +and petted the stranger through a severe attack of homesickness, and +then had been devotedly nursed, in her turn, during a trying +dispensation of scarlet fever; in consequence of which a friendship of +more than ordinary warmth and tenacity had grown up between them; +manifesting itself on Coralie's part, by a half worshipping admiration, +and on Diva's, by the strong, yearning clasp of a nature that puts +forth no slender, fragile tendrils, but clings only in virtue of a bend +or coil of its own tough fibre. To Coralie she was never cold, never +unresponsive; the girl knew that there was no veiled, inner chamber of +her friend's heart to which she had not some time penetrated, and which +she would be allowed to enter again, whenever her presence could throw +one ray of light across its dusk. With that she was satisfied. One +thing the two possessed in common--the most absolute trust in each +other. + +Still, though Diva always received Coralie at her studio with deep-lit +eyes of welcome, and a hand-clasp into which she had the power of +putting more tenderness than ordinary women would express by a close +embrace, and though she often joined her in long walks through the city +and suburbs, it was rarely that she could be persuaded to visit her in +her own home. If she did so, it was usually at an hour when she would +be little likely to meet the other members of the family. It was as a +great favor, therefore, that she had consented to stay to dinner, on +the day when Bergan had met her. Nevertheless, when Coralie really set +her heart upon anything in her friend's power to give, she always +gained her point. And so it came to pass that, a few weeks later, when +the family left for their summer residence of Farview, in the +hill-region of the State, she carried Diva with her, for a visit of a +fortnight. + +Thither, also, after awhile, came Bergan; yielding to Mr. Youle's +entreaty that he would close the office, for at least a day or two, and +give himself a breath of fresh air. Secure in his dearly bought +acclimation, he had not purposed to leave the city; anticipating no +worse effect from its summer atmosphere than a kind of dreamy languor, +which, in his present state of mind, was perhaps more to be desired +than any bracing of his energies. Nevertheless, he had come to feel +for Mr. Youle a degree of filial affection; and he would not pain him +by a churlish disregard of his kindness. + +He reached Farview about sunset. For the last three or four miles, he +had seen the low roof and broad piazzas of his goal looking down upon +him from the hill top, as he journeyed up the valley, and when he +finally stood on the green and flowery lawn, he felt as if his own +being were suddenly and sympathetically magnified an hundred degrees, +so wide was the lovely and luxuriant Southern landscape outspread +before him. Field and forest spotted it with various verdure; a river +drew a bright, wavy line across it; here, the yellow sunshine brought +out clearly every line and tint; there, the clouds dimmed it with +patches of shadow; and all around was a massive framework of +sunset-gilded hills. + +Half involuntarily, Bergan took off his hat. "How good are the works +of God, and how harmonious in their relations to one another, when we +get high enough to command a wide view of them!" he reverently thought. +"So, too, I doubt not, I shall find it with the dealings of His +providence, when once I have climbed to a proper standpoint whence to +view them as a whole. Till then, let faith accept the truth which is +hidden from sight!" + +A larger party than he had expected to see, was gathered in the +dining-room. A legal brother, who had received a general invitation +from Mr. Youle to visit him during the Summer, had hit upon this +occasion; one planter from the neighborhood was present by appointment, +and another by accident; and there was also a lady friend of Miss +Youle, with her young daughter, Nina, besides Miss Thane. The latter +signified her remembrance of Bergan by a cool bow; but it was not until +dinner was over, and the evening tolerably well advanced, that he found +himself in her immediate vicinity. Coralie had been led to the piano, +leaving him in a somewhat isolated position, near one of the long +windows; and, while the notes of a fairy-like waltz seemed to be +dropping from her slender fingers, as they flitted up and down the +ivory key-board, he thought he might venture to step out on the moonlit +piazza, for a few moments, without being missed. Suiting the action to +the thought, he discovered that Miss Thane had made her escape before +him. She was leaning against a pillar, looking out over the +moon-silvered valley with a weary and wistful expression scarcely in +keeping with the calm, icy indifference of her wonted aspect. With a +brief apology for interrupting her, he was about to retire, when she +spoke, in a tone that seemed to accord him permission to stay if he +chose. + +"Coralie's music sounds sweeter outside than within." + +Bergan drew near to her, not to let his voice penetrate to the parlor. + +"That is true, I suspect, of many things in life. To feel their full +sweetness, one must get a little out of their immediate sphere." + +"Is that true of persons, also?" she asked, with a keen glance. + +Some moments elapsed before Bergan could answer. Compelled by the +question to make a sudden, rapid investigation into the deeper things +of the heart, he was confounded at the unexpected result. Too +truthful, however, to attempt to hide it, he finally answered, +thoughtfully;-- + +"In some measure, I think it is. Miss Thane, did you ever experience +quite that deep delight in the presence of a friend, which you +sometimes (please remember, I say only, sometimes) derive from the +thought of him or her in absence?" + +She did not answer the question. She only said, in a tone of cool +irony;--"You do not flatter your friends, Mr. Arling." But in another +moment, she exclaimed, with a sudden, startling intensity of passion +and longing;--"Is there, then, _nothing_,--neither love, nor +friendship,--absolutely nothing, which answers expectation, and +satisfies desire? Horrible, horrible thought!" + +"I do not think so," replied Bergan, gently; "though I confess that I +was troubled, at first, by the necessity of answering your question as +I did. But I now recognize the fact thus revealed to me as very +satisfactory evidence that our affections, our friendships, are to know +a richer and lovelier development than they can ever attain to on this +earth. In heaven there must be room for every lofty ideal." + +Then, with a sudden deep intuition of the real necessities of the soul +beside him, he went on to say;--"Yet there, as here, I suppose, the one +satisfying, completing thing will be the love of God. The soul was +made to look up, not along a level; it can only find its highest joy in +something superior to itself." + +She turned, and looked him intently in the face. + +"Do you believe what you say?" she asked, doubtfully. + +Very solemnly Bergan answered;--"I do." + +"Belief is nothing," she rejoined, after a pause, "action is the test. +Do you _live_ your belief?" + +Bergan drew a deep breath. "I try to do so, Miss Thane." + +She went on, seemingly so intent upon her own train of thought as to be +utterly unmindful of the solemn and searching nature of the questions +that she was putting;-- + +"You feel, then, this all-satisfying love of God in your heart?" + +"In some measure, I trust I do." + +"And when the sun suddenly dropped, or faded, out of your sky, and the +past became a corpse, and the present a burden, and the future a blank, +what comfort did it give you?" + +"The comfort of knowing that all things work together for the good of +those that love God," responded Bergan, not without a momentary wonder +at the curious appositeness of the question to his recent experiences, +but quickly divining that she was looking more into her own heart than +his, in asking it. + +"Good," she repeated, musingly; "you did not say, happiness." + +"Good is a better word than happiness, in this world. In the world to +come, they will be synonyms." + +She gave him another long, penetrating look. Then she said, quite +simply, and evidently with no thought or intention of paying him +compliments;--"You have talents, you have culture, you have a clear and +powerful intellect (I heard Judge Emly begin an argument with you just +now, and you soon cut the very ground from under his feet), you have +been wonderfully successful, too, considering your years,--yet you do +not hesitate to bind yourself to these narrow theories." + +"Narrow, do you think them? Broad, rather, since they link eternity to +time, and give one the long outlook and overlook which alone reveal +things in their true relations. No one can construe this world aright, +or even satisfactorily, without doing it by the light of the next. As +for intellect, Miss Thane, some of the most commanding intellects of +the world have been defenders of the 'faith once delivered.' And, if +such had been lacking, there is a certain Book that Time has not been +able to make obsolete, nor Science to nullify, which tells how, +aforetime, God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the +wise: and He can do it again, when the necessity arises." + +"You are content, then, to feel that your intellect, your learning, +give you no advantage, in these matters, over the most ignorant of your +neighbors?" + +"I am content to know that, in religion as in most other things, though +books may help, thorough knowledge is of experience. The man who feels +most of the Spirit of God in his heart, and makes it most clearly +manifest in his life, is the man most competent, other things being +equal, to analyze its operations and effects. Political economy, Miss +Thane, is not the only subject about which men may prate very +learnedly, and know very little." + +Coralie's music ceased suddenly. There was a little stir in the +parlor, and a murmur of voices, as if some subject of interest were +under discussion. + +"Go," commanded Miss Thane, "they will be looking for you. I will +follow you in a few moments." + +He stepped back through the window. Coralie came toward him. "We are +talking," said she, "of going down to the negroes' camp-meeting, a +little below here; Mr. Sypher was just telling us that it is a sight +well worth seeing, by night. Will you go?" + +"I am entirely at your service," replied Bergan, courteously. + +"And Diva!--where is she? Oh, there she comes." + +Bergan turned. Miss Thane was standing between the curtains, with her +usual expression of calm indifference. + +Coralie explained what was wanted. "Would you like it?" she inquired, +twining her arm round her friend. "There will be some fine artistic +effects." + +Miss Thane looked down upon her, with a softness that Bergan had never +before seen in her face, and which gave it a marvellous beauty. "I +like whatever you like, child," she answered, evasively. + +In the hall, she stopped, and took a shawl from the rack. + +"Oh, Diva," exclaimed Coralie, "you will not need that, it is so warm." + +Miss Thane stood doubtful, with the shawl in her hand. Bergan took it +from her quietly, and threw it across his broad shoulder. "It is +always safe to carry a shawl, if not to wear it," said he, lightly. + +There was no formal arrangement of the party. The path lay through the +fields, and was often too narrow to admit more than one person; at +other times, partnerships of two or three were formed or broken, very +much by chance. A broad glory of moonshine not only lighted them on +their way, but surrounded them with enchantment,--softening lines, and +deepening shadows, and turning the whole earth into a new creation of +silver and ebony. + + + + +IV. + +A WORD IN DUE SEASON. + +Ere long, the shadowy wood-line was reached, and very soon a red +twinkle of light became visible through the trees, broadening and +brightening as they advanced. The sweet and solemn notes of a hymn, +sung by many voices, next pervaded the air; and in a few minutes more, +they were standing on the edge of the camp-ground, interested observers +of a singularly picturesque scene. + +Opposite to them was the speaker's stand, well lighted, covered with +evergreen boughs, and affording accommodation to a goodly company of +preachers, but too distant to be unpleasantly prominent. Between them +and it, the whole vast space was crowded with negro worshippers; some +sitting, some kneeling; here, an uncouth figure bowed in an attitude of +absorbed meditation (or, it might be, indulging in a peaceful sleep); +there, a dusky, upturned face, intent, or agonized, or rapturous, +according as the owner was devoutly receptive, torn with conviction of +sin, or blissfully assured of pardon. From among them the brown trunks +of the forest trees rose straight and shapely as the pillars of a vast +temple; and overhead, the under surfaces of the leaves showed gray and +spectral against the sombre night sky. Here and there, lanterns were +fastened to the trees, but the place was chiefly illuminated by great +fires of pitch pine, whence clouds of smoke arose ever and anon, and +hung trembling in the tree-tops; and the flames of which, as they rose +and fell, cast alternate glow and gloom upon the upturned faces, and +seemed to work corresponding changes of expression,--sudden transitions +of joy and sorrow for which there was no apparent cause. Outside of +these fires, scattered groups of spectators now came out into bold +relief, and now lost themselves in shadow; strong profiles caught the +eye, and then vanished; here and there, too, white faces offered an +effective contrast to their darker neighbors. + +Altogether, it was a picture to delight an artist's eye; yet Miss Thane +seemed scarcely to enjoy it. On the way hither she had been silent, +shut up within herself, neither seeking nor giving amusement; and she +now stood a little apart, letting her eyes rove absently from point to +point, but without appearing to take intelligent cognizance of any! +Yet she seemed to be listening, after awhile, to the voice of the +white-haired negro preacher who occupied the stand, and talked of the +comfort of religious faith in a way to argue profound personal +knowledge of the subject,--albeit, his phraseology was illiterate, and +occasionally absurd, calling a smile to some faces in the party. But +Diva did not smile; her thoughts were evidently far below the surface +of the subject, in depths where the gleaming ripple of the comic was +unfelt and unseen. + +The party was considerably scattered. Miss Youle and her friend, tired +with their walk, had found a seat on the outermost of the benches, +watched over by Judge Emly; the youthful Miss Nina and one of the +planters had gone round to get a view from the other side; Coralie +stood near a fire, listening to the low comments of Mr. Sypher; and Mr. +Youle and Bergan were quite in the background, silent spectators, for +the most part, of what was going on. + +The white-haired speaker brought his brief address to a close; and a +number of negroes quitted the benches and came up the path. +Mechanically, Coralie stepped back to make way. + +"Take care," exclaimed Mr. Sypher, in a warning voice, "you will catch +fire." + +But he was too late. She had moved within reach of the draft, and her +light muslin robe was wafted into the blaze. Instantly, she felt the +heat, saw over her shoulder a rising tongue of flame, and with the +insane impulse which usually seizes upon those in like peril, turned to +flee from the danger which it was so impossible to distance. But +scarcely had she taken a step, before Bergan's strong arm caught her, +and flung her, face downward, on the ground; with a deft movement of +the other hand and arm, Miss Thane's shawl was shaken out and thrown +over her; and, in spite of her frantic struggles, she was held fast by +one knee, while he applied both hands to the task of smothering the +flames. Miss Thane was the first to come to his aid; then the rest of +the party woke from their momentary stupor of alarm, and joined their +efforts to hers. In very brief space of time, the work of +extinguishment was complete, and Coralie, being lifted to her feet, +still enveloped in the friendly shawl, was found to be comparatively +uninjured. Her floating curls were singed at the ends, one arm was +slightly reddened and smarting, and her nerves were considerably +shaken--that was all;--all I where there might so easily have been +death, or torture and disfigurement worse than death. + +The whole thing had taken place so suddenly and swiftly, that only such +persons as were in the immediate vicinity had been aware either of the +peril or the rescue; so that it was by chance, as it were, that the +whole vast multitude now burst forth with the solemn old Doxology;-- + + "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." + + +The great wave of sound flowed round and over the little breathless +party, and charitably veiled or soothed its emotions. Mr. Youle, +standing with his arm round his daughter, bowed his face on her head, +and a large tear glistened on her soft curls; Miss Youle sank on her +knees by the bench where she had been sitting, and wept silently; +others of the party bent their heads, or lifted their hats; Diva Thane +held one of Coralie's hands close clasped in hers, but her face was +turned away. Suddenly, she threw her voice into the last line of the +Doxology,-- + + "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," + +with a richness and power that were like the swell of an organ. It +appeared to pervade and sustain the whole chorus of voices, and +impressed them inevitably with its own character; which, to Bergan's +ear, seemed not so much an expression of thankfulness, as the +irresistible outbreak of a feeling that would gladly have given itself +the more effectual relief of moaning aloud, had the opportunity been +afforded it. + +A bystander now considerately offered Mr. Youle the loan of his horse +and buggy, and Coralie and her aunt were swiftly driven homeward. The +remainder of the party walked back as they had come, Miss Thane and +Bergan being in the rear. As they turned into the narrow wood-path, +she motioned him to precede her; and he quietly obeyed, understanding, +better than she knew, her desire to feel herself free from observation. +Yet he failed not to listen for the sound of her light footsteps behind +him, and to adapt his pace to hers. Meanwhile, his mind busied itself, +almost against his will, with a new and serious question. In the +little interval before the starting of the buggy, Coralie had taken his +hands in hers, and thanked him for the service rendered her, with a +look that haunted him still. There had been nothing in that look but +what was most delicate and maidenly,--an involuntary attempt to help +out with her eyes the broken words which yet expressed her gratitude so +well; nevertheless, it had been possessed of some indefinable quality +which had touched him deeply at the time, and now set him gravely to +question within himself whether he had any right to be the object of a +second look of the kind; at least, while the past was still a desolate +grave, over which no grass yet grew green, no flowers bloomed. Trained +to look difficult questions in the face, stripping them of all +confusing or meretricious appendages, it did not take him long to +arrive at an emphatic "No," as the only possible answer to this one. +Fortunately, he had not committed himself to any particular length of +stay at Farview, and the sudden recollection of an important paper that +he had locked up in his desk, instead of committing it to the safer +guardianship of the fire-proof safe, suggested itself as an excellent +excuse for a speedy departure. He decided that he would take his leave +early in the morning, and see Coralie no more until he had determined +that the past had become so far a dream as to admit of a new dream of +the future. + +This honorable decision being reached, his mind was sufficiently at +ease to allow him to notice that his pace had gradually become a very +slow one, in half unconscious conformity to the lagging footsteps +behind him,--footsteps which spoke so unmistakably of a troubled mind +or an exhausted frame. It even appeared that Miss Thane stopped +altogether, now and then, by reason of absorbing thought, or from the +necessity of taking breath. Bergan hesitated for a moment, divided +between the fear of being intrusive, and the kindly impulse to afford +timely help; but the latter prevailed, and, the path having widened +somewhat, he turned and offered her his arm. She shook her head +absently, at first; then seemed to become suddenly aware that support +was needful, and accepted it. + +"We are privileged to be silent, I believe," said Bergan, as they moved +on together, "only in the presence of strangers or friends. Count me +in either category, as you please, and do not trouble yourself to talk. +I see you are tired." + +"Thank you," returned Miss Thane, in a cool tone of acquiescence. + +Across the next two fields, their own linked shadows, sliding slowly +over the ground in advance of them, were not more silent than they. +The voices of their companions, who had far outstripped them, reached +their ears only in subdued and harmonious murmurs. The moonlight lay +over the earth like a visible blessing of peace; and even threw a kind +of reflected brightness into Miss Thane's heart, by the aid of which +she was better able to try to find some pathway out of its shadows. In +that one terrible moment, when she had seemed to see Coralie wrapped in +flames, a swift vision of herself, left standing alone in the +world--without relative, without friend, without human affection, hope, +or solace--a lonely, empty, unsatisfied heart--had risen before her, +and left her appalled, even in the midst of her thankfulness that it +was only a vision as yet, and not a reality. For, how easily, through +the agency of a boat or an engine, a fever or a chill, a thousand +every-day accidents, it might still become a reality! With what was +she then to supply Coralie's place in her heart and life? + +Awhile ago, she would have answered confidently, "With Art." Now, she +knew better. For two years she had been testing Art's capacity to fill +and satisfy an empty human heart, and her soul was exceeding bitter +with the unexpected result. She had painfully experienced the truth +(though she could hardly be said to understand it as yet) that he who +embraces Art with a thought of self and not of service, will find it +turn to ice or to ashes in his arms. In itself, it has neither balm +for affliction, nor skilful surgery for remorse, nor sunshine to throw +athwart the black gloom of despair. + +Out of this bitter knowledge Miss Thane finally spoke, apparently +recurring in thought to their previous talk on the piazza;-- + +"Mr. Arling, how is one to love God, if one does not?" + +It was perhaps the most difficult of all questions to answer. How are +the blind eyes to be opened, and the deaf ears unstopped? How is the +frozen heart to be softened, and the slumbering affection to be wakened +into leaf and bloom? How is the Father to be made acceptable to the +children that are insensible of His goodness, and will none of His +reproof? And how is the Saviour to be presented unto those to whom He +has hitherto been without form or comeliness, in such beauty as that +they shall desire Him? + +"I think, where it is not spontaneous," Bergan answered, after a +moment's consideration, "that such love is most surely to be attained +through prayer and service;--a frequent lifting up of the heart to Him +whom it would fain love; a constant endeavor to do His will, as the +best means of developing and manifesting love." + +Miss Thane looked down thoughtfully. "I have known--a man,"--she began +slowly, with a shade of irrepressible sadness in her tone,--"a man not +less gifted with talent and intellectual power than yourself, and with +a somewhat longer and more varied experience in the use of his gifts, +who would have laughed at the idea of any virtue in prayer, except as +affording a pleasant illusion to a weak mind." + +"I, too, have known such a man," replied Bergan, the image of Doctor +Remy rising irresistibly before his mind, and causing a dull ache in +his heart; "but was he--was this man of whom you speak--or had he ever +been, in the devout, habitual use of prayer?" + +She shook her head. "I do not know; probably not." + +"Miss Thane, you would scarcely need to have me warn you that no man is +to be accepted as authority, in law or medicine, who is not thoroughly +conversant with the subject, both by study and practice. So those, and +those only, who pray themselves, humbly, devoutly, persistently, have +any right to pronounce upon the efficacy of prayer." + +She looked up at him quickly and keenly. "Pardon me, but--have you the +right to speak with authority?" + +"In some small measure, yes. I can certify you that the medicine is +good, because I have taken it; that the staff is strong, because I have +leaned upon it; that the weapon is efficient, because I have fought +with it. Allow me to hope that you do not need the certification." + +Her eyes fell, and her cheek flushed slightly, but she answered with +her usual straightforward candor:--"I was never taught to pray;--my +mother died when I was born, and my father believed none of these +things. I have no habit of prayer." + +"Does no one pray for you?" + +"I don't know--Coralie, perhaps." + +Bergan looked down upon her, and a sudden moisture dimmed his eyes. +His heart was taken complete possession of, for the moment, by a vast, +sorrowful pity for this beautiful and gifted woman, who masked so empty +and aching a heart with so cold a demeanor, impelling him irresistibly +to help her, as he could. + +"When you are next asked that question," said he, and there was a deep, +rich melody in his voice, "do not say that you 'don't know,' for I +promise to put up a prayer for you daily, from henceforth, until you +send me word that you have learned to pray habitually and gladly for +yourself. Hereafter, when you lie down to rest, remember that +another--claiming no title of friend, but simply that of neighbor--has +asked forgiveness for your day, protection for your night, and every +strength that you need for your morrow." + +The proud heart was touched at last. That is to say, Bergan's words +were the effectual "last drop" in the full cup of the evening's varied +emotions,--comparatively insignificant perhaps in itself, but none the +less inevitably productive of overflow. Miss Thane's lips parted with +a kind of gasp, scarcely distinguishable as sound, but profoundly +suggestive of pain; and a perceptible tremor ran over her from head to +foot. Suddenly releasing Bergan's arm, she sat down on a fallen tree +by the side of the path, and covered her face with her hands, while +tears, dripping through her slender fingers, glistened gem-like in the +moonlight. + +Yet it argued much for her power of self-control, that she made no +sound, nor shook with any sob. Grief must be content to exercise over +her limited, not absolute dominion. + +Bergan withdrew to a little distance, and waited silently, looking out +over the shadowy valley to the fair, flowing outline of the +moon-silvered hills. Those womanly tears, he was certain, would afford +most safe and seasonable relief to whatever pain and excitement, +whatever distressful memories or dismal forebodings, had resulted from +the evening's events. For himself, comparative stranger as he was, he +had no right to give Miss Thane more than the silent sympathy of a +heart itself not unacquainted with sorrow. + +Suddenly, the deep silence was broken by the soft whirr of wings. A +bird, flying as straight over the moonlighted fields as if let loose by +an unseen hand for that purpose, alighted in the boughs over the two +motionless figures, and shook down upon them a shower of liquid +notes,--sweet, clear, and joyous,--a very prophecy of hope. + +The song being sung, the bird soon spread its wings and flew back to +its nest and its mate. Then Diva rose, and held out her hand to Bergan. + +"I accept your offer," said she. "Something tells me that the time +will come when I can repay you in degree, if not in kind." + +And Bergan, as he took the white, cool hand--empty now, except perhaps +of a half-reluctant gratitude, and a moderate measure of good-will--had +a singular intuition that some day it would be held out to him with an +inestimable gift in it. + + + + +V. + +INTERCEPTED. + +"You are up early," said Diva Thane, when she entered Coralie's room on +the morrow, and found her standing by the window, enjoying the fresh, +fragrant air, and the innumerable sweet and cheery sounds of the summer +morning. "I thought that you would sleep late after your accident,--or +what came so near to being one." + +"How could I sleep late, when I was ordered off to bed so early?" +rejoined Coralie, smiling brightly, and turning her clear brown eyes on +her friend. "Besides, I had so much to think about," she added, softly +and gravely, letting her glance go back to the flower-beds on the lawn. + +But it was evident that her reflections, though possibly not without an +occasional deep bass note of solemnity, had for the most part sung her +a very siren's song of pleasantness and hope; none the less entrancing +because a song without words of definite purport. The smile and the +flush, with which she had listened, still brightened her face; and a +corresponding light was seen shining from what seemed an interminable +depth in her eyes,--eyes never so deeply illumined till now. Indeed, +it struck Diva with a kind of vague amaze and sadness, that she had +never seen this Coralie before! There was an unfamiliar freshness and +softness about her, as if she were newly created. The brightness of +her face, too, was such as to make her seem more nearly akin to the +summer sunshine falling on her through the window, than to mortal +shadows and sorrows. In truth, Diva found herself fancying that the +sunshine was a good deal the brighter for the happy glow that it caught +from her features. + +Surprised, ere long, at Diva's silence, Coralie lifted her eyes, and +encountered her friend's intent gaze. Immediately she seemed to become +aware that a wonderfully subtle and delicate insight was making, not +her face only, but her heart, the subject of its deep regard. The +moment before, she did not know that there was anything in either which +she cared to hide. Now, as if the existence of some secret were +suddenly suggested to her by the fear of another's perception of it, +she let her eyes fall, and a deep flush overspread her features. + +Diva turned away with a sigh. She felt scarcely less lonely than she +had seen herself in the vision of the preceding evening, when Coralie +had seemed to be passing swiftly beyond her reach and ken, in a chariot +of flame. + +Nor was her sadness wholly for herself. She was gifted with a singular +clearness of intuition, in regard to the relations of others; and +Coralie's face affected her much as it would have done to find a rose +suddenly budding out on a sunny winter's day, and mistaking it for the +beginning of summer. Still, as is often the case with persons thus +endowed, she did not fully trust her own intuitions, for the reason +that they could give no clear account of themselves to her intellect. +She now told herself, therefore, that her impressions were doubtless +wrong, inasmuch as they were destitute of solid basis; she was even +glad to believe so, quickly losing the thought of herself in that of +her friend. Or it might be that she was seized with a diviner +selfishness,--the certainty that, if any winter's night of frost and +dusk were in store for Coralie, she herself must needs partake largely, +through sympathy, of its chill and gloom. + +As the friends stood thus silent, each busy with her own impressions +(for they were of much too thin a consistency to be called thoughts), +certain sounds from below, coming up to the window, attracted their +notice. A horse was brought round to the side door, and, soon after, +Bergan's voice was distinctly heard, speaking to Mr. Youle. + +"That will do, thank you. I shall quite enjoy my ride through the +valley, this lovely morning. Present my adieux to Miss Coralie; I +trust that her night's rest has obliterated every trace of her last +evening's experience. Good-bye." + +"Why, that is Mr. Arling!" exclaimed Coralie, in sudden consternation. +"What can have happened to take him away so suddenly?" + +"I heard him telling your father, last night," answered Diva, calmly, +"that he would be forced to return to town early this morning on +business of importance." + +"And he did not bid me good-bye!" murmured Coralie, discontentedly. +"Besides, I have not half thanked him for saving me from those dreadful +flames,"--and she shuddered at the recollection. "Oh, I _must_ speak +to him, before he goes." + +She leaned out of the window, apparently with the intention of calling +to him, but it was too late; he was already trotting down the avenue, +followed by the groom who was to bring back the horse. She looked +after him with a wistful gaze, and her eyes filled with tears. + +Diva watched her thoughtfully,--intent, it would seem, upon some deeper +and more perplexing phase of the matter than that immediately presented +to her. Finally, she said, as if struck by a sudden thought:-- + +"If you want to speak to him so much, there is a way. You know the +shorter path through the shrubbery to the entrance gate; we can +intercept him." + +"Oh, no! I could not do that," exclaimed Coralie, shrinking back and +blushing deeply, "he would think--that is, it would look like thrusting +myself in his way." + +"He would think nothing," affirmed Diva, coolly, "except that we are +out for a morning walk, as we have a good right to be; there never was +a lovelier sky or earth to tempt one forth. Come, we must be quick." + +And, without waiting for consent, or listening to remonstrance, Diva +seized Coralie's hand, and hurried her down the stairs, and out through +a different door from that by which Bergan had taken his +departure,--where Mr. Youle still lingered,--so that they reached the +shrubbery unobserved. Here, Diva slackened her pace a little, though +she still kept hold of her half reluctant, and nearly breathless +companion. They reached the gate before Bergan came in sight. + +"Let us go back a little way," pleaded Coralie; "I don't want to be +found waiting here." + +"Why not?" asked Diva, composedly, seating herself on a low, broad +stump by the way-side. "Mr. Arling is not a vain man, he will never +suspect us of waiting for _him_. But if you must have an excuse for +lingering here,--why, there are some exquisite ferns yonder,--gather +them for your parlor vases." + +Coralie hesitated, doubtful whether to stay or flee. Diva plucked a +dainty leaf of wood-sorrel, and put it between the perfect curves of +her own lips. + +"Coralie," she suddenly asked, "how old am I?" + +Despite her perplexity, Coralie could not help smiling at the absurdity +of the question. "Are you losing your memory?" she inquired; "you are +two years older than I." + +"Oh, is that all? I thought I must have been at least a hundred,--it +seemed such an age since I used to eat this green stuff with relish. +But you are certainly young yet, though you do look a year or two older +than you did yesterday." + +Coralie quickly stooped over the ferns to hide her deeply-diffused +cheeks. Diva continued, apparently without noticing her confusion:-- + +"However, if the little plant has lost much to the taste, it has gained +more to the eye. I never noticed, in those days, what a delicately +outlined leaf, and slender, translucent stem it had, nor how fresh was +its tint of green. If Mr. Arling were here, now, he would turn that +into a simile,--something about a spiritual sense developed out of an +earthly one, or a refined enjoyment only to be attained through some +loss of the capacity for commoner pleasures;--isn't that a little in +his style? Ah! there he is." + +Bergan was looking straight before him, so much absorbed in his own +thoughts that he did not see the friends until he was close at hand. +He immediately dismounted, flung his bridle to the groom, and came +toward them with extended hand. + +"So you were going to leave without bidding us good-bye," said Miss +Thane, coolly, ignoring the offered hand, but looking him searchingly +in the eyes. + +If Bergan felt a little embarrassment under that look, he did not +betray it. + +"I supposed that you were not up," he answered, with perfect composure. +"And whoever travels at this season of the year, had best do it betimes +in the morning, before the sunbeams are hot as well as bright. Miss +Coralie, I am glad to see you looking so fully yourself." + +His sentence ended a little abruptly, as if whatever else he had +intended to say was suddenly put out of his head. He, too, had become +dimly aware of some subtle change or development in Coralie, since the +evening before,--a more womanly grace, a new character of beauty; +which, however, only served to bring the image of Carice vividly before +him--Carice, as he had seen her last, and would never see her again, +under the shadowy pines, by the dreaming river, with the newborn +love-light in her eyes, and the dawn-rose of love in her cheeks. +Scarce knowing what he did, he lifted his hand, to see if, haply, he +might shut out both images together. + +Coralie's eyes fell on that hand, which was carefully bandaged from +wrist to knuckles; and the unconquerable shyness which had seized her, +on Bergan's appearance, was instantly dissipated. + +"What is that?" she asked;--"oh, Mr. Arling, were you burned last night +in trying to save me?" + +Bergan looked at Diva and smiled. "It is nothing," said he, +lightly,--"only your aunt and Miss Thane insisted upon binding it up +after I got home; and the least that I can do is to wear their kindly +handiwork for a day or two." + +"Oh, Diva," exclaimed Coralie reproachfully, the quick moisture coming +into her eyes, "why did you not tell me?" + +"Why should I?" replied Diva, with somewhat bitter emphasis; "_hands_ +heal quickly." + +"Miss Thane is quite right," said Bergan; "the matter was not worth +mentioning. Certainly, it was not worth one of those tears, Miss +Coralie; you will make me too proud of having gotten a small scratch in +the fray. If it were ten times as much, it would in nowise offset what +I owe your father. Now I must bid you farewell, or I shall miss the +train." + +"Will you not come up again soon?" asked Coralie, coloring a little, +but strong in the certainty that she could not err in showing her +preserver the most cordial courtesy. "It must be good for you to leave +the city as often as you can. And you have certainly earned the right +to consider Farview as your home, whenever it suits you to do so." + +"Thank you," said Bergan, bowing in acknowledgment of the kind and +thoughtful invitation. "But I am necessarily a busy and homeless man, +and it is the truest wisdom for me not to stray too far out of my +proper orbit, lest I get dissatisfied with it. When I become more +fully and firmly settled therein, a day's absence may not matter so +much; and then, if your invitation still holds good, I shall be only +too happy to avail myself of it." + +"It must always hold good, just as a kindness once done is done +forever," replied Coralie warmly, turning a deaf ear to the +unseasonable inner voice that cried out against the coolness and +reserve of Bergan's response, and holding out a tremulous little hand, +by way of signature and seal to her promise. + +Bergan gave the hand a friendly pressure, and bowed low to Miss Thane. +"A pleasant summer to you both," said he, "full of flowers and +sunshine, both material and metaphorical. Farewell." + +He lifted his hat as he rode through the gate; very soon a turn of the +road hid him from sight. Coralie stood looking somewhat wistfully at +the point where he had disappeared. + +"Peace go with him!" said Diva lightly. "He was in a great hurry to +leave us, but he said 'Farewell' in a way to indicate that he should +not be in a hurry to return. Fortunately, we are not the sort of +damsels to pine after an unwilling knight." + +Coralie turned instantly, and, with heightened color, signified her +readiness to go home. + +For some days her spirits were fitful and changeable; nothing now so +gay, nothing now so sad, as her smile. During this time Diva watched +over her with a silent, patient, careful devotion that surrounded her +like the atmosphere, viewless, but beneficent. She saved her from +annoyance; she shielded her from observation; she stood between her and +her guests, taking up the burden of their entertainment in a way that +would have seemed incredible to those accustomed to see her only +languidly indifferent or coldly haughty. Though her heart might be +narrow, it was certainly deep. + +By and by, Coralie began to smile naturally once more, and Diva was +satisfied that, though the rose could not "shut and be a bud again," it +had received no lasting blight. If it could be kept from further harm, +it might be expected to develop naturally into perfection of bloom and +beauty,--not the hasty and one-sided maturity that comes of a worm at +the heart. + +She could now think of herself. Unselfish anxiety and effort had been +very good for her thus far, there was not a doubt of that. +Nevertheless, she was beginning to feel urgent need of +quiet,--opportunity to commune with her own heart, and be still,--time +to deal justly and thoroughly with questions seething in her mind ever +since her talks with Bergan. But it was vain to look for quiet at +Farview; the house was fast filling up with gay guests; and having once +dropped her ice-mantle of reserve, she could not resume it without +giving pain to her hosts. So, as Coralie was now quite capable of +taking her rightful place as queen of the festivities, and as she had +already stayed twice as long as had been contemplated at first, Diva +went back to her studio. + + + + +VI. + +AN AIMLESS STROLL. + +Late one afternoon, about a month after Bergan's return to Savalla, he +quitted the office, which seemed to have grown unaccountably barren and +dreary of aspect, and set out for an aimless stroll through the city. +The air was fresh and moist from a recent shower, and the slanting +sunbeams were working alchemic wonders in the streets and squares; +turning the polished leaves of the oak and olive trees to silver, and +hanging them with prismatic jewels, enriching the grass with a vivider +green, and the earth with a rich golden brown, and imprinting the +sensitive surface of every tiny rain-pool with a lovely picture of blue +sky, fleecy clouds, and pendent sprays of foliage. + +Through all these pleasant sights Bergan moved slowly and half +absently, occupying himself less with their beauty than with the sober +monologue of his own thoughts. Yet his gaze was not without occasional +moments of intelligence, and in one of these he noticed a child, +attended by a large dog, standing with a curiously doubtful, undecided +air, in the midst of the square that he was crossing. Suddenly making +up her mind, it would seem, she held out her hand to a gentleman coming +from the opposite direction, who took no further notice of the mute +appeal than was implied by a shake of the head. The sight was a +comparatively strange one in those days, when begging was resorted to +as an occasional resource, rather than followed as a regular trade; and +Bergan continued to observe the child with a certain degree of +interest, though not with a wholly unpreoccupied mind, as he advanced +toward her. + +All at once, it struck him that there was something oddly familiar +about her slender little figure. As for the dog, he was certainly an +old acquaintance, as could easily be proven; and Bergan's lips emitted +a low, peculiar whistle. There was an instant pricking up of the +canine ears, and an inquisitive turning sidewise of the canine head, +but the faithful animal would not leave his young mistress until he was +absolutely certain that he recognized a friend. She, meanwhile, seemed +to notice neither the whistle nor its effect; nor could she distinctly +see what manner of man drew near, her eyes being dazzled by the level +sun-rays, but she again mutely held out her hand. + +It was instantly taken possession of. "Cathie," said Bergan, +wonderingly, "what does this mean?" + +She looked at him a moment in blank bewilderment, but ended by +recognizing him and flinging herself into his arms exactly as the +Cathie of a year before would have done; but with a deep, long-drawn, +repressed sob, implying a profounder sorrow than had ever darkened the +horizon of even that child of many and incomprehensible moods. + +Yet Bergan was considerably relieved by her first words;--"Oh, Mr. +Arling, don't tell mamma--don't tell Astra--please don't!" It seemed +probable that the episode of the begging was simply one of the child's +strange freaks. + +"Did you do it for fun, then?" he asked. + +"Fun?" repeated Cathie, with indignant emphasis, "do you think it's fun +to beg, Mr. Arling? I don't. I was so ashamed that I wanted to hide +my face with both hands." + +"Then why did you do it?" asked Bergan, gravely. + +The child's lip assumed its most sorrowful curve. "To get some money +to give Astra," she answered. "We are very poor now; the Bank went and +got broke, with all mamma's money in it; and she was taken sick, and +Astra couldn't get much to do, and we've had to move into a little mean +house, in a dirty little street, where there are no flowers, nor trees, +nor anything that's nice. And this morning I saw Astra take the last +money out of her purse, to pay the rent, and she looked--oh! I can't +tell how she looked,--something like that big gray man, with the little +boy on his back, that she made so long ago; and I did so wish that I +could do something to help her, just a little bit. So, when she sent +me out to take a walk with Nix, it came into my head that I could beg +for her, if I couldn't do anything else, and I thought I'd try it. Was +it doing wrong?" + +Bergan did not answer except by stooping to kiss the child's upturned +face. His eyes grew moist. + +"I know it must be wrong," pursued Cathie, innocently, "if it makes you +cry, Mr. Arling." + +"No, Cathie," replied Bergan, smiling reassuringly. "I do not think it +was wrong,--at least, you did not mean to do wrong, and that makes a +great difference. But I don't think that you will need to try it +again. Now, certainly you can do something better; that is, take me +home with you." + +On the way, Cathie, secure in the sympathy of this trusted friend of +better days, gave a more detailed account of the misfortunes that had +befallen the little family, since it left Berganton. His heart ached +as he pictured to himself the weary and wasting struggle with poverty +that Astra had maintained so bravely, yet so hopelessly; heavily +weighted, on the one hand, with the burden of disappointed affection, +and, on the other, with the anxiety caused by her mother's severe +illness. For works of art, there had been no demand; for portrait +busts and medallions, there had been only a scanty and fitful one. Her +last resource had been pupils in drawing, but these had now failed her, +in consequence of the usual summer exodus of the city's wealthier +population; by reason of which she was reduced to the bitter straits +shadowed forth by Cathie's earlier communications. It was touching, +too, to see what real nobleness of character had all along been hidden +under the child's caprice and waywardness, as evinced by the fact that +she said little of the privations that had fallen to her own lot, but +dwelt chiefly on her mother's lack of accustomed comforts, and the +forlorn face that Astra wore, when out of that mother's sight. + +The house was reached before the story had come to an end. It was a +little better than Bergan's fears, but far worse than his hopes. It +smote him to the heart to contrast it with the comfortable and spacious +mansion that had opened its doors so readily to him at Berganton, and +wherein he had come to feel himself so pleasantly at home. + +Cathie ushered Bergan into the dingy little room that served both for +parlor and studio, and then rushed through the opposite door, full of +the importance of the news that she had to impart. There was a +smothered exclamation of surprise from the adjoining room, followed by +a murmured consultation; and then Astra appeared in the doorway. + +But it was by no means the Astra of Bergan's remembrance. The features +were the same, to be sure, but the light, the hope, the energy, that +had animated them, and informed them with such rich and varied +expression, was utterly lacking. There was a perceptible line between +the eyebrows, as if the brow were wont to be knit over difficult +problems; and the mouth expressed a settled melancholy, which a smile +seemed only to vary slightly, not to displace. Nor could Bergan help +detecting a little hardness in it,--the look of a defeated general, +forced to lay down his weapons, but still unsubdued in will. + +What he most marvelled at, however, was that it immediately brought +Diva Thane's face before him, as if there were some subtle relation +between them, though there was not the slightest resemblance. + +Astra's manner to him was scarcely less altered than her face. It was +not exactly cold, but it lacked much of the old warmth and heartiness. +Bergan took no notice of it; he readily divined what chords of painful +association were thrilled at the sight of him, and how inevitably her +pride revolted against being seen in her present surroundings. Her +hand was so cold, when he took it in his, that he pressed it between +both his own, with a vague idea of warming it; then, stirred by a +sympathy too deep for ordinary expression, he bent over and touched it +with his lips. + +"You are not wise," said Astra, with a faint smile; "you should not do +homage to a fallen princess." + +"Neither do I," rejoined Bergan, with a deep music in his voice. "She +is not fallen, but holding out most bravely against the time when she +may expect succor." + +"Succor?" responded Astra, with a mixture of pride and +mournfulness,--"from what or whom could acceptable succor come?" + +Bergan smiled, and pointed upward. "From the Source of all succor, +whatever be the channel." + +Astra shook her head, and the lines of her mouth grew set and hard. +"Acceptable succor comes in season," said she, "and through legitimate +channels." + +Bergan was confounded. This lack of faith, this arraignment of +Providence, argued a more amazing change in Astra than he had yet +suspected. At the same time it afforded him a clue to that mysterious +connection, in his mind, between her face and Miss Thane's. Under the +hardness of the one and the coldness of the other, the same scepticism +lay hidden,--possibly engendered by similar causes. In Astra's case, +he had no hesitation in attributing it to Doctor Remy's influence; and +he could not but wonder at the singular and fatal power of the man over +the minds of those who were brought into close contact with him. Was +this deadly poison to be also instilled into the pure mind of Carice? +He shuddered at the thought. Better for her to lie dead at the bottom +of the river, by which he had last seen her soft, rapt face. + +Feeling that this was no time to argue with Astra, Bergan turned to the +table, which was littered with drawings and sketches, plaster reliefs, +and small clay models, to a degree that implied no lack of patient +industry, despite the want of encouragement, and the absence of faith. + +"What are you doing?" he asked. + +"Nothing, just now," she answered, mournfully. "I believe my hands +have lost their cunning,--if ever they had any. That is the last." +She pointed to a small bas-relief. + +It represented a child, skipping lightly down a flowery slope, trailing +a vine behind her. The face was turned so far away from the beholder, +as to show only the rounded outline of the youthful cheek and brow, but +the figure expressed a wonderful joyousness. In more senses than one, +it was plainly, "In the Sunshine;" which title was lightly scratched in +the plaster. + +Bergan studied it attentively. "It is as fresh as a rose," said he, +"and as sweet." + +"The analogy, if there be any, goes deeper than that," rejoined Astra, +bitterly. "A rose is born out of darkness and dampness and decay, and +this is the offspring of pain and discouragement, and all that makes +the hand weak and the heart sick." + +"And that is probably the secret of its perfection," remarked Bergan, +meditatively. "The loveliest graces of character--such as charity that +thinketh no evil, and hope that lives by faith, not by sight--are the +legitimate children of suffering. Then why not the finer works of art?" + +Astra's eyes fell, and she did not answer. + +"At any rate," pursued Bergan, "this 'Sunshine' is just what I want to +brighten my office. I was thinking, this very day, that something must +be done to make it less dismal. I suppose it is for sale?" + +Astra bent her head a little stiffly. She doubted the reality of this +new-born desire for office decorations. + +He took out his purse, and laid a folded bank-note on the table. He +expected that she would not look at it, until after he had gone, but +she immediately took it up, opened it, and tendered it back to him. + +"It is too much," said she proudly. And her look added, "I am no +beggar." + +"Is it?" inquired Bergan, with apparent surprise. "I thought it agreed +tolerably well with the prices that you used to mention as the least +you would receive for your works, in the future." + +"I have lived to grow wiser," replied Astra, + +"It is all the same," rejoined Bergan composedly, "I was about to say +that, as my mother has long been entreating me to send her some sort of +a portrait, it occurs to me that I cannot do better than to get you to +make a medallion or a bust of me, whichever you please. The balance of +the note can go toward the first payment. We will arrange for the +sittings, as soon as you are at leisure." + +Astra's lip trembled. Put in this way, the note might be retained; and +no one knew so well as herself what an amount of relief to her, and of +comfort to her mother, it ensured. But her pride was very sore, +nevertheless, and her face was little grateful, as she dropped the note +on the table, somewhat as if it had burned her fingers. + +Bergan hastened to change the subject. "I am sorry not to see your +mother," he began; but Astra interrupted him. + +"She would like to see you very much," said she, "if you don't mind +coming to her room. It is several days since she has left it; though I +really think that she is better to-day." + +"Why should I mind?" asked Bergan, smiling. "She used to call me her +son sometimes; though you do take such pains to give me to understand +that you utterly repudiate me as a brother." + +Astra turned her face aside, to conceal the sudden unbending of the set +mouth. "Indeed, I do not," she faltered. + +Bergan drew her toward him, just as a brother would have done. "Then +you will help me to persuade her to move into more comfortable +quarters, at once. I promise you that it shall be arranged so +carefully as to give her the least possible fatigue." + +Astra shook her head. "It cannot be; it would excite her too much. +Her disease is of the heart; and joy kills as surely as sorrow. When I +moved her here,--being imperatively forced to do so, because I could +not afford to stay where we were,--I determined that, let come what +would, she should not be stirred again, until she is a great deal +better or--worse. Thank you for the kind thought, but indeed she is +best off here, for the present,--now that I have the means of making +her tolerably comfortable." + +In the last sentence, there was some trace of Astra's old self; and, +glad to have gained thus much, Bergan followed her to Mrs. Lyte's +bedside. + +If he still cherished any belief in the feasibility of removing her, it +vanished with the first sight of her face. He wondered what could have +led Astra to think her better. Even to his inexperienced eyes, the +struggling breath, the beaded forehead, the ashy pallor, indicated but +too plainly that the thread of her life was wellnigh spun. + +Yet she was less changed, in some respects, than Astra. Her smile had +the old sweetness; her face--when the excitement caused by his +unexpected visit was calmed a little, and she could breathe easier--had +the old expression of gentle resignation. It lighted up, too, at sight +of him;--as he had reminded Astra, she had come to regard him with a +half-motherly affection, during his residence in her house. + +"It is very good of you to come to us," she said, gratefully; "it seems +a great while since I have seen any friendly face." + +"If I had only known that you were in Savalla, I should have come much +sooner," answered Bergan. + +"And if I had known that you were here," she responded, "I should +certainly have sent for you. It is strange, Astra, that we never +happened to hear of him." + +Astra's face flushed a little. "We are not in the way of hearing +news," she replied, evasively. "But now that he is here, to sit with +you a few minutes, I will run out and get that prescription filled, +which the doctor left this morning." + +Bergan rose instantly. "Let me go, rather," said he. + +"N-o, no," said Mrs. Lyte, "it will do her good to have a little run. +Besides, I want to talk with you." + +Bergan sat down again, and Cathie nestled to his side. Nix, too, came +and lay down at his feet, quite in the old Berganton fashion. + +"I am very glad to see you," continued Mrs. Lyte, when Astra had left +the room, "but I am afraid it is largely a selfish gladness. I am so +certain that you will see what can be done for my children after I am +gone." + +Bergan opened his lips to speak, but she lifted her hand with a +deprecating gesture, and went on:-- + +"Let me say what I want to say; I shall be so much easier in my mind. +Do you know how we came to leave Berganton?" + +"I do not; I only heard of it when I went back there, in the Fall." + +Mrs. Lyte briefly explained the circumstances which had led to the +removal. She stated, furthermore, that she had written to Major +Bergan, upon the failure of the Bank where her money was invested, and +inquired if he had sold the house, and whether there was any balance in +her favor. To which he replied that he had done nothing about the +matter, and proposed to do nothing, at present; he only wished that she +would come back, and live in it, as before. But this was impossible, +she had now no means of maintaining so large and expensive a place. +She had, therefore, written again, to the effect that she asked nothing +better than the immediate foreclosure of the mortgage, and the sale of +the property. Would he attend to it at his earliest convenience, and +forward her the balance? To this letter there had been no reply; she +took it for granted that a purchaser had not been found. What she +desired of Bergan, in the event of her death, which she believed to be +near at hand, was to hurry forward the sale of the place, and secure +something for Astra, if possible. This he promised to do; and he +added, in a tone that brought instant conviction to her mind, and tears +of gratitude to her eyes, that, however this matter terminated, neither +Astra nor Cathie should lack friendly aid, at need. + +When he finally took his leave, Bergan beckoned Astra to the door. +"Are you alone here?" he inquired. "Is there no one to share your +labors and your cares?" + +"We brought our old Chloe with us," replied Astra; "she would not be +left behind, and indeed, I do not know what we should have done without +her. But lately the good old creature has insisted upon going out to +do a day's washing, now and then, to bring something into the family +purse; she is out to-day. When she is home, she does all she can." + +Bergan recollected the old slave, and doubted nothing of her fidelity. +But, in the woful event that he foresaw, Astra would need other help, +other sympathy, he thought. + +"Is there no one you can send for,--no relative, no friend, in +Berganton, or elsewhere?" he persisted. + +"None," replied Astra. "And what accommodations have we for such a +friend, if we had one?" + +There was nothing more to be said. He shook her hand warmly, told her +that he had promised her mother to come again on the morrow, lifted his +hat, with his usual courtesy, and went down the street, in such a maze +of pity and perplexity, that he forgot to notice which way he went. + +When he became cognizant of his whereabouts, he was standing before a +large, old-fashioned mansion fronting on one of the principal squares +of the city. On the door was a silver plate, bearing the name of "DIVA +THANE, ARTIST." + + + + +VII. + +ORDERED STEPS. + +Bergan was much struck with the fact that his aimless walk--aimless, at +least, so far as his own intention was concerned--had first led him, in +virtue of his meeting with Cathie, to Mrs. Lyte's bedside, and next to +the studio of Miss Thane. Accepting both these leadings as parts of +the same providential plan, though he could discern but the slightest +possible relation between them, he knocked at the studio door. + +"Come in!" was the immediate response, in Miss Thane's clear, cold +monotone. + +Bergan pushed open the door, which was a little ajar, and found himself +in the presence of the artist. She was standing at her easel, palette +and brushes in hand; and she waited to give several touches to her +work, before turning toward her visitor. + +If she felt any surprise at sight of him, her face betrayed none. Yet +it seemed to Bergan that some change had come over that face since he +beheld it last--a certain suggestion of weariness under its languor, of +dissatisfaction under its chill pride--which he accepted as a good +augury for the task that he had in hand. + +Miss Thane seemed to divine, at once, that his visit had some object +other than the pleasure of seeing either herself or her pictures. +After a few quiet words of greeting, she rested one hand upon her +easel, and stood waiting, calm, proud, and exceeding beautiful, to be +informed of its nature. + +Bergan was scarcely prepared to make known his errand so abruptly. He +had promptly entered the studio, in obedience to his first impulse; but +he had counted upon some little time thereafter to arrange his thoughts +and feel his way, some flow of conversation to be duly turned to his +advantage, or some clue to the deep mystery of Miss Thane's +sympathies,--possibly, too, some further light upon the inscrutable +design of Providence, in sending him hither. + +After all, was not the most straightforward course likely to be the +best one? + +"Miss Thane," said he, gravely, "my own volition has had so little to +do with bringing me here, that I scarcely know why I am come. But I +believe that it is to try to interest you in a sister artist--a +sculptor--who is in sore need of aid that you might give her." + +Miss Thane put her hand into her pocket, and drew out her purse; but +before she could open it, Bergan stopped her with a deprecating gesture. + +"Pardon me," said he, "but that sort of aid, I can give myself, if it +be necessary." + +"What am I to do, then?" asked Miss Thane, wonderingly. + +"Whatever one delicate, refined, large-hearted woman can do for +another, in the way of cheer, encouragement, sympathy, and consolation." + +Miss Thane gave him a long look out of her deep eyes, partly surprised, +partly meditative. + +"What put it into your head to come to me on such an errand?" she +finally asked, with a singular, half satirical emphasis. + +"Because when I was wondering to whom I could go," answered Bergan, "I +found myself standing before your door. Because you did me the honor, +two weeks ago, to ask me a certain question, and I thought that this +might be the beginning of a better answer than I was able to give you." + +Miss Thane slowly walked to the other end of the room, and fixed her +eyes on the deep red gold of the western horizon, whence the sun still +shed a soft posthumous influence over the earth. + +"What does it matter," she murmured to Herself, "if I do surrender +somewhat of my freedom? I have had a fair trial of an isolated +life--divested of every irksome bond, burden, and duty, shut up to the +one friend that I trust, and the one occupation that I love--and what +has it done for me? Absolutely nothing; except to make me daily colder +in heart, and narrower in mind. Is it not time to try something else?" + +She turned back to Bergan, and her face, though it was still weary, was +no longer proud. + +"I am sensible of the honor that you have done me," said she, with +unusual gentleness; "I will try to deserve your good opinion. Where am +I to find the lady of whom you speak, and in what way can I render her +the most essential service?" + +Bergan quietly placed a chair for her. + +"Sit down," said he, "and let me tell you the whole story; at least, as +far as I know it myself." + +As he talked, the gold faded out of the sky, and the gray twilight +shadows crept into the room, turning the pictures on the walls into +pale, vague outlines, and giving a wonderful softness to Miss Thane's +listening face. Nor did the story end until the pictures had become +indistinguishable masses of shadow, and nothing was left of the face +but its deep, lustrous eyes. Its owner had not once spoken; and it +quite escaped Bergan's notice, in the dimness, that she gave a sudden, +violent start when Mrs. Lyte's full name was mentioned. + +"Thus, you see," he concluded, "it is not only a disappointed, +discouraged, anxious heart (soon, alas! to become a mourning one) that +I commend to your tender sympathies, but a sorely wounded faith. If +you cannot heal the latter, do not, I charge you, help to destroy it." + +"I will not," answered she, solemnly; "I promise you that I will not. +How could I, when I am half inclined to believe that such +faith--unfounded, illusory though it be--is a better thing than any +reality that we exchange it for." + +Bergan slightly lifted his eyebrows. "May I ask," said he, quietly, +"to what reality, or realities, you refer?" + +"You press me hard," answered she, bitterly, after a pause; "none, none +that I can think of just now. Everything seems vague, unreal, +unsubstantial." + +"Fall back on faith," returned Bergan, smiling. "If it be not a +reality itself, it works realities. It fosters real virtues, and +inspires real heroism; by it men live nobly, and die courageously. +What reality can do more for them,--indeed, what one does so much?" + +He waited for a moment, expecting an answer. Seeing that none came, he +bowed, and left her sitting there, gazing out into the silent night. + + +On the following morning, Astra was in her studio, busily plying her +needle, while her mother slept, when there came a light knock on the +door. Opening it, she found herself face to face with a lady of such +rare and remarkable beauty, that she stood motionless, lost in wonder +and admiration. + +The stranger bent her head with the stately, yet friendly, grace of one +princess to another; and a smile just touched her lips, and then seemed +to sink into her eyes, shining farther and farther down in their clear +depths, until it vanished from sight. + +"Will you allow me the pleasure of looking into your studio?" asked +she, in a voice as perfect as her face; "I have heard so much of its +marvels, that I am desirous of seeing them for myself." + +Astra mutely made way; her visitor glided into the room, cast a quick, +comprehensive glance around, and sat down in front of the statue of +Mercury. + +"Do not let me interrupt you," she said to Astra, "but just go on with +whatever you are about, and allow me to study this at my leisure." + +Astra hesitated a moment, and then took up the work that she had +dropped,--one of Cathie's much-enduring aprons, that she was trying to +darn into some semblance of respectability. But she could not help +stealing an occasional glance at the clear-cut profile of her guest, +until, all her artistic instincts being thoroughly aroused, she was +fain to seize upon crayon and cardboard, and make sure of the lovely +outline, ere it should vanish, as she expected it would soon do, +utterly and forever from her sight. + +The guest, meanwhile, studied the Mercury in profound silence. Yet +Astra soon felt that an uncommonly deep and delicate discernment was +brought to bear on her work, capable of accurately measuring both its +excellences and its faults. There was something inspiriting in the +very thought,--it was so seldom that her sculpture was favored with a +really intelligent glance! Her eyes brightened, her hands recovered +their cunning, the crayon sketch grew into lifelikeness without effort, +almost without consciousness, save when she stopped to marvel, now and +then, at its exceeding beauty and delicacy. Yet it did no more than +justice to the original,--scarcely that, indeed;--where did she get +that face, and who could she be! + +She had left the Mercury now, after a few--a very few words of +commendation, yet spoken so cordially and discriminately as to be worth +volumes of ordinary praise to Astra; and she was looking gravely into +the upturned eyes of the Cherub. Glancing from, it to its creator, she +said, with a faint smile;-- + +"I wish you could put _that_ look into my face." + +Astra shook her head. "I could not put it anywhere _now_," she +answered, drearily. + +The stranger gave her a compassionate glance. "I wonder," said she, +musingly, "whether it is better to have had such faith and lost it, or +never to have had it at all." + +"It is better to have lost it," replied Astra quickly, and with a +slight shudder. "One can live in the hope of finding it again." + +The visitor sighed, and turned to look at the sketches on the wall. + +By and by, she slid easily into a discourse about various art-matters; +holding Astra spellbound, for awhile, with the fluent richness of her +diction, and the extent of her knowledge. Nor was Astra allowed to +listen only. A certain graphic portrayal of art-life in Italy having +stirred her to the depths, and kindled the old fire and energy of +enthusiasm in her eyes, she was skilfully drawn on to talk of herself +and her work, her aims, longings, limitations, and needs, as she had +never talked before, because she had never before met with so +understanding and sympathetic an auditor. + +In the midst of one of her animated sentences, a low moan was heard +from the inner room. "Excuse me," said Astra hurriedly, amazed to see +how completely she had forgotten her cares, fears, and griefs, in the +magic of the stranger's presence,--"Excuse me, I must go to my mother." + +Mrs. Lyte had waked, as was too often the case, in a spasm of pain. +Astra hastened to call Cathie from the kitchen to assist the laboring +breath with gentle wafts of air from a fan, while she herself measured +some drops of a soothing mixture, and lifted her mother's head on her +arm, to enable her to swallow and to breathe more easily. Several +anxious moments had passed thus, in silence broken only by the painful +respirations of the invalid, when a low, sweet strain of melody stole +so gently into the room that Astra could not tell, at first, from +whence it came. So soft was it that it melted into the ear without +making any apparent demand upon the attention, yet so clear that not +one liquid note was lost. The swollen veins of Mrs. Lyte's forehead +subsided; her chest ceased its agonized heaving; a peaceful, happy +smile broke over her face. + +"What is it?" she asked, wonderingly, when the strain ended,--not +abruptly, but gradually growing fainter, until it was impossible to +tell just at what point sound became silence. + +Astra whispered softly that she had left a strange visitor in the +studio, who appeared to be singing unconsciously to herself. + +"If she would only sing again!" murmured Mrs. Lyte, wistfully. + +With her usual impulsiveness, Cathie rushed to the studio door. "Mamma +wishes you would sing--" she began, and then stopped short, no less +surprised and fascinated by the face that met her gaze than her sister +had been. + +The stranger reflected for a moment, then her voice again pervaded the +air, as with the very soul of restful melody. As she sang, the child +moved slowly toward her, drawn as irresistibly as the magnet to the +loadstone, till she stood close to her side, encircled by her arm, and +gazing at her with round, wondering eyes. As the song ceased, she slid +her hand half-curiously, half-timidly over her shoulder. + +"Have you wings?" she asked, earnestly. "Did you fly down?" + +Before the visitor could reply, except by a swift expression of +something like pain that flitted across her face, Astra appeared in the +doorway. + +"Mother wishes to see you, and thank you," she said. "Will you step +this way?" + +The lady rose, and moved quietly into the inner room. At sight of her +face, Mrs. Lyte gave a violent start; the thanks she was about to speak +died on her lips; she could only cry out in amazement;--"Who are you?" + +The stranger knelt by the bedside, and took both Mrs. Lyte's hands in +her soft, cool grasp. "I am the daughter of your runaway sister, Aunt +Katie," she answered, "and my name is Godiva Thane." + +"But she died, and she left no child," said Mrs. Lyte, incredulously. + +"She died in giving me birth," returned Diva, with convincing +positiveness. "I have long suspected that my father did not let you +know, he never forgot the opposition to his marriage; besides, he was +jealous of his only child's affections. You must needs forgive +him,--for he is dead." + +Several questions followed, on Mrs. Lyte's part; to which Diva gave +long, detailed answers, skilfully contrived to satisfy her aunt's +curiosity, tranquillize her emotions, and bring her, in a brief space, +to a tolerably peaceful and composed state of mind. + +"Can I do anything for you before I go?" she then asked. + +"Nothing, dear, unless you will sing to me--a hymn; there are tones in +your voice which are more soothing than any anodyne." + +Diva put her hand to her brow, and sent her thoughts back--a long, long +way, it seemed to her--to a period in her childhood, when she had been +under the care of a certain faithful nurse, afterwards discharged by +her father for putting foolish, superstitious notions--as he +averred--into her head. There she found two or three hymns; keeping +tenacious hold of her memory, in virtue of their early grafting +therein; which she sang in such soft, even tones, that Mrs. Lyte was +first calmed, and then irresistibly lulled to sleep. + +The two cousins stole out of the room together. In the studio, Diva +put her arms around Astra and kissed her tenderly. + +"Having found you, my little cousin, my art sister," said she, smiling, +"I shall never let you go!" + + + + +VIII. + +THOUGH HE SLAY. + +Miss Thane had all along understood that a meeting with her mother's +only and twin sister, either by accident or design, was quite within +the scope of possibilities. She had even regarded it as perhaps the +brightest prospect which the future afforded her, in case her present +experiment in life should fail to give her satisfaction, or her heart +should suddenly utter an importunate cry for that cup of cold water of +human affection, which is only to be tasted in the society of one's own +kin. Amid the gray monotony of her existence, she had often pictured +that meeting to herself in a variety of pleasant coloring and dramatic +shapes; but never, it is safe to say, in the solemn lights and sober +shadows in which it finally took its place among the memorable scenes +of her life. + +Yet in no other way could it have operated so powerfully to awaken the +instinct of kinship within her, to melt her reserve, to draw out her +dormant sympathies,--in short, to call forth whatever was deepest, +richest, and womanliest in her nature. And certainly, in no other way +could it have brought so strong and subtle an influence to bear upon +the sombre doubts and chill infidelities of her mind; setting over +against her cool, speculative belief in a blind Chance or an inflexible +Fate, Mrs. Lyte's calm trust in the goodness of God's providence, +against the blighting, chilling, unbeauteous effects of suffering on +her own heart, the gracious fruitage of patience, contentment, and +love, ripening under its touch in Mrs. Lyte's, against her own dim +outlook into an unknown future, her aunt's firm expectation of the +eternal weight of glory. The contrast was too striking not to be +noticed, its testimony in favor of faith over unbelief too strong to be +ignored. Daily, as she watched by her aunt's bedside, questions that +she had once settled, or laid aside as incapable of settlement, came up +again, to be examined in new and diviner lights. Daily the good work +which Bergan had been instrumental in beginning in her heart, went +forward,--not like the work of doubt, tearing down what it could not +rebuild, and taking away bread to give a stone,--but bringing order out +of confusion, proportion out of inequality, solidity out of +disintegration. + +On the other hand, her advent was no less beneficial, in its way, to +her aunt and cousins. Not to speak of the material comforts and +luxuries which she managed so delicately to introduce into the +sick-room, as to make them seem much like direct gifts of Providence, +without any intervening hand, she brought into their forlorn, narrow, +monotonous life an element of variety and interest, as well as of +personal helpfulness, that was sorely needed. Mrs. Lyte soon grew to +depend upon her constant presence and care scarcely less than upon +Astra's. She never wearied of searching her beautiful face for fitful +touches of resemblance to the darling twin sister, whose runaway +marriage and subsequent death had been the great grief of her own +earlier years, nor of drawing out such facts in relation to that +sister's short married life, and Diva's birth, as the latter had been +able to gather from others, and store in her memory. She was deeply +interested, too, in Diva's own history,--her motherless childhood, her +long sojourn in Europe, her art studies, her reasons for the isolated +life that she had been leading of late. Especially did she delight in +hearing her sing. Diva might busy herself in whatever part of the +house's narrow precinct she pleased, if only her voice floated into the +sick-room, and sweetened the air with the notes and words of some +favorite "hymn of the ages," or the soft Italian melodies that she had +learned in their native land. While the lovely voice kept on, Mrs. +Lyte lay lapped in smiling content, or slept in perfect tranquillity, +lulled more effectually than by any anodyne. + +Nor was Astra any less ready to accept her kinswoman as a timely boon +and blessing. It was not only an unspeakable relief to feel a part of +her heavy burden of care lifted from her shoulders by hands so willing, +so tender, and with so undoubted a right to the privilege; it was also +a rare delight to have such thoroughly congenial companionship. As for +Cathie, her heart was easily won,--all the more that she never seemed +to quite rid herself of her first impression that the new-comer was +celestial rather than human, and to be adored accordingly. In short, +Diva soon found for herself so fit, definite, and essential a place in +all these hearts and lives as to suggest the idea that it must have +been prepared expressly, and kept waiting for her--she knew not how +long. Nay, more,--_she_ must have been prepared for _it_; carefully +fitted, by many sad and stern circumstances, for this exchange of +helpful influences, for her part in that solemn symphony of events +which was rolling its profound harmonies through Mrs. Lyte's +sick-chamber. + +For the invalid did not rally. After one week of apparent pause, her +life's lapse went steadily on. Day by day, she weakened and wasted; +day by day, the spirit loosened its mortal garments, and made itself +ready to put on immortality; day by day, her mind let go something of +earthly cares, anxieties, wishes, and fears, and fixed itself more +firmly upon the Rock of Ages, and the rest that remaineth. Nothing of +life seemed left, by and by, but love; making manifest, by this true +"survival of the fittest," its Divine origin and destiny. + +One summer afternoon, when the sun was flooding all the earth and sky +with the glory of his departure, Bergan knocked at the door of Astra's +studio, according to his daily habit, to inquire if he could be of any +service. No answer being returned to his knock, he let himself in and +went softly to the bedroom door. A scene too beautiful to be called +sad, though infinitely solemn, met his view. + +Astra was seated on the bed, holding her mother in her arms, to afford +her a grateful change of position. Cathie lay curled up at the +invalid's feet, with her large eyes fixed on the rapt, hushed +face,--the half-closed eyes and slightly parted lips of which suggested +a soft sinking into that sweet slumber, which is yet not so much +slumber as a happy dream. Diva knelt by the bedside, with her aunt's +hand in hers, singing in tones that thrilled him through and through, +much as he had learned in these days, of the marvellous beauty and +pathos of her voice;-- + + "When I rise to worlds unknown, + And behold Thee on Thy Throne, + Rock of Ages, cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee!" + + +As the last note died away, he stepped forward and lifted the +unconscious form from Astra's arms. She looked up at him wonderingly. + +"The earthly hymn was very sweet," said he gently, "but the song of the +redeemed in Paradise is sweeter still." + +Still she seemed not to understand. What words were at once tender and +solemn enough for the full explanation? None but those of inspiration; +at once old and fresh; having poured their balm all along down through +the centuries, yet falling on each newly bereaved heart, as if still +moist and cool with the dew of their birth. Reverently he quoted:-- + +"'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, +saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works +do follow them.'" + + +Mrs. Lyte was taken to Berganton, and laid in the churchyard by her +husband's side, amid much kindred dust. Bergan accompanied the small +funeral train to within two or three miles of the village, and then +turned back; in obedience to Astra's wish, as expressed to him through +Diva Thane. The poor girl remembered in what way her name and his had +been connected, and naturally shrank from anything that might seem to +give it confirmation. But as the train passed the avenue to Bergan +Hall, the Major wheeled into the vacant place behind the carriage of +the chief mourners, assisted them out at the gate of the cemetery, and +offered Astra his arm. + +"I am your father's nearest living relative," said he, huskily, "and +though I behaved like a brute to your mother at one time, I have been +sorry enough for it since, to have a right to follow her to the grave." + +Many of Mrs. Lyte's old friends and neighbors gathered round to assist +in the last solemn rites, and some of them came afterward to say a few +words of sympathy and regret to Astra. She was not surprised that +Doctor Remy was not of the number, but she did wonder a little that she +saw nothing of Carice. She had observed Mrs. Bergan standing near the +foot of the grave, looking strangely old and altered; but she seemed to +have disappeared as soon as the service was ended. + +Having conducted her back to the carriage, and seated her therein, +Major Bergan took a folded paper from her pocket, tore it in pieces, +and laid the fragments on her lap. + +"There it is," said he; "and I wish that my hand had been sawed off +before I ever wrote to your mother, to tell her of its existence. The +place is yours now, free and unincumbered, to do what you like with. +Good bye; and don't bear malice, if you can help it." + +He gave her no opportunity to reply, but signalled to the coachman to +drive on. Looking back, she saw him standing on the same spot, with +uncovered head, watching the carriage until it was out of sight. + +She was in nowise disposed to bear malice. She remembered too well how +glad she had been, at the time, of an available pretext for leaving +Berganton; besides, the Major had certainly made all possible amends +for his hasty action. + +Moreover, Mrs. Lyte's death-bed had not been without its softening and +salutary effect upon her mind, also. Although she had fallen, for a +time, into that saddest of all infidelities--a distrust of God's +goodness to His children--the last lovely moments of her mother's life, +the last grateful, joyous words from her mother's lips, and the still +brightness of her mother's dead face, had set her feet--for a little +while at least--on those Heights of Contemplation, whence life is seen +to be good and valuable, not for what it is, but for what it shapes +out; not for the materials that it heaps together, or the tools that it +uses, but for the character which it moulds unto perfection, the soul +which it slowly chisels into beauty and dignity and strength. So +viewed, these last months of adversity became but the fine, finishing +touches of the Master's hand, to Mrs. Lyte's already lovely spirit, and +Major Bergan but one of the blind, necessary instruments, operating +better than he knew or willed. + +And come what would, Astra could nevermore forget that broad view of +the real work and object of life's events; faith would ever after be +easier for those moments of clear sight. She came back from her +mother's grave with a bereaved heart, but with a spirit more at rest +than it had been for many months; and her face wore the same expression +of gentle, sweet resignation, which had been the prevailing +characteristic of her mother's for years. + +She came back--but not to the dingy little house, nor the desolate +rooms, and certainly not to the straitened circumstances. Miss Thane +had taken Bergan into her confidence, on the day before, and asked the +favor of his superintendence of certain final steps toward the +accomplishment of a plan that she had conceived and partly executed. +Money and good-will, working together, usually achieve wonders in +comparatively short space of time; as the result of their present +cooperation, Astra was set down at Miss Thane's door on her return from +Berganton, late at night, and ushered into a suite of rooms, opposite +Diva's own, handsomely fitted up for the accommodation of herself and +Cathie. One was a studio, to which all her own pictures, statues, and +other artistic belongings had been carefully transferred, and skilfully +arranged to produce an accustomed and home-like effect. Another was a +pleasant little parlor, with her books and her work-basket on the +centre-table, to lend it a familiar grace; and in the bedroom beyond, +her faithful old Chloe was waiting, with joyful tears in her eyes, to +welcome and to attend upon her. + +Astra turned to her cousin, and tried to speak; but the too heavily +freighted words were slow in coming forth, and Diva anticipated them by +taking both her hands in hers, and saying gently;-- + +"We are sisters, now, Astra: children of twin mothers, and left alone +in the world,--I more completely, even, than you; what better thing can +we do, at least for the present, than to unite our forces, having one +home, and living, loving, and laboring together for the same, or +kindred ends? And Cathie shall be our joint charge; that, having two +watchful elder sisters, she may never know, even partially, what I know +so well, the misery of a motherless childhood. Is it a compact?" + +Astra bowed her head in acquiescence, and her eyes shone bright through +grateful tears. She was relieved beyond measure, to know that she was +not to face the world single-handed. The loneliness that she had so +dreaded was not to be encountered, the heavy responsibility of her +little sister's care and training was to be, in some degree, shared. +In Diva's strength and steadfastness of character, which she felt by +intuition, and in its sweetness, which she had found out at her +mother's bedside, as very few had done before her, there would be all +needful protection, aid, and comfort; while, in its subtle quality of a +wise and delicate reserve, there was ample assurance of respect for her +own individuality, freedom for her own way of thought and work. +Finally, thanks to Major Bergan's generous action in respect of the +mortgage, she need not fear to be a burden on her cousin. Either by +sale or lease, the place could be made to yield her a fixed moderate +income, and her own labor would do the rest. + +She did not suspect the extent of Diva's resources, nor what pleasant +plans for her own and Cathie's happiness and advantage she was turning +over in her mind. Of these things Diva would breathe no word, until +the sisterhood of which she had spoken had become so real and firm a +bond as to preclude any sense of obligation. + +Meanwhile, the fact of living no more to herself, of having some one +else to think of, to care for, to comfort and cheer, was doing +wonderfully effective work in clearing and softening Diva's own +character,--in uprooting the weeds which had chiefly testified to the +richness of the underlying soil heretofore, and giving the plants of +grace leave to branch out and blossom and bear fruit. Daily, as Bergan +met her, in his visits to Astra's studio, or his walks, he saw that +something was gone from the chill pride and weariness of her old +expression, something added of sweetness, softness, and benignity, yet +without any loss of that still and stately grace, in which had +subsisted so potent a charm. Daily, too, he marvelled at her +increasingly magnificent beauty; over which, none the less, still +lingered some faint shadow from the past, like the soft haze hanging +over an autumn landscape, and constituting its last, consummate grace. +He could not help wondering whence that shadow came, and how it was to +go, since it always gave him an indefinable impression of being +connected with his own destiny. + +One day he met her in the street alone, but, as he never presumed in +the least upon the half confidential relations into which circumstances +had thrown them, he was passing on with a courteous bow, when she +stopped him. + +"Mr. Arling," she said, flushing slightly, but in very clear, musical +tones, "I have much to thank you for, but most of all for the promise +which you made me at Farview, some weeks ago; and which, I doubt not, +you have conscientiously performed. How much that performance has had +to do with the important events that have taken place since, I cannot +tell; but it is certain that I discern an order, a sequence, a relation +of means to an end, during these last weeks, which I have never before +been able to discover in the events of my life,--perhaps because my +days have never before been so regularly and earnestly recommended to +loving Divine guidance. Be that as it may, the time of which you spoke +has come; I have learned to pray for myself--and for others. Thank you +again, and good evening." + +It was one of her peculiarities, resulting probably from some years of +residence abroad, that she seldom gave her hand to a gentleman. Now, +however, she offered it to Bergan, for the second time, as he +remembered; and again, as before, he had a curious presentiment that +within that white hand there lay an invisible, but precious gift for +him, waiting its appointed time. + + + + +IX. + +MISTAKES. + +The summer ran its course, and came to an end. With the first frost of +autumn, Hubert Arling arrived in Savalla, to pay a visit of indefinite +extent to his brother. A few days after, Coralie, newly returned from +Farview, called at the office, expecting to find her father there, +according to appointment; but found only Bergan, as it appeared, +writing in his usual place. He rose, bowed, and finally took her +offered hand, with what seemed to her an odd mixture of hesitation and +embarrassment, while she poured forth greetings, thanks, and questions. + +"You are looking wonderfully well," she concluded; "one would think you +had been rusticating in the mountains, instead of spending a hot and +lonely summer in the city. But I suppose that you are lonely no +longer; you must be very glad to have your brother with you; my father +told me of his arrival." + +He looked much amused. "I suspect that I am my brother," said he, +smiling. "But I am not my brother whom you take me for. I wish I +were,--to have the honor of your acquaintance." + +It was Coralie's turn to look embarrassed. "I thought--is it not Mr. +Arling?" she stammered. + +"It is Mr. Arling--Hubert Arling, at your service. Can I do anything +for you?" + +Coralie was so much amazed, that it would have been difficult for her +to decide, at the moment, whether he could do anything for her or not. +But the entrance of Mr. Youle and Bergan relieved her from the +necessity of answering, and gave her opportunity to compare the +brothers at her leisure. Unquestionably, they were singularly alike, +in personal appearance, manner, and somewhat, even, in mind. Only, +when seen together, Bergan was found to be so much older and graver of +aspect--far more than was justified by his two years of seniority--that +she wondered how she could ever have mistaken one for the other. And, +certainly, there was a rare charm about Bergan's gravity, a singular +fascination in looking into his deep, thoughtful, all-observant eyes, +and conjecturing what disappointment or sorrow lay darkly underneath. +Still, Hubert's buoyancy and animation were wonderfully taking, too, in +their way; and her youthfulness sprang involuntarily forward to meet +his. On the whole, she was glad to know that Mr. Arling had a brother +every way so worthy of him. + +Before she left, the brothers received and accepted an invitation from +Mr. Youle to dine with him. But for Hubert's sake, Bergan would gladly +have declined it. Having once introduced his brother into pleasant +society, however, he could leave him to make his own way in it,--as he +was fully qualified to do. + +When the door closed on the father and daughter, Hubert looked at his +brother, and smiled meaningly. + +"Why did you not tell me?" he asked. + +"What should I tell?" rejoined Bergan, composedly. + +"That your future was likely to atone so prettily and pleasantly for +your past." + +Bergan looked grave. "Not another word of that, Hubert, if you please. +The past is not atoned for, in that sense; in another, I hope it may +be. Miss Coralie is, to me, simply my kind old partner's very +admirable and estimable daughter." + +Hubert looked half incredulously into his eyes, but there was no +resisting the strong confirmation of their quiet, steady, answering +gaze. + +"But, Bergan, you are a goose!" he broke out. + +"At your service," was the reply, with a bow of mock courtesy. + +"Pshaw! Then, if I go and trade on your capital, you will never call +me to account?" + +"Never." + +Hubert held out his hand; Bergan gave it a firm, strong clasp. There +was not another word; they understood each other. + +In the midst of the desultory chat that followed, there came a knock at +the door; and in answer to Bergan's prompt "Come in," his former +client, Unwick, entered. + +"My brother," explained Bergan, as the new comer looked a little +hesitatingly at Hubert. "Would you like to see me alone?" + +"As you please," replied Unwick. "It is your business rather than mine +that brings me here; if anything so vague and indefinite can be called +business." + +"Then, proceed. I have no secrets from my brother. Will you take a +chair?" + +Unwick sat down, and cleared his throat. + +"It is a long story; but I will make it as brief as I can. You know +that my cousin Varley is now in prison, under sentence of death for the +murder of which I came so near to being convicted myself,--and should +have been, but for you. Well, he sent for me a few days ago, to ask my +pardon, and to beg me to take charge of a certain child of his. It +seems that, two or three years ago, he was inveigled into a marriage +with a beautiful but unprincipled girl, belonging to one of the worst +families in this vicinity; her parents keep a low tavern, generally +known, I believe, as the 'Rat-Hole,' about a mile out of town, on the +Berganton road. Do you know it?" + +"Yes, it has been pointed out to me," replied Bergan. + +"Well, the girl is dead; but there is a child, left in the +grandmother's hands, which Varley wants me to get possession of, and +bring up in a respectable way. Poor fellow! he has seen what is the +result of evil associations, and desires to save his child from a +similar fate. Still, he wishes the matter to be arranged quietly, if +possible. So, yesterday, I went out to see the grandmother--that +explains how I came to be in so vile a place. Well, I was made to wait +for a half hour in a dirty little back room; and having nothing else in +the world to interest me, my attention was attracted by a conversation +on the other side of the thin board partition which divided the room +from the next one. Still, I doubt if I should have taken the trouble +to try to make it out, if I had not heard your name spoken. Then it +occurred to me that I might possibly be able to do you a good turn, in +part payment of what you had done for me. So, swallowing my scruples +as best I could, I put my ear to one of the cracks, and listened. +There were two men on the other side, but they were wise enough not to +call names,--I did not get the least clue to whom or what they were. +One talked quite low, but in a clear, though rather thin voice, which +made it comparatively easy to catch what he was saying. The other +talked louder, but pretty thick, as if he were a good deal the worse +for liquor; and he mixed up everything that he said with such a queer +medley of proverbs--" + +"Proverbs!" interrupted Bergan, starting, and beginning to look +interested. + +"Yes,--proverbs in every language under the sun,--Latin, Greek, +Spanish, German, and all the rest,--a regular Tower-of-Babel +performance. Do you recognize him?" + +"I suspect that I do. Go on." + +"Well, his companion,--have I given you any clue to _him_?" + +"None as yet. Perhaps I may get one as your story progresses." + +"_He_ was persuading this old proverb-spouter to sign some paper,--a +will, I think; but it was only after a good deal of arguing, and +bribing, and threatening, that he succeeded in doing so. Now comes +your part in the matter; the old fellow's great objection seemed to be +that he didn't want to injure you." + +"Me!" repeated Bergan, in much astonishment; "what had I to do with it?" + +"That is exactly what I couldn't find out; but I thought you might be +able to tell. You cannot?" + +"Not in the least. What else was there?" + +"Nothing, only the old bundle of proverbs also wanted to know 'what +would be to pay,' if they were found out,--would it be felony, or +compounding of felony, or what?" + +"Why!" exclaimed Bergan, "the will was a forgery, then!" + +"I cannot say as to that. The man who _didn't_ spout proverbs set the +other's scruples at rest, first, by asserting that there was not the +least danger of detection; and secondly, by declaring that you would +not sustain any injury, because the property was certain to come to +him, soon or late, anyhow. Whereupon the drunken Solomon muttered, +sotto voce, 'Into the mouth of a bad dog, often falls a good bone,' and +appeared to sign his name as required. At least, I heard the +scratching of a pen on paper; and, after that, some money was told out +on the table, as a first instalment of the bribe agreed upon; and +another instalment was to be paid at the same place to-morrow. Do you +get any light on the transaction yet?" + +Bergan looked very grave. He remembered old Rue's assertion that +Doctor Remy had wedded Carice simply to get possession of the Hall +estates, through his uncle's will in her favor. "Was the first voice +that of an educated man?" he asked. + +"Thoroughly so; an exceedingly distinct, even intonation, and the +language was well chosen, too. It would have been a very pleasant +voice to the ear, except that it seemed to lack heart, emotion; it was +just clear and cold, like ice. Are you beginning to see your way +through the affair?" + +"Very dimly, if at all. But I think that I know the parties." + +"Is there anything to be done about it? Can I help you in any way?" + +Bergan shook his head. He remembered that Doctor Remy was the husband +of Carice. He sat silent, his heart swelling with unselfish pain and +pity for the pure, delicate nature thus linked to the dark and vile +one; he hoped that the latter had not lost the art of concealing +somewhat of its hideousness. + +Mr. Unwick rose. "I will not detain you any longer. I am glad--or +sorry, whichever is proper--that my story proves to be of so little +importance." + +"Thank you, nevertheless, for taking the trouble to come and tell it to +me. By the way, did you get the child you went after?" + +"Not yet; the grandmother declared that it was not in the house, though +I did not believe her. Bad woman as she is, I think she really loves +it, and would like to keep it. But I was authorized to offer her a +considerable sum of money to get it quietly out of her hands; and she +knows that the law gives the father the right to dispose of its future. +I am going, to-morrow afternoon, to get a final answer from her, after +she has consulted with her husband, who was out when I was there." + +"Will you let me go with you? I should like to see if I recognize any +old acquaintance around the place; and if I do, to give him a friendly +warning to take care not to be seen there again. I happen to know that +the premises are now under constant surveillance, as a suspected +depository of stolen goods, and that the police are meditating a +descent upon them in a day or two." + +"I shall be only too happy to have your company," replied Unwick, +courteously. + +"And I will go along, too, if you don't object," remarked Hubert. "If +the place is of the character you mention, the more the safer, as well +as merrier, I should say." + +"Then, I will call for you to-morrow, at three o'clock," said Unwick, +"if that suits your convenience." + + +The "Rat-Hole" wore an appearance of exceeding quietness, in the sunny +autumn afternoon. A half tipsy vagabond or two lounged about the +stoop, but the greater part of its frequenters were of the owl species, +careful not to show their heads in the daytime. + +Having signified to the bar-keeper that his business was with the +mistress of the house, Unwick was shortly summoned to her presence, +leaving the brothers waiting in the bar-room. After a considerable +time he reappeared, and beckoned to Bergan. + +"I have persuaded Mrs. Smilt to allow of a witness to our transaction," +said he. And he added, in a low tone, "The pair that I spoke of, are +on the other side of the partition again; you can hear their voices, +and satisfy yourself whether you know them or not." + +Mrs. Smilt was a hard, ill-favored woman, of about fifty; she had a +child on her lap, and there were tears in her eyes. + +"Mr. Unwick wants a witness to our business," she remarked, grimly, to +Bergan. "Well, here's the child, and there's the money that he's to +pay me for't. It's a fair bargain, and I don't mean to shirk it; +though I'd rather keep the child, a good deal, myself. But my husband +'ud rather have the money; and he's captain." + +Bergan bowed. He would not speak lest his voice should be heard and +recognized in the adjoining apartment. He drew near the partition, but +there was only a sound of footsteps on the other side, and the closing +of a door; he was too late to get any satisfaction from this quarter. +He stood waiting impatiently for Unwick to bring his business to an +end, and half inclined to excuse himself, and make his escape, when he +heard a pistol-shot, and a brief struggle, ended by a heavy fall, in +the direction of the bar-room. He opened the door, and ran thither, +closely followed by Unwick and Mrs. Smilt. + +A singular scene was presented to his eyes. Prostrate on the floor lay +Doctor Remy, with an exceedingly black and discomfited face; while +Hubert was standing over him like a young gladiator. On one side, +stood Dick Causton pouring forth a volley of utterly incoherent +proverbs and entreaties, addressed to his "dear young friend Mr. +Bergan;" and, on the other, stood the barkeeper, so bewildered, +apparently, by this sudden and unaccountable fracas, as to be undecided +which side or what tone to take. At sight of Bergan, Dick reeled +backward, and looked completely confounded; Doctor Remy set his teeth +hard, and his face grew blacker than ever. + +Bergan looked at Hubert. "What does this mean?" he asked. + +"Upon my soul, I wish I knew!" responded Hubert. +"This--gentleman"--there was a deeply sarcastic emphasis on the +word--"did me the honor to point a pistol at me. I knocked it up, and +him down; that is all I know about the matter." + +Bergan motioned him to stand aside, and helped Doctor Remy to his feet. +"Thank God--if you ever do such a thing"--said he solemnly, "that you +have been saved from the commission of another crime. Go, now; and, +for your own sake, as well as for the sake of those connected with you, +take care to be seen here no more. I assure you that it is a dangerous +place for persons without legitimate business and fair credentials." + +Doctor Remy had recovered his composure, in part. He drew himself up +haughtily. "Keep your advice for those who need it," he rejoined; "I +am here simply as a physician, in attendance upon a sick man. What +your business may be, is none of mine: good evening." And he strode +out of the door. + +Hubert stood looking on, the picture of astonishment. "Was there ever +such a riddle!" said he. "First, an unknown man attempts my life; and +next, you bid him go in peace, or something very like it!" + +"He took you for me," said Bergan, quietly. + +"I appreciate the compliment. But are you in the habit of serving for +a target?" + +"Hush! It was Doctor Remy." + +Hubert looked more amazed than ever, for a moment; then his brow +flushed, and his eyes lit up. "Lucky for him that you did not tell me +that before," said he. "He should never have gotten out of my hands, +except into those of a policeman. Why, Bergan, what are you thinking +of, to let him escape us thus?" + +"I will explain all to you, when we get home," answered Bergan, +wearily. "Mrs. Smilt, I beg your pardon for having been the +unintentional cause of such a commotion in your house; I think I can +assure you that no harm has been done. Mr. Unwick, are you ready to +go?" + +At the door, Bergan stopped and looked around for Dick Causton; but he +had taken advantage of the discussion between the brothers to sneak +out. The fact was a suggestive one to Bergan, taken in connection with +Unwick's story of the preceding day. Never before, in spite of his bad +habits and fallen estate, had Dick Causton been known to flee from +before any man's face. + + + + +X. + +LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT. + +Bergan could not help wasting a little wonder on Doctor Remy's choice +of the "Rat-Hole" as a place for transacting business, of whatever +character. Yet the explanation was simple. The doctor was there, as +he had stated, professionally. One of the _habitués_ of the place had +been severely wounded in an encounter with a policeman, some weeks +before; and although he had succeeded in escaping unrecognized, the +affair had made so much stir that his friends had not deemed it prudent +to put him into the hands of any of the city physicians, for treatment. +Doctor Remy had therefore been summoned from Berganton, and had not +only conducted the case with his usual skill, but, foreseeing a +possibility of turning the circumstance to future account, had won the +ruffian's warmest gratitude by keeping his secret and declining any +fee. Having thus gotten the run of the place, and the good will of its +inmates, he had chosen it for the scene of his interviews with Dick +Causton, because he had his own excellent reasons for not wishing these +interviews to be seen or suspected by anybody in Berganton. And Dick +made no objections, inasmuch as various small errands, which he +dignified with the title of "business," had taken him to Savalla, for +two or three consecutive days; and the "Rat-Hole" was a convenient +stopping-place, and, moreover, furnished liquor which had the two-fold +merit of being of a better quality than any to be had at the "Gregg +Tavern," and of being quaffed at Doctor Remy's expense. Dick was not +likely to trouble his head much about the character of any house +possessing these strong recommendations. + +In regard to the signing of the fraudulent will, he had shown himself a +little more scrupulous; his habit of intoxication had not yet +accomplished its evil work of obliterating all sense of right, and +every consideration of honor. At the first broaching of the subject, +he had indignantly refused to listen to it for a moment. Later +on--having apparently gotten some new lights on the question in the +meantime--he had quietly suffered his objections to give way, one after +another, to the doctor's arguments and bribes; to the great +satisfaction of the latter, who found his task, on the whole, easier +than he had expected. + +Yet he might have felt some misgivings, if he had followed Dick out of +the house, immediately after the signing of the will, and heard the +low, satisfied chuckle with which he tumbled into his superannuated +chaise, and started his horse on a jog-trot toward Berganton. The +potent draught just swallowed had as yet taken effect only in +quickening his sense of the humorous, and putting him on excellent +terms with his own self-conceit. His eyes twinkled with amusement, too +intense to be denied the occasional vent of a loud burst of laughter, +or an appropriate string of proverbs. + +"_Wer dem Spide zusicht, kann's am besten_, my dear Doctor Remy," he +muttered; "or, in other words, the looker-on sees more of the game than +the player. What would you give to know what I know, I wonder! Just +wait till the right time comes; then you'll find out that 'He is worst +cheated, who cheats himself.'" + +A mile further on, his potations beginning to make themselves felt, he +suddenly broke out, with a tipsy laugh and leer;--"'_Man kan ei drage +haardt med brudet Reb_,' mine excellent doctor,--you cannot haul hard +with a broken rope! Ha! ha!" + +And, although his shamefaced flight from Bergan's presence, on the +second day, may seem to indicate that he was not quite certain of the +uprightness of all his acts and motives, no sooner was he fairly on the +road to Berganton than he began to chuckle again. + +Bergan, meanwhile, was questioning within himself whether he ought not +to make known Unwick's story to Major Bergan. He hesitated only +because he foresaw that the information might possibly be set down to +his self-interest, rather than his desire to serve his uncle. +Nevertheless, it did not take him long to decide that he must do what +he knew to be the right thing, regardless of consequences. Nor was it +certain that his uncle would misconstrue his motives:--not long since, +he had received an intimation from Rue that he was sure to meet with a +cordial reception whenever he could make it convenient to visit +Berganton; the Major's anger having so completely wasted away under the +double attrition of time and favorable report,--not to mention her own +steady influence in his behalf,--that he had lately expressed a wish to +see him. There was really no good reason, therefore, why he should +hesitate to present himself at the Hall, except that the whole +neighborhood was certain to bristle with unpleasant recollections. +However, he must face them some time, and as well now as ever. + +Still, as nightfall was at hand, and he knew of no reason for hurry, he +thought it expedient to postpone the visit till the morrow. He would +ride over to the Hall, he thought, betimes in the morning. Having made +his arrangements accordingly, and committed his office to Hubert's +care, he retired early, and soon forgot the fatigues and excitements of +the day in a profound sleep. + +He had not slept long, however, before he woke from a dream--wherein +Doctor Remy figured as an iconoclast, overthrowing and demolishing the +ancient gods of Bergan Hall--to the consciousness that some one was +knocking loudly at his door. + +"Who is there?" he called. + +"It's me, Massa Harry," responded a voice, with the unmistakable negro +intonation; but, nevertheless, a voice too much disconnected with the +present to meet with immediate recognition from his but half-awakened +faculties. + +"Who is 'me'?" he demanded again. + +"You's own boy Brick, Massa Harry," was the reply. + +With an instant intuition of evil, Bergan sprang out of bed, and opened +the door. "What is the matter?" he asked. + +"Oh, Massa Harry! ole massa's dyin'," replied Brick; "an' gramma Rue, +she sent me for you to come right off'; she say,--'Tell him to ride +fast, dere's not a minit to lose.' An' I'se brought Vic 'long for you; +an' while you's a-dressin', I'll jes' go an' give her a drink, an' rub +her down a lilly bit, so she'll be right smart and fresh when you's +ready to start." + + +It was one o'clock in the morning when Bergan saw the great dusky pile +of the Hall, and the dark masses of the live oaks, rise before him, in +the pale light of the waning moon. He knew that its master lay within. +Brick had narrated how Rue had ordered and superintended his removal +thither, in one of his moments of comparative quiet and +exhaustion;--the old woman being of the opinion that it was not fitting +for him to die otherwhere than under the ancestral roof, in the same +room where one after another of his forefathers had likewise laid down +the burden of the flesh, and begun the new life of the spirit. To this +room, Bergan was easily guided by his groans and cries. + +Never before had he seen a man in the terrible grasp of delirium +tremens; and now, after a brief look, he was glad to turn away his eyes. + +Major Bergan was on the bed, but he was only held there by the main +strength of two stout negroes. A frightful spasm contorted his face +and twisted his limbs. Great drops of perspiration stood on his brow; +and from his mouth flowed a mingled stream of oaths, curses, shrieks of +horror, threats of defiance, and groans of agony. His bodily anguish +was only less than his mental torture. His eyes started from his head +at the phantom-creations of his delirious imagination. The furniture +was alive, watching him with fiery eyes, and threatening him with +envenomed teeth and claws; the shadows took mocking shapes and gibed +and jeered at him; and the pictures were demons setting them all on. +The very hairs of his head turned to slimy snakes, and the bed-clothes +were now damp winding-sheets, and now devouring flames. + +"Have you had a doctor?" asked Bergan of Rue, who had met him at the +door. + +"Yes; Doctor Remy has been here twice; he left not much more than half +an hour ago. He said he had a critical case on hand, that must be seen +to; and there was nothing to be done here, except what we could do as +well as he." + +"What are you doing?" + +"Giving him soup to keep up his strength, and opium to quiet him. A +few minutes ago, too, in a lucid moment, he called for some powders +that he has been in the habit of taking, which, he said, always did him +more good than anything else. There were only two left; we gave him +one, as he was so bent on having it; I thought if it did no good, it +couldn't do any harm." + +"Did Doctor Remy say that he would call again?" + +"He did, but, Master Bergan, a blind woman's ears are quick at catching +meanings as well as words, and he did not mean to come very soon,--not, +I reckon, till all is over." + +Bergan meditated. Though he had long known that his uncle's habits +would be likely to bring him, sooner or later, to a drunkard's most +miserable end, he could not but think it somewhat suspicious that the +seizure should have followed so closely upon the completion of the +fraudulent will. + +"When was my uncle taken?" he asked. + +"Early this evening. He had been drinking a good deal for two or three +days past; he said he did not feel well, and he would keep at the +brandy bottle, in spite of all that I could say to him. About ten +o'clock this morning, Doctor Remy came in to see him, and I suspect, +told him something that made him angry,--for I heard him swearing +furiously to himself, after the doctor had gone. And then, probably, +he fell to drinking worse than ever; but it was not until about four +o'clock that I heard him groaning and crying out, and he has kept it up +a good part of the time ever since. But now, I think, he seems to be +getting a little easier." + +Bergan turned to the bed. The spasm was over, and the Major lay +exhausted, with his eyes closed. Opening them, they immediately +brightened with a look of recognition. + +"Is that you, Harry?" he asked, feebly. + +"Yes, uncle," replied Bergan, taking his hand; "Rue sent for me, and I +came at once. I am sorry to see you so ill." + +"I think you are, my boy, I think you are," responded Major Bergan; +"you look like it, and besides, a Bergan never lies. And I'm sorry, +too,--all the more, because I suspect that it's my own fault. If ever +you learn to drink--and I don't feel quite so sure that it's necessary +as I did once--don't drink too hard, Harry, don't drink too hard! If +ever I get over this bout, I swear I'll think twice, hereafter, before +I drink once. And if I don't, I'm glad you're here, Harry, boy; it's +well for the new master to be on before the old one is off." + +"I hope that you will live to carry your good resolutions into effect," +said Bergan earnestly. + +"Do you? Well, so do I." + +He lay quiet for a moment, busy with his own thoughts. All at once he +started up, exclaiming;-- + +"Fire and fury! what's that?" + +The negroes caught hold of him, expecting a fresh convulsion of the +same nature as the preceding ones; but, though his face was frightfully +distorted, and his form writhed with pain, there was no accompaniment +of phantasmal horrors. + +"Brandy!" he finally gasped, through his set teeth. + +Rue motioned to one of the women in waiting to bring some. Bergan put +his hand on her arm. "Surely you will not give it to him _now_," said +he, impressively. + +"The doctor said he must have a little, now and then," she answered. + +But before the glass could be put to his lips, he groaned, shuddered +from head to foot, and fell back on the pillow, with his eyes rolled up +in his head, his hands clenched, and a dark froth issuing from, between +his shut teeth. He was dead. + + + + +XI. + +AFTER MANY DAYS. + +There was a sudden silence--the shadow of God's hand. In it the lately +agonized, writhing body lay at peace, the anxious spectators stood awed +and motionless. Yet this silence was more voiceful than any +sound,--full of solemn questionings and more solemn answers, subtle +suggestions, grave warnings, and momentous intimations. Of the value +and the valuelessness of life, of the night and the morning of death, +of the character and the import of the Hereafter,--on all these topics +it discoursed more eloquently than the most silvery of oratorical +tongues. + +It had also its more commonplace and definite purport to the +simple-minded dependents gathered in the gloom of the broad gallery and +the black oaken staircase; which was no sooner fully apprehended, than +the sound of weeping was heard among them,--though not noisily +demonstrative, according to the African wont, for their awe of their +late master had been greater than their affection, and was in nowise +diminished by the knowledge of the dread change that had come upon him. +It was genuine sorrow, nevertheless, for, though he had been a hard +master, of late, most of them remembered when he had been kinder; and, +at the worst, he had not been without gleams of good humor and +leniency, upon which their minds now dwelt willingly and tenderly. +Some few gray heads, too, there were among them, who recollected the +grace and promise of his youth, and how proud they had been of their +gay, handsome, generous, high-spirited master; and these, striving to +forget that the promise had not been kept, or to set down its failure +to adverse fate rather than wilful shortcoming, crowded the doorway, or +stole in pairs to the foot of the bed, and looked through tears at the +dead face, and whispered to each other that something of its youth had +come back to it;--the soul, as it took its departure, had stamped the +features with their original nobility and grace. And then they stole +out, to prompt each other's memories with anecdotes of that vanished +youth, and to dilate the eyes of their juniors with descriptions of the +ancient splendors and hospitalities of the desolate old Hall;--the +banquets that had been served in the dusky dining-room, the gay +measures that had been trodden in the long parlor, the wedding-trains +and the funeral processions that had passed through the great door; +and, finally, of the ghosts that still walk the empty rooms, and may be +expected to be seen stalking through the long passages to-night, or +holding solemn conclave around the deserted tabernacle of the latest +comer among them. + +Hark! is not that the sound of footsteps, falling airily, yet heavily, +too, in some distant chamber? And there, in the upper gallery, is +certainly the rustle of the supernaturally stiff silk robe of the first +Lady Bergan, who was found dead in her bed, so many years ago! And now +creaks the door at the end of the wing, through which old Sir Harry is +wont to march majestically forth, sword in hand, to take vengeance on +any degenerate scion of the house that he encounters in his path! This +last apparition is too much for their nerves. They shrink together, +and flee noiselessly to their cabins, hearing the footsteps of the +angry knight following them all the way, and leaving the old house +untenanted save by the-ghosts, and the few faithful watchers in the +death-chamber. + +Rue is kneeling by the corpse. She has closed the eyes--sightless as +her own;--she has smoothed back the disordered hair; she has pressed +the lips together over the set teeth; now she is passing her withered +hand gently over the blind features, thinking more of the baby that she +nursed, the child that she petted and spoiled, and the youth that she +admired and loved, than of the middle-aged man that she had served with +her best strength, or the elderly one that she had stood by so +faithfully, striving in vain to hold him back from his evil ways. +Finally, she touches the cold lips with her own. + +"I kissed him when he was born," she murmurs, half apologetically, to +Bergan, "and there will be no kiss on his dead lips, unless I leave it +there." + +Bergan looks at her wonderingly. Her face is calm--there are no tears +in her eyes; she has the satisfied and relieved expression of one who, +after long and patient waiting, beholds the expected rest or gladness +close at hand, and is already half content. + +"One little trust more to be fulfilled," she says softly to herself, +"and then my work is done, my long service of the family is over. My +God, have I served Thee as well?" + +And although, in her deep humility, she shakes her head, and pronounces +herself an unprofitable servant, we, who can hear better that voice in +the silence, making little of rank, wealth, talent, and culture, and +much of faith, patience, and integrity, may be sure that it utters +benignantly,--"Well done!" + +Rising, at last, Rue turned to Bergan, and made him a low, reverential +courtesy. + +"Master Bergan," she asked, "have you any orders to give?" + +Bergan started. There was a quiet significance in her tone and manner +that made his heart beat fast, for just one moment,--not with elation, +however, so much as with a heavy weight of responsibility; as if the +chill corpse, the crumbling Hall, the hundreds of negroes, the +far-stretching lands, and all the cares and complexities thereto +pertaining, had been suddenly flung on his shoulders. But the feeling +passed quickly; he remembered the will in favor of Carice, as well as +its fraudulent successor (which, he now bethought himself, it might be +impossible to nullify, even if he could bring himself to come in +conflict with Carice's husband); and the weight slid easily from his +shoulders, though not without leaving some correlative heaviness in his +heart. + +Still there were orders to be given; and, until a more legitimate +authority or a closer relationship should supersede him, he, being on +the spot, must answer the immediate need of headship. He despatched +messengers, therefore, in various directions,--one to Godfrey Bergan to +apprise him that the long, bitter feud was ended, and between him and +the corpse of his brother there might be peace; another to Doctor Remy, +with a supplementary direction that if he was not to be found, Doctor +Gerrish should be summoned also; and a third to the undertaker, to +arrange for the sombre funeral paraphernalia. When all was done, he +was glad to retire for awhile to his room, leaving Rue, as she desired, +alone with her dead. Yes, hers,--no living person had so strong a +prescriptive right to that sad and tender vigil; no other love held the +sufficient warrant of such long and loyal service. + +Bergan remembered, long afterward, just how she looked as he bade her +good night; standing, tall, gaunt, and erect, by the high, +old-fashioned bedstead, drawing the heavy curtains round the silent +dead with one hand, and extending the other toward him with a free and +lofty gesture that suggested the unveiling of a new and golden future. + +"Good night, Master Bergan," said she, "or rather, good morning. For +you, the night is past, and the dawn is near. For you the Bergan star +shines bright in the morning sky; for you and the old Hall a new reign +of peace and prosperity is begun. Neglect not the warnings of the +past; rejoice in the promise of the future. God bless you, now and +evermore!" + +The last words were spoken with a solemnity befitting a long farewell. +At the moment, a vague apprehension flitted across Bergan's mind; but, +looking back, he saw that she had seated herself quietly by the bed, +like one whose only purpose was to watch and wait. Besides, she had +spoken freely of the morrow's necessities and duties, and of her own +part in them; it was plain that she had no apprehension for herself, +and he might dismiss his fears. + +In the hall, he was met by the solemn ticking of the tall old clock, +which some one had set in motion; probably with a vague idea that a +human soul's last minutes of time should be carefully measured, and the +moment of its entrance upon eternity definitely marked. He could not +help shivering at the sound. His mind involuntarily followed the +departed soul in its journeyings beyond the bounds of time, picturing +the heights or depths it had already reached, the scenes opened to its +awed vision, the momentous truths dawning upon its startled +comprehension. These thoughts not only accompanied him to his room, +but would not be shut out by the closing door. + +Weary as he was, he had no disposition to sleep. He sat down by the +table, leaned his head on his hand, and gave himself up to sombre +reflections. The gloomy deathbed that he had just witnessed, the +emptiness and decay of the old ancestral home, the tangled questions of +right and expediency that might present themselves for decision at any +moment,--all these weighed heavily on his mind, and depressed his +spirits. For one moment he half forgot his rooted trust in an +overruling Providence, at once wise and tender, in the contemplation of +the chill chain of events that appeared to be tightening around him, +the seemingly mysterious fate that had twice compelled his return to +this dreary old dwelling,--tomb rather,--to experience some new phase +of sin or sorrow, after he had turned his back upon it, as he believed, +for many years, if not forever. No wonder the negroes thought it +haunted; its heavy, musty atmosphere was much better adapted for ghosts +to float about in than to be breathed into living lungs; it might well +be crowded with the spirits of his whole ancestry, to make it so +stifling! + +He went to the window, to see if it were any better there. Scarcely. +The moon had vanished behind a cloud; the night was dim; the outside +air seemed not less burdened with woe and mystery than that within; he +even fancied that he heard light footsteps on the path below. He flung +himself again into his chair, and an almost superstitious awe stole +over him, a feeling that there was no such thing as emptiness, but only +invisibility,--that the air was teeming with mystic shapes, busily +tying circumstance to circumstance, cause to effect, motive to result, +and life to life, with cords of terrible strength and indestructibility. + +_Cords_:--The word struck lightly on the sensitive chain of +association, and there was an instant response from the past;--"Holden +with the cords of his sins." No doubt that was the essential truth. +Strictly speaking, a separate act or an individual life was an +impossibility; each was bound to each by influence or consequence; sin, +especially, entailed its results upon a wide circle of inheritors,--the +sinner himself, his kindred, friends, neighbors, even his descendants +unto remote generations. Doubtless the sins of many old-time Bergans +had helped to twist the cords which had held the mansion of their pride +to so sad a period of desertion and decay, if not their scion to so +woful a death. With how many such cords was he himself holden, and to +what, and for how long? + +He lifted his eyes with a start. A dim shadow had fallen on the floor; +something was intercepting the gray dawn-rays, which feebly lit the +room. He looked at the open window; it framed a slight graceful +figure, a wan, but lovely face,--both so well remembered, so fondly +loved, so mournfully lost! Of course, it was an apparition, a creation +of his own excited fancy, called forth to furnish another illustration +of the strange ramifications and knottings of those mystical cords, and +soon to disappear, and make way for some other sharer of his bonds. + +And disappear it did; but with a sudden crash, and a startled cry of +"Bergan!"--neither of which had any touch of the supernatural. The +unexpected sounds at once his awe; he ran to the window, saw that the +rotten flooring of the upper piazza had broken down under some recent +weight, leaped the gap, flew down the steps, and found lying underneath +a motionless form and a lily-pale face, both half hidden in long, +flowing tresses. No apparition this, but a living, breathing +Carice,--or what had lately been such;--she looked deathlike enough now. + +It may well be questioned whether love ever dies. It disappears from +sight, no doubt; it ceases to be felt as motive or end; the very heart +from whence it sprang believes that it is no more; perhaps a new--and +true--affection occupies its place and does its work. But is this +apparent death anything more than a partial decay, analogous to that by +which thousands of perennial plants seem annually to perish from the +face of the earth, under the frosts of autumn, but the roots of which, +nevertheless, carefully preserve their life-principle within, ready to +respond with swift springing verdure to the tender kisses and tears of +the springtime sun and rain? Is not all death only a sleep? + +Bergan had striven conscientiously to destroy his love for Carice, as a +thing which, however innocent in its birth, had grown to be a sin. And +he had measurably succeeded. His worst heartache was over. Life had +ceased to look unattractive; if it did not promise happiness, it +offered plenty of work, and a sober well-being. He was beginning to +feel the beneficent operation of the law of change, to find that sorrow +was not meant to be the life-tenant of any human heart. If he had met +Carice under other circumstances, less calculated to throw him off his +guard, he would doubtless have approved himself master of the +situation; meeting her with calm cousinly courtesy and kindness, and +stifling only a momentary pang in his deep heart. But seeing her +thus,--pale, motionless, unconscious,--dying, perhaps, if not already +dead,--flung back at his feet, for sympathy and succor, by some +mysterious turn of the same tide of circumstance which had borne her +away,--a lost jewel, restored after many days,--it is scarcely to be +wondered at that, for one moment, as he knelt by the inanimate form, he +forgot all the sorrowful past in the anxiety of the present, and +touched the mute lips with the warm kiss of a love which, though long +repressed and slumbering, seemed now to have neither wasted nor died. + +He soon recollected himself, however; when, seeing that Carice still +breathed, and was probably only stunned by her fall, he at once +addressed himself to the consideration of the serious question what was +to be done with her. She had fled suddenly, it would seem, led by some +wild, uncontrollable impulse; nothing shielded her from chill or from +observation but a nightdress and a light shawl; on one foot was a thin +slipper, the other was bare and bleeding; and her dishevelled hair fell +round her shoulders, some locks of which, he now noticed, were +encrimsoned by blood flowing from a deep cut in her head. + +He glanced quickly round; the dawn was yet gray, there was no one astir +at the Hall, and probably not at Oakstead; unless she had been missed, +there was still time to save her from what, he knew, she would feel to +be worse than death, when fully restored to consciousness. He lifted +her in his arms--it went to his heart, even at that moment, to feel how +thin and light she was--and bore her swiftly to the door of her home. +There Mr. Bergan and Rosa met him; they had just discovered her +absence, but had not given the alarm; they were still too bewildered to +know precisely what steps should be taken for her recovery. Bergan +carried her to the library, and laid her on the sofa. As he did so, +she opened her eyes, turned from him to Mr. Bergan, and cried out, in a +voice of mingled entreaty and determination;-- + +"Father, I _cannot_ be Doctor Remy's wife!" + +Bergan looked at his uncle with a mixture of surprise and apprehension. +"She is delirious," said he. + +"No, thank God!" answered Mr. Bergan, with a look of ineffable relief +and gladness; "she is herself again--clothed and in her right mind." + + + + +PART FIFTH. + +A BITTER HARVEST. + + + +I. + +A CLOUD FOR A COVERING. + +The twelvemonth gone by had not passed lightly over Godfrey Bergan. He +was not the same man who had refused so peremptorily to listen to +Bergan, on that memorable eve of Carice's wedding. Not only had he +grown grayer and thinner, slower of gait and heavier of step; not only +were his shoulders bent and his head drooping; but his face wore an +expression of settled gravity, bordering on melancholy, and his manner +was gentle, almost to submissiveness. Since the night when he had +staggered into the cabin of the trusty Bruno, bending under the weight +of his dripping burden, he had never, in one sense, laid it down. The +thought that he had forced his daughter into a marriage so abhorrent to +her that she had been fain to escape from it through the awful door of +suicide, had never ceased to haunt his mind, and burden his heart and +his conscience. + +It had not occurred to him that the fall from the bridge was +accidental, inasmuch as Rosa had deemed it her duty to keep inviolate +the secret of her young mistress's errand abroad on that night; he was +therefore unable to conjecture why Carice should have sought the +river-side at so inopportune an hour, except with a purpose of +self-destruction. Nor did it give him any comfort to reflect that her +mind must have been set all ajar, before she would have resorted to so +desperate an expedient; that only lifted the terrible responsibility +from her shoulders to lay it more crushingly on his own. It was he, +who, without giving her time to recover from the shock of Bergan's +apparent infidelity, or the fatigue and anxiety occasioned by his own +illness, had urged her into a union with a man for whom she +persistently asserted that she neither had, nor would ever be likely to +have, any warmer feeling than respect for his intellectual attainments, +and admiration for his professional skill and devotion. To be sure, he +had done it solely with a view to her happiness,--doing evil that good +might come, and finding too late that "Whatsoever a man soweth, that +shall he reap." + +First, on that woful night, he had carried Carice to Bruno's cabin, +partly because it was nearer to the scene of the disaster, and partly +because he feared to encounter some lingering guest or indiscreet +servant, if he took her to the cottage. Fortunately, Bruno and his +wife were both within; and the latter immediately applied herself to +the work of restoration according to her lights; while the former was +dispatched, with suitable injunctions to be secret and expeditious, to +bring more efficient aid in the person of Doctor Remy. + +It soon appeared that--thanks to her father's promptness--Carice had +sustained little injury from her immersion in the water; but, though +heart and lungs were quickly brought to resume their functions, her +senses remained fast locked in stupor. Knitting his brows, for a brief +space, over this unexpected complication, Doctor Remy betook himself to +a careful examination of the patient's head; and shortly announced that +he had discovered a severe contusion of the skull, implying more or +less serious injury to the brain. + +The stupor would last hours--possibly days. Meanwhile, many appliances +and comforts which the cabin could not afford, would be demanded; he +therefore advised her immediate removal to the cottage. Mr. Bergan +hastened to break the distressing news to her mother, and to make sure +that the house and grounds were clear; then Carice was carefully placed +on a litter, and borne to her own room. + +It was long before she showed any sign of consciousness, longer still +before she was free from the supervening fever and delirium, and +capable of coherent thought and expression. When that time came, it +was found that her memory of the past five months was a blank. +Bergan's unaccountable silence, her father's trying illness, Doctor +Remy's unacceptable suit, and the ill-starred marriage +ceremony--everything which had distressed her mind or wounded her +heart, had been completely wiped out of her recollection as by some +friendly, pitying hand; and she was carried back, all unconscious of +the transit, to the tender joy and blissful content with which she had +parted from Bergan. To her thought it was only a few days since he +went; yet, with a pleasant inconsequence, she was already beginning to +watch for his return. At first, she had seemed a little bewildered by +the change of season; it was amidst the flower and foliage of early +summer that Bergan had said good-bye; now, the deciduous trees stood +bare against the sky, and the flower-beds were shorn of their glory. +But her mind was too feeble to reason, and she soon accepted the fact, +as she did many another, without trying to account for it. Enough to +know that, winter being near, Bergan must be near also. + +It may be noted as a curiously ironical turn of that blind Chance, or +Fate, in which Doctor Remy believed, that he was compelled, in his +professional capacity, to give orders that Carice should be carefully +humored, for the present, in this or any other delusion. There was +something at stake of far more importance, to him, than his personal +feelings as a man or a bridegroom--namely, the ownership of Bergan +Hall. In consideration of that, Carice must be spared everything +tending to excite or distress her, and indulged in whatever was +soothing to her mind, or pleasing to her fancy. + +Meanwhile, he addressed himself, with renewed ardor and determination, +to the study of brain diseases. His attention had already been engaged +by the recently promulged theory of Gall, that each faculty of the mind +had its distinct location in the brain; and he was quick to see the +fine field thereby opened to pathological investigation. It was in +this direction that he hoped, some day, to make his name famous; and it +was chiefly as a means to this end that Bergan Hall was valuable in his +eyes. He wanted wealth in order to be able to devote himself +exclusively to the study of this branch of medical science, and to +pursue it, unhampered by considerations of expense, throughout the +books and manuscripts, the practitioners and patients, the hospitals +and asylums, the morgues and the dissecting-rooms, of the whole world. +Till he could do that, he must content himself with the one patient +whom circumstance had thrown into his hands. + +But here, he was unexpectedly disappointed, in a measure. Whether it +were that enough of her recollection revived to associate him dimly +with anxiety and distress; or whether, her reason being in abeyance, +she was more controlled by her pure and delicate instincts; certain it +is, that Carice's fever no sooner left her, than she developed the most +unconquerable aversion to him, amounting in time to a degree of terror. +At his approach, she either hid her face, and trembled like an aspen +leaf, or she fled with cries of fright. And these moments of +excitement were followed by such alarming prostration, that Doctor Remy +was reluctantly compelled to admit the necessity of keeping out of her +sight. His investigations had thenceforth to be conducted through the +agency of her parents or of Rosa. Now and then, when she slept,--and +her sleep was always singularly profound, the very twin brother of +death,--he stole into her room, to acquaint himself with some +particular of the location, depth, or progress in healing, of the +injury to her head, and to satisfy himself of the state of her general +health. + +To every one but Doctor Remy, Carice was gentleness itself. She was +happiness, too, in a touchingly quiet, dreamy, illogical form. She was +content to spend hours at the window, watching for the first glimpse of +Bergan, with a smile on her lips, and her eyes bright with eager +expectation; and though she sometimes sighed, when the day ended, and +he did not come, she was ready to begin the same hopeful watch on the +morrow, and never seemed to know how long it had lasted. As she grew +stronger, she resumed, in some measure, her old pursuits;--she busied +herself with light household tasks; she wrought dainty embroidery with +silks and worsteds; she read, chiefly poetry, the music of which seemed +to please her ear, without fatiguing her mind; she even noticed the +cloud on her father's brow, and made gentle war upon it,--conquering, +of course, as long as he was in her sight, and never suspecting how +heavily it settled back afterward. But all this time, the veil over +the past never lifted, nor was the eager watch for Bergan ever +abandoned. + +The few intimate friends, or the servants not of the household, who saw +her occasionally, noticed nothing unusual about her, except the +delicacy and languor consequent upon a severe illness; Mrs. Bergan +being always present to turn the conversation away from every dangerous +point, and guide it through safe channels. To the rest of the world, +it was simply known that Carice had suddenly been stricken down, on her +wedding night, by a fever, supposed to be of the same nature as the one +which had lately prostrated her father; and that she was not yet +sufficiently strong to show herself abroad, or see much company at +home. Doctor Remy, meanwhile, came and went, and spent as much time at +the cottage as could reasonably be expected of a physician with a large +area of practice, and an office three miles away from his nominal home. +Not a person, outside of the limited household, supposed that he never +saw Carice, except when she was fast asleep, and totally unconscious of +his presence. + +So the months rolled away, and the year drew near to its close. Doctor +Remy had prosecuted his abstruse study, by the dim light of the science +of that day, with characteristic energy and acuteness. He had slowly +felt his way, from the premise that each faculty of the mind had its +appropriate seat in the brain, to the conclusion that every local +injury or disease would affect mainly the faculty corresponding to the +injured or diseased portion, thereby not only indicating the seat of +the impaired faculty, but suggesting the possibility of a local remedy +for the local disturbance,--probably a delicate and difficult surgical +operation, to remove pus, slivers of bone, or other foreign matter +pressing upon, piercing, or otherwise irritating the sensitive cellular +tissue of the brain. Now, he only longed for an opportunity to test +his conclusions by experiment, and would certainly have attempted to +use Carice for this purpose, except that on her slender thread of life +hung his only chance of Bergan Hall. It would not do to sacrifice the +immense future advantage to the small immediate gain. + +Nature, meanwhile, was laboring in her slow, gentle way, to effect the +same end contemplated by the doctor's science. With the beginning of +November, a change was observable in Carice. Her sweet face lost its +look of happy anticipation, and grew weary and anxious. There were +tokens that she was beginning to reason again, in a fitful, fragmentary +way, and to notice some of the many discrepancies between the facts and +the theories of her life; sometimes she put her hand to her head with a +piteous expression of doubt and bewilderment. By and by, she became +possessed of a spirit of restlessness by day, and of sleeplessness by +night; making the care of her--hitherto an easy and a pleasant task--a +sufficiently onerous charge. Thus it happened that she had made her +escape to the Hall, as heretofore narrated. Her night had been +restless, beyond all previous precedent, keeping Rosa constantly on the +watch. Toward dawn, she had fallen into a light slumber, during which +the weary attendant, sitting quietly by the bedside, had suddenly been +overcome by a profound sleep. Waking ere long, and not wishing to +disturb her tired maid, Carice stole softly to the window, to look out, +as usual, for Bergan's coming, and saw the light shining again from the +window of his room in the old Hall. The broken links in the chain of +association were stirred, if not reunited,--perhaps a dim reminiscence +of her former attempt to reach him woke within her,--she wrapped +herself in the first shawl that came to hand, thrust her feet into a +pair of slippers, and noiselessly made her way out of the house and +down to the river, exactly as she had done a year before. At the gap +in the foot-bridge, through which she had fallen, she stopped and put +her hand to her brow, in a momentary perplexity. Here, her memory of +the former expedition, which had led her thus far on her way, failed +her;--what was she to do next? + +Lifting her eyes, she again caught sight of the light from the Hall, +which had recently been hidden by the trees. Her lips parted in a +smile; her hesitation was at an end. Clinging to the hand-rail of the +bridge, and sliding her feet carefully along the great beam underneath, +she safely passed the gap,--though she lost a slipper in the +transit,--and then hurried to the Hall, to meet with the accident +lately described. + +All of the foregoing history--or at least as much of it as was known to +him--Mr. Bergan recounted to his nephew, in a long conversation held in +the parlor, after Carice had been soothed by her father's promise that +she should be compelled to do nothing but what was right and agreeable +in her own eyes, and left to the care of her mother and Rosa. Now, +too, the loss of Bergan's letters to his uncle and Carice was +discovered; the false or distorted statements in those of Doctor Remy +to himself were brought to light and discussed; finally, Mr. Bergan was +glad to listen to a succinct recital of Doctor Trubie's reasons for +believing Felix Remy to be identical with Edmund Roath. + +In the course of the conversation, all reserve between the uncle and +nephew insensibly melted away, and the last topic was discussed upon +terms of the most cordial confidence and sympathy. Bergan's high +reputation in Savalla had not failed to reach his uncle's ears, and +sometimes to make him doubt if all his old prejudice was well founded; +and now, there was so much dignity and gentleness in his bearing, his +words were so full of unselfish consideration for others, he showed +himself so ready still, as heretofore, to sacrifice every merely +personal feeling to Carice's welfare, that Mr. Bergan's heart, softened +and humbled as it had been by adversity, was irresistibly won. He was +glad to feel that he had so dispassionate a judgment, so wise a +counsellor, and so kind a friend, to lean upon, in this moment of +perplexity. + +The talk was broken in upon by a message from Mrs. Bergan. Carice, +after her manifold questions in regard to the circumstances in which +she found herself had been answered or evaded, had sunk into a deep, +but apparently natural sleep. Still, her mother could not but be +extremely anxious about her; and she suggested that Doctor Remy, or +some one else, should be immediately sent for, to provide against the +contingency of her waking. + +Mr. Bergan looked anxiously at his nephew. "After what you have told +me," said he, "I do not feel that I can allow that man to enter +Carice's room again, even when she is sleeping. Yet, be he what or +whom he may, his professional skill is undeniable, and her life or +reason may turn on those waking moments. What is to be done?" + +"Do you know where he is to be found?" asked Bergan. + +"No. He merely told me that he had a critical case on hand, which +would keep him out all night, and perhaps we should not see him before +noon to-day. I suppose he can be heard of at his office." + +Bergan reflected for a moment. "By this time," said he, "Doctor +Gerrish must be on his way to the Hall. From what I have known and +heard of him, I believe him to be both a promising physician and an +honorable man. Send Bruno to intercept him, on the plea that the dead +can wait for his services better than the living. Then tell him, in +strict confidence, enough of Carice's condition to make him understand +the case; but you need say nothing of Doctor Remy, except that he is +not at hand, and you feared to wait. Finally, ask, as a special favor, +that he will not mention his visit to Doctor Remy, lest the latter be +annoyed. He will think you weak and overscrupulous, but he will +promise." + +This advice was acted upon. Doctor Gerrish, after listening to Mr. +Bergan's statement and examining Carice as she lay asleep, decided that +the recent wound, which was in the neighborhood of the former one, had, +in some mysterious way, relieved the inflammation, or counteracted the +injury, caused by that--in short, had done precisely what Doctor Remy +proposed to do by means of an operation. He furthermore believed that +Nature was making her final effort at restoration through the deep +sleep which held Carice in bonds so gentle and so firm; and he gave +strict orders that nothing should be suffered to break it. It would +doubtless last some hours, perhaps the whole day; or if she woke, it +would be merely to swallow a little nourishment, which should be given +her, and then to fall asleep again. + +Bergan had waited to hear this decision, and he now requested Doctor +Gerrish to ride on to the Hall, where he would join him almost +immediately, by the shorter way of the foot-bridge. His uncle detained +him longer than he expected, however, for a final consultation about +several important matters; and he was conscious that Doctor Gerrish +must have been kept waiting for a considerable time, when he finally +quitted the house. Hurrying to the foot-bridge, he saw two +rough-looking men crossing it from the direction of the Hall. At sight +of him, they interchanged a few words, and then came to meet him. + +"Mr. Arling, I believe," said one, touching his hat. "We have been +asking at the Hall for you, and a doctor that we saw there told us that +you were coming this way, and asked us to say, if we met you, that he +begged you would hurry." + +"Thank you," said Bergan. "That is what I am doing." + +"Not so fast," interrupted the other, who was a tall, muscular fellow +with a sinister countenance. "You are that Lawyer Arling, I reckon, +who got my brother sentenced to state prison last month for burglary." + +"I did my duty as prosecuting attorney for the State, if that is what +you mean," replied Bergan, coolly. + +"You did, did you? Well, I'm going to do mine, which is to knock you +down for it." + +With these words, the man raised his powerful fist. Bergan +instinctively threw himself into the attitude of defence; but the +ruffian's companion, who had edged behind him, caught hold of both his +arms; and the unparried blow felled him senseless to the ground. + + + + +II. + +SWIFT FEET. + +However cold a man's temperament may be by nature, however complete the +subjection of his passions to his reason and his will, he is nearly +certain, in the sudden excitement and confusion of detected guilt, to +be betrayed into some act instantly condemned by his better judgment. +Such had been the case with Doctor Remy, in his encounter with Hubert +Arling at the "Rat-Hole." Mistaking Hubert for Bergan, and believing +him to be there only to spy out his actions and thwart his designs, it +had been his first impulse to draw the pistol, which he habitually +carried, according to the custom of the times and locality, and free +himself at once and forever from interference that he conceived to be +so dangerous. His chagrin at finding that he had mistaken one brother +for the other, was only equalled by his surprise at his calm dismissal +and friendly warning, at Bergan's hands. It did not take him long to +fix upon the hidden motive of this conduct,--to decide, with a bitter +smile, that he had been spared for the sake of Carice. + +Yet he had no idea of the extent of Bergan's forbearance toward him on +this head. It must be remembered that he never received the slightest +intimation of Doctor Trubie's suspicions, or of Bergan's visit to +Oakstead, on the night of the wedding. Godfrey Bergan had omitted any +mention of either; first, because he had been prevented from doing so +by the overwhelming distress and anxiety that had come upon him so +suddenly; and afterward, because it had seemed wiser, on the whole, to +say nothing. Doctor Remy, therefore, had no suspicion of the mine over +which he had been standing, on that night, nor how its explosion had +been averted. From his point of view, Bergan's sudden removal to +Savalla, in consideration of the prospect there opened to him, was the +most natural thing in the world. Nor did he know any reason why +himself and his former friend should not meet on the old terms, upon +occasion, except that the gain of the one had been the loss of the +other, in respect to Carice. Even here, however, he held himself to be +ostensibly blameless, inasmuch as womankind was proverbially fickle, +and Bergan had no reason to suppose that he was aware of any relation +between him and Carice other than the outward one. He deeply +regretted, therefore, that in a moment of surprise and confusion, he +should have put himself in a false position. It would have been far +better to have met Bergan with the careless ease of a conscience void +of offence. But, since he had not done so, it was well that Carice was +his sufficient safeguard against retaliation. + +Yet one word had fallen from Bergan's lips, which had startled him at +the moment, and haunted him on his way homeward. The young man had +seriously bidden him be thankful that he was saved from "_another_ +crime." Was the phrase accidental, or did it imply some knowledge of +the affair of the will? In the latter case, was it likely that Bergan +would submit to the loss of what he had been encouraged, at one time, +to consider his lawful inheritance, without a most rigid scrutiny and +investigation of the document by which, while the property was +apparently given to Carice, it was done in such a way as to place it +absolutely in her husband's control. Would Bergan's forbearance toward +her and hers be likely to extend as far as this? Judging by himself, +and his experience of men in general, and especially of heirs, he did +not hesitate to affirm that it would not. For, though Bergan had +seemed to be possessed of some unusually Quixotic notions of honor, +independence, and disinterestedness, during the period of their +intimate association, he had doubtless seen enough of life since then, +to grow more sensible. What, then, had he not to dread from his +natural acuteness and legal skill, when both of these, sharpened by +interest, should be brought to bear on the false will? + +Absorbed in these reflections, he had allowed his horse to choose his +own pace, which had gradually slackened, from a gallop to a trot, and +then into a walk, until, at last, he was easily overtaken by Dick +Causton, in whose eyes there still shone a humorous twinkle. + +"Those Arlings seem to be pretty much of a piece," said he; "they both +give better than they take, when it comes to blows. However, the +Italians say, _Tutto s'accommoda, eccetto l'osso del collo_,--that +means, Everything can be mended except the neck-bone. Yours has come +safe out of this fray, but there's no telling how long 'twill stay so, +if you're so ready with your pistol." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed Doctor Remy, angrily. "I am in no mood for jesting. +Do you suppose that Arling got any clue to our business in that den?" + +"How should he?--'A man doesn't look behind the door unless he has been +there himself.' Besides, Mr. Arling minds his own business,--which I +wish I did!--then I shouldn't have run from him like a dog caught +stealing. By the way, Doctor, if the Major makes another will, which +cuts the throat of this one of ours, I suppose the forgery goes for +nothing?" + +Doctor Remy looked at him darkly. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Is +he thinking of making another?" + +"Not that I know of," replied Dick. "But, 'At the game's end, see who +wins.' There is time for him to make a dozen before he dies." + +"We will see about that!" muttered the doctor. + +"And if he does," persisted Dick, "our will goes for naught, of +course,--won't even be looked at, I suppose. They'll 'trust to the +label of the bag,' seeing there's no necessity for opening it!" + +Doctor Remy stopped short, and eyed his companion suspiciously, "See +here, Dick," said he, in a low, determined tone, "you had better not +venture to try any double dealing with me. I will have you to know +that I can put you in prison, any day; and I will do it, too, even +though I have to go along with you, if you falter one step in the +course I have marked out for you. Having begun with me in this +business, you will find it for your interest, in more senses than one, +to help me through with it." + +"That is to say," muttered Dick, ruefully, "_Die met den duivel +ingescheept is, moet met hem overvaren_,--Having embarked with the +Devil, you have got to sail with him." + +The sound of that word "prison" was by no means agreeable in his ears. +He had all a vagabond's love for open air and sunshine, and liberty to +go and come at his own fitful will. He sickened at the bare idea of +prison walls between him and the sky, prison bars between him and the +fresh, roving air, prison restraints upon his freedom of action. + +Doctor Remy saw the impression that he had made, and +proceeded:--"Wherefore, if you hear, or have heard, the Major express +any intention of making a new will, I need not suggest the propriety of +your giving me immediate warning." The form of the sentence was that +of an assertion, but the tone was interrogative. + +"_Dictum sapienti sat est_," answered Dick, sulkily, denying himself +the pleasure of translating, and immediately closing his lips tight, as +if he dared not trust himself to say another word. + +In this mood, Doctor Remy thought it better not to press him further. +He had been made to see that he was in his power, and had even yielded +a reluctant assent to his will; this was gain enough for the present. +So, having reached the point where the roads diverged, he bade Dick a +smiling "Good-day," turned off toward the Hall; which, it occurred to +him, it might be worth while to visit, for the chance of securing +useful shreds of information, or of substituting the false will for the +true one. + +Dick Causton looked after him with a moody, discontented brow. "I am +like a leek, a gray head, and all the rest green," he groaned to +himself. "I thought I had made a mighty sharp bargain, but it turns +out that I've only sold myself to the Devil, to fetch and carry at his +bidding. I really gave myself credit for more sense; but, _Do entra +beber, sale saber_, When the drink's in, the wit's out." + +With the last words, Dick heaved a deep sigh. It was nothing new to +find that his darling sin was an inclined plane, down which he +continually slid into the grasp of divers other sins, less to his +taste; but never before had it done him so unkind a trick as to fling +him into the hands of a man quick to see, and unscrupulous to use, the +chance of turning him to account. Yet so completely had all courage +and energy of will died out of him, and so thoroughly was he scared at +the idea of a prison as a possible termination of his career, that he +dared propose to himself only a feeble and covert resistance to Doctor +Remy's stern domination. There was present safety in outward +submission; and as for the future!--he smiled in spite of his +discomfiture. + +At the Hall, Doctor Remy was a little startled to find Major Bergan in +the clutch of so severe an attack of delirium tremens that death was +likely to be the speedy result. It did not suit his plans that the +Major's decease should follow so quickly upon the completion of the +forged will; he wanted a little more time to mark out and make smooth +his future course, and obliterate his more recent track. He therefore +set to work, with right good will, and science considerably in advance +of the times, to strengthen and quiet his patient, and so prolong his +life; certain that, whenever the strong hand of medical authority was +withdrawn, he would immediately drink himself into a relapse, which +could be allowed to prove fatal. His efforts were not without a +measure of success; in three hours, he had so far reduced the fever and +excitement that he ventured to leave Rue in charge, while he paid a +brief visit to another patient, who had sent for him four or five times +during the evening. This desertion of his post was fatal to him. In +spite of Rue's best endeavors, Major Bergan succeeded in getting +possession of the brandy bottle, and draining it to the last drop. +When Doctor Remy returned, it was to find him once more a raving +maniac, and to learn to his consternation, that Bergan had been sent +for. The Major would die, there was no help for that; but something +must be done to prevent the arrival of his nephew until after the true +will--and all other wills--had been found and destroyed, and the false +one put in its place;--even, if possible, until after the funeral was +over, the will read, and the property put into his own hands. Once in +possession, he had reason to believe that he could not, or would not, +be disturbed. + +His stay at the Major's bedside was short, and principally spent in +profound meditation; which was set down by the lookers-on to the +account of his deep solicitude for the patient. His course was soon +decided upon. In less than two hours he was back at the Rat-Hole, in +deep conversation with the convalescent, who was known as "Big Ben." +Its purport may be gathered from the closing remarks. + +"You hit pretty hard, I suppose," said the doctor. + +"Looks like it, don't it?" returned Big Ben, holding up his great fist +for inspection, with a satisfied smile. "Make yourself easy; yonder +lawyer won't trouble you with any cross-questions for a month to come, +I'll promise you that. He won't know his head from a bread-and-milk +poultice to-morrow morning, if he ever does." + +"Take care!" replied the doctor, warningly; "you know I don't want him +killed,--only laid up for two or three weeks, and indisposed to meddle +with other people's affairs." + +Big Ben smiled grimly. "I'll take care not to do more than stun him, +on your account, doctor," he answered; "but I don't say what I shall +do, on my brother's. A fellow don't always weight his blows exactly to +suit the skull they hit; and if I should happen to put an end to him, +without meaning it, you wouldn't take it much to heart, would ye?" + +Doctor Remy did not move a muscle of his face, but his eyes sparkled, +in spite of himself. Ben laughed, and nodded his head. + +"Don't trouble yerself to answer," said he; "I understand you well +enough without." + +"But, Ben--" began the doctor, in a tone of remonstrance. + +"Enough said," interrupted the ruffian, impatiently. "If it's me +you're afeard for, I'll jest let you know that I've got everything +fixed to leave these parts, to-morrow morning--I've heard of a better +opening for my talents--so I shall be off before this affair leaks out. +As for you, who knows that you've got anything to do with it? It's +jest our own private squarin' of accounts; that's all. You saved my +life; I squelch this lawyer for you. At the same time I settle up with +him, for my brother. If I swing for't, I'm not such a scoundrel as to +bring you in. Now, I'm off; there's scant time to fix things, and get +to the Hall by day-break. It's too late, you think, to stop him on the +way?" + +"Most certainly; he must have started before this." + +"And his room is on the south-east corner, you say?" + +"Yes, with windows opening on the second piazza." + + +However,--thanks to Carice,--the room was empty when Big Ben and his +companion looked into it. Determined not to be baffled thus, he +prowled around the house, until he was detected by Rue's quick ears in +the hall, and asked what was his business; when he truthfully replied +that he was seeking for Mr. Arling. Hearing this, Doctor Gerrish came +forward, stated where Bergan could probably be found, and entrusted Ben +with the message, which, as we have seen, was scrupulously delivered. +Bergan was then knocked down; and the inanimate body was dragged by the +two ruffians to what seemed to be a remote point of the Oakstead +grounds, where it would not be likely to be discovered for some hours, +perhaps days. There, Ben debated within himself, for a minute, whether +he would leave it its small remaining chance of life; but he remembered +that Bergan had seen both himself and his comrade face to face, and +would be able to identify them, on occasion. He drew his knife, +muttered, "Dead men tell no tales," and sheathed it in the young man's +breast. + +As he stood upright, his ear caught the faint jar of a closing door, +followed by the sound of slow footsteps, and a cracked voice humming a +song. Apparently, the spot which he had chosen, lonely as it seemed, +was not far from some human dwelling. He and his companion exchanged +startled glances, plunged into the underbrush, and fled silently and +swiftly. + + + + +III. + +FATALITY OR TEMPTATION? + +Doctor Remy, meanwhile, had made all possible speed from the Rat-Hole +to the bedside of a third patient; in order that his time, on that +night, might seem to be sufficiently accounted for by his professional +visits. His horse was swift, and he had not spared it in his recent +expedition; it would seem impossible that he should have been at points +so wide apart, within so short a time. By this means he expected to +secure himself from Justice, in her human shape; of her divine form, he +had no thought nor fear. Yet, all the way, a voice from the Past, +which sounded curiously like his own, kept echoing in his ears, with a +dull, dead intonation,--"Crime is a mistake." + +Well, suppose that it was, he had committed no crime. He had merely +placed a particular powder, among many others, where a drunken old man, +whose life was of no moment to anybody, could take it or not, at +pleasure; he had altered a will in such manner as to give him absolute, +instead of partial, control of a certain property, which he intended to +use for the advance of science and the benefit of the race; and he had +provided for the temporary elimination from affairs of a person likely +to obstruct their proper sequence. That was all. What was there in it +to cause such a chill depression of spirits,--such an unreasoning dread +of--he knew not what? + +Nothing, we may be sure, that was patent to the doctor's science. +Regarding right merely as another term for custom, policy, expediency, +and conscience as a softer name for cowardice, he was not likely to +discern clearly, nor explain correctly, phenomena by which even a lost +soul now and then asserts itself as of another nature than its +tabernacle of dust, subject to other laws, responsive to other +influences, thrilled with other pangs, fears, and longings. +Nevertheless, he sought for an answer to his question, and found a +plausible one in the fact that he was physically weary, and therefore +mentally ill at ease. The night, too, was cool for the season, no +wonder that some of its chill had gotten into his mind as well as his +bones! He buttoned his overcoat more closely around him, and spurred +on his flagging horse. + +Yet he did not shut out the shiver, nor distance the uneasiness. Some +importunate Cassandra of the depths still insisted upon its clearness +of vision, in respect to impending calamity. Troubled in spite of +himself, he passed his recent operations in careful review, to see if +he had left any loophole open to invite detection or impediment. None. +On the contrary, all seemed safe and propitious. The Major was dying, +or dead, in consequence of his own self-will and folly. Bergan Arling +would shortly be disabled, or killed,--but by another man's hand, and +ostensibly--really, even, in part--to gratify another man's thirst for +revenge. The Major's will had been found and destroyed; and +another--its exact counterpart, except for the omission of a few absurd +conditions and restrictions--had been put in its place. A few days +more, and the vast and valuable Bergan estate would be his own, and +available to his ends. If his road to its possession had not been what +men accounted straight and clean, whose fault was it? Had he not, in +virtue of his marked talents and abilities, a better right to wealth +and fame than most men?--and was he to blame for the fatality which +always placed some other life or heart between them and him? Had he +not done his best to escape from it? Had he not tried more legitimate +means to gain them, and failed? + +If the doctor had been less intent upon special pleading, he might have +reminded himself that the records of crime show that a man seldom stops +with the commission of a single theft, forgery, murder, or other +offence. The first one being the necessary sequence of an evil habit +of living or thinking, a second and a third follow as unavoidably as a +strict logical inference from admitted premises. Might not the +fatality of which he complained be but the inevitable result of +indulging a certain kind of thought until it became a settled habit of +mind, sure to manifest itself, on occasion, in appropriate action? Had +not this fatality first presented itself to him as a temptation, +suggesting a swift means to a desired end?--nay, was it not such still, +only treading more confidently a familiar track, and finding a readier +reception? + +He had no time to answer these queries, if it had occurred to him to +ask them;--he was already at his destination. With a mighty effort of +his will, he tore himself free of his anxieties and doubts, and bent +his mind steadily upon the surgical operation which he had come to +perform; and he performed it well, with a clear eye and a steady hand. +He then went on to his office, where he found Bergan's summons to the +death-bed waiting for him; in apparent obedience to which, he soon +after presented himself at the Hall. + +In the avenue, he met Doctor Gerrish, who, having lost all patience at +Bergan's unaccountable tardiness, had finally started for home. He +instantly turned back with Doctor Remy, and waited silently, with an +air of deep gravity, while the latter made a brief examination of the +corpse. At first sight of it, he gave a little start; and when he had +finished his inspection, he stood silent and thoughtful. He had +sneeringly committed a certain powder, he remembered, to the disposal +of "Providence;" it struck him as a little odd that it should have been +kept so long, and finally used only to put a merciful end to intense +bodily and mental torture. Was there really a Power overruling the +acts of men, whether good or evil, to His own purposes? + +"Well!" said Doctor Gerrish, growing tired of the prolonged silence, +"what do you think of it?" + +Doctor Remy raised his eyes, and met the meaning glance of his +colleague. "You suspect--" he began slowly, and then paused, as if not +quite willing to put his thought into words. + +"Poison," returned Doctor Gerrish, promptly. "Not a doubt of it. The +question is, where did he get it--who gave it to him? Is it accident, +or suicide, or murder? What are we to do about it?" + +Doctor Remy looked down thoughtfully. He was at a loss how to treat +this new complication. He had not expected it; he knew not how best to +weave it into the intricate web of his plans; he wanted time to +consider whether it could be turned to advantage. + +"Your last question is the only one that I can answer," he said, at +length,--"let us wait. There are many things to be considered. In the +first place the poison only hastened the death that was certain to come +soon, anyway." + +"Are you sure of that?" + +"Perfectly so. When I left the Major last night, I knew that he must +be a dead man by morning. He had taken no poison then,--except the +slow one that he has been taking for years." + +"Nevertheless," persisted Doctor Gerrish, "it was not _that_ poison +which killed him." + +"I suppose there was no one present, when he died, except the +servants," remarked Doctor Remy. + +"And Mr. Arling," answered Doctor Gerrish. + +Doctor Remy lifted his eyebrows. "That looks bad," said he, gravely. +"He is the heir, I suppose?" + +"If you mean that it looks bad for Mr. Arling," returned Doctor +Gerrish, "I do not agree with you. It was he who sent for me; and he +promised to meet me here soon." + +"Why is he not here, then?" asked Doctor Remy, pointedly. + +"I cannot tell. He must have been unexpectedly detained." + +Doctor Remy closed his lips like a man who forbears to argue, but is +not convinced. + +Doctor Gerrish went to the door and called Rue, who had been desired to +wait outside during the examination. + +"Did you notice anything unusual about your master's death?" he +inquired. + +"I thought he died very sudden like," answered Rue; "and so I think did +Mr. Arling, for he immediately said that Doctor Remy, or some one else, +must be sent for, and gave very particular directions that the body +should not be disturbed before he arrived." + +Doctor Gerrish shot a triumphant glance at Doctor Remy, who only +smiled, shook his head, and interrogated Rue, in his turn. + +"What did your master take last?" + +"A powder. He insisted upon having it." + +"Where is the glass from which he took it?" + +"Here, sir; but it has been washed." + +So it had, and so carefully that there was nothing to show what its +contents had been. It also appeared that the paper in which the powder +had been folded, had been used to light a candle, and was burned to +ashes. + +Doctor Gerrish took up the examination:--"Are there any more powders +like it?" + +"One, sir;--here it is. I think master said he had them from Doctor +Remy." + +Doctor Remy bent his head in assent, thankful that no vestige of the +fatal powder was left, to make the admission dangerous. The remaining +one, being examined, was proved to be innocuous. Doctor Gerrish looked +puzzled. + +"You see," said Doctor Remy, "that it comes back to what I said +first,--we must wait. That is, until we can consult with the dead +man's brother and nephew. At what hour this afternoon will it be +convenient for you to meet them, and me, here?" + +"At any hour you please." + +"Say three o'clock, then. I will answer for Mr. Bergan's appearance. +Of course, Mr. Arling will be back--if ever--long before that time." + +From the Hall, Doctor Remy hastened to Oakstead. There was an unusual +quietude about the place, and he was met at the door by Mrs. Bergan, +with her finger on her lips, and the low-spoken information that, after +an excessively restless night, causing them all a good deal of trouble +and uneasiness, Carice had fallen into a deep sleep, and must not be +disturbed. Would he be good enough to step noiselessly into the +parlor, and speak low? + +She did her best not to seem less cordial than usual; nevertheless, it +did not escape the doctor's lynx-eyed observation that her tone and +manner were forced. He pondered briefly within himself what this might +mean; but finally set it down to motherly anxiety for Carice, and a +consequent desire to get rid of him as quickly and quietly as possible. +He was willing to gratify the wish; he had too much upon his mind and +hands, just now, to bestow much thought or time upon Carice. He could +safely leave her case to run its own course until after she had been +declared the owner of Bergan Hall; then it would be for his interest to +hasten her return to reason, since it was to her reason only--her +strict notions of right, and her devotion to duty--that he must look +for an acknowledgment of his claims as a husband, his right to control +herself and her property. He did not flatter himself that he had any +strong hold upon her affections. + +"Certainly, she must not be disturbed," he replied to Mrs. Bergan, +after a brief pause. "Sleep, in her condition, poor child! is the best +of restoratives; it also shows a decided change for the better. My +present business is with her father; is he in?" + +"No; he went out a short time since. He may be in the grounds, or he +may have gone to the Hall." + +"Then he has heard of his brother's death?" + +"Yes, the news came early this morning." + +"It is not necessary for me to stop, then. Please say to him that I +have engaged that he shall meet Doctor Gerrish, Mr. Arling, and myself, +at the Hall this afternoon, at three o'clock, for an important +consultation; I beg that he will not fail us. Good morning. Let me +know if any change takes place in Carice; for I am likely to be so very +busy for a day or two, that I may not present myself unless sent for. +I was not in bed at all last night, and probably shall not be to-night. +A physician's life is a slavish one." + +"Yet you like it," replied Mrs. Bergan, feeling that she must say +something. + +"Not the general practice; I like the science. Good morning, again." + + + + +IV. + +BLIND. + +Mr. Bergan, meanwhile, had gone over to the Hall, partly to give a +regretful look at his brother's dead face, and partly to have some +further talk with Bergan. Thick-growing memories beset him, at every +step of the way; and, the goal being reached, he had ample opportunity +to reflect upon the sin and folly of family feuds, the miserably thin +barriers which suffice to keep apart those who ought to be one in +affection and interest, as in blood. He had not been very much to +blame for their erection between him and his brother, but he regretted +none the less that he had not wrought more perseveringly and lovingly +to break them down. There had always been a generous side to Harry's +character, which might have been successfully appealed to, at least in +the earlier stages of the quarrel; his own influence might have been +exerted for good; the dreary, empty Hall might still have been a +pleasant home; this lonely death-couch might have been sweetened by the +tender touch and tears of kindred hands and hearts, and sanctified by +the gentle benedictions of religion. It all might have been--it could +never be now! Death had closed every door to reconciliation and +amendment, and written over each the mournful legend, "Too Late!" + +He turned from the corpse to ask for Bergan, and was surprised to learn +that nothing was known of him at the Hall since he had retired to his +room just before day-break, further than that Doctor Gerrish had +mentioned meeting him at Oakstead. However, being informed that two +men had inquired for him, and been sent to meet him, he took it for +granted that some unexpected emergency had compelled him to hasten back +to Savalla, at a moment's notice; he would be sure to return by +afternoon, or send some explanation of his absence. + +Meantime, Mr. Bergan was forced to fill the gap created by his +departure; indeed, until his brother's will should be made known, he +was both his natural and legal representative, he appointed the time, +and decided the manner, of the funeral; he sent for a lawyer, and had +seals affixed to all drawers and boxes likely to contain papers of +value; he gave orders for the lower rooms to be cleaned and fitted, as +far as might be, for the lying in state, and the reception of +guests;--in short, he was kept busy until long past noon, when he was +fain to go home for rest and refreshment, as well as to satisfy himself +of the state of Carice. She was still sleeping peacefully, and there +was no cause for alarm. + +Returning to the Hall, at a few minutes past three, he found the two +physicians waiting in the library, but no sign or tidings of Bergan. + +"Where can my nephew be?" he exclaimed in perplexity and even +displeasure. + +"It is certainly very strange," replied Doctor Gerrish, gravely. + +Doctor Remy said nothing; but he shrugged his shoulders in a manner +sufficiently expressive of disapprobation. + +Yet he would have been glad to be able to answer the question,--at +least to himself. He was completely in the dark as to how Big Ben and +his confederate had prospered in their evil undertaking. He knew that +Bergan had not been found in his room, as was expected; but why he had +gone forth so early, and whether he had encountered the ruffians, was +altogether a mystery. All day, he had been holding himself ready for +whatever might come,--Bergan's sudden appearance in the flesh, or the +bringing in of his dead body, or a summons to go and afford him medical +aid;--he did not mean to be taken off his guard, in any case. But the +suspense was trying. It had not been contemplated in his original +plan; it kept his mind and nerves continually on the stretch; it gave +him an uncomfortable feeling that other hands than his own were busy +with the dark threads of his schemes, weaving them into patterns that +he had not designed. He longed to know precisely what he had to hope +or to dread. + +Still, every moment of Bergan's absence was reasonable ground for +belief that Big Ben had not only carried out his purpose of revenge to +the full, but had succeeded wonderfully well in obliterating all trace +of his work. So much the better. Bergan once removed from his path, +it would become tolerably smooth and direct. + +"I suppose that we shall have to proceed to business without my nephew, +since he is not come," said Mr. Bergan, after a prolonged pause. "May +I ask what is the object of this meeting?" + +The answer to this question, although very gently given by Doctor +Gerrish, was, of course, a severe shock; all the more, because Doctor +Remy took care to throw in a covert insinuation that Bergan's absence +betrayed some guilty connection with the disastrous event; bethinking +himself that, in case the young man should escape Big Ben, he could be +gotten rid of all the same, for the present, by being arrested for +murder. + +Doctor Gerrish, however, repelled the insinuation, as he had done +before. "To my mind," said he, "everything points to the opposite +conclusion. If Mr. Arling had anything to gain by poisoning his uncle, +he must have gained it by staying here, and not by flight. Besides, he +is too intelligent a man not to know that such flight would, in itself, +arouse suspicion, and imply guilt. Having given the matter a good deal +of thought, since morning, I have decided that the poisoning must have +been accidental. However, we will, with your permission, call in that +old 'Maumer' and examine her a little more minutely than we did before. +I have thought of several questions that it would be well to ask." + +Rue was accordingly summoned from her faithful watch over her dead +master. She declared positively that she had been with him from an +early stage of his attack, until his death; and that he had taken only +the medicines and food ordered by Doctor Remy, except the untimely +drink of brandy, and the afore-mentioned powder. He had swallowed +nothing whatever after the arrival of Mr. Arling,--not even the brandy +for which he had called with almost his last breath. + +"That certainly clears Mr. Arling," remarked Doctor Gerrish, in a low +voice. + +"H'm--perhaps so," rejoined Doctor Remy, meditatively. "Still, it is +evidence not worth a rush, you know, in a court of law." + +"It is evidence perfectly satisfactory to me, nevertheless," interposed +Mr. Bergan, firmly, "and may be so to you. I, as having known Maumer +Rue from my infancy, can vouch for her trustworthiness. Her testimony +is as good as mine, or yours." + +"Well, you ought to know best," returned Doctor Remy, carelessly. +"Still, the woman is old and blind, and cannot be expected to know all +that goes on in her presence. Major Bergan might have swallowed +half-a-dozen things without her knowledge." + +Rue had fallen into the back-ground, during this discussion; but she +now stepped forward and faced Doctor Remy, drawing herself up, and +smiling scornfully. + +"Blind, am I?" she asked; "I am not so blind as those who have eyes, +Doctor Remy. No one _saw_ you open my master's private drawer last +evening, during his worst paroxysm, but I heard you open and shut it, +distinctly, and the rustling of papers, too." + +If Doctor Remy was both surprised and startled, he concealed it well, +thanks to the guard that he was keeping over himself. He merely looked +at his companions, and said, disdainfully; "Of course, such a charge, +from such a source, is too ridiculous to be contradicted. The poor old +woman has mistaken one sound for another; that is all." + +"It is people who live by sight that mistake sounds, Doctor Remy," +returned Rue, composedly; "a woman, who has lived by hearing for over +sixty years, does not. Let me give you a proof of it. These gentlemen +listen to your voice, as I do, and they do not hear anything unusual in +it,--nothing more than the seriousness, or the coldness, or the scorn, +that fits the words; but I hear in it anxiety and perplexity and +suspense and fear. Since Mr. Arling has been missing, I have suspected +that you could tell us what had become of him, if you would. But while +you have been talking about him here, my ears have been watching your +voice, your steps, your very breath; and I know now that you do not +know where he is any more than we do. You are puzzled because he does +not come; you are continually expecting--I will not say, dreading--to +see him, or hear of him. Is it not so?" + +"And if it is," answered Doctor Remy, coolly, "what is there strange +about it? Why should I not be puzzled at his unaccountable +disappearance, and anxious for his speedy return?" + +"Anxious?" she repeated, with a low laugh; "yes, you are anxious; but +it will avail you nothing. Go your way, rummage drawers and cupboards, +you will not find what you seek; plot and sin, you will not get what +you covet. Blinder of understanding than I am of eyes, you dig, and +know not that it is a pit for your own feet; you plant and water, and +never remember that the expectations of the wicked shall be cut off. +Master Bergan will come back, and have his own, in spite of you!" + +"I am very glad to hear it," responded Doctor Remy, with mock +earnestness. Then he turned to his companions. "Her master's death +has set her wits to wool-gathering," said he. "Have we any more time +to listen to her maunderings?" + +Rue opened her lips for a rejoinder, but Mr. Bergan, thinking that the +scene had lasted long enough, though he had not been unimpressed by it, +laid his hand on her arm. Instantly acknowledging his authority, as +one of the family, she bent her head, and retired without a word. + +Doctor Gerrish took out his watch. "I shall soon have to leave," said +he. "Mr. Bergan, what is to be done about this business? I suppose it +is our duty to report it to the authorities." + +"If you are willing to be guided by my wishes," Mr. Bergan replied, +after some consideration, "you will say nothing at present. I have no +disposition to conceal a murder, if one has been committed; but, as you +have well remarked, all the circumstances indicate that the poison was +taken or administered accidentally. Nevertheless, there is room for +evil minded persons to set afloat injurious reports concerning my +nephew, while he is absent, and unable to defend himself; or these +faithful servants of my brother, who, I am convinced, would not have +poisoned him any sooner than I would, may be subjected to a deal of +cruelty, from the fact that he was alone with them, much of the time, +and their evidence, as Doctor Remy has reminded us, is worth nothing in +law. Let the funeral go on, without hindrance; the body will be laid +in the family vault, where it can be examined, and the presence of +poison proved, at any time, if it becomes necessary. And it just +occurs to me, as a possible explanation of my nephew's absence, that he +may have gotten hold of some clue to this affair, and be following it +up before it has time to cool. Let us wait until he appears, before we +make any stir that may only thwart his efforts." + +"Very well," said Doctor Gerrish. "My own preference is always for an +open, straightforward course; but if you think this one more expedient, +under the circumstances, and will take the responsibility of it, I will +not interfere. Good day." + + + + +V. + +MORE MYSTERY. + +The funeral was over. Major Bergan, with due pomp and circumstance of +woe, had been laid in the tomb of his forefathers, and left to mingle +his ashes with theirs. Of all his possessions, he retained for his own +behoof simply a shroud and a coffin. No good work of Church or State +would miss his helping hand. He left no real, aching vacancy in any +human heart. His imposing funeral train scattered to houses, places of +business, and street corners, some to forget the event at once, in the +absorbing interest of their own affairs; some to talk it over, and +then--forget it all the same. Two or three remote cousins, sniffing +the air for legacies, went back to the Hall, to wait for the reading of +the will, and, meanwhile, to finish the funeral baked meats. Mr. +Bergan had bidden them make themselves at home, and excused himself +from accompanying them: being greatly fatigued with the manifold duties +and emotions of the day, he was fain to spend the intervening time +quietly at Oakstead. + +He found Carice on the piazza; she had been wheeled out in an easy +chair, to enjoy the beneficent air and sunshine. She was pale and +feeble, but the light of restored reason shone in her eyes, and gave +animation and intelligence to their expression. Also--light being the +mother of shadow--it imparted to them a deep seriousness. She had +taken up the problem of life precisely where it had dropped with her +into the river, on the night of her wedding,--unconscious, as yet, of +the length of the blank between,--and addressed herself to its solution +with a clearer brain and a firmer courage. She reflected that, in the +eyes of the world and the estimation of the law, she was Doctor Remy's +wife. She had publicly entered into that relation, without denial or +protest; solemnly taking him as her husband, for better for worse, till +death them should part. Did the fact that he had been accused of a +terrible crime, absolve her from this vow? Did it not rather make it +more imperatively her duty to stand by him; to help him with her +countenance and sympathy, if he were innocent; to influence him to +repentance and confession, if he were guilty? Was she to think only of +her happiness, not at all of his good? Had he not a soul that might +still be saved, as God had saved the world, by love? + +Hard questions these,--demanding for their consideration a clear head, +and a heart at once tender and strong. Carice, being now fully +herself, had both; yet she might well delay coming to a decision so +momentous. She was glad when her father's arrival broke the thread of +her meditations; albeit, it was only to give her a fresh subject of +anxiety. He looked so strangely old and worn,--it struck her with new +wonder, new alarm, at every sight of him! How was it possible for him +to change so much in the two or three days that she believed her +unconsciousness to have lasted, even though weighed down by the anxiety +consequent upon his interview with Bergan?--an interview which could +not have been without definite result, since she saw nothing of Doctor +Remy. Indeed, his name had been mentioned to her but once, and then in +terms of manifest constraint, though of apparent excuse for his +absence. No doubt her father had taken the thought of his possible +guilt very sorely to heart; no doubt, too, he blamed himself severely +for his advocacy of the marriage. She must not let him do that! She +knew so well that he had meant it for the best,--that he had erred in +judgment only, never in intention,--that pure, strong, unselfish love +for her had been the deep motive of his every act. Her heart was very +tender, very pitiful, toward him as he came up the gravel-walk, with +that slow, stooping gait, and those sudden gray hairs, which made her +feel, every time that she saw him, as if she must have been dreaming +for years, or was dreaming now. + +He brightened visibly at sight of her. He was thankful, with all his +heart, for her restoration, even though it but served to increase his +perplexities. For how was she to be given to understand, without a +harmful shook, that a year of her life had passed her by, and made no +sign? With what face could he break it to her that the man whom he had +urged upon her as a husband, was likely to prove a murderer? What +answer was he to make when she inquired after Bergan, as he was +constantly expecting her to do? + +Needless anxieties, all, as he would duly discover. Carice was already +feeling her way to the truth, as regarded the lapse of time, by means +of the incomprehensible changes that she saw about her; it would not so +much shock her as satisfy her with a reasonable explanation of them. +The accusation against Doctor Remy would be no surprise to her; on the +contrary, its dark shadow continually fell athwart her mind, and +prompted or modified all her thoughts. Moreover, as long as her duty +to Doctor Remy was in question, she conscientiously checked every +thought, every wish, every emotion of curiosity even, that wandered +toward Bergan. Knowing nothing of all this, however, and fearing lest +she should seize upon this opportunity to ask for the full explanation +that he was so loath to make, Mr. Bergan began a lengthened account of +the funeral ceremonies. He had deemed it wise to tell her of her +uncle's death, both as affording a good excuse for postponing other +matters, and as a reason for his own troubled and abstracted face. + +He was still busy with this theme, doing his best to imitate the +gold-beater's art of making a little material cover a large space, when +he heard a footfall behind him, on the gravel walk. Looking quickly +round, he was delighted to behold his nephew coming up the steps, just +as he had first seen him two years before, with the same half-eager, +half-hesitating expression of one who feels himself at once a relative +and a stranger; yet mingled in the present instance, with what seemed +an inappropriate sternness. The sight of him was none the less a +relief to his uncle. + +"Thank Heaven! you are come at last, Bergan!" he exclaimed, starting up +to go and meet him. + +But Carice put forth a staying hand,--the eyes of love are not so +easily deceived. "You mistake, father," she said, in a low and +half-frightened voice, "this is not Bergan, though he is like him." + +The new comer took off his hat, and bowed low. "No, I am not Bergan; I +am Hubert," he said, but with no friendliness of tone or manner. "And +you, I suppose, are my uncle Godfrey. I am come to look for my +brother. What have you done with him among you? Where can I find that +villanous Doctor Remy, who, four days ago, made one attempt on his life +(or on mine, mistaking me for him), and has now probably--" + +He was startled and silenced by a low, pathetic cry of that found an +instant way to his heart, despite its armor of prejudice and anger. At +the same moment, Carice fell, white and insensible, across the arm of +her chair. + +"You have killed her," said Mr. Bergan, not resentfully, but with the +still resignation of a man who feels that fate has done its worst for +him, and there is little left to dread, and to hope. + +"Indeed, I trust not," replied Hubert, earnestly, dismayed at the +mischief that he had done, as well as softened by the sweet, death-like +face, which, he now knew, was not only the one that still kept its +place in Bergan's memory, and would not be cast out, but was correlated +to a heart not less interested than his own in Bergan's fate. "I think +she has only fainted. Let me take her in, while you summon assistance." + +And without waiting for either consent or remonstrance, he lifted her +in his strong arms, and carried her to the library. Almost +immediately, she showed signs of returning animation. He then withdrew +to the piazza, where Mr. Bergan shortly joined him; and explanations +were mutually given and received. + +Hubert had duly received the notice of his uncle's funeral. It had +struck him as a little odd at first, that it should be addressed +jointly to his brother and himself; but he set it down as an absurd +legal formality, and thought no more about it. He had intended to ride +over this morning, in time for the funeral; but just as he was about to +start, Mr. Youle had slipped and fallen on the office steps, and +received several severe cuts and bruises; which had made it necessary +for him to take him home, and do what he could to assist him and +reassure his family. Thus it happened that he had arrived at the Hall +to find the funeral over, and to learn, to his surprise and alarm, that +his brother was not there, and that nothing was known of his +whereabouts, except that he was last seen at Oakstead. There, also, he +was told Doctor Remy might be found. Accordingly he had hastened +thither. + +He now proposed to commence an immediate, thorough search for his +brother. + +"Take my advice," said Mr. Bergan, "and wait a little longer. I have +had, all along, an expectation--or, at least, a hope--that my brother's +will would give some clue to all these mysteries. The time fixed for +the reading is now at hand. Go with me, and be present thereat, as you +have a right to be. Then, if we get any clue, I will do my utmost to +help you follow it out; if we do not, I shall be equally at your +service to seek for one elsewhere." + +Chafing at the delay, but unable to suggest anything better to be done, +Hubert accompanied his uncle to the Hall. In the library they found a +considerable party assembled, discussing Bergan's mysterious +disappearance. + +"I hope," Doctor Remy was just saying, with apparent concern, "that +nothing worse is behind it all, than some foolish whim or +escapade"--when, hearing a step at the door, he turned and met Hubert +Arling's stern, threatening gaze. In spite of his consummate +self-control, he could not help giving a violent start. Recollecting +himself instantly, however,--inasmuch as he had just heard of Hubert's +previous visit,--he came forward and held out his hand. + +"You have deceived me twice, Mr. Arling," he said, pleasantly; "your +resemblance to your brother is really quite wonderful, and must lead to +many entertaining mistakes. I have to beg your pardon," he went on, in +a lower tone, "for my absurd conduct at our former meeting; I will +explain to you, by and by, what I had been led, by some malicious +persons, to believe that I might expect from your brother; which +indignity I hastily attempted to forestall. I have since learned my +error, and I now beg you to believe that I have the most friendly +feelings toward you both. I am scarcely less concerned than yourself +at your brother's absence, on this occasion." + +Hubert drew back. "I take no man's hand which I have reason to believe +is not clean," said he, haughtily. "As to your relations with my +brother, he can settle them with you himself, if he still lives. If he +does not, I warn you that any man whom I suspect to have been anywise +concerned in his death, will meet with little mercy at my hands." + +Doctor Remy turned livid with anger. Before he could reply, Mr. Tatum +(the lawyer whom Mr. Bergan had summoned) rapped on the table to +command attention, and held up the will to view, in order to show that +the seals were unbroken. He then read it, slowly and distinctly. +After a few minor legacies, it gave the bulk of the Major's property +unconditionally to his niece, Carice Bergan. + +There was a dead silence after the formal voice had ceased. + +"Is that will in due form of law?" asked Mr. Bergan, breaking the pause. + +"It seems so," replied Mr. Tatum; "it is clearly worded, and duly +signed and witnessed." + +"I drew it up myself," observed Doctor Remy, "as you see. It was over +a year ago, before the legatee became my wife. But I am surprised to +hear it read on this occasion; I supposed that it grew out of a +momentary whim, and had long ago been nullified by some other +instrument." + +"I am equally surprised," remarked Mr. Tatum, "for the excellent reason +that I drew up a very different will myself, only about a fortnight +since. At that time, Major Bergan mentioned this one, or some +other,--for the provisions of this do not quite answer his +description,--and I advised him to destroy it, in order to prevent any +trouble." + +"He may have returned to his first mind, and destroyed the second will +instead," suggested Doctor Remy. + +"I cannot believe it," returned Mr. Tatum. "Suppose we go in a body, +and make a fresh search. Do you know, Mr. Bergan, any other receptacle +of papers than those already examined?" + +"I do not," replied Mr. Bergan. "Perhaps Maumer Rue might; she knows +the house, as well as my brother's habits, much better than I do." + +Strange to say, however, when Rue was sought for, she was nowhere to be +found. As messenger after messenger returned from the chambers, the +quarter, and the grounds, and reported that no trace of her could be +discovered, Doctor Remy and Mr. Bergan looked at each other in blank +amazement. This new disappearance was equally startling and suspicious +to both; each thought that the other must be privy to it; each wondered +what it portended. + +"So much the more reason to search," finally said Mr. Tatum; "we have +two things to look for,--the will and the old woman." + +Hubert Arling rose. "I must beg to be excused," said he. "I have +neither time nor inclination to search for anybody, or anything, except +my brother." + +Mr. Bergan laid his hand warningly on his shoulder. "It seems to me," +said he, "that you cannot begin your search better than in this house." + +The search began. Not a corner was left unexplored, not a shadow left +undisturbed. Many strange relics of olden time were unearthed, much +venerable dust raised, but it was all unavailing, so far as either the +will or the blind woman was concerned. + +Tired and disappointed, they returned to the library. Then Doctor Remy +stood forth with the light of triumph shining in his eyes. He had +schemed and sinned to some purpose; his reward was sure. + +"I suppose that nothing remains," said he, "but for me to take +possession of the premises, in the name of my wife." + +Mr. Bergan looked inquiringly at Mr. Tatum. "I suppose that is the +proper thing," said the lawyer,--"at least, as long as the other will +is not found." + +Hubert's long-repressed impatience here broke forth. "Settle this +matter as you like," said he, "_I_ am going to look for my brother." + +He strode out of the room. Mr. Bergan hesitated a moment, and then +followed him. At the door, he was met by a servant from Oakstead, who +delivered a message, in a low tone; of which Doctor Remy, who was +standing near, caught the words, "Richard Causton--business of +importance." Mr. Bergan listened half-impatiently, gave a brief +answer, and hastened after Hubert. + +Doctor Remy watched them down the avenue, with a clouded brow. The +triumphant light had gone out in his eyes; a chill premonition of evil +was at his heart; already he seemed to feel his prize slipping from his +hand. "Excuse me," he said, hurriedly, to those who remained, "I have +urgent business to attend to." In another moment he was on his horse, +galloping swiftly across the fields. + + + + +VI. + +HELP AT HAND. + +Dick Causton's cottage--as it was called by courtesy, being, in truth, +only a better sort of cabin--stood on a sandy corner of the estate that +he had formerly owned. At first, he had begged to remain there only +until he could fix upon some more eligible place of abode; but the +owner was good natured, and Dick was indolent to the point not only of +letting well enough alone, but bad enough, too; so it gradually came to +be understood that he was a life-tenant, by sufferance, of the place. +Nor did the owner deem it worth while to interfere, when, in course of +time, Dick made the discovery that the sand composing this small domain +was of superior quality, and proceeded to convert it into cash, at the +rate of two or three pennies a load, and to swallow it a second time, +in the shape of alcohol. The process ceased only when the digging +threatened to undermine the cottage; which was thus left high and dry +upon a triangular sand promontory, with a deep excavation on each side. +The base of the triangle--a part of it, at least--touched the boundary +line of Oakstead, very near the point where Bergan had been left for +dead by "Big Ben." + +Dick had risen unusually early on that morning. Owing to his sudden +flight from the Rat-Hole, he had failed to replenish his stock of +brandy, as he had designed; and the small quantity on hand had been +insufficient to blunt the thorns in his pillow, planted partly by +Doctor Remy's threats, and partly by the reproaches of his own +conscience. He had tossed about on their sharp points for the better +part of the night, and was glad when dawn brought such a measure of +relief as was to be derived from movement and occupation. In the +absence of stronger stimulant, he was fain to brace his nerves with a +cup of tea; to which end a fire was unfortunately necessary, and fuel +must be sought in the adjoining woods of Oakstead. While engaged in +this task, he, caught sight of a prostrate form, half-hidden in the +underbrush. + +"_Quien busca, hallará_,--He who seeks will find, but he cannot tell +what," he muttered, peevishly. "Is the fellow drunk, or only asleep, I +wonder?" + +He stole some paces nearer, then gave a start and stopped; he had seen +blood stains on the man's clothing. At the same moment, the lines of +the figure struck him as familiar, and while he strove to identify +them, a light breeze lifted the leaves of an overhanging bush, and +revealed an easily recognized profile. Immediately he was kneeling by +Bergan, trying his best to discover some sign of life. + +He was unsuccessful; yet, thanks to his store of proverbs, he did not +quite despair. "No barber shaves so close that another cannot find +work," he said, encouragingly, to himself, and bent all his energies to +the difficult task of dragging Bergan into his cabin. He dared not +wait to call assistance, none being within easy reach; besides, he +reasoned that the transit, if not too ungently managed, would tend to +restoration rather than, otherwise. Moreover, having at once connected +Doctor Remy with Bergan's condition, and being thereby inspired with an +inordinate dread of the doctor's power to harm, he fancied that the +first necessity was to get the young man into a place of concealment. + +"A good heart rids work," he murmured exultingly, when, panting and +exhausted, after many a pause for breath, and many a start of fright, +he at length dragged Bergan across his threshold, and closed and locked +the door. + +He next applied himself, with good will and not unskilfully, to the +task of restoring animation. The wound, it appeared, had touched no +vital part--Big Ben's intention having been better than his aim--and, +being helped by the position in which Bergan had lain, it had stanched +itself. The blows of Ben's heavy fist had been much more effective. +Dick wellnigh gave up in despair before his efforts were rewarded by +the faintest sign that the soul had not forever quitted its earthly +house. Taking heart then, he worked on till the eyes opened and the +lips moved, but not with intelligent sight or coherent speech. The one +beheld only the misty phantoms, as the other gave utterance but to the +wild fancies, of a fevered and delirious imagination. Now, his uncle's +death-bed was the gloomy subject of Bergan's ravings; now, he beheld +Carice in danger or distress, and sought to hasten to her relief, +making it necessary for Dick to hold him in bed by main strength. + +For two nights and three days, Dick had thus been forced to keep watch +over him, not daring to leave him for a moment, lest he should do +himself irremediable harm, during his absence. Nor was he disinclined +to the task. Bergan had won all his heart by the courtesy and +consideration with which he had uniformly treated him, no less than his +admiration by his fearless, upright character. "Your nephew has all my +best proverbs in his life, whereas, I only have them in my head," he +had once remarked to the Major, by way of lavishing his choicest +encomium upon the rejected heir; and he now did his best for the young +man's comfort and cure, with the somewhat meagre appliances at his +command. In the way of nourishment, the cabin afforded only a little +tea and beef broth; in the way of medicine, nothing but two or three +soothing herb-drinks, cold water, pure air, and perfect silence. With +the three last, however, nature can work wonders; and, in this case, +she wrought so effectively that, on the afternoon of the third day, +Bergan sank into a quiet sleep, to awake in great weakness, but fully +himself. + +"Where am I?" he asked, feebly, glancing wonderingly around him. + +"Where charity begins--at home," answered Dick, graciously; "that is, +if you will continue to make yourself so, as you have been doing for +the last three days." + +"Three days!" exclaimed Bergan, trying to spring up, but failing by +reason of his weakness;--"what do you mean?" + +Dick saw his mistake, but it was too late to retreat. Bergan's mind +had at once recurred to the last item in his memory,--namely, Big Ben's +uplifted fist,--and had easily connected it with his present condition. +Being now made aware of the lapse of time since then by Dick's +incautious admission, nothing remained but to give truthful answers to +the questions that he rapidly put. Quick at logical inference, the +facts that he had disappeared suddenly, and that no trace of him had +been found, were soon patent to him. He was filled with dismay. What +distress his mysterious absence must have cost his friends! What evil +use of it might have been made by his enemy! At the thought, he made +another attempt to rise, and partially succeeded, but only to fall back +again, half fainting. + +"Take care. _Quien mas corre, menos vuela_,--the more haste the worst +speed," said Dick, warningly. "Stay a little, and news will find you." + +"Not until it is too late, I fear," returned Bergan. "Since I cannot +do it myself, I must beg you to go immediately to my Uncle Godfrey, and +let him know that I am here, and ask him to come and see me at once, if +possible. Tell him privately, so as not to startle anybody else," he +added, with a thought of Carice; "and leave him to extend the +information to whomsoever he pleases." + +"I would much rather go to your Uncle Harry," objected Dick, loath to +present himself at Oakstead, lest he should encounter Doctor Remy. + +"He is dead," answered Bergan gravely. + +Dick looked astonished, but muttered, resignedly,--"God sends no more +than can be borne." Then he bowed low to Bergan. "_Dopo un papa, se +ne fa un altro_," said he,--"The King is dead, long live the King; I +congratulate you." + +"Upon what?" asked Bergan, with a keen glance;--"Doctor Remy's +succession?" + +"Of course not," replied Dick, coloring and laughing. "Doctor Remy +will find out that _Den sviges vaerst, som sviger sig selv_,--He is +worse cheated who cheats himself. But," he added, with a quick change +of countenance, "he must have found it out already." + +The thought was a startling one. Much as Dick had enjoyed the +certainty of the doctor's final discomfiture, he had not expected that +it would come so soon; nor had he known, as now, the extent of the +doctor's resources in the way of his interest or his vengeance. As he +pondered the matter, he was dismayed to recognize in the false will, +the Major's death, and the attempt on Bergan's life, apparent parts of +the same plan, and to infer therefrom the subtle and determined +character of the man whom he had ventured to try to outwit. Had he +succeeded? If so, he had everything to dread from the doctor's +resentment; if not--if Doctor Remy had found means to carry out his +plans to the end, and cover his tracks, as he seemed to have done thus +far--would he dare to open his mouth against him, only to take a share +in his punishment? Right and honor were good things, but could they +make a prison a pleasant abode? + +Here, Bergan broke in upon his troubled reflections. "I must remind +you," said he, "that no time should be wasted. My disappearance must +have caused much anxiety, and my uncle should be informed where I am, +without delay." + +"Very well," said Dick, glad, on the whole, to be relieved from further +consideration of his difficulties. "I'll be off instanter, if you'll +promise not to stir while I'm gone. And if anybody knocks, don't +speak, or even breathe loud;--likely enough it will be Doctor Remy, +and, in your case, discretion is the better part of valor. I'll make +all fast behind me, so that no one can get in. And I'll hurry back, +and bring your uncle with me, if I can." + +At Oakstead, Dick was informed that Mr. Bergan was at the Hall, and +wherefore. He dared not go after him, knowing that Doctor Remy would +certainly be there also. He debated with himself, for a moment, +whether it would not be well to make his errand known to Mrs. Bergan; +but murmuring cynically, "A woman conceals only what she don't know," +he decided to entrust her with a message simply. This was so +mysteriously and solemnly given, however, as necessarily to suggest to +her, after his departure, that he might possibly have found some clue +to the mystery of Bergan's absence; whereupon she dispatched a servant +to the Hall with the message,--though not without a strict injunction +that he should deliver it to his master privately. But this, as has +been seen, was not so well observed as to prevent some portion of the +message from reaching Doctor Remy's ears, and exciting his suspicions. + + + + +VII. + +THE SET TIME. + +Dick Causton trudged back to his cabin in no tranquil frame of mind. +He had his own excellent reasons for believing that a more disappointed +and angry man than Doctor Remy, at that moment, was not to be found +under the sun. Not only had he lost the coveted Bergan estate, but he +had been fooled and cheated by the very man whom he had taken to be his +most willing and despicable tool. Nor would it be long, Dick foresaw, +before the doctor would seek to mitigate the bitterness of his chagrin +with whatever sweetness was to be derived from the thought and purpose +of revenge. In that case, he would be the first point of attack. What +a fool he had been to meddle or make with any of the doctor's affairs! +As if he did not know at least a dozen different proverbs in as many +languages, to the effect that prudence was better than repentance, +safety preferable to sorrow! Of what use was it to have his head +stuffed with the consummate wisdom of all nations, if he only acted +like a consummate idiot! + +A pertinent question, Richard Causton! Showing the good results, too, +of your period of forced abstinence from strong drink, and your lonely +watch over the sick-bed--wellnigh the death-bed--of Bergan Arling. Up +to this point, we have deemed your case hopeless; now, truly, we think +better of it. To recognize one's folly is the first step toward +breaking from its bondage. To have learned that the fruits of +righteousness do not ripen on the tree of worldly wisdom, is, perhaps, +to feel the first faint hunger for the saving fruitage of the tree of +life. There may be the making of a man--a contrite, humbled, subdued, +scarred, but free man--in you yet! + +Ignoring, or unconscious of, these grounds of hope for the future, +however, Dick continued to busy himself with his fears for the present. +Nor did they prove to be causeless; he was not yet in sight of his +door, when he heard the sound of impatient knocking thereat. Stealing +to a point where he could see without being seen, his worst fears were +realized,--the unwelcome visitor was Doctor Remy. + +"_De puerta cerrada el diablo se torna_,--From a locked door, the devil +turns away," he muttered, settling himself in his hiding place, with +the intention of remaining there until the anticipated departure. + +But the doctor was not to be thus balked. After repeated knockings, +with short intervals of waiting, he finally drew back from the door +with the evident intention of bursting it in; whereupon Dick hastened +to make his appearance, doing his best to assume an air of easy +nonchalance. + +"He who brings good news, knocks hard," he called out, by way of +arresting the doctor's attention, and saving the door. "Or, as the +Germans say, He who brings, is welcome; I suppose you have come to +settle our little account." + +"Yes, I have come to settle accounts with you," replied Doctor Remy, +with grim irony. "Why didn't you tell me about this other will?" + +"What other will?" asked Dick, innocently. + +"I am in no humor for trifling," returned Doctor Remy;--"Major Bergan's +will, that you witnessed a fortnight ago." + +"_C'est la glose d' Orleans_,--that is to say, the commentary is more +obscure than the text," answered Dick, shaking his head, as if he could +make nothing of it. + +"Don't try my patience too far," rejoined the doctor, menacingly. "I +have just seen Mr. Tatum, and he told me of the will, and named you as +one of the witnesses." + +"Did he?" asked Dick, shrugging his shoulders. "Then I must be like +'_el escudero de Guadalaxara, que de lo que dice de noche, no hay nada +â la mañana_.' Do you understand Spanish?" + +"Do you understand English?" growled Doctor Remy. "I asked you if you +had witnessed a will; and I want to know what was in it." + +"And I gave you to understand that if I had, it must have been when I +was too drunk to remember anything about it," responded Dick. + +Doctor Remy's eyes flashed ominously. "I shall find a way to refresh +your memory," said he. "One question more, and I warn you that you had +better give me a straightforward answer, and not try to put me off with +a proverb;--what was done with the will after it was made?" + +"Why, hasn't it been found?" asked Dick, with surprise that was plainly +genuine. + +"No, it has not," replied Doctor Remy, curtly. "See here, Dick," he +added, after a pause, quitting his threatening tone for one of +persuasion; "I'll make it well worth your while to tell me all you know +about that will. Open the door--I'm tired of standing--and we'll go in +and talk it over." + +"I--I--it's pleasanter outside," stammered Dick, fairly driven to his +wit's end by this proposal. "Besides, 'walls have ears;' no place like +the open air for your business--and mine." + +"Your walls should be deaf," answered the doctor, looking at him +suspiciously; "you live alone, do you not?" + +"Yes, certainly; but no walls are to be trusted; _mèfiance est mére de +sûretè_." + +"Very true," replied Doctor Remy; "and I distrust you. Open that door +at once, and let me see what or whom it is, that you are so anxious to +conceal." + +Dick's consternation was extreme. Still, he did what he could to gain +time; assistance might be on the road. He began to fumble in his +pockets. "Very happy to oblige you, I'm sure," he faltered, with a +poor assumption of graciousness. "But, 'He that will be served must be +patient.' I declare! I believe I've lost that key! Still, _Mais val +perder, que mais perd_--" + +"Will you open that door?" interrupted Doctor Remy, fiercely, "or shall +I do it myself?" + +Dick lifted his head boldly; his straining ears had caught the sound of +distant footsteps. "A man's house is his castle," he began;--but +Doctor Remy stopped the rest of the sentence in his throat, with one +hand, while he thrust the other into his pocket for the key. Dick +uttered a smothered cry. Immediately Doctor Remy heard the door tried +from within; the next moment, the window beside it was flung open, and +the pale, stern face of Bergan Arling met his astonished sight. + +At the same instant, he saw several persons emerging from the shadow of +the Oakstead woods. Mr. Bergan, Hubert Arling, and Doctor Gerrish, he +recognized at a glance, and he stayed to recognize no more:--these, in +conjunction with Bergan--alive, and in possession of his +faculties--were enough to show him that his deep-laid scheme had come +to naught, that the prize for which he had thought, labored, and +sinned, was snatched from his hands in the very moment of success. +Some important figure--could it be Providence?--had been overlooked or +changed in his calculations, and made them all come wrong. + +Yet he had failed before. Bitterly he acknowledged to himself that, +despite his rich natural endowments of intellect, courage, will, and +resource, his life had been, on the whole, a succession of failures. +The consequences of one early mistake had followed, hampered, modified, +and defeated, every effort that he had made to rise above a certain +level of station, fortune, or reputation. Nevertheless, he had saved +from every wreck, thus far, an unbroken spirit and an inexhaustible +invention. What was there in the present one to cause his heart to +shiver and shrink with so deadly a chill of despair, to smite him with +so heavy an intuition that the measure of his opportunities for good or +evil was full, and that some set time of reckoning was at hand? Nay, +he _would not_ be daunted! There must be some expedient--some bold +stroke or crafty subterfuge--by which he could still wring safety, at +least, from the hands of defeat. + +He ran his eye over the scene of his recent operations, as a general +might scan a disastrous battle-field. Instantly, the intercepted +letters, the forged will, the poisoned powder, the attack on Bergan +Arling, set themselves in order before him,--revolted soldiers, once +his obedient servants, now gone over to the enemy. No! the odds were +too great. Nothing was left him but flight;--nay, it was a question if +even that remained,--pursuit was so near! Still, it must be tried. + +Giving Dick a final choke, to render him incapable of immediate action, +he flung him on the ground, and fled towards the nearest bank. Once +across the excavation, there was a thick wood beyond, in which he would +quickly be lost to sight; and the present was all he had time to think +of; the future must care for itself. One moment his tall form was +seen, by the approaching party, on the edge of the bank, clearly +defined against the twilight sky; the next, it sank suddenly from view, +both hands raised, apparently in a mocking gesture of farewell, or it +might be, of defiance. + +Hubert Arling immediately recognized the fugitive, and hastened after +him. Arrived at the brink of the excavation, he was amazed to find +that Doctor Remy was nowhere in sight, although it seemed incredible +that he could have traversed the sandy chasm so quickly. Nothing +daunted, however, Hubert leaped the precipice, half-burying himself in +the soft sand at the bottom, struggled across, climbed the opposite +bank--taking much more time, it seemed to him, than his predecessor had +done--and plunged into the wood beyond. Here, he soon found that all +the odds were against him; the underbrush was thick, the wood was soon +merged in a dense juniper swamp; the twilight was deepening; a hundred +men might easily elude his single search. It was necessary to go back +and obtain organized assistance. + +He was rejoiced to find Bergan in the cabin, though his state was such +as to cause intense anxiety. The great exertion that he had made to +interfere between Doctor Remy and Dick--believing the latter to be in +danger of losing his life in behalf of his guest--had caused his wound +to re-open; and when Dick recovered himself sufficiently to make it +known that Bergan was within, and to unlock the door, he was found on +the floor under the window, in a death-like faint. Doctor Gerrish, +however, at once took him in hand, with great personal good will, and +no small amount of medical efficiency. And no sooner was he pronounced +out of immediate danger--although he had relapsed into fever and +delirium--than Hubert's mind recurred to the intermitted pursuit of +Doctor Remy. From the first, he had shared Doctor Trubie's suspicions, +and having now heard the several stories of Mr. Bergan, Doctor Gerrish, +and Dick, and pretty accurately divined their logical connection and +drift, he was strongly of the opinion that the doctor's evil career +should be brought to a close. No consideration of family, friendship, +or love, he thought, should interfere to save him from richly deserved +punishment, and leave him at large to work new wickedness. So +thinking, he put his thoughts into prompt, resolute, persevering action. + +But it was wholly in vain. If the earth had opened and swallowed him +up, Doctor Remy could not have disappeared more effectually. Far and +near, no trace was found of his course, no clue to his hiding place. +The flight of a bird through the air, the dart of a fish through the +wave, do not leave less visible track behind. Day by day, Hubert had +to acknowledge himself baffled, puzzled, confounded; but he would not +be discouraged. Doctor Trubie having been sent for, had joined him, +and between the two, the search went obstinately on. + + + + +VIII. + +GIFT AND GIVER. + +Carice was in her own room. Her face was pale, her mouth and eyes +deeply serious. At last, she had been put in possession of all the +facts hitherto concealed from her. She knew by what base means she had +been separated from Bergan, and married to a man known to be a forger, +suspected to be a murderer, and now a fugitive from justice. She was +also aware that, so far as her own consciousness went, she had lost a +year out of her life. None the less, she felt in her deep heart that +her soul had not stood still during this suspension of certain of her +faculties, but had accomplished some rapid, sensible growth. She was +not, in all respects, the same Carice who had fallen through the gap in +the foot-bridge. She contemplated her situation with far less dismay +and bewilderment than that immaturer self could have done; in some +mysterious way, her year of unconsciousness had been also a year of +preparation for the difficulties that it had postponed; she now faced +them with a deeper insight, a broader comprehension, and a calmer +courage. She blinded herself with no subtleties nor evasions; she +dimmed the clear medium of her integrity with no selfish breath; but +counted herself what that solemn marriage ceremony had made her--a +wife. She must remain such until the plea of "wilful desertion for a +year," in the courts of law, should secure for her a certain personal +freedom. But even then, she would be only a deserted wife;--in her +opinion, divorce was powerless except as regarded separation. The +virtual relation, she believed, could only be dissolved by death; and +that meant, in this case, perhaps, the arrest, conviction, and +execution of Doctor Remy. She shuddered at the thought. She could not +wish the barrier between Bergan and herself to be thus removed. + +Bergan?--She dared not think of him! He was lying so dangerously +ill!--yet she must not go to him;--she could trust neither her thoughts +nor herself by that bedside. She must just leave him, where she left +all her own cares and sorrows, in the hands of God. She waited upon +Him: in His own good time and way, He would make it clear that He +reigned, and that His sceptre was justice, and His crown mercy. + +Mrs. Bergan opened the door. "My child," she asked, tenderly, "would +you like to see a visitor?" + +"Whom?" asked Carice, with a little wonder;--her mother had been so +careful to spare her all intrusion, during these trying days. + +Mrs. Bergan shook her head. "I really don't know; I was so taken with +her face, that I forgot to ask her name. She said that she was a +friend of Astra Lyte's, and of--Bergan's." + +"Mamma, could I not be excused?" + +"I suppose so,--if you really wish it. But you would never think of +refusing her, if you once saw her; she has such a princess-like way +with her, as if she had never been refused anything in her life--except +happiness. She has the most beautiful face that I ever saw, but there +is a shadow over it, as if she had known great sorrow." + +Carice felt a jealous pang. Beautiful! and Bergan's friend? Sad? of +course, since he was in danger! + +Mrs. Bergan went on. "She said she had a story to tell you. And when +I hesitated--fearing that it might be some new trouble or +excitement--you have had enough such, of late, dear--she smiled, as if +she knew what I was thinking, and said,--'Have no fear, madam; my story +will do her good, not harm!' Shall I let her come up?" + +An hour after, the door of Bergan's sick-room opened gently. His eyes +were closed; he, too, had been thinking, as deeply as his weak, half +unconscious state permitted; and his thoughts had been strangely like +those of Carice. The tangled web left behind by Doctor Remy would be +hard to unravel, he felt; and in the process, there would be much pain, +loss, anxiety, and disgrace,--especially for Carice. His heart ached +for her;--and a little also--for he was very weak and weary--for +himself. Would it not be well to have done with it all,--to let +thought, care, and life drift away together, as they seemed so ready to +do, if only he ceased to hold them back? It would be so much easier to +let them go!--was there really any good reason why he should try to +live? + +Hearing the door close, and the sound of light footsteps, he languidly +opened his eyes. Diva Thane was standing at his bedside, holding the +blushing Carice by the hand, and smiling down upon him with eyes +deep-lit by a mysterious radiance. There was a lofty beauty in her +face, a look of victory after conflict, that he had never seen there +before. + +His heart gave a great bound. He remembered his strange, repeated +intuition that that fair, firm hand would some day bestow upon him an +inestimable blessing. Was the time come? + +"I bring you a gift," said she, in low, rich tones, full of feeling as +of melody. "This little, maiden hand--free from every claim as from +every stain--is the best return that I can make for what you have done +for me." And, placing Carice's hand in his, she added, solemnly:--"I +give it to you, for I have the right: I am the wife of Edmund Roath." + +The rush of joy was almost too great. It swept over Bergan's senses +like a great whelming wave; speech and sound were lost in it; sight was +gone, except for Carice's sweet, fair face, the one point of light in a +vast ocean of blackness; feeling was annihilated, save that he clung to +that dear hand as to the one treasure that he would not be parted from, +let him be carried whither he might. Firmly and tenderly it closed +upon his, too,--seeming to be the only thing which kept him from +drifting out into that wide obscurity, and brought him back to the +steady standing-ground of consciousness. There he was met by a rush of +gratitude and sympathy only a little less overpowering. He knew so +well what that avowal had cost Diva's pride! He understood so clearly +whence came that solemn light of sacrifice in her eyes, that exalted +beauty in her face, and how dearly it had been won! Still holding +Carice fast with one hand, he held out the other to her, with emotion +too deep for aught but a benediction. + +"God bless you," he murmured, fervently. And he added, in a tone of +entire conviction;--"I am sure He will." + +She bent her graceful head,--no longer haughty in its pose,--gave his +hand an earnest, heartening pressure, and glided from the room. + +All gentle, delicate souls, all sympathetic hearts, go with her; +curiosity, coldness, rudeness, must needs follow after. In that +sick-room, Love only may remain,--Love which, by its long patience of +sorrow, its steady conscientiousness, its freedom from all +self-seeking, has won at last its blessed right to be,--and to be happy! + + +At a little distance from the cabin was a huge ilex tree, in the broad, +low shade of which Dick had once been moved to set up a rude bench. +Thither Diva betook herself to wait for Carice. There was a pleasant +enough prospect before her, beyond the gulf of sand,--the creek on its +sunshiny way to the sea, the pines and water oaks mingling their +moss-hung boughs and diverse verdure,--but it is doubtful if she was +aware of it. Her eyes--whether bent on the ground at her feet, or +lifted to some far point of the blue horizon--spoke plainly of a mind +too busy with its own reflections to be anywise cognizant of outward +objects. She was reviewing the main events of her life by the new +light recently shed on them, discovering a connection, a harmony, and a +meaning in them unsuspected before, and gaining thereby a deeper sense +of the might and wisdom of that overruling Providence in whom she had +come so lately to believe. + +She had been reared in almost princely affluence, as well as in +professed scepticism;--every material wish gratified, every material +caprice humored; no spiritual want recognized, no spiritual yearning +indulged. Early accustomed to admiration and adulation, she grew up +proud, imperious, self-reliant, counting herself made of more excellent +clay than often went to the fashioning of human organisms, as she was +certainly endowed with an intellect of no common strength and fineness +of fibre, which her father took care to feed with all his own learned +and labored Philosophy of Doubt. She was taught to scorn faith, to +deride inspiration, to scoff at worship, to acknowledge no law but her +own will, no higher rule of life than "_Noblesse oblige_." Yet she had +generous impulses and strong affections; the very weeds that grew to +such rank luxuriance in her character bore witness to the natural +richness of the soil. Nor was she without a deep, innate reverence, +inherited from the mother that she had never known,--which, being +diverted from its proper objects, fell to deifying human genius and +intellect, and suffered sorely in seeing them betray, soon or late, how +much of their substance was human dust. Disappointed thus in the +concrete, she turned to the abstract; first Song, then Art, became the +idol of her imagination, the object of her devoted worship. Her +father's health failing about this time, both looked to Italy as their +natural goal, the one for healing, the other for culture. There they +met the man whose potent influence was to change the whole current of +her life. + +He had everything necessary to recommend him to her favor;--a manly +figure and bearing, regular, clear-cut features, a bold, acute, +powerful intellect, and varied culture. Moreover, there was a mystery +about him which acted as a stimulant to interest. No one knew whence +he came, and he gave no account of himself beyond what was to be +inferred from chance words and phrases, coming by accident, as it were, +to the surface of the stream of conversation,--oracular utterances, +capable of diverse construction;--which, after being long brooded over +in her imagination, were turned into such rich, airy, poetic shapes, as +even he, with all his subtlety, would never have thought of suggesting. +None the less, they did him friendly service. Moreover, he had, in +some way, acquired no small amount of medical science, which he put to +good use in alleviating her father's sufferings, although it had become +evident that his malady was incurable. By this means, he soon acquired +such an ascendancy over the invalid's mind, and so firm a hold upon his +confidence, as to lead him easily to believe that he could do nothing +better for his child's future than to commit it to such strong, kind, +wise hands. Accordingly, she was wedded, in the American Consulate at +Rome, to Earle Roy; under which suggestive name she had no doubt was +hidden a disguised noble, an exiled prince, or some equally exalted +seeker after disinterested love or sufficing consolation. + +Descending the staircase, immediately after the ceremony, they met a +travel-stained gentleman coming up, who started at sight of her +husband, and uttered the name of "Edmund Roath." _He_ started in his +turn, and grew deadly pale; nevertheless, he haughtily affirmed that it +was "a mistake," conducted her home, begged to be excused while he +attended to some forgotten formality, and left her with the careless +smile and bow that argues an immediate return. Hours passed,--days +passed,--yet he came not; neither had he left any track, trace, or clue +behind. It was as if he had melted into thin air. There were those +who hinted that a flight so sudden, swift, and effectual, must all +along have been foreseen as a possible necessity, and provided for. +She poured her loftiest scorn on the imputation; she believed him to +have been murdered by robbers or secret political agents. + +The shock hastened her father's death. In one week she was both a +deserted bride and an orphan; free--with almost unlimited wealth at +command--to grieve or search, as she chose,--to avenge, if she could. +She threw herself into the work of investigation: the police were +marvellously ready to assist her, they took her money, and followed out +her suggestions; by-and-by, she was amazed to find that her own house +and movements enjoyed no inconsiderable share of their attention. It +looked as if they suspected that her husband would return to her, and +meant to be on the spot! The thought shook her with a sudden terror. +It was possible that he had fled--being warned in time to fly, but not +to explain--from some secret danger, some dark political vengeance, and +that she was only helping to hunt him down! + +In this connection, she recalled that casual meeting on the Consulate +staircase, and hailed it as a possible clue. She succeeded in finding +the traveller, and in forcing from him a reluctant +explanation,--reluctant because he had a kind heart, and was unwilling +to give pain. His name was Mark Tracey; he had been a class-mate of +Edmund Roath, knew him well, and believed him to be the murderer of +Alec Arling. He had deemed it his duty, on recognizing him, to inform +the Consul who and what he was; and measures were forthwith taken to +put him under surveillance. Nevertheless, Roath had made good his +escape before the slow Italian officials could be made to comprehend +what was wanted, and set about it. For himself, he had done only what +he thought right; yet, now that he saw what manner of bride had been so +wofully bereaved, he could almost wish that he had held his peace, and +left Roath to the new and better life which he might have led under +such fair auspices. Still, he gently added, the holiest influences did +not always avail to straighten a warped mind and will, while these +often spread around them a fatal infection;--it were better to-- + +She stopped him there, thanking him for his sympathy, but rejecting his +conclusions. Either the man that he had met was not Edmund Roath, or +Edmund Roath was the unhappy victim of a specious train of +circumstances. One of these alternatives _must_ be true. So she +proudly told him; so she tried to tell herself, turning a deaf ear to +every deep, inner voice that ventured to assail or to question her. +None the less, she had lost all heart for the search which, it now +appeared, she had not so much instituted as joined in. On her part, it +was quietly allowed to drop. All the same, news finally reached her +that Edmund Roath had died, and was buried, in a small, distant seaport +town. Two men had been landed there from a foreign vessel, one an +invalid far gone with pneumonia, the other his faithful friend and +nurse. The invalid had died in a day or two; the friend had reared a +stone "In memory of Edmund Roath" over his grave, and sailed away in +another ship. His name was an unpronounceable foreign one; as to the +invalid's, they had never heard it until after his death, his friend +had always called him by some familiar sobriquet. + +There was a suggestion in this last bit of history, which Diva was +quick to notice. She had the coffin disinterred, and satisfied herself +that the body therein contained was not that of the man whom she had +married,--albeit, she found on its chill finger a ring which she had +given him, and saw that there were some striking similarities of +height, complexion, and color of hair and eyes. She needed no further +proof that Earle Roy and Edmund Roath were one and the same, and she +believed that he still lived, answering to the dead man's name, and +playing his part, on some distant stage. However, she took care that +her actions should express quite the contrary conviction; she caused +the re-interment to be so arranged as to suggest an intended removal; +she generously requited every kindness shown to the invalid; finally, +she put on deep widow's weeds, and sickened to feel them so +appropriate. She had a sombre intuition that Edmund Roath was dead to +her. Nothing remained of him but his backward shadow on her heart and +life. The places that had known him grew dim and tomb-like. The +wealth which had doubtless been his main object, became worthless in +her eyes. The chill materialism with which he had imbued her mind, in +place of the more rationalistic creed of her father, made all things +ring hollow to her touch. The charm of Italy was gone; its sky had +faded, its atmosphere was as heavy with the weight of a dead Past as +her own heart. She longed for a new sky above, new earth below, new +air to breathe, a new life to live. She longed, too,--poor, empty +heart! poor, hungry soul!--for something to love and to reverence, +though she was scarcely conscious of it; she knew only that she had a +deep thirst which nothing quenched. + +To settle herself near her one intimate friend, Coralie Youle; to +reassume her maiden name, since she had no right to that of Roy, and +only wanted to forget that of Roath; to lead the simple, free, +independent life of an artist, without hampering ties, duties, or +responsibilities;--this was the shape into which her longing finally +crystallized. Art had been her idol when Love came to dethrone it; she +had not had time to tire of it, to learn how inevitably it, also, +resolves itself into dust, unless breathed upon by a spirit Divine. So +she came to Savalla, and was brought into contact with Bergan and his +firm, frank Christian faith,--which it was impossible to contemn, being +joined to an intellect so strong and fine, and a life so noble. So she +found her aunt, and saw how even the Valley of Shadow was made radiant +by the gladness of her Christian hope. Thus her scepticism was at +first melted by the sunshine, rather than worsted by force of arms. By +and by, however, she dared Bergan to controversy, and found that she +had met her master. Not for nothing had he been beaten in many of his +battles with Doctor Remy; he had since made it his business to be able +to give good reasons for the hope that was in him. He could now make +it manifest that Christian Faith had quite as much to say for herself +as infidel doubt, and could say it quite as clearly, logically, and +cogently. Mind and heart opened, at last, to receive the heavenly +guest, under whose fair, white garments, Diva now knew, was sometimes +hidden a coat of wrought mail that no sword could pierce, and who, +although she had wings to soar beyond the stars, had also feet to plant +firmly on the rock of truth. + +Finally, she had learned the identity of Edmund Roath and Felix Remy by +means of a sketch accidentally discovered in Astra's portfolio; she +wondered that she had not suspected it before, seeing how plainly he +had left his evil mark on Astra's mind. She was glad to think that she +had been instrumental in obliterating it; he himself having helped to +fit her for the work. Meanwhile, he had married Astra's friend. What +was her duty in this case; to speak, or to be silent? Silence was the +pleasanter thing, speech might be the only right thing. Sharp was the +conflict, puzzling the controversy. It was not decided until she +happened to meet Hubert Arling, and learned in what search he was +engaged, and what state of things existed in Berganton. Then, moved by +gratitude to Bergan, she had sought Carice. + +But what was the meaning of it all? Reared in faithlessness, she had +been led to faith. Proud, she had been humbled. Wedded to Edmund +Roath, she had been made to follow in his track, and undo, in some +degree, his wicked work. So much was plain, even now; the rest would +be read, in time. But oh! the mystery, the wonder, of that overruling +Providence, who caught up man's wilful designs, ere they were out of +his hands, and turned them to His own vast purposes! + +A light footstep fell behind her. Turning, she beheld Carice's soft +eyes,--eyes which, she thought half-enviously, showed so plainly that +they had never looked upward through the smoked glass of doubt, to +divest the sun of his glory, the sky of its blue, and call it seeing +more clear. + +"We have been talking of you," said Carice, with gentle directness. + +Diva smiled faintly. "I thought you would have pleasanter topics," she +answered, half-absently, half-sadly. + +"Where could we have found them?" asked Carice, earnestly. "Oh, Diva, +you will never know--we shall never be able to tell you--what we think +of you! But, Bergan says this search after the doctor must be stopped +at once." + +"He is very kind," replied Diva, quietly; "I understand what he would +spare me. Tell him to give himself no disquietude on that head. I +dare not lift a finger to stay the feet of justice, if I could; I can +bear whatever Providence sends. But my dread is not the expiation of +the scaffold, but the finding of no space for repentance. My +conviction is strong that--my husband will never be taken alive." + +The quick tears came into Carice's sympathetic eyes; but Diva only +fixed her sad, calm gaze on the shining river, and saw in it, perhaps, +the River of Life, "proceeding out of the throne of God." After +victory is peace. + + + + +XI. + +FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. + +Bergan now mended rapidly; a mind and heart at ease are excellent +medicines. In a few days it was pronounced safe to remove him to +Oakstead. Here he was informed of the strange disappearance of Maumer +Rue. + +"Her grandson, Brick, was at the cabin two or three times," said Mr. +Bergan, "when you were too ill to allow his admittance. He is here +now, and very anxious to see you. May he come in?" + +Brick, being admitted, burst into tears. He was glad to see his +beloved master, but his heart and mind were heavily burdened. When he +had last seen his grandmother, she had told him that she was going on a +long journey, and should not return; but she had charged him solemnly +to say nothing of this communication to anybody but Bergan; who, she +averred, would return in good time. Then he was to bid him, in her +name, to "seek and find;" she had added, that he would know where to +look. + +Bergan started up with a face of alarm. "I must go at once," he ex +claimed; "I am afraid it is already too late!" + +"But you are not strong enough," remonstrated Mr. Bergan. "Tell us +where to look, we will go in your stead." + +"I would gladly do so, if I knew how," answered Bergan, "but I am not +certain that I can find the place myself; I never saw it but once, and +then it was in the night. At the worst, however, we can cut a way into +it. Come, uncle; come, Hubert, you will both be needed; and we ought +to have a doctor, too. The secret--for there is one--has long been +kept, but it must needs out now; and it is as well that it should, the +day of such things is over." + +The carriage was ordered, and having set down the three gentlemen at +the Hall, went after Doctor Gerrish. + +Bergan, meanwhile, sought for the hidden spring. It required some time +and thought before he found and pressed it. The secret chamber being +then exposed to view, Rue was discovered sitting at the massive +secretary, in a large arm-chair, with her head bowed on her folded +hands. She was dead; Doctor Gerrish affirmed that she had been so for +some days. Ample provision of food and water was near; she had died a +perfectly natural and peaceful death, from the infirmities of old age. +It was apparent that she had deliberately chosen this spot for her +death-chamber. But why? That was a mystery. + +It was soon solved. As they gently raised the body to lay it on the +same bed where her master, and so many of his race had slept their last +sleep before her, a folded paper dropped from her clasped hands, and +fell at Bergan's feet. He picked it up, glanced at it, and laid it on +the desk without a word. There was that in his face, however, which +made Hubert also look at it; and straightway he held it up to view with +the triumphant exclamation: + +"The lost will, gentlemen, the lost will! Bergan, let me be the first +to congratulate you." + +It was easy to understand now, that, feeling her last hour at hand, and +knowing that no will left anywhere in the Hall, or in her own cabin, +would be likely to escape Doctor Remy's destructive touch, she had +taken this method of fulfilling her master's last command: + +"See that Harry has Bergan Hall. Give this will into his own hands, +and no one's else. I trust none of them but you." + +Well might he trust her! Almost a century of loyal service had she +given to him and his house, ready at any time, if need be, to lay down +her life for their sake. Well might Bergan give her tender, honorable +burial, and cause to be graven deep on her tombstone: + +FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH. + + * * * * * + +Hubert Arling wooed and won Coralie Youle. His strong likeness to his +brother first found him favor in her eyes; by and by, she would have +been amazed to be told that she had ever cared for him, except on his +own sufficient account. + +Diva Thane and Astra Lyte went to Italy, for some years, to give +Astra's genius fit food and training. The direction of its future +labors was settled. She would spend her life and strength in the +service of Christian art, trying to lose all thought of self in that of +consecration, and counting her work successful, though it never left +her studio, nor brought her either money or fame, if only it lifted the +minds of those who contemplated it to a point above itself, to a +loftier standard of living, a clearer conception of the beauty of +holiness, a more earnest aspiration after the glory that "shall be." +On her return, she brought with her a Saint Christopher that satisfied +even Carice. The giant was kneeling before the Wondrous Child, who had +at once so burdened him, and so strengthened him to bear; his face was +full of awe and love; he recognized his Lord; he had found the King who +alone was worthy of his service, and whom alone he was content to serve. + +As for Diva, there are sisters of charity, who wear no distinctive +garments, save patience and faith. A gentleman once said to Bergan, +admiring her stately beauty, "She should be a queen." "She is a +queen," was the quick reply, "a queen according to the Gospel pattern, +'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.'" + +In due time, Bergan restored the old Hall, although not without +reducing somewhat of its ostentatious size by cutting down the long +wings, and with no extravagant outlay. He had learned that the +inevitable, and probably healthful, tendency of property in this +country, is to division. The larger and costlier the dwelling, beyond +a certain extent, the more sure it is to prove too heavy a burden for +some inheritor, and the less likely to go down in a direct line. The +man who would have his name live, must link it with some institution +more imperishable than a family home. First of all, therefore, Bergan +took care to embody in carven stone and jewelled glass that fair vision +which he had seen on his first visit to the Berganton church. This +being done, we may be sure that his more personal dreams of happiness +and honor came true, also. + +A fair and gracious wife and mother was Carice! She never lost the +flower-like grace and purity of her girlhood, nor her rare power of +seeing straight to the central truth of things. "It is said that I +have lost a year of my life," he once remarked; "it is the year that I +count most truly saved." + +Richard Causton, having learned, through his forced abstinence during +his long, lonely watch over Bergan, that existence was possible without +alcoholic stimulant, and being helped by Bergan's steady friendship and +countenance, made a determined effort at reformation, and succeeded, +though not without a sore struggle, and many lapses. The last of his +backslidings was made memorable by the following incident. + +Going too near the edge of the excavation aforementioned, he slipped +and fell over, displacing some of the sand at the foot of the bank by +his weight, which had also been much washed by a recent heavy rain. +Struggling to his feet, he was horrified to see a skeleton hand +pointing at him from the base of the precipice. He fled, without +stopping to look behind him; but his story set other and acuter minds +to work, as well as, a little later, two or three careful spades; and +the body of Edmund Roath was exhumed, and the mystery of his +disappearance was explained. The sand had suddenly caved in, under his +weight, and buried him, as he fell. His flight had been short, in one +sense; far, very far, in another. Had he witnessed such a termination +to another's career, he would, doubtless, have termed it Chance, or +Fate; but those who stood around his dead, shrunken body, with its +sunken eyes and its uplifted hands, looked awe-stricken in each other's +faces, and solemnly whispered, "Providence." Nevertheless, some simple +souls murmured that he had escaped just punishment. "Do you think so?" +asked Mr. Islay. "So would not he who said 'It is a fearful thing to +fall into the hands of the living God.' Be thankful, rather, that +justice to the guilty is so tempered with mercy to the innocent. An +earthly scaffold would not have added one straw's weight to the despair +of that miserable soul, when he stood on the brink of death, and knew +that his failure was complete for time and eternity, but it would have +been a heavy burden to certain gentle hearts. It is they who have +escaped, not he. Where the cords of his sins do not hold a man to a +godly sorrow, they must needs hold him to a righteous retribution." + +Richard Causton's old age had something of the mellow sweetness of a +late, frost-bitten apple, such as is occasionally plucked from the tree +in midwinter. He lived to teach Bergan's eldest son many of his +favorite proverbs, in their many tongues, but he constantly impressed +upon him that the truest, most significant, most solemn of them all was +one from Holy Writ: + +"HE SHALL BE HOLDEN WITH THE CORDS OF HIS SINS." + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Holden with the Cords, by W. M. L. Jay + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 56980 *** |