“I have watched you, tried to tell you where to look, for you
have not found my warning yet, though I often tie it there and
hope. You fear the dog, perhaps, and my plot fails; yet I know
by your altered step and voice that you are fast reaching my
unhappy state; for I am fitfully mad, and shall be till I die.
To-day I have seen a familiar face; it seems to have calmed and
strengthened me, and, though he would not help you, I shall make
one desperate attempt. I may not find you, so leave my warning
to the hound, yet hope to breathe a word into your sleepless ear
that shall send you back into the world the happy thing you
should be. Child! woman! whatever you are, leave this accursed
house while you have power to do it.”
That was all; I did not destroy the papers, but I obeyed them, and for a
week watched and waited till the propitious instant came. I saw my
uncle, the doctor, and two others, follow the poor body to its grave
beside the lake, saw all depart but Dr. Karnac, and felt redoubled
hatred and contempt for the men who could repay my girlish slights with
such a horrible revenge. On the seventh day, as I went down for my daily
walk, I saw John and Dr. Karnac so deep in some uncanny experiment that
I passed out unguarded. Hoping to profit by this unexpected chance, I
sprang down the steps, but the next moment dropped half-stunned upon the
grass; for behind me rose a crash, a shriek, a sudden blaze that flashed
up and spread, sending a noisome vapor rolling out with clouds of smoke
and flame. Aghast, I was just gathering myself up, when Hannah fled out
of the house, dragging her husband senseless and bleeding, while her own
face was ashy with affright. She dropped her burden beside me, saying,
with white lips and a vain look for help where help was not,—
“Something they were at has burst, killed the doctor, and fired the
house! Watch John till I get help, and leave him at your peril!” then
flinging open the gate she sped away.
“Now is my time,” I thought, and only waiting till she vanished, I
boldly followed her example, running rapidly along the road in an
opposite direction, careless of bonnetless head and trembling limbs,
intent only upon leaving that prison-house far behind me. For several
hours I hurried along that solitary road; the spring sun shone, birds
sang in the blooming hedges, green nooks invited me to pause and rest,
but I heeded none of them, steadily continuing my flight, till spent and
footsore I was forced to stop a moment by a wayside spring. As I stooped
to drink, I saw my face for the first time in many months, and started
to see how like that dead one it had grown, in all but the eternal peace
which made that beautiful in spite of suffering and age. Standing thus
and wondering if Guy would know me, should we ever meet, the sound of
wheels disturbed me. Believing them to be coming from the place I had
left, I ran desperately down the hill, turned a sharp corner, and before
I could check myself passed a carriage slowly ascending. A face sprang
to the window, a voice cried “Stop!” but on I flew, hoping the traveller
would let me go unpursued. Not so, however; soon I heard fleet steps
following, gaining rapidly, then a hand seized me, a voice rang in my
ears, and with a vain struggle I lay panting in my captor’s hold,
fearing to look up and meet a brutal glance. But the hand that had
seized me tenderly drew me close, the voice that had alarmed cried
joyfully,—
“Sybil, it is Guy! lie still, poor child, you are safe at last.”
Then I knew that my surest refuge was gained, and, too weak for words,
clung to him in an agony of happiness, which brought to his kind eyes
the tears I could not shed.
The carriage returned; Guy took me in, and for a time cared only to
soothe and sustain my worn soul and body with the cordial of his
presence, as we rolled homeward through a blooming world, whose beauty I
had never truly felt before. When the first tumult of emotion had
subsided, I told the story of my captivity and my escape, ending with a
passionate entreaty not to be returned to my uncle’s keeping, for
henceforth there could be neither affection nor respect between us.
“Fear nothing, Sybil; madame is waiting for you at the Moors, and my
father’s unfaithful guardianship has ended with his life.”
Then with averted face and broken voice Guy went on to tell his father’s
purposes, and what had caused this unexpected meeting. The facts were
briefly these: The knowledge that my father had come between him and a
princely fortune had always rankled in my uncle’s heart, chilling the
ambitious hopes he cherished even in his boyhood, and making life an
eager search for pleasure in which to drown his vain regrets. This
secret was suspected by my father, and the household league was formed
as some atonement for the innocent offence. It seemed to soothe my
uncle’s resentful nature, and as years went on he lived freely, assured
that ample means would be his through his son. Luxurious,
self-indulgent, fond of all excitements, and reckless in their pursuit,
he took no thought for the morrow till a few months before his return. A
gay winter in Paris reduced him to those straits of which women know so
little; creditors were oppressive, summer friends failed him, gambling
debts harassed him, his son reproached him, and but one resource
remained, Guy’s speedy marriage with the half-forgotten heiress. The boy
had been educated to regard this fate as a fixed fact, and submitted,
believing the time to be far distant; but the sudden summons came, and
he rebelled against it, preferring liberty to love. My uncle pacified
the claimants by promises to be fulfilled at my expense, and hurried
home to press on the marriage, which now seemed imperative. I was taken
to my future home, approved by my uncle, beloved by my cousin, and, but
for my own folly, might have been a happy wife on that May morning when
I listened to this unveiling of the past. My mother had been melancholy
mad since that unhappy rumor of my father’s death; this affliction had
been well concealed from me, lest the knowledge should prey upon my
excitable nature and perhaps induce a like misfortune. I believed her
dead, yet I had seen her, knew where her solitary grave was made, and
still carried in my bosom the warning she had sent me, prompted by the
unerring instinct of a mother’s heart. In my father’s will a clause was
added just below the one confirming my betrothal, a clause decreeing
that, if it should appear that I inherited my mother’s malady, the
fortune should revert to my cousin, with myself a mournful legacy, to be
cherished by him whether his wife or not. This passage, and that
relating to my freedom of choice, had been omitted in the copy shown me
on the night when my seeming refusal of Guy had induced his father to
believe that I loved him, to make a last attempt to keep the prize by
offering himself, and, when that failed, to harbor a design that changed
my little comedy into the tragical experience I have told.
Dr. Karnac’s exclamation had caused the recollection of that clause
respecting my insanity to flash into my uncle’s mind,—a mind as quick to
conceive as fearless to execute. I unconsciously abetted the stratagem,
and Dr. Karnac was an unscrupulous ally, for love of gain was as strong
as love of science; both were amply gratified, and I, poor victim, was
given up to be experimented upon, till by subtle means I was driven to
the insanity which would give my uncle full control of my fortune and my
fate. How the black plot prospered has been told; but retribution
speedily overtook them both, for Dr. Karnac paid his penalty by the
sudden death that left his ashes among the blackened ruins of that house
of horrors, and my uncle had preceded him. For before the change of
heirs could be effected my mother died, and the hours spent in that
unhealthful spot insinuated the subtle poison of the marsh into his
blood; years of pleasure left little vigor to withstand the fever, and a
week of suffering ended a life of generous impulses perverted, fine
endowments wasted, and opportunities for ever lost. When death drew
near, he sent for Guy (who, through the hard discipline of poverty and
honest labor, was becoming a manlier man), confessed all, and implored
him to save me before it was too late. He did, and when all was told,
when each saw the other by the light of this strange and sad
experience,—Guy poor again, I free, the old bond still existing, the
barrier of misunderstanding gone,—it was easy to see our way, easy to
submit, to forgive, forget, and begin anew the life these clouds had
darkened for a time.
Home received me, kind madame welcomed me, Guy married me, and I was
happy; but over all these years, serenely prosperous, still hangs for me
the shadow of the past, still rises that dead image of my mother, still
echoes that spectral whisper in the dark.