"My father died when I was only a young girl. We had not much money, and
my mother's older brother took us to his home to live. My mother was his
youngest sister, and he loved her more than any one else living. There was
another sister, a half-sister, much older than my mother, and she had one
son. He was a sulky, handsome boy, with a selfish, cruel nature. He seemed
to be happy only when he was tormenting some one. He used to come to
Uncle's to visit when I was there, and he delighted in annoying me. He
stretched barbed wire where he knew I was going to pass in the dark, to
throw me down and tear my clothes. He threw a quantity of burrs in my
hair, and once he led me into a hornet's nest. After we went to live at my
uncle's, Richard was not there so much. He had displeased my uncle, and he
sent him away to school; but at vacation times he came again, and kept the
house in discomfort. He seemed always to have a special spite against me.
Once he broke a rare Dresden vase that Uncle prized, and told him I had
done it.
"Mother did not live long after Father died, and after she was gone, I had
no one to stand between me and Richard. Sometimes I had to tell my uncle,
but oftener I tried to bear it, because I knew Richard was already a great
distress to him.
"At last Richard was expelled from college, and Uncle was so angry with
him that he told him he would do nothing more for him. He must go to work.
Richard's father and mother had not much money, and there were other
children to support. Richard threatened me with all sorts of awful things
if I did not coax Uncle to take him back into his good graces again. I
told him I would not say a word to Uncle. He was very angry and swore at
me. When I tried to leave the room he locked the door and would not let me
go until I screamed for help. Then he almost choked me, but when he heard
Uncle coming he jumped out of the window. The next day he forged a check
in my uncle's name, and tried to throw suspicion on me, but he was
discovered, and my uncle disinherited him. Uncle had intended to educate
Richard and start him well in life, but now he would have nothing further
to do with him. It seemed to work upon my uncle's health, all the disgrace
to the family name, although no one ever thought of my uncle in connection
with blame. As he paid Richard's debts, it was not known what the boy had
done, except by the banker, who was a personal friend.
"We went abroad then, and everywhere Uncle amused himself by putting me
under the best music masters, and giving me all possible advantages in
languages, literature, and art. Three years ago he died at Carlsbad, and
after his death I went back to my music studies, following his wishes in
the matter, and staying with a dear old lady in Vienna, who had been kind
to us when we were there before.
"As soon as my uncle's death was known at home, Richard wrote the most
pathetic letter to me, professing deep contrition, and saying he could
never forgive himself for having quarrelled with his dear uncle. He had a
sad tale of how the business that he had started had failed and left him
with debts. If he had only a few hundred dollars, he could go on with it
and pay off everything. He said I had inherited all that would have been
his if he had done right, and he recognized the justice of it, but begged
that I would lend him a small sum until he could get on his feet, when he
would repay me.
"I had little faith in his reformation, but felt as if I could not refuse
him when I was enjoying what might have been his, so I sent him all the
money I had at hand. As I was not yet of age, I could not control all the
property, but my allowance was liberal. Richard continued to send me
voluminous letters, telling of his changed life, and finally asked me to
marry him. I declined emphatically, but he continued to write for money,
always ending with a statement of his undying affection. In disgust, I at
last offered to send him a certain sum of money regularly if he would stop
writing to me on this subject, and finally succeeded in reducing our
correspondence to a check account. This has been going on for three
years, except that he has been constantly asking for larger sums, and
whenever I would say that I could not spare more just then he would begin
telling me how much he cared for me, and how hard it was for him to be
separated from me. I began to feel desperate about him, and made up my
mind that when I received the inheritance I should ask the lawyers to make
some arrangement with him by which I should no longer be annoyed.
"It was necessary for me to return to America when I came of age, in order
to sign certain papers and take full charge of the property. Richard knew
this. He seems to have had some way of finding out everything my uncle
did.
"He wrote telling me of a dear friend of his mother, who was soon to pass
through Vienna, and who by some misfortune had been deprived of a position
as companion and chaperon to a young girl who was travelling. He said it
had occurred to him that perhaps he could serve us both by suggesting to
me that she be my travelling companion on the voyage. He knew I would not
want to travel alone, and he sent her address and all sorts of
credentials, with a message from his mother that she would feel perfectly
safe about me if I went in this woman's guardianship.
"I really did need a travelling companion, of course, having failed to get
my dear old lady to undertake the voyage, so I thought it could do no
harm. I went to see her, and found her pretty and frail and sad. She made
a piteous appeal to me, and though I was not greatly taken with her, I
decided she would do as well as any one for a companion.
"She did not bother me during the voyage, but fluttered about and was
quite popular on board, especially with a tall, disagreeable man with a
cruel jaw and small eyes, who always made me feel as if he would gloat
over any one in his power. I found out that he was a physician, a
specialist in mental diseases, so Mrs. Chambray told me, and she talked a
great deal about his skill and insight into such maladies.
"At New York my cousin Richard met us and literally took possession of us.
Without my knowledge, the cruel-looking doctor was included in the party.
I did not discover it until we were on the train, bound, as I supposed,
for my old home just beyond Buffalo. It was some time since I had been in
New York, and I naturally did not notice much which way we were going. The
fact was, every plan was anticipated, and I was told that all arrangements
had been made. Mrs. Chambray began to treat me like a little child and
say: 'You see we are going to take good care of you, dear, so don't worry
about a thing.'
"I had taken the drawing-room compartment, not so much because I had a
headache, as I told them, as because I wanted to get away from their
society. My cousin's marked devotion became painful to me. Then, too, the
attentions and constant watchfulness of the disagreeable doctor became
most distasteful.
"We had been sitting on the observation platform, and it was late in the
afternoon, when I said I was going to lie down, and the two men got up to
go into the smoker. In spite of my protests, Mrs. Chambray insisted upon
following me in, to see that I was perfectly comfortable. She fussed
around me, covering me up and offering smelling salts and eau de cologne
for my head. I let her fuss, thinking that was the quickest way to get rid
of her. I closed my eyes, and she said she would go out to the observation
platform. I lay still for awhile, thinking about her and how much I wanted
to get rid of her. She acted as if she had been engaged to stay with me
forever, and it suddenly became very plain to me that I ought to have a
talk with her and tell her that I should need her services no longer after
this journey was over. It might make a difference to her if she knew it at
once, and perhaps now would be as good a time to talk as any, for she was
probably alone out on the platform. I got up and made a few little changes
in my dress, for it would soon be time to go into the dining-car. Then I
went out to the observation platform, but she was not there. The chairs
were all empty, so I chose the one next to the railing, away from the car
door, and sat down to wait for her, thinking she would soon be back.
"We were going very fast, through a pretty bit of country. It was dusky
and restful out there, so I leaned back and closed my eyes. Presently I
heard voices approaching, above the rumble of the train, and, peeping
around the doorway, I saw Mrs. Chambray, Richard, and the doctor coming
from the other car. I kept quiet, hoping they would not come out, and they
did not. They settled down near the door, and ordered the porter to put up
a table for them to play cards.
"The train began to slow down, and finally came to a halt for a longer
time on a sidetrack, waiting for another train to pass. I heard Richard
ask where I was. Mrs. Chambray said laughingly that I was safely asleep.
Then, before I realized it, they began to talk about me. It happened there
were no other passengers in the car. Richard asked Mrs. Chambray if she
thought I had any suspicion that I was not on the right train, and she
said, 'Not the slightest,' and then by degrees there floated to me through
the open door the most diabolical plot I had ever heard of. I gathered
from it that we were on the way to Philadelphia, would reach there in a
little while, and would then proceed to a place near Washington, where the
doctor had a private insane asylum, and where I was to be shut up. They
were going to administer some drug that would make me unconscious when I
was taken off the train. If they could not get me to take it for the
headache I had talked about, Mrs. Chambray was to manage to get it into my
food or give it to me when asleep. Mrs. Chambray, it seems, had not known
the entire plot before leaving Europe, and this was their first chance of
telling her. They thought I was safely in my compartment, asleep, and she
had gone into the other car to give the signal as soon as she thought she
had me where I would not get up again for a while.
"They had arranged every detail. Richard had been using as models the
letters I had written him for the last three years, and had constructed a
set of love letters from me to him, in perfect imitation of my
handwriting. They compared the letters and read snatches of the sentences
aloud. The letters referred constantly to our being married as soon as I
should return from abroad, and some of them spoke of the money as
belonging to us both, and that now it would come to its own without any
further trouble.
"They even exhibited a marriage certificate, which, from what they said,
must have been made out with our names, and Mrs. Chambray and the doctor
signed their names as witnesses. As nearly as I could make out, they were
going to use this as evidence that Richard was my husband, and that he had
the right to administer my estate during the time that I was incapable.
They had even arranged that a young woman who was hopelessly insane should
take my place when the executors of the estate came to see me, if they
took the trouble to do that. As it was some years since either of them had
seen me, they could easily have been deceived. And for their help Mrs.
Chambray and the doctor were to receive a handsome sum.
"I could scarcely believe my ears at first. It seemed to me that I must be
mistaken, that they could not be talking about me. But my name was
mentioned again and again, and as each link in the horrible plot was made
plain to me, my terror grew so great that I was on the verge of rushing
into the car and calling for the conductor and porter to help me. But
something held me still, and I heard Richard say that he had just informed
the trainmen that I was insane, and that they need not be surprised if I
had to be restrained. He had told them that I was comparatively harmless,
but he had no doubt that the conductor had whispered it to our
fellow-passengers in the car, which explained their prolonged absence in
the smoker. Then they all laughed, and it seemed to me that the cover to
the bottomless pit was open and that I was falling in.
"I sat still, hardly daring to breathe. Then I began to go over the story
bit by bit, and to put together little things that had happened since we
landed, and even before I had left Vienna; and I saw that I was caught in
a trap. It would be no use to appeal to any one, for no one would believe
me. I looked wildly out at the ground and had desperate thoughts of
climbing over the rail and jumping from the train. Death would be better
than what I should soon have to face. My persecutors had even told how
they had deceived my friends at home by sending telegrams of my mental
condition, and of the necessity for putting me into an asylum. There would
be no hope of appealing to them for help. The only witnesses to my sanity
were far away in Vienna, and how could I reach them if I were in Richard's
power?
"I watched the names of the stations as they flew by, but it gradually
grew dark, and I could hardly make them out. I thought one looked like the
name of a Philadelphia suburb, but I could not be sure.
"I was freezing with horror and with cold, but did not dare to move, lest
I attract their attention.
"We began to rush past rows of houses, and I knew we were approaching a
city. Then, suddenly, the train slowed down and stopped, with very little
warning, as if it intended to halt only a second and then hurry on.
"There was a platform on one side of the train, but we were out beyond the
car-shed, for our train was long. I could not climb over the rail to the
platform, for I was sitting on the side away from the station, and would
have had to pass the car door in order to do so. I should be sure to be
seen.
"On the other side were a great many tracks separated by strong picket
fences as high as the car platform and close to the trains, and they
reached as far as I could see in either direction. I had no time to think,
and there was nothing I could do but climb over the rail and get across
those tracks and fences somehow.
"My hands were so cold and trembling that I could scarcely hold on to the
rail as I jumped over.
"I cannot remember how I got across. Twice I had to cling to a fence while
an express train rushed by, and the shock and noise almost stunned me. It
was a miracle that I was not killed, but I did not think of that until
afterwards. I was conscious only of the train I had left standing by the
station. I glanced back once, and thought I saw Richard come to the door
of the car. Then I stumbled on blindly. I don't remember any more until I
found myself hurrying along that dark passage under the bridge and saw you
just ahead. I was afraid to speak to you, but I did not know what else to
do, and you were so good to me----!" Her voice broke in a little sob.
All the time she had been talking, he had held her hand firmly. She had
forgotten that any one might be watching; he did not care.
The tall girl with the discontented upper lip went to the matron and told
her that she thought the man and the woman in the parlor ought to be made
to go. She believed the man was trying to coax the girl to do something
she didn't want to do. The matron started on a voyage of discovery up the
hall and down again, with penetrating glances into the room, but the two
did not see her.
"Oh, my poor dear little girl!" breathed the man. "And you have passed
through all this awful experience alone! Why did you not tell me about
it? I could have helped you. I am a lawyer."
"I thought you would be on your guard at once and watch for evidences of
my insanity. I thought perhaps you would believe it true, and would feel
it necessary to return me to my friends. I think I should have been
tempted to do that, perhaps, if any one had come to me with such a story."
"One could not do that after seeing and talking with you. I never could
have believed it. Surely no reputable physician would lend his influence
to put you in an asylum, yet I know such things have been done. Your
cousin must be a desperate character. I shall not feel safe until you
belong to me. I saw two men hanging about Mr. Phillips's house last
evening as I went in. They were looking up at the windows and talking
about keeping a close watch on some one named Mary. One of the men was
tall and slight and handsome, with dark hair and eyes; the other was
Irish, and wore a coat too large for him, and rubbers. I went back later
in the evening, and the Irishman was hovering about the house."
The girl looked up with frightened eyes and grasped the arms of her chair
excitedly.
"Will you go with me now to a church not far away, where a friend of mine
is the pastor, and be married? Then we can defy all the cousins in
creation. Can't you trust me?" he pleaded.
"Oh, yes, but----"
"Is it that you do not love me?"
"No," she said, and her eyes drooped shyly. "It seems strange that I dare
to say it to you when I have known you so little." She lifted her eyes,
full of a wonderful love light, and she was glorified to him, all meanly
dressed though she was. The smooth Madonna braids around the shapely head,
covered by the soft felt hat, seemed more beautiful to him than all the
elaborate head-dresses of modern times.
"Where is the 'but' then, dear? Shall we go now?"
"How can I go in this dress?" She looked down at her shabby shoes, rough
black gown, and cheap gloves in dismay, and a soft pink stole into her
face.
"You need not. Your own gown is out in the office in my suit-case. I
brought it with me, thinking you might need it--_hoping_ you might, I
mean;" and he smiled. "I have kept it always near me; partly because I
wanted the comfort of it, partly because I was afraid some one else might
find it, and desecrate our secret with their common-place wondering."
It was at this moment that the matron of the building stepped up to the
absorbed couple, resolved to do her duty. Her lips were pursed to their
thinnest, and displeasure was in her face.
The young man arose and asked in a grave tone:
"Excuse me, but can you tell me whether this lady can get a room here to
rest for a short time, while I go out and attend to a matter of business?"
The matron noticed his refined face and true eyes, and she accepted with a
good grace the ten-dollar bill he handed to her.
"We charge only fifty cents a night for a room," she said, glancing at the
humble garments of the man's companion. She thought the girl must be a
poor dependent or a country relative.
"That's all right," said the young man. "Just let the change help the good
work along."
That made a distinct change in the atmosphere. The matron smiled, and
retired to snub the girl with the discontented upper lip. Then she sent
the elevator boy to carry the girl's suit-case. As the matron came back to
the office, a baggy man with cushioned tires hustled out of the open door
into the street, having first cast back a keen, furtive glance that
searched every corner of the place.
"Now," said Dunham reassuringly, as the matron disappeared, "you can go up
to your room and get ready, and I will look after a few little matters. I
called on my friend, the minister, this morning, and I have looked up the
legal part of this affair. I can see that everything is all right in a few
minutes. Is there anything you would like me to do for you?"
"No," she answered, looking up half frightened; "but I am afraid I ought
not to let you do this. You scarcely know me."
"Now, dear, no more of that. We have no time to lose. How long will it
take you to get dressed? Will half an hour do? It is getting late."
"Oh, it will not take long." She caught her breath with gladness. Her
companion's voice was so strong and comforting, his face so filled with a
wonderful love, that she felt dazed with the sudden joy of it all.
The elevator boy appeared in the doorway with the familiar suit-case.
"Don't be afraid, dear heart," whispered the young man, as he attended her
to the elevator. "I'll soon be back again, and then, _then_, we shall be
together!"
It was a large front room to which the boy took her. The ten-dollar bill
had proven effective. It was not a "fifty-cents-a-night" room. Some
one--some guest or kindly patron--had put a small illuminated text upon
the wall in a neat frame. It met her eye as she entered--"Rejoice and be
glad." Just a common little picture card, it was, with a phrase that has
become trite to many, yet it seemed a message to her, and her heart leaped
to obey. She went to the window to catch a glimpse of the man who would
soon be her husband, but he was not there, and the hurrying people
reminded her that she must hasten. Across the street a slouching figure in
a baggy coat looked fixedly up and caught her glance. She trembled and
drew back out of the sunshine, remembering what Dunham had told her about
the Irishman of the night before. With a quick instinct, she drew down the
shade, and locked her door.
[Illustration]