THE DIE IS CAST.
Lucian Davlin paced the platform of the Bellair depot, in a very
unpleasant frame of mind.
His companion,--half servant, half confederate, wholly and entirely a
rascal,--discerning his mood and, as ever, adapting himself to it, had
withdrawn to a respectful distance. Only the shine of his cigar,
glowing through the darkness, betokened his proximity, or the fact
that the dark platform was not in the sole possession of the sullen
man who paced its brief length, and questioned the Fate in which he
trusted, and which, for once, had played him a sorry trick.
[Illustration: "Gad! to be baffled like this!"--page 46.]
He had been deceived by a mere school-girl. She had not even deigned
him a farewell word. He had lost a fair prize.
"Gad!" he muttered, biting viciously at his cigar, "to be baffled like
this; to lose that little beauty; to be foiled like a moon-struck
idiot and never know how or why! I can't write her, with that cursed
old step-father to interfere. I can't return again very soon. And she
_is_ such a little beauty!"
He paused at the end of the darkened platform, and looked down the
track; in the direction of the grove where they had met, and of
Madeline's home. It was almost time for the train. At the upper end of
the platform, the station master flashed his lantern, tumbled the
luggage closer to the track and examined the checks critically; while
the Man of Tact came out from his retirement and overlooked the
proceeding.
Something was coming down the track, swiftly, silently. He could just
discern a shape moving toward him. It came nearer, and he moved up a
few paces, and turned again where the lantern's rays fell upon him. It
came nearer yet and paused in the shadow. It was a woman's form, and
it beckoned. He approached carelessly.
"Lucian!" She came close to him, and placed her hand upon his arm,
drawing her breath hard and quick.
He drew her farther into the shadow and clasped his arms about her.
"Little one! You have walked fast,--how your heart beats! I had given
you up. Is it 'good by,' dear?"
She silently held up the little chatelaine, which he felt rather than
saw, and took from her hand. In the darkness, he smiled again the old
exultant smile not good to see, and pressing her closer in his arms,
said:
"Don't try to talk, sweet one; see, yonder comes our fiery horse and
soon we will be far on our way. Take my arm, little one, and trust him
who loves you. Look your last at the scene of your past
loneliness,--to-morrow comes the gay world."
Rattling and shrieking, the train approached. Lucian hurried his
companion upon the rear platform; and neither his comrade, who entered
the smoking car without looking about him, nor the station master,
busy with his trunks and valises, observed that a third passenger
quitted Bellair station on the night express.
About them, the passengers nodded, yawned or slept. Outside, swiftly
passing darkness. And every moment was hurrying her farther and
farther away from all familiar scenes and objects, out to a life all
untried, a world all new and strange. But she never thought of this.
She was not elated, neither was she cast down. She felt no fear;--and,
afterwards, she remembered that she indulged in no bright visions of
the future during her swift flight.
She had prepared herself to relate her story, to describe the scene
she had just passed through, to tell him all. But he had other things
to occupy his mind, and bidding her to rest and save all she might
have to relate until the morrow, he relapsed into silence and thought,
only now and then gently speaking a word, and looking after her
comfort with a happy grace possessed by few, and so powerful in the
winning of a woman.
On, on, through the black night--youth and age, joy and sorrow, hope
and despair, good and evil; on together through the night; on, on.
Near to the great city; near to the welcome, dark or bright, awaiting
the journey's end. Blacker grew the night, wilder shrieked the wind in
angry protest against the defiant, fiery, resistless monster upon
whom its rage fell impotent. Now pausing; now rushing on with a shriek
and a roar; nearer, nearer to the scene of the new life, dawning
grimly upon the fair girl, all unconscious, unheeding.
They halted at a wayside station--just one of those little hamlets
only a few miles removed from, and really a part of the great city.
One passenger came on board, sauntering down the coach's length
listlessly, wearily. He threw himself into a reversed seat in a half
reclining attitude, and so his careless, wandering gaze fell first
upon Madeline, seated opposite and very near.
She sees him just as she sees the rest, vaguely. She remembers, later,
that he had a good face and that she had thought it then. But confused
and wearied in mind and body, she feels no inclination to observe or
think. So they were hurried on, and no whisper of her heart, no
quickening of the pulses, or sensation of joy or fear, warned her that
she was sitting under the gaze and in the presence of the good and the
evil forces that were to compass and shape her life.
Open your eyes, oh, Madeline, before it is too late. See the snare
that is spreading beneath your feet; read aright the bright glance
that shines on you from those handsome, fateful eyes. Interpret truly
the smile turned on you now. Alas! what woman ever saw guile in the
eyes of the man she loved? Never one, until those eyes have ceased to
smile upon her, and her fate is sealed. What one ever yet recognized
the false ring of the voice that had never, as yet, addressed her save
in honeyed tones, that seemed earth's sweetest music to her ears?
None, until the voice had changed and forgotten its love words; none,
until it was too late.
What Madeline saw, was a man who was to her the embodiment of all
manly grace, her all of joy and love, of truth and trust. And, sitting
opposite, just a young man with fair curling hair, and frank blue
eyes; with a fine manly face, and an air of refinement. A very nice
young man; but not like her hero.
Not like her hero? No, thank heaven for that, Madeline, else your way
would have been far more drear, else your life might have known never
a ray of sunlight, in the long days to come.
On, on; nearer and yet nearer the long journey's end. Both thinking of
her, but how differently!
One pityingly, sadly, fearing for her fate, longing to save her from
the precipice which she could not see and still wear that look of
sweet trustfulness.
One triumphantly, as of a fair prize gained; a new tribute to his
power and strength; another smile from Chance; one more proof that he
was a favored one of Fortune, and that life ever gave him good things
from out the very best.
They are very near their journey's end now, and Lucian Davlin whispers
briefly to Madeline, and lounges out to give some necessary directions
to the neglected companion of his wanderings.
Hastily the young man opposite rises, and crossing to Madeline bends
over her, speaking hurriedly.
"Pardon me, madame, but are you a stranger to the city?"
"Yes." After giving her answer she wonders why she did it, remembering
that it is from a stranger the question comes, and that it is
therefore an impertinence.
"I thought as much!"--the blue eyes look troubled, and the manly voice
hurries on. "The time may come, I hope it will not, when you will need
a friend. If so, this card bears my address,--take it, keep it, and
believe me, I speak from honest motives and a desire to serve you."
He drops a card in her lap, and as she makes a gesture of repulsion,
he says, entreatingly: "Take it; _in the name of your mother_ I ask
it."
She snatches up the card impulsively, and looks for one moment
straight in his eyes. Then drawing a long sighing breath says, simply,
"I will," and turns away as she puts it in her pocket, never so much
as glancing at it.
"Thank you." He lifts his hat, and resumes his seat and his former
attitude just as Lucian reappears.
Now all was bustle and confusion, the journey's end was reached; and
through the hurrying, jostling crowd, past flickering lamps, and
sleepy guards, they went under the dusky arches of the mammoth city
station, out among the bawling 'bus drivers and brawling hackmen, past
them, until a carriage, that seemed to be in waiting for them just
beyond the noisy crowd, was reached. Stepping into this, they were
about to drive away when, in the shadow, and very near them, Madeline
discerned the form of the Unknown of the railway train. Then Lucian
gave the order from the carriage window, and they rolled away.
The man in the shadow heard, and stepping into the nearest carriage,
repeated the order given by Lucian the moment before, adding: "Quick;
don't lose a moment!"
And thus it was that a carriage passed swiftly by that which contained
Davlin and his companion, and the flash of their vehicle's lamp showed
Madeline the face looking from its window.
Again that face seen in the shadow--how strange, thought she; but her
lover was speaking and she forgot all else.
[Illustration: "Take it; _in the name of your mother_ I ask it.--page
50.]
"Darling, I must leave you soon. I came up to-night on a matter of
business, and to meet a friend who will leave to-morrow early. I must
therefore keep my appointment to-night, late as it is; or rather this
morning, for it is midnight and past. You will not be afraid, dear,
left alone for a little while in a great hotel?"
"I am not afraid, Lucian, but--"
"But lonely; is that it? Well, sweetheart, it's only for a little
while, and to-morrow I will come for you, and all shall be arranged.
We'll have no more separations then. Rest well and at noon to-morrow
be ready; I will be with you then. Meantime, your every want will be
supplied, and let the morrow find my little treasure bright-eyed and
blooming."
"Oh, Lucian, Lucian! how strange this seems. I can't realize it at
all."
He laughed lightly. "Not afraid, little one?"
"Not afraid, Lucian, no; but I can't explain or describe my feelings.
I suppose I need rest; that is all."
"That is all, depend upon it; and here we are. One kiss, Madeline, the
last till to-morrow."
He folded her tenderly in his arms, and then sprang lightly from the
carriage.
Up and down, far as the eye could see, the street lamps glittered, and
as Madeline stepped from the carriage she observed another roll away.
High above her loomed the great hotel, and after midnight though it
was, all here was life and bustle. The scene was novel to the half
bewildered girl. Clinging to her lover's arm, she entered the
reception-room and, sitting opposite the door, saw a form pass in the
direction Lucian had taken, as he went to register her name and order
for her "all that the house could afford."
"I did not give your real name, because of your step-father, you
know," said Lucian, upon his return. "I registered you as Miss Weir,
that name being the first to occur to me."
She looked a trifle disturbed, but said nothing. A few words more and
a servant appeared.
"To conduct you to your room," said Lucian.
Together they moved towards the door; there he lifted his hat, with
profound courtesy, and said in a very audible tone: "Good-night, Miss
Weir; I will call to-morrow noon; pleasant dreams."
"To-morrow noon," she echoed.
As she watched his retreating figure, another passed her; a man who,
meeting her eye, lifted _his_ hat and passed out.
"He again!" whispered the girl to herself; "how very strange."
Alone in her room, the face of this man looked at her again, and
sitting down, she said, wearily: "Who is he? what does he mean? His
name--I'll look at the card."
Taking it from her pocket, she read aloud: Clarence Vaughan, M. D.,
No. 430 B---- street.
"Clarence Vaughan, M. D.," she repeated. "What did he mean? I must
tell Lucian to-morrow; to-night I am too weary to think. Search for
me, John Arthur; find me if you can! To-morrow--what will it bring, I
wonder?"
Weary one, rest, for never again will you sleep so innocently, so free
from care as now. Sleep well, nor dream!
She slept. Of the three who had been brought into contact thus
strangely, Madeline slept most soundly and dreamed the brighter
dreams.
It was the last ray of her sunlight; when the day dawned, her night
began.