ADÉLE.
Lord Maltravers was reading a book when the door opened and a beautiful
girl with long silky dark hair entered the room.
Her face was sad, and there were traces of tears on her pale cheeks.
Springing forward, she threw herself on her knees before him, and
seizing his hand, which she covered with kisses, exclaimed, in pathetic
tones, "Oh! Arthur, at last I have found you."
"Adéle!" he said, while a hectic flush mantled his cheek.
"Yes," she replied. "It is your own Adéle, the little girl you vowed to
love; Adéle whom you married two years ago in the little French village
in the _Pas de Calais_. Oh, Arthur! how could you desert me?"
"I--I never married you," he answered, stammering a little.
"Indeed you did."
"It was a mock marriage."
"The good _curé_ who united us is alive. He will bear evidence that I
am your wife. I, Adéle Bellefontaine, am in reality Lady Maltravers."
"It is false."
"Oh! do not repudiate me, for, darling, I love you," she pleaded. "If
you have forgotten me, I can never forget you."
"How did you find me out?"
"I read an account of your duel in the papers; they said you were ill
and suffering; I walked fifty miles to come and nurse you, because I
was too poor to ride."
"You shall have money to go home again, foolish girl," said Maltravers.
"I do not want it. All I ask is your love," replied Adéle. "Let me
have the sweet privilege of waiting upon you, Arthur. I will be your
servant, your slave. Do not, for heaven's sake, drive me from you."
Maltravers was ill at ease and could not disguise his agitation.
Two years before, as the poor girl had truly said, he had met her in a
secluded village, where he was fishing. He had married the poor peasant
girl and then basely deserted her.
Some letters he left behind revealed his true name, and at the first
chance Adéle had come to him, to beg once more for that love for which
she was pining.
It was impossible for him to acknowledge her claim or recognize her
before his friends, and for a moment he did not know what to do.
His mind, however, was soon made up; he would threaten her, deny her
story, and drive her from him.
"Rise," he exclaimed; "you are an impudent impostor. If you do
not instantly quit this room I will have you arrested. It is the
correctional tribunal which should deal with such creatures as you."
Adéle rose to her feet and clasped her head with her hands as if her
throbbing brain would burst.
Could she believe the evidence of her senses?
"My God!" she cried. "He sends me away! Does he not know that I have
a heart which will break? Are a man's vows traced upon the sand or
written in water when he tells a woman he loves her?"
"Go," continued Maltravers, sternly.
For a minute she was completely overwhelmed and stood like one in a
dream.
"Yes, I will go," she said in a choked voice. "Heaven knows whither!
The folks in my village shall never see me again, or know my shame.
I said I would go after my husband and bring him back. My father and
mother were to prepare a _fête_. That is over. I have been gathering
Dead Sea fruit. It has turned to dust in my hand. I trusted a bad man
and my punishment is more than I can bear. Yet, the water is near, and
there is one refuge for the weary and heart-broken. Farewell, Arthur.
May God forgive you, as does your Adéle."
Not a muscle of Maltravers's face moved. He stared coldly at this poor
girl whom he had wronged so infamously and there was an aristocratic
sneer on his well-cut lip.
She staggered rather than walked to the door. She descended the stairs
like one dazed. The iron had entered into her soul, and those hearts
which have been seared by the burning hand of misfortune can alone
sympathize with her.
Adéle gained the street. Mechanically she sought the harbor and entered
upon the broad pathway of the long pier. There was a wild desperation
in her eyes; her face was lighted up with a half-insane gleam; no tears
came to her relief. At times a choking sob broke in her throat--this
was the only evidence of feeling that she gave vent to.
A drizzling rain was falling which kept away the usual promenaders on
the pier. The tide was flood and several vessels were sailing out of
the harbor.
She paid no attention to anything, seeming to be absorbed in her
misery. Her eyes became fixed and glassy. Occasionally she moaned as if
in pain, and pressed her hand to her side to still the beating of her
heart.
When the end of the pier was reached, she stopped, raised her eyes to
heaven and her lips moved as if in silent prayer.
Then she sprung lightly over the parapet and fell into the foaming sea,
whose waves were beating in clouds of spray against the wooden supports
of the pier.
A large merchantman was passing out of the harbor at the time with all
sails set, and the rash act of the poor suicide was witnessed by the
sailors on the deck.
Without a moment's hesitation one gallant fellow jumped overboard and
swam toward the drowning girl.
He succeeded in reaching her as she was about to sink, and held her up,
until a boat from his ship came to her rescue.
Adéle and her brave preserver were picked up and conveyed to the
vessel, she being in a dead faint.
"Holy Virgin!" exclaimed the sailor, as his eyes fell more closely upon
the girl's features. "It is Adéle Bellefontaine, from my village of St.
Ange, just as sure as my name is Jacques Belot and she was the only
girl I ever loved, until she married that scoundrelly Englishman, who
deserted her. If it had not been for Adéle, here, I should never have
gone to sea."
"What are we to do with her?" asked the captain. "The wind and tide are
against us and it is bad luck to put back."
"Take her with us, captain," said Jacques, who was a fine, handsome
young sailor.
"It is bad luck to have a would-be suicide on board," remarked the
boatswain.
"Ah! bah! you old croaker," replied Jacques. "How do you know the girl
intended to kill herself?"
"I saw her deliberately jump into the sea."
"And I saw her blown over the side of the pier, by the wind."
The sailors laughed at this sally, which encouraged Jacques. "Won't you
take her to New York, captain?" he continued.
"Yes," replied the captain, good-naturedly, "I suppose I may as well.
She will be a companion to my wife. Carry her below, friend Jacques,
but mind you don't get so dazzled by the girl's pretty eyes, as to
neglect your duty. Take her away."
"Ay, ay, sir," answered Jacques, who raised Adéle's slender form in his
arms and transported her to the captain's cabin.
The skipper's wife was glad of a companion and at once proceeded to
restore her to consciousness, while Jacques related the affair.
When Adéle opened her eyes she looked wildly around her and murmured:
"Is this death?"
"No, deary," replied the captain's wife, "this is life. You were saved
by Jacques here."
"Oh! let me die."
"What for, child? You are young and pretty. Life should have its charms
for you."
"I have seen him and he drove me from him. He says I have no claim on
him and threatened me with the police. Oh! it has broken my heart."
She burst into a paroxysm of bitter tears, but they relieved the
overcharged fountains of her soul.
"It will do her good," exclaimed her kind protectress.
Jacques Belot gnashed his teeth.
"She said 'he' and she has seen him," he muttered. "I know what it
means well enough. That vile Englishman has gone back on her. I have
seen him, I can recall his face like a book. He is a lord, they say;
his name is Maltravers. You see I forget nothing. We shall meet one
day, and it seems to me that there will be a little account for me to
square with Mr. Englishman--_sacré-e-e_!"
Presently Adéle recognized Jacques, and greeted him as an old friend,
but not as a former lover.
To him and the captain's wife she related her story, gaining much
sympathy from them.
"Forget this milor'," said the captain's wife.
"Impossible," rejoined Adéle.
"He is unworthy of you. Go to America and marry this brave fellow who
loves you and has saved your life."
Adéle shook her head sadly.
"Madame," she replied, "though I am deserted, I cannot fail to
recollect that I am the legal wife of Lord Maltravers."
"At least promise that you will not again attempt to commit suicide."
"I promise."
With that they were obliged to be content and so the good ship _Notre
Dame de Calais_ sailed along the English Channel and out into the
storms of the broad Atlantic.