"Where is Miss Brooks?" cried Mme. Whitney, excitedly, upon opening
her eyes. "Jenkins," she cried, motioning to the attendant who stood
nearest her, "see that Miss Brooks is detained in her own room under
lock and key until I am at liberty to attend to her case."
The servants looked at one another in blank amazement. No one dared
tell her Daisy had fled.
The torn envelope, which Daisy had neglected to gain possession of,
lay at her feet.
With a curious smile Mme. Whitney smoothed it out carefully, and
placed it carefully away in her private desk.
"Rex Lyon," she mused, knitting her brow. "Ah, yes, that was the name,
I believe. He must certainly be the one. Daisy Brooks shall suffer
keenly for this outrage," cried the madame, grinding her teeth with
impotent rage. "I shall drag her pride down to the very dust beneath
my feet. How dare the little rebel defy my orders? I shall have her
removed to the belfry-room; a night or two there will humble her
pride, I dare say," fumed the madame, pacing up and down the room. "I
have brought worse tempers than hers into subjection; still I never
dreamed the little minx would dare openly defy _me_ in that manner. I
shall keep her in the belfry-room, under lock and key, until she asks
my pardon on her bended knees; and what is more, I shall wrest the
secret from her--the secret she has defied me to discover."
* * * * *
On sped Daisy, as swift as the wind, crushing the fatal letter in her
bosom, until she stood at the very edge of the broad, glittering
Chesapeake. The rosy-gold rays of the rising sun lighted up the waves
with a thousand arrowy sparkles like a vast sea of glittering, waving
gold. Daisy looked over her shoulder, noting the dark forms hurrying
to and fro.
"They are searching for me," she said, "but I will never go back to
them--never!"
She saw a man's form hurrying toward her. At that moment she beheld,
moored in the shadow of a clump of alders at her very feet, a small
boat rocking to and fro with the tide. Daisy had a little boat of her
own at home; she knew how to use the oars.
"They will never think of looking for me out on the water," she cried,
triumphantly, and quickly untying it, she sprung into the little
skiff, and seizing the oars, with a vigorous stroke the little shell
shot rapidly out into the shimmering water, Daisy never once pausing
in her mad, impetuous flight until the dim line of the shore was
almost indistinguishable from the blue arching dome of the horizon.
"There," she cried, flushed and excited, leaning on the oars; "no one
could possibly think of searching for me out here."
Her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes danced like stars, while the
freshening breeze blew her bright shining hair to and fro.
Many a passing fisherman cast admiring glances at the charming little
fairy, so sweet and so daring, out all alone on the smiling,
treacherous, dancing waves so far away from the shore. But if Daisy
saw them, she never heeded them.
"I shall stay here until it is quite dark," she said to herself; "they
will have ceased to look for me by that time. I can reach the shore
quite unobserved, and watch for Sara to get my hat and sacque; and
then"--a rosy flush stole up to the rings of her golden hair as she
thought what she would do then--"I shall go straight back to Rex--my
husband!"
She knew John Brooks would not return home for some time to come, and
she would not go back to Septima. She made up her mind she would
certainly go to Rex. She would wait at the depot, and, if Rex did not
come in on the early train, she would go back at once to Allendale.
Her purse, with twenty dollars in it--which seemed quite a fortune to
Daisy--was luckily in her pocket, together with half of an apple and a
biscuit. The healthful exercise of rowing, together with the fresh,
cool breeze, gave Daisy a hearty appetite, and the apple and biscuit
afforded her quite a pleasant lunch.
Poor Daisy! The pretty little girl-bride had no more thought of danger
than a child. She had no premonition that every moment the little
boat, drifting rapidly along with the tide, was bearing her rapidly
onward toward death and destruction.
Daisy paid little heed to the dark rolling clouds that were slowly
obscuring the brilliant sunshine, or the swirl and dash of the waves
that were rocking her little boat so restlessly to and fro. The hours
seemed to slip heedlessly by her. The soft gloaming seemed to fall
about her swiftly and without warning.
"I must turn my boat about at once!" cried Daisy, in alarm. "I am
quite a long way from the shore!"
At that moment the distant rumbling roar of thunder sounded dismally
over the leaden-gray, white-capped water; and the wind, rising
instantly into a fierce gale, hurled the dark storm-clouds across the
sky, blotting the lurid glow of sunset and mantling the heavens above
her in its dusky folds.
Daisy was brave of heart, but in the face of such sudden and
unlooked-for danger her courage failed her. The pretty rose-bloom
died away from her face, and her beautiful blue eyes expanded wide
with terror. She caught her breath with a sob, and, seizing the oar
with two soft, childish hands, made a desperate attempt to turn the
boat. The current resisted her weak effort, snapping the oar in twain
like a slender twig and whirling it from her grasp.
"Rex! Rex!" she cried out, piteously, stretching out her arms, "save
me! Oh, I am lost--lost! Heaven pity me!"
The night had fallen swiftly around her. Out, alone, on the wild,
pitiless, treacherous waves--alone with the storm and the darkness!
The storm had now commenced in earnest, beating furiously against the
little boat, and lashing the mad waves into seething foam as they
dashed high above the terrified girl. No sound could be heard above
the wild warring of the elements--the thunder's roar, the furious
lashing of the waves and the white, radiant lightning blazing across
the vast expanse of water, making the scene sublime in its terrible
grandeur.
"Rex! my love, my life!" she cried, in the intense agony of despair,
"you will never know how well I loved you! I have faced death rather
than betray the sweet, sad secret--I am your wife!"
Was it the wild flashing of the lightning, or was it a red light she
saw swinging to and fro, each moment drawing rapidly nearer and
nearer? Heaven be praised! it was a barge of some kind; help was
within her reach.
"Help!" cried Daisy, faintly. "Help! I am alone out on the water!" she
held out her arms toward the huge vessel which loomed up darkly before
her, but the terrified voice was drowned by the fierce beating of the
storm.
Suddenly her little boat spun round and round, the swift water was
drawing her directly in the path of the barge; another moment and it
would be upon her; she beat the air with her white hands, gazing with
frozen horror at the fatal lights drawing nearer and nearer.
"Rex, my love, good-bye!" she wailed, sinking down in the bottom of
the boat as one end of the barge struck it with tremendous force.
* * * * *
Leaning over the railing, evidently unmindful of the fierce fury
of the storm that raged around him, stood a young man, gazing
abstractedly over the wild dashing waves. A dark smile played about
the corners of his mouth, and his restless eyes wore a pleased
expression, as though his thoughts were in keeping with the wild,
warring elements.
Suddenly, through the terrible roar of the storm, he heard a piteous
appeal for help, and the voice seemed to die away over the angry,
muttering waves. He leaned over the railing breathless with
excitement. The thunder crashed almost incessantly, and there came a
stunning bolt, followed by a blinding blaze of lightning. In that one
instant he had seen a white, childish face, framed in a mass of
floating golden hair, turned toward him.
One instant more and she would be swept beneath the ponderous wheel,
beyond all mortal power of help; then the dark, hungry waters closed
cruelly over her, but in that one instantaneous glance the man's face
had turned deadly pale.
"Great God!" he shrieked, hoarsely, "it is Daisy Brooks!"