A PALE BRIDEGROOM.
The writing of that letter was a labor of love to Lady Lanswell. She did
not wish to be cruel; on the contrary, now that she had gained her wish,
she felt something like pity for the girl she had so entirely crushed.
Lord Chandos would have been quite true to his first love but for his
mother's influence and maneuvers. She knew that. She knew that with her
own hand she had crushed the life and love from this girl's heart.
Writing to her would be the last disagreeable feature in the case. She
would be finished with them, and there would be nothing to mar the
brightness of the future.
My lady took up a jeweled pen; she had paper, white and soft, with her
crest at the head; every little detail belonging to her grandeur would
help to crush this girl for whom she had so much contempt and so little
pity. She thought over every word of her letter; it might at some future
day, perhaps, be brought against her, and she resolved that it should be
a model of moderation and fairness. She had learned Leone's name, and
she began:
"MY DEAR MISS NOEL,--My son has commissioned me to write to you,
thinking, as I think, that the business to be arranged will be
better settled between you and myself. I am glad to tell you that
at last, after many months of infatuation, my son has returned to
his senses, and has now but one idea, which is at once and forever
to put an end to all acquaintance between you and himself. My son
owns that it was a great mistake; he blames himself entirely, and
quite exculpates you; he holds you blameless. Permit me to say that
I do the same.
"My son, having recovered his senses, sees that a marriage between
you and himself would be quite impossible. He regrets having
promised it, and begs that you will forgive what seems to be a
breach of that promise; but it is really the best and wisest plan
of his life. Neither your birth, training, education, manners, nor
appearance fit you to hold the position that my son's wife must
hold. You must, therefore, consider the whole affair at an end; it
was, at its worst, a piece of boyish folly and indiscretion, while
you are blameless. It is my son's wish that ample compensation
should be made to you, and I have placed the matter in the hands of
Mr. Sewell, my lawyer, whom I have instructed to settle a thousand
per annum on you. Let me add, further, that if ever you are in any
pecuniary difficulty, I shall find a pleasure in helping you.
"One thing more: Lord Chandos is engaged to be married to one of
the wealthiest women in England--a marriage which makes his father
and myself extremely happy, which opens to him one of the finest
careers ever opened to any man, and will make him one of the
happiest of men. Let me add an earnest hope that your own good
sense will prevent any vulgar intrusion on your part, either on my
son or the lady to whom he is passionately attached. You will not
need to answer this letter. Lord Chandos does not wish to be
annoyed by any useless appeals; in short, no letter that you write
will reach him, as we are traveling from place to place, and shall
be so until the wedding-day.
"In conclusion, I can but say I hope you will look at the matter in
a sensible light. You, a farmer's niece, have no right to aspire to
the position of an earl's wife, and you have every reason to think
yourself fortunate that worse has not happened.
"LUCIA, COUNTESS OF LANSWELL."
"There," said my lady, as she folded up the letter, "to most people that
would be a quietus. If she has half as much spirit as I give her credit
for, that little touch about the 'vulgar intrusion' will prevent her
from writing to him. I think this will effectually put an end to all
further proceedings."
She sealed the letter and sent it, at the same time sending one to her
solicitor, Mr. Sewell, telling him of the happy event pending, and
begging of him to arrange with the girl at once.
"If one thousand a year does not satisfy her, offer her two; offer
her anything, so that we are completely rid of her. From motives of
prudence it would be better for her to leave that place at once;
advise her to go abroad, or emigrate, or anything, so that she may
not annoy us again, and do not write to me about her; I do not wish
to be annoyed. Settle the business yourself, and remember that I
have no wish to know anything about it."
That letter was sent with the other, and my lady sunk back with an air
of great relief.
"Thank Heaven!" she said to herself, "that is over. Ah, me! what mothers
have to suffer with their sons, and yet few have been so docile as
mine."
A few days afterward the countess sought her son. She had no grounds for
what she said, but she imagined herself speaking the truth.
"Lance," she said, "I have good news for you. That tiresome little
affair of yours is all settled, and there will be no need for us ever to
mention the subject again. The girl has consented to take the thousand a
year, and she--she is happy and content."
He looked at her with haggard eyes.
"Happy and content, mother?" he said. "Are you quite sure of that?"
"Sure as I am that you, Lance, are one of the most fortunate men in this
world. Now take my advice, and let us have no more mention of the
matter. I am tired of it, and I am sure that you must be the same. Try
from this time to be happy with Lady Marion, and forget the past."
Did he forget it? No one ever knew. He never had the same light in his
eyes, the same frank, free look on his face, the same ring in his laugh;
from that day he was a changed man. Did he think of the fair young girl,
whose passionate heart and soul he had woke into such keen life? Did he
think of the mill-stream and the ripple of the water, and the lines so
full of foreboding:
"The vows are all forgotten,
The ring asunder broke."
Ah, how true Leone's presentiment had been! The vow was forgotten, the
ring broken, the pretty love-story all ended. He never dared to ask any
questions from his mother about her; he turned coward whenever the
English letters were delivered; he never dared to think about her, to
wonder how she had taken this letter, what she had thought, said, or
done. He was not happy. Proud, ambitious, mercenary, haughty as was the
Countess of Lanswell, there were times when she felt grieved for her
son. It was such a young face, but there was a line on the broad, fair
brow; there was a shadow in the sunny eyes; the music had gone out from
his voice.
"Marion will soon make it all right," said the proud, anxious, unhappy
mother; "there will be nothing to fear when once they are married."
Lady Marion was the most gentle and least exacting of all human beings,
but even she fancied Lord Chandos was but a poor wooer. He was always
polite, deferential, attentive, and kind; yet he seldom spoke of love.
After that evening in the Alhambra he never kissed her; he never sought
any _tete-a-tete_ with her. She had had many lovers, as was only natural
for a beauty and a great heiress. None of them had been so cool, so
self-contained as Lord Chandos.
Lady Lanswell managed well; she ought to have been empress of some great
nation; her powers of administration were so great. She persuaded them
to have the wedding in the month of September, and to travel until that
came.
"It will be a change from the common custom," she said; "most people are
married in England, and go to the Continent for their honey-moon; you
will be married in the Continent, and go to England for the honey-moon."
It was some little disappointment to Lady Marion; like all girls she had
thought a great deal of her marriage. She had always fancied it in the
grand old church at Erskine, where the noble men and women of her race
slept their last sleep, where the Erskines for many generations had been
married. She had fancied a long train of fair, young bridemaids, a troop
of fair, fond children strewing flowers; and now it would be quite
different. Still she was content; she was marrying the man whom she
loved more than any one, or anything else in the world.
She had wondered so much why the countess desired the wedding to take
place in Paris. She had even one day ventured to ask her, and Lady
Lanswell answered first by kissing her, then by telling her that it was
best for Lord Chandos. That was quite enough to content the loving
heart, if it were better for him in any way. She did not inquire why.
She would sacrifice any wish or desire of her own.
So the day of the wedding came, and a grand ceremonial it was. The
noblest and most exclusive English in Paris attended it, and everything
was after the wish of Lady Lanswell's heart. There had never been a
fairer or more graceful bride. There had never been a handsomer or more
gallant bridegroom. One thing struck the Countess of Lanswell and made
her remember the day with a keen sense of pain, and it was this: when
the bride retired to change her superb bridal dress for a traveling
costume she had time to notice how white and ill her son looked. He was
one of the most temperate of men; she did not remember that he had ever
in his life been in the least degree the worse for wine, but she saw him
go to the buffet and fill a small glass with strong brandy and drink
it--even that, strong as it was, did not put any color into his face.
Then he came to speak to her. She looked anxiously at him.
"Lance," she said, "I do not like asking you the question--but--have you
really been drinking brandy?"
She never forgot the bitter laugh that came from his lips.
"Yes, I have indeed, mother. It is just as well a glass of poison did
not stand there; I should have drunk it."
She shuddered at the words, and it must be owned they were not cheerful
ones for a wedding-day.
The bride and bridegroom drove away; slippers and rice were thrown after
them. And the pity is that every woman inclined to put faith in the vows
and promises of a man was not there to see how they were kept.