A day or two later there came, forwarded from Paris, an English letter
for Mrs. Costello. It arrived in the evening, at a time when they had no
expectation of receiving anything, and Madame Everaert brought it up,
and delivered it into Mrs. Costello's own hand, so that Lucia was not
near enough to see from whom it came. The general appearance of the
letter made her think it was English, and she knew that Mr. Wynter had
their present address and would not write to Paris. So she felt a
half-joyful, half-frightened suspicion that it must be from Maurice, and
her idea was confirmed by her mother's proceedings. For Mrs. Costello
having looked at the address, put the letter quietly in her pocket, and
went on talking about Father Paul, from whom they were expecting a
visit.
Lucia could hardly restrain herself. It was clear that Mrs. Costello did
not mean to open the letter before her, or to tell her whence it came;
but her anxiety to know was only increased by this certainty. She had
almost made up her mind to ask plainly whether it was from Maurice, when
the door opened and the old priest came in.
He was a fine-looking, white-haired man of more than seventy, to whom
the long black robe seemed exactly the most suitable dress possible, and
he had a good manner too, which was neither that of a mere priest, nor
of a mere gentleman, but belonged to both. The first few minutes of talk
made Mrs. Costello sure that she did not repent having invited his
acquaintance; a fact which had been in some little doubt before.
She had said to him, "Madame Everaert told me you knew Canada, and, as
we are Canadians, I could not resist the wish to see one who might still
feel an interest in our country," and this turned the conversation
immediately to what she desired to hear.
He answered her with a smile, "Probably my knowledge of Canada is very
different from yours; mine is almost entirely confined to the wilder
and less settled parts--to the Indian lands, in fact."
"In Upper Canada?"
"Yes. And then it is many years since I returned."
"I have lived for twenty years in Upper Canada; and of some of the
Indians, the Ojibways of Moose Island, I have heard a great deal;
perhaps you know them?"
The priest's eye brightened, but next moment he sighed.
"The very place!" he said. "Unhappy people! But I am forgetting that
you, madame, are not likely to share my feelings on the subject."
"I do not know," Mrs. Costello answered, "that we should be wholly
disagreed. I have heard, I may almost say I know myself, much of your
mission there."
"Is it possible? Can any good remain still?"
"One of your old pupils died lately, and in his last hours he remembered
nothing so well as your teaching."
Her voice shook; this sudden mention of her husband, voluntary as it
was, agitated her strongly. Father Paul saw it and wondered, but
appeared to see nothing.
"Poor boys! You console me, madame, for many sad thoughts. I was a young
man then, and, as you see, I am now a very old one, but I have known few
more sorrowful days than the one when I left Moose Island."
"Yet it must have been a hard and wearisome life?"
"Hard?--Yes--but not wearisome. We were ready to bear the hardness as
long as we hoped to see the fruit of our labours. I thought there had
been no fruit, or very little; but you prove to me that I was too
faithless."
Mrs. Costello remained a moment silent. She was much inclined to trust
her guest with that part of her story which referred to Christian--no
doubt he was in the habit of keeping stranger secrets than hers.
While she hesitated he spoke again.
"But the whole face of the country must have changed since I knew it.
Did you live in that neighbourhood?"
"For several years--all the first years of my married life, I lived on
Moose Island itself, and my daughter--come to me a moment, Lucia,--was
born there."
She took Lucia's hand and drew her forward. The remaining daylight fell
full upon her dark hair and showed the striking outlines of her face and
graceful head.
Father Paul looked in amazement--looked from the daughter to the mother,
and the mother to the daughter, not knowing what to think or say.
Mrs. Costello relieved his embarrassment.
"My marriage was a strange one," she said. "The old pupil of whom I
spoke to you just now, was my husband."
"Your husband, madame? Do I understand you? Mademoiselle's father then
was--"
"An Indian."
He remained dumb with astonishment, not willing to give vent to the
exclamations of surprise and almost sorrow which he felt might be
offensive to his hostess, while she told him in the fewest possible
words of her marriage to Christian and separation from him.
There was one thought in the old priest's mind, which had never, at
anytime, occurred to Mrs. Costello--Christian had been destined for the
Church. He had taken no vows, certainly; but for years he had been
trained with that object, and at one time his vocation had seemed
remarkably clear and strong--his marriage, at all, therefore, seemed to
add enormity to his other guilt.
And yet there was a sort of lurking tenderness for the boy who had been
the favourite pupil of the mission--who had seemed to have such natural
aptitude for good of all sorts, until suddenly the mask dropped off, and
the good turned to evil. It might be that his misdoings were but the
result of a temporary possession of the evil one himself, and that at
last all might have been well.
Mrs. Costello spoke more fully as she saw how deep was the listener's
interest in her story; yet, when she came near the end, she almost
shrank from the task. The sacred tenderness which belongs to the dead,
had fallen like a veil over all her last memories of her husband; and
now she wanted to share them with this good old man, whose teaching had
made them what they were.
More than once she had to stop, to wait till her voice was less
unsteady, but she went on to the very end--even to that strange burial
in the waters. When all was told, there was a silence in the room;
Father Paul had wet eyes, unseen in the dusk, and he did not care to
speak; Lucia, whose tears were very ready of late; was crying quietly,
with her head lying against the end of the sofa, while Mrs. Costello,
leaning back on her cushions, waited quietly till the painful throbbing
of her heart should subside.
At last Lucia rose and stole out of the room. She went to her own, and
lay down on her bed still crying, though she could hardly tell why. Her
trouble about the letter still haunted and worried her, and her spirit
was so broken that she was like a sick child, neither able nor anxious
to command herself.
Meanwhile the lamp had been brought into the sitting-room, and the two
elder people had recommenced their conversation. It was of a less
agitating kind now, but the subject was not very different, and both
were deeply interested, so that time passed on quickly, and the evening
was gone before they were aware. When Father Paul rose to go, he said,
"Madam, I thank you for all you have told me. Your secret is safe with
me; but I beg your permission to share the rest of your intelligence
with one of my brothers--the only survivor except myself of that
mission. If you will permit me, I shall visit you again--I should like
much to make friends with mademoiselle, your daughter. She recalls to
me strongly the features of my once greatly loved pupil."
With this little speech he departed, and left Mrs. Costello to wonder
over this last page in her husband's history. Only a year ago how little
would she have believed it possible that a man respectable, nay,
venerable, as this old priest, would have thought kindly of Lucia for
her father's sake!
After a little while she got up and went to look for her daughter. She
found her sitting at a window, looking forlornly out at the lights and
movements in the place, and not very ready to meet the lamplight when
she came back into the sitting-room. Still, however, she heard nothing
of the letter, nor even when she bade her mother good night and lingered
a little at the very last, hoping for one word, even though it might be
a reproach, to tell her that it was from Maurice.
She had to go to her room disconsolate. She heard Mrs. Costello go to
hers, and close the door.
'Now,' she thought, 'it will be opened. It cannot be from _him_, or
mamma could not have waited so long. But I don't know; she has such
self-command! I used to fancy I could be patient at great need--and I am
not one bit.'
However, as waiting and listening for every sound brought her no nearer
to the obtaining of her wishes, she undressed and lay down, and began to
try to imagine what the letter could be. Gradually, from thinking, she
fell into dreaming, and dropped into a doze.
But before she was sound asleep, the door opened, and Mrs. Costello
shading her candle with her hand, came into the room. Lucia had been so
excited that the smallest movement was sufficient to awake her. She
started up and said, "What is it mamma?" in a frightened voice.
"It is late," Mrs. Costello said. "Quite time you were asleep, but I am
glad you are not. Lie down. I shall sit here for a few minutes and tell
you what I want to say."
Lucia obeyed. She saw that her mother had a paper in her hand--no doubt
the letter. Now she should hear.
"I had a letter to-night," her mother went on. "I dare say you wondered
I did not open it at once. The truth was, I saw that it was in Mr.
Leigh's writing, and I had reason to feel a little anxious as to what he
might say."
"Yes, mamma."
Lucia could say no more; but she waited eagerly for the news that must
be coming--news of Maurice.
"I shall give you the letter to read. Bring it back to me in the
morning; but before you do so, think well what you will do. I would
never ask you to be untrue to yourself in such a matter; but I entreat
you to see that you do know your own mind, and to use your power of
saying yes or no, if you should ever have it, not like a foolish girl,
but like a woman, who must abide all her life by the consequences of her
decision."
Mrs. Costello kissed her daughter's forehead, lighted the candle which
stood on a small table, and leaving the letter beside it, went softly
away.
The moment the door closed, Lucia eagerly stretched out her arm and took
the letter. Her hands trembled; the light seemed dim; and Mr. Leigh's
cramped old-fashioned handwriting was more illegible than ever; but she
read eagerly, devouring the words.
"My dear Mrs. Costello,--You may think, perhaps, that I ought not to
interfere in a matter in which I have not been consulted; but you know
that to us, who have in all the world nothing to care for but one only
child, that child's affairs are apt to be much the same as our own.
"Maurice told me, just before we left Canada, what I might have been
certain of long before if I had not been a stupid old man--that it was
the hope of his life to marry your Lucia. He went to Paris, certainly,
with the intention of asking her to marry him; and he came back quite
unexpectedly, and looking ten years older--so changed, not only in
looks, but in all his ways of speaking and acting, that it was clear to
me some great misfortune had happened. Still he said very little to me,
and it appears incredible that Lucia can have refused him. Perhaps that
seems an arrogant speech for his father to make--but you will understand
that I mean if she knew how constantly faithful he has been to her ever
since they were both children;--and if she has done so in some momentary
displeasure with him (for you know they used to have little quarrels
sometimes), or if they have parted in anger, I beg of you, dear Mrs.
Costello, for the sake of his mother, to try to put things right between
them.
"I must tell you plainly that I am writing without my son's knowledge. I
would very much rather he should never know I have written; but I have
been urged to do it by some things that have happened lately.
"Some time ago Maurice, speaking to me of Mr. Beresford's will, told me
that there had been a little difficulty in tracing one of the persons
named as legatees. This was a cousin of Mr. Beresford's, with whom he
seems to have had very little acquaintance, and no recent intercourse
whatever; although, except Lady Dighton, she was the nearest relative he
had. The lawyers discovered, while Maurice was in Canada, that this lady
herself was dead. Her marriage had been unfortunate, and she had a
spendthrift son, to whom, as his mother's heir, the money left by Mr.
Beresford passed; but it appeared that she had also a daughter, who was
in unhappy circumstances, being dependent on some relation of her
father. Maurice, very naturally and properly, thought that, as head of
the family, it was his duty to arrange something for this lady's
comfort; and accordingly, being in London, where she lives, he called on
her. She has since then been in this neighbourhood, and I have seen her
several times. She is a young lady of agreeable appearance and manners,
and seems qualified to become popular, if she were in a position to do
so. I should not have thought of this, however, if it had not been for a
few words Maurice said to me one day. I asked him some question about
marrying, hoping to hear some allusion to Lucia, but he said very
gravely that he should certainly marry some time; he had promised his
grandfather to do so. Then he said suddenly, 'What would you think of
Emma Landor for a daughter-in-law?' 'Emma Landor?' I answered; 'what has
put her into your head?' 'Just this, sir,' he said; 'if I am to marry as
a duty, I had better find somebody to whom I shall do some good, and not
all evil, by marrying them. Emma would enjoy being mistress here; she
would do it well, too; and having Hunsdon, she would not miss anything
else that might be wanting.' With that he went out of the room; and
after awhile I persuaded myself that he meant nothing serious by what he
had said. However, Lady Dighton has spoken to me of the same thing
since. Both she and I are convinced now that Maurice thinks--you may be,
better then we are, able to understand why--that he has lost Lucia, and
that, therefore, a marriage of convenience is all that he can hope for.
Perhaps I am mistaken, or, at all events, too soon alarmed; but the
mere idea of his proposing to this young lady throws me into a panic. If
she should accept him (and Lady Dighton thinks she probably would), it
would be a life-long misery. I am old-fashioned enough to think it would
be a sin. He will not do it yet; perhaps he may see you again before he
does. Do, I entreat of you, use the great influence you have always had
with him to set things right. I have written a very long letter, because
I could not ask your help without explaining; but I trust to your
kindness to sympathize with my anxiety. Kindest regards to Lucia."
Lucia put down the paper. The whole letter, slowly and painfully
deciphered, seemed to make no impression on her brain. She lay still,
with a sort of stunned feeling, till the sense of what she had read came
to her fully.
"Oh, Maurice!" she cried under her breath, "I want you! Come back to me!
She shall never have you! You belong to me!" She covered her face with
her hands, ashamed of even hearing her own words; then she got up and
went across to her window, and looked out at the light burning on the
tower--the light which shone far across the sea towards England. But
presently she came back, and reached her little desk--Maurice's gift
long ago--and knelt down on the floor, and wrote, kneeling,--
"Dear Maurice, you promised that if ever I wanted you, you would
come. I want you now more than ever I did in my life. Please, please
come.
"LUCIA."
Then she leaned her head down till it almost touched the paper, and
stayed so for a few minutes before she got up from her knees and
extinguished her candle.