CATHERINE KING VISITS MARY.
So it was that Mary by degrees began to entertain a half belief in
religion, or rather she had come to altogether believe in a religion of
her own--a vague religion that had no dogmas, but the key-stone of which
was a profound faith in love. That was the cross to which she clung, a
reality; she knew nothing else for certain, of Gods or creeds. They were
as yet dark and shifting to her vision. She could not immediately accept
all the beliefs of her new friends.
But this mysterious love that carried her soul so far above merely
earthly things, opened possibilities, nay certainties, of higher
mysteries. She could no longer accept the cold ethical schemes in which
she had been educated. She thought the reasonings must be fallacious
that were so opposed to these divine supersensual instincts.
Taught by nature herself, she worshipped in her way the unknown God,
whose sole revelation to her was love.
At first she would listen with sad wonder to the little prayers that
Mrs. White's eldest children would lisp at their mother's knee, in which
they invoked their God's blessing on their mother, Aunty Mary, all their
kind friends, and even their pet animals. It was very beautiful and
sweet to have this belief she thought.
She fell into a way of _wishing_ a sort of prayer of her own, when she
got into bed at night.
At last she would even kneel down by the bedside, as she had seen the
children do, and pray earnestly in a more definite manner.
It was the crying out of a soul in darkness, a prayer true as was that
of the publican in the parable. It was a prayer to the unknown God
somewhat in this wise:
"O God! if there be a God, O God of Love! God of the Christians! if,
indeed, thou art; I love Thee. I do not pray for myself, except that I
may die. But oh, bless all my dear friends, and especially Mrs. King, my
mother; make her happy in knowing Thee; and make Harry happy, make him
not miss me much, and not be very sorry when I am gone, but give him a
true good wife. And, O God, let me die soon, else I shall be the curse
of him I love, and ruin his happiness. Take me away from him and let me
die."
* * * * *
As Mary's cure was no longer a question for medical science, but
depended solely upon the cheerfulness of her surroundings and such like
natural remedies, Dr. Duncan had not considered it necessary, so far, to
visit his sister's cottage. He was afraid, too, lest his presence might
distress the girl, and decided not to see her until her convalescence
was at a more advanced stage.
He also hinted to Mrs. King that it would be well if she too abstained
from seeing her niece for the present.
Mrs. White kept her brother fully informed by letter of the progress of
the patient. Of late these letters had not been quite so hopeful as they
were at first. She told him that the convalescence which at first had
been so rapid, had reached its limit; that Mary's health was no longer
improving, but seemed to her to be even retrograding.
At last she wrote him a long letter in which she expressed her great
anxiety about the girl. She begged him to come down himself, and also to
send down Mrs. King, as it was possible that the woman's presence would
be of benefit to Mary. "At any rate," she wrote, "send her down for a
couple of days, the experiment is worth trying."
"She is sure to be right," thought the doctor as he read his sister's
letter, so he called on Mrs. King and told her that it would be
advisable now for her to visit her niece, but he asked her to make this
first visit a very short one, merely to run down one afternoon and
return the next morning, then, if the effect on the girl was
satisfactory, the visits could be frequent and of longer duration.
Catherine was of course overjoyed at the prospect of again seeing her
darling, and arranged to go to the cottage on the following evening.
So the next morning's post brought Mrs. White a letter announcing this
fact.
She went out upon the lawn with Mary after breakfast with the intention
of breaking this news to her.
Mrs. White had never been able to quite make out what were the exact
feelings between Mrs. King and her niece. Mary always exhibited a
strange dislike to speaking about her aunt. She never voluntarily
introduced her into the conversation. She seemed troubled when
questioned about her; and yet, on the rare occasions when the girl was
more communicative than usual on this subject, she always spoke of
Catherine King in terms of the highest praise. She evidently entertained
a great admiration and love for her.
"Mary," said Mrs. White when they were upon the lawn, "I have good news
for you, your aunt is coming to see you."
Mary clapped her hands with childish joy, "Oh! I am so glad," she
exclaimed. "I have so looked forward to this. I have been waiting so
long; I thought I should never be allowed to see her."
"She is coming this evening and will stay till to-morrow morning, so you
will be able to have a long talk with her."
Mary stood still and her brow became clouded. "Yes, I have much to talk
to my aunt about," she said, slowly.
"You never speak to me about her, dear. I should like to know her
better. She must be very fond of you."
"She likes me much better than I deserve," replied Mary, sadly. "I have
been very ungrateful to her."
Mrs. White, who was too true a woman not to suffer from curiosity, after
a little thought said:
"My brother tells me that Mrs. King has some rather startling political
and social theories."
"She has," replied Mary, rather curtly.
A long pause followed.
"Has she succeeded in converting you to her views?" then inquired Mrs.
White.
A look of distress came to Mary's face. "I don't know," she cried, in an
excited, nervous way. "Don't ask me now about those things, dear Mrs.
White. I am too ill to think." She passed her hand across her forehead
as if to wipe away some painful vision.
Mrs. White took the girl's hand tenderly in hers. "Forgive me, Mary
dear," she said. "It is cruel of me to worry you with inquisitive
questions; but I will be good now."
The little woman reproached herself bitterly for having so thoughtlessly
caused the girl pain, and turned the conversation into another channel.
Throughout the day, Mary was strangely excited and changeable in her
moods. One moment she was wild with delight at the prospect of seeing
again her beloved chief; the next she felt sick with fear, as she
thought of the confession that she had to make; for she had made up her
mind to tell Catherine all--her doubts as to the righteousness of the
cause; her love for Dr. Duncan; she would throw herself at her feet and
make a clean breast of it.
She endeavoured to divert her thoughts by taking up any employment she
could to fill up the tedious hours of this exciting day. In the
afternoon, she begged Mrs. White's permission to relieve her at her
usual task of bathing the youngest baby and putting him to bed before
tea.
He was soon splashing and chuckling away in the bath, while Mary was
assiduously sponging him, playing and laughing with him in an unusually
happy mood for the time.
While she was engaged at this performance, there came a ring at the
entrance bell; but she did not hear it.
Soon after she heard the voices of two people who were mounting the
stairs leading to the nursery.
The door opened, and her hostess entered with a smiling and excited
face.
"See whom I have brought to see you, Mary," she said.
Mary looked up and perceived, closely following Mrs. White, the tall
figure of Catherine King.
The sudden meeting produced a strange shock and revulsion of feeling in
both the mistress and pupil.
Mary dropped her sponge, but did not move from where she was kneeling by
the bath. Her face and neck and ears turned a vivid crimson, and she
looked aghast at Catherine, deprived of all power to speak for the
moment, so startled was she at this abrupt appearance.
The effect on Catherine was no less strong. She had entered the room
with her heart beating with joyful anticipation, like a lover's when at
the door of his mistress's house; but as soon as her eyes fell on Mary
engaged at so unexpected a task, she turned pale and involuntarily
stepped backward a pace.
She stood looking at the girl without speaking, her eye going
alternately from her to the child in the bath.
The sight of the naked baby that lay between them, now squalling loudly
at being neglected, suggested strange and fearful thoughts to both their
minds, and either knew of what the other was thinking.
It must have been many years since the head of the Secret Society had
seen a naked baby, and now to come suddenly upon one, and with her
favourite pupil tending it, too, forced her to realize, in a vivid way
she had never done before, what her scheme meant. She felt a strange
sickness and vertigo when she looked at the innocent being before her.
Mrs. White was not unnaturally very astonished at the curious manner of
the meeting of this affectionate aunt and niece; but she came to her
senses first, and as no one else seemed inclined to break through the
awkward silence, said:
"There is the dear girl; she looks much better, does she not, Mrs.
King?"
This broke the spell. Mary sprang to her feet and rushed into
Catherine's arms, kissing her with great warmth.
Catherine returned the embrace in a shy manner that seemed cold; she was
ashamed of being effusively affectionate, especially before strangers;
but she felt as if her very soul was going out to the girl who hung
about her neck.
She said in a quiet voice: "I should have come long ago, you know, Mary,
but the doctor would not hear of it."
She still held the girl's hand in her own, unwilling to part with it.
"I know that. But, oh! I have so longed to see you, aunt dear--and I
have so much to talk to you about!"
"We will have a long chat together to-morrow morning, Mary, before I go;
but you must not tire yourself now. Indeed you do look better--much
better," and she stepped back so as better to see her pupil. "What
should we have done without you, Mrs. White? Ah! I have reason to be
grateful to you for your kindness to my niece."
"But, oh! I am altogether neglecting Tommy!" cried Mary; "poor little
chap, sitting there all alone, covered with nasty soap-suds!--no one
paying the slightest attention to him! Aren't they naughty, Tommy? No
wonder he cries, poor little man!" She was beginning all her tender
woman's nonsense with the child again, when her eyes suddenly met those
of her mistress, and she became confused and silent again before that
sad, puzzled gaze.
Catherine felt she ought to say something complimentary to the mother;
it was the usual thing, she supposed; so she spoke in a curious,
constrained tone, hesitating between the words as if repeating a
half-learned lesson:
"That is your--youngest--I presume--Mrs. White? He is a--a fine--a fine
boy."
Mrs. White smiled involuntarily at the stiff manner of the woman; could
this be the kind, sympathetic aunt whom Mary had praised so warmly?
"Yes," she replied; "he is the youngest of the three--a great friend of
Mary's; isn't he, Mary?"
"Ah!" ejaculated Catherine, and lapsed into awkward silence again.
Everything was so strange to her that she could not collect her thoughts
at all.
"Leave him to me, darling--I'll dry him," said the mother to Mary; and
the little mortal was soon dried, chuckling and crowing again in a warm
blanket.
He looked at the stranger and laughed, pointing to her with his chubby
fist to attract her attention.
"He has evidently taken to you, Mrs. King," said the proud mother.
"Isn't he a fine boy?" and she handed him to her--the baby stretching
out his arms and kicking lustily in his eagerness to be taken up by a
new friend.
Catherine mechanically took him in her arms and held him in a
constrained, stiff way, looking at him as if he were some entirely new
animal to her, and as if she did not know what to make of him, or
whether he was dangerous or not.
It had doubtlessly been a long time since she had held a baby in her
arms, though she discussed them a good deal in the abstract.
The extreme awkwardness of her position, and the uncomfortable look of
her face, as she stood with the infant White in the middle of the room,
would have made Mary laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole situation,
were it not that the hidden meaning of the scene made her heart bleed
with pity and sorrow.
It was indeed a relief to Catherine when the baby was put to bed and
they went downstairs into the drawing-room.
The invalid, tired out by the day's excitement, was sent to bed shortly
after tea, and the two women were left alone. Notwithstanding the
incongruity of the society, the evening passed pleasantly enough.
Catherine soon became herself again, now that distressing phenomenon,
the baby, was no longer present.
Mrs. White, who could soon make anyone feel at home, discovered that her
guest was very fond of chess, a game which she herself played a little.
So after a long talk over Mary's illness, the chessmen were brought out
and they sat down to a game.
But as they played, the thoughts of both wandered constantly to the same
subject, one in which both were deeply interested--the fate of Mary
Grimm. Both loved the girl, both were anxious about her future, and
either dreaded the influence of the other.
Catherine King instinctively felt that her own influence over her pupil
would be lessened by her association with Mrs. White; she dreaded that
Mary's new surroundings would unfit her for her work in the Secret
Society.
So, too, did Mrs. White fear Catherine. She knew how devoted Mary was to
her aunt, how thoroughly she believed in her wisdom and goodness, and
she also knew from her brother what objectionable views Catherine held
on the subject of religion and morals. She felt how perilous it must be
for a young girl to have faith in such a teacher.
Thus it happened that as they played at chess, the two women were
playing another more subtle game at the same time. Each was endeavouring
to sound the other as to her views and intentions with regard to the
girl.
But both were cautious, and would reveal nothing of their plans.
At last, towards the end of the game, Mrs. White asked:
"Do you think it will be well for Mary to return to her hospital work
after so serious an illness?"
"Check!" said Mrs. King. "You can only save yourself by sacrificing your
bishop--I beg your pardon, Mrs. White, but I have not considered that
matter yet. I shall certainly not permit her to return to the hospital
for a long while yet."
After a few more moves, Mrs. White spoke again: "I hear that you are a
great politician, Mrs. King?"
"I take deep interest in social questions, but I am afraid you would not
consider my views quite orthodox, Mrs. White."
Another long pause ensued.
"That white knight of yours is much in the way of my schemes; but I
think I shall get him out of the way very soon," said Catherine, who was
deeply interested in the game, and was too confident of success to fear
the result of thus disclosing her tactics to the enemy.
Mrs. White started; the words seemed ominous, for she was just then
thinking what a dangerous foe to Mrs. King her own brother would prove,
as Mary's lover, how he would frustrate her plans.
So, from that moment, she began to take a peculiar interest in the game
before her. She was possessed by a fancy that whoever would win that
game, would win Mary. She remembered the old legend of the Angel and the
Demon playing for the man's soul, and she felt a strange awe, when she
looked at the dark frowning face of her adversary contemplating the
pieces before her.
It was soon evident that the game was in Catherine's hands; a few more
moves and the Mate was inevitable.
Mrs. White was filled with quite a superstitious terror and despair, as
the end approached. She was ashamed of her folly, but could not help it
in the presence of this woman.
Catherine had been observing her face with some amusement; she had, with
her peculiar faculty of placing her mind in sympathy with that of
another, half-read her thoughts. She divined that Mrs. White was
identifying the game with another more important one that was yet to be
fought out. Her eccentric mind was seized with a curious inspiration.
She suddenly, as if by accident, upset the light chess-table with her
elbow, and the pieces rolled rattling to the floor.
The eyes of the two women met.
Catherine smiled and said, "I should have won I think, but this accident
makes it a drawn game. _The Fates won't reveal their secret._ But I must
not keep you up any longer, Mrs. White; I know it is long after your
usual bed-time," and she rose from her seat as she spoke.
"Why, the woman is a witch!" thought the startled little woman, as she
showed her guest the way to her room; "but I believe the White Knight
will be too strong for her game nevertheless."