Whether Sydney Lyle was frightened or not by her sister's threat she
made no effort to interfere with the marriage, whose appointed day was
swiftly approaching. Captain Ernscliffe was a daily visitor at Mr.
Lyle's, but Sydney kept her room, or was constantly absorbed in
fashionable gayeties, so that she saw but little of Queenie and her
lover.
But though Sydney had apparently given up the contest, she still
preserved a tacit feud with Queenie, refusing to speak to or notice her
in any way, and haughtily repelling the questions and remonstrances of
the family on the subject.
Lord Valentine, the lover of the fair Georgina, at length arrived, and
the cards of invitation were issued for the double wedding, which Mrs.
Lyle had determined should be quite a brilliant affair.
Mrs. Lyle was jubilant over the prospect of marrying off two of her
girls so advantageously; and Mr. Lyle, in the midst of his trouble and
anxiety over Queenie, was still conscious of a certain sense of relief,
for there had been a coldness and estrangement between Queenie and the
other members of the family ever since her return, and the atmosphere of
home had seemed charged with electricity that threatened at any moment
to burst into storm. So that none, except, perhaps, Sydney, were sorry
when the eventful night arrived, and the two brides were dressing in
their respective rooms, Georgina attended by her mother and Sydney, and
the single maid employed by the family waiting on Queenie.
The unhappy girl was keenly conscious of the tacit slight, but she did
not seem to notice it by word or sign, and after her toilet was
completed she sent the maid away, saying that she wished to be alone a
little while.
"Everything is perfect," she said, surveying herself critically in the
mirror. "I am a shade too pale, but then they allow that to brides, I
believe. Ah, me!"
She walked up and down the room, her small hands locked before her, her
beautiful face as white as death, a look of deep unrest in her large,
violet eyes.
There was a slight tap at the door. She knew it at once for her father's
familiar knock.
"Enter, papa," she said.
He turned the door-handle softly and came in.
"I have come to see if the bride looks pretty," he said, veiling his
emotion under an affectation of lightness.
"You are the only one who cares to know," she answered, with a ring of
bitterness in her sweet voice.
He stood silent, surveying her with sad yet admiring eyes.
She wore the rich brocaded silk that her uncle had sent her a year ago
from Paris, and which she had laughingly declared then should be her
wedding-dress. Its rich shining folds trailed far behind her, and the
soft folds of the bridal veil fell over it like a mist. Her wreath and
the knots of flowers that looped up her dress were of natural orange
blossoms, the gift of her lover. Their fragrance pervaded the room
deliciously. She wore a magnificent set of diamonds, the bridal gift of
Captain Ernscliffe.
Young, beautiful, elegantly attired, she made a picture on which the
eyes might feast and never grow weary, and none would have guessed how
heavy was the heart beating under the satin corsage, or that the fearful
elements of a tragedy had been woven into that life that seemed yet in
its earliest spring.
Her father looked at her a moment, then silently opened his arms, and
she as silently glided into them, heedless that the bridal veil was
disarranged as she laid her fair head down upon his breast.
"Papa," she murmured, with quivering lips, "_you_ love me, you are kind
to me in spite of--of--all."
"God bless you, my little daughter," he said, solemnly, and touched his
lips lightly to her brow.
It was the first time he had kissed her since she had come back. He had
forgiven her, and been kind to her, but the loving caresses that had
been showered on the little Queenie who went away had never been given
to the Queenie who returned. This silent, gentle kiss seemed to have all
the solemnity of a farewell.
"Papa, I feel strangely," she said, putting her hands to her brow; "my
head whirls, my--oh! oh! God, oh, God, what is that?"
With a wild and ringing shriek of horror she tore herself from his arms,
and stood pointing at the window with one jeweled finger, her blue eyes
dark and dilated, her face transfigured with terror.
That frightened shriek penetrated to Georgina's room across the hall.
The bride and her mother and sister all made a rush for Queenie's room,
apprehending some dire calamity.
They found her standing in the centre of the floor, her face
transfigured with terror, her shaking finger pointed at the window,
while she wailed aloud in accents of remorse and despair:
"_The dead! The dead!_"
"Queenie, Queenie, you rave!" her father exclaimed, catching her arm as
she held it forward, still pointing at the window.
She turned around and clung to him, sobbing wildly:
"A ghost was there, papa--a horrible ghost!"
"No, no, dear, there was nothing--I saw nothing. Queenie. There is no
one at the window," he answered soothingly.
She gave a fearful, shuddering look at the window.
"It is gone, now, papa; but I tell you I saw a ghost at the window--one
from the dead came and looked at me--_his_ ghost, papa," she moaned,
hiding her face on his shoulder.
"Whose ghost was it, Queenie?" asked Georgina, curiously, as she stepped
forward in her elegant bridal robe. "Whom did you see?"
"Do not tease her, Georgie--stand back and give her air--see, she is
about to faint!" exclaimed her father, a little shortly.
The bride stepped back with a murmur of discontent. She thought it
exceedingly rude in her father to snub the prospective Lady Valentine.
"Oh! for mercy's sake, Queenie," exclaimed Mrs. Lyle, rushing forward
with a bottle of _eau de cologne_, "don't give way to hysterical fancies
now when it is almost time for the ceremony to begin! You saw nothing at
the window but the moonlight; come, come, compose yourself! Your toilet
will be totally disarranged!"
She fell to work bathing the limp, nerveless hands and cold brow of the
girl, while Sydney and Georgina stood coldly aloof--the bride because
she was afraid of ruffling her delicate plumage, and Sydney because she
would not have lifted a finger to save Queenie if she had lain dying
before her.
In the midst of the tumult the maid rushed in.
"Oh! Mrs. Lyle," she exclaimed, "the company is arriving. Mrs. Preston's
carriage is at the door, and Mrs. Alden's and Mrs. Howe's."
"Oh! dear," exclaimed Mrs. Lyle, "was there ever such a _contre temps_?
Not a soul in the drawing-room to receive them! Sydney, you must go
down, I cannot leave Queenie in this state."
Sydney curled her lip in a disdainful smile and went.
The marriage was to take place at home, and the drawing-room was
profusely decorated with flowers. A beautiful arch of white flowers was
arranged where the bridal couples were to stand, and wreaths and
bouquets were variously disposed about the room.
Sydney in the white heat of anger that filled her heart felt sick and
faint as the overpowering fragrance pervaded her senses.
Yet she had to stand up and receive the guests and smile and talk as if
it were the happiest evening she had ever known.
She had refused to become one of the bridesmaids, so when the bridal
party with their long string of lovely attendants entered the room and
stood before the bishop, she drew back into an obscure corner that no
one might see the jealous pain and hatred in her heart disfiguring her
handsome face.
Georgina was married first, taking precedence of Queenie by virtue of
her own four years seniority, and her betrothed's superior rank. Then
the newly-wedded couple stepped quietly back, and Captain Ernscliffe and
his radiantly-beautiful bride took their place; the solemn words were
spoken, the ring slipped over her slim finger, and they turned to
receive the congratulations of their friends.
One of the servants came bowing and smiling into the group carrying a
magnificent bouquet of white flowers.
"For Mrs. Ernscliffe," he said, presenting it, "with the compliments of
a friend."
She took it into her white hand with a faint smile.
"It is rarely beautiful," she said, and lifted it to her face and
inhaled the strong, sweet odor of the costly flowers.
Something more pungent than the innocent breath of the flowers entered
into her brain as she inhaled the fragrant incense. She threw up her
hands, and without a word or cry, the smiling bride fell lifeless at her
husband's feet.