“Life and thought have gone away.”
Never had such a brilliant company been assembled within the walls of
Moorbye Church. It was Belle’s wedding-day, and the sun shone kindly
upon the face of nature. Only a few family friends had been invited
down, but the little church was filled to overflowing by the gentlefolks
of the neighborhood, who did not think it _infra dig._ to undergo a lot
of crowding and elbowing for the privilege of witnessing an earl’s
wedding.
Belle looked superb in her pearl-embroidered satin gown as she walked up
the aisle with my father, and her bearing must have struck the onlookers
as unusually calm and dignified. I fancied that I could detect a sign of
anxiety in the hurried glance she cast around in search of Cyril, and
that her face paled on discovering that he had not yet arrived. Possibly
she thought of that other bridal morning, when the bridegroom did not
put in an appearance. As yet, however, there was no need for uneasiness.
The train by which the Earl of Greatlands was to come from town was only
just due, and it might possibly be a little late.
“I feel very anxious,” said Lady Elizabeth to me, in a voice low enough
only to be heard by myself. “Cyril ought to have contrived to be here
first. He has behaved very strangely altogether of late, and I cannot
help thinking that something must be wrong with him. I hope he is not
ill.”
Alas! I knew what was wrong with him, and by this time my fears exceeded
Lady Elizabeth’s own. When I say that I feared, I speak advisedly. For
it had seemed to me that an interruption to this marriage was a thing to
be dreaded, for everybody’s sake. True, real happiness was not to be
expected for either Belle or her husband. But it was more fitting that
these two, who had sinned together, should spend the rest of their
conscience-haunted days together, than that either of them should be
left at liberty to cast a shadow upon the life of any one else. Perhaps
it was very presumptuous of me to constitute myself judge in such a case
as this; for to encourage criminals in the achievement of that for which
they have schemed and planned hardly seems a justifiable way of making
the punishment fit the crime. Certainly the demands of justice would
appear to point to a very different ending to our family troubles. But
what woman in my place would not have tried to pit silence and oblivion
against naked justice?
It was a relief to us all when the Earl of Greatlands, accompanied by
Mr. Alwyn Gardener, his best man, hurriedly entered the church and
walked toward the altar. But Mr. Gardener appeared flushed and troubled,
and the bridegroom seemed to me to be looking like one demented. For at
one moment he bit his lip and clinched his hand with all the air of one
who is doing a thing that is distasteful to him. The next he was smiling
at Belle, and gazing at her with the exultant admiration of a proud and
happy bridegroom.
Presently Mr. Garth and his two chosen assistants began the marriage
service, and the interest of the onlookers was quickened in an endeavor
to hear the responses. Even yet I felt apprehensive of interruption.
But, so far, my fears were unfounded, for the ceremony was concluded,
and soon all was smiles and congratulation. The bride was kissed by
relatives and bridemaids, and I hoped that, among all the fuss and
excitement, the fact that I neither kissed my sister nor shook hands
with my brother-in-law would pass unnoticed.
There was to be a reception after the wedding, and then the
newly-married pair were to go to Scotland for their honeymoon. We were
quite a merry party at the Grange, and even I, who was so much behind
the scenes, felt as if I almost dared hope that the family troubles were
now over.
Jerry was in high glee, for everybody liked him, and the tips he got
were enough to have turned any ordinarily lucky schoolboy green with
envy. His holidays were almost over, and no doubt some of the
school-chums of whom he spoke to me would soon show him how to get rid
of his pocket-money.
The Earl of Greatlands excused himself somewhat earlier than had been
expected, on the plea of feeling the need of half an hour’s quiet, as he
was considerably out of sorts. “It will be time enough for you to get
into your traveling dress in three-quarters of an hour, dear,” he said
to Belle, whom he kissed again with all the ardor of a lover. Then he
went up to his room, while Belle supported her honors a while longer in
a manner that won admiring encomiums from certain individuals of the
toadying order, who never lose an opportunity of flattering their
superiors in station. When at last the bride went upstairs, she had
little time to spare for dressing, but declined to take her two
bridemaids with her to facilitate the process.
A minute later Marvel, who had accompanied his master to Moorbye, rushed
into the room in which the rest of us were toying with time, and,
throwing his hands up with a despairing gesture, screamed rather than
shouted his dreadful tidings—
“My master is dead!”
That was what he had to tell us, and a moment later all was confusion
and excitement, which was augmented by the sound of despairing shrieks
from above.
In common with others, my first impulse was to rush upstairs to Belle’s
room. I arrived first, and found her standing in the middle of the
floor, alternately screaming and laughing, both screams and laughter
being such as can but proceed from the tortured bosom of insanity.
Beside her, on the floor, lay an open letter. I instinctively picked it
up and hid it in my pocket before any one else saw it. I knew, without
being told, that whatever awful tragedy had taken place in the next room
was explained in that letter, and that it was the reading of it which
had driven my sister mad.
There were plenty of affectionate hands ready to help the stricken
bride, and plenty of loving hearts that would fain have lightened her
woe. But the blow had been too awful in its suddenness, and had struck
when she was least prepared for it, just when she was at the zenith of
her triumph and satisfaction. It had extinguished forever the light of
reason from that beautiful face, and had transformed the erstwhile
smiling bride into a hopeless maniac.
Strangely enough, she seems to have forgotten the present, and all
memory of aught connected with the family of Greatlands has been wiped
off her darkened mind. She will never betray the part she bore in that
other tragedy, and the world speaks very pityingly of the beautiful girl
whose mental and social life ended on the very day which had witnessed
the climax of her ambition.
The new Earl of Greatlands, being tender and pitiful, would have
established his father’s bride of an hour in the dower-house, surrounded
by such comforts as she is capable of enjoying. But to this plan neither
my father nor Lady Elizabeth were willing to consent, and she still
lives at Courtney Grange, one of the saddest wrecks of humanity it is
possible to meet with. Interest in her surroundings she takes none, but
will sit and babble by the hour of the time when she was a little one,
and had no greater trouble than to please an indulgent governess.
My father has aged very much of late, and always bears about him the
impress of one who has been cruelly stricken by fate. He had almost
worshiped his eldest daughter, in whom he saw nothing but physical,
mental and moral perfection. To gaze upon her as she is, and to contrast
her present condition with what might have been, is a daily torture to
him, which robs his life of much of its former animation and spirit.
Seeing how he takes the changed order of things to heart, I often feel
thankful that he is quite unsuspicious of the fact that, but for
herself, Belle might now have been happy in the love of husband and
children, even as I am.
Lady Elizabeth, too, was greatly grieved for a time. But as her
sympathies are widely scattered, and her interest in human nature is
keen, she finds sufficient employment for mind and body to keep both in
a healthy state of activity. If there is one thing that she is more
sorry about than another, it is the fact that she could ever have
harbored unworthy suspicions against two people whom she now firmly
believes to be entitled to be numbered among the innocents. Thank God
that she is spared the knowledge which I possess! It would kill her.
Jerry is now at Cambridge, and bids fair to reward all the hopes
centered upon him.
As for myself, there is a perpetual problem facing me, and that is—What
have I done to deserve all the love and happiness which are showered
upon me? Yes, there is one other—How shall I repay Sergius for the
transformation he has wrought in my life? I am constantly trying to do
it, but never manage it quite to my own satisfaction, though I believe
my Russian friends, all of whom now live within a short distance of our
house, entertain very exaggerated views concerning my capabilities of
making a good wife.
There is one other subject upon which the future reader of these memoirs
may possibly desire a little enlightenment. He shall have it.
Cyril, earl of Greatlands, who is said to have accidentally poisoned
himself by swallowing a large dose of chloral in mistake for a milder
drug, sleeps by the side of his ancestors in the Greatlands mausoleum,
and only Dennis Marvel, who is now the young earl’s valet, and myself
ever dream that despair and remorse drove an apparently happy man to
sever the life-chords which had become a torture to him.
So soon as I had an opportunity to do so unobserved, I read the letter
which had been the last thing upon which Belle had gazed with the light
of reason.
“My darling wife,” it ran, “I thought to have overcome the horror
which has been resting upon me ever since I became an accursed
parricide. My God! how could I do it! And how could you urge me to
it! You, whom it would not have been difficult to worship as the
outward embodiment of all that is pure and holy! I have often asked
myself if I were mad. For I could not otherwise understand how it
was possible for me to continue loving the temptress whose ambition
has wrought my father’s doom and mine. For I am doomed and accursed!
My days are filled with loathing of myself, and my nights are one
long dream of horror. For me there is no salvation. I see my
father’s frowning face, and hear his curses even amid the gay talk
of the happy folk around us, and it is more than I can bear.
Therefore I have put an end to it. When you pick this up from your
dressing-table, the man who murdered his own father to gratify your
ambition and his own greed will be numbered among the dead. But for
you, who could coolly plan a murder, and yet not be haunted by
remorse, life still holds many possibilities. You are now the
Countess of Greatlands. I have enabled you to gratify your ambition.
In return, you can make expiation for your own guilt by devoting
your gifts to the interests and benefit of others. This I pray you
to do, repentant sinner that I am! This I implore you to do,
madly-loving husband that I am! This I command you to do,
wretched—but but my strength fails me. I must bid you an eternal
farewell. God bless you, my darling, and may His mercy be given to
us both.
“CYRIL.”
I read this letter through, but though it moved me terribly, it told me
nothing I did not know already. How would it be with others, though?
Would it not enlighten them more than was desirable about secrets that
were better kept? I thought so, and I carefully burned the letter,
anxiously watching it shrivel beneath the action of the flames, and
guarding against the possibility of the smallest fragment escaping to
betray the dark mysteries of the past.
Does the reader blame me?
THE END.
----------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
After Bathing the first time with Pearline, you feel as if you never had
been clean before, possibly you haven’t. Only baths like the Turkish or
the Russian can make you as clean as Pearline does. There’s the same
feeling of lightness and luxury after it, too. Bathing with Pearline
costs almost nothing. It’s like everything else—you would long for it,
if it were expensive, but you’re apt to overlook it when it’s cheap.
Directions on every package.
Beware
Peddlers and some unscrupulous grocers will tell you “this is as good
as” or “the same as Pearline.” IT’S FALSE—Pearline is never peddled; if
your grocer sends you an imitation, be honest—send it back.
JAMES PYLE, New York.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURNETT
- - - AT THE - - -
CHICAGO EXPOSITION
--------------
WHAT THE RESTAURATEURS AND CATERERS WHO ARE TO FEED
THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE FAIR GROUNDS THINK OF
BURNETT’S EXTRACTS:
CHICAGO, April 2d, 1893.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO.
Gentlemen: After careful tests and investigation of the merits of your
flavoring extracts, we have decided to give you the entire order for our
use, in our working department as well as in all our creams and ices,
used in all of our restaurants in the buildings of the World’s Columbian
Exposition at Jackson Park.
Very truly yours,
WELLINGTON CATERING CO.
By ALBERT S. GAGE, President.
-------
CHICAGO, April 26th, 1893.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., Boston and Chicago.
Gentlemen: After careful investigation we have decided that BURNETT’S
Flavoring Extracts are the best. We shall use them exclusively in the
cakes, ice creams and pastries served in Banquet Hall and at New England
Clam Bake in the World’s Fair Grounds.
N. E. WOOD, Manager,
New England Clam Bake Building.
F. K. MCDONALD, Manager,
Banquet Hall.
-------
WOMAN’S BUILDING, }
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.}
CHICAGO, April 21st, 1893.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., Boston and Chicago.
Gentlemen: We take pleasure in stating that BURNETT’S Flavoring Extracts
will be used exclusively in the Garden Cafe, Woman’s Building, World’s
Columbian Exposition, during the period of the World’s Fair.
RILEY & LAWFORD.
-------
COLUMBIA CASINO CO.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., Boston and Chicago.
Gentlemen: We take pleasure in stating that BURNETT’S Flavoring Extracts
will be used exclusively in the cuisine of the Columbia Casino
Restaurant, at the World’s Fair Grounds, as it is our aim to use nothing
but the best. Respectfully,
H. A. WINTER, Manager.
-------
TRANSPORTATION BUILDING, }
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.}
CHICAGO, April 24, 1893.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO.
Gents: After careful tests and comparisons we have decided to use
“BURNETT’S EXTRACTS” exclusively in our ice creams, ices and pastry.
Very respectfully,
SCHARPS & KAHN,
Caterers for the “Golden Gate Cafe,”
Transportation Building.
“TROCADERO,”
Cor. 16th Street and Michigan Avenue.
-------
“THE GREAT WHITE HORSE” INN CO.,}
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN }
EXPOSITION GROUNDS. }
CHICAGO, ILL., U.S.A., April 26, 1893.
Messrs. JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., Boston and Chicago.
Gentlemen: It being our aim to use nothing but the best, we have decided
to use BURNETT’S Flavoring Extracts exclusively, in the ice cream, cakes
and pastries served in “The Great White Horse” Inn, in the grounds of
the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Very truly yours,
T. B. SEELEY, Manager, “The Great White Horse” Inn Co.
--------------
The Restaurants that have contracted to use BURNETT’S EXTRACTS,
exclusively,
are as follows:
WELLINGTON CATERING CO.,
“GREAT WHITE HORSE” INN,
THE GARDEN CAFE, WOMAN’S BUILDING,
-------
COLUMBIA CASINO CO.,
THE GOLDEN GATE CAFE,
NEW ENGLAND CLAM BAKE CO.,
BANQUET HALL.
--------------
JOSEPH BURNETT & CO., BOSTON, MASS.
Pears’
Soap
Wholesome soap is one that attacks the dirt, but not the living skin.
It is Pears’.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).