STARTLING NEWS
When the tender reached the dock Mr. Force touched his daughter’s arm,
and whispered:
“We can get a train back to London, and catch the night steamer to
Ostend, and be with your mother by to-morrow evening. Shall we do so, or
shall we go down to Chester and take a little tour through the Welsh
mountains?”
“Oh, no; papa, dear. We will go home to mamma, if you please,” said
Odalite, who, amid all her grief, noticed the pale and worn look on the
patient face that told of his silent suffering.
“Very well, my dear. I only thought it would divert you,” he replied.
They drove from the docks to the Adelphi, where Mr. Force paid their
hotel bill, took up the little luggage, and, with his daughter, drove on
to the railway station, and caught the express train to London, a tidal
train that connected with the Ostend night boat.
They reached Ostend the next day, and before night arrived at
Baden-Baden, where they were received with gladness by their family, who
did all that was possible to cheer the spirits of Odalite and raise her
hopes for the future.
They all remained in Germany until the first of November, and then set
out to spend the winter on the banks of the Mediterranean.
Their first halting place was Genoa, where they waited letters from Le.
The letters arrived at length, bringing good news. Le was assigned to
the man-of-war _Eagle_, bound for the Mediterranean! Bound direct for
Genoa!
Then, in perfect content, they settled down for the winter.
The earl’s health was certainly improving in the mild air of sunny
Italy, and his spirits were rallying in the society of his relatives, so
he also decided to remain in Genoa.
Before the end of November the _Eagle_ was in port, and Midshipman Force
hastened to see his friends at their house on the Strada Balbi.
He had been absent only seven weeks, yet they received him with as much
joy as though they had not seen him for seven years.
As long as his ship lay at anchor in the harbor his friends remained in
the Strada Balbi. And whenever he could get a day or a half day off he
came to them.
When the _Eagle_ sailed for Nice the family left Genoa for the same
city, and took up their quarters at the Hotel de la Paix, and the same
pleasant intercourse was resumed.
And so the winter passed. And Mr. Force was beginning to contemplate the
possibility of having his daughter freed from a merely nominal and most
unfortunate marriage. To do this it would be necessary, according to his
ideas of honor, that they should return to the state and the parish
where the marriage ceremony had been nearly performed, but was finally
interrupted.
But there was no hurry, he thought. Le was on the Mediterranean, and his
duty would keep him there for two or three years longer.
There was another source of occasional uneasiness—the political
condition of the United States. Ever since the presidential election, in
November, dissatisfaction had spread in certain sections of the country,
and trouble seemed to be brewing.
All this, coming through the newspapers to the knowledge of the
absentees, gave them disturbance, but really not much, so thoroughly
confident were they all in the safety of the Union, and the grand
destiny of the republic.
The clouds on the political horizon would vanish, and all would be well.
No harm could come to the country, which was the Lord’s City of Refuge
for the oppressed of all the world.
They had heard not a word from or of Angus Anglesea since the Washington
detective had traced him to Canada, and there lost him.
Le privately and most earnestly hoped that the villain had got himself
sent to some State prison for life, or, well, hanged—which the
midshipman thought would have been even better. At least, however, the
family he had wronged so deeply seemed now to be well rid of him. But Le
expressed a strong wish that his uncle would return to Maryland in the
spring and have Odalite entirely freed by the law from the bond, or
rather, the shadow of the bond, that lay so heavily on her life, and on
his.
“No doubt I could easily have Odalite set free from her nominal marriage
with a villain, who was forced to leave her at the altar before the
benediction had been given. But to do this, Le, I should have to take
her home to Maryland, where you could not follow her for two or three
years. So, what good could come of hurry? Besides, we are no longer
molested by the villain Anglesea. Be thankful for that blessing, Le, and
for the rest be patient.”
“‘Patient!’” exclaimed the youth. “You have so often told me to be
patient, and I have so long been patient, that I am unutterably
impatient of the very word ‘patient’!”
“I beg your pardon, Le. I will not persecute you with the word any
longer,” gravely replied the elder man.
“Uncle, I beg your pardon! I do, indeed. I feel myself to be an
ungrateful and most unreasonable wretch! Here you have made my burden as
light as you can by showing me all sorts of favors and giving me all
sorts of privileges, moving about from place to place to give me
opportunity of being with you all, and here am I like a beast losing my
temper with you. Uncle! I don’t deserve that you should pardon me!”
“Say no more, Le! Dear boy, I can understand your trials; but look on
the brighter side, my lad. The best of the business now is that Anglesea
does not trouble us. He seems to have died out of our lives.”
“Yes, but has he, uncle? He did that once before for three years, and
even advertised himself as dead and buried. But he suddenly came to life
again, and sprang into our midst like a very demon, to do us all the
harm that he possibly could. How do we know when he will reappear to
disturb us? Uncle! I do not mean to threaten, because I do not wish to
sin; but I foresee that, if Anglesea ever comes in my way again, the
sight of the man will goad me to crime.”
“Oh, no, Le! No, my dear boy! Do not talk so! If ever you should be
tempted, pray to the Lord. And think of Odalite. To bring yourself to
evil would break her heart, Le!”
“I will pray that I may never set eyes on that man again, uncle!”
Soon after this conversation, near the last of February, the family went
to Rome to witness the grand grotesque pageantry of the carnival. Le
could not leave his ship to go with them, and so they only remained
during the week of orgies, and as soon as it was over returned to
Naples, where the _Eagle_ was then at anchor. Here they settled
themselves in furnished lodgings, on the Strada di Toledo, for the
spring months.
It was early in May.
They were all—with the exception of Le, who was on duty on his
ship—assembled in a handsome front room overlooking the Strada.
The earl, whose health was so much improved that his friends hoped for
its full restoration, sat in his easy chair beside a little stand,
playing a game of chess with Wynnette, who had developed into a champion
chess player, and was much harder to beat than ever her father had been.
Mr. Force, who, suffering from a return of his malady, lay on a sofa,
pale and patient, but in too much pain to read or to talk. Odalite sat
near him, silently working on the silk flower embroidery she had learned
to like from her mother’s example.
Elva and Rosemary, at a round table, were turning over a set of “views”
left by Le on his previous visit.
Mrs. Force was opening a newspaper received that morning, and smoothing
it out, preparatory to reading it aloud to her family.
Suddenly she dropped the paper, covered her face with her hands, and
fell back in her chair, wailing forth the words:
“Oh, my Lord! my Lord! This is the very hardest thing to bear of all
that went before!”