THE WATERFALL.
"I did not know that the world was so beautiful. This spot is indeed
like paradise to me now. There is joy in the very breath of the
mornings. When I open my window and let in the gushing song of the
mocking-birds, and the sweet breath of the flowers, sighs of exquisite
delight break to my lips. Things that wearied me two weeks ago are
taking new beauty in my eyes. It seems to me that I love everything in
the world except this one old man.
"We have been riding every day miles and miles over the country. There
is not a broad prospect or a pleasant nook within a ten-hours' ride,
that we have not visited in company. Mr. Dennison encouraged these
excursions. He is anxious that I should learn to ride freely, and seems
grateful that Lawrence is willing to teach me. The weather has been more
than pleasant, and these two weeks have gone by like a dream. How brief
the time has been, yet how long it seems, one lives so much in a few
hours.
"My heart is full, so full that I cannot write anything that it feels.
In fact, there is nothing tangible enough for words. Dreams, dreams all,
but such delirious dreams. Last night I lay awake till a rosy flash
broke through the curtains telling me that it was morning. All night
long I lay with the curtains brooding over me like a cloud, and the
silver moonlight shimmering through the windows half illuminating the
room and the bed upon which I rested, which was all whiteness like a
snow-drift. There I lay hour after hour, with both hands folded on my
breast, whispering over the words that he had said to me. They were
nothing when separated from his looks, or disentangled from the
exquisite tenderness of his voice, but oh, how much, when so richly
combined, for never in one human being, I am sure, were looks and voice
so eloquent.
"I could hear the deep breathing of my husband in the next room, and
this made me restless. But for him those words, meaningless in
themselves perhaps, would have taken life and force. Ah, why is youth
and ambition so rash. Had I only waited before these golden fetters were
riveted upon me!
"A vase of moss-roses stood upon the little table near my bed. He had
gathered them for me just as the sun was setting, while the first dew
bathed them. I took some of these flowers together in my hands, and
kissed away their perfume, with a delightful consciousness that he had
given it to me. Out of all the wilderness of flowers, now fresh from
the dew, these were the gems, for he had brought them to me.
"When daylight came, I arose and went down to the veranda, not weary
from sleeplessness, but with a gentle languor upon me which was better
than rest. For the first time since Lawrence had been with us, I opened
the book he had written, and read passages from it at random. How
beautiful they were! and I not discover this before. The truth is, their
very excellence carried with it exaltation.
"I read them with a new sense and a keener relish. Their very intensity
had, at the first reading, disturbed me almost painfully, now each
sentence brought thrills of appreciation. In all respects it was a new
book to me.
"I felt that this second reading was dangerous, but the thoughts
fascinated me, and I read on, while orioles and mocking-birds held a
carnival of music in the thickets around me, and a bright sun drove all
the rose-tints from the sky. All at once I looked up, a shadow had
fallen across the page I was reading; I closed the book at once,
blushing like a guilty creature.
"'Confess,' said Lawrence, with a gleam of laughing triumph in his eyes,
'that you have in some degree changed your opinion.'
"'I have no opinion to change,' was my answer; 'for until now I never
really understood your book.'
"'And you understand it now?'
"'Yes.'
"'And feel it?'
"'Too much.'
"I felt the blood rush into my face with very shame at this hasty
admission. When I ventured to look up, a faint wave of color was dying
out from his face, leaving it grave and pale. Was he condemning me
already? That moment Mr. Dennison came through the front door, looking
cool and tranquil in his dress of pure linen, which was scarcely whiter
than his hair.
"'Come,' he said, in jovial good humor, 'throw by your books, and let us
have breakfast.'
"I was glad to see him,--grateful that he had released me from the
thraldom of those eyes.
"We rode out that day. A waterfall some eight miles off was almost the
only point of interest that I had not visited, and there our ride
terminated. A colored groom always rode after us, but his presence was
no check upon conversation, and sometimes he loitered behind so far that
we lost sight of him altogether. In fact, our whole excursion was one
long _tete-a-tete_.
"Lawrence had been grave and preoccupied all the way, but when we
quitted our horses and went down to the fall, his spirits rose, and he
looked around upon the scene with animation. The cataract, for it was
little more, leaped through a chasm between two precipices, formed by a
vast rock, which some convulsion of nature had split asunder. Down this
chasm the crystal waters plunged nearly a hundred feet, like a stream of
shooting diamonds, covering the sides of each precipice with fleeces of
emerald-green moss. From these mosses sprung ferns that waved like ten
thousand plumes in the current of air that blew coolly down the ravine,
keeping every thing in graceful motion. Young trees added their
luxuriance to the scene, crowning the summit of the rocks like a diadem,
and a host of clustering vines fell over the edge of the precipice,
streaming downwards like banners on a battlement, and sometimes sweeping
out with the current.
"We entered the ravine first, and stood within the very spray of the
cataract; for the stream widened out directly after it left the chasm,
and went rioting off among boulders and broken rocks, across which a
plank bridge had been flung, which commanded a full view of the fall. We
stood a while enjoying the view, and then moved up a footpath that ran
along the right-hand precipice, from which we could look down the
ravine, and attain an entirely different view from the one we had left.
The path was broken and abrupt, but this was scarcely an objection to
us. There was something exhilarating in the exercise, and I rather liked
the vigorous climbing after so long a ride on horseback; even with the
obstruction of a long skirt flung over one arm, it was scarcely
fatiguing. We had nearly reached the top of the precipice, I had taken
Mr. Lawrence's arm, for he insisted that I must be out of breath, and I
was protesting against his assertion, when a large dog rushed out of the
undergrowth, which grew thickly on that side of the path, as if
frightened at something, and made a plunge directly against me.
"My arm was torn from its support, I staggered--reeled on the verge of
the precipice, flung out my arms, and plunged down--down--down into
chaos. I had neither struck the earth nor water, something hard and firm
girded my body. My face was smothered in green, damp leaves, and my hair
already dripped with falling spray.
"I heard the roar and rush of waters all around me, and through it a
fierce cry as of some one in agony. I attempted to move, but the
branches that supported me swayed downward, and with a desperate spring
I caught at the stem of a wild vine, which clung to and spread over the
face of the precipice, twisting itself in with the young tree, which but
for that would have broken under my weight. Looking upward through the
blinding mist, I saw a white face bending over the precipice, and heard
a voice hoarse with terror calling upon me to hold firmly and keep
still.
"I did hold firmly, but the trembling of my frame shook the tree and
clinging shrubs with a dangerous vibration, and it seemed to me that
their roots were slowly tearing out from the soil which held them in the
cleft of the rock. This shook me with an awful terror; I tried to close
my eyes and be still, but that was impossible. I saw the blue sky
bending so calm and quiet above me. I saw the quivering greenness that
clothed the rocky face of the precipice, and ten thousand tiny white
flowers trembling through it so close that my face almost touched them.
The fall, like a sheet of melted glass, rolled and plunged so near, that
it seemed ready to leap upon me. My appalled eyes turned shuddering from
a vast whirlpool of foam that rioted thirty feet beneath me, shooting
forward, curving over, and plunging down great watery hollows, then
leaping suddenly upward, as if maddened that their prey had not fallen
at once into the white caldron of their wrath.
"In vain my eyes closed upon all this threatening horror. Then all was
darkness, and the roar of the fall became terrific. The spray swept over
me like a storm of shooting diamonds, wetting my habit through and
through till it dragged me downward with heavier weight and fresh peril.
I could feel the drops falling like rain from my hair, and my poor hands
grew cold as they clung to the vine. A cry broke from my lips. Surely
the tree was uprooting beneath me. I could feel it giving way inch by
inch. A handful of loose earth broke away and rolled over me, rattling
down to the white gulf below. Shriek after shriek--oh, my God! they were
smothered and lost in that roar of waters, and could warn no one of this
new peril. I seized upon the wild vine higher up, and strove to press
less heavily on that breaking tree; my foot found a crevice in the rock,
and, forcing itself through the wet moss, in some degree sufficed to
lessen the weight that was dragging me down to death. But still my
support was slowly giving way, I could hear the small roots snap, and
feel the earth break from around them. My hands were numb and cold, my
brain began to reel, and ten thousand broken rainbows seemed shooting up
from the falls, and tangling themselves around me, dragging me
down--down--down.
"A human voice brought me back; a wild, cheerful shout forbade me to
give way, and broke the delirium, which in a moment more would have
loosened my hold, and sent me whirling through that white gulf of waters
into eternity. 'Hold fast one moment! For God's sake, be firm!' It was
his voice. A thrill of hope drove back the delirium that had seized upon
me. I pressed my foot more firmly into the crevice, and forced myself
against the rock, clinging with both hands to the vine. A trail of
blackness fell over the face of the precipice, and I heard the clank of
iron striking against the rock. Directly the air above was darkened,
and, with a thrill of horror, I saw Lawrence fling himself over the face
of the precipice, and glide slowly down to my side. He crowded his foot
close to mine, thus attaining a foothold, but otherwise supported
himself by the line of leathern straps that had aided his descent. With
one hand clinging firmly to this support, he placed the stirrups from my
saddle under my feet, told me how to seize upon the straps to which they
were attached when he should call out, and seizing the double straps
above my head, swung himself upward, and left me alone, shaken with
double terror. Then I knew that a life dearer than mine was in peril,
and my soul went up with him, uttering a cry of thankfulness when his
voice reached me, calling out, cheerfully, from the edge of the
precipice,--
"'Stand firm; do not move till you feel the straps tighten around you!'
"I obeyed, holding desperately to the vine with one hand, while the
other was ready for action. I felt the stirrups tighten under my
feet,--the leather straps were taut and motionless,--I grasped one with
my left hand, but still clung to the vine, afraid to swing out over that
awful abyss. It was a moment of sickening horror.
"'Be bold--fear nothing--trust yourself to me!'
"Instantly my hand left its hold on the vine, my feet were lifted from
their frail support, and with the stirrups beneath them, swung out from
the rock. Oh, how fearfully those lines strained and quivered! how those
white waters leaped and roared under me! I drew no breath; my heart
stood still; a shock of awful terror seized upon me; the minute in which
I swung out into mid-air seems to me even now as a long, long day. Oh,
it was terrible!
"The faces of the angels, when they meet you after death, must give such
promise of new life, as his gave to me when my frightened eyes first saw
him bending over that precipice. The trust of the angels must be like
mine when I felt his arms around me, and knew that he had lifted me out
of chaos. Never, on this side of heaven, shall I have another sensation
like that.
"How long I remained in those arms it is impossible for me to say. When
I came to life, he was sitting upon the turf, where they had laid me,
with my head resting on his knee. Some brandy from a flask, which the
groom always carried with him, had been forced through my lips, where I
felt the taste still burning. That had checked the shudders of cold
which were creeping over me, and for a while I lay speechless, feeble as
a child, but oh, how happy! He had saved me. It was his strength which
had rescued me from that whirlpool of waters, from the horrible death,
for which I was so unprepared.
"These were the first thoughts that came to my brain, as I lay there so
deathly and motionless. The light fell rosily on my eyelids, but I had
no strength or wish to unclose them; nay, I checked the very breath as
it rose to my lips, fearing that it would betray the life rekindling in
my bosom, and thus break the dream which was so like Elysium.
"He bent his face to mine and called me by name. His voice shook with
apprehension; I could feel that he trembled.
"I could not help it: a smile crept to my lips and warmed them into
redness. He held my hand, and was chafing it between his smooth white
palms.
"'She is recovering,' he exclaimed, joyfully.
"'So she am, marser,' answered Tom, the groom; 'beginning to look mighty
natral. Lor' knows dis darky thought she was done gone sure 'nuff.'
"I moved then. Tom's voice had broken up my dream.
"'Are you better? Speak, dear lady, and tell me that you are not
seriously hurt.'
"Opening my eyes wide, I looked into his, and closed them again, feeling
the warm, fresh life rushing to my face with a glow.
"'Ah, your looks tell me that no serious evil will come from this,' he
said. 'Let us thank God.'
"'I do thank God, but you most of all,' I whispered; 'without that, life
would--'
"What was I about to say. My voice was weak, I do not think he heard me.
I listened for some response, but none came, and when my eyes turned
upon him, the look with which he met them was grave and thoughtful.
"Tom was busy about the saddles at some distance. With that prompt
action which is in itself success, Lawrence had taken the girths and
stirrups from the saddles, the martingales and bridles, all of which he
had buckled and knotted together into the cable that saved my life.
While Tom was repairing all damages, I grew strong enough to sit up, but
my habit was so wet and heavy that it seemed impossible for me to walk.
A slight lunch had been prepared for us which Tom had brought with him.
Lawrence found a bottle of champagne in the basket, and poured out a
brimming cup which he entreated me to drink while the sparkles were
rising. I drank eagerly, again and again, till the slight chills that
had begun to creep over me were broken up, and a glow of strength
enabled me to rise.
"'Now,' said Lawrence, 'that you have some color in those cheeks, and
the deathly look is gone, let us mount and away. It will be a miracle if
you are not ill from this shock.'
"I arose and prepared to go, but faltered, and found the weight of my
skirt oppressive. Lawrence threw one arm around my waist, and almost
carried me to the horse. For one moment he folded me close in his arms
before lifting me to the saddle, and whispered,--
"'Forgive me, that I led you into this danger.'
"I could not answer. The man who had saved my life, at a terrible risk
to his own, asked me to forgive him. Did he guess that it was worship,
not forgiveness, that I felt.
"We rode home at a gallop. Exercise drove the chills from my frame, and
a strange excitement took possession of me. When I reached home, my
cheeks were on fire. It was not fever, but a sensation stranger and
wilder than I had ever felt before. Instead of returning home, I would
have given the world to turn my horse and flee to the uttermost parts of
the earth, where no one but the man who had saved me could ever know of
my existence.
"Still, the horse was bearing me forward at the top of his speed, and no
one attempted to check him or turn him aside. In the madness of my
folly, I almost hoped to see Lawrence seize the bridle, and swerve his
course away from the home I was beginning to hate."