THE UNOPENED LETTER.
Soon it became known that Col. Montjoy had gone to his final judgment.
Then came the old friends of his young manhood out of their retreats;
the country for twenty miles about gave them up to the occasion. They
brought with them all that was left of the old times--courtesy, sympathy
and dignity.
There were soldiers among them, and here and there an empty sleeve and a
scarred face. There was simply one less in their ranks. Another would
follow, and another; the morrow held the mystery for the next.
Norton had returned. He was violently affected, after the fashion of
mercurial temperaments. On Edward by accident had fallen the
arrangements for the funeral, and with the advice of the general he had
managed them well. Fate seemed to make him a member of that household in
spite of himself.
The general was made an honorary pall-bearer, and when the procession
moved at last into the city and to the church, without forethought it
fell to Edward--there was no one else--to support and sustain the
daughter of the house. It seemed a matter of course that he should do
this, and as they followed the coffin up the aisle, between the two
ranks of people gathered there, the fact was noted in silence to be
discussed later. This then, read the universal verdict, was the sequel
of a romance.
But Edward thought of none of these things. The loving heart of the girl
was convulsed with grief. Since childhood she had been the idol of her
father, and between them had never come a cloud. To her that
white-haired father represented the best of manhood. Edward almost
lifted her to and from the carriage, and her weight was heavy upon his
arm as they followed the coffin.
But the end came; beautiful voices had lifted the wounded hearts to
heaven and the minister had implored its benediction upon them. The
soul-harrowing sound of the clay upon the coffin had followed and all
was over.
Edward found himself alone in the carriage with Mary, and the ride was
long. He did not know how to lead the troubled mind away from its horror
and teach it to cling to the unchanging rocks of faith. The girl had
sunk down behind her veil in the corner of the coach; her white hands
lay upon her lap. He took these in his own firm clasp and held them
tightly. It seemed natural that he should; she did not withdraw them;
she may not have known it.
And so they came back home to where the brave little wife, who had
promised "though He slay me yet will I trust in Him," sat among the
shadows keeping her promise. The first shock had passed and after that
the faith and serene confidence of the woman were never disturbed. She
would have died at the stake the same way.
The days that followed were uneventful, Norton had recovered his
composure as suddenly as he had lost it, and discussed the situation
freely. There was now no one to manage the place and he could not
determine what was to be done. In the meantime he was obliged to return
to business, and look after his wife. He went first to Edward and
thanking him for his kindness to mother and sister, hurried back to New
York. Edward had spent one more day with the Montjoys at Norton's
request, and now he, too, took his departure.
When Edward parted from Mary and the blind mother he had recourse to his
sternest stoicism to restrain himself. He escaped an awkward situation
by promising to be gone only two days before coming again. At home he
found Virdow philosophically composed and engaged in the library, a new
servant having been provided, and everything proceeding smoothly. Edward
went to him and said, abruptly:
"When is it your steamer sails, Herr Virdow?"
"One week from to-day," said that individual, not a little surprised at
his friend's manner. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I go with you, never again in all likelihood to enter America.
From to-day, then, you will excuse my absences. I have many affairs to
settle."
Virdow heard him in silence, but presently he asked:
"Are you not satisfied now, Edward."
"I am satisfied that I am the son of Marion Evan, but I will have
undoubted and unmistakable proof before I set foot in this community
again! There is little chance to obtain it. Nearly thirty years--it is a
long time, and the back trail is covered up."
"What are your plans?"
"To employ the best detectives the world can afford, and give them carte
blanche."
"But why this search? Is it not better to rest under your belief and
take life quietly? There are many new branches of science and
philosophy--you have a quick mind, you are young--why not come with me
and put aside the mere details of existence? There are greater truths
worth knowing, Edward, than the mere truth of one's ancestry." Edward
looked long and sadly into his face and shook his head.
"These mere facts," he said at length, "mean everything with me." He
went to his room; there were hours of silence and then Virdow heard in
the stillness of the old house the sound of Gerald's violin, for
Edward's had been left in Mary's care. His philosophy could not resist
the Fatherland appeal that floated down the great hall and filled the
night with weird and tender melody. For the man who played worshipped as
he drew the bow.
But silence came deep over Ilexhurst and Virdow slept. Not so Edward; he
was to begin his great search that night. He went to the wing-room and
the glass-room and flooded them with light. A thrill struck through him
as he surveyed again the scene and seemed to see the wild face of his
comrade pale in death upon the divan. There under that rod still
pointing significantly down to the steel disk he had died. And outside
in the darkness had Rita also died. He alone was left. The drama could
not be long now. There was but one actor.
He searched among all the heaps of memoranda and writings upon the desk.
They were memoranda and notes upon experiments and queries. Edward
touched them one by one to the gas jet and saw them flame and blacken
into ashes, and now nothing was left but the portfolio--and that
contained but four pictures--the faces of Slippery Dick, himself and
Mary and the strange scene at the church. One only was valuable--the
face of the girl which he knew he had given to the artist upon the tune
he had played. This one he took, and restored the others.
He had turned out the light in the glass-room, and was approaching the
jet in the wing-room to extinguish it, when upon the mantel he saw a
letter which bore the address "H. Abingdon, care John Morgan," unopened.
How long it had been there no one was left to tell. The postman, weary
of knocking, had probably brought it around to the glass-room; or the
servant had left it with Gerald. It was addressed by a woman's hand and
bore the postmark of Paris, with the date illegible. It was a hurried
note:
"Dear Friend: What has happened? When you were called home so
suddenly, you wrote me that you had important news to
communicate if you could overcome certain scruples, and that
you would return immediately, or as soon as pressing litigation
involving large interests was settled, and in your postscript
you added 'keep up your courage.' You may imagine how I have
waited and watched, and read and reread the precious note. But
months have passed and I have not heard from you. Are you ill?
I will come to you. Are you still at work upon my interests?
Write to me and relieve the strain and anxiety. I would not
hurry you, but remember it is a mother who waits. Yours,
"Cambia."
"Cambia!" Edward repeated the name aloud. Cambia. A flood of thoughts
rushed over him. What was Cambia--John Morgan to him? The veil was
lifting. And then came a startling realization. Cambia, the wife of
Gaspard Levigne!
"God in heaven," he said, fervently, "help me now!" Virdow was gone;
only the solemn memories of the room kept him company. He sank upon the
divan and buried his face in his hands. If Cambia was the woman, then
the man who had died in his arms--the exile, the iron-scarred, but
innocent, convict, the hero who passed in silence--was her husband! And
he? The great musician had given him not only the violin but genius!
Cambia had begged of his dying breath proofs of marriage. The paling
lips had moved to reply in vain.
The mystery was laid bare; the father would not claim him, because of
his scars, and the mother--she dared not look him in the face with the
veil lifted! But he would face her; he would know the worst; nothing
could be more terrible than the mystery that was crushing the better
side of his life and making hope impossible. He would face her and
demand the secret.