THE MOTHER'S APPEAL.
Wrong to one's self but wrongs the world;
God linketh soul so close to soul,
That germs of evil, once unfurled,
Spread through the life and mock control.
Pen, ink, and paper lay upon the table. The curtains were flung back,
admitting the broad sunshine that revealed more clearly than the usual
soft twilight with which Leicester was in the habit of enveloping
himself, the lines which time and passion sometimes allowed to run wild,
sometimes curbed with an iron will, had left on his handsome features.
Papers were on the table, not letters, but scraps that bore a business
aspect, some half printed, others without signature, but still in legal
form, as notes of hand or checks are given.
Leicester took one of these checks--a printed blank--and gazed on it
some moments with a fixed and thoughtful scrutiny. He laid it gently
down, took up a pen, and held the drop of ink on its point up to the
light, as if even the color were an object of interest. He wrote a word
or two, merely filling up the blank before him, but simple as the act
seemed, that hand, usually firm as marble, quivered on the paper,
imperceptibly, it is true, but enough to render the words unsteady. His
face, too, was fiercely pale, if I may use the term, for there was
something in the expression of those features that sent a sort of hard
glow through their whiteness. It was the glow of a desperate will
mastering fear.
With a quick and scornful quiver of the lip, he tore the half-filled
check in twain, and cast the fragments into the fire. "Am I growing
old?" he said aloud, "or is this pure cowardice? Fear!--what have I to
fear?" he continued, hushing his voice. "It _cannot_ be brought back to
me. A chain that has grown, link by link, for years, will not break with
any common wrench. Still, if it could be avoided, the boy loves
me!--well, and have not others loved me? Of what use is affection, if it
adds nothing to one's enjoyments? If the old planter had left my pretty
Florence the property at once, why then--but till she is of age--that is
almost two years--till she is of age we must live."
Half in thought, half in words, these ideas passed through the brain and
upon the lip of William Leicester. When his mind was once made up to the
performance of an act, it seldom paused even to excuse a sin to his own
soul, but this was not exactly a question of right and wrong: that had
been too often decided with his conscience to admit of the least
hesitation. There was peril in the act he meditated--peril to
himself--this made his brow pale and his hand unsteady. During a whole
life of fraud and evil-doing, he had never once placed himself within
the grasp of the law. His instruments, less guilty, and far less
treacherous than himself, had often suffered for crimes that his keen
intellect had suggested. For years he had luxuriated upon the fruit of
iniquities prompted by himself, but with which his personal connection
could never be proved. But for once his subtle forethought in selecting
and training an agent who should bear the responsibility of crime while
he reaped the benefit, had failed. The time had arrived when Robert Otis
was, if ever, to become useful to his teacher. But evil fruit in that
warm, generous nature had been slow in ripening. With all his subtle
craft, Leicester dared not propose the fraud which was to supply him
with means for two years' residence in Europe.
There was something in the boy too clear-sighted and prompt even for his
wily influence, and now, after years of training worthy of Lucifer
himself, Leicester, for the first time, was afraid to trust his chosen
instrument. Robert might be deluded into wrong--might innocently become
his victim, but Leicester despaired of making him, with his bright
intellect and honorable impulses, the principal or accomplice of an act
such as he meditated.
A decanter of brandy stood upon the table--Leicester filled a goblet and
half drained it. This in no way disturbed the pallor of his countenance,
but his hand grew firm, and he filled up several of the printed checks
with a rapidity that betrayed the misgivings that still beset him.
He examined the papers attentively after they were written, and,
selecting one, laid it in an embroidered letter-case which he took from
his bosom; the others he placed in an old copy-book that had been lying
open before him all the time; it was the same book that Robert Otis had
taken from his aunt's stand-drawer on Thanksgiving night.
When these arrangements were finished, Leicester drew out his watch,
and seemed to be waiting for some one that he expected.
Again he opened the copy-book and compared the checks with other papers
it contained. The scrutiny seemed to satisfy him, for a smile gleamed in
his eyes as he closed the book.
Just then, Robert Otis came in. His step had become quiet, and the rosy
buoyancy of look and manner that had been so interesting a few months
before, was entirely gone. There was restraint--nay, something amounting
almost to dislike in his air as he drew a seat to the table.
"You are looking pale, Robert; has anything gone amiss at the
counting-house?" said Leicester, regarding his visitor with interest.
"Nothing!"
"Are you ill then?"
"No, I am well--quite well!"
"But something distresses you; those shadows under the eye, the rigid
lines about the mouth--there is trouble beneath them. Tell me what it
is--am I not your friend?"
Robert smiled a meaning, bitter smile, that seemed strangely unnatural
on those fresh lips. Leicester read the meaning of that silent reproach,
and it warned him to be careful.
"Surely," he said, "you have not been at F---- street, without your
friend?--you have not indulged in high play, and no prudent person to
guide you?"
"No!" said Robert, with bitter energy--"that night I did play--how, why,
it is impossible for me to remember. Those few hours of wild sin were
enough--they have stained my soul--they have plunged me into debt--they
have made me ashamed to look a good man in the face."
"But I warned, I cautioned you!"
Robert did not answer, but by the gleam of his eyes and the quiver of
his lips, you could see that words of fire were smothered in his heart.
"You would have plunged into the game deeper and deeper, but for me."
"Perhaps I should--it was a wild dream--I was mad--the very memory
almost makes me insane. I, so young, so cherished, in debt--and how--to
what amount?"
"Enough--I am afraid," said Leicester, gently--"enough to cover that
pretty farm, and all the bank stock your nice old aunt has scraped
together. But what of that?--she is in no way responsible, and gambling
debts are only debts of honor--no law reaches them?"
"I will not make sin the shelter of meanness," answered the youth, with
a wild flash of feeling; "these men may be villains, but they did not
force themselves upon me. I sought them of my own free choice; no--I
cannot say that either, for heaven knows I never wished to enter that
den!"
"It was I that invited, nay, urged you!"
"Else I had never been there!"
"But I intended it as a warning--I cautioned you, pleaded with you."
"Yes, I remember--you said I was ignorant, awkward, a novice--Mr.
Leicester; your advice was like a jeer--your caution a taunt; your words
and manner were at variance; I played that night, but not of my own free
will. I say to you, it was _not_ of my free will!"
"Is it me, upon whom your words reflect?" said Leicester, with every
appearance of wounded feeling.
Robert was silent.
"Do you know," continued Leicester, in that deep, musical tone, that was
sure to make the heart thrill--"do you know, Robert Otis, why it is that
you have not been openly exposed?--why this debt has not been demanded
long ago?"
"Because the note which I gave is not yet due!"
"The note--a minor's note--what man in his senses would receive a thing
so worthless? No, Robert--it was my endorsement that made the paper
valuable. It is from me, your old friend, Robert, that the money must
come to meet the paper at its maturity."
Tears gushed into the young man's eyes--he held out his hand across the
table--Leicester took the hand and pressed it very gently.
"You know," he said, "this note becomes due almost immediately."
"I know--I know. It seems to me that every day has left a mark on my
heart; oh, Mr. Leicester, how I have suffered!"
"I will not say that suffering is the inevitable consequence of a wrong
act, because that just now would be unkind," said Leicester, with a soft
smile, "but hereafter you must try and remember that it is so."
Robert looked upon his friend; his large eyes dilated, and his lips
began to tremble; you could see that his heart was smitten to the core.
How he had wrought that man! Tears of generous compunction rushed to his
eyes.
"It will be rather difficult, but I have kept this thing in my mind,"
said Leicester. "To-morrow I shall draw a large sum; a portion must
redeem your debt, but on condition that you never play again!"
Robert shuddered. "Play again!" he said, and tears gushed through the
fingers which he had pressed to his eyes. "Do you fear that a man who
has been racked would of his own free will seek the wheel again? But how
am I to repay you?"
"Confide in me; trust me. Robert, the suspicions that were in your heart
but an hour since--they will return."
Robert shook his head, and swept the tears from his eyes.
"No, no! even then I hated myself for them: how good, how forgiving, how
generous you are! I am young, strong, have energy. In time this shameful
debt can be paid--but kindness like this--how can I ever return that?"
"Oh! opportunities for gratitude are never wanting: the bird we tend
gives back music in return for care, yet what can be more feeble? Give
me love, Robert, that is the music of a young heart--do not distrust me
again!"
"I never will!"
Leicester wrung the youth's hand. They both arose.
"If you are going to the counting-room, I will accompany you," he said,
"my business must be negotiated with your firm."
"I was first going to my room," said Robert.
"No matter, I will walk slowly--by the way, here is your old copy-book;
I have just been examining it. Those were pleasant evenings, my boy,
when I taught you how to use the pen."
"Yes," said Robert, receiving the book, "my dear aunt claims the old
copies as a sort of heir-loom. I remembered your wish to see it, and so
took it quietly away. I really think she would not have given it up,
even to you."
"Then she did not know when you took it?"
"No, I had forgotten it, and so stole down in the night. She was sound
asleep, and I came away very early in the morning."
"Dear old lady," said Leicester, smiling; "you must return her treasure
before it is missed. Stay; fold your cloak over it. I shall see you
again directly."
Leicester's bed-chamber communicated with another small room, which was
used as a dressing-closet. From some caprice he had draped the entrance
with silken curtains such as clouded the windows. Scarcely had he left
the room when this drapery was flung aside, revealing the door which had
evidently stood open during his interview with Robert Otis.
Jacob Strong closed the door very softly, but in evident haste; dropped
the curtains over it, and taking a key from his pocket, let himself out
of the bed-chamber. He overtook Robert Otis, a few paces from the hotel,
and touched him upon the shoulder.
"Mr. Otis, that copy-book--my master wishes to see it again--will you
send it back?"
"Certainly," answered Robert, producing the book. "But what on earth can
he want it for?"
"Come back with me, and I will tell you!"
"I will," said Robert; "but remember, friend, no more hints against Mr.
Leicester, I cannot listen to them."
"I don't intend to _hint_ anything against him now!" said Jacob, dryly,
and they entered the hotel together.
Jacob took the young man to his own little room, and the two were locked
in together more than an hour. When the door opened, Jacob appeared
composed and awkward as ever, but a powerful change had fallen upon the
youth. His face was not only pale, but a look of wild horror disturbed
his countenance.
"Yet I will not believe it," he said, "it is too fiendish. In what have
I ever harmed him?"
"I do not ask you to _believe_, but to know. Keep out of the way a
single week, it can do harm to no one."
"But in less than a week this miserable debt must be paid!"
"Then pay it!"
Robert smiled bitterly.
"How? by ruining my aunt? Shall I ask her to sell the old homestead?"
"She would do it--she would give up the last penny rather than see you
disgraced, Robert Otis!"
"How can you know this?"
"I do know it, but this is not the question. Here is money to pay your
debt, I have kept it in my pocket for weeks."
Robert did not reach forth his hand to receive the roll of bank-notes
held toward him, for surprise held him motionless.
"Take the money, it is the exact sum," said Jacob, in a voice that
carried authority with it. "I ask no promise that you never enter
another gambling hall--you never will!"
"Never!" said Robert, receiving the money; "but how--why have you done
this?"
"Ask me no questions now; by-and-bye you will know all about it; the
money is mine. I have earned it honestly; as much more is all that I
have in the world. No thanks! I never could bear them, besides it will
be repaid in time!"
"If I live," said Robert, with tears in his eyes.
"This week, remember--this week you must be absent. A visit to the old
homestead, anything that will take you out of town."
"I will go," said Robert, "it can certainly do no harm."
And they parted.
Ada Leicester fled from the keen disappointment which almost crushed her
for a time, and sought to drown all thought in the whirl of fashionable
life. Her reception evenings were splendid. Beauty, talent, wit,
everything that could charm or dazzle gathered beneath her roof. She
gave herself no time for grief. Occasionally a thought of her husband
would sting her into fresh bursts of excitement--sometimes the memory of
her parents and her child passed over her heart, leaving a swell behind
like that which followed the angels when they went down to trouble the
still waters. Her wit grew more sparkling, her graceful sarcasm keener
than ever it had been. She was the rage that season, and exhausted her
rich talent in efforts to win excitement. She did not hope for happiness
from the homage and splendor that her beauty and wealth had secured;
excitement was all she asked.
When all other devices for amusement failed to keep up the fever of her
artificial life, she bethought her of a new project. Her talent, her
wealth must achieve something more brilliant than had yet been dreamed
of, she would give a fancy ball, something far more picturesque than had
ever been known in Saratoga or Newport.
At first Ada thought of this ball only as a something that should pass
like a rocket through the upper ten thousand; but as the project grew
upon her, she resolved to make it an epoch in her own inner life. The
man whom she had loved, the husband who had so coldly trampled her to
the earth in her seeming poverty--he should witness this grand gala--he
should see her in the fall blaze of her splendid career. There was
something of proud retaliation in this; she fancied that it was
resentful hate that prompted this desire to see and triumph over the man
who had scorned her. Alas! poor woman, was there no lurking hope?--no
feeling that she dared not call by its right name in all that wild
excitement?
She sent for Jacob, and besought him to devise some means by which
Leicester should be won to attend the ball, without suspecting her
identity.
"Let it be superb--let it surpass everything hitherto known in
elegance," she said--"he shall be here--he shall see the poor governess,
the scorned wife in a new phase."
There was triumph in her eyes as she spoke.
"You love this man, even now, in spite of all that he has done?" said
Jacob Strong, who stood before her while she spoke.
"No," she answered--"no, I hate--oh! how I do hate him!"
Jacob regarded her with a steady, fixed glance of the eye; he was afraid
to believe her. He would not have believed her but for the powerful wish
that gave an unnatural impulse to his faith.
"He may be dazzled by all this splendor; the knowledge of so much wealth
will make him humble--he will be your slave again!"
Ada glanced around the sumptuous array of her boudoir. Her eyes
sparkled; her lip quivered with haughty triumph.
"And I would spurn him even as he spurned me in that humble room
over-head--that room filled with its wealth of old memories."
Jacob turned away to hide the joy that burned in his eyes.
"Oh! my mistress, say it again. In earnest truth, you hate this man; do
not deceive yourself. Have you unwound the adder from your heart? Did
that night do its work?"
Ada Leicester paused; she was ashamed to own, even before that devoted
servant, how closely the adder still folded himself in her bosom. She
turned pale, but still answered with unfaltering voice, "Jacob, I hate
him!"
"Not yet--not as you ought to hate him," answered Jacob, regarding her
pallid face so searchingly that his own cheek whitened, "but when you
see him in all his villany, as I have seen him; when you know all!"
"And do I not know all? What is it you keep from me? What is there to
learn more vile--more terrible than the past?"
"What if I tell you that within a month, William Leicester, your
husband, will be married to another woman?"
"Married! married to another!--Leicester--my----" she broke off, for her
white lips refused to utter another syllable. After a momentary struggle
she started up--"does he think that I am dead?--does he hope that night
has killed me?"
"He knows that you are living; but thinks you have returned to England."
"But this is crime--punishable crime."
"I know that it is."
A faint, incredulous smile stole over her lips, and she waved her hand.
"He will not violate the law; never was a bad man more prudent."
"He will be married to-morrow night."
"And to that girl? Does he love her so much? Is her beauty so
overpowering? What has she to tempt Leicester into this crime?"
"Her father is dead. By his will a large property falls to this poor
girl. The letter came under cover to Leicester; he opened it. After the
marriage they will sail for the north of Europe--there the letter will
follow them, telling the poor orphan of her father's death. How can she
guess that her husband has seen it before!"
"But I--I am not dead!"
"You love him, he knows that better than you do. Death is no stronger
safeguard than that knowledge. In your love or in your death he is
equally safe."
"God help me; but I will not be a slave to this abject love forever. If
this last treachery be true, my soul will loathe him as he deserves."
"It is true."
"But my ball is to-morrow night. He accepted the invitation. You are
certain that he will come?"
"He accepted the invitation eagerly enough," said Jacob, dryly; "but
what then?"
"Why, to-morrow night--this cannot happen before to-morrow night--then I
shall see him; after that--no, no, he dare not. You see, Jacob, it is in
order to save him from deeper crime; we must not sit still and allow
this poor girl to be sacrificed; that would be terrible. It must be
prevented."
"Nothing easier. Let him know that the brilliant, the wealthy Mrs.
Gordon, is his wife; say that she has millions at her disposal; this
poor girl has only one or two hundred thousand, the choice would be soon
made."
"Do you believe it? can you think it was belief in my poverty, and
not--not a deeper feeling that made him so cruel that night? would he
have accepted me for this wealth?"
A painful red hovered in Ada's cheek, as she asked this question; it was
shaping a humiliating doubt into words. It was exposing the scorpion
that stung most keenly at her heart.
Jacob drew closer to his mistress; he clasped her two hands between his,
and his heavy frame bent over her, not awkwardly, for deep feeling is
never awkward.
"Oh, my mistress, say to me that you will give up this man--utterly give
him up; even now you cannot guess how wicked he is; do not, by your
wealth, help him to make new victims; do not see him and thus give him a
right over yourself and your property--a right he will not fail to use;
give up this ball; leave the city--this is no way to find that poor old
man, that child----"
"Jacob! Jacob!" almost shrieked the unhappy woman, "do you see how such
words wound and rankle? I may be wild--the wish may be madness--but once
more let me meet him face to face----"
Jacob dropped her hands; two great tears left his eyes, and rolled
slowly down his cheeks.
"How she loves that man!" he said, in a tone of despondency.
"Remember, Jacob, it is to serve another. What if, thinking himself
safe, he marries that poor girl?" said Ada, in an humble, deprecating
tone.
"Madam," answered Jacob, "do you know that the law gives this man power
over you--a husband's power--if he chooses to claim it?" Jacob broke
off, and clenched his huge hand in an agony of impatience, for his words
had only brought the bright blood into that eloquent face. Through those
drooping lashes he saw the downcast eyes kindle.
"She hopes it! she hopes it!" he said, in the bitterness of his thought;
"but I will save her--with God's help I will save them both!"
When Ada Leicester looked up to address her servant, he had left the
room.
Among other things, Jacob had been commissioned to procure a quantity of
hot-house flowers; for the conservatories at Mrs. Gordon's villa were to
be turned into perfect bowers. Besides, Ada was prodigal of flowers in
every room of her dwelling, even when no company was expected. In order
to procure enough for this grand gala evening, Jacob had resource to
Mrs. Gray, who trafficked at times in everything that has birth in the
soil.
Mrs. Gray was delighted with this commission, for it promised a rich
windfall to her pretty favorite, Julia Warren. So, after the market
closed that day, she went up to Dunlap's, and bargained for all the
exotics his spacious greenhouse could produce. She informed Julia of her
good luck, and returned home with a warmth about the heart worth half a
dozen Thanksgiving suppers, bountiful as hers always were.
The next day Julia was going up town, with a basket loaded with exotics
on her arm. It was late in the afternoon, for the blossoms had been left
on the stalk to the latest hour, that no sweet breath of their perfume
should be wasted before they reached the boudoir they were intended to
embellish.
It was a sweet task that Julia had undertaken. With her love of flowers,
it was a delicious luxury to gaze down upon her dewy burden, as she
walked along, surrounded by a cloud of fragrance invisible as it was
intoxicating. A life of privation had rendered her delicate organization
keenly susceptible of this delicate enjoyment. It gratified the hunger
of sensations almost ethereal. She loitered on her way, she touched the
flowers with her hands, that, like the blossoms, were soon bathed in
odor. Rich masses of heliotrope, the snowy cape jessamine, clusters of
starry daphne, crimson and white roses, with many other blossoms strange
as they were sweet, made every breath she drew a delight. A glow of
exquisite satisfaction spread over her face, her dreamy eyes were never
lifted from the blossoms, except when a corner was to be turned or an
obstacle avoided.
"Where are you going, girl? Are those flowers for sale?"
Julia started and looked up. She was just then before a cottage house,
laced with iron balconies and clouded with creeping vines, red with the
crimson and gold of a late Indian summer. The garden in front was
gorgeous with choice dahlias and other autumn flowers that had not yet
felt the frost, and on the basin of a small marble fountain in the
centre stood several large aquatic lilies, from which the falling
water-drops rained with a constant and sleepy sound.
Julia did not see all this at once, for the glance that she cast around
was too wild and startled. She clasped the basket of flowers closer to
her side, and stood motionless. Some potent spell seemed upon her.
"Can't you speak, child? Are those flowers for sale?"
Julia remained gazing in the man's face; her eyes, once fixed on those
features, seemed immoveable. He stood directly before her, holding the
iron gate which led to the cottage open with his hand.
"No--no--if you please, sir, they are ordered. A lady wants them."
"Then they are not paid for--only ordered. Come in here. There is a lady
close by who may fancy some of those orange blossoms."
"No, no, sir--the other lady might be angry!"
"Nonsense! I want the flowers--not enough to be missed, though--just a
handful of the white ones. Here is a piece of gold worth half your load.
Let me have what I ask, and I dare say your customer will give just as
much for the rest."
"I can't, sir--indeed I can't," said Julia, drawing a corner of her
little plaid shawl over the basket; "but if you are not in a hurry--if
the lady can wait an hour--I will leave these and get some more from the
greenhouse."
The man did not answer, but, placing his hand on her shoulder, pushed
the frightened child through the open gate.
"Let your customer wait--during the next hour you must stay here. It is
not so much the flowers that I want as yourself!"
"Myself!" repeated poor Julia, with quivering lips.
"Go in--go in--I want nothing that should frighten you. Stay--just now I
remember that face. Do you know I am an old customer?"
"I remember," answered Julia, and tears of affright rushed into her
eyes.
"Then you recognise me again?--it was but a moment--how can you remember
so long and so well?"
"By my feelings, sir. I wanted to cry then--I can't help crying now!"
"This is strange! Young ladies are not apt to be so much shocked when I
speak to them. No matter. I want both your flowers and your services
just now: oblige me, and I will pay you well for the kindness."
Julia had no choice, for as he spoke the gentleman closed the gate, and
completely obstructed her way out.
"Pass on--pass on!" he said, with an imperative wave of the hand.
Julia obeyed, walking with nervous quickness as he drew close to her.
The gentleman rang, a faint noise came from within, and the door was
opened by a quiet old lady in mourning.
"Then you have come; you persist!" she said, addressing the gentleman!
"Step this way a moment," he answered in a subdued voice, opening the
parlor door; "but first send this little girl up to Florence; if you
still refuse, she must answer for a witness. Besides, she has flowers in
her basket, and my sweet bride would think a wedding ominous without
them!"
"Ominous indeed!" said the lady, pointing with her finger that Julia
should ascend the stairs. "William, I will not allow this to go on; to
witness the sin would be to share it."
"Mother," answered Leicester, gently taking the lady's hand, while he
led her to the parlor, "tell me your objections, and I will answer them
with all respect. Why is my marriage with Florence Craft opposed?"
"You have no right to marry--you are not free--cannot be so while Ada
lives."
"But Ada is dead! Mother, say now if I am not free to choose a wife?"
"Dead! Ada Wilcox dead! Oh William, if this be true!"
"If! It is true. See, here are letters bearing proof that even you must
acknowledge."
He held out some letters bearing an European post-mark. The old lady
took them, put on her glasses, and suspiciously scrutinized every line.
"Are you convinced, mother, or must I go over sea, and tear the dead
from her grave before your scruples yield?"
The old lady lifted her face; a tear stole from beneath her glasses.
"Go on," she said, in a deep solemn voice--"go on, add victim to victim,
legally or illegally, it scarce matters--that which you touch dies. But
remember--remember, William, every new sin presses its iron mark hard on
your mother's heart, the weight will crush her at length."
"Why is maternal love so strong in your bosom that Scripture is revised
in my behalf? Must my iniquities roll back on past generations?" said
the son, with a faint sneer.
"No, it is because my own sin originates yours. Your father was a bad
man, William Leicester, profligate, treacherous, fascinating as you are.
I married him; wo, wo upon the arrogant pride; I married him, and said,
in wicked self-confidence--'My love shall be his redemption." My son--my
son, you cannot understand me; you cannot think how terrible iniquity is
when it folds you in its bosom. There is no poison like the love of a
profligate; the fang of an adder is not more potent. It spreads through
the whole being; it lives in the moral life of our children. I said 'My
love is all powerful, it shall reform this man whom I love so madly.' I
made the effort; I planted my soul beneath the Upas tree, and expected
not only to escape but conquer the poison. Look at me, William; can you
ever remember me other than I am, still, cold, hopeless? Yet I only
lived with your father three years. Before that I was bright and joyous
beyond your belief.
"He died as he had lived. Did the curse of my arrogance end there? No,
it found new life in his son--his son and mine. In you, William--in you
my punishment embodied itself. Still I hoped and strove against the evil
entailed upon you. Heaven bear me witness, I struggled unceasingly; but
as you approached maturity, with all the beauty and talent of your
father, the moral poison revealed itself also.
"Then the love that I felt for you changed to fear, and as one who has
turned a serpent loose among the beautiful things of earth, I said, 'Let
my life be given to protect society from the evil spirit which my
presumption has forced upon it.' It was an atonement acceptable of God.
How many deserted victims my roof has sheltered you know--how many I
have saved from the misery of your influence it is needless to say. This
one, so gentle, so rich in affection, I hoped to win from her
enthralment, or, failing that, resign her to the arms of death, more
merciful, more gentle than yours. I have pleaded with her, warned her,
but she answers as I answered when those who loved me said of your
father, 'It is a sin to marry him!' Must she suffer as I have suffered?
Oh! William, my son, turn aside this once from your prey. She is
helpless--save her young heart from the stain that has fallen upon
mine!"
"Nay, gentle mother, this is scarcely a compliment--you forget that I
wish to marry the young lady."
How cold, how insulting were the tones of his voice--how relentless was
the spirit that gleamed in his eyes! The unhappy mother stood before
him, her pale hands clasped and uplifted, and words of thrilling
eloquence hushed upon her lips, that no syllable of his answer might be
lost. It came, that dry, insolent rejoinder; her hands fell; her figure
shrunk earthward.
"I have done!" broke from her lips, and she walked slowly from the room.
"Madam, shall we expect you at the ceremony?" said Leicester, following
her to the door.
She turned upon the stairs, and gave him a look so sad, so earnest, that
even his cold heart beat slower.
"It is not important!" he muttered, turning back; "we can do without
her. This little girl and the servant must answer, though I did hope to
trust no one."