THE PRISON WOMAN IN ADA'S DRESSING-ROOM.
Look not so haughtily, imperious dame;
Chance digs the gulf that lies between us two:
Mine is the open, yours the hidden shame;
The vulture soars with me, but skulks with you.
Ada Leicester had scarcely gained her apartment, when Jacob Strong
entered it. He came in with a tread so heavy, that it made itself heard
even through the turf-like swell of the carpet. She looked up at him
wearily, yet with surprise. Jacob, so phlegmatic, so sturdy in all other
cases, never was self-possessed with his mistress; one glance of those
eyes, one wave of that hand was enough to confuse his brain, and make
the strong heart flutter in his bosom like the wings of a wild bird.
"Madam," he stammered, shifting his huge feet unsteadily to and fro on
the carpet, "there is a woman down stairs who wants to see you."
"I can see no one this morning; send her away!"
"I tried that, madam, but she answers that her business is important,
and, in short, that she _will_ see you."
Ada opened her eyes wide, and half turned in her chair. This insolent
message aroused her somewhat.
"Indeed! What does she look like? Who can it be?"
"She is a very common-looking person, handsome enough, but unpleasant."
"You never saw her before, then?"
"No, never!"
"Let her come up; I cannot well give the next ten minutes to anything
more miserable than myself," said Ada; "let her come up!"
Jacob left the room, and Ada, aroused to some little interest in the
person who had so peremptorily demanded admission to her presence, threw
off something of her languor as she saw the door swing open to admit her
singular guest.
A woman entered, with a haughty, almost rude air. Her dress was clean,
but of cheap material, and put on with an effort at tidiness, as if in
correction of some long-acquired habits which she had found it difficult
to fling off. A black hood, lined with faded crimson silk, was thrown
back from her face, revealing large Roman features, fierce dark eyes,
and a mouth that, in its heavy fullness, struck the beholder more
unpleasantly even than the ferocious brightness of those large eyes.
The woman looked around her as she entered the dressing-room, and a
faint sneer curled her lip, while she took in, with a contemptuous
glance, all the elegant luxury of that little room. Ada had not for an
instant dreamed of inviting a creature so unprepossessing to sit down in
the room so exquisitely fitted up for her own enjoyment; but the woman
waited for no indication of the kind. She cast one keen glance on the
surprised and somewhat startled face turned upon her as she entered,
another around the room, which contained only two chairs beside the one
occupied by its mistress, and seizing one, a frail thing of carved
ebony, cushioned with the most delicate embroidery on white moire, she
took possession of it.
At another time Ada would have rung the bell and ordered the woman to be
put from the room; but now there was a sort of fascination in this
audacious coolness that aroused a reckless feeling in her own heart. She
allowed the woman to seat herself, therefore, without a word; nay, a
slight smile quivered about her lip as she heard the fragile ebony
crack, as if about to give way beneath the heavy burden cast so roughly
upon it.
The strange being sat in silence for some moments, examining Ada with a
bold, searching glance, that, spite of herself, brought the blood to
that haughty woman's cheek. After her fierce black eyes had roved up and
down two or three times, from the pretty lace cap to the embroidered
slipper, that began to beat with impatience against the cushion which it
had before so languidly pressed, the woman at last condescended to
speak.
"You are rich, madam; people say so, and all this looks like it. They
say, too, that you are generous, good to the poor; that you give away
money by handsful. I want a little of this money!"
Ada looked hard at the woman, who returned the glance almost fiercely.
"You need not search my face so sharply," she said, "I don't want the
money for myself. One gets along on a little in New York, and I can
always have that little without begging of rich women. I would scrub
anybody's kitchen floor from morning till night, rather than ask you or
any other proud aristocrat for a red cent! It isn't for myself I've
come, but for a fellow prisoner, or rather one that was a
fellow-prisoner, for I'm out of the cage just now. It's for an old man I
want the money, a good old man that the night-hawks have taken up for
murder!"
Ada started, but the woman did not observe it, and went on with
increasing warmth.
"The old fellow is a saint on earth--a holy saint, if such things ever
are. I know what crime is. I can find guilt in a man's eye, let it be
buried ever so deep; but this old man is not guilty; a summer morning is
not more serene than his face! Men who murder from malice or accident do
not sit so peacefully in their cells, with that sort of prayerful
tenderness brooding over the countenance."
"Of whom are you speaking, woman? Who is this old man?" demanded Ada,
sharply. "What is his innocence or his guilt to me?"
"What is his innocence or guilt to you? Are you a woman?--have you a
heart and ask that question? As for me I _might_ ask it--I who know what
crime is, and who should feel most for the criminal! But you, pampered
in wealth, beautiful, loving, worshipped--who never had even a
temptation to sin--it is for you to feel for a man unjustly accused--the
innocent for the innocent, the guilty for the guilty. Sympathy should
run thus, if it does not!"
"This is an outrage--mockery!" said Ada starting from her chair. "Who
sent you here, woman?--how dare you talk to me of these things?--I know
nothing of the old man you are raving about; wish to know less. If you
want money, say so, but do not talk of him, of crime, of--of murder!"
She sunk back to her chair again, pale and breathing heavily. Her
strange visitor stood up, evidently surprised by a degree of agitation
that seemed to her without adequate cause.
"So the rich can feel," she said; "but this is not compassion. My
presence annoys you--the close mention of sin makes you shudder. You
look, yes, you do look like that angel child when I first laid my hand
upon her shoulder."
"What child?--of whom do you speak?" questioned Ada, faintly, for the
woman was bending over her, and she was fascinated by the power of those
wild eyes.
"It is the grandchild of that old man--the old murderer they call
him--the old saint _I_ call him; it is his grandchild that your look
reminded me of a moment ago; it is gone, now, but I shall always like
you the better for having seemed like her only for a minute!"
"Her name, what is her name?" cried Ada, impelled to the question by
some intuitive impulse, that she neither comprehended nor cared to
conceal. "What is the child's name, I say?"
"Julia Warren."
"A fair, gentle girl, with eyes that seems to crave affection, as
violets open their leaves for the dew when they are thirsty; a frail,
delicate little thing, toiling under a burden of flowers! I have seen a
young creature like this more than once. She haunts me--her name itself
haunts me--and why, why!--she is nothing to me--I am nothing to her?"
Ada spoke in low tones, communing with herself; and the woman looked on,
wondering at the words as they dropped so unconsciously from those
beautiful lips.
"It is the same girl, I am sure of it," said the woman, at last. "She
had no flowers when I saw her tottering with her poor wet eyes into the
prison; but her face might have been bathed in their perfume, it was so
full of sweetness. It was so--so holy I was near saying, but the word is
a strange one for me. Well, madam, this young girl has been in prison
with me, and the like of me!"
"She must come out--she shall not remain there an hour!" said Ada,
searching eagerly among the folds of her dress for a purse, which was
not to be found. "It is not here, I will ring for Jacob; you want money
to get this young girl out of prison; that is kind, very kind; you shall
have it. Oh, heavens! the thought suffocates me--that angel child--that
beautiful flower spirit in prison! Woman, why did you not come to me
before?"
"I was in prison myself--the officers don't let us out so easily. We
are not exactly expected to make calls; besides, how should I know
anything about you, except as one of those proud women who gather up
their silken garments when we come near, as if it were contagion to
breathe the same atmosphere with us."
"But how is it that you have come to me at last?"
"She told me about you!"
"_She_ sent you to me then?" questioned Ada, with sparkling eyes; "bless
her, she sent you!"
"No, she told me about you. I came of my own accord."
Ada's countenance fell; she was silent for a moment, subdued by a
strange feeling of disappointment.
"But she is in that horrid place; no matter how you came; not another
hour must she stay in prison, if money or influence can release her."
"But she is not in prison now!" said the woman.
"Not in prison!--how is this. What can you desire of me if she is not in
prison?"
"But her grandfather--the good old man, he is in prison, helpless as a
babe--innocent as a babe. It is the old man who is in prison."
"Why am I tormented with this old man? Do not mention him to me
again--his crime is fearful; _I_ am not the one to save him, the
murderer of--of----"
"He is the young girl's grandfather!"
Ada had started from her chair, and was pacing rapidly up and down the
room, her arms folded tightly under the loose sleeves of her
dressing-gown, and the silken tassels swaying to and fro with the
impetuosity of her movements. There seemed to be a venomous fascination
in that old man's name that stung her whole being into action. She had
not comprehended before that it was connected with that of the
flower-girl; but the words "he is the young girl's grandfather,"
arrested her like the shaft from a bow. Her lips grew white, she stood
motionless gazing almost fiercely upon the woman who had uttered these
words.
"That girl the grandchild of Leicester's murderer!" she exclaimed. "Why
the very flowers I tread on turn to serpents beneath my feet!"
"The old man did not kill this Leicester," answered the woman, and her
rude face grew white also; "or if he did, it was but as the instrument
of God's vengeance on a monster--a hideous, vile monster, who crawled
over everything good in his way, crushing it as he went. If he _had_
killed him--if I believed it, no Catholic saint was ever idolized as I
would worship that old man!"
"Woman, what had Leicester done to you that you should thus revile him
in his grave?"
A cloud of inexplicable passion swept over the woman's face. She drew
close to Ada, and as she answered, her breath, feverish with the dregs
of intoxication, and laden with words that stung like reptiles, sickened
the wretched woman to the heart's core. She had no strength to check the
fierce torrent that rushed over her; but folded her white arms closer
and closer over her heart, as if to shield it somewhat from the storm of
bitter eloquence her question had provoked.
"What has Leicester done to me?" said the woman. "Look, look at me, I am
his work from head to foot, body and soul, all of his fashioning!"
"How? Did _you_ love him also?"
A glow of fierce disgust broke over the woman's features, gleaming in
her eye and curling her lip.
"Love him, I never sunk so low as that; he scarcely disturbed the froth
upon my heart, the wine below was not for him. Had I loved him, he might
have been content with my ruin only; as it was, madam, it is a short
story, very short, you shall have it--but I'll have drink after."
"Compose yourself--do not be so violent," said Ada, shrinking from the
storm she had raised, with that sensitiveness which makes the wounded
bird shield its bosom from a threatened arrow, "I do not wish to give
you pain!"
"Pain!" exclaimed the woman, with a wild sneer, "I am beyond that. No
one need know pain while the drug stores are open! You ask what
Leicester has ever done to me. You knew him, perhaps--no matter, you are
not the first woman whose face has lost its color at the sound of his
name; but he will do no more mischief, the blood is wrung from his heart
now."
Ada sunk back in her chair, holding up both hands with the palms
outward, as if warding off a blow. But the woman had become fierce in
her passion, and would not be checked.
"You ask if I loved him, I, who worshipped my own husband, my noble,
beautiful, young husband, with a worship strong as death, holy as
religion. Leicester, this fiend, who is now doing a fiend's penance in
torment--this demon was my husband's friend, he was my friend too, for I
loved everything that brightened the eye, or brought smiles to the lip
of my husband--a husband whom I worshipped as a devotee lavishes homage
on a saint--loved as a woman loves when her whole life is centered in
one object. I was never good like him--but I loved him--I loved him! You
look at me in astonishment--you cannot understand the love that turns to
such fierce madness when it is but a past thing--that drugs itself with
opium, drowns itself in brandy!"
Ada answered with a faint sob, and her eyes grew wild as the great black
orbs flashing upon her. The woman saw this, and took compassion on what
she believed to be purely terror at her own violence. She made a strong
effort and spoke more calmly, but still with a suppressed, husky voice
that was like the hush of a storm.
"We were poor, madam. I kept a little school; my husband was a clerk, at
very low pay, with very hard labor. It was a toilsome life, but oh, how
happy we were! I don't know where James first saw Mr. Leicester, but
they came home together one evening, and I remember we had a little
supper, with wine, and some game that Leicester had ordered on the way.
If you have never seen that man, nothing can convey to you the power,
the fascination of his presence. Soft, persuasive, gentle as an angel
in seeming; deep, crafty, cruel as a fiend in reality--if you had a
foible or a weakness, he was certain to detect it with a glance, and
sure to use it, though it might be to your own destruction. I was young,
vain, new to the world, and not altogether without beauty. I doubt if
Leicester ever saw a woman without calculating her weaknesses, and
playing upon them if it were only for mere amusement, or in the wanton
test of his own diabolical powers.
"I was strong, for heart and soul I loved my husband; he saw this and it
provoked his pride; else in my humility I might have escaped his
pursuit; but I was vain, capricious, passionate. A little time he
obtained some influence over me, for his subtle flattery, his artful
play upon every bad feeling of my nature had its effect. But the woman
who loves one man with her whole strength, has a firm anchorage. My
vanity was gratified by this man's homage, nothing more--still he
attained all that he worked for, a firmer influence over my husband. Had
I been his enemy he could not have wormed himself around that simple,
honest nature. I helped him, I was a dupe, a tool, used for the ruin of
my own husband. It is this thought that brandy is not strong enough to
drown, or morphine to kill!
"He was our benefactor--you understand--without himself directly
appearing in the business, except to us upon whom his agency was
impressed; a place, with much higher salary, was procured for my
husband. We were very grateful, and looked upon Leicester as a guardian
angel. Very well--a few months went on, still binding us closer to the
man who had benefited us so much. One day he stood by my husband's desk.
It was a rich firm that he served, and James had charge of the funds. It
was just before the hour of deposit; ten thousand dollars lay beneath
the bank-book. Leicester seemed in haste; he had need of a large sum of
money that day, which he could easily replace in the morning, five
thousand; something had gone wrong in his financial matters, and he
proposed that James should lend that sum from the amount before him.
"My husband hesitated, and at length refused. Leicester did not urge
it, but went away apparently grieved. By that time it was too late for
the bank, and James brought the money home, thinking to deposit it early
the next day. Leicester came in while we were at dinner, he looked sad
and greatly distressed. I insisted upon knowing the cause, and at last
he told me of his embarrassment, dwelling with gentle reproach on the
refusal of my husband to aid him.
"I was never a woman of firm principle; the holiest feeling known to me
was the love I bore my husband; all else was passion, impulse, generous
or unjust as circumstances warranted. I did not understand the rectitude
of my husband's conduct. To me it seemed ingratitude; my influence over
him was fatal. When Leicester left the house, five thousand dollars--not
ours nor his--went with him.
"The next day we did not see him. My poor husband grew nervous, but it
was not till a week had passed that I could force myself to believe that
the money would not be promptly repaid. Then James inquired for
Leicester at his hotel. He had gone south.
"My husband had embezzled his employers' money. He was tried, found
guilty, sentenced to the state prison for seven years. I--I had done it!
When he went up to Sing Sing, linked wrist to wrist with a band of the
lowest felons, I followed to the wharf, and my little boy, his child and
mine, only a few weeks old, lay crying against my bosom. I watched the
boat through the burning tears that seemed to scorch my eyes, and when
it was lost, I turned away still as the grave, but the most desolate
wretch that ever trod the earth. Seven years, it was an eternity to me!
I had no moral strength--I was mad. But his child was there, and I
struggled for that!"
The woman paused. Her voice, full of rude strength before, grew soft
with mournful desolation.
"I went often to see him; I struggled for a pardon, it was his first
offence, but he must stay a year or two in prison; there was no hope
before then--I have told you how innocent he really was. But a sense of
shame, the hard fare, the toil--he drooped under these things! Every
visit I found him thinner; his smile more sad; his brow more pallid. One
day I went to see him with the child, and they told me to go home, for
my husband was dead.
"I went home quietly as a lamb that has been numbed by the frost. That
night I drank laudanum, intending to be nearer my husband before
morning, but there was not enough. It threw me into a sleep, profound as
death, except that I could not find him in it. The potion did not kill,
but it taught me where to seek for relief, how to chain sleep. It was my
slave then, we have changed places since."
Ada sat cowering in her chair, while the woman went on with her
narrative. It seemed as if she herself were the person who had inflicted
the great wrong to which she had listened; as if the fierce anger, the
just reproaches of that woman were levelled at her own conscience.
"What atonement can be made? What can be done for you?" she faltered,
weaving her pale fingers together, and lifting her eyes beseechingly to
the woman's face, which was bent down and haggard with exhausted
anguish.
"What atonement can be made?" cried the woman, throwing back her head
till the crimson hood fell half away from her dark tresses. "He is
making atonement now--now--ha! ha!"
The laugh which followed this speech made Ada cower as if a mortal hand
had fallen upon her heart. She looked piteously at the woman, and after
a faint struggle to speak, fell back in her chair quite insensible.
This utter prostration--this deathly helplessness, touched the still
living heart of the woman. She could not understand why her terrible
story had taken such effect upon a person, lifted as it seemed so far
above all sympathy for one of her wretched cast; but she was a woman,
had suffered and could still feel for the sufferings of others. A gush
of gentle compassion broke up through the blackness and rubbish which
had almost choked up the pure waters of her heart, humanising her
countenance, and awaking her womanhood once more.
She stole into the bed-chamber, and taking a crystal flask full of
water from a marble slab, dashed a portion of its contents over the pale
face still lying so deathly white against the damask cushions.
This, however, had no effect. She now took the cold hands in hers,
chafing them tenderly, removed the dainty cap and scattered water-drops
over the pale lips and forehead. With a degree of tact that no one would
have expected from her, she refrained from calling the household, and
continued her own efforts till life came slowly back to the bosom that a
moment before seemed as marble.
Ada opened her eyes heavily, and closed them again with a shudder, when
she saw the woman bending over her.
"Go!" she said, still pressing her long eyelashes together; "leave word
where you live, and I will send you money."
"For the old man?"
"No; for yourself, not for _his_ murderer?"
"I did not ask money for myself," answered the woman, sullenly. "If you
give it, I shall pay the lawyers to save him!"
"Then go, I have nothing for you or him--go," answered Ada, faintly, but
in a voice that admitted no dispute; and, rising from her chair, she
went into the bed-room and closed the door.
The woman looked after her with some anger and more astonishment; then
drawing down her hood she tied it deliberately, and strode into the
boudoir, down the stairs, and so out of the house, without deigning to
notice the servants, who took no pains to conceal their astonishment,
that a creature of her appearance should be admitted to the presence of
their mistress.