The nuptial day was fix'd, the plighting kiss
Glowed on my lips; that moment the abyss,
Which hid by moss-grown time yet yawned as wide
Beneath my feet, divorced me from her side.
A letter came--
THE NEW TIMON.
"There is a tide in the affairs of man," and Mary's we have seen, from
the time of her first arrival at Silverton, has seemed to run on to the
full, with a most uninterrupted flow of smooth prosperity most alarming.
It was quite the latter end of November that the first break in the
party assembled at Silverton was occasioned by the departure of Arthur
Seaham for Scotland, where he went for the purpose both of seeing his
sister Alice, and arranging several matters of business, and at the
same time to consult his brother-in-law, Mr. Gillespie, whose opinion
and legal experience he held in high estimation, concerning the measures
to be adopted with reference to his intended professional studies.
By Christmas, however, Arthur would be in London, and there again meet
Mary, who in less than ten days from his departure was to accompany the
de Burgh's to town, Trevor also proceeding thither.
Mrs. de Burgh had persuaded her husband that it was quite indispensable
for her well-doing that her confinement--expected in January--should
occur under the auspices of a celebrated London practitioner, and Mr. de
Burgh, very persuadable on this anxious point, had taken a house for the
occasion.
"And then of course," Mrs. de Burgh resumed complacently, "we shall
remain for the season. I shall then be able to look out for a nursery
governess for the children, and be in town for your wedding, dear Mary,
all quite comfortably."
Mary, nevertheless, was not to continue the guest of her cousins in
Brook Street, though they expressed their willingness to accommodate her
therein; she preferred, all things considered, to avail herself of the
invitation of her former guardians, the uncle and aunt Majoribanks, to
visit them in their roomy mansion in Portman Square.
Trevor was anxious that his marriage should take place, if possible,
very early in the spring, and the preliminaries necessary to that event
were to be set on foot immediately after the assemblage of the aforesaid
parties in town; whilst to thicken the plot, and to render the aspect of
coming events still more _couleur de rose_ in the eyes of the happy
_fiancée_, the morning before Arthur's arrival, Mary received a letter
from her sister Agnes, announcing--along with many delighted and
affectionate congratulations from the late bride on the event, which was
to render her dear Mary, she hoped, as happy as herself in her new
estate--the joyful news of her intended return to England in time to
take upon herself the management and superintendance of her sister's
wedding; for kind Sir Hugh insisted that it should be his part to give
the wedding breakfast, at the best house he could take for the occasion;
whilst at the same time, it seems the worthy baronet and his young wife
had gone so far as to decide that the intended couple could do no better
than repair to the baronet's seat in Wales after the happy event for,
their honeymoon, Glan Pennant being now let to strangers.
* * * * *
Poor Mary! she had been taking a long and delightful ride with her lover
the day after Arthur left Silverton. There had been no shadow, no cloud,
cast upon the calm, confiding transport of her heart, as they discussed
together their happy prospects--the episode of that Sunday walk had
never been in the slightest degree renewed, nay, seemed as if by either
party quite forgotten.
Trevor was more gay, more gentle, more tender this day than she had ever
seen him; and when he lifted her from her horse at the door at
Silverton, and as he did so, caught the faintest sound of a gentle,
breeze-like sigh heaved from her bosom, he, with an anxious solicitude
which made Mary smile, looked into her face, and asked quite fearfully,
"why she so sighed?"
"I do not know, indeed, dear Eugene," was the reply, "unless it be that
I am _too happy_."
* * * * *
The following morning, Mary and the de Burghs were assembled at the
breakfast-table, the children present as usual, but Eugene had not yet
made his appearance; his letters, or rather his letter, for there was
but one this day, lay as usual by his plate on the table.
"Louey, put that letter down; have I not told you a hundred times, not
to pull about other people's things?" called out Mr. de Burgh to his
young daughter, whose meddling little fingers seemed irresistibly
attracted by the red seal upon this unopened document, as well as by the
endeavour to test her literary powers by deciphering the printed letters
composing the post mark.
"Louey, pray do as you are told, and do not make your papa so cross and
fidgetty," her mother rejoined.
"Just like the rest of her sex," remarked Mr. de Burgh, sarcastically,
"always fond of prying and peeping. I have little doubt, but that if I
were not here, the seal and direction would be carefully inspected by
more than one pair of ladies' eyes--eh, Mary?"
Mary with playful indignation denied the insinuation, whilst Mrs. de
Burgh was exclaiming contemptuously, that he always had such bad, absurd
ideas, when the discussion was terminated by the entrance of the
unconscious object of the conversation, who after having finished his
morning greeting, proceeded to seat himself at the table, and seeing his
letter, took it up, glanced at the direction and broke the seal, while
Louey, who after her last received reproof, had slid round to Mary's
chair, convicted and ashamed; with her large dark eyes watched this
proceeding on Eugene's part with the most attentive interest.
The first cover was thrown aside--another sealed letter was enclosed--at
that direction he also looked, and even the child, had she watched his
countenance instead of his fingers, might have been struck by its
immediate change; the deep flush succeeded by the deadly pallor which
overspread his face. He gave a quick uneasy glance around, but no one
was observing him, and then again fixing his eyes anxiously upon the
address, was about to turn and break the seal, when his elbow was
touched, and the little girl who had glided round to possess herself of
her former object of ambition--the seal on the discarded envelope--now
whispered in his ear:
"Don't break that beautiful seal--give it to me."
Trevor started, and looked at first as much confused and disconcerted,
as if he had been required by the young lady to yield the letter itself
for public inspection; but recovering himself in a moment, he, as if
mechanically, obeyed the child's injunction, tearing off the impression;
and thus recovering her prize, together with another polite request,
from her father, not to be such a tiresome bore, she returned with it
to her former refuge, laying it before Mary for her particular
inspection, who glancing carelessly towards the impression, perceived it
to be the Trevor coat-of-arms, together with the initials "E. T."
Eugene in the meantime having hastily glanced his eye over the writing
inside, thrust the letter into his pocket, and proceeded to make a hasty
but indifferent breakfast.
He did not join the ladies as usual during the few first hours of that
morning--but Mr. de Burgh informed them in answer to their inquiry, when
he came once into the drawing-room, that "Trevor was sitting in the
library, deep in meditation over the 'Times.'" At last he made his
appearance for a short time, and sat down by Mary's side, but in so very
abstracted and absent a mood, that she began to be possessed with secret
misgivings that something had occurred to annoy him, though she kept
this feeling to herself.
Mrs. de Burgh's quick perception also discovered that something was
indeed amiss, and she playfully told Eugene that he was very stupid,
and must take another ride with Mary after luncheon to brisk him up.
But looking down on the ground, in the same altered moody manner which
characterized his present demeanour, he murmured that he was afraid he
should be obliged to leave Silverton early in the afternoon.
Mrs. de Burgh, on hearing this, and struck still more by his peculiar
manner, glanced inquiringly at her cousin, and was preparing to rise in
order to leave him alone with Mary, when Eugene suddenly got up from his
chair, and, making some excuse for absenting himself, quitted the
apartment.
Mary made no remark on this demeanour of her lover, but silently and
quietly pursued her occupation. It was not in her nature, as we before
remarked, to fret or torment herself, or others, by easily excited
fears, or fanciful misgivings. She was fearful, indeed, that Eugene was
suffering under some temporary anxiety or annoyance, occasioned,
perhaps, by the letter he had received that morning; but nothing more
serious entered her imagination.
Eugene did not come in to luncheon, but of that meal he seldom partook,
and when once, through the open door, Mary caught sight of him standing
darkly in an adjoining room, his eyes fixed earnestly upon her, she
smiled her own sweet, affectionate, confiding smile, which he returned
with a kind of subdued, melancholy tenderness. She found herself at
length in the drawing-room alone, and heard Eugene's step slowly
approaching. He half opened the door, and seeing that no one was with
her, entered the apartment. She held out her hand as he drew near, and
seizing it, he pressed it passionately to his lips.
"Mary," he murmured, in a low, thrilling tone, whilst he gazed long and
earnestly into her face, till her soft eyes shrank, like flowers at
noon, beneath the dark, wild gleam which shone upon them. "My dear,
good, best-beloved Mary," then his arm encircled her waist, he pressed
her trembling form against his heart, imprinted a burning kiss upon her
lips, and ere Mary had recovered from the first strong surprise with
which this sudden ardour in her lover's conduct naturally inspired her,
he had left the room, and Mrs. de Burgh entering soon after to ask her
to drive, she heard that Eugene was gone!