I SURPRISE THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME--ALL WELL--IS PRISCILLA FALSE--WE
MEET--THE MISSING LETTERS--A SNAKE IN THE GRASS--DREAMS OF
VENGEANCE.
As I stepped upon the lawn no one was in sight, so treading lightly I
walked up to the house, and looked quietly in at the window, peeping
cautiously so as not to be seen. To my intense relief the picture I saw
within quite assured me that all was well. There sat my jolly old dad
and my dear mother, cosily taking their tea, quite unsuspecting who
would shortly join them in a cup. They looked very happy; so did a
couple of dogs gambolling on the hearthrug, while our old cat sat on a
rush hassock close by, looking dreamily at them through her half-closed
eyes, when they threatened to knock her off her perch in their play.
I quietly glided in at the side door, and gently opening the parlour
door stood in the room before my parents. They both looked round as I
made a slight sound; in a moment the quietude was broken. My mother half
choked herself with the tea she was drinking, letting fall both cup and
saucer on the dogs in her amazement, who scampered away, yelping at
their sudden hot bath.
"Mercy me! my boy!" and she fell sobbing in my arms, or rather on my
left arm, for my father had taken possession of my right hand with,
"Hang it all, Harry, do you mean to kill us all with fright? Why, my
dear boy, I don't know what to say, I feel so glad to see you. However
did you get home?" etc., etc.
It was some minutes before their nerves were restored, and I had time to
get a few words in edgeways between their greetings. They wanted me to
answer a hundred questions, without even pausing to give me a chance to
speak; but presently having satisfied them as to the chief points, I
thought it high time to fetch in my companion, whom I introduced as "Mr.
'Monday' Ducas, Skipper of the 'Happy Return.'" They quickly made him
welcome, taking him to be the Captain of the vessel I had come over in,
but remarked aside, that both he and I would look better for a wash and
a shave, while possibly a few inches off our hair would make us a little
more in accord with the usual mode of dressing hair in these parts.
Truly on peeping at ourselves in the glass we did look a couple of wild
men or North American trappers.
A tea was then prepared for us to which we did ample justice, but
everything seemed so strange. We had not been used to chairs, carpets,
window blinds, mutton chops, or even butter, but they soon came back to
us as old friends, who had long been absent but not forgotten.
We had a couple of bedrooms assigned to us, also a spare room, into
which, on the morrow, I meant to convey our whole cargo; but at present
I had neither mentioned our craft or its contents. These things I
reserved as a surprise for my dad in the morning.
After we had tidied ourselves I ventured to ask about Priscilla, upon
which my father beckoned me to another room, which greatly upset me.
Surely nothing was wrong with her; was she ill?
My father noticed my agitation as I asked, "Father, is anything amiss
with her? Don't tell me she is ill!"
"No, no, my boy, calm yourself, she is well enough, but----"
"Oh, go on, father, pray do! I can bear whatever you have to say about
her except that she has been untrue to me. If she has, I will find the
man who has stolen her affection, and----"
"Peace! peace, my son! and listen to me quietly. I believe she is as
true a girl as ever lived; but why did you not answer her letters? Twice
she wrote to you, but not a line did she receive in reply."
"Letters! I know nothing of any letters from her; all I have received
was the solitary letter from you. But tell me what has happened? Why do
you look so grave? Tell me, father, and end my suspense."
"Well, as near as I can tell you, Harry, it is this. When you landed on
the island it was to be for twelve months only, but at the end of that
time I wrote to you stating that young Johnson would wager one hundred
pounds that you would be so sick of your exile, that you would not stay
another six months on the island upon any consideration. I wrote you,
and you accepted the wager, and I find that during the past six months
he has been paying his addresses to Priscilla, who----"
"What!" I broke in wildly, "trying to alienate the affections of my
betrothed, while he dangled a paltry one hundred pounds before my eyes
so as to keep the coast clear, while he laid siege to _my_ love. Let me
catch sight of the villain, and he shall rue the day he trespassed on my
rights. But what does Priscilla say to his protestations of love; surely
she does not give him countenance?"
"My boy, you are too hasty," said my father, patting me soothingly on
the shoulder; "listen patiently and hear all I have to say, then you can
draw your own conclusions.
"Priscilla I know has not given him encouragement, but has returned
several presents that he has sent her; but what mortifies her so, is
that you have not even deigned to send her a line through all her time
of temptation, although she has written twice to you. Johnson's uncle
has a large estate in Florida, and being an old man, wants him to go out
and help him to manage it. Johnson has consented to go West, and only
this week made an offer of marriage to Priscilla asking her to accompany
him to Florida as his wife."
"Yes, father, go on."
"Well, I have not much more to say," he resumed; "I know not Priscilla's
answer, but this I do know, that if your love for her has changed, she
might do worse than accept your rival; but I trust such is not the
case."
I could scarcely speak for rage and vexation, to think I had been so
befooled by this fellow, and to have given Priscilla cause to think my
love for her could possibly change. I would go to her at once. But my
father bade me sit down and collect myself, and calmly talk the matter
over with him.
"Leave this affair to me, my boy, and join your mother and friend."
I did so, but with an awful feeling of doubt at my heart. In half an
hour my father entered the room, and reassured me with a quiet smile and
nod, which was of great comfort to me.
Another half hour went by, and then a rustling at the door made me
tremble with anticipation and doubt, for something told me it was
Priscilla. The handle turned, and as I held out both my hands to greet
her, for it was she, she bounded forward with a cry of joy, and fell
fainting into my arms.
Here was a _dénoument_. I gently laid her inanimate form on the couch,
and was immediately hustled out of the room by the combined force of my
mother and our old domestic, Ellen, and not allowed to return for a
time, which to my fevered mind seemed an age, but which the clock
pronounced to be twenty minutes only.
This time Priscilla came coyly to my arms, and I then knew all was well
between us, especially when she turned me round with,
"Dear old Harry! come to the light, you great brown giant, and look me
in the face. Ah!" said she, as Alec obligingly held up the lamp that she
might get a full view of me, "I can read truth in those bonny brown
eyes, but you are a cruel fellow, or why did you not answer my letters?
You bad boy!"
"Sit down, Priscilla," and I quietly took her hands in mine, and drew
her down beside me on the couch.
"Now, Miss Fortune Teller! what letters do you refer to?"
"Two that I sent you, one in June and the other only five weeks since,
at the beginning of August."
"Believe me, Priscilla, I have never received them, and did not know of
your writing to me till my father informed me of it, but an hour since.
Where did you write them?"
"Here, Harry, in this very room."
"And who posted them, did you do so yourself?"
"No, your father posted the first, and Ellen the other."
"No," interposed my father, "I recollect young Johnson called in
directly you left, and seeing the letter in my hand, said he was going
up to the village, and would post it for me, so I gave it to him."
Just then Ellen entered with glasses and decanters, and it suddenly
struck me to interrogate her on the subject.
"Ellen, do you remember posting a letter to me, about a month ago, that
Miss Grant gave you?"
"Yes, sir, very well; at least I went half way to the post, when Mr.
Walter Johnson overtook me on his bay horse, and stopped me to ask how
Miss Grant was, and seeing the letter in my hand, he offered to drop it
in the box for me as he rode by the post office. So as it was such a wet
day I let him take it. Did I do wrong?"
"Well, I don't quite know, but never mind, it saved you a drag in the
wet, anyhow."
The maid left the room, and then I gave it as my opinion that Walter
Johnson _had never posted the letters_, and that to-morrow I would
interview him on the subject.
Alec was like a fish out of water at all this "high-bobaree," as he
called it; but we now quieted down and spent a very happy evening
together, with one or two neighbours, who having heard of my return,
called in to pay their compliments.
That night I tossed and turned about feverishly, as my home-coming
experience had been so strange, that I could do nothing but think and
dream of it.
Walter Johnson was ever before me, and the more I thought of him and his
underhand behaviour, the more I seemed to hate him, till at last I felt
in quite a frenzy against him. I vowed to myself that in the morning I
would see him, and if I could force him to confess his dastardly
behaviour in not posting the letters to me, and in making love covertly
to my affianced bride, I would thrash him soundly. My only fear was that
I should do him some permanent bodily injury if he sneered at me, or in
any way tried to ignore my right to put certain questions to him.
Towards morning my plans of vengeance were arrested by slumber, of which
I was greatly in need.
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