POOR ELLEN!
It was evening; and a cheerful fire burned in the grate of the
drawing-room at Markham-Place.
Mr. Monroe and his daughter were seated in that apartment; the former
dozing in an arm-chair, the latter reading a novel.
Richard was engaged in a literary pursuit in his library.
From time to time Miss Monroe laid aside her book, and fell into
meditation. Not that she had any particular subject for her reflections;
but the events of her life, when taken together, constituted a theme
from which it was impossible to avert her attention for any lengthened
period.
There was also a topic upon which she pondered more frequently as time
passed on. She knew that in the course of nature,--especially after the
rude shocks which his constitution had received from mental suffering
and bodily privation,--her father could not live much longer. Then, she
was well aware that she could not continue to dwell beneath the same
roof with Richard Markham;--and her pride revolted against the idea of
receiving a direct eleemosynary assistance from him in the shape of a
pecuniary allowance. She had some few pounds treasured up in a savings
bank, and which she had saved from her salary when engaged at the
theatre; but this sum would not maintain her long. She therefore looked,
with occasional anxiety, to the necessity of adopting some course that
should obtain for her a livelihood. Of all the avocations in which she
had been engaged, she preferred that of the stage; and there were times
when she seriously thought of returning to the profession, even during
her father's life-time.
In sooth, it was a pity that one of the brightest ornaments of female
loveliness should have been lowered by circumstances from the pedestal
of virtue and modesty which she would have so eminently adorned. Should
her transcendent loveliness captivate the heart of any individual whose
proposals were alike honourable and eligible, how could she accept the
hand thus extended to her? She must either deceive him in respect to
that wherein no man likes to be deceived; or she must decline the chance
of settling herself advantageously for life. These were the
alternatives;--for in no case could she reveal her shame!
Her fate was not, therefore, a happy one; and the reader need not marvel
if she now and then found reflections of a disagreeable nature stealing
into her soul.
She was now past twenty years of age: and in spite of the severe trials
which she had endured, the sweet freshness of her youthful charms was
totally unimpaired. Her faultless Grecian countenance,--her
classically-shaped head,--her swan-like neck,--her symmetrical
form,--her delicate hands and feet,--all those charms which had been
perpetuated in the works of so many artists--these elements of an almost
superhuman beauty still combined to render her passing lovely!
O Ellen! the soul of the philanthropist must mourn for thee,--for thou
wast not wrongly inclined by nature. On a purer being than thou wast,
ere misery drove thee in an evil moment to an evil course, the sun never
shone:--and now thou hast to rue the shame which thine imperious
destiny, and not thy faults, entailed upon thee!
But to our tale.
Old Mr. Monroe was dozing in the arm-chair; and Ellen had once more
turned her eyes upon her book, when Marian entered the room.
She perceived at a glance that Mr. Monroe was asleep; and, placing her
finger upon her lip to enjoin silence, she put a note into Ellen's hand,
saying it the same time in a low whisper, "Mr. Wentworth's servant has
just brought this, with a request that it should be immediately conveyed
to you. Miss."
Marian then withdrew.
Ellen tore open the note, and read as follows:--
"I grieve to state that your little Richard has been attacked with
a sudden and dangerous malady. Come to my house for an hour--if you
can possibly steal away, without exciting suspicion. My servant
will convey this to you through your faithful confidant.
"DAVID WENTWORTH."
Ellen flung the note frantically upon the table, and rushed out of the
room.
She hurried up stairs, put on her bonnet and cloak, and, having told
Marian to sit up for her, hastened from the house--one sole idea
occupying her mind,--the danger of her well-beloved child!
When she arrived at Mr. Wentworth's abode, she was received by that
gentleman's wife, who immediately said, "The danger is over--the crisis
is past! Do not alarm yourself--my husband no longer fears for your
son's life. He, however, deemed it to be his duty to send for you."
"Oh! he did well--he acted kindly and considerately," returned Ellen.
"But let me assure myself that my boy is no longer in danger."
Mrs. Wentworth led the way to the chamber where little Richard was now
sleeping tranquilly, the surgeon seated by the bed-side.
From his lips Ellen gathered hope that the perilous crisis had passed:
she nevertheless determined to remain for some time to assure herself
that any return of the spasms might not be fraught with increased
danger. All other considerations were banished from her mind; she
thought not of her father--she remembered not that her absence might
alarm both him and Richard Markham; and when Mr. Wentworth delicately
alluded to that subject, as time slipped by, she uttered some impatient
remark intimating that she should not be at a loss for an excuse to
account for her protracted absence.
Thus the pure and holy maternal feeling was now uppermost in the mind of
that young lady: the danger of her child was the all-absorbing subject
of her thoughts.
Bent over the bed, she tenderly gazed upon the pale countenance of her
child.
Oh! where can the artist find a more charming subject for his pencil, or
the poet a more witching theme for his song, than the young mother
watching over her sleeping infant?
Hour after hour passed; and when the babe awoke, Ellen nursed him in her
arms. In spite of its illness, the little sufferer smiled; but when the
pang of the malady seized upon him, it was Mrs. Wentworth--and not
Ellen--who could pacify him!
Alas! galling indeed to the young mother was this conviction that her
child clung to another rather than to herself.
Nevertheless Ellen watched the babe with the most heartfelt tenderness;
and it was not until near midnight, when the surgeon declared that the
malady had passed without the remotest fear of a relapse, that Ellen
thought of returning home.
She then took her departure, with an intimation that she should call
again in the morning.
She retraced her steps towards the Place, and, passing up the garden,
was admitted through the back entrance by the faithful Marian.
"My child is saved," whispered Ellen to the servant. "Has my father
inquired for me?"
"No, miss," was the reply. "He is still in the drawing-room; and Mr.
Markham is with him."
"They are up late to-night," remarked Ellen. "But I," she continued, "am
weary in mind and body, and shall at once repair to my own room."
Marian gave the young lady a candle, and wished her a good night's rest.
Ellen hastened cautiously up-stairs, and in a few minutes retired to
rest.
She was fatigued, as before intimated; and yet slumber refused to visit
her eyes. Nevertheless, she dozed uneasily,--in that kind of semi-sleep
which weighs down the heavy lids, and yet does not completely shut out
from the mind the consciousness of what is passing around.
A quarter of an hour had probably elapsed since Ellen had sought her
couch, when the door slowly opened; and her father entered the room,
bearing a light in his hand.
The countenance of the old man was ghastly pale; but there was a
wildness in his eyes which bore testimony to the painful feelings that
agitated him within.
He advanced towards the bed, and contemplated the countenance of his
daughter for a few moments with an expression of profound sorrow.
Ellen opened her eyes, and started up in the bed, exclaiming, "My dear
father, in the name of heaven, what is the matter?"
"O God! Ellen," cried the old man, placing the light upon a side-table,
"tell me that it is not true--say but one word, to assure me that you
are the pure and spotless girl I have always deemed you to be!"
"Father!" exclaimed the young lady, a horrible feeling taking possession
of her, "why do you ask me that question?"
"Because a fearful suspicion racks my brain," answered the old man; "and
I could not retire to rest until I knew the truth--be that truth what it
may."
"My dear father--you alarm me cruelly!" said Ellen, her cheeks at one
moment suffused with blushes, and then varying to ashy whiteness.
"In one word, Ellen," exclaimed the old man, "what is the meaning of
that letter?"
And the almost distracted father threw the surgeon's note upon the bed.
In an instant Ellen remembered that she had left it behind her in the
room where she was seated with her father when she received it.
Joining her hands in a paroxysm of the most acute mental agony, she
burst into tears, crying wildly, "Forgive me! forgive me--my dear, dear
father! Do not curse your wretched--wretched daughter!"
And then she bowed her head upon her bosom, and seemed to await her
parent's reply in a state of mind which no pen can describe.
For some moments Mr. Monroe maintained a profound silence: but the
quivering of his lip, and the working of the veins upon his forehead
betrayed the terrible nature of the conflict of feelings which was
taking place within his breast.
At length he also burst into tears, and covering his face with his
hands, exclaimed, "My God! that I had died ere I had experienced this
bitter--bitter hour!"
These words were uttered in a tone of such intense agony, that a mortal
dread for her father's reason and life suddenly sprang up in Ellen's
mind.
Throwing herself from the bed, she fell upon her knees, crying, "Forgive
me, my dear father. Oh! if my child were here, I would hold it in my
arms towards you; and, when its innocent countenance met your eyes, you
would pardon _me_!"
"Ellen! Ellen! thou hast broken thy father's heart," murmured Mr.
Monroe, averting his face from his suppliant daughter. "Oh! heaven be
thanked that thy mother has been snatched from us! But tell me, unhappy
girl, who is the villain that has dishonoured thee--for, in the moment
of my intense agony, when I read the fatal letter that disclosed thy
dishonour and marked the name of thy child, I vilely--ungratefully
accused our generous benefactor of thy ruin."
[Illustration]
"What! Richard?--oh! no, no!" ejaculated Ellen, in a tone of ineffable
anguish; then, as the thought of _who the father of her child really
was_ flashed across her memory, she gave utterance to a terrible moan,
and sank backwards, senseless, upon the floor.
"Ellen! Ellen!" cried the old man: "Ellen--my dearest daughter,
Ellen--oh! I have killed her!"
At that moment Marian, bearing a light, entered the room.
"Water! water!" exclaimed the agonised father: "she is insensible--she
is dying!"
Then hastily filling a tumbler from a decanter of water which stood upon
the toilet-table, he knelt down by the side of his daughter, and bathed
her temples.
In a few moments Ellen partially recovered, and gazed wildly around her.
"My sweet child," murmured the old man, pressing her hand to his lips,
"live--live for me: all shall be forgiven--all forgotten. I was harsh to
thee, my Ellen--to thee who have always been so fond, so tender, and so
good to me."
"Leave her, sir, for the present," said Marian: "allow her to compose
herself. This discovery has been almost too much for her!"
"I will," returned Mr. Monroe. "You must stay with her, good Marian; and
in the morning I will come and see her."
The old man then withdrew.