Horace Chase, meanwhile, had arrived at Palatka, and opened the
discussion with David Patterson which ended in the decision to despatch
young Willoughby to California without delay. Having sent these
instructions, he remained at Palatka two days longer, his intention
being to cross, on the third day, to St. Augustine, get his wife and go
back to New York, stopping on the way at Raleigh in order to see Jared.
Always prompt, as soon as the question of the representative in
California was settled, his thoughts had turned towards his
brother-in-law; the proper moment had now arrived for fulfilling his
promises concerning him. But in answer to this note to Ruth, mentioning
this plan, there had come a long epistle from Mrs. Franklin. Ruth, she
wrote, wanted to go north by sea; it was a sudden fancy that had come to
her. Her wish was to go by the _Dictator_ to Charleston, and there
change for the larger steamer. "As Dolly and I intend to start towards
L'Hommedieu next week, Ruth's idea is that we could go together as far
as Charleston; for the rest of the way, Felicite could look after her.
You need not therefore take the trouble to come to St. Augustine at all,
she says; you can go directly from Palatka to Raleigh. All this sounds
a little self-willed. But, my dear Mr. Chase, if we spoiled her more or
less in the beginning, you must acknowledge that _you_ have carried on
the process! In the eighteen months that have passed since your
marriage, have you ever refused compliance with even one of her whims? I
think not. On the contrary, I fear you encourage them; you always seem
to me to be waiting, with an inward laugh, to see what on earth she will
suggest next!" Thus wrote the mother in a joking strain. Then, turning
to the subject which was more important to her, she filled three sheets
with her joyful anticipations concerning her son. "Insist upon his
resigning his present place on the spot," she urged; "take no denial.
Make him go _with_ you to New York. _Then_ you will be sure of him."
"The old lady seems to think he will be a great acquisition," said Chase
to himself, humorously.
Her statement that he had, from the first, allowed his wife to follow
her fancies unchecked was a true one. It amused him to do this, amused
him to watch an idea dawn, and then, in a few minutes, take such entire
possession of her that it shook her hard--only to leave her and vanish
with equal suddenness. The element of the unexpected in her was a
constant entertainment to him. Her heedlessness, her feminine
indifference to logic, to the inevitable sequences of cause and
effect--this, too, had given him many a moment of mirth. If her face had
been less lovely, these characteristics would have worn, perhaps,
another aspect. But in that case Horace Chase would not have been their
judge; for it was this alluring beauty (unconsciously alluring) which
had attracted him, which had made him fall in love with her. He was a
man whose life, up to the time of his engagement to Ruth, had been
irregular. But, though irregular, it had not been uncontrolled; he had
always been able to say, "Thus far; no farther!" But though her beauty
had been the first lure, he was now profoundly attached to his wife; his
pride in her was profound, his greatest pleasure was to make her happy.
"By sea to New York, is it?" he said to himself, as his eyes hastily
glanced through the remainder of Mrs. Franklin's long letter (that is,
the three sheets about Jared). "Well, she is a capital sailor, that's
one comfort. Let's see; which of our steamers will she hit at
Charleston?"
He was not annoyed because Ruth had not written, herself; Ruth did not
like to write letters. But it was a surprise to him that she should, of
her own accord, relinquish an opportunity to see her brother. "I reckon
she is counting upon my taking him up to New York with me, so that
she'll see him on the dock waiting for her when her steamer comes in,"
he thought. "I guess she knows, too, that I'm likely to succeed better
with Jared when _she's_ out of the business entirely. Franklin isn't
going to be boosted by his sister--that's been his fixed notion all
along. He doesn't suspect that his sister's nowhere in the matter
compared with his wife; his whole position of being independent of _me_,
and all that, has been so undermined and honeycombed by Gen, that, in
reality, his sticking it out there at Raleigh is a farce! But he doesn't
know it. It's lucky he don't!"
* * * * *
Ruth had her way, as usual. Chase went northward from Palatka to
Savannah, where he had business; thence he was to go to Raleigh. His
wife, meanwhile, remained in St. Augustine for one week longer, and her
mother and sister, closing their own home, spent the time with her.
Their last day came; they were to leave St. Augustine on the morrow.
Early in the afternoon, Ruth disappeared. When they were beginning to
wonder where she was, Felicite brought them a note. Mrs. Franklin read
it, and laughed. "She has gone for a sail; by herself!"
"She might have told us. We could have gone with her," said Dolly,
irritably. "I don't like her being alone."
"Oh, she is safe enough, as far as that goes," answered the mother,
comfortably. "She has taken old Donato, who, in spite of his seventy
years, is an excellent sailor; and he has, too, a very good boat."
Dolly went to the window. "You are not in the least thinking of Ruth,
mother! You are thinking of Jared; you are thinking that if he takes
that place in New York, we must somehow get up there to see him this
summer; and you are planning to go to that boarding-house on Staten
Island that the commodore told you about."
Mrs. Franklin, who really was thinking of Staten Island, rolled a
lamplighter the wrong way. "It is happening oftener and oftener!" she
said to herself. "Is she going to die?" And she glanced towards her
invalid daughter with the old pang of loving pity quickened for the
moment to trepidation.
Dolly's back was turned; she was gazing down the inlet. The house, which
was formerly the residence of General Worth, the Military Governor of
Florida, commanded an uninterrupted view of the Matanzas north and
south, and, over the low line of Anastasia Island, even the smallest
sail going towards the ocean was visible. But in spite of this long
expanse of water, Dolly could not see old Donato's boat. "His Grand
suspects nothing! Are mothers always so blind?" she thought. "So secure?
But she shall never know anything through _me_--dear old Grand! Ruth has
of course gone to say good-bye to the places which are associated in her
mind with that hateful Willoughby. If I could only have known it, I
would have kept her from it at any price. These long hours alone which
she covets so--they are the worst things, the worst!"
Ruth's boat was far out of sight; at this moment she was landing on
Anastasia at the point where she had disembarked with Walter on the day
of the excursion. Telling the old Minorcan to wait for her, she sought
for the little Carib trail, and followed it inland to the pool. Here
she spent half an hour, seated in the loop of the vine where she had sat
before. Then, rising, she slowly retraced their former course along the
low ridge.
Since Walter's departure--he had left St. Augustine at dawn after that
strange evening visit--Ruth had been the prey of two moods, tossed from
one to the other helplessly; for the feelings which these moods by turn
excited were so strong that she had had no volition of her own--she had
been powerless against them. One of these mental states (the one that
possessed her now) was joy. The other was aching pain.
For her fate had come upon her, as it was sure from the first to come.
And it found her defenceless; those who should have foreseen it had
neither guarded her against it, nor trained her so that she could guard
herself. She had no conception of life--no one had ever given her such a
conception--as a lesson in self-control; from her childhood all her
wishes had been granted. It is true that these wishes had been simple.
But that was because she had known no other standard; the degree of
indulgence (and of self-indulgence) was as great as if they had been
extravagant. If her disposition as a girl had been selfish, it was
unconscious selfishness; for her mother, her elder sister, and her
brother had never required anything from her save that she should be
happy. With her joyous nature, life had always been delightful to her,
and her marriage had only made it more delightful. For Horace Chase,
unconsciously, had adopted the habit that the family had always had;
they never expected Ruth to take responsibility, to be serious, and, in
the same way, he never expected it. And he loved to see her contented,
just as they had loved it. There was some excuse for them all in the
fact that Ruth's contentment was a very charming thing--it was so
natural and exuberant.
And, on her side, this girl had married Horace Chase first of all
because she liked him. What he had done for her brother, and his
wealth--these two influences had come only second, and would not have
sufficed without the first; her affection (for it was affection) had
been won by his kindness to herself. Since their marriage his lavish
generosity had pleased her, and gratified her imagination. But his
delicate consideration for her--this girl nineteen years younger than
himself--and his unselfishness, these she had not appreciated; she
supposed that husbands were, as a matter of course, like that. As it
happened, she had not a single girl friend who had married, from whose
face (if not from whose words also) she might have divined other ways.
Thus she had lived on, accepting everything in her easy, epicurean
fashion, until into her life had come love--this love for Walter
Willoughby.
Walter devoting himself to Mrs. Chase for his own purposes, had never
had the slightest intention of falling in love with her; in truth, such
a catastrophe (it would have seemed to him nothing less) would have
marred all his plans. He had wished only to amuse her. And, in the
beginning, it had been in truth his gay spirits which had attracted
Ruth, for she possessed gay spirits herself. She had been unaware of the
nature of the feeling which was taking possession of her; her
realization went no further than that life was now much more
interesting; and, with her rich capacity for enjoyment, she had grasped
this new pleasure eagerly. It was this which had made her beauty so much
more rich and vivid. It was this which had caused her to exclaim, "How
delightful it is to live!" If obstacles had interfered, the pain of
separation might have opened her eyes, at an earlier period, to the
nature of her attachment. But, owing to the circumstances of the case,
the junior partner had been with Mr. and Mrs. Chase almost daily ever
since their return from Europe. That announcement, therefore, out on the
barrens--his own announcement--of his departure the next morning, and
for an indefinite stay, had come upon her like the chill of sudden
death. And then in the evening, while she was still benumbed and
pulseless, had followed his strange, short visit, and the wild thrill of
joy in her heart over his declaration of his own love for her. For he
had said it, he had said it!
These two conflicting tides--the pain of his absence and the joy of his
love--had held entire possession of her ever since. But passionate
though her nature was, in matters of feeling it was deeply reticent as
well, and no one had noticed any change in her save Dolly, Dolly who had
divined something from her sister's new desire to be alone. Never before
had Ruth wished to be alone; but now she went off for long walks by
herself; and this plan for returning to New York by sea--that was simply
the same thing. From the moment of Ruth's engagement, Dolly had been
haunted by a terrible fear. Disliking Horace Chase herself, she did not
believe that he would be able to keep forever a supreme place in his
wife's heart. And then? Would Ruth be content to live on, as so many
wives live, with this supreme place unoccupied? It was her dread of
this, a dread which had suddenly become personified, that had made her
form one of almost all the excursions of this Florida winter; she had
gone whenever she was able, and often when she was unable--at least, she
would be present, she would mount guard.
But in spite of her guardianship, something had evidently happened. What
was it? Was this desire of Ruth's to be alone a good sign or a bad sign?
Did it come from happiness or unhappiness? "If it is unhappiness, she
will throw it off," Dolly told herself. "She hates suffering. She will
manage, somehow, to rid herself of it." Thus she tried to reassure
herself.
Ruth gave not only the afternoon but the evening to her pilgrimage; she
visited all the places where she had been with Walter. When the twilight
had deepened to night, she came back to town, and, still accompanied by
Donato, she went to the old fort, and out the shell road; finally she
paid a visit to Andalusia. A bright moon was shining; over the low land
blew a perfumed breeze. Andalusia was deserted, Mrs. Kip had gone to
North Carolina. Bribing Uncle Jack, the venerable ex-slave who lived in
a little cabin under the bananas near the gate, Ruth went in, and
leaving her body-guard, the old fisherman, resting on a bench, she
wandered alone among the flowers. "You see that I love you. I myself did
not know it until now"--this was the talisman which was making her so
happy; two brief phrases uttered on the spur of the moment, phrases
preceded by nothing, followed by nothing. It was a proof of the
simplicity of her nature, its unconsciousness of half-motives,
half-meanings, that she should think these few words so conclusive. But
to her they were final. Direct herself, she supposed that others were
the same. She did not go beyond her talisman; she did not reason about
it, or plan. In fact, she did not think at all; she only felt--felt each
syllable take a treasure in her heart, and brooded over it happily. And
as she wandered to and fro in the moonlight, it was as well that Walter
did not see her. He did not love her--no. He had no wish to love her; it
would have interfered with all his plans. But if he had beheld her now,
he would have succumbed--succumbed, at least, for the moment, as he had
done before. He was not there, however. And he had no intention of
being there, of being anywhere near Horace Chase's wife for a long time
to come. "I'll keep out of _that_!" he had said to himself,
determinedly.
It was midnight when at last Ruth returned home, coming into the
drawing-room like a vision, in her white dress, with her arms full of
flowers.
"Well, have you had enough of prowling?" asked her mother, sleepily. "I
must say that it appears to agree with you!"
Even Dolly was reassured by her sister's radiant eyes.
But later, when Felicite had left her mistress, then, if Dolly could
have opened the locked door, her comfort would have vanished; for the
other mood had now taken possession, and lying prone on a couch, with
her face hidden, Ruth was battling with her grief.
Pain was so new to her, sorrow so new! Incapable of enduring (this was
what Dolly had hoped), many times during the last ten days she had
revolted against her suffering, and to-night she was revolting anew. "I
_will_ not care for him; it makes me too wretched!" Leaving the couch,
she strode angrily to and fro. The three windows of the large room--it
was her dressing-room--stood open to the warm sea-air; she had put out
the candles, but the moonlight, entering in a flood, reflected her white
figure in the long mirrors as she came and went. Felicite had braided
her hair for the night, but the strands had become loosened, and the
thick, waving mass flowed over her shoulders. "I will not think of him;
I will _not_!" And to emphasize it, she struck her clinched hand with
all her force on the stone window-seat. "It is cut. I'm glad! It will
make me remember that I am _not_ to think of him." She was intensely in
earnest in her resolve, and, to help herself towards other thoughts, she
began to look feverishly at the landscape outside, as though it was
absolutely necessary that she should now resee and recount each point
and line. "There is the top of the light-house--and there is the
ocean--and there are the bushes near the quarry." She leaned out of the
window so as to see farther. "There is the North Beach; there is the
fort and the lookout tower." Thus for a few minutes her weary mind
followed the guidance of her will. "There is the bathing-house. And
there is the dock and the club-house; and there is the Basin. Down there
on the right is Fish Island. How lovely it all is! I wish I could stay
here forever. But even to-morrow night I shall be gone; I shall be on
the _Dictator_. And then will come Charleston. And then New York." (Her
mind had now escaped again.) "And then the days--and the months--and the
_years_ without him! Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do?" And the pain
descending, sharper than ever, she sank down, and with her arms on the
window-seat and her face on her arms, and cried and cried--cried so long
that at last her shoulders fell forward stoopingly, and her whole
slender frame lost its strength, and drooped against the window-sill
like a broken reed. Her despair held no plan for trying to see Walter,
her destiny seemed to her fixed; her revolts had not been against that
destiny, but against her pain. But something was upon her now which was
stronger than herself, stronger than her love of ease, stronger than her
dread of suffering. Dolly knew her well. But there were some depths
which even Dolly did not know.
Dawn found her still there, her hands and feet cold, her face white; she
had wept herself out--there were no more tears left. The sun came up;
she watched it mechanically. "Felicite mustn't find me here," she
thought. She dragged herself to her feet; all her muscles were stiff.
Then going to the bedroom, she fell into a troubled sleep.
It would be too much to say that during the entire night her mind had
not once turned towards her husband. She had thought of him now and
then, much as she had thought of her mother; as, for instance--would her
mother see any change in her face the next morning, after this night of
tears? Would her husband see any at New York when he arrived? Whenever
she remembered either one of them, she felt a sincere desire not to make
them unhappy. But this was momentary; during most of the night the
emotions that belonged to her nature swept over her with such force that
she had no power, no will, to think of anything save herself.