THE RE-UNION.
“’Twas his own voice, she could not err
Throughout the breathing world’s extent,
There was but one such voice for her,
So kind, so soft, so eloquent!—_Moore._
There’s not a look, a word of thine,
My soul hath e’er forgot!
Thou ne’er didst bid a ringlet shine,
Nor give thy locks one graceful twine,
Which I remember not!”—_Ibid._
At eleven o’clock the Ocean Queen cast anchor off the Headland. The
long-boat was lowered, and the mother and daughter, with Barbara and her
two brothers, entered it and were rowed across to the beach. They
landed, and began to ascend the bank. At the top they overtook old
Neptune, with a basket of soft crabs in his hand. His mistress took him
aside and spoke to him.
“Has any one come, Neptune?”
“Lors yes, chile, come dis mornin’—four, five, ever so fine folks, an’
the fine English lords as was here some years back. Amphy, she done gone
up to get dinner. I gwine carry up de fish now.”
“Very well, go on,” said Barbara, who then returned to the side of
Estelle. They were approaching the house.
“It appears to me that the place is occupied,” said Estelle.
“Madam—yes, it is occupied temporarily.”
They ascended the steps, and paused a moment at the door.
“Lady,” said Barbara, “you have fine nerves, and the great self-control
that they give—exert it now.”
“Miss Brande, what mean you?” inquired Estelle, in some alarm.
“I told you that your parents were seeking you!”
“Yes—well?”
“They are not far off. Come into your old bed-chamber and lay off your
bonnet, and compose yourself for a few minutes,” said Miss Brande,
opening the door, and conducting Estelle and her daughter into a back
room. Then, while they arranged their dress, she passed into the parlor
and closed the door after her. And though a lady of distinguished
presence and three gentlemen occupied the room, she lifted her finger to
her lip as a sign of silence, and advanced straight up to the youngest
of those gentlemen. He arose to receive her, saying, in a low voice:—
“Miss Brande, your letter has brought not only myself but, as you see,
our whole party—Sir Parke, Lady Morelle, and Dazzleright. Oh, Barbara,
surely you could not hold out any but a certain hope.”
“Speak softly, Lord Eagle Tower. She is not far off. She does not know
your presence here.”
Sir Parke, who had also approached the spot where she stood, heard this
piece of news, and reeled as if he would have fallen. Lady Morelle
hastened to his side, and led him to the nearest seat, wiped the beaded
drops from his brow, and held her vinaigrette to his nostrils. Her
ladyship had, certainly, the most self-command of the whole party. As
soon as the enfeebled old father recovered his composure, Barbara took
Lord Eagle Tower aside and said—
“I will bring her in now. You and Lord Dazzleright had best retire for a
few minutes.”
He nodded—he could scarcely speak—for he too was very much shaken.
Barbara slipped through the door, and met face to face with Estelle, who
was standing there as rigid and as white as marble, with her eyes turned
toward the parlor.
Barbara closed the door, took her hand, and led her a little way back
into the chamber.
“Lady—dear Madam, what is the matter?”
“Montressor! Montressor!—If ever I heard Montressor’s voice, I heard it
just now! Oh, it was so low, yet I heard it!”
“Yes, you heard it. Compose yourself, dear lady. Summon your great
strength, and go in! Leave Miss L’Orient here with me a moment;” and she
opened the door.
Estelle passed through, and entered the shadowy parlor—the tumult of her
mind causing the scene to swim before her—so that at first she could not
distinguish persons.
But an aged form tottered toward her, and fell upon her neck, saying:
“Oh, Estelle, my child! my child! can you pardon your old father?”
She sank at his feet, and kissed his hands, and said:
“Forgive and bless _me_, my father.”
But Sir Parke, the subdued and broken old aristocrat, could only weep
and lift her up, and hand her over to her mother, who, with a burst of
tears, received her in her arms. Estelle sat down between them both,
upon the sofa, and wept while she pressed her mother’s hand, or stroked
her father’s cheek, and told them of the long-lost child that she too
had recovered. Then Etoile was brought in, and presented to her
grandparents, who contemplated her beauty with pride and pleasure.
But at last Lady Morelle said:
“There is another who is waiting to see our Estelle. Come, Sir Parke,
take your grandchild in your hand and let us pass into the adjoining
room, and give this faithful friend an opportunity to plead his cause.”
The baronet arose, and leading Etoile and accompanied by his wife,
passed into the back chamber.
Estelle sank upon the sofa—the beating of her heart was almost audible.
A moment passed and Lord Eagle Tower was in the room and at her side.
What was first said on either side, they could not have told!—how should
another? It was a most agitated, tumultuous interview, in which all that
either learned at first was, that neither heart was changed toward the
other. Lord Eagle Tower learned the meaning of the sacrifice that she
had made. And she discovered the supererogatory nature of her long
self-immolation.
And finally he said—
“My Estelle! my love! my wife! deemed you that ever _I_ could forget
_you_ and marry? I! Oh, my own! all these years of absence have you only
taken root deeper and deeper into my heart! become more and more knitted
to my soul! My wife! my innermost self, not now, not to-day only, but
always and forever, from eternity to eternity, my own! Oh, suffering
one! and did you think that time or absence had power to steal _you_
from my heart, or that another could ever fill your place there?
Impossible in fact! sacrilegious in theory! No, Estelle; no, dearest
wife! my heart’s innermost treasury! no. I lived amid a pageantry of
beautiful and attractive women, as lovely, perhaps, as my Estelle. But
not one among them was mine, or ever could be mine, because my heart was
abundantly filled. I moved among them, my eyes enjoying, in common with
others, the sight of their beauty and grace, but without the slightest
wish to appropriate any among them. I moved amid the beautiful, even as
though I had been a happy husband, with his whole heart filled, his
whole nature abundantly satisfied with the wife of his choice. For my
heart was full of the love of my only possible wife, though her presence
lighted another hemisphere.”
Draw the vail. The full interview between such hearts so deeply tried,
so long severed, so unexpectedly reunited, is almost too sacred for
description.
But little more remains to be told.
That same afternoon, a messenger, sent to Heathville, brought back the
worthy Doctor Goodloe with a special license, and before the set of sun
Estelle became Lady Eagle Tower.
They remained a few days at the Headland, during which Lady Eagle Tower
applied for, and received, full powers of guardianship over the person
and property of her child. It is needless to say that that child was
received with paternal affection by Lord Eagle Tower.
In a few days they set sail for Washington, where Lord Eagle Tower
received dispatches appointing him to proceed at once to the Court of ——
upon certain diplomatic business. He immediately obeyed the order and
departed, accompanied by his lady and her whole family. Willful Brande
was to visit them there, whenever his professional duties would permit
him to do so. Lord Dazzleright renewed his proposition to the beautiful
Amazon, but Barbara gratefully and firmly declined the man and the
coronet.
* * * * *
Susan Copsewood married Mr. Gridley, Lord Eagle Tower’s “gentleman,” and
both continue in the service of their former master and mistress. Susan
has entirely recovered from her transient fear of ghosts, and is even
more incredulous than ever upon the subject of the reappearance or
departed spirits; for, in several confidential conversations with her
mistress, she discovered that the supposed apparition of the spirit of
Blanche Brande, that haunted the old family burial-ground, and peeped in
at her window, was no other than her own dear lady, Estelle, who,
restless from grief, had nightly left her sleepless couch to spend an
hour or two in wandering through the solitary groves.
Years have flown. Lord and Lady Eagle Tower reside in great splendor,
surrounded by their interesting family, at the Eastern Court, where he
is resident minister. The fate of Luxmore is unknown.
Barbara Brande still sails upon the sea, and promises to leave it only
when her brother Willful, who is now a commander in the navy, shall be
united to his promised bride—Etoile L’Orient, the lovely Lady of the
Isle.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright:—1886.
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS.
MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH’S COMPLETE WORKS
EACH WORK IS COMPLETE IN ONE LARGE DUODECIMO VOLUME.
_SELF-RAISED; or, FROM THE DEPTHS._ _Sequel to Ishmael._
_ISHMAEL; or, IN THE DEPTHS._ (_Being Self-Made._)
_THE MOTHER-IN-LAW; or, MARRIED IN HASTE._
_THE PHANTOM WEDDING; or, Fall of House of Flint._
_THE MISSING BRIDE; or, MIRIAM, THE AVENGER._
_A BEAUTIFUL FIEND; or, THROUGH THE FIRE._
_VICTOR’S TRIUMPH._ _A Sequel to “A Beautiful Fiend.”_
_THE FATAL MARRIAGE; or, Orville Deville._
_FAIR PLAY; or, BRITOMARTE, the MAN HATER._
_HOW HE WON HER._ _A Sequel to “Fair Play.”_
_THE CHANGED BRIDES; or, Winning Her Way._
_THE BRIDE’S FATE._ _Sequel to “The Changed Brides.”_
_CRUEL AS THE GRAVE; or, Hallow-Eve Mystery._
_TRIED FOR HER LIFE._ _A Sequel to “Cruel as the Grave.”_
_THE CHRISTMAS GUEST; or, The Crime and the Curse._
_THE LADY OF THE ISLE; or, The Island Princess._
_THE LOST HEIR OF LINLITHGOW; or, The Brothers._
_A NOBLE LORD._ _Sequel to “The Lost Heir of Linlithgow.”_
_THE FAMILY DOOM; or, the SIN OF A COUNTESS._
_THE MAIDEN WIDOW._ _Sequel to “The Family Doom.”_
_THE GIPSY’S PROPHECY; or, The Bride of an Evening._
_THE FORTUNE SEEKER; or, Astrea, the Bridal Day._
_THE THREE BEAUTIES; or, Shannondale._
_ALLWORTH ABBEY; or, Eudora._
_FALLEN PRIDE; or, THE MOUNTAIN GIRL’S LOVE._
_INDIA; or, THE PEARL OF PEARL RIVER._
_VIVIA; or, THE SECRET OF POWER._
_THE WIDOW’S SON; or, Left Alone._
_THE DISCARDED DAUGHTER; or, The Children of the Isle._
_BRIDE OF LLEWELLYN._ _Sequel to “The Widow’s Son.”_
_THE BRIDAL EVE; or, Rose Elmer._
_THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS; or, Hickory Hall._
_THE DESERTED WIFE._
_HAUNTED HOMESTEAD._
_THE LOST HEIRESS._
_THE SPECTRE LOVER._
_THE WIFE’S VICTORY._
_THE FATAL SECRET._
_THE CURSE OF CLIFTON._
_THE TWO SISTERS._
_THE ARTIST’S LOVE._
_LOVE’S LABOR WON._
_MYSTERY OF DARK HOLLOW._
_RETRIBUTION._
Above Books are Bound in Morocco Cloth. Price $1.50 Each.
☞ _Mrs. Southworth’s works are for sale by all Booksellers, or copies of
any one, or more of them, will be sent to any one, postage prepaid, or
free of freight, on remitting the price of the ones wanted, to the
publishers,_
_T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, Philadelphia, Pa._
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.