HOW THE WEDDING-DAY ENDED.
She replaced the desk in the trunk, and, walking to the window, drew
back the curtain and looked out. Over emerald lawn and coppice, tall
trees and brilliant flowers, the October sun shone gloriously. No
fairer day ever smiled upon old earth. She stood for an instant--then
turned slowly away and walked over to a mirror--had her night's vigil
made her look wan and sallow? she wondered. No--she looked much as
usual--a thought paler, perhaps, but it is appropriate for brides to
look pale. No use thinking of a morning nap under the circumstances--she
would sit down by the window and wait for them to come. She could hear
the household astir already--she could even see Sir Victor, away in
the distance, taking his morning walk. How singularly haggard and wan
he looked, like anything you please except a happy bridegroom about to
marry the lady he loves above all on earth. She watched him with a
gravely thoughtful face, until at last he disappeared from view among
the trees.
Seven o'clock! Eight o'clock! Edith's respite was ended, her solitude
invaded at last. There was a tap at the door, and Lady Helena,
followed by Miss Darrell's maid, entered.
Had they all kept vigil? Her ladyship, in the pitiless, searching
glare of the morning sun, certainly looked much more like it than the
quiet bride. She was pale, nervous, agitated beyond anything the girl
had ever seen.
"How had Edith slept? How was her cold? How did she feel?"
"Never better," Miss Darrell responded smilingly. "The sore throat and
headache are quite gone, and I am ready to do justice to the nice
breakfast which I see Emily has brought."
She sat down to it--chocolate, rolls, an omelette, and a savory little
bird, with excellent and unromantic appetite. Then the service was
cleared away, and the real business of the day began. She was under
the hands of her maid, deep in the mysteries of the wedding-toilette.
At ten came the bridemaids, a brilliant bevy, in sweeping trains,
walking visions of silk, tulle, laces, perfume, and flowers. At
half-past ten Miss Darrell, "queen rose of the rose-bud garden of
girls," stood in their midst, ready for the altar.
She looked beautiful. It is an understood thing that all brides,
whatever their appearance on the ordinary occasions of life, look
beautiful on this day of days. Edith Darrell had never looked so
stately, so queenly, so handsome in her life. Just a thought pale, but
not unbecomingly so--the rich, glistening white silk sweeping far
behind her, set off well the fine figure, which it fitted without flaw.
The dark, proud face shone like a star from the misty folds of the
bridal veil; the legendary orange blossoms crowned the rich, dark hair;
on neck, ears, and arms glimmered a priceless parure of pearls, the
gift, like the dress and veil, of Lady Helena. A fragrant bouquet of
spotless white had been sent up by the bridegroom. At a quarter of
eleven she entered the carriage and was driven away to the church.
As she lay back, and looked dreamily out, the mellow October sunshine
lighting the scene, the joy-bells clashing, the listless apathy of the
past few days took her again. She took note of the trifles about
her--her mind rejected all else. How yellow were the fields of stubble,
how picturesque, gilded in the sunshine, the village of Chesholm
looked. How glowing and rosy the faces of the people who flocked out
in their holiday best to gaze at the bridal pageant. Was it health and
happiness, or soap and water only? wondered the bride. These were her
wandering thoughts--these alone.
They reached the little church. All the way from the carriage to the
stone porch the charity children strewed her path with flowers, and
sang (out of tune) a bridal anthem. She smiled down upon their vulgar,
admiring little faces as she went by on the Earl of Wroatmore's arm.
The church was filled. Was seeing her married worth all this trouble
to these good people, she wondered, as she walked up the aisle, still
on the arm of the Right Honorable the Earl of Wroatmore.
There was, of course, a large throng of invited guests. Lady Helena
was there in pale, flowing silks, the bridemaids, a billowy crowd of
white-plumaged birds, and the bridegroom, with a face whiter than the
white waistcoat, standing waiting for his bride. And there, in
surplice, book in hand, stood the rector of Chesholm and his curate,
ready to tie the untieable knot.
A low, hushed murmur ran through the church at sight of the
silver-shining figure of the bride. How handsome, how stately, how
perfectly self-possessed and calm. Truly, if beauty and high-bred
repose of manner be any palliation of low birth and obscurity, this
American young lady had it.
An instant passes--she is kneeling by Sir Victor Catheron's side. "Who
giveth this woman to be married to this man?" say the urbane tones of
the rector of Chesholm, and the Right Honorable the Earl of Wroatmore
comes forward on two rickety old legs and gives her. "If any one here
present knows any just cause or impediment why this man should not be
married to this woman, I charge him," etc., but no one knows. The
solemn words go on. "Wilt thou take Edith Darrell to be thy wedded
wife?" "I will," Sir Victor Catheron responds, but in broken,
inarticulate tones. It is the bride's turn. "I will!" the clear, firm
voice is perfectly audible in the almost painfully intense stillness.
The ring slips over her finger; she watches it curiously. "I pronounce
ye man and wife," says the rector. "What God hath joined together, let
no man put asunder."
It is all over; she is Lady Catheron, and nothing has happened.
They enter the vestry, they sign their names in the register, their
friends flock round to shake hands, and kiss, and congratulate. And
Edith smiles through it all, and Sir Victor keeps that white, haggard,
unsmiling face. It is a curious fancy, but, if it were not so utterly
absurd, Edith would think he looked at her as though he were afraid of
her.
On her husband's arm--her husband's!--she walks down the aisle and out
of the church. They enter the carriages, and are driven back to Powyss
Place. They sit down to breakfast--every face looks happy and bright,
except the face that should look happiest and brightest of all--the
bridegroom's. He seems to make a great effort to be, cheerful and at
ease; it is a failure. He tries to return thanks in a speech; it is a
greater failure still. An awkward silence and constraint creep over
the party. What is the matter with Sir Victor? All eyes are fixed
curiously upon him. Surely not repenting his mesalliance so speedily.
It is a relief to everybody when the breakfast ends, and the bride
goes upstairs to change her dress.
The young baronet has engaged a special train to take them into Wales.
The new-made Lady Catheron changes her shining bridal robes for a
charming travelling costume of palest gray, with a gossamer veil of
the same shade. She looks as handsome in it as in the other, and her
cool calm is a marvel to all beholders. She shakes hands gayly with
their friends and guests; a smile is on her face as she takes her
bridegroom's arm and enters the waiting carriage. Old shoes in a
shower are flung after them; ladies wave their handkerchiefs,
gentlemen call good-by. She leans forward and waves her gray-gloved
hand in return--the cloudless smile on the beautiful face to the last.
So they see her--as not one of all who stand there will ever see her
on earth again.
The house, the wedding-guests are out of sight--the carriage rolls
through the gates of Powyss Place. She falls back and looks out. They
are flying along Chesholm high street; the tenantry shout lustily; the
joy-bells still clash forth. Now they are at the station--ten minutes
more, and, as fast as steam can convey them, they are whirling into
Wales. And all this time bride and bridegroom have not exchanged a
word!
That curious fancy of Edith's has come back--surely Sir Victor is
_afraid_ of her. How strangely he looks--how strangely he keeps
aloof--how strangely he is silent--how fixedly he gazes out of the
railway carriage window--anywhere but at her! _Has_ his brain turned?
she wonders; _is_ Sir Victor going mad?
She makes no attempt to arouse him; let him be silent if he will; she
rather prefers it, indeed. She sits and looks sociably out of the
opposite window at the bright, flying landscape, steeped in the amber
glitter of the October afternoon sun.
She looks across at the man she has married--did ever mortal man
before on his wedding-day wear such a stony face as that? And yet he
has married her for love--for love alone. Was ever another bridal
journey performed like this--in profound gravity and silence on both
sides? she wonders, half-inclined to laugh. She looks down at her
shining wedding-ring--is it a circlet that means nothing? How is her
life to go on after this grewsome wedding-day?
They reach Wales. The sun is setting redly over mountains and sea. The
carriage is awaiting them; she enters, and lies back wearily with
closed eyes. She is dead tired and depressed; she is beginning to feel
the want of last night's sleep, and in a weary way is glad when the
Carnarvon cottage is reached. Sir Victor's man, my lady's maid, and
two Welch servants came forth to meet them; and on Sir Victor's arm
she enters the house.
She goes at once to her dressing-room, to rest, to bathe her face, and
remove her wraps, performing those duties herself, and dismissing her
maid. As she and Sir Victor separate, he mutters some half-incoherent
words--he will take a walk and smoke a cigar before dinner, while she
is resting. He is gone even while he says it, and she is alone.
She removes her gloves, hat, and jacket, bathes her face, and descends
to the little cottage drawing-room. It is quite deserted--sleepy
silence everywhere reigns. She throws herself into an easy-chair
beside the open window, and looks listlessly out. Ruby, and purple,
and golden, the sun is setting in a radiant sky--the yellow sea creeps
up on silver sands--old Carnarvon Castle gleams and glows in the
rainbow light like a fairy palace. It is unutterably beautiful,
unutterably drowsy and dull. And, while she thinks it; her heavy
eyelids sway and fall, her head sinks back, and Edith falls fast
asleep.
Fast asleep; and a mile away, Sir Victor Catheron paces up and down a
strip of tawny sand, the sea lapping softly at his feet, the birds
singing in the branches, not a human soul far or near. He is not
smoking that before-dinner cigar--he is striding up and down more like
an escaped Bedlamite than anything else. His hat is drawn over his
eyes, his brows are knit, his lips set tight, his hands are clenched.
Presently he pauses, leans against a tree, and looks, with eyes full
of some haggard, horrible despair, out over the red light on sea and
sky. And, as he looks, he falls down suddenly, as though some
inspiration had seized him, upon his knees, and lifts his clasped
hands to that radiant sky. A prayer, that seems frenzied in its
agonized intensity, bursts from his lips--the sleeping sea, the
twittering birds, the rustling leaves, and He who has made them, alone
are to hear. Then he falls forward on his face, and lies like a stone.
Is he mad? Surely no sane man ever acted, or looked, or spoke like
this. He lies so--prostrate, motionless--for upward of an hour, then
slowly and heavily he rises. His face is calmer now; it is the face of
a man who has fought some desperate fight, and gained some desperate
victory--one of those victories more cruel than death.
He turns and goes hence. He crashes through the tall, dewy grass, his
white face set in a look of iron resolution. He is ghastly beyond all
telling; dead and in his coffin he will hardly look more death like.
He reaches the cottage, and the first sight upon which his eyes rest
is his bride, peacefully asleep in the chair by the still open window.
She looks lovely in her slumber, and peaceful as a little child--no
very terrible sight surely. But as his eyes fall upon her, he recoils
in some great horror, as a man may who has received a blinding blow.
"Asleep!" his pale lips whisper; "asleep--as _she_ was!"
He stands spell-bound for a moment--then he breaks away headlong. He
makes his way to the dining-room. The table, all bright with damask,
silver, crystal, and cut flowers, stands spread for dinner. He takes
from his pocket a note-book and pencil, and, still standing, writes
rapidly down one page. Without reading, he folds and seals the sheet,
and slowly and with dragging steps returns to the room where Edith
sleeps. On the threshold he lingers--he seems afraid--_afraid_ to
approach. But he does approach at last. He places the note he has
written on a table, he draws near his sleeping bride, he kneels down
and kisses her hands, her dress, her hair. His haggard eyes burn on
her face, their mesmeric light disturbs her. She murmurs and moves
restlessly in her sleep. In an instant he is on his feet; in another,
he is out of the room and the house; in another, the deepening
twilight takes him, and he is gone.
A train an hour later passes through Carnarvon on its way to London.
One passenger alone awaits it at the station--one passenger who enters
an empty first-class compartment and disappears. Then it goes
shrieking on its way, bearing with it to London the bridegroom, Sir
Victor Catheron.