Down on the beach they found her--the woman upon whom the blow had
fallen so cruelly, and from whom the "grim sickle" had so recently
turned aside.
She was sitting on a low grassy knoll, gentle and pensive, a vacant
stare in her sweet brown eyes as they wistfully scanned the surface of
the water.
"Oh, heavens! We must get her to the house at once! Go, Sam, bring the
carriage down. Haste, haste!" urged Mr. Harris.
And then John Thorpe saw her. Absorbed in deep meditation of his wrong
to his innocent wife, ashamed and sorrowful, he was proceeding to the
little depot, when, observing the frantic rush down the slope, and
desiring to ascertain its cause, yet with an indefinable panicky
feeling that seemed to freeze the very blood in his veins, he followed
on. Without an instant of delay, in a moment, he had leaped to her
side, tenderly clasped her to his heart, and with a voice trembling
with emotion, said:
"Oh, my darling wife, my pure, sweet, injured Constance! Forgive me!
It was all a terrible mistake!"
"I must go now. The storm is nearly over. I know that she is in the
water, and the lilies are hiding her from me. But I shall find her.
Give me the paddles. Save Dorothy."
Constance had spoken in a soft, quiet voice. It had no touch of
bitterness, no plaint of sadness; yet the yearning note of a heart dry
with most intense grief was there--sounded on the chord of dethroned
reason.
When she began to speak, he looked into her eyes with an eager,
appealing tenderness, expecting a responsive, forgiving tear, but
instead he met a gentle, strange, vacant stare. As she proceeded he
held her from him at arms' length, bewildered and confused for the
moment in his interpretation of her meaning, and then the truth burst
upon him. Shocked and horrified, he cried out in the anguish of his
heart, "Merciful heaven, she is mad!" And then his eyes fell on her
wet garments.
"God forgive me, darling! I know you never can!" he said in a voice
made husky with a great sob that rose up in his throat. Without
further delay, he gathered her unresisting form in his arms and
tenderly bore her up to the house. The grave little procession
followed.
He had arrived with his precious burden close to the great steps of
the piazza, when she struggled from his arms, and stood half turned
about, her wistful brown eyes looking blankly at him.
It was then that Virginia appeared on the piazza, her face deathly
white and her eyes still bearing traces of the terrifying ordeal she
had so recently gone through with Rutley. On seeing Constance, down
the steps she flew and folding the shawl about her stricken friend's
shoulders, clasped her arms about her and said chokingly: "Oh, why
have you followed me, poor suffering heart?"
"I'm so cold," was all Constance said, and she shook as with an ague.
"Oh, this is too appalling to be true! Speak, dear! Throw off that
meaningless stare, and assume intellect's rightful light," beseeched
Thorpe, and as he paused and gazed upon her sweet pensive face,
awaiting recognition, great tears welled up in his eyes and silently
rolled down his cheeks. Again he spoke to her: "Constance, do you not
know me?" and then he turned his head away with an indescribable
sickness at heart.
"Yes! Oh, yes! I know you! You want ransom money for my Dorothy. Very
well, you shall have it!" and she thrust her hand into her corsage,
and took therefrom some scraps of paper, a few of them falling on the
grass. "There are ten thousand"--and she handed the papers to him, in a
manner so gentle yet so full of unaffected artfulness, that he took
them, while his heart seemed to still its beat and sink leaden and
numb with the torture of his own accusing conscience.
"You shall have more," she continued with plaintive assurance, "all I
can get." Then her eyes fell on the scraps of paper on the grass. She
picked them up and pushed them with the others into his hand. "There
are more thousands. Take it all for my Dorothy--my darling! Now give me
the paddles, the paddles! Where are the paddles? Hasten, save
Dorothy!"
There were no dry eyes in the little gathering of friends--all friends
now--who heard her, and even Sam, who had halted on his way to the
officers, was forced to turn aside and wipe his eyes and remark in an
unsteady voice:
"I don't know what makes my eyes water so."
"God help me!" exclaimed Virginia. "Henceforth my life is consecrated
to watch over and care for her."
"I am equally guilty," solemnly continued Mr. Thorpe. "I should not
have acted with such anger. This is the blackening left by jealousy's
burning passion, the essence of which will cling to my soul long after
my heart becomes insensible clay."
"It is not insanity of an incurable kind," gravely remarked Mr.
Harris. "I have closely watched her facial expression and it appears
to me the trace of reason is not entirely gone. I think she is
delirious, and I have read that when persons are delirious some slight
token, perchance a flower, a chord of melody, a face, a name, brought
forcibly to bear on the mind may recall it to moments of reason. If it
is so, then her intellect will recover from the shock. We will bring
this to proof, Mrs. Thorpe," he proceeded, "look at these friends
about you; do you not remember any of us?"
"I must not rest longer," Constance said suddenly; "I thought I had
her once, but the water was so deep I could not reach her."
"We must get her into the house and into bed at once," said Virginia,
clasping her tenderly about the waist.
"Dear me! Yes, I am sure her wet garments will jeopardize her health,"
said Mrs. Harris in support of Virginia.
But Constance resisted, and in doing so sat down on the bench. Hazel
addressed her: "Constance, do you not know me? Do you not remember
Hazel? Try to think, dear Constance, you surely cannot forget me!"
She slowly shook her head and said plaintively: "The storm is over.
Make the boat go faster. We must be quick. There, she is
calling--'Mama! Papa! Mama! Help!' Listen, Virginia, dear, do you not
hear her?" And sure, enough, the voice of Dorothy was heard, saying:
"Oh, Sam! Where is mama? Tell me."
And around from the conservatory, with a snow white aster in her hand,
ran the child, followed by Sam, who, fearing the child in her rambles
was likely to discover the presence of Rutley, induced her to appear
on the front lawn by telling her that her mother was not far away. The
child did not stop, but continued right up to her mother and clasped
her arms about her neck.
"Oh, mama! Dear mama! I'm so glad you have come! Aren't you going to
kiss me?"
Receiving no immediate response, the child unclasped her arms and drew
back a pace offended.
"That voice!" said Constance, startled. She drew the tips of her
fingers across her forehead, very much like one clutching at the filmy
shreds of a vanishing dream. "Oh, the boat rocks!"
"Mama, aren't you going to speak to me?" and tears began to gather in
the child's eyes. Again Constance started, and her frame trembled, as
her eyes rested on Dorothy. She raised her hands slowly and covered
her face. Again she removed her hands and muttered: "It's a spectre--a
thing unreal which haunts me. Leave me. Pity me, oh, pity me, shade of
my darling! You pain me! You make my heart ache! Go, go!"
Dorothy wept, and turning to Virginia, said: "Mama won't kiss me, nor
speak to me," and the heartbroken child buried her head sobbing in the
folds of Virginia's dress.
Constance pressed her hand over her heart and muttered: "Oh, John, I
have been faithful to you, yet you doubted me--spurned me on that
dreadful night I found Dorothy! She is gone from me now--gone, gone,
gone!" and she bent forward, covering her face with her hands, and
sobbed bitterly.
"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Virginia, "reason's floodgates have opened
at last."
Sam again turned away to wipe his eyes, saying, "I cannot think what
makes my eyes so sore."
And John Thorpe exclaimed, with trembling lips, "My God, have mercy! I
cannot bear this!" And he, too, turned as though to walk away.
Mr. Harris held up a warning finger for him to stay.
"My poor mama!" and Dorothy again went close to her, comprehending in
her childish way that her mother was sorely distressed. The sound of
the child's voice caught Constance's attention. She lifted her head
and fixed her eyes on Dorothy. Then she fell forward on her knees,
stretched out her hands and murmured: "Not gone, still here!" She
touched the child's hands and uttered a low cry, continuing in
quavering accents of fear, of hope, of joy:
"Solid flesh; warm, pulsating life!" and she gently clasped the
child's face between her two hands. "You cannot be a phantom! In the
name of heaven, speak!"
"Indeed, mama, I am your own Dorothy. Aren't you going to kiss me?"
and the child again entwined her arms about her mother's neck and
looked into her eyes with a wistful appeal.
"Dorothy, my darling Dorothy, alive!"
It was a moment of absorbing interest. For an instant she held the
child at arms' length, with eyes devouring her lineaments. Then in a
rapture of joy and thanksgiving she folded Dorothy to her heart and
kissed her again and again.
"Oh, heaven, I thank thee!" were the only words she could utter, as
she strained the little form tighter to her heart. And as she looked
upward, and the mist cleared from her eyes, she saw John bending
toward her--saw him lift his arms and outstretch them to her--saw his
lips part, and heard him say, as though his heart were in his mouth,
"Constance, forgive me!"
Oh, such sweet relief! Her gaze was steadfast for an instant, then
arising to her feet, she fell on his breast and clasped her arms about
his neck and sobbed, "John! My own dear John! I've had such a horrid
dream!"
He folded his arms about her and pressed her very close to his breast,
and as his lips tremulously touched her forehead, said with heartfelt
fervor: "God grant that we may never part again. No, nevermore, my
darling Constance."
"Thank heaven, she was only delirious!" fervently exclaimed Mr.
Harris.
"I guess so, eh, aunty?" and Sam, with a look of immense satisfaction,
suddenly threw his arms about Virginia and gave her a tremendous hug,
and to his inexpressible joy and amazement she reciprocated his
caress.
"Noble Sam, my hero, you have won my heart at last!"
Her words were of tremendous meaning to Sam. His joy knew no bounds.
He looked over to his aunt, amazement, intense satisfaction and
admiration sparkling in his eyes. "At last, eh, aunty!" and then his
lips touched Virginia's in a kiss of undying fidelity.