It required some effort on the part of Mr. Phillipson to secure the
admission of a second visitor on the same day; but, having golden
methods at hand when others failed, he was seldom baulked in his
purpose. With a show of sympathy and concern, he accompanied the
captain's wife in a hackney coach to the jail gate, and consigned her
to the guidance of the porter. With beating heart and trembling
steps she followed her conductor; but the dread that stole over her
spirit as she crossed the yard, with its repulsive signals of branded
character and penal suffering, and the thought of meeting her loved
and trusted one in a prison cell, so overcame her that she sought the
support of the mechanical official, who displayed an amount of
considerate sympathy unusual in men of his calling.
The obscure and dripping passage was traversed; the ponderous door
was thrown open; and the broken-hearted wife fell into the arms of
her wretched, repentant husband.
It is a blessed thing that the sorrows of our nature have outlets by
which to relieve themselves. Pent up within the bosom, recoiling and
reacting, they would surely demolish the frail framework of flesh and
spirit--scatter the fire of intelligence--still the wondrous
machinery of life. It sometimes is so, indeed, when grief can find
no vent, that it paralyzes the brain and chills the life-blood; but,
generally, relief is found for pent-up sorrow, and Mary Stauncy found
it so in this her first great trouble.
The captain regained his composure and self-control in a few moments,
and was able in some degree to calm his weeping wife. Seating her
gently on his hard couch, and taking a place beside her, he broke the
silence of that dreary cell, whose walls had so often listened to
confessions and blasphemies, to cries of penitence and ravings of
despair, by saying affectionately, 'Try to bear it, Mary. Little do
I care myself; but I shall soon be unmanned and go mazed if you
grieve so. Our destiny must be met, whatever it is; and though it
come in such a shape as to cut us to the heart, it's better to yield
than to struggle. Endeavour to be resigned, dearest, and strengthen
spirit by your own calm endurance.'
'I will, James,' she replied. 'I feel better now.' For not only had
the outburst of grief which such a meeting occasioned relieved her,
but his plea for a fortifying example immediately roused the energies
of her Christian spirit. 'It's sorrow indeed; but God can help me to
act as I ought, and He will. I want strength to nerve my heart and
wisdom to shape my counsel; and Mrs. Lloyd's last words to me were,
"Remember, Mary, as thy day is, so shall thy strength be." The
innocent may sometimes suffer with the guilty, and even for them, but
justice shall surely prevail.'
'I am not innocent,' replied the captain in a firm but husky voice;
'I will not deceive you any longer, Mary. I scuttled the brig off
Lundy, and Jim Ortop was in the hold watching me. It's a true bill;
and as it has been found out, I must give in. What must be, must.'
'And why did you scuttle the brig, James?' his wife inquired, drawn
off from her sad reflections by the unexpected disclosure, and having
a new class of feelings excited.
'Because the merchant tempted me to do it, gave me money to do it,
ordered me to do it, bound me by an oath to do it, and so made it my
duty.'
'_Duty_, James! That's a strange word. It's no one's duty to do
wrong, and that bad man must have spellbound you with his irreligious
sophistry, to fasten such a thought on your mind. I see it all now.
He beguiled you with that fifty-pound note. He made you believe that
crime could be smothered by obedience. Well! that note will be a
swift witness against him. It will tell its own tale of bribery, and
the tempter will get his desert. I feel lighter of heart, James.
There's some hope yet.'
'There's no hope, Mary. I have no witness, and he is a wealthy and
influential man; besides, I couldn't turn king's evidence and peach,
were it to save my life.'
'Peach, James! Is telling the plain truth peaching? Is clearing
yourself from a foul blot peaching? Is your character and the good
name of your children nothing? Is it of no consequence whether you
are separated from us for ever or spared to bless us all your days?
Do be yourself, James, and listen to your heart a little.'
'You're getting too warm, Mary. Your strong mind has gone in for the
mastery over your sensitive spirit. There'll be a volcano of
excitement, instead of a fountain of tears, and the one is as bad as
the other in overcoming reason.'
'How you talk, James! Have I any wish or object that is not bound up
in your happiness? What I say has reason as well as feeling in it.
Your duty is to clear yourself, and to change places with the real
criminal.'
'My duty is pre-engaged,' he replied, mournfully shaking his head.
'A vow is upon me. My tongue is bound by an oath which cannot be
broken without letting loose a curse. To violate that vow would be
an unpardonable sin, and make me the hopeless prey of the evil one.
No, no, Mary, I'll take what comes rather than sell myself to
perdition.'
'A delusion, James, a strong delusion to believe a lie. Your
superstitious fears have been wrought upon, and he who is beguiling
you the most is the father of lies. A wicked vow can never be
binding. There's more sin, far more sin, in keeping than in breaking
it. Whatever you may have said or done, the only way is to throw all
off as a vile thing, instead of clenching the sin in the way you
speak of. No one is bound by evil, to do evil, because he has sworn
to it.'
'You and I see things differently, Mary. I have sins on my
conscience which all the truth-speaking in the world wouldn't rid me
of. To betray the merchant after what has passed between us when I
took the oath, would utterly prevent me from hoping for God's mercy.
I would rather the law should take its course, than add to the weight
which oppresses me by doing violence to my conscience.'
'But there is no real evidence against you,' his wife replied,
diverting his thoughts until a more auspicious moment occurred for
pursuing her main argument; 'who would listen to Jim Ortop, when the
mate and Pickard are so strong on your side?'
'You must not comfort yourself with that, Mary. There's more
evidence than you think for. The Sarah Ann will speak herself. The
poor dumb thing will be made to say, in spite of everything, "Guilty,
guilty."'
[Illustration: 'I ASK YOU TO SPARE YOURSELF FOR MY SAKE,' SAID MARY.]
'And are you really going to give yourself up to justice, James,
without one effort on your own behalf, or my behalf, or the
children's behalf? Will you give your life for the life of such a
deep-dyed villain as the merchant is? Will you hold your peace to
spare him, and throw away a righteous chance of turning this fearful
darkness into light? Oh, James, James! woe is me that I have seen
this day! My poor heart will break with all this trouble. Is
Phillipson dearer to you than your own Mary? Can you bear that your
loved home should become a desolation, a place of weeping and
reproach, of poverty and heart-stricken wretchedness? What shall I
say to persuade you that wicked vows are only written in the sand,
and that you are committing the worst of sins by concealment, when
your life, and my life, and everything is at stake? And is this to
be our parting, James? I cannot weep now. I am stunned, paralyzed.
I feel as if my senses were fast going from, me, as though I must
sink down and die. Have pity on me, James! On my knees I ask you to
spare yourself for my sake, and to look up believingly to Him who
will forgive you all. Don't let me leave you with a hopeless heart,
or I shall go beside myself; and who will thank you for the
sacrifice? Tell me, James, that you will not throw yourself away,
and kiss me as the pledge of it.'
'Mary, my heart will break too,' replied the captain, sobbing, 'if
you talk so. I _dare not_ promise. A chain is about me which I
cannot rend. What must be, must.' And then, to soothe her, he
added, 'Nothing you have said shall be forgotten; and if we part to
meet no more on earth, remember the merchant will provide for
you--you may trust him in that, I know; and through the mercy of the
Almighty we shall meet again soon, where the shadows of sin never
darken and the tears of sorrow never fall.'
'Yours is a strange state of heart, James,' she answered. 'You think
you are bound before God by a vow; and _I_ think He cannot be pleased
with you if you keep it. It's a false state of conscience, which
your tempter has helped to bring about; but my prayer for you shall
be that there may be light.'
'The time's up,' said the turnkey, considerately giving the notice
without unfastening the door, and waiting still, that the last
farewell might be spoken. A convulsive embrace--a nervous pressure
of those marble lips--a burning tear on that pallid cheek--and again
the tottering wife was treading that gloomy passage, emerging from
the sepulchre of living men. Again the awe of solitude, made doubly
impressive by the presence and absence of such a wife, settled down
on the soul of the wretched prisoner.