On Saturday the regulations of prison discipline reduced the working
hours much below the daily quota, and at two o'clock the ringing of the
tower bell announced that the busy convicts of the various industrial
rooms were allowed leisure during the remainder of the afternoon, to
give place to the squad of sweepers and scrubbers, who flooded the
floors and scoured the benches.
June heat had followed fast upon the balmy breath of May, and though
the air at dawn was still iced with crystal dew, the sun that shone
through the open windows of the little chapel, burned fiercely on the
unpainted pine seats, the undraped reading-desk of the pulpit, the
tarnished gilt pipes of the cabinet organ within the chancel railing.
On one of the front benches sat Iva Le Bougeois, with a pair of
crutches resting beside her on the arm of the seat, and her hands
folded in her lap. Recovering slowly from the paralysis resulting from
diphtheria, she had followed Beryl into the chapel, and listened to the
hymns the latter had played and sung. The glossy black head was bent in
abject despondency upon her breast, and tears dripped over the smooth
olive cheeks, but no sound escaped the trembling mouth, once so red and
riotous, now drawn into curves of passionate sorrow; and the topaz
gleams that formerly flickered in her sullen hazel eyes were drowned in
the gloom of dejection. For her, memory was an angel of wrath, driving
her into the hideous Golgotha of the past, where bloody spectres
gibbered; the present was a loathsome death in life, the future a
nameless torturing horror. Helpless victim of her own outraged
conscience, she seemed at times sinking into mental apathy more
pitiable than that which had seized her physically; and the only solace
possible, she found in the encouraging words uttered by the voice that
had prayed for her during that long night of mortal agony, in the
gentle pressure of the soft hand that often guided her tottering
footsteps.
The organ stops had been pushed back, the musical echoes vibrated no
longer; and the bare room, filled with garish sunshine, was so still
that the drowsy droning of a bee high up on the dusty sash of the
barred window, became monotonously audible.
Within the chancel and to the right of the pulpit, a large reversible
blackboard had recently been placed, and on a chair in front of it
stood Beryl, engrossed in putting the finishing touches to a sketch
which filled the entire board; and oblivious for the moment of Eve
Werneth's baby, who, having emptied her bottle of milk, had pulled
herself up by the chair, and with the thumb of her right hand in her
mouth, was staring up at the picture.
The lesson selected for the Sunday afternoon Bible class, which Beryl
had so successfully organized among a few of the female convicts, was
the fifteenth chapter of Luke; and at the top of the blackboard was
written in large letters: "Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep
which was lost." She had drawn in the foreground the flock couched in
security, rounded up by the collie guard in a grassy meadow; in the
distance, overhanging a gorge, was a bald, precipitous crag, behind
which a wolf crouched, watching the Shepherd who tenderly bore in his
arms the lost wanderer. On the opposite side of the blackboard had been
carefully copied the Gospel Hymn beginning:--
"There were ninety and nine that safely lay, In the shelter of the
fold, But one was out on the hills away, Far off from the gates of
gold--Away on the mountains wild and bare, Away from the tender
Shepherd's care."
Mental processes are strangely dualistic, and it not unfrequently
happens that while one is consciously intent upon a certain train of
thought, some secret cunning current of association sets in vibration
the coil of ideas locked in the chambers of memory, and long forgotten
images leap forth, startling in their pristine vividness.
Absorbed by the text she was illustrating, the artist insensibly
followed lines she deemed imaginary, yet when the sketch was
completed, the ensemble suddenly confronted her as a miniature
reproduction of a very distant scene, that had gladdened her childish
heart in the blessed by-gone. Far away from the beaten track of travel,
in a sunny cleft of the Pistoian Apennines, she saw the white fleeces
grouped under vast chestnuts, the flash of copper buckets plunged by
two peasant women into a gurgling fountain, the curly head of Bertie
bowed over the rude stone basin, as he gayly coaxed the bearers to let
him drink from the beautiful burnished copper; the rocky terraces cut
in the beetling cliffs above, where dark ruby-red oleanders flouted the
sky with fragrant banners; and the pathetic face of a vagrant ewe
tangled among vines, high on a jagged ledge, bleating for the lamb
asleep under the chestnuts down in the dell.
Across the chasm of years floated the echo of the tinkling bell, that
told where cows climbed in search of herbage; the singular rhythmic
cadence of the trescone, danced in a neighboring vineyard; the deep,
mellow, lingering tones of a monastery bell, rung by hermit hands in a
gray tower on a mountain eyry, that looked westward upon the sparkling
blue mirror of the Mediterranean.
Then she was twelve years old, dreaming glorious midsummer day-dreams,
as she wandered with parents and brother on one of her father's
sketching tours through unfrequented nooks; now--?
A petulant cry, emphasized by the baby hand tugging at the hem of her
dress skirt, recalled Beryl's attention; and as she looked down at the
waif, whom the chaplain had christened "Dovie" on the day of her
mother's burial, the little one held up her arms.
"So tired, Dulce? You can't be hungry; you must want your nap. There
don't fret, baby girl. I will take you directly."
She stepped down, turned the side of the blackboard that contained the
sketch to the wall; lowered the sash which she had raised to admit
fresh air, and lifted the child from the floor. Approaching the figure
who sat motionless as a statue of woe, she laid a hand on the drooping
shoulder.
"Shall I help you down the steps?"
"No, I'll stay here a while. This is the only place where I can get
courage enough to pray. Couldn't you leave her--the child--with me? It
has been years since I could bear the sight of one. I hated children,
because my heart was so black--so bitter; but now, I yearn toward this
little thing. I am so starved for the kiss of--of--," she swept her
hand across her throat, where a sob stifled her.
"Certainly, if she will stay contentedly. See whether she will come to
you."
At sight of the extended arms, the baby shrank closer to Beryl, nestled
her head under the girl's chin, and put up her lower lip in ominous
protest. With an indescribably mournful gesture of surrender, the
childless mother sank back in the corner of the bench.
"I don't wonder she is afraid; she knows--everybody, everything knows I
killed my baby--my own boy, who slept for nearly four years on my
heart--oh!--"
"Hush--she was frightened by your crying. She is sleepy now, but when
she has had her nap, and wakes good-humored, I will fill her bottle,
and bring her down to you. Try not to torment yourself by dwelling upon
a distressing past, which you cannot undo; but by prayer anchor your
soul in God's pardoning mercy. When all the world hoots and stones us,
God is our 'sure refuge'."
"That promise is to pure hearts and innocent hands; not to such as I
am, steeped to the lips in crime--black, black--"
"No. One said: 'The whole need not a physician; but they that are
sick.' Your soul is sick unto death; claim the pledged cure. Yonder I
have copied the hymn for to-morrow's lesson. While you sit here, commit
it to memory; and the Shepherd will hear your cry."
Glancing back from the chapel door, she saw that the miserable woman
had bowed her face in her hands, and with elbows supported on her
knees, was swaying back and forth in a storm of passionate sobs.
"O! my beautiful baby, my angel Max, pray for mother now.
Max--Max--there is no 'Sweet By and By'--for mother--"
Hurrying from the wail of anguish that no human agency could lighten,
Beryl carried the orphan across the yard, and up the stairs leading to
the corridor, whence she was allowed egress at will. She noticed
casually, signs of suppressed excitement among some of the convicts,
who were lounging in groups, enjoying the half holiday, and three or
four men stood around the under-warden who was gesticulating
vivaciously; but at her approach he lowered his voice, and she lived so
far aloof from the jars and gossip of the lower human strata, that the
suspicious indications failed to arouse any curiosity.
The southwest angle of the building was exposed fully to the force of
the afternoon sun, and the narrow cell was so hot that Beryl opened the
door leading into the corridor, in order to create a draught through
the opposite window.
The tired child was fretfully drowsy, but with the innate perversity of
toddling babyhood, resented and resisted every effort to soothe her to
sleep. Refusing to lie across the nurse's lap, the small tyrant
clambered up, wrapped her arms about her neck, and finally Beryl rose
and walked up and down, humming softly Chopin's dreamy "Berceuse";
while the baby added a crooning accompaniment that grew fainter and
intermittent until the blue eyes closed, one arm fell, and the thumb
was plunged between the soft full lips.
Warily the nurse laid her down in a cradle, which consisted of an oval
basket mounted on roughly fashioned wooden rockers, and drawing it
close to the table, Beryl straightened the white cross-barred muslin
slip that was too short to cover the rosy dimpled feet; and smoothed
the flossy tendrils of yellow hair crumpled around the lovely face.
The Sister of Charity, who, in the darkest hours of the pestilence had
shrouded the poor young mother, did not forget the human waif astray in
the world; but having secured a home for it in an "asylum," to which
she promised it should be removed so soon as all danger of carrying
contagion was over, had appointed the ensuing Monday on which to bear
it away from the gloomy precincts, where sinless life had dawned in
disgrace and degradation. This pretty toy, dowered with an immortal
soul, stained by an inherited criminal strain, had appealed to the
feminine tenderness in Beryl's nature, and she stood a moment, lost in
admiration of the rounded curves and dainty coloring.
"Poor little blossom. Nobody's baby! A lily bud adrift on a dead sea of
sin. Dovie--Eve Werneth's child--but you will always be to me Dulce, my
pretty clinging Dulce, my velvet-eyed cherub model."
Turning away, she bathed her face and hands, and leaned for a while
against the southern window; listening to the exultant song of a red
bird hovering near his brooding brown mate, to the soothing murmur of
the distant falls, borne in on the wings of the thievish June breeze
that had rifled some far-off garden of the aroma of honeysuckle. The
current of air had swung the door back, leaving only a hand's breadth
of open space, and while she sang to the baby, her own voice had
drowned the sound of footsteps in the corridor.
On the whitewashed wall of the cell, a sheet of drawing paper had been
tacked, and taking her crayons, Beryl returned to the cradle, changed
the position of the child's left hand, and approaching the almost
completed sketch on the wall, retouched the outline of the sleeping
figure. Now and then she paused in her work, to look down at the golden
lashes sweeping the slumber-flushed cheeks, and pondering the mystery
of the waif's future, she chanted in a rich contralto voice, the solemn
"Reproaches" of Gounod's "Redemption."
"Oh, my vineyard, come tell me why thy grapes are bitter? What have I
done, my People? Wherein hast thou been wronged?"
For weeks the elaboration of this sketch had employed every moment
which was not demanded for the execution of her allotted daily task in
the convict workroom; and knowing that on Monday she would be bereft of
her pretty model, she had redoubled her exertions to complete it.
Beside a bier knelt a winged figure, in act of stealing the rigid form,
and to the awful yet strangely beautiful face of the messenger of
gloom, she had given the streaming hair, the sunken, cavernous but
wonderfully radiant eyes of Moritz Retzsch's weird image of Death. A
white butterfly fluttered upward, and in mid-air--neither descending
nor drifting, but waiting--poised on outspread pinions, hovered the
Angel of the Resurrection holding out his hands. Behind and beneath the
Destroyer, rolled dense shadows, and all the light in this picture
rayed out from the plumes above, and fell like a glory on the baby's
face.
Cut off from all congenial companionship, thrown upon her own mental
resources, the prisoner had learned to live in an ideal world; and her
artistic tastes proved an indestructible heritage of comfort, while
memory ministered lavishly with images from the crowded realm of
aesthetics. Victorious over the stony limitations of dungeon walls and
dungeon discipline, fetterless imagination soared into the kingdom of
beauty, and fed her lonely soul, as Syrian ravens fed God's prophet.
Fourteen months had passed since Mr. Dunbar walked away from this cell,
after the interview relative to Gen'l Darrington's will; and though his
longing to see the prisoner had driven him twice to the entrance of the
chapel, whence he heard the marvellously sweet voice, and gazed at the
figure before the organ, no word was exchanged.
To-day, with his hand on the bolt of the door, and his heart in his
eyes, he leaned against the facing, and through the opening studied the
occupant of the cell that held the one treasure which fate had denied
him.
The ravages of disease, the blemish of acute physical suffering had
vanished; the clear pallor of her complexion, the full white throat,
the rounded contour of the graceful form, bespoke complete restoration
of all the vital forces; and never had she appeared so incomparably
beautiful.
Oppressed by the heat, she had pushed back the hair from her temples,
and though hopeless sadness reigned over the profound repose of her
features, the expression of her eyes told that the dream of the artist
had borne her beyond surrounding ills.
Where the button of her blue homespun dress fastened the collar, she
wore a sprig of heliotrope and a cluster of mignonette, from the
shallow box in the window-ledge where they grew together.
How long he stood there, surrendering himself to the happiness of
watching the woman whom, against his will, he loved with such
unreasoning and passionate fervor, Mr. Dunbar never knew; but a sudden
recollection of the face printed on the glass, the face, beautiful as
fabled Hylas--of the man for whose sake she was willing to die--stung
him like an adder's bite; and setting his teeth hard, he rapped upon
the door held ajar; then threw it open.
At sight of him, her arm, lifted to the sketch, fell; the crayon
slipped from her nerveless fingers, and a glow rich as the heart of
some red June rose stained her cheeks.
As he stepped toward her, she leaned against the wall, and swiftly drew
the baby's cradle between them. He understood, and for a moment
recoiled.
"You barricade yourself as though I were some loathsome monster! Are
you afraid of me?"
"What is there left to fear? Have you spared any exertion to accomplish
that which you believe would overwhelm me with sorrow?"
"You cannot forgive my rejection of the overtures for a compromise
wrung from you by extremity of dread, when I started to Dakota?"
"That rejection freed me from a self-imposed, galling promise; and
hence I forgive all, because of the failure of your journey."
"Suppose I have not failed?"
She caught her breath, and the color in her cheeks flickered.
"Had you succeeded, I should not have been allowed so long the
comparative mercy of suspense."
"Am I so wantonly cruel, think you, that I gloat over your sufferings
as a Modoc at sight of the string of scalps dangling at his pony's
neck?"
"When the spirit of revenge is unleashed, Tiberius becomes a law unto
himself."
He leaned forward, and his voice was freighted with tenderness that he
made no attempt to disguise.
"Once after that long swoon in the court-room, when I held your hand,
you looked at me without shrinking, and called me Tiberius. Again, when
for hours I sat beside your cot, watching the crisis of your first
terrible illness, you opened your eyes and held out your hand, saying:
'Have you come for me, Tiberius?' Why have you told me you were at the
mercy of Tiberius?"
Hitherto she had avoided looking at him, and kept her gaze upon the
sleeping child, but warned by the tone that made her heart throb, she
bravely lifted her eyes.
"When next you write to your betrothed, ask her to go to the Museo
Chiaramonti while in Rome, and standing before the crowned Tiberius,
she will fancy her future husband welcomes her. Your wife will need no
better portrait of you than a copy of that head."
Into his eyes leaped the peculiar glow that can be likened unto nothing
but the clear violet flame dancing over a bed of burning anthracite
coal, and into his voice an exultant ring:
"Meantime, like my inexorable prototype, 'I hold a wolf by the ears'.
Shall I tell you my mission here?"
"As it appears I am indeed always at the mercy of Tiberius, your
courtesy savors of sarcasm."
"Oh, my stately white rose! My Rosa Alba, I will see to it, that no
polluting hand lays a grasp on you. My errand should entitle me to a
more cordial reception, for I bring you good news. Will you lay your
hand in mine just once, while I tell you?"
He extended his open palm, but she shook her head and smiled sadly.
"In this world no good news can ever come to me."
"Do you know that recently earnest efforts have been made to induce the
Governor to pardon you? That I have just returned from a visit to him?"
"I was not aware of it; but I am grateful for your effort in my behalf."
"I was disappointed. The pardon was not granted. Since then, fate, who
frowned so long upon you, has come to your rescue. The truth has been
discovered, proclaimed; and I came here this afternoon with an order
for your release. For you the prison doors and gates stand open. You
are as free as you were that cursed day when first you saw me and
robbed my life of peace."
For a moment she looked at him bewildered; then a great dread drove the
blood from her lips, and her voice shook.
"What truth has been discovered?"
"The truth that you are innocent has been established to the entire
satisfaction of judge and jury, prosecution and Governor, sheriff,
warden, and you are free. Not pardoned for that which all the world
knows now you never committed; but acquitted without man's help, by the
discovery of a fact which removes every shadow of suspicion from your
name. You are at liberty, owing no thanks to human mercy; vindicated by
a witness subpoenaed by the God of justice, in whom you trusted--even
to the end."
"Witness? What witness? You do not mean that you have hunted down--"
She paused, and her white face was piteous with terror, as pushing away
the cradle she came close to him.
"I have seen the face of the man who killed Gen'l Darrington."
She threw up her arms, crossing them over her head.
"O, my God! Have I suffered in vain? Shall I be denied the recompense?
After all my martyrdom, must I lose the one hope that sustained me?"
Despite the rage which the sight of her suffering woke within his
heart, he could not endure to witness it.
"Can you find no comfort in release? No joy in the consciousness of
your triumphant vindication?"
"None! If you have robbed me of that which is all I care for on earth,
what solace can I find in release? Vindication? What is the opinion of
the world to me? Oh! how have I ever wronged you, that you persecute me
so vindictively, that you stab the only comfort life can ever hold for
me?"
"And you love him so insanely, that to secure his safety, existence
here in this moral sty is sweet in comparison with freedom unshared
with him? Listen! That belief stirs the worst elements in my nature; it
swings the whip of the furies. For your own sake, do not thrust your
degrading madness upon my notice. I have labored to liberate you; have
subordinated all other aims to this, and now, that I have come to set
you free, you repulse and spurn me!"
She was so engrossed by one foreboding, that it was evident she had not
even heard him, as moving to the bench in front of the window she sat
down, shivering. Her black brows contracted till they met, and the
strained expression of her eyes told that she was revolving some
possibility of succor.
"Where did you see my--my--?"
"Not in Dakota mines, where I expected to find him."
"Mr. Dunbar." She pointed to the chair at her side.
He shook his head, but approached and stood before her.
"I am waiting to hear you."
"I sent you a telegram, promising information that would have prevented
that journey."
"It failed to reach me."
Unconsciously she was wringing her hands as her thoughts whirled.
"I will tell you something now, if you will promise me that no harm
shall--"
He laughed scornfully.
"As if I had anything to learn concerning that cowardly villain! Thanks
for your confidence, which comes much too late."
"You do not know that--"
"Yes, I know all I want to know; more than you shall ever tell me, and
I decline to hear a confession that, in my eyes, defiles you; that
would only drive me to harsh denunciation of your foul idol. Moreover,
I will not extort by torture what you have withheld so jealously. Do
not wring your hands so desperately. You are goaded to confession now,
because you believe that I have secured your lover? Take courage, he
has not yet been arrested; he is still a wanderer hiding from
retribution."
She sprang up, trembling.
"But you said you had seen his face?"
"Yes, and I have come to take you where you can identify that face?"
"Then, he is dead." She covered her face with her hands.
"No, I wish to God he was dead! Sit down. I will not see you suffer
such agony. He is safe for the present. If you will try to think of
yourself for a moment, and pay me the compliment of listening, I will
explain. Do you recollect that during the storm on the night of the
murder the lightning was remarkably vivid and severe?"
"Yes; can I ever forget any details of that night? Go on."
"Do you recall the position of the glass door on the west veranda; and
also that the crimson drapery or curtain was drawn aside?"
"I recall it distinctly because, while Gen'l Darrington was reading my
mother's letter, I looked out through the glass at the chrysanthemums
blooming in the garden."
"That door was almost opposite the chimney, and the safe or vault in
the wall was very near the fireplace. It appears that when the
chloroform failed to stupefy Gen'l Darrington, he got up and seized one
of the andirons on the hearth, and attacked the thief who was stealing
his money. While they were struggling in front of the vault, a burst of
electricity, some peculiarly vivid flash of lightning, sent by fate, by
your guardian angel, it may have been by God himself--photographed both
men, and the interior of the room on the wide glass panel of that door.
Forms, faces, features, even the pattern of the cloth coat, are printed
plainly there, for the whole world to study. The murderer and the
victim in mortal combat over the tin box. Accident--shall I say
Providence--unexpectedly brought this witness to light. The curtain so
long looped back, was recently lowered, and when, two days ago, the
outside blinds were opened, there lay your complete vindication. Crowds
have seen it; the newspaper issued an 'extra', and so general was the
rejoicing, that a public demonstration would have been made here at the
gaol, had not Churchill and I harangued the people and assured them it
would only annoy and embarrass you. So you are free. Free to shake the
dust of X---forever from your feet; and it must comfort your proud soul
to know that you do not owe your liberty to the mercy of a community
which wronged you. I forbade Singleton to tell you, to allow any
premature hint to reach you; for I claimed the privilege of bringing
the glad tidings. Last night I spent in that room at 'Elm Bluff',
guarding that door; and the vigil was cheered by the picture hope drew,
that when I came to-day you would greet me kindly; would lay your dear
hands in mine, and tell me that, at least, gratitude would always keep
a place for me warm in your noble heart. I have my recompense in the
old currency of scorn. It were well for you if you had shown me your
hatred less plainly; now I shall indulge less hesitation in following
the clue the lightning lays in my grasp. I warn you that your release
only expedites his arrest; for you can never pass beyond my
surveillance; and the day you hasten to him, seals his fate. Long
imprisoned doves, when set free, fly straight to their distant mates;
so--take care--lest the hawk overtake both."
Looking up at him, listening almost breathlessly to the tale of a
deliverance that involved new peril for Bertie, the color came slowly
back to her blanched face, and her parted lips quivered.
"If the picture means anything, it proves that Gen'l Darrington made
the assault with the brass andiron, and in the struggle that followed,
the man you saw might have killed him in self defence."
"When he is brought to trial in X--he shall never be allowed the
benefit of your affectionate supposition. I promise you, that I will
annihilate your tenderly devised theory."
He ground his teeth in view of the transparent fact, that she was too
intently considering the bearing of the revelation upon the safety of
another, to heed the thought of her own escape from bondage.
The little cluster of flowers fastened at her throat had become
loosened, and fell unnoticed into her lap. He stooped, picked them up,
and straightened them on his palm. When his eyes returned to Beryl, she
had bowed her face in her shielding hands.
How little he dreamed that she was silently praying for strength to
deny the cry of her own beating heart, and to keep him from making
shipwreck of the honor which she supposed was still pledged to Leo!
Security for her brother, and unswerving loyalty to the absent woman
who had befriended her in the darkest hours of the accusation, were
objects difficult to accomplish simultaneously; yet at every hazard she
would struggle on. Because she had learned to love so well this man,
who was the promised husband of another, conscience made her merciless
to her own disloyalty.
Mr. Dunbar laid on the bench a small package sealed in yellow paper.
"Knowing that your detention here has necessarily forfeited all the
industrial engagements by which you maintained yourself, before you
came South, I have been requested to ask your acceptance of this purse,
which contains sufficient money to defray your expenses until you
resume your art labors. It is an offering from your twelve jurors."
"No--no. I could never touch it. Tell them for me that I am not
vindictive. I know they did the best they could for me, in view of the
evidence. Tell them I am grateful for their offer, but I cannot accept
it. I--"
"You imagine I am one of the generous contributors? Be easy; I have not
offered you a cent. I am merely the bearer of the gift, or rather the
attempt at restitution. Your refusal will grieve them, and add to the
pangs of regret that very justly afflict them at present."
"I have some money which Doctor Grantlin collected for my Christmas
card. He retained only a portion of the amount, and sent me the
remainder. Mr. Singleton keeps it for me, and it is all that I need
now."
"The purse contains also a ticket to New York, as it has been supposed
that you would desire to return there at once."
"Take all back, with my earnest thanks. I prefer to owe X--only the
remembrance of the great kindness which some few have shown me. The
officers here have been uniformly considerate and courteous to me; Mr.
and Mrs. Singleton will ever be very dear to me for numberless kind
deeds; and Sister Serena was a staff of strength during that frightful
black week of the trial."
She paused, and her voice betrayed something of the tumult at her
heart, as while a sudden wave of scarlet overflowed her cheeks, she
rose and held out both hands.
"Mr. Dunbar, if I have seemed unappreciative of your great exertions in
my behalf, it is merely because there are some matters which I can
never explain in this world. One thing I ask you to believe when I am
gone. I will never, so long as I live, cease to remember the debt I owe
you. I am and shall be inexpressibly grateful to you, and whenever I
think of my terrible sojourn here, be sure I shall recall tenderly--oh!
how tenderly! the two friends who trusted and believed in my innocence,
when all the world denounced me; the two who generously clung to me
when public opinion branded me as an outcast--you two--my best friends,
you and Miss Gordon. It makes me proud and happy to know in this hour
of my vindication, that in her, and in your good opinion, I needed
none. Out of your united lives, let me pass as a fleeting gray shadow."
"Out of my life you can never pass. Into it you have brought
disappointment, humiliation, and a keenness of suffering such as I
never imagined I was capable of enduring; and some recompense I will
have. You hope to plunge into the vortex of a great city, where you can
elude observation and obliterate all traces. Do not cherish the ghost
of such a delusion. Go where you may, but I give you fair warning, you
cannot escape me; and the day you meet that guilty vagabond, you betray
him to the scouts of justice."
He held her hands in a close, warm clasp, and a flush crossed his brow,
as he looked down into her quivering face where a smile which he could
not interpret, seemed only a challenge.
"Would a generous man, worthy of Miss Gordon, harass and persecute a
very unhappy and unfortunate woman, who asks at his hands only to be
forgotten completely, to be left in peace?"
"I lay no claim to generosity, and, where you are concerned, I am
supremely selfish. Miss Gordon has no need of your championship; she is
quite equal to redressing her own wrongs, when the necessity presents
itself. You are struggling to free your hands, so be it. I have a close
carriage at the gate, and to make assurance doubly sure, I have come to
take you to 'Elm Bluff'; to show you the face, and ask you to identify
it. Understand me, I will harass you with no questions; nor will I
intrude upon you there. I have ordered the grounds cleared, have posted
police to prevent the possibility of any occurrence unpleasant to you;
and all I ask is, that alone, you will examine this witness, produced
so strangely for your justification. I shall wait for you in the rose
garden, and if you can come down from that gallery and tell me that the
face is unknown to you, that the man photographed in the act of
stealing, is a stranger, is not the man you love so well that you bore
worse than death to save him from punishment, then I will give up the
quest; and you may flee unwatched to the ends of the earth."
"Never again will I see that place which has blasted every hope that
life held for me."
"Not even to clear away aspersion from his beloved name?"
"I pray God, his beloved and sacred name may never be associated with a
crime so awful."
"You will not go to see the face? Remember, I shall ask you neither yea
nor nay. I shall need only to look once into your eyes, after you have
seen the Gorgon. Beryl, my white rose! Are you ashamed to show me your
idol's face?"
"I will never go to 'Elm Bluff'."
"It is no longer necessary. You know already the features printed
there, and your avoidance stamps them with infamy. How can your lofty
soul, your pure heart, tolerate a creature so craven, so vile?"
"We love not always whom we would, or should, were choice permitted us;
and to whom I have given my heart, my whole deep heart, you shall never
learn."
The mournful smile that lent such wistful loveliness to her flushed
face, seemed to him merely a renewed defiance.
"I bide my time, knowing it will surely come. You are free, but be
careful. Once when you lay upon the brink of the grave, unconscious, I
knelt at your side and took you in my arms; laid your head on my heart,
felt your cheek touch mine. Then and there I made a covenant with my
soul; and no other man's arms shall ever enfold you. Ah, my Rosa Alba!
I could dig your grave with my own hands, sooner than see that thief
claim you. I am a proud man, and you have dragged me through the slough
of humiliation, but to-day, as I bid you good-bye, I realize how one
felt, who looking at the bust of him she loved supremely, said with her
last breath: 'Voila mon univers, mon espoir, et mes dieux!' How soon we
meet again depends solely on your future course. You know the
conditions; and I promise you I will not swerve one iota."
He took her hand, drew it across his cheek, laid it on his lips; and a
moment later walked away, with the faded flowers folded close in his
palm.