A GRIM MARRIAGE.
As the decisive day approached, Jacquelina certainly acted like one
distraught--now in wild defiance, now in paleness and tears, and anon in
fitful mirth, or taunting threats. She rapidly lost flesh and color, and
in hysterical laughter accounted for it by saying that she believed in
her soul Grim was a spiritual vampire, who preyed upon her life! She
avoided him as much as she could. And if sometimes, when she was about
to escape from him, he would seize her wrist and detain her, she would
suddenly lose her breath and turn so pale that in the fear of her
fainting, he would release her. So he got no opportunity to press his
claims.
One morning, however--it was about a week before Christmas--she
voluntarily sought his presence. She entered the parlor where he sat
alone. Excitement had flushed her cheeks with a vivid crimson and
lighted her eyes with sparkling fire--she did not know that her beauty
was enhanced a thousand fold--she did not know that never in her life
had her presence kindled such a flame in the heart of her lover as it
did at that moment. And if he restrained himself from going to meet her,
it was the dread lest she should fade away from him as he had seen her
do so often. But she advanced and stood before him.
"Dr. Grimshaw!" she said, "I have come to make a last appeal to you! I
have come to beg, to supplicate you, for my sake, for honor, for truth
and for mercy's sake, yes! for heaven's sake, to withdraw your
pretensions to my poor hand. For, sir, I do not and cannot like you! I
do not say but that you are far too good and wise, and every way too
worthy for such a girl as I am--and that you do me the very greatest
honor by your preference, but still no one can account for tastes--and,
sir, I cannot like you--pray, pardon me! indeed, I cannot help it."
Although her words were so humble, her color was still heightened, and
her eyes had a threatening, defiant sparkle in them, so contradictory,
so piquant and fascinating in contrast with the little, fragile,
graceful, helpless form, that his head was almost turned. It was with
difficulty he could keep from snatching the fluttering, half-defiant,
half-frightened, bird-like creature to his bosom. But he contented
himself with saying:
"My fairy! we are commanded to love those that hate us; and should you
hate me more than ever, I should only continue to love you!"
"Love me at a distance, then! and the greater the distance, the more
grateful I shall be!"
He could no longer quite restrain himself. He seized her hand and drew
her towards him, exclaiming in an eager, breathless, half-whisper:
"No! closer and closer shall my love draw us, beautiful one! until it
compasses your hate and unites us forever!"
With a half-suppressed cry she wrung her hand from his grasp and
answered, wildly:
"I sought your presence to entreat you--and to warn you! I have
supplicated you, and you have turned a deaf ear to my prayer! Now I warn
you! and disregard my warning, if you dare! despise it at your peril! I
am going out of my wits, I think! I warn you that I may consent to
become your wife! I have no persevering resistance in my nature. I
cannot hold out forever against those I love. But I warn you, that if
ever I consent, it will be under the undue influence of others!"
"Put your consent upon any ground you please, you delightful, you
enchanting little creature. We will spare your blushes, charming as they
are!" he exclaimed, surprised out of self-control and seizing both her
hands.
Angrily she snatched them from him.
"What have I said? Oh! what have I said? I believe I am going crazy! I
tell you, Dr. Grimshaw, that if I ever yield, it will be only to the
overwhelming force brought to bear upon me; and even then it will be
only during a temporary fit of insanity! And I warn you--I warn you not
to dare to take me at my word!"
"Will I not? You bewitching little sprite! do you do this to make me
love you ten thousand times more than I do?"
Passionately she broke forth in reply:
"You do not believe me! You do not see that I am in terrible earnest! I
tell you, Dr. Grimshaw, that were I induced to consent to be your wife,
you had better not take advantage of such a consent! It would be the
most fatal day's work you ever did for yourself in this world! You think
I'm only a spoiled, petulant child! You do not know me! I do not know
myself! I am full of evil! I feel it sensibly, when I am near you! You
develop the worst of me! Should you marry me, the very demon would rise
in my bosom! I should drive you to distraction!"
"You drive me to distraction now, you intoxicating little witch!" he
exclaimed, laughing and darting towards her.
She started and escaped his hand, crying:
"Saints in heaven! What infatuation! What madness! It must be fate!
Avert the fate, man! Avert it! while there is yet time! Go get a
mill-stone and tie it around your neck and cast yourself into the
uttermost depths of the sea before ever you dare to marry me!" Her
cheeks were blazing with color and her eyes with light! He saw only her
transcendant beauty.
"Why, you little tragi-comic enchantress, you!--what do you mean? Come
to my arms! Come, wild, bright bird! come to my bosom!" he said,
stepping towards her and throwing his arms around her.
"Vampire!" she exclaimed, struggling to free herself for a moment; and
then as his lips sought hers the color faded from her face and the light
died in her eyes, and he hastily released her and set her in a chair
lest she should swoon in his hated arms.
"Now, how am I expected to live with such a wife as this girl would make
me? If it were not for the estate I should be tempted to give her up,
and travel to forget her! How shall I overcome her repugnance? Not by
courting her; that's demonstrated. Only by being kind to her, and
letting her alone." Such was the tenor of his thoughts as he stood a
little behind her chair out of her sight.
But Jacquelina, when she found herself free, soon recovered, and arose
and left the room.
Until a day or two before Christmas, when, in the evening, she glided in
to her uncle's room and sunk down by his side--so unlike herself; so
like a spirit--that the old sinner impulsively shrank away from her, and
put out his hand to ring for lights.
"No; don't send for candles, uncle! Such a wretch as I am should tell
her errand in the dark."
"What do you mean now, minx?"
"Uncle, in all your voyages around the world did you ever stop at
Constantinople? And did you ever visit a slave mart there?"
"Yes; of course I have! What then? What the deuce are you dreaming of?"
"How much would such a girl as myself bring in the slave market of the
Sultan's city?"
"Are you crazy?" asked the commodore, opening his eyes to their widest
extent.
"I don't know. If I am, it can make little difference in your plans. But
as there is method in my madness, please to answer my question. How much
would I sell for in Constantinople?"
"You are mad; that's certain! How do I know--where beauties sell for
from five hundred to many thousand zechins. But you wouldn't sell for
much; you're too small and too thin."
"Beauty sells by the weight, does it? Well, uncle, I see that you
have been accustomed to the mart, for you know how to cheapen the
merchandise! Save yourself the trouble, uncle! I shall not live long,
and therefore I shall not have the conscience to ask a high price for
myself!"
"Mad! Mad as a March hare! As sure as shooting she is!" said the
commodore in dismay, staring at her until his great, fat eyes seemed
bursting from their sockets.
"Not so mad as you think, uncle, either. I have come to make a bargain
with you."
"What the foul fiend do you mean now? Do you want me to send you to
Constantinople, pray?"
Jacquelina laughed, something like her old silvery laugh, as she
answered:
"No, uncle; though if it were not for Mimmy, I really should prefer it
to marrying Grim!"
"What do you mean, then? Speak!"
"This, then, uncle: By what I have heard, and what I have seen, and what
I have surmised, I am already as deep in your secrets respecting Grim as
you are yourself."
"You speak falsely, you little ----! No one knows anything about it but
myself!" exclaimed the commodore, betraying himself through astonishment
and indignation.
Without heeding the contradiction, except by a sly smile, Jacquelina
went calmly on:
"And I know that you wish to make me a stalking-horse, to convey the
estate to Grimshaw, only because you cannot give it to him in any other
way but through his wife."
"What do you mean, you little diabolical ----! It is my own--why can I
not give it to whom I please, I should like to know?"
"You can give it to any one in the world, uncle, except Dr. Grimshaw, or
to one who bears the same relationship to you that he does; for to such
a one you may not legally bequeath your landed estate, or--"
"You shocking, impudent little vixen! How dare you talk so?"
"Hear me out, uncle. I say, knowing such to be the case, I also know my
own importance as a 'stalking-horse,' or sumpter-mule, or something of
the sort, to bear upon my own shoulders the burden of this estate, which
you wish to give by me to Dr. Grimshaw. Therefore, I shall not give
myself away for nothing. I intend to sell myself for a price! Nothing on
earth would induce me to consent to marry Dr. Grimshaw, were it not to
secure peace and comfort to my mother's latter days. Your threat of
turning me out of doors would not compel me into such a marriage, for
well I know that you would not venture to put that threat into
execution. But I cannot bear to see my poor mother suffer so much as she
does while here, dependent upon your uncertain protection. You terrify
and distress her beyond her powers of endurance. You make the bread of
dependence very, very bitter to her, indeed! And well I know that she
will certainly die if she remains subjected to your powers of
tormenting. I speak plainly to you, uncle, having nothing to conceal;
to proceed, I assure you I will not meet your views in marrying Dr.
Grimshaw, unless it be to purchase for my poor mother a deliverance from
bondage, and an independence for life. Therefore, I demand that you
shall buy this place, 'Locust Hill,' which I hear can be bought for five
thousand dollars, and settle it upon my mother; in return for which I
will bestow my hand in marriage upon Dr. Grimshaw. And, mind, I do not
promise with it either love, or esteem, or service--only my hand in
civil marriage, and the estate it has the power of carrying with it! And
the documents that shall make my mother independent of the world must be
drawn up or examined by a lawyer that she shall appoint, and must be
placed in her hands on the same hour that gives my hand to Dr. Grimshaw.
Do you understand? Now, uncle, that is my ultimatum! For, please the
heavens above us! come what may! do what you will! turn me and my mother
out of doors, to freeze and starve--I will die, and see her die, before
I will sell my hand for a less price than will make her independent and
at ease for life! For, look you, I would rather see her dead, than leave
her in your power! Think of this, uncle! There is time enough to-morrow
and next day to make all the arrangements; only be sure I am in earnest!
Look in my face! Am I not in earnest?"
"I think you are, you little wretch! I could shake the life out of you!"
"That would be easy, uncle! There is not much to shake out. Only, in
that case, you would have no stalking-horse to take the estate over to
Dr. Grimshaw." And so saying, Jacquelina arose to leave the room.
"Come back here--you little vixen, you!"
Sans Souci returned.
"It's well to 'strike while the iron's hot,' and to bind you while
you're willing to be bound, for you are an uncertain little villain.
Though I don't believe you'd break a solemn pledge once given--hey?"
"No, sir!"
"Pledge me your word of honor, now, that if I buy this little farm of
Locust Hill, and settle it upon your mother, you will marry Dr. Grimshaw
on this coming Christmas Eve?"
"I pledge you my word of honor that I will"
"Without mental reservation?"
"Without mental reservation!"
"Stop! it is safer to seal such a pledge! Climb up on the stand, and
hand me that Bible down off the top shelf. Brush the cobwebs off it, and
don't let the spiders come with it."
Jacquelina did as she was bid, with a half indifferent, half disdainful
air.
"There! Now lay your hand upon this book, and swear by the Holy
Evangelists of Almighty God that you will do as you have pledged
yourself to do."
"I swear," said Jacquelina.
"Very well! Now, confound you! you may put the book back again, and go
about your business."
Sans Souci very willingly complied. And then, as she left the room and
closed the door after her, her quick ear caught the sound of the
commodore's voice, chuckling:
"So! I've trapped you! Ten minutes more, and it would have been
impossible."
Full of wonder as to what his words might mean, doubting also whether
she had heard them aright, Jacquelina was hastening on toward her
mother's room, when she met her Aunt Henrietta hurrying toward her, and
speaking impetuously.
"Oh, my little Lapwing! where have you been? I have been looking for you
all over the house! Good news, dear Lapwing! Good news! Deliverance is
at hand for you! Who do you think has come?"
"Who? Who?" questioned Sans Souci, eagerly.
"Cloudy!"
"Lost! lost!" cried the wretched girl; and, with a wild shriek that rang
through all the house, she threw up her arms and fell forward to the
ground.
The marriage was appointed to take place Christmas Day. Jacquelina
suffered her mother to dress her in bridal array. Dr. Grimshaw was
waiting for her in the hall.
As soon as she reached the foot of the stairs, he took her hand; and,
pressing it, whispered:
"Sweet girl, forgive me this persistence!"
"May God never forgive me if I do!" she fiercely exclaimed, transfixing
him with a flashing glance.
Never lover uttered a deeper sigh than that which Dr. Grimshaw gave
forth as he led his unwilling bride to the carriage. The groomsman
followed with the bridesmaid. The commodore and Mary L'Oiseau
accompanied the party in a gig. Henrietta, true to her word, refused to
be present at the marriage.
When the wedding party arrived at the chapel, all the pews were filled
to suffocation with the crowd that the rumor of the approaching marriage
had drawn together. And the bridal party were the cynosure of many
hundred eyes as they passed up the aisle and stood before the altar.
The ceremony proceeded. But not one response, either verbally or
mentally, did Jacquelina make. The priest passed over her silence,
naturally ascribing it to bashfulness, and honestly taking her consent
for granted.
The rites were finished, the benediction bestowed, and friends and
acquaintances left their pews, and crowded around with congratulations.
Among the foremost was Thurston Willcoxen, whose suave and stately
courtesy, and graceful bearing, and gracious words, so pleased Commodore
Waugh that, knowing Jacquelina to be married and safe, he invited and
urged the accomplished young "Parisian," as he was often called, to
return and partake of the Christmas wedding breakfast.
"Nace, do you take your bride home in the gig, as you will want her
company to yourself, and we will go in the carriage," said the
commodore, good-naturedly. In fact, the old man had not been in such
a fine humor for many a day.
Dr. Grimshaw, "nothing loth," led his fair bride to the gig, handed her
in, and took the place beside her.
"Now, then, fairest and dearest, you are at last, indeed, my own!" he
said, seeking her eyes.
"Thank Heaven, I am not! I never foreswore myself. I never opened my
lips, or formed a vow in my head. I never promised you anything," said
Jacquelina, turning away; and the rest of the journey was made in
silence.