ARTHUR'S STORY.
"I must commence at the beginning," he said, "and tell you first
of Nina's father--Ernest Bernard, of Florida. I was a load of
fourteen when I met him in Richmond, Virginia, which you know as
my former home. He was spending a few weeks there, and dined one
day with my guardian, with whom I was then living. I did not fancy
him at all. He seemed even to me, a boy, like a bad, unprincipled
man, and I afterward learned that such had been his former
character, though at the time I knew him he had reformed in a
great measure. He was very kind indeed to me, and as I became
better acquainted with him my prejudices gradually wore away,
until at last I liked him very much, and used to listen with
delight to the stories he told of his Florida home, and of his
little, golden-haired Nina, always finishing his remarks
concerning he with, 'But you can't have her, boy. Nobody can marry
Nina. Had little Miggie lived you might, perhaps, have been my
son-in-law, but you can't as 'tis, for Nina will never marry.'"
"No, Nina can never marry;" and the golden curls shook decidedly,
as the Nina in question repeated the words, "Miggie can marry
Arthur, but not Nina, no--no!"
Edith blushed painfully, and averted her eyes, while Arthur
continued:
"During Mr. Bernard's stay in Richmond he was attacked with that
loathsome disease the small pox, and deserted by all his friends,
was in a most deplorable condition, when I, who had had the
varioloid, begged and obtained permission to nurse him, which I
did as well as I was able, staying by him until the danger was
over. How far I was instrumental to his recovery I cannot say. He
professed to think I saved his life, and was profuse in his
protestations of gratitude. He was very impulsive and conceived
for me a friendship which ended only with his death. At all events
he proved as much by the great trust eventually reposed in me,"
and he nodded toward Nina, who having tired of the buttons and the
chain, was busy now with the bunch of keys she had purloined from
his pocket.
"I was in delicate health," said Arthur, "and as the cold weather
was coming on, he insisted upon taking me home with him, and I
accordingly accompanied him to Florida--to Sunny-bank, his country
seat. It was a grand old place, shaded by magnolias and surrounded
by a profusion of vines and flowering shrubs, but the most
beautiful flower of all was NINA, then eleven years age."
Nina knew that he was praising her--that Edith sanctioned the
praise, and with the same feeling the little child experiences
when told that it is good, she smiled upon Arthur, who, smoothing
her round white check, went on:
"My sweet Florida rose, I called her, and many a romping frolic we
had together during the winter months, and many a serious talk,
too, we had of her second mother; her own she did not remember,
and of her sister Miggie whose grave we often visited, strewing it
with flowers and watering it with tears, for Nina's attention for
her lost sister was so touching that I often wept with her over
Miggie's grave."
"Miggie ISN'T dead," said Nina. "She's here, ain't you Miggie?"
and she nestled closer to Edith, who was growing strangely
interested in that old house, shaded with magnolias, and in the
grave of that little child.
"I came home in the spring," said Arthur, going on with the story
Nina had interrupted, "but I kept up a boyish correspondence with
Nina, though my affection for her gradually weakened. After
becoming a pupil in Geneva Academy, I was exceedingly ambitious,
and to stand first in my class occupied more of my thoughts than
Nina Bernard. Still, when immediately after I entered Geneva
College as a sophomore, I learned that her father intended sending
her to the seminary in that village, I was glad, and when I saw
her again all my old affection for her returned with ten-fold
vigor, and the ardor of my passion was greatly increased from the
fact that other youths of my age worshipped her too, toasting the
Florida rose, and quoting her on all occasions. GRISWOLD was one
of these. Dr. Griswold. How deep his feelings were, I cannot tell.
I only know that he has never married, and he is three years older
than myself. We were room-mates in college, and when he saw that
Nina's preference was for me, he acted the part of a noble,
disinterested friend. Few know Griswold as he is."
Arthur paused, and Edith fancied he was living over the past when
Nina was not as she was now, but alas, he was thinking what to
tell her next. Up to this point he had narrated the facts just as
they had occurred, but he could do so no longer. He must leave out
now--evade, go round the truth, and it was hard for him to do so.
"We were engaged," he began at last. "I was eighteen, she fifteen.
But she looked quite as old as she does now. Indeed, she was
almost as far in advance of her years as she is now behind them.
Still we had no idea of marriage until I had been graduated,
although Nina's confidential friend, who was quite romantic,
suggested that we should run away. But from this I shrank as a
most foolish act, which, if divulged, would result in my being
expelled, and this disgrace I could not endure. In order, however,
to make the matter sure, I wrote to her father, asking for his
daughter when I became of age. Very impatiently I waited for his
answer, which, when it came, was a positive refusal, yet couched
in language so kind that none save a fool would have been angry.
"'Nina could not marry,' he said, 'and I must break the engagement
at once. Sometime he would tell me why, but not then--not till I
was older.'"
Accompanying this was a note to Nina, in which he used rather
severer terms, forbidding her to think of marriage, and telling
her he was coming immediately to take her to Europe, whither he
had long contemplated going.
There was another pause, and a long blank was made in the story,
which Arthur at last resumed, as follows:
"He came for her sooner than we anticipated, following close upon
the receipt of his letter, and in spite of Nina's tears took her
with him to New York, from whence early in May they started for
Europe. That was nine years ago next month, and during the
vacation following I came to Shannondale and saw you, Edith, while
you saw Nina's picture."
Nina was apparently listening now, and turning to him she said,
"Tell her about the night when I stepped on your back and so got
out of the window."
Arthur's face was crimson, but he answered laughingly "I fear
Miggie will not think us very dignified, if I tell her of all our
stolen interviews and the means used to procure them."
Taking a new toy from his pocket he gave it to Nina, who, while
examining it, forgot THAT NIGHT, and he went on.
"I come now to the saddest part of my story. Nina and I continued
to write, for her father did not forbid that, stipulating,
however, that he should see the letters which passed between us.
He had placed her in a school at Paris, where she remained until
after I was graduated and of age. Edith," and Arthur's voice
trembled, "I was too much a boy to know the nature of my feelings
toward Nina when we were engaged, and as the time wore on my love
began to wane."
Edith's heart beat more naturally now than it had before since the
narrative commenced, but she could not forbear from saying to him,
reproachfully, "Oh, Arthur."
"It was wrong, I know," he replied, "and I struggled against it
with all my strength, particularly when I heard that she was
coming home. Griswold knew everything, and he suggested that a
sight of her might awaken the olden feeling, and with a feverish
anxiety I waited in Boston for the steamer which I supposed was to
bring her home. After many delays she came in a sailing vessel,
but came alone. Her father had died upon the voyage and been
buried in the sea, leaving her with no friend save a Mr. Hudson,
whose acquaintance they had made in Paris."
At the mention of Mr. Hudson the toy dropped from Nina's fingers
and the blue eyes flashed up into Edith's face with a more
rational expression than she had heretofore observed in them.
"What is it, darling?" she asked, as she saw there was something
Nina would say.
The lip quivered like that of a grieved child, while Nina answered
softly, "I did love Charlie better than Arthur, and it was so
wicked."
"Yes," rejoined Arthur quickly, "Nina's love for me had died away,
and centered itself upon another. Charlie Hudson had sought her
for his wife, and while confessing her love for him she insisted
that she could not be his, because she was bound to me. This,
however, did not prevent his seeking an interview with her father,
who told him frankly the terrible impediment to Nina's marriage
with any one. It was a crushing blow to young Hudson, but he still
clung to her with all a brother's devotion, soothing her grief
upon the sea, and caring for her tenderly until Boston was
reached, and he placed her in my hands, together with a letter,
which her father wrote a few days before he died."
"He's married now," interrupted Nina, "Charlie's married, but he
came to see me once, down at the old Asylum, and I saw him through
the grates, for I was shut up in a TANTRUM. He cried, Miggie, just
as Arthur does sometimes, and called me POOR LOST NINA. He held an
angel in his arms with blue eyes like mine, and he said she was
his child and Margaret's! Her name was Nina, too. Wasn't it nice?"
And she smiled upon Edith, who involuntarily groaned as she
thought how dreadful it must have been for Mr. Hudson to gaze
through iron bars upon the wreck of his early love.
"Poor man," she sighed, turning to Arthur. "Is he happy with his
Margaret!"
"He seems to be," said Arthur, "People can outlive their first
affection, you know. He resides in New York now, and is to all
appearance a prosperous, happy man. The curse has fallen alone on
me, who alone deserve it."
He spoke bitterly, and for a moment sat apparently thinking; then,
resuming his story, said,
"I did not open Mr. Bernard's letter until we reached the Revere
House, and I was alone in my room. Then I broke the seal and read,
while my blood curdled within my veins and every hair pricked at
its roots. The old man knew he was about to die, and confessed to
me in part his manifold transgressions, particularly his inhuman
treatment of his last wife, the mother of little Miggie, but as
this cannot, of course, be interesting to you, I will not repeat
it."
"Oh, do," exclaimed Edith, feeling somehow that anything
concerning the mother of Miggie Bernard would interest her.
"Well, then," returned Arthur, "he did not tell me all the
circumstances of his marriage. I only know that she was a
foreigner and very beautiful--a governess, too, I think in some
German family, and that he married her under an assumed name."
"An assumed name!" Edith cried. "Why was that, pray?"
"I hardly know," returned Arthur, "but believe he became in some
way implicated in a fight or gambling brawl in Paris, and being
threatened with arrest took another name than his own, and fled to
Germany or Switzerland, where he found his wife. They were married
privately, and after two or three years he brought her to his
Florida home, where his proud mother and maiden sister affected to
despise her because of her poverty. He was at that time given to
drinking, and almost every day became beastly intoxicated, abusing
his young wife so shamefully that her life became intolerable, and
at last when he was once absent from home for a few weeks, he
resolved upon going back to Europe, and leaving him forever. This
plan she confided to a maid servant who had accompanied her from
England, a resolute, determined woman, who arranged the whole so
skillfully that no one suspected their designs until they were far
on their way to New York. The old mother, who was then living,
would not suffer them to be pursued, and more than a week went by
ere Mr. Bernard learned what had occurred. He followed them of
course. He was man enough for that, but falling in with some of
his boon companions, almost as soon as he reached the city, he
drank so deeply that for several days he was unable to search for
them, and in that time both his wife and Miggie died."
"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," and Edith's eyes filled with tears.
"Yes, both of them died," he continued. "Mrs. Bernard's health was
greatly undermined by sorrow, and when a prevailing epidemic
fastened itself upon her, it found an easy prey. The waiting-maid
wrote immediately to Florida, and her letter was sent back to Mr.
Bernard, who, having become sobered, hastened at once to find her
place of abode. She was a very intelligent woman for one of her
class, and had taken the precaution to have the remains of her
late mistress and child deposited in such a manner that they could
easily be removed if Mr. Bernard should so desire it. He did
desire it, and the bodies were taken undisturbed to Florida, where
they now rest quietly, side by side with the proud mother and
sister, since deceased. After this Mr. Bernard became a changed
and better man, weeping often over the fate of his young girl-wife
and his infant daughter, whom he greatly loved. Other troubles he
had, too, secret troubles which he confided to me in the letter
brought by Mr. Hudson. After assuring me of his esteem and telling
me how much he should prefer me for his son-in-law to Charlie
Hudson, he added that in justice to us both he must now speak of
the horrible cloud hanging over his beautiful Nina, and which was
sure at last to envelop her in darkness. You can guess it, Edith.
You have guessed it already--hereditary insanity--reaching far
back into the past, and with each successive generation developing
itself earlier and in a more violent form. He knew nothing of it
when he married Nina's mother, a famous New Orleans belle, for her
father purposely kept it from him, hoping thus to get her off his
hands ere the malady manifested itself.
"In her case it came on with the birth of Nina, and from that day
to her death she was a raving, disgusting maniac, as her mother
and grandmother had been before her. This was exceedingly
mortifying to the proud Bernards, negroes and all, and the utmost
care was taken of Nina, who, nevertheless, was too much like her
mother to hope for escape. There was the same peculiar look in the
eye--the same restless, nervous motions, and from her babyhood up
he knew his child was doomed to chains, straight jackets and
narrow cells, while the man who married her was domed to a still
more horrible fate. These were his very words, and my heart
stopped its beating as I read, while I involuntarily thanked
Heaven, who had changed her feelings towards me. She told me with
many tears that she had ceased to love me, and asked to be
released for the fulfillment of her vow. I knew then she would one
day be just what she is, and did not think it my duty to insist.
But I did not forsake her, though my affection for her then was
more like a brother's than a lover's. In his will, which was duly
made and witnessed, Mr. Bernard appointed me the guardian of his
child, empowering me to do for her as if she were my sister, and
bidding me when the calamity should overtake her, care for her to
the last.
"'They don't usually survive ling,' he wrote, and he made me his
next heir after Nina's death. It was a great charge for one just
twenty-two, a young, helpless girly and an immense fortune to look
after; but Griswold, my tied friend, came to my aid, and pointed
out means by which a large portion of the Bernard estate could be
turned into money, and thus save me much trouble. I followed his
advice, and then old homestead is all the landed property there is
for me to attend to now, and as this is under the supervision of a
competent overseer, it give me no uneasiness. I suggested to Nina
that she should accompany me to Florida soon after her arrival in
Boston, but she preferred remaining for a time in some boarding
school, and I made arrangements for her to be received as a
boarder in Charlestown Seminary, leaving her there while I went
South to transact business incumbent upon me as her guardian.
"How it happened I never knew, but by some accident her father's
letter to me became mixed up with her papers, and while I was gone
she read it, learning for the first time what the mystery was
which hung over her mother's fate, and also of the doom awaiting
her. She fainted, it was said, and during the illness which
followed raved in frantic fury, suffering no one to approach her
save Griswold, who, being at that time a physician in the Lunatic
Asylum at Worcester, hastened to her side, acquiring over her a
singular power. It is strange that in her fits of violence she
never speaks of me, nor yet of Charlie Hudson. Indeed, the past
seems all a blank to her, save as she refers to it incidentally as
she has to-day."
"But did she stay crazy?" asked Edith.
"Not wholly so," returned Arthur, "but from that time her reason
began to fail, until now she is hopelessly insane, and has not
known a rational moment for more than three years."
"Nor been home in all that time?" said Edith, while Arthur
replied,
"She would not go. She seemed to shrink from meeting her former
friends; and at last, acting upon Griswold's advice, I placed her
in the Asylum, going myself hither and thither like a feather
tossed about by the gale. Griswold was my ballast, my polar star,
and when he said to me, buy a house and have a home, I answered
that I would; and when he told me of Grassy Spring, bidding me
purchase it, I did so, although I dreaded coming to this
neighborhood of all others. I had carefully kept everything from
Grace, who, while hearing that I was in some way interested in a
Florida estate, knew none of the particulars, and I became
morbidly jealous lest she or anyone else should hear of Nina's
misfortune, or what she was to me.
"It was a favorite idea of Griswold's that Nina might be benefited
by a change of place, and when I first came here I knew that she,
too, would follow me in due time. She has hitherto been subject to
violent attacks of frenzy, during which nothing within her reach
was safe; and, knowing this, Griswold advised me to prepare a
room, where, at such times, she could be kept by herself, for the
sight of people always made her worse. The Den, with the large
closet adjoining, was the result of this suggestion, and as I have
a great dread of neighborhood gossip, I resolved to say nothing of
her until compelled to do so by her presence in the house. I
fancied that Mrs. Johnson was a discreet woman, and my purpose was
to tell her of Nina as soon as I was fairly settled; but she
abused her trust by letting Grace into the room. You refused to
enter, and my respect for you from that moment was unbounded."
She looked at him in much surprise, and he added,
"You wonder, I suppose, how I know this. I was here at the time,
was in the next room when you came into the library to wait for
Grace. I watched you through the glass door, wondering who you
were, until my cousin appeared and I overheard the whole."
"And that is why you chose me instead of Grace to take charge of
your keys," interrupted Edith, beginning to comprehend what had
heretofore been strange to her. "But, Mr. St. Claire, I don't
understand it at all--don't see why there was any need for so much
secrecy. Supposing you did dread neighborhood gossip, you could
not help being chosen Nina's guardian. She could not help being
crazy. Why not have told at once that there was such a person
under your charge? Wouldn't it have been better? It was no
disgrace to you that you have kept the father's trust, and cared
for his poor child," and she glanced lovingly at the pretty face
nestled against her arm, for Nina had fallen asleep.
Arthur did not answer immediately, and when he did, his voice
trembled with emotion.
"It would have been better," he said; "but when she first became
insane, I shrank from having it generally known, and the longer I
hugged the secret the harder I found it to divulge the whole. It
would look queerly, I thought, for a young man like me to be
tramelled with a crazy girl. Nobody would believe she was my ward,
and nothing more, and I became a sort of monomaniac upon the
subject. Had I never loved her--" he paused, and leaned his head
upon his hands, while Edith, bending upon him a most searching
look, startled him with the words, "Mr. St. Claire, you have not
told me all. There is something behind, something mightier than
pride or a dread of gossip."
"Yes, Edith, there is something behind, but I can't tell YOU what
it is, you of all others."
He was pacing the floor hurriedly now, but stopped suddenly, and
standing before Edith, said: "Edith Hastings, you are somewhat to
blame in this matter. Before I knew you I only shrank from having
people talk of my matters sooner than was absolutely necessary.
But after you became my pupil, the desire that you should never
see Nina as she is, grew into a species of madness, and I have
bent every energy to keeping you apart. I did not listen to
reason, which told me you must know of it sooner or later, but
plunged deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of attempted
concealment. When I found it necessary to dismiss Mrs. Johnson, if
I would keep my affairs to myself, I thought of the old family
servants at Sunnybank. I knew they loved and pitied Nina, and were
very sensitive with regard to her misfortune. It touches Phillis'
pride to think her young mistress is crazy, and as hers is the
ruling mind, she keeps the others in subjection, though old Judy
came near disclosing the whole to you at one time, I believe. You
know her sad story now, but you do not know how like an iron
weight it hangs upon me, crushing me to the earth, wearing my life
away, and making me old before my time. See here," and lifting his
brown locks, he showed her many a line of silver. "If I loved Nina
Bernard, my burden would be easier to bear."
"Oh, Mr. St. Claire," interrupted Edith, "You surely do love her.
You cannot help loving her, and she so beautiful, so innocent."
"Yes," he answered, "as a brother loves an unfortunate sister. I
feel towards her, I think, as a mother does towards a helpless
child, a tender pity which prompts me to bear with her even when
she tries me almost beyond endurance. She is not always as mild as
you see her now, though her frenzied moods do not occur as
frequently as they did. She loves me, I think, as an infant loves
its mother, and is better when I am with her. At all events, since
coming to Grassy Spring, she has been unusually quiet, until
within the last two weeks, when a nervous fever has confined her
to her room and made her somewhat unmanagable. Griswold said she
would be better here, and though I had not much faith in the
experiment, I see now that he was right. Griswold is always right,
and had I followed his advice years ago, much of my trouble might
have been averted. Edith, never conceal a single act, if you wish
to be happy. A little fault, if covered up, grows into a mountain;
and the longer it is hidden, the harder it is to be confessed.
This is my experience. There was a false step at first, and it
lies too far back in the past to be remedied now. No one knows of
it but myself, Griswold, Nina, and my God. Yes, there IS one more
whose memory might be refreshed, but I now have no fear of him."
Edith did not ask who this other was, neither did she dream that
Richard Harrington was in any way connected with the mystery. She
thought of him, however, wondering if she might tell him of Nina,
and asking if she could.
Arthur's face was very white, as he replied, "Tell him if you
like, or any one else. It is needless to keep it longer, but,
Edith, you'll come again, won't you? come to see Nina if nothing
more. I am glad you have seen her, provided you do not desert me
wholly."
"Of course I shall not," she said, as she laid the golden head of
the sleeping girl upon the cushion of the sofa, preparatory to
leaving, "I'll come again, and forgive you, too, for anything you
may have done, except a wrong to her," and she carefully kissed the
poor, crazy Nina.
Then, offering her hand to Arthur she tried to bid him good-bye as
of old, but he missed something in her manner, and with feelings
sadly depressed he watched her from the window, as, assisted by
Ike, she mounted her pony and galloped swiftly away.
"She's lost to me forever, and there's nothing worth living for
now," he said, just as a little hand pressed his arm, and a sweet
childish voice murmured, "Yes, there is, Arthur. Live for Nina,
poor Nina," and the snowy fingers, which, for a moment, had rested
lightly on his arm, began to play with the buttons of his coat,
while the soft blue eyes looted pleadingly into his.
"Yes, darling; he said, caressing her flowing curls, and pushing
them back from her forehead, "I will live for you, hereafter. I
will love no one else."
"No one but Miggie. You MAY love her. You must love her, Arthur.
She's so beautiful, so grand, why has she gone from Nina, I want
her here, want her all the time;" and Nina's mood began to change.
Tears filled her eyes, and burying her face in Arthur's bosom she
begged him to go after Miggie, to bring her. back and keep her
there always, threatening that if he did'nt "Nina would be bad."
Tenderly, but firmly, as a parent soothes a refractory child, did
Arthur soothe the excitable Nina, telling her Miggie should come
again, or if she did not, they'd go up and see her.