WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLLED BY.
It was Christmas morning at Cliffdene, and snow lay deep upon the
ground, while the boom of the sea, lashed into fury by howling winter
winds, filled the air, but within all was light, and warmth, and joy.
A few days ago the Clarkes had come home, with their daughter Liane
restored to health after weary weeks of illness and nervous prostration
from her terrible beating at Granny Jenks' hands and the subsequent
exposure in the cold cellar.
They called her Liane still, because the name of Roma was associated
with so many unpleasant things that they had no wish for her to bear it.
Mr. Clarke had spent a thrilling hour making clear to his wife all the
happenings of the past eighteen years, but she had borne the shock
better than he expected. Her love for Roma, never as strong as the
maternal love, though carefully fostered, died an instant death when
she heard the story of the girl's terrible crimes. Bitter tears she
shed, indeed, but they were for her own daughter's sufferings in those
cruel years while she had been kept back from her own.
"We will make it up to her, my darling, by devotion now," cried her
husband, kissing away her tears; then they hastened to the bedside of
Liane, for she could not be moved yet from her humble abode.
After several days of unconsciousness she began to improve, and in a
week was able to have the truth carefully broken to her by her own
mother, who with Sophie Nutter shared the task of nursing her back to
health. Doctor Jay was sent for to assist with his medical skill, and
great was his joy to find her restored to her own, and so beautiful
and worthy, in spite of the rearing she had had from brutal granny,
the miserable old hag, who was so crushed by the contempt and scorn of
every one that she sought consolation in the bottle and drank herself
to death in a week, expiring miserably in a hospital.
As soon as Liane was well enough to see a visitor Mrs. Carrington
called.
"Do you remember me, my dear?" she asked, and Liane murmured:
"I sold you gloves."
"Yes, and fascinated me at the same time. I have been in love with you
ever since."
Lyde wondered at the sudden blush on the girl's cheek as Liane thought
within herself that she would be glad if Lyde's brother only loved her
also.
As for him, of course, she did not see him till she left her room, but
flowers came for her every day--great red roses, breathing the language
of love--and on the day before they went to Cliffdene, her devoted
mamma said:
"Dear, if you feel well enough, I should like you to send a kind little
note to Jesse Devereaux, thanking him for the flowers he has been
sending every day."
"I will write," Liane replied, with a blush and a quickened heartbeat,
and her fond mother added:
"Jesse is a fine young man, and admires you very much."
When he received the note, so neatly and gracefully written, without a
mistake in wording or spelling, Devereaux was puzzled.
It was certainly not like the writing of the letter in which she had
rejected him. He concluded that her mother or her maid Sophie had
written it.
"Poor girl, she will have to have private instructors to repair the
defects in her education," he thought.
A few days before Christmas the Clarkes bade a kind farewell to
the good-natured Mrs. Brinkley and Lizzie White, and returned to
Stonecliff, whither the news had preceded them in letters to friends.
Devereaux was at the station to bid them farewell, and by the most open
hinting he managed to secure from Mrs. Clarke an invitation to spend
Christmas with them at Cliffdene.
He arrived on Christmas morning, and was presently shown into the
holly-wreathed library, where Liane was sitting alone, exquisitely
gowned in dark-blue silk, from which her fair face arose like a
beautiful lily.
Devereaux's greeting was joyous, but Liane was cold and constrained.
She could not forget how he had snubbed her in Boston when she was only
a poor working girl.
But they had not exchanged a dozen words before they were interrupted
by the unexpected entrance of Dolly Dorr.
Dolly had been staying at her own home ever since Roma's flight with
her husband, and she had been having a hard battle with her conscience,
which culminated in the triumph of the right; hence her presence here
to-day.
Dolly made her little curtsy, and began bashfully:
"Miss Clarke, and Mr. Devereaux, I have wronged you both, and I have
come now to try to make amends."
They gazed at her in silent surprise, and she hurried on, eager to tell
her story and escape their reproachful eyes:
"Miss Liane, when you went away to Boston, I got a letter addressed
to you from the post office, and Miss Roma opened it, and we read it
together. Then she bribed me to answer it, and I guess Mr. Devereaux
has the ugly letter she made me write. Here's yours, and--please
forgive me. I am sorry I behaved so badly," tossing a letter into
Liane's lap and flying precipitately from the apartment.
Liane opened the letter bewilderedly, and read, with Devereaux's eager
eyes upon her face, and her cheeks scarlet, his passionate love letter
and proposal of marriage. As she finished, he said eagerly:
"I received a rejection in answer to that letter, but, Liane, dearest,
may I ask you to reconsider it?"
Her lovely eyes met his in a happy, eloquent glance, and, springing to
her side, he wound his arms about her, drawing her close to his breast,
while their yearning lips met in a long, clinging kiss.
THE END.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Added table of contents.
Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=.
Page 8, Changed "ben" to "been" in "had been substituted."
Page 31, Retained possible typo (or uncommon spelling) "torquoise."
Page 84, corrected "cirrcumstances" to "circumstances" ("circumstances
leave me").
Page 91, added missing quote after "bear good witness for us."
Page 95, corrected "slipppd" to "slipped" ("slipped readily into her
pocket").
Page 121, removed unnecessary quote after "no difference in the result."
Page 134, changed ligature to "oe" in "manoeuvring" (ligature retained
in HTML version).
Page 135, removed unnecessary quote after "pretty, petted girl."
Page 149, "dying down to Boston" seems like an error but is reproduced
as printed.
Page 174, added missing comma in "It was my own, granny."
Page 180, corrected "presenty" to "presently" ("presently he realized").
Page 190, corrected "aristrocrat" to "aristocrat."
Page 193, removed unnecessary quote after "pale and thin."
Page 194, added missing quote after "her whereabouts!"
Page 196, added missing quote after "confiding in you, Dean!"
Page 211, removed unnecessary comma from "and whip her."
Page 212, added missing quote after "fiendish Nurse Jenks."
Page 224, changed ? to , after "door on retiring."
Page 229, changed ? to . after "Wait till I question you on the
subject."
Page 234, added missing quote after "and sobbing all night."
Page 263, corrected "clatttering" to "clattering" ("clattering of
dishes").
Page 277, corrected "Leslie" to "Lester" in "Miss Lester you are
awaiting."
End of Project Gutenberg's My Pretty Maid, by Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller