"Hold fast! don't be frightened! I can save you if you will only be
strong!" were the exclamations that burst hurriedly from young Dr.
Gardner's lips as, with horror-struck face he sprang from his
window-seat and bounded downstairs.
And well might he hasten, for she who awaited his succor, hung
perilously between heaven and earth, expecting every moment to be dashed
to the ground.
For some minutes previous to his excited words, Weldon Gardner's gaze
had been riveted in awful fascination upon an immense balloon that was
fast descending toward the high roofs that clustered on all sides about
his comfortable rooms on ---- St., New York.
Something was wrong. He could readily detect this in the unsteady
wavering of the gaily-striped air-ship. And so, too, thought the crowd
that he now saw had gathered in the street below.
Evidently the aeronaut had lost control of his craft. Lower still it
tottered, and now were visible several arms outstretched in the vain
appeal for aid.
Not a sound escaped the spell-bound multitude in the streets, for in a
moment more the fate of the doomed adventurers must be decided. Suddenly
two human forms dropped from the loosened basket and struck with a
fearful thud against the elevated railway, then rebounded to the street
below a mass of mangled flesh. Death was instantaneous. With one impulse
the throng surged about the bodies; but Dr. Gardner's eyes were still
fixed upon the balloon, for as if relieved by the rapid lightening of
its burden it gave a spirited sweep upward, then passed over his own
roof.
Hastening to his back windows, which overlooked a paved court, he threw
himself into a chair, and strained his gaze in search of the wrecked
pleasure-craft, to which one other figure clung with the might of
desperation.
One large tree, spared by the pruning axe of the city architect, shaded
the court; and into the wide-spreading boughs of this tree, did the
powerless balloon now descend, its ropes becoming hopelessly entangled.
Clinging fast to whatever offered support, a young girl with dark,
terror-stricken eyes, met his look of horror, as with the reassuring
words already quoted, Weldon Gardner rushed down to the rescue.
Even as he gained the spot, shouting to the men in service to bring a
ladder, a number of persons had penetrated to the court, and were now
collected around the tree, uttering excited comments upon the disaster.
With all possible speed the young physician reached the sufferer, but
unconsciousness had already closed her eyes to all danger. Bearing the
light form from the entangling meshes, the doctor ascended to his
consulting-room, and deposited his burden upon a couch. Summoning his
housekeeper, he dismissed the gaping followers, and proceeded to examine
the death-like form he had preserved from mutilation.
The patient seemed to be about eighteen years old, and bore unmistakable
evidences of the lady in her attire.
Mercifully forebearing to restore her senses till after his skillfull
examination, the doctor could discover no broken limbs, and nothing now
remained but to enable her to speak for herself as to her condition.
After a persistent use of restoratives, the anxious attendants were
rewarded by seeing the color flutter back into the pallid cheeks, and
the long eyelashes quiver with returning life.
Her first words were: "Lucien! Maggie! we are lost!" Then a strong
shudder convulsed her slight frame, and with a startled cry she
attempted to spring up.
"Be careful," gently remonstrated the doctor, laying a detaining hand
upon her. "Tell me--are you hurt anywhere?"
"I don't know--I think not--oh! who are you? Where am I? Where are the
others? Were they killed? Oh! it was too horrible!" and the agitated
speaker burst into a passion of tears so violent as to alarm her
watchers.
Leaving her to the housekeeper, Dr. Gardner quickly prepared and
administered a soothing potion. Then, enjoining absolute quiet, he
drew the blinds, and proceeded downstairs to learn of the ill-fated
companions of his patient. The crowd still lingered about the spot,
although the bodies had been removed to await a claimant. Nothing was
known except that the balloon had ascended that morning from one of the
city squares, and that, as frequently happened, a party of young people
had gone up to get a bird's eye view of the metropolis. Who they were
did not yet appear.
Several hours passed, and still the rescued girl slept the dreamless
sleep induced by the nervous shock and the narcotic draught of the
doctor. Patiently the housekeeper sat and watched.
As twilight fell, she gave a sigh and opened her large eyes in surprise
upon the strange face beside her. Taking advantage of the opportune
moment, Mrs. Buford removed the pongee walking suit from the drowsy
girl, and then gently enfolding her in a soft white wrapper, the kind
matron assisted her to the bed which had been prepared, the girl
submitting with a bewildered look of questioning wonder, and finally
sinking back gratefully into slumber.
And here Weldon Gardner came before retiring for the night.
Softly touching the delicate wrist in its dainty frill, he noted the
somewhat fitful pulsations of the disturbed life-centers. Bending above
the tell-tale heart-beats, his practiced ear assured him that ere long
the deep repose of his charge would effectually restore her to health.
How like chiseled marble she looked, lying there in her absolute
helplessness beneath his stranger gaze! How pure the white brow, with
its clustering rings of glossy hair! How exquisitely fine the white hand
to which the dimples of babyhood yet clung! How classic the contour of
her face, into which already the warm hue of health was creeping! A
heavy sigh escaped him as he noted each perfection of outline. Who was
this lovely stranger? And what could she be to him?
"Why was I ever such a dupe?" he said in his heart. "Fettered--fettered
for life!"
But suddenly realizing that except in his professional capacity he had
no right thus to intrude upon her slumbers, the young physician turned
from the enchanting picture.
"How is she now, sir?" respectfully inquired the housekeeper.
"Fairly well," he replied cheerfully; "I do not think she is hurt,
except a few bruises, which we must look after. She was thrown pretty
hard against that tree. To-morrow she will be able to give an account of
herself. We can do nothing toward finding her friends before that time.
Call, if she should become restless," and the young man retired to his
own apartment, there to ponder deeply, as he had never before pondered
in his life.
Some days later the following letter was posted by Weldon Gardner:
NEW YORK, September 20, 1879.
"My Dear Aunt:--
"Your kind letter reminds me that never, in all these years of boyhood
grown ripe, has duty come to me in as repulsive a form as now, I tell
you, shocked as you may feel when you read the words, that I would
rather put a bullet through my head than meet Evelyn Howard at this
time! Why couldn't she stay in England? And what cursed folly induced
my parents to thus bind me for life to one I had never seen? True, I
submitted. But you know with what an appeal my dying mother besought
my compliance, and what could I do? I cared for no one else. How was
I to foresee that the tie would ever be so intensely galling?
"I know all that you would say about honor, manhood, and all the
category of virtues. I know them all. Nor am I willing to act the
scoundrel just yet. But I must have time; I can _not_ marry that
girl now. Nor will I consent to meet her yet. Let her think I am out
of town, sick, busy, _dead_; anything, till I can screw my courage
to the sticking point.
"About the balloon tragedy--yes, you heard correctly of my figuring
in the matter. The girl is Miss Lina Dent, of Brooklyn, and I am
happy to report that she is entirely recovered, though deeply afflicted
at the fearful death of her friends. It seems that they had, in a
spirit of fun, gone up in the balloon, feeling confident that their
adventure was, to say the least, of somewhat doubtful propriety.
They did not think of danger. The cowardly desertion of the æronaut,
as soon as he could leap to a roof in safety, precipitated their fall.
"The young victims, Lucien and Maggie Taylor, were too much frightened
to hold to their frail support. Their tragic fate has plunged an
excellent household into mourning. Bitterly my new acquaintance
lamented her folly in consenting to the excursion; but how can a man
in his senses add to her condemnation when she looks through such
eyes, and speaks with such lips? Not I, I assure you.
"Miss Dent is visiting a relative in Brooklyn, and in my character of
physician, I have been kindly received. The strangest part of it all
is the odd way that girl looked at me when she knew enough to look
rationally at anybody; and her obstinate persistence in leaving my
house before she was fit to go. And it was all I could do to induce
her to see me again. But her cousin was quite cordial, and now I may
claim to have established an easy footing at the house. But about
Evelyn Howard--don't, my dear aunt, if you have a spark of mercy,
require me to see her now."
* * * * *
A month passed by, and October, in glorious tints of autumnal beauty,
shed its light over the city. In a handsome drawing-room on Brooklyn
Heights sat Weldon Gardner and Lina Dent. The young girl wore a soft
white dress, and her figure was replete with roseate health and beauty.
The young physician was pleading strongly and earnestly, gazing into the
eloquent eyes before him as if his very life hung upon their favor.
"But I know so little of you, Dr. Gardner," was her remonstrance in
answer to his ardent suit, "true you have earned my life-long
gratitude--"
"Don't mention that, if you have any regard for me," he interrupted, in
a sort of disdain.
"Yes," she urged, "I must mention it. To you I owe my life, and perhaps,
my reason. Of course I know you in all points of family, position, and
professional success; but your own true self--how can I know that you
will secure my happiness? Is there nothing you can tell me of yourself
which will reassure me?"
And the bright, honest look of her eyes robbed her plain words all
possible sting.
"First, tell me that you love me," he argued, "let me know that it would
be sweet to you to place your happiness in my keeping. At least you can
do this. You know if you love me."
She listened with averted look.
"And if I confess that I love you," she said at length, in a low voice;
"if I do this, would it not be mockery to learn, when too late, that I
had made a mistake?"
"But, in heaven's name, Lina, what can you mean? Why do you doubt me?
What is there to tell? I could have no secrets--"
Then there rushed to his memory with a force that sent the blood to his
brow and almost took his breath, the conviction that he _had_ a
secret from her--that he _was_ deceiving her--that it was unmanly
to seek her love with a lie on his lips. For a brief season his
engagement had been forgotten, or ignored. He had hugged to his breast
with unreasoning apathy the theory that the present was enough to
consider--that the future must care for itself--that once his promised
wife, Lina Dent should be his if all the world conspired against it. But
now came the hated thought that Evelyn Howard stood between him and the
precious one who had been his day-star since the night when he had
nursed her back to life.
Starting up, he strode back and forth, not noting the pale cheeks and
startled eyes of the girl who watched him in ill-repressed anxiety.
At length, sitting down beside her, he seized her soft fingers with a
grasp of which he was hardly aware. Then instantly relaxing the rigor
of his clasp, he pleaded:
"Let me hold this pure little hand while I confess to you, my only love,
that your clear eyes have read my soul--that I have deceived you--that
I love you beyond all else this world contains; but that the most cruel
fate man ever before suffered, keeps me from you, unless, indeed, your
love will help me to remove the barrier."
And while the young girl listened, with drooping head, he told her of
his hated engagement--of the painful circumstances that had betrayed him
into compliance.
"But I never dreamed of this sort of Nemesis! I could not have been in
my senses to thus barter my freedom forever."
Slowly withdrawing her hand, the girl said, still in the same low tones:
"And you do not love your betrothed?"
"Love her?" he echoed. "I tell you, Lina, I have never even seen her.
Her people have been abroad for an age. She was in New York a few weeks
ago and, I understand, took offense at my continued absence from her
side, and went back to England. This is what she left for me;" and
plunging his hand into his breast pocket he selected from his note-case
a fragrant little billet-doux, formally desiring Dr. Gardner to explain
his strange conduct at his leisure--that the next opportunity granted
him of seeing Evelyn Howard must be of his own seeking.
There was a pause after the reading of this aggrieved, dignified little
message.
"And can you, as a gentleman of honor, reconcile your neglect of the
writer?" asked Lina Dent, in a voice in which a cadence of scorn
involuntarily sounded.
"Honor! Can't you see that honor was what kept me from her? Such honor
as a man feels when he knows that he is poised between a Scylla and a
Charybdis of desperate fatality?"
"There can be but one answer to all this, Dr. Gardner," the girl replied
with proud dignity. "It would ill become me to sit in judgment on you
after what I have received at your hands; but you will acknowledge that
it was cruelly inconsiderate to seek my love while a barrier such as
this existed. How do I know that you will not love your betrothed after
you have seen her?"
"Love her--love any other than you, my beautiful, peerless one? Do not
torture me with such a supposition. I care nothing for Evelyn Howard;
I do not know her; I do not care to know her; nor is she in the least
dependent upon me for happiness. She has vast wealth, and can command
whatever fate she chooses."
"But wealth cannot buy happiness," she sadly replied, "and our course
is clear. I can see you no more till you have met your betrothed and
received your dismissal--or,"--and her clear cheek paled again--"made up
your mind to fulfill your promise to her. Farewell! I thank you for your
unwise devotion to me, but I can see you no more."
"Oh, Lina, do not doom me to this total separation. Why it seems an
eternity. Where and when can I see you again? Why didn't I go to that
girl when she was here? Fool, coward that I was! And now I cannot leave
New York. Grant me some respite, my love--I cannot live without you!"
But much as she sympathized with him she was firm; and when Weldon
Gardner left the house, with despair tugging at his heart, the only ray
of sunshine that pierced the gloom was the conviction that she did love
him--that should anything occur to separate them forever, her heart
would plead strongly for him, and her love would strive with his to
overcome the barrier.
* * * * *
Months went by, and still Evelyn Howard eluded Weldon Gardner's pursuit.
Bitterly was he punished for his culpable neglect of her. In vain he
wrote letters urging her to come to New York. She was traveling with
friends and declined to change her course. He followed her to London,
to Paris. In vain! She was ever just before him on his journey: always
missing, never meeting him. Then he wrote to Lina Dent, beseeching her
to relent, since he had done all in his power to carry out her wishes.
She did not reply. Then in sullen despair he gave up the pursuit. He
carefully avoided going out except to see patients, declined all
invitations, and took solitary refuge in the stern exactions of duty.
As the year drew to a close he noticed in the list of arrivals from
Europe, Miss Evelyn Howard and her party; and among the personals he saw
that the beautiful Miss Howard would appear at Governor B's reception on
the next evening. He had received cards to this party, and now, with the
fierce desire to end his torture reawakened, he prepared to accept the
invitation. As he entered the brilliant rooms his eye fell upon the form
and face of Lina Dent, attired in an exquisite costume, and looking far
more radiant than in his wildest dreams he had ever pictured her.
Feasting upon her loveliness, with eyes hungry in their wistfulness, he
was about to approach her when she suddenly looked toward him and their
eyes met. He caught the quick flash of feeling; he knew that he was
still beloved! But even as he drank in the delicious confirmation of his
hopes, she passed him without recognition, and he knew that she would
not break her vow--that she would not meet him till he had fulfilled her
conditions. Too miserable to seek Miss Howard in the throng, the young
physician pleaded an urgent call to a patient, and left his host almost
before he had fairly entered upon the festivities.
One evening, soon after the last fearful disappointment, Dr. Gardner
received a note asking him to come to a certain number on Fifth Avenue,
and there he should meet Evelyn Howard. She inferred that he had had
ample time to learn if he really desired to form her acquaintance, and
she was ready now to see him.
Tearing the paper to atoms in sudden irritation and setting his teeth,
the young physician was soon at the appointed place, an elegant
brown-stone mansion, quite familiar to his eyes in his drives about
the city.
He was not left long in suspense. There was a sound of rapid steps
descending the stairs, with a frou-frou of silken skirts, and in a
moment Lina Dent stood before him, her face aglow with a proud light
he had never seen there, and her hands extended in glad welcome.
"You, Lina! You here? You have relented? This is too much happiness!"
Catching both soft white hands in his, he bent his lips to them, full of
the rapture he could not speak. He forgot to wonder why she was there.
He forgot everything but the love in her eyes and the joyous ring of her
voice.
Ere they could be seated the door again opened and admitted an elderly
lady, who approached smiling.
"My dear aunt!" exclaimed the young lover. "You, too? This _is_ a
surprise! What does it all mean? How did you get here, and when?"
The ladies stood smiling at each other and gazing upon him with a
significance that indeed clamored for explanation.
"Weldon, is it possible you do not guess?" asked his aunt.
"What? Why, what do you mean? I am all bewildered!" he exclaimed,
looking from one to the other till a faint glimmer of the truth began
to appear through the mists.
"Stupid boy!" again emphasized the lady, "whom did you come here to
see?"
Quickly glancing at the beautiful, radiant, still-smiling face of the
young girl, and then at the impressive features of the elder lady,
Weldon Gardner, with bated breath and a dazed expression in his startled
eyes, exclaimed:
"You--are--Evelyn Howard--you?"
"Exactly so. Doctor Gardner--Evelina Dent Howard--at your service!"
As she spoke, she placed her hand in his, and asked, in the liquid tones
whose cadences he so well remembered, "Have you been punished enough for
your unknightly scorn of the girl you condemned without trial?"
"Oh, forgive!" he pleaded, drawing her to a seat beside him. "I see it
all now. What a dolt you must have thought me! How could you ever have
tolerated me?"
"There is the conspirator," archly said Evelyn, pointing to Mrs. Duke.
"She it was who enabled me to deceive you. I wrote to her immediately
upon leaving your house for my cousin's, in Brooklyn, and she at once
devised the scheme that I have found so hard to carry out. Meanwhile,
she never lost sight of you."
It was long before the necessary explanations were exhausted, and when
the new day dawned no happier man proudly entered upon his duties than
did Weldon Gardner.
* * * * *
It is upon a soft September afternoon that we last see Dr. Gardner and
his lovely wife. Within a snug little arbor beside the lake in Central
Park the two sit side by side, watching the idly-floating pleasure
crafts, and noting the lazy ripples of the green wavelets. Their hearts
grow tender with a mighty love that finds no language in which to clothe
itself.
Every blessing of life is theirs; every cadence that affection knows
makes harmony in their words. Gayly-dressed children pass by, some with
toy balloons, bounding into air. Evelyn shuddered at even this tiny
reminder of her reckless adventure, and clinging to her husband's arm,
blesses him and the day that confided her to his keeping. Accident had
tested his noble nature as the ordinary course of events never could
have done; and now was fulfilled the last wish of his parents, that in
Evelyn Howard should Weldon Gardner find the glory of heaven's last,
best gift to man.