With the night passed the storm which had rendered it so gloomy, and
the fair cold day shone upon a world shrouded in icy cerements; a
hushed, windless world, as full of glittering rime-runes as the
frozen fields of Jotunheim. Each tree and shrub seemed a springing
fountain, suddenly crystallized in mid-air, and not all the mediæval
marvels of Murano equalled the fairy fragile tracery of fine spun,
glassy web, and film, and fringe that stretched along fences, hung
from eaves, and belaced the ivy leaves that lay helpless on the
walls. A blanched waning moon, a mere silver crescent, shivered upon
the edge of the western horizon, fleeing before the scarlet and
orange lances that already bristled along the eastern sky-line, the
advance guard of the conqueror, who would ere many moments smite all
that weird icy realm with consuming flames. The very air seemed
frozen, and refused to vibrate in trills and roulades through the
throaty organs of matutinal birds, that hopped and blinked, plumed
their diamonded breasts, and scattered brilliants enough to set a
tiara; and profound silence brooded over the scene, until rudely
broken by a cry of dismay which rang out startlingly from the
parsonage. The alarm might very readily have been ascribed to
diligent Hannah, who, contemptuous of barometric or thermal
vicissitudes, invariably adhered to the aphorism of Solomon, and,
arising "while it is yet night, looketh well to the ways of her
household."
With a broom in one hand, and feather dusting-brush in the other, she
ran down the front steps, her white cap strings flying like distress
signals,--bent down to the ground as a blood-hound might in scenting
a trail,--then dashed back into the quiet old house, and uttered a
wolfish cry:
"Robbers! Burglars! Thieves!"
Oppressed with compassionate reflections concerning the fate of his
visitor, the minister had found himself unable to sleep as soundly as
usual, and from the troubled slumber into which he sank after
daylight he was aroused by the unwonted excitement that reigned in
the hall, upon which his apartment opened. While hastily dressing,
his toilette labours were expedited by an impatient rap which only
Hannah's heavy hand could have delivered. Wrapped in his
dressing-gown he opened the door, saying benignly:
"Is there an earthquake or a cyclone? You thunder as if my room were
Mount Celion. Is any one dead?"
"Some one ought to be! The house was broken open last night, and the
silver urn is missing. Shameless wretch! This comes of mysteries and
veiled women, who are too modest to, look an honest female in the
face, but----!"
"Oh, Hannah I that tongue of thine is more murderous than Cyrus'
scythed chariots! Here is your urn! I put it away last night, because
I saw from the newspapers that a quantity of plate had recently been
stolen. Poor Hannah! don't scowl so ferociously because I have
spoiled your little tragedy. I believe you are really sorry to see
the dear old thing safe in defiance of your prophecy."
Mrs. Lindsay came downstairs laughing heartily, and menacing irate
Hannah with the old-fashioned urn, which had supplied three
generations with tea.
"Is that the sole cause of the disturbance?" asked the master,
stooping to pat Biörn, who was dancing a tarantella on the good man's
velvet slippers.
Somewhat crestfallen the woman seized the urn, began to polish it
with her apron, and finally said sulkily:
"I beg pardon for raising a false alarm, but indeed it looked
suspicious and smelled of foul play, when I found the library window
wide open, two chairs upside down on the carpet,--mud on the
window-sill, the inkstand upset,--and no urn on the sideboard. But as
usual I am only an old fool, and you, sir, and Miss Elise know best I
am very sorry I roused you so early with my racket."
"Did you say the library window wide open? Impossible; I distinctly
recollect closing the blinds, and putting down the sash before I went
to bed. Elise, were you not with me at the time?"
"Yes, I am sure you secured it, just before bidding me goodnight."
"Well--no matter, facts are ugly, stubborn things. Now you two just
see for yourselves, what I found this morning."
Hannah hurried them into the library, where a fire had already been
kindled, and her statement was confirmed by the disarranged
furniture, and traces of mud on the window-sill and carpet. The
inkstand had rolled almost to the hearth, scattering its contents
_en route_, and as he glanced at his desk the minister turned pale.
The secret drawer which opened with a spring had been pulled out to
its utmost extent, and he saw that the tin box he had so carefully
locked the previous night was missing. Some _MSS_ were scattered
loosely in the drawer, and the purse filled with gold coins, a
handsomely set miniature, and heavy watch chain with seal attached,
all lay untouched, though conspicuously alluring to the cupidity of
burglars. Bending over his rifled sanctuary, Mr. Hargrove sighed,
and a grieved look settled on his countenance.
"Peyton, do you miss anything?"
"Only a box of papers."
"Were they valuable?"
"Pecuniarily no;--at least not convertible into money. In other
respects, very important."
"Not your beautiful sermons, I hope," cried his sister, throwing one
arm around his neck, and leaning down to examine the remaining
contents of the drawer.
"They were more valuable, Elise, than many sermons, and some cannot
be replaced."
"But how could the burglars have overlooked the money and jewellery?"
Again the minister sighed heavily, and, closing the drawer, said:
"Perhaps we may discover some trace in the garden."
"Aye, sir,--I searched before I raised an uproar, and here is a
handkerchief that I found under that window, on the violet bed. It
was frozen fast to the leaves."
Hannah held it up between the tips of her fingers, as if fearful of
contamination, and eyed it with an expression of loathing. Mr.
Hargrove took it to the light and examined it, while an unwonted
frown wrinkled his usually placid brow. It was a dainty square of
finest cambric, bordered with a wreath of embroidered lilies, and in
one corner exceedingly embellished "O O" stared like wide wondering
eyes, at the strange hands that profaned it.
"Do you notice what a curious, outlandish smell it has? It struck my
nostrils sharper than hartshorn when I picked it up. No rum-drinking,
tobacco-smoking burglar in breeches dropped that lace rag."
Hannah set her stout arms akimbo, and looked "unutterable things" at
the delicate fabric, that as if to deprecate its captors was all the
while breathing out deliciously sweet but vague hints,--now of
eglantine, and now of that subtle spiciness that dwells in daphnes,
and anon plays hide-and-seek in nutmeg geranium blooms.
Reluctance to admission of the suspicion of unworthiness in others is
the invariable concomitant of true nobility of soul in all pure and
exalted natures,--and with that genuine chivalry, which now, alas! is
welnigh as rare as the _aumônière_ of pilgrims, the pastor bravely
cast around the absent woman the broad, soft ermine of his tender
charity.
"Hannah, if your insinuations point to the lady who called here last
night, I can easily explain the suspicious fact of the handkerchief,
which certainly belongs to her; for the room was close, and my
visitor, having raised that window and leaned out for fresh air,
doubtless dropped her handkerchief without observing the loss."
"Do the initials '_O O_' represent her name?" asked Mrs. Lindsay,
whose adroitly propounded interrogatories the previous evening had
elicited no satisfactory information.
"Do not ladies generally stamp their own monograms when marking
articles that compose their wardrobes?" He put the unlucky piece of
cambric in his pocket, and pertinacious Hannah suddenly stooped and
dealt Biörn a blow, which astonished the spectators even more than
the yelping recipient, who dropped something at her feet and crawled
behind his master.
"You horrid, greedy pest! Are you in league with the thieves, that
you must needs try to devour the signs and tell-tales they dropped in
the track of their dirty work? It is only a glove this time, sir, and
it was all crumpled, just so,--where I first saw it, when I ran out
to hunt for footprints. It was hanging on the end of a rose bush,
yonder near the snowball, and you see it was rather too far from the
window here to have fallen down with the handkerchief. Look, Miss
Elise, your hands are small, but this would pinch even your fingers."
She triumphantly lifted a lady's kid glove, brown in colour and
garnished with three small oval silver buttons, the exact mate of one
which Mr. Hargrove had noticed the previous evening, when the visitor
held up the ring for his inspection. Exulting in the unanswerable
logic of this latest fact, Hannah quite unintentionally gave the
glove a scornful toss, which caused it to fall into the fireplace,
and down between two oak logs, where it shrivelled instantaneously.
Unfortunately science is not chivalric, and divulges the unamiable
and ungraceful truth, that perverted female natures from even the
lower beastly types are more implacably vindictive, more subtly
malicious, more ingeniously cruel than the stronger sex; and when a
woman essays to track, to capture, or to punish--_vae victis_.
"Now, Biörn! improve your opportunity and heap coals of fire on
slanderous Hannah's head, by assuring her you feel convinced she did
not premeditatedly destroy traces, and connive at the escape of the
burglars, by burning that most important glove, which might have
aided us in identifying them."
As Mr. Hargrove caressed his dog, he smiled, evidently relieved by
the opportune accident; but Mrs. Lindsay looked grave, and an
indignant flush purpled the harsh, pitiless face of the servant,
who sullenly turned away, and busied herself in putting the
furniture in order.
"Peyton, were the stolen papers of a character to benefit that
person,--or indeed any one but yourself, or your family?"
He knew the soft blue eyes of his sister were watching him keenly,
saw too that the old servant stood still, and turned her head to
listen, and he answered without hesitation:
"The box contained the deed to a disputed piece of property, those
iron and lead mines in Missouri,--and I relied upon it to establish
my claim."
"Was the lady who visited you last night in any manner interested in
that suit, or its result?"
"Not in the remotest degree. She cannot even be aware of its
existence. In addition to the deed, I have lost the policy of
insurance on this house, which has always been entrusted to me and I
must immediately notify the company of the fact and obtain a
duplicate policy. Elise, will you and Hannah please give me my
breakfast as soon as possible, that I may go into town at once?"
Walking to the window, he stood for some moments, with his hands
folded behind him, and as he noted the splendour of the spectacle
presented by the risen sun shining upon temples and palaces of ice,
prism-tinting domes and minarets, and burnishing after the similitude
of silver stalactites and arcades which had built themselves into
crystal campaniles, more glorious than Giotto's,--the pastor said:
"The physical world, just as God left it,--how pure, how lovely, how
entirely good;--how sacred from His hallowing touch! Oh that the
world of men and women were half as unchangingly true, stainless, and
holy!"
An hour later he bent his steps,--not to the lawyer's, nor yet to the
insurance office, but to the depot of the only railroad which passed
through the quiet, old-fashioned, and comparatively unimportant town
of V----.
The station agent was asleep upon a sofa in the reception-room, but
when aroused informed Dr. Hargrove that the down train bound south
had been accidentally detained four hours, and instead of being "on
time," due at eleven p.m., did not pass through V---- until after
three a.m. A lady, corresponding in all respects with the minister's
description, had arrived about seven on the up train, left a small
valise, or rather traveller's satchel, for safe keeping in the
baggage-room; had inquired at what time she could catch the down
train, signifying her intention to return upon it, and had hired one
of the carriages always waiting for passengers, and disappeared.
About eleven o'clock she came back, paid the coachman, and dismissed
the carriage; seemed very cold, and the agent built a good fire,
telling her she could take a nap as the train was behind time, and he
would call her when he heard the whistle. He then went home, several
squares distant, to see one of his children who was quite ill, and
when he returned to the station and peeped into the reception-room to
see if it kept warm and comfortable not a soul was visible. He
wondered where the lady could have gone at that hour, and upon such a
freezing night, but sat down by the grate in the freight-room, and
when the down train blew for V---- he took his lantern and went out,
and the first person he saw was the missing lady. She asked for her
satchel, which he gave her, and he handed her up to the platform, and
saw her go into the ladies' car.
"Had she a package or box, when she returned and asked for her
satchel?"
"I did not see any, but she wore a waterproof of grey cloth that came
down to her feet. There was so much confusion when the train came in
that I scarcely noticed her, but remember she shivered a good deal,
as if almost frozen."
"Did she buy a return ticket?"
"No, I asked if I should go to the ticket office for her, but she
thanked me very politely, and said she would not require anything."
"Can you tell me to what place she was going?"
"I do not know where she came from, nor where she went. She was most
uncommonly beautiful."
"Are the telegraph wires working south?"
"Why bless you, sir! they are down in several places, from the weight
of the ice, so I heard the station operator say, just before you came
in."
As Dr. Hargrove walked away, an expression of stern indignation
replaced the benign look that usually reigned over his noble
features, and he now resolutely closed all the avenues of compassion,
along which divers fallacious excuses and charitable conjectures had
marched into his heart, and stifled for a time the rigorous verdict
of reason.
He had known from the moment he learned the tin box was missing, that
only the frail, fair fingers of Minnie Merle could have abstracted
it, but justice demanded that he should have indisputable proof of
her presence in V---- after twelve o'clock, for he had not left the
library until that hour, and knew that the train passed through at
eleven.
Conviction is the pitiless work of unbiased reason, but faith is the
acceptance thereof, by will, and he would not wholly believe, until
there was no alternative. _Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus_, and
quite naturally Dr. Hargrove began to discredit the entire narrative
of wrongs, which had attained colossal proportions from her
delineation, and to censure himself most harshly for having suffered
this dazzling Delilah to extort from him a solemn promise of secrecy;
for, unworthy of sympathy as he now deemed her, his rigid rectitude
would not permit him to regard that unworthiness as sufficient
justification for abrogating his plighted word. Suspicious facts
which twelve hours before had been hushed by the soft spell of her
rich plaintive voice, now started up clamorous and accusing, and the
pastor could not avoid beholding the discrepancy between her pleas of
poverty and friendlessness, and the costly appearance of her
apparel,--coupled with her refusal to acquaint him with her means of
maintenance.
If, as she had averred, the stolen license was--with the exception of
his verbal testimony--the sole proof of her marriage, why was she not
satisfied with the copy given to her unless for some unrighteous
motive she desired to possess in order to destroy all evidence?
Surmise, with crooked and uncertain finger, had pointed to New
York--whose broad deep bosom shelters so many helpless human
waifs--as her probable place of destination, and had the
telegraph-wires been in successful operation he would have hazarded
the experiment of requesting her arrest at the terminus of the
railway; but this was impracticable, and each succeeding hour aided
in obliterating the only clue in his possession.
The universal observation of man, ages ago, simmered down and
crystallized into the adage, "Misfortunes never come singly;" and it
is here respectfully submitted--that startling episodes, unexpected
incidents quite as rarely travel alone. Do surprises gravitate into
groups, or are certain facts binary?
Sometimes for a quarter of a century the sluggish stream of life
oozes by, bearing no hint of deeds, or faces,--that perchance shed
glory, or perhaps lent gloom to the far past,--a past well-nigh
forgotten and inurned in the gathering grey of time,--and suddenly
without premonition, the slow monotonous current ripples and swells
into waves that bear to our feet fateful countenances, unwelcome as
grave-ghouls,--and the world grows garrulous of incidents that once
more galvanize the shrouded Bygone. For four years the minister had
received no tidings of those whom he had so reluctantly joined in the
bonds of wedlock, and not even a reminiscence of that singular bridal
party had floated into his quiet parsonage study; but within
twenty-four hours he seemed destined to garner a plentiful harvest of
disagreeable data for future speculation. He had not yet reached his
lawyer's office, when, hearing his name pronounced vociferously, Dr.
Hargrove looked around and saw the postmaster standing in his door
and calling on him to enter.
"Pardon me, my dear sir, for shouting after you so unceremoniously;
but I saw you were not coming in, and knew it would promote your
interest to pay me a visit. Fine day at last, after all the rain and
murky weather. This crisp, frosty air sharpens one's wits,--a sort of
atmospheric pumice, don't you see, and tempts me to drive a good
bargain. How much will you give for a letter that has travelled half
around the world, and had as many adventures as Robinson Crusoe, or
Madame Pfeiffer?"
He took from a drawer a dingy and much-defaced envelope, whose
address was rather indistinct from having encountered a oath on its
journey.
"Are you sure that it is for me?" asked the minister, trying to
decipher the uncertain characters.
"Are there two of your name? This is intended for Reverend Peyton
Hargrove of St. ---- Church -- V----, United States of America. It
was enclosed to me by the Postmaster-General, who says that it
arrived last week in the long-lost mail of the steamship _Algol_,
which you doubtless recollect was lost some time ago,--plying
between New York and Havre; It now appears that a Dutch sailing
vessel bound for Tasmania--wherever that may be; somewhere among the
cannibals, I presume--boarded her after she had been deserted by the
crew, and secured the mail bags, intending to put in along the
Spanish coast and land them, but stress of weather drove them so far
out to sea, that they sailed on to some point in Africa, and as the
postmasters in that progressive and enlightened region did not serve
their apprenticeship in the United States Postal Bureau, you perceive
that your document has not had 'despatch.' If salt water is ever a
preservative, your news ought not to be stale."
"Thank you. I hope the contents will prove worthy of the care and
labour of its transmission. I see it is dated Paris--one year ago,
nearly. I am much obliged by your kind courtesy. Good-day."
Dr. Hargrove walked on, and, somewhat disappointed in not receiving
a moiety of information by way of recompense, the postmaster added:
"If you find it is not your letter bring it back, and I will start it
on another voyage of discovery, for it certainly deserves to get
home."
"There is no doubt whatever about it. It was intended for me."
Unfolding the letter, he had glanced at the signature, and now
hurrying homeward, read as follows:
"PARIS, _February 1st_,
"REV. PEYTON HARGROVE,--Hoping that, while entirely ignorant of
the facts and circumstances, you unintentionally inflicted upon
me an incalculable injury, I reluctantly address you with
reference to a subject fraught with inexpressible pain and
humiliation. Through your agency the happiness and welfare of my
only child, and the proud and unblemished name of a noble family,
have been wellnigh wrecked; but my profound reverence for your
holy office, persuades me to believe that you were unconsciously
the dupe of unprincipled and designing parties. When my son
Cuthbert entered ---- University, he was all that my fond heart
desired, all that his sainted mother could have hoped, and no
young gentleman on the wide Continent gave fairer promise of
future usefulness and distinction; but one year of demoralizing
association with dissipated and reckless youths undermined the
fair moral and intellectual structure I had so laboriously
raised, and in an unlucky hour he fell a victim to alluring
vices. Intemperance gradually gained such supremacy that he was
threatened with expulsion, and to crown all other errors he was,
while intoxicated, inveigled into a so-called marriage with a
young but notorious girl, whose only claim was her pretty face,
while her situation was hopelessly degraded. This creature,
Minnie Merle, had an infirm grandmother, who, in order to save
the reputation of the unfortunate girl, appealed so adroitly to
Cuthbert's high sense of honour, that her arguments, emphasized
by the girl's beauty and helplessness, prevailed over reason,
and--I may add--decency and one day when almost mad with brandy
and morphine he consented to call her his wife. Neither was of
age, and my son was not only a minor (lacking two months of being
twenty), but on that occasion was utterly irrational and
irresponsible, as I am prepared to prove. They intended to
conceal the whole shameful affair from me, but the old
grandmother--fearing that some untoward circumstance might mar
the scheme of possessing the ample fortune she well knew my boy
expected to control--wrote me all the disgraceful facts,
imploring my clemency, and urging me to remove Cuthbert from
associates outside of his classmates, who were dragging him to
ruin. If you, my dear sir, are a father (and I hope you are),
paternal sympathy will enable you to realize approximately the
grief, indignation, almost despairing rage into which I was
plunged. Having informed myself through a special agent sent to
the University of the utter unworthiness and disreputable
character of the connection forced upon me, I telegraphed for
Cuthbert, alleging some extraneous cause for requiring his
presence. Three days after his arrival at home, I extorted a full
confession from him, and we were soon upon the Atlantic. For a
time I feared that inebriation had seriously impaired his
intellect, but, thank God! temperate habits and a good
constitution finally prevailed, and when a year after we left
America Cuthbert realized all that he had hazarded during his
temporary insanity, he was so overwhelmed with mortification and
horror that he threatened to destroy himself. Satisfied that he
was more 'sinned against, than sinning,' I yet endeavoured to
deal justly with the unprincipled authors of the stain upon my
family, and employed a discreet agent to negotiate with them, and
to try to effect some compromise. The old woman went out to
California; the young one refused all overtures, and for a time
disappeared, but, as I am reliably informed, is now living in New
York, supported no one knows exactly by whom. Recently she has
made an imperious demand for the recognition of a child, who she
declares shall one day inherit the Laurance estate; but I have
certain facts in my possession which invalidate this claim, and
if necessary can produce a certificate to prove that the birth of
the child occurred only seven months after the date of the
ceremony, which she contends made her Cuthbert's wife. She
rejects the abundant pecuniary provision which has been
repeatedly offered, and in her last impertinent and insanely
abusive communication, threatens a suit to force the
acknowledgment of the marriage, and of the child, stating that
you, sir, hold the certificate or rather the license warranting
the marriage, and that you will espouse and aid in prosecuting
her iniquitous claims. My son is now a reformed and comparatively
happy man, but should this degrading and bitterly repented
episode of his collage life be thrust before the public, and
allowed to blacken the fair escutcheon we are so jealously
anxious to protect, I dread the consequences. Only horror of a
notorious scandal prevented me long ago from applying for a
divorce, which could very easily have been obtained, but we
shrink from the publicity, and moreover the case does not seem to
demand compliance with even the ordinary forms of law. Believing
that you, my dear sir, would not avow yourself _particeps
criminis_ in so unjust and vile a crusade against the peace and
honour of my family were you acquainted with the facts, I have
taken the liberty of writing you this brief and incomplete
_résumé_ of the outrages perpetrated upon me and mine, and must
refer you for disgraceful details to my agent, Mr. Peleg Peterson
of Whitefield, ---- Co., ----. Hoping that you will not add to
the injury you have already inflicted, by further complicity in
this audacious scheme of fraud and blackmail,
"I am, dear sir, respectfully
An afflicted father,
RENÉ LAURANCE.
"P.S.--Should you desire to communicate with me, my address for
several months will be, Care of the American Legation, Paris."
How many men or women, with lives of average length and incident,
have failed to recognize, nay to cower before the fact, that all
along the highways and byways of the earthly pilgrimage they have
been hounded by a dismal _cortége_ of retarded messages,--lost
opportunities,--miscarried warnings,--procrastinated prayers,--dilatory
deeds,--and laggard faces,--that howl for ever in their shuddering
ears--"Too late." Had Dr. Hargrove received this letter only
twenty-four hours earlier, the result of the interview on the
previous night would probably have been very different; but
unfortunately, while the army of belated facts--the fatal Grouchy
corps--never accomplish their intended mission, they avenge they
failure by a pertinacious presence ever after that is sometimes
almost maddening.
An uncomfortable consciousness of having been completely overreached
did not soften the minister's feelings toward the new custodian of
his tin box, and an utter revulsion of sentiment ensued, wherein
sympathy for General René Laurance reigned supreme. Oh instability of
human compassion! To-day at the tumultuous flood, we weep for Cæsar
slain; To-morrow in the ebb, we vote a monument to Brutus.
Ere the sun had gone down behind the sombre frozen firs that fringed
the hills of V---- Dr. Hargrove had written to Mr. Peleg Peterson,
desiring to be furnished with some clue by which he could trace
Minnie Merle, and Hannah had been despatched to the post office, to
expedite the departure of the letter.
Weeks and months passed, tearful April wept itself away in the
flowery lap of blue-eyed May, and golden June roses died in the fiery
embrace of July, but no answer came; no additional information
drifted upon the waves of chance, and the slow stream of life at the
parsonage once more crept silently and monotonously on.
"Some griefs gnaw deep. Some woes are hard to bear.
Who knows the Past? and who can judge us right?"