Sir Philip Hastings, I have said, was reading a Greek book when Mr.
Short entered the library. His face was grave, and very stern; but all
traces of the terrible agitation with which he had quited the side of
his wife's death-bed, were now gone from his face. He hardly looked up
when the surgeon entered. He seemed not only reading, but absorbed by
what he read. Mr. Short thought the paroxysm of grief was passed, and
that the mind of Sir Philip Hastings, settling down into a calm
melancholy, was seeking its habitual relief in books. He knew, as
every medical man must know, the various whimsical resources to which
the heart of man flies, as if for refuge, in moments of great
affliction. The trifles with which some will occupy themselves--the
intense abstraction for which others will labor--the imaginations, the
visions, the fancies to which others again will apply, not for
consolation, not for comfort; but for escape from the one dark
predominant idea. He said a few words to Sir Philip then, of a kindly
but somewhat commonplace character, and the baronet looked up, gazing
at him across the candles which stood upon the library table. Had Mr.
Short's attention been particularly called to Sir Philip's
countenance, he would have perceived at once, that the pupils of the
eyes were strangely and unnaturally contracted, and that from time to
time a certain nervous twitching of the muscles curled the lip, and
indented the cheek. But he did not remark these facts: he merely saw
that Sir Philip was reading: that he had recovered his calmness; and
he judged that that which might be strange in other men, might not be
strange in him. In regard to what he believed the great cause of Sir
Philip's grief, his wife's death, he thought it better to say nothing;
but he naturally concluded that a father would be anxious to hear of a
daughter's health under such circumstances, and therefore he told him
that Emily was better and more composed.
Sir Philip made a slight, but impatient motion of the hand, but Mr.
Short went on to say, "As she was so severely and terribly affected,
Sir Philip, I have given Mistress Emily a composing draught, which has
already had the intended effect of throwing her into profound slumber.
It will insure her, I think, at least six, if not seven hours of calm
repose, and I trust she will rise better able to bear her grief than
she would be now, were she conscious of it."
Sir Philip mattered something between his teeth which the surgeon did
not hear, and Mr. Short proceeded, saying, "Will you permit me to
suggest, Sir Philip, that it would be better for you too, my dear sir,
to take something which would counteract the depressing effect of
sorrow."
"I thank you, sir, I thank you," replied Sir Philip, laying his hand
upon the book; "I have no need. The mind under suffering seeks
medicines for the mind. The body is not affected. It is well--too
well. Here is my doctor;" and he raised his hand and let it fall upon
the book again.
"Well then, I will leave you for to-night, Sir Philip," said the
surgeon; "to-morrow I must intrude upon you on business of great
importance. I will now take my leave."
Sir Philip rose ceremoniously from his chair and bowed his head;
gazing upon the surgeon as he left the room and shut the door, with a
keen, cunning, watchful look from under his overhanging eyebrows.
"Ha!" he said, when the surgeon had left the room, "he thought to
catch me--to find out what I intended to do--slumber!--calm, tranquil
repose--so near a murdered mother! God of heaven!" and he bent down
his head till his forehead touched the pages of the book, and remained
with his face thus concealed for several minutes.
It is to be remarked that not one person, with a single exception, to
whom the circumstances of Lady Hastings' death were known, even
dreamed of suspecting Emily. They all knew her, comprehended her
character, loved her, had faith in her, except her own unhappy father.
But with him, if the death of his unhappy wife were terrible, his
suspicions of his daughter were a thousand fold more so. To his
distorted vision a multitude of circumstances brought proof all
powerful. "She has tried to destroy her father," he thought, "and she
has not scrupled to destroy her mother. In the one case there seemed
no object. In the other there was the great object of revenge, with
others perhaps more mean, but not less potent. Try her cause what way
I will, the same result appears. The mother opposes the daughter's
marriage to the man she loves--threatens to frustrate the dearest wish
of her heart,--and nothing but death will satisfy her. This is, the
end then of all these reveries--these alternate fits of gloom and
levity. The ill balanced mind has lost its equipoise, and all has
given way to passion. But what must I do---oh God! what must I do?"
His thoughts are here given, not exactly as they presented themselves;
for they were more vague, confused, and disjointed; but such was the
sum and substance of them. He raised his head from the book and
looked up, and after thinking for a moment or two he said, "This
Josephus--this Jew--gives numerous instances, if I remember right, of
justice done by fathers upon their children--ay, and by the express
command of God. The priest of the Most High was punished for yielding
to human weakness in the case of his sons. The warrior Jephtha spared
not his best beloved. What does the Roman teach? Not to show pity to
those the nearest to us by blood, the closest in affection, where
justice demands unwavering execution. It mast be so. There is but the
choice left, to give her over to hands of strangers, to add public
shame, and public punishment to that which justice demands, or to do
that myself which they must inevitably do. She must die--such a
monster must not remain upon the earth. She has plotted against her
father's life--she has colleagued with his fraudulent enemies--she has
betrayed the heart that fondly trusted her--she has visited secretly
the haunts of a low, vulgar ruffian--she has aided and abetted those
who have plundered her own parents--she has ended by the murder of the
mother who so fondly loved her. I--I am bound, by every duty to
society, to deliver it from one, who for my curse, and its bane, I
brought into the world. She must be put to death; and no hand but mine
must do it."
He gazed gloomily down upon the table for several minutes, and then
paced the room rapidly with agony in every line of his face. He wrung
his hands hard together. He lifted up his eyes towards heaven, and
often, often, he cried out, "Oh God! Oh God! Is there no hope?--no
doubt?--no opening for pause or hesitation?"
"None, none, none," he said at length, and sank down into his chair
again.
His eye wandered round the room, as if seeking some object he
could not see, and then he murmured, "So beautiful--so young--so
engaging--just eighteen summers; and yet such a load of crime!"
He bent his head again, and a few drops of agony fell from his eyes
upon the table. Then clasping his forehead tight with his hand, he
remained for several minutes thoughtful and silent. He seemed to grow
calmer; but it was a deceitful seeming; and there was a wild,
unnatural light in his eyes which, notwithstanding all the apparent
shrewdness of his reasoning--the seeming connection and clearness of
his argument, would have shown to those expert in such matters, that
there was something not right within the brain.
At length he said to himself in a whisper, as if he was afraid that
some one should hear him, "She sleeps--the man said she sleeps--now is
the time--I must not hesitate--I must not falter--now is the time!"
and he rose and approached the door.
Once, he stopped for a moment--once, doubt and irresolution took
possession of him. But then he cast them off; and moved on again.
With a slow step, but firm and noiseless tread, he crossed the hall
and mounted the stairs. No one saw him: the servants were scattered:
there was no one to oppose his progress, or to say, "Forbear!"
He reached his daughter's room, opened the door quietly, went in, and
closed it. Then he gazed eagerly around. The curtains were withdrawn:
his fair, sweet child lay sleeping calmly as an infant. He could see
all around. Father and child were there. There was no one else.
Still he gazed around, seeking perhaps for something with which to do
the fatal deed! His eye rested on a packet of papers upon the table.
It contained those which Marlow had left with poor gentle Emily to
justify her to her father in case of need.
Oh, would he but take them up! Would he but read the words within!
He turns away--he steals toward the bed! Drop the curtain! I can write
no more. Emily is gone!