After, as it were, a race for life, the breathless competitors seemed to
welcome the restful change, and the sleep that came almost unalloyed by
the mental pangs which had left their marks upon the brows of young and
old. And swift tides came and went with the calms and storms of the
western coast, but somehow all seemed to tell of rest and peace.
It was a year after Victor Pradelle had been placed in what Sergeant
Parkins facetiously termed one of her Majesty's boarding-schools, under
a good master, that John Van Heldre wrote the following brief letter in
answer to one that was very long, dated a month previous to the
response, and bearing the post-mark of the Straits Settlements:--
"Harry Vine,--I quite appreciate what you say regarding your long
silence. I am too old a man to believe in a hasty repentance forced on
by circumstances. Hence, I say, you have done wisely in waiting a year
before writing as fully as you have. George and Luke Vine have always
been to me as brothers. You know how I felt toward their son. I say to
him now, you are acting wisely, and I am glad that you have met such a
friend as Richard Leslie.
"Certainly: stay where you are, though there is nothing to fear now from
the law, I guarantee that. The years soon roll by. I say this for all
our sakes.
"As to the final words of your letter--one of my earliest recollections
is that of my little hands being held together by one whom you lost too
soon in life. Had your mother lived your career might have been
different. What I was taught as my little hands were held together, I
still repeat: `As we forgive them that trespass against us.' Yes. Some
day I hope to give you in the flesh that which I give you in spirit
now--my hand."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Six more years had passed before a broad-shouldered, bronzed, and
bearded man--partner in the firm of Leslie and Vine, Singapore and
Penang--grasped John Van Heldre's hand, and asked him a question to
which the old merchant replied: "Yes, all is forgiven and forgotten now.
If you can win her: yes."
But the days glided on and the question was not asked. Uncle Harry was
constantly on the beach or down on the rocks with the two little
prattling children of Duncan Leslie and his wife, and Uncle Luke, who
seemed much the same, was rather disposed to be jealous of the favour in
which the returned wanderer stood; but he indulged in a pleasant smile
now and then, when he was not seen, and had taken to a habit of stopping
his nephew on the beach at unexpected times, and apparently for no
reason whatever.
The question was not asked, for Aunt Marguerite, who had taken to her
bed for the past year, was evidently fading fast. As Dr Knatchbull
said, she had been dying for months, and it was the state of her health
which brought her nephew back to England, to find his old sins forgotten
or forgiven, a year sooner than he had intended.
By slow degrees the vitality had passed from the old woman step by step,
till the brain alone remained bright and clear. She was as exacting as
ever, and insisted upon her bed being draped with flowers and lace and
silk, and her one gratification was to be propped up, with a fan in one
nerveless hand and a scent-bottle in the other, listening to the reading
of some old page of French history, over which she smiled and softly
nodded her head.
One day Harry was down near the harbour talking to Poll Perrow, whose
society he often affected, to the old woman's great delight, when
Madelaine Van Heldre came to him hastily.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked excitedly.
She bowed her head, and for the moment could not speak.
"Aunt Marguerite?"
"Yes. I was reading to her, and you know her way, Harry; half mockingly
she was telling me that I should never gain the pure French accent, when
she seemed to change suddenly, and gasped out your name. Louie had not
gone home; I was relieving her, as I often do now, and she is with her
aunt. Leslie has gone to fetch Mr Vine, who is down on the shore with
Uncle Luke."
A few minutes later Harry was in the old lady's room, the doctor making
way for him to approach the bed, about which the rest of the family were
grouped.
"There," she said sharply, "you need not wait. I want to speak to
Harry."
He bent down to place his arm beneath the feeble neck, and she smiled up
at him with the ruling passion still strong even in death, and her words
came very faintly; but he heard them all:
"Remember, Harry, the hope of our family rests on you. We are the Des
Vignes, say what they will. Now marry--soon--some good, true woman, one
of the _Haute Noblesse_."
"Yes, aunt, I will."
An hour later she was peacefully asleep.
"Closed in death," said Harry Vine as he laid his hand reverently across
the withered lids; "but her eyes must be open now, father, to the
truth."
There was to be a quiet little dinner at Leslie's about a fortnight
later, and after a walk down through the churchyard, the party were
going up the steep cliff-path. Leslie and his handsome young wife were
on ahead; the old men coming slowly toiling on behind as Harry stopped
with Madelaine in the well-known sheltered niche.
They stood gazing out at the sea, stretching as it were into infinity,
and as they gazed they went on with their conversation, talking calmly
of the quaint old lady's prejudices and ways.
"Did you hear her last last words?" said Harry gravely.
"Yes."
The look which accompanied the answer was frank and calm. It seemed to
lack emotion, but there was a depth of patient truth and trust therein
which told of enduring faith.
"She would have me marry soon--some good, true woman, one of the _Haute
Noblesse_."
"Yes; it would be better so."
"I have loved one of the _Haute Noblesse_ for seven years as a weak,
foolish boy--seven years as a trusting man--and she has not changed.
Maddy, is my reward to come at last?"
As Madelaine placed her hands calmly in those extended to her she seemed
without emotion still; but there was a joyous light in her brightening
eyes, and then a deep flush suffused her cheeks as two words were spoken
by one of the trio of old men who had slowly toiled up towards where
they stood. "Thank God!"