"Very well," he said, laughing; "supper shall wait for you."
The vicinity appeared as if never before visited, and there was an abundance of dead and decaying wood lying about. When she had secured a large quant.i.ty of this she came and sat down by the fire, and said, "I will take a little supper now, and then it will be so dark that we can signal in some other way."
"Madge," said Graydon, earnestly, "it has cut me to the heart to lie helplessly here and see you doing work so unsuitable."
"Nothing could be more suitable under the circ.u.mstances. You do think we shall be found soon? Oh, I"m so worried about you!"
"More, then, than I am about myself. I shall have to play invalid for some time. Won"t you be my nurse occasionally?"
"Yes, Graydon, all I can."
"Why, then, don"t worry about me at all. The prospect makes me fairly happy. Come, now, eat the whole of that sandwich."
She complied, looking thoughtfully into the fire meanwhile. By the light of the flickering blaze he saw the trouble and worry pa.s.s from her brow and the expression of her face grow as quiet and contented as that of a child"s. At last she said, "Well, this does seem cosey and companionable, in spite of everything. There, forgive me, Graydon; I forgot for the moment that you were in pain."
"Was I? I forgot it, too. Sitting there in the firelight, you suggested the sweetest picture I ever hope to see."
"You can"t be _in extremis_ when you begin to compliment."
"Don"t you wish to know what the picture was?"
"Oh, yes, if it will help you pa.s.s the time!"
"I saw you sitting by a hearth, and I thought, "If that hearth were mine it would be the loveliest picture the world had known." Now you see what an egotist I am. You look so enchanting in that firelight that I cannot resist--I would try so hard to be worthy of you, Madge.
Make your own terms again, as I said once to you before."
"My own terms?" she repeated, turning a sudden and searching glance upon him. "Then tell me, did you hear what I said this afternoon when I first found you?"
He hesitated a moment, and then said, firmly: "Yes, every word; but, Madge, you must not punish me for what I could not help. It would not be right."
"Could you hear me and yet--"
"I could hear you and yet could not move a muscle until you fainted, and then my intense mental excitement and solicitude must have broken the paralysis caused by the shock of my fall. Oh, Madge, look at me!
Only a false pride can come between us now. My love is not worthy to be compared with yours, but it is genuine, and it will--it _will_ last as long as I do. I shall bless this accident and all the pain I must suffer if they bring you to me."
She sprang to his side, and putting her arm around his neck said, "Graydon, on the evening after your return I told you I couldn"t be your sister. You know why now, and you uttered these words, "I shall have to take you as you are if I ever find out." I meant to win you if I could, but only by being such a girl as I thought you would love.
Now you know the mystery of the little ghost, and you can bring to me that "idiot" who didn"t return my love, as often as you choose."
"Thank Heaven for what I escaped! Thank G.o.d for what I have won!" he exclaimed.
"Won? Nonsense! _You_ have been won, not I. Oh, Graydon, wouldn"t you have been amazed and horrified if you had been told, years ago, that the little ghost would go deliberately to work to woo a man and take him from another girl? Think how dreadful it sounds! but you shall now know the worst."
"It"s music that will fill my life with gladness. How exquisitely fine your nature is, that you could do this with such absolute maidenly reserve! Suppose I had become Stella Wildmere"s bondman?"
"I should have gone back to Santa Barbara, and kept my secret."
"Horrible!"
"I said you knew all, but I am mistaken. Now, don"t be shocked back into your kind of unconsciousness again. I did another horrid thing.
I listened and learned about the plot by which Arnault meant to bring Miss Wildmere to a decision against you;" and she told him the circ.u.mstances, and what had pa.s.sed between herself and Henry.
His arm tightened around her almost convulsively. "Madge," he cried, "you have not only brought me happiness--you have saved me from a bitter, lifelong self-reproach far worse than poverty. How can I ever show sufficient devotion in return for all this?"
"By being sensible, and telling me how to make signals, now that it is as dark as it will be this moonlight night."
"Let me lean on you, as I ever shall figuratively hereafter. We will go down to the outlook you found, build another fire, and wave burning brands."
This was done. Henry Muir, who had grown very solicitous, saw their signals, and promptly organized a rescuing party. A wood-road led well up toward their position, and with the aid of some employes of the house he at last rescued them. Graydon was weak and exhausted from pain by the time he reached the hotel, yet felt that his happiness had been purchased at very slight cost. The next day he was taken to his city home, and Madge filled the days of his convalescence with such varied entertainment that he threatened to break his leg again. She had so trained her voice that she read or sang with almost tireless ease. To furnish home music, to shine in the light of her own hearth, had been the dream of her ambition; and to the man she had won she made that hearth the centre of the gentle force which controlled and blessed his life.
But little further remains to be said concerning the other characters of this story. The severe lesson received by Stella Wildmere had a permanent effect upon her character. It did not result in a very high type of womanhood, for the limitations of her nature scarcely permitted this; but it brought about decided changes for the better.
She was endowed with fair abilities and a certain hard, practical sense, which enabled her to see the folly of her former scheme of life. Blind, inconsiderate selfishness, which asked only, "What do I wish the present moment?" had brought humiliation and disaster, and, as her father had suggested, she possessed too much mind to repeat that blunder. She recognized that she could not ignore natural laws and duties and go very far in safety. Therefore, instead of querulousness and repining, or showing useless resentment toward her father for misfortunes which she had done nothing to avert, she stepped bravely and helpfully to his side, and amid all the chaos of the financial storm that was wrecking him he was happier than he had been for years. Her beloved jewelry, and everything that could be legally saved from their dismantled home, was disposed of to the best advantage. Then very modest apartments were taken in a suburb, and both she and her father began again. He obtained a clerkship at a small salary, and she aided her mother in making every dollar go as far as possible.
Arnault had thought, under the impulse of his pride, that he could renounce her forever, but found himself mistaken. She would not depart from such heart as he possessed, nor could he break the spell of her fascination. His interest grew so absorbing that he kept himself informed about the changes she was pa.s.sing through, and her manner of meeting them. As a result, his practical soul was filled with admiration, and he felt that she of all others would be the wife for a man embarked on the uncertain tides of Wall Street. At last he wrote to her and renewed his offer. The reply was characteristic.
"Your offer comes too late. If, instead of being one of the princ.i.p.al actors in that humiliating little drama of my life, you had stood by me patiently and faithfully, I would have given you at once my deepest grat.i.tude and, eventually, my love. I did not deserve such constancy, but I would have rewarded it to the extent of my ability. You thought I was mercenary. I was, and have been punished; but you forget that you made my mercenary spirit your ally, and kept me from becoming engaged to the man whom you well knew that I preferred. My regard for him is not so deep, however, but that I shall survive and face my altered fortunes bravely. If you had been kind to me during those bitter days--if you had kept my father from failure, instead of deserting him after he had done his best for you--he did do his best for you--I should have valued _you_ more than your wealth, and proved it by my life. I have since learned that I am not afraid of poverty, and that I must find truer friends."
Arnault, like so many others, turned from what "might have been" to his pursuit of gold, but it had lost its brightness forever.
An old admirer of Stella"s, a plain, st.u.r.dy business man, to whom she had scarcely given a thought in her palmy days, eventually renewed his attentions, and won as much love as the girl probably could have given to any one. By his aid she restored her father"s broken fortunes and established them on a modest but secure basis, and she proved to her husband a sensible wife, always recognizing that in promoting his best interests and happiness she secured her own.
Dr. Sommers is still the genial physician and the Izaak Walton of the Catskills. Mr. and Mrs. Wendall are "plodding toward home" with a resignation that is almost cheerful.
Henry Muir continues devoted to business, and his wife is devoted to him. He rarely permits a suitable opportunity to pa.s.s without remarking that the two sisters are the "most sensible women in the world."