You always stood transfigured in my eyes. You, Teresa, were in my mind something perfect--a bright, brilliant being unlike any other. Whether you were really what I believed you mattered not so far as the effect upon me was concerned. You were at once a real and an ideal being. I believed in you, and believe in you yet.
"I was not a lover; I was a devotee. My feelings toward you are such as Dante describes his feelings toward his Beatrice. My love is tender and reverential. I exalt you to a plane above my own. What I say may sound extravagant to you, but it is actual fact with me. Why it should be so I can not tell. I can only say--I am so made.
"We part, and I leave you; but I shall be like Dante, I suppose, and as the years pa.s.s, instead of weakening my love they will only refine it and purify it. You will be to me a guardian angel, a patron saint--your name shall always mingle with my prayers. Is it impious to name your name in prayer? I turn away from you because I would rather suffer than do wrong. May I not pray for my darling?"
"I don"t know what to do," said Mrs. Thornton, wearily. "Your power over me is fearful. Lama, I would do any thing for your sake. You talk about your memories; it is not for me to speak about mine. Whether you idealize me or not, after all, you must know what I really am."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "SHE WAS WEEPING. DESPARD FOLDED HER IN HIS ARMS."]
"Would you be glad never to see me again?"
The hand which Despard held trembled.
"If you would be happier," said she.
"Would you be glad if I could conquer this love of mine, and meet you again as coolly as a common friend?"
"I want you to be happy, Lama," she replied. "I would suffer myself to make you happy."
She was weeping. Despard folded her in his arms.
"This once," said he, "the only time, Little Playmate, in this life."
She wept upon his breast.
"[Greek: Teleutaion aspasmon domen]" said Despard, murmuring in a low voice the opening of the song of the dead, so well known, so often song, so fondly remembered--the song which bids fare-well to the dead when the friends bestow the "last kiss."
He bent down his head. Her head fell. His lips touched her forehead.
She felt the beating of his heart; she felt his frame tremble from head to foot; she heard his deep-drawn breathing, every breath a sigh.
"It is our last farewell," said he, in a voice of agony.
Then he tore himself away, and, a few minutes later, was riding from the village.
CHAPTER LX.
CONCLUSION.
A month pa.s.sed. Despard gave no sign. A short note which he wrote to Brandon announced his arrival at London, and informed him that important affairs required his departure abroad.
The cottage was but a small place, and Brandon determined to have Langhetti conveyed to the Hall. An ambulance was obtained from Exeter, and on this Langhetti and Edith were taken away.
On arriving at Brandon Hall Beatrice found her diary in its place of concealment, the memory of old sorrows which could never be forgotten.
But those old sorrows were pa.s.sing away now, in the presence of her new joy.
And yet that joy was darkened by the cloud of a new sorrow. Langhetti was dying. His frail form became more and more attenuated every day, his eyes more l.u.s.trous, his face more spiritual. Down every step of that way which led to the grave Edith went with him, seeming in her own face and form to promise a speedier advent in that spirit-world where she longed to arrive. Beside these Beatrice watched, and Mrs. Thornton added her tender care.
Day by day Langhetti grew worse. At last one day he called for his violin. He had caused it to be sent for on a previous occasion, but had never used it. His love for music was satisfied by the songs of Beatrice. Now he wished to exert his own skill with the last remnants of his strength.
Langhetti was propped up by pillows, so that he might hold the instrument. Near him Edith reclined on a sofa. Her large, l.u.s.trous eyes were fixed on him. Her breathing, which came and went rapidly, showed her utter weakness and prostration.
Langhetti drew his bow across the strings.
It was a strange, sweet sound, weak, but sweet beyond all words--a long, faint, lingering tone, which rose and died and rose again, bearing away the souls of those who heard it into a realm of enchantment and delight.
That tone gave strength to Langhetti. It was as though some unseen power had been invoked and had come to his aid. The tones came forth more strongly, on firmer pinions, flying from the strings and towering through the air.
The strength of these tones seemed to emanate from some unseen power; so also did their meaning. It was a meaning beyond what might be intelligible to those who listened--a meaning beyond mortal thought.
Yet Langhetti understood it, and so did Edith. Her eyes grew brighter, a flush started to her wan cheeks, her breathing grew more rapid.
The music went on. More subtle, more penetrating, more thrilling in its mysterious meaning, it rose and swelled through the air, like the song of some unseen ones, who were waiting for newcomers to the Invisible land.
Suddenly Beatrice gave a piercing cry. She rushed to Edith"s sofa. Edith lay back, her marble face motionless, her white lips apart, her eyes looking upward. But the lips breathed no more, and in the eyes there no longer beamed the light of life.
At the cry of Beatrice the violin fell from Langhetti"s hand, and he sank back. His face was turned toward Edith. He saw her and knew it all.
[Ill.u.s.tration: LANGHETTI DREW HIS BOW ACROSS THE STRINGS.]
He said not a word, but lay with his face turned toward her. They wished to carry her away, but he gently reproved them.
"Wait!" he murmured. "In a short time you will carry away another also.
Wait."
They waited.
An hour before midnight all was over. They had pa.s.sed--those pure spirits, from a world which was uncongenial to a fairer world and a purer clime.
They were buried side by side in the Brandon vaults. Frank then returned to London. Mrs. Thornton went back to Holby. The new rector was surprised at the request of the lady of Thornton Grange to be allowed to become organist in Trinity Church. She offered to pension off the old man who now presided there. Her request was gladly acceded to. Her zeal was remarkable. Every day she visited the church to practice at the organ. This became the purpose of her life. Yet of all the pieces two were performed most frequently in her daily practice, the one being the Agnus Dei; the other, the [Greek: teleutaion aspasmon] of St. John Damascene. Peace! Peace! Peace!
Was that cry of hers unavailing? Of Despard nothing was known for some time. Mr. Thornton once mentioned to his wife that the Rev. Courtenay Despard had joined the Eleventh Regiment, and had gone to South Africa.
He mentioned this because he had seen a paragraph stating that a Captain Despard had been killed in the Kaffir war, and wondered whether it could by any possibility be their old friend or not.
At Brandon Hall, the one who had been so long a prisoner and a slave soon became mistress.
The gloom which had rested over the house was dispelled, and Brandon and his wife were soon able to look back, even to the darkest period of their lives, without fear of marring their perfect happiness.
THE END.