Had she followed the bent of her inclinations she would not have left her pillow that day, but remembering Victor"s words, "Unless I see it"s killing you," she felt the necessity of exerting herself, of wearing the semblance of happiness at least, and about noon she had arisen and dressed herself with the utmost care, twining geranium leaves in her hair just as she used to do when going to see Arthur, and letting them droop from among her braids in the way he had told her was so becoming. Then, with flushed cheeks and bright, restless eyes, she went down to Richard, receiving his caresses and partially returning them when she fancied Victor was where he could see her,
"Women are queer," he said again to himself, as he saw Edith on Richard"s knee, with her arm around his neck. "Their love is like a footprint on the seash.o.r.e; the first big wave washes it away, and they are ready to make another. I reckon I shan"t bother myself about her any more. If she loved Arthur as I thought she did, she couldn"t hug another one so soon. It isn"t nature--man nature, any way; but Edith"s like a reed that bends. That character of Cooper"s suits her exactly. I"ll call her so to myself hereafter--Reed that bends," and Victor hurried off, delighted with his new name.
But if Victor was in a measure deceived by Edith"s demeanor, Grace Atherton was not. Women distrust women sooner than men; can read each other better, detect the hidden motive sooner, and ere the two had been five minutes together, Grace had caught a glimpse of the troubled, angry current over which the upper waters rippled so smoothly that none save an accurate observer would have suspected the fierce whirlpool which lay just below the surface. Because, he thought, they would like it better, Richard left the two ladies alone at last and then turning suddenly upon Edith, Grace said,
"Tell me, Edith, is your heart in this or have you done it in a fit of desperation?"
"I have had a long time to think of it," Edith answered proudly.
"It is no sudden act. Richard is too n.o.ble to accept it if it were. I have always loved him,--not exactly as I loved Arthur, it is true."
Here the whirlpool underneath threatened to betray itself, but with a mighty effort Edith kept it down, and the current was unruffled as she continued,
"Arthur is nearer my age--nearer my beau ideal, but I can"t have him, and I"m not going to play the part of a love-lorn damsel for a married man. Tell him so when you write. Tell him I"m engaged to Richard just as he said I would be. Tell him I"m happy, too, for I know I"m doing right. It is not wicked to love Richard and it was wicked to love him."
It cost Edith more to say this than she supposed, and when she finished, the perspiration stood in drops beneath her hair and about her mouth.
"You are deceiving yourself," said Grace, who, without any selfish motive now, really pitied the hard, white-faced girl, so unlike the Edith of other days. "You are taking Richard from grat.i.tude, nothing else. Victor told me of your parentage, but because he saved your life, you need not render yours as a return. Your heart is not in this marriage."
"Yes, it is--all the heart I have," Edith answered curtly. Then, as some emotion stronger than the others swept over her, she laid her head upon the sofa arm and sobbed, "You are all leagued against me, but I don"t care. I shall do as I like, I have promised to marry Richard, and Edith Hastings never lied. She will keep her word," and in the eyes which she now lifted up, Grace saw the years glittering like diamonds.
Then a merry laugh burst from the lips of the wayward girl as she met Mrs. Atherton"s anxious glance, and running to the piano she dashed off most inspiriting waltz, playing so rapidly that the bright bloom came back, settling in a small round spot upon her cheek, and making her surpa.s.singly beautiful even to Grace, whose great weakness was an unwillingness to admit that another"s charms were superior to her own. When the waltz was ended Edith"s mood had changed, and turning to Grace she nestled closely to her, and twining one of the silken curls around her fingers, said coaxingly,
"You think me a naughty child no doubt, but you do not understand me. I certainly do love Richard more than you suppose; and Grace, I want you to help me, to encourage me. Engaged girls always need it, I guess, and Victor is so mean, he says all sorts of hateful things about my marrying my father, and all that. Perhaps the village people will do so, too, and if they do, you"ll stand up for me, won"t you? You"ll tell them how much I owe him--how much I love him, and, Grace," Edith"s voice was very low now, and sad, "and when you write to Arthur don"t repeat the hateful things I said before, but tell him I"m engaged; that I"m the Swedish baby; that I never shall forget him quite; and that I love Richard very much."
Oh, how soft and plaintive was the expression of the dark eyes now, as Edith ceased to speak, and pressed the hand which warmly pressed hers back, for Grace"s womanly nature was aroused by this appeal, and she resolved to fulfill the trust reposed in her by Edith. Instead of hedging her way with obstacles she would help her, if possible; would encourage her to love the helpless blind man, whose step was heard In the hall. He was coming to rejoin them, and instantly into Edith"s eyes there flashed a startled, shrinking look, such as the recreant slave may be supposed to wear when he hears his master"s step. Grace knew the feeling which prompted that look full well. She had felt it many a time, in an intensified degree, stealing over her at the coming of one whose snowy looks and gouty limbs had mingled many a year with the dust of Shannondale, and on her lips the words were trembling, "This great sacrifice must not be," when Edith sprang up, and running out into the hall, met Richard as be came.
Leading him into the parlor, and seating him upon the sofa, she aat beside him, holding his hand in hers, as if she thus would defy her destiny, or, at the least, meet it bravely. Had Grace known of Victor"s new name for Edith she too would have called her "Reed that bends," and as it was she thought her a most incomprehensible girl, whom no one could fathom, and not caring to tarry longer, soon took her leave, and the lovers were alone.
Arrived at home, Grace opened her writing desk and commenced a letter, which started next day for Florida, carrying to Arthur St.
Claire news which made his brain reel and grow giddy with pain, while his probed heart throbbed, and quivered, and bled with a fresh agony, as on his knees by Nina"s pillow he prayed, not that the cup of bitterness might pa.s.s from him--he was willing now to quaff that to its very dregs, but that Edith might be happy with the husband she had chosen, and that he, the desolate, weary Arthur might not faint beneath this added burden.
Five weeks went by--five weeks of busy talk among the villagers, some of whom approved of the engagement, while more disapproved.
Where was that proud Southerner? they asked, referring to Arthur St. Claire. They thought him in love with Edith. Had he deserted her, and so in a fit of pique she had given herself to Richard?
This was probably the fact, and the gossips, headed by Mrs.
Eliakim Rogers, speculated upon it, while the days glided by, until the five weeks were gone, and Edith, sitting in Grace"s boudoir, read, with eyes which had not wept since the day following her betrothal, the following extract from Arthur"s letter to his cousin:
"Richard and Edith! Oh! Grace, Grace! I thought I had suffered all that mortal man could suffer, but when that fatal message came, I died a thousand deaths in one, enduring again the dreadful agony when in the Deering woods I gave my darling up. Oh, Edith, Edith, Edith, my soul goes after her even now with a quenchless, mighty love, and my poor, bruised, blistered heart throbs as if some great giant hand were pressing its festered wounds, until I faint with anguish and cry out, "my punishment is greater than I can bear."
"Still I would not have it otherwise, if I could. I deserve it all, aye, and more, too. Heaven bless them both, Richard and his beautiful singing bird. Tell her so, Grace. Tell her how I blessed her for cheering the blind man"s darkness, but do not tell her how much it costs me to bid her, as I now do, farewell forever and ever, farewell."
It was strange that Grace should have shown this letter to Edith, but the latter coaxed so hard that she reluctantly consented, repenting of it however when she saw the effect it had on Edith.
Gradually as she read, there crept over her a look which Grace had never seen before upon the face of any human being--a look as if the pent-up grief of years was concentrated in a single moment of anguish too acute to be described. There were livid spots upon her neck--livid spots upon her face, while the dry eyes seemed fading out, so dull, and dim, and colorless they looked, as Edith read the wailing cry with which Arthur St. Claire bade her his adieu.
For several minutes she sat perfectly motionless, save when the muscles of her mouth twitched convulsively, and when the hard, terrible look gave way--the spots began to fade--the color came back to her cheeks--the eyes resumed their wonted brilliancy--the fingers moved nervously, and Edith was herself. She had suffered all she could, and never again would her palsied heart know the same degree of pain which she experienced when reading Arthur"s letter. It was over now--the worst of it. Arthur knew of her engagement--blessing her for it, and pitying he would not have it otherwise. The bitterness of death was past, and henceforth none save Grace and Victor suspected the worm which fed on Edith"s very life, so light, so merry, so joyous she appeared; and Edith was happier than she had supposed it possible for her to be. The firm belief that she was doing right, was, of itself, a source of peace, and helped to sustain her fainting spirits, still there was about her a sensation of disquiet, a feeling that new scenes would do her good, and as the summer advanced, and the scorching July sun penetrated even to the cool shades of Collingwood, she coaxed Richard, Grace and Victor to go away. She did not care where, she said, "anything for a change; she was tired of seeing the same things continually. She never knew before how stupid Shannondale was. It must have changed within the last few months."
"I think it was you who have changed," said Grace, fancying that she could already foresee the restless, uneasy, and not altogether agreeable woman, which Edith, as Richard"s wife, would a.s.suredly become.
Possibly Richard, too, thought of this, for a sigh escaped him as he heard Edith find fault with her beautiful home.
Still he offered no remonstrance to going from home awhile, and two weeks more found them at the Catskill Mountain House, where at first not one of the a.s.sembled throng suspected that the beautiful young maiden who in the evening danced like a b.u.t.terfly in their midst, and in the morning bounded up the rocky heights like some fearless, graceful chamois, was more than ward to the man who had the sympathy of all from the moment the whispered words went round, "He is blind."
Hour after hour would Edith sit with him upon the gra.s.s plat overlooking the deep ravine, and make him see with her eyes the gloriously magnificent view, than which there is surely none finer in all the world; then, when the looked toward the west, and the mountain shadow began to creep across the valley, the river, and the hills beyond, shrouding them in an early twilight, she would lead him away to some quiet sheltered spot, where un.o.bserved, she could lavish upon him the little acts of love she knew he so much craved and which she would not give to him when curious eyes were looking on. It was a blissful paradise to Richard, and when in after years he looked back upon the past, he always recurred to those few weeks as the brightest spot in his whole life, blessing Edith for the happiness she gave him during that season of delicious quiet spent amid the wild scenery of the Catskill Mountains.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE LAND OF FLOWERS.
It was the original plan for the party to remain two weeks or more at the Mountain House, and then go on to Saratoga, but so delighted were they with the place that they decided to tarry longer, and the last of August found them still inmates of the hotel, whose huge white walls, seen from the Hudson, stand out from the dark wooded landscape, like some mammoth snow bank, suggestive to the traveller of a quiet retreat and a cool shelter from the summer"s fervid heat. Edith"s health and spirits were visibly improved, and her musical laugh often rang through the house in tones so merry and gleeful that the most solemn of the guests felt their boyhood coming back to them as they heard the ringing laugh, and a softer light suffused their cold, stern eyes as they paused in the midst of some learned discussion to watch the frolicsome, graceful belle of the Mountain House--the bride elect of the blind man.
It was known to be so now. The secret was out--told by Victor, when closely questioned with regard to Edith"s relationship to Mr.
Harrington. It created much surprise and a world of gossip, but shielded Edith from attentions which might otherwise have been annoying, for more than Richard thought her the one of all others whose presence could make the sunshine of their life. But Edith was betrothed. The dun leaves of October would crown her a wife, and so one pleasant morning some half a score young men, each as like to the other as young men at fashionable places of resort are apt to be, kicked their patent leather boots against the pillars of the rear piazza, broke a part of the tenth commandment shockingly, muttered to themselves speeches anything but complimentary to Richard, and then, at the appearance of a plaid silk travelling dress and brown straw flat, rushed forward en ma.s.se, each contending frantically for the honor of a.s.sisting Miss Hastings to enter the omnibus, where Richard was already seated, and which was to convey a party to the glens of the Kauterskill Falls.
Edith had been there often. The weird wildness of the deep gorge suited her, and many an hour had she whiled away upon the broken rocks, watching the flecks of sunlight as they came struggling down through the overhanging trees, listening to the plaintive murmur of the stream, or gazing with delight upon the fringed, feathery falls which hung from the heights above like some long, white, gauzy ribbon. Richard, on the contrary, had never visited them before, and he only consented to do so now from a desire to gratify Edith, who acted as his escort in place of Victor. Holding fast to her hand he slowly descended the winding steps and circuitous paths, and then, with a sad feeling of helpless dependence, sat down upon the bank where Edith bade him sit, herself going off in girlish ecstasies as a thin spray fell upon her face and she saw above her a bright-hued rainbow, spanning the abyss.
"They are letting the water on," she cried, "Look, Richard! do look!" and she grasped his hand, while he said to her mournfully,
"Has Birdie forgotten that I am blind, and helpless, and old--that she must lead me as a child?"
There was a touching pathos in his voice which went straight to Edith"s heart, and forgetting the rainbow, she eat down beside him, still keeping his hand in hers, and asked what was the matter? She knew he was unusually disturbed, for seldom had she seen upon his face a look of so great disquiet. Suddenly as she remembered his unwillingness to come there alone, it flashed upon her that it might arise from an aversion to seem so dependent upon a weak girl in the presence of curious strangers. With Victor he did not mind it, but with her it might be different, and she asked if it were not so.
"Hardly that, darling; hardly that;" and the sightless eyes drooped as if heavy with unshed tears. "Edith," and he pressed the warm hand he held, "ours will be an unnatural alliance. I needed only to mingle with the world to find it so. People wonder at your choice--wonder that one so young as you should choose a battered, blasted tree like me round which to twine the tendrils of your green, fresh life."
"What have you heard?" Edith asked, half bitterly, for since their engagement was known at the hotel, she had more than once suspected the truth of what he said to her. The world did not approve, but she would not tell Richard that she knew it, and she asked again what he had heard.
"The ear of the blind is quick," he replied; "and as I sat waiting in the stage this morning I heard myself denounced as a "blind old Hunks," a selfish dog, who had won the handsomest girl in the country. Then, as we were descending to this ravine you remember we stopped at the foot of some stairs while you removed a brier from your dress, and from a group near by I heard the whispered words, "There they come--the old blind man, who bought his ward with money and grat.i.tude. "Twas a horrid sacrifice! Look how beautiful she is!" Darling, I liked to hear you praised, but did not like the rest. It makes me feel as if I were dragging you to the altar against your will. And what is worse than all, the verdict of the people here is the verdict of the world. Edith, you don"t want me. You cannot wish to call one husband whose dependence upon you will always make you blush for your choice. It was grat.i.tude alone which prompted your decision. Confess that it was, and I give you back your troth. You need not be the old blind man"s wife."
For an instant Edith"s heart leaped up, and the sun spots dancing on the leaves were brighter than she had ever seen them, but the feeling pa.s.sed away, and laying both her hands reverently in Richard"s, she said,
"I will be your wife. I care nothing for the world, and we won"t mingle in it any more to cause remarks. We"ll stay at Collingwood, where people know us best. Let"s go home to-morrow. I"m tired of this hateful place. Will you go?"
Ere Richard could answer, Grace Atherton was heard exclaiming,
"Ah, here you are, I"ve hunted everywhere. Mr. Russell," and she turned to the dark man at her side, "this is Mr. Harrington--Miss Hastings--Mr. Russell, from Tallaha.s.see." Edith did not at first think that Tallaha.s.see was in Florida, not many miles from Sunnybank, and she bowed to the gentleman as to any stranger, while Grace, who had just arrived in another omnibus, explained to her that Mr. Russell was a slight acquaintance of Arthur"s; that the latter being in town, and accidentally hearing that he was coming North, had intrusted him with some business matters, which would require his visiting Gra.s.sy Spring--had given him a letter of introduction to herself, said letter containing a note for Edith--that Mr. Russell had been to Shannondale, and ascertaining their whereabouts, had followed them, reaching the Mountain House in the morning stage.
"He can spend but one day here," she added, in conclusion, "and wishing him to see as much as possible of our northern grandeur I brought him at once to the Falls. Here is your note," and tossing it into Edith"s lap she moved away.
A note from Arthur! How Edith trembled as she held it in her hand, and with a quick, furtive glance at sightless eyes beside her, she raised the dainty missive to her lips, feeling a reproachful pang as she reflected that she was breaking her vow to Richard. Why had Arthur written to her--she asked herself this question many times, while Richard, too, asked,
"What news from Florida?" ere she broke the seal and read, not words of changeless and dark despair, but words of entreaty that for the sake of Nina, sick, dying Nina, she would come at once to Florida, for so the crazy girl had willed it, pleading with them the live-long day to send for Miggie, precious Miggie, with the bright, black eyes, which looked her into subjection, and the soft hands which drove the ugly pain away.
"All the summer," Arthur wrote, "she has been failing. The heat seems to oppress her, and several times I"ve been on the point of returning with her to the North, thinking I made a mistake in bringing her here, but she refuses to leave Sunnybank. Old sights and familiar places have a soothing effect upon her, and she is more as she used to be before the great calamity fell upon her.
Her disease is consumption, hereditary like her insanity, and as her physical powers diminish her mental faculties seem to increase. The past is not wholly a blank to her now; she remembers distinctly much that has gone by, but of nothing does she talk so constantly as of Miggie, asking every hour if I"ve sent for you-- how long before you"ll come; and if you"ll stay until she"s dead.
I think your coming will prolong her life; and you will never regret it, I am sure. Mr. Russell will be your escort, as he will return in three weeks."