"Go to them--let them see you, darling," she said; and, with Arthur as her escort, Edith went out into the midst of the sable group, who crowded around her, with blessings, prayers, tears and howlings indescribable, while many a hard, black hand grasped hers, as negro after negro called her "mistress," adding some word of praise, which showed how proud they were of this beautiful, queenly scion of the Bernard stock, which they had feared would perish with Nina. Now they would be kept together--they would not be scattered to the four winds, and one old negro fell on his knees, kissing Edith"s dress, and crying,
"Cato bresses yon for lettin" his bones rot on de ole plantation."
Edith was perplexed, for to her the discovery had only brought sweet images of sistership with Nina. Money and lands formed no part of her thoughts, and turning to Arthur she asked what it all meant.
Arthur did not reply at once, for he knew he held that which would effectually take away all right from Edith. After Nina, he was Mr.
Bernard"s chosen heir, but not for an instant did he waver in the course he should pursue, and when the interview was ended with the negroes, and Edith was again with Nina, he excused himself for a moment, but soon returned, bearing in his hand Mr. Bernard"s will, which he bade Edith read.
And she did read it, feeling intuitively as if her father from the grave were speaking to her, the injured Petrea"s child, and virtually casting her aside.
The tears gathered slowly in her eyes, dropping one by one upon the paper, which without a word she handed back to Arthur.
"What is it, Arthur boy?" Nina asked. "What is it that makes Miggie cry?"
Arthur doubted whether either of the girls would understand him if he entered into an explanation involving many technical terms, but he would do the best he could, and sitting down by Nina, he held her upon his bosom, while he said, "Does my little girl remember the time when I met her in Boston, years ago, and Charlie Hudson brought me papers from her father?"
"Yes," answered Nina; "there was one that had in it something about straight jackets, and when I read it, I hit my head against the bureau. It"s never been quite right since. Is this the letter that made Miggie cry?"
"No," returned Arthur. "This is your father"s will, made when he thought there was no Miggie. In it, I am, his heir after you, and Miggie hasn"t a cent."
"You may have mine, Miggie. Nina"ll give you hers, she will," and the little maiden made a movement toward Edith, while Arthur continued,
"Yon can"t, darling. It"s mine after you;" and this he said, not to inflict fresh pain on Edith, but to try Nina, and hear what she would say.
There was a perplexed, troubled look in her eyes, and then, drawing his head close to her, she whispered,
"Couldn"t you scratch it out, just as Richard did, only he didn"t.
That"s a good boy. He will, Miggie," and she nodded toward Edith, while Arthur rejoined,
"Would it please my child-wife very much to have me scratch it out?"
He had never called her thus before Edith until now, and he stole a glance at her to witness the effect. For an instant she was white as marble; then the hot blood seemed bursting from the small round spot where it had settled in her cheeks, and involuntarily she extended her hand toward him in token of her approval. She could not have rea.s.sured him better than by this simple act, and still retaining her hand, he went on,
"When I came to Florida, after Mr. Bernard"s death, my first step was to have the will proved, and consequently this sheet is now of very little consequence; but as you both will, undoubtedly, breathe more freely if every vestige of this writing is removed. I will destroy it at once, and, as soon as possible, take the legal steps for reinstating Edith."
Then releasing Edith"s hand, Arthur took the candle from the stand, and said to Nina,
"Have you strength to hold it?"
"Yes, yes," she cried, grasping it eagerly, while, with a hand far steadier than hers, Arthur held the parchment in the flame, watching as the scorched, brown flakes dropped upon the floor, nor sending a single regret after the immense fortune he was giving up.
It was done at last. The will lay crisped and blackened upon the carpet; Edith, in her own estimation was reinstated in her rights, and then, as if demanding something for the sacrifice, Arthur turned playfully to her, and winding his arm around her said,
"Kiss me once as a sister, for such you are, and once for giving you back your inheritance."
The kisses Arthur craved were given, and need we say returned!
Alas, those kisses! How they burned on Edith"s lips, making her so happy--and how they blistered on Arthur"s heart, making him doubt the propriety of having given or received them. His was the braver spirit now. He had buffeted the billow with a mightier struggle than Edith had ever known. Around his head a blacker, fiercer storm had blown than any she had ever felt, and from out that tumultuous sea of despair he had come a firmer, a better man, with strength to bear the burden imposed upon him. Were it not so he would never have sent for Edith Hastings--never have perilled his soul by putting himself a second time under her daily influence.
But he felt that there was that within him which would make him choose the right, make him cling to Nina, and so he wrote to Edith, meeting her when she came as friend meets friend, and continually thanking Heaven which enabled him to hide from everyone the festered wound, which at the sound of her familiar voice smarted and burned, and throbbed until his soul was sick and faint with pain.
The discovery of Edith"s parentage filled him with joy--joy for Nina, and joy because an opportunity was thus afforded him of doing an act unselfish to the last degree, for never for a single moment did the thought force itself upon him that possibly Edith might yet be his, and so the property come back to him again. He had given her up, surrendered her entirely, and Richard"s interests were as safe with him as his gold and silver could have been. Much he wished he knew exactly the nature of her feelings toward her betrothed, but he would not so much as question Victor, who, while noticing his calmness and self-possession, marvelled greatly, wondering the while if it were possible that Arthur"s love were really all bestowed on Nina. It would seem so, from the constancy with which he hung over her pillow, doing for her the thousand tender offices, which none but a devoted husband could do, never complaining, never tiring even when she taxed his good nature to its utmost limit, growing sometimes so unreasonable and peevish that even Edith wondered at his forbearance.
It was a whim of Edith"s not to write to Richard of her newly- found relationship. She would rather tell it to him herself, she said, and in her first letter, she merely mentioned the incidents of her journey, saying she reached Sunnybank in safety, that Nina was no better, that Mr. St. Claire was very kind, and Victor very homesick, while she should enjoy herself quite well, were it not that she knew he was so lonely without her. And this was the letter for which Richard waited so anxiously, feeling when it came almost as if he had not had any, and still exonerating his singing bird from blame, by saying that she could not write lovingly to him so long us she knew that Mrs. Matson must be the interpreter between them.
It was an odd-looking missive which he sent back and Edith"s heart ached to its very core as she saw the uneven handwriting, which went up and down, the lines running into and over each other, now diagonally, now at right angles, and again darting off in an opposite direction as he held his pencil a moment in his fingers and then began again. Still she managed to decipher it, and did not lose a single word of the message intended for Nina.
"Tell little Snowdrop the blind man sends her his blessing and his love, thinking of her often as he sits here alone these gloomy autumn nights, no Edith, no Nina, nothing but lonesome darkness.
Tell her that he prays she may get well again, or if she does not, that she may be one of the bright angels which make the fields of Jordan so beautiful and fair"
This letter Edith took to Nina one day, when Arthur and Victor had gone to Tallaha.s.see, and Mrs. Lamotte was too busy with her own matters to interrupt them. Nina had not heard of the engagement, for Arthur could not tell her, and Edith shrank from the task as from something disagreeable. Still she had a strong desire for Nina to know how irrevocably she was bound to another, hoping thus to prevent the unpleasant allusions frequently made to herself and Arthur. The excitement of finding a sister in Miggie, had in a measure overturned Nina"s reason again, and for many days after the disclosure she was more than usually wild, talking at random of the most absurd things, but never for a moment losing sight of the fact that Edith was her sister. This seemed to be the one single clear point from which her confused ideas radiated, and the love she bore her sister was strong enough to clear away the tangled web of thought and bring her at last to a calmer, more natural state of mind. There were hours in which no one would suspect her of insanity, save that as she talked childish, and even meaningless expressions were mingled with what she said, showing that the woof of her intellect was defective still, and in such a condition as this Edith found her that day when, with Richard"s letter in her hand, she seated herself upon the foot of the bed and said, "I heard from Richard last night. You remember him, darling?"
"Yes, he made me Arthur"s wife; but I wish he hadn"t for then you would not look so white and sorry."
"Never mind that," returned Edith, "but listen to the message he sent his little Snowdrop," and she read what Richard had written to Nina.
"I wish I could be one of those bright angels," Nina said, mournfully, when Edith finished reading; "but, Miggie, Nina"s so bad. I can think about it this morning, for the buzzing in my head is very faint, and I don"t get things much twisted, I reckon. I"ve been bad to Arthur a heap of times, and he was never anything but kind to me. I never saw a frown on his face or heard an impatient word, only that sorry look, and that voice so sad."
"Don"t, Nina, don"t.
"Even Dr. Griswold was not patient as Arthur. He was quicker like, and his face would grow so red. He used to shake me hard, and once he raised his hand, but Arthur caught it quick and said "No, Griswold, not that--not strike Nina," and I was tearing Arthur"s hair out by handfuls, too. That"s when I bit him. I told you once."
"Yes, I know," Edith replied; "but I wish to talk of something besides Arthur, now. Are you sure you can understand me?"
"Yes, it only buzzed like a honey-bee, right in here," and Nina touched the top of her head, while Edith continued.
"Did Arthur ever tell you who it was that fell into the Rhine?"
"Yes, Mrs. Atherton wrote, and I cried so hard, but he did not say your name was Eloise, or I should have guessed you were Miggie, crazy as I am."
"Possibly Grace did not so write to him," returned Edith; "but let me tell you of Edith Hastings as she used to be when a child;" and with the blue eyes of Nina fixed upon her, Edith narrated that portion of her history already known to the reader, dwelling long upon Richard"s goodness, and thus seeking to prepare her sister for the last, the most important part of all.
"After Arthur deceived me so," she said," I thought my heart would never cease to ache, and it never has."
"But it will--it will," cried Nina, raising herself in bed. "When I"m gone, it will all come right. I pray so every day, though it"s hard to do it sometimes now I know you are my sister. It would be so nice to live with you and Arthur, and I love you so much. You can"t begin to know," and the impulsive girl fell forward on Edith"s bosom sobbing impetuously, "I love you so much, so much, that it makes it harder to die; but I must, and when the little snow-birds come back to the rose bushes beneath the windows of Gra.s.sy Spring a great ways off, the hands that used to feed them with crumbs will be laid away where they"ll never tear Arthur boy"s hair any more. Oh, I wish they never had--I wish they never had," and sob after sob shook Nina"s delicate frame as she gave vent to her sorrow for the trial she had been to Arthur. Edith attempted to comfort her by saying, "He has surely forgiven you, darling; and Nina, please don"t talk so much of dying, Arthur and I both hope you will live yet many years."
"Yes, Arthur does," Nina rejoined quickly, "him praying so one night when he thought I was asleep--I make believe half of the time, so as to hear what he says when he kneels down over in that corner; and once, Miggie, a great while ago, it was nothing but one dreadful groan, except when he said, "G.o.d help me in this my darkest hour, and give me strength to drink this cup." But there wasn"t any cup there for I peaked, thinking maybe he"d go some of my nasty medicine, and it wasn"t dark, either for there were two candles on the mantel and they shone on Arthur"s face, which looked to me as if it were a thousand years old. Then he whispered, "Edith, Edith," and the sound was so like a wail that I felt my blood growing cold. Didn"t you hear him, Miggie, way off to the north; didn"t you hear him call? G.o.d did, and helped him, I reckon, for he got up and came and bent over me, kissing me so much, and whispering, "My wife, my Nina." It was sweet to be so kissed, and I fell away to sleep; but Arthur must have knelt beside me the livelong night, for every time I moved I felt his hand clasp mine. The next day he told me that Richard saved you from the river, and his lips quivered as if he feared you were really lost."
Alas! Nina had come nearer the truth than she supposed, and Edith involuntarily echoed her oft-repeated words, "Poor Arthur," for she knew now what had preceded that cry of more than mortal anguish which Arthur sent to Grace after hearing first of the engagement.
"Nina" she said, after a moment"s silence, "before that time of which you speak, there came a night of grief to me--a night when I wished that I might die, because Richard asked me to be his wife-- me, who looked upon him as my father rather than a husband. I can"t tell you what he said to me, but it was very touching, very sad, and my heart ached so much for the poor blind man."
"But you didn"t tell him yes," interrupted Nina. "You couldn"t.
You didn"t love him. It"s wicked to act a lie Miggie--as wicked as "tis to tell one. Say you told him no; it chokes me just to think of it."
"Nina," and Edith"s voice was low and earnest in its tone, "I thought about it four whole weeks and at last I went to Richard and said, "I will be your wife." I have never taken it back, I am engaged to him, and I shall keep my word. Were it not that you sent for me I should have been his bride ere this. I shall be his bride on New Year"s night."
Edith spoke rapidly, as if anxious to have the task completed, and when at last it was done, she felt that her strength was leaving her, so great had been the effort with which she told her story to Nina. Gradually as she talked Nina had crept away from her, and sitting upright in bed, stared at her fixedly, her face for once putting on the mature dignity of her years, and seeming older than Edith"s. Then the clear-minded, rational Nina spoke out, "Miggie Bernard, were you ten thousand times engaged to Richard, it shall not be. You must not stain your soul with a perjured vow, and you would, were this sacrifice to be. Your lips would say "I love,"
but your heart would belie the words, and G.o.d"s curse will rest upon you if you do Richard this cruel wrong. He does not deserve that you should deal so treacherously with him, and Miggie, I would far rather you were lying in the grave-yard over yonder, than to do this great wickedness. You must not, you shall not,"
and in the eyes of violet blue there was an expression beneath which the stronger eyes of black quailed as they had done once before, when delirium had set its mark upon them.