Dropping his valise, his whole manner changing, he turned to her with pa.s.sionate vehemence. "Because I couldn"t help it! Even as a boy I gave up my whole heart to you, and I cannot call it back. Oh, Elsie, why did I ever see you?" and he seized both her hands in a grasp that almost forced a cry of pain from her white, quivering lips. "Life is worthless without you. I"d rather die knowing that you loved me than live to see you in the possession of another."
"Harold, Harold, a sister"s love I can, I do give you; and can you not be content with that?"
"A sister"s love!" he repeated scornfully. "Offer a cup with a drop of water in it, to a man perishing, dying with thirst. Yes, I"m going away, I care not whither; all places are alike to him who has lost all interest in life."
He threw her hands from him almost with violence, half turned away, then suddenly catching her in his arms, held her close to his heart, kissing pa.s.sionately, forehead, cheek, and lips. "Oh, Elsie, Elsie, light of my eyes, core of my heart, why did we ever meet to part like this? I don"t blame you. I have been a fool. Good-bye, darling." And releasing her, he was gone ere she could recover breath to speak. It had all been so sudden she had had no power, perhaps no will, to resist, so sore was the tender, loving heart for him.
He was barely in time to hail the boat as it pa.s.sed, and at the instant he was about to step aboard, Mr. Dinsmore rode up, and springing from the saddle, throwing the reins to his servant, cried out in astonishment, "Harold! you are not leaving us? Come, come, what has happened to hurry you away? Must you go?"
"Yes, I must," he answered with half-averted face. "Don"t call me a scoundrel for making such a return for your hospitality. I couldn"t help it. Good-bye. Try to forget that I"ve been here at all; for Rose"s sake, you know."
He sprang into the boat; it pushed off, and was presently lost to sight among the trees shading the bayou on either hand.
Mr. Dinsmore stood for a moment as if spellbound; then turned and walked thoughtfully towards the house. "What did it all mean?" he asked himself; "of what unkind return of his or Elsie"s hospitality could the lad have been guilty? Elsie! ha! can it be possible?" and quickened his pace, glancing from side to side in search of her as he hurried on.
Entering the hall, the sound of a half-smothered sob guided him to a little parlor or reception-room seldom used. Softly he opened the door.
She was there half-reclining upon a sofa, her face buried in the cushions.
In a moment he had her in his arms, the weary, aching head on his breast, while he tenderly wiped away the fast-falling tears.
"My poor darling, my poor little pet, don"t take it so to heart. It is nothing; he will probably get over it before he is a month older."
"Papa, is it my fault? did I give him undue encouragement? am I a coquette?" she sobbed.
"Far from it! did he dare to call you that?"
"No, no, oh, no; he said he did not blame me; it was all his own folly."
"Ah! I think the better of him for that; though "twas no more than just."
"I thought he knew of my engagement."
"So did I. And the absurdity of the thing! Such a mixture of relationships as it would have been! I should never have entertained the thought for a moment. And he ought to have spoken to me first, and spared you all this.
No, you needn"t fret; he deserves all he suffers, for what he has inflicted upon you, my precious one."
"I hardly think that, papa; he was very generous to take all the blame to himself; but oh, you have eased my heart of half its load. What should I ever do without you, my own dear, dear father!"
The pleasure of our friends, during the rest of their stay at Viamede, was somewhat dampened by this unfortunate episode, though Elsie, for her father"s sake, did her best to rally from its effect on her spirits, and to be cheerful and gay as before.
Long, bright, loving letters from home, and Ion coming the next day, were a great help. Then the next day brought a chaplain, who seemed in all respects so well suited to his place as to entirely relieve her mind in regard to the future welfare of her people. He entered into all her plans for them, and promised to carry them out to the best of his ability.
So it was with a light heart, though not without some lingering regrets for the sad ones and the loveliness left behind, that she and her father set out on their homeward way.
Mr. Dinsmore"s man John, Aunt Chloe, and Uncle Joe, went with them; and it was a continual feast for master and mistress to see the happiness of the poor old couple, especially when their grandchild Dinah, their only living descendant so far as they could learn, was added to the party; Elsie purchasing her, according to promise, as they pa.s.sed through New Orleans on their return trip.
Dinah was very grateful to find herself installed as a.s.sistant to her grandmother, who, Elsie said, must begin to take life more easily now in her old age. Yet that Aunt Chloe found it hard to do, for she was very jealous of having any hands but her own busied about the person of her idolized young mistress.
A glad welcome awaited them at home, where they arrived in due season for Adelaide"s wedding.
Sophie and Harry Carrington had returned from their wedding trip, and were making their home with his parents, at Ashlands; Richard, Fred, and May Allison, came with their brother Edward; but Harold, who was to meet them at Roselands, was not there. He had engaged to act as second groomsman, Richard being first, and there was much wondering over his absence; many regrets were expressed, and some anxiety was felt.
But Elsie and her father kept their own counsel, and breathed no word of the episode at Viamede, which would have explained all.
Harold"s coming was still hoped for by the others until the last moment, when Fred took his place, and the ceremony pa.s.sed off as satisfactorily as if there had been no failure on the part of any expected, to partic.i.p.ate in it.
It took place in the drawing-room at Roselands, in presence of a crowd of aristocratic guests, and was considered a very grand affair. A round of parties followed for the next two weeks, and then the happy pair set sail for Europe.
CHAPTER NINTH.
"My plots fall short, like darts which rash hands throw With an ill aim, and have too far to go."
--SIR ROBERT HOWARD.
"I"m so glad it"s all over at last!"
"What, my little friend?" and Mr. Travilla looked fondly into the sweet face so bright and happy, where the beauties of rare intellect and moral worth were as conspicuous as the lesser ones of exquisite contour and coloring.
"The wedding and all the accompanying round of dissipation. Now I hope we can settle down to quiet home pleasures for the rest of the winter."
"So do I, and that I shall see twice as much of you as I have of late. You can have no idea how I missed you while you were absent. And I am more than half envious of our bride and groom. Shall our trip be to Europe, Elsie?"
"Are we to take a trip?" she asked with an arch smile.
"That will be as you wish, dearest, of course."
"I don"t wish it now, nor do you, I know; but we shall have time enough to settle all such questions."
"Plenty; I only wish we had not so much. Yet I don"t mean to grumble; the months will soon slip away and bring the time when I may claim my prize."
They were riding towards the Oaks; the sun had just set, and the moon was still below the horizon.
Elsie suddenly reined in her horse, Mr. Travilla instantly doing likewise, and turned a pale, agitated face upon him. "Did you hear that?" she asked low and tremulously.
"What, dear child? I heard nothing but the sound of our horses" hoofs, the sighing of the wind in the tree-tops, and our own voices."
"I heard another; a muttered oath and the words, "You shall never win her.
I"ll see to that." The tones were not loud but deep, and the wind seemed to carry the sounds directly to my ear," she whispered, laying a trembling little hand on his arm, and glancing nervously from side to side.
"A trick of the imagination, I think, dearest; but from whence did the sounds seem to come?"
"From yonder thicket of evergreens and--I knew the voice for that of your deadly foe, the man from whom you and papa rescued me in Landsdale."
"My child, he is expiating his crime in a Pennsylvania penitentiary."
"But may he not have escaped, or have been pardoned out? Don"t, oh don"t, I entreat you!" she cried, as he turned his horse"s head in the direction of the thicket. "You will be killed."
"I am armed, and a dead shot," he answered, taking a revolver from his breast pocket.