At last the clock struck eleven, and then Richard roused from his lethargy and said: "The next train for Olney pa.s.ses at twelve. I am going there, Harry--going after Ethie. You"ll see her coming back to-morrow."
Richard hardly knew why he was going back to Olney, unless it were from a wish to be near his own kith and kin in this hour of sorrow. He knew that Ethie had gone, and the Mrs. Amsden ruse was thrown out for the benefit of Harry, who, frightened at the expression of Richard"s face, did not dare to leave him alone until he saw him safely on board the train, which an hour later dropped him upon the slippery platform in Olney, and then went speeding on in the same direction Ethie once had gone.
Mrs. Markham"s candles were finished, and in straight even rows were laid away in the candle-box, the good woman finding to her great satisfaction that there were just ten dozen besides the slim little thing she had burned during the evening, and which, with a long, crisp snuff, like the steeple of a church, was now standing on the chair by her bed. The hash was chopped ready for breakfast, the coffee was prepared, and the kindlings were lying near the stove, where, too, were hanging to dry Andy"s stockings, which he had that day wet through. They had sat up later than usual at the farmhouse that night, for Melinda and her mother had been over there, and the boys had made mola.s.ses candy, and "stuck up" every dish and spoon, as Mrs. Markham said. Tim had come after his mother and sister, and as he had a good deal to say, the clock struck eleven before the guests departed, and Andy b.u.t.toned the door of the woodshed and put the nail over the window by the sink. Mrs. Markham had no suspicion of the trial in store for her, but for some cause she felt restless and nervous, and even scary, as she expressed it herself.
"Worked too hard, I guess," she thought, as she tied on her high-crowned, broad-frilled nightcap, and then as a last ch.o.r.e, wound the clock before stepping into bed.
It was nearly midnight, and for some little time she lay awake listening to the wind as it swept past the house, or screamed through the key-hole of the door. But she did not hear the night train when it thundered through the town; nor the gate as it swung back upon its hinges; nor the swift step coming up the walk; nor the tap upon her window until it was repeated, and Richard"s voice called faintly, "Mother, mother, let me in!"
Andy, who was as good as a watch-dog, was awake by this time, and with his window open was looking down at the supposed burglar, while his hand felt for some missile to hurl at the trespa.s.ser"s head. With a start, Mr. Markham awoke, and, springing up, listened till the voice said again, "Mother, mother, it"s I; let me in!"
The j.a.pan candlestick Andy had secured was dropped in a trice, and adjusting his trousers as he descended the stairs, he reached the door simultaneously with his mother, and pulling Richard into the hall, asked why he was there, and what had happened. Richard did not know for certain that anything had happened. "Ethie was most probably with Mrs.
Amsden. She would be home to-morrow," and Andy felt how his brother leaned against him and his hand pressed upon his shoulders as he went to the stove, and crouched down before it just as he had done in Camden.
The candle was lighted, and its dim light fell upon that strange group gathered there at midnight, and looking into each other"s faces with a wistful questioning as to what it all portended.
"It is very cold; make more fire," Richard said, shivering, as the sleet came driving against the window; and in an instant all the morning kindlings were thrust into the stove, which roared and crackled, and hissed, and diffused a sense of warmth and comfort through the shadowy room.
"What is it, Richard? What makes you so white and queer?" his mother asked, trying to pull on her stockings, and in her trepidation jamming her toes into the heel, and drawing her shoe over the bungle thus made at the bottom of her foot.
"Ethie was not there, and has not been since the night I left. She sold her piano, and took the money, and her trunk, and her clothes, and went to visit Mrs. Amsden."
This was Richard"s explanation, which Andy thought a mighty funny reason for his brother"s coming at midnight, and frightening them so terribly.
But his mother saw things differently. She knew there was something underlying all this--something which would require all her skill and energy to meet--and her face was almost as white as Richard"s as she asked, "Why do you think she has gone to Mrs. Amsden"s?"
"You told me so, didn"t you?" and Richard looked up at her in a bewildered, helpless way, which showed that all he knew upon the Amsden question was what she had said herself, and that was hardly enough to warrant a conclusion of any kind.
"Was there any reason why Ethelyn should go away?" she asked next, and Richard"s head dropped, and his eyes were cast down in shame, as he replied:
"Yes; we--quar--. We differed, I mean, the night before I went away, and I kept her from the masquerade, I would not let her go. I locked the door, and now she has gone--gone to Mrs. Amsden"s."
He persisted in saying that, as if he would fain make himself believe it against his better judgment.
"What is it all about? What does it mean?" Andy asked in great perplexity; and his mother answered for Richard:
"It means just this, as far as I can see: Ethelyn has got mad at Richard for keepin" her in, which he or"to have done long ago, and so, with her awful temper she has run away."
Mrs. Markham had defined it at last--had put into words the terrible thing which had happened, the disgrace which she saw coming upon them; and with this definition of it she, too, defined her own position with regard to Ethelyn, and stood bristling all over with anger and resentment, and ready to do battle for her son against the entire world.
"Mother! mother!" Andy gasped, and his face was whiter than Richard"s.
"It is not true. Ethie never went and done that--never! Did she, d.i.c.k?
Tell me! Speak! Has Ethie run away?"
Andy was down on one knee now, and looking into Richard"s face with a look which would almost have brought Ethie back could she have seen it.
Andy had faith in her, and Richard clung to him rather than to the mother in denouncing her so bitterly.
"I don"t know, Andy," he said, "I hope not. I think not. She must have gone to Mrs. Amsden"s. We will wait till morning and see."
The sound of voices had aroused both James and John, who, half-dressed, came down to inquire what had happened, and why d.i.c.k was there at that unseemly hour of the night. James" face was very pale as he listened, and when his mother spoke of the disgrace which would come upon them all, his hard fists were clenched for a moment, while he thought of Melinda, and wondered if with her it would make any difference. Both James and John had liked Ethelyn, and as the temper about which their mother talked so much had never been exhibited to them, they were inclined even now to take her part, and cautious John suggested that it might not be so bad as his mother feared. To be sure, he didn"t know how hard d.i.c.k and Ethie might have spatted it, or what had gone before; but anyway his advice would be to wait and see if she was not really at Mrs.
Amsden"s, or somewhere else. Richard let them manage it for him. He was powerless to act then, and stunned and silent he sat shivering by the stove, which they made red-hot with the blocks of wood they put in, hoping thus to warm him. There was no more sleep at the farmhouse that night, though James and John went back to bed, and Andy, too, crept up to his lonely room; but not to sleep. His heart was too full for that, and kneeling by his wooden chair, he prayed for Ethie--that she had not run away, but might be at Mrs. Amsden"s, where he was going for her himself the moment the morning broke. He had claimed this privilege, and his mother had granted it, knowing that many allowances would be made for whatever Andy might say, and feeling that, on this account, he would do better than either of his brothers. Richard, of course, could not go.
He scarcely had strength to move, and did not look up from his stooping posture by the stove, when, at day-dawn, Andy drew on his b.u.t.ternut overcoat, and tying a thick comforter about his neck, started for Mrs. Amsden"s.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE INVESTIGATION
Richard knew she was not there--at least all the probabilities were against it; and still he clung to the vague hope that Andy would bring him some good news, and his thoughts went after the brother whose every breath was a prayer, as he galloped over the snowy ground toward Mrs.
Amsden"s. They were early risers there, and notwithstanding the sun was just coming up the eastern sky, the family were at breakfast when Andy"s horse stopped before their gate, and Andy himself knocked at their door for admission. Andy"s faith was great--so great that, in answer to his pet.i.tions, he fully expected to see Ethie herself at the table, when the door was opened, and he caught a view of the occupants of the dining room; but no Ethie was there, nor had been, as they said, in answer to his eager questionings.
"What made you think she was here? When did she go away? Was she intending to visit me?" Mrs. Amsden asked.
But Andy, while praying that Ethie might be there, had also asked that if she were not, "he needn"t make a fool of himself, nor let the cat out of the bag," and he didn"t; he merely replied:
"She left home a few days ago. d.i.c.k was in St. Louis, and it was lonesome stayin" alone. I"ll find her, most likely, as she is somewhere else."
Andy was in his saddle now, and his fleet steed fled swiftly along toward home, where they waited so anxiously for him, Richard tottering to the window so as to read his fate in Andy"s tell-tale face.
"She is not there. I knew she was not. She has gone with that villain."
Richard did not mean to say that last. It dropped from him mechanically, and in an instant his mother seized upon it, demanding what he meant, and who was the villain referred to. Richard tried to put her off, but she would know what he meant, and so to her and his three brothers he told as little as he could and make any kind of a story, and as he talked his heart hardened toward Ethie, who had done him this wrong. It seemed a great deal worse when put into words, and the whole expression of Richard"s face was changed when he had finished speaking, while he was conscious of feeling much as he did that night when he denounced Ethie so terribly to her face. "Had it been a man, or half a man, or anybody besides that contemptible puppy, it would not seem so bad; but to forsake me for him!" Richard said, while the great ridges deepened in his forehead, and a hard, black look crept into his eyes, and about the corners of his mouth. He was terrible in his anger, which grew upon him until even his mother stood appalled at the fearful expression of his face.
"He would do nothing to call her back," he said, when James suggested the propriety of trying in a quiet way to ascertain where she had gone.
"She had chosen her own path to ruin, and she might tread it for all of him. He would not put forth a hand to save her and if she came back, he never could forgive her."
Richard was walking up and down the room, white with rage, as he said this, and Andy, cowering in a corner, was looking on and listening. He did not speak until Richard declared his incapacity for forgiving Ethie, when he started up, and confronting the angry man, said to him rebukingly:
"Hold there, old d.i.c.k! You have gone a leetle too far. If G.o.d can forgive you and me all them things we"ve done, which he knows about, and other folks don"t, you can, or or"to forgive sister Ethie, let her sin be what it may. Ethie was young, d.i.c.k, and childlike, and so pretty, too, and I "most know you aggravated her some, if you talked to her as you feel now; and then, too, d.i.c.k, and mother, and all of you, I don"t care who says it, or thinks it, it"s a big lie! Ethie never went off with a man--never! I know she didn"t. She wasn"t that kind. I"ll swear to it in the court. I won"t hear anybody say that about her. I"ll fight "em, first, even if "twas my own kin who did it!" And in his excitement, Andy began to shove back his wrist-bands from his strong wrists, as if challenging someone to the fight he had threatened.
Andy was splendid in his defense of Ethie, and both James and John stepped up beside him, showing their adhesion to the cause he pleaded so well. Ethie might have ran away, but she had surely gone alone, they said, and their advice was that Richard should follow her as soon as possible. But Richard would not listen to such a proposition now, and quietly aided and abetted by his mother, he declared his intention of "letting her alone." She had chosen her course, he said, and she must abide by it. "If she has gone with that villain"--and Richard ground his teeth together--"she can never again come back to me. If she has not gone with him, and chooses to return, I do not say the door is shut against her."
Richard seemed very determined and unrelenting, and, knowing how useless it was to reason with him when in so stern a mood, his brothers gave up the contest, Andy thinking within himself how many, many times a day he should pray for Ethie that she might come back again. Richard would not return to Camden that day, he said. He could not face his acquaintance there until the first shock was over and they were a little accustomed to thinking of the calamity which had fallen upon him. So he remained with his mother, sitting near the window which looked out upon the railroad track over which Ethie had gone. What his thoughts were none could fathom, save as they were expressed by the dark, troubled expression of his face, which showed how much he suffered. Perhaps he blamed himself as he went over again the incidents of that fatal night when he kept Ethelyn from the masquerade; but if he did, no one was the wiser for it, and so the first long day wore on, and the night fell again upon the inmates of the farmhouse. The darkness was terrible to Richard, for it shut out from his view that strip of road which seemed to him a part of Ethie. She had been there last, and possibly looked up at the old home--her first home after her marriage; possibly, too, she had thought of him. She surely did, if, as Andy believed, she was alone in her flight. If not alone, he wanted no thoughts of hers, and Richard"s hands were clenched as he moved from the darkening window, and took his seat behind the stove, where he sat the entire evening, like some statue of despair, brooding over his ruined hopes.
The next day brought the Joneses--Melinda and Tim--the latter of whom had heard from Mrs. Amsden"s son of Andy"s strange errand there. There was something in the wind, and Melinda came to learn what it was. Always communicative to the Jones family, Mrs. Markham told the story without reserve, not even omitting the Van Buren part, but asking as a precaution that Melinda would not spread a story which would bring disgrace on them. Melinda was shocked, astonished, and confounded, but she did not believe in Frank Van Buren. Ethie never went with him--never. She, like Andy, would swear to that, and she said as much to Richard, taking Ethie"s side as strongly as she could, without casting too much blame on him. And Richard felt better, hearing Ethie upheld and spoken for, even if it were so much against himself. Melinda was still his good angel, while Ethie, too, had just cause for thanking the kind girl who stood by her so bravely, and even made the mother-in-law less harsh in her expression.
There was a letter for Richard that night, from Harry Clifford, who wrote as follows:
"I do not know whether you found your wife at Mrs. Amsden"s or not, but I take the liberty of telling you that Frank Van Buren has returned, and solemnly affirms that if Mrs. Markham was on board the train which left here on the 17th, he did not know it. Neither did he see her at all when in Camden. He called on his way to the depot that night, and was told she was out. Excuse my writing you this. If your wife has not come back, it will remove a painful doubt, and if she has, please burn and forget it. Yours,
"H. CLIFFORD."
"Thank Heaven for that!" was Richard"s exclamation as in the first revulsion of feeling he sprang from his chair, while every feature of his face was irradiated with joy.
"What is it, d.i.c.k? Is Ethie found? I knew she would be. I"ve prayed for it fifty times to-day, and I had faith that G.o.d would hear," Andy said, the great tears rolling down his smooth, round face as he gave vent to his joy.
But Andy"s faith was to be put to a stronger test, and his countenance fell a little when Richard explained the nature of the letter. Ethie was not found; she was only proved innocent of the terrible thing Richard had feared for her, and in being proven innocent, she was for a moment almost wholly restored to his favor. She would come back some time. She could not mean to leave him forever. She was only doing it for a scare, and to punish him for what he did that night. He deserved punishment, too, he thought, for he was pretty hard on her, and as he surely had been punished in all he had suffered during the last forty-eight hours, he would, when she came back, call everything even between them, and begin anew.
This was Richard"s reasoning; and that night he slept soundly, dreaming that Ethie had returned, and on her knees was suing for his forgiveness, while her voice was broken with tears and choking sobs. As a man and husband who had been deserted, it was his duty to remain impa.s.sive a few moments, while Ethie atoned fully for her misdeeds: then he would forgive her, and so he waited an instant, and while he waited he woke to find only Andy, with whom he was sleeping, kneeling by the bedside, with the wintry moonlight falling on his upturned face, as he prayed for the dear sister Ethie, whose steps had "mewandered" so far away.