"I clare "fore my "vine Marster, madam, when Miss Nora come in de storm to de kitchen-door, looking so wild and scared like, and asked to see de young madam dere, I t"ought in my soul how she had some news of de young marster to tell! an" dat was de why I denounced her into dis drawin"-room."
"Do not make such a mistake again! if you do I will make you suffer severely for it! And you, shameless girl! if you presume to set foot on these premises but once again, I will have you sent to the work-house as a troublesome vagrant."
Nora did not seem to hear her; she had relapsed into her stony, trance-like stupor.
"And now, sir, since you took the liberty of bringing her in, put her out--out of the room, and out of the house!" said Mis. Brudenell.
"Mamma! what! at midnight! in the snow-storm?" exclaimed Lady Hurstmonceux, in horror.
"Yes! she shall not desecrate the bleakest garret, or the lowest cellar, or barest barn on the premises!"
"Mamma! It would be murder! She would perish!" pleaded the young lady.
"Not she! Such animals are used to exposure! And if she and all like her were to "perish," as you call it, the world would be so much the better for it! They are the pests of society!"
"Mamma, in pity, look at her! consider her situation! She would surely die! and not alone, mamma! think of that!" pleaded Berenice.
"Jovial! am I to be obeyed or not?" sternly demanded the elder lady.
"Come, Miss Nora; come, my poor, poor child," said Jovial, in a low tone, taking the arm of the miserable girl, who turned, mechanically, to be led away.
"Jovial, stop a moment! Mrs. Brudenell, I have surely some little authority in my husband"s house; authority that I should be ashamed to claim in the presence of his mother, were it not to be exercised in the cause of humanity. This girl must not leave the house to-night," said Berenice respectfully, but firmly.
"Lady Hurstmonceux, if you did but know what excellent cause you have to loathe that creature, you would not oppose my orders respecting her; if you keep her under your roof this night you degrade yourself; and, finally, if she does not leave the house at once I and my daughters must--midnight and snow-storm, notwithstanding. We are not accustomed to domicile with such wretches," said the old lady grimly.
Berenice was not prepared for this extreme issue; Mrs. Brudenell"s threat of departing with her daughters at midnight, and in the storm, shocked and alarmed her; and the other words reawakened her jealous misgivings. Dropping the hand that she had laid protectingly upon Nora"s shoulder, she said:
"It shall be as you please, madam. I shall not interfere again."
This altercation had now aroused poor Nora to the consciousness that she herself was a cause of dispute between the two ladies; so putting her hand to her forehead and looking around in a bewildered way, she said:
"No; it is true; I have no right to stop here now; I will go!"
"Jovial," said Berenice, addressing the negro, "have you a wife and a cabin of your own?"
"Yes, madam; at your sarvice."
"Then let it be at my service in good earnest to-night, Jovial; take this poor girl home, and ask your wife to take care of her to-night; and receive this as your compensation," she said, putting a piece of gold in the hand of the man.
"There can be no objection to that, I suppose, madam?" she inquired of Mrs. Brudenell.
"None in the world, unless Dinah objects; it is not every honest negro woman that will consent to have a creature like that thrust upon her.
Take her away, Jovial!"
"Come, Miss Nora, honey; my ole "oman aint agwine to turn you away for your misfortins: we leabes dat to white folk; she"ll be a mother to you, honey; and I"ll be a father; an" I wish in my soul as I knowed de man as wronged you; if I did, if I didn"t give him a skin-full ob broken bones if he was as white as cotton wool, if I didn"t, my name aint Mr. Jovial Brudenell, esquire, and I aint no gentleman. And if Mr. Reuben Gray don"t hunt him up and punish him, he aint no gentleman, neither!" said Jovial, as he carefully led his half fainting charge along the pa.s.sages back to the kitchen.
The servants had all gone to bed, except Jovial, whose duty it was, as major-domo, to go all around the house the last thing at night to fasten the doors and windows and put out the fires and lights. So when they reached the kitchen it was empty, though a fine fire was burning in the ample chimney.
"There, my poor hunted hare, you sit down there an" warm yourself good, while I go an" wake up my ole "oman, an" fetch her here to get something hot for you, afore takin" of you to de cabin, an" likewise to make a fire dere for you; for I "spects Dinah hab let it go out," said the kind-hearted old man, gently depositing his charge upon a seat in the chimney corner and leaving her there while he went to prepare for her comfort.
When she was alone Nora, who had scarcely heeded a word of his exhortation, sat for a few minutes gazing woefully into vacancy; then she put her hand to her forehead, pa.s.sing it to and fro, as if to clear away a mist--a gesture common to human creatures bewildered with sorrow; then suddenly crying out:
"My Lord! It is true! and I have no business here! It is a sin and a shame to be here! or anywhere! anywhere in the world!" And throwing up her arms with a gesture of wild despair, she sprang up, tore open the door, and the second time that night rushed out into the storm and darkness.
The warm, light kitchen remained untenanted for perhaps twenty minutes, when Jovial, with his Dinah on his arm and a lantern in his hand, entered, Jovial grumbling:
"Law-a-mity knows, I don"t see what she should be a-wantin" to come here for! partic"lar arter de treatment she "ceived from ole mis"tess las"
night! tain"t sich a par"dise nohow for n.o.body--much less for she! Hi, "oman!" he suddenly cried, turning the rays of the lantern in all directions, though the kitchen was quite light enough without them.
"What de matter now, ole man?" asked Dinah.
"Where Nora? I lef" her here an" she aint here now! where she gone?"
"Hi, ole man, what you ax me for? how you "spect I know?"
"Well, I "clare ef dat don"t beat eberyting!"
"Maybe she done gone back in de house ag"in!" suggested Dinah.
"Maybe she hab; I go look; but stop, first let me look out"n de door to see if she went away," said Jovial, going to the door and holding the lantern down near the ground.
"Yes, Dinah, "oman, here day is; little foot-prints in de snow a-goin"
away from de house an" almost covered up now! She done gone! Now don"t dat beat eberything? Now she"ll be froze to death, "less I goes out in de storm to look for her; an" maybe she"ll be froze anyway; for dere"s no sartainty "bout my findin" of her. Now aint dat a trial for any colored gentleman"s narves! Well den, here goes! Wait for me here, ole "omen, till I come back, and if I nebber comes, all I leabes is yourn, you know," sighed the old man, setting down the lantern and beginning to b.u.t.ton up his great coat preparatory to braving the storm.
But at this moment a figure came rushing through the snow towards the kitchen door.
"Here she is now; now, ole "oman! get de gruel ready!" exclaimed Jovial, as the snow-covered form rushed in. "No, it aint, nyther! Miss Hannah!
My goodness, gracious me alibe, is all de worl" gone ravin", starin", "stracted mad to-night? What de debil fotch you out in de storm at midnight?" he asked, as Hannah Worth threw off her shawl and stood in their midst.
"Oh, Jovial! I am looking for poor Nora! Have you seen anything of her?"
asked Hannah anxiously.
"She was here a-sittin" by dat fire, not half an hour ago. And I lef her to go and fetch my ole "oman to get somefin hot, and when I come back, jes" dis wery minute, she"s gone!"
"Where, where did she go?" asked Hannah, clasping hear hands in the agony of her anxiety.
"Out o" doors, I see by her little foot-prints a-leading away from de door; dough I "spects dey"s filled up by dis time. I was jes" agwine out to look for her."
"Oh, bless you, Jovial!"
"Which way do you think she went, Miss Hannah?"
"Home again, I suppose, poor child."
"It"s a wonder you hadn"t met her."
"The night is so dark, and then you know there is more than one path leading from Brudenell down into the valley. And if she went that way she took a different path from the one I came by."
"I go look for her now! I won"t lose no more time talkin"," and the old man clapped his hat upon his head and picked up his lantern.