"Ah, speak not so," replied Amy, as the first startling effect of her words and wild looks had pa.s.sed away. "Say not such dreadful words. If any woman could have lived and died as you say, she deserves your pity, not your condemnation."
"Pity! she"ll have none from me. I hated her! she wrecked my happiness when I was a young girl, and for what? but to gratify her insane jealousy. Do you see this?" said she, taking off her cap, and shaking down the thick ma.s.ses of almost snow-white hair; "it was once golden, and as fair as yours, but a few short months of--of agony changed it to what you see, and drove me mad; _she_ worked the wreck; _she_ caused the--the madness, and gloried in it. And yet you wonder that I condemn her?"
Her hair was the silvered hair of an old woman, and as it fell from its concealment down her shoulders almost to her feet, throwing a pale, softened, mournful shadow over her excited features, Amy was struck with the beauty of her face; she must once have been very beautiful; while her face, lighted up as it now was, was not the face of an aged woman.
No; it must have been, as she herself said, a sudden, severe sorrow years ago that had helped to change that once luxuriant golden hair to grey. Her figure, as she stood confronting Amy, was slight, and by no means ungraceful; that also bore no trace of age, and although she generally walked with the aid of a thick staff, it was more to steady the weakness of her steps than to support the tottering, uncertain ones of old age.
Who? and what had caused such a wreck? It must have been some terrible blow to have sent her mad in her youth, and to have left her even now, at times--whenever the dark remembrance of it swept over her--hardly sane in more mature age. Would the divulging of the secret remove the sad weight from her heart, or quiet the agony of her thoughts? It might in a measure do so, but Amy shrank from sustaining alone the frenzy that might ensue, and as Goody Grey repeated her last question of "Do you wonder that I condemn her?" Amy, with the view of soothing her, replied gently--
"She may have lived hardened in sin, but through the dark shadows remorse must have swept at times, and stung her deeply. Besides, her life and death were most wretched, and deserve your pity more than anger."
"Had she known remorse, she never could have died so revengefully. I don"t believe she ever felt its sting, and as for pity, she would have scorned it!" and Goody Grey laughed a wild, bitter laugh at the thought.
"Did she injure you so very deeply?"
"How dare you ask me that question? Are not you afraid to? Don"t you know it stirs up all my worst pa.s.sions within me, and sends me mad, --mad do I say? No, no, I am not mad now; I was once, but that, like the rest, is past--past for ever!" and her voice changed suddenly from its fierceness to an almost mournful sadness.
"Did you know her well?" Amy ventured to ask, notwithstanding the rebuff her last question had met with.
"Aye, did I; too well--too well! Would to G.o.d I had never seen her, it would have been better had I died first: but I live, if such a life as mine can be called living. And _she_ is dead and I haven"t forgiven her; never will; unless," said she, correcting herself, "unless--oh G.o.d! I dare not think of _that_; does it not bring sorrow--deep, intense, despairing sorrow, sorrow that scorches my brain?" and either exhausted with her fierce excitement, or overwhelmed with the recollection of the cause of her grief, she sank down in a chair, and covering her face with her hands, moaned and rocked herself about afresh.
For the moment Amy felt half inclined to leave her--her strange words and wild manner had so unnerved her--but a glance at the sorrow-stricken face, as it was suddenly lifted away from the hands that had screened it, decided her upon remaining for at least a few minutes longer. Perhaps the compa.s.sionate feeling at her heart had something to do with the decision, or it might be she hoped to say a few words of comfort to the sorrowing creature so relentless in her bitter feelings towards one who had evidently been remorseless in her revenge, and unforgiving even in her death; one who had injured her, if not irreparably, at least deeply and lastingly.
As Amy stood deliberating how best to shape her words so as not to irritate her afresh, Goody Grey spoke, and her voice was no longer fierce or pa.s.sionate, but mournfully sad.
"I am lonely," she said, "very lonely. There are days when the thoughts of my heart drive me wild, and are more than I can bear; there are days when I feel as if death would be welcome, were it not for one hope, one craving wish. Will this hope, this wish, ever be realised? Shall I ever be any other than a broken-hearted, despairing woman?"
"The clouds may clear--sunshine may burst forth when least expected."
"May! That"s what I repeat to myself day and night--day and night. The two words, "_Hope on_," are ever beating to and fro in my brain, like the tickings of that clock, and sometimes I persuade myself that the time-piece says, "_Hope on, hope on_." But only the years roll on--the hope is never realised; and soon my heart will whisper, and the clock will tick, "_no hope, no hope_.""
"Do you never earnestly pray that G.o.d will lighten the heavy load that weighs on your spirits or that He will bring comfort to your sorrowing heart?"
"Do I ever cease to pray; or is there not one fervent prayer always on my lips and heart? Day after day I bewail my sins, and ask G.o.d"s forgiveness and mercy for my poor, broken, contrite heart, and sometimes I rise from my knees, feeling at peace with--with even _her_. But then wild thoughts come back; thoughts that utterly distract me, and which I can neither control nor prevent, and then I go mad, and don"t know what I say or think. But enough of my sufferings. You can neither heal nor cure them; even now you have seen too much, and betrayed me into saying more than I ought. Tell me what led you to my cottage so early?"
"I could not sleep last night," replied Amy, "and so strolled out, thinking the air would revive me."
"It is strange you could not sleep," replied Goody Grey, speaking as she usually did to strangers, in a half solemn, impressive manner. "You who have health, youth, and innocence to help you. I seldom sleep, but then I am old and careworn. Why could you not sleep?" and she looked as though she would pierce the inmost recesses of Amy"s heart.
"I can scarcely tell you why, perhaps my fancy misled me; but whatever the cause, I would rather not speak of it."
"Well perhaps it were best so, and better still if the parent bird looked after her young, when the kite may find its way to her nest."
Amy looked up quickly.
"I scarcely understand your words," she replied, "or I am at a loss to understand their meaning."
"I meant you no harm, "twas for your good I spoke. Others have thought like you and been deceived. Others have hoped like you, and been deceived. Others have been as loving and true as you _may be_, and been deceived. When you think yourself the safest, then remember my words, "when you think that you stand, take heed lest you fall.""
There was a tone of kindness lurking beneath her words, so that Amy regretted she had spoken so hastily, and felt half inclined to tell her so, when Goody Grey again spoke.
"Who is that tall, dark, fine-looking man; a Linchmore in his walk, and perhaps his manner and proud bearing, but there the resemblance ceases; the expression of the face is different, the eye has no cunning in it, but looks at you steadily, without fear? He is brave and n.o.ble-looking.
Who is he?"
"I think you must mean Mr. Vavasour," replied Amy.
"Vavasour," repeated Goody Grey, thoughtfully, "the name is strange to me, yet--stay--a dim recollection floats across my brain that I have heard the name before; but my memory fails me sadly at times, and my thoughts grow confused as I strive to catch the thread of some long-forgotten, long-buried vision of the past. Well, perhaps it is best so. Life is but a span, and I am weary of it--very weary."
"We are all at times desponding," said Amy; "even I feel so sometimes at the Hall, and there you know the house is filled with visitors, and is one continued round of gaiety."
"Yes," said Goody Grey, as if speaking to herself. "Amidst the gayest scenes the heart is often the saddest. But," continued she, addressing Amy, "your sweet face looks as though no harsh wind had ever blown across it; may it be long before a cold word or look mars its sunshine.
But there is a young girl at the Hall; one amongst the many visiting there who has a proud look that will work her no good. I have warned her, for I can trace her destiny clearly. But she has a spirit; a revengeful spirit, that will never bend till it breaks. She scorned my warning and thought me mad; yet evil will overtake her, and that, too, when least she expects it. Have nothing to do with her. Avoid her. Trust her not. And now go you away, and let the events of this morning be buried in your heart. I would not that all should know Goody Grey, as you know her; think of the old woman with pity; not with doubt and suspicion."
"I will. I do think of you with pity," replied Amy. "How can I do otherwise when I have seen the anguish of your heart."
"Hush! recall not thoughts that have pa.s.sed almost as quickly as they came. And now farewell, I am tired and would be alone."
As Amy came in sight of the Hall on her way home, she met Mr. Vavasour.
"Where have you been to so early?" said he; "I have watched you more than an hour ago cross the park and make for the wood, but there I lost sight of you, and have been wandering about ever since in the vain hope of finding you. Where have you been?"
But Amy was in no mood for being questioned. She felt almost vexed at it, and answered crossly--
"I should have thought Mr. Vavasour might have found something better to do than to dog my footsteps. I had no idea my conduct was viewed with suspicion."
"You are mistaken, Miss Neville, if you think I view any conduct of yours with suspicion; such an unworthy thought never entered my head. If I have unwittingly offended, allow me to apologise for that and my unpardonable curiosity which has led me into this sc.r.a.pe."
"Where no offence is meant, no apology is required," said Amy, coldly.
"It would have been better had Mr. Vavasour remained at home instead of venturing abroad to play the spy!"
"You compare me Miss Neville, to one of the most despicable of mankind, when I am far from deserving of the epithet."
"We judge men by their actions not by their words. I have yet to learn that Mr. Vavasour did not enact the spy, when both his actions and his words condemn him."
"Be it so," replied Robert Vavasour, almost as coldly as she had spoken.
"But I would fain Miss Neville had conceived a different opinion of me."
Amy made no reply, and in silence they reached the house; his manner being kind, almost tender, as he bid her farewell.
CHAPTER XV.
THE GALLERY WINDOW.
"Know you not there is a power Strong as death, which from above Once was given--a fadeless dower, Blessed with the name of love!
On it hangs how many a tale!
Tales of human joys and woes; Fan it with an adverse gale, Then it strong and stronger grows.