The name fairly took Bernardine"s breath away, for it was the name bestowed upon her by the young man who had wedded and deserted her within an hour.
The very sight of it made her heart grow sick and faint. Still, it held a strange fascination for her. She turned to look at it again--to study it closely, to see how it appeared in print, when, to her amazement, she caught the name "Jay Gardiner" in a column immediately adjoining it.
She glanced up at the head-lines, and as she did so, the very breath seemed to leave her body.
It was a sketch of life at Newport by a special correspondent, telling of the gayety that was going on among the people there, particularly at the Ocean House. Nearly, half a column was given to extolling the beauty of young Mrs. Gardiner, _nee_ Sally Pendleton, the bride of Doctor Jay Gardiner, her diamonds, her magnificent costumes, and smart turn-outs.
The paper fell from Bernardine"s hands. She did not faint, or cry out, or utter any moan; she sat there quite still, like an image carved in stone. Jay Gardiner was at Newport with his bride!
The words seemed to have scorched their way down to the very depths of her soul and seared themselves there. Jay Gardiner was at Newport with his bride!
What, then, in Heaven"s name was _she_?
Poor Bernardine! It seemed to her in that moment that she was dying.
Had he played a practical joke upon her? Was the marriage which she had believed in so fully no marriage at all?
She had no certificate.
It was scarcely an hour from the time the matron had left her until she returned; but when she did so, she cried out in alarm, for Bernardine"s face was of an ashen pallor, her dark eyes were like coals of fire, and her hands were cold as death. The matron went up to her in great alarm, and gently touched the bowed head.
"Bernardine," she murmured, gently--"Bernardine, my poor child, are you ill? What has happened?"
After some little correspondence back and forth, Bernardine was accepted by the lady, and in a fortnight more she was able to make the journey.
The matron went down to the depot with her, to see her off, and prayed that the girl would not change her mind ere she reached her destination.
The train moved off, and she waved her handkerchief to the sweet, sad, tear-stained face pressed close to the window-pane until a curve in the road hid it from her sight; then she turned away with a sigh.
Bernardine fell back in her seat, not caring whether or not she lived to reach her destination.
It was almost dusk when the train reached the lovely little village of Lee, nestling like a bird"s nest amid the sloping green hills.
Bernardine stepped from the car, then stood quite still on the platform, and looked in bewilderment around her.
Mrs. Gardiner had written that she would send a conveyance to the station to meet her; but Bernardine saw none.
While she was deliberating as to whether she should inquire the way to the Gardiner place of the station agent, that individual suddenly turned out the lights in the waiting-room, and in an instant had jumped on a bicycle and dashed away, leaving Bernardine alone in a strange place.
At that moment, a man stepped briskly beneath the swinging light. One glance, and she almost swooned from horror.
The man was Jasper Wilde!
CHAPTER XLIII.
For a moment it seemed to Bernardine as though she must surely fall dead from fright as her startled gaze encountered her greatest enemy, Jasper Wilde.
Had he followed her? Had he come all the way on the same train with her?
She realized that she was alone with him on this isolated railway platform, miles perhaps from any habitation, any human being, far beyond the reach of help.
The thick, heavy twilight had given place to a night of intense darkness. The flickering light of the solitary gas-lamp over the station door did not pierce the gloom more than three feet away. Bernardine did not know this, and she sunk back in deadly fear behind one of the large, old-fashioned, square posts. The long dark cloak and bonnet she wore would never betray her presence there.
Bernardine soon became aware that he had not seen her, for he stopped short scarcely a rod from her, drew out his watch, and looked at the time; then, with a fierce imprecation on his lips, he cried aloud:
"Missed the train by just one minute! Curse the luck! But then it"s worth my trip here, and the trouble I"ve been put to, to know that the Mrs. Jay Gardiner in question is some New York society belle instead of Bernardine. Ah, if it were Bernardine, I would have followed him to the end of the earth and murdered him; taken her from him _by force_, if no other way presented itself. I love the girl to madness, and yet _I hate her_ with all the strength of my nature!"
As he uttered the words, he wheeled about, hurried down the platform, and stepped into the darkness, the sound of his quick tread plainly dying away in the distance.
It seemed to Bernardine that her escape from the clutches of Jasper Wilde was little short of miraculous. Trembling in every limb, she stepped out from behind the large pillar which shielded her.
He had not come by the same train; he did not know she was here. But what caused him to come to this place to look for Jay Gardiner and his bride? Perhaps it was because he had learned in some way that a family named Gardiner resided here, and he had come out of his way only to discover that they were _not_ one and the same.
While Bernardine was ruminating over this, she saw the short, thick-set figure of a man approaching.
Should she advance or retreat? She felt sure he had seen her. He stopped quite short and looked at her.
"Surely _you_ can"t be Miss Moore?" he inquired, incredulously.
"Yes," replied Bernardine in a voice in which he detected tears.
The man muttered something under his breath which she did not quite catch.
"If you please, Miss, where is your luggage?"
"I--I have only this hand-bag," she faltered.
"Come this way, miss," he said; and Bernardine followed him, not without some misgiving, to the end of the platform from which Jasper Wilde had so recently disappeared.
Here she saw a coach in waiting, though she had not heard the sound of the horses" hoofs when they arrived there.
Then came a long ride over a level stretch of country. It was a great relief to Bernardine to see the moon come forth at last from a great bank of black clouds; it was a relief to see the surrounding country, the meadows, and the farm-houses lying here and there on either side of the steep road up which they went.
"Would the lady like her or be displeased with her?" she asked herself.
She determined to throw herself heart and soul into her work and try to forget the past--what might have been had her lover proved true, instead of being so cruelly false. Her red lips quivered piteously at the thought.
Her musings were brought to an end by the lumbering coach turning in at a large gate-way flanked by huge stone pillars, and proceeding leisurely up a wide road that led through a densely wooded park.
Very soon Bernardine beheld the house--a granite structure with no end of gables and dormer-windows--half hidden by climbing vines, which gave to the granite pile a very picturesque appearance just now, for the vines were literally covered with sweet-scented honeysuckles in full bloom.
Mrs. King, the housekeeper, received Bernardine.
"I hope you will like it here," she said, earnestly; "but it is a dull place for one who is young, and longs, as girls do, for gayety and life.
You are too tired to see Mrs. Gardiner to-night after your long journey.