Afterwards she added quickly, "Oh, I forgot to ask you about that.
What do you mean, Arthur?"
He hesitated a moment before he answered her, speaking very slowly.
"It is so sad, Helen," he said, "it is almost too cruel to talk about." He stopped again, and the girl looked at him, wondering; then he went on to speak one sentence that struck her like a bolt of lightning from the sky:--"Helen, that poor woman was my mother!"
And Helen staggered back, almost falling, clutching her hands to her forehead, and staring, half dazed.
"Arthur," she panted, "Arthur!"
He bowed his head sadly, answering, "Yes, Helen, it is dreadful--"
And the girl leaped towards him, seizing him by the shoulders with a thrilling cry; she stared into his eyes, her own glowing like fire.
"Arthur!" she gasped again, "Arthur!"
He only looked at her wonderingly, as if thinking she was mad; until suddenly she burst out frantically, "You are David"s child! You are David"s child!" And then for fully half a minute the two stood staring at each other, too much dazed to move or to make a sound.
At last Arthur echoed the words, scarcely audibly, "David"s child!"
and added, "David is your husband?" As Helen whispered "Yes" again, they stood panting for breath. It was a long time before the girl could find another word to speak, except over and over, "David"s child!" She seemed unable to realize quite what it meant, she seemed unable to put the facts together.
But then suddenly Arthur whispered: "Then it was your husband who ruined that woman?" and as Helen answered "Yes," she grasped a little of the truth, and also of Arthur"s thought. She ran on swiftly: "But oh, it was not his fault, he was only a boy, Arthur!
And he wished to marry her, but they would not let him--I must tell you about that!" Then she stopped short, however; and when she went on it was in sudden wild joy that overcame all her other feelings, joy that gleamed in her face and made her fling herself down upon her knees before Arthur and clutch his hands in hers.
"Oh," she cried, "it was G.o.d who sent you, Arthur,--oh, I know that it was G.o.d! It is so wonderful to think of--to have come to us all in a flash! And it will save David"s life--it was the thought of the child and the fate that it might have suffered that terrified him most of all, Arthur. And now to think that it is you--oh, you! And you are David"s son--I cannot believe it, I cannot believe it!" Then with a wild laugh she sprang up again and turned, exclaiming, "Oh, he will be so happy,--I must tell him--we must not lose an instant!"
She caught Arthur"s hand again, and started towards the house; but she had not taken half a dozen steps before she halted suddenly, and whispered, "Oh, no, I forgot! He is asleep, and we must not waken him now, we must wait!"
And then again the laughter broke out over her face, and she turned upon him, radiant. "It is so wonderful!" she cried. "It is so wonderful to be happy, to be free once more! And after so much darkness--oh, it is like coming out of prison! Arthur, dear Arthur, just think of it! And David will be so glad!" The tears started into the girl"s eyes; she turned away to gaze about her at the golden morning and to drink in great draughts of its freshness that made her bosom heave. The life seemed to have leaped back into her face all at once, and the color into her cheeks, and she was more beautiful than ever. "To think of being happy!" she panted, "happy again! Oh, if I were not afraid of waking David, you do not know how happy I could be! Don"t you think I ought to waken him anyway, Arthur?--it is so wonderful--it will make him strong again! It is so beautiful that you, whom I have always been so fond of, that you should be David"s son! And you can live here and be happy with us!
Arthur, do you know I used to think how much like David you looked, and wonder at it; but, oh, are you sure it is true?"
She chanced to think of the letter that had been left at her father"s, and exclaimed, "It must have been that! You have been home, Arthur?" she added quickly. "And while father was up here?"
"Yes," said he, "I wanted to see your father--I could not stay away from home any longer. I was so very lonely and unhappy--" Arthur stopped for a moment, and the girl paled slightly; as he saw it he continued rapidly: "There was no one there but the servant, and she gave me the letter."
"And did she not tell you about me?" asked Helen.
"I asked if you were married," Arthur said; "I would not listen to any more, for I could not bear it; when I had read the letter I came up here to look for my poor mother. I wanted to see her; I was as lonely as she ever was, and I wanted someone"s sympathy--even that poor, beaten soul"s. I heard in the town that she was dead; they told me where the grave was, and that was how I happened out here. I thought I would see it once before I left, and before the people who lived in this house were awake. Helen, when I saw _you_ I thought it was a ghost."
"It is wonderful, Arthur," whispered the girl; "it is almost too much to believe--but, oh, I can"t think of anything except how happy it will make David! I love him so, Arthur--and you will love him, too, you cannot help but love him."
"Tell me about it all, Helen," the other answered; "I heard nothing, you know, about my poor mother"s story."
Before Helen answered the question she glanced about her at the morning landscape, and for the first time thought of the fact that it was cold. "Let us go inside," she said; "we can sit there and talk until David wakens." And the two stole in, Helen opening the door very softly. David was sleeping in the next room, so that it was possible not to disturb him; the two sat down before the flickering fire and conversed in low whispers. The girl told him the story of David"s love, and told him all about David, and Arthur in turn told her how he had been living in the meantime; only because he saw how suddenly happy she was, and withal how nervous and overwrought, he said no more of his sufferings.
And Helen had forgotten them utterly; it was pathetic to see her delight as she thought of being freed from the fearful terror that had haunted her,--she was like a little child in her relief. "He will be so happy--he will be so happy!" she whispered again and again. "We can all be so happy!" The thought that Arthur was actually David"s son was so wonderful that she seemed never to be able to realize it fully, and every time she uttered the thought it was a sweep of the wings of her soul. Arthur had to tell her many times that it was actually Mary who had been named in that letter.
So an hour or two pa.s.sed by, and still David did not waken. Helen had crept to the door once or twice to listen to his quiet breathing; but each time, thinking of his long trial, she had whispered that she could not bear to disturb him yet. However, she was getting more and more impatient, and she asked Arthur again and again, "Don"t you think I ought to wake him now, don"t you think so--even if it is just for a minute, you know? For oh, he will be so glad--it will be like waking up in heaven!"
So it went on until at last she could keep the secret no longer; she thought for a while, and then whispered, "I know what I will do--I will play some music and waken him in that way. That will not alarm him, and it will be beautiful."
She went to the piano and sat down. "It will seem queer to be playing music at this hour," she whispered; but then she glanced at the clock and saw that it was nearly seven, and added, "Why, no, we have often begun by this time. You know, Arthur, we used to get up wonderfully early all summer, because it was so beautiful then, and we used to have music at all sorts of times. Oh, you cannot dream how happy we were,--you must wait until you see David, and then you will know why I love him so!"
She stopped and sat thoughtfully for a moment whispering, "What shall I play?" Then she exclaimed, "I know, Arthur; I will play something that he loves very much--and that you used to love, too--something that is very soft and low and beautiful."
Arthur had seated himself beside the piano and was gazing at her; the girl sat still for a moment more, gazing ahead of her and waiting for everything to be hushed. Then she began, so low as scarcely to be audible, the first movement of the wonderful "Moonlight Sonata."
As it stole upon the air and swelled louder, she smiled, because it was so beautiful a way to waken David.
And yet there are few things in music more laden with concentrated mournfulness than that sonata--with the woe that is too deep for tears; as the solemn beating of it continued, in spite of themselves the two found that they were hushed and silent. It brought back to Helen"s mind all of David"s suffering--it seemed to be the very breathing of his sorrow; and yet still she whispered on to herself, "He will waken; and then he will be happy!"
In the next room David lay sleeping. At first it had been heavily, because he was exhausted, and afterwards, when the stupor had pa.s.sed, restlessly and with pain. Then at last came the music, falling softly at first and blending with his dreaming, and afterwards taking him by the hand and leading him out into the land of reality, until he found himself lying and listening to it. As he recollected all that had happened he gave a slight start and sat up, wondering at the strangeness of Helen"s playing then. He raised his head, and then rose to call her.
And at that instant came the blow.
The man suddenly gave a fearful start; he staggered back upon the sofa, clutching at his side with his hand, his face turning white, and a look of wild horror coming over it. For an instant he held himself up by the sofa, staring around him; and then he sank back, half upon the floor, his head falling backwards. And so he lay gasping, torn with agony, while the fearful music trod on, the relentless throbbing of it like a hammer upon his soul. Twice he strove to raise himself and failed; and twice he started to cry out, and checked himself in terror; and so it went on until the place of despair was reached, until there came that one note in the music that is the plunge into night. Helen stopped suddenly there, and everything was deathly still--except for the fearful heaving of David"s bosom.
That silence lasted for several moments; Helen seemed to be waiting and listening, and David"s whole being was in suspense. Then suddenly he gave a start, for he heard the girl coming to the door.
With a gasp of dread he half raised himself, grasping the sofa with his knotted hands. He slid down, half crawling and half falling, into the corner, where he crouched, breathless and shuddering; so he was when Helen came into the room.
She did not see him on the sofa, and she gave a startled cry. She wheeled about and gazed around the room. "Where can he be?" she exclaimed. "He is not here!" and ran out to the piazza. Then came a still more anxious call: "David! David! Where are you?"
And in the meantime David was still crouching in the corner, his face uplifted and torn with agony. He gave one fearful sob, and then he sank forward; drawing himself by the sheer force of his arms he crawled again into sight, and lay clinging to the sofa. Then he gave a faint gasping cry, "Helen!"
And the girl heard it, and rushed to the door; she gave one glance at the prostrate form and at the white face, and then leaped forward with a shrill scream, a scream that echoed through the little house, and that froze Arthur"s blood. She flung herself down on her knees beside her husband, crying "David! David!" And the man looked up at her with his ghastly face and his look of terror, and panted, "Helen--Helen, it has come!"
She screamed again more wildly than before, and caught him to her bosom in frenzy. "No, no, David! No, no!" she cried out; but he only whispered hoa.r.s.ely again, "It has come!"
Meanwhile Arthur had rushed into the room, and the two lifted the sufferer up to the sofa, where he sank back and lay for a moment or two, half dazed; then, in answer to poor Helen"s agonized pleading, he gazed at her once more.
"David, David!" she sobbed, choking; "listen to me; it cannot be, David, no, no! And see, here is Arthur--Arthur! And David--he is your son, he is Mary"s child!"
The man gave a faint start and looked at her in bewilderment; then as she repeated the words again, "He is your son, he is Mary"s child," gradually a look of wondering realization crossed his countenance, and he turned and stared up at Arthur.
"Is it true?" he whispered hoa.r.s.ely. "There is no doubt?"
Helen answered him "Yes, yes," again and again, swiftly and desperately, as if thinking that the joy of it would restore his waning strength. The thought did bring a wonderful look of peace over David"s face, as he gazed from one to the other and comprehended it all; he caught Arthur"s arm in his trembling hands.
"Oh, G.o.d be praised," he whispered, "it is almost too much. Oh, take care of her--take care of her for me!"
The girl flung herself upon his bosom, sobbing madly; and David sank back and lay for an instant or two with his eyes shut, before at last her suffering roused him again. He lifted himself up on his elbows with a fearful effort. "Helen!" he whispered, in a deep, hollow voice; "listen to me--listen to me!--I have only a minute more to speak."
The girl buried her head in his bosom with another cry, but he shook her back and caught her by the wrists, at the same time sitting erect, a strain that made the veins in his temples start out. "Look at me!" he gasped. "Look at me!" and as the girl stared into his eyes that were alive with the last frenzied effort of his soul, he went on, speaking with fierce swiftness and panting for breath between each phrase:
"Helen--Helen--listen to me--twenty years I have kept myself alive on earth by such a struggle--by the power of a will that would not yield! And now there is but an instant more--an instant--I cannot bear it--except to save your soul! For I am going--do you hear me--going! And you must stay,--and you have the battle for your life to fight! Listen to me--look into my eyes,--for you must call up your powers--_now_--now before it is too late! You cannot shirk it--do you hear me? It is here!"
And as the man was speaking the frenzied words the look of a tiger had come into his face; his eyes were starting from his head, and he held Helen"s wrists in a grip that turned them black, tho then she did not feel the pain. She was gazing into his face, convulsed with fright; and the man gasped for breath once more, and then rushed on:
"A fight like this conies once to a soul, Helen--and it wins or it loses--and you must win! Do you hear me?--_Win!_ I am dying, Helen, I am going--and I leave you to G.o.d, and to life. He is, He made you, and He demands your worship and your faith--that you hold your soul lord of all chances, that you make yourself master of your life! And now is your call--now! You clench your hands and you pray--it tears your heart-strings, and it bursts your brain--but you say that you will--that you will--that you _will!_ Oh, G.o.d, that I have left you so helpless--that I did not show you the peril of your soul! For you _must_ win--oh, if I could but find a word for you!
For you stand upon the brink of ruin, and you have but an instant--but an instant to save yourself--to call up the vision of your faith before you, and tho the effort kill you, not to let it go! Girl, if you fail, no power of earth or heaven can save you from despair! And oh, have I lived with you for nothing--showed you no faith--given you no power? Helen, save me--have mercy upon me, I cannot stand this, and I dare not--I dare not die!"