"Why did you not warn her, sir?"
"I did, more than once at the top of my voice, but the wind was against me!"
"And where did all this happen?" inquired the general, more interested than he had been.
"Near a ravine, some distance down the stream. You will not perhaps be able to recognize the place, sir," answered Mabel, "but it is nearly opposite the small house in which Miss Barker resides with her mother."
The general did not start, but a strange expression crept over his features, as if he were becoming more interested and less pleased.
"May I ask you what took you in that direction, madam?"
"Nothing better than a caprice, I fear," answered Mabel; "at first I went out for exercise and solitude, then remembering Miss Barker, I put on sh.o.r.e."
"Surely you did not go to that house!" cried the general, interrupting her almost for the first time in his life.
"Yes, I went," answered Mabel with simplicity.
"Indeed! and what did you find--whom did you see?"
"I saw a dusky woman, rude and insolent, who called herself Agnes Barker"s nurse--nothing more."
"So you found an insolent woman."
"A very disagreeable one, at least, General Harrington, but I am faint and ill--permit me to answer all farther questions to-morrow!"
General Harrington"s manner imperceptibly changed; he no longer enforced abrupt questions upon the exhausted lady, but with a show of gallant attention, stepped forward and drew her arm through his.
"You can go to your rooms, young men," he said, "I will attend Mrs.
Harrington."
"Shall I have Lina called, mother?" said Ralph, following his parents, "she did not know of your absence, and I would not terrify her!"
Before Mabel could speak, the general answered for her--
"No, why should Lina be disturbed? Send Mrs. Harrington"s maid," and with a gentle wave of the hand which forbade all farther conversation, the general led his wife from the room.
CHAPTER XII.
LOVE DREAMS.
Lina had slept sweetly through all this turmoil of the elements and of human pa.s.sions. Beautifully as a dove she lay in her pretty white bed, with its snowy curtains brooding over her like summer clouds above opening roses. A night-lamp of pale alabaster shed its soft moonlight through the room, and when bursts of thunder shook the heavens, and the lightning flashed and gleamed around the single Gothic cas.e.m.e.nt of her chamber, it only gave to this pearly light a golden tinge, and made Lina smile more dreamily in her happy slumber.
She was abroad upon the hills again, and in sleep lived over the bright hours that never return, save in dreams, to any human soul.
She had left Ralph in the hall, and h.o.a.rding up her new found happiness she stole away to her room, kindled the alabaster lamp that no broader light should look upon her blushes, and sat down lost in a trance of thought. She veiled her eyes even from the pure light around her, and started covered with blushes, when the happiness flooding her soul broke in murmurs to her lips.
She longed to speak over his name, to whisper the words with which he had blessed her, and ponder over and over the tone of those words. She was bewildered and astonished by her own happiness. Now she longed to steal into Mrs. Harrington"s presence, and tell her of the great joy that had fallen upon her life, but the first motion to that effect brought the blushes to her cheeks, and made her cover them with both hands, like a child who strives to hide the shame of some innocent joy.
At last she began to undress, softly and bashfully, as if she had found some new value in her own beauty. Her hands lingered fondly among the tresses of her hair, and gathering them up beneath her pretty Valenciennes cap, she smiled to see its gossamer shadows fall upon her forehead, giving the whole face a Madonna-like purity.
With a gentle sigh, she pillowed herself upon the couch, and looked up through the cloud of snowy lace that overshadowed it with a wistful smile, as if she expected to see stars break through, revealing new glimpses of the Heaven already dawning in her young life.
Thus cradled in her own happiness, like a lily with its cup full of dew, she laid that beautiful head upon her arm, and slept. The wind had no power to arouse her, though it shook the old house in all its gables.
The thunder rolled through her dreams, like the reverberating strains of a celestial harp, and when the lightning flamed through her room, it only kindled the volume of lace over her head into a cloud of golden tissue, under which she slept like a cherub in one of Murillo"s pictures.
Thus Lina spent the night. In the morning she arose at the usual hour, and stole forth to walk. The household were astir in the kitchen, but she saw no member of the family, and went out unconscious of Mrs.
Harrington"s accident. When she came back, a shy terror seized upon her at the thought of meeting Ralph again in the presence of his relatives; and, evading the breakfast-room, she stole to her own chamber. But loneliness at length became oppressive, and, with a breathless effort at composure, she sought a little boudoir or private sitting-room, which opened from Mrs. Harrington"s bed-chamber, and where that lady usually spent some hours of the morning. Lina unclosed the door softly and went in, trembling with a world of gentle emotions as she approached Ralph"s mother.
Mrs. Harrington was seated in a large easy-chair. A morning shawl of pale blue cashmere flowed over an under-dress of French embroidery. The tint of these garments did not relieve the pallor of her cheek which would have been painful, but for the crimson glow reflected upon it from the brocaded cushions of the chair. Her foot rested upon an embroidered cushion; and she was languidly sipping chocolate from a cup of embossed parian which she had scarcely strength to hold. A beautiful Italian grey-hound stood close by the cushion, regarding her with looks of eager interrogation that seemed almost human.
Lina glided softly behind the easy-chair, and remained a moment gathering courage to speak. At last, she bent softly forward:
"Mother!"
Mrs. Harrington looked up kindly, but with a touch of seriousness. She had been wounded by Lina"s seeming inattention.
Before another word could be spoken, the door opened noiselessly, and Agnes Barker hesitated upon the threshold, regarding the two with a dark glance. She stood a moment with the latch in her hand, as if about to withdraw again, but seemed to change her mind, and stepped boldly into the room.
Mabel was looking at her adopted daughter and the door opened so noiselessly that neither of them had observed it. Thus Agnes Barker remained some minutes in the room, listening to their conversation with breathless attention.
"Mother," repeated Lina, and her face flushed like a wild rose, "I have something to say; don"t look at me, please, it makes me afraid."
"Afraid, my child!" said Mabel, smiling, "afraid of your mother! Shame, Lina!"
"But I can only remember that you are _his_ mother now, dear Mrs.
Harrington!"
"Dear Mrs. Harrington! Why child what has come over you?"
"Something--something so strange and sweet that it makes the very heart tremble in my bosom, dear mamma, and yet----"
"And yet you are afraid!"
"Yes, mamma; you have thought so highly of him--he is so much wiser and n.o.bler than I am--he--"
Mabel drew a quick breath, and turned her eyes almost wildly on the face of the young girl.
"Of whom do you speak, Lina?"
Lina was terrified by her look, and faltered, "of--of Mr. Harrington, dear mamma."
The Parian cup in Mabel"s hand shook like a lily in the wind. She sat it slowly down, and suppressing a thrill of pain that ran through her like the creep of a serpent, remained for a moment bereft of all speech. It was the first time that Lina had ever called Ralph, Mr. Harrington, and the mistake drove the very blood from the heart of her benefactress.
"Mr. Harrington? and what of him?" inquired the pallid woman, clasping her tremulous hands and striving to hold them still in her lap. "What of Mr. Harrington, Lina?" Her voice was low and hoa.r.s.e; the very atmosphere around her froze poor Lina into silence.