"Nothing, indeed nothing at all!" she gasped at length. "I was so terrified, I don"t know what I wished to say. It took me so by surprise, and--and--"
Mabel"s face lighted. She remembered her adventure the night before, and again mistook poor Lina.
"Oh, yes, my own sweet child, I forgot that they kept my peril from you all night. Mr. Harrington did, indeed, save me."
"Save you, mamma? how? from what?"
"I see they have not told you how near death I was. Oh, Lina! it was terrible when that wheel plunged me into the black depths. In a single minute, I thought of everything--of my home, of Ralph, of you, Lina."
The young girl did not answer. She stood aghast with surprise and terror.
"I thought," said Mabel, still excited and nervous, "I thought of everything I had ever done in my life--the time, the place, the objects with which each act had been surrounded, flashed before me like a living panorama."
"Mother, how did this happen?" faltered Lina, trembling from head to foot.
Mabel lifted her face, and saw how pale and troubled the young girl was.
"Sit down, darling, here at my feet, and I will tell you all. Move, Fair-Star, and let your mistress sit down."
The beautiful Italian grey-hound that had been looking so wistfully at his mistress all the morning, as if he knew all the risk she had run, drew back from his place near the embroidered stool, and allowed Lina to seat herself thereon. Then he stole back to his position, contrasting the snowy folds of her morning-dress with the pretty scarlet housings, edged with black velvet, which he always wore in chilly weather.
"Why, how you tremble! how white you are, Lina! and I was but just thinking you neglectful."
"Neglectful--oh, mother!"
"Well, well, it was all a mistake, child; but what kept you from me so long?"
"I went out to walk."
"What, after hearing of----"
"Oh! mamma, how can you think so? I have seen no one this morning."
"Then you knew nothing of this accident?" questioned Mabel, thoughtfully.
"Indeed, indeed I did not. What could have kept me from your side, if I had known? Oh, it was terrible! What must have become of us all had you never returned--of me, of _him_?"
Lina could hardly speak, the whole thing had come upon her so suddenly, but sat wistfully questioning her mother with those tender blue eyes.
Mabel told her all, even to the false illumination of the cedar tree, and the appearance of Agnes Barker, like an evil shadow in the firelight. All? no, no! The facts she related faithfully, but feelings--those haunting spirits that fluttered in her heart even yet--those Mabel Harrington could not have spoken aloud even to her G.o.d.
When Mabel had told all, Lina"s face, that had been growing paler and paler as the recital progressed, flushed with sudden thanksgiving; her eyes filled with great bright drops, such as we see flash downward when rain and sunshine strive together; and, creeping up to her mother"s bosom, she began to sob and murmur thanksgivings, breaking them up with soft tender kisses, that went to Mabel"s heart.
"You are glad to have me back again, my Lina?"
"Glad, mamma, glad? Oh, if I only knew how to thank G.o.d, as he should be thanked!"
"I think you love me, Lina," answered Mabel, and her face was luminous with that warm, tender light, which made her whole countenance beautiful, at times, beyond any mere symmetry of features that ever existed. "I think you love me, Lina."
The young girl did not answer but crept closer to Mrs. Harrington"s bosom. A deep breath came in a tremor from her bosom, as odor shakes the lily-bell it escapes from.
Thus, for a little time, the two remained in each other"s embrace, blissful and silent. All this time Agnes Barker looked on, with a dawning sneer upon her lip.
At length, Mabel lifted Lina"s face from her bosom, and kissing the white forehead, bade her sit down and partake of the breakfast that stood upon a little table at her side. She filled a cup with chocolate from the small silver kettle, and pressed it upon the young girl.
"My heart is too full--I cannot taste a drop," said Lina.
"Nonsense, child," answered Mabel, and, with a laugh and a bright look, she hummed--
"Lips, though blooming, must still be fed, For not even love can live on flowers."
Why did the rosy blood leap into that young face at the word "Love?" Why did those eyelids droop so bashfully, and the little hand begin to shake under the snowy cup it would gladly have put down? Lina remembered now that her secret was still untold, while Mabel, startled by her blushes, thought of the first words that had marked their interview, and grew timid as one does, who has suffered and dreads a renewal of pain.
Thus these two persons, loving each other so deeply, shrunk apart, and were afraid to speak. Poor Lina, with her exquisite intuition, which was a remarkable gift, drooped bashfully forward, the roses dying on her cheek beneath the frightened glance which Mabel fixed upon them, and her eyelids drooping their dark lashes downward, as the leaves of a j.a.ponica cast shadows.
At last Mabel spoke low and huskily, for, like all brave persons, she only recoiled from pain for the moment. Her heart always rose to meet its distresses at once, and steadily.
"Tell me, Lina, what is it? You have not heard of my escape, and yet something disturbed you."
"Yes, mamma!"
"And, what is it?"
Lina struggled a moment, lifted her eyes full of wistful love, and, dropping her head in Mabel"s lap, burst into tears.
"You love some one?" said Mabel, with an instinctive recoil; "is that it?"
"Yes, yes; oh, forgive us!" burst out from among Lina"s sobs.
"Forgive us--and who is the other?" There was a tremble in Mabel"s voice--a premonitory shiver of the limbs. Oh, how she dreaded the answer that would come.
"You know--you must guess," pleaded poor Lina.
"No, who is he?"
"Mrs.--Mrs. Harrington, oh, don"t send me away!"
There was no danger that Mabel Harrington would send the young girl away. Her nerves were yet unstrung, her strength all gone. A look of anguish, keen but tender, swept over her face. Her hand fell slowly on the bowed head of poor Lina. She struggled to sit upright and speak words of encouragement, but the brave true heart sunk back, repulsed in its goodness by the enfeebled body, and she fell back in her chair, white and still, like some proud flower torn up by the roots.
She was so still, that Lina ventured to look up. The deathly white of that face terrified her, and with a cry she sprang to her feet, looking wildly around for help.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE BROKEN CONFESSION.