How, indeed, came it lying there? "E. T." Surely from the old man"s finger it had not dropped; and if not from Eugene"s, might it, could it have been from that of the lost, unhappy, wandering brother, Eustace"s?
With what object, what intent, she scarcely knew herself--but impulse moved her, with beating heart and trembling step, to pursue the path which she had taken, only remembering the while, that last night, after she was in bed, there had been an arrival at the inn. Two gentlemen from Rome, the _cameriera_ who called her in the morning told her, had roused the house up at a very late hour; and that one of these belated travellers had nevertheless already pressed the dewy turf before her--that it might be him who was the loser, was perhaps, the paramount idea which now possessed her as she hurried on over this fair Italian ground as light in limb--alas! less light at heart as when bounding over the breezy wilds of her native land.
She had not been wrong in her conjecture. A sudden turn in the lovely vale she had entered presented to her view, at no great distance from the spot she had attained, a broken fountain, the silvery sound of whose ringing waters faintly reached her ear; and near this, half concealed by the branches of a leaning tree, she discerned the figure of a man, standing watching its light and sparkling play.
A few half irresolute steps brought her nearer and nearer still--a few more, and she stood attracted as if by an irresistible spell almost close behind the object of her search. His face had been turned away, but the light rustling of her garments when she drew so near, attracted his attention.
He looked round, and there stood Mary with parted lips and crimsoned brow--that look of strange, deep, and eager scrutiny directed towards him.
Never did the face of mortal man undergo such immediate change, as did the calm, n.o.ble countenance which at the same time revealed itself to the intruder; never were two simple words uttered with such thrilling fervency of tone, as was the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n which broke from the stranger"s lips.
"Miss Seaham," he exclaimed; and in accents scarce less earnest in its emotion, Mary"s trembling lips faltered Mr. Temple"s name.
Yes, it was indeed Edward Temple, upon whom she gazed with ill-defined ideas--and feelings of bewilderment and perplexity--her high-wrought expectations unable all at once to sink themselves to the level of natural composure--pale, agitated, and trembling, without further greeting or explanation,
"She showed the ring."
"I found it," she said with almost hysterical incoherency, "and thought perhaps--but your"s it cannot be--and yet it is strange--the initials are the same--but--can it really be, that your crest--your arms also are similar?"
For all reply he gently took the ring from her outstretched hand, and in silence seemed to examine it. Then without looking up, and in a low, calm voice he said:
"You expected I conclude, to find the owner had been Eugene Trevor?"
"No, not Eugene," Mary quietly replied, restored to greater self-possession, "but perhaps, I thought--it was a random idea--that perhaps it might have been his brother Eustace."
The ring dropped suddenly from her listener"s fingers, as she uttered these last words.
"And what," he murmured, having stooped to raise it from the ground, "and what interest can Miss Seaham take in that ill-starred, that unhappy man; that outcast, alien brother, that her mistake should cause disappointment, such as I so plainly perceive it to have occasioned her?"
Mary probably attributed to wounded feeling the trembling pathos of the speaker"s voice, for with all the simple earnestness of her kindly nature, she hastened in gentle soothing accents to reply:
"Mr. Temple--if disappointment was the first impulse of my feelings--believe me, when I say, there is scarcely any one else," with a weary sigh, the tears gathering in her eyes, "with whom a meeting so unexpected, could just now have afforded me such unmixed pleasure."
For one short moment her hand was retained by the so-called Mr. Temple in a trembling pressure, which appeared to speak all his heart"s grateful acknowledgement, whilst those dark eyes fixed themselves upon her face with mournful earnestness of expression.
But the next moment, with a low-breathed sigh, which might have seemed the echo of her own, he released her hand, and turned away his head.
"You are kind to say this," he murmured, "for myself, I can only declare this meeting to be a happiness such as I had hardly expected ever to taste again in this world. But," he anxiously inquired, "will you again permit me to inquire the reason of the more than common--nay even, taking into consideration his relationship--more than natural interest, it would appear you feel in the unfortunate Eustace Trevor."
The earnest melancholy of his tone thrilled on Mary"s heart.
"Mr. Temple," she said eagerly, "you speak with feeling on this subject, can it, oh! can it be possible that you have ever seen, ever known Eugene Trevor"s brother? Oh, tell me if this is really the case, for you say true--in more than common degree--quite independently of selfish motives, connected with my own happiness--has my interest been excited in his discovery. It has been most strongly awakened in the fate, and history of one who has lately been brought before me in a light so charming yet so sad. Oh! Mr. Temple, you do not deny the fact. Then, tell me, only tell me where he can be found?"
Eustace Trevor had turned upon her the full light of his radiant countenance, radiant with a new and strange delight, the nature of which she could not comprehend; but as, with clasped hands and beseeching countenance, she uttered this latter inquiry, it was answered by a gesture, seeming to imply by her listener ignorance in the required information.
"You, then, did not know him?" she resumed, with renewed disappointment in her tone.
"I did know him--ah, too well!" was the murmured reply, his eyes, with a strange and mysterious expression, fixed upon the ground.
Very pale suddenly grew Mary"s cheek as she looked upon him thus. Her lips parted, and her heart beat fast as from the shock of a strange and sudden idea, which flashed across her senses. But she put by the suggestion as the wild improbable coinage of her own high wrought imagination. She remembered too what had struck her often vaguely before, and also her brother"s remark on a former occasion, with reference to the same resemblance. But when she looked again, the glowing illusion had faded, her companion was again calmly regarding her, again asking--in what she esteemed a cold and careless tone of voice--from whom it was, she had received the impression respecting Eustace Trevor, to which she had just alluded.
"It was his friend, and my cousin--Louis de Burgh, who first spoke of him to me in such warm and glowing terms; but he chiefly raised my interest by the beautiful but melancholy picture he drew of his devoted affection for his mother--that mother," she added in a low, sad tone, "with whose unhappy history, I then for the first time was made acquainted--indeed it caused his very affliction to become almost holy in my eyes--by showing it to have been but the crisis of his high and sacred grief. Mr. Temple," she continued with enthusiasm; "there seems to me something, if I may so speak, almost G.o.d-like in the pure and devoted love of a strong proud-hearted man towards his mother; and it _is_ G.o.d-like, for was not the last earthly thought--the last earthly care of Him who hung upon the cross, even in his mortal agony--for his mother!"
The speaker"s glistening eyes were raised above or she might have seen tears indeed,
"Such as would not stain an angel"s cheek,"
also irradiating the eyes of that "strong proud-hearted man," as she so expressed herself--who was standing by her side.
But she could not have heard--for it was not breathed for mortal ear, the deep and fervent cry: "My Mother!" which her innocent words, like thrilling music by the winds, struck from the secret chords of that manly tender heart.
But this was a theme Eustace Trevor"s melting soul could not trust itself to pursue; not indeed, without it were first allowed him to cast away all subterfuge and disguise, and at the feet of that good, kind, and gentle girl, open his whole bruised and desolate heart, to receive that Heavenly balsam of pity and consolation, she had ready stored within her breast for the faithful son of that wronged and sainted mother!
And could this be done? Had he not for the sake of this same gentle being, in some sort pledged himself to such an extent, that yielding to the impulse would be baseness and dishonour.
Alas! as in all divergement from the direct and natural paths of human action, in whatsoever spirit they may have been entered upon, the time must come--circ.u.mstances must arise--when the line of duty becomes bewilderingly shadowy and indistinct, even to the most conscientious and true-hearted.
How few can steer their way unwavering through the straightened pathway of a false position. It is not there, that like a stately ship he can vigorously part the waves of circ.u.mstance or temptation,
"And bear his course aright.
Nor ought for tempest doth from it depart, Nor ought for fairer weather"s false delight."
Therefore, with an effort over his feelings which might have made him appear unaffected by the sentiments his companion had so touchingly expressed, he was forced merely to reply: "Yes, Louis de Burgh was his friend; and it would be very gratifying to Eustace Trevor to know that one friend at least in that world he has abandoned, retains him in such affectionate remembrance. And his brother"--he added, with more hesitating restraint in his tone, "did you never receive anything of the same impression from him?"
"Eugene," Mary answered with some slight embarra.s.sment, "rarely ever enlarged upon a theme which of course had become connected in his mind with painful feelings."
"_Painful indeed!_" was the other"s significant rejoinder.
"Never but once," Mary continued, "did I venture to question him upon the subject with any minuteness, and then he manifested such strong and painful emotion that I never afterwards approached it willingly. But at that time," she added with a sigh, "I had certainly heard very little of his brother, but the dark and terrible malady with which he was afflicted. Mr. Temple," she continued anxiously, "is not his complete disappearance most mysterious and inexplicable? and does it not appear to you almost impossible, that all the means which have been taken for his recovery could have been so completely unattended by success, supposing he were still alive?"
"But have any such means been taken?" her companion asked with some marked curiosity.
"Oh yes!" she hastened to reply "on Eugene"s part at least."
A peculiar smile played on her companion"s lips. It did not fail to strike Mary, and the incredulity it seemed to imply caused her feelings now so peculiarly sensitive upon that point, to be immediately up in arms.
"Mr. Temple, can you for a moment doubt this fact, he is Eugene"s own brother, and--" she added in a low voice, the crimson blood at the same time mantling her cheeks, as the remembrance that she was addressing a rejected lover, pressed more consciously upon her, "he had interests of a different nature, closely connected with the a.s.surance of his lost brother"s fate?"
Mr. Temple started with sudden excitement.
"Indeed!" he exclaimed, then averting his head, he added, as if the utterance of each syllable was a separate pang. "Do you mean to say that there is still a question of this marriage?"
"There is," she replied; "though of a very remote and undefined nature, our engagement still subsists."
Having said this with no little embarra.s.sment of manner, the same feeling probably caused her to raise her arm from the fountain, over which she had been unconsciously leaning, and by tacit consent they turned away from the spot, silently beginning to retrace their steps.
They had not proceeded thus many yards, when Arthur Seaham appeared in sight, accompanied by a second person, who Mary, with an exclamation of delighted surprise, recognized as Mr. Wynne, concerning whom in the absorbing interest of the last hour she had no time to seek information.
The good clergyman on his part, who had fallen in with her brother at the hotel, was charmed beyond expression by this fortunate and unexpected meeting with his own dear children, (so he called Mary and Arthur;) and peculiar was the glance of interest which beamed from his kindly eyes, as having gazed anxiously into Mary"s face, he turned then towards her companion, who nevertheless with his fine countenance only a little paler than usual, was exchanging kind and cordial greetings with young Seaham.