It came to him, all at once, that, in some mysterious way, he and Rosemary belonged together. They had been born to the same lot, and must spend all their days in the valley, hedged in by the same narrow restrictions. Even an occasional hour on the Hill of the Muses was forbidden to her, and constant scheming was the price she was obliged to pay for it.
[Sidenote: The Book]
The restraint chafed and fretted him, for her as much as for himself. It was absurd that a girl of twenty-five and a man of thirty should not have some little independence of thought and action. The silence persisted and finally became awkward.
"It"s the book," said Rosemary, with a forced laugh. She was endeavouring to brush her mood away as though it were an annoying cobweb. "I"ve grown foolish over the book."
"I"m glad you liked it," he returned, taking it from her. "I was sure you would. What part of it did you like best?"
"All of it. I can"t choose, though of course some of it seems more beautiful than the rest."
"I suppose you know it by heart, now, don"t you?"
"Almost."
"Listen. Isn"t this like to-day?"
"Spring"s foot half falters; scarce she yet may know The leafless blackthorn-blossom from the snow; And through her bowers the wind"s way still is clear."
Rosemary got to her feet unsteadily. She went to the brow of the hill, on the side farthest from the vineyard, and stood facing the sunset.
Scarcely knowing that she had moved, Alden read on:
"But April"s sun strikes down the glades to-day; So shut your eyes upturned, and feel my kiss----"
[Sidenote: Alden Speaks]
A smothered sob made him look up quickly. She stood with her back to him, but her shoulders were shaking. He dropped the book and went to her.
A strange, new tenderness possessed him. "Rosemary," he whispered, slipping his arm around her. "What is it--dear?"
"Nothing," she sobbed, trying to release herself. "I"m--I"m tired--and foolish--that"s all. Please let me go!"
Something within him stirred in answer to the girl"s infinite hunger, to the unspoken appeal that vibrated through her voice. "No," he said, with quiet mastery, "I won"t let you go. I want to take care of you, Rosemary. Leave all that misery and come to me, won"t you?"
Her eyes met his for an instant, then turned away. "I don"t quite--understand," she said, with difficulty.
"I"m asking you to marry me--to come to mother and me. We"ll make the best of it together."
Her eyes met his clearly now, but her face was pale and cold. She was openly incredulous and frightened.
[Sidenote: Her Birthright]
"I mean it, dear. Don"t be afraid. Oh, Rosemary, can"t you trust me?"
"Trust you? Yes, a thousand times, yes!"
He drew her closer. "And love me--a little?"
"Love you?" The last light shone upon her face and the colour surged back in waves. She seemed exalted, transfigured, as by a radiance that shone from within.
He put his hand under her chin and lifted her face to his. "Kiss me, won"t you, dear?"
And so, Rosemary came to her woman"s birthright, in the shelter of a man"s arms.
V
The House of the Broken Heart
[Sidenote: Climbing in the Dark]
The road was steep and very dark, but some unseen Power compelled her to climb. Dimly, through the shadow, she saw shafts of broken marbles and heard the sound of slow-falling waters. The desolation oppressed her, and, as she climbed, she pressed her hands tightly to her heart.
She was alone in an empty world. All traces of human occupation had long since vanished. Brambles and thorns grew thickly about her, and her brown gingham dress was torn to shreds. Rosemary shuddered in her dream, for Grandmother and Aunt Matilda would be displeased.
And yet, where were they? She had not seen them since she entered the darkness below. At first she had been unable to see anything, for the darkness was not merely absence of light but had a positive, palpable quality, it enshrouded her as by heavy folds of black velvet that suffocated her, but, as she climbed, the air became lighter and the darkness less.
[Sidenote: The Path in the Garden]
She longed to stop for a few moments and rest, but the pitiless Power continually urged her on. Bats fluttered past her and ghostly wings brushed her face, but, strangely, she had no fear. As her eyes became accustomed to the all-encompa.s.sing night, she saw into it for a little distance on either side, but never ahead.
On the left was a vast, empty garden, neglected and dead. The hedge that surrounded it was only a tangled ma.s.s of undergrowth, and the paths were buried and choked by weeds. The desolate house beyond it loomed up whitely in the shadow. It was damp and cold in the garden, but she went in, mutely obeying the blind force that impelled her to go.
She struggled up the path that led to the house, falling once into a ma.s.s of thistles that p.r.i.c.ked and stung. The broken marbles, as she saw now, were statues that had been placed about the garden and had fallen into decay. The slow-falling water was a fountain that still murmured, choked though it was by the dense undergrowth.
One of the steps that led to the house had fallen inward, so she put her knee on the one above that and climbed up. She tested each step of the long flight carefully before she trusted herself to it. When she reached the broad porch, her footsteps echoed strangely upon the floor. Each slight sound was caught up and repeated until it sounded like the tread of a marching army, vanishing into the distance.
[Sidenote: The Desolate House]
The heavy door creaked on its hinges when she opened it. That sound, too, echoed and re-echoed in rhythmic pulsations that beat painfully upon her ears, but, after she was once inside, all the clamour ceased.
She could see clearly now, though it was still dark. A long, wide stairway wound up from the hall, and there were two great rooms upon either side. She turned into the wide doorway at the right.
Windows, grey with cobwebs, stretched from floor to ceiling, but very little light came through them. The wall paper, of indistinguishable pattern, was partially torn from the walls and the hanging portions swayed in the same current of air that waved the cobwebs. There was no furniture of any description in the room, except the heavy, gilt-framed mirror over the mantel. It was cracked and much of the gilt frame had fallen away. She went into the next room, then into the one beyond that, which seemed to stretch across the back of the house, and so through the door at the left of the room into the two on the other side of the house, at the left of the hall.
In the centre of the largest room was a small table, upon which rested a small object covered with a dome-shaped gla.s.s shade, precisely like that which covered the basket of wax flowers in Grandmother"s parlour.
Rosemary went to it with keen interest and leaned over the table to peer in.
[Sidenote: The Broken Heart]
At first she could see nothing, for the gla.s.s was cloudy. She noted, with a pang of disgust, that the table-cover was made of brown alpaca, fringed all around by the fabric itself, cut unskilfully into shreds with the scissors. As she looked, the gla.s.s slowly cleared.
The small object was heart-shaped and made of wax in some dull colour half-way between red and brown. At length she saw that it was broken and the pieces had been laid together, carefully. Unless she had looked very closely she would not have seen that it was broken.
Suddenly she felt a Presence in the room, and looked up quickly, with terror clutching at her inmost soul. A tall, grey figure, mysteriously shrouded, stood motionless beside her. Only the eyes were unveiled and visible amid the misty folds of the fabric.