After a little while Jack saw me; and, having taken a good long stare at me through his opera-gla.s.s, he beckoned me to come to him, at the same time pointing significantly at one of his "lady" companions, as if to intimate that she was entirely at my disposal. But I shook my head, and did not stir, for I had no desire to resume my acquaintance with that fascinating but mysterious youth. Perhaps I entertained a presentiment that he was destined to become, to both of us, the cause of a great misfortune.
Jack looked angry and disappointed, at my refusal to accept of his hospitable invitation. He directed the attention of his women towards me, and I saw that they were attempting to t.i.tter and sneer at my expense;--but the effort was a total failure, for there was not a better-dressed person in the house than I was. Having honored the envious party with a smile of scorn,--which, I flattered myself, was perfectly successful,--I turned towards the stage, and did not indulge in another look at Jack or his friends during the remainder of the opera. I am convinced that from that hour, Jack Slack became my mortal foe.
At the conclusion of the performances, I left the house and saw Jack getting into a carriage with the two courtezans. He observed me, and uttered a decisive shout, to which I paid no attention, but hurried home, anxious to make one of the little party in the apartment of Mrs.
Romaine, and quite ready to partake of the delicacies which, I knew, would be provided.
On my arrival home, I immediately repaired to Mrs. Romaine"s private room, where I found that good lady in company with Mr. Anderson. We three sat down to supper in the highest possible spirits. Alas! how little did we antic.i.p.ate the terrible catastrophe that was so soon to follow!
The more substantial portion of the banquet having been disposed of, the sparkling wine-cup was circulated freely, and we became very gay and jovial. Unrestrained by my presence, and exhilarated by the rosy beverage of jolly Bacchus, the lovers indulged in many little acts of tender dalliance. Always making it a point to mind my own business, I applied myself diligently to the bottle, for the wine was excellent and the sardines had made me thirsty. I had just lighted a cigar, and was resigning myself to the luxurious and deliciously soothing influence of the weed, when the door was thrown violently open, and Mr. Romaine rushed into the room.
His appearance was frightful! his face was dreadfully pale, and his eyes glared with the combined fires of jealousy and rage. Intense excitement caused him to quiver in every limb. In one hand he grasped a pistol, and in the other a bowie knife of the largest and most formidable kind.
It was but too evident that my fears had been well founded, and that Mr.
Romaine had discovered the intimacy between Anderson and his wife.
The reader will agree with me that the "injured husband" was equally culpable on account of his intrigue with the young and handsome widow, Mrs. Raymond.--How p.r.o.ne are many people to lose sight of their own imperfections while they censure and severely punish the failings of those who are not a whit more guilty than themselves! The swinish glutton condemns the drunkard--the villainous seducer reproves the frequenter of brothels--the arch hypocrite takes to task the open, undisguised sinner--and the rich, miserly old reprobate, whose wealth places him above the possibility of ever coming to want, who would sooner "hang the guiltless than eat his mutton cold," and who would not bestow a cent upon a poor devil to keep him from starving--that old rascal, perhaps, in his capacity as a magistrate, sentences to jail an unfortunate man whom hunger has driven into the "crime" of stealing a loaf of bread! Bah! ladies and gentlemen, take the _beams_ out of your own eyes before you allude to the _motes_ in the optics of your fellow beings. That"s _my_ advice, free of charge.
On seeing her husband enter in that furious and threatening manner, Mrs.
Romaine, overcome with fear and shame--for she well knew that her guilt had been detected--fell to the floor insensible. Anderson, confused and not knowing what to say, sat motionless as a statue;--while I awaited, with almost trembling anxiety, the issue of this most extraordinary state of affairs.
Romaine was the first to break the silence, and he spoke in a tone of voice that was singularly calm considering his physical agitation.
"Well, sir," said he, addressing Anderson--"you are enjoying yourself finely--drinking my wine, devouring my provisions, and making love to my wife in her own bed-chamber. Anderson, for some time past I have suspected you and Harriet of being guilty of criminal intimacy. I have noticed your secret signs, and have read and interpreted the language of your eyes, whenever you and she have exchanged glances in my presence.
You both took me to be a weak fool, too blind and imbecile to detect your adulterous intercourse; but I have now come to convince you that I am a man capable of avenging his ruined conjugal honor!"
Anderson, recovering some degree of his usual self-possession, remarked,
"Your accusation, sir, is unjust. Your wife and myself are friends, and nothing more. She invited me to sup with her here to-night and that is all about it. If our intentions were criminal, would we have courted the presence of a third party?"
With these words, Anderson pointed towards me, but Romaine, without observing me at all, continued to address the paramour of his wife.
"Anderson, you are a liar, and the falsehoods which you have uttered, only serve to increase your guilt, and confirm me in my resolution to sacrifice both you and that guilty woman who lies yonder. Can I disbelieve the evidence of my own eyes? Must I go into particulars, and say that last night, at about this hour, in the kitchen--ha! you turn pale--you tremble--your guilt is confessed. I would have killed you last night, Anderson, but I had not the weapons. This knife and pistol I purchased to-day, _and I shall use them_!
"Try and revive that _harlot_, for I would speak with her ere she dies!"
Anderson mechanically obeyed. Placing the insensible form of Mrs.
Romaine upon a sofa, he sprinkled water upon her face, and she was soon restored to a state of consciousness. For a few moments she gazed about her wildly; and then, when her eyes settled upon her husband, and she saw the terrible weapons with which he was armed, she covered her face with her hands and trembled in an agony of terror, for she knew that her life was in the greatest possible danger.
Romaine now addressed his wife in a tone of calmness which was, under the circ.u.mstances, far more terrible than the most violent outburst of pa.s.sion:
"Harriet," said he--"I now fully comprehend your reasons for requesting to be allowed to occupy a separate apartment. You desired an opportunity to gratify your licentious propensities without any restraint. Woman, why have you used me thus? Have I deserved this infamous treatment? Have I ever used you unkindly, or spoken a harsh word to you? Do you think that I will tamely wear the horns which you and your paramour have planted upon my brow? Do you think that I will suffer myself to be made an object of scorn, and allow myself to be pointed at and ridiculed by a sneering community?"
"Forgive me," murmured the unhappy wife--"I will not offend again. I acknowledge that I have committed a grievous sin; but Heaven only knows how sincerely I repent of it!"
"Your repentance comes too late," said Romaine, hoa.r.s.ely--"Heaven may forgive you, but _I_ shall not! You say that you will not offend again.
Having forever destroyed my happiness, my peace of mind, and my honor, _you will not offend again_! You shall not have the opportunity, wretched woman. You shall no longer survive your infamy. You and the partner of your guilt must die!"
With these words, Romaine c.o.c.ked his pistol and approached his wife, saying, in a low, savage tone that evinced the desperate purpose of his heart--
"Take your choice, madam; do you prefer to die by _lead_ or by _steel_?"
The miserable woman threw herself upon her knees, exclaiming--
"Mercy, husband--mercy! Do not kill me, for I am not prepared to die!"
"You call me husband _now_--you, who have so long refused to receive me as a husband. Come--I am impatient to shed your blood, and that of your paramour. Breathe a short prayer to Heaven, for mercy and forgiveness, and then resign your body to death and your soul to eternity!"
So saying the desperate and half-crazy man raised on high the glittering knife. Poor Mrs. Romaine uttered a shriek, and, before she could repeat it, the knife descended with the swiftness of lightning, and penetrated her heart. Her blood spouted all over her white dress, and she sank down at the murderer"s feet, a lifeless corpse!
Paralyzed with horror, I could neither move nor speak. Anderson also stood motionless, like a bird which is subjected to the fascinating gaze of a serpent. Notwithstanding the terrible danger in which he was placed, he seemed to be rooted to the spot and incapable of making a single effort to save himself by either resistance or flight.
The scene was most extraordinary, thrilling and awful. The luxurious chamber--the failing lamp--the murderer, holding in his hand the b.l.o.o.d.y knife--the doomed Anderson, whose soul was quivering on the brink of the dread abyss of eternity; all these combined to form a spectacle of the most strange and appalling character.
Romaine now raised his pistol and took deliberate aim at Anderson, saying,
"My work is but half done; it is _your_ turn now! Are you ready?"
"Do not shoot me like a dog," implored the unfortunate young man, who, to do him justice, possessed a considerable amount of courage--"give me, at least, _some_ chance for my life. If I have wronged you, and I candidly confess that I have, I am ready to give you the satisfaction of a gentleman. Give me a pistol, place me upon an equal footing with yourself, and we will settle the matter as becomes men of honor. This boy, here, will be a witness of the affair."
To this proposition, Romaine scornfully replied,
"I admire your a.s.surance, sir.--After seducing the wife, you want a chance to shoot the husband. Well, as I am an accommodating man, it shall be as you say, for I am sick of life and care not if I am killed.
But I have no other pistol. Stay!--suppose we _toss up_ a coin, and thus decide which of us shall have this weapon, with the privilege of using it. Here is a quarter of a dollar; I will throw it up in the air, and when it falls upon the floor, if the _head_ is uppermost, the pistol is _mine_; but if the _tail_ is uppermost, the pistol shall be _yours_. I warn you that if I win, I shall show you no mercy; and, if you win, I shall expect none from you. Do you agree to this?"
"I do," replied Anderson, firmly, "and I thank you for your fairness."
Romaine threw up the coin, which spun around in the air and landed upon the carpet. How strange that it should have become the province of that insignificant coin to decide which of those two men must die!
Romaine calmly took the dim lamp from the table, and knelt down upon the carpet in a pool of his wife"s blood.
"Watch me closely, and see that I do not touch the coin," said he, as he bent eagerly over the life-deciding quarter of a dollar.
How my heart beat at that moment, and what must have been the sensation of poor Anderson!
"_The head is uppermost, and I have won!_" said Romaine, in a hoa.r.s.e whisper--"come and see for yourself."
"I am satisfied, your word is sufficient," said Anderson, with a shudder, as he folded his arms across his breast and seemed to abandon himself to profound despair.
Romaine"s pale face a.s.sumed an expression of savage delight, as he raised the pistol and pointed it at the head of his intended victim, saying--
"Then, sir, nothing remains but for me to avail myself of the favor which fortune has conferred upon me. Young man, in five seconds I shall fire!"
"Hold!" cried Anderson, "I have a favor to ask, which I am sure you will not refuse to grant me. Before I die, let me write a couple of letters, and make a few notes of the manner in which I wish my property to be disposed of. It is the last request of a dying man."
"It is granted," said Romaine, "there, upon that _escritoire_, are writing materials. But make haste, for I am impatient to finish this disagreeable business."
Anderson sat down, and began to write rapidly. I longed to rush out and give the alarm, so that the impending tragedy might be averted; but I feared that any movement on my part might result in the pa.s.sage of a bullet through my brain, and therefore I remained quiet, for which I am sure, no sensible reader will blame me.