Sadly smiling, Pierre broke the pause.
"My sister, thou art so rich, that thou must do me alms; I am very hungry; I have forgotten to eat since breakfast;--and now thou shalt bring me bread and a cup of water, Isabel, ere I go forth from thee.
Last night I went rummaging in a pantry, like a bake-house burglar; but to-night thou and I must sup together, Isabel; for as we may henceforth live together, let us begin forthwith to eat in company."
Isabel looked up at him, with sudden and deep emotion, then all acquiescing sweetness, and silently left the room.
As she returned, Pierre, casting his eyes toward the ceiling, said--"She is quiet now, the pacing hath entirely ceased."
"Not the beating, tho"; her foot hath paused, not her unceasing heart.
My brother, she is not quiet now; quiet for her hath gone; so that the pivoted stillness of this night is yet a noisy madness to her."
"Give me pen or pencil, and some paper, Isabel."
She laid down her loaf, and plate, and knife, and brought him pen, and ink, and paper.
Pierre took the pen.
"Was this the one, dear Isabel?"
"It is the one, my brother; none other is in this poor cot."
He gazed at it intensely. Then turning to the table, steadily wrote the following note:
"For Delly Ulver: with the deep and true regard and sympathy of Pierre Glendinning.
"Thy sad story--partly known before--hath now more fully come to me, from one who sincerely feels for thee, and who hath imparted her own sincerity to me. Thou desirest to quit this neighborhood, and be somewhere at peace, and find some secluded employ fitted to thy s.e.x and age. With this, I now willingly charge myself, and insure it to thee, so far as my utmost ability can go.
Therefore--if consolation be not wholly spurned by thy great grief, which too often happens, though it be but grief"s great folly so to feel--therefore, two true friends of thine do here beseech thee to take some little heart to thee, and bethink thee, that all thy life is not yet lived; that Time hath surest healing in his continuous balm. Be patient yet a little while, till thy future lot be disposed for thee, through our best help; and so, know me and Isabel thy earnest friends and true-hearted lovers."
He handed the note to Isabel. She read it silently, and put it down, and spread her two hands over him, and with one motion lifted her eyes toward Delly and toward G.o.d.
"Thou think"st it will not pain her to receive the note, Isabel? Thou know"st best. I thought, that ere our help do really reach her, some promise of it now might prove slight comfort. But keep it, and do as thou think"st best."
"Then straightway will I give it her, my brother," said Isabel, quitting him.
An infixing stillness, now thrust a long rivet through the night, and fast nailed it to that side of the world. And alone again in such an hour, Pierre could not but listen. He heard Isabel"s step on the stair; then it approached him from above; then he heard a gentle knock, and thought he heard a rustling, as of paper slid over a threshold underneath a door. Then another advancing and opposite step tremblingly met Isabel"s; and then both steps stepped from each other, and soon Isabel came back to him.
"Thou did"st knock, and slide it underneath the door?"
"Yes, and she hath it now. Hark! a sobbing! Thank G.o.d, long arid grief hath found a tear at last. Pity, sympathy hath done this.--Pierre, for thy dear deed thou art already sainted, ere thou be dead."
"Do saints hunger, Isabel?" said Pierre, striving to call her away from this. "Come, give me the loaf; but no, thou shalt help me, my sister.--Thank thee;--this is twice over the bread of sweetness.--Is this of thine own making, Isabel?"
"My own making, my brother."
"Give me the cup; hand it me with thine own hand. So:--Isabel, my heart and soul are now full of deepest reverence; yet I do dare to call this the real sacrament of the supper.--Eat with me."
They eat together without a single word; and without a single word, Pierre rose, and kissed her pure and spotless brow, and without a single word departed from the place.
VII.
We know not Pierre Glendinning"s thoughts as he gained the village and pa.s.sed on beneath its often shrouding trees, and saw no light from man, and heard no sound from man, but only, by intervals, saw at his feet the soft ground-lightnings, snake-like, playing in and out among the blades of gra.s.s; and between the trees, caught the far dim light from heaven, and heard the far wide general hum of the sleeping but still breathing earth.
He paused before a detached and pleasant house, with much shrubbery about it. He mounted the portico and knocked distinctly there, just as the village clock struck one. He knocked, but no answer came. He knocked again, and soon he heard a sash thrown up in the second story, and an astonished voice inquired who was there?
"It is Pierre Glendinning, and he desires an instant interview with the Reverend Mr. Falsgrave."
"Do I hear right?--in heaven"s name, what is the matter, young gentleman?"
"Every thing is the matter; the whole world is the matter. Will you admit me, sir?"
"Certainly--but I beseech thee--nay, stay, I will admit thee."
In quicker time than could have been antic.i.p.ated, the door was opened to Pierre by Mr. Falsgrave in person, holding a candle, and invested in his very becoming student"s wrapper of Scotch plaid.
"For heaven"s sake, what is the matter, Mr. Glendinning?"
"Heaven and earth is the matter, sir! shall we go up to the study?"
"Certainly, but--but--"
"Well, let us proceed, then."
They went up-stairs, and soon found themselves in the clergyman"s retreat, and both sat down; the amazed host still holding the candle in his hand, and intently eying Pierre, with an apprehensive aspect.
"Thou art a man of G.o.d, sir, I believe."
"I? I? I? upon my word, Mr. Glendinning!"
"Yes, sir, the world calls thee a man of G.o.d. Now, what hast thou, the man of G.o.d, decided, with my mother, concerning Delly Ulver?"
"Delly Ulver! why, why--what can this madness mean?"
"It means, sir, what have thou and my mother decided concerning Delly Ulver."
"She?--Delly Ulver? She is to depart the neighborhood; why, her own parents want her not."
"_How_ is she to depart? _Who_ is to take her? Art _thou_ to take her?
_Where_ is she to go? _Who_ has food for her? _What_ is to keep her from the pollution to which such as she are every day driven to contribute, by the detestable uncharitableness and heartlessness of the world?"
"Mr. Glendinning," said the clergyman, now somewhat calmly putting down the candle, and folding himself with dignity in his gown; "Mr.
Glendinning, I will not now make any mention of my natural astonishment at this most unusual call, and the most extraordinary time of it. Thou hast sought information upon a certain point, and I have given it to thee, to the best of my knowledge. All thy after and incidental questions, I choose to have no answer for. I will be most happy to see thee at any other time, but for the present thou must excuse my presence. Good-night, sir."
But Pierre sat entirely still, and the clergyman could not but remain standing still.
"I perfectly comprehend the whole, sir. Delly Ulver, then, is to be driven out to starve or rot; and this, too, by the acquiescence of a man of G.o.d. Mr. Falsgrave, the subject of Delly, deeply interesting as it is to me, is only the preface to another, still more interesting to me, and concerning which I once cherished some slight hope that thou wouldst have been able, in thy Christian character, to sincerely and honestly counsel me. But a hint from heaven a.s.sures me now, that thou hast no earnest and world-disdaining counsel for me. I must seek it direct from G.o.d himself, whom, I now know, never delegates his holiest admonishings.
But I do not blame thee; I think I begin to see how thy profession is unavoidably entangled by all fleshly alliances, and can not move with G.o.dly freedom in a world of benefices. I am more sorry than indignant.
Pardon me for my most uncivil call, and know me as not thy enemy.