"That will do, Dinah. Now go and get Miss Monfort"s bath ready," I heard my dragoness say, after a short whispered communication from her early visitor. It was the idea, probably, to remove me, as well as Dinah, while the plot was being unfolded, and my bath-room, with its closed door, promised security from quick ears and eyes to the brace of conspirators now plotting their final blow.
Once in that belfry, and truly might the sense of Dante"s famous inscription become my motto for life: "Here hope is left behind."
I covered my eyes as I recalled that dreary, dreadful prison-house of clock and bell, into which I had clambered once by means of a movable step-ladder, rarely left there by the attendant, in order to rescue my famished cat, shut up there by accident. I recollected the maddened look of the creature, as it flew by me like a flash, frightened out of its wits, Mrs. Austin had said, by the clicking of the machinery of the huge clock, and the chiming of the responsive bell. Both were silent now, and there was room enough for a prisoner"s cot in that lonely and dismantled turret as there once had been for a telescope and its rest, used for astronomical purposes at long intervals by my father and a few of his scientific friends, but finally dismantled and put aside forever.
I could imagine myself a denizen, at the will of Bainrothe, of that weird, gray belfry, shut up with that silent clock, in company with a bed, a chair, and table, denied, perchance, even the comfort of a stove, for fear the flue might utter smoke, and, with it, that kind of revelation, said proverbially to accompany such manifestations; denied books, even writing-materials, the sight of a human face, and furnished with food merely sufficing in quant.i.ty and quality to keep soul and body together!
Could I resist this state of things? Could I sustain it and retain my reason? No, I felt that the picture my fancy drew, if realized, would make me abject and submissive, change me to a cowardly, cringing slave.
I was not made of the right stuff for martyrdom, only for battle, for resistance, and would put forth my last powers in the effort to save myself from the unendurable trials before me, even if destruction were the consequence. A pistol-ball in my brain would he preferable to what I saw awaiting me, should Bainrothe succeed in his stratagem, as I doubted not he would do, if determined on it. I should know freedom in its true sense never again, if that night were suffered to pa.s.s without its redemption, if that belfry once were entered.
As carelessly as I could I followed Dinah to the bath-room, ostensibly to direct the temperature of the water, but really to draw out from her all that was possible while the mood of communication possessed her, on the subject so vital to me and my welfare. Life and death almost were involved in her revelations, and I hastened to wind in the clew while it lingered in my hand; for I knew that she was an eccentric as well as a selfish creature, and might suddenly see fit to withdraw or snap its thread.
"Now, tell me about McDermot, Dinah, what sort of a look has he? Is he large or small, light or dark, and does he smoke a pipe?"
"He is a great big man, honey, wid red har an" sort ob chaney-blue eyes; mos while, sometimes he rolls em up in his head, an" he smells mighty strong of whisky. I tells you all; his bref mos knocked me down, but I didn"t see no pipe?"
A discouraging account, truly; yet I persevered. It seemed my only hope to enlist this man on my side, either through his sympathies or sense of duty. I had no power to command his services on the side of his avarice.
The ring on my finger, the pledge of Wentworth"s troth, a ma.s.sive circlet of chased gold, was all that remained to me in the shape of valuables. I did not possess a stiver in that prison, nor own even the clothes on my back.
"Could you not take him a message from me, Dinah? It is his duty, you know, to a.s.sist me; it is on my account, doubtless, he is placed here; and hereafter I can reward him liberally, and you too. Just now, you know, I am penniless."
The woman stopped and looked at me, her small black irises mere points, set in extensive, muddy-looking whites, not unfrequently suffused and bloodshot.
"I dun told the ossifer dar wus no one here you knows, answerin" to your perscription."
"But that was only a measure of safety for yourself; you surely do not mean to take sides with my persecutors?"
"I has nuffin at all to do wid it, at all," hunching her back; "I has gib you far warnin" "bout de laudamy an" der retentions, an" you mus"
fight it out yourself, chile! I is afraid to go one step furder; but de debble sort o" tempted me dis mornin" to make a clean breast of der doins. Ef you mentions it, do; I is retermined to reny ebbery word of your ramification, and in dis here country a n.i.g.g.e.r"s word, dey tells me, goes jus" as fur as a pore white gal"s, if not furder; "sides dat, I is gwine to swar favorable for my "ployers, in course, at de court-house--unless"--hesitating and leering in my face--"you sees, honey, dey have not paid me yit--and mebbe dey won"t, ef I displeases "em, an" your gole watch is gone; an" den, Dinah would be lef" on de shelf."
"But I have other property, Dinah, other jewels, even. That watch was very little compared to what I possess outside of these prison-walls, and these possessions--"
"Whar is dey, honey? "a bird in dis han" am worf two dozen in a bush,"
as my ole masta used to say, wen de traders c.u.m up to buy his corn an"
cotton, an" I always sawed de dollars come down mighty quick after dat sayin" of his"n; for I used to watch round the dinin"-room pretty constant an" close in dem days, totin" in poplar-chips an" corn-cobs for kin"lin" an" litin" masta"s long clay pipes--none ob de common sort, I tells you--an" brushin" up de harf an" keepin" off de flies, and so forf. You see I was a little shaver in dem days, an" masta liked my Congo straction, an" petted me a heap, an" I never seed the cotton-field till my ole masta died; den dey put me out ob de house, because Ma.s.s Jack Dillard"s father--dat was my ole mistis"s own step-brother"s secon"
son--he "cused me ob stealin" his gole pencil-case wrongfully--like I had any use fur his writin" "tensils!" (indignantly).
"Dinah," I adjured, cutting short the stream of her narrative, "for G.o.d"s sake, see Mr. McDermot, and tell him of my situation! He shall have a thousand dollars to-morrow, and you also shall have money enough to buy your whole family, and bring them hither, if you will but a.s.sist me to escape _this_ night. Don"t stand and look at me, woman, but act at once, if you have a human heart. You must help me now, or never."
"You mus" tink I"s one ob de born fools, Miss Mirimy, to bl"eve all dat stuff! Doesn"t I know you loss all your trunks on de "Scusco, an" wasn"t you a pore gal, teachin" white folks"s chilluns fur a livin" before? I has hearn all dat discounted since I come into dis "stablishment. We all knows as how teachers is de meanest kine of white trash gwine; still, I specs you might"ly. You has been ob de quality; any n.i.g.g.e.r can see dat wid half an eye open; an" you has got more sense in de end ob yo little finger, ef you is crazy, dan all de res tied up in a bunch ob fedders! Wat I does for you, chile, I does for lub ob yo purliteness"
(hesitating here). "You hasn"t anoder ob dem gole-pieces anywhar, like dat you gib me befo", has you? I"se bery bad off fur "baccer, I is, indeed, chile, an" de pay is mighty slow in dis house."
"I have not a five-penny bit, Dinah, not one copper cent, if it were to save my life or yours."
"Is dat ring of yours good guinea gole, honey?" asked the mercenary creature, leering at it. "It looks mighty bright and pretty, it does dat! But mebbe its nuffin but pinchbeck, after all."
"It looks what it is, Dinah"--and, after a moment"s consideration, I drew it from my finger. "If I give you this, will you promise to deliver my message to McDermot faithfully?"
"Sartain sure, honey, but tell me again wat it is; I forgits de small patticklers."
"Get me my pencil and a sc.r.a.p of paper, and let me write it down for him to read; or no, this might involve observation, detection. I must rely upon your memory, Dinah, which I have reason to know is good. Now, listen and understand me. I promise to Mr. McDermot one thousand dollars, to be paid down to-morrow morning, if he will help me to escape to-night. And I promise you liberty for all of your family, and security for yourself, if you will a.s.sist me, or even be silent, and let me go without a word, without informing. Do you understand this, Dinah? If so, repeat it to me low, yet distinctly."
She obeyed me, evincing wonderful shrewdness in her way of putting the affair, as she said she meant to do, in approaching McDermot.
"And do you believe me, Dinah, now that I have promised so solemnly to pay these rewards?"
"Dats neider here nor dar, Miss Mirim, so dat McDermot bleves you, dat"s enough; wat dis chile bleves am her own business. Dem Irish am mighty stupid kine ob creeturs; dey swallows down mos" any thing you chooses to tell "em."
A voice without, uplifted at this juncture, as if it had long been expending itself in ineffectual appeals, now summoned Dinah, harshly and emphatically.
The Lady Anastasia had departed, after a brief interview, and Mrs.
Clayton, unable to leave her bed, felt naturally anxious to ascertain the cause of Dinah"s prolonged ministry on her fellow-prisoner.
I heard only the words, "De pattikalerest lady I ebber come acrost about de feel of water, an" I is done tired out, I is--" The rest was lost, as Dinah vanished from the apartment of the invalid. In the next moment, I heard the key turned, and the outlet bolt drawn, and the growl of the surly sable watch-dog without, who, in Mrs. Raymond"s absence, officiated as our jailer and Cerberus.
It was early evening when Dinah returned, for she brought to us but two meals at this season, the necessary food for Ernie being always ready in a closet. She came ushered in, as usual, by Mrs. Raymond, who bore with her on this occasion what she called savory broth, concocted, by her own fair hands, for the benefit of her suffering parent. While Clayton was employed in supping this mutton abomination, with a loud noise peculiar to the vulgar, and Mrs. Raymond whispering inaudible words above the bowl, I was ostensibly employed in tearing a croquet to pieces with my fork, while I interrogated Dinah, in a low, even voice, between each shred, unintelligible, I knew, in the next room, through its monotony, on the success of her mission, and caught her muttered rather than murmured replies eagerly in return.
"Did you speak with him, Dinah?"
"Dere was no use, honey; Bainrothe done bought him up. I peaked fru de key-hole, and seen de gole paid down wid my own two precious eyes. Dar"s no mistake about dat," shaking her head dolefully. "All you has to do now, honey, is to keep wide awake, an" duly sober, as ole masta used to say, "frain "ligiously from de tea or coffee, one or de udder, dat she will offer you "bout eight o"clock dis ebenin", or mebbe dey will send it up by me, I can"t say yit. Howsomever, you needn"t to drink dat stuff arter wat you knows; an" ef dey goes to take you forcefully off to de belfry in de night-time, you kin skreech ebbery step ob de way. Dat"s de bes plan, chile, wat I kin project for your resistance; but I"se afeard dar is no hopin" you, any way we can fix it."
"Thank you, Dinah, you have done your best, no doubt; don"t sell my ring, though; I shall want it back some day."
"La, chile, I done "sposed ob it aready, an" dey give me a poun of backer an" a gole-piece fur it. It was good gole an" no mistake. I tells you all," adding aloud, "an" now, Miss Mirim, I has tole you ebbery syllable. I disremembered ob dat speritual ar. I is sorry you doesn"t like dese crockets, fur de madame made un wid her own clean red hands."
"Say white hands, you old limb of Satan, or I shall be after you with a mop," cried the laughing voice of Mrs. Raymond from the side of the sick woman"s bed, betraying at once how she had divided her attention. Then, advancing into my chamber, she added, as coolly as though she had been suggesting a visit to the theatre:
"Excuse me, Miss Monfort, for intruding, but I am about to ask you whether it would be agreeable to you to be married to-night at ten o"clock? This seems very sudden, but circ.u.mstances have forced the arrangement on us all, and I a.s.sure you, from the bottom of my heart, it is for both of us the preferable alternative of evils, as poor Sir Harry Raymond would have said. Alas, my dear! shall I ever again have such a helpmate as he was: so kind, so generous, so considerate"--and she clasped and wrung her large, rosy hands. "A second marriage is often a great sacrifice, and, in any case, a hazard, as I feel, as the time draws near, very sensibly. But you seem confounded, and yet you must have been somewhat prepared for this condition of things after your last interview with Dr. Englehart?"
The amazement of Dinah at this change in the programme, if possible, exceeded my own. She did not understand, as I did, that it was a measure prompted not only by humanity but self-interest, and that even the hard heart of Basil Bainrothe preferred a compromise to such violence and injustice as those he had otherwise meditated. Besides, what better or more sensible mode than this could there be, according to his views, of quashing the whole _esclandre_--quieting official inquiry as well as public indignation? As the wife of Gregory, I should be, of course, _forcat_ for life, walking abroad with the concealed brand and manacle, afraid and ashamed to complain and acknowledge my condition, and willing to condone every thing.
I saw, at a glance, that my true policy was to feign a reluctant consent to this proposition, and to determine later what recourse to take, as if indeed any remained to me in that den of serpents. I would consider, as soon as Mrs. Raymond was gone, what measures to pursue in order to elude the vigilance of McDermot, the detective; and then, if all proved vain, I could but perish! For I would have walked cheerfully over the burning ploughshares of old, lived again through the hideous nightmare of the burning ship and raft, nay, clasped hands with the spectre of La Vigne himself, had it offered to lead me to purgatory, rather than have married the knave, the liar, the half-breed Gregory!
My resolution was soon made.
"You will send me a suitable dress, I suppose," I said, calmly, "you know I am a pauper here."
"Yes, fortunately I have two almost alike. Which shall it be, a chally or barege?"
"It matters little, the color is all I care for. Let it be white; I have a superst.i.tion about being married in colors."
"So should I have, were this the first time, but, being a widow, I shall wear a lavender-satin, trimmed with blond, made up for a very different occasion."
"Yes, that will be quite suitable. Well, the long agony is over at last, and I am glad of it," and I drew a deep, free breath.
"You will have to sign the papers before you come down-stairs. Mr.
Bainrothe told me to say this to you, and to ask you to have them ready; they will be witnessed below with the marriage, and at nine, _precisely_, expect me to appear with your gown, and make your toilet."