"Strange boy! Why are you so anxious to stay with me?"
"Because----"
"Well?"
"Because I love you, Signor," said the boy, while his whole face, a moment before so pale, grew vivid crimson.
Louis looked at him in surprise.
"And what have I done for you, that you should love me so?" he asked, at length.
"Do we only love those who have conferred favors upon us, Signor?"
"Well, generally speaking, among men it is so. If you were a woman, now, it would be different," said Louis, laughing.
"Would you love me, if I were a woman?" asked the boy, in a tone so abrupt and startling, that Louis gazed at him in wonder.
"Not more than I do now. One cannot _love_ two women at a time, as you will find out when you grow older."
"Then the signor is already in love?" asked Isadore, raising his dark eyes, now filled with dusky fire.
There was no reply. Louis turned aside restlessly, so that the boy could not see the expression of his face. And Isadore, paler than before, seated himself in silence, and fixed his burning black eyes steadily on the ground.
Louis now rapidly recovered, and in a short time was able to resume his duties. During his first interview with Madame Evelini, she related the scene that had taken place between her and Isadore.
"His motive in keeping me out was certainly other than the physician"s commands," she said. "In fact, my dear Louis, I should not be surprised if your Isadore should turn out to be a female in disguise. His conduct savors so strongly of jealousy that I more than half suspect him. Some fiery Italian might have conceived a romantic pa.s.sion for you, and taken this means of following you. Those hot-blooded Venetians will do such things sometimes."
The words were lightly spoken, but they set Louis to thinking. What if they were true? A number of things, trifling in themselves, rushed on his mind, tending to confirm this opinion. He started up, seized his hat, bade madame a hasty farewell, and started for home, fully resolved to discover immediately whether or not her words were true.
On entering, he found Isadore standing with folded arms, gazing with eyes almost fiendish with hate upon a picture on the easel. It was the portrait of Celeste as a child, standing as when he first beheld her caressing her wounded bird. No words can describe the look of fierce hatred with which the boy regarded it.
"Well, Isadore, you seem struck by that painting. Did you ever see a sweeter face?" asked Louis, pointing to Celeste, but keeping his eyes fixed steadily on the face of the boy.
"Do you love her?" asked Isadore, hoa.r.s.ely, without looking up.
"Yes, with my whole heart and soul!" replied Louis, fervently.
"Ungrateful wretch!" cried the youth, in a voice of intense pa.s.sion; and lifting his head, he disclosed a face so pale, and eyes so full of fire, that Louis started back. "Was it for this that I left home, and country, and friends, that I a.s.sumed a disguise like this to follow you? Was it for such a turn as this I risked my life for yours? Was it for words like these I cast aside my pride, and became your menial? Was it not enough for you to call on her unceasingly during your delirium--she who feared the opinion of the world more than she loved you--while I, who braved disgrace and death for your sake, was unnamed and forgotten? Look on me, most ungrateful of men," he continued, almost with a shriek.
"Look at me; and say, do you yet know me?"
He dashed his cap to the ground, and with features convulsed with contending pa.s.sions, stood before him. Louis looked, turned deadly pale, and exclaimed, in a voice of utter surprise:
"Merciful heaven! Minnette!"
CHAPTER x.x.xIV.
LIGHT IN DARKNESS.
"By the strong spirit"s discipline-- By the fierce wrong forgiven-- By all that wrings the heart of sin, Is woman won to Heaven."--WILLIS.
There was a moment"s profound silence, during which Louis stood like one thunderstruck, and Minnette glared upon him with her fierce black eyes.
"And you have been with me all this time, Minnette, and I knew it not,"
said Louis, at length.
"No," she said, with a bitter laugh. "You did not know me. Had it been Celeste, do you think you would have recognized her?"
"Minnette, do not look so wildly. Good heaven! who would ever think of seeing you here, and in such disguise?" he added, still scarcely able to realize it was Minnette who stood before him.
"And it was for your sake," she replied, in a voice almost choked by contending emotions.
"For me, for me! wretch that I am!" he said, with bitter remorse. "Oh, Minnette! I am unworthy such devoted love."
Something in his manner inspired her with hope. She clasped her hands, and said, wildly:
"Only say you will not cast me off. Only say you will yet love me, and I will be a thousand-fold repaid for all I have endured for your sake. Oh, Louis! is it for the cold, prudish Celeste you reject such love as mine?"
"We cannot compel our affections, Minnette. Celeste is the only woman who can ever possess my heart; but you--you shall always be to me as a dear sister. You must throw off this disguise, and return with me home immediately. Your friends shall never know of this--they do not dream you are here; and you will soon learn to look back to this time as a troubled dream, happily past."
"Ha, ha, ha! You might take me back to America, that I might witness your marriage with Celeste. No, Louis Oranmore, _never_ shall _she_ enjoy such a triumph! I have hated her all my life; and I shall hate her with my last breath. Do you think I could live and survive this disgrace? You have driven me to madness; and now behold its fruits."
Her voice was hoa.r.s.e with concentrated pa.s.sion; her eyes burning like fire; her face ghastly and livid. As she spoke, she drew from within the doublet she wore a gleaming dagger. As the quick eye of Louis saw the motion, he sprang forward and seized her by the wrist. She struggled madly to free herself from his grasp; and in the struggle the point of the dagger entered her eye.
A torrent of blood flowed over his hands. Shriek after shriek of mortal agony broke from the lips of Minnette. The fatal dagger dropped from the hand of Louis--he staggered back, and stood for a moment paralyzed with horror. Mad with agony, Minnette fled round the room, the blood gushing from her sightless eye and covering her face, her agonizing screams making the house resound. It was an awful, ghastly, appalling spectacle.
Louis stood rooted to the ground, unable to remove his gaze from the terrible sight.
Her piercing shrieks soon filled the room. Among the crowd came Lugari, who instantly guessed what had happened. A surgeon was sent for, and poor Minnette, struggling madly, was borne to her room and laid upon her bed. The surgeon, an Englishman, at length arrived; and Louis, at last restored to presence of mind, speedily expelled the gaping crowd, and shut himself up in his own room, unable to endure the harrowing sight of Minnette"s agony. For upwards of two hours he trod up and down, almost maddened by the recollection of the dreadful scene just past.
Bitter, indeed, was his anguish and remorse; in those two hours seemed concentrated ages of suffering.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps announced that the physician was about to take his leave. Hurriedly leaving the room, Louis followed him, scarcely daring to ask the question that hovered upon his lips.
"Tell me!" he exclaimed, vehemently, "is she--will she----"
"No, she will not die," replied the doctor, who knew what he would ask.
"The wound is dangerous, but not mortal. She must be taken care of. I will have her immediately removed from here."
"Then she will recover!" said Louis, fervently, "Thank G.o.d!"
"Yes, she will recover," said the doctor, hesitatingly, "but----"
"But what?" exclaimed Louis, in vague alarm.
"_She will be blind for life!_"
"Great heaven!"