Most likely she"s been writing him some base falsehood."
"Dr. Lacey"s neglect!" repeated Mr. Miller. "What do you mean?"
Kate commenced an explanation, but f.a.n.n.y started up, saying: "Please, Mrs.
Miller, wait until I am gone."
She then quitted the apartment, and sought her own room, of which Julia had been sole occupant for more than an hour. On her return from school this hopeful young lady was pleased to find her sister absent. Seating herself near the window, with paper and pencil, she began the composition of that letter, which, as we have said, widened the breach between Dr.
Lacey and f.a.n.n.y. This unhallowed work cost her a world of pains. Many times were the lines crossed out and rewritten, before they quite suited her. The letter was but half completed, when f.a.n.n.y was heard coming slowly through the upper hall. Springing up, Julia darted through the window out upon the balcony, and by the time f.a.n.n.y reached the room she was seated at the furthest end of the veranda, busily engaged with her forgery.
When she at last returned to the room, and tried to converse with her sister, she observed that f.a.n.n.y shrank from her approach and that she had been weeping. In a very ironical tone Julia said, "What now is the matter?
I declare, Fan, I believe you are a perfect little simpleton. I wouldn"t be such a cry baby, anyway; and make so much fuss about one good-for-nothing doctor."
f.a.n.n.y replied very calmly, and without once taking her eyes from her sister"s face, "If you think I have been crying about Dr. Lacey, you are mistaken."
"Pray what did you cry for?" said Julia, laughingly. "Did somebody look sideways at you, or omit to call you by some pet baby name?"
"I cried," said f.a.n.n.y, "because I feared you had been acting very wickedly toward me."
In an instant Julia"s a.s.surance left her. The bright color forsook her cheek, which became perfectly white. f.a.n.n.y noticed the change, and it confirmed her fears. She did not know that the circ.u.mstances to which she alluded had long since faded from Julia"s memory, and that her present agitation arose from the fear that she might have been detected in her work of deception, and that, after all, she might be foiled and entangled in her own meshes. A glance of intense anger flashed from her large black eye, as she muttered between her closed teeth: "Has the wretch dared to betray me?"
f.a.n.n.y supposed she referred to Luce; and her first feeling was to save the helpless servant girl from Julia"s displeasure; so she said, "Do not condemn Luce; she did not tell me. I received my information from our teacher, Mr. Miller."
"Luce! Mr. Miller! What do you mean?" asked Julia, her eyes lessening to their usual size, and the color again coming to her cheeks and lips. This sudden change in her sister"s appearance puzzled f.a.n.n.y; but she proceeded to relate what she had just heard from Mr. Miller. Julia was so much relieved to find her fears unfounded, and her darling secret safe, that she burst into a loud laugh, which she continued for some time. During this fit of laughter, she was determining whether it were best to confess the whole and seem sorry for it, or to strenuously deny it. Finally, she decided on the former, but resolved not to give the right reason for her conduct; so she said, with an air of great penitence: "Yes, f.a.n.n.y, I am guilty, and I am glad you know it, too. I have been on the point of acknowledging it to you many times, but shame kept me silent."
"How could you do it, and what did you do it for?" asked f.a.n.n.y.
Julia replied, "Truth compels me to say that I feared your influence over Mr. Wilmot. I knew how much he admired amiability in females, and I wished to make him think you were no more amiable than other people."
"And yet you say you never cared for his love," continued f.a.n.n.y.
Miss Julia was getting cornered; but her evil genius did not forsake her, and she answered, "True, I did not care much for him; but I felt flattered with his attentions and I ardently desired to have one person prefer me to you. I know it was wicked in me to do what I did, but you will forgive me, will you not? And I will promise never again to act so deceitfully toward you."
Always sincere in what she said herself, f.a.n.n.y could not think her sister otherwise; so her hand was extended in token of forgiveness. Julia took it, and raising it to her lips, kept it there for an instant, in order to conceal the treacherous smile of exultation which played round her mouth.
"I shall yet triumph," thought she, and, in the exuberance of her joy, she kissed again the soft hand which she held in her grasp. Could f.a.n.n.y have looked into the heart of her sister, and beheld all its dark designs, she would have fled from her presence as from a poisonous serpent. But, though she was deceived, there was one, the All-seeing One, whose eye was ever upon the sinful girl; and though for a while she seemed to prosper, the same mighty Power so ordered it, that after a time, she who had sown the tempest reaped the whirlwind; and the clouds which hung so heavy and dark around the pathway of her innocent victim, afterward burst with terrific violence upon her own head.
We will now return to Mrs. Miller, whom we left relating to her husband the supposed neglect of Dr. Lacey. She finished her narrative by saying, "I cannot help thinking that by some means, Julia is at the foundation of all this mischief. You and Dr. Lacey were good friends; suppose you write to him, and then we shall at least know the truth of the matter."
"Yes, I will," said Mr. Miller; "tomorrow."
"But why not write tonight?" asked Kate, who was in a hurry.
"Because," answered Mr. Miller, "I shall be engaged tonight and tomorrow will do as well."
Kate could not help feeling that, possibly, "tomorrow" might not do as well; but she said no more on the subject, and waited patiently for the morrow, when, true to his promise, her husband commenced the important letter. We have said that Mr. Miller had never liked Julia. In this letter, however, he spoke as favorably of her as he could; but he told how basely she had once deceived himself and Mr. Wilmot, with regard to f.a.n.n.y, and also hinted his own and his wife"s suspicion, that, in some way or other, Julia was connected with Dr. Lacey"s long silence, as well as with the heartless letter which f.a.n.n.y had received from New Orleans.
"Yes, this will do," said Kate, as she read what her husband had written.
"But," she added, "I cannot help feeling sorry that it was not sent yesterday."
"Oh, Kate," said Mr. Miller, gayly, "your anxiety for f.a.n.n.y has made you nervous, and now you are almost superst.i.tious. One day can make no possible difference in the result of this letter."
Afterward, when it was too late, he learned how much difference the delay of one day caused. By its means, that letter which would have set all right, was sent in the same package with Julia"s amiable production, and, as we have seen, was not received by its owner, but was safely stowed away in a cigar box under ground.
Soon after Mr. Miller deposited his letter in the post office, a young girl, closely veiled, entered the same building, and looked anxiously round until her eye fell upon her accomplice, Mr. Dunn. That worthy young man instantly came forward, grinning and bowing, and almost upsetting another clerk, who was also hastening to wait upon the beautiful Miss Middleton.
"Good morning, Miss Julia!" said Mr. Dunn; "glad to see you. Fine morning."
Julia did not deign to reply, for Mr. Dunn"s familiarity was exceedingly disgusting to her. She, however, handed him her letter, which he looked at in some surprise, and said in a low tone, "Is this letter from f.a.n.n.y, or you?"
"From me; send it," answered Julia, at the same time managing to slip an eagle into the hands of the honest clerk.
Leaving the office, the young lady proceeded homeward, thinking to herself, "There, that will settle him, I hope. I am getting on swimmingly."
When Mr. Miller entered his room, on his return from the office, Kate said, "In the course of two weeks, you or f.a.n.n.y or both, will hear from Dr. Lacey."
"Do not be too sanguine, Katy," answered Mr. Miller: "you may be disappointed."
"Well," continued Kate, "if he pays no attention to your letter, I shall be satisfied that he really is undeserving of f.a.n.n.y"s esteem. I"ll not tell her that you have written, for fear of the consequence."
So days came and went, week followed week, in rapid succession, until five weeks were numbered with the past since Mr. Miller"s letter had been dispatched. Kate had waited and watched until even her sanguine nature had ceased to hope; for there had come no tidings from the far off Crescent City, and both she and her husband had unwillingly come to the conclusion that Dr. Lacey was really false. Kate manifested her disappointment by an increased tenderness of manner toward f.a.n.n.y, whom she sincerely loved, and by a more gracious deportment toward Julia, whom she began to fear she had wronged by suspecting her of being accessory to Dr. Lacey"s conduct.
CHAPTER XIV
f.a.n.n.y AND JULIA"S UNCLE ARRIVES FROM INDIA
It was now the first day of May, and as it was also f.a.n.n.y"s seventeenth birthday, her school companions determined to celebrate it by a May party, of which f.a.n.n.y was unanimously chosen queen. The fete took place in a handsome grove on a hillside which overlooked the city of Frankfort. All of Mr. Miller"s pupils were present, together with most of their parents and many of their friends. Mrs. Miller had taken great pains that f.a.n.n.y should be arrayed becomingly for the occasion, and many and flattering were the compliments paid to the youthful queen, who indeed looked bewitchingly beautiful.
Her dress was a white muslin, festooned with wild flowers, some of which were fastened here and there by a pearl or brilliant. The gayety of the little party was at its height, and when f.a.n.n.y, gracefully kneeling, received upon her head the crown, and was proclaimed "Queen of the May," a strange voice called out in loud, musical tones, "Viva la Reine." The whole company instantly caught up the words, and "Long live the Queen" was echoed and re-echoed on all sides.
When the tumult had somewhat subsided the eyes of those present were turned toward the spot whence the words "Viva la Reine" had proceeded.
Leaning against one of the tall shade trees were two gentlemen, who had joined them un.o.bserved. The elder of the strangers was a middle-aged man, in whose piercing black eyes and dark complexion we recognize the Mr.
Middleton whom we left with Dr. Lacey in New Orleans. His companion was many years younger, and there was something in his appearance which instantly interested and attracted the notice of strangers. There was a n.o.bleness in the intellectual cast of his high, white forehead, round which his rich brown hair lay in thick ma.s.ses, as if unwilling to part with the curl which must have been natural to it in childhood.
No sooner did Kate"s eyes fall on the young man than she darted forward with a cry of recognition and exclaimed, "Why, Frank Cameron, how came you here?"
But before he answers Kate"s question, we will introduce him to our readers. Frank Cameron was a cousin of Kate Wilmot. His father, who was a lawyer by profession, had ama.s.sed a large fortune, on the interest of which he was now living in elegant style in the city of New York. Frank, who was the eldest child, had chosen the profession of his father, contrary to the wishes of his proud lady mother, who looked upon all professions as too plebeian to suit her ideas of gentility. This aristocratic lady had forgotten the time when, with blue cotton umbrella and thick India rubbers, she had plodded through the mud and water of the streets in Albany, giving music lessons for her own and widowed mother"s maintenance. One of her pupils was Kate Wilmot"s mother, Lucy Cameron.
While giving lessons to her she first met Lucy"s brother, Arthur Cameron, who afterward became her husband. He was attracted by her extreme beauty and his admiration was increased on learning her praiseworthy efforts to maintain herself and mother. They were married, and with increasing years came increasing wealth, until at length Mr. Cameron was a millionaire and retired from business.
As riches increased, so did Mrs. Cameron"s proud spirit, until she came to look upon herself as somewhat above the common order of her fellow-beings.
She endeavored to instil her ideas of exclusiveness into the minds of her children. With her daughter Gertrude, she succeeded admirably, and by the time that young lady had reached her eighteenth year, she fancied herself a kind of queen to whom all must pay homage. But Frank the poor mother found perfectly incorrigible. He was too much like his father to think himself better than his neighbor on account of his wealth. Poor Mrs.
Cameron had long given him up, only asking as a favor that he would not disgrace his family by marrying the washerwoman"s daughter. Frank promised he would not, unless perchance he should fall in love with her, "And then," said he, with a wicked twinkle of his handsome hazel eyes, "then, my dear Mrs. Cameron, I cannot be answerable for consequences."
He had always greatly admired his cousin Kate, and often horrified his mother by declaring that if Kate were not his cousin, he would surely marry her. "Thank the Lord, then, that she is so near a relative! For now you will not stoop to marry a music teacher," said Mrs. Cameron.