"Ah, these are not dreams," she said, drawing a deep breath. "The man who has power enough to create a palace like this, makes no false boast when he talks of golden walls."
She stood a moment, drinking in the scene with greedy admiration. Then, for the first time that day, she turned her eyes full upon Nelson"s face, and smiled upon him.
"You are pleased, my wife."
"I am delighted, Nelson."
"Nelson! when I call you wife?" he said, with reproachful tenderness.
"Well, husband."
As the word left her lips an unaccountable pallor spread over both their faces. Instead of the happiness he expected, the husband of two days felt a pang so heavy that it made him shrink; and the woman--she had uttered the word before, and under different surroundings!
With a sudden and heavy cloud upon them these persons turned from each other without speaking, and mounted the steps.
To have seen Mrs. Nelson pa.s.sing along the tressellated floor of the vestibule, where the servants were gathered to receive her, you would have believed that she had trod on Gobelin carpets all her life. The good housekeeper, who had dwelt in the atmosphere of n.o.bility from her cradle up, was absolutely struck dumb by the queenliness of her presence, and thought in her heart that the new mistress must have come from abroad, or at least have been educated there.
Mrs. Nelson saw the impression she had made, and this gave graciousness to her presence which completely subdued the group of dependants into admiration. She said a few patronizing words to each, and pa.s.sing through the vestibule, entered upon her new life with a degree of graceful self-possession which astonished even her husband.
And now commenced a career such as few persons ever carried out so triumphantly. Mrs. Nelson had wealth, unbounded beauty, education quite sufficient for the demands of fashion, and a craving ambition for notoriety, which was sure to make its way. Gold, in America, proves a sure road to this kind of distinction, and the great lever of republican society was used without stint or measure in this singular household.
Mrs. Nelson had seized on the insinuation, half put as a question by the housekeeper, regarding her foreign appearance, and accepted it as a truth--nay, more--so absorbing was her vanity that she allowed it to be understood that the great wealth which astonished everybody came into Mr. Nelson"s hands through her own munificent affection; an idea that Mr. Nelson rather encouraged by his silence and entire submission to her will in all things.
It was not many months before the beautiful Mrs. Nelson became a star of magnitude in the fashionable circles of New York. Of course she was an object of great interest; when curious persons inquired about her origin, they were answered that she was an American by birth, but had spent most of her life abroad with her first husband, who had left her a young and beautiful widow with enormous wealth. This wealth she had bestowed on Mr. Nelson, who, after travelling all over the world, had fallen in love with her at first sight, and still regarded her with a sort of adoration, as everybody could see.
If there was any thing hollow or false in all this, the most intimate person in that magnificent household never could find the proof. True, Mr. Nelson was not a gay or particularly cheerful husband, but that might be said of a thousand other men with dashing wives; it was, after all, a matter of const.i.tution only. Certainly the lady was altogether the most popular of the two. The material style of her beauty was of that sumptuous order which wealth embellishes to its greatest perfection. She was witty, gay, and for all the superficial uses of society, a fascinating woman, whom the most ultra among the fashionable, were glad to recognize as a leader. Thus, unlimited control of wealth, and unflinching a.s.surance, placed the widow Mason, in a few short months, in the very heart of our Metropolitan society.
CHAPTER LI.
THE DAY BEFORE TRIAL.
There is no unendurable sorrow which is not the outgrowth of some sin. A peaceful conscience cannot be rendered altogether miserable, place it where you will. You would not have suspected that the fair young creature who sat within those prison bars from morning till night, when her misery was lost in the darkness, had been charged with the dread crime of murder. Indeed, a person with quick sensibilities might have regarded her rather as some gentle martyr, waiting to seal her faith by sublime suffering, for a more heavenly face than hers never appeared behind the rusted gratings of a dungeon.
Up to this time, Katharine had been a bright and very beautiful girl; such graces as youth, bloom, and cheerfulness give, she had possessed in perfection, but she was something more now. The roses had died on her cheeks, but a pure whiteness rested there, more lovely by far. The dimples had faded from the corners of her mouth, but an expression of holy sweetness was left behind, that sometimes deepened to a smile when any one spoke to her with unusual kindness. But her eyes--those who have seen the original Beatrice Cenci, where it hangs an embodied sorrow in that old Roman palace, would ask no farther description of the look which slept forever in the deep blue orbs of the American girl; there was, indeed, a difference to be felt rather than portrayed. Through all the exquisite sadness in those eyes, a terrible remembrance sleeps, which leads you to forgive, but not altogether acquit, the Cenci. But with Katharine nothing but sublime innocence lay beneath the sorrow. The expression of the living eyes was mournful as those of the immortal picture, but you looked upon them with less pain.
Thus in the twilight of her prison she sat reading the family Bible, which had been brought to that place by her mother. It was an old book, worn with much handling, the paper yellow with age, and the leathern cover broke at the corners. Since Katharine"s remembrance, this Bible had occupied the round candle stand by her mother"s bed. When that singular woman first entered the prison, after giving up her home, she laid this most precious of her treasures upon the young girl"s lap, without speaking a word. Katharine knew what this act imported, and bowed her fair head in thankfulness, for she sorely lacked the comfort those holy pages might bring.
Katharine had never been a great reader, but her intellect was clear, and her heart, rendered earnest by suffering, seized upon the solemn truths of that book as a flower absorbs the air and sunshine, until she grew strong beneath their lessons.
Not long after that Bible was laid in her lap, much of the horrible dread of death went out from her soul. In its holy pages she found how tranquilly innocence could die, how trustfully it could repose in the hands of G.o.d, and from that day the sublime beauty that I have mentioned dawned on her face.
Thus, as I said awhile ago, Katharine sat in her prison, reading. The Bible lay open on her lap; but while her eyelids drooped, and their lashes shaded those deep blue orbs, they were tinged with the depths of their color, as violets cast purple shadows where the sun touches them.
The golden tresses of her hair, embraided around her head, scintillated the sunbeams that fell through her prison bars like a glory. Her dress was white dimity, a fabric much worn in those days, which fell heavily around her like the marble drapery of a statue. Thus she was surrounded with a whiteness which threw her figure out in strong relief from a background of shadows gathering on the walls of her dungeon.
As the last sunbeam left the heavy bars that rusted across the window, she lifted her eyes and waited, with one hand--alas! snow-white from confinement--resting upon the open page. A footstep near the door, and the jingle of keys, had disturbed her. She looked earnestly toward the noise until the door opened. Then the expression of her face grew animated. She laid the Bible down upon her bed, and moved forward with both hands extended.
"You have come; ah, I knew it; when did you break a promise."
The old man who entered took her hand softly between his two hard palms, and glancing at the open Bible, said:
"You were well employed, child; I can bring you no better company than that."
Katharine looked back upon the Bible, smiling faintly, the only way she ever smiled in those days.
"Yes, I know," she said; "but you look pale, have you brought news for me?"
"Yes, dear," said old Mrs. Thrasher, coming forward and kissing the prisoner, "he brings news, but keep a good heart. G.o.d is above all."
Katharine bent her head an instant and stood before them in silence, then she looked gravely up and said:
"Is it to-morrow."
"Yes, Katharine, it is to-morrow; are you ready?" answered the old man.
"Yes, father, I am ready."
Her voice was low, but clear as the fall of water-drops.
"I am ready to live or to die as G.o.d shall will it. Our Lord has told me how to do both."
"Blessed be his holy name!" broke forth the old man.
"Amen," whispered the gentle woman by his side.
Katharine clasped her hands and lifted her eyes upward, while her lips moved silently.
"We have good counsel; every thing has been done that lies within mortal power," said Mr. Thrasher.
"I know it. The lawyers were here questioning me. They told me it might be soon, but to-morrow--that is sudden."
"But it will be over in a little while," said Mrs. Thrasher, anxious to throw in her mite of consolation.
"Yes, it will be over, and then----"
Katharine"s voice trembled. She was so young, poor thing, and sometimes her timid nature fell away from the faith that gave it strength, and shuddered at the death before her.
"Then and now we must put our faith in Him," answered the old man, with tender solemnity.
"I know--I do, father!"
There was something very sweet in the way she uttered this little word "father." Indeed, Katharine had been brought to trust in the old man so thoroughly that she followed him as a lamb keeps by the side of its shepherd. But for his mild, firm teachings, the poor child must have fallen under the burden of her misfortunes, and the sorrow of her young life might have taken a different course.
"What is sorrow, what is death itself, compared to the pangs of guilt, my child?"