"True to this heart--to this heart, mother! to all that is honest and good in my nature."
"I don"t understand you at all."
"Oh, mother, the thought of marrying anybody is unwelcome to me now; and the idea of being married to Grim is abhorrent; is like that of being sold to a master that I hate, or sent to prison for life; it is full of terror and despair. Oh! oh!--"
"Don"t talk so wildly, Jacquelina, you make me ill."
"Do I, Mimmy? Oh, I didn"t mean to worry you. Bear up, Mimmy; do try to bear up; don"t fear; suppose he does turn me out. I am but a little girl, and food and clothing are cheap enough in the country, and any of our neighbors will take me in just for the fun I"ll make them. La! yes, that they will, just as gladly as they will let in the sunshine."
"Oh, child, how little you know of the world. Yes, for a day or two, or a week or two, scarcely longer. And even if you could find a home, who would give shelter to your poor, sick mother for the rest of her life?"
"Mother! uncle would never deny you shelter upon my account!" exclaimed Jacquelina, growing very pale.
"Indeed he will, my child; he has; he came in here last night and warned me to pack up and leave the house."
"He will not dare--even he, so to outrage humanity and public opinion and everything he ought to respect."
"My child, he will. He has set his heart upon making Nace Grimshaw his successor at Luckenough, that if you disappoint him in this darling purpose, there will be no limit to his rage and his revenge. And he will not only send us from his roof, but he will seek to justify himself and further ruin us by blackening our names. Your wildness and eccentricity will be turned against us and so distorted and misrepresented as to ruin us forever."
"Mother! mother! he is not so wicked as that."
"He is furious in his temper and violent in his impulses--he will do all that under the influence of disappointment and pa.s.sion, however he may afterwards repent his injustice. You must not disappoint him, Jacquelina."
"I disappoint him? Why, Mimmy, Luckenough does not belong to me. And if he wants Grim to be his successor, why, as I have heard aunty ask him, does he not make him his heir?"
"There are reasons, I suspect, my dear, why he cannot do so. I think he holds the property by such a tenure, that he cannot alienate it from the family. And the only manner in which he can bestow it upon Dr. Grimshaw, will be through his wife, if the doctor should marry some relative."
"That is it, hey? Well! I will not be made a sumpter-mule to carry this rich gift over to Dr. Grimshaw--even if there is no other way of conveyance. Mother! what is the reason the professor is such a favorite with uncle?"
"My dear, I don"t know, but I have often had my suspicions."
"Of what, Mimmy?"
"Of a very near, though unacknowledged relationship; don"t question me any further upon that particular point, my dear, for I really know nothing whatever about it. Oh, dear." And the invalid groaned and turned over.
"Mother, you are very weak; mother, please to take some tea; let me go get you some hot."
"Tell me, Jacquelina; will you do as the old man wishes you?"
"I will tell you after you take some refreshments," said Jacquelina.
"Well! go bring me some."
The girl went and brought more hot tea and toast, and waited until her mother had drunk the former and partaken of a morsel of the latter.
When, in answer to the eager, inquiring look, she said:
"Mother, if I alone were concerned, I would leave this house this moment, though I should never have another roof over my head. But for your sake, mother, I will still fight the battle. I will try to turn uncle from his purpose. I will try to awaken Grim"s generosity, if he has any, and get him to withdraw his suit. I will get aunty to use her influence with both of them, and see what can be done. But as for marrying Dr. Grimshaw, mother--I know what I am saying--I would rather die!"
"And see me die, my child?"
"Oh, mother! it will not be so bad as that."
"Jacquelina, it will. Do you know what is the meaning of these afternoon fevers and night sweats and this cough?"
"I know it means that you are very much out of health, Mimmy, but I hope you will be well in the spring."
"Jacquelina, it means death."
"Oh, no! No, no! No, no! Not so! There"s Miss Nancy Skamp has had a cough every winter ever since I knew her, and she"s not dead nor likely to die, and you will be well in the spring," said the girl, changing color; and faltering in spite of herself.
"I shall never see another spring, my child--"
"Oh, mother! don"t! don"t say so. You--"
"Hear me out, my dear; I shall never live to see another spring unless I can have a quiet life with peace of mind. These symptoms, my child, mean death, sooner or later. My life may be protracted for many years, if I can live in peace and comfort; but if I must suffer privation, want and anxiety, I cannot survive many months, Jacquelina."
The poor girl was deadly pale; she started up and walked the floor in a distracted manner, crying:
"What shall I do! Oh! what shall I do?"
"It is very plain what you shall do, my child. You must marry Dr.
Grimshaw. Come, my dear, be reasonable. If I did not think it best for your happiness and prosperity, I would not urge it."
"Mimmy, don"t talk any longer, dear!" Jacquelina interrupted. "There"s a bright spot on your cheek now, and your fever will rise again, even this morning. I will see what can be done to bring everybody to reason! I will not believe but that if I remain firm and faithful to my heart"s integrity there will be some way of escape made between these two alternatives."
But could Sans Souci do this? Had the frolicsome fairy sufficient integral strength and self-balance to resist the powerful influences gathering around her?
CHAPTER X.
A GRIM MARRIAGE.
As the decisive day approached, Jacquelina certainly acted like one distraught--now in wild defiance, now in paleness and tears, and anon in fitful mirth, or taunting threats. She rapidly lost flesh and color, and in hysterical laughter accounted for it by saying that she believed in her soul Grim was a spiritual vampire, who preyed upon her life! She avoided him as much as she could. And if sometimes, when she was about to escape from him, he would seize her wrist and detain her, she would suddenly lose her breath and turn so pale that in the fear of her fainting, he would release her. So he got no opportunity to press his claims.
One morning, however--it was about a week before Christmas--she voluntarily sought his presence. She entered the parlor where he sat alone. Excitement had flushed her cheeks with a vivid crimson and lighted her eyes with sparkling fire--she did not know that her beauty was enhanced a thousand fold--she did not know that never in her life had her presence kindled such a flame in the heart of her lover as it did at that moment. And if he restrained himself from going to meet her, it was the dread lest she should fade away from him as he had seen her do so often. But she advanced and stood before him.
"Dr. Grimshaw!" she said, "I have come to make a last appeal to you! I have come to beg, to supplicate you, for my sake, for honor, for truth and for mercy"s sake, yes! for heaven"s sake, to withdraw your pretensions to my poor hand. For, sir, I do not and cannot like you! I do not say but that you are far too good and wise, and every way too worthy for such a girl as I am--and that you do me the very greatest honor by your preference, but still no one can account for tastes--and, sir, I cannot like you--pray, pardon me! indeed, I cannot help it."
Although her words were so humble, her color was still heightened, and her eyes had a threatening, defiant sparkle in them, so contradictory, so piquant and fascinating in contrast with the little, fragile, graceful, helpless form, that his head was almost turned. It was with difficulty he could keep from s.n.a.t.c.hing the fluttering, half-defiant, half-frightened, bird-like creature to his bosom. But he contented himself with saying:
"My fairy! we are commanded to love those that hate us; and should you hate me more than ever, I should only continue to love you!"
"Love me at a distance, then! and the greater the distance, the more grateful I shall be!"
He could no longer quite restrain himself. He seized her hand and drew her towards him, exclaiming in an eager, breathless, half-whisper: