One day in particular, when the deceitful beauty of the morning had induced us to extend our ride a few miles farther than usual, we all got drenched by a sudden shower of rain. The next morning my dear girl complained of a pain in her chest, sudden chills and weariness of mind and body. These symptoms were succeeded by a short, hacking cough, and sudden flushings of the face, which greatly alarmed us all. Medical advice was instantly called in, but Margaret"s malady daily increased and her strength rapidly declined.
I dared not whisper to myself the fears which oppressed my heart, and was almost afraid of asking Dr. Wilson the nature of her complaint.
To my utter grief and despair he informed me that his patient was beyond human aid--that a few weeks, at the farthest, would terminate the existence of the gentlest and purest of human beings.
"It would be cruel to deceive you, Mr. Moncton," said he, as he announced the startling truth--for the dreadful communication had quite unmanned me. "Let this comfort you in your affliction, that I have antic.i.p.ated this for years; that our dear patient has carried about her the seeds of this fatal malady from infancy; that it is better that she should thus fall in the budding season of youth, than leave hereafter a family of children to bewail their irreparable loss.
I sorrow for her father and you, Mr. Geoffrey, more than for her.
Death has few terrors to a sincere Christian, and such from childhood Margaret Moncton has been. A friend to the friendless, a sister of mercy to the poor and dest.i.tute."
Oh, reader! if you have ever known what it is to see your fondest hopes annihilated at the very moment of their apparent fulfilment, you can form some idea of my mental anguish whilst watching the decay of that delicate flower.
Margaret was now fully aware of her danger, a most uncommon circ.u.mstance in the victims of that insidious disease, on whom Death advances so softly that he always comes suddenly at last. She prepared herself to meet the mighty conqueror with a cheerful submission to the will of G.o.d, which surprised us all.
One thing she earnestly entreated, that the marriage of Catherine and George might not be postponed on account of her illness.
"I not only wish to witness their happiness before I go hence, but to share in it," she said to us, a few days before the one which had been appointed for the ceremony, as we were all sitting round the sofa on which she was reclining.
"And you, dearest Geoffrey, must give me a lawful claim to the tender care I receive from you. Though I can only be your wife in name, I shall die happy in hearing you address me by that coveted appellation."
I could in reply only press her wasted form in my arms and bathe her hands and face with my tears. How earnestly had I wished to call her mine, though I lacked the courage to make the proposal so dear to my peace.
Oh, what a melancholy day was that to us all. Margaret"s sweet face alone wore a serene smile, as, supported by her father, she stood beside me at the altar.
How beautiful she looked in her white bridal dress. What a mockery was the ceremony to my tortured heart, whilst fancy, busy with my grief, converted those flowing garments into a snowy shroud.
One little week after that melancholy event I again bent before that altar, to partake of the last tokens of a Saviour"s dying love; but I knelt alone. The grave had closed over my bright, my beautiful, my virgin bride, and my soul had vowed an eternal divorce from the vanities and l.u.s.ts of earth.
Years have fled on in their silent and undeviating course. I am now an old, grey-headed man.
Sir Alexander Moncton has long been gathered to his fathers, and the old Hall is filled by a race of healthy, n.o.ble-looking young people, the children of Sir George Moncton and Catherine Lee. I, too, have a Geoffrey and a Margaret, the children of my adoption; for a large family Sir George willingly spared me these.
For years I have resided at the Lodge, formerly the residence of Dinah North, which I have converted into a pretty dwelling, surrounded by shrubberies and flower-gardens. I love to linger near the scenes where the happiest and saddest moments of my life were pa.s.sed.
Behold me now, a cheerful and contented old man, surrounded by dear young faces, who lavish upon Uncle Geoffrey the redundant affections of warm and guileless hearts.
My wealth is the means of making many happy, of obviating the sorrows of the sorrowful, and smoothing with necessary comforts the couch of pain. When I first lost my beloved Margaret, I mourned as one without hope; but it pleased G.o.d to hallow and bless my afflictions, and by their instrumentality gently to lead me to a knowledge of the truth--that simple and holy truth, which has set me free from the chains of sin and the fear of death.
In what a different light I view all these trials now. How sincerely I can bless the munificent hand which wounds but to heal--punishes but to reform; who has poured upon the darkness of my soul the light of life, and exchanged the love of earth, which bound me grovelling in the dust, for the love of Christ; sorrow for the loss of one dear companion and friend, into compa.s.sion for the sorrows and sufferings of the whole human race.
A few words more, gentle reader, and we part for ever. These relate to the fate of Theophilus Moncton, and fully ill.u.s.trate the awful text--"There is no peace," saith my G.o.d, "for the wicked;" and again, "The wicked have no hope in their death."
From the hour that Robert Moncton fell by the hand of the unknown midnight a.s.sa.s.sin, Theophilus Moncton was never seen or heard of again for upwards of twenty years, until his name was forgotten, and I, like the rest of the world, believed that he was dead, or had become a voluntary exile in a foreign land.
One day, while crossing the Strand, just below Somerset House, my charity was solicited by the dirty, ragged sweeper of the street.
The voice, though long unheard, was only too familiar to my ear, and looking earnestly at the suppliant, with mingled sensation of pity and horror, I recognized my long-lost cousin Theophilus Moncton.
He, too, recognized me, and dropping the tattered remains of his hat at my feet, muttered half aloud:
"Do not betray me, Geoffrey; I am a lost and miserable man. My punishment is already greater than flesh and blood can well bear."
"What a.s.sistance can I render you?" I asked, in a faltering voice, as I dropped my purse into his hat, for the sight of him recalled many painful recollections.
"You have rendered me the best in your power;" and flinging away his broom, he disappeared down a dirty, narrow alley, leaving me in a state of doubt and anxiety concerning him.
Wishing to convert this sinner from the error of his ways, and to elucidate if possible the mystery which involved his father"s death, I repaired to the same place for several days in the hope of meeting with him again, but without success.
A week elapsed, and I found another son of want supplying his place at the crossing of the street. Dropping a shilling into his extended hand, I asked him what had become of the poor fellow that used to sweep there.
"Saving your honour"s presence," returned the mendicant, in a broad Irish accent, "he was a big blackguard, and so he was, not over-honest neither, and always drunk. T"other day, some foolish body who had more money nor wit, took a fancy to his ugly, unwholesome phiz, and gave him a purseful of gould--or mayhap he stole it--an" he never quits the grip of the brandy-bottle till he dies. They carried the body to the poor-house and that"s all I knows of the chap. "Tis a lucky thing, yer honor, that the scamp has neither wife nor child."
I thought so, too, as with a heavy sigh I took my way to the inn, murmuring to myself as I walked along:
"And such is the end of the wicked."
THE END.