"Captain Nat, his father, has just left my office. I promised I would tell Miss Jane to-night. He was too much broken up and too fearful of its effect upon her to do it himself. I drove fast, but perhaps I"m too late to see her."
"Well, ye could see her no doubt,--she could throw somethin" around her--but ye mustn"t tell her THAT news. She"s been downhearted all day and is tired out. Bart"s dead, is he?" she repeated with an effort at indifference. "Well, that"s too bad. I s"pose the captain"s feelin"
putty bad over it. Where did he die?"
"He died in Rio Janeiro of yellow fever," said the doctor slowly, wondering at the self-control of the woman. Wondering, too, whether she was glad or sorry over the event, her face and manner showing no index to her feelings.
"And will he be brought home to be buried?" she asked with a quick glance at the doctor"s face.
"No; they never bring them home with yellow fever."
"And is that all ye come to tell her?" She was scrutinizing Doctor John"s face, her quick, nervous glances revealing both suspicion and fear.
"I had some other matters to talk about, but if she has retired, perhaps I had better come to-morrow," answered the doctor in undecided tones, as he gazed abstractedly at the flickering candle.
The old woman hesitated. She saw that the doctor knew more than he intended to tell her. Her curiosity and her fear that some other complication had arisen--one which he was holding back--got the better of her judgment. If it was anything about her bairn, she could not wait until the morning. She had forgotten Meg now.
"Well, maybe if ye break it to her easy-like she can stand it. I don"t suppose she"s gone to bed yet. Her door was open on a crack when I come down, and she always shuts it "fore she goes to sleep. I"ll light a couple o" lamps so ye can see, and then I"ll send her down to ye if she"ll come. Wait here, doctor, dear."
The lamps lighted and Martha gone, Doctor John looked about the room, his glance resting on the sofa where he had so often sat with her; on the portrait of Morton Cobden, the captain"s friend; on the work-basket filled with needlework that Jane had left on a small table beside her chair, and upon the books her hands had touched. He thought he had never loved her so much as now. No one he had ever known or heard of had made so great a sacrifice. Not for herself this immolation, but for a sister who had betrayed her confidence and who had repaid a life"s devotion with unforgivable humiliation and disgrace. This was the woman whose heart he held. This was the woman he loved with every fibre of his being. But her sufferings were over now. He was ready to face the world and its malignity beside her. Whatever sins her sister had committed, and however soiled were Lucy"s garments, Jane"s robes were as white as snow, he was glad he had yielded to the impulse and had come at once. The barrier between them once broken down and the terrible secret shared, her troubles would end.
The whispering of her skirts on the stairs announced her coming before she entered the room. She had been sitting by Archie"s crib and had not waited to change her loose white gown, whose clinging folds accentuated her frail, delicate form. Her hair had been caught up hastily and hung in a dark ma.s.s, concealing her small, pale ears and making her face all the whiter by contrast.
"Something alarming has brought you at this hour," she said, with a note of anxiety in her voice, walking rapidly toward him. "What can I do? Who is ill?"
Doctor John sprang forward, held out both hands, and holding tight to her own, drew her close to him.
"Has Martha told you?" he said tenderly.
"No; only that you wanted me. I came as soon as I could."
"It"s about Barton Holt. His father has just left my office. I have very sad news for you. The poor boy--"
Jane loosened her hands from his and drew back. The doctor paused in his recital.
"Is he ill?" she inquired, a slight shiver running through her.
"Worse than ill! I"m afraid you"ll never see him again."
"You mean that he is dead? Where?"
"Yes, dead, in Rio. The letter arrived this morning."
"And you came all the way up here to tell me this?" she asked, with an effort to hide her astonishment. Her eyes dropped for a moment and her voice trembled. Then she went on. "What does his father say?"
"I have just left him. He is greatly shaken. He would not tell you himself, he said; he was afraid it might shock you too much, and asked me to come up. But it is not altogether that, Jane. I have heard something to-night that has driven me half out of my mind. That you should suffer this way alone is torture to me. You cannot, you shall not live another day as you have! Let me help!"
Instantly there flashed into her mind the story Martha had brought in from the street. "He has heard it," she said to herself, "but he does not believe it, and he comes to comfort me. I cannot tell the truth without betraying Lucy."
She drew a step farther from him.
"You refer to what the people about us call a mystery--that poor little child upstairs?" she said slowly, all her self-control in her voice.
"You think it is a torture for me to care for this helpless baby? It is not a torture; it is a joy--all the joy I have now." She stood looking at him as she spoke with searching eyes, wondering with the ever-questioning doubt of those denied love"s full expression.
"But I know--"
"You know nothing--nothing but what I have told you; and what I have told you is the truth. What I have not told you is mine to keep. You love me too well to probe it any further, I am sorry for the captain.
He has an iron will and a rough exterior, but he has a warm heart underneath. If you see him before I do give him my deepest sympathy.
Now, my dear friend, I must go back to Archie; he is restless and needs me. Good-night," and she held out her hand and pa.s.sed out of the room.
She was gone before he could stop her. He started forward as her hand touched the door, but she closed it quickly behind her, as if to leave no doubt of her meaning. He saw that she had misunderstood him. He had intended to talk to her of Archie"s father, and of Lucy, and she had supposed he had only come to comfort her about the village gossip.
For some minutes he stood like one dazed. Then a feeling of unspeakable reverence stole over him. Not only was she determined to suffer alone and in silence, but she would guard her sister"s secret at the cost of her own happiness. Inside that sacred precinct he knew he could never enter; that wine-press she intended to tread alone.
Then a sudden indignation, followed by a contempt of his own weakness took possession of him. Being the older and stronger nature, he should have compelled her to listen. The physician as well as the friend should have a.s.serted himself. No woman could be well balanced who would push away the hand of a man held out to save her from ruin and misery.
He would send Martha for her again and insist upon her listening to him.
He started for the door and stopped irresolute. A new light broke in upon his heart. It was not against himself and her own happiness that she had taken this stand, but to save her father"s and her sister"s name. He knew how strong was her devotion to her duty, how blind her love for Lucy, how sacred she held the trust given to her by her dead father. No; she was neither obstinate nor quixotic. Hers was the work of a martyr, not a fanatic. No one he had ever known or heard of had borne so great a cross or made so n.o.ble a sacrifice. It was like the deed of some grand old saint, the light of whose glory had shone down the ages. He was wrong, cruelly wrong. The only thing left for him to do was to wait. For what he could not tell. Perhaps G.o.d in his mercy would one day find the way.
Martha"s kindly voice as she opened the door awoke him from his revery.
"Did she take it bad?" she asked.
"No," he replied aimlessly, without thinking of what he said. "She sent a message to the captain. I"ll go now. No, please don"t bring a light to the door. The mare"s only a short way down the road."
When the old nurse had shut the front door after him she put out the lamps and ascended the stairs. The other servants were in bed. Jane"s door was partly open. Martha pushed it gently with her hand and stepped in. Jane had thrown herself at full length on the bed and lay with her face buried in her hands. She was talking to herself and had not noticed Martha"s footsteps.
"O G.o.d! what have I done that this should be sent to me?" Martha heard her say between her sobs. "You would be big enough, my beloved, to bear it all for my sake; to take the stain and wear it; but I cannot hurt you--not you, not you, my great, strong, sweet soul. Your heart aches for me and you would give me all you have, but I could not bear your name without telling you. You would forgive me, but I could never forgive myself. No, no, you shall stand unstained if G.o.d will give me strength!"
Martha walked softly to the bed and bent over Jane"s prostrate body.
"It"s me, dear. What did he say to break your heart?"
Jane slipped her arm about the old nurse"s neck, drawing her closer, and without lifting her own head from the pillow talked on.
"Nothing, nothing. He came to comfort me, not to hurt me."
"Do ye think it"s all true "bout Bart?" Martha whispered.
Jane raised her body from the bed and rested her head on Martha"s shoulder.
"Yes, it"s all true about Bart," she answered in a stronger and more composed tone. "I have been expecting it. Poor boy, he had nothing to live for, and his conscience must have given him no rest."
"Did the captain tell him about--" and Martha pointed toward the bed of the sleeping child. She could never bring herself to mention Lucy"s name when speaking either of Bart or Archie.
Jane sat erect, brushed the tears from her eyes, smoothed her hair back from her temples, and said with something of her customary poise:
"No, I don"t think so. The captain gave me his word, and he will not break it. Then, again, he will never discredit his own son. The doctor doesn"t know, and there will be n.o.body to tell him. That"s not what he came to tell me. It was about the stories you heard last week and which have only just reached his ears. That"s all. He wanted to protect me from their annoyance, but I would not listen to him. There is trouble enough without bringing him into it. Now go to bed, Martha."