An idea now struck her, that bounded to her heart with rapture. Might not the sum of which she permitted herself to take the disposal, prove the means of re-union with Gabriella? A very small part of it would suffice for the journey; and the rest might enable them, when once together, to make some arrangement for being parted no more.
A plan so soothing could not, even for a moment, present itself to her imagination, unaccompanied by some effort to put it into execution, and she instantly wrote a few lines to her beloved friend; stating the present possibility of their junction, and demanding her opinion, her consent, and her directions, for the immediate accomplishment of so delicious a scheme.
Cheered by a hope so dear to her wishes, so promising to her happiness, Juliet, now, was perfectly contented to continue at Brighthelmstone, till she should receive an answer to her proposal.
But, before its arrival was yet possible, she was called to a messenger, who would deliver his commission only to herself.
She descended, not without perturbation, into the hall; where a countryman told her, that he had been ordered to beg that she would go, at the usual time, the next morning, to the usual place, to meet her old friend.
He was then walking off; but Juliet stopt him, to demand whence he came, and who sent him.
A lady, he answered, who spoke broken English, and who had named five of the clock in the morning.
"Oh yes! Oh yes!" cried Juliet: "I will not fail!" whilst a soft murmur finished with "Tis herself!--"tis my Gabriella!
What brought her back to Brighthelmstone, now occupied all the thoughts of her friend. Was it a design to fix her abode where her maternal enthusiasm might daily be cherished by visiting the grave of her child?
Or, was it for the single indulgence of bathing that melancholy spot once more with her tears?
It was already night, or Juliet would have sought to antic.i.p.ate the meeting, by some enquiry at their former lodgings: the morning, however, soon arrived, and, nearly with its dawn, she arose, and, by a previous arrangement made with the gardener, quitted the house, to hasten to the church-yard upon the hill.
In her way thither, she was seized, from time to time, with something like an apprehension that she was pursued; for, though no one came in sight, the stillness of the early morning enabled her to hear, distinctly, a footstep that now seemed to follow her own, now to stop till she had proceeded some yards.
It might merely be some workman;--yet would not a workman overtake her, and pa.s.s on? It was more probably some traveller. Nevertheless, she would not ascend the hill without making some examination; and, casting a hasty glance behind her, she perceived a tall man, m.u.f.fled up, whose air denoted him to be a gentleman; but who instantly hung back.
A thousand anxious doubts were now awakened. Was it possible that she had been summoned upon any false pretence? Gabriella had not written; and though that omission had, at first, appeared the natural result of haste upon her arrival; joined to the difficulty of immediately procuring writing implements, it left an opening to uncertainty upon reflection, by no means satisfactory. That she should not personally have presented herself at the house of Mrs Ireton, could excite no surprize, for she well knew that Juliet had neither time nor a room at her own command; and to re-visit the grave of her child had always been the purpose of Gabriella.
With a slackened and irresolute step, she now went on, till, wistfully looking towards the church-yard, she descried a female, with arms uplifted, that seemed inviting her approach. Relieved and delighted, she then quickened her pace; though, as she advanced, the form retreated, till, gradually, it was wholly out of sight.
This affected and saddened her. The little grave was on the other side of the church. It is there, then, only, she cried, there, where our melancholy meeting took place, that my ever wretched Gabriella will suffer me to rejoin her!
With an aching heart she proceeded, though no Gabriella came forward to give her welcome; but when, upon crossing over to the other side of the church, in full sight of the little grave, no Gabriella was there; and not a human being was visible, she felt again impressed with a fear of imposition, and was turning back to hurry home; when she observed, just mounting the hill, the person by whose pursuit she had already been startled.
Terrour now began to take possession of her mind. She had surely been deluded, and she was evidently followed. She had neither time nor composure for divining why; but she was instantly certain that she could be no object for premeditated robbery; and the unprincipled Sir Lyell Sycamore alone occurred to her, as capable of so cruel a stratagem to enveigle her to a lonely spot. The height of the man was similar: his face was carefully concealed; but, transient as had been her glance, it was obvious to her that he was no labourer, nor countryman.
To descend the hill, would be to meet him: to go on yet further, when not a cottage, perhaps, might be open, would almost seem to expect being overtaken: yet to remain and await him, was out of all question. She saw, therefore, no hope of security, but by endeavouring to regain the street, through a circuitous path, by sudden rapidity of flight.
But, upon gliding, with this design, to the other side of the church, she was struck with amazement to see that the church-door was ajar; and to perceive, at the same instant, a pa.s.sing shadow, reflected through a window, of some one within the building.
Was this accident? or had it any connection with the tall unknown who followed her?
Filled with wonder and alarm, though a stranger to every species of superst.i.tion, her feet staggered, and her presence of mind threatened to play her false; when again a fleeting shadow, of she knew not whom nor what, gleamed athwart a monument.
Summoning now her utmost force, though shaking with nameless apprehensions, she crossed, with celerity, a gravestone, to gain what appeared to be the quickest route for descending; when the sound of a hasty step, immediately behind her, gave her the fearful intelligence that escape was impossible.
Nevertheless, though nearly overcome with dread, she was pressing on; but some one, rushing abruptly past her, and turning short round, stopt her pa.s.sage.
Horrour thrilled through her every vein, in the persuasion that she was the destined victim of deliberate delusion, when the words, "It is, indeed, then, you!" uttered in an accent of astonishment, yet with softness, made her hastily raise her eyes,--and raise them upon Harleigh.
Bereft of prudence, in the suddenness of her joy; forgetting self-command, and casting off all guard, all reserve, she rapturously held out to him her willing hands, exclaiming, "Oh, Mr Harleigh!--are you, then, my destined protector?--my guardian angel?"
Speechless from transported surprize, Harleigh pressed to his lips and to his heart each unresisting hand; while Juliet, whose eyes beamed l.u.s.trous with buoyant felicity, was unconscious of the happiness that she bestowed, from the absorption of the delight that she experienced.
"Precious, for ever precious moment!" cried Harleigh, when the power of utterance returned; "Here, on this spot, where first the tortures of the most deadly suspense give way to the most exquisite hopes,--"
The countenance of Juliet now again underwent a change the most sudden; its brilliancy was overclouded; its smiles vanished; its joy died away; not, indeed, to return to its look of horrour and affright, but to convey an expression of the deepest shame and regret; and, with cheeks tingling with burning blushes, she strove to regain her hands; to recover her composure; and to account to him, by relating what had been her dread, and her mistake, for her flattering reception.
But she strove in vain: her efforts to disengage herself had no more that frozen severity which Harleigh had not dared resist; and though her earnestness and distress shewed their sincerity, her varying blushes, her inability to find words, and her uncontroulable emotion, demonstrated, to his quick perception, that to govern her own conflicting feelings, at this critical moment, was as difficult as to resume over his accustomed dominion.
"Here on this spot," he continued, "this blessed, sacred, hallowed spot!
clear, and eternally dismiss, every torturing doubt by which I have so long been martyrized! Here let all baneful mystery, all heart-wounding distrust, be for ever exiled; and here--"
A faint, but earnest, "Oh no! no! no!" now quivered from the lips of Juliet; but Harleigh would not be silenced.
"And here, where you have condescended to call me your protector,--your destined protector!--a t.i.tle which gives me claims that never while I live shall be relinquished!--claims which not even yourself, now, can have power to recall--"
"Hear me! hear me!--" interrupted, but vainly, the pleading Juliet; Harleigh, uncontrouled, went on.
"Initiate me, without delay, in the duties of my office. Against whom, and against what may I be your protector? You have called me, too, your guardian-angel; Oh suffer me to call you mine! Consent to that sweet reciprocation, which blends felicity with every care of life! which animates our virtues by our happiness! which secures the performance of every duty, by making every duty an enjoyment!"
A frequent "Alas! alas!" was all that Juliet could gain time to utter, from the rapid energy with which Harleigh overpowered all attempt at remonstrance.
"Why, why," he then cried, with redoubled vivacity; "Why not exile now, and repudiate for ever, that terrible rigour of reserve that has so long been at war with your humanity?--Listen to your softer self! It will plead, it will surely plead for gentler measures!"
"Oh no, no, no!" reiterated the agitated Juliet, with a vehemence that would have startled, if not discouraged him, had not another incautious "Alas! alas!" stole its way into the midst of her tremulous negatives; and revealed that her heart, her wishes, her feelings, bore no part in the refusals which her tongue p.r.o.nounced.
This was not a circ.u.mstance to escape Harleigh, who, indescribably touched, fervently exclaimed, "And what, now, shall sunder us? Pardon my presumption if I say us! What is the power,--the earthly power,--while yet I live, and breathe, and feel, that can now compel me to give up the rights with which, from this decisive moment, I hold myself invested?
No! our destinies are indissolubly united!--All procrastination,--all concealment must be over! They would now be literally distracting. Why, then, that start?--Why that look?--Can you regret having shewn a little feeling?--a trait of sensibility?--O put a period to this unequalled, unexampled mystery! I am yours! faithfully, honourably yours! Yours to the end of my mortal existence; yours, by my most sacred hopes, far, far longer!--You weep?--not from grief, I trust,--I hope,--not from grief flow those touching tears? Open to me your situation,--your heart! Here, on this sacred, and henceforth happiest spot, where first you have accorded me a ray of hope, let our mutual vows be plighted to all eternity!"
Juliet, whose whole soul seemed dissolved in poignant yet tender distress, cast up to heaven, as if imploring for aid, her irresistibly streaming eyes; when, caught by some shadowy motion to turn them towards the church, she fancied that she beheld again the female, whose appearance and vanishing had been forgotten from the excess of her own emotions.
Startled, she looked more earnestly, and then clearly perceived, though half hidden behind a monument, a form in white; whose dress appeared to be made in the shape, and of the materials, used for our mortal covering, a shroud. A veil of the same stuff fell over the face of the figure, of which the hands hung down strait at each lank side.
Struck with awe and consternation, Juliet involuntarily ceased her struggles for freedom; and Harleigh, who saw her strangely moved, pursuing the direction of her eyes, discerned the object by which they had been caught; who now, slowly raising her right hand, waved to them to follow; while, with her left, she pointed to the church, and, uttering a wild shriek, flitted out of sight.
Could it be Elinor? Each felt at the same instant the same terrible apprehension. Harleigh sprang after her; Juliet, almost petrified with affright, was immovable.
The fugitive entered the church, and darted towards the altar; where she threw her left hand over a tablet of white stone, cut in the shape of a coffin, with the action of embracing it; yet in a position to leave evident the following inscription:
"This Stone Is destined by herself to be the last kind covering of all that remains of ELINOR JODDREL: Who, sick of Life, of Love, and of Despair, Dies to moulder, and be forgotten."
Casting off her veil when she perceived Harleigh, "Here! Harleigh, here!" she cried, in a tone authoritative, though tremulous, ""tis here you must reciprocate your vows! Here is the spot! Here stands the altar for the happy;--here, the tomb for the hopeless!"
Suspicious of some sinister purpose, Harleigh was at her side with the swiftness of lightening; but not till her fingers were upon the trigger of a pistol, which she had pointed to her temple; though in time, by attaining her arm, and forcibly giving it a new direction, to make her fire the deadly weapon in the air.
Her own design, nevertheless, seconded by the loud din of a pistol, so close to her ear, and let off by her own hand, operated upon her deranged imagination with a belief that her purpose was fulfilled; and she sunk upon the ground, uttering, with a deep groan, "Oh Harleigh!
bless the dying Elinor,--and be happy!--"
Harleigh, terrified and shocked, though thankfully perceiving her mistake, dropped down at her side, and supported her head; while congratulating eyes stole a glance at Juliet; who, at the sound of the pistol, had hastened, aghast, to the spot; but who now, dreading to be seen, retreated.