Loth to forsake him in this hour of direst trial, Dr. Grey leaned against the bed, and for some moments watched the irregular convulsive heaving of the woman"s chest.
"Oh, sir, if my mistress hadn"t a heart of stone, she would have let her die peacefully. She might at least have granted her dying prayer."
"What was it?"
"All of yesterday afternoon she pleaded with her to be baptized. My mother--G.o.d bless her dear soul!--my mother told her that she could not consent to die until she saw her baptized; and, with the tears pouring down her poor face, she begged and prayed that I might fetch the minister from town, and that she might see the ceremony performed.
But my mistress walked up and down the floor, and said, "Never! never!
I have done with mockeries. I have washed my hands of all that,--long, long ago." And now--it is too late; and my poor mother can never--G.o.d be merciful to us! is it all over?"
Dr. Grey raised the head, but the breathing was imperceptible and, after a little while, he softly pressed down the lids that were partially lifted from the glazed eyes, and quitted the room.
His buggy stood at the rear gate, and the driver was asleep, but his master"s voice aroused him.
"Elbert, go home, and ask Miss Salome please to come over as soon as you can drive her here."
The east was purple and gold, the sea a purling ma.s.s of molten amber, and only two stars were visible low in the west, where a waning moon swung on the edge of the distant misty hills. The air was chill, and a silvery haze hung above the moaning waves, and partially veiled the windings of the beach. Under the trees that cl.u.s.tered so closely around the house, the gloom of night still lingered like a pall, but as Dr. Grey approached the terrace, he felt the pure fresh presence of the new day. Up and down the sands his eyes wandered, hoping to discern a woman"s figure, but no living thing was visible, except the flamingo and yellow pheasant still perched where they had spent the night, on the stone bal.u.s.trade that bordered the terrace. He took off his hat to enjoy the crystalline atmosphere, and while he faced the brightening east, the sharp peculiar bark of the Arab greyhound broke the solemn silence that brooded over sea and land.
The sound proceeded from the boat-house, and he hastened towards it, startling a mimic army of crabs and fiddlers that had not yet ended their nightly marauding. The tide was higher than usual at this early hour, and the waves were breaking sullenly against the stone piers.
As Dr. Grey ascended the iron steps leading to the pavilion, the dog growled and showed his teeth, but the visitor succeeded in partially winning him over, and now pa.s.sed unmolested into the circular room. A cushioned seat extended around the wall, where windows opened at the four points of the compa.s.s; and on the round table in the centre of the marble-tiled floor lay a telescope.
At the eastern window sat Mrs. Gerome, with her head resting on her crossed arms. Although Dr. Grey"s steps echoed heavily, as he trod the damp mosaic where the mist had condensed, she gave no evidence of having discovered his presence until he stood close beside her. Then she raised one hand, with a quick gesture of caution and silence. He sat down near her, and watched the countenance that was fully exposed to his scrutiny.
No tears had dimmed the wide, mournful, almost despairing eyes, that gazed with strange intentness over the amber sea, at the golden radiance that heralded the coming sun; and every line and moulding of her delicate features seemed cold and rigid enough for a cenotaph.
Even the lips were still and compressed, and a bluish shadow lay about their dimpled corners, and under the heavy jet eyelashes. Her silver comb had become loosened, and was finally dragged down by the coil of hair that slipped slowly until it fell upon the morocco cushion of the seat, and the glistening waves of gray hair rolled around her shoulders, and rippled low on her brow. Sea fog had dampened and sea wind tossed this ma.s.s of white locks, till it made a singular burnished frame for the wan face that looked out hopeless and painfully quiet.
Her silk _robe de chambre_ of leaden gray, bordered with blue, was unb.u.t.toned at the throat, and showed its faultless curve and contour; while the full, open sleeves, blown back by the strong breeze, bared the snowy arms, where one of the jet serpents that formed her bracelets, pressed so heavily on the white flesh that a purple band was visible when the hand was raised and the bracelet slipped back.
Watching her intently, Dr. Grey could not detect the slightest quiver of nerve or muscle; and she breathed so low and softly that he might have doubted whether she was really conscious, if he had not correctly interpreted the strained expression of the unwinking gray eyes whose pupils contracted as the sky flushed and kindled.
On the floor lay a dainty handkerchief, and stooping to pick it up, he inhaled the delicate, tenacious perfume of tube-rose, which, blended with orange-flowers, he had frequently discovered when standing near her.
Placing it within reach of her fingers, he said, very gently and more tenderly than he was aware of,--
"Mrs. Gerome,--"
"Hush! I know what you have come to tell me. I knew it when I came away. Let me alone, now."
She raised her head, and turned her eyes to meet his, and he shuddered at the hard, bitter look, that came swiftly over the blanched features. For some seconds they gazed full at each other, and Dr.
Grey"s eyes filled with a mist that made hers seem large and radiant as wintry stars.
He knew then that his heart was no longer his own,--that this wretched, solitary woman, had installed herself in its most sacred penetralia; that she had not suddenly, but gradually, become the dearest object that earth possessed.
He did not ask himself whether she filled all his fastidious and lofty requirements,--whether she rose full-statured to his n.o.ble standard,--whether reverence, perfect confidence, and unqualified admiration would follow in the footsteps of mere affection. He neither argued, nor trifled, nor deceived himself, but bravely confessed to his own true soul, that, for the first time in his life, he loved warmly and tenderly the only woman whose touch had power to stir his quiet, steady pulses.
He had not intended to surrender his affections to the custody of any one until reason and judgment had a.n.a.lyzed, weighed, and cordially endorsed the wisdom of his choice; and now, although surprised at the rashness with which his heart, hitherto so tractable and docile, vehemently declared allegiance to a new sovereign, he did not attempt to mask or varnish the truth. Thoroughly comprehending the fact that it was neither friendship nor compa.s.sion, he gravely looked the new feeling in the face, and acknowledged it,--the tyrant which sooner or later wields the sceptre in every human heart.
Had he faithfully kept his compact with himself, and followed the injunction of Joubert, "Choose for a wife only the woman, whom, were she a man, you would choose for your friend"?
Because he found a fascination in her society, should he conclude that it was a healthful atmosphere for his st.u.r.dy, exacting, uncompromising nature?
To-day he swept aside all these protests and questions, postponing the arraignment of his heart before the tribunal of slighted and indignant reason, and allowed the newly mitred pontiff to lead him whither she chose.
Unconscious of the emotions that brought an unusual glow to his face and light to his eyes, Mrs. Gerome had dropped her head once more on her arms, and the weary, despairing expression of her countenance, as she looked at the gilded horizon, where sea and sky seemed divided only by a belt of liquid gold,--might have served for the face of some careless Vestal, who, having allowed the fire to expire on the altar she had sworn to guard sleeplessly, sat hopeless, desolate, and doomed,--watching from the dim, cheerless temple of Hestia, the advent of that sun whose rays alone could rekindle the sacred flame, and which, ere its setting, would witness the execution of her punishment.
Dr. Grey bent over her, and said,--
"I came here in quest of you, hoping to persuade you to return to the house."
"No. You came to tell me that Elsie is dead. You came to break the news as gently as possible,--and to pity and try to comfort me. You are very good, I dare say; but I wish to be alone."
"You have been too long alone, and I can not consent to leave you here."
At the sound of his subdued voice, she turned her face towards him, and, for a moment,--
"A strange slow smile grew into her eyes, As though from a great way off it came And was weary ere down to her lips it fluttered, And turned into a sigh, or some soft name Whose syllables sounded likest sighs Half-smothered in sorrow before they were uttered."
"Dr. Grey, my loneliness transcends all parallels, and is beyond remedy. Why should I not stay here? All places are alike to me, now.
That cold, silent corpse at the house, is not Elsie; and, since she has been taken, I shall be utterly alone, go where I may."
She shivered, and he picked up a c.r.a.pe shawl lying in a heap under the table, and wrapped it around her. The soft folds were damp, and, as he lifted the veil of hair, to draw the shawl closer about her shoulders and throat, he felt that it was moist from the humid atmosphere.
"Sir, I am not cold,--I wish I were. It is useless to wrap up my body so warmly, and leave my heart shivering until death freezes it utterly."
Dr. Grey took her beautiful white hands in his warm palms, and held them firmly.
"Mrs. Gerome, you do not know what is best for you, and must be guided by one who will prove himself your truest friend."
"Don"t mock my misery! I never had but one friend, and henceforth must live friendless. I knew what was before me, and therefore I dreaded this dark, dark day, and begged you to save her. She was the world to me. She supplied the place of father, mother, husband, society, and because G.o.d saw that her loving sympathy and care made my existence a trifle less purgatorial than He saw fit to render it, He took her away. My poor Elsie would quit the highest throne in heaven to come back to her desolate, dependent child; for only she knew how and why I trusted and leaned upon her. Ah, G.o.d! it is hard that I who have so long shunned strangers should be at their mercy, in the last hour of trial that can be devised by fiends, or allowed by heaven to afflict me."
She struggled to free her hands and hide her face, but her companion clasped them in one of his, and attempted to draw her head down to his shoulder.
"No, sir! The grave is the only resting-place for my poor, accursed head. Do not touch me."
She shrank as far as possible from him, and her voice, hitherto so firm and dry, trembled.
"Mrs. Gerome, I intend to take Elsie"s place. You had confidence in her sagacity and penetration, and know that she was cautious in all things. During her long illness she studied my character and antecedents, and finally begged me to take you under my guardianship when she could no longer watch over you. She was importunate in her appeal, and to comfort and compose her I gave her a solemn promise that at her death I would take her place. You may deem me intrusive, and perhaps presumptuously impertinent, but time proves all things, and, after a little while, you will cling to me as you so long clung to her. I shall wait patiently for your confidence; shall deserve,--and then exact it. You need a strong arm to curb and guide you,--you need a true, honest heart, to sympathize with your sorrows and difficulties,--you need a fearless friend to defend you from the a.s.saults of gossip and malice; and all these, if G.o.d spares my life, I am resolved to be to you. You can not repulse, or offend, or chill, or wound me, for my word is sacredly pledged to the dead; and, by the grace of G.o.d, I will strictly and fully redeem it, when we meet at the last day."
The earnestness of his manner, the grave resolution of his tone, and the invincible fearlessness with which his clear, calm, penetrating eyes, looked into hers, seemed momentarily to overawe her; and she sat quite still, pondering his unexpected words. Pressing her cold fingers very gently, he continued,--
"Elsie had such confidence in my discretion, and friendly interest in your welfare, that she requested me to warn her of her approaching dissolution in order that she might communicate something, which she a.s.sured me she desired to confide to me before her death. The paralysis of her tongue prevented the fulfilment of her wish, but you saw how keenly she suffered from her inability to utter what was pressing on her heart. You can not have forgotten that her last act was to put your hand in mine, and you heard my solemn acceptance of the charge committed to me."
An expression of dread that bordered on horror, came over her ghastly face, and her hands grasped his, almost spasmodically.
"Did she hint what she wished to tell you? Did you guess it all?"
"No. Whatever her secret may have been, it pa.s.sed unuttered into that realm where all mysteries are solved. I neither know nor surmise the nature of her desired revelation, but some day when you fully understand me, I shall ask you to tell me that which she believed I ought to know. My dear madam, when I come to you and demand your confidence, I have no fear that you will withhold it."
She closed her eyes as if to shut out some painful vision, and drooped her head lower, till it rested on her chest.