XXX.
THE FINAL TERROR.
A week went by and Frank returned to Marston full of hope and definiteintention. He had notified the Surrogate of the discovery of the realheirs to the Wakeham estate, and he had engaged workmen to put in orderthe old house in Flatbush against the arrival of the youthful claimants.All that there now remained to do was to induce the young ladies toleave the accursed walls within which they had so long immuredthemselves.
Edgar was awaiting him at the station, and together they walked up thestreet.
"Is it all right?" asked Frank. "Have you seen them daily?"
"Every day but to-day. You would hardly know Emma."
"And--and Hermione?"
"She shows her feelings less, but she is evidently happier than she hasbeen for a year."
"And her health?"
"Is completely re-established."
"Have you kept your word? Have you talked of everything but what wepropose to do?"
"I never break my word."
"And they? Have they said anything about leaving the house, or of goingto Flatbush, or--or----"
"No; they have preserved as close a silence as ourselves. I imagine theydo not think it proper to speak till we have spoken first."
"It may be; but I should have been pleased if you could have told methat Hermione had been seen walking outside the gate."
"You would?"
"Yes. I dread the struggle which I now see before me. It is the firststep which costs, and I was in hopes she would have taken this in myabsence."
"Yes, it would have prevented argument. But perhaps you will not have toargue. She may be merely waiting for the support of your arm."
"Whatever she is waiting for, she takes her first step down the streetto-night. What a new world it will open before her!" And Frankunconsciously quickened his pace.
Edgar followed with a less impatient step but with fully as muchdetermination. Pride was mingled with his love, and pride demanded thathis future wife should not be held in any bonds forged by the obstinacyor the superstitious fears of a wayward sister.
They expected to see the girls at the windows, but they found theshutters closed and the curtains drawn. Indeed, the whole house had afunereal look which staggered Frank and made even Edgar stare inastonishment. "It was not like this yesterday," he declared. "Do theynot expect you?"
"Yes, if my telegram was delivered."
"Let us see at once what is the matter."
It was Doris who came to the door. When her eyes fell upon the two youngmen, especially upon Frank, her whole countenance changed.
"Oh, Mr. Etheridge, is it you?" she cried. "I thought--I understood----"She did not say what, but her relieved manner made quite an impressionon Frank, although it was, of course, impossible for him to suspect whata dangerous deed she had been contemplating at that very moment.
"Are the young ladies well?" he asked, in his haste to be relieved fromhis anxiety.
"Oh, yes, quite well," she admitted, somewhat mysteriously. "They are inthere," she added, pointing to the parlor on the left.
Frank and Edgar looked at each other. They had always before this beenreceived in the cheerful sitting-room.
"If something is not soon done to make Miss Hermione leave the house,"Doris whispered passionately to Frank as she passed him, "there will beworse trouble here than there has ever been before."
"What do you mean?" he demanded, gliding swiftly after her and catchingher by the arm just as she reached the back hall.
"Go in and see," said she, "and when you come out tell me what successyou have had. For if you fail, then----"
"Then what----"
"Providence must interpose to help you."
She was looking straight at him, but that glance told him nothing. Hethought her words strange and her conduct strange, but everything wasstrange in this house, and not having the key to her thoughts, the word_Providence_ did not greatly startle him.
"I will see what I can do," said he, and returning to Edgar, who hadremained standing by the parlor-door, he preceded him into that gloomyapartment.
The girls were both there, seated, as Frank perceived with a certainsinking of the heart, in the farthest and dimmest corner of this mostforbidding place. Emma was looking towards them, but Hermione sat withdowncast eyes and an air of discouragement about her Frank found it hardto behold unmoved.
"Hermione," said he, advancing into the middle of the room, "have you nowelcome for me?"
Trembling with sudden feeling, she rose slowly to her feet; and her eyeslifted themselves painfully to his.
"Forgive me," she entreated, "I have had such a shock."
"Shock?"
"Yes. Look at my head! look at my hair!"
She bent forward; he hastened to her side and glanced at the rich lockstowards which she pointed. As he did so, he recoiled in sudden awe andconfusion. "What does it mean?" he asked. There were gray spots in thosedusky tresses, spots which had never been there before.
"The fingers of a ghost have touched me," she whispered. "Wherever theyfell, a mark has been left, and those marks sear my brain."
And then Frank noticed, with inward horror, that the spots were regularand ran in a distinct circle about her head.
"Hermione," he cried, "has your imagination carried you so far? Ghost?Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I believe in anything _now_," she murmured.
Frightened by her shudders and dazed by words he found it impossible totreat lightly with those mysterious marks before him, Frank turned forrelief to Emma, who had risen also and stood a few steps behind them,with her face bent downward though the Doctor pressed close at her side.
"Do you understand her?" said Frank.
With an effort Emma moved forward. "It has frightened _me_," shewhispered.
"What has? Let us hear all about it," demanded the Doctor, speaking forthe first time.
Hermione gave him a wistful glance. "We are wretched girls," said she."If you expected to relieve us from the curse, it is impossible; myfather will not have it so."
"Your father!" quoth both of the young men, appalled not at thesuperstition thus evinced, but at the effect they saw it was likely tohave upon her mind.
"Did you think you saw _him_?" added Frank. "When? Where?"
"In the laboratory--last night. I did not see him but I felt him; felthim strike my head with his fingers and drag me back. It was worse thandeath! I shall never get over it."
"Tell me the particulars; explain the whole matter to me. Imaginationplays us ghastly tricks sometimes. Were you alone? Was it late?"
"Why didn't I come here this morning?" cried Edgar.
"It was long after midnight. I had received your letter and could notsleep, so I went into the laboratory, as we often do, to walk. It wasthe first time I had been there since I was ill, and it made me trembleto cross its hated threshold, but I had a question to decide, and Ithought I ought to decide it there. But I trembled, as I say, and myhand shook so as I opened the door that I was more disturbed thanastonished when my light went suddenly out, leaving me in totaldarkness. As I was by this time inside the laboratory I did not turnback to relight my candle, for the breeze I presently felt blowingthrough the room convinced me that this would be idle, and that till thewindow was shut, which let in such a stream of air, any attempt to bringa light into the room would be attended by the same results. I thereforemoved rapidly across the room to the window, and was about to close itwhen I was suddenly arrested, and my arms were paralyzed by the feelingof a presence in the room behind my back. It was so vivid, so clear tomy thoughts, that I seemed to see it, though I did not turn from thewindow. It was that of an old man--my father's,--and the menace withwhich the arms were lifted froze the blood in my veins.
"I had merited it; I had been near to breaking his command. I hadmeditated, if I had not decided, upon a sudden breaking away from thebondage he had imposed upon me; I had been on the point of daring hiscurse, and now it was to fall upon me. I fe
lt the justice of hispresence and fell, as if stricken, on my knees.
"The silence that followed may have been short, and it may have beenlong. I was almost unconscious from fright, remorse, and apprehension.But when I did rouse and did summon courage to turn and crawl from theroom, I was conscious of the thing following me, and would havescreamed, but that I had no voice. Suddenly I gave a rush; but themoment I started forward I felt those fingers fall upon my head and drawme back, and when I did escape it was with a force that carried mebeyond the door and then laid me senseless on the floor; for I am nolonger strong, Mr. Etheridge, and the hatred of the dead is worse thanthat of the living."
"You had a dream, a fearful dream, and these marks prove itsvividness," declared Edgar. "You must not let your life be ruined by anysuch fantasies."
"Oh, that it had been a dream," moaned Hermione, "but it was more thanthat, as we can prove."
"Prove?"
"Come to the laboratory," cried Emma, suddenly. "There is something wewant to show you there; something which I saw early this morning when Iwent in to close the window Hermione did not shut."
The young men, startled, did not wait for a second bidding; theyfollowed the two girls immediately up-stairs.
"No one has been up these stairs but Doris and ourselves since you wentdown them a week ago," declared Hermione, as they entered thelaboratory. "Now look at the lid of the mahogany desk--my father'sdesk."
They all went over to it, and Emma, pointing, seemed to ask what theythought of it. They did not know what to think, for there on its evensurface they beheld words written with the point of a finger in thethick dust which covered it; and the words were legible and ran thus:
"In your anger you swore to remain within these walls; in your remorsesee that you keep that oath. Not for love, not for hatred, dare to crossthe threshold, or I will denounce you in the grave where I shall begone, and my curse shall be upon you."
"My father's words to me in the dreadful hour of his death," whisperedHermione. "You may remember them, Mr. Etheridge; they were in the letterI wrote you."
Frank did remember them quite well, and for a moment he, like Edgar,stood a little dazed and shaken by a mystery he could not immediatelyfathom. But only for a moment. He was too vigorous, and hisdetermination was too great, for him to be daunted long by even anappearance of the supernatural. So leaping forward, with a bright laugh,he drew his hand across the menacing words, and, effacing them at once,cried with a confident look at Hermione:
"So will I erase them from your heart if you only will let me,Hermione."
But she pointed with an awful look at her hair.
"Can you take these spots out also? Till you can, do not expect me tofollow the beck of any hand which would lead me to defy my father'scurse by leaving this house."
At this declaration both men turned pale, and unconsciously movedtowards each other with a single thought. Had they looked at the door,they would have seen the inquisitive face of Doris disappear towards thestaircase, with that air of determination which only ends in action. Butthey only saw each other and the purpose which was slowly developing ineach of their minds.
"Come, Hermione," urged Frank, "this is no place for you. If you aregoing to stay in this house, I am going to stay with you; but this roomis prohibited; you shall never enter it again."
He did not know how truly he spoke.
"Come," said Edgar, in his turn, to Emma, "we have had all the horrorswe want; now let us go down-stairs and have a little cheerful talk inthe sitting-room."
And Emma yielded; but Hermione hung back.
"I dread to go down," said she; "this seems the only place in which Ican say farewell."
But Frank was holding out his hand, and she gradually gave in to itsseduction and followed him down-stairs into the sitting-room, which wasfast growing dusky.
"Now," said he, without heeding Emma and the Doctor, who had retreatedto one of the farther windows, "if you wish to say farewell, I willlisten to you; but before you speak, hear what I have to say. In acertain box which came with me this day from New York, and which is nowat Mr. Lothrop's, there lies a gown of snowy satin made with enough laceto hide any deficiencies it may have in size or fit. With this gown is aveil snowy as itself, and on the veil there lies a wreath of orangeblossoms, while under the whole are piled garments after garments,chosen with loving care by the only sister I have in the world, for theone woman in that world I wish to make my wife. If you love me,Hermione, if you think my devotion a true one, fly from this nest ofhideous memories and superstitious fears, and in that place where youare already expected, put on these garments I have brought you, and withthem a crown of love, joy, and hope, which will mean a farewell, not tome, but to the old life forever."
But Hermione, swaying aside from him, cried: "I cannot, I cannot; therafters would fall if I tried to pass the door."
"Then," said Frank, growing in height and glowing with purpose, "theyshall fall first on me." And seizing her in his arms, he raised her tohis breast and fled with her out of the room and out of the house, herwild shriek of mingled terror and love trailing faintly after them tillhe stopped on the farther side of the gate, which softly closed behindthem.
Emma, who was taken as much by surprise as her sister had been, lookedat the empty place where Hermione had so lately stood, and cowered low,as if the terrible loneliness of the house, now _she_ was gone, crushedupon her like a weight. Then she seized Edgar by the hand and ran outalso; and Edgar pulled the great door to behind them, and the Cavanaghmansion, for the first time in a year, was a shell without inmates, abody without soul.
They found Hermione standing in the dark shadows cast here in the streetby the overhanging trees. Frank's arm was about her and she looked bothdazed and pleased.
When she saw Emma she started.
"Oh, it releases you too," she cried; "that is happiness. I did notlike to see you suffer for my sins." Then she drooped a little, then shelooked up, and a burden seemed to roll away from her heart. "The raftersdid not fall," she murmured, "and you, Frank, will keep all spectresaway from me, won't you? He can never reach me when I am by your side."
"Never, never," was the glad reply. And Frank began to draw her gentlyup the street. "It is but a step," said he, "to Mr. Lothrop's; no onewill ever notice that you are without a hat."
"But----"
"You are expected," he whispered. "You are never to go back into yourold home again."
Again he did not know how truly he spoke.
"Emma, Emma," appealed Hermione, "shall I do this thing, without anypreparation, any thought, anything but my love and gratitude to make ita true bridal?"
"Ah, Hermione, in making yourself happy, you make me so; therefore I ambut a poor adviser."
"What, will you be married too, to-night, at the minister's house withme?"
"No, dear, but soon, very soon, as soon as you can give me a home to bemarried in."
"Then let us make her happy," cried Hermione. "It is the onlyreparation I can offer for all I have made her suffer."