CHAPTER XX.
THE END OF THE DAY.
Ah, how terrible a _finale_ to a birthday wedding that had dawned sofairly and been anticipated with such happiness.
The bride mysteriously vanished, the bridegroom weltering in his blood!Both the victims of wrong and crime heinous enough to make the veryangels turn away from watching such a wicked world.
Yet the sun shone on as brightly, the flowers bloomed as fairly, thebirds sang as sweetly as if two beautiful young lives had not beenblasted in their happiest hour.
Instantly there was the greatest confusion in the long parlors where themerry guests who had come to witness a bridal now beheld the handsomebridegroom murdered before their startled eyes.
A few moments before they had been excitedly watching for quite adifferent _denouement_.
Whispers of what had happened--of Dainty Chase's note and her cruelflight--had been circulated among the guests with startling rapidity,and Mrs. Ellsworth had been heard to exclaim that they should not bedisappointed of a wedding, after all; she had two more nieces, andLovelace was not the man she took him for if he could not persuade oneor the other to step into the awkward breach and save him from theconsequences of Dainty's treachery.
Then she hurried away, to further her scheme with the desertedbridegroom, and the guests waited most impatiently, gossiping amongthemselves over the strange turn affairs had taken, wondering how Daintycould turn her back on such a bridegroom and such a future, wonderingstill more if Mrs. Ellsworth would indeed induce her step-son to takeOlive or Ela in place of the false bride, and on which his choice wouldchance to fall.
Preferences were quite evenly divided between the two girls, both ofwhom tried to look cool and unembarrassed, though their hearts beatfuriously with anticipation, and Olive, at least, since her heart wasenlisted in the contest, felt a burning thrill of jealousy of her cousinEla, saying to herself:
"If he should choose her, I know I could not help but envy and hate her,for her heart is not interested like mine in this affair. I believe thatshe still loves Vernon Ashley, and but for his poverty would rather havehim for her husband than any other man. Oh, I pray that his choice mayfall on me! I know Aunt Judith secretly wishes it, because I resembleher more than any of her other relatives, and naturally she would preferfor me to succeed her at Ellsworth."
Suddenly she beheld a face that made her start and draw in her breathwith a sort of strangled gasp.
Her eyes had strayed to Ela, who stood near the door, then wanderedaimlessly to the nearest window--aimlessly, then with a flash ofterrified recognition.
Between the rich lace curtains there peered the dark face of Ela'sjilted lover, Vernon Ashley, and in the glittering eyes, fixed immovablyon Ela, shone a baleful, boding light enough to frighten a stranger, andmuch more so Olive, who knew of the cruel wrongs that had goaded him tojealous frenzy.
It was simply blood-curdling, the demoniac look on Ashley's face; andOlive watched him with a creeping sort of terror; for Ela had confidedto her that it was he who had fired at Lovelace Ellsworth the night ofthe festival, and uttered dark threats of vengeance that now recurred toher mind and filled her with alarm.
"He is bent on mischief. His eyes glare like a madman's or a drunkard's,I am not certain which; but either way they bode evil. I must warn Elaof her peril," she thought, nervously taking a step forward, but pausinginstantly in consternation; for at that moment Lovelace Ellsworth rushedinto the room, his handsome face pale as death, his dark, curly hairpushed back in disorder from his high, white brow, his eyes flashingwith a strange fire, his ashen lips curled back from his white teethwith a mocking smile.
Consciously or unconsciously, he made his way straight to where ElaCraye was standing, pausing just at her side, and the act sealed hisdoom.
The man at the window had heard of the wedding that was to take place,and he had returned to Ellsworth, hoping to persuade Ela to take himback into her favor, now that all hope of a rich match was over.
But in the days while writhing in the throes of rejected love, the manhad cast to the winds all honor and manliness, and drowned memory andsorrow in the flowing bowl.
A piteous wreck of his former handsome self, he now peered through thewindow, hoping to attract Ela's attention; but, unfortunately, nopremonition of the truth caused her to turn her limpid gray eyes towardthe dissipated lover now half crazed with thoughts of either love orvengeance.
And while he watched and waited, he heard the talk of Dainty's flightand Mrs. Ellsworth's promise--they should not be disappointed in thewedding--Ellsworth would persuade one of her other nieces to marry him.
His brow grew dark, his heart beat heavily, his breath came thick andfast with fear. In his passion for Ela he felt sure that Lovelace couldchoose no one but her, his heart's fickle queen.
"It shall never be!" the maddened lover groaned to himself in jealousfury, for he had said to himself, day after day, that ere Ela shouldbecome the bride of another, he would stretch her dead at his feet, andgive her sweet white beauty to the worms and the grave rather than tothe arms of a rival.
The man was temporarily insane. Love and despair and reckless indulgencein the bottle had made him so. He was as dangerous at this moment as awild beast from the jungle.
Lovelace Ellsworth rushed into the room, and, without seeing Ela Crayeat all, paused directly at the young girl's side, and began to speak.
To the jealous hearts of Olive and Vernon Ashley, the act had but oneinterpretation.
His choice had fallen on Ela, and he was about to announce it publiclyto his friends.
A pang of the bitterest pain and jealousy tore like a red-hot needlethrough the heart of Olive, and involuntarily, she looked again at thewindow for the lowering face of Ela's rejected lover, wondering how hewould bear the strain of the moment.
The sight of his face made her shudder with alarm, for it had grown darkand demoniac in its fury; and while she gazed, she saw his hand lifted,and the shining point of a pistol directed full at the head of LovelaceEllsworth.
Simultaneously with the first words of Lovelace, a loud, warning shriekburst from Olive's lips; but both were silenced together by the loudreport of the pistol whose contents had entered the victim's head.
With a moan of pain, Ellsworth sank to the floor, and a scene of instantconfusion ensued, some rushing to the young man's aid, others pursuingthe murderer; for Olive was not the only one who had witnessed the fatalshot.
Several persons had observed the dark face of the stranger peering in atthe window, and two persons besides Olive had seen him fire the fatalshot. He was instantly pursued and overtaken, and from his furiousravings he was at first supposed to be an escaped lunatic.
But a guest from the station quickly recognized him as Vernon Ashley, ayoung man who had visited in the neighborhood some weeks before, and hadcaused some sensation by declaring he was engaged to Miss Craye, andbetraying a furious jealousy of Lovelace Ellsworth.
Ashley was taken away to prison, despite his entreaties to see MissCraye, who had gone into hysterics, it was said, on hearing who it wasthat had shot Ellsworth.
When she learned that Ashley was begging to see her, she refused hisrequest with a shudder of fear, and he sent back an angry message:
"Tell her I have carried out my threat!"
They bore him away to prison, shuddering at his insane rejoicings thathe had killed his rival, and the house of joy and feasting was turnedinto one of gloom and sorrow.
But Lovelace Ellsworth was not dead yet, though the end was expected atany moment.
Indeed, it was a wonder that he had not died instantly, declared allthree doctors who examined him. The bullet had crashed through the sideof his head near the top, and was certainly imbedded in his brain, forall endeavors to locate it failed of success, and they decided not toworry the poor fellow with these useless attempts, but to let him passaway in peace.
Love lay with closed eyes in a comatose condition, breathing heavily,his pulse sinking fast,
and it was believed that each moment must be hislast.
But as the minutes ebbed and the frail breath of life still flutteredfeebly in his frame, they became mystified by his tenacity of life, anddecided to risk removing him to his bed, which was accordingly donewithout any appreciable harm to his condition.
Meanwhile, the house was full of hysterical women sobbing in earnestfright and demanding as much attention as the victim himself, not theleast of whom was Mrs. Ellsworth.
She had followed Lovelace to the parlors after his startlingcommunication to her in wild excitement, and had swooned on beholdinghis fall, recovering from one long spell only to go into another, andactual fears for her life began to be entertained.
It was touching, said all, to see how devoted she had been to herstep-son, seeing that the events of to-day would make her the mistressof his splendid fortune.