CHAPTER LIV
The arrangement for the morrow was that Angela and her father were totake a fly to Roxham, where the registry office was, and whitherGeorge was also to be conveyed in a close carriage; that the ceremonywas then to be gone through, after which the parties were to separateand return to their respective homes. Mr. Fraser had been asked toattend, but had excused himself from doing so.
In pursuance of this programme, Angela and her father left the AbbeyHouse about ten o'clock and drove in silence to the town. Strange asit may seem, Angela had never been in a town before, and, in thecurious condition of her mind, the new sight of busy streetsinterested her greatly, and served to divert her attention till theyreached the door of the office. She alighted and was shown with Philipinto a waiting-room. And here, for some unexplained reason, a greatfear took hold of her, a terror of this ceremony which now loomedlarge and life-like before her.
"Father," she said, suddenly, after a moment of irresolution, "I amgoing home. I will not go on with this business."
"What can you mean, Angela?"
"I mean what I say. I never realized how dreadful it all was till now;it has come upon me like a revelation. Come, I am going."
"Angela, don't be a fool. You forget that George will be here in aminute, and that the settlements are all signed."
"Then he can go back again and the settlements can be torn up. I willnot go on with it."
Philip was by this time almost beside himself with anxiety. Afterhaving thus with thought and toil, and by the aid of a blessed chance,lifted this delicious cup to his lips, was it to be dashed from him?Were the sweet dreams so near approaching to realization, in which hehad been wrapped for so many days, all to be dissipated into thin air?Was he to lose the land after all, after he had fingered--oh! howlovingly--the yellow title-deeds? For, alas! the sale depended on themarriage. It could not be, neither fate nor Angela could be so cruel.He turned upon her with the boldness of despair.
"Angela, you must not go on like this, after having agreed to thething of your own free will. Think of what it involves for me. If yourefuse to marry him now at the last moment, I shall lose the Isleworthestates. Heavens, to think that so much property should be dependentupon the mere whim of a girl! Cannot you have a little considerationfor others beside yourself? Do you really mean to sacrifice the hopesof my whole life, to throw away the only opportunity I can ever haveof righting my wrongs, in order to gratify a sentimental whim? ForGod's sake, think a little first before you sacrifice me. You promisedto do it."
Never before had Angela seen her father so strongly excited; he waspositively shaking with agitation. She looked at him steadily, andwith such contempt that, even in his excitement, he quailed beforeher.
"Very well, then, I will carry out my promise, dreadful as it is tome; but remember that it is only because you beg it, and that theresponsibility of its consequences must always remain with you. Now,are you satisfied?--you will get your land."
Philip's dark face assumed a look of fervent gratitude, but before hehad time to reply, a messenger came to say that "the gentleman" waswaiting.
Her resolve once taken, Angela followed him with an untroubled faceinto the room where the registrar, a gentleman neatly dressed inblack, was sitting at a sort of desk. Here the first thing her glancefell upon was the person of George Caresfoot. Although it was now thesecond week in June, he wore a respirator over his mouth and a scarfround his neck, and coughed very much. These were the first things shenoticed. The next was that he was much thinner, so thin that thecheek-bones stood out from the level of his face, whilst the littleblood-shot eyes seemed to protrude, giving to his general appearance,even with the mouth (his worst feature) hidden by the respirator, anunusually repulsive look. He was leaning on the arm of Lady Bellamy,who greeted Angela with a smile which the latter fancied had somethingof triumph in it.
With the exception of the messenger, who played the part of clerk inthis civil ceremony, there was nobody else in the room. No greetingswere interchanged, and in another moment Angela was standing, dressedin her funeral black, by George's side before the registrar, and theceremony had begun.
But from that moment, although her beautiful face preserved itscomposure, she scarcely saw or heard anything of what was going on. Itwas as though all the streams of thought in her brain had burst theirbanks and mingled in a great and turbulent current. She was filledwith thought, but could seize upon no one idea, whilst within her mindshe heard a sound as of the continuous whirring of broken machinery.
Objects and individuals, real and imagined, presented themselvesbefore her mental vision, expanded till they filled the heavens withtheir bulk, and then shrank and shrank, and vanished into nothing. Theword "wife" struck upon her ears, and seemed to go wailing away,"wife, wife, wife," through all the illimitable halls of sound, tillthey were filled with echoes, and sound itself fell dead against thesilence of the stars.