Suddenly from a bend in the road, as she reached it, she saw a horsemanriding leisurely toward her on a chestnut mare which she recognized atonce as belonging to the Gardiner stables. He could not be one of thegrooms, nor could he be one of the guests astir at that hour; still,there was something familiar in the form of the man advancing toward herat an easy canter.
He seemed to take in the situation at a glance, and quickly drew backinto the bushes to give the runaway horse full swing in the narrow road.
But as Bernardine advanced at that mad, flying pace, she heard the manshout:
"My horse, by all that is wonderful! But that isn't Mag in the buggy.Who in thunder can it be in that wagon, anyhow?"
That loud, harsh voice! No wonder Bernardine's heart almost ceasedbeating as she heard it. It was the voice of Jasper Wilde.
Only Heaven's mercy kept her from swooning outright, for she knew JasperWilde would recognize her as soon as he came abreast of her.
This proved to be the case.
"Bernardine Moore!" he shouted, hardly believing he had seen aright.
For one moment of time he was taken so completely by surprise that hewas quite incapable of action, and in that moment Bernardine's horse wasmany rods past him.
"Yes, it is Bernardine Moore!" he cried out, excitedly.
He did not ask himself how she happened to be there; he had no time forthat.
Cursing himself for the time he had lost through his astonishment at thediscovery, he wheeled his horse about with so sharp a jerk that italmost brought the animal upon its haunches; then started in mad pursuitof the girl, shouting at the top of his voice to Bernardine to saw hardon both lines, and jerk quickly backward.
To his intense rage, he saw Bernardine take out the whip and lay it onthe back of the runaway horse, and it flashed across his mind what thatmeant.
She had seen and recognized him as she flew past him. She knew he washurrying after her, and she preferred death rather than that he shouldovertake her.
Curses loud and deep broke from his lips. He yelled to her to draw rein;but she only urged the horse on the faster.
He had searched the world over to find Bernardine Moore, and now that hehad come across her by chance, she should not escape him like this.
A mere chit of a girl should not outwit him in that fashion.
A mad thought occurred to him.
There was but one way of stopping that horse and overtaking Bernardine,and that was to draw his revolver and shoot the animal dead in itstracks.
He liked the horse; but nothing on earth should prevent him fromcapturing the girl he still loved to desperation.
To think, with him, was to act; and quick as a flash, he drew a weaponfrom his hip-pocket, and the loud report of a shot instantly followed.
CHAPTER LVIII.
The shot which rang out so clearly on the early morning air missed itsmark, and the noise only succeeded in sending Bernardine's horse alongthe faster. Taking one terrified glance backward, Bernardine saw JasperWilde's horse suddenly swerve, unseating her rider, and the next instanthe was measuring his length in the dusty road-side.
The girl did not pause to look again, nor did she draw rein upon thepanting steed, until, covered with foam, and panting for breath, he drewup of his own accord at the gate of Gardiner mansion.
One of the grooms came running forward, and Bernardine saw that he wasgreatly excited.
"The maids missed you, and feared something had happened to you, MissMoore," he said; "but we were all so alarmed about young master, itcaused us to forget everything else, we all love Master Jay so well."
A sharp pain, like that caused by a dagger's thrust, seemed to flashthrough Bernardine's heart as those words fell upon her startled ear.
"What has happened to your master, John?" she asked, huskily; and hervoice sounded terribly unnatural.
In a voice husky with emotion the groom explained to her what wasoccurring--how young Mrs. Gardiner stood guard over her husband,refusing to allow the doctor to perform an operation which might savetheir young master, who was dying by inches with each passing moment oftime--how she had caught up a thin, sharp-bladed knife which the doctorhad just taken from his surgical case, and, brandishing it before herwith the fury of a fiend incarnate, defied any one to dare approach.
Both Mrs. Gardiner and Miss Margaret had gone into hysterics, and hadto be removed from the apartment to an adjoining room.
"Oh, Miss Moore, surely your services were never so much needed as now,you seem so clever! Oh, if you could, by any means in earthly power,coax young Mrs. Gardiner from her husband's bedside, the operation wouldbe performed, whether she consented or not! In God's name, see what youcan do!"
Bernardine waited to hear no more, but, like a storm-driven swallow,fairly flew across the lawn to the house, without even stopping a momentto give the least explanation concerning the strange horse and buggywhich she had left in the groom's hands.
As the man had said, the greatest excitement pervaded the mansion.Servants were running about hither and thither, wringing their hands,expecting to hear each moment--they knew not what.
Like one fairly dazed, Bernardine flew along the corridor toward theblue and gold room which she knew had been set apart for Jay Gardiner'suse.
She could hear the murmur of excited voices as she reached the door.
She saw that it was ajar. A draught of wind blew it open as sheapproached.
As she reached the threshold, Bernardine stood rooted to the spot at thespectacle that met her gaze.
Young Mrs. Gardiner was bending over her hapless husband with a face sotransformed by hate--yes, hate--there was no mistaking theexpression--that it nearly took Bernardine's breath away. In her righthand she held the gleaming blade, the end of which rested against Jay'sbared breast.
The doctor had sunk into the nearest seat, and in that unfortunatemoment had taken his eyes off the sufferer, whose life was ebbing soswiftly, and had dropped his face in his trembling hands to think outwhat he had best do in this dire moment of horror.
All this Bernardine took in at a single glance.
Jay Gardiner's life hung in the balance. She forgot her surroundings,forgot everything, but that she must save him even though at the risk ofher own life. She would have gladly given a hundred lives, if she hadthem, to save him.
She did not stop an instant to formulate any plan, but with a cry of themost intense horror, born of acute agony, she had cleared the spacewhich divided her from young Mrs. Gardiner at a single bound, and in atwinkling had hurled the blade from her hands.
Sally Gardiner was taken so entirely by surprise for an instant that shedid not stoop to recover the gleaming knife which had fallen between herassailant and herself.
In that instant, the doctor, who had witnessed the scene which had takenplace with such lightning-like rapidity, sprung forward and grasped thefurious woman, pinioning her hands behind her, and called loudly uponthe servants to come to his aid and remove her from Jay Gardiner'sbedside.
But there was little need of their assistance. Sally Gardiner stoodregarding Bernardine, her hands hanging by her sides, her eyes staringeagerly at the intruder.
"_You_ here!" she muttered, in an almost inaudible voice. "What are_you_ doing in his sick-room, _you_ whom he always loved instead of me?He married _me_ from a sense of honor, but he loved you, and neverceased to let me understand that to be the case. What are you doing herenow--_you_ of all other women?"
"Come with me quietly into the other room and I will tell you how ithappens that I am here--in _his_ home," whispered Bernardine, huskily.
"No," she shrieked, laughing a hard, jeering, terrible laugh inBernardine's white, pain-drawn face as she battled fiercely to shake offthe doctor's hold of her pinioned arms. "I shall not go--I shall notleave my post until he is _dead_! Do you hear?--until he is dead! Ishall not save him for you! I'd rather be his widow than his unlovedwife!"
"Come!" whispered Bernardine, sternly. "A human life is at stake--h
e isdying. You _must_ come with me and let the doctor be free to do hiswork. I command you to come!" she added, in a stern, ringing, sonorousvoice that seemed to thrill the other to her very heart's core andfascinate her--ay, fairly paralyze her will-power. "Come!" repeatedBernardine, laying a hand on her shoulder--"come out into the groundswith me, Mrs. Gardiner--out into the fresh air. I have something to tellyou. I had an encounter with Victor Lamont last night," she added in awhisper, her eyes fixed steadily on the young wife as she slowly utteredthe words.
Their effect was magical on Sally Gardiner. She reeled forward like oneabout to faint.
"Let me go out into the grounds alone," she cried, hoarsely. "I mustcollect my scattered thoughts. Come to me there in half an hour, andtell me. I--I can listen to you then."
And with these words, the fiery creature left the room, staggeringrather than walking through the open French window.
The doctor caught Bernardine's hand in his.
"If he lives, it will be to your strategy that he owes his life," hesaid, hurriedly. "Now leave the room quickly. In ten minutes I will callyou, and you shall tell his mother and sister whether it be life ordeath."
True to his promise, within the prescribed time the doctor calledBernardine.
"It will be life," he said, joyously; "and in performing the operation,I also found a small piece of bone resting against the brain, which wasthe cause of the strange lapse of memory he complained to me aboutseveral months ago. His brain is perfectly clear now. I heard from hislips a startling story," continued the doctor, taking Bernardine aside."Come to him."
She refused, saying she was just about to leave the house; but thedoctor insisted, and at length, accompanied by Jay's mother and hissister, she went to his bedside.
Jay's joy at beholding Bernardine was so great they almost feared forhis life. And then the truth came out: his marriage to Bernardine waslegal and binding before God and man, and that, directly after he hadleft her on the day of the ceremony, he had met with an accident whichcompletely obliterated the event from his mind; even all remembrance ofBernardine's existence.
"What, then, is poor Sally?" cried his mother, in horror. "She weddedyou, knowing nothing of all this!"
Before he could answer, they heard a great commotion in the corridorbelow; and, forgetful of the sick man, Antoinette rushed in weepingwildly, crying out that her young mistress had just been found dead inthe brook.
She died without knowing the truth, and they were all thankful forthat--not even her family or Miss Rogers ever knew the sad truth.
Two men fled from the vicinity that day--Victor Lamont and Jasper Wilde.
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When Jay Gardiner was able to travel, he and his mother and sister andBernardine went abroad; but, out of respect to poor Sally's memory, itwas a year before they took their places in the great world as--whatthey had been from the first--husband and wife.
In the sunshine of the happy years that followed, Bernardine neverreproached her husband for that blotted page in their history which hewould have given so much to efface.
Sally's father and mother and sister grieved many a long year over herdeath.
Antoinette stole quietly away, and was seen no more. Old Mrs. Gardinerand Miss Margaret are as happy as the day is long in the love of Jay'ssweet, grave young wife, while her husband fairly adores her, though twoothers share his love as the sunny days flit by--a sturdy youngster whomthey call Jay, and a dainty little maiden named Sally--named after MissRogers, and whom that lady declares is to be her heiress--a jolly littlemaiden, hoidenish and mischievous, strangely like that other one whocame so near wrecking her father's and mother's life.
The little girl has but one fear--she never goes near the brook; perhapsits babbling waters could reveal a strange story--who can tell?
Over a grave on the sloping hill-side there is a marble shaft. The nameengraved upon it is Sally Gardiner, that the world may not know thestory of her who rests there.
The sun does not fall upon it, the shadow of the trees is so dense; butsoft and pityingly falls the dew on the hearts of the flowers that coverthe grave where Sally sleeps.
THE END.
THE HART SERIES
Laura Jean LibbeyMiss Caroline HartMrs. E. Burke CollinsMrs. Alex. McVeigh MillerCharlotte M. BraemeBarbara HowardLucy Randall ComfortMary E. BryanMarie Corelli
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Masters all of writing stories that arouse theemotions, in sentiment, passion and love, their booksexcel any that have ever been written.
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1--Kidnapped at the Altar, Laura Jean Libbey.2--Gladiola's Two Lovers, Laura Jean Libbey.3--Lil, the Dancing Girl, Caroline Hart.5--The Woman Who Came Between, Caroline Hart.6--Aleta's Terrible Secret, Laura Jean Libbey.7--For Love or Honor, Caroline Hart.8--The Romance of Enola, Laura Jean Libbey.9--A Handsome Engineer's Flirtation, Laura J. Libbey10--A Little Princess, Caroline Hart.11--Was She Sweetheart or Wife, Laura Jean Libbey.12--Nameless Bess, Caroline Hart.13--Della's Handsome Lover, Laura Jean Libbey.14--That Awful Scar, Caroline Hart.15--Flora Garland's Courtship, Laura Jean Libbey.16--Love's Rugged Path, Caroline Hart.17--My Sweetheart Idabell, Laura Jean Libbey.18--Married at Sight, Caroline Hart.19--Pretty Madcap Dorothy, Laura Jean Libbey.20--Her Right to Love, Caroline Hart.21--The Loan of a Lover, Laura Jean Libbey.22--The Game of Love, Caroline Hart.23--A Fatal Elopement, Laura Jean Libbey.24--Vendetta, Marie Corelli.25--The Girl He Forsook, Laura Jean Libbey.26--Redeemed by Love, Caroline Hart.28--A Wasted Love, Caroline Hart.29--A Dangerous Flirtation, Laura Jean Libbey.30--A Haunted Life, Caroline Hart.31--Garnetta, the Silver King's Daughter, L. J. Libbey.32--A Romance of Two Worlds, Marie Corelli.34--Her Ransom, Charles Garvice.36--A Hidden Terror, Caroline Hart.37--Flora Temple, Laura Jean Libbey.38--Claribel's Love Story, Charlotte M. Braeme.39--Pretty Rose Hall, Laura Jean Libbey.40--The Mystery of Suicide Place, Mrs. Alex. Miller.41--Cora, the Pet of the Regiment, Laura Jean Libbey.42--The Vengeance of Love, Caroline Hart.43--Jolly Sally Pendleton, Laura Jean Libbey.44--A Bitter Reckoning, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.45--Kathleen's Diamonds, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.46--Angela's Lover, Caroline Hart.47--Lancaster's Choice, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.48--The Madness of Love, Caroline Hart.49--Little Sweetheart, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.50--A Working Girl's Honor, Caroline Hart.51--The Mystery of Colde Fell, Charlotte M. Braeme.52--The Rival Heiresses, Caroline Hart.53--Little Nobody, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.54--Her Husband's Ghost, Mary E. Bryan.55--Sold for Gold, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.56--Her Husband's Secret, Lucy Randall Comfort.57--A Passionate Love, Barbara Howard.58--From Want to Wealth, Caroline Hart.59--Loved You Better Than You Knew, Mrs. A. Miller.60--Irene's Vow, Charlotte M. Braeme.61--She Loved Not Wisely, Caroline Hart.62--Molly's Treachery, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.63--Was It Wrong? Barbara Howard.64--The Midnight Marriage, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.65--Ailsa, Wenona Gilman.66--Her Dark Inheritance, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.67--Viola's Vanity, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller.68--The Ghost of the Hurricane Hills, Mary E. Bryan.69--A Woman Wronged, Caroline Hart.70--Was She His Lawful Wife? Barbara Howard.71--Val, the Tomboy, Wenona Gilman.72--The Richmond Secret, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.73--Edna's Vow, Charlotte M. Stanley.74--Heart's of Fire, Caroline Hart.75--St. Elmo, Augusta J. Evans.76--Nobody's Wife, Caroline Hart.77--Ishmael, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth.78--Self-Raised, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth.79--Pretty Little Rosebud, Barbara Howard.80--Inez, Augusta J. Evans.81--The Girl Wife, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.82--Dora Thorne, Charlotte M. Braeme.83--Followed by Fate, Lucy Randall Comfort.84--India, or the Pearl of Pearl River, Southworth85--Mad Kingsley's Heir, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.86--The Missing Bride, Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth.87--Wicked Sir Dare, Charles Garvice.88--Daintie's Cruel Rivals, Mrs. Alex. McV. Miller.89--Lillian's Vow, Caroline Hart.90--Miss Estcourt, Charles Garvice.91--Beulah, Augusta J. Evans.92--Daphane's Fate, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.93--Wormwood, Marie Corelli.94--Nellie, Charles Garvice.95--His Legal Wife, Mary E. Bryan.96--Macaria, Augusta J. Evans.97-
-Lost and Found, Charlotte M. Stanley.98--The Curse of Clifton, Mrs. Southworth.99--That Strange Girl, Charles Garvice.100--The Lovers at Storm Castle, Mrs. M. A. Collins101--Margerie's Mistake, Lucy Randall Comfort.102--The Curse of Pocahontas, Wenona Gilman.103--My Love Kitty, Charles Garvice.104--His Fairy Queen, Elizabeth Stiles.105--From Worse than Death, Caroline Hart.106--Audrey Fane's Love, Mrs. E. Burke Collins.107--Thorns and Orange Blossoms, Charlotte Braeme.108--Ethel Dreeme, Frank Corey.109--Three Girls, Mary E. Bryan.110--A Strange Marriage, Caroline Hart.111--Violet, Charles Garvice.112--The Ghost of the Power, Mrs. Sumner Hayden.113--Baptised with a Curse, Edith Stewart Drewry.114--A Tragic Blunder, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron.115--The Secret of Her Life, Edward Jenkins.116--My Guardian, Ada Cambridge.117--A Last Love, Georges Ohnet.118--His Angel, Henry Herman.119--Pretty Miss Bellew, Theo. Gift.120--Blind Love, Wilkie Collins.121--A Life's Mistake, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron.122--Won By Waiting, Edna Lyall.123--Passions Slave, King.124--Under Currents, Duchess.125--False Vow, Braeme.126--The Belle of Lynne, Braeme.127--Lord Lynne's Choice, Braeme.128--Blossom and Fruit, Braeme.129--Weaker Than a Woman, Braeme.130--Tempest and Sunshine, Mary J. Holmes.131--Lady Muriel's Secret, Braeme.132--A Mad Love, Braeme.
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