CHAPTER IX.
GERELDA'S ESCAPE FROM WAU-WINET ISLAND.
The fire at Wau-Winet Island, as the papers had explained, had takenplace during the owner's absence. No one knew how it had happened; thereseemed to be no one left to tell the tale.
When Captain Frazier returned that evening and found the place in ruins,he was almost wild with grief. In his own mind he felt that he knew howit had come about.
In her desperation to get away, Gerelda had fired the house. But, forall that, she had not succeeded in making her escape, as the flames musthave overtaken her.
Those who watched Captain Frazier had great difficulty in preventinghim from flinging himself headlong into the bay, he seemed so distractedover the loss of Gerelda, the girl whom he loved so sincerely.
The truth of the matter was, Gerelda had not fired the place. It hadbeen caused by a spark from an open fire-place; and in the confusion andthe darkness of the night she had succeeded in making her way out of thehouse and down to the shore.
With trembling hands she had untied one of the little boats which laythere rocking to and fro, had sprung into it, and ere the flames burstthrough the arched windows of the stone house she was far across thebay, and was soon lost to sight in the darkness. She had taken theprecaution to seize a long cloak and veil belonging to the maid, andthese she proceeded to don while in the boat.
By daylight she found herself drifting slowly toward a little village,and as the lights became clear enough to discern objects distinctly, shesaw that the place was Kingston.
At this Gerelda was overjoyed, for she remembered her old nurse, whomshe had not seen since early childhood, lived here. The sun was shiningbright and clear when Gerelda Northrup stepped from the boat and wendedher way up the grass-grown streets of the quaint little Canadian town.
By dint of inquiry here and there, she at length found the nurse'shome--a little cottage, almost covered with morning-glory vines, settingback from the main road.
Although the nurse had not seen Gerelda since she was a little child,she knew her the moment her eyes rested upon her face, and with a cryof amazement she drew back.
"Gerelda Northrup!" she gasped. "Is it you, Miss Gerelda, or do my eyesdeceive me?"
She had heard of the great marriage that was to take place at theCrossmon Hotel, at Alexandria Bay, and heard, too, the whispered rumorof the bride-elect's flight; and to see her standing there before heralmost took Nurse Henderson's breath away.
She looked past Gerelda, expecting to see some tall and handsomegentleman, with a grand carriage drawn up at the road-side, waiting forher. The girl seemed to interpret her thoughts.
"I have come alone," she said, briefly. "Won't you bid me enter?"
"That I will, Miss Gerelda!" cried Nurse Henderson, laughing and cryingover her.
But when she drew her into the house, and took off the long cloak shewore, she was startled beyond expression to see that she wore abridal-dress all ruined and torn.
Nurse Henderson held up her hands in wild alarm.
"Oh, Miss Gerelda!" she cried; "what does it mean? I am terrified!"
"Do not ask me any questions, I pray; I am not able to answer them justyet. Some day I may tell you all, but not now."
The old nurse placed her on a sofa, begging her to rest herself, as shelooked so pale and worn, saying that she might tell her anything shewished, a little later, when she was stronger.
It was a fortnight before Gerelda had strength to leave her old nurse'shome, and during that time she had made a _confidante_ of old NurseHenderson, pledging her beforehand never to reveal the story she hadtold her. Nurse Henderson listened, horror-struck, to the story.
"I am going to see for myself, Henderson," she added, in conclusion,"just how much truth there is in this affair. If I find that HubertVarrick has been so false to me, it will surely kill me. I am goingthere to see for myself."
"You do not seem to realize, my dear," said Nurse Henderson, "that thepeople say you eloped with his rival, and that he believes them."
"He should have had more confidence in me, no matter what the worldsays!" cried Gerelda, with flashing eyes. "He should have searched forme. I have often thought since, that Heaven intended just what hasoccurred to test his love for me. I firmly believe this. I intend todisguise myself, and go boldly to his home and see for myself whetherthe report is false or true. Of course, a rival would not stoop to makeup any falsehood against him and pour it into my ears. You will help meto disguise myself, Henderson?"
"I have thought it all out," continued the heiress, "while I have beenunder this roof, and I have been trying to gain strength for the ordeal.Let me tell it to you, Henderson, and you will marvel at my clever plan.You know that from a child I could always do exquisite fancy-work. Well,I mean to make use of that talent. Mrs. Varrick--Hubert's mother--hasalways said she would give anything to find a person willing to come toher home who could do just such fancy-work, and decorate her _boudoir_.Now, I mean to go there in disguise, show her a sample of my work, andsay that I gave many lessons to Gerelda Northrup, and she will be onlytoo glad to have me come to her home at any price. Then I can see formyself just how much my lover is grieving over my loss. He may be piningaway--ay, be at the very gates of death, probably. In that case I shallreveal my identity at once.
"Oh, Miss Gerelda, you could never go through all that! _You_ toil, evenfor a day, for any one? Oh! pray abandon such a mad idea. Believe me, mydear, such an idea is not practicable."
But all her persuasion could not influence the girl to abandon her plan.
A few days later a tall, slender woman robed in the severest black, witha cap on her head and blue glasses covering her eyes, walked slowly upthe broad, graveled path that led to the Varrick mansion.
Mrs. Varrick was seated on the porch. She looked highly displeased whenthe servant approached her, announcing that this person--indicatingGerelda--desired particularly to speak with her a few moments.
"If you are a peddler or in search of work, you should go round to theservants' door," she said, brusquely.
Gerelda never knew until then what a very cross mother-in-law she hadescaped.
"Step around there, and I will see you later," said Mrs. Varrick.
This Gerelda was forced to do. She waited in the servants' hall an houror more before Mrs. Varrick remembered her and came to see what shewanted. When she saw the samples of fancy-work her eyes lighted up.
"They are very beautiful," she said, "but I am not in need of anythingof the kind just now. If you call round here a few months later, I mightfind use for your services."
Gerelda had been so confident of getting an opportunity to stay beneaththat roof, that the shock of these words nearly made her cry out andbetray herself.
"Is there no young lady in the house to whom I could teach this art?"she asked.
As she spoke these words she heard a light foot-fall on the marblefloor, and the soft _frou frou_ of rustling skirts behind her, and sheturned her head quickly.
There, standing in the door-way, she beheld Jessie Bain.