CHAPTER XIII.
THE SPIDER SPINS.
Julia got up from her bed the moment that her mother had gone. Her firstfeeling was that her privacy had been shamefully outraged. A true mothershould honorably respect the reserve of the little child. But Julia wasnow a woman, grown, with a woman's spirit. She rose from her bed, andshut her window with a bang that was meant to be a protest. She then putthe tenpenny nail sometimes used to fasten the window down, in itsplace, as if to say, "Come in, if you can." Then she pulled out thefolds of the chintz curtain, hanging on its draw-string half-way up thewindow. If there had been any other precaution possible, she would havetaken it. But there was not.
She took up the note, and read it. Julia was not a girl of keenpenetration. Her training was that of a country life. She did not readbetween the lines of August's note, and could only understand that shewas dismissed. Outraged by her mother's tyranny, spurned by her lover,she stood like a hunted creature, brought to bay, looking for the lastdesperate chance for escape.
Crushed? No. If she had been weaker, if she had been of the quieter,frailer sort, instead of being, as she was, elastic, impulsive,recuperative, she might have been crushed. She was wounded in her heartof hearts, but all her pride and hardihood, of which she had not alittle, had now taken up arms against outrageous fortune. She was stungat every thought of August and his letter, of Betsey Malcolm and hervictory, of the fact that her mother had read the letter and knew of herhumiliation. And she paced the floor of her room, and resolved to resistand to be revenged. She would marry anybody, that she might show Betseyand August they had not broken he heart and that her love did notgo begging.
O Julia! take care. Many another woman has jumped off that precipice!
And she would escape from her mother. The indications of affectionadroitly given by Humphreys were all remembered now. She could have him,and she would. He would take her to Cincinnati. She would have herrevenge all around. I am sorry to show you my heroine in this mood. Butthe fairest climes are sometimes subject to the fiercest hurricanes, thefrightfulest earthquakes!
After an hour the room seemed hot. She pulled back the chintz curtainand pushed up the window. The blue-grass in the pasture looked cool asit drank the heavy dews. She climbed through the window on to the long,old-fashioned upper porch. She sat down upon an old-fashioned setteewith rockers, and began to rock. The motion relieved her nervousness andfanned her hot cheeks. Yes, she would accept the first respectable loverthat offered. She would go to the city with Humphreys, if he asked her.It is only fair to say that Julia did not at all consider--she was notin a temper to consider--what a marriage with Humphreys implied. Sheonly thought of it on two sides--the revenge upon August and Betsey,and the escape from a thralldom now grown more bitter than death. True,her conscience was beginning to awaken, and to take up arms against herresolve. But nothing could be plainer. In marrying Mr. Humphreys sheshould marry a friend, the only friend she had. In marrying him shewould satisfy her mother, and was it not her duty to sacrifice somethingto her mother's happiness, perhaps her mother's life?
TEMPTED.]
Yes, yes, Julia, a false spirit of self-sacrifice is another path overthe cliff! In such a mood as this all paths lead into the abyss.
Her mind was made up. She braced her will against all the relentings ofher heart. She wished that Humphreys, who had indirectly declared hislove so often, were there to offer at once. She would accept himimmediately, and then the whole neighborhood should not say that she hadbeen deserted by a Dutchman. For in her anger she found her mother'sepithets expressive.
He was there! Was it the devil that planned it? Does he plan all thoseopportunities for wrong that are so sure to offer themselves? Humphreys,having led a life that turned night into day, sat at the farther end ofthe long upper porch, smoking his cigar, waiting a bed-time nearer tothe one to which he was accustomed.
Did he suspect the struggle in the heart of Julia Anderson? Did he guessthat her pride and defiance had by this time reached high-water mark?Did he divine this from seeing her there? He rose and started in throughthe door of the upper hall, the only opening to the porch, except thewindow. But this was a feint. He turned back and sat himself down uponthe farther end of the settee from Julia. He understood human natureperfectly, and had had long practice in making gradual approaches. Hebegged her pardon for the bungling manner in which he had communicatedintelligence that must be so terrible to a heart so sensitive! Julia wasjust going to declare that she did not care anything for what Augustsaid or thought, but her natural truthfulness checked the transparentfalsehood. She had not gone far enough astray to lie consciously; shewas, as yet, only telling lies to herself. Very gradually and cautiouslydid he proceed so as not to "flush the bird." Even as I saw, an hourago, a cat creep upon a sparrow with fascinating eyes, and a waving,snake-like motion of the tail, and a treacherous feline smile upon herface, even so, cautiously and by degrees, Humphreys felt his way withvelvet paws toward his prey. He knew the opportunity, that once gonemight not come again; he soon guessed that this was the hour and powerof darkness in the soul of Julia, the hour in which she would seek toflee from her own pride and mortification. And if Humphreys knew how toapproach with a soft tread, very slowly and cautiously, he alsoknew--men of his "profession" always know--when to spring. He saw themoment, he made the spring, he seized the prey.
"Will you trust your destiny to me, Miss Anderson? You seem beset bytroubles. I have means. I could not but he wholly devoted to yourwelfare. Let me help you to flee away from--from all this mortification,and this--this domestic tyranny. Will you intrust yourself to me?"
He did not say anything about love. He had an instinctive feeling thatit would not be best. She felt herself environed with insurmountabledifficulties, threatened with agonies worse than death--so they seemedto her. He simply, coolly opened the door, and bade her easily andtriumphantly escape. Had he said one word of tenderness the reactionmust have set in.
She was silent.
"I did hope, by sacrificing all my own hopes, to effect areconciliation. But when that young man spoke insulting words about you,I determined at once to offer you my devoted protection. I ask no morethan you are able to give, your respect Will you accept my life-longprotection as your husband?"
"Yes!" said the passionate girl in an agony of despair