CHAPTER IX.
MARAH.
"Great heaven! why had I not noticed Miss Dudleigh before! In herchanged face, and in the wasting of her delicate form, I saw that myfears were not all vain, inasmuch as they were shared by her; andshocked at evidences so much beyond my expectations, I knew not whetherto shed the bitter tears which rose to my eyes in pity for her or inrage for myself.
"We were sitting all together, and I had a full opportunity to observethe mournful smile that now and then crossed her lips as Marah utteredsome brighter sally than common or broke--as she often did--into songthat rippled for a minute through the heavy air and then ceased assuddenly as it had begun. She looked much oftener at Marah than atUrquhart, and seemed to be asking in what lay the charm that subduedeverybody, even herself. And when she seemed to receive no answer to hersecret questioning, her eyes fell and a sigh stirred her lips, which, ifunheard by the preoccupied man at her side, rang on in my ears longafter I had bidden farewell to her and the siren whose smiles,intentionally or unintentionally, seemed destined to bring shipwreckinto three lives.
"It was not the last time I heard that sigh. As the weeks progressed itfluttered oftener and oftener from between those pale lips, and at lastthe change in Miss Dudleigh became so marked that people stopped in themidst of their talk about the stamp act to remark upon Miss Dudleigh'sgrowing weakness, and venture assertions that she would never live to bea bride. And yet the preparations for her bridal and for mine went on,and the day set apart for the latter drew bewilderingly near.
"Marah saw my perplexity and her cousin's grief, but did nothing todispel the one or assuage the other. She seemed to be too busy. She wasembroidering a famous stomacher for herself, and while a sprig of itremained unworked she had neither eyes nor attention for anything else,even for the bleeding hearts around her. She would smile--O yes, smileupon me, smile upon Honora, and not smile upon him; but she would notmeet her cousin's true eyes, nor would she grant me one minute apartfrom the rest in which I could utter my fears or demand the breaking ofthat spell whose effects were so visible, even if its workings weresecret and imperceptible. But at last the stomacher was finished, and asit dropped from her hands I threw myself at her feet, and from thisposition, looking into her eyes, I whispered:
"'This is the last thing that shall ever flaunt itself between us. Youare to be mine now, and in token of your truth come with me into theconservatory, for I have words to utter that will not be put off.'
"'You are cruel,' she murmured, 'you are tyrannical. This is a time ofrevolt; shall I revolt, too?'
"Maddened, for her eyes were not looking at me, but at him, I leaped tomy feet, and, regardless of everything but my determination to end thisuncertainty then and there, I lifted her and carried her out of the roominto another, where I could have her alone, and without the humiliatingsense of his presence.
"My bold act seemed to frighten her, for she stood very still where Ihad placed her, only trembling slightly when I looked at her andcried:
"'Did you ask that question of me? Am I to understand you want to breakyour fetters?'
"She plucked a rose from her breast and crumpled it to atoms between herhands.
"'O why are they not golden ones!' she asked. 'I am miserable because wemust be poor; because--because I want to ride in a carriage, because Iwant to wear jewels and own a dozen servants, and trample on the prideof women plainer than myself. I hate your humble home, I hate your stiffDutch kitchen, I hate your sordid ways and the decent respectabilitythat is all you can offer me. Were you beautiful as Adonis, it wouldmake no difference. I was born to drink wine and not water, and I shallnever forgive you for forcing me to take your crystal goblet in myhands, while, if I had waited--'
"She stopped, panting. I let my whole pent-up jealousy out in a word.
"'Edwin Urquhart has not even a crystal goblet to offer you. He ispoorer than I am, and will remain so till he has actually married MissDudleigh.'
"'Don't I know it!' she flashed out. 'If it had been otherwise do youthink--'
"She had the grace or the wisdom to falter. I regret it now. I regretthat she did not go on and reveal her whole soul to me in one fell burstof feeling. As it was, I trembled with jealousy and passion, but I didnot cast her from me.
"'Then you acknowledge--' I cried.
"But she would acknowledge nothing. 'I love no one,' she asserted, 'noone. I want what I want, but none of you can give it to me.'
"Then blame me as you will, I took a great resolve. I determined to giveher what she craved; convinced of her sordid nature, convinced of herheartlessness and the folly of ever thinking she could even understand,much less reciprocate my passion, I was so much under her sway at thatmoment that I would have flung at her feet kingdoms had I possessedthem. Flushing, I seized her hand.
"'You do not know what a man in love can do,' I cried. 'Trust me; giveme yourself as you have promised, and sooner or later I will give youwhat you have asked. I am not a weak man or an incompetent one. Politicsopens a vast field to an ambitious nature, and if war breaks out, as weall expect it will, you will see me rise to the front, if I have you formy wife and inspiration.'
"The scorn in her eyes did not abate. 'O you men!' she cried. 'You thinkyou give us everything with a promise. A war! What is the history ofwars? Demolished homes, broken fortunes, rack, ruin and desolation. Isthere gold, or honor, or ease in these? A war! It will not be a war. Itwill be a struggle in which men will fight barefoot and on emptystomachs for the privilege of calling themselves free. I have nosympathy with such a war. It robs us of comfort in the present andbrings nothing worth waiting for in the future. Were I to have my will,I would take the arm of the first officer returning to England andremain there. I hate this country, so new, so crude, so democratic! Ishould like to live where I could ride over the necks of common people.'
"A tory and an aristocrat! Another gulf between us. I looked at her inhorror, but, alas! the horror was strangely mixed with admiration. Shewas such a burning embodiment of pride. Her peculiar beauty--the sourceof which I have never to this day been able to fathom--lent itself soreadily to the expression of fury and disdain, that, recoil as I wouldfrom her principles, I could not shut my eyes to the fascination of herglance or the torturing charm that hid in the corners of her poutinglips. She was a queen. Oh, yes, but the queen of some strange realm in adistant oriental land, where right and wrong were only words, and thesole end of beauty was delight, without reference to God or one'sfellows. I saw it all, I felt it all, yet I lingered. She was to be mywife in three days, and the intoxication of this prospect was in myblood and brain.
"'You will do so and so,' were her next words. 'You will give me what Iask when you have won it. But I cannot wait for the winning; I want itnow. Do you know what I would do to get the wealth I was born to? Iwould risk life! I would walk on burning plowshares! I would--'
"She stopped, and I saw the lines come out in her forehead. She wasthinking--thinking deeply. I felt the shadow of a great horror creepingover me. I caught her impetuously in my arms. I kissed her passionatelyto drive away the demons. I begged and implored her to forget her evilthoughts, and be the woman I could love and cherish; and finally Imoved her. She shook herself free, but she also shook the shadow fromher brow. She even found a smile to bestow upon me; and was it a tear?Could it have been a tear I saw for a moment glisten in her eye as sheturned half petulantly, half imperiously away? I have never known, butthe very suspicion filled my heart to overflowing, and the great sobsrose in my breast; and--fool that I was--I was about to beg her pardon,when she gave me one other look, and I merely faltered out:
"'Where will you find another love like mine, Marah? If you got yourgold, you would soon miss something which only comes with love. Youwould be unhappy, and curse the day you left my arms. I am your master,Marah; why not make me a happy one?'
"'I expect,' she murmured, 'to marry you.'
"'And then?' I could not help it; the words sprang to my lipsinvoluntarily.
"Her eyes opened wide; she literally flashed them upon me. I felt theirlightnings play all about my doubtful nature, and scorch it.
"'I will be your wife,' she uttered gravely.
"I fell at her feet. I kissed the hem of her robe. In that moment Iadored her. 'O best and fairest!' I cried, 'I will make you happy. Iwill fill your hopes to the full. You shall ride in a carriage, and yourwill shall be a law to those who smile in scorn upon you now, and youwill be--'
"'Mistress Felt, of most honorable degree,' she finished, with the halflaughing disdain she could never keep long out of her words.
"And thus I became again her slave, and lived in that sweet, if servile,condition till the hour of our nuptials came, and I went to conduct herto the church where, in sight of half the town, she was to be made mywife. Shall I ever forget that morning? It was a December day, but theheavens were blue and the earth white, and not a cloud bespoke a risingstorm. As for me, I walked on air, all the more that I knew Urquhart wasout of town and would not be present at the wedding. He had gone away onsome behest of Miss Dudleigh's immediately after the last interview Ihave mentioned, and would not come back, or so I had been told, tillafter Miss Leighton had been Mistress Felt for a week. So there wasnothing to mar my day or make my entrance into Miss Dudleigh's houseanything but one of promise. I saw Miss Dudleigh first. She wasstanding in the vast colonial hall when I entered, and in her galarobes, and with the sunshine on her head, she looked almost happy. Yetshe was greatly changed from her old self, and I felt much like pouringout my soul to her and bidding her to break a tie that would never bringher peace, or even honor. But I feared to shatter my own hopes. Selfishbeing that I was, I dreaded to have her made free, lest-- What? Mythoughts did not interpret my fears, for at that moment a sunbeam struckdown the stairs and through my heart, and, looking up, I saw Marahdescending, and thought and reason flew to greet her.
"She had been robed by her cousin's bounteous hand, and her dress ofstiff yellow brocade burned in the morning light with almost as muchbrilliance as the sunshine itself. Folded across her bust was thewonderful stomacher, under whose making I had suffered so many emotionsthat each sprig of work upon it seemed to have its own tale of miseryfor my eyes, and fixed against this and her white throat were thosemasses of flowers without which her beauty never seemed quite complete.In her hair, which was piled high above her forehead, flashed a hugegolden comb, and upon her arm gleamed two bracelets, whose exquisiteworkmanship was well known to me, for they had been an heirloom in myfamily for years. She was fair as a dream, proud as a queen, cold as astatue, but she was mine! Was not the minister waiting for us at thechurch? and were not the horses that were to take us there even nowchamping their bits before the door?
"She rode with me. Four white horses had been attached to MissDudleigh's coach, and behind these we passed in state out through thenoble park that separated this lordly house from the rest, into theclosely packed streets, where hundreds waited to catch a glimpse of themost beautiful woman in Albany, going to be made a bride.
"Miss Dudleigh rode behind us in another coach, and the murmur whichgreeted our appearance did not die out till after she had passed, forthey knew she would soon be riding the same road with even greaterstate, if not with so much beauty; and the people of Albany loved HonoraDudleigh, for she was ever a beneficent spirit to them, and more thanever, since a shadow had fallen upon her happiness, and she had come toknow what misery was.
"And thus we passed on, Marah with a glowing flush of triumph burning onher cheek and I in one of those moods of happiness whose rapture was sounalloyed that I scarcely heard the half-laughing comments of those whosaw with wonder how plain was the man who had succeeded in carrying offthis well-known beauty. And the greater part of the way was traversed,and the bells of the old North Church became audible, and in a momentmore we should have seen the belfry of the church itself rising beforeus, when, suddenly, the woman that I loved, the woman whose nuptials theminister was waiting to celebrate, gave a great start, and, turningquickly toward me, cried:
"'Turn the horses' heads! I do not go to the church with you to-day. Notif you kill me, Mark Felt!'
"You have heard of stray bullets coming singing from some unknownquarter and striking a person seated at a feast. Such a bullet struck methen. I looked at her in horror."