Part 19 (1/2)
”Hus.h.!.+” It was the first word he had spoken since I had opened my heart to him. ”You do not know what you are saying, Thomas. Like all egotists, you think yourself alone in experience and suffering. Will you think so when I tell you that there was a time in my life when I did not sleep for weeks; when the earth, the air, yes, and the heavens were full of nothing but her name, her face, her voice? When to have held her in my arms, to have breathed into her ear one word of love, to have felt her cheek fall against mine in confidence, in pa.s.sion, in hope, would have been to me the heaven which would have driven the devils from my soul forever? Thomas, will you believe I do not know the uttermost of all you are experiencing, when I here declare to you that there has been an hour in my life when, if I had felt she could have been brought to love me, I would have sacrificed Evelyn, my own soul, our father's hope, John Poindexter's punishment, and become the weak thing you are to-day, and gloried in it, I, Felix Cadwalader, the man of iron, who has never been known to falter? But, Thomas, I overcame that feeling. I crushed down that love, and I call upon you to do the same. You may marry her, but--”
What stopped him? His own heart or my own impetuosity? Both, perhaps, for at that moment I fell at his feet, and seizing his hand, kissed it as I might a woman's. He seemed to grow cold and stiff under this embrace, which showed both the delirium I was laboring under and the relief I had gotten from his words. When he withdrew his hand, I feel that my doom was about to be spoken, and I was not wrong. It came in these words:
”Thomas, I have yielded to your importunity and granted you the satisfaction which under the same circ.u.mstances I would have denied myself. But it has not made me less hard toward you; indeed, the steel with which you say my heart is bound seems tightening about it, as if the momentary weakness in which I have indulged called for revenge. Thomas, go on your way; make the girl your wife-I had rather you would, since she is-what she is-but after she has taken your name, after she believes herself secure in her honorable position and your love, then you are to remember our compact and your oath-back upon John Poindexter's care she is to be thrown, shortly, curtly, without explanation or excuse; and if it costs you your life, you are to stand firm in this att.i.tude, using but one weapon in the struggle which may open between you and her father, and that is, your name of Cadwalader. You will not need any other. Thomas, do you swear to this? Or must I direct my own power against Eva Poindexter, and, by telling her your motive in courting her, make her hate you forever?”
”I will swear,” I cried, overpowered by the alternative with which he threatened me. ”Give me the bliss of calling her mine, and I will follow your wishes in all that concerns us thereafter.”
”You will?” There was a sinister tone in this e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n that gave a shock to my momentary complacency. But we are so made that an antic.i.p.ated evil affects us less than an immediate one; and remembering that weeks must yet elapse, during which he or John Poindexter or even myself might die, I said nothing, and he went icily on:
”I give you two months, alone and untrammelled. Then you are to bring your bride to my house, there to hear my final decision. There is to be no departure from this course. I shall expect you, Thomas; you and her. You can say that you are going to make her acquainted with your brother.”
”I will be there,” I murmured, feeling a greater oppression than when I took the oath at my father's death-bed. ”I will be there.”
There was no answer. While I was repeating those four words, Felix vanished.
LETTER XI.ENTRY XVII.
Dear Felix:
Have a fresh draft made. I need cigars, clothes, and-a wedding ring. But no, let me stop short there. We will be married without one, unless you force it upon us. Eva's color is blue.
Very truly, Thomas.
To-day I wrote again to Felix. He is at home, must be, for I have neither seen nor felt his presence since that fateful night. What did I write? I don't remember. I seem to be living in a dream. Everything is confused about me but Eva's face, Eva's smile. They are blissfully clear. Sometimes I wish they were not. Were they confused amid these shadows, I might have stronger hope of keeping my word to Felix. Now, I shall never keep it. Eva once my wife, separation between us will become impossible. John Poindexter is ill.
LETTER XII.ENTRY XVIII.
Dear Felix:
Congratulations: visits from my neighbors; all the eclat we could wish or a true lover hate. The ring you sent fits as if made for her. I am called in all directions by a thousand duties. I am on exhibition, and every one's curiosity must be satisfied.
In haste, Thomas.
The wedding is postponed. John Poindexter is very ill. Pray G.o.d, Felix hears nothing of this. He would come here; he would confront his enemy on his bed of sickness. He would denounce him, and Eva would be lost to me.
LETTER XIII.ENTRY XIX.
Dear Felix:
Eva is not pleased with the arrangements which have been made for our wedding. John Poindexter likes show; she does not. Which will carry the day?
Yours aff., Thomas.
Mr. Poindexter is better, but our plans will have to be altered. We now think we will be married quietly, possibly in New York.
LETTER XIV.ENTRY XX.
Dear Felix:
A compromise has been effected. The wedding will be a quiet one, but not celebrated here. As you cannot wish to attend it, I will not mention the place or hour of my marriage, only say that on September 27th at 4 P. M. you may expect my wife and myself at your house.
Aff., Thomas.