Part 19 (2/2)
”One of the faithful ones, I take it?” interrogated Charles Belmont.
”Yes, and a pet of my father's, who, when he was dying, told me to be good to 'Bob' and I reckon I've done it”; and the little ripple caused by the departure of a human soul closed up, and the dinner with its accompaniments of mirth and laughter went on as though the waters had never been stirred. Death! Mrs. Belmont retired to her room almost immediately after the party returned to the parlor, for a flood of contending emotions had rolled in upon her guilty soul at the very thought of the ”king of terrors.” Then, too, there came to her through the surgings of the inward tempest the last words of him who was sleeping in the shadows at Rosedale, ”Teach the children to be true, n.o.ble and better than we have been, for somehow I can but feel that Aunt Vina is right 'we must have the Lord sometime or be wretched!'” ”The Lord! Wretched! Am I not all that now?” and the miserable woman paced the floor as her thoughts went on. Where was Lillian? She was to teach to be good and n.o.ble! Under that very roof was her child! The babe she had so desired to thrust out of sight--out of the world! Every motion of the childish figure--every look sent a barb of anguish to her already tortured soul! ”It will all be brought to light” something had continually whispered to her awakened conscience for the last two days, and how could she ever meet it? How gladly she would have throttled the power that was so resistlessly carrying her forward! O the agony of a sin-cursed soul! The stately lady stood by the window and looked out upon the scenes before her. Yonder were the rays of the setting sun yet lingering in the tree-tops; near was the rude cabin where the still form of the humble slave was lying. How joyfully would the proud, haughty mistress of Rosedale at that moment have exchanged places with the poor despised menial! But she must live; the future was unfolding itself to her every moment and what _was_ to be done? Again the record of a mortal life was sadly closed, for on its pages was written the guilt of a perjured soul!
”It must be done!” she mentally exclaimed, while her long slender fingers clasped each other so tightly that the nails pressed painfully into the flesh. ”I never could live with such a tornado of disgrace howling around me! _Never! It must be done!_”
”O what a tangled web we weave When first we practice to deceive”;
what a concourse of evil spirits will enter when the door of the heart is thrown open to the first invited guests!
The miserable occupant of the upper chamber was realizing it all now as she had never done before. She had flattered herself that the great secret that was gnawing at her very life was wholly in her power; but the fantasy was being dispelled! Lillian was--she knew not where!
Perhaps at that very moment probing the long-concealed mystery and if discovered would _hate_ her mother! This was torture indeed! She halted in her walk and stood again by the window. ”I must go down,” she thought after a moments pause; ”they will wonder at my absence. Secrecy and hypocrisy is my future work! To draw the veil of indifference over the boiling cauldron--smother the fire and be the gentlewoman of fas.h.i.+on and society! O for a mask with which to cover it all!”
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER XX.
THE ABDUCTION.
Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d did not expect to return to her Virginia home for some time, it being her intention to spend the winter as far south as convenient, her physician having ordered a warmer climate and an entire change of scene. She thought her health was improving, and so she would remain until the crocus peeped from its bed beneath its brown covering, and then she would return. But it was a pity that Lily should be shut up so closely when there was so much in the city to give her enjoyment.
Tiny could do all her mistress really needed, and ”we will make it so pleasant for her,” Ellen pleaded; and Mrs. Belmont, who stood behind the curtain, calm and dignified, had, unconsciously to all, set the plan in active operation.
”I suppose I shall be permitted to add my mite to the young lady's happiness, which I shall not fail to do if she will favor us, before I leave the city,” she said quietly. All the time she was speaking her fingers slowly turned the leaves of a book on the table as though it was of very small moment whether the invitation was or was not accepted, and as the young lady left the room remarked, quietly:
”I believe I have taken quite a fancy to your daughter, Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d. It seems sometimes that she resembles in some respects my Lillian; their eyes certainly are similar. Do you not think so, George?”
”Yes; I have often been reminded of her. The same deep, thoughtful expression, and at times the same sad look I have noticed on Lillian's face since I returned from Europe.”
George St. Clair did not remove his gaze from the face before him while speaking, yet she answered calmly:
”I can see no reason why one so young should have such a look.”
The young man bent his head almost to her ear, as he whispered: ”And there is no reason under heaven why your daughter's face should wear it.
There is a curse in a false ambition like the one that is blackening your soul. Unbend yourself and do what every mother's heart should prompt her to do. Seek your child's happiness and despise, as every n.o.ble character will, the worldly l.u.s.t that is governing you.”
”How dare you!” she exclaimed, rising to her feet and fixing her keen eyes upon him. But she said no more. The power of his calm, unflinching gaze awed her into silence, and turning she left the room. Yet the slumbering demon in her heart had been aroused and as she strolled out into the open air seemed ready to overpower her.
”What does he know about my false ambition? Could she have told him? Ah, but she knew nothing of her child; let her revelations be what they may, this secret is not his to taunt me with. Lost, lost! Poverty is to crush my pride after all I have done. 'A curse!' Yes, a curse has already set its seal upon my ambition--my life.” She walked on until calm once more stole in among her the contending spirits, and she returned to the house.
”Mrs. Belmont seems like one who has experienced some great reverse,”
remarked Mrs. g.a.y.l.o.r.d, after her abrupt departure from the parlor. ”I have noticed several times since she has been here a disquietude perfectly unaccountable in one of her position.”
The young man made a casual reply, and others entering at the moment the little incident was seemingly forgotten.
”It has been decided,” remarked Ellen to her brother the next morning; ”Lily g.a.y.l.o.r.d will return with us, and Anna seems delighted. I had not thought until last evening that a tie of native land drew them together.”
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