Part 7 (1/2)
A little room, scantily but neatly furnished. A low bed. A dying man.
A kneeling girl,--half child, half woman,--with a lovely, miserable face, and pretty yellow hair.
It was almost dusk, and the sound of the moaning sea without, rising higher and hoa.r.s.er as the tide rushes in, comes like a wail of pa.s.sionate agony into the silent room.
The rain patters dismally against the window-panes. The wind--that all day long has been sullen and subdued--is breaking forth into a fury long suppressed, and, das.h.i.+ng through the little town, on its way to the angry sea, makes the cas.e.m.e.nts rattle noisily and the tall trees sway and bend beneath its touch. Above, in the darkening heavens, gray clouds are scurrying madly to and fro.
”Georgie,” whispers a faint voice from out the gathering gloom, ”are you still there?”
”Yes, dear, I am here, quite near to you. What is it?”
”Sit where I can see you, child,--where I can watch your face. I have something to say to you. I cannot die with this weight upon my heart.”
”What weight, papa?”
”The uncertainty about your future,” says the dying man, with some excitement. ”How can I leave you, my little one, to fight this cruel world alone?”
”Do not think of me,” says the girl, in a voice so unnaturally calm as to betray the fact that she is making a supreme effort to steel herself against the betrayal of emotion of any kind. By and by, will there not be long years in which to make her moan, and weep, and lament, and give herself wholly up to that grim giant, Despair? ”Put me out of your thoughts altogether. I shall do very, very well. I shall manage to live as others have lived before me.”
”Your Aunt Elizabeth will take you in for a little while, and then----then----”
”I shall go out as a governess. I shall get into some kind, pleasant family, and every one will be very good to me,” says the girl, still in a resolutely cheerful tone. ”It will just suit me. I shall like it.
Do you understand me, papa? I shall like it better than anything, because children are always fond of me.”
The father's face grows sadder, even grayer, as she speaks. He sighs in a troubled fas.h.i.+on, and strokes feebly the little fragile hand that clings so desperately to his, while the damps of death lie thick upon his brow.
”A governess,” he murmurs, with some difficulty. ”While you are only a child yourself? What a hard, hard fate! Is there no friend to help and comfort you?”
”I have a friend,” replies she, steadily. ”You have often heard me mention her. You remember the name, now,--Clarissa Peyton? She was my best friend at school, and I know she will do what she can for me. She will be able to find me some nice children, and----”
”Friends.h.i.+p,”--interrupts he, bitterly,--”it is a breath,--a name. It will fail you when you most need it.”
”Clarissa will not fail me,” replies she, slowly, though with a feeling of deadly sickness at her heart. ”And, besides, you must not think of me as a governess always, papa. I shall, perhaps, marry somebody, some day.”
The dying man's eyes grow a shade brighter; it is a mere flicker, but it lasts for a moment, long enough to convince her she has indeed given some poor hope to cheer his last hours.
”Yes; to marry somebody,” he repeats, wistfully, ”that will be best,--to get some good man, some kindly, loving heart to protect you and make a safe shelter for you. There is comfort in the thought. But I hope it will be soon, my darling, before your spirit is broken and your youth dulled.”
”I shall marry as soon as ever I can,” says Georgie, making a last terrible effort to appear hopeful and resigned. ”I shall meet some one very soon, no doubt,--very soon: so do not fret about me any more. Why should I not, indeed? I am very pretty, am I not, papa?” In spite of the lightness of her words, a heavy choking sob escapes her as she finishes her little set speech. She buries her face in the bed-clothes, to stifle her rising grief, but her father is almost too far gone to notice it.
”Yes,--so like your mother,” he mutters, somewhat thickly, clutching aimlessly at the quilt. ”Poor Alice!--poor girl! It was that day on the beach, when the waves were dancing, and the sun----or was it?----Did the old man ever forgive----?”
He is wandering, dreaming his death-dream of happier days, going back, even as he sinks into everlasting sleep, to the gilded hours of youth.
The girl presses his hand to rouse him.
”Think of _me_ now,” she entreats, despairingly; ”it will only be for a little while,--such a little while,--and then you will be with _her_ forever. Oh, papa! my dear, my dear; smile at me once again. Think of me happily; let me feel when you are gone that your last hours with me were peaceful.”