Part 2 (1/2)

CHAPTER V.-THE DIVORCE.

He had expected to meet Daisy in the hall, but she was not in sight, and her mother, who appeared in response to the card he sent up, seemed confused and unnatural to such a degree that Guy asked in some alarm if anything had happened, and where Daisy was.

Nothing had happened,-that is,-well, nothing was the matter with Daisy, Mrs. McDonald said, only she was nervous and not feeling quite well that morning, and thought she better not come down. They were not expecting him so soon, she continued, and she regretted exceedingly that her husband was not there, but she had sent for him, and hoped he would come immediately. Had Mr. Thornton been to breakfast?

He had been to breakfast, and he did not understand at all what she meant; if Daisy could not come to him, he must go to her, he said, and he started for the door, when Mrs. McDonald sprang forward, and laying her hand on his arm, held him back, saying:

”Wait, Mr. Thornton: wait till husband comes-to tell you--”

”Tell me what!” Guy demanded, feeling sure now that something had befallen Daisy.

”Tell you-that-that,-Daisy is,-that he has,-that,-oh, believe me, it was not my wish at all, and I don't know now why it was done,” Mrs. McDonald said, still trying to detain Guy and keep him in the room.

But her efforts were vain, for shaking off her grasp, Guy opened the hall door, and with a cry of joy caught Daisy herself in his arms.

In a state of fearful excitement and very curious to know what was pa.s.sing between her mother and Guy, she had stolen down stairs to listen, and had reached the door just as Guy opened it so suddenly.

”Daisy, darling, I feared you were sick,” he cried, nearly smothering her with his caresses.

But Daisy writhed herself away from him, and putting up her hands to keep him off, cried out:

”Oh, Guy, Guy, you can't,-you mustn't. You must never kiss me again or love me any more, because I am,-I am not,--Oh, Guy, I wish you had never seen me; I am so sorry, too. I did like you. I,-I,-Guy,-Guy,-I am not your wife any more I Father has got a divorce!”

She whispered the last words, and then, affrighted at the expression of Guy's face, fled half way up the stairs, where she stood looking down upon him, while, with a face as white as ashes, he, too, stood gazing at her and trying to frame the words which should ask her what she meant.

He did not believe her literally; the idea was too preposterous, but he felt that some thing horrible had come between him and Daisy,-that in some way she was as much lost to him as if he had found her coffined for the grave, and the suddenness of the blow took from him for a moment his powers of speech, and he still stood looking at her when the street door opened, and a new actor appeared upon the scene in the person of Mr.

McDonald, who had hastened home in obedience to the message from his wife.

It was a principle of Mr. McDonald never to lose his presence of mind or his temper, or the smooth, low tone of voice he had cultivated years ago and practiced with so good effect.

And now, though he understood the state of matters at once and knew that Guy had heard the worst, he did not seem ruffled in the slightest degree, and his voice was just as kind and sweet as ever as he bade Guy good-morning, and advanced to take his hand. But Guy would not take it.

He had always disliked and distrusted Mr. McDonald, and he felt intuitively that whatever harm had befallen him had come through the oily-tongued man who stood smilingly before him. With a gesture of disgust he turned away from the offered hand, and in a voice husky with suppressed excitement, asked:

”What does all this mean, that when, after a separation of months, I come for my wife, I am told that she is not my wife,-that there has been a-a divorce?”

Guy had brought himself to name the horrid thing, and the very sound of the word served to make it more real and clear to his mind, and there were great drops of sweat, upon his forehead and about his mouth as he asked what it meant.

”Oh, Guy, don't feel so badly. Tell him, father, I did not do it,” Daisy cried, as she stood leaning over the stair-rail looking down at the wretched man.

”Daisy, go to your room. You should not have seen him at all,” Mr.

McDonald said, with more sternness of manner than was usual for him.

Then, turning to Guy, he continued:

”Come in here, Mr. Thornton, where we can be alone while I explain to you what seems so mysterious now.”

They went together into the little parlor, and for half an hour or more the sound of their voices was distinctly heard as Mr. McDonald tried to explain what there really was no explanation or excuse for. Daisy was not contented at Elmwood, and though she complained of nothing she was not happy as a married woman, and was glad to be free again. That was all, and Guy understood at last that Daisy was his no longer; that the law which was a disgrace to the State in which it existed had divorced him from his wife without his knowledge or consent, and for no other reason than incompatibility of temperament, and a desire on Daisy's part to be free from the marriage tie. Not a word had been said of Guy's altered fortunes, but he felt that his comparative poverty was really the cause of this great wrong, and for a few moments resentment and indignation prevailed over every other feeling; then, when he remembered the little blue-eyed, innocent-faced girl whom he had loved so much and thought so good and true, he laid his head upon the sofa-arm and groaned bitterly, while the man who had ruined him sat coolly by, citing to him many similar cases where divorces had been procured without the knowledge of the absent party. It was a common,-a very common thing, he said, and reflected no disgrace where there was no criminal charge.