Part 51 (1/2)
”We were married the same day, and sailed the third morning thereafter from Havre for the United States, where we arrived, alas! only to find the n.o.ble gentleman, my Eugene's father, laid in his grave. After Mr.
Le Noir's natural grief was over we settled down peaceably to our country life at the Hidden House--”
”The Hidden House!” again exclaimed Traverse Rocke.
”Yes! that is another odd name, isn't it? Well, I was very happy. At first when I understood my real position, I had been afraid that my husband had married me only from compa.s.sion; but he soon proved to me that his love was as high, as pure and as n.o.ble as himself. I was very happy. But one day, in the midst of my exultant joy, a thunderbolt fell and shattered my peace to destruction forever! Oh, Doctor Rocke, my husband was murdered by some unknown hand in his own woods, in open day! I cannot talk of this!” cried the widow, breaking down, overwhelmed with the rush of terrible recollections.
Traverse poured out a gla.s.s of water and handed it to her.
She drank it, made an effort at self-control, and resumed:
”Thus, scarcely sixteen years of age, I was a widow, helpless, penniless and entirely dependent--upon my brother-in-law, Colonel Gabriel Le Noir, for by the terms of their father's will, if Eugene died without issue the whole property descended to his younger brother, Gabriel. To speak the truth, Colonel Le Noir was exceedingly kind to me after, my awful bereavement, until a circ.u.mstance was discovered that changed all our relations. It was two months after my husband's death that I discovered, with mingled emotions of joy and sorrow, that heaven had certainly destined me to become a mother! I kept my cherished secret to myself as long as it was possible, but it could not indeed be long concealed from the household. I believe that my brother-in-law was the first to suspect it. He called me into his study one day, and I obeyed like a child. And there he rudely questioned me upon the subject of my sacred mother-mystery. He learned the truth more from my silence than from my replies, for I could not answer him.”
”The brute! the miserable hound!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Traverse.
”Oh, Doctor Rocke, I could not tell you the avalanche of abuse, insult and invective that he hurled upon my defenseless head. He accused me of more crimes than I had ever heard talk of. He told me that my condition was an impossible one unless I had been false to the memory of his brother; that I had dishonored his name, disgraced his house and brought myself to shame; that I should leave the roof, leave the neighborhood and die as I deserved to die, in a ditch! I made no reply.
I was crushed into silence under the weight of his reproaches.”
”The caitiff! The poltroon! Ah, poor stranger, why did you not leave the house at once and throw yourself upon the protection of the minister of your parish or some other kind neighbor?”
”Alas! I was a child, a widow and a foreigner all in one! I did not know your land or your laws or your people. I was not hopeful or confident; I had suffered so cruelly and I was overwhelmed by his abuse.”
”But did you not know, dear lady, that all his rage was aroused only by the fact that the birth of your child would disinherit him?”
”Ah, no! I was not aware, at that time, that Gabriel Le Noir was a villain. I thought his anger honest, though unjust, and I was as ignorant as a child. I had no mother nor matronly friend to instruct me. I knew that I had broken no command of G.o.d or man; that I had been a faithful wife, but when Gabriel Le Noir accused me with such bitter earnestness I feared that some strange departure from the usual course of nature had occurred for my destruction. And I was overwhelmed by mortification, terror and despair!”
”Ah, the villain!” exclaimed Traverse, between his teeth.
”He told me at last that to save the memory of his dead brother he would hide my dishonor, and he ordered me to seclude myself from the sight of all persons. I obeyed him like a slave, grateful even for the shelter of his roof.”
”A roof that was your own, as he very well knew. And he knew, also, the caitiff! that if the circ.u.mstance became known the whole State would have protected you in your rights, and ejected him like a cur.”
”Nay, even in that case no harm should have reached him on my account.
He was my husband's brother.”
”And worst enemy! But proceed, dear lady.”
”Well, I secluded myself as he commanded. For four months I never left the attic to which he had ordered me to retreat. At the end of that time I became the mother of twins--a boy and a girl. The boy only opened his eyes on this world to close them again directly. The girl was living and healthy. The old nurse who attended me had an honest and compa.s.sionate face; I persuaded her to secrete and save the living child, and to present the dead babe to Colonel Le Noir as the only one, for the suspicions that had never been awakened for myself were alarmed for my child. I instinctively felt that he would have destroyed it.”
”The mother's instinct is like inspiration,” said Traverse.
”It may be so. Well, the old woman pitied me and did as I desired. She took the dead child to Colonel Le Noir, who carried it off, and afterward buried it as the sole heir of his elder brother. The old woman carried off my living child and my wedding ring, concealed under her ample shawl. Anxiety for the 'fate of my child caused me to do what nothing else on earth would have tempted me to do--to creep about the halls and pa.s.sages on tiptoe and under cover of the night and listen at keyholes,” said the lady, blus.h.i.+ng deeply at the recollection.
”You--you were perfectly right, Mrs. Le Noir! In a den of robbers, where your life and honor were always at stake, you could have done no otherwise!” exclaimed Traverse, warmly.
”I learned by this means that my poor old nurse had paid with her liberty for her kindness to me. She had been, abducted and forced from her native country together with a child found in her possession, which they evidently suspected, and I knew, to be mine. Oh, heaven! the agony then of thinking of what might be her unknown fate, worse than death, perhaps! I felt that I had only succeeded in saving her life-doubtful good!”
Here Mrs. Le Noir paused in thought for a few moments and then resumed.