Part 33 (1/2)
”I have awakened to infamy; for what is infa more than pride or vanity has been the foundation of that feeling of shaarded it And I have now died to my former life, and awakened to a new one
”Louis Brandon, the agonies which e I can conjecture but I wish never to hear I pray God that I ht break e the, and you are implacable
When you strike your bloill be crushi+ng
”But Ithose you strike; I ait on a their infamy and their fate When your blow falls I will not turn away I will think of those dear ones of yours who have suffered, and for their sakes will accept the blow of revenge”
Brandon had held her hand in silence, and with a convulsive pressure during these words As she stopped she made a faint effort to withdraw it He would not let her He raised it to his lips and pressed it there
Three times he made an effort to speak, and each ti exertion, he uttered, in a hoarse voice and broken tones,
”Oh, Beatrice! Beatrice! how I love you!”
”I know it,” said she, in the same monotone which she had used before--a tone of infinite , and I would say also, 'Louis Brandon, I love you,' if it were not that this would be the last infamy; that you, Brandon, of Brandon Hall, should be loved by one who bears ht passed away They stood watching the English shores, speaking little Brandon clung to her hand They were sailing up the Tha
”We shall soon be there,” said he; ”sing to et for a moment that we must part”
Then, in a low voice, of soft but penetrating tones, which thrilled through every fibre of Brandon's being Beatrice began to sing:
”Love made us one: our unity Is indissoluble by act of thine, For were thisended, And our freed spirits in the world above, Love, passing o'er the grave, would join us there, As once he joined us here: And the sad memory of the life below Would but unite as closer evermore
No act of thine e have power To disunite us _there_!”
On that same day they landed in London The Governor's lady at Sierra Leone had insisted on replenishi+ng Beatrice's wardrobe, so that she showed no appearance of having gone through the troubles which had afflicted her on sea and shore
Brandon took her to a hotel and then went to his agent's He also examined the papers for the last fourjournals a notice which had already appeared of the arrival of the shi+p off the Nore, and the stateers of the _Falcon_ had reached Sierra Leone He communicated to the owners of the _Falcon_ the particulars of the loss of the shi+p, and earned their thanks, for they were able to get their insurance without waiting a year, as is necessary where nothing is heard of avessel
He traveled with Beatrice by rail and coach as far as the village of Brandon At the inn he engaged a carriage to take her up to her father's house It was Brandon Hall, as he very well knew
But little was said during all this time Words were useless Silence for She spoke not a word; his lips moved, but no audible sound escaped Yet in their eyes as they fastened theaze there was read all that unutterable passion of love, of longing, and of sorrow that each felt
The carriage drove off Brandon watched it ”Now farewell Love, forever,” he eance!”
CHAPTER XVIII
INQUIRIES
So many years had elapsed since Brandon had last been in the village which bore the fanized He had been a boy then, he was now a man His features had passed from a transition state into their rowth of the long voyage, covered the lower part of the face like a mask His nose which, when he left, had a boyish roundness of outline, had since becoht, thin Grecian type His eyes alone rerown different, even as the soul that looked forth through theave himself out at the inn as an A two buttons off his coat, he entered the shop of the village tailor
”Good-, Sir; fine , Sir,” answered the tailor, volubly He was a littleat Brandon he had to put his head on one side, which he did with a quick, odd gesture
”There are two buttons off my coat, and I want to know if you can repair it for me?”
”Certainly, Sir; certainly Take off your coat, Sir, and sit down”