The Forsaken Inn: A Novel
Page 14
CHAPTER XIV.
A CASSANDRA AT THE GATE.
"Miss Dudleigh, moved, perhaps, by the unpleasant _eclat_ which hadfollowed the broken-off marriage of her cousin, chose to celebrate herown wedding in her own house, and with as little ceremony as possible.Only her most intimate friends, therefore, were invited, but these werenumerous enough to fill the halls and most of the lower rooms.
"When I entered there was a sudden cessation of conversation; but this Ihad expected. If anything could add to the interest of the occasion,certainly it was my presence; and, feeling this, I made them all aprofound obeisance, and, neither shirking their glances nor invitingthem, I took my place in the spot I had chosen for myself, and waited,with a face as impassive as a mask, but with a heart burning with furyand love, not for the coming of the bride, but of her who in this hourought to have been standing at my side as my wife.
"But I miscalculated if I thought she would enter with them. Even herbold and arrogant spirit shrank from a position so conspicuous, and itwas not till they had presented themselves and taken their places infront of the latticed window so associated with my past, that I feltthat peculiar sensation which always followed the entrance of Marah intothe same room with myself, and, yielding to the force that constrainedme, I searched the throng with eager looks, and there, where the crowdwas thickest, and the shadow deepest, I saw her. She was gazing straightat me, and there was in her great eyes a look which I did not thenunderstand, and about which I have since tortured myself by asking againand again if it were remorse, entreaty, farewell, or despair that spokethrough it. Sometimes I have thought it was fear. Sometimes-- But whyconjecture? It was an unreadable expression to me then, and even inremembrance it is no clearer. Whatever it betokened, my pride bentbefore it, and a flood of the old feeling rushed over my heart, makingme quite weak for a moment.
"But I conquered myself, as far as all betrayal of my feelings wasconcerned, and turning from the spot that so enthralled me, I fixed mygaze upon the bride.
"She was looking beautiful; more beautiful than any one had seen herlook for weeks. A bright color suffused her delicate cheeks, and in hereyes burned a strange excitement, which did the work of happiness inlighting up her face. But it was a transient glow which fadedimperceptibly but surely, as the ceremony proceeded, and passedcompletely away as the last inexorable words were uttered which made herthe wife of the false being at her side.
"He, on the contrary, was pale up to that same critical moment--verypale, when one remembers his naturally florid complexion; but as hercolor went, his rose, and when the minister withdrew, and friends beganto crowd around them, he grew so jovial and so noisy that more than oneperson glanced at him with suspicion, and cast pitying looks at the nowquiet and immobile young wife.
"Meantime I sought with eager anxiety to catch one more glimpse ofMarah. But she had shrunk from sight, and was not to be found. And thegayety ran high and the wine was poured freely, and the bridegroomdrank with ever-increasing excitement, toasting his bride, but neverlooking at her, though her eyes turned more than once upon him with anappeal that affected painfully more than one person in the crowd. Atlast she rose, and, at this signal, he put down his glass, and, with alow bow to the company, prepared to follow her from the room. Theypassed close to the place where I stood, and I caught one glance fromhis eyes. It was a laughing one, but there was uneasiness in it. Theremight have been something more, but I had not time to search for it, forat that moment I felt her dress brush against my sleeve, and turned togive her the smile which I knew her friendly heart demanded.
"'You will wait till we go?' fell in a whisper from her lips; and Inodded with another smile, and they went on and I stood where they hadleft me, in one of those moods which made me, as far as all humanintercourse is concerned, as much of an isolated being as I am in thesemountains. I did not wake again from this abstraction till that samepremonitory feeling, of which I have so often spoken, told me thatsomething in which I was deeply interested was about to happen. Lookingup, I found myself in the room alone. During the hour of my abstractionthe guests had gone out, and I had neither noticed their departure northe gradual cessation of the noise which at one time had filled my earswith hubbub. But the bride had not gone. She was at that moment comingdown the stairs, and it was this fact which had pierced to my innerconsciousness, and aroused once more in me a vivid sense of mysurroundings. He was with her, and behind them, gliding like a wraithfrom landing to landing, came Marah, clad like the bride in a travelingdress, but without the bonnet which betokened an instant departure.
"Not anticipating her presence so near, I felt my courage fail, andpushing forward, joined the group of servants at the door. They, seeingin this departure of their mistress a possibly endless separation, wereweeping and uttering exclamations that not only showed their devotion,but their fears. Shocked lest these words should reach her ears, Iquieted them; and then seeing that the carriage which stood outside hada stranger for a driver, and that there was no accompanying wagon filledwith their body servants and baggage, I asked the friendly Caesar, whohad pressed close to my side, if Mrs. Urquhart was not going to take amaid with her.
"The negro at once growled out an injured 'No!' and when I expressed myastonishment, he explained that 'There was no one here good enough toplease Massa Urquhart. That he was going to pick up with some one in NewYork. That, though missus was sick, he would not even let her have herown gal go wid her as far as the city; said he would do everything forher hisself--as if any man could do for missus like her own Sally, whohad been wid her ever since 'fore she was born!'
"'And the baggage?' I asked, troubled more than I can say by whatcertainly augured anything but favorably for her future.
"'Oh, massa send dat round to his house. He got books, an' a lot o'things to add to it. Dere's enough o' dat; an' den more went down deribber on a sloop a week an' more ago.'
"'So! so! And they are going to ride?'
"'Yes, sah. You see, dey want to catch de ship w'at set sail forBermudas, an' got to hurry; so massa says.'
"By this time Urquhart and his bride had reached the door. He was stillgay and she was still quiet. But in her eye glistened a tear, while inhis there gleamed nothing softer than that vague spark of triumph whichone might expect to see in a man who had just married the richestheiress in Albany.
"'Good-by! good-by! good-by!' came in soft tones from her lips; and shewas just stepping over the threshold, when there suddenly appeared atthe foot of the steps an old crone, so seamed and bowed with age, soweird and threatening of aspect, that we all started back appalled, andwere about to draw Mrs. Urquhart out of her path, when the unknowncreature raised her voice, and pointing with one skinny hand straightinto the bride's face, shrieked:
"'Beware of oak walls! Beware of oak walls! They are more dangerous toyou than fire and water! Beware of oak walls!'
"A shriek interrupted her. It came, not from the bride, but from theinterior of the well-nigh forsaken hall behind us.
"Instantly the old crone drew herself up into an attitude morethreatening and more terrible than before.
"'And you,' she cried, pointing now beyond us toward a figure which Icould feel shrinking in inexplicable terror against the wall. 'And youcannot trust them either! There is death within oak walls. Beware!beware!'
"A curse, a rush, and Edwin Urquhart had flung himself at the oldwitch's throat. But he fell to the pavement without touching her. Withthe utterance of her last word, she had slipped from before our eyes andmelted into the crowd which curiosity and interest had drawn within thegates, to watch this young couple's departure.
"'Who was that creature? Let me have her! Give her up, I say!' leapedfrom the infuriated bridegroom's lips, as he rushed up and down beforethe crowd with threatening arms and flashing eyes.
"But there was no response from the surging throng; while from hisfrightened wife such an appealing cry rung out that he returned from thevain pursuit, and regaining his place at Honora's side, put her into
thecarriage. But as he did so he could not refrain from casting a stealthylook behind him, which betrayed to me, if to no one else, that his angerwas more on account of the words uttered to Marah than to the tenderbeing clinging to his arm. And a jealous fury took hold of me also, andI should not have been sorry if I had seen him fall then and there, thevictim of a thunderbolt more certain, if not more terrible, than thatwhich had just overwhelmed the two women nearest to our hearts.
"'Good-by! good-by! good-by!' came again from the bride's pale lips; andthis time I felt that the words were for me, and I waved my hand inresponse, but could not speak. And so they rode away, followed by thelamentations of the servants, from whom the old crone's ominous outbursthad torn the last semblance of self-control.
"'Another carriage for Miss Leighton!' I now heard uttered somewherelike a command. And startled at the pang it caused me, I darted backinto the house, determined to have one parting word with my lost love.
"She was not there, nor could she be found by any searching."