Читать книгу: «Kidnapped at the Altar: or, The Romance of that Saucy Jessie Bain», страница 2
Chapter III.
"WHEN THOSE WE LOVE DRIFT AWAY FROM US THEY ARE NEVER THE SAME AGAIN – THEY NEVER COME BACK."
"Only a heart that's broken,
That is, if hearts can break;
Only a man adrift for life,
All for a woman's sake.
Your love was a jest – I now see it —
Now, though it's rather late;
Yes, too late to turn my life
And seek another fate."
Although search was instantly instituted for the missing bride-elect, not the slightest trace of her could be discovered.
Was she Hubert Varrick's bride or not? There was great diversity of opinion about that. Many contended that she was not, because the words from the minister: "Now I pronounce you man and wife," had not yet been uttered.
No wonder the beauty had found it difficult to choose between handsome Hubert Varrick and the dashing captain.
Varrick was a millionaire, and Captain Frazier could easily write out his check for an equal amount.
The matter was hushed up quickly, and kept so quiet that even the simple village folk at Alexandria Bay never knew of the thrilling event that had taken place in their very midst at the Crossmon Hotel. If the simple fisher-folk had but known of it, a tragedy might have been averted.
Mrs. Northrup was the first to recover from the shock; grief gave place to the most intense anger, and as she paced the floor excitedly to and fro, she vowed to herself that she would never forgive Gerelda for bringing this disgrace upon her.
With Varrick the blow had been too severe, too terrible, to be so easily gotten over. When morning broke, he still lay, face downward, on the couch upon which he had thrown himself. The effects of the sleeping potion they had so mercifully administered to him had worn off, and he was face to face once more with the great sorrow of his life.
They brought him a tempting breakfast, but he sent it away untasted. He sent at once for one of the call-boys.
"Buy me a ticket for the first steamer that goes out," he said. "I do not care where it goes or what its destination is; all I want is to get away."
Still the boy lingered.
"Well," said Varrick, "why do you wait?"
"I had something to tell you sir."
"Go on," said Varrick.
"There is a young girl down in the corridor who insists upon seeing you, sir. I told her it was quite useless, you would not see her; and then she fell into passionate weeping, sobbing out that you must, if but for a moment, and that she would not go until she had spoken with you, if she had to remain there all day."
"Where is she?"
"In the corridor without, sir."
Varrick crossed the room and stepped out into the corridor. He saw a little figure standing in the dim, shaded light.
She saw him at the same moment, and ran toward him with a little cry, flinging herself with a great sob at his feet.
"Oh, Mr. Varrick!" she cried.
"Why, it's little Jessie Bain!" he exclaimed in wonder, forgetting for the time being his own misery.
"It's just as you said it would be, sir – they have turned me out of the house. And you said, Mr. Varrick, if they ever did that, to be sure and come straight to you – and here I am!"
Varrick's amazement knew no bounds.
What should he do with this girl who was thrust so unceremoniously on his hands.
"If it had not been for you and your kind words, I should have flung myself in the St. Lawrence," continued the girl, "for I was so desperate. How kind Heaven was to send you to me to help me in my hour of greatest need, Mr. Varrick."
"Come into the parlor and let us talk this matter over," said Varrick. "Yes, I will surely help you. I will go and see your uncle this very day."
"I would not go to him," cried the girl. "I swear to you I would not! When I tell you this, you will not wonder that I refuse. In his rage, because I came home so late last night, he shot at me. The ball passed within a hair's-breadth of my heart, for which it was intended, and the powder burned my arm – see!"
Hubert Varrick was horror-stricken. The little arm was all blackened with smoke, and burned with the powder. There was need for a doctor here at once.
"If I went back to him he would kill me," the girl sobbed. "Oh! do not send me back, Mr. Varrick. Let me stay here where you are.
"You are the only being in the whole wide world who has ever spoken kindly to me. I can do quite as much for you as I did for my uncle. I can mend your clothes, see about your meals, and read the papers to you, and – "
"Hush, child!" said Varrick. "Don't say any more. It is plain to me that you can not be sent back to your uncle. I will see what can be done for you. You shall be my protégée for the present."
"How young and sweet and fair and innocent the girl is!" he told himself.
Placing the girl in the housekeeper's charge, he had a long consultation with Doctor Roberts.
"If you will allow me to make a suggestion," returned the doctor, "I would say, send Jessie Bain to school for a year, if you are inclined to be philanthropic. She is a wild, beautiful, thoughtless child, and it has often occurred to me that her education must be very limited."
"That will be the very thing," returned Varrick. "I wonder that this solution did not occur to me before. I am going away to-day," he added, "and wonder if I could get you to attend to the matter for me, doctor?"
"I will do so with pleasure," returned Doctor Roberts. "In fact, I know the very institution that would be most suitable. It's a private boarding-school for young ladies, patronized by the élité, and I feel assured that Professor Graham will take the greatest possible pains with this pretty, neglected girl, who will be heir only to the education she gets there, and her youth and strength with which to face the battle of life."
When the result of this conference was told to Jessie Bain, she sobbed as if her heart would break.
"I don't want to leave you, Mr. Varrick!" she cried, "indeed I don't. Let me go home with you. I am sure your mother will like me. I will be so good to her."
It was explained to her that this could not be. They could scarcely pacify her. It touched Hubert Varrick deeply to see how she clung to him.
He parted with her in the doctor's home, whence she had been taken, leaving his address with her, with the admonition that she should write to him every week, and tell him how she was progressing with her studies; and if she wanted anything she was to be sure to let him know.
He went back to the hotel to bid good-bye to Mrs. Northrup; but somehow he could not bring himself to say one word to her about Jessie Bain.
As he boarded the evening boat for Clayton there was not a more miserable man in all the whole wide world than Hubert Varrick. He paced the deck moodily. The thousands of little green islands upon which the search-light flashed so continuously, had little charm for him. Suddenly as the light turned its full glare upon a small island midway up the stream, rendering each object upon it as clearly visible as though it were noonday, under the strong light Hubert Varrick's eyes fell upon a sight that fairly rooted him to the spot with horror.
In that instantaneous glance this is what he saw: A young and lovely girl crouching on her knees, in the long deep grass under the trees, her arms outstretched in wild supplication, and bending over her was the dark figure of a man. One hand clutched her white throat, and the other hand held a revolver pressed to her white brow. The slouch hat he wore concealed his features. The girl's face, framed in that mass of curling dark hair, the white arms – great God! how strangely like Gerelda's!
Was he going mad? He strained his eyes to see, and a terrible cry of agony broke from his lips.
"Captain!" he shrieked, "somebody, anybody, get me a life-boat, quick, for the love of Heaven! Half my fortune for a life-boat – quick!"
As he cried aloud, the island was buried in darkness again.
Chapter IV.
"THE GIRL WHO PLAYS AT FLIRTATION MAY FIND SHE HAS GRASPED A TWO-EDGED SWORD," SAID THE HANDSOME YOUNG CAPTAIN, LOOKING FULL IN GERELDA'S BEWITCHING, HAUGHTY FACE
The captain who was passing, stopped short and looked at Hubert Varrick in amazement as he cried out, wildly:
"Get me a life-boat, somebody – anybody! Half my fortune for a life-boat!"
"What is the matter?" asked the captain, sharply. "Has some one fallen overboard?"
When Varrick answered in the affirmative, the captain gave orders that a life-boat be at once lowered by the crew, calling upon Varrick to point out, as near as he could, where the drowning man was.
"I will go, too," Varrick answered, springing into the boat; and an instant later the boat was flying over the waves in the direction which Varrick indicated.
"Which way, sir?" asked the man at the oars.
"Straight toward that little island yonder," was the hoarse reply. "Make for it quickly! Here, take this bank-note, and, in Heaven's name, row sharp! No one is drowning, but there is a young and lovely girl at the mercy of some fiend on that island yonder!"
The man dropped his oars.
"If you had told our captain that, he would never have sent out a life-boat," declared the man. "He thought it was some one drowning near at hand, for the story of Wau-Winet Island is no news to the people hereabouts."
"What do you mean?" cried Varrick.
"I can tell you the story in a very few words, sir," returned the man; "and surely there's no one more competent to relate it than myself. I can relate it while we are rowing over to Wau-Winet Island:
"Some six months ago a stranger suddenly appeared in our midst. He purchased Wau-Winet Island, and a few days later a score or more of workmen appeared one night at Alexandria Bay, and boarded a tug that was to take them out to the island.
"These workmen were all strangers to the inhabitants around Alexandria Bay, and they spoke in a different language.
"They lived upon the island for a month or more, never once coming in contact with the people hereabouts.
"All their food was brought to them. Soon their mysterious manners became the talk of all the country round.
"In a month's time they had erected a grand stone house – almost a castle – hidden from any one who might chance to pass the island, by a net-work of trees.
"At length the gray-stone house was completed, and the strange, uncanny workmen took their departure as silently as they had come.
"The people were warned to keep away from the place, for the workmen had left behind them a large, ferocious dog who menaced the life of any one who attempted to land on Wau-Winet Island.
"Only last night an event happened which I shall never forget if I live to be the age of Methuselah. I was standing near the dock, when suddenly some one laid a heavy hand on my shoulder.
"Glancing up with a little start, I saw the man who had so lately bought Wau-Winet Island standing before me. By his side, leaning heavily upon his arm, yet swaying strangely to and fro, as though she were scarcely able to keep her feet, was a woman in a long black cloak, and her face covered by a thick veil.
"Before I had a chance to speak, the gentleman bent down and whispered hoarsely in my ear:
"I want you to row us as quickly as possible, to Wau-Winet Island. You can name your own price.'
"I wish to God I had refused him. I started to help the lady into the boat, but he thrust me aside and helped her in himself, lifting her by main strength.
"For an instant she swayed to and fro, like a leaf in a strong wind; but he steadied her by holding her down on her seat, both of her hands caught in his.
"I had scarcely pushed out into midstream ere I fancied I heard a low, choking cry. The woman had wrenched one of her hands free, and like a flash she had torn off her thick veil, and then I saw a sight that made the blood run cold in my veins, for over her mouth a thick scarf was wound, which she was trying to tear off with her disengaged hand.
"Her companion caught her hand with a fierce imprecation on his lips, and the struggle that ensued between them made the boat rock like a cradle. In an instant he had forced her back into her seat, and drawn the veil down over her face again.
"But in that brief instant, by the bright light of the moon, I had caught a glimpse of a face so wondrous in its loveliness and its haughtiness that I was fairly dazed. I did not know what to do or say, I was so bewildered.
"'You must make quicker time!' cried the gentleman, turning to me.
"At last we reached the island, and despite her struggles, he lifted her out of the boat. Then he thrust a bill into my hand, saying grimly, 'You can return now.'
"But while he was speaking, never for an instant did his hold relax upon the girl's arm, though she writhed under his grasp.
"I hesitated a moment, and he turned to me with the look of a fiend on his dark, handsome face.
"'I said you might go,' he repeated.
"'I will double that sum if you know how to keep your tongue still,' the man said, thrusting another bill into my hand.
"As I pushed out into midstream the girl grew frantic. With an almost superhuman effort she succeeded in removing the woolen scarf which had been wound so tightly about her mouth, then with a cry which I shall never forget while life lasts, she shrieked out piteously, as she threw out her white arms wildly toward me:
"'Help! help! Oh! help, for the love of Heaven! Don't desert me! Come back! oh, come back and save me!'
"The blood fairly stood still in my veins. Her companion hurled her back so quickly that she completely lost her balance, and fell fainting in his arms.
"'Go!' he cried, angrily, 'and not one word of what you have seen or heard!'
"I can not desert a lady in distress, sir,' I answered.
"With a fury such as I have never seen equaled, he turned and faced me in the moonlight.
"'I will give you just one moment to go!' he cried, his right hand creeping toward his hip-pocket – 'another moment to get out of sight!'
"I knew that it was as much as my life was worth to remain where I was; so, despite the girl's pitiful entreaties, I rowed back slowly into midstream and down the river.
"I fairly made my boat fly over the water. I headed straight for Clayton – the nearest village – and there I told my startling story to the people. In less time than it takes to tell it, a half dozen of us started back for Wau-Winet Island. Arriving, we crept silently up the steep path that led to the house. My loud ringing brought the gentleman himself to the door. I shall never forget the fire that leaped into his eyes as he saw me; but nothing daunted, I said to him determinedly:
"I have come here with these men to aid the young girl who appealed to me for help a little while ago.'
"My companions pressed close behind me, until they filled the wide entrance hall and closed in around him.
"'You are certainly mad!' he cried. 'There is no young lady on Wau-Winet Island, nor has any woman ever put foot upon it at least since it has been my property,' he added.
"'Do you mean to say that I did not row you and a young lady over to this island within this hour, and that she did not appeal to me for help?' I asked.
"'Certainly not!' he declared promptly.
"'You must be either mad or dreaming to even think of such a thing,' he continued, haughtily. 'However,' turning to my companions, 'seeing that you have had the trouble of coming here – brought by this lunatic – you are welcome to look through the house and satisfy yourselves. In fact, I beg that you will do so.'
"Much to his surprise, we took him at his word."
Chapter V.
THE MYSTERIOUS HOUSE ON LONELY WAU-WINET ISLAND
"We searched the stone house from cellar to garret in hopes of finding a trace of the beautiful girl I felt sure was imprisoned within its grim walls, the owner following, with a look of defiance on his dark, handsome face.
"'She must be on this island,' I declared, vehemently. 'I rowed you and her over here.'
"It is quite true that you rowed me over here, my good fellow, but no fair lady accompanied me, unless it might have been some mermaid. I hope you are satisfied,' said he, turning to my companions, 'that the man who has brought you here has played you a trick.'
"And now stranger, you ask me to take you to Wau-Winet Island on just such a mission, and I answer you that it would be as much as our lives are worth."
"It is evident," returned Hubert Varrick, excitedly, "that there is some fearful mystery, and it is our duty to try to fathom it if it is within our power."
"As you say, sir," replied the man.
At this moment the skiff grated sharply upon the sand, and the two men sprung out.
They had scarcely proceeded half the distance to the house when they were suddenly confronted by a man.
"Who are you, and what do you want here?" he asked.
"I must see the master of Wau-Winet Island," returned Varrick, sternly. "Are you he?"
"No," returned the man, rather uneasily. "He left the island scarcely five minutes ago in his boat. I am only the man working about the place."
"Tell me," cried Varrick, earnestly, "was there a lady with him? I will pay you well to answer me."
The man's gaze shifted uneasily.
"There was no lady with him. I suppose that you have heard the strange story about this island, and have come to investigate the matter. Let me tell you, it is more than annoying to my master. Had he heard it he never would have bought the place. As it is he has left it for good and all to-night, and is going to advertise the place for sale. If they had told my master, when he came here to buy, the story that a young and beautiful woman was supposed to have been murdered here many years ago, and that at nights her spirit haunts the place, he never would have bought it. Other people imagine that they seen it; but we, who live here, never have."
The man told this with such apparent earnestness and truth, that Varrick was mystified. Had his eyes deceived him? They evidently had. And then again he told himself that, thinking so much of Gerelda, he had imagined that the face he had seen for a moment in the flash-light bore a striking resemblance to hers. And he persuaded himself to believe that the fisherman's story was a myth.
He well knew that, of all people in the world, fishermen loved to spin the most exaggerated yarns, and be the heroes of the greatest adventures.
He got out of the matter as gracefully as only Varrick could, apologizing for his intrusion, and expressing himself as only too pleased to know that his imagination had simply been at fault.
"Will you come in?" asked the man, turning to him. "My master has always given orders that we are to be very hospitable to strangers."
"You are very kind, and I thank you for your courtesy," returned Varrick, "but I think not. We will try to cut across the bay and catch the steamer further down."
So saying, he motioned his companion to enter the boat.
The little boat containing the two men was scarcely out of sight, ere the door of the mysterious stone house opened quickly, and a man came cautiously down the path.
"What did they want?"
"They wanted to see you, Captain Frazier," answered the servant.
"What about?" asked the other hoarsely.
"They saw you and – and the young lady when you were out in the grounds, a little while since, as the search-light went down, and they came to – to rescue the young lady. I – I succeeded in convincing them that their eyes had deceived them, and told them that you were so annoyed at that senseless tale that you had gone away from the island; that you did not intend to come back, your aim being to sell the place."
"Bravo, bravo, McDonald!" exclaimed Captain Frazier – for it was he. "Upon my soul, you did well! You are reducing lying down to a fine art."
"I made quite a startling discovery, sir," said McDonald. "It was the same man who made you all the trouble last night, bringing those people here."
Captain Frazier frowned darkly.
"But that is not all, sir," added McDonald. "Mr. Varrick was with him."
The name fell like a thunder-bolt on Captain Frazier's ears. He started back as though he had been shot.
"Has he succeeded in hunting me down so quickly?" he cried.
"So I thought when I first saw him, sir. But, to my great amazement, I soon discovered that he was totally ignorant of who lived on the island – that it was yourself. The fisherman had been telling him the story about the young lady, and he had come to investigate it. I soon convinced him that there was nothing in the story, and that he was only another one added to the list that the same fisherman had played that practical joke on. He was angry enough when he took his departure."
"Are you sure of this, McDonald?" asked Captain Frazier.
"Quite sure."
Captain Frazier gave a sigh of relief. He had fancied himself so secure here. Even the servants did not know him by his own name.
"If I thought for a moment that he suspected my presence here, I would lose no time in getting away from Wau-Winet Island, and taking her with me."
"You need have no fear, sir," returned the man.
For an hour or more Captain Frazier paced slowly up and down under the trees, smoking cigar after cigar in rapid succession.
"It is a terrible thing," he muttered, "when love for a woman drives a man to the verge of madness. I swore that Gerelda should never marry Hubert Varrick, if I had to kill her. But I have done better. He will never look upon her face again."
At length he walked slowly to the house. He was met on the porch by a little French maid who seemed to be looking for him.
"Well, Marie?" said Captain Frazier.
"I have been looking for you, sir," returned the girl quickly. "I can do nothing with mademoiselle. She will not speak; she will not eat. She lies there hour after hour with her beautiful face turned toward the wall and her white hands clasped together. She might be a dead woman for all the interest she evinces in anything. I very much fear, sir, that she will keep her vow —never to speak again—never in this world."
"You must keep close watch that she does not attempt to make away with herself, Marie," he continued, earnestly. "Heaven only knows how she obtained that revolver I took away from her out in the grounds to-night. She was kneeling down in the long grass, and had it already pressed to her temple, when I appeared in the very nick of time and wrenched it from her little white hand. She would do anything save drown herself to escape from here. Her father lost his life that way, and she would never attempt that means of escape, even from this place."
"She even refuses to have her bridal-dress removed," said the maid; "and I do not know what to do about it. She has uttered no word since first she crossed your threshold; she will not speak."
Captain Frazier looked troubled, distressed.
Would Gerelda keep her vow? She had said when she recovered consciousness and found herself on the island, and the boatman gone:
"I will never utter another word from this hour until I am set free again. You are beneath contempt, Captain Frazier, to kidnap a young girl at the altar."
He never forgot how she looked at him in the clear moonlight as he turned to her, crying out passionately:
"It is your own fault, Gerelda. Why did you draw me on to love you so? You encouraged me up to the last moment, and then it was too late for me to give you up."
