Victor’s Triumph E-Book

E. D. E. N. Southworth

• Herausgeber: Classica Libris
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

A sequel to “A Beautiful Fiend.” The two young brides, were taken to Europe by their husbands, and reached Paris in time to be present at the great World’s Fair. And before they returned Victor Hartman’s story was published to the world, and his fame was fully vindicated…

Leseprobe

Copyright

First published in 1874

Copyright © 2022 Classica Libris

Chapter 1

SAMSON AND DELILAH

Thus he grew

Tolerant of what he half disdained. And she,

Perceiving that she was but half disdained,

Began to break her arts with graver fits—

Turn red or pale, and often, when they met,

Sigh deeply, or, all-silent, gaze upon him

With such a fixed devotion, that the old man,

Though doubtful, felt the flattery, and at times

Would flatter his own wish, in age, for love,

And half believe her true.

—Tennyson

As soon as the subtle siren was left alone in the drawing room with the aged clergyman she began weaving her spells around him as successfully as did the beautiful enchantress Vivien around the sage Merlin.

Throwing her bewildering dark eyes up to his face she murmured in hurried tones:

“You will not betray me to this family? Oh, consider! I am so young and so helpless!”

“And so beautiful,” added the old man under his breath, as he gazed with involuntary admiration upon her fair, false face. Then, aloud, he said: “I have already told you, wretched child, that I would forbear to expose you so long as you should conduct yourself with strict propriety here; but no longer.”

“You do not trust me. Ah, you do not see that one false step with its terrible consequences has been such an awful and enduring lesson to me that I could not make another! I am safer now from the possibility of error than is the most innocent and carefully guarded child. Oh, can you not understand this?” she asked, pathetically.

And her argument was a very specious and plausible one, and it made an impression.

“I can well believe that the fearful retribution that followed so fast upon your ‘false step,’ as you choose to call it, has been and will be an awful warning to you. But some warnings come too late. What can be your long future life?” he sadly inquired.

“Alas, what?” she echoed, with a profound sigh. “Even under the most propitious circumstances—what? If I am permitted to stay here I shall be buried alive in this country house, without hope of resurrection. Perhaps fifty years I may have to live here. The old lady will die. Emma will marry. Her children will grow up and marry. And in all the changes of future years I shall vegetate here without change, and without hope except in the better world. And yet, dreary as the prospect is, it is the best that I can expect, the best that I can even desire, and much better than I deserve,” she added, with a humility that touched the old man’s heart.

“I feel sorry for you, child; very, very sorry for your blighted young life. Poor child, you can never be happy again; but listen—you can be good!” he said, very gently.

And then he suddenly remembered what her bewildering charms had made him for a moment forget—that was, that this unworthy girl had been actually on the point of marriage with an honorable man when Death stepped in and put an end to a foolish engagement.

So, after a painful pause, he said, slowly:

“My child, I have heard that you were about to be married to Charles Cavendish, when his sudden death arrested the nuptials. Is that true?”

“It is true,” she answered, in a tone of humility and sorrow.

“But how could you venture to dream of marrying him?”

“Ah, me; I knew I was unworthy of him! But he fell in love with me. I could not help that. Now, could I? Now, could I?” she repeated, earnestly and pathetically, looking at him.

“N-n-no. Perhaps you could not,” he admitted.

“And oh, he courted me so hard!—so hard! And I could not prevent him!”

“Could you not have avoided him? Could you not have left the house?”

“Ah, no; I had no place to go to! I had lost my situation in the school.”

“Still you should never have engaged yourself to marry Charles Cavendish, for you must have been aware that if he had known your true story he would never have thought of taking you as his wife.”

“Oh, I know it! And I knew it then. And I was unhappy enough about it. But oh, what could I do? I could not prevent his loving me, do what I would. I could not go away from the house, because I had no place on earth to go to. And least of all would I go to him and tell him the terrible story of my life. I would rather have died than have told that! I should have died of humiliation in the telling—I couldn’t tell him! Now could I? Could I?”

“I suppose you had not the courage to do so.”

“No, indeed I had not! Yet very often I told him, in a general way, that I was most unworthy of him. But he never would believe that.”

“No; I suppose he believed you to be everything that is pure, good and heavenly. What a terrible reproach his exalted opinion of you must have been!”

“Oh, it was—it was!” she answered, hypocritically. “It was such a severe reproach that, having in a moment of weakness yielded to his earnest prayer and consented to become his wife, I soon cast about for some excuse for breaking the engagement; for I felt if it were a great wrong to make such an engagement it would be a still greater wrong to keep it. Don’t you agree with me?”

“Yes, most certainly.”

“Well, while I was seeking some excuse to break off the marriage Death stepped in and put an end to it. Perhaps then I ought to have left the house, but—I had no money to go with and, as I said before, no place to go to. And besides Emma Cavendish was overwhelmed with grief and could not bear to be left alone; and she begged me to come down here with her. So, driven by my own necessities and drawn by hers, I came down. Do you blame me? Do you blame me?” she coaxed, pathetically.

“No, I do not blame you for that. But,” said the old man, gravely and sadly, shaking his head, “why, when you got here, did you turn eavesdropper and spy?”

“Oh, me!—oh, dear me!” sobbed the siren. “It was the sin of helplessness and cowardice. I dreaded discovery so much! Every circumstance alarmed me. Your arrival and your long mysterious conversation with madam alarmed me. I thought exposure imminent. I feared to lose this home, which, lonely, dreary, hopeless as it is to me, is yet the only refuge I have left on earth. I am penniless and helpless; and but for this kind family I should be homeless and friendless. Think if I had been cast out upon the world what must have been my fate!”

“What, indeed!” echoed the old man.

“Therefore, I dreaded to be cast out. I dreaded discovery. Your visit filled me with uneasiness, that, as the day wore away, reached intense anxiety, and finally arose to insupportable anguish and suspense. Then I went to listen at the door, only to hear whether your conversation concerned me—whether I was still to be left in peace or to be cast out upon the bitter cold world. Ah, do not blame me too much! Just think how I suffered!” she said, pathetically, clasping her hands.

‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave

When first we practice to deceive!’

murmured the old man to himself. Then, aloud, he said:

“Poor girl, you were snared in the web of your own contriving! Yet still, when I caught you in that net, why did you deny your identity and try to make me believe that you were somebody else?”

“Oh, the same sin of helplessness and cowardice; the same fear of discovery and exposure; the same horror of being cast forth from this pure, safe, peaceful home into the bitter, cold, foul, perilous world outside! I feared, if you found out who I was, you would expose me, and I should be cast adrift. And then it all came so suddenly I had no time for reflection. The instinct of self-preservation made me deny my identity before I considered what a falsehood I uttered. Ah, have you no pity for me, in considering the straits to which I was reduced?” she pleaded, clasping her hands before him and raising her eyes to his face.

“‘The way of the transgressor is hard,’” murmured the minister to himself. Then he answered her:

“Yes, I do pity you very much. I pity you for your sins and sufferings. But more than all I pity you for the moral and spiritual blindness of which you do not even seem to be suspicious, far less conscious.”

“I do not understand you,” murmured Mary Grey, in a low, frightened tone.

“No, you do not understand me. Well, I will try to explain. You have pleaded your youth as an excuse for your first ‘false step,’ as you call it. But I tell you that a girl who is old enough to sin is old enough to know better than to sin. And if you were not morally and spiritually blind you would see this. Secondly, you have pleaded your necessities—that is, your interests—as a just cause and excuse for your matrimonial engagement with Governor Cavendish, and for your eavesdropping in this house, and also for your false statements to me. But I tell you if you had been as truly penitent as you professed to be you would have felt no necessity so pressing as the necessity for true repentance, forgiveness and amendment. And if you had not been morally and spiritually blind you would have seen this also. I sometimes think that it may be my duty to discover you to this family. Yet I will be candid with you. I fear that if you should be turned adrift here you might, and probably would, fall into deeper sin. Therefore I will not expose you—for the present, and upon conditions. You are safe from me so long as you remain true, honest and faithful to this household. But upon the slightest indication of any sort of duplicity or double dealing I shall unmask you to Madam Cavendish. And now you had better retire. Good night.”

And with these words the old man walked to a side-table, took a bedroom candle in his hand and gave it to the widow.

Mary Grey snatched and kissed his hand, curtsied and withdrew.

When she got to her own room she threw herself into a chair and laughed softly, murmuring:

“The old Pharisee! He is more than half in love with me now. I know it, and I feel it. Yet, to save his own credit with himself, he pretends to lecture me and tries to persuade himself that he means it. But he is half in love with me. Before I have done with him he shall be wholly in love with me. And won’t it be fun to have his gray head at my feet, proposing marriage to me! And that is what I mean to bring him to before a month is over his venerable skeleton!”

And, with this characteristic resolution, Mary Grey went to bed.

Chapter 2

LAURA LYTTON’S MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTOR

There never was a closer friendship between two girls than that which bound Laura Lytton and Emma Cavendish together.

On the night of Laura’s arrival, after they had retired from the drawing room, and Electra had gone to bed and gone to sleep, Laura and Emma sat up together in Emma’s room and talked until nearly daylight—talked of everything in the heavens above, the earth below, and the waters under the earth. And then, when at length they parted, Laura asked:

“May I come in here with you to dress tomorrow? And then we can finish our talk.”

“Surely, love! Use my room just like your own,” answered Emma, with a kiss.

And they separated for a few hours.

But early in the morning, as soon as Emma was out of bed, she heard a tap at her chamber door, and she opened it to see Laura standing there in her white merino dressing-gown, with her dark hair hanging down and a pile of clothing over her arms.

“Come in, dear,” said Emma, greeting her with a kiss.

And Laura entered and laid her pile of clothing on a chair, discovering in her hand a rich casket, which she set upon the dressing-table, saying:

“Here, Emma, dear, I have something very curious to show you. You have heard me speak of some unknown friend who is paying the cost of my brother’s and my own education?”

“Yes. Haven’t you found out yet who he is?” inquired Miss Cavendish.

“No; and I do not even know whether our benefactor is a he or a she. But anyhow he has sent me this,” said Laura, unlocking the casket and lifting the lid.

“A set of diamonds and opals fit for a princess!” exclaimed Emma, in admiration, as she gazed upon the deep blue satin tray, on which was arranged a brooch, a pair of ear-rings, a bracelet and a necklace of the most beautiful opals set in diamonds.

“Yes, they are lovely! They must have come from Paris. They are highly artistic,” answered Laura. “But look at these others, will you? These are barbaric,” she added, lifting the upper tray from the casket and taking from the recess beneath the heaviest cable gold chain, a heavier finger ring, and a pair of bracelets. “Just take these in your double hands and ‘heft’ them, as the children say,” she concluded, as she put the weight of gold in Emma’s open palms, which sank at first under the burden.

“There; what do you think of that?” inquired Laura.

“I think they are barbaric, as you said. Well intended, no doubt, but utterly barbaric. Why, this gold chain might fasten up the strongest bull-dog and these bracelets serve as fetters for the most desperate felon! Where on earth were they manufactured?” inquired Miss Cavendish.

“In some rude country where there was more gold than good taste, evidently. However, Emma, dear, there is something very touching, very pathetic, to my mind, in these anonymous offerings. Of course they are almost useless to me. I could never wear the chain or the bracelets. They are far too clumsy for any one but an Indian chief; and I can never wear those lovely opals unless by some miracle I grow rich enough to have everything in harmony with them. And yet, Emma, the kindness and—what shall I say?—the humility of this anonymous giver so deeply touches my heart that I would not part with even a link of this useless chain to buy myself bread if I were starving,” murmured Laura, with the tears filling her eyes, as she replaced the jewels in their casket.

“And you have no suspicion who the donor is?”

“None whatever. These came to me through Mr. Lyle, the agent who receives and pays the money for our education.”

“What does your brother say to all this?”

“Oh, it makes him very uneasy at times. He shrinks from receiving this anonymous assistance. It is all Mr. Lyle can do now, by assuring him that in the end he will find it all right, to induce him to continue to receive it. And, at all events, he declares that after he graduates he will not take another dollar of this anonymous fund—conscience money or not—but that he will begin to pay back in bank, with interest and compound interest, the debt that he is now incurring.”

“I think that resolution is highly to his honor,” said Emma Cavendish.

“And he will keep it. I know Alden,” answered Laura.

And then the two girls hastened to dress themselves for breakfast. And very well they both looked as they left their room.

Laura wore her crimson merino morning-dress, with white linen cuffs and collar, a costume that well became her olive complexion and dark hair and eyes.

Emma wore a black cashmere trimmed with lusterless black silk, and folded book-muslin cuffs and collar. And in this dark dress her radiant blonde beauty shone like a fair star.

They rapped at Electra’s door to bring her out.

She made her appearance looking quite dazzling. Electra had a gay taste in dress. She loved bright colors and many of them. She wore a purple dressing-gown with a brilliant shawl border—a dress for a portly old lady rather than for a slim young girl.

They went down together to the breakfast room, where they found the languishing widow and the old clergyman tête-à-tête.

Mrs. Grey greeted them with a sweet smile and honeyed words, and Dr. Jones with a kindly good morning and handshake.

And they sat down to breakfast.

This Easter Sunday had dawned clearly and beautifully. The family of Blue Cliffs were all going to attend divine service at Wendover.

So, as soon as breakfast was over, the carriage was ordered, and the young ladies went upstairs to dress for church.

At nine o’clock the whole party set out. Emma Cavendish, Laura Lytton and Electra Coroni went in the old family coach, carefully driven by Jerome. Mrs. Grey went in a buggy driven by the Rev. Dr. Jones.

Who arranged this last drive, this tête-à-tête, no one knew except the artful coquette and her venerable victim.

They all reached the church in good time.

The rector, the Rev. Dr. Goodwin, read the morning service, and the Rev. Dr. Jones preached the sermon.

At the conclusion of the services, when the congregation were leaving, Mr. Craven Kyte came up to pay his respects to the ladies from Blue Cliffs.

Miss Cavendish introduced him to Dr. Jones, explaining that he had been a ward of her father, and was once an inmate of Blue Cliff Hall.

Dr. Jones received the young man with courtesy, and in his turn introduced him to Miss Coroni.

Then Emma Cavendish invited him to go home with them to dinner, kindly reminding him of the old custom of spending his holidays in his guardian’s house.

With a smile and a bow, and with a warm expression of thanks, the young man accepted the offered hospitality.

And when the party entered their carriages to return to Blue Cliffs, Craven Kyte, mounted on a fine horse, attended them.

But, mind, he did not ride beside the carriage that contained the three young ladies, but beside the gig occupied by Mary Grey and Dr. Jones.

And the very first inquiry he made of Emma, on reaching the house, was:

“Is the Reverend Doctor Jones a married man?”

“Why, what a question!” exclaimed Emma, laughing. “No, he is not a married man; he is a widower. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. But I thought he was a widower. He seems very much taken with Mrs. Grey,” sighed the young man.

“Oh, is that it?” laughed Emma, as she ran away to take off her bonnet and mantle.

And that Easter Sunday Mary Grey found herself again in a dilemma between her two proposed victims—the gray-haired clergyman and the raven-locked youth.

But she managed them both with so much adroitness that at the close of the day, when Craven Kyte was riding slowly back to Wendover, he was saying to himself:

“She is fond of me, after all; the beauty, the darling, the angel! Oh, that such a perfect creature should be fond of me! I am at this moment the very happiest man on earth!”

And later the same night, when the Rev. Dr. Jones laid his woolen night-capped head upon his pillow, instead of going to sleep as the old gentleman should have done, he lay awake and communed with himself as follows:

“Poor child—poor child! A mere baby. And she is penitent; sincerely penitent. Oh, I can see that! And to think that she is not nearly so much in fault as we believed her to be! She tells me that she really was married to that man—married when she was a child only fourteen years of age. So her gravest error was in running away to be married! And that was the fault of the man who stole her, rather than of herself. And she is as repentant for that fault as if it were some great crime. And oh, how she has suffered! What she has gone through for one so young! And she has such a tender, affectionate, clinging nature! Ah, what will become of her, poor child—poor child! She ought to have some one to take care of her. She ought indeed to be married, for no one but a tender husband could take care of such a pretty, delicate, helpless creature. She ought to marry some one much older than herself. Not a green, beardless boy like that young puppy—Heaven forgive me!—I mean that young man Kyte. He couldn’t appreciate her, couldn’t be a guide or a guard to her. And she really needs guiding and guarding too. For see how easily she falls into error. She ought to marry some good, wise, elderly man, who could be her guide, philosopher and friend as well as husband.”

And so murmuring to himself he fell asleep to dream that he himself was the model guide, philosopher and friend required by the young widow.

Chapter 3

A GROWL FROM UNCLE JACKY

The next day, Easter Monday, brought a messenger from Lytton Lodge; a messenger who was no other than Mithridates, commonly called “Taters,” once a servant of Frederick Fanning, the landlord of White Perch Point, but now a hired hand of John Lytton’s.

Mithridates, or Taters, rode an infirm-looking old draft horse, with a dilapidated saddle and bridle, and wore a hat and coat exceedingly shabby for a gentleman’s servant.

He also led a second horse, furnished with a side-saddle.

He dismounted at the carriage-steps, tied the horses to a tree, and boldly went to the front door and knocked.

Jerome opened it and administered a sharp rebuke to the messenger for presuming to knock at the visitors’ door instead of at the servants’.

“If I’d a come to the servants’ I’d rapped at the servants’ door; but as I have comed to the white folks’ I rap at dere door. Here; I’ve fotch a letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to his niece, Miss Lorrer,” said Taters, pompously.

“Give it to me then, and I’ll take it in to her,” said Jerome.

“Set you up with it! I must ’liver of this here letter with my own hands inter her own hands,” said Taters, stoutly.

“Well, come along, for a fool! You’re a purty looking objick to denounce into the parlor, a’n’t you now?” said Jerome, leading the way.

At that moment, unseen by Jerome, but distinctly seen by Taters, a face appeared at the head of the stairs for an instant but meeting the eye of Taters turned white as death and vanished.

Taters uttered a terrible cry and sank, ashen pale and quaking with horror, at the foot of the steps.

“Why, what in the name of the old boy is the matter with you, man? Have you trod on a nail or piece of glass, or anything that has gone through your foot, or what is it?” demanded Jerome, in astonishment.

“Oh, no, no, no! it’s worse’n that—it’s worse’n that! It’s no end worse’n that! Oh, Lor’! oh, Lor’! oh, Lor’!” cried Taters, holding his knees and sawing backward and forward in an agony of horror.

“Ef you don’t stop that howlin’ and tell me what’s the matter of you I’m blessed ef I don’t get a bucket of ice water and heave it all over you to fetch you to your senses!” exclaimed the exasperated Jerome.

“Oh, Lor’, don’t! Oh, please don’t! I shill die quick enough now without that!” cried Taters, writhing horribly.

“What’s the matter, you born iddiwut?” roared Jerome, in a fury.

“Oh, I’ve seen a sperrit—I’ve seen a sperrit! I’ve seen the sperrit of my young mistress! And it’s a token of my death!” wailed the negro boy in agony.

“What’s that you say—a sperrit? A sperrit in this yer ’spectable, ’sponsible house? Lookee here, nigger: mind what you say now, or it’ll be the wus for you! A sperrit in this yer ginteel family as never had a crime or a ghost inter it! The Cavendishers nebber ’mits no crimes when der living, nor likewise don’t walk about ondecent after der dead. And der a’n’t no sperrits here,” said Jerome, with ire.

“Oh, I wish it wasn’t—I wish it wasn’t! But it was a sperrit! And it’s a token of my death—it’s a token of my death!” howled Taters.

And now at last the noise brought the three young ladies out of the drawing room.

“What is the matter here, Jerome?” inquired Mrs. Cavendish. “Has any one got hurt? Who is that man?”

“Ef you please, Miss Emma, no one a’n’t got hurt, though you might a thought, from the squalling, that there was a dozen pigs a killin’. And that man, miss, is a born iddiwut, so he is—begging your pardon, miss!—and says he’s seed a sperrit in this yer harristocraterick house, where there never was a sperrit yet,” explained Jerome, with a grieved and indignant look.

“But who is the man? What is he doing here? And what does he want?” inquired the young lady.

“The man is a born iddiwut, Miss Emma, as I telled you before; that’s who the man he is! And he’s a making of a ’fernal fool of hisself; that’s what he’s doing here! And he deserves a good hiding; and that’s what he wants!” said Jerome, irately.

Miss Cavendish passed by the privileged old family servant, and went up to the man himself and inquired:

“Who are you, boy? What brings you here? And what ails you?”

“Oh, miss! I’m Taters, I am. And I come to fetch a letter from Marse Jacky Lytton to Miss Lorrer. And I seen a sperrit at the top o’ them stair steps. And that’s what’s the matter of me,” cried the boy.

“A spirit! Jerome, do you think he’s been drinking?” inquired the young lady in a low, frightened voice.

For an answer Jerome, without the least hesitation, seized Taters by the head, pulled open his jaws, and stuck his own nose into the cavity and took an audible snuff. Then, releasing the head, he answered:

“No, miss, he a’n’t been drinking nuffin. His breff’s as sweet as a milch cow’s. I reckon he must be subjick to epperliptic fits, miss, by the way he fell down here all of a suddint, crying out as he’d seen a sperrit.”

“You said you had a letter, boy. Where is it?” inquired Emma.

“Here, miss! Here it is! I’ll give it to you, though I wouldn’t give it to him there!” answered Taters, with a contemptuous glance toward Jerome.

Emma took the letter, which was enclosed in a wonderfully dingy yellow envelope, and she read the superscription, and then called to Laura, saying:

“Come here, my dear. Here is a letter from Lytton Lodge for you.”

Laura Lytton, who, with Electra, had been standing just within the drawing room door, near enough to observe the group, but not to hear the whole of their conversation, now came when she was called and received her letter.

“It is from dear Uncle Jacky,” she said, with an affectionate smile, as she recognized the handwriting.

And then she asked the messenger a multitude of questions, which he was too much agitated to answer coherently, until at length Miss Cavendish said:

“Jerome, take the poor fellow into the kitchen and give him something to eat and drink. There is nothing like beef and beer to exorcise evil spirits. And when he is rested and refreshed we will see him again.”

And Jerome took Taters rather roughly by the shoulder and pulled him upon his feet and carried him along the hall through the back door toward the kitchen.

“Will you excuse me now, dear Emma, while I read my uncle’s letter?” inquired Laura, as she retreated to the drawing room.

“Certainly,” smiled Miss Cavendish, following her guests.

Laura went into the recess of a bay-window and opened the dingy yellow envelope and read as follows:

Lytton Lodge, April —, 18—.

My dear Niece,

I think my nephew, Alden, has a more correcter ideer of what is jue to kin and kith than what you have shown.

Alden is spending his Easter holidays along of me and his relations.

But you haven’t been nigh the house since you left it to go to school. You do seem to be so wrapped up in the Cavendishers as not to think anything of your own folks.

Now I can tell you what it is. The Lyttonses are a great deal older and better family than all the Cavendishers that ever lived. I don’t care if they was governors of the state.

I have heard my grandfather, who was a scholar, say that the Lyttonses was landed gentry in the old country long before the Cavendishers followed of their lord and marster William the Conkerer across the channil. And so I don’t approve of your sliting of the Lyttonses for them there Cavendishers. Spesherly as you’re a Lytton yourself. And if we don’t respect ourselves and each other no one a’n’t a going to respect us.

And talking of that, what do you think Hezekiah Greenfield, the landlord of the Reindeer, went and done to me last week?

Why, he came over and asked me could I supply his tavern with fruits and vegetables during the summer season at the market price, saying—quite as if he was a making of me a kind proposal instead of offering of me a black insult—that he’d rather deal with me, and I should have his money, than any one else, if so be I was willing to do business.

Now what do you think I answered him?

Why, I set the bull-dog on him! I did that! And it was good for him as he scrambled up on his horse and made off double-quick, or he’d been torn to pieces before you could say Jack Robinson.

That’ll learn the tavern-keeper to insult a gentleman next time by offering to buy his garden stuff!

But what I’m writing to you for, my dear, now, is this. I think you ought to come to see us, anyhow. You must come, if it’s only for two or three days, to see your old grandmother, and all your relations, and to meet Alden, who is here, as I said. I have sent Taters on horseback with a led horse and a side-saddle for you. Come back along of him tomorrow morning. And give my honorable compliments to the old madam and Miss Cavendish. Because, mind you, I’m not a saying as the Cavendishers a’n’t a good, respectabil family; only I do say as they are not so good as the Lyttonses, and they never was and never will be; and they know it themselves, too. Well, your dear grandma, and your dear aunties and cousins, all sends their love to you, with many good wishes. So no more at present from your affeckshunit uncle,

John Lytton

Chapter 4

THE GHOST SEEN BY “TATERS”

He shuddered, as no doubt the bravest cowers,

When he can’t tell what ’tis that doth appall.

How odd a single hobgoblin’s nonentity

Should cause more fear than a whole host’s identity.

—Byron

“Emma, dear, I have a letter from Uncle John Lytton,” said Laura, gravely, going to the side of her friend.

“I hope they are all well at Lytton Lodge,” responded Emma.

“Oh, yes, thank you, they are all quite well; but,” added Laura, with a sigh, “Uncle John has written to me to come at once and pay them a visit. And to leave me no excuse, he has sent his servant Mithridates on horseback, with another led horse and side-saddle, to take me to Lytton Lodge.”

“Oh, dear! But you need not go, I hope?” said Emma, looking up, with a sigh.

“I must go,” answered Laura, with another sigh. “And really I ought to be glad to go to see such kind friends as all my relatives there have been to me. But, you see, Emma, I don’t like to leave you for a single day even before I have to return to school.”

“Then why do you go at all? Why can you not send an excuse?”

“Dear Emma, would you refuse to go if you were in my place?” inquired Laura.

Emma Cavendish could not reply.

“No, you would not,” added Laura, “because it would not be right to refuse.”

“But, my dear, to perform so long a journey on horseback! It must be over twenty miles. Let me see—it is about nine miles from here to Wendover, and it must be ten or eleven from Wendover to Lytton Lodge,” said Emma.

“No; only about eight or nine. The whole distance is not more than seventeen or eighteen miles by the roundabout route. And if I could go as the crow flies it is not more than six miles. Why, you know the eastern extremity of your land touches the western extremity of uncle’s.”

“So it does. And if, as you say, you could go as the crow flies—that is, straight over mountains and rivers—you could get there in two hours. As it is, it will take you five or six hours, and that is too long for a girl to be in the saddle, especially a city-bred girl, unaccustomed to such exercise.”

“I think I can stand it,” smiled Laura.

“But you shall not try. If you will go you must take the little carriage. When do you propose to start?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Well, we will send the redoubtable Mithridates back with his steeds and send you on your journey in the little carriage, under the guardianship of old Jerome, with orders to remain with you during your visit; but to bring you back again, at farthest, on the third day,” said Emma, peremptorily.

Laura thanked her friend but protested against any trouble being taken on her account.

But Miss Cavendish was firm, and the arrangement was made according to her plan.

In the meantime Mithridates, eating beef and bread and drinking home-made sweet cider in the kitchen, recovered some of his composure; though still, with his mouth full of meat and his eyes starting from his head, he persisted that he had seen the spirit of his young mistress. And it was a token of his death.

“G’long way from her’, boy! Ef I didn’t know as you wasn’t I should think as you was intoxified! There never was no sperrit never seen into this house,” said Aunt Molly, indignantly.

“I don’t care! I did see her sperrit! So there now,” persisted Taters, bolting a chunk of bread and choking with it for a moment. “And—and it’s a token of my death.”

“Is that the reason you’re a trying to kill yourself now, you iddiwut?”

“No; but I seen her sperrit!”

“I don’t believe one word of it. You’re a making of it all up out’n your own stoopid head! There, now, ef you’re done eatin’ you’d better go ’long and put up your hosses,” said Aunt Moll, seeing her guest pause in his gastronomic efforts.

But Taters hadn’t done eating, and did’t get done until all the dishes on the kitchen table were cleared and the jug of cider emptied.

Then, indeed, he gave over and went to look after his “beasts.”

At the same hour Mary Grey, locked fast in her room, suffered agonies of terror and anxiety. She, too, had seen a “ghost”—a ghost of her past life—a ghost that might have come to summon her from her present luxurious home!

On her way downstairs to the drawing room she had been arrested on the head of the middle landing by the sight of a once familiar face and form.

She met the distended eyes of this apparition and saw at once that he had recognized her as surely as she had recognized him.

And in an instant she vanished.

She darted into her own room, locked the door, and sank breathless into the nearest chair.

And there she sat now, with beating heart and burning head, waiting for what should come next.

A rap at the door was the next thing that came.

It frightened her, of course—everything frightened her now.

“Who is that?” she nervously inquired.

“Only me, ma’am. The ladies are waiting luncheon for you. Miss Emma sends her compliments and says will you come down?” spoke the voice of Sarah, the lady’s maid.

“Love to Miss Cavendish and ask her to excuse me. I do not want any luncheon,” answered Mary Grey, without opening the door.

Then she sank back in her chair with throbbing pulses, waiting for the issue of this crisis. She was really ill with intense anxiety and dread. She grew so weak at last that she lay down upon her sofa.

Then came another rap at the door.

“Who is that?” she asked again, faintly.

“It is I, dear,” answered the voice of Emma Cavendish.

Mrs. Grey arose trembling and opened the door.

“I was afraid that you were not well. I came up to see,” said Emma, kindly, as she entered the room.

“I—no, I am not quite well,” faltered Mary Grey, as she retreated to the sofa and sat down, with her back purposely to the light and her face in the shadow.

“You really look pale and ill. What is the matter, dear?”

“I—think I have taken cold. But by keeping to my room for a few days I hope to be better. A cold always affects the action of my heart and makes me very nervous,” said Mary Grey, in explanation of the tremors for which she could not otherwise account.

Then Emma expressed sympathy and sorrow and begged the pretended invalid to have some tea and cream-toast, or some wine-whey or chicken-broth.

But Mary Grey declined all these offers, declaring that a cold always took her appetite away.

And again Emma expressed regret.

And, as Miss Cavendish talked, Mary Grey grew more composed.

It was evident, she thought, that Emma as yet knew nothing of that strange rencounter on the stairs.

Presently, Miss Cavendish said:

“I am sorry to tell you that we shall lose Laura Lytton for a few days. Her uncle, Mr. Lytton of Lytton Lodge, has sent a messenger for her. She goes to visit her relations there tomorrow morning.”

“Indeed—a messenger?” exclaimed Mary Grey, pricking up her ears.

“Yes; a queer genius, who signalized his entrance into the house by a scene,” added Emma, smiling.

“Indeed!”

“Oh, yes! Why, you might have heard the commotion in the front hall! Did you hear nothing of it?”

“No, dear; I have remained shut up in my room ever since breakfast—have not stirred from it,” answered Mary Grey, lying without the least hesitation.

“That accounts for your knowing nothing about it. But the absurd fellow raised quite a confusion by suddenly falling down in the front hall in a spasm of terror, declaring that he had seen the spirit of his young mistress on the middle landing of the front stairs.”

“An optical illusion,” answered Mary Grey, in a low, tremulous tone and with her face carefully kept in the shadow.

“Of course! And it appears that he was once a servant of that reckless and unlucky Frederick Fanning of White Perch Point, who married my mother’s sister. And consequently his young mistress must have been that unfortunate cousin of mine,” said Emma, with a sigh.

“Does any one know what ever became of that wretched girl?” inquired Mrs. Grey, in a very low tone.

“No; but I gather from the wild talk of the boy that she is supposed to be dead. It was her spirit that he thinks he saw.”

“Whatever became of her father and mother?” questioned Mary Grey in the same low tone and still keeping her face in the deep shadow.

“I do not know. I heard that they went to California. I have not heard anything of them since. But, my dear, you are talking beyond your strength. Your voice is quite faint—scarcely audible indeed. Now I advise you to lie down and be quiet,” said Miss Cavendish, with some solicitude.

And then she kissed Mary Grey, begged her to ring for anything she might require, and then she left the room.

And Mary Grey heard no more of the ghost. That cloud passed harmlessly over her head.

Chapter 5

A VISIT TO LYTTON LODGE

Early the next morning Miss Cavendish’s snug little pony-carriage, with a pretty pair of grays, stood before the front door waiting for Laura Lytton.

Old Jerome sat on the front seat to drive.

Taters, with his own horse and the now useless led horse, was in attendance.

Laura Lytton, dressed for her journey and with traveling-bag in hand, stood with Emma Cavendish in the hall waiting for Mrs. Gray, to whom they had sent a message inviting her to come down and see the traveler off.

But presently the messenger returned with Miss Grey’s love and good wishes and requested that they would excuse her from coming down, as her cold was so severe that she did not dare to leave her room.

“I must go up and bid her goodbye then,” said Laura, as she dropped her traveling-bag and ran upstairs.

She found Mary Grey in a fine white merino dressing-gown playing the interesting invalid.

She hastily kissed her, expressed a hope that she might find her better on returning to Blue Cliffs, and then ran out of the room and downstairs as fast as she could go.

She had already taken leave of every member of the family except Emma Cavendish, who went out with her to the carriage, saw her comfortably seated in it, and kissed her goodbye.

The little cavalcade then set forward.

It was a lovely spring morning. The woods and fields were clothed with the freshest green; the mountain tops beamed in the most beautiful opal tints, and the blue sky was without a cloud.

Laura enjoyed her drive very much.

At Wendover they stopped to rest and water the horses, and then they resumed their journey and went on to Lytton Lodge, where they arrived just about noon.

John Lytton was evidently on the lookout for his niece, for as the pony-carriage drove up, amid the barking of all the dogs and the shouting of all the little negroes, he rushed out of the house, throwing up his arms; and he caught Laura and lifted her bodily from her seat, roaring his welcome.

And Laura, as she returned his honest, hearty greeting, felt a twinge of self-reproach in remembering with what reluctance she had come.

Uncle John took her into the house and set her down in the hall in the midst of all her relations, who had crowded there to welcome here.

“Lor-lor-lor’, John! How dare you ma-ma-make so free as that with Laura, and she a young ’oman?” exclaimed old Mrs. Lytton, as, in her well-known faded calico gown and long-eared muslin cap, she came up and kissed her granddaughter.

“Why, because she is a young ’oman, of course, and not an old man!” said John, saucily.

“Why, how much you have improved, child!” said Miss Molly Moss, smiling blandly.

“Oh, a’n’t she though, neither?” exclaimed Octy and Ulky in a breath, as they seized her hands, the one clinging to her right and the other to her left.

“Come, now, I think you had better let Laura go upstairs and take off her bonnet and things. Dinner’s all ready to go on the table. And I reckon her appetite is ready also. And, Jacky, you had better go out and tell John Brooks to put up and feed them horses,” said practical Aunt Kitty, as she took and faced Laura about toward the spare bedroom that was on the first floor.

“Uncle wrote me that my brother was here. But I don’t see him,” said Laura as she laid off her bonnet.

“No; he and Charley went to Perch Point fishing yesterday, intending to stay all night and come back this morning. I reckon they’ll soon be here,” said Aunt Kitty.

Laura washed her face and hands and brushed her hair, put on clean collar and cuffs, and declared herself ready to join the family.

Even as she spoke there was the hilarious bustle of an arrival in the hall outside.

And as Laura emerged from the room she was caught in the arms of her brother Alden.

“My darling sister, I am so delighted to see you!” said the young man, kissing her joyously.

“So am I to see you, Alden, dear. But why didn’t you accept Mrs. Cavendish’s invitation to come and join our Easter party at Blue Cliffs?” inquired Laura.

“My dear, because I thought my duty called me here,” gravely replied Alden.

“But for a day or two you might have joined us,” persisted Laura.

“No,” said Alden. Then turning toward his red-headed fishing comrade he said: “Here’s Cousin Charley waiting to welcome you, Laura.”

And Charley Lytton, blushing and stammering, held out his hand and said:

“How do you do? I am very glad to see you.”

“And now come to dinner,” said Aunt Kitty, opening the dining room door.

They all went in and sat down to as fine a dinner as was ever served in Blue Cliff Hall, or even at the Government House, although this was laid on a rough pine table, covered with a coarse, though clean linen table-cloth, and in a room where the walls were whitewashed and the floors were bare.

“And now,” said Uncle Jacky, as soon as he had served the turtle soup around to everybody, “I want you to tell me why you couldn’t ride the gray mare, and why you came in a pony-carriage with a slap-up pair of bloods?”

“Why, you know, I am a good-for-nothing city-bred girl, Uncle John, and Miss Cavendish knew it and doubted my ability to ride eighteen or twenty miles on horseback, and so insisted on my having the pony-carriage,” explained Laura, soothingly.

“Well, I’m glad it was no worse. I was thinking may be as you despised the old family mare,” said John, somewhat mollified.

“Oh, no, uncle! Quite the contrary. I did not feel equal to her,” laughed Laura.

“Well, when must we send that fine equipage back—tonight or tomorrow?”

“Neither, Uncle John. It is not wanted at Blue Cliffs just at present. They have the barouche, the brougham and the gig. They can easily spare the pony-chaise. And Emma insisted on my keeping it here until I should be ready to return. And I promised her that I would do it.”

“Now I don’t like that. That is a patternizing of us a great deal too much. We’ve got a carriage of our own, I reckon,” said John, sitting back in his chair and lifting his red head pompously.

“Now-now-now, John Lytton, don’t you be a foo-foo-fool! Carriage! Why, our carriage is all to pieces! A’n’t been fit to use for this six months! And sin-sin-since the Caverndishers have been so obleeging as to lend the loan of the pony-shay to Laura, I say let her keep it till she goes back. And while it’s a staying here idle I can use it to go and see some of my neighbors,” said old Mrs. Lytton, in that peremptory way of hers that did not brook contradiction from any one—even from the master of the house.

Chapter 6

A FLIGHT FROM BLUE CLIFFS

Laura Lytton staid two days with her relatives at Lytton Lodge and was just turning over in her mind the difficult subject of breaking the news of her immediate departure to Uncle Jacky, whom she felt sure would bitterly oppose it, when, on the evening of the second day, she received a surprise in the form of a call from Craven Kyte.

The visitor was shown into the big parlor, where all the family, except Alden and Charley, were assembled, and engaged in cheerful conversation around the evening lamp.

He came in bowing, shook hands with everybody, and then took the seat that was offered him and drew a letter from his pocket, saying, humorously:

“In these latter days, when every one has a mission, it seems to me that my mission is to fetch and carry letters. I happened to call at Blue Cliffs this morning and to mention while there that I was going to White Perch Point and should take Lytton Lodge in my way and would carry any message that was desired to Miss Laura Lytton, who I understood was on a visit there. And then Miss Cavendish requested me to take a letter to you, which she sat down and wrote right off at once. And here it is, miss,” he concluded, placing the letter in Laura’s hands.

Laura asked leave of her company, and then opened the envelope and read as follows:

Blue Cliffs, Thursday afternoon

My Dearest Laura,

The opportune arrival of Mr. Craven Kyte, on his way to White Perch Point and Lytton Lodge, furnishes me with the means of communicating with you sooner than I could manage to do by mail.

You will be very much surprised at what I am about to tell you.

Mary Grey has left Blue Cliffs.

She left so suddenly that I scarcely yet can realize that she has gone.

My grandmother and myself opposed her departure most earnestly. We used every means in the world but absolute force to keep her here.

But she would go. She said her health and spirits required the change. You know she was ailing when you left here.

Well, she has gone to Charlottesville, where she says she has some lady friend who keeps a boarding-house for the students of the University. So if your brother returns to the University he may have an opportunity of renewing his very pleasant acquaintance with her. I do not know when, if ever, she will return.

Of course this is her home whenever she pleases to come back. But I strongly suspect the pretty little widow has grown tired of our country house.

You know she has really no resources within herself for enjoyment. She cares nothing for the beautiful scenery surrounding our home, nor for gardening, nor reading, nor visiting and instructing the poor negroes; nor, in short, for anything that makes a remote country place enjoyable. And so she has left us—‘It may be for years, and it may be for ever,’ as the song says.

But, my darling, don’t you desert me just at this time. Come back, according to your promise. I am wearying for you. Tell that excessively affectionate and hospitable Uncle John that I need you so much more than he does. Or show him this letter. All the Lyttons are gallant and chivalrous gentlemen. He is no exception, and he will not oppose my wish, I feel sure. I shall expect you at Blue Cliffs tomorrow evening.

My grandmother has just directed me to repeat her invitation to Mr. Alden Lytton, and to ask him to accompany you back to Blue Cliffs and make us a visit. I hope he will do so. Mind, I shall expect you both tomorrow evening. Pray present my respects to Mr. and Mrs. Lytton and all their kind family. And believe me, dearest Laura,

Ever your own

Emma

Postscript—I have some strange news to tell you which I can not trust upon paper. I also expect a new inmate in the family. I will explain when you come. E.

Laura folded her letter and put it into her pocket for the present.

“They want you to come back, I suppose,” said Uncle John, testily.

“I will show you the letter presently, uncle, so you can read and judge for yourself,” said Laura, with a smile.

“Well, all I say is this: if they want you to come back want will be their master. For they can’t have you; so there now! I don’t mean to let you leave us until you are obliged to go back to school. I don’t that!” said John, nodding his big red head.

“Did you know Mrs. Grey had left Blue Cliffs?” sorrowfully inquired Mr. Kyte.

“Yes. Emma has written to me about her departure. When did she go?”