CHAPTER XLVI.
While Henry continued thus entranced with perplexity, Marion'sattention was gradually attracted by a noise at her side, and, lookingsuddenly round, she was startled to behold crouching in the remotestcorner of the room, the figure of a human being, which filled her withhorror and dismay, so haggard, so emaciated, so unlike anything she hadever looked upon before, that scarcely could she suppress a shriek ofdismay. It was a face of woe and wretchedness, once seen never to beforgotten, and she had formerly seen it. The sunken temples, the holloweyes, the lurid glare of insanity in the eye, and the clusters of hair,black as death, blown by the night-wind in large damp masses on hisforehead, all brought the wretched Howard instantaneously to her mind;and, grasping Henry's arm, with an exclamation of terror, she attemptedto hurry with him out of the room. Scarcely, however, had she made astep towards the door, when the madman darted forward, and closed it,then wheeling round, he said, in a low, husky voice, while his strengthseemed so subdued, that the grasp of an infant might have masteredhim,--
"You have discovered me, and there is no escape! Be it so! 'Welcomedeath,' as the rat said, when the trap fell down. Here the tragedybegan, and here let it end!"
He paused for several minutes, and gradually his face assumed a look ofungovernable anguish, while he added, in a dreary, desolate tone,unlike any human voice,--
"I could weep for my own ruin,--for my sister's,--but the time is past.Never shall I shed another tear! Our sin be on the Abbe Mordaunt'shead! The withering curse of a dying man be on his head! The misery ofeternal ruin be on his head, as it is on mine! For his own purposes henurtured every wild passion in our young blood. He taught me the madambition that was my ruin,--promised me impunity here and hereafter, ifI assisted in his schemes; and now, after being his tool, I am, like auseless tool, cast aside! But could he silence my outraged conscience?No! The gibbet is forever hovering before my sight, and the curse ofheaven is borne to my soul in every blast!"
"Yet you are still in this world of hope, where none can be finallycondemned," said Henry, solemnly. "Till the grave closes over yourhead, mercy and pardon may yet be asked, and may yet be granted! ErnestAnstruther, from the hour of my mother's death until now, you have mostbarbarously injured me, but mortal man must not keep up immortal anger.I only obey our beneficent Creator in saying, that if you repent, Iheartily forgive you. Your life is probably forfeited to the outragedlaws of man, but may your soul find mercy in its utmost need."
"I have been your deadliest foe, De Lancey, and haunted your steps withmy hatred from childhood; but it is done," continued Anstruther, with alook of bleak and barren agony. "I will not live to be caged in prison,a spectacle of scorn and infamy, to die a death of shame. How differentfrom what I once hoped! There shall be no to-morrow for me in thisworld! A fire is at my heart, which can only be quenched by death! Itis better not to be, than to be miserable! I shall give my body to thebeasts of the field, or the birds in the air. I shall find a bed whereno dreams shall haunt me, and a sleep from which there is no awakening!A wolf may lose his teeth, but you cannot change his nature! As amadman I have lived, and as a madman I shall die! We must sleep in thebed we prepare for ourselves! Before that sun shall have traveledanother hour, you, Henry De Lancey, shall be raised to honor, and Ishall have died, covered with infamy and disgrace. I never stir now,without the fatal means of release."
Marion shivered from head to foot, at the ghastly sound of Anstruther'svoice, but paralyzed with terror, she dared not stir, for already aloaded pistol was in his hand. A fearful ghastly smile distorted hiscountenance,--the smile of a maniac,--a smile such as may be seen onthe lips of a corpse, and an expression gleamed in his eye, which itcurdled her blood to look upon, and might have struck terror into thestrongest mind; but Henry, in a calm, deliberate voice, replied,--
"There is no such dreamless sleep, Anstruther, as you describe! EvenSatan himself believes in futurity! Whatever be your sorrow, and worsethan sorrow, your sin, do not madly hasten to that world where there isno peace and no pardon. Take pity upon yourself."
"Mine has been a desperate life, and it shall have a desperate end,"replied Ernest, with a sullen, deadly smile on his bloodless lips; buttrying to assume a tone of reckless indifference, he added, "I neverwas one to choke upon the tail! I have gazed at the moon, and fallen inthe gutter, but, De Lancey, for the sake of that good old man, SirArthur, who was your benefactor and mine, I will not die without doingyou justice. The wax of secrecy may now be broken, and here are papersclearly and indisputably to prove that you are the legitimate son ofLord Doncaster. They purify your mother's character from everyaspersion, and testify without doubt your title to be Lord Dunraven."
Had an apparition arisen through the floor, or had a cannon gone off atHenry's ear, he could scarcely have been more startled and astonished,while, with an exclamation of joy and rapture, Marion rushed up to him,saying, in accents of tremulous joy, while he stood bewildered withsurprise, and then grasping the packet in his hand, staggered to aseat, "It is then as uncle Arthur once almost believed! Oh, Henry, whatjoy! If he had but lived to hear it! Can this be possible!"
After a few moments given to emotion and wonder, while Henry seemedalmost as if his spirit had taken wing from the body, Marion having insome degree recovered herself, looked round, and observed with surprisethat they were alone! The madman, taking advantage of Henry'sagitation, had rushed wildly from the house, to be seen and heard of nomore. Henry rose, intending instantly to give an alarm, and to followin pursuit of Anstruther; but scarcely had he stirred a step, before heand Marion were startled by hearing, in the adjoining room, a shriek soshrill and appalling, so heart-broken and delirious, that in an agonyof alarm, they hurried forward to the hall. A confused murmur, a buzzof suppressed astonishment had arisen among the assembled crowd, inwhich were many countenances expressing strong fear, others wearingonly an air of gaping curiosity, many with their hands clasped inamazement, and others expanding them in terror, but all listening withlooks of motionless attention, while every eye was turned towards thetable on which the murdered body had been laid, and a deep silenceensued, of hushed expectation, as if the stage were about to exhibit atragedy of exciting interest.
Henry glanced rapidly around, and saw standing beside the corpse a tallfemale, whose aspect filled all present with surprise. Her worn andhaggard countenance seemed cold and rigid as the figure on atomb-stone, and her cheek had become overspread with a damp and leadenpaleness; while in speechless horror, which seemed as if it amountedalmost to insanity, she pointed her long, ghastly finger towards thebody. A hundred eyes were now bent on hers, and her bewildered glanceswept for a moment round the assembled crowd, with a look ofunutterable wretchedness, till at length her eye fell on LordDoncaster. On him she now fixed an unshrinking gaze, while she spoke ina low, hoarse whisper, which sounded with terrifying distinctnessthrough the large old hall, and fell upon every ear with a solemnityand awfulness like the knell of death.
"I knew all, but could not hinder it! No! I would have died to preventthis! There was death in my brother's eye when he left me! I pursuedhim, but it was too late! Day by day, step by step, we have sunk intodeeper crime and misery! Who would think that I had ever been young,innocent, and happy? The barrier was first thrown down by him who lieshere! Hour by hour the deepening shadows grew darker! Long, long havethese eyes been drenched with the tears of a broken heart! My wretchedbrother swore that every pang I suffered should be avenged! I wouldhave pardoned, I would have forgotten all, if I might but have saved mybrother, and sheltered _him_ from death. I have warned, I have wept,implored! I have prayed on my very knees; but in vain! All is now over!Every law of God and man has been violated! None in all this assemblycan see as I do the horror of our guilt--none can hate it more! Thepast maddens me, and the future--oh! what is there in the future forme!"
With a shuddering groan, Mary Anstruther sunk back on a chair, and shetrembled like a leaf in the blast of autumn, while a mortal silenceensued. Lord Doncas
ter with brows knit, and lips firmly compressed,seemed resolute to conceal the emotions evidently struggling andboiling within his breast; and the by-standers, in dismay, had allshrunk back from the unhappy woman; but Henry now, with an irresistibleimpulse of pity, approached, and spoke a few soothing words to her,when she suddenly looked up, and seeing the expression of unfeignedcommiseration with which he gazed at her, burning tears forcedthemselves into her eyes, and, with a look of piercing woe, she addedin a low, husky, choking voice--
"I have asked pity, and all are not pitiless! I am used to misery--thatcannot draw tears from me now, but kindness does,--your kindnessespecially. My heart was dumb and frozen! I never thought to weepagain. Many is the long day since I have been pitied! Many is the longday since I have deserved it! Yes!" added she, grasping Henry's armwith almost iron force, while she spoke in a voice so strange and deep,it thrilled to every heart. "The time is come for me to tell all anddie. The secret of your life was begun with bloodshed, and here inbloodshed it has ended. The thought that your mother died by mybrother's hand has, from that fatal hour, gnawed like a fiery serpentat my heart. My soul is shaken to the very dust; but while I havebreath to speak, let me confess how we slandered your mother--how wecaused her to be driven as an outcast from this house--how we deceivedyour father, and cheated you, Henry De Lancey, of your birthright."
At this moment Lord Doncaster, who had seemed almost paralyzed withagitation, and as if the springs of life were drying up within him,suddenly rose, and waving back the Abbe Mordaunt and others who werecrowding around him, he placed himself opposite the wretched woman, andfixed a look of searching examination on her death-struck countenance,while he seemed afraid to trust his own voice, lest it should betraythe tumult of his feelings; but after a momentary struggle, he passedhis hand across his eyes, and said in a low tone of doubt anduncertainty,--
"It seems like a resurrection from the dead! It cannot be! Is MaryAnstruther yet in being?"
"I have dreamed of such a man once," replied she, casting a desolatelook around. "My heart was not then bursting, as it is now, becausenone can help me."
Henry's eye became fastened with a look of settled intensity on thecountenance of Lord Doncaster, who walked a few agitated steps aboutthe room, and then added, in a voice of stern astonishment:
"You speak of a deception! Let me know all? What of Laura Mordaunt?"
"Not of Laura Mordaunt, my Lord, but your lawful wife! The story ofyour previous marriage, invented by the Abbe, was a hideous lie. Hadshe been told the reason why you spurned her from the house, she couldhave disproved it. We told her only that your affections had beenchanged. She was too proud to complain; yet she did at last write aletter, which never reached you. She there made a solemn appeal to yourjustice and compassion, claiming for her son the affection and thestation to which he is entitled. She became persuaded, by the Abbe'scontrivance, that her marriage had been illegal. All--all was foul andhorrid falsehood. We each had our various interests to serve! the Abbeto embezzle his niece's fortune--Ernest to keep his place near thesuccession--and I----"
Mary Anstruther's almost unearthly voice, which sounded unlike thevoice of a human being, now entirely failed; her teeth chattered, sheshivered from head to foot, and her eyes became fixed on the stiffenedcorpse by her side, while Lord Doncaster, with a scarcely audible groanof bitter regret, locked his hands over his heart, as if to still itspalpitations, and listened, in agitated silence, for more. At lengththe wretched woman continued, while her voice became faint, and hervery blood seemed to freeze at the sound of her own words.
"The slow progress of a breaking heart was not rapid enough forErnest's hatred. He believed she was the cause of our ruin, and hemurdered her! I would die a thousand deaths now to restore LauraMordaunt--to undo all that I have done! Oh! that memory itself wouldfail! I am haunted and tortured by those over-living remembrances!"
Lord Doncaster looked as if a flash of lightning had blinded him,while, after gazing for a moment in almost vacant astonishment at MaryAnstruther, he put his hand to his head, and, with a suppressed groan,leaned against the table for support. A feather might have thrown himdown, but he was evidently trying to collect his senses, and murmuredhurriedly to himself in broken accents, "No! no! Impossible! It is allproved! She was guilty! Who can doubt it?"
"My Lord! it was a cruel, horrid, slanderous falsehood!" cried Mary, ina tone of solemn earnestness. "Night and the grave seem already closedover my wretched head. Take, then, the assurance of a dying creature,that Lord Mordaunt was innocent. Let me do one good action on theearth, before I perish for ever! She deserved a better fate! Let heryoung son enjoy the titles and honors of his ancestors. Letters will beproduced after my death, proving his right. I desire all here towitness the last words I shall speak before my lips are sealed by deathin everlasting silence, that there stands Henry, Lord Dunraven, thelawful son of Lord Doncaster! And now my destiny is accomplished!Already I seem separated from the living, though not yet united to thedead! Let my end come quickly, as it comes surely."
Henry's very heart trembled with agitation, and it seemed as if hisveins ran lightning, while he fixed a long and agitated look on LordDoncaster, whose countenance became convulsed with agitation, his brainseemed contracted by a spasm, the thread of life appeared suddenly tosnap, a thick mist obscured his sight, and before his newly found soncould rush forward to his support, he had fallen to the ground as ifshot.
The room was immediately cleared of strangers, and the Abbe Mordauntfled without delay to the continent, where he soon after buried himselfin the monastery of La Trappe.
During several succeeding days, all that mortal man could do was doneto restore Lord Doncaster, while Henry watched over hisrecently-discovered parent with incessant attention, and hoped, buthoped in vain, that Lord Doncaster might live to recognise and blesshim; but the varied and vehement emotions of the last few hours hadbeen too much for his aged frame. He continued during some timeinsensible, and, at length, after a short but severe struggle, expired.
Henry was acknowledged, however, before long, and recognised by theworld, as not a doubt could remain on any mind of his identity and hisclaims, after those papers had been read bequeathed to him by theAnstruthers, and before the wretched Mary had quitted the earthly sceneof her misfortunes and crimes, she was consoled by the forgiveness andthe prayers of young De Lancey, now Marquis of Doncaster.
The whole unfathomable abyss of Henry's feelings and affections was nowirradiated with hope, and he felt himself almost overwhelmed by thetorrent of happiness about to pour upon him, when, hiding his face withhis hands, tears of indescribable--of almost insufferable joy gushedfrom his eyes. The change seemed sudden as spring, bursting forthamidst the arid deserts of Siberia, after the snow has been melted awayin the night, and the barren ground is, as by magic, clothed withblossoms, and warmed with sunshine. It appeared as if a word might yetbreak the charm--as if he might awaken and find the whole a dream ofenchantment, but the crowning of all his earthly joy, was, when he atlength claimed, in the open face of day, that true, constant, anddisinterested affection of Caroline Smythe, which had so long been tohim like a spring of water in the desert to a lonely traveller,cheering and refreshing his heart in the long pilgrimage of life.
Oh, doubly sweet is sunshine after rain, Rest after toil, port after stormy seas.
The language of happy love, interesting above all else to the partiesthemselves, is uninteresting to others, but who ever had a brighter lotthan Caroline and Henry, while they looked far into the future,anticipating together a long life of mutual confidence, cheered by "thesoul's calm sunshine, and the heart's best joy."
"I begin now to fancy nobody in the world happy but myself!" exclaimedHenry, gaily. "I am almost ashamed to be so much better off than Ideserve! but, as Lady Townly says, Caroline, 'We must squeeze as littleas possible of the lemon into our matrimonial sherbet!'"
"Must I actually give up the delightful romance of loving you as afriendless adventurer, H
enry? What would Lydia Languish have said tosuch a droll, every-day, common-place reality? I do not absolutely hateyou," said Caroline, with a conscious laugh, and a slight relapse intoher usual capricious vivacity, "but we must have one little quarrelyet! There is a circumstance respecting me, which has hitherto, forvery good reasons, been kept secret, and now, it must, mostunfortunately, come out!"
"What can that be?" asked Henry, smilingly watching the variations ofCaroline's countenance. "I am quite as ready for a quarrel as you are;therefore tell me the worst at once!"
"It is an objection against me which I heard you once say would, in anycase, be insuperable!" added Caroline, archly. "When all is told, youwill certainly change your mind!"
"Then I shall be much changed, indeed! What magical spell do you intendto use?"
"Henry! you made a rash vow once, in my hearing, never to marry anheiress," said Caroline, trying to speak in a tone of gravity, andlooking away. "Would you not abhor and avoid the heiress of HowardAbbey, including all the broad acres of Beaujolie Manor?"
Henry looked at Caroline in silent perplexity; but the blush, thefrolicsome laugh, and the air of arch caprice with which she spoke, allat once enlightened his mind, and, seizing her hand with the mostlover-like _empressement_, he gaily exclaimed, "Well, Caroline! sinceit must be so, I forgive you for being an heiress; but in no one whom Iliked less could I have endured this! I love you in spite of it! I do,indeed! You merited already more than I ever can offer; but, Caroline,we love each other truly; and, for better, as well as for worse, Ishall love you forever!"
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