The Masked Bridal

by Mrs. Georgie Sheldon

  CHAPTER XXXI.

  RECORDS SOME STARTLING DEVELOPMENTS.

  The gentleman caller referred to in the last chapter was closeted withMrs. Goddard for fully two hours, when he quietly left the house.

  A few moments later, however, he returned, accompanied by two othermen--clerks from a neighboring drug store--whom he admitted with alatch-key, and then conducted them up to Mrs. Goddard's boudoir.

  The strangers did not remain long; whatever their errand, it was soonfinished, and they departed as silently as they had come.

  Mr. Clayton remained some time longer, conversing with the mistress ofthe house, but their business being finally concluded, he also wentaway, bearing a package of papers with him.

  Emil Correlli returned just in season for dinner, which, however, hewas obliged to partake of alone, as Mr. and Mrs. Goddard did not maketheir appearance at the table.

  The young man paid slight heed to ceremony, but after eating a hastymeal, sought his sister and informed her that he was going to startfor New York on the late evening train.

  The woman gave him one wild, startled glance, and seemed strangelyagitated for a moment over his announcement.

  He could not fail to notice her emotion, and that she was excessivelypale.

  "You look like a ghost, Anna," he remarked, as he searched her facewith some anxiety. "What is the matter with you? I fear you are goingto be ill."

  "I am ill," she said, in a hoarse, unnatural tone.

  "Then let me call your physician," said her brother, eagerly. "I amgoing out immediately, and will leave a message for him."

  "No, no," she nervously replied; then with a hollow laugh that smoteheavily upon her companion's heart, she added: "My case is beyond thereach of Dr. Hunt or any other physician."

  "Anna, have you been quarreling with Gerald again?"

  "Yes," was the brief response.

  "Well, of course I can understand that such matters are beyond theskill of any physician," said the young man, with a half-impatientshrug of his shoulders; "neither have I any business to interferebetween you," he added; "but my advice would be to make it up as soonas possible, and then try to live peaceably in the future. I do notlike to leave you looking so white and miserable, but I must go. Takegood care of yourself, and I shall hope to find you better and happierwhen I return."

  He bent down to give her a farewell caress, and was amazed by thepassion she manifested in returning it.

  She threw her arms around his neck and held him in a convulsiveembrace, while she quivered from head to foot with repressed emotion.

  She did not utter one word of farewell, but a wild sob burst from her;then, as if she could bear no more, she pushed him from her and rushedinto her chamber, shutting and locking the door behind her.

  Emil Correlli left the boudoir, a puzzled expression on his handsomeface; for, although his sister was subject to strange attacks, he hadnever seen her like this before.

  "Anna will come to grief some day with that cursed temper of hers," hemuttered, as he went to his room to pack his portmanteau, but he wastoo intent upon his own affairs to dwell long upon even the trouble ofhis sister, and a couple of hours later was on his way to New York tobegin his search for his runaway bride.

  The next morning Mrs. Goddard was "too ill to rise," she told hermaid, when she came at the usual hour to her door. She would not admither, but sent word to her husband that she could not join him atbreakfast.

  He went up later to see if she would allow him to call a physician forher, but she would not see him, simply telling him she "would do wellenough without advice--all she needed was rest, and she did not wishto be disturbed by any one until she rang."

  Feeling deeply disappointed and depressed by her unusual obstinacy,the wretched man went downstairs and shut himself into the library,where he remained all day, while there was such an atmosphere ofloneliness and desolation about the house that even the servantsappeared to feel it, and went about with solemn faces and almoststealthy steps.

  Could any one have looked behind those closed doors he could not havefailed to have experienced a feeling of pity for the man; for if evera human being went down into the valley of humiliation, Gerald Goddardsounded its uttermost depths, while he battled alone with all thepowers of evil that beset his soul.

  When night came he was utterly exhausted, and sought his couch,looking at least ten years older than he had appeared forty-eighthours previous.

  He slept heavily and dreamlessly, and did not awake till late, whenan imperative knock upon the door and a voice, calling in distress,caused him to spring suddenly from his bed, and impressed him with asense of impending evil.

  "What is it, Mary?" he inquired, upon recognizing the voice of hiswife's maid.

  "Oh, sir! come--come to madam; she is very ill!" cried the girl, in afrightened tone.

  "I will be there immediately. Send James for the doctor, and then goback to her," commanded her master, as he hurriedly began to dress.

  Five minutes later he was in his wife's room, to find her lying uponthe lounge, just as he had seen her thirty-six hours previous.

  It was evident that she had not been in bed at all for two nights, forshe still had on the same dress that she had worn at the Copley SquareHotel.

  But the shadow of death was on her white face; her eyes were glazed,and though only partially closed, it was evident that she saw nothing.

  She was still breathing, but faintly and irregularly. Her hands wereicy cold, and at the base of the nails there was the unmistakablepurple tint that indicated approaching dissolution.

  Gerald Goddard was shocked beyond measure to find her thus, but hearose to the occasion.

  With his own hands and the assistance of the maid, he removed herclothing, then wrapped her in blankets and put her in bed, when hecalled for hot water bottles to place around her, hoping thus byartificial heat to quicken the sluggish circulation and her failingpulses.

  But apparently there was no change in her, and when the physician cameand made his examination, he told them plainly that "no effort couldavail; it was a case of sudden heart failure, and the end was but aquestion of moments."

  Mr. Goddard was horrified and stricken with remorse at the hopelessverdict, for it seemed to him that he was in a measure accountable forthe untimely shock which was fast depriving of life this woman whohad loved him so passionately, though unwisely.

  He put his lips to her ear and called her by name.

  "Anna! Anna! You must try to arouse yourself," he cried, in a voice ofagony.

  At first the appeal seemed to produce no effect, but after severalattempts he thought he detected a gleam of intelligence in the almostsightless eyes, while the cold fingers resting on his hand made aneffort to close over his.

  These slight signs convinced him that though she was past the power ofspeech, she yet knew him and clung to him, in spite of the clutchwhich the relentless enemy of all mankind had laid upon her.

  "Doctor, she knows me!" he exclaimed. "Pray give her some stimulant toarouse her dormant faculties, if only for a moment."

  "I fear it will be of no use," the physician replied, "but I willtry."

  He hurriedly prepared and administered a powerful restorative; thenthey waited with breathless interest for several moments for some signof improvement.

  It came at last; she began to breathe a trifle more regularly; the setfeatures became a little less rigid, and the pulse a shade stronger,until finally the white lids were lifted and the dying woman turnedher eyes with a pitiful expression of appeal upon the man whom, evenin death, she still adored.

  "Leave us alone!" commanded Gerald Goddard, in a hoarse whisper, andphysician and servants stole noiselessly from the room.

  "Anna, you know me--you understand what I am saying?" the wretched manthen questioned.

  A slight pressure from the cold fingers was the only reply.

  "You know that you are dying?" he pursued.

  Again that faint sign of assent.

  "
Then, dear, let us be at peace before you go," he pleaded, gently."My soul bows in humiliation and remorse before you; for years I havewronged you. I wronged you in those first days in Rome. I have noexcuse to offer. I simply tell you that my spirit is crushed within meas I look back and realize all that I am accountable for. I would havebeen glad to atone, as far as was in my power, could you have lived toshare my future. Give me some sign of forgiveness to tell me that youretract those last bitter words of hate--to let me feel that in thisfinal moment we part in peace."

  At his pleading a look of agony dawned in the woman's failing eyes--alook so pitiful in its yearning and despair that the strong man brokedown and sobbed from sorrow and contrition; but the sign he had beggedfor was not given.

  "Oh, Anna! pray show me, in some way, that you will not die hatingme," he pleaded. "Forgive--oh, forgive!"

  At those last words those almost palsied fingers closed convulsivelyover his; the look of agony in those dusky orbs was superseded by oneof adoration and tenderness; a faint expression of something likepeace crept into the tense lines about the drawn mouth, and therepentant watcher knew that she would not go out into the greatunknown bearing in her heart a relentless hatred against him.

  That effort was the last flicker of the expiring flame, for the whitelids drooped over the dark eyes; the cold fingers relaxed their hold,and Gerald Goddard knew the end had almost come.

  He touched the bell, and the physician instantly re-entered the room.

  "It is almost over," he remarked, as he went to the bedside, and hispracticed fingers sought her pulse.

  Even as he spoke her breast heaved once--then again, and all wasstill.

  Who shall describe the misery that surged over Gerald Goddard's soulas he looked upon the still form and realized that the grandlybeautiful woman, who for twenty years had reigned over his home, wasno more--that never again would he hear her voice, either in words offond adoration or in passionate anger; never see her again, arrayed inthe costly apparel and gleaming jewels which she so loved, minglingwith the gay people of the world, or graciously entertaining guests inher own house?

  He felt almost like a murderer; for, in spite of Dr. Hunt's verdictthat she had died of "sudden heart failure," he feared that the proudwoman had been so crushed by what she had overheard in IsabelStewart's apartments that she had voluntarily ended her life.

  It was only a dim suspicion--a vague impression, for there was not theslightest evidence of anything of the kind, and he would never dare togive voice to it to any human being; nevertheless, it pressed heavilyupon his soul with a sense of guilt that was almost intolerable.

  A message was immediately sent flying over the wires to New York toinform Emil Correlli of the sad news, and eight hours later he wasback in Boston crushed for the time by the loss of the sister for whomhe entertained perhaps the purest love of which his selfish heart wascapable of experiencing.

  We will not dwell upon the harrowing events of the next few days.

  Suffice it to say that society, or that portion of it that had knownthe brilliant Mrs. Goddard, was greatly shocked by the sudden death ofone of its "brightest ornaments," and gracefully mourned her bycovering her costly casket with choicest flowers; then closed up itsranks and went its way, trying to forget the pale charger which theyknew would come again and again upon his grim errand.

  The day following Anna Correlli's interment in Forest Hill Cemetery,Mr. Goddard and his brother-in-law were waited upon by the well-knownlawyer, Arthur Clayton, who informed them that he had an importantcommunication to make to them.

  "Two days previous to her death I received this note from Mrs.Goddard," he remarked, at the same time handing a daintily perfumedmissive to the elder gentleman. "In it you will observe that she asksme to come to her immediately. I obeyed her, and found her lookingvery ill, and seemingly greatly distressed in body and mind. She toldme she was impressed that she had not long to live--that she had anaffection of the heart that warned her to put her affairs in order.She desired me to draw up a will at once, according to herinstructions, and have it signed and witnessed before I left thehouse. I did so, calling in at her request two witnesses from aneighboring drug store, after which she gave the will into my keeping,to be retained until her death. This is the document, gentlemen," heremarked, in conclusion, "and here, also, is another communication,which she wrote herself and directed me to hand to you, sir."

  He arose and passed both the will and the letter to Mr. Goddard, whohad seemed greatly agitated while he was speaking.

  He simply took the letter, remarking:

  "Since you are already acquainted with the contents of the will, sir,will you kindly read it aloud in our presence?"

  Mr. Clayton flushed slightly as he bowed acquiescence.

  The document proved to be very short and to the point, and bequeathedeverything that the woman had possessed--"excepting what the law wouldallow as Gerald Goddard's right"--to her beloved brother, EmilCorrelli, who was requested to pay the servants certain amounts whichshe named.

  That was all, and Mr. Goddard knew that in the heat of her angeragainst him she had made this rash disposition of her property--as shehad the right to do, since it had all been settled upon her--to berevenged upon him by leaving him entirely dependent upon his ownresources.

  At first he experienced a severe shock at her act, for the thought ofpoverty was anything but agreeable to him.

  He had lived a life of idleness and pleasure for so many years that itwould not be an easy matter for him to give up the many luxuries towhich he had been accustomed without a thought or care concerningtheir cost.

  But after the first feeling of dismay had passed, a sense of relieftook possession of him; for, with his suspicions regarding the causeof Anna's death, he knew that he could never have known one moment ofcomfort in living upon her fortune, even had she left it unreservedlyto him rather than to her brother.

  Emil Correlli was made sole executor of the estate; and, as there wasnothing further for Mr. Clayton to do after reading the will, hequietly took his departure leaving the two men to discuss it at theirleisure.