CHAPTER XI.
"Madam, I ordered the prisoner's head shaved. Did you understand myinstructions?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why were my orders not obeyed?"
"Because I don't intend you shall make a convict of her, before she hasbeen tried and sentenced. She has the most glorious suit of hair I everlooked at, and I shall save it till the last moment. Doctor Moffat, youneed not swear and fume, for I don't allow even my husband to talk uglyto me. You directed a blister put on the back of the neck, as close aspossible to the skull; it is there, and it is drawing fast enough tosatisfy any reasonable person. I divided the hair into four braids andplaited them, and you can see I have hung up the ends here just looseenough to save any pulling, and yet the hair is out of the way, so thatI keep her head cool with this India-rubber ice-bag. I will beresponsible for the blister."
Mrs. Singleton spread her arms over the sick girl, as a hen sheltersher brood from a swooping hawk.
"But, Susie, the Doctor knows better what is--"
"Hush, Ned. Perhaps he does; but I 'detailed' myself to nurse thiscase; and I don't propose to surrender all my common sense, and all mywomanly judgment, and maternal experience, in order to keep the Doctorin a good humor. I will have my own head shaved before hers shall betouched."
Mr. Singleton discreetly withdrew from the conference, softly closingthe door behind him; and Doctor Moffat bent over the thermometer withwhich he was testing the temperature. When he raised his head, a kindlysmile lurked in his deep set eyes:
"I can't afford to quarrel with you, madam; you are too faithful andwatchful a nurse. After all, the chances are, that it will ultimatelymake very little difference; she grows worse so rapidly. I will come inagain before bed-time, and meanwhile make no change in the medicine."
The warden's wife replenished the ice in a bowl, whence a tube suppliedthe cap or bag on the head of the sufferer, and taking a child's apronfrom her work-basket on the floor, resumed her sewing. After a while,the door opened noiselessly, and glancing up, she saw Mr. Dunbar.
"May I come in?"
"Yes. You need repentance; and this is a good place to begin."
"Is there any change?"
"Only for the worse. No need now to tip-toe; she is beyond beingdisturbed by noise. I think the first sound she will notice, will bethe harps of the angels."
"I trust the case is not so hopeless?"
"Queer heart you must have! You are afraid she will slip through yourfingers, and get to heaven without the help of the gallows and theblack cap? Death cheats even the lawyers, sometimes, and seems to besnatching at your prey. You don't believe in prayer, and you have notime to waste that way. I do; and I get down here constantly on myknees, and pray to my God to take this poor young thing out of theworld now, before you all convict her, and punish her for crimes shenever committed."
"Madam, her conviction would grieve me as much as it possibly couldyou; and unless she can vindicate herself, I earnestly hope she maynever recover her consciousness."
The unmistakable sincerity of his tone surprised the little woman, andscanning him keenly as he stood, hat in hand, at the foot of the cot,her heart relented toward him.
"You still consider her guilty?"
"Since my last interview with her, I have arrived at no conclusion.Whether she be innocent or guilty, is known only by her, and her God.All human judgments in such cases are but guesses at the truth. Is sheentirely unconscious, or has she lucid intervals?"
"Mr. Dunbar, on your honor as a gentleman, answer me. Are you herehunting evidence on a death-bed? Would you be so diabolical as to useagainst her any utterances of delirium?" The flash of his eyesreminded her of the peculiar blue flame that leaps from a glowing bedof anthracite coal; and she had her reply before his lips moved.
"Am I a butcher, madam? Your insinuations are so insulting to mymanhood, that it is difficult for me to remember my interrogator is alady; doubly difficult for me to show you the courtesy your sexdemands. Sooner than betray the secrets of a sick room, or violate thesanctity of the confidence which that poor girl's condition enjoins, Iwould cut off my right arm."
"I intend no discourtesy, sir; but my feelings are so deeply enlisted,that I cannot stop to choose and pick phrases, in talking to the personwho caused that child to be shut up here. She thinks you are the mostvindictive and dangerous enemy she has; and I had no reason tocontradict her. Don't be offended, Mr. Dunbar."
He deigned no answer, but the dilation of his thin nostrils, and thestern contraction of his handsome lips, attested his wrath. Mrs.Singleton rose and laid her fingers on his coat sleeve.
"If I felt sure I could trust you--"
"I decline your confidence. Madam, if I could only tell you, that yourvile suspicions are too contemptible to merit the indignation theyarouse, I should to some extent feel relieved."
"Then having said it, I will let you off without an apology; and wipethe slate, and start fresh. You are sensitive about your honor, and Iam determined to find out just how much it is worth. Trusting you as anhonorable gentleman, I am going to ask you to do something for me,which may be of service to my patient; and I ask it, because I haveunlimited faith in your skill. Find out who 'Ricordo' is."
"Why? I must thoroughly understand the import of whatever I undertake,and if your reasons are too sacred to be communicated to me, you mustselect some other agent. I do not solicit your confidence, mark you;but I must know all, or nothing."
"The day she was taken so ill, I was undressing her, and she looked atme very strangely, and said she believed she was losing her mind. Thenshe raised her hands and prayed:
"'Lord, be merciful! Lord, seal my lips! Seal my lips!'
"Since then she has not known me, but several times she cried out'Ricordo'! Last night she sat up suddenly, and stared at something sheseemed to see right before her in the air. She shook her head at first,and said--'Oh, no! it cannot be possible'. Then she clutched at someinvisible object, and a look of horror came into her eyes. She struckher palms together, and I never heard such an agonizing cry, 'There isno help! I must believe it--oh Ricordo!--Ricordo--Ricordo'. She fellback and shivered as if she had an ague. I tried to soothe her, andtold her she had a bad dream. She kept saying: 'Oh, horrible--it was,it was Ricordo!' Once, early this morning, she pulled me down to herand whispered: 'Don't tell mother--it would break her heart to know itwas Ricordo!' She has not spoken distinctly since, though she muttersto herself. Now, Mr. Dunbar, if I did not feel as sure of her innocenceas I am of my own, I should never tell you this; but I want your aid tohunt and catch this 'Ricordo', because I am satisfied it will help toclear her."
"Was it not 'Ricardo'?"
"No, sir--it sounded as if spelled with an o not an a--and it was'Ricordo'."
"Ricardo is a proper name, but I am under the impression that 'Ricordo'is an Italian word that means simply a remembrance, a souvenir,sometimes a warning. I am glad, however, to have the clue, and I willdo all I can to discover what connection exists between that word, andthe crime. Can you tell me nothing more?"
"Sometimes she seems to be drawing and painting, and talks to herfather about pictures; and once she said: 'Hush! hush--mother is ill.She must not know I died, because I promised her I would beareverything. She made me promise'."
At this moment the keen wail of a young child, summoned the warden'swife to her own apartment, and Mr. Dunbar sat down in the rocking-chairbeside the iron cot.
In that strange terra incognita, the realm of psychology, are therehidden laws that defy alike the ravages of cerebral disease, and theintuitions of the moral nature; inexorable as the atomic affinities,the molecular attractions that govern crystallization? Is the daydawning, when the phenomena of hypnotism will be analyzed andformulated as accurately as the symbols of chemistry, or theconstituents of protoplasm, or the weird chromatics of spectroscopy?Beryl's head, that hitherto had turned restlessly on its pillow, becamemotionless; the closed eyes opened suddenly, fastened upon thelawyer's; and some inexpli
cable influence impelled her to stretch outher hand to him.
"Tiberius, you have come for me."
"I have come to ask if you are better to-day."
Her burning fingers closed tightly over his, and the fever flame lentan indescribable splendor to eyes that seemed to penetrate his heart.Bending over her, he gently lifted a shining fold of hair from herwhite temple, and still clasping her hand, said in a low voice:
"Beryl, do you know me? Are you better?"
"Wait till I finish the sketch from San Michele. After I am hung, youwill sell it. The light is so lovely."
Up and down, her right hand moved through the air, making imaginarystrokes as on canvas, but her luminous gaze, held by some powerfulfascination, never left his. The gray depths had darkened, swallowed bythe widening pupils that made them almost black; and as Mr. Dunbarrecognized the complete surrender of physical and mental faculties, herhelplessness stirred some unknown sea of tenderness in the man's hard,practical, realistic nature.
Phlegmatic rather than emotional, and wholly secretive, he hadaccustomed himself to regard romantic ideality, and susceptibility tosentimentality as a species of intellectual anaemia; holding himselfalways thoroughly in hand, when subjected to the softening influencesthat now and then invaded professional existence, and melted theconventional selfish crust over the hearts of his colleagues, as thewarm lips and balmy breath of equatorial currents kiss away the jaggedledges of drifting icebergs. In his laborious life, that which isordinarily denominated "love" had been so insignificant a factor, thathe had never computed its potentiality; much less realized itstremendous importance in solving the problem of his social, financial,and professional success. Beauty had not allured, nor grace enthralledhis fancy; and his betrothal was a mere incident in the quiet tenor ofbusiness routine, a necessary means for the accomplishment of acherished plan.
To-day, while those hot slender fingers clung to his, and he leanedover the pillow, watching his victim, a rising tide surged, rolled upfrom some unexplored ocean of strange sensations, and its devouringwaves threatened to demolish and engulf the stately structure pride andambition had combined to rear. A brilliant alliance that insured greatwealth, that promised a secure stepping-stone to political preferment,was apparently a substantial bulwark against the swelling billows of anunaccountable whim; yet he was impotent to resist the yearningtenderness which impelled him to forget all else, in one determinedeffort to rescue and shelter the life he had been the chief agent inimperilling. Clear eyed, keen witted, he did not for an instant deceivehimself; and he knew that neither compassion for misfortune, nor yet achivalrous remorse for having consigned a helpless woman to a dungeon,explained this new emotion that threatened to dominate all others.
Cool reason assured him that under existing entanglements, the girl'sspeedy death would prove the most felicitous solution of this devouringriddle, which so unexpectedly crossed his smooth path; then what meantthe vehement protest of his throbbing heart, the passionate longing tosnatch her from disease, and disgrace, and keep her safe forever in theclose cordon of his arms?
The door was cautiously opened and closed, and noiselessly as aphantom, Leo Gordon stood within the room. One swift survey enabled herto grasp all the details. The small, comfortless, dismal apartment, thebarred narrow window, the bare floor, the low iron cot in one corner,with its beautiful burden; the watching attitude of the man, who foryears had possessed her heart. Resting one elbow on his knee, his chinleaned on his left hand, but the light fell full on his handsome face,and she started, marvelled at the expression of the brilliant eyesfixed upon the sufferer; eyes suffused and eloquent with tenderness,never before seen in their cold sparkling depths.
Mighty indeed must be the compassion, evocative of that intenseyearning look in his usually guarded, irresponsive countenance. Apainfully humiliating sense of her own personal incompetence to arousethe feeling, so legibly printed on her lover's features, jarred uponLeo's heart like a twanging dissonance breaking the harmonious flow ofminor chords; but a noble pity strangled this jealous thrill, and shesoftly approached the cot.
The rustle of her dress attracted his attention, and glancing up, hesaw his betrothed at his side. One might have counted ten, while theysilently regarded each other; and as if conscious of having unmaskedsome disloyalty, scarcely yet acknowledged to himself, haughty defiancehardened and darkened his face. Involuntarily his hold on Beryl'sfingers tightened.
"Prison wards are not proper fields for the cultivation and display ofMiss Gordon's amateur kid glove charity. I hope, at least, it was aspecies of exaggerated high-flown sentimentality, rather than merefeminine curiosity that tempted you to precincts revolting to thedelicacy and refinement with which my imagination invested you."
"My motives I shall not submit to the crucible of your criticism; and alittle reflection will probably suggest to you, that perhaps you areunduly enlarging the limits, and prematurely exercising the rights ofanticipated censorship. There are blunders that trench closely upon theborders of crime, and if professional zeal has betrayed you into thecommission of a great wrong upon an innocent woman, it is a sacred dutyto your victim, as well as my privilege as your betrothed, to alleviateher suffering as much as possible, and to repair the injury for whichyou are responsible. When human life and reputation are at stake,hypercritical fastidiousness is less pardonable than the deplorablemistake that endangers both."
"And if I have not blundered; and she be guilty?"
"Then your presence here, can only be explained by motives so malignantand contemptible, that I blush to ascribe them to you."
"If I am morbidly sensitive about your line of conduct you shouldunderstand and pardon my jealous espionage."
"If I, realizing that you are act infallible, entertain a nervous dreadthat unintentionally you may have inflicted an irreparable wrong, youat least should not feel offended, because I am sensitive as regardsreflections upon your honor as a gentleman, and your astuteness as alawyer."
Her fair face had flushed; his grew pale.
"Leo, is this to be our first quarrel?"
"If so, you are entitled to the role of protagonist."
He put out his left hand, and took hers, while his right was closelyclasping one that lay upon the chintz coverlid.
What strange obliquity of vision, what inscrutable perversity possessedhim, he asked himself, as he looked up at the slight elegant figure,clad in costly camel's-hair garments, with Russian sables wrapped abouther delicate throat, with a long drifting plume casting flickeringshadows over her sweet flowerlike face; the attractive embodiment ofpatrician birth and environment of riches, and all that the worldvalues most--then down at the human epitome of wretchedness,represented by a bronze-crowned head, with singularly magnetic eyes,crimsoned cheeks, and a perfect mouth, whose glowing, fever-rouged lipswere curved in a shadowy smile, as she muttered incoherently ofincidents, connected with the life of a poverty-stricken adventuress?Was friendly fate flying danger signals by arranging and accentuatingthis vivid contrast, in order to recall his vagrant wits, to cement hiswavering allegiance?
He was a brave man, but he shivered slightly, as he confronted his owninsurgent and defiant heart; and involuntarily, his fingers droppedLeo's, and his right hand tightened on the hot palm throbbing againstit.
On that dark tossing main, where delirium drove Beryl's consciousnessto and fro like a rudderless wreck, did some mysterious communion ofspirits survive? Did some subtle mesmeric current telegraph her soul,that her foul wrongs were at last avenged? Whatever the cause,certainly a strangely clear, musical laugh broke suddenly from herlovely lips, mingled with a triumphant "Che sara, sara!" The heavy lidsslowly drooped, the head turned wearily away.
Smothering a long drawn sigh, which his pride throttled, Mr. Dunbarrose and stood beside his fiancee.
"You have been feeling her pulse, how is the fever?" asked Leo.
"About as high as it can mount. The pulse is frightfully rapid. I didnot even attempt to count it."
&n
bsp; "Mrs. Singleton tells me she is entirely unconscious--recognizes noone."
"At times, I think she has partly lucid glimpses; for instance, alittle while ago she called me 'Tiberius', the same appellation sheunaccountably bestowed on me the day of her preliminary examination.Evidently she associates me with every cruel, brutal monster, and evenin delirium maintains her aversion."
Miss Gordon's hand stole into his, pressing it gently in muteattestation of sympathy. After a moment, she said in a low tone:
"She is very beautiful. What a noble, pure face? How exquisitely turnedher white throat, and wrists, and hands."
He merely inclined his head in assent.
"It seems a profanation to connect the idea of crime with so lovely andrefined a woman. Lennox?"
He turned, and looked into her brown eyes, which were misty with tears.
"Well, my dear Leo, what is burdening your generous heart?"
"Do you, can you, believe her guilty? Her whole appearance is apowerful protest."
"Appearances are sometimes fatally false. I think you told me, that thepurest and loveliest face, guileless as an angel's, that you saw inEurope, was a portrait of Vittoria Accoramboni; yet she was veritablythe 'White Devil', 'beautiful as the leprosy, dazzling as thelightning'. Do I believe her guilty? From any other lips than yours, Ishould evade the question; but I proudly acknowledge your right to anexpression of my opinion, when--"
"I withdraw the question, because I arrogate no 'rights'. I merelydesire the privilege of sympathizing, if possible, with your views; ofsharing your anxiety in a matter involving such vital consequences.Privilege is the gift of affection; right, the stern allotment of law.Tell me nothing now; I shall value much more the privilege of receivingyour confidence unsolicited."
He took both her hands, drew her close to him, and looked steadily downinto her frank tender eyes.
"Thank you, my dear Leo. Only your own noble self could so delicatelyseek to relieve me from a painful embarrassment; but our relationsinvest you with both rights and privileges, which for my sake at least,I prefer you should exercise. You must allow me to conclude mysentence; you are entitled to my opinion--when matured. As far as I amcapable of judging, the evidence against her is--overwhelminglycondemnatory. I thought so before her arrest; believed it when herpreliminary examination ended, and subsequent incidents strengthen andconfirm that opinion; yet a theory has dawned upon me, that maypossibly lighten her culpability. I need not tell you, that I feelacutely the responsibility of having brought her here for trial, andespecially of her present pitiable condition, which causes me sleeplessnights. If she should live, I shall make some investigation in adistant quarter, which may to some extent exculpate her, by proving heran accessory instead of principal. My--generous Leo, you shall be thefirst to whom I confide my solution--when attained. I am sorelypuzzled, and harassed by conflicting conjectures; and you must bepatient with me, if I appear negligent or indifferent to the privilegesof that lovely shrine where my homage is due."
"If you felt less keenly the distressing circumstances surrounding you,I should deeply regret my misplaced confidence in your character; andcertainly you must acquit me of the selfishness that could desire toengross your attention at this juncture."
Desirous of relieving him of all apprehension relative to a possiblemisconstruction of his motives and conduct, she left one hand in his,and laid the other with a caressing touch on his arm; an unprecedenteddemonstration, which at any other time would have surprised and charmedhim.
"Ah, what a melancholy sight! So much delicate refined beauty, in thishorrible lair of human beasts! Lennox, let us hope that the mercy ofGod will call her speedily to His own bar of justice, before shesuffers the torture and degradation of trial, by earthly tribunals."
She felt the slight shudder that crept over him, the sudden start withwhich he dropped her hand, and bent once more over the cot.
"God forbid she should die now, leaving the burden of her murder on mysoul!"
His countenance was averted, but the ferver of his adjuration filledher with a vague sense of painful foreboding.
"Is it friendly to desire the preservation of a life, whose probablegoal seems the gallows, or perpetual imprisonment? Poor girl! In thechoice of awful alternatives, death would come here as an angel ofmercy."
Leo took Beryl's hand in hers, and tears filled her eyes as she notedthe symmetry of the snowy fingers, the delicate arch of the blackbrows, the exceeding beauty of the waving outline where the richmahogany-hued hair touched the forehead and temples, that gleamed likepolished marble.
"Is it friendly to wish an innocent girl to go down into her grave,leaving a name stained for all time by suspicion, if not absoluteconviction of a horrible crime?"
Mr. Dunbar spoke through set teeth, and Leo's astonishment at theexpression of his countenance, delayed an answer, which was preventedby the entrance of Mrs. Singleton.
"Miss Gordon, your uncle wishes to know whether you are ready to gohome; as he has an engagement that calls him away?"
Did Leo imagine the look of relief that seemed to brighten Mr. Dunbar'sface, as he said promptly:
"With your permission, I will see you safely down stairs, and commityou to Judge Dent's care."
Standing beside the cot, she watched Mrs. Singleton measure themedicine from a vial into a small glass. When the warden's wife kneltdown, and putting one arm under the pillow elevated it slightly, whileshe held the glass to the girl's lips, Beryl attempted to push it aside.
"Take it for me, dear child; it will make you sleep, and ease yourpain."
The beautiful eyes regarded her wistfully, then wandered to the face ofthe lawyer and rested, spellbound.
"Here, swallow this. It is not bad to take."
Mrs. Singleton patted her cheek and again essayed to administer thedraught, but without success.
"Let me try."
Mr. Dunbar took the glass, but as he bent down, the girl began toshiver as though smitten with a mortal chill. She writhed away, put outher shuddering hands to ward it off; and starting up, her eyes filledwith a look of indescribable horror and loathing, as she cried out:
"Ricordo! Oh, mother--it is Ricordo! I see, it! Father--it was my Peglihandkerchief!--with the fuchsias you drew! Father--ask Christ to pityme!"
She sank back quivering with dread, pitiable to contemplate; but aftera few moments her hands sought each other, and her trembling lips movedevidently in prayer, though the petition was inaudible. Mrs. Singletonsponged her forehead with iced water, and by degrees the convulsiveshivering became less violent. The wise nurse began in a subdued toneto sing slowly, "Nearer my God to Thee," and after a little while, thesufferer grew still, the heavy lids lifted once or twice, then closed,and the laboring brain seized on some new vision in the world offevered dreams.
Mrs. Singleton took the medicine from the attorney, and put it aside.
"Sleep is her best physic. When these nervous shivers come on, I find ahymn chanted, soothes her as it does one of my babies. Poor child! shemakes my heart ache so sometimes, that I want to scream the pain away.How people with any human nature left in them, can look at her andlisten to her pitiful cries to her dead father, and her dying mother,and her far-off God, and then believe that her poor beautiful handscould shed blood, passes my comprehension; and all such ought to go onfour feet, and browse like other brutes. I am poor, but I vow beforethe Lord, that I would not stand in your shoes, Mr. Dunbar, for all thegold in the Government vaults, and all the diamonds in Brazil."
Tears were dripping on the costly furs about Leo's neck, as she movedcloser to the attorney, and linked her arm in his:
"Mr. Dunbar, we will detain my uncle no longer. Mrs. Singleton has toldme, that one of her children is ill, had a spasm last night; and sincematernal duties are most imperative, it is impossible for her to giveundivided attention to this poor sufferer. If you will kindly take medown stairs, I will call at the 'Sheltering Arms', and secure theservices of one of the 'Sisters' who is an experienced
nurse. This willrelieve Mrs. Singleton, and we shall all feel assured that our poorgirl has careful and tender watching, and every comfort that anxioussympathy can provide."
At the Mercy of Tiberius Page 11
