CHAPTER LXXIII
As the autumn came on, a great south-west gale burst over Madeira, andwent sweeping away up the Bay of Biscay. It blew for three days andnights, and was one of the heaviest on record. When it first began,the English mail was due; but when it passed there were still no signsof her, and prophets of evil were not wanting who went to and froshaking their heads, and suggesting that she had probably foundered inthe Bay.
Two more days went by, and there were still no signs of her, thoughthe telegraph told them that she had left Southampton Docks at theappointed time and date. By this time, people in Madeira could talk ofnothing else.
"Well, Arthur, no signs of the _Roman?_" said Mildred, on the fifthday.
"No, the _Garth Castle_ is due in to-day. Perhaps she may have heardsomething of her."
"Yes," said Miss Terry, absently; "she may have fallen in with some ofthe wreckage."
"I must say that is a cheerful suggestion," answered Arthur. "She isan awful old tub, and, I daresay, ran before the gale for Vigo, thatis all."
"Let us hope so," said Mildred, doubtfully. "What is it, John?"
"The housemaid wishes to speak to you, please, ma'am."
"Very good, I will come."
It has been hinted that Agatha Terry was looking absent on the morningin question. There was a reason for it. For some time past there hadbeen growing up in the bosom of this excellent lady a consciousnessthat things were not altogether as they should be. Miss Terry was notclever, indeed it may be said that she was dense, but still she couldnot but see that there was something odd in the relations betweenArthur and Mildred. For instance, it struck her as unusual that twopersons who were not married, nor even, so far as she knew, engaged,should habitually call each other "dear," and even sometimes"dearest."
But on the previous evening, when engaged in a search after thatspecies of beetle that loves the night, she chanced to come across thepair standing together on the museum verandah, and, to her horror, shesaw, even in that light, that Mildred's arm was round Arthur's neck,and her head was resting on his heart. Standing aghast, she saw more;for presently Mildred raised her hand, and, drawing Arthur's head downto the level of her own, kissed him upon the face.
There was no doubt about it, it was a most deliberate kiss--a kisswithout any extenuating circumstances. He was not even going away, andAgatha could only come to one conclusion, that they were either goingto be married--or "they ought to be."
She sought no more beetles that evening, but on the following morning,when Mildred departed to see the housemaid, leaving Arthur and herselftogether on the verandah, she thought it was her "duty" to seek alittle information.
"Arthur," she said, with a beating heart, "I want to ask yousomething. Are you engaged to Mildred?"
He hesitated, and then answered.
"No, I suppose not, Miss Terry."
"Nor married to her?"
"No; why do you ask?"
"Because I think you ought to be."
"I quite agree with you. I suppose that you have noticed something?"
"Yes, I have. I saw her kissing you, Arthur."
He blushed like a girl.
"Oh, Arthur," she went on, bursting into tears, "don't let this sortof thing go on, or poor Mildred will lose her reputation; and you mustknow what a dreadful thing that is for any woman. Why don't you marryher?"
"Because she refused to marry me."
"And yet--and yet she kisses you--like that!" added Miss Terry, as thepeculiar fervour of the embrace in question came back to herrecollection. "Ah, I don't know what to think."
"Best not think about it at all, Miss Terry. It won't bearreflection."
"Oh, Arthur, how could you?"
He looked very uncomfortable as he answered--
"I know that I must seem a dreadful brute to you. I daresay I am; but,Miss Terry, it would, under all the circumstances, be much more to thepoint, if you insisted on Mildred's marrying me."
"I dare not. You do not know Mildred. She would never submit to itfrom me."
"Then I must; and, what is more, I will do it now."
"Thank you, Arthur, thank you. I cannot tell you how grateful I am toyou."
"There is no need to be grateful to the author of this mischief."
"And supposing she refuses--what will you do then?"
"Then I think that I shall go away at once. Hush! here she comes."
"Well, Arthur, what are you and Agatha plotting together? You bothlook serious enough."
"Nothing, Mildred--that is, only another sea-voyage."
Mildred glanced at him uneasily. She did not like the tone in hisvoice.
"I have a bit of bad news for you, Arthur. That fool, that idiot,Jane"--and she stamped her little foot upon the pavement--"has upsetthe mummy hyacinth-pot and broken the flower off just as it was cominginto bloom. I have given her a quarter's wages and her passage back toEngland, and packed her off."
"Why, Mildred," remonstrated Miss Terry, "what a fuss to make about aflower!"
She turned on her almost fiercely.
"I had rather have broken my arm, or anything short of my neck, thanthat she should have broken that flower. Arthur planted it, and nowthe clumsy girl has destroyed it," and Mildred looked as though shewere going to cry.
As there was nothing more to be said, Miss Terry went away. As soon asshe was gone, Mildred turned to Arthur and said--
"You were right, Arthur; we shall never see it bloom in this world."
"Never mind about the flower, dear; it cannot be helped. I want tospeak to you of something more important. Miss Terry saw you kiss melast night, and she not unnaturally is anxious to know what it allmeans."
"And did you tell her?"
"Yes."
It was Mildred's turn to blush now.
"Mildred, you must listen to me. This cannot go on any more; eitheryou must marry me, or----"
"Or what?"
"Or I must go away. At present our whole life is a lie."
"Do you really wish me to marry you, Arthur?"
"I not only wish it, I think it necessary."
"Have you nothing more to say than that?"
"Yes, I have to say that I will do my best to make you a good andfaithful husband, and that I am sure you will make me a good wife."
She dropped her face upon her hands and thought.
Just then Miss Terry came hurrying up.
"Oh, Arthur!" she said, "just think, the _Roman_ is in, after all, butall her boats are gone, and they say that half of her passengers andcrew are washed overboard; do go down and see about it."
He hesitated a little.
"Go, dear," whispered Mildred. "I want time to think. I will give youmy answer this afternoon."
Mildred sat still on the verandah thinking, but she had not been theremany minutes before a servant came with her English letters that hadbeen brought by the unfortunate _Roman_, and at the same time informedher that the _Garth Castle_ had been sighted, and would anchor in afew hours. Mildred reflected that it was not often they got twoEnglish mails in one day. She began idly turning over the packetbefore her. Of late letters had lost much of their interest forMildred.
Presently, however, her hand made a movement of almost electricswiftness, and the colour left her face as she seized a stout envelopedirected in a hand of peculiar delicacy to "Arthur Heigham, Esq., careof Mrs. Carr, Madeira." Mildred knew the handwriting, she had seen itin Arthur's pocket-book. It was Angela Caresfoot's. Next to it therewas another letter addressed to Arthur in a hand that she did notknow, but bearing the same postmarks, "Bratham" and "Roxham." She putthem both aside, and then took up the thick letter and examined it. Ithad two peculiarities--first, it was open, having come unsealed intransit, and been somewhat roughly tied up with a piece of twine; andsecondly, it contained some article of jewellery. Indeed, by dint of alittle pressing on the outside paper, she was able to form a prettyaccurate opinion as to what it was. It was a ring. If she had turnedpale befor
e when she saw the letter, she was paler still now.
"Heavens," she thought, "why does she send him a ring? Has anythinghappened to her husband? If she is a free woman, I am lost."
Mildred looked at the letter lying open before her, and a terribletemptation took possession of her. She took it up and put it downagain, and then again she took it up, wiping the cold perspirationfrom her forehead.
"My whole life is at stake," she thought.
Then she hesitated no longer, but, taking the letter, slipped off thepiece of twine, and drew its contents from the envelope. The firstthing to fall out, wrapped in a little cotton-wool, was the ring. Shelooked at it, and recognized it as Arthur's engagement ring, the samethat Lady Bellamy had taken with her. Then, putting aside thestatement, she deliberately unfolded the letter, and read it.
Do not think too hardly of her, my reader. The temptation was verysore. But, when one yields to temptation, retribution is notunfrequently hard upon its track, and it would only have beennecessary to watch Mildred's face to see that, if she had sinned, thesin went hand in hand with punishment. In turn, it took an expressionof astonishment, grief, awe, and despair. She read the letter to thelast word, then she took the statement, and glanced through it,smiling once or twice as she read. Next she replaced everything in theenvelope, and, taking it, together with the other letter addressed toArthur, unbuttoned the top of her loose-bodied white dress, and placedthem in her bosom.
"It is over," she said to herself. "I can never marry him now. Thatwoman is as far above me as the stars, and, sooner or later, he wouldfind it all out. He must go, ah, God! he must go to marry _her_. Whyshould I not destroy these letters, and marry him to-morrow? bind himto me by a tie that no letters can ever break? What! purchase hispresence at the price of his daily scorn? Oh, such water is too bitterfor me to drink! I have sinned against you, Arthur, but I will sin nomore. Good-bye, my dear, good-bye."
And she laid her throbbing head upon the rail of the verandah, andwept bitterly.
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