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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1887-2-4, Page 7F i I.N7 .El VAGRANT WIFE Br F. W.canirs, Author of "' THE Hoose on ons Afmwn," "kr rus Wonon's Memo," Era. bo angry with me—or with any one," "I will promise to listen quietly, an not be angry with you. That is all." Annie hesitated. She could not bu know now on whom the blame of Chi miserable misunderstanding betwee herself and her husband lay. No expla nation of Stephen's infamous conduc to both of them oecurrod to her yob but, even in the midst of hor indigna tion against him, the pity she felt fo the forlorn weakly cripple urged her t try to shield him from the consequence of the torrible anger sho already saw gathering in Harry's blue eyes. "I don't think I ought to toll you any thing," ale said gently, "until I has found out whether there isnot some ex planation to bo given of the matter You are looking angry already, Don' Iet us spoil this beautiful happy avenin by unkind and harsh thoughts abou , Harry. an body y - a y. Won't you wa----- it' " No, I won't wait f " interrupted he very . sternly. Don't shrink away Annie; I love yon for your sweet forgive Hess; it is right for a woman to be ready to forgive. But there is something also for me to do. Now tell me all about it.' "Not while you are in this mood Harry. I will toll you when you have pro.nfaai to let it pass witbnut a word of reproach, except just what you may say to me." " You will toll me now, and without lny making any promise, my darling." said ho very softly, drawing her up from her knees to a seat by his side. Annie bad never before felt her will unable to carry out her pnrpoees. She strum -nod with herself now as she sat in the firm but gentle clasp of her hue bend's arm, and saw his head bent in a listening attitude towards hers. Then, feeling at last the irrestible force of a re -•,lotion stronger than her own, she submitted—submitted in the most win. ning way in the world, placing her little hands on either side of his neck, and looking up at him with hor sweetest, softest expression of face bo coax away bis auger. Thou I must trust to your generosity, Barry. And, if you don't behave ge'ter- ously and forgivingly about it, I shall think you aro not glad to have me again, for happiness ought always to make peoplo's hoarte softer." He kissed her without answering in words ; and she went on— " Whoa Stephen first came tome witb a letter from you, looking very ill, very miserable—I thought he was going to die—ho made me very jealous and hurt me by telling mo bow much happier you were now you were away from town and among countrypeople again. He did not know how fond I had grown of you, and that I was silly enough not to like to hear how well you were gettiug oa Without me. Were you as happy as he said, Harry ? " "I was happy just than, becanse uv+u Lytham was beginning to show con- fidenco iu me, and I saw my way to earning money and being with you again. But, if he said I didn't miss you, he told lies." ' Ho did not say that ; and he had not the Moat idea how much ib mattered to me. But I was angry with you for send. ing mo such a short letter, and I thought you were enjoying yourself, and very likoly didn't care; so I tore up the long loving letter I had wribton, and sunt you a abort one saying nothing, like yours." " Oh, you little spiteful creature! I wrote that note four times before I got ono fit to send you; I was to afraid you would be offendod if I told you what I was going to do. I thought I would wait until I bad got on, and then corns . to you and show yon that I could be just as fond of you as if Iliad never been in a stable in nay life. And, at any rate, ]: thought if I succeeded, you would think I it was better than idling." "Better than idling! Oh, Harry, it is better than anything for you to be ' snccessfnl and happy and—and fond ' of me!" After a pause, she continued, "When he came the second time, he said you wen) not getting on as fast as you wished." " That was true; I was'in low spirits about it. Well?" "Then ho said it was very hard for a man without money to get on. He said that himself, not that yon had said it. j A.nd I was afraid you wero perhaps in sorions chilionlby for want of mousy, and I bogged him. to take some I had put away and didn't want." " And lie took ib? " "Wait, Ho minima for a long time, and said you would not think of accopt. in.; any many; so at last I puebod it into his baud, and told hirn nob to say ib camo from mo, He was very reluctant to the last; I expect be was afraid to give it to you and afraid to give it back to me.." " Wan that tho only time ho took your money?" "N -o; I gave him soma two or three times—not much, of couxso—and it gado no difference to mo, for it was ' looney 1 had put aside.' "And what was that you said about jewelry? Coins, Annie, yon mustn't koop back buythiogl It isn't fair to toll ouly half." " is only that ones, when I was short of many money, and anxious, in spite of poor Ste hen's entreatios, to and you same, Ip ave him a pair of oar -rings andtwo other little trinkets I mover woro, bpd asked him to ae11 them for me." Harry starteO up restlessly from the sofa and togas marching up and down ; then ho stripped short in front of her. "Why didn't; you waits to ono when ryool,go,t no,a,elq owledginent ? " H LS POST .,tivv-,u.,oy„ ,vuy, ynmew+nolo n.,a•v�,+5i+`aA "I didn't like to. I thought that Stephen had kept from you the fact that the money camp from. me." "And you thought I was smell a booby as not to have Pound, and suoh a bear as not to have thanked you ? Annie, that is impossible 1 You are hiding something from me still." But Aunfe did not anawor or look at d him, Her eyes were) fixed in front of her as a new light broko in upon her bewildered mind. H"Harry," sho said at length, raisin;; n her glittering oyes to his with en ex- prossion which was ahnost fear, " thoou e flowers—you stub—by Stoplan---a few • days ago--" ' " Oh, you did gob elitism then ? lie did ' not condescend to--" r "Wore they fax rue ? " she asked, in a 0 low smith. "For your Of course they were for you; who else should they bo for ? " said Harry irritably, his excitement gobbing • I the better of him, ° " Not for—not for—Afuriol West I " • Sho murnurod the name so low tho had to repeat it. ▪ "Muriel West? No. Who on earth , is Muriel West ? " " You don't know i" she cried joyful. ly. "tut, harry, 1 saw you talking to her on a coach at Ascot," "Do you mean an actress named • West? Why, Annie, how jealous you aro 1 I scarcely spoke to mer, and , shouldn't have done so at all if Stephen hadn't been with her. A fellow I knew ' I took me to supper once at her house a long time ago—it was tho very night of my annJd.eno-•-'+:ud T have eovar anon her since, excepb bhab day at Ascot." "" Then how was it that sho was wear- ing my ornaments?" asked Annie quiet- ly, and as she spoke, the truth !hashed upon them bath. Tho mean Jitbie scoundrel 1" growled Harry, clenching his fists. " The little crooked, lying rascal He shall suffer for this clever trick. Then ho got all be could out of both of us, and kept us apart by his lies 1 0f course you never said it was disgraceful fax me to turn trainer?" I never knew you were a trainer until this afternoon, when I heard those two gentlemen talking aboub you in the carriage as I came down. He refused to give me your address, saying you bad forbidden him to do so, and 1 found it out only by this card." She took from her purse the card she had found in the hamper and continued, "" I went to 8e0 . Stephen last Friday, d°terminad to find out where you were. I saw a hamper of flowers with the lid open, and inside I found this card. I looked outside, and found that the direction was to ' Miss Muriel West.'" " The direction had been changed; I directed it to you, and gave it to that wretched littlo hunmhbaok fax you. And, Annie, do you mean to say that, when you saw your ornaments on that woman, you thought that I. had given tier:,0 to hor 2" he asked, looking at her aimn.st with horror. What else could I think, Harry 1" " And you never wrote to reproach mol" .t could not write about such a thing • —11 was too dreadful! I thought 1 would a00us0 you of it faro to face. But don't talk about it, Harry, please—I Can't boar to thiuk of it now; ib was wicked of me taex to think it could be Ibrae." "" And you tame down hero to -day still believing it! And you could kiss roman you ub lieved capable of such as infamous "" No, no, Harry ; don't look at me like that 1 The ntoneut you spoke to me alone in this room I felt ib could nob 1, be trim; because, you know, I was sure yon loved me, and that cleared it all away." And her husband drew her again into his arms, with a mist before his own eyes. Dusk had fallen, and they wore still sitting there, when they wore roused from a silence of perfect happiness by the prosaic sound of the dinner -bell. Harry had great difficulty in keeping his boyish high spirits under proper control during dinner, and, when it was over, Imo said— "Lot us go out of doors, Annie ; thero isn't room enough for my happiness in a stuffy house." So he put on her hat and mantle very carefully and very clumsily, and they went out into thermic. "Take me to see the horses, Harry, Here's your cigar -case; I saw 11 up- stairs, so I brought it down." " I may smoke then 2" "Yes, of course, You aro going the wrong way, Isn't that the way to the stables." "Yes; but I'm not going to take you there ; you only ask to go to please nee." " On my word of honour, I ask to go to please mysoli,; ,and, if yon don't like to teylco ono, I shall go over thorn with one of the stablemen, while you aro Bulking over your cigar by yourself. Now aro you coming 2" So they went through the stables to• t gather, and Harry was quick to note bho i genuine ring in her interest, for what concerned him conn°r nod her too now; a and they walked all round the pant to- gether, and bo said— • a "Do you think you could ever live t happily with me baro, Annie) 2" a " And gloom-) the stage ?" 3 "Woll, act only now and then, You r might take an engagement for therm a months or more, but not give yourself o up to it altogothor. 1 know you aro a too olovor to just settle down to hoop- to lug house for a dull, ignorant husband," " You're not dull and ignorant, 1 Harry I" b "Well, not so ignorant as 'woe" said lie, with mysterious complacency, " Do you think that wontd be too groat a sm. orifice, Annie?" in f" No, indeed. I couldn't throw m wholo heart into my noting now if thaughb I was noglooting yew" " And you will cool° and see mo ever Sunday, and stay till Monday avenin now, won't you? I mustn't ask mor than that yet, I. suppose." And she consented readily onopgh And then same the crowningp, triumph o the day to Barry, Ile led his wife int the library, the volumes of which Im luckily been collected long before ill ocoul,ation of Kirby Hall, and said Wooing proudly to her— " You never thought I sbould go fond of books, Annie. Well, I have and I' lilt° thio room butter thou say in the house." There were tura° photographs of he on the manbolpiece, there was a liqueur case on a side -table, and the room wa strongly perfumed with tobacco. An pie's eyes twinkled, but she only laughe, contoutedly. "And now you shall hoar rho read aloud," paid he. So be put her into an arm -chair, and sat ou a footstool at her feet, and tend bin a couple of pages out of the Nine. bemtth Oentery. Ib was a very poor per- formance indeed, hesitating, badly em- phasized, with the long words slurred over. He was not at bis best, for be had Annie's fingers in one hand, and his cigar in his mouth. " You read beautifully now, Harry 1" said she, when Lo looked up for appro. val; and the ale ver, well-inforwedwoman really thought 80. "It only shows what perseveranoo will do." aid .1Tarry gravel,. "I've read thn' •.n0,.` ....I to myseil ..enty or thirte t moo." y alarmed at the effect he had produced. 1 "You aro nut angry with 11)0, are you, darling? You iook as if I had been y scolding you, as if we) had changed g places," o "' Ohanged placos, Barry 1" cried sbo, looking up in astonishment. She had already forgotten the long f period daring which she had looked upon • hor husband as a Giresorne, unreasouablo d child, s "' Yee, when I was g' bting well at the , Grange you didn't always Croat m° with proper respect, I fancy," said he, flush• t mg, but looking down into hor eyes ra- ; thou misolliovuusly, "' Oh, tall—then you were ill 1" said oho, blushing too. z Tho last words she said to her bus.- - . baud. as the train wont off were— " I Remember you are not to be with - ; mo later than four, Promise." I " All right; I promise." And, trying to look ,,as if ber mind was at oath, Annie gave him a last 0011. ling " Good-bye" as the train started. On arriving iu town, she drove straight to the booth where Stephen lodged, and, ' finding that ho was out, oho sat down in the sitting -room to wait fax him. Long ere bide an explanation of the cripple`s cruel and decoitful conduct had occurred to her, and it seemed more and mote probable to her, as she sat in tho shabby sitting•room, with its low weather• stained ceiling and ill -papered walls. Evidently the money which be had kept back from her he had not spent upon himself; it must have gone where her 1 jewelry had gone, and Harry's !lowers —to ;14uriol Wont., 1nn'r tones well to what depths of meanness he would des- cend in his devotion to a woman, for she remembered with what dogged and disinterested fidelity he had fulfilled every command, every wish of hie cousin Lilian in the old days at the Grange, be- fore her marriage with Air. Falconer. In spite of her contempt fax a man who could stoop to such acts, Annie was torch. ed by the cripple's hapless attachment, and a great pity Ailed her heart as she beard the slow thud, thud of his crutch upon the staircase. Her compassion deepened when the door opened and Sbrplien stood before her, wilcl.eyed and pale with a pallor which was like that of 'loath. She sat qquito still for an in - „r • Table to speak, unable to express .0 telb at the dreadful change in Ll., ... carance. But, when she rose very softly and held out a band to Hilt, sho discovorod, to her horror, that he still stared blank- lyin front of him, making no sign. Ho did not see her. Stephen 1" said she, in a low voice. Ile started, and fax the first time knew that he was nob alone. " Annie 1" he said apathetically. "It is you, is it 2" With moohanical courtesy he moved forward feebly anal afforest her a chair; but sho took his hand and loci him very gently to tho hard littlo sofa, mall made him sib down l,oaide hor there. Sho thought the fooling which bail evidently overmastered him must be remorse for his conduct towards hor and bar ,.hus- band, and she tried to thiult of Cho sweetest words she could to soothe his disb'ess. " It makes me vary unhappy to soo how deeply you aro suffering," said 1 she, " If I bad known you would fool. it so much, I would have come be- fore." He played idly with his crutch, not iu the least moved by her words. " Ib would have road° no difference," said he, in a dull cold tone. " Oh, lent I think it would 1 I would not have let you think ao much aboub it." ,"How could yon help that ?" said ho, turning upon hor his lustreless oyes. " I tell you I was not rioh enough, and she would have thrown me over just the same." Annie started. Inc) was thinking no more of the wrong ho had done her than if it had been a deed of a hundred years back. But she was not angry. Her pity rose higher than ever for this unhappy man, who had sacrificed all, even to his honesty, for. the sake of a woman who did not care a straw for him now that she had got from him all ho had to give. " Stephen, I amp. so very; very sorry fax yon," said she, in a quivering voice. " Are you ?" said he, waking for an instant into something more like life. "And you—you have no reason to be." A feeling of shame seemed for the first time to conic over him• as he rea• lased wbose sympathy it was that was offered him ; and he drew his hand away from hors. "" Boozy one has reason to be sorry for any one else who is unhappy," said she. "And, when you soo that even I can feel sympathy with you, you will sec that you have friends who aro worth livfn" for yet." ' Not I, not I," murmured he, in a broken voice, " There is nothiug b it for rho. She had promised to marry me --sire is not a lady by birth, you 'know, avid I could have made Imo one by position, I would have worked for her —I have worked for her -1 have done more. But I used up all I had too fast —she saw 1 bad no more; she said, if she married me, we should starve. And, she looked at me quite coldly with her beautiful eyes, and said sho was nob well.oducated enough to moray a gentlo- man—a gentlomau 1 1, a poor cripple 1 It was that—it is always that. Those is n0 happineso, n0 love fax me- •nothin but pity—wretolied, miserable, scornful pity, that stings mo more than taunts, 01000 thou hatred. She pitied me, I darn say, and laughed at ono, and let me go ;" and be broke down into iacoheront words aur] sobbing. Annie) tried bright words of on0onr- agement, asked him if ito thought no. CIIAPTJ•:R XXVIII. Anon" 'nlsm' „e night at Kirby Park; and, when the. ..ud Harry wero Ribbing at breakfast the next morning, he tol ber he should come ono and see her alit that night. " Then will you come op to town with me 2" she asked eagerly. Her husbaud besitated. " I don't know whether I can, Annie. I have some things to sae to down here before I start, and something to do in town when I get up there, so that I can- not be at your rooms till about four." Her face clouded, " Something to do in town 1" sho echoed, watching him narrowly and no- ting the expression into which his face had set during the last few minutes. o Is ib --to see some one, Harry 2" Sha asked timidly. "Yee, a business appointment." " Oh, Harry, it to see Stephen, I know 1 What are you going to do? What aro you going to say 2 You look as if you would kill him!" "" Don't be afraid. How could I con- descend to touch the littlo misshapen wretch, who has not as much strau;;th fn his whole body es I have in ono Jig- ger? But I am going to sae biro, and to -day." She saw that it was impossiblo to alter hor husband's resolution, so sho desisted from her persuasions; but thero was a terrible) fear at her heart which she could not shake off. Site knew the violence of her husband's temper, and feared it all the more tmdor this new aspect of repression. Sho made up her mind to go to Stephou and warn him of Harry's coming, and to beg him not to exasperate ber husband fur- therby any attempt at concealment, and false excuses, but to make a frank cote fossion, sueh as would, sho felt sure, be more likely than anything else to avert Harry's auger. Once resolved on this course, she tet the conversation turn to indifferent subjects, and it was not until breakfast was nearly over that she pre- tended to remember an appoinbmeut with her dressmaker which would matte it necessary for her to go up to town bo• fore`lunoheon. She did it too naturally to excite in her husband any auspicious of her good faith, and he went to the station with her, and parted with hor very reluctantly, although he expected to be with her again in a few hours. Annie herself bit something more than reluctance ; she was seized with a foreboding of evil. " Ah, Harry," she said, laying a brew • bling hand upon hie arm, "I wish I were not married to yon 1" •• 0 ny ,••• aeae4 ne, ammo. "Because then perhaps you might do wbat you did long ago, fling all con- • sidoratious of business and duty to the winds and jump into the train with um." "" Do you think my love was better worth having thenthan now ?" he asked softly. "le -o, perlhaps not. Still I wish Cho' ' wife had as much influence as the girl had." If tho train had been in the station, she in . Le, and he at the dont', tlzaso words would have carried him off. As it was, standing on the platform beside lar, Harry was soisod with a groat troubling+, and, ,walking away from her a fele stops, he cam° hack and said to lier, low and ropxoaehfully. "" That is the .first Limo you have) over eniptod me to what was not right, An- aie, If the train had boon hero your words would have made mo jump in, ncl, for the first time Muth I have had �vorlr to do, I should have nogioctod it— rid through you, :1 bavo a lob to see o at time sbablos this morning, and n appoiutuienb to ,.Coop with Orepbain Ong before Igo up to town. Bub I can't osist you; so, it you lovo nio, Annie, nd if you caro for what people think f leo and say of, me, don't ask mo gain, my darling, for I can't say' No'' you," The yyoung wife, Self-ppossessed and ndepondmet as she usually was, hung er head, Thos° words of his, inspiring in her a strong fooling of respoot, did much to restore boo confidence in his self -command •tvhen dealing with his troaeheroua cousin. As she took the rebuke silently, Harry began tp be thing of her frioodahip, of that of the relit of hie lousily ; but aha spoke to deaf -( ears, When at length she rose to go, a) i-✓ he gave her bis hand and said, brit still coldly-- ped "',.°hank you. I shall be gladlpresonb. ly that you came. It was good of you to come--generous—and I thank you, If I had a loug life before me, I would try to do you some service ; but I ora d�r� played out now, and there is not much of my life left to run, Good.bye, An. (1) 0 hie.' a ' Sho C'� could not stay. His last words were almost a command to go. She had . uob zuanbionod her husband's name. 02 She thought that, in the state of mind C� in which;she was leaving the cripple, the dread of an angry visitor might make him desperate; and she knew very well that, when Harry eew the miserable condition to which his sensi- tive cousin was rednoed, he was no more likely to be unmerciful than sho had boon. But she could nob shake off aforebod- ing that the meeting between the coo. slug would be productive of evil, and she reached home anxious and thought. f ul. Her misgivings woro not withoub fonndatfon. Within.an. hour of berdepazture from Stephen's lodl;'ng, Harry drove up iu a hansom and was directed, as his wife hied been, to the little room on the top floor. Ile entered with a very stern face and firm tread; but the sight of the cripple, lying half on the sofa, half on a chair, in a state of utber pros- tration of body and mind, made him pause. The other looked up at him without fear, without feeling of any kind. "Ile) you know mo?" asked Harry abru#ably. " los ; whab do you want here?" "I want an explanation. If you do not feel fib to give it to me now, I will come again. But I must have it, and the less delay the better." "Ask your wife then. She has a better lead than you,' nd understands withoub so much talking. Go to her for your explanations, and leave mo in peace." " Not yet. I want some reason for your stopping my'letters to her and her letters to me, for taking the presents we intrusted to your care to be given to each other, and for giving her money, my flowers, and even her jewelry to a greedy, extravagant, worthless woman whom you couldn't satisfy if you had gold -mines to give hor. That is what I want you to answer." The cripple had raised himself, his eyes glittering with fury, and he sat frowning maliciously at his cousin until the looter had finished his speech. "Tbeu I won't answer you, except to say this; you are very good now, and look upon extravagance and waste as very wrnhed things. But you haven't been a saint so very long that you can have, forgotten that you yourself were as greedy and worthless as any ono I know Duce, and that you forged your father's name to supply your own extravagance, wbich, it seems to me, is worse than to stoop to meanness for tho saga of a woman you love and for whom you would die. " The last words ho &pogo in a ]ow voice, looking straight in front of him with his glittering feverish eyes; and lais hand moved restlossly towards kis coat pocket as he flnlshed speaking. . " Look brrn1"said Harry, in a softer voice. " I don't want to bo hard on you. I know I've done as bad things myself, if not worse ; and, if I'm a saint now, it's I�r the hast I'vo heard of it. But, if you're so fond of this woman as you say, I wonder bow you have the heart to play such confoundedly nasty tricks with the love of another man, and to ouch an angel as Annie, who had always been kind to you too 1 " " Your love ? Your lave was nothing to mine 1" Stephen burst out contemp- tously. "A woman may have a place in your heart; but your dogs and your horses fill the rest of it. You are hand- some, straight; if one woman will not smile on you, another will; while I, who love sweet eyeo and fair faces with a paesiou you cannot dream of, can only buy kindness from a woman by the oeaaoless labour of ministering to all her wants, all her caprices ; and then, when at lash the time comes when I can give no more, I am cast aside and forgotten for—for ono of your sort, with a pair of blue eyes that say nothing and a head that can't put two idsos togotbor, " The passionate bitterness of this speech moved Harry. o It —is rough on a fellow, " ho mur- mured, in a low gruff voice. But the pity in his tomo woke the wretched lean before him to frenzy. "Yon can spare mo your pity," said he fiercely. " 111 our lives through you have gob easily what I might work my. hull to death for, and never got, after all. i You always got enjoyment, admiration, love); and, now you have sobered down, you got respect, themes, money, If ,you had boon In my place, Muriol would novo have thrown ,you over. She had soon you only once, at a supper -party, months ago, at Bookbam. Yet, when I mot ler in Loudon, sho xemomborod your stupid red facie, and sent you nes- sages which I took caro not to givo you. Bub I will be oven with you ab last; tho remedy I prepared for my own wrongs Will do as well for yours. " And S to, hon drew out from Ins breast, vvnere nig nano Hatt 0000 1114(1511 rtr_ a0010 minutes, a revolver, dud, aiming bolero the othmr had time) to realism his ntontion, tired it at his cousin. 5 {, * ,F * 0 Four o'clock coma, and still Annie waited for her husband. Ho had promis. cd so sorionbly, so many times, not to be later than that hour that her imps. 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