HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1887-10-14, Page 7OCT. 14, 1887
PUT ASUNDER;
on,
Lady Castlemate's Divorce 1
By BERTHA IL CLAY,
AOTnen Or
"A, Xlaaatcd Life," "Wile J nrI'M Atone.
;Met,' "A btraggle for n
eta., etc., etc.
OM soul she believed in the candor of
other people. Sha was incapable of
treachery, and hardly understood it in
others, Sho was not jealous, unforgiv-
ing, or revengeful,
She was most tender and loving of
heart, and hero was one of the strange
parte of her character ; she was so eanily
wounded by one whom. she loved; she
was quick to take offense, yet she took
it far more easily asi from one loved
she o
Y
d
than fromn
0 etah
w om ahaa
w s indif-
ferent. Sho had naturally an easy
temper; bub when she was roused to
anger she was proud and implacable.
Sheas obstinate t etc and
wilful ;when
en
sho had made up her mind to a certain
course of action, she would never give
np, If sho had resolved upon doing a
certain thing she would do it even if
she risked her life in the attempt. '
Perhaps one of the strongest lines in
the photograph, being one of her strong•
est characteristics, was that she cools
not bear contradiction, opposition, of
control. Her mother's training had
been the worst possible for her. She
had never been denied one wish or One
caprine, one whim, one desire. When
Lady Craven found that opposition tc
her child produced scones of anger and
passion that distressed'her, she ceased
to make any opposition, and allowed
her to have entirely her own way.
She was never opposed in any ,one
single thing : that whioh she wanted,
she had. When everything was smooth
and easy. when she had her own way
in everything, she was sweet.tempered
and gay. When she was contradicted,
thwarted, or opposed, she became, as it
were, transformed.
This is no unusual photograph, no un-
usual character. There were in Lady
Castlemaine great possibilities of good
and great powers of evil. She could
never have been mediocre or common-
place ; she must always be very good
or very bad.• There was no intermediate
course for her. .A. woman of grand
possibilities, she might have been one
of the noblest of her sex, or she might
have been one of the most ignoble. Her
sins would always have been frank ones,
and she would never have denied them.
She would never have covered them
with a veil of hypocrisy.
Even when sho was a child Lady
Craven laughed at her.
"I have scratched my nurse and have
bitten her, mamma," she would say,
"and I shall do it again." She never
concealed any of her childish escapades.
"Mamma, I threw a snowball at
Gunton's face just as he was carrying
a tray of glasses into the dining -room,
and he let the tray fall and broke them
all; and ho looked so absurd I am afraid
I shall do it again."
She never concealed a fault. Sho had
grand virtues side by side with great
faults.
If she had not been too credulous—if
she had nob been cursed with a false
friend, Lady Castlomaine's life mighb
have been all good and noble. But she
was unfortunate in choosing for her
friend ono who brought all the evil of
her nature into play and ignored the
good ; one who incited her to rebel
against her husband; who taught her
to ridicule all notions of obedience in
wives; who tried to make her believe
that the Castlomaine notion of matri-
mony was old-fashioned and obsolete ;
one who, in her odious character of
false friend, did her as much harm as it
was possible to do her.
Is the photograph complete ? Does
the reader see it with its lights and
shades, its dark shadows and its flecks
of gold, its black spots and its dainty
colors 2—the character that was des-
troyed, as a canker destroys a flower,
by the influence of a false friend ?
During the time of her most happy
marriage her faults had grown lees; she
seemed to have overcome them. She
loved her husband so dearly, and she
was so unutterably happy with him,
that her virtues and hot goodness bios-
earned and sweetened like flowers in the
rays of the sun.
She had been happy 88 a bird or a
queen up to this time, for there had not
been between herself and her husband
anyarticular difference of opinion save
e v P s
On0. Lord Castlemaine was a thorough
conservative — he believed in ancient
pedigree, in ancient families and titles.
She did not, and she alightly resented
the fact that he did. That fact was
always more or less resent to her mind,
P
and she remembered it always with
bitterness.
They had never actually Dome in col-
lision. Ho had never uttered those
words of evil imporb, "You shall not,"
and she had not retorted, "I shall."
He had not said, "You must not:" she
had not cried, "I will."
They had differed in opinion. Lord
Castlemaine was inclined to think too
much of his ancient pedigree, to bo too
proud of his old family. Lady Castle.
inaine was too much inclined the other
way . she expressed a contempt for all
such notions and ideas, whioh was very
grievous to hem
Up to the present time they had come
to no real issue about it.
When two people, both young, both
proud, both high-spirited, coma together,
there must of necessity be some colli-
sion, some difference of opinion. Isabel
Hyde had often wondered if it came to
a Ditched battle between the two which
THE BRUSSELS POST 7
would win. If tb.e two strong wills
came in .contact, whioh would gain the
aeeendanoy2
"It will be an equal contest," she said,
"for I believe one to bo as obstinate ae
the other."
A night came when Lord Casblamaine
took bus wife to the opera to hear "iior-
mani,"
Isabel accompanied them. When they
were comfortably installed in the box,
be went away. Something occurred to
him that he had quite forgotten ; with
many apologies to his wife and Miss
Hyde, ho left them.
"I shall not be vary long," he said,
"I shall take a hansom and drive down
to the club. I will be as quick as I
own."
He was sorry to leave them, but he
had promised to see an old friend who
bad lust returned from Canada, and he
had forgotten the engagement until
now.
Gertrude," cried Isabel Hyde, "there
is Colonel Lennox."
"Whore 2" asked Lady Castlomaine.
"Do you not see him ? Ho is talking
to the Duke of E—, and he sees us ;
he is coming, I am sure,"
Fax duke
ox the e to whom he wastalking
g
bad observed how suddeuly be became
distrait, and had said to him, "You had
bettor follow your eyes, Lennox," and
the colonel availed himself of the per-
mission, and left with a smile and a
bow.
"He is Doming here," repeated Isabel
Hyde with a curious drawing up of her
lips, and a wonder in her heart as to
what world follow.
"Yes, ho is coming hero," said Lady
Castlomaine, at the same time, but her
voice and face were calm.
The next minute he was in the box,
bowing low to the two beautiful women
seated there. That opera -box had been
the great centre of attraction the whole
of the evening. "Hermani" was most
beautifully put upon the stage ; Patti
wasiat her best; but many of the opera-
glgsses turned from the stage and lin-
gored on the exquisite faces of the two
women. The contrast between them
was very great. Lady Castlemaine
looked very fair in a dress of pale blue
velvet, the front of which was almost
covered with a n -
et work ofP She
.
wore a neoklace of pearls around her
white throat, bracelets of pearls on her
beautiful arms, and a coronet of
pearls
on her golden hair. She was a picture
of fair and radiant loveliness. Isabel
Hyde presented a perfect contrast. Her
dark, proud beauty was enhanced by
her dress of rich blank lace, with its
trimming of gloire de dijon roses. Sho
carried a superb bouquet of the same
flowers. Many who watched the beau-
ties eagerly and intently were quite
unable to decide which was the fairer
of the two.
Colonel Lennox knew. He hardly
saw the dark beauty of Isabel Hyde,
so engrossed was he by Lady Castle-
maine.
Isabel looked pleased to see him ;
calmly indifferent, attentive to the play,
who could have imagined that in her
heart there was a seething torrent of
hate and implacable longing for ven-
geance; that while sho smiled at the
lovely voice and graceful manner of the
most charming vocalist in the world,
she was hoping and longing that even
this night the beginning of the and
might arrive.
'I thought I saw Lord Castlomaine
with you, ho said.
"Yes, he was with us ; bub ho sudden•
ly remembered that he had promised to
see an old friend at the club ; he will
not be long away."
"I will remain, with your permis-
sion," said Colonel Lennox. "I have
been quite unfortunate in all my efforts
to obtaiu an introduction to Lord Castle-
maine.
"I shall be much pleased," said the
counteas, and they began a very earnosb
discussion about music and singers.
Isabel waited in silence. It was one
of the most desperate hours of her lifo.
Before that night ended, some decisive
step, she felt sure, would be taken, and
the web she had weaved with such diffi-
culty would begin to close.
CHAPTER XXXL
THE OPERA.
A dead silence, succeeded quickly by
almost frantic applause, followed one of
Patti's most magnificent scones.
The audience was eleeteified and left
almost breathless ; even Colonel Lon-
nox had withdrawn his eyes from tho
lovely face whioh enchanted him ; Isabel
for ono moment almost fotgot her do.
sire for vengeance.
That crowded house seemed spoil.
bound, and during that minute Lord
Castlomaine returned to the box. Ho
o ened the door most eau i o u
t o sl fear-
ing to disturb the audience, then so
deeply engrossed. He was astonished
to see a gentleman thorn; he was still
more astonished at finding that gentle-
man Colo el Lennox,he man whomh
n
t o
disliked.
Ittouse as of little for him recall
w e
that dislike now, for his young wifo, her
face radiant with smiles, introduced
Colonel Lennox to him at moo. He
was compelled to bow to him, although,
if he had given way to hie natural nn -
pulse, he would bavopolitely opened the
door and asked him to retire.
IIo was compelled to answer the colo.
nel's courteous greeting with a smile
and civil words, but bo would fain have
said to him : "You are a man whose
moral character I detest; you are quite
unfit to be on oven the most distant
terms of intimacy with my wife ; have
the goodness to leave us, and do not
seek to renew your acquaintance."
These words wore the honest impulse
of his heart ; but who, in these days,
carries out such impulses ?
Ho bitterly regretted afterward that
he bad not followed the dictates of his
heart.
It was a strange thing that the old,
hot Castlemaiue jealousy was aroused
in him at once, Colonel Lennox was
just then leaning over the crimson vol.
vet chair in which Lady Castlemaiue
sat, and her husband disliked the fan.il.
iarity of Ube attitude. It seemed to
him that the colonel looked too admir.
ingly at the lovely white shoulders ; ho
was not the man to submit to such a
thing,
"Excuse mo," be said. "I wish to
speak to Lady Oasbiemaine."
He stood with such an air of expecta-
tion that the colonel was compelled to
stand up and move away.
Lord Castlomaine took his place with
the air of a man who knew what hulled
done and meant it.
"Thank fortune 1 it is coming at last,
coming, I am sure," said Isabel, for she
read in Lord Castlemaine's face some.
thing whioh sho bad never seen there
before, Her heart beat, sho saw no
more of the stage. The heroine of the
opera vanished from her eyes • and this
was the first act.
"A crowded house," said the colonel.
"Very," replied his lordship.
"Patti grows no older •sho looks to
g
w
me as young and beautiful as on
the
first day she Dame out, or, I may say,
on the first day I saw her.
No answer this time from bis lord-
ship. "No need," he said to himself,
curtly; he should not discuss the beauty
of any woman with a man like this.
Isabel noticed and thought it more
prudent to throw herself into the
breach; they must not quarrel too
soon, or her plan would be nipped in the
bud, and there would bo no tragedy.
She thought it wiser to draw the colo.
nel's attention to herself. She looked
at him with the smile that meant so
much.
"Do you think personal beauty indis-
pensable in an actress, Colonel Lennox,"
she asked.
I think it possible to be an exceed-
ingly good actress without it," he re-
plied. "I must admit that, at the same
time, I think next to genius it is the
greatest gift an actress can have."
"But not indispensable ?" said Miss
Hyde.
'No, Y remember exactly. I remem er once
seeing 'Le Grande Duehesse' beautifully
put upon the stage, and Wanda had so
arge a mouth that to my thinking it
quite spoiled everything else. I do not
think personal beauty indispensable,
but I do think that any great blemish
is a great drawback."
"I do not agree with you," said Lady
Castlemaine. "I think all genius is
beautiful. Genius and soul will make
any face a thousand times more lovely
than either color or features."
"What can genius do with a tiez ro•
erotism, a large mouth, small eyes ?"
"Overcome them," cried Lady Castle.
mains, "as it overcomes everything
else. Do you not think I am right, Ru-
dolph ?" she added, turning to her hus-
band.
"You are always right," he replied,
with a lover -like gesture that drove the
colonel to distraction, "and in this ease
you aro doubly right. Genius, rather
than beauty, is the chief charm in the
face of an actress."
"You may have both," said Isabel
Hyde, "as in the case of Patti."
"Ah, then," laughed Colonel Lennox,
"all the world gives in, and worships."
"If a beautiful face has a foolish ex-
pression," said Lady Castlemaine, "no
ono cares for ib."
The colonel smiled, without speaking.
"Why are you smiling?" asked Lady
Castlemaine.
"I was just thinking," he replied, "of
a friend of mine. He is a fine, stalwart
fellow ; I believe he is one of the finest
mon in England, and he was a groat
beauty worshiper—very critical, too.
We used to say Chat he would never
marry until the Venus de Medici came
to life. He did marry—and his wife is
the plainest, most commonplace little
lady ever seen. She has brown eyes,
brown hair, a brown complexion, and is
in every way the reverse of beautiful,
but he worships her, and thinks there is
none so lovely."
"And the moral of that story ?" in-
terrupted Lady Castlemaine.
"The morals of my stories aro the
worst and weakest part of them."
"Tho same as they are of yourself,"
thought Lord Castlemaine; but he kept
the thought to himself.
Colonel Lennox looked at the beauti-
ful countess.
"Tho moral to this one particular
story," said the gallant colonel, "is that
no two people judge of beauty alike, and
that every person has his or her own
standard."
"Mine is a high one," said Lady Cas-
tlomaine, and she looked with loving
eyes at her husband.
Alance which Colonel Lennox saw,
and which made him gnash his tenth ; a
glance which Isabel Hyde saw, and
whioh sent a chill through her heart.
"M. standard is also the highest,"
"
said Colonel Lennox, with a lowbow wto
Lady Castlemaine.
And if ever a husband looked black,
it was his lordship,
"I think," bo said, "that very few
people know what real beauty, ie. Genius
is grand ; the soul shining in a face
makes it fair, but moral beauty is tbo
best beauty after all."
Colonel Lennox sighed, and thougbt
the very idea wearisome. He heartily
wished his lordship had kept away. Tho
interview whioh he had promised him-
self with the beautiful countess had no
particular enjoyment while her husband
stood there like a grim sentinel.
When "Hermani" ended Lady Castle-
maine x086.
"I am always dazed after listening
long to music; she said; and there was
something strange in the expression of
her face.
Quick as lightning Celonol Lennox
hold opt his arm, before Lord Castle.
maine bad time to move.
"Permit me," he said,
She could not refuse; she could not
abruptly turn from him and take her
busbund's arm. She moved slowly
away with him,
Isabel laid the tips of her lingua on
the arm of Lord Castlomaine,
"I wonder," sho said, "bow often wo
have been down these stairs together?"
He made no answer.
What a magnificentpair tbeymake,"
cried Isabel, pretending to be seized by
some irresistible impulse.
"They ? Of whom are you speak.
big?" asked Lord Castlemaiue, cud-
donly.
"Gertrude and Colonel Lennox," she
said. "He is so tall, so stroug, so clack;
sho so slander and so fair. Thoy lool:
well together."
Lord' Castlemaine felt too atigry to
speak. That any one should darn to
connect the name of hie beautiful young
wife with that ofl 1
Go ono Lennox seem•
ed to him an
outrage. He might be a
h
magnificent officer, ho might be one of
thegreatestheroos of the Zulu war, but
he did not bear the character of a moral
man and he should never friend of
his wo a
b life's,
By the light of the lamps Isabel saw
the pallor of his face; but there was no
pity in her heart for him. What had
she suffered, and who had pitied her ?
Let him suffer now, it was his turn.
Not a word was spoken. It was a
curiously silent quartet. Colonel Len-
nox led Lady Castlemaine to the car.
riage ; he made the most profound bow
to her and Miss Hyde; one, somewhat
less profound, to Lord Castlomaine, then
retired.
Not one ward of him did Lord Castle-
maine utter.. He talked of Patti ; of his
friend from Canada; of the opera; but
not one word of Colonel Lennox.
Isabel listened anxiously, waiting for
the name, but she never heard it.
Lord Castlemaine did not care to say
what he had to say before a stranger.
During the remainder of the evening
there was no word. Lady Castlemaine
sat down at the piano and ran over the
most beautiful airs from "Hermani."
Lord Castlemaine praised them, Miss
Hyde
wasted some little time in spoon.
lacing whether most actresses did or did
not go to heaven. Lord Castlemaine
laughed, although be did not quite ap•
prove.
"What an unreal life it must be !"
said Lady Castlemaine. "After all, no
life is worth living that is not perfectly
straight and true."
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE BREAKING OF THE 500100.
It was Isabel Hyde, and Isabel only,
who foresaw the storm that was brood-
ing and nigh to break over this peaceful,
luxurious home. She felt the electricity
surcharging the moral air. It tingled
in all her veins. She realized that the
end of her planning was drawing near
was it now to loco or win ?
How small a thing might turn the
scales against her 1 If Lord Castlo-
maine should begin his explanation with
his wife by telling her, quietly, the true
character of Colonel Lennox, or if Ger-
trude should show sufficient common
sense to quietly ask the grounds of any
disapprobation he might express for the
colonel, then, for Isabel, all would be
lost' for Isabel knew well that if once
Gertrude realized what were the men -
dais concerning Colonel Lennox, her
whole soul world be full of sorrow,
shame, and self.reproach that she had
ever received him on a friendly footing.
Once let Garb -'de see the error whioh
she had corm -Med in accepting friendly
attentions from one whom she did not
thoroughly well know, and whom her
husband did not know, and she was so
upright and of such tender conscience
that she would retrieve her brief folly
by being more docile and tender than
she ever had been to her husband.
Isabel also knew that her own empire
over Lady Castlemaiue, and with it her
social privileges as a member of her
family circle, would be gone the instant
Gertrude learned that Isabel knew, con -
coaled, endured, the vices of the Zulu
hero. How often Isabel had congratu-
lated herself that Lady Craven bad been
obliged to speed that season at Bath,
for the waters, instead of at London,
whore her presence would have been
the social safety of Lady Castlomaine.
And now all these advantages, all these
efforts, wore "pub at the touch" to win
or lose all. She must say yet a few
more potent words, instill a few more
angry, jealous thoughts, arm Gertrude
yet more against her husband before
she left them together. Resoluta in this
course, she ignored the fact that, for the
o
first time, Lord Castlomaine was eluding
her presence disagreeable, and wishing
her at least in her own room. Breaking
into lively chat and jest, she held her
plane until Gertrude deolared herself
tired and about to go o to her apartment.
"Horrors ! how lute 1 And we might,
for once, have been repairing our beauty
by an early sleep 1" cried Isabel, slipping
het arm through that of Gertrude.
'Good -night, Lord Castlemaine,"
Slowly she and her cruelly betrayed
friend moved up the wide staircase.
Isabel laughed a little, and said, iu her
soft, clear tone :
"Weil 1 It was as I said, was it not?
Lord Castlemaine could not find it in
bis heart to be over -courteous. I saw
Lennox felt it, poor follow! but what
could he oxpeot 2 It is always so, the
self-mado man and the grandee are at
natural swords' points."
"What do you mean ? I saw nothing.
Was not Rudolph polite p p t0 to him ?"
"Polite, my dear ? I thought he
would take the colonel by the nook and
throw him from the box i Still, ho was
as polite as he knows how to be to any
ono that he really dislikes, Strange
what Influence polities exert on men.'
"I really cannot understand you."
"And you did not sea bow Lord Cap
ticmaine scarcely afifiwered Colonel Len-
nox when ha spoke ; bow he fairly de-
manded his seat? How stiffly he bowed
at parting ? The colonel felt it, for he
is a proud mom, and really values your
friendship, which be sees be must lose:"
They were at the door of Lady Cas.
tlemaino's dressing -room.
"And why should he lose it?" demand-
ed Gertrude, in a dry, hard tone,
Isabel entered by her side.
"Because Lord Castlomaine will so
ordain it. Well, my love, you have all
the amenities of being Lady Castle-
maine, and you must valiantly accept
the difficulties."
She looked around the luxuriously
furnished apartment,
"The amenities, as you call them,"
said Lady Castlomaine, sharply, "I have
always had—they are part of my life;
but the difficulties, I, as a reasonable
being, shall not accept so easily. I
rover sold myself o r
myfreedom.
Y
"But you voluntarily accepted a fet-
ter," said Isabel, lightly touching the
heavy gold wedding ring on her friend's
lovely hand. "In English law, my dear
Gertrude, this little circlet can lengthen
and grow weighty into a chain of any
known dimensions.''
There was a tap at the door, and Lord
Castlemaine entered.
Already bis wife's heart was burning
with fires carefully lighted by her most
false and cruel friend. She welcomed
her husband, but rather coldly.
"Oh, do you want me, Rudolph ?"
"Yes ; I wish to speak to you a little,
if Miss Hyde will excuse me."
Thus dismissed, Isabel could only say
"good.night."
Your lady will ring when she wants
you, Fanny," said Lord Castlemaine, in
his eager impatience, to the maid, who
had come to wait on her mistress.
Gertrude had dropped into a large
chair. She looked about haughtily, and
said, in a curt tone:
"Why do you dismiss my maid ? I
said I was tired."
"Gertrude," cried Lord Castlemaine,
unable to contain himself, the instant
they were left alone, "how came that 1
man in my box 2"
"What man"said x
? Gertrude, obsti-
nately, further angered by the "my
box."
"Colonel Lennox," cried Lord Castle-
maine, angrily. "Who else was there
that I could mean ? Did he go there to
see yon, or Miss Hyde?"
In any ordinary temper, Gertrude
would honestly have said, "Both." But
now she retorted, icily :
"To see me, I suppose. Why not ?
Have I not a right to know the most
famous man now in London ?"
"The most infamous!" cried Lord
Oastlemaine. "I had no idea that you
knew him at all, and I find him sitting
by your side, and in full view of that
crowded house."
"Castlemaine jealousy," thought Ger-
trude, in whom the insinuations of Isa-
bel had done fatal work.
"And why not in view of the whole
house ? Am I likely to be ashamed of
a friend? For my part, I admire
herons. And be waited especially to
meet you, Rudolph. He has tried again
and again to see you; and I must say
you gave him a cold greeting—hardly
such as one gentleman would give an-
other."
"One gentleman and another, Ger-
trude ? Do you place me on the level
of suoh a man as Lennox?"
"I cannot see why not, I thinkone
of her Majesty's finest officers, one to
whom the Queen herself gave the Cross
one who has performed such feats of
valor that every one praises, can be
placed on the level of a Castlemaine.
Pedigree is not sverybhing, Rudolph.
and I thought it a compliment, even to
you, when a famous man like Colonel
Lennox came here to make your ac•
quaintanco."
"He camp bore 2" said Lord Castle.
maine, fairly stunned, as one revelation
succeeded another. His wife, whom he
deemed of such lofty parity, of such
unbending integrity, ignoriug and gloss-
ing over the enormous sins of Lennox 1
"Yes, he Dame here to afternoon tea,
and you did not coma."
"When ?" demanded Castlemaine, in
a white heat.
"Oh several weeks ago. How can I
remember just when?"
"And who were here that day ?"
"Oh, all the world," said Gertrude,
flippantly; "the usual ones. We had a
poet and a painter, some belles, a ditch.
ess—all who generally coma, but I
thought that the very first ornament of
my tea was the man who feared nothing,
and could expose his own life to save
others,'
"And you have seen him sincethen?"
"Why not ? He is invited wherever
we go, and I find his conversation very
entertaining. I am a natural hero.
worshiper, Isabel says, and I admire
self-made men. Myfather ater was one."
"And so you havbeen accepting this
man's attentions 2"
"I don't know what yon mean by ao-
copting attentions. I have danced with
him --ho waltzes to perfeotion ; I have
talked with him ; I have soon him
whet I rode in the park, and, as to.
night, at the opera. 110 has not, as yon
bow, Rudolph, to be present in the
House of Lords, and be has been vary
convenient and amiable."
Wordscannot at depict the horror and
indignation of Lotd Castlomaine. Ut-
terly ignorant that the black side of the
colonel's character had been sedulously
hidden from his wife, equally in the
dark as to the machinations of Isabel
Hyde, he believed bbat here was a rove -
Wien of cold-blooded coquetry on the
part of the woman whom he had so
entirely loved and trusted.
"And have you no more consideration
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s
01
Q
rD