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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1887-10-21, Page 7OCT. 21, 1.887. Iera Lama us ec+ass r ws:axsurltasxuazcxxrara aamw^rc=arr natixeieserieltat=117X1,4%ileirdagarateviaraelrzaratiantectratimhefinammussealLzezeimilailiei THE BRUSSELS POST PUT ASUNDER; Lady Castiomaine's Divorce 1 By BBET]IA M. CLAY, ♦union os u,p Einnatcd Llfc," "The ISnrE Atoka estony" "A ,Struggle for n 4iingp' etc.. etc., etc. for me," he cried, "than to accept friendship and receive attentionsfroma person whom I do nob know, and whose acquaintance with you I have not war. ranted?" "That you do not know him is your own fault ; he has been willing to know you. And, to me, ib seems not honor- able to be hostile to a person whom you Ooefoss you 'do not know.' " Here was the inatant to explain all, had Castlemaine been cool and wise enough to seize it. He was too angry. "I do not wish to know him ; he is not fit society for mo nor for my wife. I forbid you to have anything further to do with him." "And what right have you to forbid 2 I am not a child ; I am a reasonable, grown person, and Ido not choose to have my actions interfered with, nor to bo spoken to in that way. Mymother never said 'I forbid,' that way." "A husband and mother are two very different persona." "So I perceive," said Gertrude, fierce- ly ; "and a girl can make a very poor exchange between the two." "I had no idea," mid Lord Castle. maine, with rising fury, "that a season in London, out of your mother's care, could make such a change in you. Or have I always been deceived, and were you always at heart so rootless and de- fiant ? But you must remember that I have it in charge to defend my good name and the honor of my family." "You make the honor of the Castle - mines a harden," said his wife. "And I will maintain it. It has al- ways remained unsullied. I have been moot careless—I have trusted too much to your good sense and loyalty, and I have been deceived, Gertrude." His voice faltered on the "Gertrude," and that would have touched the poor girl's heart, had it not been for the word deceived. She knew her own fealty andinnooence. She had heard only honorable mention of Lennox. She had been told by Isabel that Lord Cas- tlemaine'sdislike for the Colonel had only the poor motives of family pride and political antagonism. Sho braced herself to do battle. "If you come to such words as 'de. ceive,' it is time we ended this. I will not listen to such language; you insult me. I prefer to be left alone." "I desire nothing better," said her husband, "if you will distinctly under- stand that your acquaintance with this Colonel Lennox must cease from this hour," "And why 2" cried Gertrude. "Because I say it." Lord Castlemaine had missed another opportunity. "And you consider me a puppet in your hands, to form or drop acquaint- auccs as you may dictate 2" "I consider that I have a right to forbid this acquaintance, and I de for- bid it." And, pray, what reason could be rendered in society for being on good terms, one day, with a geutleman miredand honored by all as one of the bravest men of the time, and then, with- out any reason, treating him with in- dignity 2" "No reason is needed. It would sim- ply be a return to common sense. It is enough that I require it. Better be out of society than in society so damaging." "What a pity 1" cried Gerbrude, m angry scorn, "that the old feudal days are not back, when a Castlemaine could bury his wife in a dungeon! What a pity that an English peer 'has not the privileges of a Henry the Eighth, and cannot out off his wife's head if a man picks up her glove 1" Lord Casblemaine, with a deeply wounded heart, and in speechless indig. nation, abruptly left the room. CHAPTER XXXIII. ALMOST PENITENT. Action and reaction; this is the uni- versal law. The principle of the pen- dulum holds good in all nature. After all excitement, the law of rebound. If Lord Castlemaine and his wife had had a loss violent quarrel,'the hour of repentance might have been more slow to strike. As it was, with hearts most bitterly wounded each passed a sleepless night. Each accused the other of the utmost cruelty. Gertrude found her lately passionate lover chauged to a husband domineering, jealous, violent, unreasonable. Lord Castlemaine found his adored bride, the innocent, loving, upright Gertrude, changed to a hard, defiant, cool condoner of social vices. He reviewed the past season; he had, indeed, been obliged by various other !demands upon his time, to leave his ;lovely young wife frequently to herself, 'but lie had left her in unbounded faith in her affection for himself and hot dig- nity as a woman. Ho recalled the con- versation of the clubhouse, not with the faintest suspicion that ho or, his had been subjects of discussion, but he re- membered what hie old friend had said about the carelessness of husbands. His Gertrude, young, inexperienced, enthu- siastic, beautiful, had been loft unguided either by mother or hnaband, in the perils of a society that received and courted such mon as Lennox. Lord Castlemaine began to wonder if there were not something wrong in the constitution of modern moiety. A little over a year before, Gertrude, es a young !Haid, would not have boon ppermitted. to find bier way alone in tbo slroabs and quicksands of fashionable life, Now, simply because she was married, she was remitted to her own discretion, and even supposed to be capable of oh epe- roning Miss IIydo, who was older than herself 1 Did marriage than make so great a difference? Lord Castlemaine thoughb that it did not. Honesty is a feature of those night. time soli.eommunings of a fairly honest man. Lord Castlemaine felt convicted of carelessness, also of hastiness and sharpness. Why had ho not seated him. self by Gertrude, clasped her in his arms, gently told her all that he knew of Lennox, showed her what she owed to herself and to her sex in reprobation of this social sinner, and how the very thoughts, looks, words of this man worn too gross to come ausar his fair white rose? To -morrow he would surely re. pair his errors. IIo went to the broalcfast-room ready to ignore last night's sceuo, and give his wife tender greeting. Isabel Hyde was there alone. She had much to do that day, and must be early on the alert. "My lady's compliments to you, Miss Hyde," said Fanny, Gertrude's maid, coming in; "she will not, be down to breakfast." Is she ill 7" asked Isabel, eagerly. "I think she has a headache," replied Fanny. Lord Castlomaine felt rebuffed by the coming of this message to other than him, but at the same time he felt anx- ious. In her glorious physical strength and perfection, Gertrude seemed not to know what headaches were, and never before, no matter what had been the social dissipation of the evening, had she failed to Appear, fresh and charm. ing, at the eleven o'clock breakfast. Lord Castlemaine drew near the table with a gloomy face. "Now," said Isabel, roguishly, "we shall have a case of loss of appetite on your part 1 If ever it is my good fortune to find a husband as devoted as you are I shall never dare to have a headache, or a fit of sickness, lest the dear crea- ture starve himself. However, my aunt, who is an authority on all the proprie- ties, assures me that, after a year of marriage, a lady may exercise her right to have as many headaches and ail. meats as she chooses." "And why should she choose to have any ?" "If any little thing goes wrong, you know, it is the proper way to bring wicked men to hear reason." "And why, then, should not husbands indulge in ailments and headaches on their part 2" "They don't need. They have their clubs and cigars, you know. Besides, men have not such a strain ou their feelings. A lady cannot indulge in look. ing black in public. Men may. You, for instance, looked quite thunderous at Colonel Lennox last night." "And why not ?" said Lord Castle- maine, haughtily. "He was the last man I should wish thrust updu my at- tention. Do you know his reputation 2" "I have hoard it was not—good," said Isabel, sipping her tea ; "and,"per- sonally, I find him disagreeable. I should prefer never to meet him. An intuitive dislike, is that it 7" "A pity it was not more largely felt," said Lord Castlemaine. "So I think," said Isabel, with sweet frankness ; "but society lionizes him. That makes it rather hard for girls like myself, who, not having rack or for- tune, cannot lead sooiety, but must be led, I think I should like high position, first of all, because I could exercise my privilege of condemning what I thought wrong." "Rich or poor," said Lord Castlemaine, "every woman is most truly noble when she advocates purity and refuses to con- done vice." "You sec he has the advantage of being a soldier, and, they say, a uniform carries away the hearts of all women. They are born hero -worshipers, From a child, I rather disliked soldiers, and all men of blood' and war; I suppose I am the exception proving the rule." "I never saw tho taste you mention in Gertrude," said Lord Castlemaine, uneasily. "You have not I Why, I thought her peculiarly sensitive to valor, doods of heroism, and the strength of self-made men ; but perhaps I am wrong. It looms to mo quite natural that one so beauti- ful, and rich, and gifted as Gertrude should have pride, and courage, and in- dependent views. The world has bowed down and worshiped her, just as it ought, sinoo she was a child. You see, my lot was very different ; we were a largo family, without any money, and natu- rally we were crowded together, and to have any peace or comfort at all, we must learn to give way to each other ; so in us, all manner of little, common, no -account virtues, had to thrive—as humility, and meekness, and capaeify to yield, and the desire to please. You never had such experiences." "I shall honor them for their admir- able product," said Lord Casblemaine, with a bow, thinking how well it would be if Gertrude, among all her excel lances, had one of thes0 homely virtues. Isabel laughed, "I never fully ape.. +fated my lot 1" she Dried; "but since it has won your approbation I shall think more highly of it. I suppose it that which lies al the root of my dislike of soldiers. Woe in our crowded camp meant evory evil, and law and order were our only hope of comfort, so I learned to acquire a vast amount of respect for the law- making power, and a deep terror of the law -breaking power." ,'And you Call the army a law'break• ng ppower " `Vhv not ? It is really against law and order to !till people aua plunder hooses or towns; and I cannot sae that merely being organized, and doing it by system, and in uniforms, makes it any bettor. And, don't you observe, Lord Castlemaine, that officers seem to carry much of the lawlessness of field life in- to private life 2 They seem to care little, really, for the moral law." Lord Castlemaine was in a humor to see truth in this sweeping and enormous assertion, "You seem right in many instances," "I'm so glad you agree with mo," said Isabel, daintily picking up strawberries by their stems, and eating them one by ono. "Now, Gertrude does not at all. Sho thinks it great and heroic to go butcher those wretched Zulus, not be- cause she is cruel, but because she is carried away with this epidemic of hero- worship. But she wiliget over it just as Napoleon III. did. He changed his democratic views when he became em- peror, and Gertrude will at last comp to understand at its value such a position as that of Countess Castlemaine." The breakfast was over, and Lord Castlemaine sauntered to his library. Somehow, he felt less tolerant of Ger- trude's whims. Indifferent to her posi- tion as Lady Castlemaine 1 A hero. worshiper 1 A lover of soldiers! Proud! Self-willed! Who had charged her with all this 2 No one. He would not have tolerated it for an instant, and yet in some secret way the poor child stood thus accused at the bar of his mind. But up went the busy Isabel to Ger- trude. The White Rose looked worn and sad. Sho lay back in her easy - chair, her cream -colored morning robe, with its falls of lace, setting off the wonderful fairness of her throat and hands, and the refined beauty of her face. If Lord Castlemaine had seen her, with that softness in her eyes, and that pathetio droop of the pretty mouth, ho would have succumbed at once; but, thanks to Isabel Hyde, he did not come un'What, sick 1' _tried Isabel, giving her a light kiss. "I could scarcely wait for the breakfast ceremony to end. I felt so anxious about you. This will never do, my love, to begin to be ill in your second season, with all London sighing at your feet 1" Crafty as Isabel was, she could not conceal entirely the false ring in these words, and they jarred on the truthful soul of Gertrude. • She turned away, saying pettishly : "Was Rudolph at breakfast 2" "Oh, yes. Don't fancy him ill because you were ; he is in grand spirits and appetite, so do not grow sad on his 00. count. Gan it be possible that you are to miss the Duchess of Portsea's ball bo -night 2" "Indeed I am not1" cried Gertrude, rousing herself. So Rudolph was gay, in fine appetite 1 He did not find breakfast long until ho came to call on her; ho was not pained at her first absence from the morning meal! • "Nonsense! It is nothing," she cried. "I'm not sick, merely a lithe headache, with a slight attack of laziness. The morning is glorious; lot us go out and ride. Danny l come, dress me quickly, and first go and order the landau." Meauwhile Lord Castlemaine had found very important letters that must be answered, and hardly were these out of the way when one of his brother peers came to consult with him on some measures that would be brought up 'in debate that evening at the House of Lords. Finally, he was at leisure, and by that time the good and generous views of his night -musing had partly returned to him. He hastened to Ger- trade's room. She was gone. Fanny said sho was riding with Miss IIyde. And she had not cared to speak with him before she went 1 The splendor of the day in that sea- son, when London is at its beet, and the glittering display in Hyde Park, could not distract the mind of Gertrude from the steno of the previous evening. "Isabel 1" she said, turning her earnest black eyes on her friend. "Telt me, have you ever beard anything against Colonel Lennox 2" "Yes, indeed! Plenty 1" cried Miss Hyde, in her most flippant mood. "He is of most humble antecedents. His , father was a country gentleman, or a cotton • king,.or a manufacturing prince ; something of that kind, I forget what. Also, he is a Liberal, quite opposed to the present administration. Ho bas beau accused of saying that the House of Lords was almost valueless in a legis- lative point of view, and that England would get on admirably with only the House o£ Commons." "I have heard my father say the same thing," Dried Gertrude. Isabel knew that before she had quot- ed the views of Colonel Lennox. "Also, he believes that immense es- tates should not be preserved, and he 1 has doubts of the good sense of the Lary i of primogeniture. Fanny the idea of a man of such opinions being fit to live 1" "I—thought—perhaps there might be some scandal against him," said Ger- trude, hesitatingly, "as Rudolph was so opposed," "Nonsehse 1 Merely Oastlemaine jealousy, and Castlomaino tamper, my dear. You'll get used to it in time. One must live 'up to the family traditions, you know. You should hear my aunt, Lady Cresson, tell histories of tho das- tlemaineo. Not but that your husband is the pink of perfection, as men go, and was considered the grand patch of Lon- don last year." "I don't know as that is any consola- tion," sighed poor Gertrude. "FM! No great gain without .seine small loss. You have what all we other belies of tho season were envying you, and you lose a little liberty, that is all. May I speak a plain word to you 2" "Do," cried Gertrude, tears in her eyes. "I never so much felt that I Hoed a friend—a real friend." "Then, if you moot Colonel Lennox to -night, or soon again, especially when Lord Castlemaine is with you, treat him a little coldly, The colonel can stand it. It may hurt Itis feelings, but that will be better than the scandal of an outbreak between two men, one so brave as the colonel, tho other so hasty as Lord Castlornatao," "I feel as if I lived at the edge of a crater," cried Gertrude, bursting into tears. CHAPTER XXXIV. TEE MILL OF EVIL commie That evening there were three or four guests at dinner, all gentlemen and friends of Lord Castlemaine, and lead. ing members of the most intensely con. servative party. Nothing could have happened more admirably. Lord Cas. tlemaine came down from his dressing - room just as his friends were at the drawing -room door. They entered to- gether, and he presented them to his wife, who was standing just between the lace curtains of a window in which had been massed white roses, until it was a bank of sweetness and bloom. The gardener at Neath, true to his orders, was diligently raising and im- proving white roses. He expressed the products of his skill every third day to the London house. A large box had that afternoon arrived, and the result was glorious. When Lord Castlemaine approached Gertrude, leading his elderly and dis- tinguished friends, he thought he had never seen his wife so beautiful and queenly. She had chosen to put on an entirely new style of dress, and the re- sult was dazzling. For the first time he saw her in black velvet. The dress was cut high in the throat, and long in the sleeves. Under a full fall of French lace, her hands were more graceful than ever fn their pearly whiteness. A frill of the same lace was clasped about her delicate throat with a close necklace of pearls. In her hair lay a cluster of white rosebuds, at her corsage a bunch of half -open white roses. No wander Fanny had said, when she com- pleted her mistress' toilet: "One might easily go down on his knees to you for a saint, my lady." Rudolph Castlemaine felt the full spell of his wife's beauty. The severe sim- plicity of her toilet seemed to suit the serenity of her soul, and gave him a restful feeling. The introduction of his friends put the husband and wife on easy speaking terms, after last • night's scene. Gertrude, intent on Isabel's re- port of the very high spirits of Rudolph, was about to show herself in a happy vein also. Sho devoted herself with more than her usual grace to her duties as hostess. She showed the natural courtesy to age that every good heart possesses, and it lent a gentle deference to her manner in conversing with not- able men, who had long led the councils of the nation. Instinctively she Bought the subjects that suited them, and view- ed them in their light. Lord Castlemaine proudly saw the admiration excited by his wife's beauty, genial grace, and undeniably brilliant conversation. She was the orown of all the Ladies Castlemaine 1 It was when all eyes were fixed in ap. probation on Lady Castlemaine, and all ears were attont to her dulcet speech, that Isabel Hyde entered the room. Never before had she felt such an ac- cess of jealousy, much a fury of hate, against the guileless creature that she called friend. Everything that Gertrude Castlemaine wore or did seemed to be- come her more than everything else. If she was bewilderingly beautiful in white lace and diamonds, here she was of dazzling, stately' dignity, giving pro. mise of matchless middle age beauty, in her black velvet and pearls. It is well for a woman to be able to give such earnest for her future. So young, and yet she had reached the acme of all that Isabel envied most. Isabel was now in her third season ; she had reigned only the first, Lady Cresson had said that if a girl did not succeed in her first season, she was likely, never to succeed. Her own younger sister, but that winter brought out, was on the eve of an engagemont with Sir Charles Allerton, who had fif. teen thousand a year, and stood only two lives from a peerage. Next year Isabel would bo pronounced by the wise ones pullet For her, nothing—for Ger- trude, everything. Was blonde beauty worth so much more than brunette 1' The time was then Doming when the Red Rose would bo pronounced faded, its bloom all past. "Beware my lady White Rose 1" cried Isabel furiously to herself, "before that hour you' shall be broken and oast aside 1" The dinner seemed to proclaim a truce to all the war between the hus- band and wile. The dinner guests left early to go to the IIouso of Lords. Usually Lord Castlemaine had gone to his place there, and late in the evening had dropped in at any assembly whither his wife had gone with Isabel Hyde. This evening, pursuant to his late self - condemnation, he changed his plan, and prepared to attend his wife from his own house. Gertrude, always -ensue- picious, was simply pleased with this attention. When dressed for the ball, she left her room. Sho met Isabel on the land. ing. Rudolph is waiting for us," sho said. giving her friend her hand, "Ah, ha 1 my lady 1 What did I tell you ? You are not to bo let go unguard- ed, in your own sweet way 1" laughed Isabel. Lady dastlomaiue's temper rose, her face flushed. The emotion lent just that deep fire td her eye and tint to hoe cheek that she needed for perfection 01 beauty. Her dross was of white bro- carie, tximmod with swau's-down. About her throat and wrists woreclaspsof dim monds set in turquoia. Her matohleas complexion and Boldon -gloaming hair. rose exquisitely from the snowy silk and down, with the faint jewel -tints of bine and points of diamond light. Lord Castlemaine was carried away i "1 by his admiration. He sprang toward her, "Gertrude 1 I never saw you, never saw any one, look so superlatively beau. (l tifnl, You are like a dream 1" No woman could resist such homage, Gertrude forgave him on the spot. ( i He took hot cloak, lined with white satin, and wrapped it carefully about her. 7 "Before we were married! Rudolph,' she said, "you were always in haste to fT get your name down on my tablets, ani L. - now, when have you deuced with me ?' i . "I will dance every dance to nigh) E� with you!" he cried. "And make ourselves ridiculous? Oh no, indeed!" she said, handing him hsi f f tablets. 'He is taking every single waltz(' exclaimed Isabel Hyde, drawing near 1 ,,,I "Oh, greediness, or jealousy, dr what. ever it is 1" Lord Castlemaine stopped. He had marked three waltzes. "That is all I shall waltz to -night," said Gertrude, calmly. Isabel bit her lip. Was her plan about to result in failure ? How unreliable these married lovera wase. However, Lord Castlemaine remem- bored all his social duties. He ,turned to Isabel. May I write my name on your tablet?" "Remember, I like waltzing best, she said, "and I have not forgotten your gifts in that direction." The London season was near its close, and this, one of the last balls, was also 0110 of the most brilliant—the Duchess of Portsea was ontdoing her usual social successes. Isabel Hyde had, besides the waltz, put Lord Oastlemaine's name down for one of the first dances of the evening. She did this of set purpose ; it was to give Colonel Lennox that op- portunity to secure the hand of Lady Castlemaine for other dances. At all risk, she must break up this cordiality between the married pair. It fell out as she had wished, but she had reckoned without the counsel given by herself that morning. When Col- onel Lennox approached Lady Castle- maine and requested her hand for the first dance vacant on her card, Gertrude remembered not only her husband's words of the evening preceding, but Isabel's warning of the morning. Ger- trude was not quite sure whether men had ceased to fight duels, as in novels and foreign countries; but she was sure the did not desire a scene, and she knew not how far temper might carry two proud, passionate men. Also, lifting her eyes as Colonel Lennox bent over her chair, talking with her, she caught the eye of Lady Morgan fixed on her with a curious expression. Was it' warning, or reproach, or indignation ? Gertrude could not tell, but it suddenly decided her. "I think .my card is full, for all I shall dance this evening, Colonel Lennox," she said. "This morning I indulged in the unprecedented luxury of a head- ache. I must beware—I do not propose to be invalided from the social ranks—I think that is what you oall it in war parlance." "It would be impossible," murmured the colonel. "You are health and beauty embodied. You would make us all heathen, Lady Castlemaine, and per. suade us that the immortal gods or god- desses, aro fact, not fable." Gertrude had no especial appetite for compliments. She turned her head away, dropped her tablet in her lap, and beckoned to Lady Jane Westry, one of her bridesmaids, moving to give her a seat as she came near. Colonel Lennox put on the air of a crushed but thoroughly innocent man. His deep, expressive eyes looked re. preach at Gertrude. Then, after a few words to both ladies, he moved away. Lady Jane Westry was one of those who condemned Colonel Lennox. Sho began promptly : "I cannot boar—" Another instant and Gertrude would have been saved, but Sir Charles Aller- ton came up with Miss Lucy Hyde on his arm. Lady Jane could not ventilate her opinions of Colonel Lennox to it gen. eral audience. "You cannot bear the thought of how soon you will be swept away from our Loudon life to India 2" said Gertrude.' "We shall all miss you—I shall." Sho referred to Lady Jane's approach- ing marriage, widths conversation, safe- ly turned upon India, flowed away from the dangerous topic. Gertrude had only distant glimpses of Colonel Lennox the rest of the evening. He did the injured man to perfection. Meantime Lord Castlemaine had not seen him approach Gertrude, and was thoroughly satisfied with his wife. It was the second day after, when Isa- bol and Gertrude wont to ride in the park, that Isabel proposed that, they should leave the carriage and walk to the brow of a wooden knoll. Colonel Lennox had impressed Ger. trade Moro deeply than she had been aware. He had exerted all his powers of fascination, and they were not few, when in her company, and the sincerity of his feeling toward her gave addedforce to his looks and words. Gertrude did not realize how much he was in her thoughts, and now, when Isabel said, "I wonder what has become of the colonel 2" she sighed, as sho answered: "Probably he thinks I was brusque with him, at the Duchess of Portsea's ball." "11 you were brusque, it has no doubt fru an CONTINUED.] 0 H 0 CD r`iJ CD 0 0 1-1 co 00 0 0 0 171