A Speckled Bird Part 36

"But she cannot go to the North Pole, and--you may not survive the dangers."

"When I know she is waiting at home for me, do you suppose all the ice in Greenland could shut me away from her?"

"G.o.d bless my daughter! How shall I live without her?"

"We are never to be separated. Mr. Herriott could not wish anything so cruel."

She rose on tiptoe, put a hand on each wet cheek, and kissed her father twice.

Mr. Herriott looked at his watch.

"Eglah has consented to be married to-night, and my train leaves at eleven. There are several important matters to be arranged, and I should be glad to know her wishes."

She rang the bell, then stepped to his side and slipped her hand in his.

"Father's rector is absent, and I wish Bishop Vivian to perform the ceremony; he loved my grandmother, and she loved him."

Aaron appeared at the door.

"Tell Oliver to bring the trap around as soon as he can. Father, you must go in with Mr. Herriott. Mrs. Whitfield is sick, but I want Mr.

Whitfield and Lucy and Dr. Eggleston and his wife to be here. If you wish any others, invite them. Mr. Noel, what hour?"

"I suggest not later than nine."

"My dear Ma-Lila will never forgive me. She is away."

"Where? Could not a telegram reach her?"

"No, she is in the country, two miles from a station. She left me only this morning, and will be so grieved."

"How far away?"

"Fifteen miles by carriage road, twenty by rail. There is the trap.

Father, I am going upstairs now; and, if you please, I want to be alone till--till--till--" One hand clutched her throat, and she looked appealingly into Mr. Herriott's eyes.

He smiled, stooped, and pressed to his lips the slender fingers he held.

"Set your mind at rest about Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l. She shall be here, if I have to send a special for her."

When explanation and instructions had been given to Aaron and Minerva, Eglah went upstairs and locked herself in the room to which had been removed the furniture and portraits Mrs. Maurice held sacred. Up and down she walked, feeling that an iron band was throttling her. She and her father were drifting out to a black gulf of humiliation--of hopeless disgrace--and only that box of papers could rescue, anchor them in safety. Mr. Herriott loved her so devotedly, she believed that when she was his wife he would yield the papers in answer to her prayers. If he refused? She recalled the ring of indignation in his voice when her father suggested bribing Duncan Keith. Marriage would give her immediate control of her estate, and surely her fortune could purchase the papers from the boy, when in her presence Mr. Herriott delivered them to him.

If all efforts failed, she would go down to ruin knowing she had left nothing undone to save her father, and now, at last, she had regained her place in his heart.

The price? Her face burned, and she wrung her hands. After to-night's ceremony, could she ever again respect herself? When Mr. Herriott knew, would he despise her? Family portraits on the wall caught her glance.

Did the stainless Maurices, and her own young mother, watching from the Celestial City, see all the burden of shame settling down on her shoulders? Would her grandmother's cold, proud blue eyes look "I told you so," or soften in tender pity for "poor Marcia's baby"? Public disgrace over which so many would gloat, to escape such infamy was any price too dear? The price--herself?

Three hours later she saw her trunk carried downstairs. When the clock struck eight, she was dressed for her wedding. The gown ordered for the club german was a trailing, ivory _crepe de Chine_, and where lace ruffles met on the corsage she fastened a spray of white lilac from the bouquet Mr. Herriott had sent. No gleam of jewels marred the white perfection of face and figure, but her dilated eyes burned like brown agates when the light smites them. On the dressing-table lay a note for Mrs. Mitch.e.l.l.

"My dear, sweet little mother: The crucial hour came, and you were away. I may have scuttled s.h.i.+p, but I did what seemed best. Some things you cannot understand now, but I know you love me too well to distress me with questions--when I ask you to trust me. Pray for your

"BABY."

As the clock struck half-past eight, Eliza ran up the steps and into the room, holding against her shoulder a branch of t.i.ti pearled with bloom.

At sight of the extraordinary loveliness of the figure standing as if frozen, she burst into tears.

"My beautiful--my baby! What does all this mean? Your father has forced you to----"

"Hush, hush. My father was as much astonished as you are. I feared you could not come in time, and here is a note, in which I said all that I can tell you. Don't scold me, and don't cry; wait till I am gone."

She gave her the note and kissed her cheek, where tears were streaming.

"Oh, my baby, give me the positive a.s.surance that this step is voluntary--that you love Mr. Herriott."

"Entirely voluntary. My supreme wish is to go with Mr. Herriott. He is the n.o.blest man in all the world."

"Yes, but you have not just found that out; you have always known it.

Now, do you love him? I am afraid you do not; and, my baby, marriage without loving a husband is----"

Eglah laid a hand over Eliza's lips.

"Father is coming for me. I want to wear some t.i.ti, because you brought it to me. Pin two cl.u.s.ters under the folds of lace here, just over your baby's heart. Now, kiss Eglah Kent good-bye, and leave me with father while you take off your hat and dry your eyes."

"My dear, are you ready?"

"Wait a few minutes for Ma-Lila. Father, if I can not persuade Mr. Noel to abandon his journey, you must be sure to meet me when he telegraphs you and leaves me. I am inexpressibly unhappy, but if you will forget the last three years, and love me as in the dear old days, it will comfort and gladden me."

The clock chimed nine. Near the foot of the stairway Mr. Herriott waited, and when he came forward the almost unearthly beauty of Eglah's face made his heart throb with vague apprehension. It wore a rapt expression of supreme exaltation, as if a somnambulist walked with eyes fixed on some goal beyond a yawning black chasm.

Drawing her arm from her father's, she stepped to Mr. Herriott's side and laid her hand in his.

CHAPTER XXI

The fast vestibuled train, forty minutes late, swung northward at a speed that kept the car in a quiver. There were few pa.s.sengers, asleep in their berths, and Mr. Herriott had secured the drawing-room. It was new, luxurious in appointments, and to the end of the bra.s.s rod supporting the lamp in the centre he had fastened a great sheaf of white carnations, sent by Mrs. Whitfield. Closing the sliding door that opened into the sleeper, he sat down beside the figure clad in a dark-blue cloth suit.

"I am so insanely happy I dare not pinch or shake myself, lest I should wake and find it only a heavenly dream."

He took one of her remarkably beautiful hands, which he had always admired, and where he had placed a broad, heavy band of gold four hours before. Spreading the cold fingers on his warm palm, he lifted them against his cheek, brushed them with his mustache.

"Lovely little snowflakes; how long I have coveted their touch! And now they are absolutely my very own. Mine forever."

She had been leaning back, but straightened, braced herself, and her breathing was deep and rapid.

"Mr. Noel, do you really love me above everything else?"

He laughed so heartily that she saw the glitter of his fine teeth.