Her Mother's Secret Part 17

"No; I do not wish to walk further. We will rest here," she said, as soon as they had reached the sands. And she sank wearily upon the rude wooden bench that stood on the beach just above the water mark.

He sat down beside her, took her hand, looked into her pale face, and tenderly questioned:

"What has happened to distress you, darling? Is anyone you care for sick or in trouble? Can I help you, then? You know I would aid to my last dollar if it were any one you cared for," he said, caressing the little fingers he toyed with.

"Oh, Le! Le!" she moaned.

"Odalite!" he whispered, in an access of anxiety, "is any one--dead? Tell me! I have just come, and know nothing. Is any one--dead?"

"Oh, no! No, Le! No one is dead. I--I wish to Heaven some one were!"

"Odalite!"

"Not any one we love, Le. Oh, Le! I will tell you as soon as I can.

Something has happened. I--I brought you out here to tell you. But, oh, Le! Le! dear Le! how shall I tell you?"

"My darling Odalite, what?"

"Don't speak to me, Le! Don't speak! Listen! Le, hate me! scorn me! I deserve that you should. Oh, no! no! Don't! don't! I should go mad if you did. But--try not to mind me; try not to care for me at all. I am not worth it, Le. Not worth a regret--not worth a thought. I am such a poor thing! Such a very poor thing! And I shall not last long. That is the best of it." She breathed these last words out in a low, long-drawn sigh, dropping her head upon her bosom and her arms upon her lap.

"Oh, my dear Odalite, what is the meaning of all this? What ails you? What misfortune has happened to you? Have you lost your health? Oh, my own, own darling! is it so? You are so pale and cold and faint! That must be it.

You have lost your health. But do you think I would give you up for that?

Oh, no, no, no, my precious! That would make me only more your own devoted Le than ever before. I would care for you, and wait on you, and nurse you more tenderly than ever a mother did her baby. For are you not my own--my very own?" he said, putting his arms around her and drawing her close to his heart.

"Oh, Le, Le! No, no, no! I am no longer your own! No longer your Odalite,"

she exclaimed, struggling out of his embrace, and bursting into a tempest of tears and sobs.

"Not my Odalite! Nonsense, dearest dear! Not my own Odalite? Whose else should you be, I wonder? Why, you have been my own Odalite all your little life. What can be the matter with you? I know now! I have read and heard about hysterics in young girls, and that is what has come over you, darling! I took you too much by surprise! You fainted, and now you are hysterical! What can I do for you, Odalite? I wish I knew just what to do!

Do you know? No! you shake your head. Well! let us go back to the house!

We had certainly better do that!" said the youth, rising and offering his arm.

"No! no, Le! not to the house! It is here that I must tell you! here by the sea! Yes! it is a fitting place for such a confession! here by the treacherous sea!" she said, trying to suppress the sobs that still shook her bosom.

CHAPTER XIV

TOLD BY THE WINTRY SEA

The young man said no more, but simply stood before her and waited in wonder for her words.

"I am not hysterical, Le! I am not hysterical; but I am false--faithless!

Despise and forget me, Le! for I am not worthy of your remembrance. I am false and faithless!"

"No, no! Odalite, it cannot be true!" cried the young man, in a sharp tone of anguish.

"Yes, yes! it is true! it is true! it is shameful, but it is true!"

exclaimed the desperate girl.

"Oh, my Lord, my Lord! Can this be possible? You false to me, Odalite!

You--you!" cried the youth, growing deathly pale, while great drops of cold sweat started from his forehead.

The girl strove to speak, but failed, and nodded with a choking sob.

"Who is the man?" demanded the youth, throwing himself again on the bench, since indeed he was scarcely able to stand.

"I--I--I--am engaged to Col. Anglesea," gasped and faltered Odalite.

"'Col. Anglesea!' And who, in the foul fiend's name, is Col. Anglesea?

Satan fly away with him!"

"He is--is an--an officer in the--the East India Service."

"How did you come to know him? May the----"

"Oh, don't, don't, Le! He was an old--old friend of my mother, and--we met him at Niagara."

"I wish to Heaven he was at the foot of the falls!"

"So do I with all my heart!--oh, no, I don't either!--I--I don't know what I am talking about! My head is wild!" said Odalite, putting her hand to her forehead.

Le looked at her wistfully.

"An old friend of your mother, eh?"

"Yes."

"Rich? Of high rank?"

"I--I believe so."

"Where is the man?"

"He is here at Mondreer, where he has been staying ever since he came down with us at my father's invitation from Niagara."

"And you are going to marry him?"

"Oh, yes," replied Odalite, with a heartrending sigh. "It cannot be helped. It is all settled."

"I see how it is! A friend of your mother, rich, and of high position; and so they have yielded to the temptation of wealth and rank, and they have forced or coaxed you into compliance with their wishes in consenting to this dishonorable marriage! I did not think so of my uncle and aunt. But this cannot, shall not go on! I shall insist upon my prior rights. Take heart, my precious. I shall not let them destroy our happiness by parting us. No, not for all the wealth and rank in the world!"

"Oh, Le! Le! you mistake! you mistake! n.o.body forced me! n.o.body persuaded me! I am going to marry Col. Anglesea of my own free will! Indeed I am!

Oh, Le! Le!" wailed the unhappy girl.

The youth stared at her in speechless astonishment and bitter misery.