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Show MY LADY'S LOVER. Coming out upon the terrace where they stood alone together in the June twilight, I remember thinking what a handsome, noble-looking couple they made, and how well it was that my mistress had chosen Mr. Hollis for her future husband when so many attractive young gentlemen aspired to the honor of her hand. As I approached, Mr. Hollis was saying, "To-morrow [tomorrow] is our wedding day, dear Edith! To-morrow! I can scarcely realize it. Ah, how proud and glad I am!" My lady looked up at this moment, her cheeks all aglow, her eyes shining with happiness. Hearing my step she said, in her gentle way, "What is it, Jessie?" "A strange woman has presented herself at the kitchen-door, madam. She asked for you and will not be denied. She does not live in these parts, I think; her accent and dress are both peculiar. Good gracious! There she comes now, and I left her on the kitchen step!" My mistress looked in the direction indicated, and beheld a drooping, forlorn figure slowly advancing from the rear of the house. She changed color and drew back with a startled cry. "Mrs. Howe!" The woman came nearer and paused on the upper step, looking curiously about her. "Forgive me for comin", she said, in a low, broken voice. "It ain't right to be troublin' one like you. But what could I do with him beggin' and pleadin' and frettin' himself ill? I hadn't the heart to refuse his prayer, and Hush!" My mistress drew her strange visitor hurriedly down the steps. She was very pale, and trembled with excitement. "No more now I cannot listen," said she, in a whisper. "If you have any errand with me, come again by and by when I am alone." The woman sighed heavily. "Let me give you this note, ma'am it's from him and I'll trouble you no more. You'll read it, an' do all it asks, ma'am?" she added, quite plaintively, as she thrust a bit of crumpled paper into my lady's hand. "Yes, yes. Now go go, at once!" "I will. But don't disappoint him, ma'am; don't do it!" There was desperation in her voice and looks perhaps even menace as she turned and made her way with difficulty down the path. Mr. Hollis naturally made some inquiry as to the strange visitor, but, at Miss Edith's solicitation, he dropped the subject and soon afterward took his departure. About ten o'clock that night my lady's bell summoned me to her chamber. I found her sitting with her wraps on, and a bit of paper the same the woman had given her clenched in her hand. Her face wore a sadder expression than I had ever seen upon it before. "Jessie," she said, turning in her chair as I entered, "do you know a place in the village called Holm's Cottage?" "Yes, ma'am." "Good. Get your bonnet; I wish you to take me there. I wish to set out at once." "But it is a long distance, madam; if you must go, shall I order the carriage?" "I do not wish that visit known to anyone else in the house, Jessie. The servants would think strange of it. You, I am sure, are discreet and faithful." We left the house by a side door, locking it and taking the key with us. Presently we reached Holm's Cottage. It was a long, low building in the outskirts of the village, at some distance from any other dwelling. Since my knowledge of the house began, it had been occupied by the poorer class of tenants. "Someone I wish to see is here," she said, quietly. "Remain outside, Jessie. I shall not be gone very long." She entered without knocking and closed the door. The next instant I heard a glad cry within, then a burst of sobs. Suddenly Mr. Hollis confronted me, his face white and convulsed in the moonlight. "Tell me," he said, in a husky whisper, "was it Edith, my promised wife, that went in at yonder door?" I could not speak, but my looks answered him. He dropped my hand and was turning away, when these few agitated words came through the open window, "Edith, I knew you would come! My precious darling, my wife! You were not so cruel as to forsake me utterly." It was a man's voice, but Mr. Hollis seemed to hear a single word only of those it uttered. "Wife!" he echoed, in a hollow tone. "Wife! Good God! And tomorrow was to have been our wedding-day!" In spite of my terror and bewilderment, I had the presence of mind to grasp his arm and drag him further away from that house. "What brings you here?" I sternly demanded. "Why have you followed us?" "I did not follow you; I am no spy. It was chance that brought me in this direction to-night [tonight]. Nay, not chance," he added, with sudden vehemence, "but the providence of God." Then, before I could say a word in reply, he had freed himself from my grasp, and was striding down the street. Ten minutes later my mistress came out. She drew a deep breath as she clasped my arm, and I felt her tremble. "Come, Jessie, let us get away from here quickly. I shall be glad to reach home again so glad!" She looked so miserable and dispirited that I had not the heart to tell her what had occurred outside the cottage while she lingered within. The next morning, while she sat at breakfast, and the mystical stir of the bridal preparations was going on in the house, one of the servants brought in a large package. She cut the cords, and out fell a heap of letters the pure, dainty letters she had written from time to time to her lover and the few books and keepsakes she had given him. I saw her stagger, turn pale, and catch her breath. Then she looked at me with an uncertain, bewildered air. "I I don't understand. Do you, Jessie?" The package and a brief note it contained, were Deane Hollis's farewell. My lady did not cry nor faint. Flinging the note from her, she clasped both hands to her forehead. "My God! This is incomprehensible. What-what-does he mean?" "I can tell you, madam." And I did. When she knew that Mr. Hollis had been at Holm's Cottage the night before, and what he had [unreadable line] and confusion, as I half deserved?, she sprang toward the door with a smothered sob of joy. "O heaven!" she said. "Come, Jessie, we have another mission to perform." "Where are you going?" I said, looking at her wonderingly. "Come and see. Heaven grant that we may not be too late!" Scarcely waiting for her bonnet and shawl, she hurried me from the house. Presently we reached a handsome mansion Mr. Hollis's country-seat. A carriage stood before the door, and someone was just stepping in it. My lady screamed out at the sight, and rushed forward, excitedly. "Oh, Deane, don't go! don't leave me at least, until I have been given a chance to explain! You have misjudged me it is all a terrible mistake! Come with me to Holm's Cottage, do come. God knows I do not wish to keep any secrets from you, not one." We all entered the carriage together, and drove to Holm's Cottage. We were met on the threshold by the same forlorn looking woman who had brought the note. She burst out sobbing in our faces. "My son is dead," she cried. "He breathed his last soon after you went away last night. Oh, miss, won't you come in and look at him? I'm sure it would please him could he but know." We entered the poor little room, and stood beside the couch on which the dead man lay. The secret of Miss Edith's visit of the previous night was soon told. This rash, impetuous man had allowed himself to fall desperately in love with Miss Edith, the previous summer, in spite of the difference and the utter impossibility of his ever hoping to win a return of his affections. When he realized that he must die, a prey to consumption, he had begged to be taken to the vicinity of my lady's home, that he might be near her at the last. He had had more or less delirium for some days previous to his death, and while this was on him had really fancied that Miss Edith was his wife, and spoke of her, in his rambling way, as such. "I could not despise his love, Deane, I pitied him so," my lady said, her beautiful eyes full of tears. "Do not blame me for seeking to hide the truth; it was for his sake. It seemed cruel to expose his weakness. Will you forgive me?" He echoed the word and caught her to his noble heart. "Forgive you! Oh, my darling, it is I who need to be forgiven!" |