Charlotte M. Brame

“ In after life Marion Arleigh remembered every detail of that evening. It was May then, and the hedge was white with hawthorn; there was a gleam of gold from the laburnums, and the scent of the lilacs filled the air; the apple trees were all in blossom, the birds were singing, the sun shining, warmth and fragrance and beauty lay all around her.
Far down the orchard, standing sketching a picturesque old tree, was the artist, Allan Lyster. He looked up as the sound of light footsteps rustled in the grass. ”

“ Lord Atherton's face flushed, his eyes seemed to flame fire.
"Not a word; bring them to me! You have traded for the last time upon a woman's weakness and fears. I will read the letters, then I will tell you what I think of you."
"Better tell your wife," sneered the other, "what you think of her."
"My wife is a lady," was the quiet reply—"a lady for whom I have the greatest honor, respect and esteem. Your lips simply sully her name, and I refuse to hear it from you." ”

“ Why should you—so rich, so happy, so beautiful—why should you interest yourself in the fate of people like us? My brother is a genius, not a lord."
"I wish," cried the girl, impatiently, "that you would not be always talking to me about my riches. I cannot help them. You make me wretched. It is not because I am rich that I hesitate—how absurd you are, Adelaide!—but because your brother is a stranger to me, and I have no right to interfere in his life."
"Is that all? I fancied you considered him so far beneath you. Genius is Godlike, but it is not money. Ah, Marion, if that be all, save him! ”

“ She grew so pale, so thin, so nervous, that Lord Atherton was alarmed about her.
If she had loved her husband less her despair would not have been so great. Sooner than he should read those ill-considered words—those protestations of love that made her face flush with flame—sooner than he should read those she would die any death. For it had come to that; she looked for death to save her. She felt powerless in the hands of a villain who would never cease to persecute her. ”

“ He noticed it.
"As a rule, Marion, you are quite right. Concealments are odious. But there are exceptions—this is one—I love you; but I am only a poor artist, struggling to make a name. You, sweet, are rich and beautiful. From your high estate you smile upon me as a queen might smile on a subject. You are a true heroine. You are content 'to lose the world for love.'"
"I am content," said the girl, with a little sigh of supreme happiness; "but I wish it were all open and straightforward. I wish you would go to my guardian and tell him you love me. Then tell Miss Carleton. ”

“ You shall publish them, and I will make all England ring with the story of your infamy. I will make every honest man loathe you."
"You cannot," said Allan Lyster.
"I can. Englishmen like fair play. I will tell all England how you took advantage of a girl's youth and inexperience, above all, of the fact of her being an orphan, to beguile her into making you a promise of marriage, and how since you have traded, you coward, on her weakness, on her love for her husband, on the best part of her nature; and I will tell my story so honestly, so well, that every honest man shall hate you. ”

“ She had pretty white hands, with a soft, rose-leaf flush on the fingers. She was a lovely girl, fair, high-bred and elegant, and she gave promise of a most superb and magnificent womanhood. Such was Marion Arleigh on this June evening. The young man by her side was handsome after a certain style; the impression his face left upon every one was that he was not to be trusted; his dark eyes were not frank and clear, the thin lips were shrewd, with lines about them that betokened cruelty; it was a face from which children shrank instinctively, and women as a rule did not love. ”

“ Adelaide looked slightly shocked.
"I would not ask you to speak untruthfully, not even to save Allan's life, dearly as I love him," she said. "There is no need. Say you are not inclined to go. Miss Carleton will not interfere with the whims of an heiress."
So it was arranged, and everything fell out just as Adelaide Lyster had foreseen. Miss Carleton did not care to interfere with the whims of a great heiress like Marion Arleigh.
"By all means, stay at home, my love, if you wish, and Miss Lyster, too. She is an admirable young person; so prudent, so discreet. ”

“ If anyone had said to her: "That man is not a hero, he is only a fortune hunter; he is not even an honorable man, or he would not seek to decoy you from your duty to bind you to an underhand agreement; instead of being honorable and a hero he is dishonorable and a rogue"—she had sense enough to have seen that. She understood enough of the laws of honor to know when they were broken. But this side of the question never occured to her. He was young, handsome, and an artist; he loved her so dearly that for love of her he was almost dying. She was rich and powerful; he had nothing but genius ”

“ She was never left alone. If she entered the drawing-room she was instantly surrounded with a little court of admirers. When she wished to ride or walk there was always some little contention as to who should accompany her. It was very pleasant. Before she had been at Thorpe Castle long Marion Arleigh was queen of the new world. In the midst of all her happiness the first letter from Allan Lyster came like a thunderbolt. She was naturally so frank, so candid, that the keeping of a secret was most difficult to her. Her first impulse was to go to Lady Ridsdale and tell her everything. ”

“ CHAPTER V.
"How am I to thank you?" said Adelaide Lyster to the girl she had betrayed. "I have a letter from Allan, and he says the very thought of seeing you has given him a fresh life—fresh energy. I have never read anything so rapturous in my life. Do you wish to see the letter?"
As Marion Arleigh read the passionate, poetical words that had been written expressly for her, her face flushed. How wonderful it was to hold a man's life in her hands—to sway a genius so that her nod meant stay or go, her least words meant happiness or misery! ”

“ She promised to be Allan Lyster's wife. When he had won that promise from her, he pretended to think better of it.
"I am wrong to ask you, Marion; I am selfish, I ought not even wish you to share my lot."
She asked him why, raising her sweet eyes to his face.
"Why, because when you go out into the great world peers and princes will woo you, my darling; the noblest in the land will sue for your favor, and you, who might have been a duchess, will repent loving and caring for one so poor and obscure as I am. ”

“ Lady Ridsdale expressed great fears for her future.
"He is not a gentleman," she said. "No true gentleman would ever try to persuade any girl to a clandestine engagement."
She saw Marion open her eyes and look at her in amazement.
"I am quite right, my dear," she said. "You may depend upon it, a man who would persuade any girl to engage herself to him unknown to her friends is not only no gentleman, but he is not even an honest man."
Marion Arleigh's beautiful face flushed, then grew deadly pale; almost involuntarily she looked at Allan, but he did not raise his eyes to meet hers. ”

“ Rely upon it, my darling, the surest foundation for happiness in marriage is perfect trust. A secret between husband and wife is like a worm in a bud, or a canker in fairest fruit; no matter if the telling of a secret should even provoke anger, it should always be told. That shall be the last between us, Marion. ”

“ But, Miss Arleigh, what would your guardian, Lord Ridsdale, say—what would Miss Carleton say—if Allan went to them, as I know he wants to do, and asked permission to work for you, to try and win you? Listen to me—I am telling you the truth. They would not be content with insult, with dismissing him ignominiously, but they would mar his future. You do not know the power vested in the hands of the rich and mighty. An artist must court public opinion, and if one in the position of Lord Ridsdale was his determined enemy and foe, he could expect nothing but ruin. ”

“ I never dare to look at you; if I did, Miss Carleton would soon know my secret. I am an artist, practiced to admire. I may say what in others would be simple impertinence. You look so beautiful, Miss Arleigh, with the sunlight falling on you through the apple blossoms. ”

“ That the rich heiress who forgot her wealth and became the artist's wife, would be honored wherever her name was known. They intoxicated her with romance, they bewildered her with flattery. And she was only seventeen, with no mother to speak one warning word to her.
She pledged herself to be Allan Lyster's wife when she came of age. He told her he would rather forego all claim to her wealth, marry her at once, and leave her guardian to act as he thought best; but she, though delighted to find him free from the least taint of anything mercenary, refused to run the risk of losing her fortune. ”

“ When she was of age she could please herself—marry Allan, if he would persuade her to do so, and then he would be master of all her wealth. She began her management of the somewhat difficult business with tact and diplomacy worthy of a gray-headed diplomatist. She spoke so incessantly of her brother—praising his genius, his great gifts—that Marion could not help thinking of him. She studied the character of this young heiress, and played so adroitly upon her weakness that Marion Arleigh, in her sweet girlish simplicity, had no chance against her. ”

“ I told you then that I should hold you to your promise, and you have disregarded my words.
"Marion, I must have compensation. It is useless talking to one like you of love. You throw aside the poor artist for the rich lord. You must pay me in your own coin, in what you value most—money. You have wronged me as your promised husband. I had some right to your fortune, as your duped and deserted lover. ”

“ Then he clasped the little white hands more tightly in his own, and whispered sweet words to her that brought a bright flush to her face and a love light to her eyes. She drooped her head with the coy, pretty shyness of a bird, listening to words that seemed to her all poetry and music.
It was a pretty love scene. The lovers stood at the end of an old-fashioned orchard; the fruit hung ripe on the trees—golden-brown pears and purple plums, the grass under foot was thick and soft, the sun had set, the dew was falling, and the birds had gone to rest. ”

“ Much may be forgiven her, for lovely Marion Arleigh, one of the richest heiresses in England, was an orphan. No mother's love had taught her wisdom. She had no memory of a mother's gentle warning, or sweet and tender wisdom. Her mother died when she was born, and her father, John Arleigh, of Hanton, did not long survive his wife. He left his child to the care of Lady Ridsdale—his sister—but she died when Marion was four years old, and Lord Ridsdale, not knowing what better to do, sent his little ward to school. He thought first of having a governess at home for her ”

“ Miss Carleton flattered herself that she had found a treasure. Allan was not only the cheapest master she had ever had, but he was also a model of discretion. Yet none the less had he adopted his sister's ideas and made up his mind to woo and win Marion Arleigh.
"It is well worth your while to try," said his sister. "There are no parents to interfere; she will be her own mistress the very day she is of age."
"But she is only about seventeen now," said Allan; "there will be so long to wait."
"The prize is well worth waiting for. Half the peers in England would be proud and thankful to win it. ”

“ Lady Atherton had almost forgotten this, the peril of her youth, when once more there came a letter from Allan Lyster. He was dying, in the greatest poverty and distress, and implored their help. Lord Atherton generously went to his aid. He provided him with all needful comforts, and, after his death, buried him.
Of Adelaide Lyster, after the failure of her brother's schemes, they never heard again. Lady Atherton is very careful in the training of her daughters, teaching them to distinguish between true and false romance—teaching them that the most beautiful poetry of life is truth. ”

“ When you think you have made sufficient advances in her favor to ask her to marry you, do not rest satisfied with her spoken word, make her write it. It will be of no use to you unless you do that."
"Explain a little further, my wisest of sisters," said Allan.
"A written promise of marriage is the only security a man has. Women change like the wind, without rhyme or reason. But if you have her own word pledged to you, her promise of marriage written so that there shall be no mistake, then it will be worth a fortune to you." ”

“ When girls have once mastered the grand lesson that all secrecy—all concealment is wrong, they will have taken the only precaution possible to save themselves.
So matters went on until the continued secrecy began to prey upon Marion's mind; then she made an appeal to Allan with which our story opens. He did his best to argue with her, and he sent a note to his sister, telling her the bright, bonnie bird they had ensnared was growing restive under constraint.
No doubts ever came to her. Youth is the age of romance; youth imperatively demands love and poetry. ”