Charlotte M. Brame

“ Nothing but his sobs answered her; dying as she was, all sweet, womanly compassion awoke in her heart.
"Hubert," she whispered--"oh, my darling, if you could come with me!--I want to see you kiss the baby while it lies here in my arms."
He bent down and kissed the tiny face, she watching him all the time.
"You will be very kind to her, darling, for my sake, because you have loved me so much, and call her by my name--Madaline. Tell her about me when she grows up--how young I was to die, how dearly I loved you, and how I held her in my arms. You will not forget?" ”

“ But when the Duchess of Hazlewood had told her what was needed, and had placed the whole matter before her, Lady Peters looked shocked.
"My dear Philippa," she said, "this is terrible. I could not have believed it. She is a lovely, graceful, pure-minded girl, I know; but such a marriage for an Arleigh! I cannot believe it."
"That is unfortunate," said her grace, dryly, "for he seems very much in earnest."
"No money, no rank, no connections, while he is one of the finest matches in England."
"She is his ideal," was the mocking reply. "It is not for us to point out deficiencies." ”

“ Well, as the ice is broken, Lord Arleigh, and we are old friends, I may ask, why do you not marry?"
"Simply because of marriage, and of love that ends in marriage, I have not thought," he answered lightly.
"It is time for you to begin," observed the duchess; "my own impression is that a man does no good in the world until he is married." And then she added: "I suppose you have an ideal of womanhood?"
Lord Arleigh's face flushed.
"Yes," he acknowledged, "I have an ideal of my own, derived from poetry I have read, from pictures I have seen--an ideal of perfect grace, loveliness, and purity. ”

“ Will you be happy, Madaline?"
She raised her eyes to his, her face bedewed with happy tears.
"I should be most ungrateful if I were not happy," she replied; "you are so good to me, Lord Arleigh."
"You must not call me 'Lord Arleigh'--say 'Norman.'"
"Norman," she repeated, "you are so good to me."
"I love you so well, sweet," he returned.
The happy eyes were raised to his face.
"Will you tell me," she asked, "why you love me, Norman? I cannot think why it is. I wonder about it every day. You see girls a thousand times better suited to you than I am. Why do you love me so?" ”

“ It was the real degradation of the crime that he dreaded so utterly--dreaded more than all that could ever be said about it. He thought to himself more than once that, if by any unexpected means he discovered that Henry Dornham was innocent of the crime attributed to him, he would in that same hour ask Madaline to forgive him, and to be the mistress of his house. That was the only real solution of the difficulty that ever occurred to him. If the man were but innocent he--Lord Arleigh--would never heed the poverty, the obscurity the humble name--all that was nothing. ”

“ Then we were married, not publicly and with great pomp, but as my darling wished--privately and quietly. On the same day--my wedding-day--I took her home. I cannot tell how great was my happiness--no one could realize it. Believe me, Lord Mountdean, that she herself is as pure as a saint, that I know no other woman at once so meek and so lofty, so noble and so humble. Looking at her, one feels how true and sweet a woman's soul can be. Yet--oh, that I should live to say it!--on my wedding-day I discovered something--it was no fault of hers, I swear--that parted us. ”

“ What have I done?"
"Madaline," said Lord Arleigh, "I do not think that so cruel a fate has ever befallen any one as has befallen us. I do not believe that any one has ever suffered so cruelly, my darling. If death had parted us, the trial would have been easier to bear."
She turned her sad eyes to him.
"It is very cruel," she said, with a shudder. "I did not think the duchess would be so cruel."
"It is more than that--it is infamous!" he cried. "It is vengeance worthier of a fiend than of a woman."
"And I loved her so!" said the young girl, mournfully. ”

“ Why must a woman never evince a preference for the man she loves?"
"Woman should be wooed--never be wooer," said Lord Arleigh.
"Again I say you are hard, Norman. According to you, a woman is to break her heart in silence and sorrow for a man, rather than give him the least idea that she cares for him."
"I should say there is a happy medium between the Duchess of Gérolstein and a broken heart. Neither men nor women can help their peculiar disposition, but in my opinion a man never more esteems a woman than when he sees she wants to win his love." ”

“ There was no husband with kind words and tender kisses. I thought my heart would have broken. And then I said to myself that I could live no longer without making an effort once more to change your decision. Oh, Norman, for my sake, do not send me back to utter desolation and despair! Do not send me back to coldness and darkness, to sorrow and tears. Let me be near you! You have a thousand interests in life--I have but one. You can live without love, I cannot. Oh, Norman, for my sake, for my love's sake, for my happiness' sake, take me back, dear--take me back! ”

“ Slowly, and as though it was with difficulty that she understood Lady Arleigh read the letter through, and then--she did not scream or cry out--she raised her eyes to his face. He saw in them a depth of human sorrow and human woe which words are powerless to express.
So they looked at each other in passionate anguish. No words passed--of what avail were they? Each read the heart of the other. They knew that they must part. Then the closely-written pages fell to the ground, and Madaline's hands clasped each other in helpless anguish. ”

“ She was the daughter of a felon--no matter how fair, how graceful, how pure. For the first time the glory of Beechgrove was tarnished. But it would not be for long--it could not be for long; she must not remain. The daughter of a felon to be the mother of his children--ah, no, not if he went childless to the grave! Better that his name were extinct, better that the race of Arleigh should die out, than that his children should be pointed at as children with tainted blood! It could never be. ”

“ When the passion of grief had subsided, when the hot angry glow of wounded pride died away, she raised her face to the night-skies.
"I swear," she said, "that I will be revenged--that I will take such vengeance on him as will bring his pride down far lower than he has brought mine. I will never forgive him. I have loved him with a devotion passing the love of woman. I will hate more than I have loved him. I would have given my life to make him happy. I now consecrate it to vengeance. I swear to take such revenge on him as shall bring the name of Arleigh low indeed." ”

“ Another time Margaret said to her:
"You do not write many letters to your husband, Madaline. I could imagine a young wife like you writing every day," and her daughter made no reply.
On another occasion Mrs. Dornham put the question to her:
"You are quite sure, Madaline, that you love your husband?"
"Love him!" echoed the girl, her face lighting up--"love him, mother? I think no one in the wide world has ever loved another better!"
"Such being the case, my darling," said Margaret, anxiously, "let me ask you if you are quite sure he loves you?" ”

“ Well, I do think highly of him, Philippa. And so, after all, you really care for him?"
"I do not think I shall tell you, Norman. You deserve to be kept in the dark. Would you tell me if you found your ideal woman?"
"I would. I would tell you at once," he replied, eagerly.
"If you could but have seen your face!" she cried. "I feel tempted to act the charade over again. Why, Norman, what likeness can you see between Philippa L'Estrange, the proud, cold woman of the world, and that sweet little Puritan maiden at her spinning wheel?" ”

“ The Earl of Mountdean and Lord Arleigh were walking up a steep hill one day together, when the former feeling tired, they both sat down among the heather to rest. There was a warm sun shining, a pleasant wind blowing, and the purple heather seemed literally to dance around them. They remained for some time in silence; it was the earl who broke it by saying:
"How beautiful the heather is! And here indeed on this hill-top is solitude! We might fancy ourselves quite alone in the world. By the way, you have never told me, Arleigh, what it is that makes you so fond of solitude." ”

“ The dark eyes looked straight into his own.
"It is a miserable marriage for you, Norman. Granted that Madaline has beauty, grace, purity, she is without fortune, connection, position. You, an Arleigh of Beechgrove, ought to do better. I am speaking as the world will speak. It is really a wretched marriage."
"I can afford to laugh at the world to please myself in the choice of a wife. There are certain circumstances under which I would not have married any one; these circumstances do not surround my darling. She stands out clear and distinct as a bright jewel from the rest of the world. ”