Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

“ As he stood in the doorway, on his left, near the bay window in the upper end of the room, high on the table stood the athletic form of the demoniac, raging and foaming, cursing and threatening in the frenzy of mania a potu, swinging aloft the heavy chair which he whirled around his head with the swiftness and velocity of a windmill. On the same table stood Samson Longman and Randolph Hay, struggling to master the maniac, who seemed possessed of the strength of seven devils.
On the floor, near the middle of the room, lay Michael Man, stunned by a wound in his head, prostrate and insensible. ”

“ I am obliged to the woman for bringing me to my senses,” said Stuart as he took his seat opposite his wife and helped himself to a muffin.
“Nonsense, Cleve! I have got a tongue in my head, and if I had wanted anything would have asked you for it without hesitation,” replied Palma.
“I fear you would not have recognized any want, my dear; and I fear it is true that some men are so thoughtless that they act as if women’s clothes grew on them like the petals of a flower, and cost neither money nor effort to renew. 278But I see now. Yes, dear rose of my life, I see your petals are fading.” ”

“ It would be wrong and even criminal in you to do otherwise,” said John Legg, gently drawing his daughter into his arms again and adding sorrowfully, “for I have something more to tell you.”
“You could not tell me anything more shameful than you have already told me! Even if you should prove that that villain had been a murderer, as well as a robber, forger and perjurer, it would not be worse, since hanging is no more disgraceful than penal servitude. To be the wife of a felon—the wife of a convict! But I will not be! I will be separated by law! I will be divorced!” ”

“ I know that you will do all that you can. Well, I have learned one lesson from all this,” said Ran so solemnly that both his companions looked up inquiringly, and Palma asked:
“What is it, Cousin Randolph?”
“It is this: If Heaven ever should bring my dear Judy and myself together again I will never part with her—no, never while we both shall live! Nothing shall ever part us again except the will of Heaven!” ”

“ What are these young people like, madam, if you please?”
“Mike and Judy? They are both lovely! Just lovely!” warmly responded Palma.
“That is exceedingly complimentary, and would be highly satisfactory, only it is not quite exact enough. A rose is lovely, so is a pearl, so is a fawn, so is a baby.”
“Oh, yes!” exclaimed the young mother.
“So many things are lovely, you see, that to say they are lovely gives me no clear idea of them. Be more precise, dear lady.” ”

“ Supper will be ready in a few minutes,” said Mr. Cleve as he sank into one of the armchairs.
Then Palma saw how fragile he really was—his transparent face was as white as ashes, his thin hair and thin whiskers were like floss of silver, his hands were the longest, thinnest, fairest hands ever seen. He was clothed in a dark blue dressing-gown which he folded double over his knees, and the bald spot on the top of his head was covered with a much worn old blue velvet skullcap. His aspect suggested frost, cobweb, chrysalis. ”

“ Not until afternoon could the busy country doctor, whose practice extended over many miles, be found and brought to Wolfscliff.
He was conducted by Stuart to the room of death.
“A death from old age, pure and simple,” was the verdict of science.
“Did you ever see a body more thoroughly consumed by the life of the spirit? I have known Mr. Cleve all my life, as my father and my grandfather knew him before me, and I never knew of, or heard of, his having a day’s illness,” concluded Dr. Osborne as they sat together beside the bed. ”

“ No prouder father lived than Stuart, no happier uncle than John Cleve, nor more important nurse than Mary Pole. She had enough to do now, both day and night, to nurse mother and babes.
On the very first visit Stuart was allowed to make at the bedside of his wife, when he had kissed her with deep feeling, and had admired the twins to his heart’s content, she said to him:
“Cleve, dear, of course our boy must be named John Cleve, after dear uncle and yourself. But our little girl? Will you please ask uncle if he will let us call her Clarice, after his own dear angel love?” ”

“ The butler stood in the door. Two footmen came down the steps to attend their master and mistress.
Ran lifted Judy from the carriage, whispering:
“Welcome home, my darling,” and led her up the steps and into the hall, followed by his friends.
The butler, with a low bow, made way for them to pass.
The housekeeper, a very aged woman, dressed in a brown satin gown and a lace cap, came forward to meet them.
“Welcome home, sir and madam. We have waited for you long, and greet you gladly,” she said in a tone of exaggerated reverence and with a deep courtesy. ”

“ Judy! Judy! What is all this? Are you crying because you are doubtful of what is to become of you?” tenderly inquired the lady, laying her hand on the girl’s curly, dark hair.
“It’s the parting with yeez a’, ma’am! And the thought what will I do at all, at all, when ye lave this! Oh, sure it is a silfish wretch that I am to be graiving for meself, instid of rejoicing with yeez!” wept the girl, backsliding hopelessly into her dialect.
“Judy, dear, do you think we would leave you behind? No, dear, not one of us would think of such a cruel thing. We must take you with us, Judy, my poor child!” ”

“ A half-hour’s drive brought them to the crowded pier, and five minutes’ struggle through the confusion transferred them to the deck of the Boadicea, where they found Will Walling, Mike, Longman, and Dandy waiting for them.
“No more partings here, dear Judy. Here are meetings!” said Ran with a smile.
An hour later the Boadicea sailed.
At that same moment Mrs. Duncan, taking leave of Mrs. Walling, repeated her words:
“Ah! won’t there be a circus when Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Hay confront Gentleman Geff and Miss Leegh at Haymore! How I would like to be there!” ”

“ Cleve laughed, but Palma put in her word:
“Oh, Cleve, I’m delighted! It is so new! such fun! to ride on the hay in an ox cart! It seems so of a piece with all our strange experiences! Yes! this is some new planet! Not our old familiar earth!”
“How did you happen to be here to meet us? We are a day and a half behind time,” inquired Stuart. ”

“ A STARTLING RENCONTRE Two travelers on board the ocean steamer Scorpio, bound from New York to Liverpool, were Gentleman Geff and his queenly bride.
He was in blissful ignorance that his forsaken wife and her infant were on the same ship.
The wife whom he believed to be in her pauper grave in potter’s field, and the child of whose birth he had never heard!
Gentleman Geff was riding on the topmost wave of success and popularity. He had paid a high price for his fortune, but he told himself continually that the fortune was worth all he had given for it. ”

“ The mother and daughter reseated themselves on the crimson sofa in the glow of the fire, Hetty Campbell took the baby on her lap, and the fondling and idolizing recommenced, and might have continued all night, but that James Campbell wisely put an end to the play.
“Come!” he said. “I have been traveling night and day for twenty-four hours, and am well worn out. So is Jennie, though she has only traveled one day by rail. So we had better go straight to bed. Listen, Hetty: I have had our daughter all day long to myself. You take her to your bosom to-night.” ”

“ The O’Melaghlin saw the elixir of life and revived at the sight.
Meanwhile Ran returned to the barouche to conduct Stuart and Palma to the house.
“He made me and my wife swear by all the saints in Christendom that we would not betray his secret until he himself should give us leave, and lo! he has blurted it out himself,” laughed Stuart.
“Yes. He seems a very eccentric person, this unexpected father-in-law of mine. Yet I like what I have seen of him,” replied Ran.
“You will like him better. The longer you know him the more you will esteem him. ”

“ Mrs. Walling’s household was astir. They were to have an early family breakfast before dressing to go to church.
Mrs. Walling and her young protégée met in the breakfast room. Judy was pale and nervous.
“Good-morning, my dear. Do you see that the clouds have gone with the night? A good omen for you, according to the folklore—‘Blessed is the bride that the sun shines on,’” said the lady as she drew the girl to her bosom and pressed a kiss on her brow.
“Oh, ma’am, I have prayed the Lord to bless the day for Ran’s sake, but my heart misgives me, ma’am,” sighed Judy. ”

“ Walling and Palma received her as cordially as if she had not interrupted their departure. Mrs. Walling then introduced:
“My young friend, Miss Judith Man.”
“How do you do, my dear? I am glad to see you,” said the visitor.
Judy bowed and smiled.
“You are going out. Don’t let me detain you. I was on my way down to Fourteenth Street to do a little shopping and just dropped in here to tell you a piece of news; but I can take another opportunity,” Mrs. Duncan explained.
“Oh, no! Pray do not! We should die of suspense! Pray, sit right down and open your budget. Our errand can wait as well as yours. ”

“ There, talking with Lawyer Walling, is Randolph Hay, your benefactor, who saved you from starving and shared his hut with you in the mining camp of Grizzly Gulch, and whom you robbed, tried to murder and left for dead in the Black Woods of California so that you might claim his name and place with impunity! He will be compelled to prosecute you! And across the hall, in the library with her father, is the woman you deceived into a false marriage. She will prosecute you with all the vim, venom and virulence of a proud, outraged and revengeful woman. ”

“ In the library John Legg sprang up and bolted the door against the uproar, and then sat down by his trembling wife.
In the drawing-room all was excitement and expectation.
“It’s him!” exclaimed old Dandy, with his few spikes of white hair rising on end around his bald crown. “It’s him! Straight from the pit of fire and brimstone, and possessed of the devil and all his demons!” ”

“ I should myself be very happy to serve them, but I will not stand in the way of another who can do so much better,” replied Palma.
“That’s a dear, unselfish angel!” exclaimed Mrs. Walling. And then the four women formed themselves into a committee of ways and means, and discussed wedding breakfasts, trousseaus and so forth, treating Judy with as much freedom, tenderness and liberality as if she had been their own child, until the gentlemen came in and the subject was dropped. ”

“ I will remember to remind you of it,” replied Ran.
“Now will you please go on telling me about the family my niece married into?” said Dandy impatiently.
“Certainly!” smiled Longman, good-humoredly. “The son utterly ignores his father and hangs on the skirts of influential people; but as yet has had but little success. The daughter went out as a governess, less it seems to be of service to children than to seek her own fortune, through her beauty, among the rich and noble. She also ignores her father. ”

“ While the lady shopped for Judy she shopped for herself as well. But, after a day or two, she could not but notice that Palma bought nothing; that she let all the tempting goods, so pretty and so cheap, pass under her admiring eyes unpurchased.
“What is the matter with the young one?” inquired Augusta of herself. “Doesn’t she care for dress at all?” Then she remembered that she had never seen Mrs. Stuart in but two dresses, and very inexpensive ones at that, namely, an India muslin, sometimes, in her evenings at home, and a fine crimson cashmere for visiting. ”

“ The wife and daughter of the curate sat in the rectory pew. There, later, they were joined by the two sons of the deceased rector.
The curate, in full vestments, waited the arrival of the casket, and, book in hand, went to meet it at the church door, through which, upon a bier of ebony, covered with a pall of black velvet, it was borne by six bearers, and marshaled it up the aisle and before the chancel, repeating the sublime words of our Lord:
“I am the resurrection and the life. He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. ”

“ Your little Shetland veil that you knit for me years ago, always seemed full as it could hold of your dear love, and its touch on my face like your caress,” replied Mrs. Campbell.
While they sat at table Elspeth Longman stood at one of the windows with the baby in her arms, tapping on the panes to make the child look out on the blue sky and the evergreen trees.
“I shall stop calling baby ‘Baby’ now, mamma. She is going to be named after you—Esther. It is too grown up a name to call a little baby in common. And we can’t call her Hetty, because that is your pet name. ”

“ But don’t look so horrified, my dear. If I had changed my religion, instead of having changed my parish, you could scarcely seem more confounded,” said the curate, with a little laugh.
“Oh, papa dear, what made you leave dear old Medge?” she dolefully inquired.
“Necessity, Jennie. My old rector died——”
“Oh! Good old Dr. Twomby! Has he gone?” exclaimed Jennie in a tone of grief.
“Yes, dear—full of years and honors. It would be impious to mourn the departure of so sainted a man. His successor was a young Oxonian, who gave me warning and put in a classmate of his own as his curate.” ”

“ The O’Melaghlin stroked his long, rusty red beard and slowly shook his head.
“The human race is going to ruin,” he said.
“But will you kindly explain how it is that we are of kin, sir?” said Palma hesitatingly.
“Surely, my dear young lady—surely. The facts are these: From prehistoric ages, in the dark before the dawn of time or of its record, to which the memory of mankind goeth not back. The O’Melaghlins were monarchs of Munster.” ”

“ And so we will live until we are polished up bright enough to show ourselves to my grandfather’s neighbors and tenants at Haymore. Then we will settle there for good, and no one will ever know that the successors of Squire Hay were first of all a pair of little ragamuffins and ignoramuses from a California mining camp! Yes, that is what I will do, and no prudence, and no policy, and no consideration for ‘that sphere of life to which we are called,’ nor for anything else but Judy herself, shall influence me! When we meet again we shall be married out of hand and nothing but death shall part us! ”

“ The hunter arose and followed Ran upstairs and into the library, where they sat down at a table on which stood pen, ink and paper.
“Longman,” said Ran, “would it suit you to be gamekeeper of Haymore?”
“Why, Mr. Hay, it would make me the happiest man on earth! But I really would not wish you to give me the place at another man’s expense.”
“Never fear; it will be at no man’s expense in the sense you mean. There has been no gamekeeper at Haymore for a year past. The last one left to seek his fortune in Australia, and no successor has yet been appointed. The place is yours if you will have it. ”

“ Feeling sure that the maniac was conquered, John Legg turned his attention from the scene of conquest on the table to the scene of suffering on the carpet.
“Is the young man dangerously wounded?” he inquired in a low tone of Mr. Campbell.
“We hope not. We hope this may be only a scalp wound. But it will be impossible to tell until there is a surgical examination,” replied the minister.
“Has a doctor been sent for?”
“Yes; Mr. Walling has gone out to dispatch a servant for Mr. Hobbs, the village practitioner.”
“Oh, me poor Mike!” cried Judy, breaking afresh into sobs and tears and dialect. ”

“ Should you? Reflect. The new squire will be here in a few days. You will have to denounce him as an impostor, a fraudulent claimant, a bigamous bridegroom. But it would take time to prove these charges. Could you stay in the parish and preach in the church during that time with any sort of peace to us all? No. Better that we should go away, and the sooner we go the better.”
“My dear, I shall easily prove the fellow to be a bigamist; but as his crime was committed in the United States of America, I cannot prosecute him for it here in England. Neither can I prove him to be a fraudulent claimant. ”

“ But for a century past The O’Melaghlins of Arghalee had been fast livers, hard drinkers and reckless sinners. In every generation, every succeeding heir had come into his patrimony poorer in purse, prouder in spirit, and weaker in will to resist evil than any of his predecessors.
At length, about twenty-five years before the period of which I write, young Michael O’Melaghlin, at the age of twenty-one, came into the remnant of the grand old estate, consisting then of the half-ruined castle of Arghalee and a few acres of sterile land immediately around it. ”

“ I will be as true and tender a mother to her as if she were my own hurt child. And her own mother looking down from heaven will see no cause to blame me. At Medge her story need never be known. She will be the Liddy Legg of her youth. She went for to be a governess in a rich American family—she has come home now for good. That is true, and it’s all of the truth that need be known at Medge. The writing between the lines need not be read there. And there is Uncle Dandy, who is just as kind as he is rich. He will surely be good to the poor gal.”
Suddenly Julia paused and fell into deep thought. ”