Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth

“ Weakens and wastes its strength.—M. P. T. To see for the first time the shores of the old world! It is indeed like coming to another world! like entering into another life!
Have we died? Was the vast sheet of water we passed the River of Death? And is the land we see before us the abode of departed spirits? If so, is it Hades, or Elysium? It looks more like Elysium!
So mused Drusilla as she stood dreamily leaning over the bulwarks of the Hurona, and gazing on the lovely shores of the Emerald Isle, all glittering in the beams of the rising sun, as the ship approached the beautiful Cove of Cork. ”

“ ALEXANDER STRIKES A LIGHT.
“A death-bed’s a detector of the heart.” So is a sick bed. A man may have passed through the greatest college in the world and carried off its highest honors; may have traveled over every foot of land and sea; may have learned all else that this earth has to teach him—yet if he has never had a good, dangerous, rallying spell of illness, his education has been neglected.
Alexander Lyon had been a strong, arrogant, despotic man, and not from any internal force of the spirit, but by the external support of great physical strength, sound health and large wealth. ”

“ I could not look in your face and see the wreck remorse has made of you, and raise my hand or voice against you! ‘Penal servitude!’ Your whole life has been penal servitude! Besides, besides, in my more favored position, without any of the temptations that beset you, I myself have been too great a sinner to dare to be a harsh judge! In your position, Everage, heaven knows, I might have been tempted to do the same things!” said Alexander, gravely. ”

“ The impulsive Austrian skipped around the circle, acting in his distress more like an excitable dancing master than an accomplished Prince.
Each face was as pale as the bloodless face below them; for these were not the times of war, and the men were not inured to sudden and violent death.
At length the surgeon looked up from his examination.
“Is he quite dead? Is there not the slightest hope?” anxiously inquired Francis Tredegar.
“He is not dead,” said Doctor Dietz. Then turning to Major Zollenhoffar, he requested—“Monsieur, oblige me; send someone to the carriage for my case of instruments.” ”

“ The great crowd of people and of vehicles going all one way; the variety of individuals and characters; the total abandonment of all reserve; the hailings and the chaffings; the jests and the snatches of song; the grotesque decorations of some of the horses and carriages, and even of some of the people; the perfect novelty of the scene; and the exhilaration of all animated creatures that composed it, made every step of the progress charming to the unaccustomed minds and eyes of our new-comers.
Drusilla and Anna were delighted. Little Lenny shouted. ”

“ So Drusilla wrote a note and left it for the colonel.
It was now nine o’clock, and quite dark; and having done all she could possibly do towards the recovery of her child, she ordered the cabman to drive back to the hotel, to meet the horrors of her lonely night and forced inaction.
And, oh! the awful sense of bereavement, of loneliness, of vacancy, in entering again her apartments, in which little Lenny was no longer to be found! The heart-rending pang of terror in conjecturing where he might be! ”

“ For what, he asked himself, were the worst pangs of toil, care and want compared to the grief that would be his portion should he, in any way, lose his own fond wife and dear children?—“Very, very lamentable, if it is indeed true! but let us hope it is not so; that your imagination exaggerates the circumstance. Let us trust that the quarrel is not irreconcilable; that the husband has still a wife, the father still a child.”
“No, I have no wife nor ever shall have one; for though Drusilla is neither dead nor divorced, she is hopelessly estranged from me. ”

“ That was the reason why I would not go to Europe for my wedding tour. But oh, Drusilla, I did not know how much I loved my dear grandfather until this day. And to think that in the course of nature I must lose him some day, and may lose him soon,” said Anna, weeping afresh.
“My darling Anna, your grandfather is a very strong and hale old man; his habits are regular and temperate, and his life quiet and wholesome. He is likely to live twenty or thirty years longer,” answered Drusilla, cheerily. ”

“ Dick caught her and tenderly placed her in a chair and stooped before and took her hands again, saying:
“Dear Drusa, your little Lenny will be found, he will indeed, my dear.”
“Oh, I hope so! I believe so!—but this suspense is the most awful anguish in life! Oh, where is he now? Now at this moment, where is my poor little helpless babe? In whose hands? Suffering what?”
Her look as she said this was so full of unutterable sorrow that Dick could restrain himself no longer.
“Dear Drusa, dear Drusa,” he said holding her hands, “your child, wherever he is, is not suffering; he is well and cheerful. ”

“ There is something wanted, my lady. You have a hungry, hungry heart, and a begging eye. You are longing and famishing for something, my lady, and you will get it; for the hungry heart is a mighty heart, and must prevail; and the begging eye is a conquering eye that will overcome. Sweet, my lady, grief has gone away, never to come back to you; and joy will soon come, never to leave you.”
“Oh, if I were sure that were true. If I could only believe that!” exclaimed Drusilla, earnestly. ”

“ Who knows you to be Lady Killcrichtoun? or even Alick to be Lord Killcrichtoun? Do you know it? Do I? Does he himself? He calls himself so; but that don’t prove it is so. The newspapers affirm it; but that don’t prove it. The world accepts him as such; but that don’t prove either—at least to us who have always known him only as Mr. Lyon, and haven’t examined the evidences that he is anybody else. Similarly we have known you only as Mrs. Lyon, and shall take you with us everywhere and introduce you as such; at least until Alick himself assures to you your other title.”
“Thank you, dear uncle. ”

“ The Derby race, though the greatest feature of the day, was not a thousandth part of the sights. If no race had come off, the assembly itself was well worth coming to see, and sitting through a whole day to study.
Anna, Drusilla and General Lyon, were well content to occupy their seats and spend their time in calmly contemplating the scene before them.
But the three young men, Dick, Spencer and Tredegar, wished to mingle with the active life below, and so, making an excuse to go and get cards of the race they bowed and left the hill and soon disappeared in the crowd on the heath. ”

“ How shattered your health must be! But you will recover your strength again when you leave this stifling atmosphere composed of smoke and fog, and get away to the bracing breezes of the Highlands!” said Alick, kindly.
“Too late! too late! too late!” moaned Everage.
“Too late? No, it isn’t. You have no fatal malady. You are only broken down by hard work! You will recover in the Highlands. Think how your children will enjoy the freedom and fine air of the mountains. And you can take them to Killcrichtoun and enter on possession as soon as you like. ”

“ The waiter came and put the bill in Everage’s hands and the usher, who had that day received his second quarter’s salary, amounting to barely fifteen pounds, paid thirty shillings for their lunch, and bestowed half a crown on the waiter who served them.
Alexander sighed and groaned in the spirit as he saw this; but he could do nothing on earth to prevent it, or to remedy it. What in the world is one to do in such a case with a sensitive, poor gentleman? He would be alive to all your ruses, and feel hurt by them and defeat them. ”

“ Lyon. Who is she, then, Alick?”
“She is Lady Killcrichtoun—she is my wife, Tredegar.”
“Good Heavens, Alick!—Here!—Here is my hand! I go with you now heart and soul! I am not bloodthirsty, and I want no man’s life; but I do hope you will cripple that fellow for the rest of his days!” fervently exclaimed Francis Tredegar, clasping his hand into Alexander’s palm. ”

“ Drusilla and Anna watched him attentively.
“Why, my dear child, you are a billionaire! You are probably the wealthiest woman in America!” exclaimed the General, in astonishment. “That is, if there is no mistake!” he added. “Are you sure you are the right heiress?” taking off his spectacles and gazing at Drusilla.
“I am quite sure, sir. There are too few of us to afford room for confusion. In my grand-uncle’s generation, there were but two of the family left—himself and his only brother, my grandfather. My grand-uncle, being a woman hater, lived and died a bachelor. ”

“ Anna, who bad kept near her, seeing her about to fall, caught her and made her sit down, while she said:
“Drusa, dearest, be reasonable! be yourself!”
“I must go out and look for my little child! I must, Anna! I must! I cannot live through this horrible night if I stay in this house!” she cried.
“Drusa, consider! you can do no good by going out to-night, but much harm. You could not find little Lenny, but you would lose yourself. You have already done all that you possibly could do for his recovery. ”

“ You have found my boy! Oh, tell me so at once! Oh, don’t try to break such news to me as that is! Joyful news may be told at once! it never kills! And now you see I know you have found my baby! Oh, bring him to me at once! Where is he? In my room?”
She had spoken rapidly and breathlessly, and now she started up to hurry to her chamber, expecting to find her child there.
Dick gently stopped her.
“Dear Drusilla, I have not got your child. I wish I had,” he began, with his hand on her arm.
The look of joy vanished from her face. ”

“ Drusilla! Drusilla! use your own excellent judgment. Is it likely at all that the child should be in danger to-night, or even in terror? Children live and thrive in the lowest haunts of London. The men who stole him for his father will of course take the best possible care of him in order to deliver him in the best condition and to get their money; so he will be in no danger; and as for his being in terror, little Lenny is a ‘game boy,’ afraid of nothing on earth, neither of ‘thunder nor horses,’ as he once told me, much less of men ”

“ What young creature, unsatisfied and with a deep heart stake in life, is not in some degree a prey to superstition and credulity?—is not in secret a would-be diviner of dreams, interpreter of omens, consulter of the stars, reader of the future? The restless, longing, impatient heart cannot wait the slow revelations of time; it would, with rash hand, rend aside the veil and know the worst or best at once.
So it was with Drusilla now. ”

“ With many sobs Anna told the story of little Lenny’s abduction, as far as it was known to herself, and also described the measures that had been taken for his recovery, but taken, so far, without effect.
“But his poor young mother,—how does she bear it? and where is she now?” inquired Dick.
“Oh, Dick, poor Drusilla! I do fear for her life, or her reason, in this horrible suspense, worse than death! Nothing but her unwavering faith in Providence has saved her from insanity or death,” wept Anna. ”

“ I should not be the least surprised to wake up and find myself—where?—anywhere at all in my past life! In my little corner of the housekeeper’s room in the Chief-Justice’s dwelling; in the lolling 114chair of the little drawing-room at Cedarwood waiting for Alick to come back; or at dear old Lyon Hall with little Lenny trying to pull my eyes open. Life seems often very like a dream. ”

“ Alick’s mother was quite aged and infirm.”
“Yes, because she was forty-four years old when Alick was born, which makes some difference, you know,’ laughed Anna.”
There was silence a little while and then Anna said,
“You will have much joy in your son, if the Lord should spare him to you, Drusilla.”
“The Lord will spare him to me. I feel convinced of it,” answered the young mother reverently.
“And every year—nay, every month—your joy will increase; for as his affections and intelligence develop, he will grow more and more interesting and attractive to you.” ”

“ Truly in much worse health than before! Clearly not long for this world! And if anything should happen to the child before his father’s death, Everage would not long be kept out of his inheritance!
If anything should happen to the child! Dangerous, speculation! In monarchies it is treason even to imagine the death of the sovereign. And it is so with much good reason, since such imaginings often realize themselves.
It could not be treason; but it was treachery in Clarence Everage even to imagine the removal of the little child that stood between him and the inheritance of Killcrichtoun. ”

“ When the world has stung you nearly to death or to madness, my dear, you may judge more truly and less tenderly of it. And now, Drusilla, hear me. You do not go to Cedarwood; you do not leave our protection until your husband claims you of us. ”

“ As if by magic, our travelers soon found themselves in a first-class carriage, with all their luggage piled on the roof, flying along with great rapidity, while hedges, fields and farm-houses, seen dimly in the half light, reeled past on either side. Though it was ten o’clock post meridian, yet in these northern latitudes, and at this season, it was still twilight. The carriage in which our travelers found themselves was in many respects like the inside of a large family coach, only it was much more capacious than any such vehicle. ”

“ I wish now that I had hired a special train from London. It would have given me three hours in advance, and I should then have been in time,” groaned the General, wiping his face.
“Take comfort, sir. It might have had a fatal termination. As it is, we have reason to thank Heaven for an unmerited mercy. Prince Ernest has escaped unhurt, and has returned to England. Lord Killcrichtoun is wounded, but not fatally. ‘All’s well that ends well.’”
“‘That ends well!’ Yes, but who can say that this will end well? Oh, Heaven, how much trouble that young man has caused me and all who are dear to me! ”

“ Now wouldn’t you like to have your boy christened?”
“Oh, yes; indeed I should, bless him!”
“And I will be his godmother, and grandpa and Dick shall be his godfathers. You know, being a boy, he will require two godfathers and one godmother. If he were a girl, the matter would be reversed. Now what do you say, my dear?”
“I thank you very much, dear Anna, for your kindness in thinking of all this. And I shall be very grateful to you and dear uncle and cousin Dick for becoming sponsors for my darling boy,” said Drusilla, earnestly.
“And the christening is to go on?” ”

“ Now, if Drusilla’s sweet face had been capable of expressing withering contempt mammy would have been shrivelled up to a mummy: but as it was she could only appeal from the nurse to Miss Lyon.
“Anna, look at him—he is laughing, or, at the very least, smiling—is he not?”
“Yes, my darling, he is certainly smiling; and you know the old folks say when an infant smiles in its sleep it dreams of Heaven and sees angels.” ”

“ Drusilla herself filled the glass, and kneeling down beside her, put it to the lips of the prostrate girl.
“No, no, no!” cried Pina, pushing away the glass, and spilling its contents—“no, no, no, I won’t take it, I won’t get better, I won’t live! Somebody ought to smash me for losing little Lenny, and if they don’t I’ll die myself! I will! I will!”
“Pina! nobody blames you, at least I do not. Nobody wants you to die, or to be punished. Drink this, Pina, so you may be better able to tell me about my child,” said Drusilla, gently, as she again offered wine to the girl. ”

“ But General Lyon would not hear of such a thing. What! marry off his granddaughter and heiress to his nephew in such a semi-clandestine manner, as if he were half-ashamed of the proceeding? What, disappoint all the young people in the neighborhood, who had every right to expect a festival on the marriage of Miss Lyon, of Old Lyon Hall? Not while he was head of the family! Anna should be married at home. And there should be such a celebration of the nuptials as the lads and lasses around the hall should remember to the latest day of their lives. ”

“ My dear, I am speaking fact, not flattery. Anna is beautiful; we will grant that; but she is of that large, fair style, so rare in our country that it made her a belle there, but which is too common here to make her more than one of the pretty women of the season. On the contrary, your style, Drusilla, more common in America, is extremely rare here. You will be new. You will make what women call a ‘sensation.’ Alick will see it, and he will discover his folly, if he never finds out his sin in having left you. There, Drusilla! ”

“ I felt that he was, though I did not see him; for oh, Anna, I was afraid to look towards him and meet again that cold and cutting gaze that almost slew me in the Tower!”
“Don’t ky, Doosa! Please don’t ky. ’Deed Lenny be dood boy. Let Lenny wipe eye,” said the child, taking up the edge of his night-gown and trying to dry his mother’s tears.
“My darling, you are good, and I won’t cry to distress you, poor little soul. I should have died long ago if it hadn’t been for you, my little angel. There, Doosa has done crying now,” she said, wiping her eyes and smiling on the child. ”

“ It is a ‘sweet old home.’ It is perfectly beautiful, and besides it seems to me that every one who was ever born here, or ever lived and died here, must have been very good and loving, that their spirits still pervade the place, and make it holy,” said Drusilla, warmly.
“My dear, you will make me so much in love with my home that I shall not like to grow old and die and leave it,” said the General, smiling.
92“Dear uncle, please to believe that there is not the slightest necessity for you to grow old, much less to die before your century is completed. ”