Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller

“ For the factory had collapsed, and from under the ruins could be heard smothered shrieks of horror and groans of pain from the wounded and dying. In the thick black dust that rose into the air and fell in masses upon the pavement, two men met and recognized each other.
“My Heaven, is it you?” Prince Gonzaga yelled, clutching Bayard Lorraine’s shoulder. “She is in there—do you hear? My wife! Under the wreck and ruin. Come, let us save her life, and she shall belong to the man that finds her in that death trap.” ”

“ Howard had told her so when first the beauty of the girl began to attract lovers to her side like bees about a flower.
“I should not wish you to marry for money without love in your heart, my dear, but if you could love one of these rich men who come courting you, it would be to your interest to do so, for when I die all my money will go to a distant relative of my husband, and I shall have nothing to leave you but my love,” she had said tenderly, and she was pleased when Fair answered, with passionate impulsiveness:
“All the money in the world could not tempt me to marry without love. ”

“ Suddenly he spoke, in a faint voice:
“Fair, you are driving me mad. What horrible thing is it that you are going to tell me?”
“It was my life, not yours, that man sought to-night,” she said.
“I know that, child,” impatiently; “but why, unless he was a lunatic, did he attempt your life?”
“He believed that he had bitter cause to hate me,” she answered, and the pallor of her face was for a moment superseded by a fiery blush of shame. ”

“ Fair stood like one dazed on the pavement, watching the car roll around the corner out of sight, and, but for the throbbing wound on her temple, she would have thought it but a dream, so swiftly had everything passed.
But as the vehicle disappeared, a strange aching sense of loss and loneliness filled her heart, and, with a half sob, she turned and entered the dreary, shabby lodging house, where, away up in the fourth story, was a little back room that she called home. ”

“ Be generous, and let me live my poor life hereafter unmolested by the man who murdered my mother and my lover, and to whom I owe all the misfortunes of my life.
In despair and desperation.
Fairfax Fielding.
On another sheet she wrote:
Darling Mrs. Howard: I have fled in despair from the man I hate and fear, and throw myself on the mercy of Heaven. If my darling ever recovers, do not let him hate my memory. Ask him to pity me at least, for my love for him has been my fate. May Heaven bless you for all that you have been to me in the past two years, my noble benefactress. ”

“ The husband whom she had deserted on the score of poverty was rich and powerful now. Of course she would make up with him. Perhaps she would be glad of the way things had turned out.
It made her very sad to think how cruelly she had been disappointed in Fair. How earnestly she had declared that she was incapable of marrying for money! Yet Mrs. Howard doubted not that her acceptance of Bayard Lorraine’s suit had been based on mercenary principles. She thought of the poor fellow lying wounded and near to the gates of death for the false girl’s sake, and felt indignant and disgusted. ”

“ Do you know that, Fairfax Fielding?”
Fair’s mother had told her that she was beautiful so often that she could not profess ignorance of that interesting fact, but she blushed rosily at the blunt words of Miss Platt, who continued, without waiting for a reply:
“I could marry a rich man myself, if I chose. I had the chance once, but I refused it, for I did not love the man; but I believe that I could whistle him back even now if I chose. I’ve a great mind to do it, just to show that upstart forewoman that a rich man would marry a factory girl.” ”

“ But the car was rattling along smartly now over the stony streets, and she was sitting there on the cushions, going home in magnificent style, and with something stirring at her heart that had never thrilled it before—something new and sweet and strange that had seemed to start into life at the first glance of those splendid dark-blue eyes that now turned on her with something like pitying wonder, as their owner said gravely:
“You look very young to have to work for your living. Are you an orphan?” ”

“ Howard went to Florence passed like a happy dream to Fair.
To love and to be loved—life has nothing else so sweet to give.
The girl whose love from its very beginning had been almost tragical in its strength and intensity, gave herself up heart and soul, with a very rapture of bliss, to her intoxicating love dream. ”

“ He was a tall, fair, fine-looking young man, simply dressed in traveling costume, and he had been descending from a handsome motor car that had just drawn up to the curbstone when Fair’s deadly peril attracted his attention, and he leaped forward just in time to save her life, for in another moment she must have been crushed beneath the fallen planks and bricks of the treacherous scaffolding. ”

“ This is like a story from the ‘Arabian Nights.’ Only two years ago I was a poor working girl in New York, miserable and starving, and now I am to be the bride of the man I worship; I am surrounded by wealth and splendor, I have trunks full of magnificent clothing, I have caskets of rare jewels, and the proudest people in this city will assemble to do honor to my marriage. ”

“ Howard was not surprised when he began to plead for an early marriage.
“I can never settle down to my literary work until I am married; and, besides, I am anxious to call Fair my own.” He laughed, and then added: “What if this prince, who is soon to return, they say, should win her from me?”
“You need not be afraid of any man. Fair is devoted to you,” said Mrs. Howard.
“I am sure of that. I was only jesting about the prince,” said Bayard Lorraine. “But won’t you agree with me that an early marriage would be expedient?” ”

“ Poor Fair—a child in her knowledge of life and the world, a woman in her love—was trying to cheat her heart with a fatal delusion, and one that she paid for most bitterly in the dark days yet to come. ”

“ Half blinded by smoke and drenched with water, Bayard Lorraine and Prince Gonzaga struggled forward toward those groans, when suddenly Bayard paused and cried hoarsely:
“Stay! It is not she! It is the voice of a man.”
“No matter; let us to the rescue!” the prince exclaimed, and, though horrified voices shouted to them not to venture into that perilous spot, they pressed forward until suddenly Bayard Lorraine fell down, suffocated by the blinding heat and smoke. Then the prince sprang over his fallen body and began to tear away the débris that hid from sight the groaning victim. ”

“ She broke off with a shriek of horror, for Bayard Lorraine had drawn a long, gasping breath, closed his eyes, and now lay before her like one dead.
Mrs. Howard had been listening in wrathful [Pg 199] horror, dazed and indignant at the duplicity of the girl she had loved and trusted. At that shriek, she confronted Fair with eyes that blazed with anger, crying out bitterly:
“You wicked, cruel girl, you have killed him! How dared you tell him that story in his weak condition? He will never recover from the shock. Get up and go to your room, for he will never want to look on your face again.” ”

“ Fair hid her sweet face against her lover’s shoulder, that he might not see and wonder at the mingled joy and sorrow in her expressive eyes—joy that he had loved her, sorrow that through her haste in wedding a miserable impostor she had missed the opportunity of her life. ”

“ Tears of joy and gratitude brimmed over in Fair’s large dark eyes and fell upon her cheeks. She could not speak, so strong was her emotion, and Mrs. Howard said:
“You told me that you were alone in the world, Fair. I, too, am alone in the world, for my husband died of consumption ten years ago, and now my only child, my sweet Azalia, is dead, at only [Pg 129] eighteen years of age, of the same disease. I am rich, and have no near relations to live with me, so if you care to stay with me and be my loving daughter, I will be your loving mother.” ”

“ It never occurred to her that Sadie could be married. To her knowledge, the girl had never had a beau. Young men did not care for her because her face was so plain.
So gradually Fair gave up the hope of finding Sadie again. She saw that Waverley Osborne, her old admirer, whom she had snubbed so cruelly, was still a clerk in the warerooms under the factory, but she did not dream that he could have led her straight to Sadie, who was now his wife. ”

“ All unconscious of the jealous hatred Belva Platt entertained toward her, Fair Fielding tripped along the crowded streets toward her humble home, her thoughts full of the occurrences of the day and of the tempting bait the embroiderer had held out.
“Can it be true that she knows a rich young man who would rather marry a working girl than a society belle?” ”

“ Fair’s tortured mother had found rest in the grave, and the unhappy daughter had gone home with Sadie Allen to live, scorning the offer that had come to her in a letter from George Lorraine to forgive and forget, and let him take her to a home, where he would work for her most faithfully.
The beautiful red lips curled in bitter scorn.
“Sadie, look at me, and think of it,” she said disdainfully: “The wife of an Italian organ grinder, following him, with his monkey, perhaps, around the streets, singing for a few pennies!”
“He is not an organ grinder. That was a falsehood of Belva’s,” said Sadie. ”

“ Prince Gonzaga looked a little startled.
“The Fairfax I knew was just like that,” he said. “She was a New York girl, beautiful but poor, and of obscure origin.”
“This girl is from New York, too, but she is a great heiress, and has had many admirers. Lord Leigh and Augustus Frayne both wanted to marry her,” said the Italian beauty.
“Heiresses are always sought after,” commented the prince, and he added, with a touch of bitterness: “There is not much genuine love in the world, Miss Consani. Every one wants to marry money.” ”

“ As he did not show interest enough in me to ask it,” Fair retorted hotly, for she resented bitterly, in secret, her preserver’s proud indifference as shown in the fact that he did not even care to know the name of her he had saved from a horrible death.
Mrs. Fielding was perplexed and disappointed beyond expression.
“Why, I really do not know what to think,” she exclaimed. “He must be the strangest young man that ever was born, not to take any more interest than that in such a lovely girl, and one whose life he had saved at the peril of his own. ”

“ When it was removed, and they drew her from the ruins, the sun shone on a face marred and distorted, yet recognizable still as that of Belva Platt. They laid her down outside, in all her jewels and finery, dead, and Prince Gonzaga muttered bitterly:
“Poor wretch! She will never set another pitfall for a man’s soul.” ”

“ I have never loved any woman but her, and I never shall.”
“Yet it seems to me that long before I ever saw you, Bayard, I read in the New York papers [Pg 229] repeated announcements of your approaching marriage with some society belle,” she remarked.
“Mere newspaper stories, in which there was no truth,” he replied. “I was fancy free until I met Fair Fielding, and, having lost her, I do not believe I can ever love again. Our love was fate, as she said—a most cruel fate it seems now, yet the memory of our once happy love will stay with me forever.” ”

“ With lightninglike rapidity, he sprang before her, and received in his own breast the bullet that crashed through the air.
The beautiful, flower-decked drawing-room of the villa instantly became a scene of confusion, for the bridegroom had fallen at the feet of the bride, and the blood that spurted from his wound dyed the hem of her white satin dress crimson. Women shrieked, fainted, or fell into hysterics, and men rushed wildly to the scene of action. One or two who had seen Prince Gonzaga fire the pistol believed that he was a maniac, and rushed forward to secure him ”

“ But in a few weeks, to her dismay, there came to Sadie Allen a telegram.
“It is from my brother-in-law in Philadelphia,” she said, bursting into a flood of tears. “My sister—my only sister—is dying. She wishes me to come at once. I shall have to go to Philadelphia at once, on the first train, Fair,” continued Sadie Allen, drying her tears, and beginning to get ready in haste. ”

“ Poor little Fair! It was quite true, as the forewoman intimated, that she had not had a judicious training, for her mother was a foolish, weak-minded woman, who had, indeed, filled her child’s head with romantic notions about marrying above her station.
“You are pretty enough to marry a king, my darling, and you would be a little fool if you threw away all your chances by marrying a poor man,” she had said often; and, as if to make her advice more impressive, she would add: “Besides, what would become of me if you married a poor man? ”

“ Lorraine was usually on hand to take her home, creating quite a sensation among the factory girls by his fine clothes and foppish airs, and entirely squelching the pretensions of Waverley Osborne, who, having heard it rumored that Fair was engaged to marry a very rich young man, resigned himself to despair, and talked gloomily to his best friend on the topic of putting an end to a blighted existence by means of pistols or poisons. ”

“ Fair cried, in gratitude, and Mrs. Howard smiled at her in her sweet, sad way, as she added:
“There is only one condition, and that is that you let your fate remain a mystery to those who have known you in the past. It seems, from your own words, that they did not take in you the interest they should have done, so we will let them drop out of your life as you from theirs, and this will be the easier as I intend to travel, and want to take you with me, of course. We will go as soon as you are able to travel. ”

“ The little beauty was clever and ambitious, and in the hope of making a grand match through her good looks, held aloof from her admirers in her own class of life, treating them with scorn and indifference.
But through her vaulting ambition came her terrible downfall. A young man, Carl Bernicci by name, saw the factory girl, and fell in love with her. He begged one of her associates in the factory to introduce him, but was assured that the pretty Miss Fielding would not look at a poor man. ”

“ And, as Fair had expected, the gentle lady replied to his suit by telling him that her own daughter was dead, and that pretty Fair was only her adopted child.
“I will be frank with you, Bayard. She is a penniless orphan, and when I adopted her her mother had just died, and the poor girl was in destitute circumstances and very unhappy. She had been reared in poverty, and belonged to the great army of sewing girls in New York. But she is as good and pure as she is lovely, and if you really love her I do not think that these facts will make any difference with you,” she added. ”