Amabel

“ Amabel murmured. She looked into the fire, near tears, indeed, in her bewilderment; and Sir Hugh looked at her, looked hard and carefully, at her noble figure, her white hands, the gold and white of her leaning head. He looked, as if measuring the degree of his own good fortune.
"You are so lovely," he then said quietly.
She blushed like a girl.
"You are the most beautiful woman I know," said Sir Hugh. "There is no one like you," He put his hand out to hers, and, helplessly, she yielded it. "Amabel, do you know, I have fallen in love with you." ”

“ Lady Amabel was a decided beauty, notwithstanding the ‘turned-up nose’ of which her hostess had spoken so contemptuously; it was also pretty evident that she was a decided flirt. During my lengthened career of five-and-sixty years, I had always been credited with having a keen eye for the good points of a woman or a horse; but seldom had I met with such vivid colouring, such flashing eyes, and such bright speaking looks as now shone upon me across the table from the cousin of Sir Harry Trevor. ”

“ The God of Israel bless thee! In sore affliction,
Gamaliel.” The breast of Serenus was rent with conflicting emotions as he laid down the letter. Mingled with his sorrow at the sad tidings about Amabel, there was even a note of gladness. “She loves me!” was the thought that echoed and re-echoed through his heart. “If her seen form is to vanish, she is not the visible, but the invisible, and love is eternal. The grave can rear no wall nor make no gulf between us. Behold we dwell here for a season in tents, and then quietly fold them and move forward. Poor Amabel! ”

“ The fiercest passion for Amabel reigned in his bosom, and deceived him who was so well skilled in deceiving others. He fancied, that in her impatient looks, in the tone which she used in pronouncing his name occasionally, there was something more than mere friendship for Emmeline, and that love was the motive that made her so anxious to meet him! Immortal powers! Love! love from a girl, pure as innocence itself, for such an earthly dæmon, a dæmon both in person and in mind! ”

“ She answered in a sombre voice: "With my past what woman could be happy. It blights everything."
"Oh—but Amabel—" Lady Elliston breathed forth. She leaned forward, then moved back, withdrawing the hand impulsively put out.—"Why?—Why?—" she gently urged. "It is all over: all passed: all forgotten. Don't—ah don't let it blight anything."
"Oh no," said Amabel, shaking her head. "It isn't over; it isn't forgotten; it never will be. Hugh cannot forget—though he has forgiven. And someday, I feel it, Augustine will know. Then I shall drink the cup of shame to the last drop." ”

“ The gloom fled away before a brightness which might almost be felt. The life of Amabel is a part of the One Life, and knoweth neither limitation nor death! Depart thou belief of mortality! Child of God! thou art unseen spirit! It is thine to rule the outer form, [pg 186] therefore, assert thy right, and it shall be subject to thy behest! Thou art divine in thy being, and all good is thy free heritage.
Silence still prevailed.
* * * * * * * * * * At length Amabel opened her eyes, and beheld the face of Serenus. ”

“ This, I am sure, is Amabel, from her looks, and this Cornish girl is Lucy Corbet. You are your father's girl, child, as Amabel is her mother's," looking at me with a curious contraction of her mouth, as of one in momentary pain. "Your father was a goodly and gallant man, child. I knew him well. And your mother was one of whom the world was not worthy. There, be a good girl and you shall never want a friend while I live. And you are Amabel, eh!" turning to her. "You are a beauty like your mother, but beauty is a fading flower—you know that, don't you?" ”

“ It did not enter her mind to ask Amabel for forgiveness, to ask if she were despised or shrunk from: it did not enter Amabel's mind to wonder at the omission. She looked up at her guest and her lifted face seemed that of the drowned creature floating to the surface of the water.
"Tell me, Amabel," Lady Elliston suddenly pleaded, "this is not going to blacken things for you; you won't let it blacken things. You will live; you will leave your prison and come out into the world, with your splendid boy, and live." ”

“ Her husband's magnanimity was the radiance that grew for Amabel during these black days, the days of hasty talks and of her journey down to Charlock House.
She had never seen Charlock House before; Sir Hugh had spoken of the family seat as "a dismal hole," but, on that hot July evening of her arrival, it looked peaceful to her, a dark haven of refuge, like the promise of sleep after nightmare.
Mrs. Bray stood in the door, a grim but not a hostile warder: Amabel felt anyone who was not hostile to be almost kind. ”

“ She inspired the confidence her words laid claim to; for the first time in their lives Amabel trusted her unreservedly.
"I have had a very bad time," she said: "And Augustine has had a bad time. Yes; something has come between Augustine and me,—many things."
"He hates Hugh," said Lady Elliston.
"How can you know that?"
"I guessed it. He is a clever boy: he sees you absorbed; he sees your devotion robbing him; perhaps he sees even more, Amabel; I heard this morning, from Mrs. Grey, that Hugh had been with you, again, yesterday. Amabel, is it possible; has Hugh been making love to you?" ”

“ Thorpe, is my father a Catholic?" asked Amabel, going to the point, as usual.
"My dear, that is more than I can tell you," answered Mrs. Thorpe. "His father and mother were so, and he was brought up in that way. My own impression is that he is not much of anything."
"You do not mean that he has no religion at all!" said Amabel, startled.
"If he hasn't, he is not the only one,—more's the pity say I," answered the good woman. "But in England just now, as I understand is the case here, a great many fine gentlemen profess infidelity just as they carry clouded canes and tortoise-shell snuff-boxes. ”

“ Yet, without her telling, for all her wish that no one should guess, Lady Elliston did guess. Her comfort had such wise meaning in it. She was ten years older than Amabel. She knew all about the world; she knew all about girls and their husbands. Amabel was only a girl, and that was the trouble, she seemed to say. When she grew older she would see that it would come right; husbands were always so; the wider life reached by marriage would atone in many ways. And Lady Elliston, all with sweetest discretion, had asked gentle questions. Some of them Amabel had not understood ”

“ Amabel, don't you know when we first looked at the picture of the wolf-lady, we wondered who it was like?"
"Yes; why?"
"It is like Lady Leighton. Don't you see she has the same blue-green eyes and thin lips, and the same look of watchfulness? Perhaps, after all, that was her relation calling for her."
"Don't say such horrid things," answered Amabel, shuddering. "I can see the likeness you speak of, however. But, Lucy, you will never be able to stay here. It is not right that you, a young lady of fortune and family, should be exposed to such indignities. You must go to Aunt Deborah. ”

“ Then I looked up and, catching Amabel's eye, I saw in a moment that her mind was made up.
"Well!" said I.
"I shall do nothing of the kind," said Amabel, answering my unspoken question. "Did not Mother Superior say that it was our duty to obey Sir Julius?"
"Yes, I know she did."
"Sister Angela had no right either to propose such a thing unknown to Mother Prudentia—Mother Superior, I mean," pursued Amabel. "She and some of the others think they can take liberties now. They may find themselves mistaken." ”

“ Mrs. Deborah Watched her down the stairs, as a dog watches the retreat of some intruder, whom he has half a mind to fly at and rend. She then shut the door, and returned to her seat.
"What does this mean?" she asked. "Have you set up gadding already? How came you to know this fine lady?"
Amabel told her the story of our adventures, and her knitted brows gradually relaxed, especially when I took the blame on myself, saying that I thought Amabel would not have gone but for me.
"Well, well! You are but young, and as new to the world as callow goslings!" said she. ”

“ No one shall part us, more."
"No, Amabel, no one shall part you more!" said Sir Julius, speaking now with real dignity and feeling. "I have been cruel, and I have been misled by others, but my eyes are opened. Will you not try to live for your father and for the husband of your choice?"
"I will try!" said Amabel, speaking more cheerily than she had done for several days. The old lady made a sign, and we stole out of the room and left the lovers together.
"Aweel, Lucy Corbet, what think you of my doctor from Newcastle?" asked the old lady when we were in her parlor once more. ”

“ In my own heart, I was rather pleased with the idea of seeing the place again.
"I want to go if Lucille does," sobbed Amabel.
"You shall both go," answered the lady. "Have no fear. There is no danger to one who knows the way and how far to go. Stay here till I return."
She left us alone for a few minutes. Amabel fell on her knees before the crucifix. I did the same, and repeated the prayers after her, but my heart was not in them. I was decidedly elated at the prospect of our adventure. It was not long before the lady returned accompanied by Mother Prudentia. ”

“ Hugh was glad to be rid of the young wife he didn't love."
Again Amabel was trembling. "He might have been rid of her, altogether rid of her, if he had cared more for power and freedom than for pity."
"Power? With not nearly enough money? He was glad to keep her money and be rid of her. If you had pulled the purse-strings tight you might have made your own conditions."
"I do not believe you," said Amabel; "What you say is not true. My husband is noble."
Lady Elliston looked at her steadily and unflinchingly. "He is not noble," she said.
"What have you meant by coming here today? ”

“ Lady Elliston had gathered herself together though still, it was evident, bewildered. "I don't mean to blame Hugh so much. It was your fault, too, I suppose. You asked for the cloister, I know."
"No; I didn't ask for it. I asked to be allowed to go away and hide myself. The cloister, too, was a gift,—like my name, my undishonoured child."
"Dear, dear Amabel," said Lady Elliston, gazing at her, "how beautiful of you to be able to feel like that."
"It isn't I who am beautiful"; Amabel's lips trembled a little now and her eyes filled suddenly with tears. ”

“ Death seemed to gaze from the dilated eyes.
"Oh—my poor Amabel—" Lady Elliston murmured; her face was stricken with pity.
Amabel spoke in the cramped voice of mortal anguish.—"Before he married me."
"Yes," Lady Elliston nodded, pitiful, but unflinching. "He married you for your money, and because you were a sweet, good, simple child who would not interfere."
"And he could not have divorced me, because of you."
"Because of me. You know the law; one guilty person can't divorce another. ”

“ The handsome Amabel threw him a sombre glance from the corners of her uplifted eyelids; and snakish he felt it; but her colour and the line of her face went well with sullenness; and, her arts of fascination cast aside, she fascinated him more in seeming homelier, girlish. If the trial of her beauty of a woman in a temper can bear the strain, she has attractive lures indeed ”

“ As for Serenus, he long had lived among visions, and alternated between hopes and fears. There had steadily gleamed in his soul love for Amabel, and at times ecstasy beyond limit. Of her warm friendship he had no doubt, but of more he was not sure. Who shall interpret human hearts to each other?
But Serenus had long indulged the delightful dream which was constantly before him. The beauty and purity of Amabel made her seem almost like a divinity, worthy of any sacrifice and devotion, if not actual hom [pg 124] age. ”

“ You know him well: you are far nearer him than I am: but you can't know what the beauty is, for you have never been helpless and disgraced and desperate nor needed anyone to lift you up. No one can know as I do the angel in my husband."
Lady Elliston sat silent. She received Amabel's statements steadily yet with a little wincing, as though they had been bullets whistling past her head; they would not pierce, if one did not move; yet an involuntary compression of the lips and flutter of the eyelids revealed a rather rigid self-mastery. ”

“ No sooner shall you have asked yourself the question.—“Why does Amabel write all these trifling particulars to me? What have I to do with the stranger, of whom she talks so much? what concern is it of mine, whether Landenberg loves her, and what influence can her becoming the bride of the emperor’s lieutenant have upon my fortunes?”—no sooner shall you have asked yourself these questions, than a voice within shall whisper the name of Amalberga ”

“ It was still raining, but more fitfully: a wind had risen and against a scudding sky the sycamores tossed their foliage, dark or pale by turns as the wind passed over them. A broad pool of water, dappling incessantly with raindrops, had formed along the farther edge of the walk where it slanted to the lawn: it was this pool that Amabel was watching and the bobbin-like dance of drops that looked like little glass thimbles. The old leaden pipes, curiously moulded, that ran down the house beside the windows, splashed and gurgled loudly. ”

“ Arthur murmured.
"Oh, I've no intention of rotting Sidney about it. If only because he'd probably hit me in the eye!"
"Yes, we know his fighting powers," laughed Amabel in admiring reminiscence. Her tone changed to one of regretful exasperation. "Raymond is a goose!"
"But we mustn't spoil Mr. Lisle's party with our troubles," said Marie, smiling again.
"Oh, come, I say, I'm not altogether an outsider!" Arthur protested with a sudden touch of vehemence.
"Oh, no, not that," Marie murmured, with a little shake of her head; her tone did not sound very convinced. Amabel giggled feebly. ”