Geoffrey

“ Geoffrey returned, bitterly; “the man is a miserable coward, and he dare not meet me; his history is doubtless one of shame and wrong—he knew that I would force it from him, and he fears to remain and confess it. But, Gladys, I shall find him yet—some day I will compel him to face me and own the truth. I will hunt him down! he shall not escape me!”
“Oh, Geoffrey, pray do not let it trouble you so—there may have been some other reason for his going,” said the young girl, laying her hand sympathetically on his arm. ”

“ I believe that man is my father!” Geoffrey replied, with quivering lips.
“Oh, Geoff!”
“I do, dear; and I fear, too, that there is some miserable secret connected with my early life.”
“Do not think that,” the beautiful girl pleaded; “I will not believe it without the strongest proof; and even if it should be so, the fact cannot harm you.”
“Gladys,” Geoffrey said, in a stern, repressed tone, while his face was dreadful to look upon in its ghastliness, “if there is sin connected with my life—if I find that my birthright is one of shame—I can never ask you to share it.” ”

“ Geoffrey is quite dumb, and stands gazing at her surprised at the amazing change a stuff, a color, can make in so short a time. Beautiful she always is in his sight, but he wonders that until now it never occurred to him what a sensation she is likely to create in the London world. When at last he does give way to speech, driven to break his curious silence by something in her face, he says nothing of the gown, but only this.
"Oh, Mona, will you always love me as you do now?" ”

“ There then sat Geoffrey at the banquet; and Christopher smiled on him, and said: "See now, lord, if I have not done as thou badest when thou gavest me the treasure of Greenharbour, for I have brought the wolf-heads to thy helping and not to thy scathing. Do thou as much for me, and be thou a good earl to thy Lady and mine, and then shalt thou yet live and die a happy man, and my friend. Or else—"
"There shall be no else, Lord King," quoth Geoffrey; "all men henceforth shall tell of me as a true man." ”

“ I love her as a man loves the woman whom he wishes to make his wife,” said Geoffrey, with a very pale face, for the die was cast now, and he waited the result with fear and trembling.
“Humph! and this is your confession?”
“Yes, sir; I hope you will not regard me as a viper that turns and stings the hand that nourishes it,” the young man pleaded, with emotion.
August Huntress did not reply for a moment. ”

“ Empty hands are no disgrace if they are honest and willing hands, backed by energy and a resolute spirit, both of which I know you possess. As for the name, it is above reproach, but not more so than the manly fellow upon whom I have bestowed it, and of whom I am very proud; I know he will never dishonor it.”
“Thank you, Uncle August,” Geoffrey replied, with a suspicious tremor in his voice: “but heart, hands, name, and even life itself will not amount to much with me if I am denied the love I crave—the world would be nothing to me without Gladys.” ”

“ GEOFFREY ENTERS COLLEGE. August Huntress and his gentle wife, Alice, deserved to be happy, for they had devoted the best of their lives to the work of rearing the two children who had been so strangely thrown upon their care.
Of course it was but natural that their love for Gladys should be deeper, stronger, and more sacred than for Geoffrey, for they had taken her to their hearts as their very own when she was but a tiny babe, and having had no other children sent them to share their affection, their every hope had long been centered in her. ”

“ Every day makes Mona dearer and more dear, her sweet and guileless nature being one calculated to create, with growing knowledge, an increasing admiration and tenderness. Indeed, each happy afternoon spent with her serves but to forge another link in the chain that binds him to her.
To-day is "so cool, so calm, so bright," that Geoffrey's heart grows glad within him as he walks along the road that leads to the farm, his gun upon his shoulder, his trusty dog at his heels.
All through the air the smell of heather, sweet and fragrant, reigns. ”

“ There was a little stir at the door--a whispered question and answer; then Geoffrey bent his face to his brother's:
"Hubert, Kate is come, and Father Paul!"
He raised himself a little, and as Kate approached, put both his arms around her neck and drew her down close to him.
"I am so glad you have come," he said; "now Geoffrey will not be alone. You will never leave each other any more, will you? You will take her to father, and tell him I loved you both so much! ”

“ Geoffrey smiled wisely.
“You have guessed too much and too little, my sunbeam,” he said.
“What a paradoxical statement, my learned Bachelor of Arts! I expected better things of you,” retorted Gladys, merrily.
“You have yet to find my statement true, in spite of the seeming paradox,” he replied, with mock dignity. “Somebody is going to Europe—we are not all going, however.”
“Oh, Geoff! you are not to be left at home, are you?” cried his betrothed, in a disappointed tone, her face paling at the thought. ”

“ Geoffrey, moving to one side, stands where he can no longer be seen, feeling instinctively that the ebbing life before him finds its sole consolation in the thought of Mona. She is all he desires. From her he gains courage to face the coming awful moment, when he shall have to clasp the hand of Death and go forth with him to meet the great unknown. ”

“ This had been Geoffrey’s feeling all along; but it was Mr. Huntress’ desire to have a brilliant wedding, and he could not find it in his heart to oppose any reasonable wish of one who had been so kind to him.
“Well,” he answered, “we can comfort ourselves with one thought; the ‘fuss and excitement’ will not last long, then we shall have each other all to ourselves. But, darling, see here.” ”

“ Then Geoffrey, growing uneasy, raises his head and looks at Mona. From where he sits the bed is hidden from him, but he can see that she is still kneeling beside it, her hand in Rodney's, her face hidden in the bedclothes.
The doctor at this instant returns to the room, and, going on tiptoe (as though fearful of disturbing the sleeper) to where Mona is kneeling, looks anxiously at Rodney. But, alas! no sound of earth will evermore disturb the slumber of the quiet figure upon which he gazes. ”

“ May pressed Geoffrey's hand with gentle sympathy.
"You have my real regrets," she said. "What a horrible thing it is to think that you are all powerless to help it. Good-bye."
Geoffrey found Ralph at the entrance to the castle gate. There was a queer smile on his face, a smile of amused expectation.
"You found her charming?" he asked.
"And clever," said Geoffrey. "I guessed your plot, uncle. She is very clever."
"The cleverest woman in the world, the most wicked, the most unscrupulous. Of course she asked you to dinner, and, of course, you will go. Nobody is to know of it, mind." ”

“ Geoffrey returned, apologetically, “but I confess I was startled, as well as my horse, for a moment. Are you not afraid to be traveling this lonely way at this time of the evening?”
“No, sir, I am not afraid. I know every step of the road, but I am not so young as I was once, and it tires me to walk,” the woman replied, with a weary note in her voice, accompanied by a heavy sigh. ”

“ Geoffrey began, then stopped short, a burning flush rising to the roots of his hair, although his heart had thrilled with joy to every word his uncle had uttered.
“Well, out with it; surely you are not going to argue against your own cause, when you can have everything your own way—that is, as far as I am concerned,” Mr. Huntress said, laughingly.
“But I wish you to consider the matter in all its bearings,” the young man responded, very seriously. “You must not forget that you are utterly ignorant of my parentage. ”

“ What will poor Miss Rose say! To be sure, there is nothing boys won't do; their equals for perverseness don't walk the earth. Though I ought not to speak against them, while there's Master William and Master Edward to contradict me. They are boys, to be sure; but as for that Geoffrey!' And here she shook her head in silence, as if Geoffrey's delinquencies were beyond the power of words to express. ”

“ Gladys stole one little hand confidingly into his, under cover of her opera cloak.
“Never mind, Geoff, now that I have you here; I will tell you some other time,” she whispered, as she involuntarily turned her still flashing eyes toward young Mapleson, while a slight shiver ran through her frame.
Geoffrey’s glance followed hers, and his face clouded.
“Has he dared——” he began, sternly.
“Hush!” she returned; “it is all past; he will never dare again.” ”

“ Sure you can live alone with yourself for one minute," returns she, in very fine Irish; and, with a parting smile, sweet as nectar and far more dangerous, she goes.
When she is gone, Geoffrey walks impatiently up and down the small hall, conflicting emotions robbing him of the serenity that usually attends his footsteps. He is happy, yet full of a secret gnawing uneasiness that weighs upon him daily, hourly. Near Mona—when in her presence—a gladness that amounts almost to perfect happiness is his; apart from her is unrest. ”

“ Again he thought of Dacre and his look when all was lost: a look unchanged, unmoved; a look less of despair than the majesty of certain fate—a fate not new nor sudden, but chosen of his own calm will. A man of stone, thought Geoffrey; the incarnation of one thought; hardly human in his conscious strength. And yet, as Geoffrey saw him in the darkness of the night, his heart went out to him, and he felt that he loved this man as he had never loved a friend before. ”

“ Gladys answered, and then tripped away to reply to Geoffrey’s telegram with a jubilant letter.
“I am delighted with you, dear Geoff,” she wrote. “Your telegram has made me the happiest girl at Vassar, though my heart failed me a trifle before I opened it, fearing that it might contain bad news. How proud I am of you! for you have climbed mountains of difficulties to attain your goal. ”

“ Dear Geoffrey on his defence booming noble periods—and the Prince, poor gentleman, with his fingers in his ears! If dear Geoffrey was telling the truth. I wonder."
"Oh, is that what you'll pretend?"
"Pretend? I pretend nothing, ma'am. Why, to be sure, our Geoffrey always means to tell the truth—having, God bless him, no imagination. But you'll remark what when he tells a tale, it's Mr. Waverton has always the beau rôle. He sees the world like that, dear lad. ”

“ He turned, with blazing eyes, and faced Geoffrey, but the expression which he saw upon his face warned him that he had no irresolute spirit to deal with.
“Go!” reiterated Geoffrey, inflexibly, “or I may be tempted beyond my strength and forget one of the ‘thou shalt nots.’”
“I will not!” he returned, as resolutely, all his antagonism aroused. “Do you imagine that, after having struggled so desperately to attain the dearest hopes of my life, I will fly like a coward in the very hour of their achievement?” ”

“ Night is creeping up over the land. Already in the heavens the pale crescent moon just born rides silently,—
"Wi' the auld moon in hir arme,"
A deep hush has fallen upon everything. The air is cold and piercing. Mona shivers, and draws even closer to Geoffrey, as, mute, yet full of saddest thought, they move through the leafless wood.
As they get within view of the windows of Rawson's cottage, they are met by Dr. Bland, who has seen them coming, and has hurried out to receive them. ”

“ Geoffrey never left him, but sat on a little bench, handing him anything he wanted, and holding the little thin hand tight in his grasp. Another who rarely took his eyes from the dying boy was the soldier. He had received from them both freely the pardon which was alone needed to make his heart lighter, notwithstanding the present grief, than it had ever been before in his life. An atmosphere of love filled the little dwelling; pardon and peace enlightening each heart, as the glowing coals on the hearth lightened the rough walls of the cottage. ”

“ They showed me into his room; he was sitting over the fire, a miserable, shrunken little figure, wasted to a shadow. Ah, how my heart ached to see him. Geoffrey, I knelt by his side; I spoke to him as tenderly as I could to one of my own children; and then he turned a white corpse-like face upon me, and spoke words which God grant I may some day forget. I do not believe that human lips have ever framed such hideous curses. How I got down to the carriage, I do not know. You are not angry with me, Geoffrey? ”

“ Geoff; she loves you far too well for that,” returned Mr. Huntress, gravely, but still closely watching his protege, for he could well understand the pain he was suffering.
43Geoffrey’s face kindled, and his companion could see his temples throbbing as the blood coursed more quickly through his veins at his words.
“Thank you, Uncle August, for assuring me of Gladys’ affection; but I want her respect as well,” he said, with a slight quiver in his tone. ”

“ Geoffrey!" began the child in a trembling voice, springing up from the straw where the elder's rough push had sent him, but not daring to approach the irritated lad, "Geoffrey! I did not kneel, I did not kiss the image, though they told me they would let us go in the garden if I would, and the porteress says they will kill us soon. O brother! don't send me away; we always said we would die together!"
"They may kill me, but not you, Hubert," replied Geoffrey with a sneer. "They will rather keep you for one of their singing-birds; after that you may be a fat monk, and, who knows? ”