Waverley Library (Octavo Edition) (no. 109) (1886 06 22)
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* PASSION’S REPRISAL, 9 the indignant Bridget threw herself into the fray. ‘* My poor, dear lady shall not go over the seas with a madman!” she cried, decisively, taking the trembling Beatrice to her bosom, “You ought to be ashamed, Mr, Carew, so you ought, to come here using such language and rolling your eyes like the clown at the circus, when this innocent lamb has done no harm either to you or yours, She would make too good a wife for the like of you. And, ob! I repent the day I ever let myself be talked over to help you in your courting; but it was all for the sake of my dear young mistress.” “Give me my answer, Beatrice,” persisted the young man. “Tf already I have injured you so deeply,” she murmured, ‘it might be better that our fates should not be linked together,” “You have made a wise choice,” he said, with sullen calmness. ‘' Go home, Beatrice, and to-morrow stand at the altar by Jerome Maxwell’s side; he will never guess how near- ly he had lost his bride,” As he turned and left her without another word, Beatrice gave a faint cry, and would have fallen senseless to the ground had not Bridget caught her in her arms, and supported her to the rustic seat. Just then the tramping of a horse’s hoofs became audible in the road, and Jerome Max- well, mounted on his stout gray mare appeared in sight, having been spending a convivial evening with his friend Barton, His eagle eye soon fell upon the pair. ‘‘ What do I see?” he cried, hurriedly dis- mounting and coming toward them, ‘ Why are you here at this hour, Bridget, with Miss Thornton? Isshe ill? Has she met with an accident?” ‘Oh, please go away, Mr. Maxwell, with- out asking questions,” pleaded Bridget, still in tears. ‘‘She is coming to herself, and the very sight of you will make her worse.” “Woman! you forget that in a few hours your young mistress will be my wife. I have a right to ask for an explanation of this scene, and if both you and she refuse to give it, I shall expect her father to inform me why he suffered his daughter to be abroad at midnight without his protection,” Thus brought to bay, Bridget considered for a moment whether she would appeal to his | generosity or tell a falsehood sufficiently plausible to allay his suspicions, Reluctantly she resolved to confess at least a portion of the truth, “T am going to tell you a secret, Mr. Max. well,” she began, coaxingly, ‘though she would never forgive me if she knew. She came here to-night to say good-by toa young gentle- man who has been courting her on the sly for some time past, and it is only natural that she should be a little overcome. Now don’t you be angry; for there’s few folks, they say, that marries their first, love, yet they make none the less good husbands and wives when their turn comes, Just take my advice, and ride quietly on, for it would worry the poor dear out of ber senses again if she found you here when she recovers, See, she moves; she will soon be as well as ever. I will take her home | presently, and when you are once her young |man, I'll engage she’ll never waste another thought upon young Carew.” Jerome stood silent, seemingly undecided what to say or do, He almost shuddered as Beatrice slowly unclosed her eyes and the name of his rival escaped her lips. But Bridget impatiently waved him away in token of dismissal, and he may have felt that it would be impolite to provoke an open rupture with a girl whose indifference he had from the first more than suspected. So it happened that when Beatriee’s con- sciousness fully returned, she found herself alone with the simple but kindly domestic, who, as she carefully supported her trembling steps toward the house, was cautious not to reveal the fact that the expectant bridegroom of to- morrow was cognizant of the lovers’ meeting under the trysting tree, CHAPTER IV. MR, WILLIAM SMITH, Nearty a year had passed since Everard Carew quitted Fairview, and during that period no communication from him had been received by his family or friends, ‘‘Let him go,” Mr. Carew had said to Ken- neth, his only confidant, ‘I never wish to see him again, After my death he will soon re- turn with pretended grief and real gladness, to take possession of all that will be then his own, I do not mean to be vindictive beyond the grave, and shall not alter my will as I had ax first thought of doing. He shall have an elder son’s portion; perhaps time and experience may teach him wisdom and honorable feeling, If he comes no more to Fairview during my lifetime, you can give him my forgiveness and blessing.” Kenneth promised to comply with this re- quest, but was hopeful that a reconciliation might be effected between father and gon, A small party assembled one evening in the long drawing-room. It consisted of the rector and bis wife, Mrs, Blake (a widowed sister of Mr. Carew), Mr. Merriton and his daughter Lilian. Lilian was a charming girl, fragile in term, aristocratic-looking, and refined in feasura, witha profusion of pale golden hair curled oware her broad, white forehead, and twisted into innumerable braids and coils behind her head,
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