Christmas Penny Readings Part 14

One of the blacks then let himself over the edge, and climbed down, to return directly after with the announcement that Miss Anderson was below.

A rope of handkerchiefs and straps was soon improvised, with which the black again descended; and in a few minutes the poor, fainting girl was drawn up from the shelf of rock upon which she had been for hours resting; and, after regaining her strength somewhat, she related how that, when the storm set in, the men had hurriedly dismounted; and, securing their horses at the bottom, climbed with the two poor girls to the shelf where she was found--a place well sheltered by the overhanging rock; and, of course, at the same time thoroughly hidden from those who pa.s.sed above.

Then came a time of horror, for they could climb no higher; and slowly they had seen the water swell and rise till it came nearer and nearer; and at last, giddy with fright, the poor servant had slipped from her hold into the fierce stream. The men hesitated for a moment, but directly after let themselves down, and swam boldly after her. Soon after there came a shout, and then one or two strange, gurgling cries, which chilled the hearer's blood, and then all was silent save the rus.h.i.+ng of the river, till voices were heard overhead when her cry for help brought salvation.

Times have altered since then, and I often look with pride at the wife who shares my home in the wilderness; and now, years after, in spite of the changes that have taken place, and the safety of person and property in the colony, Mary never hears an unusual noise by night without tremblingly grasping my arm, and listening eagerly, while she recalls the horrors of the deep gully.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

GNAs.h.i.+NG OF TEETH.

Hus.h.!.+ Be silent! Let this be to you as if whispered under the seal of confession, for it is of the secret, secret. Never let it be known to a soul, or body, let it never even be said aloud, lest some vagrant wind should bear it away, and it become known to the vulgar herd.

Hush, listen! Keep it secret. I am a man who has known sorrow and deep affliction. My heart has been broken--broken? no, hammered to pieces-- powdered, till there cannot be a fragment left that has not dissolved away amidst my tears. And how was this, say you? Why, because I loved her. I knew it not at first, but it came upon me imperceptibly, like the pale dawn upon the daisy mead, growing brighter each moment until the sun riseth, and all is one glowing scene of beauty. It was all suns.h.i.+ne then, and earth was brighter day by day in my kindling eye. A new life seemed bursting forth within me. I found charms, where all before was dreary. I slept--but to dream of my beloved image, and awoke but to muse upon her perfections. She was a doctor's little daughter, but the taint of medicine was never upon her, and to love her was a new-born hope. Yes, I dared to hope--presumptuous wretch that I was; but by that which casts the shadow of Wilkie Collins, I will name "No Name." Yes, I hoped that my ardent pa.s.sion was returned--that is to say that not mine, but another ardent pa.s.sion was given in exchange. Had not she smiled upon me? and had not her hand rested in mine for an instant, squeezed it, and then gently glided away, while I was bursting with the desire to press my lips upon it? I dared not be too sanguine, but yet hope whispered me that I was loved--that she would be all my own--mine--far off perhaps in the future might the realisation of my wishes be, but I could wait. I was still young, eighteen in a month, and what were a few years, when so peerless a queen awaited me?

Time slipped rapidly by, though I counted the minutes ere I could cull and lay the choicest of flowerets before her--flowers bought with money at Covent Garden Market--flowers received with smiles, while some bud would be culled and placed amidst the ebon ringlets that wantoned around her alabastrine neck. The light of grat.i.tude would beam from those tender dark eyes when some book, poem, or musical trifle that I had sought was presented with a stammered excuse for daring to bring them beneath her queen-like notice. Her coral lips would part, and display the pearly treasures beneath, when I would shrink back timid and fearful lest I should be guilty of a theft and steal a treasure from the coral bow.

I loved her--madly loved her. I paced the square by night to gaze upon her lamp-lit cas.e.m.e.nt--content with gazing upon the blind alone, but enraptured if the shadow of her fairy form was cast upon that blind; misery-stricken if, warned off by the policeman, I had to leave the square, smarting under the knowledge that I was watched. But still I kept long vigils by the house lest evil should befall her, and I not be there to ward it off. But nothing happened: the house did not catch fire; burglars never a.s.sailed it; no ruffians ever attempted abduction; and the two mysterious figures who entered by the front door at two o'clock on the Tuesday night, were her father and brother; while the dark man who went down the area was only the policeman. But those were agonies until I knew the truth, and was sweetly rallied for my anxiety.

But though no prodigies of valour were ever performed by me, they were there ready in my bosom--a bosom which burned to shed its last drop in her defence.

Months flew by, and then in the balcony one night I told my love of my anxieties, my troubles, my cares, and then, in the intoxication of the moment I saw not that we stood plainly out against the illuminated window, for I only knew that her blus.h.i.+ng face was hidden upon my shoulder as I clasped her to my breast and reiterated my vows of love.

And she? Ah! she would be mine--mine for ever; and she whispered those words as a ribald street boy sung out "Lul-liety."

Oh, life of blisses! Oh, hours of too-brief happiness! Why pa.s.sed away--why gone--gone for ever? The moments were too bright to endure, and a cloud crossed the sun of my young and ardent love, raining tears-- tears of agony upon my earthly paradise. Doubt, suspicion, hope, fear, all swept across my trusting spirit ere I would give entrance to that fearful brain-enslaving jealousy--maddening jealousy. Oh, but it was a hard battle, for I could not believe her false, even though the evidence was clear as the noon-day sun. The current of my life was changed, and from an open trusting soul I became a spy. I dogged her footsteps, coward that I was, for I dared not upbraid her. But the villain who had robbed me of my peace, for him was reserved the corked-up bottle of my wrath, ready for pouring upon his devoted head. I felt that I could rend him limb from limb, and tear out his false, deceitful heart. I had three times seen him leave the house, and knew him at once as a rival.

I hated him with ten thousand-fold fury, but still I must be just. Of n.o.ble mien, of polished exterior he was fitted by nature to gain the heart of a weak woman; and even as I pa.s.sed him I fancied that I could trace a smile of triumph beneath his black moustache. For yes, he pa.s.sed me almost upon the steps of the house, and then entering a well-appointed brougham, he was driven off.

For days I watched for this demon in black, with his dark eyes, l.u.s.trous hair and whiskers, and glistening teeth, for he was, in my sight, a dark tempter, but he did not return. But I saw something which set my brain almost on fire. She left the house morning after morning, and my heart whispered that it was to keep a.s.signations with the treacherous villain.

But I did not upbraid her; I was cheerful and sarcastic in her presence, while she grew strained and strange. And I, knowing that my manner had produced the change, laughed a loud, long, harsh laugh, and left the house with a dramatic scowl upon my brow, and at last, after days of watching, I followed her with the sensation of a hand clutching and compressing my heart. My temples throbbed, my brain swam, and as I hurried along I stumbled against the pa.s.sers-by.

At last I staggered so heavily against a man that an altercation ensued, a crowd collected, and when I escaped, the cab that I had been tracking was gone.

Oh, the tortures I suffered! oh, the agonies of my mind! but impotent as I felt, what could I do, but wait hours until I saw her return, and then with closely-drawn veil hurry into the house, where I dared not trust myself to follow, for I felt, oh! so bad--so dreadfully bad, I didn't know what to do.

I returned to my abode where I offended my father, upset my mamma, and quarrelled viciously with my poor saintly sisters. And oh! what a night I pa.s.sed! In the morning when gazing in the mirror, I started with affright from the wretch who met my gaze.

"Take some medicine, Alfy," exclaimed mamma, when she saw that I turned with disgust from my breakfast.

Kind, well-meant words, but what medicine would ease my sorely-distressed mind. But no, I could not eat; and though hours too soon, I could contain myself no longer, but hurried off, engaged a cab, driven by a tiger, who afterwards preyed fearfully upon my pocket, and then had the vehicle posted, where, unseen, I could watch the door of her habitation. The hours pa.s.sed slowly away as I sat gnawing my fingers, and comparing the present tempest of the heart with the past bliss.

"Go, ungrateful!" I exclaimed aloud.

"Where, sir?" said the cabman; coming to the door and touching his hat.

"No where;" I exclaimed, "stay here."

"Certainly sir, only I thought you shouted."

At length the wretch slept upon his box, whilst I, wretch that I was, envied the poor fellow, and longed for peace and rest from the burning, maddening, torturing pain I suffered. Then I started, for I saw her page come from the house, and in a short s.p.a.ce of time return with a cab.

She, false girl, was evidently waiting in the hall--yes, ready now for an a.s.signation, though I had been kept an hour at a time when about to take her to horticultural fete or opera--and directly after and still more closely veiled, she tripped lightly over the pavement and entered the vehicle.

My driver was already well tutored, but he was asleep.

"Follow that cab!" I cried, hurriedly, as I poked at the somnolent wretch with my cane.

"Aw right;" he exclaimed; till I savagely thrust at his ear, when he roused up with a start, jerked the reins, and began to follow the wrong cab.

"No! no!" I shrieked, excitedly; "the other street. That! that! The one turning the corner."

"Then why didn't yer say so at first;" growled the ruffian, blaming me for his own neglect; when on jangled the wretched vehicle closely behind that containing the false one, whilst I pressed and stifled down the feelings battling for escape. Then I endeavoured to arrest the desire to stay her in the street, and prevent the meeting my instinct told me was to take place; for I was determined to confront them, and then cast her off in his vile presence, ere in the far-off Antipodean South I fled, to seek forgetfulness or a grave.

The cabs stopped, and then I saw her enter the door of a n.o.ble-looking mansion, where she was evidently expected. What could I do? In my impotence I sat for a while madly raging in my cab, for, gifted with a strong imagination, I could, in fancy, see all that was taking place: soft glances, clasped hands, the arm of the foreign-count-looking fiend around her waist, her head resting upon his shoulder, and then eyes meeting eyes, and her face buried in that hideous black beard. Oh! it was too much; and I sprang out of my cab, ran up the steps, tore at the bell, and then, as if by magic, the door was opened, when, guided by instinct, I pushed by the servant, and hurried up the drawing-room stairs. Unheeding the shout of the liveried menial, I paused for a moment undetermined before three doors, when, hearing low muttered sounds, I opened the one right before me, and entered.

Will time ever erase the agony of that moment from my memory? Shall I ever again know that state of happy rest--those peaceful hours, ere I gazed upon thy false, false face? Oh, Eva! Alas! no. My heart still answers No!

I glided like an avenging serpent into the room, so silently that they heard me not, and then for a moment I was spell-bound with agony, for there was almost what I had pictured. With her bonnet thrown off, her long dark hair hanging over the back of the fauteuil in which she reclined, and her eyes raised towards his, was the false one. While _he_, the blight and crusher of my life, leant over her, caressing her cheek, and bending nearer and nearer, and nearer still--but I could bear no more: my eyes seemed blinded with fury, and to be starting out of their sockets; my brain burned; and with one wild, hoa.r.s.e cry of "Fiend," Nemesis-like I launched myself upon him.

In a moment, with a cry of dread, he wrenched himself round and confronted me with his ashen face, but with a wild "Ha! ha!" I had him by the throat, and we wrestled here and there, tumbling the rich furniture in every direction, till, with almost superhuman strength, I dashed his head through the pier-gla.s.s behind him.

There was a fearful crash, and the wretched woman shrieked aloud; but I was deaf to her cries as she implored me to spare him. I laughed again madly, and still held to the struggling wretch, till, half strangled and in despair, he dashed something in my face, when, as it fell shattering to the floor, I started back and held my enemy at arm's length.

Aghast I gazed upon Eva, but she covered her face with her hands, and tried to swoon, as she sank in a heap upon the floor. But I had seen all--all in that horribly-distorted mouth. A fearful light had flashed across my brain, and, as servants came hurrying into the room, I thrust my enemy from me, and parting the people at the door, darted down the stairs and fled for my life.

Forgetful of the waiting cab, I was tearing along the pave, when the driver, fearful for his fare, galloped his wretched knacker after me, and then I staggered in, and sunk back amongst the hard cus.h.i.+ons, ready almost to heap the dirty straw from beneath my feet upon my wretched head, but still I could hear the sympathising words of the cabby as he closed the door.

"Pore chap, it must ha' been a scrauntch."

For he knew where I had been--where I had seen all--all in that fearful moment--the gnas.h.i.+ng teeth which lay at my feet, the man's face, Eva's distorted, mumbling mouth; and I had fled, never to see her more--never to know rest for the aching misery within my heart. Alas! I had seen all, and oh! cabby, faithful charioteer, 'twas indeed an awful scrauntch, for my fancied rival was Michael Angelo Raphael, the Dentist.

It is only fair to state, on behalf of the young gentleman from whom the above emanated, that he really seemed very bad indeed; in fact, desperate. But as he could eat very heartily, and evidently used a great deal of pomatum, his case is hopeful.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

THE MONARCH OF THE MOULD.

Sing, poet divine Of your sparkling wine Of Catawba, the luscious nectar; While my humbler lays Shall rise in praise Of a king on whose fame I'll hector.

But your lips don't shoot, For my king's but fruit, And your brows don't frown with scorning; For if to an end Came my n.o.ble friend, The nation would go into mourning.

'Tis that fruit of earth That the West gave birth, Introduced to our good Queen Bessy; For its glorious savour Has a sweeter flavour Than an epicure's _entree_ messy.

Potato, potato, My heart's elate, oh!