The Maroon Part 74

A STRANGE DETERMINATION.

For some moments after Smythje was gone, Kate Vaughan remained where he had left her--silent and motionless as the sculptured marbles by her side. Niobe was near; and, as if by accident, the eyes of the young Creole turned upon the statue of the weeping daughter of Dione.

"Ah!" muttered she, struck with a strange thought; "unhappy mother of a murdered offspring! If thy sadness was hard to endure as mine, thy punishment must have been a pleasure. Would that I, like thee, were suddenly turned into stone. Ah, me!"

And finishing her apostrophe with a profound sigh, she stood for some time silently gazing upon the statue.

After a while her thoughts underwent some change; and along with it her eyes wandered away from the statues and the shrubbery. Her glance was turned upward towards the mountain, and rested upon its summit--the Jumbe Rock now glittering gaily under the full sheen of the sunlight.

"There," soliloquised she, in a low murmur, "upon that rock, and there only, have I felt one hour of true happiness--that happiness of which I have read in books of romance, without believing in; but which I now know to be real--to gaze into the eyes of him you love, and think, as I then thought, that you are loved in return. Oh! it was bliss! it was bliss!"

The remembrance of that brief interview with her cousin--for it was to that her words referred--came so forcibly before the mind of the impa.s.sioned young Creole as to stifle her utterance, and for a moment or two she was silent.

Again she continued--"An hour, have I said? Ah! scarce a minute did the sweet delusion last; but had I my choice I would rather live that minute over again, than all the rest of my past life--certainly, than all of it that is to come!" Again she paused in her speech, still gazing upon the rock--whose sparkling surface seemed purposely presented to her eyes, as if to cheer her heart with the sweet _souvenir_ it recalled.

"Oh! I wonder," she exclaimed at length, "I wonder how it would be, were I but up there again! To stand on the spot where I stood! Could I fancy him, as then, beside me? Could I recall the look he gave me, and my own sweet thoughts as I returned it? Oh! it would be like some delicious dream!"

Pa.s.sion again called for a pause; but soon after, her reflections found speech.

"And why should I not indulge in it? why not? What harm can it do me?

Even if the _souvenir_ should bring sadness, it cannot add to that which now overwhelms me. No; I need not fear to tempt the trial; and I shall.

This very hour shall I go up and stand upon that same spot. There shall I invoke the past, and give to memory, to fancy, its fullest play.

I need not fear. There will be no witness but the heaven above and the G.o.d who dwells in it--alike witness to the sacrifice of a broken heart made in the fulfilment of my duty."

On completing this impa.s.sioned speech, the young girl raised a kerchief of white cambric which she carried in her hand, and hastily adjusting it over the luxuriant plaits of her hair, glided towards the rear of the mansion.

She did not turn aside to enter the house, nor even to warn any one of her sudden determination, but, hastening on, soon reached the back of the garden.

There a small wicket-gate gave her egress into the woods--a path from that point trending in traverses, zigzag fashion, up the mountain slope.

It was the same path she had followed upon the day of the eclipse; but how different were the thoughts that now agitated her bosom from those she had indulged in upon that memorable occasion! Even then, it is true, her spirits were far from being cheerful; but still there was hope ahead. She had not then arrived at the full knowledge of Herbert's indifference towards her--of his determination towards her more fortunate rival. The circ.u.mstances that had since transpired--the scenes that had come under her own observation--the rumours heard and too substantially confirmed--all had combined to extinguish that little gleam of hope so faint and feebly flickering.

Indeed, there was upon that very morning a new thought in her mind, calculated still further to render her sad and humiliated.

The revelations which her father had made before starting on his journey--the admissions as to the inferiority of her race, and contingently of her social rank, which he had been compelled to make-- had produced, and no wonder, a painful impression upon the spirits of the quinteroon.

She could not help asking herself whether Herbert's disregard of her had aught to do with this? Was it possible that her own cousin was slighting her on account of this social distinction? Did he, too, feel shy of the _taint_? More than once during that day had she mentally put these interrogatories without being able to determine whether they merited a negative or affirmative answer.

And what was her errand now? To resuscitate within her soul the memory of one moment of bliss--to weave still more inextricably around her heart the spell that was threatening to strangle it--to stifle the happiness of her whole life.

But that was already gone. There could be no daring now--no danger worth dread.

The zigzag path she ascended with free step and air undaunted--her fair, bright form gleaming, meteor-like, amid the dark-green foliage of the forest.

Volume Three, Chapter XII.

A JEALOUS RECONNOISSANCE.

The ravine leading up the rear of the Jumbe Rock--the only way by which its summit could be reached--though easily scaled by a pedestrian, was not practicable for a person on horseback.

On reaching the base of the cliff the jealous equestrian dismounted, made fast her bridle to the branch of a tree, and, after unbuckling the little spur and removing it from her heel, continued the ascent _a pied_.

Arrived at the summit she took her stand near the edge of the platform, in a position that commanded an unbroken view of the mansion of Mount Welcome, its shrubberies and surroundings.

Satisfied with the situation, she instantly commenced her _reconnoissance_.

She did not at first make use of her _lorgnette_.

Any human figures that might be moving around the house could be seen by the naked eye. It would be time enough to use the magnifying lens should there be a difficulty of identifying them.

For some moments after she had taken her stand no one made appearance near or around the dwelling. A complete tranquillity reigned over the spot. A pet _axis_ deer skipping over the lawn, some pea-fowl moving amidst the shrubbery of the _parterre_--their purple gorgets gaily glittering in the sun--were the only objects animate that could be seen near the house.

Farther off in the fields gangs of negroes were at work among the cane, with what appeared to be a white overseer moving in their midst. These had no interest for the observer upon the rock; and her eye, scarce resting on them for a second, returned to scan the inclosed s.p.a.ce approximate to the dwelling, in the hope of there seeing something-- form, incident, or scene--that might give her some clue to the mystery of the morning.

In respect to the former, she was not disappointed. Forms, scenes, and incidents were all offered in succession; and though they did but little to elucidate the enigma which had carried her to that aerial post of observation, they had the effect of calming, to some extent, the jealous thought that was distressing her.

First she saw a gentleman and lady step out from the house and take their stand among the statues. At the sight she felt a slight flutter of uneasiness; until through the _lorgnette_ she looked upon hay-coloured hair and whiskers, enabling her to identify the owner as Smythje. This gave her a species of contentment; and her jealous spirit was still further tranquillised when the gla.s.s revealed to her the features of Kate Vaughan overspread with an expression of extreme sadness.

"Good!" muttered the delighted spy; "that tells a tale. She cannot have seen him? Surely not, or she would not be looking so woe-begone?"

At this moment another figure was seen approaching across the _parterre_ towards the two who stood among the statues. It was that of a man in a dark dress. Herbert Vaughan wore that colour.

With a fresh flutter of uneasiness, the _lorgnette_ was carried back to the eye.

"Bah! it is not he. A fellow with a common face--a servant, I suppose.

Very likely the valet I've heard of! He has brought some message from the house. Ha! they're going in again. No, only the master. She stays. Odd enough he should leave her alone! So much for your politeness, Mr Montagu Smeithjay!"

And, with a sneering laugh as she p.r.o.nounced the name, the fair spy again took the gla.s.s from her eye, and appeared for a moment to give way to the gratification which she had drawn from what she had succeeded in observing.

Certainly there were no signs of the presence of Herbert Vaughan about the precincts of Mount Welcome, nor anything to indicate that he had had an interview with his cousin. If so, it must have ended just as the Jewess might have wished: since the expression observable on the countenance of Kate showed anything but the traces of a reconciliation.

Pleased to contemplate her in this melancholy mood, her jealous rival again raised the gla.s.s to her eye.

"Ha!" she exclaimed on the instant. "Whatever is the n.i.g.g.e.r doing in front of the statue? She appears to be talking to it. An interesting dialogue, I do declare! Ha! ha! ha! Perhaps she is worshipping it?

Ha! ha! She seems as much statue as it. 'Patience upon a monument, smiling'--Ha! ha! ha!"

"Ah, now," resumed the hilarious observer, still gazing through the gla.s.s, "she turns from the statue. As I live, she is looking up this way! She cannot see me? No, not with the naked eye. Besides, there is only my head and hat above the edge of the rock. She won't make them out. How steadfastly she looks this way! A smile upon her face! That, or something like it! One might fancy she was thinking of that pretty scene up here, the interesting tableau--Smythje on his knee. Ha! ha!

ha!"

"Ah! what now?" she continued, interrogatively; at the same time suddenly ceasing from her laughter, as she saw the young creole adjust the scarf over her head, and glide towards the back of the house. "What can it mean? She appears bent on an excursion! Alone, too! Yes, alone, as if she intended it! See! she pa.s.ses the house with stealthy step--looks towards it, as if fearing some one to come forth and interrupt her! Through the garden!--through the gate in the wall! Ha!

she's coming up the mountain!"

As the Jewess made this observation, she stepped a pace forward upon the rock, to gain a better view. The _lorgnette_ trembled as she held it to her eye: her whole frame was quivering with emotion.

"Up the mountain!" muttered she. "Yes, up the mountain! And for what purpose? To meet--Herbert Vaughan?"

A half-suppressed scream accompanied the thought: while the gla.s.s, lowered by her side, seemed ready to fall from her fingers.

Volume Three, Chapter XIII.