III
A LIFE DRAMA
But to reach this wanderer, it was first necessary for me to escape fromthe house. This proved simple enough. The up-stairs room toward which Irushed had a window overlooking one of the many lean-tos alreadymentioned. This window was fastened, but I had no difficulty inunlocking it or in finding my way to the ground from the top of thelean-to. But once again on terra-firma, I discovered that the mist wasnow so thick that it had all the effect of a fog at sea. It was icy coldas well, and clung about me so that I presently began to shudder mostviolently, and, strong man though I was, wish myself back in the littleattic bedroom from which I had climbed in search of one in more unhappycase than myself.
But these feelings did not cause me to return. If I found the nightcold, she must find it bitter. If desolation oppressed my naturallyhopeful spirit, must it not be more overwhelming yet to one whosememories were sad and whose future was doubtful? And the child! Whatinfant could live in an air like this! Edging away from the house, Icalled out her name, but no answer came back. The persons whom we hadheard flitting in restless longing about the house a few moments beforehad left in rage and she, possibly, with them. Yet I could not imagineher joining herself to people of their stamp. There had been asolitariness in her aspect which seemed to forbid any suchcompanionship. Whatever her story, at least she had nothing in commonwith the two ill-favored persons whose faces I had seen looking in atthe casement. No; I should find her alone, but where? Certainly the ringof mist, surrounding me at that moment, offered me little prospect offinding her anywhere, either easily or soon.
Again I raised my voice, and again I failed to meet with response.Then, fearing to leave the house lest I should be quite lost amid thefences and brush lying between it and the road, I began to feel my wayalong the walls, calling softly now, instead of loudly, so anxious was Inot to miss any chance of carrying comfort, if not succor, to the womanI was seeking. But the night gave back no sound, and when I came to theopen door of a shed, I welcomed the refuge it offered and stepped in. Iwas, of course, confronted by darkness,--a different darkness from thatwithout, blanket-like and impenetrable. But when after a moment ofintense listening I heard a soft sound as of weariful breathing, I wasseized anew by hope, and, feeling in my pocket for my match-box, I madea light and looked around.
My intuitions had not deceived me; she was there. Sitting on the floorwith her cheek pressed against the wall, she revealed to my eagerscrutiny only the outlines of her pure, pale profile; but in thoseoutlines and on those pure, pale features, I saw such an abandonment ofhope, mingled with such quiet endurance, that my whole soul meltedbefore it, and it was with difficulty I managed to say:
"Pardon! I do not wish to intrude; but I am shut out of the house also;and the night is raw and cold. Can I do nothing for your comfort orfor--for the child's?"
She turned toward me and I saw a tremulous gleam of pleasure disturb thesomber stillness of her face; then the match went out in my hand, and wewere again in complete darkness. But the little wail, which at the sameinstant rose from between her arms, filled up the pause, as her sweet"Hush!" filled my heart.
"I am used to the cold," came in another moment from the place where shecrouched. "It is the child--she is hungry; and I--I walkedhere--feeling, hoping that, as my father's heir, I might partake in someslight measure of Uncle Anthony's money. Though my father cast me outbefore he died, and I have neither home nor money, I do not complain. Iforfeited all when--" another wail, another gentle "hush!"--thensilence.
I lit another match. "Look in my face!" I prayed. "I am a stranger, andyou would be showing only proper prudence not to trust me. But Ioverheard your words when you withdrew from the room where your fortunelay; and I honor you, madam. If food can be got for your little one, Iwill get it."
I caught sight of the convulsive clasp with which she drew to her breastthe tiny bundle she held, then darkness fell again.
"A little bread," she entreated; "a little milk--ah, baby, baby, hush!"
"But where can I get it?" I cried. "They are at table inside. I hearthem shouting over their good cheer. But perhaps there are neighborsnear by; do you know?"
"There are no neighbors," she replied. "What is got must be got here. Iknow a way to the kitchen; I used to visit Uncle Anthony when a littlechild; if you have the courage--"
I laughed. This token of confidence seemed to reassure her. I heard hermove; possibly she stood up.
"In the further corner of this shed," said she, "there used to be atrap, connecting this floor with an underground passageway. A ladderstood against the trap, and the small cellar at the foot communicated bymeans of an iron-bound door with the large one under the house. Eighteenyears ago the wood of that door was old; now it should be rotten. If youhave the strength--"
"I will make the effort and see," said I. "But when I am in the cellar,what then?"
"Follow the wall to the right; you will come to a stone staircase. Asthis staircase has no railing, be careful in ascending it. At the topyou will find a door; it leads into a pantry adjoining the kitchen. Someone will be in that pantry. Some one will give you a bite for the child;and when she is quieted and the sun has risen, I will go away. It is myduty to do so. My uncle was always upright, if cold. He was perfectlyjustified in exacting rectitude in his heirs."
I might have rejoined by asking if she detected rectitude in the facesof the greedy throng she had left behind her with the guardian of thisestate; but I did not. I was too intent upon following out herdirections. Lighting another match, I sought the trap. Alas! it wasburdened with a pile of sticks and rubbish which looked as if they hadlain there for years. As these had to be removed in total darkness, ittook me some time. But once this debris had been scattered and thrownaside, I had no difficulty in finding the trap and, as the ladder wasstill there, I was soon on the cellar-bottom. When, by the reassuringshout I gave, she knew that I had advanced thus far, she spoke, and hervoice had a soft and thrilling sound.
"Do not forget your own needs," she said. "We two are not so hungry thatwe can not wait for you to take a mouthful. I will sing to the baby.Good-by."
These ten minutes we had spent together had made us friends. The warmth,the strength which this discovery brought, gave to my arm a force thatmade that old oak door go down before me in three vigorous pushes.
Had the eight fortunate ones above not been indulging in a noisycelebration of their good luck, they must have heard the clatter of thisdoor when it fell. But good eating, good drink, and the prospect of animmediate fortune far beyond their wildest dreams, made all ears deaf;and no pause occurred in the shouts of laughter and the hum ofgood-fellowship which sifted down between the beams supporting the houseabove my head. Consequently little or no courage was required for thecompletion of my adventure; and before long I came upon the staircaseand the door leading from its top into the pantry. The next minute I wasin front of that door.
But here a surprise awaited me. The noise which had hitherto been loudnow became deafening, and I realized that, contrary to EuniceWestonhaugh's expectation, the supper had been spread in the kitchen andthat I was likely to run amuck of the whole despicable crowd in anyeffort I might make to get a bite for the famished baby.
I therefore naturally hesitated to push open the door, fearing to drawattention to myself; and when I did succeed in lifting the latch andmaking a small crack, I was so astonished by the sudden lull in thegeneral babble, that I drew hastily back and was for descending thestairs in sudden retreat.
But I was prevented from carrying out this cowardly impulse, by catchingthe sound of the lawyer's voice, addressing the assembled guests.
"You have eaten and you have drunk," he was saying; "you are thereforeready for the final toast. Brothers, nephews--heirs all of AnthonyWestonhaugh, I rise to propose the name of your generous benefactor,who, if spirits walk this earth, must certainly be with us to-night."
A grumble from more than one throat and an uneasy hitch from suchshoulders as I could see
through my narrow vantage-hole testified to therather doubtful pleasure with which this suggestion was received. Butthe lawyer's tones lost none of their animation as he went on to say:
"The bottle, from which your glasses are to be replenished for thisfinal draft, he has himself provided. So anxious was he that it shouldbe of the very best and altogether worthy of the occasion it is tocelebrate, that he gave into my charge, almost with his dying breath,this key, telling me that it would unlock a cupboard here in which hehad placed a bottle of wine of the very rarest vintage. This is the key,and yonder, if I do not mistake, is the cupboard."
They had already quaffed a dozen toasts. Perhaps this was why theyaccepted this proposition in a sort of panting silence, which remainedunbroken while the lawyer crossed the floor, unlocked the cupboard andbrought out before them a bottle which he held up before their eyes witha simulated glee almost saturnine.
"Isn't that a bottle to make your eyes dance? The very cobwebs on it areeloquent. And see! look at this label. Tokay, friends, real Tokay! Howmany of you ever had the opportunity of drinking real Tokay before?"
A long deep sigh from a half-dozen throats in which some strong buthitherto repressed passion, totally incomprehensible to me, found suddenvent, rose in one simultaneous sound from about that table, and I heardone jocular voice sing out:
"Pass it around, Smead. I'll drink to Uncle Anthony out of that bottletill there isn't a drop left to tell what was in it!"
But the lawyer was in no hurry.
"You have forgotten the letter, for the hearing of which you are calledtogether. Mr. Anthony Westonhaugh left behind him a letter. The time isnow come for reading it."
As I heard these words and realized that the final toast was to bedelayed and that some few moments must yet elapse before the room wouldbe cleared and an opportunity given me for obtaining what I needed forthe famishing mother and child, I felt such impatience with the factand so much anxiety as to the condition of those I had left behind methat I questioned whether it would not be better for me to return tothem empty-handed than to leave them so long without the comfort of mypresence, when the fascination of the scene again seized me and I foundmyself lingering to mark its conclusion with an avidity which can onlybe explained by my sudden and intense consciousness of what it all mightmean to her whose witness I had thus inadvertently become.
The careful lawyer began by quoting the injunction with which thisletter had been put in his hands. "'When they are warm with food andwine, but not too warm,'--thus his adjuration ran, 'then let them hearmy first and only words to them.' I know you are eager for these words.Folk so honest, so convinced of their own purity and uprightness thatthey can stand unmoved while the youngest and most helpless among themwithdraws her claim to wealth and independence rather than share anunmerited bounty, such folk, I say, must be eager, must be anxious toknow why they have been made the legatees of so great a fortune, underthe easy conditions and amid such slight restrictions as have beenimposed upon them by their munificent kinsman."
"I had rather go on drinking toasts," babbled one thick voice.
"I had rather finish my figuring," growled another, in whose gratingtones no echo remained of Hector Westonhaugh's formerly honeyed voice."I am making out a list of stock--"
"Blast your stock! that is, if you mean horses and cows!" screamed athird. "I'm going in for city life. With less money than we have got,Andreas Amsberger got to be alderman--"
"Alderman!" sneered the whole pack; and the tumult became general. "Ifmore of us had been sick," called out one; "or if Uncle Luke, say, hadtripped into the ditch instead of on the edge of it, the fellows whocame safe through might have had anything they wanted, even to thegovernorship of the state or--or--"
"Silence!" came in commanding tones from the lawyer, who had begun tolet his disgust appear, perhaps because he held under his thumb thebottle upon which all eyes were now lovingly centered; so lovingly,indeed, that I ventured to increase, in the smallest perceptible degree,the crack by means of which I was myself an interested, if unseen,participator in this scene.
A sight of Smead, and a partial glimpse of old Luke's covetous profile,rewarded this small act of daring on my part. The lawyer was standing;all the rest were sitting. Perhaps he alone retained sufficientsteadiness to stand; for I observed by the control he exercised overthis herd of self-seekers, that he alone had not touched the cup whichhad so freely gone about among the others. The woman was hidden from me,but the change in her voice, when by any chance I heard it, convinced methat she had not disdained the toasts drunk by her brothers andnephews.
"Silence!" the lawyer reiterated, "or I will smash this bottle on thehearth." He raised it in one threatening hand and every man there seemedto tremble, while old Luke put out his long fingers with an entreatythat ill became them. "You want to hear the letter?" old Smead calledout. "I thought so."
Putting the bottle down again, but still keeping one hand upon it, hedrew a folded paper from his breast. "This," said he, "contains thefinal injunctions of Anthony Westonhaugh. You will listen, all of you;listen till I am done; or I will not only smash this bottle before youreyes, but I will keep for ever buried in my breast the whereabouts ofcertain drafts and bonds in which, as his heirs, you possess thegreatest interest. Nobody but myself knows where these papers can befound."
Whether this was so, or whether the threat was an empty one thrown outby this subtile old schemer for the purpose of safeguarding his lifefrom their possible hate and impatience, it answered his end with thesesemi-intoxicated men, and secured him the silence he demanded. Breakingopen the seal of the envelope he held, he showed them the folded sheetwhich it contained, with the remark:
"I have had nothing to do with the writing of this letter. It is in Mr.Westonhaugh's own hand, and he was not even so good as to communicate tome the nature of its contents. I was bidden to read it to such as shouldbe here assembled under the provisos mentioned in his will; and as youare now in a condition to listen, I will proceed with my task asrequired."
This was my time for leaving, but a certain brooding terror, latent inthe air, held me chained to the spot, listening with my ears, butreceiving the full sense of what was read from the expression of oldLuke's face, which was probably more plainly visible to me than to thosewho sat beside him. For, being bent almost into a bow, as I have said,his forehead came within an inch of touching his plate, and one had tolook under his arms, as I did, to catch the workings of his evil mouth,as old Smead gave forth, in his professional sing-song, the followingwords from his departed client:
"Brothers, nephews and heirs! Though the earth has lain upon my breast amonth, I am with you here to-night."
A snort from old Luke's snarling lips; and a stir--not a comfortableone--in the jostling crowd, whose shaking arms and clawing hands I couldsee projecting here and there over the board.
"My presence at this feast--a presence which, if unseen, can not beunfelt, may bring you more pain than pleasure. But if so, it matterslittle. You are my natural heirs and I have left you my money; why, whenso little love has characterized our intercourse, must be evident tosuch of my brothers as can recall their youth and the promise our fatherexacted from us on the day we set foot in this new land.
"There were nine of us in those days: Luke, Salmon, Barbara, Hector,Eustace, Janet, Hudson, William and myself; and all save one werepromising, in appearance at least. But our father knew his offspring,and when we stood, an alien and miserable band in front of CastleGarden, at the foot of the great city whose immensity struck terror toour hearts, he drew all our hands together and made us swear by the soulof our mother, whose body we had left in the sea, that we would keep thebond of brotherhood intact, and share with mutual confidence whatevergood fortune this untried country might hold in store for us. You werestrong and your voices rang out loudly. Mine was faint, for I wasweak--so weak that my hand had to be held in place by my sister Barbara.But my oath has never lost its hold upon my heart, while yours--answerhow you have kept it, Lu
ke; or you, Janet; or you Hector, of the smoothtongue and vicious heart; or you, or you, who, from one stock, recognizebut one law: the law of cold-blooded selfishness which seeks its own inface of all oaths and at the cost of another man's heart-break.
"This I say to such as know my story. But lest there be one amongst youwho has not heard from parent or uncle the true tale of him who hasbrought you all under one roof to-night, I will repeat it here in words,that no man may fail to understand why I remembered my oath through lifeand beyond death, yet stand above you an accusing spirit while you quaffme toasts and count the gains my justice divides among you.
"I, as you all remember, was the weak one--the ne'er-do-weel. When allof you were grown and had homes of your own, I still remained under thefamily roof-tree, fed by our father's bounty and looking to our father'sjustice for that share of his savings which he had promised to allalike. When he died it came to me as it came to you; but I had marriedbefore that day; married, not, like the rest of you, for what a wifecould bring, but for sentiment and true passion. This, in my case, meanta loving wife, but a frail one; and while we lived a little while on thepatrimony left us, it was far too small to support us long without someaid from our own hands; and our hands were feeble and could not work.And so we fell into debt for rent and, ere long, for the commonestnecessities of life. In vain I struggled to redeem myself; the time ofmy prosperity had not come and I only sank deeper and deeper into debtand finally into indigence. A baby came. Our landlord was kind andallowed us to stay for two weeks under the roof for whose protection wecould not pay; but at the end of that time we were asked to leave; and Ifound myself on the road with a dying wife, a wailing infant, no moneyin my purse and no power in my arm to earn any. Then when heart and hopewere both failing, I recalled that ancient oath and the six prosperoushomes scattered up and down the very highway on which I stood. I couldnot leave my wife; the fever was in her veins and she could not bear meout of her sight; so I put her on a horse, which a kind old neighbor waswilling to lend me, and holding her up with one hand, guided the horsewith the other, to the home of my brother Luke. He was a straightenough fellow in those days--physically, I mean--and he looked able andstrong that morning, as he stood in the open doorway of his house,gazing down at us as we halted before him in the roadway. But his temperhad grown greedy with the accumulation of a few dollars, and he shookhis head as he closed his door, saying he remembered no oath and thatspenders must expect to be beggars.
"Struck to the heart by a rebuff which meant prolongation of thesuffering I saw in my dear wife's eyes, I stretched up and kissed herwhere she sat half-fainting on the horse; then I moved on. I came toBarbara's home next. She had been a little mother to me once; that is,she had fed and dressed me, and doled out blows and caresses, and taughtme to read and sing. But Barbara in her father's home and withoutfortune was not the Barbara I saw on the threshold of the little cottageshe called her own. She heard my story; looked in the face of my wifeand turned her back. She had no place for idle folk in her little house;if we would work she would feed us; but we must earn our supper or gohungry to bed. I felt the trembling of my wife's frame where she leanedagainst my arm, and kissing her again, led her on to Salmon's. Luke,Hector, Janet, have you heard him tell of that vision at his gateway,twenty-five years ago? He is not amongst you. For twelve years he haslain beside our father in the churchyard, but his sons may be here, forthey were ever alert when gold was in sight or a full glass to bedrained. Ask _them_, ask John, whom I saw skulking behind his cousins atthe garden fence that day, what it was they saw as I drew rein under thegreat tree which shadowed their father's doorstep.
"The sunshine had been pitiless that morning, and the head, for whoserest in some loving shelter I would have bartered soul and body, hadfallen sidewise till it lay on my arm. Pressed to her breast was ourinfant, whose little wail struck in pitifully as Salmon called out:'What's to do here to-day!' Do you remember it, lads? or how you alllaughed, little and great, when I asked for a few weeks' stay under mybrother's roof till we could all get well and go about our tasks again?_I_ remember. I, who am writing these words from the very mouth of thetomb, _I_ remember; but I did not curse you. I only rode on to the next.The way ran uphill now; and the sun which, since our last stop, had beenunder a cloud, came out and blistered my wife's cheeks, already burningred with fever. But I pressed my lips upon them, and led her on. Witheach rebuff I gave her a kiss; and her smile, as her head pressed harderand harder upon my arm now exerting all its strength to support her,grew almost divine. But it vanished at my nephew Lemuel's.
"He was shearing sheep, and could give no time to company; and when,late in the day, I drew rein at Janet's, and she said she was going tohave a dance and could not look after sick folk, the pallid lips failedto return my despairing embrace; and in the terror which this brought meI went down, in the gathering twilight, into the deep valley whereWilliam raised his sheep and reckoned, day by day, the increase amonghis pigs. Oh, the chill of that descent! Oh, the gloom of the gatheringshadows! As we neared the bottom and I heard a far-off voice shout out ahoarse command, some instinct made me reach up for the last time andbestow that faithful kiss, which was at once her consolation and myprayer. My lips were cold with the terror of my soul, but they were notso cold as the cheek they touched, and, shrieking in my misery and need,I fell before William where he halted by the horse-trough and--He wasalways a hard man, was William, and it was a shock to him, no doubt, tosee us standing in our anguish and necessity before him; but he raisedthe whip in his hand and, when it fell, my arm fell with it and sheslipped from my grasp to the ground, and lay in a heap in the roadway.
"He was ashamed next minute and pointed to the house near-by. But I didnot carry her in, and she died in the roadway. Do you remember it,Luke? Do you remember it, Lemuel?
"But it is not of this I complain at this hour, nor is it for this I askyou to drink the toast I have prepared for you."
The looks, the writhings of old Luke and such others as I could now seethrough the widening crack my hands unconsciously made in the doorway,told me that the rack was at work in this room so lately given up torevelry. Yet the mutterings, which from time to time came to my earsfrom one sullen lip or another, did not rise into frightened imprecationor even into any assertion of sorrow or contrition. It seemed as if somesuspense, common to all, held them speechless if not dumblyapprehensive; and while the lawyer said nothing in recognition of this,he could not have been quite blind to it, for he bestowed one curiousglance around the table before he proceeded with old Anthony's words.
Those words had now become short, sharp, and accusatory.
"My child lived; and what remained to me of human passion and longingcentered in his frail existence. I managed to earn enough for his eatingand housing, and in time I was almost happy again. This was while ourexistence was a struggle; but when, with the discovery of latent powersin my own mind, I began to find my place in the world and to earn money,then your sudden interest in my boy taught me a new lesson in humanselfishness; but not, as yet, new fears. My nature was not one to graspideas of evil, and the remembrance of that oath still remained to makeme lenient toward you.
"I let him see you; not much, not often, but yet often enough for him torealize that he had uncles and cousins, or, if you like it better,kindred. And how did you repay this confidence on my part? What hand hadye in the removal of this small barrier to the fortune my own poorhealth warranted you in looking upon, even in those early days, as yourown? To others' eyes it may appear, none; to mine, ye are one and allhis murderers, as certainly as all of you were the murderers of the goodphysician hastening to his aid. For his illness was not a mortal one. Hewould have been saved if the doctor had reached him; but a precipiceswallowed that good Samaritan, and only I, of all who looked upon thefootprints which harrowed up the road at this dangerous point, knewwhose shoes would fit those marks. God's providence, it was called, andI let it pass for such; but it was a providence which cost me my boy andmade _you_ my hei
rs."
Silence as sullen in character as the men who found themselves thusopenly impeached had, for some minutes now, replaced the mutteredcomplaints which had accompanied the first portion of this denunciatoryletter. As the lawyer stopped to cast them another of those strangelooks, a gleam from old Luke's sidewise eyes startled the man next him,who, shrugging a shoulder, passed the underhanded look on, till it hadcircled the board and stopped with the man sitting opposite the crookedsinner who had started it.
I began to have a wholesome dread of them all and was astonished to seethe lawyer drop his hand from the bottle, which to some degree offereditself as a possible weapon. But he knew his audience better than I did.Though the bottle was now free for any man's taking, not a hand trembledtoward it, nor was a single glass held out.
The lawyer, with an evil smile, went on with his relentless client'sstory.
"Ye had killed my wife; ye had killed my son; but this was not enough.Being lonesome in my great house, which was as much too large for me asmy fortune was, I had taken a child to replace the boy I had lost.Remembering the cold blood running in the veins of those nearest me, Ichose a boy from alien stock and, for a while, knew contentment again.But, as he developed and my affections strengthened, the possibility ofall my money going his way roused my brothers and sisters from thecomplacency they had enjoyed since their road to fortune had beensecured by my son's death, and one day--can you recall it, Hudson? canyou recall it, Lemuel?--the boy was brought in from the mill and laid atmy feet, dead! He had stumbled amongst the great belts, but whose wasthe voice which had startled him with a sudden 'Halloo!' Can you say,Luke? Can you say, John? I can say in whose ear it was whispered thatthree, if not more of you, were seen moving among the machinery thatfatal morning.
"Again, God's providence was said to have visited my house; and again_ye_ were my heirs."
"Stop there!" broke in the harsh voice of Luke, who was graduallygrowing livid under his long gray locks.
"Lies! lies!" shrieked Hector, gathering courage from his brother.
"Cut it all and give us the drink!" snarled one of the younger men, whowas less under the effect of liquor than the rest.
But a trembling voice muttered "Hush!" and the lawyer, whose eye hadgrown steely under these comments, took advantage of the sudden silencewhich had followed this last objurgation and went steadily on.
"Some men would have made a will and denounced you. I made a will, butdid not denounce you. _I_ am no breaker of oaths. More than this, Ilearned a new trick. I, who hated all subtlety and looked upon craft asthe favorite weapon of the devil, learned to smile with my lips while myheart was burning with hatred. Perhaps this was why you all began tosmile too, and joke me about certain losses I had sustained, by whichyou meant the gains which had come to me. That these gains were manytimes greater than you realized added to the sting of this goodfellowship, but I held my peace; and you began to have confidence in agood-nature which nothing could shake. You even gave me a supper."
_A supper!_
What was there in these words to cause every man there to stop inwhatever movement he was making and stare, with wide-open eyes, intentlyat the reader. He had spoken quietly; he had not even looked up, butthe silence which, for some minutes back, had begun to reign over thattumultuous gathering, now became breathless, and the seams in Hector'scheeks deepened to a bluish criss-cross.
"_You remember that supper?_"
As the words rang out again, I threw wide the door; I might have stalkedopenly into their circle; not a man there would have noticed me.
"It was a memorable occasion," the lawyer read on with stoicalimpassiveness. "There was not a brother lacking. Luke and Hudson andWilliam and Hector and Eustace's boys, as well as Eustace himself; Janettoo, and Salmon's Lemuel, and Barbara's son, who, even if his mother hadgone the way of all flesh, had so trained her black brood in the love ofthe things of this world that I scarcely missed her when I looked aboutamong you all for the eight sturdy brothers and sisters who had joinedin one clasp and one oath, under the eye of the true-hearted immigrant,our father. What I did miss was one true eye lifted to my glance; but Idid not show that I missed it; and so our peace was made and weseparated, you to wait for your inheritance, and I for the death whichwas to secure it to you. For, when the cup passed round that night, youeach dropped into it a tear of repentance, and tears make bitterdrinking. I sickened as I quaffed and was never myself again, as youknow. Do you understand me, you cruel, crafty ones?"
Did they not! Heads quaking, throats gasping, teeth chattering--nolonger sitting--all risen, all looking with wild eyes for the door--wasit not apparent that they understood and only waited for one more wordto break away and flee the accursed house?
But that word lingered. Old Smead had now grown pale himself and readwith difficulty the lines which were to end this frightful scene. As Isaw the red gleam of terror shine out from his small eyes, I wondered ifhe had been but the blind tool of his implacable client and was asignorant as those before him of what was to follow this heavyarraignment. The dread with which he finally proceeded was too markedfor me to doubt the truth of this surmise. This is what he found himselfforced to read:
"There was a bottle reserved for me. It had a green label on it,--"
A shriek from every one there and a hurried look up and down at thebottles standing on the table.
"A green label," the lawyer repeated, "and it made a goodly appearanceas it was set down before me. But you had no liking for wine with agreen label on the bottle. One by one you refused it, and when I rose toquaff my final glass alone, every eye before me fell and did not liftagain until the glass was drained. I did not notice this then, but I seeit all now, just as I hear again the excuses you gave for not fillingyour glasses as the bottle went round. One had drunk enough; onesuffered from qualms brought on by an unaccustomed indulgence inoysters; one felt that wine good enough for me was too good for him,and so on and so on. Not one to show frank eyes and drink with me as Iwas ready to drink with him! Why? Because one and all of you knew whatwas in that cup, and would not risk an inheritance so nearly within yourgrasp."
"Lies! lies!" again shrieked the raucous voice of Luke, smothered byterror; while oaths, shouts, imprecations, rang out in horrid tumultfrom one end of the table to the other, till the lawyer's face, overwhich a startling change was rapidly passing, drew the whole crowdforward again in awful fascination, till they clung, speechless, arm inarm, shoulder propping shoulder, while he gasped out in dismay equal totheir own, these last fatal words:
"That was at your board, my brothers; now you are at mine. You haveeaten my viands, drunk of my cup; and now, through the mouth of the oneman who has been true to me because therein lies his advantage, I offeryou a final glass. Will you drink it? I drank yours. By that old-timeoath which binds us to share each other's fortune, I ask you to sharethis cup with me. _You will not?_"
"No, no, no!" shouted one after another.
"Then," the inexorable voice went on, a voice which to these miserablesouls was no longer that of the lawyer, but an issue from the grave theyhad themselves dug for Anthony Westonhaugh, "know that your abstinencecomes too late; that you have already drunk the toast destined to endyour lives. The bottle which you must have missed from that board ofyours has been offered you again. A label is easily changed and--Luke,John, Hector, I know you all so well--that bottle has been greedilyemptied by you; and while I, who sipped sparingly, lived three weeks,you, who have drunk deep, _have not three hours before you, possibly notthree minutes_."
O, the wail of those lost souls as this last sentence issued in a finalpant of horror from the lawyer's quaking lips! Shrieks--howls--prayersfor mercy--groans to make the hair rise--and curses, at sound of whichI shut my ears in horror, only to open them again in dread as, with onesimultaneous impulse, they flung themselves upon the lawyer who,foreseeing this rush, had backed up against the wall.
He tried to stem the tide.
"I knew nothing of the poisoning," he proteste
d. "That was not my reasonfor declining the drink. I wished to preserve my senses--to carry out myclient's wishes. As God lives, I did not know he meant to carry hisrevenge so far. Mercy! Mer--"
But the hands which clutched him were the hands of murderers, and thelawyer's puny figure could not stand up against the avalanche of humanterror, relentless fury and mad vengeance which now rolled in upon it.As I bounded to his relief he turned his ghastly face upon me. But theway between us was blocked, and I was preparing myself to see him sinkbefore my eyes, when an unearthly shriek rose from behind us, and everyliving soul in that mass of struggling humanity paused, set andstaring, with stiffened limbs and eyes fixed, not on him, not on me, buton one of their own number, the only woman amongst them, JanetClapsaddle, who, with clutching hands clawing her breast, was reeling insolitary agony in her place beside the board. As they looked she fell,and lay with upturned face and staring eyes, in whose glassy depths theill-fated ones who watched her could see mirrored their own impendingdoom.
It was an awful moment. A groan, in which was concentrated the despairof seven miserable souls, rose from that petrified band; then, man byman, they separated and fell back, showing on each weak or wicked facethe particular passion which had driven them into crime and made themthe victims of this wholesale revenge. There had been some sort of bondbetween them till the vision of death rose before each shrinking soul.Shoulder to shoulder in crime, they fell apart as their doom approached;and rushing, shrieking, each man for himself, they one and all soughtto escape by doors, windows or any outlet which promised release fromthis fatal spot. One rushed by me--I do not know which one--and I feltas if a flame from hell had licked me, his breath was so hot and themoans he uttered so like the curses we imagine to blister the lips ofthe lost. None of them saw me; they did not even detect the sliding formof the lawyer crawling away before them to some place of egress of whichthey had no knowledge; and, convinced that in this scene of death Icould play no part worthy of her who awaited me, I too rushed away and,groping my way back through the cellar, sought the side of her who stillcrouched in patient waiting against the dismal wall.