CHAPTER IX.
"Where is Miss Brooks?" cried Mme. Whitney, excitedly, upon openingher eyes. "Jenkins," she cried, motioning to the attendant who stoodnearest her, "see that Miss Brooks is detained in her own room underlock and key until I am at liberty to attend to her case."
The servants looked at one another in blank amazement. No one daredtell her Daisy had fled.
The torn envelope, which Daisy had neglected to gain possession of,lay at her feet.
With a curious smile Mme. Whitney smoothed it out carefully, andplaced it carefully away in her private desk.
"Rex Lyon," she mused, knitting her brow. "Ah, yes, that was the name,I believe. He must certainly be the one. Daisy Brooks shall sufferkeenly for this outrage," cried the madame, grinding her teeth withimpotent rage. "I shall drag her pride down to the very dust beneathmy feet. How dare the little rebel defy my orders? I shall have herremoved to the belfry-room; a night or two there will humble herpride, I dare say," fumed the madame, pacing up and down the room. "Ihave brought worse tempers than hers into subjection; still I neverdreamed the little minx would dare openly defy _me_ in that manner. Ishall keep her in the belfry-room, under lock and key, until she asksmy pardon on her bended knees; and what is more, I shall wrest thesecret from her--the secret she has defied me to discover."
* * * * *
On sped Daisy, as swift as the wind, crushing the fatal letter in herbosom, until she stood at the very edge of the broad, glitteringChesapeake. The rosy-gold rays of the rising sun lighted up the waveswith a thousand arrowy sparkles like a vast sea of glittering, wavinggold. Daisy looked over her shoulder, noting the dark forms hurryingto and fro.
"They are searching for me," she said, "but I will never go back tothem--never!"
She saw a man's form hurrying toward her. At that moment she beheld,moored in the shadow of a clump of alders at her very feet, a smallboat rocking to and fro with the tide. Daisy had a little boat of herown at home; she knew how to use the oars.
"They will never think of looking for me out on the water," she cried,triumphantly, and quickly untying it, she sprung into the littleskiff, and seizing the oars, with a vigorous stroke the little shellshot rapidly out into the shimmering water, Daisy never once pausingin her mad, impetuous flight until the dim line of the shore wasalmost indistinguishable from the blue arching dome of the horizon."There," she cried, flushed and excited, leaning on the oars; "no onecould possibly think of searching for me out here."
Her cheeks were flushed and her blue eyes danced like stars, while thefreshening breeze blew her bright shining hair to and fro.
Many a passing fisherman cast admiring glances at the charming littlefairy, so sweet and so daring, out all alone on the smiling,treacherous, dancing waves so far away from the shore. But if Daisysaw them, she never heeded them.
"I shall stay here until it is quite dark," she said to herself; "theywill have ceased to look for me by that time. I can reach the shorequite unobserved, and watch for Sara to get my hat and sacque; andthen"--a rosy flush stole up to the rings of her golden hair as shethought what she would do then--"I shall go straight back to Rex--myhusband!"
She knew John Brooks would not return home for some time to come, andshe would not go back to Septima. She made up her mind she wouldcertainly go to Rex. She would wait at the depot, and, if Rex did notcome in on the early train, she would go back at once to Allendale.Her purse, with twenty dollars in it--which seemed quite a fortune toDaisy--was luckily in her pocket, together with half of an apple and abiscuit. The healthful exercise of rowing, together with the fresh,cool breeze, gave Daisy a hearty appetite, and the apple and biscuitafforded her quite a pleasant lunch.
Poor Daisy! The pretty little girl-bride had no more thought of dangerthan a child. She had no premonition that every moment the littleboat, drifting rapidly along with the tide, was bearing her rapidlyonward toward death and destruction.
Daisy paid little heed to the dark rolling clouds that were slowlyobscuring the brilliant sunshine, or the swirl and dash of the wavesthat were rocking her little boat so restlessly to and fro. The hoursseemed to slip heedlessly by her. The soft gloaming seemed to fallabout her swiftly and without warning.
"I must turn my boat about at once!" cried Daisy, in alarm. "I amquite a long way from the shore!"
At that moment the distant rumbling roar of thunder sounded dismallyover the leaden-gray, white-capped water; and the wind, risinginstantly into a fierce gale, hurled the dark storm-clouds across thesky, blotting the lurid glow of sunset and mantling the heavens aboveher in its dusky folds.
Daisy was brave of heart, but in the face of such sudden andunlooked-for danger her courage failed her. The pretty rose-bloomdied away from her face, and her beautiful blue eyes expanded widewith terror. She caught her breath with a sob, and, seizing the oarwith two soft, childish hands, made a desperate attempt to turn theboat. The current resisted her weak effort, snapping the oar in twainlike a slender twig and whirling it from her grasp.
"Rex! Rex!" she cried out, piteously, stretching out her arms, "saveme! Oh, I am lost--lost! Heaven pity me!"
The night had fallen swiftly around her. Out, alone, on the wild,pitiless, treacherous waves--alone with the storm and the darkness!
The storm had now commenced in earnest, beating furiously against thelittle boat, and lashing the mad waves into seething foam as theydashed high above the terrified girl. No sound could be heard abovethe wild warring of the elements--the thunder's roar, the furiouslashing of the waves and the white, radiant lightning blazing acrossthe vast expanse of water, making the scene sublime in its terriblegrandeur.
"Rex! my love, my life!" she cried, in the intense agony of despair,"you will never know how well I loved you! I have faced death ratherthan betray the sweet, sad secret--I am your wife!"
Was it the wild flashing of the lightning, or was it a red light shesaw swinging to and fro, each moment drawing rapidly nearer andnearer? Heaven be praised! it was a barge of some kind; help waswithin her reach.
"Help!" cried Daisy, faintly. "Help! I am alone out on the water!" sheheld out her arms toward the huge vessel which loomed up darkly beforeher, but the terrified voice was drowned by the fierce beating of thestorm.
Suddenly her little boat spun round and round, the swift water wasdrawing her directly in the path of the barge; another moment and itwould be upon her; she beat the air with her white hands, gazing withfrozen horror at the fatal lights drawing nearer and nearer.
"Rex, my love, good-bye!" she wailed, sinking down in the bottom ofthe boat as one end of the barge struck it with tremendous force.
* * * * *
Leaning over the railing, evidently unmindful of the fierce furyof the storm that raged around him, stood a young man, gazingabstractedly over the wild dashing waves. A dark smile played aboutthe corners of his mouth, and his restless eyes wore a pleasedexpression, as though his thoughts were in keeping with the wild,warring elements.
Suddenly, through the terrible roar of the storm, he heard a piteousappeal for help, and the voice seemed to die away over the angry,muttering waves. He leaned over the railing breathless withexcitement. The thunder crashed almost incessantly, and there came astunning bolt, followed by a blinding blaze of lightning. In that oneinstant he had seen a white, childish face, framed in a mass offloating golden hair, turned toward him.
One instant more and she would be swept beneath the ponderous wheel,beyond all mortal power of help; then the dark, hungry waters closedcruelly over her, but in that one instantaneous glance the man's facehad turned deadly pale.
"Great God!" he shrieked, hoarsely, "it is Daisy Brooks!"