XXIX
DEATH AND LIFE
It had been very quiet in the room for a long time. Constans had triedto make the dying woman more comfortable, but every attempt to move herhad only resulted in the wound breaking out afresh. It was cruelty topersist, and so he gave it over, waiting for what must come.
Now it seemed that Issa slept, for her eyes were closed and the lines ofpain had wholly disappeared from the smooth, white brow. Quinton Edgekept his place at the back, where he could see and not be seen; a statuecould not have been more immobile. Constans, kneeling by the couch,still held his sister's hand in his, keeping watch upon the pulse thatfluttered so delicately. Once or twice the heavy eyes had opened and shehad smiled up at him--contentedly as a child resting after the longday's play.
Constans had not attempted to speak; his mind was still seeking itswonted bearings, and he was afraid. His sister Issa!--the little Issawith whom he had played at fox-chase and grace-hoops. Issa!--the maidenwho had gathered her May-bloom in the long ago, and who had givenherself and all for love of the stranger within her father's gates; yes,and who had died within that self-same hour upon her lord's breast.
And yet if this miracle were indeed the truth it accounted for more thanone thing that had troubled him. He remembered now the white-robedfigure that had appeared to him in the gardens of Arcadia House and thesuperstitious terror with which he had watched it following upon theunconscious footsteps of the girl Esmay. Then, again, the fair-hairedwoman who only a few minutes ago had come to meet Quinton Edge on thenorth terrace, an apparition so ravishing that Constans must needsconfound it with the flesh-and-blood presentment of his own dear lady.
She was speaking now, almost fretfully. "Is the night never to be gone?The hangings at the window are so heavy. And where is my father?"
Constans rose and went to the window, intent on flinging it wide open.But Quinton Edge was there before him and stayed his hand.
"No," he said, and Constans obeyed, being greatly troubled in mind anduncertain of himself, even as one who wanders in a maze. This QuintonEdge must have perceived, for he spoke gently, making it plain to himthat this was, indeed, the maid whom they had both loved and not somedisembodied shadow from the underworld. And having come finally tobelieve this, Constans was comforted and desired to hear the matter infull. "Tell me," he said, and Quinton Edge went on:
"It was weeks and weeks that she lay weak and speechless upon a palletof dried fern, her only shelter the thatch of a mountain sheepfold.
"There was no one among us who had any knowledge of surgery, and so Ihad to be content with simples--cold-water compresses for the wound anda tea made from the blossoms of the camomile flower to subdue the feverin the blood. So the days dragged by until the turn for the better came.Little by little I nursed her back to life again, and in time we camesafely to Doom.
"Arcadia House was a secure hiding-place for my treasure, and during allthese years no one has even guessed at the secret. I had no need totrust my servants, for they knew nothing; the walls had neither eyes norears, and I kept my own counsel. Until to-day no man's eye but mine haslooked upon her face.
"But even yet you do not wholly understand. Have you forgotten, then,that the body may be in health and yet the soul be darkened? She hadcome back to life, indeed, but it was the life of a butterfly in thesun, unconscious of aught else than the light and warmth that surroundsit. For her the past had been sealed; to me the future. Do youunderstand now? A woman grown and yet as a new-born babe in heart andmind. What was there for me to do but to bear my punishment as patientlyas I might, the cup of love ever at my lips, but never to be tasted."
Constans kept silence for a little space. When he spoke it washaltingly.
"Then you think--you think----"
"She recognized you. Could you not see it--that note in her voice as ofone who wakes from a long sleep? That was why I stopped you fromthrowing aside the window-curtains. The light of the burning city--itmight have brought back the memory of that night at the keep."
"And for the same reason you have kept yourself out of sight," saidConstans, coldly.
The man trembled. "Yes; I am afraid," he answered, and Constans, for allhis bitterness of heart, was fain to pity him.
A series of muffled explosions startled them. Quinton Edge moved softlytowards the outer door. "The fire must be coming nearer," he whispered."I will make sure of our position and return within a few minutes. Hush!she is sleeping again."
But when Constans went and stood by the couch, Issa was looking at himwith wide-opened eyes.
"Constans--little brother," she said, weakly, and yet with an infinitecontent. He dropped to his knees beside her and tried to answer, butcould not.
"Surely it must be close to morning now," she went on, slowly. "I canhear the doves cooing on the tiles, the wind is blowing over thewater-meadows, and the lark is in the blue--ah, God! how beautiful thisdear world of ours! It is the May-time, little brother, and the arbutuswill be in bloom--the shy, pink blossoms that nestle on the sunny slopesof the rocks and at the roots of the birch-trees. We will gatherthem--you and I--and bring them home to deck our lady mother's chamber.The May-bloom--it is in the air. How sweet--how sweet!"
Constans, following the look in her eyes, saw a low table standingagainst the opposite wall. Upon it was a bowl filled with the delicatearbutus--fresh and fragrant as though but lately gathered. He wentsoftly across the room and despoiled the bowl of a spray. She took itfrom him eagerly. Then the violet eyes clouded.
"I cannot remember--it must be that I am still so tired--it is strange.The morning--it cannot be far distant--now----"
Quinton Edge at the threshold held up a beckoning finger, and Constanswent to him.
"It is upon us," said the Doomsman. "The out-buildings are smokingalready, and the lumber-yard on the north will become a furnace theinstant that the first spark falls there. There is but one chance--theriver. You will find a boat at the dock. The girl Esmay--ah, you couldthink that, too, of me. Yet it was natural enough."
Constans would have spoken, but the words tripped on his tongue. QuintonEdge interrupted him imperiously.
"She is there," he said, and pointed to a door leading to the interiorapartments of the suite. "I could not leave Issa entirely alone on thislast night. So I brought the girl here--for once, she trusted me. Foronce, you can do likewise."
Constans bowed his head. "But Issa," he said, thickly.
"She would be dead in our arms before we reached the stairs," returnedthe other. "Can you not leave her to me for just this little whilelonger?" His voice hardened savagely. "She is mine, do you hear--mine,mine. I have paid the price, double and treble, and now I take what ismy own."
His voice rang like a trumpet in the narrow room. And yet, straightthrough its clamor, pierced the sound of a stifled cry. Constans turnedinstantly, but Quinton Edge, trembling, kept his eyes fixed on thefloor.
Sitting upright upon the couch, Issa looked at the two men steadfastly,and then only at the one. The violet depths in her eyes had darkened topools of midnight, and her lips were like a thread of scarlet againstthe ivory of her face. A miracle! but Constans would not look again,knowing that for him this hour had passed forever.
Constans went to the inner door and opened it. Esmay was kneeling at thewindow; he went over and touched her on the shoulder. "Come," he said.She looked up at him, and he saw that her face whitened for all of theglare from the flaming sky that fell upon it. Yet she let him lead her,unresisting, into the other room, where Quinton Edge still stoodmotionless and looked upon the floor. Constans plucked at his sleeve,drawing him out into the full circle of the lamp-light. Face to face forthe last time, and, though no word was said, each knew that there waspeace between them.
"Go to her," whispered Constans, and pushed him gently towards thecouch.
* * * * *
Now the room had fallen into semi-darkness, for the oil had failed inthe lamp, and there was only that dull-red l
ine along the edge of thewindow-curtains. And there was silence, too, for all that words couldsay had been said already.
* * * * *
The minutes passed, but the man had ceased to count them. The hand thatlay in his was growing cold, but the knowledge had ceased to concernhim; the brain no longer registered the messages sent by the nerves,and he was conscious only of an immense weariness, of an overwhelmingdesire to sleep. The maiden Issa's hair lay within the hollow of hisarm, a pool of rippled gold; it was like looking down into an enchantedwell; the waters seem to rise and meet him. The glow at the curtain-edgegrew stronger; now it was a lake of liquid fire into which he gazed.
* * * * *
The threshold of the door had warped and sprung, and through the crackcrept a thin line of smoke; it raised itself sinuously, as does a snake;it darted its head from side to side, preparing to strike.
* * * * *
Descending the staircase, Constans saw that the time was growingperilously short. On three sides of them the buildings were burning, andArcadia House itself was on fire at the southern wing. The hurricane,shifting back to the northwest, was at its wildest, and the air was fullof ashes and incandescent sparks. As Constans and Esmay emerged from theshelter of the house, it seemed as though the universe itself was onfire. Could they ever hope to reach the river? His heart sank as helooked at that fiery rain through which they must pass. He turned toEsmay.
"It is the only way," he began, and then stopped, wondering that sheshould look so strangely upon him.
"I thought you dead," she answered, humbly. "It was the last thing Iheard--the silver whistle and Nanna misunderstood my question."
"Oh," said Constans, enlightened, and at the same time subtly warnedthat he must not press her too far. "So you feared that it might havebeen my spirit that came to fetch you?"
"No; not feared," she answered, and with such sweet confidence thatConstans's heart thrilled to new courage. By God's splendor! this womantrusted him and he would save her.
Half way to the boat-stage they were caught in a whirlwind of chokingvapor; they struggled onward for a few steps, and then the girl fell.With infinite difficulty Constans half carried, half dragged her downthe last slope to the landing. The boat, a small canoe or dugout, wasthere, but he could find only one broken paddle. It was a mad thing toventure out upon the wind-lashed river with equipment so imperfect, butthere could be no choice of another way.
The tide was running out strongly and Constans could do nothing morethan keep the craft on a straight course and out of the trough of theheavier seas. He looked longingly at the opposite shore, so near to theeye and so impossible to attain against that wind and tide; he realizedthat they were drifting down into the open bay, and that would be theend. Yet he would fight for it, and now that the fresh air had arousedEsmay from her swoon, she crept to his side and sat there comfortinghim.
Four hours later the keel grated on a pebbly shingle, and Constans,looking about him with weary eyes, recognized the little bay, with itsfringing semicircle of trees. Here was the very log upon which he hadsat and dreamed of unutterable things that bright May morning in thelong ago, a dream from which he had awakened to make first acquaintancewith Quinton Edge.
A little way up the grassy glade a fire was burning, and there was thesavory odor of roasted meat in the air. Constans helped Esmay out of theboat, and with stiffened limbs they dragged themselves up the forestway. There was a little shriek, a rush of feet, and swishing skirts, andNanna's arms were about her sister, while Constans was looking intoPiers Minor's honest eyes.
Far in the north, a smoke as of a furnace ascended, and the sky wasdarkened. But here the sun shone brightly, the grass was greenunderfoot, the birds sang in the branches above their heads, and thesmell of the spring-tide was in the air. Truly, life and light are sweetto him who has once walked in the shadow.
XXX
THE STAR IN THE EAST
It was in October of the same year that Constans and Esmay stood one dayin the court-yard of the Greenwood Keep, now restored and rebuilt.
His father's blood friends had helped generously in the rehabilitationof his fortunes, and Constans had worked hard with his own hands. Nowthe task was finished, and he had persuaded Esmay to ride over from theRiver Barony and pronounce in person upon its merits. For let it beknown that Piers Minor had lost no time in bringing home his bride, andboth he and Nanna had insisted that Esmay must live with them. And Esmayhad accepted gratefully, for all that she was an heiress in her ownright, through inheritance of her uncle Hugolin's estate, and could havebought and sold Piers Minor and Nanna, and all their holdings, ten timesover. But all of her red gold could not buy love, and Esmay was wiseenough to know this. Moreover, the River Barony was but twenty milesdistant from the Greenwood Keep, and at least twice every week Constansrode over and spent the night. It was pleasant to hear him tell proudlyof the progress of the work; how yesterday the roofing of theguard-house had been started, and how to-day they had turned for thefirst time the waters of the Ochre brook into the moat. Esmay alwayslistened attentively, and it pleased her to think that Constans lookedat her when he talked, even though his actual words might be addressedto Piers Minor or to Nanna. Listening always, but speaking seldom, forshe felt that he was waiting purposely until some milestone ofachievement had been passed, and she feared that he might consider herunwomanly. So the summer had gone, the great work was accomplished, andnow they were viewing it together. They had seen everything, going inturn from lighting platform to calving-barn; from forge and smithy to mylady's bower. And Esmay had duly admired all and pronounced it good.
Now they were standing in the great hall watching the martins as theycircled around the red-capped gatehouse, and the white doves cooing inthe eaves. A silence had fallen between them, and Constans, leaningagainst the window-casement, seemed to have forgotten of Esmay's veryexistence. Quietly she drew aside and left him, impelled by anirresistible desire to know if he would notice her absence and wouldfollow her. Hardly had she stolen five steps away than she heard himstart, and then turn to seek her. A sheer delight coursed through herveins, and she began to run.
"Esmay!" he called, but she would not stop, gathering up her skirts inboth her hands, and trying not to look behind her. But he was quickly ather heels, and an inexplicable terror seemed to seize her; she lookedabout for a hiding-place; a door presented itself, and she clutched thehandle desperately, but it refused to turn. Seeing her discomfiture,Constans believed that he was entitled to enjoy his triumph. He walkedup with leisurely deliberation. "You are a goose," he said, and tookher hands in his, as one who reproves a wilful child.
She assented meekly.
"To run away like that--so foolish, when I had something serious to sayto you. Why do you suppose I brought you here? Why should I want you tosee the house? why did I build it at all? Be good enough to answer me."
She looked up at him with the most innocent expression in the world."Why?" she echoed, as though mightily puzzled, and immediately the malecreature became miserably bewildered, and lost his confident bearing inthe twinkling of an eye. Had she really misunderstood him? had he beendeceiving himself from the very beginning? He turned pale and droppedher hands, and she, misinterpreting this relinquishment of ownership,felt the blood receding from her own checks. Two utterly foolishcreatures, and yet their folly is not to be argued away by the wise men.For while it is the accepted theory that a woman always knows when sheis loved (with which men please themselves), and _per contra_ that a manis never unconscious of the favor in which he stands (with which womentorment themselves), yet the truth is that neither man nor woman is evercertain of the fact until it is finally proclaimed in actual speech. Sothis is why lovers are always being asked to repeat and repeat again themagic words upon which all their happiness depends.
"The reason--you know--the reason why," he stammered, and then she cameto his aid.
"Yes
, I know, but _tell_ me."
And thereupon he did tell her.
A year later, and Constans and his wife sat on a high point of land thatoverlooked the waters of the Lower bay and the broad, salt sea beyondthe dunes. Several of Constans's neat-cattle had strayed, and he haddetermined to ride to the fishermen's village below the Narrows toinquire if the estrays had been seen in that direction. Esmay hadaccompanied him, and they had been all day in the saddle and were weary.Nevertheless, they were satisfied, for the lost cattle had beenrecovered, and in the morning the herdsmen would be sent over to drivethem home.
They had shared a frugal supper of bread and cheese and dried grapes,and now they were waiting until the horses should have cropped theirfill. There was no hurry, the moon not rising for an hour yet, and itwas useless to arrive at the Kills before the time of slack water.Constans had his back against a pine-stump, and Esmay's head rested onher husband's shoulder. They sat in silence, gazing out upon the graysea, content in their present happiness and looking forward to a yetgreater one in the near future. For to Constans Esmay had just made awife's final confession, the secret being whispered into his inmost ear,though there was only the land and the sea to overhear.
Suddenly, on the darkened eastern sky-line, a bright light flashed out,in color like to a star, and yet incomparably more brilliant. And thelight was not fixed, but continually changed its base, as was shown bythe broad band of rays that now swept the surface of the sea and thentraced their luminous way on the overhanging clouds. Another shift andthe shining pathway reached to their very feet, illuminating with itsradiance every object within its focus, down to the tiniest shell uponthe beach. Esmay, startled, clung to her husband's arm.
"What is it?" she asked, but he could not answer her.
Yet as they gazed upon the new star, insensibly they became comforted.Whatever this prodigy foretold, it could not be an omen of lasting evil.Had they not seen for themselves that, even in the worst of worlds,righteousness and justice and truth had been something more than names.Doom had fallen; for more than a twelvemonth the ruins had smouldered,and to-day they were but the harmless haunt of bat and badger. And theworld relieved of that intolerable incubus, and recovered of its purgingand cleansing sickness, had started once more upon its appointedpath--slowly, indeed, at the first, but ever onward and upward.
"It is only one more of the things that we cannot understand," saidConstans at the last. "But we who love need not fear."
He drew his wife's face to his own, and there, full in the radiance ofthe unknown star, he kissed her on the lips.
* * * * *
Early that same evening Sub-Lieutenant Jarvison, watch-officer of theelectric cruiser _Erebus_, reported to his commander that a landfall hadbeen made six points away on the port bow. Captain Laws immediatelyhastened to the bridge of the vessel and ordered that the engines bestopped and the customary signals shown. But no reply was received tothe rockets displaying the red, green, and white colors of the AntarcticRepublican Navy; apparently the country was not inhabited. Yet to makesure, the search-light was put in requisition. Up and down, from side toside, swept the giant beam, and now they could see that the land on theleft rose gradually into a considerable headland. Beyond opened the widewaters of what must be a great bay. Captain Laws reflected for a moment,and then gave another order to his executive.
Under half speed, and with a leadsman in the chains, the _Erebus_ movedsteadily towards the unknown coast.
THE END
* * * * *
TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS CORRECTED
The following typographical errors in the text were corrected asdetailed here.
In the text: "It was only necessary to dampen these sponges to ensurea perfect discharge of the electrical current passing through thehead-rest ..." the word "ensue" was corrected to "ensure."
Some hypenation was inconsistently used in the original. These have beenretained as they appear in the original text.
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