NOVEL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2335, 11 June 1906, Page 3

NOVEL.

The Chapel of Ease

Harriet Riddle Davis.

CHAPTER XVlll.— (Continued).

During these few seconds John had regained complete mastery of himself. lie wu composed and quiet; there must be no farther scene. He advanced to Hester, held out his hand, and said, in a voice from which the anger was gone,— 4 Come, Hester.’ ' Hester suddenly covered her face with her bands; all her pride was trailing hi the dust* Her nerve and courage had disappeared ; her frame shook with suppressed nervous excitement* Jobn noticed it. He said again, hurriedly,— * Come, Hester.’ Hester dropped her hands from her face. She looked at Mr Willetts, encountering in his eyes both pity and entreaty. She glanced at the open door and the waiting clergyman, and saw the plainly expressed curiosity of the sexton. Then she looked steadily into John’s face, the meaning of which she could not read. It presented an impenetrable mask, and in her despairing heart she felt that his love was dead. He quietly lifted her trembling hand, drew it within his aim, and said, for the third time, ' Come, Hester.’ And, as she did not move, he added,— ' I am strong enough for us both.’ Hester mechanically stepped forward, and and as she did so Mr Willetts felt an intense relief. Something in John’s bearing and the manner in which he had controlled his fierce anger impressed Mr Willetts with the belief that he meant to be master of bis fate and of Hester’s 100.

Without another word this strange wedding-party advanced to the altar. And not even the solemn words of the marriage service could wholly subdue the agitation of the two who’were making their pledges. John made his responses in an even, firm voice : When Hester was making hers, she trembled so that he put his arm about her, or she would hare fallen. Poor Hester had noarcely’sensed anything from the time she put her hand on John's arm. Everything was whirling before her eyes; the words of the marriage service sounded far off. She could only barely make her responses. The lights were dancing about in an unaccountable way. Now they had faded out completely, and there seemed to be a shower of little sparkling stars all about her. Was it night? Was she out of doors? No, she was in church. This was John beside her ; was it John, though ? it looked like some one else ; no, it wasn’t Robert, for she bad buried Robert that morning,—she remembered all about it, and how she had jolted over the cobble-stones trying to get here to the church in time. And now the clergyman was in front of her ; she could see his white gown ; be was ju-t going to pronounce the benediction. The wedding was all over at last; she was shaking hands with the rector, but it was odd that he had no face, only a voice. And what was the matter with John and the congregation ? Where were Mr Willetts and everybody ? Where had they all disappeared to ? ana why was eh© left to grope her way all alone down the aisle, or rather up the aisle?—for it was uphill all the way, and she must bo careful or she would step on her wedding-gown and ■tumble before everybody. The organ was playing a deafening thing ; she never heard each roaring, rushing music before; it drowsed everything else. At last it had stopped, the lights were out, and suddenly everything was blotted out to her In reality. All during the latter part of the service John bad kept a supporting arm around

Hester. He noticed her groping, uncertain steps on their way to the altar, and her stumble as sho missed the step when they passed the reading-desk. He heard her faltering responses during the service, and it was with with a thankful heart that he heard the benediction at last pronounced. But he should never to his dying day forgo! her face when she turned from the altar, Ho guided her carefully out of the church, with Me Willetts following, and scarcely had they passed into the vestibule and the doors bad swung behind them, when, without a sound, Hester had thrown her hands out spasmodically and had fallen forward, to be caught ia John’s arms. To his inexperienced eyes she was dead; he was about to utter some frantic cry for help, when Mr Willetts said, in a low voice, — 1 For God’s sake, pick her up quickly in your arms; keep quiet, and come out this I way.’ Mr Willetts had spoken imperatively. [ He wanted to save these two people from any publicity; there had already been enough that was sensational in the events of the day. John gathered Hester in his arms silently. ; Mr Willetts held the big outside doors open for him, and he bore her out to the waiting carriage. They lifted her in, the two men followed, the door was shut, and they drove away. And none too soon; for several people were passing into the church and were easting carious glances at the vanishing carriage. John held Hester’s unconscious face against his breast. He was trying to chafe her cold hands, and was wondering with anguish if this was the ending to his wedding-day. He had not thought even to inquire where they were being driven. Mr Willetts leaned forward and said, after they had driven several squares,— ‘ Mr Cecil, our best plan is to go back to Rennert’s, where everything is prepared for your return, and whore Mrs Brent’s, or rather your wife’s, luggage is already waiting. When we arrive 1 will speak to the clerk, and we will get a doctor at once, and, if need be, a nurse also. I have feared this break-down ; it may, however, be only a fainting-fit, or hysteria.’ John did not make any answer beyond assent; it was imposible for him to talk, lie was thinking of the night he had stayed at Chapel House when Hester had fainted after loming from town, and then he thought of all the wretchedness of the past twenty-four hours, and the fierce passion that had controlled him when he mot Hosier at the door of the church, and the scene that followed. She was now his wife. She was unconscious, and there was still between them something to be explained. His reflections were interrupted by Mr Willetts | leaning forward and speaking again. John | wondered if this man bad been reading his face in the occasional flashes of light from the lamp-posts, for it seemed an answer to his thoughts: ‘ If you knew, Mr Cecil, all that Mrs Brent has endured since Monday in order that she might marry you to-day ! She has been exposed to cold and fatigue since early this morning. Sho haa eaten nothing, and has scarcely slept for three days. She has been subjected to a terrible strain for some weeks, and she has been entirely blameless throughout. I will give you the whole story, and 1 think you will be entirely satisfied- The only point open to criticism ia the secrecy that has been maintained, and that, after all, is more a matter of judgment than anything else.’ There was no further talk, and they rattled along, square after square, till at last the hotsl was reached. Thanks to Mr Willetts’ cool head and quick management, Hester was carried to the suits of rooms which had been all day in readiness for her; and so quietly was it done that no one bnt the clerk and one or two bell-boys were tbo wiser. When John came to relinquish her to the care of others, he tolt as if he could not let her go ; he held her tightly in his arms while he kissed her pinched, unconscious face, then he reluctantly gave her up. Mr Willetts walked away a little; he bad never felt so sorry for any one in his life as he did for John Cecil, whoso Laggard face, with its marks of fatigue and anxiety, made him feel that there would be no peace and rest for him until the entire history of the past few days and all that had led up to the events at the church were put before him. It was not long before the doctor turned both Mr Willetts and John out of the room and shut tht door upon them ; and the two men looked as helpless and superfluous as men usually do under such circumstances. They laced each other for a moment; then the lawyer said, cheerfully,— * Come with me, Mr Cecil; let ua get a biscuit or two, and something to drink, and then we will go to my office, where we can talk without disturbing any one. By the time 1 have given you the details of this queer story, the doctor no doubt will have a good report for you.’ John lingered a moment outside the door which had just been shut upon him and which separated him from Hester. Ho hesitated, then followed Mr Willetts slowly down-stairs.

CHAPTER XIX. The two men were quickly driven to Mr. Willetts’ office. The lawyer let himself in with hie pass-key, and John groping followed him into the dark room. A gas-jet was soon lighted, and Mr Willetts walked over to a big ..safe, where he went through the usual mysterious turning of knobs which is always accompanied by some mystic mental process that invariably proves an open sesame. As he took out some papers and searched through them, he said, ‘I had hoped, Mr Cecil, for a very different ending to this day. 1 did not think it would fall to me to relate to you the curious tangle in which Colonel Brent’s will has involved you. If had been set down in the programme that Mrs Brent should tell you this story and give you the history of the past few days.’ ‘ There are only two points ot any real vital interest to me, Mr Willetts: one is, when did Colonel Brent die ? the other is, why should there have been an interment of his remains on this day, of all days, at Brent ?’ Mr Willetts turned towards him in evident surprise, and said, quickly, ‘ Why, I thought you knew that Colonel Brent died a year ago the 20th of last August, and was buried in St. Moritz.’

‘ Yes, I did hear it; but tho events of today were calculated to upset any such belief/ replied John, shortly. ‘ Well, here is a copy of the will Colonel Brent left, one clause of which alone is the cause of to-day’s queer events. Read it carefully.’ He folded the document so that one long paragraph stood out before John’s eyes. It was the paragraph that was so indelibly stamped upon Hester’s brain, and which had caused her such anxiety and burning indignation. It was coached in all tho intricate, cumbersome terms known only to the law, and John in his hurry to grasp the meaning nearly lost it altogether as he stumbled over the lumbering phrases, which read, — ' But it is my will, and I so provide, that if, before tho expiration of the said period of five years, my said wife, Hester Brent, shall again marry, then, and in such event, my executor hereinafter named, or his successor for the time being, and in default of such successor, then that my said wife beiself, shall cause my remains to be removed from thoir temporary place of interment in Europe to my home, Brent, and there, upon the morning of the day upon which my said wife shall so marry, be interred In the family vault, with full burial service, and that my said wife shall be present at such service ; and, further, that for the two days and nights immediately preceding, my said wife shall remain at Brent; and that, failing tho strict observance of all and every one of th provisions and conditions aforesaid, all my estate ol what kind soever shall devolve upon

my heirs at law, as though this, my last will and testament, had not been executed and I had died Intestate : save only that ia such event my said wife shall be deprived of all and every right or claim to dower and reasonable part, so called, in my estate, and that sho snail be wholly deprived and debarred of all right of what kind or extent therein.’ Mr Willetts watched John while he read it. He expected an outburst, but there was only a clinching of the hand and a sterner look on the face. When ho spoke, he spoke quietly, but with contempt: * Why, Mr Willetts, this wretched thing wouldn’t hold before any court in the land. Do you meau to tell me that you let that poor woman go through this cruel farce without tryiug to prevent it? Why didn’t you break this will ?’ , 4 Because Mrs Brent would not submit to the publicity of going into court and laying bare the wretchedness of her life with Colonel Brent. I think, myself, that he wai a lunatic, and that this will alone would have proved him such in almost any court; but Mrs Brent was afraid to make thi test: she was morbidly sensitive lost the world should know anything of her married life. There were but iwo courses open to her : either to submit and carry it out with as much secrecy as possible, or openly go into court and fight It. She chose the former.’ 4 My poor Hester!’ was all John could say. Everything was clear to him now. Then ho said, — _ . 4 The mistake has been in keeping this from me.’

Mr Willetts was quick to reply : 4 1 don’t think so. As a lawyer it was my duty to keep this property where it rightly belonged. If you had known the condition imposed upon her, you would have used your influence to prevent her from submitting to it; you would have felt that she was outraged in having to fulfil it, and very justly. This would have complicated matters very much, and Mrs Brent would have lost the bulk of the property; she would only have secured her dower right and half of the personal estate, and I doubt If in the long run either of you would have been any happier.’ Mr Willetts then entered upon a history of Hester’s life with Colonel Brant. Ho told John the old story of violence during the slave days, when Colonel Brent had evaded the law through the influence of his family name and bad spent most of his life abroad in consequence. Then he sketched vividly the events of the last few days. He told him how he had accompanied Hester to Brent, and how they had stayed two dayt and nights in tho damp, dreary, and, to Hester, terror-haunted old place, where they had had few comforts, during which time Hester had neither slept nor eaten. Ho told of the wretched experienoas ol that morning, —of the burial in the family vault, at whicl a clergyman, an undertaker, Hester, and himself had been present, and how Hester had stood upright all through the short service with her back half turned to the group in the vault, and had never let her eyes once rest upon any ot them, but had kept them bant upon the floor ; and how the rain and sleet had beaten In through the open door into their very faces and the floor under their feet had stood half an inch in water. He recounted their harried efforts afterwards to get to the distant station to catch the train which would have brought them to town in time for the appointment at three o’cleck, but, as the roads were slippery in some places and heavy with slush in others, they had missed the train and had had to wait an hour. Mrs Bren* had been drenched to the skin, and was nervous!} wretched, bnt had made absolutely no complaint, save for the tears that rolled off her face when they had missed thetr train. When they finally did reach town, they barely had time to get to the church, and Mr Willetts wound up his recital with, — ‘ You know the rest, Mr Cecil. John, with a stab of pain, only 100 wo'l knew the rest. He bad met the woman he loved, who had already endured what he as a man shrank even from hearing, with uncontrolled anger ; he had even taunted her, God forgive him! But there was another feeling slowly through his veins; it was savage, brute rage at tho thought of this dead' Colonel Brent, who had tortured Hester through all the years of her life with him, and who even after death had contrived to keep it up. John muttered Something fierce, and asked, suddenly,— 4 Does this event of to-day close Colonel Brent’s account with my wife and with this world ?’ 4 It does,’ emphatically replied Mr Wulets; and there flashed through the minds of both of them the hope that Colonel Brent was having a account to settle somewhere in the unknown regions of the underworld. Finally, after a pause, Mr Willetts asked, curiously,— 4 How did you manage to learn anything of what took place to-day at Brent, Mr Cecil?’ John then told of the anonymous lettsr which had startled him into seeking an explanation from Hester at Chapel House, and how, when he had found her gone, he had come at once to town, and, feeling sure that if there were any truth in the story Mr Willetts must have accompanied her to Brent, he had boldly assumed that this was the case, and had by stratagem brought out a confirmation of it from Mr Willetts’ own confidential clerk. Mr Willetts was mnch troubled at the knowledge that some one had got hold of some part of the truth, and there was some farther talk upon this point; but Jobn was anxious to close the interview and go back to Hester. So the two men parted with a close hand-shake and with mutually expressed thanks. When John found himself once again in the same drawing-room where he had spent sixty wretched minutes that afternoon, he felt that everything was the same and in the same place, and yet what a different air the apartment wore to him ! It was all because Hester was in the adjoining room, with only the portieres drawn between them. He could hear tho nurse or the doctor moving quietly around, and he hoped that there would soon be a report or a summons from them.

Ho who cbe night before, in his misery, had been so immovably quiet, now, in his relief and security, was unable to keep still Ho restlessly moved about the room, and managed to rattle various things. This brought a trim-looking nurse to the curtains between the rooms. Seeing John, shs stepped towards him, and said, — (To be continued.)