MISS ARBUTHNOT'S REVENGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume VI, Issue 1711, 17 May 1869, Page 5

MISS ARBUTHNOT'S REVENGE.

• Miss Arbuthnot sat by the drawing-room ■ window, in her muslin wrapper, the cool sea ■ breeze that blew through the lace curtains stirring the loose, heavy waves of her hair, and bringing a faint flush to her cheeks. She had a book iu her hand; but her eyes wandered constantly away from it, with a little expression of discontent and ennui in their i depths. They were very delightful, those languid summer days, in the great house, with its airy rooms and its Ince draperies, and the thousand little luxuries necessary to that perfect bodily ease and comfort which Miss Arbuthnot by no means despised. And then the lovely view from the western windows of the long smooth beach, and the broad ocean, was a constant delight to ■her eyes; and, altogether, with a dozen new novels to aid her, she had succeeded in passing away the time quite pleasantly, in the two mouths that had passed since she had come here, weai-ied and worn out.with the-excitements and triumphs of her winter's campaign; but now tho almost utter seclusion which the illness of her guardian's vtife rendered necessary, was growing very monotonous, and she was beginning to sigh for new worlds to conquer. Miss Arbuthnot was a coquette—utterly heartless, peoplo called her, but she wasn't quite that. She liked to see all grades of men, from beardless youths to old men crowned with wisdom and honor, yielding to the power of her fascination, because it gratified her vanity, and was rather amusing; and no fears of breaking tho hearts of her admirers ever troubled her, because her experience had made her utterly sceptical as to their possession of any such commodities. Suddenly the sound of an opening door interrupted her discontented musings, and a young lady came in, with a breezy rustle in her light silk evening dress, and a joyful eagerness in her manner, strongly in contrast with Miss Arbuthnot's languor. " Oh, Gertrude," she cried, "I havo been searching everywhere for you ! I haro such a delightful bit of news to tell you. Now do arouse yourself from that serene apathy and ask me what it is, for I am sure you're dying to know!" And she threw herself on a low ottoman before Miss Arbuthnot, tho voluminous folds of her shining drapery settling slowly into quist, and the downy plumes that tipped her fan waving lightly in the breeze. " I need scarcely askyou, Nora," returned Miss Arbuthnot. "I know by that toilet that some one is coming. You never in the world would have taken such pains to make yourself charming to your father or me."' "And you don't care in the least who is coming ? Oh, no, indeed! The Queen of Hearts is so sure that whoever comes, be he knight, page or prince, will bow at her shrine, that she doesn't give herself the least uneasiness. Well, I ought to punish you for your indifference ; but I really can't keep it to myself, linen , , then, my dear, that papa has received a letter from Halph, stating that Col. Vandenburgh, his particular friend, the hero of heroes, and the most eloquent of gentlemen, is coming home with him to spend a few weeks, and they will be here by dinner time to-day. It was so refreshing to think of having some one here who was worth dressing for, that I couldn't resist the temptation to j to make my toilet immediately. Now, do say you are delighted !" I Miss Arbuthnot maintained the same air of listless indifference, but a little vivid flush had stolen into her cheeks. " Well you had better burnish up your armor, for I assure you heis ' a foeman worthy of your steel;' and 1 warn you, I mean to enter the lists against you." And the gay girl danced off. Miss Arbuthuot went slowly up stairs to her room ; but sho did not Begin to dress, though her watch pointed within an hour of dinner time. That sea view seemed to possess a peculiar chaim for her to-daj , ; for she sat down again by a window, and looked out upon it, a deep glow in her eyes, and the flush on her cheek growing brighter and brighter. But it was not the sea that she saw. Her thoughts wandered back to the time when she had first seen this man, Gerrge Vandenburgh, whose name had brought that color to her cheek, in spite of her coolness and selfcontrol. Seven years before, when she woa only sixteen, he had come with a college friend to spend tho summer in the little country town that had been her home before her father's death. They had met by chance, and a friendship had begun, which, on her part, at least, soon grew into an affection that was almost worship. Hβ was like a fairy prince to her, this handsome, talented young officer, beside whom all the young men she had known seemed so commonplace and awkward ; and the stories he told her of gay city life, and all the wonderful things he had seen, were like visions of Fairyland to the unsophisticated little country girl. It was very strange that he, who had seen so many beautiful and cultivated women, should love, she thought; but that he did love her, she had no doubt. Had not delicate, lover-like attentions, and tender glances, told her so a thousand times? But a rude shock awoke her from her dream. She was sitting, one day, in the shadow'of an oak tree, by the rrrer, when George Vandenburgh

and his friend, bound on a hunting expedition, come by. The tree concealed her from their sight, while she heard her name uttered in a jesting tone by the other. Then she heard George Vandenburgh reply, with a careless laugh: ■ -» " In love wifch that ignorant little country girl! What an oi.iuion you must hare Of my taste! Can't a fellow amuse himself with flirting a little, without b"ing accused of having serious intentions ?" Those words Tang in her ears now, and she felt again the angry, burning flush that rose to her very forehead. She had felt, even in the first startled moment, no one pang of grief. All the pride of her nature had come to her aid; and a fixed purpose had grown up in her heart, which had lasted much longer than the resolves of girls of eisteen usually do, to be revenged uponliim for that careless ridicule. It was, no very texri ble revenge tnat she- wished for—only to make him feel as she felt 'now—to win his love and then cast it scornfully away But how could she ever win his love? ETow could she so bring him as to fancy it hers ? She stood a long time, that day, before the little mirror in her room, trying to find some possibility of future beauty in the face it showed her— a pale, thin face, the eyes jet black, "as big as saucers," the mouth too wide for beauty, and the thick black hair, having been closly cropped in a recent illness, insisted on maintaining a perpendicular position, which no amount of combing could alter. It was not a very hopeful picture to poor Gertrude, though a more accurate observer might have seen in that face, and in the thin, angular form possibility of a future comeliness. A few weeks after that nnvpr-to-be-forgotten day, her father died; and, after three years spent at a fashionable boarding school, she became a member of the family of Mr. tillis, to whoso guardianship her father had entrusted her. Iu those three years, she had not forgotten her resolve. It had given lior an impulse to study, and improve herself in every possible wav. If she must always be jiwkward, she, at least, would not be ignorant. But at the end of three years, even the mirror that she looked into showed her a very different picture from the one she had seen on that summer day. The thin form had rounded into perfect symmetry; the face, though pale still, save when some emotion brought a passing flush, was exquisitely sb&ped, and rounded in the fullness of health; and the hair, black and lustrous as the raven's wing, hung, when unbound, iu soft rich waves .far below her waist.

In the gay society into which she was launched there were others more beautiful, perhaps, than she; but she possessed that nameless, . fascinating grace, that subtle charm—too line to be termed beauty, too intangible" altogether to be defined—thatmadeherthe triumphant queen ; and for four seasons she had rcigiied almost without a rival. But three years had taken awav from her quite as much as they gave. The simple, trusting faith of the little couritrv girl, ■ who had giving George Vanderburgh all the* devotion of her heart, was gone for ever. . She had grown selfiish, and cold, and worldly. In his time sho had never once seen George Vanderburgh, and, of course, her resolve to be revenged had not been constantly in her mind ; but she had never wholly lost sight of it; and now tho time had come. It would be, at least, a pleasant pastime, in these monotonous days, to see what effect her fascinating arts might havo upon him. He had enlivened his summer days once in the same way ; he had amused himself at her expence. It was her turn now.

Presently she heard the noise of wheels and, at the same time, the quiet patter of Nora's little boots, and tho rattle of her silk dress, in tha passage-way outside her door. She ran out- " A'ora," she cried. " I have a whim in my mind that I want you to gratify. I wish you wouid introduco me to Colonel Vanderburgh by my middle name —as Miss Stauwood. Will you ? Ualph doesn't know that I am here, so lie will not have mentioned my name to Him." " But why—" began Nora ; theu she checked herself with a laugh. " Oh, 1 perceive. You want to use a little strategy, and take the Colonel unawares. You are afraid that if he knows if is with so famous a coquette he has to deal, he will bo on Ins guard against your beguiling arts. Well, I won't betray you—you needn't fear. But why ain't ycu dressed. You won't be ready for dinner.', And Miss Nora vanished down the staircase, as the sound of trunks deposited in the hall, and welcoming voices, came up to them. Miss Arbuthnot went back to her room, and began a hasty toilet—hasty, but very carefully suited to her style and complexion. When, she appeared in the drawing-room she wore a black dress, of some thin texture, though which, her rounded arms and shoulders gleamed like marble; the heavy waves of her hair were gathered into a rich coil behind, with no ornament save a cluster of palo yellow lillies ; and round her throat and wrists she wore a necklace and bracelets of curiously carved amber, clear aud transparent as crystal, in gold settings. A quick gleam of triumph shone in her eyes, .as she noted Colonel Vandenburgh's start of admiration; then a little smile of bewildering sweetness stole over her pale, haughty face, and the deep eyes drooped beneath his gaze, until the long lashes almost hid them. Nora turned away her head, to hide the sparkle of amusement in her eyes. It was by no means her wont to be so gracious to strangers, j And as the long summer days went by, filled i up with boating excursions, and moonlight drives, and walks aiorg the- beach, in all of which Colonel Yandenburgh was Miss Arbuthnot's constant and devoted attendant, it became evident that the young lady's plans had succeeded perfectly, aud the Colonel was a willing captive ; aud her gracious sweetness began to change to tho easy indifference of the conqueror. But her triumph was not half so sweet as she had anticipated. Besides the skeleton that sits always at success's banquet, the doubt whether the prize gained was worth tho cost of gaining, there came to Miss Arbuthnot, when she knew that the revenge she had longed for was within her reach, another feeling, so strange and unexpected, she could scarcely realize it. She had exerted all her powers of fascination to gain Colonel Vaudenburgh's heait She had forgotten that she possessed one herself; and now sho awoke to that knowledge, only to find it gone out of her keeping —given wholly to another, and that other the one whose love she had resolved to cast scornfully away, when it should be offered her. How childish and weak, and how bitterly humiliating. Bat a'little softer feeling stole for a moment into Tier mind. She knew him to be true and noble. He had been thoughtless and careless in those old days; he had not considered that the " awkward, ignorant, little country girl" might have a heart. Sho was sure that he would not have caused her intentionally so much misery. Now he loved her. How bright that lovo might make her life —how much truer and happier. TbSn the old, bitter pride came back —the terrible sting of those words she heard him utter. No, no ; her pride should not fail her now ; she would not forego the pleasure of revenging herself. She sat before the piano one cool September evening, rnnning her fingers listlessly over the keys. ■ ' She had declined accompanying tho others to the beach, on the plea of a headache, and sat alone now, with the purple twilight shadows falling around her; and a dumb, desolate pain at her heart. Suddenly, her voice : broke through.the slow, wailing notes, that had been dropping from her fingers like falling sea-spray, in a calmer strain—"Sweet Bonnie Doon!"'A. tremulous throb sounded through her voice in the second rerae about the " fauae loYer."

Through, the open window Colonel Vandenburgh. stepped, and stood a moment in silence beside her. "If it were not impossible one would almost think you had known the pain of having a ' fause lover' you sing that with so much feeling," he said, at last. "I did not know that I bad a listener to my song," she said, without heeding his remark, "I thought you had gone to the beach with, itora and fialph." " I did go," he said ; but the attraction here was so great ihat it drew me back, in spite of myself." She turned her face away from his earnest gaze, and the lashes drooped over her eyes, veiling the pain that shadowed itself there. Then came the words'she had expected—eager, eloquent words of passionate love and entreaty. But no syllable answered him. Fmboldened by her silence he raised the little hand that had fallen from the piano-keys,and held it to his lips. Miss Arbuthnot snatched it away, and rose to her feet, " I am very sorry for you, Colunel Vandenburgh ; but I cannot be your wife," she said quietly. "It is as you said ; I had a fclse lover once* and he stole my rose'of love. I havn't any to give any one since." Ihe eager, hopeful light faded slowly away from Lis face. " A false lover —you ?" he said. "And you have no heart to give me.when all these weeks you have been leading me on, letting me think you were not indifierent to me ?" '• Leading you on ' I don't know—have I?" Miss Arbuthnot; answered, carelessly. Then, modulating her tones carefully to an imitation, of his, as she remembered them when he uttered these words, she said, " can't one amuse one's self a little without being accused of having serious intentions."

A flush rose to his forehead, and he looked at her with an expression of utter bewilderment, through which a flash of recognition suddealy broke. "You are- Gertrude .Arbuthnot!" he exclaimed. " From the first, you reminded me of some one—l couldn't tell whom; but now I see. Gertrude, my Gertrude, you loved me once-, you caD't be utterly indifferent to me now. I was weak and foolish, but didn't mean what I said. Forgive me for those cruel words —tell you love me still ?" Miss Arbuthnot's dark eyes flashed. " Forgive you !'' she said. " You don't know what you ask. You took away all my faith in truth, and goodness; you took away all the hope and joy of my life. Bat the ' ignorant little country girl' had pride enough to keep her heart from breaking, and to make her wish to be revenged on you." He looked at her a moment in silence. There was no shadow of tenderness iu her eyes, no flush on her pale, proud face —only a scornful curl on her red lips. There was no relenting, he saw; and he turned away. " Revenge !" he saw " Well, if that was your purpose, you have accomplished it. I hope it may bring you happiness!". And, without another word or glance, he was gone. Gone, and, perhaps, for ever, and all that was lelt her was her revenge—-.the miserable mess of pottage for which she had sold her heart's birthright ! All Miss Arbuthnot's pride forsook her then, and a dumb stupor of pain came over her which was too deep for tears. It lasted, she j knew not how long, but the sound of voices aroused her. " Did you ever hear of such a thing, Gertrude P" bora's clear, • ringing voice exclaimed, " Colonel gone away! A sudden recollection of au engagement in towa came over him, and he insisted upon going directly. He is going to get Jarvis, the fisherman, to row him over to the Point, so he can get there in time to take the eight o'clock train. i Papa told him there was a storm coming up, and it was dangerous ; but he would go." Miss Arbuthnot succeeded in making, some, reply, she scarcely knew what, as she went upstairs. She sat down by the window inter own room. The wind was rising, and blew with alow, dismal wail through the trees; then a loud peal of thunder shook the house. A storm was coming up, surely, and a more than ordinarily severe one it proved to be. Could he be so foolhardy as to attempt to cross to the Point in this storm,? In the mood in which he had left her, he would think nothing of the danger, she knew; and all that night she sat there, like one stunned, never heeding the thunder that rattled its fierce peals in her ears, nor the lightning that flashed its vivid fires in her eyes. All through the night, a deep, thrilling sense of coming horror had chilled her blood; and when' in the dim, grey morning light, she saw the burden that a band of fisherman brought to the door, she was not surprised ; when they laid the motionless form down at her feet, she uttered no cry. But she threw herself- down beside it, and her tears fell like rain on the pallid face, her kisses on the cold lips. No caress answered hers, no thrill of joy or pain would ever stir the stillpulses again. That was Miss Arbuthnot's revenge.