LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4164, 25 August 1881, Page 4

LITERATURE.

MAD LOVE.

(Concluded.)

I went to mv chamber that night about midnight, lt waa quite warm, and after partly und » easing, I sat down at my open window to finish my smoke and enjoy the moon. WhUe thus comfortably engaged, a sound reached my earß that made me start. It was very faint ; but waa it not a scream ? I listened again for a long time, for my thoughts had immediately gone to the distant cbAlet, from the direction of which the sound had seemed to come. But it was vr* repeated; and at last I persuaded mjstlf I must have been mistaken, and sought my bed. MeanwhUe, this was what occurred at the chalet.

Aiter putting her baby to sleep, Mrs Taverney threw off ber dress and put on a loose negligee ; and, for additional ease, she unfastened her hair and suffered it faU down over her shoulders and below her waist. She was not sleepy, and purposed reading awhile before going to bed. There were no bock' in the bedroom, so she went into the other i oom to get one. She did not take ber candle with her, for the moonhght was bo bright tb«t no other Ught was needed. The book she se "cted was Charlotte Bronte's " Jane Eyre." After -taking it from the bookshelf, Bhe ; .maed a minute or two by the sofa in the bow- window, gazing out across the silent landscape. Her thoughts went back to the time, two yeara ago, when the had sat there with Spencer Curtis at her feet, and he had told hor his love. Her bosom heaved with a sigh, and a deeper look came into her eyes. Poor Spencer ! After aU, no one had spoken to her of love as he had spoken of it. Where was he now ? Was he thinking of her ? Had he forgotten her ? Ths place seemed full of nim. There waa the very spot where he had knelt.

A slight sound, which Mrs Taverney supposed to come fmm the baby, interrupted her reverie at this point, and she hastened back to the bedside. No; the ch-' I slept peaceftdly, lying on its back, with its Uttle white arms above ita head. The ip her bent over it lovingly, but feared to kis? .t, lest it should awake. She sat down in a chair by thn bedside, drew up the smaU table which heli the candle, and was Boon deep in the mysteries of Mr Rochester's establishment. As she Bat, she faced the doo- of tho inner room ; it stood wide open, and by raising her eyes she could see through the bay-window. But she presently became so absorbed in her book that shebfd eyes for nothing else. She hal bef n reading for perhapß hulf an hour, wlipq an unmistakable noise from tho inner room again put her on the alert. It was a slo-w pu-bing sound, and was followed by a faint creak — the door of the little lumber closet waa being opened. That door lay out of the rarqe of her vision, unless she moved, and for the moment,, bold-hearted woman though Bhe was, she was power'es* to move. The creaking ceased ; but, as Bhe listened intently, she fancied she could detect a long irregular breathing. Then a Fh^ilow fell across the moonlight that rested on ihe floor of the innner room.

Mrs Taverney turned, and < her candle by potting her finger • the wick. It was the thought of her ba'r_« hat made her do thiß. Rhe hoped that, viDatever might happen to her, the baby might not be noticed. The candle being out, she silently arose, and drew th«» coverlet over the baby's face. Meanwhile, she k<-pt her eyes directed to■wards the open doorway. A face was now visible in the other room, its featured strongly lighted and blackly shadowed by the moon. It was a man's face, •wild and ghastly. A thin and ragged beard and tangled hair, emaciated cheeks and apalling eyes glittering and restless. In hue and cadaverousnesß it resembled the face of a dead person ; hut it was aUve, though with no ordinary life. The figure moved so sUently that at firat Mrß Taverney thought it -wbb a spectre ; and the idea was strengthened by the shadow of resemblance it bore to some one whom she had known weU, and had met

in that very epot. The figure moved towards the bay-window, and knelt down there, grasping in its arms one of the cushions of the sofa. It pressed the cushion to its breast, and seemed to kiss it passionately. Then, all at once, it broke out into a hurried murmur of strange disjointed words — expressions of love, depair, and entreaty, and her own name incessantly repeated. A horrible oppression made Mrs Taverney's heart shudder and pause. This waa no spectre, but a living man — a Tn«»i""»i — and her discarded lover. If it had not been for her baby Bhe would have dropped fainting where she stood ; but as it was, she dared not faint. The thing wai aa unexpected and inconceivable as it was real and terrible. She was shut up, alone and beyond reach of help, with the mad lover whom her own inconstancy had driven to madness. To escape was hopeless ; and to remain might be death— not to her only ! Her least movement might reveal her presence to bim ; or at any moment he might turn and ace her. Yet to stand there inactive wa* most intolerable of aU. Something she muat do, or the suspense would drive her also mad. If ehe could only reach unobserved tbe door between the two rooms, and manage to close it ! She behoved there was a key in the lock ; at ail events, it would be better than nothing. She did not wait for the idea to cool, but instantly stepped towards the door. Unfortunately, it opened away from her, towards the inner room. Yet she almost had her hand npon it, when the madman rose from his '.nees and faced her. Then, without wavering, she did a thing which showed a valiant heart. She walked quickly forwards icto the room, and closed the door behind her. She had tbe Trmdmnn to herself ; but the baby — for the time at least — waß safe.

She never knew how long she was closeted there with him, in that fearful companionship; nor did she ever teU what passed between them, save in disconnected hints. Whatever it were, the traces which it left upon her remained permanently. There ia reason to suppose that the madman who had been Spencer Curtis did not Bhow uncontrollable violence ; but there is reason to believe that, with the hideous unconsciousness of insanity, he made her drink to the last dregs the bitterness of the wrong that she had dono bim. Perhaps there have been others besides Kate Taverney who have held in their memory the consciousness of an hour which no one else besides tbeir Creator wiU ever know anything about. I am thought to be of a speculative turn of mind ; hut Ido not care to speculate further in this i it ter But thia night was not to piss without a further incident. At about 1 - o'clock, according to my reckoning, Kate heard a sound whiob she had heard many times before with little emotion, but which now severed her heart Uke a sword. It was the crying of her baby in the next room. She was Bitting on tbe sofa in the window at the time, and sho bad succeeded in soothing her companion bo far, that he was crouching beaide het, with his

head in her lap. He heard it too, and immediately leaped to his feet with a madman's suspicious alertness. She tried to restrain him, but horror made her powealeaa ; he broke away from her, opened the door of the bedroom, and went in, she foUowing with stiffened limbs. The chUd continued its crieß: he went to the bed, turned back the coverlet, and caught the infant up in hiß arms. Then Kate feU down on ber knees, and uttered tbat scream which reached my ears as I eat smoking at my chamber window. The next morning, when the maid went at the appointed hour to waken her mistress, ahe found her kneeling on the floor in front of a haggard-looking creature, who eat in a chair with the baby in his urmß. It waß

sleeping quietly ; he was crooning over it, and mumbling loving words to it in a hush- _ ing tone. As the amazed woman drew near, " lfis Taverney turned upon 'er a face that seemed wrinkled and aged, »• i said huskily, "Do not diaturb them. He t links the baby is his. He has been very gentle to her. Let them be!" And then, in a moment, she dropped sideways, insensible. From that night Spencer part iaUy recovered from bis madness, insomuch that it was not found necessary to send him back te the asylum from which he escaped ; but he always persisted in beUeving tro baby to be his own. Mrs Taverney made arrangements to take charge of him, and they hay,- in a manner lived together ever since. Sho seems to feel tbat he belongs to her ; and whea I visited them the other day, her manner towards him struck me as being exquisitely tender. The little girl waß smiling between -them.

■ ' A little girl, reading the " History of England" with her mother, and coming to the statement that Henry I. never laughed after the death of his son, looked up, and aaid, ** What did he do when he was tickled ? "