"If he is as tractable as Herbert, I might venture," I replied, a.s.suming the gay, mocking tone of my questioner.

I soon saw that he was bent on remaining; so, taking from my desk a drawing-book and pencil, I placed them before him.

"There is your task; please not to interrupt me." I was determined not to be beguiled from my duty by this gay cavalier. He permitted us to pursue our studies uninterruptedly till he had finished his drawing.

"There," he exclaimed, placing it before me. "Will you not reward me for my industry?"

I looked at the sketch. It was bold and clear, shaded with a firm hand, spirited and original. I was truly surprised at the skill evinced.

After that day he visited our room often, calling in during the morning to exchange a pleasant word, or at the close of the school hours to loiter over our drawings and chat of books and music. His visits began to grow too pleasant to me. Some effort must be made on my side to render them less attractive.

One afternoon he entered as usual, and waited patiently till Herbert had recited his closing lesson. Then he arose, and taking a guitar from its case, commenced playing and singing a song in a most bewitching manner.

"Come, Miss Reef," said he, when he had finished, "that beautiful hand is just made to glide over this instrument. Allow me to give you a lesson."

Feeling that if I permitted him to encroach upon my position as governess I would be lost, I refused. I must give him to understand that I know my place and will not be trifled with, I thought; so I arose and rang the bell for Mary. She soon appeared, apparently surprised at seeing Mr.

Richard Bristed so much at home in the school-room.

"Mary, sit down; I wish you to hem this handkerchief for Herbert," said I.

She seated herself with my work-box before her, and commenced plying her needle industriously. The young gentleman looked on my arrangement with a lurking smile for a few moments, and then uttering a long, low whistle, arose from his chair and sauntered out. Pa.s.sing me, he whispered:

"I will remember you for this, Miss Reef." He did seem to remember it, as several days elapsed without his presenting himself.

Once I met him in the hall, and he merely bowed. If he had wished to arouse in me an interest in himself, he could not have pursued a better plan; for I grew restless and uneasy, regretting heartily that I had offended him.

CHAPTER IV.

After three days had pa.s.sed thus, I concluded I would explain to him my motive. Accordingly, in the afternoon, when my hour of recreation came, I brushed my hair carefully, changed my dress, and descended to the piazza on which he generally lounged in the afternoon with a cigar.

As he was not there, I seated myself on a rustic chair to watch for him.

I had not sat many minutes when I heard the wheels of a carriage on the gravel path; then the gay voice of Mr. Richard met my ear. I turned: he was seated in the vehicle with a valise beside him, and was apparently bound on a journey. As he caught sight of me, he raised his hat, bowed distantly, and drove off.

A dreary sense of loneliness crept over me. The setting sun filled the west with its golden splendor. Great yellow bars of sunlight streamed through the railing, and lit up the floor of the piazza. Sitting there I was bathed in its ruddy flood. Happy birds poured forth their evening song in the bushes near by; but I was miserable and alone. All nature seemed to rejoice, while I, her child, was desolate.

"You appear sad, miss," said a voice close beside me. I looked up and beheld the elder Mr. Bristed. He had evidently observed my emotion, and his dark eye looked a reproof that his lips did not utter.

Presently, he seated himself near me, and asked a few questions as to the progress my pupil was making. Having satisfied him on those points, he inquired kindly if I was lonely or discontented.

"Oh, no," I answered, heartily, hoping to place a barrier to any further inquiries on that point.

"But you have been weeping," said he, in a subdued voice.

"Not because I am lonely," said I, resolved to have the truth out; "but I fear I have wounded the feelings of your brother."

"My brother!" he repeated. "Ah! you have become acquainted with him? He is bright and glittering like the sun; but be careful, my child, be careful! Young birds should avoid the glittering steel of the fowler. But youth will seek its own experience," he remarked, with a deep sigh. "No friendly warning will teach the young to beware of danger. But consider me your friend, Miss Reef, and let me likewise be your monitor."

Without waiting for my reply, he hastily left me and entered the house.

CHAPTER V.

Four weeks elapsed ere Richard's return. During his absence Mr. Bristed showed his sympathy for my lonely situation by many little attentions; sending up to the school-room, now and then, choice fruit from his hot-house, or a bouquet of conservatory flowers, and, several times in the early evening, he sent for me to read aloud to him.

I found him to be a quiet, polished gentleman; and I grew to like him, and to look for his tokens of kindness after my daily labors with growing interest, and, if they came not, to feel disappointed and unhappy. He had travelled much and could talk well, and under the influence of a sympathetic listener, his countenance lit up with kindly emotion, and the sad lines of his face disappeared beneath a happy smile.

But in the glowing midsummer his truant brother returned, and my new-born interest vanished like snow before the harvest sun.

Again Mr. Richard exerted his varied powers to fascinate and amuse me.

Again I listened, and struggled, as formerly, against his wiles, and finally bent a too willing ear to his soft words of praise and admiration. With secret pleasure I reveled in his ardent language, hugging to my heart the belief that I was loved.

How that summer sped by on its golden wings! Time pa.s.sed on, as in some delicious opium dream! And when the short clays and long nights of the Christmas holidays set in, I found myself secretly engaged in marriage to Richard Bristed.

Of our plans and attachment his brother was not at present to be informed: this stern brother who shut himself up apart from his species, and who, Richard told me, was of too cold a nature to sympathize with love.

"He will dismiss you, Agnes, if he hears of it," he said. "Wait till I have settled up my affairs, and then he can do his worst."

I believed this statement; I forgot all my former good impressions of Mr.

Bristed, and listened to the tales that were told me of how he had wronged Richard. I learned to regard him as a robber, a hypocrite whose statements could not be relied on; a false, dark, bad man. As for Richard, he seemed a king in comparison; a n.o.ble, magnanimous being, whom some kind fairy had bestowed upon me.

But that cold, relentless Fate, which comes to tear off the painted wrappings of life, revealing the bare and ugly reality beneath, was fast pursuing me.

At the close of a cold, snowy day, I had retired early to my room, and having locked the door that I might be free from interruption, sat down to look over the dainty articles of dress which I had been shyly acc.u.mulating for my approaching marriage.

It was but a scanty outfit, but to me it appeared munificent as that of a princess. I could never weary of looking at these beautiful garments; I placed them in one light, and then in another; I folded and unfolded them, and finally ended by trying them on, and admiring in the mirror their perfect adaptation to my face and figure. A long time must have pa.s.sed in this way, when the hall clock struck the hour of midnight.

Astonished at the lateness of the night, I threw down the laces and ribbons which I was combining into some airy article of dress, and was preparing to remove my bridal attire, when I was amazed to hear a key turning in the lock of my door. Fear and surprise nailed me to the floor.

The door glided softly open and in stepped Mr. Richard Bristed! He seemed surprised to see me thus.

"What! up and dressed?" he exclaimed, in a loud whisper. "O my beauty! my wife! I have come to claim you to-night. You shall be mine. No power on earth shall withhold us now!"

"How strangely you talk, Richard," said I. "You forget it is so late. We cannot go to church at this hour."

"Ah, dearest, this is church! See, I have brought you this ring. We will stand up before G.o.d and our own hearts, and I will marry you here. We need no other witnesses than ourselves and this ring!"

Though my youthful heart was blinded by love and pa.s.sion, I was not prepared for this. Excitement and the strangeness of the proposition overcame me, and I broke forth into sobs.

He endeavored to soothe me, urging his request with a pleading force which I could scarcely withstand.

"I am not prepared, Richard," said I, drying my tears; "this is so sudden, so unlooked for, I must have time for thought."

But thought only revealed a gaping abyss, from which I must fly.