For, as Geoffrey Barry, with contempt in his cold voice, and contempt, too, upon his handsome features, had calmly presented the Beau to the real Ariadne Thorne, the other had become almost beside himself--had, indeed, exhibited so awful a picture of a man transformed by rage and despair as to appal4 all those who looked upon him, various as their characters and experiences of life were.
"You!" he cried. "You!" addressing Sir Geoffrey, his features distorted, his lower jaw5 working horribly above that monstrous6 chin, "You in it, too! You beggarly sailor! You! You!" Then, before any could suspect to what length his fury would carry him, he had wrenched7 the dress sword he carried by his side from out its sheath, and would have made a pass at the other--indeed, did half do so. But, swift as lightning, that pass was thwarted--by two people! By his newly made wife, who seized his arm even as he would have plunged8 the blade into Sir Geoffrey's breast, she being aided by Lewis Granger, who, with his hat, which he still carried in his hand, although they were by now outside the church, struck it up--he knocking it from out his hand, so that it fell clattering9 on the stones at his feet.
"Madman! Fool!" Granger whispered in his ear, "do you wish to finish your morning's work with murder? To end your days at Tyburn?" Then, turning to one of the friends of overnight, he said: "For God's sake help me to get him into the coach. He is mad."
Somehow it was done; in some way the deluded10 rogue11 was pushed and hustled12 into the carriage which had brought him in triumph from the spot where he had met Mrs. Pottle and Anne, and half-delirious with rage, Bufton was borne away. Yet not before he had shrieked13 such awful objurgations, such curses and blasphemies14 on the heads of all around him, including Ariadne and her lover, combined with such terrible threats of vengeance15, that more than one of the women present stopped their ears.
"Now," said Geoffrey, "now, let us begone, too. Come, Ariadne, I will take you home."
Then he turned to Mrs. Pottle and Anne--who stood close by her mother's side--and bade them also return to the house in Westminster.
"Yet, my poor girl," he said to the latter, "I fear it is but coals of fire you have heaped on your own head. Your revenge for your sister's wrongs has been terrible, nay16, supreme17; but at what a price to you! What a price! You have closed the door against your own happiness for ever."
"I care not," Anne said. "Care not at all. When her body--poor little Kate's body--was taken from out the river--oh, mother! you remember--I swore that if ever the chance came, I would avenge18 her. Ah! Sir Geoffrey, Sir Geoffrey, if you had known how she besought19 him to fulfil his promise--to marry her--to make her an honest woman--then--you--would not----"
"I am not surprised," Geoffrey Barry answered, "knowing all, as I do now, from Miss Thorne. Yet, I fear you have paid too dearly for it."
"She would do it, Sir Jaffray," Mrs. Pottle moaned between her sobs20. "She would do it, though I told her there was no call. Oh! why, why, should that monster have had two of my daughters for his victims? One of whom he undone21 and drove to her death, the other who can never be no honest man's wife now."
"At least," said Ariadne, "you know, Rebecca, that never will she want for aught. You know that, and you, too, Anne. Now, let us hasten to Cowley Street and away from this horrid22 place."
Perhaps it need scarcely be set down here that overnight, when the meeting between Ariadne and her lover had taken place, all had been explained and made clear to the latter. Indeed the girl had more than once, during the passage of that fortnight since he had parted with her at Fawnshawe Manor23, resolved to write to him telling everything, only, on each occasion, her pride had stepped in. "For," she had whispered to herself, again and again, "if he loves me, as he has said so oft, then surely he cannot doubt. He was enraged24 at the time, deeming, in truth, that that vile25 fop and knave26 could have come in search of none but me. But, surely, reflection must convince him it was not so. Surely--surely." And then, still stirred by womanly pride, she determined27 that she would put the depth of his love to the test. She would summon him to her side, and, if he came, would tell him all. But she was impelled28 to send that summons without delay, when there reached her ears the terrible rumour29 that his frigate30 was to proceed to join the squadron of Admiral Boscawen.
Then he had come, and she had told him all, with the result which has been described.
"And so," he said now, as they sat in the parlour wherein she had yesterday listened so eagerly and with beating heart for that coming, "I should not have been sent for, only it was thought I might be off and away to the West Indies. That is it, eh?" and, from where they sat side by side on the great couch, he stroked her hair.
"No," she answered, softly, "you would have been sent for anyhow, only, perhaps, that news hastened the despatch31 of my message," and she looked fondly at him. "You doubted me, sir," she continued, "you know you did, and you had to be punished."
"What could I think? I heard you say those fateful words to Mrs. Pottle: 'Then he has seen him.'" Then, he added, "But, still, after what we have witnessed this morning, I wish it had not been. I wish that you had not let it happen."
"Oh, Geoffrey!" she cried, "do not reproach me, do not be angry with me. Anne was so resolute32, so determined. She loved that little sister whom he ruined and drove to her death; loved her fondly. I remember after it had happened last year, when the poor child drowned herself after he cast her off, that Anne was demented. Do you know, she meditated33 tracking him in the streets and pistolling him with her own hands, until I persuaded her to desist from such a crime?"
"Yet now," said Geoffrey, with unconscious humour, "she has married him."
"That thought came to her when she found out that he was at Tunbridge intent on pursuing me. His valet told her that his master was there to obtain the hand of Miss Thorne, the heiress, if possible--the man not knowing that she was in attendance on me--and that decided34 her. She vows35 she would have done it even though he had not ruined her sister, as a punishment for his presumption37 in aspiring38 to me."
"Yet if he knew this poor girl through her waiting at Vauxhall and Ranelagh for Anne, how is it he should not know Anne herself?"
"It was not surprising. Anne always sang and danced arrayed in some fantastic costume, sometimes as Arlequina with a vizard, another time as a Turkish dancing girl, and, as often as not, as a shepherdess with white wig39 and patches. And he persuaded the poor child, poor little Kate, to say nothing to her more worldly sister, nor ever to let them come into contact."
"It is a deadly vengeance, as deadly to her as to him. Yet, I vow36, he at least deserves to suffer from it. But how could she ever think of, how devise, it?"
For a moment Ariadne paused; so that it seemed to him that there was something which she had not told even now. It appeared that she had not divulged40 all of the plot. For Ariadne whispered now, or almost whispered, "She had a helpmate, a confederate. A man----"
"A man!" Geoffrey exclaimed. "A man! Surely not young Lord John Dallas--he who arrived at the end of the marriage--when it was too late! He who exposed her?"
"Nay; instead, one whom he has deeply injured and wronged almost as much as he wronged and ruined her sister. Whose life he blasted----"
"Ariadne! who is he?"
"The man who pretends to serve him as his creature, his hireling. He who stood by his side at the marriage; his best man."
"Great God! what duplicity, what vengeance! How has Bufton wronged any man so much that the other should do this thing? Forgive me, Ariadne, I would not say aught to wound you, nor aught against your sex, but--but--such vengeance is a woman's, not a man's."
"Yet I do think the scheme was more his than hers. Oh, Geoffrey!" she cried, suddenly, "I am terrified; terrified at what has happened, and doubly terrified at what will, I fear, happen yet. Oh! why, why, did I let it continue? Yet Geoffrey, upon my honour as a woman, I did not know all; had I done so before we came to London, I would have striven to prevent it. But, now, I fear----"
"Fear what?"
"Something worse that remains41 behind. For she laughs--she laughed but now when we returned here after that terrible scene, and when she was upstairs with me--laughs and says that, if she is truly tied to him by the laws, yet it will not be for long. She says, too, that the other man has not finished his business yet."
"What has this man, this Bufton, done to him, then? Surely he had no sister to be betrayed also. What can it be?"
"That she does not know, or swears she does not. But that they have met before, that he helped her to plan this scheme, I feel assured. Oh, Geoffrey, how can we put an end to further mischief42?"
"Pity 'tis that it was ever begun. And, though I say it not unkindly, that you ever countenanced43 it."
"Nay, nay!" Ariadne cried, "misjudge me not; I never knew what was being done until the last moment. You must believe that, Geoffrey, or--or--there is no happiness in store for us. I never heard that they had met at Tunbridge, and that he was deceived into thinking she was Ariadne Thorne. I never knew, until a quarter of an hour before you came on that night, that he had been in the lime-tree avenue. And I should not have known it then but by an accident."
"An accident?"
"Yes. I was awaiting you as ever, was wondering why you were late, when I saw--it was easy enough to distinguish in the glow of the sunset--a scarlet44 coat in the avenue. And then--then--Anne came in hurriedly a little later, with her cloak and hood1 on."
"The hood I saw lying there. The one I thought you had worn, and which made me doubly suspicious."
"The same. She removed it from her head while talking to me, and, laying it down, forgot it. I asked her who the man could be who was wearing that scarlet coat, and then she told me all, or, at least, almost all. But, knowing you were coming, and wishing to tell her mother who was heart and soul in this scheme of vengeance, she left me and forgot that hood."
"Thank Heaven!" Sir Geoffrey said, "that you knew so little; as well as that you had no part in the plot. Knave, vagabond as the fellow is, I should not have liked my Ariadne to have had part in hoodwinking him."
And the girl seeing, understanding by his words, that he believed her, was happy.
After this they were silent a little while, though each was thinking, in a different way, upon the same thing. He, of what a thousand pities it was that a brave girl such as Anne Pottle should have ruined her future to obtain revenge; she, of what the future might bring--a future that, she could scarcely have told why, she dreaded45 and looked forward to with extreme fear.
"There are two persons," she whispered now, unconsciously drawing a little closer to her lover's arm even as she did so, "two persons whom, if he had the power to injure, he would. Geoffrey, you know those two?"
"You and I, sweetheart, is't not so? Well, what can he do--this discredited46, ruined rogue? What! We shall be man and wife soon now, since there is no truth in the report that I take my ship to join Boscawen; since, too, it seems likely that she and I are doomed47 to inaction. Ah! if Admiral Hawke could but bring the French to action nearer home and I might be with him. Then--then--there would be a bright future before me."
As he spoke48 of their being man and wife the girl's heart gave a great leap. Surely, she thought, he must know how much she, too, desired that; and still, as thus she thought, she drew closer to him. But, even as she did so, she whispered:
"How that man can injure you or me I know not, my own. Yet--yet--I saw his face to-day, saw the look, the hideous49 look of rage and spite, he cast at you--and--oh! oh! my love," she wailed50, "I fear, I fear."
"Fear nothing," he whispered back. "Fear nothing. He is a broken, bankrupt knave, and I am a king's officer; while you are to be my wife. He is harmless."
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1
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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3
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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appal
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| vt.使胆寒，使惊骇 | |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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6
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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7
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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8
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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10
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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12
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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13
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
blasphemies
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| n.对上帝的亵渎，亵渎的言词[行为]( blasphemy的名词复数 )；侮慢的言词（或行为） | |
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15
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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16
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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17
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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18
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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19
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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21
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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23
manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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28
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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30
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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31
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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32
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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33
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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34
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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35
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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36
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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38
aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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39
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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40
divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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42
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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43
countenanced
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| v.支持，赞同，批准( countenance的过去式 ) | |
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44
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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45
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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46
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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47
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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49
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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50
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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