“No, no; I’m all right.” But her eyes, hunted and wandering, belied1 her words.
I drew her hands down into mine across the table lying between us.
“I want to help you,” I whispered; “I think I can. Something has happened which gives me great hope; only do me a favor first; show me, as you promised, the papers which I dug out for you.”
A smile, more bitter than any tear, made her face look very hard for an instant, then she quietly led the way into the small room at the back. When we were quite alone, she faced me again and putting her hand to her breast took out the much creased2, much crumpled3 bit of paper which was her only link to youth, to her life, and to her love.
“This is all that will interest you,” said she, her eyes brimming in spite of herself. “It is my marriage certificate. The one thing that proves me an honest woman and the equal of —” she paused, biting back her words and saying instead —“of any one I see. My husband was a gentleman.”
It was with trembling hands I unfolded the worn sheet. Somehow the tragedy of the lives my own had touched so nearly for the last few days had become an essential part of me.
“John Silverthorn Brainard,” I read, the name identical with the one I had just seen as the early signature of the man who claimed a husband’s rights over Mrs. Packard. The date with what anxiety I looked at it! — preceded by two years that of the time he united himself to Olympia Brewster. No proof of the utter falsity of his dishonorable claim could be more complete. As I folded up the paper and handed it back, Bess noted4 the change which had come to me. Panting with excitement she cried:
“You look happy, happy! You know something you have not told me. What? what? I’m suffocating5, mad to know; speak — speak —”
“Your husband is a man not unknown to any of us. You have seen him constantly. He is —”
“Yes, yes; did he tell you himself? Has he done me so much justice? Oh, say that his heart has softened6 at last; that he is ready to recognize me; that I have not got to find those bonds — but you do not know about the bonds — nobody does. I shouldn’t have spoken; he would be angry if he knew. Angry? and I have suffered so much from his anger! He is not a gentle man.”
How differently she said this from the gentleman of a few minutes back!
“But he doesn’t know that I am here,” she burst out in another instant, as I hunted for some word to say. “He would kill me if he did; he once swore that he would kill me if I ever approached him or put in any claim to him till he was ready to own me for his wife and give me the place that is due me. Don’t tell me that I have betrayed myself, I’ve been so careful; kept myself so entirely7 out of his eyes, even last night when I saw the doctor go in and felt that it was for him, and pictured him to myself as dying without a word from me or a look to help me bear the pain. He was ill, wasn’t he? — but he got better. I saw him come out, very feeble and uncertain. Not like himself, not like the strong and too, too handsome man who has wrung8 my heart in his hand of steel — wrung it and thrown it away.”
Sobs9 shook her and she stopped from lack of power to utter either her terror or her grief. But she looked the questions she could no longer put, and compassionating10 her misery11, I gently said:
“Your love has been fixed12 upon a very unstable13 heart; but you have rights which must yet insure you his support. There is some one who will protect these rights and protect you in your efforts to substantiate14 them.”
“His aunt,” she put in, shaking her head. “She can do nothing, unless —” Her excitement became abnormal. “Have they found the money?” she shrieked15; “have they — have they found the money?”
I could not deceive her; she had seen it in my eye.
“And they will —”
“Hardly,” I whispered. “He has displeased16 them; they can not be generous to him now.”
Her hopes sank as if the very basis of her life had been taken away.
“It was my only hope,” she murmured. “With that money in my hand — some, any of it, I could have dared his frown and won in a little while his good will, but now — I can only anticipate rebuff. There is nothing for me to hope for now. I must continue to be Bess, the thread and needle woman.”
“I did not say that the one to reinstate you was Miss Quinlan.”
“Who then? who then?”
“Mayor Packard.”
And then I had to tell her.
We all know the results of the election by which Governor Packard holds his seat, but few persons outside of those mentioned in this history know why the event of his homecoming from a trip he made to Minnesota brought a brighter and more lasting17 light into his wife’s eyes than the news of his astonishing political triumph.
He had substantiated18 facts by which Mr. Steele’s claims upon Mrs. Packard were annulled19 and Bess restored to her rights, if not to her false husband’s heart and affections. There are times, though, when I do not even despair of the latter; constant illness is producing a perceptible change in the man, and it seemed to me, from what Mrs. John Brainard told me one day after she had been able, through the kindness of the Misses Quinlan, to place the amount of one of the bonds in his hands, that his eyes were beginning to learn their true lesson and that he would yet find charm in his long neglected wife. It was not to be wondered at, for with hope and the advantages of dress with which the Misses Quinlan now took pleasure in supplying her, she was gradually becoming an unusually fine woman.
I remained with Mrs. Packard till they left town for the capital; remained to enjoy to the full the joy of these reunited hearts, and to receive the substantial reward which they insisted on bestowing20 upon me. One of the tasks with which I whiled away the many hours in which I found myself alone was the understanding and proper mastery of the cipher21 which had played such a part in the evolution of the life-drama enacted22 before my eyes.
It was very simple. With the following diagram as a key and a single hint as to its management, you will at once comprehend its apparent intricacies:
diagram
The dot designated that the letter used was the second in the indicated division.
The hint to which I allude23 is this. With every other word the paper is turned in the hands toward the left. This alters the shape and direction of the angle or part of square symbolizing24 the several letters, and creates the confusion which interfered25 with my solution of its mysteries the night I subjected it, with such unsatisfactory results, to the tests which had elucidated26 the cryptogram27 in The Gold Bug28.
The End
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1
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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2
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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3
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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4
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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6
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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8
wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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9
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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10
compassionating
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| v.同情（compassionate的现在分词形式） | |
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11
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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12
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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13
unstable
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| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
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14
substantiate
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| v.证实；证明...有根据 | |
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15
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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17
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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18
substantiated
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| v.用事实支持（某主张、说法等），证明，证实( substantiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
annulled
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| v.宣告无效( annul的过去式和过去分词 )；取消；使消失；抹去 | |
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20
bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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21
cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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22
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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24
symbolizing
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的现在分词 ) | |
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25
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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26
elucidated
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| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
cryptogram
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| n.密码 | |
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28
bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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