As Taffy waved the burning coat above his head, Varley saw Simon riding across the plain. There was something lying across the saddle in front of him, and Varley saw that it was Esmeralda. He snatched up a rifle lying beside him, and kneeling, took careful aim at Simon’s horse. The bullet whizzed past its neck, and Simon, with a yell of derision, dug his spurs into the animal’s side and tore on. Varley set his teeth hard and fired again; the bullet struck the stirrup and Simon pulled up for an instant, hesitated, then dropped Esmeralda to the ground. Varley went across the plain like a greyhound, but before he had reached her she was standing3 upright, and the next instant she was on his breast, sobbing4 and laughing hysterically5.
“It is you—it is you, Esmeralda!” was all he could say for a moment or two. “I can scarcely believe my eyes. How did you come here? But there is no time for questions; I must go back!”
“Yes—yes. Go back, Varley, dear,” she panted, “I will come with you.”
“No—no,” he said, hurriedly. “Stay here; you are safe here.”
He patted her on the back encouragingly and ran back to the coach, and, of course, she followed him, although at a little distance.
The fight was nearly over when Varley reached the coach, and his reappearance put the finishing touch to it. Two of[279] the Dog’s Ear men lay stretched upon the ground; the Three Star men, breathless and perspiring6, were gathered round them; the passengers were huddled7 together in a heap and trying to realize that this was the end of the nineteenth century; Johnson and the guard were coolly soothing8 and rubbing down the horses as if this little affair were quite in the ordinary way of business.
Varley ordered the two Dog’s Ear men to be taken and put inside the coach, made a roll-call of his own men, found that two were wounded, and ordered them also into the coach, then he turned to examine the passengers, to discover which was Esmeralda’s husband. As he did so he found Esmeralda at his side.
“Which is your husband?” he asked in an undertone.
She laid her hand upon his arm and turned her head aside.
“He is not here, Varley,” she said in a low voice.
He looked at her with momentary9 surprise; but even yet there was no time to ask questions.
“Get up into your seats, gentlemen,” he said. “The little play is over.”
One of them came forward with his hat in his hand and mopping his forehead.
“This is an outrageous10 business; and but for you, sir, it would have been a very serious one. But for you and your brave companions we should have been robbed and probably murdered. We desire to express our gratitude11, and we should like to know the name of the gentleman to whom we are so deeply indebted.”
Johnson, the driver, lurched forward.
“You’re right, sir, every word,” he said, slowly. “If it hadn’t been for these boys, we should have been skinned of everything, and filled up with lead into the bargain. If you want to know the name of the gentleman who saved our bacon, it is Varley Howard. There ain’t many in these parts as don’t know him, and I reckon you won’t forget him in a hurry.”
The passenger held out his hand to Varley.
“Permit me to thank you, Mr. Howard,” he said, “for the great service you have rendered us. I am one of her majesty’s commissioners12, and it will be my pleasant duty to bring your gallant13 conduct, and that of your brave followers14, under the notice of the authorities.”
Varley shook the proffered15 hand.
“Thanks,” he said in his languid way. “We’ve enjoyed the fun. You’d better start the coach, Johnson, or you’ll[280] beat the record for unpunctuality. Get up, dear,” he said to Esmeralda in a whisper.
But she shook her head.
“Let me go with you, Varley,” she said. “I can ride behind, as I’ve often done. I’m not a bit heavier—see!”
He hesitated a moment, remembering that riding double was scarcely a proper mode of progress for a great lady; then he took her in his arms and swung her behind him.
But by this time the boys had realized the fact of her presence, and were crowding round in clamorous16 amazement17.
“It’s Esmeralda!” shouted Taffy, as if he could not believe his eyes.
“Yes, it’s Esmeralda,” said Varley; “but don’t bother now, boys. I’ll bring her down to the Eldorado presently—”
“Yes, yes!” cried Esmeralda, stretching out her hand to them, half laughing, half crying.
—“And you’d better keep your mouths shut about her till we turn up. Off you go, Johnson! Come down to the camp when you’ve put your horses up. The boys will want to see you.”
He spoke18 excitedly, for Esmeralda’s presence filled him with joy. He had no idea that anything was wrong.
Johnson started the coach, touching19 his hat gravely to Varley, as a soldier salutes20 a general; the boys sent up a ringing cheer, which was answered by the passengers; then Varley put spurs to his horse.
“Are you safe, comfortable?” he asked, patting the hands clasped round him.
“Yes, yes,” Esmeralda replied. “Do you think I have forgotten how to ride? Oh, Varley, to think of it’s being you who saved us!”
“‘The long arm of coincidence,’ as the novelists say,” he said. “And now, what brings you here, Esmeralda?”
He felt her sigh.
“Wait till we get home,” she whispered.
He said no more, and they rode on over the plain, through the valley, and up the hill to the old hut.
With what commingling21 of emotions Esmeralda looked upon it all! Though she could not see anything distinctly, she seemed to see; for she knew every inch of the road, every tree, every curve of the upstretching hills; and they all seemed to welcome her. She could almost fancy that she had never left the beloved spot, and that all that had happened since she bid good-bye to Varley, long months ago, was but a fantastic dream; as if Miss Chetwynde, the millionairess, the Marquis of[281] Trafford, Belfayre and all its ducal splendor22, had never existed, save in her imagination.
She leaned her head against Varley’s shoulder and sighed.
There was a light in the hut, and at the sound of the approaching horse, Mother Melinda came to the door with her candle held above her head. As its rays fell upon Esmeralda she uttered a shriek23 and dropped the candle. The next instant Esmeralda was in her arms, and the two women were sobbing, laughing, and exclaiming as only women can.
Varley tied up his horse, got a light, and managed to tear the two women apart; then he put Esmeralda into a chair, hinted to Mother Melinda that Esmeralda might be hungry, and having got the old woman into the outer hut, sat on the edge of the table and gazed at his child with a smile that did not hide his tender joy at her presence.
But he asked no questions until Esmeralda had eaten and drunk, and was leaning back in the chair with her hands folded in her lap.
“And now, my child,” he said. “Why this thusness? Where is the noble marquis, your husband?”
“Are you very glad to see me, Varley?” she said, ignoring the question.
“Well, just a little,” he replied, with a smile. “But where—”
“Do you remember our bargain, Varley?” she said. “I promised that if ever I were in trouble that I would come back to you, and you promised to take me.”
“I remember,” he said, gravely. “And you are in trouble?”
“I have come back,” she said, significantly.
“What is the trouble?” he asked. “Where is your husband?”
The color mounted to her face.
“He is not here,” she said in a low voice.
“So I see,” he remarked, dryly. “Where is he?”
“He is in England,” she said, almost inaudibly.
“And he allowed you to make this journey alone?” he asked in those ultra-quiet tones which were always so ominous24 with him.
“He—he did not know. I—I had left him.”
He was silent a moment, then he looked at her hand.
“Where is your wedding-ring?” he asked, as quietly as before.
She looked at her hand.
[282]
“I have left it behind me,” she said. “I—I am not his wife any longer.”
“Divorced?”
She crimsoned25 to her neck.
“No. I—I have only left him.”
He looked at her steadily26, and then, as if he had read the answer to his unspoken question in her pure eyes, he drew a long breath.
“It was his fault, then?”
“Yes,” she said in a whisper. “Don’t ask me to tell you all, Varley. I—I couldn’t. It would be like tearing open a wound; and it would do no good. We are separated forever!”
She turned her head away from him, and he saw her lips quiver.
“Do you mean that he has been bad to you?” he asked. “Remember that I am your guardian27.”
She was silent a moment. Not even to Varley could she tell the whole sordid28 story of her misery29 and humiliation30.
“He—he never loved me. It was my money he wanted, and not me. You know how rich I am? I did not know the truth—I was just an ignorant girl, strange to their ways and the way they think about such things—I didn’t discover it until after we were married.”
He bent31 forward a little and just touched the sleeve of her dress. The tender, pitying caress32 almost shattered her self-restraint.
“And that’s not all. He had married me for my money, but all the while there was some one else. Oh, Varley! Varley!” She hid her face in her hands and her slight figure shook.
Varley rose from the table and went outside the hut. His face was deathly white, and his dark eyes were alight with a terrible fire. He shook from head to foot like a man torn by an internal devil, and his hands, thrust in his pockets, were clinched33 so tightly that the nails were driven into the soft palms. But he said not a word, though every vein34 in his body throbbed35 with a curse.
He was still very white, but to all appearance calm and self-possessed, when he re-entered the house and resumed his seat on the table. He had given Esmeralda time to master her emotion, and she looked up at him now with a smile more pitiful than tears.
“I’ve really told you all now, Varley,” she said in a whisper. “I’ve left him; I’m no longer the Marchioness of Trafford. Why, I am a duchess! The old duke—he was[283] very good to me, Varley, and I loved him!”—her eyes filled with tears, and she sighed—“he died the night I ran away, and never knew, thank God!”
“A duchess!” said Varley, grimly.
“Yes. A strange duchess, Varley!” She laughed sadly. “But all that’s done with now. I have left it all behind, never to go back to it. I want to be plain Esmeralda of Three Star once more—Esmeralda Howard, Varley, if you will have me. I’m going to be just as I was before—before I went away. Ah, how I wish I had never gone! Everybody—you and Mother Melinda, and all the boys—loved me and were good to me, though I was only a poor girl without even a name.”
His face twitched36.
“That’s so,” he said, hoarsely37.
“In England, London, they only care for your money. No, let me be just; that’s not true. There were one or two—the duke, a young girl, Lady Wyndover—who were fond of me. But the rest—” She shuddered38. “Ah! it’s better to be here, Varley, with only a couple of dresses, and short of boots and shoes, with just a hut to live in, but warm, loving hearts around you, than to reign39 over there a great lady, a duchess, with more dresses than you know what to do with, with diamonds that only make people envy and hate you because they’re better than theirs. There’s bad luck here sometimes, and it’s rough and ready, but”—she stretched out her arms with a gesture almost fierce—“but it’s heaven here compared with the false hell over there.”
He was terribly moved, and the thin hand with which he rolled up a cigarette shook so that the tobacco fell upon the table.
“So I have come back, Varley,” she said, “and I want you to help me to forget all—all that has happened; to take me as your little girl again, to be Esmeralda of Three Star once more. I think the boys will be glad to have me back, won’t they?”
“We’ll see presently,” he said, laconically40.
“You can tell them,” she went on with a sad little laugh, “that it was all a mistake—my going, my being Miss Chetwynde.”
“Kind of changed your birth?” he said.
She laughed with her eyes closed.
“Yes; and that I find I’m only their Esmeralda, after all. Tell them to ask no questions, but to go on as if I had never been away.”
[284]
“You shall go down to the saloon to-morrow,” he said, quietly.
“No, to-night!” she exclaimed, rising with a sudden light in her eyes. “I want it all over at once. I want to go back to the old life this minute. I’m longing41 to see them all, to look upon the faces that don’t smile and smile at you while they stab you in the back, to see, once more, honest men, with too much grit42 in them to buy and sell women, to deceive a girl because she is a girl and is ignorant of the ways of the world! Take me to them now, at once, Varley!”
“You shall go,” he said, very quietly.
She caught up her hat and put it on with trembling fingers and in eager haste.
He placed her on the horse, and they rode down to the camp as they had ridden to the hut; and once again, as they rode through the cool air and amidst the familiar surroundings, the past life in England seemed but a dream. Only, in the innermost recesses43 of her heart there lay, like a tiny snake, a stinging pain of wistful longing for the man she had cast off forever. She tried to ignore it, to think only of her joy in getting back to Varley and Three Star; but the love which is at once woman’s greatest blessing44 and greatest curse, was there still, and would not be crushed out. Trafford’s face rose before her in the close darkness, his voice—ay, every tone of it—mingled with the rhythmical45 beat of the horses’ hoofs46.
As they approached the camp, the lights from the Eldorado flashed out through the darkness. There was a stir of excitement, and the buzz of shouting and singing.
Though the fact of Esmeralda’s presence was not generally known, the affair of the coach had become common property, and Three Star was up in arms. Every soul in the camp was collected in or about the saloon. Bill, Taffy, and the other men engaged in the business were surrounded by an excited crowd, eager for every detail, and vowing47 vengeance48 on Dog’s Ear. Varley’s name was on every lip, and shouts of, “Where is he?” “Where’s Varley?” rose above the din.
Esmeralda’s arm tightened49 round Varley’s waist.
“It’s the old noise, the old sound!” she whispered, tremulously.
“Yes; keep your hair on, little one,” he responded; for he could feel her trembling.
As they rode down to the door and came into the light that streamed from it, the crowd outside sent up a shout and pressed round him; but as they saw and recognized Esmeralda,[285] the shout died away for an instant, then rose with redoubled force, and her name was cried aloud. Those inside the saloon rushed to the door, Taffy and Bill giving vent50 to their pent-up feelings by loud yells.
Varley dropped to the ground, and lifting Esmeralda in his arms, as he had so often done when she was a child, forced his way through the crowd to the end of the saloon, and then, with his arm around her, stood and faced them.
The din was indescribable. Everybody seemed to be speaking at once and trying to drown his neighbor’s voice.
Varley stood erect51, a faint smile upon his clean-cut lips, his white hand, stained with blood, stroking his mustache and smoothing the closely cut gray hair at his temple—the, apparently52, one calm man in the raging sea of human beings.
“Varley! Varley! Esmeralda! Esmeralda!” they shouted.
Esmeralda stood very pale, her lips apart, her breath coming quickly, but with a tender smile in her eyes which would have told them, even if they had doubted, that she was indeed Esmeralda.
Varley held up his hand, and almost instantly the din subsided53.
“Boys,” he said, and his voice, musical and low, rang out so that every one could hear it and note the thrill of emotion which vibrated in its even tones, “Esmeralda’s come back! Quiet! Yes, she’s come back as she promised. England’s all very well; but when you’ve once lived in the free air of Three Star you kind of pine after it. And Esmeralda was almost born here. She’s come back, and she’s come to stay!”
The excitement and enthusiasm broke through all restraint at this announcement, and a roar of delight interrupted the speaker.
“Esmeralda!” went up from the hot throats.
Varley held up his hand again.
“Why she’s come back is no business of ours. We’re too glad to get her back—eh, boys?—to ask questions. If she’d been happy where she was, she’d have stayed there. But she wasn’t; and so she’s come back, and there’s an end of it, now and for the future.”
He took a glass of whisky from MacGrath’s hand and raised it aloft.
“Here’s health, long life, and happiness to Esmeralda of Three Star!”
Every man seized a glass, full or empty, and up they went as high as arm could extend them. A mighty54 roar rose from the packed crowd, while shouts of “Esmeralda—our Esmeralda!”[286] rent the air. The mob seemed mad with pride and delight. Esmeralda had come back. It seemed too good to be true. Men laughed hysterically; Taffy and Bill danced with ecstasy55. Men who had been mortal enemies a few minutes ago shook hands and laughed in each other’s faces. There were some whose eyes were wet. And through all the phases of expression there ran the current of an emotion which shook Three Star to its foundations.
Then they saw that Esmeralda’s lips were moving, and with exhortations56, and even friendly blows, they commanded each other to keep silence.
Esmeralda’s lips moved for a moment or two wordlessly, then they heard the voice which they all loved say, in soft and tremulous tones:
“Yes, I have come back—and to stay!”
A cheer, such as had never been heard even in Three Star, threatened to lift the roof off the Eldorado, and Varley, drawing Esmeralda’s arm within his, succeeded, after many herculean efforts, in getting her through the throng57 and into the open air.
She was sobbing as if her heart would break as they rode back to the hut, for the mighty torrent58 of love which had been poured out upon her had swept away her power of self-restraint. But not even Varley guessed that her tears were caused not only by the reception which had been accorded her, but by that aching love for Trafford which still throbbed through her whole heart.
Concerning the proceedings59 of the boys at the Eldorado which immediately followed her exit, and were kept up until the dawn rose above the hills, the kindly60 historian will be silent. Suffice it that MacGrath’s whisky was completely sold out, and that Taffy was conducted to his virtuous61 couch by a devious62 course of something like a mile in length by several fellow-convivialists who, having deposited that hero in bed, deemed it wise and expedient63 to coil themselves up on the floor beside him.
There had been several “warm nights” at Three Star; but this, the night of Esmeralda’s return, was the very, very warmest that had ever been recorded.
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1
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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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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perspiring
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| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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14
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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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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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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salutes
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| n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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commingling
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| v.混合，掺和，合并( commingle的现在分词 ) | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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31
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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32
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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33
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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36
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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38
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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39
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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40
laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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41
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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42
grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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43
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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44
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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45
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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46
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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47
vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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48
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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49
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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50
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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51
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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52
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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53
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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54
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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55
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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56
exhortations
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| n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫 | |
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57
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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58
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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60
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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61
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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62
devious
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| adj.不坦率的，狡猾的；迂回的，曲折的 | |
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63
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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