About an hour afterwards Mr. Sedley, thinking he heard a noise, got up and searched the house, when, to his surprise, he found the door unfastened. He thought he remembered having secured it as he retired to rest, but was not certain; however, he proceeded, in his search, and on coming to Mary’s room, found the door locked, and heard his daughter breathing heavily, as if asleep. Being unwilling to disturb her, he returned to his bed, and, ere morning, the affair had passed from his memory. Had he remained awake, however, he might have seen a man emerge from his daughter’s room, and, creeping stealthily along the passage, go out at the hall-door, his daughter, the pure, spotless Mary, leader of Psalmody and sacred lays, following close at his heels, to fasten the door and make good his retreat.
This sort of thing went on for a long time, unsuspected by either Miss Sedley’s parents or friends, when Mary became suddenly placed in a very awkward position. A certain Mr. Hazelton, junior partner in a large hardware firm, had long been a suitor of hers, and had asked repeatedly for her hand; her father had hitherto refused to give his consent, owing to her tender age, but he had now withdrawn every obstacle, and left her free to get married if she chose; more than that, he urged Hazelton’s suit, and, though unwilling to coerce his daughter in any way, gave her to understand that he was particularly desirous that she should give Hazelton a favorable reply.
Under ordinary circumstances Mary would have had no hesitation in refusing to have anything to say to Hazelton, but for some time rumor had been busy circulating scandal concerning herself and Grandison, and, as she was at that moment not in a condition to bear scrutiny, she was afraid to awaken suspicion by refusing Hazelton’s offer, and so he was made the “happiest of men” (?)
A short time after Miss Sedley had become engaged to Mr. Hazelton she went with her father and mother to Cacouna, where they had a summer residence. By a strange coincidence, Grandison also chose Cacouna at which to spend his holidays, and combined business with pleasure by giving occasional concerts at the St. Lawrence Hall, which hotel had just been erected, and was the fashionable resort of those people from Montreal and Quebec who could manage to exchange the heated atmosphere of these cities for the more bracing air of Canada’s popular watering place. Mr. Hazelton was unable to leave Montreal, and Mrs. Grandison was not disposed to accompany her husband, even if he could have afforded to take her, in fact, the poor woman, feeling that she was a burden and drag on her husband, had taken to drinking, and had gradually removed herself still further from the pale of fashionable society. Her house (which was situated in a back street in Montreal) was not only untidy, but positively dirty, and her children ran about the streets unclad uneducated, and uncared for.
The Sedleys had not been long at Cacouna when one morning the old gentleman walking out, as was his wont, before breakfast, saw through the fog (which in this district usually hangs about for some time after sunrise) a man descend from his daughter’s bedroom window and walk hastily in the direction of the hotel. Both the distance and the fog prevented him from positively recognizing the man’s features, but the form and carriage were unmistakably those of Alfred Grandison. Mr. Sedley was, so to speak, “struck all of a heap,” he could not believe the evidence of his own senses, and for a few moments he stood rooted to the spot as if thunderstruck; then he rushed into the house, and going straight to his daughter’s room upbraided her with her shameful conduct, but was met by a bold and unqualified denial, the young lady stating that she had been till that moment asleep, and that possibly some burglar had been in the premises, whom her father had mistaken for a gay Lothario. She burst into tears and wondered that her father could have such an opinion of her, and suggested that immediate search should be made, to see if any articles of value were missing. Her father was by no means convinced of his mistake, however; he thought it possible that his daughter might not have been aware of Grandison’s presence, or that he might only have been about to enter the house when he was frightened away; but that Grandison was there he felt certain, so, going immediately over to the hotel, he charged him directly with his crime, at the same time, presenting a loaded revolver at his head, he threatened to blow his brains out. This, as may be supposed, did not prove a ready means of eliciting a confession from the cowardly Grandison. The poor wretch cowered before the righteous indignation of the broken-hearted father, and swore by every saint in the Calendar that the latter must have been mistaken, and that nothing criminal had ever taken place between the young lady and himself.
Mr. Sedley only half believed these asseverations, but, as may be seen, he was a poor diplomatist, and took the very worst way to arrive at anything like the truth. So saying “Not guilty, but don’t do it again,” or words to that effect, he left the hotel and returned to his own house. Here he disclosed his fears to his wife, but she scouted the idea as preposterous, and urged him to have Mary’s marriage with Hazelton celebrated as soon as convenient, and so put an end to all possible contingencies.
Shortly after the return of the family to Montreal Mr. Hazelton led to the altar with pride the “blushing” Mary Sedley. Good cause, indeed, had she to blush, for never was man more egregiously “sold” than was “Mr. Samuel Hazelton, of the city of Montreal, merchant.” The happy couple left by the evening train for Boston, the “Wedding March,” which was admirably performed by Mr. Grandison, still ringing in their ears.
About five months after this unholy marriage Mrs. Hazelton called on me, and disclosed to me the whole state of the case, informing me (of which there was little necessity) that her confinement was close at hand, and soliciting my aid to get her out of the difficulty. My first impulse was to call on her husband and acquaint him with the facts: but, remembering that he occupied a prominent position, not only in the mercantile, but also in the religious community; moreover, that a disclosure would in no way mend the matter, and would be a lasting disgrace not only, to the two culprits, but also to Messrs. Sedley and Hazelton I listened calmly to her plans for getting out of the difficulty. She suggested pretending a miscarriage, wished me to invite her to my house, where she would become ill, and unable to leave till after her child was born. The child was then to be conveyed to the nunnery, her husband being deluded into the belief that she had miscarried.
Now, in the ordinary course of business, I would have been perfectly justified in attending her without troubling my head about her antecedents; indeed, had she been unmarried I would possibly have given my services, but in this case the lady was married, and the child lawfully belonged to her husband, whose heir it was, although actually belonging to another man.
I accordingly declined having anything to do with her case, although I promised that, as her confession was made to me in confidence and as a professional secret, I would not disclose it to anyone. Having friends in Boston, she made some excuse to visit them, and she was not long there when her husband received a telegram, stating that his wife had had a premature confinement and lay in a precarious state in Boston, whither her loving husband instantly repaired. The child (a beautiful girl) was sent to Mrs. Sedley in Montreal, and given out to nurse. She was eventually adopted by a childless dry goods merchant in this city who had her educated as his daughter, employing, by-the-by, her own father to give her lessons in music.