Having vindicated her mother’s honor, Margaret would now withhold the particulars of her own perseverance and self-denial in the cause of her brother. But her father and her lover were not to be thus put off. Little by little, they drew from the reluctant girl the story of her devotion to her mother’s trust. The ample income, drawn from her mother’s legacy of Plover’s Point, had been regularly sent to Mr. Braunton, to be invested for the benefit of William Dawson; afterward a correspondence was opened with the young man.
When subsequently they happened to meet that day on Helmstedt Island, the young man sought to compel, from her lips, the story of his parentage; but Margaret refused to tell him anything, and spoke of her mother only as his patroness.
But when he begged to be shown her grave, Margaret consented. They took a boat and went up the river to the family burial ground at Plover’s Point. They returned in the evening—the young soldier to rejoin his comrades—Margaret to rejoin her friends, and to meet suspicions which she had no power to quell.
It was some weeks after this when the famous attack upon the parsonage was made, and young William Dawson was taken prisoner. While upon his parole, an irresistible attraction drew him to seek Margaret. He visited her in her private apartment, entering and departing by the garden door. Nellie saw him depart. Margaret besought him to come no more. After that, he lingered near the house, and met her in her walks. The spies of Nellie Houston discovered and reported this interview. Yet again they met in the woods, where Margaret entreated him not to waylay her.
About that time also, Clare Hartley spoke in the presence of the young ensign of her own and Margaret Helmstedt’s purposed visit to Fort Warburton. The visit was not made; but William Dawson, missing Margaret from her accustomed haunts, wandered off to the neighborhood of Fort Warburton, where he was taken for a spy, and as such might have been hung, had he not bribed a messenger to carry a note to his sister, whom he now knew to be not at the fort. The messenger, in going away, was seen by Nellie, who naturally took him to be the young ensign. Margaret obeyed the peremptory summons, and the same night departed for Fort Warburton. With the terrible train of misfortunes that ensued, the reader is already acquainted.
Immediately after the prevented duel and the parting with her lover, Margaret sought her brother, and, taking the marriage certificate, and the letter of Lord William Daw, embarked with her brother for Liverpool.
On reaching England, she immediately sought the Marquis of Eaglecliff, and laid before him the claims of his grandson. At the first sight of the young man, the aged peer made an exclamation of surprise. So great was his likeness to the late Lord William Daw, that the marquis almost fancied he beheld again his long-lost son.
Legal steps were immediately taken to establish his identity and confirm his position. Law processes are proverbially slow. In all, it was about twelve months between the time that William Daw was acknowledged by his grandfather, and the time when his position as the legal heir of Eaglecliff was permanently established. And it was more than two years from the day upon which the brother and sister had sailed to England, to that upon which they so opportunely returned to America.
But little remains to be written. With spring, Margaret’s beauty bloomed again.
In June Ralph Houston led his long-affianced bride to the altar. After an extended trip through New England, they took up their residence in the city of Richmond, where Ralph Houston had been appointed to a high official post.