It was Alice who met him in the hall, explaining to him as much as she thought necessary, and asking him, on his return, to wait a little by the field gate, and turn back other guests who might be on the road.
The Colonel promised compliance with her request, and as only a few had been invited, it was not a hard task imposed upon him. ’Lina had been taken very sick, was all the excuse the discreet Colonel would give to the people, who rather reluctantly turned their faces homeward, so that Spring Bank was not honored with wedding guests that night; and when the clock struck eight, the appointed hour for the bridal, only the bridegroom sat in the dreary parlor, his head bent down upon the sofa arm, and his chest heaving with the sobs he could not repress as he thought of all poor Lily had suffered since he left her so cruelly. Hugh had told him what he did not understand before. He had come into the room for his mother, whom ’Lina was pleading to see; and after leading her to the chamber of the half-delirious girl, he had returned to the doctor, and related to him all he knew of Adah, dwelling long upon her gentleness and beauty, which had won from him a brother’s love, even though he knew not she was his sister.
“I was a wretch, a villain!” the doctor groaned. Then looking wistfully at Hugh, he said, “Do you think she loves me still? Listen to what she says in her farewell to Anna,” and with faltering voice, he read: “That killed the love; and now, if I could, I would not be his except for Willie’s sake. Do you think she meant it?”
“I have no doubt of it, sir. How could her love out live everything? Curses and blows might not have killed it, but when you thought to ruin her good name, to deny your child, she would be less than woman could she forgive. Why, I hate and despise you myself for the wrong you have done my sister,” and Hugh’s tall form seemed to take on an increased height as he abruptly left the room, lest his hot temper should get the mastery, and he knock-down his dastardly brother-in-law.
It was a sad house at Spring Bank that night, where ’Lina lay, tossing distractedly from side to side; now holding her throbbing head, and now thrusting out her hot, dry hands, as if to keep off some fancied form, who claimed to be her mother.
The shock had been a terrible one to ’Lina. She did love Dr. Richards; and the losing him was enough of itself to drive her mad; but worse even than this, and far more humiliating to her pride, was the discovery of her parentage, the knowing that a convict was her father, a common servant her mother, and that no marriage tie had hallowed her birth.
“Oh, I can’t bear it!” she cried. “I can’t. I wish I might die! Will nobody kill me? Hugh, you will, I know!”
But Hugh was away for the family physician, for he would not trust a gossipping servant to do the errand. Once before that doctor had stood by ’Lina’s bedside, and felt her feverish pulse, but his face then was not as anxious as now, when he counted the rapidly increasing beats, and saw how fast the fever came on. There had been an exposure to cold, he said, sufficient of itself to induce a fever, but the whole had been aggravated a hundred fold by the late disastrous affair, of which Hugh had told him something. He did not speak of danger, but Hugh, who watched him narrowly, read it in his face, and following him down the stairs, asked to be told the truth.
“She is going to be very sick. She may get well, but I have little to hope from symptoms like hers.”
That was the doctor’s reply, and with a sigh Hugh went back to the sick girl, who had given him little else than sarcasm and scorn.