betrays some hidden intrigue.
i fell back at ella’s words, as though i had received a blow full in the chest.
“you—you are married!” i gasped.
“no—not yet,” was her low answer, in the same blank, mechanical voice.
“then you love another man!” i cried fiercely.
“in a month’s time i am to be married.”
“but you shall not, ella!” i exclaimed quickly and determinedly. “you are mine. surely i have a prior claim to you! you loved me in the old days—you surely cannot deny that!”
“i do not deny it, godfrey,” she said, in that same sweet, soft voice that had so long rung in my ears. “unfortunately i did not know that you still retained any affection for me. i made inquiries, but no one knew where you were, except that you were always abroad. for aught i knew you might already be married. therefore, i am not altogether to blame.”
“who is the man?” i asked, with a fierce jealousy rising within me. was this fellow, whoever he might be, to rob me, after all, of my love, whom i had so fortunately rediscovered?
“i regret it, but i cannot tell you his name.”
“not tell me his name!” i cried. “why not? what mystery need there be if you are to be married?”
“i have promised to say nothing until we are man and wife,” she answered. “you alone, godfrey, have i told because—well, because i dare not again deceive you.”
“then you still love me!” i exclaimed quickly. “confess the truth.”
“what is the use of discussing affection?” she asked. “the die is cast. at the very moment when we meet again after this long separation, we find ourselves debarred from happiness. we can never become man and wife.”
“why not?”
“because i must marry this man.”
“must?”
“yes,” she whispered hoarsely.
“but you were in that position regarding blumenthal,” i remarked, much puzzled. in the darkness i could not distinguish the expression of her countenance, but from her voice i knew that she was in desperation, and that she was actually telling me a hideous truth.
“misfortune seems to follow upon me,” was her somewhat enigmatical answer.
“then be frank with me, ella. this man whom you will not name is forcing you to marry him.”
she was, however, silent. either she feared to commit herself, or she was reflecting upon how much she dare tell me.
i heard her breath going and coming in quick gasps, and i could distinguish that her pointed chin had sunk upon her chest in an attitude of deep dejection.
“why not tell me everything, darling?” i went on, hoping to persuade her to confess. “remember what i am to you; remember that our lives have for so long been linked together, that ever in these years of our separation you have been mine always, in heart and soul. i have smiled upon no other woman but your own sweet self, and never once has my heart been stirred by the zephyr of love since that dark wet night when we parted in london, and i went forth into the wide grey ocean of despair. ella, you—”
“enough! enough!” she cried, suddenly interrupting me. “do not recall the past. all is too bitter, too melancholy. every single detail of our last interview i have lived over and over again—i, who lied to you, even though my heart was breaking. blumenthal gave me my freedom—and yet—”
“and yet,” i said very slowly, in a low, intense voice—“and yet you have again fallen the victim of a man’s ingenious wiles. tell me the truth, dearest. you have been entrapped—and you see no way of escape.”
but she only shook her head sadly, saying:—
“no, i can say nothing—not even to you, godfrey.”
“why?” i cried, dismayed. “why all this secrecy and mystery? surely i may, at least, know the man’s name?”
“that i cannot tell you.”
“then he has forbidden you to reveal his real identity?”
she nodded in the affirmative.
“which plainly shows that the fellow is in fear of something. he’s afraid of exposure in some way or other. i will not allow you, my own dear love, to become the victim of this fellow!” i said fiercely. “he may be an adventurer, for all you know—a man with an evil past. he has, without doubt, ascertained that on your father’s death wichenford will be yours. no, ella, i will not allow you to marry this man who forbids you to reveal his name.”
“but what will you do?” she cried in alarm.
“what will i do? i will tell him to his face that you are mine—that he has no right to you. and you will refuse to become his wife.”
“ah!—yes—but you must not do that,” she declared. “why not?”
“no. i beg of you to do nothing rash,” she urged in breathless anxiety, laying her hand upon my arm.
“but i will not allow you—my own well-beloved—to become the wife of another!”
“godfrey,” she said, in so low a voice that it was scarcely above a whisper, “you must. there is no way of escape for me.”
“then you are a victim of this nameless man!”
she nodded in the affirmative.
“who is he? tell me,” i demanded. “i have a right to know.”
“yes, you have, indeed, a right, but i have given my word of honour to say nothing. i cannot tell his name—even to you.”
the mystery of it all somehow aroused my suspicions. was she deceiving me? had she invented this nameless lover with some ulterior object? no man can ever fathom the ingenuity of a woman who intends to deceive.
“permit me to say so, ella, but you are not frank with me,” i exclaimed reproachfully. “why do you not tell me the whole truth, and allow me to take what steps i think proper? cannot you realise all i feel at the thought of losing you again—for the second time? the past has been black enough, but the future for me will be even darker if i go away in the knowledge that you are the victim of a man unworthy of you. tell me, dearest, do you doubt my love?”
“no,” she sighed. “i have never doubted it, godfrey. i know how passionate is your affection; that you love me truly and well. yet it is all to no purpose. we have met again, it is true, and under the strangest circumstances. it would almost seem as though fate has brought us together, merely in order to tear us apart. for us, godfrey, there, alas! can be no happiness,” she added sadly, with a deep-drawn sigh.
“why not?”
for a few moments she did not reply. i repeated my question, again kissing the cold lips.
“because—because,” she faltered, “i am compelled to marry this man.”
“he is compelling you, eh?” i asked, between my teeth.
“yes.”
“and may i not stand as your champion? may i, who love you so dearly, extricate you from this trap?”
she shook her head slowly.
“it is not a trap, godfrey,” she answered. “rather call it force of circumstances. those who told you i was dead lied to you, while i, hearing nothing from you, naturally concluded that you had forgotten. therefore it is best for us to part again at once—to-night—for the memories of the past are to us both too painful.”
“part from you, ella!” i cried. “never—never. you must be mad. while you breathe and live i shall remain near you as your friend, your protector, nay, your lover—the man who loves you better than his own life!” i declared, taking her small hand and raising it reverently to my lips. “it is cruel of you, darling, to suggest us parting.”
“no, it is the more merciful to both of us. we must part—so the sooner the better.”
“you told me this on that never-to-be-forgotten night in london,” i said reproachfully. “therefore i cannot think that you are now in earnest.”
“i am, godfrey,” she declared quickly. “i do not deny to you that i love you, but love between us is debarred. i am unhappy—ah! god alone knows what trials i have borne—what horrors have been mine to witness—and now to fill the cup of my grief i have met you only to find that you still love me,” she cried hoarsely, in a voice broken by emotion.
i held her trembling hand, and again kissed her cold, hard lips.
but she drew herself from me firmly, saying in a low, broken voice, full of pathos:—
“no, godfrey. let us say good-night here. let both of us go our own way, as we have done before; both of us, however, now confident in each other’s love, even though our lives lie far apart. remember me only as an unhappy woman who, through no fault of her own, is prevented from becoming your wife. think of me still as your ella of the old sweet days, and i will remember you, my godfrey—the—the man i love. i—”
but she could utter no further word, for she burst into a flood of bitter tears.
