The American Heiress

Front matter

THE AMERICAN HEIRESS a /Vole. — It was found on the eve of publication that the original title of this book, ' The American Duchess,' had been used, and this necessitated the adoption of the present one. THE AMERICAN HEIRESS BY THE PRINCESS DE BOURG ILonUon DIGBY, LONG & CO., PUBLISHERS 1 8 Bouverie Street, Fleet Street, E.C. Copyright in America De&icatton TO MY BELOVED DAUGHTER LAURA WHO HAS BEEN MY PRIDE AND COMFORT ALWAYS, AND WHO HAS OPENED FOR ME THE BEAUTIFUL GATES OF "THE IDEAL WORLD, WHERE THERE IS NO DESPAIR." 11 And oh, most like a regal child wert thou ! Fair shoulders, curling lips and dauntless brow, And proud the lifting of thy stately head, And firm the bearing of thy conscious tread. Caroline Norton Venice. $th September 1894. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Ambition, ..... 1 H. Kitty, H III.

Wyndham de Montfort, . 27 IV. Treachery, ..... 37 V. Peril, ..... 55 VI. Passion, . . . .112 VII. Parting, . . . . .138 VIII. New York, . . .152 IX. The Duke, 174 X. The Sealed Letter, . . . .198 XI. They can't fool Me ! . . 214 XII. Love, . . . . .235 XIII. Marry You, and not first tell Papa ! . 245 XIV. Jealousy, . . . .262 XV. The Morning after the Ball, . 269 XVI. Murder, 287 XVII. I am Free!. . . .311 XVIII. Death, 317 XIX. Farewell, . . . . .337 XX. The Eve of the Wedding, . . .344 XXI. The American Duchess, . . .

Chapter I Ambition

" Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll ! Leave thy low vaulted past ! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea ! " Oliver Wendell Holmes. "Have I seen the duke? No, and I don't want to. There ! " "You needn't be so rude, Kitty. I was over to your Aunt Nan's yesterday, and she said you were going to be sent to your gra'ma's in New York, and there you will see the duke, sure." " I don't want to see him, and I won't go to New York, and leave poor father all alone, with only stupid old Nan." A Kitty threw up her chin in tbe air with a defiant gesture, the better displaying its central cleft, and the delicate curves of her throat. She stared defiantly at her tormentor, with wide-opened blue-grey eyes, whose long black lashes, thus turned upwards, seemed to kiss the sweeping arch of her brows.

The delicate colour under her transparent skin deepened quickly to an angry red. With an impatient jerk of first one little sunburnt hand, and then the other, she threw the masses of her heavily waving hair backwards. As she moved it, the sun glanced over its length, and her companion eyed it enviously, as she sat facing Kitty. She, too, was hand some, but she had not the winning grace of the other ; she knew this, and hated Kitty according!)?. " You'd make a good duchess yourself, Best>ie ; you'd better go hunt the duke if you take such an interest in him — that's if you get the chance, but I daresay you won't. I'm sure I don't suppose he'd care to come around here when he has all the Charleston people wild about him. I heard of nothing else when I went there on Wednesday to see Uncle Jack."

" I wish I had had your luck to be there now ; ' Ambition 3 and Bessie looked with contempt at her little cousin. " But you're so mighty simple that you came straight back instead of staying on and getting a good time." " I shouldn't want a good time away from dad, and I won't go to New York," said Kitty, with emphatic gesture, as she shook out her pink cotton frock. She had arisen, and the setting sun behind her illumined her slender form, making her appear much taller than she really wTas to the other girl still sitting amidst the new-mown hay. Bessie looked out moodily towards the mountains, of which Pisgah was king. She was wondering wliat like was this English duke, and remembered tales wherein great marriages had been made, and great riches and high positions gained. The rose-colour of her mental vision blinded her actual vision to the magnificence of setting sun, which went down over the shoulder of old Pisgah, and filled the skies with gold and crimson, bringing into sight line after line of lesser intermediate hills, never distinguishable from one another in the broader light of day, and only revealed to man's wondering vision by the magic light of this most magic hour.

Bessie saw nothing. A sullen look was upon her handsome, regular face, and her pretty, full lips were slightly pursed in discontent. She sat with hands clasped about her knees, blind to all around her, and pondered. Why was she not Kitty ? What would she not have given to be herself and yet in Kitty's place. It was ridiculous for Kitty to pretend she would not leave her father with Aunt Nan. She herself would not have hesitated for a moment had Fate but given her such a chance. New York in the winter, Newport and Europe in the summer — what a life of delights ! To be admired by everybody, and to know everyone worth knowing, and, above all, to be rich, very rich, and rich in her own right. The thought was overpowering. Bessie closed her eyes as if to shut out all lesser visions. Her simple Southern life had always been distasteful to her.

She longed for the wings of wealth that she might fly away into the wide world, which to her meant New York, and there live a life of idleness and enjoyment. She hated toil, and life in the South means work for all with very few exceptions, especially for women, left as they are without reliable help, and subject to every caprice of the decadent Ambition 5 coloured race. Bessie's head had dropped upon her hands, and she was wrapt in reverie, when from the house came the sound of the rattling of tea things being roughly jerked upon a table, and forks and knives clattered in heaps upon the board. Then a weak voice raised itself and called her name twice, and Bessie's mother appeared at the kitchen door, her hands and apron all flowery from the making of the cakes which would in a few minutes come hot upon the table.

Bessie's dreams were scattered. At this moment sounds of horses' hoofs and merry child voices were heard approaching under the great trees which filled the "yard." Then through the dusk could be discerned an old white horse dragging a buggy load of laughing youngsters, who screamed the louder when they saw the lighted windows and signs of bustle within, telling them of home and tea time. As the buggy slowly made its way past the kitchen, the delicious odour of the frying chicken and the scent of the hot cakes brought a howl of delight from the children, whose already outrageous appetites were further whetted by the pleasant smells. The old horse drew himself up before the verandah and set his front feet resolutely, as much as to say that he had done his duty, and did not mean to budge another inch.

The buggy wheels ceased their complaining, and an ancient "nigger," with grizzled pate, rushed out of the kitchen, his mouth full of hot cake, and his eyes rolling with the effort he was making to swallow the same before "Mister Joe" should demand speech of him. " Come, Une' Jake, hurry up ! What are you bungling about now ? " Jake had got alongside the old horse, and was pretending to look at the harness whilst he made a superhuman effort to get the scald ing cake down his throat. As Joe called out he raised his head, shut his gaping mouth firmly, and stretched his neck forward with an undulatory motion such as a chicken makes when swallowing, then opening his eyes wide, with a final gasp of relief, replied solemnly, — "Massa Joe, I'se tendin' to dat strap what bruk' yest'd'y, and I'se mighty glad it ain't bruk' ag'in ter-day, mighty glad, mos' mighty."

" Here, get out of that, Jake, you old fool, and help me in with little Jim ; he's asleep." A broad smile illumined the old nico-er's furrowed kindly face, as he tenderly took the Ambition 7 sleeping child from Joe, and turned in to the house. Thus also had he carried Joe himself in the old slave times "before the war," that pathetic date which all Southerners make use of, and which one hears continually, remind ing one with sadness of missing sons, changed fortunes and ruined homes. As the old man walked with the child in his arms, Bessie passed him without a word to Joe or a look at old Jake's burden. At the kitchen door she entered, and, shaking herself free of the clamorous, clinging children who instantly surrounded her, passed through the long, low apartment with its pleasant smell of burning wood, made foul by the odours of two dim paraffin lamps, and went into the large tea room beyond.

There she found the grown-up part of the family already at table — her mother with the big coffee - pot before her, and around her many brothers and sisters, who with their families had come up to this mountain retreat from the distressing heats of "the Mississippi bottom". At one end of the table sat Uncle John, a smile upon his kindly face as he dispensed fried chicken from a heaped-up dish before him; and at his side sat Kitty, her lovely cheeks still slightly scorched by the cooking fire over which she had been working whilst helping pretty little Mrs Kitty, her aunt, and Bessie's mother, since she had left Bessie to her dreams of dukes, marriages and the great world. Bessie threw herself discontentedly upon the hard wooden seat next Uncle John, and looked with disgust at Kitty, just now laughing up into her uncle's face and cuddling one of the little ones who sat by her other side.

The table was already full, and thus the buggy load of little hungry stomachs had to bide their time till the elders had eaten, and be contented later on with such scraps of the drumsticks as remained of the fried chicken, grown cold and sodden in the midst of a sea of flakey fat, and odd bits of cold hot cake, and bread without much butter. Of course, no one could be expected to worry over what children ate, and the butter, somehow, generally melted and ran out even before the elders had finished — the hot cakes needed so much. Two tall paraffin lamps stood upon the long table, illumining either end of it, and casting a bright light upon the faces of the elders seated round, each with its own index of cares and worries writ upon it. Breakino- Ambition 9 through these lines of wearied ones it passed beyond and shone upon the groups of small heads peering in at every window, all with the same expression of hungry expectancy dancing in their eager eyes.

Pushing through the group of white children at the door, came a sturdy, coloured child, not darker than some Spaniards are, and with a brilliant carmine in her cheeks. Her face lacked the careless, happy child look — she had already begun to taste of the weariness of the battle of life. Solemnly coming up to Mrs Kitty, she said, — "Miss Liza wants some hot cake." Then she stood stolidly waiting, with the corner of her old cotton pinafore twisting in both hands. She never stirred, but her restless eyes searched the whole length of the table, and she took in everything which was going on at a glance. "Gran'ma mustn't have hot cake, mother,' called out Bessie from the other end of the table. " The doctor said so last time he was over to the house." Here she rose, glad to get away, and said, "I'll go to her myself.

Here, you, go and wash dishes," she added, o-iving the black child a cuff as she passed her on her way to the door. Rubbing her cheek slowly, the little one turned towards the kitchen, passed through it, and ran quickly out into the night. Bessie's exit caused a general movement of the elders outwards to the verandah and adjacent parlour ; and a rush of the little ones inwards. They came scrambling into the hardly — vacated seats, noisily seizing plates and dishes indiscrimin ately, and raised a general clamour for the black child ; who, though only of their own age, now appeared, and undertook the general superintendence of the noisy horde.

Chapter II Kitty

' A perfect woman, nobly planned, To warn, to comfort, and command.' William Worsdworth. Next morning, Kitty, without waiting for the general breakfast, rode off home on her tall black mule. She had waylaid Mary, the white dairy woman, on her way from milking. As they passed old Jake's cabin, they saw Aunt Dinah making wheat cakes. Spying her dar ling, old Dinah called out, — "Glory! Miss Kitty, am dat yo' ? Come in and hab some of yer old Dinah's wheat cakes. Brung in dat milk, Mary, and let's make de chile eat her fill 'fore she sets out over ter Massa George's. Woan't yer tak' one ob de boys along o' yer, Miss Kitty, it be mighty lonely so' yer all 'lone a top o' that ridiculus mountain ob a critter, and I'm mane feared to let ye go. Come in, honey." "Don't you worry about me, Aunt Dinah," laughed Kitty, brightly.

"I want to get a cup from you to drink some of the milk, and— yes, I'm hungry," she said, taking a plate of Dinah's delicious new-baked cakes, hot, and with some of the sweet wood-ash still clinging to them in parts. " My ! Miss Kitty yo's lookin' mighty lubly this mornin' ! War yo' get that pictur' ob a sun-bonnet, all covered wid dem lace ruffles. Golly ! I doan't want to hab de gettin' ob it up in de wash. My ! Mary, but de chile is gettin' han'somer ebery day. I tells Jake sometimes her ha'r 'ud mak' de angels 'em selves envious wid its bein' all colours at once ; gold at de turn ob ebery wave in it, an' chestnut ; and sac' it looks as if de sun had kissed it and les' it all afire wid glory; an' it so thick and long, too. An' her eyes is like two stars in her face, and de colour nebber still in dem pretty cheeks, comin' and goin', comin' and goin', but nebber gone.

Oh, chile, chile, yo's a sight too good an' lubly so' dis wicked ears." Here the old negro woman came behind Kitty, as she sat laughinoand ** Oft eating the cakes, and with a passionate gesture laid her old black hands on the pretty hair, Kitty 13 and, turning backwards her pet's head, kissed the white, upturned forehead fervently. " Dinah ! Dinah ! you'll make me spill the milk ! " The sun-bonnet had fallen to the ground, ft ' leaving Kitty's head bare in the sunlight. Plain-faced Mary had sat herself upon an upturned tub, and wagged her head in ap proval of every point of old Dinah's eulogy. She and Dinah had nursed the girl from infancy, and they each felt a sort of pro prietorship in her. Her wonderful loveliness filled them with pride, as they saw it develop ing each day more fully. " She'd make a lovely duchess — " began Mary, but checked herself with a start, as she saw the indignant light in Kitty's eyes.

"Mary, how dare you! I wouldn't marry that horrid duke if there wasn't another man in the world ! " " Marcy ! Miss Kitty, doan' yo' git so obstretcherous. It 'ud be only fit that yo' shu'd git him then insted ob one ob dem rampagin' Charles'on gurls as dey say is sho' ter git him, golden coronet an' all. Dey's mighty bold hussies down dar, I'm think * ) ss in. Here old Uncle Jake appeared, leading one of the tallest and wickedest-looking black mules ever foaled. The beast knew and respected Uncle Jake, so he walked along pretty respect ably, merely rolling his eyeballs and nervously twitching his tail, which, by the way, looked as if it had been grievously gnawed by rats. As he followed Une' Jake, each time he lifted his hind feet he held them suspended and quivering for a moment, as if longing to lash in to some of his multitudinous enemies.

That mule had lots of character, and a mule with character always has enemies. A kind of devious smile lifted that mule's lips every time he lifted those hind feet ; this smile had a saddening effect upon those who encountered the brute unawares, and that beast was called, being nothing if he wasn't a good old Southern democrat, " President Cleveland," by preference, "Cleve," for short in the family circle; but wheu Kitty introduced him in society she always gave him his full appellation. " Lor' ! Miss Kitty, ' Cleve's ' bin an' bit de ears nerely off of ole 'Hubert.' I'm 'fraid dat done woan't be wuff ennyphing so' a month ter come ; an' little Miss May wantin' ter lam ridin'." Kitty 15 " Cleve " rolled his eyes worse than ever, as he remembered. "I told you not to put 'Cleve' along with 'Hubert,' Jake.

Why don't you mind what I tell you? Llere, give me your hand." With a light spring Kitty vaulted into the saddle, and as " Cleve " wras in a hurry to be gone, she had only time to turn and wave her whip hand to them as they watched her disappear, laughingly, around the shoulder of the hill. " None of the rest of them can touch her for goodness," said Mary, raising her milk-pail. "You should see the lovely silk shawl she brought her old gran'ma from Charleston, and me a warm muffler to keep the cold out o' my ears when I'm milking in the winter." "Bless yo', an' she didn't forget her old Diuah, neether. Look at dem yaller ribbins ! I'se goin' ter wear 'em ter camp-meetin' Sunday ; and Jake, she brung him a fine tie, all red, and blue spots on it. But Miss Bessie 'd never ha' thought to 'a done it.

She's all so took up wid herself, and she ain't near as pritty as Miss Kitty, neether." Old Dinah stuck her comfortable arms akimbo and looked inquiry at Mary, who had set the weighty pail down again. Mary's cheery red face beamed, as she pushed back her big pink cotton sun-bonnet, which had fallen forward over her nose. "Miss Bessie's always worryin' about getting married, and bein' rich. I declare since we heard all them stories about that English lord, or juke, or something, that's turning all the ladies' heads in Charleston, she's sat and sulked herself quite pale. They do say — at least, I heard Miss Liza telling Mr Joe — that Kitty's to be sent to her other gran'ma in New York to be brought into society," " Bother society an' old Madame — what yer call 'er ! " burst out Dinah, indignantly.

" She nebber took no notice ob de chile all dese yars, and nebber even come ter see her own pore chile and close her eyes wrhen she was dyin' ; and that blessed little babe upon her breast. She has nebber fergivin' her marry in' Massa George, nebber." " I don't believe they'll git Kitty to ever leave her father," said Mary, thoughtfully, " and they'll—" "Can you tell me the way to Bald's Shoulder ? " interrupted a man's pleasant sounding voice. " Golly ! " exclaimed old Dinah, starting Kitty 17 round and facing a stranger. "War yo' say, sah ? " she inquired, with a broad smile beaming all over her shiny black visage, and showing her fine white teeth. "The way to Bald's Shoulder?" The stranger spoke with an unfamiliar accent, and the two women regarded him closely as Dinah answered, — " Thar's two ways.

Thar's de car'age road, an' that takes yer most o' four hours ter git aroun' dere ; and den yo' can git 'cross by de short cut, pass' Massa George's corner, an' dat makes two hours shorter." " Thank you," replied the stranger courte ously. " Can you point out the way by the short cut ? " Here he slipped a big silver dollar into the old woman's palm. " Why, 'corse I can, sah, nat'rally. Where's dat blame ole niggar gone to, I wonder ? " she burst out, beginning to hunt old Uncle Jake. " Oh, Jake ! oh, Jake ! Yo's allus out ob de way when yo's wanted, an' in it when yo' isn't. Jake, I say ! " Meanwhile, the stranger stood watching Mary as, with her heavy pail, she quietly went along the path which led towards the house. " Oh, Jake," shouted the old wife again, B "hurry up, yo', doan't yo' see the stranger wants ter find the bridle-path ter Bald's Shoulder?

Git, an' put him in de way ob doin' so ? " Uncle Jake shambled up at this moment, bowing profoundly to the handsome stranger who stood quietly awaiting developments by the door. "Yo' come 'long o' me, sah, an' I'll soon d'rect yo', sah." Jake gave a nervous hitch to one side of his old pants, as he glanced up sideways at Aunt Dinah, who stood snort ing with anger at his tardiness. "Git 'long thin, will yo', yo' worfless ole niggar. Hurry up ! " was Dinah's parting benediction. An hour later Kitty turned into the bridle path from the road. She had not gone by it direct, as she had halted to see old Dinah's daughter, Olympia, who was sick in her cabin down by Tom Harst's place. Thus it was nearly two hours after starting out for home that she turned "Cleve's" head into the shady bridle-path.

The sun had mounted high, and the air began to fill with the drowsy hum of busy insect life. The trees overhead, meet- Kitty 19 ing, gave a cool shade, with here and there a break through which the sunbeams pierced, making a fantastic patterning of dancing leaf reflections beneath the black mule's feet as he walked leisurely onwards. The morning was so fresh that Kitty did not hasten. She was enjoying this ride through the woods where the sun had even yet not dried the dew from off its leafy bed. Kitty wTas thinking, and her thoughts were not altogether un troubled. She was disturbed at what they had told her about sending her to New York. She thought with contempt of Bessie and her arguments, and became more than ever fixed in her determination never to leave her father. As she rode she made a lovely picture seated high upon the old mule's back.

She wore no riding-habit; simply her pretty, pink, cotton frock which, with its frills and laces and coquettish Southern fixings, made a quaint effect. Her sun-bonnet, so much ad mired by Dinah, had slipped backwards and now hung loosely by its strings behind her, and one little foot could be seen half buried in its Mexican stirrups. Her head was slightly bent, and she did not see the stranger, who, at the sound of her approach, stood still and watched her with delighted surprise. Just at this point the path was very narrow and closed in on one side by two immense pine trees, and on the other by a great boulder ; the stranger leant up against this latter as she came towards him. Just as she had almost reached his side, the mule for the first time perceived him and began snorting, kicking, and rearing in the confined space.

For an instant Kitty, too, was taken by surprise and was almost thrown. The stranger, not accustomed to the fine horse manship of Southern girls, thought a catastrophe imminent, and sprang to her assistance, trying to clutch " Cleve's " bridle. This made the brute madder than ever ; before his head could be seized he made a swerve, and, letting fly his heels, laid the stranger prone upon the grass beneath tlie pines. Kitty could not suppress a little cry as she saw her would be rescuer lying so still with closed eyes, his hat off, and a thin stream of blood commote from beneath the wavy hair above his temple. She did not see all this at first, as " Cleve " rearing and kicking still, was almost un manageable ; but, finally, getting him under control, she dismounted, and went to the Kitty 21 injured man's assistance, He was unconscious.

The brute had kicked him in the shoulder, and slightly grazed his head causing the blood to flow. This Kitty staunched with her hand kerchief. Finding this too small with which to bind the head she made a compress of it, and then seeing that one of the pockets in the stranger's white flannel blazer contained one of silk, she drew it promptly forth, the shy colour mounting to her hair as she did so, and with it bound the little compress against the wound. Her patient, though young, was a large, heavy man, and the slender child found it almost impossible to move his head without assistance. His face, white to ghastli ness, and disfigured by the bloodstaiu, shocked her by its immobility. She wondered what she had better do. If she had but water — anything with which to moisten his lips — but there was no water within a mile, and she felt afraid to leave him there alone.

He might be robbed or killed outright for the handsome clothes and watch he wore. She saw he carried revolvers in his sash, and probably had money in his pockets. What could he be doing here, alone and a stranger, she wondered. Suddenly she noticed the gleam of a silver flask amongst the grass. She reached for it and opening it, found it contained brandy. Slipping her slender arm beneath her com panion's head, she strove to force some of the fluid between his lips ; failing this, the girl, with ready wit, dipped her little finger into the cognac, and with it moistened the unresponsive mouth. Five minntes passed thus. The birds twittered overhead, the insects hummed around her and the detestable black mule could be seen at a distance quietly cropping the grass, unmoved at the sight of the mischief he had done.

The sun mounted slowly higher and higher to the zenith. The dew was gone and the summer's day drew out its length undisturbed, and exactly like the other summer's days which preceded, and would follow it. Little Kitty sitting there helpless, with her ghastly burden upon her knees, presently saw the old mule stop crop ping, give himself a good shake, and then start off at a brisk trot towards home. This was a relief; she knew that succour would soon come. Presently where she sat, the sun mounting higher, pierced through the green Kitty 2 23 above them and came beating down upon the hurt man's face. It was very hot. This distressed Kitty. She could not move her patient, and she feared the power of the sun upon his already injured head. Slipping her arm from under his neck, she gently let it rest upon the grass, and, rising, took up a position upon his other side in a vain en deavour to screen him with her own body.

This she found impossible as the sun's rays were almost perpendicular. Then she took her sun-bonnet, and with it, and some slender boughs, and the pretty white lace she wore about her shoulders, made some sort of shelter above the still face. Then she sat and waited, and time dragged wearily onwards. She had been so busy in her efforts to restore the injured man that she had not fully realised her position. Suddenly, with his face now hidden from her, a sense of terrible loneliness overpowered her, and she became horribly afraid. She saw before her his silent form motionless, his hands lying helpless, palm upwards, not a tremor, not a quiver, not the faintest sign of life. Horror, gasping, dry throated horror seized her, and she felt as if she could not remain there another moment. The very sunlight seemed clouded in her sight, and the soft whisperings of the trees overhead were changed to weird mutterings all around her.

She knew that she was alone, and yet she was surrounded, suffocated with horror of the unknown. Springing to her feet, she tore the screen from before his face. She must see him, have the companionship of his unconscious presence, know he was not dead. The sun had passed onwards, and the shade had returned. The pathos of his drawn features appealed silently to her, and enabled her to regain some control over herself. She knelt down beside him, and again moistened his lips with the brandy, then she chafed his hands. As she did so, she noticed their fine form, and could tell that they had never been used to labour. Thus engaged in trying to restore him, she felt the situation become more endurable. She crouched closer to his side in the strange, indefinable terror which possessed her, and insensibly her little hand closed tightly over his.