Wedded to a Genius. A novel

Front matter

WEDDED TO- A GENIUS WEDDED TO A GENIUS H Ittovel BY NEIL CHRISTISON IN TAVO A'OLUMES VOL. II. LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON publishers in fflrbinavn to gijtv jtLvjesii) the djttten 1894 [All rights reserz>ed~\ CONTENTS OF VOL. II CHAPTER PACE I. INT WHICH FRESH TRIALS AWAIT JUDITH - II. THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE CHANGES HANDS I 46 TEMPORARILY 84 III. WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS - IV. PHELAN VENTURES A SUGGESTION, AND IS MADE TO FEEL HIS SENSE OF OBLIGATION 131 V. IN WHICH DR. COURTNEY HUMOURS HIS WIFE AT THE EXPENSE OF HIS OWN FEELINGS - 1 33 VI. A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF 241 VII. IN WHICH JUDITH COMES NEAR FINDING HER RELEASE - WEDDED TO A GENIUS

Chapter I. In Avhich Fresh Trials Aavait Judith

Judith felt the existence of a breach be tAveen her husband and herself, and her efforts to break the barrier down and approach him more closely were fruitless. Since their conversation under the cedar hedge, he had entrenched himself behind a very stone wall of reserve, indicating by his manner that he considered her injustice to himself an excuse. There Avas very little bitterness in her heart ; but since \T0L. II. confiding to him her old attachment for Phelan, and being forced to remain under the same roof, she found the disappoint ment to which he had doomed her well nigh unbearable. Often when the three were sitting together, she Avould recall his satirical denunciation of first loves, and would feel his eyes upon her, and sometimes, looking up, Avould see him glance from one to the other, with a half-sarcastic, half-cynical smile lurking beneath his gray moustache.

Dr. Courtney had purposely ignored the supposition that his wife might still care for her old lover. He allowed himself to feel no qualms of conscience in throwing them together. Judith awoke one morning to the remembrance that it was her birthday. The realization brought with it a vague sinking at heart ; she had a prejudice against such anniversaries. It dated back to long-ago childish birthdays, to Avhich she would look forward for weeks to come, and whose reality invariably fell short of anticipation. This particular birthday she dreaded, and longed for its close. She hoped, and made herself believe, that its dawn would be forgotten by Victor Phelan, although she remembered so well a birthday passed under Virginia skies Avhen he had been with her many years ago. Knowing that she would not accept anything costly in the way of a souvenir, he had secured a bunch of hot-house flowers, and she had repaid him by wearing a cluster of them next her heart.

She recalled that day all the more vividly Avhen Cuthbert came running in from the garden, leaving every door open behind him, his face coloured with carmine, and his hand full of fragrant yellow jonquils. The weather ever since the snoAv had been remarkably spring like, and the warm sunshine had coaxed the shy flowers into shaking out their golden bells. Cuthbert insisted they had waited on purpose to bloom last night. He stood and looked on delightedly as Judith buried her hot cheeks amid their coolness. ' They are all wet, mother,' he said as she kissed him. ' It makes you look like you Avas crying. But she laughed, and shook her head. It happened to be Saturday, and so the boy Avould be at home all day, was the happy thought in her heart. Cuthbert, however, had some responsibility on his mind.

He could not be kept in the same place two minutes at a time. A spirit of locomotion possessed him. He maintained a strict Avatch over the front-gate, after the mail train had passed, and met the servant on his way from the station before anyone had thought of his return. Judith encountered him some minutes later on his way to the library. He carried a large box nearly as big as himself, but did not appear to be overburdened by its weight, and decidedly refused all offers of assistance. She watched him inside the door, wondering absently why he should take such interest in Mr. Phelan's express package. Dr. Courtney was off on one of his long strolls ; he had become restless of late. She felt an overwhelming desire to be of some use to him, some company for him, but she could see he preferred to go alone.

He had said very coldly before breakfast : ' Is not this your birthday, Judith ?' But that was all. The door of her room creaked loudly ; a little figure stood just inside, his face half hidden behind a confused mass of colour, but a ripple of smiles breaking through. An indescribable hot - house fragrance filled the room. Cuthbert ad vanced slowly, still peeping at her from behind his flowery screen. The half blown roses and heavy buds nodded to wards her, and dropped because of their own weight. She listened to his some what lengthy explanation, and took them from him. It had been a long time since she had feasted her eyes on such flower loveliness. Holding them loosely in her arms, she beckoned Cuthbert to folloAv her, but he flitted on before, and led the way to the library. Phelan was half sitting up.

A great many folds of oil and tissue-paper Avere scattered over the carpet. His heart beat quickly as he saw Judith. Standing at the foot of his sofa, the crimson roses crowding against her bosom, the child clinging to her gOAvn, she made a picture whose fairness carried him back, bridging the intervening years, back to the days when they were free to love and be loved. ' You know what roses are to me,' she said. ' And so you know hoAV I would thank you.' ' I took Cuthbert into the secret. He must have one for his buttonhole.' Judith selected a small bud, and pro ceeded to decorate his coat, after which ceremony he came to the conclusion that the fun was over, and slipped out, in spite of his mother's wiles to keep him with her. She rangthe bell and gave the order to have a certain large crystal bowl filled with Avater and brought in ; she thought it only fair to give Phelan the satisfaction of see ing the flowers arranged.

A small table was draAvn up to the sofa, and the roses laid down in a scarlet heap. She began to lay them loosely in a fringe around the rim of the bowl. ' It Avas very good of you to remember my birthday, Mr. Phelan.' ' I fail to see the goodness ; I think it only very natural.' One of the crimson buds fell on the floor at her feet. ' This one is intended for me ; will you pin it on my coat ?' Then, as she bent over him, he said : ' I have another favour to ask of you : Avill you not wear some of the roses yourself ?' A refusal trembled on her lips ; but slowly — Phelan feared reluctantly — she drew a half-bloAvn cluster through her belt. ' Thank you. Now one must go in your hair — crimson and gold are my favourite colours.' ' That is an old fashion,' she said, beginning to arrange the flowers again. ' You never used to be a worshipper of fashion.' 'It is not what I used to be, it is what I am.

Have you not more than once thought me very much changed ?' This direct question brought a flush to his face. ' For the Avorse,' she persisted. ' Not for the better ; isn't it so ?' But he could only keep silence ' I know it ; I have knoAvn it all along,' she said, as if to herself. ' What is the worst thing you thought of me ?' ' Do not speak so, I cannot bear it !' he cried. But I must,' she said a little bitterly. ' Could it possibly hurt you ?' he said. ' I mean, could any opinion of mine have the power to hurt you ?' Judith's hands did not pause once in her work. She gave the last touch to the great pyramid of colour before answering : ' A friend's opinion is always worth something, is it not ? Look at your roses, Mr. Phelan ; do they not make a gorgeous floAver picture.' But his eyes could only rest upon her self.

Perfume is a powerful medium ; it is far from being a non-conductor to the senses. Judith looked out to the Avintry landscape devoid of light and warmth, and then back to the fringe of deeplydyed crimson petals. ' I have missed seeing you surrounded by flowers,' said Phelan. ' Your love for them used to be very great.' Sudden tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. Temptation assailed her mercilessly. She felt afraid of hearing the sound of her own voice, of hearing her own lips say the words that would accuse her husband and excuse herself. The control she was obliged to exercise made it impossible for her to keep back those mute indications of grief. If she remained silent, it would never occur to Phelan that her husband held all flowers in great contempt. She had turned her head quickly, but not before he had seen her eyes full of tears.

Although they Avere inexplicable to him, the sight of them broke down self mastery, and swept away the last barrier between past and present. He was far weaker for a man than she was for a woman. In that turmoil of long repressed passion he had forgotten one fact which he strove to keep before his mind — the fact that he owed his life to her husband. This forgetfulness held for him its own revenge, when he should recover from his temporary insanity. ' What have I said ?' he cried, raising himself from his reclining position. ' I would suffer all this physical pain over many times rather than hurt you once. Look at me ; say you believe me !' As she let her eyes rest on his face, she saw there what was a revelation : she re cognised an expression that brought before her the last brief meeting and final separa tion.

She saw, too, the signals of a far wearier Avarfare than she had yet been called upon to wage, where heart and con science declared themselves combatants, and where overtures of peace might be for ever withheld. She realized that if sufficient strength would be vouchsafed her, her surest safety lay in the most rigid loyalty to her husband, and every desire and thought of her heart began and ended in loyalty. The consciousness that she had never been able to root out her first love did not weaken her desire to win her husband's affection, neither did it diminish the sufferings caused by his antagonism. Looking on Phelan's passion-stirred coun tenance, she reproached herself for the moment of weakness in which those ill fated tears had moved him out of himself. On the best of men they have an abso lutely different effect before and after marriage.

During the days of courtship they rouse all hot-blooded lovers to an abnormal pitch ot sympathy, and heroic desires to dry them even at loss of life. But a man can tolerate them much more in the eyes of his Avife than in the eyes of his sweetheart. Judith saAV noAv that her unlucky show of feeling had worked the mischief; she shrank from the watch she would have to put upon words and actions. ' What Avoman could you expect to give account of her tears ?' she said, turning her back on the roses. ' You are not a woman to shed them Avithout cause ; you seem to forget hoAV Avell I knew you once ; better than anyone — anyone. ' But you forget that I am very different. You must learn to look upon me as abso lutely another person.' ' How can I ? You have the same face, as you stand there, Avith those red roses at your waist.

I could swear you had not aged a year. I could believe you were the same woman I loved then, but never more utterly than I love you now.' ' For your own sake,' cried Judith, ' do not speak like this ; its remembrance will cause you exquisite pain. If you love me, you must love me hopelessly ; and if you Avould be brave, it must be silently. I am sorry — oh, from the bottom of my heart !' ' Is there so much love in the world that you should grieve because I have been, and am still, loyal to you ? Since I last saw you, on the threshold of your happy married life, the door to all happiness Avas closed to me.' Again scorching tears burned behind her aching lids, but she did not suffer them to fall. ' You have no word of pity for me,' he went on. ' Happiness often makes people selfish : you, the wife of a man of whom any woman would be proud ; I, the husband of none, save my own grief.

It is human to love you, it would be inhuman ever to conquer my love for you ; it Avould be desecration of love itself ever to kiss the lips of any woman on God's earth, having once kissed yours. I have never reproached you for putting another in my place ; but I will say to you that I shall never get over it to the day of my death.' ' Spare me,' she said. The self-control she exercised was becoming strained ; she felt she must put a stop to the scene at any cost. ' I do not ask you to consider my feelings. You do not realize now what your remorse will be. Consider to whom you are treacherous by such words as these — to whom you are disloyal in the face of all he has done for you. I speak of my husband.' A scarlet flush mounted to his temples ; he sank back on the sofa. Judith locked her hands unconsciously above her heart ; the pulses in her throat kept time to its fierce throbbing.

She thanked God for this interval of silence. Her words caused a sudden revulsion of feeling to come over Phelan, not with regard to herself or the genuineness of his love for her, but simply that for the moment both paled beside the fire of remorse that scorched his brain. He still invested Dr. Courtney with a kind of hero-worship. Under Providence he owed his life to him — a debt that he could never repay. Now, in a moment of blind impulse, he had dealt with him very treacherously. Judith knew Avell enough what his thoughts were. She knew his sense of honour to be great, and she reckoned on the words she had chosen as the strongest to bring him to himself. She had no desire to prolong a conversation fraught Avith danger to them both. It Avould necessarily loAver his standard of her as a married Avoman if she willingly listened to him now, and it Avas better for him to continue in his old belief that any love for himself had become extinguished before her marriage.

Her one idea at present Avas to leave the room as soon as possible. Phelan divined her intentions ' I stand in great need of your kindness,' he said. ' Be kind to me now ; try to conceive how I must feel, how I must suffer, when I think of your husband. He has been physician, friend, all to me. I can only speak to you, unless it would be more honourable to speak of this to him.' Judith started ; such a proposition made her unguarded in her Avords. She did not think of herself ; it was from no desire to keep anything back from her husband ; but she remembered too well his reception of VOL. II. 21 "7 her confidence, his contempt and scathing comments on the subject of first loves, as he termed them. She did not Avish him to reveal his views to Phelan as he had done to her. To prevent this, she must needs be seen at a disadvantage. ' Would this be best ?' he questioned. ' No,' she said, with marked emphasis. ' I would not advise you to make such an experiment.' 3 ' I am forced to ask why ?' ' You do not know my husband ; your confidence would not be received as you hoped, as you expected.

I must ask you not to do this.' He looked at her fixedly. While speaking her colour came and went ; her words brought him conviction that she did her husband the injustice of not giving him her undivided sympathy. ' Your wishes are my law,' he said ; ' but I could not expect such an avoAval on my part to be graciously received. I could only look for keen disapproval in myself She did not reply. ' Mrs. Courtney, I have forfeited my privilege as a guest in your husband's house ; it will be impossible to partake of your hospitality after this.' ' But Avhat excuse Avould you offer ? It has been his intention throughout to keep you Avith us until he is satisfied in his own mind. What will he think when you an nounce your abrupt decision ?' Then she added, without Aveighing her words : ' This would be in his eyes a far more unpardon able sin than that of making love to his wife.' ' How unjust you are!' cried Phelan. ' You have said a hard thing.

What man, brave, true, tender as your husband, would not resent most hotly the Avords I have spoken to you ?' ' Brave !' echoed Judith. ' True ' — her voice sunk a little — ' tender — ah !' The last Avord Avas only a Avhisper. ' BraA'e !' she said again, rallying. ' You are right, my husband is very brave ; I am very proud of his bravery,' and she smiled. ' Perhaps I spoke too hastily. But how can you advise me to stay on and accept every kindness at his hands ?' ' You seem to forget,' she said Avith marvellous sweetness, ' that I should come in for a share of your penitence. If I forget sufficiently to ask you not to leave us until it is safe for you to go, should not my husband do likewise ? The only thing I beg of you is to let the matter stand as it is.' She moved swiftly across the room as she spoke. ' Mrs. Courtney,' he cried.

At the door she turned. ' On one's birthday one is privileged to ask favours. You will grant this one, I am sure.' Before he could speak she Avas gone. She did not come back to the library until she felt certain that he had been helped to return to his room. Dr. Court ney's custom Avas to go up with him about seven o'clock. WThen she came in her husband Avas sitting before the fire ; a lamp burned brilliantly on the table Avith the bowl of roses, their blood-red leaves stained to a deep transparent crimson. The same fra grant subtle perfume pervaded everything. It had a strangely different effect on the two people in the room. Judith paused before the table and bent her head until the velvety leaves touched her cheek. 'This is a stifling atmosphere,' said Dr. Courtney. He had seen the roses when he returned from his walk. ' You haven't admired my flowers,' she said, ignoring his remark.

He left his seat and stood looking at them Avith the expression of a person who has neither part nor lot in the object he is regarding. ' I have a suggestion to make,' he said. ' That you put them outside in the hall ; they are very sweet.' He displayed no curiosity as to the giver. Judith lifted the bowl cautiously, and he held the door open for her. ' I shall carry them to my room,' she said. ' I must beg you will not put them in your dressing-room. Leave them in here ; they will not wither so soon in the cool.' She set the roses down on an oddly carved table. He still held the door open; she came back into the room against her will. Her conscience just then was morbidly sensitive. ' Mr. Phelan ordered them from New York ; it was very nice of him,' she said. ' I never had any doubt as to Avho sent them, my dear.' Then he added : ' You will be glad to hear that I consider Mr. Phelan almost well enough to leave us ; he is managing his crutches fairly, and I pro mised that he should go out the next fine day.' ' Miss Phelan, then, can have no possible excuse for remaining longer,' said Judith evasively. ' I thought it was the gentleman himself Avhose departure you desired.' ' I am glad he is going ; but you must admit that Miss Phelan has paid an un conscionable visit.' ' You were always hard on her.

Wasn't it natural for her to remain with her nephew ?' ' Under the circumstances, no, ' Then isn't it natural for a lady of her temperament to gratify her own tastes? I infer she is not as well off as she might be, and here she can indulge in all the creature comforts ; although so spiritual in theory, she is often temporal in practice. She has exceedingly blunt ideas on the subject of " AvithdraAving her foot from her neigh bour's house." She reminds me of a cat who has found a particularly soft rug to lie on, and a warm fire to bask before ; it can enjoy these privileges as long as the rug and the fire add to its bodily comfort' Judith could not but smile. ' And vet she believes that she has made J a most favourable impression upon you.' ' I knoAv she does ; but it is a very good joke, isn't it ?' ' People come in for a generous share of your ridicule ; you are relentless.' ' So many persons have a genius for making themselves ridiculous, Mrs. Court ney.' Judith could not help thinking that his character Avas singularly devoid of mercy — mercy on the Aveak nesses and shortcomings of others.

He was unjust ; he was often contemptuous. ' It is just as well,' he said, 'that you did not leave home, if it Avas to avoid Mr. Phelan.' She realized as he spoke all she might have been spared ; but she resolved not to be drawn into a discussion. ' To return to favourable impressions,' she said. ' You have made a most enviable one upon Mr. Phelan ; he can never say enough in praise of you.' ' A man is inclined to praise the bridge that carries him over safely.' ' But he is genuinely attached to you, not only on account of all you have done for him, but for yourself.' ' Disinterested affection, is that it ? She refrained from answering with some difficulty. As usual, her silence provoked him to restlessness. He began to move about the room. He had something to say to her — something that he knew would bring her desolating heart ache — a course of action that he had brooded over, and all but determined upon.

Of late he had be come unusually restless ; he had periodical returns of it — times when he fell a victim to something stronger than ennui, greater than mere discontent. His surroundings Avould suddenly transform themselves into objects of positive hate. He became engulfed in a slough of bitterness. The spell was upon him now. 'Judith,' he said abruptly, ' I have often hinted the possibility of selling out and going away.' He saw the pitiful change that came over her face — the expression that always saddened her eyes and drooped the sensi tive mouth whenever he had suspended this sword over her head. ' Yes,' she said. ' But the last time you promised to give up the idea.' ' I must not be so free Avith my promises ; circumstances invariably furnish a loophole.' ' What circumstances ?' Dr. Courtney passed the question over.

He thought it unnecessary to say that they Avere wholly of his own creating. ' It is no longer a possibility, but a pro bability, that I shall sell the place.' Judith held her breath. ' Well ?' he said. ' Is there nothing I can say?' she cried, with more despair than hope in her voice. ' Shall I tell you, as I have so often done, how I love my home, how I almost worship it, how dear its every acre is to me ? — you know all this.' ' You should be able to make a home anywhere Avith your husband and child.' ' I suppose I am far from being a model Avife and mother,' said poor Judith. ' Where shall you go ?' ' There is time enough to consider that ; I have decided to put the place in the hands of some agent.' ' Soon ?' 'Very soon.' ' Isn't it difficult to sell land noAvadays ?' shadow of hope reshe ventured, with a turned at her heart. ' Not if you are willing to sacrifice your property.' He was not surprised at the abrupt way in which she put up her Avork and left the library.

The idea had taken possession of him, and he pushed matters rapidly. The day Avas even appointed for a certain land-agent to look at the place. Dr. Courtney gave Phelan his own views on the subject of parting Avith it. He did not go into particulars, his nature was too reserved for that ; indeed, he said very little about it — but he gave a wholesome impression as to the wisdom of it. Phelan's first thought Avas for Judith ; he imagined it would be a terrible Avrench to her ; but under the spell Avhich his physician cast over him, he caught him self wondering if her love for Westover had not diminished rather than increased. The subject Avas not mentioned between them. She was afraid to trust herself, and he rarely saw her alone. He thought Dr. Courtney Avas making a mistake, however, and hoped he would give up the plan.

Judith hoped up to the last that the day appointed for the land-agent's visit Avould daAvn gray and cheerless. She regretted Phelan's presence in the house exceedingly. He noticed when he came down after breakfast that she spoke very little ; her husband, on the contrary, was un usually talkative and agreeable. Later on she sat down to write letters, and Phelan tried to interest himself in the Evening Herald. They both made a poor pretence of writing and reading ; their eyes often strayed to the window. ' I never saw a finer day,' he said. Dr. Courtney, coming in just then, caught the Avords. ' We are fortunate,' he said. ' Judith should take it as a good omen. My wife is a worshipper of Nature, Mr. Phelan ; she can always find solace in the outside Avorld.' She did not hear Phelan's answer, and little of the conversation that followed ; she kept her face to the window, and her eyes lingered on the well-known objects — not one escaped her.

The sun penetrated into every nook and corner of the familiar lawn, gilded the feathery top of each dark cedar -bush, played at hide-and-seek among the fresh green of the hedge, lit up the dull cones hanging from the fir-trees, and flashed in and out of the sAvaying ivy leaves. Her eyes wandered beyond it all to the hazy mountains in the distance — suddenly they grew very far off; she forced back the rebellious tears by an effort. ' I should imagine you could have no trouble in disposing of Westover,' Phelan was saying. ' But I fancy you will think twice before putting it into the market.' ' Did you ever meet a lady Avho preferred country to town ?' said Dr. Courtney, smiling, with his eyes on his wife's face. ' I thought Mrs. Courtney an exception.' She closed her lips resolutely. ' Has not the place been in her family a long time ?' ' Yes, for a great many years ; but she is too sensible to consider such things.' o There the conversation ended.

About mid-day the land-agent arrived, and he was shown all over the house. Judith Avas requested to accompany them. It was a trying ordeal for her, as she strove to picture to herself the walls dismantled and bare, the windows uncurtained, the pretty furniture moved out, ready to be removed to some unknown and unloved dwelling — strange faces pressing against those familiar panes, strange forms flitting about the rooms, whose walls had never failed to smile upon her Avhen she entered. As she stood in her OAvn pretty bedroom, and realized that cool, indifferent eyes were resting upon the objects so dear to her heart, the burden seemed heavier than she could bear. The mid-day sun streamed through the Avindows and flooded the inner sanctuary of Judith Courtney's life — a room for ever sacred to her, consecrated by purest happiness, purified by physical anguish, and glorified by intense agony and intense joy.