A woman's revenge; or, The mystery of Black Pines

Front matter

I

New York,- booooooooooo oooooaoooooooooooo

HoUTEN’S o.

Chapter 1

The great white spires of the grand cathedral stood out in bold relief, against a dark blue sky, studded with innumerable stars. It was a December night, clear, but moonless, a keen frosty air swept with a hissing whistle through the white spires and played fitfully about them.

Of the persons who passed continually up and down the street, few turned their eyes up to that grand monument of architectural skill, so dignified, so grand in its aspect, and yet standing so grim in the darkness.

Yet there was one individual who appeared to be heedless of the cold biting air, in his admiration of the magnificent structure upon which he fixed his eyes. As the man, closely buttoned up in a thick great-coat, the upstanding collar of which reached his ears, and ran like a boundary wall round his mouth, stood with folded arms regarding the building, so far as his sense of architectural beauty and fitness went, the building might as well have been the Tombs.

At this moment a distant bell tolled the hour of nine, and as the last beat was vibrating through the air he muttered :

“ That will do for me though I can’t see a clock, I must look about me now, for she is sure to be here. It

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would not be wise in me to miss her, or even to keep her waiting for me, she is so very haughty and — hah ! ”

A woman’s hand was laid upon his wrist.

“ Oscar Ross,” she whispered, “ you are punctual. Lead the way, I will follow you— not a word ; I have a suspicion that we are watched. A hint is enough for you. Quick, away with you.”

“ Oh, ah ! ha I I understand ; but what if I am too nimble for you ? ”

“ Have no thought of me,” responded the woman. “ For your life don’t look back, you will not escape my vigilance.”

“ No,” he muttered, “ that I am well aware of.”

He advanced with a hesitating step toward the church. Suddenly he quickened his pace to a brisk walk, and directed his steps toward Broadway, intent upon the purpose he had in hand, wondering if the strange woman he had met by appointment was still in his rear, for he had been light of foot. He ran suddenly against a man.

An angry oath escaped the lips of both, and each bent upon the other a fierce look. There was a simultaneous cry of recognition.

“ Oscar Ross ! by heaven ! ” cried the other man with a sudden shout of vengeance. “ Scoundrel, at last I have you.” As he muttered the last words he flung himself upon Ross, but the latter, with a desperate exertion of strength, threw him off, and leaping in turn upon him, inflicted a blow upon his head which felled him to the ground ; then he fled.

Fled, with the hoarse cries of “ Police ! ” and yells of “ Stop thief ! ” filling the air.

Fled, with the hurried tramp of many feet ringing like the terrible beats of an alarm-bell in his ears.

He continued the rapidity of his movements until, by many an anxious backward gaze, he felt assured he might safely make for an asylum at hand.

At the door of a small house, in a dark street, he paused for an instant before entering ; then he pushed open the door, rushed into an unlighted passage and groped his way up a staircase until he reached the top flight ; dashing open the door of an apartment, he flung it to and then threw himself, panting, upon a chair.

A slight shriek, as of a frightened one at his abrupt entrance, caught his ear on entering the room ; but he took no notice of it. He pressed his clenched hand to his side to stay the rapid palpitations -of his heart, and closed his eyes while he essayed to recover the breath expended in his sharp run.

As soon as he could articulate, several terrible oaths escaped his lips.

“ I am the most unfortunate devil,” he muttered, “ to run against him alive, and he ought to be dead, if any man ought. What in the name of Satan, am I to do now ? ”

A low, but clear, female voice said, at his shoulder :

“ What has happened ? ”

“ Happened ! ” he echoed ; “ the devil and all — don’t ask any questions, it would be a riddle to you if I were to tell you that I came face to face with a dead man, and fled like a dear from him.”

. “ Or like a hound ! ” muttered the same voice, in a Jow contemptuous tone.

He turned around fiercely to the speaker only to change his angry words to an exclamation of surprise.

Before him stood a tall girl, with a pale face, bright

A woman’s bevenge.

black eyes, jet black hair. She was wrapped in a large shawl of shepherd’s plaid, and she had her hat on. Her right hand rested on a parcel which stood upon a small table.

For a moment Oscar’s breath seemed quite as spent as when exhausted by his long run ; but, quickly recovering himself, he said to her :

“ What is all this pantomime ? Wh}^ are you dressed up in this way — what’s that parcel for? ”

“ I am going, Oscar Ross.”

“ Going ? The devil you are ! going where ? ”

“Anywhere, so that I leave you.”

Oscar grated his teeth.

“ I must be in a dream,” he growled. “ Three such events could not in actual life so tread on each others’ heels. But she ! I will deal with her first. Take off your hat and shawl and put the bundle away.”

“No! I will not. I have counted the cost of my decision — I leave you, and to-night.”

“ It takes two parties to make a contract,” exclaimed Oscar, advancing to the door ; turning the key in the lock he put it in his pocket.

As he did so the girl sprang to the window. Throwing it open she leaped on to the sill.

Oscar uttered a yell of horror.

The girl turned her pale face and gleaming eyes upon him. She pointed to the door. “ Unlock it ! ” she exclaimed with stern brevity.

“ Grace, girl, what would you do ? ” gasped Oscar, shivering with fright.

“ Leap out, unless you unlock the door.” m

He knew the girl too well ; and with trembling eagerness, he obeyed her.

“ Place the kej^ upon my bundle, and retire to the

A woman’s KEVENGE.

corner of the room or the work is but half done. It is but a leap, and I have little heart to refrain from taking it.”

He tottered ratjier than walked to the table, laid the key where she had indicated and shrank to the wall.

Then in a moment, she was in the centre of the room, and took the key.

As she did so Oscar Ross darted to the window and secured it.

“ Stop ! ” he cried with a loud voice, as she proceeded to quit the room. “ One word with you before you leave.”

She turned in the doorway, and silently waited what he had to say.

“ You have an untamed, stubborn self-will ; but let me tell you, however, just now it is convenient to me to be quit of you. Still you are my daughter ! ”

“ I do not believe it.”

“No? Who placed you when a child at school? Whose name have you borne from your earliest recollection ? Mine — Ross. Who has brought you hither, who has kept you ever since? I, Oscar Ross, your father.”

“ Not my father ; oh no ! not my father. I could not despise, or so loathe you if you were.”

“ Despise and loathe me ! ” reiterated Ross, fiercely. “ Why should you do this? I have been kind to you. I tell you, girl, your mother — a more bright and beautiful woman than you ever will be — thought differently.”

* “ Tell me of her ? ” cried the girl, with a sudden and passionate earnestness. “ Tell me of her, of whom I have never heard, whom I have only seen in my

A woman’s eevenge.

dreams, tell me of her, and I will stand in patient listening till the dawn ”

“ You had better choose a time more fitting for family revelations, than this ! ” said a voice, just behind Grace Ross.

She turned swiftly, and beheld a woman thickly veiled, standing in the doorway.

Grace retreated a few paces into the room, followed by the strange visitor.

‘‘ Mildred, by the Lord Harry ! ” ejaculated Ross, with astonishment.

The newcomer closed the door behind her and said, addressing the man :

“ Oscar Ross, I have kept my word. You have not escaped my vigilance.”

“ I did not expect that I would,” returned Ross.

Nor will you that of others, if you remain here. It was my intention to have entered into a new arrangement with you respecting this girl ; but one glimpse of him you have to-night encountered, and, further, the knowledge that at this moment the police are on your track, have induced me to change my plan, and suddenly to adopt another. Have you any other mode of escape save by the outer door below ? ”

“ Yes, by the way of the roofs,” exclaimed Ross, in :in agitated and excited manner.

Avail yourself at once and should you get safely away write to me. You know where. It is important that we should meet again, and soon, for there is murli to do that must be done. Go ! leave the girl to me.”

Ross was evidently awaiting only the signal to depart. He nodded to his guest and passed out of the door, leaped up the stairs and disappeared over the roofs of the adjoining houses.

A woman's revenge.

As the sound of his retreating footsteps died away, she who had counselled flight advanced and closed the door.

Almost at the same moment the girl, who had watched with silent earnest intent the departure of Oscar Ross, muttered with emotion :

“ He is not my father.”

Then the strange visitor flung up her veil, and the two face to face scanned each other with an eager scrutiny.

“ Grace Ross, you do not know me but I do you. You have seen me before though you cannot remember that event. Know me now as Mildred Dupont, your friend so long as you may be entitled to call me such.”

“ You say that you know me ; am I that man’s daughter ? ”

She pointed in the direction which Ross had taken.

“Ask your earliest recollections,” was the curt reply.

“ The man who has left us is a reprobate, a drunkard, and a thief.”

“ He has no honor.”

“ Beware how you speak of him ! ”

“ I fear nothing from him ! from you ! from any one on earth ! I have had my burden chained to me from childhood, I can endure anything now ; else had I scarcely dared to trust myself a stranger to its ways, into the world, and strive for my share of its gifts, so that I might live. What signifies it now, if tliat it be unshackled, free, independent of the down-trodden control I have only known.”

A shade passed over the features of Mildred Dupont.

“ I have met you opportunely ; ” she said. “ You

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stand on the brink of fate, a gulf yawning on either side — death, or dishonor.”

“ The first, perhaps — the last, never ! ” cried Grace, with flashing eyes. “ If 'I had thought grief or misery were eternal unless compromised by dishonor, I had perished long since. You do not know^ me, woman.”

“ I shall know you better now. You were about to leave Ross. Will you come with me? ”

“ Where'? ”

“ Where, at least, you will be free to go or stay when you grow weary of it, or from any other cause.”

“ That man Ross — will he be there ? ”

“Ross? no, certainly not.”

“ I will go witli you. I care for naught else,” cried Grace, quickly.

“ Come at once, then,” said Mildred, with sudden hastiness of manner.

She led the way down the ricket}^ stairs as she spoke, and Gi'ace followed her closely, having by her direction, extinguished the lights.

They had scarcely passed into the street when they became conscious of the approach of a mob of persons following a half-dozen policemen. Mildred seized Grace by the wrist.

“They are in pursuit of Ross. Quick, this way; quick, girl, quick ; your safety from the jaws of prison depends on your speed.”

Bewildered, Grace Ross followed the counsel of her companion, and hurried in the opposite direction to that in which the mob was advancing.

Onward they hurried, Mildred apparently mistress of her route ; her young companion indifferent to the way selected, or to any urgency for speed.

A cab passing, Mildred stopped it and hired it.

A woman’s kevenge.

Placing Grace in it, she, in alow tone, directed the m^i whither to drive, and then following in, drew up the windows and pulled down the blinds. The driver, obeying her instructions, dashed away at a rapid pace. They entered a brilliantly lighted street, when the cab made a momentary pause.

The roll of carriages and other noises, caused Mildred to raise the blind of one of the windows nearest to an elegant mansion where a grand ball was given that night.

One carriage is yielding up its freight of youth and beauty.

A young handsomely dressed man gives his arm to a fair girl, whose head sparkles with jewels, and upon whose shoulder hangs an elegant white opera cloak ; he assists her to alight, and conducts her into the mansion.

The cab driver lashes' his horses into a gallop, and leaves the scene behind.

“ How beautiful ! ” exclaimed Grace with a sigh, as she fell back in her seat.

“ Did you see that gentleman’s face.? ” asked Mildred, eagerly.

“ I did.”

“And will you remember it ? ”

“ I shall never forget it.”

Mildred was silent until the cab stopped at the corner of a fashionable street, the cab discharged. Mildred hastened on up the street until she reached the entrance of a splendid mansion, turning down to a side entrance. She seized Grace by the hand, conducted her with cautious steps over the graveled paths, until she reached a flight of steps, leading to the breakfast-room of the handsome mansion.

A woman’s revenge.

These she ascended ; and noiselessly opening the door leading to the stone steps she entered the room, proceeded slowly and silently over the richly carpeted floor to a door, and opening it without a sound, passed through into a passage, and so as it appeared to Grace, up a narrow flight of stairs, and thence into a room.

She fastened the door, then, advancing to the chandelier, turned it up to its full height until the room was filled with light. Grace pressed her hands, over her eyes, they were so dazzled.

When she again removed them, she was startled to find standing before her a woman, who was in appearance wholly the opposite to her who had brought her there, save in the face ; there was no alteration in that.

Mildred Dupont had thrown aside her loose cloak, and old-fashioned hat with its thick veil, and the somewhat crouching gait she had assumed. She now appeared in a rich crimson velvet ball dress, her white arms and neck contrasting brilliantly with the deep superb color of her attire.

Grace could scarcely credit the testimony of her eyes, and but for the face — that face which underwent no change — she would have believed that she was in the presence of an apparition.

Mildred raised her finger to prevent Grace speaking, and herself, in a low tone, exclaimed :

“ Reserve your wonder ; this is but the first of a series of surprises in store for you.”

Then she removed Grace’s hat and shawl, and surveyed her attentively in her plain attire.

“ You are good-looking,” said she, after her inspection. “You will be extremely handsome, if there is any virtue in a well-ordered toilet. Of that hereafter.

A woman’s eevenge.

Now mark me, and heed me ; I am one of the invited guests to that ball to which we observed so many carriages driving as we came here ; to that mansion, at the door of which we saw a face I have bidden you to remember. I will go there to-night. You will remain here alone, locked in this room.”

She opened, as she spoke, the door of a narrow room, adjoining that which they were in.

“ You see it contains a bed and all the appointments of a sleeping-room, and you may be comfortable in it though it is small.”

“ But why locked in ? ” asked Grace, with a suspicious air.

“ For many reasons,” was the reply ; “ not one of which I can give you. Let this suffice. You will be in the possession of the key, and you will find bolts upon the door inside. I .use the precaution to prevent intrusion upon you, not to confine you against your will. I will release you in the morning, and then we will determine upon our future course. Time presses, I must leave you now. Retire ; be silent as the grave until I tap three times on your door in the morning. Fear not that any one will attempt to come near you, for the door is kept locked and the key is always in my possession. Good-night.”

Confused and staggered by all that had transpired in the last few hours Grace, in silence obeyed, and entering the small chamber, closed the door. As she was about to lock it, she opened it and once more confronted the singular woman who had brought her there.

Now she saw a change upon those features — a strange, unearthly, indescribable expression.

Was it joy? exultation? triumph? — what? Grace could not tell. Her flesh crawled over her frame.

A woman’s revenge.

“ Tell me ! ” she said, in accents of intense earnestness. “ You knew me' in years past, what am I to you ? ”

Mildred clutched her wrist, and in a whisper, whose hissing sound filled the room, replied :

“ Some families have great secrets — You are mine ! ”

Chapter II

The first owner of Falcon Manor was wise in his generation ; he built his dwelling in a sequestered spot overlooking the beautiful Hudson.

Fully alive to the value of peace, he left an injunction to those Avho succeeded him, “ Not to interfere in the affairs of the nation — to attend to the cultivation and improvement of the estate — to care for themselves, for it was Heaven that cared for all.”

His successors followed his counsel and profited by it.

Like all buildings of such ancient parentage, it stood upon a hill, and commanded a fair and noble prospect. Glancing over fertile valleys, and rich pastures, it rested upon that glorious river — which, for picturesque beauty, from its source to its confluence, surely stands second to none in the world— the Hudson. Beyond was the luxuriant purple Catskill mountains.

Although the estate was called Falcon Manor it was generally known as the Black Pines.

Falcon Manor looks picturesque as it stands, backed by an extensive plantation of magnificent black pines.

It was current for miles away, among those who dwelt in the vicinity, by the name it had won from a dark deed committed in the park by one of the Fal-

A woman’s kevenge.

cons in times long past. A fair girl’s fame and life, and a near relative’s blood, were mingled in the wild tale of crime ; and it was further stated, the deed had never yet been atoned.

It was said the shadow of the guilt yet rested on the house. The brightest and best of its race had been smitten down always in the moment of exaltation.

The present possessor, Milroy Falcon, passed his days rather in secluded retirement than in pursuing the ordinary routine of a country gentleman’s life.

Yet twice during the year he visited New York, and each time remained for a short term at the town house.

He was not misanthropical, sullen, reserved, or freezingly distant. To all by whom he was surrounded he was an enigma.

Save one !

One beautiful wintry afternoon, as the sun was declining early, Milroy Falcon stood silently gazing through the panes of an antique window. In the room sat two ladies, one young and beautiful, the other, older, handsome and stately.

“ Do you not weary of this dull place, Ora, and long to join again in the gaieties of New York? ”

The young girl started from her reverie ; a slight flush suffused her cheek as she replied hurriedly :

“No, indeed, my dear madame ; no, I am not dull, nor fatigued with the quiet seclusion, as you so frequently term it, which we enjoy here. See how beautiful are the hills, the dales, the river ; then what charming walks through the parks, and through the woods, and the black pines ”

“Who spoke of the black pines?” cried Milroy Fal-

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con sharply, breaking from his fit of abstraction, and turning toward them with a strange wildness in his eyes.

Ora rose to her feet, and regarded him in surprise.

“ Milroy ! our dear little guest was deep in hef praises of Falcon Manor and you have interrupted her.”

She fixed ber bright eyes on him as she spoke, and the clear tones of her voice rang in his ears.

In an instant he was composed and calm.

“ A thousand pardons ; continue, Ora, you will find me an interested listener.”

“ I intended only to say that within this fine old building, and abroad in the park and woods, there is so much to delight and interest, that one ought never to be weary here.”

“ Never ! ” said Milroy Falcon, relapsing into a reverie again.

“ So you are fond of walking in the woods. Ora ? ”

“ They are so grand,” she replied.

“ Alone of course ? ” observed her friend, without a feature being moved.

Ora looked at her inquiringly. “ I think that I prefer a companion ; but you do not rise early, and Roderick is away with his tiresome gun, so I am obliged to walk alone.”

“Suppose Wilton Granger had been a guest here, would he have served as a companion in your walks in the deep old woods ? ”

Ora blushed. “ There would have been no better prospect for me,” she answered. “ I still should have to wander alone, Wilton would have been sure to have been dragged into the woods by Roderick and his odious gun.”

A woman’s revenge.

“ What about Roderick ? ” said a voice behind them.

They turned, a fine handsome young man stood near Ora.

“ What ! scandalizing and traducing- me ? O Mildred, I expected better treatment at your hands,” he exclaimed, with a laugh.

“ It was your sister, not I,” replied Mildred ; “ but you know the adage, old as the hills yonder, and you have added another proof to the many of its truths.”

“Unfairly treated again, by Jove!” he exclaimed, still laughing. “ Why, I entered the room, boldly, and openly enough I imagined ; but no ! there stood Mr. Falcon, with his eyes fixed upon the black pines ”

“ Who taunts me with those hated black pines, do you, sir?” cried Milroy Falcon, suddenly wheeling round, and advancing with fierceness to the young man, who with astonishment, stepped back.

“ Milroy Falcon ! ” cried Mildred, “ you forget our young guest is yet a stranger, and is not likely, at first, to rightly comprehend your jests.”

“ Jests echoed Milroy Falcon sharply, and then suddenly burst into a laugh. “ True, true,” he said.

Before there was time to reply, or for the electrified Roderick to recover his composure, and endeavor to discover the joke, the sound of carriage wheels, driving sharply over the hard drive leading up to the house, struck on their ears.

“ Visitors ! ” cried Milroy, hastily ; “ I can receive no one — I will receive no one to day.”

“ You forget,” said Mildred, “our orphan cousin, was to have been here to-day, this must be her arrival. A near relative of Milroy’s and mine,” she added, turning to Roderick and Ora. “ Poor girl ! left an orphan ; rich enough, but poor, in having lost both parents, 2

A woman’s eevenge.

You will receive her kindly for my sake, will you not, Ora ? ”

Ora assured her she would most gladly ; while Roderick offered at once to rush off to the entrance and receive her.

“ No,” said Mildred, “ I will bring her here — or we will meet at dinner.”

“We will meet at dinner,” exclaimed Milroy, abruptly ; and, with a bow to his guests, quitted the room.

Mildred, with a few hurried words to her guests, hastened to receive her expected visitors.

“ This is an awfully slow place. Ora.”

“ It is a grandly beautiful place, but ”

“ The people — that is Milroy — and— and my fingers were so cold, I couldn’t pull the trigger ; I wonder I didn’t shoot one of the dogs when my gun fell.”

Ora looked up in wonder at this incoherence, and was startled to find Milroy walking slowly into the room again, with his arms folded on his breast, wrapped, in profound meditation. He stationed himself at the window, and gazed out upon the old wood, which, in the swiftly approaching shades of night, was blending into one cold,' grey, solid mass.

Beckoning to Ora to follow him, Roderick, with noiseless step, retreated from the room. She with a lingering glance at Milroy slowly followed, Roderick closing the door after them without a sound.

With a few words of wonder they separated to dress for dinner.

When the hour for dinner arrived, Milro}^ and Mildred, accompanied by the young girl who had arrived an hour ago, entered the dining-room the same moment.

A woman’s eevenge.

but by different doors: Mildred presented the young girl to Milroy.

As his hand came in contact with hers, her voice reached his ears. He instantly fastened his eyes upon her face while his own became at once of livid whiteness and his whole frame shook.

It was but a momentary spasm, the struggle passed away, and he made a few remarks to her upon the loneliness of her journey, and his hope that she would be cheerful and happy in his house.

The girl bowed with silent dignity ; and then Mildred turned and introduced her to Roderick, and Ora D'Olier, as her cousin Grace Montrose.

It was Grace Ross. She was pale but fairer, her eyes brighter, her lips more deliciously red ; her hair beautiful and glossy, her rich but neat dress set off her elegant form to the fullest advantage.

The dinner passed off more cheerfully than it had done since Roderick and his sister had been at the Manor. Over the dessert, Roderick suddenly exclaimed :

“ This is New Year’s Eve ! ”

A silence as of death followed ; Milroy set down the glass he was putting to his lips untasted, and fell back in his chair.

The face of Mildred assumed an unnatural whiteness, as though the words had thrilled the marrow in her bones.

Instinctively the eyes of their guests were turned in amazement on them.

Grace knew that the words had some mysterious effect, and she broke the silence. “ I welcome it ! ” she exclaimed, in clear tones. “It is the day of the funeral of buried tortures and signified griefs ; it is

A woman's kevenge.

the advent of a time which may bring brightness and joy, to compensate for those memories of the past, which sear the brain and the heart, while they do nothing to alter the fiat of inevitable destiny. It was a happy symbol to my thinking which represented the new year as a butterfly springing from its untenable tomb, the shell of the old once -crawling chrysalis. At last it has wings and the free unimpeded air, with liberty to roam, and the world all before it to begin its new life in.”

Roderick regarded her with earnestness. “ You can have had but few tortures, Miss Montrose,” said he.

“ School-girls have their tortures. They would be women when they are children, and the shackles of their school duties are viewed as tortures intolerable.”

Grace had always more love for the power to roam over the woods, than she had for the trammels of education.

“ Nevertheless, Miss Montrose has turned her bondage to advantage ! ” exclaimed Roderick ; then he added, hastily, “ I mentioned the fact of this being New Year’s Eve, because I was about to propose that we should welcome in the new year with becoming honors in a novel way. The night is bright and clear, and there is a hill just beyond the plantation of black pines ”