Married by the mayor; or, The dark page in his life

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Chapter II. Her Champion

“I nAVE a few things to say to you, my dear child,” said Mr. Leighton in his fatherly way, when Edna Forrest came in. “ Sit here,” and he pushed an ottoman on the hearth rug and placed his own chair beside it.

She took the seat he placed for her, but he did not sit down at once. He walked across the room, and turning back looked steadily at the girl sitting on the hearth where the light of the burning logs fell upon her. He always admired this little companion of his sister. How beautiful he thought her this moment. The room was gloomy enough to make the firelight ruddy, and Edna’s auburn hair grew brighter, her cheeks pinker, and the brown eyes glowed like stars.

“ You wish to say something to me, sir ?” said Edna, looking at Mr. Leighton as if she thought he did not like to speak. “ I am not a satisfactory hostess. Indeed, sir, you needn’t mind telling me — you know I told you that I was not fitted for the honor, and I would not bear it gracefully.”

“ My dear child, I have not a single fault to find with you there !” and the “ there ” brought Mr. Leighton’s hand on the auburn curls. “ You are simply a charming young hostess, and that is one of the things I wanted to say to you; and I don’t know, with all these guests on my hands, and Sarah running off to her sick friend, what I should ever have done without you. And now, Edna, I want to say to you — and remember not one word of it is flattery — to flatter a girl of your age would be doing you a great wrong, and I only want to help you toward an end which is good. You will make as brilliant a woman as any in our set if you will make the most of the next few years, if — if ”

Mr. Leighton hesitated and coughed.

“ If what, Mr. Leighton ? I know that you are for my good and you need not hesitate,” said Edna.

“Well, my dear child, if you will not permit men’s attention to turn your head. Now this is the most important thing I had to say to you,” said Mr. Leighton, plunging boldly in as he had broken the ice. “ I see that the gentlemen like you. Indeed I would not advise you against accepting the attention of a man whom I thought worthy of you, but Marcus Tremaine is not. I saw him leave the house a few minutes ago, and it reminded me that I had this to say to you, I don’t like the man , and I know he likes you. Wait, my dear,” as Edna attempted to speak. “I know nothing particularly against him, only that he has made a large fortune by being unscrupulous in his business methods. He is a handsome man, but wholly without refinement. He thinks he has humbled the world because he has made his millions, and his millions can catch the purest, the loveliest, the most brilliant maiden in the land. I haven’t a doubt that he is considered a great catch, and I believe Sarah thinks so, and because he was so attentive to you at Cape May, invited him here.”

“ Oh, sir, I hope not!” cried Edna, whose blushing face wore an expression of deep pain.

“ But Mr. Leighton was right. Miss Sarah Leighton, a maiden lady of forty, was flattered by the attention of the millionaire to her poor protegee.

“ I believe it is so,” reiterated Mr. Leighton. “ What else would .Sarah invite the New York speculator here for? I wish we had not met him at Cape May.”

The Leightons spent the latter part of the summer and nearly all the fall at Cape May, and brought home a number of guests to spend a fortnight with them.

•• Indeed, you need have no regrets, sir. I don’t think anything in this world would tempt me to marry Mr. Marcus Tremaine.”

How very earnestly Edna said these words. With what wonderful complacency a woman says she could not be tempted, when she has never experienced the meaning of what she says!

Mr. Leighton put his hand on her head.

“ What a relief to hear you say that! and I know I can trust you to keep your word, Edna.”

She did not answer, and there was a silence for a moment. His hand was still upon her head. Daylight had faded out of the room. The ruddy glow of the fire fell upon them. How this'November evening will come back to these two sitting here! How this moment will haunt Edna Forrest as long as life remains! She was so sure iO

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this moment that nothing could tempt her to marry Marcus Tremaine.

“Do you know/’ said Mr. Leighton suddenly, “a gentleman met me on Broad Street to-day, and asked me if it were true that you were engaged to Vere Gordon. I told him that I didn’t believe there was a word of truth in it. Of course, I was right?”

“ Why, of course you were, Mr. Leighton. I cannot account for such a report. I am sure there isn’t the slightest foundation for it.”

“ Well, I must differ with you,” said Mr. Leighton, Avith a sly look at Edna. “ I am sure Mr. Gordon is interested, and I have no fault to find, only I do not believe in a girl marrying at your age; you must Avait, my dear ”

“Oh, Mr. Leighton, please do not entertain such an idea of Mr. Gordon; indeed, he thinks anything but well of me, and — and” — Edna rose hastily — “may I go noAV, it is getting very late ”

“ Oh, of course, run aAvay. I took no note of the time,” said Mr. Leighton, cheerily, thinking he had embarrassed the girl.

It Avas Avell she Avas out of the firelight, for a tear stole down either cheek as she left the room, not daring to trust herself to speak again; but Avhen she reached her oavii room, she flung herself on the bed and gave vent to her sorroAv.

“ Whatever makes anybody think he cares for me? He thinks me an ignorant little dependent, and he takes no pains to hide his opinion.” After this she wept several minutes; then starting up, she exclaimed, “But Avhy Avill I let it trouble me? Why should I care Avhat he thinks of me? Well, I Avon’t care. He sha’n’t see — he sha’n’t!”

An hour later, apparently calm and self-possessed, she Avas about to enter the draAving-room, Avhere a number of the guests have already assembled in dinner attire.

When Edna reached the threshold she received a shock; she would gladly have beaten a retreat, but it Avas too late — unfortunately every face Avas toAvard her but the trio Avho had chosen her for a subject of conversation, rather but one had chosen to talk about ' her; the rest were as yet but listeners, and their faces were turned

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from Edna. The young girl remained on the threshold nnable to move as Cora Taunton's words greeted her:

* ‘ I wrote to mamma that Miss Forrest was our hostess, and she writes me a very amusing answer. She says she supposes it is the usual case of the beggar on horseback. She wonders what the Leightons can be thinking of to put a young hireling on a par with ladies and gentlemen."

She addressed herself directly to Vere Gordon and Richard Clifford.

Edna lost her presence of mind. She could not move for the time.

‘‘Pardon me for disagreeing with you. Miss Taunton. Is it a social crime for a woman to be self-supporting? Are your women with wealth the only ladies of whom you can boast? If so, all I have to say is, may Heaven help your republic; as for Miss Forrest, I have only to say I feel honored to be a guest under the roof where she presides as hostess."

It was Vere Gordon who spoke, and a dead silence followed until Miss Taunton recovered herself and said:

“Oh! I am glad I gave you an opportunity to be her champion," and Cora turned away in chagrin, and squandered her smiles for the remainder of the evening on the man who thought her perfect, Richard Clifford.

If Gordon answered Cora, it was lost on Edna. To add to her embarrassment, Marcus Tremaine, burly, coarse and handsome, made himself conspicuous in his loud way as he rose to try to outdo Vere in his championship of Edna.

“Oh, here comes our charming hostess,” he said, as if Edna had just appeared, and he walked over to the door and offered her his arm. “Indeed, Miss Forrest, we feel a great want when you are not here."

Edna bowed in acknowledgment of the grotesque. She saw Gordon start and turn to look at her when her name was mentioned. He wondered if she had heard. She saw Cora look and shrug her shoulders as if she did not care, and Edna's thoughts flew. Her pride, of which she had not a little, was thoroughly aroused now. She would not forget what her position demanded of her.

“ It is so nice to know one is missed," she laughed, in answer to Tremaine, and the next moment she slipped away from him, and was welcoming Mr. Clifford as if noth-

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ing unpleasant had happened. So perfect was her manner that the guests were relieved of their embarrassment, and some of them could not believe she had heard Cora’s remarks. The situation was restored to its usual cheerfulness when Mr. Leighton and a few others came in and dinner was announced.

What an ordeal that dinner was for Edna! but she passed through it bravely. She was glad Yere Gordon was not sitting near her. She did not look at him, yet he was constantly before her, and her one thought was that he was her champion.

Chapter III. His Wife

When Edna returned to the drawing-room with the ladies, having left the gentlemen to their wine and talk, her feelings mastered her will. She could not endure being alone with them. Her nerves were stretched to their utmost tension, and feeling that any moment might come the snap, she excused herself on the plea of headache.

When she reached her room she walked the floor with a feeling of suffocation. To her the air seemed stifling, the blood in her veins afire.

“ To think,” she said, over and over again in her walk, “ that he should say that to her for me!”

The air grew denser, her fever higher.

I must go out. “ I shall die if I remain here!”

She threw a scarf over her head and shoulders, and in a few moments she reached the grounds, and handsome grounds they were, that surrounded the home of the Philadelphia banker, and the cold air struck her burning brow and she breathed it a nd felt she had gained new life.

She turned into a path lined on either side by thickly growing evergreens. Here she could walk unobserved by any one coming from or approaching the house, yet she had taken but a few steps in her retreat when she suddenly became conscious of a quick footstep behind her. Instead of pausing or looking back she hurried on, and the footsteps crushing the dry leaves and twigs, hurried after her and a voice that made her heart leap, said:

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“ One moment. Miss Forrest.”

She turned and stood still, and Vere Gordon, taking his cigar from his lips, stood before her.

“ I came out for a breath of fresh air just in time to see you turn down here. Won’t you catch your death of cold, with nothing but that light thing around you?”

“It felt suffocating in there, and I thought a little exercise would do me good. I hadn’t a chance to yun out all day,” stammered Edna.

“Won’t you take my arm?” he said, softly.

Edna’s heart beat faster.

“Thank you, but I will go in now.”

She made an attempt to pass him, but he planted himself in her path. Neither spoke. He puffed his cigar vigorously; then, as if suddenly thinking of himself, he said:

“ I beg your pardon,” and threw it away. “ I am sorry I spoiled your walk. I am sure you would not return so soon, had I not come upon the scene. Well, it is my usual luck, eternally making myself disagreeable to you,” and he laughed.

Edna’s lip trembled; again that stifling sensation was upon her. She held out her hand. It lay in his a few moments before she could say:

“I am indebted to you more than I can say for your noble defense of me this evening. To say I thank you is indeed but a poor acknowledgment.”

“Ah, I was afraid you heard it,” he said more to himself than to her.

“I am sorry you had to offend Miss Taunton for me,” faltered Edna.

“ Yes, so am I sorry,-” he said, still holding her hand. “ There should have been no occasion for her saying what she did. Clearly you are to blame. You should not occupy this position; you should be the wife of some good man, who would be able to protect you from these sneers and insults, who could put you in a position that would court the flattery even of those who envied you. Why don’t you marry Tremaine?”

She tried to draw her hand from his, but he held it tightly. What a cruel speech it was! The tears rolled down her cheeks.

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“ Mr. Gordon, I shall never marry a man I do not love.”

“ Then he asked yon to marry him?”

“ He did, but I said nothing about it to the Leightons, as I refused him.”

“ What a brave little girl you are to refuse millions, but he seems to be as attentive as ever?” said Yere, eagerly.

“ He would not take No for an answer. He says I will come to my senses some day. If that day ever comes, it will be the day I discover 1 love him.”

If that day ever comes! Ah, who can boast of the morrow ?

“ May I go now?” she said again, trying to take her hand.

He held it more tightly as he said with a sigh that puzzled one to know whether it was genuine or pretended:

“ How I wish you loved me!”

Edna looked up at him.

“Mr. Gordon, please don’t make fun of me to-night. You have been too kind for me to quarrel with you.”

“Make fun of you! I have never made fun of you. Been kind to you to-night! Why should I be ? Is it any great praise for a man to stand up in defense of the woman he loves ? Edna, I love you. You have tortured me for three months, and I can stand it no longer. To see you occupy the position you do here drives me mad. You said you could never marry the man you did not love. Oh, may 1 hope the day will come when you can say, ‘ I will be your wife.’”

The words fell from his lips in a torrent of passionate love. It was this young man’s desperate way of doing things.

He permitted her to withdraw her hand from his now. She stepped back and looked at him. Then, in a pitiful little voice, she said:

“ Do you mean it ?”

“ Mean it!” and he clasped her to his bosom. “Oh, Edna, your words bid me hope. You care a little — just a little for me ?”

“ I never dreamed of such happiness as this,” was her answer. “I wonder if I am really awake.”

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“ Then you care for me ? You have cared for me when you tormented me ?”

“ Oh, I loved you so much — it was you who tormented — at times I wished I was dead.”

“ My darling, now I have the right to call you so,” and he took her face between his hands and kissed her lips; “ and you will name an early wedding day,” and again his arms are about her.

“ Oh, I must think over that,” she said, with a happy laugh. “ Won’t you let me go now, Mr. Gordon?”

“ Mr. Gordon!”

The name, when he uttered it himself, seemed to have a strange effect upon him. He did not say “Call me Vere.” His arms fell from about her. Great beads of perspiration stood out upon his forehead. He clasped her in his arms again in his desperate way, and his voice was hoarse as he said:

“Yes, you had better go, now. It is very cold here.”

He kissed her again, and she ran away.

“ Great God, why did I meet her out here to-night? But I knew it would be so. I knew I could not always be strong, and she loves me.”

He wiped the perspiration from his brow when he spoke; then he lighted another cigar and walked up and down the path.

“ If I had only kept still ! It has been a base deception. I had no right to speak to her — no right. "Will she accept my love as an excuse? I’ll get no deeper in the mire.” He stopped in his walk as he said this. There was an air of sudden determination in the movement. “ I’ll leave this house to-night; I’ll go back to New York. No, I can’t do that to-night, for I have made a business appointment at the Continental to-morrow morning. Well, I can leave this house to-night. I can do that. I will not see her again until she knows all. I’ll write to her making a clean breast of it. I shall leave it to her to call me back. I will make business my excuse to Mr. Leighton. I will go to-night,” and with this determination he hurried to the house.

He learned that the gentlemen had joined the ladies in the drawing-room, and he sent there for Clifford.

“When are you going back to New York, Dick?”

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“I think I must go to-morrow. I would like to stay "

“But you can’t stay/’ said Gordon, excitedly. “I have done what I should not have done. I have played the part of the scoundrel at last. I can't tell you to-night. Matters have reached a climax. Something must be done. What train will you take to-morrow?"

Clifford looked helpless with surprise. Gordon spoke in a tone from which there was no appealing.

“ I suppose I can take an early train."

“ Then maybe you can meet me at the Continental. I will be there until ten o'clock. I shall leave here within an hour."

Clifford saw that his friend was not in a humor tp answer questions.

“ I’ll try to get down in time to go with you to New York," Dick said.

“Is Miss Forrest in the parlor?" asked Gordon, abruptly.

“ No, I believe she has retired ill — that is, I think I heard some of the ladies say so."

“All right, I'll pack up and join you in the parlor. 1 suppose Mr. Leighton is there?"

“Yes.”

“Very well. I’ll come in to say good-bye."

Gordon moved rapidly when Clifford left him. He gave himself no time to think. In twenty minutes he was excusing his abrupt departure to Mr. Leighton, and ten minutes after was being driven to the Continental Hotel.

Edna was sitting in her room with a happy glow in her face. There was no stifling sensation now, no mad fever of the brain.

“And he loved me all the time!" she said to herself over and over again. “ Oh, it is so like a dream, a happy, happy dream! I hope nothing will ever happen to awaken me.”

What delightful moments they were, as she sat there dreaming on and on until a knock on the door startled her, and a maid came in to say:

“ There is a woman here, Miss Forrest, who insists on seeing you, as she says her business is very important."

“A woman — this hour!"

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The clock struck ten as Edna spoke. Her happy dream was broken, but only broken for the present, not ended. Oh, no; such a thought did not enter Edna’s head. There was no presentiment of approaching evil. She had a curiosity to see this woman, to know her important business.

“She wants to see you alone, miss.”

“Then show her in here, Kate,” and Edna stepped toward the door, and as the servant opened it, just outside, Edna saw the most beautiful face her eyes ever heheld.

It was the face of a woman, young and fascinatingly beautiful, a woman who was not afraid to look at Edna.

Edna’s interest increased, and her voice trembled a little as she said graciously:

“ Won’t you come in?”

The woman stepped in and closed the door, leaving the maid on the outside. She looked at the door again to make sure it was closed. There was an air of mystery about the woman that startled Edna.

“Don’t be frightened,” the woman said.

Edna was not frightened, but her pulses throbbed. Her voice was unnaturally calm when she said:

“May I ask who you are, and what is your business at this late hour?”

“ I am your friend. The hour is late. I was here before this evening, but I could not see you. I had to go back to the city, and it took so long to get out here again. I am your friend, and I have come here to ask you to be mine.”

The pleading of a passionate temperament was in the young woman’s voice.

Now for the first time Edna thought the woman might be the bearer of evil news.

“ How are you my friend, and what can I do for you ?”

“ I have come in time to save you from a life of misery — from throwing away your happiness.”

This woman had something to say about Vere Gordon. This thought came to Edna, and she put out her hand like one warding off a blow, but the woman pitilessly continued:

“ You are engaged to be married to Vere Gordon ”

“ What is Vere Gordon to you ?” Edna gasped.

“ For Heaven’s sake be strong — God knows I do not

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•want to hurt you, but you should know the truth. You will thank me for it by and by ”

“Have mercy— tell me quickly!”

“ Vere Gordon is my husband — the father of my child.”

“It is false!”

“ It is true. I can prove it.”

“ Where are your proofs ?”

“ I will bring them to you. They were to be forwarded to me from England, but they have not yet arrived.”

“ Will you see Yere Gordon here— here before my face, and charge him with this ?”

“I will,” answered the woman, determinedly.

Edna summoned all her strength. She rang the bell. Neither spoke until the maid appeared.

“Is Mr. Gordon in the drawing-room ?” said Edna, opening the door and speaking to the maid in a low tone.

“ Mr. Gordon left very suddenly for New York, miss.”

“ Mr. Gordon gone!” Edna grasped the door for support.

“ Yes, miss, he is on his way to the depot now. John is driving him down.”

Gone, and without seeing her! Oh, God! this woman’s story, it must be true! Yere saw her and escaped.

These were Edna’s thoughts as she said to the maid:

“That will do.”.

She closed the door and would have fallen, but the Avoman avIio brought her this misery caught her.

“ Oh, for Heaven’s sake, miss, be strong!”

“I — I am strong,” gasped Edna. “You spoke of proofs. Will you bring them to me?”

“ Yes; I may get them to-morrow.”

“ That will do — that will do. You may go now.”

“ Oh, indeed, miss, I am sorry

“ Never mind — go — please go while I am strong. None of these people must know your errand here.”

“ They shall not know.”

“Then go,” and Edna opened the door, “and come to-morroAv if you get your proofs. Go.”

The Avoman passed out. Edna watched her doAvn the stairs and heard the hall door close after her. Then Edna crossed the hall and Avalked almost to the end of it.

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She opened a door; the gas was turned low, but the room was deserted.

It was Vere’s room, and Edna looked about it. She opened the wardrobe. His clothes — everything belonging to him was gone.

She left the room; she tried to walk quickly. She made a desperate effort to reach her own room, but her footsteps failed; the hall danced round her.

Ten minutes later the household was thrown into a state of alarm.

A servant had found Miss Forrest lying prone in the ball. Then the ladies were kind enough to remember that Edna had said she was not well.

Chapter IV. A Strange Affair

Next morning a gentleman steps out of the Continental and is making his way toward the carriage waiting to take him to the depot, but near as it is he receives a shock before he reaches it. A woman’s little hand gives him the shock, and a woman’s handsome, derisive face confronts him.

“My God!” and he staggers back, white and trembling.

“Don’t make a scene, I beg of you,” the young woman says in a suppressed voice, but there is a dangerous flash in her eyes. “ Vere Gordon, aren’t you glad to see your wife and child?”

She is holding a lovely little girl of some three years by the hand, and she draws it toward Gordon as she speaks.

“Wait— wait!” the man gasps, “give me time to realize it is you!”

“ Indeed, we meet in the nick of time. I was going to Miss Edna Forrest with proofs of our marriage. You see, I know everything. I have not been idle, though it has taken me a long, weary time to track you.”

“You were going to Miss Forrest? Good God, that would have- been a terrible mistake! Hetty, I thought you had left me forever.”

“And how you rejoiced in the thought!” she said derisively.

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“I was glad to be free.” He had partly recovered himself, and spoke those words in a deep, low voice. “ Come, we cannot talk here. The carriage is waiting to take me to the depot. If you will drive with me we can talk.”

“Very well,” she says. “ Come, Baby.”

“1 will put her in,” Gordon says. “ Poor little Bea, won’t you kiss me?”

“ Kiss your papa, dear,” says Bea’s mamma, loudly.

“ You must have stolen the child from my sister,” he says when they are seated in the carriage.

“ Since you think your sister would not give her to me,

I must have stolen her. Did they not acquaint you with the fact? You should have heard it by this time. I’ve no doubt you will find plenty of European mail when you return to New York. You see I am posted as to your movements.”

He looks earnestly at the handsome, derisive face, as he says:

“ Hetty, why have you stolen the child? Why have you followed me? You know we never could live happily together, and since we discovered our marriage was illegal ”

“ Hush!” You ruined my life; you married me by fraud ”

“ Not intentionally, Hetty. You know that I was not aware the marriage was illegal any more than you until after Beatrix was born. ”

“Bah!” she says, contemptuously. “ You would not have cast me off so easily when you discovered it, if it were not all planned beforehand.”

“Oh, Hetty, Hetty, you know that you were only too willing to leave me!”

“ That was because I did not know any better. I thought I was doing the right thing to leave you Avhen I was not married to you. I was young and foolish and I did not know what the world thought about such things; but you did, and you let me go,” she said, fiercely.

Gordon leaned back in the carriage. His lips tightened as if he did not wish to speak. He had suffered all that man could suffer at this woman’s hands, he thought, and here she was to torture him again. Here she was sitting before him with brazen, derisive face, when lie thought

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himself rid of her forever. When he thought of such suffering as he had endured, it was enough to drive him mad, and he said in desperation:

“ Why have you come back to torture me?”

“Because the world has not treated me well, and I wanted my baby. I insist on you making our marriage good. You must marry me here ”

Gordon's face turned a deathly pallor.