Dainty's Cruel Rivals; Or, The Fatal Birthday
Dainty's trials, that he hoped would soon be happily ended.
"How I thank you for your noble faith in my poor girl, when all the
world was against her, I can not express in mere words; but I shall
rejoice in my ability to supplement it by a solid reward as soon as I am
reinstated in my property," he exclaimed, as he wrung her hand in
passionate gratitude.
But Ailsa protested that she wished for no reward beyond the pleasure of
continuing her friendship with her dear school-mate and friend.
"You shall come to live at Ellsworth, and be our dear sister, if you
will," he exclaimed, generously; and the young girl smiled happily as
she answered:
"I shall be very happy to come and spend my vacation with Dainty this
summer."
Then they discussed the mystery of Dainty's whereabouts. Ailsa told him
she had inquired all around, but could not get any clew at all.
"Sometimes I think she may have returned to West Virginia," she said;
but Love shuddered at the idea lest his darling had fallen into some new
trap set by her enemies.
After two days in Richmond, he was informed by the private detective he
had put on the case that Dainty had indeed left the city--a young girl
answering her description having bought a ticket at the Chesapeake and
Ohio railway station for West Virginia on the night of the last of
March.
"We must go at once! Heaven only knows what new evil has befallen my
poor love, thus venturing alone into the lion's den!" Love exclaimed, in
wild agitation.
John Franklin was sent to Staunton to see Mrs. Middleton and Mrs.
Chase, to get them to join the travelers on their journey, and Doctor
Platt and Love followed on the next train.
It was the first of May, a beautiful evening, with the sun just sinking
in the west, when they reached the station, and a carriage was quickly
procured for the drive to Ellsworth.
Mrs. Chase and Mrs. Middleton had joined them at Staunton, and the
mother's heart was thrilled with unspeakable love and tenderness at the
story her eager, handsome son-in-law poured into her ears.
It seemed too good to be true that Love was restored to himself again,
and that nothing remained but to find Dainty to make the sum of their
happiness complete.
It was the one anxiety that brooded darkly over their hearts, the fear
that evil had befallen the hapless girl on her return to Ellsworth.
"If they have injured but one hair of my darling's head, they shall
answer to the law they have broken," Love said, grimly, as they started
from the station toward Ellsworth, with the fixed resolve to tax Mrs.
Ellsworth and her nieces at once with their crimes, and demand Dainty at
their hands.
Old Doctor Platt was jubilant over the part he had played in restoring
Love to his own, and he rubbed his hands in glee as he pictured to
himself the consternation of Mrs. Ellsworth, when she should find
herself accused and detected in her plot against Love and his persecuted
bride.
"Drive fast, Franklin; I'm anxious to see the madame's face when she
sees the master of Ellsworth returning to claim his own!" he exclaimed,
joyously, just as they came abreast of a large frame house standing
close to the road about a mile from the station.
The next moment Love startled them all with a surprised and happy laugh,
exclaiming:
"Look! Look! There's my old black mammy sitting there in the door of
that house! Listen! She is crooning the old nursery song that charmed me
in my babyhood! Let us stop here, Franklin. Perhaps she can tell us
something about my wife--who knows?"
Yes, there sat black mammy in a capacious armchair in Mrs. Peters'
door-way. Across her knees lay a small white bundle, and she was swaying
softly back and forth, while she crooned in a low, loving monotone her
favorite nursery lullaby:
"Byo, baby boy, bye--
Byo, li'l boy!
En 'e run ter 'is mammy,
Ter rock 'im in 'er arms--
Mammy's li'l baby boy!
"Who all de time er frettin' in de middle er de day?
Mammy's li'l boy, mammy's li'l boy!
Who all de time er gittin' so sleepy--
"Sho'! what am de matter now, and who am dese folks stoppin' deir
kerridge in front o' de gate?" the lullaby ending in these exclamations
of surprise.
Lovelace Ellsworth sprang from the carriage and rushed to the gate.
"Mammy, mammy, don't you know me? Your Marse Love?" eagerly.
"Oh, my good Lord in hebben, am I dreamin', or is it yo'self, Marse
Love, a-laffin' an' a-talkin' lak in de dear old days 'fore you was
shot?" cried the old negress, shaking with joyful excitement.
"It is Love, sure enough, mammy. You may pinch me if you choose, and
you'll find I am your old nursling alive and well. Oh, mammy, I am
searching for my Dainty, my sweet, darling wife!"
"T'ank de good Lord for all His mercies! Dis is de day dat I been
prayin' fo' so long! Oh, Marse Love, I'll he'p yo' fin' yo' darlin'
wife, indeedy I will! But won't you look at my nurse-chile on my knee?
Aine he pritty? See him yaller curls fine as silk, and him skin like de
crumply rose-leaf, an' him big black eyes like his pappy's? Don't you
want ter kiss him fo' his sweet mudder's sake?" laughing.
"Mammy!" he cried in sudden, wild, suspicious excitement, as he bent
closely to look at the infant.
"Yes, Marse Love, 'tis your own li'l baby boy borned almost two weeks
ago, an' de fines' li'l chap alive! Miss Dainty she come to black mammy,
o' course, in her trubble, an' I cheers her up till li'l Marse Lovelace
Ellsworth he come to laugh at her wid his pappy's sassy black eyes. Hi!
hi! he gone like a shot at de fust call o' her voice!" for Love had
dashed past her wildly at a low, startled cry, from the open door of a
room just beyond.
He dashed wildly across the threshold, glanced around, and there she lay
lovely and pale as a lily among soft white pillows--his lost bride, his
adored wife, the tender mother of his beautiful child!
"My darling!" and he was on his knees with his arms about her, and his
lips on her face.
For a moment, under the shock of joy, Dainty's senses reeled; but he
kissed the life back to her closing eyes and the smiles back to the
quivering lips.
"Oh, my darling, my wife, God has given us back to each other for all
time and eternity!"
CHAPTER XL.
CONCLUSION.
The bolt of Fate falls sometimes like a flash of lightning from a clear
sky.
Thus it came to Mrs. Ellsworth and her scheming nieces in the moment
when they felt themselves most secure.
On that golden May evening, when Love Ellsworth found his happiness
again, they had been busy laying their plans for a summer campaign.
They decided to take an early trip to Europe, and return in August for a
brief tour of the watering-places before the close of the season.
"We will get us some loves of dresses and bonnets while in Paris," cried
Ela, while Olive added:
"And some rare jewels. I think I should like some fine rubies best of
all."
With a slight sarcasm, Mrs. Ellsworth exclaimed:
"Really, for two young girls who were reared in poverty, you two have
developed very extravagant tastes--so extravagant that I could not
afford to gratify them if I had not so opportunely come into my
step-son's fortune!"
"But, Aunt Judith, we thought you were quite wealthy in your own right,"
both cried in concert.
"So I was; but for years I have speculated in stocks, and sometimes I
made large gains, at others lost heavily. To-day I received notice of a
terrible loss by the failure of a bank in Richmond in which the residue
of my money was invested. Had I not come into Love's money, I should
not now have a thousand dollars to my name!"
"How unfortunate!" cried a ringing, sarcastic voice, and glancing up,
all three beheld Lovelace Ellsworth standing before them in his right
mind.
He was accompanied by the party that he had brought from the station,
and on his arm leaned his drooping bride, pale from illness, but with
the light of her joy shining in her great luminous eyes. Black mammy
brought up the rear with the lovely infant in her arms.
To Mrs. Ellsworth's consternation all seated themselves as coolly as if
they had a right in her elegant parlor, while Olive and Ela strained
their eyes in horror at the fair cousin whose ashes they had believed to
be lying still beneath the _debris_ of the burned cabin.
Lovelace Ellsworth alone remained standing, and turning toward his
startled step-mother, he began one of the most scathing arraignments to
which any one had ever listened.
He told her in fiery words of all the crimes and cruelties she had
practised on himself and Dainty, and how, through God's help, they had
escaped all.
In vain were her frightened denials; he laughed them all to scorn.
"When Dainty was immured in that dungeon where you expected her to die,
your tool, Sheila Kelly, threw caution to the winds, and betrayed to her
in boastful words your agency in her kidnapping. It is not your fault
that my wife did not die of the poison you gave her to swallow, but only
that the wind and rain revived her when she lay out in the road where
you had her placed, believing her dead, with her lips sealed to your
part in the martyrdom.
"It is not your fault," he added, turning to Olive and Ela, "that you
failed to destroy her when you followed to the cabin where she lay
unconscious, and fired it like the remorseless fiends that you are. But
for John Franklin, who discovered your crime and saved her sweet life,
she must have perished in those flames. But my wife, like the angel she
is, forgives you everything, and will not let me prosecute you for your
crimes. But you three guilty, shameless ones must leave Ellsworth at
dawn, and it is best never to show your faces here again; for in making
public the proofs of my marriage with Dainty and the strange
interruption of the second ceremony, I shall not hesitate to expose your
treachery."
So at dawn they went away--as far as they could on their scanty
means--and the veil of a merciful oblivion fell over their future fate
as scheming adventuresses to the end of their days.
Love and Dainty did not punish their arch-enemies, but they did not fail
to reward all who had befriended them in their days of adversity. Mamma
Chase lived with them at Ellsworth, Ailsa Scott spent all her summers
there, and Doctor Platt remained the beloved friend of the family to the
last day of his life.
THE END.
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the
original edition have been corrected.
In Chapter I, a comma was added after "added Olive, eagerly", and
"tete-a-tete journey" was changed to "tete-a-tete journey".
In Chapter III, "tete-a-tete drive" was changed to "tete-a-tete drive".
In Chapter XVI, "frighten his timid bethrothed" was changed to "frighten
his timid betrothed".
In Chapter XX, "eyes flashing with a strang fire" was changed to "eyes
flashing with a strange fire".
In Chapter XXI, "Calm, oh. calm" was changed to "Calm, oh, calm".
In Chapter XXIX, "stay tonight, and tomorrow I must try to go home" was
changed to "stay to-night, and to-morrow I must try to go home".
In Chapter XXXVIII, "for only today Miss White had called" was changed
to "for only to-day Miss White had called".