Dainty's Cruel Rivals; Or, The Fatal Birthday
"I am afraid I am very wicked, for I have always been fond of playing
practical jokes on people; but after to-night I shall try to restrain
that propensity," she sighed; and wondered why Love gave her such a
strange, piercing look.
A strange suspicion indeed had flashed over his mind; for her plot of
to-night had made him deeply anxious and uneasy.
He did not believe in her pretty penitence. It rang hollow in his ears,
and a sudden terror possessed him that Olive, in her angry rivalry,
would do Dainty bitter harm if possible.
He looked down at the dear white form by his side, and trembled with the
fear of losing her forever--a fear that was almost a premonition, it was
so strong.
He thought, in anguish:
"I must watch closely over my darling by day and night, lest these
deceitful plotters find some way to part us."
Olive began to feel her presence irksome to the lovers, and hurried
away, saying, carelessly:
"I must go and find Ela; I have not seen her for some time."
Ela had gone with her to bribe the gypsy, and since they had parted
company at the door of the tent, Olive had not seen her at all. It now
began to seem strange to her, and she had decided to look for her
cousin.
Ela had walked away from the crowd and the lights, nursing a secret
unhappiness, love and ambition waging a desperate war in her heart.
She had loved Vernon Ashley very dearly; but the ambition to make a
grand match had caused her to throw him over in the most heartless
fashion, ignoring his letters, and refusing him a single interview,
though he prayed for it so humbly.
The discovery to-day of Ellsworth's engagement to Dainty discouraged her
hopes of marrying him; but still there remained the hope of being made
her aunt's heiress, so she steeled her heart and fought down her
murdered love in its heaving grave, saying to herself, consolingly:
"It is painful at first, because I really loved him well; but I shall
soon get over the worst, and forget."
She was turning toward the crowd and the lights again, when suddenly a
dark form emerged from behind the tree, a pair of hands grasped her
wrists in a steely grip, and a low, menacing voice hissed in her ear:
"Cruel, heartless girl, you shall stay and hear me at last!"
CHAPTER XII.
A MADDENED LOVER.
"What is there that I should turn to,
Lighting upon days like these?
Every door is barred with gold,
And opens but to golden keys.
Every gate is thronged with suitors,
All the markets overflow;
I have but an angry fancy,
What is there that I should do?"
Ela trembled with fear when those hands clutched her and those words
were hissed in her ear, for she knew she had come to her reckoning with
her wronged lover.
And no one knew better than herself the mad, jealous temperament with
which she had to deal. Vernon Ashley's love was a frenzy, a tornado,
sweeping all before the wild rush of its passion.
He had spent all the force of this passion on the pale-faced, gray-eyed
Ela, and she had returned it with all the love of which her weak nature
was capable.
If Mrs. Ellsworth's invitation had never come, Ela would have married
her lover, and been as tolerably happy with him as it was possible for a
woman whose god was self, and who worshiped gold as the most precious
thing in life.
The sudden wild ambition to win the rich master of Ellsworth made her
sweep aside like chaff every obstacle she found in her way, and on
leaving Richmond, a cold and cruel letter went to Vernon Ashley,
breaking their engagement, with the lying excuse that she had been
mistaken in her feelings, and found she did not love him, after all.
Mad with love and jealousy, he followed her to Ellsworth, hoping to win
her back.
He could not believe that she did not love him, after all that had
passed between them in their happy courtship days; but he comprehended
that ambition was spurring her on to win a richer lover, since she had
never concealed from him her wild yearning for wealth.
Baffled, thwarted, his heart burning for a sight of her too fatally
beloved face, he had lingered in the neighborhood, hoping to surprise an
interview from her, and in this hope he had come to the church to-night
and waited about till success crowned his hopes.
He saw her steal away to brood alone over her secret pain beneath the
dark shadows of the trees, and the sight of the pale, fair face and the
limpid gray eyes thrilled his heart with the longing to clasp her madly
in his arms and kiss her till the old love flowed back into her breast
and made her own her falsehood and plead for his forgiveness.
Lingering behind the tree where she sat, he waited and watched till she
turned to go, then the hunger of his heart overcame him. He darted
forward, clasping her wrists in a steely grasp, hissing angrily in her
ear:
"Cruel, heartless girl! You shall stay and hear me at last!"
Ela trembled with fear, and tried to struggle away; for she knew well
that he had a most violent temper when aroused, and that her falsity had
lashed his nature almost to madness.
"Let me go, or I shall scream!" she whispered, threateningly.
But he answered, coolly:
"Dare to scream, and when they come to your aid, they will find a dead
woman on the ground!"
"Would you murder me?" she shuddered.
"Do you not deserve it, false-hearted girl? Have you not ruthlessly
murdered my love and faith, thrown my heart aside like a worn-out glove?
Did you think I was a man to be played with in that fashion?"
She realized that she dare not defy him; she must try to work on the
softer side of his nature. With her eyes faltering before the wrath of
his piercing black eyes, she murmured:
"Oh, forgive me, I entreat you. I did not mean to play with your love,
but I was mistaken in my feelings. I realized I did not love you well
enough to marry you, so it was better to break the engagement."
"You lie, false-hearted girl! You loved me well, and you love me still.
Love can not be so quickly unlearned. It is ambition that tempted you
from me--that love of gold that always cursed your weak nature!" he
returned, scornfully, stinging her to retort, angrily:
"What then? You can not help yourself! A girl may take back her promise
if she will, and there is no law to make her marry when she does not
choose!"
He tightened his clasp on her wrists till she sobbed with pain, and bent
his dark face, distorted with demoniac rage, close to hers, hissing:
"And with the poor excuse that there is no law against it, you break a
human heart and wreck a human life as ruthlessly as you would trample a
flower springing in your path. Are you not afraid?"
"Afraid--of what?" she murmured, uneasily; and her fair face, as the
moonlight gleamed on it down through the leaves, was ghastly with sudden
fear.
"Of--me!" he answered, with a mocking laugh that made her very blood run
cold, as he continued: "I am tempted to kill you for your falsity, but
not yet!--that is, I will wait till I see how things turn out. Perhaps,"
mockingly, "you will tell me if you expect to marry Lovelace Ellsworth?"
She faltered:
"No; he is engaged to my cousin."
"Are you speaking the truth?"
"Yes," she sobbed, nervously.
His midnight eyes flashed dangerously as he answered, menacingly:
"I hope that you are, and it will be well for you if you are, for, mind
you, Ela Craye, there is, as you say, no law to punish you for what you
have done to me, yet I mean to take justice into my own hands. You may
never be mine, but I swear no other man shall ever possess you. Remember
this that I tell you now: In the hour that you wed another, there will
be murder done! Either your life or my rival's shall pay the forfeit for
what you have done!"
"How dare you threaten me? Let me go! I--I--"
Ela began to sob hysterically, and then he caught her in his arms,
clasping her fiercely, and kissing her in a sort of frenzy.
"One more kiss--for old time's sake! Do you remember how sweet our love
used to be, Ela? You shall never forget it! I seal the memory of it on
your brow with these last kisses fiery with my heart's passion! Nay, you
dare not scream! The crowd would come rushing here, and you would not
like to have them find you here in my arms!"
But Ela's fear of him made her frantic, and she began to shriek, though
he stifled the sound with his kisses. Then sudden steps crashed through
the undergrowth, and a man's tall form loomed up in the moonlight.
"What is that cry? Good heavens! Unhand that lady, you hound!" thundered
Love Ellsworth, rushing on the scene, and clutching Ashley with such
strength that he released his hold and staggered back from his victim.
Instantly Ela clung wildly to his arm, sobbing fearfully.
"You are safe now; but--good heavens! that wretch is escaping!"
exclaimed Ellsworth, regretfully, as, hindered by her hold, he beheld
Ashley making off into the woods, from whence the next minute a pistol
shot whistled back, grazing Love's temple, and burying itself in the
tree beyond.
A startled cry escaped him, and Ela wailed:
"Oh, that wretch! He has wounded you!"
"It is nothing--a mere scratch," he answered, a little nervously,
putting his handkerchief to his brow to stanch a few drops of blood, as
he added: "But I had a narrow escape certainly. But why did you venture
so far from the light, Miss Craye? Your cousin has been searching for
you everywhere, and at last sent me to find you. I heard your smothered
shriek, and hastened to your assistance, just in time, it seemed. Was
the fellow trying to rob you?"
"Yes," she faltered, nervously, glad of the pretext for hiding the
truth. "But he did not succeed, thanks to your timely appearance on the
scene. I am very sorry I strayed so far away. I was tempted by
moonlight, and had not a thought of danger. Oh, believe me, I am very
grateful for your aid; I will never forget it."
"Let us go and relieve your cousin's anxiety," Love returned, leading
her away from the dark shadows of the trees back to the old church
again, where the story of the dreadful highwayman created such a
sensation that the gathering was soon broken up, every one departing for
home, while many regrets were expressed that Miss Craye could not
describe the appearance of her assailant clearly enough to lead to his
identification.
CHAPTER XIII.
SAD FOREBODINGS.
When Love and Dainty were parting in the hall that night, he detained
her a few moments, saying:
"I must start early in the morning for Lewisburg, our county seat. It is
twenty miles distant, and I shall not return until night. Do you think
you can bear the day without me?" playfully.
"Must you really go?" she sighed.
"Yes; I have some business that must not be postponed. I would take you
with me, darling, but it is a long drive over rough mountain roads, and
would fatigue you too much. But I hate to leave you for a whole day,
Dainty, and I shall be thinking of you all day," whispered the fond
lover, longing to take her in his arms and bid her an ardent farewell,
but deterred because his step-mother was lingering officiously close by.
They parted with a swift-stolen kiss when her head was turned, and
Dainty went reluctantly enough to her room, dreading the almost nightly
repeated experience with the grim ghost of Ellsworth.
She had grown to dread with a sickening terror the nights that were
stealing some of the rose-bloom from her cheeks and the brightness from
her violet eyes; but in her pride lest Love should deem her a coward,
she would not yield to the longing to ask him to let her go home to her
mother till the wedding day.
"It would be too great a triumph for my cruel rivals to have me go home
now, and they would try to turn my lover's heart against me. Besides,