The dangerous game
cut herself adrift from him, his anger found vent in vituperation,
threats, and disgusting references to his age.
Darville read the letter, and, laughing to himself, murmured: “Go to
Canada, my false friend, and consider yourself lucky that you have
escaped with your life!” The letter had been addressed to him,
therefore he did not think it necessary to show it to Edris, and thus
re-open a closed and unhappy chapter of their lives. So he tore it
into fragments, and descended the broad staircase to the dining-room,
where Edris, fresh and charming, stood alone, awaiting his morning
kiss.
That beautiful spring day saw the rebirth of their great and wonderful
love, and Mrs. Temperley, who now knew of their engagement, was not
slow to notice the change that had suddenly come over the pair.
She and her husband had approved of the friendship from the first,
because the General well knew the strong character of Seton Darville,
and both he and his wife preferred seeing Edris the wife of a man of
Seton’s age rather than her marriage with a shallow-minded young man
like Lionel.
That morning, with the sun shining upon the fresh green spring
blossoms everywhere, they wandered arm in arm in the grounds of
Stagsden, blissfully happy in each other’s love, while Lord Simba
played about them, his huge form almost knocking them down when, in
his gambols, he pretended to pounce upon them.
“Do you know, Seti,” she exclaimed, after they had mutually agreed
never to mention the name of Weiss in future, “I have a strange
longing to go back to Interlaken--to the Hotel du Lac--and spend the
early spring there upon the scene of your terrible grief and
suffering. Let us return there, and live a life of happiness such as
we have not yet known--blissful days that will wipe out the terrible
memory of the past.”
“If you wish it, darling, we will go. Any day will suit me.”
And so, a week later, they went back to Switzerland, that peaceful,
picturesque country that both of them loved so well, and, making
Interlaken their headquarters, they wandered about the beautiful
Bernese Oberland to those spots where Darville had experienced such
overwhelming sorrow, when his love was being tested in the crucible of
jealousy and deceit.
One day something recalled to Edris’s mind the winter sports of the
previous year, and she said:
“I wonder I have never heard from little Mrs. Caborn. Do you remember
her? I wrote to her a few months ago, but got no reply.”
He winced, but she did not notice it.
“Oh, I suppose she has forgotten you. Hotel acquaintances are easily
made, and as easily dropped.”
What would she have thought had she known of her friend’s tragic end?
Weeks lengthened into months. The Alpine spring grew into summer, and
they still remained there, both of them having no inclination to
return to England.
One beautiful summer’s evening they were seated beneath the trees in
the pretty shady park at Wengen, at a spot where they had often sat in
those dark days of Edris’s fatal fascination.
“Do you recollect the last time we sat here, darling?” she asked him.
“I lied to you, because I dared not tell you the truth.”
“My loved one, it is all forgiven,” he answered her. “I know that you
remained mine all along.”
He drew her into his arms, and Edris put hers round his neck and clung
tightly to him, and there, at last, she found the peace that she had
always longed for, but until then had never gained.
* * * * * * *
If you stand on that broad promenade, the Höheweg, at Interlaken,
with its row of handsome hotels, and its great meadows with the wide
valley and the towering eternal snows of the Jungfrau in the
background--one of the most gorgeous views in all Europe--you will
see, upon the wooded mountain-side, a pretty white chalet, with
balconies and wide, overhanging eaves and a wonderful garden of
tangled roses, geraniums and wisteria.
If you ask who lives at that delightful spot, you will be told that it
belongs to Mr. Seton Darville, the famous novelist, who lives there in
peaceful happiness with his charming wife, both of them ardent lovers
of Switzerland and the Swiss, and both extremely popular all over the
Bernese Oberland.
THE END
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Minor spelling inconsistencies (e.g. intrusted/entrusted,
reëntering/re-entering, Zürich/Zurich, etc.) have been preserved.
Alterations to the text:
[Chapter VII]
“Besides he was not certain whether she had come to England” add a
comma after _Besides_.
Change “I had a similar case a _fornight_ ago--an insured parcel” to
_fortnight_.
[Chapter IX]
“Can you leave Paris at ten, and be at Victoria at _5:15_?” to _5.15_.
[Chapter X]
“See you on Saturday, and I’ll be delighted Good-by, Edris.” add a
period after _delighted_.
[Chapter XIX]
“She crossed to where… and, bending, kissed him fondly” add a period
to the sentence.
[Chapter XX]
“all three dined together in the great salle _a_ manger amid the gay”
to _à_.
[Chapter XXIV]
“I am compelled to… while my heart is breaking I know that my” add
a period after _breaking_.
[Chapter XXVI]
“That night the pair experienced a feeling of _strangement_” to
_estrangement_.
[End of text]