A KNIGHT OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY - Edward Payson Roe (best color ebook reader TXT) 📗
- Author: Edward Payson Roe
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Effort To Do This; Then The Property Of His Wife And Laura, Which He
Held In trust. Then Came The Great Temptation Of His Life. He Was Joint
Trustee Of Another Very Large Property, And The Co-Executor Was In
Europe, And Would Be Absent For Years. In order To Use Some Of The Funds
Of This Property It Was Necessary To Have The Signature Of This
Gentleman. With The Infatuation Of Those Who Dally With This Kind Of
Temptation, Mr. Arnot Felt Sure That He Could Soon Make Good All That He
Should Use In his Present Emergency, And, Therefore, Forged the Name Of
The Co-Trustee. The Gentleman Returned from Europe Unexpectedly, And The
Crime Was Discovered and Speedily Proved.
It Was Now That Mrs. Arnot Proved what A Noble And Womanly Nature She
Possessed. Without Palliating His Fault, She Ignored the Whole Scoffing,
Chattering World, And Stood By Her Husband With As Wifely Devotion As If
His Crime Had Been Misfortune, And He Himself Had Been The Affectionate
Considerate Friend That She Had Believed he Would Be, When As A Blushing
Maiden She Had Accepted the Hand That Had Grown So Hard, And Cold, And
Heavy.
Mr. Beaumont Was Stunned and Bewildered. At First He Scarcely Knew What
To Do, Although His Sagacious Father And Mother Told Him Very Plainly To
Break The Engagement At Once. But The Trouble With Mr. Beaumont Upon
This Occasion Was That He Was A Man Of Honor, And For Once He Almost
Regretted the Fact. But Since He Was, He Believed that There Was But One
Course Open For Him. Although Laura Was Now Penniless, And The Same
Almost As The Daughter Of A Man Who Would Soon Be In state Prison, He
Had Promised to Marry Her. She Must Become The Mistress Of The Ancient
And Aristocratic Beaumont Mansion.
He Braced himself, As Had Been His Custom When A Battle Was In prospect,
And Went Down To The Beautiful Villa Which Would Be Laura'S Home But A
Few Days Longer.
As He Entered, She Saw That He Was About To Perform The One Heroic Act
Of His Life, But She Was Cruel Enough To Prevent Even That One, And So
Reduced his Whole Career To One Consistently Elegant And Polished
Surface.
He Had Taken Her Hand, And Was About To Address Her In the Most
Appropriate Language, And With All The Dignity Of Self-Sacrifice, When
She Interrupted him By Saying Briefly:
"Mr. Beaumont, Please Listen To Me First. Before The Most Unexpected
Event Occurred which Has Made So Great A Change In my Fortunes, And I
May Add, In so Many Of My Friends, I Had Decided to Say To You In all
Sincerity And, Kindness That I Could Not Marry You. I Could Not Give You
That Love Which A Wife Ought To Give To A Husband. I Now Repeat My
Decision Still More Emphatically."
Mr. Beaumont Was Again Stunned and Bewildered. A Woman Declining To
Marry Him!
"Can Nothing Change Your Decision?" He Faltered, Fearing That Something
Might.
"Nothing," She Coldly Replied, And With An Involuntary Expression Of
Contempt Hovering around Her Flexible Mouth.
"But What Will You Do?" He Asked, Prompted by Not A Little Curiosity.
"Support Myself By Honest Work," Was Her Quiet But Very Decisive Answer.
Mr. Beaumont Now Felt That There Was Nothing More To Be Done But To Make
A Little Elegant Farewell Address, And Depart, And He Would Make It In
Spite Of All That She Could Do.
The Next Thing She Heard Of Him Was That He Had Started on A Tour Of
Europe, And, No Doubt, In his Old Character Of A Connoisseur, Whose
Judgment Few Dared to Dispute.
Chapter LIV (Another Knight Appears)
The Processes Of Law Were At Length Complete, And Mr. Arnot Found
Himself In a Prison Cell, With The Prospect That Years Must Elapse
Before He Would Receive A Freedom That Now Was Dreaded almost More Than
His Forced seclusion. After His Conviction He Had Been Taken From
Hillaton To A Large Prison Of The State, In a Distant City.
"I Shall Follow You, Thomas, As Soon As I Can Complete Such Arrangements
As Are Essential," Mrs. Arnot Had Said, "And Will Remain As Near To You
As I Can. Indeed, It Will Be Easier For Laura And Me To Commence Our New
Life There Than Here."
The Man Had At Last Begun To Realize The Whole Truth. True To His
Nature, He Thought Of Himself First, And Saw That His Crime, Like A
Great Black Hand, Had Dragged him Down From His Proud Eminence Of Power
And Universal Respect, Away From His Beloved business, And Had Shut Him
Up In this Narrow, Stony Sepulchre, For What Better Was His Prison Cell
Than A Tomb To A Man With His Tireless Mind? The Same Mind Which Like A
Giant Had Carried its Huge Burden Every Day, Was Still His; But Now
There Was Nothing For It To Do. And Yet It Would Act, For Constant
Mental Action Had Become A Necessity From A Lifetime Of Habit.
Heretofore His Vast Business Taxed every Faculty To The Utmost. He Had
To Keep His Eye On All The Great Markets Of The World; He Had To Follow
Politicians, Diplomats, And Monarchs Into Their Secret Councils, And
Guess At Their Policy In order To Shape His Own Business Policy. His
Interests Were So Large And Far-Reaching That It Had Been Necessary For
Him To Take A Glance Over The World Before He Could Properly Direct His
Affairs From His Private Office. For Years He Had Been Commanding a
Small Army Of Men, And With Consummate Skill And Constant Thought He Had
Arrayed the Industry Of His Army Against The Labors Of Like Armies Under
The Leadership Of Other Men In competition With Himself. His Mind Had
Learned to Flash With Increasing Speed and Accuracy To One And Another
Of All These Varied interests. But Now The Great Fabric Of Business And
Wealth, Which He Had Built By A Lifetime Of Labor, Had Vanished like A
Dream, And Nothing Remained but The Mind That Had Constructed it.
"Ah!" He Groaned again And Again, "Why Could Not Mind And Memory Perish
Also?"
But They Remained, And Were The Only Possessions Left Of His Great
Wealth.
Then He Began To Think Of His Wife And Laura. He Had Beggared them, And,
What Was Far Worse, He Had Darkened their Lives With The Shadow Of His
Own Disgrace. Wholly Innocent As They Were, They Must Suffer Untold
Wretchedness Through His Act. In his View He Was The Cause Of The Broken
Engagement Between His Niece And The Wealthy Mr. Beaumont, And Now He
Saw That There Was Nothing Before The Girl But A Dreary Effort To Gain A
Livelihood By Her Own Labor, And This Effort Rendered almost Hopeless By
The Reflected shame Of His Crime.
His Wife Also Was Growing Old And Feeble. At Last He Realized he Had A
Wife Such As Is Given To But Few Men--A Woman Who Was Great Enough To Be
Tender And Sympathetic Through All The Awful Weeks That Had Elapsed
Since The Discovery Of His Crime--A Woman Who Could Face What She Saw
Before Her And Utter No Words Of Repining Or Reproach.
He Now Saw How Cold And Hard And Unappreciative He Had Been Toward Her
In The Days Of His Prosperity, And He Cursed himself And His Unutterable
Folly.
Thus His Great Powerful Mind Turned in vindictive Rage Against Itself.
Memory Began To Show Him With Mocking Finger And Bitter Jibes Where He
Might Have Acted more Wisely In his Business, More Wisely In his Social
Relations, And Especially More Wisely And Humanely, To Say The Least, In
His Own Home. It Seemed to Take A Fiendish Delight In telling Him How
Everything Might Have Been Different, And How He, Instead Of Brooding In
A Prison Cell, Might Have Been The Most Honored, Useful, Wealthy, And
Happy Man In hillaton.
Thus He Was Tortured until Physical Exhaustion Brought Him A Brief
Respite Of Sleep. But The Next Day It Was The Same Wretched round Of
Bitter Memories And Vain But Torturing activity Of Mind. Day After Day
Passed and He Grew Haggard Under His Increasing Mental Distress. His
Mind Was Like A Great Driving Wheel, Upon Which All The Tremendous
Motive Power Is Turned without Cessation, But For Which There Is Nothing
To Drive Save The Man Himself, And Seemingly It Would Drive Him Mad.
At Last He Said To Himself, "I Cannot Endure This. For My Own Sake, For
The Sake Of My Wife And Laura, It Were Better That An Utter Blank Should
Take The Place Of Thomas Arnot. I Am, And Ever Shall Be, Only A Burden
To Them. I Am Coming To Be An Intolerable Burden To Myself."
The Thought Of Suicide, Once Entertained, Grew Rapidly In favor, And At
Last It Became Only A Question How He Could Carry Out His Dark Purpose.
With This Definite Plan Before Him He Grew Calmer. At Last He Had
Something To Do In the Future, And Terrible Memory Must Suspend For A
Time Its Scorpion Lash While He Thought How Best To Carry Out His Plan.
The Suicide About To Take The Risk Of Endless Suffering Is Usually
Desirous That The Intervening Moments Of His "Taking Off" Should Be As
Painless As Possible, And Mr. Arnot Began To Think How He Could Make His
Exit Momentary. But His More Tranquil Mood, The Result Of Having Some
Definite Action Before Him, Led to Sleep, And The Long Night Passed in
Unconsciousness, The Weary Body Clogging The Wheels Of Conscious
Thought.
The Sun Was Shining When He Awoke; But With Returning Consciousness Came
Memory And Pain, And The Old Cowardly Desire To Escape All The
Consequences Of His Sin By Death. He Vowed he Would Not Live To See
Another Day, And Once More He Commenced brooding Over The One Question,
How He Would Die. As He Took Up This Question Where He Had Dropped it
The Previous Night, The Thought Occurred to Him What A Long Respite He
Had Had From Pain. Then Like A Flash Of Lightning Came Another Thought:
"Suppose By My Self-Destroying act I Pass Into A Condition Of Life In
Which There Is No Sleep, And Memory Can Torture Without Cessation,
Without Respite? True, I Have Tried to Believe There Is No Future Life,
But Am I Sure Of It? Here I Can Obtain A Little Rest. For Hours I Have
Been Unconscious, Through The Weight Of The Body Upon My Spirit. How Can
I Be Sure That The Spirit Cannot Exist Separately And Suffer Just The
Same? I Am Not Suffering Now Through My Body, And Have Not Been Through
All These Terrible Days. My Body Is Here In this Cell, Inert And
Motionless, Painless, While In my Mind I Am Enduring The Torments Of The
Damned. The Respite From Suffering That I Have Had Has Come Through The
Weariness Of My Body, And Here I Am Planning To Cast Down The One
Barrier That Perhaps Saves Me From An Eternity Of Torturing Thought And
Memory."
He Was Appalled at The Bare Possibility Of Such A Future; Reason Told
Him That Such A Future Was Probable, And Conscience Told Him That It Was
Before Him In veritable Truth. He Felt That Wherever He Carried memory
And His Present Character He Would Be Most Miserable, Whether It Were In
Dante'S Inferno, Milton'S Paradise, Or The Heaven Or Hell Of The Bible.
There Was No More Thought Of Suicide. Indeed, He Shrank From Death With
Inexpressible Dread.
Slowly His Thoughts Turned to His Wife, The Woman Who Had Been So True
To Him, The One Human Being Of All The World Who Now Stood By Him. She
Might Help Him In his Desperate Strait. She Seemed to Have A Principle
Within Her Soul Which Sustained her, And Which Might Sustain Him. At Any
Rate, He Longed to See Her Once More, And Ask Her Forgiveness In deep
Contrition For His Base And Lifelong Failure To "Love, Honor, And
Cherish Her," As He Had Promised at God'S Altar And Before Many
Witnesses.
The Devoted wife Came And Patiently Entered on Her Ministry Of
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