CHAPTER IISTARTLING NEWS
When the tender reached the dock Mr. Force touched his daughter’s arm, and whispered:
“We can get a train back to London, and catch the night steamer to Ostend, and be with your mother by to-morrow evening. Shall we do so, or shall we go down to Chester and take a little tour through the Welsh mountains?”
“Oh, no; papa, dear. We will go home to mamma, if you please,” said Odalite, who, amid all her grief, noticed the pale and worn look on the patient face that told of his silent suffering.
“Very well, my dear. I only thought it would divert you,” he replied.
They drove from the docks to the Adelphi, where Mr. Force paid their hotel bill, took up the little luggage, and, with his daughter, drove on to the railway station, and caught the express train to London, a tidal train that connected with the Ostend night boat.
They reached Ostend the next day, and before night arrived at Baden-Baden, where they were received with gladness by their family, who did all that was possible to cheer the spirits of Odalite and raise her hopes for the future.
They all remained in Germany until the first of November, and then set out to spend the winter on the banks of the Mediterranean.
Their first halting place was Genoa, where they waited letters from Le.
The letters arrived at length, bringing good news. Le was assigned to the man-of-warEagle, bound for the Mediterranean! Bound direct for Genoa!
Then, in perfect content, they settled down for the winter.
The earl’s health was certainly improving in the mild air of sunny Italy, and his spirits were rallying in the society of his relatives, so he also decided to remain in Genoa.
Before the end of November theEaglewas in port, and Midshipman Force hastened to see his friends at their house on the Strada Balbi.
He had been absent only seven weeks, yet they received him with as much joy as though they had not seen him for seven years.
As long as his ship lay at anchor in the harbor his friends remained in the Strada Balbi. And whenever he could get a day or a half day off he came to them.
When theEaglesailed for Nice the family left Genoa for the same city, and took up their quarters at the Hotel de la Paix, and the same pleasant intercourse was resumed.
And so the winter passed. And Mr. Force was beginning to contemplate the possibility of having his daughter freed from a merely nominal and most unfortunate marriage. To do this it would be necessary, according to his ideas of honor, that they should return to the state and the parish where the marriage ceremony had been nearly performed, but was finally interrupted.
But there was no hurry, he thought. Le was on the Mediterranean, and his duty would keep him there for two or three years longer.
There was another source of occasional uneasiness—the political condition of the United States. Ever since the presidential election, in November, dissatisfaction had spread in certain sections of the country, and trouble seemed to be brewing.
All this, coming through the newspapers to the knowledge of the absentees, gave them disturbance, but reallynot much, so thoroughly confident were they all in the safety of the Union, and the grand destiny of the republic.
The clouds on the political horizon would vanish, and all would be well. No harm could come to the country, which was the Lord’s City of Refuge for the oppressed of all the world.
They had heard not a word from or of Angus Anglesea since the Washington detective had traced him to Canada, and there lost him.
Le privately and most earnestly hoped that the villain had got himself sent to some State prison for life, or, well, hanged—which the midshipman thought would have been even better. At least, however, the family he had wronged so deeply seemed now to be well rid of him. But Le expressed a strong wish that his uncle would return to Maryland in the spring and have Odalite entirely freed by the law from the bond, or rather, the shadow of the bond, that lay so heavily on her life, and on his.
“No doubt I could easily have Odalite set free from her nominal marriage with a villain, who was forced to leave her at the altar before the benediction had been given. But to do this, Le, I should have to take her home to Maryland, where you could not follow her for two or three years. So, what good could come of hurry? Besides, we are no longer molested by the villain Anglesea. Be thankful for that blessing, Le, and for the rest be patient.”
“‘Patient!’” exclaimed the youth. “You have so often told me to be patient, and I have so long been patient, that I am unutterably impatient of the very word ‘patient’!”
“I beg your pardon, Le. I will not persecute you with the word any longer,” gravely replied the elder man.
“Uncle, I beg your pardon! I do, indeed. I feel myself to be an ungrateful and most unreasonable wretch! Here you have made my burden as light as you can by showing me all sorts of favors and giving me all sorts of privileges, moving about from place to place to give me opportunity of being with you all, and here am I like a beast losing my temper with you. Uncle! I don’t deserve that you should pardon me!”
“Say no more, Le! Dear boy, I can understand your trials; but look on the brighter side, my lad. The best of the business now is that Anglesea does not trouble us. He seems to have died out of our lives.”
“Yes, but has he, uncle? He did that once before for three years, and even advertised himself as dead and buried. But he suddenly came to life again, and sprang into our midst like a very demon, to do us all the harm that he possibly could. How do we know when he will reappear to disturb us? Uncle! I do not mean to threaten, because I do not wish to sin; but I foresee that, if Anglesea ever comes in my way again, the sight of the man will goad me to crime.”
“Oh, no, Le! No, my dear boy! Do not talk so! If ever you should be tempted, pray to the Lord. And think of Odalite. To bring yourself to evil would break her heart, Le!”
“I will pray that I may never set eyes on that man again, uncle!”
Soon after this conversation, near the last of February, the family went to Rome to witness the grand grotesque pageantry of the carnival. Le could not leave his ship to go with them, and so they only remained during the week of orgies, and as soon as it was over returned to Naples, where theEaglewas then at anchor. Here they settled themselves in furnished lodgings, on the Strada di Toledo, for the spring months.
It was early in May.
They were all—with the exception of Le, who was on duty on his ship—assembled in a handsome front room overlooking the Strada.
The earl, whose health was so much improved that his friends hoped for its full restoration, sat in his easy chair beside a little stand, playing a game of chess with Wynnette, who had developed into a champion chess player, and was much harder to beat than ever her father had been.
Mr. Force, who, suffering from a return of his malady, lay on a sofa, pale and patient, but in too much pain to read or to talk. Odalite sat near him, silently working on the silk flower embroidery she had learned to like from her mother’s example.
Elva and Rosemary, at a round table, were turning over a set of “views” left by Le on his previous visit.
Mrs. Force was opening a newspaper received that morning, and smoothing it out, preparatory to reading it aloud to her family.
Suddenly she dropped the paper, covered her face with her hands, and fell back in her chair, wailing forth the words:
“Oh, my Lord! my Lord! This is the very hardest thing to bear of all that went before!”