The Masked Bridal Page 10

  CHAPTER VIII.

  THE VENOM OF JEALOUSY.

  And thus Edith became companion to the wife of the wealthy andaristocratic Gerald Goddard, who was known as one of Boston'smillionaires.

  They had a beautiful home on Commonwealth avenue, where they spenttheir winters, a fine estate in Wyoming, besides a villa at Newport,all of which were fitted up with an elegance which bespoke anabundance of means. And so Edith was restored to a life of luxury akinto that to which she had always been accustomed, previous to themisfortunes which had overtaken her less than two years ago.

  Her duties were comparatively light, consisting of reading to Mrs.Goddard, whenever she was in the mood for such entertainment; singingand playing to her when she was musically inclined; and accompanyingher upon drives and shopping expeditions, when she had no othercompany.

  Edith, however, was not long in the household before she made thediscovery that there was a skeleton in the family. At times Mr.Goddard was morose and irritable, and his wife displayed symptoms ofintense jealousy. About five weeks after Edith's installation in thehome, Mrs. Goddard's brother, Monsieur Correlli, a young sculptor,came there, on a visit to his sister. He was handsome and talented,and had come from France, to "do the United States," during a longvacation.

  Mrs. Goddard was proud of her brother, and often attended receptionsand parties with him as her escort, and was delighted to show him offto her friends and acquaintances in the most select of Boston society.

  On returning to her home, after one of these receptions, she heardmerry laughter in the library. Listening attentively, she discoveredthat it emanated from her husband and Edith, who sometimes, at hisrequest, read to him during the frequent absences of his wife.

  The demon of jealousy at once took possession of her. Suddenlyentering the library she requested Edith to at once attend her in herboudoir. On arriving there the enraged woman gave way to her passionof jealousy. In blunt words she taunted the girl with attempting tosteal the affections of her husband, and closed her bitter commentswith the threat that "the woman who tried to win my husband from mewould never accomplish her purpose. _I would kill her!"_

  Edith did her best to assure the angry woman that her suspicions wereunfounded, and in a little time Mrs. Goddard was half convinced thatshe had been too hasty in her accusations.

  That night the pure girl calmly deliberated upon the subject, andrecalled several occasions when Mr. Goddard had seemed to be deeplyabsorbed in the contemplation of her features, eyeing her with glancesof undisguised admiration and rapture. She determined, therefore, tobe a little more circumspect hereafter, and avoid giving him suchopportunities.

  Another trial awaited her about a week later. Emil Correlli had becomequite attentive to her, seeking every chance to be alone with her,showering compliments upon her, and extolling her charms. On one ofthese occasions he was bold enough to propose marriage, and, beforeshe could recover from her astonishment, had the effrontery to steal akiss from her unwilling lips.

  This bold affront, added to the previous unfounded accusations of Mrs.Goddard made Edith decide to leave the house at once. She announcedher decision to her mistress; but that lady, in great humiliation,begged her to overlook her brother's impetuosity, saying that hisconduct should be considered only "a tribute to her manifold charms,"and that hereafter she would have no cause for complaint of either himor her.

  The proud woman's deep contrition, and her earnest appeals, had theeffect intended, and Edith decided to remain.

  That evening a prolonged interview occurred between Mrs. Goddard andher brother. The result of it was that the sister agreed to do herutmost to place Edith beyond the reach of her husband by combining ascheme which would make her the bride of Emil Correlli.

  Some days elapsed, and then an incident worthy of record occurred.Edith had been out for a stroll, and, just as she was retracing hersteps along Commonwealth avenue, an elegant carriage came slowlyaround the corner. The driver was in dark green livery, and seemed tobe under the influence of stimulants. Suddenly he leaned sideways, andfell off the box, landing on the ground.

  Edith impulsively started forward, shouted "Whoa!" to the horses, andlifted the reins. The animals stopped immediately, and in a moment alovely face was thrust from the carriage window, and a sweet voiceasked,

  "Thomas, what is the matter?--what has happened?"

  She stepped from the carriage and was soon informed of the accident,and its probable cause. She was a tall, elegantly-formed woman, ofperhaps forty-three years, with large, dark brown eyes and rich brownhair. Her skin was fair and flawless, as that of a girl of twenty,with a delicate flush upon her cheeks, and Edith thought her face themost beautiful she had ever seen.

  A policeman presently appeared upon the scene, and the lady requestedhim to secure some competent person who would drive the vehicle to itsstable. To secure attention to this request, she gave the policeman abank note, and named the location of the stable. She then said to thecoachman, who was engaged in brushing the dust from his clothing:

  "Thomas, you may come to me at nine o'clock to-morrow morning--withoutthe carriage."

  As the coachman staggered off, the lady turned to Edith, thanked herfor the service she had performed, and gave her a card bearing a nameand address--"Mrs. I. G. Stewart, Copley Square Hotel, Boston, Mass."

  At the solicitation of the lady, Edith gave her name, and stated thatshe was the companion to Mrs. Gerald Goddard, of Commonwealth avenue.

  This information caused Mrs. Stewart to turn pale, and otherwisemanifest a strange agitation. She quickly recovered, however, andstated:

  "Ah! I was introduced to Mrs. Goddard's brother, Monsieur Correlli, afew evenings ago, but I have never had the pleasure of meeting Mrs.Goddard. Now it is time for me to go, and I shall have to take anelectric car to get back to my hotel. Again let me thank you for yourtimely service. I hope you and I will meet again some time; and, dear,if you should ever need a friend, do not fail to come to me.Good-afternoon."

  Shortly after the departure of Mrs. Stewart, as Edith was walkinghomeward, she was overtaken by Emil Correlli, who begged permission toattend her, as they were both bound for the same destination. It wouldhave been rude to refuse, so Edith consented, although she would havepreferred to go alone.

  They had not advanced far before Edith became aware that they werefollowed by a woman, who kept parallel with them, on the opposite sideof the street. Monsieur Correlli seemed unconscious of this fact, ashe was apparently engrossed in the effort to entertain his companionwith animated conversation. When they were within a few yards of Mrs.Goddard's residence, the woman suddenly darted across the avenue andplaced herself directly in their path.

  In an instant Emil Correlli seemed turned to stone, so motionless andrigid did he become. For a full minute his gaze was riveted upon thestranger, as if in horrible fascination.

  "_Giulia!_" he breathed, at last, in a scarcely audible voice. "_Lediable!_"

  The woman had a veil over her face, but Edith could see that she wasvery handsome, with a warm, Southern kind of beauty, although it wasof a rather coarse type. She was evidently a foreigner, with brilliantblack eyes, an olive complexion, scarlet lips and cheeks, and a wealthof purple-black hair, which was coiled in a massive knot at the backof her head.

  She was of medium height, with a plump but exquisitely proportionedfigure, as was revealed by her closely-fitting garment of navy-bluevelvet.

  The moment Emil Correlli spoke her name, she burst passionately forth,and began to address him in rapidly uttered sentences of some foreignlanguage, which Edith could not understand.

  It was not French, for she could converse in that tongue, and she knewit was not German. She therefore concluded it must be either Italianor Spanish.

  As the girl talked, her eyes roved from the man's face to Edith's,with angry, jealous glances, while she gesticulated wildly with herhands, and her voice was fierce and intense with passion.

  She would not give Monsieur Correlli an opportun
ity to say one word,until she had exhausted her seemingly endless vocabulary; but he wasas colorless as a piece of his own statuary, and a lurid, desperatelight burned in his eyes--a gleam, which, if she had been less intentupon venting her own passion, would have warned her that she was doingher cause, whatever it might be, more harm than good by the course shewas adopting.

  At last she paused in her tirade, simply because she lacked breath togo on, when Emil Correlli replied to her, in her own tongue, and withequal fluency; but in tones that were both stern and authoritative,while it was evident that he was excessively annoyed by her sudden andunexpected appearance there.

  Finally, after another attempt upon the girl's part to carry herpoint, he stamped his foot imperatively, to emphasize some command,and, with a look which made her cringe like a whipped cur before him;when, shooting a glance of fire and hate at Edith, she turned away,with a crestfallen air, and went, dejectedly, down the street.

  Edith would have been glad, and had tried, to escape from this scene,for after the first moment of surprise upon being so unceremoniouslyconfronted by the beautiful stranger, she had stepped aside, ascendedthe steps, and rang the bell.

  But, for some reason, no one came to the door, and she was obliged torepeat the summons, but feeling very awkward to have to stand thereand listen to the altercation that was being carried on so near her,although she could not understand a word that was said.

  At last, just as Monsieur Correlli had delivered his authoritativecommand, the butler made his appearance, and let Edith in.

  Before she could enter, the woman was gone, and Emil Correlli sprangup the steps, and was by her side.

  He glanced anxiously down upon her face, which wore a grave andpre-occupied look.

  He knew that she was wondering who the fiery, but beautiful andrichly-dressed stranger was; knew that she could not fail to believethat there must be something suspicious and mysterious in hisrelations with her, and he was greatly exercised over the unfortunateencounter.

  He had set his heart upon winning her--he had vowed that nothingshould stand in the way of her becoming his wife, and now this--theworst of all things--had happened, to compromise him in her eyes, andhe secretly breathed the fiercest anathemas upon the head of themarplot who had just left them.

  Later that evening, Emil Correlli took the first opportunity toexplain the unfortunate _contretemps_ to the wondering Edith. Hestated that the girl was the daughter of an Italian florist, who hadaudaciously presumed to dun him for a small bill he owed her fatherfor floral purchases.

  This matter, satisfactorily explained, as he thought, he renewed hisprotestations of love to Edith, solicited her hand in marriage, andwas staggered by her emphatic refusal.

  Her refusal was reported to Mrs. Goddard by that lady's brother, andshe counseled him to be patient.

  "I have in mind," she said, "the germ of a most cunning plot, whichmust succeed in your winning Edith Allen," and then she proceeded tounfold her plan, which, for boldness, craft, and ingenuity, would havebeen worthy of a French _intriguante_ of the seventeenth century.

  "Anna, you are a trump!" Emil Correlli exclaimed, admiringly, when sheconcluded. "If you can carry that out as you have planned it, it willbe a most unique scheme--the best thing of its kind on record!"

  "I can carry it out if you will let me do it in my own way; only youmust take yourself off. I will not have you here to run the risk ofspoiling everything," said Mrs. Goddard, with a determined air.

  "Very well, then; I will go this very night. I will take the eleveno'clock express on the B. and A. I have such faith in your genius thatI am willing to be guided wholly by you, and trust my fate entirely inyour hands."

  "I can write you from time to time, as the plan develops," shereplied, "and send you instructions regarding the final act."

  "All right, go ahead--I give you _carte blanche_ for your expenses,"said Monsieur Correlli, as he rose to leave the room.

  Five hours later, he was fast asleep in a Pullman berth, and flyingover the rails toward New York.

  Meanwhile Edith, who was inclined to leave the house, and throwherself upon the kindness of Mrs. Stewart, found her mistressunusually gracious, seeking her aid in forwarding invitations for areception, and in planning for what she called "a mid-winter frolic."She also incidentally announced, to the great gratification of Edith,that Monsieur Correlli had hurriedly departed for New York, with theintention of being absent a considerable time.

  Little did Edith then suspect that she was assisting in a plan whichwas intended to force her into a detested marriage.