Chapter 12

''Listen, Pedro; twice have I expressly forbidden you holding any communication with that firm; beware, lest I find you daring again to disobey me. This once more I will overlook it; but keep this well in mind, that it is far better to have me for your friend than your enemy. Now not another word; begone!'

'Pedro, whose consequential air had gradually faded into one of deep humility, as soon as the General ceased speaking, bowed very low and left without uttering a sound. The voice of the croupier was soon heard announcing that the monte would recommence, and yielding to the pressing invitation of those around me, I resumed my position at the table.

'It was past midnight ere the bank closed, and I rose the winner of some ten ounces. Not being at all ambitious of exciting the cupidity of the less fortunate brethren around me, I was very particular in intrusting all my money to the croupier and taking his receipt for it, payable to my order. This precaution settled in the most public manner, I bade my friends good night.

'At the foot of the stairs I found General Valiente waiting for me, apparently, for he accosted me in the most gracious tone, and bowed with the most exquisite air of well-bred politeness.

''Believe me, Señor Rideau, I feel extremely mortified about that little affair of the counterfeit dollars.'

''You are altogether too considerate, General, to think about the matter in any way.'

''O Señor! such a circumstance jars upon my feelings; those confounded villains! we must have a strong government, and make an example of some of them. I feel anxious to make amends to you--something more than a mere apology. Now an idea struck me as I came down-stairs. Will you oblige me by allowing me to buy the spurious dollars? Well, now, suppose I give you four good ones, it will be so much out of the fire.'

''Willingly, General, most willingly; but the fact is, I can only return you twelve; I have a particular use for the other three.'

''Ah! you sly rogue, you passed off three on the croupier, eh? Well, that is not so bad.'

''General, you flatter me too highly. I assure you I have a special purpose for three of them.'

''Oh! well,' said he, 'it is not of the least importance; I happen to have four dollars in my pocket, and I will give them to you in exchange for your twelve, rather than see a friend lose all.'

''General, I thank you a thousand times; here are your twelve counterfeits.'

''O Señor! pray do not mention thanks; between caballeros, there is no need for thanks; I have only done the right thing; here are four genuine dollars. Good-night--pleasant dreams.'

'Half-past twelve was striking as I reached, without further adventure, the door of my habitation.

''Who is there?' cried I, as I suddenly beheld, a few steps from the door, wrapped in a large cloak, leaning against the railing, a tall man.

'The unknown made no reply. I therefore stepped back and drew out my revolver. Dialogues carried on by knives and fire-arms are by no means of rare occurrence at mid-night in the streets of Mexico; but I was anxious, ere proceeding to extremities, to have a good look at my antagonist. Although the Cathedral Square was illumined by a magnificent moonlight, still I could not succeed. His hat was forced down over his brow; his ample cloak was raised, and the folds covered the lower portion of his face entirely. I could distinguish only a pair of glaring eyes, and also discover that his long hair, which nearly reached his shoulders, was almost perfectly white.

'The contemptuous silence and disdainful listlessness of my cloaked adversary tended rather to enrage than calm me; so, with my revolver in full view, and my arm stretched forth, I advanced toward him.

''I have already once demanded who you are, and you have not seen fit to answer me. As I intend entering this house, and can not do so in safety, since you block my passage, and may have a dagger hidden beneath your cloak, I warn you, unless you clear the way, I shall be obliged to proceed to violent means to enforce my demand.'

'Whether the unknown was duly impressed with wholesome prudence, by the tone of my voice and the sight of my pistol; whether, finding he had woke up the wrong customer, he determined to change his tactics; or whether he had no sinister motives, I could not then determine; suffice it to say, he evacuated the disputed territory, and with a measured and majestic step, moved away some eight or ten paces, reminding me of a stage bandit, in some Bowery melodrama.

'Keeping my face toward him, and letting no movement of his body escape me, I knocked loudly at the door, and in a minute more Donna Lopez herself opened it, and I entered.

'Mexican houses all are provided with two doors, and my hostess and I had not crossed the vestibule leading to the inner one, when the knocker fell on the outer door, with a force that fairly startled the obese Teresa.

''Holy Virgin!' exclaimed she, 'who can be there at this hour? But angels defend us, why, Señor, have you your pistol in your hand?'

'In a few words, I explained to her the adventure which had befallen me at the door; but ere I had fairly ended, the door shook with the increased violence with which the knocker now fell upon it. I rushed forward to open it.

''For mercy's sake, Señor, be prudent; do not open it,' said my terrified hostess, 'wait--wait, I will go myself.'

'Poor Donna Teresa, overpowered by fear, was slower than even was her custom, in obeying the impetuous summons, and as she reached the door, it shook for the third time beneath the rapid blows of the knocker.

'Who is there?' said she, in a faltering tone, opening a little slide which was so protected by bars and cross-bars as to prevent the intrusion of a dagger or even the muzzle of a pistol; 'who is there?'

''_The price of liberty is eternal vigilance_,' was the answer from without.

VI.

'Donna Lopez looked at me with terror and amazement.

''This must be the man Señor Pride has been so impatiently waiting for during the past three months,' said she, 'he must be admitted.'

''One moment, Señora, let me first put one question to this impetuous stranger; perchance he may have uttered these words without knowing their full import.'

''Friend,' said I, approaching the grating, 'it is very true that 'the price of liberty is eternal vigilance;' but allow me to suggest that this is not a very appropriate hour for uttering truisms, however excellent, especially in the way you do. Let peaceable people retire to rest, and take my advice and get you to your own home.'

''I must see Albert Pride without delay; imminent danger threatens him. If you persist in refusing me admittance, on your head be the consequences.'

'This reply dissipated all doubt. I opened the door immediately. A man, wrapped in a large cloak, entered, whom I instantly recognized as the same person I had found leaning against the rails. His face, no longer concealed, betrayed evidence of deep emotion.

'Taking a small lamp in her hand, Donna Teresa, after casting a piteous glance toward me, as though she were begging me not to lose sight of them, told the stranger to follow her, and she would show him the way. He followed, without uttering a word.

''This is the door of Señor Pride's room,' said she, on reaching the head of the stairs.

''Señora,' said the stranger, 'it may be that he is a sound sleeper, and may not answer my first rap. I will therefore, with your permission, take the lamp, and will not detain you longer.'

'How far this proposition suited my worthy hostess, I can not say; at any rate, she made no opposition. As we retired, we heard a firm hand rattling the handle of Pride's door.

'The sleeping-room I occupied, although contiguous to and on the same floor with Albert Pride's, was reached by another staircase. It was very narrow; but I was so familiar now with the house, that I did not wait for my hostess to bring a light, especially as I had candles in my room. As I entered my room, I fancied I heard a gentle tapping at the door, which was closed up near the foot of my bed, and to which I have already alluded. If opened, I knew it must lead into Pride's apartments.

'Again I heard the tapping, and exclaimed: 'Who is there?'

''Open the door, for Heaven's sake, open the door,' was the reply, in a low tone; 'quick, my life is in danger!'

'I approached the door, and in equally low tones asked: 'Who are you?'

''A woman--but quick, open--open the door, for every moment is precious. I tell you my life is at stake!'

'It seemed to me it was rather a time for action than for explanations, so, taking an excellent Spanish dagger, which I had had in my possession many years, I succeeded in wrenching out the two staples which fastened the door on my side, and then putting my mouth to the key-hole, I asked: 'Have you the key?'

''Yes.'

''Then unlock the door, and bring the key with you to this side.'

'A few moments more, and a woman, to judge from the lightness of the tread, for I was still without light, precipitated herself into, rather than entered, the room.

''Oh! thanks; from my heart I thank you, Señor, whoever you are; I owe my life to your kind assistance.'

'The sound of her voice, which I at once recognized, changed the suspicion which had from the first moment flashed upon my mind, into full assurance.

''Do not be afraid, madame,' said I, 'you are in perfect safety here. Do you lock the door, while I look to my candles.'

'The first object my candle brought to light was the pale but still charming face of my beautiful country-woman.

''You, sir!' she exclaimed, scarcely able to suppress her astonishment. 'In mercy I implore you, save me from the fury of my husband.'

''Of Mr. Albert Pride?'

''No, sir, Albert is not my husband; but, listen!--do you not hear?--they are quarreling--they are struggling.'

'I listened. She was not mistaken. In spite of the two partitions which separated us from the scene of this angry interview, we distinctly heard the furious accents of passion. All at once a violent shock made the wall--thin enough, it is true--creak and rattle; then, a moment afterward, we heard the fall as of a body, accompanied with a low moan.

''Albert is dead! He has murdered him; but woe be to him. I will be revenged yet,' exclaimed my companion, her eyes glaring with unearthly fire.

'At this moment, hasty footsteps sounded in the adjoining room, which I subsequently discovered was Pride's bed-chamber.

''Sir,' said a voice choked with anger, 'you are a coward, and shall give me satisfaction for this insult.'

''You brought it on yourself, by your own obstinacy. Had you not opposed my entrance to this room, I should not have used violence toward _you_, at any rate. As for the satisfaction you claim, I will think about that.'

''Well, you see that your wife is not here,' replied Albert, after a short silence, during which we could hear the furniture being moved, closets opened, and the curtain-rings rattle.

''True, sir; but her absence only proves one thing, that in one particular I have been misinformed.'

''Confess rather, egregiously duped.'

''_Duped!_--nay, you are the dupe. Will you, Arthur Livermore, give me your word of honor as a gentleman, that my wife, Adéle Percival, has not followed you to Mexico? Will you deny that she is now your mistress?'

''Yes, sir, I give you my word of honor,' replied Albert or Arthur, in a low, husky voice.

''And I tell you, Arthur Livermore, to your teeth, you are a miserable, contemptible liar! Nay, seek not to deny it, it is useless; for I hold here the proof, in your own writing. Look, here is your last letter; it arrived two days after Adéle left New-Orleans. You acknowledge that--for you turn pale at your own treachery. I bribed the tool who acted as your go-between, so you see I attached some importance to securing proof. You spoke, I think, of being duped. Arthur, I am amazed at your effrontery; but I wait to hear your defense.'

'A fresh silence followed this outburst of the outraged husband, a silence which was only broken by the heavy, rapid breathing of the two adversaries.

''You must indeed have passionately loved that woman, or you, Arthur, could never have been led to forswear your word of honor. O Arthur, Arthur! be warned; I swear to you before heaven, that woman, with all her beauty--a beauty that I once deemed angelic--is possessed by devils whose name is legion; her heart is the receptacle of a monstrous, hideous crowd of vices--vices the most opposite, there nestle together: brazen effrontery and cringing cowardice; sordid cupidity and the most lavish, reckless prodigality. With her, every act is the result of deep, cool calculation. No generous impulse ever beat within her breast; and love, except for self, never yet was awakened from its deathlike torpor. She married me because I was reputed rich; she deserted me because she deemed me ruined. What motive impelled her to follow you to Mexico, I know not. But of this I warn you, rest assured it is not love for you--you perchance, may be useful to her; the necessary instrument to further some new scheme. But remember General Ramiro's fate, and take heed lest you be the next dupe--the next victim.'

'I turned involuntarily toward the youthful creature beside me, as her husband's voice ceased to ring on my ears. Despite the mastery she exercised over her feelings, I nevertheless perceived she trembled; but who, save the Judge of all, can tell whether it arose from fear, rage, or the first emotion of repentance.

''Mr. Percival,' replied my neighbor, in a constrained voice, 'this interview, after the violence which commenced it, must naturally be most painful to me, and I presume equally so to you. Allow me, in as few words as possible, to bring it to a close. I own that I was wrong in pledging my word of honor to what was not wholly true. Until you claimed Adéle here this night, as your wife, I had for months supposed you had abandoned all title to the name of husband; that you had mutually consented to a divorce, and under that impression I denied that Adéle was my mistress, for in February last, I was married to her at Baton Rouge. In presence of the proofs you possess, it were useless to deny that Adéle is at this moment in this city. I have seen her this very day, and I own that I know where she resides. More than this, it will be useless for you to attempt to extort from me. I refuse beforehand to answer any further interrogatory. I can fully conceive the hatred my presence must inspire within your breast; I will not even pretend to regret it; for this hatred, springing from a sense of dishonor, will preclude the possibility of any thing save the death of one of us, terminating the appeal for satisfaction which I have already claimed. I have done, sir, and wait your reply.'

'Some seconds elapsed ere Adéle's husband replied. His voice had grown calmer and more restrained, and I imagined that he had recovered his self-control.

''Arthur,' said he, 'I shall not challenge you, neither will I accept a challenge from you.'

''You refuse to meet me,' said my neighbor, 'and for what reason?'

''Because I do not hate, I merely pity you; because he who first defiled my home, lies in his sandy grave beside the waters of Lake Ponchartrain; because beside that grave I vowed to my Maker and my God never again to dare to take into these blood-stained hands the holy scales of justice. Yes, Arthur, it is four long years since I sent that wretched victim of that woman to his last solemn reckoning. Look at me to-day; my locks are white; 'tis not with age: I have not yet lived out the half of man's allotted span on earth. But that bleeding corpse; the trickling, oozing drops from out that breast; the gurgling sound of the unuttered death-words of Adéle's first seducer--these have made me prematurely old. Oh! woe to him who dares to seek and takes revenge. Vengeance has been claimed as Heaven's sole, supreme prerogative. Arthur, I must, I do refuse your challenge.'

''Sir, I shall not deign to notice your calumnies about Adéle, for I am anxious to terminate this interview. May I ask why you seek to prolong it, and why, if you so loathe Adéle, you persecute me by following her?'

''Because I am resolved on two points--to see her, and to learn from her where she has secreted our child.'

''Unless you pledge yourself, Mr. Percival, not to make any further attempt to see Adéle, you shall not, if I can prevent, leave this room alive.'

''Oh! oh! finding I won't fight, you fancy you can frighten me by threats of assassination. It is rather creditable to your ingenuity, Mr. Livermore, but I had provided for such a contingency. The United States Minister has been apprized of my arrival, and I left certain papers with his Secretary to be opened to-morrow, in case I should not return by noon, explaining our mutual relations very concisely yet definitely. Now you know that the Mexican idea of justice, though lenient in the extreme to natives, is just as extremely severe to foreigners, so that I would hardly advise you to tempt the gallows, unless, indeed, you have less objection to suicide, for I really think that is the only way you can possibly cheat the hangman, unless you condescend to allow me to pay my respects to the American Legation to-morrow, in the forenoon.'

'On the stage, especially in the sanguinary melodrama, it is astonishing how little respect is paid to the gallows; but somehow in the humbler walks of every day life, it exercises a very salutary, deterring influence on a very large class of minds; and I was, therefore, in no way surprised to hear my neighbor resume the conversation in a tone decidedly an octave or two lower.

''You have entirely misinterpreted my meaning. I may have thought of here forcing a quarrel on you, but the commission of the crime you dare insinuate, never entered my brain. But, now, sir, one last question: Why do you persist in seeking an interview with the woman you pretend to hate?'

''Pretend to hate! nay, there is no pretense, I hate, detest, and loathe her; not because she betrayed me; not because she stained an honorable name; not because she made me kill her lover; not because she has ruined my happiness; but because knowing--feeling all this, and more than words have power to convey--because knowing her infamy and shame, I still, still love her.'

''_You_ love her still!' cried Arthur. 'Oh! thanks for that one avowal; that explains fully the bitterness with which you calumniate her.'

''Calumniate her! oh! that were impossible for the very basest fiend to do. But I was wrong to desecrate the word, and say I _love_ her. No, no; I tell you I hate her, I loathe her; but in spite of hatred, in spite of loathing, she exercises over my imagination an irresistible fascination--a fascination you can never feel in that intensity which haunts my dreams of early manhood. You knew her not a guileless, artless girl just blooming into early maidenhood. But enough of these maddening memories of the past. It were better, doubtless, that I never see her more, for in my hatred I might kill her. But mark you, Arthur, I _will_ find my child; she is now the only tie that binds me to humanity; the only link that chains me to this mortal coil which men call life. I must have my darling child. The day after to-morrow I will return here to know where she is secreted; if that be divulged to me, I swear by all that men hold as sacred, whether in heaven or earth, to depart in peace, and leave you to your fate, and Adéle to the vengeance of the Most High. Adieu.'

''Farewell. You shall be told all that you require,' said my neighbor.

''Oh! excuse me,' said Percival, returning, 'where does this door lead to?'

''To some room to which I have never had access.'

''Occupied by whom?'

''I do not know.'

'A violent blow, which we had not expected, was given on the door, close to which we were standing, listening. I instantly retreated to my bed. Adéle remained motionless as a statue; and when the second blow fell upon the panels, I cried out most lustily:

''Who the deuce is there?' mingling therewith, moreover, sundry forcible Spanish expletives.

''No one. Excuse me, Señor, I mistook the door.'

''Well, clear out, and don't do it again!' I retorted.

''Please show me the way out of this house, Mr. Livermore,' was all we heard, until after a painful pause the street-door was closed, and Arthur's footstep sounded returning up-stairs. I looked fixedly at my companion; her face wore a deathlike pallor, but a soft, melancholy smile played upon her lips.

''Poor Edmund!' said she, in a sad, soft tone, 'despite the wrongs I have endured at his hands, the jealousy he has now evinced is such a proof of his undying love, that I am almost constrained to forgive his former cruelty.' Adéle gave vent to a sigh, and added, with downcast eyes:

''The world, doubtless, will blame me; they will believe every charge, scout every palliative plea. For a season, I must endure its frown, and resign my will to drink the bitter cup of scorn and contumely; for I have gone astray, I have sinned against the judgment of my fellow-mortals; and yet, oh! it were so easy to gain sympathy, were I to disclose the secrets of the inner dungeons of my prison-house--that spot which poets sing as blessed--Home! O man, man! there _is_ no place like home, but how readily may it be turned into a hell--for--a wife!'

'I was still weak--nervous; and her words breathed such tones of bitter anguish, and her whole frame evinced such tokens of emotion, that in spite of all that I had overheard, tears welled up to my eyelids, and compassion overcame my still lurking distrust; her sobs alone broke the silence which ensued, and I was never in my life more painfully embarrassed. Fortunately the return of my neighbor relieved me from my peculiar predicament. No sooner did Adéle hear him enter the adjoining room, than she opened the door of communication, and threw herself upon his breast.

VII.

''Dearest Arthur,' said she, the tears still running down her cheeks, 'how fearfully you must have suffered throughout this long interview!'

''Oh! fear not, Adéle, all will yet be well. I will protect you and avenge your wrongs.'

''Fear not?' said she, 'do you think that I dread death for my own sake? No, Arthur, death is nothing terrible to me _now_.'

'Then suddenly appearing to become conscious of my presence, they both seized me by the hands and overwhelmed me with the profusion of their thanks.

''Any one would have acted precisely as I have, under similar circumstances. I therefore beg you to spare me from further thanks. But, my dear sir, do you feel ill? Madame, allow me to support Mr. Livermore.'

'A sudden change came over his features; a deathlike paleness overspread his countenance, his eyelids became half-closed, his breathing grew short, his hands clenched, and a nervous tremor shook his entire frame. For a few moments I feared he was at the point of death. I promptly assisted him to his couch.

''Are you surgeon enough to bleed him?' inquired Adéle.

''Yes, I will not hesitate if you desire me to do so.'

'We soon divested Arthur of his coat, stripped his arm, and while I went in search of an impromptu lancet, Adéle prepared the needful bandages.

''Be quick, I implore you,' said she. 'Once before I saw him as he now is; there is not a moment to be lost.'