'Tell it to all the world,craven and outcast,whose vileness all men know,and see how I shall bear myself,and how I shall drive through the town with head erect.As I bore myself when I set the rose crown on my head,so shall I bear myself then.And you shall see what comes!'This would I have said,and held to it,and gloried.But I knew love,and there was an anguish that I could not endure--that my Gerald should look at me with changed eyes,feeling that somewhat of his rightful meed was gone.And I was all distraught and conquered.Of ending his base life I never thought,never at my wildest,though I had thought to end my own;but when Fate struck the blow for me,then I swore that carrion should not taint my whole life through.It should not--should not--for 'twas Fate's self had doomed me to my ruin.And there it lay until the night;for this I planned,that being of such great strength for a woman,I could bear his body in my arms to the farthest of that labyrinth of cellars I had commanded to be cut off from the rest and closed;and so I did when all were sleeping--but you,poor Anne--but you!And there I laid him,and there he lies to-day--an evil thing turned to a handful of dust.""It was not murder,"whispered Anne--"no,it was not."She lifted to her sister's gaze a quivering lip."And yet once I had loved him--years I had loved him,"she said,whispering still."And in a woman there is ever somewhat that the mother creature feels"--the hand which held her sister's shook as with an ague,and her poor lip quivered--"Sister,I--saw him again!"The duchess drew closer as she gasped,"Again!""I could not rest,"the poor voice said."He had been so base,he was so beautiful,and so unworthy love--and he was dead,--none knowing,untouched by any hand that even pitied him that he was so base a thing,for that indeed is piteous when death comes and none can be repentant.And he lay so hard,so hard upon the stones."Her teeth were chattering,and with a breath drawn like a wild sob of terror,the duchess threw her arm about her and drew her nearer.
"Sweet Anne,"she shuddered--"sweet Anne--come back--you wander!""Nay,'tis not wandering,"Anne said."'Tis true,sister.There is no night these years gone by I have not remembered it again--and seen.In the night after that you bore him there--I prayed until the mid-hours,when all were sleeping fast--and then I stole down--in my bare feet,that none could hear me--and at last I found my way in the black dark--feeling the walls until I reached that farthest door in the stone--and then I lighted my taper and oped it.""Anne!"cried the duchess--"Anne,look through the tower window at the blueness of the sky--at the blueness,Anne!"But drops of cold water had started out and stood upon her brow.
"He lay there in his grave--it was a little black place with its stone walls--his fair locks were tumbled,"Anne went on,whispering.
"The spot was black upon his brow--and methought he had stopped mocking,and surely looked upon some great and awful thing which asked of him a question.I knelt,and laid his curls straight,and his hands,and tried to shut his eyes,but close they would not,but stared at that which questioned.And having loved him so,I kissed his poor cheek as his mother might have done,that he might not stand outside,having carried not one tender human thought with him.
And,oh,I prayed,sister--I prayed for his poor soul with all my own.'If there is one noble or gentle thing he has ever done through all his life,'I prayed,'Jesus remember it--Christ do not forget.'We who are human do so few things that are noble--oh,surely one must count."The duchess's head lay near her sister's breast,and she had fallen a-sobbing--a-sobbing and weeping like a young broken child.
"Oh,brave and noble,pitiful,strong,fair soul!"she cried."As Christ loved you have loved,and He would hear your praying.Since you so pleaded,He would find one thing to hang His mercy on."She lifted her fair,tear-streaming face,clasping her hands as one praying.
"And I--and I,"she cried--"have I not built a temple on his grave?
Have I not tried to live a fair life,and be as Christ bade me?
Have I not loved,and pitied,and succoured those in pain?Have Inot filled a great man's days with bliss,and love,and wifely worship?Have I not given him noble children,bred in high lovingness,and taught to love all things God made,even the very beasts that perish,since they,too,suffer as all do?Have I left aught undone?Oh,sister,I have so prayed that I left naught.
