30,, THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN BY MINNIE GILMORE AUTHOR OF "A SON OF ESAU," "PIPES FROM PRAIRIE-LAND," ETC. NEW YORK LOVELL, CORYELL & COMPANY 43> 45 AND 47 EAST TENTH STREET COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY UNITED STATES BOOK COMPANY [All rights reserved} THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. I. I WILL begin by confessing the truth, / did it. Messrs. Kane, Joyce, and Mulford, my lawyers ; Mr. D wight, of the Daily Lu- minary Mr. Ward, of the Evening Eye. Two, three more chairs, if you please. Thank you. The condemned cell has its privileges, you see, like the condemned man. You flinch, gentlemen. Face to face with the con- demned, you realize that yon, who justify the law of capital punishment, are his con- demners. I, in. my youth and strength, I, 2061824 8 TIIK \YOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. your brother-freeman, am to be gagged and bound by brute force, dragged to my death like 'a beast, condemned by the jury that represents you, murdered by the coward- blow of the law you uphold ! There are thoughts burning my brain, there are words scorching my lips, white-hot flames from the yawning hell called the grave. Let them pass ! / did it ! and " An eye for an eye ! " "A tooth for a tooth ! " cries the Old Law, deafening Chris- tian ears to the " Vengeance is Mine " of O the New. Another visitor ? Ah, you, Father ! The Catholic chaplain, gentlemen ; may God bless him ! Now I will tell my story. But I must begin at the beginning, and tell it in my own way. II. I AM thirty years old. My name is Von Vost. My father was of German birth ; my mother an Irishwoman and a Catholic. I loved my father best. There was that sym- pathy between us which coexists, I think, with striking physical resemblance. He was strong and fair, like his father before him. Both had eyes like the blue Rhem- wasser, and hair like the sun on the Bicber- ich vinelands. I, as you see, am of slightly darker type, owing to my Celtic mother. She had the Irish-gray eyes that go with black hair and lashes, " stars set in midnight skies," my father called them. Her cheeks and lips had the flush of Killarney's rose upon them. In her way, she was as hand- 10 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. some as my father in his ; otherwise he had never loved her. For generations the Vost women have been famous for their beauty. " As beautiful as a Von Vosfs wife " is still a proverb in the Bieberich district of the Vaterland. My mother was my father's second wife. His first wife died no matter how. She was beautiful and light. She betrayed my father. One morning she was found face- downward in the rushes where the Rhine- waves lap the Bieberich vinelands, her beautiful hair unbound, her beautiful white breast bare, her hand still clutched on the hilt of the dagger sheathed in her pulseless heart. She had slain herself in an hour of emotional delirium, the wise world said. So let it be. But thereafter, for my father, the Vater- land was haunted. In every place, at every THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 11 turn, her dead face confronted him. Every familiar scene became a thing of dread and horror. At last he fled, meeting my mother on the passage out. She was simple, health- ful, innocent ; magnetically attractive, I think, to my father's shattered nerves and morbid mind. Truth shone in her clear eyes, purity blushed on her lips. Soon, love glowed in her warm heart. When the time was ripe, he told her enough of his story to make her pity him ; not, unhappily for her, enough to make her fear and flee him. In Castle Garden, on the day they reached shore, they were married. " For richer, for poorer," " for better, for worse," read the marriage-service. " For poorer," " for worse," it proved for both. It is a mistake for a man to hamper himself with a wife at the outset of his ca- reer, as my father learned to his cost. 12 T1IK HVAl/.LY \Y1IO *T\vn-trodden. What the yielding up meant, not to the impersonal sacrifice, but to the liv- ing personal woman, I did not then conceive. But for the last fortnight terrible thoughts o o have haunted me thoughts whose full sig- nificance burst upon me when, a moment ago, you held me in your arms. I shuddered in them. Forgive me, but I I sickened in them. o * O, Otho, I have wronged you sorely, cruelly; yet I beg you, I pray you to have pity on 130 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. me ! I will dedicate my life to the service of your cause I will strive for it day and night ; I will be your friend, your co-worker, your servant, your slave ! But I cannot be your wife, Otlio I cannot be your wife ! " She was wringing her white hands, and sobbing nervously, fearlessly. The shame and anguish on her face would have softened the heart of a gentleman. It hardened mine. " I have your promise," I cried, " your public promise. In honor, in common jus- tice, it binds you to me. I hold you to it. I refuse to release you. You shall marry me to-morrdw ! " " I cannot be your wife ! " she repeated. The devil possessed me. " You cannot be my wife ? " I hissed. " Then why does my hand know the clasp of your hand, why have my arms held you, win- has my breast felt the beating of your heart THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 131 against it why, even now, do iny kisses burn your face and throat and lips ? You cannot be my wife ? Then why have I been your lover ? Are you not the pure white thing you look ? Are you only a whited sepulchre ? You are beautiful. You were born for love. Out of all the world of men you have chosen your lover you must abide by your choice. Between you and any other honest love stand my kisses, even as I stand between you and any other man. I tell you that you are mine ! mine ! By right of love, as well as by right of promise, I claim you for my wife ! " " I cannot be your wife ! " she answered. " If you loved me you would not wish it against my will. My promise was a mistake, Otho. I did not understand, or realize, what it meant. I have been a dreamer, always a dreamer ! and my dreams have been not like 132 TJIK WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. the dreams of other girls, of love and lovers; but dreams like yours, abstract, impersonal- dreams of human progress, of social revolu- tion and reform. When I read your book it thrilled, like a grand chord, through me. My soul, my brain, responded. I mistook them for my heart. When I saw you, met you, pleaded with you not to forget your mis- sion when your sleeping soul awoke like a lion, and I saw the royal thing I had aroused when your grand appeal, god-voiced, rang divinely, and you waited vainly for one woman to respond I, dreaming still of ideals, not realities, stepped forth and gave the promise I know now I cannot keep." " Why can you not keep it ? " I demanded. " Because I do not love you," she fal- tered. " You lie ! " I cried. " You fail your promise, not because you do not love me THE WOMAN WUO STOOD BETWEEN. 133 your promised husband, O, fair false wom- an ! but because you love another." Her burning blush was her answer. " Harold ! " I hissed, " Harold ! " " Spare me ! " she sobbed. A fierce exultation was in my heart. I saw that she thought her love in vain. "He is gone," I jeered, pitilessly. "Love did not keep him with you. If in farewell he left one single love-word for you, I will yield you to his arms." She hid her face in her hands. Through her fingers her tears trickled. " Not one ! '' she moaned. " Not one ! " " And you have no pride no girlish modesty, no womanly self - respect ? You avow your love for a man who does not love you \ O, shame ! shame ! shame ! " Her answer was the woman's answer pa- tient, faithful, self -forgetful. 134 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. il I love him," she sobbed. " I love him ! " A fiend of malice possessed me. I caught her in my fierce arms, laughing as she shud- dered in them triumphing in her cruel tor- ture, as I spoke on. " You are mine," I exulted. " To-night, my sweetheart ; to-morrow my wife ! You will never be his his whom you love, his who loves you ! " " You start, you did not know of his love ! You struggle vainly as a white bird in the net. Your lover's arms are around you your lover's to-night, to-morrow your hus- band's! Yes, he loves you. He has loved you for years and years. But he is no com- mon flesh-and-blood man, to claim the woman he loves, because he loves her. He is a gen- tleman who waits on his lady's mood like a slave on his mistress. You were ' happy in your girlhood's dream,' he said. He would THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 135 not disturb it. He waited, as those dying of thirst wait for water, till you should waken from it. He told his heart to me, be- cause I was his friend. He yearned not only for the sweetheart, but for the wife, the home, the children. ' Sweetheart ! wife ! home maker ! mother ! ' he cried ; * when shall my dream come true ? ' You betrayed him. I did not. I did not ask you to put your hand in mine. But since you chose to put it in mine unasked, I hold it, I keep it. I claim it, do you hear me ? Of you, a small, frail woman, I claim it, I, a man ! Yield, beloved, yield ! You have given your word stand by it. You shall never regret it. I, your lover, have played your master. I, your husband, will be your slave. You may do with me as you will make of me angel or devil. See ! I throw myself at your feet. On my knees I beg your hand. Women 136 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. like you are loyal : your heart, your love will follow it. Only marry me to-inorrow ! To-morrow be ruy wife ! " " I cannot be your wife ! " she shuddered. " I would rather die." Fateful words, inspired of devils, why did God let her utter them ? " XXII. I MADE my way to my room in a daze of passionate emotion. I loved her and I had lost her. Full well I knew that neither the morrow, nor any after-morrow would ever make her my wife ! Yet before I left her I had extracted her promise to let the farce of bridal preparation go on even to the end. " Grant me at least love's whim," I said. " Come to me here, a quarter before the ap- pointed church-hour, in your bridal veil. I will trust to your heart, to your honor, to re- deem your word. If at the last moment you fail me, I will submit, but not until then. I beg you, grant me this favor. It is the least that I may claim." 138 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. "I will grant you it," she said, "but I shall fail you. I cannot be your wife ! " She did not repeat that she would rather die than be my wife, but no repetition was necessary. The words, once said, were said for always. They were ringing in my ears as I entered my room. The gas was lighted, and a vase of flowers stood before my mirror. The woman who cared for the room had placed them there, in honor of my wedding-eve. Upon my bed lay my wedding-suit, fresh from the hands of a fashionable Fifth Avenue tailor. I passed it by with a single glance, and went to my desk. Touching a spring, I opened a secret drawer, and took from its dark recess my father's dagger. I drew it from its sheath, and passed its keen edge caressingly along my palm. Re-sheathing it, I took the suit from the bed, and slipped the dag- THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 139 ger into the breast-pocket of my wedding- coat Then, dressed as I was, I flung myself full-length upon my bed, and slept deeply, heavily, until morning. The morning of my wedding-day ! XXIII. WE were to be married at hio;h noon. O On the stroke of the half before the noon hour, I entered my carriage and was driven to her home. On the way I passed the church chosen for the ceremony. A line of carriages was already drawing up before it. I caught a confused sight of prancing steeds and showy liveries and gorgeously gowned guests, as I passed. Both streets and side- walks were blocked by a struggling human mass of the " unwashed " type. I saw the policemen draw their clubs as I drove past them. The servant who opened the door stared and smiled scornfully, yet indulgently, as he admitted me. Evidently he Avas surprised THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 141 at my appearance, and attributed it to my ignorance of social proprieties as well as to the proverbial impatience of love. I heard the voices of the bridesmaids in the drawing- room, and knew, by love's unerring instinct, that my darling was among them. Then my heart gave a leap, as a man's familiar voice sounded a low, rich voice, my friend's voice, Harold's ! A long hall, a room in itself, separated the apartments. I heard a soft step upon it, the rustle of silken robes along its floor. Then she stood before me, the fair sweet woman I loved who in an hour, or never, would be my wife ! I took an eager step toward her, but she motioned me back, imperious- ly. Pure as a pearl in the white setting of her wedding dress, she awed me. Her veil seemed folded round her, like an angel's wing. 142 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEK.Y. " I have kept my promise," she said. " I have gratified your whim. As you desired, you see me in my wedding-dress. Now we must part. As I warned you, I must fail you. I am a coward, traitor, what you will. No hard name is too hard for me. From my heart, I regret my wrong against you. But I cannot be your wife ! " Again she" waved me back, but this time I defied her. I caught her two white hands in mine, and drew her, by force, to me. " I love you," I panted ; " I love you ! not with the brute passion you fear, and from which you shrink and shudder, but \vith the man's love, pure and strong and tender the love of the reverent lover, of the fond and faithful husband. If I am not a gentleman, you shall make me one. I will do by you as nobly as a king does by his queen. Do not doubt me ! Do not fear me ! Trust THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 143 me. You shall never regret your trust I swear it ! In love's name, in honor's name, in the name of the human world whose voice of hopeless anguish cries out to you, fulfil your promise, sweetheart. Be my wife ! " " I cannot be your wife ! " she sobbed. " Listen ! " I cried, " I passed the church as I drove here. The carriage-guests were arriving: ; the foot-guests blocked their o * O wheels. The policemen, with cruel clubs, beat back the poor and helpless. I saw a white-haired old woman crouch beneath a blow, and heard a poor child sob. You know what our marriage means to such as O these the rift in their web of wrongs the wedge which, sooner or later, shall over- throw the social structure which is an out- rage to humanity, a shame to democracy, as it now stands. If you fail them, who will be their champion ? No other woman, so 144: THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. help me God ! for if you are false, all women are betrayers ! I will speak no more of love. Love is well, but there is some- thing better duty. Your duty to these fulfil it ! Be my wife ! " " I cannot be your wife ! " she moaned. " You shall be my wife ! " I hissed. " I say you shall be, you shall be ! " The words aroused her high, if gentle, spirit. Her hands were passive in mine she scorned the futile struggle to release them ; but her mute eyes, lifted suddenly, defied me. lt I will not be your wife,'' she said, " though you drag me by brute force to the altar. I have done you a cruel wrong I bitterly regret it. But my regret is as vain as is your ungenerous persistence. Nothing can undo the past ; but the past does not control the future. Because I have made one terrible mistake, I will not make a worse THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. H5 one. I beg, I insist, that this painful inter- view now be ended. My decision is final. I will not be your wife." I do not know what betrayed her secret as she spoke the words, whether her uncon- scious emphasis as she said " your " wife, or her sudden blush, or a tell-tale fla.^h in her eyes of Love's shy happiness. I only know that I divined it. Mechanically my hand stole to my breast. The hilt of the dagger met it. As my hand shut on it, I pressed her closer to me. So we stood, for one mute moment. Then I spoke. " You will not be my wife," I said, " and yet this is your wedding-day ? " She glanced up, surprised and startled at my keen question. I felt her tremble, as she hesitated. Then she decided, I think, that it was my right to hear the truth. " Otho ! " she sobbed, "forgive me ! I told 146 THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. you that I love him. You told me that he loves me. When I said that he left no word of love behind him, I spoke the truth, but not the whole truth. He had left me, with his address, this single line in mes- sage : ' WJien you need a friend, remember that I live but to serve you ! ' Last night, after you left, I I wrote to him. He came this morning. He told me that you spoke truly that he loves me, that he fled lest his love should betray itself to the affianced wife of his friend. Then I asked him you hear me, Otho? /asked him, begged him, prayed him on my knees, to marry me, in your place, to-day ! then, to take me far away out of sight and sound of the wondering crowd, the mocking laughs, the curious faces! He grants my request only on condition that you, his friend, my affianced husband, second it by your con- THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 147 sent : not otherwise ! His love is strong, but his honor is stronger. Otho, you are a man ; the strength, the power, is on your side. Be generous, be noble, be chivalrous, be a gentleman ! I love him he loves me. Give us to each other ! Give me my husband ! Give your friend his wife ! " My hand shut closer on the dagger-hilt. I felt the sharp blade slipping from its sheath. " Sweetheart ! " I pleaded, " I love you. I can yield you to no other lover. You are rny promised wife. The church is crowded with guests, the minister waits. The time is come to fulfil your promise. Be my wife ! " " I will never be your wife," she replied, no longer gently, but with cold, proud scorn. " I would rather die ! " The next moment I know not how it happened the dagger was buried hilt-deep in her heart. XXIV. THE blow was swift and sure. A low rnoan, heard by me alone, was the only sign she gave, as heavily upon my arm she sank back, dying. Then I realized what I had done. With desperate haste, I lowered her to the floor, and, tearing open her bridal- bodice, groped for the wound. The beauti- ful full white breast was still life-warm ; under my passionate hand I felt its soft flesh shudder. As my fingers touched the gaping wound, I caught up the reeking dagger, slit- ting corset and lace and linen with its blood-stained blade. Then, with futile hands, I strove to stanch the flow of virginal life- blood. Red and warm, red and warm, it oozed between the edges of the wound, THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 149 despite the pressure of my trembling fin- gers. I watched the slow, sure flow with awful fascination. It dyed my finger-tips, mounted slowly toward my palm. Soon, to its wrist, my hand was steeped in blood. My murderer's hand ! As I wrested it from her breast with a shuddering cry of horror, her glazing eyes unclosed. " Harold ! " she gasped, " Harold ! " and with one sigh, was dead. XXV. I KNOW not when they came, or who first discovered us. I think it was a woman's shriek that first pierced the lethargy of my death-like trance. I felt myself torn from her, and saw them shudder from me. Sud- denly, between me and her, flashed a man's tall figure. He sunk on his knees and draw- ing the bodice over the fair nude bosom, pressed his lips, with tender reverence, to her chill white brow. " Thank God ! " I heard him murmur. "Thank God!" As he lifted his face, no trace of the old horror was upon it a chastened life-long sorrow was in its place. THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 151 To him, as to her, the thought of her in my arms had been so loathsome, that the skeleton arms of Death, in contrast, were welcome, sweet. XXVI. THIS pain in my heart. Brandy, quick ! What if I cheat Justice even yet ? But no ! it passes Better ? Oh, yes, better worse luck ! More visitors ? But, yes, I had forgotten that all must come to-night, if ever. To- morrow the electric chair and deatli : " ^1 life for a life" Just if not merciful hu- man revenge, if not Christian forgiveness ! I make no appeal. Frank ! you ? And who behind you ? Harold ? and Nan Nan, with a child on her breast ? My God ! my God ! My child ? And Nan true to me ? Worked till her mother found her ? The, THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 153 mother's unfailing instinct stronger, surer than love's ! Father, the marriage - "service. These friends will witness. Nan, at last you are an honest woman my wife ! God ! this pain in my heart ! The chill, the dark what is it ? Nan, my wife, where are you ? I feel you I cannot see you Mem Vaterf Why, father ! So pale, so wan and weeping. Why do you glare so at me ? I kept my word ! I was true to my oath ! "I spilled the blood, to the last red drop of the woman who stood be- tween " He shudders, and cries out. He is tor- tured, consumed by the hell-flame of vain re- morse ! He gnashes his teeth on a devil's curse He is gone ! 15-i THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. Poor father ! Poor father ! So cold so dark Air ! Brandy ! I am faint, sick, dying ! Save me ! I am fearful I have sinned ! My hand is stained with innocent blood What is he saying, the good old priest ? " The Blood of Christ shall ivash it I " Christ, I believe ! My father shrive me ! By the Blood of Christ I shall be made whiter than snow whiter than snow- Harold Frank Nan give me your hands. Once more on my brow your benedic- tion, my Father 1 . Mother ! And beside her, Mary ! O Mary ! She smiles she says she forgives me she is looking past me, to Harold THE WOMAN WHO STOOD BETWEEN. 155 Harold, Mary is beckoning to you. She is whispering " Soon, soon, soon!" The . song of angels . . . the light of heaven Mother ! Mary ! what are you saying ? " Hate loses causes ; Love wins them ! " Love Love Love 000 239 544