CHAPTER VII.

Little dreaming of the purport of the story Ida had to tell, Royal Ainsley drew near. For a moment, Ida May's great somber eyes looked into his as though she would read his very soul.

"Tell me over again that you will forgive me, no matter what it is that I have to tell you."

"I have already given you that promise over and over again," he declared. "Surely you don't want me to take an oath to that effect?"

"Not if your solemn promise is strong enough to bind you."

"You forget that you are wasting time, Ida?" he said, good-humoredly.

"It will not take me long to tell my sad little story," she answered, with a half sob; "and oh, what a world of comfort it will be for me to know that you will care for me, no matter what the world may think. When you hear my story you will understand the great temptation, and will not judge me too cruelly.

"To begin with, my mother and I lived with a very wealthy family in Dorchester. My mother was housekeeper, and I—well, I had no regular position there, until, owing to the meager salary they paid my mother, I was compelled to learn telegraphy, and found a position[28] at the station. To gain my mother's consent to do this was extremely hard.

"'They will not be pleased, Ida,' she said, piteously.

"'What do the Deerings care for you or me?' I answered, bitterly. 'Only to make you toil year in and year out for a pittance so meager that it scarcely keeps body and soul together!'

"'But they allow me to keep you with me, my dear child. That is everything to a mother who is poor,' she sighed.

"'I am not a child any longer,' I cried. 'I am quite sixteen. I must be making money now, if ever, to help you!'

"'But what can you do?' she asked.

"When I told her my plans, she looked at me dubiously.

"'Surely Mrs. Deering would not object,' I declared.

"But she did object. To my surprise she flew into a terrible rage when I summoned courage enough to go to the morning-room the next day and asked to speak to her.

"I unfolded to the cold, proud woman my plans to make a living. She did not wait to hear me through, but flew into such a passion of rage that I drew back in terror.

"'I have different plans for you entirely, Ida May,' she said. 'Go to your mother. I told her my plans scarcely half an hour ago. She will unfold them to you. Mind, they must be carried out by you, or your mother and you will suffer. Your father owed us a sum of money before he died, and during the past years your mother has worked to pay us off. Over one-half yet remains to be paid. Your mother's name is signed to your father's notes of indebtedness, and she is responsible[29] for them. If I pressed for payment and she could not pay, she could be thrown into a debtor's prison.'

"I sobbed aloud in my terror: 'Oh, Mrs. Deering, if this indeed be true, there is more need than ever for me to earn money to pay off my mother's debts.'

"'There is another way in which you can pay them off,' she answered.

"'Oh, how?' I cried, falling on my knees and clasping my hands.

"The answer came like a crash of thunder from a clear sky.

"'By marrying my nephew,' she said, harshly.

"I sprung to my feet in terror. Marry any one! I, who was only a child!

"'My mother would not consent to anything like that, even——'

"'She will be forced to consent!' was the harsh reply. 'My nephew will be here in a week.'

"I found my mother walking her room, wringing her hands and tearing her hair. Her excitement was so great that for a moment I was terrified.

"'Has she told you all, Ida?' she asked, in terror.

"'Yes, mother,' I answered.

"'And did she tell you what this nephew of hers was like?'

"'No,' I replied, greatly puzzled by her manner.

"She shuddered as with a terrible chill.

"'Listen, Ida,' she said, in a strained, awful voice: 'Her nephew is such a horrid creature, that to be hated he needs but to be seen. He is a hunchback—and—an idiot—has a touch of insanity about him. Except the first few years of his life, he has been confined in an asylum. This nephew has a bachelor uncle, who has declared his[30] intention to make the young man his heir if he marries when he is twenty-one. Otherwise the great fortune goes to another branch of the family. They would make a victim of you, wreck your beautiful young life for their own ambitious aims. It will be six months before he is of age. But the marriage shall never be, my darling. Your young life shall never be sacrificed by these inhuman Shylocks. When the hour comes, we will die together.'

"One day my mother met me with a white, awful face.

"'Mrs. Deering's nephew has arrived with a valet!' she cried, under her breath.

"'But the six months are not up, mother," I cried. 'It wants a fortnight to that time.'

"'He has come to stay until you make your decision.'

"Oh, God! the horror of it! Death a thousand times over would have been preferable to that.

"How could I stand at the altar and promise to obey a creature the very sight of whom filled me with disgust and terror?

"I fled through the village, not daring to look behind me, and never stopping until I reached the telegraph office.

"It was little wonder that I made strange mistakes during the hour that followed.

"It was during this time that Mrs. May stepped up to the window and called for a blank.

"Although her name was the same as mine, yet we were in no way related to each other. They were wealthy people from Boston, I had heard, and were summering in the village.

"Without waiting to see the message sent, the lady hurried out of the office. A great sigh broke from my lips as[31] I noted the well-filled purse that she carried, the magnificent diamonds she wore on her hands, and which swung sparkling from her ears. Any one of the gems she wore would have been a fortune to a poor girl like me.

"As she crossed the railway track in the direction of the post office, she must have seen the train bearing down upon her from around the curve of the road.

"However, she fainted away from fright, and lay directly on the track. I had seen it all from my window, and I sprung to her rescue and dragged her by main force from the track just in time to save her from destruction, as the ponderous locomotive just then thundered by. Mrs. May's gratitude was great when she recovered consciousness.

"'How shall I ever reward you, my good girl?' she cried.

"'I need no reward,' I answered. 'I would have done that for any one!'

"'You must be rewarded,' she declared. 'My husband is coming from Boston to-night, and he will insist upon doing handsomely by you.'

"I was living at home with my poor old mother, and when I went home that evening and told her the story, she wept like a child.

"'You did a noble action, Ida,' she said; adding slowly: 'The Mays are very rich. I should not be surprised if they made you a handsome present. I once knew a gentleman who gave a lad twenty-five dollars for saving his son from drowning. Perhaps they may do as well by you.'

"You see, we were very poor—mother and I—and twenty-five dollars seemed a great deal to us.

[32]

"'How much good we could do with that sum,' my mother said. 'We could get a little ahead in our rent, and spare enough out of it to get a new dress for you.'

"I clasped my hands. A new dress! Oh, surely it would be madness to hope for such a thing!

"That evening Mrs. May sent for me to come to the grand cottage where she was stopping. Her husband, a very deaf old gentleman, sat at the window as I entered. They both thanked me in the most eager and grateful fashion.

"'We have been thinking the matter over,' said Mrs. May, 'and I have come to the conclusion that I will do something handsome for you—give you a pleasure such as you have never experienced in your young life.'"