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Beauty and The Beast-Part12_Bayard Taylor(1825-1878)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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How Lord Dunleigh obtained admission into the sect as plain Henry



Donnelly is a matter of conjecture with the Londongrove

Friends. The deception which had been practised upon them--



although it was perhaps less complete than they imagined--left a

soreness of feeling behind it. The matter was hushed up after the



departure of the family, and one might now live for years in the

neighborhood without hearing the story. How the shrewd plan was



carried out by Lord Dunleigh and his family, we have already

learned. O'Neil, left on the estate, in the north of Ireland, did



his part with equal fidelity. He not only filled up the gaps made

by his master's early profuseness, but found means to move the



sympathies of a cousin of the latter--a rich, eccentric old

bachelor, who had long been estranged by a family quarrel. To this



cousin he finally confided the character of the exile, and at a

lucky time; for the cousin's will was altered in Lord Dunleigh's



favor, and he died before his mood of reconciliation passed away.

Now, the estate was not only unencumbered, but there was a handsome



surplus in the hands of the Dublin bankers. The family might

return whenever they chose, and there would be a festival to



welcome them, O'Neil said, such as Dunleigh Castle had never known

since its foundations were laid.



"Let us go at once!" said Sylvia, when he had concluded his tale.

"No more masquerading,--I never knew until to-day how much I have



hated it! I will not say that your plan was not a sensible one,

father; but I wish it might have been carried out with more honor



to ourselves. Since De Courcy's death I have begun to appreciate

our neighbors: I was resigned to become one of these people



had our luck gone the other way. Will they give us any credit for

goodness and truth, I wonder? Yes, in mother's case, and Alice's;



and I believe both of them would give up Dunleigh Castle for this

little farm."



"Then," her father exclaimed, "it IS time that we should return,

and without delay. But thee wrongs us somewhat, Sylvia: it has not



all been masquerading. We have become the servants, rather than

the masters, of our own parts, and shall live a painful and divided



life until we get back in our old place. I fear me it will always

be divided for thee, wife, and Alice and Henry. If I am subdued by



the element which I only meant to asssume, how much more

deeply must it have wrought in your natures! Yes, Sylvia is right,



we must get away at once. To-morrow we must leave Londongrove

forever!"



He had scarcely spoken, when a new surprise fell upon the family.

Joel Bradbury arose and walked forward, as if thrust by an emotion



so powerful that it transformed his whole being. He seemed to

forget every thing but Alice Donnelly's presence. His soft brown



eyes were fixed on her face with an expression of unutterable

tenderness and longing. He caught her by the hands. "Alice, O,



Alice!" burst from his lips; "you are not going to leave me?"

The flush in the girl's sweet face faded into a deadly paleness.



A moan came from her lips; her head dropped, and she would have

fallen, swooning, from the chair had not Joel knelt at her feet and



caught her upon his breast.

For a moment there was silence in the room.



Presently, Sylvia, all her haughtiness gone, knelt beside the young

man, and took her sister from his arms. "Joel, my poor, dear



friend," she said, "I am sorry that the last, worst mischief we

have done must fall upon you."



Joel covered his face with his hands, and convulsively uttered the

words, "MUST she go?"



Then Henry Donnelly--or, rather, Lord Dunleigh, as we must now call

him--took the young man's hand. He was profoundly moved; his



strong voice trembled, and his words came slowly. "I will not

appeal to thy heart, Joel," he said, "for it would not hear me now.



But thou hast heard all our story, and knowest that we must leave

these parts, never to return. We belong to another station and



another mode of life than yours, and it must come to us as a good

fortune that our time of probation is at an end. Bethink thee,



could we leave our darling Alice behind us, parted as if by the

grave? Nay, could we rob her of the life to which she is born--of



her share in our lives? On the other hand, could we take thee with




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