Chapter LVIII

The shot which rang out so clearly on the early morning air missed its mark, and the noise only succeeded in sending Bernardine's horse along the faster. Taking one terrified glance backward, Bernardine saw Jasper Wilde's horse suddenly swerve, unseating her rider, and the next instant he was measuring his length in the dusty road-side.

The girl did not pause to look again, nor did she draw rein upon the panting steed, until, covered with foam, and panting for breath, he drew up of his own accord at the gate of Gardiner mansion.

One of the grooms came running forward, and Bernardine saw that he was greatly excited.

"The maids missed you, and feared something had happened to you, Miss Moore," he said; "but we were all so alarmed about young master, it caused us to forget everything else, we all love Master Jay so well."

A sharp pain, like that caused by a dagger's thrust, seemed to flash through Bernardine's heart as those words fell upon her startled ear.

"What has happened to your master, John?" she asked, huskily; and her voice sounded terribly unnatural.

In a voice husky with emotion the groom explained to her what was occurring--how young Mrs. Gardiner stood guard over her husband, refusing to allow the doctor to perform an operation which might save their young master, who was dying by inches with each passing moment of time--how she had caught up a thin, sharp-bladed knife which the doctor had just taken from his surgical case, and, brandishing it before her with the fury of a fiend incarnate, defied any one to dare approach.

Both Mrs. Gardiner and Miss Margaret had gone into hysterics, and had to be removed from the apartment to an adjoining room.

"Oh, Miss Moore, surely your services were never so much needed as now, you seem so clever! Oh, if you could, by any means in earthly power, coax young Mrs. Gardiner from her husband's bedside, the operation would be performed, whether she consented or not! In God's name, see what you can do!"

Bernardine waited to hear no more, but, like a storm-driven swallow, fairly flew across the lawn to the house, without even stopping a moment to give the least explanation concerning the strange horse and buggy which she had left in the groom's hands.

As the man had said, the greatest excitement pervaded the mansion. Servants were running about hither and thither, wringing their hands, expecting to hear each moment--they knew not what.

Like one fairly dazed, Bernardine flew along the corridor toward the blue and gold room which she knew had been set apart for Jay Gardiner's use.

She could hear the murmur of excited voices as she reached the door.

She saw that it was ajar. A draught of wind blew it open as she approached.

As she reached the threshold, Bernardine stood rooted to the spot at the spectacle that met her gaze.

Young Mrs. Gardiner was bending over her hapless husband with a face so transformed by hate--yes, hate--there was no mistaking the expression--that it nearly took Bernardine's breath away. In her right hand she held the gleaming blade, the end of which rested against Jay's bared breast.

The doctor had sunk into the nearest seat, and in that unfortunate moment had taken his eyes off the sufferer, whose life was ebbing so swiftly, and had dropped his face in his trembling hands to think out what he had best do in this dire moment of horror.

All this Bernardine took in at a single glance.

Jay Gardiner's life hung in the balance. She forgot her surroundings, forgot everything, but that she must save him even though at the risk of her own life. She would have gladly given a hundred lives, if she had them, to save him.

She did not stop an instant to formulate any plan, but with a cry of the most intense horror, born of acute agony, she had cleared the space which divided her from young Mrs. Gardiner at a single bound, and in a twinkling had hurled the blade from her hands.

Sally Gardiner was taken so entirely by surprise for an instant that she did not stoop to recover the gleaming knife which had fallen between her assailant and herself.

In that instant, the doctor, who had witnessed the scene which had taken place with such lightning-like rapidity, sprung forward and grasped the furious woman, pinioning her hands behind her, and called loudly upon the servants to come to his aid and remove her from Jay Gardiner's bedside.

But there was little need of their assistance. Sally Gardiner stood regarding Bernardine, her hands hanging by her sides, her eyes staring eagerly at the intruder.

"_You_ here!" she muttered, in an almost inaudible voice. "What are _you_ doing in his sick-room, _you_ whom he always loved instead of me? He married _me_ from a sense of honor, but he loved you, and never ceased to let me understand that to be the case. What are you doing here now--_you_ of all other women?"

"Come with me quietly into the other room and I will tell you how it happens that I am here--in _his_ home," whispered Bernardine, huskily.

"No," she shrieked, laughing a hard, jeering, terrible laugh in Bernardine's white, pain-drawn face as she battled fiercely to shake off the doctor's hold of her pinioned arms. "I shall not go--I shall not leave my post until he is _dead_! Do you hear?--until he is dead! I shall not save him for you! I'd rather be his widow than his unloved wife!"

"Come!" whispered Bernardine, sternly. "A human life is at stake--he is dying. You _must_ come with me and let the doctor be free to do his work. I command you to come!" she added, in a stern, ringing, sonorous voice that seemed to thrill the other to her very heart's core and fascinate her--ay, fairly paralyze her will-power. "Come!" repeated Bernardine, laying a hand on her shoulder--"come out into the grounds with me, Mrs. Gardiner--out into the fresh air. I have something to tell you. I had an encounter with Victor Lamont last night," she added in a whisper, her eyes fixed steadily on the young wife as she slowly uttered the words.

Their effect was magical on Sally Gardiner. She reeled forward like one about to faint.

"Let me go out into the grounds alone," she cried, hoarsely. "I must collect my scattered thoughts. Come to me there in half an hour, and tell me. I--I can listen to you then."

And with these words, the fiery creature left the room, staggering rather than walking through the open French window.

The doctor caught Bernardine's hand in his.

"If he lives, it will be to your strategy that he owes his life," he said, hurriedly. "Now leave the room quickly. In ten minutes I will call you, and you shall tell his mother and sister whether it be life or death."

True to his promise, within the prescribed time the doctor called Bernardine.

"It will be life," he said, joyously; "and in performing the operation, I also found a small piece of bone resting against the brain, which was the cause of the strange lapse of memory he complained to me about several months ago. His brain is perfectly clear now. I heard from his lips a startling story," continued the doctor, taking Bernardine aside. "Come to him."

She refused, saying she was just about to leave the house; but the doctor insisted, and at length, accompanied by Jay's mother and his sister, she went to his bedside.

Jay's joy at beholding Bernardine was so great they almost feared for his life. And then the truth came out: his marriage to Bernardine was legal and binding before God and man, and that, directly after he had left her on the day of the ceremony, he had met with an accident which completely obliterated the event from his mind; even all remembrance of Bernardine's existence.

"What, then, is poor Sally?" cried his mother, in horror. "She wedded you, knowing nothing of all this!"

Before he could answer, they heard a great commotion in the corridor below; and, forgetful of the sick man, Antoinette rushed in weeping wildly, crying out that her young mistress had just been found dead in the brook.

She died without knowing the truth, and they were all thankful for that--not even her family or Miss Rogers ever knew the sad truth.

Two men fled from the vicinity that day--Victor Lamont and Jasper Wilde.

* * * * *

When Jay Gardiner was able to travel, he and his mother and sister and Bernardine went abroad; but, out of respect to poor Sally's memory, it was a year before they took their places in the great world as--what they had been from the first--husband and wife.

In the sunshine of the happy years that followed, Bernardine never reproached her husband for that blotted page in their history which he would have given so much to efface.

Sally's father and mother and sister grieved many a long year over her death.

Antoinette stole quietly away, and was seen no more. Old Mrs. Gardiner and Miss Margaret are as happy as the day is long in the love of Jay's sweet, grave young wife, while her husband fairly adores her, though two others share his love as the sunny days flit by--a sturdy youngster whom they call Jay, and a dainty little maiden named Sally--named after Miss Rogers, and whom that lady declares is to be her heiress--a jolly little maiden, hoidenish and mischievous, strangely like that other one who came so near wrecking her father's and mother's life.

The little girl has but one fear--she never goes near the brook; perhaps its babbling waters could reveal a strange story--who can tell?

Over a grave on the sloping hill-side there is a marble shaft. The name engraved upon it is Sally Gardiner, that the world may not know the story of her who rests there.

The sun does not fall upon it, the shadow of the trees is so dense; but soft and pityingly falls the dew on the hearts of the flowers that cover the grave where Sally sleeps.

THE END.

THE HART SERIES

Laura Jean Libbey Miss Caroline Hart Mrs. E. Burke Collins Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller Charlotte M. Braeme Barbara Howard Lucy Randall Comfort Mary E. Bryan Marie Corelli

Was there ever a galaxy of names representing such authors offered to the public before?

Masters all of writing stories that arouse the emotions, in sentiment, passion and love, their books excel any that have ever been written.

NOW READY

1--Kidnapped at the Altar, Laura Jean Libbey. 2--Gladiola's Two Lovers, Laura Jean Libbey. 3--Lil, the Dancing Girl, Caroline Hart. 5--The Woman Who Came Between, Caroline Hart. 6--Aleta's Terrible Secret, Laura Jean Libbey. 7--For Love or Honor, Caroline Hart. 8--The Romance of Enola, Laura Jean Libbey. 9--A Handsome Engineer's Flirtation, Laura J. Libbey 10--A Little Princess, Caroline Hart. 11--Was She Sweetheart or Wife, Laura Jean Libbey. 12--Nameless Bess, Caroline Hart. 13--Della's Handsome Lover, Laura Jean Libbey. 14--That Awful Scar, Caroline Hart. 15--Flora Garland's Courtship, Laura Jean Libbey. 16--Love's Rugged Path, Caroline Hart. 17--My Sweetheart Idabell, Laura Jean Libbey. 18--Married at Sight, Caroline Hart. 19--Pretty Madcap Dorothy, Laura Jean Libbey. 20--Her Right to Love, Caroline Hart. 21--The Loan of a Lover, Laura Jean Libbey. 22--The Game of Love, Caroline Hart. 23--A Fatal Elopement, Laura Jean Libbey. 24--Vendetta, Marie Corelli. 25--The Girl He Forsook, Laura Jean Libbey. 26--Redeemed by Love, Caroline Hart. 28--A Wasted Love, Caroline Hart. 29--A Dangerous Flirtation, Laura Jean Libbey. 30--A Haunted Life, Caroline Hart. 31--Garnetta, the Silver King's Daughter, L. J. Libbey. 32--A Romance of Two Worlds, Marie Corelli. 34--Her Ransom, Charles Garvice. 36--A Hidden Terror, Caroline Hart. 37--Flora Temple, Laura Jean Libbey. 38--Claribel's Love Story, Charlotte M. Braeme. 39--Pretty Rose Hall, Laura Jean Libbey. 40--The Mystery of Suicide Place, Mrs. Alex. Miller. 41--Cora, the Pet of the Regiment, Laura Jean Libbey. 42--The Vengeance of Love, Caroline Hart. 43--Jolly Sally Pendleton, Laura Jean Libbey. 44--A Bitter Reckoning, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 45--Kathleen's Diamonds, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 46--Angela's Lover, Caroline Hart. 47--Lancaster's Choice, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 48--The Madness of Love, Caroline Hart. 49--Little Sweetheart, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 50--A Working Girl's Honor, Caroline Hart. 51--The Mystery of Colde Fell, Charlotte M. Braeme. 52--The Rival Heiresses, Caroline Hart. 53--Little Nobody, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 54--Her Husband's Ghost, Mary E. Bryan. 55--Sold for Gold, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 56--Her Husband's Secret, Lucy Randall Comfort. 57--A Passionate Love, Barbara Howard. 58--From Want to Wealth, Caroline Hart. 59--Loved You Better Than You Knew, Mrs. A. Miller. 60--Irene's Vow, Charlotte M. Braeme. 61--She Loved Not Wisely, Caroline Hart. 62--Molly's Treachery, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 63--Was It Wrong? Barbara Howard. 64--The Midnight Marriage, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. 65--Ailsa, Wenona Gilman. 66--Her Dark Inheritance, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 67--Viola's Vanity, Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller. 68--The Ghost of the Hurricane Hills, Mary E. Bryan. 69--A Woman Wronged, Caroline Hart. 70--Was She His Lawful Wife? Barbara Howard. 71--Val, the Tomboy, Wenona Gilman. 72--The Richmond Secret, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 73--Edna's Vow, Charlotte M. Stanley. 74--Heart's of Fire, Caroline Hart. 75--St. Elmo, Augusta J. Evans. 76--Nobody's Wife, Caroline Hart. 77--Ishmael, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. 78--Self-Raised, Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth. 79--Pretty Little Rosebud, Barbara Howard. 80--Inez, Augusta J. Evans. 81--The Girl Wife, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. 82--Dora Thorne, Charlotte M. Braeme. 83--Followed by Fate, Lucy Randall Comfort. 84--India, or the Pearl of Pearl River, Southworth 85--Mad Kingsley's Heir, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 86--The Missing Bride, Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth. 87--Wicked Sir Dare, Charles Garvice. 88--Daintie's Cruel Rivals, Mrs. Alex. McV. Miller. 89--Lillian's Vow, Caroline Hart. 90--Miss Estcourt, Charles Garvice. 91--Beulah, Augusta J. Evans. 92--Daphane's Fate, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 93--Wormwood, Marie Corelli. 94--Nellie, Charles Garvice. 95--His Legal Wife, Mary E. Bryan. 96--Macaria, Augusta J. Evans. 97--Lost and Found, Charlotte M. Stanley. 98--The Curse of Clifton, Mrs. Southworth. 99--That Strange Girl, Charles Garvice. 100--The Lovers at Storm Castle, Mrs. M. A. Collins 101--Margerie's Mistake, Lucy Randall Comfort. 102--The Curse of Pocahontas, Wenona Gilman. 103--My Love Kitty, Charles Garvice. 104--His Fairy Queen, Elizabeth Stiles. 105--From Worse than Death, Caroline Hart. 106--Audrey Fane's Love, Mrs. E. Burke Collins. 107--Thorns and Orange Blossoms, Charlotte Braeme. 108--Ethel Dreeme, Frank Corey. 109--Three Girls, Mary E. Bryan. 110--A Strange Marriage, Caroline Hart. 111--Violet, Charles Garvice. 112--The Ghost of the Power, Mrs. Sumner Hayden. 113--Baptised with a Curse, Edith Stewart Drewry. 114--A Tragic Blunder, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. 115--The Secret of Her Life, Edward Jenkins. 116--My Guardian, Ada Cambridge. 117--A Last Love, Georges Ohnet. 118--His Angel, Henry Herman. 119--Pretty Miss Bellew, Theo. Gift. 120--Blind Love, Wilkie Collins. 121--A Life's Mistake, Mrs. H. Lovett Cameron. 122--Won By Waiting, Edna Lyall. 123--Passions Slave, King. 124--Under Currents, Duchess. 125--False Vow, Braeme. 126--The Belle of Lynne, Braeme. 127--Lord Lynne's Choice, Braeme. 128--Blossom and Fruit, Braeme. 129--Weaker Than a Woman, Braeme. 130--Tempest and Sunshine, Mary J. Holmes. 131--Lady Muriel's Secret, Braeme. 132--A Mad Love, Braeme.

The Hart Series books are for sale everywhere, or they will be sent by mail, postage paid, for 30 cents a copy, by the publisher; 4 copies for $1.00. Postage stamps taken the same as money.

THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY, Cleveland, Ohio, U. S. A.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

The original edition from which this electronic book was scanned contained the table of contents for a different novel. This erroneous page has been deleted and a new table of contents created.

In addition, the following typographic errors in the original edition have been corrected.

In Chapter I, "and. what was better still" was changed to "and, what was better still", and "had establish himself" was changed to "had established himself".

In Chapter II, "If she has a preference for either" was changed to "If he has a preference for either".

In Chapter III, "boated and spurred" was changed to "booted and spurred".

In Chapter IX, a quotation mark at the beginning of the paragraph opening "As he conversed" was deleted.

In Chapter XII, "a notion to your" was changed to "a notion to you".

In Chapter XVI, "It was not Mrs. Pendlteon" was changed to "It was not Mrs. Pendleton".

In Chapter XVIII, "her stern lips set" was changed to "his stern lips set".

In Chapter XXII, "a hundreds times welcome" was changed to "a hundred times welcome".

In Chapter XXVIII, "In an instant Doctor Gardner" was changed to "In an instant Doctor Gardiner".

In Chapter XXIX, "hundred of miles away" was changed to "hundreds of miles away", and "You clothes are covered with dust" was changed to "Your clothes are covered with dust".

In Chapter XXXVIII, "It an instant all the terrible scenes" was changed to "In an instant all the terrible scenes".

In Chapter XL, "a sever headache" was changed to "a severe headache".

In Chapter XLVII, "of much vaule" was changed to "of much value".

In Chapter LVI, "who had be conveyed" was changed to "who had me conveyed".

In the list of books advertised on the back cover, "A Passionate Love, Barabara Howard" has been changed to "A Passionate Love, Barbara Howard", and "Miss Estcourt, Charles Gorvice" has been changed to "Miss Estcourt, Charles Garvice".