The morning of the next day--the
morning on which the ships were
to sail--came bright and breezy.
Mrs. Crayford, having arranged
to follow her husband to the
water-side, and see the last
of him before he embarked, entered
Clara's room on her way out of
the house, anxious to hear how
her young friend passed the night.
To her astonishment she found
Clara had risen, and was dressed,
like
herself, to go out.
"What does
this mean, my dear? After what
you suffered last
night--after the shock of seeing
that man--why don't you take
my advice and rest in your bed?"
"I can't rest.
I have not slept all night.
Have you been out
yet?"
"No."
"Have you seen
or heard anything of Richard
Wardour?"
"What an extraordinary
question!"
"Answer my
question! Don't trifle with
me!"
"Compose yourself,
Clara. I have neither seen
nor heard anything
of Richard Wardour. Take my word
for it, he is far enough away
by this time."
"No! He is
here! He is near us! All night
long the presentiment
has pursued me--Frank and Richard
Wardour will meet."
"My dear child!
what are you thinking of? T
hey are total
strangers to each other."
"Something
will happen to bring them together.
I feel it! I know
it! They will meet--there will
be a mortal quarrel between them--and
I shall be to blame. Oh, Lucy!
why didn't I take your advice?
Why was I mad enough to let Frank
know that I loved him? Are you
going to the landing-stage? I
am all ready--I must go with
you."
"You must not
think of it, Clara. There will
be crowding
and confusion at the water-side.
You are not strong enough to
bear it. Wait--I won't be long
away--wait till I come back."
"I must and
will go with you! Crowd? _He_
will be among the
crowd! Confusion? In that confusion
_he_ will find his way to Frank!
Don't ask me to wait. I shall
go mad if I wait. I shall not
know a moment's ease until I
have seen Frank, with my own
eyes, safe in the boat which
takes him to his ship! You have
got your bonnet on; what are
we stopping here for? Come! or
I shall go without you. Look
at the clock; we have not a moment
to lose!"
It was useless to contend with
her. Mrs. Crayford yielded. The
two women left the house together.
The landing-stage, as Mrs.
Crayford had predicted, was thronged
with spectators. Not only the
relatives and friends of the
Arctic voyagers, but strangers
as well, had assembled in large
numbers to see the ships sail.
Clara's eyes wandered affrightedly
hither and thither among the
strange faces in the crowd; searching
for the one face that she dreaded
to see, and not finding it. So
completely were her nerves unstrung,
that she started with a cry of
alarm on suddenly hearing Frank's
voice behind her.
"The _Sea-mew_'s boats are
waiting," he said. "I must go,
darling. How pale you are looking,
Clara! Are you ill?"
She never answered. She questioned
him with wild eyes and trembling
lips.
"Has anything
happened to you, Frank? anything
out of the common?"
Frank laughed at the strange
question.
"Anything out of the common?" he
repeated. "Nothing that I know
of, except sailing for the Arctic
seas. That's out of the common,
I suppose--isn't it?"
"Has anybody
spoken to you since last night?
Has any stranger
followed you in the street?"
Frank turned in blank amazement
to Mrs. Crayford.
"What on earth
does she mean?"
Mrs. Crayford's lively invention
supplied her with an answer on
the spur of the moment.
"Do you believe
in dreams, Frank? Of course
you don't! Clara
has been dreaming about you;
and Clara is foolish enough to
believe in dreams. That's all--it's
not worth talking about. Hark!
they are calling you. Say good-by,
or you will be too late for the
boat."
Frank took Clara's hand. Long
afterward--in the dark Arctic
days, in the dreary Arctic nights--he
remembered how coldly and how
passively that hand lay in his.
"Courage, Clara!" he said,
gayly. "A sailor's sweetheart
must accustom herself to partings.
The time will soon pass. Good-by,
my darling! Good-by, my wife!"
He kissed the
cold hand; he looked his last--for
many a long
year, perhaps!--at the pale and
beautiful face. "How she loves
me!" he thought. "How the parting
distresses her!" He still held
her hand; he would have lingered
longer, if Mrs. Crayford had
not wisely waived all ceremony
and pushed him away.
The two ladies followed him
at a safe distance through the
crowd, and saw him step into
the boat. The oars struck the
water; Frank waved his cap to
Clara. In a moment more a vessel
at anchor hid the boat from view.
They had seen the last of him
on his way to the Frozen Deep!
"No Richard Wardour in the
boat," said Mrs. Crayford. "No
Richard Wardour on the shore.
Let this be a lesson to you,
my dear. Never be foolish enough
to believe in presentiments again."
Clara's eyes still wandered
suspiciously to and fro among
the crowd.
"Are you not satisfied yet?" asked
Mrs. Crayford.
"No," Clara answered, "I
am not satisfied yet."
"What! still
looking for him? This is really
too absurd. Here
is my husband coming. I shall
tell him to call a cab, and send
you home."
Clara drew back a few steps.
"I won't be in the way, Lucy,
while you are taking leave of
your good husband," she said. "I
will wait here."
"Wait here!
What for?"
"For something
which I may yet see; or for
something which
I may still hear."
"Richard Wardour?"
"Richard Wardour."
Mrs. Crayford turned to her
husband without another word.
Clara's infatuation was beyond
the reach of remonstrance.
The boats of the _Wanderer_
took the place at the landing-stage
vacated by the boats of the _Sea-mew_.
A burst of cheering among the
outer ranks of the crowd announced
the arrival of the commander
of the expedition on the scene.
Captain Helding appeared, looking
right and left for his first
lieutenant. Finding Crayford
with his wife, the captain made
his apologies for interfering,
with his best grace.
"Give him up
to his professional duties
for one minute, Mrs. Crayford,
and you shall have him back again
for half an hour. The Arctic
expedition is to blame, my dear
lady--not the captain--for parting
man and wife. In Crayford's place,
I should have left it to the
bachelors to find the Northwest
Passage, and have stopped at
home with you!"
Excusing himself in those bluntly
complimentary terms, Captain
Helding drew the lieutenant aside
a few steps, accidentally taking
a direction that led the two
officers close to the place at
which Clara was standing. Both
the captain and the lieutenant
were too completely absorbed
in their professional business
to notice her. Neither the one
nor the other had the faintest
suspicion that she could and
did hear every word of the talk
that passed between them.
"You received my note this
morning?" the captain began.
"Certainly,
Captain Helding, or I should
have been on board
the ship before this."
"I am going on board myself
at once," the captain proceeded, "but
I must ask you to keep your boat
waiting for half an hour more.
You will be all the longer with
your wife, you know. I thought
of that, Crayford."
"I am much
obliged to you, Captain Helding.
I suppose there
is some other reason for inverting
the customary order of things,
and keeping the lieutenant on
shore after the captain is on
board?"
"Quite true!
there _is_ another reason.
I want you to wait for
a volunteer who has just joined
us."
"A volunteer!"
"Yes. He has
his outfit to get in a hurry,
and he may be
half an hour late."
"It's rather
a sudden appointment, isn't
it?"
"No doubt.
Very sudden."
"And--pardon
me--it's rather a long time
(as we are situated)
to keep the ships waiting for
one man?"
"Quite true,
again. But a man who is worth
having is worth
waiting for. This man is worth
having; this man is worth his
weight in gold to such an expedition
as ours. Seasoned to all climates
and all fatigues--a strong fellow,
a brave fellow, a clever fellow--in
short, an excellent officer.
I know him well, or I should
never have taken him. The country
gets plenty of work out of my
new volunteer, Crayford. He only
returned yesterday from foreign
service."
"He only returned
yesterday from foreign service!
And he
volunteers this morning to join
the Arctic expedition? You astonish
me."
"I dare say
I do! You can't be more astonished
than I was,
when he presented himself at
my hotel and told me what he
wanted. 'Why, my good fellow,
you have just got home,' I said.
'Are you weary of your freedom,
after only a few hours' experience
of it?' His answer rather startled
me. He said, 'I am weary of my
life, sir. I have come home and
found a trouble to welcome me,
which goes near to break my heart.
If I don't take refuge in absence
and hard work, I am a lost man.
Will you give me a refuge?' That's
what he said, Crayford, word
for word."
"Did you ask
him to explain himself further?"
"Not I! I knew
his value, and I took the poor
devil on the
spot, without pestering him with
any more questions. No need to
ask him to explain himself. The
facts speak for themselves in
these cases. The old story, my
good friend! There's a woman
at the bottom of it, of course."
Mrs. Crayford, waiting for
the return of her husband as
patiently as she could, was startled
by feeling a hand suddenly laid
on her shoulder. She looked round,
and confronted Clara. Her first
feeling of surprise changed instantly
to alarm. Clara was trembling
from head to foot.
"What is the
matter? What has frightened
you, my dear?"
"Lucy! I _have_
heard of him!"
"Richard Wardour
again?"
"Remember what
I told you. I have heard every
word of the
conversation between Captain
Helding and your husband. A man
came to the captain this morning
and volunteered to join the _Wanderer_.
The captain has taken him. The
man is Richard Wardour."
"You don't
mean it! Are you sure? Did
you hear Captain Helding
mention his name?"
"No."
"Then how do
you know it's Richard Wardour?"
"Don't ask
me! I am as certain of it,
as that I am standing
here! They are going away together,
Lucy--away to the eternal ice
and snow. My foreboding has come
true! The two will meet--the
man who is to marry me and the
man whose heart I have broken!"
"Your foreboding
has _not_ come true, Clara!
The men have
not met here--the men are not
likely to meet elsewhere. They
are appointed to separate ships.
Frank belongs to the _Sea-mew_,
and Wardour to the _Wanderer_.
See! Captain Helding has done.
My husband is coming this way.
Let me make sure. Let me speak
to him."
Lieutenant Crayford returned
to his wife. She spoke to him
instantly.
"William! you
have got a new volunteer who
joins the _Wanderer_?"
"What! you
have been listening to the
captain and me?"
"I want to
know his name?"
"How in the
world did you manage to hear
what we said to each
other?"
"His name?
has the captain given you his
name?"
"Don't excite
yourself, my dear. Look! you
are positively
alarming Miss Burnham. The new
volunteer is a perfect stranger
to us. There is his name--last
on the ship's list."
Mrs. Crayford snatched the
list out of her husband's hand,
and read the name:
"RICHARD WARDOUR."
Second Scene.
The Hut of the _Sea-mew_.
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