The Mill Mystery | Page 6

him as
usual; but that is because he had some literary work he wished to finish
before the wedding-day. Ah, it will never be finished now! and our
wedding-day is to-day! and the bride is almost ready. But!" she

suddenly exclaimed, "I must not go yet--not till you have said again
that he was no suicide. Tell me," she vehemently continued-- "tell me
from your soul that you believe he is not answerable for his death!"
"I do!" I rejoined, alarmed and touched at once by the fire in her cheek
and eye.
"And that," she went, "you will hold to this opinion in the face of all
opposition! That, whatever attack men may make upon his memory,
you will uphold his honor and declare his innocence! Say you will be
my deputy in this, and I will love you even in my cold grave, and bless
you as perhaps only those who see the face of the Father can bless!"
"Ada!" I murmured, "Ada!"
"You will do this, will you not?" she persisted. "I can die knowing I can
trust you as I would myself."
I took her cold hand in mine and promised, though I felt how feeble
would be any power of mine to stop the tide of public opinion if once it
set in any definite direction.
"He had no enemies," she whispered; "but I would sooner believe he
had, than that he sought this fearful spot of his own accord."
And seemingly satisfied to have dropped this seed in my breast, she
tremblingly arose, and going for her writing-desk, brought it back and
laid it on the lounge by her side. "Go for Mrs. Gannon," she said.
Mrs. Gannon was our neighbor in the next room, a widow who earned
her livelihood by nursing the sick; and I was only too glad to have her
with me at this time, for my poor Ada's face was growing more and
more deathly, and I began to fear she had but prophesied the truth when
she said this was her wedding-day.
I was detained only a few minutes, but when I came back with Mrs.
Gannon, I found my room-mate writing.
"Come!" said she, in a voice so calm, my companion started and hastily
looked at her face for confirmation of the fears I had expressed; "I want
you both to witness my signature."
With one last effort of strength she wrote her name, and then handed
the pen to Mrs. Gannon, who took it without a word.
"It is my will," she faintly smiled, watching me as I added my name at
the bottom. "We have had to do without lawyers, but I don't think there
will be any one to dispute my last wishes." And taking the paper in her
hand, she glanced hastily at it, then folded it, and handed it back to me

with a look that made my heart leap with uncontrollable emotion. "I
can trust you," she said, and fell softly back upon the pillow.
"You had better go for Dr. Farnham," whispered Mrs. Gannon in my
ear, with an ominous shake of her head.
And though I felt it to be futile, I hastened to comply.
But Dr. Farnham was out, attending to a very urgent case, I was told;
and so, to my growing astonishment and dismay, were Dr. Spaulding
and Dr. Perry. I was therefore obliged to come back alone, which I did
with what speed I could; for I begrudged every moment spent away
from the side of one I had so lately learned to love, and must so soon
lose.
Mrs. Gannon met me at the door, and with a strange look, drew me in
and pointed towards the bed. There lay Ada, white as the driven snow,
with closed eyes, whose faintly trembling lids alone betokened that she
was not yet fled to the land of quiet shadows. At her side was a picture
of the man she loved, and on her breast lay a bunch of withered roses I
could easily believe had been his last gift. It was a vision of perfect
peace, and I could not but contrast it with what my imagination told me
must have been the frenzied anguish of that other death.
My approach, though light, disturbed her. Opening her eyes, she gave
me one long, long look. Then, as if satisfied, she softly closed them
again, breathed a little sigh, and in another moment was no more.

IV.
THE POLLARDS.
There's something in his soul, O'er which his melancholy sits on brood.
--HAMLET.
Fearful as the experiences of this day had been, they were not yet at an
end for me. Indeed, the most remarkable were to come. As I sat in this
room of death--it was not far