Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-01-28
CHAPTER XVIII.
Jetta Still Speaks.

you now-this hour!"
Not at all impossible!" answered
Vincent Hawkstone. Il came here to-
night prepared for emergencies. In
nv pocket is the license, and below
stairs waits a clergyman whom l
brought with me from Whithaven.
You know him-he officiates OCCASION
ally at the island church. I will have
no delays!"-and his voice grew saw
agely authoritative-"you cannot put
me off, Jetta--it must be now or new
err"
I looked at Gabriel stretched sense
less on the bed, then at the man into
whose cruel hands Fate had delivered
me, after all.
You are false-you are evil"
painted: "how do know that you will
keep your word and save Gabriel?"
rs it probable" he sneered, that
would deliver the brother Of my wife
to disgrace and punishment? To me-
Gabriel is simply the means to an end.
When the end is accomplished, Jetta'
the means will consign to your tender
keeping"
I stood in apathetic despair. Why
should I shrink from the sacrifice?
Since / could never be the wife OF Ba-
sill Hawkstone why should I care what
became of me? Surely no anguish
even the giving of my hand to Vim
cent-could equal that which had al
ready experienced in the renunciation
of the lover that loved.
Come with me as you are, Jetta,
said Vincent; II cannot allow you time
to make yourself like bride. If 1 give
you opportunity to think, your sisteriy
affection will begin to wane, and then,
ten to one, you will leave Gabriel to his
fate. for know only too well that you
abhor me. We must go downstairs
will you let me take your hand%
think the face I turned upon him
was stern even in its pallor.
MOI" answered: do not dare to
touch me. I will follow where you
lead"
Leave Gabriel as he is; he will re-
vive all in good time" he muttered;
then we went out into the corridor, and
Vincent Hawkstone locked the door OF
the cedar chamber, and put the Key
significantly in my hand.
descended thu oaken stair. The two
maids, Anne and Sarah. stood in the
hall, apparently much frightened. Al
sight of Vincent they fed.
entered the drawing room. A
wood fire burned on the hearth, and a
tall candelabrum on the mantel above.
The Whithaven clergyman was there,
talking up and down the apartment
with the gravity peculiar to the cloth.
He observed me sharply; 1 must have
looked very unlike the conventional
bride; perhaps he saw some startling
contrast betwixt my white, despairing
face and the flushed, triumphant one OF
nv bridegroom AS Vincent Hawk
stone drew the license from his pocket.
the reverend gentleman turned to me
and said:
Am to understand that you enter
into this marriage of your own free
will, Miss Ravenel?"
For an instant seemed to see door
of escape open before me: then
thought of Gabriel. and answered:
Yes. Of my own free will" And so
my fate was sealed.
1 do not know what happened next
1 was like a person stupefed. l stood
81 1n1o h1~1fY
saw, "as through a glass darkly," the
terrified faces of the servants peering
in at the door, witnessing my sacrihce
Some strange words were said over
me. Somebody held my hand like
vise-I tried vainly to draw it away.
Too Iate!" hissed Vincent Hawk
stone in my ear; you cannot escape
me now"
Then 1 heard the Whithaven clergy
man say:
Il pronounce you husband and
Wife"
| could scarcely refrain from a peal
of laughter. 1t could not be l who
had deliberately married this wild, bad
Hawkstone, whom l both despised and
detested! Surely l must be dreaming!
Vincent turned to the clergyman and
said:
THE boat Is waiting to take you back
to Whithaven."
Those commonplace words broke the
spell that bound me. l tore my hand
from my bridegroom's, and flew back
I'D the stair-to the cedar chamber and
Gabriel.
He lay as 1 had left him. I knelt
by his side.
"Oh, my dear" l groaned. Il have
saved you, but at an infinite cost"
After a few moments 1 heard some
voices in the porch; Vincent Hawkstone
was going down to the whalf to see the
clergyman off.
| looked around that fatal room.
There Philip Hawkstone had been
assa assinated; there his second wife had
died: there. I, wretched, despairing,
knelt by my guilty, perhaps dying,
brother And all about me were the
tokens Of Basil Hawkstone's recent
presence-gloves. riding whip, Orien-
tai weapons in curious inlaid sheaths;
a compass used in his desert wander
ings; a branch from that forest of
palms which now marks the site OF an
cient Memphis; sketches in and about
Cairo: a portrait of Bee; an Egyptian
dagger thrust into the leaves of book
I shuddered to look at these things
What would he say when he heard OF
nv marriage with Vincent? AS this
appalling question arose in my mind
I became aware that steps were ad-
vancing along the passage. l sprane
TO turn the key in the lock-a precau-
ton l had forgotten on my entrance
hut before l could do so the door flew
violently open. I found myself stand
ing face to face with George Sutton.
Every drop of blood in my body
seemed turning to ice. l flung myself
before Gabriel.
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