THE FORSAKEN INN (A Gothic Murder Mystery) by Anna Katharine Green

Author:Anna Katharine Green [Green, Anna Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788027237753
Publisher: Musaicum Books
Published: 2017-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter XVI.

A Dream Ended

Table of Contents

There was silence in the cave. Mark Felt’s story was at an end.

For a moment I sat and watched him; then, as I realized all that I must yet gather from his lips, I broke the stillness by saying, in my lowest and most suggestive tone, these two words:

“And Marah?”

The name did not seem unwelcome. Striking his breast, he cried:

“She lies here! Though she despised me, deceived me, broke my heart in life, and in death betrayed a devotion for another that was at once my dishonor and the downfall of my every hope, I have never been able to cast her out of my heart. I love her, and shall ever love her, and so I am never lonely. For in my dreams I imagine that death has changed her. That she can see now where truth and beauty lie; that she would fain come back to them and me; and that she does, walking with softened steps through the forest, beaming upon me in the moon rays and smiling upon me in the sunshine till—”

Great sobs broke from the man’s surcharged breast. He flung himself down on the floor of the cave and hid his face in his hands. He had forgotten that I had come on an errand of vengeance. He had forgotten the object of that vengeance; he had forgotten everything but her.

I saw the mistake I had made, and for the moment I quailed before the prospect of rectifying it. He had shown me his heart. I had peered into its depths, and it seemed an impossible thing to tear the last hope from his broken life; to show her in her true light to his horrified eyes; to tell him she was not dead; that it was Honora Urquhart who was dead; and that the woman he mourned and beheld in his visions as a sanctified spirit was not only living upon the fruits of a crime, but triumphing in them; that, in short, he had thrown away communion with men to brood upon a demon.

My feelings were so strong, my shrinking so manifest, that he noticed them at last. Rising up, he surveyed me with a growing apprehension.

“How you look at me!” he cried. “It is not only pity for the past I see in your eyes, but fear for the future. What is it? What can threaten me now of importance enough to call up such an expression to your face? Since Marah is dead—”

“Wait!” I cried. “First let me ask if Marah is dead.” His face, which was turned toward me, grew so pale I felt my own heart contract.

“If—Marah—is—dead!” he gasped, growing huskier with each intonation till the last word was almost unintelligible.

“Yes,” I continued, ignoring his glance and talking very rapidly; “her body was never found. You have no proof that she perished. The letter that she wrote you may have been a blind. Such things have happened. Try and remember that such things have happened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.