The Old Stone House and Other Stories | Page 9

by the arm and
drew me aside into the darkest of the dark shadows which lay in the
churchyard's farthest corner.
Not till I perceived Juliet and the Colonel halt in the moonlight did I
realize that we were nothing to them, and that it was not our influence
but some purpose or passion of their own which had led them to this
gruesome spot.
The place where they had chosen to pause was at the grave of old
Patience Goodyear, and from the corner where we stood we could see
their faces plainly as they turned and looked at each other with the
moonbeams pouring over them. Was it fancy that made her look like a
wraith, and he like some handsome demon given to haunting
churchyards? Or was it only the sternness of his air, and the shrinking
timidity of hers, which made him look so dark and she so pallid.
Orrin, who stood so close to me that I could hear his heart beat as
loudly as my own, had evidently asked himself the same question, for

his hand closed spasmodically on mine, as the Colonel opened his lips,
and neither of us dared so much as to breathe lest we should lose what
the lovers had to say.
But the Colonel spoke clearly, if low, and neither of us could fail to
hear him as he said:
"I have brought you here, Juliet mine, because I want to hear you swear
amongst the graves that you will be no man's wife but mine."
"But have I not already promised?" she protested, with a gentle uplift of
her head inexpressibly touching in one who had once queened it over
hearts so merrily.
"Yes, you have promised, but I am not satisfied. I want you to swear. I
want to feel that you are as much mine as if we had stood at the altar
together. Otherwise how can I go away? How can I leave you, knowing
there are three men at least in this town who would marry you at a day's
notice, if you gave them full leave. I love you, and I would marry you
to-night, but you want a home of your own. Swear that you will be my
wife when that home is ready, and I will go away happy. Otherwise I
shall have to stay with you, Juliet, for you are more to me than renown,
or advancement, or anything else in all God's world."
"I do not like the graves; I do not want to stay here, it is so late, so
dark," she moaned.
"Then swear! Lay your hand on Mother Patience's tombstone, and say,
'I will be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house is finished
which you are building in the woods'; and I will carry you back in my
arms as I carry you always in my heart."
But though Orrin clinched my arm in apprehension of her answer, and
we stood like two listening statues, no words issued from her lips, and
the silence grew appalling.
"Swear!" seemed to come from the tombs; but whether it was my
emotion that made it seem so, or whether it was Orrin who threw his

voice there, I did not know then and I do not know now. But that the
word did not come from the Colonel was evident from the startled look
he cast about him and from the thrill which all at once passed over her
form from her shrouded head to her hidden feet.
"Do the heavens bid me?" she murmured, and laid her hand without
hesitation on the stone before her, saying, "I swear by the dead that
surround us to be your wife, Richard Schuyler, when the house you are
building for me in the woods is completed." And so pleased was he at
the readiness with which she spoke that he seemed to forget what had
caused it, and caught her in his arms as if she had been a child, and so
bore her away from before our eyes, while the man at my side fought
and struggled with himself to keep down the wrath and jealousy which
such a sight as this might well provoke in one even less passionate and
intemperate than himself.
When the one shadow which they now made had dissolved again into
two, and only Orrin and myself were left in that ghostly churchyard, I
declared with a courage I had never before shown:
"So that is settled, Orrin. She will marry the Colonel, and you and I are
wasting time in these gloomy walks."
To which, to my astonishment, he made this simple reply, "Yes, we are
wasting time"; and straightway turned and left the churchyard with a
quick step that seemed to tell of some