he park presented a gay and animated appearance. crowds of pedestrians were sauntering to and fro on the shores of the serpentine to watch the rapid and graceful evolutions of the skaters. rings of spectators were formed on the ice itself around the most practised proficients; while without these exclusive circles little ragged urchins, some without jackets, some minus hats or caps, amused themselves by gliding along extensive slides—their cheeks glowing with the exercise, their faces looking as full of enjoyment as that of the most aristocratic skater who cut the figure s on the ice.
clemence and her companion were much amused by the scene, though the lady did not fail to remark in how many spots the warning post, marked “dangerous,” had been inserted, and to notice that the circles of spectators on the serpentine were beginning to be rapidly thinned, while a very large majority of persons preferred terra firma to the ice. the wind had shifted to the west, the air had become sensibly milder, the icicles which had hung from the trees were dripping to the earth like tears, and the round, red sun, glowing like a fiery ball in the sky, was making his influence to be felt.
it was some time before clemence discovered those for whom her eye was seeking amongst the crowds. she saw them at last on the frozen serpentine, walking together, their young countenances rosy with the cold. vincent was laughing and talking to his sister, imitating the awkward movements of some skater whom he had seen making his deb?t on the ice, when he caught the eye of his step-mother, towards whom he happened at the time to be approaching.
“i say, loo, there’s that woman and her tame bear come to hunt after us, as if we could not be safe unless tied to her apron-strings! i vote we turn round sharp and cut them!”
“i think that i see some of my friends at the other side of the serpentine,” said louisa; “i wish that we could get across to them,—but only—did you not fancy that the ice just now gave a crack!” and she grasped the boy’s arm in a little alarm.
“oh, nonsense!” exclaimed vincent; “the ice is as hard as a rock!”
a loud, clear halloo came ringing to them across the ice.
“i say, i won’t stand that; i am not accustomed to be hallooed to, as if i were a cab-driver on a stand—”
“or a dog,” suggested louisa: “just look how the vulgar old man is making signs to us to come off the ice.”
“he may shout himself hoarse, and flourish away till his arms ache,” said vincent, “we’ll stop here as long as we choose. just come along this way, louisa.”
again, as the young effinghams turned their steps towards the further shore of the serpentine, again came that loud, warning halloo. it was not unheard, but it was unheeded. then louisa stopped short, trembling violently—there was a sudden crash—shriek—splash—and on the spot where clemence had a moment before beheld the two well-known forms on the surface, with horror she could distinguish nothing but a black pool of water, with an ill-defined margin of broken, jagged ice around it!
her cry of anguish mingled with the short, stifled scream of the miserable louisa. captain thistlewood uttered no exclamation; before his niece could realize what was passing beside her, he had flung his great-coat at her feet, and, with the instinct of generous humanity, was darting across the ice to the place where the effinghams had disappeared! he reached it while the air-bubbles were yet floating on the surface of the fatal pool, and plunged in without an instant’s hesitation. clemence’s cries for help were bringing speedy assistance, but they seemed to be unconsciously uttered. almost petrified with terror, she stood on the shore, watching with straining eyes and blanched cheek that dark spot fraught with such fearful interest.
there is a hand grasping the ice!—yes!—no! the brittle substance has broken under the drowning grasp—yet there it is again! and now—oh, thank heaven! a dripping head emerges!—then another!—a boy, supported by a strong arm, his hair hanging in wet strands over his face, is clinging, scrambling, on to the surface of the ice! clemence stretches out her arms, and, impelled by an irresistible impulse, springs forward several paces on the frozen serpentine, but is stayed by the firm grasp of one of the spectators.
“he has dived again!—fine fellow! he is saving the lady!” cried many voices. “where are the officers of the humane society? ah, here they come! here they come! god speed them!” and, with a rumbling, rushing sound, the machine on skates, invented by ingenious humanity to rescue the drowning from death, is pushed rapidly on to the spot, and plunged into the dark hole on whose brink, in an agony of apprehension, now stands the shivering, gasping, dripping vincent.
moments appear hours to clemence—all power of uttering a sound is gone—the voices around her seem rather as if heard in the confusion of a horrible dream, than as if actually striking upon her waking sense. oh, that it were but a dream!
“they can’t find ’em!—they must have floated under the ice,—got entangled in the weeds!—’twill be too late—too late to save them!” then suddenly a loud, glad cheer burst from the excited spectators, as a senseless form, with its wet garments clinging closely around it, and long, clotted tresses streaming unconfined by the crushed and dripping bonnet, was lifted triumphantly out of the water.
“she’s saved! she’s saved!” shouted a hundred voices; “but the brave fellow!—the gallant old man!—they’ll never recover him alive!”
clemence remained as if rooted to the spot, her lips parted, her hands clasped, her soul gushing forth in one inarticulate prayer. louisa was carried to the society’s receiving-house, a large crowd accompanying her to the door; but clemence was not in the crowd. vincent, likewise, would not stir from the spot while the officers were redoubling their efforts to find the body of the captain. wringing his hands, the boy, with passionate entreaties, promises, even tears, sought to stimulate the exertions of any one and every one who could lend a hand to rescue his brave preserver! after a space—a space, alas! how fearfully long—the ice having been broken in various directions, and the drag let down again and again, a heavy body was raised to the surface. there was not the faintest sign of life in it, though the cold hand yet firmly grasped a fragment of a black lace veil, such as louisa had worn on that fatal morning! clemence read no hope on the faces of the experienced men who lifted the body on the ice; but in that terrible moment she neither trembled nor wept. grasping eagerly at the last chance of restoring life to the inanimate frame, struggling to keep down the feeling of despair which was wrestling in her heart, she hastened with the bearers of the body to the receiving-house, which was not far distant. clemence was met on the way by her own servant, the one who had followed vincent and his sister to the park.
“miss louisa has been brought back to life, ma’am,” said the man eagerly; but even such good tidings fell dulled on the ear of clemence effingham,—it seemed as if at that moment she could think of no one but her uncle.
“take her and your young master home at once,” was all that she could say, as she hurried on, absorbed in anxiety so agonizing that the peril of louisa was half forgotten.
the servant touched his hat, and proceeded to obey; but nothing would induce vincent to return to his home while the fate of his preserver hung in the balance. louisa was conveyed to belgrave square in a cab; but wet and half frozen as he was, the boy clung to the side of his step-mother.
“they will restore him!—the warmth will restore him!—he will—oh! he must!—he shall recover!” cried vincent in an agony of grief.
“every means will be tried,” said clemence faintly; “we, vincent,—we can do nothing now but pray!”
every means was indeed tried, every resource of science was exhausted, but the vital spark had fled, and all was in vain! the pulse had entirely ceased to beat,—not the faintest breath stirred the lungs—the brave heart was stilled for ever! the death of the gallant old sailor had been a fitting close for a life of active benevolence. death had come to him suddenly, but it had found him not unprepared; it had found him in the path of duty; it had found him pressing onward toward heaven, with his pilgrim staff in his hand—faith, hope, and charity in his heart. he was taken away before the infirmities of age had dulled his senses, bowed his frame, or chilled the warm affections of his heart; and he was taken away in the very act of risking his life to save that of a fellow-creature! is there nothing enviable in such a departure?
dark, heavy clouds had blotted out the sun from the sky, when clemence returned with vincent to her home, a lifeless corpse in the vehicle beside her. her own calmness appeared strange to herself, but it was the stunning effect of a terrible shock, which for a while had almost paralyzed feeling. she was met in the hall by arabella, who looked pale, and whose manner betrayed considerable excitement.
“louisa is very ill,—goes from one faint into another,—aunt selina has sent for dr. howard!”
but not one word of sympathy to the bereaved clemence—not one word of regret for the brave old man! arabella averted her eyes almost with a shudder as the body was borne into the house. clemence and vincent saw it reverently placed on the bed in the room which the captain had occupied on the preceding night, and then, when the servants had quitted the apartment, both sank on their knees beside it and wept.
clemence’s burst of sorrow was violent, but brief; she folded her step-son in her arms, drew him close and closer to her heart, and it was like balm to her bleeding spirit to feel the boy’s tears on her neck.
“oh!” cried vincent passionately, “if i had not treated him so ill!—if i had not laughed at him, mocked him, insulted him! and he will never know how sorry i am! but he did not die saving me! no, no,—his life was not lost for me!” the boy’s voice was choked in his sobs.
“my vincent—it was god’s will—we must not murmur! we must think on the happiness which we trust one day to share with him who has gone before us. my care must now be for you—he is beyond our aid! you must have rest, and warmth, and dry clothes instantly, my vincent; your hands are cold as ice, your very lips colourless and white,—come with me at once to your own room—your comfort must be my first thought now.”
and then, with the tenderness of a mother, clemence tended her boy. she insisted on vincent’s at once retiring to rest, prepared a warm beverage to restore circulation to his chilled and shivering frame, chafed his numbed hands within her own, and spoke to him soothing words of tenderness and love. clemence left him at last dropping into slumber, and then bent her rapid steps towards the apartment of louisa, about whom she had felt less anxiety, as knowing her to be under the care of her sister and aunt.
mrs. effingham met dr. howard quitting the room, accompanied by lady selina. the countenance of the physician was grave.
“the shock to so delicate a constitution has been very severe,” he said in reply to a question from clemence; “an increase of fever is to be apprehended. i should certainly recommend that some one should sit up with miss effingham during the night.”
“i will watch beside her,” said clemence.
