At the Mercy of TiberiusEvans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
History
At the Mercy of Tiberius
Evans, Augusta J. (Augusta Jane)
Rome -- History -- Tiberius, 14-37 -- Fiction
"Finding it necessary to return to X---, I have requested Dr. Grantlin
to take particularly good care of you for a few days. Your father will
never forgive, never receive you, but he kindly complied with your
request and gave me one hundred dollars. Try to be patient until I can
come and tell you everything, and believe that God will not forsake us.
With these hurried lines, I send you a few chrysanthemums--your
favorite flowers--which I gathered in the rose garden of your old home.
When you smell them, think of your little girl who loves you better
than her own life, and who will hasten home at the earliest possible
moment, to take you in her arms. Mother, pray for me, and may God be
very merciful to you, my dearest, and to--
"Your devoted child,
"BERYL."
She had bound the withered flowers together with a strip of fringe from
her shawl, and now, with dry eyes and firm white lips, she kissed them
twice, pinned the last note around them and laid the whole in Mrs.
Foster's hand.
"I trust you to deliver them in person to Dr. Grantlin before you sleep
to-night; and if I survive this awful outrage, perpetrated under the
name of law, I will find you some day, and thank you."
Looking at the lovely face, pure in its frozen calm, as some marble
lily in the fingers of a monumental effigy, Mrs. Foster felt the tears
dimming her own vision and said earnestly:
"Keep as silent as possible. The less you say, the safer you will be;
and run no risk of contradicting your own statements."
"I appreciate your motive, but I have nothing to conceal."
Beryl laid her hand on her shawl, then drew back.
"Am I allowed the use of my shawl?"
"Oh, certainly, madam."
The officer would have opened and put it around her, but with an
indescribable movement of proud repulsion, she shook it out, then
wrapped it closely about her, and sat down, keeping her eyes fixed on
the face of the clock ticking over the fireplace. After a long and
profound silence, the man who had arrested her, said gravely and gently:
"Time is up. I must deliver you to Officer Gibson at the train. Come
with me."
She rose, gave her hand to Mrs. Foster, and stooping suddenly touched
with her lips the withered flowers, then followed silently.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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