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Storyteller's Cabin |
But as time went on, her brother and mother stepped up their relentless pursuit of a proper husband, and would no longer allow Alice to see her lumber man. Allard finally sent her away to a boarding school in Charleston, providing the school with strict orders to prevent any correspondence between the two lovers.
But time and distance would not make Alice's heart less fervent for her beloved. Although she attended many social events - including the annual St. Cecelia Ball, the biggest coming out party of the season - and was pursued by many suitors, she remained true to John. She wore the ribbon around her neck thin, fingering her ring, reading the beautiful inscription and clutching it close to her aching heart.
At times, she would take it off the ribbon, place it on her finger, and would imagine her wedded bliss. Why did her brother fail to see how miserable he was making her? She would then cry herself to sleep.
As she pined away in Charleston, she began to grow frail and thin. Her future seemed dark and unclear. She began to have strange dreams where she was lost in a dark forest. She heard her beloved calling out to her in the darkness and tried walking toward him, but he was always out of reach. The empty blackness enveloped her and she could move no more. She lost sight of John's form, and then she, too, was lost in the void.
When she awoke, she found herself ill with fever - a fever that seemed to overtake her, just as the darkness had. Out of alarm for her health, Allard was summoned to Charleston. He traveled for four days to reach her, and once he arrived, he found her too weak to even acknowledge his presence.
He carried her to his carriage for the long journey home. But the jostling and jolting four day carriage ride made her even more ill. By the time she was placed in her own bed at the Hermitage, she was comatose. She dreamed feverish dreams of her beloved, calling out his name, reaching for the ring around her neck to comfort her. Then she would visibly sigh, her frail body relaxing in sleep.
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One night as Alice slept, Allard spotted the ring around her neck. He became enraged, for to him, the lumber man was solely responsible for his sister's illness, and he wanted all reminders of this tragic figure removed from his house and his sister's mind. Without a second thought, he snatched the ribbon from his sister's neck. It only look one small tug to break it, since Alice had worn it down to nothing. In a fit of rage, Allard threw the ring into a nearby creek.
